Sunday, January 31, 2010

Chinese Food Failures

Kandice: This week’s post will not be the greatest post that JK publishes. Tonight was a night of epic mistakes and failures. Let me just say, that tonight Josh and I failed to appeal to our hunger for Chinese cuisine.

Josh: About a month ago, Kandice and I had come up with the idea to make sushi for our audience. We knew that sushi is a popular dish, so we wanted to try our hands at it.

Kandice: But I’m not a big sushi fan; to me it tastes too much like the salty ocean. So to go along with the Chinese theme of our main dish, I thought that it would be best if I made a second “main dish” and side dish that would go along with both recipes.

California Sushi Rolls

Josh: Food preparation is all about art. From prep to presentation, every move is important, and every second counts. A real chef not only creates wonderful flavors through seasoning, herbs, and spices, but also through the colors, shapes and arrangement of the food that they create. Heck, that's why it's called "Culinary ARTS."

One of the most artistic foods out there is sushi. When done correctly, sushi is a beautiful statement on a blank plate. Notice I said, 'When done correctly". Unfortunately, tonight, things weren't so correct.

Ingredients:
2 cups Uncooked Sushi Rice (approx.)
2 2/3 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Avocado
1 Cucumber
5 oz. Crab Leg Meat
Nori Sheets
Lemon Juice

Sushi seems easy to prepare. Everything's raw, right? Simple. It should be simple. It really should. I thought exactly that when I said in one of our brainstorming sessions, "Yeah, I'll do sushi."

I should have done some research.

The only thing that really gave me a problem was the rice. I'm not going to include any cooking instructions for it, but only because we saw many different instructions. The instructions varied from box to box, so if you just follow the steps on your particular box you should be fine. The box I bought had a whole page worth of instructions on the back of the box. No joke. Cook for 15 minutes, and then 2 minutes, and then 5 minutes, and then set for 15 minutes, and then let steam for 15 minutes. Blah blah blah. I was so frustrated that it would take me a week to even finish the rice!

But while the rice was doing its thing on the stove, I prepped the other ingredients, which fortunately didn’t take too long. The first thing I did was I halved and pitted the avocado. Then I sliced it to make a lot of thin strips. For those of you who haven’t really worked with avocados before, like me, you will want to find avocados that have a gentle give when you squeeze them. I know it sounds the least bit helpful, but when you find a good one you'll know. Also, when avocados are cut they brown really easily. To help prevent this put some lemon juice on the cut slices. This will help keep them from browning for a little longer.


When the avocados were done, I began preparing the cucumber. This was very easy. All that needed to be done was to cut the ends off and then continue to halve it lengthwise until you have small, thin strips. This same technique applies to the crab meat sticks.

Once all the prep work was done, I waited on the rice. My instructions told me not to lift the lid AT ALL until it was finished cooking. I had no idea at all if I was even cooking it right. Thankfully, the rice came out just fine. I then scooped all of the rice into a bowl and sprinkled the rice wine vinegar over it. You have to cut the vinegar into the still hot rice, which is basically the same principal as folding ingredients into each other, but with more... vigor. I also needed a fan so that I was cooling the rice as I was introducing the vinegar. In the end, the rice tasted great.


Now the fun begins. I got a large bowl of water, to keep the rice from sticking to my hands, and began to spread some of the rice onto a rolling sheet that I got. It looks like a long page of skewers strung together. I don't think it's needed, but it was nice to have it. After a layer of rice, I cut a nori sheet in half and put it on top of the rice. After another layer of rice, I added a strip of crab, some avocado, and a strip of cucumber and began to roll it all together.

It is very important to think about how much you're adding to your roll. You want a THIN layer of rice. Believe me. I learned this the hard way, and ended up with this:


I call it, ROLLZILLA!

After you make sure it's all nice and neat, you can carefully cut the roll into sushi sized pieces. Then, all that's left to do is add soy sauce or wasabi and enjoy!


Chinese Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:
2/3 cup Fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp Soy sauce
2 tsp Cornstarch
10 oz Boneless, skinless chicken
Fresh herbs
1 tbsp Honey

Kandice: I first came across this recipe in our 100 Calorie cookbook and I thought that it would be a simple and delicious recipe to make. It certainly looked good by the picture. The first step to creating this entre was to cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and place them into a bowl. Then in another smaller bowl I whisked together the lemon juice, soy sauce, cornstarch, and honey. The honey was an additive; it was not called for in the original recipe. I added it to try to balance out the lemon flavor. This mixture was then added to the chicken and set aside to marinade in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Once the chicken was done marinating, I tossed it and the remaining sauce into Josh’s brand new wok. I cooked the chicken for approximately 10 – 12 minutes on medium-high heat. It smelled good coming off the stove, but when Josh and I went to taste the chicken we were met by a strong, bitter taste. The lemon totally overpowered any other flavors within the meal. While I was chewing my piece of the chicken, I kept on thinking, “Oh my gosh, this is disgusting! It needs more honey!” Come to think of it, what would it have tasted like as the original recipe (without the honey)?! I don’t know what it would have been like, but I’m sure glad that I modified the recipe in the first place.


Some recommendations that Josh and I can promote would be to add more honey! Approximately another tablespoon and a half would help this recipe a lot. Another ingredient that would have been good to add to the recipe would have been sesame seeds. Adding the sesame seeds while the chicken is cooking would toast them and add a nice crunchy texture. Josh and I both urge you to try these modifications if you are to make Chinese Lemon Chicken.



Lo Mein

Ingredients:
1 lb. Chinese egg noodles
3 ½ oz Bean sprouts
½ Carrot
4 Cabbage leaves
2 tbsp Cooking oil
6 tbsp Soy sauce
4 tbsp Sugar
4 tbsp Sake

Kandice: For the side dish I wanted to go with a classic; something that could be found at most Chinese restaurants. For this reason, and because of the fact that I really enjoy it, I choose to cook Lo Mein.

The first thing that I had to do was to prepare the carrot, cabbage, and bean sprouts. With the carrot I peeled the outer skin off and thinly sliced the rest of the carrot. For the preparation of the cabbage I cut out the cores of the leaves and set them aside. Then, using the easiest way, I cut the cabbage into strips by stacking the leaves together. I used the cores of the leaves by cutting them into thin slices, like the carrots. Finally, I rinsed off the bean sprouts using nice cold water and a strainer.


Once all of the vegetables were done, it was time for me to make the sauce. To make the sauce I whisked together the soy sauce, sugar, and sake. I’ve never had nor smelt sake before, so when I popped open the bottle it had a really strong smell to it. It almost made me gasp. I still haven’t tasted the flavor of the liquor yet, but I do know that it kind of smells bad. (At least Josh and I think so.)

Finally, it was time to do some cooking, but that’s when things went wrong again. See in the recipe it said to use Chinese egg noodles. Well, the store that Josh and I had gone to didn’t have “Chinese” egg noodles. They just had regular egg noodles. We went ahead and bought these figuring that there wasn’t too much difference, just their shapes. We eventually found out that we were wrong. See, the recipe called for us to steam the noodles before cooking them with the other ingredients. So I steamed them until they were flexible, just like instructed. But when I went to combine them with all of the ingredients into the wok, they didn’t continue to cook and soften like I thought they would. So when everything else was finished cooking in the wok, the noodles were still slightly hard or a little too al dente. The dish, itself, looked and smelt great, but when it came to eating it … well … let’s just say that it didn’t exceed standards.


In the future when making this dish, I know now that it’ll be best to just boil the noodles in a pot of water. Once they are done, I will strain the water off and toss them with a little vegetable oil to keep them from sticking together.


Josh: In the end, our culinary trip to the east didn't turn out so great...

Kandice: But it was a learning experience, so we're okay with admitting defeat.

Josh: ... My sushi was the best dish.

Kandice: What?!

Josh: Nothing! We hope you enjoyed readi-

Kandice: What did you say!

Josh: Check back next week for another dish!

Kandice: JOSH!

Josh: Buh-bye!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Textures, Flavors, and Smells of Bread

Josh: Bread. Could we be any more vauge?

Kandice: There's so many flavors and styles of bread! There are almost infinate possibilities!

Josh: We could probably create a whole new blog and fill that with just bread recipes.

Kandice: Seriously. Anyway, this week, we decided it would be fun to make some breads and post them on the blog.

Josh: We've got 3 easy recipes for you guys to try.

Kandice: All of them were awesome, and are in no particular order.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchin
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Josh: Usually, when Kandice and I go out and get ingredients, we get back to one of our houses, and go, "Oh. We forgot -----." Skewers from the Kabob Recipe, Cumin from the Quesadilla Recipe... and every time, I would get back in my car and run back out to the supermarket. We may have spent more money on gas then on the food itself!

Kandice: But this time, when we realized that we forgot the cupcake papers, I dropped Josh off at his house and then I went back out to the store.

Josh: ...You took forever!

Kandice: Whatever! I had issues come up. (nods)

Josh: Sure ... Anyways, while she was gone, I began the prep work. First I shredded the zucchinis with what may or what may not have been a very large zester. Either way it did the job. I also prepared the flour mixture that consisted of: flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Kandice: By the time he was finished, I had gotten back from the store and had combined the sugar, eggs, and oil in another bowl. We then added those ingredients to the zucchini and beat them together using "Josh's Stand Mixer". (This is a really, really old stand mixer. I mean this thing had to have been at least 50 years old! Haha) I then zested the lemon while Josh measured out the cinnamon. We both added these to the flour mixture.



Josh: Then, the only thing to do was to combine the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while mixing.

*** Note: It is always best to add dry mixtures to wet ingredients slowly so that you don't make a big mess when you turn on the mixer. ***

Kandice: When it had a doughy consistancy, we took it out and I spooned the batter into cupcake papers. Of course, that was just our method of choice. This easily works as a loaf, too.


Josh: Then we threw it into our 325 degree hotbox and kept an eye on it for awhile. We had doubled the recipe and used cupcakes instead of a loaf. It took about 30 minutes or so for them all to bake correctly or until a toothpick came out clean when inserted into the tops of one of the cupcakes.

Kandice: The original recipe calls for a 45 minute bake time for a loaf of the recipe we posted, but it's just best to keep a constant watch on it.

Josh: In the end, it turned out really well! I had never had zucchini bread before, and I was pleasantly suprised. Haha. We had plenty of leftovers after we divided it all up between our family and friends.


Peanut Butter Bread

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
2 cups All-purpose flour
½ cup Sugar
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Creamy peanut butter
1 large Egg, beaten
1 cup Milk

Kandice: To make the Peanut Butter Bread was actually quite simple. First I mixed together the dry ingredients: the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, in a large bowl. Next was my favorite part; adding in the peanut butter. Peanut butter is so good to eat. Sometimes I just eat it directly from the spoon. Don’t worry! I didn’t do that this time; even though I was tempted. After cutting the peanut butter into the dry mixture, I stirred in the egg and the milk. I then ladled the batter into individual muffin cups.



We then baked them for about 25 minutes. We had to keep checking them because the recipe that we were following called for the batter to be baked in a bread pan, not muffin cups. But I’d have to say that they came out pretty well. They are the best with raspberry preserves on top, however, josh preferred to have them plain. These would definitely make a great breakfast or lunch item. Who doesn’t love PB&J?!

Josh: I love making bread. I love the smells, the textures, and especially, the final product. I havent been cooking for too long. I just recently got really into cooking over the past year. I've always enjoyed it, but until recently I've never really done much. This Banana Nut Bread recipe was one of the first baking recipes I've done. I love this recipe. The bread is so good! So I've decided to share it with you.

Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients:
4 Bananas
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Josh: The first thing I did is preheat my oven to 350. While the oven is preheating, I normally peel, slice, and mash the 4 bananas in a big bowl, but this time I let Kandice do it for me. At least she didn't make a mess. Haha.



Anyway, While she was mashing away, I put the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, flour, and the finely chopped walnuts in a big bowl. I put everything else in the stand mixer and beat those ingredients together before I slowly added the dry ingredients. It takes a few minutes to get everything added, but once it was, I just spooned them into the paper cupcake holders and popped them into the oven.

Depending on the size and shape of your bread, the timing may be different, so I just kept an eye on my breads. Basically I just kind of winged it by continually checking on them with the toothpick method.

When they were finally finished, I took them out and let them set for a little bit before doing anything with them. And there, I had Banana Nut Muffins. I love them. They're amazing with just a little butter on them or, as I like them, just plain right out of the paper. Enjoy!



We really hope you guys enjoy these breads. We know we enjoyed making them. We'd love to hear from everyone to see what kind of changes you would make, what other breads you like to eat or make, and what disasters you've had. Don't pretend like you haven't had any! Everybody does at some point in time.

Please leave us a comment or e-mail us with suggestions, stories, or recipes at jkdailyspecial@gmail.com. And if you like what we do, please subscribe to us!

Thanks again for visiting our blog. We hope you'll be back next week for a new recipe!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Healthy Burgers for Meat & Potato Guys


Ingredients: 1 lb Lean ground beef
2 tbsp Finely chopped parsley
½ tbsp Finely chopped cilantro
½ Medium onion, chopped
½ tsp Ground cumin
Cooking spray
4 Whole-wheat burger buns
2 Sliced sun tomatoes
5-8 Baby spinach leaves (per burger)
1 Slice cheddar cheese (optional)

Kandice: So the other day I got the urge to cook something for my family. Since both my mother and sister were gone, I was just cooking for my father. My dad is a big meat and potatoes kind of guy. He loves his ground beef and steak. So I thought, “What’s better than a classic hamburger.” But of course I couldn’t just cook a plain hamburger; it would need to be healthy too. Luckily I found a recipe within one of the cookbooks that I have that gave me a little bit of inspiration.

The recipe that I found incorporated chopped parsley, so I decided to experiment with the idea. First, I knew that parsley wasn’t the only fresh herb that I wanted to include in the burgers. At first I wanted to use some chives, but when I looked in the refrigerator I found that I had none. It was then when I spotted some fresh cilantro. With the fresh parsley and cilantro I knew that I was creating a better base for my hamburgers.

To make the burgers was fairly simple. I combined the lean ground beef, parsley, cilantro, onion, and cumin in a bowl. I divided the meat into 4 patties. Next I cooked the burgers on a grilling pan; making sure to spray the pan with cooking spray first. I like my burgers to be medium-well so I cooked them for approximately 3 minutes on each side. Once done I laid the patty on a layer of tomatoes, spinach, and the bun. A good recommendation that I can give would be to first pat your burgers with a folded paper towel before you place them on the bun. By doing this you will remove a lot of the extra grease and fat from the hamburger. I’d like to say that my burgers turned out pretty good. My father included a few condiments on his burger including cheese. This, of course, is always optional. But I sure hope that you do give my recipe a try.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Fiesta!

Kandice: I love quesadillas! They are so fast and easy to make and they always turn out good. You could literally put anything in a quesadilla that pairs well with cheese.

Josh: Yeah, like chicken …

Kandice: And cheese! ...

Josh: Steak …

Kandice: And cheese! …

Josh: Peppers …

Kandice: And cheese! …

Josh: Kandice!

Kandice: Sorry.

… silence …

Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas

Ingredients:
1 tbsp Canola oil
1 Large onion, chopped
8 oz White button mushrooms, coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)
3 Cloves garlic, minced
2 cups Cooked diced skinless boneless chicken breast (1 breast half)
½ tbsp Ground curry
1 tsp Ground cumin
1 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp Dried oregano
2 cups Baby spinach leaves, coarsely chopped
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper
4 10-inch tortillas
1 cup Shredded sharp cheddar cheese (4 oz)
½ cup Salsa (see recipe)
¼ cup Sour cream

Josh: Anyways … With this particular recipe for quesadillas there is a lot of prep work that needs to be done. Thankfully, Kandice found a second cutting board so we were both able to work on the preparation at the same time.

Kandice: Once everything was peeled, chopped, or shredded we started by cooking the chicken. For the chicken, Josh and I prepared it a bit differently than the cookbook had recommended. Well, actually all it said was to dice it and cook it, so we decided to add our own flare to it. While the chicken was cooking in a pan over medium-low heat, we added some ground curry to the chicken.

Josh: If you’ve ever smelt curry, it kind of smells like Ramen noodles. Well at least Kandice and I think so. But the point to adding the curry to the chicken was to give it a little flavoring next to the cumin and oregano that’ll be added to the recipe later.




Kandice: For our utensils we used a large skillet, a wooden spoon, a spatula, and a griddle. In the large skillet we combined and cooked the mushrooms and onions over medium heat, until the water from the mushrooms had evaporated. Then we added in the garlic and cooked it for an additional minute.




Josh: Next, we mixed in the chicken and the spices (excluding the salt and pepper). When all of the spices were incorporated into the chicken, onions, and mushrooms, we stirred in the spinach, salt, and pepper. Once the spinach was wilted we knew that the chicken was complete.

Kandice: Now, on to more preparation! We had to lay the tortillas on a flat surface and sprinkle approximately 2 tablespoons of cheese on half of each tortilla. Then we spooned some of the chicken mixture on top of the cheese and covered it with an additional 2 tablespoons of cheese. We then folded the tortillas into half-moons.

Josh: When the preparations were done, we then had to cook them on the griddle. There are two tricky things about working with the quesadillas at this point in time. The first was figuring out how to transfer the tortillas without spilling its contents all over the place. The second was to know when was the best time to flip the quesadillas over so that we didn’t burn or char them.

Kandice: Unfortunately we failed at one of these two tasks. Any guesses? Yup, it was transferring the quesadillas! I don’t know what happened, but all I remember is Josh grumbling and finding food on the floor. Hahaha.

Josh: I still say that that incident never occurred. I don’t even remember it happening!

Kandice: Whatever. Well the key to keep the second fate from happening was diligence and a little bit of olive oil cooking spray. We cooked both sides of the quesadillas for about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Then we took them off the stove and cut them in half. We then served them with our salsa and a dollop of sour cream!

Josh: Okay, so quesadillas are great. But you can't have the normal mashed potato, or mac 'n cheese side dish. So what comes to mind? I dare you not to say, "Salsa and Chips".

Kandice: It's perfect! A small pile of fresh veggies with a stack of multigrain chips is a great healthy addition to the quesadillas.

Josh: Not only are the fresh veggies providing the vitamins you need, but the heat from the salsa can temporarally spike your metabolism and help with calorie burning!

Kandice: Plus, the recipe and process is super easy.

Fresh, Zesty Salsa

Ingredients:
1 Jalapeno
1/2 Green Pepper
3 Medium Tomatos
1/2 Red Onion
1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

Kandice: The only thing that really needs to be done is to chop all of the ingredients, and throw them all into the food processor. We did put the tomatoes in after the rest of the ingredients had been chopped, so that the processor didnt completely destroy them. We then drained the salsa to get rid of a lot of water that came from the tomatoes.

Josh: Salsa is a very simple recipe, and you can change it to however you want. If you like it a little spicier, add another jalapeno and a little more onion. If you want it to be a little more colorful then you can add some cilantro and red, yellow, and/or orange peppers. There's really no end to how you can customize it to your own personal taste!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Update

Hello, everyone! This is JK here just for a small update. We're trying to promote our blog in many different ways, which usually involve having brainstorming parties in the wee hours of the morning. We have plans for the future to make this a better blog with adventurous and tasty recipes every week. We also want to take this time to thank our followers and fans.

Feel more than free to E-mail us anytime with suggestions, ideas, comments, or anything you can think of.

You can also reach us on our new facebook fan page!
Thanks again, and we hope you'll keep coming back for more specials!

E-Mail: JKdailyspecial@gmail.com
Facebook: JK Daily Special

( KH5P46MKMEXC )

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Cure For A Cold Day

Kandice: One of the better cures for a cold, winter day is a hot bowl of soup. Soup is just one of those things that warms me up inside and makes me feel better. So this week, since it has been colder, Josh and I made Herby Vegetable Soup.

Herby Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
2 Sprays olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 Carrots, approx. 4 oz, peeled and chopped
2 Celery stalks, trimmed and sliced
1 Potato, approx. 2 oz, peeled and chopped
¼ cup Quick-cook pearl barley
3 ½ cups Vegetable stock
Pepper
2/3 cup Lowfat milk
1 tbsp Chopped fresh missed herbs, such as parsley, chives, and cilantro

Josh: With this recipe I helped with the preparation of the dish. I helped by peeling and chopping the potato and carrots, while Kandice chopped the onion, celery and fresh herbs.

*** Note: If you love onions then this recipe is for you! But if you don’t like onions that much then we recommend to either buy a small to medium sized onion or just use half of the onion. ***

We only used ½ of the onion and the soup still had a strong kick to it!

Kandice: Once all of the preparations were complete, I started cooking! First, I took a large pan and sprayed it with the olive oil. Then I added the carrots, celery, onion, and potato to the pan. These were cooked for about 5 minutes, over low heat. I had to make sure that I remembered to stir often so that nothing would stick to the bottom of the pan.




Next I rinsed off the barley and then added it to the pan with the vegetable stock and a dash of pepper. This mixture was then brought to a boil and then left to simmer for a little over 15 minutes. Once the vegetables were tender I slowly stirred in the milk and let warm for 3 minutes. This made the soup very creamy. Yummm…

Finally I mixed in the fresh herbs. I added just a little more herbs than the recipe called for, about a ½ tablespoon more, because I wanted a little more flavor. And that’s how we made our cold day nice and warm.


Saturday, January 9, 2010

"Fish Sticks"

Josh: I love grilling! I'm not too experienced with it yet, but I love it. The smell, the sizzle, the great outdoors! Grilling, to me, embodies summertime. But then I open my eyes, and there is snow on the ground. A lot of snow! But, nevertheless, I wanted to grill. Well at least get as close to grilling as possible. So we broil!

Fish & Mango Kabobs

Ingredients:
3 oz Fresh Salmon Steak
3 oz Tuna Steak
1 Zucchini, cut into chunks
1 ripe Mango, peeled and cut into cubes
1 Lime, cut into wedges
1 Tablespoon of Chili Sauce

Kandice: This week, we decided to make "Fish & Mango Kabobs" from a new book I got called, "Just 100 Calories". We recommend this book to any healthy eaters out there. Each recipe in the book is only 99 calories or less! Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of the cover this time ... Sorry!

Josh: Anyways ... skewers are a great and creative tool to use. There's pretty much no end to what you can put on them. The original recipe called for zucchini, mango, tuna steak, and swordfish, but we opted out of the swordfish and chose salmon instead. First we had to preheat our broiler and line our broiling rack with tinfoil. Then we threw our bamboo skewers into water to let them soak. We also tossed in the fish as well to allow them to thaw properly since we had bought frozen fish.

CAUTION: Please be sure to soak your skewers for an hour or so. Even though we had soaked our skewers they still ended up burnt. The best way to avoid this is by putting the skewers into the water right as you start prep work, or, if possible, a little beforehand.

While the fish was thawing, I had cut the zucchini into chunks and had peeled and diced the mango. By the time this was complete, the fish were thawed enough to dice.




Tip: Be careful when cutting and handling raw fish/meat. If you have two cutting boards, it would be a good idea to use one for everyday items and the other exclusively for raw meats. This way the bacteria from the raw meat doesn't get on your fruits and vegetables.

Once the mango, zucchini and fish was cut, I started to thread everything onto the skewers. There's no real rhyme or reason as to an order. Like Salmon? Make a Kabob with mostly fish on it! Or if you really only like fruit and vegetables, then just alternate the mango and zucchini. When all of the Kabobs were ready, I brushed a small amount of chili sauce on each side of each Kabob to give it a little kick of flavoring.




Kandice: Then we placed the kabobs into the oven for 5-7 minutes, making sure to turn them at least once, so that each side cooked evenly. After they were done, I made a simple sauce that went well with everything on the kabobs.




Dipping Sauce

2 Tablespoons Chili Sauce
4 Tablespoons Lowfat Plain Yogurt
1 Tablespoon chopped Cilantro

Kandice: All that was really needed to make the dipping sauce was some fresh cilantro (chopped fine), plain yogurt, and chili sauce. To make the sauce I mixed together the cilantro and plain yogurt. I then added the chili sauce. We used a little extra chili sauce then what the recipe called for, but it still tasted good. It's honestly all about how you want it to taste, so don't be afraid to play around with the measurements! To finish it all off we put lime wedges on the plates as an added bonus; because lime juice on fish is very good!

Josh: This recipe was very easy, and it was fun creating each one depending on what we liked.

Kandice: Now we would like you to comment below, or send us an e-mail with your favorite Kabob ingredients! Josh and I will try them and see which one we like best. Then we'll announce it right here on our blog!

Josh: Also, if you don't already know, JK Daily Special now has a Facebook Fan Page! Look us up on there for updates, discussions, pictures, and more! Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Baked Mac 'n Cheese

Ingredients:
9 oz dried elbow macaroni
Salt
Olive Oil
3 Tablespoons + 1 Teaspoon Butter
3 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 cups of warmed milk
10 oz of shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Teaspoon Ground Mustard
1 Teaspoon Parsley
1/2 cup of Fresh Breadcrumbs

Kandice: We understand that parties are tough to coordinate.

Josh: First, you've got to send out invitations and get everyone to RSVP. Then make sure that the house is clean and has a cool atmosphere. And don't forget about having great music! All-in-all its tough to keep track of everything.

Kandice: So we thought that we could share a simple and delicious recipe that you can use for your next party or get together that's sure to win people over.

Josh: And it's totally not bean dip.

Kandice: Ew gross! No bean dip! It's Baked Mac and Cheese. We got the original recipe from the book that Josh got me for Christmas, but we played around just a little, and changed some of the ingredients.

Josh: First things first, we preheated our oven to 375 degrees.

Kandice: While the oven was heating up, we also brought a pot of water to a boil.

Josh: Pasta dishes are all about multitasking. While the water is boiling you not only have to keep an eye on it, but also prep other ingredients, and watch any sauces for the pasta. So while waiting for the water to boil, I worked on the breadcrumbs. Instead of buying them premade, I took enough slices of bread to make about a 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs. To make the breadcrumbs I tore the bread into bite-sized pieces and then used a knife to cut them into smaller pieces. I took these pieces and toasted them in a skillet on low heat until they were golden brown. Then I set the finished product aside.

Kandice: Meanwhile, I quickly chopped the parsley and prepared the dry ingredients: the flour, pepper, and mustard. Finally the prep work was finished! Once the water had started to boil, I added the pasta so that it could cook while we were preparing the cheese sauce. Next I got out my saucepan for Josh to start melting the butter. Then he whisked in the flour, just a little bit at a time, until it was thick and bubbly. It didn’t take very long; maybe 2 to 3 minutes on medium-low heat.




Josh: I then added the milk to the mixture, and kept stirring constantly until it was thick and smooth. Next I added 7 oz. of the cheese and stirred it until it was melted. Once the cheese was melted, I added the remaining ingredients.

When everything was completely mixed together, I took it off the heat. Finally we added cheese sause to the maccaroni and transferred it into a greesed, baking pan. We then combined the remainder of the cheese and the breadcrumbs and sprinkled it on the top of the maccaroni. Then we popped it into the oven for 20-25 minutes.




Kandice: Once done make sure to leave the maccoroni to sit and cool after you take it out of the oven! 5 minutes will do. We really enjoyed making this recipe.

Josh: We’ve made a few other Mac 'n Cheeses before, but this is hands down one of our favorites! Try it out for yourselves!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

White Clam Pasta

Josh & Kandice: Happy New Year everybody! 2010 hopes to be a promising year for JK. We have a lot of events planned and new ideas that we’re going to post about. Thank you for reading our blog thus far and we hope that 2010 will bring more readers.

Spaghetti & White Clams

Ingredients:
8 oz Dried spaghetti
14 oz Canned clams, minced
Half-and-half or milk
2 tbsp Butter
½ cup Onion, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
¼ cup All-purpose flour
½ tsp Dried basil or oregano, crushed
¼ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper
2 tbsp Parsley, chopped
¼ cup Dry white wine
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Kandice: This week we made Spaghetti and White Clams from a new recipe book that Josh gave me for Christmas. I’m not usually a big seafood lover unless it has been battered and deep fried, so working with plain clams was a new idea for me.

Josh: Yeah … you should have seen her at the store. She was jumping up and down saying “Josh, this post is going to be so uuuhhhugh!” Her facial expression was completely rediculous.

Kandice: Well, what else was I supposed to do?! I like eating fried clams, but the picture on the can looked so gross! I honestly didn’t know if I’d be able to stomach working with the clams.

Josh: Ha ha ha!

Kandice: You shouldn’t be laughing you’re not a big lover of clams either!

Josh: Yeah, well … (silence) … The first direction that we had to follow was to boil the pasta in a large pot. We cooked it until the pasta was al dente; meaning “tender but still slightly chewy.” We then drained it and set it aside.

Tip: The best way to keep pasta from sticking together once drained is to drizzle a little olive oil on it. (Unfortunately we didn’t find out this tip until after the fact so our pasta stuck together alot.)

Kandice: Next we had to drain the clam juice from the canned clams. We drained the juice into a measuring cup so that we could determine how much milk would need to be added. The total amount of liquid was to total 1 ¾ cup. We had about ¾ cup clam juice so we added 1 cup of milk.

Josh: I then took the butter and melted it in a medium sausepan. While the butter had been melting, Kandice had chopped the onion and I minced the garlic. These ingredients were then sautéed with the butter until golden.

Kandice: We then stirred in the flour, oregano, salt, and pepper. Then added the cream mixture, which was cooked until thick and bubbly! I then got to chop and add the parsley, the clams, and the wine.




Josh: This was the first time that either of us has ever cooked with wine so it was interesting to see how it would affect the recipe.

Kandice: Once the sauce was heated, it was time to serve! Josh didn’t really care for the dish, but Abbie and I enjoyed it.



Josh: The book that I got Kandice has alot of really nice recipes.

Kandice: And lots of pretty pictures, so you can see what it's supposed to look like, in a perfect world.

Josh: We would highly recommend the book if you can find it. It's called "Pasta; simply delicious recipes".




Kandice: Thanks again for reading our weekly post! We hope that you come back for seconds next week!

Josh: Also, feel free to e-mail us at jkdailyspecial@gmail.com, to suggest recipes, comment on the blog, tell us about your experiences in making our dishes, or just to chat with us!