Luckily my big bro, Seth is a super awesome chef, who is totally experienced at this sort of thing. I provide a kitchen and raw ingredients, and he teaches me how to make magic happen. First things first. You gotta have a huge fricking hunk of meat. We went with a cut of brisket. Brisket is perfect for this type of cooking. Generally pretty tough, but breaks down nicely when braised. Lots of fat (FLAVOR!!!) and one of the most reasonably priced cuts of meat out there (without getting into the freaky-deaky offals).

Season liberally with salt and pepper. Then sear the meat on a super hot nonstick pan until crisp and golden brown on the outsides.

You’ll know that you’re doing it right when you smoke out your kitchen and make the smoke detector in your kitchen start screaching. (FYI: its at this point when your kitchen will start smelling like “OMFG beefy-delicious get-in-my-face-now!!!”)

After the meat is done being seared on both sides, take them off the heat to let them rest. In the same cooking pan start sauteeing a mixture of mirepoix. Then throw in some fresh chopped herbs, like rosemary, parsley, bay leaves, etc…

Then add some red wine and a bunch of of beef stock, and add back in the seared brisket. Pour yourself a glass of wine (because not only is it crucial to the cooking process, but also -hey!- you deserve it!) and pose for a picture.

Bring meat to a low simmer and then throw it in the oven for an hour or 2. Drink more wine. When you take it out of the oven it should look like this:

Take out about half of the liquid, and boil it down in a sauce pan (as shown). Try to reduce it by about half. Let the meat rest, but always keep it in the cooking liquid and veggies, because the beef will get dry out and get tough if its not kept happy in liquid. While you’re boiling down the sauce, you can roast an assortment of root veggies in the oven, and whip up some blue cheese mashed potatoes. You know, easy peasy. And slice up the brisket, slicing against the grain, and of course returning the meat to the cooking liquid to keep it moist and happy.

Put a pile of mashed ‘taters on a plate, top with a few sliced of the braised beef, throw on some roasted root veggies, and sauce liberally with some of the reduced juices, sprinkle some fresh herbs on top and BAM!!! The delicious, delicious result!

I ate so much that night, it was just obscene. But oh man, was this one of the best meals of my life, and now I (and you!) know how to recreate this magical meal of beefy goodness!

You can tell from my hair color (that has changed about 4 times since these pictures), that this all took place a few months ago.  But it’s still winter, and a fantastic time to make a great warm filling meal like this. Thanks to my big bro for just being awesome in general, and also, for being a really super chef, and sharing a few tricks of the trade with me.

12 of 30 completed!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup  canola oil
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 anaheim chile(green chile pepper), seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper—cored, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 tablespoon curry powder (I used half 9 spice curry from Thailand, half McCormick Brand)
• A little over 1 pound tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1/3 cup Greek-style plain low-fat yogurt
• 1/2 cup water
• Cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions

1. In a large, deep skillet, heat the oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and lightly dust with flour, tapping off the excess. Add the chicken to the skillet and cook over high heat, turning once, until lightly browned, 6 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
2. Add the ginger, garlic, chile and bell pepper to the skillet and cook over high heat until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, corn, yogurt and water; stir until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the skillet and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over very low heat until the chicken is tender and the juices are slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle the chicken with cilantro.
4. Serve with steamed rice.

On FoodAndWine.com you can type in ingredients that you have & the site will pop up recipes that use them. I was looking for a recipe that might use up some long grained basmati rice, a can of crushed tomatoes,  a can of unsweetened coconut milk and an onion. Low and behold, something actually popped up and it looked really yummy: Brazilian shrimp soup. I did some minor tweaking to their recipe & the result was delicious, easy and cleared out some cupboard space.

Brazilian Shrimp Soup (serves 4)

Ingredients:

2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3/4 cup long grain Rice
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 28-ounce can of crushed Tomatoes (about 3 1/2 cups)
4 cups Water
1 cup canned unsweetened Coconut Milk
1 1/2 lbs medium Shrimp, shelled & cut in half horizontally
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
1/2 cup fresh Parsley, chopped

Directions:

In a large pot, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies start to soften, about 10 minutes.

Add the rice, cayenne pepper, salt, tomatoes and water to the pot. Bring to a boil and cook until rice is almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir the coconut milk into the soup. Bring back to a simmer and then stir in the shrimp. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are just done, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the black pepper, lemon juice and parsley. Serve.

My man likes apple pie. He also loves cookies. In addition, he also adores apple crisp. So when I came across a dessert that combines all of those things, I figured that this was a home run. There’s a buttery shortbread crust, topped with apple pie filling, topped with an apple crisp sort of crumble. There’s tons of butter and sugar, but omg! This stuff is wicked good!

Ingredients:

Crust-

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Filling-

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 9 mixed apples — peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup water, as necessary

Topping-

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 sticks salted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled

Directions:

1. Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a 13×9 inch baking dish with parchment paper. In a standing electric mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter with the sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. At low speed, beat in the flour and salt until a soft dough forms. Press the dough over the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer. Bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes, until the crust is golden and set. Let cool on a rack.
2. Meanwhile, make the filling: In each of 2 large skillets, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter with 1/4 cup of the light brown sugar. Add the apples to the skillets and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir half of the cinnamon and nutmeg into each skillet. Cook until the apples are caramelized and very tender and the liquid is evaporated, about 10 minutes longer; scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the skillets and add up to 1/2 cup of water to each pan to prevent scorching. Let cool.
3. Make the topping: In a large bowl, mix the oats with the flour, light brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the walnuts and press the mixture into clumps.
4. Spread the apple filling over the crust. Scatter the crumbs on top, pressing them lightly into an even layer. Bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour, until the topping is golden; rotate the pan halfway through baking. Let cool completely on a rack before cutting into 2-inch bars.
5. Die happy.

It’s cold and flu season. My poor husband with an apparently beaten down immune system has had 2 nasty colds within 3 weeks. So I realized that it was definitely time to pull out my super awesome homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe again. I though you guys might appreciate a new recipe to add to your collection… Or at least compare it to your own version of this classic home remedy.

For me, homemade chicken soup is all about making your own stock if you have the time… I dunno what it is. Maybe it tastes better, or has more cold-fighting properties, but it’s possible that I just love it because it always makes my entire house smell amazing. Now if you’re in a rush or just not in a super patient mood, feel free to use cans or cartons of premade chicken broth from the store.

Homemade Chicken Stock Ingredients:

- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 16 cups or 4 quarts of water
- 8 Chicken thighs & 1 Chicken Breast, halved (w/bones & skin)
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 tsp. dried parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Tbsp. salt
- 1 tsp. thyme
- 1 ½ tsp. black pepper

Soup Ingredients:

- Chicken stock
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- ¾ to 1 package of Egg Noodles
- ½ cup parsley, chopped
- Hot pepper sauce, (ex. Tabasco)
- Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. To Make Stock: Lightly sauté onions and garlic in butter for about 2 minutes. Add water and chicken and bring to a boil. Skim off froth. Add carrots, celery, dried parsley, bay leaves, salt, thyme and pepper. Reduce heat to low/medium and simmer, partially covered for about 1 hour, or until juices run clear when meat is pierced.

2. Remove all solids (chicken, veggies, bay leaves, etc…) from the broth with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl. Separate bones, fat and skin from chicken. Pick apart or chop the good chicken meat and throw it back into the stock. Discard cooked veggies and leftover chicken parts.

3. To Make Soup: Add fresh onion, carrots and celery to stock & chicken. Cover pot and cook over medium/high for about 8 minutes.

4. Add noodles and cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes or until noodles and veggies are tender. Add more salt and pepper if desired.

5. When dishing out bowls season to your liking with hot pepper sauce (It sounds kinda weird but I highly recommend it! Even Devon, the “anti-condiment of any kind” man thinks that the soup tastes way better with Tobasco. Also for all my sickly homeboys & girls, it helps clear you up if you’re congested.) Top bowls with some fresh parsley and serve!

6. Eat your super awesome Homemade Chicken Soup and relish in the fact that you’re enjoying a cold remedy that tastes way better than that nasty green Nyquil. ☺