Chinese style Orange Chicken

Sauce:
1 1/2 cup of water, plus 2 tbsp water
1 medium size orange, halved
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp garlic pepper flakes
3 tbsp cornstarch

3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 cup all purpose flour
4 cups favorite vegetables

Start the sauce first. Mix the cornstarch and 2 tbsp water in a small bowl and set aside. Combine all other ingredients in a sauce pan and heat over medium high. Squeeze the juice from the orange, and zest over the rind to release the oils. I let the fruit set in the saucepan for the first ten minutes while it reached a boil.

Meanwhile, lightly oil a wok or skillet and heat. Coat the chicken in flour (note: most will say to beat an egg, dip in the chicken, and then coat with flour, but I'm trying to be kind of healthy here) and lay in the skillet. Cook until golden on all sides, then toss in the vegetables and heat through.

Pour the water/corn starch mixture in to the sauce and stir until sauce begins to thicken.

Plate the chicken and vegetables (I serve with white rice) and top with a generous serving spoonful of orange sauce. Serves 4.
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From Fatty Cookbook

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From Fatty Cookbook

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From Fatty Cookbook

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Nothing says love like...

From Fatty Cookbook

Happy Valentine's Day from Fatty Cookbook

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups salsa*
8 flour tortillas
3 cups refried beans
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cans Las Palmas Green Chile enchilada sauce

Salsa:
You can use your favorite salsa, or you can dice 2 large tomatoes, 1/2 yellow or red onion, 1 medium Cayenne chili pepper, and 2 cloves of garlic, and chop in a food processor.

Place the chicken and salsa in a slow cooker, on low, for approximately 6 hours. There's really no wrong way to do this, just let that all simmer together all day. When the chicken is cooked through, use a fork to shred. Leave in the slow cooker with the juice to stay moist.

Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9x13 glass baking dish, and lay out the tortillas. Layer on the refried beans, chicken, and cheese, and roll tightly. Pour the green chile sauce on top, and bake 20 minutes.

Lazy Ladies Shepherd's Pie

This started out as one of my famous "cabinet to casserole" creations, the ones where I find what food is left in the house and bake it all together with some cheese, but then I remembered the shepherd's pie I used to make with my bestie Ned back in college, and the chicken "pot pie" we used to made at Parker's deli on Tuesdays.

For this recipe you will need
-four cups of mashed potatoes (real or from a box, you lazy sucker)
-1lb ground beef
-1 medium onion
-1/2 clove of garlic
-2 cups assorted vegetables of your choice (i used peas, corn, and carrots)
-4 biscuits (I always recommend Pillsbury grands)
-Marie and Finley's country gravy

Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease a 9x9 glass baking dish.

Mince the onion and garlic and wilt in olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and cook. Salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare mashed potatoes however you like, but they must be stiff-ish because they are going into the pan first and will be the base for your pie.

Layer into the baking dish mashed potatoes, vegetables (don't cook before hand but if they are frozen you MUST defrost them), and beef. Place biscuits (frozen or refrigerated) on top, and immediately move to the oven. Bake for recommended time for the biscuits to turn golden brown.

Take this time to prepare the gravy.

When biscuits are done, remove the casserole and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Top with gravy and serve.

Pollo con Salsa de Champiñones

This might be my new favorite thing ever.

Dinner for two

1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 can black turtle beans
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of your favorite rice
1 clove of Garlic (give or take)

Set your favorite rice to cook, shake in a healthy dose of this newest FCB Secret Ingredient: Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning.
Chop the chicken in to cubes. Split the garlic clove(s) and mince. Sautee these in a little olive oil in a small pan over medium-high heat.
Rinse the beans, and mix in a small pot along with the cream of mushroom soup. Add only half a can of water and heat through.
Serve in bowls, layered: Rice, chicken, sauce. Garnish with cherry tomatoes and avocado.

Baked Apples

So I have these apples, right, and I'm like, "what am I going to do with these?"

So I cut out the core. This is easily accomplished with a paring knife and some patience. Point the knife down in to the center of the apple, where the stem is. Holding the apple straight up, cut off the top of the apple holding the knife at about a 45 degree angle. Now slowly cut out the center of the apple, removing all of the seeds. Be sure to leave at least a half inch of fruit at the bottom. For this last reason, I don't recommend using an apple corer.

Now put whatever the hell you feel like on these apples. I opted for cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, and a dash of chili powder (because that's always fun) and crowned the whole thing with a big pat of butter. But that's the dessert version.

For breakfast you can fill the apples in with oatmeal (just add water and quick oats and it can cook in the oven!) and top it with maple syrup.
For dinner you can stuff the apples with ground pork sausage and rice. It's just like a stuffed pepper, only 10,000x better.

Anyway you do it, you'll want to heat the oven to 350 F and let the apples bake for at least 45 minutes. There's a big window here, and depending on how big the fruit is the time can be much longer. Try the fork test: if you can stick a fork in it, it's done.

Country Gravy

Question this time from our Muse, Finley.
"A question for you, if you please- have you ever cooked a white gravy, say for biscuits or chicken-fried meats various and sundry?"

Yes.

4 tablespoons of flour
1.5 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons of fried chicken drippings
fresh cracked pepper (don't be stingy)
1 teaspoon salt

Mix half the milk and flour (and salt and pepper) in a jar before hand and shake it really well. DO NOT WHISK!
Put this mixture in a skillet, already warm with drippings from fried chicken. Stir in the other half of the milk over medium heat until it bubbles, then about 1 and a half minutes after that. Stir the whole time.
Optional: a dash of onion powder. That's the secret ingredient, usually. Makes 1.5 cups of gravy.

Turkey and Andouille Jambalaya

The ingredients list is so subjective here that I just decided to take some photos of the essentials and you can trial and error the rest.


Start like this. One package of Creole Jambalaya rice mix, some Tony Chachere's seasoning, and a special appearance by Achewood's Ray Rad Chilies garlic hot sauce. Ray's Rad Chilies: Definitely eat some!


Here is some ground turkey and some andouille sausage. Cut the sausage into pieces as big or small as you want. Try very hard not to make any big or small sausage jokes, especially if I'm around because I sort of freak out and get the shivers.


Brown the turkey. Season with the Tony's and some coarse salt. Not too much. Do not use too much salt.


Dice an onion and saute in olive oil. When soft, add sliced red and/or green peppers, kidney beans, and black beans. Bring to a simmer and add the sausage and 2.5 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Stir in the cooked turkey and the jambalaya rice mix. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for half an hour.



Consume. Bon appetit. Laissez les bons temps and all that jazz.

Oven Barbeque Chicken

MMMMM Bar-B-Que. Always delicious. Oh, wait, I'm back in Pennsylvania and there's snow blocking my path to my grill. No matter, time for some oven barbecue chicken!



-6 Boneless chicken breasts (skinless for you "healthy" eaters. Who might not enjoy it here anyway. Please ignore the fact that I made mind with skinless)
-Your favorite barbecue sauce
-Salt
-Pepper
-Onion powder
-Vegetable or Olive Oil

I use olive oil for everything except frying chicken and making popcorn. Heat about 2-3 tbsp of oil in a pan. Preheat your oven to 375 F. Rub the breasts down, both sides, with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Or whatever else. Chili powder adds a great kick if you're using a sweet sauce, but I use mesquite.

Brown the chicken, both sides, in the oil. Transfer to a baking dish and absolutely smother them in your barbecue sauce. Bake for 40 minutes. Check a few minutes before just to make sure you don't over cook them.

Finley Burgers!

Another one from our buddy Finley.

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So, I cooked hamburgers tonight for the first time in about 3 years. In doing so, I realized this recipe might pass muster for the legendary Fatty Cookbook- and you might like it too.

Hamburgers

2 lbs ground meat (ground chuck would likely work best
2 large eggs
1 handful (about 1 cup) shredded Colby Jack cheese
1-2 packets onion soup mix
seasoning (preferably Cajun seasoning)

Combine all ingredients in 1 large bowl, making sure to mash them all together really well. You want a good mix throughout the burger meat of the cheese and the onion soup mix. Season to taste, and mix well.

Cook as preferred (pan fried works well, but on the grill ain't bad either). Serve as desired.


P.S. I thought of a possible other recipe that I'll try- egg nog French Toast. Use eggog as the base rather than cream.

I will get to work on that egg nog toast, chief. Thanks again!

Rice Dressing

Marie,

Here you go, the recipe I referred to yesterday. It came from my dad, hence some of the more personalized instructions (like calling him for help- though I'd be glad to walk you through any steps if needed).

You'll need to get your hands on some cajun seasoning, preferably Tony Chacherie's.

Let me know what you think, if you try it.

Finley

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3-4 lbs ground meat (I recommend extra lean ground beef, preferably a 96-4 ratio, but more fat is okay and can help with the cooking)
1 large onion (white onion is what you want to go with here)
6-7 bell peppers (Green is good here, but replace 1-2 green with yellow and it really does wonders)
1 can cream mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cups cooked rice

Brown the ground meat and cook all of the water out of it. Cut up your bell peppers real fine, or use a food processor to do it, when the meat is brown add the onion and peppers to it, now it may be soupy with all of the peppers and may look green, don't worry it will be fine.

When the onions and peppers cook down, are soft add your mushroom and celery to pot let that cook down until they melt. now this may look really soupy, but you still have to add the rice.

Add enough cooked rice to make the dressing the consistency you want, if you are still soupy you can add some Italian bread crumbs to it to dry it out some. The longer it sits after you add the rice the more it will dry out, the rice will take up all of the liquids. Season the meat when you brown it with whatever you like, tonys, salt, pepper or whatever you like. call me if you need help when cooking and i will talk you through it on the phone. hope it comes out alright for you. chicken, pork chops, steaks will go good with it, corn on the cob, green bean casserole or some sort of veggie will do. also french bread, or garlic bread will go good too. Good Luck.

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Thank you, Mr. Finley's Dad!

Chili: the ultimate comfort food.

So I'm starting a new job this week, and I cleaned the whole house today and read my new employee manual and I didn't sleep well last night and you know what? It is time for some hell of comfort food.



2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ sweet yellow onion
2lbs ground beef or ground turkey
2 green bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced.
32oz canned tomatoes, or 4 cups chopped fresh

Chili seasoning:
-Chili pepper
-Paprika
-Onion Powder
-Garlic Salt

16oz canned red kidney beans
16oz canned black beans

Pour oil into a large skillet, with high walls. Chop the onion, as big or small as you please. I keep with dime-sized chunks. Heat the oil over medium high heat, and sauté the onions until they are translucent. I lightly salt and add a pinch of sugar to the onions, because I read somewhere that it’s okay to do that. It’s not necessary.

When the onions are soft, add the ground beef to brown. I turn down the heat a bit for this stage. Really let it simmer for a while.

Seed and chop the peppers. I go for really thin strip, but again, whatever size works. Mix peppers, garlic tomatoes, cooked beef and onions in a large pot.

Cheat: I use McCormick chili seasoning. Sorry. It’s basically just chili pepper, garlic salt, and onion powder. So feel free to mix those seasonings in to taste. I use one packet of seasoning per pound of ground beef, and usually a few more pinches of salt. If you add too much heat, sprinkle in some brown sugar to cool it down. Go heavy on the chili, easy on the sugar, until you find a nice balance. This is an art, not a science.

Heat the pot to boiling, stirring the whole time. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for one hour.

I tasted this batch and it was pretty spicy, so I added a spoonful or two of brown sugar.

Add the beans, and their liquid, and stir in. Cover and let simmer another 10-15 minutes.

Serve with avocados, sour cream, shredded sharp cheese, lettuce, tortilla chips, and/or corn bread. Goes great with the garlic beer biscuits!

Cheese Manicotti

cheese filling
1 medium size whole milk ricotta cheese
1 handful of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 handful of shredded parmesan cheese
1 large egg
parsley, basil, salt, pepper to taste

sauce
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 half onion, sauteed and minced
1 large tomato, minced
oregano, basil, coarse salt to taste

cut one red bell pepper in half, remove the seeds, and put in the oven on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees until, whenever.

cook the manicotti al dente, drain and rinse with cool water. fill each pasta tube with cheese filling (make a huge mess). grease a 9x9 glass baking dish, pour in half the sauce and place the manicotti on top. cover with the rest of the sauce. Slice the red pepper and layer on top of the sauce. Cover with fresh mozzarella. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Pizza dough

About 1 1/2 cups of flour, one package of dry yeast, 1tsp of salt, mix together. Add 1 cup of warm water and 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. If you're lazy, do this in a standing mixer. I use a wooden spoon. Slowly mix in 1 to 1 1/2 more cups of flour. Roll out on to a floured surface to knead. Slowly work in more flour until the dough is elastic.
* Mix in parsley and red pepper flakes for a little kick.

Cover the dough with a warm, wet cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Divided in two, this can make 2 12in pizzas. Roll each half to a circle and place on a greased pizza pan. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes.

Melt 4tbsp of butter, mix in 2tsp of garlic powder. Brush along the edges of the pizza crust.

Bonus:
Bursh crush with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Top pizza crust with minced tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and chopped black olives.
Grilled chicken (seasoned with paprika)
Mozzarella and parmesan cheese