Tue, Dec 30th - 8:26PM
Hi gang! 2009 is just around the corner, and starting now, we are going to show you ways to save money on your food bill every day. It all begins with the equipment. You know every so often a product comes around that I absolutely love, and for a change, it actually does what it's supposed to do! The product I'm talking about is the Rival Brand Food Slicer - still a bargain at under $45. I say still a bargain because I bought mine 26 years ago, and paid the same money for it then! My son was starting school, my daughter was getting close, and it was my job to get their lunches ready.  After seeing how much cold cuts were, and worse yet, what was actually in these molded meats, I swore off store bought, chemical laden, high priced cold cut, and started making my own. I bought beef when on sale, and the same for turkey breast and ham. I even got crazy and took my ham, sliced it rather thick, layered it with cheese in between the layers and rolled it into a tube, then rolled it in cello wrap. After a night in the fridge, it took the round shape real well, so into my Rival Slicer it went, and voila - ham and cheese loaf! Oh it was great! Playing with different olives stuffed into ham, whole garlic in beef, etc., all preservative free, with the spices me and the family all like, and, ready for this, at a FRACTION of the PRICE of store bought cold cuts! And it doesn't stop at cold cuts. I love to slice ham on it, then take stuffing, wrap the slice around it, cover with gravy and bake. Wow! I can go on and on, but for now, don't take my word for it, go look for yourself, right here And while you're there, take a look at the other great appliances they have, and buy with confidence, after all, the KitchenFreaks say it OK! If you didn't get one under the tree -- hit the post-Christmas sales and get one now. In fact, you can get to the Rival site from our web page at www.thekitchenfreaks.com -- please! order one today and tell them we sent ya!
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Mon, Dec 29th - 1:00PM
A Post Holiday Treat
Can't figure out what to do with all those candy canes now that Christmas is over? Our friend Brynda to the rescue. So if you're taking down the tree, dismantling the wreath or pillaging the Christmas candy, this is a great idea -- and any kind or flavor will do for this recipe. Ingredients: - 1 package (1 pound) creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed (about 3 cups)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 gallon peppermint stick, party mint or mint chip ice cream, softened
- 1 container (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
- 1/3 cup crushed peppermint candies or candy canes
Directions: Mix crushed cookies and melted butter. Press mixture firmly in bottom of ungreased rectngular pan, 13x9x2 inches. Stir together ice cream and 2 cups of the whipped topping; spoon evenly onto chocolate cookie crust. Freeze about 3 hours or until firm. Meanwhile, melt butter and chocolate in 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. (Substitute 3 cups of prepared hot fudge sauce and omit baking chocolate). Stir in sugar; gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling over medium-high ehat, stirring constantly! Cook and stire 5 minutes or until slightly thickened; stir in vanilla. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Pour 2 cups of chocolate sauce evenly over ice cream. Freeze at least 8 hours but no longer than 2 weeks. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce. Reheat reserved sauce until just warm. To serve, cut into 5 rows by 3 rows. Top with sauce and remaining whipped topping; sprinkle with crushed candies. Makes 15 servings.
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Thu, Dec 25th - 5:58PM
Coupons -- Not What You Think!
| | Written by Chef Louie | | Monday, 15 December 2008 01:30 | Let's look at this with our hearts and stomachs in the right place. I saw a news release where a woman had a huge cart full of what is assumed to be groceries as she was unloading them onto the cashiers aisle. Just like a crafty magician, she kept the banter up long enough to distract you from the real meat - what was actually in the cart! Well, predictably, her bill came to a little over $200, and then she handed over the coupons, only to watch the register countdown the bill to around 40 bucks! Magic, you say? Hardly, as I am the kind of geek you don't want in the front row of a magic show, or, a news article about food! Come on, this is an easy parlor trick. Merely cut out every coupon in the Sunday paper, then, go buy the stuff that matches those coupons. If your lucky, you will only end up with 12 Tofu Pizzas and a half dozen boxes of feminine products, 14 cans of corn, and 12 cereals. The numbers don't lie, the savings are there, however, you will have to take these "savings" and go back to the store to buy some real food for the week! Am I saying coupons are no good? No! All I'm saying is that coupons are like any other marketing tool - it is there to manipulate you into buying something that the manufacturer needs you to buy, and not necessarily with your benefit in mind. Go and make yourself a menu for the week, shop for it strictly, using coupons that only apply to you and your menu and your budget. Simple and easy, and you will save money! | | Last Updated ( Friday, 26 December 2008 01:49 ) |
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Thu, Dec 18th - 2:30AM
It's Breadtime!
Today so I don't forget, please, visit our web site at www.thekitchenfreaks.com or drop us a line at thekitchenfreaks@yahoo.com we'd love to hear from you! This is the time of year for families, friends and parties. Nothin' says lovin like something from the oven, so here's another way to make your house smell like Christmas and to get everybody in the kitchen for fun and fellowship! ***Basic Italian style Bread *** All you need for this great comfort food is flour, water, and yeast. Oh sure, you can add shortening, salt, sugar, and whatever, but take a look at the ingredient list on a loaf of American bread and be prepared to read, and read, and read some more. It’s your pick, however, as for me, I’ll take simple. Simple ingredients, simple carbs, and simply good health! Start with three and a half cups of bread flour, (two tablespoons of vital wheat gluten optional: Gluten makes a spongier finished product, a little more dense than normal Italian bread), one pasket (one tbs.) of yeast, and mix your dry ingredients thoroughly. If kneading by hand, start with one cup of warm water (bottled water is my preference as some water companies use way to much chlorine and this could kill the yeast) and pour into the dry mix and knead and mix, adding more water if necessary. You want the mix to be a little springy to the touch, and a tad sticky, but not wet like a cake batter, or, dry like a breading mix. Once incorporated, let it sit for at least ten minutes to rest. Once rested, dstart the kneading and don’t stop for a good five minutes. The more you knead, the tighter the dough gets, so be ready for a workout. At this point, you may want to look at a few options. Many mixers on the market today have a dough hook option, and just in case you are one of the millions of people who got married in the last thirty years, you probably have a like-new food processor under the sink somewhere from uncle Goombatz. The mixer is self explanatory, however, the processor works like this: put the dry mix into the processor, and while on high speed, add the warm water through the top. If it looks like batter, add more flour, then, like a miracle, the dough will form a ball and ride around the machine on top of the blade. Voila, it’s ready to grow! However way you got to this point, let the dough rest and rise about an hour. The most conducive place for it is in a bowl, with plastic wrap on top. Once it seems to have doubled in size, it is ready for either homemade pizza (pizza dough is risen only once), or for another round of kneading, then shaping into the style of loaf you want, then letting it rise again before baking. A nice long oval is a great shape to start off with, and make sure you take a sharp knife and put a longwise cut about a quarter of an inch on the top. This lets steam out, and looks great when done. I prefer a springform pan, as when cooked, it looks like a large mushroom and everybody asks how I did it. I’m such a ham! Into a 375 preheated oven for upwards of fifty minutes (start checking it at around thirty five minute, as you want it cooked and a good toasty crust, however, burnt is not acceptable). A neat trick is, using a cloean spray bottle, spritz the oven at five minutes, then every five minutes three more times. This steaming of the bread will create a fabulous crust. Also, on the bottom of your bake pan, throw some course cornmeal as a releasing agent, and this will also add to the crunch. When you let this baby out of the oven, set it on a rack and let cool, uncovered. If you cover it, the moisture will re-enter the crust making it soft, however, if the moisture is allowed to escape, you will assured of a delicate, crusty treat! ENJOY!
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Wed, Dec 17th - 2:08AM
Holiday Thoughts
HOLIDAY THOUGHTS Funny, but being Italian means so many different things, especially around such big holidays like Christmas, Easter, Columbus Day, and so on. In my house, growing up, every holiday started the same, with cooking going on for at least three days before the actual big day. Prep in the kitchen was just as fun as the holiday as parents seemed so busy doing what they were doing that they seemed to ease up on our restrictions and bedtimes. Cousins were over as their parents were there helping in the kitchen, so fun and games were in the air at every turn. My job on Christmas Eve was to put a slice into each of the chestnuts before they went into the oven for roasting. My big pleasure was to leave a few not sliced as this would allow them to explode as the gas inside built up. What a hoot to see 30 or so burly Italian men all duck and take cover under the table when this 8 chestnut salute went off! Never quite understood it until I got a little older - made sense, especially when you put this along with the portable metal detector by the door. Another thing that made us different from the rest of the world was that in every Italian Dinning Room, on the wall hung a first aid kit quite like the ones you see in mechanic's shops. This was for the inevitable quick suture or butterfly needed on a hand or arm due to an over zealous relative driving his "weapon" ( we always referred to utensils as weapons) into the anti pasta plate in the center of the table. Most walked away with a scar or two on the tops of their hands or arms, but hey, it's the Holidays, right?! The best to come was the family pictures after we engorged ourselves for six hours. Grown men with tears rolling down their face from the jokes told in Italian, shirts all twisted around or off completely exposing what looked like Silver backs dressed in sleveless tee shirts, and women barely alive and breathing, sitting in positions that the Kama Sutra never even covered ! I swear, this is where they got the idea for the bar scene in the first Star Wars movie! What this all really stood for was the importance of family. Family that you were born into, or, picked by yourself as a loving gesture of community. Family that you laughed and cried with, celebrated with, ate with, shared with, worshiped with and stood by with as life became a mere wink of an eye. Italians, Poles, Germans, Irish, African-Americans, all held together with the common bond that man is a social creature and cannot be alone. Please, spend this Holiday with everyone you can whether it be family, friends, or a lonely widow or widower down the street. Please! Allow your soul to step out of the temporary body that holds it, and let it run wild in the streets made of love and give it a good airing out! May God Bless us all Sante!
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Tue, Dec 16th - 3:25AM
Sicilian Elegance
| Written by Chef Louie | | Monday, 15 December 2008 01:33 | Here is an absolutely amazing thought. My ancestors all came up the way we need to be right now in our economic situation. Money's tight, there's little or no chance to go out and eat, and, we all love good food, good friends, and,m great times! The answer then as it is now, and should always be, for that matter, is to take common ingredients and ELEVATE them to beyond the planets where today's celebrity chefs seem to dwell! Here is a dish made with rice, pasta, sauce, cheese and a little imagination. It is called Tumala, or, a Rice Bombe. It's elegance is only surpassed by it's taste! TUMALA Needed: 3 1/2 cups of Arborio Rice 5 large eggs 4 1/2 cups of your favorite grated cheese ( I like Locatelli for this) Black pepper freshly grated nutmeg 1 pound of pasta penne or like pasta 1 cup of peas, pref. frozen Butter Breadcrumbs some hearty meat sauce Cook the rice as per the instructions, on the AL dente side, set aside and soak with ice water to stop the cooking process. Let is rest 5 minutes. Now beat 4 of the eggs, and mix this with 2 cups of cheese into the rice, put into a baking dish, cover with a towel, and set it in a cool place in the kitchen for approx 6 hours. Meantime, prepare your sauce and cook the pasta as you normally would. Grain the pasta and add enough sauce to coat the pasta well, then, with a slotted spoon, add most of the meat from the sauce to the pasta and mix well. Now add 1/2 cup of the grated cheese and the peas as well and toss. Now let the pasta cool. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Take a heavy stainless bowl at least 11 inches high, grease with butter then coat with breadcrumbs. Throw an added amount of crumb to the bottom of the bowl as well. Now line the rice mixture around the bowl at least 1/2 inch thick and do not leave any weak spots. Make a nice, thick base at the bottom. When the pasta is at room temperature, spoon that into the riced bowl to about an inch from the top, and cover this with the remaining rice, then take the remaining egg and beat it and coat the top of the rice. This must be strong as the weight of the tumala will be on this top, which will be the base. Bake for 1 hour, or until a light golden brown, then once out, run a knife around the top edge to release it, then let it rest for about 10 to 15 minutes. At this time you can reheat your sauce that is left. Once rested, put a serving dish over the top of the bowl, flip over, and tapping gently should release the tumala onto the plate. One slice can be cut into two, presenting this beauty on a plate with some extra sauce and more cheese on it, and some fresh ground pepper for the final serve. This dish is amazing and elegant, and if the big chefs of the world ever get their hands on this, it will be touted as a gourmet breakthrough and be priced out of this world, but you and I will always know better! SIMPLE ISN'T GOOD - IT'S GREAT!! |
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Mon, Dec 15th - 3:53AM
A Great Holiday Party Gift!
| Written by Chef Louie | | A few days ago, a good friend of mine called and asked for advice about what to bring to a Holiday party at someone's home. I jumped at this one! I sent him to the grocery to get all the necessities for a homemade apple pie - the aluminum pan, the pastry sheets, and of course apples, lots of apples, 5 pounds to be exact! Steve, my pal, sat and peeled and cored the apples, placed them in a large pot and mixed the spices as directed, and even laid a sheet of pastry dough on the pie pan. I had him pre-bake the bottom sheet so as to keep it from getting soggy, filled it with all these beautiful apples and spices ( remember, 5 pounds - it comes out to be about 8 inches high in the center- a real wowser!), then placing the top sheet on, cutting a few slits and making an egg wash to make it nice and shiny. He was very worried about cooking this monster, however, here's the neat part - no cooking needed! These little get togethers usually have the regular fare of little weenies in sauce, chips, dip, and the mandatory veggie bowl. As he entered the home of the party, all eyes were on this pie standing as tall as the Empire State Building. Once he instructed the hostess that it needed to be cooked, she was only too happy to comply, and now the house smelled like a cross between Santa's workshop and one of those fancy candles, leaving the people at the event in a coma! Now listen this - on any dish, aroma is worth 50 out of 100 points. Looks is another 40 points. Pies smell great, even if their made poorly, and the look of this monster rated a 40 out of 40 no matter who made it. At 90 points out of 100, it could come out dry, burned or too sweet or too tart, no matter, as everyone will ultimately blame the hostess for the way she cooked it! Needless to say, Steve was the center of attraction, and as a single guy, he loved every minute of it! I've included one of my skyscrapers - this one was apple along with about a pound of shredded cheddar mixed in - great combination! |
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Fri, Dec 12th - 4:17AM
Holiday Apples
Good news for those who want to use apples in their holiday recipies! This year's apple crop in Washington is estimated at a record 113 million boxes.
The Wenatchee World reports the Dec. 1 estimate is 3 percent higher than Nov. 1 estimate from the Wenatchee Valley Traffic Association and the Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association.
The manager of the Yakima association, Keith Mathews, says the late harvest was greater than anticipated because growers kept fruit on trees longer to compensate for a cold spring.
"Now, if the gas prices stay low, that could mean great prices for apples -- which means more pies, tart, fritters and even apple sauce! In fact, taking a pie ready for baking to a party is a great idea -- when the hostess pops it in the oven it fills the room with that great apple pie smell and gives the party a great ambience. Come ot our web site at www.thekitchenfreaks.com and I'll give you the preparation instructions. You can be the hit of the party with very little work and a new and innovative idea.
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Thu, Dec 11th - 8:26AM
No Levtovers!
Last month,I had a Thanksgiving nightmare. Someone was throwing away food! The very act of that plate being scraped off and into the trash pail, in slo-motion, over and over like a bad Redskins play – I woke in a garlic scented cold sweat! Please, forget the whales and timber wolves for the moment, and let’s Save the Corn! Please, get out on every street corner and raise that Re-Patriate your Potatoes sign! The next time you’re at a public function, wear that Store the String Beans badge proudly! CORN: I love taking leftover corn, all buttery and seasoned and all, and trow it into a hot, cast pan with some olive oil. Let it get good and comfy in that pan, and hit it with some ground cumin, annatto, garlic, eith fresh chopped or powder, and salt and pepper. If you have some leftover bell peppers, chop them and throw them into the mix as well. Sauté until caramelized and what a treat you are in for! Mashed Potatoes: Here’s a killer that will give the Rascal House in Miami Beach a run for their money! Put the mashed taters into a bowl, add crushed Matzo and one beaten egg for every 2 cups or so of potato. Some Kosher salt, pepper, and glop these little babies onto a greased flat pan, cook both sides till golden brown, and serve with some good apple sauce. I guarantee you will be looking for a Rabbi to hear your confession after this meal! I like this as a side dish with, say, Brisket, served with raw onions on top – UNBELIEVABLE! Sweet potatoes: Here’s one for the kid in all of us. Take these beautiful tubers, add some sweetened, evaporated milk, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice, and hit the mixer. Once pureed, this can be served baked in a ramekin as a side, baked in a large bowl covered with marshmallows, made into a healthy pie, or, stand back, a glop of this mix, a pile of mashed potatoes next to it, then, some boiled peanuts, shelled and run into a processor into a homemade peanut butter, and swirl this altogether into a super tuber side! Now I’m even scaring me! Please join us on our web page at www.thekitchenfreaks.com or contact us at thekitchenfreaks@yahoo.com we are always interested in food talk!
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Thu, Dec 11th - 8:07AM
Welcome to your Blog!
Dear Chef Louie,
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