Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Hot and Sweet Chicken Wings

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Cajun Shrimp Skewers

Cajun Shrimp Skewers

Ingredients-

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup olive oil 

2 Tbsp. dried chopped basil

1 tsp. coarse black pepper 

2 Tbsp. cajun spice

31-37 medium sized raw Shrimp, peeled, deveined (leave on tails) 

2 tsp. lemon juice

Directions-

Mix marinade in shallow bowl, add Shrimp, place in ziplock bag, refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Turn on the broiler. Skewer Shrimp, 6-10 per stick. Broil until Shrimp just become opaque (pink/white), basting occasionally, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Sausage Gravy Pizza

(more pictures coming soon)

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Sausage and Bacon Alfredo Pizza

Sausage and Bacon Alfredo Pizza

Ingredients-

1 Pillsbury Pizza Crust, Classic

However much Italian Sausage you'd like (Mild, Medium or Hot), I used about 3 links of mild sausage. Casing removed and cooked to just underdone.

 However much Bacon you'd like, I used about 3 strips cut into quarter inch squares (chopped).  Cooked to just underdone, halfway. 

Alfredo Sauce, I used Ragu Cheesy Sauce, Classic Alfredo. Cover the pizza crust with sauce, leaving a gap around the outside for a crust.

Shredded mozzarella cheese or slices of fresh mozzarella cheese.

Salt and Pepper if you wish for seasoning

Directions-

Preheat oven 425

Put the pizza together on the cooking sheet that you will be cooking it on.

Cooked 17-20 minutes, keep an eye on it after 15 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn or get overcooked. It should be medium brown in color, a slight char in places is okay.

(use the pictures as reference)

Christmas 2012

Shortbread House 
&
Italian Butter Cookies

Italian Butter Cookies

Ingredients-

6 tbsp (3oz)- unsalted butter

6 tbsp (3oz)- vegetable shortening

3oz- sugar

1- large egg (2oz)

1/2t- vanilla extract

1t- almond extract

8oz- all purpose flour

1oz- corn starch

Directions-

Colorful sprinkles for decorating. *optional*

Melted dark chocolate for coating *optional*

Preheat oven to 375.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

Cream the butter and shortening with the sugar until mixture reaches “ribbon stage”.

Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract. Mix until well incorporated.

Add the flour and corn starch. Mix until cookie dough batter looks uniform.

Take batter and transfer to a piping bag with a large star tip.

Pipe dough on parchment paper to silver dollar sized cookies. Start in the middle and work your way out in a circular motion.

Sprinkle with colorful sprinkles or leave plain.

Bake cookies for 10 minutes at 375. The bottom of the cookies will be slightly golden.

http://food-bully.com/post/33513036602/italian-butter-cookies

Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Classic American Buttercream frosting. This recipe uses powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and milk. This is a great recipe for decorating and piping on cupcakes and cake.

Ingredients-

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or ½ pound), softened (but not melted!) Ideal texture should be like ice cream.

3-4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, SIFTED

¼ teaspoon table salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Directions-

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn't blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time. Add food coloring to add color, be careful, blue will likely turn the frosting slightly green because of the butter. Food coloring can also thin out the frosting.


http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/

Piping Tricks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvqn5sdbpb8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1GRzhLTO1k

http://www.goodlifeeats.com/2011/03/kitchen-tip-multi-swirled-frosting.html#13672659412042&{"cmd":"destroy","appId":"1367265940182"}

I also piped the cookie dough itself, to give the cookies more texture and to give more height towards the center, these cookies flatten out and spread out a good amount when they bake.

Introduction

Hello everyone, welcome to my blog. This blog is all about the joy of cooking and all the wonderful things that come along with it. Cooking can be enjoyable even as a severely disabled person, like myself. I have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which is a neuromuscular disorder, all the muscles in my body get weaker and weaker over time. I was born with it as it is genetic. I'm almost 30 now and I am to the point now that I am so weak, I can't barely do anything for myself. I can only use my computer without help from others. I've been fully confined to a motorized wheelchair since I was about 12 I believe. I am on a ventilator 24/7 because my lungs are too weak. I have a feeding tube because I am too weak to chew and swallow, I'm at risk of aspirating food, which can cause me to get pneumonia, other respiratory infections or cause me to choke. I no longer eat food by mouth because of these risks.

You may be curious as to why I enjoy cooking if I cannot eat what I make. I get joy out of making and seeing others happy when they eat the food I make. It's also a fun activity, I enjoy learning new things, being creative and the scent of the food. I cannot cook at all either without help. I have 24/7 nursing care and I have one nurse named Brenda who helps me cook. She enjoys it as well. So every Wednesday we cook something. We either bake desserts, make an appetizer, snack or meal. You could say that I am the chef and she is the cook. I either find a recipe online or create my own recipe using the things I've learned about cooking online, from watching food network and my experience through actually cooking. I make a shopping list of everything I need and someone picks the stuff up for me. I've gained enough experience and confidence to cook without a recipe and measurements, accept for when I bake of course. I'm very close to learning how to create my own baking recipes too. I haven't baked much recently but I'm quite experienced with making different kinds of cheesecake.

I very much enjoy cooking even though I'm disabled. I try to see the positive in every situation, every struggle I have faced has just made me stronger and who I am. I've lost the ability to do so much but I stay positive and persevere. I am so blessed to have good kind people in my life that help me with the things I cannot do my self. If it wasn't for them, I don't know where I'd be now. Despite my limitations, I live a truly joyful and fulfilling life.

Every week I will share my cooking with you, pictures, recipes, experiences, knowledge, my personal story, etc. Please enjoy and check back from time to time. Thanks!

Jon Gardner (chef)
Nurse Brenda (sous chef)