2 Course TV Dinner:

Media Break


RUB SOME BACON ON IT! I'm seriously in love with this video, song and principle. Check this video by Rhett & Link out...






ON ANOTHER MEDIA NOTE, MY COUSIN DAVE (The Great Steak Challenge) SENT ME SOMETHING ALL YOU COUPLES SHOULD CHECK OUT--It's your chance to be on TV!
A MAJOR TV NETWORK IS LOOKING FOR EXCITING AND MOTIVATED COUPLES FOR A NEW COMPETITION SHOW!
ARE YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND DYNAMIC, OUTGOING, ADVENTUROUS, SPONTANEOUS & COMPETITIVE?
DO YOU KNOW SHE'S THE ONE?
WOULD YOU LIKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE FOR THE ULTIMATE ROMANTIC GETAWAY VACATION?
If this sounds like you and your girlfriend, then we want to hear from you!!
VPE Talent is looking for couples, WHO LIVE SOMEWHAT CLOSE TO NYC / NJ, to compete for an incredible romantic getaway on a new national TV series.
To apply: Send your name, contact info,  current photo and a few sentences describing why you guys are an awesome couple to Jennifer@vpetalent.com


Even though this post has nothing to do with yours truly, you can still share recipes or ask questions at themaniccheater@gmail.com.

Baked 'n Chilled Pesto Chicken Salad Sandwich
Mixed Greens w/ Simple Dressing & Romano Pizzelles
(with Healthy Tweaking)

It is HOT out.  I hate heat.  I needed a chilled meal so I picked a really simple thing to make to start: my stand-by salad dressing for a cool mixed green salad and then a hot chicken salad that I tweak to cut out some fat and chill for my own needs.  I also wanted to try something new in lieu of croutons--tried to make a little cheese cracker.

The recipe used to be fatty fatty fatty with tons of mayo and a bunch of cheese.  Not needed for mine....

 

Ingredients:

3 chicken breast cooked and diced to your chunky preference
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup mayonnaise 1/4 low-fat cup mayo
1 cup celery chopped 1 large stalk celery chopped
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded 1 handful low-fat shredded cheddar
2/3 cup crushed potato chips 1 handful crushed BAKED potato chips
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice juice of 1/2 lemon
+ 1/2 cup pesto (recipe follows)  

+ 1 handful bagel chips crushed

rolls, baguettes, pita or bread--your choice for the sandwich

mixed greens (optional: slices of low-fat swiss)

Pesto:

1/4 cup pine nuts

10 cloves garlic

5 cups fresh basil leaves (packed down)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon back pepper

1 1/2 cups olive oil

1 cup pecorino romano

Salad Dressing:

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Pizzelles:

Romano cheese

Preheat oven to 400°

Chicken & Pesto:

Pound and slice your chicken breasts in half and wrap in foil.  Bake for 20 minutes.  While it cooks, put the pine nuts, garlic, basil, salt and pepper into your food processor and "process" on low for about 30 seconds.  While the ingredients break down, stream in the olive oil through that hole thing on the top of the processor.  When the ingredients are pureed, add the romano and puree for another 45 seconds.  Set aside and put the remaining amount,with a layer of olive oil on top, in a tightly sealed container and freeze for later use.

When chicken is done, allow to cool.  Add your celery, cheese, almonds, lemon juice and 2 pinched of salt and pepper to a large bowl and mix.  When the chicken has cooled, chop it up and add to your bowl followed by the mayo and pesto.  Mix and salt and pepper to taste.  Spread out the mixture into a glass baking dish and cover with the bagel chips. Put in the fridge to chill.

Dressing:

Add your ingredients to a dressing mixer and shake (duh) or whisk in a bowl. 

Pizzelles:

Lay parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spoon circles of romano (about a tablespoon each) onto the surface making sure they do not touch.  Cook for about 10 minutes before allowing to cool and peeling them off carefully.

Toast bread, roll, pita (or not) with the swiss and top with some greens and the chicken salad.  Toss the salad with the dressing and serve with the pizzelles.

Notes: I have successfully made this my own by making it a pesto dish.

Tweaks:

I cut most of the mayo (and substituted low-fat for what little I did use) in favor of Pesto.  I think it gives it something and mayo is just oil and egg really.  I don't think we need that in us.  Pesto has oil and cheese but you can control how much you use if you are being health conscious.

I serve this chilled instead of its intended hot state.

I used reduced-fat cheddar cheese.

I used more lemon for flavor .

I used less celery as the almond gives enough crunch and isn't as wet.
I used baked potato chips instead of fried.

Possible Cheat:

If you are a wuss (or just in a hurry), you can use bottled pesto.

Verdict: Success

Neighbor-worthy. 

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Peanut Butter Cream-Filled
Devil's Food Cupcakes
with Chocolate-Butterfinger Icing

COMFORT FOOD ALERT:  For a bad day when you want indulgent food (and when I don't want to tweak too much and just want to cheat the shit out of a recipe).
I assumed I'd be down with this recipe I found for Peanut Butter Cream-filled Devil's-Food Cupcakes from Bobby Flay, but I felt it could leave the slightest Mark on it (see what I did there again?)

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups cake flour flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk *see buttermilk cheat at bottom
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strong coffee
3 2 large eggs (+ egg white)
+ cup whole milk
+ 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Boxed Devil's Food Cake Mix (sugar-free)
+ 2 pinches of nutmeg
+ 1/2 cup canola oil

PASTRY BAG w Medium Tip (just the tip isn't enough for me to get the job done here)

Filling:
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter low-fat creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar    (like I own a sifter-I can barely open my utensil drawer)

Ganache  What the hell is ganache?  Icing/Topping:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate roughly chopped (I used Ghirardelli)
1 cup roasted peanuts, chopped 2 Butterfinger candy bars crushed

Preheat oven to 325°

Line a muffin pan with foil cupcake lines (or lay our on a cookie sheet).

Follow directions on your cake mix box and make the batter.  Add the coffee.  Fill the cups half way and bake for 25 minutes.  Set on your cooling rack.

With a hand mixer, beat the butter and peanut butter until blended.  On a slow speed, slowly add the confectioner's sugar.  Crank up the speed some and beat until it's fluffy.  Spoon this mixture into a pastry bag with a medium tip and insert some of that cream in there--DON'T overdo it or it'll just break up.

Crush your Butterfingers in a Ziploc bag or in their wrappers (make it dusty but with some chunks).

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl.  Heat the cream in a small sauce pan until scalding.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for a minute.  Wisk it till it becomes smooth.  Let it chill out and thicken for like 10.  Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the goo and place on your rack individually. Top the soft icing with the crushed candy and allow to set (or don't I don't care, they could be good all hot an gooey).

Notes:

I made this for me not others.  I use nuts sometimes when it's for others but not tonight**.

Tweaks:
I used a sugar-free mix (no healthy tweak as it is negated by everything else here).
I added some nutmeg to sweeten this sugarless mix.

**Nuts and raisins don't belong in food--they belong in a bowl (or occasionally in a crunchy peanut butter) or in a box respectively. I opted for crushed candy for the topping.
I used low-fat peanut butter.  I understand that with this truly fattening dessert that this does not really count as a healthy tweak cut corners when you can. Plus it tastes the same and I had it already.
I cut out one egg and used one egg yolk
I cut out 2 tablespoons of butter out of the recipe for the cupcake.  Isn't 1/2 a cup enough??

Cheats:
*Buttermilk is a waste of money when it's not something already in house and you need so little of it.  One cup whole milk + 1 tablespoons allowed to curdle (15 minutes) is a great quickie homemade ingredient.
I used a box instead of doing cupcakes from scratch this time.

Verdict: Success

Neighbor-worthy.  I gave these to my buddies down at our local (and favorite) place, the Half King.  They have been so great to us over the years and I wanted to share my thanks with a few extra lbs.

Do you want to be on the mailing list or have recipes you want to share with me?  Contact me at themaniccheater@gmail.com.

Personal Note

Cooking is Just Like Sex

A LULL IN THE KITCHEN CAN BE THE SAME AS ONE IN THE BEDROOM  Sometimes you're just not in the mood.  Sometimes you really want to but can't find the time. Sometimes you do it by yourself.

Do you want to be on the maiing list or have recipes you want to share with me?  Contact me at themaniccheater@gmail.com.

Dammit

There's Meat All Over the Place That Needs Attention

I REALIZED TODAY THAT I HAVE MISSPELLED PROSCIUTTO DURING ANY AND EVERY MENTION OF IT ON THIS BLOG And I've mentioned it a bunch.  I had to search for it outta my posts to make corrections.

I love prosciutto and feel bad for having disrespected it, dumb for not knowing how to spell it and disappointed that my spell-check doesn't speak Italian.

Do you want to be on the mailing list or have recipes you want to share with me?  Contact me at themaniccheater@gmail.com.

Personal Note

Misery Loves Company Readers Love My Misery

APPARENTLY FANS (OR ANTI-FANS) GET OFF ON MY SCREWING UP  Yesterday's post of my failure had the quickest growing crescendo of views.  I have a feeling that my failures will be my most popular posts.

Twitter and Pinterest help, but apparently my pout helps grow traffic even more.


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Steak with Roasted Tomato Relish

I took what I thought was a slight risk to suit my own shopping experience on this one (which was a Grilled Steak with Tapenade).  I couldn't get my hands on fresh olives and thought I would do a stand-by recipe of mine for roasted tomato bruschetta with ingredients I already had as a tweak.

Ingredients:
2 lbs flank steak
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
1 medium shallot
1 clove garlic 2 cloves garlic diced
1 sprig rosemary
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lemon halved
1 pint grape tomatoes
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh basil chopped
kosher salt

Heat grill, grill pan on grill-type appliance (like my adored Griddler).  Preheat oven to 400°

Rub your steak on both sides with a good olive oil and scrub with salt and pepper and let sit for about 5 minutes (or longer if you have the time.) 

In a bowl, add you tomatoes, olive oil to coat and salt, pepper and basil.  Toss and place on foil lined, vegetable sprayed (like PAM) cookie sheet and bake in oven for 20 minutes.

Grill steaks for 5-7 minutes on each side (depending on cut) for Medium Rare and allow to cool. 

When tomatoes are done, place them back in the bowl and smash 'em.  Sliced the steak at a slant into several pieces, plate and smother with the tomato mixture.

Notes:

This was a recipe that I eked out a last minute substitution as my planned shopping was thrown off by lack of obtainable ingredients.

Tweaks:

I swapped out the tapenade recipe for a roasted bruscetta mix.

Verdict: Failure


Not Neighbor-worthy.  What an embarrassment and a huge mistake.  Not to mention I hate anything close to rare (unless it's a tar-tar). The steak coulda been fine and the roasted tomato bruscetta mix was great. I should have just made steak and attempted another way to make it a show-piece.

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