Bachelor Night

Every man must invest on a Panini maker...it truly is a godsend!  Christina had to work and I didn't feel like cooking a full fledged meal, so I decided to make a massive sandwich, but I enjoy a bit of a crunch, and did I get it...

With the tuna, melted american, lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber sandwich made within five minutes, some chips and a cold beer I was all set for my nice, quiet evening with dinner and some football!

20 Minute Meal...with Live Entertainment

Chicken Cordon Bleu is a great idea, but what about making it bite sized?  We had some friends and their adorable baby boy over for dinner, and it needed to be something that could be made quickly.  With everything already defrosted the combination of ground chicken, a few other things, ham, and my choice of mozzarella cheese.

A quick salad, and once again with sourdough toast, the meal is complete.  Everyone enjoyed it and we even had baby AJ banging golf balls on everything he could all around the apartment for our live music.

Little Kick

With some spare veal in the freezer, I wanted to try a little something new, and found something with a little spice.  The breaded veal with a little Texas Pete, and some capicola ham and melted provolone cheese is scrumptious.  The only pit fall is the ham does have a tendency to be a little fatty, but in the end great.

The healthy part of this Italian cuisine is the wheat pasta and the sourdough toast with some olive oil spread to top it off.  There is a good bite between the spice of the ham and the hot sauce, and oh the power of cheese!

Asian Feast

The family came into town late August to bring Stick back down to school, and we were able to catch up on a lot over this meal.  I chose Chinese because this is something that my sister and I used to cook when I was crashing at their place, and it's a never fail meal but this time we added a delicious appetizer!

This was my first crack at making Crab Rangoon, and let me tell you they are extremely simple and taste amazing.  With the presentation in a nice little pattern around the dipping sauce these things were gone in a matter of minutes...it was a good thing we made a bundle!

The main course consisted of General Tso's Chicken and Chicken Lo Mein.  There are both a calorie counting way and a traditional way to make General Tso's and with the family in town I decided to splurge and make my own chicken nuggets.  Along with that came the Lo Mein and this too there are a few different ingredients you can use depending on personal preference...celery, carrots, mushrooms, scrambled eggs...the list goes on, but in the end this is a rough image...

The only way to top this meal is by making my own fortune cookies...and trust me, I will find a way

Healthy Version

Cobb Salad is something fairly quick and simple.  All it takes is basically whatever is in the refrigerator and some lettuce.  I happen to have ham, tomato, turkey, hard boiled eggs and some provolone cheese, put all that in their own little section on top of a bed of lettuce.  You can use any type or dressing.  I chose ranch to express the southerner in me because they put ranch on everything down here.

The traditional Cobb Salad includes, but is not limited to, tomato, crisp bacon, boiled or roasted chicken breast, hard-boiled egg, avocado, chives.  But who goes with tradition?

Katie, Donny and Maddie Come Over

There was a time when I was going to be out of town, Christina was working her 5,000 jobs, and we weren't going to be able to take care of our dogs.  I was able to sweet talk/bribe my sister, brother-in-law and adorable niece into cooking for them in exchange for taking care of the dogs for a couple of nights.  With their love of mexican food how could I go wrong?

Arroz con Pollo is a pretty good staple in Mexican food, but we gave this one a little kick by adding some chorizo.  As well, we threw in some color with red and green peppers, some more flavor with some diced up onions.  Of course you have to top it with some shredded cheese, and for some reason a scoop of sour cream.  That I'm not quite sure why

His and Hers

Yet another night my wife had to work I was sitting at home wondering what I could do for dinner.  When I went digging through the freezer I stumbled upon a nice fillet mignon, pulled out some bearnaise sauce, started it up, and never looked back...

The final product came out to be so delicious that I sent her, and a few others, a picture of what they had missed while she was at work.  Needless to say, she was none to pleased so I had to go to the store a few nights later and prepare her one just for herself...She was at least kind enough to let me make one for myself too.  This time she picked the garlic mashed potatoes, and I may say they were a nice little contrast with the filet

Trial Run

This is my first creation on a lonely night, so I could make seafood.  This crabcake sandwich was delicious, especially with the homemade potato chips.  One thing that I added to the sandwich that I haven't normally seen in restaraunts was slivered cucumber along with lettuce, tomato and homemade tartar sauce.  This is one of many things to come!

The Beginning

This past winter and spring was extremely slow in the golf business I had to pick up a part-time job as a waiter.  Working at this restaurant was a cool experience, but still had a lot of spare time, so I decided to venture into a new form of art, and passion, of food.  The way it's cooked, the visual presentation, and the flavors have all of a sudden caught my attention rather than just cooking something simple to pass the night by.  With so many different ways and spices you can add to brighten up any dish there are countless things you can do with the same meal.  I am going to try and post at least one home made meal a week with some pictures, and I'd appreciate all the feedback.


P.S.  All of the foods I cook are prepared inside...grill free (unfortunately)