Anybody cook with chorizo much? I bought some spicy chorizo on a whim the other day, never having tried to cook with it before.

1) Any tips on how best to remove the casing without accidentally pinching off parts and ending up with odd-shaped lumps of chorizo?

2) Best way to cook it? With other types of sausage I've cooked them in an inch of water in a skillet or so, but I wasn't sure if that would be a good way for the chorizo. I have a gas stove that tends to cook very hot and very fast, but with things like sausage sometimes they tend to burn on the outside and don't cook to the right temps when pan frying. Ideas?

Thanks!

Buzzard's Breath Barbecue Sauce

2 cups chopped onions
1 cup very strong coffee
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup catsup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 puréed Habanero pepper—include seeds**
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. purée in a blender or food processor. Divide sauce between 2 pint-sized, sterilized jars with canning lids. This makes a nice homemade gift combined with a barbecue cookbook or some other barbecue accessory.

** Habanero peppers are the hottest. If you can't find them in your Mexican food aisle at the grocery store, or you want less heat, you may substitute jalapeño peppers.

My four-year anniversary with my boyfriend is coming up, and our deal is that if he takes me out to dinner, I'm going to make him a nice dinner at home. I've decided on Italian, but I have no idea what to make. Spaghetti is a definite no. Ziti is my last resort, as it's a favorite dish of ours and we make it quite often. We LOVE Italian food, so I'm open to any suggestions-- except for eggplant parmesean. I tried some recently and didn't like it that much. My other stipulations are that the meal has to be relatively simple-- as in, I don't have to go out and buy 21490875 ingredients-- and low-cost. If it's not a "one-pot" dish where I don't need a couple sides, I'd love recommendations/recipes for some sides as well, and wine suggestions if you have any! Thanks in advance :)

(cross-posted to cooking)

EDIT: What I really need is recipes! I'm not exactly an experienced cook, hehe.

hi there my name is asis, i am on an extremely tight budget. i need to be able to feed 2 ppl for a whole month for 64 dollars. mostly just one but i have a boyfirend that will be comming over a few days a week..cazn any of you send me recipes for cheap meals.. like up to 2 a meal for 2 please.. thanks asis

Hello Everyone!

I come to you today with a quandary. My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years and I've come to a realization - I've expanded his tastes all that I can.

My SO grew up in a very "simple" household... no fresh onion, garlic or other spices (when used at all); very simple meals (meat and potatoes, meat and rice, etc); few vegetables; nothing fancy or exotic or requiring more than 15 minutes prep and exploration wasn't really encouraged.

I on the other hand grew up in a household where my mother grew her own fresh herbs; we had a vegetable garden and ate mostly vegetable meals during the summer months when the garden was bursting; exotic, new or different foods were on the menu at least once a week and I was encouraged to explore the culinary world.

( The Back-story )

I love my boyfriend to bits and want to spend the rest of my life with him - it seems silly to get so worked up over something as simple as differing tastes. Is anyone else in this situation? How do you deal? Does anyone have any "simple" recipes that I can expand my limited menu with? Some ideas for new foods that I can try with him that he might like?

Thanks in advance - your help will assist not only myself, but thousands of other sufferers of PPST (Partners of People with Simple Tastes).

(x-posted a bunch of places)

I am moving into my house this Sunday...it's college campus housing, but it's located off campus. I am really excited!!! I am planning to go grocery shopping Sunday, and I'm already thinking of what to buy. I know I'll need some basics...like milk, eggs, bread, etc. But are there other things I might forget that I will need? What about a few things that I'll be able to use for a quick dinner? I don't really have any idea how I'm going to handle this cooking-for-myself thing. Any tips? Quick, healthy meal ideas? Thanks! I'd love for this community to be more active, it's such a cool idea.

cross-posted to dorm_cooking

I apologize in advance for some of the vagueness here; I rarely measure anything when I cook and enjoy playing with flavors and herbs and textures. This isn't anything special, but it tasted pretty good and I enjoyed the combination of flavors. I live alone, and know that finding recipes for only 1 or 2 people is difficult. So here goes. If you try it, I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to switch out vegetables or spices. Have fun with it. :)

( My own experimentation under the cut )

This is an edited recipe of this. I made it for dinner for me and my dad last night. It was soooooooooo yummy.

( Chicken Breast with Vinegar and Pepper )

anyone have a good recipe for a chicken or turkey meat dumpling? my boyfriend bought the dumpling skins to experiment with... maybe something with ginger?? thanks :)

This is really a method more than it is a recipe.

(The chicken can be made in advance, if you prefer)

2 large baking potatoes

Scrub and pierce multiple times with a fork. Place in 400 degree oven and bake for about an hour (times will vary depending on oven temperature accuracy and size of potato...I actually turned my oven on full blast for awhile, because I find that my potatoes don't get fully baked otherwise).

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oil in a large skillet. Add spices to chicken. Cook chicken. Drain on paper towels to remove most of the oil.

When potatoes are done, gently cut a thin slice from the top of each (use tongs to do this so you don't have to touch them) and scoop the pulp out into a bowl. Discard tops. Mix pulp with 1 tablespoon margarine, 4 tablespoons sour cream. Mash. Add a few tablespoons of milk and stir until potato mixture is very creamy. Add 1/2 c. shredded cheddar or mexican cheese and the chicken, and salt and pepper if you like. Mix well. Spoon potato mixture back into potato skins. They will be very very full.

Put potatoes on cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until everything is heated through. You can sprinkle some additional cheese on top during this step if you want during the last few minutes of baking time.

Top each spud with taco toppings of your choice: extra sour cream, salsa, scallions, etc.

BTW, I used reduced fat ingredients whenever possible. Cheddar made with 2% milk, reduced fat sour cream, etc.

As the end of term approaches and my student loan is only a distant memory I'm low on cash and therefore food. Does anyone have ideas for cheap recipes I can make for the next month before my next installment arrives in my bank? I'm not vegetarian but I'm especially fond of chinese and italian food, however I'm quite wary in the kitchen (new cook) so need quite simple dishes. Thanks in advance!

Hello all! I am a cooker-for-two. Recently, I've gotten into making bento box lunches for me and my husband to take to work for lunch or as a late afternoon meal. Bentos are full meals in small (and cute) packaging, and I think many of the recipes work for dinner as well. Here's a photo of one bento I made recently:



Left: tamagoyaki with spinach, stir-fried Chinese broccoli, shrimp shiu mai, grape tomatoes
Right: 1 plain onigiri, 2 rolled in different flavored furikake, container of soy sauce
Also: chopsticks & furoshiki

mmmbento is my just-launched bento blog. Come check it out if you like. :) Recipes can be found in the recipes/memories link.

Here is the tamagoyaki with spinach recipe (so easy and good!).

I combined 2 brownie recipes for this - one that I cut out of a magazine a couple of years ago, and a Rocky Road brownie recipe from Cooking For 2 magazine (I just omitted the nuts and added the graham crackers). So this recipe is scaled down to 6 servings.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (177 C).

Line a loaf pan with foil. Place a layer of graham crackers on bottom of pan. You may need to break them in order to get them to fit.

Okay, now for the rest of the ingredients:

- 1 square (1 oz) unsweetened chocolate
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
- 1/3 c. mini semisweet chocolate chips (I didn't have chips, so I chopped up 2 1 oz. squares of semisweet chocolate)

In a microwave or heavy saucepan, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar, egg, vanilla, salt and chocolate mixture. Add flour; mix well. Stir in marshmallows and chocolate chips.

Spread into pan over graham crackers. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until brownies test done. Gently lift out foil. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 6 pieces.

Okay, I admit, I watch Rachel Ray almost everyday, and I enjoy watching 30 Minute Meals. Her food is easy to understand and looks like simple, easy to do stuff. Her tips aren't half bad either. Anyway, I wanted to share my versions of her recipes.

For dinner: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_22590,00.html
The only change I make for this recipe is I use a can of corn rather than carrots (husband won't eat them) and I make my mashed potatoes like I always do, lots of milk, butter, sour cream in the KitchenAid. I usually use leftover mashed potatoes from the night before. I also sprinkle seasoning salt liberally on top of the potatoes because I always under salt the meat. They don't get as brown as they would if I used the egg yolk, but I think egg yolk is gross, and I'd just waste the white.

Warning dial up users, photo heavy!
And then... yummy!: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31575,00.html
( Strawberries! )

My tummy is happy. :)

Hubby's definitely happy with what he had for dinner. He said it was better than the usual boring stuff. :) Of course, it's something very different from the usual.

I was trying to decide on what to fix for dinner...came across a recipe online and adjusted it to what I had and to our tastes.

It was so yummy and so tender...We'll probably have it more often...but not too often that we get sick of it. :)


( Click here to find out what we had for dinner...recipe included! )

Butter Sauced Chicken Pasta

2 chicken breasts, or one cut into half depending on size.
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons chicken grill seasoning
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup speghetti noodles

- First, begin to cook your speghetti noodles by grabbing them toward the center and breaking them in half then placing them in a pan of water on medium heat. They should be done by the time your to add them to the dish. Then, take a wide non-stick cooking pot and coat the bottom with 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the chicken breasts and season with salt and pepper as well as the chicken grill seasoning. After frying your chicken breasts, cover them with a lid once both sides have browned nicely and turn the heat on medium-low and let them begin to steam cook the rest of the way. This will provide a juicy chicken flavor and also release chicken fat to the bottom of the pan. After the chicken has finished cooking(20-30min thawed, 45-50min frozen), remove the chicken from the pan and set aside to cool. Add a tablespoon of butter and the 1/2 cup of flour slowly to pick up the chicken fat from the bottom of the pan. Once the mixture starts thickening... add the minced garlic, milk, and oregano. Let this come to a boil, stirring it constantly to prevent burning. After it has came to a boil drain and add the speghetti noodles. Let the noodles coat themselves in the sauce, turn your stove's heat down to low/warm and put the lid back on the pan. While the noodles are coating themselves in the sauce, begin slicing up your chicken breasts in bite sized pieces. When finished, add them to the sauce and noodles mixture. Stir and heat back up to a slight boil. After this, it's done... pour all ingedients into a large serving bowl and enjoy!

I have two lovely recipes to share with you tonight. On a massive search for new dinner recipes, I found a chicken dish that captured my imagination, so we had that for dinner tonight- a great success. For dessert, then I was driven by the need to use up a frozen pie crust I had stashed away. No top crust was available, limiting my options. So, I went with a streusel apple pie with cream cheese filling. I will explain:)

First, the chicken, which sort of lacks a title at the moment. (The original was called "Simon and Garfunkel Chicken" but changing the spices as I did makes it sort of wrong...I'm using "Chicken Rolls" for now.) I made some replacements based on what I had available to me, which I will note.

Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1/2 c butter
8 slices mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp parsley, 1/4 tsp each sage, rosemary, thyme
1/2 c flour
1 beaten egg
1/2 c breadcrumbs
3/4 c white wine
( Instructions for Chicken Rolls )
It was a really nice dish, the wine made everything moist and counteracted what could have been a very heavy cheese presence. The tops of the rolls are nice and golden brown and crisp, in spite of the wine. It's very attractive, and if you used pretty toothpicks it would make a lovely party dish. I am sorry I don't have photos, it just got gobbled up so fast!


Now, the pie.
This is called Apple Cream Cheese Streusel Pie. This was also a recipe I found online, with some slight adjustments.

Ingredients:
1 pie crust, unbaked
3 cups peeled, thinly sliced, pared tart apples. (I used three medium Granny Smiths)

Filling:
1/2 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves
2/3 c white sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp softened butter
1/8 tsp salt
1.5 tsp vanilla
3 oz softened plain cream cheese

Streusel:
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c flour
2 tbsp softened butter
1/4 c chopped nuts (I used pecans)
( Pie Instructions )
This pie was really good, well received by even my cooked-apple-hating boyfriend. (I know, he's weird.) The cream cheese taste is not overpowering, which is nice, and it's sweet but not too much if you use tart apples.

( Pictures!! )

I have some fresh mackerel I want to use up, but am looking for something alternative to just sticking it on the grill... any ideas folks?

2 Green Bell Peppers
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/4 c diced onion
1 celery rib chopped
fresh chopped parsley
1/2 c cooked rice
1 egg
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
1 tbsp garlic (you can adjust down for taste)
salt & pepper
1/4 c shreeded cheese
Shallow baking dish

---------------------------------------------
1) Cut the tops off the bell peppers and remove seeds and any pith (white part inside). Set Aside.
2) Saute ground beef, onions, celery, parsley and garlic until onions are translucent and beef is cooked. Set aside and let cool. (if you are not using very lean meat, you may want to cook the beef first and drain off fat).
3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
4) Add rice, tomato sauce and season with salt & pepper
5) Work egg into mix.
6) Spoon the stuffing mixture into the bell peppers and place into shallow baking dish. (I put a couple tablespoons of water in the bottom of the dish.)
Bake for 40 minutes.
Sprinkle tops with shreeded cheese and cook for until cheese is melted.

Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetable side dish.

---------------------------------------------
Variation:
Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers
Have left over spanish rice? Use that instead of the white rice, season meat with cumin and chili powder.

I'm a new member here, and I thought it befitting to introduce myself. My name is Ashley and I'm a twenty year old, at home fiance. I spend my day cooking and cleaning, and with all this extra time to myself i've expiremented with recipes from my childhood as well as new recipes i've come to aquire from the lovely foodnetwork shows. I love trying new things, and am very at home in a kitchen. I started cooking when I was eleven years old, my father was away alot at work and my mother was off in her own life as it was after my parents had split. I had to cook for my four brothers and three sisters. I would cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner and over the years I had gotten more creative with old recipes passed along in my family. I feel cooking brings back those old memories of my family, from my grandmother baking in the kitchen at all hours of the morning. To my grandfather spending long hours on holiday feasts, that took days to prepare. The scents from my childhood were great, salsbury steaks that my grandfather shaped and slow cooked himself in his own array of spices and gravy. I loved going to family events and just taking in all the aromas.

I'm an avid lover of cooking, just not a fan of the cleaning up. My fiance hasn't been displeased at all with any of my cooking endeavors. He has fallen in love with old recipes that my grandmother still makes to this day, and new spins I put on them.

Well, enough about me. I also found it befitting to share in a recipe of mine. It's quick and easy, not to mention ... utterly delicious.

( Finished Photo and recipe under here )