Cajun Dirty Rice

Cajun Dirty Rice

1 cup of rice
1 lb of ground beef
smoked sausage (1/2 a pound)
1/4 cup carrots
2 celery stalks
1 small green pepper
1 bunch of fresh scallions
2 cloves of garlic
oregano (2 tsp)
cayenne pepper (2 tsp)
fresh ground black pepper
kosher salt
olive oil
21/2 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste

cut veggies, and sautee in olive oil
add ground beef, season with salt/pepper
add rice, and seasonings/spices...stir until toasted
add sliced sausage
add tomato paste and chicken stock
let come to a boil, cover and cook for 15-20 min on low

The Social Network

The Social Network
Director: David Fincher
****

After putting off watching

The Social Network

for a few weeks, I finally got around to seeing David Fincher's newest "masterpiece". I thought it was interesting that I went to go see this movie with my mother who has no experience in "social networking" and really has no interest in networking on the www whatsoever, which I think is cool. I'm happy that neither my mother or father have ever "twittered" "myspaced" or "facebooked" they still send hand written cards to their friends/family during holidays, meet for coffee, and make phone calls to see how someone is doing. They do however "text" and "email" which is probably their furthest extent to "social networking".

My mother enjoyed the movie, she didn't love it and some scenes annoyed her; she did not enjoy the quick announciation of words, the dry wit and conversation nor did she enjoy the soundtrack, and she felt the pace of the film was too quick. Overall, she enjoyed the story...especially after knowing it was based on actual accounts. I asked if she followed all of the information, and she said that she followed most of it because she had heard about Facebook, but that some things she didn't quite get.

I on the other hand loved how fast everything went by especially in a film about the creation of a social networking site where as the main character was one of the most anti-social creatures within the film and its premise. Not so ironic, seeing as why, and how it came about to begin with.

Mark Zuckerman is a "bright" college student/hacker/computer genius who just got dumped by his girlfriend. In anger, Mark goes back to his dorm to vent on his blog and ultimately hacks into Harvard files to download photographs of females who attend Harvard University, only to create an online site "Face Smash" in which photos of girls attending the university are compared and then ranked. (the ultimate revenge). He emails the link to a couple of people and in less than 2 hours, reaches over 20,000 hits. Word gets around campus, and within 4 hours in the making of Face Smash, Mark gets caught, and receives acedemic probation for 6 months.

Enter the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, 2 athletic social butterflys who are part of one of the coolest clubs on campus, the twins also happen to be Olympic trained rowers for Harvard University. After hearing about Face Smash, the twins reach out to Mark and offer him a deal to help create a social network strictly for Harvard students/alumni based on a pre-conceived idea between the twins. After Mark agrees to being part of the site's construction, his mind takes a leap of faith and begins the building of "The Facebook" later to be called "Facebook" through help of his best friend and investor, Billy in less than 6 weeks.

The twins and their partner find out about Mark's web creation days after it's launched and are fueled with anger, claiming that Mark stole their idea.

The film travels to and from the courtroom/Harvard highlighting moments of prevail, desperation, anguish, destruction and prosperity only to create an abomination of a networking revolution worth billions of dollars 500,000,000 friends later.

The film definately played out like a dark psychological thriller, I felt as if a murder occured during some point of the film, but in fact there were no killings. The film was so suspenseful, and had me at the edge of my seat. The film starts off with the main character sitting in a loud crowded bar having a conversation with his girlfriend that ends up a heated arguement and ultimately a break up. From the very beginning, the point of the film was established. This was very sad and disturbing to me. Mark could not shake the thought of letting his girlfriend go, but throughout the film he slowly looses everything that ever really meant something to him, including his best friend. His need to actually see something flourish from beginning to end through HIS control engulfed him so much that he lost sleep and the ability to socialize in common surroundings; he became facebook, a demise just as much as it was a dream, conqured.

Mini Mexican Hotdog Bites

I prepared these delicious little appetizers for a party I hosted for mainly guys, however both the guys/gals loved them equally just as much.

First, I cut the ends off the hot dogs, then cut them in half.
Second, I slit each frank and stuffed it with cheddar cheese.
Third, I wrapped each frank in 1/2 slice of bacon then roasted in the oven at 300 degrees for about 12 min. After 12 min, I basted the franks in bbq sauce, and cooked for 5 min more.
Next, I cut the ends off of hot dog buns, then cut in half and placed the cooked frank, then topped with a slice of avocado.

DELICIOUS!!!

Migas a la Mexicana

The photo shown is a plate of Saturday's breakfast: Migas a la Mexicana

Migas are pieces of corn tortilla pan fried and crispy. It's best if you use fresh tortillas, and crisp them yourself in oil (4-6 tortillas). I use a pat of real butter, and a tablespoon of olive oil to fry them in.

While the tortilla pieces are crisping, I begin to chop onion, jalapeno and tomato (all fresh)the cook until tender.

When the tortilla pieces are crisp, I add the chopped onion, jalapeno and tomato mixture to the pan, then add 2-4 organic eggs. Scramble together and serve.

I make these often, but not often enough as they are one of my favorite breakfast meals.

Sloppy Joes from scratch

There are foods that remind me of family gatherings such as potroast,or cheese dip, where all of family would cram into Grandma's dinning room to feast on Sunday food, filling our bellies with goodness and Grandma's home with laughter. Then there are nostalgic foods like "sloppy joes" that remind me of growing up in public school eating the school lunch.

As a kid, I longed for my mother to prepare sloppy joes at home. Funny, mom would prepare dishes like shepard's pie, fried chicken, enchiladas, and other wonderful home-cooked meals from scratch, but of course I wanted to take my "school eating experience" home with me. Growing up, I notice that a lot of people felt that same way, there was an excitement in it. After convincing mom to cook us "sloppy joes" it became a main staple in our household, I figure that mom thought hey...it's cheap, easy and the kids love it, so why not?

Let me just that I do not care for "manwhich" or any other pre-prepared sloppy joe sauce or mix, I usually find them overly salty and sugary. Instead, I prepare my own joe sauce.

Sloppy Joe:

1 lb ground meat (chicken, beef, or turkey)

I used ground turkey

1 large yellow onion finely diced
1 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small green pepper
salt, pepper to taste (I always use kosher salt or sea salt and fresh ground black pepper)
pinch of ground cinammon, and tsp of brown sugar
1 tsp flour
worcestershire sauce (3 dashes)
1 8oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon of water

sweat the onion, pepper and garlic, add ground meat and brown (in 1 tablespoon of olive oil). add spices and flour, mix and add water. continue to cook, adding the tomatoes, cover and simmer for 10-15 min until thickened.

Serve on your favorite buns, I used the old fashioned white burger buns from the bakery and served with a side of garlic pickles and organic tator tots.

The drink pictured is Grandma's Sherbert Punch

1 large scoop of lime sherbert for each serving
1/2 cup pineapple juice and 1/2 cup of 7up (for each serving)
blend chilled juice and sherbert with a spoon until smooth, then add chilled 7up

BEST junk food/nostalgic meal EVER!

Taco Heaven

I have come to the conclusion that my favorite thing to cook are tacos. I love tacos in all of their varities; I love the endless amount of ingredients that you can stuff in a taco, or top a taco with. I love that tacos can be flat, folded or rolled, I love that there are so many different tortillas and tortilla shells to chose from, and no matter how you make your tacos and what you put in them; they are unique and special. I love that you can have tacos for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and I love how versatile and fun any meal can be when tacos are involved. I have so many recipes for tacos, but last night I prepared a chicken guisado as a filling to
my soft fried corn tortilla tacos. The filling was elegant, delicious and easy to prepare.

Chicken Guisado

2 chicken breasts (with skin/bone)

heat skilled with 1 tablespoon of olive oil
season chicken breasts with cumin, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder
place chicken breasts in skillet, skin side down and sear. Cover pan, and turn on low...cook for 15 min until done.

While your chicken is cooking heat up another pan
add olive oil
1 jalapeno, chopped
1/2 onion chopped
sweat (10 min)
add 1 8 oz can crushed tomatoes
salt/pepper and squeeze of lime
simmer for 10 min.

Shred chicken and place in sauce, then cook for 5-10 min

stuff your tacos and top with anything you desire. I enjoy lettuce, tomato and cheese :D For this batch of tacos I used a half corn and half wheat tortilla and soft pan-fried them in heated olive oil


Taco History:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taco

tacos ala plancha

Labour Day weekend cooking is fun for me because what I usually do is clean out my fridge and cupboards to see if there is a meal to throw together...there usually is. I'll actually do this during each holiday; the meals that come out are usually the most tasty meals you can conjure up. This past Saturday while my husband worked on the yard, I went looking through my kitchen and came up with a delicious meal: Tacos ala Plancha with homefries and a delicious chunky salsa.

ala plancha is a mexican cooking term meaning flat grilled, or flat ironed. We had some left over fajitas that were slightly smoky and were perfect for this meal. I thinly cut the fajita steak and grilled them in a piping hot skillet. While the meat was grilling, I made a homemade chunky salsa made with 1 raw jalapeno pepper, 2 tomatoes, 1/2 an onion and a clove of garlic. I sauteed the onion and jalapeno together, then added the garlic then later the tomatoes, and seasoned with salt/pepper. I then married the skirt steak and the chunky salsa, creating one of the most delicious fillings.

For the side, I crisped potatoes in olive oil, cooked with onion and sausage. I also tossed the potato slices in the chunky salsa, creating what is commonly known as papas ala mexicana.

I still have some potatoes left, and was thinking of using them in a Monday morning breakfast of pappas con huevos tacos. These meals can really go a long way and stretch your dollar to the fullest potential.

Happy Eating

Some Labour Day History:

http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm