Natural Daquiris

Posted on August 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

Summer!

These drinks were inspired by fresh farmer’s market summer fruits!  They were also inspired by our dislike of premade daquiri mixers and frozen canisters.  They end up being so syrupy and overly sweet.  So we made some of our own homemade daquiris with all natural ingredients that were easily interchangeable.

This was a watermelon bourbon one.

We also made strawberry with rum, and a strawberry and peach combo with bourbon.  No combination turned out poorly and the possibilities were exciting.

They were great, easy, refreshing, and much better than the store bought mixers.  Take advantage while the summer fruits last!

Recipe for natural frozen drinks

Leave a comment

Posted in Drinks, Recipes

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Pig Roast!

Posted on August 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

Warning!  Some of the following post may be graphic and upsetting to some readers!

As a going away gift, our friends graciously sponsored our going away party as we were about to depart Maryland.  Roasting a whole pig was decided upon, as the idea has been floating around for a few years and this seemed like the opportunity.  They were able to find good deals on a pig and renting an electric spit.  We cook, eat, and talk about a lot of different cuts of meat on this site, but being in the whole form does seem to change things a bit.  So proceed with caution, and I did omit many pics that could have made it far worse.

The first questions is, what kind of person desires so strongly to roast a whole pig?

This guy does!

The pig weighed about 49 pounds and came pre gutted and basically all prepped for us.  We added some seasoning and filled the cavity with onions, garlic and leeks.  Then the pig had to be skewered and sewn up to keep the filling in.

Coming together

Filled and ready to be closed up

He makes an excellent seamstress

The rented spit was well experienced but did a great job once we messed around with it, formed it into shape, and got the right tension on the chain to the motor.

We ended up using about 50 lbs of charcoal total

Once the pig was stabilized on the skewer and the coals had ashed over, it was time for the final assembly and a lot of waiting.

The pig ended up cooking for about 8 hours and could have used a little more time and a little hotter charcoal throughout.  It was our first time though and everyone seemed pleased with the final product.  There was plenty of time to hang out while the pig roasted and it was over 100 degrees this day so…

What up dawg? Ya know staying cool in the pool.

This is the last picture we have of the pig, which is about halfway through.  It turned out great though and we will do even better next time!

Leave a comment

Posted in Pork, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , ,

Crab Pesto Grilled Pizza

Posted on August 4, 2010 | 1 comment

Yes another crab dish and I think that this may have been the best one yet.  We had a hankering for some pizza and being that we live in Maryland, making your own pizza is the only option.  So we stopped at Marchone’s Italian Market in Wheaton and grabbed a frozen dough ball.

A thorough thaw is very important

This was about 2 hours of thawing and the dough had expanded to about twice the original size.

Thoroughly thawed and ready to work with

If the dough is not thawed to room temperature, it will be very difficult to work with which I have learned from experience.  At the same time, you can’t work with the dough too much and remember that flour is your friend!

I rolled the dough out to the desired size while the grill was heating up.  Once the dough and grill are ready, give the top of the dough a thorough spray of oil.  You will then put the dough on the grill otherwise plain.

Straight on the grate oil side down and plain

Leave the dough on for about 3-5 minutes.  Just until the down side is lightly browned and basically firm enough to pick the whole piece up without folding and flopping like raw dough.

We need a new grill!

The bottom of this piece is uncooked.  The top would look better if we had a better grill that cooked evenly(grill companies we are looking for a sponsor!).  When we move, the gas grill is not coming.  The grill doesn’t know that, but I guess once this is published the news will be out.

Now it is time to dress the pizza with your toppings as you normally would and then throw it back on the grill.  Instead of a red sauce we used a pesto base.

Summer basil is great

Next we used some more of the famous leftover crab which was starting to run low.  Note that this was published well after the dish was made and we did not keep fresh crab in the fridge for 3 weeks.

We were able to be pretty generous with the crab since we had so much.  This was almost but not quite a pound.

Cheese it up

We used a store bought Italian blend.

Fresh tomatoes

We love fresh tomato slices on pizza.  Now it is ready to go back on the grill for a little longer than the plain dough.

Close the lid, which will help to melt the cheese.  I gave it a few turns because of our extremely uneven grill as you can see the full blast flame or no flame options.  It would be a good idea to give it a spin either way though.  This stage will take closer to 7-9 minutes to melt the cheese and cook the pizza through.

Summer basil again

It turned out great!  Slice it up, cheese it up, and go to town!

Recipe for Standard Pesto with Walnut

Greg

(Since I have been begun posting over the last month, we will start to tag our posts)

1 Comment

Posted in Pizzas, Recipes, Sauces, Seafood

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Moving!

Posted on August 1, 2010 | 1 comment

Tomorrow morning the moving truck will be pulling up and we will be leaving Maryland after living here for 11 years.  We both graduated from high school and entered the University of Maryland in 1999 and have been living around Maryland up until tonight, our last night here.  We have made many great friends and will miss them.  We will be moving from Kensington Maryland to the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh and will continue the Kitten of course!

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Thai Peanut Stir Fry with Skirt Steak

Posted on July 31, 2010 | 1 comment

When we made the pork and peach spring rolls we also made a delicious peanut sauce to dip the spring rolls in. I intentionally made a lot of the sauce because it is that good and I knew I would want to use it in another dish. Alas, here is what I came up with!  The peanut sauce was made in advance and stored for about 2-3 days before I made this.

I started off with some onion, which I sauteed in some toasted sesame oil. I kept the onion pieces pretty big as you can see- I guess they were technically quarters. Typically I add my aromatics (garlic, ginger, etc) once the onions cook for a few minutes, however, this step was not needed here because the peanut sauce already includes these ingredients.

Next, I added some carrots.

And then some spinach.

Time for the peanut sauce! I thinned it out using some chicken broth.

I blanched some broccoli and then added it to the mix.

For my protein I used skirt steak. I went to Whole Foods for lunch and they were giving out samples of their skirt steaks, which were also on sale. One bite and I was sold. It worked really well in this dish too!

I seasoned it with a little salt and pepper and grilled it. When it was ready I sliced it up and threw it in with the veggies and sauce. This dish really came together nicely- I give a lot of credit to the peanut sauce. As I mentioned it packed a ton of flavor, so for this dish it was really just a matter of putting it all together.

I wanted a more broth like sauce, so I thinned it out to my liking, but you can easily adjust this depending on your taste.  I ate it as is, but I am sure it would be great over rice or some thin rice noodles. It was also great leftover.

And this was going on while I was cooking! So starving!

All in all, I thought this came out great. See our post about the spring rolls for the link to the peanut sauce recipe!

– Eileen

1 Comment

Posted in Beef

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Restaurant Review: Greek Islands Grill (Silver Spring)

Posted on July 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

Greg and I found the Greek Islands Grill restaurant via a penny saver type magazine several years ago and have been enjoying it on occasional Sundays ever since. They were advertising a Sunday brunch Greek buffet. What could be better we thought. We were pleasantly surprised with the buffet’s offerings- though there were not countless dishes available, the ones they did offer were fabulous and hit the spot for the Greek food craving we have so regularly. According to their website the buffet is also offered on other days besides Sundays-  “All you can eat buffets Wednesday (5 to 9 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) are $13.95. Thursday’s lunch buffet (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) is $9.95.” . It’s a slight hike out there to the restaurant (technically it’s in Cloverly) but we have found it to be very worth it! Almost every time I go, it’s the only meal I eat all day.

On my plate pictured above (last crappy iphone photo I swear!),  I have Greek Salad with feta and house made Greek dressing, Gyro meat w/tzatziki, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves with a creamy sauce), pastitsio (yum if you love bechamel as much as me), house made hummus, and spanakopita. I’m not going to go into details, but trust me, everything was divine! Also on the buffet were meatballs in a tomato broth, orzo and vegetables in tomato sauce , a chicken dish, and probable a few others I can’t remember. They also have a couple of sweet offerings, which I never get to because I am always so full, that include baklava and one other pastry offering. (as you can see I sort of lost focus on what else was offered once I started eating 🙂 )

For the Marylanders out there, Greg and I definitely recommend this place. We have never ordered anything off the menu so I can’t speak much for that.  However, the buffet gives you the chance to try several different things at once and it has always been very fresh and hot. They change out the food regularly and the service is friendly and prompt.

I hope you like it as much as we have– we will miss it!

Greek Islands Grill

15410 New Hampshire Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20905

Leave a comment

Posted in Restaurant Reviews

Tagged , , , ,

Crab Topped Grilled Fish (Mahi Mahi and Swordfish)

Posted on July 29, 2010 | 1 comment

Grilled Swordfish topped with Crab stuffing

This is another leftover crabfeast dish.  Crab cakes were made in the meantime as expertly guessed by one of our loyal readers.  This stuffing/topping was inspired by the crab cake recipe and is somewhat similar.  I got both swordfish and mahi mahi since they are both good grilling fish and to try out some different taste combos.  They were the same price also.

First I prepared the stuffing/topping.

Since we had so much crab, I added about 8 oz but you could add more or less.

Stir it up (little darling)

Once the mixture was to this point, it was a bit too moist and not quite the texture that I had wanted.  It was not really clumping together like I had wanted and I did not want to throw an egg in since it was not going to be cooked.  So I decided to bake it for a bit (did not add the egg) until it was thickened and browned a bit.

I then grilled the fish and also some asparagus.  A bit of oil and salt and pepper for the fish and balsamic along with the oil salt and pepper for the asparagus.

Swordfish on the left, Mahi Mahi on the right

Then we just scooped the crab mixture on, plated, and shared.

The topped Mahi Mahi

Topped Swordfish

Recipe for Crab Stuffing/Topping

Recipe for Spicy Green Crab Cakes

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Cold Crab Dip

Posted on July 23, 2010 | 1 comment

This is the first of many leftover crab recipes.  A very simple cold dip that is mixed and let to sit refrigerated until ready to serve.

Just mix all of the ingredients and sprinkle a bit more old bay on top for extra taste and decoration.  Serve with sliced bread, toast, or crackers.

Recipe for Cold Crab Dip

1 Comment

Posted in Appetizers, Seafood

Tagged , , , , , ,

Crab Feast!

Posted on July 22, 2010 | 2 comments

Bushel o Crabs

One of our bucket list Maryland events before we move was to have our annual summer crab fest.  I picked up a “bushel” of crabs at Seafood in the Buff which was supposed to be 7-8 dozen crabs but it was definitely less than that.  There was also seriously about 6 inches of just arms and legs at the bottom of the box.  Either way, there were plenty of crabs for all dozen or so people that were picking them.

A great side

At a crab feast in May, we learned a little insider tip of having watermelon on the table which is a great side to crabs.  The sweetness and moisture are a great sort of intermezzo to the crabs.

In order to do it right, you have to get down and dirty with them.  If you are finishing a whole crab in less than 15-20 minutes, you are missing a lot of meat!


There were 4 large ziploc bags of crabs leftover which we seriously spent about 6 hours cleaning to yield about 3 pounds of meat.  Yes, this is foreshadowing to more crab recipes coming up!

2 Comments

Posted in Seafood

Tagged

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Posted on July 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

I rarely make sweets, but I’ve now made these cookies twice in the past three weeks. Twice!  They are so good and I want you to have the recipe. Oddly enough, it’s from Williams-Sonoma. Awesome store, but who knew they also had awesome recipes? Well not me, but I was pleasantly surprised. I bet your wondering how I found it.

I found the recipe by using the search terms ‘oatmeal raisin cookie recipe baking powder’. This is because when I was at the grocery store purchasing the ingredients to make cookies, sans any type of recipe, I assumed I had both baking powder and baking soda at home. To my dismay, only the former was true and I as without baking soda, which is in practically every oatmeal raisin cookie recipe on the internet. Or so I thought… until I found this little gem of a recipe  that only required baking powder, not soda. Hooray!Aren’t you glad you know now?

The first time I made the cookies I followed the recipe exactly and if you can’t tell from above, I loved the way they turned out. I brought them to a work-related event and they got some good reviews. For the second time around, I played with the ingredients slightly. I used almond flour instead of traditional all-purpose flour and I added some chopped walnuts. Flavor wise they came out great once again! Texture wise, I think the use of the almond flour left them a little flat and a little sticky. This was fine for me though, because they were for my consumption only this time!

My ingredients:

Walnuts, almond flour, raisins, rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, brown sugar, an egg, and butter.

The first step is to mix the dry ingredients (flour, oats, raisins, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nuts (if using- I used 1/2 cup) and set them aside.

Next, you want to mix the butter and brown sugar in a separate bowl with an electric mixer.

Why yes, that is an entire stick of butter. Next time I want to try a lower fat substitute, but for now, here’s the real deal.

At this point you want to add the egg and the vanilla extract and continue to mix.

It looks pretty similar to the above photo at this point, just a little creamier.

Next, add the dry ingredients to this bowl and mix with the electric mixer until all the ingredients are combined (about one minute).

Electric mixers rock!

Scoop them out onto the baking sheet (about 12 per sheet).

Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and let cool on a wire rack. When the cookies are ready, remove with a metal spatula. The recipe suggests cooking one baking sheet at a time.

These cookies have provided great fuel for my morning runs in this sauna they call Maryland. This is a great little oatmeal raisin cookie recipe and I look forward to working from it in the future to make healthier versions. I’ll keep you posted on that!

– Eileen 🙂

Leave a comment

Posted in Desserts

Tagged , , , , ,