Recipe - Chili Mostaciolli

Chili Mostaciolli

I had a request for a recipe without onions so here you go, Brad (p.s. - onions are good!).  This is one of the easiest meals possible.  You definitely have to serve it with a green salad or something.  Otherwise, it is way too brown.

1 lb ground beef
1 30 oz. can Mrs. Grimes chili beans
1 small can chopped green chilis
1 lb hot cooked pasta (penne, mostaciolli, etc.)
That's it!

Brown ground beef, drain fat.  Add chili beans and green chilis and cook thru.  Combine with hot pasta.  Serves 6.

Recipe - Southwest Pasta

Southwest Pasta

This is a great little pasta dish - one of my favorites!  Every ingredient is crucial to make the flavors come alive.  It;s super important to use the best tomatoes you can - fresh off the plant is best but if not available, I recommend the one's at the grocery store that are still hangin' on a piece of vine.  They can be expensive at Hy-Vee but they are very inexpensive at Aldi and I've always been impressed with the flavor - even in the middle of winter.  Don't leave out the jalapeno - it adds no heat but adds a unique flavor.  They key to this dish is getting it on the table hot.  Serve it as fast as you can.

3 large chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped cilantro
1/3 cup chopped red onion
juice of 1 lime
1 minced fresh jalapeno - seeds and ribs removed
4 tsp tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
 4 oz feta cheese
14 oz cooked small pasta (medium shells, rotini, pipette, cellentani, gemelli or the like)

Combine tomatoes, cilantro, onion, lime juice, jalapeno, tomato paste, and chili powder in a bowl.  Cook garlic in olive oil over medium heat in a small sauce pan until it becomes fragrant - approx 1 minute - be careful not to let it brown.  Add garlic mixture to tomato mixture.  Add hot pasta to tomato mixture and mix well.  Combine with feta cheese and serve immediately.  Serves 4-5.

Recipe - Cola Shredded Beef Tacos

Cola Shredded Beef Tacos

I won't sugar coat it, this meal takes a looong time to make (unless you have a pressure cooker) but it is worth it.  Serve with your favorite taco toppings!

Cola Shredded Beef
2 lbs chuck roast cut into 4 pieces
olive oil
1 can chopped tomatoes in juice
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 can Coca-Cola (not diet)
1 cup water

In a large pot, brown all sides of chuck roast in olive oil.  Add tomatoes, garlic, onion, cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt, bay leaf, Coca-Cola and water.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer covered for 3 hours.  After 3 hours, remove meat from pot and shred with a fork removing fat.

Flour Tortillas
There is nothing like a fresh tortilla - these rock!

4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cup warm water

Mix flour, salt and baking power in a large bowl.  Make a well in the flour and add oil and water.  Mix dough with a spoon until well combined.  On a floured surface, kneed dough until it is easy to handle.  Roll dough into a log and cut into 12 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and roll into a 9-10" round using a rolling pin.  Use plenty of flour to keep them from sticking.  In a non-stick griddle, cook each tortilla on med-high heat.  While it cooks on the first side, bubbles will form.  Break each large bubble before flipping.  Stack cooked tortillas in a towel to keep hot and moist.

Recipe - Applesauce Banana Bread

Applesauce Banana Bread

So I am a banana snob.  In other words, I only like them when they are perfectly ripe.  As soon as they get a bit overripe I don't like to eat them.  I hate to throw them out so I toss them, peel and all, into the freezer.  Once the freezer is filled to capacity of them, I thaw them out, squeeze the banana out of the peels and re-freeze them in 4-cup portions in a zip-lock bag for later use  Once October rolls around, I make a huge batch of banana breads to pass out to friends and neighbors.  This recipe is perfect because it makes 3 loaves in the disposable 8x4 pans.  I also like this one because it uses applesauce instead of oil or butter so I don't feel nearly as guilty eating it.

Frozen bananas "chillin" in the freezer

4-Cup packets of frozen banana

4 cups ripe mashed bananas
2 cups sugar
1 cup applesauce
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups flour

In a mixer, add the bananas, sugar, applesauce and eggs and beat well. Beat in the baking soda, baking powder, salt and vanilla, then gradually beat in the flour, mixing thoroughly. Pour into a 8 x 4-inch loaf pan that has been coated with nonstick spray.

Bake at 350°F for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
Makes 3 8x4  loaves.

Restaurants near Iowa City - Exotic India

One of the best Indian food restaurants is Exotic India.  It is located next door to El Dorado on the Coralville strip.  I prefer their lunch buffet because you can try lots of different things.  Everything is excellent but my favorites are the tandoori chicken, butter chicken and any of their vegetable dishes.  The buffet is served with the best naan bread and they also have a great selection of Indian deserts.

Iowa City Restaurant - Oyama

Oyama is a great place for sushi.  They are my favorite in town.  I forgot my camera so I have no photos.  I am a big fan of the maki and my favorites for today are the cream cheese & tofu roll, the fiesta roll and the Chicago roll.  There are tons of other good ones too!  They have great bento boxes for lunch too.  The pork udon noodles are great as well as the clear broth soup and the salad with the ginger dressing.

Recipe - Grilled Tuna with Baked Potato Salad

Grilled Tuna with Baked Potato Salad

This is an easy dinner to put together and takes very little time.  It's full of healthy fats and is super tasty!  I paired the tuna and potato salad with a green salad with avocado for vitamins and color.

Grilled Tuna

Pick up some fresh ahi tuna steaks and marinate them for about 15 minutes in the grilling marinade (recipe is also on this blog).  The steaks are usually pretty big so you can feed two people off one.  Grill it up to your preferred doneness. 

Baked Potato Salad

6 B-sized red potatoes (the larger ones)
1/4 cup chopped chives or green onions
Plain Greek yogurt
salt and pepper

Wash potatoes and poke the skins with a fork.  Microwave the potatoes until they are soft, 6-8 minutes.  While they are hot, cut them into large bite-sized pieces.  In a bowl, combine the hot potatoes, chives, 1 or 2 tablespoons of yogurt and salt and pepper to taste.  Combine and serve immediately.  (A little secret, I added a tablespoon of butter too.  That is not a healthy fat but it tastes good!).  Serves 4.

Green Salad Dressing

Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 avocado, chunked
salt and pepper

Combine ingredients and serve over salad greens and any vegetables you like.

Recipe - Toasted bread, bean and vegetable soup

Toasted Bread, Bean and Vegetable Soup

This dish is a great, rustic soup that takes no time at all to make.

Olive oil to coat pan
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 medium carrots chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
1 15 oz can cannelini beans
1 15 oz canned diced tomatoes
2 cups chopped swiss chard
4 cups rough torn day old bread (bite sized pieces)
salt and pepper
1 tsp dried basil

Heat oil in a large pot over med-high heat.  Add onion, garlic carrots and celery and cook until onions are translucent.  Add chicken stock, beans, tomatoes and basil.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 min.  Meanwhile, toast bread.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve soup with toasted bread on top.

Recipe - Vegetable Moussaka

Vegetable Moussaka

This is a classic Mediterranean dish that is basically a ratatouille with a yogurt sauce.  It's easy to make but takes a while to bake.  It is full of flavor and great for a cold day.  I would say it is a healthy dish because it is mostly vegetables and yogurt. 

1 eggplant cut in thick slices and quartered
2 zucchini cut in thick slices
1 large onion cut in thin wedges
1 red bell pepper cut in slices
3 minced cloves of garlic
olive oil to coat a pan
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
2 beaten eggs
10 oz plain greek yogurt
14 oz can chopped tomatoes in juice
2 oz feta cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a large skillet with olive oil and cook eggplant, zucchini, onion, bell pepper and garlic until browned and onions are translucent.  Add thyme and salt and pepper to taste.  Meanwhile, combine eggs and yogurt and season with salt and pepper.  In a casserole pan, layer half the vegetable mixture on the bottom of the dish.  Pour the tomatoes and juice over the vegetables and then cover with the remaining vegetables.  Cover the vegetable mixture with the yogurt mixture and sprinkle with feta.  Bake for 45-60 minutes until yogurt sets and cheese browns.  Let stand 10 min before serving.  Serves 4-6.

Restaurants near Iowa City - Edgewater Grill at the Marriott

Ok, this is the place where they have the great creme brule.  We celebrated my parent's anniversary there and had a wonderful time.  The wait staff was great and helped out so much with all of our craziness with kids and lots of people.  The menu has tons of options and the food was delicious!  We all ate off each other's plates and here are some of my favorites...

Crab Cakes with Risotto

Creme Brule

Chicken Linguini

Roasted Chicken

Anjou Pear Salad

Recipe - Hoppin John

This one is for Andre - a little soul food!  This dish is super easy to make, is full of flavor and is great on a fall day.  This dish can't be served without cornbread!

2 cups water

swiss chard

2 Tbsp brown mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup uncooked white rice
2/3 cup chopped ham (try Pit Ham from HyVee Deli)
4 cloves minced garlic
2 cups cooked black eyed peas
4 cups chopped greens (collard, mustard, swiss chard greens)  I used swiss chard

Hoppin John with Cornbread

Restaurants near Iowa City - BBQ near True Value in North Liberty

I'm not sure of the name of the place but there is a family that sells Barbecue out of a truck in the parking lot of the True Value on the corner of Dubuque and Zeller streets in North Liberty.  Theirs is the best I've ever tasted.  They smoke their meats on site.  They make a great pulled pork "sammich" and the chicken is excellent too.  Their sauce is sweet and tangy with robust flavor and the owners are super friendly and fun to chat with.  I hear they may be opening a restaurant in the area.  That would be great because when winter comes around it will be way to cold!

Recipe- "Muffaletta" Panini

Ok, this really isn't a muffaletta except for the relish and that is taking a bit of culinary liberty as well - but it's good so I'm posting it!

Muffaletta Relish

Relish:
6 pitted kalamata olives
6 large pimento stuffed green olives
1 Tbsp minced red onion
1 Tbsp minced celery
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 clove minced garlic
olive oil (enough to combine the above ingredients)

Make a sandwich with some good crusty bread, italian meats (I prefer salami but there are many to choose from), cheese (mozzarella, provolone or swiss) and a couple tablespoons of the relish.  Cook it on your panini grill.  You can add a splash of vinegar to the relish for a tangier flavor.

Best restaurants in Cocoa Beach, Florida

If you are ever in Cocoa Beach, Florida and are looking for a place to eat, try these.

Crabs on the Beach - This one just opened summer 2011.  It is in a strip mall and may not look like much but the seafood is out of this world.  Crabcakes, hushpuppies, fish of every kind - simply delicious!

Roberto's Little Havana - Excellent for breakfast lunch or dinner.  They specialize in Cuban food and they are quite good at it.  I highly recommend their pancakes for breakfast.  I've never had one better.  I can't seem to get the recipe from them but they are crunchy on the outside and soft inside.  MMM!  I also recommend the tamales, the Cuban sandwich and the picadillo.  http://www.robertoslittlehavana.com/

Taco City - the best Mexican food I've ever had.  I love the beef taco and the cheese enchilada, myself.  Tell the super skinny surfer dude at the counter "Hi from Iowa".    http://www.tacocity2.com/

Thai Thai III - the best sushi I've ever had (sometimes I think I need to move to Cocoa Beach).  The French roll is huge and delicious.  http://thaithai3.com/index.htm

Dixie Crossroads - this is actually in Titusville.  This place is crazy but they have excellent seafood.  The rock shrimp taste like tiny little lobsters!  Plan on waiting a while to get a table.  http://www.dixiecrossroads.com/

Recipe - Grilling Marinade

I use this marinade on just about everything I grill including chicken, pork, beef, tuna, swordfish, vegetables (especially portobello mushrooms), and bacon - yes bacon.  Try grilling up marinated, thick cut bacon and make a BLT out of it - holy man!  Again, I really don't know the quantities, I just throw it together.  Adjust how much you need by how much food you are trying to marinate.  This is a good start.

In a zip-lock bag, combine
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1Tbsp brown sugar
2 cloves minced garlic (never use jarred garlic - use fresh - disgusting!)
4 minced green onions

Add meat/fish/produce/BACON to bag, seal tight and coat well.  Let marinate for 15 min. to overnight. The longer it marinates, the more intense the flavor.  If you are using chicken with the skin on, loosen up the skin and make sure the marinade gets under there.  Grill it up!

Recipe - Ravioli w/ sage-walnut butter

Ravioli with Sage-Walnut Butter and Green Beans

Tonight's dinner came out of the Food Network Magazine October issue and was worth writing about.  It is a quick dish to make but has very sophisticated flavors.  It is a nice combination of the creamy background flavor of the cheese ravioli with the sweet/sour of the vinegar sauce and the woodiness of the walnuts and sage - not to mention butter!.  I served it with some green beans from the garden and a chunky salad. It's on my list of keepers.  I took a picture of it so you can see what a nice dish it is.

Kosher Salt
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 bay leaf
1 16 oz package frozen cheese ravioli
6 Tbsp butter (I used 4 - it was enough)
1/3 cup fresh sage leaves (if you don't have a plant, use 2 tsp dried leaf sage - no powdered)
1 cup chopped walnuts
shredded Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Boil your pasta water.  In a small pan, combine vinegar, honey and bay leaf.  Cook over med-high heat until it is reduced and thickened.  Meanwhile, in a saute pan, melt butter and add walnuts and sage.  Cook until walnuts are toasty.  Cook and drain ravioli.  Combine walnut sauce to ravioli and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Plate the ravioli and drizzle with the vinegar reduction.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Best Creme Brule in the Iowa City area

Besides my friend "R. L." who owes me some creme brule (you know who you are!), the best in town is at the Marriott Hotel in Coralville.  I'm not sure which restaurant they serve it in because I had it at a banquet.  If you can find it, it is creamy with a sweet, crispy crust and a vanilla flavor to die for.

Iowa City Restaurant - Leaf Kitchen

Are you looking for something different?  Try Leaf Kitchen at 301 1/2 Kirkwood Avenue in Iowa City.  All the food has a Japanese flair with well-developed flavors.  My favorites are the grilled shrimp and white bean salad, the salmon sashimi carpaccio, the seared beef tataki, zucchini pancakes, and the truffles!  They always have something good for the daily special.  Be ready to open your wallet because you have to try everything!  The chef is magnificent.  Check it out at http://leafkitchen.weebly.com/.

Iowa City Restaurant - Sam's Pizza

The best place for calzone and the second best pizza in Iowa City is Sam's.  It is located at 111 South Gilbert Street in Iowa City, Iowa.  I prefer the veggie calzone.  It has tons of flavor and the crust is crisp and sprinkled with a bit of Parmesan.  The pizza has phenomenal flavor with a thin crust - I get the supreme.  It is cut in squares which I prefer.  Take a visit at  http://www.samspizzaic.com/.

Iowa City Restaurant - Paglia's Pizza

Best Pizza in Iowa City is hands down Paglia's.  It is located at 302 East Bloomington Street, Iowa City, Iowa.  Ok, it is most likely the best pizza in the U.S. - seriously.  People who have visited from all over the county agree.  The "Palace Special" is my (and most people's) favorite.  The sauce is well seasoned and thick.  The crust is thin and crispy and the toppings are a salt-bomb lover's dream!  Wash it down with a sweet root beer.http://www.pagliais.com/

Recipe - Lemon Chicken Picata

This recipe is based on a super yummy dish I had at Grande Lux Cafe in Chicago.  I'm not so good at measurements - I just throw a bunch of stuff in until it looks and tastes right - so bear with me.  I misplaced my camera so I couldn't take a photo of it for you.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour w/salt & pepper
olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cups sliced white mushrooms
1/2 cup cut/drained artichoke hearts
roux - 1/4 cup flour, 2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp capers
chicken stock (maybe a cup or so)
1 tbsp caper brine
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp lemon zest
1 lb cooked thin spaghetti (time it so it's hot)

Slice chicken breasts to make them half as thick then cut them in half width wise.  Dust chicken with flour and cook in a well oiled pan on medium-high heat until browned on both sides and cooked thru.  Remove chicken from pan and set aside.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add a little more oil to the pan and add onion - cook until translucent.  Add mushroom and artichoke hearts and cook quickly to maintain texture and firmness.  Add flour and olive oil, mix well and cook to make a roux.  After cooking the roux for about 3-5 min, add chicken stock, raise heat to med-high, stir constantly until sauce thickens.  Reduce heat and add capers, brine, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Add chicken to sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over hot pasta immediately.  Serves 4.

Best places to eat in Chicago, Illinois

If you are ever in Chicago and are looking for a place to eat, try these:

West Egg Cafe - West Egg has a fantasticbreakfast menu with tons of healthy options.  The broccoli and mushroom crepe is delicious and the English walnut pancakes are divine.  It's across the street from the Double Tree Hotel downtown (I think on N. Fairbanks between Ohio and Ontario).

Burrito Beach - This place is great if you are looking for a quick, yummy snack, lunch or dinner.  The beef taco on soft shell corn tortillas with tomatillo sauce is the bomb!  The chips and salsa rock too.  Ooh, yeah, wash it down with a strawberry lemonade!  It is on Ohio Street 1 block east of Michigan Avenue.  http://www.burritobeach.com/