Cooking Bananzzaaaa!

It’s a success! I haven’t had access to a nice stove, cheap and high quality ingredients, and TIME in a while. It’s great to be back home, where I can concoct delicious dishes whenever I feel like it. It’s winter! It’s the holidays! You know what that means? Sugary and sweet hot beverages and of course who can forget all the fatty foods? Helps us stay warm and feel good when it’s cold. I’m not one of those who gets depressed during the holidays and that’s probably because I eat so much yummy goodness! Anyway, I decided to get fat one night and did just that! Had a blast cooking this up and enjoyed gobbling it down even more. I’m not a recipe guy, although I’m pretty sure I can follow one if I really had to. That’s why I’m just going to give you ingredients and steps. All I’m saying is that this method of cooking works for me. Change it, alter it, substitute ingredients, change it up! Everyone can cook!

1) Salad: YUMMAYYY! Spring mix, tomatoes, onions, avocados, and your choice of dressing. No croutons for me this time around. I chose to go with the Bleu Cheese Vinaigrette. (It worked real well. I never would have thought to add avocados, but this was my mom’s brilliant idea) No need for instructions right? Wash, cut up, toss. Simple and not very time consuming.

2) Garlic Bread: Garlic, sourdough baguette, butter, chili powder, cilantro/parsley/green onion (take your pick), pepper, salt, cheese (if you want). Finely chop your garlic and cilantro/parsley/green onions and add to some butter in a little bowl. Heat it up in the microwave just to melt the butter. I find that it spreads real easy when it’s melted. Add some chili powder for seasoning and color. Pepper and salt to taste. Take your sourdough, cut it into nice little pieces and spread your butter and garlic concoction onto it. Use a convection oven or standard oven and bake until crisp. If you’re going to add cheese, do it near the end, and just put your oven on warm until the cheese melts. YUM!

3) Clam Chowder: Garlic bread goes great with some hearty New England Clam Chowder. Don’t buy those MSG laden canned chowders! Reserve those for your cravings when you don’t have any time. Ingredients are as follows: Potatoes, onions, celery, bacon, clams, cornstarch/flour, pepper, salt, Italian herbs (no essential but adds a layer of complexity), heavy whipping cream, chicken broth, cilantro/parsley/green onion. I don’t know how people make clam chowder, but I’ve finally come up with a way to make it real tasty, so here are my steps.

1. Let’s deal with your bacon first. Fry your bacon until crisp (so that it’ll crumble). Lay out some paper towels and let your bacon drain. Save some of that bacon fat for the next step.
2. Prepare your potatoes by skinning and dicing them up. Take the time at this point to dice up your celery and onions as well. If you want, you may also finely chop up your cilantro/parsley/green onions at this time.
3. Add a spoonful of your bacon grease to a pot. Take your drained strips of bacon and crumble them into the pot. I decided to take out some of the chunks of fat just because the texture doesn’t go well in the chowder (I know. I’ve tried using the fat. It didn’t work too well)
4. Take half of your celery and half of your onions and add it in the pot with your crumbled bacon. Fry this mixture for a minute or so and salt lightly.
5. Next, add some chicken broth and water. You want enough liquid to cover all the ingredients you put in and a little more because your diced potatoes are going in next.
6. Add your potatoes. Make sure it’s covered in liquid. Clams can also go in at this point, so the flavors will incorporate together nicely. Canned clams are the easiest. They often come in clam juice. Just empty the whole can in there. The clam juice gives your chowder a nice flavor as well. Put it on medium heat and bring all this to a light boil. Season with more salt and some Italian herbs if you want.
7. Check back often. You don’t want to overdo your potatoes. I prefer my chowder chunky. As soon as your potatoes are done, put it on low heat.
8. Next comes your heavy whipping cream. Add and stir until you get a nice creamy white color. It wont be a chowder yet, but it’ll be white.
9. Grab a bowl and put some warm water in it. Add either flour or cornstarch or a combination of both into the warm water and mix well. Get all those chunks out!
10. Once it is smooth, stir that into your pot and you’ll notice that it’ll get thicker. If it isn’t getting thicker, keep slowly adding more cornstarch or flour mixture until it does! Some people prefer to use potatoes as a natural thickener. I used to do that too, but I’ve noticed using flour or cornstarch yields better and more predictable results.
11. Once your chowder is a nice color and consistency, season with pepper and salt. Then give it a couple of nice stirs and turn your heat to warm. There you have it! Your chowder!

I like to serve it with garlic bread and a some garnish. YUM!

4) STEAK : I think you all know how to make a steak right? Good. It was yummy. Anyway, cheers! Have a good time cooking and experimenting! In cooking, I think experimenting makes perfect, not practice! Although practice can’t hurt!

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