Cookin' with John

Cheese Ball a la Margaret 2/5/11

2011-02-05T23:00:00.001-06:00

The day ended up quite nice! I finished and published my latest travel blog "Travelin' with John". The best thing of the day was that most, but not all of the snow and ice has melted. You can't see me, but I am doing a Happy Dance! The melted slush is like walking on an Icee. I would much rather be drinking one than walking on one. I think the dogs liked the snow better than the wet slush! They walk like they are walking on fire! Oh well at least we are thawing out a bit before the next winter weirdness hits. Since we just finished up our Wacky Fire Crackers recipe I thought I would share a cheese ball recipe that my mother-n-law has made as long as I can remember, so that must be a long time. All I know is whenever she makes it that it is always a battle to take home any of leftover cheese ball. The majority of the time this famous cheese ball is devoured once it hits the table. In honor of my mother-n-law I have named this signature recipe "Cheese Ball a la Margaret" I am not sure how something with a few ingredients can taste like heaven on a cracker, but it does! Let's get started! You need 2 - 8oz packages of cream cheese at room temperature, Worcestershire sauce, Accent, 5 - 6 green onions with the tops and 2 packs of Budding Beef. I told you there were only a few ingredients. You will need a medium size bowl. Go ahead and chop your green onions and the 2 packs of Buddings Beef. Make sure and reserve 1/2 of your chopped beef. Add your 2 - 8oz packages of room temperature cream cheese to your bowl. Then add 3 TBS of Worcestershire sauce, 1 TSP of Accent and the chopped green onions. Mix this very well and then add 1/2 of the chopped beef. At this point I put the cheese ball mixture in the refrigerator to firm up just a little bit. Once the cheese ball mixture has firmed up go ahead and form it into 1 ball or 2 balls depending on how big you want your cheese ball to be. Roll out a sheet of wax paper and put your cheese ball on the wax paper. Then take your remaining chopped beef and completely cover the cheese ball. You should have a work of art in front of you. It's ok, you can admire it before you wrap in the wax paper. You should have an amazing aroma in your kitchen right now! I would put it in your refrigerator and let it setup before you serve it. There are a couple of other items that you can add to your cheese ball like chopped jalapeños or several dashes of your favorite hot sauce. I have made many different variations of this recipe, but I always fall back to the original recipe. Also if you want a firmer cheese ball then cut your Worcestershire sauce down to TBS. When you’re ready to serve grab your favorite cracker and enjoy. I bet you fall in love with this recipe as our family has. Just make sure if you take it to a party that you claim dibs on the leftovers if there are any. I want to thank my mother-n-law for sharing this recipe with me. She is an amazing cook and I hope to share many more of her recipes. Thanks Meggie! Love You! After you make this recipe shoot me a note or post a comment and let me know how you liked it. If you make any modifications please share. I love to experiment with food and recipes. If you have a favorite recipe you want to share please send it to me. I would love to make it and then write about it! Happy Super Bowl Sunday and may your favorite yellow team win! Thanks for following “Cookin’ with John”. Find something you enjoy and just do it! Life is way too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, “Cookin’ with John” will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Wacky Fire Crackers 2/5/11

2011-02-05T20:00:00.006-06:00

This has been a very crazy week! We were blessed with a great weekend last weekend! The Super Bowl teams fly in on Monday and Tuesday morning we are kicked in the butt by this wicked ice storm. It was like Wham Bam Thank You Mam! They said we had ice thunder. I am not sure what ice thunder is but Mother Nature said she was closing the city down! After several days of frozen tundra she threw several inches of snow at us Friday morning. Schools would end up closed for the remainder of the week and I made an accidental snow angel when I busted my butt on some hidden ice underneath the fresh powder Friday Morning. My dogs thought it was extremely funny! I love where we live, but this winter has been pretty crazy! The travel business was a little busier this week and my search for full time employment continues. With the Super Bowl in town this weekend I thought I would share a very strange recipe called Wacky Fire Crackers! It is not really strange, but I never would of thought all of these ingredients would make something so yummy! This very addicting cracker was first introduced to me at one of our tailgate parties before one of Matt's football games at Louisiana Tech! Tom & Sherry Toups from Southlake, TX shared this recipe with us and we have been making them ever since. You have to hang with me on this one! These crackers are like Lay's Potato Chips and you cannot just have one! Are you ready? Here we go! You start off with a box of your favorite saltine crackers and a gallon zip lock bag. Go ahead and empty your 4 sleeves of saltines into the zip lock bag. Here comes the bizarre part. Take 1 3/4 cup of canola oil (That is correct 1 3/4 cup of canola oil) and mix it with 1 package of Hidden Valley Dry Ranch Dressing. Then you add anywhere from 3 - 4 TBS of dried crushed red peppers. You can add more if you like it hotter. Then you add 3 - TBS of dried dill. Mix all of this up until it is well incorporated. Here comes the fun part. You take this mixture and pour it all into the zip lock bag full of saltines. Don't be afraid! It works! You just have to trust me. Go ahead and seal the zip lock bag and move the crackers back and forth in the bag until everything looks coated. Find a nice corner on your counter and toss every 15 minutes and set the bag on a new side of the zip lock bag. After an hour you should have had the crackers sit on each of the 4 sides of the zip lock bag. Another twist is to substitute the dill with dried oregano. You will now have a cracker that taste a little like a pizza. After an hour or so I get a sheet pan and line with some paper towels and pour the crackers onto the sheet pan. Throw away your zip lock bag and get a new one. After about an hour put the crackers in your new zip lock bag. While your filling the bag go ahead and sample some of these crackers from heaven. I bet you will be a fan of these Wacky Fire Crackers. They taste even better after 24 hours. Serve them with your favorite dip, soup or whatever you want to load you new found love up with. We like them with guacamole or any type of cheese. No matter what you top your cracker off with I hope you like these as much as we do. The Super Bowl is here and the weather looks like it is going to be nice for game day. No matter whom you are cheering for I hope you have a great Super Bowl Sunday. Family, Friends, Great Food, Great Commercials and Competitive Football make for a Great Day! I hope you try this recipe. If you do, leave me a comment. I would love to know how it turned out. If you make any modifications with the herbs or peppers please share. I love experimentation with food! A special thanks to Tom & Sherry Toups for introducing this amazing recipe to us! Find something you enjoy and just do it! Life is way too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, “Cookin’ with John” will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Focaccia Caramelized & Blue 1/24/11

2011-01-24T11:00:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year! Where is time gone? It is already 2011 and as I stumble out of my hibernation, I need to get back to cooking! I am not sure why I blacked out! Maybe I am part bear. I guess all of the food I have consumed had put me in a food coma and now that 2011 is here I need to get back on the stove. Since we have last crossed paths we have sold the house and now reside in the northern suburbs of Dallas. My youngest son completed his 2nd season playing football for Louisiana Tech and my oldest son skied for the first time ever. The travel business is making a slow crawl up the start your own business mountain and now that I have been reunited with my wife, the dogs and I are getting back to normal. I am currently looking for full time work, so if you know anyone hiring let me know. I will have the travel business and continue to grow it as well. I finally figured out it just takes time. I am going to follow the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson ~ “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” What an inspiration! I think that wraps up my hibernation in a nut shell. Hey big fella, this is supposed to be about food so let's get on topic! During my food coma I cooked several recipes that were outside of my box. I will introduce those to you very soon. I decided to start 2011 experimenting with Focaccia. I guess I need to explain. Focaccia -(foˈkattʃa) is a flat oven-baked Italian bread, which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients. Focaccia is related to pizza, but not considered to be the same. My inspiration came from reading Food & Wine magazine and I ran across a Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Bosc Pear's and Blue Cheese recipe. These are all things that I like so why not make them into one. This should be very interesting. To make the Focaccia recipe you start out with 1 cup of warm water, 1 package of active dry yeast, 1/2 TSP of honey, 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil and a TSP of kosher salt. Sounds simple enough! In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast and honey and let it stand for 5 minutes. Then stir in 1 cup of the flour and 1/4 cup of EVOO; let stand for 5 minutes. Then stir in the remaining flour and the kosher salt and knead until smooth. Transfer the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic and let stand for an hour or more. This gives me time to take the dogs out. I know I am in need for a walk. This food coma as added a few extra pounds to my waist line. After a nice walk around the lake it is time to start working on the rest of the ingredients for the Caramelized & Blue Focaccia. Take a large onion and slice thin. In a skillet, heat 1 TBS of oil. Add the onion, cover and cook over moderate heat for about 10 minutes. Then add a TBS of brown sugar, cover and cook another 10 minutes or until caramelized. Now that your onions are caramelized take 2 Bosc pears and core them. Then slice them anywhere from 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch thick. I squeezed a little lemon juice on them so they would not turn brown. I must of had a bad lemon as my sliced pear's did turn a little brown while they were waiting to be added to the building process. Go ahead and preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Oil a 9 X 13 inch sheet pan. Then transfer the dough to the sheet pan and press it into all corners of the pan. Then dimple the dough all over with your fingers and drizzle 2 TBS of EVOO on the dough. Let the dough rise until puffed, about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes it is now time to scatter the caramelized onions on the dough. Then arrange the pears over the caramelized onions and sprinkle with 3/4 cup of your favorite Blue Cheese or Gorgonzola. I used Gorgonzola for my version of the recipe. Now we drizzle 2 TBS of EVOO over the Focaccia and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. The aroma is amazing! Once she is done, transfer her to a rack to cool. I am not waiting very long. My red wine is in my hand and I am grabbing me a slice or two. Yum! Yum! I think my culinary nose is now awake! I am pleasantly surprised with how all of these flavors go so well together. Another glass of red wine and one more slice please. Oh my! That was incredible! My mind sure is wandering with these flavors. I can see other creations. I hope you try this recipe. I just wanted to thank Jill Giacomini Bash for providing the recipe and for the inspiration to create my version. I want to apologize for the length of my hibernation. I am on new medication and I promise many more recipes will be coming your way! When you have time send me your favorite recipe and I will make it and then write about my experience with it. When you try this recipe send me a note and let me know how it came out. Find something you enjoy and just do it! Life is way too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, Cookin' with John will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Pizza Out of Bounds! 3/29/10

2010-03-29T10:30:00.001-05:00

The sun has been shining most of the week. With all of this off and on rain we have had as of late things are still a little damp. I will be glad when things start to dry out. I am even stoked that I get to get the mower out soon. I know I am weird, but green grass looks a lot better than the brown dried looking stuff. I got this Aero Garden for my birthday last year and since the house is up for sale I never took it out of the box. Well what the heck! It is set up and the three pods that I planted were basil, dill and oregano. You need to check these things out. It is a hydroponic system with a grow light. It will be fun to see how everything turns out. I planted some strange tomatoes and some exotic peppers in some pots I have on the deck. I hope they do well this year. Last year was not a huge success. The travel business is hanging in there. Alaska, River Cruising and All Inclusive Resorts are pretty hot items right now. A summer vacation is right around the corner and now is a pretty good time to get things in place. I don't know what it is, but my mind spins when it comes to cooking. I have been doing most of my experimentations with breakfast and have combined some pretty strange ingredients that work well with eggs. Some of the exotic combinations have been with capers, green olives, jambalaya, enchilada stacks and refried beans inside of an omelet. They all have worked for me, but I am not sure the rest of the family would ever eat any of it. One of my all time favorite foods in the world is pizza. Mama Mia it is pizza time! Did you know that the first pizzeria in the United States was opened by Gennaro Lombardi in 1895 in New York City? I am a pizza junkie and love to create different and unique pizzas. My parents went to a small college in Iowa and they used to hang out at this pizza joint called the Pizza Shack. They became friends with the owner and he shared his recipe with them. The only thing was it was for 100 pizzas so they had to cut it down to a recipe for 3 pizzas. Not only is this recipe still with our family it was also the start of Johnny's Pizza headquartered in Monroe, LA. Johnny Huntsman the owner of Johnny's Pizza and my parents went to college together and have shared the recipe ever since. Johnny's Pizza has 30 to 40 locations scattered out in Louisiana and Texas. This cooking session was going to consist of pizza made 3 different ways. Pizza #1 is going to be a potato pizza! Pizza #2 is going to be an alfredo pizza! Pizza #3 is going to be a normal with pizza sauce! The dough for 3 pizzas is quite easy. I mix 2 packets of rapid rise yeast to 1 cup of warm water and 2 table spoons of sugar. I let that proof for about 5 minutes. My dry ingredients are 3 cups of all purpose flour and 1 teaspoon of sea salt. I mix the wet and dry together with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Once all of this comes together pour it out on a floured surface and knead it into a ball. Then place it in a greased bowl about twice the size of the dough ball, cover it with a towel and put it in a warm place for 2 hours to rise. After 2 hours knock the dough down and dived into thirds and make 3 balls. Cover them with saran wrap and let rise a second time. The pizza sauce recipe is for 3 pizzas, but I am only using it on 1 of the pizzas. You take 1 can of tomato paste (Contadina), 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 heaping tablespoon of ground oregano, 1 tablespoon of Louisiana hot sauce, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and I add a little water to thin it out some. Mix all of this together, cover and set aside. I normally cook my pizza outside on the grill, but I was bringing the show indoors. I cook a unit called a VillaWare Pizza Grill. It is a pizza stone made into a unit that will fit on your grill or oven. I have used it on my gas grill and my 22” Weber. I put my oven rack at the lowest level and the pizza grill goes on to of that. I set the oven to 500 degrees and let the stone heat up for at least 30 minutes prior to cooking. I had some ingredients that I needed to prep first. I needed to make some caramelized some onions, crisp up some bacon, chop some mushrooms, slice some green olives and put the potatoes thru the mandolin. The Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese are the easy part. Once all of the prep work was complete and the onions had caramelized I was ready to roll. I forgot to mention this earlier, but you will need a pizza peel to slide your pizza on and off of your stone. Make sure and sprinkle corn meal on it first or your pizza will not come off. You will not be a happy camper if you forget this part. You can add more as needed. The first pizza is rolled out and placed on the pizza peel. This would be the strange pizza of the night. Olive oil would be used instead of pizza sauce. Then I layered thinly sliced potatoes on next. The mozzarella cheese came next. I prefer sliced cheese over grated. It seems to melt easier. I put crushed red pepper on next and she was ready to go. Just slide it on the stone and set your timer for 8 minutes. I was not sure how this was going to come out. I have never made a potato pizza before. The pizza was thin and crispy with a gooey cheesy potato topping. I cut the pizza into 12 slices and was ready to try my first bite. I must admit it was pretty good. It could be a keeper. Pizza #2 was going to be an alfredo pizza with caramelized onions, bacon and mushrooms. I used Bertolli’s alfredo sauce in a jar. I know I should have made my own. I rolled to dough out on a floured surface and then placed it on the pizza peel. The alfredo sauce goes on next and the mozzarella cheese. The caramelized onions, mushrooms and bacon go on next. Then it gets a shower of oregano and on the stone she goes for 8 minutes. This one smelled amazing! I cannot wait to taste this one. I have made alfredo pizza before, but not with these toppings. After 8 minutes this girl is bubbling. I slide her off onto the cutting board and let her sit for a minute before I slice into her. The smells of this pizza did not disappoint me. It was incredible. I need to drink a glass of red wine with this one. I am in pizza heaven and I still have another one to make. Pizza #3 will be Italian sausage and green olives and the famous pizza sauce. The dough is rolled out and the sauce and cheese go on next. The sausage and green olives join the party next and then it is showered with oregano. 8 minutes on the stone and this bubbling goodness is ready to come out. I don’t know what it is about green olives and pizza for me, but it gets my motor running. I know this one is going to be good. I believe it is time for another glass of red wine as I am going to sit down and eat this one. This has been an amazing pizza experimentation night. Another pizza that I make in the summer time when I grill pizza outside is a barbeque chicken pizza. I use barbeque sauce as the base on the dough before the cheese. I then add rotisserie chicken, onions, pickles and a drizzle of barbeque sauce on top of that. I kid you not you will want to do a jig after the first bite. I knew I should have made 4 pizzas tonight. I told you playing with pizza can be fun. Let your hair down and play with your food. This has been an amazing night and my taste buds have been satisfied. I think I need another glass of red wine to finish the night off. I hope this has helped give you some new pizza ideas. It is not authentic Neapolitan pizza, but it backyard fun pizza. Authentic Neapolitan pizzas that are made with local ingredients from Naples like San Marzano tomatoes, which grow on the volcanic plains to the south of Mount Vesuvius, and Mozzarella di Bufala Campania, made with the milk from water buffalo raised in the marshlands of Campania and Lazio in a semi-wild state. The dough is made from type 0 or 00 Italian wheat flour. I am sure it is good, but I will stick with the backyard fun version until I visit Naples! If you have any questions just shoot me a message. I would be glad to help. If you try something really weird like chocolate pizza let me know how it came out. I am learning about cooking everyday! Another night of cooking has come to an end and I am truly blessed with my family and friends that I have. Cooking is a passion of mine and I hope you enjoy making pizza as much as I do. I have to give special thanks to my mom for keeping the pizza recipe strong and alive in our family. She still uses these special pizza pans that are over 50 years old. She can achieve the same crispy crust that I get from my pizza stone. I love you mom! When you have time send me a recipe and I will make it and then write about it. I would be honored if you would share this blog with a friend who loves to cook. Find something you enjoy and just do it! Life is way too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, “Cookin with John” will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Pork Fried Rice Brooklyn Style 3/4/10

2010-03-04T12:30:00.008-06:00

The snow has moved on and we have had some semi sunny 60 degree days. Snow in South Texas is for the ducks! This has been the strangest year for weather. I am not sure I understand it, but I am sure that it is happening for a reason. I know we are being set up for triple digit temperatures this summer. I can just feel it! The dogs have been happier now that they don't have to get wet and then go through the towel dryer when they come back in. I can't have any dirty feet tracks on the floor for the potential home buyers to look at. They know the drill and are being good sports about it. I have been attending a lot of webinars this week. My head has been in education mode. As a Professional Travel Agent you have to be up to speed with the cruise and tour companies. Otherwise you are going to get blown away. Knowledge in this business is the key to you experiencing the ultimate vacation. During my years prior in the Reprographics business I have had the pleasure to work with many amazing people and one of those amazing people is Kathryn Williams. Kathryn & I worked together in Austin for several years. Kathryn has since moved to Brooklyn, NY with her husband and son. You should see all of the snow they have had in Brooklyn this winter. Where I am going with this is Kathryn is one heck of a cook. We share recipes back in forth and the recipe I am cooking today is her recipe. Pork Fried Rice is on the menu today. I have never made this before and was really excited to make it. So where did fried rice come from? Fried rice, which originated in Yangchow province, is a standard method of cooking leftovers, involving frying cold boiled rice with chopped-up meat and vegetables. In really superior restaurants, rice is specially boiled and dried for this, but usually old, unused rice is served. The common (and favorite) recipe, however is not Cantonese, but eastern, deriving from Yonchou in the lower Yangtze country; it involved mixing chopped ham, beaten egg, green peas, green onions, and other ingredients to taste, and then rather slowly sautéing the rice. The rice is neither deep-fried nor stir-fried, but is cooked slowly in a little oil, producing a fluffy product with a slight crust. That is pretty interesting! I am ready to get started! Earlier in the day I cooked 3 cups of rice so it would have a chance to dry out some before I used it in the recipe. I know that is a lot of rice, but being home alone I get a little crazy with my food projects, plus I need some leftovers. The ingredients that we are using today are cooked rice, medium onion, small bag of frozen peas, small bag of frozen carrots, (you can use fresh peas and carrots) sesame seeds, 2 eggs, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, butter, sesame oil, green onions, chopped garlic and marinated cubes of pork. (I marinated the pork in some teriyaki sauce and sesame oil) It sounds pretty simple so far. You need to cut you onion and green onion into a small to medium dice. Your garlic need to be cut into a small dice as well. Then you need to mix your 2 eggs and scramble to your liking. Now that all of the prep work is done get your wok or your favorite non-stick pan. You need to heat your wok up pretty high and then add 1/4 cup of oil. (I used canola oil) Once you see a little smoke start you are good to go. Your cubed pork is the first thing to hit the wok and be careful as there will be a little hissing going on. You need to stir fry the pork until it is done all the way through and then drain it on a paper towel. Then take a couple of tablespoons of butter and add to the remaining oil. Once your butter is melted add all of your vegetables and sesame seeds and cook until your veggies are soft and the onions are translucent. Now here comes the fun part! Take your rice and dump it on top of your veggies and then shower the rice with sesame oil, soy sauce and teriyaki sauce. Mix your rice and veggies together and taste to see if you need to add more soy or teriyaki sauce. It is now up to your taste buds. Then take your scrambled eggs, sesame seeds and your cooked pork and stir fry. Just keep mixing everything together until it is hot enough for you and then it is ready to serve. I told you it was easy to do. The hardest part was the prep work. The best way to eat your fried rice is to serve it with an egg roll and your favorite adult beverage. Those of you who know me know it is going to be a glass of red wine. The last thing you need to do is drizzle everything with Sriracha Hot Sauce and now you have a very awesome comforting meal. I will put this up there with any Chinese restaurant that I have ordered fried rice at. It was really really good! I ate way too much and I am really glad the rice was already cooked. If not, there is no telling how much bigger my stomach would have gotten. I know my wife is going to be upset that I am making this while she is in Dallas, but I promise to make it for her one day soon. Kathryn you did it again. You shared a recipe with me that will stay in the family. It is a keeper in my book. Thanks so much and I look forward to cooking the other amazing recipes that you have shared with me. I am still waiting on that secret banana pudding recipe. Please! For all of those of you reading, make sure and try this recipe out. I know you will be happy that you did. Send me a note or leave me a comment on what you thought and how yours came out. Another day of cooking has come to an end and I am truly blessed with my family and friends that I have. Cooking is a passion of mine and I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have. When you have time Send me a recipe and I will make it and then write about it. I would be honored if you would share this blog with a friend who loves to cook. Find something you enjoy and just do it! Life is way too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, "Cookin with John" will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Jambalaya Heaven 2/24/10

2010-02-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

This weather stuff is crazy! We went from rain and newly formed rivers in the yard to the 70's with shorts and a T-shirt last weekend. Then we get hit with sleet and a small crop dusting of snow. I don't have all of these different types of clothes for three different seasons in one week. I don't know what to expect next, but I just wish it would be consistent. The dogs normally have no problem when you ask them if they want to go outside, but now they have to investigate the situation before they even come close to walking out the door. I am home alone for a while as the rest of the family headed off to their hometowns to do their own things. This gives me time to bond with the dogs and celebrate peanut hour in the evenings! HaHa! Once our house sells I will get to hook up with my wife in Dallas. All kidding aside, we had some good family time as Matt came home from La Tech for a few days during Mardi Gras break along with Janet and Tyler being here as we celebrated their birthdays at Genghis Grill. Where is everyone headed for Spring Break/Summer Vacation this year? If you need some help, I know a cool travel agent. He keeps telling me that cruise vacations and all inclusive resorts are hot right now. I think I need to give him a call. I am getting hungry! Let's go cook something! As a foodaholic and a social networking junkie, I have had the pleasure to meet some really cool people online who love food and are willing to share their recipes. One of those very special people is Toni Patrick Cox from Ruston, LA. Not only is she a great cook she is a very nice person and a football junkie. Football and food, what could be better? During the Super Bowl she made Sausage/Chicken Jambalaya and she was kind enough to share her recipe with me. I have to tell you I was blown away. I have not been very successful with making this Creole/Cajun dish, so I was super excited to have an authentic family recipe to try. I have not personally met Mrs. Cox yet, but I hope to one day soon when I travel to Ruston to watch my son Matt play football at La Tech. You know me by now as I always have to check out the history of what I am going to make. Jambalaya originated in southern Louisiana by the Cajuns around the bayou where food was scarce, as opposed to the richer part of Louisiana. The word is said to be a compound word of Jambon from the French meaning ham, and Aya meaning rice in African, as there were many slaves in the Louisiana at the time. Common belief is that it originated from the Spanish Paella, which has also transformed in the United States to a dish called Spanish rice. Jambalaya is a bit different many times as it incorporates seafood, ham, link sausage rounds and chicken, although it doesn't have to have all those ingredients. It can be made (separately or all together) with ham, chicken, sausage, fresh pork, shrimp, duck and oysters, to which is added shortening, rice, onion, garlic, pepper and other seasonings. There is a Jambalaya Festival and World Champion Jambalaya Cooking contest held annually in Gonzales, LA and it attracts area cooks who have spent years perfecting the art of cooking and seasoning this Creole delicacy. Gonzales, LA is called the Jambalaya Capital of The World. Let's get this cooking adventure rolling! The prep work needs to be done, but grab two beers to drink during the process first. Cut a medium onion to a medium/small dice; chop your celery and green onions into a small dice as well. Then chop your parsley. Don't chop it down to fine as it will cook down some. Then take your smoked sausage of choice and slice it. The chicken breast is next as it need to be cut into cubes. You know the size you like to eat. I think everything is ready to go. I am using a 5 quart ceramic coated cast iron pot. Turn the heat to medium high, add a little oil and fry off your smoked sausage. Remove the smoked sausage and drain on paper towels. Next you take your cubed chicken breast and cook in the sausage drippings like a stir fry. Once your chicken is browned, remove and set aside. Now take the remaining vegetable oil and add to your pan. I know the oil sound like a lot, but it is not. Take your onions, celery, parsley, green onions and sauté for several minutes. Then take your long grain rice and sauté with the veggies for a few more minutes. Now you add one box of chicken stock, chicken, sausage, a 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes, bay leaves, cayenne pepper and creole seasoning. Simmer over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, Then cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until the rice is done. I have to tell you that I made this recipe with no one to share it with. My wife is not very happy! I could not wait to eat. It smelled awesome, it looked awesome and it blew me away. This is what I call the ultimate comfort food. I am in heaven and I am on the floor because I ate too much. I cannot even walk to my bottle of wine! I cannot tell you how good this is. I am so awed with how super delicious this is. You will have to make it and shoot me a note after you get back up off of the floor. I bet you will fall in love with it as much as I did. I paired this incredible recipe with a crusty French baguette and nice bottle of 2007 Red Willow Sangiovese from the Columbia Winery in Washington State. Just one quick side note to the recipe as I added more cayenne pepper and one serrano pepper diced to the recipe. It also called for a 13 ounce can of chicken stock, but it was actually one box of chicken stock. Mrs. Cox, I cannot thank you enough for sharing this recipe with me. It will remain in my family forever. I know I was supposed to make dessert as well, but I will save your bread pudding recipe for another day. I hope you to will try this recipe out and I bet you will be satisfied with how awesome it is. Make sure and invite your family and friends over and make it a big party! I truly appreciate all of you who are reading and following. Please leave me a comment sometime so I know who is reading. Send me a recipe and I will make it. I would be honored if you share this blog with a friend. Find something you enjoy and just do it! Life is way too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, "Cookin with John" will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

PS: I learned a new word the other day! It is called Cruisitude! My travel agent told me about it.

Lasagna in a Bowl 2/12/10

2010-02-12T06:30:00.000-06:00

This has been a very strange week. I am not sure how to explain it. I feel like I need to put a wet suit on and put my floating device on call. If we have any more rain I will have my very own river to float down. It won't be long and I can catch a wave down the street! The dogs are even tired of swimming to their destination to do their business. As I sit here and write about food, it is snowing in Dallas where my wife is and I am getting ready for a polar bear swim here in San Antonio. I think I would rather be making snow angels in Big D than shrinking various body parts in San Antonio! I think I am shrinking just thinking about it! It's going to be good weekend though. Matt is on Mardi Gras break from La Tech, Tyler is coming down from San Marcos and Janet is heading home for a few days from Big D. The Winter Olympics start, NASCAR kicks off and the Ultimate day of Love caps off the weekend. I am looking forward to some family bonding time. It has been a while! I am not even going to start with what happens next week. I will save that for another meal. Did I say Lasagna in a Bowl? I did and I know that is crazy, but is in my head for a minute or two. If you are looking at traveling to Italy this year or next, I know of someone who can answer all of your questions. Whether it is by land or sea, he can bring Italy to a reality for you. You can check him out at FCT! Let the cookin’ begin, enough of this FCT stuff! What the heck is Lasagna and where did it come from? Lasagne, also lasagna, is both a form of pasta in sheets (often rippled in North America, though seldom so in Italy) and also a dish, sometimes named Lasagne al forno (meaning "Lasagne in the oven") made with alternate layers of pasta, cheese, and ragu (a meat sauce). While it is traditionally believed to have originated in Italy, evidence has come to light suggesting that a very similar meal known as "loseyns" (pronounced 'lasan') was eaten in the court of King Richard II in the 14th Century. The recipe was also featured in the first cookbook ever written in England. However, the claim is far from universally accepted and the Italian Embassy in London particularly speaking out against it for Italy. The word "lasagna" is derived from the Greek word "lasanon" meaning chamber pot. Could this really mean a “Crockpot”? The word was later borrowed by the Romans as "lasanum" to mean cooking pot. The Italians then used the word to refer to the dish in which what is now known as lasagna is made. Wow, this is a lot of history. This recipe came to me from my sister in law. I will let you in on a secret. She is a great cook! When we first talked about it, I was anxious to make it, but I was really having a hard time seeing how this was going to work. How is a Crockpot going to be the cooking hero? I just don't see it, so let the cooking adventure begin as I attempt "Lasagna in a Bowl" To me Lasagna is comfort food! It needs to be made with love and use fresh ingredients. The prep work needs to be done first. Cut a small onion to a medium dice, mince a few cloves of garlic and slice a handful of mushrooms. Next the ricotta mixture needs to be made. It is really simple to make. Take two cups of ricotta cheese, one egg, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, parsley and mix all of it together. Now we come to the manly part of the recipe. It is time to make a meat sauce. Brown the Italian sausage, ground chuck and your diced onion and drain off the excess fat. Now you add garlic, mushrooms (I did not use due to some of my tasters will not consume mushrooms), hand cranked sea salt, hand cranked crushed black pepper, oregano (my addition to the recipe), red wine that you will drink, marinara sauce of your choice, tomato paste and tomato sauce to the meat mixture. Mix this entire list of ingredients up and set aside. Get your favorite Crockpot out and spray her down so nothing sticks. You said a Crockpot? This cannot be right! Lasagna should be made in a rectangle shaped pan, not an oval or circle shaped pot. I have come this far, so here we go! Take some of your meat sauce and just cover the bottom of your Crockpot. Take your lasagna noodles and start filling in the shape of you Crockpot. I used no cook lasagna noodles, so all I had to do was break them to make them fit right. Then layer your ricotta cheese mixture on top of that. Then add meat sauce on top of that and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. You repeat this same process of layering until you come to about one inch from the top of your Crockpot. Once you reach the top and your last layer of mozzarella is on, top it all with parmesan cheese, parsley and a little more oregano. Cover this masterpiece up and cook her for six to seven hours on low. You will know it is done when your neighbors are knocking at your door. Make sure and keep your vent hood on low so you can perfume the neighborhood. They will love you forever. About ten minutes before you are going to serve it add some more shredded mozzarella cheese, cover it and get your salad and garlic bread ready. Oh, and don't forget your favorite color of wine! I started the wine at hour six! I kid you not; as I scoop me a section of this "Lasagna in a Bowl" I am very impressed with the appearance and aroma. How could this come from a Crockpot? I took my first few bites and I could not believe how moist and how much flavor this lasagna had. Oh my! I am a believer in this Crockpot recipe and I can tell you until I took my first bite I was not sure about how it would turn out. That's Amore! I am in love with my taste buds and this recipe. When I make this recipe again, I will need some marinara sauce on the side so I can top the lasagna with some sopping sauce for my garlic bread. I want to thank my sister in law for sharing this recipe with me. I hope you to will try this recipe out and I bet you will be satisfied with your efforts. Make sure and invite your family and friends over and make it a party! I truly appreciate all of you who are reading and following. Please leave me a comment sometime so I know who is reading. I would be honored if you share this with a friend. Find something you enjoy and just do it! Life is too short! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, “Cookin with John” will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Italian Beef with a Greek Influence 2/6/10

2010-02-06T10:50:00.021-06:00

The New Year has started and is well on its way. Why does time fly by when you want to take it slow and easy? I would have thought that as fast as time is going by that I would be losing weight like crazy! Wrong, I postponed my New Year's resolution diet until after the Super Bowl. You have to have time to mentally prepare for a diet. Can you believe the Super Bowl is tomorrow and football is gone until late summer? I hope I can make it that long! Matt and the Bulldogs ended the season stronger than it started. I am looking forward to see what the next season brings to this very young football team. The biz is in full swing with one month into "Wave Season" My waves could be a little higher! HaHa! What is the old saying? Hang loose and catch a wave! I am good with that. Today I am going to put a twist on a Chicago Classic. Italian Beef with a Greek twist John's way! I have been making this version for over six years and it is has been a staple of ours during football season. My brother in law introduced me to this several years ago and we were sold at the very first whiff of this twisted classic. Not only is he one heck of a cook, he is one of the best Pit Master's around! Let's start with a little history of Italian Beef! An Italian beef is a sandwich of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, dripping with meat juices, on a dense, long Italian-style roll, believed to have originated in Chicago, where its history dates back at least to the 1930s. The bread itself is often dipped (or double-dipped) into the juices the meat is cooked in, and the sandwich is typically topped off with Chicago-style Giardiniera (called "hot") or sautéed, green Italian sweet peppers (called "sweet"). Pasquale Scala and the Scala Packing Company, Al’s #1 Beef, Pat Bruno or Italian immigrants who worked for the old Union Stock Yards in Chicago all claim to be the creator of this masterpiece. I do not claim to know who invented “The Italian Beef Sandwich”, but instead I will say Thanks to the contenders for giving me the base for my twisted version. One thing is for certain: the Italian beef sandwich will not be found anywhere in Italy. I will save the Philly Cheesesteak for another day as this is Chicago's day to shine. Enough of the history! This is one of those recipes that has very few ingredients, but will have the neighborhood knocking at your door. You must have a Crockpot. This is a very low and slow recipe. From the store you will need a four to five pound rump roast, two jars of Greek Peperoncini sliced peppers, Italian dry dressing packet, garlic, au jus and the bread of your choice. I told you this twisted version is simple! I typically start this the evening before I want to eat this. Are you ready? Get the old crock pot out and rub the inside with some olive oil. Take three or four cloves of peeled garlic and massage the inside of your crock pot. You know, just like giving a good back rub to your wife. I leave the garlic in the crock pot. Next your trim most of the fat, but not all from your rump roast. Gently place the rump roast in the crock pot and sprinkle the entire Italian dry dressing packet on the rump roast. Open both jars of Greek Peperoncini peppers and pour the entire contents over the rump roast. Yes that is correct, all of the liquid. Turn your crock pot on high and cook for three or four hours. Now is time for the low and slow part. Turn down to low and cook another eight hours at a minimum. I try to get twelve hours out of her before I even lift the lid. One thing I can tell you is that if you make this the night before you are going to have a hard time sleeping. This terrific aroma is so electrifying that even the dogs start howling. I kid you not when you wake up the entire house will smell like an Italian bistro. After twelve hours or so, slowly take the meat out and put it on a sheet pan. The meat will be incredibly tender at this point. Take a couple of forks and shred the meat apart. I would compare it to shredding a Boston butt for pulled pork. Once the entire roast is shredded take your two packets of Au Jus and stir them into the broth that is still in the crock pot. Sometimes I will add beef soup base and Oregano as well, but in this version I did not. Take the shredded roast on put it all back in the crock pot. I normally cook this for a couple of hours more on low to let everything join back together. At this point it is very hard to keep the lid on. I have tormented the family with this aroma for the last fourteen hours and they are very hungry at this point. Now all you have to do is take your favorite hard roll, slice her in half and place her in the broiler until she is toasty brown. In this particular version we were making what we call I-Beef Sliders so we used a small Hawaiian style roll. My preference is a crusty baguette or a hard Italian roll. Now comes the easy part. Take your toasted roll and pile the beef on and add some juice. Put a little press on it and go to town. Serve with your chip and condiments of choice. I promise you will fall in love with this recipe. Take this recipe tweak it to your liking, but most of all have fun. Playing with food is such an inspiration to me. I have to give thanks to my I-Beef followers for making sure that we have very few leftovers. Matt, Tyler, Jake, Arnell, Anthony and Mike H are my I-Beef groupies and whenever you are in town let me know and it will be my pleasure to crank the old crock pot up. I hope you too will one day get to share this Italian Beef recipe with your family and friends! Find something you enjoy and just do it! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, “Cookin with John” will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Beer Cheese Soup with Custom Croutons 10/11/09

2009-10-11T17:30:00.000-05:00

What a weekend this is going to be! FCT has a huge week coming up with its WLCE. Make sure and check it out when you have time. You might even win a Free Cruise! With the smell of college football and the crispness in the air, why not make some fall food. I love this time of the year! My inside cooking brain works at its best when it is frisky outside! My weekend will start off with a late night ESPN game. Matt and the Bulldogs will take on the Wolfpack from Nevada. I decided to make my Whine & Wangs for the game. I did not disappoint myself as they came out just spectacular. I kept getting wang sauce on my whine glass! The Bulldogs did not do as well as they came up short against Nevada. The season is still young my friends. Saturday will be my day to put my spin on a Wisconsin classic. Our food trail will take us down the path to Beer Cheese Soup. A little beer and cheese will not hurt anyone. The recipe I will be using is a recipe that Bryan Thomas gave me back in 2004. Bryan is the President of Thomas Reprographics and like me is food and wine junkie. We sort of take food ideas and modify them on the fly. Are you ready? I am! With all of my ingredients present and accounted for, I am ready to begin the process. The first thing that we need to do is prep our vegetables. You need to get 4 carrots, 5 stalks of celery with the lettuce looking things in the middle. Whenever you cook with celery make sure you include the lettuce looking things. That is where all of your celery flavor comes from. You will need a medium to large sweet onion and 5 to 6 garlic cloves. The last vegetable you will need is 1 beautiful Habanero. I am going to use 2 of them because I am only feeding myself and heat is my thing. Here is a funny little hot food story. Several years back Bryan and I were in Albuquerque for planning meeting for an upcoming Reprographics convention. The Fiery Foods Festival was going on at the same time and with our love for fiery foods we decided to attend. I kid you not you were in a hot sauce candy store. We sampled so many different things. Being on fire was an understatement. You know when they have a milk station you are in some trouble. If you ever get to attend one of these events make sure when they give you a toothpick or a spoon to taste their product that you do not pull out the toothpick or spoon with your lips closed. You will come out of there looking like you have red lipstick on. It was still a blast! Now that you have all of the veggies ready you need to slice and dice as you please. I cook a lot with enamel coated cast iron Dutch ovens and I will do the same today. They maintain a better constant heat in my opinion. You need to add some olive oil and sauté your veggies for 10 to 15 minutes. (Salt & Pepper to taste) My twist to the recipe is to sauté some andouille sausage. Whoever said a Cajun and a Cheesehead could not get along! The real way to eat beer cheese soup is to top it off with popcorn. Not! My crouton of choice will be andouille sausage and pork skins. You know, like letting the north and south touch each other! After your veggies have your house smelling good, you need to add 1/4 cup of flour. Make sure and coat the veggies good and cook for another minute or so. This is the step where the roux will start to take shape from. The next ingredient is the most important one. You must be very selective during this process and I would highly recommend a dark beer. I normally would use Guinness, but I had Shiner Bock on hand. There is nothing wrong with Shiner Bock. The next step is to add 1 1/2 bottles of beer to your veggies along with 24 plus or minus ounces of chicken stock. Don't use broth, get the good stuff. You could add all beer if you want, but I am staying close to Bryan's recipe. Cook all of this for 30 minutes or so at a slow boil. We want to get the veggies tender. The next part of the process involves blending. If you have a cooking boat motor then start pureeing until everything is completely blended. Since I do not have one of those gadgets I am going to let everything cool down some and move a little at a time to my stationary blender. Words of advice though, only fill your blender half way up. When blending hot liquids you will shoot your lid off if you are not holding it down good. I have been there and done that. Once everything is blended you will have this awesome yellow/orange looking soup base. It really looks and tastes good. You need to put all of this back into your pan and put your heat on low. We have a few more ingredients to bring to the party. Our next participants will be 8 ounces of heavy whipping cream and 16 ounces of cheese. The recipe calls for Colby Jack and that is what I am going to use. You can use any mixture of cheeses that you want. I can see mixing Smoked Gouda and a Fontina the next time I make this. You need to add your cheese slowly while stirring and melting. After all of the cheese is incorporated, add 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 3 table spoons of Worcestershire sauce and stir all of this in. If you need more salt then this would be a good time to do it. I figured I would let this all simmer on low so all of the flavors could get to know each other. I had some more habaneros left, so I got out my microplain/zester grater thing out and zested one more habenero into the soup. Just make sure you wash your hands good when you are done. Otherwise you might have something on fire that you do not want too. Been there and done that one too. I have waited long enough and it is time to plate up. Soup hits the bowl and my andouille sausage and pork skin croutons make their way on top. All of this garnished with another habenero. No I did not eat it. It was just for presentation. All I can say is Wow! What an amazing full of taste bowl of soup. This is Fall Food at its finest! You know you have seasoned it well when you get a little burn deep in the back of your throat and your nose won’t quit running. Bryan, all I can say is thanks for sharing your recipe with me. I had a blast making it. You all know that I am crazy when it comes to food! I never know where my mind is going to take me. I hope you too will one day get to share your version of Beer Cheese Soup with your family and friends! Find something you enjoy and just do it! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, "Cookin' with John" will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Steak & Stuff 9/18/09

2009-09-18T06:19:00.006-05:00

Well the week was a week. It seems like I never catch up now that football season is in full swing. FCT was good, but could be better. I had a warm fuzzy happen on Tuesday. Giving good news is always a good thing. Anytime you can make three ladies going to Alaska happy you are going to have a good day. Are you ready for some Steak & Stuff? One of the nights that we stayed at Jim & Jean's while we were in Troy, we experienced one heck of a meal. I mean an awesome meal! Chef Jim & Chef Jean are awesome cooks, so I got to watch and take pictures. This also allowed me to drink a little more than I should have. That was ok because it also allowed my camera to stay in focus even though my eyes were not. Our evening started off with this incredible fried calamari appetizer with a crazy yummy oriental style dipping sauce. Jim & Jean have a restaurant in Clearwater, FL that they know one of the chefs at. They buy their calamari from him in 1 lb packs, but 10 lbs at a time. Iron Chef Jim took the honors and was frying some golden goodness. I have to tell you the calamari was to die for. It was crunchy and oh so tender. Did we talk about the dipping sauce? Oh my! We had some wimps with us who would not eat calamari, so there had to be specially prepared items for them. Actually I think it was only one person who would not eat them and he has the same name a s mine. We had caught a few small bass earlier in the morning with our guide Jimmy. Jimmy (Jim & Jean's son) worked on fileting them and smoked them on a vertical smoker during the day. They brought out these smoked bass fillets and I am not kidding you, these little guys were the bomb. In the water in the morning and in my belly later that day. Dinner would have to wait a bit so we could rest and make a new adult beverage. Three ladies a chopping would start making the salad stuff. They did a good job and the salad items were consistently chopped the same size. This salad had 15 items in it. It was a meal in its self. I was quite impressed after watching them drink a few pink lemonade adult beverages. Let’s see. Pink lemonade vodka and pink lemonade sounds like something that could affect your knife skills. Chef Jean was up next with her famous sweet potato chips. There were a lot of sweet potato chips to fry up. What an awesome partner to go with the king of meats. Filet Mignon was the meat of choice. It was butchered and made its way all the way from The Villages, FL. The person with the same name as mine who would not eat calamari was the delivery man. Each steak was carefully placed in the pan and the doctor would go to work prescribing all sorts of ointments to help this meat live up to its name. The medicine had been prescribed and the waiting game began. That left us a few minutes to prepare another adult beverage. Chef Jim had one more recipe to go before the meat hit the fire. Here is how the recipe goes. Take a pan, add 2 sticks of butter, garlic salt and as much garlic as you can chop. Turn the fire on low and let the butter and garlic become husband and wife. A marriage made in heaven. This would become my last treatment before the filet hit the grill. Each filet would be double dipped in the butter garlic mixture and gently placed on the grill. Gently would be an understatement, as when butter hits the fire it becomes war. This is how you lock in the prescribed flavors and get a good char. The filets are now all on and the cooking instructions start flowing. They sounded like instructions but I think it was the adult beverages that were flowing. You know everyone wants to be a grill doctor. After we came to an agreement as to which doctor was in charge of working with the patients the meal all started to come together. Chef Jean was completed with the sweet potato chips and the filet's were resting awaiting their surgery. The wine bottles are opened and the conversation gets lively. We all take are places and fill our plates with this wonderful meal and most important the amazing company that we were all part of. The food was really awesome and all of the flavors married well together. As the meal comes to an end I take time to reflect on how blessed we all really are. Family and friends are what makes the world go around. I just want to say thanks again to Jim & Jean for letting us invade their incredible home as we get ready to go see Matt play at Auburn. You already know that I am crazy when it comes to food! I hope you too will one day get to share your Steak & Stuff with your family and friends! Find something you enjoy and just do it! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, "Cookin' with John" will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Whine & Wang's 8/28/09

2009-08-29T06:00:00.013-05:00

What a week! The business was average this week, so this allowed me time to play with some different foods this week. It makes it pretty easy when she is up there and I am still here. I decided to experiment with one of my favorite foods. Chicken Wang's! I have been working on perfecting my perfect wing for many years. I think my perfect wing would be naked! You know no clothes on! I would prefer it fried and tossed in a sauce of some kind, along with some heat. I am so tired of ordering wings at restaurants. No one does it right. Some come close, but most have soggy skins and I want a crispy skin. I will admit that I give in when someone wants to go to Hooters. Who can pass up a naked Bentley's in the presence of orange shorts. When it comes close to finding a wing to my likings, it is at Plucker's. This Texas wing establishment even has Dr Pepper wings. While that is pretty cool, I prefer the wings that have enough heat to make you sweat and Plucker's delivers that with the "Fire in the Hole" wings. I can taste them now! They will make you burn inside and out. So what I decided to do was play with my wings. I can fry them, I can grill them, but can I bake them and get the same effect as fried. Being in new in the travel business you do a lot of research and a ton of reading. This way you become an expert. So this is where my mission would start. Research! What is it that the others are doing? After reading and researching, I came to the conclusion that if you want to achieve the same effect as fried wings while baking them you must do the craziest thing. Do you have a steamer? If you do, you can do this. I know this is strange, but trust me. Get your steamer fired up. Don't laugh at me. I know you are. I promise I am leading you down the wing heaven path! I use nothing but drumettes. Do they really have miniature chickens? How do we get drumettes? I am not sure, but I am very thankful that we have been introduced. My seasonings consist of cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, adobo spice, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Make sure you massage those guys from top to bottom. Once the steamer is ready I place them in their steam bath for 18 to 20 minutes. Once the bathing is accomplished I take them out, place them on a plate to cool. Then we head to the fridge for a cool down of at least an hour. Are you still with me? I know this is very weird, but the results will wang you. Heat your oven to 425 with your rack in the center and get ready. It’s a process I know, but well worth it. Get your pan and you have to use parchment paper. Who, what, paper? No foil? I am a true believer in parchment paper. No more foil and spray cans for me. This stuff is non stick heaven. Take our chilled steamed drumettes and line them up on the pan. I place mine in opposite directions to make them look manly! Once you hit 425, place these guys in the oven for 22 1/2 minutes. Take them out and turn them over and repeat this process for 21 1/2 minutes. Hang with me on these times as they do work. During the cooking process take your favorite hot sauce and heat up with a half stick of butter. I am a huge fan of anything with habaneros and I they go well with my wing sauce. Once these guys are done, toss them with your homemade sauce and you have the perfect baked, fried tasting wang's you have ever tasted. I promise! Blue cheese dressing is my dipping sauce of choice. The coolness helps cut some of the heat. Make sure you have you favorite beverage on hand. My beverage of choice is red wine. It has a nice balance to the hot sauce. Plus wine is good for you. The doctors tell us so! I have to say thanks to my buddies for hanging with Pop's (me) during his crazy cooking weirdness. They already know that I am crazy when it comes to food! I hope you too will one day get to make Whine & Wang's! Find something you enjoy and just do it! Have fun and smile! Until next time, "Cookin' with John" will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!

Silly String Pizza 8/22/09

2009-08-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

For those of you who know me, you know I love to cook. I like taking what you have and try to make something unique out of it. I call this playing with food! When you are on a limited budget, trying to sell your home and start a new travel business, you have to get creative. She is up there and I am down here. Let me explain! I currently live in our home in Cibolo, TX while we are trying to sell it. My wife is in Dallas working full time. My oldest son "Pea" lives in San Marcos, TX and my youngest son "Pod" is playing football at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, LA. This gives me more opportunities to play with food. I am currently on a low carb diet and have been since May. You only have so many choices and by mixing things up, you can come up with some pretty unique recipe's. As I start my life with Cookin' with John I hope I can share with you some of my crazy ideas with food. You are probably wondering if he is on a low carb diet, then what in the world is he doing making pizza! As I told you, I love to play with food. My brain goes way too far outside the box sometimes. It does not matter to me if you eat dinner for breakfast or breakfast for dinner. Life is to short to do things normal. I keep frozen pizza dough balls in the freezer for those times when the kids come home. I said what the hay! Let's get the pizza stone out and make some pizza. I did not say I was going to eat it. I just felt like making it. Playing with food keeps my mind young while I dream up these wild things. Ok, let's see. I have thawed dough and I can make some of my mom's famous sauce recipe. I don't have any pepperoni, but some sausage will do. I know I have an onion that I can use to. What I don't have is cheese. How is this going to work? Nope, I am not going to the store. Maybe I will use American cheese slices. Then I remembered that I have like 24 packets of string cheese. This is mozzarella right? Everything is good! I can now make pizza. So I thought! I go to get the flour so I can roll out three pizzas and I am flour less. I guess I could of gone to the neighbours and borrowed some flour. I am going to make this work. I have corn meal and that will have to do. The pizza stone goes into the oven at 475. I get the ole pizza peel out along with the other ingredients. I still can not believe I am going to use string cheese. How many will it take? What is the best way to do this? I got 12 string cheese packages out. I will use 4 packages per pizza. I spread the corn meal on the counter and take my rolling pin and commence to roll some dough. It is not working very well, but eventually I come up with a 14 inch circle. What will this taste like with corn meal in the dough? I use corn meal on the pizza peel to keep the dough from sticking, but not in place of flour. I take a couple of spoonfuls of my mom's pizza sauce and spread it out on the dough. I open my four packets of string cheese and start pulling the little strings off. This is pretty wild looking. I don't know how to explain what this looks like. I guess it looks like spaghetti piled up. I am not even sure if this will melt right since I am not covering all of the sauce. I throw some sausage and onions on. Sprinkle it with some oregano and slide it onto the pizza stone. I have cooked pizza's on this stone hundred's of times, so I know that in 8 minutes that we should have our first look at my Silly String Pizza. I was shocked to all get out! I am staring at something that looks like real pizza. I can't believe it! I get the pizza peel under it and lay it on the counter. I had to stare in amazement. How could something that started out so funny looking now look like the perfect pizza pie? I must of sniffed the pizza for two minutes. I had to make sure it was really real. I cut the pizza in slices and moved them on to a pizza pan. Now it was time to duplicate this two more times with the remaining two dough balls. I never knew playing with food could be so much fun. Maybe it was the two glasses of wine that helped me be a believer in this crazy idea! I cut the other two pizza's up and put them all in freezer bags. This way Janet, Pea and Pod could try them the next time they come home. I did sneak two pieces. I did feel like I had committed the diet sin, but it tasted so good. I will ask for forgiveness in the morning. I had such a blast making it. These slices of pizza are now sharing freezer space with the other frozen dough balls. They now know there fate one day. I hope you too will one day get to make Silly String Pizza! Find something you enjoy and just do it! Until next time, "Cookin' with John" will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!