My own recipe: 5 Cheese & Macaroni with Bacon!

Sunday I knew that I wanted to cook dinner, so I asked Eric what he would like. He requested Mac and Cheese... "fancy style". He of course was referring to the kind they serve in restaurants that have are a bit more gourmet and have lots of different, bold cheeses in them. Rather than spend my time searching the net for a great recipe. I decided to take a recipe I had for a more basic mac and cheese and tweak it. Thus this recipe was born, and I have to say... it's a pretty darn good!

Five Cheese and Macaroni with Bacon:

Recipe by Angela Coleman (ME!)

• 5 cups water
• 1 lb. pasta*
• 8 slices of cooked bacon
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 3 oz. sharp white cheddar cheese
• 1 oz. gouda cheese
• 1 oz. parmesan cheese
• 1 oz. gorgonzola crumbles
• 1 tbsp. crushed red pepper
• salt and pepper (about a tsp each)

1). In a large pot bring water to boil.  Meanwhile grate the cheddar, gouda, and parmesan cheese. Once water is boiling add pasta, cream cheese, grated cheeses (cheddar, gouda and parmesan), salt and pepper and crushed red pepper. Cover and simmer vigorously 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2). Meanwhile, cut bacon into bite sized pieces. Uncover pot and cook an additional 5-7 minutes until pasta is cooked al dente, and sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in bacon and gorgonzola cheese. 

*Any shape of pasta can be used for this recipe, but be sure to pick a shape that cooks in 10-12 minutes for best results. Otherwise you'll end up with super soft pasta.*

This is a great, simple, one pot recipe. I was really happy with how it turned out. Eric said it was exactly what he was craving, and really loved it. The cheese sauce was super rich and creamy, and since the gorgonzola was added last, all the little crumbles stayed in tact. Which gave a great little punch of bold cheese flavor with each bite. The bacon also helped to make the texture a bit more interesting. Since you'd get that lovely little crunch of the crisp bacon with the creamy pasta and soft cheese crumbles. It was really delicious. 

I'm really excited about how much I am growing as a cook. I have really never been able to cook anything without following a recipe exactly. Even with a recipe things did not always turn out as well as they should. In fact, the last time I made mac and cheese from scratch it was a disaster. The cheese sauce ended up too thick and sticky. The noodles ended up soft and super mushy. It really wasn't good. So this is kind of a little personal victory for me. I'm going to try another new recipe tonight, but I'm not sure just what as of yet. So I guess I better get going to search for something yummy for dinner. See you soon!

Bringing a little Cajun to the Coleman household: Crawfish Etoufee

While searching through my cook books last Sunday looking for something different to try, I cam across a recipe for Shrimp Creole, which reminded me of a little packet of recipe cards that I had purchased on my last trip to New Orleans (my favorite city ever). Upon digging out my little packet of recipes, I read over the recipe for Crawfish Etoufee. This is a recipe that I'd never tried before, and thought it would be a great day to give it a shot, but first I had to find crawfish tails. This turned out to be no easy feat, but 4 phone calls later, I found frozen crawfish tails in a one pound bag, already de-shelled. Surprisingly, the HyVee on Cass was the only one that had such a thing in stock, however every other store offered to special order some for me. Now that I was armed with the proper ingredients, it was time to get cooking! 

Crawfish Etoufee:

Recipe from "Louisiana Cajun Cooking; 12 Authentic Recipes"

• 1 lb. peeled crawfish tails
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 lb. butter
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 medium onion
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 green pepper
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

1). Melt butter in dutch oven (do not use iron pot). Add paprika. Add crawfish tails and saute approximately 5 minutes, then remove and set aside.

(the tails after their hot butter bath)

2). To pot add onion, bell pepper and garlic and saute well (approximately 10 minutes). Return tails to pot. Add 2 cups water and Worcestershire sauce. Stir and simmer slowly for 40 minutes. Check taste... add salt and pepper as desired. 

3). Mix cornstarch with a little of the liquid from the pot and add to pot. Stir until slightly thickened. Serve over rice and enjoy! Serves 4.

(after cooking down for 40 minutes and thickening)

Mmmmm. How I love me some Cajun Cookin'! Since Eric and I like things a little on the spicier side, I did add a hefty amount of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce to my pot before it cooked down. Other than that, I pretty much followed the recipe exactly.

This dish really turned out well. The crawfish were nice and tender and the sauce was really flavorful after cooking down for that long. Eric and I both really enjoyed it. However, he would kill me if he knew I fed him something with a full stick of butter in it while he's trying to loose weight. Oh well. It still tasted good!

Dario's Brasserie: My personal dining adventure.

Dario's Brasserie

4920 Underwood Avenue
Omaha, NE 68132
(402) 933-0799

www.dariosbrasserie.com

Eric and I had planned on doing dinner out on Saturday night, but really not sure where we wanted to go. I spent much of my day at work perusing local restaurant menu's and stumbled upon Dario's website. Dario's is a lovely little french restaurant in the heart of Dundee. Eric and I don't often do french cuisine... in fact, I can only recall eating at one french restaurant in the eight years we have been together, and that was when we were on vacation in St. Lucia. In the mood for something completely different, Eric and I decided to head there for dinner.

I had read on a review online that reservations on weekend nights were a good idea, so I did call ahead to reserve a table for us at 7:00. Dario's has a lovely little patio for out door dining, where Eric and I had preferred to sit, but it was full already by the time we got there. So we were ushered indoors and sat at a small table toward the back of the restaurant, where their bar and waiting area are. (view from my seat is above) 

We started by looking at their very impressive beer menu. With three full pages on their menu and another 2 pages of seasonal selections they have pretty much any international beer you can imagine. I went with one of their fruit beers (peach Lambic) and Eric tried one off their seasonal menu. The had special glasses for each beer to best bring out it's flavor.

Then onto our meal. Eric wanted to try the escargots. This is something he has tried before and really enjoyed. I have never tried it, and was honestly very scared of the whole idea of eating snails. However, I did manage to let him talk me into it. 

The escargots are served in a bleu cheese and garlic gratinee, which helped it to look less threatening. Eric dove right in, and went right to telling me how good they were. It took me a minute to get the first bite in. I picked up one of those little suckers and blew on it (it looked hot) and stared at it, and put some more of the cheese sauce on it. Then I did the thing where you almost put it in your mouth, but then pull it away, over and over again. Finally, I did it. I put it in my mouth and chewed. It did not taste bad, and I had to say that out loud and tell myself over and over that it did not taste bad. The idea of what was in my mouth was still was very hard for me to get over. I ate a second one, and it started to taste a little better. By the third and last one I ate, it tasted good and I didn't have to think about it so much as I chewed. The cheese sauce was delicious and definitely helped me out a lot, we sopped up all of what was left over with our baguette. The actual snails themselves where very tender and not chewy at all, which made eating them that much easier for me. All and all they really weren't bad at all, and I was pretty proud of myself for trying something so far out of my comfort zone. On to dinner...

I tried the Lamb Steak; grilled and served medium rare with fresh mint oil and rice pilaf. It also included a side of veggies. My first few bites of this dish were really good. The lamb was super tender and seasoned very well so that it had a lot of flavor. It really just melted in your mouth. The veggies and rice pilaf were good, but really nothing too special. I liked the mint oil... at first, but as I continued to eat I started to feel like there was just too much oil on my plate. By the time I was finished, I kind of felt like I had just drank a bottle of olive oil. Which is really too bad, because the first few bites were so delicious. 

Eric had one of their specials for the evening. It was a ground beef/ground lamb mixture stuffed with fetta and other cheeses, served on pita bread over a cucumber salad with yogurt dressing and a side of fries. He LOVED his meal. The meat again was seasoned very well with lots of flavor, and the melted cheese that it was stuffed with was to die for. The fries were fantastic, and I stole several of them from his plate (as a side note, you can get an order with two dipping sauces as an appetizer... and you should if your meal doesn't come with them!). Eric really loved everything about this dish. He felt all those different elements really came together to make one outstanding meal, and was very satisfied with the out come.

So, there you have it. All and all I felt it was a good experience, and I'm sure we will be revisiting the brasserie (Their brunch menu looks delectable!). I got the chance to try something that I would have never been brave enough to try on my own, and lived to tell the tale. Hopefully, this will encourage me to be even more daring in my eating adventures.

Artichoke Chicken with Roasted Potatoes

This is yet another recipe from my "29 Minutes to Dinner" cook book. I've been trying to cook more on week nights, so that cook book gotten a lot of use lately. This is a great dish if you want a restaurant quality meal at home in not a lot of time. Of course it took me longer than the 28 minutes the book said it would, but still was pretty quick and surprisingly easy. I need to try some more challenging meals here soon, or you guys are going to get bored with me. :)

Artichoke Chicken with Roasted Potatoes:

Potatoes and Chicken:

• 3 small red potatoes
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp "Rosemary herb seasoning mix" (this is just dried rosemary, salt and pepper that pampered chief will sell to you with a nice big mark up.)
• 2 tsp olive oil, divided

Artichoke Topping

• 1/2 cup chopped artichoke hearts
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 oz parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp mayonnaise

1). Preheat broiler on high. Meanwhile, cut potatoes into quarter. Place potatoes, water and salt into micro-cooker; microwave on hight 6-8 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.

2). Meanwhile, for artichoke topping, chop artichokes and parsley. Grate parmesan cheese. Set aside 2 tbsp for later use; add remaining cheese and mayonnaise to artichoke and parsley.

3). Flatten chicken to 1/2 in thickness. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with 1 tsp of seasoning mix.

4). Add 1 tsp of the oil to a stainless skillet (do not use nonstick cookware); heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until simmering. Meanwhile, add remaining 1 tsp of the oil and remaining 1 tsp of seasoning mix to potatoes; stir to coat.

5). Place chicken and potatoes, cut side down, into skillet. Cook 3-4 minutes or until chicken is golden brown. Turn chicken and potatoes over; cook an additional 3-4 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and centers are no longer pink.

6). Remove potatoes from skillet; set aside and keep warm. To finish chicken, spread artichoke topping evenly over chicken; sprinkle with reserved cheese. Place skillet as close to possible to heating element; broil 4-6 minutes or until topping is deep golden brown. Carefully remove skillet from broiler. Serve chicken with potatoes. 

(cooking on my stove top)

Not much to report on in changes to the recipe. I followed it almost exactly, except for I used fresh rosemary instead of dried. Also, I used 4 potatoes... and really should have used the 3 they recommended. It was very hard to get them all in my skillet, and even harder to turn them over once they were in there... But they still turned out okay. It truly tasted like something that came out of a restaurant, which made me very happy.

This dish turned out really well and helped to show me how far I have come as a cook. I've really wanted to try this recipe for a while, but I think I was always a little afraid of it. I guess I just thought it was a lot more complicated than it was. All the cooking I have done lately has really helped to boost my confidence in the kitchen. Normally when cooking chicken I flip it a million times and have to cut into the middle just to make sure it's done. This time I managed to flip it at just the right time, not burn it AT ALL, and get it to perfect doneness with out cutting into it (and letting all those lovely juices go to waist). When it was all said and done I was pretty proud of this dish. It looked beautiful and tasted amazing. What more could you ask for?

 Actually, thinking about it now. I think the artichoke topping would be good on a nice cut of steak too... hum, may have an experiment for the future. 

To my readers:

First off; Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for stopping by and peaking at my blog. I recently received some very positive feed back about the blog and was SO happy to hear that people were actually reading it. Since I get almost no comments on my page, it was very nice to know that it was being appreciated. Thank you!

Second; I am desperate for suggestions!! Know of a great place I haven't tried yet? Have some crazy recipe you always wanted to attempt but never got around to it? Curious about the questionable restaurant that just opened up down the street from you? PLEASE! Let me know. I am 100% sure that there are so many amazing places that I don't even know about yet. Google can only get you so far people. So please help me out and give me some tips. Feel free to post them here, or send me an email if you don't want the word to read it. 

Thanks again to those patient few who are reading my blog. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support.

-angi

A personal favorite: Spicy Broccoli Frittata

This is a recipe that I just love. Again, I will list the recipe exactly as it is written. However, this is a great recipe to personalize, add and delete things, and really make it your own. I have made this frittata several times over the last couple years and I always make it a little different. But no matter what I do it is always turns out wonderful.

Spicy Broccoli Frittata:

Recipe from The Pampered Chef Cook Book "29 Minutes to Dinner"

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 8 eggs
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 green onions with tops
• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese divided

1). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cream until smooth; gradually add eggs, water and mustard and whisk until smooth. 

2). Slice green onions and thinly slice tomatoes.

3). Place butter and pepper flakes into skillet; heat over medium heat 1-2 minutes or just until pepper flakes begin to brown. Immediately add broccoli and onions; cook 1-2 minutes or until onions begin to soften.

4). Pour eggs into skillet; cook and stir 3-4 minutes or until eggs are almost set. Top evenly with half of the cheese and tomato slices; sprinkle with remaining cheese. 

5). bake 12-15 minutes or until center of egg mixture is set but still moist and internal temperature reaches 155 degrees. Remove frittata from oven and let stand 5 minutes (temperature will rise to 160 degrees). Serve immediately.

(This is what it looks fresh out of the oven)

And that's it! I know this recipe sounds a little intimidating at first (at least it sounded that way to me), since cooking eggs is a little bit of an art. But this recipe is a great way to get yourself comfortable with the idea of cooking eggs.

 As I mentioned before, this is a great recipe to change as needed. I pretty much stuck to this recipe this time except for the cheese. Mozzarella, in my opinion, is FAR to tame to make this recipe something special. In fact... I have never used ONLY mozzarella cheese in this recipe. This time I used a little bit of "mexican blend" cheese, and then added in a touch of gorgonzola. Then after cooked, topped with a bit more gorgonzola... because I LOVE bold flavored cheeses. That was the only thing I changed (other than I unintentionally forgot the dijon mustard. It still tasted fine). Eric LOVED the gorgonzola, and said it really made it pop. I had to agree. The one thing that is always surprising about this meal is how filling it is. Eric and I can never finish a full frittata, we always have left overs. So another reason why this is such a great meal.

As I mentioned, I have made this recipe quite a few times. Some fun substitutions that I have tried include adding artichoke hears, and changing up the cheeses. Sharp white cheddar is a great sub for the mozzarella. Give this recipe a shot, and doctor it up to fit your tastes. Then let me know how it went. I would love to get some feedback from someone... ANYONE who actually tries one of these recipes with me.

Twisted Fork Grill & Bar - WOW!

Twisted Fork Grill and Bar 

1014 Howard Street
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 932-9600

Like we do most Thursday nights. Eric and I decided to go out to dinner. I had a craving for a burger, and not necessarily wanting to go to a "burger joint". I thought we'd give Twisted Fork another try. We'd eaten at Twisted Fork once before when it had first opened, but since it'd been a couple years, I thought it'd be a good time to go back. 

First of all, I LOVE they way the interior is decorated. It's got such a fun eclectic style. Plush red velvet and crystal chandeliers, mixed with the rustic feel of a lodge complete with animal heads on the wall. It just makes me happy.

We had to start our meal with an order of the fried pickles (something I order anytime I see it on a menu). These have already received rave reviews on yelp.com, and are totally worth a try. Their pickles are home made, which really makes all the difference. The pickle itself was so crisp, tangy and flavorful The batter was nice and light, so it didn't out shine the pickle. Served with a great horseradish dipping sauce, these fried pickles are super tasty!

For my main dish I order the "Black and Blue Burger" with a side of their blue cheese mashed potatoes. My burger was a seasoned blackened patty, with the same horseradish sauce from the fried pickles, and of course topped blue cheese crumbles. My burger was good, very good. However, it so out shined by everything else we ordered, I don't have much to say on it (more on that in a minute). The mashed potatoes were my favorite thing on MY plate. I couldn't stop eating them. The blue cheese made them delightfully salty and rich. They were SO good!

Eric ordered the "Chile Relleno". This dish was truly the star of the evening. Eric took one bite and slowly let out a  "Wow". I took a bite, and had the same reaction. This was a very different and interesting take on a classic mexican dish. Of course it had poblano pepper (but roasted, not fried), topped with grilled chicken, radishes, red pepper, toasted almonds, raisins, and apricot. All of this was floating on a wonderfully delicious cheese sauce. There really are not words to describe how good this dish was. Every thing about it was spot on. The flavors of the sweet and savory were in perfect balance. Each bite was a different experience full of amazing tastes and textures, but it all flowed so beautifully together to make one outstanding dish. Served with rice and beans... but not just any beans mind you. These were the best beans I have ever tasted. They used black beans that must have been cooked in some bacon or pork fat, and they were delicious! Eric said then and there that this was a dish he would come back for, and that he would probably never be able to order anything else from Twisted Fork again.

I would have to say that our trip to the Twisted Fork Gill was a outstanding experience. Hats off to the chief that came up with that recipe for the chile relleno. It was one of the most complex and delicious dishes I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. I have a feeling the next time Eric and I make a trip to the Twisted Fork Gill, we will be ordering at least one Chile Relleno, but I am excited to see what other amazing dishes they can produce. If you get the chance, GO! And by all means, let me know what you order and what you think. I need to know what else to try!

**Thanks to yelp.com for the pictures! Again I was too chicken to use a flash and draw attention to myself, so I didn't get any decent pictures. One day I'll grow a pair and get some good picture of my own!**