The musings of a madman...

     Please bear with us this week, folks.  Two kitchens are becoming one, so all of our stuff is somewhere in the in-between.  Tuesday posts are the ones we have not yet built a cache of yet, so that means we are without a post this week. We will use this opportunity and space to recap the things we HAVE done, though.      Spaghetti Zoodles and Sauce : An intro to substitutions.  Properly used, zucchini will become one of the most versatile things in your entire kitchen.      Fried Chicken Breakfast Sliders : Speaking of switch-ups…  We’ve been frying chicken wrong our entire lives.  All of us.  Also, “low-carb” doesn’t necessarily mean “no bread” either.      Cauliflower Croquettes : A dish I created with potatoes a long time ago goes over JUST as swimmingly with cauliflower.      Curried Fish and Spicy Ginger Cabbage : Phlip: “WE MUST CURRY ALL OF THE THINGS!!!” Mimi: “let’s not”      Lottery-Winning Chicken : This chicken filling will become one of t

     This week will be really simple.  In the blitz of life-changing maneuvers and being busy with work and life in general, sometimes cooking needs to be kept as simple as possible.  I am just going to apologize/not apologize right out front.  We normally plan these on the weekend coming into the week, but one of the most important people in my life got hitched this weekend so we were busy celebrating. Yet, we must still eat good to live good. Lemon citrus pepper baked chicken wings and cauliflower Florentine bake. Let’s start with the wings: Chicken (duh!) 1/3 cup lime (or lemon if you prefer) juice 2 tbsp olive oil Onion Powder, lemon lepper seasoning and salt all to taste Plan ahead.  Cut the wings into sections and place into a large bag then mix the above wet and dry ingredients for a marinade and mix well.  Put it aside in the fridge and leave the house for several hours.      Once back in the kitchen, pre-heat the oven to 375°.  Spread your wings on a

     This is about to be pretty simple…  That is a good thing because Mimi turned me loose on the kitchen by myself this week. While we prepared for the Fancy Vinegar Chicken , I had an epiphany.  When Mimi sliced up the zucchini on the mandoline, my brain yelled “LASAGNA!” and since my mouth is often captive to my brain’s random utterances, I found myself answering Mimi soon after it happened. So… What will be so easy about this? Why, the fact that we are using items/techniques that we have already employed!      As mentioned and linked above, the “noodles” for the lasagna will be zucchinis as thinly sliced as your mandoline can produce.  The sauce will be the same as we used in the spaghetti , and then again in the pizza post.      To save you the time of going back to either of those, I will start with the toolkit for the sauce here: 1pkg italian sausages 20oz ground turkey 1 jar spaghetti sauce italian seasonings 1 bag shredded Italian cheese Ricott

Fun surprise this week…  Pork! Look, I read the title, heck I WROTE the title.  I know it says chicken, but the fooder around these parts wanted some swine tonight, so she made a dual dish including both chicken and pork tenderloin. Let’s get to business here.  This will be quite simple, and will require you plan a full day ahead. First, you will need (not pictured): 1lb of boneless/skinless chicken breast (or pork tenderloin) 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 3/4 cup red wine  vinaigrette 1tbsp minced garlic Marinate the meat in the above ingredients overnight. Brown them in a lightly oiled pan but do not cook them all of the way through. Pull from the heat and bake at 350 until internal temp of 160/165 (chicken/pork, respectively) And that is IT! Give it a few minutes to rest, and slice. A few minutes to rest?  Yeah…  about that. You should have sliced your zucchini long-way and can sauté it in the meat leavins that remain in the pa

     No cutesy backstory to this one.  Mimi came up with this one off the top of her head when we were brainstorming things to cook when we basically swore off carbs last year.  She is brilliant like that.      The beauty of this is that it is a crock pot meal, not requiring a ton of attention or difficult techniques.  Let’s get right into it.  You will need: 1 can of Rotel 1 can crushed tomatoes 3 cups diced chicken 1 cup chicken broth 3 cups eggplant 2tbsp chili powder 1/2tsp crushed red pepper 1tsp each of oregano, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and coriander salt, to taste Dice the eggplant and salt it well, do this while the chicken is cooking. Again, this is a crockpot meal and will not be complicated at all.  Everyone in the pool now, mix well and stir occasionally. We’re calling this a chili, so be prepared to cook and stir until it is the desired consistency and taste for how you like your chili. Although

     Honestly, this meal came from a mistake… Wait, put a pin in that, we will come back to that.      We spend a lot of time on Google looking for carb-friendly recipes and spins on things that normal people want to eat.  One that had frequently escaped us was pizza.  We were having to wait on full-on cheat days to enjoy pizza. One day, we said “NO MORE!!!” and went out and found a recipe for pizza crust involving ingredients more friendly to people who are avoiding carbs. To top it off, it is pretty easy to make. First, you will need the supplies: 1/3 cup each grated Parmesan, Almond Flour and Coconut Flour. 1tbsp cream cheese 1 cup shredded white Italian cheese (really, shredded cheese of your choosing) 1 large egg Forming the crust: Mix together the cream cheese and shredded cheese. Microwave in 15 second intervals until all melted (this will vary by cheese).  Once all melted, mix in the egg. It’s going to look weird but stay with me.