Hi everyone.  I am alive and well and only slightly frazzled with everything going on.  This is the week of Thanksgiving in America so for the next few days we’re going to be talking about how to make Thanksgiving feasts.  And then we’ll follow that up with how to turn Thanksgiving feasts into awesome Thanksgiving leftovers.

I wanted to start with the old standby: Green Bean Casserole.  Why?  1) Because I love the stuff and 2) Because it’s ridiculously unhealthy as is.  Think about it, it is canned green beans (mmm…sodium) and fried onions stewed in cream of mushroom soup.  Wait a minute…no wonder it’s so good.

Anyway, my recipe for making Green Bean Casserole is pretty straightforward, but is a whole lot healthier.

You will need:

• 1 bag of frozen green beans
• Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons of Old Bay
• 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup of reduced fat chedder cheese (optional)
• 1 cup of oyster crackers or roughly crushed saltines

To make it:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Boil the green beens in salted water for 5-7 minutes or until al dente.
3. Drain and add lemon juice.  Set aside.
4. In a preheated skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil, the onions, and the seasonings.  Cook until the onions are soft.
5. Combine the green beans, the onions, and the cans of soup in a oven safe dish and bake until the soup is bubbly.
6. If cheese is desired, add about five minutes into the baking prcoess.
7. Add the crackers right before serving so that they stay crispy.

The key to this recipe for me is the Old Bay seasoning on the onions.  It gives them a flavor I prefer to fried onions.  To make up for the texture of green bean casserole, I added saltines to the top of the casserole.

 Enjoy!

I’m just mad about Saffron…Saffron’s madly expensive…

So, back for another edition of Spice Week, the cooking celebration of the reuniting of the Spice Girls.  Yesterday, we looked at a way to make a warm herbed goat cheese with herbs de’ Provence which can be enjoyed as is. 

However, by using another great spice, in this case, saffron, we can make an excellent topping for the goat cheese with a Spanish twist.

You will need:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil 
• 1 medium white onion 
• salt
• 2 teaspoons of pepper
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 pinch of red pepper flake
• 1 tablspoon of Spanish paprika
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup of green olives
• 1 healthy pinch of saffron cooked in 2 tablespoons of hot tap water
• 1/2 pound of 21 to 25 count shrimp (cooked), tails removed

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil.
2. When the skillet is hot, add the onions, garlic, a good pinch of salt, paprika, black pepper and red pepper flake.  Cook until the onions are very soft.
3. When the onions are soft, add the can of diced tomatoes.  Bring the liquid to a boil and cook to reduce the sauce by 1/3.
4. Wash the green olives and give them a rough chop.  When the sauce has reduced to the desired thickness, add the olives and let them get warm.
5. Add the saffron and let the color of the spice spread throughout the sauce.
6. Add the shrimp at the last minute and keep the skillet on the heat just long enough for the shrimp to get warm.  If you prefer, you can add uncooked shrimp at the same time as the green olives and cook them until they turn pink.

Take a healthy spoonful of the saffron-tomato-shrimp mixture and use it to top the goat cheese.   Tell me how you like it.

Interesting saffron facts: Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world because it can only be harvested by hand and is deadly in large amounts.  Enjoy!!

Welcome back to another (slightly later than I would have liked) edition of Spice Week.  In celebration of the Spice Girls reuniting, this week is all about how to use spices in your cooking.

And yes, I realize that herbs de’Provence are herbs and not spices, but bear with me here.  They’re a handy little thing to have for cooking.

Firstly, what are herbs de’ Provence?  Well, they’re herbs…from…Provence, France…

Actually, herbs de’ Provence are a mixture of dried herbs all of which are typically found in abundance in the Provence region of southeastern France and typically contain rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay and thyme.  Sometimes sage or lavendar are added as well.  They are an earthy mix of herbs that are used to add a natural, woodsy flavor to cooked foods.

Use herbs de’ Provence with either very robust flavors like beef or lamb or when you want the herbs to be the star of the show like in herbed chicken or in brown butter sauce poured over cheese ravoli.  Why then?  Well, the herbs in question, especially thyme and rosemary, are very strong and can easily drown out mild flavors like most vegetables or seafood.

Here’s something I am considering doing with some of my herbs de’ Provence.

You will need:

• One tube of soft goat cheese
• 1/2 cup of flower
• 1/4 cup herbs de’ Provence
• 1 tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• cooking spray (yes cooking spray…)

1. Make sure the goat cheese is fresh out of the refrigerator when you prepare this recipe.
2. Cut the goat cheese into medallions about 1/3 inch thick.  If the cheese is very soft, spin the cheese and press the outer edge of the circle inwards to firm it up almost like folding the edge of a pizza crust.
3. Mix the flour, herbs, black pepper, and salt together in a plate or wide bowl.
4. Place the goat cheese medallions on the flour/herb/spice mixture and coat both sides liberally.  As you coat the medallion, press down gently to really get the herbs and flour to stick.
5. Let the medallions rest in the refrigerator for 5 minutes while the skillet preheats over medium heat.
6. Coat the skillet and saute two to four medallions over medium heat until the cheese/flour is golden.  This should take about 2-3 minutes per side.

Enjoy as is or tune in tomorrow for my advice on how to top the goat cheese.

Due to my illness, I took the week off to recover and try to eat something other than dry pasta.  I’ve been partially successful.

I did want to get back on track with my calendar so I’m using this week to talk about spices.  And why I am so excited about spices?

That’s right you guessed it…because in exactly one month the Spice Girls kick off the world reunion tour!!!  No, really. 

On a personal bummer note: the closest they’re coming to me is Chicago…

Anyway, for this installment of Spice Week, I thought I’d start with Indian spices.  Indian food is a style of cuisine that relies on a large variety of different spices to create its unique flavor profile.  In making even the most basic Indian dish, you are going to need turmeric, ground coriander, cumin seeds (or ground cumin), garam masala, salt, and pepper.  Plus garlic, ginger, and onions which do a heck of a lot for the flavor a dish.

However, if you can get that mix down, you’ve got the leg up on just about any Indian dish.  Except butter chicken.  Do not even get me started on butter chicken.

I came upon this mixture as the cornerstone of Indian cooking during a recent Indian cooking class I took with my wife for her birthday.  That combination of spices (turmeric, coriander, cumin seeds, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, and onions) formed the basis for every dish we made.

To test the mixture out in a dish of your own, try making my potato cholay:

• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 8 small red potatoes cut into 1/4 inch “coins”
• Salt
• 1/4 cup of water or broth
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon (two inches) grated garlic
• 1 tablespoon of turmeric
• 1 tablespoon of garam masala
• 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon of ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 tomato, diced (or 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes drained)

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat and add two tablespoons of olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the potatoes and a pinch of salt.  Toss the potatoes to coat them in the oil.
2. Cook the potatoes covered until soft.  Add a tablespoon or two of the water or broth if the pan gets dry.  This will take 10-15 minutes.
3. Add the onions, another pinch of salt, ginger, and garlic and saute until the onions soften, 5-7 minutes.
4. Add the spices and the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes become warm and give off a little liquid.

Viola!  Potato Cholay.  For me, learning this basic spice mixture was receiving the keys to the kingdom.  I now fear no Indian food because I have an idea of the basic spices that give this cuisine its unique flavor.

That’s right, it’s back again for another crazy year.  It’s World Vegan Day.

I know many of you, my readers, are not vegans, which is just fine.  Neither am I.  However, there is nothing wrong with trying vegan recipes every now and then (like my soyrizo taquitos for instance…)

I was vegan once for about three days, but I was just not ready for it.  The diet felt restrictive, but that was before I started to learn how much is out there fore the vegan to eat.  Make no mistakes about it: there is no such thing as a bad vegan cook because eating out vegan is so hard, they must prepare their own meals.

I will admit, some of it takes some getting used to.  Some of the meat replacements appear to only fool those who have not eaten meat in a long while (I’m looking at you tofu dogs), but vegan cuisine made from good local ingredients and well prepared tofu is every bit as gourmet as a $500/plate meal.

So, if you’re stuck in a rut or looking to challenge yourself, try vegan for a meal.  Your tastebuds and your body will thank you.

So I’m having one of those nights where I’m sitting in front of my computer trying to figure out what recipe to share and all that came to me was “Recipe: Chocolate Chips.” 

1) Drive to the store 2) Buy cookie dough 3) Drive home 4) Read instructions.

And I think maybe my subconcious is telling me something.  With one major deadline over and another coming up, I think I am going to hug find the boy and make a mess in the kitchen because that’s why I cook.  I cook because my dad pulled me into the kitchen and we made a mess.  The food might not have tasted great (though my Dad is an excellent cook), but we had a lot of fun.

So if you’re reading this, feel free to stop.  Head into the kitchen and make some memories of your own.  I’ll be back tomorrow starting off my first Theme Week covering new and unique spices.  Let’s spend today and tomorrow remembering that food is more than just sustenance for the body, it’s sustenance of the spirit, too.

This is another recipe I created in my quest for chicken for the next issue of BIAO Magazine.  I really liked how it turned out with several different flavors going on at once: the citrus tang of orange with the spiciness of ginger and a little soy and garlic to bring it all home.

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 6 oranges or 1/3 cup of orange juice
• 3 tablespoons of grated ginger
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1. Trim any excess fat from the chicken and cut into cubes if desired.
2. Roll the oranges on the counter.  This will make them easier to juice.  Cut each orange in half and squeeze out the juice into a bowl.
3. Make a marinade by combining the orange juice, grated ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Stir vigorously.
4. Taste the marinade.  It may be a little strong, but it should generally taste like something you would want to eat.  If not, add a little more salt and pepper.  Retaste.
5. Add the chicken.  If you have time, marinate in the refrigerator for up to thirty minutes.  If you need to get dinner on the table quickly, go ahead and move to step 6.
6. Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Add the olive oil and dump the chicken into skillet with the marinade.  Cook until the chicken has an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
7. Serve over rice or lettuce leaves.

Enjoy!  And if anyone tries this recipe and the plum chicken recipe, tell me which one you like better!

Hi everyone,

I have added an “Editorial Calendar” to the site which shows what you can expect each day from the site.  If there is anything that you do not see or if you have any feedback, please email me.

I am also announcing Theme Weeks.  Every other week, I will be presenting four different recipes centered around one theme or ingredient.  If you have a theme, please shoot it my way.  I’d love to hear it.

Lastly, I want to start a recipe exchange amongst my readers and other food bloggers.  If you would like to guest post on Blog Well Done, if you have a recipe you would like me to try and then review online, or if you need a guest poster, please contact me.  I would love to have other passionate foodies post their recipes, secrets, and food tips.  In particulary, both vegetarian and vegan cuisine are underrepresented on the blog, so if anyone knows a good veg*n recipe, I’d love to hear about it.

Also, I am a food writer who never gets tired about writing about the latest dish, so I would develop a new recipe for your blog using guidelines you give me!

Over the weekend, I picked up a copy of Robert Irvine’s Mission Cook, a biography/recipe book from the hard nosed, no-nonsense, skilled beyond measure chef from Dinner: Impossible.  If you have not seen this show, it is amazing.  Supposedly, Robert is given no foreknowledge of his task for the show, things like catering a governor’s inaugral ball or feeding hundreds of people a fashion designer’s party, and he is only given eight to twelve hours to buy and prepare the food.

He goes from zero to buffet like no man I have ever seen.

All hero worship aside, his book is well worth the read.  The man has lived an amazing life, starting with the opening pages where he recounted a tale from his days in the Navy where he had to feed over three thousand people who were escaping war torn Yemen with only what he could quickly bring ashore from his boat.  Amazing.

Even better, the recipes are not impossible.  They can be tackled and mastered easily by people of all skill levels including a rib recipe in the first chapter than I have commited to memory.

So Robert, if you read this, I got a Dinner: Impossible for you.  Let’s feed a few hundred people with me as your only sous chef.  Let’s see how you pass that mission!  (Somehow I think it would involve him sending me for groceries while he did all the work. ) 

Which is okay as long as I get to chop something with his $250 a piece titanium coated knives.

In a recent article for BIAO Magazine, I was asked to put together a healthy cocktail party spread.  I decided to make the centerpiece of the spread a chicken dish that would focus on that elusive combination of light and tasty.  I tried several different recipes before finding the one that worked best with party concept.  You will have to find a copy of the magazine to see which chicken made it, but here’s one I liked that did not quite fit the theme.

• 4 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
• 2 tablespoons of salt plus one more pinch
• 1 tablespoon of pepper
• 2 tablespoons of mustard powder 
• 5 plums (I used 2 black, 3 red, but you can use all of one type), diced in quarter inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon of grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 serrano chili, sliced
• 1/2 cup of apple cider (apple or grape juice would also work)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1. Trim the fat from the chicken and cut into cubes no more than one inch by one inch.  The size of the chicken is not as important as keeping the cubes roughly equal so that the chicken cooks evenly.
2. Make a spice rub by mixing the Mix the salt, pepper, and mustard in a bowl.
3. Coat the chicken with the spice rub and set aside for 15 minutes.
4. Add the plums, pinch of salt, ginger, garlic, and serrano to a skillet over medium heat.  Cook for about three minutes.
5. Add the cider and put the heat on medium low.
6. The sauce is ready when the cider is reduced by half.  It should still be a little runny as it will be cooked again with the chicken.
7. Heat a second skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil.   When the chicken is almost cooked, ladel in the plum sauce and continue to cook until the chicken is finished.  (You may need to do two batches.)

Serve over rice with a side of soy sauce.