Tread Carefully

Either you love chicken livers or you are disgusted by it. A lot of people like them...Like me :)
Some people don't so (spoiler warning) this post is about fried chicken livers.

This smells and tastes delicious once you are done, but even for the most brazen meat eaters a pack of thawed out livers is kinda ew to deal with. They are squishy .

So for all those people (bear) who didn't know you could get a pack of livers, here is how it looks.
Just ask the butcher at the store where they have the containers of frozen livers if you can't find them in the chicken section.

The thawed livers look just a little bit bloody.

I am just being gross for Nikki's sake here and holding up one of the livers

Well I rinse these out till the water runs clear (no blood)

Then I add one tbsp of salt and one capful (1/2 tbsp) of lemon juice concentrate (use fresh lime or lemon juice if you want), and mix.

Season your flour in a container for dredging.
I used seasoned salt, chili powder, paprika, Italian seasoning and black pepper.

Dredge the liver in the flour.

I dredge all at the same time. Then I added a little more seasoning

Fry them up and you are good to go. They are done when they are golden brown and fir when you press a fork on them (lightly) in the frying pan.
If it still feels squishy leave it alone to fry!

SOOOOO GOOOD

Does the world really need

NEW types of snacks in production?
I say yes.
I really like to go to a store and see what they have come up with every week. I thought that this was a great find.
ChocoStix Nutter Butter Wafer Sticks by Nabisco
I can' eat this of course but it was only 1 dollar for the 10 pack.
Nabisco strikes again!

Best Jalapeno Bites

I never indulge in frozen appetizers. I just think that after reheating it tastes ew.
But I went to Alberstons and I didn't see anything I wanted to buy because Albertson's prices SUCK to high heaven.
Albertson's prices are always 1-2 dollars more than most grocery stores.
This time I saw the SNAPPS brand bites for $1.50 each so I got two boxes.
I didn't think it would be anything really good because they weren't even in the main frozen food section.
However, I found that they were the best jalepeno bites I ever had. Even better than at the mexican restaurant!
So I went to their site and gave some feedback.
I liked the Bites because they were tasty, were good value for money, and withstood the heating process.
They didn't fall apart.
After I heated them up I could only eat 2 before I felt kinda full, so I put the rest in he fridge. I ate a cold one later and it was delicious.

Full of Carbs :)

Peanut Butter Squares

1 ¾ cup crushed graham crackers
2 ¼ cup powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter
½ lb butter (melted)
12 oz chocolate chunks

Mix together: graham crackers, sugar, peanut butter, butter. Spread in greased cookie sheet.
Melt chocolate and spread on top. Cool in fridge and cut into squares.

Note: When I use semi sweet chocolate I put in a can of sweetened condensed milk when melting the chocolate.

Macaroni Pie

Grated Cheese

Boiled Macaroni

Cheese on Macaroni.

Blend the egg and milk (binding agent)

Add the egg and milk mixture

Cheese on top

Bake 350 for 45 mins


Voila!

Trini Food things missed :(

Trinidad is great. :)

Heavy pots on the stove

The old kitchen.
Remember the bars on the windows?
Just like Miami

Mangoes, Mangoes.
Pigeon Peas and corn dumplings

Butter Rice and Black Eyed Peas (only a little peas).

The pantry where we leave things "To Ripe"

Plantains

The ripe plantain can be boiled or fried.
People here think you do something special to get the fried plantain to turn brown and crispy.
This is not the case.
The natural sugar in the planatin caramelizes in the hot oil. Simple as that.
I like them both (boiled and fried), but I prefer the fried.
Here is how the boiled looks.

SO we already talked about the dried sorrel.
Nikki suggests a longer steep time for the dried.
I prefer the fresh so sis sent me thse pics
I love these.
I liked picking off the red leaves and eating them...Yummy

Fondue things

I have had this kit for a while.
I wanted to try it out.
However when I opened it up and tried to bend out the metal stand, the round part broke!
The legs were much thicker and stronger than the stand part. so when I tried to follow the instrictions, the legs looked weird.
They also said that there were supposed to be 4 legs! Mine had only three!
I feel sad for this. I feel jaded.
I will keep the ramekin etc, but I kinda felt really bad that it doesn't work :(
SO then I trashed the directions and looked at the pic on the box and tried to maneuver some stuff...and voila! I guess that that will work :)

My Fried Chicken

Ok, so we all know that home made fried chicken spends a lot of time in oil and sometimes burns depending on how closely you watch it, or a number of other factors like the batter etc etc...

One day I was watching Nigella Lawson (Nikki ah sorry) on NIGELLA BITES and she gave me the idea to preboil the chicken before dipping it in batter. The only thing is that she didn't season the chicken or batter at all.
So I made up my own version. I thaw my chicken.

I slow/low boil the chicken in a seasoned broth.
The broth contains garlic, hot pepper, Thyme, oregano, marjoram (italian seasoning basically), salt and soul food seasoning.
..MMmmmm broth hahah

The chicken is then dredged in seasoned flour, NOT batter.
Season the flour with chili powder, salt, black pepper and paprika.

Fry (not deep fry) till golden brown.

The chicken is succulent on the inside and crispy on the outside.
Oh so good!

6 Weird Food Facts About ME: Behind The Apron

Nikki Tagged me so I am glad to do this.
I will also use this as my entry for the BEHIND THE APRON ROUNDUP

1. The fact that I am a scientist and spent many years doing lab work, has helped me with my cooking a lot.
I am not afraid to experiment with different flavors and combinations.
Some of the science behind food, helps me to know what will work and what won't.
However, baking is a science that I just can't grasp :(

2. For years I couldn't eat cheese. It made me feel like throwing up. Now I can stand to eat cheese, but I have found that too much cheese, especially mozzarella or cheddar still makes me ill.

3. I have recently developed deathly allergies (been taken to the hospital with throat closing), to certain fruits which I used to love and eat no problem :(

4. I love British chefs because they don't seem to give two hoots about health crazes. Nigella Lawson especially. She makes what she calls 'comfort foods' with heavy cream, butter, full fat meats, bacon and everything that she thinks tastes good. Gordon Ramsay cusses to no end at everyone, and Jamie Oliver, though a bit mild mannered has a filthy mouth! I cringe but secretly love it hahah

5. I love to make chutney. I can make a savory sweet chutney out of just about every fruit. I like compotes too. I think you can eat them on the side with every meal you make.
I love apple and orange chutney, but mango chutney is my favorite, followed by blueberry :)

6. I think that as long as you have an egg, you will never die of malnutrition hahaha

Savory Tart

Gosh
This was a little more complicated than I like because I don't like baking from scratch.

It looked tasty in the cookbook so I decided to try.

I rubbed in the flour and butter, till it looked crumbly (remember home ec with the rub in method)

Added the egg and the water and
Cut it all in with a pallette knife

Formed the balls of dough
and refrigerated

Whipped up the tarty filling.
Eggs, cream, hot italian sausage, spinach, feta cheese, jalepeno peppers.

Rolled out the dough.
Placed in pan, added the filling

Placed in pre-heated 350F oven for 32 mins.
Take out and serve...whenever :)
The crust is really crusty and crumbly and gooood :)

Secrets of a homemade deepdish

I tried making this a while a go. I took the pics back then so I decided to use them.
When I could eat it, it was really very good
Of course as usual I bought the Publix dough, let it rise and rolled it out. For deep dish I use the Large pyrex dish.
BUT FIRST.....
I grease the bottom and sides of the dish really well with canola oil. Be generous but not too generous!
You don't want greasy.
So toppings galore, whatever you choose, then stick into a 375F oven for 45 mins
The crust is thick but not chewy, its just right and crispy on the bottom (because of the greased pan of course!)
So Yum.

Fish and Impatience

Ok so I admit I am a little bit impatient. I didn't want to wait for the fish to thaw out.
I set the fish in the pyrex and added the lime concentrate (one capful for each fish), Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, and chili powder as well as my Clover Valley Soul food seasoning.
I added then, one capful of canola oil (approx 1TBSP) to coat each of the fish
Then I covered with foil and let bake for 53 minutes at 350F
I uncovered the fish then and they were perfect but I let them sit uncovered in the Warm oven (I turned the heat OFF), for 10 minutes to finish them off.
So so so good, and tender, flaky and juicy.
Yeh I love fish...Sorry Jan :)