Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Bacon Cookies

I am a huge fan of peanut butter, I have been craving something with peanut butter for sometime, but wanted to make it myself.  I was doing some searching on the web for peanut butter cookies.  I had scrolled through a few pages and nothing had caught my eye until i saw it.  A recipe that married together chocolate  peanut butter and bacon.  I mean it makes since right?  Its like eating a Resse's Peanut Butter Cup chasing it with a strip of bacon...sounds good I know.
I refined my search for this cookie, and I found what I was looking for.  This recipe I even got to use some of the bacon fat.
I made this recipe once and did not have the proper tools to do the job.  Meaning I did not have a mixing bowl and or a mixer of any kind.  I tried my best with a whisk and doing myself.  I also even used my hands to knead the dough.  I baked them not knowing what I was going to get and surprisingly they came out well.  I wanted to make them again.  I just so happened to get my tax return so I went out and purchased a hand mixer and a mixing bowl.  I doubled the recipe this time and added a little more bacon this time.  They are so moist, sweet and salty.  I cookies that makes you crave more...I have not had a cookie like that it quite some time.  Come to think of it not since I had one of my grandmothers Christmas cookies.

 My first batch

Second batch

My Dinners the Past Few Nights

So this past week was a slow week at work,  With hat being said I had a extra day off and took advantage of it by cooking and creating some new dishes.  I started this adventure off by heading to Natures Best to get all of my produce.  i cant stress enough how important it is to have fresh produce and in the burbs, Natures Best is the place to go.  My bill was not more than 30 dollars.  I got kale, onions, garlic, apples, potatoes, roma tomatoes, spring onions and a few other things.  

Monday night I made myself some homemade pasta with sauteed mushrooms, asparagus and kale.  It was delicious.  Kale is my new best friend when it comes to veggies and leafy greens.

Finally Wednesday evening I made a vegetable stew if you will.....a soup?  However it was great.  It was a caramelized onion, potatoes kale stew with pinto beans.  I used some of my leftover Turduckin stock from the freezer to give it a nice touch of flavor.  This dinner paired well with a bottle of Chianti.  

Enjoy some of the photos below of my dishes.

Beers Of Ireland Tasting-Ryan's Publik House

This past week in honor of Saint Patricks Day, Ryan's was having there weekly tasting with Irish beers.  The tastings are on Tuesdays at 6pm and I just so happened to have the day off.   I found myself a seat at the bar and was given a paper with some info on each beer we were going to be tasting.  I am not a huge fan of dark beers, however in honor of the Irish holiday I thought it would be good to broaden my taste buds when it comes to beer.  The beers I tasted are the following:  Kilkenny, Smithwicks, Harp Larger, Guinness Black Lager, all from Ireland.  The last beer was a Irish style stout made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin called Snake Chaser.  The two latter beers having the most complex flavors with chocolate, coffee, English toffee flavors.  Something like that is good for a pint or two on a cold day.  When I was done with the tasting I asked for a menu.  Looking at Ryan's menu I could tell that they had made some changes and was looking at there pork belly mac & cheese, I was sold.  I was crisp, cheesy and filling.  I barley finished as a washed down the last bite with the last of my Kilkenny pint.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day-2013

Well it was a great weekend of drinking and eating.  Saturday I got to pour my own pint of Guinness and enjoyed a nice Reuben and a Hawks win at the local Irish Pub, Ryans Publik House.  Then on Sunday I returned to enjoy a plate of corned beef, cabbage and boiled potatoes with a pint of Guinness.  Needless to say I left with a full stomach, it was such a big plate of food.  I would recommend this dish to any one that goes into Ryans and is looking for some great food.  Hope everyone had a good weekend!!!

Chicken with Vinegar Sauce-Recipe#4

I was hesitant at first about this recipe, reading vinegar sauce does not sound too appealing.  However being a culinarian i seized the moment and went ahead with making this dish.  I paired it with a mushroom risotto.  It was fantastic.

Chicken with Vinegar Sauce
Serves:  4 people

Ingredients:

Olive Oil
4# 8-Cut Chicken
8 Garlic Cloves, Smashed
2 Bay Leafs
3/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
2 1/2 cups Chicken Stock
1/2 cup Creme Fraiche(Sour Cream Works Just as Well)


Method:

1.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Season your chicken with salt and pepper.  In a large deep skillet, a cast iron one if you can, heat some oil.  Add the chicken to the pan over medium high heat until browned on all sides.

2.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake the chicken for 8 minutes, until the breast pieces are just white throughout.  Transfer the breast pieces to a plate. Add the Red Wine vinegar to the skillet and return to the oven and bake the remaining chicken, about another 15 minutes.  Then transfers the rest of the chicken to the plate along with the garlic.

3.  Add the chicken stock tot he skillet and boil, using a wooden spoon to scrap all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  Reduce till about a 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes.  Whisk in the creme fraiche and the remaining butter.  Return the chicken to the skillet along with the garlic.  Simmer all together until the sauce begins to thicken and the chicken is warmed through.  Serve with some herb rice, or as I did below with mushroom risotto.