Slightly Indian Chicken Marinade

Here's the first marinade entry!  Wahoo...  So here's what you're going to need to whip this one together:

• annato
• cumin
• cinnamon
• garam masala
• chili
• adobo
• soy sauce 
• olive oil

The dry ingredients are all in powder form, you'll mix those together in a small bowl.  You can play with this one, like all of the other recipes mentioned, that's the point.  You're going to want to watch your usage of Adobo and soy sauce because you don't want an overpowering salty taste, or a heart attack!  Go easy with the cinnamon and add that slowly tasting as you go.  It's a strong flavor and you want the other flavors to have a chance.  You're looking for balance.

Focus on the garam masala flavor, you should definitely taste this.  The annato is typically a spice used in Mexican dishes, but the clever part is being able to taste it with the Indian flavor.  Chili powder is there to increase the heat, use it more or less to your liking.

Once you have the dry spices married just the way you like them add your soy sauce (one of those little packets is just about right) and mix in olive oil.  You don't want too much oil.  It should be an even ratio of oil to powder visually before you mix it together.

Put this on your chicken and let it sit refrigerated for at least an hour if not longer.  I like to let my meat marinade for hours while I do other things, sleep or go to work.  That doesn't hurt.  Make sure the spices and your chicken have fun together before they get scorched!

Trader Joe's Cabernet Beef Dinner

Yes, this starts with Trader Joe's Cabernet Beef.  It's a neat little ready marinated beef roast at a great price.  You don't need to do anything to the beef roast unless you want to.  I think I may have tossed a little bit of garlic and onion powder on it, but nothing is needed unless you feel like experimenting.

You need these to go with it:

• portabella mushrooms sliced
• carrots peeled and sliced or cheat with a bag of baby ones
• white onion roughly chopped
• chopped celery
• bok choy
• Franzia box of Cabernet Sauvignon

Ok, it's been a minute since the bitchez made this, so I might be forgetting the process.  I'll try my best.  The scrap of paper with this recipe on it is scribbled with lots of typos next to a courthouse address, but we're not going to talk about that.  Anyway, there aren't any directions so here's how I think it went.

Throw your onions, celery and mushrooms in a pan with a little bit of oil to sauté them.  In doing this you have to get your box of wine and make a reduction with your box wine.  The box of wine is best because if you're entertaining friends you should have enough wine to go around.  This might have something to do with the transcription problems of the hand written recipe.

Oh, I think you're going to braise your meat in the pan, then add the onions etc. and then make your reduction.  As I remember this all ends up in a baking pan, with the reduction poured over it.  You can add potatoes to your pan, easy enough.  What you don't want to do is add the bok choy to the pan too early.  It's delicate and cooks fast so put it in towards the end of the cook time.

To cook the meat simply follow the instructions on the package.  It will be in a baking pan along with the other things you prepared on the stove top and the carrots and bok choy.  This is pretty simple, maybe a little more labor intensive because of the braising and sauté process.  It's a meal all by itself, although you could add mashed potatoes or garlic bread as a side.

Enjoy MEOW!

Variation on Tater Carrots, but no Tots... WITH SAUSAGE

This little thing I cooked last night is like that tater tot casserole, except the spices are different and the taters aren't in tot form.  There's also sausage involved, as the title indicates.  Let me explain...

Here's what you need to start with:  (All amounts are approximations based on what was available when I cooked this.  Add more or less dependent on your personal taste!)

• 1 lb. bag of carrots sliced
• 1/2 of a white onion, you could definitely use more... that's all I had in the fridge
• 4 stalks of celery
• 1/2 garlic clove, chopped or you could use the pre-chopped stuff in the jar
• frozen broccoli... this just ended up in there and was good, I'd try fresh or another similar vegetable of your choice
• uncured pork sausage... we need to talk about the sausage

Lets start the sausage talk with the spices I added to Trader Joe's Uncured Pork Sausage:

• Weber Grill Seasonings Kickin' Chicken
• chili powder
• onion powder

Ok, even though I used the sausage mentioned above with the three powdered spices (about equal amounts of each, less Kickin' Chicken and chili if you don't want it to be very spicy) what I was thinking is that the Trader Joe's Jalepeno Sausage would be perfect.  It wouldn't need any spice powder at all, it's very spicy all by itself!  The sausage I used is simply what was in my freezer at the time.  Trader Joe's has a really great selection of pork and chicken sausage (for those who don't pork).  

One more thing to add to the pork discussion is that the pork I used had 23 grams of fat per pint sized link!  I was planning to add some olive oil and butter to the vegetables in the pan, but opted against it because I couldn't handle the idea of adding to the fat content of the dish considering the inclusion of a pretty fatty sausage.  Use your discretion...  It would be really good I'm sure with butter and oil.  Ok fine, I did put in some butter.  To keep my conscience clear I use Land o Lakes reduced fat butter.  It's not margarine, it's sweet cream just with less fat!

So your sausage should be sliced on the bias into semi-circles and sitting somewhere with the spices on it while you prepare your veggies.  Sausage doesn't need to be cooked before you put it in because it's cooked when you buy it.  You can brown it if you like.

Roughly chop the vegetables so that they aren't so small that they turn into mush in the oven.  Now you can use a little bit of oil to coat your baking pan.  I used a pan that was about 2 inches deep and 12 or so inches long, rectangular in shape.  It worked out well.

Throw your veggies in the pan and give them a sprinkle of Stonemill Poultry Seasoning. This comes in a grinder and can be purchased for $1.50 at Aldi.  It goes well on lots of things, and has a minimal amount of sea salt that doesn't make it taste like just salt.  

Get your seasoned sausage slices and strategically place them all around in your vegetables.  Remember this sausage has loads of yummy fat so stick them under the veggies, in between and on top.  Your pan should look like an even mix of all your ingredients.

Put it in the oven at 375 maybe 400 for about 45 minutes to an hour depending on how soft you like the carrots and potatoes to get.  I cooked mine for almost an hour and the big chunks of carrot were still slightly firm, they were good, not mushy at all.  Your frozen chopped broccoli is a different story, but it makes tasty goo all over the other stuff.  Fresh broccoli would have a similar but better effect I think!

I'll be updating this as I try it with a super easy home made pico do gallo in taco form.  Mixing all kinds of stuff together is a great way to come up with new ideas!  That's how I came up with Curry Chicken Tacos, which will be featured here as well at some point.  Anyway, enjoy your pork sausage casserole!