To our Great Chefs Zekk and Jane:

[Killerbabe]

I've been cooking a lot since I've moved in with my boyfriend, and to confess I don't have much of experience but find it pretty easy and enjoyable. I usually just cook without recipes, it's pretty intuitive most of the time.

So anyway, my point is - can you guys share some of your favorite recipes with me? Something that doesn't require a whole lot of exotic ingredients though, please

Love ya guys

[squirrley]

Trust me they've got some recipes for ya....

[Zekk_T_Strife]

Well, Jane is 1000 times the chef I'll ever be but I'll share my favorite recipe to make. First the ingredients. Get 4 to 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts (depending on the size of your pan), the pan itself should be two to three inches deep, potatoes (we're going to peel and cut these so you'll want to get enough to fill the pan), cheese sauce (if you make your own use that or just buy whichever you like best), and bread crumbs. First fill your pan halfway with hot water. Add anywhere from 1/4 to a half stick of butter to the water and allow it to melt into the water. I generally buy this powdered cheese and add a bit of that to the mixture so you basically have a very thin cheesy fluid. Then peel the potatoes and then slice them very thin width-wise so they look like a potato chip does. Fill the pan with these, making an even bed all the way through the pan. Now's where you add your chicken. It's best if they're thawed. Just place them on top of the bed of potatoes which are going to become au gratin. Now spread your cheese sauce over the chicken breasts and sprinkle the bread crumbs over everything, chicken and potatoes. Put it in the oven and cook at around 400 degrees until the potatoes brown over. I ADORE making this dish. I'm sure Jane could probly critique it. Let me know what you think of it though.

[jane]

SOUNDS AWESOME ZEKK! YUM!

OK Killa.. here a few of my favs! Have fun! Let me know if you want more!

Butternut Squash Soup

Serves: 8
Prep time: 1 and ½ hours

“ I was trying to decide what soup recipe I wanted to add to this book. This recipe is by far my favorite. It’s so rich and yummy….!”

Ingredients:
2 Butternut squashes
Maple Syrup
1/2 cup butter - cold cubed
2 cups heavy cream
salt & pepper


Instructions:
Pre- heat oven at 350 degrees. Cut Butternut Squash in half and scoop out seeds. Brush maple syrup on halves of squash. Bake until completely tender then scoop out pulp into blender 1 half at a time. Add 2 pieces of cold butter and 1/2 cup of heavy cream – puree.
Pour into soup pot. Continue steps 6-8 until all done. Watch consistency so that you don’t make it to watery.

Jane’s Mussel Mania
“ I made this one night because I love shrimp scampi but the shrimp I had at the restaurant were bad. I already had scampi on the menu so I improvised.”

Servings: 6
Prep time: Depends on mussels

Ingredients:
2 lbs. Mussels
1 stick of butter, cubed
2 cups white wine, Fume’
2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
6 cloves of garlic (yup, 6 cloves..)
2 tbls. Tarragon, freshly chopped
Olive Oil

Instructions:
Start by sautéing garlic on low heat. You don’t want it to brown. Add mussels. Toss around in pan and add wine. Cover, reduce to ½ cup. When mussels have opened take them out. Take off heat. Add tomatoes, and a few pieces of cubed butter at a time. Simmer until tender. Add tarragon, salt and pepper to taste. Put the mussels back in, toss until hot. Serve over pasta or rice.


Banana Bread


“ This is so good for Breakfast. I make a non-sugar one that is even better.”

Serves:8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf
Prep Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups sifted flour
2 ¼ tsp. double acting baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1/3 shortening
2/3 cup sugar (you can use maple syrup instead)
¾ tsp. grated lemon rind ( I don’t use this)
1 to 2 eggs, beaten
1 to 1 ¼ cups ripened banana pulp

Instructions:
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend until creamy shortening, sugar and lemon rind. Beat in eggs and pulp. Add sifted ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Place in a greased bread pan. Bake at 350 for about an hour. Be sure to preheat the oven.

WE miss you girl!

[sfalexi]

Here's my favorite recipe. I'm not quite the chef like them two, but I simply love this recipe and couldn't live without it.

Ramen Noodles A'la Alexi

Ingredients:

One package beef Ramen noodles.

Break noodles while in package. After a few years I found this little trick keeps the mess to a minimum. Pour the noodles into a bowl (cereal sized is preferable). Open cold tap water and put water in until you can barely see it just below the top layer of noodles. Put in microwave for one minute. When the beep goes off (or buzzer, depending on the model microwave you have) take the bowl out (careful, it may be hot!) and pour the contents of the foil package onto the noodles. Mix thoroughly with a teaspoon.

You'll notice that the consistency is very thick and some noodles are still very crunchy. I think it adds a bit of an 'exotic' touch.

There you go. My favorite recipe for many years, and for many years to come. Bon-apetite!

Alexi

[Zekk_T_Strife]

Ok, this is as good a place as any. Over christmas break I tried for the first time, and consequently fell in love with, CONCH CHOWDER!!! I realize there are a lot of recipes to make this however fresh conch is extremely hard to get here in Indiana. Does anyone know of a site or store that I could order processed conch chowder in a can from? If not then I'll just hafta wait til texas and eat it 5 TIMES EVERY DAY!!!

[sfalexi]

Never had Conch Chowder. Honestly, I don't know what my favorite food is. I do remember certain food stands though. If anyone's ever been to "Frontierland" in Disneyworld (FL) and seen that one stand with the turkey legs, that's one meal I'll never forget for the rest of my life. And I remember this one pretzel stand that used to be in Dorney Park (PA). I had one pretzel about seven years ago, and bought four more in a row after eating that one. And I'll never forget those pretzels as long as I shall live. However I can't think of any one food that I like the best.

To be fair though Zekk, remember I haven't yet tried Conch Chowder. Maybe that's also the one for me and I just don't know it yet . . .

[squirrley]

Alex_that was so damn funny dude! That's the main course in our house! Its all my kid eats, but I souped it up

Break your noodles as usual...
brown up some small pieces of sirloin, onions, and mushrooms, \
drain most of your h20 from the ramon noodles, and add that to your meat mix with the season from the package of ramon noodles. YUMMY!

Zekk, man, I have to try the chicken recipe, cheese, oh yea!
Sorry Jane Squash is not something i like, but i wanna try the pea soup.

Keep those coming...
what the hell is the name of your restaraunt?

[Innova]

Originally posted by sfalexi
Here's my favorite recipe. I'm not quite the chef like them two, but I simply love this recipe and couldn't live without it.

Ramen Noodles A'la Alexi

Ingredients:

One package beef Ramen noodles.

Break noodles while in package. After a few years I found this little trick keeps the mess to a minimum. Pour the noodles into a bowl (cereal sized is preferable). Open cold tap water and put water in until you can barely see it just below the top layer of noodles. Put in microwave for one minute. When the beep goes off (or buzzer, depending on the model microwave you have) take the bowl out (careful, it may be hot!) and pour the contents of the foil package onto the noodles. Mix thoroughly with a teaspoon.

You'll notice that the consistency is very thick and some noodles are still very crunchy. I think it adds a bit of an 'exotic' touch.

There you go. My favorite recipe for many years, and for many years to come. Bon-apetite!

Alexi

Dude, you can do some creative things with Ramen Noodles, for example you can add bits of chicken to the ramen whiles its cookin, this natrually adds more flavor..turkey works too. After its done, you could add any sort of cheese for topping. It turned out really to be really good.

[squirrley]

hey that sounds good Innova! I'll try that too...