Pad Thai w/Chicken

So, I made the most awesome Pad Thai the other day.
You will need about 3-4 chicken breasts, a box of rice noodles, assorted veggies (I used carrots, green onions, water chestnuts, and bean sprouts!) A package of A Taste of Thai, Pad Thai sauce, peanut sauce, and a big pan! (A wok if you have one)
Basically, you cut the chicken breasts into the desired pieces that you wish, add oil to your pan, and thoroughly cook the chicken. Then I poured Peanut sauce over the chicken to my liking (It is kind of a hot sauce, so it depends on how you like your heat!) then add the vegetables, stir and cook at low-medium heat. While your veggies are getting tender, boil some water, remove from heat and add half of a package of rice noodles to the standing water. I let the noodles sit for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so they separate. Then drain the noodles, add to your pan with the chicken, veggies, and pour the Pad Thai sauce over, stir well. I also fry it up at about medium heat for a few minutes just to make sure everything is properly heated and mixed well together. On a plate, lay some fresh bean sprouts down and top off with your Pad Thai! DELICIOUS

Linguine w/browned garlic butter and mozzarella

This is so simple and so tasty, you'll never think of Linguine the same way again! (If you ever thought of it in the first place!) This recipe serves 4 people as a side dish. You will need:
1/2 lb linguine (half of a 1lb box)
1/2 stick of butter
1 clove of garlic
Shredded mozzarella cheese
First chop up the garlic and put in a small pan with the butter, set aside
Boil linguine to the specifications on the box, during the last 2-3 minutes, start the browned garlic butter.
Hold pan with garlic and butter over med high - high heat, constantly stirring, the butter will start "nutting" up (which means basically it starts to get "foamy") keep stirring the garlic butter until it starts to turn a nice brown color, then remove from heat and set aside.
Drain the linguine, return to pot, then pour browned garlic butter over the noodles, tossing the noodles as you pour, until they are all evenly coated. Then top and toss in as much mozzarella as you please. I also like to toss in some shredded Parmesan! Then serve!
Makes a wonderful side dish to any Italian meat, chicken, or pork dish.

Baked Potatoes

So, I made the most awesome perfect baked potatoes last night. It's very simple, but definitely something I have never pulled off before. You will need:
4 baking potatoes ( I got the big ones like they have at steak restaurants)
Tin foil
Salt (I used Hawaiian rock salt, you could probably use sea salt as well)
Pre-heat oven to 350
Wash potatoes, prick with fork on both sides of potato, and rub with salt, then enclose them in foil, completely cover!
Stick them in the oven, wait an hour and a half, then Voila! Perfect baked potatoes!
I also shredded some Tillamook cheddar (yes, it's that important to have good cheese) Diced some green onions, had real butter, and sour cream, for a potato topping feast! It was wonderful, and not that much work! Peace out

Bruschetta

So, I am going to get around to putting up the recipes for what I made for dinner on Oct. 2. Here is my first recipe, and it is for the Bruschetta.
You will need:
1 Baguette (I find it best just to cut the bread in half and then cut into 2-3 in. squares)
3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 of a red onion
1 clove of garlic, chopped (little pieces)
1/2 tsp. Dried Basil
1/2 tsp. Dried Oregano
A pinch of salt and pepper
Shredded mozzarella
Pre-heat oven to 375
In a small mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper
Mix well, cover and refridgerate
rub bread with garlic butter, thinly spread over top (recipe follows)
Arrange bread on a baking sheet and toast in oven for 5 minutes or until golden brown.
Reduce oven to 325
Spoon equal amounts of tomato mix on bread, top with as much mozzarella as you wish, and bake for 8-10 min until the cheese is nice and melted (I also broiled mine at the end for a nice melted browned top!)
Garlic Butter
take half a cube of butter and add one clove of garlic (pending on if you really like garlic or not, add more butter to your taste, or add less garlic to butter!) cut the garlic into the butter. It is so much better than that crap you can get from the store.

Welcome

So, my brother turned me on to this site, and I thought since I was going to start going down a culinary path of my own, I could take you along with me.
Growing up I was never much interested in cooking too horribly much. When I was younger, my grandmother use to bake pies and treats, always showing me the steps along the way. (Too which unfortunately I was very good at selective hearing by then, and decided to tune her out.) We never had a lot of variety growing up as far as it came to meals. My parents worked very hard as my brother and I were growing up, and probably just made what was easy and what they could afford. I am not complaining, but by the time it came for me to be on my own and cook on my own, I pretty much just made the same things because that was all I knew. And that had not changed for 13 years, until now.
Yesterday I made Tomato, Garlic and Basil Porkloin, Linguine with Browned Garlic Butter and Mozzarella, and Bruschetta. I'd have to say that is the fanciest thing I have probably ever made in my whole life, and not only did it taste excellent (kids ate all of it, and they are picky!) but it made me feel excellent too. I put that meal in front of my family, it looked good, and they loved it!
So, my dear friend, let me invite you on this wonderful trip to rediscover the art of preparing really awesome meals!
(No worries, I'm not going to get all technical and suggest things that take hours to prepare, these will mostly be easy recipes that anyone can pull off!)