The foodie

Yummy bone in chicken breast slowly roasted in the oven! Recipe for Rosemary-Citrus Marinade: This is an easy recipe for poultry, fish, and even meat and pork. Fresh herbs work best for their natural oils infuse the marinade.  Makes 2 cups for 8 large breasts Ingredients:    1 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 large lemons, zest and juice 1 large orange, zest and juice 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard 8 garlic clove, roughly chopped 1 (2 oz.) package fresh rosemary, roughly chopped, stems included 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh cracked black pepper Directions:  Place all of the ingredients in either a food processor or food blend and blend on high for 2 to 3 minutes, or until fairly smooth. Pour into a large heavy duty Zip lock bag. Place the chicken on a cutting board and use the tines of a fork to prick all over the meat. Transfer to the Zip lock bag and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or ove...

Homemade White Chocolate Cupcakes There is nothing like baking homemade cupcakes, they are quick and easy and cupcakes are a huge hit with kids not to mention the new thing with wedding cakes and special occasions.  You may have even seen a cupcake bakery pop up in your neighborhood in the past couple of years offering gourmet cupcakes that are deemed to be the best tasting and most innovative. How To Make The Best Homemade Cupcakes  Baking cupcakes should not be a feared task, for they are really easy to make as well as easy on the budget as well as the waistline.  Well if just eat one that is.  The main factor for making cupcakes is the ingredients and how they are incorporated with each other.  Recipes for homemade cupcakes are by the thousands though if you know the key ingredients that make the best cupcakes, you can let your imagination run wild with the kinds of cupcakes to make at home.  My two favorite cupcake recipes are lemon scented...

Is there a favorite restaurant recipe you want to know the secrets to making at home but just can't seem to figure out how or what is in the dish?   Even though you may ask for the recipe from your restaurant, chances are they will not give you all the ingredients, especially the secret ingredient that makes you come back to the restaurant.  Believe me I know, I work in the restaurant business.  If we gave all the key secret ingredients to our restaurant recipes, it is very possible we would lose some of your business. There is a website that offers the "top secret" recipes from your favorite places to eat although over the recent years it now requires a monthly membership and the recipes offered are from places I have never eaten as well as no pictures or printer friendly recipes if I am on the go.  I like to get in and get out when I am needing a recipe and want pictures as well as detailed instructions, especially if I am "copying" a restaurant recipe....

I love cooking during the holidays, the bountiful love of labor toward feeding the masses, while preparing one of a kind recipes like rack of lamb.  Lamb has a distinct flavor which you love or hate, personally I challenge the people who dislike lamb to try this holiday rack of lamb recipe. It is best to plan ahead when wanting to prepare this dish, for the secret to the incredible flavor is in the over night marination! Holiday Rack Of Lamb Recipe: (Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb) Serves 4 1 750ml bottle of Merlot, pick a wine that you would drink, not a cooking wine 3 french lamb racks (about 8 ribs each equaling 1 1/2lbs each, trimmed of excess fat) 1 1/2 Cups fine fresh bread crumbs 3 Tbs finely chopped parsley 1/2 Tbs each of finely chopped rosemary and sage 3 Tbs grainy mustard 1 Tbs. honey 1 Tbs. melted unsalted butter Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper Olive oil The day before pour entire bottle of Merlot over racks of lamb and marinate 24 hours. Pull l...

I have been thinking a lot about what to stuff my bird with this year.  I usually make my own bread, then add some kind of protein, usually from the sausage arena then sneak in some healthy ingredients as well as fresh herbs and spices.  I will pick a cuisine like Italian and base my additive ingredients to my home made bread, or skip the bread and use polenta just to push that extra umph of flavor. Last year I based my stuffing on the Italian cuisine and added sweet sausage, sun dried tomatoes, fresh oregano and basil, chili flakes, and reduced Chianti wine with some demi glaze.  Needless to say it was a dish that stood on its own and offered a great left over alternative as well as boosted the roasted poultry flavor.  Now don't get me wrong the traditional stuffing with celery, onions, dried herbs, stock is just as yummy though surrounding myself in the culinary arts for so long, I can't help myself to think outside of the box. So this year I have tested and re...

 The caveman diet or also known as paleolithic diet is is all about natural foods to help achieve great health and a perfect physique. The human body evolved for more than 2 million years with the food found in nature: game meat, fish, vegetables, wild fruits, eggs and nuts. The human race was thriving on this diet high in animal fat and proteins and low in carbohydrates, but things changed when we introduced unnatural foods to our bodies. It's called the caveman or paleo diet because it includes the food that were available to us for most of our evolution during the paleolithic era, starting about 2.5 millions of years ago. The idea is that our genes and physiology evolved through the process of natural selection and are most adapted to be nourished with the food that we evolved around. On the opposite side, some of the foods that we started eating in large quantity since the beginning of the agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago are completely...