Bryan Adam's Inspired Pineapple-Mango Smoothie

A few weeks back I was searching for recipes developed by rock stars. I found one from Elvis Presley (you'll find the post here), Beyonce, Madonna, Eric Clapton and Debby Harry (lead singer of Blondie…remember them?). I also found a smoothie recipe from Bryan Adam’s. It was a Pineapple-Peach smoothie and it looked fantastic! However it required a juicer, which I don’t have, and frozen peaches which I was unable to find at the grocery store.

Since I don’t have a juicer I purchased a can of pineapple juice and instead of frozen peaches I purchased a bag of frozen mango chunks. In a blender I combined 1 cup pineapple juice and 1 cup mango chunks. I also tossed in a banana to mellow it out and add extra thickness. I was tempted to add more ingredients but thankfully stopped myself because this smoothie is like heaven!

Sometimes keeping a recipe as simple as Bryan Adam’s white tee-shirt and blue jean outfits of the ‘80s is a good thing!

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Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie
brent@cookapalooza.com

Open Face Tropical Taco on a Pita

I love tacos! They are as enjoyable as listening to a Mariachi band while vacationing in Mexico. Cooked leftover taco meat also happens to be a fantastic ingredient for creating other dishes.

There are probably hundreds of recipes that use leftover taco meat, but here is one I bet you’ve never seen before…an open face tropical taco on a pita (try saying that ten times fast). I clumsily came up with this dish one day while looking for something to eat for lunch. That day I had searched the fridge and found leftover taco meat, made from lean ground beef, and lots of red pepper and pineapple salsa leftover from an event I did the weekend before. There were also some whole wheat pitas in my cupboard that needed to be used. On a whim I put all three together and lucked out on creating a dish that’s full of lively flavor! It’s like Jimmy Buffet doing one of his concerts entirely in Spanish...out of the ordinary but still something special!

Open Face Tropical Taco on a Pita

Instruments
Salsa
1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple
1/4 cup diced red bell peppers
2 tbsp chopped green onions
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp grated orange zest and seasoned rice vinegar
Pinch each salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup tomato based salsa
2 whole wheat pitas (7 inches)
1 cup cooked leftover taco meat
1/2 shredded iceberg or romaine lettuce
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Lyrics
In a medium bowl combine all salsa ingredients. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine sour cream and tomato-based salsa. Spread equal amounts of the sour cream mixture over each pita, leaving a 1/4-inch border.

Top each pita with equal amounts of taco meat, lettuce, cheese and pineapple salsa. Cut into equal sized pieces and serve.

Volume: Make 2 Pitas

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Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie
brent@cookapalooza.com

Your ipod Holds the Secret to Setting the Perfect Cooking Temperature

“I fell into a burning ring of fire”…a classic Johnny Cash song lyric. I like to use it to explain how chicken, beef and fish feel when cooked in an oven or on a range top where the heat has been set too high. It’s a recipe for turning a gorgeous cut of meat into something that tastes like the cardboard packaging for an old vinyl record. The trick to cooking meat or fish is to treat the settings on your oven or range top like the volume dial on your ipod.

My guess is the volume setting for most people's ipods is regularly positioned somewhere around the middle. For some the volume may be slightly higher and others it could be slightly lower. However I doubt few people regularly listen to their ipod on the highest volume. Basically because it does dangerous things like blow out your eardrums. Conversely if you set the volume too low, you'll be hard pressed to distinguish Snoop Dog’s “Shnizzle” from his “Wizzle”.

The same holds true for cooking meat and fish dishes on the range top or in the oven. When browning meat in a skillet, a medium setting will allow the meat to brown and caramelize. More importantly, you’ll feel in control. If you set the heat dial too high, crazy things begin to happen. The oil smokes, your food turns black instead of brown and suddenly the whole cooking experience begins to feel out of control!

The oven works the same way. Most ovens can go up to 550ºF. However if you flip through any cookbook you’ll notice the majority of the poultry, beef and fish dishes are cooked in the oven in the 325ºF–375ºF range, which of course is somewhere in the middle.

There are always exceptions, but keep this ipod thought in mind the next time you cook poultry, beef or fish and there’s a good chance it'll turn out moist and delicious!

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Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie
brent@cookapalooza.com

The Proud Cook is never Bored

If all music sounded the same it would become uninspiring and boring. We can end up feeling the same way about cooking when we only rely on one or two lackluster dishes every week.

The trick to overcoming cooking boredom is to step out of your comfort zone and prepare a variety of dishes. The reason is, variety offers new challenges. We all know accomplishing a new challenge generates confidence and a sense of pride. When you are proud of what you do it forms good feelings inside which inspires you to do it again. Conversely when you’re not proud of what you’ve accomplished the task becomes boring and will be avoided.

Why not take a few minutes to search out a few new exciting recipes. Make sure they fit your level of cooking yet offer enough challenge to leave you feeling proud when you take that first bite!

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Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie
brent@cookapalooza.com

Gift Ideas for the Cook who is just starting out In the Kitchen!

This upcoming Christmas you may be thinking of giving a cookbook to someone who is just starting out in the kitchen. It could be a friend, son, daughter, niece or nephew. However before you go and gift wrap that book you may want to think about bundling it with a few key cooking items that’ll make the rookie cook’s experience easier, more approachable and fun!

Let’s start with the type of cookbook you should purchase. My biggest tip would be to invest in one they can relate to and gives them a sense of pride. That means it includes recipes that offer some challenge but don’t require a culinary degree to make. Also check to ensure ingredients can be found at the grocery store. You may be tempted to buy them a fancy new celebrity chef cookbook (hey who doesn’t want to cook like a chef) but if they discover they can’t find any of the ingredients and the process is long and tedious that’ll be the end of cooking.

Whatever cookbook you decide to buy, make sure you take a quick flip through it before you give it to the lucky recipient. Find out what common spices, vinegars and oils are used in the book. Buy a few of them and add them as part of your gift. When the new cook knows they already have some key ingredients, they might be more willing to take a shot at making one of the recipes from their new cookbook.

Every new cook should also have a good knife set or at least one sharp 7” chopping knife. There is no bigger cooking turn-off than trying to prepare a meal with a dull knife. It’s slow and dangerous. A dull knife will slip off the food and potentially harm the person using it while a sharp knife cuts easily through the food.

Finally if the cookbook you give happens to be from…yours truly, you might just want to pair it with a small radio they can place in their kitchen. Who knows, music might be the secret ingredient that motivates and keeps them in the cooking groove!

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Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie
brent@cookapalooza.com

Is This the Best Lemonade of all Time?

Since my last blog post on Elvis’s hot peanut-butter sandwich I’ve been interested in finding recipes from other popular musical artists. I’m curious about whether their rock star status transfers from the big stage to the kitchen.

I found one musical artist whose recipe was featured on Oprah. It’s Beyonce Knowles' diet lemonade. It seems Beyonce dropped 20 pounds drinking this stuff. Personally I would have gone with eating tasty calorie conscious foods to get some key vitamins and minerals while dropping the pounds, but then again I’m not a rock star. Kanye West would probably say “Beyonce’s lemonade diet recipe is the best of all time!” but I’m certainly not convinced. Here’s the recipe if you would like to give it a go.

2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp maple syrup
Pinch or two of cayenne pepper
10 oz of water

Is Kanye right? Leave a comment to share your thoughts about this being the best lemonade diet recipe of all time?

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Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie
brent@cookapalooza.com

Elvis’s Hot Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich

Elvis may have been the King of Rock but apparently this guy was also the king of food as he had one heck of an appetite. They say he had an ability to pack away insane amounts of bacon, honeydew melons, Spanish omelets and peanut and chocolate-topped ice cream cones. I guess that’s why the big guy’s outfits continued to expand in size over the years.

From what I’ve read, Elvis liked to eat but he didn’t do a whole lot of cooking for himself. With that said, there is one recipe that seems to be a culinary creation of the King. It’s a hot peanut butter and banana sandwich and I gave it a try this past weekend. I wasn’t blow away by it nor disappointed. After all it is basically a peanut butter and banana sandwich which I used to eat religiously as a kid. Since this sandwich was grilled I thought it could use a light sprinkle of ground cinnamon to give it the extra Elvis flair it deserves. Overall I would give this gooey sandwich three XL Elvis outfits out of five.

If the thought of bananas and peanut butter gets you all shook up….in a good way…then give Presley’s sandwich a try.

Elvis Presley’s Hot Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Instruments
1 tbsp peanut butter (preferably smooth)
2 slices of bread (go with whole wheat to make it slightly healthier)
½ ripe banana, mashed with a fork (about 2 tbsp)
1 tbsp butter
Pinch or two ground cinnamon

Lyrics
Spread peanut butter evenly on 1 slice of bread, then spread mashed banana on other slice, leaving a ¼ border around edge. Close sandwich and gently press bread slices together.

Heat butter in an 8-inch skillet over medium heat. Fry sandwich, turning over once, until golden brown about 2 minutes. Serve on a plate and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon.

Volume: Makes 1 sandwich

What do you think? Is this sandwich fit for a king?

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Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie
brent@cookapalooza.com