New Facebook Page!

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that I actually have my Facebook Page together now so make sure to check it out! Lots of fun stuff going to be happening there over the next few months so be excited! Also lots more recipes coming out and videos where you may even see me LIVE IN THE KITCHEN! I hope everyone is having an excellent day getting ready for a great weekend coming up.

A lot of people have been asking me what the #EatUp movement is over the past 24 hours, I will be writing a complete post about it but the essential core behind it is to devour the challenges that present themselves in front of you. Sometimes a delicious meal is sitting in front of you and its easy to enjoy every bite of that meal but other times you are faced with a difficult problem and I want to encourage people to devour those with the same rigor as a great plate of food! I strongly encourage all my friends on the internet to use the phrase and make it happen.  There is nothing better to me then helping others!

Cheers! Chef Mike

PS: Here is a sneak peak of my facebook page! Check it out!

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches! EAT UP!!!

One of the reasons you need to invest in a crock pot, BBQ Pulled Pork sandwiches! You will be able to enjoy these delicious barbeque delights from the comfort of your home! To make this whole situation even better these are probably the easiest thing to make of all time.  Follow the 4 steps and 4 ingredients below and you’re in business! 

Ingredients

• 1 14 ounce can beef broth
• 3 pounds boneless pork ribs
• 1 18 ounce bottle barbeque sauce, honestly anyone you want!
• 1 Purple Onion (optional)

Directions

1. Pour can of beef broth into slow cooker, and add boneless pork ribs. Cook on High heat for 4 hours, or until meat shreds easily. Remove meat, and shred with two forks. It will seem that it's not working right away, but it will.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Transfer the shredded pork an iron skillet, and stir in barbeque sauce.
3. (Optional Step) Chop up the Purple Onion and throw it into the BBQ Pulled Pork mix for an added flavor and crunch!
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Grab some scrumptious buns, toss your delicious BBQ Pulled Pork on top, add any additional veggies and condiments you prefer then eat up!  

One of my favorite parts about BBQ Pulled Pork is all the variations you can throw in and make them your own! Many people like to throw some Whiskey into the crock pot, and you can always play with different BBQ sauces, I am personally a big fan of Stubbs.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in 2 weeks! I will stop slacking promise ;)

Cheers! Chef Mike

Baked Spagetti Squash Recipe with Beef and Goat Cheese!

Are you trying to sneak some veggies onto your child's plate or are you having a hard time getting your 5 a day in? Do you want to make a gourmet dish that tastes great but is really not that hard to make. Look no further than this delicious Baked Spaghetti Squash with Beef, Veggies, and Goat Cheese! 

Here is what you need:

• 1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeded
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 clove garlic chopped
• 1 can diced tomatoes drained
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 cups shredded Goat cheese (why Goat cheese? For the lactose intolerant in your family and the great health benefits!)

How to make it Marvelous:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Once the oven starts beeping (reaches 375 degrees) place the halved squash on a baking sheet and bake for roughly 40 minutes, or until you find it tender.
3. Remove the baked squash from the scorching oven heat, let it cool, and shred the pulp with a fork or other utensil you fancy.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and put a light layer of grease on a casserole dish.
5. In a skillet over medium heat cook the ground beef until evenly brown. Drain the non appetizing grease from the skillet and mix in the diced green pepper, diced red pepper, diced red onion, and chopped garlic. Let all ingredients cook until your veggies are nice and tender.
6. Mix the shredded baked squash and diced tomatoes into the skillet, and season to taste with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir until heated through.
7. Remove skillet from heat, and mix in the 2 cups goat cheese until melted. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish.
8. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven. Sprinkle the remaining goat cheese on top and continue baking for 5 minutes or until top layer of cheese is melted.
9. Enjoy! You have made a gourmet meal for 6 loaded with healthy veggies and meat!

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions! 

Cheers! Chef Mike

Eat Hoppin' John for Good Luck in 2011!

Want to start out your new year on a lucky note, then you need to eat some delicious Hoppin’ John!

What the heck are Hoppin' John you ask? It is a traditional rice and beans dish from the southern United States.  Eating Hoppin' John on New Years day is a said to bring luck and prosperity for the entire year! The tradition actually goes back to the middle ages where people in France and Spain would eat beans on New Years Day for good luck. Enough of the history lesson though, enjoy this recipe!

What you need:    
2½ cups black-eyed peas
4 tablespoons butter (peanut oil works but butter is definitely better!)
2 ham hocks (Don’t know what ham hocks are? No problem look here!)

2 onions, diced
8 cups water
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon garlic
2 bay leaf
salt and pepper, to taste

This first part is really important, soak the peas overnight in enough water to have them half covered, then in the morning drain em’, rinse em’, and start part 2!

Brown the ham hocks over medium heat in the butter or oil in a large stock pot. Don’t be lazy, make sure to brown those hocks on both sides! Then add the onions and sauté until tender.  In my calculations and past experiences this will take around 5 to 8 minutes.

Throw in the remaining ingredients(soaked black-eyed peas, water, crushed red pepper, garlic, 2 bay leaves, and black pepper). Now rev up that heat to bring it all to a boil, then bring it back down to a cool simmer and let it cook for sometime around 60 to 90 minutes or until your peas are tender. Toss in some final salt and pepper to taste, then serve over buttered white rice.

This should feed around 6 to 8 hungry mouths. Let me know what you think!

Cheers! Chef Mike

Spread the Love: Food Blogs You MUST Check Out 2!

In this week's version of Spread the Love I found 3 awesome websites that I just couldn't resist giving a shout out to, for really just being awesome and having a little bit of Christmas in them! (If you can't tell Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year!)

The Cupcake Blog - I really don't need to say much about this one, if you love cupcakes, if you love cake, actually if you just love delicious sugary treats this is the place you need to check out! Tons of great designs and inspiration for you to make magic yourself! this picture should give you a taste of what your in for:

        (It would almost be hard to eat such a cute puppy or kitty in a santa hat)

 The Enchanted Cook - Peppermint Chocolate Ganache Mini Cupcakes and Chocolate Truffles with red, green, and white sprinkles add up to one amazing week of posts from the Enchanted Cook.  Love both, awesome pictures, great food choices, nice step by step guide for baking them yourself, and a touch of holiday spirit in each! Definitely worth your 15 minutes or more. If you don't believe me check this out:

The Dish Crawl - A fun concept for connecting people through food.  I love food, I love connecting with people so this is another easy win for a shout out. A cool way to set up a food adventure and try out new dishes give this a shout, maybe for a holiday date night! (if you live in one of the areas they provide service: Montreal, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, or Los Angeles)


 Look for fun Christmas Cookie Recipes coming from yours truly tomorrow! Cheers! Chef Mike

Christmas Cookies 101 (An Awesome Infographic!)

Now if this doesn't bring out a little Christmas spirit in anyone I don't know what will! The entire image was a too monsterously awesome to fit on my humble little blog but give it a click to read the whole thing.  Really interesting to see the history of Christmas Cookies.  This has me pretty excited and I am going to be posting some great Christmas Cookie recipes the rest of the week and I hope you guys share some with me as well! 

If you want to put this on your website or blog the place I got it from (www.allculinaryschools.com) told me to drop the code below the graphic on my web page. (I know nothing about this code stuff but posting this was really easy!)

Anyway, here is to Christmas being less then 2 weeks away and its time to enjoy the season, Happy Holidays! Chef Mike

 The Code:

 <a href="http://www.allculinaryschools.com/culinary-careers/article/christmas-cookies"><img src="http://7ingredientchallenge.com/holiday/cookies_high.jpg" width="800" height="2000" /></a>

Spread the Love: Food Blogs You MUST Check Out!

“Each day I try to enjoy something from each of the four food groups: the bonbon group, the salty-snack group, the caffeine group, and the "whatever-the-thing-in-the-tinfoil-in-the-back-of-the-fridge-is" group!”

If this is your mentality on what you’ve been eating recently here are a few blogs you MUST check out for your taste-buds sake!  Trust me on this one:

Once Upon a Small Boston Kitchen: I love starting these shout outs to people who are doing more with less, describing her kitchen a s a “small alcove of space” in her apartment, she constantly is working with awesome recipes and takes great pictures to team up with them.  It’s holiday cookie season so please try her Snickerdoodle Brownies!

Beantown Baker:  What’s there not to love about this blog? It is so visually appealing you will feel like you are capable of eating the food right out of the screen! One of my favorite features about this blog is that you can see what she posted 1 or 2 years ago on this day from the current post. (it’s how I found these scrumptious mint brownies!)

Baking and Boys: The works of a mother are so commonly forgotten that giving Katrina a shout out here sounded like a great idea when it came up in my mind!  She has some fun with cooking, adding nice touches or remixes to recipes. Her blog has a nice family element to it that gives a real homely down to earth feel. Try her soft Nutella peanut butter cookies, they will be worth your time I promise!

Hope everyone is preparing for a nice weekend, and don’t worry your taste buds can thank me later for this one!

Cheers! Chef Mike