Painter at Heart

Painter at Heart

Guest written by our friend Mason Abbott

Being at home all day has inspired me to try out some of the hobbies I’ve always wondered about and as it turns out, painting is exactly where my passion lies. I never would have thought I’d be into art but I bought myself a set of oils and now I’m painting just about every day. I got Randsburg Internet at home so I could look up and read about techniques and I can definitely tell I’m getting better just in the paintings I’m producing, you know? My mom says she would buy my stuff if she didn’t know it was mine and that’s one of the biggest compliments I can imagine getting! I think I’m going to sign up for an art class soon and see if I can actually get good enough to try and sell some of my work at a local coffee shop or something. I sure wish I could skip all this learning and go straight to the being a famous artist part! I wish!

Homemade Olive Garden Dinner

After trying my Alfredo sauce, my wife wanted me to make a salad dressing that tasted like Olive Garden's.  I did some searching and found a pretty easy looking recipe.  I went for it.  I also made homemade fettuccine noodles and the Alfredo sauce again.  I didn't make bread sticks but, I did make my garlic bread.  We set up some candles and had a glass of wine to make an enjoyable, romantic dinner.  Here is what went down:


Homemade Olive Garden Dinner

Salad Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoon corn syrup
2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoon Romano cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice

• Put everything in a blender and blend until well mixed.  This tastes much better after sitting in the fridge overnight.  Don't be disappointed with the white color of the dressing.
• Serve with lettuce and your favorite veggies.  I had onions, tomatoes, and banana peppers.  And croutons and Parmesan.

Homemade Fettuccine Noodles
1 1/2 cups Semolina Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

• Combine flour and salt.  Add beaten egg, water, and oil.  Mix to make a stiff dough.  Knead for 10 minutes or until dough is elastic.  Wrap dough in towel and let rest 20 minutes. 
• On lightly floured surface, roll out to desired thickness and cut or use a pasta roller.
• Add to large pot of boiling water and cook until tender, just a few mintues.
• Drain and mix with Alfredo Sauce.  Top with grilled chicken.  Serve with Garlic Bread.

Yummy yummy in my tummy!  This was a lot cheaper and fresher than going out. 

Boston Bruins Clam Chowder

OK, so I've never been to Boston before.  But I'd love to.  Boston is home to the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Boston Bruins!  Boston is the most Irish city in America.  The Dropkick Murphys love Boston.  I have my brother to thank for my love of Boston and really just the whole Irish culture.  I may have never discovered what we were all about if it wasn't for him.  So Matt, thank you!

My friend, John Keel, and I have made clam chowders before that were delicious.  I don't remember the recipe exactly.  I did some searching on the net for recipes that looked similar.  I found one that was pretty close to what we had made.  It is Emeril's Boston Clam Chowder.  I tweaked a few things here and there according to what I had on hand.  Here is what happened:

Boston Clam Chowder
6 slices thick bacon, medium sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbs butter
1/4 ts poultry seasoning
1/4 ts Italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
3 tbs flour
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 bottles clam juice
5 cans chopped clams, drained with juice reserved
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 ts dried parsley
Sharp cheddar cheese
Croutons

• Render bacon in large pot on medium heat, until crispy.  Add butter.  Stir in onion, celery, and garlic.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until tender.  Add the poultry seasoning, Italian seasoning, and bay leaf.  Stir in flour and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and all clam juice.  Bring to a boil.  Turn down heat and simmer until potatoes are almost tender.
• Add milk and heavy whipping cream and bring to a simmer.  Add the clams and cook for about 2 minutes.  Stir in the parsley.  Season with salt and pepper is desired.
• Spoon into bowl and top with cheese and croutons if desired.

This wasn't as thick as I was hoping it would have been.  It was more of a soupy consistency.  Next time I will probably omit the milk or even one bottle of clam juice.  Perhaps more flour is called for...however the flavor was amazing!  I will be making this again as soon as we get some more cold weather!

Gold Medal Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone that participated in my first giveaway!  I hope everyone had a fun time participating.  The winner that was randomly selected by way of RANDOM.ORG is:

Ali B

Congrats on winning!  Hopefully I will be able to host many more giveaways in the future!

A Tale of Two Bacon Cheeseburger Pizzas

aAnother day, another pizza.  In case you haven't noticed, I've been on a pizza making kick.  There's just so many ideas and not enough dough!  I made two different recipes and I will list them both here.  Consider this a two for one!  Here is what happened in my kitchen:

Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza #1
1/4 portion pizza dough
2 tbs pizza sauce
thin tomato slices
thin onion slices
1/3 lb Cheeseburger Next to Paradise ground beef, cooked
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
2 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

• Preheat pizza stone in oven at 450 degrees.
  
• Cook bacon strips until crispy and cooked. Drain all grease.
  
• Spread olive oil on round pizza pan. Dust with corn meal so you can slide it to the pizza stone easily.
  
• Roll out pizza dough thinly to the size of a round pizza pan. Transfer to pan. Poke dough all over with a fork to prevent bubbling. Spread thin layer of pizza sauce over crust.  Layer on the tomato slices.  Then add the ground beef and cheese.  Top with crumbled bacon and the onion slices.  Cook on pizza stone for about 12 minutes until starting to get browned and bubbly.
  
• Remove from oven and cool for 3 to 4 minutes. Cut and serve!

Even though this pizza was delicious, it did not have the taste that I was looking for.  I decided to try another way of making it.  Here is what I decided to do:

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Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza #2
1/4  portion pizza dough
1 1/2 tbs pizza sauce
ketchup
mustard
1/3 lb Cheeseburger Next To Paradise ground beef, cooked
1/2 cup Monterrey jack cheese
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
3 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
thin tomato slices
thin onion slices

• Preheat pizza stone in oven at 450 degrees.
• Cook bacon strips until crispy and cooked. Drain all grease.
• Spread olive oil on round pizza pan. Dust with corn meal.  So you can slide it to the pizza pan easily.
• Roll out pizza dough thinly to the size of a round pizza pan. Transfer to pan. Poke dough all over with a fork to prevent bubbling. Spread thin layer of pizza sauce over crust. Squirt mustard and ketchup over pizza.  Add the ground beef and cheeses.  Top with crumbled bacon. Cook on pizza stone for about 12 minutes until starting to get browned and bubbly.
• Remove from oven and top with raw onion and tomato slices. Cut and serve!

This pizza had the flavor that I was looking for.  It tasted like a cheesburger.  The slight taste of mustard and ketchup along with the raw produce did the trick.  It was even good reheated later when the wife got home.  She requested that I make this again at a later date!

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

I had some ingredients leftover from previous meals so I decided to put them to use.  With them I was able to make a really nice pasta dish.  The Alfredo sauce is the same as the one I recently posted(minus the Gorgonzola, which would probably great as well!).  This is what happened:

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
3 chicken breasts, grilled, sliced
1 box pasta of your choice
Alfredo sauce
1 8oz bag frozen broccoli

• Cook brocolli according to package.
• Cook noodles according to package.
• Mix together the chicken, broccoli, noodles, and alfredo sauce
• Serve and enjoy!

Another quick recipe post but this was delicious!

Garlic Bread

I have referenced this recipe in a couple past posts.  Now is the time to go ahead and post it.  I made spaghetti the way that my mom used to make it last night.  I couldn't make that without making the garlic bread as well.  This is a very simple recipe.  Please use caution if you decide to make this bread because you probably won't want to make it any other way in the future!

Garlic Bread
1 loaf french or Italian bread
Spreadable butter or margarine
Garlic powder
Parmesan cheese
Oregano

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Cut bread in half, lengthwise.  Spread inside generously with butter or margarine.
• Sprinkle garlic powder over butter, to your liking.  I use quite a bit.
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, also to your liking.
• Lightly dust with oregano.  Fold bread back together.
• Wrap in aluminum foil.  Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Slice into serving size pieces and enjoy!

Great and flavorful garlic bread is really as easy as that!

Gold Medal White Whole Wheat Flour - GIVEAWAY!!!

Who doesn't love a giveaway!!!

The wonderful folks at Betty Crocker and MyBlogSpark have provided me with a nice package for a giveaway!  They've provided me with the following items for one lucky reader:

Giveaway Prize Package

A VIP coupon for a sample of Gold Medal White Whole Wheat flour 

Instructions for conversion 

Cookie Jar 

Recipe Cards

There are a few different ways to enter the giveaway:

1. Comment on this post about what you would make.
2. Follow this blog.
3. "Like" or comment on my Facebook page.
4. Tweet about this contest on twitter with the link http://bit.ly/pppO1h and @whtiscookingnow

The contest will end on September 15th at midnight CST.  All entries will be entered into Random.org and selected by random.  I will announce the winner on September 16th and collect their shipping information.  I hope everyone has a good time!

"Disclosure: The Gold Medal White Whole Wheat flour product, information, and giveaway have been provided by Gold Medal through MyBlogSpark."

Cooking surfaces

One of the best things about moving was that we got a new stove.  The previous stove that I had used for the past 6 or 7 years was not level.  This made cooking on stove top tricky, because any cooking oil would pool up on one side of the pan while the other side would be dry.

Having a level stove top has been wonderful.  I can now utilize the full surface of my pans.  Another thing that I've had to adjust to has been the temperature that my new stove gets to.  It gets waaaay hotter than my previous stove so I've had to learn how to play with the heat settings and cooking times.  I can now definitely get a good sear on my meats!  A good site for several various types of stoves is http://www.canadapost.ca/shopper/.  Free shipping is also offered for select items!

I guess my point is, if you've got an old stove and have been thinking of upgrading, I'm sure the investment will be worth it.  Having a reliable cooking surface has greatly increased the joy that I have gotten out of cooking for my family.

Game Time: Tackling the Past

The premiere of Game Time: Tackling the Past is on Saturday, September 3 on NBC at 8pm ET/7pm CT.  You should check it out because it is a great family movie!


Family movies are usually heart warming- and this one has the components to make all members of the family happy! There is a huge part of this movie that’s focused around football, what the south loves, but not so much that non football fans will be turned off- there’s some wonderful relationships that change, grow and evolve between parents, sons, brothers, and so much more. P&G and Walmart have brought a great film to the table, with some great talent in this latest Family Movie Night film and I definitely think this is one you won’t want to miss!

Its got humour in the movie as well as the expected drama. So many times people get stuck on what life should be about and find out that what they want is really what they needed- more simplicity and happiness. Its enjoyable to see Jake discover this throughout the film.

Pro football star Jake Walker is living the dream… or so he thinks. The veteran tight end is a fan favorite and on pace to set the all-time receiving yards record that will guarantee him a spot in the Hall of Fame. While working out at training camp, Jake receives an unexpected call from his brother Dean – their father Frank has suffered a major heart attack. Jake immediately leaves practice and returns to Riverton, North Carolina, the small hometown he’s avoided for nearly 15 years. Memories of glory and regret flood his mind as he returns to the family and friends he abandoned in pursuit of his career. Jake dutifully visits with Frank and Dean, but hurt and misunderstanding from the past begins to resurface, leaving him counting the days until he can return to his team.
A second unexpected call, this time from his agent, delivers Jake another crushing blow. His contract is not being renewed amid concerns about his surgically repaired knee. Suddenly, the life Jake knows is over. To avoid the media circus around this news, Jake reluctantly decides to extend his stay in Riverton. Attempting to make the best of the situation, he begins reconnecting with the community that once revered him. Jake is reintroduced to Sarah, his high school sweetheart, and helps Dean take over their father’s high school coaching job.
Surprisingly impacted by the people around him, the real Jake begins to emerge from behind his armor to see that life is much more than the accumulation of personal stats. But when Jake’s offered a lucrative new contract to play for another team, he is forced to decide whether to go back to the career he thought he loved, or stay in Riverton and embrace the people who always believed in him.

Join the #FamilyMovie Twitter Party on 9/1 from 3:00-4:00PM EST! Please visit here: http://bit.ly/royhXW. Stay up to date with all of the latest Family Movie Night info on Facebook!

Again, the premiere of Game Time: Tackling the Past is on Saturday, September 3 on NBC at 8pm ET/7pm CT.  Make sure to check it out!


“I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Steak and Gorgonzola Pizza

Just like the other pizza recipe I just posted, this pizza was made from leftovers that I had on hand.  I like the pasta that I had the night before so I figured that it would be just as good on a thin, crispy crust of dough.  This is what happened:

Steak and Gorgonzola Pizza

1/4 portion Pizza dough
1 tbs olive oil
4 oz steak
2 tbs Alfredo sauce
1 cup spinach leaves
2 oz Gorgonzola cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat pizza stone in oven at 450 degrees.

Cook steak is cooked. Drain all grease.  Tear apart spinach.

Spread olive oil on round pizza pan. Dust with corn meal.

Roll out pizza dough thinly to the size of a round pizza pan. Transfer to pan. Drizzle with olive oil to lightly coat the top of the dough. Poke dough all over with a fork to prevent bubbling. Cook on pizza pan for about 7 minutes until firmed up.

Remove crust from oven and spread Alfredo sauce over crust, evenly. Add the Gorgonzola cheese. Add steak and spinach. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese.  Top with Parmesan cheese.

Transfer to preheated pizza stone. Cook for another 10 minutes until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

Remove from oven and cool for 3 to 4 minutes. Cut and serve!

This did turn out to be pretty good.  The wifey didn't care for all the spinach but I though it added great flavor to it.  Everyone has their own taste buds though, even though they might be wrong.  I can't wait to try out other recipes that I can whip together with the remaining pizza dough!  What is your favorite pizza?

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

As I stated in a previous post, making pizza is fun because the possibilities are pretty much endless.  I decided to make pizza with ingredients that I already had on hand.  I had what I thought would make a great pizza...chicken, bacon, and ranch dressing.  It was great!  My picky , choosy, selective, beautiful wife even requested it again!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza
1/4 portion Pizza crust recipe
4 oz chicken, sliced
4 strips bacon, cooked
1/4 onion, sliced
1/4 red pepper, sliced
1 tbs Alfredo sauce
3 tbs ranch dressing
3/4 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese
3/4 cup shredded pizza blend cheese
2 ts olive oil(approximately)
1 tbs corn meal(approximately)

• Preheat pizza stone in oven at 450 degrees.
• Cook chicken, onion, and pepper in skillet until chicken is cooked.  Drain all grease.
• Spread olive oil on round pizza pan.  Dust with corn meal.
• Roll out pizza dough thinly to the size of a round pizza pan.  Transfer to pan.  Drizzle with olive oil to lightly coat the top of the dough.  Poke dough all over with a fork to prevent bubbling.  Cook on pizza pan for about 7 minutes until firmed up.
• Remove crust from oven and spread Alfredo sauce and Ranch Dressing over crust, evenly.  Add half of each cheeses.  Add chicken, onion, pepper mixture.  Top with remaining cheese.  Drizzle with ranch dressing.
• Tranfer to preheated pizza stone.  Cook for another 10 minutes until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.
• Remove from oven and cool for 3 to 4 minutes.  Cut and serve!

So yeah this really was a delicious pizza!  The crispy bacon flavor combined with the creamy ranch cannot be beat.  It would probably make a great calzone as well...hmmm...maybe when I get more ranch.