Garlic Sauce

This garlic sauce was awesome.  The boys literally gobbled it up!  It's slightly adapted from Mel Joulwan's.  I recommend if you have a Vitamix you just commit and make a double-batch...basically uses up a bundle of green onions and purees better :)

Garlic Sauce

 4 cloves garlic
2/3 c light oil (olive or avocado)

6 green onions - a bundle
 6 T lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt

Puree the hell out of this in your blender/miniature food processor.  Enjoy!

Chicken Adobo

I've made this off and on over the last couple of years and remembered I didn't want to lose the recipe.  I got it from What the Fork blog.

Chicken Adobo
3-4 lbs chicken drumsticks
1/2 c soy sauce
3/4 c white vinegar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 T whole peppercorns

1. Place chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the chicken periodically in the cooking liquid.
2. Remove the chicken from the pot and grill or broil for about 5 minutes.
3. While the chicken is finishing cooking, continue boiling the sauce until it reduces by almost half. Place the cooked chicken on a platter, strain the sauce and pour over the chicken.

Best Way to Cook Prime Rib

The first time I cooked prime rib I was very intimidated. I mean first of all, it's super expensive.  When done right it tastes amazing; when done wrong...omg it tastes terrible. 

Years ago I found a recipe where you weighed your prime rib, cooked for a certain number of minutes per pound at a high temperature and then turned the oven off, walked away, and enjoyed an amazing roast.  I had it booked marked for years and at Easter when I went to use it the webpage was no longer there.  NOOOOOO!!!!!  I found this recipe and it was close enough and boy did it deliver! 

Don't fear the walking away...it turns out perfect!

1. Four hours before your going to cook your prime rib, take it out of the fridge. 
2.  Mix together: 1 T thyme, 1 T dried rosemary, 1 T fresh ground black pepper, 1 T garlic powder and 3 T salt.
3. Cut slits in the roast and insert 3-4 cloves sliced or minced.
4. Rub the spice mix all over the roast.
5. Let rest and come to room temp for the 4 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Once preheated, put roast in the oven for 5 minutes per pound (e.g a 9 lb roast cooks for 45 minutes while a 6 lb roast cooks for 30 minutes).  It will likely smoke a bit; don't worry about it!

7. Once the amount of time has passed, turn the oven off and do not open for 2 hours!

That is it and it is amazing!!!!!

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

The boys and I wanted to make some cookies for Valentine's Day and this recipe looked delish.  I took the one I found online and just used a generic gluten-free flour mix.  They were awesome!

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 c + 1 T flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 butter, at room temperature
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
1 egg
1 T milk (dairy or dairy-free is fine)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 T red food coloring
1 c chocolate chips

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Switch the mixer to medium speed and beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once mixed, add the food coloring and beat until combined.

Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed.

On low speed, beat in the chocolate chips. The dough will be sticky.

Cover the dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour (and up to 4-5 days-- make sure you let the cookie dough sit out at room temperature for about 45 minutes before baking if chilling for more than 1 day.). Chilling is mandatory.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
Scoop 1.5 Tablespoons of dough and mold into a ball (I used an ice cream scoop). Place 9 balls onto each baking sheet. Bake each batch for 10-11 minutes. The cookies may have only spread slightly, that is ok. Simply press down on the warm cookies to slightly flatten and form crinkles.

Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana Nut Waffles

Like banana bread in a waffle.  Tasty, tasty, tasty....especially with maple syrup on top.

Banana Nut Waffles

2 c flour (gluten-free or other)
1 T sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

2 super ripe bananas, mashed
1 c milk (I used almond and ended up needing a bit more to make the batter a little less thick)
2 eggs
1/4 c canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 c pecans

Mix all the dry ingredients together in large bowl.  In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients.  Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.  Add a little extra milk if the batter is too thick.  Stir in nuts.

Cook in your waffle maker and enjoy!!!!