BLOGHUNGRY

99 Cent Chef Jambalaya: Bloghungry Version

Bloghungry is looking to cut back on his day job hours a lot when the baby comes. That also means cutting back on the grocery bill a bit. I have been inspired by the food The 99 Cent Chef has been cranking out. For those of you in other areas of the country, California has 99 cent only stores that offer a surprising variety of foods. The 99 Cent Chef tries to use only ingredients that can be found at the 99 cent store.

If you don't have a 99 cent only store in your area, his recipes can still be cost effective and tasty. Watch the chef and his mom make an authentic jumbalya. Food network could learn something from the authenticity of these two. For my jambalaya, I added tomatoes and some wine and served it over sauteed spinach with my favorite skillet cornbread.

Bloghungry's Jambalaya (altered from 99 Cent Chef)

1 lb. boneless chicken breasts
1 lb. boneless pork
1 lb. spicy breakfast sausage links
1 onion choppped
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced or freshly chopped
1 green pepper, diced
2 cups rice (long cooking)
28oz can of diced tomatoes
3/4 cup white wine
3 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons of oil for browning meat
1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning (readily found at 99c only Stores)
Pepper to taste (add salt if you do not have cajun seasoning)

Cut or section meats into bite-sized chunks. Add oil and saute meat over medium heat in a large cast iron pot (any pot really - should hold at least 12 cups) until very brown for about 45 minutes; add sausage toward the end because it browns quickly (take out pork and chicken if too crowded for sausage.) Add chopped onion, garlic, cajun seasonings, pepper and sautee until tender. Add tomatoes with juice, wine, and water. Cover and cook all meat at low boil for about 45 minutes. Add rice and cook for 20 minutes more. Afterward, stir meat and rice, cover again, turn off heat and let stand for 15 minutes more while you have a glass of wine and set the table. Jambalaya freezes then reheats with a microwave nicely. It's a dish that tastes better the next day.

Bloghungry's Skillet Cornbread

I have made corn bread a lot of different ways and this is my favorite standby recipe. It's cheap and easy and full of moist sweet corn flavor and crisp buttery edges. I love corn in my cornbread. Sometimes I like to toss in a hand full of fresh or frozen corn if I have it on hand. You can also make this in a pan or as muffins.

Bloghungry's Skillet Cornbread

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix
2 eggs
8 oz can creamed corn
8 oz sour cream
3 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put butter in a cast iron skillet and place in oven until melted. In a medium bowl mix remaining ingredients. Swirl melted butter around bottom and edges of skillet and pour in batter. Bake accoring to the directions on the box and make sure to check with a tooth pick. This cornbread is very moist and a little sweeter with crisp buttery edges.

Blueberry-Blackberry Purses

I love that fancy people wrap something in pastry twist the top and call it a purse. I am on a mission to start making my own purses full of deliciousness. My first attempt went well, but they ended up a little bigger than I expected. They were more like grandma-sized pocketbooks really. Regardless, they were sweet, zesty, and loved by all. Serve with whipped cream and berries. I also added a white chocolate marshmallow sauce, because it was there, but it's not at all necessary.

Blueberry-Blackberry Purses

Filling:
1/2 cup blackberry preserves
 2 tablespoons cornstarch
 2 tablespoons brown sugar
 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
 1/2 cup fresh blackberries
 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pastry:
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten with 2 teaspoons water
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

For Serving
fresh whipped cream
extra berries

Heat the oven to 375°F. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the blackberry preserves, cornstarch, brown sugar, and lemon zest. Fold in the fresh berries and vanilla.Lightly flour a work surface. Roll out the puff pastry sheets into 12-by-12-inch squares. Cut each puff pastry sheet into 4 squares.

Lay a pastry square on work surface. Place 2 heaping tablespoons of berry filling in the center of the square. Brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash and fold up all four corners to meet to form a “purse.” Carefully press edges together to seal. Transfer to a cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Top or side with whipped cream and extra berries.

Chicken in White Wine Sauce with Brie Mashed Potatoes

You all give Rachael Ray a hard time, but the proof is in the chicken and white wine sauce. She gives good recipe, kids! The chicken is rich and full of flavor and the mashed potatoes are creamy with the subtle flavor of brie. Plus the whole thing is sprinkled with crispy bacon. She serves the whole thing with warm crusty bread to sop up the sauce with. I added a side of sauteed spinach because I felt guilty not having any veggies. It was pretty great.

Chicken in White Wine Sauce with Brie Mashed Potatoes

2 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts
1/2 bottle dry white wine
2 pounds baby Yukon gold potatoes
Salt
1/2 cup cream
1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus a drizzle
4 slices deli-cut bacon or thick cut pancetta, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Flour, for dredging plus 2 tablespoons
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped or 1 cup shredded carrot
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1/3 pound wedge brie, cut into pieces
Crusty, warm bread

For Chicken:
In a large bowl, add the chicken, cover with wine, and set aside.

Drizzle olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, add the bacon and crisp 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to a plate.

While bacon crisps, remove the chicken to a work surface, reserving the wine. Cut chicken into large bite-size pieces, season with salt and pepper, dredge in flour then brown in bacon drippings. While chicken browns chop vegetables. Remove the chicken to a plate, then add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet, season the vegetables with salt and pepper and add bay leaf and thyme. Cover pan to sweat vegetables 5 minutes then remove lid, stir in 2 tablespoons flour, cook 1 minute then stir in wine, add chicken back to pan and simmer together to thicken and the chicken is cooked through, a couple of minutes more.

For Mashed Potatoes:
Quarter the potatoes, leaving the skin-on. Place in a large pot, cover with water and bring up to a boil over medium heat. When the potatoes are cooked, drain and place in a medium bowl. Mash the potatoes, season with salt and set aside.

In a small pot, combine apple and cream and reduce over medium heat 15 minutes.

To a food processor, add the apple-cream and brie, process until smooth and season with salt. Combine apple-brie mixture with the mashed potatoes.

Serve chicken with wine over brie mashed potatoes.

Bloghungry Crashes

So I am officially over my diet. I don't see it as a failure because I did lose weight and have no intention of adopting a long term healthy lifestyle. Lets face it, a healthy lifestyle is a miserable cult and no way to go through life.

Apart from my unwillingness to part with tasty foods, the legal battles necessary for a gay man to have a baby and a marriage have driven me to eat.. a lot. I'm kind of blown away by how expensive and exhausting being gay can be.

Food2

Ask and you shall receive.. Just as I announce that Food Network is losing it's edge and taste for food, Food2 is born. Food2 is younger spin-off of the Food Network offering web content on their own site and blog. It feels like the kind of cheap labor of love that Mtv was in its early years. It has the potential to be great, but only time will tell. In the meantime the site boasts, an inspiring mix of complex flavor profiles and recipes you can make in the coffee maker in your office cubicle. Who doesn't need that?