Yesterday was greek yogurt heaven. Chobani was kind enough to send me some samples to experiment with. I will admit my recipes are not the most inventive, I just wanted to keep it simple and delicious. Over the weekend I tried to make a bit more of a creative dish, but to be honest I wasn’t happy with the way it looked (my fault). It did taste delicious though, stay tuned for one of my “failure” posts tomorrow.

For breakfast I started off with Blueberry Chobani and vanilla almond flax granola.

Yes, that is half of David Bowie's face in the background...

Pretty simple, yet simply delicious. Not much of a recipe to write, so pictures should suffice.

Now quickly moving on to dinner. I wanted to create something classic that could be used as a appetizer, side dish or even a entree. With that in mind, I made Lemon Garlic Yogurt Dressing & Dipping Sauce.

I first started by chopping one garlic clove and taking the juice of one lemon into a bowl of Chobani low fat plain yogurt.

I then added salt and pepper to taste and started to finely chop some baby bella’s.

Stir this mixture up and serve over a bed of lettuce and freshly cut baby bells.

Or you can even toss the dressing with some raw mushrooms and top with freshly ground pepper.

Also delish as a dip for crackers, pretzels or tortilla chips. I love how the lemon cuts through the top to give it a nice tang.

Danger was pretty excited about getting the last licks.

Mmmmmmm.

Chobani was gracious enough to provide a case of their yogurt to one lucky reader. All you have to do is comment on this post, and I will pick a random winner on Friday!

St. Patrick’s day is such an interesting holiday. For many people it is a day to pretend you’re from a different heritage and drink until you end up making video blogs and claim that you are “bi-winning”. For me, St. Patrick’s day is all about the food, or how you can make various twists to traditional St. Patty’s day fare. I will admit I do not know much about traditional Irish dishes, so please forgive my terrestrial knowledge.

I wanted to start this Thursday off right, with a plate of parmesan oregano fries and a egg. I love oregano. I love the warm and aromatic smell and the slight bitter taste. It is the perfect seasoning for potatoes.

I started off by peeling 3 russet potatoes, cut them into wedges and tossed them in butter, olive oil, oregano, sea salt and garlic powder.

Ingredients:

- Russet potatoes

- Half stick butter

- Half cup olive oil

- Oregano, parmesan, sea salt, garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Peel and cut potatoes into wedges. Combine melted butter, olive oil, oregano, sea salt and garlic powder and toss wedges in mixture. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cook for 45 minutes, half way through flipping the wedges and rotating the sheet. Sprinkle parmesan cheese after removing from oven.

I love dipping fries in egg yolk, hell anything dipped in egg yolk is fine by me. In retrospect I would have cut the potato wedges slightly larger, because a bunch of them were a bit burnt. But overall this dish was delicious and filling.

On a photography note… I tried setting up a small food photography setup in my spare bedroom. It is working, but I still need to work on my lighting. The main problem is that the bedroom is on the other side of the house from the kitchen. You could say that I’m just being lazy, but traveling back and forth every time for a shot takes a bit of time and patience. I might end up going back to setting up and tearing down in the kitchen when I cook. Happy St. Patrick’s day!

Listening to: Holy Ghost! – Do It Again

Growing up in Pennsylvania, you become accustomed to long and dreary winters with snow storms at the beginning of March. Living on a large lake in the snow-belt, the winters are unrelenting, and by the third month of a new year you are begging for spring.

Orange Rosemary Pork Loin with Lemon Cannellini seemed like a perfect dish to welcome daylight savings and hopefully a turn for better weather.

I started with making the marinade which included diced garlic, rosemary and orange zest. After chopping all the ingredients together it forms a paste which I then added to olive oil. This mixture smelled amazingly fresh and sweet.

I marinated the 1lb loin for an hour, then threw it in the oven at 450F for 30 minutes.

I served the pork loin with Lemon Cannellini, which was the perfect citrus balance to the orange zest in the pork.

I was extremely pleased with the way this dish turned out. Pork Loin is generally not my favorite dish, but this turned out exceptionally delicious. It was the perfect ending to another cold and snowy Sunday.

Ingredients:

- 3 garlic cloves, minced

- Grated zest of 1 orange

- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

- 3 Tbsp olive oil

- 1 Pork loin

- 1 Can cannellini beans

- Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

1. Combine the garlic, orange zest and rosemary and chop until the mixture forms a paste. Put this mixture into bowl with olive oil

2. Season the pork with salt and pepper, and rub the paste all over the loin. Marinate for 1-4 hours.

3. Place pork on a roasting pan and bake at 450F for 25-30 minutes. Take meat out and let setup for 10 minutes.

4. Place the beans, lemon juice, and 1 tbsp of rosemary in a saucepan and warm through.

Last night was one of my more ambitious culinary failures. I have always wanted to try bone marrow, after seeing them repeatedly on the Travel Channel and Food Network. I unfortunately did not do enough research, and am not even sure if I was using the right type of bones.

I began by tearing off any loose meat on the three bloody bones, preheated my oven to 450F and threw them in. The recipe I was following said to only cook them for 15 minutes, however the thought of eating raw bone marrow was enough to make my stomach turn. So, I overcooked them and the result was a disgusting, putrid smelling gelatinous substance. However I did make a delicious olive oil, shallot, parsley and lemon dressing for them.

On the side I had simple roasted cauliflower seasoned with garlic and onion powder, over plain white rice.

This will be the last time I try to tackle a dish like this without doing further research.

Live, learn, correct, don’t repeat.

P.S. My house still stinks of burnt bone and flesh.

I woke up Sunday morning to a layer of new snow on the ground, so I thought it would be a perfect day to slow cook some chili. I went to the grocery with the intentions on trying a new (to me) kind of ground meat as the base.

I conveniently saw the butcher stocking some ground bison, and asked him what his thoughts were for a bison chili… He said it would definitely work, it is very similar to ground beef but with less fat. Sold.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground bison
• 3/4 cup diced onion
• 3/4 cup diced green bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans tomato puree
• 2 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans with liquid
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Tabasco

Directions

1. Place the bison in a skillet over medium heat, and cook until evenly brown. Drain grease.
2. Place the bison in a slow cooker, and mix in onion, green bell pepper, garlic, tomato puree, kidney beans, and cannellini beans. Season with chili powder, salt, oregano, black pepper, and Tabasco.
3. Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low.

Ingredients in the slow cooker.

On Sunday I began marinating a chicken breast in buffalo wing sauce, with the plan on cooking it Monday evening. That didn’t happen, so last night I was left wondering how long can chicken sit in a vinegar based marinade? After some quick Googling and consulting Yahoo Answers… It looked like 48 hours was still in the safe zone.

Ingredients

- Original Anchor Bar Buffalo Wing Sauce

- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

- Kale

- Green Onion

- Garlic powder, red pepper flakes, oregano

- Olive oil

Directions:

Marinate chicken with the buffalo wing sauce in a ziploc bag overnight. Preheat oven to 350F and cook for 30 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

Coarsely chop kale and green onion, mix in olive oil, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and oregano and saute in a large pot for 10 minutes.

I got very frustrated while styling this dish. And I am not very happy with the results, so I ended up just throwing everything together and dug in.

Even though it didn’t look spectacular, it tasted great. As you can see by the clean plate below.

The buffalo wing sauce I used is from a bar/restaurant in Buffalo called Anchor Bar. I have used it on a few other dishes,  it has a nice tang to it.

And finally for dessert I had a Kashi Oatmeal Dark Chocolate cookie. First time having a Kashi cookie, and it did not disappoint. You can’t really go wrong with chocolate and oatmeal together.

I really want to start baking, I think that is my weekend project.

Help: I am on the hunt for a new cookbook… I would like something a bit more advanced than the current books I own. I think I have the basics of cooking down, and now I’m read to move up. I have been considering Ad Hoc at Home, Sunday Suppers at Lucques, and Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook.

Anyone have any opinions on these books, or suggestions for different ones?

After seeing Evan’s simple sweet potato recipe at The Wannabe Chef, I just had to give it a try. I prepared them exactly as his recipe says, except I added a touch of cinnamon on top. I love putting a dash of cinnamon on baked things, the smell can linger up to a whole day!

Ingredients:

- 1 sweet potato

- 2  tablespoons olive oil

- sea salt

- cinnamon

Directions: Slice the sweet potato into 1/2 to 1/4 inch slices and spread them out into a single layer on a baking tin, spread olive oil on top and sprinkle a dash of cinnamon to finish. Bake at 375F  for about 1 hour.

I served the sweet potatoes with a three nut spinach. I chopped up some raw cashews and almonds, and also added some lightly salted pumpkin seeds.

I added the spinach, nuts, garlic powder, chili powder, and olive oil to a large pot and cooked for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

I love simple, fast, and delicious side dishes and this hit on all three. The crunchiness and the saltiness of the pumpkin seeds were a really nice touch.

I really want to become a more inventive chef… Actually I take that back, there is no way in hell I can even come close to calling myself a “chef”. I want to become a more inventive “cook”, but dang is meat expensive. Lamb?! Every time I go to the grocery store and take a look at the lamb, each package is at least over $15. Any suggestions for a cheaper cut? Maybe I need to stop being such a cheapskate, I will have a tax return coming, right?

I took my first crack at making kale chips last night, and they are definitely as good as I expected them to be. However I don’t have enough baking pans to, or a big enough oven to fill my gullet with these delicious treats. The first batch I made, which is pictured came out a bit over done. I cooked them at 400F for 10 minutes, and the temp was just too high. The second batch I made was set to 310F for 8 minutes, and they came out much better. I seasoned them with sea salt, oil spray, oregano, and some red pepper flakes. Srircha is used as a dipping sauce on the side, and chia seeds were sprinkled on top for a bit of texture.

Wish I had a few pics of the second batch, but I just didn’t have the patience to setup another plate for shooting.

Question: Thinking about joining Planet Fitness, anyone have any experience?