SUPER BOWL WEEK IS UPON US!

This week we will continue bringing you some ideas for appetizers and what nots :) Here is todays recipe from the kitchen of Mama Moose! This sauce goes perfect with lil' smokies, meatballs, sloppy joes, ribs, and brisket. but for todays purpose we shall pair it with lil' smokies. This combo will score you big points with your team whether your cheering for the Cheese Heads, the Steelers, or just watching for the commercials as i will be doing, (there's always next year Seahawk and Cowboy fans!)

Sweet & Sour BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:
½ cup Chopped Onion (we use sweet onions)
2 tbsp. Butter
1 cup Ketchup
½ cup Brown Sugar
¼ cup Water
2 tbsp. Vinegar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1tsp. Dry Mustard

Directions:
Cook onion in butter till tender.
Add everything else and simmer for 10 minutes.


Combine with lil' Smokies in a crock pot and keep on low heat (or on the stove top in a pot on low as well)

serve as finger food!

Time to start thinking Super Bowl! First up...Moose's Guacamole!

MOOSE GUAC

3 to 4 Avacado's peeled, pitted, and mashed (potato squisher works great)
1/2 to 3/4 Sweet Onion chopped fine (quantity depends on how much you like onion)
2 to 3 tomatoes chopped fine OR 1 14.5 ounce can of Petite Diced Tomatoes drained extremely well (this is my choice as it saves time and seems to last longer if you have left overs)
2 to 3 jalopenos chopped fine w/seeds
1/4 cup Pace Picante Sauce
Garlic Salt starting with about 1 teaspoon, then to taste.
Salt and pepper to taste (couple shakes)
Lemon Juice to taste (couple squirts or squeezes, I havent noticed a huge difference in fresh or bottled lemon juice with this recipe)

IF....you want to add a little more kick, finely dice a serrano pepper and blend it in the mix...MMm MMMmm Good!

Place above listed ingredients into large bowl and stir till blended well.
Cover and refridgerate for an hour or two to let the seasonings meet each other.
Serve with your favorite tortilla chips/fritos/tacos/burritos...its all good!

Some "experts" say to leave a avacado seed or two in with the guacamole to keep it from turning brown. I tried it and it seemed to actually work for a while, but if you don't want to do that the lemon juice will help out also.

Pictures may follow, probably around Super Bowl time. ;-)

Rocco's Faux Onion Rings

4 large Vidalia onions(we use sweet onions), cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
2 cups skim milk
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole wheat panko breadcrumbs
4 large egg whites
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Nonstick cooking spray


Separate the onions into individual rings. Use only the larger rings for this recipe; reserve the smaller rings for another use. You should have 20 rings total. Lay the rings in a single layer in a large rectangular baking dish. Pour the milk over the rings and allow them to soak for about 20 minutes, turning them once so that all surfaces of the onion rings have been exposed to the milk.

Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Place wire baking racks on each of two foil- lined baking sheets, and set them aside.

Put the flour in a shallow dish. Put the panko in a small dish.In a large bowl, whip the egg whites with a whisk until they are extremely foamy but not quite holding peaks.

Working in batches, remove the onion rings from the milk and dredge them in the flour, shaking off any excess. Add the rings to the egg whites and toss to coat completely. Add the rings, a few pieces at a time, to the panko and coat completely.

Spread the onion rings out on the wire racks. Season the rings generously with salt and pepper, and spray them lightly with cooking spray. Bake until the panko is golden brown and crispy and the onions are tender, about 20 minutes.

**All credit goes to Rocco DiSpirito***
original post along with a sauce that was not worthy of us making a note xp
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/rocco-dispiritos-faux-onion-rings-smoky-mayonnaise/

Quick visit to the coast...

Yesterday we took a day trip to the coast and stopped in at a recommended (thanks James) sea food place called "The big fisherman" in Rockport. After talking with a few people once we got back it seems that everone goes there and I only heard one complaint. We had a decent meal for a really decent price. Alex had a steak and fried shrimp platter for like $8 and liked the shrimp but wasn't real impressed with the steak (then again he likes his steak well done!)
I had a platter that had anything they can fry on it for like $16 and I liked it all.

Only issue we had was on this particular day it was all you can eat chicken fried steak, livers, and gizzards and it appeared that every person over the age of 70 was eating with us! Made me feel young tho so I guess that was good.
I would say if you are in the area I would definately give this place a try, just plan ahead because there was a waiting line for us and everyone says it pretty much stays that way...but then again they were handing out $1 margaritas so the wait seemed to fly by!

Couldn't sleep so you guys win!

Couldn't sleep to night so i decided to post this recipe (I already had it typed out it was only a matter of posting it)

Enjoy!

TGIFRIDAY'S Jack Daniels Sauce as posted on www.cdkitchen.com

1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 tablespoon Tabasco Sauce
2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Jack Daniel's
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup water
4 beef bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and use as a sauce.

**original post**

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/529/TGI_Fridays_Jack_Daniels_Sauce42691.shtml

We Have a new logo!!!

Thanks to Rachel (Moose's niece) She drew this up with in days of us asking her and she did an AMAZING JOB!!!! THANK YOU RACHEL!

Moose N' A'

WOW YA'LL ARE AMAZING!!! THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT!!!

We have been over whelmed with all support we have been getting!!! THANK YOU ALL!!! Todays recipe comes from from fellow friend foodie Dianna!!! REMEMBER WE WANT YOUR SUGGESTIONS TOO! Her recipe shows a clever way to use a breakfast item... CEREAL! AWESOME! (yes I like shouting!!! lol i love using exclamation points lol bad habit) [FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS] Any who try it out and give us a response she's as eager to hear feed back about it as us (note we havent personally tried it because moose n' a are on a diet right now :( no carbs (till our free day), so let us know we really want to try it out soon!!! <-HAHAHA

Breaded Ranch
Chicken 4-5 Chicken breast halves, skinless, boneless
 3/4 c. Cornflakes, crushed
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
1 enevelope Ranch-style dressing mix
1/2 c. Margarine, melted

 Combine corn flakes, cheese and dressing mix *. Dip Chicken in butter then roll into the corn flake mixture. Place in greased 13 x 9 x 2 pan. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 min. or using a meat themometer is 165 degrees. Makes 4-5 servings. * If you have a food processer. You could mix the corn flakes, cheese and dressing mix in there.

All this EGG-CITEMENT!!!

I know there are a million theories about how to boil an egg and be able to get the shell off relatively easy, even “fresh” eggs.

I figure I will throw my suggestion into the mix also since I have apparently listened to enough people and revised my procedures till what I do works for me anyway.

First, I bought a thing that looks like an egg a few years ago and it’s basically an “in the water” timer. I was skeptical but when I used it I found it actually works quite well! This thing is called an “eggsact egg timer” and I have since seen them in the cooking store and other places.

Here’s what I do to boil a few eggs…

Toss the egg timer and eggs into a pot big enough to hold them along with water to cover them.

Add water to the pot until it is about an inch above the eggs.
Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Put the pot on the stove and cook at about medium high, after its been boiling for about 5 minutes start checking the eggsact timer by pulling the pot away from the heat so the boiling stops and you can see the egg timer, as the eggs cook the timer will get darker starting from the outside of the egg in, once the eggs are hard boiled the egg timer will be completely dark…its really easy and cool!

Just prior to your eggs being done get out a bowl that will fit your eggs along with some water and put a couple handfuls of ice cubes in it then add just enough water to make the ice cubes float.

Take the boiling eggs off the burner and carefully drain the boiling water then dump the eggs into the ice water. We all know what happens to your eggs when you jump into cold water…yes, they shrivel up a bit. Let them stay in the cold water for a few minutes then rinse them off (they will still be a bit slippery from the oil) and toss them into the fridge for perfectly done boiled eggs! Now in theory when you want a hardboiled egg without the peeling off tiny bits of shell for hours you can have one!

Looking forward to hearing if anyone else has perfected an egg boiling technique!

Moose

Lets Talk Cupcakes :)

This past weekend we ventured into the outskirts of Gruene, yes…this was quite the trip! Lol
We were in search of a particular kind of cupcake that I knew would be great if we could find one, so we were standing at the door when “The Gruene Flour Cupcakery” opened at 11am. I would like to give a shout out to these gals as they seem to being doing pretty good with their business. Now mind you these are not your every day run of the mill cupcakes that you would find in a hostess box at your local HEB or Walmart, these are fantastic and freshly made. The first time I went to the cupcakery I did not know what to expect but soon found that while these cupcakes did not look like the ones I was used to, (way to fancy) I found that they looked great and tasted even better!
We had an assortment of German Chocolate, Red Velvet, and something they called a Wedding Cake…all were great as usual and the only thing I could suggest was to have more cream filling in one of them…it was the Boston cream pie  one, but then again since these are not like donuts they are probably pretty hard to fill up much! The little swirl of frosting on top of the cupcakes makes them mouthwatering when I think about it!

We would definitely recommend this to our friends and fellow foodies, however be prepared to pay for what you get…$2.25 a cupcake with “mini” cupcakes being a bit cheaper, they are still worth it peeps, trust me!
And yes, before someone asks, these were on our diet…it was our “cheat

” day so we made the best of it! lol
We give this restaurant the 4 moose stamp! Try it out and let us know what you think

Image taken from their facebook page

Here is our first recipe

Thrice Baked Buffalo Wings

Ingredients:
• 1 Big zip-lock bag
• 1 pack of wing drumettes
• 1/2 cup of Anita’s Seasoning (or your favorite spicy chicken rub), divided into 2 1/4 cups
• Franks Red Hot sauce
• Baking pan (cover in aluminum foil for easy cleaning)
• Big bowl with lid (for tossing and coating in hot sauce) plastic bag works fine too!

Directions:
1. Pre heat oven to 400°
2. Rinse chicken drumettes and blot dry
3. Put half of the drumettes into the zip-lock bag along with 1/4 a cup of the seasoning
4. close the bag, shake it (making sure that the seasoning coats all the chicken)
5. Place on baking pan about half an inch apart (I usually alternate sides since they fit better)
6. Place in oven for 20 minutes
7. After the initial 20 minutes, take them out flip them over and bake for another 20 minutes
8. After they are done cooking take them and place them into the bowl and pour in desired amount of Franks Red Hot Sauce close lid (make sure its on properly!)
9. Toss, shake, do a little dance (have fun with it) the wings making sure they are completely coated in hot sauce
10. Place them back on the baking pan and back in the oven for about 7 minutes
11. When they are done you can stuff your face they go great with ranch or just by themselves!
12. Oh yea repeat steps 3-10 fro the other half of the package of drumettes




MOOSE NOTE: I recommend these with out hot sauce too, just the rub!! For less spicy version

Forgot the rating system... :)

Hello internets!!!

Hey there everybody…(Hello Dr. Nick! [anybody?]) as many of you guys know we love food, I mean we really LOVE food. Not just eating it but cooking it, creating new recipes, sharing recipes and the thrill you get when your creating food. It’s that love for food that has lead us to undertake this new interesting adventure. Since we had gathered quiet a following of admirers of our cooking via pictures on Facebook. We decided to take our love for food and share it with all of ya’ll (yes we are Texans!) but not only that, we want you guys to come join us on this project as well and we want to hear your feed back, your suggestions, and your hints and tricks. We would especially like some feed back from our fellow wine-o’s (we say that in a nice way) on food pairing, and awesome wines to try. Beer-o’s too!

“Every artist was first an amateur.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

We have an extensive collection of cookbooks, magazines, and online reference materials to choose from not to mention hours of watching TV food shows for our inspiration and instruction. Bare with us as we may make mistakes or not know the “proper” procedures to follow, but that’s where we as a online community can help each other out.

We love trying out new restaurants in our area or when we go on trips. We will posting our opinions of what we tried at these locations. That being said we would love to hear from anyone when they have suggestions regarding where to eat, what to try, or anything that may further this experience, as time allows we will try what we can and let you know what we thought too!

When we cook we will usually be using items that are obtainable locally so you don’t have to search the ends of the world to find an ingredient and if there are specific spices and such that we use we will tell you the specific brands and usually where to get them from if you wanted to.

There is ONE RULE we follow and would like every one to follow as well... JUST HAVE FUN WITH IT!

As said in the cartoon “Chowder” on the cartoon network:

“You Don’t Know What Your Missing, If You Aren’t In The Kitchen”

Disclaimer:
While we do have some history in the kitchen and an above average collection of kitchen gadgets, neither of us have had any formal training from a culinary academy. (yet!)
Our drive comes from a pure and simple enjoyment of cooking, entertaining, and trying out new things.
While you take this journey with us through the culinary world keep in mind that some of the dishes we prepare may be new to us also but we will always include comments and suggestions as we see necessary to make the dish the best it can be in our opinion.
Also keep in mind our tastes run a little spicy, but don’t let that scare you since we have found that most spicy recipes tend to be on the non-spicy level when they are first made, and we will always tell you when we are adding more than the recommended chilies to give it that special bump in an attempt to keep your mouth from catching ablaze.
As with any opinionated forum our tastes may differ from yours. We welcome and appreciate any suggestions that you may wish to share with us and our followers that will enhance everyone’s food experience to include your own opinions of what we may have suggested or made. Please keep the comments “G” rated or you will be deleted since we are trying to keep this a “family oriented” and fun site to visit.