Sausage and Rice (kinda New Orleans style?)

So, from time to time, I make something mixed in with rice as an excuse to feed lots of vegetables to us...while this doesn't have the normal amount of vege that I put in, it turned out really well

1/2 package (2 sausages) of Niman Ranch Andouille Sausage, chopped into 1/4" rounds
1/2 package (2 sausages) of Niman Ranch Chorizo Sausage, chopped into 1/4" rounds
2 Tablespoons Olive oil.
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 or 3 stalks of celery chopped
1 cup of chopped carrots
1 14.5 oz can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes

Heat up the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausages. Cook until browning on the side, turning from time to time. Add onion and saute for a few minutes and then add salt to the onions. After the onions are starting to brown a bit, add the garlic and celery and saute for another minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the carrots and dump the entire can of tomatoes into the pan and get up the little brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Mix them together and cook of the majority of the juice from the can. Salt an pepper to taste.

Now mix in, or serve over rice (I used basmati rice and mixed in). Depending on the rice, this will need to start cooking anywhere from before you start cooking the sausage all the way up to until you are almost done (based on how fast the rice will cook).

Gluten Free Nuclear Brownies

Is in an effort to feed chocolate to Courtney, I have made Gluten Free Nuclear Brownies.

On the side of the bag of almond flour is suggests using quite a bit less of the almond flour then actual flour (like 1/3rd or 1/2). Since this recipe calls for just a minimal amount of flour, I traded it straight up. It came out to be about the same consistency. I was a bit worried at first, since the batter seemed to be a bit gritty. So take the Nuclear Brownies recipe and replace the 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of almond flour.

They come out to about the same consistency (since this is basically an excuse to eat chocolate, sugar and butter together).

Prosciutto Americano, Soft Cheese And Herb Polenta, chipotle chevre on la mie ciabatta toast

So inspired by the food at the gateway market, I came up with an idea for an appetizer (which ended up being our dinner, tonight).

So I started off with George Formaro's Soft Cheese and Herb Polenta:

2 c chicken stock
1 c heavy cream
2 T butter
1 T chopped fresh herbs of your choice (I used red pepper flakes)
salt to taste
1/8 t cracked black pepper
1 t chopped fresh garlic

Bring the above to a boil

1 c polenta or stone ground corn grits
1/2 c Parmesan cheese

Slowly add polenta with a whisk, stirring constantly.
Turn heat to very low and cook about 20 minutes
Add Parmesan.
(They suggest to serve as aside or main dish topped with a rich meat ragu.)

While this is slowly cooking on low, Slice up the prosciutto in about 1/4" strips and seperate into their thin layers, and toss into a pan with a little olive oil and pan fry on just below medium, until the prosciutto is starting to get crispy. this won't take very long, since they slices are so thin.

Slice up a fine bread, and toast it (in the oven or a toaster).

On the toasted bread, spread the chevre, cover that in a portion of the polenta and then top it with a few pieces of the prosciutto.

It'll look something like this:

Crunchy, creamy, salty, meaty, spicy and cheesy....how good is that?

Nuclear Brownies

1/2 lb buter
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
18 oz semisweet chocolate chips
3 large eggs
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Melt butter, 1/2 of the chocolate chips and all of the unsweetened chocolate over a double boiler. Let cool. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add cooled chocolate mixture. Mix in flour and baking powder and salt. Stir in remaining chocolate chips and nuts. Put in a well buttered baking 9x13 baking pan and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Refrigerate overnight.

(from my mom's friend)

Sam's notes: I usually mix up the chocolate with dark and extra dark bulk Stam chocolate, but I've used a mixture of semi-sweet and 60% Cacao chips (you don't have to use chips, but for the 2nd half of the slightly sweetened chocolate, you are going to want to chop it up). Any good, relatively dark chocolate would do. I don't think it'd be good to go above say 72% Cacao...since there is not a whole lot of sugar in the recipe (this is not a tested theory). I let the chocolate mixture cool for about 10 minutes, and that seems to work pretty well. Sometimes, you might get a nice butter crust on the bottom...and well...that tastes fantastic.

These brownies (more like bars) don't hold together well in heat, so keep them cool.

chewy milti-chocolate chip cookie

Chocolate Chip Mix:

• 1 bag of Hershey's Cinnamon Chips
• 1 bag of Hershey's Special Dark Chips
• 1 bag of Ghirardelli Classic White Chips
• 1 bag of Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1 bag of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 bag of Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 bag of Guittard Real Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Mix up in a very large bowl (yes you will have extra). You can leave out a few, avoid chips with vanillin in them, they add a bad after taste (always only use real vanilla). The cinnamon chips add an extra boost of cinnamon.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar (makes the cookies darker, adds a nice molasses beneath the cinnamon)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk

• 2 heaping cups chocolate chip mixture

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, dark brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
• Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a 4 minutes on the stove before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.