To Cook Is To Heal

...is usually associated with the ribeye, though I've found that the pork loin chop can hold its own. After learning from a FFF ( fellow foodie friend  ) Jerry H. about "braised ribs", I started to look for recipes and watched his recommended video showing the basic recipe. After doing some internet searches, printing out a few recipes for braised short ribs, and then a fair amount of contemplation my plan came to life. As I was mulling over the possibilities of how to convert this to pork my FFF (J.H.) sent me a picture of one of his favorite steak cuts; AKA the "Tomahawk". OK so here we go... First marinate two (1 1/2" thick) pork loin Tomahawks with a dry rub seasoning for 1-2 days inside a Ziplock, refrigerated. On the day of preparation I started to assemble ingredients from my pantry, checking and rechecking both of the recipes I had for reference.  Preparing for what I would later realize was to become a treasure in our recipe stabl...

Don't get me wrong there is a lot to be learned from these shows, but unfortunately what they are teaching us is that you have to be able to create a meal in under an hour! If you are a really  good  cook you can do the meal in under a 1/2 hour...This is BS! Why do we have to rush one of the greatest experiences we are provide with from God? Eating and the experience of food. All of your five senses are involved in a good meal; sight, sound, smell, taste, and feel. Think about it, eating is as good as sex, maybe better... I won't go there, but sit back take a breather and think about what and why you eat. Is it just to make a turd as a good friend told me as he ate a power bar, to get him through lunch? Sounds offensive but why do we eat? To nourish just our body? Or should we be eating to nourish our soul... I am not a head chef, a chef for hire, or a restaurant owner, but I have had formal training, worked as a cook, prep cook, private chef and have cooked for my fami...

For quite a while I have been board with the internet, always going to the same sites and really not expanding my limited horizons. Well one day I  stumbled upon  "http://www.stumbleupon.com/". I don't remember how, but it has become a weekly adventure for me. You enter in some of your interests, kind of like Pandora, and then you give various web sites you like a thumbs up or down, it learns from your tastes... Anyway, obviously one of my interests is food and cooking, the following two recipes (base) came from stumbleupon. "Kaytucky chicken" (www.kayotickitchen.com), once I read the recipe I knew I had to give it a go, well Marg was in love, again... I did tweak the base recipe some and included my gravy on the dish. I included "Hasselback Potatoes" from www.seasaltwithfood.com with some minor tweaks. The results are what you see below. (The peppers are miniature colored bells stuffed with the same filling that goes into the chic...

Yeah, I never envisioned this one before. I have been using spaghetti squash for over 35 years and came up with this one yesterday. Spaghetti squash stuffed with marinated pork tenderloin tips, onions and various spices. Roasted in the oven with deep fried brussel sprouts and gravy. Hungry yet? The fried Brussel sprouts & my gravy are separate recipes. ( Generally you have to pay for them ...) Average/large sized squash. About 3/4 lbs of cubed pork tenderloin tips, dry rubbed with Carolina seasoning mix and a small amount (very small amount of thyme) marinated for 3-4 days. Open the top of a well balanced (sitting in the pan) squash. Clean out the seeds,  feed them to the squirrels another meal there ..  Spaghetti squash seed fattened squirrel, yummy! Sprinkle garlic bread seasoning around the inside of the squash, drizzle white truffle oil, ground pepper, tarragon (small amount). Cram (do not break the shell of the squash) the...