Fleur De Sel Ice Cream

For Christmas this year I received the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer Ice Cream Maker attachment and on Monday I made our first batch of Ice Cream. It's pretty sweet, it's definitely the easiest method for making ice cream, but you definitely have to plan ahead. The mixer attachment is basically an ice pack bowl. In order to make ice cream, you have to freeze the bowl over night and you have to make the ice cream mix and refrigerate that overnight, and then once you mix them in the bowl, you still have to freeze the ice cream for 3-4 hours in order to get a real ice cream texture. But other than that, it's definitely EASY.

The recipe for ice cream I used is on page 11 of the use and care guide that came with the attachment. It's a basic recipe for French Vanilla ice cream. Once you make the ice cream mix and you mix it in the ice cream bowl with the mixer for 20 minutes, you then transfer the mix, which will be pretty much a soft serve consistency, to a container to then freeze for 3-4 hours.

If you want to mix in ingredients, this is the time to do it. In my case, I mixed in Lindt Hint of Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Bar that I chopped up into small squares along with a couple pinches of coarse sea salt and about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of chilled caramel sauce that I swirled with a spatula before I sealed up the ice cream and put it in the freezer for the final freeze.

After the final 3-4 hours of freezing, you have a delicious french vanilla ice cream with big swirls of caramel and chunks of dark chocolate with sea salt. Its delicious, enjoy!

Baked Chicken w/ Roma Tomato Pancetta Sauce & Spinach Linguine

Alright everyone, I've been out of commission cooking-wise with the arrival of the Kitchen Bear Cub (trademark pending) and my diet, but I think I'm due for a comeback. I spent most of my drive home this afternoon creating this dish, and let me tell you it was delicious.

The though process all started at Emily and Paul's wedding on Saturday (Congrats guys, hope you're having fun in Hawaii!) when Caitlin had the gouda stuffed baked chicken and said she liked the drier baked chicken. So I tried to think of something reasonably Weight Watchers friendly that had baked chicken and a plan began to form when I spotted the diced Pancetta (which if you didn't know is thick cubes of cured Italian Bacon. . . mmmmm) on my shopping trip through Trader Joe's.

Here's what you'll need:

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 Package fresh Spinach Linguine (I used Buitoni)
2 medium sized Roma Tomatoes, diced
1 large Shallot, diced
1 8oz can Tomato Sauce with Garlic, Basil & Oregano
1 Cup light Alfredo sauce
2 oz (about 1/2 a cup) diced Pancetta
2 Slices Havarti Cheese
1 Cup Baby Spinach, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
Dried Basil, Oregano, Garlic Powder, Thyme and Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
handful of fresh Basil to garnish
Pepper

Turn on the oven to 400 degrees. Prep the chicken by cutting off all the fat and lightly pounding the chicken breast to thin it out and soften it up. Try to keep the breast thinner than 1" thick on the fat end. Spray some non-stick cooking spray on an 8x13 glass or metal pan and place the chicken breasts in the middle of the pan. Pour on just enough of the Alfredo sauce to cover the chicken (less is more here, the sauce will thin out and run everywhere, so it doesn't have to be completely covered, use about 1/4 C on each breast). Then spice to taste with the salt, pepper, and dried basil, oregano, thyme, garlic powder and rosemary and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the chicken is baking, put a large saucepan on the stove on medium high heat and add in the pancetta with a tbsp of olive oil, and let that cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. While the pancetta is browning, dice the shallot and add to the pancetta, then add in the tomatoes and the minced garlic and let them brown for 3 or 4 minutes. Once the tomatoes start softening up, add in the can of tomato sauce and lower heat to medium-medium low and let simmer covered. In a medium saucepan, begin to boil water for the pasta.

Once the 20 minutes is up on the chicken, flip the breasts over and put a slice of Havarti cheese on each chicken breast and bake for another 10 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 C of Alfredo sauce to the tomato sauce and reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally. The water for the pasta should be boiling by now, so go ahead and add in the spinach linguine and let that boil for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the pasta is ready to go, drain and distribute onto serving plates with a scoop of the pancetta sauce. Take the chicken out of the oven and add to the plate and serve!  Man that was good!

Pesto Bowtie Pasta

Wow, 2 posts in one day!  Well, I've had a request for this recipe, since it's been my go-to side dish for almost any gathering: cookouts, parties, etc!  It's real simple to make, so I'll just jump right in.  Here's what you'll need:

1 Jar Pesto Sauce (I usually use Classico Pesto Sauce)
12-16oz Box Bowtie or Mini Bowtie Pasta
1 Jar Julienne Cut Sundried Tomatoes (I use these in 8.5oz bottle)
5 oz Shredded Parmesan, Asiago, or Romano Cheese (or a combination)

Add-ons:
Grilled Chicken
Pine Nuts
Walnuts
Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Alfredo Sauce

This is one of the easiest recipes to make.  Step 1) boil the pasta for about 10-12 minutes or until al dente and then drain and add to a large bowl.  Step 2) pour in the sauce, the sundried tomatoes (including the oil in the bottle), and cheese and stir. Step 3) Profit!  I mean enjoy!

If you care to add in some of the add-ons above, go nuts!  The pine nuts give it a little extra crunch, and adding in some chicken will make it more of a meal.  My only real tip is not to refrigerate this dish.  Even if there are leftovers, if you seal it in some tupperware and place in the cupboard, it will stay good for 3-5 days.  Putting it in the refrigerator will cause the oil to be absorbed into the pasta, and will make this dish incredibly dry and hard to eat.  Of course there's usually not too many leftovers!

Low Carb (Atkins Friendly) Dark Chocolate Mousse

Hey everyone!  Well, it's long since time I've updated this blog, but between preparing for the arrival of the Kitchen Bear Cub and me going on the Atkins Diet 2 months ago I haven't been my normal recipe creating self.  Now normally, I'm not much of a dessert person.  I mean I'll eat it if it's there or whatever, but I generally don't get too many cravings for sweets or chocolate or whatever (maybe caramel, I love me some caramel. . .).  However, on the Atkins diet, where you pretty much can't eat any cakes or fruits or sugar, it's really limiting for what you can eat as a dessert.  With that in mind, I took my (well, Bobby Flay's) dark chocolate mousse recipe and made it nearly carb free!

Here's what you'll need:

1/4 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used the Ghirardeli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder)
1/2 to 3/4 cup Granulated Splenda with Fiber (use 3/4 if you want a sweeter chocolate taste)
2/3 C Heavy Whipping Cream
4 Large or 5 medium Egg Whites Whipped
16oz Heavy Whipping Cream Whipped

Okay, so a few notes on the ingredients.  Look around for the cream with zero grams of carbs per serving (or else the carb count in this recipe is going to go way way way up).  At our local giant I have to get the organic brand for it to have no sugar, or else go to Shoppers and get the Richfood brand.  Secondly, use the granulated Splenda with fiber, because the regular granulated Splenda has a filler that contains carbs (I think less than one gram per teaspoon, but there are 32 teaspoons in a half cup, so do the math).  The granulated Splenda with fiber uses the fiber as a filler and therefore has zero net carbs.  Okay, notes complete, on to the directions!

First off, in a bowl or 2 cup measurer, add in the Splenda, cocoa powder and the 2/3 cup of cream and mix until the consistency is similar to cake frosting.  It needs to be well mixed and soft enough to whip in with the rest of the ingredients, so if 2/3s a cup of cream hasn't smoothed it out, add another tablespoon of cream at a time and keep mixing until it reaches a soft, pliable consistency.  Once that's done, whip the remaining 16oz (2 Cups) of the cream until peaks and valleys form and set aside, about 3-5 minutes depending on the mixer.  Separate the egg whites from the yolks into another mixing bowl and whip with the mixer until it turns a solid white color and forms peaks and valleys as well, another 3-5 minutes.

Once the eggs and whip cream are whipped up, add the chocolate paste to the whipped cream and then add the whipped egg whites on top, and using a whisk, fold the mixture together.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl and completely mix the 3 groups together.  Once done, either spoon into individual bowls (makes about 6-8 portions) or spoon into a seal-able container and put in the fridge.  If you are not serving immediately, make sure to refrigerate, or else the mousse will wilt and all it's deliciousness will be gone. Serve it with a dollop of whipped cream on top or add some low carb berries like strawberries or raspberries   Yum

As for the carb count, well, it's pretty low.  The only thing in this recipe that contains carbs is the unsweetened chocolate, which, if you use the Ghirardeli chocolate linked above, contains 2 net grams per tbsp.  Since we're using 4 tbsp, that's only 8 grams of carbs for this whole batch of mousse.  Not bad, eh?  Don't get too excited though, there's a ton of fat.  I used the Richfood brand heavy whipping cream, which has 5 grams of fat per tbsp, and well, there are about 26 tbsp of cream in this recipe, so that's 130grams of fat for the whole batch, which is about 16 to 22 grams of fat, depending on how many servings you break it out into.  Don't worry though, on Atkins, that's not that much fat, so enjoy!

New Year, New Bathroom!

Happy 2011 Everyone!  Caitlin had the week between christmas and new years off (since her work closes for that week, sweet huh?) I took off that week as well so I could work on some home projects.  The big one I wanted to tackle was to update our basement half bath to make it look newer/better than one from the mid-80's.

The old bathroom down there was rough (as you can see at below).  The toilet would barely flush water, and routinely got clogged at the drop of a hat.  The mirror was the old school 80's style with the plain mirror attached to the wall with the plastic elbow brackets and a really really old light with a frosted glass cover that was impossible to get any real light out of.  But the worst part of the bathroom was the floor.  It was some disgusting linoleum/vinyl tile that looked horrible and was a weird pinkish/off white color with roses in the middle of each tile.  Ick.  

In anticipation of my week working on updating the bathroom, our friend Kirk came over a couple weeks ago and helped me put in a ceiling fan (how does a bathroom not have an exhaust fan?!) and run some wiring to put in a new power outlet near the sink, since the old bathroom only had an outlet on the light fixture.

So we had a good christmas.  I relaxed christmas weekend in anticipation of working on this project.  Then on Monday, I ripped out the toilet, the vanity and sink, the mirror off the wall and pried up all the crappy vinyl tiles.  Tuesday I layed down a nice porcelain tile and Wednesday I grouted.  Thursday I patched all the holes in the walls and cut floorboards and quarter rounds.  Then Friday and Saturday I painted the walls and ceiling, twice.   Then all the fun began.

On Sunday, I got up early, changed the light fixture to our new brushed nickel 3 light fixture, which looks about 1000 times better.  I also installed a dimmer switch, so we can make it brighter or darker, which is handy at night so you don't blind yourself.  Then I powered up my new air compressor/finishing nail gun combo and nailed up the baseboards in about 10 minutes (totally worth $200 for that tool!).

Then I put in our new pedestal sink and faucet combo, which clears up so much space in the bathroom without having the whole big vanity.  The pedestal sink went in fairly easily, I had a little leak in the drain because I initially didn't realize that the drain vent was 1 1/4" and the p trap was 1 1/2", but that was quickly fixed by swapping the right plastic washer in the pvc fitting.

Then the real fun began.  It was now about 12:30 on Sunday afternoon, and I wanted to try to finish everything in time to watch the Seahawks game at 8:15, and all I had left was the toilet and some other minor fittings.  Man, whoever designed the toilet attachment system is an idiot.

If you don't know, a toilet is attached to a plastic ring (called a closet ring) where the waste pipe meets the floor.  There's to little slots to stick bolts with a rectangular head on them.  You put the wax seal/funnel thing on the bottom of the toilet and drop it down onto the waste vent with the bolts going through the holes in the bottom of the toilet.  However, in the kit that you buy at home depot, the bolts just sit there, and when you try to tighten the nut onto them, the bolts spin around and eventually come out of their little grooves in the closet ring.  Ooops.

So, it also turns out that our closet ring was cracked right where the bolt should go, and in my attempt to tighten the bolts, pretty much destroyed one half of the closet ring.  Double oops.  Luckily I watch a lot of HGTV these days and I know you can go to home depot and buy a "super ring" that will fix that without having to call a plumber.  So I bought one of those, anchored it through the tile into the concrete subfloor and finally got the toilet attached by tightening an extra pair of nuts onto the bolts so they were basically attached to the closet ring and wouldn't turn when I tried to tighten the toilet bolt on.  After that, I put the tank and seat on the toilet, connected the water supply and caulked around the bottom.

After that, I just had to hang the mirror, the wall art I bought and attach the toilet paper holder and towel ring.  Ta-da, all done, with 45 minutes to spare (and about 5 trips to Lowe's on Sunday. . . blerg).  What do you guys think?  Good job by the Renovation Bear?

Ravioli Rosa

Caitlin's feeling better and better about eating, but her tastes are still skewing towards carbs at this point in her pregnancy.  I'm just glad I get to cook/eat something decent at home instead of Panera/Chipotle/Moby Dick's/Happy Uncle Chinese food.  I mean I love all those places and aren't likely to stop going any time soon, but it feels good to be back to cooking at home.

Since we went to the gym for the first time in 2 or 3 months and didn't get home until 8:30 last night, I needed to make something quick for dinner.  On a side note, man, it really felt good to go back to the gym.  I really need to get back in shape.  I'm already on a basketball team that should start playing soon, and on an indoor soccer team (that plays really late at night. . .), but still, that's only 2 or 3 days a week tops and I need to kick it back up a notch and get back down to a nice healthy slim-a-bear weight.  Okay, back to dinner!

We had some Cheese Ravioli in the freezer, and I thought it might be good to mix up some Rosa sauce, like the Penne Rosa from Noodles & Co.  I already had some grilled chicken slices I was using to make paninis, but you can pretty quickly saute up a chicken breast to use in this recipe.

Here's what you'll need:

Ravioli Rosa:

1 Package Large Cheese Ravioli (I used Rosetto Large Round 24oz)
1 Cup Tomato Pasta sauce (I used Francesco Rinaldi To Be Healthy Tomato and Basil)
1 1/2 Cup Alfredo Sauce (I used Classico Four Cheese Alfredo)
1/2 Cup White Wine (I used some chardonnay)
1 Chicken Breast
1 Cup Baby Spinach, roughly chopped
1 Roma tomato, diced
1 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (Optional, but it's good with a little kick)
Parmesan Cheese, to taste

In a stockpot, heat on high 5 or 6 quarts of water with a pinch of salt and some olive oil until it boils.  In a saucepan, add in the red sauce, white sauce, wine and pepper and mix together with a whisk, then heat on medium heat covered.  If you have pre-cooked chopped chicken, add it into the sauce as well.  If not, filet the chicken breast into 2 flat pieces and then cut into 1/2 inch strips and saute in a pan with some olive oil, and top with salt and pepper to taste and then add to the sauce.

Once the water is boiling, add in the frozen ravioli and bring the temperature back to medium or medium-high and let cook approximately 8 to 10 minutes (really until they all start to float).  While the ravioli is cooking, chop the spinach and tomato and add to the sauce, then lower the heat for the sauce to a simmer.  Once the ravioli is done, drain the water and serve the ravioli with the sauce and some parmesan cheese, to taste.  You have a quick 20 minute meal that's delicious and a little spicy!

*  Sorry, there's no photo to entice you to cook this recipe, I was way too hungry to stop and take a picture of it after the gym last night!

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

A couple weeks ago, with Caitlin in the middle of her morning sickness and pretty much only able to eat simple and complex carbs, I made this delicious banana bread.  And seeing as it's a good recipe for bringing to a holiday party/family get together and pretty easy to make, I thought I should get off my big non-posting butt and share it with the rest of you.  Luckily Caitlin seems to be past the worst of the sickness and back to eating real foods, so huzzah, I shall hopefully be back to cooking/creating/posting more often in the near future.

Anyway, back to the recipe at hand, here's what you'll need: (This recipe is designed to make 2 loaves of Banana Bread, mainly because at the time, I had 6 Bananas that had been in the cupboard for a little too long and were starting to get brown.  If you want to make 1 loaf, then just halve everything)


Banana Bread:
2 cup granulated sugar
2 Sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
6 overripe bananas
2 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Streusel:
2/3 Cup Brown Sugar (firmly packed)
1/4 Cup Flour
2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Stick Butter, Hard/Cold

So here goes with the instructions: heat the oven to 325 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and butter together and mix until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time while continuing to beat the mixture.  Stop the mixer and in a separate bowl, mash the bananas with a fork and mix in the milk and cinnamon.  Then in another separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Go back to the mixer and slowly combine the bananas one third at a time and continue mixing until all the bananas are incorporated.  Then begin to add in the dry ingredients from that bowl also 1/3 at a time.  Once all the dry ingredients have been incorporated, stop mixing and remove bowl from mixer.  In a separate bowl, combine the streusel ingredients: brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter.  Using the mixer, blend the streusel ingredients until they are well mixed together and the butter is totally incorporated with the dry ingredients.

Grease bread pans with some Crisco or Baking Pam and split the bread batter evenly between the two pans. Once that is done, split the streusel mix on top of the batter in each bread pan, and then take a knife or spatula and stir/swirl the streusel around in the banana bread batter.  Be careful that you do not stir too much or too vigorously, because you don't want to mix the streusel into the batter, just simply allocate it in a swirl within the batter.

Once they are ready in the pans, place in the oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a tooth pick or knife inserted into the loaf comes out dry.  Then remove from the oven, let cool and enjoy.  Slice the loaves into 1/2"-3/4" thick slices and eat plain, toasted and buttered, or get fancy and put some caramel ice cream on top.  Any way you slice it, it's delicious!

Tales from Public Transport

Those of you who follow this site (all 7 of you!) might be wondering why I haven't updated it in awhile.  Though frankly, I think all of you know the reason why.  Basically, I've taken an extended vacation from cooking anything interesting because Caitlin is pregnant (8 weeks!) and going through the morning (haha, we wish it was just the morning) sickness phase, and well, cooking for one and eating it hastily in the corner lest the smells cause her to vomit is not the best environment for creating good recipes. Plus cooking for one is a good way to make you want to hang yourself.

Hopefully the nausea will go away soon and I can get back to cooking some great recipes (and there's probably going to be some weird ones with a pregnant wife as my customer)!  In the meantime, I probably need to throw some updates up here, regardless of actual recipe content.

Okay, so based on the number of funny stories I have from my daily commute of driving to the MARC Commuter train and then taking a bus to work 3 times a week, I've decided to start regaling my readers with these tales in a recurring series I will call Tales from Public Transport.  Most of them involve me noticing someone else doing something really weird, or some kind of confrontation with an annoying entitled jerk whilst riding the train or bus.

Our first tale comes from last summer.  I have a nice timbuk2 messenger bag that I carry with me so I can take an umbrella or jacket (if needed), and a book or my PSP for some enjoyment and distraction while on the train. When it's hot out, I also have a water bottle with a clip that I hook onto my bag so I can have some ice water on my trip.  MARC is pretty lax about food and drink, to the point that a good portion of the passengers heading home on Thursdays and Fridays are toting 6-packs and/or 40oz bottles of beer.  Hell, I've even seen a nice little clique of passengers bring beer, wine, pizza, wings, and fried chicken and have a nice little MARC train happy hour.

On the other hand, Metro Bus is significantly less flexible about food or drinks in theory, but pretty much just as lax in practice.  They have big signs everywhere (also in Spanish!) about no food or drink on the bus.  Now, I generally take that to mean "don't be a dick and eat your breakfast/lunch/dinner on the bus", but sipping from a drink is pretty low on the public-shame-meter.

That day, I get on the bus and I sit in one of the side facing seats towards the front of the bus.  There's a guy about 5 or 6 feet away in one of the front facing seats with a leather briefcase on his lap and a giant cup of Starbucks in his hand.  I'm only usually on the bus for about 15 minutes, but it's amazing how bored you get during that time, so I opened up my book and was blissfully/ignorantly reading away.

This is on my way to work, and at 8:15 in the morning it was already 90 plus degrees outside, and this particular bus had no air conditioning (at least not running anyway) and frankly, opening the window would've only made it worse. After 5 minutes on the bus, I'm getting pretty hot.  Then I remember I have a nice water bottle full of ice water, so I unclipped my bottle from my bag, folded out the straw and took a sip.  Before I can close the straw and clip it back to my bag, the guy with the coffee (coffee douche from here on out) looks at me with disgust on his face and loudly says "You're not allowed to have food or drink on the bus!" Surprised, I look over at him, notice his coffee and reply "Okay, are you the pot or the kettle, because you've got a cup of coffee in your hand, and at least my bottle wouldn't spill if I dropped it, unlike  your crappy Starbucks cup".

Now, I really wanted to follow up that statement by knocking his coffee cup out of his hands to prove my point, but I didn't want to be the dick who made a mess or start something any more than I'm already into. In response, coffee douche says "Well, I'm not DRINKING it, just holding it. . . " as if that somehow made him better than me.  The sign doesn't say "no eating or drinking on the bus", it says "no food or drink on the bus".  Subtle I know, but I guess not everyone can grasp the minutiae of the printed word.  Point being, we were BOTH breaking the rules.  Anyway, I casually clipped my water bottle back to my bag, chuckled derisively at his comment and continued ignoring him and reading my book until I got to my stop. Reading is Fun. . damental!

What a way to start the day. . .

Bring You Back from the Dead Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

So I have a dentist appointment tomorrow and I started thinking of what to make that would work on some sore teeth.  So I figured I'd make some of my chicken soup tomorrow, and then Caitlin said she wanted soup tonight, completely separately from my desire to make it tomorrow.  Weird huh?  Well, my chicken soup recipe makes enough to last a week, so making it tonight is as good as making it tomorrow, and she gets to take it for lunch, so double bonus!

Of course, it does take a little while to make, so Caitlin's been bouncing off the walls waiting to get her mitts on a fresh bowl (or two. . . ).  This is a good recipe for this week though: the weather's starting to change and get colder (which I love), we're both sore as crap from soccer (which isn't so great) and I've got the dentist, so I'll need something soft to slurp down with my numbed butter teeth.  I suppose it's only a matter of time until one of us gets sick again too, so hopefully the soup will ward off disease as long as possible.

Here's what you'll need:

Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

128 oz Chicken Stock
4 or 5 Carrots cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 Medium (baseball sized) Red Onion, diced
1 Package of Celery Hearts chopped into 1/2 inch slices
2 Boneless Chicken Breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2-3 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Crushed Rosemary
2 Tbsp Dried Thyme
2 Tbsp Diced Garlic
Handful Fresh Parsley finely chopped
1/2 Cup White Wine
Freshly Ground Pepper and Salt
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
12 to 16 oz Package Egg Noodles

Start off by pouring all the chicken stock and the kosher salt into a large (8qt or bigger) stock pot on the stove on medium-high heat.  Start a saucepan on high with a steamer insert and while the water is heating up peel and chop the carrots and add to the steamer and cover.  Add the wine to a large saute pan and heat on medium-high heat.  While the wine is heating up, quickly dice the red onion and add to the saute pan.  While the onions are cooking, chop the celery and add to the chicken stock, then chop the chicken.  Stir the onions and let the wine reduce by about one half and then dump the onions and wine into the stock.

Return the saute pan to heat and add the oil and the chicken and stir constantly.  Sprinkle on some salt and pepper onto the chicken, enough to evenly cover all the pieces and then add in the garlic, thyme and rosemary and continue stirring for another minute or two to evenly brown the chicken and coat the pieces with spice, then add to the stock pot.  Take the carrots out of the teamer and add them to the stock pot as well and lower the heat to medium-low.  In a large saucepan (or a small stock pot) boil water and add in the noodles.  Let the noodles cook until soft, about 5 or 6 minutes and then drain and rinse and add to the stock pot.

It's a good tip when making soup with egg noodles to boil them in water separately from the soup, because when you boil the noodles, they soak up a little of the liquid, but also sometimes release a little bit of the flour, so if you boil them in your soup stock, you'll lose some stock softening the noodles, and possibly get a bunch of flour that will ruin your soup's stock with a cloudy, nasty noodle funk.

So, boil them separately, drain and rinse the noodles and add to the stock pot and let the whole thing simmer covered together for 5 or 10 minutes at least and then serve!  It tastes great with some crusty french bread or dinner rolls and they'll help you sop up the delicious broth.

Spicy Garlic Teriyaki Lo Mein

Okay peeps, so we're on day 5 of pantry clearing, and I did some inventory and found a package of Lo Mein noodles.  Now with the weather all cool and our nightly exercise complete, it was time to make some greasy chinese takeout at home and I know how Caitlin loves some shrimp lo mein!  Well, stir fry, if done right, is a delicious, healthy and quick meal that has endless possibilities for different combinations of sauce and ingredients.  I was craving something a little spicy too, so I thought I'd kick it up an extra notch.  Here's what you'll need:

1 Package Lo Mein Noodles
1 or 2 Chicken Breasts
2 Tbsp Ginger Paste
2 Tbsp Cilantro Paste
1/4 C diced Red Onion
1-2 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper (depending on your desired spice level)
1/4 C Garlic Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 C Hoisin Sauce
2 Tbsp Mirin (Japanese Rice Wine)
2 Tbsp Corn Starch
3 Large/4 Medium Carrots
1 or 2 Cups Cooked Frozen Shrimp (more shrimp with less chicken or vice versa)
1/4 C Peanut Oil

Okay, now, the first time you make this, it might not be that quick of a meal.  But with some practice at real stir fry cooking, you can really get in there and get it all chopped, cooked and in the bowl in about 20 minutes.  Of course it really helps if you're making noodles or using the microwaveable uncle ben's rice pouches, otherwise you have to plan ahead, because it takes awhile to cook rice.  Also, the real key to making good (and fast) stir fry is to make sure that all the pieces are cut to to the same size, which helps them to cook at the same rate.

For this recipe, I'll try to explain my methodology for speed while stir-frying.  First, set up your steamer insert in a saucepan with water up to the bottom of the steamer insert and put on the stove on high.  Then, peel and chop the carrots into 1/2 inch pieces and add them to the steamer and cover.  In a large sauce pan, put water on the stove on high to boil for the noodles.  Put the frozen shrimp into a measuring cup and fill with hot water to thaw.  Cut the chicken in half horizontally to make 2 thin filets and then cut into 1/2 inch pieces and add to a bowl.  Drain the shrimp and cut the tails off the shrimp and then cut each shrimp into 1/2 in pieces and return to the measuring cup.  Add in the teriyaki, hoisin, mirin, and corn starch to the chicken and stir and fold to mix the sauces and make sure the chicken is covered evenly.

Clean off the cutting board (or pull out a second one) and dice the onions.  Pull out your Wok (or saute pan if you don't have one) and pour in the peanut oil and place on the burner on med-high heat.  By now the water should be boiling so add in a little oil to the water (so the noodles won't stick together) and dump in the lo mein noodles.  Let the oil in the wok heat up and when you see the surface of the oil shimmering, add in the red onion, ginger and cilantro and stir with a spatula slowly for about a minute or two to cook the onions.  Add in the chicken and stir constantly with a sweeping motion to keep the chicken turning and cooking without letting it sit for more than 10 or 15 seconds.  After the chicken starts to look browned (maybe 4 or 5 minutes), add in the shrimp, carrots and red pepper and continue stirring for another 2 or 3 minutes and then remove from heat.

While the wok is off the heat, drain the noodles and add to the wok and return to heat.  Continue stirring and folding it all together for another minute or two, or until the noodles start to absorb some of the sauce and brown up a little.  After that, remove from heat and serve!  Mmmmm, mmm, greasy delicious Chicken and Shrimp spicy Lo Mein at home in less time than it would take to drive for takeout or have it delivered!

Shish-ka-Scott

Okay, so we're on day 2 of spelunking in our overcrowded pantry. So, for some insight into how these dinners get made and decided on, here's Caitlin and my planning conversation over IM:

Scott: What do you want for dinner?

Caitlin: I don't know, something that won't make me feel gross. . .

Scott: hmmmmm

Caitlin: and not Mexican, I had that for lunch.

Caitlin: How about something grilled?!

Caitlin: shish kabob!

Caitlin: YES

Caitlin: with chicken

Caitlin: and tomatoes

Caitlin: and potatoes

Caitlin: and poblano

Caitlin: and green onions

Caitlin: and whatever else we have in the fridge

Scott: ok, I guess I'll look in the fridge

Okay, so it looks like the plan is set. I'll grab everything in our fridge veggie drawer that's not apples and some chicken and we'll grill the crap out of it! Eureka! Well, that's how you end up with Shish-ka-Scott (since I'm not named Bob, get it?!), though we didn't have any green onions or potatoes. So I thawed some chicken, and checked the veggie drawer and found some red onion, poblano peppers and roma tomatoes. Here's what you'll need:

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts

1/2 Red Onion, cut into 1 inch slices

1 or 2 Large Poblano or Green Peppers cut into 1 inch squares

2 Roma Tomatoes

1/4 Cup Hoisin Sauce

1/4 Cup Teriyaki Sauce

1/4 Cup Lime Juice

So, first thing you'll need to do is cut the chicken into roughly one inch cubes and then place in a bowl. Add in the hoisin, teriyaki and lime juice and stir and let marinade while you cut the veggies. Cut the ends off the roma tomatoes and then cut them in half so you have 4 tomato cylinders. Cut the pepper(s) in half and remove the seeds in the center. Wash them off so all the seeds are gone and then cut the halves in half and then into 1 in squares. Take the onion and cut it in half and then cut off the top and bottom of one half to remove both cores at each end. Take the center piece and cut into quarters and then pull the layers apart and you have a bunch of onion squares.

Take some skewers (these are really handy for this) and thread on a tomato and then layer it with a pepper square, a chicken piece and an onion square until you get to the other end, and then put on another tomato. Keep threading until you run out of pieces and then place in a shallow dish and pour the marinade on top. While the skewers are marinading, go turn on the grill to medium-high. Let it heat up for a few minutes to get the grill grates nice and hot and then go throw the skewers on. Grill on each side for about 8 or 10 minutes or until the chicken starts to get grill marks seared in. Flip them over and finish the other side, and then serve with a little rice or some salad. It's delish and it clears out the veggie drawer!

Tandoori Chicken Curry with Potatoes

So it's getting to the point where our pantry and fridge are just packed with stuff that I've bought and we've never made. We eat indian food all the time, yet apparently I buy stuff for it way more often than I make it. I guess that trip to Lotte Plaza (the Asian food market) was maybe a bad idea. Anyway, so in an effort to clean out the backup, I envisioned making some delicious indian food and using some of the stuff we had sitting around before it all goes bad.

So one of my Lotte Plaza purchases was a number of indian pastes for marinades and sauces: Tandoori, Tikka, Curry, Vindaloo and Korma. I like the prepared indian bags of veggies with the Tandoori sauce, so I thought I'd combine a couple of them and make my own simmer sauce. Here's what you'll need:

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1/4 Cup Tandoori Paste
6 oz Plain Greek Yogurt/Heavy Cream/Coconut Milk
2 Tbsp Oil
3 Carrots cut into 1/2" cubes
5 or 6 Red Skin Potatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Okay, first thing you need to do is boil about 2 cups of water in a medium sauce pan with a steamer. While the water comes to a boil, peel and chop the carrots and then dump them into the steamer. Make sure the water doesn't come above the bottom of the steamer insert. Let the carrots steam until they start to soften, about 8 minutes. While the carrots are steaming, cut the chicken into about 1/2 inch pieces and put in a large saute pan with the oil on medium-high heat. While the chicken cooks, quickly wash and cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch size pieces. Remove the carrots from heat if they're softened and ready to go.

Cook the chicken until the pieces start to brown slightly and none of the sides are raw. Remove the chicken to the side and add the potatoes to the pan. If the pan is dry, put in a little more oil to help them cook up. Stir the potato pieces until they start to soften, then add back in the chicken and the carrots and turn the heat down to medium low. Combine in a bowl or measuring cup the tandoori paste and the yogurt/cream/coconut milk and add to the pan and stir everything together. Let simmer covered for 5 or 10 minutes to let all the sauces and spices marry together and then serve with jasmine or basmati rice and/or some toasted naan.

Don't forget the milk...

Often when I'm rattling off what I want for dinner to Scott, he'll head out to the store. That's right ladies, not only does he cook, he shops for groceries too (in record time). I'll rent him out for an hourly rate...
Anyway, this is often how I feel when he dashes out the door to the store:

Potato Gnocchi with Shrimp and Homemade Pesto Sauce

So I had to go to the dentist and Caitlin's stomach was feeling a little weird today, so I thought I'd make something comfortable, delicious and not too spicy (since I've been making a lot of spicy Mexican and Indian food lately). Also, our Basil plant in our garden is HUGE and since it's starting to get cold at night, well, it's probably going to die soon, so it needed to get eaten.

This is a real quick meal to make (even more so if you have a food processor), so here's what you'll need:

Semi-Homemade Pesto Sauce:

1 Cup Alfredo Sauce

1 Cup White Wine

2 Cups Loosely Packed Basil Leaves

1/2 Cup (or a big handful) Sage Leaves

1 Cup (or 2 big handfuls) Baby Spinach

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1 Tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 Tsp Salt

For the Pasta:

16 oz Package of Fresh Gnocchi

8-10 Frozen Cooked Shrimp (per person)

Fresh Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Sundried Tomatoes, Julienne Cut

Pine Nuts

First thing you'll need to do is thaw the shrimp in a bowl filled with some warm water for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then, fill a pot with water with a pinch of salt and a little olive oil and place on the stove on high to boil for the gnocchi. To start off the sauce, combine the alfredo sauce and white wine and whisk together in a medium saucepan on medium heat while you gather the pesto ingredients.

Next you'll need to make the homemade pesto portion. Combine the basil, spinach, sage, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse for 5 or 10 seconds until well mixed and chopped and then add into the saucepan. Heat up a frying pan on medium high with a little olive oil and throw the shrimp in with some salt and pepper. Toss the shrimp around to heat up for a few minutes. Once the water is boiling, add in the gnocchi and boil for 3 or 4 minutes or until they start to float. Strain the gnocchi and serve in a shallow bowl or plate and spoon on some sauce and then top with some shredded Parmesan, pine nuts, and sundried tomatoes and enjoy!

Kitchen Bear - Now with 50% more pictures!

Scott has put me in charge of taking the pictures for this blog. It's no easy task; I have to remember to snap some pics before shoving my face full of food....

When I forget to take a picture, I'll just draw one!

I have no drawing skills...but that won't stop me!

BEAR GRILLS
(or BEAR-B-QUE)

~Caitlin

Chicken Prosciutto Cutlets

So the other night for dinner I wanted to make something with Sage. For my birthday, Caitlin took me to Amalfi Ristorante in Rockville. It's not much to look at from the street (or even from inside I suppose) but the food is phenomenal, and definitely moderately priced. Anyway, I had their Chicken Saltimbocca that was smothered in Sage, and it really made me realize a few things. One, sage is freaking delicious! Two, I almost never use it in anything! So I thought I'd make something similar to their dish and I picked up my items at the store to make a good dinner for me and Caitlin. Here's what I came up with:

Chicken Prosciutto Cutlets

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 Jar Alfredo Sauce (I use Classico Four Cheese Alfredo Sauce because it's a lot lower in fat than others)
1 C White Wine
Handful of Fresh Sage leaves
2 Tsp Diced Garlic
4 oz Proscuitto, thinly sliced
4 oz Crumbled Goat Cheese
1/4 C Olive Oil
1/2 C Sliced Mushrooms
Salt and Pepper to taste
Angel Hair pasta

Okay, to start off with, you're going to want to trim the fat off the chicken and lay them flat on a cutting board. With your hand laid flat on top, you'll want to cut horizontally through the chicken breasts in the middle to separate each into 2 filets. Lay the 4 filets next to each other on the cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. With the heel of your hand or a fist, work your way up to pounding the chicken until they're soft and flattened.

Once you've got them flattened, pre-heat your saute/frying pan to medium-high and add the oil. While that's heating up, start boiling water with a little olive oil in it in another large saucepan for the pasta and start heating the whole bottle of alfredo sauce on high in another saucepan. Once the oil is heated up, swish the pan around gently so the oil covers as much of the bottom of the pan as possible and add in the chicken cutlets and sprinkle each one with salt and pepper. Saute 3 or 4 minutes or until they begin to brown up slightly and then flip them and sprinkle more salt and pepper on them. While the second side is cooking, the pasta sauce should be warmed up by now so you can add in the wine (which should be room temperature) and stir every few minutes with a whisk.

Once the second side of the chicken is finished sauteing, remove it from the pan onto a cutting board or plate to let them rest. If the water is boiling, add in your pasta (you'll want about half to two-thirds of a box of angel hair pasta). With the chicken removed, make sure there is enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, if not, add a little more and let it warm up (or you can add some butter if you want that flavor), then add in the mushrooms and diced garlic and stir/saute until the mushrooms have softened, about 3 minutes. Once that's done, pour the alfredo/wine sauce from the saucepan into the saute pan and reduce heat to medium, stirring occasionally. Let the pasta sauce simmer for a few minutes and stir gently to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan.

With the chicken on the plate or cutting board, cover each chicken with sage by laying whole sage leaves across the top of the chicken cutlets, then cover each with a slice of the proscuitto (or however much it takes to cover it if the cutlets are large). Once you have them all arranged, gently place back into the saute pan and lightly spoon a little of the sauce on top of each cutlet, then cover the pan and let simmer for about 10 minutes. When the pasta has reached al dente (usually about 9-13 minutes depending on brand), remove it from heat and strain the water out and plate the pasta on shallow bowls or plates. After the chicken is done simmering, place a cutlet next to the pasta and spoon some sauce onto the pasta and the chicken and then sprinkle on the goat cheese crumbles and serve!

Rework

So I read the book Rework and it's really got me thinking about starting my own business, even if it's just on the side as a hobby of sorts.  However, I'm not quite sure of the right way to go about it.  I thought at first that I could come up with some kind of small business web-design company with some of my friends, but I don't really think that's going to work.  For one, I don't think, when I really got down to talking about it, that that task seems really all that interesting or challenging or at the very least rewarding, and I guess that's kind of the idea behind going off on your own.

Then I thought I'd be able to make some kind of snazzy application that would save the world, or like some Android app that would set the world on fire, but you know, I don't know any of those coding languages (yet?) so that's kind of a speed bump.  So I guess until I come up with a better idea that involves things I do know how to do, I'm back to my old fall back: food.  Caitlin thinks I should buy a food truck and sit outside her work at breakfast and lunch and apparently I'd make a ton of money because their cafeteria sucks.  I've also always wanted to open my own restaurant, even something as simple as a little diner or cafe.  But of course, either of those two things require some serious up front money (or at the very least good credit to take out a loan) which I don't really have or want to use if I did.

Maybe I can somehow get work as a shopping helper, since I seem to be plenty good at that (right Gina and Angelina?).  I can listen to what people want, do research for an hour and come back with one or two things at the right price that're going to be the best product for them.  However, I suppose it's hard to get paid for that.  What do I post craigslist ads?  Go work at Best Buy again? Simply wait for word of mouth from my Mom to all her friends who don't understand technology enough to figure it out on their own?  Even I have to admit it's pretty crappy to charge them for that.  I guess I'm back to the drawing board.  I mean I love my job, but everyone wants to have a job that they really enjoy, that is challenging and/or interesting, and being your own boss would really be nice.  Hopefully inspiration will strike me and I'll come up with some great thing. . . who knows, maybe it's this blog?

Time to show off the house! Part One

Okay, so I'm starting to fall behind on these things, man, for someone who talks so much when given the chance, it's really hard to sit down and write something every day (or even every couple days). So the weekend before last, we finally had our house mostly finished with everything, cleaned up, and ready to go for some guests. Since we were having a cookout/housewarming bash last weekend, we had Caitlin's parents, her mom's parents, and her mom's BFF Aunt Ra (who was our Realtor and saw the house in it's 'Before' state) over for dinner. Now, that's a diverse group, and frankly, not one dish would feed them all, so I whipped up a couple different dishes and let everyone go to town. I made smoked chipotle-lime tilapia filets and smoked chicken leg quarters with my spice rub along with some tomato-basil-mozzarella-balsamic salad, some baked spiced red skin potato wedges and chocolate mousse for dessert.

It seemed like everyone had a good time. The In-laws were impressed with our deck and master bedroom now that we're finished, and Aunt Ra raved about the changes we implemented in the house since we bought it. Also, the Seahawks won at home against the Chargers and I actually got to watch some of it thanks to the magic of NFL Sunday Ticket online streaming and my brother having to work overtime (sorry dude!). So, all in all, a fine day with no complaints. On to the recipes:

Chipotle-Lime Smoked Fish

4 or 5 pieces of Fish (I used Tilapia, but swordfish, or just about any other white fish would do)
1/2 Cup Chipotle Mayo (Recipe Below)
1/4 Cup Lime Juice
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Spice Rub for crust

In a small bowl, mix together the Chipotle Mayo, Lime Juice and Oil and brush on the fish. Shake or sprinkle with spice rub to give a nice crust while cooking. Smoke fish at 200 to 220 degrees for 60 to 90 minutes and remove from smoker. Once removed from the smoker, brush on more of the sauce mixture and sprinkle with another coating of spice rub. Then cook on either the grill or the oven broiler for 5 or 6 minutes to crisp up the fish. The sauce mixture should keep the fish hydrated while forming a nice crust on the top.

Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

The smoked chicken leg quarters are quickly becoming a favorite in my kitchen. First of all, the chicken leg quarters (ie a leg and a thigh still connected) are extremely cheap compared to other more "desirable" chicken cuts (namely boneless skinless chicken breasts) at a regular price of about $1.29/lb. Second of all, they're also perfect because they'll smoke in about 2 hours (so I can make them for dinner on a week night) and for most people it's just the right portion, and for those that it's too much, they can just cut the leg or the thigh off.

So, if you have a smoker, it's pretty easy to make these. First thing you do, is mix about 1/3 C of vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar because it's a little sweeter, but you can use whatever kind you want) and 1/3 C olive/peanut/avocado oil together and then brush liberally onto the room temperature leg quarters. Then shake on as much spice rub as you can get to stick and let that sit for about 20 minutes so the spices can soak into the chicken and skin a bit. If you are making these by themselves, or with other high-temperature items in the smoker, you'll want to smoke them at 275 degrees for about 2 hours (until their internal temperature is at least 165 degrees).

However, if you're going to make them with the fish, as I did above, well, you have to make them a little differently. In that case, you'll smoke them with the fish at 200 degrees for about an hour and then remove them from the smoker and place them in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. In addition, while they're baking, put in a 13x9 pan (preferably glass/pyrex so it won't warp) on the bottom shelf half full of water. That will help keep the chicken moist and mimic the water bowl most smokers use. Just check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer and make sure they're 160 or higher and you're good to go!

Dark Chocolate Icing: Ganache vs Frosting

Okay, so you want to make a cake or cupcakes with some chocolate frosting, but you're just not happy with the regular Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines chocolate frosting they sell by the can at the grocery store and you want to jazz it up a little?  Well, I've got two ways to solve your chocolate icing dilemma!  So you want to make a cake or some cupcakes with a Chocolate-ey, not overly sweet delicious icing but you don't know how?  Try my Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing!  Or, you want to make cupcakes and you want to ensure every bit as much chocolate without the big glob of fluffy icing that's really hard to make look professional and gets all over your mouth when you take a bite?  Well, try my Dark Chocolate Ganache icing, it's like a delicious dark chocolate magic shell for your cupcakes! They'll look delicous and professionally done without much effort, and it's easier to eat than a 1/2 inch thick glob of frosting on your favorite cupcakes!

We'll start off with the Cream Cheese icing.  Take your favorite cake mix (or make it from scratch if you're daring, but frankly without a lot of effort a cake mix can be awesome, so I'll just stick with that for now) and make and bake your cake/cupcakes as directed.  This frosting goes particularly well with a dark chocolate or yellow cake mix, but hey, throw it on whatever cake you like with some delicious dark chocolate icing.  Here's what you'll need!

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 8 oz package Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/4 C butter, room temperature
3 to 4 C Confectioners (Powdered) Sugar
1/2 C Cocoa Powder (Ideally use a good brand here like Ghirardelli, though Hershey's will still make some good frosting, it's not quite the same)

Take the butter and cream cheese out of the fridge and let set out on the counter for 2 or 3 hours before you make the frosting so they can warm up to room temperature and soften up.  Once the cake or cupcakes are cooling, start with the frosting.  In a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together until smooth and completely mixed.  Then, add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix until completely smooth before adding in the next batch.  Be sure to scrape the bowl with a spatula to get at any unmixed in sugar.

Add in 3 or 4 cups of powdered sugar until the consistency and sweetness is exactly how you want it (for example, if you're going to be piping this with a icing bag, then you probably want to put in less sugar so it is not quite as stiff).  Once the sugar is completely blended in and the mixture is nice and smoothe, add in the Cocoa powder and blend again until completely mixed in and smoothe.  Then spread/pipe onto your cake and/or cupcakes and enjoy!  Be sure to save the bowl when you're done, you can't let any of this go to waste!


Now, say you want to impress your co-workers or your mother in law with a batch of professional looking cupcakes, and you want something deeply chocolate too?  Go with a Dark Chocolate Ganache icing, it's easy, delicious, and looks like you bought the cupcakes from a cupcakery!  Want to try it?  Take your favorite dark chocolate cake batter and mix up some cupcakes according to the directions on the box.  Once they're cooled, here's what you'll need for the ganache:

Dark Chocolate Ganache Icing:

1/2 C heavy cream
1 C Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

In a double boiler (if you have it) or a heat-proof bowl (like steel or pyrex) combine the cream and chocolate chips.  In a saucepan, place about 2 inches of water and put on the stove on medium-low heat.  Make sure that the bowl isn't resting on the bottom of the sauce pan, and that the perimeter of the saucepan is covered by the bowl.  This way the water will steam up and heat up the bowl without all the heat escaping.  Place the bowl on top of the water and stir constantly until the chocolate melts and the cream and chocolate are completely mixed together.  Make sure to scrape the bowl to get any unmelted chocolate melted and mixed into the cream.

Once the mixture is completely blended and melted, remove the bowl from the heat and let cool for 3-5 minutes.  While it's cooling, stir occasionally with a spatula to test its consistency.  Once the mixture has cooled and thickend almost to the point of hardening back up, quickly take the cupcakes and dip the tops into the bowl, spinning your wrist to make sure that the entire top of the cupcake is covered in icing and immediately set down on a cool cookie sheet or a piece of parchment paper (in case of drips).

If the ganache cools and hardens too much, simply put the bowl back onto the water and heat back up.  Once all the cupcakes have been ganached, turn the burner off.  Let the ganache cool on the cupcakes for at least 5 minutes before serving or packing so that it will harden appropriately.  You should now have a delicious dark chocolate magic shell-like covering on your cupcakes, enjoy!

Red Wine Goat Cheese Steak Sauce

So I had a few things in the fridge and thought I'd make a nice steak sauce to go with our NY Strips on the grill.  I thought it'd be a good idea to combine some red wine, goat cheese and rosemary to make a delicious sauce, here's how:

5oz Goat Cheese
1/2 Cup Red Wine
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tbsp Crushed/Chopped Rosemary
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Freshly Cracked Pepper

Heat the Olive Oil, Red Wine and Vinegar on the stove on medium heat until a rolling boil to burn off the alcohol in the wine.  Drop the temperature to low and add in the rosemary, salt, pepper and goat cheese.  Use a whisk to break apart the goat cheese and stir it in until it's evenly mixed in.  Let it simmer for about 20 minutes until it's thickened up considerably.  Then douse on some steaks and enjoy!