Cheesy Shredded Hashbrowns

My roommates and I recently hosted a Friendsgiving in our home. I had no idea was I was going to prepare as all of my roommates had claimed the traditional Thanksgiving components. In my head I was going through all of my Mother's recipes and I thought of the perfect recipe, cheesy potatoes. Little did I know this delicious recipe was actually super easy to make. I'd like to share this simple recipe with you today.

Ingredients

• 1 can (10.5 oz) of cream of chicken soup
• 1 (16 oz) container of sour cream
• 2 cups of shredded mild cheddar cheese
• 1 whole yellow onion diced 
• 1 bag (30 oz) of frozen shredded hash browns
• 1 stick of melted butter
• ground black pepper
• Corn flakes and 1/4 cup melted butter (optional)

First preheat your oven to 350° F. All you have to do is combine all of the ingredients except for the corn flakes in a large bowl. Stir until all the way combined. Put the mix into a large baking pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. You can also combine the corn flakes and 1/4 of melted butter to put on top to create a casserole, but this portion is optional. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until brown around the edges. 

Go ahead and give this a try. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as me and my family do. 

How To Chose The Right Onion

When you're walking through the grocery store their is always a huge variety of pretty everything. Which potatoes do I pick? Why are their so many kinds of tomatoes? I don't even know the difference between onions. Well that's why I am here!

Onions are one of the most used, and versatile ingredients in the kitchen. Onions are used in so many recipes and it is important to understand the differences among the many onions that their are.

Yellow Onions

Yellow onions are the most commonly and versatile onions in the kitchen. They are perfectly in between sweet and sharp in taste. That makes these onions perfect for stews, roasts, soups, or sauces. This onion should almost always be in your pantry.

Sweet Onions

Pretty self-explanatory right? Sweet onions generally have a sweet taste to them. Have you ever had a blooming onion? Sweet onions are best for making onion rings, or a blooming onion. They are great for frying because they are not to sharp with flavor so they pair well with the deep fried batter. They are great for more than just their flavor. Sweet onions have thick layers, which hold up well when fried.

White Onions

White onions have the crunchiest and sharpest flavor. White onions go great in a salsa, or a stir-fry. They are not the most commonly used onion in the kitchen but they do add a lot of flavor to mexican dishes.

Red Onions

Personally one of my favorite onions as they are the best eaten raw. red onions are great for salsa, guacamole, salads, or for pickling, if you're cuban. But beware because you may have some onion breath for days to come.

So now when you read a recipe that requires onion you have an idea of which onion to buy at the grocery store. I hope these tips will help you make your next grocery visit a little easier.

Making Cheap Pasta Sauce Better

Cheap pasta sauce can sometimes taste bland and far from delicious. I recently discovered a great way to make cheap pasta taste awesome. It only requires a few ingredients that every kitchen has, and it takes your pasta a long way.

The first ingredient you'll need you'll acquire after you've already made the pasta. So boil any pasta of your choice in some salt water. Now before you dump the pasta into your colander and your pasta water down the drain, put a bowl under the colander or use a strainer. You are going to want catch that starchy pasta water for later use. Once you start heating up your pasta sauce put your pasta in the same pan and heat them up together, this will allow the pasta to actually absorb the sauce. Now you're going to take a little of that starchy water and add it to your pasta. Let all of that cook together on a low heat for about a minute. 

For the next portion you'll need a little bit of butter, about a tablespoon, and some extra virgin olive oil. Remove your pasta from the heat and add these two ingredients. Give your pasta a good stir. At this time you may also want to add fresh parmesan, and fresh herbs. 

If you follow these tips you will have some five-star restaurant quality pasta. It really is that easy and it makes all the difference. I found this tip on Chowhound a channel on YouTube, go here to check out their video walk-through. 

The Way of The Potato

Potato is an ingredient that can be used in almost any dish. I love potatoes and use them as a side for almost any meal. You can bake, fry, mash, and scallop potatoes, I am sure there are more but thats all I can think of off the top of my head. So I am going to show you a great way to utilize a potato, with a spin on a Mexican classic, Nachos!

Now that is a potato!

The best part about this recipe is how cheap it is, and you probably already have most of the ingredients in your house. This recipe is also very versatile as well, so you can add ingredients or take out any ingredients.

 Here's what you'll need for the base of the recipe:

• 1 medium sized potato of your choice
• Olive Oil 
• Mexican Blend/Cheddar cheese, whichever you prefer
• Salt n' peppa 
• Extras:
• Bacon Bits
• Chives
• Sour Cream

First, preheat your oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, then chop your potato in thin slices like so:

Sliced n' diced

Lay out your potatoes without overlapping pieces on a pan and drizzle some olive oil first under then over each piece, season the potatoes with a little bit of salt or try and add your own twist:

You're going to cook the potatoes for about 20-25 minutes. Once they come out stack them all together and add cheese and bacon bits, and put back in the oven for a few more minutes until the cheese has melted. The result is gooey delicious nacho result. Add some sour cream and chives if you're really feeling adventurous. Then let me know how you did! I hope you enjoyed this recipe and I look forward to posting some more.

Maybe you've made such a mess eating this recipe way to fast because it was way to delicious that you need a new shirt. Well if you do need a new shirt and you love pizza, check out my pizza pie chart shirt found here.

Buffalo Dip Goodness

I needed a to make a dip for a party and I had remembered having an awesome buffalo chicken dip at some party in the past, so I knew I had to make it. I googled a couple of different recipes and found one that was perfect, it was simple to make and relatively cheap. The dip is so creamy and goes with so many different types of chips or crackers. So lets get to the important parts already.

Here is what you'll need:

• 2 packs of cream cheese
• 1 cup of ranch
• 3/4 cup wing sauce of your choice
• 10 oz. of some kind of shredded chicken (I used canned chicken, which turned out surprisingly well) 
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Making the dip is a simple process. First, Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then you'll want to make sure that your cream cheese is softened. You can do this by either leaving it out on the counter for about an hour, or I dice it and toss it in the microwave for about 30 seconds stirring occasionally. Once your cream cheese has softened go ahead and mix everything except for the shredded cheese. Next, your going to want a pie dish or something about that size. Spread the mixture evenly throughout the dish. Sprinkle however much cheddar cheese your heart desires on top of the dip. Put that bad boy in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve the dish nice and toasty with a chick or cracker of your choice, I personally like Fritos. 

Give this dish a try and let me know how it tastes. Then take your leftovers to work the next day in your brand new lunch bag that you bought from this link. Be careful or someone at work might steal your lunch. 

Penzeys Spices and Why You Should Buy Them

Penzeys Spices started as a Mom n' Pop coffee/spice shop. Today the company operates 70 different retail stores in 29 states. Let me tell you, all of their spices are absolutely incredible. It all started with my mom, like everything when it comes to cooking. My mom has been buying Penzeys Spices for years now, and she can't get enough of them. Now, neither can I! Penzeys offers such an array of products that are always so delicious. Not only are Penzeys spices amazing but their message as well. I saw a quote on a mug for sale on their website that read, "Love to cook, cook to love." I thought that this quote was amazing. I felt like that's what my Mother did. She loves to cook for me and my siblings, and it was her cooking that always brought all of us together around the dinner table, where I have such fond memories.

 Okay, okay enough about all that sentimental stuff, lets talk about the products. Penzeys offers pretty much any spice that you could think of or ever need. Today I am going to focus on the spices that I own. I actually got these particular spices from my Mom for Christmas last year in a cool little gift set.

The gift set came with these six spices. Honestly, I only regularly use 3 out of the 6 but I of course have tried them all. Those 3 are the sandwich sprinkle, the frozen pizza seasoning, and the Ruth Ann's Chicken & Fish seasoning. Those 3 I use often and they all add so much flavor to each meal. I use those ones most often because they can be used for simple items like a frozen pizza or a sandwich. As a college students sometimes all I have time for is pizza, or a sandwich. The cajun seasoning goes nicely with fish, and the Bangkok and Arizona Dreaming go great on chicken. Penzeys has great products and an even better message. So check out Penzeys website here.

After you check out Penzeys website spread some dinner love with a "I heart Dinner," cooking apron. That can be found here.

Bad Cook to Good Cook

I posted a wonderful article about how to become a better cook with 3 easy rules to follow. Please take a look at my post at this link. Anyone can implement these rules into their cooking lives. If you are a seasoned cook I would not recommend looking at this article because you probably already know what you're doing in the kitchen. I wanted to show everyone that they are able to be a good cook and how simple it really can be. Beginners will absolutely benefit the most out of reading the article. This is my main priority, I want people who have never cooked before to visit my blog and feel like they can do it. If I can do, so can you.

I want to share my passion of cooking with my readers and I want people to see what they are capable of. I hope that my article can give people some hope and show them that it really is this simple to become a better cook.  I broke this article up into an introduction paragraph and then into 3 paragraphs that each revolves around a specific rule that I think is the key to becoming a better cook. Cooking is always a learning experience and I think that is one thing I forgot to mention in my article. If you fail continue trying your best and you will become better and better with every recipe you cook. So please, beginners, take a look at my article and start becoming a better cook today, or at least by tomorrow!

How I Want To Proceed, And What I Have Already Done.

Blogging has actually become fun for me and I look forward to sharing more with all of my readers. I want to share some of what I look to do in the future and look back on these past few weeks as a blogger.

The Future: 
When I first started this blog what I really wanted to do was share great recipes and get others into cooking. Unfortunately because of my classes cooking, and blogging what I am cooking has fallen aside to my classes. My academics are most important to me so once I am more on top of that stuff I would like to start blogging recipes at least once a week and maybe some other blogs during the week. I look forward to blogging more and cooking some really awesome meals that I can share with all of you.

The Past:
So because I haven't had a huge amount of readers and because I am just started off My most popular post last month was:

• My About Me - I want to make sure everyone who visits understands what I am trying to accomplish and how I plan on doing so. If you haven't already read my about me I urge you to give a read.

My Second most popular post was one of my favorites because it got me excited to start this blog and get others involved in cooking, this post was: 

• 10 Things You'll Need To Start Cooking - This page is so important to my blog because if you don't have the proper equipment you won't be able to cook the awesome recipes I provide you with. 

So I am also going to feature my third most popular post, because I am proud of my work and this was the first post I actually cooked something in:

• What Should You Do With Your Old Bananas? - Again I am really happy about this post because I actually cooked something and may have even taught someone else how to cook something. 

Anju Above - A Review

I understand this might only relate to readers in the greater Bloomington-Normal, IL area but I just have to share how awesome this restaurant is.  Anju Above is located in downtown Bloomington on front street above its sister restaurant Epiphany Farms. In Korean Anju means food, so it is only appropriate that Anju Above is the name. The menu is very unique with six different options. You can order sushi, steam buns and dumplings, salads, pizza, noodle bowls, and "classics." Classics consist of Korean style wings, banchan (a Korean dish), and steamed edamame.

Before I go into the food I want to talk a little bit about the atmosphere at Anju. It is a very modern, hipster style establishment. The art is all very interesting and abstract. Anju is a great place to bring a date. The service is professional and quick. The food comes out when it is ready, so there is no such thing as courses at Anju. I liked this but some others may not, sharing is definitely recommended that way no one person gets their food first.

So now onto the food, which is incredible. I have tried one thing from almost each category and every single thing I have gotten there tastes amazing. I recommend the Korean BBQ wings, or the pulled pork pizza. One thing that Anju does really well is accommodate allergies. Every item on the menu is accompanied by symbols that represent whether something is gluten-free, vegan, seafood, and some other dietary restrictions. They definitely offer items for everyone. They also have an extensive drink list with both wine and beer.

I would give Anju a 10/10 in each category. I seriously think it is that good and if you're in the Bloomington, IL area you have to check it out.



I would love to make Anju's recipes at home, but unfortunately I can't. Now that I think about it I wish I could make so many restaurants recipes, well now you can at least make some, find out more at this link. Click Here!

I Wish I Had A Beard To Get Food In

So I thought today I would give a shout out to a blogger that I had been following before I started my own food blog. "The Food In My Beard," was created around 7 years ago by this guy named Dan Whalen who liked cooking and making his friends laugh, a lot like I do. What I really liked about his blog is that he just messes around with recipes and posts them whether he liked them or not. He explains it as his "food playground." I just thought this was so cool. Then I started looking around at his recipes and man some of them sound just so incredible. Unfortunately I haven't had time to make any of them but I look forward to potentially featuring one of his recipes in my blog.

The recipes he is making, and his personality are a lot like what I strive for with my blog. He makes bold recipes with spicy peppers, and whiskey. His posts are also funny and easy to read. He has over 1,000 recipes on his site and is wildly popular. I also like that he puts a modern spin on traditional foods. For example, he made a Bleu cheese stuffed buffalo ball. Again these are the types of recipes I want to share with my readers. He offers a huge variety of recipes that are all categorized and easy to search through. He also has a cookbook that I would like to get my hands on as well. This blog is definitely something anyone interested in awesome recipes should take a look at.

Again the link to his blog can also be clicked right here..................just kidding its over here. So go check it out!

Why You Should Buy "The Student Cookbook"

Right before I went into college my mom had gotten me this small cookbook for Christmas. I was pretty excited to use it and find some new awesome recipes. It collected some dust for my first two years of college because I lived in the dorms and never had the opportunity to cook. (other than some ramen or mac n' cheese) Once I moved into a house with a few of my friends is when I really gained some use from this cookbook. The book is published by this company called NICOTEXT, which if you go to their website is a very Swedish company.

I learned a lot of great recipes from this cookbook. What is so great about this book is that it has something as simple as a grilled cheese sandwich to something more complex like Asian Peanut Noodles. The best part are the alcoholic drink recipes, perfect for your average college student trying to impress a girl with a fruity cocktail. If you're a student in college or a parent with a college aged son or daughter I definitely recommend purchasing this book. It is also fairly cheap for all the great recipes you get. You can pick it up off Amazon for $9.95 at this link. My favorite recipe is the BBQ Chicken Pizza. I will hopefully be making a recipe for some homemade pizza dough with beer and that makes the pizza even better. So go out and get yourself a copy of "The Student Cookbook," and start cooking today!

Maybe you're not a student, and you have a family. Well check out these recipes for cooking healthy for your family! Click Here!

Love & Lemons - A Review

Each year Saveur.com ranks the best food blogs on the internet. Being new to the world of blogging I wanted to learn more about what other bloggers do, specifically successful bloggers. So I took some time to explore new blogs and I wanted to share some things that I liked, and some things that I learned about a specific blog.

The blog I selected was the highest ranked food blog by readers. This blog was called Love & Lemons. My first impression of this blog is that the look and feel is very clean and modern. It is so simplistic, and it is very inviting. The layout of the blog is very simple and appears to be easy to navigate. They promote social media and subscription almost immediately and noticeably. One thing that I would note is that the blog is very feminine. While I would say food blogs are probably mainly visited by women, men who are interested may visit a different site that may cater more toward a gender neutral design. At this point I was already very impressed and felt kind of sad about my blog. But it's okay because I am only just starting off.

The content of the blog is primarily focused on "healthy living" and gluten-free recipes. This content seems to be following this popular trend and very much embraces it. This trend may be very popular for a decent amount of people. However, many people are looking for other types of recipes that Love & Lemons do not offer. That being said they seem to have there point-of-view laid out and understood. Their wording is sweet and inviting and makes the audience want to try their recipes, which is a big plus for them.

My favorite part of there blog is the photos. Their photography is artful and makes each food look even that more delicious. This is one thing I would like to improve upon my blog, and I will take note of what they are doing right.

Overall, Love & Lemons appears to be running a popular page that has a lot of regular users. Although it doesn't look like they gained any permanent visitors even with their reader's choice victory. Regardless of that they appear to know what they are doing and are running a nice blog that I aspire to be like one day.

What Should You Do With Your Old Bananas?

If you throw your old dark brown bananas away you are most definitely in the wrong. There are so many things you can do with your old bananas! You can find a ton of different things to do with your old bananas here at this blog.

Today I am going to tell you what I did with my roommates old bananas during this week. I made some awesome banana muffins, with a really simple recipe. Most beginner bakers/cooks will have the ingredients necessary to prepare these muffins. If you don't it's probably not a bad thing to purchase these ingredients as they will be useful in almost any recipe. So I use a recipe that I found online a while ago, that you can either find at this link,  or just scroll down to see it!  

What you'll need: 

• 1 1/1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large mashed bananas
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup melted butter

Now that you have everything you're ready to bake!

How to Make them:

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F (175°  C), and spray a muffin pan with some non-stick spray, or use muffin liners. The spray works totally fine and you don't have that I just took some vegetable oil on some paper towel and spread it all around. 
2. The recipe wants you to sift together the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I just put them on a paper plate and mixed them together with a fork. 
3. Combine the banana, sugar, egg, and melted butter. Then add the dry ingredients. 
4. Fold all of the ingredients together until fully combined. 
5. Carefully pour the mixture into the muffin pan. 
6. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes for large muffins or 10-15 minutes for mini muffins. You know the muffins are done when you tap the tops of them and they are springy and bounce back. 

This recipe is seriously so simple and the muffins are very moist and great for breakfast. If you make this recipe once, you will never throw out your old bananas ever again. (Yes, I know this isn't dinner, but it still tastes good) 

10 Things You'll Need To Start Cooking

For Many of you reading you probably have all of these items in your kitchen. For the rest of you it is essential to have most of the items on this list. So lets get down to it.

1. Knives 
Like I said most of you probably already own knives, but if you don't own a nice basic knife set your cooking life may be difficult. Have you ever tried cutting a tomato with a butter knife, or even a steak knife? If you haven't I recommend you do and that is why a good knife set is worth buying. I think a chef's knife is the most essential, as it can be used for pretty much everything. So if you can't afford a full set at least get a chef's knife. A paring knife can also be used to cut smaller fruits and vegetables but you will struggle with bigger ones, and sweet potatoes. Trust me sweet potatoes are harder to cut through than you think.

2. Cutting Board/s
The cutting board keeping your knife sharp and your counters clean and undamaged. A cutting board is essential because you want to get your security deposit back from your landlord. It also helps keep your counters clean. Having two cutting boards is nice and convenient so that you can keep your raw meat and vegetables separate, but I don't think it is totally necessary. Just make sure you cut your meats after you have already cut your vegetables, and clean it off before you put cooked meat back on it.

3. Pots and Pans
This one is definitely a no-brainer. How else would you cook delicious food? A make-shift tin foil pan? (yes, I have done this and still do to avoid having to reach alllll the way up to the cabinet.) Okay, so I guess you can cook with out baking sheets, but you will still want some because well just trust me. One large baking sheet and a baking dish will be essential to cooking food in the oven. You will also want at least a 10-12 inch frying pan, and a large sauce pot. I would also recommend a smaller frying pan and a smaller sauce pot, but you could technically get away with out them.

4. Measuring Spoons and Cups
Every recipe you ever make will like call for various types of measurements, and especially if you are a beginner you will need something the measure the correct amounts of ingredients. Trust me and learn from my mistakes, you can not eyeball a tablespoon of seasoning until maybe you're a pro. owning measuring utensils is one easy way to not screw up your grandma's famous recipes. If you don't respect me at least respect your dear old granny's sixty year old recipe and get it done right. They sell sets of measuring spoons and cups almost anywhere in sets for super cheap. Just buy a full set of each and never mess up recipe measurements ever again!

5. Bowls
You'll need to pick up at least one decent sized mixing bowl. Some other smaller ones might come in handy but are necessary. Bowls will be used to mix tons of different ingredients. Anything from baked goods to sauces will be mix in a bowl. plus you could eat way more cereal out of them if you really wanted to.

6. Various Utensils
Okay this title is very ambiguous, but you know what I mean right? Well if you don't let me tell you. You'll probably for sure need a spatula, a large spoon, and some tongs. Those are like the bare essentials though. I also like to have a rubber spatula, a grill brush, and a whisk (you can just use a fork most of the time), a slotted spoon, a ladle, and a vegetable peeler. These last few things aren't necessary, but will definitely make your life way easier when you're cooking.

7. Food Storage Containers
Okay so these aren't totally necessary FOR cooking, but they are necessary for after you're done cooking and eating. You may be able to get away with keeping your spaghetti in a bag, or your frozen pizza in foil, but you'll want to keep sauces or soups in a storage container. You don't want soup all over your fridge, or maybe you do I guess? I don't know your life!

8. A Slow Cooker 
This is one of the greatest inventions known to man, better than sliced bread. You can buy a cheap slow cooker for like $20. It will be one the best investments you've made. The saying is "set it, and forget it." Just throw a bunch of food in a slow cooker in the morning, set the cooker to low, and viola dinner will be ready in around 8 hours. Plus it will make your house smell incredible. You can barely consider using the slow cooker as cooking but I still will.

9. Good Recipes
That's what I am here for. I want to deliver to you delicious recipes that you can use to make delicious foods. Sure there are world renowned chefs that don't need recipes to make amazing dishes, but were not world renown chefs. Even my mom uses the recipes for things she has made a thousand times. This is all cooking really is to a certain extent, being able to use recipes to create something awesome. These are essential in every kitchen, that is why cook books exist. But you don't need cookbooks because you have me and the whole internet.

10. Patience
This one is easy right? It is even free. This is one thing I've noticed when most people are cooking, including myself. You're going to need patience because if you under cook your chicken you are going to get sick. Trust me when I say that potato isn't going to cook any faster if you keep looking at it. A lot of foods take a while to make and you want to get them right if you want them to taste as good as they should.

If you want to start cooking then but these ten things on your next shopping list, or six things if you already have four of them. These are the tools that will lead you to becoming a better chef.

About me and my recipes

                My name is Lucas, and ever since I was young I have always loved eating. So it only made sense that I also love cooking. Well I guess I didn't always love eating, let me give you some details. When I was young until about the age of seven I would only eat hot dogs. It didn't matter what time of the day it was I would refuse any other food except hot dogs, with a few exceptions. For breakfast my mom would cut up hot dogs and put them in my eggs, and that was about the only compromise. Then one day I discovered real food. I grew up with a family that almost always had a meal together at the dinner table. The food being served was almost always cooked by my mom. My mom had some of the best recipes. Some of those recipes had been passed down from my Grandma. For dinner we would eat things like pot roast that was slow cooked in the crock pot, chicken pot pie, and something my mom calls ritz chicken. That's when I realized I actually love to eat. This eventually led to me loving to cook. I love to eat, therefore I love to cook.

Here is a picture of me doing one of the things I love. 

                It all started around eighth grade when I would be home alone after school and really hungry. I could never just make a normal grilled cheese or a normal quesadilla. I always had to add something (To this day I still always mess around with my recipes and add something different or sometimes weird). That love for creating something new and different eventually blossomed into me making homemade cookies, pizzas, and chili. I love to cook food, and I want you to love to cook food as well.