This is a must watch. You don’t want to miss this.

Jamie makes some excellent points and is rather persuasive on this topic. I agree with all of his points with the exception of government being the solution to controlling fast food. If change is going to happen, it needs to come from the bottom up; change by parents; change by communities; change by mom and pop restaurants. Change that inspires and promotes a better lifestyle. If consumers demand healthier food from restaurants and schools, and step up and lead with their convictions, change will happen.

» Finish reading Jamie Oliver’s TED Speech: Fight Obesity at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Changes, Motivational

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Hey folks, I can’t believe it’s been over a month since my last post. Wow! In blogging terms, 1 month or longer between posts is equivalent to shooting myself in the foot.

But before we get into that, and above all else, I wanted to send a grateful shout out to Maren, my friend from Seevetal, Germany (near Hamburg). Over Christmas Maren sent me a really really awesome Christmas package full of German delight!

» Finish reading An Awesome Gift + Where I’ve Been at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chocolate, Cookies, Holiday

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Last night I was one spoonful away from eating monkey brain soup. Apparently me eating it was a test of courageousness and honor. If I were to pass the test, I’d be well on my way to becoming a hero or sorts, capable of defeating even my worst enemies (who, by the way, I’ve never even met). So late last night there I sat next to my brother, Daniel, both of us with big 1/2 gallon sized bowls of monkey brain soup staring us in the face, wondering what we’d gotten ourselves in to.

Let’s rewind about 4 hours. Daniel and I were hauled more-or-less against our will by a dozen people to a bizarre underground house/kitchen/restaurant place. I say ‘more-or-less’ because a part of me was rather curious as to where they were taking us in such a hurry. When we arrived, we entered what looked like a mud hut, but we immediately took a long flight of stairs downward to a large dining area. The furniture was a healthy balance between my old university’s chemistry lab, an urban Swedish home, and a Victorian ranch house. Wow. Someone call the decorator.

We sat on posh wooden chairs that had maybe 3 inches padding; they weren’t especially comfortable, and the backs arched a little too far inward to make me want to sit back. Forced etiquette I guess. The metal ‘laboratory’ table was a little too tall for me, but perfect for Daniel. Touching it chilled my fingers, and resting my arms on it was out of the question. Our chef and waitress (who eerily reminded me of the evil witch in Snow White) first brought us out a dainty salad topped with croutons and finely sliced cucumbers. The salad looked so normal, it was out of place.

» Finish reading Epic Monkey Dreams at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Fun, Silliness

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One of the true delights about having a blog is that I can write whatever I want, and you can decide to read (or not read) whatever you want. When I began “The Cooking Dish” I wanted to blog solely about cooking and my escapades in the kitchen, which I enjoy and I hope you enjoy. Now that I’ve been blogging since March 2009, I’ve made some great new friends and even more enemies–nah, just kidding about that enemies part; XOXO, I love you all–and I’ve realized that as fun as blogging about food is, I really want to share with you a lot more about my life than my cupboard, cutting boards, and sauté pans. I want to make The Cooking Dish more personalized, fun, and well-rounded than just recipes, and so I’ve created the “Chris in Real Life” category where you can find all sorts of bizarre things from my life outside the kitchen, monkey brains included. Of course, my main focus will always be cooking, but I hope you’ll excuse and even welcome my occasional indulgence to share other parts of my life with you.

Related posts:

1. Undergoing Some Changes…

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Post tags: Changes

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I’ve debated calling this recipe “Schroeder’s Ginger Tea” (and finally decided to do it) because I’ll be playing Schroeder in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and it’s mostly singing. This typically wouldn’t be an issue, but my throat is still very sore and is still recovering from a long bout with bronchitis. With help of this ginger tea, though, I’ve finally given that dirty ol’ bronchitis the T.K.O. and am well on my way to a healthy, normal throat. I tried a lot of different remedies to help sooth my throat: lozenges, throat massages, a sea hag named Ursula (bad idea), etc., but nothing has come close to helping out more than drinking some warm ginger tea twice a day, and especially before singing. No more frogs, finally. (It’ll also help to keep yourself way hydrated by drinking maybe 2 liters of water each day. Your sore throat likes to stay hydrated.)

» Finish reading Ginger Tea for a Sore Throat at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Health, Medicinal, Tea

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Excuse me for a second while I fill you in on the my latest happenings and not-so-adventurous adventures, then we’ll get to the real stuff.

It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to sit and down and work on The Cooking Dish, which is unfortunate because I have some delicious foods I’ve been wanting to post. Unexpectedly, however, I now have 4 to 5 days to work on it, if I’m up to it. For the past two weeks I’ve been fighting off a cough and intermittent fevers, and I finally thought I was getting better… BUT I woke up last night at 2:00 a.m. with a sever chest pain which kept me up for the rest of the night. Straight away this morning I contacted the family doctor and after a visit to the office left with a note saying, “stay home from work, you’ve got bronchitis and other junk” and some prescriptions to fill. Oh joy. I’m personally not a fan of involuntarily taking time off from work, but I don’t want to infect my co-workers either (you guys can thank me later–when I get back to the office).

So, without going into many more details, I’m stuck here at home and at the same time, trying to keep my distance from my overly-cute kids so they don’t get sick. That’s nearly impossible.

Well, thanks for listening to the rant… on with the show.

As of last year (2008), we started a new tradition in my department at work: The Annual QA CCP (Quality Assurance Christmas Candy Party). Although next year, we’re thinking of taking on a P at the beginning so it’ll be the QA PCCP (Pajama Christmas Candy Party).

Since my mom has been teaching my siblings and I how to make Christmas candy since we were only little squirts (just tall enough to burn our fingers on the stove top), and my brother and I work in the same department, there’s twice the trouble-making at the CCP. These CCPs have usually lasted an exhausting 6+ hours, but they’re always loads of fun.

» Finish reading 2nd Annual QA Christmas Candy Party at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Holiday, Party

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It’s snowing like crazy right now, which for some reason instantly put me in the mood to bake some great fresh bread. I love the aroma of fresh bread and biting through a crispy crust when it’s fresh out of the oven. Mmmmm. But alas, I’m still working on access to my old pictures (…click here if you must know…), and I’m at work on lunch break. So instead, I’ve been searching for an excellent bread-making video to post on The Cooking Dish (and to break this non-recipe dry spell). I came across this YouTube video posted by the New York Times featuring the Sullivan Street Bakery’s head baker, Jim Lahey, who apparently can make a mean loaf of bread. I’d love to spend a day in his bakery learning to bake.

Jim uses 5 basic ingredients to whip up a simple loaf of bread with amazing taste. He says, “[It's] a truly minimalist breadmaking technique that allows people to make excellent bread at home with very little effort. The method is surprisingly simple — I think a 4-year-old could master it — and the results are fantastic.”

» Finish reading Video: How to Make No-Knead Bread at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baking, Bread

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So, I consider myself to be a fairly tech savvy when it comes to computers and such. I’m not the world’s greatest genius, but I’m not a bumbling idiot either (although after this week, I’m going to have to reconsider on the latter). Here’s the scoop.

This week I decided it was finally time to do a clean install of Snow Leopard on my iMac, and so I did. My computer was running super slow, bogged down by all the extraneous programs and junk it’s collected over these past 4 years or so. It’s now running super fast and all spiffy and sleek. But I’ve now found two problems, which for some really aren’t problems, but for me they are:

Problem 1) Snow Leopard and Adobe CS2 are not compatible. Oops. Guess I should have looked into this one before doing a new install.

Problem 2) Aperture 1.5x isn’t compatible with Snow Leopard either.

» Finish reading Never Do What I Did… at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Oops

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Congratulations to Sharla for winning this month’s giveaway: Fred’s ABC* Cookie Cutters
*Already Been Chewed

Her entry: “What Child is This”. But since I’m not sure what version you like best, I posted my favorite version.

» Finish reading December Cookie Cutter Giveaway Winner at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cookies, Giveaway, Holiday

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Hello everybody, I’m undergoing a few changes on this site to make it a little more user friendly and to help make a few things more accessible. I’m also redesigning it… Everything should still be functional during this time… but I apologize for any inconvenience and for any bizarre color schemes you may see during this transition period. During this time, you can subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking here. By subscribing to my feed, you’ll be the first to know of any new posts.

UPDATE: Please see this post: Never Do What I Did…

Related posts:

1. Welcome to My World

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Post tags: Changes

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One of the best parts of cooking is sharing the experience with someone else, and that’s especially enjoyable when it’s my little daughter, Maggie (who also goes by Maggalicious or Magzilla depending on her mood):

She really loves cooking with daddy and I enjoy cooking with her, even though it usually turns our kitchen into a disaster. But in the end it’s all worth it, and we both enjoy spending the time together. This past weekend Maggalicious and I decided to make biscuits and gravy. So for today’s post, I figured I’d her instruct you through how to make this easy biscuit recipe and country sausage gravy. The biscuit recipe I use is one from my mom, and I call them “Mom’s Increda-Biscuits.” Honestly, they’re down-right irresistible and so easy to make. This is actually two different recipes on one post (biscuits + country sausage gravy), so this time around there are two printable recipes available at the end of this post. Don’t forget to print them both out.

» Finish reading Making Biscuits & Country Gravy with Maggie at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baking, Breakfast, Gravy

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Now that I’ve completed The Ultimate Kitchen Gifts List, I figured I would give away one item from it. One of my favorite Christmas activities is making sugar cookies, so in honor of my favorite activity, I’m giving away Fred’s ABC (Already Been Chewed) Cookie Cutters. These cookie cutters are supposed to help people stay away from your cookies… but to me, a broken or ABC cookie is an invitation to snitch. To each their own, I suppose. However, if you looove cookies and your kids absolutely demand you leave some for Santa, making Santa’s cookies with these will almost guarantee there’ll be some left for you on Christmas morning.

This contest will run through Friday sometime (December 11th), and then I’ll ship them a.s.a.p to the random lucky winner.

» Finish reading December Giveaway: Cookie Cutters at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baking, Giveaway, Holiday

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*Phew!* I can’t believe I finally completed “The Ultimate Kitchen Gift List”, which I hope will be an excellent holiday (and non-holiday) shopping guide for you; it’s also great for birthdays, Groundhog Days, national Be Nice to a Cook days (is there such a thing?), etc. etc. etc. What I’ve done is researched days on end for the ultimate, best kitchen gifts and gadgets that people all over are using and enjoying.

Here’s why you’ll want to use and should use “The Ultimate Kitchen Gift List”:

1. I’ve done all the research for you, spending days reading customer reviews and finding the best products. I’m confident in this list, and you can be too.
2. I didn’t use Consumer Reports. Sure, they’re handy, but in my opinion, when it comes to kitchen tools and stuff, it’s best to get the word straight from the horse’s mouth, so all of these products are rated at least 4 (most of them 4.5) stars out of 5 by those who use them, and not a test lab.
3. I’ve tried to pick the best rated and most well-liked item for each price range in the specific category. This means you’ll find similar items in both less expensive and more expensive price ranges in this list. All you have to do is match your budget to the item.
4. I have a receding hair line and ‘they’ say that guys with a receding hair line are smart… or at least try to be.
5. Did I mention that you’ll save yourself gads of time by using this list?
6. I’ve added pictures below each item group so you don’t have to click a link to see what the item is. I love picture books. The pictures are in the same order as the list above them. If in doubt, just hover your mouse’s cursor over the picture and a little tooltip will display with the picture’s title.

Items marked with an asterisk * are my personal favorites in each category. Items with brackets around the asterisk [*] are items that I personally own and love using.

» Finish reading The Ultimate Kitchen Gifts List at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Christmas, Extreme Happiness, Gifts, Holiday, Lists

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And the Bhut Jolokia winner, a.k.a. Harbinger of Death, emerges. The random winning entry is:

Christopher Chambers. Hello, I’m currently a student at Mississippi State University. My major is Culinary Arts and I just love cooking new things. For our final (in December) we are allowed to cook whatever we want, and I know for a fact that my professor has a huge hot tooth. If I won these peppers, I either make him some kind of salsa, a curry and rice mixture, or some kind of Bhut Jolokia and sesame grilled chicken. Anyway, I’m sure those pepper would help me pass my class. Thanks for reading mine.

Congratulations, Christopher. Remember that torturing your professor won’t get you a passing grade. Send me an email by Sunday night to claim your prize.

Speaking for all of us, we’d love to see the end product of your bhut jolokia chili pepper dinner; so if you remember, please send in some pictures or a YouTube video so I can post it later. Thanks, and happy cooking.

» Finish reading November’s Bhut Jolokia Winner… at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Giveaway, Hot, Spicy

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I know you’re all thinking it, so I’ll just come out and say it… “Chris, you’re about 3 to 4 weeks late on this post!” And at this point I begin to think of a good excuse… and realize I don’t have one. Oops. So as an extra bonus feature with this post I’m going to give you TWO recipes. That’s right, two for the price of two one; the truth is, I was going to give you two recipes in this post anyway.  Okay, confession time is over, and so is Halloween, and in here in Northern Utah,  so is the pumpkin harvest.  This probably means that most of you have either 1) already cooked up your pumpkin seeds, 2) thrown your pumpkin seeds away, or 3) left them in your fridge and they’re covered with a gooey white film and molding.  Gross. Don’t ask how I know about the white film.

I do know, however, that at different times of the year you can still buy bagged, uncooked pumpkin seeds in the grocery stores.  Yes!  A reason to still create this blog entry.  As always, a printable version is available at the bottom of the post. In today’s case, both pumpkin seed recipes are available.  Here we go.

» Finish reading Delicious Homemade Pumpkin Seeds Recipe at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Holiday, Pumpkin, Seeds, Snacks

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For those of you who get a kick out of torture…

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By now I imagine you’ve heard of a bhut jolokia chili pepper, also known as a ghost pepper or naga jolokia–the world’s hottest chili pepper.  These peppers are hotter than Beelzebub’s spit.  From what I understand, the bhut jolokia is native to Eastern India, which doesn’t surprise me.  Those Indians can eat some crazy hot curry foods without batting an eye.  I, on the other hand, cannot. Just the thought of eating a jalapeno makes my eyes water.  In short, I’m a wuss.  Okay, I said it.

I admit that it’s a little strange to be giving away a bag of dried bhut jolokia peppers, and in the future, my giveaways will be a little more useful, but I couldn’t help myself. Just the thought of having a bag full of the world’s hottest peppers and playing with the idea of actually trying it out gives me a foodie high–sort of like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. I’m not sure I’d survive either scenario. For some of you pepper heads out there, this ought to be the ultimate challenge.

» Finish reading November Giveaway: Win Bhut Jolokia Peppers at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Giveaway, Hot, Spicy, Vegetables

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Need a bagel recipe? Click here.

Related posts:

1. How to Make Bagels at Home
2. Video: How to Make No-Knead Bread
3. Making Biscuits & Country Gravy with Maggie

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Post tags: Bagels, Baking, Bread, How To

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Oh yes, I love the smell of baking breads in the kitchen, and when you start adding flavors to the bread the entire house becomes especially aromatic and irresistible. On top of that, one of the hardest temptations to resist for me is eating fresh breads when they’re right out of the oven. This past weekend, I was really in the mood to bake something tasty that was a little different–hence bagels. These were amazing right out of the oven.

I created a few different variations on my original bagel recipe that I think you’ll enjoy. My personal favorite is the cinnamon raisin bagel recipe. It’s really good, and I highly recommend it. The bagel recipe described below is one that will only take a couple hours to make, versus one that may take a couple days. I’ve got to say, that if you’re willing to make your bagels over a two-day period, you’ll get a super amazing bagel; however, for those of us who prefer a more instant gratification, I think you’ll find this recipe quite pleasurable and even beyond satisfactory.

I’ve added a printable recipe at the bottom of this post. I made a few different batches of these bagels and am using mixed photos from those batches, so don’t worry if in one photo you’re looking at cranberries and in the next raisins. So, let’s make these bagels. My 3-year-old daughter, Maggie, helped me make some of these and had a lot of fun.

» Finish reading How to Make Bagels at Home at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bagels, Bread, Cinnamon, Cranberry, Raisin

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Today I’m going to share with you two secrets: 1) How to win friends instantly, and 2) how to make a sinfully delicious batch of caramel popcorn. Lucky for me, both secrets are one and the same. Make this recipe and share it with friends and you’ll instantly have your own entourage. I’ve just gotta’ add that homemade caramel popcorn was an essential part of my childhood diet. Heck, it’s still an essential part of my “diet.” In fact, every time I think of this recipe, I hear tiny voices in my head saying, “Eat me! Eat me!” It’s not always a good idea to listen to those tiny voices in my head, but in this case I tend to make an exception.

There are many caramel popcorn recipes out there, and I’ve tried many of them. I’m happy to report that this recipe has withstood the test of time and continues to be my favorite. It’s easy to make, its sweet, and its incredibly delicious. You can make it into caramel popcorn balls and even add nuts or other candy bits; it’s also quite versatile as far as ingredients are concerned. But my favorite part about it is the sticky chewy goodness that literally melts in your mouth, even hours after it’s made and has sat on the cupboard (that is of course, if it even lasts long enough to sit on the cupboard). At parties, this caramel popcorn is always first to go.

» Finish reading Make Caramel Popcorn & Win Friends Instantly at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Caramel, Popcorn, Snacks

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As a kid I really disliked pumpkin flavored desserts. My gag reflex would automatically kick in as I mushed the pumpkin around in my mouth. Thinking back, it must have been the texture that really turned me off–most likely a mental thing. Thank goodness though that my tastes have changed over the years, or I would be missing out on some excellent foods (Asian dishes in particular) and desserts. Although I’m still not a raving fan of pumpkin desserts, I’m getting more used to, and even enjoying a number of them. Today’s post and recipe (pumpkin-swirl cheesecake) is one of those pumpkin delights that my anti-pumpkin taste buds have taken a liking to, joining the small list of pumpkin dishes I enjoy. At the top of that list is Great Harvest’s pumpkin chocolate chip bread, which I crave this time of year.

And now that I’m in the middle of writing this post, I realize I don’t have much else to say about it. Give this recipe a try, it really is good (that’s supposed to be convincing, by the way). On another note, after taking a picture of this delicious pumpkin dessert I decided that I needed to buy some different dishes for taking pictures in the fall. I think sunflowers are a little out of season, ha ha.

» Finish reading How to Make Pumpkin-Swirl Cheesecake at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cheesecake, Fall, Nuts, Pumpkin

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I’m not sure how they’ve done it, but somehow the Girl Scout organization has developed a bunch of extraordinarily delicious cookies–I’m a huge fan of the Thin Mints and Somoas®–and maybe it’s just me, but it seems that you can only buy them once a year. If you miss the opportunity, you’re hosed. I have a really hard time saying no to their cookies and about anybody else who comes around selling brownies, cookies, and treats. When I hear a knock at the door, I’m always afraid it’s going to be an elementary kid with those big puppy dog eyes looking up at me saying, “Hey mister, would you like to buy some cookies?” Ahhh! I’ve resisted the temptation to buy cookies and brownies from kids knocking at my door only once before… or at least I thought about it once. Yeah, that’s it. I’m sure there’s got to be some sort of self-help classes for adults like me who can’t say no to strangers.

Well for those of you who are Girl Scout Cookie addicts like myself, your once-a-year wait is over. The other day while reading an article at BakingBites.com, I stumbled across a recipe to make homemade Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints. A few days later around 9:00 p.m. I decided to make the thin mints. I should have read the entire recipe first because they take a while to make and I was up pretty late, but it was worth it. The cookies are a pretty darn good replication of the original Girl Scout Thin Mints.

» Finish reading How to Make Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chocolate, Cookies, Girl Scouts, Mint

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The other day I came home from work a little early and brought with me an appetite worthy of Joey Chestnut. I usually eat dinner around 6:30 or 7:00, but I couldn’t wait this time around. Right around 5:00 p.m. I had the frying pans out and ready to sizzle, but had no idea what to cook. Do they have an equivalent of writer’s block for cooks? The chopping block, maybe? (Lame…) Anyway, after scavenging around in the pantry and refrigerator, I found some chicken and fettuccine noodles. “That’s a good start,” I thought. Now how do I combine the two? I looked in the fridge for some cream to see if alfredo sauce was an option…nope. But I found some butter instead and that’s when it hit me to create a chicken garlic butter sauce. My grumbling stomach would soon be satisfied.

A few minutes and spices later I’d created a refreshingly delicious Italian dish. I have no idea if there’s some sort of fine line between what classifies something as Italian or not, but hey, since this uses fettuccine noodles I decided to name it “Chicken Fettuccine Allegri” and I’m calling it Italian…so…there.

» Finish reading Quick Italian: Chicken Fettuccine Allegri at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Chicken, Garlic, Italian, Shrimp

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I’m just your ordinary home cook, but I’m always looking for ways to improve my skills in many different areas (and not just cooking). Recently, I’ve been wanting to learn how to chop vegetables quickly. Because I’ve been cooking for a while I think I’m a little faster than the average veggie chopper, but it’s come to the point where I’m not satisfied with that anymore… I MUST HAVE MORE POWER! MWAHAHAHAHA! So I’ve been on a quest to find great online videos that teach how to chop vegetables fast and with more proficiency. I think my favorite video so far has been this one by Chef Jean-Pierre. If this is something you’re looking for, then I hope it helps you out too.

» Finish reading Video: Learn How to Chop Vegetables at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: How To, Knife, Vegetables

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I absolutely love breadsticks, especially when they’re fresh out of the oven. I haven’t made too many of them in my life, but my mom used to make them often. I realized that I hadn’t made any for a loooong time the other day when my wife and I made some chicken noodle soup and realized we didn’t have any bread in the house to eat with it. The next day to eat with the leftovers, I decided I’d make some breadsticks. Let’s see, that was around 6:30 p.m. Breadsticks take about 2-1/2 hours from start to finish. I’m not sure what I was thinking… the whole family was hungry, the soup was done, and I was going to make breadsticks?

I enlisted my 3-year-old to help me mix the dough, who loved every step of the way. When dumping the flour in the mixing bowl, she’d sometimes miss the bowl and dump it on the counter. Even so, all the ingredients eventually found their way to the bowl, where we mixed them into a sticky ball of dough. We used our Bosch mixer to mix the breadstick dough–if you haven’t invested in a good table-top mixer yet, I highly recommend the Bosch brand.

» Finish reading How to Make Italian Herb Breadsticks at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baking, Breadsticks, Italian Herb

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