Iron Chef Chili Peppers - Strawberry Habanero Cocktail

For Iron Chef; I try to make sure I do an even number of dishes. I decided to do a drink for Chili Peppers because this would be the fourth drink that I've done. I found a couple recipes that sounded interesting, but ultimately I came up with my own recipe. I love strawberries and wanted to make something with that ingredient. Also, I have habaneros growing in my garden, and knew that would help bring a kick to my drink. So, I came up with a strawberry habanero simple syrup. I had purchased vodka and malibu rum for a different recipe, so I just decided to incorporate it into this recipe. I think it turned out pretty darn good hence my second place finish. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 shot Vodka
1 shot Malibu Coconut Rum
1/8th cup strawberry habanero simple syrup (recipe to follow)
3-5 strawberries
Splash of club soda or sparkling water

To make the simple syrup; take out a small sauce pan and add 1 cup water with 1 cup granulated sugar. Add 1/2 cup frozen strawberries. Cut the stem off of an habanero and toss it in the saucepan. Once the sugar dissolves; smash the strawberries with a potato masher. Throw out the habanero. Now, take out a glass and add in your shot of vodka, shot of rum, and the simple syrup. Add in the strawberries and muddle. Toss some ice into the glass and add a splash of club soda. Enjoy

Cheesy Corn & Orzo Stuffed Poblanos

The Hubs was not enthused about this dish at first. He has this thing about meals without meat. To him, anything that doesn’t have meat in it is a side dish. So when I informed him that we were making this stuffed poblano recipe that I found on Chattavore, he did not have high hopes. Well, he changed his tune after trying them. In fact, his exact words were: “These are actually good!” Shocker! Well, he was right. The cheesy corn orzo was tasty, and the poblano was nice, although I wish we had gotten spicier peppers. The real surprise to this dish for me was two fold. First, the crumbled feta on top added a great burst of flavor. I didn’t think it would work so well but it was one of my favorite parts. And then the lime sour cream sauce was a must have. It was tart but not overpowering. Instead it just really brought all the flavors together. There are a few steps to this recipe, but I definitely recommend it, especially if you’re trying to convert a doubtful eater to try something veggie-friendly!

6oz cooked orzo

6 poblanos

½ small onion, diced

1 ½ tablespoon unsalted butter

½ jalapeño, diced

1 ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

4oz shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

salt and pepper

2oz crumbled queso fresco or feta cheese

¼ cup chopped cilantro

½ cup sour cream

juice of one lime

Start by charring the poblanos on your grill or gas flame, or even under the broiler. Make sure you get good dark color on all sides. Once they are charred, put them in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let them sit for 15 minutes. Then comes the tough part—you need to peel the charred skin off the peppers, then either cut the peppers in half, or just slit one side to remove the seeds, ribs and stem (this is what I did, and it was kind of a mess but it turned out good).

Cook the orzo (according to the box) and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and then sauté the onion and jalapeno for 4-6 minutes. Next, whisk in the flour and cook for a minute before whisking in the milk a little at a time to make a roux. Cook until it’s thick, which shouldn’t take long if you added the milk slowly, and then add in the cheese a bit at a time until it’s melted. Then stir in the orzo and the corn. We used frozen corn and it was totally fine, so don’t hate. Make sure to taste and season with salt and pepper.

To stuff the peppers, we laid out the peppers in a baking dish and scooped the orzo mixture into each one. It was less of a stuffing and more like a… scoop and wrap. But it works. Then sprinkle the tops with crumbled feta (or queso fresco) and bake for around 25 minutes. Our cheese didn’t get browned like the instructions said but it looked good to us.

To make the sauce, just mix the lime and sour cream. Add a little bit of salt to taste. It will definitely be very tart, but it works well with the full meal. When the peppers have finished baking, top them with the sauce, and sprinkle with a little cilantro. And get ready to blow some minds!

Western Omelette To Go

So, now that I'm trying to follow a Paleo life-style; I'm having to eat more eggs. Yay. Eh, not really. I've never been an egg fan. Or, I should say a fan of egg yolks. Bleh. I don't like the texture or the flavor of egg yolks. However, I've realized that as long as the eggs are cooked, scrambled, etc then I can tolerate them a lot more. So, I've started looking for recipes that involve cooking such as quiches, omelettes, and scrambled. There's a cookbook I really want to buy from health-bent called Primal Cravings. Fortunately, good ol' amazon let's you look inside the book prior to purchasing. One of the recipes that's featured is this one for Western Omelette To Go. I thought it would be perfect for my lifestyle. I get up really early (5:45 am) and only give myself 45 minutes to get ready. So, I want to make something quick, or have something already made that I can pop in the microwave. Suffice it to say; these Omelettes fit the bill. I was able to make them on a Sunday, and since the serving size is about 6 "muffins" I have one for each day of the week, and one for the weekend. Plus, they turned out to be really delicious. One recommendation; do not microwave these little guys for more than 30 to 45 seconds. I think I microwaved mine for like a minute and a half and they ended up being pretty darn chewy. Bleh. Feel free to tweak the ingredients to your liking. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
6 slices of ham
6 eggs
2 tbsp bell pepper, finely chopped (I used yellow)
2 tbsp yellow onion, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
I threw in some cheese as well.

Set your oven to 350 degrees. Take out your muffin pan and grease with some butter. Line the muffin pan with the sliced ham. Set aside. Next, take out a medium sized bowl; and combine your eggs, chopped pepper, and chopped onion. Toss in some salt and pepper. Stir well. I used an ice cream scoop to scoop out the egg mixture and gently pour into the muffin cups. Bake until the eggs are set...about 15 to 20 minutes.