Screwing With Good Ideas - Thanksgiving Pizza

I was driving around on Monday, trying to think of some tips I'd like to share with my readers. I've covered chicken, I've covered sauces, and that's when I decided to cover one of my more creative tips when it comes to cooking. Today's tip is "screwing with good ideas." Taking foods you already like, and combining them with similar foods is a great way to flex the creative muscles and to try out new, fun food ideas.

The first step in screwing with good ideas is to take something you already know and think about what's similar to it. The only difference between Chicken Cordon Bleu and Chicken Parmesan is the ham in the former and the red sauce in the latter. Why not add ham to one, or red sauce to the other?

Another quick example is the relationship between sandwiches and salads. All a salad is is a lazy sandwich. Both have meat, cheese, veggies and sauce. The only difference is that instead of assembling these ingredients on bread, the salad connoisseur chooses to chop up these foods, place them in a bowl, and toss the whole thing. You could even argue that croutons (the best part of the salad) take the place of the bread, and then you really have the same thing!

So how could you play with that idea? What's your favorite sandwich? Would it work well as a salad? Or maybe your favorite salad would be great as a sandwich.

Maybe, instead, you have a favorite steak with a favorite sauce. Take a step back. Is there any way to turn that sauce into a broth? Then, what if you added the steak into your broth, and maybe those potatoes you were going to put on the side as well? The next thing you know, your favorite steak dinner is now a fantastic soup!

While driving around thinking of all this, my mind decided to think about the difference between pizza and sandwiches. Think about this one; what's really the difference between a pizza and a sandwich? Sure, one's open faced, but put a second slice on top and you have one delicious, funky shaped sandwich. Heck, if you did that with a chicken pizza, I'd argue that you wouldn't even be sure if you were eating two slices of chicken pizza or one delicious chicken parmesan sandwich. They're the same thing, so your favorite sandwich can EASILY be made into a pizza!

Of course, when I think of sandwiches, my mind goes to one of my all time favorite sandwiches, and that's the Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich. I became obsessed with these while working at Capriotti's Sandwich Shop when I was a teenager. They sell an amazing sandwich called The Bobbie, which is mayo, homemade turkey (shredded), cranberry sauce and stuffing. Ever since I ate one of these things at least once a week for three years, I've been hooked on the whole concept of Thanksgiving sandwiches. To this day, any time I see cranberry sauce, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes or gravy I take some combination and turn it into a killer sandwich.

This is where my brain took a major turn into the creative world, so bare with me as I get into this next idea. I came up with the Thanksgiving Pizza! (you didn't think I was going to blog without giving you a recipe, did you?) I made this on Monday for the guys, and ten minutes later it was gone! I loved it, and so did they. Hopefully you will too.

Thanksgiving Pizza
Turkey (or chicken)
Mashed potatoes
Stuffing
Pizza dough or crust
Dried cranberries
Brown gravy

This is really meant to be a "leftovers" type of dish. I actually had some chicken breasts that I'd cooked and shredded, which is why I opted to use the chicken. As for mashed potatoes, anything from homemade to a microwavable one will do. Stuffing I used a microwavable mix that took literally 5 minutes to prepare.

But, if you feel so inclined, make everything from scratch. You won't regret it when you eat this thing!

If you're using pizza dough, prepare it in an oven before hand. If you are using a ready made crust, you're good to go.

Starting in the middle, spread the mashed potatoes throughout the entire crust, leaving just a little dry crust at the edges.

Cover the mashed potatoes with a decent sized layer of your shredded bird of choice. Top the meat with salt and pepper to taste (and garlic powder if you have it).

Cover the meat layer with a layer of stuffing. The stuffing is much easier to spread if it's warm, so either make it in the microwave or reheat it. At this point, take a sheet of tin foil and lightly press the entire thing downward, compressing the layers together.

Cover the whole concoction with a drizzle of brown gravy, or you're like me (not health conscious at all when it comes to food) a whole layer of brown gravy!

Place the whole thing in a preheated oven (325 degrees) or broiler (low), and heat for 5-10 minutes. Remember, you're not cooking the pizza; just reheating all of the ingredients.

As soon as it's out of the oven, top the whole thing with a few dried cranberries. You just want enough that each pizza slice comes with a few cranberries. Slice the whole thing into pizza slices, serve warm and enjoy!


The tips I mentioned today are some great ways to keep meals fun. Changing things up will definitely keep your interest going, and any of your friends who eat your food will almost always say "Wow dude, what a great idea!" Keep being creative, and I'll do the same. Enjoy guys, and let me know how it goes!

Fancy Quesadillas

I'll start off by saying I ran into a potato crisis, and had to bail on the Pulled Pork Potato Skins. My normal roasting pan wasn't clean in time for me to bake my potatoes quick enough. Yes, I put all of my pots and pans into the dishwasher. Some people say it's a big "no-no", but bottom line I'm still a single guy who cooks. Dishes are beyond me.

That said, I still had all of the food ready to go for the potato skins, and opted to make two different kinds of quesadillas instead of just one like I'd originally intended. Considering everything was eaten within five minutes of pulling them out of the oven, I'd say they were a success.

Also, we didn't get to watch Heroes this week. Someone hit erase on the DVR. Looks like a double feature next week! At least the UFC Fight Night was on, so we still had plenty of great television to watch.

If anyone makes these, let me know how it goes, ok?

Chicken Pesto Quesadillas
Chicken breasts
Chicken broth
Pesto sauce (jar)
Sun-dried tomatoes (I found thinly sliced ones in the salad area of the store)
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
Big flour tortillas
Butter

I cooked the chicken breasts the simplest way I know how, which is using the crock pot. This is the exact shredded chicken recipe I mentioned in the last post. Throw your chicken into the crock pot, add the chicken broth until the breasts are covered, set it on low and go to work.

10 hours later...

My house smelled amazing, as I'd planned. Drain the liquid from the chicken, leaving just a little bit in. Using two forks, shred the chicken. It should fall apart very easily.

Place a tortilla on a plate. Sprinkle a little cheese onto one half. Spoon some of the pesto sauce on top of that. Cover the pesto sauce with a few spoonfuls of the shredded chicken, just enough that it's covering the pesto. Add a few pieces of the sun-dried tomatoes, just enough that there's some color in the chicken. Cover this layer with a decent helping of cheese. Fold the clean half of the tortilla over, and press tightly. Move the quesadilla to a baking dish, and assemble any other quesadillas the same way.

Set your broiler on high. While it's heating up, put a few globs of butter on top of each quesadilla. Place the baking pan in the oven for 3-4 minutes, until the butter has melted and the tortilla is slightly brown. Remove from the oven, and using a spatula flip each quesadilla over. Add a little more butter to the new top side of each quesadilla, and put back into the broiler for another 3-4 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges, and serve!

Pulled Pork Quesadillas
Pork shoulder
Bbq seasoning (dry rub)
Hot sauce
Liquid smoke
Minced garlic (I love garlic)
Beef broth
Gouda cheese, sliced
Bbq Sauce (your favorite kind...I like Sweet Baby Ray's)
Big flour tortillas
Butter

Before work, place the prok shoulder, bbq seasoning, liquid smoke, minced garlic and beef broth in the crock pot. Make sure the liquid covers the majority of the meat. Add a few drops of hot sauce, depending how hot you like food. Set on low and go to work.

10 hours later...

Remove the liquid from the crock pot, and shred the meat with two forks. It should fall apart very easily. Do your best not to eat all of it right now, because trust me, it's delicious.

On a plate, lay out a tortilla. On one half of the tortilla, place two slices of gouda cheese. Put a few spoonfuls of the pork on top of the cheese, and cover with a layer of bbq sauce. I like to draw zigzags with the sauce, which is as close to measuring as I'm going to be able to tell you. Don't overdo it on the sauce, because you can always add more as a dip later. Cover the sauce layer with 2-3 more slices of cheese. Fold the clean side of the tortilla over, and transfer the quesadilla to your baking dish.

Set your broiler on high. While it's heating up, put a few globs of butter on top of each quesadilla. Place the baking pan in the oven for 3-4 minutes, until the butter has melted and the tortilla is slightly brown. Remove from the oven, and using a spatula flip each quesadilla over. Add a little more butter to the new top side of each quesadilla, and put back into the broiler for another 3-4 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges, and serve!

Getting Started and Matt's Monterey Chicken

After talking with friends, I thought that this blog might be a good idea. Maybe a few guys out there can get something out of this, and it'll give me a chance to keep track of some recipes and tips I've picked up over the years.

Please note, I'll never use measurements unless absolutely necessary. Measurements confuse me and confuse most guys, so use your instinct. If you think you'd like more sauce on something, go ahead and add more sauce. As far as how much food to have on hand, when it comes to cooking I say buy more ingredients. If you have extra after, that means you'll have extra things to keep in your fridge to experiment for the next time.

I am a huge fan of cooking, and try to experiment as often as possible. Every Monday I make dinner for a group of friends and we watch Heroes together. It's a great way for me to try out new food ideas, and I'll be detailing my successes and failures through this blog.

Last night was the Heroes season premiere, which meant I was back in full swing for cooking. I decided to make a variation on Monterey Chicken, a dish I love at Chili's, and made a simple roasted potato side dish as well.

Since the potatoes usually require more time than the chicken, start the potatoes first in the oven, and turn down the heat when you add the chicken.

Matt's Monterey Chicken
Chicken breasts
Bacon (uncooked)
Sliced Ham
Muenster Cheese (sliced)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Barbecue Sauce (your favorite one)

Cut the chicken breasts into 1/2 inch thick pieces. You can make them as big as you want, but the 1/2 inch thickness will help them cook faster.

Drizzle the barbecue sauce into an oven safe baking dish and spread around with a spoon. You'll want a thin, even coating throughout the whole pan. Lay the chicken breasts down in the pan. Top each piece of chicken with bacon, about half to one slice per breast. Bake the chicken and bacon in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes at 375. If the bacon doesn't look cooked, transfer the baking dish to a broiler oven (or turn your broiler on depending on the oven) until the bacon is cooked.

Once the bacon looks cooked, leave the broiler on, and remove the dish from the oven. Top each chicken breast with a small "glob" of barbecue sauce, a slice of the muenster cheese and a slice of ham. Top the entire thing with a thin layer of the shredded cheddar cheese, and put the entire dish back into the broiler for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Remove from the oven, serve and enjoy.

Roasted Potatoes
Russet potatoes, or any potato.
Olive oil
Garlic powder
Steak seasoning
Italian seasoning
Butter

Rinse the potatoes in cold water. Cut the potatoes into 1 inch sized pieces. The easiest way is to cut each potato in half length wise, then cutting each of those halves in half length wise, and cutting each newly formed wedge width wise several times. Set aside.

Line a baking dish with tin foil (this will help with cleanup). Pour a thin layer of olive oil over the tin foil, just enough that all of the tin foil has oil on it. Sprinkle the garlic powder, steak seasoning and Italian seasoning over the tin foil.

Place the potatoes in the baking dish, ensuring that they cover the entire bottom but do not overlap each other too much. Drizzle more olive oil over the potatoes, and add another layer of each of the three seasonings as well.

Put 6 to 10 spoonfuls of butter in different locations around the pan on top of the potatoes. Add more, depending on how much you like butter.

Put the entire thing in a 375 to 400 degree oven and bake for 1 hour. Check with a fork. If the potatoes have become soft, they are ready to go. If not, give them another 15 minutes.

Remove them from the oven and transfer them into a serving bowl. Toss them a few times in the bowl, so the butter and seasonings can move around a little.