Homemade

All posts tagged Homemade

Cherry Osmosis

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on October 16, 2013

Posted in: Food & Drinks. Tagged: Alcohol, Bacardi, Bacardi Torched Cherry, Bacardi Torched Cherry Rum, Bars, Booze, Cherry Osmosis, Cocktails, Drink Recipie, Drinks, Gin, Homemade, Jaeger, Libations, Liquors, Nightlife, NYC Night life, Recipes, Rum, Shots, Tequila, THEJNSREPORT, Vodka, Whiskey. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Cherry Osmosis: Drink Concoctions Episode 1

Not one to be a complete novice on the wonderful world of libations I decided several years ago to come up with a couple of “weird” or what I prefer to call different cocktails to try when out and about vs say the stereotypical , Vodka tonic, Cape Cop, Cosmo, Manhattan, or Whiskey Sour etc. Liquors

A friend of mine whose a pretty great bartender made me a rum punch one day and my mind opened up for the first time to giving rum based drinks more consideration as an alternative to vodka, whiskey, tequila, or gin.

Shots

Bacardi flavored rums are a favorite when I want something sweet that packs a punch. And so it happened during the summer a couple years ago that while playing around with basic ingredients I came up with one of my favorite concoctions. I call it “Cherry Osmosis”.

This is a great drink that’s light on the palate, sweet but balanced and the cherry flavor permeates throughout. It’s offset by a mix of lemonade, Sprite or 7up, a splash of sour mix and a healthy pour of Bacardi Torched Cherry Rum.

The correct proportion of each ingredient can’t be emphasized enough as too much sour ruins the balance, and too much lemonade will mask the cherry flavor.

Fill a pint glass full to the rim with ice. Pour in 2 1/2oz of Bacardi Torched Cherry rum, a splash of sour mix, 2oz of lemonade, 2 splashes of Sprite/7up. Utilizing a shaker, shake the glass twice and serve. Garnish with a Orange Wedge, and a Cherry.

The best thing about this drink is it can be had comfortably all year round. Ask your bartender to make this for you next time your out and want to try something new.

The Cheese Cake Episodes: Episode 2

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on May 22, 2013

Posted in: Food & Drinks. Tagged: Cheese Cake, chocolate morsels, cream cheese frosting, Custom, Deserts, Episode 2, graham cracker crumb crust, Homemade, iron skillet, peanut butter cups, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, The Cheese Cake Episodes, white chocolate. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: The Cheese Cake Episodes: Episode 2

In my last Cheese Cake episode I introduced you all to my first ever Torched Cherry Strawberry Cheesecake. This time around I unveil my latest creation. Ladies and Gents my Custom White Chocolate Cheesecake Redux. I decided to go a bit more outside the box in the concept of this cake and the result is what you see below. Reese’s peanut butter cups, crumbled cookies and white chocolate morsels all seated atop cream cheese frosting. And as I usually like to do when making a cheesecake I used a graham cracker crumb crust base for the cake. In a word folks…YESSUM!!!

I apologize for the image quality as I’m forced to rely on my cell’s camera until I get the main one replaced.

Behold my latest creation. It’s…fill in the blank

Decadence!! Plain & Simple

The prep time for this cake was approximately an hour. This doesn’t include bake time. Organizing all the ingredients and tools required is essential if you want to dramatically speed up prep time. Even so incorporating the ingredients and being careful not to over mix the batter makes it worth the time and effort for the cake to come out well I find.

The size of the cake you see above is a 10 inch x 2 inch cake not including the peanut butter cups decoration. Unlike the last time I baked a cheese cake I set the oven this time around to 250 degrees and baked the cake for and hour and 15 minutes the entire way through.

To also help prevent cracking I placed a 10 inch iron skillet filled with water below the cake as it baked away. I allowed the cake to sit in the oven for approximately an hour to cool before transferring it to the the freezer for overnight cooling. Once frozen solid by morning it was then ready to be decorated.

I have to say the first bite into this cake had me wanting to eat about half the cake right then. I…didn’t do it. Instead, I allowed myself to slowly savor the harmony from the different sweet and salty textures and crumbles in the frosting. It all began to play with my taste buds before realizing the goodness of the cake below.

Initially, it was awesome but after a while a bit too much of an acidic bite was coming through. 😦 I knew then that I’d probably used a tad too much lemon juice. A good note for next time. Overall though, I am still satisfied with the end product. Stay tuned for more Cheese Cake Episodes updates.

Till next time this has been The Cheese Cake Episodes: Episode 2 by THEJNSREPORT.

Sunday Dinner

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on February 11, 2013

Posted in: Food & Drinks. Tagged: Dinner, Food & Drinks, food combination, Homemade, Salmon, Spinach, Stuffing, sunday dinner, Wild Rice. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: SUNDAY DINNER AT HOME

After an intense week I took Sunday to myself and decided to stay in and relax doing nothing but laying in bed. By late evening I was ready for dinner but prepared nothing all day. I was in no mood to order out and decided I’d better see what I had in the fridge only to find that my amazing mother had cooked me a Sunday dinner. Thanks Mom!!! Below are some pics of the amazing tasting and healthy meal I was lucky enough to have. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you…The Main Event

Sunday Dinner

Oh yes!!!! Mother can cook and cooks superbly. I get to enjoy Salmon, Stuffing, Wild Rice, and Spinach. You understand??! I’d never even thought of such a delicious food combination. I had to look at the wild rice for a minute just taking it in visually. After a fork full of the Wild Rice I have to say it has a strong unique look and textural taste. My salmon was cooked perfectly. The stuffing was an unexpected treat as usually I only really eat stuffing at Thanksgiving and the Spinach was well Spinach just plain good for you.

Just look at the Salmon and ponder it. MMmm mmmm my Mom loves me yes indeed.

Salmon Up Close

I attacked the Spinach as the healthiest thing on my plate with vigor and didn’t let it stay around for any further questioning. Stuffing was up next.

The Stuffing!!!!

Last Salmon Bite

The Wild Rice was gone too before the last bites of Stuffing and Salmon. I’ll have to try my hand at making this sometime. I mean this meal is something I would order at a restaurant. I thank God for mother’s like mine. Till next time this has been another report by THEJNSREPORT.

The Cheese Cake Episodes: Episode 1

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on February 5, 2013

Posted in: Food & Drinks. Tagged: Cheesecake, Desert, Food & Drinks, Graham Cracker, Homemade, Strawberries, Torched Cherry Strawberry Cheesecake, Treats. 2 Comments

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: The Cheese Cake Episodes

Like most people, if not all, I on occasion love to have a really good desert. One of my favorite deserts to have is Cheesecake. It just so happens that in my limited spare time I enjoy making cheesecakes from scratch.

Ladies and Gentlemen, what you are about to witness is the culmination of a special birthday Cheesecake I made for a good friend of mine’s Birthday today. Without further ado I give you The Cheesecake Episodes: Episode 1. My Torched Cherry Strawberry Cheesecake.

My Torched Cherry Strawberry CheeseCake Masterpiece

While you can’t really see it in the photos the strawberries in the center of the cake have all been sugar-coated. This is the first Strawberry themed Cheesecake I’ve ever made but it’s definitely one of the best I’ve ever made as well. How much do you think a cake like that would cost if it were bakery bought? To help you with that calculation. Take into account that my cake is 12 inches in diameter and nearly 3 inches in height.

I can’t wait for my friend to taste his special birthday cake. This is my own personal recipe made cake with secret ingredients that I shall not divulge. 😉 And while you can’t see the base of the cake as it’s still in the pan, I didn’t slack a minute. I made a graham cracker crust for the cake also and used some of the left over graham cracker crumbs to top the cake.

Prep time was approximately 45 mins for the organization and prep for the crust and batter. Bake time was another 1 and 1/2 hours at 275 degrees for the first hour and then reduced to 250 degrees the last half hour before being left to cool in the oven and then transferring to the fridge for overnight cooling. I generally let my cakes cool at least an hour or so before moving them to the fridge to cool.

Stay tuned for upcoming update episodes. Till next time this has been The Cheesecake Episodes: Episode 1 by THEJNSREPORT. If you have comments or want to share a recipe tip feel free to leave a comment.

THEJNSREPORT’S:FOOD Semi-Homemade

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on December 11, 2012

Posted in: Food & Drinks. Tagged: Five Alarm, Food & Drinks, Homemade, Money, Saving, Spicy. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S Food at home: Cooking and Eating Semi-Homemade

Every now and then from time to time, one needs to refrain from the so easy to go for take out urge. I’m sure there are many valid reasons for doing so. For myself, usually that means I’m sick of eating take out by the time I feel inclined to cook at home versus ordering out. On a day I say to myself I’m gonna cook I usually decide to cook something that doesn’t require a lot of time to prepare and is relatively easy to make. Ladies and gentlemen, if you guessed pizza you are…wrong but not far off.

My Five Alarm Egg Noodles and Turkey Meat Sauce.

A classic meal I love to eat is spaghetti and meatballs. For the purposes of this post I title it Semi Homemade because while my delicious meal was prepared at home by myself, I didn’t make my own tomato sauce or pasta from scratch. Both are store bought products. That being said I altered the store bought tomato sauce by adding some other herbs and spices to it and adding home cooked ground turkey instead of beef to it. I chose egg noodles over traditional spaghetti this time around as I like how healthy egg noodles are and the fact that they are broad curly noodles similar to those found in Spice Restaurants Black Noodle dish.

I used lots of pepper in my sauce as I really like my pasta spicy. Cayenne, Crushed Red Pepper, Black Pepper, and Habanero Pepper, and a small amount of a yogurt based green pepper sauce I bought from an Indian food restaurant. All were added to the sauce along with some extra Oregano. The ground turkey was seasoned lightly with a little Adobo and Sea Salt. I let the ground turkey (lean 97% fat free) cook for a little while in a pot with a little extra virgin olive oil, fresh sliced garlic, and white onions before adding it to the spiced up tomato sauce I had simmering. After letting the sauce simmer with the newly added ground turkey for about 20 minutes, I turned my attention to the egg noodles. Egg Noodles cook in no time (about 8 minutes) so most of the prep time for my meal went towards the sauce.

Once I drained my boiled noodles I rinsed them with cold water for 20 seconds before adding them to the simmering meat sauce.

A marriage has just taken place. See the evidence.

What a beautiful union. Can you see the heat permeating throughout?!

I let the sauce and pasta bubble on low heat for another 5 minutes before breaking out a bowl and dishing up. Not to toot my own horn but this dish was so good I had to have a second helping and while I’m sure many would avoid the extra carbohydrates I splurged on a second helping with a piece of Roti under the pasta and sauce. I mean even when one goes out to eat at restaurants, usually bread is offered so I see no big deal here.

Five Alarm Pasta N Ground Turkey Meat Sauce with Roti. Uh Yassum!!!!

Now here’s the kicker if I were to have ordered this dish in a restaurant in the city it would probably cost me somewhere around $12 to $16 depending on the restaurant. All totaled this dish cost me $8 between the package of Egg Noodles, Tomato Sauce, and Ground Turkey. I know exactly what’s in my meal and I’m saving money as most of us need to during these tough economic times. And understand I had more than one helping. So in effect that pot can feed 6 to 8 people. So for argument sake let’s say 6 people can be fed from what I prepared. At $12 to $16 dollars a person in a restaurant, I’ve saved anywhere from $72 to $96. Eating good and saving money is always a win win in my book. Food for thought.

Till next time this has been THEJNSREPORT’S: FOOD Semi-Homemade.