The real flavor that comes from this dish is nothing special just fresh juicy garden tomatoes and crunchy cucumbers as well as some fresh herbs and a little olive oil. The basic dishes are always the best.

This is a variation of a mix between a cucumber salad that I love and a basic Italian Caprese without the mozzarella or vinaigrette reduction.

Enjoy!

Directions:

1. Wash the cucumber and score it with a fork down the sides to give it some edges and grooves as seen in the picture below.

2. Cut the cucumber into about 1/4 inch slices and set aside.

3. Wash the tomatoes and cut into about the same thickness in size around a 1/4 inch. Sometimes having the toms a little thicker is good in my book though. Depends on how I’m feeling and how perfect the tomatoes are.

4. Align the tomatoes and cucumbers out on a cutting board and sprinkle over the salt and pepper being aware to not add too much as it can overcome the freshness of the vegetables but you still want the flavor.

5. On a serving dish place the tomato down first then adding the cucumber across the plate as seen in the picture.

6. Sprinkle the fresh chopped herbs over top and drizzle with the olive oil. Serve immediately or store for up to an hour.

Tips and Tricks

You can use a regular cucumber if you can’t find any English but I like English in this recipe. The tomatoes are very important as well as the quality of the olive oil your using in this recipe so take note when selecting them.

These Mediterranean style snacks are not only great to eat but fun to make for the whole family. I make these or similar style cucumber hummus snacks for everything from after school for the kids to football parties and poker nights.

People actually do love these little finger foods and they are soooo easy to make as well as quick and you’re able to make them ahead of time if necessary and store them in the refrigerator.

Directions:

1. Wash your cucumber and peel the sides with either a small peeler or a thick pronged fork to make them look like the picture. If you like you can peel the whole thing or leave the skin on. It’s mostly for aesthetics so make them look however you think would look best!

2. Cut the cucumber into about 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick slices.

3. Take a small spoon and scoop out just a little of the innards and seeds on one side of each slice of cucumber so you have a small place for the hummus to go.

4. Very lightly sprinkle a small amount of salt over the slices.

5. Scoop in a ball of your favorite hummus into each slice of cucumber or if you have a pastry bag you can really make some great designs using that.

6. Top with a bit of sesame seeds and you have yourself one great little snack that is sure to please and is fun to eat!

Tips and Tricks

You can omit the salt if you have dietary needs but I love salt and it goes so well with the appetizer and you only use a very small amount. Also there are many types of hummus out there that you can buy or make. We suggest a garlic or lemon hummus because it goes well with the cucumber.

This is a great recipe that combines flavors perfectly but without any of the mess, and many times, no need to even go out and buy ingredients. Most of the time you can find all of this right in your cabinets and refrigerator.

Please feel free to add your favorite fresh or canned vegetables to the dish or leave it as is. Please let me know in the comments because I’m always curious as to what people think of our recipes.

More Chicken Recipes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large sauce pan mix all three cans of soup, one stick of margarine and 2 cups of milk on low-medium heat stirring occasionally.

3. Cube the chicken breast trimming off the fat as you go along and set aside.

4. Take a large oven safe dish 9 x 13 or larger when the margarine, soup and milk mixture is hot and has all come together and spray the casserole dish with the cooking spray.

5. Pour half of the mixture into the casserole dish and spread the wild rice and chicken evenly over the mixture. (No need to use the packet that comes with the rice).

6. Add the rest of the mixture covering the chicken and add plenty of the grated parmesan cheese on top

7. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 1 hour in the pre-heated 350 degree oven.

8. After the 1 hour mark remove the foil and cook for about another 15 minutes or until the cheese on top browns up nicely.

Tips and Tricks

Make sure to use a good amount of the parm because it will not only make it brown up beautifully but add extra flavor.

Add Veggies: I like to use whatever left over veggies are in my refrigerator such as string beans or leftover asparagus. Also canned veggies work great as well. I love canned peas but that’s just me.

Caprese salad is usually made with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and fresh tomato with an olive oil/balsamic reduction.

This is a take on caprese that adds another beautiful food out of Italy Prosciutto. Prosciutto is a dry cured ham that is generally sliced very thin and served uncooked. Yum!

So lets make an appetizer that will be sure to please even the crankiest of palette. Prosciutto wrapped Caprese Salad.

Directions:

1. Lay out the slices of prosciutto and slice each in half lengthwise on a small cutting board and set aside. Then do the same with your cherry tomatoes slicing them in half and then setting them aside, basil leaves and mozzarella balls.

2. On a large clean cutting board lay out your 16 slices of prosciutto and lay a piece of fresh basil on each slice.

3. Next lay down one of the halves of the mozzarella on top of the basil with the flat side facing up and lay down one of the halves of the tomato with the flat side facing down so your creating a kind of ball combining the two.

4. Season lightly with salt and a decent amount of pepper. (Taste one if need be to make sure that they aren’t over seasoned).

5. Roll up the prosciutto in around the other ingredients and use a tooth pick to hold together.

6. Place on your favorite platter and drizzle lightly with olive oil.

Tips and Tricks

Make sure that your using all fresh ingredients. Fresh basil is key as is a good olive oil and fresh mozzarella that is usually kept in a brine. See mozzarella

There are numerous different recipes out there that call for a half chicken, or any kind of bird really, from Cornish game hens to turkeys. With this easy to follow video you’ll be slicing and dicing your bird perfectly in a matter of minutes.

Directions:

1. First remove any innards the bird may have, wash under cold water and pat dry.

2. place the chicken on a cutting board breast side down.

3. Taking a pair of cooking scissors or a sharp knife, locate the spine that runs down the back of the chicken and cut from one end to the next length wise on each side of the spine separating it from the bird completely as shown in the video.

4. Now you can open up the bird and take a sharp knife and press down on the center of the breast bone in the center separating the bird into two pieces.

5. That’s it. Nice and easy and your ready to prepare it in any way you wish. If you would like to learn more on separating poultry take a look at our video on how to cut apart and debone a whole chicken.

I’ve made this many times and it always comes out great as long as you make sure not to burn the skin too much unless you like it that way. It’s pretty easy not to as long as you keep an eye on the heat of the grill.

I’m not sure where this came from other than I think I just slowly continued to add to the flavors of the recipe over time. It’s a great dinner recipe when you run of ideas and can be served with any number of different side dishes.

Directions:

1. Turn on grill and bring to medium-high heat. Remember you want to cook the chicken all the way through but still want a nice brown crispy skin so you may need to adjust the tempature.

2. Remove the giblets from the whole chicken, wash, pat dry and cut the chicken in half.

3. Prepare the rub by mixing the cayenne, salt, pepper, 3 of the 4 cloves of garlic, and chopped rosemary and a little less then half of a squeezed lemon in a small bowl.

4. Take the 1/8 of  a stick of butter cut into small pieces and stuff under the skin with the last diced clove of garlic (this will keep the chicken moist and flavorful).

5. Cover the chicken with the pre-made rub all over including a little under the skin and inside.

6. Place on grill skin side down and grill for about 7 to 10 minutes with grill closed keeping a watch on the skin making sure it’s not burning. Flip, squeeze the other half of lemon over it and cook for about 10 more minutes. Temp the chicken in the thickest part with a instant-read thermometer making sure it’s at 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

7. You can serve in half form, depending on who your cooking for, or cut into pieces that are more appropriate for the occasion.

You can make this in under half an hour in a skillet so it’s a great side dish to whip up if you happen to see collard greens on sale or happen to have some lying around in the refrigerator.

Directions:

1. Wash and de-stem the collard greens and chop into decent size edible pieces.

2. Turn the skillet on medium and cook off the bacon keeping the grease. Toss the bacon.

3. Add the diced onion until almost fully cooked then add the garlic and cook until before the garlic browns. (Under a minute).

4. Add the collard greens and salt and pepper. Toss all together and cover.

5. If it seems that there isn’t enough bacon fat to cook down the greens then feel free to add a little butter to the mixture.

6. cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until tender.

7. Cut your lemon into eighths and serve on the side for squeezing on the dish!

Tips and Tricks

Collard greens can be bitter which is why we use the bacon grease and butter. If you like you can substitute for something a bit healthier for you and your family like olive oil but if you do so people like to add a little sugar to offset the bitterness. I just do it to taste and you can too.

You can also make it a little more traditional by adding red pepper flakes when you add the garlic and serve with a bit of white wine vinegar or hot pepper sauce.

If you can cook a grilled cheese and a burger then you can make a patty melt. They are very basic and don’t even include a sauce such as mayo or ketchup on them traditionally.

Directions:

1. Take the pound of ground beef and add the salt and pepper. Mix well and make 3 patties around the size of the slices of bread.

2. In a medium skillet take 3 tablespoons of butter and melt it down on medium heat and add the sliced onions. Saute until translucent and  tender. (If more butter is needed then add more. It really depends on the size of the onion.)

3. Take a large skillet at medium heat and add the burger patties. Cook to desired temperature.

4. While the burgers are cooking take a large skillet on medium heat and butter one side of each piece of bread. Place 2 slices of Swiss on the unbuttered side of 2 slices of bread like your making a grilled cheese and place buttered side down on the large skillet. Repeat with the other 4 slices of bread and cook each side until golden brown and the cheese is melted. (Just like a grilled cheese).

5. Carefully spread open the bread opening it up and exposing the cheese and add the burger patty and onions then re-close the bread.

6. Slice in half and enjoy.

Tips and Tricks

If crunched on time you can cook the onions before hand and just heat them up in the microwave later or re-saute them. If you don’t like Swiss cheese many people often substitute American cheese instead. Also some people like to dip patty melts in thousand island much like a Reuben sandwich.

It’s actually quite a simple cooking technique that people seem to make more complicated then it should be. Some people use poachers which are helpful while others go into adding things like vinegar to help “hold the egg together” which you don’t need to do.

This is the easiest and quickest way to poach an egg for whatever reason you want from eggs Benedict to just with some toast.

Directions:

1. Fill your medium sauce pan about 3/4 full with water and add a pinch of salt.

2. Bring to a very light simmer as seen below.

3. Crack your egg making sure that you don’t break the yolk into a small bowl or something like it so you can slip it into the water rather than just cracking it right into the water. Feel free to season your egg now if you like with some salt and pepper or whatever you choose.

4. Take a spoon and start to spin the water around. This will help the egg white stay together and wrap around the yolk.

5. Carefully slip the egg into the barely simmering spinning water and watch it spin around. It will slowly start to form and come together.

6. Depending on the temperature of the water and the uncooked egg it should take about 8 minutes to cook. Remember you want the yolk to be just barely cooked but the white part of the egg to be mostly cooked.

7. Remove from the water with the slotted spoon and your ready to eat.

Tips and Tricks

If you mess up and turn it into some kind of egg water or over or under cook it don’t fret and just try again. Eggs are easy to cook but like everything else in life sometimes takes a little practice.

There’s probably a thousand different ways to make a mushroom Swiss burger but this is how I do it and it’s absolutely amazing. You won’t be disappointed. I first learned to make these when I worked as a kid in a burger place and since then have perfected it to the perfect fresh and juicy burger that it is today. With crisp lettuce, thick tomato, freshly sauteed mushrooms and the perfect bun you will be in heaven with each bite.

Directions:

1. If grilling, turn on your grill to a medium-high heat.

2. Take your pound of ground beef, place it in a large bowl and add the salt and pepper, garlic powder and meat tenderizer. Mix well.

3. Cook off the bacon and set aside on a plate with a couple paper towels on it to help absorb the extra grease.

4. Make 3 equal patties out of the burger mixture keeping in mind the size of your buns and the fact that the patties will shrink a bit because your going to cook off a lot of the fat.

5. Place the patties on your medium high heat grill and close the cover or place in a large skillet on the same heat being sure not to crowd the meat.

6. While the patties are cooking, add the butter in a skillet on medium heat until melted. Add the minced garlic and cook for about a minute then add the sliced mushrooms and cook until tender stirring occasionally.

7. Depending on what temperature you like your burgers cooked flip after about five minutes and cook to desired wellness.

8. While everything is cooking slice the tomato pretty thick, slice the onions into rings and rip off bun sized pieces of lettuce.

9. Take your three oz of mayonnaise and add a very small amount of the minced horseradish and mix well. Taste and add more until just a bit spicy.

10. Grill your buns if desired.

11. Slather the horseradish mayonnaise on both the tops and bottoms of the buns.

12. When the burgers are just about done place the cooked mushrooms on top and add two slices of Swiss to each on top of the mushrooms and cover until melted.

13. Add your veggies to the buns and place the burger on top covering the top of the cheese with 2 slices of bacon each.

14. Serve with your favorite sides and condiments!