Sorry for the lack of Photos / Video

Sorry for the lack of photo/video! :( I don't have my own digi cam so I haven't been able to record any of this yet which sucks because that was kind of the whole point. I'm working on teaming up with a friend to do so, so hold tight. However in the meantime I wanted to and will continue to post my recipes. So I hope you can still find this enjoyable.

Fancy Chicken (Couldn't come up with a better name yet)

So I visited home this past weekend and cooked dinner Sunday night, thought I’d give the fam a break from my mother’s cooking. They’re all pretty picky and you never know at which point who’s not eating this or that, who went vegetarian, who went total carnivore, craziness. So chicken is the usual safety net. I’ve been into thighs for a long time now. I always preferred dark meat to white, it has way more flavor and it doesn’t dry out; (it’s actually good a little dry, I don’t like a slimy leg). I kind of made this one up on the fly, I had attempted something similar a couple weeks ago and it wasn’t nearly as good. I had a lot of fun with it trying to make it look super gourmet. It’s a lot of prep work but once it’s all in the oven, it’s in. The flavors all blend together and it’s just delicious. I’m not sure what to title this one yet, but it definitely makes the Hit list.

Ingredients:

-Boneless chicken thighs

-1 White onion

-Grape tomatoes

-Shitake mushrooms

-Maple bacon

-Asparagus

-Garlic

-Kale

-Salt & pepper

-Ginger (powder)

-Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

Start out washing your chicken, lay them all out flat on a large pan bottoms up (unroll them, boneless thighs come kind of folded up). Season them with the salt, pepper and ginger and rub it in nicely. Dice the onion and lay out a good amount over each piece of chicken, don’t go overboard because you need to fold them back up eventually (you should have left over onion, we’ll be using that with the kale later). Then slice the mushroom into about half an inch pieces and add with the onion. Next take your grape tomatoes and slice them into 4’s so each piece can be laid flat, add those to the chicken as well.

The next part takes a helper: Take the chicken thigh from the top and bottom end and attempt to fold it up over the stuffing. Then your helper needs to come around and wrap a piece of maple bacon round it to hold it all together. Repeat the process for each. Place in the oven covered at 400 degrees for 1 hour, remove cover for the last 20 minutes to brown the bacon, add another 10 minutes or so if needed to further brown bacon and add crunch.

While this is in the oven we can get the side vegetables going. In a large pan throw in whatever bacon was left over (cut into small pieces first), after those have started to brown toss in the leftover onion to begin caramelizing. Add the garlic shortly after (diced). Lastly add the kale, bit by bit if necessary (before cooking it looks huge but it will shrink down to nothing). Watch closely, you don’t want to burn or wilt the kale badly, stir often.

Lastly comes the asparagus, lay it out on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Pepper very lightly and grate some cheddar cheese over them (as much as you’d like) Pop them in the oven for the last 20 minutes or so on the timer to bake.

If you wanna go all out and make it look fancy, set each plate. Lay down your kale in the center, flatten it out some. Place one chicken in the center and balance the asparagus against it. Whalahhh! Enjoy!

Hit: Teriyaki Turkey Lettuce-Wrap Tacos

So I felt like being a little healthier this past week since I've literally been eating Godiva chocolates every single day since Valentines, it's disgusting. So beyond cutting out the chocolates, I kick started my plan with making up something I hoped would be healthy and tasty. I bought everything all natural and organic from the local KeyFoods (inherently gross, but they do carry organic itmes which are fairly priced). Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present you with my first HIT of the blog!

Teriyaki Turkey Lettuce-Wrap Tacos

ingrediants:

-ground turkey meat 

-grape tomatoes

-white mushrooms

-yellow onion

-asparagus

-hearts of lettuce

-brown rice

-teriyaki sauce

-salt

-pepper

-red wine

directions:

Prepare to be all over that oven, we're gonna have a lot of things going on at once. First get that brown rice cookin, if you've never cooked it before, it's annoying I warn you. I'd say use a 2 cup of water to 1 cup of rice ratio, more water is fine, you can always strain it later. Bring it to a boil, then let is cook for 30 mins, stir occasionally and after the timer is up, cover for 10 minutes to steam. While that's going we're gonna dice the onions, slice the mushrooms, and cut the grape tomatoes in halves. Fyi, I do everything by eye, I don't do that whole measuring thing haha. Heat the oven to 400degrees, once heated, pop in the asparagus for 20 minutes (baked asparagus is great). On the top of the oven  we're gonna start cooking the ground turkey meat. You're gonna have to keep an eye on it till it looks cooked, stir often, make sure it's all broken up good. In a large wok melt some butter and then throw in the onions and mushrooms. Salt and pepper them as they cook, after a few minutes add a thin layer of red wine and continue to cook it away. Add more wine if necessary till the onions and mushrooms are browned and fully cooked. When the meat is ready, transfer it over to the wok and poor in the teriyaki sauce, mix. Take off the heat and add in the tomatoes and stir. It's ready for assembly now. Take your lettuce leaves, put down a layer of brown rice and then top it off with the turkey / veggie mixture. 

It's tasty and fresh, I love my bread and tortillas but it was not missed in this equation. The lettuce is crisp and really adds a clean, freshness to the whole thing. It all just works together really great. This one's a HIT! ENJOY!!!

Welcome to Hit or Miss Cooking with Danny Jackson

     You know that moment when you’re watching Food Network and the host is right about to put that fork in their mouth and they’re already going “mmmmm so good”, and then take the smallest nibble of it? And you’re thinking, no way is that good. Well that’s the inspiration behind “Hit or Miss Cooking”, truthful, honest cooking and tasting. Cuz let’s face it, sometimes those dinner experiments don’t make the cut. I’m no professional chef, but I enjoy cooking, experimenting, and trying all sorts of foods. I make up my own recipes and post them here, the hits and the misses, so you know what’s good and what’s not. People can also send me their own recipes and idea’s that maybe they’re too afraid to try on their own or they just wanna put out there. I’ll cook it, taste it and we'll see if it makes the hit list or falls off the menu for good with the misses.