Jack is Cooking Jamie Oliver's Ted Wish

Well Hello Internet!

here is a very important video that everybody should watch.  Jamie Oliver is one of my primary inspirations when it comes to cooking, and this is good stuff!  Also, go to this website and sign this petition to help out the cause!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

Jack is Cooking Gluten Free Rhubarb Cake

Well Hello Internet!

The other day i made a rhubarb cake.  this is a cake my grandmother makes all the time for my dad.  its his favorite cake!  i have modified the recipe to make it gluten free!  

its a fairly easy recipe.  its just a basic yellow cake (not that uranium stuff....) recipe, except using gluten free baking mix instead of cake flour.

heres what you'll need:

for the cake:

2 cups gluten free baking mix (i like to use arrowhead mills  gluten free all purpose baking mix)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup milk

First!  Preheat the oven to 350°  and grease up 2 round baking pans

then in one bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt with a wire whisk.

in another bowl (i use my mixing machine to do this) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  (sugar and butter is delicious.  don't eat it!) then Beat in the eggs.  Add the vanilla and mix until it is totally combined . Slowly add flour and milk.  do this alternately.  a little bit of flour, a little bit of milk. 

when its done it should be nice and smooth.  i found that with the gluten free flour it was even a little airy!  

divide the batter evenly between the two pans, and bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out smooth.  while this is cooking you can make the rhubarb filling.

heres what you'll need

4-5 long pieces of rhubarb

lemon juice

water

1/4 cup or less of sugar

First chop of the rhubarb, and put in a large pan.  put just enough water to cover.  stew this for about 30-45 minutes, until the rubarb falls apart and most of the water has evaporated.  it will look a little bit like jam.  then add in some lemon juice, and add sugar to taste.

After the cake has cooled down, and the rhubarb has cooled down take a good amount of the rhubarb and put it on one side of the cake.  take the other cake and put it on top.  dust it with some powdered sugar!  and that's all there is to it!

this cake is excellent with tea!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Coconut Fish with Kale and Coconut Rice

Well Hello Internet!

Last night i made the most delicious fish covered with coconut, and rice cooked with coconut, and some kale!  it was a coconut inspired meal.  anyways its really easy to do.  

heres what you'll need:

some kind of fish (i used sole)

coconut milk

coconut flakes

salt and pepper

kale

garlic

ginger

coconut rice (follow rice directions, but use substitute half of the water with coconut milk.  also add in some coconut flakes)

First i let the fish sit in some coconut milk with salt and pepper for like 30 minutes.  

while this was sitting i prepared the kale.  i just cut it roughly, chopped up some garlic, and chopped up some ginger.  i'll be back to that in a little bit.

After it soaked in the milk for 30 minutes, i took the fish, and i coated it in a mixture of flour salt and pepper.  (at about this time you should start cooking the rice also) then i put it back in the coconut milk, just to get a coating on both sides, and then i covered both sides with coconut flakes (the unsweetened kind!)

i heated up 2 pans.  one to cook the kale, and the other to cook the fish.  in the kale pan i put a tablespoon of olive oil, and started to saute the garlic and ginger.  in the fish pan i put about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil.  and let that heat up til it was pretty hot.  Add the kale to the ginger and garlic, and stir around.  cover to let it steam.  this can cook for about 5 minutes and then its done.  (a little lemon juice is really good in this also!)

while the kale was cooking, i added the fish to the other hot pan, and let it cook until it was nice and golden brown, then i flipped it and cooked until it was nice and golden brown on the other side! (fish cooks pretty quick, so this all happens in like 5 minutes.  you got to stay on top of this and the kale!)

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if you time it right, the kale, the fish, and the rice should all be done at the same time!

yum!

mmm mmm delicious!!

Jack is Cooking Beef Jerky

Well Hello Internet!

i decided to take on a new project of making delicious homemade Beef Jerky! 

this was the first time, and i think it turned out pretty good, although a little salty.  

here's what i did:

the beef:

i used an organic grass-fed sirloin tip steak from Herondale Farm

i cut this into strips that were fairly thin.

for the marinade:

ginger

garlic

soy sauce

hot sesame oil

olive oil

tahini

sriracha 

ginger ale

i marinated the steak for 24 hours in this.  

after 24 hours, i took the steak out of the marinade, and i put some dry spices on for a dry rub (this is where i used too much salt, so if you do this, be careful with the salt. 

the dry rub:

paprika

salt

pepper

herbs de provence

after i put the beef strips in this to give a little coating i put them on racks in the oven at 150°.  i let it stay in there for about 3 hours.  or basically until it became jerky. some of the pieces were finished a little before, because they were smaller, and some took a little longer, so you have to keep your eye on it.

all in all its pretty good!  but this is something i'm definitely going to keep working on. different marinades etc!

mm mm delicious!

Jack is Cooking French Toast

Well Hello Internet!

The other morning i made French Toast for breakfast.  it is super easy to make!  here's what you'll need:

Eggs (2 for 4 or 5 pieces)

milk

vanilla

cinammon

bread (preferably a little stale)

now then there are probably precise measurements that you are supposed to use, but i kind of do it by eyeball.  the way i like to do this, is to crack the eggs onto a plate.  but don't mix them yet.  then i pour some milk onto the plate until the milk makes a full circle around the eggs.  then i put what i imagine to be a teaspoon of vanilla.  the cinnamon, i put enough to put a dusting over the yellow of each egg.  then i take a fork and whisk it all together.

after that take the bread and let it soak in the egg mixture.  if the bread is less stale it will absorb it all pretty quick, so you don't have to do it for so long.  the more stale the bread, the longer you should soak.

in a frying pan melt some butter.  once its nice and melted put the bread in and start to fry it!

When the bread gets nice and golden on the bottom its time to flip!

when its golden on the other side its done!

i like to put a little butter on top and lots of maple syrup.  i LOVE maple syrup.  with pancakes and french toast and waffles i like them to be swimming in maple syrup.  

mmm mmm delicious!