Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Taste of Chicago....










































































































Ok, so after a couple of failed attempts to attend the Taste of Chicago I finally made that trip on 6/26 this year. I took 3 days off of work and combined with the weekend those 5 days are the most consecutive days I have been out of work since I was unemployed! I made this trip out to be my personal Chi-town food mission as I have many friends in and from Chicago who i've heard so many great things from about the food their. This was my 4th trip to the city and now i'm like an honorary resident! Special shout out to Oak Park and Portillos on Roosevelt! As usual when I fly into Chicago I landed at Midway International Airport. I got in around 7pm Central time. I prepaid for a rental car thru Avis on Priceline.com. I picked up my car (I ended up getting a Dodge Avenger, but pretended it was a new Chevy Camaro) and headed out to check into my hotel room. I stayed at the Write Inn in Oak Park, 2 blocks north of the Oak Park station on the green line on North Oak Park Avenue. I booked my room via Priceline.com as well so the room and car portion of the trip were prepaid. I love Oak Park! It is in my opinion, nice and quiet city living. After checking into my room I jumped back in the rental and hit the streets. I hadn't been there in almost a year so I was unfamiliar with how to get to Melrose Park. I wanted to find a store to get some t-shirts and FOOD. I ended up in Franklin Park Village and stopped at Walgreens there. On my way there I recognized a lot of streets, but decided to see where the street I was on would take me. Once crossing Des Plains I really knew where I was, but I was never in danger of getting lost as the streets there go north/south or east/west. After leaving Walgreens I went to Des Plains and headed towards Melrose Park. I ended up getting McDonald's that night as it was the first thing I saw on my way back to the room. Sad, I know! All that good food in Chicago and I get McDonalds....smh.... My friend Cheree and her fiance Koye (OPRF alums) came thru and chilled with me for a minute.

The next day, 6/27, I made up for it. I lounged in the room until around 2pm and headed out to the DuSable Museum in Washington Park. SOUTHSIDE!!!!!!! The exhibit was great and it happened to be a free day so no admission fee! I saved a whopping $3! I will definitely send them those 3$ and more by way of donation to their cause. On my way back since i'm an adventurist I rode thru Englewood. I stopped at Happy's Pizza on 63rd and got a small pepperoni pizza and their signature stuffed cheese bread. The pizza was ok, but the stuffed cheese bread was GREAT!!!! I rate it 2 forks up!!!! I headed back to Oak Park and chilled. I was sick and battling a sinus infection so I just chilled in my room takin meds, getting ready for the Taste of Chicago on Monday 6/28.

I finally got those t-shirts on Monday and got the BEST grilled chicken sandwich from my favorite Chi restaurant, Portillos! It is HIGHLY recommended. The first time I had this sandwich I had it ordered for me and when the order came in I was demonstrably perturbed. I mean who eats a GRILLED chicken sandwich when you grew up on the best chicken sandwich in the WORLD, the original Chick-fil-A!!! I drove around some and then came back to the room to head downtown.....I was going to go to the Museum of Science and Industry, but wasted too much time before heading out. I ended up getting downtown around 5:30 and met my friend Cheree who showed me around the Taste. I bought 5 strips of 12 tickets at $8 a piece. Portions at the Taste ranged from 3 to mostly 4 tickets for sample portions and regular portions ranged from 4-12 tickets. I set out to sample all that I could and expand my palate. First up was this famous Harold's chicken I have heard so much about. I got a 2 piece wing snack with mild sauce and man it was so good (although I hate full wings). Next up was Angus Mini's from Timothy O'Tooles and they were not good. For good Angus Mini's try The Firkin at Lindbergh in Atl. After that disappointment I had my first Beignet, a N'awlins staple. It was SOOOOOOO good!!! From there I moved on to the Homerun Inn booth. They didn't have pepperoni pizza, the only pizza that I like, so I can't give a full critique of them. Cheese pizza just is NOT my thing.....but at first bite it did taste good. The next thing I tried was Crab Rangoon......WOW!!! What have I been missing?!?!?!?! This may be the next recipe that I try.... After being so thoroughly delighted I had a tilapia taco from Carbon Mexican Grill. It was....different. The taste was pretty good. I recommend the fish taco from No Mas Cantina in Castleberry Hills area in downtown for my Atl folks and those who visit the A. Next up was a Breaded Italian Steak Sandwich from Ricobene's. It was sloppy and I hate messy food....plus i'm not a big fan of italian food so not much critique from me. It was ok.... Next on my menu was jerked chicken and rice. It was ok. Jamaican cuisine has never been my thing. All I had after that was desserts. 2 big chocolate chip cookies from the Harry Caray's booth. They looked hard, but were surprisingly good. That's a plus because i'm not very forgiving for messing up this simple dessert staple. I look forward to having Harry Caray's for dinner in a future visit. I've had their breakfast before at the one located at The W in Lombard. The last thing I had was a caramel upside down cupcake from Abundance Bakery. I had intended on the last thing I got was a big turkey leg from Manny's since it was so big and gonna be mess with that BBQ sauce on it. The cupcakes were so good I went back and got 2 more to go and said bump that turkey leg! All in all my first foray to the Taste of Chicago was an excellent one. I chose to go when I did so that it would not be so crowded. I did not get to partake in the musical festivities, but that will definitely be on the agenda the next time I go. After leaving the Taste I headed back to my room and packed up to be ready for checkout and departure the next day.

On my last day in the Chi I checked out and headed out on Roosevelt to Broadview to finally try some Uncle Remus chicken. I had heard so much about it that I could not pass it up despite my disdain for bone-in fried chicken. Just like at Harold's Chicken I got the mild sauce and it was SOOOOO good. I was in the car stuffin my face looking like this was my first meal in months. This was the perfect culimation of my trip......... I will be back Chicago. I will be back......

Shout outs:

The Kelly family for introducing me to this great city....

Koye and Cheree for advice on places to visit and for coming thru....

Portillo's for that grilled chicken sandwich, lol.....

AirTran for cheap flights....

Priceline.com for ease of accomodations for my trip....




























Friday, May 21, 2010

Lentil Soup

1 14-16 oz bag of lentils
1 Vidalia onion
1 red onion
1 stalk of celery
1 pk of smoked sausage of choice (turkey for me)... See More
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
1 32oz chicken stock
3 pks of sodium free boullion seasinong
EVO
various seasonings....

Wash and strain lentils. Prepare large pot with chicken stock. drop lentils and sodium free boullion seasong in pot. Season with black pepper, veggie seasoning, accent, thyme and drop a lil olive oil in it. let it sit w/o heat.

Slice sausage in small chunks to liking. Slice both onions into strips. Slice celery into small chunks. Heat skillet to medium high and pour in 3 tablespoons of EVO. Combine the minced garlic, sausage, onions and celery into the skillet and season to taste. I used McCormick's Roasted Garlic and Herb seasonin, lemon pepper, italian seasoningm garlic powder and a small amount of thyme. Sautee for about 3 minutes.

Now, once you get that started turn the pot with the beans in it on high and bring to a boil. Season with ground cumin and 2 bay leaves. Dump contents of skillet into pot and let it boil momentarily before reducing to a simmer. Cook for 30-35 minutes.

Remove bay leaves after it's done.

You now have a good hearty meal.

Some extra suggestions...you may want to try a spicy sausage and also I saw a few recipes which call for boiling the soup with a large chunk of orange peel for flavoring. Remove after cooking if u do so.


Try it and tell me how you like it!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Grilled Chicken Breasts Chicken with Homemade BBQ Sauce

Make your BBQ sauce first(recipe below).

Clean your chicken, season with McCormicks Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning, Season All and grill your boneless chicken breast on a George Foreman Grill for about 8 minutes

Take a baking pan and place your chicken breasts in the pan with a shallow bed of water. Cover with foil. (moistens the chicken breasts)

Remove the pan from the oven and pour out any excess water.

Take the chicken breasts and baste on both sides with the BBQ sauce. Put a little extra sauce in the pan.

Bake for like 5 to 10 minutes. Cover with foil if you like.

Serve.



Homemade Barbeque Sauce



Ingredients:

6 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons garlic

2 tablespoons shallots

2 cups ketchup

1 cup orange juice

¼ cup coke

1 cup molasses or honey

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 bottle of liquid smoke

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon barbeque spice

1 bottle of McCormick's Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning.

1 bottle of Season All



Instructions



1. Heat sauté pan to medium heat.



2. Add olive oil, jalapenos, garlic, and shallots.



3. Stir until brown.



4. Pour in ketchup.



5. Add orange juice, coke and molasses. Mix well.



6. Pour in brown sugar, liquid smoke, paprika, garlic salt, and barbecue spice.



7. Let sauce simmer to thicken....season to taste with McCormick's Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning.