We are planning on re-launching the site... so time for a re-design.... and it's probably not the last one...

But... it is fun to do.

I'm so far behind it's pathetic... if I ever get caught up it'll be a miracle.

But it'll be worth you sticking around or checking in because I've really made some great stuff.

I didin't know where to put this one at first... was it a pork recipe because of the sausage or was it a chicken recipe or was it pasta?

In the end, it doesn't matter where I file it as long as you try it.

Sorry, no pictures, I was in a rush and actually got this one cooked in ~30 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 package italian sausage - out of casings

3 large chicken breasts - cubed into bite size pieces

1 cube tomato / chicken bullion

2 cups water

1 can tomato paste (small can) 

1 package vermicille

Fixin' it:

Bring 2 cups water to a boil with bullion cube - once boliing reached and cube fully dissolved, turn heat to low to keep warm and add tomato paste and stir to mix.

Over medium high heat, brown the sausage (out of the casings) - break the sausage up into bite size chunks while it's cooking.

Once just about cooked remove sausage and cover in a dish.

Add the chicken and let it brown on each side ~3 minutes each - remove the chicken and add to the container with the sausage.

Toss in the vermicille and cook until golden brown 3-5 minutes.  Depending upon the quality of sausage and amount of chicken, an extra 1/2 tbs of oil may need to be added to help the pasta brown.

Add in the broth mix (from the water / buillion / tomato paste).

Add the meat back to the mix. Mix everything well.

If needed, add some chicken broth to bring the liquid level up to where most of the pasta is covered, but don't worry about covering everything.

Bring it all to a boil, cover with a lid and reduce heat to med-low and let simmer for 10 - 12 minutes.

Once complete, indulge in some of the best tasting stuff ever. 

The local HEB had some chipotle bacon last year... and it went away before I had a chance to learn about how great it was.

So, I asked and asked and asked... and it showed back up.

I bought some.

It was great.

I went to buy more and every freakin' package was a week past it's use by date.

I'll probably never see it again.

It's a sad, sad, sad day at Mako's Kitchen.

If you have the opportunity to buy some chipotle bacon... you must.  Don't think it's too hot, it's not.  It tastes just wonderful.

The best part of it?

The house smells GREAT for at least 2 days... and not like IHOP.

And to think, I had some really great plans for chipotle bacon recipes.

Normally I don't put things up without pictures... but this one was such a hit today, that I wanted to go ahead and get it out so that I wouldn't forget what I did.  I didn't get exact measurements of some things, but that will leave some of the fun up to you.

It's a progression upon this other chipotle chicken / cream sauce recipe... and I believe turns out even better.

Ingredients:

Chipotle Chicken 

~4 lbs chicken breasts

chipotle chili powder

fajita seasoning

1 lime

Worceswhatever sauce

Cream Sauce

2 tbs butter (unsalted) 

1 shallot

2 cloves garlic

1 orange pepper

1 red pepper

some seasoning from the chipotle chicken

16 oz cream

What to do:

Chipotle Chicken

Mix ~2 tsp chipotle chili powder with ~1/2 tsp of fajita seasoning (these are guesstimates for now)

Trim the chicken breasts of any remaining fat and junk and put into a container (casserole dish works well for me).

Squeeze the juice of 1 lime over the chicken

Add a couple of dashes of worceshwhatever sauce

Sprinkle the chipotle season mix over the chicken, turn and sprinkle again.  If you run out, make some more.  You'll need some extra for later.

It's best to let this sit for a while but if you don't have time, that's fine.

Arrange in your favorite baking pan / dish and bake at 350 for 30 - 45 minutes.  Grilling these would be preferred, but do what you gotta.

Once cooked, slice chicken as you would for fajitas (into strips) 

Cilantro Cream Sauce

Some prep work makes this go faster... chop / dice your shallot and garlic.  Cut up the peppers into strips.

Starting with a pan heated on med-high, add 2 tbs butter and let go until melted and starting to bubble.

Add the shallots and suate for a couple of minutes

Add the garlic and saute for a couple more minutes

Add the orange and red peppers as well as a good sprinkling of the seasoning from above and saute until softened

Add the cream and bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low.  Stir well and let the flavors come together. 

Serving:

Plop down some fettucine pasta, add a serving of chicken and laddle some of the cream sauce over, picking up as many or as few of the vegetables as you would like.

 

NOTES:

The most difficult part of this recipe is getting your pasta, chicken and sauce ready at the same time.  So, my tip is to start the chicken first... if it gets done and you aren't ready for it, slice it and put in a container covered with aluminum foil.  It'll keep warm enough.

If you want to really kick in some chipotle flavor, then start the cream sauce by browning up some chipotle bacon.  Once cooked, remove the bacon for later and then start the shallots and so forth.  Once complete, top the entire plate with some of the bacon. 

This was more than enough for 5 adults and 3 kids... with left overs.  Enough so, that Mrs. Mako made up some spicy soup with the left over chicken.

Kathy over at StartCooking has tagged me with a "5 things you don't know"...

I plan on playing the game... but you'll have to check back over the weekend when I get some time.  What did you expect... my last post was talking about January's backlog and it's already February.

Time flies...

UPDATE:

OK, I've had some time to sit down and think about what to put here... and it's apparent I suck at this type of stuff because this is all I got...

1 - I'm an Aggie.

2 - I like taking pictures of other things

3 - While I like most of the you-tube video's that people refer me to, I can't figure out why anyone wastes their time browsing the crap in there. 

4 - I'm a co-author on a patent

5 - I like ho's

Yeah, I know... the next step is to tag some others... but not today.

When making up your chicken enchiladas... do ALL of us a favor and trim that last bit of gristle and fat from the chicken before cooking or using it.

Plain and simple - NOBODY likes to bit into an enchilada and taste that bit of tough stuff that used to be part of the joint going to the wing.

TRUST me the itty-bitty-tiny piece of meat that you end up throwing away when you trim it is worth it if one freakin' person has to dispose of a piece of meat in the napkin vs. in the gut.

Got'it!?   Good.

I've got some new recipes coming down the pipeline so I thought I'd give you a teaser...

The basic chocolate chip cookie... with tips on how to not over cook them.

Chipotle seasoned hamburgers that get done up on the stove top (but work on the grill as well). 

"After dinner mints" no longer have to come in foil like packages after you try these Chocolate Mint Cookies. 

These and more coming your way.

It may seem like a great idea at first.  But then something happens that you should have thought about... but you didn't.

That was my experience today when I thought that adding a link of garlic sausage to a slow cooked BBQ Roast would add some extra flavor and be great.

Sausage + Slow Cooker = Trapped Fat

Fat from the beef does it thing... but fat from this sausage was just grease.

Next time, I'm just adding a couple cloves of garlic and cooking the sausage in a pan.

Learn from your mistakes...