Posted October 12th, 2015 by Chris
It’s started to cool off in Chicago and a few leaves have fallen off the trees we stack between lanes in the road, so that means it’s time for Fall comfort food! We’ve got some warm, toasty foods (and mixed drink!) planned for you this Wednesday!
When: October 14th. Cooking at 6:30. Food by 8pm-ish
What: Smoked Pork Sausage with Hard-Cider Sauce, Mom’s Thanksgiving Stuffing, Butternut squash soup, Cinnamon Toast mixed drink
As usual, beer is always encouraged (hooray Fall beers!), but with the mixed drink options, if you would like, you are always welcome to bring cookies or pie or some other dessert-like dish. Bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.
/Chris
Posted October 12th, 2015 by Chris
Jeremy had a good birthday with ~18 people showing up. Woo!
Chicken & Waffles – http://allrecipes.com/recipe/22180/waffles-i/
The waffles came out pretty good, had a ton left over, even with how many people showed up. The chicken was Harold’s, so it was, of course, awesome.
Biscuits and Gravy – http://prepared-housewives.com/easy-country-biscuits-from-scratch/ , http://allrecipes.com/recipe/65104/moms-country-gravy/
I only had the meat gravy, but the biscuits came out perfect.
Bacon – it’s bacon…
Everybody liked it and there were no leftovers.
Molten chocolate cookies -Sarah’s secret recipe
Sarah made these and they were fantastic.
Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake -Sarah’s secret recipe
Another Sarah specialty, it was great as always.
Ice Cream Bar with Homemade Salted Caramel -Sarah’s secret recipe
Homemade whip cream and salted caramel sauce, what’s not to like?
Homemade Whipped Cream -Sarah’s secret recipe
Used with the ice cream sundae bar, mmmmm…
Posted September 28th, 2015 by Chris
Hi Kids,
No matter how hard I try to avoid it, I somehow manage to age every year. This year that will occur during cooking army. And therefore, because I am greedy and largely disbelieving that other people actually have souls, we are doing food I want this week. What I want is some savory breakfasts and some nice sweet desserts. In America one of the things we actually do better than everyone else is breakfast. However, we never feel the need to have dessert with this meal A) because it’s always so large that doing so would be absurd and B) because we have enough breakfast dishes that are actually desserts in disguise that even we can’t be that hedonistic. Well, I say balderdash and harrumph to that notion. Hedonism for all; long lives for none.
Items!
When: This Wednesday, September 30th. Cooking at 6:30, stuff available as soon as 7
What: Biscuits and Gravy, Chicken and Waffles, Molten Chocolate Cookies, Pound Cake, Ice Cream Bar with Homemade Salted Caramel, Homemade Whipped Cream and all other type things.
Staring at this menu, I can’t really make any specific recommendations on what to bring for drinks, but I’m sure your livers will whisper the answer to you at some point. And, as usual, feel free to drag any of your friends, especially if they aren’t American, to stare at the spectacle of our overindulgence. It’s time to eat.
-Jeremy
Posted September 14th, 2015 by Chris
Are you ready for some football? I’m not. I think it should die a death as violent as the game itself. There is, however, an upside to the ritualistic clashing of 300 pound men and the inevitable concussions that follow and that’s the ritualistic gathering of friends to eat grilled meats and over consume beer in anticipation of watching grow men hurt themselves. This ritual is called tailgating. And it’s coming to Cooking Army.
The warm days of 2015 are slowly drawing to a close so this also gives us an excuse to fire up the grill one last time for the year. How very sad.
Details!
When: Wednesday, September 16th, cooking starts at 6:30, dinner by 7:30
What: MEATS!, potato salad, pasta salad
Bring your cooler full of beer, bring your parka and long johns, bring your friends. It’s time to eat!
Posted July 29th, 2015 by Chris
Had a good turn out and there were no bad recipes. Win!
Poutine – http://www.food.com/recipe/real-canadian-poutine-113388, http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegetarian-gravy/
This was a little rough, the gravy turned out great, but the “fries” took forever and we probably made way too much of them. Next time, a single sack of potatoes is plenty.
Maple-Glazed Salmon – http://www.canadianliving.com/food/maple_glazed_salmon.php
This was simple and AWESOME! So good…
Canadian Bacon in Wine Sauce – http://www.cooks.com/recipe/cs1t271q/canadian-bacon-in-wine-sauce.html
Everybody liked it and there were no leftovers.
Apple Snow with Preserved Ginger – http://www.canadianliving.com/food/baking_and_desserts/apple_snow_with_preserved_ginger.php
Basically homemade apple sauce with some extra stuff in it, turned out pretty tasty.
Posted June 22nd, 2015 by Chris
Hey there, eh?
Sorry for the delays in getting this out, we’re drawing our inspiration this week from our neighbors to the North, America’s hat, Canada. Some of their weather seems to be sticking around in Chicago right now, so why not bring their fancy meats and syrup too? We’ll be deep frying potatoes and making our own gravy, as well as mixing it with cheese for what can only be described as a direct assault on your arteries. Sorry! Hopefully we don’t burn down the place in the attempt.
Sorry!
When: This Wednesday, June 24th. Food ready by 7:30.
What: Poutine, Maple-glazed Salmon, Canadian Bacon in Wine Sauce, Apple Snow with Preserved Ginger
Bring your friends, put on your favorite lumberjack tune, grab a six-pack of LaBatt, and come on over. Sorry, it’s time to eat.
/Chris
Posted March 28th, 2015 by Chris
This Cooking Army was great, all the recipes were so good, we didn’t have ANY leftovers. And we cooked roughly 12 lbs of meat for about 11-13 people. Only downside was that since everything was baked (and at different temperatures), we didn’t finish cooking until 9pm.
Pomegranate and Gorgonzola Stuffed Pork Tenderloin Recipe – http://fitbottomedeats.com/2014/05/pork-tenderloin-recipe/
A little bit of gorgonzola goes a long way. This ended up not cooking through quite as much as we would have liked, but it was still tasty.
Stuffed Tomatoes With Gruyère – http://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/04/30/stuffed-tomatoes-gruy%C3%A8re
This was probably our best item of the night, the fresh basil and parsley was awesome. The recipe made WAY too much of the breadcrumb stuffing, but it’ll be perfect for some meatloaf.
Stuffed Tomato Basil Chicken – http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Stuffed-Tomato-Basil-Chicken/Detail.aspx
This came out perfect, just the right amount of cheese (parmesan and provolone) and it baked in the chicken juice and bacon grease, so it didn’t dry out at all.
Bacon-Wrapped Dates – http://www.popsugar.com/food/Recipe-Bacon-Wrapped-Dates-4952556
So simple and yet, one of our favorites and quick to make.
Posted March 24th, 2015 by Chris
Howdy folks!
You know those Russian dolls that open up and there’s another doll inside and then another one inside of that one? Well, I have one and it inspired me this week to see if we could cook a bunch of delicious things stuffed inside other delicious things. That’s right, I’m going to get stuffed! Or attempt to stuff you… with food that’s inside of food. Like the Inception of food… mmm… stuffing.
When: This Wednesday, March 25th. Cooking starts at 6:30. Food ready by 7:30.
What: Pomegranate and Gorgonzola Stuffed Pork Tenderloin, Stuffed Tomato Basil Chicken, Stuffed Tomatoes With Gruyère, Bacon Wrapped Dates
While there is no thanksgiving stuffing to be had, we encourage you to bring drinks of all kinds: beer, wine, mixed drinks, whatever’s your fancy. Prepare to stuff your face: bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.
/Chris
Posted February 25th, 2015 by Chris
Eaters,
I’ve been working hard to learn to cook fish. People keep telling me it’s healthy and stuff, but really it’s just expensive. I’ve found some great recipes to practice at home, unfortunately none of them are easy to make for cooking army. I give you fish that scales well.
When: This Wednesday, February 25th. Cooking starts at 6:30. Food ready by 7:30.
What: Fish green curry with rice, Pasta with fish, Crispy Fish Sticks, Bourride (poached fish with garlic mayonaise soup)
Bring booze please. I know people say white wine with, but I don’t know that many people that actually like white wine…
Come eat,
Jason
Posted February 9th, 2015 by Chris
China. Its global domination will soon be upon us. But if my viewing of popular science fiction is any indication (which it certainly is), at least we will soon be flying across the Verse, hiring a crew, finding a job, and keeping on flying. Until that time, though, we might as well get used to the native cuisine that we hijacked and made our own and then sold back to them with true red, white, and blue American grit, determination, and elbow grease. It’s Americanized food so there’s guaranteed to be some sort of grease involved. So come join us for our next Cooking Army featuring “Chinese” food. We’ll be serving up some of your favorite dishes you order from your local hole-in-the-wall Chinese place.
Stuff and junk!
When: Wednesday, February 11th, dinner at 7:30, cooking at 6:30
What: Veggie Fried Rice, General Tsao’s Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken
Bring your friends, bring your hardened arteries, it’s time to eat.