cook's profile


jozcookn
 
Home Town: Oakland, California, USA
Living In: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Member Since: Nov. 2004
Cooking Level: Expert
Cooking Interests: Baking, Slow Cooking, Mexican, Italian, Southern, Nouvelle, Mediterranean, Dessert, Quick & Easy, Gourmet
Hobbies: Hiking/Camping, Walking
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About this Cook
I use to burn water. When I got on my own, the quality of meals did not always warrant their prices. I decide to see if I could do better myself. I have grown to be an excellent cook. Still a bit clumsy in the kitchen, not the best quick chopper (fingernails are kept short so they do not end up in what I cook). Constantly learning. I usually order what I do not want to cook myself. Especially things that have lots of ingredients, unusual ingredients to or deep fried. I work out so I can eat what I want. Unfortunately, I'm still going to have to eat a more healthy with the 'ol metabolism slowing down.
My favorite things to cook
Love to bake anything. Cookies, cupcakes and entrees are my signatures.
My favorite family cooking traditions
None. My brothers and I were latch key kids. Mom and Dad worked long hours and seven days a week to provide us with a comfortable home and a good education.
My cooking triumphs
I made a homemade polenta lasagna that took me 3 days of prep. "Noodles" were made of a homemade herb and cheese blend polenta cooled and sliced thin. Homemade tomato sauce and a homemade ragu was the next day. 3rd day was the assembly and cooking. Tasted awesome but a lot of work.
My cooking tragedies
Not many tragedies in recent history. Made a shark steak into a piece of wood by overcooking a few years back.
Recipe Reviews 7 reviews
Chipotle Honey Roasted Peanuts
Pretty difficult to find chipotle powder. I finally found flakes in a grinder top bottle. My wrists are tired from the grinding. I used 2 teaspoons of the stuff and upped the chili and garlic powders from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon. I used 1/2 salt skinless roasted peanuts from Trader Joe's. I did not read the instructions correctly and put the salt in the dry mixture instead of the butter/ honey mixture. These turned out great. Not very spicy. So, if you like spicy, I would add a sprinkle of cayenne. I don't really care for peanuts but these were hard to resist. Keeper recipe!

9 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: May 31, 2010
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies II
These did not do it for me. I was excited with all the great reviews. They tasted okay - nothing special. I have made so much better, but I'm always looking for easier/tastier. I'm a seasoned baker and maybe it just did not work because I doubled the recipe. I used softened butter but still the cookies flowed too much on the ungreased cookie sheet. So, I tried parchment, still did not work. I refrigerated the dough overnight and tried the same the next day with similar results. I even tried different temps and times. I finally plopped double the amount into muffin cups baked for 20 min at 350 and it turned out like molten chocolate cakes.

0 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Feb. 4, 2010
Avocado Watermelon Spinach Salad
Once I found the perfect watermelon I decided to try the recipe. I was skeptical at first, but holy moley it was delicious (my final recipe). I have made this salad several times. I made as is first time and it was pretty good. Then I read reviews and added the feta which brings in the next level of complexity with the sweet of the watermelon and the salty of the feta. I finalized with arugula (gives it the bitter bite), perfect melon, feta, homemade vinaigrette and sliced and fanned the avocado for presentation. Soooo, good and refreshing, especially for Phoenix.

2 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Aug. 10, 2009
 
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