Category: One Tablespoon Testosterone

Main Dishes, One Tablespoon Testosterone, Recipes, Seafood and Fish

OTT: Citrus Tilapia

Sarah

This is a guest post from my husband, Ben. Periodically, he has agreed to share some of his favorite recipes with you in a guest post column entitled One Tablespoon Testosterone, or OTT for short. Enjoy!

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Citrus Tilapia | thepajamachef.com
The whole cast of characters.

Bonjour and bienvenue!  This is my latest Monday night meal.  With Sarah being on campus until 6, I take control of the kitchen on these days this semester.  Well, since my lovely wife was ill the previous week, I wanted to make a “real” dinner this past Monday.  So, in a brash display of something far shy of wisdom, I decided to make up my own recipe.  I really like fish.  I also really like citrus flavors, and my experience tells me that these two things fit together nicely.  So I came up with the following.

Citrus Tilapia

Ingredients:

  • tilapia filets (as many as needed to feed your family)
  • lime juice (roughly 1 T per filet)
  • lemon pepper (we have one that you grind, but approximately 1/2 t per filet for the marinade, and more to taste sprinkled on top)
  • orange zest (roughly 1/2 t per filet)
  • dried cilantro

Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line baking dish with foil and cover lightly with cooking spray (you don’t have to use foil, but if you don’t definitely use cooking spray or grease the pan in some way).  Place filets in baking dish.  In small bowl combine lime juice, lemon pepper, and orange zest to make marinade.  Brush the marinade onto the filets, coating evenly.  I used the entirety of my marinade, but as long as they’re all well covered that’s what matters.  Sprinkle lemon pepper and dried cilantro to taste on top of filets.  Bake in oven for 9-11 minutes or until fish flakes easily.  Serve with your choice of sides.  I made a tasty salad and homemade fries!  Eat until full, take a break, come back, and eat some more.  Yum.

Salad to serve with Citrus Tilapia | thepajamachef.com
This is my salad (obviously). It’s made with romaine lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, dried blueberries, craisins, dried papaya and topped with two slices of orange, homemade croutons and poppyseed dressing.
Fries to serve with Citrus Tilapia | thepajamachef.com
These fries were baked in the oven for about ten minutes longer than the fish at the same temperature. They’re made from red potatoes coated in olive oil and sprinkled with lemon pepper and kosher salt. Excellent.

In lieu of a related question, I will ask what has been running around in my mind recently.

What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Personally, I would root for Michigan and the Patriots in the same weekend. Oh, the horrors! (As long as OSU isn’t playing Michigan. That’s pushing it. No food is worth that!)

Appetizers, One Tablespoon Testosterone, Recipes

OTT: Buffalo Ranch Chicken Dip

Sarah

This is a guest post from my husband, Ben. Periodically, he has agreed to share some of his favorite recipes with you in a guest post column entitled One Tablespoon Testosterone, or OTT for short. Enjoy!

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Buffalo Ranch Chicken Dip | thepajamachef.com #appetizers #dips
Close-up view of the roiling seas of buffalo and ranch. The chicken didn’t stand a chance as wave after wave of flavor crashed upon it, permanently embedding itself in the already tasty fowl.

It’s time to celebrate.  To celebrate a rich tradition that is as old as time; perhaps older.  That’s right, it’s football season again.  And to kick off the first big game of the season, you need a recipe that can lead you to victory.  Put away the vegetable tray, it’s time for a real snack:  buffalo ranch chicken dip.

Now I’d like to preface this by stating something that many of you may find borderline offensive.  In my opinion, ranch dressing rates very high on my most overrated food list (Equally offensive:  peanut butter is on there too.  Now this isn’t to say that I dislike peanut butter, I’m just not buying the hype.  I don’t need a spoonful right out of the jar.  I don’t need it every single day of my life.  I don’t want all my sweets to taste strongly of it.  And ranch, I don’t need to dip every savory appetizer or finger food in you.  So many people make these two items out to be the epitome all of that is delicious, and that just rubs me the wrong way.  They taste just fine, but they are significantly overrated.  Also worth noting, the worst offense regarding these two items is the following:  I actually knew someone who ate peanut butter and ranch sandwiches.  Seriously.  It’s exactly how it sounds.  PB & J – the J + ranch.  I shall say no more.).  But this dish opened my taste buds to what ranch used properly can do.  And it is glorious.  Without further ado, the recipe.

Buffalo Ranch Chicken Dip

  • Servings: ~10
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from Sarah’s friend Kelly

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
  • 16 oz cream cheese (or Neufchatel!!!)
  • 1 c ranch dressing
  • 3/4 c hot sauce (I like Frank’s)
  • 1 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:  Poach your chicken breast.  You can cut it up into smaller pieces prior to poaching so it’ll cook faster, or you can just cut it up after it’s cooked (my method).  Heat the cooked chicken and hot sauce on the stove until heated through.  Stir in the cream cheese and ranch dressing.  Mix in half the shredded cheese.  Transfer to a slow cooker (the cream cheese does not need to be fully melted at this point).  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top, cover, and cook on low until bubbly.  Serve with tortilla chips and Ohio State football games.  Yields not nearly enough servings (for this hungry football fan, anyway).

The chips, eager to bathe in the incarnate awesomeness, surround the bowl in dipping formation.
The chips, eager to bathe in the incarnate awesomeness, surround the bowl in dipping formation.

What do you think are the most overrated foods?

Beef, Main Dishes, One Tablespoon Testosterone, Recipes

OTT: Chili Burgers

Sarah

This is a guest post from my husband, Ben. Periodically, he has agreed to share some of his favorite recipes with you in a guest post column entitled One Tablespoon Testosterone, or OTT for short. View his other post here. Enjoy!

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Hello and welcome!  I have returned for another edition of my guest post column.  You may begin seeing me on a more regular basis (frightening, I know) as I will be performing the cooking duties on Monday nights this semester.  So without further ado, I present the most recent meal I’ve made.  As summer fades into the colorful hues of autumn, nights spent by the grill dwindle.  So as a last ode to summer’s perfect grilling weather, I present the following recipe that has been adapted from the blog Delightful Country Cookin’.

Chili Burgers | thepajamachef.com

Chili Burgers

  • Servings: 4
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from Delightful Country Cookin’

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon BBQ sauce
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teasoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into medium size bowl, except the meat.  Feel free to adjust the seasoning amounts or add some other delicious ingredients.  To make it spicier, add some cajun seasoning and red pepper flakes and/or increase the amount of hot sauce.  For BBQ burgers, get rid of the chili powder and significantly increase BBQ sauce.  The way I made them was very strong on the chili flavoring, but make these marinated burgers with just about any combination of these or other spices and you should be well-pleased.

After this is all mixed together, take the meat and massage it into the meat.  Then refrigerate for at least a couple of hours, even overnight (which is what I did).  Let that flavor soak in.

Prepare your grill, whatever that involves for you.  I go old school charcoal grill, but it’s a nice charcoal grill.  Whatever you use, it should be a grill.  That’s the point of this recipe, right?  But anyway, form the meat into patties and place them on your charcoal/gas/Foreman grill.  Cook to perfection.  Remove burgers from grill.  Eat burgers.  Enjoy burgers.  Think about bacon.  Then enjoy another burger.

Until next time, enjoy my wife’s blog posts.  I’m Ben, signing off with One Tablespoon Testosterone.

Breakfast, Meat, One Tablespoon Testosterone, Recipes

OTT: Brown Sugar Bacon Twists

Sarah

This is a guest post from my husband, Ben. Periodically, he has agreed to share some of his favorite recipes with you–and this is his first. He has entitled his guest post column, One Tablespoon Testosterone, or OTT for short. Enjoy!

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Hello all.  I’m here to add a slightly more masculine variation to this blog.  While I don’t claim to have the cooking experience my wife does, I’m not an incompetent bumbling oaf in the kitchen either.  But I do like man food.  Like bacon.  Mmmm…nothing makes me happier food-wise than bacon.  So today I’ll share a recipe I made with bacon as the main ingredient… too bad they didn’t use my recipe last night when bacon was the featured ingredient on The Next Food Network Star.

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists

  • Servings: 8+
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from the Peace Meals cookbook by the Junior League of Houston

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound bacon (16 slices [the amount, of course, can be adjusted to fit the number of people you’re serving…this amount serves 1 bacon fanatic such as myself…actually my wife would have a heart attack if she found out I ate a whole pound of bacon, then I would have a heart attack because I ate a whole pound of bacon])
  • 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup awesome

Directions:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; place a wire rack on top of the sheet.  I don’t have a wire baking rack (or at least one that my wife would let me place in the oven), so I just use one of the oven racks, and place the rimmed baking sheet on the bottom oven rack to catch the grease.  Sprinkle the bacon evenly with the sugar and pepper.  The amounts for this are really subjective to your personal tastes.  More brown sugar and less pepper make it sweeter, more pepper gives it a little more kick (which I like).  You can also add cinnamon.  Tightly twist each slice to form a spiral.  Bake until the bacon is crisp and browned, about 30-35 minutes.

How long you cook them is also subjective to your tastes.  The first time I made these I cooked them almost 35 minutes and they were crispier than I would have liked.  This time, it wasn’t even 25 minutes and they were still soft, but perfectly cooked as far as bacon goes (in my opinion).  So you just have to decide how crispy you want them.

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Okay, I think this about wraps up my first guest post.  I don’t have much else to say about this recipe…or anything else for that matter.  I’ll be back (if my wife lets me) in the future with more man-approved recipes (mancipes?) or just random other things I find amusing for which I’ll use my wife’s blog as an outlet.  In conclusion, bacon makes everything better.  Everything.