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BAM! That's right, folks, it's time for a cooking contest! The food doesn't matter but whatever you do is all about presentation as we can't taste it. So make yourself a great dessert or a main course. Show a whole meal or a single dish. Doesn't matter. Multiple entries are allowed.

You may ask why I'm doing this so early. Mainly because I feel it'll take a little while to figure out what you want to cook, etc. This is one that will take a bit of preparation. Contest will end at the end of August and the winner gets their very own (preordered) copy of Civilization V!!

Make me hungry, folks!

Gah! I just made and ate a batch of honey BBQ wings before I saw this! I would have taken pictures if I knew.

A second course may be in order...

Ha. Good excuse for me to whip up an awesome batch of chili.

I don't cook much, so trying my hand at this should be interesting, to say the least.

I hope Tinwhistler likes Civilization 5.

Who's gonna be the first person dishonorable enough to take a picture of a store-bought or restaurant-bought dish?

Not it!

Cool! In about 2 weeks I'm making a dinosaur cake with meringue bones for my son's 5th birthday party. Hopefully it'll turn out nice enough for pics here.

Curse you.My monthly dinner party is already over and im waaay to lazy to cook beautyfull dishes more than once a month.

ooooo...... I am suppose to make stuff for this weekend I can cook different stuff and take picture

My kitchen sucks for serious cooking


Maybe I can get my parents to let me use their kitchen for a few hours

Stand and deliver, bitches! Up for grabs today is an all America meal. Terrorists, commies and the French need not apply.


BAM!

Coming at you like a patriot missile we have a quarter pound, all america beef patty between two buns of toasted freedom. What could possibly top this behemoth of a burger? Store brand ketchup, mustard and a dash of mayo because GOD DAMNIT YOU EARNED IT.

Served with our quarter pound of freedom is a side of lemon flavored potato chips to each down your throat and touch you in your naughty bits AND YOU'LL THANK IT!

What's that? You can't eat this gift from baby jesus all on it's own? you need something to wash it down? Well put a book over your crotch 'cause you're going to need to hide something when you take a look at this



Is that a jar full of mother fucking soda? I think that's a jar full of mother fucking soda.


Well halle-fucking-lula seems like you got the perfect meal to kick your day off there, petunia. But what ever happened to dinner and a show?



BAM! Madmen and Porn at the same time. enjoy that laptop on a table made of cinder blocks and a piece of wood.

So get on your knees and give thanks to Uncle Sam the only way you know how, peckerwood. It may be the 14th of July but it's never too late to celebrate your freedom by dropping a bomb on your stomach and liberating it from the boring ass fru-fru cakes you thought about eating.

Fuckin' A!

And we have a month and a half of this left! Awesome!

Definitely participating!


...once I get back from my vacation.

Cajungal said:

I hope Tinwhistler likes Civilization 5.

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Dude, I have competition. I was looking at Chibi's cupcakes with envy. And i think I saw some delicious stuff from wahad over in the dinner thread. You ain't no slouch yourself

But yeah, I'm definitely stepping up my A game on this one. I don't have a chance in most contests here. This is one I can really get into.

Tinwhistler said:

You ain't no slouch yourself

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It's nearly impossible for me to make food all fancy and pretty... but we'll see!

heh. I made some fried dumpling it was awesome. I gotta upload that.

I will try to make some fancy dessert this weekend and maybe cook some of my famous stew!

I have a fantastic idea (as Seej is aware) but I'm not much of a cook. So I'll have to win on creativity alone.

gonna bake some new cupcake this weekend. muhahahahahha

so, can we post pics early, or do we have to wait until august 1st?

Post any time you want.

cool I have been itching to make my first entry, but I was waiting in fear that I might get disqualified if I posted before August

The contest is under way, and I am kicking everyone's ass.

Frozen yogurt and fresh fruit in a hand-made tri-color chocolate shell garnished with Piroulines

Tin, those are positively gorgeous.

Wow.

Tinwhistler said:

Frozen yogurt and fresh fruit in a hand-made tri-color chocolate shell garnished with Piroulines

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and they tasted fecking fantastic!! I was shocked. It was a shame to eat them, they were so freakin pretty!

New submission!

Barbecue glazed country style ribs and grilled squash with a baby spring salad in a crisp Parmesan bowl.





Country style ribs aren't really a rib...they usually come from the pork shoulder. They're big and meaty, and require special cooking to keep from being tough. So, I slow-cooked them first to get them melt-in-your-mouth tender, and then finished them on the grill to give them that awesome crispy grilled taste and texture on the outside. I topped them with hickory smoked barbecue sauce after the first turning to give the sauce a chance to glaze on top. The bowl for the salad is completely edible, made entirely of Parmesan cheese, and both the entree and salad are matched with a duo of grilled summer squash and zucchini.

Fancier isn't always better.

Catfish Fillets hand-battered with a mixture of corn meal, garlic and onion powders, salt and pepper. Spring salad and fresh-shucked white-and-yellow corn on the cob on the side.

Tin's nice looking plates are giving him an unfair advantage.


:humph:

Tinwhistler said:

Frozen yogurt and fresh fruit in a hand-made tri-color chocolate shell garnished with Piroulines

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Those are beyond awesome. How'd you make the shells?

Seraphyn;423156][QUOTE=Tinwhistler said:

Frozen yogurt and fresh fruit in a hand-made tri-color chocolate shell garnished with Piroulines

Click to expand...

Those are beyond awesome. How'd you make the shells?[/QUOTE]

Balloons

I used these small dollar-store water balloons blown up to the size of about a tangerine. Dip, chill until set, slowly let the air out of the balloon, voila!

Wow. Impressive Tin. Now I gotta figure out an Entree

nothing fancy lately. The AC has been on the fritz, and the house has been between 80 and 90 degrees, so I've been making quick meals as opposed to fancy feasts. Hopefully, they'll still look appetizing, even if they don't look fancy.


Chicken fajitas. Calli wanted me to buy the pre-marinated stuff, but they didn't have it at Kroger, so I bought chicken thighs and made it from scratch. The peppers are a blend of bell pepper, grilled onion, and serrano peppers.


Hoisin glazed chicken, with arbol peppers. Served with dill sprinkled skillet potatoes and hand-made cole slaw.

Tonight we had frito pies. I didn't think it would be a worthy addition to the contest

Ooooo...what's Sin making?



Okay. So we have some white cake mix. Cool.



Wait, what? What the hell? Why would a person do that?



Is that colored gels?



Oh! That's pretty! Like a cake mix rainbow!



Oh wow....



OH WOW! Did I drop LSD or something? Wicked!


WHAT?! No pics of what is look like frosted and cut up?!

FUCK YOU SIN!

Psychedelic cake. Taste the rainbow!

LittleSin said:

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This picture is kind of what my bowl of chocolates looked like before I started dipping balloons into it I used less colors though

I forgot to mention the best p[art of my cake...FAT FREE.

I thought I'd get in on the action a little. I baked you all some pie.

LittleSin said:

Oh wow....

OH WOW! Did I drop LSD or something? Wicked!

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Made me think of the Lost Boys!



---------- Post added at 11:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 PM ----------

Lol, Dave!

My dinner tonight was so tasty I thought I should share especially since it looks so delicious.



In there I have carrots, a sweet onion, zucchini, yellow, red and orange sweet peppers, snow peas, spinach, and bean sprouts cooked with some extra virgin olive oil. Then I put it over a bed of brown rice and voila.


now my family thinks I am strange for bringing a camera to the table and egotistical to boot since I only took a picture of my cooking. Enjoy

This is the dinosaur cake I made for my son's birthday party. The white things around the cake are meringue bones.

That is adorable! And little sin, how in the hell do you make such a delicious-looking fat-free cake?! I'm guessing egg whites, skim milk, and banana?

If LS made the cake I think she did, I'm pretty sure it has diet lemon-lime soda in it.

That's the one!

I have the recipe bookmarked! I was going to make it for my son's birthday last year, but ended up doing something else. Was it hard to put together?

Confession time: This is the second time I tried to make it! The first cake fell apart because I under baked it.

So...yeh. There was a minute of frustration...make you you let the damn thing bake long enough and then set!

Appetizer time!

Start with shrimp


peel some avocado


Add some onion, parsley, and a nice lemony vinaigrette


Wait...cherry tomatoes?


Shrimp-stuffed cherry tomatoes


The eldest kid kept coming in for samples as I was making them. I hadda chase him out of the kitchen

Entree: Parmesan and cracked black pepper crusted pork chops with apple sauce
Soup: Squash and leek soup, topped with bacon and lemon-infused crème fraiche

Pork roast and rice with baby bella mushroom gravy
cauliflower with homemade cheddar and shallot sauce.

I think everyone else has given up.

I'm confident in my entry. Plus I might whip a lil' something something up to tip the scales.


/plots tin's downfall.

Dave said:

I think everyone else has given up.

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I knew I should have posted my dessert entry last

I just haven't had time to make something nice or when I have had the time I've scorched it. Now we're trying to use up all the food in the house since we're moving out next week. That does not make for pretty food. :\

I'm a little busy preparing for the new school year, but I'll try to get some stuff on ASAP. I will not part without at least one entry!

work has kept me busy plus all the stuff over the weekend that I need to do

The last few dishes have been good, but no real presentation. This time, I made a simple dish, but with a fancier presentation.

Braised round steak and rice tower with gravy paired with roast zucchini.

Oooohhhhh! That looks fantastic, Tin!

So we recently went to a meat market and got a 'combo pack' of various meats. They always give you a ton of ground beef with these things, and I get really tired of tacos, Hamburger Helper, and chili.

So, tonight on the "cheap eats" menu:
Albóndigas soup (Mexican meatball soup)


With carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, a touch of tomato, chili powder, cayenne, and a hint of cumin.

Awwwwww yeah baby, if there's one thing I know it's how to treat a lady right weather that's in the bedroom or out. They say that the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but baby it's 2010 and these things aren't gender exclusive anymore. But baby, I don't want just your heart, I want all you have to offer me.

To start, we have some chicken prepared in a most sexually satisfying way. What way is that, you ask?



Dino nuggets baby. Dino nuggets.

But you know that the sexiness of the dinosaurs isn't enough to satisfy your....hunger baby so that's why I added a recreation of their demise.



A mashed potato meteor that paves way for the future to bloom like our love, baby. But this isn't going to bring about a mass extinction baby but a mass ex-sex-tion. Awwwww yeah.

What's that you hear baby? The thunder? Well that might just be the sound of our love making rolling in like a quiet storm. Or it might be the sound of the Dr. Thunder that'll go with our platter of passionate love making foods.



It might say 10% more free but I'm sure it just means that there's 10% more free love to be made. Statistical impossibility or not, I've got 110% love to give you, baby.




Ain't no need to be nervous, baby. Body is my primary language and let me tell you, the way you rock yours I'll have all sorts of jobs for you. Mmmmmmhmmmmm awwright baby now why don't you go sit your pretty little thang down and we'll get ready for course one of an all you can love buffet.

Stay sexy, baby. Awwwww yeah.

Duck breast marinaded in red wine, served with rice and a side of roasted bell pepper, zucchini, sundried tomato and fresh basil fried up in the duck's fat.



Bonus closeup shot:



It may not have been as fancy as Tinwhistler's dessert, but I'll be damned if it wasn't a good meal.

(Possible other entry next week, but for now I'll stick with this)

Tin, your stuff is so amazing looking that I have begun to truly hate you with the full depths of ressentiment.

lol, you wouldn't say that if the internet had Taste O Vision

Tinwhistler said:

lol, you wouldn't say that if the internet had Taste O Vision

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Heh, Calli thinks that I was implying my food is terrible here. I was trying to say that my food tastes so good you'd love me

Anyway, tonight's dinner:

spice rubbed kebabs with broccoli and cheese rice

I hate you out of jealousy. I can cook fairly decently, but it is very simple stuff and I don't have anything like your presentation techniques. If you ever feel a green-hot burning on the back of your neck, that is my ENVY-RAY.

Add another to the "what to do with ground beef?" category. I made dirty rice.



Heat olive oil in a large pot, add caribbean jerk spice, 2 cubes of beef bullion (crumbled), garlic powder, chili powder, coarse ground pepper, and salt. Cook until the aromas are released.

Add two diced bell peppers and one diced onion. Cook until soft.

Add one pound hamburger. Cook until firm...that means cook it until it's 'grey' (which is where most people consider it done) and continue to cook it until it's actually brown.

Add 1 drained and rinsed can of red kidney beans, 4 cups of water, and 2 cups of rice. Stir. Simmer for about 20-25 minutes.

So freaking awesome. Especially with a little tabasco.

Note to self: take pictures of food tomorrow.

Tonight: Ranger's leftover special.

Start with yesterday's leftover bolognese sauce. A pound and a half of ground beef, Heinz ketchup, flour, water, paprika, oregano, basil, pepper.


Pick up two slices of graham toast.


Lather 'em liberally with the sauce.


Grate some cheese on top. I know, I know, it's cheapo cream cheese.


Pop in the microwave oven for a minute, minute and a half...


Serve immediately. NOM NOM NOM.

My pizza recipe:

crust:
3 cups AP flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons dry active yeast, bloomed in warm water.

Combine ingredients in mixing bowl, mix until dough is smooth to touch.
Cover, let rise for 1 hour. Deflate dough (punch or poke it down), let rise again, roughly 40 minutes.
Halve dough into two lumps, roll out each on floured surface to desired thickness.
Place dough on baking sheet and preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Add pizza sauce, oregano and basil to taste, red pepper flakes, 1 cup shredded mozzarella and 1/2 cup shredded provolone on each pizza, as well as any toppings you desire.

Bake in 425 degree oven for 23 minutes or until cheese has bubbled and is browning. Remove from oven, slice, and enjoy.

Got a hankering for some late night snack. But I didn't want anything heavy, so I took some bananas, an apple and a piece of watermelon I had bought today (it's a rare treat since watermelon can get crappy so easily)... and I made me some fruit salad:

There's only a week left - shit, not EVEN a week left! - in the contest. Civ V, people!

Zucchini filled with ground beef and cheese, served with a spicy tomato/thyme sauce and mustard-mashed potatoes.

Tikaa masala, channa masala, rice, flatbread, hummus, papadums

Papadums are kind of neat...when you fry them up, they expand like 33% in the oil.

Chickpeas have a special place in Indian food. The channa masala, papadums, and hummus all have chickpea as a primary ingredient.

The tikka masala is a little spicy. It's got roast chicken in a tomato and yogurt based sauce.

The channa masala has chickpeas and onions in a slightly citrusy sauce with hints of ginger, garlic, and coriander.

The popadums weren't made from scratch, but rather, from a package filled with little wonton looking things that you throw in the fryer.

The hummus was totally from scratch, because that's really the only way to get good hummus. This batch was made with chickpea, olive oil, cracked pepper, lemon and cumin.

Jesus Christ, Tin... where did you learn to cook? Or why is it that everything you make looks so damn festive and restaurant-style?

Well, I did work at taco bell when I was a teen

Well, Tin's got this one in the bag, so I don't see any point in anyone trying to enter. Seriously, his stuff looks better than half the restaurants Gordon fucking Ramsey visits on Kitchen Nightmares.

Oh c'mon now...they're not all that. A lot of my stuff looks pretty plain to me.

Tinwhistler said:

Oh c'mon now...they're not all that. A lot of my stuff looks pretty plain to me.

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To you, but you submitted so many entries you probably eat stuff like this every day! I'll have to admit, I was daunted by your entries before my first one. I entered anyway because I love cooking, but still. You, sir, are a mighty fine cook.

What, everyone's conceding the contest to Tin? Well, they might have a point

But still! I had what I thought were some good ideas, so here we go...

First, kind of a steak sushi. I was actually going to do a much simpler steak, rice and veggies thing but then I saw Wahad's entry, so I switched things up a bit. Juicy cuts of ribeye on modified sushi rice (I used red wine vinegar instead of the traditional rice vinegar), along with some seared onion slices in place of the nori. The steak and rice were good, but it was the onion that really tied things together. The dip is a pan sauce of red wine and soy.



Second is a dessert, and the main reason why I decided to enter the cooking contest. A crispy bacon shell filled with honey caramel, dipped in milk chocolate and sprinkled with toasted and salted nuts. Unfortunately, the bacon lost some crispness, but the smoky flavor went rather well with the sweetness of the caramel and chocolate.



Anyway, I hope the pictures look as good as they tasted

Not certain about the bacon desert, but that dinner looks fabulous Drifter.

Wahad and Drifter come in at the end and make this a contest! But I'd be lying if I didn't say the burger on page 1 didn't look good.

yeah, but that steak looks perfectly cooked. I'm drooling looking at it.

Dave said:

Wahad and Drifter come in at the end and make this a contest! But I'd be lying if I didn't say the burger on page 1 didn't look good.

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:smug:

Filet Mignon tower, topped with fried onions and capers paired with roasted artichoke hearts and sweet potato fries. I like my fillet bloody. My son likes his well done. I was too ashamed to take a picture of his.

and here's a slightly bigger pic at a different angle hopefully showing better view of the tower structure

Well while my presentation skills may not be up to Tin's (god damnit man, holy crap!), my wife (who also posts here, Dirona) and I still make a good showing in terms of "Nom Nom Nom" factor.

All of the below photos are available at our Home Cooking album on picasa.

First of all, Bean Soup & Cheddar Beer Bread:


And a comparison between the dish and the cookbook it was from:


My Wife made this awesome Carrot & Pineapple Cake:


And then some Gingerbread Men we brought to a Christmas party. We used ABC cutouts for them (Already Been Chewed)


More to come shortly!

Continuing from above, our Christmas Dinner we prepared:

The Turkey:


The whole meal:


And then the Valentine's day Crown roast of Lamb I prepared (thank you Alton Brown!)


It's with garlic-parsley roasted potatoes, and asparagus.

And the great dessert my wife made:


Not much more to come, but some!

Last entries from my wife and I:

Her awesome Cinnamon buns.
In the pan:

After baking:


My Wife's Gnocchi:


Her Butter Chicken:


Microwave Bread. Yes I'm serious, we made this in the MICROWAVE.


From the first post, we have even more on my picasa page, but these are the "official" entries.

Enjoy all!

Christmas dinner? I thought we were supposed to post pics of food we cooked this month.

I got about 50 more pics I can post otherwise

Please don't, Tin. You're already so far ahead that posting again in this thread would cross the line from winning to pure dickery.

Null said:

Please don't, Tin. You're already so far ahead that posting again in this thread would cross the line from winning to pure dickery.

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Heh, you act like I'm a sure thing. I'm seriously concerned at a couple of those dishes up there.

Tinwhistler;433243][QUOTE=Null said:

Please don't, Tin. You're already so far ahead that posting again in this thread would cross the line from winning to pure dickery.

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Heh, you act like I'm a sure thing. I'm seriously concerned at a couple of those dishes up there.[/QUOTE]

You better. My awesome bolognese sauce on toast puts the fear of God in people

Ah shit, I forgot yesterday was the end of the contest. I was going to post my specialty, the 'poche chaude.' A surefire winner.