Every once in a while, my wife and I decide it’s time to take inventory of what food we have in our house, because it tends to start overflowing in the refrigerator(s) and pantry(ies). And by -ies I mean in bags on a shelf in the basement. So I went and took inventory and one thing we had overstock in was frozen chicken breast. I asked my wife what we should make — let’s call my wife Jenny, because, well, that’s her name. She said, “How about we pound the chicken flat, stuff with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes and roll them up? I thought for half a second and said, “Brilliant!”

I’ve been the main cook in our house, but Jenny has been cooking 1-2 times per week lately. Still, this recipe was all on me to execute, while she made the sides. Jenny wrote on a little chalkboard, “Tonight: Chicken with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes with a nice array of vegetables.” She was in charge of the vegetables–roasted asparagus and red and yellow bell peppers. I set out to make the main event.

So I cut the chicken breasts into 3-4 oz. pieces and then pounded them flat in a large zip-lock bag. I sauteed some spinach in olive oil and added salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, and when cool enough added about 1/4 cup of slivered sun dried tomatoes (from a jar packed in oil). Then I placed a small mound of spinach mixture on each chicken breast piece, and rolled them up, securing with a toothpick. Obviously you cannot pan fry them with toothpicks sticking out, so I only used the toothpicks to hold the chicken momentarily together. And it worked!

I heated some olive oil in a large non-stick skillet, and cooked the chicken rolls on each side over medium heat (maybe 8 minutes total) until browned and cooked through. Then I attempted to put the dish over the top. I melted a pat of butter in the pan, added a teaspoon or so of olive oil, then added a little white wine, scraping up the brown bits in the pan. Then I added a little chicken broth and some salt and pepper. As the sauce reduced down, I then added some water and let it reduce more, and then added some lemon juice and parsley, pouring the sauce over the chicken rolls on the plate. Jenny added the “nice array of vegetables” and a new dish was born in Mikey’s (and Jenny’s) Kitchen.

When I was growing up, I learned much of my basic cooking skills from my mom and brother. I also learned a lot on my own when I was diagnosed with high cholesterol at the age of 20, and began diving into healthy eating books and cookbooks–hence I had to learn how to make myself healthy lunches and such. I continued learning by reading and then by watching Food Network as that evolved. But I never took a formal cooking class until this past summer, when I enrolled in a 3-session course at Madison Area Technical College (MATC) on Thai cooking. I love Thai food, but it’s not easy to learn how to make real curry without having an instructor show you how it’s made from scratch, rather than by opening a jar of curry paste. I also learned how to make a real spring roll, and also pad thai, among other things.

I liked the course and instructor so much, that I took another course recently through MATC–same instructor, different location, and this time it was a 2-session course on making soup from scratch. I already knew how to do this, but the course taught me things I did not know, and it also was great to see how you make amazing chicken stock from scratch to start out. From there you can make, as we did, chicken noodle soup and wonton soup. The second session, we made chili and cream of mushroom soup. The latter is something I’ve never made, but it was phenomenal and I can’t wait to make it at home.

Then last week I received a James Beard cookbook and will be covering that in the Bullz-Eye.com Holiday Gift Guide. But this past weekend, I had to sample some of the recipes, which meant actually following the recipes of a master, and I learned so much in making just a couple of recipes from that book–gruyere soup; and beef Bourguignon saute. The latter involved making a sauce from scratch and making that the base–and learning how to do that was worth the price of the book, even though I didn’t technically pay for the book. That sauce was amazing and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. And it was SO easy. Of course, these recipes use crazy amounts of butter, but that’s why they taste so good, and because they are so rich, you can’t overeat. I also learned that by mixing flour and butter together, you can use that to thicken a sauce (cornstarch what?).

What’s my point? You can always learn more, especially with cooking, in which there are so many cuisines, methods and different foods out there in 2012. And I can’t wait to dive into that James Beard book some more.

Thanks for the fine folks at Grassland Butter, I took my wife and 5-year old son to the Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival two weekends ago. We moved to Wisconsin two years ago and this was the first time we went to the fest. It also certainly won’t be the last time. The food was great, the rides were great for our thrill-loving boy, and the weather was perfect as well (75 and sunny).

Grassland was an official sponsor of the event, which meant their butter was the perfect companion to the sweet corn. We were amazed at the production line for the corn–as we waited with our tote, we watched the corn come out of the steamer in husks, after which we had to peel (ouch!) ourselves. Then we brought the corn to the butter table, where the fine folks rolled our corn in a gigantic block of Grassland butter, and then we made our way to the hanging salt shakers before gorging ourselves with the corn. Of course, it was peak season and the corn was delicious, but the Grassland butter really did take it to another level. My only regret was that I totally forgot about the grilled cheese sandwiches, which are also slathered with the butter and supposedly a fair favorite. Next year though!

Before we ate, our son dragged us to pretty much every ride there was, and every weird haunted house “ride.” My wife had the pleasure of going on just about everything, while I skated by only going on the flying swings with him once. He had the best time, and that is always the most important thing.

So, is it next August yet?

If you are like me, you read new food magazines voraciously, especially ones that have cool typeface and awesome photos like Food Network Magazine. But then after trying a recipe or two, they pile up until you have a chance to clip your faves. I swear there is a business idea in there, if only I had time to develop such an idea.

Anyway, that being said, there are recipes I have clipped that I go to–frequently. One such recipe is the one I use for cole slaw from…wait for it….GQ. I have to hand it to GQ. My comp subscription has made me feel old at times, but every month I look for its recipes and ideas about food. Seriously. So in the June 2008 issue, there were barbecue items–how to cook a hamburger properly for one, how to make kickass grilled peaches for another. But the one that stood my test of time was the cole slaw recipe–it’s simple, it’s classic, and it’s delicious. It also gives me a template even if I veer a bit with the ingredients, but I never seem to want to because of how delicious the original recipe is.

Then there was this other one–an article and recipe in the March 2010 issue of Bon Appetit. This is a mag my mom reads and probably has 35 years worth of them piled up, but I grabbed one in an airport one day and wound up clipping this article about British “flapjacks.” Food journalist/blogger/restauranteur Molly Wizenberg wrote it and made these things appear to look and sound delicious. The recipe haunted me for two and half years until I pulled it out again the other day. The one thing holding me back–an ingredient called golden syrup, which is only available in specialty food stores and British import shops. They are not pancakes per se, but more like cookie/granola bar hybrids that they call flapjacks. The ingredients are simple–quick cooking oats, butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and a pinch of salt. I’ve always loved the taste of oatmeal and oatmeal cookies and anything made with oats, but dang…golden freaking syrup. Finally, I realized something. The last few months I have found things the new-fashioned way–online. Well, duh. You can buy anything on Amazon.com these days. So there it was–Lyle’s Golden Syrup, maybe $5 a can but about $10 in shipping. That was fine with me. It arrived and I made the recipe the next day. My wife and I devoured the whole tray and I made another tray which I devoured this past week. Now let’s be frank–a stick of butter will make almost anything taste good. But these flapjacks are the bomb, and I suspect we will make them again this weekend, making two trays or more.

Thank you, Molly Wizenberg. You brought me something from your own experiences/memories, and now I’m going to get really fat eating them because they taste so good. Now, if anyone can share a recipe that resembles those Buitoni toaster pizzas from my childhood that they don’t make anymore, I will be forever grateful.

Grilled cheese sandwiches. Who doesn’t love them? Well, it’s your month–April, specifically, is Grilled Cheese Month. I have a few ideas of sandwiches I’d like to create, but the first one I tried yesterday was killer–maybe literally if you eat too many of them, but I digress….and digest. I give to you, the Wisconsin cheddar/bratwurst grilled cheese.

First of all, as I may have mentioned before, it’s best to use real butter for these. Set a stick out and let it get to room temperature to soften. And get some good sturdy bread, preferably as I did that I cut from a loaf, but not too thick that the cheese won’t melt. This particular sandwich is best with white, rye or pumpernickel bread.

For this sandwich, I found some mini-brats at Trader Joe’s, and cooked those in a skillet over medium heat. I added water after they started to brown, just like cooking sausage, although these are fully cooked and probably didn’t need to be cooked through too much more. If you can’t find these mini-brats, you can use sliced regular brats. After cooked, slice two of the links in half lengthwise, and set them aside (or slice into 1/4 inch rounds for larger links). Shred some good cheddar and set that aside. Butter the outside of two bread slices, and spread some thousand island dressing on the inside of one or both bread halves (you can buy it or make your own mixing mayo, ketchup/chili sauce, and sweet pickle relish). Put a pat of butter in a small nonstick skillet and warm over medium heat until just melted. Lay the brat pieces on the inside of the bread, and then put about 1/3 of a cup of shredded cheese on top. Close the sandwich, and cook in the pan for about 2 minutes or until browned, and then flip it over and cook for another 1 minute or until browned. The second side takes a much shorter amount of time.

Slice and serve with pickles, chips and a cold beer (or a frosty root beer or cola is even good with grilled cheese). Oh, and tomato soup, but it’s getting too warm for soup already. Oh wait, I had mine with these kickass sweet/hot peppers from Trader Joe’s…..you’d think I was on their payroll, right?

Enjoy the weekend everyone!