Exotic Ingrediants

I realize that I often have game meats, strange vegetables, and other ingrediants you might not be able to find in your normal, local supermarket.

The best place to find things, in my experiance, is to seek out the grocery stores where the sign is not in english.

For seafood, odd cuts of meat, and produce my favorite place is the Korean market. I can regularly find blood oranges, key limes, donut peaches, and every other type of produce any foodie could hope to find for his or her exotic recipes. And it's actually cheaper for me to find blood oranges there, than to go to the HighlySuburbanizedWhitePeople Store and by boring navel oranges.

Really.

Plus, the seafood section has fish I've never even heard of and is the only place I've ever been able to buy live blue crabs for under $2/lb. And they aren't even gravid females.

And the meat department....there is an in-house butcher who will sell you ANY part cut any way. I mean any. I've gone in to see a package marked "PORK BUNGS". No joke.

I won't even get into the spices, the noodles, the various flours, or the alcohol section. It's worth a peek if you can find yours. You may just need to search inside random storefronts with Asian characters in the signage.

Wheat Flour Substitutions

For those with gluten issues or food allergies, Here is a list of substitutions. I plan to use them to get some mileage out of a dog treat cookbook that Hubby bought me. Our kerry blue terrier is severely allergic to wheat, as well as several other grains making the book, as is, completely useless.

How To Substitute For Wheat Flour

To make a standard recipe free of white flour, substitute one of the follow:
for 1 cup white flour
1 cup corn flour
1- 3/8 cups barley flour
7/8 cup corn meal
5/8 cup potato flour
7/8 cup rice flour
1 cup rye meal
1-1/2 cups ground rolled oats
1 cup oat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour.

1 cup of wheat flour equals...
7/8 cup amaranth
7/8 cup garbanzo bean/chickpea
3/4 cup corn flour
1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup millet flour
3/4 cup oat flour
5/8 cup potato flour
3/4 cup potato starch
7/8 cup rice flour
3/4 cup soy flour

Fido's Peanut Butter Balls

1 Egg
1 cup of peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)

Mix together roll into balls squish with fork, bake at 350 on a parchment covered cookie sheet for 12-14 mins

TO Make Palatable to Humans: Add 1 cup sugar to the dough. Follow everything else the same

K9 Omlette

1/2 cup kibble
1 egg

break egg over kibble in microwave safe dog dish. Whisk briskly with fork. Microwave for 1 min.

Cool and serve to pups!

Conejo con Cebolla (rabbit with onion)

I've had something by this same name in a tapas restaurant and this is my effort to copy it. I'm really really close tastewise. I think it may be wine, rather than beer, but I tried this before I found bottles of wine on sale for ten cents (I bought several dollars worth...looked like a whino, but I use it for cooking. Not drinking.) Meanwhile, we seem to always have beer, despite never actually buying any. And since neither my husband nor myself are beer drinkers...I use it to cook!

1 rabbit
1 large sweet onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 beer
1 6oz can tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put crockpot on high with olive oil. When ready to be sizzling, add garlic and onion. When translucent, add beer and tomato paste. When boiling, add rabbit. after a few min, turn to low. Cook till meat is falling off the bone.

Savory Turkey legs

1 pack turkey drumsticks (usually holds 3)
1 beer (Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale from bought 2 years ago)
1 habanero, minced
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp chili powder
2 cloves minced garlic

Marinate defrosted turkey legs in the mixture above overnight.
Preheat oven to 375F
Wrap the bony section in aluminum foil to keep from getting way too dry and place in glass baking dish.
Cook legs for till skin begins to brown. Then re-add the marinade to the dish and flip legs over. Cook till smells good...I really have zero idea how long these were in.