Chefs
Hi, we are Bryan and Jessie - a recently married couple who enjoys cooking at home, eating at our favorite local restaurants, and trying new restaurants and recipes. We also have two pets - Brew, a black lab, and Alton Brown, a domestic shorthair.
Foods we couldn't live without: blue cheese, potatoes, gin, popcorn, garlic and butter
Number of cookbooks we own: 57 and counting
Favorite kitchen tools: Shun knives, Le Creuset cookware
For more information, click here.
Food Archive
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Asian Stir Fried Noodles
I don’t know about you, but I love a good lo mein. Combining noodles, fresh veggies, garlic and soy sauce in a wok is easy and can yield some flavorful dishes. I found a recipe on Blue-kitchen.com for Asian Stir Fried Noodles with Cashews and thought I’d give it a try. Reading through the recipe, [...] -
HouseOFoodies Pantry Must-Haves
Tonight Bryan made one of our stand-by pasta dishes since it was a long work week and we were hungry. He was able to do so because we tend to keep our pantry full of our favorite ingredients. I thought we should share some of our favorite pantry must-haves in case you’d like to add [...] -
Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
This weekend was rare at HouseOFoodies as we didn’t have anything we needed to do or anywhere we needed to go. We took the opportunity to go through some cookbooks and recipes online and created an extensive grocery list. Not only does this mean we have a few new recipes to share, it means we’ve [...] -
Shopping in Amish Country
Bryan and I went shopping in Amish Country today in Shipshewana (Indiana). I’ve heard about Shipshewana from one of my co-workers and, considering her drive to get there is around two hours (one-way), I figured it was well worth a trip, and it was. We took off mid-morning and went right to our planned stop [...] -
A Variation of Chicken Saltimbocca and Jessie’s Vegetable Hash
We recently celebrated a milestone at the HouseOFoodies – Bryan turned 30. For this big birthday, he requested a quiet meal at home and I obliged. To start, I picked up a bottle of real champagne – Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Brut. It was delicious and made the other sparkling wines we’ve been sipping pale in [...] -
Our visit to Craftsteak Las Vegas
Bryan joined me last weekend in Las Vegas and we chose Craftsteak as our final evening meal (located in the MGM Grand). If you have read our posts before, you know we are huge, repeat HUGE, Top Chef fans and we had been thinking about this meal for weeks. After eating one of the best [...] -
Bruschetta Heaven
If you are reading this blog and haven’t watched Julie and Julia, shame on you. I grew up watching Julia Child on TV with my parents and my family absolutely loves the cookbook Julia and Jacques Pepin wrote. One of the scenes in Julie and Julia involves Julia Powell (played by Amy Adams) making bruschetta [...] -
Getting our fruit, any way we can
In an effort to get more fruit into our diets, we surround ourselves with a variety of fruit, including fresh, frozen and freeze-dried. Recently, we purchased a frozen tropical fruit bag from Gordon Food Service and were shocked at how fresh the pineapple and mango tasted once thawed a little bit. The papaya was so-so. [...] -
Our Fondue Tradition Continues
A little over two years ago, we attended a fondue party at my grandparents’ home and rediscovered our love for fondue, and yes, my grandparents are great entertainers and excellent hosts. We both remember fonduing when we were younger, but there was something about the pace and process that appealed to us as adults. Fondue [...] -
Split-pea soup, old-people style
Jessie made some pretty tasty split-pea soup the other night when I was sick, so now that she has the same cold I had, I decided to try making split-pea soup for her. I’m not a soup person at all. I generally don’t get filled up by overly brothy minestrones and the like, and I’m [...] -
My take on our Top Chef tour
As Bryan mentioned in his post, Our tour of chefs who should have won Top Chef begins, we traveled to Atlanta last weekend to specifically visit Woodfire Grill, Kevin Gillespie’s restaurant (Top Chef finalist, season 6). As luck would have it, we were bumped up to an earlier Delta flight and landed in time to [...] -
WTF do you do with a Cornish game hen?
Every time I walk down the frozen meats aisle in the grocery store I see this cute little vacuum-sealed Cornish game hens. They seem like they should be so simple to cook and prepare — after all, they’re so cute and tiny, and certainly a pre-plucked, pre-cleaned bird sealed in plastic should be as easy [...] -
Tito’s + Zing Zang = Good.
While in Iowa for Thanksgiving we happened across a great brand of vodka and a flavorful, spicy Bloody Mary mix. Tito’s Vodka is handmade in Austin, Texas, and distilled six times, according to the manufacturer. The taste is smooth, especially considering how inexpensive it is. We also found a Bloody Mary mix that was just [...] -
Plank Grilling
Summer is finally here and the grill is open for business at HouseOFoodies. We’ve been experimenting with planks and have grilled a few tasty meals. It is important to soak the planks for the recommended time on the package. Otherwise, your planks will burn up instead of providing the hint of a smokey flavor. Bryan [...] -
Hawaiian Favorites – Ninniku-Ya
We’ve been neglect on our blog, but for good reason. We went to Hawaii for 10 days and I started a new job. The trip to Hawaii was wonderful. Not only did we get to leave the “ish” of February, we were submersed in sunshine and palm trees for 10 days. The highlight for me on [...]