Milk

Milk is probably one of the most important foods on the whole planet! Okay maybe I am exaggerating a little being that only 35% of the human population can even drink Milk past the age of seven; you have to admit though, milk is pretty incredible stuff. I mean think about it some of the greatest foods on earth would not exist without milk, we use it to make cheese, yogurt, butter, we can’t forget butter, and most importantly Ice cream, and let’s face it, without ice cream, life would just stop. That would be sad. I think it’s safe to say that milk is pretty important.

There are a lot of other great things about milk. Like the fact that it is the primary food source for all mammals during the first stages of life. Cows produce it, goats produce it, heck even we produce the stuff, and in hippos it comes out pink! With all the varieties out there, and its incredible versatility keeping milk around seems like a no brainer, but it turns out nearly 75 percent of the world is lactose intolerant meaning they can’t eat or drink most milk products.

This is an unusual problem here in the USA because of a mutation known as lactose persistence introduced into the European gene pool around 7000 years ago. How did this mutation come about? Speculation says through the invention of none other than cheese and yogurt. By making fermented cheeses and yogurts  our ancestors were able to reduce the amount of lactose, or milk sugars down to a level that was tolerable for their stomachs, over time this caused their body’s to begin developing the necessary enzymes  to process milk. Pretty crazy stuff eh?

I don’t know about you, but I for one am Grateful for milk. And for the ability passed on by my ancestors to be able to enjoy the many wonderful products it creates.

Stir Fry wantons

This was a n idea I got one night watching Food Network. I saw another chef in a cooking challenge fold his stir fry into a wanton. I immediately thought "what a great appetizer idea" then I thought "wouldn't that be great to take to a potluck!" So i went to work, I made an orange chicken stir fry dish I had been developing, garbed some wanton shells and started stuffing. they turned out great and are tones of fun, you do have to be willing to spend some time with the wrapping thing though. try it out with some of your own flavors, see what you think, and most importantly of all, have some fun

with it.

Flaming Cheetos chicken

Here was a fun idea I came up with one night, I happened to have an extra bag of Flaming lime Cheetos laying around the pantry and decided I could put them to good use. 

Started by Crushing a hand full if chips, you want them to kind of resembles panko bred crumbs. To stuff the chicken simply cut a pocket into one side of the chicken breast then filled it with as much cheddar cheese and jalapenos as will fit inside(warning use jalapeno at your own discretion)). to bred the chicken you will want to seal it up (I sewed it closed) then toss in some flour, followed by and egg was and finally your bread crumbs. once you are done with that you are ready to pan fry. remember you want to make sure it gets to 165 degrees on the inside. when its finished you can serve it with rice or whatever else you like for a side, try making it your own and see what happens.