It's Finally Here!!!

Chipotle has finally opened it's doors in Columbia,SC! You know we were there to get in all the action!

We have been waiting a looong time for this day! Chipotle opened up here officially on January 15th. They did however, have a sneak peek on the 13th. JP and a co-worker went to the sneak peek, and quickly left! There were so many people there it was just crazy! I'm sure it had something to do with FREE burritos! LOL We did manage to make it out the official grand opening (family in tow). They were giving away t-shirts and cards for free burritos to the first 100 people. Our friend Kris was actually the first one there. He saved a spot for us too! :)

Here we are waiting in line for our t-shirt and burritos! Don't the kids look excited??? Ha!


The t-shirt give away started at 3, and this it what the line looked like as time got closer.

We made it in! Burrito time!

Our free shirt and gift card. They made the t-shirt look like a burrito! Cute!

JP Enjoying his burrito!

Arial shot of our favorite burrito the Barbacoa!


Me enjoying my burrito. Check out our friend Kris in the background! LOL

All Pau! It was well worth it! We stood in line for about an hour. I'm sure glad they finally came to our town. We were driving an hour away to get our fix! Moes better watch out! Moes also had the nerve to try and give away free burritos on Chipotle's grand opening! How dare they! lol Other friends of ours went to the new Chipotle a couple days after the grand opening and said there were still long lines! Sounds like they are off to a good start! Good times! :)

~JP and Feather

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Happy Birthday Banginfood!!!

I know I haven't posted in ions and ions. lol I guess I've been in a cooking rut. But hey, guess what??? Today is Banginfood's 2nd birthday!!! Yay! Hopefully 2010 will be bring new cooking inspiritation. Thanks to everyone who support us and read our little blog. We appreciate it. Since it's our birthday, check out the post that started it all!

http://www.banginfood.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

Thanks,
JP and Feather Banginfood

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Recipe of The Day: Grilled Flat Iron Steak

I am a person who enjoys a good steak, and sometimes I can't afford to get a good steak. This is a relatively cheap and easy way to get your steak fix.

I have only recently become familiar with Flat Iron Steak. We all know that steak can be very expensive and usually not something you eat often. I recently found some on sale at my local grocery store. I was willing to try something new so I grabbed some. I called my Mother for some suggestions on how to prepare this cut of meat. She suggested a marinade. But I wanted to try something instead of a marinade. So, I just went for more of a rub kind of thing. The results were very tasty! So now every time I see this cut of meat on sale I scoop it up. My kids love this steak and we never have leftovers every time I make it. So here we go...


Prep-Time: 5 minutes to season a few hours to chill in the fridge
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes (or longer depending how well you like your steak)
Serving Size: 4-6 people

Ingredients:
1 flat iron steak
garlic salt
ground black pepper
McCormick Mesquite Grill Mates


The first thing you want to do is generously season your steak like so. Cover that bad boy on both sides!



Then you want to either place the steak in a zip lock bag or do like I did and wrap well in saran wrap. I ran out of bags. Place the meat in the fridge and let it chill for a few hours. 1 hour minimum. You want to let those seasonings really sink in.



Okay, once your meat is done chilling. You want to prepare your grill for cooking. I let my meat chill for about 5 hours. I am using a gas grill, because that's what I own. I know some people don't like them, but that's what I'm working with. I preheat and clean my grill before cooking. I let the grill get up to about 400 degrees. I keep the burners set to high during the preheating.



When the grill is ready, I turn the burners down to low. Then you can throw your meat on. I let it cook for about 5-10 minutes, and then I turn. Then I wait another 10 minutes and turn again. I do this about 3 or 4 times, pretty much do this until the steak looks done. If you like your steak more well done then leave it on longer. I like my meat almost pink and juicy. Also, if you take it off and it is not done enough you can throw it under the broiler to get it how you want it.



Once you are done grilling. Remove steak from heat and plate. Do NOT, I repeat...DO NOT cut! You need to let the steak rest for about 10 minutes. Once you have given steak the proper time to rest, you can proceed with the cutting.



You should now have a well rested flavorful juicy piece of meat. You can now begin cutting. You want to cut this steak very thin and at a diagonal. A sharp knife will be very useful.



Once you have finished cutting the whole steak you can plate and serve. You will love the tenderness of this cut of meat. Who says you can't have good cheap steak? I am thinking about using this for burritos one day. Fajitas would be good too! Enjoy!





~Feather
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Happy Thanksgiving

My little Nya throwing down on a turkey leg a few years ago. Anyways, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Enjoy your day and GOD bless!
JP and Feather
Banginfood

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Recipe of The Day: Simple Shrimp Scampi

My local Kroger has been good to me. They had a meat sale that started on Sunday and ended today. I really scored some good deals. One of those deals was a nice package of jumbo shrimp.

I love me some shrimp! Really, I could indulge on seafood any day! I just love seafood...period! The package of shrimp I purchased, contained about 22 jumbo shrimp. I knew I wanted scampi, and I already had a basic idea of how to make it. So I just pretty much threw this together. I do not have white wine, so I substituted with Rice Wine Vinegar...which seemed to work pretty good. I didn't use a lot, but if you can get either Vermouth or White Wine you can use those.

Prep Time: 20-25 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Serving Size: 2 hungry people (4 if your not that hungry lol)

Ingredients:
1 package of Jumbo Shrimp or any size you want really (my package had 22 shrimp)
5-6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon dry cilantro
1 teaspoon dry chives
1 teaspoon dry parsley
1 teaspoon Adobe Season
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice


Oh my goodness! I forgot to say please clean and devein your shrimp before you do anything! Duh! lol

In a large skillet over medium heat, drizzle in your Olive Oil. Add in your garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Do not let it get brown or burned. Add in your shrimp and seasonings. Saute shrimp a couple of minutes. Add in your lemon juice and rice wine vinegar. Saute until shrimp are done. Adjust seasonings to your liking if need be. That's pretty much it!

This shrimp was so flavorful and so good I was in food bliss! lol I paired it with some penne pasta tossed in olive oil and parsley. You can top with fresh Parmesan cheese. Your mouth will thank you for it! :)

~Feather


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Recipe of The Day: Creamless Potato Corn Chowdah

The weather outside is frightful! Well...to me at least it is. The cold is starting to drift in. Days like these make me feel so blah. But, a good pot of hot warm chowder makes me feel great!

Unless this were a cheat day I would have pulled out all the stops and used heavy cream and bacon in this recipe. Since, I can no longer indulge in such flavorful fattening goodies I have to improvise. I had to think of a way that I could make a good tasting chowder that used no cream whatsoever. I tried to scour the net for some recipes. But, due to some malfunctions...thanks to Firefox that quickly ended. I figured a bunch of taters and some milk would give me the creamy results I was looking for. So here is what I came up with. Feel free to alter these measurements and tastes to your liking. JP and I like things spicy. Spicy to the degree that we would burn our throats in agony for some goodness! So here we go...

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Servings Size: 4-6 People



Ingredients:

4-5 large potatoes (any variety you like)
2 cups of 2% Milk
1 1/2 cups of frozen or fresh corn
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 large white onion
2 stalks of green onion
salt, pepper, garlic salt, and cayenne pepper to taste

Chop all of your vegetables. Spray pot with Olive Oil spray or use a tiny bit of regular Olive Oil. Saute bell pepper and onions in pot on medium high heat. Saute until soft. You can remove from heat and set aside. Chop and peel your potatoes. Put pot back on stove and add in potatoes corn and milk. Bring to a boil and then bring down to medium low heat. Watch your pot and be sure not to scald the milk. You can add in your seasonings. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add more season if you need to.

This is a really quick dish. It's a great alternative to a chowder that uses heavy cream. JP threw some shredded cheese in his and said it was good like that too. I also sprinkled some parsley on top of mine. It added a nice touch! :) Very nice for those cold nights. I just finished a bowl and can say I am fully satisfied!

Enjoy!

~Feather



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