easy steak gyros + homemade pita

I saw a hilarious Arby's commercial where the company was promoting their new gyros, and the narrator pronounces gryos six different ways (euro, jiro, guyro) before giving up, calling them Mediterranean tacos! So, I thought I'd share with you my own Mediterranean tacos that, are not only cheaper and healthier (check out this wonderfully-detailed article about the benefits of eating steak) than Arby's, but are ten-times tastier. As summer peaks around the corner, you're going to want this recipe in your arsenal for those sunny beach day picnics. I'll show you how to make everything you see in the picture: the pita, the steak, and the tzatziki. Let's get started!

5 pro tips when making homemade pasta

Whether you call it pasta or noodles, doing it fresh not only tastes better, but it's healthier for you. Once you know how quick and simple it is to make your own pasta, you’ll be ashamed you ever bought the store-variety. With just four ingredients and 20 minutes, you can whip up a truly home-cooked meal that is sure to impress the guests and show them who the real foodie is.

meatballs & marinara - juicy balls of deliciousness

If you're an atheist, vegan, or Indian (from India), you should probably shield your eyes from what I'm about to say. Thank you God for making cows edible. Amen. I guess I should be thanking him for pigs too cause these are beef and pork meatballs, but then I'd have to list every ingredient and then the "Indian" criteria wouldn't really work. Analogies, can't live without them, can't form all-encompassing logical statements with them. 

The interweb is inundated with meatball recipes. In fact, unbeknownst to me Foodnetwork just came out with an edition entirely dedicated to the little balls of meat. Yet, there's been this void inside me that has been pecking at my sanity ever since I started this blog. A meatball shaped void that when filled I can finally call this "thing" a food blog. Plus, it was an excuse for me to make meatballs. Mmm meatballs. Meatballs. If you're uncomfortable with the word you should probably stop reading now. 

fried shrimp w/ sweet & spicy blood orange sauce - happy chinese new year!

As many of you know, my mom, a.k.a. Munchy, a.k.a. Momma, a.k.a. Eileen from accounting, is the best chef I know in the entire world. Although my older posts (because they're blurry, dull, poorly written, and structured) do not exemplify the true quality of her cooking, you can click here for more of Munchy's signature dishes. Not only are her favorite recipes delicious, but they're also quick, often times requiring less than 20 minutes to put together. Straight from the cookbook of a working parent, rest assured this recipe is simple, quick, and super delicious, tailored to the busy parent lifestyle. 

So as you might have guessed, yes, I'm disclosing another chowfidential family recipe. This time I'm showing you how to make the most delicate fried shrimp, and a sweet and spicy blood orange dipping/drenching/drinking/socially acceptable to chugging sauce. Traditionally, this recipe doesn't have any blood oranges in it, but I had them and I thought, what the heck. Shrimp look orange (actually they're more like pink, but who cares), citrus and seafood go well together, this could work. Even without the orange, whenever my mom makes this it's instantly gone the second she turns her back. This recipe is a killer for any of you in the market for a delicious party hors d'oeuvre, or if you're looking for something a little more adventurous for Chinese New Year. Nevertheless, you don't really need a special occasion to make this. I don't care if today is a tuesday in the middle of a cloudless day in Kansas, go buy yourself a bag of oranges and a sack of shrimp cause it's fried shrimp w/ sweet & spicy blood orange sauce time. I've got to learn how to shorten my titles. 

5 minute weeknight alfredo sauce!

Not only should everyone have a quick and easy, go-to, weeknight recipe, but it should be something delicious and not something that comes from a can, bag, cup, or liquor store. Don't deny it. It's close to your house and they have occasionally good sales on stale cookies and offbrand colas. But, that is all in the past, today I'm going to show you how to make a weeknight alfredo sauce which has been rumoured to cure everything from marriages to cancer. However, rumours are rumours and if those claims turn out to be false, rest assured you still have a killer sauce that you can drown pasta and rice in for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. 

Oh, and did I mention this recipe has 50% less heavy cream and 75% less butter than its predecessors. So yeah, it does cure cancer. 

one-pot red wine braised short ribs

Imagine sitting in front of you is a bowl of rich meaty short ribs atop a mound of buttery mashed potatoes sitting in a velvety pool of red wine jus. Well stop imagining cause we've got pictures! Just look at it. So good! You can do this too, and all in one pot!

Recently, I've been watching a lot of Julia Child. I've been inspired by the Beef Bourguignon, Coq Au Vin, you name it I've watched it, read it, and lived it. Yes, you can live food. And if you asked me, I wouldn't mind living in a pan of this red wine braised short ribs (he said proud of his transitional skills). Believe it or not, that was one of my better transitions on this site. If you've got a pot and you've got meat (it doesn't have to be short ribs), you can implement this easy technique/recipe to make really delicious braised beef. You're family will thank you for it, and so will your taste buds. 

bacon & parmesan kale salad - another cool kale recipe

At Chow Creations, we pride ourselves in our exceptional ability to adulterate healthy foods with bacon. 

This week I'll show you how to make the most unbelievably cheesy, creamy, restaurant parmesan dressing. You'll want to glug it down when no one is looking. In other words, keep your eyes on your creamy parmesan dressing because someone will want to glug it down if you're not paying attention. Oh, and we're also making a salad. It has bacon. Now you're probably interested. You know what to do, click Chowtinue Reading. :-)

kale and green apple salad - we're so cool we had to wait till kale wasn't a trend anymore

Before I begin, let me preface this week's post with a statement, a statement of my own character which will become progressively clearer as you scroll further down."I am lazy". (what's new)

This week I've been plagued with a sore throat, so forgive me if I don't talk much in this post. Trust that there will be various occasions in this post where I "cough" to give myself an excuse not to finish the sentence. This week I made a *cough. 

Unless you're blind or illiterate, you know that Chow Creations has finally succumbed to the raw, healthy, vegan, gluten-free, I hate to say it but yes we're getting onto the kale trend. Wait...what do you mean "kale" isn't a trend anymore? So my producers are telling me that "kale", nor "justin bieber" are trends anymore. I know, I'm as astounded as you are. That means Chow Creations has successfully diverted yet another food trend! Yes! Long time readers of this blog know that it's our highest goal to subvert any food trends until we start our own. I'm still trying to get "grapeberries" and/or "rectangular cake prisms" started. 

homemade thin crust pizza + pesto + potato + manchego

It's one of those rare days in San Diego where the clouds congregate low and heavy in the sky, and they choke the air with their presence. They cried. Last week I made this awesome Manchego and Marcona Almond Pesto, which you should definitely check out, but I was beginning to get tired of the ol' pesto on bread or mixed into pasta. After hours of scribbling ideas into a notepad, ripping them out, and missing the trash bin, I decided what I needed was to whip up a batch of fresh pizza dough. 

I love making pizza, even making and kneading my own dough, but what I love most about making pizza is figuring out what to put on it. In the past I've tried Alfredo and Scampi, Sloppy Joe's, even a Quintuple Meat (Pepperoni, Ham, Bacon, Brisket, and Sausage) Pizza. This time I wanted to make something simple, simple but elegant, and I don't think it gets any simpler nor elegant than Pesto, Potato, and Manchego. Plus you won't guess how easy making your own pizza dough can be.

pesto + manchego + marcona almond

Viewer Discretion Advised. This post is home to 99.9% of the manchego cheese porn on the internet. 

Chow Creations usually strays away from the lewd and cheesy concupiscence that inundates the food blogging universe, after all, we're not a pizza blog, wait, what do you mean the next post is a pizza, what happened to the cookies and cakes, and what type of lunatic creates an entire post for pesto, has this all been one sentence, no we're having a conversation, wait, who are you, who am I, *sings Who Am I from Les Mis for a couple minutes, and we're back. 

reci-pics™ (recipe in pictures) - beef and green onion roll 牛肉大蔥卷

After the success I saw from the last Chinese How-To, "How to Fold a Chinese Dumpling", I thought you guys would be interested in another traditional chinese dish (my mom wanted me to show off her Beef and Green Onion Rolls 牛肉大蔥卷). This is a famous Taiwanese dish that you'll find all along the streets in Taiwan. The complexity of chinese cuisine, in it's flavors and textures, is so amazing and this roll is not an exception. The Beef Shank is so tender and succulent, while the green onion pancake tightly caresses it in it's crispy flaky entirety. We also spread a sweet and salty hoisin sauce along the inside of the pancake to give it sweet plum note. For now though, I'll only be showing you how to make the pancake (蔥花餅). We'll probably add it in at a later date.

skills test - how to fold a chinese dumpling 鍋貼

dos white bread variations - 1st annual cinco de mother's day!

Happy Cinco de Mother's Day! I know, with the debut of Picnic Earth Day in April and now this, I'll be surprised if I remember either of the two next year. Cinco de Mother's Day is basically the day where I show you how to create a Mexican themed Chow Creation that you can give to Momma as a present. This year I'll show you how to make White Sandwich Bread - but with a twist, dos twists. And for those of you who do not speak Spanish "dos" means delicious. 

I made a Cinnamon Raisin Loaf. Cinnamon being a very traditional Mexican spice, and raisins because Momma likes raisins. And Momma gets what she wants. For the second variation I decided to venture a little out of my comfort zone and make a Cheesy Taco Bread. Laced with cheddar cheese, green onions, my special taco seasoning, and topped with crunchy tortilla chips, it was money the minute my three year old nephew suggested it, and it was money when it came out of the oven. So good.