Tag Archives: gamer food

braised riverbeast [red wine braised lamb shanks]

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There’s nothing better than coming to your garrison from a long raid and enjoying a hearty home cooked meal. Even before I started playing WoW, I was always fascinated by the robust recipe options offered throughout the game. Choosing to level up the cooking profession was definitely a no-brainer for me  because of my interest of mercilessly killing virtual wildlife and throwing their meat over a roaring flame. MEAT GOOD.

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LOOK AT ALL THIS POTENTIAL MEAT!

 I guess that it’s fitting that I rolled as a hunter in this game.

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Appropriate title: the Butcher

Since my local butcher doesn’t offer River Beast, I had to choose a substitute. I decided to go with lamb as my meat of choice. I personally love lamb and its slight gamy flavor. If you’re not a fan of lamb, feel free to use beef. You may have to adjust the cook time and quantity of liquid since typically larger than lamb shanks.

There’s something special about red wine and red meat. That enchanting aroma that gently wafts through your home as the meat slowly cooks in a bath comprised of its own fatty juices and wine is just magical... Excuse me while I get a bucket for all of this drool.

UNIT COMPOSITION

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  1. salt
  2. pepper
  3. 6 cloves of garlic
  4. 1/2 tablespoon of butter
  5. 1 cup of red wine
  6. 1/2 cup of beef stock
  7. 2 lbs of lamb shank, french trimmed (~4 lamb shanks)
  8. 2 carrots, sliced
  9. 3 parsnips, sliced
  10. OPTIONAL: parsley

BUILD ORDER

Prep time for this is about 25 minutes, or up to 45 minutes if you plan to french trim your lamb shanks. Cook time is ~1 hour, 45 minutes. This makes 4 servings.

Just to note, french trimming is completely optional! It’s really only for presentation purposes.

If you’re going to french trim your lamb shanks on your own, you’re going to want a very sharp paring knife. Here’s a tutorial I used.

Basically, you’ll want to make an incision around bone at the very end of the shank. Then, cut into the meat, and remove about 1″ of it. Scrape off any excess fat/tendon away from the bone until it’s fairly clean. When cooking, the meat will slide down from the bone.

OPENING

  1. Season your lamb with salt and pepper.
  2. Put a pan on high heat and add in your butter.
  3. Sear the lamb for about 30 seconds each side, or until brown.
  4. Place lamb in a large baking dish. Pour in your red wine and stock. You should have enough liquid to cover 3/4 of the lamb shanks.blog_braisedriverbeast_prep

MID GAME

  1. Preheat your oven to 350° F.
  2. Place your garlic in the baking dish.
  3. Place the entire baking dish in the oven and bake for 1 hour.

LATE GAME

  1. After an hour, flip over the lamb shanks.
  2. Add in your chopped vegetables and continue baking for the remaining 45 minutes.blog_braisedriverbeast_cooking1
  3. Remove from the oven and plate the lamb shanks and vegetables.blog_braisedriverbeast_cooked
  4. Pour the remaining liquid into a pan and reduce on high heat for about 5 minutes.
  5. Drizzle the reduced red wine sauce over the lamb. Sprinkle chopped parsley over the plate.
  6. Eat!

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I took some photos of the lamb shank without the vegetables since I wanted to replicate what it looks like in-game:

blog_braisedriverbeast_wowheadImage from WoWhead

 But, to have a balance meal, you need to throw in some vegetables!

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GG WP!

Hopefully this dish has satisfied your Draenor cuisine cravings for now. Until next time, happy hunting!

healthstones [matcha green tea protein balls]

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I PVP a lot. The majority of my time spent in WoW is either queuing up for Arenas, skirmishes or battle grounds. I’m even guilty of using the group finder to join large gank squads that roam the lands of Draenor for the sole purpose of farming the bones of the enemy faction.

blog_healthstones_bonesOH HEY GUYS WHATCHA DOIN??

The Arena team I run with is comprised of a Hunter (that’s me!), a Paladin and a Warlock. Before each match, our Warlock slaps down a Soulwell so we can create Healthstones. Of course, I always saw it as tasty tasty food.

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I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING

So, I decided to recreate my own real life Healthstones so I can eat Healthstones while I eat Healthstones. Yo dawg.

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I keep a lot of protein powder at home because my boyfriend and I are trying really hard to achieve sick gains. I have been religiously following the YouTube channel, Buff Dudes, for inspiration on healthy cooking and workout routines. Some of their recipes turn not-so-healthy things, such as brownies, into handheld protein-fueled snacks. My goal with Healthstones is to sneakily hide protein and nutrition into bite-sized portable snacks. A quick snack to enjoy before your next arena match!

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UNIT COMPOSITION

  1. 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
  2. 2 teaspoons of raw agave nectar
  3. 1 tablespoon of shredded coconut (optional)
  4. 1 tablespoon of unsweetened matcha green tea powder
  5. 1/4 cup of raw pistachios, roughly chopped
  6. 1/2 cup of peanut butter or almond butter

BUILD ORDER

Prep time for this is about 15 minutes (add 10 minutes of blanching the pistachios) This makes 6 servings (~6 individual Healthstones). Idle time is about 30 minutes. 

OPTIONAL: If you want squeaky clean pistachios without the skins, I recommend blanching them. To blanch them, take your shelled pistachios and toss them into boiling water for about 30 seconds.

blog_healthstones_blanchingThen remove the pistachios from the hot water and place them in a bath of ice water. Once they are cool to the touch, gently rub off the skins from the pistachios. Let them dry on a towel for a few minutes.

  1. Combine your protein powder, agave, and peanut butter in a large bowl.
  2. Add in your matcha green tea powder.
  3. Using a spoon, stir the ingredients together, adding coconut occasionally to thicken the mixture.
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  4. Stir in half of your chopped pistachios. Leave larger pieces for later in order to decorate the stones.
  5. Begin shaping them into golf-ball sized mounds. Place large pieces of pistachio on the mounds for decoration.blog_healthstones_forming
  6. Sprinkle a little protein powder onto a plate (this is to prevent the Healthstones from sticking to the plate while cooling). Place your newly shaped Healthstones on the plate and cover with saran warp. Let cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
  7. Eat!

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GG WP!

Next time you queue up for arena or LFR, make sure you have some tasty Healthstones in your bag to curb your hunger. Thankfully, these Healthstones don’t have a cool down.