Breakfast for Dinner (Sort Of)

Last night we had bacon and eggs for dinner. Just not the way you probably think.

My newest favorite thing is the BLT salad. Iceberg lettuce (I know, not the healthiest of lettuces but it's so nicely cool and crisp in this particular salad), tons of fresh tomatoes from my garden, (no salmonella scare here) and crisply fried bacon pieces (I cut them large since they are part of the flavor of this salad) along with fresh ciabatta croutons and just a touch of ranch dressing. This salad is light, flavorful and oh, so delicious.

It's a great salad, but not exactly a full meal so I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner to go with it when I decided to pair it with deviled eggs (such a yummy favorite) and some cheese puffs. No, not Cheetos, a delicious little warm biscuit made with lots of sharp cheddar cheese. I was actually going to make some mini potato pancakes (to continue the breakfast for dinner idea) but my mom wanted cheese puffs.

The recipe for the cheese puffs came from a Peanuts cookbook I bought when I was in the second or third grade. My mom still has the little book which is full of easy little recipes named for Charles Shultze's characters and little cartoons. I'm not sure what the book calls this recipe, but we always call them Charlie Brown Cheese Puffs. I have made these since I was a kid and they are so yummy! I have made them for parties and they always get RAVE reviews. They are best eaten warm.

Charlie Brown Cheese Puffs

1 heaping cup grated cheese (I love sharp cheddar but you can use swiss or pepper jack too)
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 c. flour
water

Mix cheese, butter and flour together with just enough water to make a dough (I mix the ingredients by hand and add water after they are pretty well incorporated, You'll only need about a teaspoon of water to make the dough come together).
Roll into balls (this makes about a dozen) and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until puffs are golden brown. Serve warm.

You can add seasonings, wrap the dough around olives or fancy them up however you want, but the plain recipe has never failed for me. I have had people stand by my oven, waiting for the next batch to come out. Of course the recipe can be doubled or tripled and these are a great cocktail party snack.

I finished off our 'breakfast for dinner' theme with Rice Krispies treats for dessert. I think it was one of my mom's favorite meals because she likes everything so much. And it was fun for me to think outside the box, then outside the box again.

Clafouti To You Too!

Okay, I have a friend who loves clafouti, so I thought of her when I ran across this recipe. Despite it's name (which sounds vaguely like a disease to me) it's a French dessert with fruit and batter. Some have described the batter as a cross between a flan and pancake. Traditionally it's made with cherries but I saw this version with fresh apricots and had to try it. (I'll admit it, I figured pitting apricots was easier than pitting cherries). I liked it, but the apricots were a bit tart, I would have added some sugar to them while they were macerating in the Amaretto if I had known. I will definitely make clafouti again, I'm thinking next time with berries and Grand Marnier or if I can find them, Italian plums. Try making clafouti yourself, it's really easy and looks so pretty. It's a great way to make a fruit dessert in no time at all.


APRICOT ALMOND CLAFOUTI

1 pound fresh apricots (about 8 medium), pitted and cut into wedges
1/4 cup almond liqueur, such as Amaretto (or you can uses orange juice)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon plus 1/3 cup sugar, divided
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1 cup low-fat milk
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sliced almonds
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

1. Combine apricots and almond liqueur (or orange juice) in a large bowl. Stir 2 teaspoons of the juice into the apricots. Let stand for at least 1 hour. (This is where I would have added some sugar since my apricots were a bit on the tart side.)
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 10-inch round baking dish, such as a ceramic quiche dish, or oval casserole, with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over the bottom. Drain the apricots (reserving syrup) and arrange in the baking dish.
3. Combine eggs, egg white and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale yellow (This takes a while, like 5 minutes). Add milk, flour, almond extract, salt and the reserved syrup; beat well to blend. Pour the batter over the apricots; sprinkle with almonds.
4. Bake the clafouti until puffed and golden, 45 to 55 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and serve warm.

Perfect Grilled Chicken Breasts

Okay, so for Mother's Day (yes, it has been a long time since I've posted, please forgive me) I made grilled herbed chicken breasts with a lemon basil butter sauce. I always worry about grilling boneless, skinless chicken breasts because they dry out so quickly. So I tried brining them this time. Now I know many people have touted the benefits of brining but honestly I associated it with whole turkeys and whole chickens, not with skinless parts. But I thought I'd give it a shot anyway.

I brined six breasts in a quart of water mixed with a quarter cup each of kosher salt and sugar. Mix the brine mixture until the sugar and salt dissolve. Put the breasts in and refrigerate. You want to brine them for only about an hour, no more than two. If you brine small pieces like this longer than that you will make them too salty.

Once you remove them from the brine, brush them with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, black pepper, crushed red pepper and herbs (I used parsley, basil and thyme from my garden) and grill over medium high heat for five to six minutes per side (check their temperature with a meat thermometer to be sure, you want chicken to reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees).

These were fantastic. The chicken was so moist, even after grilling. They were flavorful both inside and out. I put goat cheese and lemon basil butter sauce on them, but honestly, it was gilding the lily. (Of course, I never met a lily that couldn't use a little gilding!) Try brining the next time you grill chicken breasts, I think you will be impressed with the flavor.

Lemon Basil Butter Sauce (I like it on chicken, but my brother uses it on steak as well)

1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1Tbsp. minced shallot
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 c. white wine
1/4 c. lemon juice
6 Tbsp. cold butter, sliced
1/3 c. chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp. white pepper*
1/2 tsp. salt*

Saute shallots and garlic in 2 Tbsp, butter in a small sauce pan over medioum heat until tender. Stir in the white wine and lemon juice, increase the heat to meduim high and bring to a simmer. Simmer until reduced by half. Remove the saucepan and add the cold butter, a pat at a time, stirring until completely incorporated after each addition. Stir in basil; salt and pepper to taste.

* I use salted butter for this recipe so I omit the salt. I also use black pepper since I'm not concerned about the color of the sauce so feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

Adventures in Cupcake Land

Okay, so a while back I threw down on The Cupcakery and Retro Bakery, saying I could make a better cupcake at a better price. Well, I've been baking cupcakes whenever I can and having them taste tested by friends and family. So far the results have been fantastic. The cupcakes have gotten rave reviews. And I can tell you that I could easily sell them for $1.50 per cupcake and still make a profit, and that's with being a home cook and buying ingredients at retail. So pfffft to the upscale cupcake bakeries, I AM the cupcake cutie!


These I call Banana Covered Chocolate Cupcakes. They are a rich chocolate cupcake with fresh banana (yes, fresh) buttercream accented with dark chocolate ganache. The only criticism they got was that my brother wanted some chocolate chips in the cupcake. I can't argue with that, more chocolate is always better!


These I call Great Scots. They are a butterscotch cupcake with a brown sugar buttercream crowned with butterscotch ganache. I loved them but I made such a rookie mistake, I added butterscotch chips to the batter but forgot to flour them first so they all sunk to the bottom. Some people liked the chips at the bottom but honestly, it wasn't right and I can't believe I did it, I know better. But the cupcakes had great flavor and I could eat a vat of brown sugar buttercream. It was so good. It was a little grainy but that was actually part of the appeal for me.


And these are Lemon Drop Kids (I love Bob Hope movies!) A lemon cupcake with lemon buttercream and garnished with crushed lemon drop candies. If it sounds too lemony, it wasn't. The cupcakes were so super moist and light (my brother raved about the texture, and he's one of my toughest critics) with a lemon kissed frosting and the candy adding a sweet/tart/crunchy note. The only issue was that after a few days the lemon drops weren't crunchy any longer, they got soft and kind of gummy. So you have to eat these within a day or so, not like that's a big problem.

I'll be making more cupcakes this week. I'm working on a fruit cheesecake cupcake but I don't know if that will be this week's flavor or not. Stay tuned!

Happy Cinco De Mayo

Hope you have a happy (and safe) Cinco De Mayo. Here is a sweet and fun margarita for your celebration.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 1/2 cups seeded, cubed watermelon
3/4 cup tequila
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Crushed ice

Make a simple syrup by bringing sugar and water to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves; boil for a minute, turn off heat and coo.

Put watermelon in blender and puree until smooth. In a cocktail shaker combine all ingredients and shake well. Serve over ice in sugar rimmed glasses.

The First Tomato

Here it is, the moment we have been waiting for...the first tomato. Many more to follow but I was so excited to see the first one get all red. I may have 'premature picked' in my excitement but it sort of fell off of the vine when I was checking it. We'll eat it tonight.

Mine are better than Ikea's!

Okay, y'all know m obsession with Ikea Swedish Meatballs. But I'm running out of my frozen stash and so I had to some up with a substitute, or drive four hundred miles to pick more up. So I looked up recipes on the Internet and found one from Ikea's cookbook. But the only problem was that the directions were European, in things like grams, deciliters, etc. I failed metric system and I'm an American, dammit, we won't change. So I had to adapt the recipe a bit. And then we ate them side by side with one of the few Ikea meatballs we had left. And guess what? My mom liked mine better! And I tasted them and I liked mine better too! I still need to work on the cream sauce but at least I have half of the equation down!

Better Than Ikea Swedish Meatballs

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
1 egg
1/4 c. half and half
1/4 c. flour
3 Tbsp. minced onion
2 small potatoes, cooked and cooled (you can boil but I just microwaved them)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
5 Tbsp. butter

Saute onions in a bit of butter until tender and lightly browned. Cool. Peel and mash potatoes until smooth. Mix all of the ingredients together until it reaches a smooth consistency. Shape into small balls and fry slowly in remaining butter (I cooked the over medium low heat for about 45 minutes total.) Serve with cream sauce (I'll let you know how to make that once I perfect it!) I love them with big egg noodles, yum.

Newest Obsession

My mom made soba noodles with dipping sauce last night. They were great. My newest obsession. I am now invstigating the many ways of soba.

My mom thinks I should write a cookbook. She says she and my grandma are willing to be guinea pigs for my 'research' to write to book. I guess anything is possible!

Food Time Machine

There are a lot of days I wish I had a food time machine so I could have some of my favorite foods again. One of the reasons I learned to cook was so I could re-create some of my favorite dishes. If I hadn't learned to cook, I would have lost forever my Grandma's potato salad, her gravy, spicy hot tamales, my Mom's Swiss steak (which she still makes but not as often as I would like!), my Dad's shrimp wymus (which I still don't have exact but that's because he made it up and there is no actual recipe), my Grandma Kathleen's bourbon balls. There are some recipes I'm still working on, like my Grandfather's potato soup and my Grandma's bread pudding. Some of these recipes I haven't actually tasted the real thing since I was little girl. And if I finally recreate them, it will be good. But if I had a food time machine it would be wonderful. I could taste the recipes the way they were and ask some questions. But mostly I would be able to see and eat with the people I have loved and lost.

Food brings us together and binds us in an invisible but tangible way. Recipes are handed down from generation to generation to insure a little bit of immortality to the person who made them for us. I was only seven when my paternal grandfather died but I can remember that he made his potato soup all the time and it was so delicious and it made me feel safe and warm and loved. My brother and I still laugh at the way my Grandma Wilhite made biscuits and gravy. She was an awesome cook but a terrible baker. Her biscuits bordered on the awful. They were hard, flat little things (which seems really strange to me since they were Bisquick biscuits so I have no idea how she managed to get them not to rise) and they were almost always burned on the bottom. But as my brother says, it didn't matter because once you put her gravy on them they were heavenly. They were just an edible spoon really because you would have looked weird spooning gravy directly into your mouth but trust me, you wanted to.

There are also restaurants, now long gone, that I wish my time machine could take me. Las Vegas doesn't really appreciate history and so no one mourns the old restaurants. But most of the places I miss were family run restaurants that knew our names and welcomed us in to eat. Like the Miller Family Steakhouse, which was in an old Sizzler location and Mr. Miller always made sure to say hi when we came in for Sunday dinner, which was about once a month for most of the eighties. We knew when his kids got married, when the Millers had a new grandchild. I miss the Silver Star, a takeout only Chinese place where you couldn't see the kitchen but you could hear the woks a clangin' and they made the best fried rice I have ever eaten in my life (it was almost black and so wonderful). You could order enough food for a family of five for under fifteen bucks and have enough leftovers for a week. I miss the chicken chimichangas at Garcia's. They also made a killer chocolate mousse with Kahlua in it. There was the crab rangoon and strawberry chicken at Kwelin. The pizza at Pizza Inn. Enchilada's at Hilda's. The turkey sandwich at Country Inn on those yeast rolls and their killer honey mustard dressing. The soup and cottage cheese dip at the Alpine Village. I miss the atmosphere at Poppa Gar's. That Italian place we used to eat at on Boulder Highway. The food was so good at those restaurants but even better is the warm memories I have of eating there with my friends and family.

If you had a food time machine, where would you go? Who would you eat with? What food memory makes you happy?

My brother got a cast iron skillet for Christmas and he asked me if I would show him how to make my grandmother's gravy. I'd be honored. I hope I can do it justice. So that when he makes his own gravy he can savor the flavor of sitting at her table, crammed together in that tiny dining room, the table groaning under the weight of all that food. So his taste buds can remember separating the burned biscuit and heaping gravy over it. So that he can taste her love.

Home Grown Tomatoes

There is nothing like the taste and sell of a home grown tomato. My tomatoes are setting like crazy and now I'm just waiting for the first ones to get ripe. it's not easy gardening in the desert but I'm trying!

Learning Something New

I love it when I learn something that will help me out in the kitchen. Yesterday I learned how to make sticky rice (also called sweet rice and glutinous rice). Sticky rice is found in a lot of Thai restaurants. It's delicious. But I've always found it hard to make. We tried the rice cooker but couldn't get it right. The directions for the traditional method call for long soaking, then wrapping the rice in cheesecloth and steaming the whole bundle, which seems like a whole lot of work for a little bit of rice. So we kept looking at the large bag of rice we bought at the Asian market wondering what the heck we were going to do with it. Then yesterday I was cruising the Internet for recipes for 'pearl rice balls' (an appetizer with a won ton like filling that you roll in the sticky rice and steam) when I found a website with microwave instructions for making sticky rice. Yes, microwave. And it doesn't require six hours of soaking or cheesecloth. So I made it last night with some fish in a curry sauce and sauteed spinach in peanut sauce. It was perfect!

Here is how to make microwave sticky rice.

Soak once cup of stick rice in one cup (plus a tablespoon or two) of warm water for ten minutes in a microwave safe container. Microwave on high for three minutes. Stir. Microwave for another three minutes. Stir again. You are looking for all of the grains to be translucent. Continue microwaving and stirring at three minute intervals until all the rice is translucent. In my microwave this took about twelve minutes total but mine is pretty low wattage. Enjoy!

Best. Shortcake. Ever.

I love strawberry shortcake. It's the perfect complement to fresh, ripe berries. But I have never found a shortcake that I loved. The biscuit style of shortcake is too dry for my tastes. Those little sponge cakes they sell in the store next to the berries are, quite frankly, hideous in my opinion. Pound cake is too dense and heavy. And angel food cake doesn't soak in the berry juice as much as I would like. So when I saw a recipe in this month's Bon Appetit magazine that sounded a little different I figured I'd give it a try since I had nothing to lose. It caught my eye because it had cream cheese in the cake batter and I've been on a bit of a cream cheese bender lately (I've tried a lot of recipes lately that used cream cheese as an ingredient, from savory recipes to now sweet ones). The cake has butter, eggs and whole milk in it as well so you would expect a very dense cake but it actually had a very fine crumb and it baked up much higher and lighter than I expected (I think due to the high baking powder to flour ratio). The cake was moist and flavorful (through the addition of a bit too much vanilla on my part but I liked it so I'm keeping it that way.) It also had a crunchy topping because you sprinkle sugar on the tope before you bake it. That crunchy topping was so good that I am changing the recipe to a larger pan so that there is more surface for that crunchy top.

If, like me, you love shortcake but haven't found your perfect recipe yet, try this one. It's delicious and so very simple. The recipe also called for making a strawberry syrup in addition to the macerated berries. I did it and while it was a bit more work I'd do it again because it just added another layer of fresh strawberry flavor. But just cake, berries and whipped cream would be fine too.

Shortcake

1 1/2 c. flour (the original recipe called for cake four but I used all purpose and it was fine)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. plus 2 Tbsp. sugar, plus additional for dusting
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. whole milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract (the original called for just 1/4 tsp. I liked the vanilla taste but you can cut back if you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle bottom and sides of pan with sugar and tap out any excess. Cream together butter, cream cheese and one cup sugar. Beat in milk, eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Spread batter into prepared pan and sprinkle remaining two tablespoons sugar evenly over the top. Bake until golden brown on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.

Yes, its that simple. And it really is delicious. For the complete instructions, including the strawberry sauce, see the R.S.V.P. section of the May 2008 Bon Appetit. Th recipe is supposed to be just like the one at Millie's Diner in Richmond, Virginia. If I ever get to Richmond, I'm gonna go thank Millie.

Delicious

Dinner Friday was delicious. Definitely try this recipe for a light but filling dinner. You could definitely vary the vegetables but made as is it's a lovely spring dish. I serve it with steamed artichokes and crusty sourdough bread. I's really quick to put together too! Try it!

Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce, Asparagus and Peas

8 ounces fusilli pasta
1/2 lb. asparagus, sliced into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 c. frozen peas, thawed
1 Tbsp. butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c. chicken broth
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/3 c. heavy cream
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper

(Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Add asparagus during last minute of cooking time. Place peas in colander; drain pasta mixture over peas and set aside. Melt butter in pan, saute garlic one minute. Combine broth and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir until well blended. Add to pan and bring to a boil. Cook one minute or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in cream, lemon juice, salt, pepper and red pepper. Add pasta mixture to pan and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Dinner tonight

I'm making this for dinner tonight. I'll let you know how it goes!

Pixie Mandarins

If you get a chance to stop by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market (and you should, you really, really should, Fresh and Easy rocks!)) pick up a bag of their "Pixie Mandarins". They are little oranges, even smaller than Clementines and just as easy to peel with no seeds. They are the sweetest little oranges I have ever eaten. Seriously. They are like juicy candy. So good. Try them!

Hunger

I have said a million times, "I'm starving to death!" But I have never really been starving. I think it would be a horrible thing to be that hungry. Here is a website that appeals to me on several levels. It's called Free Rice
and you play a vocabulary game and if you get the vocabulary word right then a sponsoring advertiser donates twenty grains of rice. You can keep playing as long as you want and it gives you some really challenging words. I've been playing at level 43 which is really tough. It goes up to level 55 but says it's hard to stay above level 48. But you don't have to worry about choosing your level, the game will do it for you based on the words you get right and wrong.

I saw this game yesterday in my Mensa magazine and then again last night on NBC News. With two references in one day I had to go check it out. I played today and not only did I learn some new words (that's important for a writer, right? I wasn't just wasting time, right?) but I "donated" three thousand grains of rice, or about half a cup. Now I know I'm not going to end world hunger but if everyone played this game for five minutes, think how many hungry people would have rice.

Here's one to get you started:
"Stertorous" means a) jumbo b) attractive c) snoring d) permeable

Head to Free Rice and learn some new words and feed some people. It's all good. And the answer is c.

Ah, Brownies

I love dessert (as anyone who has ever seen my ass can attest). And for me, the ultimate dessert is brownies. Why? Because they are the most perfect cross between cake and candy ever invented. Rich, fudgy, loaded with extra chocolate and then embellished to your hearts content. Mmm.

Brownies are easy to make, take only one bowl, no mixer required and you can vary them infinitely. I once had a man, who had recently gotten engaged, offer to dump his fiancee and marry me after eating one of my s'more brownies. (Graham cracker crust, rich brownie center, smooth marshmallow cream on top that I toasted with a blow torch. Yummy.) I'm not sure he really would have married me (I also had a proposal over my home made peach pie and yet I'm still single. The way to a man's heart may be through his stomach but apparently the stomach has a short memory span) but it was nice to know my brownies were that good.

I love taking brownies and seeing how I can make them better. My malt ball brownies with malted chocolate frosting are to die for. Black forest brownies are sinfully good. Others have exclaimed over my German chocolate brownies (I'm not a big fan of coconut so I'll just take their word for it) And my brownie trifle was once given the highest compliment, "it's better than sex". While I'm not sure it's that good, it is a pretty awesome combination of brownies, chocolate custard, whipped cream and ganache. My brother also says it can induce coma if not given in small doses. Wimp.

My favorite brownies are loaded with chocolate then frosted. Pretty basic but I then drizzle ganache over them because I just can't leave them alone. For those that don't know, ganache is just chocolate and heavy cream mixed together. Lots of people are intimidated by ganache. It's so easy if you use my microwave method. (Oh, be quiet all you chocolate purists, yes you can make a great ganache in the microwave!) Put a few tablespoons of heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 20-30 seconds until quite warm. Pour in chopped chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth and glossy. It will look really disgusting at first as the cream sort of separates but keep stirring and it will all come together and be soooo good. The ratio varies depending on how thick or thin you want the ganache to be, but a good rule of thumb is two parts chocolate to one part cream for a sauce-like ganache. I use a mixture of both bittersweet and milk chocolate in my ganache, mostly bittersweet with just a touch of the sweeter milk chocolate to mellow it out. Three to one seems just right. Of course if you love milk chocolate, just reverse it for a sweeter ganache. Use this ganache for drizzling over brownies, ice cream, using in butter cream frosting, fold into whipped cream for an amazing chocolate mousse. Ganache is to die for!

Okay, here is my dirty little secret. If I'm running short on time I'll cheat and use a brownie mix. Brownie mixes are pretty easy and if you 'doctor' them a bit they taste almost as good as home made. If I'm 'cheating' I'll add four tablespoons of chocolate syrup (Hershey Special Dark) and at least an extra half cup of chopped chocolate. Also, if you substitute a little of the water called for with Kahlua or vanilla rum it will really taste yummy. Of course home made is best but I always keep a box of brownie mix on hand for 'emergencies'. A doctored mix can be in the oven in less than five minutes and that can cover a lot of emergency situations!

If you have the time, here is an easy brownie recipe to get you started. Embellish to your hearts content and enjoy!

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 c. butter
1 3/4 c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a 9 X 13 baking pan. In a large microwaveable mixing bowl, microwave butter and unsweetened chocolate for 1-2 minutes until butter is melted. Take bowl out of microwave and stir until all of the chocolate is melted. Stir in sugar. Mix in the beaten eggs and the vanilla. Stir in flour and chocolate chips until just combined. Spread into greased pan and bake for 35-40 minutes (Be careful not to over bake. They are fudgiest when slightly under done. A toothpick inserted near the center should come out 'almost clean" - meaning not gooey but not perfectly clean either. If you cook them too long the center will be dry and the edges inedible.) If you can wait that long, cool and frost. If you can't wait, eat them warm with some vanilla ice cream. Heaven!

Food Porn

I read cookbooks for pleasure. Cookbooks and cooking magazines and gourmet food catalogs are pornography for foodies. I love to read the recipes and if there are pictures then it's even better. Now we add to the list of food porn the internet.

I have had a subscription to Bon Apetit since I was a teenager. My grandma got it for me because she knew how much I like to cook. Every month that issue would come and I would peruse it's glossy pages for recipes and photographs like a frat guy with a Playboy. ( I wish I could say I just read Bon Apetit for the articles but I'd be lying. And honestly, I wish it had a centerfold of like a cake or smorgasbord or something). And I save my favorite issues to read over and over again. Recently the magazine has undergone a bit if a 'makeover' and the magazine is better than ever with a little more everyday type food as well as the true gourmet stuff. I love it even more now, if that's possible.

I also love those little grocery store checkout cookbooks with the 'pictures of every recipe'. At one point in my life I had several hundred of them, stored in cardboard filing drawers, many of them with their pages marked with colored paperclips for the recipes I had made, or wanted to make someday. During my last move I got rid of them except a few well worn favorites. It's only because I'm a struggling writer that I don't keep collecting them but at four dollars a pop I can't afford them right now. So I just surreptitiously read them in the line at the checkout counter and make mental notes of any interesting recipes.

Don't even get me started on food catalogs. I read the Dean and Deluca catalog with almost religious devotion, drool over Harry and David and save my Zabar's catalogs for years. Heck, I even read the crappy Swiss Colony catalog at Christmas time just to see what's in the 'Super Tower of Treats'. Yes, I know I have a problem, but it's my problem, don't judge.

And now I search the internet for recipes. Many sites have pictures and I must constantly remind myself that licking my computer screen is probably not a good idea. So I will try to add more pictures of my recipes here on Gourmand Girl so that food porn lovers like me can enjoy.

The only thing that could make it better is if you could taste the food. Scratch and sniff was a start, but I saw a marketing campaign for juice that put one of those little strips (like the ones with the mouthwash or breath strips) into a magazine so you could 'taste' their product. Now we just need scientists to make one that tastes like white chocolate key lime pie to put next to the recipe and I'd be in high heaven.

My Favorite Blue Bell Flavors (so far)

1. Ultimate Neapolitan
2. Pecan Praline's and Cream
3. Mint Chip
4. Moo-lenium Crunch
5. Banana Nut

I only have three and a half days left to try and eat as much as I can. I'm up to the challenge!
P.S. The Shopette across from my office on base has an AMAZING selection of Blue Bell. There isn't a vegetable in the store - in any form, canned, frozen, fresh, I mean nada, zip, nothing - but they have every flavor of Blue Bell in pint and half gallon. Gotta love that!

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a barbecue joint. With apologies to Marty Robbins for my singing abilities, I have to tell you about Smitty's Pit Bar-B-Que where I met some yummy Texas barbecue.

Okay, so we had to go to El Paso to pick up Monique on Saturday night and I asked Bill if he wanted to try Smitty's with me. Since the "Texas Pit Bar-B-Que" restaurant was just a block away from us in Cloudcroft and we had already eaten there I figured Bill would be up for the adventure. I heard about Smitty's when I looked on Roadfood for restaurants to be on the lookout for while I'm here in New Mexico. So when I saw that Smitty's was listed there as the 'best barbecue in West Texas" and only a few blocks from the El Paso airport I knew I had to try it. But when I flew in to El Paso my flight was late and Smitty's was already closed. So I knew this could be my only chance.

Smitty's has been around since 1955 and when you look inside it's old school with a dash of new. Green vinyl booths are partitioned off and match the green vinyl bar stools. Texas longhorns hang on the wall near a Shiner Bock advertisement. It definitely looks like a place built in the fifties and the fact that it's so well taken care of speaks to a love of tradition. Of course there are modern elements too like the big screen TVs. The bar boasts an impressive collection of beer steins and vintage Budweiser collectibles abound.


Now, down to the food. The menu lists an extensive selection of meats, with beef brisket, beef ribs, pork ribs, corned beef, pork loin, ham, hot links, chicken breast and turkey breast. I got the two meat combo (with beef brisket and pork ribs) while Bill got the four meat combo (with brisket, beef ribs, hot links and chicken breast). The combos come with cole slaw, pinto beans, 'German' fried potatoes and sliced white bread. They were out of cole slaw so Bill got potato salad instead and I got double beans. The beans were good, but not as phenomenal as the Texas Pit BBQ in Cloudcroft. (Those were truly great beans!)I'm not sure what made the fried potatoes 'German' but they were good, peeled wedges of potato that had been deep fried. These were larger than wedge cut fries and were crispy on the outside and still fluffy on the inside.

The beef brisket was smoky, moist and delicious. It was a little on the fatty side but I noticed (after the fact, of course) that you could order it 'lean'. The pork ribs were slow smoked with a nice char on the outside and rosy hued inside, with the meat falling off of the bone. They were loin ribs, not baby backs, which can mean that they are not as tender but the long cooking process left these ribs succulent. Bill exclaimed over his beef ribs (and he says he knows good beef ribs!). Beef ribs can be tough and I rarely order them because I feel like a dog when I have to gnaw the meat from the bone but these were well cooked and the meat came away easily. The links were spicy enough that Bill didn't eat his usual pile of jalapenos (you can order a plain style sausage our waitress informed us.) The chicken breast was just that, a plain chicken breast, which Bill said was serviceable but dry, as plain chicken breasts tend to be. The only downside we could find was with their sauce. It was a thin, vinegar based sauce with a spicier version on the table. I usually really like vinegar based sauces but these were a bit overwhelming in their vinegarness. Fortunately the meat was flavorful enough that no sauce at all was just fine by me. (Bill likes the tomato and brown sugar-type sweet barbecue sauces so he was more upset than I was.)


Dessert is limited to home made rum cake (note the typo on the menu where it says 'run cake' not once, but two times) and commercially prepared cheesecake. The rum cake is the way to go, it is definitely made in house and tastes just like the rum cake my grandma used to make for Christmas. Moist sweet and just enough flavor of rum. Delicious.

Our server was a very polite young lady (she looked really young but she knew how to do her job) and she would excuse herself whenever she left our table. They sure know their manners down here! One caveat for the late night diner, while Smitty's hours are until nine in the evening, in reality they lock the doors at eight. Also, the strip mall Smitty's is located in is pretty deserted at night except for the rather intimidating looking biker bar a few doors down.

Smitty's has an extensive to go menu and if you're ever in the El Paso airport area, I suggest you stop by for some brisket and rum cake. If you take it on the plane with you I guarantee you'll make friends real quick as soon as that rich smoky aroma wafts through the plane. And if you go, tell the waitress the girl from Las Vegas who stole the menu (I offered to buy it but she told me I could have it) says hi!