Cookistry

Lazy Limoncello

2012-02-13T09:27:00.001-07:00

After making home made liqueurs by infusing everything from cranberries to nuts, I've come to the conclusion that a whole lot of recipes are unnecessarily fussy.

I mean, okay, if you want to make the same thing over and over and over again, you should stick to a formula. And it's good to have an idea how much sugar you want to add to get to the proper sweetness, and how much water to add to reach the right alcohol level.

But if you're just messing around with things you happen to have on hand - well, it's really not that critical. You can add sugar to taste. Add some ... and taste. Is it sweet enough? Do you want to add some water to tone it down a bit, or will you be serving it over plenty of ice? You can adjust the infusion to your taste.

Recently a friend in California sent me some lovely Meyer lemons, and one of the first things I thought of was limoncello.

However, the first thing I made was salad dressing. And then I used lemons in a fish dish. And then I had these lemon carcasses on the counter. I knew there was plenty of flavor left in them, but I wasn't in the mood for unsquishing them and trying to zest them, as many limoncello recipes would have you do.

So, I chucked them in a jar and added vodka. Yes, the squished half-lemons, just like that. Into a jar. Topped off with vodka. The next time I opened the jar, it smelled lemony and heavenly, and I knew I was on the right track.

Sure, zesting the lemons would probably release more flavor. Or release it faster. But the lemons I tossed into the jar would have been thrown out otherwise This way, I'm making complete use of them.

My infusion isn't finished - I've got a dozen or so more lemons left, and I plan on chucking the carcasses into the jar and I'll keep it topped off with vodka until all the lemons are gone. Then I'll let it sit for a while and then add some sugar - or simple syrup, if I feel like boiling some water. I'm sure it will be fine.

You won't get an exact recipe from me this time. But really, I don't think you need one.

No Meyer lemons in your house? Well, do you use a lot of limes? Or oranges? Those should work just as well. Give it a try and let me know how it works out.

Feeling Dippy #RomanceDinner #SundaySupper

2012-02-12T01:00:00.002-07:00

When I think of romantic food, I think of fun food. Not serious stuff. Maybe not elegant, either. Food you can nibble on is fun. Finger food is fun. Nibble, nosh, chat, enjoy each other's company ... that's romantic. Too many forks is not romantic.

Cheese and wine is a classic romantic combination. But why not turn that cheese into something a little more fun, like a cheese ball? Just the name is fun. Cheese ball.

This one features one of my favorite ingredients - roasted red peppers.

Way back when I was a little kid, I loved green olives - not so much because of the olives, but I adored the pimentos in the olives. I wished that those pimentos were available in larger quantities. I even asked my mom about them. But no, pimentos were some great secret ingredient that only came inside olives. And olives themselves were a rare treat.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that pimentos are simply red peppers.

Now, I use red peppers in all sorts of things.

In this cheese ball, roasted red peppers add flavor, texture, and color. Not only do you see bright bits of red scattered in the cheese, but the color permeates the mixture, changing it from a rather pale color to something more vibrant.

This cheese ball - which spreads easily on a cracker - combines blue cheese for a burst of flavor with Swiss and Colby longhorn cheeses for a little milder flavor. Cream cheese binds the firmer cheeses together.

This recipe makes quite a lot - plenty for a party. On the other hand, if you love cheese, it won't last all that long. Not only is it great on its own on crackers, but it make a great spread on sandwiches. I'm sure you'll find a lot of uses for it.

Of course, you can cut the recipe in half or double it.

And when it comes to the exact cheeses you choose, you can substitute. This is a great way to get rid of bits on pieces and odd bits of cheese that you have on hand.

Pimento Cheese Ball

16 ounces Swiss cheese
4 ounces Colby or mild cheddar cheese
2 ounces blue cheese
4 ounces cream cheese
2 large pieces roasted red pepper, diced

Cut the Swiss, Colby and blue cheeses into chunks and put them into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until you have small bits - you don't want to obliterate it and turn it into a paste - it's good to have some texture in the product.

Add the cream cheese and pulse until it is incorporated. Add the red peppers and pulse again until they are distributed.

Transfer the mixture to a storage container and chill.

For serving, the easiest way to make a round ball is with an ice cream scoop. But of course, this is for Valentine's Day.

Awww ... it's a heart!

The other participants in today's #SundaySupper #RomanceDinner have even more love-inspired yummy goodies just for you. Want to know more?

Renee Dobbs of Magnolia Days is making a Mediterranean inspired appetizer - Shrimp Arnean. Aromatics like celery, green onions, and parsley infuse into the shrimp overnight to create an ideal refreshing start for your special evening.
Valerie of Val's Food and or Art is following along with a smoky, nutty, and aphrodisiac theme, making Roasted Creamy Mushroom Bisque with Caramelized Onions and Creme Fraiche, and Smoked Oyster Pate.
Sunithi Selvraj of Sue's Nutrition Buzz is wooing us towards healthy choices with her Pink Heart Healthy Grapefruit Pomegranate Salad.
Rashimi Primlani from The Primlani Kitchen is making Osso Buco with Gremolata and Saffron Risotto.
Nicole from Daily Dish Recipes is indulging us with her Pink Champagne Cupcakes with Strawberry Champagne Frosting - pink, delicate flavor, hint of champagne; do I still need to eat dinner?
Isabel from Family Foodie is making her smooth and silky Portuguese-Style Chocolate Mousse.
Eileen Gross of Wine Everyday is showcasing her mixologist skills by creating champagne cocktails using Biltmore's Pas de Deux, Methode Champenoise - Sec.

Check them all out and get your own menu ready for Valentine's Day. What will you be serving?

Is this blog healthy?

2012-02-11T09:28:00.003-07:00

I am constantly amazed at how many different people - and companies - think that my blog is about healthy eating. I don't really target that market, and I don't try to write healthy recipe, I simply post about what I cook and what I serve and what I eat.

I suppose there are a lot of vegetables and salads and soups and lean meats on this blog - but there are also cookies and cakes and pies and breads. And ice cream. And adult beverages.

What you won't see are a lot of canned or convenience products, and when I do write about them, it's usually in the form of a review. Or something that I indulge in occasionally.

Because a lot of companies see this blog in a "healthy" niche, occasionally I get offers to review healthy or diet-related products. Sometimes I say yes, but more often I say no. Most of those products don't interest me, but once in a while I see one that sounds intriguing.

Recently, I reviewed some granola as part of the Build a Better Me project with Virtual Potluck. That's something that many people would consider a healthy product, right?

As far as I'm concerned, healthy eating is all about eating a wide variety of foods, and not overdoing anything. An all-granola diet would be as bad as living on nothing but sirloin steak and coffee. Not saying there's anything wrong with beef and beans - just that overdoing anything can be bad. Moderation in all things, including moderation.

So I do indulge in desserts and white bread and adult beverages. At the same time, I limit the amount of junk food that comes into the house. I do indulge, when the mood strikes, and I don't deprive myself if I want a treat. But I guess I'm lucky that I prefer real home-cooked food to fast food and packaged products.

To me, healthy food really isn't about short-term dieting, it's about a lifestyle - eating good food that's good for you in quantities that make sense.

On the other hand, I know that a lot of people don't have the time to make all their meals from scratch, and I know that some folks really love the idea of prepared diet foods with calorie counts on the labels. There's a big market for that. However, that market isn't me, so I'm not sure why I agreed to review muffins and bars from a company called ThinSlim Foods. I must have been hungry - or in a particularly good mood - when the email came in.

What was I thinking? I like to bake. When would I buy muffins? But the email was friendly and the product sounded interesting, and novel. Really low carb and low calorie. Even if I would never buy them for myself, maybe some of my readers would be interested. So I said, sure, okay, send in the muffins.

When the box arrived, there were two packages of four muffins each, and three single-serve bars. Forty calories, no sugar, two net carbs in the muffins, and they weren't ridiculously small ... they sounded, uh ... "lite." But what would they taste like?

I started with the blueberry muffins. When I broke one open, it seemed moist, but the texture and color were a little odd. They smelled very blueberry-like, but there didn't seem to be bits of berries.

The flavor was ... okay. Not spectacular, but not awful. There was a bit of that fake-sugar aftertaste, though. I know some people don't notice it, but I do. Maybe it wasn't the sweetener, but there was a definite aftertaste that reminded me of the days when I drank diet sodas.

The vanilla muffins were pretty much the same, but without the blueberry flavor.

I also tried the chocolate brownie-like bar. It had decent chocolate flavor, but has a sort of chalky flavor as well. Again not spectacular, but not horrendous, either.

The verdict? If I want muffins, I'm going to bake them. These were no match for what I make at home - at least not the flavor.

But I can pretty much guarantee that my muffins have more carbs, more sugar, and more calories than these. If someone wanted super-low carb, low calorie muffins, I have no idea if it's even possible to make them this light at home. I can't imagine how. There must be sorcery involved. Or more likely, they're not using the same sugar and flour I would use.

While these aren't the best muffins I've ever had, they'd be fine as a quick snack or something to eat on-the-go, particularly if the eater doesn't mind the flavor of the artificial sweeteners. I could see stashing a package of these in a desk drawer for something to eat when a craving hits and the only other alternative is a vending machine full of high calorie snacks.

I'm pretty sure I'll continue baking my own muffins and brownies and bars and breads. But what about you? Are you interested in these kinds of super-low calorie snacks for those craving-filled moments? Would you buy these to have at home? Would you buy them if you were out somewhere and wanted a quick snack? Or would you rather have a carrot or an apple or a really small cookie?

Since a few people asked, I pulled the ingredient list for the blueberry muffins off of the manufacturer's site. Here it is: purified water, erythritol, oat fiber, inulin, egg whites, almond meal, modified corn starch, olive oil, xanthan gum, guar gum, leavening (monocalcium phosphate, baking soda), natural flavors, blueberry skin.

Let me know. I'm curious.

What Do Chefs Eat?

For another perspective on healthy eating, I got an email about a new book coming out called Smart Chefs Stay Slim: Lessons in Eating and Living from America’s Best Chefs. Okay, that sounds interesting. There are going to be recipes as well as personal stories from chefs like Thomas Keller, Cat Cora, Rick Bayless, Eric Ripert, Marcus Samuelsson, Wolfgang Puck, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Sue Torres. Nice lineup!

The teasers for the book mention things like the fact that 4-star seafood master Eric Ripert sometimes comes home and cooks chicken in the toaster oven, and it promises to explain why Rick Bayless says the heat of chilies does more than just taste good.

The recipes listed in the email sound pretty good, too: Rick Bayless’s Grilled Chicken Salad with Rustic Guacamole, Ming Tsai’s Pork Fried Rice, Andrea Reusing’s Warm Asparagus Salad with Soft-boiled Eggs, Simpson Wong’s Hangover Soup, and Karen Hatfield’s Apple Galette.

That doesn't sound like typical diet food, and I'm willing to bet there aren't a lot of artificial flavors, colors, and sweeteners in the recipes. Chefs should know how to coax great flavor from simple ingredients. And they should know when and how to make the most of the more indulgent foods.

I'm looking forward to this book. Stay tuned for a review when it comes out.

For the purposes of a review, I was provided with samples of the muffins and bars from SlimFit Foods at no cost. I have not received any compensation for mentioning the book, but I have requested a review copy.

Whole Foods Friday: Lemon-Pepper Vegetables

2012-02-10T10:00:00.003-07:00

Onions usually play a secondary role in most dishes. Maybe you dice them so they're really small or you don't use too much. In this dish, the onions are just another vegetable.

Of course, you can add as much salt and pepper as you like, but I think these are good with a generous kick of black pepper.

Lemon-Pepper Vegetables

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 pound mushroom, sliced
1 onion, quartered and sliced
1 small zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
Juice of 1 Meyer lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a saute pan on medium-high heat and add the butter. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are browned in spots.

Add the onions and cook until they soften.

Add the zucchini, Meyer lemon juice, salt, and pepper and cook until the zucchini is beginning to soften and the liquid is gone.

Serve warm.

For more information about Whole Foods Friday, see the tab at the top.

Whole Foods Friday: Surf, Turf, and Other Stuff

2012-02-10T09:00:00.007-07:00

Surf and turf can take many forms, but it's usually some kind of steak along with seafood. But that's not enough for dinner. You need a side dish, too, right? That's the "other stuff" in the title of this post.

I tried to come up with a clever play on the surf-turf name and came up with nothing useful. After all, vegetables are more "turf" than beef is. Surf and turf and dirt? Nah, that doesn't work.

In summer, I'd be most likely to grill a steak. I could have used a grill pan, but cooking steak in a cast iron pan is great, too. You get a nice brown crust on the meat which adds flavor and texture.

A good steak doesn't need much embellishment - salt and pepper is plenty. After that, it's all about technique. And, of course, having a good steak.

The first time I ever had a flatiron steak, it was shortly after I moved to Colorado. I thought it might be a regional cut, named after the Flatirons. But no, it's simply a cut that coincidentally become popular shortly after I moved here.

Flatiron steaks are pretty tender to begin with, but I see nothing wrong with treating the steak in a way that makes it even more tender. If you can, then why not?

Part of what makes this preparation seem more tender is the thin slices. Those thin slices also become a easy method of portion control. Give someone a big chunk of meat, and chances are that they'll eat most or all of it. Present slices, and folks will take less and eat less.

The "surf" portion of this meal is shrimp, cooked simply, shell-on. It's a messy hands-on item that you can serve as an appetizer, or right along with the steak, Even better, you can serve the shrimp hot, warm, or chilled - your choice.

And last, the vegetables. That post will be up next.

Want to know about Whole Foods Friday? Check out the tab at the top.

Cast Iron Flat Iron Steak

1 flatiron steak
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Several generous grinds of black pepper
1 tablespoon oil, for cooking

About an hour before cooking, remove the meat for the refrigerator and salt and pepper both sides.

When you're ready to cook, heat a cast iron pan on medium-high heat. Add the oil and let it heat until it's just barely smoking. Add the meat. Let it cook without poking, prodding, or turning it until the meat releases from the pan on its own and the meat is nicely browned.

Turn the meat over and cook on the second side until browned. Continue cooking until the meat is cooked to your liking.

Remove the meat from the pan and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing it into thin strips for serving.

Shrimp and Sherry

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound medium or large shell-on shrimp
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup dry sherry
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the butter and oil in a saute pan until the butter melts. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, until the shrimp is almost cooked through.

Add the lemon juice and sherry along with salt an pepper, to taste. Cook, stirring often, until the liquid is almost gone.

Serve warm, room temperature, or chilled.

Say "Cheese" on Valentine's Day

2012-02-09T08:30:00.001-07:00

Flowers are nice, but cheese is ... cheesy? Why not have both?

At the same time.

Once again, Virtual Potluck teamed up with Taste to serve up some beverages to go along with our special Valentine's Day menu. This is the third and last meal we're putting together.

On this week's menu, we have:

An appetizer featuring mushrooms made by Milisa.
I'm handling the intermezzo, below.
Vanessa is in charge of the entree - steak frites.
And for dessert, Nelly whipped up some hot chocolate poached pears.

I chose a simple cheese plate this time around. Or not so simple, perhaps.

I've heard lots of theories about how to assemble a cheese plate - by country - by style - by other attributes. But really, if you're making a cheese plate for you and your sweetie, just pick cheeses that you like. It doesn't matter if someone else thinks the cheeses don't go together - if you like them, put them on the plate. It really is as simple as that.

If you're arranging a cheese plate for guests, you might make different selections. But for you and your sweetie, throw the rules away. Serve what you like.

For our cheese plate, I started with two different blue cheeses - a Danish blue and a buttermilk blue. We like blue cheese. I also included cubes of Emmenthaler as well as as some marinated feta cheese. And for something frilly and fancy, I had some Tete de Moine cheese that I curled into flowers.

Pretty, isn't it?

So, now maybe you want to know how to make them, right?

Okay, first, you need one of these:

It looks like this, assembled.

If this seems like an unusual item to own, well, yes, it is. I won this in a contest at Culture Cheese Magazine a while back, or I might never have bought one. So far, I've only used it for cheese, but I've been meaning to try it with chocolate.

The cheese goes on the spike and you start cranking:

Thin layers of cheese curl up just like this:

Here's a closer look:

And closer. The layers are very thin and delicate.

And that's it. I usually pinch the small end a bit to hold it together better. When you eat the cheese flowers, they sort of melt in your mouth - just dissolve. It's a different way to eat cheese, that's for sure. And they look pretty on the plate, no doubt.

And how about a drink with dinner? If you're not familiar with it, Taste is a mixology show that features cool cocktails from the creative minds at N8tion.com, an independent television and radio network founded by brothers Myron and Otis McDaniel..

The resident “booze head” is Otis, who showcases classic and not-so-classic cocktail recipes. After tending bar at college parties, Otis honed his bartending skills at local taverns on the nights he wasn’t moonlighting as a bouncer. And now, he's serving drinks in a limited engagement here with Virtual Potluck

Here are this week's drinks:

Make sure you go check out all the other bloggers!

Paleo People Granola

2012-02-08T08:30:00.039-07:00

There was a long, long time when I believed that granola was something that you bought for the health benefits, then you brought it home and ignored it, because there was always something better to eat.

And then one day when you were really, really hungry and there was nothing else that was edible-ready, you gnawed on the granola.

Or maybe you put it on top of something else that actually tasted good. Like yogurt or ice cream.

Recently, though, I've changed my mind - at least a little bit. There are some granolas that are pretty darned good. Some. Not all.

So when Virtual Potluck was offered the chance to sample some granolas, I figured it was worth it. If I liked them, I could add another brand to my yummy list. And if I didn't like it, I could toss it on the other list.

The granolas we got were from a company called Paleo People, and the big difference I noticed - without even opening the bag - is that this granola doesn't have any oats. Yep, you heard it. No toasty oatmeal. Which is pretty interesting, because most most of the granolas I've tried have been mostly about the oats.

Reading the ingredient list, I saw that two of the flavors included my arch-food-nemesis, shredded coconut. Uh oh. And all of them included raisins. I'm not awfully fond of raisins, either. What was I thinking?

Well, I committed to reviewing, so I opened the bags and dived in. The flavors were banana nut, apple crisp, cacao nut, and cappuccino crunch.

The banana nut smelled like banana bread, and it was one of my favorites, despite the shredded coconut. I don't know how they managed it, but I really couldn't detect the the coconut. As far as the raisins, they added a nice sweetness. In this case, I really didn't mind them.

All the granola flavors were similar, except for their main flavor ingredient. There were slightly different ingredients listed, but not shockingly so. If you like one, and you like the main ingredient, you'll probably like all of them.

Of the four flavors, the only one I didn't like as much was the cappuccino. It was okay, but not one that I'd go out of my way to get. The other three, though - I'd be perfectly happy to munch any of them, any time - even with the shredded coconut and the raisins.

Although I haven't tried it, I'm confident this granola would make a pretty great addition to cookies. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm tempted to try it. I might have just enough left for a little batch.

Win some Granola! (Contest is Closed)
and the winner is Nicole!

But how about some granola for you? The Paleo People have offered to send the same four granola flavors to one of my readers - as well as to other Virtual Potluck blogger readers.

To enter here, first tell me what's your favorite way of eating granola. This entry is mandatory.

For a second entry, follow me (@dbcurrie) and @paleopeople on Twitter and tweet a link to this contest. Come back here and tell me that you tweeted.

And that's it. Two entries per person. This contest starts as soon as this posts and end on Sunday, February 12 at midnight. Open to US residents only.

If you love granola and want even more chances to win, check out the Virtual Potluck host blog to see the complete list of participating bloggers for more chances to win.

Virtual Potluck has more coming ... make sure you're following @VirtualPotluck on Twitter to see what we're up to!

Cocktail Rye Bread

2012-02-07T08:00:00.005-07:00

Cocktail rye was pretty common when I was growing up, but it's been a while since I've seen it. Maybe it's a regional thing, or maybe it has gone out of style. It's not so much a style of bread, but it's about the shape. Cocktail rye was a small loaf, thinly sliced.

In our house, it was typically served as the base for chopped chicken livers, or sometimes cream cheese, always served open-faced. Cocktail rye was the untoasted rye version of crostini.

Most of the bread that came into our house was destined for very utilitarian sandwiches, so little bread seemed very fancy to me. Even if it was just a snack in front of the TV, it felt like a party.

I used pumpernickel flour, but I know that most stores don't stock a lot of different rye flours - you can use whatever rye flour you have on hand, or whatever you can find. I'm usually a big fan of giving precise measurement for baking recipes, but in this case, you might need to adjust a bit, depending on the rye flour you use. It's more important to have the right texture than to adhere to precise measurements.

Cocktail Rye

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup pumpernickel or dark rye flour
2 cups bread flour (plus more, as needed)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Combine the water, yeast, and rye flour in the bowl of your stand mixer and stir to combine. Let it sit for 10 minutes. It should be a bit bubbly.

Add 2 cups of bread flour, salt, and cider vinegar. Knead with the stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the dough is elastic - it won't be smooth because of the rye flour. Add the olive oil and continue kneading until the oil is incorporated.

Turn off the mixer and touch the dough - it should be tacky rather than sticky. If the dough is still sticky add more bread flour - perhaps up to another 1/4 cup - as needed. Add the caraway seeds and knead until they are well distributed.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until the dough has doubled in size - about 50 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking pan with parchment paper.

Flour your work surface, turn out the dough, and divide it into 3 roughly equal pieces. Form each piece into a log about 2 inches in diameter. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving space between them for them to rise.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned, about 25 minutes. Let the loaves cool completely on a rack before cutting.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

Meyer Lemon Salad

2012-02-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing Meyer lemons at stores lately, and of course I had to pick some up. They're not always available, so when I see them, I'm always tempted, even if I don't have specific plans for them.

They're pretty things, with a slightly more orange color than your typical lemon, and they're not quite as tart.

Meyer lemons are thought to be a cross between a regular lemon and some type of orange. Whatever they are, I know I like them.

And the ones I've had have been pretty darned juicy. Even if they're a bit more expensive than regular lemons, you get a lot of juice out of them.

So there I was with my hand full of pretty yellow-orange lemons and no firm plans. I wanted to make sure that I used the lemon juice in a recipe where it could be the star. I decided on a salad dressing using the Meyer lemon juice instead of vinegar.

The standard ratio of acid to oil is one part acid to three parts oil. At that ratio, some vinegars are still too acidic, so you need to add honey or sugar or some other sweetener to balance the tartness. Since Meyer lemon juice isn't quite as tart as vinegar or regular lemon juice, you need much less sweetener, which is a bonus. This recipe still adds a little sugar, but it's not much.

To go with the dressing, I made a simple salad, with olives, feta cheese, and artichoke hearts.

Meyer Lemon Salad Dressing

1 tablespoon meyer lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt

Put the lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper into a small container with a tight-fitting lid.

Shake the container vigorously until the oil and vinegar combine and you have a thick mixture.

For the salad I made, I sprinkled dry oregano over the salad before adding the dressing. I used romaine lettuce and topped it with olives, feta cheese, and artichoke hearts, but of course you can assemble your salad any way you like.

You could also add the oregano - or any other herbs you like - to the dressing when you mix it, if you prefer.

#SaucySuperBowl Munchies for #SundaySupper

2012-02-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

I love trying new products, so when my friend Isabel from Family Foodie said, "I have this friend who owns a sauce compa--" Yeah, that's about as far as it got before I was waving my (virtual) hand in her (virtual) face and saying "yes-yes-yes-I-want-some-now-please!"

Isabel, who has a knack for organizing food bloggers, gathered some other blogging taste testers, and we each got a different product from Intensity Academy. I got Chai Thai Teriyaki Sauce.

But of course, we couldn't just chug the stuff and say "yum." That would be silly. Instead, we're making superbowl snacks for everyone to virtually share. Well, I might not be sharing mine. Because I might just eat 'em all up before you get here. Or there. Or virtually wherever.

When I got my bottle of sauce the first thing I did was taste just a little bit of it plain. When I heard the name, I was thinking about chicken wings, but when I tasted it, the first thing I thought of was cream cheese. I have no idea why, but that's what stuck in my head. I had to find some way to marry it with cream cheese.

It seemed that the best way to accomplish that goal was simply to mix the two together. Oh, yumminess! The recipe almost ended right there, with me scooping the stuff into my open maw, but I knew I had to do something a little more ... er ... photo-worthy than that. I mean, really, no one wants to see me huddled in a corner with a bowl and a spoon.

Since I was so in love with the flavor, I didn't want to muddy it with anything too strong. I decided on zucchini. And then I waffled about a garnish. If it was summer, I might have added some chives from the herb planter. This time of year, I rooted around in the fridge until I found some radicchio. I thought the purple color would make a nice accent and the slight bitterness would be a good counterpoint to the sweetness of the cream cheese mixture.

Turns out I was right.

Of course, you could use the cream cheese mixture as a filling for celery or thin it out a bit with milk and use it as a dip for chips. Or for vegetables. Or spread it on crackers. See how I'm being nice and not mentioning slurping it up with a spoon?

Needless to say, this is a ridiculously simple recipe. But it doesn't have to be complicated. The sauce does all the flavor-work. You just have to step back a bit and not interfere too much.

Chai Thai Teriyaki Zucchini Rounds

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
3 tablespoons Chai Thai Teriyaki Sauce
Small zucchini, sliced into rounds or ovals
Radicchio, sliced into thin ribbons for garnish

It's all about assembly. Mix the cream cheese with the sauce. Taste it, but try to avoid slurping it all up, or you'll have to run to the store for more cream cheese.

Add more sauce if you like, to adjust the flavor, but don't let it get too thin - it needs to hold its shape on the zucchini.

Put a small dollop of the cream cheese mixture on each zucchini round, and top with a few ribbons of radicchio. Eat. Uh ... I mean serve.

Want to know more about these sauce? There are more bloggers making snacks with them this Sunday. Check them out:

Renee Dobbs from Magnolia Days is bringing her Famous Loosen your belt Chili Skins
Erin Meyer from Big Fat Baker is bringing Pulled Pork with Homemade Kaiser Rolls
Launie Kettler is bringing Coffee Smoked Gypsy Gold Dust Chicken from her Teeny Tiny Kitchen
Samantha Ferraro has been busy finalizing her fabulous Fish Tacos from The Little Ferraro Kitchen
Sunithis Selvaraj will blow you away with her Sweet Glazed Pineapple Shrimp Kebobs from Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
Emily Robinson’s recipe for Chai Chili Sauce stuffed Bacon Wrapped Shrimp is at Ultra Epicure
Jeff Young from The Catholic Foodie created Chai Chipotle Chup Jalapeno Poppers
Isabel from Family Foodie is bringing Chai Thai Meatballs.
Every good Super Bowl Party needs a signature drink and Eileen Gross from Wine Everyday is providing the Sangria!

Disclaimer: I received a bottle of the sauce I used at no charge.

Winter Cocktails

2012-02-04T09:41:00.002-07:00

This cute little app landed in my email and I thought it might amuse you:

And it came along with a few extra drink recipes. Enjoy!

Chocolate Snowball

2 ounces coconut rum
2 ounces Irish cream
1 ounces hazelnut liqueur
3 1/2 ounces melted chocolate
3 1/2 ounces cream
1 dash chocolate syrup

Place the chocolate syrup around the glass then place the other ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into glass.

Spring Fever

3/4 ounce lemon juice
3/4 ounce mango syrup
1 1/2 ounces pineapple juice
2 ounces blood orange juice

Shake well over ice cubes in a shaker, and strain into a collins glass half-filled with crushed ice.

Winter Breeze

1 ounce creme de cacao
1 ounce vanilla schnapps
1 ounce Irish cream
Milk

Pour liquors into a beer mug, and fill with milk. Stir, and serve.

So tell me, do you drink different things in winter than in summer, or are there favorites you drink all year long? I'm much more likely to drink Margaritas in the summer, while Bailey's seems like a winter drink to me. On the other hand, there are some drinks that are fine all year long. My morning coffee, for example. Or a nice glass of wine. You?

Whole Foods Friday: Dipping Bread

2012-02-03T10:30:00.029-07:00

This bread is the perfect accompaniment to the mussels and broth - it's got enough body to hold up to dipping without falling apart. Leftovers are great for crostini.

This is a two-day recipe, but it's very easy to make. Mix it one day, and shape and bake the next day.

Dipping Bread

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup semolina flour
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for drizzling)

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix well. It doesn't have to be kneaded until it's elastic - just until it is well combined. You can also mix the ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.

Drizzle a little more olive oil into a zip-top plastic bag. Transfer the dough to the bag, making sure the dough is coated with the oils so it doesn't stick to the bag. Seal the bag and refrigerate until the next day.

Remove the bag from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for at least and hour - or up to two hours - to come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Divide it into four equal pieces, and form each piece into a log about 2 inches in diameter.

Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet, seam side down, leaving room between the pieces for rising. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled, about 30 minutes

Bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned, about 30 minutes.

Let the bread cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

Whole Foods Friday: Beer Mussels

2012-02-03T09:30:00.002-07:00

Mussels seem kind of fancy, don't they? You'll see them as an appetizer on a lot of restaurant menus, but I've been known to eat that appetizer as a meal, dunking bread in the broth until there's nothing left of either the broth or the bread.

When it comes down to it, mussels are incredibly easy to cook. The hardest part is deciding what sort of broth you'll be dipping the bread in.

Wine-based broths are pretty common, and tomatoes often play a role. But beer-based broths can be very interesting, as well. I find that a Belgian ale is a good choice, with its notes of citrus. There are plenty of Belgian ales on the market, but if you don't have a favorite, Blue Moon is readily available.

If you happen to have leftover mussels and broth, you can make a completely different meal the next day. Mussels don't reheat particularly well - they can become rubbery if you're not careful. But this leftover recipe doesn't cook the mussels much more - it just warms them enough for serving.

As for the bread, check the next post. I wouldn't leave you without that!

Mussels in Beer Broth

3 pounds mussels, cleaned
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Juice of 1/2 lemon
12 ounces beer

Sort through the mussels and discard any that aren't closed or that don't close when tapped.

Heat a pot large enough to easily hold all of the mussels over medium heat. Add the olive oil and butter. When the butter has melted, add the onion, garlic, and salt. Cook, stirring as needed, until the vegetables soften. Add the thyme and red pepper flakes and stir briefly.

Add the mussels, lemon juice, and beer, and put the lid on the pot. Cook until the mussels open - about five minutes or so. shaking the pot a few times during cooking. When the mussels are open, they're done. Discard any mussels that don't open.

Serve the mussels with broth, along with bread for dipping.

Next-Day Mussel Pasta
For the pasta, you'll have to judge for yourself how much to make, based on how many people you're feeding and how much you have left over.

Left over mussels and broth
Pasta, cooked (I used angel hair)

Remove the meat from the left over mussels, chop finely, and set aside.

Put the mussel broth in a saute pan and cook on medium heat to reduce it to about 1/4 its original volume. Taste for seasoning and add salt, thyme, or more lemon juice, as desired.

Cook the pasta until just al dente, then add it to the sauce in the pan. Cook and stir until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Add the reserved chopped mussels and cook for a few seconds more to warm the mussels. Serve warm.

For more info on Whole Foods Friday, see the tab at the top.

Sweets for your Sweetie (or for you)

2012-02-02T08:50:00.018-07:00

One of the great things about being a food blogger is that sometimes companies send me things to review. While it's great to work with food companies to create recipes using their products, it's a heck of a lot easier to just sample and comment. Reviews are easy. And often yummy.

With Valentine's Day rapidly approaching, I was pretty happy to get a lovely box of chocolates from Chuao Chocolatier. I'd never heard of the company, but chocolate is chocolate, right? Yeah, why would I turn that down?

In no time at all, the chocolates arrived. They were in red box with a red bow, all ready for giving. Speaking of bows, I may be the only female in the universe who cannot tie a pretty bow. They always look strangled instead of elegant. I think I got it from my mother. She seemed pretty inept about it, too. Whenever I needed a pretty bow tied, my dad would do it.

But I had to untie the pretty bow to get to the chocolates. Bummer, huh?

Well, no. Because they were interesting. Okay, I haven't eaten them all yet, but we've sampled enough to get an idea of what these are like. They're not the usual selections of marshmallow and cream and that weird pink gooey stuff.

Luckily, the chocolates came with a little brochure that described them. The first one we tried was a little spicy and had a coating of popping candy. Weird stuff. Really interesting. I wasn't sure if I liked it, but it was the most interesting chocolate I've had in a long time. And it's kind of too bad there was only one in the box. I'd like to try another two or three so I could decide for sure if I like them.

Next, we sampled another spicy, smoky one. This time, no popping. I've tried spicy chocolates that I liked, and some that I didn't like. This one was good. The pepper flavor was more about spice than heat, and it was well-balanced with the sweetness of the chocolate.

And then we tried one that was filled with a banana filling. But not like that chewy taffy stuff - this was more like a roasted banana flavor. Think of bananas foster, and you're pretty close.

That's not to say that every one was quirky-cutting edge. The dulce de leche wouldn't intimidate less-adventurous choco-fiends, and some of the nutty flavors were just as friendly. Overall, something for everyone.

I'm not going to describe every last chocolate in the box (because we haven't managed to eat all of them yet), but let's just say that this isn't your grandmother's chocolate selection. These are chocolates that make you savor the flavors instead of just chowing down like a kid with a bag of Halloween candy. My husband, who usually isn't very picky about chocolates, was impressed with these. That's saying something.

Maybe you want some chocolates for yourself? Or for your sweetheart? I don't have any for you, but the company is having a contest on its Facebook page where you can win a trip for two to San Diego, or maybe some chocolates.

Follow the link below to get there.

Good luck!

For the purposes of review, I received a free box of chocolates. I was not required to say nice things or to post the link to their contest.

Cheese and Giardiniera Beer Bread

2012-02-01T07:00:00.001-07:00

I've made beer bread before. Plenty of times. Heck, it was probably the first home made bread I ever made.

But beer breads never have the flavor or texture of standard yeast bread. Really, beer bread is a giant muffin-like thing. It doesn't have the flavor that yeast provides, because it used baking powder as a leavener.

Beer has yeast in it, but it's a different strain of yeast. And, if you're talking about most commercial beers, the yeast is dead. The yeasty flavor in bread isn't so much the flavor of yeast, but it's what the yeast does in the bread.

The beer does add some flavor, but it's a tricky ingredient. If the beer is too hoppy or too strongly flavored, the bread can end up tasting bitter. And sometimes you don't know how the flavor is going to change until you bake with it.

The Headwaters Pale Ale I used from Victory Brewing was a little sweet, a little malty, and not overly hoppy. It worked well in the bread.

But that wasn't enough. I amped up the flavor of this one with cheese and hot peppers, and added instant potato flakes to help the texture.

I used a variety of different cheeses that I happened to have on hand - use anything you like. If you're using hard cheeses like parmesan, I suggest grating it. Firm or somewhat soft cheeses like cheddar, Swiss, or feta, you can simply cut into pieces.

I chopped the peppers into small pieces so the flavor was distributed throughout the bread, but you could leave them in larger pieces, if you prefer.

When it comes to the peppers, consider how hot you want the bread to be - and how hot the peppers are. A quarter-cup of hot peppers will give you a really hot bread - so if you want a milder loaf, use milder pepper, or use fewer. Or, if you don't want any heat at all, you can use fire-roasted red peppers, instead.

Cheese and Giardiniera Beer Bread

2 cups (9 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 cup instant potato flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 ounces cheese, shredded or cut into small pieces
1/4 cup giardiniera peppers, chopped
3 tablespoons mild-flavored oil
12 ounces Victory beer, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a loaf pan with baking spray.

Combine the flour, potato flakes, salt, sugar. and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir to combine.

Add the cheese, giardiniera, oil, and beer. Stir to combine. Don't overmix.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees until the bread is nicely browned, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean - about 1 hour.

Remove the loaf from the oven and take it out of the pan. Let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Enter to Win: (Contest closed)

And the winner is ... Christopher Sorel! Congrats!

Do you like beer? Well, I'm not giving any away, but Lewis Bear is giving away some goodies including two beer-related tee shirts and some other beer-related items.

To enter, leave a comment here telling me what your favorite craft beer is.

But wait! There's more!

For an additional entry, tweet a link to this contest. Say anything you like.

And that's it. Two possible entries per person. Good luck!

BUT WAIT! There just a little more! Check out all the other Virtual Potluck posts using beer. The host blog for this potluck is 30AEats, where you'll find a complete list of all of the participating bloggers.

Entry is limited to residents of the US, 18 or older. Contest ends at noon, mountain time, on Sunday, February 5.

For the purposes of this post, Lewis Bear (a beer distributor) provided me with beer as well as some small promotional items. You can follow Lewis Bear on Twitter right here.

Honey Biscuits ... or Honey, biscuits!

2012-01-31T08:09:00.019-07:00

I don't know why I don't make biscuits more often. They're pretty easy. And fast. You mix, roll, fold, cut, bake, and you eat. That's it.

If you're thinking, "Biscuits, ho-hum. Been there, done that," you might want to think again.

I bake a LOT of bread. Every week, there are at least one or two new recipes rolling through here. It's gotten to the point where a loaf has to be pretty spectacular to get any lot of notice.

Otherwise it's just "nice bread" and we move along to something else.

On the other hand, these biscuits have been the subject of a lot of conversation, and there's been a request to make more. That doesn't happen all that often.

These biscuits aren't dessert-sweet, but you can taste the sweetness and richness of the honey. They're not so sweet that you couldn't eat then with dinner or breakfast. Or slathered with peanut butter. But if you wanted to, they would make a great base for strawberry shortcake.

Honey Biscuits

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine the milk and honey. Stir until it is completely combined.

Cut the butter into chunks and add it to flour. With a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until it's the size of small peas. Add the milk and honey mixture to the flour and mix gently just until there are no dry spots.

Flour your work surface and turn the dough out. Pat it into a rough rectangle, then roll it until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Fold it in thirds, like a letter, and roll it again. Fold in thirds again.

This time, roll it again to about an inch thick. With a 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut as many biscuits as you can. Re-roll the scraps and cut more biscuits. You can re-roll a third time, but I usually use the final scraps for a free-form biscuit.

Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet, If you like soft sides, place the biscuits so they touch. If you want the sides more crisp, keep them separated.

If you like, brush the top of the biscuits with milk, butter, or cream. Bake at 400 degrees until the tops are nicely browned, 12-14 minutes.

Bread Baking Made Easy

2012-01-30T09:09:00.001-07:00

A lot of people think that bread baking is difficult or complicated, but it doesn't have to be. After all, our fore-bakers managed to make bread without standard measuring cups, and in ovens without precise controls. Sure, bread recipes can be complicated. I have a bread-baking book that has a recipe that is 40 pages long.

Yes, 40 pages.

This recipe isn't anywhere near that complicated, and the ingredients are simple. The most unusual ingredient is bread flour, but if you don't want to buy that, you could use all purpose flour. It might take a little bit longer to knead if you use the all purpose, but it will still make a fine loaf of bread.

This bread also doesn't require any fancy techniques. You need to knead the bread, but you can do that in a stand mixer, or, if you don't have a stand mixer, you can knead it by hand. To make the kneading easier, the bread takes a short rest before the kneading begins, which helps activate the gluten.

Simple Sandwich Bread

1 cup lukewarm water
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 large egg
3 cups (13 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. Stir to combine, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 20 minutes.

Uncover the bowl and knead the dough with the stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic. Remove the dough from the bowl, drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil, just to coat the surface, and return it to the bowl.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap again and set aside for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and have a 9x5 loaf pan on hand.

Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Press it gently to deflate it, then form it into a log about 9 inches long to fit into the loaf pan. Place the dough, seam-side down, in the loaf pan.

Cover it with plastic wrap and set aside until the dough has risen just above the top of the loaf pan - about 40 minutes.

Bake the loaf at 350 degrees until it is nicely browned, about 30 minutes.

Remove the bread from the loaf pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

Five minute broccoli

2012-01-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Broccoli is one vegetable that I often like better when I buy it frozen than when I buy it fresh. Maybe it's the local growing conditions, or maybe it's the variety of broccoli, but the frozen stuff is very, very acceptable. And let's face it, a bag of frozen broccoli in the freezer is great to have on hand.

Quite often, I prepare vegetables as simply as possible - steam, microwave, boil - and then maybe a pinch of salt and some butter or oil. I like vegetables - I don't need them to taste like something else.

On the other hand, when the main dish is grilled meat or poached fish, there's nothing wrong with adding a little extra "zing" to the vegetables. Sometimes that means a squeeze of lemon juice. This time I added more.

This side dish is ready in no time at all, particularly of you buy the small broccoli florets. If you buy the giant florets with chunks of stems, adjust your cooking time appropriately. It's not so much that you need to cook the broccoli a lot. But rather, if we're starting from a frozen vegetable, you want to make sure it's warmed all the way through.

This is the sort of recipe where you absolutely don't need to stress about measuring anything exactly - eyeball it, and you'll be fine.

And another tip - although I like to keep fresh garlic on hand, there are plenty of times when I reach for a clove, and I have none left. You can buy chopped garlic in a tube - just like you an buy tomato paste - and it lasts a long, long time in the refrigerator. I prefer fresh, but the emergency tube is better than running out of garlic - or running out to the store at the last minute.

Five-Minute Broccoli

1 bag frozen broccoli florets (about 1 pound)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
2 tablespoons dry sherry
Oil, for cooking - about a tablespoon

Heat a skillet on medium high heat. Add the oil and when it begins to shimmer, add the pepper flakes, stir them around for a second or two, then add the broccoli.

Stir the broccoli around for a few seconds, then add the garlic. Cook, stirring as needed to keep things from burning, until the broccoli is heated through and has a few brown spots. Add a splash of the sherry stir it around to coat the broccoli, and continue cooking until all the liquid is gone.

Serve hot.

Bertolli Meal Soup

2012-01-28T09:23:00.010-07:00

Obviously, I like to cook, right? And you might know that I work from home. Which means that lunch can be whatever I want it to be. Anything at all.

But my dirty little secret is that I don't always want to eat what I made.

It's not that I dislike my own cooking, but if I made something for dinner the night before and I know we're having leftovers for dinner later, I might not want that same thing for lunch. No matter how good it is, something different is often much more appealing.

Sometimes that means I'll be eating a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Or something else simple. Because, really, as much as I like to cook, I don't want to make a fuss for lunch. On the other hand, there are times when I want something that's a little more ... substantial. More like a meal.

As much as that's true for lunch, it's also true for the times when I happen to be eating dinner alone.So when I got an offer from Bertolli to sample on of their new Meal Soups, I figured it was worth a try.

I like soup. I make a lot of soup. But remember that part about me wanting something that I didn't cook? Yep, that's where this soup comes in. It's fast, it's easy, and it's a heck of a lot better than canned soup.

I bought the Tomato Florentine and Tortellini with Chicken. Kind of a long name, but it gets all the main points covered. In case you don't know it, "florentine" is code for "has spinach in it."

When I opened the package, I was pleased to see that all of the components were frozen separately - the chunks of chicken,pieces of spinach, and tortellini were frozen individually rather than in a big brick, and there were chucks of the frozen liquid, as well. IQF (individually quick frozen) foods fare much better than those that are frozen in blocks, whether we're talking about a bag of broccoli, a box of hot wings ... or soup.

All I needed to add was a cup of water, then bring it to a boil, cover it and simmer it for a while. Not complicated at all. The bag also had microwave cooking instructions, but I went with the stovetop method. Bertolli asked us to creating a dining experience using this soup in under an hour for all the prep. Including opening the package and picking out a bowl and plate that would look nice with the soup, this was ready to eat in under 15 minutes.

All it took to make a meal out of this was a few breadsticks that I had on hand. Okay, the breadsticks were made already, but there's nothing wrong with that, right? A perfectly filling meal, nicely presented. For those with larger appetites, salad would have been a nice addition to the meal, or perhaps some buns instead of breadsticks. But for me, that bowl of soup was all I needed. Well, and the breadsticks.

This isn't going to stop me from making my own soups, but I have to say that I wouldn't mind having a few bags of this on hand in the freezer for a quick meal. Since it was frozen instead of canned, it tasted a lot fresher, which is a plus.

These soups come in four varieties: Chicken Minestrone, Roasted Chicken & Rotini Pasta, Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken, and Tuscan-Style Beef with Vegetables.

Wanna know more? Bertolli is on Facebook and Twitter. Or check the website.

Disclaimer: I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in this Weeknight Meal Special Challenge. But of course my opinions are my own.

Whole Foods Friday: Splash Salad Dressing

2012-01-27T10:00:00.048-07:00

Wandering up and down the grocery aisles at Whole Foods, I ran across an interesting product called Pomegranate Splash. Interesting as in, "I have no idea what this stuff is going to taste like or what I'm going to do with it."

All of the varieties I saw were based on pomegranate juice, but the varieties had names like Plum Sake and Blueberry Merlot. Very interesting!

I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but I knew I could find some way to work it into a recipe.

So I brought one home and gave it a taste. A little sweet, a little fruity. So many possibilities. It would make a nice glaze on chicken or pork, and it would be wonderful drizzled over fruit or added to sparkling water or lemonaid for a refreshing drink.

The other thing I picked up was a small bag of Meyer lemons. If you're not familiar with them, Meyer lemons are (allegedly) a cross between a standard lemon and either an orange or a tangerine. Whatever they are, they're pretty good. They're still a lemon, but a little less tart and with some extra flavor.

Meyer lemons have a pretty thin skin, and the ones I got were very, very juicy. A little lemon gave up a lot of juice.

I decided to combine the two into one dish. After mumbling a bit, I decided to make a salad dressing. And gee, I also had some of the bulk olive oil from the big, fancy bulk section.

Perfect. Salad dressing doesn't need much more than an acid like vineagar - or in this case, lemon juice - and oil

If the dressing is too tart, a little sugar or honey can cut the sweetness. Herbs are nice. But really, if the oil and the acid are flavorful, you don't need a lot more.

Salad dressing is all about a ratio, and if you know that ratio you can make as much or as little dressing as you like.

The standard ratio I use is 1 part acid to two parts oil. Some people use as much as 3 parts oil to the 2 parts of acid. I suggest you start with the lesser amount, and add more, to taste.

Meyer Lemon and Splash Salad

1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Pomegranate Splash
Pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake to combine and emulsify the dressing. Drizzle over your salad.

I made a very simple salad with Romaine lettuce, hearts of palm, and strips of roasted red peppers, but this dressing would work for any green salad you like.

For more info on Whole Foods Friday, see the tab at the top of this page.

Whole Foods Friday: Not quite my mom's chili

2012-01-27T01:28:00.087-07:00

Chili was the first full meal I ever cooked. I remember it vividly. It was for a Girl Scout badge and I chose chili because it seemed complicated.

When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, and I'd helped my mother mix meat loaf plenty of times. I'd watched her cook pork chops and chicken and steak. I peeled vegetables and chopped them and made salad - including the dressing.

Those things seemed so simple. And the meats looked just about the same after they were cooked as they did when they went into the pan - except a little more brown. They weren't transformed, they were just cooked.

But chili was a mystery. Some sort of magic happened when everything was combined in a big pot. Ground beef and some canned goods turned into something that didn't look the same any more. I figured there had to be some kind of magic involved.

When I finished making it, I was sort of disappointed. Ground meat, canned beans, canned tomatoes ... along with some onion and green pepper ... and that was just about it. It was no big mystery. And then elbow macaroni went into the mix, because that's how mom made her chili.

Cranberry beans

Then, to my great embarrassment, my mother burst into tears when I served the chili for dinner. I mean, it was chili, not an academy award. There might have been salad, too, but that wasn't tear-worthy, either. But then she explained that she was all weepy because chili was the first dinner she ever cooked for my father. And here I was, nine years old, making chili.

At that point, I really wished I would have made spaghetti sauce instead.

But that was the chili I grew up with, and I was happy to know how to make it, even if it wasn't as mysterious as I hoped.

It took me many, many years before I could accept the idea of chili without noodles. And many more years before I had chili made with anything except ground beef. Green chili was completely foreign. But although my horizons have expanded, I still like chili that's similar to the one my mother made. Sometimes I even add noodles when I'm feeling particularly nostalgic.

These days, I tend to change the recipe to fit my mood. Sometimes it's spicier, sometimes milder. I use different beans - this time I used cranberry beans - pretty speckled things that are larger than the more typical pinto beans that I use. And sometimes I serve optional toppings at the table.

Chili with Cranberry Beans

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, cored and diced
2 jalapeno or serrano peppers, cored, seeded, and finely diced
1 tablespoon chili powder (or to taste)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 pound ground beef
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 pound cranberry beans, cooked
1/4 cup masa harina
Salt, to taste

Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot. A Dutch oven is perfect. Add the onion, peppers, chili powder, and cumin and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring as needed, until the vegetables soften.

Add the ground beef and cook, stirring as needed, until there's no more pink left in the meat.

Add the tomatoes, cooked cranberry beans, and masa harina. Stir to combine and cook, stirring as needed to keep the chili from sticking to the bottom, until the flavors have melded and the sauce has thickened. Taste, and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt, if needed, and more chili powder or cumin, if you prefer.

You can serve as soon as the masa harina has thickened the sauce, but it's better after it has simmered longer. An hour is great. This is also great reheated the next day.

For garnishes, I added sour cream, avocado, and shredded cheddar cheese.

For more info about Whole Foods Friday and my partnership with Whole Foods, see the tab at the top.

Valentine's Day Dinner - Spaghetti?

2012-01-26T13:37:00.001-07:00

Some people might say that spaghetti isn't good "date" food because it's too messy. Too great a chance of spilling, dribbling, slurping, or otherwise being a slob.

On the other hand, what's more romantic than the spaghetti-eating scene from Lady and the Tramp?

I'm not saying you and your loved one should recreate the scene - just that any food can be romantic if you both enjoy it and you both have a good sense of humor about spills and mishaps.

In fact, sometimes it's the things that go wrong on a date that make the best stories ten years later.

I can imagine my husband cringing right now, wondering if I'm about to recount the list of faux pas that littered our first few dates. Suffice it to say that even though we were at the wrong restaurant, the food was good, and even though the newspaper review the next day said the movie was not a good "first-date movie" we laughed ourselves silly and didn't care what the movie reviewer thought.

And we've been laughing ever since.

So, spaghetti it is. Red is the color of Valentine's day, so this recipe is based on tomatoes. As a nod to the squeamish, there's no garlic. And as a nod to the punsters, it includes hearts. Artichoke hearts, that is. I found some really fun marinated artichoke hearts that are on longer stems than usual, so they look sort of like roses on stems.

Valentine's Spaghetti (with a heart)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, cored and diced
1 onion, diced
8-10 medium mushrooms, thinly sliced
Salt, to taste
1 28-ounce can chunky tomato sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh basil, cut in thin ribbons
Marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 pound thin spaghetti, cooked al dente
Grated parmesan

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the carrots, red pepper, onion, and mushrooms. Add a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring as needed, until the vegetables soften.

Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, dried basil, dried oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook at a simmer, stirring as needed to keep the sauce from sticking, for at least 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add extra salt, if needed.

Add the fresh basil and the cooked, drained spaghetti and stir to combine. If you need to loosen up the sauce a bit, add some of the pasta cooking water.

Serve hot, and garnish with the artichoke hearts, as desired. Have the grated cheese available to add at the table.

And how about a drink with dinner? Virtual Potluck has teamed up with Taste to serve up some beverages to go along with our special Valentines meals - and we'll be doing this for three weeks - plenty of Valentine's menu choices for you.

If you're not familiar with it, Taste is a mixology show that features cool cocktails from the creative minds at N8tion.com, an independent television and radio network founded by brothers Myron and Otis McDaniel..

The resident “booze head” is Otis, who showcases classic and not-so-classic cocktail recipes. After tending bar at college parties, Otis honed his bartending skills at local taverns on the nights he wasn’t moonlighting as a bouncer. And now, he's serving drinks in a limited engagement here with Virtual Potluck

Here's the video:

In case you didn't catch the credits in the movie, the other Virtual Potluck members contributed their courses to this special Valentine's meal (with drinks provided by Taste) invite you to see what they've made.

The appetizer, sweet potato wontons, was provided by Shelby at Diabetic Foodie
Our intermezzo, a French onion soup, was made by Matt at Thyme in Our Kitchen
And the dessert, a chocolate lovers cheesecake, was made by Heather at Farmgirl Gourmet

Go check them all out!

And for a wrap-up write-up of the event, go see Groov-y Foody.

Not Quite Greek Salad

2012-01-26T08:48:00.009-07:00

Every month, Kitchen Play has a new contest, and most months I throw my proverbial hat in the ring to see if I might win something. I mean, why not? I'm posting recipes all the time, anyway, so why not tailor one or two to fit a theme?

This month's contest is sponsored by Lindsay Olives, and what can I say - I love olives. I can't remember a time I didn't love olives. And I don't think I've ever tasted any kind of olive since then that I didn't like.

So this month is PERFECT for me.

The deal with the Kitchen Play contests is that you're supposed to riff off of one of the posted recipes that uses the sponsor's product, and for this entry, I'm playing with a a roasted vegetable Greek salad. But my riffing has no roasting (except for the fire-roasted red peppers), and the salad has turned into more of a snack. Finger food. A deconstructed salad, perhaps. Or, to mix ethnicities, Greek antipasto.

This time of year, I'm a little more conservative about having fresh summer vegetables on hand - they're just not as good now as they are when I'm getting them from the farmer's market - so I made this salad almost entirely from pantry ingredients. If you like, cucumbers, chunks of green pepper, tomatoes, and slices of baby zucchini would play nicely in this salad.

My choice for olives in a salad like this would be kalamata, but it's your choice. If you're making a giant salad, a variety of olives would be nice. For herbs, I used oregano and rosemary, but marjoram, thyme, or basil would be lovely as well.

The quantities are up to you. Fill a salad plate, or fill a platter. Feed your family, or feed the neighborhood. It's entirely up to you.

Greek-Style Nibbles

Fire-roasted red peppers
Artichoke hearts
Feta cheese, cut into cubes
Pepperoncini (Greek peppers)
Olives
Dried oregano
Dried rosemary
Fresh lemon juice
Olive oil

Arrange the vegetables on a plate, platter, or other serving vessel. Sprinkle on some oregano and rosemary. Squeeze on some fresh lemon, then drizzle with olive oil.

This is great served with some crusty bread to sop up the remaining olive oil and herbs, if you like.

Chocolate Olive Oil (Mayo) Cake

2012-01-25T09:35:00.136-07:00

This is the last post in the four-week Healthy New Year promotion that Virtual Potluck is doing in conjunction with California Olive Ranch and Bob's Red Mill. Hard to believe it's over ... and I'm going out with a big recipe - DESSERT! CHOCOLATE!!!

Yes, dessert with olive oil. And you're going to love it.

Just like every other week, I paired a whole grain from Bob's Red Mill with with healthy olive oil from California Olive Ranch. This week, the combo was whole wheat pastry flour and Everyday Fresh California extra virgin olive oil

And as usual, I'll be giving away the same olive oil and grain combo that I'm working with. Sweet, huh?

Before I launch into the recipe, I've got to ask - have you ever done an olive oil tasting? I mean, a comparison of oils? Side-by-side?

I'm betting that most people buy one olive oil at a time, use it until it's gone, then buy another one. Maybe a favorite brand, or maybe what's on sale. But how many people have ever bought an array of olive oils and compared them. I highly recommend doing it.

One of the best ways to taste olive oil is to simply dip bread into the oil and taste. Some oils are sharper, some are more fruity. Some taste more like olives, and some are peppery. Some are smooth. Some are mild.

And none of them are wrong. It all depends on what you're looking for. An olive oil that is perfect on salad might not be the one you prefer for drizzling over vegetables. And an olive oil you like for finishing dishes might not be the one you like to cook with. So you might want to have several different oils on hand. I do. Several ... plus a few extra.

And now we have a recipe. You might have heard about olive oil cakes. Maybe you've heard of mayonnaise cakes. This one combines the ideas.

This cake starts with a home made olive oil mayonnaise. Well, it's not exactly a home made mayonnaise, because it doesn't include the typical lemon and salt and mustard that you might find in a more typical mayonnaise. But it's thick and rich and would be very tasty slathered on a sandwich, or as the beginning component of a salad dressing, or over some fish, if you wanted to make some extra mayo.

But keep in mind that the mayonnaise includes raw egg yolks, so if you're squeamish or you have health issues, skip the extra mayo as a condiment, and just make enough for cake. It gets cooked when you bake the cake, so it's no different than adding eggs to a regular cake.

Chocolate Cake (with home made olive oil mayo)

2 egg yolks
1/2 cup Everyday Fresh California olive oil
2 cups Bob's Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a Bundt pan with baking spray (or you can make cupcakes or bake in a 9x13 baking pan.)

Put the egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk until the yolks are light. This is really important - if you don't whisk the yolks enough, the oil won't incorporate properly.

Add the oil a little bit at a time, whisking to combine it with the yolks. At first, add just a teaspoon at a time. As the mixture thickens, you can add a little more with each addition, but make sure all the oil is incorporated before you add more.

By the time you have added all the oil, you should have a thick and stable mixture. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and sugar. whisk to combine and break up any lumps.

Add the water and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add the egg/oil mixture and stir to incorporate it completely. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean - about 30 minutes.

Let the cake cool for 5 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting. If you've used a decorative bundt pan, you can simply sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar. I used a poured ganache over the cake, but you can use any frosting you like.

To enter the giveaway (Closed) the winner is Rachel!

For your mandatory entry, visit either the Bob's Red Mill or California Olive Ranch Facebook page and retrieve the current week's Virtual Potluck code word. Use that code word in a sentence in your comment here.

For an extra entry: Follow Bob's Red Mill, California Olive Ranch, and Virtual Potluck on Twitter, and tweet a link to the contest using the #virtualpotluck hashtag. Then comment here again, telling me that you've tweeted..

For some good karma (not an extra entry) I'd love it if you'd like Cookistry on Facebook. If you already follow, I appreciate it!

More Blogs, More Ways to Win: Get additional entries in each week's giveaways by visiting our host blog where you'll find a complete list of the other participating Virtual Potluck Bloggers. You could win there, too! So let's do the math on this one. Twelve bloggers, 4 weeks - that's 48 recipes and 48 chances to win something. Not a bad deal, hmmmm?

One more added bonus! If you buy California Olive Ranch oil from their online store, you can get a 10% discount by entering coupon code BLOGFRIENDS at checkout.

Contest begins when this posts and ends at midnight, mountain time, on Sunday, January 29. Open to US residents only.

Bob's Red Mill and California Olive Ranch supplied us with the grains and olive oils to work with and will be shipping the product to the winners.

Did you miss the last three posts? Check out:
Mini flatbreads with hummus and a warm olive salad
Whole grain and olive oil muffins
Rice-i-Noa

Cheese and Pepper Cornbread

2012-01-24T10:16:00.043-07:00

In summer, I often dress up my cornbread with fresh corn, cut right from the cob. At this time of year, I still like to dress up the cornbread, but with other ingredients. For this recipe I chose cheddar cheese and sweet fire-roasted red peppers.

If you want something spicy, you could of course use hot peppers. But since this was intended to be served with some spicy chili, it make more sense to make the cornbread sweet and mild, Besides adding extra flavor and texture, the bright red peppers and the orange cheese look darned pretty, too.

This isn't a super-sweet cornbread, nor is it crumbly - it holds together well. The measurements for the cheddar and red peppers don't have to be exact - use more or less, as you desire.

Cheese and Pepper Cornbread

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for the pan
2 ounces cheddar cheese, cut in small cubes

1/2 cup fire roasted red pepper, cut in medium dice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with a cast iron frying pan in the oven.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, sour cream, and vegetable oil. Whisk to combine.

Remove the pan from the oven, add about 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan, and swirl it around to coat the pan. Return the pan to the oven.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine. It's fine if there are a few lumps. Add the cheese and pepper, and stir to distribute them.

Remove the pan from the oven and pour the cornbread batter in. Return it to the oven and bake at 400 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean - about 25 minutes.

Remove the cornbread from the pan and let it cool on a rack. Or, if you prefer, you can cut it and serve it directly from the pan.