Delish Dish in the Kitch

Pork Chops In A Worchstershire and Red Wine Reduction

2017-11-03T19:00:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I've blogged, I hope I remember how! My friend Amy was drooling over my pictures of the Pork Chops I made last night and I told her I'd share with her my recipe and so I have decided I'm going to share it here because I HAVE MISSED THIS BLOG SO MUCH and since I'll be typing it already, I may as well type it here and then share my blog with her. I know, I am SO SMART!

Get a bib, y'all....you're gonna need it!

Here we go!

Disclaimer: I rarely measure anything, so I'm ball-parking here people...it's not rocket science, but it's just something I came up with once and it was a hit so I keep making it! :o)

I tend to buy thicker pork chops or the pork loin steaks for this recipe.

You'll need on hand:

Stove top burner
Oven (preheat to 400)
Large oven proof skillet
Pork Chops/Pork Loin Steaks
One onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
Garlic Press
(Please use fresh garlic and use a garlic press - it's the best and cheapest tool I have in my kitch - except for the microplane I bought and spent waaaaaaay too much money for at one of those fancy kitchen stores...but I digress...)
1/4 - 1/3 Cup Worchstershire Sauce
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup Red Wine - I use Merlot a lot, but hubby drinks some nice Cab sometimes, so I use whatever is open or handy.
Flour
2-3 tbsp Johnny's Seasoning Salt (to lightly season the chops before you flour them up and also to add to the flour)
1-2 tbsp Cayenne Pepper (to add to the flour)
4 tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2-2 C water

To start, you'll get your oven safe skillet heating on the burner med-high heat and add olive oil.
While that skillet is heating, you'll prep your plate with the flour and Johnny's and Cayenne and you'll dredge the pork coating it lightly and completely.

Your skillet should be pretty hot by now and you'll place the pork in the skillet - be careful, the oil will splatter you - it's just a given - us amateur cooks just need to deal with a little pain every now and then, amirite?

While the first side of your pork is cooking, you can now dice up your onion and use the garlic press on your garlic.

Flip your pork to the other side - feel free to add more olive oil at this point - we want the flour coating to sort of fry, I guess is the right word. We don't want to submerge it, but there needs to be a bit of oil to help with the crust on the outside of the pork as it cooks. Cook for about 4-5 minutes on the second side.

Add your onions and garlic to the pan. Cook for just a couple minutes - making sure you don't burn your garlic...it gets bitter when it burns and will permeate the entire dish.

Add your Worchestershire Sauce and Wine to the pan. Let this liquid reduce by about half. You may experience some thickening of the sauces because of the flour crust you've been creating - that's great!

Once your "sauce" has reduced by about half, you can add the water, give it a gentle stir to mix the water and sauce together and pop the whole skillet in the oven for about 45 minutes. You could push it by only leaving it in for 1/2 an hour, but trust me when I say that extra 15 minutes will make that pork melt in your mouth!

Remove the pan from the oven - BUT ....don't do this.... I mean it...just don't.

At some point during this process, you should really boil some potatoes to make mashed potatoes, because I'm about to blow your brains out with my next steps...seriously...let's just agree right here and now that you're going to make mashed potatoes, m'kay? Great. Glad that's settled.

Remove the chops to a plate. Place the skillet back on the stove - bring to a boil.

1/4 cup flour.
2/3 cup milk - maybe a little more depending on how you like to make your gravy. Milk and flour added to the sauce that has been simmering is how I roll...but you do you. Whisk the holy living LUMPS out of this mixture - if it's too thick, add a little more milk. No big whoop.

While whisking the sauce mixture that has been brought to a boil on the stove top, slowly drizzle in the milk/flour mixture until you achieve the desired thickness for your gravy.

DISH UP YOUR PLATE, Y'ALL!! I like to drizzle some of the gravy over the pork and on my mashed potatoes.

Serve with your favorite veggies or not...totally up to you.

I hope you try this one!! It's pretty spectacular and a great dish to have when you're craving Thanksgiving foods but it's too close to Thanksgiving to really want to go through the trouble, ya know?

DDITK Chocolate Pie

2012-04-09T15:58:00.001-07:00

Ever since I saw Keri Russell in "The Waitress"...I've get on these:

I GOTS TA MAKE SOME PIES

crusades. Only...I never get enough inspiration of my own to get off my butt to make something. UNTIL YESTERDAY!

The whole family was on it's way over for Easter Dinner. We had the ham, scalloped AND mashed potatoes, fresh homemade rolls, fruit salad, deviled eggs and all the little snacky things you could ask for - JELLY BEANS A'PLENTY - only...no dessert.

This is where it gets exciting, y'all!! I GOT OFF OF MY BUTT AND DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

I knew I could make a killer pie crust. CHECK! Then I got to thinking about what we had in the way of pie fillings...I thought...how do you make a chocolate pie from scratch? Then I thought - SCREW THAT! I HAVE A BOX OF CHOCOLATE PUDDING RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!! Then I was thinking - How can I jazz this up a bit? Throwing hot pudding into a baked pie crust is sort of a cop-out. I didn't want to be LAME..afterall, we had quite the spread planned...I didn't want the final thing people ate in my house to be an underwhelming, boring, uninspired dessert. NO SIREE BOB!

I was thinking - frozen strawberries (only because I didn't have FRESH ones) - meh...I don't want LAME frozen strawberries all limp and soggy in my chocolate pie. NEXT. Then I saw it. BUTTERSCOTCH CHIPS!!!! As I was cooking the pudding, I dumped 1/2 a bag of butterscotch chips in that mix and melted them in. I was looking about about 2 cups worth of filling for my beautifully flaky pie crust when it it hit me! WHIPPIN' CREAM! I whipped some up and folded it into the pudding mix after it had cooled a little bit.

THEN I HAD ANOTHER GREAT IDEA! Melt some more of the butterscotch chips and "paint" the pie crust with it and let it cool so that the pudding wouldn't make the crust soggy. BRILLIANCE!!!!

I dumped the pudding mixture into the pie crust and let it get all happy and Jello-ey in the fridge until after dinner.

IT. WAS. PERFECT!!!!! Also - it was super easy. Just use a refrigerated pie crust if you're not the type to throw a quick pie crust together. :o)

I would LOVE to hear about any quickie side dishes or desserts that you've thrown together that just turned out KILLER!! Leave me a comment. Let me know you're out there.

When your Kitchenaid Mixer decides to be a Jerk Face...

2012-03-01T10:53:00.000-08:00

About 3 months ago my glorious and fabulous husband was making bread - as he typically does - yes, I'm spoiled...and he's MINE!!!!

As he was pouring the ingredients into the mixer bowl and set it to mix the dough...the unimaginable happened! IT. STOPPED. SPINNING. This is not good, people. NOT GOOD AT ALL!!!!

Our knee-jerk reaction was, "Shit. Now we have to buy a new one." Okay...I'll be honest...maybe that was MY knee-jerk reaction. But you can be sure that hubby's heart sank a little and I'm sure the thought entered his mind that we'd have to drop another $300-$400 smackers on a new one. But he did something pretty brilliant. He lit up the computer and went straight to YouTube.

YouTube is pretty freaking awesome - for a lot of reasons - but right now? I'm telling you it's awesome because there is a video there that explains step-by-step how to fix the little nylon gear that typically gets stripped and for about $10 you can get it operating again - JUST. LIKE. NEW! Yep...you read that right. TEN SMACKEROOS!!!!

So, I'm going to go ahead and link the video here because - let's face it...if you HAVE a Kitchenaid mixer, chances are this will happen to you at some point. It will. It's designed to make this particular part fail after time. But when you take your Kitchenaid mixer apart, you'll realize the rest of the machine is built like a brick shit-house. It's one SOLID piece of machinery. If you ever doubt spending the money on one of these kitchen gadgets...DO IT!

The Chestnut Adventure

2012-01-27T14:46:00.000-08:00

Today I asked one of my friends if she would like to be a Guest on the Delish Dish in the Kitch blog. To my extreme pleasure, she said yes. Her name is Beth and she always has something witty and funny to write about and I adore her. Without further ado, I present to you:

The Chestnut Adventure - By Beth a.k.a. Wearmanyhats

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” I sang to my hubby one day long ago. We had just been given a 10 pound bag of chestnuts, and both hubby and I were staring it down.

“What do we do with these?” he asked dubiously.

“Roast them!”

“How? You ever had them before?”

“Nope,” I answered, confidence filling me up to a ridiculous level. “But I’ll put them on a tray in the oven on 350 degrees and then we’ll try them.” I had no idea how crazy that plan would turn out.

The next day I spread them out on a tray and placed them in the oven. 350 degrees was the magic number my mother had always baked everything on, so I figured this was the best heat to turn these little chestnut nuggets into ambrosia.

My Oldest son, who was four at the time, was playing on the floor in the kitchen at that moment, and I turned and winked at him. “Pretty soon we’re going to have a great snack, son.”

All of a sudden I hear a loud POP! inside the oven.

“What the…?” I asked, flipping on the light and peering through the little oven door window.

BANG! I saw a chestnut obliterate itself into thin air. Horrified that my chemistry project was going awry, I hurriedly opened the door and took out the tray.

Dumb move.

Another loud bang and I felt shards of shell go flying past my cheek. In a second I scooped up my son and hustled both of us around the corner into the living room.

BANG!

Oldest and I peeped around the corner like two bystanders in an 1880 gunfight. BANG! Another chestnut exploded, sending a hail of chunks flying in all directions.

“Damn!” I exclaimed, covering my son’s ears. That’s never a good sign. Swearing and cooking should never accompany one another. When the noise finally stopped, I approached the stove cautiously. Over a third of them were gone, their remains in clumps around the kitchen. I felt like a survivor of a Blitzkrieg.

I called my husband and explained the problem.

When he stopped laughing (darn man), he said, “Good thing you didn’t get any shells in your eyes.”

Darn. I hadn’t thought of that.

“Why didn’t you just leave them in the oven?” he asked.

Armchair coach.

When I didn’t reply, he said, “Why didn’t you call the County Extension Agent?”

What a brilliant idea!

In a moment I was on the phone with the Angels of God that are better known as the County Extension Agents. I asked to speak to whoever was in charge of foods, and soon a lovely, innocent voice came on the line.

While I explained the failed experiment to her, I scrubbed down every dead chestnut body I could find. Once I even glanced up and made a mental note that Hubby would have to help me scrub the dead ones off the ceiling.

When she stopped laughing (must have the same sense of humor as my husband), she asked me to hold while she looked up “Chestnuts” in her resource book. Moments later, she explained that before roasting chestnuts on 325 degrees (close enough) you should cut a slit in the shell. “That way the steam can escape,” she explained. Roast fifteen minutes.

Armed with this new information, I roasted ten in the oven. When they came out, they were rich, sweet and filling. I could only eat two. Later we used them for snacks, and they were lovely. Turns out those chestnuts do not only taste great, they are excellent in nutrition. They are high in iron, and possess a similar nutritional value as foods like corn, sweet potato, or regular potatoes, plus they have a high quality protein. The health benefits go on and on. Unfortunately blight wiped out most of the chestnut trees here in the United States, but hopefully growers will bring the trees back into production so we can see them more commonly on our tables in the future.

No one in our family has ever let me forget my chestnut adventure. Even when I called the County Extension Agent after that with any questions, I identified myself as the person who blew up the chestnuts in the oven. Funny thing, she never forgot me, and she always laughed before I could ask my next question. Sometimes cooking experiences are just way too memorable.

To read more of Beth's writing, visit her blog here.

TRICKS or Treats? I say TRICKS!

2011-10-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

Happy HALLOWEEN, DDITK readers!!!

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday. You have no idea. We started quite a trend for over the top decorating in our neighborhood and our entire block gets into it! We've got fog machines on both ends of the street, from our speakers runs a continuous loop of "Thriller" and my personal fave "Superstitious" by Stevie Wonder. You can hear it from 2 blocks up.

Here's a photo of our house:

As you can see...we get a little nutso and yes, that's a 20' spider on the front of our house.

We're not a typical house to visit while trick or treating, we like to raise the bar a little bit. Let me explain.

When I was a little girl, one of my most memorable trick or treating experiences was when this lady who was dressed up like a nasty old witch, made me dig in a slime filled bowl for my treat. I was forever changed.

Today, when my house is visited by the many ghosts and goblins and Snooki's, I, too play a trick on my t' or t'ers. I make them dig in a bowl full of jell-o to get their treats. We buy full sized candy bars at costco and shove them in a bowl that is about 2' wide and about 9" deep - and it's FULL of JELL-O!

The kids love it! We have over 200 trick or treaters every year. For those that are too cool or are too little to dig in the slime, I hand out non-slimy fruit roll-ups.

I keep a bucket of warm water at the bottom of our stairs and keep two towels on the railing so that hands can be dried as well as the candy can get dunked into the bucket. The first year I bought some cheap-o ziploc bags and had each t or t'er place their candy in the baggie...but the warm water and towel works much better and is MUCH more cost effective.

There's no reason you can't switch it up on YOUR trick or treaters this year and when they say, "Trick or Treat?" you can let out your spookiest giggle and tell them TRICK!!!!!!!!

We're on Facebook AND Twitter now!!! Oh, and a recipe, too!

2011-08-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!!

This summer has been DRIPPING with anticipation because in approximately 16 wake-ups I'll be heading to MAUI for the first time ever with my Hubby to celebrate our 20th Anniversary! As if that wasn't exciting enough, we're going WITHOUT the kids!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!! ~~It's gonna be AWESOME!~~ I'm going to miss them so much!

One of the few things I've done this summer to help along this humble little BLOG is to create a Fan Page on Facebook as well as create a Twitter Account. I've linked each of the accounts here so that if you wanted to...oh, I don't know.....POP ON BY AND SHOW SOME LOVE, you're more than welcome to do that!!! Following on Twitter and clicking "like" on the Facebook Fan Page are HIGHLY encouraged so that you can be notified and participate with us!!

One of the things my hubby and I are trying to do - in the State of Washington - is grow some Tomatoes this year. We have about 12 plants of various varieties. Our problem is that "Summer" came in AUGUST, July was a total bust in the sunshine department and I just really fear for my little greenies. August came on like a Lion, though, so we're hopeful that at least we'll get some decent Cherry Tomatoes before we leave for our trip!

If all of the tomatoes that are on our vines actually progress and ripen? WE ARE IN FOR A WORLD OF HURT!

Fresh Salsa, Spaghetti Sauce and Bruschetta are in my future in a BIG WAY!

In light of my impending TOMATO DOOM, I wanted to share with you my much sought after and IN DEMAND dishy that I bring to all the parties we're invited to. There's not ONE party that we've gone to and brought this yummyness that I haven't been asked to jot down the recipe. So: FOR YOU, my DEAREST DELISHY DISHY READERS...here is my Bruschetta recipe:

5 Medium sized tomatoes
1/2 c. good quality Balsamic Vinegar
1/3 c. good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 tbsp. dried basil
3 cloves of garlic (use a garlic press) *
1 tsp. salt (or more to taste)
1 baguette of French Bread sliced to about 1/2 inch and toasted under the broiler in your oven.

Dice your tomatoes into whatever sized "hunk" you want them to be in. Mix the vinegar, oil, basil garlic and salt in with the tomatoes and stir. At this point you can slice your French Bread and try a little of the Bruschetta. If you feel that you want it a little more zippy add a little more Balsamic Vinegar.

*One thing to caution you on with this recipe. You CAN add too much garlic. Raw garlic can be SPICY. Also - share this with your friends and if you eat it - make sure THEY DO. Let's just say that there's a rather large chance that you will offend those around you with your breath. OH!! And this stuff is like CRACK! It's hard to stop eating it.

Have you followed me on Twitter or "liked" me on Facebook yet? C'mon! Whatcha waiting for?!?

Pasketti Noodle Surprise!!!

2011-06-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

We had just gotten back home from camping for two days. We unpacked and had to go to work the very next day. Cupboards were slightly sparce and the dreaded question arose...you know the one. The question that makes those tiny little hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Yep!

What's for dinner?

Ugh. Sometimes I think to myself, "I DUNNO, why don't you figure it out and bring me dinner in bed?!?!"...but then the good wife and mother in me rears her ugly head and before I know it, I spout off something like, "Let me think about it. I'll call you in an hour when I've got something ready." And with that, everyone carries on with their video game playing and text-a-thons.

Last night I looked through the refrigerator and pantry and came up with something REALLY YUMMY!!

Here's what you need:

1 pkg. Turkey Keilbasa (The ones that are shaped like a horseshoe in the plastic package. Whatever type you like best - doesn't have to be turkey - or even Keilbasa for that matter...)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic (pressed or diced up really finely)
1/3 of an onion, diced.
about 3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 - 1/3 cup of your favorite red wine
1 1/2 tbsp dried basil
1tsp dried oregano
6 1/4" slices of mozzerella that you've diced up to about 1/4 to 3/8 dices. You'll end up with about a cup and a half of the diced cheese.
1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzerella cheese
1/4 c parmesan cheese - grated.
Salt (about 1 1/2 tsp)
Pepper (1 tsp)
1 pkg Spaghetti noodles (cooked)

I started with browning the sausage after I sliced it - then sliced the slices in half moon shapes.
Once the sausage is browned, I added the onion, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, red wine, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring it up to a simmer with the lid off - I know, I know...it splatters over everything. Just chill and get a rag ready to clean it up, m'kay?

Once you get a decent thick red sauce out of that, dump the cooked noodles into the sauce skillet and mix it up. Then I tossed in the cubed mozzerella cheese and mixed it up really well.

Spread it into a glass cake pan. Spread the shredded mozzerella cheese over the top, then the shredded parmesan and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

TALK ABOUT A DELISH DISH!!!! YUMMMMMYYY!!!!!

You can vary the dish depending on whether you like fungus or not - I'm talking MUSHROOMS, PEOPLE! Also you can get fancy with the pasta if you want. Bow tie is fun for the kids, Penne is yummy because the sauce works it's way into the tube part of the noodle and it's awesome!

Let me know if you try this one out. I'm anxious to know what you think. And as an extra bonus, you can use this sauce recipe for some of the most YUMMIEST PASKETTI KNOWN TO MAN! Just add mild italian sausage (Sold like ground beef packages) if you want something really good too!!!

Enjoy your Delishy Dishy!!

Facebook and Cooking = BAD IDEA!!

2011-06-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hello DDITK readers!!!

It's been a long time - again. HOWEVER, last night I was cooking away in the kitch and thought I'd try a little experiment. I wanted to make Mexican Rice to accompany my Pork "Carm"-itas! So I thought...how do I do this? I didn't want to cheat by going online, so I just used my noggin and came up with something that turned out truly yummy, except for one teeny tiny little glitch! We'll get to that later.

I love Jasmine Rice. CAN I GET AN AMEN?! I use it when I cook Thai Curry, I use it when I do stir fry. It's just so aromatic and flowery and DELISH! So here's the ingredients I used:

2 cups of rice
1 can of chicken broth
1 can of water (using the chicken broth cup)
1/2 can of your favorite enchilada sauce

I like to get the pan to a boil, give the rice a final stir, slap the lid on and then I'll either turn the burner completely off or I'll put it as low as it'll go so that it can just steam in there. Takes about 20 minutes.

SO THAT'S HOW I NORMALLY WOULD HAVE DONE IT!!!! Before I decided to try this experiment, I was having a rather intelligent conversation about how Tim's Cascade Jalepeño Potato Chips make my eyelids sweat. I admit it, the conversation went on too long, and when I went in to check on the rice...it was boiling like crazy and well, when I went to stir it, I knew I was doomed. It was sticking to the bottom a little. *sigh* I have to say, that while I did burn the lower layer that was on the bottom of the pan, it added a smokiness to the rice and it wasn't all that bad!! I mean my kids ate it...so you KNOW it wasn't too horrible!!

So the moral of the story is: Cooking and Facebook DO NOT MIX, PEOPLE!!!!! And also, Tim's Cascade Jalepeño Chips make my eyelids sweat. Who'dda thought those two things would ever be related??

Delish Dish Chicken Nuggies

2011-04-26T15:13:00.000-07:00

So one of the fans of our Facebook page asked me about my Ranch Chicken Nuggy recipe...so...without further ado...Patricia, this one's for YOU!!

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts (sliced to the chicken strip or nugget size you want)
Ranch Dressing
About 2 cups of flour
Seasoning salt
Veggie or Canola Oil

Pour about 3 cups of oil into a skillet/frying pan on the stove. Turn the heat to medium high or at the temp you like to fry your food in ORRR...turn on your oven at 400 degrees and skip this step entirely. You can bake these instead of fry them if you like.

I start by mixing up my flour and seasoning salt together on a plate or shallow dish so that we can dredge the chicken in it.

Grab a bowl to pour some Ranch Dressing into.

Cut up your chicken into finger sized nuggets or chicken strips.

First dunk your chicken into a "bath" of Ranch Dressing (instead of egg like a person would NORMALLY do)

Dredge your ranch dressing chicken nuggies into the flour. Shake off the excess.

Place your chicken carefully into the oil or grab a cookie sheet and slip a rack in it and place the chicken on top of that. Either way, I like to get the cookie sheet/rack in place because sometimes when you fry your chicken nuggies, they don't quite get done in the middle. I find that a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes while you're setting the table and cooking the other things that go along with your meal always works out great.

It's an easy recipe and the kids love it - not only THAT - but you KNOW what is in your Chicken Nuggets. Chicken Breast. REAL CHICKEN BREAST. I don't exactly know what is in those bags of foamy chicken nuggets you buy at the grocery store. :o) And I'm perfectly FINE about not knowing, if you really want to know.

I can't wait to hear what you think about some of the things you try to cook here. I'd love to get your feedback!!

Have a great day!

Delish Dish - MISSING IN ACTION!

2011-04-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well, hello there, my dear readers.

So much is going on in my life that I have neglected my lovely BLOG for too long. I feel horribly about it, but I wanted you all to know that I'm going to start carrying my laptop around with me so that I'm more motivated to chronicle my food adventures more diligently.

This is no way to build a following...shame on me.

But I ASSURE YOU, I've been eating up a storm and have even tried to be healthier with my choices when it comes to my water consumption and food intake. Why, you ask? Because my mother and I went and took the big leap. We got HYPNOTIZED! That's right! Although I feel that my cravings for CRAP have returned, my water consumption has dramatically increased.

We learned a lot during the hypnosis event. Your muscles burn the fat...you must be HYDRATED in order for your muscles to do their job...80 oz of water EVERY DAY - and I can't stress this enough...

YOU MUST BE PERFECT WITH YOUR WATER CONSUMPTION! Close doesn't cut it - you have to be PERFECT!

Also - eating breakfast EVERYDAY, which is a struggle, because MAMA LIKES HER SLEEP! And I normally wait until the very last minute to wake up - this leaves me barely enough time to get ready and kiss my family and race to the car for my commute to work. For the first 2 weeks I was flawless...then my Dad started getting sick and as good as my intentions were, I slowly but surely worked crap back into my diet.

The cool part??? My mother and I bought the hypnosis cd's so I can put myself back under whenever I want to. I just need to find some time that my mind isn't REELING with worry so that it sinks in.

Anyway, I really want to start blogging more and while this is a little glimpse of my personal life, I thought I owed it to the interwebs to explain a little bit.

Thai Chicken Curry - droolgasm

2011-03-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Hey Ya'll!!
It's been too long since I've posted anything here and for that, I apologize. My hubby and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary this August and decided to take a very overdue vacation and our destination? MAUI! We've never been to Hawaii and at the urging of our family and friends have decided to bite the bullet and go. Needless to say, our lives have been filled with excitement ever since and we've just secured lodging and our plane tickets - so, NOW, it's a REALITY! OHEMGEEEEEE!

In the middle of all this vacationy excitement, a friend of mine asked me to come to her house and show her how to make a curry dish that she's had at our house before. One of the things I like to do when I share recipes with someone is to actually go to the grocery store with them so that they understand everything that is necessary when selecting everything that goes in a dish.

This trip to the "store" was special. We were going to venture to the neighborhood Asian market to get some of the ingredients for my Thai Chicken Curry dish. One thing I can tell you about the Asian market is that you will find things here at a FRACTION of the cost of the regular supermarket. FOR INSTANCE: Coconut Milk. Asian Market Price: $.89 Typical Grocery Store Price: $2.89

So I'm going to just list the ingredients for you here so that you can start your adventure at the Asian Market and then we'll get into how to slap everything together, okie doke? GREAT!!!

Asian Market Grocery List
Jasmine Rice (I prefer jasmine rice and most Thai restaurants serve Jasmine Rice with their curry)
Red Curry Paste (buy 2 cans - smaller than tuna cans, but the same flat shape - you only need one for this recipe, but that way you'll have another in the cupboard ready for next time.)
Coconut Milk - 1 can (buy extra cans of all the following items if you think you'll make more than one recipe soon - less trips to the store and all...)
Coconut Cream - 1 can
Sliced bamboo shoots - 1 can
Pineapple Chunks - 1 can
Palm Sugar (They have these in crystallized "nugget form" as well as in jars like you see Peanut Butter packaged [which starts out as creamy...then it gets rock hard if you don't use it up - like honey]. My helpful hint is to buy it in "nugget form" so that all you need is one nugget per batch and you're good to go! Palm sugar is similar to honey - it's sweet, and the rule with Thai cooking is to find a voice for sweet, savory and citrusy sour.)
Thai Basil - a bushel of basil is only usually a DOLLAR at the Asian Market!
Lime - you'll need about 3 limes. If you use one of those little lime shaped plastic bottles for this recipe, I will hunt you down and haunt your dreams when I die. (ALSO - If you enjoy using fresh lime for anything else, be sure you frequent the Asian Market - Limes are normally MUCH cheaper than the regular grocery store...usually.)
Carrots
Green and Red Peppers
Onion
Garlic
Sugar Snap Peas - or the flat asian peas.
*Chicken Breast - about 3 halved chicken breasts gives a decent chicken to veggie ratio. If you like more chicken, add another half.

So, with the exception of purchasing the chicken breast at the Asian Market, I'm usually good to go. I mean no offense, but I just can't bring myself to purchase meat at the Asian Market. Something about the open bins of meat with no packaging just totally TURNS ME OFF and gets my OCD tendencies working OVERTIME...but that's just me.

Cooking Instructions/Silly tips

Now we need to start cookin!! I will do some prep work so that all I have to do is throw stuff in and it's ready. #1 THING: Start cooking your RICE! I've been so excited to cook this dish and eat it that I've actually forgotten to cook the rice until it was about 5 minutes before we had to eat. COOK YOUR RICE FIRST!! Just follow the directions on the package or - 2 cups of rice, 3 cups of water - put it on high with a lid, until it starts boiling, give it a stir, then turn off the burner. It'll sit in there and steam and get happy-happy! If there are more than 3 people eating this dish do 3 cups of rice and 4 1/2 cups of water.

Now, you should have all your veggies cut, peppers and onions and carrots (carrots are easy to slice if you have a mandolin - but if you like your knuckles/fingertips/fingernails - you will be CAREFUL - I don't want to read any comments about how you had to take a trip to the ER for stitches, please and thank you.) You should also have your chicken all diced up to about 1-inch cubes or strips...there's no science here, folks...just whatever kind of chicken chunk you want to bite into, cut it that way. In fact, that's a pretty good rule for this dish - if you want to just keep everything except the carrots sized to about 1 inch cubes/slices, that's a pretty good idea. If you slice the peppers into long "julienne" slices, they tend to break down and get too soft - just know when to throw them into the pan, okay? :o) Easy so far, right?

First thing I do when cooking is get a really large frying pan with slightly taller sides to create this masterpiece in. I'll heat up (fairly high temp) about 3 tbsp of oil and add most of a can of the red curry paste. THIS WILL SPLATTER ON YOU...you have been warned. What we want to do is release the oils in the curry...this doesn't take long.

Then we add the chicken. We want to get the chicken cooked through and if it gets a little brown, that's fine too...just make sure you don't burn the curry paste while you cook the chicken - if you feel more comfortable cooking the chicken in a separate pan, then by all means do that. (You can even cook the chicken first, get it browned a little bit and then add the curry - just make sure there's olive oil in the pan when you add the curry.) About half way through the cooking process for the chicken, you'll add the onions - get them a little browned too - or at least wilted. Once the chicken is cooked, you'll start adding the coconut creme. Just dump in the entire can. At this point you'll add the carrots - remember, some veggies take longer to cook than others. Carrots will take much longer to get soft/al dente than the peppers will and the peppers take longer than the Asian peas. As long as you remember that, you pretty much have an idea of when to add all the veggies.

About the time I put the carrots in, I'll place one of the palm sugar nuggets into the bubbling coconut infused pan. This takes a while to dissolve because it's crystallized, so put it in as soon as you get the coconut creme in. At this time, you can crush some garlic and put it in. Probably 3 cloves of garlic will be perfect. I'd say to let this bubble on the stovetop for about 15 minutes before you start to add the peppers and peas and anything else you want to add to this dish. The BASE of the dish is the soupy curry sauce...once you get that down, adding veggies and stuff is all optional. I'm not a very good veggie eater, but I can tell you that the peppers, onions and carrots add important flavor to the curry, so if you don't enjoy eating those veggies, then just pick through the final dish to get the stuff you like. The peas don't add any flavor to the DISH, but I like to eat them, so I throw them in. Add about a healthy teaspoon of salt to the dish.

The final steps to the dish after you test to be sure that the peppers and carrots are done to your liking is to add the Lime Juice and the Basil. I'll squeeze 2 full limes worth of juice into the pan, if your limes aren't that juicy, then add another one. The lime element is really important to this dish. And remember...if I hear about you using one of those plastic lime shaped juice bottles...I'm COMIN' AFTER YOU!! :o)

Regarding the basil. I'll start taking the leaves off of the stems and get a really good bushel in my hand and throw the leaves in. Remember, they wilt down like spinach, so even though you think you're putting a lot in, put just a little more. The dish really SINGS once the basil is introduced. There's no need to chop up the basil. Give your pan a good stir and let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

Once you feel that your dish is complete, start dishin' it up!!! I like to serve it in a bowl with steamed rice on the side of the bowl, my husband likes to drown his rice in the curry liquid. There's no WRONG way to serve this. We also enjoy making garlic bread with this dish for some reason. It just seems right to have something to sop up the curry with once you get to the bottom of your dish.

I'm so excited for some of you to try this dish, and I hope you really enjoy it. I truly is delicious!!! I get rave reviews whenever I make it.

Are you a VEGETARIAN???? You can totally leave out the chicken and this dish is perfect for you too!!

Enjoy - and remember to leave me a message letting me know that you tried it!!!

A Chance to Make a Difference

2011-02-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to share an opportunity for my LOCAL peeps to get in on a way to support our local economy and have a real voice in our community.

I'm simply going to link you to the website for the Tacoma Food Co-op. Please go there and click around to educate yourself. They need 400 members and are almost there. Once they get the 400 members, they can secure the retail space to have a place to open. They hope to raise another $400k so that they can open later this year. This is a ground breaking/ground floor level opportunity to get yourself involved in something that is going to make a huge difference in our community.

If you cannot afford to join, please at least spread the word so that this project can get all the support that they can.

Thank you so much for your time and I appreciate your support!

Sweet Lemony Goodness...little bite-sized package

2011-02-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

LEMON BLOSSOMS!!! These are so good and wonderful for summer, I wanted you ALL to try them! People BEG me to make these! They take a while to make and I'll give you a few helpful hints because I make these all the time and have *perfected* it to an extent. GOD BLESS PAULA DEEN!

Helpful Hint #1: Buy two mini muffin tins. If you only have one, this could cause you to be in the kitchen FOR. EVER.

Helpful Hint #2: Spray the muffin tins with Pam before you put the batter in the cups for EVERY BATCH. The tops of the muffins come off easily, which is cool, because it gives you something to munch on, but let's face it...you might get sick of them and that wouldn't be any fun. (Oh...and loosen the cupcakes a little by running a knife around the diameter of the cupcake tin. You want as clean a removal as possible so they are pretty!!!)

Helpful Hint#3: DOUBLE THE RECIPE! You are going to go through these VERY quickly. They are "poppable" and you will eat like 3-4 at a time...so be sure you make a double batch. All the effort with the baking and glazing is too much for the amount of time it takes to gobble them up.

Helpful Hint #4: Be sure you store them in an airtight container ONLY AFTER they have cooled completely!!!! They get sweaty and that's just not cute.

Paula Deen's LEMON BLOSSOMS - Eat up, Ya'll!

18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix
3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel

To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips.(Carm's note: they drip like crazy especially since you'll be dunking them in the glaze while they are HOT...) Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

Smokin' Groupon Deals!!

2011-02-21T17:19:00.001-08:00

Hey ya’ll!! Just a quick little note to let those of you know who haven’t tried “Groupon” yet to get off your DUFF and log on and sign up for this service. A PLETHORA of deals await your eager email inbox DAILY. Simply go to www.groupon.com and sign up with your email account. You’ll be offered a chance to choose your geographical area and VOILA! You’re in.

Each day you’ll be sent an email letting you know what the offer of the day is. Many times it’s a restaurant or a spa or hair salon or even Automotive repair. Today, for instance, we had a deal in my area for a coupon to a local Mexican Restaurant called “Moctezuma’s”…Spend $15 on the Groupon and get a coupon to eat at the restaurant for $30. Yeah…you read that right. You get to flash your little Groupon Coupon to the waiter(ess) and WHAMMO – they HAVE to give you $30 worth of food for $15…but basically you’ll probably spend more than $30 since the meals themselves run about $15/plate, BUT…DUDE!!! That’s like ONLY having to pay for your MARGARITAS!!!!!

So my TIP OF THE DAY? Sign up for Groupon and go have a damn date night with your favorite LOVAH. And you can thank ME for the amazing night you’re about to have. I love you. See? Aren’t I nice?

What to eat and NOT to eat...when you're sick.

2011-02-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

Man - I got the creepin' crud that's been floating around my neighborhood. YIKES. I was home yesterday and realized there are some things you should and definitely SHOULD NOT eat when you're sick. I also realized that I slept for almost 16 hours. THAT'S A LOT!

Here's the "What TO eat/drink" list:

Grape juice.
Oranges
Cereal
Chicken Soup
Massive amounts of Nyquil.

Here's the "What NOT to eat/drink" list:

Cadbury Creme Eggs
Doritos
Oreos
Cadbury Creme Eggs
Milk
Cadbury Creme Eggs

So...yeah...I ate a couple Cadbury Creme Eggs and didn't feel so hot afterwards. It's okay though...today, I went to work and feel like SHIT - which isn't really related to the creme eggs in any way, but I had to share...so I guess NOW I KNOW. And so do you.

Another thing I learned? It takes a loooooong time to make chicken soup from scratch.

And here's a question for you...Why do they even bother putting a measuring cup on the Nyquil bottles? The first thing I do with that thing? THROW IT AWAY! I just chug it straight from the bottle. Not the entire thing, but enough to get the job done. And then I settle in for a nice loooooonnnngggg snooze.

I also get really mad at myself when I forget to use Vicks Vapo-Rub. That stuff is AWESOME! It stops me from coughing when cough syrup doesn't do the trick. Slather some on your throat and chest and you're good for a long time.

The most interesting thing I watched on T.V.? A movie with Liam Neeson where his daughter gets kidnapped in Paris and is forced to do drugs and then is sold into sex slavery. But I think he caught up to her before she was "soiled". And that's not the type of movie I normally watch. But Liam Neeson is a pretty cool dude and he has some badass fight club skills. He was an ex-Cia agent or something...called himself a "protector". It was on HBO. I have no idea what it was called. If I figure it out, I'll let you know in the comments area.

Something else I learned, my dog doesn't like to break the "No dogs on the bed" rule. Even though I gave her permission and even flopped a leg over her body to keep her on the bed, the second I moved she bolted. Weird. If I were a dog and my human was all, "C'mon up here perty girl!" I'd be up there in a New York minute! But, she's smart. If her daddy had gotten home and saw her up there with me he would have gone ballistic. Whatev's...I could have blamed it on the Nyquil overdose, right?

Hopefully I last all day at work...but the chills I'm having right now and the incessant coughing is starting to make me MAD! So we'll see...I wanted to at least give it a shot.

How I LOVE THEE Indochine!

2011-02-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

Last night was AWESOME!!! Hubby and I will either go out on our Valentine's Date the day before or the day after Valentine's Day just to simply beat or miss the crowds, and this year was no exception.

After hearing about how incredible the food is at Indochine by my husband who eats there once every couple of months, he mentioned it for our V-day dinner and I jumped at the chance!!! My mouth instantly started watering and I hopped online to plan my attack of the menu. I'm getting more and more adventurous with my palette but, I still shy away from some things and scrunch my nose at others. BUT NOT TONIGHT!!!

We started with the Fresh Spring Rolls. They looked exactly like the picture - minus the orchids...but they were DELICIOUS! I could have crawled inside one of those suckers and ate my way out, but I was on a DATE...so I resisted the urge. I did however, pound down my share to the point that my husband was all, "GEEZ! Did you eat BOTH of yours already?!" and I said something like, "Mfuh-hufgh". We appreciate lots of Asian food, including Fresh Spring Rolls, but I gotta say, the sauce that accompanys the rolls can make it or break it for me, and Indochine COMPLETELY satisfied me. I wanted to swim LAPS in that sauce.

ON TO THE MAIN COURSE!

We ordered the Spicy Basil Beef (three stars) and the Gang Curry Chicken (also, 3 stars - pictured). They also offer brown rice, yellow (curry) rice and steamed rice. You can elect to have all three in a bowl, which we did. As if the Spring Rolls weren't delicious enough...when our main dishes got there I almost caused a SCENE! The curry dish was filled to the BRIM of the serving platter. And the Basil Beef dish was piled high and mighty! At this point my hands were shaking with excitement as I started dishing up my plate with the rice first - some of each kind, and then the beef followed by the curry chicken.

HEAVEN ON A PLATE, PEOPLE! I just drooled a little just thinking of that first bite of curry that I tasted.

The ambiance of the restaurant was really lovely. Modern with lovely fabrics draped in the windows and real, honest to goodness Orchids on our table. Our waiter could have been a wee bit more attentive, but I got the feeling he was new and it didn't appear that any of the other guests were lacking service, so I will give him a pass. We had a window seat right across from the History Museum and enjoyed watching the traffic pass while we enjoyed each others company.

I think that I will try my hand at making the spring rolls at home sometime soon. I just really need to get my hands on that sauce that they used. Oh yeah...and I promised a recipe for MY curry chicken! I'm gonna have to make it soon and take notes!!! YUM!!

Can Bacon Put You in a Coma? Happy VALENTINE'S Day!

2011-02-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes it can, apparently.

With all the hullabaloo on Valentine's Day and since I was kind of a BIOTCH to my hubby on Sunday - although he'd never ever EVER admit it - we found ourselves exchanging the token Hallmark Card and didn't make plans for dinner. During the day, we hopped on Facebook and it went something like this:

Hus: Whatcha say about having Breakfast for dinner tonight and we can go out to dinner tomorrow?
Me: Nothing says, "I love you." like BACON!
Hus: Totally.
Me: Sounds like a plan.

He totally gets me.

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Walking through a Fruit Stand...and WHAMMO!

2011-02-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

Hey there, DDITK readers!!!

Today is Sunday - otherwise known as - Carm-tries-to-find-inspiration-for-dinner day.

I decided to head off to the Fruit Stand with the family because recently I've gone through a Sugar Snap Pea w/ Ranch kick and well...I thought it would be good to support my local fruit stand because I needed more. And there it was...sitting by the front door...(angels on high voices here) ICEBERG LETTUCE!

The last time I had iceberg lettuce, was at P.F. Changs. My husband and I took a much needed date day - now that our girls are old enough to stay home and not a.) catch the house on fire and b.) they won't kill eachother....hopefully. But back to the Iceberg Lettuce thing...on their menu is an appetizer called "P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps". Now, I'm sort of a picky eater. I'm branching out a bit more these days but there was a time where I would scrunch my nose at anything that wasn't french fries or mozzerella sticks. Yeah...that was me. BUT NOT ANYMORE!! No sirreebob!!

Here comes our waiter - a plate of lettuce leafs all stacked cute and a plate mounded with a stir fried concoction of what I assumed was the "chicken". It smelled IN. CREDIBLE! I raised an eyebrow and looked at another table that had ordered the same thing and watched them for clues on what to do with this stuff. Simply scoop the chicken into a lettuce leaf and VIOLA! Eat it sorta like a taco/burrito...a..."Tarrico" if you will...

So, I saw the lettuce at the fruit stand and grabbed my cell phone...no - I grabbed two heads of lettuce and THEN grabbed my cell phone. I searched the internet for "P.F. Changs Chicken Lettuce Wrap" and OMG, people...there it was. THE RECIPE!!!!!!!!!!! I feverishly read through the ingredients to see if we had them all...I thought I had everything but some chicken and rice wine vinegar so I decided to hit the grocery store after I dropped off the kids and the husband.

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The best salsa KNOWN TO MAN!

2011-02-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

I'm always looking at new recipes to make and ways to simplify life and get some veggies in me. So...this little salsa recipe is super easy and is more of a "Pico de Gallo" mixture, but it's great to put on the Carnita's recipe that I posted earlier!!

We went to Seattle one day and ate in this weirdly located Mexican joint we had never been to before and when they brought the salsa and chips to us my heart sank! WHERE'S THE RED SALSA!?!?!?!? SHIT SHIT SHIT! Bleh...I grabbed a chip all pissy and put a smidge of what they CALLED salsa in front of us...and...MY. LIFE. WAS. CHANGED. FOREVER!!!! I dug a spoon in there dissecting the ingredients, one by one till I thought for sure I captured all their secrets. The very next day we had tacos for dinner and I made this stuff.

Ingredients:

Cabbage (HEY! Don't scrinch your nose up like that! TRY IT!)

Onion

Cilantro

Tomatoes

1 clove of garlic - MINCED or GARLIC PRESSED IS BETTER!

Jalepeno (seeded)

FRESH LIME JUICE (about two limes worth)

So here's what you need to do...DICE THAT SHIZZ UP LIKE A MOFO! Everything needs to be about 1/4". You can make the tomatoes a little bigger than that and obviously the cilantro will be finely chopped. Mix it all in a big bowl. I would do about 2 cups of diced cabbage, one cup of diced onion - maybe a little more. 1/4 c chopped up cilantro, 2/3 cup of tomato, one diced jalepeno, then juice the limes over it using your handy little Citrus Juicer highlighted in one of my earlier posts Click here to read all about it. Add salt to the mixture, till you LOVE IT! You can totally eat this stuff with chips, scoop it onto your carnitas or tacos or burritos. IT'S DELICIOUS!

Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you think once you give it a try!

Pork Carnitas to DIE for!!!

2011-02-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

This is a dish that keeps on giving! It starts out as Pork Carnita's and can be turned into BBQ Pork Pulled Sandwiches!! I want to share with you my recipe because it's just too fabulous to keep to myself. After researching online all the different ways to make this meal, I settled on a combination of ingredients that we enjoy and gave it a shot.

Lucky for me we have a wonderful store here called "Winco Foods". It seems like a discount type of grocery store, however it's HUGE and doesn't have off brand stuff, and we manage to save about $50 each trip, and we noticed they have a LOT of the cuts of meats we enjoy. Carnitas, Carne Asada, Fajita meats...it's all really quite awesome to know that I can walk into this grocery store and purchase the meat that normally goes into these dishes and it's already prepared, as far as the slice or the hunk form that it needs to be so that all I have to do is season it, cook it and VOILA!

So...when you head to your grocery store and want to gather up all the ingredients for Pork Carnitas, there's a few MUST HAVES. First of all the meat, of course. Sometimes you'll luck out, especially if you are in an ethnic rich environment - the stores will have the cuts of meat to serve the demographic. Here in Washington state, we can actually purchase Pork Carnitas meat. It's REALLY cheap! The key is good fat distribution and ribboning. That's what makes it juicy and "fally aparty" - yes, that's a CARMENISM...usually the packages that I buy have about 4-5 hunks (about the size of your fist...maybe a little bigger) of meat in the package.

Gadget of the day: Citrus Juicers for the 'Kitch

2011-02-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

You want me to squeeze all the juice out of one of these? REALLY? Yes, yes I do - it's for a good cause - honest! It makes the food you cook just seem more alive and zesty and PERKY! So...I went on a mission to try all the Citrus Juicers I could - and I don't know about you? But I have officially run out of counter and cupboard space. I have this slight OCD about serving dishes, and well? It's totally my fault that we don't have space for any more appliances in my 'Kitch.
<-- This one is my LEAST FAVORITE! First of all - who has enough strength to hand squeeze an orange or lemon or lime? Not me. I mean - WOW CARM, YOU'RE A WIMP! No, I assure you, I'm not - but the point is that you can't possibly get all the juice out of a piece of citrus with your hands and not have any mechanical intervention. It doesn't have to be motorized or anything - and I'm about to share with you some options that you may find interesting. Using your hand to squeese the bajeezus out of a citrus fruit cost: $0.00
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Who doesn't curse when they burn their hand on the oven?

2011-02-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Readers! Let's get started, shall we? And, I may as well get you all accustomed to my foul mouth right outta the shoot, eh? Seems like if you can weather the storm of profanity that I may pepper this blog with today - then you'll be around for the long haul. At least that's what I'm banking on.

Yeah...so the topic of "cursing in the kitchen" - it happens AAAALLLLLLLL the time in my house...but for you - it just depends on how big of a potty mouth you are, I suppose. For me? I tend to just let the profanity fly when I get hurt in the kitchen! I mean - Cooking isn't for SISSIES, right???? You're not a real cook if you don't have the scars to prove it. I've sliced the tip of my finger almost off - needed stitches. I've burned my hand - and no, that's not really a unique injury...it's how it happened that is kinda funny/painful...perhaps that'll be a great first story for you all to read. AAAAlllllllrighty then!

On to our Story du Jour:

It was a few years ago I think in the summertime - it could have been the fall - but it really doesn't matter. I had invited a co-worker over - more like she had a crush on my boss - who was married and lived across the street with his wife and four kids, but I was talking in front of her about dinner and she was all, "I WANNA COME!". Okie doke. Guess it would be RUDE of me not to invite her - and my Pork Loin Chops in a Worchstershire and Red Wine reduction with Mashed Potatoes and roasted asparagus DOES sound delicious - who am I to deny someone food when I was just bragging about how AWESOME this dish is? I CAN'T DO IT, I TELL YA! So I invited her.

Fast forward to me getting home from work and the grocery store and I'm cookin' and choppin' and the house is REALLY starting to smell GOOD! YUM! I had started cooking the chops and added the red wine and Worchestershire Sauce and it was de-glazing the pan. That's about the time that I go ahead and slam it in the oven to get all happy-happy and get tender and juicy.

TIME TO PEEL THE POTATOES! So I peel them all slice them up - put them on the stove to boil. I hit the computer to do a little bloggin' and hear the timer go off for me to check the chops. I open the oven door and reach into get the pork chops out and yeah...did YOU notice the step I missed there? How about reaching for a potholder? Minor detail missed = massive burn potential!

I grabbed the handle to my pan, took it out of the oven - realized I was burning the HOLY HELL outta my hand and instead of dropping the pan to the floor, I swirled around like I was Marie Osmond on Dancing With the Stars and gently placed it on the stove-top dropped an F-bomb or two, right...who am I kidding? It was like I had Tourrette Syndrome or something! And then RAN TO THE FAUCET! Holy shit, people. I can't tell you the amount of pain I was in!

My hand was blistering...and burning...and stinging. All you really want to do in that situation is cool your hand off...only that's not what you're supposed to do, apparently. The damage was done...but dinner...well, DINNER WAS SAVED! You're welcome, family...you're welcome.

That night? I slept with a baggie of ice in my hand. ALL NIGHT. I placed a sock over my hand so that I wouldn't drop it and so it wouldn't fall out of my hand while I was sleeping. Which, by the way is a SUPER DEE DUPER TIP OF THE DAY!!! So put that one in your memory banks, readers! Sock + Baggie of ice on a burned hand = ice stays put until it melts - then it's just water that is staying put. I'm a giver, what can I say?