The Cooking Dish

Caramel Comatose Thunder Brownies Recipe

Chris Mower — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:38:00 +0000

This year I plan to focus on more meal-oriented recipes, but before I do, I’m going to start out with a dessert recipe that really steals your attention: Caramel Comatose Thunder Brownies (made with real canned thunder!—kidding). If desserts were people, this one would be Chuck Norris.

Here are a few things Chuck Norris and these “brownies” have in common:

You don’t find them, they find you.
Both can kill you with a simple stare.
Under their ‘beard’ lies another fist.
They’re both rugged at first, but are sweet once you get to know them (or so they say).
And so on and so forth…

In other words, make sure you’re wearing your big boy pants before digging in. On a more serious note, this dessert was born from my curiosity to play with opposites.

I wanted something that was chewy but crunchy, sweet but salty. After throwing a few ideas around and creating a few sketches, I decided on a brownie mixture that included caramel, extra chocolate, pretzels, and marshmallows.

» Finish reading Caramel Comatose Thunder Brownies Recipe at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Baking, Brownie Mix, Brownie Recipe, Caramel, Caramel Brownies, Chocolate, Chocolate Brownie, Comatose, Desserts, Food and Drink, Fudge Brownies, Homemade Caramel, Marshmallow, Pretzel, Snacks, Thunder

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10 Rules for a Happier Kitchen

Chris Mower — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 21:05:38 +0000

After a few years of observing the kitchen habits of myself and others, I’ve decided to put together a little list that I think a lot of us could benefit from. This list briefly details 10 things that I believe will help make cooking less stressful and more enjoyable.

» Finish reading 10 Rules for a Happier Kitchen at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Clean Food, Clean Kitchen, Cutting Board, Experiment, How To, Kitchen Knives, Kitchen Rules, Lock & Lock, Nonstick Pan, Taste Testing

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Holiday Squares (Sunshine Bars) Recipe

Chris Mower — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:02:00 +0000

I blinked once and the Christmas season was here; I blinked twice and now it’s almost over. I’m considering holding my eyes open with toothpicks à la Odysseus so I won’t blink again. Not really, but maybe I should because it would be a shame for Christmas to pass without sharing at least a few more Christmas recipes with you. (Read about Christmas Lollipop Cookies.)

The Christmas treats I’m sharing today are some of my favorites for many reasons:

I should warn you though. They also have an identity crisis, and I’m afraid it confuses the children. After eating these, my kids have been known to say some pretty odd things. Check these doozies out.

» Finish reading Holiday Squares (Sunshine Bars) Recipe at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Baking, Christmas Recipe, Christmas Seasons, Extra Nice, Family Favorites, Holiday, Holiday Square, List, Orange Juice, Oranges, Recipes, Squares, Sunshine, Sunshine Bars, Tasty Dessert

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Christmas Lollipop Cookies Recipe

Chris Mower — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 07:01:35 +0000

General Mills always seems to be up to something fun, and earlier this month they invited a few bloggers to create a fun holiday-themed cookie recipe using a Pillsbury cookie dough roll. With the chance of the recipe being on Pillsbury.com (Update: This recipe and the other bloggers’ submissions are now on Pillsbury.com. Follow the link to check out all the delicious goodness!), I couldn’t resist and decided to participate. We could choose to use any of the following Pillsbury cookie doughs: sugar, gingerbread, chocolate chip, peanut butter, or peppermint.

Being the sugar cookie addict that I am, I naturally opted to use the sugar cookie dough. Sugar cookies have long been a holiday tradition at my house, one that I hope my kids continue and pass down to their own families someday.

As part of our cookie submission, General Mills also asked us to make it kid friendly so that moms (or dads!) can make it at home with their kids. For those of you who read my blog regularly, you already know that I love cooking with my little girls. They’re especially fond of any recipe that lets them play with dough.

This particular Christmas cookie idea combines two of my children’s favorite things. The first is making dough snakes. My kids jump at the chance to make them, and believe me, we can play that game for hours. The second is suckers. Their love for suckers nearly surpasses my own for sugar cookies.

» Finish reading Christmas Lollipop Cookies Recipe at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Baking, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Lollipops, Cookie Decorating, Cookie Lollipops, Cookies, Cookies Recipe, Food and Drink, Fun, Fun Christmas Cookies, Holiday, Pillsbury, Pillsbury Cookie Dough, Snacks, Sugar Cookie, Sugar Cookie Dough

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Orange & Apple Cinnamon Biscuits Recipe

Chris Mower — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:15:56 +0000

Today’s recipe is a partner to my last recipe post, Butterscotch Biscuits. If you haven’t tried those, you should. In fact, I would almost say try those first and then come back to these. I’d love to know how you feel they compare. This biscuit variation requires a smidgen more work and cooking time, but I love the extra orange, apple, and cinnamon flavors mixed in. In all honesty though, both are heavenly.

Okay, I explained in my last biscuits post how my kids go nuts when they find out we’re having these for breakfast. However, something I didn’t mention—and should have—is how kids love to help prepare this recipe. There’s some small knife work involved when dicing the apple, but other than that, kids can help with nearly every part from mixing the dough to slicing the rounds (with a dull dough cutter). If you haven’t tried cooking with your kids, I think you should give it a shot. We’ve had some great (and messy) times in the kitchen together.

The areas where my kids enjoy helping out the most is sprinkling the flour on the cupboard and spreading the butter, sugar, and apples onto the biscuit dough. They’re also pros at putting all the ingredients into the bowl. I maintain that the memories we create are worth the messes we make.

Now on to the biscuits.

» Finish reading Orange & Apple Cinnamon Biscuits Recipe at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Apple Cinnamon, Baking, Baking Powder, Biscuit Dough, Biscuits, Biscuits Recipe, Bread, Breakfast, Cinnamon, Cinnamon Biscuit Recipe, Cinnamon Biscuits, Cinnamon Sugar, Fun, Orange Apple, Soul Food

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MacGourmet Deluxe 3 Giveaway (closed)

Chris Mower — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:35:37 +0000

**This contest has ended**
The winner was chosen via the awesome random.org, and the winner is Travis Washburn!
Congratulations, Travis. I’ve sent an email to you at the given email address. Please note that if no response is received within 7 days, another winner will be chosen.

Thanks to the generous folks at Mariner Software, I have one full license to give away for MacGourmet Deluxe 3 (a $49.95 value)! Please note that this is a Mac-only application and will not run on a PC running Windows, Linux, or anything other than MacOS 10.5 or higher.

A while back, I wrote a post called, The Ultimate Kitchen Gifts List where I listed some of my favorite kitchen items, or items that I thought would make for a great gift for the foodie in your life.

Deep within the bowels of that list I mentioned MacGourmet Deluxe, a recipe management system for the Mac developed by Mariner software. In one word, this software is AWESOME!

A few years ago, on a chilly November evening, I had just invented a ham marinade that that creates super juicy and mouthwatering ham. Wanting to remember my recipe and experiment with it later, I scribbled it out on a scrap piece of paper and placed it in my recipe box. Or so I thought.

» Finish reading MacGourmet Deluxe 3 Giveaway (closed) at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2011. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Create Your Own Cookbook, Favorite Recipes, Fun, Giveaway, Mariner Software, Organize Your Recipes, Recipe Box, Recipe Management, Recipe Software

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Butterscotch Biscuits Recipe

Chris Mower — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:11:56 +0000

Do you remember as a kid waking up in the mornings to the smell of your favorite breakfast cooking? I sure do, and I still love it. Smelling the sweet breakfast aromas early in the morning is one of life’s great pleasures, one that almost instantly puts the entire family in a good mood.

Growing up in my family, there were a couple smells that almost always had us kids instantly bounding up the stairs: the quintessential breakfast of pancakes served with eggs and bacon and then the irresistible smell of butterscotch biscuits. Yes, I said that right… butterscotch biscuits,and today I’m going to share that biscuit recipe with you. But first, a quick peek into how awesome these biscuits are. These are not your typical biscuit, my friend.

Luckily (read: holy flipping cow, I’m incredibly lucky), my kids are not picky eaters. I’m not sure if it’s because I will eat nearly anything—with the exception of tuna loaf—and they’re just following my example, or if it’s because they know they’ll go without if they don’t eat what’s prepared. Maybe they’re really not my kids, but aliens from another planet… maybe, just maybe that’s it. (By the way, after they realized mom and dad were serious they always choose to eat what’s prepared.)

» Finish reading Butterscotch Biscuits Recipe at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baking, Biscuits, Bread, Breakfast, Butterscotch, Irresistable, Picky Eaters, Quick Breads, Soul Food

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Is Beeswax the Cure for Allergy Suffering?

Chris Mower — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 04:38:24 +0000

AAACHOOOO!!! My conversation was cut short as I hastily whipped my head to the left and brought up my arm just in time to block my sneeze before covering the lady two feet in front of me with a goobery barrage of Chris germs. “¡Perdóneme!” I said while fervently searching my pockets for anything to wipe my nose with. I had inconveniently used the last of my tissue paper just minutes before. The only option was to keep my arm up in front of my face; to bring it down would mean displaying to the world the inner workings of my nasal cavity.

The sneeze had made my eyes water, adding to their itchy redness. “I’m not sick,” I hastily commented. “It’s just allergies; they’re killing me!”

The lady backed behind her entry-way door, sure that I was sick and contagious. “Then you should chew some beeswax,” she hastily replied. Though my arm still covered my face, our eyes made brief contact. Hers said, “Duh!” and mine said, “Are you crazy?”

The notion of chewing beeswax to cure allergies seemed preposterous to me—so preposterous, in fact, that I have never forgotten it. That was 10 years ago in Ipala, Guatemala, and I could still take you to the exact door where I sneezed. Not that it really matters (it was red, by the way), but it’s fun to think about visiting my old sneezing grounds. It’s almost like marking my territory, but we won’t go there. Moving on…

» Finish reading Is Beeswax the Cure for Allergy Suffering? at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Beeswax, Fall, Hay Fever Allergies, Health, Home Remedies, Honey, Immune System, Medicinal, Runny Nose, Wild Honey

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A Peach Full of Memories

Chris Mower — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 21:45:24 +0000

Of all the fresh fruits I look forward to eating the most each year, peaches rank the highest (raspberries take a very close second). Peaches are better than candy–and I don’t care how much sugar content they have, I can eat six thousand and one in a single sitting and remain 100% guilt free.

This morning I blended up the last of my second bushel. When only four peaches remained in the box, I realized that if I didn’t eat one of them, I would most likely not have another fresh peach until September of next year. Without a second thought I cut it open, removed the pit and skin and sunk my teeth into its juicy flesh. My taste buds knew exactly what to expect and they weren’t disappointed. But what I didn’t expect was the flood of memories that came rushing into my head with that first bite.

» Finish reading A Peach Full of Memories at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Fall, Family, Fruit, Peaches, Story

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Book Review: Ratio by Michael Ruhlman

Chris Mower — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:38:57 +0000

I’m on a book craze right now and can’t stop stuffing my face with awesome literature. I recently finished reading An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward and immediately after finishing, I picked up Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman which I quickly devoured in each spare minute that I had. In my opinion, Ratio should be required reading for anybody who cooks in the kitchen.

On Goodreads, I gave this book a 5-star rating. It’s awesome. Really.

The purpose behind Ratio is to enlighten and teach the home cook about the fundamentals of cooking in the kitchen. Sounds boring, I know, but the concept of ratios is simply fascinating. It’s not as if cooking with ratios is a super-duper, ultra-guarded secret (because it’s not), but interesting enough, it’s not well known among home cooks. Knowing ratios gives you the power to ditch the recipes, grow some wings, and fly! It won’t be long before you’re creating recipes of your own. In fact, using his custard ratios, I created a tasty (and interesting) vanilla peach custard. I’ll post the recipe once I refine it a bit. It was my first ever attempt at custard, but I could do it thanks to being taught simple custard ratios.

Let’s explore some of the fascinating aspects of Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio.

» Finish reading Book Review: Ratio by Michael Ruhlman at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Baking, Bread, Cake, Cook Book, How To, Meats, Sauce

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Book Review: An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward

Chris Mower — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:31:36 +0000

This year I decided to spend my birthday money on kitchen stuff that I’ve had my eyes on. I wound up with some awesome kitchen tools and some more books which I’ve been wanting to read and study for a while, among those books was An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives by Chad Ward (affiliate link). Using a 5-star rating method, I’d give it a 4 out of 5; using a 10-star rating method, I’d give it a 7 out of 10.

Chad Ward is a knife nerd, seriously; his kitchen knife expertise makes those of us who frequently use our kitchen knives and already know a moderate amount about them realize that we’ve been playing in the kiddy pool most of our lives. Although his book has quite a bit of “geek speak” in it as it relates to kitchen knives, metallurgy, and whatnot, it’s a pleasure to read and is easy to understand. And, as Chad says, once you learn the terminology you can impress all your friends and the guy behind the knife counter with your wisdom (extra bonus!).

The hard part now is figuring out where to begin…

» Finish reading Book Review: An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chad Ward, Chef's Knife, Cook Book, Kitchen Knives, Kitchen Stuff, Kitchen Tools, Knife Blocks, Knives, Santoku

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A Little Market Research…

Chris Mower — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:34:54 +0000

I’m doing some quick market research in the realm of the kitchen to figure out what people’s most frustrating kitchen-related experiences are.

Take a quick minute and add your opinions below:

» Finish reading A Little Market Research… at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Tapatio Doritios, Tapatio Fritos, and Tapatio & Lime Ruffles Reviewed

Chris Mower — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:30:48 +0000

Author’s note: Frito lay asked that I review these chips. They provided the chips, but no other compensation was given. Enjoy!

Not too long ago, I received a request from Frito-Lay to review some of their new chips that will be hitting the market this month. Naturally, I’m always curious to know what’s new so I accepted and a few days later, courtesy of Frito-Lay, a box arrived at my door with three bags of their new flavors.

It was hard to contain my delight when I opened the box and found that the new flavor was none other but Tapatio. Tapatio and I have a deep-rooted partnership. You can read about it here. I’m sure that the Chip Gods were smiling when Frito-Lay and Tapatio hot sauce formed this partnership.

One at a time, I pulled out each new, shiny bag of chips. Doritos, Fritos, and Ruffles. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven, especially seeing that the Ruffles had lime mixed in. Tapatio and lime are one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations—nearly impossible to resist.

It was tough not to rip open a bag immediately and just stuff my face, but I wanted to share my excitement with someone else—the guy who introduced me to Tapatio—none other than my own hermano. So, with great hesitation, I placed the bags above my refrigerator (had to protect them from the kids, you know) and waited for a couple days so that SkinnyD and I could get together and experience the madness together.

Those were a long two days, but it finally arrived. We met up at his house and commenced our review. We recorded it on video, but due to some techincal difficulties in editing, it might not get posted. BUT! I’ve still taken the time to write out what I thought as we tested each new chip.

» Finish reading Tapatio Doritios, Tapatio Fritos, and Tapatio & Lime Ruffles Reviewed at TheCookingDish.com. »

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Post tags: Corn Chips, Doritos Chips, Fritos Corn Chips, Ruffles Potato Chips, Sauce, Snack Foods, Snacks, Tapatio Hot Sauce, Tortilla Chips

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How to Make Pumpkin Seeds: Year 2

Chris Mower — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:00:41 +0000

Last year I was a little late (mid-November) on the bandwagon when I posted How to Make Pumpkin Seeds: Year I, so I figured this year I’d try to post before Halloween.

My family looks forward each year to buying our pumpkins from one of the local pumpkin patches. You arrive, get a wheelbarrow and leisurely stroll around the pumpkin rows looking for the perfect pumpkin. I always buy a couple extra just for the seeds. My kids run around in utter delight trying to carry the largest pumpkin they can find. Depending on the patch, they may have hay bales and tractors set up for kids to play on. The owners of the patch we went to this year was giving tractor rides and had created a free corn maze for the kids.

We bought two big pumpkins for my wife and I, and three small pumpkins for our kids, and then a few of those really really small pumpkins just for the heck of it–actually, the kids seemed to be rather attached to them, and it was impossible to resist.

This past Monday, we hollowed out the pumpkins and let the kids carve theirs, so I’m sure the pumpkins will be overly shriveled come Halloween day, oh well. From the 5 hollowed out pumpkins I ended up with 6 cups of fresh pumpkin seeds–perfect for three different batches. Now, I’m the type of guy who rarely orders the same thing at a restaurant each time I visit because I like to experience different foods and flavors. So although I’ve already created pumpkin seed recipes that I like, I couldn’t resist whipping up some new ones either.

This year I’ve created three new recipes: Chipotle Ranch, Sugar ‘n Spice, and Lemon Picante. The Lemon Picante has become my new favorite.

» Finish reading How to Make Pumpkin Seeds: Year 2 at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Holiday, Pumpkin, Snacks, Spicy

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The Best Halloween Candy — No, Seriously.

Chris Mower — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:00:13 +0000

I’ve gotta’ say, Halloween is a dangerous holiday. It’s too easy to buy candy long before October 31st; it’s even easier to justify buying it early when you say to yourself, “Oh, I’ll stick it in the top cupboard and save it until then…”

Yeah right.

I don’t know of anybody who has ever successfully done that. Before too long, it just starts gnawing away at you because you know it’s there… eat me, eat me, eat me… *sigh* … Two years ago I bought my Halloween candy on October 31st, Halloween Day. I went to the store to find nearly empty shelves and ended up coming back with the stuff nobody wants: stale pumpkin peeps, Sunmaid raisins, and a mini-size candybar mix. Mini size. Really? Halloween is about packing in the goodies, not skimping on treats that you don’t even have to chew before swallowing.

So this year I decided to–yep, you guessed it–buy my goodies early. I bought them two weeks ago during a “weak moment” on aisle 5. Needless to say, I’m going to have to buy more. Dangit. At least there is one huge benefit to buying your Halloween candy early; besides having to buy and eat twice the amount of candy for Halloween, you get the best of the best. No stale pumpkin peeps for me this year.

So this year I’ve rounded up a list of the 10 best Halloween candies (I cheated and added more than one candy to some numbers), that if I had to buy twice this month, I wouldn’t complain.

In no particular order, behold the list…

» Finish reading The Best Halloween Candy — No, Seriously. at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chocolate, Holiday, Snacks

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Does Food Packaging Make You Overeat?

Chris Mower — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:44:01 +0000

I came across an article today on Psychology Today that was pretty interesting. It’s basically a quick summary of a study done by Adriana Madzharov and Lauren Block in the October, 2010 issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Here’s a snippet of the article.

Many snack foods show a picture of what the product looks like. A box of chocolate chip cookies will show sample cookies on the front. A bag of pretzels will show pictures of the pretzels. A box of crackers will show the crackers.
The studies in this paper make three main points…

First, the number of items on the front of the package affects people’s judgments of how much food is inside the package…

Second, when given the chance to actually eat, people ate more food from packages with many items pictured on it than from packages with few items pictured on it.

Third, this effect was strongest…

Visit That Package Made Me Overeat to read more.

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One More Summer Has Come and Gone

Chris Mower — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:51:20 +0000

Today marks the first day of Fall. It’s official. With that, I’ve now launched The Cooking Dish’s fall design. A special thanks to Glen Moyes for his brilliant design work.

Now that summer is over, I’ll be back to a more regular posting schedule. Every summer I have great plans for this blog. This summer was no different I planned on focusing on a billion—yeah, that’s right… a billion—ways to make incredible smoothies and post them on the blog, but I never got around to it. Do I regret it? No, not really, although I missed all of you. Even though I made smoothies nearly every night and often for breakfast, it felt good to take a break from the ordinary schedule.

This summer I spent some excellent time with family and friends, which was a lot of fun. It was a good summer for me, despite working long hours at my FTJ. We took lots of trips and spent a lot of time bonding–awwwww. Let me share with you some of our good times…

Pictures after the break.

» Finish reading One More Summer Has Come and Gone at TheCookingDish.com. »

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15 Melon Head Fruit Carvings

Chris Mower — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:03:00 +0000

It’s sad to think summer is finally coming to an end. It’s also sad that the best watermelons I’ve had all summer long were among the last I’ll have this year. At least I’m ending on a high note, right?

Over the summer, I’ve been experimenting with different ways to cut watermelon. I’ve had a blast as I’ve chopped them away, bit by bit. In hindsight, I probably should have taken a few pictures to share with you. Oh well, maybe next time. As I cut up my latest watermelon for the kids and smoothies, I ended up playing around and cutting faces into the slices, and that’s when it hit me–there had to be somebody out there who has carved a melon head.

So today, I bring you a collection of 15+ melon heads, carved by random people in random places. I’ve tried to credit original sources (as far as I can tell), but the nature of the internet is that it’s nearly impossible to track picture sources down. I’d love to keep adding to this list, so if you know of any others, let me know!

» Finish reading 15 Melon Head Fruit Carvings at TheCookingDish.com. »

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How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Bread (with Glaze!)

Chris Mower — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 04:19:04 +0000

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted a recipe, and I think it’s high time I do so again.

Contrary to popular belief I’ve actually been doing a lot of cooking lately. In fact, I’ve been doing so much cooking that I’ve accumulated a gazillion and a half recipes to share with you. Some I’ve found online, others I’ve created from the depths of my inner self–and that can get pretty scary.

Some of the recipes I’ve found are from other blogs that I follow, and today’s lemon bread recipe is an adaptation from the ever popular and addicting blog called Cookie Madness, written by Anna.

I’ve made this lemon bread a few times and this last time around I added the poppy seeds, which I absolutely love–and it’s not because they supposedly make you test positive for doping. Is that even true?

A few tips when making this bread:

Do not pack your flour. You want your flour to be loose so that the bread isn’t overly dense.
Although bread is super delicious right out of the oven, I prefer this bread after it’s cooled down and the flavors have had a chance to mix together.
I’ve tried this bread plain and also topped with a lemon glaze, a chocolate glaze, and a regular glaze. I prefer the lemon glaze.

Alright, that’s enough mumbo jumbo for one post. Let’s get baking. As always, there’s a printable recipe at the bottom of this post. The pictures in this post are a combination of the different times I’ve made this recipe.

» Finish reading How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Bread (with Glaze!) at TheCookingDish.com. »

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10 Ways to Make Cooking Enjoyable for Kids

Chris Mower — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:43:00 +0000

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while now, you know that I enjoy cooking with my family in the kitchen, especially with my daughter, Maggie. The best part about it is that Maggie enjoys cooking with me. This is a tradition I plan to continue for as long as Maggie wants to hang out with me. From what I hear, once they get into those teenager years, “dads” become nerdy. What kids don’t understand is that some of us have always been nerdy–but we can talk about that at a later time.

Today, I want to share with you some ideas to get your youngsters involved in the kitchen.

If you’re lucky, your kids will want to know what you’re doing in the kitchen and they’ll take an interest in it and even pitch in voluntarily. Maybe you’re not so lucky and your kids think the kitchen pretty much sucks and is just another way for you to torture them. Who knows, maybe they’re right–but it doesn’t have to be that way.

» Finish reading 10 Ways to Make Cooking Enjoyable for Kids at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Fun, How To, Kids, Maggie

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Tapatio Hot Sauce… I’m Addicted to You…

Chris Mower — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:39:58 +0000

I enjoy watching other people eat hot stuff, but when it comes to me eating spicy hot stuff—you’d better have a pretty good bribe ready. I’ve had my share of spicy foods and know my limits. Besides the heartburn aftermath, I’ve never enjoyed eating things so spicy that I can’t taste the food’s natural flavors.

That’s why I hesitated to try Tapatio for the first time…

My brother claimed it was the shizzle and had nearly polished off a full bottle by himself. We have pretty similar tastes and that’s what pushed me over the edge. I held the bottle close to my face and inspected the ingredients: water, red peppers, garlic, salt, various spices, sodium benzoate… despite it probably being loaded with preservatives, I figured it was okay to consume. At least there wasn’t a hidden chiltepe in there. I hate those little pepper bombs of death.

» Finish reading Tapatio Hot Sauce… I’m Addicted to You… at TheCookingDish.com. »

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How to Make Donuts in 15 minutes

Chris Mower — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:35:07 +0000

I realize how ironic it is to post this recipe right after the “Fight Obesity” speech, but I’ve been wanting to post this recipe for a long long time. Sometimes it’s best to throw caution out the window… not always, just sometimes.

Growing up my family spent a lot of time in the great outdoors. We’d take week long camping trips high up into the mountains where we’d spend time digging in the dirt, fishing, canoeing, laughing, swimming in the lake and river, riding horses, playing horse shoes, and just chillin’. Those are some of my favorite memories. And oh, the stories I could tell, like the one time when I ~~accidentally~~ seared my brother’s ear with a hot, flaming stick of death… but we won’t go into details. It really was an accident…

Let’s move on. My mom is an excellent cook, and that’s an understatement. We always looked forward to dinner in the mountains because we loved eating her cast iron dutch oven cooking. Some of my favorite dishes included chicken, potatoes, bacon, peach cobbler, donuts, and bread. My two favorites were peach cobbler and donuts. (The treats, of course!)

Just the other night, the hankerin’ to eat some of those donuts again sneaked into my appetite, so I set to it. Now, the best part of this donut recipe is that it’s effortless… seriously, it’s super fast, super delicious, and easy enough that the kids can help. Hard to beat that, and when the kids have fun, it makes it even more enjoyable. My daughter Maggie helps me make these for family night on occasion. If a camp fire isn’t readily available, you can still cook these on the stove top. As always, you can print this recipe out at the end of this post.

And just for the record I can never decide if I should spell donuts like I just did or like this: doughnuts. so I’m not very consistent throughout this post.

Enjoy, and try not to salivate on your keyboard.

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© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2010. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bread, Quick Foods, Snacks

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Jamie Oliver’s TED Speech: Fight Obesity

Chris Mower — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:00:09 +0000

This is a must watch. You don’t want to miss this.

Jamie makes some excellent points and is rather persuasive on this topic. I agree with all of his points with the exception of government being the solution to controlling fast food. If change is going to happen, it needs to come from the bottom up; change by parents; change by communities; change by mom and pop restaurants. Change that inspires and promotes a better lifestyle. If consumers demand healthier food from restaurants and schools, and step up and lead with their convictions, change will happen.

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An Awesome Gift + Where I’ve Been

Chris Mower — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:44:56 +0000

Hey folks, I can’t believe it’s been over a month since my last post. Wow! In blogging terms, 1 month or longer between posts is equivalent to shooting myself in the foot.

But before we get into that, and above all else, I wanted to send a grateful shout out to Maren, my friend from Seevetal, Germany (near Hamburg). Over Christmas Maren sent me a really really awesome Christmas package full of German delight!

» Finish reading An Awesome Gift + Where I’ve Been at TheCookingDish.com. »

© Chris Mower for The Cooking Dish, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chocolate, Cookies, Holiday

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Epic Monkey Dreams

Chris Mower — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:21:08 +0000

Last night I was one spoonful away from eating monkey brain soup. Apparently me eating it was a test of courageousness and honor. If I were to pass the test, I’d be well on my way to becoming a hero or sorts, capable of defeating even my worst enemies (who, by the way, I’ve never even met). So late last night there I sat next to my brother, Daniel, both of us with big 1/2 gallon sized bowls of monkey brain soup staring us in the face, wondering what we’d gotten ourselves in to.

Let’s rewind about 4 hours. Daniel and I were hauled more-or-less against our will by a dozen people to a bizarre underground house/kitchen/restaurant place. I say ‘more-or-less’ because a part of me was rather curious as to where they were taking us in such a hurry. When we arrived, we entered what looked like a mud hut, but we immediately took a long flight of stairs downward to a large dining area. The furniture was a healthy balance between my old university’s chemistry lab, an urban Swedish home, and a Victorian ranch house. Wow. Someone call the decorator.

We sat on posh wooden chairs that had maybe 3 inches padding; they weren’t especially comfortable, and the backs arched a little too far inward to make me want to sit back. Forced etiquette I guess. The metal ‘laboratory’ table was a little too tall for me, but perfect for Daniel. Touching it chilled my fingers, and resting my arms on it was out of the question. Our chef and waitress (who eerily reminded me of the evil witch in Snow White) first brought us out a dainty salad topped with croutons and finely sliced cucumbers. The salad looked so normal, it was out of place.

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