« April 2011 | Main | June 2011 »
by Katie
Grocery shopping over the weekend, I went to our local produce market and discovered peaches on sale for 49 cents a pound. So obviously I bought five pounds.
And... I have no idea what to do with them. I'm not really in a pie mood (I know, I don't get it either.) I could make jam, but I'm not sure I'm up for all the hot water bath canning. (Though I might do that. Peach jam? SO GOOD.)
But really, I'm just looking for ideas. Any suggestions? Please?
| |
|
By Kristie
It's a bummer I've never been able to find this coffee anywhere in my regular grocery store because it's probably one of my favorite un-flavored coffees I've ever tasted. Thank goodness for Amazon where I can stock up and get enough coffee to last a while.
This particular Lavazza coffee is a an espresso powder that I use in my regular old coffee maker and sometimes in my stove top coffee maker. Either way it's a delicious Italian coffee and I highly recommend you give it a try ASAP.
{Image courtesy Amazon.com}
| |
|
by Katie
Many of you, I'm sure, are familiar with gilt.com- a website that lets you buy designer clothes at steep discounts via one-day online sample sales. It's great eye candy, but even with at a discount, stuff on Gilt is often a little rich for my blood- particularly since I'm not sure I'm really able to pull off some of the edgier/younger fashions they feature (often in sizes so tiny I can only laugh).
Oh, but Gilt Group has my number with the newly-launched Gilt Taste. Gilt Taste is a food version of Gilt, though it works a little differently. Instead of one-day-only sales, Gilt Taste features limited quantities of unusual or hard-to-find things like mushroom powder, caviar, fancy vinegars, and stinky cheeses from famed New York cheesemonger Murray's. They also sell extremely high quality (and thus extremely expensive) steaks, seafood, and oysters.
The site also features stories and recipes from well-known chefs and food writers. The collection of products is well-edited, and the photography and styling of the site is really beautiful. It's like an online version of the now-defunct Gourmet magazine, but with shopping thrown in.
In a word: Dangerous.
Gilt Taste is currently in beta launch, and already there are a number of items that have caught my eye:
Gourmet Attitude Truffle Honey
Mikuni Wild Harvest Fiddleheads and Ramps (2 pounds!)
Murray's Cheese Newbie Cheese Package
I haven't actually bought any food items yet, but I did find these BPA-free unbreakable plastic champagne flutes and I couldn't resist. Perfect for picnics, right?
GoAnywhere BPA Free Champagne Flutes
Most of the stuff on Gilt Taste ain't cheap- but fancy ingredients rarely are, right? If you've been looking for a gift for a food lover in your life, I'm pretty sure you can find the perfect thing on Gilt Taste. As for me, I think I'd better ask my husband to hide my wallet.
| |
|
Being from Texas, and the daughter of a former jalapeno farmer who was one the primary pepper suppliers for Pace Picante (yes, really), I consider myself a salsa connosieur. There are very restaurants in Texas where chips and salsa, and our beloved queso, is NOT an appetizer option, or more likely, brought to you like bread before a meal. It is just expected. Because of that, I have tried just about every darn salsa formulation on the planet, and my favorite of all time is that served at Chuy's.
Many a happy hour in law school was spent drinking tasty margaritas and indulging at the chips and salsa bar, where yes, chips and salsa constituted dinner. Oh, to be 22 again.
The key to the perfect salsa for me is texture. I tend to prefer chunkier salsas, with a consistency more similar to another Tex-Mex staple, pico de gallo. This is why Chuy's salsa is my favorite- it is really a bit more of a watery pico than anything else.
Photo from uh, my dinner. Tonight.
Chuy's Salsa Fresca, from C-J Recipes:
3 ounces fresh serrano peppers (about ½ cup, stemmed and chopped coarsely)
½ cup cilantro
1 cup onion, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon garlic salt (or to taste)
1½ pounds Roma tomatoes, cores removed and coarsely chopped
To make, wash and chop all veggies and dump everything into your food processor and pulse for a few seconds. Then add tomatoes until it reaches the desired consistency.
Salsa. Perfection.
What is your region's chips and salsa? What is a staple appetizer at every meal?
| |
|
By Laurie
I'm always on the lookout for online timesavers and resources for things I care about, and Foodily is my new favorite. It stands for "Food I Love You," oh yes it does. And what it lets you do is look up what you want to cook, specifying what you don't want in the recipe.
Image courtesy of Foodily
Just for kicks I typed in "chili with no meat" and got 544 recipes. Results came from all over the web, from All Recipes to the Joy of Kosher to No Meat Athlete. Results can be as general as "grilling" or "dessert" or limited to only low-carb or fat or high-fiber recipes. The "Featured Blogger" menus on the home page are attractive and a nice nod to the gazillion food bloggers who provide thousands of recipes daily for the masses. Rookie Moms features the Pimp My Ravioli menu, and this Smoked Salmon Frittata from Sarah's Cucina Bella is right up my brunch alley.
Like any good social networking site, you can find friends and like and share recipes (or not.) with them. You can even connect with Facebook to share menus. The Foodily team calls themselves "the most advanced recipe search engine in the world," so you should probably try that out and see if they're correct, right? Let us know how you like it.
| |
|
While browsing Amazon for something completely unrelated, this was recommended to me as a popular items selling like hotcakes, apparently:
See that center thing? You're supposed to, uh, fill it with fruit or other flavoring so that you can fill it over and over again with liquid without replacing the fruit or whatever. I get it, in theory, and I LOVE kitchen gadgets, but I'd sooner get a juicer than deal with this thing, because it's just! so! extraneous! And how often, honestly, are you INFUSING things, to justify a PITCHER?
Help me. Am I irrationally irritated or completely unjustified? Are YOU excited about a summer of fruit-infused beverages with your super-special pitcher?
{Photo credit: Amazon}
| |
|
by Elissa
Typically our weeknights involved a staggered dining schedule. We get home around 5:30, and our 2-year-old son Lane is ready for dinner at 6. That's usually not enough time for me to cook a full meal for all three of us, so Lane generally eats leftovers or something quick heated up. After Lane is in bed at 7:30, I begin cooking dinner for me and my husband. Many days it ends up feeling like dinner consumes the entire evening, and I often go to bed shortly after we are done eating.
As Lane gets older, I am hoping that we'll be able to sit down for a family dinner at least some of the time, but that's going to require a lot more organization on my part. Last week I scored a victory and had all of us sitting down to dinner at a little after 6. The solution? Homemade pizza. I made the dough the night before and had sauce and toppings ready to go before leaving for work in the morning. And Lane loved participating in the creation of the pizza. Check out his concentration:
I threw together a salad while the pizzas were baking in the oven and we were good to go. Plus, Lane was super-proud of the finished product.
So I think that the key for us is make-ahead, hands-on meals that Lane can participate in. I think tacos are going to be another good contender. Any other ideas?
| |
|
By Julie
I’m a Southern girl. Yes, some can argue Texas isn’t exactly the South, but since I grew up with the distinction that one is either a Yankee or a Southerner, I fall squarely into the Southerner camp (despite my early childhood wishes to be a Yankee, since so many of my long distance family were, but I’ve since discovered my abject terror of cold and snow and have come to my senses). I’ve long loved chicken fried steak, barbecue in its many forms (although you’re never going to get me to believe there is any better than my daddy’s), and lemon icebox pie. I drink my tea sweet and eat my steak rare.
But as for other quintessential Southern fare, my rearing was sadly lacking. I’m talking about grits.
My parents, particularly my mother, had no affection for the grit, and so never even thought to introduce us kids. And that was fine by me, because I didn’t know any better. As far as I was concerned, grits resembled Cream of Wheat, which resembled gruel, and gruel I could live without. I rolled my eyes when celebrity chefs started talking about polenta, knowing that was just a fancy name for the same old thing. I was snooty to grits.
And then I saw a recipe for shrimp and grits, with a picture that made me drool. But grits, really? These grits called for copious amounts of cheese, so decided to swallow my pride and give it a whirl.
I am so glad I did.
The creamy, cheesy side dish worked perfectly with the lemony, bacony shrimp. It had both texture and smoothness that worked seamlessly together. The process was so simple: 4 parts boiling liquid to 1 part corn meal, stir until the liquid is absorbed (but don't forget to melt in some cheese). It came together so fast, and made a ton, which made me wonder if I’d overdone things. I shouldn’t have worried. There was just a tiny bit left in the pot when we were done. Even my kids loved it. Score!
The most important trick: I told them it was called Cheesy Porridge. That made them giggle and give it a try. And another. And another. So awesome.
So if you’ve never given grits or polenta or whatever you want to call it the time of day, maybe you’ll want to now. It’s cheap, filling, and goes with a whole lot of main dishes (I highly recommend Pioneer Woman’s braised short ribs). In fact, I’m making some right now. Kids, cheesy porridge is on!
| |
|
By Natalie
I work in education and in t-2 weeks, I'll be out for summer. Hooray! I like to spend the summer making popsicles and ice cream. In Texas with 100+ temperatures, I'm always looking for ways to cool down.
Watermelon Jalapeno Ice Pops (Doesn't the jalapeno, seem interesting?)
Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles (These look great, but I'll like to use something other than Oreos that are a little bit healthier, maybe Newman-O's)
Fudgebars (Vegan) be sure to pit the dates!
Photo Credit: Cookinglight.com & me
| |
|
by Jen L.
My cute husband and I spent our honeymoon in the Florida Keys. We ate a lot of things while we were there and bought some pheonomenally kitschy souveniers (conch shell Christmas ornament, anyone?), but the one thing ALL our friends and family asked us to bring back were these babies:
Chocolate-dipped coconut patties.
My sister-in-law swears you can only get these in Florida, yet I've seen them in Cracker Barrel stores all over the country. That detail aside, nothing says, "I done had me a vacation in FLORIDA" quite like returning to your real life toting a box of these delectable patties. They even come in a variety of flavors like Key Lime (my favorite), orange, mango and pina colada.
My family is vacationing in Florida RIGHT NOW and you can rest assured that we have consumed our fair of these patties and we have our lot ready to ship back to those poor, unfortunately family members who couldn't join us on our tropical holiday.
Have you had coconut patties? What's your favorite flavor?
Photo courtesy of FloridaKeysStore.net
| |
|
