I used a mishmash of the following three recipes:
http://italianfood.about.com/od/gno
http://www.deliciousdays.com/archives/2
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyle
Baked a couple pounds of potatoes and peeled* them. Mashed the flesh and divided it into quarters (~1/2 lb each portion)
( Read more... )
*Re: leftover potato peels: Not wanting to waste the peels, I chopped them up and fried them in bacon grease along with rough slivered onions and chopped mushrooms. Topped with shredded cheese and a couple poached eggs for a potato skin hobo skillet type thing. A junky treat to myself for raking leaves. ;)
- Feelin'?:
satisfied
2 cups water
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup instant coffee
1 pt. vodka or brandy
1 vanilla bean
boil sugar and water; add coffee and mix well; let cool, then add vodka; pour into a jar and
add vanilla bean, age at least 2 months.
when ready add ice to a glass, pour over a shot of the mixture and top with cream
I would add that you should split the vanilla bean open, leaving the ends intact so it doesn't completely split apart.
Slow and low, with apple and hickory wood, about 3 1/2-4 hours. Had to finish the potatoes in the oven to free up the grill for other stuff; they needed to cook a little more, so braised them with a little oktoberfest and water. The eggplant was an experiment, I think I like it, probably about as much as regular grilled eggplant slices.
These are not really that good together, because once you start, the smoke flavor becomes overpowering. Good to use one smoked competent in a dish. For example, finely diced smoked potatoes make an awesome addition to enchilada or omelet fillings.
This morning I finely diced just one of these potato halves and added it to the egg mixture for these egg muffins. It was so good! The potato bits tasted like smoked ham!
The Head West sub shop had awesome brownies for $1.35 (and they had Odwalla bars for $1.50, which I didn't need after the brownie). Then as I was on the way home I saw a lemonade stand in Jerome. The nice kids were donating all proceeds to the local Animal Protective League. BIG chocolate chip cookies, tasty choc/vanilla cupcakes, and lemonade, each for only $0.25! I bought a cupcake, cookie, and had one of the kids pour the lemonade into my empty water bottle. Took off while I snarfed the cupcake.
Man that cupcake was so good and I was thinking I should have donated the 3+ bucks I had left in emergency pocket change. So I turned back, boughtsnarfed another cupcake and packed another cookie to bring home to pt, then gave them the rest of my money. Good job kids! =) With that extra cupcake I was able to take the long long way home.
( the numbers for this weekend )
That's right. Layers of mashed potatoes, pulled pork, and bbq sauce!
Made by the same people who had the "Fried Pepsi". Didn't get the fried soda, as the parfait was plenty for my tummy. I'm going back this week, so I'll try fried Dr. Pepper if I can get it.
So for the 4th of July I made another Bacon Explosion. It was good and all, but I really think the draw of that dish is the pure audacity and spectacle of it. And while it was super tasty, I don't think it is as satisfying as a well done bbq pulled pork (you can crumble bacon on top of your pulled-pork sandwich if you like ;)
The other day I made candied bacon (bake at 375F on racks on rimmed and lined baking sheets, with brown sugar sprinkled on each slice, about 20-30 minutes, depending on how crispy you like it; and that's "racks" as in extra cooling racks sitting in the rimmed cookie sheets, not directly on the racks of your oven, unless you want to set your kitchen on fire).
Yesterday I made my Ghirardelli choc. chips cookies, using the Cook's Illustrated tips, and crumbled the candied bacon into half the batter. The result was fantastic! But I think it needed either *more* bacon or fewer choc chips, which seems like kind of an odd thing to say for choc chip cookies. Was it yummuy*? Yes. Did it blow my mind? No.
I also took several of the candied bacon strips and drizzled melted dark chocolate over them, then chilled in the fridge. *extremely tasty* but honestly not nearly Last Meal material. Well, on second thought, I haven't tried the chocolate covered bacon strips over vanilla ice cream. And for the record, I don't know what I'd want for dessert in my last meal, or for that matter, any of the courses. =)
I'll report back this afternoon on the bacon over ice cream. But for me now, I don't know if there's any better way than eating one of my mom's classic breakfasts: bacon with white rice. That's it, simply delicious.
It's true that everything is better with bacon. But I think the Bacon should stand alone.
- Feelin'?:jabba
After a taste test, it's missing one vital component: soy sauce marinade. We were out so I just went with various seasonings and a little drizzle of olive oil and Worcestershire sauce.
( explosivo )
Last week we had a good Cinco de Mayo dinner. pt and I rode our bikes to a local Mexican restaurant. We called N and fortunately she was able to join us, we met her on her bike on the street. It was totally like when we were young, cruising around the neighborhoods meeting up with friends on their bikes. Except now we get to go as far as we want from home, and drink. ;)
We thought about going to one of our favorite places downtown, but they were having music that night as part of the celebration and we didn't want to get too annoyed with a band in our face as we're trying to eat. I'm glad we checked out AZ-T-CA, it's a little place nestled in the corner of a Schnuck's grocery store strip mall. Great find though, their Tuesday half-price margarita special was in effect ($2.50 each!) and they were tasty, definitely not bottom shelf liquor.
The small restaurant was packed and we waited a really long time to find a place to sit, actually ended up squeezing in at the end of a large group's table. The food was good, and cheap. I got 3 fish tacos for $6, pt had some sort of tequila shrimp for about $8. Some guy I was talking to while we were waiting bought us a round of margaritas too! The weird thing is that they had a lot of people working, but maybe just one guy (the owner) doing all the cooking. Maybe he needs to hire me on as sous chef?
I was surprised at how busy the place was, but apparently it's very popular. That's the thing about Springfield, it's like you have to know where some of the good spots are, because, as you see in the picture, you'd never know by driving past that it was hoppin' in that restaurant. Before we left some guy saw our bike helmets and started talking to me about biking; he and his buddies have a riding group that seems like it's about my speed, so I gave him my e-mail address and I hope he contacts me for one of their weekend group rides.
My goal for next year is to get on an smsl futbol squad, maybe AZ-T-CA will have a spot for me... ;)
( my 5x5 strength training testimonial )
pt beat me in the first game of 301, with a very nice 3 dart closeout combo. I won the next match of Cricket.
( smoked fish )
Sometimes...
Originally uploaded by kidmissile.
...I eat junky food.
I didn't even know I wanted this combination until I saw it in the store.
And yes, I ate them with chopsticks.
- Feelin'?:
naughty
- Feelin'?:
tired
How to make Totoro Cream Puffs tutorial! and associated flickr set
Her blog is chock full of bento goodness, among other things! Wowee
( a couple pictures of the process )
Yay, I actually cooked something well ahead of time! Now if I can only get myself together for the travel weekend...
Leftovers from our trip to Black Dog Smoke and Ale House. I ate there for lunch (beef brisket sandwich) and then K and I met lots of friends there later for happy hour.
( Read more... )
( english muffins, cheese puffs, pita bread, sesame crackers, lots of other stuff, and FISH TACOS! )
pickled zucchini, bread & butter
Originally uploaded by kidmissile.
Prepared back in September, we broke into these today. They are so tasty!
We were disappointed with how our dill pickles turned out. They were too salty and not too crisp, so we are happy that these zucchini slices are very crisp. Maybe we'll stick to pickling okra and zucchini? They've been the stars so far, and I think squash might be cheaper than cucumbers at the market.
I've already marked two jars of the pickled okra as "Save for the 4th of July". We'll see if we can restrain ourselves...
In other food news, I just made these gougère (cheese puffs). I recommend making a double batch. Seriously. They are so good that you'll pop 4-5 in your mouth right away, like I did. >_>
At one point we had the road to ourselves as we ran by the carillon and someone was playing a nice tune on the bells. Kinda felt like it was a private show. :) Ran 9.0 miles, walked 1.0 mile. The race is in two weeks; we'll be fine, not speedy, but we should be able to finish with no major problems.
With the delay, we ended up eating our post-run brunch at 5p! O_O Hobo skillets using grill-roasted potatoes from last night, topped with ricotta, fresh rosemary, and shredded cheese; further topped with poached or sunny side up eggs. French toast using stale no-knead bread. YUMMUY!
apple pi(e). The first of a few πs tonight. Actually spent a major portion of my evening doing this—there was no way I could do it tomorrow, with the St. Paddy's Day stuff. Figured the πs would be great drunk snack food.
update: I finished the rest of the pies. The second batch were veggie pot pies, with a cheddar-stout sauce. The stout was Left Hand Brewing Company's Milk Stout.( +1 pic of the remaining 3pi )
no-knead bread comparison
Originally uploaded by kidmissile.
Tried the no-knead bread 2.0 recipe from Cook's Illustrated. The crust is still crisp, yet thinner, so not as much to chew through. I like it!
I'll try the variation in temp/time with the original recipe to see how much that changes the crust thickness. This picture is apples and oranges, though. The left is an experiment, substituting half wheat flour, resulting in a denser loaf.
(Just search for "no-knead bread 2.0" and you'll find several postings of the recipe.)
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