Request from my husband

"do it the way your sister does it".  Husband is referring to a poached egg.
Here's my story.  For the past 37 +/-  years I have struggled making my dear husband a poached egg on toast.  A favorite breakfast of his.  Seems like cooking eggs of any kind would be a bit of a struggle early on in our marriage.  Like hard boiled eggs but that can be another post.

So over the years I tried different ways and methods of poaching that egg.  Almost everytime I put that egg on the toast and put it in fromt of my dear husband, the yolk starts oozing out.  Well that's not the way a poach egg is supposed to be served.  We'd go to breakfast and the first thing dearest would order would be a poached egg.  Well dang it out it comes all pretty and intact. 
Once I grabbed a waitrees to ask her what the secret is in keeping the egg firm in water...................vinegar she says.  It firms to whites.  Well surely you must know I tried that.  One time too much another time not enough..........CRAP  I say!!

Fast forward to a few years ago while vising my sister.  She offers her husband and mine breakfast, they voted on poached eggs on toast.  I said  "I'll butter the toast". 

Wait till ya read this..........it is so simple and obvious why the heck did I never think of this.  The following is dear sister's method of poaching an egg.  And if you ever have trouble poaching an egg think of my many years of struggle.
*Moon's method of poaching an egg*
Heat an 8 inch pan put a little bit of butter or margarine in the pan to melt.  I use Smart Balance
Heat, in the microwave or on the stovetop, a couple a cups of  water.
Break the egg into the pan after the butter has melted.  Keep the heat med and cook the egg just enough to seet the egg white.  Now that water that you heated, gently pour that water into the pan with the egg.  Cook egg till the desired hardness of the yolks.  Scoop egg out of the water, drain a bit then place on your toast or english muffin. 
The springtime aspargus has been so good lately I had a bit leftover.  Put the warmed asparagus on the toast that  I spread with a dollop of chipotle mayo then the egg on top.

Needless to say I have a very happy spouse!!

Found the following over on Whole Foods recipe  blog

Eggs Five Ways

• Top a beef or turkey burger with an over-easy egg and a slice of turkey bacon for a knife-and-fork burger that puts the regular ones to shame. Who says you can't have burgers for breakfast?
• Tired of fried egg sandwiches? Slice hard-boiled eggs and layer them on buttered toast instead.
• Toss scrambled eggs with leftover brown rice and steamed veggies for a hearty lunch.
• Top rice cakes with a thin smear of miso and sliced hard-boiled eggs for a healthy breakfast.
• Arrange slices of hard-boiled egg on whole wheat bread, top with a dollop of cottage cheese, slices of avocado and salt and pepper.

What no roast chicken

So I stopped by the big box store on the way home for a roast chicken, actually I was going to get two so I could make a tasty chicken salad for lunch over the weekend, much to my dismay they were sold out.  WHAT the heck!!  Run to the back, pick up a roastable chicken and while waiting in line thinking hope it's not too hot to turn on the oven.

On the way home I remembered  a roast chicken I made  with some lemons stuffed inside.  Gotta go find that recipe.  FOUR YEARS AGO!!!  holy cow time flies.  It's nice to revisit some of our olders posts and this one especially I really like.  Before it gets too hot to turn on your oven make this chicken.  I know it's so easy to buy the roasted one at the market but trust me you'll be glad you did.

April 12, 2007 is the original post.
This has to be my favorite way to roast a chicken. It is a recipe adapted from a recipe from Giada DeLaurentis. This is a very rich tasting chicken that I served with roasted red potatoes and carrots.
I did place cleaned carrots on the bottom using them as a rack for the chicken and it's the lemons, garlic and oranges that you place in the cavity so don't skimp on that.

Garlic and Citrus Chicken
1(5 to 6-pound) whole roasting chicken, neck and giblets discarded I don't discard these little gems I cook them in some broth and use them at a later time
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 orange, quartered
1 lemon, quartered I used two lemons they were kind of small
1 head garlic, halved crosswise, plus 3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 (14-ounce) cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed  I used fresh juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves I used thyme
Kitchen string or butcher twine didn't have any

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.
Pat the chicken dry and sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the orange, lemon, and garlic halves. Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen string to help hold its shape. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. I rubbed a bit of butter and olive oil on the bird.Place a rack in a large roasting pan. Place the chicken, breast side up, on the rack in the pan. Roast the chicken for 1 hour, basting occasionally and adding some chicken broth to the pan, if necessary, to prevent the pan drippings from burning. Whisk the orange juice, lemon juice, oil, oregano, and chopped garlic in a medium bowl to blend. Brush some of the juice mixture over the chicken, after it has baked 1 hour. Continue roasting the chicken until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the innermost part of the thigh registers 170 degrees F, basting occasionally with the juice mixture and adding broth to the pan, about 45 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Tent with foil while making the sauce (do not clean the pan).
Place the same roasting pan over medium-low heat. Whisk in any remaining broth and simmer until the sauce is reduced to 1 cup, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Strain into a 2-cup glass measuring cup and discard the solids. Spoon the fat from the top of the sauce.
Serve the chicken with the pan sauce.

A trip down memory food lane

Many, many years ago my dear sister put together a collection of several of her favorite recipes, at the time. Sent as a Christmas bonus gift, at the time it was quite special. No one really did that back then. Sister was way ahead of her time.

We always talked about having a Bed & Breakfast one time in our lives. You should have heard the husbands scream "No WAY!!!". Conversations were mostly around food and where recipes came from. Let's do a cookbook I say. It just never happened.

Now in the day of very modern technology we have a food blog not a cookbook but it is a way of sharing with friends and family.

My very dear niece, an excellent cook and super food enthusiast, happens to be our third writer.




This is a blog about food so I will get back to it with a terrific recipe of a Green Chile Souffle. It appeared in the collection sister shared many years ago.

Green Chile Souffle

4 4oz cans whole green chiles

2 cups grated jack cheese

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

6 eggs

1 cup flour

4 cups milk
salt & pepper to taste

350 degree oven

Butter the bottom of your baking dish, I use an 8x8 glass dish*. Try to remove the seeds from the chiles, rinsing them works well, but make sure they are dry. Cut the chiles into about 2 inch pieces. Layer the cheese and the chiles on the bottom of the dish. Beat together the eggs and milk, add the flour. Mix so there are no lumps. Pour over the cheese and chile. Pan should be no more than three quarters full. Bake for about 1 hour or until done in center.

Serve with some of your favorite salsa and maybe a lite salad.

*Notes..............Notice I did not use a glass dish. Also I had some leftover tri tip roast and I added some caramelized onions. Easy dish to change.

Unique Flavor Combinations Win Salad Contest

We'd really like to toot our own horn today, maybe shout from the rooftops; how about a sky-writer? What's the reason? Our own, Doodles is a Grand-Prize winner in a recipe contest. You can find her and her recipe for the truly unique Cantaloupe and Gorgonzola Salad on page 4 of the August/September 2008 issue of Cook's Country magazine. This is most exciting and well deserved and we couldn't be prouder.

Edited to add the original post of the recipe

Cook's Country is from the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine and the TV cooking show, America's Test Kitchen. Also in this issue they talk about their new show coming to Public Television. That would be very cool if they made Doodle's salad on the show.

Message from Doodles: Boy that would have been way cool … maybe since they are starting a new show they will highlight winners recipes from their past contests. Oh am I a dreamer HA!!!

When Moon called to tell me I had won, well let's just say, I was over the top with JOY. Funny they don't let you know prior to publication they let ya sweat it out until the magazine hits the stands. I have never won anything like this in my life; thrilled beyond imagination.

OK, now a little plug for the magazine … it's quite nice and NO ads, none, nada. They do have a few "tearouts" for their magazine subscriptions. The magazine layout is quite good and handy to keep as a reference guide for future use as is their other publication Cook's Illustrated. As you can see I am quite fond of the magazines and no they didn't pay me to say this however I did win $1,000 Wooooo Hooo!!!

Yogurt

It took me a very long time to wrap my taste buds around this item, but once I did I haven't stopped trying all kinds of new ways to eat yogurt.

Sweet husband wanted some ice cream one nite, no ice cream on hand but I did have some vanilla yogurt in the freezer, let's see if I can pull this off, cause ya see husband says "I don't eat yogurt"!!! Oh OK no problem....hahahaha!!!

I get out my little food processor and thaw/whip up the vanilla yogurt, while melting some chocolate chips in the microwave, After the chips are melted I fold them into the the vanilla yogurt added some toasted chopped pecans I had on hand and there ya go.

No I never told him it was yogurt and you better never tell him either OK!! Oh and his comment was "this is nice and smooth, what kind is it"? Never did say but I did mention I think it's a new brand I found at the market.

What else can you do with yogurt, I think it's endless where and how. Any ideas leave me an email and I'll post them and credit your creativity.

I have mixed in some salsa and a good amount of cilantro and used that for a baked potato instead of sour cream.

No I didn't get a photo, the man likes his ice cream.......maybe next time.

Dip or spread

Call it whatever you want, but I call it versatile. A friend reminded me that I hadn't made this in awhile.

1 15 0z. can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained well
3 - 4 cloves whole garlic cloves
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
splash of lemon juice
salt
fresh ground pepper

Place the beans in the food processor make sure they are thoroughly drained, peel and mash the garlic with the wide blade of your knife, add the garlic to to bean mixture along with the splash of lemon juice and salt to taste. While whirring the bean mixture in your processor slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Let it go until it was all smooth. Put well blended mixture in a bowl, add lots of fresh ground pepper.

Now I have been known to do the following with this basic mixture...........

• add a tbls of chipotle sauce to the mixture
• add a small can of chopped green chiles after adding the olive oil
• use the mixture instead of mayonnaise on sandwiches or wraps
• use roasted garlic instead of fresh
• smoky paprika is a good addition
• I bet you could make this with black beans
• add caramelized onions
  
• I would put cilantro in just about anything
  

I made a grilled veggie wrap of yellow & red peppers, ribbons of zuchini and a slice or three of avocado & cilantro,for lunch yesterday and used the spread instead of mayo or any other jarred spread.

Baked Apple BUT.....

with a twist........do it in a smoker. Hellooooooooooooo Seester Moon!!!

I just saw this on my local NPR Saturday morning cooking shows.

Take an apple must be one that will hold up to cook for one and a half hour approx.

Remove the core but do not cut thru the bottom as you are going to stuff the apple with the following:

a spoonful of apricot jam
a spoonful of cream cheese or mascarpone cheese
a spoonful of brown sugar
and finish off with a healthy (HA!!) pat of butter

Make a ring out of foil to hold the apple off the grate of the BBQ. Add apple chips if you happen to have any..........cook for an hour to and hour and a half.

VOILE!!! a baked apple with a twist. I bet you could do this while smoking something else. Try is cause I know y'all like baked apples.

Has anyone else done this - sure sounds tasty!

Salmon Patties

My dear husband and sweet husband of sister's loves salmon. Unfortunately my sweet sister Moon is allergic to all kinds of fishy. This would be great for sister to make for her beloved.

I topped it off with some mayo mixed with some chipotle sauce..gives the pattie a zing. Served with a coleslaw and there ya go. I must also add I have not made these in many, many years and had forgotten how tasty they are.

Salmon Patties

Ingredients

• 1 (14.75 ounce) can salmon, undrained and flaked
• 1 slice of bread, shredded
• 2 chopped green onion, including the green parts
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• half of a red bell pepper
  
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon smoky paprika
• salt
• pepper fresh ground
  
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1 In a large bowl, gently mix together the salmon, bread, green onion, garlic, bell pepper, flour, egg, paprika, salt and pepper. Form into patties; each about 1/2 inch thick.

2 Heat oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Cook the patties until nicely browned on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Chicken thighs Italian style

First I must apologize for being absent from PBE the last few weeks. We are in an area that is not close to any stores so my creative juices kinda dried up. But I must tell you a Farmers Market is starting up Saturday and every Saturday thru September. Really excited about that........so I'll be sure to have my creative juices stimulated.

Came home from work the other day to discover I had taken a package of chicken thighs out of the freezer but we were going to dinner with friends, OK they’d keep a day. Now it’s the next day and what the heck do I do with those thighs, something different? Sister woulda put those babies in the smoker that she just recently acquired. BBQ’d was not at the top of my list cause the weather was iffy and blowy. Then I remembered a recipe I saw on one of my favorite food sites Pioneer Woman. If y’all haven’t been there go and check Pdub out she’s a a very funny writer and a pretty darn good cook. Her link is over in the left column.

OK I fire up the computer and go look for the recipe and my WiFi is down. Dang!!! let me see if I can recreate this from memory.

Here is the original recipe with my attempt at recreation in red.

Olive Oil
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
I used 4 thighs
Salt
Pepper
1/2 to 1 medium Onion, chopped
Did not remember the onion in this recipe DUH!!!
2 to 3 cloves Garlic, chopped
used 3 fat cloves of garlic
1/2 cup White Wine (or Chicken Broth)
I used 1 cup of beef broth not only because beef broth was all I had but I think beef broth lends a good flavor to the crushed tomatoes
2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
I used 1 can of Muir Glen fire roasted crushed tomatoes
Pinch of Sugar
Didn’t remember the sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons chopped Fresh Parsley
No parsley on hand
8 large fresh Basil leaves,
Had 4 fat basil leaves

1 package Linguine noodles, cooked
Fresh Parmesan Cheese, grated, in abundance

Boil a pot of water for the pasta. Cook linguine noodles until al dente.
Heat olive oil in a hot skillet, then add diced chicken thighs in single layer. Don’t stir around; just let them brown on one side. Flip over with spatula, allow to brown, then remove to separate plate. In same pan, over medium heat, add onions and garlic and stir to combine. Pour in wine (or broth) then scrape bottom of pan with whisk to loosen brown bits. Next, pour in crushed tomatoes, add salt, pepper, and pinch of sugar, then simmer for fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, throw in all the cooked chicken, including its juice from the plate. Allow to simmer for fifteen more minutes. Add chopped fresh herbs at the end, then pour over cooked linguine in large bowl or platter. Top with lots fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

I do agree with Pdub for the fondness of chicken thighs, love them. All in all my memory served me well and the meal turned out quite tasty. Added a nice lite tossed salad with garlic toast.

Check out my blog to see where we are and what we have been up to.

Scalloped Potatoes

One of my sweet husbands favorites. I found this recipe several years ago on Food TV and have been a faithful user ever since. A very simple recipe but cooking the potatoes partially in the milk and water, I think, makes a big difference in flavor.

Potato Gratin
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons butter
4 large russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 bay leaf (no bay leaf on hand but did have some fresh rosemary)
1 cup grated Swiss cheese (I had gruyere cheese)
Salt & fresh ground pepper
Nutmeg (I didn't have fresh nutmeg but did use some smoked paprika)
2/3 cup heavy cream (I used half & half)
As you can see by my notes to the side of the original recipe this as is many recipes are quite adaptable to your tastes and what you may have on hand. I might also add I cooked this in my toaster oven, my new best friend since we are in an RV.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub a baking dish with garlic clove and then with butter.

In a medium saucepan, combine potatoes, milk, water, bay leaf and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, stir, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Drain the potatoes and layer half of them in the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle on half of the cheese and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Spread out remaining potatoes and top with remaining cheese and seasoning. Pour heavy cream over potatoes. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden and bubbly.

So what's your favorite scalloped potato recipe.........now I know this is not a low fat dish...maybe I should send it to Cooking Light magazine so they could adjust the calorie count.

Taste and Create

Myamii's Taste and Create event pairs up participating food bloggers randomly and they get to taste-test one recipe from each other's blog.


This month, I was paired up with a blogger from One Hot Stove. When you go to her blog you too will be overwhelmed, as I was, with so many various tastes to create that are new to me and maybe new to you as well. Nupur features her ongoing fascination with Indian regional food, as well as little tastes of new flavors from around the world. One Hot Stove comes to you from St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

Hummus happens to be a favorite of the family and since PBE is a family blog I thought I would try her recipe ... roasted garlic hummus to be exact.


We did a few adaptions to the recipe one was chopped ciliantro to scatter on top, did not remove the skins from the beans, whisked the oil and the tahini together before pouring into the mixture. That seemed to emulsify and make the hummus a creamy texture. Also used cumin powder instead of cumin seed.

But this is a very creamy hummus that is sure to be a keeper recipe ... thanks Nupur.

You know it's Spring

Aren't they beauties … no the lime is mine for my Corona!

My sweet sister Moon's lemon tree is bearing fruit and this spring I was able to take advantage of the beautiful lemons. This is not a young tree ... I think it's been decided that this lone tree is about 40 years old. For awhile sister and dear brother-in-law thought it was a gonner; like all things living it was showing it's age. It might have missed them when they took their hiatus to Bakersfield.

Luckily, they happened to have a landscape gardener that knew what to do; low and behold he whacked that tree way back to almost nothing. I believe that was about three years ago and now look what is coming around.

Nothing like fresh lemonade all summer long. Think of all the foods to prepare with a squeeze of lemon. My mouth is watering just to think about these gems.

Just in case you find yourself with some fresh lemons, here are some friend blogs lemony recipes.

Lemon Bars from Just Baking
Simply Recipes Meyer Lemon Sorbet
and from us, Lemon Pound Cake

Brought to you by Doodles and Moon

Carrot Cake/Muffins

Oh my word to me there is nothing better in the morning than a carrot cake muffin along side a cup of my favorite tea......well maybe a really good bagel

A couple a weeks ago I made the mistake of buying already made carrot cake muffins.....bad, really, really bad. They were greasy and that overpowered the carrot taste which was none, no taste of carrot at all. And they had raisins which I am not fond of in my carrot cake muffin. Then I found this recipe over at Baking Bites

One-Bowl Carrot Cake
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice (I did not have allspice but I did add some fresh ginger)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups coarsely shredded carrot (from 2-3 large carrots), well drained

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8×8-inch square baking pan.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and eggs until smooth. Beat in melted butter, orange juice, orange zest, vanilla, spices and salt. When combined, sift in the flour and baking soda (sifting helps evenly distribute the baking soda) and gently stir it into the batter until no streaks remain. Stir in shredded carrot, then scrape into prepared pan. Bake for 36-42 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Since I made muffins I started keeping an eye on the baking time about 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before frosting.

Cream Cheese Icing Recipe
8 oz. cream cheese
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. vanilla
1 lb. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually add melted butter until absorbed. Add vanilla, then sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

PBE makes breakfast egg soufflé

If you've ever eaten something in a restaurant and decided you could make that at home; read on.

When sister Doodles and I get together one of our favorite places for breakfast is Panera Bread. This tasty little breakfast-cafe-franchise seems to be popping up all over the country. I've only been interested in their bread and bagels but lately noticed a hot seller, baked egg soufflés, and thought what a great challenge for Doodles and myself.

The egg dish looks pretty simple. A soufflé/quiche like mixture baked in a puff pastry dough. Sounds easy enough but we did run into some difficulty. Here is our attempt.

Because there were only three of us for Easter brunch we used three two-cup oven proof bowls. I might adjust this to six 6 ounce custard cups next time.


Recipe
2 eggs
1/4 cup lite sour cream
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped ham or sausage
3/4 teaspoon chopped chive
3/4 teaspoon chopped thyme
salt and pepper
one sheet puff pastry dough

Pre-heat oven to 400 Cut pastry dough in five-inch square or to fit your baking cups. Divide cheese and ham between the three cups. Divide herbs and sprinkle on top of ham. Beat eggs and add half and half. Whisk in sour cream. Pour egg mixture over ham and cheese and bake in middle rack for about 35 minutes until eggs are lightly set. Don't overcook.


What we had was a lovely eggy soufflé with underdone pastry. That afternoon our darling Chef Teri stopped by and we asked her. She's worked in the food industry for quite a while and is a wealth of knowledge. She knew where we went awry. To get the puff pastry to "puff" you need to blast the heat in the beginning, then turn it down and cook your soufflés until the eggs are done. Also, she suggested using some paper soufflé that are sold at Sur la table. This is why we revere her so.

What did we learn? It's fun to try something new even if the results are not exactly what you intended. Try something new!

You do know that Thanksgiving can be celebrated anytime

And that we did!!!

It seems Sister Moon and her hunky husband, my Mr Doodles, stepmomma, oh and me, were all together last week. We missed niece Lil Bird and her Big Bird husband cause they are off to a conference in some far away place.

Anyway we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving last Friday. And we did it with all the trimmings. Well all the trimmings that we do as a family unit.





The bird was done on the grille, potatoes cooked for mashing, apple salad, sausage stuffing/dressing, and sister moon made some to die for turkey gravy. A little wine was served and of course dessert, compliments of Marie Callender's, which is a local pie shoppe. Our choice was a lemon cream cheese pie in a graham cracker crust with whipped cream as a topping naturally.

So HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of our visiting friends.

Addendum
This is Moon and I'm adding my two cents here. We didn't miss having our obligatory morning Mimosa while we did the prep for dinner. We also learned a new card game, we love games, and that kept us busy all day long in between fussing with preparing dinner.

The turkey is a tradition my father started a very long time ago. They live in Palm Desert and the temp is usually in the 80s that time of year so why cook a bird in the oven, the BBQ is much easier. It's quite easy.

There are many ways to do this but here is what my Dad always did. Prepare the bird like you do for the oven but no stuffing. Instead we do celery, sage, and rosemary but most any herbs would do. Season it, rub some oil on the dried skin and roast on a pan on the grill. We start about 400 then turn it down to about 325. Just cook it as long as you would cook an unstuffed bird in the oven. If it starts to brown too much, tent with foil. Check with a meat thermometer, I like 150/160 for the breast. Of course there is always the "wiggle the leg" test, too, then let rest for at least thirty minutes. It give you time to have one more Mimosa.

I cooked............

I know, I know this is a food blog. But being in an RV traveling around the country and cooking is just not what I had in mind.

I love to cook but I had a bit of adjustment to my NEW kitchen. The stove is tiny as is the oven. I have ordered a new microwave/convection oven. But my most treasured purchase would be my electric skillet. Yep!!! Amazing because I had never used an electric skillet 'til now.

Who knows what made me think of getting one. My mom used one for years maybe it was remembering that skillet sitting on her counter.

Anyway, we arrived mid afternoon at our destination of Little Rock. I decided I had items in the fridge to cover dinner. I started by cooking some sweet Italian sausage in some beef broth, adding a chopped red pepper and one cube of garlic*. I had some frozen meatballs which are a Mr Doodles favorite. Put all of the above in the skillet along with Trader Joe's starter tomato sauce and simmered to meld the flavors for a good half hour. Meantime I cooked up a bit of penne pasta. Toasted some cheese bread with a garlic parmesan cheese paste and Voila a meal that I could be proud of cooking.

I'll get better at this I hope so stay tuna'd.........

*cube garlic is an itty bitty piece of compressed garlic that comes frozen in a package of a dozen I think. I got this package in Canada but sister moon says that Trader Joe's also carries this product.

Looking for a good sopapilla

recipe...now there is a story to this request but then isn't there always.

Sister Moon and I were on a trip (I called it our Thelma & Louise trip but we didn't kill anybody or drive off a cliff) that took us into New Mexico. So we stay overnite in Gallup, NM check into our hotel, I iced my finger after breaking it removing luggage from the trunk. That's another story but not for the food blog. Anyhow, we go to this local spot highly recommended. Great food, had posole for the first time, then tamales and god knows what else. BUT we topped it off with a sopapilla another name for fried dough served with honey so what's not to like. Some serve it with powdered sugar or maybe even ice cream. I'm a purist I like mine with honey and that's it.

Now fast forward to where we are, the Nomads, in Cheyenne, Wyoming and we find a local Mexican joint that has great food, even posole almost as good as mine or sister moon's. They served sopapillas. Now get this theirs was whole wheat cinnamon but served with honey.

I must say whole wheat would not be my first choice but it was good none the less. Mr Doodles has never had sopapillas and to be honest he said he could do without - SHAME!!! What's not to like it's fried dough served warm.

So maybe our good blogger friend Christine may have a sopapilla recipe or anyone else that would care to contribute. I know I could Google for a recipe but I am looking for a tried and true.

Oh yes and some drizzle chocolate over......so stay tuna'd.

here's a photo I took off the Internet.

RV Birthday dinner

We pulled into Salt Lake City and noticed that we are now on mountain time. So it was a bit late to head to the city. We decided to stay home bound and I would fix Mr Doodles a birthday dinner.

I am still finding cooking in the RV a bit of a challenge for lack of space. I'll adjust, I just had hoped it would have been before now.

The above photo is of noodles, roasted pork and green peas . A similar meal was prepared by sister while we were visiting. And I had remembered how tasty that meal, so I shopped Trader Joe's when we were in Carson City, NV and I was able to find the very same tasty egg noodles that sister used. Tasty because they taste so very fresh. Pork came from Costco, already roasted, sneaky huh! And the peas came outta the freezer.

I re-heated the pork in a skillet with about a 1/4 cup of beef broth, cooked the noodles according to package directions and heated the peas. I know this is not gourmet or anything new but I was darned pleased I could prepare this meal in an RV.

By the way I hope you folks in the US have a Trader Joe's in your area...one of the main reasons I left Florida, no Trader Joes.

To continue about the above meal, Mr Doodles enjoyed his birthday meal, but I think the trip to the Cold Stone Creamery out did my RV meal. Cold Stone refers to a visit to their stores "the ultimate ice cream experience". I will strive to have the ultimate RV meal..........stay tuna'd

My trip is complete!

No, our trip is not over just got the exclamation mark on it however.

As y'all know food is an important part of our lives and growing up we have such fond memories of favorite foods.

Mine is fried chicken. Well sister Moon made fried chicken and potato salad tonite for dinner. Damn she fries chicken good. It isn't what you use it's how you use it, technique is the key. Some folks got it and some don't. I don't; sister does. However we make the exact same family potato salad. Nothing fancy, but potatoes, celery, hard boiled eggs. a bit of finely diced onions and mayo. That's it...oh salt and pepper.

We have had just the best time at sister and brother-in-laws. The boys did projects, lord only knows what those were. While sister and I just did what we always do when we are together have the best time. We did play a lot of scrabble, our favorite game.

So off Mr Doodles and I go to Yosemite/Sequoia for a few days. From there, we aren't sure, BUT y'all will be the first to know when we get there.

I'll get back on track posting I promise but time with family is very precious. Stay tuna'd.......

Please join me in wishing...

my sister Moon a very special

Happy Birthday!!!