Guilty Pleasure #1

I value good food. But not all good food comes from a top rated restaurants. Sometimes, good food can come in the form of grocery store Chinese food. This is one of my weaknesses:


General Chicken, Cashew Chicken, Fried Rice, Egg Roll and Crab Rangoon.

Our local grocery store chain, Hy-Vee, has a Chinese Express in most of their stores. It's quick, relatively cheap, and damn good. It's not authentic Chinese food, more like an Americanized version of the classic Chinese dishes. In other words, it's as Chinese as Taco Bell is Mexican.

What I love about it? The sauces are done perfectly. Flavorful but not overpowering. The proportion of meat to veggies is excellent, neither component is lacking. And the dishes were the chicken is fried like the Sesame Chicken or General Chicken? Outta this world. Even under all that delicious sauce, the chicken is still crispy.

I've probably eaten my weight in Hy-Vee Chinese food over the years. I love it that much.

If you haven't been, go. now.

Hello, Fall!

Alright, summer.
It’s been fun. We had some good times this year and I’m always sad to see you go. But, it’s time to move on. Football has started. The temperature is dropping. Pumpkins are resting on their vines. Apple orchards are preparing for the first crop. Fall is knocking on the door and frankly, I’m pretty glad he’s back. Sorry. It’s not you. It’s me. I’ve moved on.

In the spirit of fall and the apple crops that are almost ready, I’m going to share with you one of my favorite recipes. It’s a really easy side dish that is perfect on chilly evenings. Pairs great with pork dishes.

Drunk Apples
Start with a bunch of apples. I used roughly 6 cups of peeled,cored, and sliced golden delicious apples.

Next, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Add the apples and toss to coat. Cook until tender.

Next, add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup whiskey. Stir until well mixed.

Let simmer over medium heat until the sauce is reduced to syrup.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Reason Why I'm a Fat Kid #1

I was a bridesmaid in a wedding this weekend. It was a beautiful wedding on a perfect day for an amazing couple. My favorite thing? The cake. My favorite part of any wedding? The cake. The waitress at the head table was bringing the bridal party their cake and she brought me one piece. Just one piece. From a wedding cake made by Carefree Patisserie. A cake with four different flavors (white almond, strawberry daiquiri, peanut butter/chocolate, and red velvet). The 4 bridesmaids at the end of the table ordered a slice of everything to share among themselves. Well, that sounded like a good idea and high jacked their cake sampler. For myself. I'm not ashamed. I enjoyed every little bit of it!

Smokin'

My dad is a pretty proficient griller. Don’t tell him I finally admitted that, though. When it comes to meat and fire, he does a pretty damn good job. With the 3 day weekend at hand, he decided to fire up the smoker. He does not joke when it comes to smoking meat. He makes his own rubs for the meat, can rattle off the attributes for the different types of wood he uses, wakes up a the crack-o-dawn to start the coals, and spends the entire day tending to the smoker. This is the result:


Believe it or not, that’s a pretty empty smoker for Pops. Usually, it’s jammed packed with a turkey, some sausage, a brisket or two and whatever else he can get his hands on. He loves it. Someday, I'll have him teach me his ways but for now, I'm perfectly happy just enjoying his hard work. Who doesn't want to sink a fork into this? I'll be the first to tell you that pig did not die in vain!

While Pops was at the grill, I was inside whipping up the side dishes. I tried a new one this weekend and was pretty impressed with the results.

All you need is a box of cornbread mix (I used Jiffy) prepared and baked as directed on the box, two cans of whole kernel corn (drained), two cans of black beans (drained), a cup of chopped tomato, a ½ cup of chopped green onions, a pepper (red, green, gold, or all of the above!), a jalapeno or two, a package of bacon that has been cooked crisp and chopped, 2 cups of shredded Monterrey jack cheese, 1 cup sour cream, one cup miracle whip, one cup salsa, and one package of dry ranch dressing mix. And a pretty glass bowl. (I guess you could use any ol’ bowl, but this salad is pretty enough that you’ll want to put it on display)
Assembly is easy.
1. Mix together the miracle whip, salsa, sour cream, and ranch mix and set aside.
2. Mix together the tomato, the green onions, the pepper and the jalapeno and set aside.
3. Crumble the half the cornbread into the bottom of the bowl. Follow with layers of half of the drained black beans, half of the tomato/pepper/onion mixture, half of the corn, half of the cheese, half the bacon and then half of the sour cream/miracle whip/salsa mixture.
4. Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients, layering them in the same order.
This is the result:

Actually, the result was a bunch of empty dishes and some very full bellies. My family knows how to cook almost as well as we know how to eat!