Fried Jalapeno Chips

Daddy Dave received a small fryer for father's day and has since been testing it out by making a variety of appetizers. He came up with a winning recipe on this one.

Fried Jalapeno Chips

5 jalapenos sliced horizontally into round pieces (approx. 3/16" thick)

1 egg

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 T. baking powder

Kosher salt

Pepper

1 egg, lightly beaten

6 oz. Club Soda

Heat fryer to approximately 350 degrees F. Remember, once you add the jalapenos, the temperature will drop and you will get a crispier chip with hotter oil. BE CAREFUL!!

In a bowl, blend 1 c. flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and egg. Add the club soda and create a batter. Add the jalapenos and cover completely.

In a separate bowl, pour 1/2 c of all-purpose flour (can substitute rice flour) and dredge the battered jalapeno in the flour and place in the fry basket. Once you have four or five covered in flour, submerge the fry basket and fry until the float. Repeat processed until finished.

For an added touch, sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese over chips and place in oven at 350 degrees F until cheese melts. Plate and serve with a spicy ranch or blue cheese sauce.

Fondant - yuck or yum?

Chocolate Fondant - YUM!

All photos shown here involve working with the chocolate fondant, not the store bought fondant.

I have never been a fan of fondant on cakes. I find the taste and texture rather unappealing, bland and 'gummy'. Apparently, I just haven't tasted good fondant or flavored fondant.

I worked with fondant for the first time about a month ago. I bought the fondant for a cake decorating class I took at a local craft store. The fondant met my expectations in that it had a weird texture like that of a really old thick piece of chewing gum. It had no flavor and didn't taste that much better with raspberry flavoring added to it. However, my instructor assured me that fondant does taste good if you find the right recipe and recognize that it will never have the texture of butter cream or whipped icing.



She was right! I found an excellent chocolate fondant recipe in The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum on page 309. The recipe called for gelatin, water, corn syrup, glycerin, vegetable shortening, vanilla, powdered sugar and unsweetened cocoa.



I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa and the flavor was intense, but delicious. If you like chocolate and cocoa, you'll like this recipe. The texture reminded me of chewy candy, not as dense as fudge, but still quite tasty.


Side Note: the fondant worked well to cover a cake, but was not elastic enough to make fondant decorations like a bow or flowers. You will need to add gum text, gum paste or something to increase it's elasticity if you want to use it to decorate a cake. Also, I ended up using my stand mixer to knead it towards the end and had to add some water to obtain the correct texture.

Kolache - Sweet Goodness!

On Father's Day, we invited our friend Becky over to join us for dinner since her family lives in Texas. She brought over Kolache, a Czech pastry, which was delicious. Becky told us that she grew up with her grandmother making these and received a recipe from her mom.

The photo shows kolache with a cream cheese (sweetened with sugar, vanilla and egg white) filling, cherry filling and apricot filling.

Between last night and this morning, I tried one of each. The filling and pastry played off of each other nicely. The pastry itself had a subtle sweetness, but then when I took a bite of it with the filling, the flavor burst on my palate tasted wonderful! My favorite was the cream cheese kolache with the cherry coming in a very close second.

I do not have a recipe to share at this time, but the pastry was worth talking due to it's shear yum factor. Have a great day!

Crab Cakes and Fried Pickles

Since Father's Day is all about daddy, Kaitlyn suggested that we buy him a small deep fryer. When he opened it up, he was very excited. He loudly proclaimed that he was going to make fried pickles today.

So, our dinner turned out to be:

• Appetizer: Fried pickles w/ cajun ranch dip
• Dinner: Crab cakes, salad and sparkling wine
• Dessert: Kolache

The fried pickles weren't bad, but next time instead of making fried spears, we plan to fry the slices.

The crab cake recipe from Ina Garten from Food Network is one of our favorites. We highly recommend it. We add a little extra on the spices and tend to use 1 lb. of crab meat so we can really taste it. Here is the link to that recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_32263,00.html

Wine tip: Apparently, I read somewhere that sparkling wine/champagne goes quite well with fried foods (the carbonation is key). Give it a try sometime, we did!

Red Skin Potato Chips

I rarely hear Dave say "I would eat a whole plate of those" or "I could eat those every day of the week." When he makes comments like that I know that I need to commit the recipe to memory and make it again. Last night I decided to change up the way I make roasted red skin potatoes. I usually cut them in quarters and leave bigger junks, season and roast. I decided to change it up a little and peeled the potatoes, then sliced them into thin (1/16 to 1/8 inch) round pieces as I wanted a crispier texture. After Dave's comments and my enjoying the potatoes as well, I admit, I patted myself on the back for this one.

Red Skin Potato Chips (makes enough for two people)

4 Medium red skin potatoes peeled and rinsed
1/4 C. olive oil
paprika
pepper
season salt
garlic powder
cheddar cheese optional

Slice potatoes into 1/8" slices and try to make them all the same slices. I created round slices.

Pour the olive oil into a zip lock bag, add 20 twists of ground black pepper, 10 shakes of season salt, five to seven shakes of paprika and five to seven shakes of garlic powder. This should create more of a rub than a marinade for the potatoes. Add the potatoes to the bag and let sit for at least 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet (with sides) with parchment paper. Pour potatoes and remainder of olive oil mixture on baking sheet. Do not let potatoes overlap each other. Bake for 19-20 minutes on one side and then flip and bake for another 19-20 minutes or until you reach desired crispiness.

We also added a garlic cheddar cheese the last five minutes of baking. While the cheese tasted great, it did not allow the potatoes to become as crispy as the uncovered ones. The seasoning stands on its own, so they taste great without the cheese. So, it's your call!

Stop on the Way

If you're heading from the east coast/midwest to the west coast or vice versa, you'll probably take I-80 (northern east/west highway) or I-40 (southern east/west highway). For those of you traveling on I-40 and passing through Amarillo, TX, I want to share two fun places to visit.

Cadillac Ranch - Off of I-40 (the old route 66) on the southern side, west of Soncy Road.
What is it?












Ten old Cadillacs are buried in a cow pasture for tourists to see and spray paint if they are daring enough. I should caveat that we assume the spray painting is legal given the condition of the cars and all the empty spray paint cans lying around, but you may want to check before you try it.

Apparently, a wealthy Amarilloian named Stanley Marsh, created this tourist attraction. He is known for putting weird signs around town and hiring guys to drive his uniquely decorated trucks/cars around the Amarillo community.

Palo Duro Canyon - Approximately 17 miles south of Amarillo off of I-27
Palo Duro Canyon is located south of Amarillo in Canyon, TX. Canyon has a charming downtown square where I recommend eating at Feldman's Wrong Way Diner and having a cookie from the Cake Company. The canyon itself is east of Canyon, but is worth the visit. It is supposedly the second largest canyon system in the U.S. next to the Grand Canyon.

So, if you find yourself stopping in Amarillo for an overnight, you may want to check these two places out.

Pantry Wars - It's a Draw...

It's funny how events in life bring you back to reality. Dave and I thought we were getting good at cooking and then we have pantry wars. It was a humbling experience. Neither of our dishes impressed us all that much. As such, I will only post some photos and give a couple of side dish recipes.

Dave made a shitake mushroom and chicken wheat pasta. The mushrooms were the one item he bought at the store for under $10. He added lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, peas, capers and Parmesan cheese. The dish turned out okay, but was not something where we wanted to save the leftovers. Any suggestions for how to improve, please feel free to leave a comment.

My dish started off in one direction and headed another. The initial plan was to grill two pork chops (my less than $10 item) and serve them with a raspberry chipotle sauce accompanied by pinto beans and cauliflower mashed potatoes (my take on a starch). I started to make the raspberry sauce with frozen raspberries and chipotle in adobo sauce added some garlic, vinegar and salt and it just DID NOT taste good, so I opted not to serve it. Anyone have a good recipe, please feel free to add. However, I enjoyed my two sides and did save the leftovers beans and ate the small amount of remaining cauliflower, so that's why it's a draw.

So, my meal became grilled pork chops with pinto beans and cauliflower mash. Here's the easy beans recipe for a nice side if you are preparing Tex-Mex, Mexican or southwest food. It's much lighter than refried beans and may be preferable to rice. I'll also include the cauliflower recipe below the beans.

Pinto Beans w/ Tomatoes

1 15 oz. can pinto beans

1 12 oz. can diced tomatoes*

Combine cans and season with a little salt and pepper. Heat over low to medium heat on stove prior to serving.

*Using diced tomatoes seasoned with chipotles is tasty too.

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

1 15 oz. bag frozen cauliflower

1 T - 2 T butter

Skim milk

Garlic powder or the real thing

Salt and Pepper

Cheese (match the cheese to the style of meal - Italian, Mexican, etc.)

Cook the cauliflower per the directions on the bag. Place in a bowl and mash as you would potatoes. Incorporate the milk, butter, salt, pepper, garlic and other ingredients. Mash or blend until you reach the consistency that pleases you. Add melted cheese on top for a bonus.

I did not use the garlic powder or cheese in my meal, but added green chili peppers, which I enjoyed. I do think it needed some cheese and a little kick from fresh garlic or garlic powder, so that's why I added it to this recipe. Dave wasn't a big fan, he said he'd rather stick to mashed potatoes. That's no fun!!

Pantry Wars

This week's challenge is called pantry wars, which again is inspired by Top Chef and Food Network's The Next Food Network Star. When I think about food prices rising and then look at all of the food in our pantry, I know that this challenge will be fun and force us to utilize what we have in our pantry already.

Dave and I must create a meal with a starch, protein and vegetable/fruit using ingredients from our pantry and/or refrigerator/freezer. We'll have $10 to buy one item from the grocery store to help make our dish.

Dave will cook first on Monday evening and I'll cook second on Thursday due to schedules. He has the advantage in this challenge given that ingredients I may want to use may no longer be available after Monday's dinner.

Stay tuned for the outcome of Go Blue Mom's Pantry Wars...

$10 Food Challenge

I'm a fan of Bravo's Top Chef program . I got hooked while I was home on maternity leave and watched season 1 and 2. Now it's in season 4 and one of their recent challenges inspired me to try this at home. The challenge essentially required the chefs to create a healthy meal for a family of four on a $10 budget plus the Top Chef pantry (I think).

http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/4/index.php

So, I told Dave that he and I were going to battle it out and each prepare a meal using any ingredients already at home and only spending $10 on the rest. One caveat... we buy big bag's of all natural chicken at Sam's Club (~14 pieces per bag) for a significant discount compared to grocery stores, so we both had the advantage of not needing to buy a protein with our $10.

Here is what we each made:

Chicken Stir Fry (Shannon's Meal)

2-3 chicken breasts cut into pieces

Vegetable Oil (could use peanut oil, but again more $$)

Lite Soy Sauce

Cornstarch

5 spice seasoning

6-8 gloves garlic (depends on how much garlic you want)

1 bunch green onions

1 onion

1 can water chestnuts

1 green bell pepper (can use red or orange, but more $$)

8 - 10 oz. of frozen peas, thawed

1 can chicken broth

Whole wheat pasta (Could substitute rice)

Sugar

pinch cayenne pepper

• Slice chicken into pieces and place in a bowl or plastic bag and add 1 T lite soy sauce, 1 T cornstarch, 2-3 gloves garlic minced and 5 spice seasoning. The mixture should coat all of the chicken, if not, add a little bit of each ingredient until thoroughly coated. Let marinade for approximately 20 minutes.
• Prep the remaining ingredients while the chicken marinates - cut peppers, green onion and onion into bite size pieces, mince the garlic cloves, and have the seasoning, oil and liquids ready.
• Heat a wok or large skillet on the oven over medium/high heat with 2 T vegetable oil. Saute the green onions, salt and 2 gloves of garlic for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chicken and saute for 5 minutes. Add remaining garlic, onion, bell pepper, peas, water chestnuts and about 1/2 can (6-8 oz) of chicken stock (can add water if additional liquid is needed). Season with 5 spice seasoning as desired. Bring to a simmer and cover until vegetables reach desired tenderness and chicken is cooked through.
• Meanwhile, use a spaghetti pot to bring water to a boil and cook pasta according to directions on package.
• In a bowl, mix 4-6 ounces chicken stock, 2-3 T soy sauce, 2-3 T sugar and 2-2 1/2 T corn starch and cayenne pepper. Whisk ingredients together,ensuring cornstarch dissolves and add to chicken/vegetable mixture. Allow sauce to thicken and serve over noodles.

One note, Dave and I cook a lot by taste, so while a recipe will call for a specific amount of soy sauce, sugar, etc., we adjust it until we like the flavor of the sauce. This is my recommendation for you on the last step in this recipe as I did not record specific amounts when I made it.

My review: The 5 spice seasoning is interesting, but grew on me. I think this meal would have been better with carrots, baby corn and/or broccoli in it. It needed some color from a presentation perspective and a little more diversity with the vegetables. Also, don't be scared of the garlic. I used at least six cloves and barely tasted it, next time I'll add more. I'll also add more cayenne for a little spiciness as well. It was good, not great, so I'd like to try it again and improve on it.

Chicken Caper Parsley on Toasted Baguette with Arugula Salad (Dave's Meal)

3 chicken breasts

2 - 3 lemons juiced

1 baguette

1/4 cup capers, drained

1 sweet onion

Extra Virgin Olive Oil/Olive Oil

2 T fresh parley leaves

Ground Black Pepper

Arugula Leaves (enough to feed the people in your dinner party)

Salt

Chicken Caper Parsley Crostini

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Heat Grill. Season raw chicken breasts with salt and pepper and cook on grill approximately 7 minutes per side at high/medium high heat.
• While chicken is on the grill, slice baguette into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and bake for five to ten minutes or until the baquette is 'toasted'.
• In a mixing bowl, combine capers, minced onion, 2 T fresh parsley, 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil, 3 T fresh lemon juice, and black pepper (~15 grinds). When chicken is ready, shred chicken and add to mixing bowling. Ensure all ingredients are coated in the mixing bowl.
• Place chicken mixture on toasted baguette and serve.

Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinegarette Dressing

• This salad contains arugula, olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper and salt. It is courtesy of Dave Lieberman from the Food Network. You may find the recipe at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_33176,00.html

My Review: The crostini definitely stole the show. It was excellent, the freshness from the lemon and the parsley tasted wonderful. The onion blended well and did not overwhelm the dish. Seasoning the chicken also helped bring the entire dish together. I enjoyed the arugula salad more than Dave. It was a nice change of pace since we usually eat salads with Romaine lettuce and store bought dressing.

My only recommendation is not to over do it on the dressing with the salad. The recipe has you mix everything together from the start, but I would make the dressing on the side and add it to the arugula in three steps so that the arugula isn't soaked in oil and lemon. It is still a salad I would recommend, especially during the summer.

And the winner of our at home $10 challenge is...

DAVE

Overall, Dave's meal hit the spot and is something that we could serve this weekend to friends or family visiting us. It didn't need any major adjustments like I felt my stir fry did. FYI.. The crostini would make a great appetizer or tapa if you're looking for finger foods.

Kaitlyn Visits the Zoo

This is Better than Old McDonald's Farm!

During Memorial Day weekend, mommy and daddy took Kaitlyn to the Knoxville Zoo. This was Kaitlyn's second visit, but first visit with mommy and daddy. Kaitlyn saw elephants, zebras, lions, tigers, no bears, butterflies and more. She enjoyed people watching and animal watching; provided the animals didn't get too close like the camel. Mommy and daddy also enjoyed the visit. It felt good to be in the fresh air getting some exercise and spending quality time together. Kaitlyn was still at the point where she enjoyed her stroller and didn't want to run everywhere.

We arrived at the zoo shortly after opening on a Sunday morning, which was perfect timing as it wasn't too busy. We walked around the zoo with ease and found the staff friendly. If you live in the area, it makes sense to buy a pass because a one day visit for an entire family can be a little pricey whereas you can get your money's worth in a few visits with a pass. However, better to charge an admission fee than to not have a zoo at all in Knoxville. If you visit knowing that this isn't the St. Louis, Cincinatti or San Diego zoo, you will have a delightful time. We hope the community continues to support it.

Knoxville Zoo: http://www.knoxville-zoo.org/

Columbus COSI Visit

In March, miss baby blue (Kaitlyn) and I traveled to Columbus, OH to visit her great aunt and uncle, cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. As part of our visit, we went to COSI (Center of Science and Industry) and Kaitlyn had a ball. Even though she hadn't turned one, she enjoyed people watching, playing in the water and checking out the exhibits that made sound or moved. It's a hands on, interactive center that engages kids and even adults. They have a toddler area with toys, balls, water activities, bugs, etc. where they share stories (science and industry related, of course) that Kaitlyn enjoyed. If you visit Columbus, I would recommend checking this out.

Here is the web site: http://www.cosi.org/

Adventures and Travel

Ready, Set, Here we Come...

As a couple, Dave and I have shared many adventures and traveled to some amazing places. Now that we have a daughter, we hope to continue our adventures and traveling as a family with her in tow ready to experience the world.

My goal with these adventure and travel blogs is to share fun activities that we do in our community and share information about the places we travel to as a couple and as a family.

We hope you find the information interesting and useful if you end up visiting the same places!

Where Did the Interest Come From?

Our interest in food and wine probably started in college. I enjoyed baking and Dave enjoyed grilling and turkey dinners. It wasn't uncommon for us (okay, more Dave) to cook very simple meals during our last year in college. I always enjoyed making cookies and desserts - yum! By the way, when I say turkey dinners, we are talking about the whole shabang. My roommates (6 gals) and his roommates (5 guys) would hold a Thanksgiving dinner at our (the gals) house on 1212 East U. Our college Thanksgiving typically fell on the evening of the Michigan/Ohio State game, so what better way to celebrate than stuff ourselves full of food before an evening of fun. Dave volunteered to cook the turkey (FYI: the gravy bag exploded in the turkey while we were at the game), while the rest of us brought the remaining turkey day staples. It made for great memories!


For those with sports knowledge, this was during the time period that Michigan routinely beat Ohio State.


Fast forward four years...


While we started dabbling a little with cooking in the years following college, it wasn't until we moved from the Washington, D.C. area to Amarillo, TX in 2004 that Dave and I started to learn how to cook. We knew the basics (mac-n-cheese, sloppy joes, tacos, etc.), but we wanted to expand our horizons and build our cooking repertoire. So, we started watching hours and hours of The Food Network (http://www.foodnetwork.com/) to learn about food and cooking techniques. Now, it's a hobby that we enjoy sharing together and sharing with family and friends. It is not uncommon when our families visit for an outsider to find all of us in the kitchen working together to prepare a meal. It's become a family affair! Dave and I are by no means professional, just a couple who enjoys our culinary adventures.

Where does the wine fit into this?

As for the wine, Dave and I started off drinking a popular brand of white zinfandel, some boxed wine and a certain oaky chardonnay in college. (I'll admit that my summer study abroad in Italy helped me develop a taste for wine - this was before I met Dave). Our palates have since matured, but we have great memories of sharing wine and watching movies or just hanging out on the front porch in good ole A2 (Ann Arbor). A few years later, when we lived in Boston, we signed up for a six course wine tasting class. We learned an amazing amount about wine. Dave also proposed during the last class over a tasting of French champagne, which made for a wonderful memory. We continued our education by visiting Napa Valley on our honeymoon and returning to wine country the following two years. Since our wine adventures started before our cooking adventures, we didn't appreciate the relationship between food and wine until we began cooking. Now, we are trying to learn the art of pairing food and wine together since combining the two can really 'make' the meal. Granted, we still ask for recommendations at wine stores as this is not an easy feat for the novice. So, for Dave and I, an evening of good food and wine is perfect.

Recipe Sharing Precautions

If I want to discuss cooking adventures, it hit me that there may be copyright infringements to consider. As such, I did a little research and found this on the U.S. Copyright Office web site:

"Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.

Protection under the copyright law (title 17 of the United States Code, section 102) extends only to “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form (a copy). “Original” means merely that the author produced the work by his own intellectual effort, as distinguished from copying an existing work. Copyright protection may extend to a description, explanation, or illustration, assuming that the requirements of the copyright law are met."

This is the link: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html.

If you plan to respond with a recipe, please follow these guidelines and post only the ingredients and then a link to the web site or the recommended cookbook. Thanks!!

If you believe that a recipe violates copyright law, please notify me immediately and I will remove it from the blog. Thanks!

Initial Blog

I caved and jumped on the blogging bandwagon. As a new stay-at-home mom, I decided to give this blogging thing a whirl as a way to communicate with the outside world. Some days I hope to add posts with substance and others might be random thoughts and questions. My family and I enjoy cooking, so expect to see critiques of recipes that we tried and the results. We enjoy traveling and family outings, so we'll share stories of those adventures. I imagine I'll also use this thing to share other mommy experiences and memorable acts that stick out in my head. Hope you enjoy!