MMMMM, I am thinking of a Taco Boy salad right now… sure sounds tasty, it’s much more than “just a salad”, it’s an experience! Really. Oooolala, with those tasty thin tortilla chips and a side of guacamole, ohmygosh! A treat that can’t be beat!
We took a break last night, sat down, and turned on the TV… what does Tivo have to offer us on this fine evening? Hmmm, Army Wives… Cool! First show of the season. Guess where part of it was filmed?? INSIDE TACO BOY! YAY! Good for them!
If you haven’t been to Taco Boy yet… RUN… don’t walk! I’ll probably see you there sipping on my half sweet half unsweet tea (It’s DESSERT!), munching on those oh so wonderful thin tortilla chips dipped in guacamole, salsa or for the heavenly treat… QUESO! Take a peek at their menu, it’s too hard to decide which tasty dish to order! Did I mention how cool the place is? They took an old run down building and transformed it into an ultra cool place to hang out with friends, or just your sweetie. Don’t take my word for it, head on down to Taco Boy. We have yet to visit the one on Folly Beach, but it just won the BEST OF CHARLESTON 2011 for best restaurant on Folly Beach! Congrats to ya man!
While the air still has a tad of a chill left to it, this is one HOT recipe to make… great when you have a group, or great to eat for a few nights. This is a Cooking Light recipe, therefore it’s not as fatty as the original recipe. I would never have known that it was lighter. My favorite part… the mushrooms! WOW!
Beef Bourguignonne (click HERE if you want to know how to pronounce it! Click on the little symbol that looks like a speaker and you will hear someone say it) is basically beef cooked in red wine with bacon, onions and mushrooms. It’s better if it sits a day… Click HERE if you want to be taken to MyRecipes.com to the actual recipe where it’s quick and easy to print, or here it is… You may want to rent Julie and Julia for more details… This was a dish made famous (in my eyes) by Julia Childs.
Yield: 9 servings (serving size: about 1 cup beef mixture, 3/4 cup noodles, and 1 teaspoon parsley)
Beef Bourguignonne with Egg Noodles
Yield: 9 servings (serving size: about 1 cup beef mixture, 3/4 cup noodles, and 1 teaspoon parsley)
Ingredients
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
2 1/4 pounds beef stew meat
3 bacon slices, chopped and divided
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced carrot
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 (14-ounce) can less-sodium beef broth
8 cups halved mushrooms (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 (16-ounce) package frozen pearl onions
7 cups hot cooked medium egg noodles (about 6 cups uncooked noodles)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preparation
Combine flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add beef; seal and shake to coat.
Cook half of bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon; set aside. Add half of beef mixture to drippings in pan; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan; cover and keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining bacon and beef mixture. Remove beef from pan; cover and keep warm.
Add chopped onion, sliced carrot, and minced garlic to pan; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in red wine and broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add bacon, beef, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper, mushrooms, tomato paste, chopped thyme, bay leaves, and pearl onions; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes. Uncover and cook 1 hour or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaves. Serve beef mixture over noodles; sprinkle with parsley.
A craving for something sweet. Ugh. You know how it is when something pops into your head, like a nice warm oatmeal cookie fresh out of the oven. The wonderful smell of cinnamon permeating the room… ohhhh and a nice cold glass of milk to go along with it… Ahhh, let me get ahold of myself! That’s what happened to me the other day. OATMEAL. COOKIES. This thought popped into my head and would not escape. Finally I gave in. I’ll take some to a neighbor, saving myself from eating too many! So off I went. Armed with a NEW oatmeal cookie recipe, I started measuring… then all of a sudden something didn’t seem right with the recipe… Hmmm, let me check online and see if there were any comments on this recipe… duh. Something I always do BEFORE I try a recipe, not while I’m almost done measuring all the ingredients! TRAGIC COMMENTS. Eek, how can I save these cookies now that I have most of the ingredients comingled? I popped the lid off the Quaker Oat cannister and TADA staring back at me is the Vanishing Oatmeal Cookie recipe everyone knows and loves. I tried to adjust to get the ingredients measured to the new recipe and without hesitation popped those babies in the oven. Worst case? The baked cookies don’t taste good… Silver lining? Yep, the dough is awesome! Ha… Thankfully they turned out. I ate too many (it was lunch) and now I’m done with them for a while… Next time I may substitute cranberries for the raisins and add walnuts. If these cookies are sounding good to you, you can get them via the Quaker website OR off the lid on your cannister of oatmeal. Otherwise, here it is! Happy day! Catch you back here tomorrow…
Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (QuakerOats.com)
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.
Happy Friday everyone! I have to tell you about this amazing chocolate cake recipe that I found on the Smitten Kitchen blog. If you’ve never heard of The Smitten Kitchen, ohmygosh, check it out, seriously. Excellent recipes, hilarious writing, AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHY and just a good time overall! You may consume a bit more butter than you should, but hey, it’s a treat! I wish I could make this cake every day!
I have made this cake a few times, Deb Perelman has this recipe down to using only one bowl… easy clean up… YAY! The fresh whipped cream and raspberries that I rolled around in sugar were a nice addition… It’s the weekend, INDULGE!
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup (6 7/8 ounces) firmly packed light brown sugar 1/2 cup (4 ounces) granulated sugar 1 large egg, at room temperature 1 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour 3/4 cup (2 5/8 ounces) Dutch cocoa powder (see Smittenkitchen.com for a natural cocoa adjustment) 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and lightly flour a 9×5×3-inch loaf pan, or spray it with a butter-flour spray. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat well, then the buttermilk and vanilla. Don’t worry if the batter looks a little uneven. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together right into your wet ingredients. Stir together with a spoon until well-blended but do not over mix. Scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack for about 10 to 15 minutes, at which point you can cool it the rest of the way out of the pan. Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries, if you’re feeling fancy
We were in Rockland, Maine at a neat little wine shop (future post). We asked for a nice Syrah that wasn’t too pricey and they suggested McManis Petite Syrah. Whew… it quickly became a favorite… very tasty, not in the under $10 category which is nice for everyday, well, the one glass a day, you know, for medicinal reasons… wish it was more than one glass though, hee hee… Fast forward to a few weekends ago, we went to Total Wine hoping to find this a tad cheaper, they don’t carry the Petite Syrah, but they did have Syrah… well, I’ll try it! And… YIPEE, it’s great, and it’s in the under $10 category. You could tell me it is an expensive bottle of wine and I would never know the difference. So if you like bold wines (at least in my book it’s bold) give this one a shot!
2008 Syrah
“Do not overlook this incredibly reliable and tasty Syrah as a great choice for everyday drinking. It is ripe and open, about mid-size in depth and full enough on the palate to let you know that you have a wine of reasonable substance in your mouth, and it will comfortably hold its own with burgers and other savory picnic fare when a wine that will go down in a gulp is in order.” 86 Points Good Value Connoisseurs Guide to California Wine March 2010
Sometimes when you’re chilly there is nothing like a nice hot bowl of soup to get your innards warmed up. Other than vacuuming, there really isn’t anything that is going to warm you up from the inside out!
This tasty soup is from Cooking Light, and although it uses lower fat ingredients, if no one told you there were lower fat ingredients, I promise you, you would never know. NEVER. KNOW. That’s part of what makes this such a good recipe. It’s a fairly quick soup to make after the potatoes are baked. Mmmm, this is looking too good right now!!
So, if you were sitting there thinking… Ugh, I’m in a rut and need to try something new but want it to be pretty healthy, hey, this is for you!
I use Cracker Barrel 2% Extra Sharp cheese, it’s great, and it’s my “go to” cheese for recipes. It’s in every grocery store in Charleston, but I know other areas don’t carry it (Algonac, MI, darnit!). Serving size is 1 1/2 cups and let me tell ya… you will be full! Especially after adding a sprinkle of shredded extra sharp cheese, some green onions and some crispy bacon… oh la la… I edited the recipe to show less flour, otherwise it was too thick for us.
BAKED POTATO SOUP
Baked Potato Soup
Ingredients
4 baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided (or 1 small bunch, whites cut off)
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
Cracked black pepper (optional)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.
Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Place flour in a large Dutch oven; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup cheese, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Ladle 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 8 bowls. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons onions, and about 1 tablespoon bacon. Garnish with cracked pepper, if desired.
For those of you who have eaten at Bowen’s Island Restaurant, you know… You know how utterly awesome the view is… it takes your breath away. Seriously. TAKES. IT. AWAY. The fried shrimp is oh so tasty and I absolutely just cannot wait to have some! Visitors soon (yay!) and we will be making our way to the place that great photos are made from… and it sure doesn’t hurt that the food is tasty too!
Good grief, I just did something I shouldn’t have. I looked at the menu! Their prices aren’t bad at all, and now I’m really wanting some of their fried shrimp… check out the menu… you’ll be running at the speed of light, jumping in your car, hearing a big peel out noise, wondering where it came from before you even realize you’re in your car, headed right where all the real seafood lovers go… and that aint Red Lobster… hee hee…
Read the restaurant review “Shucking and sucking” it’s more of a story, ha ha – Bowen’s Island is known for their oysters!
Aren’t these the most beautiful Valentine’s Day cookies you’ve ever seen? I admit, I haven’t seen many cookies for this holiday, well, not if you exclude the mass produced variety at the grocery store… These take a little bit of time, but ooooh, the result is A WORK OF ART! I last posted this recipe on my PHOTO BLOG (click for link) for Christmas cookies, but here it is again, I hope you give them a try! This time I made the dough on Friday, got busy on Saturday, then set them out on the counter for a little while on Sunday before rolling and cutting into heart shapes and baking. The decorating part looks like the most time consuming, but if you don’t get too uptight about it (me) and can just swirl it on (Fred, my husband) then it looks beautiful and is done in a snap! Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day!
VALENTINE’S DAY BUTTER COOKIES
Sift 2 3/4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
In mixer bowl add 3/4 cup soft butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Beat until fluffy and light. Slowly beat in flour mixture. CHILL ONE HOUR.
Flour your work surface and roll out dough. Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
YIELD: 4 dozen (IF you don’t eat the dough… good luck to ya!)
FROSTING
Mix 1/4 cup butter, 4 cups (1 box) confectioner’s sugar, 1/4 cup scalded cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Blend until smooth. Scoop into separate bowls and add food coloring (hint: Valentine cookies are good just red, light pink and white). Scoop colored frosting into Ziplock bag (I use freezer) and snip a little off the corner. Squeeze onto cookie to decorate! If you need the frosting thinned a bit more, I have great luck just using light cream, add a little at a time until it will easily come out of the bag to decorate.
This is a Cooking Light recipe, and it’s TO. DIE. FOR. I’m not kidding you! My husband says “It’s so good it’ll make your tongue beat your brains out!” or something like that. I have to admit, I haven’t heard that saying before, the images that flash before my eyes give me the willies, BUT, it’s a GOOD thing… means it’s soooo gooood!
Oh yeah, the BLACK BOTTOM BANANA CREAM PIE (click on that for direct link to My Recipes where it’s easily printed) is delish! It’s not difficult, bake a pie crust, melt some chocolate, make the banana cream custard filling, slap the sliced bananas on top of the chocolate, smear on the custard, then they top with “whipped topping” EEEEK, which just doesn’t happen to be in my vocabulary. Instead mine isn’t pretty until served, I make whipped cream or if in a time pinch use the canned REAL whipped cream, then using a microplane shred a little chocolate on top and whoooaaaa! Have you got yourself a masterpiece! But don’t take my word for it. Really. Ohhhh, please tell me I didn’t toss those overripe bananas!
Prepare and bake Pastry Crust in a 9-inch pie plate. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoons sugar, cocoa, and dash of salt in a small, heavy saucepan; gradually add 1/3 cup milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook 2 minutes over medium-low heat. Stir in chocolate; bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Spread chocolate mixture into bottom of prepared crust.
Combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, eggs, 1 cup milk, and margarine in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and cook 30 seconds or until thick. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Beat cream cheese until light (about 30 seconds). Add 1/4 cup hot custard to cream cheese, and beat just until blended. Stir in remaining custard.
Arrange banana slices on top of chocolate layer; spoon custard over bananas. Press plastic wrap onto surface of custard; chill 4 hours. Remove plastic wrap. Spread whipped topping evenly over custard. Garnish with chocolate curls, if desired. Chill until ready to serve.
Always trust your source! Especially when looking for a recipe online. There are many websites and blogs out in the cyber world, but when it comes to throwing costly ingredients together and having it turn into something fabulous, TRUST YOUR SOURCE. I have been a subscriber to Cooking Light magazine since the mid 90’s. It has changed over the years, but it has always been a great magazine FULL of fabulous recipes.
I read mine, fold down the pages of the recipes I like, then I go online to MYRECIPES.com where I pull up the recipe and save it to my “recipe box”online. That way I can pull up a favorite recipe no matter where I am, a big plus for sure! Then I can pass the magazine on to a neighbor. You can also subscribe to their daily email which sends you a meal suggestion each day as well as a host of other emails targeted specifically to one type of food. This is done through MyRecipes.com, which has the recipes from Cooking Light, Southern Living and a host of other popular magazines.
If you haven’t picked up a copy of Cooking Light, I urge you to do so, or look at it at the library! Trust me, you’ll be copying down recipes like nobody’s business! It pays to subscribe, it’s much cheaper that way.
I was trying to think of what to make for dinner… ugh, I don’t want to be in a rut and make the same thing time and time again. We were both in the mood for some pasta, but we just weren’t sure HOW we wanted it… I happened to be on Facebook and I saw that Food and Wine magazine had posted a recipe that was quick and easy and sounded DELICIOUS! So off we went to the store, hunted and gathered the ingredients, popped home and threw it together in NO TIME! Seriously. This pasta sauce ISN’T. EVEN. COOKED! I had some reservations… hmmm, seems like you should at least cook it. I usually do try a new recipe pretty much as it’s shown, then the next time I make it I tweak it and change it up a bit. The only thing I did with this recipe is to use basil instead of parsley (LOVE tomatoes and basil together!) which the recipe did have listed as an alternative, and I used sundried tomatoes in oil instead of reconstituting… I also used mini bowties, well, just because I like them and they’re cute! This. Was. Delicious. Say no more… I will be making this time and time again!
If you get a chance, check out this recipe. It would be nice paired with a small salad or a crusty loaf of good bread (as Ina would say). The recipe also mentions that it would be good with fusilli pasta, as the sauce would hold on to the crevices. See the wine pairing suggestion from Food and Wine below…
Pairing Suggestion – A fruity red wine will be ideal with the rich sauce and the assertive, salty taste of the sun-dried tomatoes. A slightly chilled bottle of Barbera or Dolcetto from the Piedmont region of Italy would be perfect.
In a blender or food processor, puree the scallions and sun-dried tomatoes with 1/2 cup of the cream.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the bow ties until just done, about 15 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and toss with the puree, the remaining 1/2 cup cream, 1/3 cup of the reserved pasta water, the salt, pepper, and parsley. If the sauce seems too thick, thin it by adding more of the reserved pasta water.
Notes
Reconstituting Sun-Dried Tomatoes In a small pan bring enough water to a boil to cover the dried tomatoes. Add the tomatoes, then remove from the heat and let steep in the hot water for about 5 minutes. Drain. You can also use drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes for this recipe. Since they’re already soft, you don’t have to reconstitute them.
Variation
Bow Ties with Sun-Dried Tomato and Herb Cream An equal quantity of chopped fresh basil or chives or 2 tablespoons of tarragon would be a good alternative or addition to the parsley.
Everyone loves a good lemon square. Normally when I post a recipe I post it as I’ve made it with some changes, additions or subtractions. But this my friends is PERFECT JUST AS IT IS. It’s a Cooking Light recipe. You can copy and paste the recipe below… (the link to Cooking Light no longer exists).
Beware, this is “16 servings” which is really like “4 servings” in my book, so the calories, etc. do go up… but it’s worth every bite! Really…
EASY LEMON SQUARES – Cooking Light
For the crust:
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup flour
In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add flour to sugar mixture, mix on low until resembles fine crumbs. Gently press into the bottom of an 8” square baking pan. Bake at 350˚ for 15 minutes; cool pan on wire rack.
For the topping:
3 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/3 cup FRESH lemon juice
3 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs at medium speed until foamy. Add sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice, flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until well blended. Pour mixture of partially baked crust. Bake at 350˚ for 20-25 minutes or until topping is set. Cool on wire rack.
Before serving:
Sift 2 teaspoons of powdered sugar evenly over the top once it has cooled. (I skip this step, but it’s pretty!)
The other day I told you about a neat bakery near us aptly called SUGAR BAKESHOP… Step inside the small but oh-so-cool shop and your senses explode… Ohhhhh the smells, the sights, then bite into one of those precious cupcakes and oh la la… Happy day! I know yesterday I talked about moving more and eating less… We had to move a lot for this cupcake but it was worth every step! Here’s hoping you have a sweet day! Until tomorrow…
UPDATE: 2015 I tried their chicken noodle soup, it’s been years. It was very good!
I lied. Not on purpose, but I did. I said I wasn’t going to post anymore about Panera Bread changing their chicken noodle soup recipe. BUT. I need to. I have gotten a tremendous amount of traffic on this site because of one thing. My fantastic writing skills PANERA CHANGED THEIR CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP RECIPE and (in my opinion) it’s not the best. I’m here to encourage those of you who haven’t, to let Panera know how you feel. You have reached my blog not because you enjoyed the new soup but because you were shocked at the new “improvement”. So go ahead, contact Panera (info from their website)…
Sugar. Not sure why, but I’m craving something sweet right now in the biggest way. I’m trying to re-route my thinking, but I’m not too successful so far… banana for the resistant starch to make me skinny (ha ha), ok… now some oatmeal with walnuts and raisins, more resistant starch… ok, I think i’ve worked my way up to something tasty! Maybe some homemade brownies or that darn apple crisp that was so good I can’t get off my mind… Poey… I had visions of Sugar Bakeshop in downtown Charleston pop into my head… oh what I wouldn’t do for a lemon cupcake, or a caramel cupcake, or just about any other cupcake, not being piggy… just wanting a cupcake, not a big cake… I. DON’T. THINK. Hmmmm… If you get a chance, check it out, we’ve had most of their cakes (except chocolate, for that we always go to the Chocolate Cake Charleston, the best chocolate cake in the world, and a future post!)… Sugar Bakeshop shows their cake images as a slideshow, so I couldn’t include here, but check them out at www.sugarbake.com ! If you haven’t been before it’s worth the drive FROM ANYWHERE! They even make dog cookies, and let me tell you, Charlie gets just as excited about his cookie as we do with our cupcake! Have a sweet day, until tomorrow…!
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