WCC No. 15 - Easter/Spring Time Food

When I first saw the theme for this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge, I knew right away what I was going to make - my family's Easter Ricotta & Rice Pie. It actually turned out very good this year, better than last. Yep it shore did. Uhh huh. Okay then.. well when one loses her mind and actually FORGETS to take pictures? One moves on and figures out what else she can make. *sigh* It didn't take me long to figure out something else to make, especially when I made a boat load of rice for the pie and only needed like a raft load. So with all this extra rice I went in search of a good rice pudding. I've only made it once before and that recipe had some weird ingredient in it like mustard or something (No, not really - but something as equally weird that I can't remember) and it tasted awful. This time I was bound and determined to skip over all weird ingredient list recipes and find something that was much more suitable to dessert, which I think we can all agree.. mustard containing puddings are not dessert fare. (again there really was no mustard) I stumbled upon a celebrity chef's recipe and figured it had to be good. I mean, anything he makes has to be good because he so fakkin hot. And when you think of fakkin hot celebrity chefs, who do you think of?? Yes, Gordon Ramsay!! But no, not this time.. This time it was the incredibly sexy, ultimate recipe creating, McCheffy of the foodie world - Tyler Florence - whose recipe I chose. Dudes.. how can he be so hot?? So not fair. SO! NOT! FAIR! *ahem* And so happily I stood over a hot pot stirring a simmering, creamy concoction of rice, heavy cream, raisins, sugar and butter for 25 minutes, daydreaming about Tyler making this exact recipe in his own kitchen wearing nothing but a green and white striped apron and tube socks.. his hair falling into his eyes.. those dimples.. those lips.. quite possibly clenching his rock hard chee.. Oh! Hi! How are yas? Would you like to try my rice pudding? It's good! Here.. try! Tyler McCheffy Florence's Rockin' Rice Pudding 3 c. white rice, cooked (I went with short rice for it's creaminess) 3 cups milk 2/3 cup sugar 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup raisins 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Zest of 1 lemon, grated 1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided Combine cooked rice, milk, sugar and butter in a medium saucepan. Add raisins and vanilla. Cook for 25 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed. Mix in lemon zest and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Spoon pudding into a serving dish and lust dust with remaining cinnamon. May serve chilled or at room temperature. I would like to thank Marta of An Italian in the US for taking on the challenge and hosting this month's round up! And, of course, the incredibly sweet Sara of i like to cook for creating the event way back when.. hehehe Happy Easter everyone! xoxo

The Day After... Part I

Well it's over. Hours upon hours of cooking. And then in a matter of 45 minutes or so those hours are a memory, your tummy is stuffed and all you can think about is that big over stuffed sofa with your heiney planted firmly upon it. Thanksgiving. Whadda ride. It started, for me, at 8:30 yesterday morning until 5:30 yesterday evening. I took about an hour break when I noticed there was a dog show on the tube. Can't pass those up, no I can not. My sister arrived during that time so we made a lil lunch and watched the cute puppies. My mom was due in a few hours and our other guests were due around 6ish. Everything was going well and I was pretty happy with myself and my progression through the day. At noon I had both desserts done, 3 side dishes prepped and ready to go into the oven later that night and 2 side dishes melding their flavors in my fridge. Not a bad start at all. So what the hell happened at 4 pm when I started freaking out because I wasn't even halfway through my list? It's like I left this dimension for a couple hours to be returned with hardly any time left to finish up! Appetizers had to be made! The stuffing wasn't prepared yet! The wine! Where the hell is the wine? Every single one of my lil candles needed a new tealight put in and My. God. is that dust on the TV? Just when I'm pattin' myself on the back, all the little stuff starts closing in on me and I panic. Much to the chagrin of Hubbs and my family, but they all know.. BACK OFF and let her go! I did finish everything with a 1/2 hour to spare to get myself presentable before our friends were due to arrive. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Quite a feat for the world's most unorganized cook. At 6 pm I was presentable and no longer smelling of flour, cinnamon and bananas (yes, bananas). I was ready to relax with my family and friends and to give thanks for another year of good fortune. No one died. I still own my house and vehicles. And my job? Regardless of how mind numbingly boring it is, I still have it. My 3 most favorite people were with me on this beautiful, sunny day and both of my kids were in good health and looking quite spiffy after their baths. Life is good. =) And then the phone rang at 6:01. They weren't coming. Someone is sick. I'm being told this story of dizziness and disorientation all the while scanning my counter tops, laden with various sized bowls and platters and baking dishes full to the brim with all that food. My party of 7 just got downsized to a party of 4. Well I guess it's better to have more than enough than too little, yes? And before anyone allows the thought to cross their mind that I'm a cold-hearted Thanksgiving chef who can only think of all the food she's made and not be concerned about her sick friend. Dizziness and disorientation also means, drunk with his buddies and most likely praying to the porcelain goddess while his wife called with her regards. Wayne saw his vehicle up at the local bar around 10:30 yesterday morning when I sent him out to procure more sweet potatoes and bananas because I feared the first batch just wasn't enough for 7 people. ha! And? This has happened before. Eh? Whatcha gonna do? What you do is carry on and enjoy the evening regardless! And that we did! Everything tasted wonderful, we got to play some games and watch a ridiculously stupid movie (You, Me and Dupree) and my sis and I got to have our giggling gossip time after everyone else went to bed. I thoroughly enjoyed myself :D So over the course of the next couple days I'm going to share with you some of the tried and true recipes we make each year as well as a new recipe I tried that really turned out well. Which is what I think I'll start with today. The morning of the Fabulous Food Show! I caught Tyler Florence's Ultimate Thanksgiving episode where he made all kinds of wonderful looking dishes including a recipe for Sweet Potatoes with Bananas and Honey. I was intrigued. Bananas and sweet potatoes? Kinda weird, but also kinda yummy sounding. I knew that morning that I'd be making it for Thanksgiving this year because it's the sweet potatoes that I haven't perfected yet.. always trying a new recipe each year. Here's to hoping that Tyler's would be the one! They were delicious, to say the least. The sweet potatoes and bananas really work well with each other. The only thing I wasn't crazy about what how sweet the dish turns out. A pretty heavy addition of honey to the mash and then the sweet topping of a brown sugar/butter/flour mixture was a bit too much. This could pass, easily, for a dessert. Now, I like my sweet potatoes sweet, but I need a lil savory there as well.. and there is no savory about this dish. But because of the banana/sweet potato combo, I will not give up on this recipe. I've already jotted down my notes for next year - I will cut the honey measurement in half, for sure. I will also go with a bigger sweet potato to banana ratio and will season this using more salt and pepper than called for. Finally, I will cut the brown sugar topping down to maybe a 1/3rd. With luck, those changes will create the ultimate sweet potato mash for my Thanksgiving dinners. I'm going to do something with the left over mash - possibly a pie or tart of some sort, maybe some muffins or a quick bread. We'll see what's left after Mom and Sis take their share of the leftovers later today. ;) Tyler Florence's Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Bananas and Honey 5 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed 4 bananas, unpeeled 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1/4 cup honey Kosher salt 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup dark brown sugar 1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped (Hadda leave 'em off cuz I can't have them. *sigh*) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork, put them in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Toss the bananas into the pan and continue roasting for 10 to 15 minutes, until both the bananas and potatoes are very soft. Remove the pan from the oven but don't turn the oven off. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl. Peel the bananas and add them to the bowl then give it all a good smash with a potato smasher or fork. Add 1 stick of the butter, and the honey. Season with salt and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until everything's well combined and the mixture is fluffy. Spoon into an oven-proof serving bowl and smooth the top. In a separate mixing bowl, use your fingers to rub together the remaining stick of butter, the brown sugar, flour, and pecans until the mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the sweet potatoes and return to the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the crumbs are golden. Serve hot. My Notes: This dish can be prepared well ahead of time. I had my potatoes and bananas roasted early in the morning. Mashed them all together sometime during the afternoon and then put them in the baking dish with the topping a good hour or two before baking time. This could definitely be made a day ahead, stored in the fridge and maybe leaving the topping off until you're ready to bake.

Cleveland's "Fabulous" Food Show

***UPDATED AT BOTTOM OF POST*** Two months ago, I checked out the website for information on this Fabulous Food Show and I could not wait for this weekend to finally get here. My idol, the love of my life, the apple of my eye, the butter in all that is holy, Paula Deen was going to be there!! And if that wasn't enough to get my britches into a bunch well, Tyler Florence being there too sure did the trick! He's so dreamy *drool* Two months ago I asked dear Hubbs if he'd take me for my birthday and he agreed. Bless his cotton socks! I sent an e-mail telling a couple of my friends who also get into all things foodie, and they were just as excited at the prospect of seeing this Fabulous food show we've all heard about for many years but never made it to. Last year I missed Alton Brown and I was bummed.. this year I was NOT going to miss my Paula OR the hunky Tyler. NO fakkin' way, my friends.. No Fakkin' Way. And so it was settled. Hubbs, myself, Min and Cin were going to the food show - Yay! So I checked in on the website periodically for more information on what vendors and attractions were going to be there, I probably read that website 20 times before the day we decided to buy the tickets. We really didn't want to buy them 2 months ahead.. I mean, that's two months. Lots of stuff could happen in two months. The day we decided to buy our tickets was 4 weeks before the show. Being the saavy computer geek that I am, I volunteered to buy them online and print them out for everyone. I'm nice like that. I got out my shiny credit card and sat down in front of my PC and typed in the addie for the website that, by then, I knew by heart. I clicked on the button to "Buy Your Tickets Now!" and even before the whole page was loaded I clicked on my sweet southern gal's name and then clicked on her first show of the day for Saturday, November 11th. You see, I'd made about 4 dry runs before the actual ticket buying day. I knew that I had to click on the show I wanted to see as the first step in the ticket buying process. I knew! Here's what I didn't know. Thanks to absolutely no mention of it on the site. Not only are you buying your ticket for entrance into the Fabulous Food Show, you are also buying your seat to the show you want to see. It's not all general admission. "Huh.", I said to myself.. and continued on past the show time page to the seat arrangement page. "Huh?", I said to myself again, when I saw that there were no available seats. "Well that sucks", I muttered to myself as I clicked on the back button to choose her next slated show time of the day (there were 3). "The hell??", I wondered out loud as that show had no available seats either. Back button again.. choose her last show of the day and guess what? Sold. The. Fuck. Out. (*@)#*$!!!! Pardon my French. Okay then, guess we'll go on Sunday. But nooooooooooooo that would be too EASY. You see she's headed to whereeverthehell she's headed to after her last show on Saturday. She no be there on Sunday, sucka!! I might have teared up a lil when I saw she wasn't even going to be there. *sob* Well all was not lost. Thank God. I could still go see the very hunky and slightly pudgy (I heart his love handles) Tyler's show AND get my books signed by my lurve, Paula, at the Sur La Table's Celebrity Book Signing Pavilion!! HOOO-RAY!!! This surely had to be Fate! or Grand Luck! I'll get to be near BOTH of them. Party on, Wayne! Party on, Garth! Schawinnnnnnggg! So they didn't have 4 seats even remotely next to each other for Tyler's show.. that didn't matter now. Now all that mattered was that I was going to see him up close and personal, making magic in the Main Kitchen Stadium Pavilion! And then? And then I was going to get my THREE books signed (I chickened out on my original idea of bringing a pound of butter for her to sign) by Paula. Life is good. :D So last night I stayed up super late (11:30!) and made my French Toast with Apples and Raisins Casserole, so it could soak up all it's custardy goodness over night. I set the table for my guests and I chopped up some onions and red peppers for Hubbs' awesome Eggy, Potatoey, Sausagy, Oniony, Peppery, Cheesy bake thingie he was going to make. I crawled (almost literally) into bed and fell asleep immediately dreaming wonderfully erotic dreams of Tyler's love handles, butter and giving birth to Paula's children. Yeah. Don't ask. I woke this morning with a spring in my step (I tripped over a dog toy) and a smile on my face! I made the coffee and caught up on a couple e-mails, then woke Hubbs and realized we only had an hour before Min and Cin were due - so I, as always, went into panic mode to get his Eggy, Potatoey blah blahy bake finished and my arse into the shower. They came.. we ate, it was wonderful.. hadda go - gonna be late for Tyler's show!! As soon as we got there we heard a crowd cheering and we realized that Paula had just taken the stage for her first show. Although quite envious of those people, I had a mission - to figure out where the hell the stage was for Tyler's show and where the hell the Sur La Table's Celebrity Book Signing Pavilion! was, so I knew where my landmarks were. As we walked around we found the Main Kitchen Stadium Pavilion where Tyler would be without much problem and in plenty of time. He wasn't due for another 45 minutes. Then we found the Sur La Table's Pavilion and we all about dropped a load in our pants. There ALREADY had to be about 47 KAGILLION people standing in line waiting for Paula. Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME??? Pardon my French again. That's when, my friends, my attitude went sour real quick. Not only would I not be able to see her show, now there was no doubt in my mind that I will not be getting my books signed by her in this lifetime. Hubbs offered to go stand in line while we went to see Tyler's show, but I couldn't let him do that. We'd prolly see Tyler's show and walk around for another 3 hours and he'd still be in line. I was not a happy camper. Yes, I prolly should have put a lil more thought into the day. Paula is quite the popular gal right now, I should have known (especially after seeing how her shows were sold out) there'd be a huge crowd at the book signing pavilion as well. I blame myself. But I also blame the fakkin' website. They should have put in GIANT LETTERS that the shows were NOT general admission. Fakky McBastards. We went and saw Tyler - he did put on a great show and he looked simply scrumptious.. he made a cream of cauliflower soup, followed by a clams and pasta dish topped off with a lemony custard and macerated berry dessert. Everything went off without a hitch and he was very warm and hospitable and quite charming and funny. He played up the crowd and introduced his sous chef and had that Jack gal, that hosts "How To Boil Water" with him, come up for a bit. I took many pictures with the crap cam and although I was only probably 100 feet from him, they all turned out blurry and looked as if I was sitting with a better line up of the planets than the stage - but I shall post them at the end.. for anyone who wants to see blurry lil pics of Tyler and his sexiness. =) After his show we walked around for hours checking it all out. If the disappointment of not being able to see Paula (Oh, btw, I did get to see her.. when she came out on the stage at the book signing thing, I saw her head. It was nice.) hadn't soured my experience with the Fabulous Food Show - the crowd of rude people, the very long lines, the way that you paid $25.00 to get in and yet had to pay extra for any thing you wanted to do inside, that there were probably just as many (if not more) vendors for non-foodie services and products as there were for foodie services and products, and finally, only ONE local restaurant was there representing - did. The whole experience, except for his show, was over priced and highly disappointing and I doubt I'll ever go back to this again. Unless, of course, Paula comes back next year. And if so, I'll buy my tickets 6 months in advance, camp outside the doors a week before the show and remember to bring that fakkin' pound of butter because I'll want something to sell on E-bay to make up for it all. Below.. gratuitous, yet crappy, pictures of Tyler: You can click on each one to see a bigger (blurrier) version if you'd like. Hi kids. Maybe I'm just super sensitive and taking a couple comments the wrong way, I'm not sure - but I just want to clarify something. In no way, shape, or form was I criticizing Tyler's physique. I find men with a lil meat on their bones to be irresistable. Lemme just tell ya. That man is F.I.N.E., and yes I agree - in person he is so much more dreamier than on TV for sure! I am over weight - I have been over weight most of my life and there is no way I would ever say anything bad or judgemental about ANYONE with extra pounds. I was simply expressing my admiration of Tyler. I've always found him attractive, I just find him more attractive now as my personal taste in men leans more to the way he looks now. Which is perfect, IMHO. =) This is just MY personal opinion. So, please, if you did take offense to my comments about his sexy love handles, don't be offended, I didn't mean it in a bad way at all. I'm the last person on the face of the planet that would be judgemental of body weight. Trust me. ;)

Tyler is hot!

I don't know if I've mentioned.. but I'm on a quest for the perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie. After my score of Valrhona chocolate at Miles Farm Market last weekend, I could not wait to try a new recipe with one of the best chocolates in the world. So I searched high and low and found 5 chocolate chip cookie recipes - all promising to be chewy and yummy. But which one to try first? Well.. after much debate, I decided to go for Tyler Florence's Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Why? Because Tyler is hot, of course. The man is a fantastic chef and total eye candy to boot.. how could I go wrong? I made a damn good choice. =) His cookies are buttery, big, fat AND chewy! yay! I was kinda worried because they do end up pretty huge and although golden brown around the edges after 12 minutes, still looked undone in the middle.. but I figured what the heck - if I cook them any longer they are gonna be crispy and a crispy chocolate chip cookie is bad juju to me. After cooling off (As If. They were still steamin' hot because I couldn't wait to taste them) I found them to be delightful.. are they the BEST chewy chocolate chip cookie EVER? Well.. I've still got 4 more recipes to try and the ultimate test is a day or two after - will they still have their chewy goodness? We'll see. =) But if these other 4 recipes turn out 1/2 as good or better than Tyler's - well all I can say is it's going to be delicious finding out :D Tyler Florence's Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1/2 c. white sugar 3/4 c. packed light brown sugar 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 2 large eggs 1 (8 oz.) block dark chocolate, coarsely chopped Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. Place the butter, sugar and brown sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer; cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Gradually ad the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and contine to mix until a smooth batter forms. Turn off the mixer and fold in the chocolate chunks using the spatula. To form the cookies, scoop about 1/4 c. of the cookie dough into your hands and roll it into a ball; place them about 3 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets - you should get about 4 cookies on each pan. Press down the tops of the dough slightly and bake until the cookies are light brown, 12 minutes for chewy cookies or about 15 minutes for crispy cookies. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough/cookie sheets. *Note: I didn't use 1/4 c. balls, instead I scooped them out with 2" scoop - they flatted out to be about 3 inches in diameter. Loverly =)