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Es werden Posts vom September, 2014 angezeigt.

DIABETIC FRIENDLY MEXICAN QUINOA SKILLET

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For those of us who have Type II diabetes, you KNOW how hard it is to find something quick, easy and tasty that won't send your glucose meter into a spin. Well, here is a recipe that is very diabetes friendly and it SCREAMS comfort food taste. This recipe is super quick and easy to make!!  It is definitely going directly into my 5 star recipe box and I will be freezing single portions of it for my busy day quick hot lunch!!   This is delicious at room temperature too !!  SPICY QUINOA 1 cup chopped sweet onion 2 cloves garlic minced 1 seeded and deveined jalapeno pepper chopped (optional) 1 cup quinoa (rinsed well and drained) 15 ounce can rinsed and drained kidney  1  diced red bell pepper 14.5 ounce can fire roasted tomatoes (un-drained) 1  14.5 ounce can of water 1 cup corn  (I used frozen) 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (depending on taste) 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (see note below) 4 ounce can diced mild

Pumpkin Seed Brittle – Break Some Off This Halloween

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This pumpkin seed brittle recipe was a lot easier to make than film. The procedure for nut brittle, or in this case, seed brittle, is very simple, but there are points in the recipe when you have to move fast, which is unfortunate when you have to move a camera and set up shots.  Even with these challenges, it came out just fine, and I’m only complaining as a way to build confidence. Once your sugar mixture has turned a nice caramel color, you have to immediately turn off the heat, add your baking soda (be careful), then your nuts or seeds (be careful), and hastily mix until combined. As the concoction cools it hardens quickly, so transfer into your pan and press as soon as you can (be careful). After that, you can relax, unless you are scoring yours into shapes. No pressure, but you only have about two minutes to make your marks. After the brittle is cool, simply break it up, and you’ll be enjoying a crispy, delicious, and very seasonally appropriate treat. Regarding the salt: you can

The Melting Pot

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Randomly one night at dinner hubby and I were talking about fondue. The kids became quite interested in the idea of cooking your own food and asked if there was a restaurant in town where you could do it—and as soon as we mentioned the Melting Pot, my son was locked in on what he wanted for his birthday. We went with both sets of grandparents, so there were eight of us. First, I don’t recommend this many people with fondue—the table they had was fairly cramped and we only had two pots between us. It was a little challenging. There are several ways to order here, but we just went with the “4 course experience.” For this, you choose a cheese fondue for each burner, a salad, an entrée and a dessert. For our cheese, we chose gorgonzola and bacon and the “Alpine Classic.” The favorite of the table was the gorgonzola—there was butterkase and fontina cheese as well as the gorgonzola. For seasoning, they put in garlic and white wine. It was served with bread, fruit and veggies. The Alpine had

Does This Count?

As I recently mentioned, I'd really love to make it to Video 2,000, and I just thought of a way to do that a little quicker than seven years. I may start doing golf tips on off days. This is me demonstrating my famous backwards-between-the-legs shot. I couldn't take a normal stance with the ball so close to the edge of the sand trap, so this was the only option. My father-in-law Al is on the green, and my sister-in-law Jennifer is filming. We were playing the gorgeous, Fairbanks Ranch Country Club . I don't remember if I made the put. ;) Enjoy!

Guest Post: Federal Donuts [Includes BONUS] — (South) Philadelphia, PA

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Sacha here! You might remember me from Erin's review of Guatelinda . I am also known as  @zigged . Our  2014 family road trip  took us east to visit my dad in New Jersey + enjoy adventures in Ocean City, MD, and New York City. The itinerary I planned included stops at restaurants that are reported to be culinary gems. This time:  Federal Donuts . I first heard of this place in  Saveur 's America's 50 Best Donuts  (print edition). We tried another one on that list,  Nord's Bakery  in Louisville, and it was delicious. This one was a no-brainer because SOUTH PHILLY (where I'm from) and FRIED CHICKEN. The menu is short and sweet. This place makes two things: donuts (hot fresh and fancy) and fried chicken. We were down to try both. I pre-ordered the donuts and chicken the night before to guarantee availability because of all the talk of their selling out of things. We got a half dozen of each kind of donut—one of each fancy and two of each hot fresh—and a whole chicken

Crostini Dijonnaise – Mustard-Infused Toasts for Extra Special Spreads

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If you’re going to serve your pate or rillettes with toasted bread and mustard anyway, why not save a step, and just make mustard-flavored crostini? That’s the question I asked myself while making the potted duck spread we just posted, and this was the answer.  For a first attempt I was very happy with the results. These had the same crispy crunch of traditional crostini, but also offered a fairly noticeable, mustardy zing. I’m looking forward to trying some variations using hot mustard powder, maybe mixed into a little olive oil. Speaking of oil, my only criticism is that these needed a little more fat. Next time I’ll use a little more of the butter spread, and/or drizzle in some olive oil to insure we don’t have any dry spots. That aside, I loved the color, and as we head into entertaining season, I think these would make a great addition to your appetizer arsenal, especially when paired with something as extra special as a batch of homemade rillettes (hint, hint). I really hope y

Amber Indian--Castleton

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I met up with my BFF and another high school era friend (wow, we’ve known each other a long time) for lunch the other day at Amber Indian in Castleton. I have been to the Amber in Carmel, and for some reason did not think the two restaurants were related, but as it turns out, according to their carry out menu and website, they are. So there you go, mystery solved. I normally don’t get buffets but since I was in the mood for chicken tikka masala, and it was available on the buffet (it’s just under $7), it seemed silly to order it from the menu. Plus, this way, I could try some other things. The chicken tikka masala was good, although seemed less seasoned than when I had it at Amber up north. My guess is they do it on the milder side to appeal to the masses, and I like it a bit spicier. The creamy sauce, flavored with some tomato and coconut, just didn’t have the same dimension as the other. It was still good though, with pretty tender bits of chicken. I also tried the chicken do piazza—

Duck Rillettes – It Only Tastes Like Duck Butter with Extra Butter

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Duck rillettes is one of the most amazing culinary magic tricks of all time. Even though most of the spread is made up of fairly lean duck meat, by emulsifying in a little butter, duck fat, and duck gelatin, you’ll swear the final product has the fat content of the finest foie gras torchon. By the way, I miss foie gras torchon. The key here is to mash the large chunks of cold duck with the warm duck fat and gelatin. As the meat breaks down, the fat cools and turns the whole bowl into creamy duck spread heaven. Pack it in a crock, keep it sealed with a layer of fat, and you have an incredibly tasty snack that will last long into the winter months. Some chefs prefer to let the duck sit overnight with the rub on, and “potpourri” in, but I skip that step, and instead let the duck cool in it’s own juices after roasting, and then sit overnight in the fridge, to continue developing flavor. Once made, it can be enjoyed right away, but if you can hold off a few days, it will really come into it

HOMEMADE VANILLA EXTRACT

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The Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas baking season is just around the corner and I decided to stock the pantry with baking supplies.  Well, I was shocked at the increased price of good quality vanilla; some of it is as high as $15 for just a few ounces!! With that in mind, I decided to make my own vanilla, although I had NO CLUE how to do it. After some Internet research, I was thrilled to learn that the process was SUPER EASY and only takes TWO ingredients (vodka and vanilla beans)!! At first I was concerned because vanilla beans are not always in my budget. I like McCormick brand spices, but their price for TWO vanilla beans is over $10!! Homemade vanilla extract would be outrageously expensive at those prices, so back to the Internet. I discovered that the best vanilla extracts are NOT made out of the same kind of vanilla beans that you bake with (whew!! That was a relief.). Vanilla extract is made with G rade B vanilla extract beans (I didn't even know there was such a thing)

Next Up: Duck Rillettes

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Napolese - The Fashion Mall

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We always struggle on the weekends trying to find somewhere to eat lunch near our house that’s local and that won’t be jammed packed. We had not yet tried the Napolese in the Fashion Mall, so we thought we try it and see how crowded it got. Turns out, it was just as packed as most places, and particularly since there were six of us that day, it took even longer (they don’t have a lot of capacity for larger parties when they are crowded). The nice thing is you can wander the mall while you wait for your table and they’ll call you when it’s ready. First of all, I love the olive mix they serve at Napolese. I’m an olive fanatic and these are fantastic. A nice mix of pitted olives—green, kalamata, and Nicoise. This is the little freebie they give you when you sit down. We then also got a starter of the polenta with Trader’s Point feta and cherry tomatoes ($10) and the tomato/caper/olive dip ($10). Honestly both were really good and a nice combination of things to have together. The polenta

Guest Post: Road Trip: Shake Shack — New York City, NY

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Sacha here! You might remember me from Erin's review of Tacos 46 . I am also known as @zigged . Our  2014 family road trip  took us east to visit my dad in New Jersey + enjoy adventures in Ocean City, MD, and New York City. The itinerary I planned included stops at restaurants that are reported to be culinary gems. This time: Shake Shack's Theater District location . Many moons before our trip I knew where we'd have dinner in NYC. But a few days before we left I realized that we'd need a place for lunch too. Up until that point I assumed we'd pack it but, let's be real, two teenage girls from Indianapolis were not going to willingly go to Manhattan with sandwiches in their bags. So I asked Anil Dash where to go and of course he suggested this place. #duh We arrived around 11:45 AM and were ordering by around noon, which is a pleasant departure from some of the stories I've heard. An employee handed us menus when we queued up (AKA "waited on line&quo

Remoulade Sauce 2.0

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I believe there’s a very old remoulade video floating around the channel somewhere, but after making some to go with our salmon cakes , I figured it was high time to share an updated version. Better known as tartar sauce, this easy and adaptable condiment isn't just for fish sticks anymore. As I mentioned in the video, it was originally invented to go alongside meat, so it comes as no surprise that it’s excellent on everything from grilled pork chops to double cheeseburgers. And when it comes to sandwiches, as long as you have some of this sitting around (should last at least a week), no mayo should touch your turkey on whole wheat.  Regarding the dried tarragon reduction at the beginning; this is an old-school step that many people will skip, but if you can find dried tarragon, I really think you should give this method to try, as the flavor is quite different than if fresh is used. With condiments like this, every single ingredient is “to taste,” so be sure to adjust according

Miracle Sushi & Modern Asian Cuisine

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My friend Suzanne (aka @indyfoodswap ) had mentioned to me that she had tried Miracle a couple of times and was intrigued by the menu—but she had only tried a couple of things and wanted to try others. We grabbed the hubbies and made a date night. While the sushi sounded good, and we knew we would order some, the small plates part of the menu is what is so interesting, so we ordered a bunch of things. They also served us some complimentary amuse bouche (bouches?), because even though they have been open awhile, we ended up there on their grand opening weekend. They gave us a little tofu number with bits of cucumber and hot sauce and an Asian-style devilled egg. It had an interesting flavor with some wasabi but the egg whites were strangely firm. Nice touch though. We each picked a small plate to share and honestly, they were all good. We all had different favorites. Not surprisingly, mine was probably the tuna tartare ($9). It was interesting, more of a minced tuna than diced, making t