My mother-in-law has been visiting from Illinois since Super Bowl Sunday, thankfully the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! On Saturday, Marissa and I took her out to the Queen Creek Olive Mill and then we drove down the road a little spell to the Pork Shop, two of my favorite places in town. At the Pork Shop, I bought green chili summer sausage, thick cut bacon, brats, and baby back ribs so meaty that they looked more like pork chops when sliced between the rib bones! Amazing is the only word to describe the pork you can find there!

I’m naming this BBQ sauce, “south of southern” because it has not only Southern Comfort but also a healthy dose of Kahlua and jalapeno for a south of the border flavor too.

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I haven’t had the opportunity to cook at home much this week. In fact, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, I wasn’t even home. There were plenty of leftovers in the fridge for Dave and Marissa to help themselves to, but did they? No! Instead they just picked at stuff, never going to the trouble to even re-heat something and eat a real meal. I’m talking cheese and crackers for dinner. So when I finally was home to make dinner on Thursday night, it was up to me to use the leftovers. I made this stir-fry, using the Spanish pork from earlier in the week. That’s one of the great things about stir-fry, as long as you have nice fresh veggies, you can start with raw or cooked meat and end up with great results.

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I’ve taken four of my favorite Spanish ingredients and stuffed them into a pork loin, creating a perfect Sunday supper. I believe you could take Spanish dry-cured chorizo, piquillo pepper, Marcona almonds, and smoked paprika and make just about anything more wonderful than it was before!

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I’ve been holding out on you, and I do not mean with those special Raincoast crackers. I mean about informing you about reaching my goal. Exactly 2 weeks ago, on November 29th, I asked  you to help me reach my goal of 1,027 comments, by the end of the year. You have done it, and we reached that goal several days ago. The current number of comments for this blog is 1,044!

Thank you so much for all the kind words, it means so very much to me. Plus those comments help make me feel a little less sickened by how many spam comments come in every single day. Yes, blogs get a ton of spam. I have a spam blocker, and since the end of June, it has blocked 2,832 comments of spam! That is an average of 17 per day. That’s more “real” comments then I get in an entire week! So Annoying (and usually of disgusting nature too!) But enough of that, what I really want to say is Thank You All!

The other things that I used to find annoying were deviled eggs and meatballs. I know, that sounds strange, but when you hear this little tale, you will see why.

I am in the beginning stages of planning an 80th birthday party for my dad. That brings up memories of the 70th birthday party I threw for him. I worked for months; planning the menu, decor, invites, etc. Of course, the food was all “gourmet” and took days to prepare. My gorgeous sister, Sloane, worked long hours but wanted to make something to help. She asked, “Well, could I at least bring some deviled eggs?” I happily replied, “Sure, that would be great!”

She arrived hours early to help set up. The food was all laid out on the buffets; the guests arrived, they greeted the birthday boy, chatted, and began to eat. Within minutes, and I do mean just a few minutes, all the deviled eggs were gone, while the loads of gourmet food looked untouched! What the heck is it with deviled eggs? Although we didn’t serve meatballs at that particular party, the same thing happens with them! I honestly just don’t get it. But I will tell you one thing for sure, we will have several dozen deviled eggs and hundreds of meatballs at our dad’s birthday party in April, and these are the meatballs I will be serving! [Read more →]

Marissa made dinner last night! It was wonderful, and so was the food! To have someone cook for me is pure heaven, and she is a turning into a very good cook, so that makes it extra special. Marissa found a recipe on allrecipes.com for something I probably would never have made, a melon soup. I was a bit skeptical, but I didn’t tell her that, and I’m so glad I held my tongue, because it was a delightful surprise.  She also made a delicious Guacamumus (avocado hummus) she found online. I will link you to it here on my site, once she gets it posted on her blog…

The original soup recipe called for Chinese winter melon (dong gua). She could not find that, so used honeydew instead, it worked perfectly. Also she added the 1 cup of Panko after discovering that the meat mixture was too watery. Finally, I advised her to bake the meatballs first, to brown and flavor them more, and that also worked just right.  Even if this doesn’t seem like the sort of thing your family would like, give it a try, and thank us later!  Plus this seems like the perfect soup to make vegetarian, just substitute tofu for the pork.

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When I am completely uninspired to create something new for dinner, this is my “go to” main course. It can be chicken breasts, a couple steaks, or pork chops, as shown here. The flavor of the wine or the herbs may change but the method remains. Season the meat, cook it through, remove meat from pan, add flavoring/seasoning to pan and cook, then deglaze the pan with liquid (doesn’t have to be wine; stock, juice or even water all work too) and reduce slightly. Done, ready to eat without much thought or effort, but still perfectly wonderful.

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It’s been a strange week. Dave was out of town on business Friday – Friday. I was in California that first weekend for a wedding (gorgeous wedding). Then Marissa went down to Tucson for her boyfriend’s birthday (Happy birthday, Alberto!).  And on Thursday, I took Connor up to Flagstaff to begin his sophomore year at NAU (Have a great first day today, Con! Missing you!).

The four of us were never home at the same time, and now we won’t be again until … Thanksgiving, probably (insert sad face here). After all that disruption, what we need is breakfast for dinner. There aren’t too many things that feel more cozy than having traditional morning food in the evening.

These sandwiches are delicious with or without the addition of a poached egg. I did four with and four without. Use any cheese you like, but I’m using pepper Jack to go with the jalapeno sausage I purchased at The Pork Shop… so darn good!

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Marissa and I were sharing a little quality mother-daughter shopping time at Scottsdale Fashion Square last week. Lord, how that girl used to roll her eyes and complain when I’d drag her into Williams-Sonoma, in years past. Not any more, now she wants to go in! Oh the joys of adult children! It made me want to buy her even more things than I already had.

As always, I made a beeline to the sale section and found this great grill tray. The fab sale price ($19 instead of $50!) and the item description are why I was so excited about it. “This grill tray keeps an even temperature and holds its heat well after you’ve removed it from the grill, making it as useful for serving dishes as it is for cooking them. Conducts even heat for thorough cooking, then keeps food warm at the table. Also useful for serving chilled dishes – just refrigerate or freeze the tray before use. For use on a grill or stovetop, or in the oven. Heatproof to 1,000°F.”

I decided to finally brave the heat outside, crank up the grill, and test it out. So, what grade do I give it? A++

Don’t fret if you don’t have the grill tray, just bake for about 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven, on a large rimmed baking sheet.

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I just realized that this is the third rellenos (or stuffed poblano pepper) recipe on the site, and the 2nd in the past two weeks… but honestly, rellenos rule!  Here is what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

Here is what I have to say: “Fill a poblano with anything you like, skip the batter and frying! There is no way you can go wrong.”

Announcement: Today begins a countdown. To what, you ask? You shall find out soon enough…

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