I love pretzel bread and every time I pick up a loaf I think of those big soft pretzels with cheese dip. After giving it some thought, I decided to make a Cheddar Cheese Soup and toss some toasted pretzel bread croutons on top. They were so delicious, a little crunchy on the outside and that soft pretzel like taste on the inside. I was craving a cheese soup with a little southwest flare so I added some roasted Poblano chiles and Fresno red peppers. A creamy Queso like soup! Continue reading
Chipotle Mexican Grill makes the biggest and most flavor filled burritos around. They are a company that embraces buying local from farmers that grow organic produce and raise animals in a humane way free from all the hormones that factory farms use. I appreciate that but what keeps me going back is how good their food is. They assemble their burritos in front of you with every topping in sight. Choosing what you put in that burrito is half the fun. While I may not be able to duplicate the Chipotle burrito exactly, I think my version is pretty darn good. I took a day to make all my fillers and toppings, enough to make 16 large burritos. We ate our fill, then wrapped the rest in aluminum foil to freeze.
As I sit here writing this I’m finishing off the last little bit of my Chile de Arbol salsa. I made this salsa as part of an upcoming recipe for Chipotle Burritos. But as it turned out this salsa became an addicting side salsa with chips. I love the flavor of arbol chiles which gives the salsa an after burn that keeps you coming back for more. I love making this in a molcajete because with each ingredient you see a new layer of flavor emerging along with an earthy aroma in the background.
Hockey is back!! After a long collective bargaining dispute between the NHL owners and players they have finally resolved their differences and on Saturday night my Detroit Red Wings will be back on the ice. Half a season was lost due to the dispute while fans were left out in the cold. Joe introduced me to hockey when we moved to Michigan in 1990 and I was immediately hooked. We were only in Michigan for 3 years but I’ve followed my beloved Red Wings throughout the years and celebrate the beginning of each season with a big platter of wings. They have become my traditional send off to my favorite team, “The Detroit Red Wings”! This year I’m going spicy with a Chipotle sauce with a tangy dipping sauce. I made a basting sauce from the homemade Chipotle Tabasco sauce which was thick and spicy. So enjoy the wings and watch some hockey!
My family, especially Joe and Josh splash a little Tabasco on everything. My pantry is full of Tabasco’s original sauce, green pepper sauce and chipotle sauce. It feels like I’m replacing bottles every other week so I decided to try my hand at making some sauce from scratch and see if it would pass the taste test of my most critical judges. I looked at the ingredients listed on the Chipotle Tabasco sauce bottle and started there. The amounts were up to me to decipher and as I kept measuring and tasting I finally came up with a pretty good match. It’s a little thicker and slightly less vinegary as the original but it’s hard to tell the difference when tasting them side by side. Continue reading
After all the sweets and decadent meals of the holiday season it’s time to tone it down and eat a little more health conscience. But it doesn’t mean meals have to be boring or tasteless. By marinating foods you can create many different tastes while still maintaining healthy habits. I’ve always loved the way citrus enhances marinades. This is a great time of year to get grapefruit so I picked up a few extra for my marinade. I intended to juice two grapefruit but they were so juicy I found I only needed one. I had enough for the shrimp and a little extra that I saved aside to make a salad dressing. With a salad and some herb wedge potatoes on the side and I had a healthy tasty meal. Continue reading
My newest kitchen toy is an ice cream maker and boy am I having fun! I wanted something simple to start out and found a recipe for vanilla frozen yogurt with only three ingredients. This was so simple and after the initial combination of ingredients and chill time, the ice cream maker made some magic. It was very creamy and melt in your mouth good!
The first thing I made with the Sun Dried Tomato Pesto was meatballs. I made a big batch so I could freeze some to send home with Cameron. He’s off on a new adventure living on his own in his new apartment. I’m sure he will appreciate a care package and a little reminder that Mom still looks out for him! These meatballs are so good and I love the sun dried tomato flavors that come through. I always feel like I have options once I have a batch of meatballs ready. They make up easy meatball subs and spaghetti with meatballs and marinara sauce.
It’s been a crazy week, my youngest son Cameron is moving into his first apartment. My nest is almost empty again. Cameron knows how to cook but he doesn’t really enjoy it. His idea of cooking is heating something in the microwave or boiling water for ramen noodles. I cook special things for him because he’s so dang picky. One thing he loves is pesto. He loves any kind of pesto. He puts it in pasta and slathers it on flatbreads with cheese and his absolute favorite is in meatballs. So I am putting together a care package for him and I know pesto will go a long way. This sun dried pesto was inspired by “Closet Cooking’s” version. It is so fast and simple and tastes ever so good.
An Inspired Cook 