So....that happened.

Let's note a few things, shall we?

1) It's been a few weeks.

2) It's so NOT entirely my fault. Except for the part where it kind of is. But whateverDON'TJUDGEME.

3) Fruit salad is totally an acceptable brunch option. My noble competitor's opinion notwithstanding.

4) The West Wing is just as awesome as it was 15 years ago. Although the fact that there are only, like, 7 computers anywhere is hilarious. "The Internet is not a fad!" hahahahaha

5) We've moved on to Pasta! Get behind it.

One of the stated goals of this blog is to get us to use our cookbooks instead of constantly trying/failing to cook out of Pinterest. Lemme tell you what, BAD IDEA. If you actually follow the trail back, you find some random 42 year old tossing things at a bowl and then photographing it with bokeh like that actually makes a difference in the final deliciousness outcome. But heeeere:

Zero progress has been made on the front of keeping a tidy kitchen while cooking. This is why I normally wait until both roommates are gone, so that they come back to a lovely SURPREESE of clean kitchen + food.

Also, get a load of how healthy this looks. The color! The texture! THE COLOR.

I don't remember where I saw this - it was on one of those depressing tv shows where they go to some family's house and make them take out all the food and it's packaged and sad and entirely shades of brown. The point is, the more color on your plate the better. I may or may not use that as an excuse to get fully loaded pizza.

Did you know that Stanley Tucci wrote an Italian cookbook? And that it's actually fantastic?

Technically, this is a summer pasta salad, and it's only April but whatever. Still brilliant. Also, I doubled the amount of fresh mozzarella. Because I'm not a heathen. This recipe made a LOT, so hooray for lunch this week! Everyone knows that pasta salad gets better the longer it sits, and if right before serving I toss in a little pomegranate balsamic vinegar, well...that just proves that I'm a friggin' genius.

Me and Toby Ziegler.

Bacon, Asiago Scones - Appetizer or Breakfast Food?

So to find a new appetizer and not my favorite cream cheese + yummy type dip proved to be more challenging than expected.

Until I found it - basically a trifecta of the three best foods ever: bacon, cheese, scones (aka bread product). So, my  "Easy Entertaining" cookbook won my heart and my baking time this week with "Bacon and Asiago Scone Bites."

First of all, it is important to note that this recipe was modified since I am not eating wheat flour currently. So, per the usual, I subbed in some of my favorite thing on the planet Pamela's Mix.

And the best part was this was super easy to make too.
1. Started by cooking up some bacon - easy enough.

2. Mix the "flour" and etc. together.  And of course it's going to be delicious when you're adding a stick of butter and some heavy cream - good grief!
Don't forget to ripped up the bacon and add it in.

At this stage I have to admit, I found the dough to be a little wet, so I went ahead and added more Pamela's.  I'm assuming that regular wheat flour wouldn't be this wet and/or since the chef was expecting that you were going to have the patience to knead and roll out the dough with some extra flour you were already going to dry it out.

3. But rather than roll it out, i simply grabbed little balls and shaped them.  I went ahead and made a few 'big kid' sized scones before remembering that this dish was going to be an appetizer.  At that point it was super eating to start with about a 1" ball of dough and shape it into a little brick.

They baked beautifully.  The final product was a little crumbly, this is really a scone not a biscuit, but OMG yum.  The OTT has been making himself quite content all week with the extras.  I'll go by and see a bite missing (oh wait, maybe that was me!)

I would absolutely make this recipe again - and even better, I would serve the scones with prosecco for a fabulous start to any event.  The salty and sweet are bellisimo darlings!

Happy eating,
L

Battle 5: Easter Appetizers

Happy Easter Weekend all!

And there's nothing like family gatherings, egg dying and a sugar high to make Chef Sink and I want to get cooking.

And luckily we're both still at the wonderful age of "oh sweetie, why don't you just bring an appetizer..." so that's exactly what we're going to do.  Easter Appetizers - and the recipe MUST be from a cookbook.  This means, no cheese platter for these girls.

Ladies, start your ovens!

Daddy's Shrimp 'n Grits - trust me, it's breakfast

So, other than the fact that I'm posting a bazillion days late - I would call this battle a complete success.  I follow France's savory cheesy breakfast with in fact a savory cheesy breakfast... notice a trend? Get on the 'cheese-for-breakfast' bandwagon!

I blended a classic southern breakfast with a family favorite (thanks for the recipe Dad) to bring you THE BEST FOOD EVER - Shrimp 'n grits.  

I physically cannot NOT order Shrimp and Grits whenever it's an option as a restaurant, and have therefore tried my fair share of this dish.  So it is with great authority that I tell you that despite the stick of butter in this recipe, I stand by the fact that this is the healthy version.  After all, there isn't a half inch of butter floating atop your bowl like they do in Key West (Mother-of-god it's delish!)

Nope, here we made our grits with milk, chicken broth and some cheese.  Load it into muffin tins and pop them in the oven.











Now the OTT (official taste tester) said he didn't believe in shrimp for breakfast, but he couldn't argue with  (or resist) cheese grits and ham gravy.  So while the grit "cups" are baking, I browned up some smoked ham,  butter (of course) and some extra broth.  I substituted gluten-free Pamela's Mix for flour in the gravy; still browned up beautifully and no sacrifice in taste either.

Now, here comes the good part.  Once the grits have been in the oven and firmed up.  Use the back of a spoon to make little bowls.  Then spoon in the ham gravy and top with cooked medium shrimp. Warm them back up for about 10 minutes. 

This recipe is originally for an appetizer size AKA mini-muffin tin, but for a breakfast portion I made them in regular sized muffin cups  (makes about 12) and served 2 each topped with some fresh parsley and of course my favorite, Texas Pete Hot Sauce.  

And no, I didn't refrain from licking my plate, cooking implements, fingers or anyone else's.

Happy Eating!
L

Pão de Queijo

One day I will be able to do this without making a gigantic mess.

Zomg.

ANYWAY.

Favorite.

No, but seriously. This is a perfect food.  As in up there with pizza and toast. THIS IS PRACTICALLY THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.

Even the batter/dough thing is visibly delicious and cheesy.

Hang on. I'm drooling from the thought of a pizza crust that tastes like this.

Super easy recipe, and I finally got to use one of my cookbooks on BatchBattles. It's not...exactly perfect. Even the frozen stuff my relatives can get at the grocery store has a more delicate flavor, and while this recipe is definitely one of the better ones I've tried, the interior is not as fluffy as I'd hope.

Whatever.

CHEESY BREAD.

And this totally counts as breakfast. I would eat these for breakfast. So would you, and so would your mom.

I'd tell you how many I've had since they came out of the oven...but then I'd have to kill you.

Complete. Genius.

YOU GUYS.

My flawless counterpart is a goddess among women and had a brilliant idea. Neither of us has any time for this nonsense this week, so we are extending the deadline to the weekend and doing a SPECIAL BREAKFAST EDITION.

I'm. So. Excited.

Please excuse our chefs!

Due to a snag... also known as no one wants to consume anything made by a sick chef, we will not be battling this week. 

Please accept our deepest apologies. We will return next week with a bigger, badder, more delicious battle.