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Whenever it gets a little snowy in New Jersey, some people cuddle up next to a fire and read, some find a new series on Netflix and blow through the whole first season, and some people search through their favorite cookbook + freezer and experiment with yummy things to cook. In my house we … well we do a little bit of all three {minus the fire since we sadly do not have a fireplace} – but we mostly while away the snowy hours, warm in our kitchen, mixing up interesting combinations. Some recipes are hits and some are glorious, garbage-bound misses, but fun … fun is had by all. Our latest was a big, big hit.
Cook the spinach, onion and garlic is a large fry pan. Drain well once spinach has cooked down. Add in cheese and oregano. Stir stir stir.
Ladies, try not to be too jealous, but my husband makes the best soups. I told him once that he should have become a ‘Soup Chef’. He responded, ‘Silly Carol, it is sous chef and sous chefs do not make just soup.’ Hey, if J. Simpson can ask if chicken of the sea is tuna or chicken, then I think my little sous/soup chef gaffe is perfectly understandable. And nonetheless, I still ascertain that if ‘Soup Chef’ was a real title – or perhaps a featured TV battle a la Top Chef: Just Soups – then my husband would win, which explains why there are so many soups featured here on Wonderpug Blog {PS> don’t forget here}.
Every year – sometimes biannually – there is a much anticipated event at Chateau DeMatos … Meat Appreciation Day. Invitations for this event are highly coveted and hard to come by. The festivities are guided by, you guess it, meat. We dined this year on pulled pork sandwiches, chicken wrapped in bacon (recipe to come later), sausages and bratwurst wrapped in bacon, pepperoni bruschetta, bratwurst bites, and sub (as in a sub sandwich) dip. However, this is the first year that the meat was carried through to the dessert. We offered caramelized bacon, chocolate covered bacon and these babies – dark chocolate bacon cupcakes. This recipe looks innocent enough; at first it is simply 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 cups white sugar, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 2 eggs, 1 cup cold, strong, brewed coffee, 1 cup buttermilk, 1/2 cup vegetable oil – all mixed together.
There are certain foods that just bring a great big smile to your face. For me those foods are mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, brownies, pancakes and chicken pot pie. However, I have never had this feel-good dish homemade. Have you? No? Well, try it. It is not too hard. And it is worth every piece of effort.
As anyone in a relationship can attest to, there are many things that two people can not agree on i.e. what to watch on TV, how to organize the kitchen, if the toilet seat belongs up or down, etc. But then there are those times when a couple is in perfect agreement – like is this instance. My husband and I both a.) hate wasting food and b.) love banana as a flavor. Therefore, as bananas start to get a little too mushy for eating comfort, drop those babies in the freezer and save them to make banana bread … killing two birds with one yummy little stone.
When I was a little girl, my mother would pack up us three girls once upon a random Tuesday, and take us visiting. As an Italian we have a large family where we even see fourth, fifth and sixth cousins on a regular basis. My favorite relative to visit as a girl was my dear, sweet little Great Aunt Helen. She was the sweetest, nicest, littlest, quintessentially-Italian woman. Every time we would go to her house she would prepare coffee out of her ancient percolator {heavily-creamed for us kids}, crunchy crunchy potatoes and her special-recipe deviled eggs. We lost her when I was still very young and, thus, I never had the chance to collect her recipe; but ever since those hot days sitting in her unair-conditioned yet incredibly welcoming kitchen, I wake up sometimes craving deviled eggs.
I don’t know about all of you, but my week was crazy with a capital C-R-A …zy. In order to brighten/soothe my mood I made some delicious and ridiculously sweet treats. They are basically rice krispies treats on prozac – and they certainly do bring a smile to the face.
