The fun part about writing a food blog is that I can go on and on about a recipe I loved, long after my family is sick of hearing about it. You’d be surprised at how long I can not only rave about the amazingly perfect chewiness of these addictive oat waffles … almost as long as I can make Keith feel guilty for eating the last leftover one and saving me exactly none!

My inspiration for this recipe came from Mothering’s outta here oat waffles. In fact, Mothering is almost back in my good graces after the clearly untested chocolate pretzels recipe that they published, which was a complete fail.

Besides the outrageously perfect texture — crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside — these waffles are prepared in such a way that they are nutritionally maximized. Because the grains are soaked in an acidic medium — in this case, yogurt — the anti-nutrients that are present in most grains are become chemically inactive, allowing the rich nutrients to get where they need to go — into you.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Waffles

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled or whole or steel cut oats
• 2 1/2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 cup organic plain whole milk yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons melted butter

Combine oats, milk and yogurt in blender. Cover and let soak, refrigerated, for 8 hours. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Preheat an oiled or nonstick waffle iron. Pour batter onto griddle and cook for about 5 minutes, or until golden. Serve hot however you like — a little drizzle of grade B maple syrup was all I needed.

Makes 8 waffles.

It seems like a lot of prep time, but if you just do the first step before bed, blending in the other ingredients in the morning is a snap, and if you have a waffle maker, you don’t even have to watch it — just take it out when they light turns green.

Out of all the waffles I’ve ever made, this texture is my hands-down favorite … I can’t wait to make them again.

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With the last name McDuffee, you’d think I’d do more of the Irish cooking, wouldn’t you? Two things: I inherited the name through marriage and my in-laws think they’re Polish, so I’m really at an impasse with the Irish cooking. A good stew, however, is worth writing about, and perhaps you’ll find one that you’d like to make on Wednesday, St. Patrick’s Day.

Irish colcannon is a traditional winter vegetable stew cooked up in milk … that can’t possibly suck. I love that this can be made by layering the veggies in a crock pot … kale, cabbage, parsnips, leeks … and potatoes of course.

Irish stew with herbed goat cheese dumplings … now there’s a new twist on an old favorite. Food Network kitchens uses veal stock and lots of fresh herbs, so this ought to be a tasty one.

Sweet potato and wild mushroom lamb stew again twists on tradition, with sweet potatoes and toasted pumpkin seeds, a little mustard and a lot of mushrooms.

What could be more Irish than soaking a bunch of meat in a vat of simmering Guinness for hours? This beef and Guinness stew does just that, and let me tell you — I’ve made this one and it’s gooood.

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Friday night I was working on my recipe for this post when my wife mentioned it was cooling down in the house. I got up and turned on the heater and went back to my recipe. A few minutes later we started smelling a burning smell. After some investigation I discovered the smell was coming from the heater. I turned off the heater and decided I would clean out the heater Saturday morning and then make my recipe, get some pictures and write my post.

Saturday morning I got up, had some coffee and made sure I had all my ingredients for my recipe. I was really looking forward to making this dish for dinner tonight. I got out my Air compressor and moved it and the heater out to the front yard. After tripping the breaker when I turned on the compressor I shut a few things off that were on the same circuit and charged up the compressor. I pulled the cover off the heating unit and blew out the dust. I saw no signs of burning dust, but was sure that would solve the problem. I put the cover back on and took the heater back in the house. I plugged it in and turned it on. Nothing happened. It would not come on. I checked to make sure the outlet was working and still no life from the heater. This heater is one of those fake fireplace heaters. It looks like a fire place, but really the heating unit is on the bottom. I had taken the cover off of the heating unit and cleaned it out. I packed the heater back outside and removed the cover from the back and blew out the dust. That is when I found the burnt connector at the bottom.

This connector has the wires from the cord on one side and the wires going to the controls on the other. The dust had built up and overheated this connector and fried it. I spent the next several hours rewiring the connections. Finally I got the heater put back together and working. I turned to my wife and she asked me, “Whats for dinner?” I looked at the time and realized it was too late to make the recipe I had been working on and decided to go get a Little Caesars Pizza instead. The great thing about Little Caesars Pizza is it’s cheap. $5.00 for a pizza that is bigger than and tastes better than a frozen pizza. One pizza is more than enough for a dinner for two and the pizza is pretty good. They do not over do the sauce like some pizza places do, the cheese is just right and there is plenty of pepperoni on the pizza. It is a fast, and cheap dinner and that is what I like.

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I know, another food rut. I haven’t even finished writing all my posts about homemade pasta when I suddenly become addicted to scones, seemingly out of nowhere. Well, not exactly nowhere — last week’s orange date chocolate chip scones were heavily inspired by recipes I have loved through the years.

This week’s little collection of scone recipes to try? They are just because I can’t get scones off the brain.

Would you believe Heidi Swanson just happened to publish a scone recipe this week? She’s a psychic enabler, feeding my addiction like that. These figgy buckwheat scones are going to be made soon … it’s in the stars. I just bought some buckwheat flour this week and the fig butter reminds me a lot of my fig port sauce that I created a few weeks ago for roasted garlic and rosemary chicken. Destiny’s calling….

I think I might like these cranberry oat scones since I love oatmeal muffins so much. There’s something so hearty and satisfying about oatmeal in baked goods. Since I’ve never met a cranberry I didn’t like — plus there’s lemon zest! — I’m putting these on my to-bake list.

Really? Pina Colada scones? I love that there are minds out there that think of recipes like this one. I adore just about everything coconut, so why not?

Honorable mentions:

• Ina Garten’s cranberry orange scones
• Heidi Swanson’s maple syrup scones
• Martha Stewart’s cheddar chive scones
• Joan Nathan’s ginger scones with cardamom

Share your favorite scone recipe in the comments.

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In my continuing quest to discover the ingredients for the Mandarin sauce on my favorite Chinese food restaurant’s Mandarin Chicken, I came across this rather tasty number in the back of my recipe box.

I have a vast array of recipes my Mom collected over the years of her life. It’s fun looking through these old recipes because many are very old and have been handed down from generation to generation. Some of them are handwritten and some were cut from the back of a box of some cooking ingredient. This particular recipe has no other information so I don’t know where it came from. I was somewhat surprised to find this recipe because Mom never cooked anything like this that I can remember.

How many of you out there have a card file full of these old recipes from a relative sitting in a cupboard somewhere? What condition are they in? I have a few that are only partially there now so it will be a lot of work to try and figure out what  the ingredients are and the amounts to use that are missing either from something spilled on them or part of another recipe card sticking to it. I am working on creating a database to store all of my recipes to keep them from being destroyed, and I am also scanning some of the older ones to save digital images of the markings added to them. I hope that you’re also doing what you can to preserve the history of your old recipes too.

Oriental Chicken

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup

Directions

Coat the chicken pieces with 1/4 cup of cornstarch; set aside.

Beat the eggs, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the flour and baking powder until no large lumps remain. Mix in the chicken until evenly coated.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Drop in the chicken pieces; cook until golden brown and no longer pink on the inside, about 12 minutes. Set the chicken aside; keep warm.

Reduce the heat to medium-high and stir in the sesame oil, ginger, and green onion. Cook and stir until the onion is limp and the ginger begins to brown, about 1 minute. Pour in the water, vinegar, and sugar; bring to a boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in the soy sauce and add to the simmering vinegar along with the ketchup. Stir until the sauce has thickened and is no longer cloudy. Stir in the chicken and simmer until hot.

I like to serve this over pasta, but rice would work just as well. Add some fresh vegetables on the side and you have a filling meal that is fairly light.

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Owen calls them “those big cookies.” I just call them delicious. They are dense and buttery and I can only eat one, but it’s plenty.

The inspiration for these scones came from three different places. I know I’ve mentioned Uprisings before, and there’s a recipe in there for orange date scones that caught my eye. My friend Michelle often makes her Grandma’s chocolate chip date cake for playdates, and it’s something we all beg for … so good. Finally — does anyone else out there remember the chocolate chip orange scones that Trader Joe’s used to sell but then had the nerve to discontinue? Back when I could still eat wheat, we’d buy them often and eat them with wild abandon.

All of those and more went into this recipe.

Orange Date Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 4 cups spelt flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1/2 cup orange juice concentrate + 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup dates, chopped
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Put the butter, flour, baking powder and baking soda in your food processor and blend until you’ve achieved coarse crumbs. Or if you must, cut the butter into the flour by hand and eat these for breakfast next year or so.

By hand (meaning with your hands), mix in the eggs, agave and orange juice mixture until just moistened. Fold in the dates and chocolate chips.

Plop that dough right on your countertop and flatten to about 1 inch high. Use a large round biscuit cutter to make your scone shapes or just form them into biscuits shapes by hand. There’s no right or wrong here — they’ll taste great no matter what.

Place scones on a greased cookies sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

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Each week, fabulous recipes grace Debbie’s in-box and pop up on her computer screen, and she’s sharing her favorites with you.

There’s always something tempting my palate electronically. I can’t open up my laptop without being alerted to another luscious recipe. And lately, I’m thinking in menus. How good would this kabocha lentil soup be with these cheddar bacon biscuits? And I might just eat two desserts — baked pears with lemongrass, ginger and vanilla and chocolate pretzels.

Are you sick of my Heidi Swanson love-fest yet? You won’t be after I share this recipe for kabocha French lentil soup … winter squash, green lentils, ginger, fennel … you must be drooling over that unique combination. Like Heidi, I’ve done the lentil soup thing to death yet still I want to make this one, yesterday.

I think I’d like to eat this soup with some cheddar bacon biscuits with fresh chives. It’s no secret that I adore savory muffins, like spinach muffins with feta, and I’d even thought about how good those muffins would be with fresh chives. And Epicurious recommends using their biscuits to make ham sandwiches which sounds divine to me.

I’ve been trying to get my little chef to make these chocolate pretzels with me for a couple of weeks now, and nothing. It’s very strange because he loves pretzels, loves chocolate and loves baking. It wouldn’t be as much fun making them by myself but it just may come to that.

Baked pears with lemongrass, ginger and vanilla sounds just about perfect, doesn’t it? And you don’t yet even know about the coconut milk, lime juice and pistachios that make up the sauce and garnish for this unique dessert. There’s something about that La Tartine Gourmande….

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The one thing I hate about this time of year is that the fishing sucks. Water levels in rivers and streams are down and the areas that are open for fishing are hard to fish in these conditions. We have been experiencing an early spring here in Idaho so the fishing is improving, but it is still not great. I was really feeling like fish for dinner the other day, but when I went to the freezer all that was left was a small grouse. Pickings are slim.

I sat down and turned on the food network to get some ideas. I watched an episode of Iron Chef America and the secret ingredient was fish. There were several different types of fish and most of them I had never heard of. It turns out that several of the fish were members of the Tilapia family. I had at least heard of Tilapia, however I did not know there were several different types of Tilapia. I have seen Tilapia in the seafood section at the Walmart so I headed off to get some of this new fish to try.

Tilapia is a mild flavored fresh water fish that is farm raised and readily available. It’s an inexpensive fish as well. Unlike some farm raised fish I have tried, the Tilapia is not mushy. It is firm and holds together well.

According to Wikipedia, Tilapia have very low levels of mercury as they are a fast-growing and short-lived fish that mostly eats a vegetarian diet and therefore do not accumulate mercury found in prey.

Tilapia is a low total fat, low saturated fat, low calorie, low carbohydrate and low sodium protein source. It is also an excellent source of Phosphorus, Niacin, Selenium, Vitamin B12 and Potassium.

I got my Tilapia fillets home and took some out to thaw. When I am trying a fish I have never eaten before I go for my standby cooking method: I lightly flour it and fry the fish in some hot oil. I had some left over chicken breast in the fridge so I decided to add a variation of my Sour Chicken Casserole as well. I left out the cheese when I made my pasta this time, because I have been watching the food network, and now know that cheese and fish are a big no no. Maybe one of these days someone will explain why that is to me, but for now I will just go with it.

Fried Tilapia

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
Ingredients:

• 4 Tilapia fillets
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil
• 1 to 2 teaspoons garlic powder

In a large non stick frying pan on medium heat add the oil and garlic powder. Bring this up to temperature before adding the fish. If the oil is not hot when the fish is added the fish will soak up some of the oil and may stick to the pan.

Pour the flour into a large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Thoroughly coat the Tilapia fillets with the flour and carefully lay them into the hot oil. Tilapia, like most fish, cooks fast so keep an eye on it.Let it cook on the first side for 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the size of the fillet, then turn over and cook for 2 to 5 minutes on the other side.

Sprinkle on a little lemon juice or add your favorite tar-tar sauce and the Tilapia is ready to eat. Combine this with the pasta and you have a hearty meal that is sure to please.

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I recently made a lemon poppy seed bread. It was dense and buttery and everything it should have been, but today I was craving something light and airy and lemony.

It’s hard to get lemony enough for my taste, but since I don’t like my baked goods too sweet, the lemon shines through more. A little vanilla extract takes the edge off, so the muffins aren’t tart. The poppy seeds add a delightful “pop” and I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast.

If you fear the lemon, sprinkle a little turbinado (raw, coarse) sugar on the tops of your muffins. They’ll look spectacular and your sweet tooth will be satisfied.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups sprouted spelt flour (or your favorite)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup agave syrup, or your favorite sweetener
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup oil (I used rice bran)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
• turbinado sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and the wet in a medium bowl. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just moist. Fill 12 greased muffin tins and sprinkle each with turbinado sugar if you wish. Bake at 400 degrees for about 16 minutes. Enjoy with a little butter or just fresh out of the pan. My kid had three — is that a shining recommendation, or what?

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I mentioned in a recent post that Kona has turned me into a crazed homemade pasta maker. I’ve yet to write up those recipes — they’re coming — but I have been collecting quite an array of ravioli recipes, now that the world is my oyster. Really, it may seem silly to you, but being unable to eat wheat and craving filled pasta has left me feeling like the greyhound chasing the rabbit, for years.

The results have been nothing less than thrilling, and trying these new raviolis are tops on my list.

Roasted portobello with caramelized onion ravioli would have been the first one I tried, if I had those ingredients in the house. I love that this recipe doesn’t have cheese in it so I can control the amount of cheese that goes into my food sensitive child by just using a sprinkle of cheese in the sauce. But I’ve been feeling caramelized onions in a ravioli… oh yeah.

This recipe, originating from Hawaii, has got some really interesting flavors. White bean and sun-dried tomato ravioli includes chipotle in adobo and cumin, along with more traditional Italian flavors. I riffed off of this recipe for my first ravioli recipe, which I kept more traditional, just in case. Trying this unique version could happen though.

I’ve been dying to make pumpkin ravioli, but I’m having trouble deciding which recipe to try. This Wolfgang Puck pumpkin ravioli recipe probably doesn’t suck (and I love that he uses spinach dough), but there’s enough heavy cream in the raviolis to put my son into a dairy-induced coma, so I probably won’t attempt it. Martha Stewart’s pumpkin raviolis sound delicious, but there are crumbled up cookies in them. Beyond being weird, we don’t eat wheat so we’ve defeated the whole purpose for making homemade ravioli.

So I’m exploring the amateur chefs to see what they’ve got for me. These butternut squash raviolis can be made with any orange squash and they have some parmesan cheese which I can substitute with pecorino romano (sheep’s cheese) and my kid will make it through the meal. This one’s a distinct possibility.

One more — a dairy-free pumpkin ravioli recipe! I’ll forgive the vegan for being vegan about it, because this recipe sounds delicious from start to finish and not at all what I was expecting from a pumpkin ravioli. I’m really excited to try this one.

Which one sounds best to you?

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So you’ve been sharing space with the dog for a week now. You thought that since you like getting power tools for gifts, your wife would love the new vacuum cleaner. Well, I’m going to help you get out of the dog house and back in your own bed. Both you and Fido will thank me so give yourself a flea dip and read on.

You’ve tried buying flowers, leftover candy, even one of the really expensive Teddy bears and she is still looking for a good divorce lawyer while Fido is looking at your neck wondering if he can get a good bite on it.

The way to get back in her good graces is simple — cook her favorite meal for her and give her some of these tasty homemade chocolate-covered caramels. This will show her how much you care about her and no one can resist the sweet, rich, gooey goodness of these candies.

Caramel is really easy to make, but it does require some attention to detail. The heat is the key to good caramel: Get it too hot and it will get hard instead of gooey, not hot enough and it will be runny. This makes good popcorn balls, or ice cream topping, but it is hard to dip in chocolate.

Chocolate-covered Caramels

Ingredients:

caramel

• 1 cup butter
• 2 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

chocolate

• 1 pound milk chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter

Grease an 8 x 8 inch pan.

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan on medium heat.

Add the brown sugar, corn syrup, and condensed milk to the butter.

Stirring constantly heat the mixture to 242 to 248 degrees F. I usually shoot for 245 degrees. I have no particular reason for that temp other than it falls in the range and is easy to see that mark on my candy thermometer. My wife always uses the cold water drop method to tell when her caramel is ready. I have never had good luck with that method so I stick to the thermometer.

When the temp is reached remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour into the 8×8 pan and let cool until it is set. I like to let mine sit over night in the fridge to get good and set. This makes it much easier to cut into pieces and to dip in the chocolate.

Once the caramel is cooled cut it into one inch squares. You can see from the picture I did not get all of them exactly one inch square, but they taste just as good.

Melt the chocolate with the tablespoon of butter. You can do this in the microwave, or you can use a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler pan use a metal bowl that will fit on top of a sauce pan leaving enough room in the pan for an inch or two of water. Make sure that the bowl does not touch the water or you will get the chocolate too hot and have problems.

When the chocolate is melted dip the caramel pieces in and coat them thoroughly. Place them on a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet and place in the fridge to cool.

After she eats a few of these I guarantee you will be back in her good graces and not fighting Fido for that dirty old blanket anymore.

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I bake a lot of breakfast muffins. You know, you’ve seen the recipes:

• Oatmeal strawberry muffins
• Berry muffins sweetened with agave
• Peachy flax molasses muffins
• Banana coconut muffins

I’ve even ventured out into the savory muffin territory which was a really, really good idea. I’ve been thinking a lot about savory muffins because we don’t like to use too much sugar if we can help it (though I do use all-natural sweeteners like palm sugar and agave syrup) but also because I’ve got myself a good case of the cheese cravings. There’s nothing like a cheesy muffin and right about now, I really want to sink my teeth into one.

So I’ve done the next best thing — I’ve virtually sunk my teeth into nine instead. Cruising the internet for savory muffin recipes brought on about as much salivation as an actual muffin would. Let me wipe my chin and share some of the recipes with you.

These savory mini-muffins, with goat cheese, red onion and rosemary, would go perfectly with a frittata stuffed full of fresh herbs and tomato slices.

Bacon, cheese, buttermilk and Canadian bacon combine in these savory breakfast muffins. How do you think biting into a big chunk of bacon while eating a muffin would be? I’m on the fence, but I think I could get used to it.

These savory muffins sport two kinds of cheese and garlic and a pretty high ratio of egg to batter. I’m thinking they’d be like a flour-y quiche.

When I think about baking with zucchini, I think about molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg … but not dill weed. These dilly zucchini muffins take a different approach, and add in a whopping amount of ricotta cheese while they’re at it. Suffice it to say that I’m interested by these muffins. They intrigue me.

Hmmm … dill weed’s coming up again in these cheesy herbed muffins. Maybe it’s a thing that no one told me about. What attracted me to this recipe, though, was the onion, garlic and mixed herb topping that you sprinkle on before baking. These just seem so … fresh.

Cheesy sweet potato muffins … now that’s what I’m talking about. Grated sweet potato and gobs of cheese are spiked with paprika. Holy yum, that combination is clearly my favorite. I never would have thought of that but the uniqueness has got me running for my muffin pan.

Now wait a minute — these pumpkin cheddar muffins may have just trumped those precious sweet potato yummies. Dude, they’ve got a savory streusel topping with cayenne and pumpkin seeds, and the muffin itself includes pumpkin, cormeal and roasted poblano peppers. These have just moved from breakfast to brunch and I’ve invited several friends over.

Reading these savory muffin recipes has officially begun to hurt. How is it possible that they just keep getting better and better? Just Bento’s got not one but two savory (vegan) muffin recipes that are causing me physical pain: pumpkin miso and carrot-onion-hazelnut. Come on! Who thinks of these recipes?

If I don’t stop now my drool will ruin my laptop, but I’ll definitely be making some savory muffins — soon!

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Recipes that I didn’t want to lose track of are what ended up in my column this week. I’m always on the lookout for new salads, and my intense longing for anything comfort food made me fall in love with the potato skins recipe. Pretty much any ethnic food’s okay in my book, and Indian is pretty simple to cook at home.

No magical themes, no gourmet vision-quests, just solidly delicious recipes that I’ll be making sometime soon.

I love a good salad. One that’s got fennel, red pepper, cabbage and Gorgonzola cheese somehow gets elevated to yum status. Emerald city salad’s got all of those and mixed greens, wild rice and becomes a healthy one-dish meal.

Cheesy potato skins with sun dried tomatoes caught my eye because it’s an innovative twist on an old favorite. Since it’s easy and my kid loves all things potato, this may be a meal served at my house very soon.

I think I’m on an Indian food kick lately. I recently tried Heidi Swanson’s recipe for palak daal and now I’m drooling over this easy (and they mean easy) recipe for chicken masala. Which, now that I think of it, would have been a nice accompaniment to the palak daal. Chicken marinated in yogurt and roasted. Yep, I’m on it.

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You can give any muffin the look of love with the right baking pan, but try one of these CliqueClack-tested recipes:

• Oatmeal strawberry muffins
• Berry muffins sweetened with agave
• Blueberry cinnamon muffins
• Peachy flax molasses muffins
• Banana coconut muffins

For the muffins pictured, I did a basic blueberry muffin recipe, replaced the sugar with agave syrup (and cut back the amount) and added some lemon juice and cinnamon sprinkled on top. I also put in a lot more blueberries than the recipe called for. If you can’t bake to excess, is it really worth baking? Take some liberties with those instructions!

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I have been told by friends who are either from Philadelphia, or have spent time there that if you’ve never been there then you’ve never really had a Philly cheese steak sandwich. I have tried the West of Philly Cheese steaks shop in Boise and thought the sandwiches were okay, but not all that great. I decided if I can’t get a real Philly cheese steak sandwich I would try my hand at making my own Redneck version.

I have written about using Steak-umm’s to make jerky in a previous post, but what I really like about them is that they can be used for so many things. they are fast and easy to cook so they take very little time and are a quick way to add some meat to any dish. This makes them perfect for these sandwiches. I also decided I would make some potato chips to go along with my sandwiches. I like making my own chips because they are thicker than most chips you can buy and yet they are not tough and hard to eat like some of the thick-cut fries I have tried.

Redneck Steak and Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients:

• 6 to 8 Steak-umms
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 1/2 red, yellow, orange bell peppers, sliced
• 4 to 6 medium potatoes
• 4 to 6 hoagie rolls

I like big pieces of peppers and onions on my sandwiches so I slice the onion and peppers fairly coarsely. In a medium frying pan heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil with a pinch of garlic powder or some fresh minced garlic. Add the onions and peppers and saute. I like to cook them just to the point the onions turn translucent.

In a separate frying pan break up the steak-umms into pieces and fry until the meat is brown. turn the heat down to low and add the onion and peppers. Mix well and let warm together.

Place the hoagie rolls on a baking sheet and fill with the meat mixture. Add a slice of cheese on top and place under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes to melt the cheese and lightly toast the rolls. Add your favorite condiments and enjoy a tasty sandwich.

For the potato chips I just peel the potatoes and slice them as thinly as possible. If you have a mandolin slicer you will get more consistent chips that will make cooking easier. I normally just use a knife and cut them as thin as I can by hand. I don’t mind the differences in the thickness.

You can cook the chips in a deep fryer if you have one, but I like to cook them in a wok. Put about a cup of oil in the wok, add a teaspoon or two of sesame oil and heat to about 375 degrees. Add the chips a few at a time. Add enough to cover the pan, but not so many that they are overlapping. Cook until they are a good golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel. Add some salt and you will have some good chips that are crispy on the outside, but tender on the inside to go along with your sandwiches.

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What is it with America and its meatloaf? I’ve never made a meatloaf until the other night, and with this one simple act, I think I’ve solved many of this country’s problems.

Meatloaf is not a quick and easy meal. Seriously people, if this is the way you all cook, it’s no wonder that America eats out 4-5 nights a week on average. I’d eat out too if all of my meals took multiple steps and over two hours from start to finish. Put a piece of fish on a grill pan and roast some broccoli and sweet potatoes. You’ll have a delicious, healthy meal in a half hour.

It is not fun to make a meatloaf. It’s fun playing in a sandbox. I enjoy rolling ginger cookies into balls and coating them with sugar. I do not ever again want to take my wedding rings off in order to plunge my hands into two pounds of cold, raw meat and mix. With. My. Hands. I may as well have been swimming in Maine’s oceans, for crying out loud. We’re talking severe pain deep within the blood vessels, too cold for words. I’m so sure this was a job for my KitchenAid. I’ve washed my hands three times and there is still crusty raw meat stuck under my fingernails.

But it’s all OK, because I’ve just made the world’s most delicious meatloaf and I’m beginning to understand what you people see in this dish.

I never, ever watch the news, but when I saw Stephi’s of Boston’s recipe for cheddar meatloaf, I decided it was finally time for me to participate in this American pastime of meatloaf-making. As usual, my recipe looks absolutely nothing like hers in the end; I don’t even use cheese. I will always thank Stephi for her inspiration and perhaps I’ll even attempt the cheese someday.

Debbie’s Gourmet Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey, dark meat
• 1 pound ground beef, 85%
• 1 egg
• 1 medium onion, chopped and caramelized
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 teaspoons grainy mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, shopped
• 1 slice of bread toasted and food-processed (or 1/2 cup bread crumbs)
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the egg and the next 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and then add the meats, oregano and basil and salt and pepper to taste. Mix with your hands (or for crying out loud, try your KitchenAid) until completely blended. Fold in bread crumbs until just blended.

On a cookie sheet lined with foil, form a loaf with mixture and coat with salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour, fifteen minutes or until 160 degrees in the center.

I served my meatloaf with a giant mesclun salad and that’s all. Well, OK, the five-year-old dipped it in ketchup, but he does that with everything.

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It’s no secret that chocolate and I are very, very good friends. Even though I think that Valentine’s Day is a made-up holiday created by the card companies and perpetrated by every other retailer in the world to guilt us into spending our hard-earned money on our loved ones because you must make a showy display of your affection, I still think any reason to celebrate chocolate is valid. Romance, not so much. Do that every day, if you must. But chocolate … well, do that every day too, but make it extra-special for Valentine’s Day.

I haven’t decided what chocolate dessert Keith and I will cook up for Valentine’s Day yet, but I sure have found plenty of contenders. Frankly, chocolate-dipped strawberries would suit me just fine, but Keith wants to try something a little more decadent. That’s fine by me because I’ve got a long, long list of decadent chocolate desserts just waiting to be chosen.

I’m head-over-heels in love with Mexican hot chocolate (as is Kona) so this Mexican chocolate tart with cinnamon-spiced pecans is definitely in the running. It’s a little labor-intensive, so we’ll see. It’s hard to justify when I can make a flourless chocolate cake with five ingredients and toss in some cinnamon and vanilla, you know?

Now this recipe for chocolate espresso spelt cake is one I can definitely get into. There aren’t a lot of recipes I find designed to use my favorite flour, so I usually just substitute. It’s loaded with dates, so I’d definitely cut back on the sugar because I know it would be far too sweet for my taste. I want to enjoy the bitterness of my chocolate, not mask it with sweetness.

Will Keith allow me to fall back on one of my old favorites, chocolate orange truffles? These are so rich you won’t be popping them like candy, although you’ll feel so special just savoring the one or two that you do indulge in.

One of my favorite local restaurants, Romaine’s, has a killer fallen chocolate cake dessert. It’s laying in a puddle of raspberry coulis and topped with homemade vanilla ice cream and creme fraiche and it’s so close to perfect that you’ll want to skip dinner and order two. These individual chocolate melting cakes might just do the trick, and probably aren’t too shabby served with the caramel sauce and coffee ice cream recommended. Or maybe these molten chocolate cakes are where I’m going…. Then again, this recipe for falling chocolate cake with raspberry sauce might be THE very same recipe as Romaine’s, right down to the sprig of mint.

How about a good ol’ chocolate mousse? It’s been a long time since I’ve had chocolate mousse (probably since my father stopped making it and become obsessed with all things creme brulee) and that might be just the thing to top our romantic dinner for two. Or three, if Owen has his way.

One last recipe I’ve been dying to make is this chocolate almond torte … flourless with almond meal and lots of bittersweet chocolate. I’d leave out the vile almond extract (who likes that stuff?) and maybe add some vanilla instead.

I’ll report back with the recipe we actually do for our special dessert, and in the meantime, you can do two things for me. Either vote in the comments for which one of these recipes you’d do, or let me know what you’ll be making!

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Last weekend, I took my mother out to brunch for her birthday. Yes, it was nice to spend some quality time with my Mum with no other family members around, scrambling for our attention. My omelet / frittata was delightful, no doubt about that. But the memory of that brunch that has lasted through the week was the little taste of lemon poppy seed bread I snuck from the bread basket.

I don’t eat wheat so a whole piece of bread was out of the question, but I couldn’t resist a taste and I’m glad that I indulged. But I had to find a way to have more than just a taste of this bread, so I created my own recipe for spelt lemon poppy seed bread based on the famous lemon poppy seed bread recipe from The Joy of Baking.

Other than the strange order of adding the ingredients to the mixing bowl (to create a dense and moist texture), the first thing I noticed was the creaminess of the batter. We’re talking irresistibly creamy, and I’ll lick just about any batter. Owen was mad that I didn’t save more of it for him, since he takes after his mom … my little batter boy! Anyway, it almost seemed a shame to actually bake it. It seemed more appropriate to just take a spoon to it and enjoy. Then I thought of you, and how you’d miss out on the recipe and photographs of this bread and I mustered every bit of will power I had and transferred the batter to the loaf pan.

One more thing — you’ve got to plan ahead and give this bread time to soak up the syrup. The original recipe recommends overnight, but we found that as soon as the bread was cool it was ready to eat.

Spelt Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or milk of your choice)
• 1 1/2 cups sprouted spelt flour (I used the extra fine sifted spelt flour)
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (though you could also add 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest)
• 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 3/4 cup butter, softened

For the syrup:

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a loaf pan.

Whisk together eggs, vanilla and milk. Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients together in mixing bowl, then add lemon juice, butter and half of the egg mixture. Mix for one minute. Add half of the remaining egg mixture and mix for 30 seconds, then add remaining egg mixture and mix for 30 more seconds.

Bake for 55 minutes or until browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Meanwhile, melt syrup ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Make holes in the top of bread with a toothpick and brush half of the syrup over the top of the loaf. Take out of the pan and do the same to the bottom. Let cool completely and enjoy.

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Normally around my house we only have French toast when we have some leftover bread that is getting too dry to make good sandwiches. However, now that we’re making our own bread instead of buying bread we don’t have much bread that gets dried out. I still like having French toast for breakfast once in a while so this morning my wife and I made some with the homemade bread.

French toast is a quick and tasty breakfast to make. It is quite filling and really is an ideal way to use up dry bread, however if you use fresh homemade bread it is even better.

French Toast

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk
• 6 thick slices fresh bread
• salt
• cinnamon
• vanilla

Crack the 4 eggs into a bowl and whisk them until well blended.

Add the milk, a pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and cinnamon to the eggs and whisk again to combine the ingredients. I don’t really measure the cinnamon, so start with 1 teaspoon. I put in enough that I have a good even distribution throughout the egg mixture.

Place a medium size frying pan on the stove and heat to a medium heat. Use some butter or pan spray to help keep the toast from sticking to the pan.

For the bread I like to cut slices that are 3/4 to 1 inch thick. This is more of a Texas toast size slice and it makes for a much more substantial slice that really holds a lot of the egg mixture.

Once the pan is hot, dip a slice of the bread in the egg mixture. Give the bread a few seconds to soak up the egg mixture and then flip it over and soak the other side. You want to give the bread enough time to get fully saturated with the egg mixture. Let the excess egg drip off the bread into the bowl and then put the slice into the frying pan.

Let the bread cook until a nice golden brown then flip it over and cook the other side. The cook time will depend greatly on the thickness of the bread. The thicker it is the longer it will take. I have also found that if the heat is too high the outside will brown quicker, but the inside will not get cooked. You will end up with a nice crispy outside and a doughy, soggy inside. If you gently press a finger into the bread in the pan and no egg comes out, and the bread bounces back it is ready.

Serve the French toast with pancake syrup and butter, or cover with your favorite sausage gravy and enjoy a filling breakfast that will get your day off to a great start.

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It’s all Kona’s fault. I’m addicted to making my own pasta now, and this weekend, we experimented with raviolis. That’s not to say you’ll find any pasta or ravioli recipes in this week’s Recipe Roundup column. No, I’m telling you this to excuse the fact that this column is so short this week.

There will be lots of pasta recipes and roundups to come, but not a whole lot of other recipes have crossed my path this week. These few caught my eye for very different reasons and I know I’ll be making them all soon.

Heidi Swanson took a green bean side dish recipe, added some tofu and made it into a one-pan meal with her feisty green beans recipe. I’d probably just chunk some potatoes (or she did suggest tempeh) or chicken, or maybe even shrimp and add protein and stick-to-the-rib-ness that way.

Cranberry apple sauce is a favorite of mine, especially with pork (“Pork chops and applesauce….”) or chicken, and Kelly Estes created a recipe after my own heart: no added sugar. I also use orange juice to sweeten fresh cranberries as I cook them down into a chunky sauce.

You probably won’t believe me, but as I type, there’s chicken roasting in my oven. I’m sure it will be delicious, but oh, how I wish it were this recipe for paprika roast chicken with sweet onion. It would have cooked much faster because the chicken would have been cut into pieces, and the paprika, cinnamon and cayenne mixed with the onion would be a welcome flavor combination, and far more inventive than my boring herb-roasted chicken. Bah!

Now, I never — and when I say never, I really mean never — watch the news. For some reason, it was on one night this week and a reporter visited Stephi’s on Tremont in Boston, where Stephi made her famous cheddar meatloaf. Remember last week, when I wrote about comfort food and turkey meatloaf? Yeah, I’m making the one stuffed with caramelized onions and cheese first — can you blame me?

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Around my house we tend to get into a food rut. We eat the same old things week in and week out. Now, I can eat cheese burgers every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and be happy with that, but my wife likes variety in the dinner menu. We have watched many of the cooking shows on TV for new recipe ideas and have spent a good amount of time searching the web for new ideas as well. The biggest problem with all of that is most of the recipes we have found use ingredients we have never used, or in some cases, never even heard of and we have no idea where to even get these ingredients. So is there a simple and easy way to prepare the same old thing that will make it new again?

I don’t know if this really makes the same old thing new again, but it is a simple and easy way to make a tasty dish out of just about anything. What I like to do is whip up a batch of my tempura batter and then deep fry it. I have tried some of the ready-made tempura batter mixes in the past and have not cared for them at all so I came up with my own we have used this batter for many different things. We have used this on chicken, fish, hot dogs, onions and even leftover pork roast to create tasty treats to add to the menu.

Tempura batter

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• water, just enough to give the consistency of pancake batter

Whip the eggs, salt, and pepper until smooth.

Mix in the flour, corn starch, and baking powder until no large lumps remain.

Add the water until the pancake consistency is obtained.

This recipe will make enough batter for about 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts.

After mixing up the batter, take whatever it is you are planning to deep fry and coat it with corn starch. This step is the key as it helps the batter bind to your  meat.

Dip the meat into the batter and coat thoroughly.  Let the excess batter drain off and carefully drop into 350 degree oil. You can use a deep fryer or a pan of oil on the stove for the cooking. cooking times will vary depending on the size of the food you are cooking. I have found that the best results for chicken breasts are to either cut them into uniform bite size pieces about 2 inch square or 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick strips. Most chicken breasts are so thick in places that the batter tends to get a little over done before the chicken is cooked through. For the bite size pieces, cook 5 to 8 minutes. So the next time you are struggling to find a way to freshen up dinner, try this simple tempura recipe. I am sure you will be happy with the results.

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Regular readers already know that I have a bit of an obsession with Whole Foods Market. Without exaggeration, I am there usually four to five times per week. It helps that it’s five minutes from my house and on my route home from the office.

I love Whole Foods, and could never stay mad at it, but recently it has gotten on my nerves. For the past couple weeks my local store has been completely re-arranging all the aisles and I can’t help but wonder why.

I never found the layout of the market to be confusing or inconvenient. The fact is, even it was inconvenient, regular shoppers learn where everything is after a few trips. I suppose there is some kind of marketing research into shopping habits and how the human brain works that determines exactly where every food item should be, but once you set up a store, you really should commit to it. Besides, it must be an incredible amount of work for the staff. I’m sure they are doing most of the work during the off hours, which means the store is probably doling out a whole lot of overtime pay. I just don’t get it.

Further, as near as I can tell (and the massive project is not yet complete), the store is just being flipped around. The freezer section seriously just moved the contents from one side of the aisle to the other. Could this possibly be of any use? I couldn’t see any drastic changes in the organization of products. It was simply a matter of moving the ice cream to the left and the front pizzas to the right (or vice verse if you’re approaching from the other direction). The rest of the aisles appear to be moving from one end of the store to another, with very little reorganization within the aisles themselves.

The irony of this all is that whenever I head to the checkout at my market, the cashiers have the habit of asking if I found everything that I was looking for. Since this big inventory shuffling started, no one has asked me that question. I think they’re afraid of the answer.

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Last week, we had my dad and step-mother over for the football playoffs. Luke, who uses any excuse to spend a billion dollars at the grocery store, decided he wanted to make subs. Except, that’s not what he was planning on doing at all. He said “subs,” but what he actually meant was “a muffaletta the size of my head.”

He was planning on making a vegetarian version that involved vegetarian lunch meat, but that wasn’t sounding too great to me, mainly because the second I heard “muffaletta,” I had a completely different picture in mind. There’s a cafe around here called South Street Under, and they make a vegetarian muffaletta sandwich that is to die for. So that’s what I set out to do.

I couldn’t remember exactly what they put on the sandwich, but I had the general idea, so I just decided to wing it. I was going to put zucchini, squash and eggplant, but unfortunately, the grocery store across the street was out of yellow squash, so I just used extra zucchini and threw in some spinach and mushrooms that I already had in the house.

I figured Luke would be bringing home a long Italian roll, but instead he brought home these huge rounds. Apparently, that’s traditionally how a muffaletta is served, and you cut pieces like you’re cutting a cake. A giant sandwich cake that was perfect to share while watching football. So perfect, in fact, that I’m serving it again during the Super Bowl!

Before we go any further, here’s the recipe:

Vegetarian Muffaletta

Ingredients:

• One large round (if you’re feeling daring) or Italian loaf
• 1 cup olive tapenade (from this recipe)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 baby eggplant
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 cup portabella mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• pepper to taste
• 8 slices provolone cheese

The first thing I did was whip up my trusty olive tapenade. It takes a minute to just throw in the food processor, and it’s delicious. The problem with sandwiches like this is that oftentimes they end up bland. The tapenade adds the kick that the veggies need.

While I’m working on this, I heat up the oil in my saute pan. I had to do this in two batches, so I used half the oil. While that’s heating, I spread the tapenade on the bottom half of my bread and set it aside. I saute the veggies, making sure to add the spinach last, as to not get it too wilted. As they’re sauteing, squeeze the lemon onto them. Generally, I saute vegetables in garlic, olive oil and pepper, but in this recipe I replace the garlic with the lemon, since the tapenade is quite garlicky enough.

After you have your sauteed vegetables, pile them on top of the bottom half of the bread and cover with the provolone cheese.

Cover with the top of the bread, and bake in the oven at 375 for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly, and the bread is crusty.

Cut like a giant sandwich cake and enjoy!

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Each week, fabulous recipes grace Debbie’s in-box and pop up on her computer screen, and she’s sharing her favorites with you.

I just can’t stop thinking about comfort food. Last week was that kind of week. I made Shepherd’s pie, a big batch of my lentil vegetable soup and pasta with homemade pesto and sausage. If there’s one good thing about winter, comfort food is it.

It’s no wonder that my weekly collection of recipes are pretty much all comfort foods. Homemade vegetable bouillon can make countless soups, turkey meatloaf speaks for itself and white lentil soup with chorizo and paprika cream (with a poached egg) couldn’t be more comforting if served in an afghan. Not quite sure if pizza counts, but you can’t miss drooling over the duck pizza recipe, so read on!

Heidi Swanson, my culinary hero (or one of them) has done it again. I never would have thought to make homemade vegetable bouillon, but if you have salt and a food processor, you can do it with ease. I love that I can control the amount of saltiness this way, and also the type of salt, because I find many store-bought bouillons far too salty for my tastes. Exciting!

Someone please explain to me why this recipe for turkey meatloaf caught my eye. I have never made a meatloaf before and we really don’t eat like that in my house. For some reason the simplicity of this comfort food got to me and I really think I’m ready to try a good ol’ fashioned meatloaf. Can I still be a food snob if I eat meatloaf?

Or pot roast? Kelly Estes posted her recipe for pot roast on her new blog, Hot Cookin‘. With my penchant for whole foods, I can’t see myself ever making a recipe with a soup mix as an ingredient, but it looks as though her pot roast came out spectacularly!

OK, I’m back to being a food snob with this recipe for white lentil soup with chorizo and paprika cream. The thing is, it’s still comfort food and it’s still very easy to make. Now this is the way we usually eat in this house! Incidentally, La Tartine Gourmande is fast becoming a favorite of mine….

Just to solidify my standing as food snob after my strange deviance with the meatloaf recipe, I’ll add in this duck pizza with hoisin and scallions. Dude, who would do that to a pizza? Oh me, definitely me.

Tell us about your favorite comfort foods, so we all can drool while curled up in our afghans.

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In my quest to improve my diet and eat healthier, I’m trying to expand my cooking skills to new and different ingredients. I’ve spent a lot of time searching for recipes on the internet. Recently while searching for fish recipes, I came across this delicious Mexican orange chicken recipe on allrecipes.com. For me, fried is about the only way I like my chicken so this recipe is one of several I’m trying now that are way outside my comfort zone.I decided that I would take this chicken recipe for a Recipe test drive. My biggest problem when it comes to eating healthy is that I have certain things I like and I stick to those things. I know how to cook them and I know that I will have a satisfying  and filling meal.

When it comes to chicken I defer to my wife. She is the Queen of cooking chicken and I just can’t make chicken taste as good when I cook it. I’m a beef eater and can out-cook her when it comes to anything beef so she was skeptical when I told her I was going to try this new chicken dish. One of the great things about allrecipes.com is that you can enter the number of people you are cooking for and it will modify the ingredients list for the number of servings you requested. This does not change the cooking instructions so you may have to modify that yourself. I always look at cooking times as a suggestion anyways and check my dish often as I cook until it is cooked to my liking. I modified the recipe for two people and followed the ingredients list provided with the revised Mexican orange chicken recipe.

The cooking directions I left as is except that I did shorten the cooking time to 1 1/2 hours.

When the chicken is done, there will still be a lot of juice left in the pan. The recipe does say that this is the way that the dish should turn out. I had decided already to serve the chicken over rice so the extra juice was added to the rice to add the flavor to the rice. This turned out to be a very good idea. The juice added a citrus, bacon flavor to the rice that was amazing.

For the rice, I cooked 1 cup of rice in 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth and 1/2 cup water, 1 tbsp margarine, and a pinch of salt. Whenever I am cooking rice to use in a dish I like to cook it in chicken broth to add a little flavor to the rice.

As we sat down to eat we were both anticipating a tasty treat. The aroma of the chicken was wonderful. The chicken was incredibly juicy and the bacon and citrus flavor was infused throughout the meat. The flavor the juices from the chicken enhanced the rice and really added to the meal. This is one recipe that will be a showing up on our menu again.

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