So as a child my Mom was always super worried about my protein intake since she was raising me as a vegetarian. We ate some fish but our diet was pretty close to being a strict vegetarian. So she always tried to get me to eat eggs in the morning and as a kid I HATED eggs! I didn't like the way they looked, I didn't like the texture and the thought of something yellow and runny coming out of something I was supposed to eat absolutely disgusted the hell out of me. My Mom would try everything to get me to eat my eggs-bribery, disguises (the eggs not her), manipulation....you name it she tried it. Then one day she over cooked my eggs and the eggs had that crunchy over cooked layer around the outside and I started to become an egg believer. I think I actually used to ask for the eggs with the "crunchys" as a kid. For the majority of my childhood she would make my eggs over hard-no runny yokes, crunchy stuff on the outside and the texture was more rubbery than regular eggs which made them more palatable to my 5 year old mind.

Here is my confession I still love my eggs over hard. People who haven't eaten breakfast with me before always look at me so strange when we are in a restaurant and I am like "can I have my eggs over hard please." Now I will eat my eggs other ways-scrambled or poached work equally as well. But I have a soft spot in my heart for eggs over hard and they are just more comforting this way. Actually as I write this I just ate 2 eggs over hard with guacamole on top. I do love stuff on my eggs maybe its still me trying to disguise them because I love Larrupin mustard sauce, Tobasco, fresh salsa or guacamole on my eggs.

I have also decided that I probably shouldn't have fought my Mom so much over the eggs and protein thing because if I had just given in I probably could have at least made it to 5'6"-5'7" instead of the whopping 5'4" that I am. Ahhh yes still a little bitter to be the shortest person in my family with the exception of my Grandmother and I can't even really vouch for that because my Grandma may have been taller than me before she started to shrink...she is 93 so really what can we expect.



Last night I made a Warm Shrimp and Potato Salad. It was a really fresh and light salad but because the potatoes and shrimp were warm and roasted it was still a great meal for a cold night. I found these multi-colored potatoes at Fresh and Easy and I had to find a way to use them. Look how amazingly purple these were!!!



The potatoes are roasted with bell pepper in olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss the shrimp with garlic, oregano, paprika, olive oil, salt and pepper and then add to the potato mixture and continue to roast. Meanwhile chop the romaine and radicchio and put in a bowl. Toss the lettuce with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. When the potatoes and shrimp are done roasting toss with the lettuce and then top the salad with feta cheese. It was super easy, the potatoes made it hearty enough to be a main course and it was low in calories.



Hope everyone is having a great week. Cheers! P.S. Happy Birthday Mom! I ate my eggs for you

When my initial Sunday afternoon plans fell through I had a moment of panic...oh my gosh an afternoon without an itinerary what the hell am I to do! For those of you who know me I live my life at a frantic warp speed pace of doing it all and trying desperately to do it well-work, family, friends, running, cooking, reading, shopping, drinking, yada, yada and the list goes on. So the thought of a quiet afternoon just didn't enter my mind as I ran through the phone book in my head of friends, acquaintances and people I didn't even know but however  could be my new best friend if I sat next to them at a bar (love ya Staci)....until I reminded myself to breath. What an amazingly new idea I could have an afternoon to relax, stay at home, stop and smell the roses and that was the option I chose...something to take me slightly out of my comfort zone.



So here I sit on a beautiful sunny So Cal Sunday afternoon. And as you may have guessed after completing the chores in my house the desire to cook slowly started to creep into my psyche. But alas I had promised myself I was not leaving the house and since I am not one of those delightful people who can conjure up a recipe by looking at random ingredients in my fridge I began my cookbook search for a recipe that I could create using the ingredients I had in the house. I came close to success with 2 recipes-Smore Cookies and Cinnamon Chip Scones however on both of those there was 1 key ingredient missing in my fridge. But alas I came across Hersheys Best Brownie Recipe...everyone loves brownies, I have the ingredients so I took it as a sign that brownies were going to be on my cooking repertoire for the afternoon.

(Mom do not read this part) Before I talk about the recipe does anyone else remember trying to drink vanilla extract due to the alcohol content in say your early high school years? Or was that just a white trash Eureka thing? While I was making my brownies a glimpse of a memory of a high school football game and sipping out of someones sports bottle and the taste of vanilla extract or oh wait maybe it was peppermint came wafting into the forefront of my mind....Anyone? No?



Seriously this was by far the easiest brownie recipe I have ever made...not like I make brownies all the time but if you like to cook with your kids this would be the perfect recipe to start their cooking prowess with. Melt a stick of butter and stir in the sugar and vanilla. I love the color of butter and sugar...that fresh light yellow color just makes me happy. Ok a little weird I know. In a separate bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. I have to say before this blog I would have cocoa powder that sat on my shelf for years...literally years...and now I easily go through 1-2 canisters of cocoa powder a month. Crazy!! Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and the brownies are ready to be baked. The recipe said you could add a 1/2 cup of chopped nuts as an option and since I was feeling pretty crazy and I had exactly a 1/2 cup of leftover pecans already chopped from a previous recipe I also threw those into the batter....I took the exact measurement as a sign that these brownies were meant to have pecans. Is it weird to think of brownies in terms of destiny? Yes it is a little weird.

And even better these brownies have frosting. I like brownies without frosting but adding frosting is like whipped cream on top of a pumpkin latte, a man in boxers and a button down shirt or an apple, winning a vacation...to a tropical destination and not Chico or Pauly D on Jersey Shore. Just saying. So the frosting is also easy to make...in a mixer bowl blend softened butter, cocoa, corn syrup, vanilla, powdered sugar and milk. Spread on the brownies once they are cool.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and if you are looking for a great Steak and Potato recipe....these fries are baked not fried...this is my recommendation. As you know I love when people cook for me so having this meal waiting for me last night made working Saturday way better...besides the fact that my Dispatchers made me laugh my ass off all day.

Cheers!!

So as you all know I ordered some Spanish Chorizo on-line at http://www.amazon.com/. This was my first experience ordering food from Amazon and it was super easy and the more I checked out the web page the more I discovered...hmmm this could be a dangerous and expensive habit. It is truly amazing how many vendors are selling rare and exotic food products via Amazon and I think its my job to support each and every one of them...ok maybe that is a little extreme. But as you all know I tend to do everything to the extreme.



Since I ordered the chorizo to begin with you probably guessed that I had a few recipes in my back pocket that I wanted to try that included this product. Last night I decided to make Sunset Orzo with Spanish Shrimp and I was really happy. I expected the chorizo to be super spicy but it was really mild. I liked that it had a texture similar to good quality hard salami or summer sausage. And it had the flavor of smoked paprika. This recipe had great flavor overall as it was a great combination of olive oil, lemon juice and saffron. The contrast of textures between the shrimp and the chorizo were excellent.



This recipe was a little more time consuming than most of my cooking adventures but it was not so complex that I just gave up and drank a bottle of wine instead. Cook the pasta just like you normally would. In a seperate pot cook the saffron and chicken broth to a low simmer. In yet another pot....yes every pot in my kitchen was used...saute the chorizo in the olive oil. Then add bell pepper, garlic, onion and turmeric to the chorizo. Cook for 5 minutes and add the peas. And in yet another pot saute the shrimp in more olive oil. Once they are cooked through add the parsley, lemon juice and paprika. Add the vegetable mixture, chicken broth mixture to the orzo pasta that has been drained. Finally either stir the shrimp in as well or serve on top.

BTW I love saffron....I love everything about it...flavor, smell, color! It is just the most intriguing spice and dang its expensive and all you get is a few strands but I have decided it is worth it. Did you know that saffron actually comes from a flower? Its a flower that is in the crocus family and it has been around since the 7th century. I also learned that it is super expensive because it has to be harvested by hand and there are only a few per flower.

So I had a frustrating grocery shopping day. I usually bring a list for more than 1 recipe in the event the store of my choosing doesn't have an ingredient I need. However, today I brought 4 recipes and my top 3 choices for recipes all had at least one ingredient missing from the grocery store. I was thinking of making halibut....hmmm no halibut...well they had frozen but I am not a big fan of frozen fish. The 2nd choice was shrimp stuffed poblano peppers....no chihuahua cheese and I don't know enough about the cheese to pick a substitute. The 3rd option was a flank steak recipe with a herb mustard sauce....no flank steak. Really? So the 4th choice was a penne pasta with a turkey ragu sauce. And so the dinner decision was made.



And although I was not super excited about the Penne with Turkey Ragu it was really good and very flavorful. The pasta is cooked just like every other pasta...in boiling water...and I am a salt in the water but no olive oil kind of girl. Meanwhile heat the olive oil and saute the leeks, garlic and turkey. Once the turkey is brown add the tomatoes...which I so enjoyed taking whole tomatoes and squashing them between my fingers. Yes it pretty much was the highlight of my cooking experience. Then add basil, parmesan rind...yeah another recipe that allows me to use rind...and simmer. Once the pasta is done add 1/2 cup pasta water to the sauce and grated Parmesan cheese. It was a warm, cozy and flavorful meal that felt healthy.



Plus since you were so healthy with dinner you can make these scrumptious Cocoa Thumbprints. My favorite part of these cookies is the fact that I could fill them with whatever the hell I wanted. So I made some with marshmallows...the baby kind, some with chocolate frosting...might as well die a chocolate death...and some with cherry preserves...I don't like cherry so I knew if I did that I wouldn't eat the whole batch of cookies.



I love cookie recipes that don't require a lot of shaping and this recipe fit the bill. You put the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes and then roll it into balls. You roll them chocolate balls in regular sugar and then powdered sugar. I did find that the recipe tells you to put the thumbprint in them before they bake and also to put the filling in but I thought the filling would melt. So I made the thumbprint which puffed up when it baked...so I had to redo the indentation once it came out of the oven. And I decided to fill them once they were a little cool. Just my opinion

I apologize now I have quite a few long nights at work this week so I may slack a bit on the blog and the cooking. But know that I am dreaming of food and thinking of what to make this weekend. I did order some Hersheys Cinnamon Chips which I plan on using to make scones with and some Spanish Chorizo which I plan on using somehow...don't you love that detail. Have a great week-cheers!

Don't worry this isn't going to be another rant about how much I hate Presidents Day...I reserve that only for Valentines. I am actually thrilled that I have today off work and I am looking forward to a day where I can workout, have lunch with a good friend and bake some cookies this afternoon. Ok sure I also have to do some things that scream domestic bliss like laundry, going to the dry cleaners and dishes but I think I can get those done fast enough that they won't impact my day.



So the other day I was looking through my baby album and I came across this picture. Although some children are born with a silver spoon in their mouths my roots were much more kitchen based and humble because as you can see I was born with a wooden spoon in my mouth. I was told that this was one of my favorite "toys" and that I got great pleasure out of rifling through peoples kitchen cupboards and pulling out all of the cooking accouterments I could get my chubby little hands on. My childhood was pre-plastic cupboard locks so it was a treasure trove for me. I was also told that yes the wooden spoon was a personal favorite however I truly loved an old style Italian metal coffee pot that I seemed to get great pleasure out of banging on the floor and the wall. And although my family was very impressed with my musical skill they were more impressed with the coffee pot as it never dented due to my harassment and abuse. Funny thing is I still love going through peoples cupboards...I love cooking in other peoples kitchens...so if anyone wants to volunteer their kitchen just let me know. ***Warning I am messy!!! ***

Since I am not doing distance running right now I am super conscientious of what I am eating because I am not burning 800 calories on a run. Last night I made Thai Peanut Chicken Stir Fry Salad because it is low calorie and low in fat...plus I bought the Thai Peanut Sauce at the last Pampered Chef party I attended so I decided I need to use it. I also decided that I need a sous chef...its really great to have someone that cuts all your vegetables and has everything ready for you when you need to throw it in the pan.



The recipe is very easy to make as you start by cutting boneless, skinless chicken thighs into 1 inch pieces and sauteing them in vegetable oil with some salt and pepper. Meanwhile you julienne your carrots which we learned how to do courtesy of You Tube....I did jack them up a little bit by hacking at the poor carrot prior to viewing the video but my sous chef rescued me. Add 8 cups romaine lettuce to the carrots and let those wait. To the chicken you add sliced red onion, strips of red bell pepper, garlic and baby corn. I don't know why but I just love baby corn...think I may have actually been the one that picked almost all of the baby corn out of the recipe...oops....

Once the vegetables have become tender and the chicken is cooked through add the peanut sauce and toss with the carrot/lettuce mixture. The chicken stir fry kind of helps the lettuce wilt a little bit and its a great meal that is light, fresh and healthy. BTW if you don't have Pampered Chef Thai Peanut Sauce you can use any store bought version but I do have to say I like the Pampered Chef one as its not too sweet and it has a subtle curry flavor.

Hope everyone enjoys the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln...that is whose bday we are actually celebrating, right? Cheers!!!

There is something about food that you know that just makes you feel like you got a big hug. I love finding recipes for traditional foods but with a healthier or new age kick to it. Yes Mom I used the phrase new age in my blog. So when I found this recipe for oven baked onion rings I knew instantly that was going on the "I must make it" list. Does anyone else cut out recipes and carry them in their purse? Or is that just a neurotic obsession that only I have? I figure if I have a recipe in my purse I can always stop at a grocery store for ingredients on my way home, always have a recipe to recommend to people and always have some type of food inspiration at all times.



This week it has been cold at night so warm food for dinner is exactly what I needed. I decided to make Baked Onion Rings and Old Fashioned Cheeseburgers courtesy of Martha Stewart. She has definitely gotten better over the years because I remember when she first came out I think it was truly her goal to make the longest most convoluted recipes possible and then sit back and laugh at the home Chefs as we jacked it up. Just saying.

So the onion rings were super easy. As you know I have a slight fear of deep frying anything so being able to bake them just put me right at ease. You take a sweet onion like a Vidalia and slice it into quarters and then separate the onion into rings. In a food processor combine the cornflakes and breadcrumbs and pulse into fine crumbs form. In another bowl combine egg, buttermilk, flour, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Then you take the onion rings and dip them in the egg mixture and the cornflake mixture and place them on a cookie sheet. The recipe does have you bake them for 16 minutes at 450 degrees but I didnt think they were crispy enough so I put them in the broiler for probably 5 minutes after that just to get them to crisp up.

The cheeseburgers were also extremely easy. Take the 1 lb beef and divide it into 4 pieces. The recipe actually has you put the meat between plastic wrap and flatten it with a rolling pin but before I read that I had shaped them into patties with my hands and that worked just fine. The cool thing about this recipe is you cook the burgers in a cast iron skillet which truly keeps the juices in and doesn't dry them out which can sometimes happen on a bbq. When the burgers are almost done you put the cheese on them and let me just say I don't eat American cheese very often so having it on my burger just made my day...the plastic texture and fake cheese taste seriously just can't be beat once in awhile. I toasted the buns in the broiler and served the burgers with lettuce, tomato, pickles and an assortment of mustards, ketchup and random sauces I found in the fridge. I am kind of a sauce hoarder I will admit and I tend to buy random sauces all of the time.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Presidents Day weekend! I just love the fact that we get to celebrate the founders of our country by having Monday off. If it was up to me everyone would have my birthday off as well so we could celebrate that day as a country. And one more random thought for the day, is anyone else watching Top Chef? I love Paul!!!

So I had one of those days where it just seemed like the bad news wouldn't stop. But never fear I knew there would come a time when I could pour myself a glass of wine and make brownie cookies. So I took the unpalatable news in stride and counted the hours until it was me, my wine glass and my oven. Does anyone remember Pee Wee Herman? Remember how he had a talking large green overstuffed chair? That is kind of how I picture my oven except its not green...and seriously was anyone else a little disturbed by the fact that he was a judge on Top Chef. Really? I just don't get how he is qualified for a spot on Top Chef. Did the want ad say something like," Wanted: Judge on tv cooking show. Looking for a male who jacks off in a movie theater and has a childrens program." I am sorry was I the only one who thought of that when they saw that episode. I am just saying.

Because I am writing this blog I decided to google "Pee Wee Herman quotes," and low and behold there are several web pages filled with his most well know phrases. And I realized just how intelligent and underestimated this individual is by this quote: “The public may think I'm weird. They may think I'm crazy or anything that anyone wants to think about me. That's all fine. As long as one of the things you're not thinking about me is that I'm a pedophile. Because that's not true.”

Well ok isn't that great. Thanks for clarifying. Now I can sleep better tonight. Hmmmm.....



Tonight I am drinking red wine and I decided that Brownie Cookies pretty much sounded like a slice of heaven. And after my rough day and my hour long spinning class in which I sweated I think at least a 3rd of my entire body fat I decided I deserved a cookie and a glass of wine. And after researching Pee Wee Herman for you all and being seriously creeped out I decided I needed to cook.

So I went to Martha Stewart as she is the queen of comfort food. And for a dear friend who wanted me to try and find a way to throw porn into my blog there is the word...sorry I couldn't think of anything more creative. She has a recipe for Brownie Cookies...they were chocolatey, fudgy in texture and too die for with red wine.

They are super easy to make as well. Begin by melting the chocolate. The recipe says to melt it over boiling water but I just put it in the microwave because that the easiest way to melt chocolate. Then add flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl. In a mixer cream butter, sugar and brown sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla and then alternate between the flour and melted chocolate mixture.

The recipe calls for placing parchment paper on the cookie sheets but I didn't have any. I just used non-stick cookie sheets and they worked fine. The recipe also says to cook them for 14-16 minutes but I actually found that they cooked faster than that probably closer to 10-12 minutes, however I don't know if that was due to the lack of parchment paper.

However, I love how they look like mini-brownie clouds and they are chewy just the way brownies should be. They are pretty much exactly what I needed for a night like tonight. And now for the best part....its time for Jersey Shore so I must leave you all. But before I depart can I just ask does anyone else find it strange that the news has to announce that Whitney Houston's funeral is invitation only? What!!! Does that mean I can't stop by because I totally thought I would be welcome. Oy. Have a great weekend and cheers!

So as you all know I am a hopeless romantic. I love everything about Valentines Day-chocolate in heart shaped boxes, romantic dinners for 2, last minute gifts from your man that he bought that morning filled with no thought at all, those nasty chalky conversation hearts, crowded restaurants, over priced roses and cards that gush about love however you only get them once a year for the most commercial holiday on the planet.

Oh wait that's right I actually think Valentine's Day is bullshit...just saying...if you actually want to know how I really feel. I am more of that girl that wants gifts for no reason, loves surprises that remind you that someone is thinking of you, enjoys random notes left in odd places and amazing restaurants on days where you can actually hear the conversation. Sorry Hallmark if you had gotten on the Groundhog Day bandwagon I would be way more supportive!!! Just saying. Or get this Feb 20th is National Handcuff Day now that is a holiday with potential.

But this is a food and wine blog not a let Danah bitch about how she feels about random things blog. So let me just say I read way too many magazines...they are perfect for my attention span or lack thereof and I love the random tidbits of info I gather through them. So in a lot of the magazines this month there are articles like the chicken recipe that will get you the man of your dreams or the steak that lets your man know you love him or chocolate cake that is sinful for that special someone. Really? Now this holiday is infiltrating and clouding my love of food as well...so even if those recipes sound good I have consciously decided to boycott them. Maybe I will make them for say St. Patricks Day but I refuse to get sucked into this debacle.



However, in keeping with the theme I made Italian Wedding Soup. Did you know that this soup got its name out of a mistranslation? It was originally called minestra maritata which means married soup and was in reference to the fact that green vegetables and meat go well together. So from there it became known as Italian Wedding Soup which is traditionally a meatball and vegetable soup. Did you also know that it is not served at Italian weddings in Italy but it has become common place in United States Italian weddings. Go figure!

So this particular recipe came from Food Network and it has pork meatballs, orzo pasta and vegetables. The broth is flavored with Parmesan rind which recently has become one of my favorite flavoring ingredients to stock...love the nutty cheesy flavor it provides. The soup is very easy to make. Saute the onions and carrots in olive oil and then add garlic, Worcestershire (hate saying that word) and sage and saute for another minute. Add the chicken broth, water and Parmesan rind and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 7 minutes.



 The meatballs were also very easy to make just mix the ground pork, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, garlic, Worcestershire and sage in a bowl. Form into balls. I thought it would be a challenge to find ground pork and I was even debating with friends whether or not I could use sausage however low and behold I went to Fresh and Easy and there ground pork sat on the shelf waiting for me to bring it home. I also debated on how big to make the meatballs since as you know I have a tendency to super size everything-cookies, pancakes, meatballs, etc. So do I make them small like in albondigas soup or do I make them regular meatball size. I opted for something in the middle so when you were eating them in your soup you did have to cut them in half unless you had a really big mouth but I was happy with how they turned out overall.

After the soup has simmered bring it back to a boil and add the orzo pasta. Then add the meatballs and I learned that meatballs are kind of like raviolis once they float to the top they are done. Add the spinach at the end and cook until its wilted and voila. I do have to admit that I did add some salt just because I love salt but yesterday was a little chilly and this soup was very comforting, healthy and the perfect way to end a perfect day....oh and yeah super romantic.

Do you ever make those meals that just make you proud? Maybe they are a little more complicated than normal, take you out of your comfort zone or just turn out way better than you ever expected. Well I made one of those meals this week. Pork Tenderloin with Cheesy Polenta



Its a Rachael Ray recipe which isn't so incredibly challenging however I had never made polenta before. And to make matters worse when I went to the grocery store I couldn't find polenta. So my internet search began and my elevated stress level. I started by googling polenta as I was trying to find out if it was the same thing as cornmeal and if I could use cornmeal to make it. And as the internet sometimes is the answers can be confusing because they range in scope and response. I read everything from yes polenta is the same thing as cornmeal to well its in the same family but its a courser grind to no not really. Awesome so I am pretty much in the same place as when I started this internet search so I decided to wing it rather than go to 19 grocery stores looking for a corn product that said polenta on it...this is often the way I go which is time consuming and a little fanatical.

The pork was easy to make as you brown the tenderloin in a pan with some olive oil for approximately 10 minutes. The pork then goes into the oven for 15 minutes...I am a little pork paranoid even though the new ruling is that pink pork is ok...so I honestly cooked it for closer to 25-30 minutes. Then in another skillet I cooked shallots, mushrooms and olive oil. The recipe called for cremini mushrooms which I couldn't find so I used baby bellas....however come to find out they are the same thing which I didn't learn until after the fact. Thank you Food Network Food Encyclopedia: http://www.foodterms.com/encyclopedia/cremini/index.html

Chicken broth is added to the shallot/mushroom mixture and its simmered and then removed from the heat. The chicken broth added a great salty flavor to the shallot/mushroom mixture and added some liquid to the pork since its served on top of the pork once its cut.

Then the hard part the polenta. The recipe says to boil heavy cream and water in a pot. First of all I was concerned about boiling cream because as you know its so easy to burn milk products and I just wasn't sure if it would maintain its integrity. So the recipe then says to whisk in the polenta so I am like hell lets try this cornmeal and I start whisking and it looks like a watery mess...so I keep whisking some more....hmmm a little thicker but still doesn't look like polenta...whisk some more...and OMG voila polenta consistency!!! I add blue cheese and stir that into the polenta along with salt and pepper. And let me just say I was really impressed with my polenta sure it wasn't quite as course as normal polenta but it had the same consistency and the flavor was great with the corn and blue cheese. I did find that my polenta had a few lumps and I think this was due to my whisking technique but all in all I was super proud of it.

I served the pork and mushrooms over the polenta with a side of asparagus. And it was a really good. As a side note I know that spring asparagus is really thin which is fine with me but don't you hate when you are eating it and you put something in your mouth that has the same texture as a stick it really is a meal bummer.

And if anyone is looking for a few other recipe inspirations here are a few things I have made in this past week. A great dip to bring to parties...I brought this to Super Bowl-Chipotle Artichoke Dip
Or if you want to try an interesting slow cooker soup with a lot of flavor I recommend Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Lentil Soup. The flavor comes from a lot of ginger and some curry and I had never used red lentils before so I truly enjoyed it. However, I do have to admit that I turned on the slow cooker before I went to bed so it would be ready in the morning and I could take it for lunch. And it was very strange to wake up in the middle of the night and smell lentil soup and it did lead to some confusion and possibly some dreams of lentil soup....very odd. And finally I made a Buffalo Chicken Salad but I know I have been on a buffalo chicken kick and I figured if I wrote a full blog on another food item that was buffalo chicken related you all would be like really lady? But it is a good recipe if you want to try it and its low in calories.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I am so excited as I have no plans and this is the first weekend in a million years where I don't have to be anywhere at a specific time. So looking forward to following my bliss. Cheers!

So this week I didn't have a cooking theme, pattern or plan. However, I felt like cooking which is a good thing. And I enjoyed it, I did not set the house on fire and I didn't injure myself or others...all of which are positives. *** There were no people or pets injured in the creation of this food *** Yup my blog comes complete with disclaimers.

It is Friday morning and this is truly one of my most favorite times of the day and week. This is my time to come off my week and just destress. I open all the blinds so I can see the sun, make some chai tea and just sit here with my computer enjoying and doing what I enjoy. I would say that I wish I could do it every day but I know that something would be lost if this tradition became my common place daily habit...so I enjoy it once a week and savor it...before I go get my ass kicked at the gym.

Oh and here is your randomness for the day, did you know that in the 1800s ketchup was used as medicine? That is all I know because I just saw it listed as a tidbit in a magazine but I thought I would pass it on.



So my obsession with whoopie pies continued this week. I made German Chocolate Fudge Whoopie Pies...ok sure they were sandwich cookies but the way I made them they were like whoopie pies. So I either made them too big or the recipe misnamed them. Either way they were good...I actually thought they were better the 2nd day. They were super easy to make as you make the fudge cookie dough in the mixer and then the filling you cook in a saucepan-butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, pecans and toasted coconut. I learned how to toast coconut through this experience and actually learned that coconut toasts pretty quickly so watch it closely so it doesn't burn. To toast coconut you put it in a single layer on a cookie sheet and just put it in the oven for approximately 10 minutes.

Since as you all know I am a little obsessed with whoopie pies I thought I should do some research so if nothing else I can move on. I figure you guys are like enough already is this a food and wine blog or a bacon, whoopie pie and buffalo chicken blog...I know I get stuck in food ruts and I am trying to get out of this one right now. Anyway did you know?

• Whoopie pies were created in Maine around 1925 or Pennsylvania in the 1700s...yes there is a discrepancy...seriously of course everyone is trying to claim the whoopie pie as their own

• Whoopie pies is Maine's official state dessert...yeah I know I didn't know we had state desserts either...California doesn't have one but if you want to know more here is the web page that lists the official state desserts http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/state_food.htm

• The biggest whoopie pie on record is 1,062 lbs and yes it was made in Maine