food

Friday Food: Super, Simple Super Bowl Snacks

Standard

With New Year’s just past and the Super Bowl coming up in a few short weeks (Feb. 2), I thought I’d share some of my family’s easy to prepare foods. For New Year’s this past week, we actually cooked very little. Most of our food was simple, store-bought, easy to prepare, easy to clean up, and best of all, yummy.

1. Dip. We love the dill dip from Marzetti. It can be found in the refrigerated area of your grocery’s produce section. We like to pair it up with a variety of items to dip, including: pretzels, crackers, bread chunks, raw snow peas, raw green beans, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, potato chips. If you want to dress up your table, scoop out the insides of a round bread loaf and put the dip inside. Looks great, no clean up!

2. Hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough. You can buy these premade (we like the Hebrew National ones) or you can make them yourself. I’d recommend cutting the hot dogs in three, and cutting each crescent roll triangle in two. You get twice as many little dogs and it’s not over doughy.

3. Mini quiches or mini potato puffs. Again, you can buy these premade or make them yourself. For either of these, use a mini muffin tin. Put in a puff pastry square and add your ingredients. For quiches: eggs, cheese, onion, bacon. For potato puffs: mashed potatoes, bacon, cheese. Delicious.

4. Cheese and crackers. In addition to cheese cut in chunks, there are also cheese spreads that are very good on crackers. Add pepperoni to the platter for a little extra.

5. Dessert. Break and bake chocolate chip cookies. Brownie bites. Ice cream. Mini cheesecakes are also an excellent option. Use those mini muffin tins again. Put some crushed graham crackers in the bottom, use your favorite cheesecake recipe, add whipped cream when serving.

National Tea Month

Standard

January is National Tea Month. Sometimes it’s nice to get a random reminder of the wonderfulness of tea. After the holiday season, I’m ready to get rid of the sweets and sugar-filled drinks like hot chocolate and eggnog, and even hot apple cider. I’m not a coffee drinker, so tea is my real go-to for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is taste.

It’s getting better, but in the past, I have found it somewhat difficult to find the teas I like to drink. I went through a spate of only drinking chai masala or ginger tea. Unfortunately for me most ginger teas come in lemon flavor or green tea, and I prefer black tea as my base. With this first post, I want to share some of the places you can find teas nationally.

1. The Fresh Market has a wide variety of teas from your basic Lipton to imported from the United Kingdom, India, and China. They have nearly every flavor that you might want to try or add to your repertory of tea selections.

2. Adagio is a mail order tea company that has a fandom section. I’ve enjoyed teas from them in themes of Harry Potter, Supernatural, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, and more. They also have the opportunity to blend your own although I haven’t made use of that yet. They also offer reasonably priced sample tins so you can try something new.

3. PGTips is quintessentially British tea. Best taken with milk added first in a hot cup. Find Douglas Adams’s guide for making the perfect cup of tea. It is worth the Google.

4. Twinings has a wide variety. My favorites are the British and Irish breakfast and afternoon teas: English breakfast, Irish breakfast, Scottish afternoon, Prince of Wales, Earl Grey, Lady Grey among others. Afternoon teas tend to have less caffeine so less chance to keep you up at night.

5. Stash is the only place that I was able to get my Ginger Black Breakfast Tea that I originally and randomly found one box of in an overstock store.

Check your local directories for small tea shops or tea blenders and sellers. They are more and more popping up in localities around my neighborhood, and also probably yours as well.

Travel – Road Trip Snacks

Standard

In the US, Thanksgiving is the biggest eating holiday of the year. And still, our kids want to eat on the way to dinner or in the days before while we’re traveling to Grandma’s or wherever you spend your holidays.

1. Pretzels. I personally love cheese doodles, but I never eat them in the car. Too messy. Pretzels are simple, fat-free, and easy to brush off when you get out of the car.

2. Bottle of water. The heat in the car can be very drying. Be prepared for complaints.

3. M&Ms. The candy that melts in your mouth, and not in your hands. (TM) Small, easy to carry, not messy if you don’t let them melt, and honestly, who does?

4. Twizzlers. A punch of sugar without the sticky fingers.

5. Popcorn. Also not messy, easy to brush off and clean up, but be sure to remember that bottle of water!

Friday Food: Rekindle, Renew, Inspire

Standard

Crackers from Cracker Barrel. (c)2019

I wanted something simple for this first Friday Food, and since I came down with a twenty-four hour bug, there is nothing simpler than crackers. These have been my sustenance all day and have ensured that I survive another day.

I used to love crackers in soup, but now I think I like them more on the side, with soup, and not in the soup. I also like them with a chunk of cheese or pepperoni, and last year I was introduced to a cracker candy recipe that was too good not to make again.

Moon Landing and Safe Return

Standard

I discovered these mere days after the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing by the Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LM) and its crew.

Today is the 50th anniversary of their safe return to Earth. We are all grateful to be commemorating and celebrating both milestones.

Oreo brand, limited edition, Marshmallow Moon with three space themed designs in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew and the first men to land on the moon, and safely return, July 20, 1969. (c)2019

Memorial Day BBQ – BBQ Chicken

Standard

We made this a couple of times in the past few months. I sauteed them, but I think they’d be great on the grill.


Recipe:

Mix the following ingredients together in a bowl:

About 1 cup of BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s)

1 TB Apple Cider Vinegar

2 TB Worcestershire Sauce

1/4 cup Brown sugar

2 tsp Orange Peel


Melt a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan. Mix in some of the BBQ mixture, the amount is to your liking.

Saute the chicken tenders until fully cooked. I personally like them a little burned.

They came out wonderfully, moist on the inside, a little crispy on the edges.

Enjoy your summer!