CHOCOLAT REVIEW......

I was craving chocolate with sea salt and while I was in Wholefoods market I found this....
Mo's Bacon Bar made by Vosges Haut Chocolat. I figured since I like love bacon what could be bad about deep milk chocolate, applewood smoked bacon and alderwood smoked salt all packaged in a petite tin foil wrapper. I could have bought the "big" one but I settled for the .5oz for $2.49. I unwrapped the chocolate treat, and followed the directions on the back of the box.

Breathe... See... Smell... Snap... Taste....  wow... within seconds as promised I was in heaven.  I really prefer dark chocolate (the darker the better) but I was happily satisfied with the deep milk chocolate melting in my mouth.

TOM KHA GAI (Thai coconut soup)

I think my favorite soup besides Matzo ball is Tom Kha Gai (Thai coconut soup).
I found this recipe and it's easy and so delish! Thanks to Kahakai Kitchen for this recipe.

1 can (14oz) coconut milk (you can use light to cut down the fat)
1 can (14oz) reduced-sodium chicken broth
6 quarter size slices of fresh ginger
Cut 1 stalk of fresh lemongrass into 1 inch pieces.
1 cup sliced mushrooms ( I used shitake)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 Tbs lime juice
1 Tbs Fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp of Thai Chili paste (I used Sriracha)

In a medium saucepan, combine coconut milk, reduced-sodium chicken broth, ginger, lemongrass to the pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add sliced mushrooms; peas, fresh lime juice and fish sauce, sugar and Thai chili paste. Reduce heat and simmer, 5-10 minutes. Garnish each serving with 1 Tbsp each of fresh basil leaves or cilantro. Discard lemongrass. Serves 4.

It's cold! So let's go out to EAT.....

It's Saturday night and nobody wants to cook dinner.  We head out to one of our favorite Mexican restaurant, only to find that it's been closed... bummer! Since everyone in the car wanted Mexican food, (even the three year old) we were on a mission to find another restaurant. We end up at Fajita Grill in Alpharetta, GA. The food was authentic, although I'm not Mexican so I guess I can't really say that, but it was really good.  The salsa was good and there was plenty of it. The best part was the guacamole, a rough chop of avocado's, red onions, cilantro, tomato's and jalapeños.

It snowed yesterday in Georgia, so what did I do? I made Roasted Red Peppers!

The weatherman said it was going to snow 1-3 inches here in GA.  When it snows here everything shuts down just because they don't have the equipment to handle all of the snow.  So run to the markets, gas stations and movie stores to get what you need because you won't be leaving your house for a couple days.  I was lucky I started out early before the snow and bought about 5lbs of red peppers.  I was on a mission to make lots of sweet garlicky peppers. 

6-10 Red Peppers, washed, cored, cut into strips

Garlic, as much as you want, peeled and smashed

Olive Oil

Kosher salt

Cracked Pepper

Garlic Powder

Make sure you line your baking pan with tin foil; it's easier to clean up later. Spread the peppers evenly inside side up.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder. Add the garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, lots of olive oil.  Mix so each pepper is wet with oil and seasonings.  Oven--425 for about 35 mins.  Watch the peppers, and you can mix them so they don't get burned.  I like mine a little black....I think the darker they are the sweeter they taste. Enjoy with nice crusty bread and provolone cheese...YUMMM

Wow these are spicy! Jalapeño Poppers!

I was craving something spicy and not too fatting so I decided to make my version of Jalapeño  Pepper Poppers. You can really put anything into a won ton wrapper and you can make these as spicy as you want.

Make sure that you make a lot because they go really fast.

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
20 (3.5 inch square) wonton wrappers
1/2 tsp garlic powder
dash of lemon pepper
1/2 cup duck sauce
Kosher salt

Directions

In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and jalapeno peppers, garlic powder and lemon pepper. Arrange wonton wrappers a few at a time on a clean dry surface. Set a cup or small bowl of water nearby. Place about a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture onto the center of each wrapper. Moisten your fingertip in the bowl of water and trace the edges of the wonton wrappers. Fold into triangles or follow directions on the package for desired shapes. This part can be done ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen.

Pre-heat oven to 400, spray the wontons with cooking spray and cook for about 10 minutes or until brown and crispy looking. Sprinkle with Kosher salt.

Gnocchi~ Little fluffy potato pillows~~~supposed to be, right????

~~So, it's raining and I'm in the mood for some comfort food. I was surfing the net and I came across a recipe/blog and since her's was so beautiful I attempted to make mine as well. Well baking the potatoes in the oven was easy and then scooping them out was fine. I think it all went downhill when I tried to make the potato logs. I made them too fat and too short. Well, as you can see I had to pretty much fix all of my little potato pillows. Ok, then I cooked them, or overcooked them and well, my little pillows of potato fluff…ended up to be mush. I tried? 
I'm not going to give up, I will try this again and again until my Gnocchi look and taste and yummy as the ones that I posted. I want to thank A taseful's garden for inspiring me to make this.  Thank you!! I will keep you posted!!!

Onions ~Don't cry they won't hurt you!

"Onions, one of the oldest vegetables, are found in a large number of recipes and preparations spanning almost the totality of the world's cultures. They are now available in fresh, frozen, canned, caramelized, pickled, powdered, chopped, and dehydrated forms. Onions can be used, usually chopped or sliced, in almost every type of food, including cooked foods and fresh salads and as a spicy garnish. They are rarely eaten on their own, but usually act as accompaniment to the main course. Depending on the variety, an onion can be sharp, spicy, tangy and pungent or mild and sweet."~~~Wikipeda

Caramelizing onions, by slowly cooking them in a little olive oil until they are richly browned, is a wonderful way to pull flavor out of the simplest of ingredients. Onions are naturally sweet; and as caramel comes from the simple cooking of sugar, when you slowly cook onions over an extended period of time, the natural sugars in the onions caramelize, making the result intensely and wonderfully flavorful.