Play With Your Food
Tentacle Noodles
I can’t explain why I like The Blue Box Mac-n-Cheese. Call it comfort food, nostalgia, or addiction, but I have to have it on occasion. I especially like it with hot dogs, another substance pretending to be food. While they are just fine quartered lengthwise and sliced, occasionally I like to go old school style with my mom’s Tentacles & Noodles.
ingredients
- 1 box of Mac-n-Cheese, and ingredients called for on box (milk, & butter usually)
- 2 Hot Dogs
- Yellow Mustard
- Poppy Seeds, if you got ’em
instructions
- Start boiling water.
- Cut hot dogs in half. Starting at the cut end, make a slit halfway up. Continue making slits until you have eight “legs.”
- Boil hot dogs with noodles until noodles are tender, drain, and remove hot dogs. Continue mac-n-cheese instructions on box, and move to serving bowls.
- Place two “octopuses” on each serving. Decorate with mustard for eyes, and poppy seeds for pupils.
Aren't they cute? Boiling them with the noodles makes the tentacles curl.
Goals for 2011
I will post at least once a week for the next 52 weeks.
I may pre-date or post-date, the goal is number of posts, not deadlines.
Summer's Last Gift
Tomato Soup for the Soul
There are few things better in this world than a late tomato harvest. Of course, by this time you’ve had all the salads, salsas and sauces you can stand, and the weather has started to turn chilly.
Enter Tomato Soup.
The last fruits of the season
First you start with some standard soup veggies; Celery, Carrots and onions. I was lacking onions so I used some shallots I had lying around. I like to sauté these in a little bacon fat with salt until they are tender, but you could use butter, olive oil or lard if you like.
While they are in the pan, peel your tomatoes, which is easier if you pop them in a pot of boiling water for 3 – 5 seconds.
Once the veggies are tender, I added the chopped tomatoes, your favorite spices (I used Italian Seasoning) and enough chicken stock to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for as long as you like, at least 20 minutes. The longer you simmer, the more the broth will reduce and thicker your soup will be. I simmered mine about 35 minutes.
Working in batches, blend the goods until smooth. Here you can add as much salt and pepper as your heart desires. White pepper will keep your soup from having spots, but I don’t mind the fresh-cracked-pepper/are-those-ants-in-your-soup look.
I like to garnish with parsley, Monkey prefers goldfish crackers. Sometimes I’ll add some shredded cheese, plain yogurt or heavy cream, which will turn the soup into a bisque. The sky is really the limit here.
ingredients
Isn't she a beauty!?!?
- 1 – 4 tbsp Bacon Grease/Olive Oil/Butter/Lard
- 1 – 3 stalks Celery, chopped
- 1 – 3 Carrots, sliced
- 1 Onions of 1 – 4 Shallots/Scallions, chopped
- 3 – 12 of your favorite Tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- Chicken Stock
- Spices
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garnishes
instructions
- Combine onions of your choice, celery and carrots in a saucepan with oil of your choice over medium heat. Sauté until tender.
Sauté them, there veggies
- Add tomatoes, spices and enough chicken stock so all veggies are taking a bath. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes to an hour.
Boil 'em good and done!
- Working in batches, blend until smooth.
- Return soup to pot and season as desired.
- Serve and garnish with your choice of toppings.
Tomato Soup for the Soul
Trick-or-Krispy Treat?
One year for class Christmas party, back when you could call it a Christmas party, my mom made the most amazing treats for me to bring to school. She hand-crafted 31 Rice Krispy Treat Christmas Trees, each dyed green, and decorated with Nerds and Skittles, and topped with a foil star with the name of each kid in my class written on it.
Labor intensive?
Yes.
Awesome?
Hell yes!
Ever since then, it has mystified me how people think something like this, could be called festive/impressive/worthwhile, when its clearly not:
So you have a cookie cutter and some leftover candy? You probably didn't even get your fingers dirty, did you?
For Halloween I was having a krispy-craving so I decided to make some pumpkins for my coworkers, and teach Monkey the ways of the Rice Krispy Treats, that will someday make him the coolest cat around.
We made two batches, one orange and one green…we had too much green so we made some monsters too. There are a couple tricks:
- Add the food coloring before the marshmallows are completely melted.
- Butter everything; pot, spoon and, most importantly, YOUR HANDS!
- Only do one color at a time. Otherwise your treats will get stiff and hard to mold.
From there we basically used the standard Rice Krispy Treat recipe, found on their website or on any box of the stuff:
Pumpkin Rice Krispy Treat Army
ingredients
- 3 tbsp Butter
- 10 oz bag Marshmallows (make sure these are fresh, not the stale ones from your last camping trip)
- 6 cups Rice Krispies (I have not had good luck with substitutions)
- Food Coloring
- Extra butter for your hands and things
- Wax Paper
- Melted Chocolate
instructions
- Butter your pot and spoon.
- In a large pot, melt the butter over low heat.
- Add the marshmallows, and continue stirring until completely melted (add food coloring towards the end)
- Add the Krispies, and stir vigorously until they’re all coated
- Are your hands buttered? Butter your hands well!
- Working quickly, grab a handful of Kripies and mold into a pumpkin shape. This best way to do this is to make a ball, press it on to wax paper, and then form with your thumbs.
- Allow to cool, then decorate with additional colored treats, melted chocolate, or leftover candies of your choice.
Happy Treat
Now lick your fingers clean, and enjoy the fruits of your labor! Pumpkin’s a fruit, right?
Dine With the Dead
Setting the mood for dinner.
Every October we like to host a dinner called, “Dine With the Dead.” Basically we like to make delicious food that tastes delicious, looks creepy, and create a spooky atmosphere. Guests may dress as though they are attending a funeral, either as a guest or in the casket. Over the years we have collected several pieces to add to our table, and this is just a glimpse.
ingredients
- Claw champagne glass
- Lacy spiderweb tablecloth over white tablecloth (buy)
- Black velvet, skull table runner
- Skull candles
- Spider candle holder
- Spider ring napkin holder
- Black cloth napkins
- Candles in red candle holder
- Red lightbulbs in regular dining room light (mood lighting)
The full scene
A Rose by Any Other Name…
One of my biggest hurdles to starting a blog is naming it, so instead of putting all the design efforts in to one title, only to change it, I have decided to crowdsource ideas. I am sincerely open to suggestions if one of the options below does not sound awesome, so don’t be afraid to suggest something.
Here are some taglines I am considering as well:
- Tales from my Table
- Never Measure
- My guide to everything
- Taglines are lame
- The Careful Art of Curiosity
Lemontine 