Staff, Salt and Stuff

Well we have finally made it to the end of the week!  It certainly was a long one, but such is life as a damn adult right!  I try to find ways to make sure that my staff knows that it is okay to have a little fun and that I appreciate their efforts.  So at the end of the last two terms I have had everyone over to my house for a cookout.  This has been a working cookout though as we eat (or should I say overeat) then I have an agenda that we go over and then we partake in dessert!  

Here is what the backyard looks like as we get ready to overindulge in the typical BBQ deliciousness!

The BBQ went very well and I can tell that my newbies are going to add quite a bit to our potluck events as for the first time ever we didn't have anyone bring a bag of chips!!  For dessert though I wanted to test out one of my newest kitchen gadgets - my Himalayan Salt Block!  A few weeks ago the techniques class at Williams Sonoma was on this thing and well....before the class was half over I was grabbing one of the two that was left in the store.

Basically it is a very large block of salt that you can do all kinds of crazy shit with, from freezing it and serving ice cream off of it - to baking cookies on it (that will be the next adventure)! You can also cook all kinds of other things on it to and use it on the grill. When you use this what you get is a final product that is infused with hints of salt, and a pretty cool story! Here is what one looks like

I decided that for my first attempt I would go simple and just use it to make some ice cream treats!  Some of my staffers were a little skeptic - but most jumped in with no questions asked...So I put the salt block into the freezer two days ago (it really only has to be in for a couple of hours), I pulled it out when we were getting ready for dessert.  

I let people scoop their own ice cream out and we put it on the salt block

Then we added a little fudge

Then some peanuts

Then I pretended I was working at cold stone ceamery and started mixing everything together in the scoops

After everything was mixed together we scraped it off the block into a cup and well....lets put it this way there weren't any angy people or leftovers for that matter!  The block stayed cold enough that I was able to do this for all 8 of my guests and probably could have done a few more before it wouldn't have seemed cold enough to keep the icecream from melting.

Clean up was super simple as well -- as all I had to do was wipe it down with some warm water.  NO SOAP!!!  Then it has to be allowed to air dry thoroughally before determining how it will be used the next time.  I put it on a cookie cooling rack so that the air could get to both sides.  For me I will probably throw it back in the freezer - mainly because as I was playing hostest with the mostest, I didn't make one of these badboys for myself!

Everyone started to leave but the guys on my staff stuck around taking down the canopy we put up to keep people out of the sun.  Since they were still around doing that I enlisted their help in drawing the names for this months Random Acts of Kimmie Kindness packages! 

I am not sure if I will bake everything this weekend or next - but either way the names are picked. I know where they are going and I am pretty sure that there are going to be some very happy campers in the next few weeks.

After everyone left I cleaned up the house, dropped some of the leftovers off for friends so they didn't have to worry about dinner and came home to relax.  Which for me is hard to do - so after about an hour or so of that I got up and started baking for tomorrow.  One of my favorite White Candle Barn associates last day is tomorrow so I wanted to make her up some cookies, then once I got going I remembered that I owed some cookies to a few other friends.

I sent one of my buddies a text to see if I could drop the cookies off tomorrow to her, and she said that she was leaving on vacation at 2am!  Apparently they are driving to Marthas Vineyard - well shit - the girls and I jumped in the car at 9:20 and drove the cookies over to her house!  Now they have travel snacks!

Her favorite cookies are the 

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies

These are seriously one of the easiest cookies that you can make, I actually found the recipe on Pinterst (which is where I find almost all of my recipes)!  It calls for using a boxed cake mix - well I started out using the vanilla mix, but then thought - ummm I bet that I could use any mix, with any kind of chip and they would be pretty damn yummy!  Sure enough taste tester approved and a slight baking hack for when I want to make something but may not have as much time as I would really like.  Using my small cookie scoop I got approximately 5 dozen!  

Here is the recipe

http://stephaniecooks.blogspot.com/2011/01/cake-batter-cookies.html

This is what Mallorys package looked like when I dropped it off a little while ago!

I am taking a cooking class at Sur la Table tomorrow morning from 10 - 12:30 and it is on paella! I am very excited about this class and even more excited because it was only $33!  SCORE!!! Don't worry I will share the recipes and how things went!

I have had too much caffeine today so sleep may be difficult tonight but I had better call it a night!

Have a great weekend!  Happy cooking! 

Healthy Brownie Bites

Hell ya, that's right I said healthy brownie bites! I am not much of a sweets person, in fact if you said "Kim you can have chips and salsa or a pan of brownies" I would pick chips and salsa EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!  Part of that is because I truly believe that I was Mexican in another life, but the other part of that is well...I've just never really had a sweet tooth.  Which is probably a good thing - I would be the size of a brick shit house if I ate both things!!!

But every once in a while I will get a hankering for something sweet and well this recipe totally curbs that craving and does so in a healthy way!  A few years ago Big Bern (that's my dad) told me that I should watch the TV show The Chew.  I was like really dad you really need something better to do with your retirement time but I will DVR it once to see what the hell you are talking about.  Well I fell in love with the show, to me (again just my opinion) they give the perfect amount of ideas, recipes and humor that keeps me watching the show. 

Well this year for Christmas my sister pulled off one of the best surprises ever...we were going to NYC to see a taping of the show and see the broadway show Aladdin.  (have you figured out yet that I enjoy musicals?!?)  The trip was in February, and my mom was also joining - on the day of the taping Mom stayed back in the hotel to watch my adorable nephew and Kel and I took off.  We got inside and watched the taping - the hosts were as awesome in person as they are on TV.  For me it just solidified why I enjoy the show so much - they were authentic!  

As we were leaving one of the crew asked us if we wanted stand bye tickets for the later taping.  Kel said take them - she wasn't going to be able to come back but why shouldn't I.  So I did, I went back to the hotel with her quickly then got in a cab all on my own in NYC went back to the studio all to potentially see another taping!  

I am sitting here smiling as I write about this as it became one of the best days I have had!  I got in, sat front row and during one of the "commerical breaks" was called out by the executive producer to DANCE with him to Abba's Dancing Queen.  Do you know how long that song is???  Well it felt like a lifetime all 200 audience members were watching me twirl around with this very distinguished looking man.  I sat back down and my heart was pounding...in my throat...at the next commerical break Daphne Oz and Carla Hall came over to shake my hand and say what a good dancer I was.  Haha Me a Dancer???

At the end of the taping I took selfies with Clinton Kelly and Michael Simon and was literally walking around on cloud 9!  I had so much energy that instead of grabbing a cab to get back to the hotel I figured out how to hike the 1.3 milles back!  I am pretty sure that I may not have stopped smiling that entire day!

Now, why did i just tell you this story...well this healthy brownie recipe was on The Chew last week.  Daphne usually makes things a little healthier for those of us that well....need a push in the right direction!

I have never been a big fan of sweet potatoes and when I first started eating them it was only in savory recipes.  But now I usually have one in the house just for shits and giggles!  So when I heard that this recipe used sweet potatoes I was like well hell lets try it out and see how things play out!  Sure enough they were amazing!  I dropped some off at my friend Sara's grooming salon (yes this is where I take the girls so they can get beautified) and within about 20 minutes of my departure she sent me a text with the thumbs up - then I took another 30 into the office to share - GONE, gave my boss another dozen and he was a happy camper - no I am not an ass kisser - but I know his love for chocolate so I liked fooling him!

Are you ready....lets bake up these healthy bitches!

http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/sweet-potato-brownie-bites-daphne-oz

First preheat that oven... then you could do what the recipe called for and microwave the sweet potato to get it soft or roast it - which is what I decided to do to get the sweeter taste.

I started by peeling and cutting up sweetie and getting her on the cookie sheet

Once the little pieces were in roasting I got everything else all measured out and ready to go

When the taters were nice and soft I got them out and mashed them up

Then put everything in my mixer - otherwise known as Mama Mix A-Lot!  She does her fair share of work throughout the week - especially if its a Random Acts of Kindness week!

Once everything was all mixed up I filled my mini muffin tins using my small cookie scoop - this kept things nice and neat!  The recipe called to bake them for 8 minutes but I ended up adding another 2 minutes!  I made the recipe twice which gave me about 5 dozen bites!  For me personally I really liked these.  They were not super sweet and you couldn't taste the sweet potato - I ended up slicing up some strawberries and tapping a little powedered sugar over the top of everything!

Totally will be making these again and I think that you should too!

Oh for those keeping track we were back out on the streets again this morning at 5:40 to do 4.3 miles! One giant blister on the bottom of my foot (wait is that poor form - talking food and feet??) later we were home and I'm starting to get into this routine again!

Taking a break from the kitchen tomorrow as I scored some free tickets to a comedy show!  I hope that your week is off to a great start!

Happy Cooking!

Zucchini Pasta with Eggplant Meatballs

Well...in my attempt to not only start a blog I have also decided that its high time I stop making excuses for not getting my ass out of bed in the morning to do some kind of exercise.  I figured that I would start off slow - with a 4 mile jaunt with the pups this morning.  Within the first 100 yards Hunt had pooped 3 time and Halie's leash tried to decapitate the diva at least twice.  We were off to a stellar start!!!  Around the 1.5 mile mark it started to rain, which felt good as the humidity was high and had I not had a hat on I would have looked like a character from the lion king.  

We made it home, and with only a few blisters we were fine.  Unfortunately I think that Halie won't be able to go on these log walks she seemed to be moving gingerly the rest of the morning  Today was fairly decent for a Monday and I was able to get out of the office right on time - which was helpful as I had to pick up an ingredient that I had forgotten at every store I went to yesterday!

So here we go....tonight's recipe was great for a Meatless Monday meal!  I walked in the door and turned the oven on so it could be ready when I was.  I let the girls outside, and put on my new cooking shirt - what do you think! LOL

I then got my pandora going and was feeling a bit like singing this evening so the BROADWAY station won tonights pick!  First song up was from Rent - it was a great start to the night!

Step one - Dice up that eggplant and get it in the sauté pan- bought this bad boy at the farmers market for 50 cents!!

(make note - first photo bomb)

Step 2 - Dice up the onion add some garlic and get it in another sauté pan this is a little different from the recipe - as the original post had you wait until eggplant was done and use the same pan - great for clean up but crappy for time!

SIDE BAR - the first of two kitchen tools you need to have!  This is called a stir fry tool from Williams Sonoma and trust me when I tell you this is my favorite tool - I actually have 2 and have given it to many people as a gift!  One of the best things about this tool is that it fits in a peanut butter jar perfectly and the peanut butter doesn't stick to it! lol  Mom even has one so ask her what she thinks about this awesomeness - here is the link

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-silicone-angled-spatula

Back to the cooking - next step getting everything in the food processor. Now I have been fortunate to have a really great food processor, her name is Chop-pot-lay!  She was given to me by my sister and brother in law a few years ago and when they gave her to me they were the lucky winner of my hand-me-down which was also fantastic!!

Put everything in the food processor and according to the recipe just pulse, but I didn't read that and let it blend!  I actually liked the way my meat-less balls turned out!  

Once they were on the cookie sheet and in the oven I started with the next phase...Zucchini pasta!  Now if you do not have this next tool it is one that you will want to go out and get as soon as possible. THE SPIRIALIZER!!!!!  You will not be disappointed with this purchase, I am pretty sure that I use it at least three times a week during the summer and then as the fresh veggies taper out during the winter so does my usage.  Here is the link

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/paderno-sprializer/

As you can see from my pictures above it is about the easiest thing in the world to use, mine has the 3 different blades, 1 that would give you what I consider a ribbon cut, 2 which would give you a cut like an Arby's curly fry and the last is the one in use - which makes a pasta cut.  I have used this thing with so many different veggies that I could write an entire post about it.  No joke it will be the best $40 you spend mark my words!

So once this was all sliced up and ready to go I put it in the sauté pan just to warm it up a little bit - I just put a little olive oil in the pan and it was at a very low temp - you don't want a lot of oil or heat or it will shrivel right up on you and not act like "pasta" and you will be disappointed - at least I know I was the first few times!

While that was warming up I also saved some time and used a jar of Trader Joes sauce - I did add a few of those fresh veggies that I chopped up yesterday just to add a little extra to the sauce!  I had to channel gram tonight too as I couldn't get my jar opened so I used this little thingy she gave me!  Thanks gram!

While everything was warming up I started cleaning up what I could as there really is no way anymore for me to just use one pan while cooking!  By the way did you know that you should always let your pans cool completely before trying to clean them??  If you do not do this and you put them in water this will lead to the pan warping which will eventually lead to uneven cooking and well you being pissed off that your meal turned out crappy!  Again personal experience - learn from my mistakes people! lol

Now that everything is done its a matter of plating things up - I like to make it look pretty even though I am the only one judging things!  I feel like I owe that to myself right???  So here is the final product...

Believe it or not it tasted really good and this is coming from someone who has never liked eggplant!  The original recipe stated she got 12 "meatballs" but as you can see I made mine small and ended up with close to 30!  I also added another 8 minutes to the cooking time as I wanted them crispy so I flipped them at the 25 minute mark!  

Here is the original recipe:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/05/vegan-eggplant-meatballs.html

Alrighty my pans have cooled down now so I must go get that kitchen cleaned up!  

Happy Cooking!!!

ROW - Grilled Tilapia Bowls with Chipotle Avocado Crema

Its a banner bonus day for you and you get two posts for the price of one! I actually had a fairly slow Sunday so I decided to do the ROW tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow.  Oh I  must also mention that in addition to my normal rainman routines outside of the house I have a some that I take care of in the lovely Casa de Kimmie!

A few things that always happen here on Sunday's are Clean Head/Clean Bed - meaning every Sunday night new sheets go on the bed (including the dog beds) and a nice hot shower closes out the week while the lavendar oil pumps out the defuser and gets the room ready for optimal sleep!  Laundry is completed before going to bed, but most  importantly for this fat kid is meal planning.  As I mentioned in one of the inital posts before my passion for cooking started, I used to plan which fast food place I was going to drive thru.  Now, I  have a chalkboard wall in my kitchen that has every meal listed on it.  This doesn't mean that I have to stick to it, but it maps the week out which helps me wrap  my head around what needs to be done, and what I need to get at the grocery store.  I'm too lazy right now to get up and take a picture of the board but dont't worry you  will see it at some point!

So once I got home from my routine, I mapped out the week thinking about everything I still had from the farmers market and how I could make sure nothing went to waste.  In looking at all the produce I knew I wanted to make the ROW today which would give me leftovers tomorrow for lunch and I could create something else new and exciting tomorrow night!

Well I got right to work and started cutting up veggies. Started by using my awesome corn  thingy (showed you that yesterday) put all those little kernals in a saute pan with some black beans and about a teaspoon of harissa.  

While they were getting all toasty I used another one of my favorite kitchen tools - the jalpeno corer to get a fresh jalapeno ready to add!  Here is the link to that badboy - http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/jalapeno-pepper-corer/

Now, I must also share that I am  not independently wealthy - remember I work in public education and always have! lol  So when I find these trinkets, tools, pans, electrics I put them on my wish list, buy when I can and save giftcards people give me so that if something big and expensive is on my list  I can get it.  This  has helped me to truly appreciate all  of my purchases!

Back to the food... While the  corn mixture was warming I started chopping up veggies.  These will be used all week long --  I  totally recommend doing  this for time saving purposes.  They can now be used in any salad, side, stir fry you name it!

Once those were all cut up  I got the fish ready, dried it off with a paper towel then rubbed it down like I was putting sunscreen on a baby!  While  the fish was getting to room temp, I let mygrill pan   get nice and warm!  Another great  purchase (she was on sale) I love grilling outside but with today's humidity and intermittent downpours this pan was the shit!  Here is the link to it..
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/le-creuset-rectangular-skinny-grill

While the fish was on the grill, I made the crema - which I liked but I made a few  changes, I added some olive oil to thin it out, added some cilantro for a better taste, and some additional salt because the greek yogurt is a little strong.  I used the pancake thingy my mom gave me in order to properly squeeze the crema on the salad!!  

As everything  finished up I assembled the bowls first layering the lettuce on the bottom - I used lettuce  instead of the quinoa that was suggested in the recipe because I had a weird allergic reaction the last time I made quinoa. Then all of the veggies, some of the fire roasted salsa I made yesterday, then the  fish, crema and cilantro.  Not going to lie the shit was good!  Pretty sure I nailed it!

I hope you decide to dabble in this deliciousness - Happy Cookin'  

Recipe of the Week - 30

So I was hoping to sleep in this morning but these two fools had something else in mind.  For those who have not had the pleasure of meeting my two fur babies, let me introduce you to Halie and Huntlie.

Halie just turned 13 and I am not sure who saved who so many years ago.  My friend Katrina was working at an emergency animal hospital and called me up asking me to come look  at this 10 week old puppy that they were going to have to euthanize if no one agreed to foster her. So begrudgingly I went down, Hay (name was already given to her) put her little heaad on my shoulder and I am pretty sure the word sucker came across my forehead for everyone to read.

She has been with me ever since and I couldn't ask for a better buddy!  Now....to the diva Huntlie Francis - she will be 3 in a few weeks and well...to say she is a diva would be an understatement. She also has an adoption story which will also be close to my heart.  3 years ago, my grandmother started having some major health issues.  She was already living on borrowed time as she had a major heart attack on my 10th birthday, she was a fighter though so when she started to go downhill it was and honestly still is a struggle to believe that she was going/gone.

On the day of what I knew might be the last time I saw gram alive, I told her I was thinking about getting another dog as there were some puppies found in a dumpster at a Wal Mart in Columbus.  They were at a place called Pets Without Parents waiting to be adopted out.  I told gram I was thinking about it and she rolled her eyes - but with  love of course.  I drove back to Columbus from Rochester (a 6 hour drive) in silence thinking how special gram was to me and what were we all going to do without her.  I decided to stop in to PWP and see these puppies, it was like the little shit knew what was going on and she was ready to make her impact on our lives.

I filled out the paperwork, was approved for adotption paid her fees and then had to throw her in the jeep for her first road trip to NY, as two days after my return I  got that call that gram had taken a turn and I needed to get home.  Hunt's name is one of my favorite baseball catchers and my  grandmothers middle name.  Gram passed on August 16th, and I swear there are days she visits me through that little shit, either to remind me to not be so serious or just to give me a smile!

If there is ever an advocate for rescuing  dogs it would be me - as like I said earlier I am not sure who saved who!  Anyhow, thats a little more about  what goes on outside of my kitchen - don't be too surprised if you see them in pictures they  love photo bombing!!

I just sent out the recipe of the week email to everyone - so stay tuned for the final products!  Here is the recipe if you would like to join in!

http://www.joyfulhealthyeats.com/grilled-tilapia-bowls-chipotle-avocado-crema/

Happy Cooking!!!

Farmers Market Saturday

Typically my weekends are full of the exact same things from week to week.  I refer to myself as rainman and to be honest I am okay with this.  I recently sat in a leadership  seminar in which the  CEO from Cardinal Health talked about work life balance.  So many people think that balance means that everything is going to be equal - equal parts of butter to sugar, work to play, oil to water.  Well this is not the case - he explained work life  balance is to do the things that make you feel whole.  So for me that means having the same weekend routines.

A typical Saturday routine consists of going to a local farmers market then coming home to create all kinds of shit based on what I bought.  Often this means being in the kitchen for quite a few hours.  Today was no different, I scored huge at the market and therefore came home and got right to work! 

Up first was a fire roasted tomato salsa -this was pretty easy and really just a hodge podge  of a few  different recipes that I have done in the past.  Here is what I did:

Used a sauté pan and sautéed up about 6 tomatoes, with 1jalapeño, and a half of a red onion.  When they were nice and soft I thew everything in my vitamix (you could use a blender or food processor) put in about a half cup of water, tablespoon of minced garlic, teaspoon of harissa, teaspoon of salt and a bunch of cilantro.  I mixed this all up then put it in the fridge to get cold!  The final product....yum!

Next batter up...avocado ranch dressing.  I am going to start eating a little better this week and starting to work out again.  Restaurant week equals Kimmie not feeling so fabulous!  I found this recipe and then made some changes!! 

 http://www.cookingclassy.com/2015/06/avocado-greek-yogurt-ranch-dressing/
    

I added - a serrano pepper, and in order to thin the dressing out a bit used 4 tablespoons of olive oil!  No picture of the dressing yet because I didn't have the chance to use it!   This is sitting  in the fridge right now, but I did get some feedback from a favorite neighbor that it is really yummy!

Up next... a creamy corn gazpacho!  I got some fresh corn at The Doran Market (thats a real vendor at the farmers market) and was like what can I do with this? Then I found this recipe:

http://lindawagner.net/blog/2014/09/creamy-corn-gazpacho/index.html

So  using another one of my favorite kitchen tools from Williams Sonoma - I cut the corn off the cob and got to work here  is a great picture of how awesome this tool makes doing things like this easy breezy

Here is the link to order one of these badboys!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/kuhn-rikon-corn-zipper/?pkey=e%7Ccorn%7C25%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C9&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules 

I did make a few changes to  the recipe based on what I had from the market - here is what I used

about a quarter of a hot yellow pepper, a red onion, 2 vine ripe tomatoes, 3/4 cup skim milk, everything  else was kept the same!

Here is a picture of the final product - also given the thumbs up from my neighbor!  Not sure if I will eat it as a cold or hot soup tomorrow but I am pretty sure it will be yummy!

Then finally batting clean up for the afternoon....a polenta tart with a garlicky white bean spread, mushrooms and  roasted tomatoes.  Here is the link to the recipe and my step by step photos!  

http://www.choosingraw.com/polenta-tart-with-garlicky-white-bean-spread-and-roasted-cherry-tomatoes/?utm_content=buffer8648a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

It seems like it could be hard but if you read things over first you will have no problem executing it!

1.  Roast that garlic

2. Squeeze that garlic into your food processor

3.  Add the beans, and herbs

4.  Get that polenta ready

5.  Put polenta in spring form pan and let cool 

6. Cut up those maters and get them ready for roasting

7. Get polenta tart out of pan to cool - I roasted tomatoes while this was going on

8. Spread the beans on the tart

9. Put the mushroom and tomatoes on top 

DIG IN!!!! It was delish!  The only change that I made was adding sautéed mushrooms - I thought that this was a great addition. Using the polenta tart was an excellent alternative to a "pizza" crust.  In fact I would really like to make a pizza with it next time.  The only thing that I would probably do would be to crisp up the bottom side of the polenta tart. Not 100% sure how I would do that yet...but I will figure it out!

Tomorrow is Sunday Funday - which consists of Starbucks, picking the ROW,  going to techniques class, running errands and then back in the kitchen to get ready for the week ahead. Stay tuned for tomorrows post.

Happy Cooking! 

ROW - Week 29

So tonight is the only night this week that I am not participating in restaurant week, which was fine by me.  I was able to come home from work and relax a bit -- which usually means creating something in the kitchen.

As I eluded to in either an earlier post or the "profile" part of this blog thingy,  I have been doing a recipe club with my friends for a few years now.  Every week I send a recipe out and some try to recreate it!  Over the years we have shortened it to R.O.W. (recipe of the week) and we are now 29 weeks into the year.  For this week the recipe was: one sheet pan roasted parmesan crusted chicken tenders with farm fresh green beans and grape tomatoes.

It was super easy and could totally be done while wrangling children, dogs, or partners! I ended up having to use two cookie sheets because the package of chicken I purchased was about 2 pounds.  There were a few changes though that I made before baking:
1. I added about a quarter cup of panko to give the tenders a little crunch
2. I used about a tsp of each herb
3. I used my olive oil spritzer (one of my favorite kitchen gadgets) and sprayed each tender before baking to again add crispy factor!
   - here is the spritzer I use almost daily!
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/stainless-steel-oil-spray-can/?cm_src=AutoSchRel

One thing that I would do next  time (and there will be a next time) will be to add a bit more salt to the veggies while they are roasting.  I added at the end - but....they would have been just a little better if I had done throughout the baking process!

Step 1. Get those tenders ready

Step 2  - Spray them bad boys down with this amazing kitchen tool

Step 3 - Put the chicken and green beans into the oven

Step 4- Cut those little maters up - using  your super awesome chef's knife

Step 5 -  Put the tomatoes on the tray and bake for a few more minutes

Step 6 - Make yourself a pretty plate!

Then enjoy the awesomeness you just created!  The link below has the whole recipe for you to follow!  If you ask me - its a winner!

http://www.cookingclassy.com/2015/04/one-sheet-pan-roasted-garlic-parmesan-chicken-tenders-and-green-beans-with-fresh-grape-tomatoes/

Another new restaurant tomorrow night - hopefully we will continue on this winning streak!   

Happy Cooking!

Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate....Cookie?

For those of you that are not super familiar with me, every month I do what I like to call Random Acts of Kimmie Kindness - otherwise known as RAKK's.  This is something that I started up again this past January where I allow everyone that I am Facebook friends with to enter a "raffle" where all they have to do is private message me their mailing address.  Then at the beginning of the month I draw at least 5 names bake about 25 dozen cookies and send out care packages to the lucky winners.  Those that have entered have no idea that they have won until the package lands on their doorstep/mailbox/po box.  Eventually everyone that has entered will win, but they have to wait until their name is picked.

This was a little brainchild that I had mainly because well...who doesn't like fun mail?  I have always been fortunate in that my mom sends great care packages (even though I am 38) so with my love for baking, the challenge of making a shit ton of cookies all in a day, and the pure excitement of watching others get jazzed over the possibility of winning has led to this cookie extravaganza.  I am not sure how much it actually costs me in ingredients every month, as I change up the types of cookies that are sent.  The only cookie that can be found in every package every month is my mothers sugar cookies.  At some point I will give you all that recipe - but to do it tonight I would have to get out of the recliner and get my recipe book and well....I am lazy!  

The packages go out all over the country and Mary my favorite post office worker knows that we send them out the cheapest/fastest way - which technically as she tells me every month is an oxymoron when it comes to sending packages.  Typically though its about a $60 trip to the post office every month, but to me its worth every penny.

One of the cookies that went out in one of the first packages ever was called a Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookie.  Basically I found a recipe that was like Jeni's Queen City Cayenne Ice Cream, which mixes the awesomeness of chocolate, cinnamon and cayenne pepper all into one bite!  I wasn't sure how they were going to be perceived so I took them to my favorite taste testers!

I have taste testers all over Columbus but my favorites are my Starbucks Baristas!  We often forget that those working in the service industry need a little love too - so I started taking samples to them when I would go in to pick up my Friday morning coffee.  Shawn my fave, love love loves these cookies and I knew that today was his birthday so I got up early and made a few for him!  

He was so pumped that he said he might even share them with the rest of the crew!  HA!  Anyhow, here he is with his cookies, and the recipe.  There really wouldn't be much to change unless you really like heat - then I would add just a smidge more of the cayenne!  The recipe states that you should only get about 2 dozen cookies - but unless you are making cookies for SHREK you can get way more.  I use the small cookie scoop for all of my cookies and I ended up getting closer to 5 dozen.

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/spicy-mexican-hot-chocolate-cookies.html 

I know that I also promised to give an update from tonight's restaurant week excursion, with the exception of not realizing I would hit traffic it was a way better meal.  We went to Caribbean Jerks tonight and I would have to say that it gets a 4 out of 5 stars.  Not sure that I would order any of the appetizers that we got if I went back for dinner, they were good but nothing to really write home about.  But.... the entrees were amazing, each one of us got something different so we were able to try everything!  I am not going to lie Katie got the black bean ravioli and well... I was disappointed that I wasn't ballsy enough to try them!  They were delish I would totally go back for more of those bad boys!

I also made a call to the place where we had dinner last night just to give them the "hey I wasn't super impressed with your super expensive meal"  I was really nice and stated that I really didn't want anything in return for the call just for them to make sure others had a better experience.  The manager said she wanted to redeem the restaurant and asked if she could send me a gift certificate to come back and try again.   I reiterated that I wasn't looking for anything free just that I knew it was the first night of restaurant week so if their goal was to get people to come back in, they need to step it up.  She was very thankful and super nice and apparently sending me a gift card!  So I guess we will go back and try again!

I will be making the recipe of the week tomorrow night so stay tuned....

Happy cooking