Dollar Store Delights

This is Shorty coming at you again.  So this morning on my way to work, I stopped by the 99 Cents Only store to pick up a few things for work like dish soap and sponges, and noticed they had huge, beautiful eggplants in the produce section - 2 for a dollar!!!  I've never been a big fan of eggplant, and I've NEVER cooked it at home, but how do you pass up that deal?!

I searched online for a recipe idea, trying to avoid the obvious Eggplant Parmesean, but in the end, that's whaat I decided to go with.  I figured..."eggplant parm should be easy enough to whip up!"  Let me warn you know...that is NOT a dish you can just "whip up"...  While delicious, we didn't end up eating until 9:45pm last night.

Regardless...as this is a random post, and not part of the blogging game we're playing, I'm going to try and make it short and sweet:

Tonight's Winning Numbers Are...

Well, apparently we're lazy bloggers...we played our new food game for the first time last Sunday...and we're just now getting around to posing about it!  Shame on us, I know!  Also, Peanut has come down with a nasty cold, and since he's the one who is really "running the show" our blog has taken the back burner.  So...tonight, I'm going at it solo!  Well...he's on the couch watching American Idol, and coaching me through the blog process.  So let's get started...

My winning numbers were 1-8-288.  That brought me to "Taste of Home: Winning Recipes" and I had a choice between Spinach Artichoke Pie and Cheesy Zucchini Saute.  As I'm a huge fan of spinach artichoke dip, I had to go with the pie tonight.

I prepared my pie dish by brushing it with olive oil and coating it with bread crumbs, just like preparing a cake pan with butter and flour.

Next, I sauteed some mushrooms in some olive oil.  Once they were tender, I added the spinach, artichokes, bread cubes, and cheddar (can't go wrong with cheddar!), pimientos, eggs, and garlic powder.

Spread it into the pie dish, sprinkle with more cheese, and bake for about 30 minutes.  It doesn't get more simple than this!

While delicious, I must admit that the artichokes made the dish a little salty, but it was a good dish all around.

Peanut's winning numbers were 3 and 12.  That led us to "Down Home with the Neely's" or "Big Daddy's House".  While I'm sure Peanut would have a lot to say about either one of these shows...let me just put it this way--the hosts are annoying!  However, that's how the dice fell, so we went with what sounded the best: the Neely's "Rustic Apple Tart".  And best of all, it was so easy to make!

We cored, peeled, and sliced 2 Granny Smith and 2 Golden Delicious apples, and tossed them with a little brown sugar, cinnamon, and kosher salt.

Then we rolled out a frozen pie crust large enough to cover the bottom of a 12-inch cheesecake pan.  While that's not really the norm for making a tart, we figured baking it in the pan would be an easy way to keep things round and uniform.

We laid the apples in a pretty little spiral pattern, then folded up the outside of the dough.  Aww...how rustic!

Finally, we brushed the entire thing with melted butter.  So Paula Deen, but so delicious!  Time to bake!

Once the tart came out of the oven, we brushed the entire thing with melted peach preserves.  Mmmmm...that really made the flavor pop!

The only criticism I have about the tart is that it probably could have baked just a little bit longer.  The crust wasn't quite golden enough, and the apples were still a little crisp.  But that didn't stop me from loving the end result.

Games in the Kitchen

So we've just begun this blog and already we've decided to take it in a new direction.  Although we cook almost everyday, we found that we weren't photographing and blogging about our basic meals.  So we decided to spice things up a bit.  We will continue to post the random leftover creations and new recipes throughout, but now that we have a direction for the blog, we'll work a little harder to make sure our pictures and posts actually make it on there.

The other day I came across a couple's blog dedicated to re-creating recipes from their massive cooking magazine collection/subscriptions.  We don't receive any magazine subscriptions, but we do have quite a large cook book collection (that continues growing, thanks to my mom's generosity).  Since it's about time they got some use and since I can't get enough of other blogs and the Food Network, we decided to us them to create a new game for ourselves.  Each of these categories (cookbooks, food blogs, Food Network) has been assigned a number set: 1/4-Cook Books, 2/5-Food Blogs, 3/6-Food Network.  We'll let a simple little dice, and the help of a random number generator found at http://www.random.org to determine our stomachs' fate...

Each category has it's own set of rules:

Cook Books - If the die lands on 1 or 4, we'll let random.org tell us which cookbook to use (we have a total of 40, so far) counting from left to right.  Once the book is chosen, we will input the number of pages into the generator, and the resulting page number will be our launching point.  Multiple recipes on one pages means we get to have a choice in the matter :-)

Food Blogs - If the die lands on 2 or 5, we'll follow the same principle as with the cookbooks and random.org.  We have our favorite blog sites numbered in a spreadsheet and then we'll either break the recipes down by alphabetical order or use the creator's category list. (Shorty wants to simply create the blog's most recent recipe, but I want more diversity.)

Food Network - If the die lands on 3 or 6, we get to watch TV!!!  Just kidding...but this is, in my opinion, the most difficult option.  Random.org will select a number from between 9 and 24 to determine from which time slot we must pick a recipe.  (Early AM on the Food Network is normally used for paid programming and other silly infomercials, so we've left out the time slots 1am-8am).  Once a slot has been decided, we'll skip ahead to the next occurrence of that time slot on the cable listings, and see what's on the menu.  If two half-hour cooking shows happen to fall into that slot, then we get lots of options!  We can pick any one of the recipes being made on either show.  If a one-hour show, like Iron Chef or Chopped fall there, we'll challenge ourselves to create a new recipe with "today's secret ingredient."  However, if a show such as Ace of Cakes or Unwrapped is on we'll skip to the next day's options since those types of shows don't lend themselves to this type of game.

We're both excited about this new idea and have already made our first selections.  We decided that Shorty and I would both play separately to increase the fun and recipe opportunities.  So look for a new post tomorrow detailing today's cooking adventures, and hopefully excluding any reports of visits to the local hospital!  Now lets get cooking!!!

Mustard in a Muffin????

I am an avid reader of many food blogs, especially those involving baking since that is one of my dream jobs.  Anyway, I was perusing the Cupcake Project and I ran across this fascinating recipe.  The writer of this blog is so creative and this recipe is a fine example.  When Shorty heard the "secret ingredient" he was determined to make it.  He's a huge fan of odd ingredients.  So here you have it:

MOM Muffins (Maple Oatmeal Mustard)

Since we borrowed the recipe from another blogger you can find it here: 

Maple Oatmeal Mustard Muffins

Shorty did make an alteration in that he used regular, vanilla flavored yogurt instead of the Greek yogurt. It fit our finances better and we are all about doing things on the cheap.  :o)


Now I know the idea of mustard in a muffin is throwing some of you off, but they look delicious don't they?  Actually, I was a little leary of the mustard as well, but Shorty had faith.  I'm glad he did.  These are delicious!!!  They're like a hearty bran muffin with a wonderful maple glaze on top.  Mmmmm! 

The muffins have a rich, warm aftertaste that I can only attribute to the mustard.  They also have a unique texture due to the mustard seeds which reminded me oddly of nuts or poppy seeds in other muffins I've eaten.  We will definitely be making these again!

Rediscover Leftover: No Leftover Left Behind

Several days ago Shorty made this wonderful squash soup with cornmeal dumplings on top.  I really felt it was more of a stew than a soup.  It was hearty and full of lots of chunky veggies.  Drool!  Anyway, the leftovers found their way into the fridge and, sadly, we kept overlooking them.  Tonight we decided we had to correct this oversight, but neither of us really wanted it again.  Then he announced that he was going to throw it in the blender and make a creamy soup.  Blender?  Creamy soup?  Bring it on!  I love it when he gets all creative and decides to play.  So I let him do his thing and was surprised at the result.


I came into the kitchen to find that not only was the soup now thick and creamy with just the right amount of chunkiness, but he had also fried up some spicy Italian sausage and warmed up some ready made dinner rolls (hey, sometimes you've got to bring a little of that semi-homemade in when you don't have a lot of time.)  We filled our bowls, mixed in the sausage, and dug in.  Let me just say..... Yum!  Shorty added a hint of rosemary to the soup and it was perfect.  This was one time when a good dish was better as a leftover.  Sadly, we're still new to the food blog world and our bowls were empty before we remembered photos. :o(