We’re eating cheesy potato, broccoli and piquillo pepper soup garnished with gremolata, crumbled bacon and blue cheese.

Okay, I know it’s the peak of summer and tons of places are sweltering right now. In this heat I imagine most people would rather eat a cucumber for dinner than cook a hearty potato soup on the stove top. Unfortunately I am not most people and when I get a hankering for something I just gotsta fill it!

Last winter Nicole invited us over for a bowl of delicious Potato & Leek Soup. It was sooooo good. Seriously, it was like eating a soupy bowl of baked potato (with some sourdough to dunk into it!). Trust me, it was better than that sounds. Hands down it was the best potato soup I had eaten. It was the craving for Nicole’s hearty, comforting soup mixed with the desire for some broccoli & cheese soup that inspired me to make this dish. Both Tyler and I loved it and thought the soup was even better on the second day after having a chance for the flavors to meld over night. The addition of the gremolata as a garish was a must! It definitely brought a bright flavor that the soup was otherwise lacking.

Recipes in this post:

• Cheesy Potato, Broccoli & Piquillo Pepper Soup

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1. Virginia-Style Brunswick Stew

We’re eating succulent grilled bacon wrapped pork tenderloin stuffed with fresh mission figs and crumbled blue cheese. The pork was served on a bed of spicy micro mustard greens and slices of mission figs with a drizzle of pomegranate vinaigrette.

Sure, bacon has blown up into yet another annoying and absurd internet fad, but that’s just because bacon has and always will be one of the tastiest foods known to humankind. If you don’t like bacon I really don’t understand how your deranged brain works. I would take a a slice of bacon over a chocolate truffle any day of the week. I would take this bacon wrapped blue cheese & fig stuffed pork tenderloin over pretty much any sweet item at any point in time. Disclaimer: I’m a savory kind of girl which makes me kind of biased.

This meal was the perfect balance of sweet, savory, smokey and salty…by god I wish I had a serving of it in front of me at this second. Just writing this post is making me salivate. It’s well known that figs, blue cheese and bacon are a great combo and apparently they are even better when grilled with a juicy pork tenderloin and drizzled with tangy pomegranate vinaigrette! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as we did!

Recipes in this post:

• Bacon Wrapped Fig & Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
• Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Related posts:

1. Nothin’ Beats Manda’s Meats
2. Achiote Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
3. Brined Pork Roast w/ Curried Cranberry Apple Sauce

We’re eating a wild mushroom and young garlic gratin chock full of crimini, king trumpet, brown beech & oyster mushrooms and topped with a decadent blue cheese, macadamia nut, herb & oat crumb topping.

It was this topping that actually inspired the entire dish. What started out being a topping for a savory pear crisp was just too good to leave alone. Almost immediately after making the crisp, I knew I wanted to eat more of that yummy blue cheesy crumble topping and this time, it would have to be used in a completely savory application. Thus the emergence of this dish. We think that pretty much anyone who tries this and isn’t a freak (freak=one who dislikes mushrooms and blue cheese in this case) is gonna love it! We sure did.

Recipes in this post:

• Wild Mushroom Gratin w/ Macadamia Nut-Blue Cheese Topping

No related posts.

Ho Ho Ho Merry Thanksgiving! As the holiday season quickly approaches, we thought it would be a great idea to get together with our good friend and fabulous food blogger, Nicole over at Pinch My Salt, and eat some great holiday food…early! With this post we will begin a new seasonal series: Fan-freakin-tastic Holiday Recipes perfect for whatever fall/winter celebration you may have. We’ll try to hit some traditional highlights and even give some new ideas on classic ingredients.

(And no, you can’t shorten the title. Whenever you speak of this post you must say “fan-freakin-tastic holiday recipes perfect for whatever fall/winter celebration you may have”.)

To start things off, we’re featuring baked sweet potatoes stuffed with blue cheese and herbs and wrapped in prosciutto. Everybody knows there has to be a sweet potato dish at holiday feasts… but why’s a hommie have to eat all that extra sugar and marshmallow crap with it? I believe that sweet potatoes are sweet enough with out the addition of extra sugar. Actually, I even like to down-play the sweetness by combining the sweet potatoes with other savory items. Let’s just say that the flavors in these sweet potatoes will hit the walls(NC-17 link) of your taste buds and make your mouth sing.

The other potato dish at our pre-holiday fest was Nicole’s insanely delicious cream cheese mashed potatoes. Apparently these potatoes are a tradition for her family’s holiday meals and I can see why. Seriously – they were dy-no-mite! Truth be told, I prefer plain old, non-sweet potatoes to sweet potatoes almost any day but I think I gave her a run for her money. Right now I would love to a have a big plate of both potatoes and enjoy a carb-fest of a dinner!

Recipes in this post:

• Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Wrapped in Prosciutto

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1. Kickass Mexican Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing
2. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
3. Holiday Recipe: Cheesy Chile, Fennel & Potato Gratin

For the LSU game we went wild and made some homemade flatbread-like pizza that was to die for. The pizza-flatbread creation was made with homemade dough and topped with sage-garlic butter, caramelized maui onions, fresh slices of jalapenos, creamy brie, danish blue cheese, and crispy thick sliced bacon. It really doesn’t get much better than this.

You can’t resist meA: man, if people think that we eat only the stuff we post they must surely be worried about our health! this was one rich bitch.
T: I don’t care. I will gladly take a decade off my life expectancy if it means eating this on a regular basis. This cheesy bread/pizza thing was unreal. I would give up entire food ethnicities before I gave this up. It was really really tasty. Seriously.
A: agreed. i would totally give up eskimoan food for this…. at least with my lack of knowledge of eskimoan food. this was some seriously outrageously good game day food.
T: yeah. for real. If we still had some I would bury my face in it right now.
Brie….
A: heheh just for the essence. you wouldn’t eat it though, right? just bury.
T: oh hell no, I’d be eating it. Yes sir. Mmmm. Cheeeesy bacony oniony goodness.
A: you forgot jalapeno-y and garlic buttery.
T: you interrupted me. I was still going over this loaf of delight in my mind. Ok, so, now that we’ve gushed for a few minutes, do you have a rating for it?
A: man, i really want to go crazy high with my rating but… i dunno. I need to stay sane. I’ll give it a 4.85/5. It was really effing good. seriously. it put together some of my all time favorites all in one home made bready dish. if it had had lamb lolly pops and crab cakes it could have gotten a 5.
T: yeah, this thing deserves an incredible score. I give it a 4.96/5. It was tops. There’s not much else to say about it. I recommend that anyone out there in internet-land who can follow a recipe, make this. now.

food pornA: cheezus! that is one mega high score!
T: did you just say cheezus? … [nod] ….
A: uh, yeah. what else would i have said! holy god of all things cheesey.
T: you could have said, I don’t know, “wowsers” or, say, “JEEZ”
A: but i didn’t. gotta problem with my cheezus?
T: not if you make some more cheesy bread

Recipes in this post:

• Pizza-like Bread w/ Brie, Bacon, & Blue Cheese

Related posts:

1. Bacon Wrapped Fig & Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
2. Knorr Homestyle Stock Bad Boy Macaroni and Cheese
3. Fig Jam & Sweetened Chevre Turnovers

As a precursor to dinner, we whipped up some spicy cheese souffles made with pureed chipotle in adobo, aged cheddar, bleu cheese, scallions, and cilantro. Inspired by the current Hay Hay it’s Donna Day, these were nearly perfect little savory and spicy breaths of fluffy egg and cheese goodness.

Deflated chipotle and bleu cheese souffleT: souffle is a little like cotton candy. It’s big. but once it gets in your mouth it all but disappears. Not to say it wasn’t extremely tasty, but… it goes *poof* and there is nothing. Kinda like a big fluffy cat that has been shaved.
A: you do have a point. i didn’t really know what was going to happen tonight. i wasn’t particularly scared of my souffle not rising because of all the research i did before hand, but i didn’t really know what a souffle tasted like! this was the first souffle that i’ve ever eaten! it really did go poof.
T: it was my first souffle too. Just curious, how healthy/unhealthy was this little puff of delight?
A: weeeell… on the cholesterol scale, it’s probably not so good. there was a little less than 1 egg yolk per ramekin and about one egg white. add that to the cheese and milk, and you’re not looking at the most healthy thing in the world. tasty though! quite tasty.
T: ok so if I’m on the biggest loser I’m not going to want to gorge myself on bleu cheese and cheddar souffle. That’s basically what you’re telling me.
A: yup, pretty much! i happen to be a firm believer in “every thing’s good in moderation”.
T: which is why I only smoke one crack rock per day.
A: what-ever like, you are totally not smoking crack everyday! that would totally mess up your tastebuds and make you unable to be a good WWE partner!
T: yeah, as the lovely whitney houston once said, crack is cheap. crack is wack.
A: heheh crack is wack, yo! but souffle is grrrrrreat!
T: it is quite tasty. Is it typically served as an appetizer or side dish?
A: i’m pretty sure it’s served as a side dish most of the time. i could be wrong though.
T: where in the world are people eating souffle on a regular basis? France?
A: that’s my guess. and here. and everywhere! we just hadn’t caught on the souffle bandwagon yet. but you can bet this won’t be the last time i make one of these delicious savory airy “breaths”.
T: When you first said you were making a souffle I thought you were talking about flambe. I’m uhhh…. slow.
A: nah, just unexperienced. i can help you out, baby.
T: yes you can. you certainly did tonight. I gotta rate this souffle a… how can I rate something without anything to compare it to? well, hmm…. it was really tasty. And it did seem really fluffy. I’ll give it a 4.4/5. How bout you?
A: i think i must have enjoyed this one more than you did. i give it a 4.56/5. it was fantastic. i could have eaten the other three…easily. it was cheesy. it was spicy… it had hints of onionness. i just loved it.
T: now I was looking around on the internet earlier today and I saw some chocolate souffles. Ummm… so, what’s up with that? in other words, are you planning to make one soon?
A: well i wasn’t going to, buuuut. maybe i’ll make one for laurie’s birthday dessert! and of course it will have caramel sauce (as she’s requested)…
T: when is her birthday?
A: that doesn’t really matter! the real question should be, “when is she coming to visit?”! that would be mid-february. so be on your toes!
T: i’m on my toes right now, woman!

Recipes in this post:

• Chipotle, Bleu Cheese, and Cheddar Souffle

No related posts.

Here we go again! These brussels sprouts are one of the fabulous sides we enjoyed for thanksgiving dinner. The sprouts were sauteed in yummy bacon fat, deglazed with red wine vinegar, then tossed with homemade spiced walnuts, crispy bacon, and creamy danish bleu cheese. Unless you’re just not in to brussels sprouts, you are guaranteed to like this puppies!

T: it’s impressive that you can sit down and write a recipe a week after thanksgiving for something you made on thanksgiving. My memory is not so good. If I were trying to write something about what I did a week ago it would go like this… “uhhh… I did stuff.”
A: hehehe well ya see timmy… my trick is, i write down all the ingredients and amounts i use while i’m cooking, then, all i have to do is write the instruction part. that’s not too much for me to remember! most of it is on paper… just not saved on the compute.
T: that’s nice, but my name’s not timmy. Not that there’s anything wrong with the name timmy, it’s just not for me. that’s a badass idea to write the ingredients as you go, but it seems like that would be a real drag during an involved cook session.
A: well, if i were to write down the info directly after each step (and before the the next step) it would be an incredible pain in my ass. fortunately, at my ripe old age of 26, i still have enough short term memory left that i can remember what i’ve done for at least five minutes! serioulsy, maybe if i’ve had my ginko i could remember stuff for six minutes, maybe generally in five minutes i can find a decent time to jot some info down without ruining the meal!
T: that’s a more helpful tip than Rachael Ray telling you to carry the entire contents of your fridge over to the counter all at one time so you don’t waste precious time going back and forth and back and forth to the fridge. I mean, all those trips to the fridge can start to wear on a person.
A: i know, the three or four feet and two seconds it takes me to traverse our entire kitchen is a huge time killer! think of all the seconds i could save if i were more like good ol’ rach…
T: Probably dozens of seconds, over the course of a few months.
A: dozens of seconds i will never have back, t. NEVER. If i’d only listened to Rachael Ray….
T: yeah, and those dozens of seconds could add up to like 10 minutes in your lifetime… think about that… that’s just enough time to tell your loved ones goodbye.
A: damn man. this is just too deep for me. i think we need to lighten up the conversation some, hommie.
T: ok, maybe talking about the food that this post is about would be a good way to do that. Mmmmm… brussels sprouts… mmmmmmm… I don’t say “mmm” with that many m’s to just any pile of brussel sprouts. These were fantastic. If anybody thinks they don’t like brussels sprouts, they need to try, try again. And again until they get it.
A: i know! seriously… wtf, man. brussels sprouts are soooo kick ass. just the other day my own freaking sister told me she doesn’t like brussels sprouts! how can this be?!?! i think i may be adopted.
T: no, I think she was adopted. Maybe they found her left behind a dumpster.
A: perhaps even a dumpster filled with brussel sprouts! thus the aversion to them!
T: If there was ever a dumpster filled with brussel sprouts, that would be quite… odd. So, the question for your sister is, does she like cabbage?
A: that is the same thing i asked her! and she said, yes. i just don’t get it. things that make you go “hmm….”
T: things that make you go “what’s wrong with your sister?” Brussels sprouts are just lil’ wee cabbages. Unless you really screw em up (which I would do if I cooked them) they’re wonderful mini cabbage treats!
A: i totally agree… except with the part about you screwing them up! they are soooooo easy, you could totally rock the sprouts!
T: well, how would I avoid making the bitter like some people complain about?
A: frankly, i just don’t think they are bitter. my sister says that’s why she doesn’t like them, but i just don’t see anything bitter about them! just little bundles of mini-cabbage joy is all i see.
T: well now that we’ve proven beyond a reasonable doubt that brussel sprouts are awesome, I’d like to bring up the bleu cheese and bacon that was in these particular sprouts…
A: oh yes! and the delicious spiced nuts! this was definately a recipe inspired by one of the dishes my old mentor, bobby, used to make at harvest. i never did learn how to make his spiced nuts, but i think these really rocked for me.
T: Me too. I give them a 4.78/5. They were just so good. In fact, I ate quite a few of these before we sat down for dinner. And that was a good thing, and I would do it again. What’s your rating?
A: i totally have to agree with you on this. there seem to stick out as one of my favs from the dinner (although i imagine i’ll be saying that again in another t-day post). I give them a 4.666 they were wickedly good! okay, i just wanted to say that… i actually give them a 4.75/5. i don’t really know what i would do to improve these babies…
T: yeah, that would be hard to do. I guess maybe making more of them would help. That’s just an idea.
A: a good idea, at that! while we’re on the topic of brussels sprouts and cabbage, i just want to spill the beans about my sauerkraut endeavor. bobby and i have been emailing back and forth talking about ‘kraut recently (i swear i’m gonna email you soon b-ster). so today i bought the cabbage necessary… i also bought some brussels sprouts to add to the mix, so i think i’m gonna make some non-traditional kraut with green cabbage, sprouts, a jalapeno (for a kick), and some garlic. i’m stoked!
T: holy crap I’m stoked too! I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this from me. I mean, I knew you were going to make some kraut but I didn’t know you and Bobby were going back and forth about it. Hells yeah.
A: welll… not so much back and forth… maybe just back then forth once, maybe twice. it’s been mentioned more than a time or two. i just keep thinking about it! i’ve had rotten cabbage on the brain.
T: I’ve got it on my brain too… so, sauerkraut is rotten cabbage, eh. Is that going to stink up the apartment and make my life a living hell?
A: hells yeah! you’re going to be miserable for then next month-
T: nice. really nice, mandy. Well, at least you’re giving it to me straight.
A: no prob, t-gravy! (and just for the record, kraut is called “fermented” not rotten… i just like to say rotten)
T: hmmm.. is it really going to stink?
A: heheheh it’s going to smell like wonderful fermenting cabbage! it’s gonna be great!
T: i’m afraid.

Recipes in this post:

• Brussels Sprouts with Spiced Walnuts, Bacon, and Bleu Cheese

Related posts:

1. Bacon Wrapped Fig & Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
2. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
3. Knorr Homestyle Stock Bad Boy Macaroni and Cheese

As part of our week-long Thanksgiving food celebration, we ate a breakfast of homemade candied yams prepared with a stellar combination of molasses, honey, fresh sage and butter. The yams were topped with crumbled extra-creamy danish blue cheese and ganished with fresh sage leaves.

A: Happy Thanksgiving, T!…oh wait… it’s not thanksgiving yet.
T: that’s ok, for foodbloggers (in america) Thanksgiving is a week-long holiday! It’s the ultimate!
A: true dat. this little ditty started a week-long celebration for us. now we may not eat all of this food come thursday, but if we start now, we can get in all our favorites, and still eat the untraditional stuff we want.
T: Hell yeah, this is awesome. Being a foodblogger rocks! Especially for me because if you weren’t cooking I’d be eating nothing but granola bars and Burritos. (not that there’s anything wrong with burritos, I eat them for lunch everyday, but there comes a time to eat something else)
A: shit yeah! well, it rocks for me too, because if i didn’t have you to cook for, i would eat salad all the time… or veggies sauteed in PAM to watch my calories. and my god, would that suck.
T: yes, that would suck. throw in a few california burritos, though, and you’ve got yourself a well-balanced diet.
A: hmm… i’ve still only had the Santana’s cali burrito. before i could commit to that well-balanced diet, i’d have to eat a good one!
T: fair enough. Hey, I just had a great idea…
A: yeeees?!?
T: you could make us some california Burritos, Amanda style!
A: now, while i like how you’re thinking, i just can’t make the best tortillas… and without a decent tortilla, burritos suck!
T: that’s very true. k, mmm… screw the burritos. I eat them all the time anyway. How bout a nice big stuffed burger?
A: now you’re talking! but, you’re talking a different holiday altogether. now’s the time for starches and fowl.
T: Yes, but the burgers don’t have to be for the holidays. They can be just for the heck of it.
A: alright! i’ll do it! within two weeks we’ll have stuffed burgers… mark my words.
T: you’re words have been marked! And I will show you this post in exactly 2 weeks if we haven’t had burgers, and I’ll bitch. And then you’ll remind me of what I would be eating without you, and I’ll shut up.
A: glad you figured that one out for yourself!
T: So, time to talk about the yams. These were super-delish, and made a magnificent breakfast. I’ve got to recommend candied yams for breakfast- they’re just the right sweetness and starchiness for the morning. Trust me on this one.
A: you know, i never would have thought of that on my own, but you’re pretty right-on. when you were eating them, was there anything that you thought might improve them?
T: no, they were absolutely awesome. I mean, they probably would have been a little better if there was some smothered fowl with gravy next to it, but, you know, by themselves I think they were about perfect.
A: hmm… you know, that’s the real problem with cooking these dishes on random days… you don’t get the whole “holiday-food-melding-together-on-your-plate” experience, but them’s the breaks, kid.
T: yeah, everyday can’t be thanksgiving day. If it were, americans would be so fat-
A: but wait, T! americans are so fat!
T: let me finish, woman! If everyday were thanksgiving, we’d all be so fat that we’d be stuck in our apartments! we wouldn’t be able to squeeze through the doors… but then some savvy business man/woman would get rich off of double-wide doors. God this country rocks.
A: please…. whatever brave souls still happen to be reading this… PLEASE don’t take tyler seriously! (please) this country would not rock for making money because our population was too fat to squeeze through the current doorways.
T: No, our country would absolutely rock for that reason… it would suck because the entire population was so fat that nobody could leave their apartments. The double-wide door industry would be the one great thing about this nightmarish scenario.
A: hahahah touche! well, now that we’ve evoked such wonderful images, what’s your rating for the yams?
T: I give ‘em a 4.63/5. They were excellent… what really made them a knock-out was the bleu cheese. I don’t think anything else could have complimented their flavor better (other than a pool of gravy over on the other side of the plate).
A: you know, i’m gonna agree with you. I give them a 4.45/5. That’s pretty much as high as i can possibly go on yams. they’re one of those holiday foods that i’ve always avoided. i generally find their sweetness to be overwhelming, so i thought to myself, “hmmm… what can i do to like these crazy things more?”. and man, add bleu cheese to pretty much anything sweet, and i love it.
T: oooh yeah. And gravy. Add gravy to pretty much anything sweet (or not sweet), and I love it.
A: hehehe i think that’s gonna have to work itself into a new nickname for you… Crazy Gravy T, or something
T: You can just call me T-gravy.

p.s. please don’t call me t-gravy.

Recipes in this post:

• Candied Yams with Sage and Danish Bleu Cheese

Related posts:

1. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
2. Knorr Homestyle Stock: Kicked-Up Cream Cheese Mashed Sweet Potatoes