Back in the San Diego, I wouldn’t have appreciated the find so much and probably would have just thrown them in the oven or on the grill. Roasted and grilled asparagus are two of my all time fave ways to eat asparagus (and lets not kid ourselves, it’s effing simple). Here, I knew I wanted to do something far more exciting with my beloved produce. And since I needed to develop another recipe for Knorr, I knew without a moment of hesitation that there was only one product I wanted to use here: helloooooo hollandaise sauce! Everybody knows asparagus and hollandaise are a match made in heaven, so you could say I took the easy way out. At the end of the day the meal consisted of spicy, garlicky, sharp cheddar grits, with sauteed asparagus, onions & roasted red pepper topped with an over-easy egg and chipotle & lime kicked-up Knorr hollandaise sauce. My two friends who got a plate of it both told me that they wanted to marry me as they were eating it, so I think it turned out pretty well. The real question is, with all of these marriage offers, how is it that I’m still single?!?

*I am a professional recipe developer being paid by Knorr as part of the Knorr 4 promotion. While Knorr is footing the bill, all content and opinions comes directly from my (sometimes offbeat and slightly cheesy) brain.

Recipes in this post:

• Spicy Cheddar Grits, Sauteed Asparagus, Onions & Roasted Red Peppers w/ Over-Easy Egg & Chipotle Lime Hollandaise Sauce

No related posts.

It appears I have come down with a mild seasonal ailment: fig obsession! Pair that obsession with a huge block of chevre I got from Costco a couple of weeks ago along with the dreamy memory of Nicole’s blueberry-rubarb turnovers I ate back in June and you’ve got the equation for some reeeeaaally freaking tasty pastries! I can’t think of a thing that I would change about this recipe. The sweet, cinnamony fig jam worked perfectly with the sweetened chevre and the no-fail cream cheese pastry crust from The Art and Soul of Baking. If you live in an area that grows figs, I suggest snatching some up and making these turnovers immediately! And if you live in the San Diego area and make them I would love for some to be delivered to my apartment… just sayin’!

Side Note: Nicole’s post I mentioned above offers a detailed photo tutorial of how to shape, cut and seal turnovers if you need some visuals to go along with a recipes!

Recipes in this post:

• Fig Jam & Sweetened Chevre Turnovers

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2. Fudgy Earl Grey Chocolate Cake
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Our King Cake, naked for the world to seeA: ho, ho, ho! haaaappy mardi gras season! you’re from louisiana, T. what does one say when celebrating mardi gras?
T: Well, you can start by screaming loudly. No words are necessary in this case. If you’re at a parade somewhere in Louisiana or perhaps elsewhere on the gulf coast you might scream “Throw me something, mister!” And, everybody’s favorite, if you’re on Bourbon Street, it is customary to yell, “show us your tits!”
A: hmmm… what if i yell, “show us your king cake!!!” instead? think that’ll work. after attending the Zulu parade i got scared to scream “throw me something, mister” due to the real coconuts they were chucking into the crowd.

Dripping with goodnessT: yeah, flying coconuts are dangerous…. but hey- survival of the fittest. If you can’t dodge large flying objects you’re going to have a tough life. Ahhhh… seriously, though. It’s a great idea to yell “Show us your king cake!” Have you had king cake this year? Email us at whatwereeating.com with a link or a photo and we will include it on the site
A: that’s a great idea! for some reason i feel like king cake is a very regional food, but i’m definitely interested in seeing what’s out there.
T: most people in the food blog world don’t even know what king cake is, which is strange to me having grown up with it. If you don’t know what it is, here’s how I would describe King Cake: it’s a big cinnamon roll, optionally filled with fruit and/or cream cheese, and coated with brightly colored (purple, gold, and green) icing. It’s always made in the shape of a ring. Amanda, would you say that’s about right?
A: yup, except the filled king cakes don’t always have cinnamon. generally all of the unfilled ones are like big cinnamon rolls and the filled ones are like huge ass danishes. this one was particularly danish-like.

Mardi Gras in your mouthT: yes it was. So, King Cakes are served between Christmas and the start of Lent (aka Mardi Gras season). Inside each king cake is a little plastic baby, about the size of a lima bean. If you’re lucky enough to get the baby in your piece, you’re expected to supply the next cake. You may also need expensive dental work, depending on how you discover that you actually have the baby.
A: ha! lucky enough! i definitely think it’s unlucky! a poor girl can’t always afford to buy a cake. out here i get particularly screwed on this end of the bargain because you can’t go to any old grocery store or bakery and pick on up on the way home! thus if we want another one, i get to make it again!
T: is that why this king cake didn’t have a baby? You gave it a hysterectomy so you wouldn’t have to make another one?
A: nope, no hysterectomies here! i just didn’t have a baby! and i only had small dried beans. for some reason it didn’t really seem like a good idea to put a lentil in the cake and hope someone found it before digesting it raw!
T: yeah, that wouldn’t be good. I thought maybe it would be a good idea to put a penny in the king cake, but then I thought, no, not a good idea. Oh well, king cakes without babies are still king cakes.
A: so, what’d you think of this particular king cake?
T: I thought it was great. I really loved the fruit and cream cheese filling, and I thought there was a good ratio of filling to bread (which seems to not always be the case with King Cakes). It was moist, delicious. I give it a 4.7/5. Compared to all the other King Cakes I’ve had, it was very very good. Waaay better than 99% of the grocery store king cakes that I’ve had. I thought it was comparable to some of the better ones that I’ve had from actual bakeries in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and New Orleans.
A: I know some new orleanian is going to roll up on to this site and say something about how it can’t possibly be as good as Mckenzie’s king cakes. they’re renowned for being the best. I thought this one was pretty good too. I give it a 4.25/5. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t turn out as good as the one i made last year, but thems the breaks, kid. it was still damn good.
T: for someone who doesn’t love sweets as much as the average joe, and for someone who didn’t live in Louisiana for too long, you make an excellent King Cake. Now if you can just impregnate the next one it will be perfect.
A: heheh thanks, T! hmmm, i’ll agree to impregnate the next one on one condition: you have to make the one after that if you get the baby!
T: ok but you might regret that!

Recipes in this post:

• Mixed Berry & Cream Cheese King Cake

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A: helloooooooo fall.
T: hello. Fall.
A: uh… i wasn’t saying hello to you, T!
T: I know, and I wasn’t saying hello to you. I was saying hello to fall. Only slightly less enthusiastically than you. Not that I don’t like fall, i’m just not feeling peppy.
A: and maybe you just don’t like fall that much.
T: actually I love fall. I always get a fun nostalgic feeling. It always reminds me of a couple of years back.
A: I definately feel that. and then i hear that song by Better Than Ezra, “Time of Year”. And suddenly i’m a fallish wreck. I don’t know, but for some reason that song gets me right here. *points to her heart*
T: and it gets me right here. points to his neck.
A: shut-up! you love it!
T: it’s true, I do. And that reminds me of another song that gets me right here. points to his neck “I do” by Jude.
A: wow… i think we’ve now listed all the songs that have made me cry in the past six years – now maybe we should move on to the food, T!
T: We should. These pumpkin muffins were about as fall as a muffin can get. You know, I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a pumpkin muffin. How bout you? (are they common and I’ve just been left out for 25 years?)
A: i wouldn’t say that they’re uncommon, but i think pumpkin bread is the more common form. I’ve eaten pumpkin bread before, but never a pumpkin muffin. These were inspired mostly by all of the delicious pumpkin stuff i’m been seeing on blogs lately. Particularly by the incredibly awesome Nicole, from Pinch My Salt. I’ve been having to stare at her to-die-for mini-pumpkin cheesecakes and muffins for a while now and my god, i wanted something pumpkin!
T: yeah that stuff does look good. And these muffins were good, however they were not quite on the level of a pumpkin cheesecake. I mean, come on, pumpkin cheesecake. I mean. Seriously. that’s good.
A: i know, i know. but pumpkin cheesecake is nowhere as healthy as pumpkin muffins! and i wanted to make them for breakfast! what kind of people would we be if we were eating pumpkin cheesecake for breakfast!
T: we would be happy people, Amanda. Happy people.
A: heheheh larger happy people… but happy people none-the-less, i suppose. I think thanksgiving is a great time for us to induldge in pumpkin cheesecake. how ’bout you?
T: yes it is. Actually fall is a great time for us to indulge in all sorts of pumpkin treats. like…
A: on the real-a, hommes! like pumpkin risotto, pumpkin cheesecakes, pumpkin mash, pumpkin pancakes (savory and sweet), pumpkin breads… pumpkin… pumpkin… PUMPKIN!
T: the word pumpkin starts to look funny after a while. Pump kin. That’s just weird.
A: But what about the muffins!
T: muff ins. muf fins. muffins. I don’t know, that doesn’t look nearly as weird as pump kin.
A: silly boy! i’m talking about what you thought of these muffins!
T: they were quite tasty! I enjoyed the fruity chunks, and the molasses. I don’t know how they could possibly be improved (although I’m sure you will find a way). I give them a 4.4/5. How bout you?
A: I’m gonna go with a 4.33/5. They were quite a treat. sweet, but not too sweet. fruity, molasses-y. oh-yeah, they were the stuff my fall dreams are made of! thanks nicole, and all you foodbloggers out there that inspired me to make something with pumpkin!
T: Yes, and thank you mandy for putting pumpkin muffins in front of my face and saying, “eat, t-dog!”

Recipes in this post:

• Pumpkin, Raisin, and Spice Muffins with Molasses Glaze

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T: we went into a blogger’s black hole there for a little while. Heheh, now we’re back and talking about a king cake that you made in February.
A: if by black hole you mean black hole of family visiting. does that make sense? anytime we have visitors we seem to be distracted from the bliznog.
T: yeah, it’s hard to blog with company over. house guests tend to get angry when we do use the computers.
A: not to mention they like to eat out and at weird un-sunlit hours.
T: that’s true, we’ve been eating out for nearly a week. I can’t wait until we eat some more Mandy food.
A: now tyler don’t make me slap you for that mandy crap! you know hommie don’t play that.
T: what, I was just talking about how awesome your cooking is!
A: the message seemed to get blocked by the word mandy – which consumed my mind negatively.
T: How bout if I call you Mandi and place the accent on the second syllable? Mandi. Eh? Sounds european.
A: heheheh still not workin’ for me, T! how about amanda? how’s that sound?
T: that sounds played out. How bout Mandita? It’s like a little Mandy.
A: or even a little manda… mandita’s not as bad as mandy.
T: how bout Mandisima! That’s like “very Mandy” or something.
A: woah woah woah, dog! all this mandy has made me forget about the king cake we are trying to blog from ages ago! what did i put in the middle? i think it was like a cinnamon-cream cheese filling or something.
T: Yeah, I think that’s right. I remember being very impressed at how good it was. I believe my mom said it was the best King cake she had ever had. It was moist, delicious. It was competitive with any king cake. It was possibly the best king cake in Socal last year, although we really have no way of knowing that.
A: perhaps it was even the only king cake in Socal last year! i don’t think they do king cakes around here…but you’re mom has lived in south-east louisiana for her entire life (until last year) so her words are praise enough for me!
T: Hey, how about me? I’ve lived in south Louisiana for 24 years myself. Doesn’t my opinion count for anything?
A: yeah yeah yeah… i suppose it does! but only because it’s a positive opinion! (kidding!)
T: I will rate the king cake whether you care about my opinion or not! In this case it happens to be positive, but don’t forget who is rating your dishes! Mu Hah. Be careful Mandisima for I hold great power. mu hah hah. moo. muhahahahha. Umm… I rate the king cake a 4.6/5. It was so danged good I wish king cake were in season right now.
A: heheheh btw, i do care about your opinion, crazy boy!
T: I know
A: and i’m happy it’s a good opinion. I do remember this king cake in a very positive light. I give this king cake in retrospect a 4.5/5. I wish we had been back to blogging when we originally ate it, but hey! what’s better than a little mardi gras in July? they have christmas in July!
T: Yeah, sickos have christmas in July.
A: cheap mofos have christmas in July! and marketing people who want to make consumers buy more!
T: Damned christmas in July. I won’t stand for it. This conversation is over.

Kwaherini mabibi na mabwana.

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