Neither Rain, Nor Snow, Nor Sleet, Nor Hail Shall Keep

Dave from his grill.

Let's just say it rained. Hard. But that wasn't going to keep Dave from grilling our hamburgers tonight.




Did I mention it was raining? Hard.




I didn't say he did it with a smile on his face. : (




We did eat those hamburgers with smiles on our faces. : )

We May Need This Recipe

Dinner or Disaster

This is the first installment of my Dinner or Disaster. In case you have forgotten my recipe was chosen for anyone who was interested to try this month. My Dinner or Disaster Recipe was Rigatoni with Spicy Sausage-Tomato Sauce, Arugula and Parmesan. I had found this recipe in the magazine Bon Appetit where it had great online reviews on their website.


Here is the ingredient list.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pounds fresh hot Italian sausages, casings removed
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
8 ounces rigatoni
2 cups (packed) fresh arugula, stemmed
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese






First I cut the recipe in half which shouldn't make any difference in the final product. Dave isn't a fan of really spicy food so I used mild Italian sausage. The only other change I made was I used endive instead of arugula for the simple reason I couldn't find arugula in the two grocery stores that I shop at. Other than that I followed the recipe as written.

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Add sausage; cook until browned, breaking up with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Drain drippings from pot. Add wine, diced tomatoes with juice, and crushed tomatoes; increase heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 30 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cool, then cover and keep chilled. Rewarm over medium heat before continuing.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain.

Stir pasta, arugula, basil, and oregano into tomato sauce. Simmer until arugula wilts, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Here is my sauce simmering away.





The finished product.





I know my not much sister said she like it but D and I just weren't that crazy about it. It was disappointing after reading the glowing reviews. It wasn't a disaster but it won't be showing up for dinner again either. I am looking forward to the next Dinner or Disaster and seeing if I don't have a better result.

Would You Like A Sneak Peek?

Tonight I made my throwdown entry. I just hope it travels well. Here is a sneak peek.

Onions, not so out of the ordinary.





Oh, I see a few carrots.





Butter. As Ina says, "How bad can that be?".





A little green never hurt anything.





The finished product. You didn't really think I would show you did you?





But I can show you what I am bringing for a dessert. They are Italian Cookies and I think they turned out pretty well. They sure look Christmasy.





Did Santa come early? Jo?

Here's The Winner!

I started my throwdown recipe yesterday





and will finish it up today for a taste testing at dinner tonight.

Looks good doesn't it? When I told Sarah what I was making she told me that I was cheating. Cheating? I think not. Just good strategy is what I say.

Sometimes I Get the Packages

When I got back from my little business trip with D I found an Amazon package in the pile of mail. I have to admit, I cursed Amazon for messing up an order I had placed with them the week before. I knew I had put Sarah's address down for the recipient and what did they do but send it to me. Now I was going to have to send it over to Sarah. I even let it set there a couple of days before I opened it. Well, guess what? This wasn't my order for Sarah. No, this was a book from my not that younger brother. Look what I have.





I have just skimmed through the book and I see many recipes that I am going to try in the coming weeks. Thanks, brother! And my apoligies to Amazon, I should have never doubted you.

Cookie of the Month

Yes, it is that time again. Cookie of the Month. This month's cookie is Cherry and Chocolate Chip Cookies, a recipe that I found in Bon Appetit magazine. Do I have your attention?

First the stars of this show.





Look closely and you will see a couple of new ingredients for this month's cookie. Cherry liqueur and almond extract, neither that usually appear in a chocolate chip cookie. I know you can't read the cherry container but those little beauties are from Traverse City. I had a choice of buying cheaper cherries from a state that will go nameless but I couldn't do it. I must support the Mitten.

First things first. The butter and sugars must be creamed. While I was doing that I had the cherries simmering in the liqueur. Yum.





Next the eggs and extracts are mixed in followed by the flour mixture. Here comes the part I like the best, the chocolate! The recipe called for semisweet chocolate but I used bittersweet chocolate instead. Why? Because I don't like semisweet chocolate and I love bittersweet chocolate. I hope the winner of the cookies agrees with me.





And then the stars of this cookies, Michigan cherries!





They're looking good, don't you think?





I formed them into balls and then on to the oven.





Don't they look good? Take my word for it they tasted as good as they looked. I think D agreed too because he had a small container that disappeared within two days.





The part most of you are interested in, who won the cookie drawing this month? We know who one of those boxes is for but the other will remain a mystery for now.





Unlike last month, I only picked one winner. I followed all rules of the Western PA Gaming Commission to the best of my ability. Six slips of paper, one winner. They were mailed Saturday so they should be showing up on someone's doorstep sometime this week. Good luck to all and until next month happy munching to this month's winner.

Who Will Be

getting these little beauties baked in a cookie this week?



The brownie chunks are safely in the freezer as I write. Will freezing the brownies help them to hold their shape in the cookie? Will they taste as good as the first batch of cookies tasted? Who will be receiving a package in the mail this week? Ah, life's mysteries.

Cookie of the Month

As many of you know for Christmas I enroll dad in the Cookie of the Month Club. At the beginning of every month he receives a package of cookies in the mail baked by me. In all of the years I have been doing this I don't think I have repeated a recipe. I have done different recipes of the same type of cookie but haven't baked the same recipe twice.

This month as I was searching on the internet, through my saved cookie files and my cookie cookbooks and just couldn't find anything that struck my fancy. Then one night I was reading Bon Appetit and I found my Cookie of the Month. Brownie-Chunk Cookies. Something familiar but yet with a twist of having brownie chunks mixed in. Have I got your attention?

First, the ingredients. Nothing too out of the ordinary here.





Everything is mixing up just fine. Looks like your typical chocolate chip cookie dough.





It is now ready





for that special ingredient, brownie chunks.





They look good so far. Now I did have a problem with mixing the brownie chunks into the dough. This is a stiff dough and the brownie chunks are somewhat soft, even though they had been in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Needless to say, the brownies didn't hold their shape as well as I would have like them to.





Coming out of the oven the finished product looked like this.




What do you think? I have to say for taste they earned five spatulas out of five spatulas. For presentation, three and a half spatulas. I like my cookies to look as good as they taste and these didn't live up to that. I want to see the chunks of brownies and these didn't come through the mixing process in chunks. I even had mixed them in by hand to try and not break them.

I usually send cookies into work but this time I hadn't because I had added walnuts and one of the women at work is allergic to nuts. I plan on making these again next week for D to take to work but with one little change. I plan on FREEZING the chunks before I mix them in the dough. That should take care of the breaking apart. I also am only going to make one batch so I'm not mixing so much at once which was really hard to do. I had a lot of brownies to mix in that stiff dough. I will let you know how it works with my new plan of attack.

And before I go just one more picture of all of that goodness and sweetness. She never disappoints.

Beer Can Chicken

Well, this was our weekend to try beer can chicken. The stars of the show.





And also these little beauties.





Hey, how did she get in here? But, since she is let's just agree she is a beauty. And now on to the supporting cast of Sunday night's dinner.





I brought these all the way back from Michigan. It won't be long and our local farm stand should have potatoes for purchase. Can't wait.

We put the chicken in the grill and tried to keep the temperature at 350. I say try because it started out at 400 and took as a while to get it down to where it should have been. In the middle of grilling this Rob stopped by to look at our leaking pipe and we were a little distracted. Let's just say it cooked A LOT faster than expected. But, despite that this was out finished product.





We used the potatoes in Pioneer Woman's Crash Potato recipe. We had also bought some corn from a farm stand and added that to our dinner that night.





I think we have to give this meal 4 out of 5 forks. The grill got away from us and the chicken was a tad overcooked. All in all it was still good and we will definately be giving it another try.

Cinnamon Bread

I tried a new bread recipe last week and i have to say it was excellent. It was a bread recipe I found on King Arthur's web site. One of the things that makes this bread a little different is it a combination yeast bread and quick bread. It starts with the usual ingredients found in bread.





It only needs to raise for an hour before the rest of the ingredients are added. Then it is ready to bake.





And after it is baked it looks like this. Look at all those bits of cinnamon. Yum!





Because it was almost dinner time and D wasn't home I decided to make French Toast with my freshly baked bread. All I can say is it was excellent. I had it toasted the next day and I wasn't disappointed. Five spatulas out of five. Doesn't get any better than that, people.





I think the secret to this bread is the cinnamon chips. I bought them from King Arthur's website. They are called Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. They are good.





Here is the recipe if you are interested. If you want more detailed instructions visit King Arthur's Bakers' Banter, http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2008/04/22/cinnamon-bread-in-a-hurry-a-loaf-born-of-panic/


Easy Cinnamon Bread
printable version | email to a friend
This bread is a cross between a typical baking powder-leavened quick bread, and a yeast bread. The result: a cinnamon coffeecake-tasting loaf that's wonderful served plain, and is incredible toasted.

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour OR Mellow Pastry Blend
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup cinnamon chips
cinnamon-sugar, for topping

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, yeast, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, and egg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, beating till smooth. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour, covered, then stir in the baking powder and cinnamon chips.

Spoon the batter into a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with the cinnamon-sugar.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until it tests done; a cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean. Remove the bread from the oven, let it rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer it from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Note: Don't slice the bread while it's hot! It'll slice much better when it's completely cool. Yield: 1 loaf.

©2008 The King Arthur Flour Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Four Grills Out Of Five

After all the talk I have finally tried the ribs. I started yesterday by marinating them in balsamic vinegar and root beer. Strange I know, but I got this recipe from my not that much younger brother so the blame goes to him if they don't turn out. Today I wrapped them in foil with more marinade and baked them in the oven. I need to remember to use heavy duty foil next time because I had some problems with the ribs poking through the foil.





So far so good. The two and a half hours in the oven is up and now I must get Dave away from the Masters and on to grill duty.





The ribs are now on the grill and they look good! Now they are getting a root beer glaze.





A little more golf ....





and they are ready to eat. Ribs, roasted asparagus and garlic bread.





Ahhhhhh, they are now just a memory.





All in all they turned out pretty good. They were falling off the bone and very tender. We decided they ranked 4 out of 5 grills. They lost a grill because of the root beer sauce. It was just too sweet for our taste. We decided that next time we are going to use some kind of barbeque sauce. But I have to say they were still really good and best of all they are really easy. Give them a try, you won't be disappointed!