Let’s just get this out of the way right now — you know you’re going to make chili for the Superbowl, so why fight it? Buffalo wings and nachos, however appealing, will be gone before halftime and you’re going to need something hearty to make it through.

Jamie Oliver’s green chili, made with pork and green peppers and sage has fast become one of our favorites. A couple of unique twists, like fresh mint and chopped lettuce, make this a healthy, crunchy chili with a delicate yet hearty flavor.

Apparently this is the best chili you will ever taste. I’ve got to admit I fell for it, what with the coffee, beer, cocoa and sirloin.

Jeff will tell you that vegetarian chili is really just vegetable soup. The ingredients in this vegetarian chili are pure and wholesome and flavorful — it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s worth eating.

Spicy pork and black bean chili is definitely spicy (what with the chipotle chili powder and all), but served over rice with some sour cream and it’s perfect.

It took me a long time to perfect this crock pot chili recipe, but I’m so glad that I did. I’ve really got quite a love affair going with my slow cooker and most chili recipes before this one were mushy and wet and fairly flavorless. In fact, I’m making this one tonight … no need to wait for the big game!

We’ve made this recipe for chicken and corn chili several times now and it always come out great. It’s another slow cooker recipe, with lots of cumin, white beans and cheesy goodness. Sometimes we sprinkle on fresh cilantro too.

Katie’s almost from scratch chili uses salsa as a base, with diced green chiles and brown sugar … imagine the flavor infused into that chili!

If it’s meat and meat alone that you crave, chili con carne is your answer to the perfect bowl of chili. This recipe has cubed meat (not ground), beer, allspice, cinnamon, cumin and cloves to lend it its unique flair.

Alright, ‘fess up — which chili recipe will you be making?

I’ve worked on this recipe for a couple years now and while I’m always tweaking it, this version is the newest and so far the best. It’s even boyfriend-approved, which is tough when you’re dating a chili connoisseur. I don’t mess around when it comes to comfort foods and let me tell you, this is one delicious dish.

What I really love about it is how easy it is! All you need are basic knife skills for the onion and garlic and patience for the slowly developing flavors. The base of the chili is salsa — I normally get the store-bought stuff, but if you have a great salsa recipe, by all means use it! I suggest using a salsa you’ve tried before so you know how spicy it’ll be. You might notice that this is a big recipe … that’s because it’s ten times better the day after and I always want to make sure I have leftovers.

Almost-From-Scratch Chili

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Approximately 15 portions

Ingredients:

• 2.5 pounds lean ground beef
• 2.5 cups diced onion
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 (16-ounce) cans kidney, pinto or black beans, drained and rinsed
• 6.5 cups salsa, homemade or store bought
• 2 (4-ounce) cans diced green chiles, drained
• 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 5 teaspoons chili powder
• 1.5 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 cup chicken stock or water
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• salt, to taste
• shredded cheddar cheese
• tortilla chips

Brown and drain the ground beef in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the beans, salsa, chiles, tomatoes, chili powder and cumin. Add enough chicken stock/water to get the desired thickness. Stir in the brown sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, at least 1 hour. Check for seasoning (although you shouldn’t need much salt at all). Garnish each portion with lightly crumbled tortilla chips and cheese and, most importantly, enjoy!

I give the credit to Keith for this one, because I would have just done takeout after this busy week. But seeing as he was willing to make this ribeye steak with sauteed grape tomatoes and brie, the least I could do was something beside steamed green beans.

After blanching the green beans, I sauteed them with garlic, sliced scallions, chopped Roma tomatoes and chopped Kalamata olives. When done, I sprinkled with a bit of fresh parley and some freshly grated pecorino romano cheese.

We rounded out the meal with half a butternut squash, simply baked at 400 degrees until tender, with a bit of olive oil.

Simple, but with just a few special touches to make our meal feel more like a weekend feast than a weeknight necessity eat.

Somehow everything that makes a perfect dinner just jumped into this post and before I knew it, a very special dinner menu was born. It’s definitely not something I’d cook for a weeknight, but if I had a quiet weekend this might be just the menu. It’s a definite for a special occasion, though — I’m thinking a romantic dinner for two … but then again, aren’t most busy moms?

This blueberry sauce for beef just sounds so perfect … but I’ve become a lazy cook lately and it might not get made until a special occasion. Since the anniversary already passed, along with the birthdays, I might just have to wait until New Year’s Eve or Valentine’s Day to enjoy this one … though it really isn’t hard to make.

Here’s the side dish to my beef with blueberry sauce, since I’m feeling too lazy to make this spiced tomato gratin, but oh, does it get my salivary glands into a tizzy….

And for dessert — chocolate nut cake. I love that Bea over at La Tartine Gourmande mostly cooks gluten-free. Her desserts are divine and I can always find something that fits our way of eating … with perhaps some sugar substitutes.

What do you think? Serve it up with a gourmet mesclun salad and it’s the perfect dinner.

I mentioned the snappy crunchy vegan coleslaw in my coleslaws for the mayophobic post, and it was ultimately the recipe I decided to cook for the Labor Day weekend cookout to which I was bringing the cabbage goodness. It was an easy recipe to make and there are a couple of things I really liked about it.

First off, I never would have thought to put dill, caraway seeds and cumin together, but it works. This was a really flavorful slaw. The herbs and spices were set off by some sweetness — the agave nectar, golden raisins and apples. The dressing was kept simple, just a drizzle of olive oil and champagne vinegar.

I only had green cabbage, and although the red onion and carrots add some color, next time I would mix in some red cabbage as well, as the recipe recommends. You can’t have too much pretty, right?

I’d recommend this simple, tasty recipe and I’d definitely make it again.

There’s a great article in the September issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Scott Peacock and Kim Severson discuss the return to the kitchen movement, that all across America home chefs are embracing their kitchen time and using fresh, wholesome ingredients that taste good and are good for you. And they’re enjoying it. Because of this, classic American cooking looks a bit different these days.

It was a really inspiring read and I couldn’t wait to try Peacock’s recipe for slow baked tomatoes with garlic and mint. It’s so simple (really only four main ingredients) that I almost didn’t believe it would turn out to be so spectacular, but it’s truly amazing. Tons of roasted garlic and mint infused into the olive oil that the tomatoes baked in for an hour. In the recipe online, they suggest serving on bread with goat cheese, but in the magazine they also mentioned over pasta would work.

I cooked up some penne and prepared Peacock’s recipe as-is — I know, it’s like I was possessed or something, but I swear I didn’t change a thing. Until I served it.

Keith grilled up some eggplant because I thought it would go wonderfully with the tomatoes and mint and we tossed that into the pasta, along with giant globs of goat cheese and Kalamata olives (well, none for Keith). I also made some turkey meatballs, which I’ll write about in another post, because vegetarian dishes aren’t really a meal for the carnivores I cook for.

We all yummed throughout the whole meal and I’d cook this up again in a heartbeat. The next time, I think I would try it on the bread as suggested, simply because there’s a lovely amount of infused olive oil left and some thick, crusty bread would soak it up to perfection. Although now I’m thinking this would be divine served over polenta….

UPDATE: My new favorite way to eat this recipe is as Kona suggested — over quinoa, with some chick peas added for extra protein. Yes, I got my boys to eat a vegetarian meal … alert the press. I save the polenta for the roasted green tomatoes, which is a perfect match.

Happy 4th of July to everyone. Today is a day to reflect on the sacrifices of the many who are now serving or have served our country and to celebrate the birth of our nation. Today is also the day to adhere to the age old tradition of cooking meat over open flames in the back yard. Since the days of the cave people men have gathered around the fire to exchange opinions on the proper way to cook everything from mastadon steaks to pork ribs. For me there is nothing better than a rack of slow smoked pork ribs.

The secret to a good rack of smoked ribs is the preparation. The secret is in the rub. If you want really good ribs you have to have a really good dry rub to put on the meat.  There are several dry rubs on the market that you can buy with a variety of seasoning types and flavors that will enhance the flavor of the meat. I looked at several of these and I also looked at several recipes for dry rub online before smoking my ribs. I could not find a recipe I liked so I came up with one of my own. I have tried this rub on pork ribs, beef steaks and even chicken and it is good on all of them. The rub is also simple and quick to mix up.

J+L Meat Rub

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt ( I use Johnny’s seasoning salt, but you can use whatever is your favorite)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar

Mix all the ingredient together in a sealable container and shake well to mix.

To prep the ribs for smoking make sure they are completely thawed and at room temperature. Generously cover each side with the rub and let the ribs set and absorb the rub for at least 30 minutes.

I use my Charbroil Smoker Grill to smoke my ribs. I start a couple of pounds of charcoal briquettes and add them to the offset fire box and let the smoke chamber come up to temperature. For smoking slow and low heat is the key. I keep the temperature of my smoker between 225 and 250 degrees for the cooking. When the smoke chamber is up to temperature I place the ribs on the grill and then add a chunk of wood to the coals for the smoke. You can use any type of wood for the smoke. My favorites are Alder, Apple, Cherry, Hickory, Maple, or Peach. You can buy most of these types of wood in bags of chips to add to your smoker. It is a good idea to soak the wood chips in water the night before to create more smoke and burn slower. I always keep the branches I trim from my Apple and Peach trees just for smoking. Keep an eye on the temperature and keep it low for 4 to 6 hours. The longer you cook the ribs the more tender they will be. Add more briquettes and wood as need to maintain the heat and smoke until the ribs are done.

After the ribs are done smoking they are ready to eat, but I like to then crank up the heat and add some BBQ sauce. I let the sauce caramelize for 15 or 20 minutes to get it thick and sticky.

When the ribs hit the table they do not last long. Everyone loves the ribs and they disappear off the plate as fast as I can  cut them apart.

I’m not sure I know anyone who isn’t attending or hosting some sort of 4th of July celebration this weekend. And why not celebrate? The kids are out of school, looking forward to a fun summer and there’s something patriotic to remember… with sparklers and loud things.

You’re either making or bringing a side dish to go with those burgers and dogs, so you may as well bring something new. I’m pretty sure if you showed up at my door with a potato salad dripping with mayonnaise that I wouldn’t let you in, and that rotini pasta salad with the bottled Italian dressing … well, there’s really no excuse.

These side dishes are easy to make, crowd-pleasing and non-offensive to your mayophobic hostess. What do you mean, your Aunt Sally isn’t afraid of mayonnaise? Well, she’ll like the following recipes anyway.

Tabouleh says summer to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve got most of the ingredients growing in my garden: tomatoes, mint, parsley, scallions. You can try the traditional tabouleh recipe made with bulgur wheat, or make it with quinoa instead, my favorite way.

Grilled zucchini and chick pea salad has a lovely tahini dressing and is so summery with the zucchini charred to perfection on the grill.

If the thought of quinoa with your tabouleh made your ears perk up, perhaps you’ll enjoy pesto quinoa with corn and baby spinach. This one might corner the market on summery, but don’t tell the grilled zucchini.

Remember Aunt Sally? Gourmet potato salads for the mayophobic, more potato salads for the mayophobic, and even more potato salads for the mayophobic should just about cover it. We’ve got your back, Aunt Sally.

Talk about refreshing …. this fennel, arugula and green apple salad is crisp and balanced and sweet and tart and goes with just about anything.

Instead of a traditional cole slaw, try this red cabbage salad. You’ll enjoy the sweet crunch and uniqueness at your cookout feast.

Aw, Heidi Swanson gets me every time. Her summer green bean salad sports cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, lemon juice, honey, cream and hazelnuts.

If you’re bringing the green salad, try my favorite gourmet mesclun salad. It’s got minimal chopping and enough unique ingredients (but easy) that your guests will be impressed … and toast those pine nuts. Or, Kona’s vegetarian caesar salad might fit the bill.

I’ve done two versions of black lentil and sweet pea salad. This is the first, and it’s full of scallions, fresh basil and mint and sherry vinegar. Then I riffed and came up with sweet pea, black lentil and hearts of palm salad, this time using cilantro, lime juice, tamari, rice vinegar and ginger. Take your choice — they are both delicious.

Roasted broccoli salad with red pepper vinaigrette — need I say more?

This light and easy carrot and snap pea salad can be dressed up a thousand different ways if you so choose, but the flavors of the carrots and snap peas speak for themselves.

There are so may ways to make a black bean corn salad, but I did one this week with fresh basil, lime juice and balsamic vinegar that was just about perfect. I’d like to say that someday I’ll post the recipe, but I didn’t write anything down .. I’m becoming my father.

My mother makes the most delicious chopped salad with honey lime dressing … she totally stole it from Epicurious, but sometimes she pretends she doesn’t remember where the recipe came from. She’s like that.

Last but not least … if you’ve got a little extra time on your hands, there’s nothing cooler than serving homemade ketchup at your barbeque.

I have written many times about my gas grill that I do a lot of my summer cooking on. A gas grill is great because they are fast to light and bring up to temperature for cooking, but I have wanted one of the barrel style charcoal smoker grills for a while now and I finally broke down and picked one up. This is a great rig for all your outdoor cooking. You can slow smoke by using the small offset fire box, or put your charcoal in the main grill chamber and grill right over the coals. My first use of this new grill was to grill chicken, and it was the best chicken I have ever grilled.

The biggest obstacle with a charcoal grill is getting the charcoal started. There are many varieties of charcoal available that have lighter fluid infused in the briquettes to make them easier to light, but a better choice is to use a charcoal chimney to light the coals.

These are simple and effective tools to get your charcoal going. Load the top chamber with your charcoal, and wad up 2 or 3 sheets of news paper and stuff into the bottom chamber. Light the paper and let it set for 20 minutes. After that the coals will be burning perfectly for cooking what ever you have on the menu. There are no fire balls shooting up and snatching your eyebrows to worry about and no trips to the ER for severe burn treatment.

After cutting up a whole chicken I put the back, wings, and neck back in the freezer to add to the other backs and wings I already have saved. My wife and i will save up these pieces until we have a good amount  and then we will spend a weekend making home made chicken noodles. I will have to write about that the next time we make it. Neither of us really likes the back and wings that much so this is a much better use of them for us. The breast, thighs, and legs I seasoned with some Johnny’s seasoning salt and set them aside while I got the charcoal going. Once the coals were hot I dumped the chimney load of coals on one end of the grill and spread them evenly.

I was a bit nervous about grilling the chicken. I have always had trouble with chicken on the gas grill. There is just so much fat that comes out of the chicken I always get a lot of flame and burnt chicken on the gas grill. I have had the best luck with the two burner gas grills by simply only lighting one burner and cooking the chicken mostly over the burner that is not lit. My plan was to use a similar tactic on the charcoal grill. I started by placing the chicken directly over the coals to get a good sear on the chicken, and then moved it off to the side away from the heat. This grill has a couple of drafts on it that make the temperature fairly easy to control and I was able to easily maintain a temperature around 300 degrees inside the grill while cooking.

After about 20 minutes the chicken was cooked and had an internal temperature of about 180 degrees which is hot enough to kill any bacteria that may be present in the chicken. I then coated each piece with some Bull’s eye BBQ sauce. This is my go-to sauce. I like the original blend the best and always have a bottle on hand. I let the chicken cook still off the heat for 5 minutes and then turn it over and coat each piece again. After another 5 minute wait I flipped the chicken back over and applied another coat of the sauce and then moved the chicken directly over the coals to caramelize the sauce.

After another 5 minute wait I removed the chicken from the grill and was ready to eat.

This new grill is definitely going to get a lot of use. It is easy to assemble and even easier to use. I have plans to grill some steaks, burgers, hot dogs, shrimp, fish, and vegetables. I am also getting things together to smoke some ribs, pork shoulder, and fish as well. I will be sure to tell you all about each of those when the time comes. There is nothing better than food cooked on a grill and if you do some shopping around you will find a grill like this one for a price you can afford. Once you start using it you will not want to stop.

The other day I saw a commercial for the KFC Double Down Chicken Sandwich. I had to try one. Two deep fried pieces of chicken breast with two slices of bacon and two slices of cheese in the middle? What more could you ask for? I told my wife about this and that I was going to try one. My wife is not a big fan of chicken breast so she was not interested in trying one. The Double Down comes in original recipe and grilled. I am not a big fan of their grilled chicken but original recipe is one of my favorites. Overall the KFC Double Down is a decent sandwich. I would not want to make a steady diet of them but one is not going to hurt you. After I ate the Double Down I decided I did not particularly like the sauce they also put on the sandwich. I decided to make my own version of the Double Down sandwich.

I have no idea what the spices used in the KFC Original Recipe are. I like the original recipe, but it does have quite a bit of sodium so since I am always trying to eat healthier I wanted to come up with a fairly low sodium coating for my sandwich. So I sat down to consider the options for my breading on my sandwich. I wanted it to complement the taste of the chicken, add a little kick to the flavor, and not add a lot of sodium. This won’t be too hard, I figured. I started looking through my spice rack and everything seemed to have a lot of sodium in it so I ruled out a few right away. I ruled out my favorite seasoning salt. This is going to be more difficult than I thought. My original plan had been to season the chicken good with the seasoning salt, roll it in flour and fry it. I had assembled my spices so now it was time to thaw the chicken breasts and make my sandwiches.

Redneck Chicken Sandwich
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Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 thick cut slices bacon
• 2 slices cheese (Use whatever is your favorite cheese. I used 1 slice American and 1 slice Pepper Jack.)

Directions

Preheat your deep fryer to 375 to 400 degrees. If you do not have a deep fryer use a large pan on the stove. Use a thermometer to make sure the temperature is right.

While the fryer is heating up, mix the flour, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder in a large shallow bowl. Once the fryer is up to temperature thoroughly coat one of the breast halves and carefully put it in the hot oil. Repeat with the other breast half. You want to make sure you go right into the oil so the flour does not have time to get soggy and doughy. Depending on the thickness of the breast halves it will take 8 to 12 minutes to cook. You do want to make sure that they are cooked through. My favorite technique for this is to cook a third breast half. When I think they are done I will take out the third half and cut it open to verify it is done. After the cooking I eat the evidence.

While the chicken is cooking, fry the 2 bacon slices to your desired crispness.

When the chicken and bacon are cooked allow them to drain for a few minutes on a paper towel.

After the chicken and bacon have drained lay the first breast half on the plate. Add the 2 slices of cheese and bacon then top with the second breast half, and you are ready to eat.

I’m very excited these days. You see, this weekend I’m heading down to the Mohegun Sun casino in Connecticut to celebrate my birthday. You’ll probably think I’m a little crazy when I tell you that I most likely won’t do any gambling. Instead, when I head down to the casino, I just focus on the eating and drinking. Mohegun Sun has a bunch of great restaurants from a variety of celebrity chefs including Jasper White and Todd English. The newest restaurant to open there features one of the most famous chefs in the country: Bobby Flay. Flay has opened Bar Americain in Mohegun Sun (in addition to a burger restaurant). I’ll be dining there this weekend, and needless to say, I have been perusing the menu often.

I still don’t know what I want to try, and I probably won’t until I get there, but I have been lusting after some of the offerings available. Like so many menus, the appetizers almost sound better than the meals. Barbeque duck tacos? Yes please. A classic tuna tartar? Always delicious, and I would be curious to see Bobby’s take on it. Grilled pizza with bacon, caramelized onions and garlic? I find it hard to say no to pizza. I would be sure to get the crispy oysters, but I’ll be stopping by Jasper White’s Summer Shack before dinner to down a few oysters on the half shell.

The entree selections are actually more limited than the appetizers, but there is still plenty to whet the appetite. Duck is one of my favorites, and Bar Americain offers theirs with dirty wild rice, pecans, and bourbon. That sounds delicious, and just may be the most likely to be my birthday dinner. Not every menu has venison on it, so I’ve also been thinking a lot about the venison loin, served with red cabbage bread pudding. I’m a huge fan of bread pudding, both sweet and savory. One of the more intriguing entries on the menu is a rack of pork. That’s not something you see everyday, and it is served with apple butter and Brussels sprouts.

Let’s face facts. This is Bar Americain. I’m sure that I could close my eyes and point to something and not be disappointed. Have you been checking out any particularly tasty looking menus lately?

It’s been a week for reminiscing and I’ve got pasta on the brain. Now that I know how to make my own pasta, thanks to Kona, I’ve been revisiting some of CliqueClack’s original pasta recipes to find a sauce befitting my newly found addiction. We’re finding that we’ve been sticking to pesto a lot, as it’s light enough to let the homemade pasta taste and texture shine through. We toss in some grilled or roasted veggies and some sausage and that’s that. I really do want to mix it up a bit, and looking for inspiration from my fellow food writers makes sense.

Pasta with lobster, butter beans and chives — It’s the whole toasted cumin seeds that make this dish … or is it the leeks and capers? I can see this recipe working well with the hearty spelt pasta we’ve been making.

Kona’s three simple recipes: tortellini with olive tapenade, penne with feta and corn and spinach tomato pasta all make me think of my homemade raviolis. If only I could get Keith to eat olives, that tapenade would be the first one I’d try with some white bean and sun-dried tomato ravioli.

My leeky Greeky pasta, full of  Brussels sprouts, figs, radicchio and feta cheese would be wonderful with homemade pasta, and I might even make cheese and fig raviolis to go with this.

Bob’s got the right idea with his simple yet perfect pasta with autumn sage cream sauce. I want to try a pumpkin ravioli with this recipe — wouldn’t that be the perfect complement?

Seafood pasta with tomato, baby spinach and capers is screaming for lobster ravioli … I can do that. Or maybe crabmeat ravioli….

OK, I hadn’t really thought of this, but now I’m wondering how my spelt pasta would translate into Cate’s pasta e fagioli. A pasta and bean soup … it’s got promise.

Is my famous tuna pasta worthy of homemade pasta? I’d stick with a simple linguine for this one, but this may just be the first one I try.

Pasta with scallops and bacon is no longer complete without a cheesy pesto ravioli. It has spoken.

Bob’s beef Bolognese would be amazing on any type of homemade pasta, and the grape tomato sauce he made for his campanelle makes my mouth water. Anchovy paste … bring it on.

Fresh tomato basil sauce would be excellent with any homemade pasta. It’s simple enough that you could choose to make a cheesy ravioli, yet it’s so flavorful that you could rock the linguine and no one would ever second guess you.

Which is your favorite CliqueClack Food pasta recipe?

I love chili. Just ask my parents. They like to tell the story about how I used to eat chili when I was a wee little boy of two years old. To this day I still love chili in just about all its forms: Texas chili, vegetarian chili, white chili — it’s all good. I always go back and forth on what to serve with chili, though. I’m not talking about condiments, that’s not hard. You have the standard cheese, green onions, sour cream, maybe some chopped cilantro. No fuss, no muss. No, things become a little more difficult when you start talking about the bread to serve with it, if you serve bread at all.

As I see it there are three fairly common accompaniments:

• Bread: With chili, I like a nice fresh sourdough. It has enough flavor to stand on its own, but can also be dipped into the rich spicy chili while you’re waiting for it to cool. It doesn’t have to be sourdough, but when I’m eating chili with bread, it definitely has to be crusty. The crustier the bread, the better. I find that the crisp crust of the bread adds a welcome texture contrast to the chili.

• Corn Bread: Corn bread is another popular partner for chili. For some reason, I never think to serve corn bread when I have chili. I think at the end of the day, I just want something that I can dip into the stew. Even though you can’t really do that with corn bread, it does have something to offer. The sweetness of the corn bread is a nice contrast to spicy chili and can help balance out the palate.

• Corn Chips: I really love blue corn chips with chili. It’s usually what I serve with the spicy stew. Chips give you great eating options. You can scoop up the chili and eat it with the chips, you can just dip the chips in the piping hot broth, or you can just eat them separately for a salty change of pace. I usually opt for the blue corn variety because I love the added dimension of flavor that the blue corn adds.

I know chili is one of those dishes that people feel passionate about. Everyone has their favorite recipe and favorite way of eating it. I know someone who swears that chili is best if you freeze it overnight and then thaw it out. So, what do you like to serve with your chili?

If you love peanut butter as much as I do, this probably won’t be a surprise to you, but the peanut butter sandwich is a wonderful thing. There are so many variations and just about every one of them is delicious. I don’t think there’s anything easier than a peanut butter sandwich, and it’s pretty much my go-to snack, breakfast, and lunch.

I find that a lot of people have a problem with peanut butter sandwiches. They either got burnt out on it as a child, or simply don’t understand how many different things you can do with it. There is a whole lot more to a peanut butter sandwich than just peanut butter and jelly.

Here are some of my favorite combinations:

• Peanut Butter and Jelly: I have to start with the classic. I still love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If you’re finding yours to be a little stale, it’s easy to change up: try some different jelly. There’s a lot more available than just the classic grape (which I can’t eat anymore) and strawberry. Try blueberry, blackberry, or even something like a black currant which will add a sour bite to your sandwich.
• Peanut Butter and Fluff: If you grew up in New England, like I did, you probably are already familiar with the “fluffernutter.” It’s made with peanut butter and marshmallow spread. A while back it was even nominated to become the official state sandwich of Massachusetts. It’s a little sweet for my taste, but it is delightfully sticky.
• Peanut Butter and Banana: This is my personal favorite. There’s just something about the combination that works so well. The subtly sweet mush of the banana cuts through the slightly salty stickiness of the peanut butter. This is great on toast, or just a couple of slices of fresh bread.
• Peanut Butter and Honey: Next time you’re looking for something different drizzle some local honey over your peanut butter. The sweetness of the honey goes perfectly with the peanut butter. Last night I even sprinkled a little ground cinnamon on the combination and it was fantastic.
• Peanut Butter and Nutella: Nutella is so delicious by itself, I usually don’t ruin it with anything else, but I know many people who swear by their peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches. For you chocoholics out there, this one is for you.
• Peanut Butter and Apple: This one takes me back to my childhood when my mom would make me peanut butter and apple sandwiches. Thin slices of apple add a nice tart and sweet crunch to the smooth creamy peanut butter. In fact, you don’t even need the bread for this one — peanut butter and apples go together great!

What’s your favorite peanut butter sandwich variation?

Delicious and simple, fast and nutritious: salmon baked with pesto with roasted yams and broccoli. So easy, you don’t even need a recipe.

Spread some homemade pesto (or your favorite store-bought version) on your salmon and bake  at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Roast your chopped veggies at 400 degrees convection roast for 20-25 minutes (or regular 400 degrees and flip halfway through).

Salivate until you can’t take it anymore … then start eating!

What is it with America and its meatloaf? I’ve never made a meatloaf until the other night, and with this one simple act, I think I’ve solved many of this country’s problems.

Meatloaf is not a quick and easy meal. Seriously people, if this is the way you all cook, it’s no wonder that America eats out 4-5 nights a week on average. I’d eat out too if all of my meals took multiple steps and over two hours from start to finish. Put a piece of fish on a grill pan and roast some broccoli and sweet potatoes. You’ll have a delicious, healthy meal in a half hour.

It is not fun to make a meatloaf. It’s fun playing in a sandbox. I enjoy rolling ginger cookies into balls and coating them with sugar. I do not ever again want to take my wedding rings off in order to plunge my hands into two pounds of cold, raw meat and mix. With. My. Hands. I may as well have been swimming in Maine’s oceans, for crying out loud. We’re talking severe pain deep within the blood vessels, too cold for words. I’m so sure this was a job for my KitchenAid. I’ve washed my hands three times and there is still crusty raw meat stuck under my fingernails.

But it’s all OK, because I’ve just made the world’s most delicious meatloaf and I’m beginning to understand what you people see in this dish.

I never, ever watch the news, but when I saw Stephi’s of Boston’s recipe for cheddar meatloaf, I decided it was finally time for me to participate in this American pastime of meatloaf-making. As usual, my recipe looks absolutely nothing like hers in the end; I don’t even use cheese. I will always thank Stephi for her inspiration and perhaps I’ll even attempt the cheese someday.

Debbie’s Gourmet Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey, dark meat
• 1 pound ground beef, 85%
• 1 egg
• 1 medium onion, chopped and caramelized
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 teaspoons grainy mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• 1 slice of bread toasted and food-processed (or 1/2 cup bread crumbs)
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the egg and the next 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and then add the meats, oregano and basil and salt and pepper to taste. Mix with your hands (or for crying out loud, try your KitchenAid) until completely blended. Fold in bread crumbs until just blended.

On a cookie sheet lined with foil, form a loaf with mixture and coat with salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour, fifteen minutes or until 160 degrees in the center.

I served my meatloaf with a giant mesclun salad and that’s all. Well, OK, the five-year-old dipped it in ketchup, but he does that with everything.

I have the tendency to fall into cooking ruts. For a while, I was making a big pot of curry about once a week. These days I’m doing the same with homemade pizza. It’s true what they say, practice makes perfect, and through all of my pizza making, I have learned a few tips that have really helped my pizza improve.

I figured that many of you would be putting together some homemade pizza pies for the big game coming up this Sunday, so here are some tips for you.

• Don’t over-sauce: If you’re like me, you love tomato sauce. For a long time, I was a little heavy with the amount of sauce I was using on my pizzas. Sometimes, it would even leak over the side of the crust, dripping into my oven and making a big mess. Even if it doesn’t make a mess, it makes the crust kind of soggy. My advice is to go light on the sauce, and if you love it as much as I do, add some to the top of the pizza after it comes out of the oven.
• Pizza stones aren’t all they are cracked up to be: I’ve always had bad luck with pizza stones. For one, they are hard to get pizza onto. You need a peel, and I just don’t have room in my kitchen for one. Plus, my pizzas have always stuck to the peel when I have used one. I’ve found that a nice pan with holes in it does a great job in getting a nice, crisp crust.
• Easy on the fresh mozzarella: If you like to use fresh mozzarella, as I do, you have to be very careful with it. The stuff melts and flows like crazy. If you’re going to use it instead of the more conventional cheese, make sure that you slice it very thin and don’t cover 100% of the pizza. There is going to be some spreading of the cheese, and if you have too much on, it’s going to run off the crust and make a mess on the bottom of your oven. I usually go for 75-85% coverage and find that it works really well.
• Pierce the crust: Avoid those big crust bubbles by taking a fork to the rolled out dough. It’s also a great way to work out your frustration, wildly stabbing at the dough. I love doing it, but maybe that’s just me.
• Salt the crust: This is really important. Right before popping your pie into the oven, sprinkle some salt around the crust edges. The result is a tasty little surprise when you reach the end of your slice.

I hope your pizza turns out as well as mine have recently.

Around my house we tend to get into a food rut. We eat the same old things week in and week out. Now, I can eat cheese burgers every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and be happy with that, but my wife likes variety in the dinner menu. We have watched many of the cooking shows on TV for new recipe ideas and have spent a good amount of time searching the web for new ideas as well. The biggest problem with all of that is most of the recipes we have found use ingredients we have never used, or in some cases, never even heard of and we have no idea where to even get these ingredients. So is there a simple and easy way to prepare the same old thing that will make it new again?

I don’t know if this really makes the same old thing new again, but it is a simple and easy way to make a tasty dish out of just about anything. What I like to do is whip up a batch of my tempura batter and then deep fry it. I have tried some of the ready-made tempura batter mixes in the past and have not cared for them at all so I came up with my own we have used this batter for many different things. We have used this on chicken, fish, hot dogs, onions and even leftover pork roast to create tasty treats to add to the menu.

Tempura batter

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• water, just enough to give the consistency of pancake batter

Whip the eggs, salt, and pepper until smooth.

Mix in the flour, corn starch, and baking powder until no large lumps remain.

Add the water until the pancake consistency is obtained.

This recipe will make enough batter for about 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts.

After mixing up the batter, take whatever it is you are planning to deep fry and coat it with corn starch. This step is the key as it helps the batter bind to your  meat.

Dip the meat into the batter and coat thoroughly.  Let the excess batter drain off and carefully drop into 350 degree oil. You can use a deep fryer or a pan of oil on the stove for the cooking. cooking times will vary depending on the size of the food you are cooking. I have found that the best results for chicken breasts are to either cut them into uniform bite size pieces about 2 inch square or 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick strips. Most chicken breasts are so thick in places that the batter tends to get a little over done before the chicken is cooked through. For the bite size pieces, cook 5 to 8 minutes. So the next time you are struggling to find a way to freshen up dinner, try this simple tempura recipe. I am sure you will be happy with the results.

Each week, fabulous recipes grace Debbie’s in-box and pop up on her computer screen, and she’s sharing her favorites with you.

I just can’t stop thinking about comfort food. Last week was that kind of week. I made Shepherd’s pie, a big batch of my lentil vegetable soup and pasta with homemade pesto and sausage. If there’s one good thing about winter, comfort food is it.

It’s no wonder that my weekly collection of recipes are pretty much all comfort foods. Homemade vegetable bouillon can make countless soups, turkey meatloaf speaks for itself and white lentil soup with chorizo and paprika cream (with a poached egg) couldn’t be more comforting if served in an afghan. Not quite sure if pizza counts, but you can’t miss drooling over the duck pizza recipe, so read on!

Heidi Swanson, my culinary hero (or one of them) has done it again. I never would have thought to make homemade vegetable bouillon, but if you have salt and a food processor, you can do it with ease. I love that I can control the amount of saltiness this way, and also the type of salt, because I find many store-bought bouillons far too salty for my tastes. Exciting!

Someone please explain to me why this recipe for turkey meatloaf caught my eye. I have never made a meatloaf before and we really don’t eat like that in my house. For some reason the simplicity of this comfort food got to me and I really think I’m ready to try a good ol’ fashioned meatloaf. Can I still be a food snob if I eat meatloaf?

Or pot roast? Kelly Estes posted her recipe for pot roast on her new blog, Hot Cookin‘. With my penchant for whole foods, I can’t see myself ever making a recipe with a soup mix as an ingredient, but it looks as though her pot roast came out spectacularly!

OK, I’m back to being a food snob with this recipe for white lentil soup with chorizo and paprika cream. The thing is, it’s still comfort food and it’s still very easy to make. Now this is the way we usually eat in this house! Incidentally, La Tartine Gourmande is fast becoming a favorite of mine….

Just to solidify my standing as food snob after my strange deviance with the meatloaf recipe, I’ll add in this duck pizza with hoisin and scallions. Dude, who would do that to a pizza? Oh me, definitely me.

Tell us about your favorite comfort foods, so we all can drool while curled up in our afghans.

I’ve mentioned before how I have recently become obsessed with making homemade pizzas. I bought the perfect pizza pan and my local Whole Foods market just makes it too easy. All it takes is a quick trip to the market and I can grab some fresh, delicious dough, sauce, cheese, and any toppings that I might have a hankering for. It even makes enough that I can have a few slices for leftovers at lunch the next day.

In the last few weeks I’ve made some particularly delicious pizzas that you may not have considered.

I was looking for something different to do with my pizzas. I was sick of the same veggies and meats and wanted something unique and delicious to get me excited about my homemade pizza. Instead of raiding the salad bar at the grocery store to find toppings, I headed over to the antipasto bar. I figured some salty/vinegary treats on my pizza would do the trick. I ended up with some fresh olives, roasted tomatoes, balsamic marinated pearl onions, and marinated mushrooms. I gave all the ingredients a rough chop and topped my pizza with them. The results were really terrific.

This past weekend I made some homemade pulled pork to christen the brand new crock pot that I received for Christmas. It was delicious, but made an enormous amount of pork, so I had a ton of leftovers. I figured that a pulled pork pizza might be a a fun and different way to use up the barbecued pork butt. I spread out the pulled pork on the crust and covered it with fresh mozzarella and fresh tomatoes. I had really hoped for some smoked mozzarella, but I couldn’t find any at the market. Tragic, I know. Regardless, the pizza turned out really well.

Next time you’re thinking about something different to do with your pizzas feel free to try one of these ideas, I think you might enjoy them.

As someone who is allergic to soy and egg, my 3-year-old (soon to be 4-year-old… my Lord!) son has missed out on many things that the rest of us can eat. This is particularly true at breakfast, which is an egg paradise, and especially true of French Toast and its many varieties. I mean, you can’t spell French Toast without ‘egg’, can you? It’s the gooey stuff inside the shell that makes the meal.

Sure there were alternatives: like Ian’s soy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, taste-free French Toast sticks that would take 20 minutes to bake and five minutes to harden up after contact with air. But they weren’t the same. So I turned to my friend the Interweb for an egg-free alternative. Lo and behold, I finally found a recipe that worked, was quite tasty, and could be modified to provide different flavors. All was well with the world.

No Egg French Toast

Ingredients:

• l loaf of thick, egg-free, soy-free white bread (country-style normally works)
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 3 generous tablespoons of plain yogurt or applesauce (see below for variation)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• a dash of cinnamon

Mix the sugar, vanilla extract, and plain yogurt/applesauce in a medium bowl until well blended. Combine with the milk and cinnamon. Coat the bread in the mixture until both sides are covered (don’t leave in too long or the bread will fall apart).

Place the bread onto a greased and heated pan or griddle. Flip when edges begin to turn golden brown. Repeat the process. Depending on how much mixture is soaked into each slice of bread, the recipe will provide you with a large amount of French Toast. Make sure your family is hungry.

Variation

• If you like your French Toast on the sweet side, replace the plain yogurt/applesauce with 3 tablespoons of cinnamon applesauce. You can still add the dash of cinnamon in as well.

Last night’s pesto pizza with prosciutto, red pepper, onion, halved grape tomatoes, Kalamata olives, feta, mozzarella and four-cheese blend … a visual masterpiece and taste sensation! This was a pretty easy one too.

Top our usual spelt bread machine pizza dough with our homemade pesto, the raw — yes, raw; they’ll cook when you bake the pizza — veggies and other ingredients. Bake for 15 minutes in a 450 degree oven and serve with gourmet mesclun salad.

Are you drooling as much as the six cheeses are dripping over the sides of the pizza slice?

In my continuing journey to find allergy-free recipes that my son, who has reactions to soy and egg, would enjoy, I have come upon a number of variations for homemade pancakes. One that has popped up numerous times on various websites has been a recipe that has included sugar in the batter.

In my previous pancake adventures I had never used sugar, so I thought that this was a bit wonky, Yet, according to my family, the end result is still delicious with a bit of sweetness to it. Another success to add to the list! Now, if we could only remove soy and egg from every other recipe we would be golden.

Eggless Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of pure canola, sunflower or olive oil

Dry ingredients go first — flour, baking powder and sugar. Stir until blended. Add the milk and the oil; stirring rapidly until the batter is smooth.

Heat a pan or griddle to medium. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the heated surface. As you as you see the pancakes bubble and their edges turn a golden brown,  flip them over. Remove from the hot surface when the bottom is a golden brown as well. Should make somewhere in the area of 6 to 8 pancakes; enough for two to three people.

Cake vs. pie. It’s an age-old question that people have been fighting over for millenia (which is weird, because the answer is cake, obvs.). However, Charles Phoenix has found the solution: The Cherpumple, dessert’s answer to the Turducken. The Cherpumple takes the best of both worlds and combines them in a truly hellish way.

First, you take those lovely pre-baked Sara Lee pies from your grocer’s freezer; He uses cherry, pumpkin and apple, and basically bake them into a cake. Each pie goes with a different cake layer. Then you frost the whole thing with cream cheese icing and say, “Yes, Virginia. This is why you’re fat.”

The whole thing looks absolutely terrifying, and I dare you guys to make one– I really want to know how delicious/disgusting it is. One thing’s for certain though: as you’ll see at the end of the video, mechanics love the Cherpumple. My only question is, Cherpumple a la mode? Or would that be ridiculous?

As you may have read already, Deb McDuffee’s attempt at “Never Fail Fudge” failed miserably. There were probably many factors to this — weather, age, alien invasion, philosophic ramblings about the threshold of pain evaporated milk can maintain while being boiled. The most important of these factors is… she did it wrong.

The secret to “Never Fail Fudge” is, if you follow the directions, it never fails. Oh, it may not feel and taste like the fudge you get at the boardwalk on a hot July day, but it’s certainly close. Come, let’s take a look at the recipe and see what happened.

First, here’s the recipe for “Never Fail” white chocolate fudge (based on this one):

Never Fail White Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 small can (5 ounces) evaporated milk
• 1 jar (7.5 ounces) marshmallow fluff
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1 large (12 ounces) package white chocolate chips

First, doubling the recipe was probably not a good idea. For some reason, when you multiply ingredients in baking, particularly when it involves sugar, the results turn out badly. Best thing to do in this case is to make two separate batches. That way, if one goes terribly wrong you can potentially salvage the second batch.

To start the recipe you mix the first five ingredients together and stir them over low heat until well blended. The next two steps are the most important. Once the mixture is well blended you want to get it to boil over moderate heat. During this process you want to make sure that you’re not confusing air bubbles from boiling. Normally, the air bubbles will be larger and take more time to pop then what you would see during the boiling process. In this step the best thing to do is let your nose do the work; if you start to smell even a hint of burning you need to move to the next step.

Which is stepping into Harry Potter’s shoes, and stir that concoction up like you were making Polyjuice Potion. You need stir constantly for 5 minutes — not stir once in awhile, not stir for only two minutes. Constantly. Five minutes. If you absolutely need to double all the ingredients make it ten minutes. The mixture will change color, so don’t be afraid. And the soft ball test… screw that! Again, go with what you see in the saucepan and what you smell.

After five minutes, get that bad boy off the heat and add the vanilla and chips. Unless you want a pile of goo in the middle of your saucepan don’t add the entire package of chips at once. Add them in a little at a time in order for melting to occur evenly. Once the chips are completely melted you can pour the contents into a greased pan (13X9X2 works well) and let it cool. Don’t put it in the refrigerator immediately after pouring. In fact, there’s no need to refrigerate it all! Just wait until it completely hardens, about 30 minutes, then cut and serve.

There you are! The secrets to “Never Fail Fudge”. Debbie, I’ll be waiting for your report on the next, and correctly prepared, batch.