Travel Spot: Culinary Dropout

Going through my photos I realized I never shared one of my favorite dining experiences while I was in Phoenix, a fabulous place in Scottsdale called Culinary Dropout. My friends raved about this "gastro-pub" with it's drink options and food of high quality and creativity and reasonable prices. When I walked in, the interior was so cool!

And the wait staff looks like they could just be clientele...jeans, flannels, rock star hair....an awesome ambience to say the least.

The menu was so unique but because at this point I had a very impatient and whiny 3-year old on my hands, I went straight for the drinks...and saw this drink appropriately called "Bells and Whistles": Maker’s Mark, bell Pepper Jalapeno Simple, basil, honey, and Lemon. and it was DELICIOUS!

Now any one who knows me, knows I am a sucker for gnocchi  (although I have still not mustered the courage to make Fabio's gnocchi recipe yet) and I have tried it at many a place. So when I saw "ricotta gnocchi with sausage and mushrooms" my mind was made up. 

and every bite was a creamy and savory delight...almost pushes me that much harder to try my own gnocchi...I'll let you guys know of course if I do. Regardless, next time I am in Arizona, this place will be on the list to return to...and maybe next time WITHOUT kids!

Stuffed Chicken-Again!

Is it possible to have a food preparation obsession?

I apparently am enamored with stuffing chicken breasts. This time it was cooked center cut bacon, pepper Boursin cheese and chopped Italian basil form my own herb garden! The only key tool you need is an oven proof skillet because you will cook the chicken once it's stuffed for 4 minutes on each side and then in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.

I decided to make a very light side and settled on a mixed green and spinach salad, lightly dressed with red wine vinegar and topped with Asiago cheese.

Wonder if I went on a stuffed chicken diet how that would work out?

Got anything you like to stuff your chicken with??

Cook Crook Technique: Coring a Pineapple

Some people drool over fashion, car or travel magazines. I drool over food magazines AND kitchen equipment catalogs, especially Williams-Sonoma. I love the photography and I love seeing all the gadgets. However, over the years I have learned some of those gadgets are just not necessary and not worth the expense and clutter in your kitchen.

Take for example the pineapple corer/slicer. Maybe it's because I visited my grandparents in Hawaii every other summer growing up and I watched how easy it is or maybe it's because every time I try to use one of these easy, time saving gadgets, I spend more time figuring out how to properly use the gadget to get the result I want.

So, today I am going through the pineapple slicing and coring process! Start with one fresh pineapple. If  has no soft spots, doesn't smell too strong and the green leafy part can pulled gently from the fruit, it's ready.

Slice off the top and the bottom, making flat ends.

 Now cut the "spiny" parts off, being careful to cut just deep enough to remove the outside but not ot remove too much flesh.

 In the end your pineapple should look like this. Then all you have to do is cut the fruit lengthwise into two halves and then those halves into two lengthwise halves, creating quarters. The core can then be easily sliced out of each quarter.

 Dice and store in an airtight container or use immediately.

I am not a baker so you'll never see a recipe for pineapple upside down cake, but I love grilling pineapple on its own, using it in kebabs, and in this recipe: Roasted Pepper and Pineapple Salsa courtesy of Guy Fieri.

Steal of the Week: Green Bean Artichoke Casserole

I have lived in Virginia in what I suppose is still considered "the South" (although having been further into the actual South I disagree) and growing up I went to my fair share of pot-luck suppers. Whether it was church, a funeral, a fundraiser, a school event..the pot-luck is an event and frankly, these days, in these times an inexpensive way to have a bunch of people over to eat without having to fork over the cash to feed them all!

I actually love making pot-luck meals because I love sharing my cooking. The challenge sometime is the venue (RE: no you should not bring mayonnaise based dish to a picnic outside in August without an ice bath) and/or the audience. Sometimes its a matter of what you have on hand!

Cut to today and a potluck was planned for our church as part of the preschoolers picnic, all families with preschoolers in the Sunday school class or as a part of the school were invited to attend. Hot dogs were provided, we just had to bring a side. Funny how I forgot to grocery shop for anything to make a side dish with!

Yet, I do have a favorite side dish recipe that makes a huge quantity that I found two years ago when searching for a low-carb side dish. Allrecipes.com is a favorite site of mine and I found this recipe for Green Bean Artichoke Casserole. The difference is I omitted the bread crumbs and frankly, you don't need them! The only other change is to reserve about 1/2 cup of the liquid from the artichoke hearts to mix in with the ingredients.

I have made it a million times and it involves stuff I always have on hand: canned French cut green beans, canned artichoke hearts, Parmesan cheese,mozzarella cheese, garlic powder, pepper and salt and olive oil. That's it. Easy side. Easy pot-luck dish....And it's delicious.

Herbs!

It has been such a busy, crazy week that not only has it obviously been difficult to blog, but difficult to remember that I actually did go ahead and plant some herbs this year as I hinted to in another post. On the advice of friends, I started with an Italian basil plant to try on success and  decided to purchase flat leaf parsley seeds.

Then courtesy of a box of Triscuits, I also had a package of dill seeds to plant. Triscuits has started a home farming movement and on specially marked boxes of Triscuits there is a seed packet that can be removed for planting and their website provides step by step guidance on how to plant the seeds.

So my little guy and I headed outside a few weeks ago and planted (he insisted on wearing his sister's gardening gloves):

I had low expectations for the seeds I bought and even lower ones for the free ones, but in two weeks Imagine my surprise when we found this:

Yep, that dill came right on up!

And we had a few tiny parsley seedlings and a very healthy basil plant (which I proceeded to harvest!):

Fast forward to last week and we left for Arizona for 5 days. I asked someone to get my mail, I stopped the paper...I forgot to tell someone to water my herbs!

So I went outside fully expecting to find some sad withered little plants or seeds that didn't sprout seedlings. But instead, I found this:

 The parsley and dill shot up! I am sooo excited about the progress and even more committed to make this successful.

Oh and that Italian basil goes awesome on those chicken parmigiana burgers!

I am looking forward to using my own herbs in new dishes soon!

Travel Spot: Litchfield's at Wigwam Resort of Arizona

So the hubby, son and I traveled to Arizona to see a very dear friend of mine and her family. We arrived on a Thursday and left on the following Monday, but even with a short trip we had a great visit, enjoyed the weather and ate very well.

One of of our meals was on Mother's Day: a brunch my friend made reservations for at a restaurant located at the Wigwam Resort in Glendale, Arizona. Litchfield's  put together a great brunch set-up with the starters and dessert being served buffet style and then each individual chose their own freshly made entrée.

If I have never espoused my love for lamb on this blog or even if this is a restate of a previous exclamation: I LOVE LAMB! So I thrilled when I saw a mixed grill of lamb chops and shrimp and no one at the table was the least bit surprised when I ordered it. Even better, it came served atop a mushroom and goat cheese tart atop a bed of spinach....

Feel free to lick the screen.

It was in fact just as delicious as it looks...with perfectly grilled chops and shrimp and a luscious flaky tart I can't wait to attempt to recreate. And honestly I am also a sucker for presentation and the wooden skewer of shrimp perched int he chops and then stacked on the other items was a feast for the eyes as well.

I could eat there again...maybe I'll even take a look at the rest of the resort next time!

The Cook Crook Returns

I am back from a much needed and much enjoyed vacation to Arizona. And what better way to vacation then to visit a fellow foodie? I will have some pictures and information to share about the restaurants we visited and look forward to sharing the experiences with you. And let me just say..I ate REAL GOOD!

But first, I am very excited to announce that I have been selected as a participant in the "Top Home Chef Hampton Roads" competition! The competition, put on by http://www.passiontherestaurant.com/ starts Sunday May 22 and I just found out I was selected on my drive home from the airport yesterday. Hysterically I got most excited about learning I would be receiving my own embroidered chef jacket! So, in addition to my normal blogs about my food experiences, I will also be sharing this journey with you!

To get started, check out me and my fellow competitors who submitted You Tube videos as part of the selection process: http://www.youtube.com/user/PassionChefContest#p/u

I am excited about the competition and as always excited about sharing what I am learning about cooking. Stay tuned!

VACATION

The Cook Crook is headed to Arizona for a short vacation. Hoping to come back with some great food experiences and more food ideas!


Happy Cinco de Mayo and Happy Mother's Day!