Cooking
Avocado Club Egg Roll
Despite living in California for a few years, I never ate at a California Pizza Kitchen. But I found I couldn't resist their new cookbook, California Pizza Kitchen Family Cookbook. It's a little dynamo: small, jam-packed, and happy yellow!
A tiny book, with almost sixty recipes, including basics. Ironically, I never did get around to trying a pizza recipe! Although I have the White Pizza with Bacon and the Chipotle Chicken Pizza marked for future use.
The recipes are all pretty easy, although many have that oh-so-fun recipe within a recipe. There's definitely a family vibe running through it.
Heavy on the chicken, and using lots of cheese, this isn't a low-fat book, nor is it a truly 'gourmet' tome, either. There's some store-bought help, and some recipes are a little too hotel buffet artery-clogging! But in general, it's a neat little book with some funky dishes.
And best of all...the entire proceeds from the sales of the book go to children's charities!
The first recipe, the Avocado Club Egg Roll, was pretty fantastic. Embarrassingly addictive, those things. Grilled & diced chicken (or Veat), crumbled bacon (or veggie bacon), diced Roma tomatoes, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, and sliced avocado are layered on an egg roll wrapper. With an egg wash to moisten, roll up and seal, then fry about 1 1/2 minutes per side, till golden.
Serve with a dip of Ranch dressing, mayo and hot sauce.
Oh, it's good. I mean, the filling is just a club sandwich, right? Add avocado, almost...not quite but almost...over-kill. Then FRY it? Have mercy.
Curly Mac & Cheese
I made this primarily for Alex's benefit. It uses, and please don't take away my food blogging credentials for admitting this, Velveeta. (looks properly shamed)
Not exactly curly, eh? Couldn't find that new box of fusilli we'd just bought. So, used up the odds ands ends of pasta lying around.
It's just cream and processed cheese food spread (hee), melted, and pasta. It started out pretty good, actually. The cream really tempered the Velveeta (I can't believe I've typed the word 'Velveeta' this many times!), and it was a creamy sauce.
Of course, as it cooled down, it got...um, thick. My lips were sticking together, they were so coated with sauce. Best eaten HOT.
Honey-Dijon Chicken & Bacon Panini
Any excuse to use the sandwich press!
Italian bread, a mixture of mayo, Dijon, and honey spread on one side. Then, sliced garlic chicken (made ahead of time), bacon, and slices of Monterey Jack; grill.
Simply? Good stuff.
We're kicking off our fourth year of Blog Party by taking a look back at some of our favorite first-year themes. This month, we're revisiting a BP favorite, Retro Party!
We're doing a bit of time-travel, and bringing back some of the weird and wonderful dishes & drinks from the 20's through the late sixties. You won't want to miss it! R.S.V.P. no later than TONIGHT. Hope to see you there!
Tagged with: Food and Drink + Cheese + Restaurants + Bacon + Chicken + Sandwiches + Cookbooks + Reviews
- It's Ridiculous
This sandwich, I mean. It's kind of ridiculous. We were sitting around the dining table one night, at dinner, & I had this idea for a sandwich. (What? You don't discuss food while eating food with your family?) I knew I wanted something...
- Smoke From A Distant (porch) Fire
Tonight's dinner: Triple Smoke Burgers. Ground beef mixed with paprika, chipotle powder & salt (or rubbed onto veggie burgers) & grilled, then topped with bacon (or the veg alternative), grilled avocado & red Boston lettuce...all on a grilled roll...
- Wartime Wednesdays: Baked Eggs In Bacon
Eggs Are Valuable Food Eggs are valuable sources of proteins, iron, vitamins A, B & D; use them freely as long as their cost is reasonable. Only the usual seasonal fluctuations in price are expected but if larege amounts are fried and shipped abroad...
- Tea, Take Two
This whole 'tea for dinner' thing is kind of taking off around here. Lots of lovely little bites, endless cups of tea. It's rather perfect, actually. Makes you sit and relax, whether you want to or not! Most recently, there were lots...
- Chipotle Chicken Burritos
With food magazines, it can often be hit-or-miss. Some issues practically flower with sticky tabs, leaving us the difficult task of deciding which delicious-sounding recipe to try first. Other months, just one or two grab our attention. There's absolutely...
Cooking
Cookbook Review: California Pizza Kitchen
Avocado Club Egg Roll
Despite living in California for a few years, I never ate at a California Pizza Kitchen. But I found I couldn't resist their new cookbook, California Pizza Kitchen Family Cookbook. It's a little dynamo: small, jam-packed, and happy yellow!
A tiny book, with almost sixty recipes, including basics. Ironically, I never did get around to trying a pizza recipe! Although I have the White Pizza with Bacon and the Chipotle Chicken Pizza marked for future use.
The recipes are all pretty easy, although many have that oh-so-fun recipe within a recipe. There's definitely a family vibe running through it.
Heavy on the chicken, and using lots of cheese, this isn't a low-fat book, nor is it a truly 'gourmet' tome, either. There's some store-bought help, and some recipes are a little too hotel buffet artery-clogging! But in general, it's a neat little book with some funky dishes.
And best of all...the entire proceeds from the sales of the book go to children's charities!
The first recipe, the Avocado Club Egg Roll, was pretty fantastic. Embarrassingly addictive, those things. Grilled & diced chicken (or Veat), crumbled bacon (or veggie bacon), diced Roma tomatoes, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, and sliced avocado are layered on an egg roll wrapper. With an egg wash to moisten, roll up and seal, then fry about 1 1/2 minutes per side, till golden.
Serve with a dip of Ranch dressing, mayo and hot sauce.
Oh, it's good. I mean, the filling is just a club sandwich, right? Add avocado, almost...not quite but almost...over-kill. Then FRY it? Have mercy.
Curly Mac & Cheese
I made this primarily for Alex's benefit. It uses, and please don't take away my food blogging credentials for admitting this, Velveeta. (looks properly shamed)
Not exactly curly, eh? Couldn't find that new box of fusilli we'd just bought. So, used up the odds ands ends of pasta lying around.
It's just cream and processed cheese food spread (hee), melted, and pasta. It started out pretty good, actually. The cream really tempered the Velveeta (I can't believe I've typed the word 'Velveeta' this many times!), and it was a creamy sauce.
Of course, as it cooled down, it got...um, thick. My lips were sticking together, they were so coated with sauce. Best eaten HOT.
Honey-Dijon Chicken & Bacon Panini
Any excuse to use the sandwich press!
Italian bread, a mixture of mayo, Dijon, and honey spread on one side. Then, sliced garlic chicken (made ahead of time), bacon, and slices of Monterey Jack; grill.
Simply? Good stuff.
We're kicking off our fourth year of Blog Party by taking a look back at some of our favorite first-year themes. This month, we're revisiting a BP favorite, Retro Party!
We're doing a bit of time-travel, and bringing back some of the weird and wonderful dishes & drinks from the 20's through the late sixties. You won't want to miss it! R.S.V.P. no later than TONIGHT. Hope to see you there!
Tagged with: Food and Drink + Cheese + Restaurants + Bacon + Chicken + Sandwiches + Cookbooks + Reviews
- It's Ridiculous
This sandwich, I mean. It's kind of ridiculous. We were sitting around the dining table one night, at dinner, & I had this idea for a sandwich. (What? You don't discuss food while eating food with your family?) I knew I wanted something...
- Smoke From A Distant (porch) Fire
Tonight's dinner: Triple Smoke Burgers. Ground beef mixed with paprika, chipotle powder & salt (or rubbed onto veggie burgers) & grilled, then topped with bacon (or the veg alternative), grilled avocado & red Boston lettuce...all on a grilled roll...
- Wartime Wednesdays: Baked Eggs In Bacon
Eggs Are Valuable Food Eggs are valuable sources of proteins, iron, vitamins A, B & D; use them freely as long as their cost is reasonable. Only the usual seasonal fluctuations in price are expected but if larege amounts are fried and shipped abroad...
- Tea, Take Two
This whole 'tea for dinner' thing is kind of taking off around here. Lots of lovely little bites, endless cups of tea. It's rather perfect, actually. Makes you sit and relax, whether you want to or not! Most recently, there were lots...
- Chipotle Chicken Burritos
With food magazines, it can often be hit-or-miss. Some issues practically flower with sticky tabs, leaving us the difficult task of deciding which delicious-sounding recipe to try first. Other months, just one or two grab our attention. There's absolutely...