Jan 14 2010

Blow your diet cheddar cheese and onion soup

Les Lyon

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If you’ve read the name of this soup, and are still reading, then it’s obvious that you’re more concerned about your taste buds than you are about your weight. This being the case, read on.

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Nov 29 2009

Peanut Butter Kisses

Mike and Kirsten
Peanut Butter Kisses

Peanut Butter Kisses

I have always loved the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey’s kiss in the middle, and was happy that I received a recipe for them when I got married. When my mother-in-law asked me to bring cookies to Thanksgiving weekend’s USC/UCLA football game, these cookies were the first thing I thought of. I went to the recipe box and looked them up, and was a bit dismayed at what I found…12 or so ingredients, some I don’t have at home, and I was a bit overwhelmed.

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Nov 23 2009

Quick Homemade Buttermilk Pancakes

Michael

buttermilk-pancakes

There’s something special about good pancakes and something not-so-special about not-so-good pancakes. I was raised on Bisquick and that can be good, I guess. But I was also raised on corn syrup instead of maple, and that’s, well, not-so-good. So when I saw Alton Brown’s Good Eat’s episode on flap jacks, I decided to give it a try, and I think the result is good, diner-style pancakes…

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Nov 23 2009

Pastry Pal’s Brittle

Michael

brittle-try2

The holiday season is upon us. I’ve been wanting to make some kind of candy this year to contribute to the traditions. Pastry Pal’s Almond Brittle looks amazing, so I though I would give it a try. My understanding is that brittle is almost entirely about the process and technique. Normally I would go Alton Brown and get an understanding on the molecular structure of sugar and follow his approach. But Irina’s method seemed easier, so there you go. Continue reading


Nov 19 2009

Maronis Meatballs

Michael

meatballs-on-plate

In 2003 I worked on a show called The Restaurant and the dish that was famous on that show was Rocco’s mama’s meatballs.  While I never had the pleasure of partaking in those particular balls, from then on I really wanted to learn how to make awesome meatballs.  Zoom forward about 6 years and I saw an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where he challenged Mike Maroni to a meatball throwdown (and lost).  Six years was a long time to wait, but thanks to the Maroni’s making their recipe available on Foodnetwork.com, I too can now make some slammin balls of meat. (Better than Rocco’s from what I hear). Continue reading