Is My Cape Fluttering

A few weeks ago, a guy named Al contacted me from Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce. Like many of the other bloggers that Al connected with, he wanted to send me samples of Country Bob's sauce so that I could try it and blog about it. Then he'd let me give away a couple bottle to commenters on the blog. I have to admit, my first thought was "Cool"! My second thought was "What if I don't like it." So I emailed Al back and asked him. He didn't seem worried about it, so I agreed. My Country Bob's sauce arrived promptly.

In the meantime, I moved my blog and went through reindexing and prolonged feed contortions and waited for the weather to clear so we could grill.

Tonight, TOG (my beloved Old Goat) decided to throw ribs on the grill. He said he had a plan for Country Bob and his sauce. I roasted some veggies... (Carrots, Asperagus and Parsnips) while TOG ran the grill.  As it turns out, TOG applied Country Bob straight to the ribs. Talk about good! The perfect amount of tanginess and it just really accented the ribs beautifully. Personally, I was prepared to cobble together a sauce... maybe some soy, brown sugar, garlic, lime, herbs... I was sure I could put together a good sauce. But just straight on the ribs... classic, simple, savory! It actually created a slight glaze on the ribs that was oh so desirable! In hind sight, it might even work to dribble a little on roasted veggies, which I normally do with just olive oil and sea salt.

So, summer's coming and we'll be doing a lot more grilling. Do you grill? Do you want to perk up your grilling? Leave a comment below telling me what you like to grill or what you'd grill if you had some Country Bob's! I'll choose a couple winners to recieve some Country Bob's of their very own!

Contest ends on Sunday Evening!

PS~ I wish I had pictures to show you but the ribs were so good, that TOG is in the kitchen eating the last one. So much for left overs!

Last year, I wrote a post about this guy because I liked his show. It made me think about cooking in a different way. The show itself acknowledged that disaster did indeed lurk around every corner and even the most proficient of cooks (which I am not) was at risk of public humilations! I appreciated the fact that he never took success for granted, and that he was secretly thrilled each time he successfully pulled off another caper! Who am I talking about? This guy here...

Chef Robert Irvine! And the Show?

I love Dinner Impossible. Yes, yes....I know Robert exagerated his resume and they booted him and brought Micheal Symon in, (who's an awesome chef) but the show lost it's ooomph. Chef Symon lacks that somethin' somethin' that keeps me tuned into the show. Maybe it's Chef Irvine's openness... disaster is lurking behind every pot and everyone knows it? Maybe it's his ability to throw together a menu? Maybe it's watching a good manager wrangle people and ingredients into a symphony of culinary excellence? Maybe it's his deep fried peanut butter and jelly dough-nuts?

Whatever the reason, he's back with six new episodes and I'm excited! I'm on board! I can't wait until Wednesday night. Chef Irvine will tide me over until my ultimate favorite show starts next week...

Hi. My name is Asthmagirl and I'm a food nerd.

It feels like it's a been a total food week here on the blog! Not that that's a bad thing! Today's post moves us from food that I've cooked to food that someone else has cooked! (and I get to eat!)

Today I hauled my crabby back to work (not the best idea I've ever had) because I had a date with my event planning sidekick to go see the last caterer. Yes... it's time for the final tasting! (that sounds so ominous!) This caterer is kind of unique because they offer you a tasting AFTER you've indicated what menu you're interested in. Then when you go to the tasting, they make that food for you.

So we started off with one of our appetizers. We wanted the "breads and spreads" which is nine different spreads served at an appetizer station with toast points, pita points and bagel bites. We got to try four of  the spreads with a deli bread...

From the top moving clockwise, Olive Tapenade (OMG! Sweet Mother of Pearl), Sweet onion spread (OMG), Roasted red pepper hummus (bland but pleasant) and Herbed salmon spread (nice!). I liked the tapenade so much and my friend liked the onion dip so much that we protested when the chef tried to remove the plate from our table. He finally offered to package them so we could take them with us!

Our next plate was salad. We wanted two salads because not everyone likes Caesar. 

So on the left, the most amazing Caesar ever... with fresh croutons. I don't really like Caesar, but I couldn't quit eating it! The salad on the right is wild greens with gorgonzola, candied walnuts and cherry tomatoes with a pear vinegrette. Yummy! That dressing had "oomph"!

Finally, for the main, we selected the following....

At the top of the plate is the pasta dish... We wanted both a veggie and meat main so we wouldn't have to have veggie plates on the side. The pasta dish is penne in a light garlic cream sauce with sun dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. Again, I don't even like sun dried tomatoes and these were quite good. The other main at the bottom of the plate is chicken marsala with sauted mushrooms and sweet onions. Baby. I was full by this time and I kept eating "one more bite". It's embarassing to have your gluttany hanging out in public!

The chef was great! We totally enjoyed his humor and his cooking. This caterer runs 7 crews and your chef for the event is assigned. Our chef asked us to request him so he could be attached to our event. I'll gladly do it. He's an approachable guy and I want him on my team! Besides I loved all his tattoos and his gaged ears!

I'm still full. Thank goodness that lemon cake from hell is gone so I don't have to get up and go eat some! I wonder how many calories are burned walking into the kitchen...

Asthmagirl out!

 
Yesterday I roasted a chicken in the crock pot. The theory being that I wouldn't have to get up and cook. So then I got up and made crash hot potatoes too. And steamed broccoli. The chicken was amazing! Did you know that if you wad up three balls of foil and set the chicken on the balls in the crock pot, it keeps the chicken up out of the juice and truly roasts it? Love me some foil balls! The chicken was simple, just a sprinkle of fresh tarragon and a splash of white wine in the bottom of the pot and it was amazing! I had to talk fast to keep TOG from eating all the leftover chicken!

So tonight, I diced up the leftover chicken and skimmed the fat off the broth and made "good for the soul" chicken pie! You know how when you're not feeling great, you tend to focus on exactly what you want to eat? The whole phenomenon of "what sounds good"? Like the better the food is, the faster you're cured? I'm totally like that when I'm feeling asthmatic! I guess I'm like that with a funky back too!

Oh, and I can never make that lemon cake again. It's like crack. And the glaze? Straight into the vein, baby!
In other news... I've been having fun with the laptop camera. Cassie has been glued to me for the last 48 hours. It's like she's in a coma...

"Psst! Cassie!"

"What...? Is there a squirrel? I was sleeping!"

"Here, rub my belly!"

"I'm still your favorite, right? Wait... don't tell Maddie I said that..."

Asthmagirl out!

As I lay in the recliner working on the newsletter for my agency, TOG nagged courteously reminded me that I have lemons to use before they go to the shriveled fruit afterlife... I'd already made lemon chicken pasta but I desperately wanted lemon cake. I hobbled to the pantry and checked for available ingredients, and realized I had everything I needed to make the following recipe:

Sour Cream Lemon Cake (OMG!)

Ingredients

• 9 Tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 T grated lemon rind
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter, sugar and lemon zest using an electric mixer.

Add eggs and beat well until combined.

Fold through sour cream, SR flour, vanilla and lemon juice.

Pour batter into a  greased and lined cake pan (I used a square 8 inch lined with parchment, I forgot to grease anything) and place in a preheated (350*F) oven for 40 minutes or until cake is cooked when tested with a skewer. Cajole youngest daughter into bending over to remove cake from oven.

I removed the cake from the pan after about 10 minutes. Then instead of dusting it with powdered sugar, I made a glaze using the zest of one lemon, the juice of one lemon, 1 tbsp melted butter and maybe a cup or so of confectioners sugar. I poked holes in the cake with a skewer and drizzled like crazy!

Then I had tiny piece after tiny piece. I'll probably need another tiny piece when it's time for the next pain pill...I love lemon cake. And this one is so rich....so flavorful...Oh Baby! 

We now return to your regularly scheduled back pain...