Whew, it sure is hot today

Here is a pic I thought you might enjoy called Super Cook at the Michael Powell site. Just another hot one here. No rain yet but we had a gulley-washer yesterday and my weeds are growing like crazy.

I found some great recipes today on AOL using Hershey chocolate. Some people are out of sorts with them moving to Mexico but I feel big business needs to keep making money. That is a given. Anyway the CHOCOLATE recipes are worth looking at.
Here is another place for recipe sharing called MY RECIPES. You can save recipes there for future use or even start your own stash. I picked off a Blueberry-lemon muffin recipe to make this week. Earlier I stashed a few pounds of blueberries in my freezer for later use.

I added a few more food blogs to my list that I found interesting. Yes there are recipes there to pick. I like to go thru the list now and then to see what is new and possibly make. I did win an auction today for seafood forks. Weird huh, well at the buffets that have beautiful, big, juicy crab legs that need that tiny fork to get at the crab meat. So now I got them for the next crab fest.

Here is my apron

Go Chicago Bears

Here is my favorite apron made by my sister a few years ago. Being my family are die-hard Chicago Bear fans, she felt this would be good to worn when the Bears are playing. Really get into the spirit. Or really any time. It just goes over the head with ties on the side. It also has 2 pockets for whatever. If you wish to see more aprons, go to Show Us Your Apron @ Lucullian.

Summer is here for sure

Summer is here and it is truly hot and sticky. Only 3 more months to go before fall will come on in. Anyway, the 4th is over and all the fireworks are shot up. Good thing as I found one on my roof as well all over the back yard. My neighbor has a blast each year but I am getting tired of it as it goes on til the wee hours. I just stayed home and coughed must of the day. Rats! Got some allergy going from what I understand.

So I decided to get to the farmer’s market and got some great veggies. Might as well as enjoy something in this heat. Came home and fixed eggplant parmesan which was nice and crusty. Next time I may try a casserole. Got a slew of tomatoes to last til next week. I eat well during the summer as I like all the fresh veggies and like to mix them up with other cool foods. Picked up shrimp today for a shrimp salad tonight along with a green salad maybe. The price is coming down on the shrimp as they are rather plentiful.

NO other news here on the coast. Everyone is staying in with the a/c running. I believe there is a fishing rodeo this weekend so that will be jumping for a few days. Two new casinos opened this week including a food spot at one by Emeril which is drawing a crowd. Hope his menu will be good as what I see on TV.

Happy 4th to everyone!

We took a break today and went to eat at one of the casinos that have opened since Katrina roared thru in 2005. They had a fantastic buffet for under $10 and it was crowded. One of the best things was the desserts but all of the food was good and hot. That is one of the perks to getting there at the first sitting. They have the foods set up by cusinine and the southern was the best which included a large mound of prepared shrimp. They were so big and so tasty. Visitors never seem to get enough of fresh shrimp and this year's shrimp season is one of the best.
After thoroughly enjoying the meal we decided to play the slots for awhile. As usual I lost and my friend won. Oh well, I keep on trying. Not sure yet what the 4th will bring as I understand the weather is not going to be good for outdoorsy stuff.
Have a fun and safe day everyone.

Yesterday I was baking alot

I decided to really get into some baking for the weekend. I figured with the 4th I wanted some extra food in case of drop ins.
I started out with cheese corn bread. Simple recipe but meant turning on the oven but oh well, I did it anyway.
Here goes:
CORNBREAD
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons poppy seeds(optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Grease or spray one 8x8 baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the poppy seeds, cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Breat in the egg, milk and oil but well combined. Pour into pan and bake 25 minutes or until golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. While warm slather some butter over the top. Hey, cut a slice and enjoy.
Next I wanted something cool so I reached for a box of premix cheese cake. There are different brands out there so I went for the Jello. The crust is a graham cracker crust which is simple mixing the graham cracker mix with butter and pressing it in the bottom of a 8 or 9″ pie dish. Be sure to press down to make sure it will firm up. Put it in the refrig while making up the cheesecake filling. Just add milk to the cheesecake filling and blend according to the directions which can take a few minutes. Add the filling to the crust and let sit for at least an hour in the refrig. When ready to serve, pour a can of cherry pie filling(or any fruit you like) over the pie. Let sit and chill in the refrig while you are eating your meal. This serves 4-6 people.
Enjoy your holiday and be safe with the fireworks.

How to Substitute Salted or Unsalted Butter

Today I found the answer I have been looking for when it comes to how do you substitute unsalted butter and vice versa when baking? Here is the rule according to Chefs Cary and Kevin @ CHEFSLINE. When recipes are written with just “butter,” and do not specifiy salted or unsalted, you want always to use unsalted butter. As a general rule, most professionally developed recipes call for unsalted butter. When baking a cake, you will usually get the best results by including salt as an ingredient. If your recipe does not include salt as an ingredient, or if your recipe calls for salted butter and you are using unsalted butter, then you should add salt to your dry ingredients. Use 1/4 tsp of salt for a 1 stick of butter recipe and 1/2 tsp. of salt for a 2 stick of butter recipe. Mix the salt with your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cornstarch – again, it depends on your recipe) and you’ll be good to go.
You want to use salt in your baking for flavor, to control leavening, and generally, you just won’t get the best results on these two fronts when you bake with salted butter.
Here is more info about Chefsline and that is you can get help instantly if you are having problems while cooking. It is a 1-800 number which helps. So it seems you get recipes from great chefs and some help instantly if need be. Sign up for the weekly free email while you are there as well. Imagine! Great resource when you need it.

Happy National Chocolate Eclair Day

Here is the latest national day to celebrate according to Slashfood. It is National Chocolate Eclair Day. Now you have to like chocolate and eclairs to do this. I found some great recipes Cooks.com that might be of interest. I can remember my mother bringing these home from the bakery and we could not wait to get one.