National Peanut Butter Day

Here is a list of fun facts about Peanut Butter and my favorite PB Cookie Recipe.

• Peanut butter is a common staple in over 90% of American households.
  
• PB is the most common use of peanuts in the United State.
  
• Americans eat an average of about 700 million pounds of peanut butter each year!
  
• Women and children prefer creamy peanut butter and most men prefer chunky variety.
  
• It takes 550 peanuts to make a 12 ounce jar of peanut butter?
  
• Peanuts are naturally cholesterol free and also are a good source of folate and protein.
  
• The high protein content in peanut butter draws moisture and causes it to stick to the roof of your mouth.
  
• Peanut butter was first created in 1890 by a St. Louis doctor as a remedy for bad teeth.
  
• In 1933, a California food manufacture was able to homogenize the peanuts into a spreadable butter.

To celebrate National Peanut Butter Day, bake some peanut butter cookies, make a BP& Jelly, or enjoy a spoonful right out of the jar.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

· 1/2 cup sugar
· 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
· 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
· 1/2 cup peanut butter
· 1 egg
· 1 1/4 cup flour
· 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
· 1/4 teaspoon salt


Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugars, cream for 2 more minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. Mix together the dry ingredients in a seprate bowl - flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into the sugar butter mixture.


Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours.


Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15 minutes

How to Grill the Perfect Steak

I love a good grilled steak, some mashed potatoes, and a good glass of Pinot Noir. But there is nothing worse than steak that isn’t cooked correctly, since it will ruin the entire meal. And it’s a waste of a perfectly good piece of meat. So here are a few tips to help you have that perfectly grilled steak.

1. Bring your steaks to room temperature before cooking.
2. Preheat your grill to maximum temperature.
3. Generously season both sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Place the steaks 3 to 5 inches from the flame and sear the steaks for 2-3 minutes on each side.
5. Reduce the heat to moderately hot and continue cooking till desired doneness.
6. Do not cut into the meat to check if it is done.
7. Cooking times depend on the thickness of the steak. But for every inch it takes 10 minutes to reach medium-rare.
8. Let the meat rest 5-10 minutes, depending again on thickness before cutting and/or serving.

Bon Appétit

Hunting for Food on Wheels

I recently just saw the documentary about several people who are dumped in the Alaskan wilderness and where forced to hunt and gather all their food while they tried to find their way to civilization. They were given a shot gun and hunted down anything that moved from squirrels to porcupines, it made me love and appreciate the person who invented the grocery store.

On Monday a friend of mine told me about this southern BBQ mobile food truck in the Los Angeles Area. And that it is as good my grandmother’s cooking. Only problem, where the heck is this truck? It’s not like a restaurant; it’s a moving target that doesn’t stay put. It’s a restaurant on wheels, changing locations daily if not every few hours. You might as well have dropped me in the middle of Alaska with a gun, since finding a moving vehicle in LA is like finding a normal animal to shot in the Alaskan wilderness.

There seems to be a craze lately with these mobile food vendors. There not like those uniform “Roach Coaches” you find in the industrial side of town. But I have to admit that I had the best breakfast burrito from a “Roach Coach.” Today these mobile food trucks have gone gourmet on us, popping up outside movie theaters, high rise business centers, and the beach. If you find them you can get everything from vegan meals, Italian fare, Korean Tacos, to Foie Gras? Every great food culture has street vendors, maybe this is ours.

So before I drive around LA like a bad women, I decided to search the internet for this so called BBQ truck. Low and be hold I found a website that helps us find these gourmet meals on wheels in the LA area. By following the twittes of all the food trucks you can find out that the BBQ truck is in San Monica on Pennsylvania Avenue today. So if you want to know where the Philly sandwich truck is or the Korean Taco truck is tomorrow visit this website to find your next gourmet meal on wheels.
http://www.findlafoodtrucks.com/

Bon Appetit

The Best Melting Cheeses

I love nothing more than a good grill cheese, or good melted cheese on vegetables or some homemade pizza. But not all cheeses are equal. And not all cheeses melt into yummy goodness. For whatever reason you want to add some meltolious cheese to your recipe, here is a list to help pick a good cheese that will melt.

Asiago
Bel Paese
Brick
Brie
Butterkase
Cantal
Cheddar
Cheshire
Colby
Comte
Crescenza
Double Gloucester
Edam
Fontina
Gouda
Gruyere
Havarti
Iberico
Jarlsberg
Mahon
Mimolette
Monterey Jack
Mozzarella
Muenster
Ossau-Iraty
Fresh Pecorino
Port-Salut
Provolone
Queso Oaxaca
Raclette
Roncal
Swiss
Teleme
Urgelia

Bon Appétit

Uhh?!?!?!?! What kind of Cheese is this?

If you have been to the cheese section at your local grocery store lately, you might have noticed that is has become a little foreign. With cheese names like Ossau-Iraty, Urgelia, Tomme de Savoie, or Bel Paese. You might think you need to learn another language just to understand these cheeses.

To help you in your foreign adventures at the cheese section, I created a way to understand the different styles in which cheese is made and that gives it its flavor. If you know what you like then you can try to find other cheeses in the style to try. So hopefully the next time we are standing in front of a sea of foreign names at the cheese section we are not so frightened to try something new.

The first style Fresh; it has a mild, milky, and/or tangy flavor. The flavor strength is mild. Examples include Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Fresh goat cheese.

The second style is Semi-Soft; it has a milky, tangy, and/or sweet flavor. The flavor strength is mild. Examples include Colby, Havarti, and Monterrey Jack

The third style is Soft-Ripened; it has a buttery, mushroomy, and/or creamy flavor. The flavor strength can be mild to medium strong. Examples include Brie, Camembert, and Banon

The fourth style is Surface-Ripened; it has an earthy, creamy, mushroomy, and/or tangy flavor. The flavor strength can be medium to strong. Examples include Le Chevrot, La Tur, and Rocchetta.

The fifth style is Semi-Hard; it has an earthy, buttery, nutty, and/or fruity flavor. The flavor strength can be medium to strong. Examples include Cheddar, Gruyere, and Gouda.

The sixth style is Hard; it has a salty, sweet, sharp, and/or caramel flavor. The flavor strength can be medium-strong to strong. Examples include Parmigiano-Reggiano and Aged Asiago.

The seventh is Blue Cheese; it has a floral, pungent, musty, and/or salty flavor. The flavor strength can be medium-strong to very strong. Examples include Gorgonzola, Stilton Blue, and Maytag Blue.

The eighth is Washed-Rind; it has a beefy, gamy, creamy, nutty, and/or salty flavor. The flavor strength can be strong to very strong. Examples include Munster, Taleggio, and Chaubier.

Bon Appétit

Notes on picking a good Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is one of my favorite wines, yet picking a bad Pinot Noir can also be your worst bottle of wine you ever bought. So here are a few notes on picking out a good bottle of Pinot Noir.

First make sure you are buying a Pinot that is produced in either the areas of California such as central coast, northern, or in Monterey County. Willamette Valley of Oregon, New Zealand, or European areas of Frances’ Champagne and Burgundy regions grow good Pinot Noir grapes, along with areas in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Pinot Noir grapes are as hard to grow if not grown in the right climate, the right soil, and with the right touch. It’s like trying to get a two year old to stop saying no, you have to out trick them. This is why where they are grown is so important.

Climate of the harvested season is of particular importance to taste and smell. During cold growing seasons (year) will taste bracing acidity and cherry flavors with the hints of baking spices. In a warmer growing seasons and riper seasons, Pinot may even have a gamey aroma, along with blueberry, strawberry, and blackberry flavors.

Bon Appétit

Green Bean Citrus Salad

Green Beans are in season, and I thought a green bean salad would be a different way to prepare this vegetable. The Green Bean Citrus Salad is inspired from the Greek Green Bean Salad, Fasolkiaa Me Yemistes. It is easy to prepare, as well as low in fat and calories.

Recipe:
1 lb green beans, trimmed to bite size pieces
2 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Zest of one lemon
1 Tbsp of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
Salt and Ground black paper for taste

Put cut green beans into salted boiling water. Cook until tender. Remove from heat, drain, and place in a large bowl of ice water. Keep in ice bath for 5 minutes.

Place olive oil, lemon juice and zest, parsley, mint, and oregano in a small bowl. Whisk together. Add salt and pepper for taste. Drain green beans and toss in dressing.

Bon Appéti