Dessert Day

Stop by this Saturday for Dessert Day at The Blue Alligator Specialty Foods. Come by between 9-5 and try all the goodies, especially The Barefoot Contessa Lemon Bars. They are to die for.

Barefoot Contessa and WCC #28

This is my first Weekend Cookbook Challenge and the topic is TV Cooks, so I figured you can't go wrong with Ina. After seeing her Sour Cream Coffee Cake on a recent show I knew it would make the perfect for Mother's Day.

Here is the link to the recipe Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

The coffee cake was a hit. Everyone loved it and come back for seconds. It was easy to make and the cake was very moist. Two things I would have done different, add more strudel mixture (you can never have to much butter and brown sugar) and my glaze should have been a little thicker. It still tasted great and it was thin enough to soak into the cake, but it was to thin to make a nice thick frosting like glaze.

Well, for Mother's Day I also decided to make Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Macaroons for my Mom because she love them so much. Everyone who tries them says they are very good. I am not really a fan of coconut so I don't really like them. I tried them though and they weren't bad.

Maybe someone out there knows another good macaroon recipe (without coconut) they can pass on.

Here is Barefoot Contessa's recipe and again if you like Coconut Macaroons this is a good recipe.

14 ounces sweetened coconut

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Combine the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip the egg whites and salt on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until they make medium firm peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.

Drop the batter onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper using either a 1 3/4 inch diameter ice cream scoop, or two teaspoons. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and serve.

Enjoy!!!!

Stop By

This is for all the locals reading my blog, stop by the store and pick up some goodies for Mom. You can pick out your special food and cooking gifts for your Mother and we will put them into a unique gift basket, box or bag just for her. Also, you can order online too by clicking here.

This Cinnamon Quick Bread Mix is great for breakfast in bed and it is easy enough for kids to make themselves. Also, I was surprised how good it was, very moist.

Check us out, cookbooks and gift boxes are on sale this week and we have new summer items arriving everyday.

Melting Pot

I must be doing something right because when I asked my son what he wanted for his 10 birthday he said to go to The Melting Pot, yeah!! Well that and a cell phone. So we went and fun was had by all. No really my 10 year old loved it. He got such a thrill out of cooking his own meal.

We started with the cheese course. We ordered the Cheddar Cheese Fondue because we knew Clayton would like it better then my favorite the Swiss Cheese Fondue with the Gruyere and Emmenthaler.

After you get started on the cheese course they then bring out you salad. They have 5 salads to choose from this is a picture of the Spinach Mushroom Salad. This salad was very good and I enjoyed the Burgundy Shallot Vinaigrette. All the salads come with the dressing they think matches the salad best so if you want to pick your own dressing you may run into problems. I think their House salad is good as well but the dressing isn't for everyone.

For dinner we had the Signature Selection for two and the Land & Sea dinner. The Signature Selection comes with Filet Mignon, shrimp, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, chicken breast and fish fillets. The other dinner was extra chicken, sirloin and shrimp. We used the Court Bouillon to cook in, it is my favorite and I have made it at home so I knew my son would like. It is nice to go with a lot of people then you can try different cheeses and different cooking styles.

As you can see they do give you lots of different sauces to try and also not pictured is a bowl of vegetables. What they don't give you is a lot of food, some people don't think you get enough for the money. The single dinners are around $18.00 to $25.00 and they come with a salad. The dinner for two was $52.00 dollars and it does come with the cheese course, salads and dinner.

So if you like a big meal for your money then this is not it. This is a fun dining experience whether it is with a group of girlfriends or a romantic evening just the two of you. You are paying for the atmosphere, the experience and the food.

Last but certainly not least,our favorite course, the chocolate. We picked The Original recipe because that is what the birthday boy wanted. They give you a plate of various items to dip in the chocolate and they all tasted great covered in chocolate.

They also have some other chocolate fondues that sound great, like Bailey's Irish Cream, Dark Chocolate and Flaming Turtle. I will have to try those next time.

In addition, I forgot to mention the incredible wine list and specialty drinks they also serve.

I suggest you make reservations and when you call they will ask you if you are celebrating anything. My son was ecstatic to see balloons and a card waiting for him at our table. Then they took a picture of the three of us and delivered it in a Melting Pot frame. Very cute!!

Daring Bakers Challenge

This is my second Daring Bakers Challenge and what a fun challenge it was. How can anything that involves cheesecake and chocolate not be good. This month's Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah from Taste and Tell. The recipe can be found on both their blogs. The recipe was well written and easy to follow. I thought the cheesecake was easy to make and tasted great. I will keep the recipe for future cheesecakes. The only two problems I had were it took longer to bake, about 20 minutes longer, and rolling cheesecake into a ball is not an easy task.

I used milk and dark chocolate and I let my kids pick the sprinkles so some of them are animals.



Here are some pictures of my friends eating them. I barely got them done before every started digging in. As you can see everyone enjoyed them.

Happy Earth Day!!

Jamie Olivers Beef Stew in a Puff Pastry

I recently saw Jamie Oliver making a beef stew in a puff pastry on his new show "Jamie at Home". I could not wait to try it it looked good and didn't sound to difficult. The only problem was he didn't post the recipe on the Food Network website, but luckily I had taped the episode. So I wrote down the recipe and despite his accent and the speed at which he talks I think I got it correct.

3 Onions

Olive Oil enough to saute

Rosemary

3 Cloves of Garlic

2 oz. Butter

2 sticks of Celery diced

2 carrots

2 Portobello Mushrooms

Beef Brisket

Salt and Pepper

1 can of Guiness

1 tbs flour

Pre-made puff pastry

2 cups of Cheddar Cheese













Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil, then add everything else and cook until the outside of the meat is brown.

Then add the can of Guinness, flour and if the meat mixture is not completely covered add enough water to cover. Then put the lid on the pan and place the mixture in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours.



Right before the beef stew mixture is ready to come out of the oven, roll out 3/4 of the puff pastry and place in a large pie dish. Then mix the meat mixture with 1 cup of the cheese and place in the puff pastry. Pour the additional cup of cheese on top of the mixture.

Roll out the remaining pasty and place it on top of the mixture. Brush an egg wash on top of the pastry.

Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.













In case my recipe is not written very well here is a link to a similar recipe.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/230754