Saturday, May 26, 2007

Fried Green Tomatoes

I heard a commercial on the radio the other day about a new store in town called "Sweet Gourmet." It said something about "if you’re a foodie" and that they featured Paula Deen salad dressings, Rachael Ray EVOO and Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownie Mix. I stopped by there today to see what’s up. There was huge banner out front promoting the Paula Deen products. The store itself was very much like the food section of Williams Sonoma, more "gourmet" oriented than Food Network. They also had Godiva chocolate and even Scharffenberger bars. Even though we have the usual strip mall stores here, we don’t have a lot of what’s in the Big Cities, so that’s a big step forward. The Texas-themed items included spicy microwave popcorn ($2.99 a bag), BBQ sauces, and assorted grilling paraphernalia. I was surprised to see candy cigarettes among the "joke" items for kids. I thought those were banned or deemed socially inappropriate ages ago. There are a lot of smokers around here so I guess it fits, although it was sad for me to see something like that.

At the grocery stores, there were quite a few vendors with samples to promote for the Memorial Day weekend. Wal-mart had boudin samples. Even though this is Texas, we’re close to Louisiana so a lot of the cajun & creole foods trickle over. While I was tempted, I declined, because the sausages were an ugly grey, which made my brain immediately start to wonder what is in them. And when you think about what goes into sausages …yuck. Oh, the other Food Network tie-in at Walmart is the overhead TV's in the produce section. They play a loop of tips from Rachael, Paula, Emeril and Tyler. It's almost disconcerting to be pushing the shopping cart along and suddenly hearing their voices. Brookshire's and Super 1 have overhead announcements promoting Paula's association with Smithfield Foods, and her tour. Anyway, I also went to Super 1 and they had a crawfish boil going on outside. Inside a lady had fried green tomatoes! I’ve always wanted to try them, of course, because of the movie. They tasted like what you would expect. It must be something you get to liking because you grew up with it. I didn’t think they were anything special, but it was fun trying them.

These foods were almost like they were from another part of the world. Even though I grew up in an area of California with a lot of diversity, it was diverse in more of an international way. I really miss California and often just going grocery shopping makes me homesick. I miss the freshness and variety of produce. I miss having more options for affordable shopping than Walmart, especially Trader Joe's. I miss running into my sister at the store. But sometimes little things like the "taste of the south," such as fried green tomatoes, make living here more tolerable.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Peanut Butter Balls

Hi, Debbie here. I haven't posted in awhile as I have been taking an extended break from family food prep, but I felt prompted to share this recipe.

In Paula Deen's new book, “Paula Deen: It Ain’t All About the Cookin’,” she reminisces with great fondness about the peanut butter balls her school cafeteria used to serve, along with vegetable soup, on Fridays. Then she proceeds to brag about finally getting the recipe but doesn't include it in the book!

I found it online though at foodnetwork.com and made it last night. Here it is, in it's entirety:

1 cup of honey
1 cup of peanut butter
2 cups of dried powdered milk

Stir together, form into walnut-sized balls and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. I left mine plain but you can roll them in all manner of things. PD suggests corn flakes, powdered sugar or crushed nuts. How about coconut, mini carob chips or choc. chips, bran cereal, etc.?

I was afraid that the honey would make it too sweet but it was perfect. Perfect golden balls of rolled up peanut butter that hold their shape and are an excellent accompaniment to soup, salads, chili, whatever.

Can you guess that I'm a peanut butter aficionado? You know that question - if you had to choose one food to take on a deserted island, what would it be? Guess what my answer is. An Italian friend once told me that the only correct answer to that question would be pasta. Pasta? A food product that is basically flour and water mixed together? No way. But one could live (and thrive!) on peanut butter.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Lemon Cookies

This recipe has been mentioned on several blogs, and it’s a hit on all of them. It’s from the April 2007 issue of "Every Day With Rachael Ray" magazine. The cookies are really good! The lemon adds a touch of "sophistication" and takes them from plain to extra special. They remind me of sugar cookies and snickerdoodles, only with lemon. The recipe calls for the zest of 2 lemons but I only used 1 since they are over 30 cents apiece here. If I had a lemon tree in backyard I’d definitely use 2.

I was wondering why my cookies lately have been sort of flat. The cookies in pictures on other blogs looked puffier. At one point I replaced the baking powder and cream of tartar in my cupboard with new jars. I must have overlooked the baking soda because the box had a date of 1995! It still had some oomph but not as much as a fresh box. I bake a lot and wasn’t even close to using up the box of soda, so I’ll have to remember to replace it every so often, and use the old box to clean the sink, etc.

To completely change the subject, one of the tips on Rachael’s talk show awhile back was for uses for salt. She took some coarse salt and put it down the sink, followed by hot water, to keep the drain clear. I tried it on my bathroom sink, without the salt, to dissolve the gunk (toothpaste, face cream, etc., that accumulates in there). It seems to help, and without any chemicals!

LEMON COOKIES

Makes 3 dozen (I made mine about 1" balls and got 28)

1 stick butter (the recipe says chilled but mine was softened)
1 1/4 cups sugar
Grated peel of 2 lemons, plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line 3 large cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside. (I used silicon baking sheets, like a Silpat knockoff.) Using an electric mixer, combine the butter, 1 cup sugar, the lemon peel and juice until fluffy. Mix in the egg. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and combine.

2. Place the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Roll heaping teaspoons of dough into balls, then roll in the sugar. Place on the prepared cookie sheets a few inches apart. Bake until golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cookie sheets to racks to cool completely.