I will also attempt to get photos and write about it.  :-D

I like whole milk.  I’ve been a whole milk drinker my whole life.  I will continue to enjoy it.  If I had kids, I would serve it to them.

This apparently makes me a potentially terrible parent and an idiot.

Yes, a cup of whole milk has 46% calories from fat.  But when you put it into the context of a 2000 calorie diet, that’s 3.5%.

So rather than demonize whole milk for that 46%, why not look at the big picture of your fat calories are in a day?  Or better yet, over the course of a week??

I will admit I am having an “I love cheese” day today.  I will have some high fat counts by the end of the day.  But I’m quite certain tomorrow is going to be an “I love carrots” day.

We were out of town for Christmas, so we had it a little late. :)

A lovely brunch of mimosas, hashbrown casserole and Brunch Egg Casserole.

(I forgot to snap a picture before I started serving!)

I also got Twain’s Feast for Christmas!

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and a fantastic New Year.  In 2011, hopefully you’ll see more posts!

So, I made my baked potato soup last night (and had more for lunch today) and I’ve decided there is something just not quite right with it.  It’s certainly not bad, but there is something a tiny bit off.  I keep coming back to the basil & thyme.  Maybe it just doesn’t need them and the salt & pepper is enough?  Throw in some celery with the onions & garlic to add a bit more in the aromatics department to offset any “loss” from the basil & thyme?

I’ll have to keep that in mind the next time around.  And to cut the recipe in half because it makes WAY too much for two people!

FROM SCRATCH!!!!!!!!!!!  This is not something that has worked well for me in the past, which is why I’m so excited.  They were AWESOME.

Took 2 russet potatoes, peeled & chopped up into SMALL pieces and put them in boiling water. (I had thrown some onions and crushed garlic in the water before bringing it to a boil.)

Brought it back to a boil and then boiled for 10 minutes.

Drained them, threw them back into the pot for a few minutes to steam off any leftover liquid, and then put them through my nifty potato ricer.

Mixed in about 3Ts of butter and a couple spoonfuls of sour cream.

Put it all in a casserole dish and put it back in the microwave for about a minute and a half (the sour cream cooled things off.)

Topped with some cheddar jack cheese and put it under the broiler for a few minutes.

Awesome.  REALLY AWESOME.

Couldn’t have been easier.
1. Brine for several hours beforehand.  (8# turkey breast, had it in the cooler for ~6 hours.  Don’t want more than 1 hour per pound.)
2. Melt a stick of butter and cover the turkey with it.
3. Cover w/any kind of cracked pepper goodness – whatever your favorite rub is.
4. Roast @ 325 degrees until it has an internal temp of 165 degrees.

Juicy and awesome.

I’ve been a wretch of a blogger this year, and to top it off, I started working again!  Lots of adjustments.

But this weekend, all of that will be set aside, as I will be at the Food and Wine All Star Weekend in Las Vegas!  I got an email a while back from the Bellagio about it all, and though “I like food.  I like wine.  And I’ve never been to Las Vegas…”  So I made the reservations and off I go tomorrow evening.

Hopefully I will have a ton of terrific stories!

But, I’m a latte girl.  It is easily my favorite coffee drink around.  So, the other day, I decided to make the Via with milk instead of water.

Holy Crap Batman, this is as close to a latte as I’m gonna get without heading off to the coffee shop or buying a machine.  Yum!

Just got back from a whirlwind tour of rehab centers for my grandmother in the Sun City, AZ area.  Incredibly stressful, but I was able to get out to a few restaurants thanks to the location of my hotel, and a good friend dragging me out for lunch on Labor Day.

We hit Abuelo’s in Peoria.  I’ve been to the Phoenix area 5 times in the past 2 1/2 years, and not had any Mexican food.  (I don’t think the Margaritas in the Taberna del Tequila at the US Airways terminal at Sky Harbor Airport counts.)  It was fantastic.

I had queso with spinach and beef to start off, and then shrimp enchiladas.  OMG.  Rather than using tortillas, they used crepes, and it had this exquisite white cheese sauce and it was just OH, so good.  The beans were spectacular – pintos (I think?) with onions and bacon and a couple shots of hot sauce and they’d cooked forever and tasted just sublime.

If you ever find yourself in Peoria – make the time for lunch or dinner there.