Author: Mike Farley (Page 9 of 52)

      Offal = Awful

      October 27, 2012 /

      I won’t mince words here. The thought of eating offal–i.e. organ meats and other parts of animals–makes me want to hurl and/or run for the nearest exit. I won’t tell you that brains, tripe, eyeballs, hearts or blood in general don’t taste good. It’s just that I don’t want to try them to find out. I start gagging as the thought of something like that crossing my lips seems just wrong. It’s a mental thing with me. I can’t get past what I would be eating. Now, I did make an exception last year when we went to Graham Elliot in Chicago and had the foie gras lollipops. Those were decadent and delicious and I’d eat them again. But I won’t go much further beyond that. Heck, I only recently started enjoying fish.

      I felt compelled to write about this when I saw Chris Cosentino win Top Chef Masters recently. Chris’s specialty is offal meat, as evidenced by this website of his. And he made tripe, blood sausage and some other really gross looking dishes on his way to winning it all. A few seasons ago on Top Chef Masters, they also had an episode where the contestants had to make things like tacos out of things like tongue. I’m sorry, but ewwwww. I often look at the judges to see how they react to this stuff. And I think that I could never be a full-fledged food critic because there are foods I won’t touch, much less enjoy, with a ten foot pole.

      How about you? How do you feel about offal?

      Chefs and Restaurants, Food TV, Ingredients, Your Kitchen

      Product review: Planters NUTrition peanut butters

      October 19, 2012 /

      I’ve always loved peanut butter, but for whatever reason it’s the type of food that I eat for a while, and then take a break from it. So I hadn’t eaten any peanut butter in a few weeks when a food publicist I work with sent me the new Planters NUTrition peanut butters to try. There are three varieties–Banana Granola Nut, Berry Nut, and Cinnamon Raisin Granola Nut.

      These aren’t just peanut butters, they are like mix-ins. If you like spreading peanut butter on, say, a granola bar, then this stuff is for you. The Cinnamon Raisin Granola Nut is the best one–it’s like cinnamon toast spread with peanut butter. It just works, has great flavor, and the crunch is an added bonus. The Berry Nut (with dried cranberries) is pretty good and a good one to spread on an apple. The Banana Granola Nut, however, I was not a fan of. It had the strong taste of a very ripe banana–which may appeal to some of you, but not to me.

      As for the nutrition part, each serving has 6-7 grams of protein and at least 5 vitamins and minerals, and it’s a healthy snack when paired with fruit, whole grain crackers or breads such as bagels or English muffins, or in recipes. Or there is one of my other favorite ways–with a big spoon right out of the jar. Of course, you could be like George Costanza and use your “disgusting index finger.”

      If you like peanut butter, you will love this stuff!

      Food on a Budget, Grocery stores, Healthy, Product Reviews, Your Kitchen

      Product review: Green Mountain Naturals K-Cup Hot Apple Cider

      October 12, 2012 /

      Being a K-Cup Ambassador is really cool, and while our last review meant cool in the literal sense when we covered ice coffee beverages, September’s monthly mailing featured Green Mountain Naturals’ Hot Apple Cider. When you think about the Keurig concept and the fact that you don’t have to be limited to coffee and tea, the cool factor (there’s that word again) goes up even higher.

      The cider itself is delicious–it’s made with just five simple ingredients, and you can tell because it’s not overly processed tasting–it’s a clean brew that is not too tart, not too sweet, and is perfect when it comes out at just the right temperature as well. It also tastes just like the cider you get at the pumpkin patch, as if you poured some from a jug and heated it up in the microwave or on the stove top. So for the convenience factor alone (the K-cup packs do not take up fridge space and it’s super easy to make a single cup).

      So if you see this Green Mountain Naturals K-Cup Hot Apple Cider, go for it! All you need is one of those apple donuts they have at those fall pumpkin patch places.

      Grocery stores, Product Reviews

      Color your plate–hot dog edition

      October 10, 2012 /

      Have you heard about coloring your plate for maximum health benefits? That is, if you have bright colors like green (leafy vegetables/broccoli) and yellow/red (peppers) and white (potatoes/protein), you will have a healthy plate with lots of vitamins and minerals. That’s not always easy or optimal, but today I took a photo of my lunch, which, since I’m dieting, consisted of two fat free turkey hot dogs on white bread with varying condiments.

      And after loading up on the colorful condiments, I thought, as my wife would say, that it was a “beautiful plate.” But of course, the colors were funky–neon green sweet relish, like the kind you get in Chicago; light green (sport peppers); red (hot pepper sandwich relish); yellow (chow chow); and dull yellow (spicy horseradish mustard); and light reddish/brown (hot dog); and white (bread). These were healthy versions of Chicago dogs, and while not as healthy as broccoli and sweet peppers, the lunch was not exactly unhealthy either.

      So while dieting kind of sucks, it doesn’t have to. And it doesn’t have to have look boring either.

      Food on a Budget, Grocery stores, Healthy, Ingredients, Recipes, Your Kitchen

      Five things I crave every so often

      September 27, 2012 /

      You know you have them–call them vices, foods you love and have to have every so often, or just items you are just a slave to. I could probably list 50 things here, but I’m going to start with five and maybe do another one of these soon. Here are five food items I crave either weekly, monthly, or a few times a year.

      1. Buffalo chicken wings–It’s probably the sauce more than anything, but it’s also the fried. The crispy fried skin of chicken wings soaked with buttery, tangy hot sauce. You may as well inject this stuff, but then you wouldn’t get to taste it. I have gotten by of late by ordering those fried chicken tenders (or even grilled if I’m on a diet) at Buffalo Wild Wings (sorry, nobody does it better….it’s just true), but the real deal is sometimes the only way to kill the craving.

      2. Green curry–an amazing combination of spices, hot peppers, coconut milk, fish sauce and other stuff that makes up a thick, spicy and addictive sauce that is cooked with meat and/or vegetables, and served over sticky rice. Sometimes you have to find the best green curry where you live, and that’s not always easy. But once you find it, you are golden. Or at least that’s the case with me.

      3. Steak–I’ve tried to eat little or no meat before, but I’m just not wired for that. I love beef, and I especially love a great grilled steak. I also make a killer steak sauce, but if the steak is good enough I don’t like to drown it in anything extra-curricular.

      4. Fried chicken–We have a diner here in Madison called Hubbard Avenue Diner. They have fried chicken every Thursday and Saturday, and sometimes on Saturdays I have to practically beg my wife to let me take us there. Their chicken is just phenomenal.

      5. Donuts–I can’t always walk past them, but I really can’t walk past Dunkin’ Donuts or Krispy Kreme without buying a donut or twelve. Yum. Nothing like fatty, doughy, fried sweetness. Sadly, there are not many donut shops in Madison–only grocery store and gas station donuts.

      What are your cravings? Let me know in the space below, or e-mail me at mikeyskitchen@gmail.com and I’ll post your replies soon!

      Chefs and Restaurants, Food on a Budget, Grocery stores, Your Kitchen

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 Mikey’s Kitchen

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑