Category: Your Kitchen (Page 12 of 39)

      Product review: TastingRoom.com Wine for Dudes Samples (for Father’s Day)

      June 4, 2012 /

      Okay, so this is really cool. TastingRoom.com is an online service where you can purchase wine by the glass. Imagine that. How often do you open a bottle, have one or two glasses and then dump the rest of the bottle? I know I’ve done it, and then before you know it you have red wine vinegar. This way, you get a single serving and then can even try a different glass of something else, or open up a second single serving bottle of the same wine.

      However, what they sent us to sample was something even cooler–the Wine for Dudes Sampler. It’s a flight of six different wines, all from California vineyards, but in 1.7 oz. bottles that are perfect for tasting. If you’re looking to get hammered, look elsewhere, but if you are expanding your horizons and learning more about wine as you get older (yeah, I’m looking at you….as well as in the mirror), this is a great way to try some new wines. The flight was put together by blogger and wine expert Gary Vaynerchuk, and includes a message on the packaging that it’s “dude season–baseball, boating and good times,” and that the sampler is meant to expand our palates and exposes us to wines that we guys may not normally try.

      Oh, and the wine itself? The wines are a Bugay Rose Syrah, a pink wine that most guys wouldn’t be caught dead drinking, but it’s really not bad; a Francis Coppola Winery Chardonnay that was smooth and refreshing yesterday when it was 80 degrees and sticky outside; Twisted Oak red blend, which was a light red like a chianti; Easton ’06 Zinfandel, which had a touch of that oak-y flavor associated with dark reds but was still smooth; a Jake Ryan Cellars ’07 Zinfandel which was bold and tasty; and a Feather ’07 Cabernet, which said, aptly, that it has hints of “blackberries and slight oak.” This sampler accomplished for me what it intended–trying wines I would not normally try. But they were all good and I’d drink them again. Well, maybe not the pink one.

      TastingRoom.com has many other samplers and wines by the glass and is worth checking out, especially with Father’s Day around the corner. Cheers!

      Healthy, Product Reviews, Your Kitchen

      Low carb doesn’t have to suck

      May 29, 2012 /

      I am in need of having to shed a few pounds again, this time more than ever…oops.

      So I’m eating low-carb again for a bit….and started this morning with this creation I came up with on the fly–an overeasy ham omelet. Here is how you do it….

      Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Put two thin slices of ham in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, flipping every 30 seconds until crispy. Then crack an egg over each ham slice, sprinkle with salt and pepper and let cook for about 2-4 minutes, or until whites are almost all opaque. Then gently flip the ham slices over each egg yolk as if it were an omelet. Cook for another 30 seconds and serve.

      My yolk was still runny, exactly what I wanted to achieve with this. And with the crispy ham, it was perfect and made me feel like I wasn’t even eating what you might call “diet food.” Give this one a try, especially if you’re doing South Beach or something similar.

      Food on a Budget, Healthy, Interviews, Recipes, Your Kitchen

      Worth the wait–beef jerky

      May 23, 2012 /

      Sometimes recipes look daunting. Or sometimes just the thought of making something delicious seems like it’s too much trouble. I subscribe to a great magazine called Clean Eating. Of course, I don’t eat as healthy as I should, or by the standards of this magazine all that much (if you read this blog, you know I have a soft spot for junk food)–but I do try to at the very least use it for some healthy habits and for some killer recipes. So last week my wife was reading the letters to the editor about how great their homemade beef jerky recipe was. I had missed that, so I dug it up from the January/February issue to see what the fuss was about.

      And as you can see by the attached photo, it sure looked like a lot of work, and a bit complicated because you have to take out your oven racks, reposition them, hang the jerky from the racks on skewers, put foil down and use a towel to absorb moisture. You also have to freeze the meat to cut it easier, then marinate it for 3-6 hours before baking/dehydrating it for 5 hours or more. That’s a long day. So after buying a nice London broil on Saturday, I looked closer at the recipe and became scared. I didn’t want to spend all day Sunday doing this.

      But on Monday I felt guilty and felt like I really should give it a go. I pulled out the recipe again in the morning, and fortunately I work from home. So I did it. I froze the meat for an hour, cut it, marinated for 3 hours, then did all the funky oven stuff (which was not difficult or time consuming as I had thought) and let the strips of deliciousness cook or dry out or whatever it does…for five hours. The result…..fantastic. Here I have homemade jerky that is tasty, spicy, just chewy enough, and with no ingredients I can’t pronounce. The only problem is that big batch from Monday is almost gone already. So it’s time to make more!

      Note: I couldn’t find this recipe online, but I will reach out to the editor to see if they have one or a pdf…and if you’re interested in that, e-mail me at mikeyskitchen@gmail.com or message me on Facebook.

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

      Pink slime–no, thanks

      May 15, 2012 /

      It’s become a buzzword/term in 2012–pink slime.

      Like you, I had no idea what it was until I read an article two months ago in Mother Jones. This is how the article describes it: “the cheeky nickname for scraps of slaughtered cow that have been pulverized, defatted, subjected to ammonia steam to kill pathogens, and congealed into a filler for ground beef.” It goes on to say that McDonald’s was using it but planned to stop doing so, along with Taco Bell and Burger King, who also succumbed to the public outcry.

      But pink slime is apparently in school lunch ground beef. It’s in packaged and frozen burgers, and even in commercially sold ground beef. Wow. How the hell do you get around that if you eat and enjoy burgers, meatballs, meat loaf or other ground meat products?

      I know what I”m doing. I’m not eating fast food ground meat. I’m thinking twice before ordering something made with ground beef in a restaurant. For home use, we buy ground beef from a local farm (at the farmer’s market here in Madison) that we know is organic and high quality, or from Trader Joe’s, which states on its website that their ground meat does not contain pink slime. We are not ready to give up meat entirely, but what we are also doing is trying to eat one or two vegetarian meals per week.

      I am not naive enough to think that there isn’t crap like this in many foods–or pesticides or whatever. But pink slime? It’s vile, it’s scary and it has no place on my plate or on my family’s plates.

      Chefs and Restaurants, Green Living, Grocery stores, Healthy, Uncategorized, Your Kitchen

      Foods I miss from…..Nashville

      May 1, 2012 /

      So trying to remember the foods I like from the places I’ve lived has become fun and has also jogged my memory, and made me hungry. So here is the latest one, foods I miss from Nashville, where we lived from 2003 to 2010. Nashville is known for its music, but it’s also smack dab in the middle of the South, and has its own regional food but also some unexpected treasures. Here we go…..

      Fried chicken at Loveless Cafe–Good luck getting a table at this institution on the western fringe of Nashville. But it’s well worth the wait, especially the fried chicken and biscuits. My goodness, my mouth is watering thinking about the crispy on the outside, moist on the inside deliciousness that is Loveless fried chicken. Their biscuits are served with homemade jams and are also insanely good.

      Hot chicken–Considering my love for spicy food, I didn’t get this nearly enough, but it’s quite a regional blast of heat and flavor. I think the chicken is broiled or baked (maybe fried but at this point it doesn’t matter). What matters is that it’s dusted and doused in cayenne pepper, giving it a high level of spice but also a blast of flavor that is just awesome.

      Green Curry–yeah, I know, it seems odd, but Royal Thai made some of the best green curry I’ve ever tasted. And we lived right around the corner from this spot.

      Pizza--There is great pizza in most places, and Nashville is no exception–the best there are Sal’s (authentic NYC style) and Mafiaozo’s, an awesome Italian restaurant in the 12 South neighborhood. The latter had a two-for one happy hour special so that you could have kickass wood-fired pizza and two frosty beers at once served at the same time.

      Rippy’s Ribs–This downtown spot served dry-rubbed Memphis style ribs–smoked and dusted with Cajun spices. Damn, I’m hungry!

      Popsicles–Las Paletas is another 12 South institution, down the street from Mafiaozo’s, and the perfect dessert spot in summer. They made homemade popsicles in crazy flavors like avocado or hot pepper/chocolate or cantaloupe along with traditional flavors like strawberry. There is really nothing like this place.

      Meat and three–The best place for this that I found was Arnold’s downtown. Remarkable stuff like meat loaf, fried chicken, pot roast or chicken and dumplings, that were served with three sides such as mac & cheese, collard greens, creamed corn, or a gazillion other choices. The key is the meat, and three sides….reminding you of comfort food your mom made (at least if you grew up like I did). But also, the food is outstanding at Arnold’s (which was recently featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives).

      Chefs and Restaurants, Food TV, Product Reviews, Your Kitchen

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