How much is bliss worth to you???

When I was asked to make a couple of desserts for a Relay for Life fundraiser for Aunt Sharon (Love you S!) I figured I would make an apple pie, and then something chocolatey. After digging around on the net, the birthplace of good ideas, I came across a chocolate-peanut butter pie that looked amazing! The base of the pie was a dark chocolate brownie layer. The next layer was a peanut butter mousse, very light and fluffy. And the whole thing was topped with chopped Reese's cups, chocolate chips, and a drizzle of dark chocolate ganache. I figured that maybe the desserts would bring 15 or 20 dollars per pie. I didn't count on this pie bringing in $650 for S's fundraiser! At around 80 bucks a slice, this is definitely the most expensive dessert I've ever made!

Off the Waffle

Had a new experience for breakfast this morning. Hidden away in the middle of Eugene, is the dinky little diner called Off the Waffle, boasting authentic Beligian liege waffles. I had no idea what a liege waffle was before I read the mini-story on the menu. The place is funky, and eclectic...from the bartering wall, all-organic mostly local ingredients, and the t-shirt on the cashier that featured Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction, guns drawn, both sporting orange afros, and the Off the Waffle logo underneath. The menu is equally funky, with waffles topped with ingredients out of the ordinary, such as bacon, basil, havarti, swiss cheese, turkey, garlic puree, mozzarella, avocado, and pistachios. There are a lot of sweet toppings too though, so don't be turned off by the weirdness.

My wife had The Bully, which wasn't on the menu, but consisted of a waffle topped with chocolate chips and strawberries, drizzled with chocolate sauce. I had the Hot Avo-Prese, which was topped with a huge slice of tomato, a good half of an avocado, a slice of fresh mozzarella, and fresh chopped basil, drizzled with EVOO. My only complaint was that there wasn't another one on the plate.

Everything tasted very fresh and you could tell the amount of love that went into making this food with each and every bite. I'm definitely going back and maybe I'll try The VMB with the kalamata olives, or satisfy my sweet tooth with The H-Bomb, Havarti cheese melted over apples and cinnamon.

http://offthewaffle.com/Liege-Menu.htm

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you ever had one of those cookies fresh from the bakery and think to yourself, "Wow, how come I can't make cookies like this at home?" You know what I'm talking about, crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, huge chunks of chocolate...The kind of cookie that's so good that you forget how many you've eaten. Well I have a recipe that is super easy, and makes amazing cookies too! And the good thing is, you don't need any weird ingredients or special tricks. Here we go...

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup melted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 pound chocolate bar

Whisk together your flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat your butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Then add the vanilla and the egg and keep beating. Slowly add your flour mixture to create the dough. Coarsely chop up your mammoth candy bar (any of those big ones will do, try Special Dark!!!) and mix the chocolate pieces into the dough. Roll the dough into 1-1/2 inch balls and put them on an ungreased cookie sheet. I use tin foil to make cleanup easier. Then cook at 325 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Cool and eat!

This is a good all-purpose basic cookie recipe and it can be modified however you want. Some ideas for variations...trail mix, M&M's, Reese's cups, toffee bits, mint chocolate chips. Just think, you could have soft, chewy, hot out of the oven cookies in less than a half an hour! What are you waiting for!!!!

For my friend, Tim...

One of the hardest things to do, is to make good ribs. I have had hundreds of terrible ribs in my lifetime. Maybe even thousands. Ribs that require you to gnaw the meat away from the bone and shake your head back and forth like some sort of hyena. Most of the time, people get in too big of a hurry, and cook them too fast, too hot, and you wind up with ribs that will hurt your jaw by the time you are done. So a few years ago, I set out on a quest to make my own perfect set of delicious, fall-off-the-bone, ribs...without having to wake up at 3AM to start them. And I've come up with a method that works pretty good. But don't tell anybody...it's top secret!

First off, I like babybacks. They cost a little more, but the flavor and tenderness of the meat is worth it in my opinion. I also like the McCormick's dry rubs... you can find them in the spice section, and I usually use the Pork Rub or the Sweet n Smoky Rub. You can make your own rub too if you'd like. The same goes for the sauce. Pick one that you like, they are your ribs after all. I like the Stubb's brand...and I usually go for the spicier sauce. And last but not least, you'll need some apple juice and some tin foil.

I usually cut my racks in half, because not many people can tackle a full rack. Then rub them down generously with the spices. Make sure you rub the spices down into meat for a few minutes at least!!! It gets the spices down into the meat and also tenderizes the meat a bit. Once the rub is on, wrap them up in tin foil and pour a shot of apple juice in each foil packet. Refrigerate for at least an hour. If you can let them set in the fridge overnight, great!

Once they have had a chance to chill, heat your oven to 250 degrees and throw the tin foil packets in there. I know, I know...the bbq purists are screaming right now...ALAN!!! I THOUGHT WE WERE BBQING RIBS, NOT BAKING THEM!!! Yep...but I don't want to get up at 3AM to start my ribs! Bear with me here. Once your ribs are in the oven, set a timer for 3 hours. While they are cooking, the apple juice will keep the meat nice and moist. Although it isn't necessary, and I've made great ribs without the apple juice, it makes a great secret ingredient! :-)

After 3 hours in the oven, your ribs should be tender and falling off the bone. Be careful with them when you unwrap the foil so that they don't fall apart. Now for the final hurrah, and you can do this last part 2 different ways.

1. Grill em - Your ribs are done...you just need to grill them over medium heat and baste them with your favorite sauce. The sauce will caramelize and you'll get that tasty grilled flavor, but still have the tenderness of slow-cooked ribs. Don't mess with them too much, they will nearly be falling apart. And don't leave them on the grill for a half an hour. You want ribs, not jerky.

2. Smoke em - I like to take some wood chips (You can get them in the charcoal/grilling section of the store) and soak them either in apple juice, or whiskey, depending on what flavor you are going after. Once they have soaked for about an hour, I wrap them in tin foil and set them right down on the burner of the gas grill, and turn it up on high. After a few minutes, I have a nice smoke rolling, and I can turn the grill back down. I will smoke the ribs for a half hour or so, just to get that nice smoky flavor, while basting with the sauce the whole time. I might even crank up the heat at the end to get that nice char on the outside.

Total cooking time : 3 hours 30 minutes.

If you were to smoke them, you'd easily be looking at 6+ hours.

I have made ribs like this several times, and always have great results. Just remember to go low and slow, and baste several times with the sauce towards the end to keep them from drying out. Everything else will take care of itself. Enjoy your ribs...and get some extra napkins :-)

Triple-Layer Chocolate Turtle Cake

Here is a neat idea. Now this concoction actually came in a prepackaged deal from Pillsbury, and it was pretty good. But you could make it yourself without a lot of fuss. 2 of them actually.

Here's the plan. Get your favorite chocolate cake mix, and mix it up as directed. Pour half of it in a 13x9 pan and bake it at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Then cut the cake into thirds. Now if you are a neat freak about it, you can pull out the tape measure like I did...or you can just eyeball it. Trim off the rounded edges and eat them now...just to make sure the flavor is ok. :-) So now you should have 3 thin rectangular chocolate cakes. Get a jar of the caramel ice cream topping and spread a tablespoon or two on one of the pieces. Then stack another piece on top, and repeat with the caramel. Then you can top with anything you want; nuts, fudge, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, toffee, crunched up candy bars, or you can just leave it as it is.

What you wind up with is a decadent dessert that looks more elegant than just a plain old chocolate cake, and really only takes a few extra minutes of prep work at the end. And when you are done with all of that, you still have half a cake mix left over! You can make one for a friend...maybe a peanut butter cup version!!!

And don't let the cake mix stop you either...you can do this with any flavor, any topping. What about a pound cake mix with fresh strawberries and whipped cream? Carrot cake with cream cheese and shredded carrots? Spice cake with apple pie filling? Let your imagination take over! Oh, and save a slice for me! :-)

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Here is a new addition to our rotation of favorite recipes, and an easy one too. We picked up some tilapia fillets at the local grocery store. Dredge it in some parmesan cheese and fry it up in a pan, and the cheese browns nicely creating a sweet buttery-tasting crust. The fish itself is very light, white, and doesn't have a strong fishy taste. A little lemon juice would go well with this one, as well as some thyme or other italianish seasoning. We just had it over rice, which turned out to be great!

Sushi? Sorta...

So my new favorite at restaurants these days, is a dish called seared ahi. It's basically a thick sashimi-grade tuna steak that has just been seared on each side for a minute or so. Outback has added it to their menu, and I recently had it at Claimjumpers as well. It seems to be the hip new appetizer these days.

The one thing that strikes you when you eat the first bite, is that it's cold. I was expecting something at least a little warm. It is very sushi-esque and is usually served with some kind of wasabi sauce. Very tasty, and if you aren't quite up for full-on sushi...you might want to give this a try first!