Seriously, what is not to like about summer…well besides the 107 degree heat? Cooking out is the best! I must admit that Marc likes the gas grill and I miss the taste of good old fashioned charcoal in my burgers but still, there is just something about eating a hamburger that has been cooked out of doors that is amazing.

My dad used to brush hamburgers with a little honey. I can’t seem to replicate that flavor and he never told me how he did it, what he mixed, how much…sigh. It is a flavor that is lost to me forever, everywhere but my mind.

These hamburgers with coffee chipotle rub are a great substitute though!

This is super easy, and lends a smoky, complex flavor to meat. I used it on hamburgers and everyone loved them. It gave the burgers a nice crust and a fantastic flavor. You can adjust the amount of chipotle for the amount of heat that you want. Do remember that chipotle continues to get hotter the longer it sits. The rub needs to flavor the meat for about an hour before grilling, but if you wait much after that your burgers may be a little more spicy than you like.

This calls for turbinado sugar because it melts in heat and adds a nice texture to the exterior of the burger. You can use plain or brown sugar if you like. It will change the final product.

Remember that the different roasts of coffee will give you different results in the flavor of the meat.

Coffee Chipotle Rub

• 1/4 cup finely ground coffee
• 2  teaspoons ground chipotle pepper
• 1/4 cup smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tbs garlic powder

Mix together and rub on meat. Allow to stand an hour before grilling. You can store excess in a cool, dry place…not the fridge!

image:marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

Nick (9) enjoying the fountains. It was 102F at 6 p.m.

Yes, that is my SON. He likes his hair long and I see no reason to change that. Unfortunately he takes a lot of flack for it..but then, so did Matt until he got old enough to stick up for himself. I sure don’t understand people.

I had my followup with oncology on Wednesday. No cancer cells were found in the tumors, however they did find follicular cells which are an indicator. So I had three options:

1. Have biopsies every 3-6 months to monitor changes
2. Have the problem half of the thyroid removed and have biopsies yearly to monitor changes
3. Have the whole thing taken out and go on medication to replace the thyroid hormone

I chose #3 because I need thyroid hormone anyway. I have most of the indicators of hypothyroidism, including (blah) weight gain. Hopefully they will be able to get it adjusted to where I can actually eat. I don’t mind not having an appetite/not eating but I hate that despite the low calorie intake I am gaining weight… and I am exhausted much of the time.

Anyway..that should be going down in the next two weeks sometime. I will not miss a whole lot..because it should only be about two days in the hospital and then home. I will let you know for sure when I know.

Here are my picks for some of the coolest recipes of summer…

• Deeba at Passionate About Baking has an amazing chicken and cheese lasagne with homemade ricotta. Her images are always beautiful.
• Kevin at Closet Cooking created a Roasted Strawberry Saganaki Salad which sounds unusual and delicious..and looks fantastic.
• Valli created a delicious looking and sounding Mediterranean  Pasta Salad with her usual magic abilities in the kitchen. So much More Than Burnt Toast on her blog!
• Dharms Stuffed Peppers. ‘Nough said. Dad~Baker & Chef is one of my favorites, even if Dharm does have a slight persona confusion with Agent 007.
• Caitlin at Engineer Baker always has yummy stuff when I stop by…Sour Cherry Pie certainly qualifies!
• Did you see Kelly’s (Evil Shenanigans)  Spicy Red Bean Soup?  It goes on the favorites list.
• Diana from Cookerati has a great post about Farmer’s Markets. I want to go to mine, I should, and I will..if only Marc didn’t work on Saturdays, I didn’t hate driving downtown, and other excuses.
• Lemon Pi, Green Tea Macarons
• If you ever wanted to know how to do Marshmallow Fondant then head over to I Heart Cuppycakes
• Susan at Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy posted a great recipe for Creme Fraiche Ice Cream

I know it’s short and sweet today but I have a little girl with an upset tummy who needs mommy time.

image: (c) marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

Summer is hot here. We don’t use air conditioning, haven’t for the several years we have lived in this house. Frankly, it is too expensive, but I also like the idea of flowing with the seasons..experiencing them rather than manipulating them. I know..I am so weird.

Nothing is worse than cooking a hot meal in a hot kitchen and serving it in a hot dining room. That is why God made salad.

Check it out.

Who isn’t going to eat that? Colorful, cool, with a variety of flavors and textures, Chopped Salad is an awesome meal to set on the table when it is too hot to cook. I always make the tortilla chips homemade, you can by them and crumble them if you like, but if it doesn’t taste as good don’t blame me.

The only secret is trying to get most of the ingredients chopped to the same size so the flavor/texture stays balanced.

Serve this with some ice cold melon or mango, or a fresh fruit sorbet and you are good to  go.

Chopped Salad

• 1 package organic baby herb salad
• 1 red onion chopped
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• 1 can black olives, chopped
• 1 large bell pepper, chopped
• 2 jalapenos chopped
• 2 ripe tomatoes chopped (I did not have any the day I made it for this image)
• 1 avocado, chopped (optional)
• 1 bunch of cilantro chopped
• 2 hard boiled eggs chopped
• 1/2 lb diced Monterey Jack cheese cubed (pepper Jack is awesome)
• 2 cups tortilla chips, tortillas cut into squares before frying
• Recipe Chipotle Vinaigrette

Mix all ingredients together and serve immediately. It looks better if you plate each salad individually and add the chips last but you can serve it family style in a big bowl.  Yes it is that easy! Serves 8

Chipotle Vinaigrette

• 4 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 4 tbs lime juice
• 1 tbs dijon mustard
• 1-2 tablespoons strong honey (this is always best raw and local!)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp chopped chipotle in adobo sauce (canned, you can find it in the ethnic section of your market)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tbs fresh cilantro, minced
• kosher salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together, check seasonings and allow to stand for 30 minutes before using. Makes about 3/4 cup.

image:marye audet (c) 2009

Post from: Baking Delights

Back in the day, when I forst got married everyone made taco salad the same way. Doritos, canned kidney beans, cheddar cheese, hamburger, sour cream, iceburg lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and catalina dressing.  There might be a little variation on that but not much.

Well, taco salads have evolved into much more than that. They are still easy and budget friendly, but fresher and more delicous I think. If you have an electric fryer I highly recommend making your own fresh tortilla chips. They don’t take long at all and the difference is amazing. It is one of those small things that takes food from average to incredible.

I like to cut the corn tortillas in long strips. It is different and I like the way it looks. Then I add any number of ingredients based on what is available.

I guess maybe this is a pretty lame blog post. Everyone knows how to make taco salad, and I think I have even shared my basic recipe before.

But it is worth sharing again.

One of the best tips for a great taco salad is to use mixed baby greens rather than the standard iceburg. It not only adds a beautiful color but it adds flavor and texture as well.

It takes a little longer to make an individual salad on each plate but it is worth it. It is more appealing that way. You can also just make the salad bases and allow everyone to add what they like at the table by putting ingredients out in dishes.

Brown lean ground beef or pork (or a combination) in a pan with a little oil. Add taco seasoning, your own homemade or some from the store. McCormick still makes it in an envelope, it has no msg (most of the others I have seen do have msg) and it is about 75 cents. It is funny though, when I first started buying it it was 33 cents. LOL! Drain the meat and set it aside.

I liek to use Vidalias or Texas sweet onions because they give a lot of flavor but they are mild. Now add the following as you like:

• Kidney beans
• Black beans
• Pinto beans
• Chopped bell peppers
• Jalapenos
• Corn kernels
• Tomatoes
• Cheese
• Salsa
• Sour cream
• Celery
• Avocado
• Chicken
• Tortilla chips
• Fried potatoes (trust me)
• Roasted pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seed

Just layer them on top of your salad, top with a scoop of salsa and then a scoop of sour cream.  Add chopped cilantro, grated cheese and you have an entire meal in under 30 minutes. If you feel like you need dessert add vanilla ice cream with chopped mango spooned over it. Seriously. Does it get better than that?

Image:MaryeAudet

Post from: Baking Delights

I like combining colors and texture and flavors. Iceburg lettuce rarely comes into our home because it is just bland and tasteless. My favorite salad base is either the Organic Baby Herbs or the Organic Baby Spinach. I don’t mind the other mixes either, it is just those are my favorites.

Once I have the base I like to add whatever is interesting, on sale or smells wonderful in the produce aisle. I just start picking up things. The other day I picked up this combination:

The base is the baby herb salad. I added strawberries, blackberries, Tuscan melon, cubed Fontina cheese, and a raspberry key lime dressing that is amazing.

Serve this with baguette or black olive bread. A light, crunchy dessert like  lemon-snaps will compliment this perfectly adding both crunch and repeating the flavor of the citrus.

Tuscan melon is very sweet, similar to a cantaloupe. You can use any combination of fruit in this dish, whatever is ripe and looks the best.

Raspberry Key Lime Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup Raspberry jam (seedless is best)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons Key lime juice (you can buy the juice in the juice aisle, or use Key limes when they are in season.)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pulp from 1/4 inch of vanilla  bean
• 2 Tbs walnut oil
• Pinch of salt

1. Make this one day ahead if possible so the vanilla will have time to infuse the dressing.
2. Warm jam in the microwave until it is a liquid. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake well.
3. Store in refrigerator

Yield: about one cup

image:Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

There is something about Texas food. it is unassuming, not particularly fussy and usually easy to make with local ingredients. The flavors are as in your face as a drunk cowboy and it seems to be served in amounts that would feed a whole corral of hungry cowpokes.

For me, Texas foods and flavors are just exactly what summer is all about.

Here is my version of a classic Texas 4th of July menu right down to the sweet tea.

Beef Brisket

Tomatoes Vinaigrette

Potato Salad

Tomato Swirl Bread

Incredible Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chipotle Praline

Sweet Tea, the real “thang”

Image:Marye Audet (c) 2008

Post from: Baking Delights

Fourth of July is coming up and I thought that I would put together a few menus from our past holidays.

When I was growing up we had a pool and my parents did a big July 4th bash every year.  One year that I remember especially well was themed “Christmas in July” and they strung lights around the landscaping bushes that were around the deck.  They wrapped small gifts and had “Santa” deliver them to the guests. It was great fun, wonderful memories, and I think that they may have gotten through that entire day without one arguement.  Amazing.

Anyway.  Our holidays have been less dramatic.  We generally have a cookout and invite everyone we know.  If that does not seem like enough we invite people we don’t know.  You think I am kidding, don’t you?

Hamburgers are a classic to grill.  They are easy, not too expensive and everyone loves them.  Get a good quality burger with a little fat in it but not to much..90/10 or 85/15 is about right.  You need the fat to carry the flavor but too much will make the burgers postage stamp size when they are done.  Season the shaped pattys with some seasoning rub, you can find it in most stores or try this Amarillo Dry Rub recipe.

Let the rub sit on those burgers for about 2 hours then go ahead and grill them.

Serve with:

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Pasta Salad

Sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles…you know the drill

Easy Earthquake Cake 

Sweet Tea Punch 

Keep an eye out for more Fourth of July Menus as the week goes on.

Image: Erin Audet Myers 

Used by permission

Post from: Baking Delights

If you have never had beef brisket you have never lived in Texas.  A huge beef brisket is a must have at nearly any summer celebration from Memorial Day to a family reunion, and there are as many arguments about making a good one as there are about whether or not Texas should succeed from the Union.

If you didn’t know THAT was a common conversation then you haven’t even VISITED here.  Another thing you must know is that it can be spelled barbeque or barbecue. I will probably spell it both ways in the course of writing this because spell check doesn’t like barbeque and I don’t like little red lines…but barbeque is my normal spelling.

Anyway, brisket is one of those things that is either the best stuff in the universe  or absolutely blah.  The secret is cooking it a long time at a low temperature.

Now, many guys around here have  built their own smokers and such, and have particular ways of handling that.  I am not even going there right now because I am way out of my league when you start talking about smokers, wood chips and all.  I have done a little of that but it is  not my forte by a long shot!  However, doing a brisket in the oven? THAT I can do, and I do it very, very well.

The mistake that many people make is to douse the meat with barbecue sauce before roasting. Nope. The barbecue sauce is a go with, a side dish.  If you cook the meat in it neither tastes as good as if you do them separately.

How to Choose a Great Brisket 

Do not get a brisket that has been trimmed.  The fat allows the flavor to be intense.  If you get home and find you have an excessive amount of fat, trim sparingly if you must.  When you are looking at briskets, pick up the package and see if you can “fold” the brisket in the plastic package (obviously this won’t work if it is on a tray).  You want it to be flexible.  This will indicate it is tender.

Get a whole one. Yes a whole one.  I know it is huge.  That is fine..you can freeze what you don’t eat.  Brisket is great for OAMC because it freezes very well and thaws even more tender than when it was first cooked.  The trick to that is to slice it up and pour the meat juices over it before freezing.

Is it really that simple? Yup.

To Cook the Brisket 

Get a large pan.  Take the brisket out of the plastic cry-o-vac and rinse it.  Blot off the water, you don’t want that.

You are going to wrap the brisket in foil, so you will want to piece together a big enough sheet of foil to totally encompass the meat.  It takes 2 or 3 sheets with the edges folded together.

This is how I do the meat. It is spicy.  Seasoning a brisket is not rocket science so please adjust according to taste!

Now, lay the meat on the foil in the pan.  Douse it with liquid smoke.  Be generous, 1/4 a cup is about right, but I have been known to pour on a whole bottle.   Drizzle about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce over it.  Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.  Now, hit it hard with cracked black pepper. I love black pepper so I make almost a coating on the meat.

Slice up an onion and lay it over the meat then peel and chop 3 cloves of garlic and lay it over the onion. Sprinkle on about a  tablespoon of dried chipotle over the top.  Seal up an the foil and allow to stand on the counter for 30 minutes while the oven is preheating.

Preheat the oven to 250. YES! 250.  The key to a tender cut is slow, very slow cooking.  You will cook your 8-12 lb brisket  for 12 hours.  Put it in before you go to bed and forget about it.

In the morning you are going to be waking up to the most heavenly odor.   That brisket is at this point scenting the whole neighborhood and don’t be surprised if you have neighbors knocking at your door with plates and forks in hand.

When the brisket is done remove it from the oven, unwrap and allow to stand for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

You are going to slice across the grain, thin slices, at a slight angle.  There will be a point that some of it will fall apart.  That’s o.k..that is what we use to make chopped barbeque sandwiches!

Once the meat is sliced you slather on some barbeque sauce, and start poking it in your mouth. Yeah, it is that good.

Do not slow cook your brisket in a slow cooker..it is TOO moist of a heat and the flavor an texture will not be right no matter what anyone says.

For Once A Month Cooking 

Proceed exactly as directed above.  Slice the meat up and separate into meal size portions.  Save the small bits that break up in a separate bowl.

Now, lay the meat in a casserole dish.  Pour about 1/4 c of the juice over the meat.  You may need more.  You want to have the meat soaking in the juices.  Cover carefully and freeze.  Be sure to label with what it is and the date.

For the little pieces you can just pour barbeque sauce over that and freeze it as chopped barbeque.  It makes fantastic sandwiches when piled atop crusty sandwich rolls.

Thaw in the refrigerator and heat for a quick meal.

I have several recipes for barbeque sauce. I will get the posted later this week.

Image: Marye Audet 

Post from: Baking Delights

 For the tappanade

1 can black olives

1/2 c green salad olives

1/4 c onion

3 cloves garlic, peeled.

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tsp italian seasoning

1 tbs olive oil

pulse together in food processor until coarsely pureed. Set aside.

16 flour tortillas, whole wheat homemade is best, but whatever you like.   

For filling:

2 zucchini-sliced in 1/8″ thick slices LONGWISE.

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c chopped red onion

1/2 c chopped tomato

other vegetables as desired.

1/2 c cheese, such as mozzerella, romano, or feta

  Drizzle slices of zucchini with oil and rub with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning. Heat grill (or broiler) up and grill quickly on each side…just until you have good grill marks and zuccini is tender without being mushy.

  Heat tortillas until they are pliable. Working quickly spread about a tsp of tapanade down one side of the tortilla, top with one slice of zucchini , sprinkle with onions, tomato, and cheese (and anything else you desire.) Roll tightly. This makes 16, or what I consider to be 8 servings.

These would be great for picnics, or even cut in smaller pieces and served as appetizers.

Post from: Baking Delights

This salad is great but do not substitute or remove the fresh cilantro. It’s fresh, earthy, warmth is necessary to the success of these flavors. Don’t be focused in on exact amounts…This is a handful of this and a handful of that type of meal.

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

1 head lettuce torn into bite size pieces OR equivalent in salad greens

1 bunch cilantro, cleaned and chopped

1 onion sliced into rings.

1 can black olives sliced

2 c corn

2 c shredded cheese of choice (colby, jack or cheddar)

2 tomatoes cut into chunks

5 white corn tortillas sliced into strips and fried until crispy

Lay salad mixed with cilantro on plate. top randomly with the rest of the ingredients. Top with the following: sour cream, avocado, picante, salsa verde as desired

Post from: Baking Delights