Coffee Klatch

One of the food traditions in my wife’s family for a long time now is Sweet Potato Souffle. I believe it was her sister who found the recipe somewhere and it’s been a regular side/dessert at Thanksgiving (and sometimes Christmas) for many, many years now. I’m sure it’s similar to what many of your families make for the holidays, but I thought I’d share it with you anyway. I’m not partial to sweet potatoes myself, but the dish as a whole is quite good. I think it’s the topping.

Sweet Potato Souffle

Ingredients:
3 cups mashed (cooked) sweet potatoes (about 3 large sweet potatoes)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans preferred)
1/2 stick melted butter

Steps:

1. Combine the main ingredients (hot sweet potatoes will melt the butter).
2. Pour it all into a greased casserole dish or 9×9 pan (13×9 will work for a double batch).
3. Combine the topping ingredients and spread evenly over the sweet potatoes.
4. Bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes.

And it’s great chilled as leftovers, too.

[tags]recipe, sweet potatoes, thanksgiving[/tags]

With all three boys staying home sick from school on Wednesday and two of them on Tuesday, we’d tentatively planned on celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday. Since they were having a hard time keeping food down, a big celebratory meal didn’t seem wise. Last night they seemed much better and were able to eat some dinner. By this morning everyone seemed just fine and ate breakfast okay, so we stuck with the normal day.

I got up a little after 7am and made a pecan pie. Then I started setting up for cooking the turkey since we tried deep-frying it for the first time this year. Never did that before and it turned out really good. We heard that it works best with an injected marinade, so we tried a mild Creole Garlic marinade, injected it throughout the turkey (focusing on the meaty parts), and then used a Rasta Rub on the outside. VERY tasty! Not a traditional turkey taste, but quite enjoyable. The turkey came with a bag of gravy mix that you add to 2 cups of drippings/water. Since there was a little of the marinade left that the needle didn’t suck up, I added that to the gravy. That gave it a similar taste to the turkey instead of having a regular gravy on a perky fried turkey. (Perky turkey! HA!)

With mashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing (with the turkey giblets), green bean casserole (complete with french-fried onions on top and fresh green beans), dinner rolls, and a sweet potato souffle, it was very filling Thanksgiving dinner with lots of leftovers.

And now there are THREE football games to watch! It’s 60 degrees outside, so it’s too warm for a fire in the fireplace. But a full stomach, plenty of football, and a Sam Adams Winter Lager make for a pleasantly sleepy afternoon/evening. Got to have some more sweet potato souffle and/or pecan pie later. Warmed up with whipped cream.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Recently I read an online article that talked about some staple foods in German Cuisine and how healthy they are. The full article is at SixWise.com and includes descriptions and the health benefits of these six healthiest staples. Be sure to visit their site to get the whole enchilada. Wait, wrong nationality….

The 6 Healthiest Staple Foods in German Cuisine
by www.SixWise.com

German food is famous for its hearty meals of roasted meat, dumplings, potatoes, pickled vegetables, gravy and breads, and, of course, its beer and sausages (Germany has over 1,500 different types of sausage). Satisfying? Yes. Wholesome? Yes. Extremely healthy? Perhaps on the surface not, but in reality German cuisine is quite good for you.

Take their sausages. Each one has an average of only 280 calories, contains mostly meat (often pork) and no chemicals are used, completely opposite of American sausages, which are higher in calories, contain more fat, water and other filler meats, and are loaded with chemicals and preservatives. On top of that, German sausages are rarely served on a bun, but rather on a bed of sauerkraut or with a dipping sauce like mustard. In America, highly processed white buns are the norm.

So when it comes to German cuisine, there is much more than meets the eye. Here we’ve compiled six of the healthiest staple foods in Germany, along with a couple of tasty and healthy recipes for you to try at the end.

1. Sauerkraut
2. Red Cabbange
3. White Asparagus
4. Apples
5. Horseradish
6. Whole-Grain Rye Bread

The Denver Post had a very interesting article posted online today about the healthiness of German sausages (which was referenced by SixWise.com’s article).

Do you think these healthy foods will counteract all the beer?

Apopular “frozen food” among children is “tater tots.” Up there with hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, it’s one of those foods that parents can add to dinner without any fuss (from MOST kids). And with store brand versions (Potato Gems, Tater Nuggets, etc.), they’re cheaper than they used to be and so become a good choice for a side dish at dinner.

The only thing is… they can get boring. They’re just potatoes that are shredded, put back together and baked or fried. Now, a BIG exception to that is my one of my favorite fast foods. From Taco John’s. They’re called Potato Ole’s and they’re like tater tots but more flat like discs instead of cylindrical. (Although, YES, technically they’re still cylindrical.) Anyway, what’s great about them is that they’re seasoned with a not that spicy, sort of sweet concoction that makes them irresistible! At least to me.

So when we’ve had tater tots (in whatever form) at home, I’ve tried adding a little seasoning to them. And you know what? They’re not as boring any more! You can add all kinds of spices or seasoning mixes to them, along with some salt, and you’ve got all kinds of variety! My favorite is a light dose of cumin. When you add cumin and salt to tater tots, they’re almost (but not quite) like the Potato Ole’s from Taco John’s. But you can add Lawry’s salt, paprika, pepper, onion powder, even oregano (ground). With oregano, they’re almost pizza-ish when dipped in ketchup.
Pretty much any ground or powdered spice or herb can work. If it’s good with potatoes, it’s even better with tater tots!

Current music: Kommt Zusammen, by 2raumwohnung

Have you ever stood in line at Starbucks and wondered just what made some of those drinks different from each other? Today I StumbledUpon a cool site that breaks it all down, simply and clearly. Visit Starbucks Drinks Simplified for the full lineup of drinks and how they’re made.

Current music: The Dreamer: Romances for Alto Flute, by Michael Hoppé and Tim Wheater

On Sunday, I got to eat at the Red Lobster for the first time in many a year. They have these “Cheddar Bay Biscuits” that are to die for. Well, almost. And the meals get “bottomless baskets” of these delicious comestibles!

When I got home, I browsed the web for a site that provided recipes that are either from restaurants or are copies of what restaurants serve and I found Recipe Goldmine! What a treasure trove of recipes! They call them “classy clones.”

Got a favorite dish from some restaurant? Check out the site and look for your restaurant. Recipes are listed by restaurant name. Click on the first letter of the name of the restaurant and browse away. There are so many awesome recipes here, that they’re definitely worth a look!

Oh, and, yes, they DO have the recipe for Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits!

When cooking rice, it’s usually a good idea to rinse the rice. That gets the dirt, pollution, etc., off of the rice. I suggest putting the rice in the pan and then running water over it. Cover the rice by a bit and then use your fingers to swish it around a bit. Then drain the rice and repeat once or twice, until the water no longer turns white and cloudy. Then it’s ready for cooking.

I’ve heard that it’s possible to be non-specific when measuring the rice and water, just making sure you’ve got a finger’s width of water above the level of the rice. I’ve tried that and have not found it to be too successful. Instead, it’s usually a good idea to to add twice as much water as rice (e.g., 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water or 2 to 4). Some types of rice, like basmati, should have less water, like 1.5 cups to 1 cup of rice.

15 minutes is usually an appropriate simmering time after bringing it to a boil. Don’t peek and make sure it’s tightly sealed. After that time is up, fluff the rice with a fork to allow it to expand and finish cooking. Let if “fluff” for 5-10 minutes and you’re good to go.

Some people suggest pre-soaking the rice, but I don’t go that far. If you do, make sure you draing it very well after or else count that water towards the amount you need.

MSG. Monosodium Glutamate. We’ve heard it’s not healthy and that it’s a primary trigger for migraines. I just read that there are other names for the same thing. After all, what food manufacturer would proudly list “Contains MSG” when it’s been so frowned upon? Well, apparently there are a couple other names that are being used for MSG. Multodextrin and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein are the two most common aliases for MSG. You see them in TVP or veggie-burgers and many other places.

Also, when your body processes the protein in soy, it’s basically creating MSG. So when you eat tofu or other soy products, you’re not eating MSG, your body is manufacturing it.

Word to the wise. Or at least to those who are trying to avoid MSG.

Current music: Apurimac, by Cusco

Two of my favorite cereals have always been Lucky Charms and Captain Crunch’s Crunch Berries. Yesterday I found out that there’s a new version of Lucky Charms where the pieces of cereal are berry flavored. It combines the best of my two favorites! It SMELLS extremely berry, but it doesn’t taste nearly as strong. In fact, the base cereal is not really any sweeter than the regular version. But it’s berry flavored with Lucky Charms marshmallows. Cool!

This morning Topher IMed me a link to a coffeemaker that just made me drool. It’s at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and it does EVERYthing! There are settings for almost everything and all you have to do is push a button. It grinds (conical burr), brews (filtered water), and even froths milk! All automatically!

The ultimate in super automatic coffee centers is here! One touch is all it takes to create the perfect cappuccinos, espressos and lattes every time. The Impressa Z5 only requires you to place a cup under the dual nozzles while it takes care of the grinding, brewing, frothing and steaming using 2 state-of the-art stainless steel-lined thermoblock heating systems and an 18 bar power pump. The programmable controls and a rotary dial allows limitless customized coffee creations. And a 32-oz. thermal container keeps milk fresh for up to 8 hours. It also features customizable coffee-strength settings, one-touch milk-frothing buttons, height adjustable spouts for short and tall mugs, 6-setting commercial solid steel conical burr grinder, electronic bean level sensor, funnel for pre-ground coffee, 96-ounce removable water tank with a 60 espresso capacity, a Clearyl water care system that removes all impurities from water before brewing and so much more!

The only problem? It’s $3,199!!

Check out this link to the Jura-Capresso Impressa Z5, and, while you’re there, pick me up one, also!