Smoked Salt & Pepper

Reid's parents were in Austin last week for work.  We met them up at Frank's hot dogs the first night they were in town.  Frank's is an artisinal hot dog restaurant in downtown Austin.  It was our first time there; I'd heard about it through friends and my old vet school counselor (thanks, Dr. Posey!).  It was really good.  They actually had currywurst on the menu! Currywurst is "a fast food dish of German origin consisting of steamed, then fried pork sausage cut into slices and seasoned with curry ketchup, regularly consisting of ketchup or tomato paste blended with generous amount of curry powder, or a ready-made ketchup-based sauce seasoned with curry and other spices" (thanks, Wikipedia!).  I'd had it almost any chance I could when I was studying abroad one summer in Germany during vet school and when I came back to the States, was saddened to never find it on any 'German" (aka Bavarian) restaurant menus in Texas.  Anyway, they had it so I ha...

You know what one of the benefits of getting married is? New kitchen gadgets!!!!!!!! Oh yea, and gaining a lifelong partner to share the joys of life and family and all that jazz.  But seriously, so many gifts.  It's like Christmas times a gazillion.  So the next few posts will be of me trying out all of the new goodies.  Like our waffle iron: Thanks, Marcus! Recipe from the St. John's church recipe book, a bridal shower gift.  This church is where both Reid's grandparents were members and where Reid's parents got married. Belgian Waffles Ingredients: 1 c. flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1 c. milk 1/2 tbs. melted butter 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tbs. sugar 1 egg, separated Directions: Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl. Beat whites until stiff; set aside. Add egg yok, butter and milk to the dry ingredents an dmix thoroughly. Stir 1/4 of the egg white into the batter to lighten it and gently fold in the remaining egg white. Bake accordi...

Reid and I came back from our honeymoon in Barcelona and Majorca, Spain two weeks ago.  It was really amazing.  We spent five days Barcelona, getting our culture on visiting Picasso's museum, Miro's art museum, the Museum of Catalan Art, Sagrada Familia, Le Cathedral, Park Guell, and obviously eating and drinking.  Three days in Majorca was spent hiking, swimming, and just taking in the amazing beauty of that island.  It was really phenomenal.  We've made a pact to go back at least for our 25th anniversary.   Of course, the food was wonderful.  We feasted on tapas, paella, sardines, sangria, and Estrella bear.  One dish that really surprised me was the Spanish omelettes we ate.  They were these fluffy but flavor-dense thick egg and potato omelettes with the perfect salty savory yumminess.  I really didn't think they were going to be that good, but they were! Especially as little bocadillos (mini baguette sandwiches).  I'll hav...

I really liked the stuffed acorn squash I'd made in the fall, and thought I'd do a riff on it with bell peppers.  More season appropriate. Instead of chorizo, I used Italian sausage. It was really pretty and turned out really yummy. Too bad Reid worked late the night I made them. I got to eat it while watching some "Mindy Project". Reid got leftovers a few nights later and still thought it was good. Stuffed Bell Peppers Ingredients 4 large green bell peppers 1/2 lb. Italian sausage, casings removed 1/4 medium onion, chopped 1 c. bulgar wheat, cooked 1/4 c. chopped Italian/flat leaf parsley 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese or Parmesan cheese 1 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1. Over medium high heat, cook onions and Italian sausage in large skillet until no longer pink.   2. In a large bowl, combine sausage and onions, bulgar, parsley, cheese, salt and pepper. 3. Cut the tops of each bell pepper off and remove seeds and membrane.  4. Spoon sausa...

Last weekend I had my bachelorette weekend in Vegas and it was so fun. I think the best part was being able to see so many of my girl friends who live all over. My old roommate, Allegra, wrote me a card about some of the good times we had when we lived together and one of the things she mentioned was when I threw together a quiche with our leftovers. I had totally forgotten about that and it was such a sweet memory to remember. Anyway, it made me crave quiche and so I made this for lunch after work today. I don't know if it was because I was so hungry or because of some of the tweaks I made to my recipe, but it came out so pretty and yummy!  Also, if you want to make this quiche extra delicious, make Tartine's homemade pie crust**.  Reid will literally just eat the pie crust, it's so good!  It makes 2 pie crusts, so you can freeze one of them to make quiche another day. Spinach Quiche Ingredients: 1 c milk with 2 tsp Greek yogurt mixed in, allow to set at room temp ...

We've been trying to have "Meatless Mondays" to cut down on how much meat we usually eat.  Nothing too crazy, just one day a week when we try to eat vegetarian.  It doesn't seem hard, but we're pretty bad at remembering.  My parents did something similar before my dad when totally vegetarian.  I know I won't be able to do that because I am not as amazing and creative of a cook as my mom, but I'll try.  My sister and her husband have been doing this too, so I thought we could give it a try.  One of the recipes I've made several "Meatless Mondays" is this simple tofu with soy sauce recipe.  It's easy to have a block of tofu on hand, and this prep is not too difficult.  Even though I work a little later on Mondays, I can still have dinner ready by 7:00pm when I throw this quick one together.  Plus, I get to use some of the green onions we've got growing in our raised vegetable/herb gardens (thank you, previous tenant). Another plus of ...

Made this mac n' cheese this week for dinner.  Let me tell you, I have probably tried 80 million recipes for homemade mac n' cheese! Most times, I'm a little disappointed that they don't seem to taste any better than the blue box versions that only take 15 minutes to make.  I've tried all sorts of mac n' cheese recipes that range from baked bread crumb topped, with expensive cheeses, having to make a beschemel, to truffle oil mac n' cheese.  I love a nice creamy, cheesy, mac n' cheese.  And this recipe hit the spot.  And since it's 'smoky' it adds just another layer of tastiness.  I think having the Savory Smoky Hills Cheese Powder helps a lot.  Savory Spice Shop is a little spice shop that we found out about two Christmas' ago.  One of Reid's uncles friends owns one of the shops in downtown Austin.  It's an artisinal spice shop, which is awesome.  Reid got a set of BBQ spice rubs for Christmas once and I still use them every...