Brown Butter Toffee Blondies and Turkey burgers June 28 2008

Man, my feet are killing me. I have been standing in the kitchen for an hour making the blondies and prepping for dinner. The mess is everywhere. My cat was eating some corn that had flown into the living room when I cut it off the cob. Flour is all over, I spilled my tea, and the floor where I chop and mix is a disaster. AHHHH! it's been a GREAT afternoon of messiness!

I don't know about anyone else, but i get all hot and sweaty when I cook. And I am not talking about slaving over boiling pots of water. Even chopping and prepping gets me going. Does this happen to anyone else? Maybe I should put a fan in the kitchen.

The blondies are a Martha Stewart recipe. They have browned butter ( which I am not sure I got all the way right. Never tried that before.), walnuts and toffee chips. Why can you only buy toffee chips during the holiday season? I have to buy like 6 bags in November so I can have enough to make things throughout the year. Who's idea was this?? Anyway, hope they turn out decent, for all the work I have put in today.

I will let you know later tonight or tomorrow how things come out. Keep cooking and Messing!!

MMC!!

Mac & Cheese Yum Jun3 20 2008

Made my mac and cheese last night. I have been trying different things lately, and decided to go back to my basic recipe. I made the cheese sauce creamier than ever before thanks to my new 2 1/2 quart Calphalon sauce pan I just got. Man that baby rocks. I always used a straight sided sauce pot, but this one is wider across the top and has sloping sides. I was able to get the whisk right around everywhere. The straight sides on the other pot would almost always result in lumps and things sticking to the bottem edges of the pot. Who knew such a simple change would have such big results?

It came out velvety smooth and creamy, and best of all today when I reheated some, it did not break nearly as much as usual.

I like to use Cracker barrel sharp white and extra sharp yellow cheeses. I twittered about grating a nice chunk of white cheddar, but I am a danger to myself and others with a cheese grater. I prefer to avoid that if I can. Not to mention the incredible mess I can create with a grater.

I also like to put bread crumbs on top before I bake. Love the crunchy top.

Today I am going to make mini stromboli's with a spicy marinara dipping sauce. All will be great for the upcoming work week.

Well off to my local Publix to shop. I don't know about you, but I would be great living in Europe, where people buy fresh food every day from their local store. I go to the store just about every day and sometimes twice a day. I know it's a gas waster, but I like to come up with food ideas the day I am ready to cook. I must work on planning more. But I always seem to forget something and have to go back anyway. I think I may do this on purpose.

Gotta go. Time to get messing!!

practice picture

Update June 8 2008

Messes to all!! Just back from work at 11pm. No cooking today. However did look at 2 cooking magazines. One was cuisine at home...I like that one a lot. Although sometimes they have kind of weird sides, and their dishes can be a little lengthy to make. But lots of nice pictures and step by step directions. I like to try some of the dishes out of it. The ones I have made so far, have turned out excellent. Never really made a bad meal from that book.

Now Emeril's cookbooks, that's another story. I used to watch the show when I first started cooking and the dishes looked so awesome. I wished I had "smellavision" , they seemed so tasty.
So I tried my hand at a few dishes, mostly simple..fried chicken, potato salad etc. Simple. Well I was extremely disappointed to say the least. Nothing looked as good as the pictures, and the taste was mediocre at best. He also seemed to use so many ingredients that the dishes just became a mish-mash of weird spice flavors. No Emeril for me anymore.

I do have a twitter issue as well. Last week, as the rainy season started in Fla, I developed a leak onto my stove via the vent above. Not good. So my neighbor got up and caulked around the vent. He said he didn't see anything else. I thought good. First light rain after, no problem.
First hard rain after, problem. Water just pouring down the vent onto the stove. Got Michael to get some other roof repair stuff and had it all sealed all around the vent and the roof around it.
I twitter because since then, we have had no rain, except for a sprinkle. I need some serious rain for a little bit to see if it's fixed. Yet, I kind of don't want it to rain in case it leaks! At least now , with no rain it's not leaking. Catch 22.

Well that's all for now. If you have a fav cookbook, LMK

MMC

Update on crockpot pot roast June 8 2008

Hey from Mrs. Messy Chef. My crockpot pot roast came out great!! Super tender and juicy. Just what I wanted. I was also thrilled that my mess was contained to one pot. Clean up was a breeze.

Today I have to be to work at 2:30, so the leftovers will be dinner. No cooking today. (But I bet I can still manage to make a mess gathering up my dinner).

I'm watching FN this morning and relaxing. So far nothing is inspiring me for later in the week. I have noticed lately that sometimes when Iwatch the cooking shows, it all just looks kind of boring and crappy. I ask myself who the heck wants to eat that. There are some things I just can't get past. Like today for example, the two shows I have watched today involve eggs that are let's say over easy. Yuck. I hate eggs with runny yolks. I actually only like eggs scramballed. So to watch 2 shows putting runny eggs on stuff ( a hamburger) yuck.
Yes I know I don't have to make the dish, but it just kind of grosses me out and I can't think of anything to make.

Anyway, that's just me and how it is. I am looking forward to making my next mess, and will let you know how it comes out.

Return to cooking June 7 2008

Well, hello from the Messy Chef. When I cook, I mess. I got hooked on cooking about 4 years ago, thanks to Direct TV and the Food Network. Until then, I could truly barely boil water and make burnt toast. Now, I have a semi-vast repetoire of meals, and try to experiment at least once every 2 weeks with something new.

Anyhow, 4 weeks ago, I had minor foot surgery and couldn't stand for very long to either prep the food, or clean up after. (Unlike the fine cooking shows on FN, I have to do my own cleaning. Sigh!). So today is almost the first time in those 4 weeks I have decided to cook, sort of.

I am crock potting. Yes, I know, not exactly a four course meal, with dessert, but hey I need to ease back into this. Pot roasting in the crock pot. Potatoes, carrots, onions yum! Must eat my veggies. So five hours from now, hopefully I will be chowing down on some delicious pot roast and veggies. I will let you know, of course. And of course, just that small amount of chopping and prepping enabled me to make a lovely mess of carrot peels, onion and garlic skins. Oh joy!

The Messy Chef

I hearby claim to be the one & only true Messy Chef.

Let me tell you of my adventures in cooking and beyond !

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