Looks Like Super Bowl Munchies to Me

Again from my "beat reporter" Marcia. I have never seen Velveeta rolled out like this but ... it's Velveeta so I'm sure it can take it. This looks like just the thing to make for our Super Bowl "junk food" celebration ... I'm thinking I'll go with the cumin and chili powder seasonings.

You can make it ahead and freeze it to have to pull out of the freezer when you need something quick. Needs to be made a bit ahead so the flavors can meld.

Cheese Log

1 lb. Velveeta cheese ( let stand until at room temperature)
6 oz. cream cheese (also at room temp)
several chopped green onions 5 or 6
1 can chopped green chiles
1 cup chopped pecans

Seasonings to sprinkle on top of other ingredients, to your taste.
garlic powder
lemon pepper
seasoned salt
paprika
cumin (if you like it)
chili powder
little red pepper
chopped parsley, fresh if you have it

Roll out the Velveeta between wax paper as you do with pie dough, then spead softened cream cheese on the Velveeta then spread the chopped green onions, green chiles and pecans, sprinkle with all the seasonings and roll as tightly as possible. Serve with Triskets. I ordinarily do a 2 lb . cheese and cut the roll in 4 or 5 inch sections and freeze some for later. Wrap in foil to freeze.

For Love of Pie

American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads
by Pascale Le Draoulec

My grail would be pie.

Just saying it out loud made me surrender a smile. I would drive to small towns looking for pie bakers, pie recipes, and pie lore. I'd seek out pies with character and characters who love to pie.

Perhaps examining the state of pie in America would also take me back to the essence, the roots of this country, and just maybe help me get to the bottom of mine.

As a first generation American born to two faithfully-French immigrants living in Los Angeles, I had straddled two cultures most of my life. The plan was that we'd move back to France someday. So I attended a French school, spoke only French at home, and ate smelly cheese after dinner. When it rained, we'd dive into the back yard laurel bushes for snails, which my mother would prepare a la bordelaise. We celebrated Bastille Day and played petanque on the Fourth of July.

I still don't know the words to the "Star-Spangled Banner" and my mother never learned to make pie.

"A pie is not a tarte," she would say, shrugging her slight shoulders in that typically French way that suggests a conversation that has no place to go. I never questioned it, just as I never questioned the dictum that a baguette placed on its back brings bad luck or that all French women "just know" how to wear a scarf.

My parents never did move back to France, though we visited often. And, on either continent, I always felt like an extra, never part of the main cast. I look like an Easter egg whenever I try to wear a scarf and I missed out on all the family debates pitting lard against butter, Pyrex against pie tins.

I didn't even taste my first slice until I was in college. It was pecan. Store-bought. Uneventful.

I had a lot of catching up to do.

Pascale Le Draoulec must travel across the country to a new job and decides to search out pie along the way. She comes across interesting characters, realizations about herself and lots of pie, both dreadful and delightful. This book works three ways: a roadtrip, a female "buddy adventure," and a food book all in one. It is charmingly and naturally written without a lot of the angst that is often found in such stories. I bake a lot but I don't make a lot of pie as is the general condition lamented throughout the book when one after another the pie bakers wonder, "Who will make pie when we are gone?" It makes me want to start filling the gap regardless of how seldom pies are recommended by government diet guidelines ... we won't even mention my doctor. Ahem. Perhaps if we start having a lot of Hannah's and Rose's friends over for pie? Highly recommended.

Manhattens

Erik gives us a Manhatten cocktail recipe and then an essay on variations of classic cocktails, including what not to include. Not only is it informative and entertaining but it takes me back as the only people I ever knew who drank Manhattens were my parents. I always was enchanted by the cherry in the glass and liked to filch extras out of the jar when I thought no one was looking. It probably was my father's favorite end-of-the-day cocktail. Reading that recipe, I can see why. It certainly must have been relaxing!

Mmmmmm ... Lamb Potato Chips

Tyrrells - Thai Curry Corriander: A sweet curry flavor with a strong curry smell

Walkers - Slow Roasted Lamb with Mint Sauce: This is a strange idea, a traditional English dinner condensed into a potato chip. It mainly tastes of Mint Sauce which is tradtionally eaten with lamb.

Mcloy - Flame Broiled Beef: Actually does taste like a broiled beef steak

Walkers - Smoky Bacon: A very close approximation of smoky bacon, quite salty.

Walkers - Roast Chicken and Thyme: Tastes like chicken, roast chicken to be exact.

Walkers - Honey Roasted Ham: Has a mild ham flavor that gets overwhelmed by salt flavor

bourrezvisage has a taste test commentary on the variety of English crisp (potato chip!) flavors. These are just a few. Go see the whole, strange list.

From Marcia's Files

Who's Marcia? My good friend who I didn't know had a passion for cooking until I started a cooking blog and the recipes started raining down. Lucky me ... and lucky you! (What did we talk about before recipes? Here's a hint, my other blog is Happy Catholic and we met at a retreat.)

Corn Bread Casserole
1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
1 can cream style corn
1 (8 oz.) pkg corn muffin mix ("Jiffy" brand recommended)
1 c sour cream (1 small container)
½ cup butter, melted
1 to 1-½ c shredded cheese
1 can chopped green chiles or a few chopped jalapeños

Preheat 350. In large bowl mix 2 cans of corn, chiles, muffin mix, sour cream and butter. Pour into greased casserole dish. Bake 45 min or until golden brown. Top with cheese and return to oven 5-10 min or until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 min and then serve warm.

Christine's Three Cheese Macaroni

Mama T at Summa Mamas promised me her to-die-for macaroni and cheese recipe and it looks like a doozy! Go give it a try and let her know what you think!

Ingredient Alert

TEXAS TWIST ROASTED SALSA DRESSING
I don't usually buy salad dressing (I swear I'm going to put our favorite Spicy Caesar Dressing recipe on here ... eventually). However, when I was at the Central Market my eye was caught by HEB brand Texas Twist Dressings. I bought some Fire Roasted Salsa Dressing to go with Rose's Mexicana Chicken. This is a true sign of how much I trust HEB that I'd get it at all.

Rose liked it by itself and could see this dressing as a dip for vegetables but didn't like it on a green salad. No problem. Tom and I both liked it enough to fight over what she left (we wound up splitting it).

I remember a Peppercorn Blue Cheese Dressing also out of the four or five types available. I don't know if regular HEB stores have this but I would guess so as it didn't have any sort of special Central Market label. Just possibly we many now have the convenience of a bottled dressing for those times when I haven't got my own made.

Chicken Mexicana

Rose wanted to cook dinner and chose this recipe from The Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Cookbook. Not only does she love oven fried chicken but the flavor twist appealed to her. Surprise lesson that was included for her ... how to cut up a whole chicken into pieces. It's so handy that a chicken has two of everything so I could show her how it worked and then she could try it out herself. We only baked one chicken instead of two, per Rose's decision.

As to where the "Mexicana" part of the recipe came in, we are still in doubt. Other than the obvious green chiles and cilantro there is scant Mexican about the dish. However, it was delicious no matter what it was named and we will be making it again.

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 40-45 minutes
Makes 8 main-dish servings.

Step 1:
1 can (4 to 4-1/2 ounces) chopped mild green chiles (Rose chose to leave these out)
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix in small bowl.

Step 2:
2/3 cup plain dried bread crumbs
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro or parsley (when I'm given a choice like that I always choose cilantro!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
On waxed paper, mix ingredients.

Step 3:
2 chickens (3 pounds each), each cut into 8 pieces and skin removed
Brush mustard mixture evenly onto chicken. Coat with bread-crumb mixture, firmly pressing crumb mixture onto chicken.

Step 4:
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
Grease 17" x 11-1/2" roasting pan. Place chicken in roasting pan. With pastry brush, lightly dab oil onto chicken.

Bake chicken (do not turn) 40-45 minutes until crisp and juices run clear when pierced with tip of knife. Serve with salsa and tortillas, if you like.

Bundt Pan Creator Dies

I always use a tube pan, following my mother's lead, but always admired those gorgeous bundt pan cakes. I have to admire Dalquist's creativity and the marketing skills which changed the face of cake in America.

EDINA, Minn. — H. David Dalquist, creator of the aluminum Bundt pan, the top-selling cake pan in the world, has died at 86.

Mr. Dalquist, who died at his home Sunday of heart failure, founded St. Louis Park-based Nordic Ware, which has sold more than 50 million Bundt pans.

Mr. Dalquist designed the pan in 1950 at the request of members of the Minneapolis chapter of the Hadassah Society. They had old ceramic cake pans of somewhat similar designs but wanted an aluminum pan. Mr. Dalquist created a new shape and added creases to make it easier to cut the cake.

The women from the society called the pans "bund pans" because der Bund is German for a gathering of people. Mr. Dalquist added a "t" to the end and trademarked the name.

For years, the company sold few such pans. Then in 1966, a Texas woman won second place in the Pillsbury Bake-Off for her Tunnel of Fudge Cake made in a Bundt pan. Suddenly, bakers across America wanted their own Tunnel of Fudge cakes.

The Bundt pan is the biggest product line for Nordic Ware, which sells a variety of pots and pans and other kitchen equipment. More than 1 million Bundt pans are sold each year...

Mr. Dalquist founded Nordic Ware after returning from duty with the Navy during World War II. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in chemical engineering.

From the Associated Press via the Dallas Morning News.

Weekend Joke

A man walks into the psychiatrist's office with a cucumber up his nose, a carrot in his left ear, and a banana in his right ear. He says, "What's the matter with me?"

The psychiatrist says, "You're not eating properly."

A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Joke Book

Thought for Food

A salesman who travels southern Georgia and Alabama was told of a boarding house in a small town in his territory that had great food. One day he saw some cars parked outside of a house that looked right and went in. There were about ten people sitting at a big dining table heaped with food. He took an empty chair. He was a chatty type, and so were they. They passed the platters, and he ate his fill. When he stood up and asked the lady at the head of the table how much he owed her, she said, "Oh, you don't owe anything. This is a private home. We home you enjoyed your dinner.

Gail Greenblatt, quoted in A Gracious Plenty