You've Got To Taste This

I go crazy for themed parties and the last bachelorette night I hosted was a platform to fuel this party passion. As a bachelorette party veteran I wanted to steer away from the conventional party ideas. I was working with a really fun group of girls who would dress up and play along with almost any theme. This was used to my advantage when deciding on Kristen’s Bachelorette Bar Golf Classic.

I sent out the argyle print invitations for the ladies to reserve their tee time and started planning, booking hotel rooms, scoping out local pubs, and hunting for golf décor.

The Check List

1. Food and Drink: Coordinating an out of town gathering has its set backs when you’re trying to dig for local eateries or bringing food to coincide with the theme. We teed off at Dan McGuinness Irish Pub for some classic fish n’ chips, frosty pints and live music.

Here are a  few more go-to golfer cocktail and starter recipes

Pimm's Cup

Cheddar and Hot Mustard Sandwiches

Smoky Ranch Dip

2. Gift Buckets: I found these great little buckets (pictured) for a dollar and had to use them.  They were stuffed with a miniature bottle of Yellow Tail wine, a "Who's Your Caddy" cocktail napkin, green party beads, golf balls, and a score card. We wore the score cards as necklaces. These were originally intended for the girls to jot down places we visited, but everyone we encountered that night wanted to autograph.

3. Attire: Kristen (pictured holding the coveted golf tournament cup) sported an adorable golf fanatic baseball cap with a vale draped down her back, argyle socks, a plaid skirt, and the classic polo with her future initials on the front and bride-to-be on the back. To pull it all together Kristen carried around an enormous, blow-up golf club. Hilarious!

We truly had a memorable night and the golf theme was a hit! I'm ok with always being a bridesmaid, never a bride. 

Now that the weather's turned hot, I've got a big craving for really spicy food. Sadly, authentic Szechuan food (like at this place in San Francsico--spiciest food I've ever had) and vindaloo aren't too readily available in Birmingham (if anyone knows a place, please share), so I have to cook my own. The best and easiest way to add lots of heat to any dish? Canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

Chipotles are simply smoked jalapeño peppers, and when they're canned, it's almost always in adobo sauce, a mixture of tomatoes, garlic, and vinegar. Chipotles measure up to about 50,000 Scoville units, which is hot but not astronomically so--habaneros can get up to 200,000. The great thing about the adobo sauce is that it picks up the heat from the peppers and disperses it very evenly throughout the dish. Instead of fiery chunks of pepper in an otherwise not-so-hot dish, there's an even heat level in every bite.

Two of my favorite chipotle recipes are Chipotle-Bacon Corn Bread and Honey-Chipotle Grilled Corn (apparently I like my chipotles with corn), but we've got hundreds to choose from.
Read recipes closely though: "1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce" means one individual pepper, not one whole can of peppers. I've gotten several e-mails from readers who've made that mistake, and it's a pretty unpleasant one to make.

So what do you do with the rest of the can after you've opened it to use a pepper or two? If you're gonna use it within a week, cover the can with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate. Otherwise, freeze the leftovers. You've got two options: Pour the peppers and sauce into a bag and freeze to thaw and use later, or make spice cubes (ha!) by pureeing everything together and freezing in an ice cube tray. One regular cube is between one and two tablespoons, or about half a pepper.

Last Saturday I rolled out of a warm comfy bed to do something I’ve never done before, run 13.1 miles voluntarily. My previous blog, Will Run For Food, set the stage for how I was going to achieve my aggressive New Years resolution of running in the Nashville Music City Marathon with my older sister (middle one in the photo). Now I can write to you a blog of success and encouragement.

I’m not going to tell you I was a model trainee on how to prepare for this lengthier run. Since I couldn't run a mile in December, I started with the Couch to 5K running plans and worked from there. I will say with sincerity if I can do it you can do it, and so can 30,000 plus people that ran or walked.

My pre-race preparation consisted of the classic pasta plate. I would advise to keep it light. A vegetarian or chicken recipe will do the trick. I went with the meaty sauce and noodles and I will say that might not have been the best choice.  The morning of I kept it simple with an orange, half of an English muffin, and water. My post race cool down consisted of a warm Schlotzsky's sandwich, a chilled brewski, and an extremely cold pool. Fantastic!

I probably could have done a few things differently, but I had a blast running my first half marathon. The country music set a great tempo for running and the amount of people lining the streets cheering was unbelievable.

Watch these tips to cook pasta just right every time.

 Also check out Eat Like an Olympian

I love recipes with fun or unusual names, and No Peek Casserole certainly fits the bill.  I first discovered this recipe some ten years ago on a coupon message board, of all places.  My six-year-old son is picky, picky, picky about vegetables, so if I can find a recipe like this one that might make the vegetables, um, a little less obvious, it's worth a shot.  I love mushrooms and will eat them any way I can, and this recipe gives me the chance.  But my son and mushrooms?  Not so much.  But in this recipe I can hide them and he hoses the food as soon as he sits down at the table.  Color me happy.

Creamy, packed with flavor and crazysimple to make, this is delish served over buttered noodles.

See the recipe for No Peek Casserole.

. 

For a long time, my husband and I were hopelessly in love with the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken pizza from Papa John's.  Not only is this pizza incredibly delicious, but we loved being able to order online - not to mention being able to put the tip on our card.  This pizza has been so popular in our house that I'd actually planned to write this blog post about it

That is, until last night.  Home from a weekend away, we wanted a quick dinner and pizza sounded like a winner.  On a whim, we decided to check out the Domino's menu online.  We used to order from them all the time, but the super-easy online ordering (and sinfully delicious garlic butter sauce) lured us away to Papa John's.  Much to our surprise, Domino's now offers online ordering too!  And as someone who works with a website every day, I've come to appreciate a well working site when I see it.  The Domino's site is incredibly easy to use and offers a Pizza Tracker, which tracks your pizza from order to delivery.  Ours was accurate to 2-3 minutes and yes, it did arrive under 30 minutes!  Since we can (and did) build a pizza similar to our Papa John's fave, I can see us becoming loyal Domino's customers all over again.

  When I was visiting my cousins in Atlanta this past weekend, we were treated to brunch at Muss & Turner's in Smyrna. It has the feel of a neighborhood pub, but also has a deli and a restaurant menu featuring casual gourmet food. Apparently one of their favorite mottos is "foie gras in your flip flops."

I did not have foie gras, but I did have a big ol' biscuit sandwich.  Let me just say this was a far cry from any drive-thru sausage and biscuit I've ever had!  On the brunch menu it's called the "Doowutchyalike", and it's a very large homemade biscuit with an over easy egg, cheddar cheese, and your choice oof Neuske's bacon, fried chicken or homemade sausage.  As I find it pretty hard to ever turn down bacon, that was my choice.  This huge biscuit also came with some thick and creamy grits.  I did not ask, but I'm pretty sure these grits were cooked in cream and almost looked like mashed potatoes with just a little more texture.  Being a true Southerner, I can put away some grits, but these were so rich that even I could not finish them. I sure did try.

The entire brunch menu is playful with items such as the Soul Man, the Vincent Vega, and the Cheech & Chong. You'll just have to go there and find out about these yourself.  At Muss & Turner's  they make everything from scratch and feature produce from local farmers. Other offerings include regular beer and wine tastings, and coming up is a Mother's Day Buffet. 

Aside from the great food, which was really great, the atmosphere is delightful. You get the impression that although they take good food seriously, they don't take themselves so seriously. And this makes for a fun dining experience.  Our waitress on that Sunday was so cute and friendly that we wanted to invite her to join us for brunch.   If ever you find yourself in the Smyrna-Vinings area of Atlanta, check out M&T's.  If you eat one of those biscuits and some of those grits, you won't need to eat for the rest of the day.

As I plan this "Big White Wedding" (or BWW, as I've learned it's called in the blogging community), I've slowly learned more about my region, specifically what sounds weird to my friends around the country.  First there was the bridal portrait, displayed for all at the wedding ("So, the bride gets all dressed up ahead of time and does a portrait by herself but the groom doesn't get one?"  "Er, yes.").  Then there was the non-seated dinner style.  And now, the groom's cake.

Groom's cakes are a Southern phenomenon, though I hear the groom's cake trend is spreading a little outside the area.  They're typically chocolate, delicious, and more fun than the bride's cake.

When my fiance and I met with our baker Al, we talked about ourselves a little and he came back with a proposal.  For me, an ivory buttercream-covered cake with almond filling.  For Brian?  A 3-D chocolate baseball stadium featuring all the teams he's played on, beginning with his high school wildcats and going through his three-year stint in the minor leagues.  I can hardly wait to see it and you better believe I'll be posting pictures!

If you're looking for a way to personalize your wedding, the groom's table is the way to go.  Forget cake, you can have chocolates, cheesecakes, fondue... anything.  The only rule is that it shouldn't be white.  Unless you're a sassy bride and want to have a colorful cake yourself.  Check out our menu for A Groom's Chocolate Table.  For a fraction of the cost of commissioning an entire cake, you can load up a table with dipped pretzels, brownie trifle, and pecan clusters. 

And, because you don't need one more thing on your list, let your guy pick the treats for this table.  He'll get what he wants and your guests will enjoy seeing some of your personality shine through.  I'm getting married in 16 days and I can't wait to see what Brian's cake looks like.  I'll be back with details!

Being a foodie, I often receive food-themed gifts. Some are busts--Baconnaise was not nearly as delicious as I hoped and a tiny, heart-shaped frying pan for Valentine's Day from my mom has yet to see any use--but some friends got me a mortar and pestle a few years ago, and it's now an indispensable kitchen tool.

When I first got the thing, I had no idea how I would ever use it--I'm no medieval herbalist. But I've found that a mortar and pestle is the best way to get great spice flavor in any dish.

Ground spices lose their flavor much more quickly than whole ones; think of coffee made from ground beans that have been in the cabinet for weeks versus whole beans you grind right before brewing. Hand-grind a handful of whole cumin seeds to flavor beans or tacos and you'll get all kinds of tastes the jar of ground cumin you bought two years ago just doesn't contain. Ground mustard from a canister tastes like nothing, but smash a few mustard seeds in a mortar and pestle and you'll be greeted with wonderful smells and flavors for a vinaigrette or spice rub.

And what's more, whole spices, especially from the bulk bins at your local natural food store, are super cheap. I bought a tub of whole cumin for about $3 that's still three-quarters full after a year of weekly (or more) use. This doesn't involve very much time or effort, either. Grinding a tablespoon of spices takes maybe a minute and you don't need to be a bodybuilder, I promise.

My project for the summer? Grinding fresh pesto in my mortar and pestle, as in Chow.com's The Perfect Pesto video. It looks creamy and wonderful.

I get recipes from a variety of sources ... the Cooking Light bulletin boards, Food Network shows, newspaper and magazine clippings, friends, cookbooks and more.  Although it doesn't stop me from accumulating more recipes in my "to try" pile, I swear I could make 10 new recipes a day between now and the day I die and still never get through everything I've ripped out or flagged.  But a recipe from Patti LaBelle?

See the recipe for Over the Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese.

There are good things and bad things about being a stress-induced baker.  The good?  Around generally tense times, I always provide cake.  The bad? I live by myself, and have found that consuming an entire batch of cookies in one sitting can, in fact, be done. But, now that I'm getting married in a mere 19 days, I'm using that baking vice for good (saving money, homemade favors) instead of bad (increasing my coworkers' waistlines).

The majority of my wedding guests are traveling from out of town, so I wanted to give them something to nosh on between the already-planned meals including the reception and the morning-after brunch. Hostess Bags seemed a natural fit. 

I wanted to load up the bags with things that reminded people of us, like a bottle of Coke, as my fiance is from Atlanta, but also fill it with things that can be prepped ahead of time and not go stale.  Out go the cookies, in come the candied pecans, biscotti, and cheese straws.

This weekend, I sat down to start making the candied pecans and, once I got in my sugar-and-spice groove, it was a snap!  I made ten pounds over the course of about five hours.  The cost to me?  Approximately $60 (Five two-pound bags of pecans from a shopping club at $10.19 each, plus the spices I had on hand).  The cost of ordering ten pounds of sugar-and-spice pecans online? $169.50, before shipping and tax!

If you're looking to save money while planning a wedding (not an oxymoron, despite what it might feel like), it can totally be done.  All you need is a little time, and a lot of counter space.  Stay tuned for more budget wedding ideas, including do-it-yourself favors and other Hostess Bag goodies. For candied pecan recipes, click here!