Did you watch last night’s Top Chef? You know, the new one in Texas. I recorded it then watched it this afternoon. And while I usually love Top Chef, this episode left me feeling… well, a little annoyed.

I get that they wanted to make it bigger being in Texas and all that. But shouldn’t we be starting the real competition in episode 2? I mean, come on. Instead we get 2 hours of qualifying rounds. It feels like filler to me. Maybe I’m just annoyed because I didn’t get to see who all of the finalists will be.

Maybe I’m spoiled?

It’s not that I have anything against the qualifying rounds, I just think they should have gotten them all done in the premier last night so we could get on with it. But I guess their strategy is working, I’m going to watch next week so I can see who else made it into the “main event”. Hrm. I feel so cheap.

Anyway.

Let’s move on, shall we?

What is your favorite pumpkin treat? I do love pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream, but my absolute favorite pumpkin treat (for the moment) is pumpkin bread.

It all started a week ago when I innocently bought a slice of pumpkin bread with my soy latte at Starbucks. The Target near me has a Starbucks inside and sometimes I like to sip a latte while I look at the stuff I don’t need. But anyway, the pumpkin bread. Yum.

I left Target and hit Trader Joe’s to pick up a few essentials and was greeted by stacks of their boxed pumpkin bread mix.

So I bought one.

And then I went home and made it. And then I ate it.

Well, I did share it with Dan and the boys but I got mine…

As I wiped the counters clean of the last remaining pumpkin bread crumbs, I realized that I have not made pumpkin bread in a long time, if ever. By made I mean, with a recipe not a box (not that there is anything wrong with the right box).

It took me a week of hemming and hawing and avoiding Starbucks and Trader Joe’s, but I finally did it. I made pumpkin bread. And it is delicious.

A couple of months ago, I went to my friend Christine’s baby shower. The food theme was “babyQ”, so they had baby back ribs and baby-sized burgers. And I contributed some baby-sized ‘hostess’ cupcakes.

Sitting on the back patio, I watched as her brother pulled rack after rack of saucy ribs off of the grill and my mind went blank. All I could think was “Mmm…ribs” which can be loosely translated as “Holy mother of all things delicious, I gotta eat those now!”

After the shower, I asked Christine to share the recipe for the ribs because they were some of the best I’ve eaten. Not only did she share it with me, she graciously gave me permission to share it with you all saying: “these ribs should be shared!”

So here you go: Ribs a la Christine. Easy and does not require a smoker or a grill. Perfect for a party or just cause you’re in the mood for bbq love.

Let’s make some ribs!

Start with a rack or 2 of ribs. (These are baby back pork ribs). Also, preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

You can use any kind of rub or seasoning you want. Christine said they used Bone Suckin’ Sauce Rib Rub for the baby shower ribs. I had some Rub with Love Smoky Barbecue Rub in the cupboard so that’s what I used. But any rub will do.

After you’ve rubbed down both sides of your rack, do a few zig zags of yellow mustard (yep, the stuff you put on hot dogs).

Smear the mustard so it’s evenly distributed. Do this on both sides of the ribs.

Put your ribs onto a baking sheet with a rim and fill it with about 1/2 inch with water, apple cider or beer. I used water here.

A word of caution: don’t put too much liquid in the pan. You will need to be able to move this pan around and carry it to the counter or whatever when it is hot. Too much liquid = more likely to slosh and spill hot liquid on you. So be careful.

Cover your pan with foil and put it into your 250 degree oven for 1 hour. Carefully remove pan from the oven, peel back the foil, and flip the racks over. Re-cover with the foil and put it back into the oven for another hour.

Seriously, be careful. I spilled hot water all over the floor but was lucky to miss my toes.

After the ribs have cooked for 2 hours, drain the liquid from the pan. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees. Slather the ribs with any kind of bbq sauce you like. Bake for 30 minutes or until the sauce is thick and glazed.
* Or you can finish them with the sauce on the grill. Either way, so good!

Mmm… ribs.

Last month I was back in Georgia visiting family and ventured out to Metter to visit my Aunt Helen for lunch. She is a vivacious Southern lady, always good for a story and a tasty bite or three. For lunch she served a Greek-inspired salad to keep things light so that we could indulge in dessert: ice cream pie.

One bite and I was sold. Some may say this is like a mudslide, I won’t argue. But since my introduction to it was “ice cream pie”, that’s what I’m calling it. It’s really easy to make with store-bought ingredients (I like to find natural ice cream, like Breyer’s, that has a really short and non-chemically-sounding ingredients list).

I’m now contemplating how this could be adapted… maybe a strawberry and lemon in a graham crust?

P.S. I hope you are all having a great summer and keeping cool!

Cornbread. When it’s bad, it’s bad. Dry and flavorless, or too cakey and sweet. But when it’s good.. it is so good.

That said, when I have chili, I always want cornbread. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s like gestalt.

You know, “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”… like peanut butter and chocolate… Both are good on their own but together they create something much better. Chili and cornbread are like that for me too.

Then again, cornbread and butter are often enough to make me happy…

More buttermilk magic

Biscuits	Pancakes
Whoopie pies	Blackberry grunt
Devil’s food cupcakes	Red velvet cupcakes

Winter has been overstaying its welcome. And I’m tired of it. With a string of day upon day of gray and rainy, I have had it. I wanted a piping hot bowl of comfort.

But not if I have to work for it. Cause you know… I’m lazy.

And somewhere in the midst of that lazy gray mood, we invited some friends over for dinner. Aw man, that means I have to cook something.

Sounds like work to me. Cause you know… I’m lazy.

So I turned to my old buddy, Mr. Crockpot, for help. Actually, I let him to do most of the work.

I opened some cans, cooked a little ground turkey, stirred it up, and 10 minutes later I was curled up on the sofa with Raven watching NCIS reruns.

About half an hour before guests were due to arrive, I peeled myself off of the couch and made cornbread. And voila! We had the perfect dinner for a damp winter day. Thank you, Mr. Crockpot.

You know what’s even better than a hot bowl of chili on a rainy day? A fat slice of cheesecake made by Christine, the founder of fabulous Neococoa truffles.

That chocolate swirl? Oh, it’s just Scharfenberger 70% dark chocolate. Holy yum, Batman!

Now… let’s make some chili!

Gather your ingredients (2 cans each of black beans and kidney beans, 1 can corn, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, 1 large onion, 1 pound of ground turkey).

Dice the onion and brown the ground turkey.

Drain the beans and corn. Put everything into the crockpot.

Beware of the wild animals you may attract at the sound of the can opener.

Add a teaspoon of chili powder. I generally go light on spicy stuff so the kids can eat it, but I do add a little chili powder for flavor. It’s good without too though.

If you love spicy food, feel free to kick it up as many notches as you want with chili powder, cayenne, or adding jalapeños or green chiles.

Mix it all up and put a lid on it.

Set it and forget it (wait, is that trademarked?).

At any rate, set the slow cooker to low and leave it alone for at least 6 hours and up to 10. I generally shoot for 7-8 hours.