Thursday, November 8, 2007

Discover Your Inner Barista! It's Not Rocket Science!

Yum, yum! Warm grilled bread with peanut butter, some yogurt, and a cup of fresh hot coffee!! This is a great breakfast before I head off to Denver to drop off some friends to the airport. Making your own coffee is always good, grinding your own coffee and making it is better, but grinding and pressing your own coffee is fabulous!

All you need is a coffee grinder (most people have this once gourmet item), a good French press pot (got mine at Liquid Planet), boiling water, and four minutes. It's as easy as that!

French Press Coffee

French press pot (20 oz. travel pot)
3 T (rounded) medium coarse ground coffee, your flavor of choice (used Starbucks Guatemala Antigua today)
hot water

Put the water on to boil and place coffee into pot. Add hot water and stir the ground and water. Take plunger and just place on the top. DO NOT PLUNGE. Wait 4 minutes. This may seem forever but you will be rewarded! Enjoy!

Coffee is so comforting to me. I don't drink it everyday so it's more of a treat than a necessity. The rich aroma and the deep flavor is just heaven.

Whenever I go out to dinner and have dessert I always order coffee. It could be 11 at night and I'll have a steaming cup of java with my always-chocolate dessert. Go out and grab yourself a cup or better yet...brew your own!!

Maid-Rite! I found a Maid-Rite!

Some contacts in FlickrLand rant and rave about In-n-Out, but I long for a Maid-Rite. Growing up in the Midwest we had these in the college town that I spent a long time in. They are sooooo good. Kinda like a sloppy joe but no sauce. Very tasty! Better have a spoon handy! Read about the history of these tasty sammies.

I see that they have one in Loveland. Hmmm...not sure if I want to drive that far for one...but then again....

Loveland Maid-Rite
1490 S.W. 10th Street
Loveland, CO 80537

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

More Mandu Lovlies

More mandu for lunch! Hello Kitty helped me out here today!

Tea & Quesadilla

Love savory things for breakfast! Quick and easy! Yum yum!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Super Savory Lamb & Rosmary Onion Pizza


I was in the mood for my famous grilled pizza. Since it's transitioning to winter right now, I do these inside on my grill pan. Tonight I used leftovers from the freezer and fridge.

My buddy, Bill took me to The Palm last week for Halloween, and it was divine! He insisted that I take home the leftovers. OMG! Even better! Let me take a moment to share what we had. You know I'm a foodie and savor really good dining experiences and want to share them with others!

We had:
Lobster Bisque (shared)
Roasted Lamb Chops (me)
Ribeye (Bill)
Sauteed Wild Mushrooms (shared)
Potatoes Au Gratin (shared)
Creamed Spinach (shared)
Red Wine (shared of course)
Big Ass Chocolate Cake (shared, and it was heavenly...had genache instead of frosting)

We were so full when we left! Very nice B, thanks again!! Okay, back to the task at hand!

Super Savory Lamb & Rosemary Onion Pizza

Pizza dough (I get mine from Sam's Club...frozen...you just cut off a hunk and stretch it out)
1/2 small onion, cut in half, then sliced thin
1 small clove garlic, crushed and chopped
1 t fresh rosemary, stripped from stem (or you can use dry, just use a bit less)
olive oil
1/4 cup red wine (leftover from the other night...thanks Nick for bringing the wine to movie night!)
water (you gotta eyeball this)
1 T tomato paste
6 oz. lamb chop (leftover) sliced into thin strips, off the bone
1/2 cup cheese, I use an Italian blend of mozzarella, asiago and Parmesan
fresh ground black pepper

Alrighty, utilize the mise en place technique and prepare. Slice the lamb and set aside. Yes, I gnawed on the bones.

In a small fry pan over medium high heat pour in olive oil and sweat the onions. Turn down the heat to medium to caramelize the onions. This will take some time (about 15 mintues) but well worth it! Pour in the wine to de-glaze, and add the rosemary and garlic at this time. Simmer and reduce and add the sliced lamb. Cook for a bit longer and then add some water (about 1/4 cup) then the tomato paste. This will thicken up and become your sauce. Remove from heat and set aside.
Okay, I chop off a nice sized ball from my dough (they are 16 oz. each) so it's about 1/4 of it and stretch it out. Turn on the fire under the grill pan to about medium high, more high. Slap the round dough onto the pan and let cook. You just have to keep an eye on it. You want some brown spots. Then flip. Put the lamb mixture on the crust, spread the cheese and cook some more. The cheese will start to melt. Grind some pepper on top.

Set your oven to broil. Place the pan underneath the the broiler until cheese is golden brown and delicious.

Transfer to a cutting board and slice . Note I did use my new CUTCO pizza cutter. Very slick! Enjoy!

Sunny Monday Morning

Good morning! Yet another week begins and the weekend seems so far away! I had 24 hour duty twice last week so it really seemed to drag! I survived though, and am ready for a new fresh start!

Today I'm just having something simple. I love these guys! Frosted Mini-Wheats. Well, the generic equivalent I guess that are bought in jumbo bags located near the floor in most grocery cereal aisles.

Along with a splash of rice milk, and a good cold glass of Nake OJ, it's doesn't really get any better than this.