Please tell me it's NOT a chocolate chip pizza!

Don´t worry, it wasn´t!

It was a spicy meatball kind of pizza. I always go for this one

I just put this in the oven... and it is tormenting me as I write.. It's a twist on Mac n' Cheese, and tastes just amazing.. really... even if it does sound slightly unorthodox. It's actually become my "go to" Mac and Cheese recipe, I like it much better than any other variations I have tried.
I typically add a couple of dry, cured chorizo sausages, about 1/4 of a red onion, and sometimes a julienned red bell pepper. Occasionally, I'll also garnish the portions with crispy, fried sage leaves.

Makes between 4 and 6 servings, depending on how hungry or oinkish people feel. Because of the high liquid content, this reheats well the next day, so no need to be concerned about rubbery leftovers.

Smoky Mac n' Cheese

ArtemisNoir2, that sounds amazing! I have added jalapeños to mac and cheese, but this is a whole new dish!

I have never had leftover cake, leftover custard, and leftover whipped cream at the same time before. The result: deconstructed trifle.

Sounds Awesome!

Easter brunch: sausage with wild rice plus white chocolate chip pancakes.

Easter brekkie: Hard boiled egg with butter & hot sauce. Toasted english muffin with butter and vegemite. Slice of bacon. Coffeeee.

(Chocolate bunny and jelly beans to follow)

Easter dinner: Ham steak, German potato salad (with my own modifications, just like my TES IV!) and asparagus. Chased down with a bottle of amber lager. Yumm!

To be followed by balsamic strawberries over angel food cake. Like, right about now.

*leaves computer chair spinning emptily*

Some friends are coming over for dinner so I made hautee’s Cloud Ruler Temple Beef Stew.

Yummy! How did it go over?

Unbelievably well. People ate like it was their last meal. I have the tiny bit of pot-scrapings that were left over heating on the stove right now, and there might be blood shed over it. I see pieces of buttered bread pre-positioned on the counter already. The wolves are down here circling. I doubt if it will meet a bowl or plate!

Our friends who came over last night are very fitness-aware and like me and Mr. Grits have reached the age where it’s best to push back from the plate long before you feel full. They had not eaten all day in preparation for dinner, so it was a feeding frenzy, lol.

Thank you for that recipe, haute! It is a real winner!

Of course! You're welcome!

Glad to know your fitness-aware friends saved their appetites all day for the good stuff.

I just found two of those little foil-wrapped chocolate Easter eggs buried (hidden?) under some cough drops. Score.

^ ^
Yum, chocolate!

I'm having corn on the cob with a glass of Tamikas red.

Yum, corn! I love summer.

Pancit!



http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C8r8NMsz2Wc/TlxR...40/DSC_0594.JPG

Pancit! Damn, that brings back memories. We usually eat pancit with little sweetbreads we call puto maya. Frickin' delicious, I say.

Get me a recipe for the Puto maya and I'll make it.


** EDIT = Got one, thanks! My son will love that!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmGFpvAlW5A

Bad idea to ask me for a recipe, mALX. I'm a devourer, not a maker!

Anyway, here's a rough sketch, since I dimly remember making it once with Da Krew. And this one's a variation to boot! You're actually going to taste Ulenian Cuisine! If you survive eating it, I'll give you a medal.

PUTO MAYA
2 Cups cake flour
1 Cup sugar
4 to 5 egg whites
2 Tablespoons of Baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cup of water
1/4 evaporated milk
Yellow food coloring
*
FLAN
4 egg yolks
1 can of condensed milk (300)
2 Teaspoons of lemon juice
----
HOW TO
----
First we'll start with the flan
---
Separate the white from the yolk; keep the white and set them aside, we'll need them for later.

In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, condensed milk, and lemon juice.

Stir them circly until they're blended.

Pour that mixture into little individual containers that are greased. I think you guys call them moulds?

Cover them with a cheesecloth and steam them on low heat for 8 minutes.

When its done, remove and let them cool.
----
Now, for the second part, we're going to do the Puto Maya.
----
In a medium bowl, combine egg whites, evaporated milk and sugar.
Blend them until the mixture is baby smooth.

Combine cake flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.

Keep stirring it until they are completely combined.

Pour the earlier egg mixture and the food coloring.

Mix them all until they're smooth; ensure that there's no lumpy lumps in the batter.

Scoop the mixture and pour it over the flan we made earlier; fill it nearly to the top.

Cover them with a cheesecloth and steam them on low for another 10 minutes.

Remove from steamer, let them cool, and voila! You have just made Ulenian Magic Food!

*faints from sustained migraine for trying to remember the correct details on how to make the damn things*

This is fantastic, Uleni! And much different than what I found on the internet, too! Thank you for your straining, I appreciate it a lot!

You'd be surprised how common that variation is. Its a combination of two foods, to be honest. Leche Flan and Puto Maya. They're frickin' delish, totes. And I will now kill myself for using those ridiculous words.

Well, I'm def going to try the Uleni cuisine first!


Okay, I've got the right vid for it now:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1a7j_rDYro

There we go! And the voice... The voice of the narrator! A sweet delight all in itself!

This sounds (and looks) delicious!








I love flan anyway, and the cake mixture here is the same one we use in our blackberry and apple cobblers, so this is the one I want to make.

(and yes, she had a beautiful voice!)

Holdupholdupholdup...you're Spanish/Hispanic, speak English fluently, and live in Japan.



Damn, son.

Actually, no. I'm a Filipino with just a little hint of Spanish, Chinese and German blood running through my veins. And possibly roots to a minor noble in far away Scotland, too? Seriously, its all a little confusing and a tad bit questionable, even to me, so I just say I'm a Feely Pin Oh! to spare everyone a Hobbit-like discussion on genealogies

We might be related, I have a pint of Royal Scotch in me too!



https://www.warehousewinesandspirits.com/im...otch-whisky.gif

If we're talking about what I am eating 'at this moment' the answer is . . . nothing. Around the turn of the millennium I made it a policy to never eat at the keyboard with two exceptions:

. . . Breakfast, which invariably consists of a banana, wheat toast smeared with sugar free preserves/jelly and butter substitute, and a large grass of skim milk, along with a multi vitamin, a few herbal supplements and my morning migraine preventative dosage.

. . . A mid evening small grass of skim milk, sometimes accompanied by cinnamon toast.

As much time as I spend at the computer, were I to associate computing with snacking I would be a blimp within months.

My diet is for the most part dreadfully plain, predictable and boring. Five to six days a week I have sane canned soups for lunch and lettuce based salads with lots of veggies, a sprinkle of raisins, some tuna, and dressing for supper. Fresh fruit . . . normally an apple or peach depending on which is cheaper any given week . . . serves as dessert. Water is my drink of choice for lunch and supper.

Those days I don't eat soup and salad I generally grab a Subway sandwich on the way home from an appointment or errand. (I had Black Forest Ham on wheat just yesterday, following an ENT appointment.) Once in blue moon I eat a true splurge meal at a local Chinese Buffet. Best I can recall it's been a good three months since I last did so. Thanksgiving and Christmas day I dine with my brother at a local conventional American food buffet.

I haven't eaten conventional dessert / snack foods in ten years, and doubt I've drunk more than two gallons of alcohol in my entire life, most recently circa 1990.

Reading the above, bear in mind that I'm an old fart with a number of health issues. Back in the day I was a avid diner out who rarely ate at home. I'd eat at an Italian restaurant one day, a Chinese restaurant the next, Mexican after that and so on. I don't have the budget for that sort of thing any more, and am far more health conscious from necessity.

This sounds very much like the diet I have very recently been restricted to again; or at least it sounds like it would fit right in with what I am allowed now. Caffiene and salt have not been allowed since 2013; but I got out of the habit of following that diet and have recently been re-reminded that I had better get back to following it.

So now I am logging your diet and going to try to take some tips and hints from this, it sounds like you have found the best way to eat within the restrictions and find the most flavorful alternatives to the cardboard the doctors have advised, lol.

Bon Appetit!

Coffee and pumpkin pie.

Me too!

One of the three most important pie meals of the day after.

Pepsi and pizza for me.

The true American holiday meal!

That's right 'Merica FTW!

Pizza counts as pie, doesn't it?

Wait, this thread is what are you eating/drinking; and your answer is "Americans?" ... Where do I sign up? (and which flavor do you prefer?)

Another great American pie meal!

I weighed myself with some hesitation just prior to showering this morning, it being so soon after Turkey Day. To my surprise, not only had I not put on any weight but had actually dropped two pounds since my last weigh-in! I'm elevenish pounds above what I'd like to be . . . and maybe seven or eight more over what I consider ideal . . . but what I'm at now ain't bad. Not bad at all. I am well within limits, and in reality would be met with incredulity by my doc should I suggest that I need to lose weight. Realistically, I can't see myself shedding more than an additional pound or two, if that, without resuming an exercise routine that is beyond what my health currently permits.

Alas, Walmart was out of Healthy Request Cream of Chicken soup today. I substituted Healthy Request Cream of Celery, which became lunch. I crumbled in two slices of 100% whole grain wheat bread (it carries a Heart Healthy label, for what that's worth), added dashes of black pepper, garlic powder and paprika, and topped it off with a splash of Frank's Hot Sauce. Not one of my favorite soups by a long-shot, but after a few bites I grew to accept it. Half a Fuji apple for dessert, despite an uncomfortable price increase.

Supper, which I'll prepare after posting this, will be my usual lettuce salad with various veggies, shrooms, raisins, tuna, and an as yet undecided dressing. Half a Fuji apple for dessert. Oh yeah, water to drink.

As the holiday meals approach I’ve been freeing up fridge and pantry space by cooking whatever odds and ends are hanging around. Yesterday I made what might best be described as cooked celery with carrot mush over orzo, but since I was the only one home for lunch there were leftovers.

I got the leftovers out for myself today and then stepped into the next room to do something. I heard my son come downstairs and go into the kitchen looking for breakfast, though we couldn’t see each other due to walls in between. He must have seen my celery and carrot dish sitting out, because he said (presumably to himself), “What is this [censored]? I hope she’s not trying to feed me this [censored].”

So I’m having “this [censored],” he’s having pizza and donuts, and we’re all having barbeque with slaw and beans for dinner.

My sister was going to bake some mince pies yesterday, but substituted the traditional 'pie' shape for pastry swirls. I'm not sure what to call them. Mince swirls? Mince pinwheels? Anyway, they're delicious.

MMMMM!!! Sounds delicious!

Lil Smokies cooked in Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce. It must be Christmas.

I just looked it up and immediately went mmmmmmmm

They are definitely mmmm and smell good enough to tempt the vegetarians in the family while they are cooking. But they are not exactly health food, so it’s a rare thing to see me opening a pack. I made enough that we should have had a lot left over, but apparently my son got in there with a big bowl last night and just about emptied the pot. Yikes! Good thing he will sleep through any stomach ache he might have this morning!

Today we are making my Gramma’s spice cookies with ginger, nuts, and candied fruit in them. The recipe makes a huge batch so we will be eating them for days.

*Packs knife & fork, then studies map looking for fast travel point to Grits' house*

*fires up coffee pot, fills plate with cookies*

My brother decided we would eat Xmas day lunch at an establishment new to me, a local Chinese centric all-you-can-eat buffet. Good stuff, though I prefer the flavor of some but not all entrees at another local Chinese centric AYCE buffet. Rolls at the new place are a definite improvement. The other place used to have really good rolls, but over a year ago switched to rolls with so little substance they can easily be squeezed to the size of marbles . . . yuk. I over ate shamelessly, piling my place high first time round and going back for a second, less filled, plate. (I normally do not go back for seconds at buffets.) No dessert . . . not even tempted. Water to drink.

This meal and our Turkey-Day lunch are my only two food purchases of the year budgeted under 'spending money' rather than 'food'. I do not feel this is cheating. These two meals are eaten as family commitments. Were it not for those commitments I would almost certainly not dine out for those meals, or if I did not spend as much as I did this Xmas. That meal cost me $15 plus tip! Outrageous by my standard. I budget myself $50 per week on food, be it groceries, dining out or a combination thereof. Though I occasionally go a few dollars over that, I more often stay within the $40-45 range. That being the case, $17 for one meal is too much. (The other Chinese Buffet is a more reasonable $7+ plus tip. I eat there maybe once ever few months if that.)

Including that meal I have so far spent only $193 of my $580 spending money allowance this month. The whole thing is in some way rather silly, as all budget categories draw from the same bank account. But budgeting as I do helps me keep a firm grip on my spending habits. I virtually never spend more than I make in any given month, except for rare cases like having the roof repaired and reshingled several months ago.

I'm big on budgeting too, but adding to that is that after seeing several episodes of "caught on tape" based in what servers do with your food at restaurants - not a fan of going to restaurants unless I know the place or people.

But when I do = At Buffets I normally take a small sampling of everything on the first plate, just enough to taste if I'm going to want more. Plate two is only made up of anything I enjoyed. My big weakness in Chinese restaurants is the Rangoons:




Some are made with crab and cheese; some just plain cheese - either equally good if the restaurant is good.

Other than that, in a Chinese restaurant I tend to gravitate toward the shrimp or crab items. (1) Seafood is scarce in the mountain areas unless you go to the streams and catch your own crawdad. and (2) Don't like to eat any meat I can't tell by looking at it what animal it came from; in hopes the words "It tastes like chicken" never have to pass my lips,

That makes me ask; what do they do with your food?