Comfort Foods and Indulgences

pimentocheeseIt hit me hard. A craving for pimento cheese just came out of nowhere and wham! I had to have some.

The mother of one of my good buddies from my childhood in Hawkinsville made the best pimento cheese… and that’s the recipe I wanted to try. I couldn’t remember exactly how she made it, so I tried to recreate hers. Low and behold, I came out with a version I’m quite proud of. Like any dish, simple but good ingredients make the difference, and with pecans falling, a fall spin on this Southern classic was born.

Toasted pecans make just about anything better...tomato soup, any dessert, salads, and now pimento cheese. That essence, that flavor of goodness from a toasted pecan makes my taste buds sing.A slight salting doesn’t hurt either. A few of these from the farm goodies tucked into my pimento cheese sandwich were quite good my friends, quite good. 

Now on to my next pimento cheese condiment…Wickle’s Pickles. Those of us who attended Auburn or are from that neck of the woods know what I’m talking about. These Dadeville, Alabama exports are pickles with a kick and are super right out of jar or on a sandwich or burger. (Try my pimento cheese and these pickles on a burger…wow!) Many of the major grocers are now carrying this brand so go get some as soon as you can! Be sure to try them with my pimento cheese and toasted pecans too...yum!

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pizza-rolls-007a-1024x682.jpgI seldom watch football. But, I never pass up a Super Bowl party. It’s not the football game that lures me. It’s the food. Super Bowl Sunday is one of the best food days of the year. While the football fans hoot and holler, you’ll find me dipping chips, nibbling spicy chicken wings, loading up a bowl of chili with lots of toppings, slipping sliders onto my plate and maybe grabbing a slice of pizza.

My contributions to the Super Bowl feast this year will include a couple of these Super Bowl Pizza Rolls. It doesn’t take long to assemble a roll with refrigerated pizza crust dough, meat, Italian seasoning blend and plenty of cheese.

I made one Pizza Roll just before my husband came home for lunch, using hot Italian sausage as the meat. By the time he headed back to work, the long loaf was just about gone.

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hazelnut-cream-puffsChoux pastry is one of the most important kinds of pastry in French cooking. The translantion of the word “choux” is cabbages. Actually, “my little cabbage” is a term of endearment in France. With choux, you can make petite sweet pastries called profiteroles, and savory cheese puffs, gougeres. The basic dough is always made the same way with the same proportions — 1/4 pound butter, 1 cup water, 1 cup flour and 4 large eggs. This scientific formula will produce hollow puffs when baked, golden brown and crispy on the outside. With choux pastry, I make Cream Puffs.

My first taste of cream puffs came from a batch my mom made, filled with vanilla ice cream and doused with chocolate sauce. I liked them. I think we should start a Facebook page that would generate support for making the cream puff the new cupcake. Just like those sweet little frosted cakes, light, chubby cream puffs can be picked up and eaten out of hand.

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ImageThere must be as many ways to make chili as there are shades of Sherwin-Williams paints. There’s no right or wrong way to make chili. It’s all about what pleases your taste buds. And, I’m always willing to give a new twist to a pot of chili.

Dennis Weimann, News Director/Anchor of Lakeland News at Lakeland Public Television sent me an email the other day and shared a chili recipe he had developed. He was planning to make a pot that day. Maybe he’s getting ready for the next United Way Chili Cook-off in Bemidji. I examined the list of ingredients. First, I noticed it had beans and meat. That’s important to me. I can eat a chili with beans and meat or with beans only. I don’t mean to make any of my Texas friends shudder, but I just can’t call it chili if there is only meat with no beans in the pot.

As my eyes moved further down the list of ingredients, I began to see a side of Dennis Weimann that amazed me. I had no idea he was a spice guy. A chili head. A lover of heat.

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snickerdoodleSnickerdoodles are a New England favorite, but the exact origin of the cookie seems to be a mystery. The Joy of Cooking claims that Snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which means "snail dumpling.

A different author suggests that the word "snicker" comes from the Dutch word snekrad, or the German word Schnecke, which both describe a snail-like shape. Whatever the origin, they are a delicious cookie with crisp edges and soft and chewy centers with a lovely buttery sweet cinnamon flavor.

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