Writer's Brunch

You heard correctly. Brunch. Meaning breakfast and lunch... which I usually don't get around to eating until one hour before suppertime, when Mr. G gets home.

My response to his "What's for dinner?" usually goes something like:

[exasperated] "Do I look like a maid? What, did you NOT just have lunch? Do you need to eat every hour on the hour?! I have a life too, you know, I'M trying to write."

Anyway, if you too are a wanna-be famous writer, scratch that, famous-or-not, you're writing, you can't let little things like hunger pangs or your partner returning home after a long, hard, strenuous day at a real job, making real money, drag you from your life's true purpose. 

Brunch Menu

• Chai Tea  (A staple. Serve with frothed lactose-free milk, thank you.)
• 1 fresh, organic peach  (IF and ONLY IF it's beginning to rot. You've no time to dilly-dally peeling peaches unless it's absolutely necessary.)
• 2 organic brown rice crackers each topped with organic peanut butter and organic bananas.
• Coke. Except when the last COLD one has been taken by a certain someone stopping by who apparently "DOESN'T KNOW THE RULES" to replace the last Coke in the refrigerator with ANOTHER from the cupboard. In which case, drink water, 'cause you know you're nowhere near the recommended suggested intake of .5 oz times your body's weight.

Mmmmm....Now that's good eatin'!

Bridesmaid's Mother's Blues

Today's suggestion? When it's 3 PM, and you've not yet eatin' a thing because you've been consumed helping a certain someone wade through the mountains of online dresses in their OMG moment of: "HELP!!! I hate the bridesmaid's dress I ordered a week ago and received yesterday for the wedding I'm supposed to be in three days from now!"  Try this:

• Open said refrigerator door
• Grab anything that looks fresh and does not require cooking--keeping in mind your last, recent adventure in the land of indigestible food.
• Devour
• Close refrigerator door

and/or...

• Open cupboard door(s) which contain(s) boxed and/or SWIC (something weird in a can) foods
• If necessary, grab a can opener, open SWIC, devour anything that looks appetizing, hoping one: there's anything in there; two: there's anything in there you'll eat
• Close cupboard door

Take me away Laura!

Mmmmm...Now that's good eatin'!

What Not To Make

Hot tip for the day: If you think it's your imagination, it's probably not.

Who would've known to think it, but sometimes a good recipe is the one you know NOT to make.

Here's my latest discovery. After pulling an all-nighter doubled over in extreme agony on the floor, and bathroom toilet, might I be so bold as to suggest you NOT cook meat that has been in your freezer for say, more than two months. At least not that speciality item you bought at the meat counter that seemed scrumptious at the time, so you bought two to save one for later. You know, flank steak swirled around bacon, cheese, and spinach. Yeah. That one. Of course maybe it just wasn't cooked long enough. I don't remember. What I do remember is chewing some of the bacon in dim light while watching a movie, thinking, "Hmmm... something tastes a little squishy, then again maybe it's just my imagination."

The Secret's Out!

When you're swingin' three blogs with hopes to start a book, something's gotta give! Today, it's this blog post. I wouldn't exactly call it stealing...but you might. I could also clue you in to whose FB page I stole it from, but you probably wouldn't know her anyway. Anyway, my latest discovery about creativity, according to, CREATIVITY: FLOW AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DISCOVERY AND INVENTION is "...creativity involves changing a way of doing things, or a way of thinking, and that requires having mastered the old ways of doing or thinking."

With that, let's see how creative you can get with this recipe below. Bon Appetite!

Secret Sauce Recipe

Click here for website
 or on photograph to view recipe ;)

Mmmmm...Now that's good eatin'!

Baked Taquitos

Taquitos, not tequilas! (Look for suggestions on the latter in Mexican BBQ.) This latest and greatest recipe is also something I do when I don't feel like cooking. It's not as easy as my last post, Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, but it does give me all the satisfaction of junk food, without the junk. And we could ALL use that on days we're feeling:

Phase 1 -

Stuff to get out...

• Crock pot.
• 2 large chicken breasts.
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed.
• 1 medium onion, sliced.
• 4 fresh tomatoes, quartered.
• salt and pepper to taste.

Take above ingredients --this is the non-cooking part--and throw them in a crock pot for hours on high--about four?--until chicken is tender. You can toss the chicken in frozen if you wish, it matters not. It all cooks down to something shreddable. When you can do this easily with a fork, that's when you'll know it's done. Mix it altogether after it's cooked.

Phase 2 -

More Stuff to get out...

• Canola oil.
• Corn Tortillas. My fav brand? Guerrero. How many is up to you. If I want to use up all the filling, and freeze the leftovers, I fry about 24 tortillas. If I don't feel like frying that many, I make 12 at a time, and freeze or save the chicken filling for later.
• Small Cast Iron skillet

In the small cast iron skillet:

Pour in enough oil to cover the skillet 1/4 inch, set burner on high. Quickly dip the tortillas in the hot oil, one at a time, flipping them over; you want them cooked, but pliable. (Add more oil as necessary.) Lay each tortilla on a paper towel after it's fried to soak up the extra oil. I fit two tortillas on one small rectangular paper towel, and stack them as I go, adding more paper towels as needed.

Phase 3 - 

Assemble:

Now comes the fun part. With a spoon, add a small amount of the chicken filling across the lower half of a soft-fried tortilla. Do not put in too much, you want the taquito to be thin, then tightly roll it up. Place taquito on an ungreased baking pan. Continue filling and rolling tortillas until you make the desired number you like. Do not cram the taquitos too close together on your baking pan. Leave just a bit of room between each so they can bake well.

Phase 4 - 

Bake

Preheat oven to 425.

Bake for about 20 minutes (check after 15). They should be golden brown.

Bling

If you like, sprinkle shredded cheese--sharp cheddar or jack--on top of the taquitos the last two minutes of baking.

I dip these in: Mango-Tango Salsa!; Wholy Guacamole; and/or refried beans. (Just blend up the pintos you made from, Slowly Back Away From The Can, and reheat.) If I'm feeling super lazy, I just dip them in a jar of Gringo Salsa!--aka apple sauce.

Suggestions

Need a fun dish for a large gathering or potluck? This is it. But make sure to double it. I would even pre-party by blending up margaritas and inviting a friend over early to help fill and roll taquitos ;)

Mmmmm...Now that's good eatin'!

...But I Don't Want To Cook!

So juice! Well. This is my latest venture anyway. But it's not cheap. First off, which juicer to buy? The twin gear Green Star; or the single, Champion?  The former is twice as expensive as the latter, but has the same ability as a cow to extract juice from wheat grass. The Champion can't do that. Whether or not this matters is up to you.

What you will need next is some yummy juice recipes. Don't venture random juice concoctions on your own. Organic fruits and veggies can be pricey to dump when it looks like brown sludge.

Here's a shortcut to success. If you're lucky enough to live in places like Ashville, NC; The Village, NY; Arcata, CA;  Venice Beach, CA; Santa Cruz, CA --practically anywhere in CA-- run over to your favorite juice bar and grab one of their menus. They'll have all the ideas you'll need to get started free for the taking.

If you're stuck in non-alternative USA, here's the menu from Wildberries Juice Bar. Start here. Ad lib once you get the hang of it.

My personal favorites are Purple Haze (go figure) swap out the ginger for mint; The Yoga; The Mess; Green Energy--add beets; and Sweet Greens. 

Check out those power shakes and smoothies too. But you'll need a blender. Here's a little reminder from my friend, Tim. Make sure to yell, BLENDER! right before you blast it to alert everyone in the nearby vicinity otherwise no one's gonna hear a word anyone's sayin' until you cut it off. My guess is the same holds true for the Champion, and Green Star too.

Mmmmm...Now that's good eatin'!

Better Than Bouillon

This is a desperate last minute recipe entry to promote my latest attempt at getting myself up off the couch and over to the computer to write! I've officially three blogs now with the addition of The Gossip, and hopes to start a book--no rush on that. (J.K. Rowling supposedly took seven years to write Harry Potter. John Fowles took twelve with, The Collector. I'm in good company.) That's what I love about writing. You can go throw the cart in front of the horse and tell everyone you're writing a book, and they won't expect to see anything for years. I could stall this forever.

Anyway, I used  better than bouillon as an adage in my new blog's post, and realized it would make a great title for a recipe to promote this blog in reverse. Thing is, I can't think of a recipe I love that uses it. The other thing is, I'm not one to use bouillon in cooking in the first place. I'd rather use the real deal of whatever bouillon is trying to imitate. Which leaves me with NO recipe. Never you mind. Almost Homemade to the rescue!

Here it is! Easier than my first, the Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Brownie one. If you're tired of that recipe, don't click on the link, I'm highlighting it for newcomers. My latest recipe is inspired from the latest power outage--somewhere in the vicinity of 900,000 homes from Indiana to Virginia--a week ago that thawed out everyone's deep freezers. In all honesty, I doubt my favorite brand of ice cream below was in anyone's on the east coast. Seems Death By Chocolate is all the rage in Charlotte, NC. At least that's what we spent most our time eating while visiting there last summer. That, and 'bout every flavor offered at Cold Stone Creamery. Anyway, here's my fav out west:

Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey! 

C'est simple! C'est magnifique!  Out with the old, in with the new! Go down to your local supermarket, and buy a pint container of this delectable brand ice cream.  On a bad hot day, you can polish it off yourself. Plus, it's so darn hard, your power could go out for a week before it'd melt into something you wouldn't eat! On a diet? Grab a spoon and share it with twenty other people. I'm fairly certain everyone's individual caloric intake would still be over 2ooo. Don't thank me. Thank Jerry. His compassion for Ben's anosmia--complete lack of smell and almost taste--was the inspiration behind the huge chunks of junk goodies in their ice cream.

Mmmmm... Now that's good eatin'!