Larry and Bev, our blogging friends from Tennessee, have been threatening to head to the Wild West for over a year now, and their long awaited visit finally became reality. Their 4,000 mile journey included a stop to the Denver area and I must say, it was a pleasure to finally meet “the breakfast king” in person, his lovely wife Bev and dogs Sweetie Pie and Coco. And just as I imagined, a fun, gracious and lovely bunch they were. We truly felt as if we had known them as close friends for years.
This is the 2nd post for our group project dedicated to spreading the word about the Muy Bueno Cookbook. Organized by Heather over at Girlichef, sponsored by Hippocrene this a project of a mother and two daughters who lovingly explore and share three generations of Mexican and Mexican-American food heritage.
By taking a simple cup of olive oil and infusing it with your favorite herbs and spices, or in this case chipotle peppers and garlic, you create a cooking base that explodes with aroma and flavor.
Always cause to celebrate when one of the bloggerhood gets the opportunity to publish their very own cookbook. And even more reason to celebrate when its my friend Yvette who lives right here in Highlands Ranch. Yvette, Veronica and their mother Evangelina were all born and raised in El Paso, Texas. They started My Bueno Cookbook blog to preserve their family’s culinary heritage. They learned to cook from their grandmother and mother, whose Mexican recipes were legendary among family and friends.
I’m a new member of the Secret Recipe Club. For those of you not familiar with the concept, its members are a group of food bloggers who once a month are secretly assigned to another member’s blog. You sneak around on your assigned blogger, choose a recipe that you’d like to try, write a post about it and reveal that post on the assigned day. Sounded like fun to me, I applied, was put on the waiting list and finally accepted.
My first assignment led me over to Terri’s site, That’s Some Good Cookin‘, and with a tag line of “Food is at it’s best when you have a happy heart”, and seeing a beautiful photo of mashed potatoes dripping in butter, I knew I had found a blog I was going to follow on a regular basis. When I started looking through her posts, I was afraid I was going to have a hard time choosing one recipe to showcase. I stopped in my tracks when I found Tacqueria-Style Slow Cooked Chicken. With my work becoming more demanding, I have vowed to find more crock pot recipes and finding one with a Southwestern flair, I was all over it. Let’s take a look.
While reading this recipe, I said to myself right from the get-go ”Use pork instead of steak”. But Better Homes and Gardens has been such a trustworthy resource over the years, I decided to stick to their recommendations.
It was really pretty good. I love the idea of steak, love the idea of peach steak sauce, love the idea of topping with peach slices and as far as I’m concerned bacon goes with ever-y-thing. The flavors are so good on their own, but seemed to compete a bit with each other when all brought together.
Colorado Western Slope Peaches are making abundant appearance in our grocery stores, farmer’s markets and our kitchen. Beautiful fuzzy fruit full of wonderful juicy flavor. We’ve been cherishing every single bite. With our record-breaking hot summer temperatures and traditional Colorado cool evenings, this year’s crop has seemed even better than ever.
This dessert is one of my favorite things to make during peach season. Years ago, Whole Foods was serving up bite-sized servings of this dessert during an in-store demo. Quite a frenzied crowd had gathered, but with persistence, I managed to get a dribble by dribble description of how to make this at home.
Simple fresh flavors that work so well together. Caramelized peaches flavored with vanilla, lemon and butter and topped with a big dollop of creamy mascarpone cheese most certainly makes for a wonderful treat. Let’s take a look.
Vanilla Roasted Peaches with Mascarpone and Raspberries…It’s What’s for Dessert.
The first time we ever heard of Eggplant Caponata was when we had it at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville, Oregon. It was like nothing we had ever tasted. Sauteed eggplant and onions flavored with cinnamon and cocoa powder, crunchy with pine nuts and richly colored with balsamic vinegar. A combination of complex flavors that work very well together. It almost reminds me of a chunkier, richer and more savory version of a chutney. I made this after arriving home from our Oregon trip, and actually blogged about it in 2009. It was somewhat hidden in the post as an appetizer for a main course and accompanied by an unrecognizable photo, so we’ll just pretend it never happened.
