Happy Friday! Sorry I'm posting this so late, but today has been nuts. Fortunately Steve has come through with another good 'un.
Have a great weekend! Just a reminder, but our newsletter only sale on Survival Spice™ ends at the end of next week, so buy 2 and get one free!!!
This is two of our favorite salads smashed together- guacamole, and a Greek salad. It took a little bit of thinking to figure out how to do it, but I settled on a deconstructed guacamole- avocado, shaved red onions, cilantro, and lemon juice, with some radishes added for some zip. The Greek salad has a few common elements- onion and lemon juice; so all I had to add wass some of the organic butter lettuce I had, feta cheese and some black Greek olives.
For the dressing, I decided on more of a Greek type dressing with some of our Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva, and a blend of Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco and lots of lemon juice. I added some liquified garlic, dry oregano, and kosher salt and pepper.
It was awesome, and I have to say that the organic butter lettuce was really good, it had a much firmer texture than you find in most of the more delicate lettuce you see in the market.
Was it worth $3? Eh...... maybe once in a while.
I bought a head of "Live" Butter (bib) lettuce at Sprouts Market the other day. Normally I would have been happy with the standard fare, but this was all they had at the time.
I guess the thinking is that by leaving the roots attached, it retains its freshness longer. At $2.99, it had better be good!
Ever tried this? Just curious if you think $3 is a bit steep for a smallish head of lettuce, even if it is substantially fresher.
Okay, I've been a slouch this week, so time to break out the cute cat pics.
This is Hankie. He has an eye for quality champagne, doesn't he?
It's Friday. Whoo hoo!!!!!!!!!!! I hope everyone is ready to get out of work and fire up the grills.
Here's a cool Friday Funny from Steve, thank you most kindly, sir.
Have a great weekend!!!! Cook something good, willya?
Looks like Paul's found himself a new BBQ toy to play with:
I saw it and said what the heck. I am always interested in new Barbeque products. The website http://lokkii.com/ says it is organic.(Whoopdiedoo). I think Mesquite charcoal is the same. I ordered a six pack. The shipping ended up the same as the product.I had a Corned Beef Brisket and some Beef Ribs. I rubbed them with Survival Spice™ and started cooking it with one brick. I wanted to cook low and slow. When you first light these suckers it smells like pine. Maybe that is there secret ingredient. Once it is lit the smell goes away. I had to light a second log after an hour. They claim it will cook for two hours. I had it in a Weber Kettle.
What do I think?. Can you trust a product from China? Do you want to pay shipping? I give it a thumbs down.!! I would only recommend it you were backpacking because of the convience. It had a Pine smell when you lit it. I do not trust that this was an organic lighting system. There was some chemicals. The only plus I found was convience.
Now to the Highlights of the Dinner. Corned Beef and Beef Ribs rubbed with Survival Spice. Creamed Corn with Bacon (A&B Market,Bend Or,) Tomatoe with Pt.Reyes Blue Cheese, and a whole lot of Lovvin!!!!! Peace, Paul.
I wonder if that smell was resins they probably add as a binder, to keep it from falling apart during shippping. Interesting idea, if wonder if they're selling a lot of them? It is a great idea for campers, and people using public grills that don't want to haul around a bag of charcoal. Chile said that they're about 4 1/2" across.
Man, those ribs look good enough to eat!!! Ribs + Survival Spice® = good times.
Here's a quick picture of some fried tilapia I did recently, along with an artichoke. I just dusted them with flour, added a touch of oil, then seasoned them with our Survival Spice™ barbecue rub, which is wonderful on any fish, from basa to salmon!
What really makes the shot though, I think, is the super cool piece of Indian art given to us as a wedding present by our friends Mary and Dennis. It got cut off in the picture a bit, but we're thrilled to have it!
Cook anything good lately? Go ahead, start bragging...
Happy, happy Friday. Lots to do today, but here's a great joke sent in by Mark, thank you kindly, sir.
Have a great weekend. Spark up those grills and make me proud!
Thanks for reading, and for supporting Desert Island Foods®.com. Uh, you have supported Desert Island Foods® recently, haven't you?...
In another of a long-running series of "What Did You Have for Dinner Last Night", here's a quick rundown of a quick dinner.
I threw a bunch of minced garlic in Ziplock bag, along with the ever present Survival Spice™ and a few all natural chicken breasts to marinate, while I fired up our gas grill. I took a nice sweet potato and cut it into 4 wedges and threw it in the microwave for about 2 minutes, so it could cook through while I got a steamer basket ready for some organic brocolli crowns.
Once the sweet potatoes were tender, I drizzled on a bit of our organic TIbvrtini Extra Virgin Olive Oil and seasoned them with some kosher salt and pepper.
Okay, brocolli's in the steamer and the chicken and sweet potatoes are ready to go on the grill. I grilled the taters on medium high, to get some grill marks and carmelize the sugars, then turned them down to finish cooking while the chicken was cooking. A few pecan wood chips made it all nice and smoky.
Sorry, nothing fancy about this, but it was wonderful.
Been cooking, especially with Desert Island Foods®.com products? Email me!
I love salmon, and sockeye salmon is a nice treat whenever you find it in the market.
If you're not familiar with the sockeye variety, its color is a hint of what makes it unique. Unlike other types of salmon- Coho, regular pink salmon, etc., sockeye salmon feed almost completely on a diet of krell and plankton, which gives it the beautiful deep red color for which it is famous. I learned this morning that this diet is also the reason why the mercury levels in sockeye are so much lower than other types of salmon.
Because sockeye live farther north, they have a higher fat content. Let's see- bigger flavor, lots of rich fats and omega-3 oils, can something be so healthy and have an utterly amazing flavor, too?
Yep.
I hit it lightly with Survival Spice™, some Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva, and a little hot sauce. Grilled it off, along with some portabello mushrooms, red onions, and some yellow and Italian squash.
This stuff can't be healthy, it tastes too good.
Here's a shot of a really simple rib technique, indirectly cooked over a gas flame with lots of pecan smoke. I kept just a touch of direct heat on them, then fired it up a bit at the end to get them crispy.
I love slow smoked wood fired ribs, but on the other hand, these were ready in a little over an hour.
Happy Friday, folks! Sorry I'm posting this a bit late, but here's a good 'un from KC, a new joke contributor and Survival Spice™ fan.
Have a great weekend. Cook something good, willya?
Chilebrown proves once again the Good Ingredients + Good Cooking= Good Times:
We had a little Ham. that we picked up from our last Meat Adventure. Ms. Goofy, Reverend Biggles, Cookiecrumb, Cranky and I went to the 'City', to a Polish Meat Market. The butcher smoked his own bacon, sausage and ham. I picked up a bunch of stuff including this small ham and some Hot Russian Mustard.It has been overcast in Sunny California. It was a good excuse to fire up the Beehive Oven. I built a fire of Almond Wood. I scalloped some potatoes and drowned them in the richest cream I could find. I wrapped the ham in some thick cut bacon. I am still learning about cooking in the Beehive. I closed the door on the oven. and the temperature soared to 900 degrees. Whoa, it is a good thing I checked. I opened the door and covered the potatoes with foil. I cooked it for 20 minutes, rotating the dishes once.
The Potatoes were very rich and delicious. The Ham with the bacon was smoky good. A little smidge of Hot Russian Mustard made it come all together.
Peace, Paul
By the way, I do believe it's Dr. Biggles' birthday. Click on over and wish him well. You might have to speak up a bit, though, he's getting older...
Okay, aren't we all?
Great job, Paul:
This dispatch in from beautiful Flagstaff, AZ:
Pictures of last night's dinner. Barbequed Survival rubbed rib eye and veggies, and a beer. I'm roughing it up here. Steve
"Roughing it" with Survival Spice™ and a great Chimay. I think I'm due for some roughing it, myself.
How was your weekend, cook anything good? I always love to get emails of great food that you're making!
Happy Friday, kind and gentle people. Funny, since we've gotten married, I get a lot of jokes like this. Go figure...
Here's a great joke from Janella, hope y'all enjoy it!
Have a great weekend. Thanks, as always, for supporting Desert Island Foods®.com.
(Janella's Ginormous Green Pepper)
Wow. Looks good enough to eat! Or frame:
Just wanted to share a picture of the green peppers I picked from my garden! Too bad they don't let adults show their produce at the fari! I would have been the grand champion.
(Photo: Janella, of her Grilled Chicken and Veggies with Survival Spice™)
Here's a plate of grilled chicken with veggies straight from my garden - green peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes.. What are they seasoned with?!?!?? Why - Survival Spice, of course!
Geez, I never get invited for dinner. Great job, Janella. That's some good stuff.
