Comfort Foods and Indulgences

Next to chocolate chip cookies, brownies and blondies are some of the most popular sweet treats. Unfortunately most people bake them from boxed mixes when in fact they are too easy to make from scratch. You can find all the ingredients you need in your pantry. One of my most popular recipes on this site is my best brownies. I love the rich dark chocolate brownies, but I also love blondies just as much. I make them quite often. They might not be as well known as their chocolaty counterpart, but there just as good—if not better.

This recipe is my go-to, all-in-one blondie recipe. I adapt this recipe over and over again. Here it's made with chopped semisweet chocolate and chopped peanuts. Chopping the chocolate results in fudge-like blondies. Use chocolate chips and the blondies will turn out a bit more cake-like since the chocolate won't melt as much. Any chopped nut can stand in place of the peanuts. Instead of milk or dark chocolate, try white chocolate, carob, peanut buttter chips, butterscotch chips, or toffee chips. Variation is encouraged.

If I had to make a shopping list based on what I tried at the Winter 2015 Fancy Food Show, here is what I would recommend buying.

I thought I knew something about maple syrup, but now after talking to Dori Ross of Tonewood Maple I know so much more. Tonewood Maple has gotten some serious attention for their solid maple cube that you can shave to create maple sugar, but it was their single estate varietals of maple syrup that blew my mind. When processed separately (something that doesn’t happen everywhere) you get amazing differences in the flavor. Each bottle is labeled with the actual sugarbush it came from. Some are sweeter, others earthier or even a little spicy. They also make a maple cream, which is something I discovered in Canada. On the East Coast it’s fairly common, but I’ve never seen it out here. It’s a creamy spread made only from maple that you would swear has butter in it. It’s great on toast, pancakes or waffles. They also have a maple tree adoption program that gives you an opportunity to support small maple producers and sustainable farming practices, and bottles of four grades of syrup.

Some years I see a lot of fancy ketchup, this year I didn’t, but a few unusual ones stood out nonetheless. Traina Foods makes ketchup with sun dried tomatoes. They are richer, less sweet, more intense and fresher to me than conventional brands, but can definitely be used the same way you’d use any other ketchup. This year they released a sun dried tomato and sriracha ketchup. Their ketchup has higher concentrations of lycopene and less sugar and salt than other varieties, and is gluten free.  I tried it on a spoon but can’t wait to experiment cooking with it.

Blackberry Patch is now offering fruit ketchups. I tried the raspberry chipotle, blackberry and blueberry. These can also be used just like regular ketchup, but have a much more sophisticated flavor. They are tangy and you really taste the fruit. I would use them as a glaze on lamb, pork or even chicken. The company is owned and operated by two farmers and everything is made in small batches.

My oldest son saw this in a magazine and instantly proclaimed he wanted it for dinner.  I was rather surprised as most kids, including my own, don't like food that is touching or mixed up.  In other words, casseroles are usually out.

But when my kids see something they want me to make, I usually oblige.  However, I can't even begin to imagine what the calorie count is here.  Actually, I don't even care.  Moving on.

I have to admit this quiche is pretty cool, it does taste exactly like a cheeseburger.  A bacon cheeseburger.  You have a crust in place for the buns and this thick slab of cheese on top, meat in the middle and what makes it most authentic tasting is the dill pickle relish.  The relish just gives it that "cheeseburgeresque" taste.  Leaving it out would be a mistake.  A big mistake.

Your first bite will surprise you as your mind is seeing quiche but you are tasting burger.  I even wanted to squirt some ketchup on the side for a little dip.  I think I'll try that tomorrow.

Who doesn't love crispy fried shrimp?  It's such a quick and easy meal to throw together.  I always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer, which makes serving this that much simpler. 

We are definitely shrimp lovers in our household, I know I've said that before.  What I like about using cornmeal is the coating doesn't become too thick and you can actually taste the shrimp and the seasoning as opposed to a mouthful of breading.  My kids really appreciate this.