Meyer Lemon Cookies

When I found out that The Daily Meal was having a recipe contest featuring Country Crock spread, I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring. And of course I went with a baked item.

Here's the deal. I live at high altitude and baking can sometimes be finicky. Cookies sometimes spread too much, particularly those with a lot of butter. To thwart that, I sometimes add vegetable shortening to cookies, but that stuff doesn't add any flavor to the party. I figured that County Crock would be fun to work with.

I decided to use Meyer lemon in these cookies, but they'd be great with any citrus you like, or skip the citrus and add vanilla instead.

For Easter, you could add a drop of food coloring to tint the cookies or shape them into egg shapes. Drizzle with a little icing or chocolate, if you like. The basic cookie is a blank slate, so adapt it any way you like.

These cookies are crisp with a little chew. Don't overbake them, or they can get hard ... but then they're pretty good dipped into coffee or tea.

Meyer Lemon Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Country Crock spread
1 1/4 cups sugar
Zest and juice from 1 Meyer lemon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat the Country Crock spread, sugar, Meyer lemon zest, and Meyer lemon juice at medium speed in a medium bowl with an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat for a few minutes, until the mixture is fluffy.

Add the flour mixture in several additions (this helps keep it from flying around the kitchen when you start the mixer), beating just enough to blend it well.

Use a small scoop to form balls of dough, and place them on the baking sheets, leaving room between them to spread. I put 12 cookies on each of two sheet and had enough dough left for another 6 cookies, but it depends on how big you make your cookies. Flatten the cookies with the palm of your hand.

Bake at 350 degrees until the cookies are very slightly browned, about 16 minutes - don't overcook them. If you're baking 2 sheets of cookies at a time, you'll probably want to swap them around after about 10 minutes of baking.

Remove the cookies from the sheets and let them cool completely on a rack. Continue forming and baking cookies until all the dough is used.

Yum

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

When I heard that Healthy Solutions Spice Blends was having a recipe contest, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I like entering contests. I makes me think of cooking things I might not think about otherwise.

Also, I've used the Healthy Solutions blends before, so I knew what I was getting myself into.

The Bold Beef Blend is my favorite so far - I've used it several times for beef roasts and well as in sous vide recipes, like this one for a sous vide beef rib roast.

My impression of the Bold Beef Rub was that it made the beef taste beefier, so I thought it might work to add beefy flavor to something that had no beef at all. Like a vegetarian French onion soup.

While you can make French onion soup with something other than beef stock, it's the flavor I like the best. So that's why it was my target.

I got the result I was looking for. The combination of the beef rub, tomato paste and red wine, along with the onions, gives this soup an umami-rich flavor that will convince you that you're eating a beef-based soup.

While I'm not suggesting that you try to fool anyone into thinking you're serving beef soup, this would be great if you've got vegetarians in the house, or for meatless meals, like for lent.

Or if you don't have any stock on hand and you've got a craving for soup.

For the onions, you can use whatever type you have on hand - or a combination of onions. I used yellow, red and sweet onions - one of each of the large yellow and sweet onions, and two smaller red onions.

Because of the tomato paste in this soup, it's got a slight red cast to it, but it doesn't taste like tomatoes - the paste just adds some richness.

Gruyere is a good cheese for this, but you can use and American-made Swiss cheese, or even provelone or mozzarella, as long as it's a cheese that melts well.

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

For the soup:
4 tablespoons butter
3 large onions (or the equivalent of smaller ones)
1 tablespoon Healthy Solutions Bold Beef Rub
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup red wine (or red cooking wine)
1 quart water
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

For serving:
Toasted baguette slices or toast, to fit mug or bowl
Gruyere or similar cheese

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over low heat - a Dutch oven is good, but a sturdy saucepan is fine, too.

Peel the onions and cut into quarters through the poles to make four wedges, then slice into 1/4-inch slices. If the onions are very very large, you can cut them into eight wedges so your slices are smaller - you want them to fit neatly on a spoon and not be long, spaghetti-like strands.

Add the onion to the pot along with the Bold Beef Rub. Increase the heat to medium.

Cook, stirring as needed, until the onions are tender, about 10 minutes. If they start getting crisp, turn the heat down.

Add the tomato paste, red wine, and water. Cook, stirring once in a while, for at least 30 minutes. Longer is fine.

As the liquid evaporates, you'll end up with a soup that's fairly thick with onions. If you want a brothier soup, add more water, as desired.

Add several grinds of black pepper.

Taste for seasoning and add salt, if needed. If you used a cooking wine, you will need less salt than of you used a drinkable wine.

To serve, ladle the soup into oven-proof ramekins. Top with the baguette slices or toast, and top with cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts.

But what if you don't have oven-proof ramekins?

You can put the cheese on the baguettes and melt the cheese in the microwave, or place the baguette slices on a baking sheet, top with cheese, and place in the oven to melt the cheese.

When you have properly melted cheese, float the baguette slices on top of the soup.

Serve immediately - it's best when the cheese is still soft.

I received a package of Healthy Solutions Bold Beef Rub to facilitate my entry in the contest. There was no other compensation ... unless I win. We'll see about that.

Yum

Need a Slow Cooker?

Slow cooked pork shoulder

When the folks at All Free Slow Cooker Recipes emailed me and asked if they could use one of my recipes in an upcoming eBook, I shrugged my shoulders and said, "sure."

They wanted a pork shoulder ... slow cooker recipe.

See what I did there?

I get quite a bit of traffic from that site, and letting go of one recipe wasn't a big deal. Other people, other days, I might have said no. This time I said yes. Which means that now YOU get a chance to win something.

You'll never guess what it is...

As part of the promotion for this book, AFSCR (it's a lot to type. Let's shorten it, shall we?) is giving away two slow cookers - one to a blogger (who also gets their photo featured on the cover of the eBook) and one to a blogger's reader. Or I guess to anyone who enters on their site. But it would be nice if it was one of my readers, right?

And it's a NICE slow cooker. It's a Cuisinart Multicooker. AFSCR reviewed it here.

If you don't already have a slow cooker, this would be a nice one to have. If you have an old slow cooker, maybe it's time to upgrade. In any case, entry is just a few clicks away.

The contest runs from March 25 through April 1. First, they'd like to to cast your vote for your favorite recipe from a blogger at: http://www.allfreeslowcookerrecipes.com/voting/All-Star-Slow-Cooker-Recipes-Contest.

The voting page has a link to the giveaway, where you can enter to win. Or, if you're not into the voting thing, but still want to move on to the winning thing, you can enter the contest here.

Go forth and slow cook! And GOOD LUCK!

Yum

White Wheat Holiday Wreath Bread

I've become enamored lately with decorative breads, and this time around I decided to make an oval wreath shape with a pretty border. Filled with cheese, tomato, and basil, the flavor is reminiscent of pizza, and the colors evoke Christmas.

If the shape looks intimidating, don't worry about it - it's really not that hard. Just take it one step at a time, and you'll have an impressive bread.

This time I made an oval. You could make it round, if you like. If you're really brave, you could make a long oval, then flip half of it over to make a figure-8. But I'd wait to do that until you've got the basics covered.

White wheat flour is one of my new favorites. It's got all the health benefits of regular whole wheat, but since it's made from white wheat instead of red wheat, it's not as bitter - the red pigment carries that bitter flavor that many people associate with whole wheat products, so the white wheat seems sweeter in comparison. If you haven't tried it yet, I suggest you do.

This recipe is part of a contest sponsored by Hodgson Mill as part of their "25 days of Grain Holiday Sweepstakes" promotion. I was provided with product to work with, a giveaway for my readers, and a chance to win prizes - but don't fret - I'm not going to ask you to vote - winners are chosen by Hodgson Mill.

But I have something for you - everyone can get a $1 off coupon for Hodgson Mill products here. And Hodgson Mill is giving away prizes here.

Hodgson Mill is also offering a prize for one of my readers - an assortment of their products valued at $25. AND you can specify gluten-free or regular. Details of that after the recipe.

White Wheat Holiday Wreath Bread

For the dough:

1 cup lukewarm water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) Hodgson Mill White Wheat Flour

1 cup Hodgson Mill Organic Naturally White Unbleached Flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

For the filling:
1/4 cup basil pesto*
1/2 cup tomato caponata**
4 ounces lowfat, low moisture mozzarella cheese

Have a half-sheet baking pan and a sheet of parchment to fit the pan standing by.

Combine the water, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer while you gather the rest of the dough ingredients. Add the flours and salt and knead with the dough hook until the mixture becomes elastic. Add the olive oil and continue kneading until the oil is incorporated. You can also knead by hand, if you prefer.

Cover the bowl and set aside until the dough has doubled in size - about an hour.

Flour your work surface lightly, turn out the dough, and form it into a log shape. Roll the log to about 12 inches long, like a kid making a snake from clay.

Using a rolling pin, roll the log to 18 inches long by 9 inches wide. Don't fret if it's not exact. Just get it close.

With one of the long sides facing you, dollop the basil pesto onto the bottom half of the dough. You're not trying to cover the whole surface - instead, spread it on in stripes or dots, as you prefer. Dollop the tomato caponata onto the bottom half of the dough in between the basil pesto. Sprinkle the cheese evenly on top of the tomato and basil.

Fold the uncovered top half of the dough over the covered half. Seal the edges of the dough. It doesn't have to be a super-secure seal, but if it's somewhat sealed, it will help with the next steps.

Transfer the dough to the sheet of parchment, then grab the ends and form a circle or oval, with the folded side on the inside of the circle and the open end at the outside of the circle. Seal the ends together. If your circle is too large to fit onto the parchment, you can overlap the ends.

Using a pastry cutter, pizza cutter, or sharp knife, cut slits in the dough about 1 inch apart, from the outside edge of the dough to about 1 inch from the folded edge. One at a time, take the strips you've cut and twist them 2-3 times to make a spiral. For my dough, I twisted one to the right and the next to the left, continuing around the circle in that pattern. But if you like, you can twist them all in the same direction.

When all the strips have been twisted, slide the parchment onto the baking sheet.

Now's the time to even out the dough and nudge it into its final shape. Make sure you leave a little space at the edges of the pan for it to rise and expand.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap - or what I do is just put another baking sheet on top of the first one - upside down, of course - and make sure the edges match up. Since this dough doesn't rise very high, that's plenty of space.

Set the dough aside to rise again until it feels light and puffy, about 30 minutes, or about half the time of the first rise. It will rise during that time, but it might not seem like it doubled. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

When the dough has risen, remove the plastic wrap (or the second pan) and bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned. You'll see some melty, bubbly cheese on some of the cut edges.

Remove the bread from the oven, remove it from the parchment, and let it cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. This is also great reheated.

*You can make your own basil pesto or buy it in a jar. It's sometimes also available refrigerated.

**Tomato caponata is just a thick, sort of chunky tomato topping. You could use a chunky marinara sauce, or a tomato pesto - whatever you like.

I received products from Hodgson Mill for use in making this recipe, and they are providing a prize to one of my readers, as well. By posting this, I am entering a recipe contest which will be judged by Hodgson Mill.

Want to WIN???

Leave a comment telling me what you'd fill this bread with - I used basil, tomato, and cheese. Will yours be sweet or savory?

That's it. One comment, one entry per person. Contest ends Dec. 21 at midnight mountain time. US residents only 18 years or older. All usual Cookistry contest rules and specification apply.

Good luck (and wish me luck!) and happy baking!

Yum

Nachos al Pastor #SafewayMarcela

When Safeway - one of the local grocery chains - and Marcella Valladolid challenged me to create a recipe, I figured, hey, why not? I was told that I'd be shipped some products to use, and to be honest I thought it would be salsa and spice mixes.

But oh, no. This was serious. The Marcela Valladolid line of product at Safeway includes meat products.

Yep, meat. Seasoned, vacuum-packed meat. AND it included one of my favorites - al pastor. That's one of the things I always buy when I go on my rare trips to the ethnic markets, so the idea that I can buy it at a local grocer any time I want it - well, that's pretty appealing.

Cooking the al pastor (as well as the other meats I received) is pretty simple. Heat a grill pan, grill, or cast iron pan. Cook on both sides until seared, then continue cooking until the meat is cooked through. Al pastor is pork, so you're not looking for rare here.

Since the meat is thin, it cooks really quickly, so this is something you can make in no time. Then just heat up some tortillas and add whatever your favorite condiments are, and you're on your way.

To be honest, tacos are one of my favorite ways to eat al pastor, but I decided to do something a little different for the contest. I mean a taco is a taco. Nachos are ... uh ... crisp.

There are two approaches to making nachos. You can pile chips on a plate and make a big, hearty, dig-in sort of dish, or you can make each chip individually. Like little fancy appetizers. Well, I decided to go with the second option since I wanted them as an appetizer and not a meal-crusher.

Nachos al Pastor

Marcela Valladolid al pastor
Marcela Valladolid tortilla chips
Oaxaca cheese
Sour cream
Avocado, dices
Lime-pickled red onions*

Cook the al pastor according to package direction. Dice as much of it as you like for your nachos and keep warm (this is also a great use for leftovers, after you've had taco night!)

Put chips on a microwave-safe plate, spreading them out so each chip is an individual item. Put a sliver of cheese on each tortilla chip. Put the plate in the microwave and heat in 30-second increments until the cheese is melted.

Top the hot cheese with the prepared meat, then add the avocado, sour cream, and red onions, as desired.

Serve while the chips are still warm.

*Lime pickled red onions are one of my favorite condiments, and they're simple to make. Cut a red onion in half or in quarters. Jam as much of that onion as you can into a pint jar. Add a three-fingered pinch of salt. Squeeze lime juice into the jar to cover the onions. Refrigerate at least overnight, but they're better in two or three days.

I was sent a selection of Marcela Valladolid product from Safeway to enable my entry into their contest.

Yum

Sweet and Savory BLT Salad

Sometimes I think I have rocks in my head. I entered yet another contest at Marx Foods, this one about using sweet items in a savory dish.

Easy peasy, I thought, when I sent my name in.

Yeah, right. I had ideas for bits and pieces of a recipe, but none of it came together in a complete recipe. The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to make some candied bacon.

But the more I thought of it, the more sweet-savory ideas I had for the four ingredients I had to work with.

I only needed to use two of them, but in the end I used all four. They were: vanilla beans, fennel flower crystals, honey powder, and coconut sap sugar.

I'm not a big fan of coconut, but the sugar is from the tree sap, and it doesn't really taste of coconut. It's got an earthy brown sugar flavor, but it doesn't seem to me that it's quite as sweet as brown sugar.

The fennel flower crystals were interesting. A pale green, they didn't have a strong fennel scent, but they burst with fennel flavor when I tasted them. And I liked the way they crunched. I wanted to use them as a garnish rather than melting them down and losing the delightful texture.

The honey powder is, well, sugar and honey in a small granulated form. Tastes like honey, pours like sugar.

And of course, vanilla beans.

I started with the idea of candied bacon and toyed with the idea of a BLT, but couldn't figure out what other sweet ingredient I could use in a sandwich. I could have baked a loaf of bread using one of the sugars, but it wouldn't have been a prominent ingredient. Hey, I watch Chopped a lot. I think of things like that.

I considered adding something sweet to the mayonnaise in the sandwich ... and then I started thinking about a wedge salad. Yes, my mind wanders off on its own a lot. But once I headed in the salad direction, I saw a lot of opportunities for using the sweet ingredients in a savory way.

If a BLT ran into a wedge salad in front of a candy store, this could be the result.

Surprisingly, it's not really sweet. There are bursts of sweetness from the bacon, but that's tempered by the bacon's saltiness. The vanilla and honey are tempered by the balsamic vinegar. And the fennel flower crystals are a nice accent to the dabs of mayo-based garlicky salad dressing.

Are you ready for this?

Sweet and Savory BLT Salad

For the candied bacon:
1/2 pound bacon
1/4 cup coconut sugar (more to taste)

For the vanilla balsamic drizzle:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (the cheap stuff is perfect)
2 tablespoons honey powder
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

For the salad dressing:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon dried lemon thyme
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
Pinch of garlic powder
Small pinch of honey powder
Small pinch of salt

For the salad:

Iceberg lettuce
Tomato
Cucumber
Candied bacon
Vanilla alsamic drizzle
Salad dressing
Fennel flower crystals

To make the candied bacon:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Lay the bacon strips side-by-side on the aluminum-foil-covered baking sheet, trying not to overlap the pieces. The half-pound should fit nicely on a half-sheet pan.

Sprinkle the bacon evenly with the coconut sugar. You want a thin layer over the bacon. If you missed a few spots, you can fill in with a little more sugar.

Bake the bacon at 400 degrees until the bacon is done to your liking, checking after 15-20 minutes, and checking fairly often after that. You've got sugar in a hot oven. There's a thin line between deeply caramelized and burned.

Transfer the cooked bacon to a wire rack to let the grease drip off. This is great warm or at room temperature, so you can make it in advance, if you like.

To make the vanilla balsamic drizzle:
Put the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Add the honey powder and the split vanilla bean with its seeds. Simmer on low heat stirring, as needed, until the sugar melts and the mixture thickens and it has reduced to about half the original volume. You could do this quickly at a full boil, but the point is to infuse the vinegar with the vanilla flavor, so simmer slowly.

When the vinegar has reduced, let it cool, then remove the vanilla pod and transfer the liquid to a suitable container.

To make the salad dressing:
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings, as desired. I normally thin my salad dressings with a bit of milk, buttermilk, or yogurt, but I wanted to keep this thick for piping. If you're going for a drizzle, thin the dressing to the desired consistency.

To assemble the salad:
Cut a wedge from a head of lettuce and remove the core. Place it on a plate.

Cut the tomato into wedges and arrange as many pieces as desired on the plate with the lettuce. Peel and cut the cucumber as desired. I cut mine in quarters horizontally, then into slices. Scatter the cucumber on top of the lettuce and tomato.

Cut or crumble the bacon (or use whole strips, if you like) and add it to the top of the salad. I'll admit that quite a bit of the bacon "disappeared" long before salad-making time. Use as much or as little bacon on the salad as you like. I'm sure you'll find plenty of uses for any leftovers.

Drizzle the vanilla balsamic over the salad - as much as you like. Leftovers can be mixed with olive oil to make salad dressing, or drizzled over fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Or, pretend it's an expensive balsamic, and drizzle over strawberries.

Dollop the salad dressing on the salad. I used a piping bag, because I was feeling flowery. I didn't use all the dressing, but it depends on how much you like and how large that lettuce wedge was. And remember, you've also got that balsamic!

Garnish with the fennel flower crystals. I sprinkled mine mostly on top of the mayo dressing. I thought it looked pretty and sparkly there.

And ... serve!

Yum

Summer Pasta Salad (with lime-pickled onions)

First, I have to say that I'm totally crazy about lime-pickled red onions. I put them on tacos and sandwiches and green salads.

When I brought red onions home from the farmer's market along with the rest of the vegetables that I was planning on using for a pasta salad, I knew I wanted to pickle those onions and use them in the salad, too.

Lime-pickled onions - the basic version - is incredibly simple and the result ir pretty great. The onions lose their sharp bite and the color changes to a pretty magenta-pink color. Meanwhile, the lime juice mellows as well, and also takes on some onion flavor.

And here's another confession. I sometimes use that onion-y lime juice instead of vinegar when I'm making salad dressings.

So, there I was, with my bag of goodies from the farmer's market and a jar of lime-pickled onions and several boxes of whole wheat pasta from Hodgson Mill. They sent me the pastas so I could enter a pasta salad contest they were hosting, and I got to work. Like this:

Summer Pasta Salad with Lime Pickled Onions

For the lime pickled onions:
1 red onion
Pinch of salt
Fresh lime juice, as needed

For the pasta salad:
6 ounces (uncooked) Hodgson Mill whole wheat shell pasta (1/2 box)
1 green bell pepper
3 medium pickling cucumbers, or 1 English cucumber
2 large roma tomatoes or 1 standard tomato
1/2 cup diced (about 1/4 inch dice) lime-pickled onions
2 tablespoons lime pickling liquid from onions
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon garlic olive oil (or other flavored* oil)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Several grinds black pepper
Salt, to taste

To make the lime-pickled onions:
A day or two before you make the salad, make the pickled onions. Make extra - I usually make a pint at a time, so I always have some on hand.

Halve the red onion, or quarter it if you prefer smaller pieces, then slice into 1/4 inch pieces strips. Put the onion into a container - I use a pint canning jar, but anything non-reactive will do. Pack the onion in tightly. Add a pinch of salt, then fill the jar with fresh lime juice. It's hard to say how much lime juice you'll need - it depends on how well you packed those onions in, but you need enough juice to cover all the onions. If you're a little short of liquid, you can add cold water, but most of it should be lime juice.

If you don't have enough fresh limes, you could use bottled juice or even a mix of powdered lime juice and water, but I think fresh works best.

Cover the container and refrigerate the onions at least overnight, but longer is preferred. These keep well, but they generally don't last very long in my house.

To make the pasta salad:
Cook the pasta according to the box instruction in boiling salted water. You're looking for al dente.

Meanwhile, prep the vegetables.

Core and seed the bell pepper and cut in 1/4-inch dice. Put them in a large bowl. Peel the cucumbers and cut into approximately the same size pieces as the pepper and add them to the bowl. Core the tomatoes and cut in a similar size. Add them to the bowl. Add the onion to the bowl.

When the pasta is done cooking, rinse in cold water, then drain well. Add the lime juice to the pasta - the pasta should still be a little warm, but not hot. Toss the pasta with the juice, then add the pasta (with the lime juice) to the vegetables in the bowl and stir to combine.

Add the feta cheese, olive oils, and pepper. Give it one more gentle stir to combine. Taste for seasoning and add salt, if needed. Since the pasta was cooked in salted water and the feta is salty, you might not need more - it's up to you.

Transfer the pasta salad to a storage container and refrigerate until well chilled.

Before serving, stir well and taste again -the flavors will mellow a bit as it rests - and add more salt or more lime juice, if needed.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

*There are a lot of flavored olive oils on the market these days. and I always keep a few in the pantry. Garlic olive oil is one of my favorites - some brands say it's roasted garlic, others just say garlic, but either way the flavor is milder and mellower than adding fresh garlic, and less troublesome than making garlic oil when you only need a little bit.

If you can't find garlic olive oil, you could use another flavor that you like. Chive oil would also be great, and lemon oil would add a different citrus note, if you like even more citrus punch. A rosemary or basil oil would add an herby note that would also work well.

Or, if you don't have a flavored oil, don't let that stop you. Just use regular extra virgin olive oil - there are plenty of flavors in the salad, even without the hint of garlic.

I received pastas from Hodgson Mill for the purpose of entering their contest, and they are also supplying a prize pack to one winner on this blog.

And a Giveaway!

I'm giving away a selection of Hodgson Mill pasta ($25 value; supplied and shipped by Hodgson Mill) to one lucky winner on this blog - US entrants only.

• To enter, just leave a comment here telling me what one ingredient you think is essential in a good pasta salad - besides pasta, of course.
• For a BONUS entry, tweet a link to this contest (say anything you like) and include the hashtag #SummerPastabilities. Then come back here and leave me a link to the tweet in the comments.

Contest ends August 17 at midnight, mountain time. Winner chosen randomly. All usual contest rules apply.

One more thing:

Through August 9, you can enter to win a pasta pack directly from Hodgson Mill right here.

Yum

BMT Deviled Eggs #SaucyMama

What's BMT, you ask? It's sort of like a BLT. But let's be serious for a minute. Who thinks the lettuce in a BLT is as important as the bacon and tomato? It's pretty easy to get rid of, right?

Some might say that the mayonnaise in a traditional BLT sandwich is more critical than the lettuce. But the "M" in my recipe isn't mayo.

You see, I am a complete sucker for entering recipe contests, and this time it's all about MUSTARD. Oh, how I love mustard!

So you got it now, right? BMT stands for Bacon, Mustard, and Tomato.

I also love that this contest doesn't require me to beg for votes. Nope, just some recipe judging.

I received three different mustards from Saucy Mama, and in the first round I was challenged to create an appetizer recipe using any one of those mustards. And to make it even more challenging, a secret ingredient was announced - BACON. 

My husband suggested deviled eggs (probably because he's such a fan of them) and when I started brainstorming the concept, it made perfect sense. Bacon and eggs belong together. I always put mustard in my deviled eggs. And tomatoes work well with both eggs and bacon. So that's good so far. And then when I looked at the mustard choices, I saw that one included Hatch peppers.

Hatch ... eggs ... get it?

Oh, I crack myself up!

And so the BMT Deviled Egg was born.

My husband, the connoisseur of deviled eggs, said I nailed it. The mustard adds a nice tang, and the heat of the Hatch peppers cuts the richness of the egg yolks. So good.

I love that deviled eggs are making a culinary comeback. (Have you noticed?) They were trendy in the old cookbooks my mom used, but then they became old fashioned. Then they became retro. Now they're becoming fashionable all over again.

And why not? They're the perfect little two-bite appetizer.

BMT Deviled Eggs

6 eggs, hard boiled, cooled, and peeled

3 tablespoons Saucy Mama Hatch Chili Mustard
1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 small (about 3-inch diameter) tomato
4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp

Salt, as needed

Cut the eggs in half, lengthwise, remove the yolks to a medium bowl, and set the whites aside.

Add the mustard, pickle relish, and paprika to the yolks. Stir, mashing the yolks as you go. If it seems a little dry at this point, don't fret.

Cut the tomato into a small dice and add it to the bowl. Cut or crumble three strips of bacon and add them to the bowl. Stir to combine. The tomatoes will add a bit more moisture to the yolks, but if it still seems too dry, add a bit more mustard.

Taste for seasoning. The bacon adds its own saltiness, but if you prefer more, add it.

Use a spoon or small scoop to fill the hole in the eggs and mound the filling over the egg - since you've added so much extra to the filling, you'll have very generously filled eggs.

Chop or crumble the remaining strip of bacon and sprinkle it over the tops of the eggs as a garnish.

Serve.

And NOW FOR A GIVEAWAY!

Saucy Mama is in a generous mood, so one of my lovely readers will win the same mustards I received for the contest - Hatch Chili, Dill, and Creamy Garlic.

To enter, just leave me a comment with your best (or worst) egg- or mustard-related pun. I'll bet we get some eggs-citing entries! Will yours cut the mustard? (And what does that mean, anyway?) If you're not a fan of puns, just leave a comment. The winner will be chosen randomly.

For additional entries (as many as you wish - I'm not going to thwart your efforts to win some mustardy goodness) pin one of the photos of my deviled eggs on Pinterest, or Tweet a link to this contest, or post a link to this post on Facebook. (If you want to share a photo and link from this post on Facebook, you have my permission to do so.) As many times as you like. For each entry, come back here and leave a comment telling me what you did.

Contest is valid for US Residents only. Contest ends on June 30, so you've got plenty of chances to pin, tweet, and share. All usual Cookistry contest rules (detailed in the tab above) apply.

Want a Discount???

Maybe you don't want to wait to see if you win. So you can have a discount to buy your own products. See how much I love you? You can get a WHOPPING 25% off Sauce Mama products on their site with the magical discount code DON25 through July 17. Have fun shopping!

Yum

Nibbles and Bits

So what's new on Planet Cookistry? It's been pretty busy around here. I got some freebies, I won some stuff, and I bought some stuff. And I ate and drank and cooked, too.

Crispy crunchy chips

Tyrrell's Potato Chips

The nice folks at Tyrrell's sent me a big box of potato chips and we've crunched our way through most of them. Interesting flavors and really funny old-time photos on the bags.

Speaking of which, they hold a caption contest on their blog where you can win stuff for coming up with good captions.

We've been indulging in more snack foods around here lately, and I have to say that it's nice that we can have snacks that aren't full of chemicals, goo, and preservatives, like these potato chips.

I haven't opened the bag of veggie chips yet, but that's probably next on the list, but we liked all the potato chip flavors we've tried so far.

The one with Worcestershire sauce was one of the more unusual ones, that's for sure. And WHAT is that woman on the bag wearing?

Got cocoa?

Ingredient Supply Company

I was sent samples of several different types of cocoa from Ingredient Supply company, and I've been trying to figure out a sane way to taste-test compare the three and describe them adequately.

I've used the cocoas in hot chocolate, in smoothies, in baking, and in ice cream. And every time I taste them, I notice different things. Sometimes a hint of cinnamon or vanilla in one, or a deeper chocolate in another. But as much fun as I had testing and tasting, I can't say that I have a favorite among the three - they were all really good.

The three I received were the Grand Guyacan, Royal Mahogany, and Colonial Rosewood, along with some cocoa nibs and cocoa butter.

My suggestion, if you're a chocolate fiend, is to buy two or three (or four!) different cocoas and test them yourself. The 4-ounce samples are really affordable, so you can buy a variety and see which ones you like best. And then if you fall in love with one, you can buy a 5-pound bag.

If you're really crazy, you can buy a 55.11-pound bag.

Meanwhile, you'll be seeing more of these cocoas (and the nibs and cocoa butter) showing up in recipes soon.

One that I already posted was a smoothie with banana and chocolate. Highly recommended.

Making hot cocoa

I found that one tablespoon of sugar and one tablespoon of cocoa was just about right for a mug of cocoa. If I wasn't doing a taste-test, I might have added a splash of vanilla, a teeny pinch of salt, and maybe a hint of cinnamon or nutmeg.

I didn't win the tortilla contest, but ...

Mission Soft Tortillas

The nice folks at Mission sent me a box of tortillas to encourage me to enter a contest they were having. Well, I never got around to entering the contest, but I did enjoy the new soft tortillas. They're not soft in terms of being squishy or spongy, but they're more pliable than regular tortillas, and less apt to crack or break.

I have to say I liked the tortillas, and it's too bad I didn't get around to entering the contest, but my friend Nelly from Cooking with Books took home one of the prizes for her Asian Shrimp Tacos, so that's pretty cool.

Now that summer grilling season is here (mostly), I'll probably be making some grilled foods that fit well into tortilla. Too late for the contest (sigh) but that's okay.

Tummy troubles?

Tummydrops

As I was recovering from a migraine (which is always accompanied by tummy trouble) the nice folks at Tummydrops sent me an email and asked if I wanted to try their tummy-soothing drops. Yes, desperately.

Since then, I've been lucky enough not to have had any tummy troubles of that sort, so I can't tell you how effective these things are. But they taste pretty good. There are two flavors - mint and ginger - both of which are generally known to be tummy-soothing.

What I liked about the ginger was that it wasn't too strong. I've tried ginger candies that are way too strong to be pleasant. These were a lot milder.

I was going to wait to review these until I had an actual tummy episode, but they've been waiting around long enough. If you've tried them yourself, let me know what you think of them.

Eat your vegetables!

Purple sweet potatoes.

Frieda's Specialty Produce

You might have noticed some posts about the "Year of Purple" and a few references to Frieda's Specialty Produce. We're now BFFs, and I'll be writing about their products now and then.

The Year of Purple box I got included purple potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, purple passion fruit, purple artichokes, baby purple artichokes, and some purple juice.

I have to say that Frieda's is a perfect fit for my blog, since I'm always looking for interesting fruits and vegetables, and they've got them. I'm really looking forward to working with them on a regular basis.

Tummy troubles ... again?

Good Belly

A cocktail recipe with Good Belly.

Good Belly is a local company, and I have to say that they're some of the nicest people I know. When my husband got out of the hospital and I mentioned that he was still having digestive issues, they were quick to offer (but not push) some coupons for free Good Belly products.

Every morning, Bob had his glass of Good Belly, and when I ran out of coupons, I bought more. And then I tried to foist some regular juice on him, and he said that he likes Good Belly better. Well, okay then.

Meanwhile, I made some Good Belly cocktails and smoothies, too. It really is good stuff.

Speaking of Bob, he's feeling MUCH better and although he's not quite back to completely normal, he's able to do just about everything he wants to do. Luckily, he doesn't want to wrestle alligators or become an Olympic weight-lifter, because he's pretty far from that. But otherwise, things are pretty close to normal again.

Sweet and spicy!

Busy Ds

Busy Ds is a local company - I found them at the farmer's market and I absolutely had to try their Bread and Butter Jalapenos. I'm familiar with bread and butter pickles, and of course I know pickled jalapenos, and I like both of them. But I've never had jalapenos made like bread and butter pickles.

So I picked up a jar, and I've got to say that they're different. The sweet-mustard-tart flavor of the bread and butter pickles is there, but the peppers still have their kick. Totally different and really interesting.

There's also a relish that's basically the bread and butter jalapenos chopped up into a relish. I couldn't find the sliced jalapenos on their website, but they did have the relish. If you really want the sliced ones, they've got a contact form on the site.

Or just browse and see what looks good to you. The ghost pepper garlic sounds interesting, too.

Bread + Heat = burned toasted bread

Magimix Toaster

My previous toaster had just started to misbehave. Here's me, baking my own bread from scratch, then burning it to charcoal in the toaster. Yay, me. Way to go.

I knew it was inevitable that I would be buying a new toaster soon, but then fate intervened and I entered a contest on the blog Damned Delicious and I won this very delicious (and expensive) toaster.

This may be the toaster of my dreams. I can SEE the toast toasting, so I can stop the process if the toast gets too sunburned. It's big enough to fit the bread I make. And that was a serious gripe about the old toaster. I had to cut bread before toasting, or flip it over halfway through, or live with toast with an untoasted strip.

Now, the bread fits and the toast toasts evenly, and I can watch it. Which is actually a little bit silly, but also cool.

The toasting elements are above and below the toast, but somehow it works. And the toast seems different than what I was getting from my old toaster. Now, the bread is crisp and toasted on the outside, but still sort of soft and warm on the inside. In the old toaster, the toast emerged mostly dried out.

Maybe there's some magic in the way the Magimix toasts. I don't know. But so far I'm really pleased with it.

Instagram Contest

Chuao Chocolates

Chuao Chocolatier is holding an "I Spy Chuao" Instagram sweepstakes, with the grand prize of a $250 gift card.

To enter, follow Chuao’s Instagram feed @chuaochocolatier and:

1. Post a photograph of a Chuao chocolate bar on the shelf at a local retailer with the hashtag #ispy
2. Tag @chuaochocolatier
3. Use hashtags for the name of the #retailer, #city and #street.

The I Spy Chuao sweepstakes ends on May 24, and with a winner every day of a gourmet Chuao Chocolatier chocolate bar. The grand prize winner will win a $250 gift card to the retailer tagged in their entry.

Get the complete details at Chuao’s website.

Contest STILL going!


You still have time to enter to win one of the batter bowls I'm giving away (through May 21). AND to hunt for as many codes as you can find in the HUNT sponsored by Good Cook.

Details here.

Special offer for FOOD BLOGGERS!

If you are a food blogger, OR you're some other blogger who is running a food-related giveaway, please feel free to post a link to your giveaway over on my Facebook page. They'll usually land in the "posts by others" section and I will share them to my page as I have time.

Sometimes they land in my Facebook spam, so if your comment and link vanishes and I don't dig it out in a day or two, just leave a comment for me without a link and I'll go hunt down the link.

You don't need to ask first before you post a link, just post. If you want to include a photo, that's cool, too. I've gotten so much support from so many bloggers that the least I can do is promote a few contests on my page. And I like contests (see winning of toaster, above) so I might enter yours!

Please, though, food, kitchen and cooking-related only. 

I do believe in unicorns, I do believe in unicorns.

Oh, wait, I mean FAIRIES!

This was the most mythical-looking creature I could find.

I was recently visited by a critter called the Fairy Hobmother, who apparently flits around to blogs and bestows Amazon gift certificates.

Not entirely a magical creature, the Fairy Hobmother finds new blogs in a very human way - by searching through the comments on blogs he/she/it has already visited.

Some time ago, I commented on a blog the Hobmother had visited and that's how I was discovered.

So, if you've got a blog and you leave a comment here, make sure you leave a link to your blog (it should be automatic in CommentLuv). Maybe the Hobmother will visit you, too.

So, I'm fairly certain that some fairies do exist, I'm pretty sure there are no unicorns, and I'm holding out hope for dragons and house-cleaning elves. You?

Yum

Croissants with Morel Duxelles

Okay, maybe the mushrooms aren't quite duxelles, but I liked the rhyme. And when you're in your kitchen, you can certainly make a true duxelles. There are plenty of recipes online.

I used a duck egg here because 1) I had them from the farmers market and 2) I wanted to make these really rich. A chicken egg will work just fine.

Croissants aren't terribly hard to make, but they do require some time and some work with a rolling pin. This recipe is a little bit easier than the traditional method, since it uses a food processor in the first stage.

The smaller bits of butter also make the dough easier to roll, so there's a little less work involved. I'm not going to lie to you and say that this is as easy as making cake from a mix. But c'mon, it's home made croissants. People will think you're magical if you make these.

Croissants are always best on the day they are made. they lose the shattery crispness in the crust when you store them. They're still good. Just not as great a the could be.

Easy(er) Croissants with Morel "Duxelles"

For the croissants:
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup cold milk
1 small(ish) duck egg (about the size of a chicken egg - or use a chicken egg)
11 1/4 ounces (2 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick salted butter, cold
1 stick unsalted butter, cold
Eggwash:
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
For the "duxelles":
1/2 ounce dried morel mushrooms
1 tablespoon butter
Pinch of salt

Put the yeast, water and sugar into a medium bowl and stir to combine. Set aside until it begins to get foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the milk and egg, and beat lightly to break up the egg and combine it all.

Put the flour and salt into your food processor, and pulse to distribute the salt. Cut each stick of butter into tablespoon-sized pieces. Put all of the pieces into the food processor with the flour and pulse about 10 times to distribute the butter and break the chunks just a little. You don't want small pieces as you would for pie crust; larger chunks are preferable.

Add the flour and butter to the liquid in the bowl, and fold gently with a spatula until all the flour is moistened and it is well combined, being careful not to break up the butter. The butter should still be fairly hard at this point. The dough will be very wet; don't worry about it. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.

The mixture can be used the next day, or kept refrigerated for an additional day if you aren't ready for it.

When you are ready to roll, flour your work surface generously, and have more flour standing ready. Turn the dough out onto your work surface, sprinkle some additional flour over the top You can be generous here, and form it into a rough square.

Working quickly, roll the dough out to an approximate 16-18-inch (sort-of) square. You don't have to be precise. Because the dough is fairly wet, it should roll easily, but it might be a bit sticky. The point here is that we need to flatten those bits of butter, so this first roll is more about getting that butter flatter and more pliable.

Add flour as needed on top and underneath to keep it from sticking any time during the process. At first, you might need a bit of flour. Later, a light dusting will suffice.

Fold the dough in thirds, like a letter. Then fold it in thirds again, to make a square.

Do this again three more times. Use flour as you need it and work quickly. If it's really hot in your kitchen and you feel the butter starting to get melty-soft, you can stop and refrigerate the dough. If the butter melts, you'll never get the layers you're looking for.

After the last fold, put the dough into a plastic bag and put it into the refrigerator for at least an hour, or up to three days.

Meanwhile, make the mushroom mixture:
Fill a small pot with a couple inches of water. Heat to a boil and then turn off the heat. Add 1/2 ounce of dried morel mushrooms an let them soak until they are softened.

Remove any tough or rubbery bits - I found that the "stem" bit was often just a bit rubbery. Chop the mushrooms into small bits. You could use a food processor, but we're not talking about that many mushrooms.

Heat the butter in a pan and fry the mushroom bits for a minute or two, then let them cool. If you're not using them right away, refrigerate until you need them.

When you are ready to make the croissants, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

The dough may have risen while refrigerated. After an hour you won't see much action, but if you left it refrigerated for longer, you will see that it rose a bit.

Flour your work surface and roll the dough into a circle about 14 inches in diameter.

Cut the dough into 8 pie-shaped wedges.

Pull the outside edge so that it's at least 8 inches wide and pull the dough lengthwise so it's about 10 inches long. It won't look like a perfect triangle any more - it will be more like the side view of a golf tee- but that's okay.

Take the prepared mushroom mixture and spread it over the surface of the triangles, leaveing a little edge uncovered on all sides.

Starting at the wide end of each triangle, roll the dough toward the the point.

Place the finished croissants on the prepared baking sheet with the point underneath. Curl the dough into a crescent shape.

Leave room on the baking sheet for the croissants to rise as they bake. These are pretty big croissants. you might as well put 4 on each sheet, so the have plenty of space.

Cover them with plastic wrap and set aside for 45 minutes. They won't rise much at all, but they should feel puffy instead of firm, and when you gently push on the side of one, the indent should fill in very slowly instead of bouncing back. Brush the croissants with the egg wash.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove to a rack to cool.

This recipe was written for the Marx Foods 5th annual Morel recipe contest. For this contest, people were asked to bake with the morels. We were each given a sample of dried morels to work with.

The contest is now open for voting. Cast yer votes RIGHT HERE.

Yum