Hot Or Cold Table?

 The Big  Super Bowl Game is tis Sunday and there are choices to be made. Do you have a hot table? A cold one? Or a little of both? What can be served to satisfy guests?

A hot table can be a buffet or a bg crock pot of something. The first question you should ask is what do your guests want  along with how much should you make. A buffet can range from three or four dishes Or a whopping ten.Popular hot dishes are anything with chicken , from nuggets to drumsticks and wings.This is broken down into flavors too. Not everyone likes super spicy Buffalo wings. Other flavors such as lemon pepper and honey barbecue should also be served. You could also serve chicken patties that can be turned into sliders. Chili is another Super Bowl favorite. Again make a mild and a fiery one  for those who love and don't love fire.Fire up the grill if you want too. Nothing beats a party full of hot dogs burgers and ribs. Set up a toppings bar  too.People can add everything and anything from pizza sauce to relish along with guacamole and sliced tomatoes.. Another fun dish are personal pizzas. Again guests and family can go wild with freating their favorites, from meat lovers to veggies and hot peppers.

What about a cold dish buffet? The most obvious answer is a charcuterie board. A classic ones includes an array of cold cuts like salame, ham , prosciutto and mortadella.Add dried figs, and breena nd black olives too. There should be a good choice fo cheeses from the deliciosuly runny Brie to a firm, buttery Edam. Have a sliced baguette along with a good variety of crackers, from Ritz to water to act as a base to all these foods. If you want to splurge have a sea-cuterie. This is a melange of chilled shrimp, crab legs, oysters and scallops .Make sure there are plenty of lemon wedges , tartar and shrimp cocktail sauces.Not into that fancy stuff? Then make hero sandwiches. You can use any kind of bread, from baguettes to those long Portuguese rolls. Add such tasty cold cuts as roast beef, sliced turkey and ham, along with such Italian sub classics as capicola and salami. Again these sandwiches demand cheese . have slices that match the meats. roas tbeef and turkey can go with a sharp cheddar or mild American. Ham works well with Provolone as do the Italian cold cuts. What goes with these? Large bowls of potato chips , Funyuns and all sorts of Doritos.

What 's the best choice? Your choice. Hot or cold , the food at any Super Bowl Party is bound to be fun and tasty.

Dinner By Lidl

 You can have a really nice meal without paying too much. How is that possible in this excpensive day and age? Lidl. The store has great deals on just basic dishes. best of all the fodo is pretty delicious.

I've been wanting to make the Vemondo vegan patties I bought them a while ago and finally had the chance to try them.I paired them with Lidl's mashed cauliflower for a tasty Saturday supper.

Both were an easy cook, (although they had to be cooked at different times due to having one electrical outlet). Here were the patties. They're more oval than round and very thick, almost like salmon steaks.

It took fifteen minutes in teh air fryer at 360 degrees Farenheit. Again their thickness was responsible for the long cooking time.They were flipped over after seven minutes of cooking.

                                            They were a little crispy and burnt but not bad.

 It has a lovely red pepepr flavor and a good texture and mouthfeel. I liked the crispy exterior. Again it kind fo reminded me of a salmon patty. 

As for the cauliflower

It came out in these cute little cups. It sort of looks like sliced bananas.It was ten minutes in the microwave.

The chunks had retained their shape despite being cooked. Here they look kind of like a meringue topping. It was just a quick stir and they resembled creamy mashed potatoes

It was very good. with a fresh from the garden taste.I just added a little of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter as I do with anything mashed. I would definietely get both th e patties and cauliflower again. These made for a tasty and filling dinner.

Choose Lidl for your next dinner. They hav a wide array of good foods that cna be prepared easily and quickly. Try their vegan patties and mashed cauliflower and taste a good flavorful dinner.

A Culinary Getaway

 February is the time when most people go away either to a plush ski resort ro a sunny tropical island. yet what happens when you can;t get away? Bring the food to you.It's a fun way to enjoy the slopes or the sand without leaving home.

Think Switzerland when you're making an apres ski type meal. Fondue is always the best and it's a good reason to buy a fondue pot (Keep in mind that you cna also use it for bagna calda and chocolate fondue too).it starts with a good butter and creamy cheese like Fontina, Gruyere or Gouda. You could also use Comte or Emmethaler too if you can find them.A good white wine is also needed.The acid in in it keeps the texture smooth  and even Another must is constarch. First grate the cheese and then toss it in cornstarch. Doing such will help thicken the fondue and prevent any lumps from forming. What to dip in?  Quartered slices of  a good baguette along with apple and boiled potato slices. If you 're leaning towards the Italain Alps of Piemonte, then try the intensely flavorful and delicious bagna calda. This "hot bath" consists of anchovies being cooked in a mix of garlic butter and oil. Savoy cabbage is dipped in it but for a more flavorful bite use parboiled London Broil. This leads to a wonderful marriage of flavors when the beef juices blend with the anchovies. Always have a loaf of French bread for dipping too. What's for dessert? Hot toddies or a more substantial slice of Black Forest torte with strong coffee.

If you'd rather go the sand and sun root then think Caribbean cooking. Nothing takes away that February wintry chill than jerk chicken, This spicy dish requires chicken legs,  along with brown sugar oil and thyme. Of course there are spices and herbs for the kick. There is cayenne for that fiery taste minxed with allspice, paprika , cinnamon and cloves. You'll also need onion  and garlic powder and freshly ground pepper too. This is a dry rub . Toi make sure every bit fo meat is spiced you have to pok holes in the legs so the spices can seep though.It's then baking ona pachment covered sheet pan for about forty minutes. Serve it with Jamaican rice and peas fired up with Scotch Bonnet peppers.This also has allspice berries and coconut milk added . Callaloo is another great dish for a culianry getaway. Try to get the calloloo plant (which looks like a hardier version of spinach) at a local Caribbean grocery.If not its' cousin spianch can sub in just fine. Soak the leaves first in salt water before adding t a skillet. Onions and red peppers  are first cooked in vegtable oil  Tomatoes thyme and Scotch bonnets foloow then the callaloo. .Add hot water to steam the greens and cover for five minutes. You can add crab or fish as they do in Tobago if you want.

Feel sad about not getting away this winter. Don;t be. You cna easily have the slopes or sand in yiur kitchen by cooking ski resort or island food. It's a fun way of having the adventure without all the traveling fuss.

The Classic Patty Melt

 A diner classic is making a comback and in a big way.It's the patty melt and sudeenly New Yorkers are going wild for this vintage sandwich. To be nones tit';s a tasty departure from it's cousin the hamburger.

Pete Wells wrote about it in yesterday's New York Times  Wednesday Food section. He even included a recipe that's makes for an easy replica. MAny of the trenider eateries both in New York and on the West Coast in Malibu are making their versions of it. It's a classic beef patty(hoemamde  - not one of those frozen kinds), cooked and placed on butter  and fried rybread. Cheese is added along with carmelized onions. It's basically an old fashioned hot snadwich, soe =rto f like that other diner classic the tuna melt (this is tuna sald placed on toast then topped with cheese, usally American. It's then popped into the oven or broiler untile the cheese becomes all melty and bubbly). The famed Commerce Inn, a West Village restaurant that explores American farmhouse cuisine has added it to it's menu. S & P lunch, also in Manhattan gives it a bit fi Forties quaintess with a cherry lime rickey to drink.Revelie, alunceonette with French leanings serves their with a true New York classic - the egg cream. They also serve a vegan one too.

Mr. Wells gives the Commerce Inn's recipe which is probably the most authentic.You need good ground beef..It should be iberall salted and peppered on both sides  as you would do with a steak, Each patty should be bigger than the bread slice because the meat shrinks down when cooking. The onions should be thinly sliced and cooked with butter and rosemary. The bread should be  buttered and fried on the griddle. If you don't have a large enough griddle then use tow skillets instead.The cheese along with a mayo and Dijon . mustard mix should be spread on them. Smash the burgers with a spatula and then cover them with the onions Layer the meat and the onions onto the bread and then serve as hot sandwiches.  For a sub in  you can use sourdough which is what the first patty melts were served on . They were first created at Tiny's Waffle  Shop on Powell Street in San Francisco. Funny enough the sourdough wasn't popular and rye was put in in its' place.

Make a patty melt for a classic American taste. It's a gooey , tasty marriage of cheese and beef with onions and mayo. Nothing beats it.

Gas Station Eats

Gas stations in the American South are more than just a place to fillup the truck. It's palce to get a hot meal, whether it's fried chicken ro shwarma. A new book chronicles this truly American phenomenom. It shows not just gas stations but places to enjoy a warm meal and meet neightbors and friends.

Regular contributor and a Southerner hersle,f Kim Severson wrote about this new book in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section.Southern photographer Kate Medley takes astounding and  soul revealing snaps of  this big part of SOuthern life. She was raised in Mississippi so going to the local gas station for everything form flour to Coke was normal for her. Her book also has an opening written by fellow Southerner Kiese Laymon who also grew up in Mississippi, He too spent his childhood eating fresh not food  in gas stations.On of his childhood memories involves heading to eat at one with his grandmother and her boyfiend. They would order a box of dark meat chicken a foam container of fried fish and  fried potato wedges also known as potato logs. Ms. medley discovered this way of lif when she was coveirng the area for the New Yrk Times  after Hurricnae Katrina. She also finished a master's program in Southern studies which also allowed her a glmpse into the unique lifestyle.

It's a get her done attitude that's even spreading to immigrants settling in the South. Ms Medley wanted to show this diversity so she took pictures of Nita Patel and her samosas at Tasty Tikka located inside a Shell station in Irmo, South Carolina and Gina Nguyen holding a garlic butter shrimp banh at Banh Mi Boys which opened in a family owned Texaco in Metairie Louisiana. She took Ms. Severson to another immigrant run place in Leland Mississippi in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. The Frattesi family opend up a combo of gas station and eatery in 1941.There s their famed cheesesteaks and pork roasts next to bait to be sold and pantry staples. A freezer holds frozen steaks and bags of shelled pecans.It even runs on the honor system where visitors tell the cashier what they had for lunch.There are no paper bills here.Locals put their groceries and gas on a runnung tab.Unfortunately after the owner Mark Frattesi, son of the original owner retires that's it. Th next generation does not want to take over. Up the road a better story exists.A forner gas station is home to Betty's Place. Owner Betty Campbell and her husband opened it while her brother Otha serves as a maire d'.She used to cook for blues great B.B. King and brings that devotion to the place that hosts hundreds of tourists from all over the world yearly.

Gas station and hot food served in them are as much a part of Southern life as barbecues and football. They represent a unique facet of an interesting lifestyle. The new book Gas Stations will show this slice of life..

A German Classic in No Time

 This is the weather for spaetzle and gravy. There's nothing as comforting as this German classic main or side dish. Unfortunately it is labor intensive to make them.Luckily Aldi has instant ones complete with a yummy mushroom gravy.

Aldi (like Lidl) is a German company) so they're bound to have good German products like spaetzle and chocolates along with cans of red cabbage and sauerkraut.I found their mushroom flavored spaetxle from Deutssche Kuche.I bought two packets right away bcause I knew it would be delicious anf go fast.

It's an easy make. Just boild two and aquartr cups of water and add the packet,a mix of spaeztle and powdered gravy. 

It kind of looked soupy at first but then thickened up.

I just had to stir ti a few times during the course fo about twenty minutes(the packet  says it'll cook up  in twelve to fifteen minutes but it does take longer)

                               The entire pot was steaming and frgrant with cooked mushrooms.This was going to be a tasty and satisfying treat for lunch.

This was really delicious and I plan on buying it again.It makes for a perfect winter lunch or weekend supper.It was even good reheated later in the microwave for dinnr. I just added a tablespoon of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and it was just as tasty as when it was first cooked. You could easily serve this along side pork chops or pork roast as a filling and warming side.

Try Deutsche Kuche's spaetzle for a tasty main course or side dish. They're  perfect , hearty and filling on a winter's day. These delicious noodles will warm you through and through.

The Importance of A Hot Meal

Everyone has busy lives these days. The problem is that that means certain aspects of or lives suffer, especially our diets. What can help ? A hot meal.There are so many benefits in having at least one warmed plate a day.

It is tempting to grab some easy and quick at any time during the day. The problem is an energy bar or even a sandwich isn't that great on a chilly winter day. There are also other benefits in creating a hot comforting meal, whether it's breakfast , lunch or dinner. A not meals also improves digestion, strengthens immunity , increases energy and even regulates elimination. A warm meals is a big help to the spleen which helps in digestion. If you keep putting cold food in your stomach, you'll feel fatigued and weak, along with having puffing eyes and bloating. A warm meal helps. It's also a great comfort for a stressful and busy day. Start off with a warm breakfast.if you;re rushed , then think a simple scrambled eggs and air fried bacon. Put this on toast for a tasty open faced breakfast sandwich. Another easy cook is oatmeal. Add warmed cream ro milk and maple syrup to start off the day, For a Sunday brunch go whole hog with fresh form the oven quiches  and waffles fresh from the waffle iron.

Most lunches aren't hot. This is Ok for the summer months when all you want is a salad or a sandwich along with a cold drink.Yet a hot lunch is a perfect break from a busy work or school day. Think hot sandwiches like grilled cheese or the fancier Croque Monsieur. Soup is always good too. What you can do is make  up a plot the night before for dinner and serve the leftovers for lunch.Warm up some rolls for a more filling plate.Keep in mind that those breakfast eggs can easily be turned into a lunchtime omelt or fritatta. Just add some cheese and ham for a tasty Denver omelet or some spinach and mushrooms for a flavorful fritatta slice. As for dinnr, yes you can order in or go out. It's fun to eat out mid week, However get out the air fryer if you want to eat in. This helps in quickly cooking up chicken nuggets or potato skins.Keep in mind that you can also cook chicken breasts and different cuts of steak. Also pasta comes in handy here. Jarred sauce works just as well as homemade if you're pressed for time. Add garlic bread for a fun treat.

A hot meal is not only a comfort but it's vital to your health. Try to have at least one hot one a day, YOU'll feel better anbd hav a better lif too.