I’m calling these “Mexican-Chocolate” because of the cinnamon and chocolate combination. If you’ve ever eaten or cooked with the Ibarra brand of Mexican chocolate, you understand.

On a totally unrelated subject – I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I keep waking up before the sun – but that turned out to be a blessing yesterday.

I got out of bed at about 4:30 and decided to make these muffins since I needed to take something to our neighborhood Bunco later that evening.

The day was a whirlwind, I wasn’t home for more than 15 minutes all day. If I hadn’t made the muffins early in the morning … I would have never had time to make a thing and would have had to resort to bringing a bottle of wine.

As you might imagine, that doesn’t fly when you have a cooking blog and teach people to cook!

Sometimes sleep deprivation actually pays off.

Now, I know that for some, 4:30 or 5:00 is a normal and routine time to begin their day. I’ve had that schedule before, so I get it. But back then, I fell asleep before midnight or 1 AM too.

Let’s face it – sleep deprivation totally sucks! Conversely, these muffins do not.

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Today is my favorite day of the month! It is the third Thursday and that means one thing – it is opening day for the 4-day Sweet Salvage Sale!

The theme this month is “Hallowed Haven” and I’ve already had a sneak peek at all the wonderfulness!

Yep, last night, Peggy and I attended the Preview Party. We and 98 other guests scoped out all the fabulous finds and made long lists and strategic plans on what we wanted and just how we were going to get it!

Our personal strategy? Peggy goes one direction and has 6 treasures on her list (2 for her and 4 for me) while I go the opposite direction and snag 7 finds (4 for her and 3 for me). I hope our plan works, I shall keep you posted!

Remember how I was one of the lucky VIP 15-minute early entry recipients last month?  This month they had a really fun theme game going – it all centered around the board-game CLUE. You must go to their Facebook page and see how amazingly creative these women are. They blow my mind!

Here is your own personal sneak peek – the doors open at 10 AM, I hope to see you there. Look for me, I plan to be at the front of the line!

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These past nine months I have been falling apart. It all started on December 9, 2012. That is the day that I fell from a ladder while hanging Christmas lights and fractured my pelvis.

I was reduced to using a walker for several weeks and having people ask if I’d broken my hip!

What?
I’m not a 90-year-old, for God’s sake!

I fully recovered from that injury and felt pretty good about myself and my body’s ability to heal itself.

Then in May, during a glorious vacation in Hawaii, I cracked my tailbone while riding on a huge metal boat.

I was reduced to using a doughnut cushion, when I sat down, for months after that.

Once again, my body healed itself. Fantastic!

Then, in early August, I began to have pain in my right elbow and arm. Over the next few weeks, the pain grew to the point that I could no longer ignore it. Yesterday I went to the doctor. But at first, I was not in the mood to pay a visit to the clinic. I was feeling too weak to travel so thought about consulting a medical professional on a virtual session. I had heard earlier that clinics like Associates in Family Medicine (providers of urgent care Fort Collins CO) can offer virtual care. So, I thought of first approaching them but due to some unavoidable circumstances, I had to physically visit the doctor in the clinic.

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I consider myself a Trader Joe’s expert, a TJ Connoisseur, if you will.  So imagine my embarrassment and dismay when I learned that there was a product at Trader Joe’s, an exceedingly popular and rare product, that I had not a clue about!

Honestly, I’m going to have to be more diligent and thorough in the reading of all future Fearless Flyers!

This hot newish product is called Speculoos.

Speculoos Cookie Butter, to be exact and has proven to be a major phenomenon for Trader Joe’s. It took the top spot in Trader Joe’s annual “most popular products” list in 2012.

Then, in 2013, Trader Joe’s expanded the line and released a crunchy version. And like many Trader Joe’s items, the cookie butter is a knock-off of a brand-name product: Biscoff Spread, manufactured in Belgium by a company called Lotus. Made from thin, crispy cookies called speculoos (or spekulaas) that are eaten during the holidays. Biscoff’s cookie butter premiered in Europe in 2007. I just discovered that it is sold at Cost Plus World Market.

You’re reading this right – cookie butter is made of not ground-up peanuts and oil but rather ground-up cookies and oil. Cookie butter is like the rich, sweeter, and more handsome cousin of peanut butter!  You can smear it on toast or crackers or use it as a dip for pretzels, apples, or celery.

So yeah, it’s literally – spreadable cookies!

The Trader Joe’s flavor is gingersnap. Well actually, the label says – “A deliciously unusual spread reminiscent of gingerbread and made with crushed biscuits” – so basically gingersnaps.

And it is To Die For!

I did learn that one of the reasons I may be able to forgive myself for not knowing about Speculoos sooner, is because it has been in short supply since it made its TJ début in late 2011. So popular, in fact, that the spread has its own Facebook Page.

Now …  just in case TJ’s has a problem keeping this treasure in stock in the future, I’ve decided to try making my own.

The question was, “What flavor cookie should I use?” Peanut butter seemed too obvious and gingersnaps are already being done … to perfection. The cookies need to be crispy and crunchy  – not soft and chewy. No fillings, so that leaves out Oreos and such. Certainly no Fig Newtons (ugg)!

I scanned the cookie aisle and came up with five candidates. I made the five flavors of cookie butter and then sent a text out to six of my friends and neighbors on Saturday morning and asked them if they might be able to come by between 2:00 and 5:00 and do a taste test for me. Shockingly, all replied within seconds and said they could help!

Here is what greeted them when they arrived.

Each was asked to taste the five concoctions in front of them, to not ask questions about what they were eating, and then to rank them in order; #1 being their favorite … through #5 – being their least favorite. I then crunched all the numbers and found the average ranking of each of the cookie kinds of butter.

This is the average of how the ladies ranked them:

1. Snickerdoodle
2. Pepperidge Farm Chessmen
3. Chocolate Chip
4. Pepperidge Farm Coconut
5. Pecan Sandies

Only one person ranked the Pecan Sandies Cookie Butter higher than 4th or 5th place. In fact, four of my taste testers put it in last place, and two of those wrote “yuck” in their comments.

Of course, one of the reasons I chose to use Pecan Sandies is because I love those cookies, but they were right, they do not make good cookie butter. Snickerdoodles won by a landslide. Chessmen, Chocolate Chip, and Coconut were pretty tight in the scoring.

I pawned all the remaining Cookie Butter off on my neighbors on Sunday morning, leaving it on their doorsteps. I can’t have that stuff in the house. Well, I do still have the jar from Trader Joe’s but that doesn’t have to be eaten within 10 days, so I’ll keep it “out of sight and out of mind”… hopefully!

Many thanks to my fan-tab-ulous taste-test panel – Peggy, Lisa, Ronnie, Anne, Amy, and Melissa! xoxo

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It has only taken me a week, but I’m finally getting back to you with the second recipe using those polenta scraps from the Polenta Pesto Bruschetta recipe I gave you a week ago today.

This is almost the perfect “layer and bake” recipe, all you have to do is brown some Italian sausage. Although, you could easily make this dish even more convenient by omitting the sausage, thereby creating the perfect Mindless Meatless Monday Meal.

Dave was out-of-town when I made it, but Connor was home for the night, so the meat was called for. We enjoyed the spiciness that the sausage added.

Italian Polenta Bake

Polenta trimmings from this recipe, or a tube of prepared polenta, cut into rounds
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
8 ounces hot Italian sausage, cooked
1  1/2 cups purchased marinara sauce
2/3 cup grated mozzarella cheese

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Since it is Friday the 13th, I figure these Snarky Kinda-Crabby Friday Funnies might be just the thing.

Enjoy. xoxo

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My intention was to give you another recipe using up the polenta trimmings from this recipe.

That has been put on the back burner. Instead, I could not wait to share with you our family’s new favorite way to eat broccoli.

Bonus: The recipe is easy peasy lemon squeezy. It has three ingredients… well five, if you count the salt and pepper.

All you need is a head of broccoli, a bit of olive oil, and 3 garlic cloves. I like to use the 3-pound bag of broccoli florets from Costco.

I use half of it one night, saving the zip-lock bag I’ve tossed the broccoli in (fold it up and stick right into the bag with the broccoli) throw that in the fridge and then pull it out, a night or two later, and make another batch.

Warning: This stuff is toasted, roasted, crispy, crunchy, and completely addicting!

Important Tip: Do not wash the broccoli right before using, do it well ahead of time and allow it to dry completely, otherwise your roasted broccoli will not crisp up the way you need it to.

I like the broccoli just as the recipe is written, but feel free to “jazz it up” with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice or a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese, just before you put it on the table. Then watch it disappear!

Note: Maybe you’ve already seen something close to this recipe. For example, Ina Garten’s Barefood Contessa Back to Basics cookbook from 2008 has a Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli recipe in it. It has 8 ingredients – plus salt and pepper. I made Ina’s recipe, way back then, and although we liked it… we love this streamlined version.

One More Tip: The recipe serves four. If you have four people, I guarantee there will not be leftovers. If you only have two people, there still may not be leftovers… but if there are, do not reheat in the microwave! Fire up that oven and throw the leftovers back in for 5 to 8 minutes to re-crisp. The microwave ruins it! Zaps the crispness, the crunchiness, all the goodness from it! Trust me, I learned the hard way.

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Yesterday I told you that I’d give you some ideas on what to do with those leftover polenta trimmings you accumulated when you made the Polenta Pesto Bruschetta.

Idea numero uno is these “easier than easy” polenta croutons.

After you look at the recipe, be sure to go to the end of the post to see some of the delicious food I enjoyed at my Les Dames d’Escoffier meeting yesterday. Oh my!

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Connor and I had a blast in Disneyland and California Adventure. When I say a blast, I not only mean a great time but a heat blast too.

It never fails, I leave this Godforsaken desert to find some refreshing cool air and the heat follows me! It was 95 every day we were there. The weatherman is predicting a lovely 75 degrees for Tuesday! It’s not right!

Oh well, fall is coming soon… I hope. Until then, I have the quickest and the easiest appetizer for you …. plus a few Disney vacation photos at the end of the post.

Most grocery stores carry the tubes of prepared polenta … and prepared pesto too. Although, I used some frozen arugula pesto I had on hand. I brought this to a surprise party on Sunday that our dear friend, Amy, threw for her husband, our dear friend, Scott.

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