I was searching for something sweet and quick to put together today for not only this post but to bring along to a lunch date I have this afternoon. I’m meeting up with my kids’ 1st grade teacher and her daughter and two granddaughters. We’ve stayed in touch all these years later, thanks in part to Facebook and this blog. Mrs. Tunheim (Ginger, to me) was both Marissa and Connor’s favorite teacher. In fact, Connor had her three times; 1st grade, 3rd grade, and during high school he went back and was a teacher’s aide in her class for a semester… yup we all love Mrs. T! Her beautiful daughter, Kim, assisted me one summer of cooking classes back when she was a single college girl.  Kim is now married with two adorable little girls of her own, so I’m bringing along these sweets to share with them.

I also want to take this opportunity to extend exuberant, hearty, and heartfelt congratulations to my friend and colleague, Gwen Walters, and her wonderful Pen & Fork, for winning Best Food Blog 2011 award given by Phoenix New Times!  Yay Gwen!!!  You can always check out Pen & Fork by just clicking on the link over there on the right side of this very page… it is AWESOME!

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Have you ever had absinthe? It is a distilled, highly alcoholic (80-148 proof) spirit. It is often incorrectly referred to as a liqueur, but since it is not bottled with added sugar it is correctly classified as a spirit. Although absinthe has a very high level of alcohol by volume it is traditionally diluted with water before being enjoyed.  This anise-flavored spirit is derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as “grande wormwood”, together with green anise and fennel. Although you may find colorless absinthe, it has a natural green color and is commonly referred to in historical literature as “la fée verte” – the “green fairy” in French. I am far from an authority on it, but I’ll share with you what I know… what I think I know, that is.

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Can you tell that I’m running out of ideas for post titles? Well, I am.  It’s hard to be creative with these things, day after day. 🙂  I may soon resort to Pork 5, Chicken 27, and Salad 34. Whatever, this is a pork recipe…

I used up the remaining rhubarb-strawberry compote. If you didn’t make the compote, you can still make this recipe, just substitute jam or preserves. I also had small portions of three different onions in my fridge; red onion, sweet onion, and a large shallot, so I combined those to make up the 1 1/2 cups needed for the sauce. Any type of onion will do. The recipe works equally well with pork loin or pork tenderloin, whichever you prefer or find on sale.

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This is the recipe using smoked salmon that I told you about a couple of days ago, the one I found in an old Gourmet Magazine and wanted to try for my smoked salmon-loving husband.  It is a winner!!! Perfect for picnics, tailgating, or lunch brown-bagging.

If you made the Brussels sprout salad from yesterday’s post, then you have extra mustard vinaigrette leftover… use 1/4 cup of that and just stir in the shallot listed here… then skip making the vinaigrette in this recipe, and you are ready to rock and roll.

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If you have ever eaten at Chelsea’s Kitchen, here in Phoenix, then you have most likely enjoyed or watched someone else enjoy the out-of-this-world Brussels sprout salad.  The only thing I can’t get over is the price… $14 for a salad seems a tad pricey. Luckily this delicious salad is easy to make at home for just pennies on the restaurant dollar.

And this mustard vinaigrette… one of the best and most versatile vinaigrettes you will ever make. So although you don’t use even half of it for this salad, you are going to want to use it on salads from here on out!

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Cookies for breakfast?  Sure, why not?  These particular cookies are packed with healthy stuff – dried fruit, almonds, cereal… and…. bacon. OK, not healthy bacon, but yummy breakfast-time bacon. Plus they aren’t too sweet, just right.  Great to eat if you have no time in the morning. Pop them in the freezer and just grab one or two on your way out the door and you have breakfast!

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Dave adores smoked salmon. This is a dish I make for him every now and again and I’m always on the lookout for new ideas. I recently found an intriguing salad, featuring smoked salmon, in an old Gourmet magazine that I’m going to give a try. I will let you know how it turned out in a day or two… until then, I give you this classic – which we enjoyed with our Roasted Silkie Chicken a few nights ago.

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Remember my Maple-Bacon Cupcakes? They are SO good, that even skeptical Marissa fell for them. Well today we have another sweet item featuring bacon… toffee.  Trust me, it works. I’d heard of toffee with bacon before, but had yet to taste it. I’ve decided to give bacon peanut brittle a try. Trust me again, it’s good… I promise.

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OK, you know how I am constantly talking about cleaning out my freezers? It’s not like I don’t try, I do! But this time, it is really happening. I have been cooking only from the freezer for the past 2+ weeks. Now, when I say that, it doesn’t mean I’m not using any fresh food or that I’m not grocery shopping at all, for shame! That would be impossible for me, BUT it does mean that the main dishes, the big stuff, is coming from the freezer.  Examples you ask? Let’s see, the duck, rib-eye steaks, puff pastry, more puff pastry, Kobe beef, ground turkey, shrimp… and today, this exotic chicken.

The chicken I’m talking about is a Silkie that I purchased frozen some time ago at an Asian market.  Here is was a 2007 New York Times article has to say about Silkies.

Pet a Silkie chicken and you understand how it got its name. The feathers are fine and flutter in wisps in the breeze.

… it’s a striking-looking bird that’s often raised for show. Breeders also like them because they will hatch other birds’ eggs.

 “They are such good moms,” said Frank R. Reese Jr., the founder of Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch in Lindsborg, Kan., who breeds Silkies for show. “They’ll sit on anything and hatch anything. They’ll hatch ducks, turkeys, chickens.”

…They have bluish-gray skin, pitch-black bones and dark beige flesh (they’re sometimes called black-skinned chickens). They’re a scrawny pound or two, plucked, and are usually sold with the head and feet attached (with five toes, not the usual four).

“It’s a scary-looking creature,” said Patricia Yeo, of Sapa in Chelsea. She said she has her staff describe it as a deeply flavored, lean, free-range chicken.

I agree, it is kinda scary-looking without its beautiful white feathers.  And just as described above, it comes packaged completely intact, with head and feet. That is one reason I was excited to try it, chicken feet make the richest and most gelatinous stock. And the flavor of the roasted chicken was wonderful, so much richer than your average chicken. Before you see the pictures of the naked chicken below, you absolutely have to go to THIS LINK and check out a Silkie or two in the most gorgeous and mind-blowing chicken coop you’ll ever see. (BTW, I was directed to this blog by my absolute favorite blog of all blogs, Vignette Design, of course, everything wonderful can be found at Vignette Design!) I find this coop so inspiring that I am actually tempted to raise chickens again!

Wow, right? OK, back to the chicken at hand – I took a photo of the packaged naked bird from the Asian grocery all spread out, but I’m fearful that some of you might be seriously disturbed by the image…. so if you want to see the picture, leave a comment saying so, and I’ll send the image directly to you in an email. For the rest of you, do not fear, the forthcoming photos feature the chicken after I cut off the head and the really (and I mean REALLY) ugly five-toed feet!

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One of my favorite treats of all time, in the history of treats, in the entire world… Rice Krispies Treats! During pregnancy (always a good excuse!) I would eat and clean up the evidence of an entire 8×8-inch pan full before anyone even knew they had been made. This occurred while I was carrying Connor and while Marissa was at preschool. Pitiful, I know, but what the hormones want, the hormones deserve to get!

This upscale version hits a high note with the vanilla bean and the browning of the butter – pure genius! And no, I did not eat the whole pan this time… hey, if I did, I wouldn’t be able to post the recipe here – now would I?

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