Airport Security Hazard and Delicious Taco Garnish

Those of you who have seen Spinal Tap will know that even a cosmetic cucumber wrapped in tinfoil can be a problem for airport security.

If your family is anything like mine, taco night is a regularly occurring family activity. Tacos are cheap, good and easy to make. The cucumber is often overlooked as a garnish for tacos. They are delicious and add another flavor and crunch that is sure to make your taco nights a success.

Snob Salad

So the cobb salad is apparently the signature salad of snobby country clubs across the country. I've always wanted to join a country club, but tragically, I have significant school loans and have to worry about trivial things like food, clothing and shelter before enjoying the finer things in life.

The good news is, you can still enjoy a cobb salad without joining a country club. Some restaurants make it difficult to eat the cobb salads they serve. I've been to places where they bring out half hard boiled eggs, half avacados and huge strips of bacon on top of lettuce. In the words of our country club friends "send it back!" I say.

I prefer things to be well chopped and a lighter dressing for so many heavy ingredients. Normally I'm not a huge advocate of chain restaurants, but the Cheesecake Factory has one of the best cobb salads I've ever had. It's big enough for two people, so you can split it with your lover.

Splitting a salad with my wife at the Cheesecake Factory, who says I don't know how to live large?

Healthy Fatty Food

For our Super Bowl festivities, we used this wing recipe from Alton Brown. These wings are steamed and then baked, locking in the moisture. They were good, my only complaint is that they aren't as crispy as the ones I usually do (see my earlier wing post).

Still, a good solid recipe, I probably should have let them roast a little longer. It's a lot healthier than the other wings and much healthier than frying.

Steamed Milk

I've noticed that since I've been married I've been obligated to watch a lot of old black and white movies. I am a classic film fan and enjoy Casablanca, Psycho, and On the Waterfront in black and white. The 1940s versions of romantic comedies with Doris Day and Cary Grant are what I don't so much enjoy. Oh, the things you endure for love. I've sat through more of these than I'd care to admit.

That being said, have you ever noticed that women in these movies always have a glass of warm milk before bed or to soothe frazzled nerves? I always thought this was strange, but am a big fan of the steamed milk you get from coffee shops.

I did a previous post about a hot chocolate maker that we got for Christmas. You can also use this contraption to make steamed milk. We added Torani caramel syrup and it was very delicious.

The Good Ice

Crushed ice is the greatest. It seemed like all my favorite fast food joints growing up had crushed ice in the drink cups. Now it seems to be dissappearing, which is a tragedy.

It makes your drink a slushy mix of delicousness and the cubes are easy to chew. It also makes blending frozen drinks and smoothies very easy. When I am finally rolling like a big shot, I want to buy a fridge with a built-in crushed ice machine.

Hawaiian Mudslide

This weekend we tried an experiment to replicate a mud pie we had in Kona, Hawaii similar to the one pictured above.

This is a very easy thing to make and will get the same reaction as the volleyball scene in Top Gun from the women in your life. You will need:

1/2 gallon of coffee ice cream
one Jello no bake oreo dessert
one jar of Grandma Richardson's hot fudge sauce

The jello no bake dessert will have both the oreo crumbs (for the crust) and the chunks (to mix with the ice cream).

Soften the ice cream in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter (directions on jello container) and mix them with the oreo crumbs. Press crust into bottom of pie dish to form your crust. I used a 9" spring form pan. This made it really easy to cut and serve.

Put your crust in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Mix the ice cream with the oreo chunks, then spread over crust.

After ice cream has been in freezer for 2 hours, spread the room temperature hot fudge sauce over the top of ice cream. Let it freeze another 2 hours.

Cut and serve. It was delicious just like this, but if you want to make it even more decadent, add whip cream and heated hot fudge over the pie. Even if you don't like coffee flavor very much, the flavors blend together really well with just a hint of the coffee flavor.

Omelette Perfection!

I am an omelette fanatic. When I go to a nice restaurant for breakfast, it's usually what I order. It seems like a relatively straightforward thing to make yourself, but I have tried and failed several times.

The way I've always tried is putting your beat eggs into a pan and trying to get the top part cooked before the bottom burns--it never works. The result is a chewy, crispy crust with a runny middel. With most foods a little crispy is good, not with eggs.

I found a brilliant idea online. First, get everything ready to go in your omelette (I did sauteed mushrooms, peppers and onions, canadian bacon and cheese) and turn on the broiler. Second, beat the eggs with a little milk and salt and pepper. The blender will make them really fluffy. Third, greas the pan. Fourth, put in the eggs THEN turn on the heat. Let the eggs cook gradually until the bottom of the omelette has the perfect consistency. Fifth, turn off the heat and stick the pan in the oven under the broiler. You will be able to tell when the cheese is melted and when the eggs on top look done.

Then you slide it out of the pan, fold it over and enjoy a perfect omelette. No flip, nothing too complicated.