Corny Dogs

M and I both took off from work last Friday to go to the State Fair of Texas. We got there right at 11AM. I think it would have been earlier had we not made a minor detour. Oops! My fault. M can’t stand being out of his comfort zone. Let’s just say our ride was tense. Thank goodness for the easy parking and crowd free day. I love Jack’s Frys! I talked them up so much that M was quite disappointed when we sat down to munch on our hot goodies. To me, they were perfect and just how I remembered them from years past. Next stop was at Fletchers for a corny dog. Yum! Our dogs were hot, fresh and covered in mustard. I like to add ketchup too. We were never tempted to try any of the fried treats offered at the Fair. For some reason, none of them appealed to us. We were more beer drinkers this year. Food took a backseat. We tried various other foods, but none worth mentioning. A lot of our food went into the trash with only a bite missing. What happened to us this year? Was it us or was the food simply mediocre?

PB & J

I have to confess, I’ve been lazy. I mean the kind of lazy that doesn’t want to cook, doesn’t want to clean, doesn’t want to do anything other than watch football and eat other peoples food. Well, I didn’t have anyone elses food to eat on Sunday night. Monday night as well. I turned to my old standby….the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh heavens to betsy!!! I love pb & j! So much so that I had two in one night and one as my dessert last night. I’m a crunchy peanut butter gal with blackberry jam. Now that hit the spot on my lazy nights. Doritos made an appearance. How could they not?

Cinnamon Carrot Cake

I am the designated carrot cake baker in the family. It’s a staple at Thanksgiving dinner. My Mom and Grandmother both LOVE it, myself indluded. At the beginning of the week my Mom mentioned that she was craving my carrot cake. I took that as my queue to make one. What better to go with my coffee in the morning and for dessert at night. Oh, and as an afternoon snack. Really, I pick on it every time I walk by it.

Cake:

2 cups flour

2 TBS baking soda

1/4 cup cinnamon

2 cups sugars

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.Grease 2 nine-inch round pans and lightly dust with flour.

Mix the above ingredients in a large bowl with a hand mixer.

In a separate bowl, combine the ingredients below.

3 cups grated carrots

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 can of crushed pineapple in its juices

2 tsp vanilla

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix with hand mixer and pour into prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until set.

Cream cheese icing:

1 eight-ounce package of cream cheese

1 stick of butter

1 sixteen-ounce box confectioners’ sugar

1 tsp. vanilla,

1 tsp. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and beat until well combined with an electric mixer. Spread frosting between layers, on top and around sides.

Guilty Pleasures

M left for New York early this morning. With Ike heading our way, I stocked up on goodies for the weekend and spent way too much money. I am the paranoid type. I always like to be prepared for the worst. What can I say?  I have to have good food and alcohol in the event of a disaster. Is that wrong? After a shopping trip and a walk with Mom, it was too late for making dinner. I knew that I wasn’t cooking tonight. So many different dinner ideas went through my mind. All bad and fattening, of course! My stop and my guilty pleasure is Taco Bueno. I dined on soft chicken tacos and a chicken potato burrito. Yum! I am stuffed and ready for bed.

Deviled eggs

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We have a surplus of eggs in our fridge. Yesterday M and I were craving something sweet and headed over to Braum’s for a mix and a cherry limeade. Boy, that limeade was tart. Pucker much? I was under the impression that we were all out of eggs so why not grab a dozen while there. Heck, throw in some milk and a gallon of peppermint ice cream as well. Out of eggs? Nah. We had a dozen hidden in the back of the fridge. I made deviled eggs for an afternoon snack. I prefer the plain jane kind. Yolks, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, dash of Tobasco, dry mustard, paprika, salt, pepper and sweet pickle relish. Yum! We have left overs today. I set some out for breakfast. Guess who else wanted a taste?

If M and I turn our heads for one minute, Carlos is all up in our food. He’s our little billy goat.

Chocolate chips cookies anyone?

M and I should be at the bar by now, but we’re not. We are staying home to save money. Let me start over. This morning I was made aware that someone had been charging travel to my debit card. It shook me quite a bit. Even more so since this same exact thing happened to my husband last weekend. Grrr… What better thing to do than make chocolate chip cookies? I’m the lets make lemonade out of lemons type. There is always something to be thankful for. Have a look at these goodies!

For this recipe, I took the suggestion from Cooks Illustrated and substituted brown sugar for the granulated sugar. They are soooo good! Got milk?

Eggs

This was the highlight of my morning. There is nothing I like better than a hearty egg in toast. Yum! I’ve switched from frying my bacon in a saute pan to baking it in the oven. There is less mess, no more greasy splatters and the bacon stays flat. We first stating making eggs in toast instead of French toast one morning when we were out of syrup. The egg white soaks into the bread while cooking and gives it this sweet custard like texture. The yolk is solid on the outside and oozes perfectly with the first break of the fork. It really is a nice treat on a lazy Saturday morning.

Tio’s Tortas

If you haven’t been to Tio’s Tortas yet then you are missing out. My first visit was quite the adventure. M and I had a late night out and neither one of us wanted to leave home to get food the next day. Finally, I agreed to pick up lunch, but there was one hitch, I wouldn’t go anywhere without a drive-thru. We ran through the usual list of stops like Great Outdoors, Great American Hero, Taco Bueno, Chick-fil-A, etc… I mentioned Tio’s. We drive past it daily. Plus, they have a drive-thru or so I thought.

Me in my worn-out sweat pants (6 sizes too big), a t-shirt stained from who knows what, messy hair, even messier face and flip flops. I got in the car and headed out. I pulled in front of Tio’s and there I saw it….NO DRIVE-THRU! I frantically reached for my cell phone. No phone? I forgot my phone! I wasn’t going in there. I was a disgrace. The clock read close to 2PM. It was a Sunday afternoon. Maybe the church crowd was gone. That’s what I bet on when I decided to brave it and go in.

Boy am I glad that I went in. I didn’t see anyone that I recognized. We’re on the right path. No get in and out as quickly as possible. Tio’s ’s Tortas makes phenomal Mexican sandwiches and pretty good sides too. I ordered the Jamb and the Cubana along with cordones (french fries) and elotes con vaso (the best corn I’ve ever had).

M and I tore through our sammys which come in two sizes, regular and large. The regular is plenty large. I would suggest the large if you were going to split it or take the other half home for another meal. Both sandwiches came loaded meaning we did not add or subtract from the menu. The Jamb was a jewel of a torta. The avocado, black bean mach and mango pico kissed the ham and cheese beautifully. I wanted to stop halfway through…nope! I was taking the whole sucker down. The corn dish that came along side was awesome. Corn kernals smothered in cojita cheese, rancho sauce, cream and ancho chili butter. I drank the liguid once I devoured all of the corn. I’m going back for the corn and I’m getting a larger order. M had the Cubana which had him fascinated with the Milanesa steak. After his first bite, he looked at me like he’d just had a bite of the best sandwich of his life. He too vowed only to eat half. The blend of cilantro, queso fresco, avocado and red onion had me jealouse. A large bite later and I knew why he had that look on his face. Yum!

M and I will be heading back very soon. I’m want to try the Salchicha. Smoked sausage is a weakness of mine. Maybe I’ll try their fresh fruit juice too.

Snuffers

I am so bummed! Rarely do I go out for a big lunch. I save my calories for dinner. The highlight of Labor Day weekend was today’s lunch. My husband and I debated about this very topic yesterday afternoon. Which was it going to be El Fenix or Snuffers? My personal opinion as of yesterday was El Fenix, but my husband added Snuffers to the mix. It’s been on my mind ever since. When I got up this morning, I decided that Snuffers was the right decision. Plus, we always go to El Fenix when we dine with M’s Dad. Snuffers on Greenville here we come!

Did we make the wrong choice or what? I know, everyone goes to Snuffers for the burgers which are very good. I happen to go for the chicken sandwich, loaded cheddar fries and fried mushrooms.  Our drink order was taken while M looked at the menu. When our drinks were brought to the table we placed our food order. Yes, we’ll take the mushrooms out before everything else. Hmmm….. more than 20 minutes went by before our waiter returned to refill our drinks. Where were the mushrooms? The hubby and I stared at one another with that what do we do look???

Finally, part of our order arrived. Both the mushrooms and the cheddar fries came out together. What’s up with that? We wanted our cheddar fries with our entrees.  Oh well, at least it’s food and we’re both hungry. Unfortunately the cheddar fries weren’t even hot and the cheese tasted different. A new product maybe?? Go back to the original…please! Thankfully, the mushrooms were still the same. I’m still bummed about the cheddar fries.  We ate them, but with a sad thought that our special fries were gone for good.

After another 30 minutes our entrees arrived. At this point we weren’t even hungry. My chicken sandwich was over-cooked and bland. M’s spicy chicken strips were okay. They too were over-cooked and tough. Normally, we would have had a few beers with lunch. In the past, we usually went to Snuffers to make it through a hang over or late night when we needed to sop up the alcohol.

I’m beginning to wonder if Snuffers is that good. Did I eat there with beer goggles on? I think that might be the case. What a bummer!