Tormented Kitchen

Frog's Eye Salad. Doesn't that name just sound gross? It sounds kind of like Halloween food to me. When I look at this in a bowl, I think it should have a nice name. Maybe I will just call it something else. Maybe I will just call it ambrosia or picnic fruit salad. Or I will make up something odd like "insalata con acini de frutta" which really means nothing in Italian. I like making up words. How about Fru-cini? Prounounced Froo-cheenee. What about Fru-cina-lata (froo-cheena-laa-tah)? This dish uses a tiny shaped pasta called Acini de pepe . They are just little balls of pasta. For anyone unfamiliar with the pronunciation of Acini de pepe , the correct way to say it is "ah-chee-knee duh pay-pay". Wow, I didn't realize I was going to be giving Italian language lessons on a food blog. Go me! Anyhow, I gleaned this gem of a recipe from my dear hubby's stepmom. It makes a lot of food. This fills a very large mixing bowl, and it's fairly ...

When the carnivore comes out, sometimes you just need a good hunk of beef. To quiet the beast within, I usually go for a steak, a fat and juicy hamburger, or a roast. We've tried lots of different techniques for cooking, like long and slow, or even in the rotisserie, but for just a good "get 'er done" roast, this recipe is it. One thing I can't stress enough is using good meat. How do you know good meat from bad meat? If you can get your roast from a reputable butcher, it will be good. If it comes from Wal-Mart, it will probably be tough. Fork out the extra couple bucks for a fresh roast. Don't bother buying the one on sale that's turned a bit brown. It will be stinky to eat. As for the roast's preparation, it's so nice to have the butcher trim the rib bones off, then tie them back on. One local shop here (that recently went out of business) used to sell roasts with an extra layer of fat wrapped around the outside and seasoned between the la...