Tormented Kitchen

For my birthday this past year, my dear hubby took me to a trendy bar/eatery.  The highlight was my drink. So I have carefully crafted my own improved version for home consumption. I used a hurricane glass because it made it prettier. As you know, a good part of the appeal of food and drinks are the appearance.  Make it pretty and taste good., and you will wow your friends. I have intentionally made this drink with and without alcohol, for one, because I am such a lightweight drinker! Without vodka, it was still fantastic! I can also share the mocktail version with the kids. I like my drink with the extra sweetness of vanilla syrup. If you are trying to cut calories, you might want to back off the regular syrup and switch to sugar-free and consider fat-free half & half. I know fat-free half & half is a mysterious chemical alteration of the real thing. But if you want that texture and creaminess, it's an option. By the way, a regular shot is in t...

Even though we are not people who drink much, we do enjoy the tasty, fun things on occasion. Our friend Chris enlightened us recently. We already knew about Copper Camels, so we were open to a small tweak that yielded the Oatmeal Cookie. Now, you don't have to drink these as shots. I actually like to make a mine a double in a larger glass and drink it slowly. Also, I keep my bottles in the fridge so these drinks are cold. I just happen to like cold drinks. I guess room temperature would work well for shot-chugging, if you're planning on throwing few back. Copper Camel Shots 1/2 Irish cream (Carolan's, Emmet's, or Baileys) 1/2 butterscotch schnapps (like Buttershots) Method 1. Combine equal amounts of Irish cream and butterscotch liqueur in a shot glass. 2. Drink. Chris' Oatmeal Cookie Shots 1/2 Irish cream (Carolan's, Emmet's, or Baileys) 1/2 butterscotch schnapps (like Buttershots) a splash or tiny drizzle of Goldschlager or other sweet ...

Lately, I have been in the mood for some foods that are a bit unusual. You could say we're tired of the same old thing. I started looking in cookbooks and asking around for ideas. One of my coworkers is in the Basque Library at UNR. She recently posted a link to some Basque recipes on their Facebook page. That got me thinking. I went home and looked through the church fundraiser cookbooks, and asked Grandma Rose for ideas. I found some great stuff, like this bread. This recipe has been passed through the Winnemucca community and shared by a number of people, so I'm not sure who to credit. I made a few small modifications to the recipe. For one, I don't have a gigantic cast iron Dutch Oven, so I cut the recipe in half. Two, as I was making it, I used slightly less flour than originally called for and kneaded it slightly less.  I think next time, I will use the stand mixer with a dough hook to mix and work the dough before I knead it. I'm getting a little bi...

You all know how much I like Mexican food, right? My dear friend Kelly showed me a few things. See, she married a fellow from El Salvador. The cuisine there is slightly different from what we know as Mexican food. It's good stuff. I have not made thick tortillas like her in ages. She showed me how to make thick corn tortillas. For a while I made them all the time. Then, for some reason, I stopped. I guess we got tired of them. It took me a while to actually get around to making tortillas. Things kept coming up. I'd run out of time. I'd forget. I'd make something else completely different for dinner. Then, I finally just broke down and did it. This time, I made them with just flour, not with masa harina. Let me just say one thing about these homemade tortillas. They won't be as thin as store-bought ones. Store-bought tortillas are usually loaded with nasty preservatives to keep them pliable and free of mold, as well as chemical compounds to enhance the textu...

A while back, Justin and I took a Thai cooking class. It was astounding how easy it is to make Thai food! You just need to know the ingredients. Many of the ingredients aren't all that strange, but a few really threw me off.  Pickled radish? Tamarind juice? Where do I find those? The answer is at an Asian market. Yes, you need to look outside the boring-ness of Safeway to find what you want. I bought 3 Crabs fish sauce, pickled daikon with chili, a tub of Dragonfly cooking tamarind concentrate, rice stick noodles, jasmine rice, all kinds of tea, lemon grass, skinny eggplant, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, boba, agar-agar dessert mix (like Jell-O), saba bananas...seriously any and all exotic ingredients that you might want for Asian food. For people around Reno, check out 168 Asian Market on the corner of Virginia and Gentry. They are stocked! They have a sister store, Reno Asian Supermarket 803 W. 5th Street, which is just off of Keystone. I go the...

Not too long ago, dear hubby and I realized that we were tired of eating the same old thing. We are pretty good meat-eaters, so to change things up, I made something vegetarian. I had some chard in the fridge from our garden and some canned beans in the pantry. I started tossing things in a pot and ended up with a tasty bean stew. If you want to go vegan on this, swap out vegetable broth for the chicken broth and forget the genuine Parmegianno cheese. You might want a soy/vegan cheese instead. Although the cheese adds a nice depth of flavor, it's not required. Also, I made this once without the tomatoes and it was equally tasty. So feel free to leave them out if you're not a tomato fan. Ingredients 3 Tablespoons EVOO olive oil 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped 2 medium garlic cloves, minced 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans or small white beans, drained and rinsed 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed, cut into short ribbons 3 roma tomatoes, diced 1 can lo...

My family has this running joke.  If there is a food we love, a food that outshines all competition, we say it came with us. This coleslaw came with me. My mom has made it for as long as I can remember. I have tried other recipes for slaw only to find them not living up to my expectations. Coleslaw is easy, so easy. Cabbage, carrots, dressing, and you're done. Sure, you can get fancy with purple cabbage or celery. I think the most important part of coleslaw is the dressing. I like my dressing extra creamy. The sour cream makes this. Ingredients 1 head green cabbage, stalk removed, leaves shredded 1 carrot, grated 2 Tablespoons onion, finely minced (optional) 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup mayo 1 teaspoon yellow mustard 2 Tablespoons sugar 2 Tablespoons white vinegar 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt Method 1. Combine the dressing ingredients, sour cream, mayo, mustard, sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper and whisk until blended well. 2. In...