Pancake Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday has many names throughout the world and cultures: Catholics and some Protestants call it Fat Tuesday, Hawaiians call it Malasada Day, but my favorite celebration is in the U.K. where they call it Pancake Tuesday! Whatever you call the day it is all about enjoying the foods and activities that are abstained from during Lent.

In London they celebrate the day by holding pancake races where participants sprint while flipping pancakes in a pan! I'm pretty sure we won't be doing that here in Salt Lake City, but we will definitely be eating stacks and stacks of pancakes!

There are a few places that I love chowing down on shortstacks below are some photos of them to encourage you to fully celebrate the day!

Pumpkin Pancakes- The Original Pancake House (my favorite breakfast chain)

Blue Bucks smothered in blueberries at Eastern Market in D.C.

Other places we love:

• Fluffy classic pancakes at Deacon's Corner in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• Pancakes Swingers Diner in Los Angeles, California
• Golden pancakes at Bob & Edith's in Arlington, Virginia
• Sourdough pancakes from the kitchen of Suzie Romans in Richmond, Virginia

Where will you be enjoying pancakes this Pancake Tuesday?

Pancake race photo courtesy of Potters Bar Press

Food is Love!

Valentine's Day is upon us again and you know our favorite way to show love is through food! We celebrated love a bit early this year, by joining together with friends to celebrate the Valentine's birthday of our very close friend Consuelo Alejandra. She requested an all chocolate dinner, a la Chocolat, so we had no choice but to deliver a savory chocolate main dish!

Using chocolate in a savory way can seem daunting or odd, but chocolate is actually a great ingredient to do this with because in its pure form it is not sweet at all. We searched and searched for an appropriate recipe. Now was not the time to experiment too much because this would be our first time explorin chocolate's savory side. We found an elegant and tasty recipe for a Roasted Beef Tenderloin with a Rosemary, Chocolate, Wine Sauce; it was definitely worth the effort, but it was an effort!


The end product of this recipe was unbelievable! The sauce was so fragrant and unique and dressed the pink, juicy beef tenderloin perfectly; however, it took much longer than the recipe suggested to reduce and thicken. I expected this to occur based on the comments I read about the recipe, so I began the sauce long before we began to roast the tenderloin. I found that for our use to double the amount of cocoa in the recipe (what's a chocolate dinner without extra chocolate) but I always recommend tasting your sauce as you are making flavor adjustments, because you could end up throwing the balance off entirely.

Our dish looked as beautiful as the recipe photo. I cut down the tenderloin myself from a big fatty piece of beef, which was beautifully done, I must say! It was cheaper than purchasing already prepared beef tenderloin from a gourmet grocery store, but that is always an option too! Diane seared the meat in a pan with some olive oil and then finished it off in the oven, roasting the beef to perfection and let it rest for about 15-20 minutes. Always let your meat rest, during that time the meat retains all its juices and reaches desired done-ness.

We had so much fun at dinner, dousing our plates in chocolate but since chocolate is not everyone's favorite, here are some suggestions from Food Network that will make your Valentine's Day dinner or any other special dinner filled with love!

Too Late for Dinner, Too Early for Breakfast

Today we celebrated Black History Month with the best combination: chicken and waffles! Crunchy, but moist fried chicken on top of a soft but structured waffle, all smothered in hot sauce and syrup almost magically hits the spot. The heat from the hot sauce combines with the sweetness of the syrup to make a one-two punch of flavor.

This tradition of mixing breakfast with dinner has several origins, my favorite begins in Harlem (my Mom's childhood home) at Wells Super Club in 1938 during the Harlem Renaissance when musicians, celebrities, and other late night revelers could not decide whether to order breakfast or dinner in the hours before dawn. This compromise has spread all over the country, with such famous eateries as Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles in L.A., Gladys Knight and Ron Winan Chicken and Waffles in Atlanta and of course Laura and Diane's Chicken and Waffles tonight in Salt Lake City!

For our house chicken we used the cider-brined fried chicken recipe from a previous post. This brine creates the moistest, juiciest and flavorful chicken, with cayenne pepper setting a beautiful sunset color and the flour-cornstarch mixture brings a fantastic crunch! Making waffles from scratch is always an option, perhaps use the waffle recipe we've posted here before. However, in a pinch, we used a Bellegem Waffle Mix to save time and we definitely were happy we did! These golden waffles were the perfect base for our tasty chicken.

This combination may seem unusual but nothing feels more right!

Beyond Peanut Butter Cups: Muddy Buddies

Although George Washington Carver (scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor) did not invent peanut butter, it was patented by Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Canada, he did discover approximately 300 applications for peanut butter in the early 1900s. These applications range from cosmetics to gasoline. We thought we would share one of our favorite, simple, tasty applications for peanut butter: Muddy Buddies!

Muddy Buddies are a homemade classic that uses simple baking ingredients that you have around your home. This crunchy, crowd pleaser is sure to brighten up any movie night or sporting celebration. Hopefully, you'll use Muddy Buddies as an inspiration to make and share your favorite peanut butter recipes and come up with your own applications for peanut butter!

Muddy Buddies

(My variation on this General Mills recipe)

Ingredients

• 9 cups checkerboard cereal (Chex cereal)
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips (I use Guittard melting chocolate)
• 3/4 cup of peanut butter (creamy works best)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. Measure cereal and set aside in a large bowl.

2. In a 1 quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High for 1 minute; stir.

3. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth.

4. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon re-sealable food storage plastic bag.

5. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag and shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool.

Check out more peanut butter delights here!

More Than Just Fried Chicken

February is Black History Month and it is only fitting we celebrate it with food. Food has always been a big part of black culture from Soul Food in the South to integrations of Latin cuisine from Central America. This month commemorates contributions made by black people throughout history. This month, Diane and I will be focusing on both the contributions to food made by black people and some of our favorite dishes traditionally eaten by black people. Regardless of nationality or race, we can all take part in this tasty celebration of a rich people, because black history is all of our history.