My Sunday Comfort Food

I love making a roast chicken on Sundays. I do it one of two ways....either low and slow - and the result is like the roasted chickens you get at the grocery store. Here is the recipe I use --

Roasted Chicken

2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper1
Whole chicken
1 c. chopped onion

In a small bowl, mix all seasonings. Drizzle some olive oil on the chicken. Rub mixture into chicken - inside and out - patting mixture into skin. Stuff cavity with onions. Scatter some carrots and onions around the chicken. Roast uncovered at 250 degrees for about 5 hours, basting occasionally with pan juices until chicken is golden brown. This is a very moist chicken. Check your thigh (not yours, the chicken's) to see if the temp is 180 degrees.

I've made a big batch of the seasoning and keep it in a jar in my cupboard. I use it for other things although for the life of me I can't think of single thing right now.

Today, though, the damn chicken wouldn't thaw. So I used my other method.

Basic Roasted Chicken

Whole chicken
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper (actually today I used lemon pepper)
1 onion

You got it....drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season with WHATEVER. Really. Sometimes I use Lawry Season Salt. I don't EVER use garlic powder....it burns. Again, scatter some veg around the chicken. Tonight I used butternut squash with wedges of onion. It was yummy.

Roast at 425 degrees for about an hour and half. But I check at an hour fifteen with the thermometer because I don't want the white meat to dry out so as soon as that dark meat is done...or even almost done, I'm whipping it out of the oven. Let it rest for about 15 minutes to let it finish cooking and it's also easier to slice.

Moments and Memories

Mark asked me the other night what the best meal I'd ever eaten. I told him that I didn't have ONE favorite meal of all times, but, I had moments or days or events that were favorites in my memory. Were they gourmet meals? No. But they're the events that have helped define my life, my relationships, my weight issues....

Not in any particular order and certainly just a sampling -

1. Potato Puffs at Two Friends in Key West during Mark's and my first trip together.

2. Cold meatloaf sandwich from a deli on Pike Street (Seattle) with my mom. We had a picnic at Chateau Sts. Michele in Seattle and watched a Mary Chapin Carpenter concert.

3. Shrimp Fajitas in Cozumel at Casa Denis with our friends Mary and Dennis.

4. The antipasta platter at Amicci's in Baltimore's Little Italy.

5. Eating dungeness crab with my friend Maureen on the waterfront in Seattle. The best I've ever eaten.

6. NEW YORK PIZZA!! At Big Nicks on Broadway in NYC. Sitting at a sidewalk table.

7. After driving all over Los Angeles looking at the sites, Valerie and I stopped at Gladstones in Malibu late afternoon, got some appetizers, and watched the sunset while sitting on their deck.

8. Sitting in the Italian Restaurant at Snowshoe with Mom and the twins and it began to snow. Through the twinkly lights outside. It was a magical moment for me -- can't even remember what I ate. Oh who are we kidding -- chances are it was spaghetti and meatballs.

9. The smell walking into the Pancake House in Gatlinburg with Mom and Mark -- smelled like my Grandmother's house when I was little. Coffee. Strong, rich coffee intermingling with the smell of pancakes and bacon cooking....OMG!

10. The best salsa and freshly fried tortilla chips I've ever eaten at this motor inn right outside the entrance to the Grand Canyon. I even put it on my eggs the next morning.

Cheesecake Factory

Cheesecake Factory takes a lot of heat from food critics. I don't really know why. It's almost like it's chic to hate Cheesecake Factory. Being on the outside (of chic) looking in most of my life -- gotta say....I love it. I love everything about it. I love how it looks, I love how my water glass is immediately refilled, I love the value for what you get, and I love the diversity of the menu.

I loved, until yesterday, the sliders. They're on the appetizer menu and are amazing. Four mini burgers with fried onion slivers and 'secret sauce.' Yesterday, though, I needed to find an alternative.

Why?

Sliders for Lunch + Diet = Nothing To Eat for Dinner That Night Because All Your Calories and Carbs are Used Up YOU FAT PIG!

We literally spent 30 minutes going through the menu and all of our options. Meg and I decided on the Baja Chicken Tacos (hold the rice...extra black beans, please). And Mark got the Wasabi Crusted Ahi Tuna with extra veggies instead of the rice.

I now have a new favorite. I would get the Baja Chicken Tacos even if I wasn't dieting! The homemade guacomole and the avocado cream were delicious. The black beans addicting!

Mark's ahi tuna was good (he says) and was a big piece. We're thinking between 6 and 8 ounces! He insisted on spreading more wasabi on it and we found it very entertaining watching his eyes burn and nose hairs sizzle.

Raina's Birthday

Mark and I joined Raina's birthday celebration at El Mocajetes in Palmetto. The company - good. The food - not so good. It did, however, prompt me to make my own salsa. In all honesty, Mexicali across from Walmart on Cortez Road is better and I classify that as only a few steps above Taco Bell.

Anyway, it was a good birthday celebration! Karaoke was entertaining - especially when Haleigh joined in.

Soup on Sunday. It’s a good choice. You can eat when you want. I usually make it early in the day and let it simmer away all day. Today after I put in the dumpling noodles we went to run errands. We ended up going to lunch and had very slow service at Cody’s Roadhouse due to the Church crowd and the early-bird specials. Also I didn’t get what I ordered which took even longer. We had onion rings for an appetizer and then the salad and rolls. Then we waited. Waited. Waited. When I sent my meal back we told the server to put all our food in to-go containers.

Back to the soup. Chicken thighs cooked in water with spices until done. When cooled, picked apart and plopped back in the broth along with carrots and onions, basil, poultry seasoning, a bit of garlic and pepper. I added dumplings that I bought at the store (freezer section – can’t remember the brand). DEEEEEE-LISH! Take a look….

Trivia night at Cherry’s Bar and Grill. My favorite night of the week. Sad, isn’t it? But let me explain. It’s not the NTN trivia game. Our host, Gordy, is a real person on a microphone calling (more like mumbling) out questions that we have to answer. Teams have to be seated at the same table although there’s no limit to the number of people at the table. You also get a speaker at your table that helps magnify the volume of the mumbly questions. When it’s not trivia night, the premise is that you pick the tv your sporting event is on and you turn your speaker box to the channel marked on the screen your watching….getting just the sound from that particular show.

Anyway, the game is live. Winners get food coupons (40 for 1st; 20 for 2nd, and 10 for 3rd place). The questions are not easy. Well I guess the questions are easy – it’s the answers that get hard. For instance, does anyone know that the Orient Express ends in Istanbul and never actually goes to the Orient?? Or that the vanilla bean comes from an orchid?? No…I didn’t think so. We actually got those correct. What did we get wrong? The year of the first computer virus (1986, NOT, 1975) and the name of the couple involved in Whitewater scandal with the Clinton’s (the McDougals, duh!!)

Bob and Marybeth joined us this week. It was their first time. Here’s Bobbo in his Cletus costume. Bob claimed that he wouldn’t know a single question. And damned if the first question was about hockey…and of course he’s the ultimate hockey fan!

We’ve got one 2nd place win and two 3rd place wins under our belt. We hope to beat Team Zoron – three teachers from Manatee High School. They know we’re gunning for them so now they strategically bet on the last question so they’ll remain in 1st place!! Grr.

One of my favorite things to eat at Cherry’s is the Big Dipper. Roast beef with sautéed onions and swiss cheese on a hoagie roll. Comes with warm au jus and I substitute onion rings (breaded, not battered).

Demetrio’s. A Bradenton classic. I’ve been eating at Demetrio’s since High School – it being a favorite late night snack place after getting off of work at the Seafood Shack right down the road.

People think of it as an Italian restaurant – in fact they advertise as an Italian restaurant. But the original owners are from Greece. The evidence of that is in the Greek salad that’s a must when you eat here. Crisp iceberg lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber, and UBER-AMOUNTS of feta. They bring the homemade dressing in a squeeze bottle to the table so you can put as much (me) or as little (the rest of the world) on as you want. As my taste in pizza is a bit different now, I usually go with the spaghetti and meat sauce or meatballs. I remember my dad ordering absolutely everything on the pizza's and them being so heavy you couldn't even pick up a slice. Anyway, after taking some ribbing from my mom about being in a rut by ordering spaghetti and meat sauce EVERY CHANCE I GET (and I do…), last night was no exception. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, my mom ended up ordering the same thing! Ha! The sauce is a bit on the sweet side so I always add a sprinkling of crushed red pepper. Perfect. It took every once of control I had not to slurp up the entire plate, but, I had announced that I was going to get the full order to have leftovers for lunch. Mark had the lasagna which looked delish, my mum, uncle and aunt had the spaghetti (my uncle says it’s the best he’s ever eaten….I don’t know about that!?! After all, I want to believe that my own sauce is the best ever eaten!), my cousin had salad and chicken orzo soup and her husband had the meatball sub. Good night, good meal, lots of laughs. It’s a great family restaurant!

Now, you must excuse me while get myself some leftover spaghetti (10:30 am! Is it too early for lunch??)

I’ve been trying to perfect pizza at home. Mark and I are pizza snobs having been spoiled with numerous trips to New York City where the pizza is thin and crispy. The closest we can come to that is Gio’s (Gio's Fabulous Pizza and Martini Bar, 4805 Cortez Road W, Bradenton(941) 792-3388).

A bit about Gio’s. The restaurant is small so the tables are a little cozy but the place is great and you forget that you’re in a strip mall restaurant when you sit down. As do a lot of the restaurants, they start you off with bread and olive oil and seasonings. The chunks of bread are fresh, their EVOO was very good with excellent seasonings. The pizza is delicious and if you are a fan of thin crust than you'll absolutely love it. For an extra kick, you can ask them to use the puttanesca sauce on your pie instead of the regular marinara (which is good too).

So, I’ve been trying to recreate at home. I’ve been inspired by The Home Cook . You just can’t do it without a pizza stone. That’s it. Period. End of sentence. I got a stone for Christmas this year and then went out and bought a second one that was bigger. I’ll go through my process the next time I make it. But this weekend I decided to try a calzone. Now, I’m not sure I’ve ever ordered and eaten a calzone. They always look good, but, I’m usually a purist when it comes to pizza places.



I used the usual amount of dough and divided it. Rolled it out as best I could on a sprinkling of cornmeal. I mixed ricotta with cut up pepperoni, mozzerella, garlic powder, and some italian seasonings. I made a sauce of some crushed tomatoes with a pinch of sugar, a bay leaf, crushed red pepper flakes and some italian seasonings. I cooked that down until it was nice and thick. I spread just a tad on half of the rolled out dough pieces and then spread out the ricotta mixture. Topped with more mozzerella and brushed the top with an egg wash. It went into the oven on the stone for about 10 minutes. We dipped each bite in the leftover tomato sauce. It was good – we each had half leftover which was good for Sunday lunch – but I’m not sure if I would do it again. And if I do, I would definitetly do things differently. More flavor inside. Cook longer. More meat. Make it prettier.