Welcome !!!

Welcome to all of the cross over readers from "The Happy Campers" blog!!

Rex put a post up inviting everyone to visit my "Recipes to Eat" website and blog. He also sent many of you e-mails with the same invitation. It has been up and running for about 6 weeks now so while some of the bugs have been worked out it is still very much a "work in progress".

Please take the time to sign up, leave a comment or two, and add a receipe. That is what makes a site like this work!!

I would like to take a little time to explain how a recipe site like this comes together. First of all I purchased what is called a "recipe script". This is actually the vehicle that is used to organize and catagorize the receipes. A framework so to speak. The recipe script comes with 200 recipes so you have something to start out with. I have been working on adding recipes to more reflect what I like to cook and do with food (beside eat it that is). That is one of the reasons I would really appreciate recipes added from friends and family.

I am also working on a newsletter to send out that will include coupons. This is quite an ambitious project so bear with me.....it all takes time.

I want to thank you for coming and hope you visit often!! Please take the time now to bookmark the site!!

Chocolate Beer Cake

Chocolate cake with beer....that sounds interesting!! I recently became acqainted with "The Ultimate Beer Lover's Cookbook". As the title implies, all the recipes include beer as an ingredient so I decided to try chocolate cake with beer.

The cake is really moist and the frosting is more like a hot fudge sauce. I would recommend eating this cake and frosting with vanilla ice cream. That is really yummy!! The recipe for both the cake and frosting can be found on www.recipestoeat.com and also of course, in "The Ultimate Beer Lover's Cookbook". The frosting does not have beer as an ingredient but is still very good. Oh and there is the problem of no picture, there is a reason for that. The recipe calls for a tube pan, but I don't have one and quite frankly, my finished cake wasn't exactly pretty.......but it still tasted wonderful!!

John Schlimm, the author of "The Ultimate Beer Lover's Cookbook" gave me permission to use and promote his recipes on my blog so I am happy to do so. He also has several quotes about beer in his book.....here is one I like:

"Mother's in the kitchen wasing out the jugs,

Sister's in the pantry bottling the suds,

Father's in the cellar mixin' up the hops,

Johnny's on the front porch watchin' for the cops."

Prohibition song

Winterhill Farms Olive Oil

It is tuesday so that means a trip to the Lake Tahoe Farmer's Market. I decided last week that I am going to be featuring a different vendor each week. This week I am featuring the olives oils of Winterhill Farms.




Winterhill Farms olives oils are certified extra virgin by the California Olive Oil Council. This is important and assures the consumer that they are purchasing 100% extra virgin oil. They also have flavored oils:

These flavored oils are very tasty and wonderful for dipping and for dressings.

They also have these oils available for sampling at the Farmer's Market. You can use these flavored oils in baking also. Check out the recipe section for a recipe for "Citrus Almond Olive Oil Cake". I got this receipe in the information I picked up today at the Winterhill Farm booth at the Tuesday Lake Tahoe Farmer's Market.

I love this picture showing all of these beautiful oils....really cool!! I am going to include the baking conversion table that I also found in the literature from Winterhill Farms:

Butter/Margarine to Olive Oil

1 tsp 3/4 tsp

1 Tbsp 2 1/4 tsp

2 Tbsp 1 1/2 Tbsp

1/4 Cup 3 Tbsp

1/3 Cup 1/4 Cup

1/2 Cup 1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsp

2/3 Cup 1/2 Cup

3/4 Cup 1/2 Cup plus 1 Tbsp

1 Cup 3/4 Cup

Olive oil is better for you and has many health benefits so you might want to try using it in your baking. And for anyone wanting to learn more about Winterhill Farms you can find them at www.winterhillfarms.com. My son is coming to visit in about three weeks and we will be going to Placerville, CA to visit the wineries, but now a visit to Winterhill Farms store and tasing room will definately be added to the agenda. Looking forward to it!!

Next Food Network - Part 6

Well, seems I have egg on my face....last week I said Aaron and Adam should leave with Jennifer. I also said it was a three way horse race between Shane, Kelsey, and Lisa. This week it was totally opposite....and .....I am floored!!

Amazingly, Adam did the best job on the Rachel Ray show....and his food was even good!! That was a big surprise to me based on past weeks.

Arron also had great food but we all knew he could cook. He started out a little rocky but ended up saving the day and it was priceless that his Girl Scout helper scooped up the rest of the pizza and took off out the door!!! That was funny.

So the two guys I felt were the next to be eliminated, came in first this week. Just goes to show it isn't over until it's over.

So now we go to Lisa, I was shocked. She just totally "shut down". It seemed she was just intensly intimadated being on the Rachel Ray show. Not something I expected.

Kelsey and Shane both had the same problem with this challenge. They are both VERY young and it really showed this week. They both had great food, but not a lot of interaction with their Girl Scout partner and Shane couldn't even remember his helper's name....not good form there!!

So I guess I feel the judges made the right decision and Shane's major fault is his age and lack of life experience. So good bye Shane, I am sure cooking with great success is in your future!!

P.S. I am NOT making a predicition on next week's eliminated contestant!!

The Food Saver

Last winter, Rex was visiting our neighbor Steve. Steve was "Food Saver-ing" some meat. Rex came home thoroughly impressed----and promptly ordered one online.

Since buying the Food Saver, I have no idea how much money we have saved on food but am pretty sure it is way more than the cost of the Food Saver. It is very cost effective to buy meat in bulk and freeze in two portion packages. For example, I cut bacon in half and freeze two slices per portion. So out of a pound of bacon I get at least 6 portions. This also avoids over eating, because you only cook one portion at a time. Actually it is very time friendly too, since it only takes 5 minutes to thaw in a container of hot water.

Meat isn't the only food I portion out with the Food Saver. I like a rice blend that I get at Trader Joe's. Since it is a blend with brown rice, it take 50 minutes to cook, so I cook the whole bag at once. That way I can "Food Saver" the cooked rice blend in one cup servings which only take about 5 to minutes to thaw and have rice very quickly. What a time saver that is!! I also like to clean the whole bunch of celery and "Food Saver" it is individual portions so I can take it in my lunch to work. It stays fresher longer that way and I get celery to munch on during my breaks at work.

You can use the Food Saver for anything you want to seal in a vacummned bag, it is very convienent. It can also help you save!!

Crepes at the Farmer's Market

It's Tuesday so the Farmer's Market is the place to be!!

I have decided to start "featuring" a different vendor every week. This week's vendor is the girls that make and sell crepes.



As you can see, they have several crepes for you to choose from, let see....I guess I will try the egg, ham, cheese, mushroom, and tomato crepe. But I could have had one of those sweet crepes but I am going to have one with vegetables.....as usual I am on a diet!!



The first step is to put the crepe batter on the hot plate and roll it out to a thin consistency.



Looks like everything but the tomatoes are on my crepe...it is really lookin" good!!



Breakfast is ready and heading to the plate!!



Not only did it look good, it tastes good!! This is my first crepe at the Farmer's Market...what I have to do for research!! LOL!!

Next Food Network Star - Part 5

Once again I was able to watch the show.....that is such a treat!! Although sometimes it is downright painful to watch. Jennifer in the first challenge is one time, as was watching Aaron. Don't get me wrong, I would be much worse, but at this stage of the game I am disappointed these guys don't seem to improve. Didn't they do a "talk to the camera" audition to be a participant on this program???

Now on to the second challenge----WOW!! Beef wellington, coq au vin, and turducken.

Beef wellington is a dish that makes sense to me and I see that Shane and Kelsey really came up with an approach to this dish that I would try. I liked this duo, they seemed to work well together and it resulted in them winning the challenge. I also agreed with Bob's blog...they looked adorable together. They also can both cook!!

Coq au vin doesn't look or sound good to me, but it is apparently a wonderful and popular dish. The pairing of Adam and Arron was unfortunate. I felt, rather than lifting each other up, they dragged each other down. I still don't know if I think Adam can cook anything, but I know Aaron can.

Now turducken....who in the hell thought this one up?? Someone with one too many vino's?? I can't imagine why anyone would even want to eat this dish let alone make it!!! I have always hear duck is very, very greasy so it has absolutely no appreal to me. Lisa and Jennifer was another unfortunate collaboration. Lisa is apparently, a classic chef, while Jennifer is more of an "everyday" chef. Don't get me wrong, I am not putting Jennifer down for that, I just didn't think they made an effective duo. I am sure Jennifer is a wonderful chef.

This was the week that Jennifer was eliminated and rightfully so. I think Adam should have gone with her but that is for next week's show.

At this point I see a three person horse race. I think Shane and Kelsey are neck and neck, with Lisa breathing down their necks!! Can't wait to see the Rachel Ray show challenge next week......