If you can't go to the Roadhouse.... bring the Roadhouse to you!

I love to cook in general, however I was born a baker since I have that sweet tooth problem. Baking breads of any kind is no exception. I have made brown bread, white bread, pita bread, roti bread (an indian flatbread) and tortillas, to name a few. Today my husband had a strong desire for those Oh so perfect rolls and sweet butter from the Texas Roadhouse in Bangor. Seeing how obviously there is no such restaurant anywhere near our little fishing town, I went online. I read 5-6 recipes all claiming to be their restaurant's recipe, but all the reviews stated they were close, but not quite the real thing. I made my attempt and I have come to agree with them. Although my rolls were very good and the butter was very sweet, it wasn't quite as good. It could have been a number of things though. I may not have let them rise long enough... the weather was very damp and cool, which wouldn't contribute to them rising to their maximum fluffiness; and also I 'halved' the recipe, which could have led to me miscalculating an ingredient. Although not quite the Roadhouse standard, I still consider this adventure a success seeing how the four of us already ate half of what I baked within 20 minutes of them coming out of the oven. I'd say Daddy had his craving satisfied for the moment... until next time that is.... tomorrow's adventure? Jerk chicken. Daddy's having another craving....

The roll recipe was pretty basic, so I'll just include the butter recipe which would even be good on store bought rolls or bread. I also had it on my sweet potato at the restaurant, so I intend to buy some in the next couple days to use up the remaining honey butter.

1/2 C butter

1/2 C icing sugar

1/2 C honey

1 tsp cinnamon

When butter is at room temperature, whip all ingredients together using the blender until nice and creamy. I think next time I will put less honey (maybe only 1/3 C). Enjoy!

Burgers R Us

So I'm not going to post something everyday, but I thought I'd take a minute and see how much of my time it will take, etc. Obviously I don't have an extra hour to spend every day on a blog, so we'll see how it goes.

For lunch today my fabulous husband grilled me a lovely cheese burger. I decided to switch things up with my toppings, so I sauteed some onions, fresh mushrooms, zucchini and a touch of fresh garlic in some olive oil. (I thought this was a great way to get an extra serving of veggies in my meal plan for the day.) I topped that on my beautiful burger with a little lettuce, and some cajun sauce. The cajun sauce is a tasty alternative to mayo and it was just light sour cream with just a touch of mayo for thickening purposes and some cajun spice. Don't be scared to be liberal with the cajun spice in your sauce. After all, you do want to taste it :0) Stir it up, top it off and enjoy!

Newbie blogger is the name of the game

So, I've never had a blog before.... don't know many people that do, but I thought I'd try one for the fun of it. I love many things in life... one of which is food, so I am dedicating this blog primarily to my adventures in cooking.

Life is to short to be boring, and I feel that applies to what I cook as well. I love to watch the food network and get ideas for recipes that sound good that I would like to try. Luckily my spouse is not a fussy eater and he'll try anything I make. With that said, let me just say that Google is my best friend. If I hear something that sounds good, I just google the name of the recipe and go from there.

Here was our menu for tonight: Salsa chicken with spanish rice and corn. The chicken obviously was the star of the plate and I prepared it as follows: Since I didn't have any taco seasoning on hand, I rubbed some chili seasoning on the chicken breasts. Mixed equal portions of salsa and low fat cream of mushroom soup. Stirred that up and topped it on the chicken. I then baked it for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Then I added a dollap of sour cream on top of each chicken breast and somewhat mixed it with the salsa mixture already on the chicken. Next came the cheese and finally.... dun dun dun dah..... the tostito chip crumbs. Yes... my husband suggested I use the leftover crumbs from a tostito bag on top and it was FABULOUS! I put it back in the oven for 5 minutes or so until the cheese was melted and then broiled it for a couple of minutes just to get that crispy top. My husband said it was the best salsa chicken I had ever made.

The rice was just Uncle Ben's spanish flavored rice that I cooked in the rice cooker, but it was the perfect compliment to this meal.

All's I have left to say is "Please DO try this at home people".