"Little Strips of Goodness"

I forgot to post these...



LV says they're just like Planet Hollywood's Chicken Crunch. Except with Ritz crackers. "And that's easily the best thing on that menu."

There were far too many chicken strips here that the recipe for oven-fried chicken tenders called for. I ran out of the mixture of paprika, thyme, low-sodium Ritz crackers (so gross compared to the real thing), etc. so that's why some of the chicken looks pale in the photo. They were good. But "oven-fried" doesn't really describe them.

Peanut Butter Bacon Sandwiches

This was supposed to be a testimonial to how great my meatloaf was the night before, but wouldn't you rather eat peanut butter and bacon on white bread after seeing this?

Nun's Puffs

The picture of these in the cookbook looked so tasty. Raspberries scattered around, honey dripping, a croissant-like texture... I couldn't wait to make them.

There are four eggs and not much else in this recipe. If you don't put honey on them, they kind taste like an egg. Croissants don't taste like eggs. I was kind of disappointed.

Meatloaf

I was thinking of titling this post "mmmmMeatloaf," but I really wasn't that crazy about it. I think I'm programmed to want my meatloaf with just ground beef and on the dry side. Like it's not done right until it NEEDS ketchup on it.

As a way to use up the left over ground veal and ground beef from an earlier (and successful though not photographed) attempt at Swedish meatballs, I decided to make some meatloaf. I think the veal helped it taste juicy, and I was repulsed. Scrappy and LV, however, dogged it.

All I have to show are the three leftover slices...

Game Day

I started out the football season with lots of chips and deli meat. Then I got a cookbook. I not only made buffalo wings, I also made the bleu cheese dip with real crumbled bleu cheese. The beer, however, I'll leave up to Heineken.

The Birthday Party

Who knew 6-year-olds could have such fun finger food at their birthday parties? I'm sure no one was expecting this menu when I decided to cook.



Crab dip served in phyllo shells





Buffalo Wings (well done by the third batch because of all the grease on fire in the broiler)



Shrimp and limes on skewers (which really functioned as more of centerpiece) all dried out at the end of the party

Chicken Kiev

Who knows why I didn't take a picture of the chicken kiev when it first came out of the oven... I had beat those little chickens to the thin rectangles they were supposed to be, and then folded the butter and onions and garlic and everything else tasty inside better than I thought I would. Ugh... All I have is this lame video of the leftovers I made when I got tired of filming LV playing his new PSP game. You can't even see how well I breaded those suckers! I'm just going to have to make them again.

Steak: Attempt 2

I found this when I was looking for more food pictures. It's not really about how overdone the pepper steak was as much as how we still have a dishwasher sitting in the middle of the kitchen. You have to see the video that came before it to understand better how the kitchen is set up.





Translation: "This is what Juan has done to my steak. It's overdone because his plumber [he sent over at 8:30 at night] couldn't do anything for us because he's not an electrician and a fucking carpenter [on top of being a plumber]. [[Shot of cabinet that needs to be removed]] Not an old dishwasher. Not an old dishwasher that needs to be replaced [as Juan lead the plumber to believe would be there]!"