Chicken and waffle sandwich!

Tastes like chicken!

If only all chicken tasted this good. Martin baked up this delish dish from a Mrs. Dash ad. (Yes, kiddos, we're making the recipes on ads, too!) This is a salt-free variety, so it's good to give to Grandma. Feel free to check out the recipe.

A hungry man's perspective

As told by David. Regina and I awoke at the crack of dawn Saturday, before the others, and tried to jump right into food preparation mode. Being away from this kitchen for a whole year brought a slow start, as we had to refresh our memory with where everything was kept. We had two recipes that were to take 15 minutes each. But after one hour we finally had Crab Crustinis, as well as Smoked Salmon Cucumber Boats ready for your morning coffee. That and cleaning up tuckered me out and I tried several tomes to lay down and nap. But the presence of 18 people kept me awake. Not that there was a lot of energy in the air. On the contrary, this year is more laid back than last year. Last year's cooking magazine produced fancier dishes than this one. There is far less eye appeal and more practicality. I wouldnt say that Cooking Light is healthy eating, rather, more on the side of quick and simple recepies. I notice the lack in the medly of flavors that came together with the fine cooking of last year. Still some delicious meals though. With no ability to nap and down time before my next recipe, I jumped on the band wagon of runners for a 3 mile jog. Staying in a house full of runners was very motivating - 11 of 18 of us went out. It's been months since I ran, but I kept pace and broke a nice sweat and felt great. By the end of the day my stomach was distended with 12 pounds of food. Fast forwarded to the run this Sunday morning and the picture was totally different. Warmed with several cups of tea, I started the 4-person run feeling warm and fuzzy. Ten minutes later the warm feeling faded to that of 28F cold with a bitter wind cutting through my hat, nipping at my ears. The weight of the previous day's binging wore on my joints. Knowing that if I stopped, I'd freeze and die out there, I pressed forward. I occupied my mind with thoughts of, I'f you could have a second home, where would you have it?" Ah, the wishful possibilities. But for now, I'll lay by the fire and enjoy the sounds of the conversations around me and await the next round of eating.

Pork Chops with Grits and Red Eye Gravy with Wilted Spinach

This masterpiece is made with a half-cup of coffee to give you a little jolt. Mix that with creamy grits--a favorite Southern breakfast tradition--and a dash of V8 (hello Bloody Marys!) and you have the ultimate brunch dish. Perfect to indulge on after a night of partying it up with friends. 

Are you drooling yet?

Yummy! Bundt cakes are next!

Nothing like the smell of tofu in the morning

It's Sunday morning, and we're feasting here in the middle of Food Porn Weekend. So far today, we've already had chicken and waffle sandwiches, wheat-cracker nachos and some bundt cake shavings. And we're about to dig into tofu steaks with shiitake mushrooms and veggies. It's our first real Asian-inspired dish of the weekend, and it's pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. (Though I might be a little biased. This one was my culinary baby.)

Here's the recipe. It's a good one for tofu because you don't have to do much squeezing of the tofu. Just drain it and let it marinate for 15 minutes. Then toss it a pan and let the heat do its job.