Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Top Five Kitchen Facts

Jen at Cheaper than Therapy included this in today's blog, and after spending the day thinking about it, I think I can come up with some answers for us.

What are the five most important facts about you when it comes to your food and drink in your kitchen?

1. Our best dinners include my husband on the BBQ. I know only three real manly men on the grill (in my little world), men who know how to cook the meat just so, making sure that it comes out tender, moist, delicious and cooked. I can't stand seeing the meat get put back on the grill numerous times because someone doesn't know what they're doing. If you can't BBQ, don't invite me over for dinner. These men are my Husband, my best friend Mark, and my Dad. Good work, boys!

2. Good red meat must be paired with good red wine. My favorites include:
LVC Vineyards Zinfandel, that is so rich and porty, it could almost be a dessert wine. (Their website is showing "harmful" warnings from Google, so no link right now.)
DeRose Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel, which we haven't bought recently, but the bottle we enjoyed on my last birthday was delicious!
Leal Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is always a fine treat.

3. While my kids are freaked out by the idea of any of it hitting their food, my Hubby and I are big believers in pepper. I learned this from him -- it's better for you than salt and gives a lot of flavor. I never even put it on my corn until I met him, and now I barely use any salt. As I get older, I suppose this can only be a good thing, right?

4. Meal traditions are apparently not that important to me. Growing up, we stuck to the same Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner every year. Turkey and/or Ham, my grandmother's stuffing recipe, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy. *ick kack* What can I tell you about giblet gravy? Yes, it's as bad as it sounds. Sorry Mom! Now that I'm a "grown up" and I host one of these events every year, I've taken full advantage of being in charge, and have had a lot of fun trying out new recipes. At first it was just having Hubby que the bird while I made a new kind of stuffing, but then I branched out. Ham with a raspberry glaze...garlic potatoes...couscous with cranberries and almonds. You get the gist. We're having fun, now!

5. Everybody loves a quesadilla! When all else fails, throw some tortillas with cheese on the pan and put out some salsa and sour cream.

3 comments:

Ali said...

I so agree with changing up the traditional holiday dinner! I still gotta have the green bean casserole, though, it's the only time I fix it!

Tasha said...

One year for Thanksgiving, we went out for Mexican food and had margaritas and enchiladas for dinner! It was a fun year!

John Deere Mom said...

I couldn't agree more with #5! I love a quick, easy quesadilla...and we almost always have the ingredients.