In honor of the movie, The Peanut Butter Falcon, we had a peanut butter themed dinner. We had been wanting to see the movie since it came out, but never seemed to have the time. Thanks to a tip from Melissa, and the universe clearing our calendars, we finally watched it. What a great movie!…
Leftover Valentine’s Day Candy, Dried Morita Chile, Pecorino Romano Cheese, and Espresso Powder: Mystery Basket Revealed and Conquered
I won’t lie. When I told Ben what we were cooking with, he said, “Rough!” However, we think we turned it into a win. We are limiting trips to the grocery store these days, so we just used other ingredients we had on hand to create our menu of spaghetti and meatballs with milkshakes. We…
Polls Open on a New Chopped Challenge Plus Runner Up Basket Success
Although sausage, cucumbers and honey roasted peanuts seemed like unlikely ingredients, we modified a recipe we know and love from my cooking idol, Ruth Reichl, to make Easy Vietnamese Caramelized Pork: We substituted sausage for pork tenderloin, seedless cucumbers for Armenian cucumbers, and honey roasted peanuts for peanuts. The herbs and cucumbers are a great…
Chicken Wins By Narrow Margin! Sausage Demands Recount.
I’m sorry, sausage. You’ve been chopped. Despite voting irregularities (entries being sent to my junk mail) we can assure you that the one vote margin reflects the strong will of the people to elevate chicken to the top position. With this basket, Ben and I decided to do a chicken pot pie with a jicama,…
Day 6 – The People Have Spoken! Winning Basket: Catfish, Frozen Peaches, Asparagus
I’m sorry, chicken, you’ve been chopped. Thank you to all who voted! While we may be still experimenting with setting up the voting mechanism on our blog, we can assure you that there was no Russian interference. Our menu was grilled catfish with a peach mint salsa, pearl couscous “risotto” with asparagus, and peach cobbler. …
Barrel 135 – Carry Out!
Same awesome food, just consumed in the comfort of our own home! https://www.barrel135.com
Chopped – The Bendemic Edition
One chef. Two baskets. Three different ingredients in each basket. What will Chef Ben make? Vote for the basket below that you think Ben should use tomorrow.
Day 4 – Ben: “Are you going to take a shower, or are you just going to talk about it?”
Today, our focus was tying up loose food ends. I know how lucky we are to have plenty of food, and I want to make sure we are managing our inventory properly before we go out for fresh supplies. Right out of college, I went to teach as a volunteer on the Hopi Reservation in…
Day 3 – Keeping the Glass Half Full
This morning, as I was having my coffee, Ben poured himself some orange juice and said, “I have an idea! Let’s do normal!” Well, while I can’t promise that, I can engineer chicken parm night, and that was all Ben needed to declare, “Chicken parm? I’m a lucky guy!!!!!” My school has not yet gone…
Day 2 – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
We had another good day of bike riding, basketball, reading (me) and favorite movies (Ben). In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, this Ben’s Day Wednesday dinner is dedicated to the humble potato. If you are looking for a simple recipe that is not only nutritious, but warms your soul, look no further. Potato Soup 5…