www.roanoke.com

Image source: Huffington Post

Inauguration day has arrived.

In between all the hand-shaking, church-going, speech-making, parade-watching and ball-dancing, President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, will need some serious sustenance. What better way to kick off the next four years of fine White House dining than with a huge, three-course Inaugural Luncheon complete with wine and champagne pairings?

I'm sure we'd never catch the Obamas nodding off, even if they do have no less than 10 balls to attend tonight. But when you get a look at the luncheon menu I pulled from the Inauguration Web site, you'll understand why it might be a struggle to keep the eyelids open. It starts with a pastry-topped seafood stew chock full of lobster, shrimp, scallops and fish, then moves on to a "brace of birds." I had to look up "brace" to see how it was being used in this context. It means a "pairing" of birds -- in this case a roasted duck breast and stuffed breast of pheasant.

For side dishes, what else but sweet potatoes? I'm starting to believe that our new president is seriously addicted to sweet potatoes. The luncheon ends with a scrumptious apple sponge cake with caramel-apple topping.

Want a feast fit for a president? The recipes from the luncheon are attached below in great detail. See if you can replicate them in your own kitchen!

Read more »

As soon as I saw this recipe on Simply Recipes, I had to rush to the blog and post it. This looks like heaven. Somebody make a trough of this stuff and strap me to it!!

Crab Fondue Recipe

18 oz. (3 6 oz. packages) cream cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. mustard (yellow or Dijon)
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1-2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning (or paprika with a little ground ginger and cayenne)
1/4 - 1/2 cup dry white wine or dry sherry (optional)
1-2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
3/4 lb. to 1 lb. lump crab meat, fresh or canned
1/4 cup chopped green onion greens, chives, or parsley

For dipping: Day old French or Italian loaf bread (best not fresh or will fall apart when dipped), cubed into 1-inch cubes, bread sticks or pear slices.
Method:

1. Slowly heat the cream cheese, mayo, powdered sugar, garlic powder, Old Bay, lemon zest, and mustard in a double boiler until the cheese is completely melted. (If you don't have a double boiler, fill a saucepan a third of the way with water and bring to a boil, place a metal bowl over the saucepan. This will work as a double boiler.)

2. Slowly stir in the wine and lemon juice (adjust quantities to taste and desired consistency). Slowly stir in the crab meat and onion greens.

To serve, transfer to a heated chafing dish or fondue pot to keep warm. Present with bread cubes and other dipping agents, as well as forks.

Serves 8.

A little while back, I blogged that the folks at Duke's Mayonnaise were looking for a new jingle and were holding a contest that anyone could enter. Well, I don't know if any of you guys put together a little diddy for the "secret of great Southern cooks," but the company has narrowed down all of the entries to two different jingles. And now you can listen to them both on the Duke's Web site and vote for your favorite!

Will the winner be Dwayne White with his jazzy jive jingle or Michael Inge's piano-driven tune? I won't tell you which one I voted for, but I will say they are both very good and they are neck-in-neck! So if you want to have any say in the tune you'll have to listen to while you're sitting through commercials, head over there and cast your vote!

While we're talking about contests, let me remind you that I'm giving away a free book, "Entertaining Simple" by Matthew Mead. All you have to do to enter is comment on this blog with your favorite easy, inexpensive appetizer recipe. I'll put all the entries in a hat and randomly draw a winner. Deadline: 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!

This has to be the best typo I've ever had in a blog recipe:

Cut each potato in half. Scoop out the flesh into a medium bowl and discard the skins. Mash my hand with a potato masher or wooden spoon.

Strangely, since my first trip to weight-lifting class this evening, my right hand has been throbbing between the first and second knuckle. I fear I've inflicted some voodoo on myself...

Oh, and by the way, it shoulda been "mash by hand." Yeah.

From Amazon.com

How long has it been since we had a Cookbook Giveaway? Long enough for a co-worker to accuse me of running a small book store out of my office. They're piling up, peeps, so it's time to unload some of these magnificent, brand-spanking-new books on my beloved readers.

And now, I am going to close my eyes and randomly fumble around for a book from the stack..... stay tuned..... aaaand the winner is "Entertaining Simple" by Matthew Mead. OK, I admit that I first randomly chose "Knives Cooks Love" and then put it back, but I plan to do a story about knives one of these days. No, really!

"Entertaining Simple" is half cookbook, half planning book. It's a lovely primer for anyone who gets the jitters when guests are due and wants to perfect their host or hostessing skills. The first part of the book goes through pantry staples, the kind of servingware you ought to own and how to personalize the table for your event and your guests. Mead's table decorations are simple and beautiful.

The second part goes into recipes for both small and large groups. They are organized by menus for different types of events, but of course they can be used a la carte, as well. Below the jump, I will share a recipe for twice-baked potato boats, which are served in individual ramekins.

To win the book, send me your favorite simple, inexpensive appetizer recipe. I'm collecting them for an upcoming Super Bowl story. The deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday. I'll do a random drawing. Good luck!

Read more »

According to a news release from Mariner's Landing, a popular Bedford County restaurant is taking over management of The Pointe restaurant at the Smith Mountain Lake resort.

Anybody ever eaten at Benjamin's Great Cows and Crabs in Forest? If so, you have some idea of what the new landing restaurant, Benjamin's at The Pointe, will be like. As the name suggests, Ben McGehee, owner of the Forest restaurant, will be melding some of his team with the kitchen staff at The Pointe. They'll be in charge of both the restaurant and food and beverage business at the conference center.

Mariner Landing spokesman Jay White said The Pointe will soon close for business except on Fridays and Saturdays, when it will serve lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. White expects Benjamin's at The Pointe to open on March 1. Until then, the restaurant will have no weekday hours.

Will the menu at The Pointe be the same as the menu at Benjamin's, which specializes in steak and seafood dishes? White thinks there will be some similarities but also some differences. He's leaving that up to Chef McGehee.

Word on the street is that the Top Chef contestants tonight will have to make a meal out of nothing but canned and processed ingredients. And they'll have to do it in 15 minutes.

I drop in and out of watching Top Chef, but I have to tune in tonight because I'm guest blogging about the episode for That TV Blog on Roanoke.com. So if any of y'all are going to watch the show tonight and have comments about it, be sure to head over to the TV blog and chime in.

In honor of the chefs' challenge tonight, I need to find a simple and easy recipe made from canned and/or processed ingredients. Hmmm.... how about this recipe for Bourbon BBQ Turkey Dogs from the cookbook "Tech Tailgates: Good Food to Gobble up on Game Day" by Kirsten Titland and Melissa Moncrief Cobbler? It's got hot dogs, it's got jarred jelly, it's got bourbon. What else could you ask for on a cold day?

Read more »

Funny that blog reader Michelle brought up the Pillsbury Bake-off in her most recent comment, because I just received a big package of information from Pillsbury about their 44th Annual Bake-off contest. That's right, it's that time of year again! You could win a grand prize of one million if you dream up the best new recipe using a featured brand of products.

Most Pillsbury products (rolls, breadsticks, pie crust, brownie mix, etc.) are fair game for the primary ingredient; the secondary ingredients can come from a list that includes Jif peanut butter, Smucker's jams, Crisco oil, Eagle sweetened condensed milk and Hershey's cocoa or chips.

If you have an inspired recipe, you can enter online at www.bakeoff.com. That's also the place to find any additional information you may need. All entries must be received by 11:59 a.m. central time on April 20, 2009. 100 finalists will travel to Florida on April 12, 2010 to compete. Have you guys seen the documentary on the bake-off? It's pretty wild.

To get you motivated, here's a tasty appetizer recipe that was a finalist in the 43rd contest (2008). If you enter, best of luck!!

Read more »

Okay, back to food.

I was a good wifey this weekend. Even though I'm not too crazy about chicken in red sauce, I made one of my husband's favorite dishes, chicken parmigiana, for dinner on Saturday night. Full disclosure: this picture is not of my chicken parmigiana. But mine looked that good, if not better. And I discovered that a new product by McCormick might be a must when I make this dish in the future.

The product is McCormick Italian herb & cheese crusting blend. It's a mixture of panko Japanese bread crumbs, herbs and Parmesan cheese. I found it too strong to use just the crusting blend to bread my chicken, so I cut it with plain bread crumbs and the result was scrumptious. Cutting it with bread crumbs also will make this crusting blend last a bit longer, since the jar is fairly small and probably costs at least $3. They make two other flavors: French onion, pepper and herb and garlic, lemon and rosemary.

I'll attach my recipe below. Do you have a special recipe for Chicken Parmesan?

Read more »

I now interrupt this blog so that I can vent about a grocery store experience. I figure that if I moan and complain about it on the blog, it will save other readers from having to read about it in a Cornershot or a Grrrrr column in Extra.

Every other Kroger store in town has a bunch of those cute mini-carts with the basket on top and bottom. They are perfect for me, because I only shop for myself and the hubby (and he usually takes off with his own basket, anyway). For months now, it's been bothering me that my Kroger doesn't have any of those little carts.

Well, yesterday I finally thought to ask the manager: "Is there some reason you don't have any of those little buggies at this store?" He said yes, it's because they keep getting stolen. He said they've had about 35 stolen already and at $150 each, they are too expensive to keep replacing. He said they send a truck around the surrounding neighborhoods once a week looking for orphaned carts, and the big ones are easy to find but folks can carry the little ones up to their apartment or room.

What, pray tell, does someone want with a grocery basket? Can we not refurbish old grocery carts for the less fortunate so they don't have to steal from the grocery store to cart around their belongings, if that's what's happening? If someone is reading this who stole a small cart from the Kroger at Crossroads, you should be ashamed of yourself! I'm angry that I can't have the same grocery shopping experience at my store because of people like you.