Peanut Butter

We talked so much about peanuts yesterday, we didn’t even have time to go into possibly the most popular peanut product — peanut butter. In fact, about half the peanuts grown in the United States go to making peanut butter.

These days, you can get natural peanut butter, chocolate peanut butter, peanut butter mixed with fruit jelly, low-salt, and a host of other varieties. But about 800 peanuts go into every jar, so it’s a great snack.

I like storing natural peanut butter in the refrigerator and it will last much longer (about 6 months), but if you get the regular kind, store it in the cool, dark pantry for about three months.

It might look funny, but I store my PB upside down. The oils tend to rise to the top, so when you turn it back right side up to use, make sure you stir, that way you get those oils that have begun to separate back into the mix.

Peanut butter is so easy to make. Chop peanuts in your food processor and add just the tiniest bit of peanut oil. Keep processing it until you get that perfect consistency — whether you prefer smooth or chunky.

I never particularly thought I liked peanut-flavored dishes, besides peanut butter, until I tried this Thai

Try Elvis’ proported favorite of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Or my absolute favorite guilty snack? A big piece of thick white bread, smeared with peanut butter and drizzled with maple syrup. If you’ve never indulged in this midnight snack, you’ll love it.

Or of course, a thick PB & J sandwich, with homemade strawberry jam and a glass of cold milk.

Food Friday: Peanuts

Peanuts. Groundnuts. Georgia nuts. Goober Peas. Whatever you call them, the South loves their peanuts. And we may think we know all there is to know about this snack-time favorite, but here’s something I’ve just recently learned. Did you know that the peanut isn’t really a nut at all? It’s technically a legume, much closer to the bean family, as it grows in the ground istead of on trees as other nuts do. But even though they technically aren’t nuts, they’ve been popular in the Southern U.S. since colonial times.

If you’re buying unshelled nuts, they should have clean, unbroken shells and should not rattle when you shake them. Refrigerate them, wrapped tight for up to 6 months.

Peanuts go great in banana-nut bread, Thai curries and sauces, chocolate bark, and of course, with most any dessert.

King peanut lives on!

Kentucky Pie Bars

May Day Pie, Pegasus Pie, Thoroughbred Pie — just don’t call it the “D” word.

You see, the Kern family, of Melrose Inn created the pie in the 1950′s and still owns and actively protects the name and the exact secret recipe. But a chocolate, pecan, and bourbon pie by any other name still tastes as delicious.

This year, since I’m celebrating the Derby outside my homestate, traveling in South Carolina, I still wanted my taste of you-know-what pie. So I decided to see if I could turn this classic pie into portable bars.

Here’s what you’ll need:

A recipe for your favorite pie crust

1 1/2 sticks softened butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup flour

a good pinch of salt

a splash of bourbon (optional)

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups pecans (some swear by walnuts, but I’m a pecan girl… use whatever you like).

Preheat your oven to 350. Then line a deep baking pan with your pie crust. Separately mix together the pie ingredients — butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, bourbon, chocolate, and nuts and pour it into your baking dish, spreading it evenly over the pie crust. Then just bake for about 20 – 25 minutes.

Keep your eye on this, as you just want a golden crust forming on top.  We’re aiming for gooey pie-like bars, not crunchy here. I wish I could eat warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, but they’re just as good at room temperature.

Cut into big ol’ squares, and wrap tightly and they’ll keep up to a week, but I’m guessing they won’t last that long if you’re anything like me.

For more inspiration for your Derby day party, check out some other Kentucky recipes for your menu:

Kentucky Hot Brown

Burgoo

Mint Julep Iced Tea

Bourbon Balls

Food Friday: Paprika

Paprika is a versatile spice we’re all well familiar with. But it’s so much more than just a colorful garnish.

Paprika is made by grinding dried sweet red peppers, so it can range from mild to hot. Pay attention to color (orange is milder up to blood red gets hotter). To enhance the flavors, roast it in a dry skillet for a few minutes before using, or add it at the beginning of the cooking process.

And if you’ve never had Smoked Paprika, you are missing out. It tastes just like bacon! Seek some out and you can have bacon-flavor on everything. (We love sprinkling it on popcorn.)

Paprika pairs well with most any meats — fish, chicken, beef, or pork (especially sausage), and other proteins like eggs and beans. Paprika goes great in barbecue, potatoes, and stews. Enhance its spice with sharp garlic, cool it with mayonnaise or sour cream, or balance its presence with something sweet like honey.

Food Friday: Okra

When I was six or seven, my mom decided it would be fun for me to begin a little backyard garden. We successfully grew berries, potatoes, greens and flowers. But when it came to our okra, we were getting really excited. They grew and grew and the day finally came with we plucked our hefty okras, fried them up and…

Ew. Something just wasn’t right. They were tough and chewy. Turns out, in this one case, Southerners, smaller is better.

So now, we just buy our okra, but make sure you look for bright, (needless to say) small pods. Cut off those ends and then slice them up longways or in slices.

 

Inspired by African traditions, okra has been a long Southern classic favorite. Okra is often used in gumbo, because it actually secretes a substance that thickens liquid when its cooked.

Okra is great fried of course, but also boiled, sauteed, marinated in vinaigrette to include in a salad, or even grilled. Okra is a cooling vegetable, so it pairs well with tomatoes, onion, corn, crab and other seafoods, and obviously creole spices.

We’ve done our fair share of talking about okra here. Remember our okra with tomatoes and corn? Well, here’s another recipe for your summertime meals — Garlic Grilled okra.

Oil a baking pan, shake on a little red wine vinegar, three cloves of minced garlic, a little salt and cayenne. Add one pound of cleaned garlic (or about a bag of frozen if you want to go that way). Toss it in the oil and vinegar mixture. Cover the pan and let sit as long as you can. A few hours, or overnight, preferably.

Grill over medium-high heat for only about 5 – 6 minutes until they are lightly browned, turning halfway through. You can serve these right off the grill, or at room temperature and they’ll be just as good.

Dip in a quick mix of homemade mayo, more garlic, lemon juice, and jalapeno peppers combined in the food processor for an extra kick.

Food Friday: Hard-Cooked Eggs

Did you know you shouldn’t “boil” eggs? If you’re like me, you’ve grown up eating “hard-boiled” eggs, but it turns out the process of boiling them makes them tougher.

• Before cooking your eggs, pierce the large end with a needle or a thumbtack. This will prevent them from cracking while cooking, and also make it easier to peel.
• To cook, rather than boil, place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan and top with at least an inch of water. Cover and bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and let stand for 15 - 17 minutes ( about 4 minutes if you prefer them soft-cooked).
• Turn the eggs halfway through cooking to keep the yolks centered.
• Drain the hot water immediately and cover with cold water and let stand until completely cool. This will prevent the green from forming around the yolk. Cooked eggs are also easier to slice when cold.
• Refrigerate and use within 1 week.
• Mark the hard-cooked eggs with a crayon or a little food dye to differentiate between your hard cooked and your raw egs, but if you forget, give the egg a spin. A cooked egg will spin quickly and easily as opposed to a raw egg will woble because liquid is moving inside the shell.
• If you’re using your hard-cooked eggs for deviled eggs, put your ingredients in a ziplock bag and squeeze the contents until mixed. Now you can just snip off a corner and pipe the mixture into the halves.
• If you’re going on a picnic, pack hard-cooked eggs in an airtight container then pack ice surrounding.

I have a great story I’ll tell y’all sometime of a certain childhood Easter egg hunt where I consumed 13 hard-boiled eggs and spent the next few hours with my tummy not too happy with me, but I could still eat and eat hard-boiled eggs undeterred. However, if you’re planning on hunting hard-cooked eggs this Easter and they’ll be out of the refrigerator for more than 3 hours, it’s safest to cook 2 batches — one for coloring and hunting, and another for consuming.

We hope you’ve learned a little something about eggs this month. However you enjoy your eggs — over easy, scrambled, poached, or even Cadbury — there’s nothing like the incredible, edible egg.

Food Friday: Eggs

Someone once said, “The egg is to cuisine what the article is to speech.” Since the egg is so yummy, so versitile, so prevelant, we’ll spend this whole month on Food Fridays exploring the incredible edible egg.

I thought I knew everything there was to know about eggs, but turns out, I had a lot to learn. (Like did you know that while we typically discard the shell, it’s totally edible? They can be ground and used to add a source of calcium.) Habits form from years of watching momma select the same size, color, and so on and I never even explored how many different sizes, grades, exteriors there were for eggs.

But, if you’re like me, there’s a lot of information out there, so Sweet Iced Tea has spent a little time learning about eggs — purchasing, seperating, egg safety, cooking, everything you’ll need to know. Stick with us! And let’s talk about eggs.

While they have gotten a bad rep in years past for being high in cholesterol, eggs are a great source of protein when eaten in proper moderation. They’re also full of amino acids and vitamins. Though if you’re worried about cholesterol, most of it is found in the egg yolk, so you can separate the yolk or purchase egg whites in most store refrigerated sections. Egg white can easily be substituted in for most egg recipes. Perhaps because of their placement in most grocery stores, eggs are sometimes thought of as dairy, but the USDA considers them part of the meat section of the food pyramid. There are so many different types of eggs — birds (chicken, duck, goose, turkey, ostrich, quail), fish eggs, even amphibian eggs. But for our purposes, we’ll concentrate primarily on chicken eggs, the most common of egg.

First off, let’s talk about some practical egg tidbits. Your most commonly going to see eggs sorted by size and grade at the grocery store, but what are those qualifications, exactly? The grades AA, A, and B speak to the egg’s quality, both exterior and interior. The sizes are also a weight measurement per dozen — jumbo (30 ounces), extra large (27 ounces), large (24 ounces), medium (21 ounces), small (18 ounces), and even peewee (15 ounces). Most recipes call for large eggs unless otherwise stated. The white or brown shell coloring has nothing to do with diet or quality, but rather the breed of the hen that has laid it. There is no taste or nutritional value difference.

Producers wash and seal the coating with a mineral oil, which typcially protects most eggs from increased salmonella growth. Be wary of “farm fresh” eggs you buy at roadside stands. Eggs need to be stored in the refrigerator as they can only stand about one day unrefrigerated before spoiling, versus one week in the fridge. Those fresh roadside eggs may not be as fresh as you think.

Most of us have heard to never eat raw eggs, but here’s added incentive for any of you protein junkies out there who are tempted to throw a raw egg in your shake — cooking the egg actually more than doubles the amount of protein our bodies are able to absorb from an egg versus the egg raw. And the cooking process is usually sufficient to kill most any strain of salmonella that might have left a trace on the raw egg.

So eat up! Eggs are never out of season, always easy to prepare but luxurious to eat, a great meal for any time of day.

What are some of your favorite egg dishes? Come on back next Friday when we’ll talk about the specifics of using those eggs and a few tips on easily separating and cooking with whites and yolks.

Tuesday Tip: Hot Rolls

Nothing’s better than a hot fresh dinner roll. But how to keep those rolls hot from the oven on your Thanksgiving table? Place a ceramic tile in the oven while the rolls are baking. Once they’re ready to come out, carefully remove the tile and place it in the bottom of your basket, cover with a napkin or towel, and lay the rolls on top. Keep your rolls covered with the towel or napkin as well, and they’ll stay warm for the entire meal!

You can often get leftover ceramic tiles from construction companies, or even your local bath tile merchant, though many kitchen specialty stores stock them too.

Dallas City Guide: Suppertime

Mr. SIT and me enjoying a local mariachi band at a Dallas tex-mex joint.

Now that you’ve had a good night’s sleep, you should have a Texas-sized appetite.

Everyone knows Dallas has a reputation for good food. So, here are the best restaurants and snacks that Dallas has to offer:

• Tillman’s Roadhouse — If you want an authentic Texas experience, head over to Tillman’s. All you’ll get is a casual, rustic but lush atmosphere, music, and really good food. Oh, and a little Texas hospitality.
• Cowboy Chow — A little ’bout Cowboy Chow? Inspired by chuck wagon cooking, Cowboy Chow boasts open range dining — cooked slow and flavor-packed. Peruse this menu at your own risk — drooling may ensue.
• LOCAL — Modern, in season, classic, and I guess it goes without saying, local. Don’t miss this stylish spot.
• Stephan Pyles – Located in the popular Bishop Arts District, Stephan Pyles, and its sister restaurant, Samar, feature bold foods — smoky, spicy, multi-cultural flavor is what he’s known for. And everything is prepared in-house.
• Hattie’s — I’ll leave you only with their own description, which sounds about as perfect of a restaurant as you’ll ever find anywhere: American bistro with a southern low-country influence.
• Cafe Madrid — When you’re in Dallas, you’ve got to have some tapas. Even better if you can enjoy them in a cosy, intimate setting. Order a few tapas, and sit back to enjoy live guitar.
• SMOKE — You’ll remember SMOKE from yesterday’s hotel feature, as it’s the place to be if you’re staying at the Belmont.
• Scardello Cheese Market – Artisan cheeses and the scrumptious accompaniments. Grab some local Texas cheeses to try before you purchase your favorites for a Texas picnic.
• Dude! Sweet Chocolates – Rumor has it, these dudes are friends with Scardello (they sell the chocolates in the cheese shop). At any rate, top off the end of a delicious meal with a hand-made sweet. (And don’t you love that fun name?)
• Soda Gallery — Sample over 200 types of “sodas” (took everything in my Southern body not to say 200 types of Cokes… y’all know what I mean) from all over the world. And while you’re enjoying your “pop,” you can enjoy looking at some regional pop art.
• Sprinkle’s Cupcakes — After all that delicious food, you’ll want to top it off with a Sprinkle’s Cupcake for dessert.

Food Friday: Spinach

I remember the first time I had spinach. It was, as all great food should be, at my Mamaw’s house. And she prepared it, as any good Southern farm girl should, cooked within an inch of its life, wilted, slathered in butter and so much salt.

And it was delicious.

I still eat spinach now every single day of my life. Literally. Most of the time now, it’s raw and in salads, on sandwiches, on burgers, casseroles, thrown into anything I can fit it in. You see, it’s delicious, and one of the healthiest leafy greens around. Doc C tells me I need more iron (lots of ladies do), and it’s packed with iron, vitamins, calcium, folic acid, potassium. It’s known to prevent cancer and it grows most of the year around in the South’s temperate climate (but most of it you’re buying at the stores probably comes from around my stomping grounds… up the road in Salinas, California).

So for today’s Food Friday, indulge me as I share a few of my favorite spinach tips.

• Choose spinach with crisp, dark leaves that have a fresh fragrance. (Avoid those that are limp, or have yellow spots.)
• To keep it fresh, my momma taught me this trick. Wrap it loosely in paper towels and store in the fridge in plastic. The paper towels will keep the moisture from spoiling and will keep it fresher for days.
• I like spinach best with the stems removed, so I think it’s easiest to pull the leaves right off the stems, but it’s really not necessary (just tougher to eat with stems hanging out your lips like a bunny rabbit).
• Wash spinach by placing a large bowl full of cool water and place the leaves in and swishing them around a bit. Then just let them stand so the dirt can settle to the bottom. Then just lift the delicate leaves out of the water.
• Dry with a salad spinner, or just shake off the water. You can also lay them flat and blot off with a towel.
• Cook spinach just until it begins to go limp or steam it by placing the washed, but undried leaves in a hot pan. Then cover and steam for 2 – 3 minutes. Then you can serve it steamed, or wrap it in a towel, hold over the sink and wring out the moisture. Then you can chop it up or use it however you like.
• If you’re dethawing frozen spinach, twist in a towel to wring out all the moisture over a towel. This way, you can use the water for soup or other liquid. Spinach is a moist food, so drain it thoroughly before serving, so it doesn’t drain out on your other foods.
• Be careful when serving spinach in aluminum or silver. The silver discolors the spinach and the spinach discolors the silver! Go figure.
• One of my favorite parts about spinach? It goes great with bacon! Sprinkle crumbled bacon on salads, or saute in bacon fat and serve with salt and pepper. Nutmeg also goes great with spinach — especially for the fall. I also love a cobb salad made with spinach. The hard-boiled eggs are a great match with spinach as well.