Category: Side Dishes

“Fry” Day Pickles and Snow Days

Fried Pickles with Yogurt, Dill, Sriracha dipping sauce

Well, another couple of weeks have gone by and where  was I?  Oh yes!  I was snowed in with a friend of mine for a couple of days, so no pics of Yes!Chef! making tasty things last week.

Every year a group of 7 ladies that I have known for years visit me at my cabin in Tahoe for a weekend retreat.  We have been doing this for the last 9 years.  Last year they came in the beginning of October.  Some years they have visited in July or August.  This year, they waited until almost the last weekend in October.  The weather in Tahoe is always iffy in October and true to form, the first few days were balmy and beautiful.  It chilled down in the evening, but daytime was wonderful.

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Karen Schmautz19 Comments

Crashed Spicy Sweet Potatoes are My New Fall Comfort Food

Crashed Spicy Sweet Potatoes

Now that Fall has officially begun, it’s time to put on the warm socks, colorful sweaters and curl up by the fire.  Heat up a cup of apple cider and put a stick of cinnamon in it while you are waiting for the Crashed Sweet Potatoes to finish cooking.  Can you tell that I love fall.

Here in the Sierras, we like to head out to Tahoe and get some pictures of the fall leaves, and maybe some bears.

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Karen Schmautz31 Comments

“Pickles are so firm. Pickles are so crunchy. Do you have a pickle. For when I need a munchie?” The Pickle Song

“Buckwheat: Do you like pickles?
Porky: i think they stink!
Buckwheat: I love pickles
Porky: My mum makes me eat them
Buckwheat: I’m crazy about em!
Porky: I’ll sell you my pickle for a nickle
Buckwheat: How bout 2 cents..
Porky:Ok
Buckwheat: I’ve got two pickles. I’ve got two pickles. I’ve got two pickles today .. hey hey.. !”

Little Rascals 1994

I love pickles!

But they can’t just be any old pickle.  I do not like bread and butter pickles and I do not like wimpy pickles. I like crisp, crunchy, dilly pickles.  I also like sweet pickles on occasion, but dills are my favorite because they make my mouth water.

I might just be a pickle connoisseur.

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Karen Schmautz8 Comments

A lot of roasting and a little boasting

Food Stories Winner for July, 2012

First, a little boasting.  We were notified on Friday that our blog was the July winner of “Food Stories Award for Excellence in Story Telling“. Back in May, 2012, I wrote a blog post that we had been nominated by Pop the Bubbly for the Illuminating Blogger Award.  I was quite excited (so was Yes!Chef!) because this award is not just about blogging recipes or showing pretty pictures of food.  It is about telling stories and not necessarily just about food.  I am all about telling stories…Just ask my children.

I checked out the competition several times since I was nominated, and they are a great group of bloggers.  In fact, I spent quite a bit of time perusing some of the entries.  But then, life got in the way and I kind of forgot about it until we got the notification on Friday morning that we had won.  Now, I can say:  Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!  Hazaah!

Leaping for Joy

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Karen Schmautz6 Comments

Steak Tacos with Pickled Red Onions or Eating at home with Friends!

***UPDATE on motto:  So we had a little dust-up with our new (and I thought original) motto:  “Love people.  Cook them tasty food.”  That motto actually belongs to Penzy spices.  I’m so sorry that we used it.  When I told Yes!Chef! about it and asked him for a new motto, the first words out of his mouth were, “because life is too short to eat crappy food.”  Well, that is true.  I cleaned it up a little and rewrote it on the chalkboard until I can think of something else that may be a little less…ummm…blunt.  If you can think of anything, leave me a comment.  Again, I apologize to Penzy Spices.

It was Yes!Chef!’s and my anniversary on Tuesday.  Y!C! invited me out to dinner to celebrate.   We don’t go out to dinner much (usually on our anniversary and my birthday), so this was a real treat.  We headed to Placerville to a little restaurant called The Luna Cafe. It’s a small cafe tucked away in downtown Placerville.  We walked in and were warmly greeted by the owner.  There were several other couples there but because it was a Tuesday night, the place was not full.  We had a great time and met several other couples in the restaurant who were also celebrating their anniversaries.  The hospitality of the owner was wonderful and the food was more than plentiful.

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Karen Schmautz16 Comments

Pan Handlers or Latin Spiced Pork Loin cooked with Great Magefesa Cookware

A couple of months ago we were contacted by a cookware manufacturing company called Magefesa, located in Florida.  They had somehow read our blog and wanted us to test some of their cookware and then review it on the blog.  We were very happy to oblige and they sent us a complete set of their Ecotherm Plus cookware, a lovely pressure cooker and a set of frittata pans.  Several weeks later we arrived home to see this on our doorstep.

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Karen Schmautz7 Comments