Restaurant Review: The Boiling Pots (Plano, TX)

We celebrated my friend's birthday with a girls' night out to The Boiling Pots.

You select your seafood and the level of spice, and the cooks boil the seafood in seasonings and serve it at your table on a big sheet of white paper -- no utensils needed (except for seafood crackers).  Since the seafood is by the pound, the wait staff can advise you on how much to order.

We ordered shrimp and snow crab with andouille sausage, corn on the cob and red potatoes.  We ordered hush puppies and fried pickles for starters.

The fried pickles were good but the hush puppies were memorable!  I'm not usually a hush puppy fan, but these were amazing and came with a super yummy sauce for dipping.

The shrimp were large and the snow crab was sweet and tender.  The corn on the cob was very sweet and juicy.  Everything was delicious in the cajun seasoning (we ordered medium and it had plenty of kick!).

A great, great meal.  Just prepare to get very messy!

Cheese of the Week - Gruyere and Gouda

I was inspired by my recent cheese tasting party to continue to try new cheeses (and re-try cheeses I haven't had in awhile).  I need to expand beyond my typical colby jack (and my beloved lacey swiss & colby that Trader Joe's no longer carries...sniff sniff).

First up:  Gruyere

Having studied French for many years, gruyere was part of my vocabulary but I have no recollection of actually eating it.  Gruyere is a hard cheese that originated in Switzerland and has a nutty flavor.  It was okay on a cracker, but absolutely brilliant in an omelette with leftover Easter ham!  Gruyere is known for being a great cheese for melting and I cannot wait to buy it again to try on a grilled cheese sandwich and in a quiche.

Next up:  Gouda

Gouda is a semi-hard cheese that originated in the Netherlands (Holland) and has a sweet flavor.  Gouda's creamy texture is wonderful on a cracker.  A friend of mine recommends the caramel-washed gouda from Trader Joe's -- I will need to try that!

More cheesy blog posts to come!

Recipe: Greek yogurt pancakes

This morning I tried a variation of my perfect pancake recipe -- I substituted Greek yogurt for the milk.  The pancakes reminded me of the cloud cakes (ricotta pancakes) at Dream Cafe'.

To make the variation:

Reduce milk to 1/4 cup.  Eliminate buttermilk.  Add 1 cup Greek yogurt.  You may need to add more milk to thin the batter if it's too thick.

These pancakes did take a little longer to cook.  You want to be sure to cook them thoroughly so they are not soggy in the center.

We served them with fresh pineapple.  Target had pineapple for $1.99 this week and ours was super delicious!  I turned it upside down overnight before I cut it so that it would be sweet and juicy.

Recipe: Perfect Dinner Rolls

I learned to make dinner rolls when I was a teenager and have made them ever since for holidays and special dinners.  I found a recipe in a cookbook and made a few alterations over the years.

For years I made this recipe with a hand mixer and kneaded the dough by hand.  No fancy equipment needed.  However, now that I have a KitchenAid mixer, it's definitely easier.

Recipe:

1 cup milk*

3 tablespoons butter

1 package yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cup flour (divided)

Heat milk and butter until very warm (but not hot).  Add yeast and sugar.  Let sit while yeast proofs (gets bubbly).  After yeast proofs, add salt, egg and 1 cup of the flour.  Beat 2 minutes at medium speed.  Stir in remaining flour by hand to form a soft dough.  Knead on lightly floured surface (or with a dough hook) until smooth and elastic.  Place dough in greased bowl, turn dough over, cover.  Let rise until doubled (45-60 minutes).  Punch dough down.  Toss on lightly floured surface.  Use a pizza cutter or knife to divide the dough into rolls.

• For round rolls:  Divide into 15 parts.  Shape into balls and place in greased 9x13-inch pan.
• For crescent rolls:  Roll dough into a circle.  Cut into 12 triangles (like slicing a pizza).  Roll from edge to point.  Place on a cookie sheet.
• For sandwich buns:  Divide into 6 parts.  Shape into balls, place on a cookie sheet and flatten slightly.

Let rise until doubled (30-45 minutes).  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.  Baste with melted butter if desired.  Serve warm.

*For a milk-free version, you can sub plant milk - the rolls still turn out great.  Vegan butter should work although I haven't tried it.

Bunny Pancake 2

My son saw a Walmart commercial with a cheeky bunny pancake and wanted to make one.   It was similar to this pancake on Betty Crocker's website.

Here's our version:

I used a 1/4 cup batter for the face, a soup spoon of batter for the ears, and 1/2 teaspoon of batter for the cheeks.  The eyes are banana slices and chocolate chips, the nose is the end of a strawberry, and the teeth are mini marshmallows.

In keeping with the theme, I served it with a glass of Trader Joe's tropical carrot juice.

For a recipe for perfect pancakes, see my previous post.

Spring Cake Balls

I have made several flavors of cake balls since my cake ball/cake pop obsession started:  chocolate, white, coconut, and red velvet.  I decided to try lemon cake balls since it's spring.  I went with a decoration reminiscent of the Easter cake my mom used to make.

What you will need:

lemon cake
cream cheese frosting
white chocolate for candy making (I use Ghirardelli)
coconut
food color
Jelly Belly spring mix
mini baking cups

See my previous post for links to my favorite recipes and tips.

To decorate:

After I dipped the cake ball, I added coconut that I had tinted green.  Using a little bit of the melted white chocolate, I added the Jelly Bellies.

Here is the finished product: