Herr's Dill Pickle Chips

How hilarious was it when I brought in the box UPS left on the doorstep and opened it only to find 40 bags of Herr's Dill Pickle Potato Chips! Is that not the best birthday gift ever?!
(check out earlier February post, "Potato Chips").

Evidently John actually had to drive over to Nottingham (PA) to get them at the factory because they are not available in stores. Now that is a special birthday gift!

Thanks Nancy and John!

Special Ed Quiche

MM requested a veggie quiche recipe. I tried to tell her to sauté some fresh veggies and put them in the quiche before she bakes it. What was I thinking?!

She came back and requested the special ed version. I must admit that I have never made this one, but it looks simple enough and since there is no milk I can pretty much guarantee it won't be a soupy mess. It came from an old issue of Bon Appétit so it should be good.


Special Ed Spinach Quiche for MM
(if you don't want to use spinach, choose another veggie instead. Asparagus would be yummy).

1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, chopped
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained well!!!
1 9-inch refrigerated ready piecrust (1/2 box)
1 teaspoon all purpose flour
1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) grated Monterey Jack
1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) grated Parmesan
4 eggs
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add spinach and stir until spinach is dry, about 3 minutes. Cool slightly.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Dust 1 side of crust with flour. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter quiche dish or pie pan, floured side down. Press into pan, sealing any cracks. Trim edges. Sprinkle both cheeses over bottom of crust. Top with spinach mixture. Beat eggs, cottage cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg in large bowl to blend. Pour over spinach. Bake until filling is set, about 50 minutes. Cool slightly. Cut into wedges and serve.

Joe Latti

I've been hanging on to this newspaper clipping for a couple year. It's titled "Get your swirl on, Philly style." It's a review of Joe's Italian Ice and Ice Cream in Garden Grove.

All I could imagine was having a Joe Latti like the one's we've had in Oxford, PA. There's nothing like it anywhere except Pennsylvania, . . . and Garden Grove I guess. If you grew up on Italian water ice, like I did, then shaved ice, snow cones, and icee's are not even close to what you crave.

Supposedly the soft serve at Joe's is also Philly style. Which means real cream with all that good butterfat - it's so creamy and dense.

Anyway, we finally took the trek to Joe's. It was so exciting - like a field trip! (My life is rather boring). I got a blood orange Joe Latti. Son #1 did too. Son #2 got a mango Joe Latti. There were so many flavors it was hard to choose. Bada Bing Cherry, Passion Fruit, Bananadana, Grape, Grapefruit, Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Black Raspberry and on and on. It was so worth the trip! I brought home a quart of blood orange Italian Ice so hubby could have some too. We polished it off in less than a week. And by the way, it traveled well too. We live an hour from Joe's so I did pack an insulated bag with an ice pack in it but I think the Italian Ice would have make it home just fine without it.

I realized that Joe's is not all that far from where son #1 plays his club volleyball tournaments. We spend many hours on weekends at ASC watching his games, and I think Joe's is only about 10 minutes from there. I'm really craving a softserve dipped in butterscotch. Guess I'll be gettin' my swirl on more often now.

Joe's Italian Ice and Ice Cream
12302 Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove
www.joesice.com

Black and Whites

All week I have been craving a Black and White from the Torrance Bakery. No one makes them like the Torrance Bakery. I know this is a New Yorker's cookie and I have no idea if the Torrance Bakery is making them authentic, but they are the best.

They are like 5 inches in diameter - huge. And I love the way the buttery sugar cookie is coated with white frosting all over the top and then dipped in chocolate on one half. The white frosting gets all hard and slightly crunchy and the chocolate is just perfectly smooth and snappy.

I like to eat the chocolate side first because I love the taste and texture of the chocolate over the white. Maybe they should consider dipping the whole cookie in chocolate!

Another great cookie from the Torrance Bakery is the Chocolate Chewy. It's so chocolately and chewy. Ha. What do ya know, they named it appropriately. The LA Times ran the recipe for them several years ago and now I beg the Times, please, get me the recipe for their Black and Whites!

Cake Wrecks

Check out this blog when you have some time to kill: www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com

The "Literal LOLs" are pretty good.

Potato Chips

Have you ever tried those Ridge Cut Salt and Pepper potato chips from Trader Joes? You gotta. They rock.

I grew up on Charles Chips. Remember the tin can? And they would get delivered right to your front door. My mom sold them for a while so we had chips around all the time. As kids whenever we'd go somewhere in the family/business van we'd sit on cans of Charlie Chips.

But even before that, Dad was a huge chip fan. I wonder if it's an East Coast thing? Kinda like Ice Cream, but that's another blog. Dessert would be potato chips and beer. To this day when I visit them I love sitting up late chatting with dad and having chips and beer.

Another one of my newer favorites is the Spicy Thai chips from Kettle. Pretty spicy tho.

I would like to see some Dill Chips. Charlie Chips made them and they were awesome. Tasted like a dill pickle. C'mon, Trader Joe, make 'em!