Two Christmas songs keep running through my head today. One I heard at a restaurant last night: God Bless Us Everyone by Celine Dion.  The other is “I can’t believe it’s Christmas, I think I’m finally getting something! I can’t believe it’s Christmas, my favorite time of year,” sung by the incomparable Larry the Cucumber.  Despite temperatures in the mid-70s today, it’s clear the Christmas spirit has found me.

I can’t say these cookies scream Christmas, although they are pretty good.  I’ve never had molasses in oatmeal cookies, but it is a welcome addition, one I may apply to regular ole oatmeal cookies.  (Hold the raisins, please!)  I found the cookies to be pretty large, but if they had been any smaller they would have burned in the 10-minute cooking time.  Mine were completely done in 9 minutes.  I would also recommend chilling the cookie dough between batches.  The later batches spread all over the pan.  My caramel sauce also turned out grainy, which I’ll chalk up to user error, although it’s a problem I don’t usually have when making caramel.

The flavor is pretty darn good.  I’ll give this recipe (found here) 7 out of 10 stars, and that’s being a little generous.  Sorry, Martha.  Don’t feel too bad.  I also made a ribeye steak tonight according to your method, and it gets 11 out of 10 stars.

One of my favorite refreshing drinks after mowing the lawn on a hot day is a michelada, a San Antonio favorite!

To make one you will need the following:

– 12 oz Mexican beer (Dos Equis works great)

– 1/2 tsp Maggi (this may be hard to find so you can substitute soy sauce if you can’t find it)

– 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

– 1/2 tsp Tapatio Hot Sauce

– Celery Seed

– 1 ounce of lime juice (basically the juice from a whole lime will work)

– Kosher Salt

Salt the rim of a large glass (at least 20 oz) and fill it with ice. Then add the Worcestershire sauce, Maggi, lime juice, and Tapatio to the glass. Finally add a dash of celery seed in to the glass. Pour the beer into the glass and stir it well. Enjoy!

Marinade:
1/4 c. Olive oil
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
3 T. Purchased barbecue sauce
2 T. Balsamic vinegar
4 garlic cloves, smashed
2 sprigs of thyme (I didn’t use)

Beef:
4 6-8 oz. petite sirloin or beef fillets
4 cedar grilling planks, soaked

First
In a large zip top plastic bag combine marinade ingredients, add steaks and marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Next
Preheat grill to high heat. Remove steaks from bag, discard marinade, and season both sides of steaks with salt and pepper. Sear steaks on grill for one minute per side, transfer steaks to plate and tent with foil.

Last
Reduce grill temperature to medium-low heat, about 350 degrees. Place planks on grill, close lid, and heat for 3 minutes. Using tongs, flip the planks and place steaks directly on heated sides of planks. Close lid and grill for 7-8 minutes for medium or until desired doneness. Remove planks and steaks from grill. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

This was a fantastic make ahead breakfast dish!  Mom and I made it when she was here this past weekend.  PW suggests in the Variations that you can use bacon instead of sausage, which we did.  I also added mild green chiles to the dish on a whim. I thought it was excellent and actually I would have omitted the red bell pepper if I was going to make it again, keeping the green chiles.  One last change we made was we made 3/4 of the dish using a 1 1/2 quart dish instead of 2 quart, six eggs..etc.  It was only 3 of us and Kate since dad wasn’t here, so we didn’t want to make too much.

Once again, PW hits a home run! 5 stars!

Serves 4

1 1/2 T. lemon zest
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 t. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 boneless chicken thighs
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Roasted grape tomatoes

2 C. grape tomatoes
2 t. olive oil
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 t. lemon zest
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 T. capers
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese

Preheat and oil grill. Combine lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. Add chicken and marinate for 15 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade, sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill until done.
To roast tomatoes, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine tomatoes and olive oil in an 8 inch baking dish and toss gently. Bake for 18 minutes or until tomatoes are tender. Combine tomatoes with parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, capers, salt and pepper and stir gently. Serve tomatoes in a small bowl next to chicken and dip chicken in sauce of tomatoes, or spoon tomatoes over chicken. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

I used chicken breasts instead of thighs. Dad put the tomatoes in the grill basket so we didn’t heat the oven.

Here at MS Funds, we’ve found a new Jersey City restaurant to add to our rotation of 3 places we order from every night. Here it is: http://www.musclemakergrill.com/menu_general.php
Anywhere that calls their appetizers “Warm-ups”, boasts a sandwich called the Rocky Balboa, and offers turkey meatballs as a side dish is feeling the testosterone a little too much for my very feminine appetite. All I can say is, it’s the JC, where the hair is big, the muscles are bigger, and the restaurants are ghetto. Mama, that ghitt-toh to you.

If you will, allow me a non-cooking post, as the last thing I cooked was a frozen lasagna (not as good as Mom’s) and Mac n’ Cheese.

Last week during my fairly regular jaunt to the Chipotle that’s newly opened and about 50 ft (and 72 pre-war stairs) from my front door, I was surprised, shocked and disappointed to find several ingredients either missing or sorely amuck:

1) Brown rice. I don’t eat Chipotle for the nutritional value (as the gay man who scoffed at me for adding cheese and sour cream to my burrito can attest) so I have no particular interest in brown rice. It’s cruchy and weird. 2) Tomato-less corn pico de gallo. If you can even call it that without tomatoes.  3) Vinegar-y salsa.  Yesssss, I said vinegar. 

Family members, please tell me this: is this a bad Chelsea-marketing-to-the-homosexuals-among-us scheme?  Is this a New York test market for new lower quality Chipotle ingredients?  Do I need to write a letter?  It the great burrito of the past gone with the wind?

Dad (or Mom),

Could you please post three recipes sometime soon?

Vegetable Soup
Minestrone Soup
Foccacia Bread

Thanks, love you!!! 🙂