New Twitter

I've got a new Twitter! Follow @karenbscooking my other Twitter account is now my personal account, I wil still tweet from the account but not as frequently and as well put together as my new one! Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Halloween Devilled Eggs

This is great! Cut a black olive in half for the body and strips for the spooky leggs! Piled the eggs on your platter so it looks like a nest of creepy spiders!

Happy Halloween :)

Tip Of The Day!

I made the best pork chops last that I have ever made! After giving up and several attempts at perfecting the moist juicy chop ever I had quit.  

Walking into the market passing the meat isle my eye caught a glimpse of the thick very yummy looking chops.  I couldn't resist so I thought I'd try one last time. 

I then grabbed a loaf of roasted garlic Italian artisan bread.  After cooking the chops to perfection thanks to Alton Brown via Food Network, I tossed some olive oil and herbs on the sliced loaf and put in the oven.  The smell was amazing. We sat down for dinner so excited to eat and Hubby says "do we need to turn off the oven?" And he did.  We left the loaf in the oven to move on to the after life of burnt bread.

The next morning getting the kids ready for school for what ever reason I opened the oven. And there it was, a very pretty perfect loaf of garlic herb bread. Dried as hard as a rock.  The bread actually wasn't hard as a rock unless it's burnt it's the perfect candidate for bread crumbs, croutons for salad, stuffing and home made bread puddings.

I nibbled on a piece and started to dunk in my coffee. It was very tasty like a herb biscotti.  :)

Croutons from bread:

Cut bread slices up into 1 inch size pieces.

Place in large mixing bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil to coat. Toss in your favorite herbs.  Make sure you use Rosemary! That is the key!   My forgotten garlic loaf already had garlic flavor and I had added Rosemary, salt and pepper. 

Toss to mix ingredients well. Place on a large baking sheet and bake in 350 oven until light golden brown. Don't forget about them!  You may not be so lucky! 

Enjoy! :)

Cooking Tip Of The Day!

Tip of the day, ad a dab of butter to maple syrup, put in a microwave proof pitcher or gravy boat. Heat for 30-40 seconds in the microwave before serving your French Toast or Pancakes!

You will never go back to using syrup out of the bottle!  Adding the butter to the syrup makes it taste even better!

Enjoy ;)

Lemon Lime Soda Hangover Cure?

Lemon Lime Soda has been found to break down symptoms of a hangover.

Herbal teas, caffeine drinks tend to make symptoms worse.  Out of the 50 drinks tested Lemon Lime Soda improved symptoms. Bloody Marys have some competition!

Enjoy ;)

More After The Oscars Governors Ball & Wolfgang Pucks Dinner!

The next yummy treat I want to share with you from my trip to the 2014 Oscars after party at the Governors Ball, catered by Wolfgang Puck, is this AMAZING dish!  Ravioli's topped with cream, chives and real black truffles!

When this dish appeared before my eyes my eyeballs almost popped out of my head!  The Server gave us the description and confirmed it was real black truffles.  The smell of the cream, chives and truffles was so incredibly amazing I hesitated to eat it. I just wanted to take it all in.  

A very kind sole sitting next to me asked "what is a truffle?" and I responded back "an earthy tasting amazing delicacy that is highly sought after".  She asked "I heard it's a mushroom?".  When I responded that its like a fungus spore type food found under ground mainly in France.  They typically start at $100.00 an ounce.  They are found underground near certain species of trees.  The best part, dogs and or pigs rut them up.   She at once slid her bowl over to her Husband who promptly devoured the bowl and said "that is the best thing I have ever eaten".  We toasted to Puck and his black truffle topped ravioli. 

My Husband Craig, the kind soles Husband and I then ordered another bowl as they came around to offer more!

Enjoy ;)

Karen B's Cooking Tip Of The Day - Cook Onions Before Making Meatballs!

Tip of the day:

When making homemade meatballs and adding onions, never put it raw onions into your meatball mixture.  This will cause your onions to cook out causing your meatballs to break apart!

So saute your onions in some olive oil, cooling prior to adding to your meatball mixture.

Try mixing up your flavors buy substituting onions for scallions or leeks into your meatballs for a great new burst of flavor!

Enjoy ;)

Kefi New York City My Favorite Restaurant!

Kefi - New York City

My #1 favorite restaurant ever!

Favorite Menu Item:

Meatballs!

Michael Psilakis taught me how to make these in a cooking class.  They are guaranteed to be the best you have ever tasted.   If you go to NYC this is a must have stop!  

Enjoy ;)

Wolfgang Puck's Oscar Governors Ball Party

I had the opportunity to attend the 2014 Academy Awards as well as the Governors Ball following the show.

Wolfgang Puck prepares the food for this wonderful star filled event every year! I was so incredibly thrilled to have the opportunity to attend and even see him in action serving his guests like Bette Midler, Spike Lee and more.

The room was over the top.  Colorful plants and flowers on the walls, candle lit tables with George Jones belting out songs on the grand piano.

The service was top notch! Cocktails and hourdouves' appeared as soon as we sat, and continued until we couldn't put another bite in our mouths.

The photo above a baked potato stuffed with caviar is one of the amazing treats we were able to enjoy.  Hot buttery potato wrapped in gold foil fitting for the occasion.

Check back tomorrow for more pictures of Wolfgangs fabulous creations from the ball!

Enjoy ;)

Tip Of The Day: Fun Cinnamon Pie Crust

To put a new fun twist on your plain old pie crust use canned cinnamon rolls!  Slice the roll, lay out on a lightly floured cutting board and roll out with your (lightly floured) rolling pin.  Place in pie pan.  Bake your pie per package instructions. Prebake your crust at 400 for 9-11 minutes or until light golden brown for pudding pies.  

Enjoy ;)