Saturday, June 18, 2011

Bacon, Avocado, and Tomato Sandwich


I love avocados. I don't eat them that often, and I'm not sure why. But recently I came across a source where you can have freshly harvested Haas avocados shipped direct to your door.

The link is: California Avocados Direct.

Shipping was free, and a few days later I had 5 hard, firm, unripened avocados in my house. They were shipped in a nice box filled with straw, all in all a nice presentation.

Now the thing about receiving 5 avocados at once is they can all ripen at the same time, and who wants that many ripened avocados all at the same time?  Usually you wouldn't, so I figured out what to do. Place the avocados is a plastic bag on the counter for about a week, they will slowly begin to ripen (skin turns very dark and they are soft when pressed gently) Then, take one or two out of the bag and leave on the counter. They will then ripen while the ones remaining in the bag are still not ready. Try it, it works!

When the first one finally ripened, I couldn't wait to try it. I sliced half the avocado thinly and placed on a small plate, fanned it out,  dusted it simply with salt and pepper, and tried it.  Absolute heaven, seriously, best avocado I'd ever had. And then I promptly sliced up the remaining half and devoured it also.

The next day, I took out another avocado, left it on the counter until perfectly ripened, and decided I just had to have a Bacon, Avocado and Tomato Sandwich.

I lightly toasted some whole wheat bread, spread with mayonnaise or salad dressing (or thousand island dressing also!) sliced avocado, crisp bacon, and sliced fresh hot house tomatoes.

Sure you could add lettuce, but I wanted the texture of the creamy avocado, the crunch and saltiness of the bacon, blended with the juiciness of the ripe tomato only. It worked for me.

One of the best sandwiches I've ever had.  And you have to admit, that's a purty good lookin' meal.
Get some avocados, and make yourself one or three.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Baked Donuts


Baked donuts. Who makes baked donuts. Aren't donuts always deep fried, greasy, and delicious?  Of course they are.

But for some reason, the other night, (I gotta stay off the net)  I came across and bought a donut pan for baking donuts. Why?  I have no clue.  But now I have another specialty use pan which I'll probably use twice in the next 2 years. But, that's the curse of a foodie I guess.

Now here's the surprise, the donuts were delicious and easy to make. I did notice that cinnamon sugar doesn't  adhere real well, probably because of the absence of OIL!  But that's ok. I think glazing might be a better way to go anyway.  Next up, I think I'm making some baked yeast donuts. We'll see how it goes. Keep in touch.

I did notice they only browned on top, so I'm thinking next time, I may oil the pan with butter instead of
spray and see if they brown more uniformly. That being said, they tasted perfect anyway.

Recipe came with the pan. I really did like the spices in the batter. Excellent.

Ingredients and Method:

1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
3 cups all-purpose flour 
1 cup buttermilk 
2 eggs 
1 tablespoon honey 
1/2 cup butter, melted 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Lightly spray the donut pan with oil.

In a medium bowl, mix together all dry ingredients including spices. Blend together the liquids in a bowl (buttermilk, eggs, honey, and melted butter) and add to the dry ingredients and mix well.

The dough will be a bit thick. Using two spoons, drop dough into the donut pan tin, filling each mold about 1/2 full with dough.

Bake in oven for 12 minutes, until nice and browned,  remove, cool on a rack, and coat however you would like.

All kidding aside, I bet I use this pan, ummm,   4 times a year!  ha ha