I made the Cook’s Country Potato & Cheddar Pierogis again. (2+1/2 C. bread flour, 1 t. baking powder, 1 C. sour cream, 1 egg, 1 yolk, salt (in a mixer on medium/high 8 minutes and rest in the fridge) The filling is 1 pound boiled potatoes smashed with 4 ounces of cheddar, 2 T. butter, salt, pepper.
I did all that. Dough mixture in 3 balls to roll out. (below is one of the 3) Then I put like a 1/2 meatball size of filling in each.
Fold them up starting in the middle.
Pinch them shut.
Boiled them in salted water till they float.
Then I fried them in butter with some canola oil added.
They came out nice.
I tried to re-roll my scrapes but the dough was too tough for me to roll. I also had some leftover filling so I got the idea for gnocchi.
At first it seemed impossible to combine the too so I took a break.
After about 30 minutes it was like magic and I could mix them together.
I added more cheddar.
Then I added flour…(but I din’t use all the flour I added)…I used just enough till it felt right.
I rolled around 4 logs that I cut up like this.
Boiled them in salted water.
Tasted one……..They have multiple textures…..like a noodle wrapped around a gnocchi, wrapped around mashed potato……If you look real close you can see they are almost jellyroll-like…….For my taste they need a little roasting SO I added butter and put them on the top rack of a 350F oven for around 45 minutes.
Cheddar Potato Pierogi Gnocchi
Something you can do if you have Pasta Scraps and filling. More can be done at this point. Since they are buttery and cheesy I think I’ll serve them mixed with vegetables. I think they’d be a good dumpling in a tomato or broccoli soup. Another idea can be baking them in a casserole.
I haven’t bought a bag of plain M&M’s in a long time until today…..I tried a few and instantly I noticed a difference………They don’t feel or taste the same in my mouth……..I know they are smaller…….I noticed less chocolate when I suck the shells off. Also the ratio is different………Less chocolate makes them seem more sweet and less chocolatey. Then I let my husband try some. He said, “are these the tiny ones?”…..WTFork! Then I went to the internet and found this from wwwFasioncoached.com.
I also found this.
In May 2014 I noticed a few changes in Peanut M&M’s and so far 16 wrote to me and agreed.
This is my May 2014 photo of Peanut M&M’s (above and below)
I happened to pick of some peanut M&M’s recently. Let’s see if they are similar to the 2014 ones. (the photo below)
You know…I think they are even slightly smaller than before……
Here’s a sampling in no partial order of recipes that would be FORKING GREAT for Thanksgiving. Up above is Milk Street’s version of Vivian Howard’s Sweet Fresh Corn Pudding. This is really incredible……….I really mean it!
Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps Potato Cannoli Potatoes Anna StyleDuchess Potatoes (The Special Occasion Potato)Sous Vide Turkey Breast
(By the way – I insist that you must brine your turkey…..or do what I do for Thanksgiving…CHEAT and buy an already brined turkey from Trader Joes either wet brined or kosher dry brined…It’s really worth it!) (Who has room to brine at Thanksgiving time?) I FORKING KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT….after all I did get paid to cook Thanksgiving for 500 people back in the day…..I did the turkeys, potatoes, sauce, and vegetables all by myself too…..This sous vide turkey is perfection……..nuff said.
Forking EZ Oven Fried Turkey Wings
So tasty it could be favorite part of the turkey.
Crispy Turkey SkinTurkey Stock
Turkey legs with thighs – I normally just stew them…….till they fall apart. Then I pull the meat.
This is a masterpiece….The turkey is glistening full of turkey juice…..I don’t mean to brag but this is masterfully incredible.
It really is this juicy cold.
Balsamic Cipollini Onion and Cranberry Gravy (this is cold in the picture)Acorn Squash with Cranberry Mango Habanero Sauce and Blue CheeseSpiced Custard Filled Acorn Squash with Maple Bourbon WalnutsCranberry Mango Habanero SauceCranberry Sauce with Hibiscus Moist Fresh Herb Turkey StuffingZippy but Delicious Corn Bread StuffingMushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread StuffingChanterelle Bread StuffingGochujang Roast Chicken with Kimchi Rice Stuffing and Crispy Skin (The same can be done with turkey)Brussels Sprouts Baba GanoushMomofuku STYLE Brussels Sprouts with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette and Shivhimi Togatashi Pop Corn Five-Spice Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard Butternut Squash and Fondue Pie with Pickled Peppers Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Green Onions, Calabrian Chili, Figs with Reduced Balsamic Sweet Potato Ravioli with Beet Puree Kabocha Squash Cake with Chocolate Drizzle and ChestnutsOnion RollsFour Ingredient RollsButternut Squash Cinnamon RollsPurple Sweet Potato Blackberry Pie with Coconut/Almond Crust
I came across this cookie recipe on Pinterest. It sounded too easy to be true. So I did a little research. I can’t find this exact recipe on the Martha Steward website so I don’t know if it is truly her recipe but I can tell you several bloggers credit her for this recipe. Since it’s so easy and has so few ingredients I gave it a try. This recipe makes around 12 cookies I got 16 out of mine.
MY FORKING thoughts may differ from your FORKING thoughts on these cookies. They look interesting but I HATE THEM and have to throw them out. They smell good. They smell exactly like the chestnut honey I used to make them. They taste like hard caramel that sticks to your teeth. They stick to your teeth and I think that is gross. I was going to drizzle them with chocolate…..but won’t now because they are in the trash.
Ingredients for 12-16 cookies
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 + 1/2 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoons flour
pinch salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter, sugar, and honey together. Add the flour and salt.
Do 1/2 teaspoons on parchment or silicon mat.
Bake until golden (about 6 minutes.)
I didn’t space them enough and a few stuck together. I tried a small end that broke off.
I don’t care for them. But people who love hard caramels might like them.
I showed them to my dogs.
Don’t worry I didn’t give my dogs any. I don’t want them to damage their teeth.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on the Maybe Martha Stewart’s Honey Florentines recipe.
I do note that YOUR FORKING THOUGHTS may indeed differ.
This is a collection of the most frightful horrifying foods served to us in Las Vegas Nevada in no particular order. OK my claws are out and here it is…….
At Casa Don Jaun downtown besides cold chips that seemed purchased and oregano laced salsa I tried a chicken fajita salad. I got an uninspired warm salad that was topped with onions, peppers, tomatoes, and chicken that was drowning in salty soy sauce. Oh and a glob of guacamole. YUK! It tasted like they used half a bottle of soy sauce to make this.
The chicken ramen was made with good chicken but the broth was below standard. It tasted like some sort of instant broth with added salt. This was absolutely terrible and most of the ramen they offer at this restaurant is made with this too. I had the chicken ramen. Not all but most of the ramen they offer is a combination of pork and chicken broth.
At Victories Cafe in The Cannery besides being served over microwaved rolls that turned hard……I tried the Asian Chicken Salad. The chicken had a weird texture…..It was tender but unusually dry??????But it was the sauce on it that made me gag….It was very sweet…It just didn’t taste good.
The rice was good from Little Hong Kong but everything else was below standard……My husband tried the Szechwan beef that was hard and chewy in a sauce that we didn’t care for….Sadly we tried Mandarin hot braised vegetables and they were in the same exact sauce as the Szechwan beef. Maybe the worst dish we had there was the vinegar marinated milkfish…..I had Caribbean vinegar marinated fish before that was delicious. The fish dish from Little Hong Kong has all dried out and chewy and only tasted like old fish and vinegar…….
Sometimes you get bad food at food festivals.
Recently at the USA Today Wine and Food Festival I tried this piece of beef from Kusa Nori……Somehow they made this saltier than salt….I thought I was going to be sick after tasting it..
Same thing happened at the Great Las Vegas Taco Festival.
I wasn’t able to eat either of these tacos from El Fuego. They were so over salted that to me they weren’t edible.
Back to restaurants
EllaEm’s Soul Food won a Best of Vegas Award so I thought they’d be good. OK maybe it’s my bad for trying the fish…..(not the best) but you can clearly see problems with most of the sides. I had mixed vegetables that look like from frozen that have nothing added to them. In the middle are sweet potatoes that are sweet beyond belief. To the right is macaroni and cheese that is all dried out. My husband also had a very dried out chicken fried steak.
Bob Taylor’s Ranch House might be one of the oldest Steak Houses in Las Vegas. My husband found out that his burger was thrown on the grill from frozen. He asked for medium – rare but he got grey in the center and all dried out. I tried the BBQ chicken salad. They did give me tender chicken but it was covered in a cloyingly sweet bbq sauce and was served over warm soggy iceberg lettuce.
We had a good visit to Secret of Siam Thai Restaurant so I wanted to go back because they offer a lot of different fish dishes on their menu. I tried the green Apple Pompano……The slaw that came with it was delicious……..but……
The fish was horrifying…….It came out like they boiled it in glue. I dug and dug with my fork and it was next to impossible to get flesh to eat….But when I managed to get a small morsel……..ICK!
It’s FORKING gross…..It’s that old fish taste.
That was The Halloween 2023 Special Edition of The FORKING Truth where I shared the most frightful, horrifying foods served to me in Las Vegas NV.
Have something good and don’t go hungry on Halloween.
Van Leeuwen makes higher and high quality packaged French Style ice creams (French style is richer from egg yolks….extra fattening). Usually I find their higher quality ice creams at my local Sprouts Grocery. The Pistachio flavor only has three or four ingredients in it. I usually find the unusual limited flavors of Van Leeuwen Ice Creams at my local Walmart freezer. I came across the limited edition malted milk shake with Idaho Potato French Fries at my local Walmart so I thought I’d give this one a try.
I open it up.
I don’t see much of anything but it is the perfect eating temperature.
The texture does differ from other Van Leeuwen Ice Creams I’ve tried….This one seems more whipped and airy. YUMMMMM the taste of the malted milk is very good……unitil I hit a small chunk of cold hard French Fry. But the creamy part really is very good……..Then you get a small piece of cold fry and it sucks……..It is weird……..The flavors and textures don’t work together….but for some odd reason I felt the need to try it……….This would be really amazing if they replaced the cold hard fries with lightly crushed malt balls…….WHY-THE-FORK didn’t they do that? ……..?????????
Well those were my FORKING Thoughts on Limited Edition Malted Milkshake and Idaho French Fries French Ice Cream.
I haven’t purchased a frozen dinner in maybe a few decades. I live close to several Gordon Ramsay Restaurants but I was curious about Chef Ramsay frozen fish and chips at my local Walmart so I thought I’d give it a try with the 4 cheese macaroni.
On the back of the fish and chips box it says that it contains two servings……….I thinking maybe 2 servings for a toddler….This is what I got. I guess it’s more like one serving with too many fries.
I do note that I don’t have an air fryer and an air fryer is the preferred method for preparing the fish and chips. My husband followed the directions for oven preparation.
I have to admit that the fish and flavor of fish nugguts are very good but the breading didn’t get crisp. The fish is very flaky and is very moist. The potatoes or “CHIPS” have a delicious fluffy interiors but their exteriors aren’t crisp.
WtFORK would Gordon Ramsay say?….I think he’d say something like, “My dead grandmum can make crispier fish and chips than that.”
Anyways-
Here’s the back of the box for the 4 cheese macaroni. The box says one serving. I prefer it as a side serving so this is two servings to me.
It says to microwave it.
It taste very good. It actually taste much better than from many restaurants but it didn’t come out right.
It’s all stuck together.
I wonder what would Gordon Ramsay say?…..I think he’d say something like, ” Well you are a DUMP F****ing Donkey for buying microwave frozen food.”
Also my half didn’t have any corn bread crumbs.
I doubt that I will ever buy anything premade frozen again.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Chef Ramsay Fish & Chips and Four Cheese Macaroni. and what I thought Gordon Ramsay might say.
I do note that YOUR FORKING THOUGHTS may indeed differ. (and you might have an air fryer and do a little better)
I noticed that there are several Bravo Top Chefs in Las Vegas Nevada. So far I’ve been to four of them but hope to get to rest eventually.
The first one I tried was The Black Sheep by Top Chef contestant Jamie Tran. It’s a modern Vietnamese Eatery that is simply amazing! If you try this restaurant then you can taste why chef Jamie Tran made it to the Bravo show Top Chef.
Everything was FORKING AMAZING but I will cut them all down to a couple so this isn’t too long.
hamachi crudo
This hamachi crudo maybe was the best I ever had anywhere.
Boneless crispy trout
The boneless crispy trout is unique, delicious, and easy to eat. It sure is a top fish dish in Vegas by a Top Chef! We were lucky and got to see the chef Jamie Tran hard at work in her restaurant.
The Black Sheep – 8680 W Warm Springs Rd Las Vegas NV – 702-954-3998
www.BlackSheepVegas.com
We made it to Soulbelly BBQ in the arts district downtown. This restaurant is by chef Bruce Kalman. It’s casual but sort of refined BBQ with live music at certain times.
Caesar Salad with BBQ Turkey
My salad might look average but it doesn’t taste average. The turkey is moist, developed with delicious flavors. When I tried the salad I discovered that it sort of is deconstructed…..I was missing flavors from the dressing and then “BANG” the missing flavors and MORE are in the FORKING AMAZING black pepper corn bread croutons. This was an unexpected joy to eat.
My husband tried a sandwich called “The Belly of Soul.” (brisket, pickled onions, crispy onions, cheese sauce, fried egg, spicy BBQ sauce)
I tried a tiny bite of the brisket and is was really great! My husband said that all the flavors went really well together and said that he’d like to eat this sandwich again!
Soulbelly BBQ – 1327 S. Main St Las Vegas NV – 702-483- 4404
www.SoulbellyBBQ.com
********UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*******138 Degrees Craft Chophouse, Killer Burgers, Bourbon, & Brunch is a chef crafted quality brunch, bar, and steakhouse by chef Matt Meyer with consulting chef and managing partner Alex Resnik (Bravo Top Chef). This is a place where they dry age their own meats and do their own smoking. They even culture their own sour cream.
We tried brunch shared the very best tacos (so far that I’ve tasted in Nevada. Smoked King Salmon Tacos. The fish was fish house quality, prepared to perfection, and these tacos were complex with flavors. The in-house made tortillas were also extra delicious. I also enjoyed an avocado toast.
My husband enjoyed a Salvadorian style pancake called a pupusa.
soft egg, brisket, cheese with fried bananas on the side. I was told that it was very good!
138 degrees Bar, Bourbon, Killer Burgers, Steakhouse – 1450 W Horizon Ridge PKWY Henderson NV – 702-272-0839 *****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*****
www.138Restaurant.com
Ai Pono Cafe is expected to open November 20th 2023 at the soon-to-open Durango Resort in Las Vegas around 8 miles from the Strip. It’s a chef crafted Hawaiian Plate Lunch Type of restaurant by (Bravo Top Chef) chef Gene Villatra. This past June I we were lucky to try a “Pop Up” of Ai Pono Cafe at The Red Rock Casino. The (Bravo Top Chef) Gene Villatra was there hard at work too!
Everything was good. However I couldn’t try every dish that was on the menu but out what I tried the favorite was the sandwich called, Da Side Chick. It was a guava chile breaded chicken sandwich.
I remember that the sandwich was big and tasty. It also only cost slightly more than fast food. ($10.) and this tasty delicious sandwich was a whole bunch better than anything fast food.
I hope to try-
Retro By Voltaggio by Bravo Top Chefs Michael & Bryan Voltaggio
Limoncello Fresh Italian by Bravo Top Chef Carla Pellegrino****UPDATE Top chef Carla Pellegrino is no longer with this restaurant**********
Boom Bang Fine Foods & Cocktails by Bravo Top Chef Elia Aboumrad
STK Steakhouse (Cosmopolitan) Bravo Top Chef Stephen Hopcraft
That was a little taste of Bravo Top Chefs in Las Vegas NV.
Sadly I just found out that both varieties (classic and spicy) of Sir Kensington’s have been discontinued. I’m on my last bottle that happens to be spicy. I liked both flavors the classic and the spicy and used to switch between them. But no more…..not a bottle to be found on any shelf. But this ketchup is for sale on the black market…I mean Amazon.
I can buy it there for a little over $20. a bottle.
Now I will have to buy the less expensive most popular ketchup again that doesn’t taste as good.
Bah!
Oh well tomato is another day!
Goodbye Sir Kensington’s Ketchup and THANKS!!! for the condiments.
I came across these bags of Brad’s Vampire Killer Air Dried Crunchy Kale at my local Smith’s Grocery on a Woo Hoo Sale so I picked them up. I thought I remembered coming across them at Sprouts Grocery but never bought them until now. Under the name it reads Buck County…..WOW I know where that is! …..Anyways……They sound interesting. Maybe they are garlic-ee because of Vampire Killer in the name? Or maybe they are spicy?
The ingredient look mostly natural so I thought it might be worth a try.
WTFork are Koji Spores? Ummmm I had to look that one up…….It’s a fungus that might cause irritation…….
Well I bring this home anyway……
My husband greets me on my arrival and asked if I picked up any snacks. I pull this out and he tries it. He goes this is weird I don’t want anymore and leaves.
I try it……..It’s in tiny small pieces that are crisp…….It’s not very garlic-ee or spicy……..It doesn’t taste like anything I can compare it to………It’s crisp little bits that are citrusy, nutty, and sort of a raisin kind of taste. It’s not so great to eat plain but I think it would be best to sprinkle on a salad or maybe a vegetable dish or pasta.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Brad’s Vampire Killer Air Dried Crunchy Kale. Your FORKING Thoughts may indeed differ.
