I came across Milk Chocolate Honey Graham M&M’s at my local Fry’s Supermarket today so I thought I’d give them a try.
I glance at the ingredients and nothing seems too terrible.
Next I take a big sniff from the open bag…..It smells like chocolate. I’m thinking….maybe they might be good?….
Then I spill some out.
The M&M’s are extra small and all of them are deformed in shape. They almost look like current sized but wrinkly like raisins.
If they are good there is no way in the world that this is a serving.
Anyways I give them a try.
They are sweet. Maybe too sweet for some adults. The sweet is something like a honey taste. You also get a savory taste………it’s closer to cereal mixed with malt than a graham taste that is also mixed with a little bit of chocolaty taste.
If you let them melt in your mouth you get different flavors. The candy shell is the normal sweet candy shell that you expect……Then you do get a honey sort of taste that mixes and dilutes the chocolate taste. Then you are left with small cereal nuggets….
They are better if you just eat them.
It’s too hard ti eat just one serving.
For me they don’t really taste like honey graham but I do like the light texture and flavors that they have. I think that these Honey Graham M&M’s would be best as a Sundae topping.
Those were my FORKING thoughts on Honey Graham M&M’s. I do note that your Forking thoughts may indeed differ.
In case you didn’t know there is a viral dog song video about your furry friend demanding a tax on your cheese that you eat. If you have or a had a dog you might know what this is about.
This is the look I get from my smaller dog that is extra crazy about cheese. He is exactly like the cheese tax song he runs to the kitchen even before it’s out of the refrigerator.
Seriously this is a REAL thing!
www.People.com
The song is really catchy. It was written by Matt Hobs about how dog owners just have to give their pleading pups some cheese when some cheese is out.
The song goes something like this –
“You gotta pay the cheese tax every time you’re cooking.”
“When the cheese comes out this is one of the puppies that’s comes lookin.”
“The rules are the rules and the facts are the facts.”
“And when the cheese drawer opens you gotta pay the tax!”
What are the chances that I will get FIVE pounds of eggplant and a day later get Milk Street Magazine with a recipe that FORKING calls for 5 pounds of eggplant?
YES! that really happened!
The Milk Street Magazine recipe is for No-Fry Neapolitan Eggplant Parmesan. Incase you didn’t know…..There is a difference between American/Italian and Italian Eggplant Parmesan.
Eggplant Parmesan from an American-Italian Restaurant usually looks something like this (from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ)
It breaded and it covered with cheese. It also comes with spaghetti.
When you get eggplant parmesan from an Italian Restaurant (Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante Glendale AZ) It looks like this below.
Here it’s a slice of very meaty eggplant covered with a plain tomato sauce and some cheese and a big basil leaf.
Instead of 5 one pound eggplants….I had three one pound eggplants and two pounds of small Indian eggplants that were sweet and white fleshed inside….so…I made a few changes to Milk Streets Recipe but I did make their tomato sauce. According to Milk Street this makes 6-8 servings. I did add tomatoes and extra cheese so I did change up their recipe a little bit.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
5 pounds of eggplant
5 medium sized tomatoes – sliced
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
1 onion – fine chopped
28 oz can crushed Italian style tomatoes
3 Tablespoons butter
8 oz provolone (either slices or shredded plain or smoked cheese)
8 oz mozzarella (either slices or shredded)
4 oz parmesan – grated
1 cup fresh basil – torn or chopped
non stick spray
Directions
On med-low heat you cook an onion with a tablespoon of oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt till the onion is translucent. Then you stir in a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and three tablespoons of butter, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/2 cup of water.Bring to simmer and cook till slightly thickened. Only 15-20 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F
Your eggplants get about have the skin removed like this.
Then you slice them in planks…..I did something like 5 planks or you can slice them across…It doesn’t really matter.
I also roasted up tomatoes at the same time.
The eggplant planks and tomatoes got drizzled with some olive oil and a light sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper.
They went into a preheated 425 f oven for around 40 minutes.
I’m sort of following along…You give you pan a splash of tomato sauce.
Them you put down an eggplant layer.
Then I topped the eggplant with slices of provolone, some grated mozzarella, grated parmesan and some fresh basil. (about one third of the cheeses) Then sauce.
Someone is very interested.
Then I mixed the sliced small Indian eggplants with the roasted tomatoes, some basil and about one third of the cheeses.
Then more eggplant planks went over this. The rest of the cheeses, basil and some sauce.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
I used nonstick and sprayed aluminum foil so it would stick to the cheese and covered tight. This went into a preheated 375 F oven for around an hour. After it cools a little you can serve it but I like it better to set up over-night. Then I reheat two servings and it comes out much neater.
Eggplant Parmesan
ENJOY!!!!
A Special THANKS!!!! To Milk Street Magazine so I’d know WTFork! to do with 5 pounds of eggplant.
Most people in the country are familiar with Rita’s Italian Ice Custard Happiness. They are a popular desert chain of restaurants that offers their spin on Italian Ice and frozen custard. They offer many different combinations of refreshing treats. The most popular treats are for people and they might get a gelati that is a few layers of custard with a layer of Italian ice or if you are like my husband you just get a bowl of chocolate custard.
mango peach gelati and bowl of chocolate custard
But did you know about the pup cup?
pup cup
The Glendale Arizona location only charges $1.00 for a pup cup. They gave us a small cup of vanilla custard that was embellished with dog biscuits. I thought it would be best for my dogs to share one because my larger dog has thrown up from ice cream somewhere else before. You should ask for an extra spoon to feed your dogs a pup cup.
“YUM!”“I’m getting some too!”“Ummmm”“yumm”“this is good!”“so good!”“I am happy to eat pup cups from Rita’s”
Now you know about the Pup Cup from-
Rita’s Italian Ice Custard Happiness 5940 W Union Hills Dr Glendale AZ
I came across these Fiesta Twists at my local Walmart Grocery Store…….I picked them up to see what they are. They are a corn, rice, and potato based snack food that is twist shaped. My store offered the ranch and queso flavors but I noticed on the bag that they also make a cinnamon flavored variety. I picked the queso because I hate real ranch dressing.
Opening the bag I take a whiff.
They don’t smell particularly appetizing…….I smell something slightly sour.
I try some…….They are not like any other snack out there in texture or flavors.
They are light as air but also have a satisfying real crunch to them. They are like biting threw light crunchy air with little extra crunch grains. They are lightly cheesy, lightly onion-ee, lightly garlic-ee. and mildly spicy too. They also have a slight corn taste too like a corn tortilla chip.
These twists are really light. Two cups of them are only a 150 calorie serving.
Then when you eat one and let it melt in your mouth you get a slight sour flavor more and you don’t get all the other flavors are much.
If you just eat them then they seem good.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Old El Paso Queso Fiesta Twists….I do note that YOUR FORKING opinion may indeed differ.
Phoenix Magazine’s 2023 Dish Fest was held at The Clayton House in Scottsdale Arizona Sunday March 5th from 12-4pm. VIP ticket holders got in one hour earlier. This is an all you can eat type of festival of best dishes in the valley that Phoenix Magazine featured. Dish Fest also includes a beer garden, wine, spirit tasting and food trucks. Chef Jennifer Caraway also is expected to do a food demonstration. Also a portion of the proceeds benefit The Joy Bus Charity.
Buck and Rider – Oysters
Tia Carmen – ember roasted purple yam, queso sauce, aged tepary bean mole (this was one of the top dishes)
Texas Grill – chicken fried steak
Carcara – shrimp and grits
Sugar Jam – cobblers and pies
Sugar Jam – sweet potato pie
Sugar Jam – Creole shrimp and grits shooters (one of the better shrimp dishes)
Sugar Jam – BBQ maple chicken and waffles
Sugar Jam
Weft and Warp – blackberry haze
Weft and Warp – shrimp
Casa Corazon – chile nogada, Oaxaca mole, shrimp culichi
inside
Feringhee Modern Indian Cuisine
Feringhee – puchka snack with passionfruit (This was one of the best bites****tidal-wave of. flavors)
Feringhee – puchka snacks
Aimee’s Swine House
Aimee’s Swine House – soft egg and ham toast (didn’t try but was told very good)
Tapa Papa Frita – sausage, potato, bread
Citizen Public House
North – meatballs with polenta
North – burrata di stagione
inside
Pitch – smoked cheddar mac & cheese with fennel sausage or chorizo to add on if desired
Bro’s Seafood Food Truck
Bro’s Seafood – breaded shrimp taco with elote (I didn’t try but heard was very good)
AZ Lemonade
Momo’s – vegetarian momo dumpling (they also served chicken and ham momos) I liked the vegetarian momo the best.
There always is a lot of different foods to find at Asiana Market. The Asiana Market is an Asian and International Market with two locations in Metro Phoenix Arizona. I go to the location that is in the Deer Valley part of Glendale. You never know what you will come across when shopping there. Up above is canned cod liver…who knew!
I found what looks like ground garlic but they are marked fried dumplings?
Frozen Sardines
Frozen Indian Mackerel
Frozen Octopus
Wagyu Beef
Veal Bologna
Anchovy Powder…..Now that one I’ve never seen before!
Shiitake Mushroom Powder – That is a very good ingredient. I buy local mushroom powder and it adds a lot of good flavor to certain things.
They always have junk food that is different……
BBQ Marshmallows….what a great idea for when you are too lazy to bbq them yourself!
Lay’s Potato Chips in American Style Cream & Onion Flavor….????
Lay’s Potato Chips in Wafer Style ???????? salt and pepper flavor……different
Lay’s Potato Chips in India Magic Masala flavor….Yum!……maybe??????????
Medjool dates stuffed with pistachios and covered with fine Belgian chocolate….That one gets a YUM!
Those were a few of the things I noticed at Asiana Market.
This is a collection of the FORKING BEST BURGERS that I’ve tasted in Metro Phoenix Arizona. I do note that I haven’t been to every restaurant in Metro Phoenix but I have been to many restaurants so chances are that a few other great ones are out there…..The best burger meat is always fresh ground in house. So the one thing that all the burgers have in common is that they all are ground in house. The one below is ground in house at a sister-restaurant across the street so that still counts.
Ingo’s Tasty Food – (I go to the original Phoenix location) Grinds grass fed beef. They also bake their own just right rolls. My first beef burger here was a basic burger with lettuce, tomato, Russian dressing. They do offer a a few varieties of burgers. The menu also does change slightly at times.
Ingo’s Tasty Food – 4502 N 40TH St PHX AZ 602-795-2884
www.IngosTastyFood.com
Zinburger – Bruce Lee Burger
Zinburger fresh grinds TWICE a day certified Angus beef and serves them as six and a half ounce patties. The Bruce Lee Burger (Asian slaw, sriracha mayo, jalapeños, avocado and more) was a past winner of a burger battle held in Phoenix.
The ground in house Prime Beef burger from The Bourbon Cellar in Scottsdale
The Bourbon Cellar Sports Bar and Grill offers a variety of gourmet ground in house burgers. I can’t get past the ground in house PRIME Filet burger that is served on an eggy apple cider bun. It is usually topped with a wasabi deviled egg. (I think they forgot on my last visit?) But it really is an amazing burger.
The Bourbon Cellar – 23623 N Scottsdale Rd Scottsdale AZ 480-595-5868
www.TheBourbonCellar.com
A.G. Burger from Arrowhead Grill
The A.G. Burger from the Arrowhead Grill is an 8oz U.S.D.A. PRIME tenderloin tips ground in house patty topped with a slice of prime rib, crispy onions, creamy horseradish sauce and cheese. It’s the largest of all the burgers. It’s also FORKING AMAZING. I’m NOT a small eater but for me this was MORE than two meals.
The Kenji burger from Then Burger
The burgers from Then Burger are ground in house elevated style burgers. The beef burger patties are a blend of short rib, SIRLOIN, and chuck. This Kenji Burger was OFF THE CHARTS FORKING AMAZING. It was enhanced with teriyaki, OH SO Flavorful caramelized onions, arugula, yuzu aioli and red leicester cheese (on side to my request) It REALLY was so FORKING FANTABULOUS that I don’t know if I can ever go on to try their other burgers.*********UPDATE Then burgers are no longer a blend of short rib, sirloin, and chuck. They are all chuck and do cook up different and taste different. They also discontinued the Kenji Burger. I tried a marrow and mushroom burger.
The burger patty came out dry like a hockey puck. I had to send it back because it a $36. burger. Unfortunately the 2nd one also came out very dry and over cooked.
Then Burger – 9220 W Glendale Ave Glendale AZ – 623-328-9388
www.ThenBurger.com
This was a collection of the FORKING BEST Burgers that I’ve tried in Metro Phoenix Arizona.
Van Leeuwen makes some really FORKING amazing ice creams. They are super rich with egg yolks, and other fattening things. Some flavors are all natural with only basic minimal ingredients. Our local Sprouts Grocery sells the Leeuwen normal flavors that are very good. Our Walmarts sell the limited and special edition flavors of Van Leeuwen French Ice Cream. I picked up this container of Van Leeuwen Caramel Sticky Bun Ice Cream. Everyone likes sticky buns…..This flavor should be ok???????? I open it up.
It looks good. It’s the perfect eating temperature. It’s just getting all melted. I taste some melted around the ends…..Eh it’s a little cinnamon-ee…….but there is this strong (ick) toffy taste….that I don’t care for….
Well maybe the lumps in it taste good?….Maybe they will taste like sticky buns?
YUK! The lumps I’m not sure what they are?….They are like animal crackers that were thrown up……..YUK!
Some Van Leeuwen ice creams are better than others but this is the first one that taste awful to me.
To me this one taste like Toffy lace with a little bit of cinnamon with mushed up animal crackers. I won’t be getting fat from this one.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Limited Edition Van Leeuwen Caramel Sticky Bun French Ice Cream.
This is a collection of SOME of the better dishes that I have tried in Metro Phoenix Arizona from restaurants and food trucks in no particular order. I’m not mentioning stuff like a very good steak from Confluence or a perfectly prepared sea bass from Tarbell’s because that is predictable and expected. These are dishes that you might not know about. I haven’t been everywhere in Metro Phoenix and I haven’t tasted everything out there. This is a sampling of random better dishes. This also is mostly photos of the dish and name and address of restaurant. I tried to write as little as possible so you can fly threw the long list.
Up above is the bufalina pizza from Fabio On Fire. We have many great pizzas in Metro Phoenix but this bufalina stands out. There are several other dishes at Fabio’s that are also worth mentioning but we have a lot of food to get to here so I will cut it with Fabio’s Strawberry Gelato because it really is the best in all the land.
Fabio On Fire 8275 W Lake Pleasant PKWAY Peoria
Some of the other better dishes were-
Aloo Tikki Choley
Namaste Indian Restaurant 20851 N Scottsdale Rd Scottsdale
Nan Zhou – Hand Drawn Noodle House 111 S. Dobson Rd Mesa
The seared Hawiian Tuna Soba Salad
Wren & Wolf – 2 N Central Ave PHX
Chill King Chinese Food 4721 W Olive Ave Glendale
First & Last 1001 N 3RD Ave PHX
Pollo Asado (Chicken a little over and a little under….. but unusually great flavors)
Bacanora 1301 NW Grand Ave PHX
Confluence 36889 N Tom Darlington Dr Carefree (Confluence is a high quality restaurant that offers many superb detailed dishes and amazing desserts)
Mifan Claypot Kitchen 1616 N Central Ave PHX
Tortas CM 13971 N 59TH AVE Glendalr
Mrs Whites Golden Rule 808 E Jefferson St PHX
Collins Bros Chophouse 8220 N Hayden RD Scottsdale (This might be available at most if not all of the Collins Restaurants)
Honest to God this Pain Au Chocolat was maybe not as pretty but was much better tasting than the Pain Au Chocolat I tried from Dominique Ansel (Some consider best pastry chef in USA)
JL Patisserie 7342 E Shea BLVD Scottsdale
With Traditional sauce
Chick-A-Dee 49 W Thomas Rd PHX
Chula Seafood Greyhawk 20581 N Hayden Rd Scottsdale (Available at all Chula locations)
The Gladly 2201 E Camelback Rd PHX
Biryani Pot PHX 4030 E Bell Rd PHX
Red Ginger Food Truck – Good luck finding them – I found them once at Food Truck Friday West in Glendale.
Bro Bro’s BBQ Food Truck – Serving Phoenix
The Louisiana Hot Chicken Sandwich – Screaming Hot Chicken Food Truck – Serving Phoenix (This is part of Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen Family)
The Chicken Potstickers
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery 2340 West Bell Rd PHX
Buffalo Chicken Plate (He told us that this wasn’t enough from a smaller chicken and told us to come back for the rest….He was very generous. That is why two photos)
Que Chevere Food Truck (They do have a brick and morter Restaurant in Mesa too)
Everything is very good from Alzohour Market. But the stuffed grape leaves (on right) and the baklava really are the best that I have tried anywhere.
Alzohour Market 7814 N 27TH AVE PHX
The A.G. Burger – 8oz USDA Prime ground in house tenderloin burger topped with a prime rib and more.
The Arrowhead Grill 8280 W Union Hills Dr Glendale
This next one is one of my husband’s two picks.
The Volcano Pork
The Craftsman 20469 N Hayden Rd Scottsdale
My husband’s other pick.
Braised Veal Osso Buco (weekend only)
The Italian Daughter 23655 N Scottsdale RD Scottsdale
This year was a great year for Tia Carmen. I tasted many better dishes there this year. It’s very hard to narrow down to only two dishes. I picked the lunch fish torta sandwich because it deserves to be a top sandwich of metro Phoenix….It’s a YUM-Dinger that is crazy flavorful and different. (pictured below)
Maybe the one dish of the year that I tasted that was the most amazing was the Tuna Crudo from Tia Carmen. It’s a dish that can make your heart skip a beat and is worth driving across town to try.
Tuna Crudu
Tia Carmen 5350 E Marriott Dr PHX
These were just SOME of the better dishes that I tried in Metro Phoenix 2022.
