My husband came across these Crunchy Cookie M&M’s and knew that I would want to try them…and he sure was right I do want to try them.
I wasn’t expecting much because in the corner it reads artificially flavored….BAH!
Well I try them anyway….
They are a weird size for M&M’s.
They are extra tiny.
I eat a few……They don’t taste like cookies….but they seem light and crunchy. They are feel like malt balls in the mouth…but they don’t taste like malt balls……
Not a lot of chocolate here…….They have less chocolate than malt balls.
They’re not bad……..and are easy to eat….They have nice textures to them……a pleasant nice light crunch. They are too light textured to be a cookie inside…….Maybe they are closer to a breakfast cereal type of crunch? They don’t taste bad. Just not a cookie taste.
Not bad.
Not as good as the original or my favorite the almond M&M’s.
That was my FORKING Thoughts on Crunchy Cookie M&M’s.
Your FORKING thoughts on Crunchy M&Ms may indeed differ.
When I was on vacation in Napa we enjoyed our dinner at La Torque. It was there that I tasted for the first time Fennel Marmalade. It was amazing with fish but I was thinking today that it would also be amazing stuffed into a turkey breast that I prepared in the sous vide. It would have also come out great doing the turkey breast stove top in a fry pan too. Anyway this is how I made fennel marmalade. I got 6 generous servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
2 fennel bulbs – core removed, remove dry outer coating, save fronds for garnish, slice thin
1 sweet onion – peeled, slice thin
1 hot pepper or to taste – sliced thin (I used 1/2 spicy banana pepper
1/4 cup sugar
2 lemons – the fresh squeeze juice and zest (save zest for garnishing)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons white wine
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
3/4 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds – crushed fine
Directions
Everything (except garnishes fennel fronds & lemon zest) goes in a pot on medium high heat. You need to bring this to a boil and then reduce to simmer till thickened like marmalade. I think this took close to an hour.
The Saguaro Grill is an American Restaurant and Bar located in Old Town Glendale. It’s in a historic very old building with lots of old fashioned details and old fashioned lighting. You can look at the front window and see Saguaro Ranch Park across the street.
Inside there is a small bar, some traditional tables and a some booths. There is a small patio but I’m not sure if it is used.
My husband started with a cup of chili. He said it was ok………..
I had the grilled salmon. I thought the side choices were interesting at the time and it seemed like a healthy choice.
It was a big portion but was also very average. Slightly over cooked. Slightly dry and slightly fishy. The salmon had nice grill marks and was dressed with salt and pepper. It was suppose to have beurre blanc sauce on it but it was forgotten by the cook……….Oh well…no beurre blanc for me……They were out of green beans today so broccoli was substituted. The broccoli was very average and did have some butter and salt and pepper on it but had a strong broccoli taste that I can’t stand……Same with the spaghetti squash….It was dressed the same as the broccoli but had a strong spaghetti squash taste that needs to be covered up……I thought that the slightly dry and slightly fishy tasting salmon was better tasting than the very average vegetables……… 🙁
My husband had the filet salad.
It’s mostly spinach and croutons with some beef cubes that were cooked properly but were served cooled off. It’s very scant with other greens (suppose to be mixed greens). It’s also too scant with the blue cheese, red onions, dressing and tomatoes. There’s not much to this salad. There’s not enough of anything to make it enjoyable. For me the beef is not tender enough but I am very picky about beef.
3.99% customer server charge for credit cards
My visit today was very average. Maybe they are better on other days?….Or maybe you might do better ordering something else?…………..but I do need to mention again that the food is served in a very cute historic building.
Service turned out to be average. Server didn’t do anything when I told her how the fish and vegetables were.
Mifan Claypot Kitchen is located in the Midtown area of Phoenix Arizona. Mifan translates in Chinese to cooked rice so you will find meals with cooked rice. You will also find mostly sizzling claypot cooked dishes. The menu isn’t entirely vegan but a large amount of the menu can be vegan.
Inside is modern and sleek with a small outside patio.
In the right upper corner above is the kitchen with the chef at work.
On tonights visit only soft beverages were offered. They do offer a few kinds of tea. I went with hot oolong tea.
Appetizers offered on tonight’s menu were truffle butter edamame, crispy pork gyoza, soup gyoza (hand made dumplings stuffed with Shanghai pork and soup in a ginger soy vinaigrette),
soup gyoza
vegan cauliflower lightly fried with Sichuan peppercorns lollipops (tasty they don’t even seem fried) with a house dipping sauce,
vegan cauliflower lollipops
and crispy tofu.
They offer three soup and fans (fan means rice)
Hot and sour, lemongrass noodle soup, and bo zai fan (with Chinese sausage).
The last section of the menu is called Clay 600C …(probably translates to 1112 Fahrenheit) These dishes are served with steamed broccoli and rice.
These dishes are called house dynamite, sweet basil (stir fry with mushrooms, onion chili, vegan sauce),-
sweet basil with chicken
mala spices (stir fry with celery, onion, ginger, baby corn, chili, scallions mala sauce),-
mala spices with chicken
hk typhoon style crispy garlic and Sichuan peppercorns) , and Cantonese black dragon (black bean sauce). They also offered a sizzling shrimp in a Vietnamese sauce.
The two dishes we tried (the sweet basil & mala spices) came out bubbling like a cauldron…..Honestly I thought the chicken would be over cooked BUT IT WASN’T….The chicken in both dishes was incredibly insanely MOIST and VERY TENDER….like melt in your mouth tender. Both sauces were tasty….I thought the sweet basil had a slight edge from the fresh basil but both were good. The sauces are both described as spicy on the menu. They do have a slight heat to them but are more flavorful than spicy hot.
My husband helped me to finish so I could try the dessert that they offer.
Asian style strawberry beignet.
They are very different than New Orleans beignets. Not the taste but almost the texture inside like a Philly pretzel. Not too sweet and a really good strawberry flavor.I also like the small size…even if you are full you can manage to indulge.
Mifan Claypot Kitchen is located in the Muse Building.
Street level right half. A few parking spots are next to the building and also a parking garage is there.
When ever I don’t know what I want to make I have a list of creative chefs that I like. Safeway had a sale on corn so I needed a new idea for corn. I came across Yotam Ottolenghi & Ramael Scully’s recipe for corn cakes. They were seasoned a little differently than what I would normally do with fennel, cumin, celery seed, and tarragon. But what I really liked about the recipe was that it was nearly free of flour…..only two tablespoons for 5 ears of corn so it also seemed like a healthy recipe and that is a big bonus to me. I didn’t change much in the corn cake recipe….but I did make them much smaller, added more cheese to each one and didn’t bother buttering the cups I put them in. The beet-apple salad is suppose to be creamy with yogurt. I left the yogurt out so it would be just a nice light salad that isn’t drippy. The recipe is pretty easy but the hardest part of the recipe is to know how much to process (or blend) the corn mixture. You want the corn ROUGHLY CHOPPED BUT NOT A WET PUREE….some kernels will still be whole. This came out delicious…..The corn cake is sort very creamy and tasty. It did come out extremely delicate. I was sort of lucky that mine came out of the pan. I should have used cupcake liners. I thought that they would pop out more easily so I will recommend to use some sort of liner. The original recipe says 6 servings. I got 16 much smaller corn cakes. Depending on how you are serving them you will want to use either one or two a serving. Serving sizes are going to differ here. I don’t know if you want only one corn cake or three corn cakes. I’ll say that this recipe makes around 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
5 corn on the cobs – peel corn, remove kernels with a knife or use 500g frozen corn kernels thawed
100g shallots – rough cut
3 garlic cloves – chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seeds – lightly toasted and coarsely crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin – lightly toasted
1 teaspoon celery seeds
15g small tarragon leaves rough chopped
1 teaspoon baking powder
80g sweet butter melted (original recipe calls for 20g more butter to grease the molds….I used non -stick spray)
2 large eggs – yolks and whites separated
2 Tablespoons flour
90g feta cheese (original recipe calls for 60g…I think I actually went slightly over 90g) The cheese needs to be cut into a chunk for each corn cake. You can make any size you like because they are YOURS! The original recipe suggest 6-12 corn cakes…I got 16 corn cakes ……so I needed 16 chunks of cheese.
1 teaspoon course sea salt (or to taste)
1 Tablespoon Aleppo pepper (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper (or to taste)
2 raw beets – peeled and cut in very thin shreds
1 apple peeled, cored, cut in very thin shreds
1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon (just the juice)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds – roasted and coarsely crushed
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
15g parsley leaves – rough chopped
5g small baby basil leaves
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Line your cupcake pan with either cupcake liners, Elongated cupcake liners, or parchment. Then either butter the liners or spray with non stick spray.
Combine the corn kernels, shallots and garlic until the corn kernels are rough cut but not a wet paste.
add the fennel seeds, cumin, celery seeds, tarragon, baking powder, butter, egg yolks, salt, and peppers.
Whip the egg whites till stuff. Fold a little in till gone.
Time to fill the cupcake pan. I didn’t use liners so some of mine were a little harder to get out. I don’t want you to have any trouble so I recommend to use liners.
Next I squish down a chunk of feta into each of the corn cakes.
After I patted the edges down on top of the cheese.
Then I put them on the middle rack of my preheated 400 degree F oven for 25 minutes till they gave off aroma and looked toasty done. If you did yours bigger they will need more time. Maybe around 40 minutes.
While the corn cakes were in the over it only took a few minutes to make the beet-apple salad.
In a large bowl combine the beets, apple, sherry vinegar, oil, lemon juice, fennel seeds, celery seeds, parsley. Finish with the tiny basil leaves.
Soon the corn cakes will be coming out of the oven. They need around 10 minutes to cool a little before you can serve.
Feta Stuffed Corn Cakes with Beet-Apple Salad
A special THANKS!!!! to Yotam Ottolenghi & Rameal Scully for sharing their AMAZING Recipe so I could come up with what I got here.
This is how it goes when you go out to eat SOMETIMES. Today I went to restaurant that I have been to before that was good last time. I went back and things were different. This time I ordered the ensalada fresca salad. It sounded so good. The menu reads watermelon, cucumber, red onion, jicama, aji lemon vinaigrette, panela cheese, pepitas, fresno, tajin, salsa macha, cilantro. This sounds incredible doesn’t it? The salmon was also really great last time so I added salmon to this salad.
Here is what I got.
Lets take a closer look.
At the time I didn’t remember everything I read about the salad and didn’t know at the time that it was missing things.
I soon try the salmon.
It is not fresh tasting. I can’t eat it. I give a small piece to my husband to try. He said that it was very fishy tasting. He said, “get something else.”
I removed the salmon from the salad and put it on a side plate away from me. Soon someone that seems like a manager comes over and asks about the salmon. I told him that the salmon taste spoiled.
The manager said that his salmon is thrown out after four days. He also said that he will taste it. He also asked me if he could make a new one or give me chicken. I went for chicken but I did tell him that I have had salmon here before that was fresh and delicious.
He comes back and says that the salmon isn’t spoiled. He said that it just tastes off from the grill marks………..(whatever the FORK that means?).
Anyways-
Here comes the chicken.
I do have to say that the chicken really is very good and also is an extra generous portion. It’s tender, moist , full of flavors and is delicious.
BUT back to the salad.
Remember that I didn’t know that I was missing a few things.
But at the time I also was a bit bummed because the watermelon, cucumbers, and jicama also didn’t seem so fresh. Here is a closer look. They seem a few days old (look at the melon).
I think that I am missing cilantro, pepitas, aji lemon vinaigrette, tajin, and salsa macha.
My husband wasn’t thrilled with his meal but thought it was ok.
Decided to try dessert to make myself feel better.
I go for this one because our server said it was new and the best dessert.
It reads flambe table side.
Someone drops this off with no flambe.
We look around to find someone.
We find our server and she says that she has to find the manager.
She comes back and says the manager will serve us the dessert.
We wait and wait. (my husband starts to boil while we are waiting and wants to pay and leave)
The manager does come back, uses a portable lighter and we get this.
It wasn’t flaming but it really was a delicious dessert. It was the best thing I ate there today. They didn’t have to but after everything didn’t charge us for the dessert.
This is how it goes when you go out to eat SOMETIMES.
I had three leftover corn cobs from the recent 8 for a $1 corn sale from Safeway. My last recipe I published was Italian Chili Crisp. In case you didn’t know chili crisp is this amazing condiment that adds textures and delicious flavors, crunch and some heat to food. Anything plain can turn FORKING amazing with the addition of a chili crisp. This corn salad came out BOMB!….. Just so you know I didn’t measure the chili crisp and sherry vinegar exactly, I guesstimated and just threw it together but it truly did come out amazing. Since I used three ears of corn I will say that this makes around three or more servings because most people will eat one ear of corn most of the time…..but I got 6 servings because I like smaller portions so I’m going to call it 4 servings.
Approximate Ingredients for around 4 servings
3 Tablespoons canola oil to grill the vegetables (approximate)
3 ears of corn – peeled (boiled or grilled or parboiled and grilled) , cut off cob
6 baby bell peppers – core and stem removed, grilled then rough cut
1/2 large red onion – peeled, grilled then rough cut
sea salt – to taste for the grilled vegetables
fresh ground black pepper- to taste for the grilled vegetables
3 small dried figs – rough small cut
3 tablespoons (I might have used more) Italian chili crisp
3 tablespoons (I might have used more) sherry vinegar
1/2 cup fresh basil – torn or cut
Directions
In a large mixing bowl combine the corn kernels, baby bells, onion, figs, Italian chili crisp, sherry vinegar, and basil.
FORKING Delicious Corn Salad made with Italian Chili Crisp
Paradise Valley Pizza Co offers Unique, Southwest, and Traditional Italian Pizzas and MORE! They are located in the Paradise Valley part of Phoenix Arizona. Inside Paradise Valley Pizza Company is the newly opened house made ice cream shop that they call Jonny C.R.E.A.M.S. The Ice Cream Counter does have it’s own website and phone number even though its just a small counter inside the pizza parlor. Both P,V,P,Co. and Jonny C.R.E.A.M.S are sister restaurants of Paradise Burger Company next door.
I didn’t notice hard beverages here but they do have a selection of sodas and some of them look very interesting…..(Like WYFork is Rat Bastard?……..I looked it up..It’s root beer)
Paradise Valley Pizza Company offers some very unique varieties of pizza such as-
Pizza Brûlée – burnt sugar, four cheese blend, bacon, beef, caramelized onion, ricotta cheese, and egg.
Margarita – tomatillo-marinara, lime, tequila, pickled serrano, avocado, cheese blend, queso fresco, and cilantro (I’ve had this one before)
The Phoenix – chipotle-truffle bbq sauce, pork, corn, bacon, jalapeños, cheese blend, and cilantro.
The cannoli they sell are also different. Lucky Charms and Oreo.
We started out by sharing the salad called Brussel & Artichoke.
It’s made of a lot of Brussels sprouts, artichokes, lemon, basil, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and the menu reads pine nuts but I think I have sliced almonds here? Its tasty and different.
Today I just got a plain slice because I was saving room for some Jonny Cream.
It’s the size of a New York Slice and is very thin with a short crust. It’s made with a blend of cheese, house made red sauce, basil, and parmesan…..I don’t know why but it taste smoky to me……..It’s also different…the bites are oilier….not like a real New York that get a heavy topping of olive oil…….It’s like the oil feels like it’s coming out of the cheese. It’s different.
My husband got a special….This one is called GODZILLA.
It’s cheese stuffed double crust MONSTER pizza with basil, jalapeños, green Chile, herbs, pepperoni, sausage, and hella cheese…whatever hella cheese is?
Here it is from the side.
It’s very thick.
The ice cream is at a small counter on wheels in the dining area. The ice cream to my surprise doesn’t get scopped out. You purchase containers that look around pint sized. You buy a container and take it home or I guess you can eat it there. They did give us plastic spoons and they gave us packed ice for taking it home.
Today I picked the Vanilla, Caramel, fudge, ricotta, cannoli flavor.
It’s a high quality dense ice cream with lots of texture but the textures and flavors are far apart…..like canola shells were only near the top and on the bottom but they were in very large broken pieces that stayed crisp. The Fudge is very fudge-ee……and deep. I don’t have much at the top but about a quarter down and to the end here is a enough. It’s good….I’d like to try some of the other flavors I heard about….Like bananas foster.
Tia Carmen is a high quality contemporary South-West Style restaurant located in the Desert Ridge JW Marriott in North Phoenix Arizona. For an authentic taste of Arizona this restaurant uses Arizona purveyors and cooking is done with a wood fired grill. The restaurant is led by Michelin star chef, restauranteur, Bravo Top Chef, and cookbook author Angelo Sosa (pictured below on the patio).
Inside is modern and contemporary with large light fixtures.
Tonight we were seated in the back dining room that is less bright.
We LOVED the amazing FANTABULOUS tuna crudo we had last time (pictured at the top) and we are so glad that it was still on the menu tonight. We did notice that the other FANTABULOUS dish the wagyu kababs have been replaced with tri tip kababs.
wagyu kababs *(past menu)
Tonight we wanted to try new things so we shared a bunch of plates.
We started with the tomato salad.
It’s a tasty WOW! These tomatoes make angels sing and it’s all so delicious with the corn puree, burnt corn dust, basil, pickled onions, fancy greenery, and flowers.
Next was another WOW!
It’s expensive for a tostada ($20) but I guess it was delicious enough to be worth it. It’s a beef and bone marrow tostada with guacamole, pickled onions, and fancy micro greens.
We shared something really interesting, delicious and really different mushroom menudo.
Here’s a better look.
It’s so flavorful that you wouldn’t guess that it is vegetarian. Also the mushrooms are so different and interesting. I never heard of or tasted cordycep and cauliflower mushrooms before. They are not like mushrooms at all……It’s more like eating a fancy grain pasta….They are really great…I think that this is another WOW dish.
This next dish does taste really great but my only complaint is that I don’t agree that this is a dinner. I think that this is more of an appetizer or side dish but truly it is delicious. This is the ember roasted purple yams in queso sauce with a 30 week aged tepary bean (local bean) mole negro and burnt corn dust.
Again really delicious but I don’t agree that this is a dinner.
My husband did a great job helping me eat everything but he is a big eater and needs one more plate than I do. He tried the native grain fried rice with lingica sausage, bacon, serrano Chile, garlic, ginger, sunny up egg.
He ate it but I think that this might be his least favorite plate because he thought that it tasted like soy sauce.
I was pretty full but I was able to enjoy some blood orange sorbet.
The blood orange sorbet is another WOW!…It was very flavorful and really great!
Last time I enjoyed the striped bass very much. It’s very unique with Thai basil and mole verde and was prepared to perfection.
My husband had the Tia Carmen’s famous chicken dish called chicken guisado (a very good stewed chicken).
For dessert we tried the coriander torte.
It was very well made but the orange flavor was very subtle………… so the coriander could shine.
In our local newspaper recently they had a recipe for Italian chili crisp with tomatoes. I thought the idea was really great because……..Chili crisp is an amazing condiment. It adds textures, flavors, crunch, and heat to different foods. It makes anything that is plain really special…..The recipe in the paper might be good but looked a little too basic. I thought I’d see how other people make an Italian version of chili crisp. I came across www.CookingWithKerry.com and I thought her recipe was closer to the way I would make an Italian Chili Crisp. I made some modifications and slight changes. But I have to give Kerry her credit that she deserves because this came out insanely delicious. I made it and my husband said what did you make that smells so good? Try the Italian Chili Crisp in sandwiches, pasta, vegetables, pizza or a chicken. According to Kerry this recipe makes around 32 servings.
Ingredients for around 32 servings
1/2 cup dried Calabrian Chilies – stems removed and crush pods (I recommend gloves and a mask, onion goggles just in case so none gets in your eyes)
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3 Tablespoons capers – drained & dried off
3 anchovy filets – minced
1 Tablespoon dried thyme
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 Tablespoon white sugar
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup shallots – sliced very thin on a mandolin
1 regular sized head of garlic – cloves sliced very thin (I used a truffle slicer)
Directions
In a large heatproof bowl mix together the chili flakes, pine nuts, capers, anchovies, thyme, oregano, sugar, salt, and pepper. Set to the side.
Add olive oil to a medium sized pot on medium high heat. When the oil is hot add the shallots. Remove the shallots with a slotted spoon when they turn light brown. Have a paper towel lined pan for the shallots. (around 6 minutes)
After the shallots are removed you need to turn the heat down to medium. Wait two or three minutes and add the garlic. If you sliced thin the garlic gets done pretty fast….Like 2-21/2 minutes. Take the garlic out with a slotted spoon and drain the garlic on a paper towel lined pan.
Add the hot oil to the bowl with the crushed chili. Let this sit out until it cools.
When it’s cool you can mix them up together and put in a container. Refrigerate and enjoy!
Italian Chili Crisp
I used it on a heirloom tomato and butterbean salad.
Tomato and bean salad with Italian Chili Crisp
A Special THANKS to www.CookingWithKerry for her Forking Amazing Recipe so I could come up with what I got here.
