From My Recipe Box to Yours: International "Gourmet" Hot Dogs

Background info: I found these while reading Food Network magazine, and I thought they were a great idea for several reasons. One, with limited cookware, hot dogs are something I can make. I don't normally go for hot dogs, but with these choices, I couldn't resist trying a few. (Nothing like fancying up your hot dogs so you don't feel quite so poor ;) ). Two, these will make great add-ons for BBQs with friends and family. Because there are so few ingredients, and a lot you would have at home, you could offer two or more types and people can vary! It's awesome. And three, I know most (if not all) of you aren't parents, this might come in handy one day. Most children I know have limited palates, so you might find yourself cooking lots and lots of hot dogs. This is a great way to vary it up! Children can get the classic ketchup and relish, you can get whatever nationality you want! And again, might I add that this is cheap?

Health Benefits of Hot Dogs: Well, there certainly aren't many, but if you spend a little bit more money, you can buy all-natural hot dogs. At least go for a brand that has less salt in it. And as always, go with whole-wheat buns! I don't think they cost any extra, and they are so much better you. And you can't really tell the difference. Especially if you toast them first.

Ok, on to the hot dogs: (No set directions, really, just top and eat!)

Greek: tzatziki, cucumber, kalamata olives

Korean: Asian mustard, kimchi, red onion

Swedish: lingonberry jam, caramelized onions, gravy

German (bet you can't guess what goes on this one!): German mustard, sauerkraut, pretzels

Mexican: chipotle mayonnaise, cotija cheese, avacado

Polynesian: hoisin sauce, pineapple, scallions

Spanish: pimiento cheese spread, serrano ham, manchego cheese

Thai: peanut sauce, carrot, cilantro

American: barbecue sauce, pulled pork, coleslaw

Japanese: wasabi mayonnaise, Asian snack mix, pickled ginger

Cook's Note:

-Matt and I have, so far, tried the Mexican and Thai versions. Both delicious!

-If you don't have cotija cheese, use feta. I know feta is Greek, but they are basically the same thing. And if you already have some in your fridge, why spend the extra money?

-So WalMart in Mississippi doesn't have peanut sauce. So I substituted sweet and sour sauce for the peanut sauce and it was delicious! Can't wait to try it with peanut sauce

-So WalMart was out of canned chipotles, so what I did instead was chop up some canned jalapenos and mix it (with some of the juice) with 1/2 c sour cream, 1/2 clove garlic, and seasoned it with salt. Again, really yummy! Next time I will have to make it with the chipotles to compare! Also, try substituting out the chipotle mayo for salsa (preferably pico de gallo), I bet it would taste amazing as well!

-And lastly, invent your own international hot dog! Maybe come up with an Indian, Chinese, Italian, or Polish version! Cooking is fun! And I bet your guests would enjoy these variations the next you BBQ! (My Italian version would be basil, chopped tomatoes, and shredded mozarella, what would yours be???)

From My Recipe Box to Yours: Kale Chips

Background information on this recipe: Lenny the Bearded Magical Dragon needs to eat lots of leafy greens, but salad greens just won't cut it (not much nutrition in them), so one day I bought him a bunch of kale. Still being a wee little ectotherm, he cannot eat the entire bunch, so I went searching for a recipe. This is what I found (copyright goes to Food Network and the Neeleys) and it's delicious! I make it every time I buy kale! I will also add some cook's notes at the end.

Health Benefits of Kale: Kale is a dark leafy green, a relative to cabbage. Unlike most lettuces us Americans like to put in salads, kale is extremely nutritious. It contains, but is not limited to: beta carotene, vitamins C, K, and A, has some calcium, and sulforaphane, which is suspected to have anti-cancer properties. So see, it's good for you!

If you are hesitant to try this, might I add this: Using this recipe, they honestly taste like potato chips! Really, they do! (And because you probably have all the ingredients in your house already, except the kale, it will be a very cheap, healthy snack!)

Here's the recipe: Kale Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch kale, washed and dried well
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Tear the leaves off the center rib of the kale and tear into large pieces. Place leaves in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil and toss until completely coated.

Divide kale between 2 baking sheets lined with parchment. Arrange in a single layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until crisp. Place in a serving bowl and sprinkle with brown sugar.

Cooks's Notes:

-Be very, very careful with how much salt and pepper you sprinkle. It is very easy on this recipe to over season them. So I would just do a pinch or so each of salt and pepper. Remember, you can always add more seasoning to them later! But taking away seasoning, well...

-The brown sugar sounds weird, I know, but it's actually quite delicious! Especially if you like sweet-n-salty nut mixes or salted mochas. Oddly enough, salt and sugar go well together.

-I have tried these multiple ways: with brown sugar, without the brown sugar but with the salt and pepper, with Creole seasoning, and just salt. They are all good! The best part about this recipe is that the taste of kale really recedes, so you could flavor these with pretty much anything and I think they would taste good. Next time, try your favorite chips flavor (like salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, etc) or your favorite herb. The next time I make them, I think I will try it with garlic salt (while leaving the salt out).

-I have noticed that 25 minutes might be a bit too long, especially if you only cook one sheet at a time. What I do is test them every 5 minutes or so and take individual "chips" out as they reach my desired crispiness. That way they don't get burned. Larger pieces will take longer.

-You will notice discoloration of the kale, that's normal. It's from the olive oil.

-Your first batch probably won't turn out perfectly (mine sure didn't). Use your first batch as a trial run, figuring out which crispiness you like best, and note how long it took. If you under cook them, they will be kind of chewy, so you'll know next time to cook it longer.

-Lastly, store in an air-tight container, they will last a few days, but my guess is that they won't last that long!

Sipping Starbucks: An Exploratory Session featuring Rayla and Brittany: Cats

Topic: I asked Rayla to write an Ode to Cats. Here is her interpretation. (Rayla's cat's nam is Tiger Lily, FYI)

"According to Tiger Lily"

Everybody wants to be a cat. Why? Address the following…

Cats can get away with putting their butt in someone’s face on purpose. Dogs can’t.

Cats have a legal drug all of their own that their human willingly hands out. Dogs don’t.

Cats are allowed to sleep on the bed, sit in the window, and jump on furniture. Dogs can’t.

Cat’s humans carry them around when they’re full grown. Most dogs are too big.

Cats can sleep all day. Dogs usually don’t.

Cats don’t need to be walked. Dogs do.

Cats can entertain themselves. Dogs don’t.

Cats watch and guard the fish. Dogs don’t care.

Cat’s meows aren’t very loud. Dog’s barks are loud. (Addition by Sara: And cats usually stop after a reasonable amount of time. Dogs don't.)

Cats purr. Dogs don’t.

Cats chase other animals without being punished. Dogs get punished.

Cats bathe themselves. Dogs don’t.

Cats are smart enough to know when to use selective hearing. Dogs aren’t.

Cats chase lasers for the entertainment of their human. Dogs chase them because they think they can actually catch it.

Cats can lie across their human’s shoulders to keep them warm. Dogs can’t.

Cats don’t hump people’s legs. Dogs do.

Cats don’t need to go outside to pee. Dogs doo doo.

Cats rule. Dogs drool.

Everybody wants to be a cat.

Of Note

Most of you are aware that I enjoy cooking. I don't claim to have any special techniques or brew up my own recipes, but I do love to make food. The majority of the enjoyment comes from sharing my food- preferably with lots of people! So I thought (since I need ways to entertain myself) that I would start sharing some recipes on my blog that I or Matt particularly enjoyed. And hopefully everyone here can learn a few more recipes, or learn how to tweak recipes to their own liking.

I used to be a very stiff cook when I was younger- if I did not have every single ingredient (even herbs), I would not make the dish. Now, with plenty of years behind my belt having to cook dinner for myself, roommates, and Matt, I have learned some tricks and how to alter dishes if I don't have an ingredient, or I think it would taste better with a different combination. I hope to share my alterations with all of you, too, so you can try the dish multiple ways! It's like a piece of art, trying to decide how it will look best.

Isn't cooking FUN?

First Week in Mississippi

Well y'all, I've been here for slightly over one week. It has been both a blessing and a gigantic pain in the ass. But the South so far isn't really all that bad, it's just the things that keep happening to Matt and I that are making this super complicated.

First off, as I think I mentioned in my previous post, the moving company decided to not move our household stuff into our new house until June 16th. So if you're counting, that means we will have been in our house for 17 days with nothing but the stuff we brought with us in the Jeep. So not much at all. All we have are: our important documents, large printed wedding pictures that we didn't want lost, our laptops, blankets and two pillows, Lenny, my knitting bag, a few books, and the clothes and the toiletries we brought with us. Since we have been here, we bought an air mattress so we could sleep on something, and two WalMart camp chairs so we have something to sit on. I have also borrowed a box of cookware from the outdoor rec on base, but there isn't much in there, so I'm limited on what I can cook. This is all we have. Kind of ridiculous, really. Our backs are sore from the air mattress and our butts are sore from the camp chairs. I can't believe a moving company would do this, especially since back in Portland they signed- real paper, real pen!-a contract that said our stuff would be in our house, ready for me to unpack, on the 6th. Stupid liars. At least we got our internet and cable set up yesterday so we can at least get online without having to do it on Matt's phone.

Speaking of internet, this has also been a nightmare. We think the modem they gave us is not the best of quality, since the internet worked just fine on my computer from the start, but not Matt's. His CAT card (his military ID has a chip on it that allows him to access government portals from home) for some reason doesn't work on my computer, but works on his. We discovered this after many, many hours of some intense anger directed at the computer. I wasn't fiddling with the computer, but I was getting really upset because Matt was, and if you have known me since I was young, you'll know that I do not enjoy arguments or anger at all. I don't deal with it well so I was getting really stressed out. So what do we do? Drive to town to go get coffee with Cari. Ultimate stress relief.

There are two (that I know of, anyway) coffee places in Columbus. One is Kudoz, which is a little coffee shop off the side of a gym that serves coffee and smoothies. I can't remember what brand they brew, but they receive it fresh every week from Atlanta, and grind it as the week goes on, so it's fairly fresh. I think it's also organic, but I don't remember. This shop also has smoothies- yummy!- so I can get something uncaffeinated if I want to. Not many tables to sit at, but it's usually uncrowded. The other place, Beans and Cream, serves coffee, but also smoothies and ice cream. They brew Seattle's Best. In my opinion, I like Starbucks coffee better (I kind of like the burnt taste, personally), but I will take Seattle's Best over Folger's or Maxwell (GROSS!). This shop has the look and feel of a Seattle coffee house with a good study vibe to it. I like both of these places and the coffee they brew. The only issue I have is that instead having coffee with a flavoring, they are serving flavorings with not even enough coffee to taste it (at least there is some in there that satisfies my caffeine addiction). To fix that problem, the next time I ordered a breve (espresso with half and half), but it tasted something like mild coffee flavored half and half. I think people in the South just don't like coffee. They would much rather have their sweet tea. Oh well. Soon I will be getting my coffee pot and espresso machine and I can make my own strongly brewed coffee.

I was also just introduced to Zumba. Cari took me to my first class on Monday, and today being Wednesday, my leg muscle are freakin' STIFF! The remedy to that? More Zumba today. At least it's extremely fun, I would recommend it to anyone. Even if you can't dance, like moi. You will look like an idiot the first few times, not having any clue what's going on and always a little bit behind, but I'm sure I will get the technique and my rhythm will improve. And it is an excellent work out.

Lastly, I need to give a shout out to Cari and Bryan. Cari's a friend from Idaho, but she just so happens to be stationed down here with her husband. She lives in town and I live on base, but we have been hanging out since I got here and she has been a life saver. Cari has been someone to talk to other than Matt and has shown around town. Where to eat, where to shop, where to get coffee and ice cream, and where activities are on base. I am so blessed to already know someone down here. She and her husband will be leaving the base before we do, but that's life in the military for you. Bryan is a friend from ROTC. He will be joining us soon, so we will know another person! Even though he's not here yet, just knowing that we will have another friend here is wonderful. Bryan also did some research for me and was the one who discovered we could borrow cookware from the outdoor rec center. This research has helped Matt and I cook- albeit basically- from our home without having to go out to eat or eat frozen dinners warmed in the oven. Thanks Cari and Bryan! You have made our lives just a little bit easier.

So while my life might be a little bit on the boring side right now, at least I can now write these updates from the comfort of my own home, crypt as it might be at the present. We do like the base and the surrounding area, so we're happy to be here and are looking forward to the months to come.

Southern Snippets

Here are some things I have learned about the South:

-Refer to The People of WalMart website. It really is true.

-The locals- so far- are really nice. All three of them. This list includes the women in the housing office on base (civilians) and the barista at the coffee shop.

-The accents differ. You can understand the white people. Not so much the black people. They tend to combine all of the words in their sentence into one long word with no annunciation.

-THE SUN IS OVERRATED. Really. It is SO FREAKING HOT HERE.

-I don't mind bugs. I really don't. But the bumblebees are GIGANTIC. Same with the grasshoppers.

-"Lake" means something totally different here. You can't really swim in them because they are dirty (well, more just murky, I don't want to make it sound like they are polluted). Plus, there are alligators. YAY!

-If you see a sign that says "Ferry," this does not mean a Puget Sound-like ferry boat is awaiting you. It means boat ramp/marina.

-The people here can't drive. I'm not really sure why. They aren't all that bad, per say, just really slow. Say a they are turning left on a solid green light. In order for them to turn, there has to be no cars coming. No cars at all. When they do turn, they turn really slowly. Cari and I saw this multiple times. And they don't really let people into lanes if you have your turn signal on. So I haven't seen anyone do anything all that stupid (yet), they're just slow drivers.

-They move slower than city folk. This isn't rude-let me explain. The lady at the housing office went to go make us copies. While she was doing this, she also stopped to talk to someone, and when she made the copies, didn't move all that fast. This isn't a bad thing, really, it's just the way they do things down here. They aren't in a hurry- and neither are their customers. So it's not that they're "stupid" or anything, it's just their culture. I think we could all learn from this, everyone up north is always in such a rush. Just take a breath and relax and enjoy some extra down time! This is something that I actually LIKE about the south and will not need to get used to.

-They have farmer's markets down here too! So excited to go to the local one, and it's here 3 times a week! Yippee!

Home Sweet Home (...)

Well everybody, we made it. We rolled into Columbus, MS, on Memorial Day and stayed overnight in the base hotel. The town looks A LOT like Moscow, ID. It's really weird. The main road is a few miles longer, but the mall is the same size. Downtown looks a lot like it, too, but a little bit bigger. I can't wait to go down and wander around the stores when they're open (they were all closed on Memorial Day). I spotted a yarn store and a potential scrapbook store, so I'm all set! There isn't a pet store in town, unfortunately, but it looks like a few of the gas stations around here sell crickets for bait, so Lenny should be good to go. Hopefully I can find a pet store in nearby Starkville that sells quality dog food for our future puppy.

We moved into our new home on Tuesday morning. Since we are new residents, we got to choose a move-in present, and we chose a new washer and dryer! I'm SO excited. I haven't had my own laundry machines in over two years. And the machines are in their own room off the kitchen! The best part? We get to take them with us to our next station! Hopefully they come soon before we run out of clean socks and underwear.

The house is GIGANTIC. And by gigantic, I mean 1100 square feet. So actually quite small, but much bigger than our 400 square apartment we just came from. Matt will have his own office and I will have my own scrapbook room/Lenny's room/guest room. (Although if it's my mom or mother-in-law, they will probably have to sleep in the office because of their adverse reactions to Lenny). It's all wood floor, so my vacuum will not see many uses, but at least that means it will last longer, right? The living room/dining room is kind of small, but at least we have two extra bedrooms that we can store extra bookshelves and desks and the like, so it shouldn't look too cluttered.

Currently, our house is completely empty. Our stuff has arrived in Columbus, but breaching their contract (which pisses the both of us off REALLY BAD), the moving company (independent of the Air Force) has decided they can't move our stuff into the house until June 16th. So by the time we get our stuff, we will have been without all of our household goods just shy of a month. How ridiculous. Thankfully, our friend Bryan has let us know of a possible place on base that you can rent cookware from, so we might go and rent some pots and pans and a microwave so I can start cooking again. Eating out is getting SO OLD.

So far, I have enjoyed Columbus, and once I get used to the heat (IT IS SO RIDICULOUSLY HOT HERE IT'S INSANE) I think I will actually enjoy it. I haven't met many of the locals yet, or any of the wives, either, but I have a feeling I can't judge them purely from who goes into the WalMart. My good friend Cari has been showing me around, and I am eternally grateful to her for that. She has introduced me to a coffee shop in town that serves both coffee AND smoothies, so I'm not missing Starbucks too much. After a week surviving off of just hotel coffee, I finally had myself an espresso drink, so I'm not missing it too much now. The town is about seven miles from base, but I'm willing to drive that far :) Plus, it gets me off base.

Also of note, our baby boy puppy was born on May 31st! Now we just have to name him. He and his siblings were a few days early, but they're all doing well! We unfortunately don't get to pick which boy we get (we were the second on the list for a boy and mom Sadie only had two boys), but we don't really care: we're just excited to get the puppy! He won't be ready to come home until July 31st, but that gives us time to get to some bigger towns to go shopping for him.

Yay for puppies!