Holiday Gift Guide, 2022, Part 2

I'm thinking that I should have made this food gift guide part 1 and the appliances part 2, just so I could title this post Gift Guide Part 2: Electric Boogaloo. And if you don't get that reference, you're probably not as old and decrepit as we are.

Sigh.

Anyhoo...let us proceed, shall we? 

I discovered a while back that a good gift for the person "who has everything" is food. We all need to eat. Some of us have dietary restrictions and need special products. Others of us are snackaholics. Still others are just weirdos. I'd give my Dad a half dozen jars of jams and preserves for Christmas because he was fond of eating them straight from the jar with a spoon. I enjoy receiving food gifts because once they're consumed, I can just recycle the jar or wrapper and there's nothing left to clutter the house--unlike books (which we have stacked in piles here and there), "collectibles" (ahem, Neal's action figure collection), mountains of craft supplies, and tchotchkes like candles, photo frames, and single-function kitchen gadgets like quesadilla makers (an actual thing that we actually received from an actual friend). Want to give me a gift that will make me smile? Send me a box of See's caramels. 

Gifts for People Who Drink

I don't mean boozers, necessarily, but people who like to drink all sorts of drinks. But yes, booze, too. 

ROOT 23 makes tasty simple syrups that can be used in cocktails, of course, but also poured on ice cream or in coffee or combined with a little seltzer to create a homemade soda. I'm partial to the Yuzu Citrus flavor, but Pear Rosemary is also nice.

 

Beetology, Wonder Melon, and Wonder Lemon are tasty juices that are certainly drinkable on their own, but also make fine cocktail mixers. The cucumber version of Wonder Melon also makes a tasty gazpacho when added to a blender full of cucumbers and roasted red bell peppers seasoned with sherry vinegar and salt. You can get packs of 9 bottles at Amazon, but if you just want to try one or two, I've seen them at Giant supermarkets.

Fancy fizzy water subscriptions might be a nice gift, too. I like Aura Bora.

And yes, fine, your favorite liquor emporium might offer up a ton of gifts for family members. I could use a bottle of Amaretto d'Amore, and would love anything from Eden Ciders.

Gifts for People Who Like Hot Stuff

My friend Laurie gave me a bottle of TRUFF hot sauce a couple years ago. She's a fan of hot sauce in general, and a fan of this stuff in particular. I like hot stuff, too. Now, I'm going to say that the black label TRUFF isn't super hot. But if you like a gentle warmth, and the flavor of truffle oil, you might enjoy it. There is a red label version that is hotter, though I haven't tried that one. 

This sauce is a littler thicker and sweeter than most hot sauces, so to me, it's like the best kind of ketchup. I like putting it on my scrambled eggs, and it's fantastic on french fries and burgers and anything else you might put ketchup on. Also, it's a perfect sauce for buffalo wings. Man, I'm drooling at the thought of that. (I haven't eaten dinner yet and I am hungry. Not the best time to write food blog posts.)

Don't discount Old Bay Hot Sauce, which might be inexpensive at ~$4 per bottle. The stuff flew off the shelves when it was introduced a couple years ago, and with good reason. It tastes like Old Bay, the beloved seafood seasoning of the Mid-Atlantic region. 

Then there's the world of chili crisp/chili crunch, which I plan to cover in an upcoming post. One of my favorites is made by a newish brand called Oomame, which makes the increasingly popular, originally Chinese, condiment with flavors from other lands, like Morocco, India, and Mexico. China too, but Mexico's the best one. Dave Chang's Momofuku restaurant/tv/cookbook empire now includes food products like soy sauce and dry noodles, but they also have multiple versions of chili crunch, including extra hot and truffle.

Mighty Sesame produces various tahini-based products, including a spicy tahini that is no joke. It makes a mighty fine spicy hummus but can also add needed oomph to avocado toast.

Gifts for People Who Avoid Gluten

Absolutely! gluten free crackers and snacks are not only gluten free, but also grain free. But rather than using almond flour, Absolutely! uses potato and tapioca starches, so their crackers are light and crispy and low in calories. Their snacks include coconut macaroons, coconut chews, stacked potato crisps (think Pringles, but gluten free), and even cauliflower crust pizzas. We are a cheese-loving household, so I'm always thrilled to find yet another brand of tasty gf crackers to go with.

Tate's Bake Shop makes the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. Honestly, they taste pretty close to homemade toll house cookies, without the gluten. I love them, and even before I started avoiding gluten, I preferred Tate's gf version to other commercial cookies. They have a variety pack that is calling my name.

Another favorite gluten-free snack that also comes in non-gf flavors is Sheila G's Gluten Free Brownie Brittle. So yummy! The thin cracker-like cookies remind me of the crispy sides of a pan of homemade brownies. I've tried all the flavors, thanks to the annual Summer Fancy Food Show, and to be very honest, the gluten free ones are my absolute faves. I finished off a bag of the dark chocolate sea salt flavor as I was typing this post. ::::brushes away chocolate crumbs from mousepad::::

I also love the gf crackers from Hungry Bird Eats.

General Savory Gift Items

Oryx Desert Salt is an unrefined salt from the Kalahari Desert region that has no additives or non-caking agents. It's harvested from a 55-million-ton underground salt lake and has a clean salt flavor. The glass container with ceramic grinder is refillable 10 or more times, making it more environmentally friendly than the typical supermarket salt grinders. They have pepper, too, and both have become fixtures on our dining table. 

I hope I don't have to remind you that Nuts.com has tons of fine snacky items and nuts. My favorite snack is the plaintain chips, and I'm partial to their gluten free brownie mix. Buy a basket, fill it with bags of nuts, and put a bow on it.

General Sweet Gift Items

I've been buying this particular brand of Pumpkin Panettone as a birthday gift to myself for the last couple of years. It's super moist, and the pumpkin filling only adds to the moisture. It's become our traditional Thanksgiving day breakfast. Ordinarily, I make french toast with leftover panettone, but this has far too much filling for that sort of thing. It doesn't get stale fast, so it doesn't matter if it takes a week to finish.

Who wouldn't love a 2.2 lb jar of Nutella? 

If you've never baked your own gingerbread house because you don't like gingerbread cookies, you may like making one with chocolate Oreos instead. This Oreo gingerbread house kit looks like it might be a lot of fun for the kiddos.

Also, I can't say enough good things about Yummy Bazaar, a mail order food company based in South Jersey. They have a wide variety of international foods all year 'round, but right now they are offering Italian and German holiday breads like Panettone and Stollen in many flavors. And they have all the flavors of Milka and Ritter Sport candy bars!

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Nando's Hot Sauces #sponsored

There is a Nando's Peri-Peri approximately 500 steps from my office, and I have been there for lunch and dinner many times over the last few years. For those who aren't fortunate enough to have a Nando's nearby, it's an Afro-Portuguese restaurant specializing in chicken seasoned with peri-peri chile sauce. Even their mildest dishes have a bit of heat, but I like that. So when Nando's contacted me to promote their commercially-available line of bottled sauces, I was more than willing.

Though I must say that I was a tad disappointed that my shipment didn't include my favorite lemon & herb, I happily cracked open the bottles of garlic and medium-hot Peri-Peri sauce and started using them on everything from eggs to chicken wings and oatmeal (yes, we eat savory oatmeal on occasion). Mr Minx particularly enjoys the garlic version. A friend who is more into ass-blistering heat appreciated the extra extra hot sauce. All of Nando's sauce varieties are tangy with lemon, are halal, kosher, and non-GMO, and contain no artificial stuff. Most of them are also sugar-free.

There's no requirement that hot sauce needs to be used straight from the bottle. When peaches were still available (they still sorta are, but I mean good peaches) I used it in a fruity sauce for chicken wings.

There's enough acid and heat in any of the Nando's sauces to cut the sweetness of fresh, ripe, peaches (nectarines, apricots, etc.) yet still retain the fruitiness. If, of course, you'd want your sauce to be on the sweet side, you can add a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup. Now, that would be fantastic slathered on chicken and waffles, eh?

No real recipe. Just skin and cut up a couple three ripe peaches, put in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of water and cook over medium-low heat until the peaches are so soft that they fall apart. Add Nando's Peri-Peri sauce to taste, maybe some salt, brown sugar if you like. Whiz with a stick blender or put it in a food processor to get a smooth texture, then dollop on whatever you think needs peachy heat. Yum.

Nando's Peri-Peri sauces are available on Amazon.com.




* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Hot Stuff for Your Super Bowl Wings

According to a story in USA Today, Americans eat 1.35 BILLION chicken wings on Super Bowl weekend. And that insane number of hot chicken parts needs an insane amount of hot sauce to flavor them. If you're like me and prefer to make your wings at home rather than consume them at whatever purveyor of alcoholic beverages you plan to visit in order to watch the Big Game, you might be interested in a few of the hot sauces I've encountered recently. Unless of course you're a wimp and like your wings sans sauce. :)

First up is the Harissa Hot Sauce from Moore's Marinades & Sauces. While the sauce is hot and garlicky with a North African flair from harissa spices, it's not a radical change from a classic Buffalo wing flavor once you mix some up with a good dose of melted butter. In other words, celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing are still a perfect match for wings made with this sauce. But if you wanted to switch things up, you could make your dressing with feta cheese instead of bleu. And if you want to go a different direction entirely, swap out the chicken wings for lamb sliders and top them with a dose of Moore's Harissa hot sauce (and the feta cheese sauce, too). Yum.

Moore's also makes a Spicy Mustard hot sauce, and both Jalapeno and Habanero sauces, plus a whole line of ready-to-eat wing sauces and marinades. Find them at various supermarkets including Giant and Weis.

Then we have Marion's Kitchen Coconut Sriracha and Coconut Sweet Chili Sauces. The Coconut Sriracha is fiery, like regular sriracha, but with the added creaminess of coconut. Never fear, the coconut doesn't do anything to ease the heat--the sauce is still pretty damn spicy. The Coconut Sweet Chili is like the chili sauce dip that comes with spring rolls in a Thai restaurant, again with the addition of coconut. It's not nearly as hot as the sriracha, but it does have a kick. If you don't want to set your mouth on fire, you can blend the two. I want to say that the coconut gives it a sweet heat, but that's like saying a summer day in Arizona is more pleasant than a summer day in Baltimore. It may be a dry heat, but it's still HOT.

Marion's Kitchen also has a line of marinades, stir fry sauces, meal kits, and coconut milk, all starring Asian flavors like ginger, lemongrass, lime, and of course, chiles. I have the marinades at home, too, and will be experimenting with them in the future. I'll be sure to post the happy results here.

In Maryland, you can buy Marion's Kitchen products at Sprouts, Wegman's, and select Walmart stores. Check the store locator for details.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Tomato Salad with Spicy Miso Dressing

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on August 9, 2013.

After a week of restaurant food (literally, we ate at home only one night), we just wanted something simple for dinner. Macaroni and cheese seemed like the answer. And since our little raised-bed garden is churning out tomatoes like there's no tomorrow--just the way I like it!--we had a tomato salad on the side. The miso dressing was inspired by the spicy miso paste that accompanied a plate of assorted skewered tidbits at PABU, so one of those restaurant meals did end up following us home.

That ended up being a good thing. Miso and sriracha work really well with tomatoes.

Tomato Salad with Spicy Miso Dressing

1 tablespoon red miso
2 teaspoons Sriracha
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chopped chives
3-4 ripe tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Mix the miso, Sriracha, vinegar, honey, onion powder, and chives together in a small bowl. Taste for seasoning and adjust spice level, sweetness, and tang to your liking.

Cut the tomatoes into wedges, and the wedges into thirds. Place in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Add the dressing and toss gently to coat. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop.

Garnish with more chives, if desired.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Tomato Salad with Spicy Miso Dressing

After a week of restaurant food (literally, we ate at home only one night), we just wanted something simple for dinner. Macaroni and cheese seemed like the answer. And since our little raised-bed garden is churning out tomatoes like there's no tomorrow - just the way I like it! - we had a tomato salad on the side. The miso dressing was inspired by the spicy miso paste that accompanied a plate of assorted skewered tidbits at PABU, so one of those restaurant meals did end up following us home.

That ended up being a good thing. Miso and sriracha works really well with tomatoes.

Tomato Salad with Spicy Miso Dressing

1 tablespoon red miso
2 teaspoons Sriracha
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon agave syrup or honey
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chopped chives
3-4 ripe tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Mix the miso, Sriracha, vinegar, agave or  honey, onion powder, and chives together in a small bowl. Taste for seasoning and adjust spice level, sweetness, and tang to your liking.

Cut the tomatoes into wedges, and the wedges into thirds. Place in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Add the dressing and toss gently to coat. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop.

Garnish with more chives, if desired.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

The Secret to Moist Burgers

Continuing on the quest to lower triglyceride levels, Mr Minx and I picked up some ground chicken at the supermarket as a substitute for ground beef. I was in the mood for burgers. Maybe not chicken burgers, but hey, how bad could they be?

I wasn't going to find out.

A few days later, I came home from work to find Mr Minx had ground up some chia seeds with a mortar and pestle and was soaking them in water. His intention was to mix them with the ground chicken to add moisture to the burgers. And I, Miss Know-It-All, thought he was going about it the wrong way, that he should have merely added the dry seeds to the chicken. But I let him do his thing, first draining out the few drops of water that didn't get completely absorbed by the now-swollen particles of chia. As he combined the chicken and chia, he decided that the mixture was a bit too soft, so I sprinkled in about a tablespoon of dry bread crumbs.

The result? The moistest burgers I've ever eaten, seriously! with a hint of garlic/onion flavor. We ate them on whole grain bread with a bit of mayonnaise and some sautéed onions, and they were just terrific. So much so that I had to try them again the next week, this time using the dreaded ground turkey.

They turned out just as well.

I fancied them up a bit by doing a riff on Buffalo wings, adding hot sauce to the onions and some bleu cheese sauce on top. Oh, and served them on Thomas' 12 Grain English Muffins.

Moist Poultry Burgers, Buffalo-style

2 teaspoons chia seeds
1/4 cup water
2 lbs ground chicken or turkey
dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika
plain dry bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Grind the chia seeds to a powder with a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle. Soak the powder in the water for at least an hour. When ready to use, sieve the excess water from the seeds. Do not push on the seeds in the sieve - you only want to remove the excess, which may well be only a teaspoonful or so - it's important to keep the jelly-like consistency.

Mix the chia seeds with the ground chicken or turkey, making sure there are no obvious blobs of seeds. Season with smoked paprika and garlic and onion powders. If the mixture seems too moist, add some dry bread crumbs, a teaspoonful at a time. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Form 6 patties with the meat. Heat a saute pan and add 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil. Cook patties over medium heat about 10 minutes, turning once halfway through. Serve with spicy onions and bleu cheese dressing.

Spicy Onions

1/2 cup sliced onion
olive oil
salt
3 tablespoons Frank's Red Hot sauce

Saute onion in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt until soft and beginning to brown. Stir in hot sauce.
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You want proof of moistness? Check out the juicy droplets on my plate.

I dare say this technique would also work to add much-needed moisture to extra lean beef burgers, particularly for those folks (like my Dad) who insist on eating their meat well-done. And meatballs!

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.