How to Cut a Head of Cauliflower into Florets

We are all creatures of habit, don't you think?

Tom and I lived on a ten acre farm from 1996 to 2006. During that time, we raised ducks, chickens, sheep and cats. Each had their own little habits.

The ducks would start wandering away from the pond about 10:00am each morning, traveling up the right side of the lane to our circular driveway and make their way around the circle from right to left, never left to right. By late afternoon, they'd continue to meander down the right side of the lane back to the pond for the night.

We'd open the door to the chicken coop every morning and out they'd come, one by one, heading for the berry bushes, pecking at the insects in the grass. They'd scratch and peck at the ground around the berries from one end of each row to another all day long, occasionally making their way through the grass along side the driveway. But as soon as one of us made a move to head for the coop, they were off and running behind us, knowing it was time for the scratch we'd throw on the ground. Even on those days when we weren't home in time for the nightly ritual, we'd arrive to find them in coop waiting for their nightly scratch.

The sheep were equally rooted in their habitual behaviors. They were enclosed in a four acre pasture by a wood and wire fence. Every day they would graze all over the pasture, making their way randomly from one end to the other, always staying close to each other. Rarely did one stray from the flock to the opposite side of the pasture. By days end, they'd always be grazing at the end of the pasture furthest from their shelter and as the sun began to set, they would make their way back to the shelter one at a time, led by one of the rams, on a path they'd worn through the middle of the pasture. They always marched, single file, on that path.

We humans do things over and over almost exactly the same way, never thinking there might be an easier, more convenient or less time consuming method. Or at least I do.

Take cauliflower, for example. I would always cut off the leaves and stem, then, one by one, cut off each floret. A time consuming job at best. Then, a while back, I saw a chef break down a whole head of cauliflower into florets in about 2 minutes. Huh?? Why didn't I know this before?

So, here, just for you, I have a tutorial on the fastest and easiest way cut a head of cauliflower into florets.

You're welcome...

There you have it. In less than five minutes, you can break down a whole head of cauliflower into beautiful florets. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to buy frozen cauliflower florets ever again.

I cut mine into smaller pieces to make this Cauliflower Salad and steamed them for 7 minutes, no longer. For the larger florets, you would steam them about 9 minutes. That's even faster than your microwave!

Break a habit. Give this method a whirl.

Food Blogger Bake Sale

I've been back from my Nevada visit for a week, but I've been overwhelmed with catching up.

The accounting for Tom's business is now current. Our income taxes were submitted on time and paid. My Earthboxes are planted, as is my herb garden, and it's just a matter of time before the basil is tall enough to use in Lemon Basil Martinis.

Now it's time to plan and bake for the Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale which benefits No Kid Hungry.

Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance is the lead partner for all No Kid Hungry programming in Arkansas. Arkansas Women Bloggers (of which I'm a member) and the Arkansas Food Blogger Network are joining bloggers across the country on Saturday, May 4th to participate in the national Food Blogger Bake Sale benefiting the No Kid Hungry program of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending childhood hunger in America.

Our local event is 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at 7th and Main Streets in North Little Rock, adjacent to the Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market. All proceeds from the sale will go to No Kid Hungry.

The Arkansas event is chaired by Christie Ison of FancyPantsFoodie.com

Food bloggers will be joined by professional cooks and bakers such as Dempsey Bakery, Sweet Love and Gigi’s Cupcakes to provide yummy items for you to purchase. Items like cakes, cupcakes, cookies, breads, caramels and cake pops. You can see the full list HERE.

So please mark your calendars now and join us.

Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale and national Food Blogger Bake Sale, benefiting No Kid Hungry

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

7th and Main Streets, North Little Rock, adjacent to Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market

If you are unable to attend, please consider donating directly to Share Our Strength, Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale.

Roasted Buffalo Chicken Quarters

I am obsessed with all things Buffalo Chicken. I have a confession, though. I have come to this obsession late and over a very long period of time.

When I was growing up, we didn't have restaurants devoted to the lowly chicken wing. The buffalo wings weren't even invented until some time in the 1960's and a mass market buffalo wing sauce wasn't developed until the 1980's and by that time I was on a mission to engage in as many "gourmet" experiences as possible. Chicken wings? Are you serious? I was pretty uppity.

A few years later, I started to come back to reality and open up my food horizons to foods I'd rejected out of hand previously. I felt kinda stupid after all those years of telling my kids, "You don't have to eat that, but you have to at least taste it."

I don't remember how I even came to want to taste a buffalo chicken wing. I guess it was that I wanted to experience what everyone else loved! So, several years ago, I bought a bottle of buffalo wing sauce. I don't even remember the brand. I brought the bottle of sauce home and, after I put away the rest of the groceries, I opened the bottle and took a whiff. Ugh. It smelled awful! The combination of heat and vinegar hurt my nose and the thought of eating it with blue cheese was disgusting. I closed the bottle, put it in the refrigerator and threw it out several weeks later without even tasting it.

It wasn't until my oldest son served "hot wings" that I even considered eating a spicy chicken wing ever again. Mike's wings are delicious, but they aren't made with a Buffalo Wing Sauce. It's a recipe Mike adapted that doesn't contain any vinegar, only spices, butter and a little Tabasco. I've used his recipe for several years.

But, in 2009, I decided it was time to challenge my palate once again and prepare a hot buffalo chicken dip I found on another blog that used a bottled Buffalo Wing Sauce. I thought, "How bad can a simple dip be?" When I took it out of the oven, it looked delicious. Cheesy, bubbly goodness. I took one bite and threw the rest in the garbage. I thought it was awful. I felt doomed to never appreciate what my family and friends salivated over. When I look back on that recipe today, I know I would never make it. It wasn't the wing sauce that made it unpalatable, it was the 1-½ cups of blue cheese salad dressing that ruined it for me.

These past few years since the dip fiasco, I've started slowly inching my way to appreciate the ordinary Buffalo Wing Sauce. First by ordering Buffalo Wings from local restaurants, then bravely creating my own dishes like the Buffalo Chicken Nachos I made last month and these Roasted Buffalo Chicken Quarters.

Since the chicken quarters are quite a bit thicker and more dense than a chicken wing, I decided to marinate the chicken quarters overnight in a spicy concoction of vinegar and a few spices. About an hour before dinner, I remove the chicken quarters from the marinade and place them in a roasting pan...


Slather them with Buffalo Wing Sauce....


And roast them. It's that easy.


I served small dishes of good quality blue cheese dressing on the side for dipping.

Roasted Buffalo Chicken Quarters

2 to 4 chicken leg quarters (I use 2, but there's plenty of marinade for 4)

For The Marinade

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 1½ teaspoons pepper
• 1 tablespoon Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce

Bottled Buffalo Wing Sauce (I use Frank's or Louisiana Brand)

The night before, make the marinade by combining the vinegar, oil, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and Louisiana Hot Sauce. Mix well and set aside. Place the chicken quarters in a gallon sized zip lock bag and pour the marinade into the bag. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible, and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, turn the bag over and return to the refrigerator.

When you are ready to prepare dinner, preheat oven to 350° and prepare a baking pan by spraying with cooking spray. If you are preparing 2 chicken quarters, you can use an 8x8-inch baking pan; if preparing 4 quarters, use a 9x13-inch baking pan. Remove the chicken quarters from the marinade and place in prepared baking pan. Drizzle the chicken quarters generously with the bottled Buffalo Wing Sauce.

Bake for 1 hour until internal temperature reaches 165°. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Potato Chip Cookies

Several weeks ago, during a conversation with friends, someone mentioned how much she like Potato Chip Cookies. I think I've been under a rock for a while because I'd never heard of them. Intrigued by the flavor combination, I asked my friend for the recipe and when she gave it to me early last week I was anxious to make a batch. I posted my planned baking experiment on Facebook and my daughter-in-law responded that she made some Potato Chip Cookies the week before and they were delicious. I was encouraged.

However, the ratio and the ingredients in the recipe I was given seemed a little odd; equal parts sugar and flour and a cup of oil. I don't think I'd ever made a cookie with oil. Butter or margarine, yes, but not oil and I thought it might make the dough a little greasy. But I persevered.

Once mixed together, the dough was something between a cookie dough and a cake batter. I let the dough sit as instructed in the recipe, but it didn't help. In addition, the dough WAS greasy and it started to spread a little even as I dropped the cookies on the baking sheet and when they were done and I took them out of the oven, they had spread out so much that it was almost one solid mass. I had to cut most of them apart from each other with the spatula as I lifted them from the baking sheet to a wire rack covered with paper towels. And when I lifted them off the rack to a plate after they had cooled, the paper towel was soaked with oil. Ick. This is what they looked like when they were done...


The cookies tasted greasy, too, and they had an off flavor, sort of like sweet, salty, oily flour. Epic fail.

I hit the web looking for photos of Potato Chip Cookies and none of them looked like mine. None of the photos looked like the cookies I just pulled from the oven, and none of the recipes called for oil instead of butter or margarine. Besides, my daughter-in-law has a really good palate and she wouldn't like a cookie that tasted as bad as mine. So, I pulled about a half a dozen recipes off the web and combined the best parts of them and finally produced a delicious cookie. And they even received rave reviews from the girls next door, ages 8 to 15. This is what they raved about...


Sweet, salty, nutty, buttery, tender, delicious. Exactly what I initially thought they'd taste like.

I used two sticks of butter and only 1/2 cup of sugar and beat them together until they were light and fluffy, then mixed in some vanilla, just a touch of salt, some chopped pecans, potato chips and flour and mixed everything together until it was combined. I used a small ice cream scoop that holds about a tablespoon of cookie dough, rolled each scoop into a ball and rolled each ball into more crushed potato chips before I put them on my baking sheet (I use a SilPat, but you can use a baking sheet lightly prepared with cooking spray) about 1½-inches apart. I used a flat metal spatula to slightly flatten the balls of cookie dough, then sprinkled them lightly with sugar (but next time I will use turbinado sugar instead plain granulated sugar because the granules are bigger and hold up really well during baking) and they were ready to go into a 350° oven.


Most recipes called for baking times of 15 to 18 minutes. My cookies took 17 minutes. They were perfect, just a little golden around the edges.


I have shredded the nasty, oily recipe and will use this one from now on.

Potato Chip Cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature (if you use salted butter, omit the 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt)
• ½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons sugar (the 2 tablespoons is for sprinkling on the cookies before baking)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups finely crushed potato chips (1½ cups for the cookie dough and ½ cup for rolling)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare two baking sheets by lining with a SilPat, parchment paper or spraying lightly with cooking spray.

Crush the potato chips in a plastic bag using a rolling pin until they are fairly fine crumbs to measure 2 cups. Reserve ½ cup on a small plate and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and ½ cup sugar until it's light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and kosher salt (if using unsalted butter). Mix in the pecans, 1½ cups crushed potato chips and flour until just combined.

Put the 2 tablespoons of sugar in a small dish and set aside with the reserved crushed potato chips.

Using a tablespoon or small 1½-inch ice cream scoop to measure out the dough, roll each spoonful into a ball then roll in the crushed potato chips. Place onto your prepared baking sheet about 1½-inches apart and flatten slightly with a flat metal spatula. Using your fingers, sprinkle the tops of the cookies lightly with sugar.

Bake about 15 to 18 minutes until the edges are lightly golden brown. When done, transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes 26 to 30 cookies, depending on size.

Asian Chicken Wings

I made these on a lazy Saturday evening. It was one of those days when I forgot to take meat out of the freezer to thaw in time to make dinner. Dang! Plus I didn't really feel like cooking. But all the suggestions Tom made for take-out or delivery met with a blank, unenthusiastic stare and a barely audible "meh." Pizza? Meh. Chinese? Meh. Burgers? Meh.

I went out to the extra freezer we have in the garage to look for something quick and easy. We keep it stocked with a few frozen snacks for just these occasions. Taquitos? Meh. Egg Rolls? Meh. Tequila Lime Wings? Meh. I was sort of feeling like something Asian. Egg Rolls, maybe, but what else? Should I whip up some noodles and veggies, too? What to do, what to do. So, I just went back in to the kitchen, poured myself a glass of wine, took a sip and thought for a minute. Hmmmm.

Those frozen Tequila Lime Wings are pretty nondescript.


They're preseasoned, precooked, then frozen and ready to just pop in the oven for about 20 or 30 minutes. The flavor is a little on the peppery side with barely a hint of lime and without any discernible tequila flavor. They really require a flavorful dipping sauce to finish them off. But faux Mexican didn't sound appetizing. So I decided to transform them into Asian Chicken Wings.

I put together an Asian inspired glaze with hoisin, soy and Thai sweet chili sauces, ketchup, sugar, ginger, garlic and sherry. I doused the frozen chicken wings in the mixture and baked them for about 10 minutes longer than instructed. It worked! The glaze was sticky and on the sweet side. We couldn't tell the wings started out as Tequila Lime anything.


I didn't use all the glaze. I put a cup of it in a small pan and kept it warm while the wings baked. The first time we made these, I took the wings out of the oven and tossed them in a large bowl with the remaining sauce before serving. When we made them last night, I served the remaining sauce on the side for dipping. Either way, they are pretty darn good and incredibly easy. No marinating. No frying. Just douse, mix and bake. With an egg roll on the side, which baked in the oven with the wings on a separate baking sheet, it was plenty for a meal or awesome as an appetizer.


Asian Chicken Wings

• 25 to 30 Frozen, precooked Tyson Tequila Lime Wings (we buy the 64-ounce bag and use about half of it, but Tyson makes a 28-ounce bag, too)
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 rounded tablespoon fresh grated ginger
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• Sesame seeds and 2 or 3 green onions thinly sliced for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and spray very generously with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, Thai sweet chili sauce, sherry, brown sugar, ginger and garlic and mix well. Remove about a cup of the sauce and set aside.

Place the frozen wings in a large bowl, pour the remaining sauce over the wings and mix well until all of the wings are evenly coated. Spread the wings on the baking sheet in a single layer. Place the wings in the preheated oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes until they appear to be nicely glazed.

While the wings are baking, transfer the reserved sauce to a small saucepan and keep warm over low heat until the wings are done.

Transfer the cooked wings to a serving platter and sprinkle lightly with sesame seeds and green onions and serve the remaining sauce on the side.