Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Cookies are a wonderful desert. They are typically easy to make and convenient to take with you to picnics on beautiful spring days. I decided to try my hand at making Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Crackle Cookies. I have never made a Martha Stewart recipe before. I know that seems odd since so many people rave about her recipes. Plus she is considered the leading expert on anything domestic here in the United States. I guess I always venturing off into my own random culinary paths.


After making this recipe, I am definitely going to have to try some more Martha Stewart recipes. The cookies were soft, moist, chewy, and chocolaty. Perfect. Dr. Lazy Palate loved them as well. This wonderful recipe is quoted exactly from Martha Stewart's website.

Ingredients

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups light-brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for rolling

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Chop bittersweet chocolate into small bits, and melt over medium heat in a heat-proof bowl or the top of a double boiler set over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

2. In the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and light-brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add melted chocolate. With mixer on low speed, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk until just combined. Divide the dough into quarters, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours.

3. On a clean countertop, roll each portion of dough into a log approximately 16 inches long and 1 inch in diameter, using confectioners’ sugar to prevent sticking. Wrap logs in plastic wrap, and transfer to a baking sheet. Chill for 30 minutes. Cut each log into 1-inch pieces, and toss in confectioners’ sugar, a few at a time. Using your hands, roll the pieces into a ball shape. If any of the cocoa-colored dough is visible, roll dough in confectioners’ sugar again to coat completely. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake until cookies have flattened and the sugar splits, 12 to15 minutes.

4. Transfer from oven to a wire rack to let cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Lambropsomo and Tsoureki: 1 bread two different ways

Lambropsomo:

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I love breads with a hint of sweetness but not crazy sweet like eating a can of frosting. These two Greek Easter breads fit the bill perfectly, slightly sweet with a hint of lemon. Furthermore, the bread was moist, light, and chewy. The colored eggs give a nice festive flare to the bread. The basic dough is easy to make and can formed in two different ways to make Lambropsomo or Tsoureki. Lambropsomo is shaped like traditional round bread with 5 scarlet colored eggs placed on top while Tsoureki is braided into a wreath with 5 scarlet eggs placed on top as well. The scarlet eggs are supposed to represent the blood of Christ or new life in Spring time.

Tsoureki:

Even Dr. Lazy Palate thought the bread was good. He said it is not something that he would eat every day, but it is good every now and then. I consider this a moderate success in my quest to train his lazy palate since he is generally not a fan of anything outside of white bread.

The recipe I made was from the book, Bread Baking by Lou Seibert Pappas. I copied the recipe exactly from the book for this recipe. The only change I made was to use half the dough for a small Lambropsomo loaf and the other half for a Tsoureki loaf. The directions below make 1 large Lamropsomo loaf.

Ingredients

5 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

½ tsp salt

2 pkg active dry yeast

1 cup milk

½ cup butter

1 tbs grated lemon peel

½ tsp anise extract

4 eggs

5 hard cooked eggs, dyed scarlet

Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a mixing bowl. Heat milk and butter to about 125 degrees. Pour over dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Add lemon peel, anise extract and eggs, one at a time. Beat well. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead lightly. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in size. Punch down. Turn out on a floured board and knead lightly. Ct off 1/6 of the dough to use for decoration. Shape remaining dough into a large round loaf, about 10 inches in diameter. Place on a greased baking sheet. Place 1 dyed egg in the center of the dough. Lay the other four around the edge, forming tips of the cross. Roll remaining dough into pencil-thin strips. Place a cross on top of each egg with the strips, pressing the end of the strips into the bread to secure the eggs. Cover and let rise until double in size. Brush with slightly beaten egg white. Bake in a 325 degree F oven 50 to 55 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when thumped. Serve hot or let cool on a wire rack. Makes 1 large loaf.

Note: You can cut the dough in half to make 2 medium sized loafs.

To make Tsoureki, follow recipe for Lamropsomo. To shape, divide dough in half. Then divide each half into 3 pieces. Roll into strands, about 24 inches long. Braid 3 strands and form into a wreath. Repeat with remaining 3 strands. Place bread in equal spaces around each wreath. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Brush the dough with slightly beaten egg white. Bake in 350 degree oven 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 2 bread twists.

Posted on Easter Blog Hop

Simple Rosemary Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots

Whole chickens are both economical and beautiful on the dinner table. We generally make whole chickens once a week. We save the bones and pan dripping s to make chicken stock. Dr. Lazy Palate loves his simple rosemary chicken. You can dress this chicken up with any vegetables that you like. We usually make it with carrots and potatoes. The key to make this chicken moist and delicious is to keep it covered when baking. We make it in a Dutch oven, but you can make it in a glass pan covered with aluminum foil or in an oven bag.

Ingredients

1 pound baby carrots

4 potatoes, diced

Whole 4-5 pound chicken

1 cup dry white wine

3 tbsp dry rosemary or 3 fresh rosemary sprigs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place chicken, potatoes, and carrots in a Dutch oven. Pour the wine on top of the chicken and vegetables. Add the rosemary on top of the chicken and the vegetables.

3. Bake the chicken for 30 minutes per pound or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees F.

Traditional Layered French Croissants

I was randomly searching allrecipes one day for some inspiration when I came across a recipe for traditional layered French croissants. I was in love. Since moving to a small town in the Midwest I have not found a great place to buy croissants. I had to try this amazing recipe posted by moeagaru. This person wrote great instructions for this complicated delicacy. The only thing that was missing from these phenomenal directions is diagrams. I have strayed from my usual pattern of modifying recipes. This time I followed the directions exactly as posted. I give this person tons of props for writing a great recipe. All I have done is add some diagrams to help people visualize the directions better.


These croissants taste super buttery. Dr. Lazy Palate liked them as well (remember his favorite “spice” is butter so it is not surprise that he liked the recipe.) I have been eating these croissants with soup during lunch time. They heat up surprisingly well in the microwave. I just pop them in the microwave on 60% power for 30 seconds and they come out great. If you are looking for a great croissant recipe and you don’t mind making this project a labor of love, then this is great for you. I really enjoyed making these wonderful treats.  These croissants would go wonderfully with a Christmas dinner or a romantic evening. Without further ado, here is the exact recipe from moeagaru and my diagrams to match:

Ingredients

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over the butter and mix it together with your hands in a mixing bowl or on a work surface. Transfer the butter to a length of foil or parchment paper and pat it into a 6 inch square. Fold up the foil to make a packet and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.

2. Combine 2 cups of the flour with the salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water (100 degrees F/38 degrees C) and set aside until frothy, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, warm the milk and the heavy cream to lukewarm. Add the yeast, milk, and cream to the flour mixture and stir well. The dough will have a batter-like consistency.

3. Stir in the remaining 2 cups of flour 1/4 cup at a time to form a soft dough. It should no longer be sticky. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

4. To begin the rolling and folding process, both the butter and the dough should be at a cool room temperature. [See Cook's Note.] Place the dough on a floured surface and roll it into a 10-inch square. Set the block of butter diagonally on the square dough. Bring each point of dough to the center of the butter square; the edges of the dough should overlap. Pinch the edges together to seal.

5. Starting from the center of the square and working outward, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a rectangle. The butter should be pliable enough to roll smoothly with the dough; if it's too soft and starts to ooze out the corners, wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate before proceeding. Roll the dough into a long rectangle, approximately 8 by 18 inches. Fold the length of dough into thirds, like a business letter.

6. If the dough is still cool, you can continue with another fold. Otherwise, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up for about 10 minutes before you begin rolling it out again.

7. Position the dough so that the open ends are at 12 and 6 o'clock. Roll the dough into a rectangle, working from the center of the dough and pressing outwards. Reposition the dough as necessary to fit your work space. You should have a long rectangle for the "book fold." Fold both ends of the dough into the middle; the ends don't have to be touching, but should be close. Fold the already-folded dough in half; it will look like a thick book. Wrap the dough well with plastic and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

8. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Roll the dough into a rectangle again and fold it into thirds, like a business letter. Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for 4-6 hours or overnight.

9. To shape the croissants, roll the dough into a 10- by 38-inch rectangle on a lightly floured work surface. It should be about 1/4 inch thick. Use a pizza wheel or sharp paring knife to trim the edges of the dough. Divide the rectangle in half so that you have two 5-inch wide strips of dough. Use a clean yardstick to mark each strip into triangles that are 5 inches wide at their bases. Cut the triangles and place them onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill for 15 to 20 minutes, if necessary.

10. Starting at the base of the triangle, roll the dough up into a log; the tip of the triangle should be under the body of the croissant to prevent it from unraveling. Bend in the corners to form the traditional crescent shape. Repeat with the remaining dough.

11. Arrange the croissants on the parchment-lined baking sheets and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.

12. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Beat the egg with the tablespoon of water to make the egg wash. Brush the croissants with egg wash and bake in the preheated oven until deep brown, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool on a rack before serving.

Footnotes


Cook's Note

The key to rolling out the butter and dough layers is to have them both at the same temperature when you begin. The butter should be bendable but not greasy; if it's too cold, it will be prone to cracking. Tip: take the butter square out of the refrigerator about an hour before you start laminating.

Posted on Ingredient spotlight: butter

Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup

Sweet Potatoes are one of my favorite vegetables. I love their sweet flavor and beautiful color. When I found Woman with a Whisk’s blog, I was excited to try her Sweet Potato and Carrot soup. The beautiful orange color of the soup called out to me. It looked like a delicious lunch time soup. Plus it turned out to be easy to make.


I decided to use more sweet potatoes and fewer carrots because I only had a ½ pound of carrots on hand. Also, I added a teaspoon of medium sweet soy sauce to give the soup more flavor. The soy sauce added a hint of sweetness to the soup and a bit more depth to this basic soup. If you decide to add soy sauce to your soup, then use a good quality thick medium sweet soy sauce and not a salty thin soy sauce that you find at Chinese food restaurants. You can find a medium sweet soy sauce at an Asian market or at some grocery stores in the international food section.

For Dr. Lazy Palate, he said, “it was not as bad as thought it was going to be, but it is still like eating a vegetable garden.” Bummer. I was hoping that the ginger and soy sauce would entice his chlorophyll hating palate.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and diced

4 cups of vegetable broth

2.5 lbs of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed into .5 inch pieces

.5 lbs of carrots, peeled and cut into .5 inch pieces

1 tsp of medium sweet soy sauce

Directions

1. Cook the onion in the olive oil on medium high heat until the onion becomes transparent.

2. Cook the ginger in the olive oil pan for 1 minute or until the ginger becomes slightly browned.

3. Bring the vegetable stock to a boil and add the sweet potatoes, carrots, ginger, and onion. Reduce the heat to make the soup simmer for 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes and carrots are tender.

4. Remove the soup from the heat and puree the soup.

5. Add the soy sauce to the soup and serve warm.

Swedish Angel Crisps

In honor of our friends from Sweden, I decided to make these yummy Swedish cookies posted by Barbra Morgan on allrecipes.com. I did modify the recipe slightly to use up ingredients that I had around my house. Plus, as an added bonus, I used some almond pulp that I had lying around from a failed experiment in making almond milk. These cookies were nice and crispy. Unfortunately, the cookies do not make a nice round shape easily so they do not work well as show cookies, but they taste great.


As for Dr. Lazy Palate, he swore that he would hate these cookies because they did not have chocolate in them. He thought they would be boring. However, his hypothesis proved to be false! He loved the cookies and I have the go ahead to make them again.

Ingredients (makes 4 dozen cookies)

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp of cream of tartar

½ cup finely chopped almonds or almond pulp

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a cookie sheet.

2. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and stir until smooth. Then add the egg and vanilla extract while stirring. Next, slowly add the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and almonds while stirring constantly.

3. Mold the dough into 1 inch sized balls and place about 1 inch apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Braised English Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

Dr. Lazy Palate loves meat especially red meat. However, a nice cut of NY strip is generally out of our price range. We generally buy cheaper cuts of meat when it goes on sale. We were able to a get an English roast for under $2.00 a pound at our local grocery store a few weeks ago, so we actually had some red meat for dinner.


I decided to braise the meat to bring out the juiciness of the meat. I started by slicing the roast into 2 inch thick slices and searing it on high heat for a few minutes in Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Then, I transferred the seared meat to a Dutch oven where I seasoned the meat and added some beef broth and veggies. You can modify the recipe by adding any vegetables that you would like.

What was Dr. Lazy Palate’s reaction? I quote, “it tastes just like steak! I love it!” Victory! It is a hearty meat and potatoes meal that we both agree on. The best part is that it contains ginger, something Dr. Lazy Palate swears that he hates. He did not even notice that it was in the dish. The meat even has garlic it. Again there were no complaints about the garlic. The meat was tender and juicy. The carrots were amazing! The carrots and potatoes had a wonderful meaty flavor. I could eat those carrots a couple of times a week. The best part is that the meal is easy to make. The oven does most of the work.

Ingredients

2 pound English roast

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup beef broth

½ onion, chopped finely

1 garlic clove, chopped finely

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground oregano

2 tsp ground ginger

1 pound baby carrots

4 large potatoes, cubed with skins on

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Place the roast in the freezer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take the meat out of the freezer and slice it into 2 inch thick slices. The meat should be easy to cut once it is hardened a bit in the freezer.

3. Sear the meat in a pan containing the olive oil on high heat. Don’t worry if the middle does not cook all the way. You only want to brown the meat on the outside. Place the seared meat in the Dutch oven and set aside.

4. Add the onions to the hot pan. Cook the onions until they are transparent. Cook the garlic on the high heat for 30 seconds. Place both the onions and garlic on top of the meat in the Dutch oven.

5. Sprinkle the nutmeg, ginger, and oregano on the meat.

6. Add the beef broth, carrots, and potatoes to the Dutch oven.

7. Place the Dutch oven in the oven with the lid on. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Serve warm.

Posted on This Week's Cravings

Easter Hot Cross Buns

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I love a lot of European sweet breads because they are not too sweet. I think that we make things too sweet here in the US. This easy recipe that I adapted is by Silvana Franco. Hot cross buns are traditionally served in England around holiday times in particular around Easter. They contain little fruit pieces inside to add sweetness to the bread. This recipe uses dried cranberries and green grapes to add a wonderful sweetness and a little tartness.

Better yet, Dr. Lazy Palate actually likes these buns!!! Finally, I found a bread recipe that was not too sweet that he actually likes. Generally, Dr. Lazy Palate hates grapes, but he actually likes the grapes in this recipe. In fact, he has been eating these buns for breakfast every morning. Success at last! I also love these buns. They are not too sweet and the fruit adds complexity to otherwise simple bread. The buns also smell great in the oven.

Ingredients (makes 12 buns and takes 2 hours to make)

4 cups flour

1.75 tsp of yeast

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 zest of lemon

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup green grapes

1 cup low fat milk, warm

1 egg, beaten

3.5 tsp butter

2 tbsp butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, fruit, and lemon zest. Then, add the milk, egg, and butter. Stir until the dough becomes soft. Knead the dough for 5 minutes of a lightly floured surface. Place dough back in the bowl and cover with a damp towel. Put the bowl of dough in a warm location for 1 hour.

2. Cut the dough into 12 pieces and form round balls with each piece. Place the balls on a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Take a knife and carve a cross on top of each bun. Cover the buns with a damp towel again and let rest for 30 minutes in a warm location.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the buns for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Brush the buns with honey as soon as they come out of the oven. Serve warm.


Posted on Delectable Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday, Tuesday at the table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Show me how, Hearth and Soul,From Scratch Tuesday, Let's Do Brunch, Easter party link up,  Easter Blog Hop

Spinach Hummus

I love the hummus, but I hate the price tag of premade hummus. I also like to sneak extra vegetables into my diet. This recipe for spinach hummus that I developed fits the bill perfectly. The beans provide lots of protein and the spinach provides a nice injection of vitamins and a beautiful green color. I used tahini in this recipe. Tahini is a sesame seed paste that adds a wonderful nutty flavor to the hummus. Tahini can be found in the international section of the grocery store or on-line.

The only downside to this recipe is that Dr. Lazy Palate didn’t like it. Dr. Lazy Palate did not like the garlic in the recipe. I liked the garlic in the recipe and did not find it too over powering. Additionally, Dr. Lazy Palate made the comment that he felt that hummus was too complex for his palate. I think it is the complexity of flavors in hummus that I like.

The upside is that I have a great hummus to eat for lunch this week. The downside is that this recipe was a clashed household fail. It looks like Dr. Lazy Palate and I will not be enjoying pita bread and hummus together anytime soon.

Ingredients

15 ounces caned garbanzo beans, drained

1 cup spinach

3 tablespoons tahini

1 clove of garlic, minced

Juice from 1 lemon

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients and blend.

2. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Serve chilled with pita bread.

Dr. Lazy Palate

Thank you for voting on my other half's blog name!  He will from now on be refered to as Dr. Lazy Palate.  For each of my recipes, I will be giving a star rating to the recipe along with Dr. Lazy Palate.  One is the lowest and five is the highest. 

Mini Santa Maria Chicken Empanadas

I love tapas! The first time I took the Lazy Palate to a tapas restaurant, we were in Alexandria, VA. We had just had French food the day before and his comment when I wanted to eat Spanish food was, “are you trying to kill me? I can’t handle all this new food!” We went in the little restaurant and had 3 different sea food tapas, and they were amazing. For me, I looked at the dishes and said, “I can make this myself.” That started my quest for great tapas recipes. The Lazy Palate still hasn’t caught the tapas bug, but I am predetermined to find a tapas recipe that he likes.

I found a great recipe for the filling portion of empanadas from The F Word, one of Chef Ramsey’s TV shows. If you have not seen The F Word, I highly recommend the show. It show cases Chef Ramsey’s culinary talent more than Kitchen Nightmares. The show is faced paced, so if you want to try one of their recipes then you have to visit the TV show’s web-site. I adapted the filling for the empanadas below from this recipe. For the dough, I used a simple recipe that I normally use for fried dough. I do not know the original source of the fried dough recipe because I obtained it long ago.

I loved this recipe and give it 5 stars. I found the empanadas to be flavorful. I love the way all the different peppers blended together with the chicken. The tomato paste makes the filling feel like a unified solution instead of just a bunch of random ingredients stuffed in a dough ball. However, the Lazy Palate on the other hand did not care for the recipe. He loved the dough, but he did not care for all peppers inside the empanada. He gives this recipe 2 stars.

Without further ado, here is my version of Mini Santa Maria Chicken Empanadas.

Mini Santa Maria Chicken Empanadas (makes 40 three inch empanadas)

Ingredients for the dough

3 cups of all purpose flour plus two tablespoons

1 tsp of salt

3 tbsp of melted unsalted butter

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 tsp white vinegar

½ cup cold water


Ingredients for the filling

1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced


2 cups of fully cooked shredded chicken breast

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 tsp of chili powder

1 tsp of paprika

1 serrano pepper, diced (you can substitute any pepper that you like)

6 ounces of tomato paste

2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

2 tbsp of green olives, pitted and chopped

2 cups of frying oil such as peanut of canola oil


Directions for making the dough (makes 40 three inch empanada shells)

1. In a medium sized bowl, beat the butter, eggs, vinegar, salt, and water.

2. In a large bowl add the 3 cups of flour. Then, slowly add the above mixture of liquid ingredients to the flour while stirring. Continue stirring until the dough becomes stiff. You may need to use an electric mixer to stir the dough as it gets stiffer.

3. Take the 1 tbsp of flour and lightly flour a flat surface. Take the dough and knead the dough on the floured surface for 2 minutes. If you find your dough too stiff, then add a little water. If you find your dough too loose, then add a little more flour.

4. Lightly dust a rolling pin with the remaining 1 tbsp of flour. Roll the dough into a very thin pancake.

5. Cut out 3 inch circles out of the dough. Reroll the remaining left over dough and cut out more 3 inch circles. Repeat the process until all the dough is used up.



Directions for making the empanadas

1. Fry the onions in a hot pan with the olive oil. After the onions are transparent turn down the heat to low and add the chicken, peppers, chili powder, and paprika. Cook for about 10 minutes.

2. Add the tomato paste to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Take the filling off of the heat and let it cool until you can easily touch the filling without burning yourself. Add the egg and olives to the cooled mixture.

4. On your floured surface, put a quarter sized ball of filling on the middle of a dough circle. Fold the dough circle in half with the filling in the middle. Lightly press the edges of the empanada together. Repeat until all the empanadas are filled and shaped.

5. Deep fry the empanadas in the frying oil until golden brown. Let the empanadas cool slightly and serve warm.

Posted on Ingredient Spotlight.

Training a Lazy Palate

I describe my food and wine palate as moderate to complex. I love fresh herbs and spices. I love trying new foods. I can distinguish different flavors in a dish, and I can appreciate how they blend together in a dish. My other half, on the other hand, has a lazy palate. He grew up around the Amish, so his definition of a “spice” is butter. When I first met him, he would not touch anything with garlic, anything that was spicy, and anything that did not have a huge slab of meat in it. In fact, he is convinced he is allergic to chlorophyll. This means that he eats no vegetables except for corn and peas.


By profession, my other half is a Bioanalytical Chemist also known as an Anal Chemist. This means that he is super picky about everything. He is meticulous. He knows exactly what he likes. Now I, Miss Nirvana, love to experiment. I also have a science background so for me cooking is a creative outlet. I love food chemistry and experimenting with different flavor combinations and cooking techniques. For me, cooking allows me to travel the world right in my own kitchen.

At this point, you are probably wondering how in the world I cook dinner every night if I love the exotic and my other half loves the simple. Well, I am predetermined to train his lazy palate and to make him a more sophisticated foodie especially since his career has taken him around the world, and he is expected to eat local foods that seem exotic to him. My goal for the food posts in my blog is to help expand people’s palates. I want my readers to try one new dish a month. You might hate some of the recipes in this blog. You might find some that you love. The point is to explore. I encourage you to try a random dish or desert and leave me feedback.

From here on out every dish will have a Miss Nirvana rating and Lazy Palate rating on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being the best). This will help readers determine what dishes are good for them to explore. Perhaps you live in a palate clashed household as well. Hopefully, together we will all discover some new and exciting dishes.

Finally, I need my readers to vote on Lazy Palate’s blog name. I once met an author, who had a Ph.D., but he did not put Ph.D. behind his name on his books nor did he go by “doctor” because his publishing company did a market study and determined that putting the Ph.D. behind his name gave the perception that he was preaching to people in his books when in reality he was just trying to entertain. Now Lazy Palate has a Ph.D. and in some situations he goes by “doctor” and in other situations he does not. I don’t want his blog name to seem “preachy” because food is a personal experience. Not everyone is going to agree with our opinions on food. However I do love the irony that a well traveled doctor has a lazy palate. So now I call upon my readers to pick his blog name. Please fill out the poll on the right and pick his blog name. The poll will close on midnight on Friday Eastern Standard Time.