Can I get fries with that?

Okay. Here's what I've learned this week.

A) Don't ever blog about how you hope your kids don't catch the flu that's been going around. You WILL have puking kids within a day.

B) Food is yummier when you have good friends to share it with.

C) Puppies are still cute even when they poop on the floor.

To be honest I haven't done much cooking with Tyler to talk about. The other night we were being lazy, too lazy to even go get take out, so I decided to try some macaroni and cheese.

The Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese with Peas and Bacon
page 176 of Tyler's Ultimate
I have always loved Mac and Cheese. It is seriously the ultimate comfort food. There is nothing better than Grandma's Macaroni and after making Tyler's version I think Grandma's is still better. Don't get me wrong, Tyler's is a very close second.

When you make this you mix the mac and cheese together (with a good dose of cream and butter, naturally) and throw it in the oven. This dish has 5 1/2 cups of cheese. That's right. 5 1/2 cups. Wow. This is not your low-cal dinner by any means. Anyway, while it's in the oven, you need to fry up the bacon with some fresh thyme and add the peas. When it's done you pile the peas/bacon on top and dig in. Tyler describes the flavor of the peas/bacon as "smokey" and I think he hit it on the head. This particular mac and cheese took comfort food to a whole new level. Plus with the layer of peas I didn't feel as bad eating all the bacon and cheese and noodles. Add veggies to anything and it becomes healthy, right? I also found it funny when I was reading in another of Tyler's books he said, "this isn't a diet book, it's a cookbook." No false advertising here.

Last week we invited our good friends the Harris' over for dinner. Here's what we had:

Scallop Saltimbocca
page 62 of Tyler's Ultimate
They are basically bacon wrapped scallops with apples. I'm sorry but I don't have a picture of these scallops. When I turned around to take a picture they were gone! I'll take that as a good sign. You know, I'm not really a fan of scallops but these were really good. It kept the hungry mob busy while we were making the rest of the food.

The Ultimate Burger with fixin's from The Burger Bar
pages 94-97 of Tyler's Ultimate
If you want a really good burger, try adding new things on top of it. My idea of an amazing burger is to add mushrooms. You can't go wrong with mushrooms. The sides we added included Sauteed Mushrooms, Carmelized Onions, Tomatoes with Olive oil and chives, and Bacon with Rosemary. We also added Swiss Cheese to the burgers while they were cooking. Mmmmmmm. Nothing beats a good burger. The kids all loved these burgers too which is always a bonus.

Tolan's Mom's Potato Salad
page 190 of Tyler's Ultimate
My friend Kim made the potato salad while I was making the burger sides. Way to go Kimberly! I think you're hired! Here on the farm, I think we're potato salad snobs. Ryan's mom makes the best potato salad so it's hard to try new versions. This one was pretty good. I'm probably not going to make it the new family standard but it was a nice change. It had capers in it. If you've never had capers, try them. They look like pickled peas. It just added a different tang. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was boiling the potatoes whole in the skin. It does add a different flavor to the potatoes but it was just too hard to tell if they were cooked all the way through (which they weren't). Not to mention how long it takes for a pot of whole potatoes in the skin to boil. Here's what Dinner with the Harris' looked like and I'm going to apologize in advance for the sideways picture. I tried everything to turn it around and it just isn't working. Don't judge me, just turn your head sideways.


Yummy! I'm still playing it pretty safe in choosing the recipes I'm using. I haven't braved into he seafood section yet. I'm still trying to talk myself into it. Kind of like on Pee Wee's Big Adventure when the pet shop is on fire and he keeps walking past the snakes with the stink face on. He knows he's going to have to go there eventually, but he makes sure all the safe things are out of the way before saving the snakes. That's how I feel about the crabs. I keep flipping through those pages with a stink face but eventually I'm going to HAVE to make it. I'm not brave enough yet, but soon.....