Taste of Bowling Green

Wow... 

     That one word sums up the entire event! 

                                                            Wow.... 

It was amazing! I cannot believe that I have never attended that before! I can promise that I won't miss out on it again! At $ 35 a pop, the tickets were totally under-priced (but shhhh... don't tell them that!.) There was sooooo much food! Oh, and wine... all the wine! It seemed like every time I would get a new plate of food the people at the next table would be trying to fill my glass with something new! The bad news is that in my excitement, I walked right out the door without my camera; So did my mom! I've scoured the internet for pictures, but I haven't found much! Here is a rundown of how the evening went!

We got there a little early. While we waited for the doors to open we took a look at the items in the silent auction. There was a little of everything, from spa gift cards to signed WKU basketballs. After standing in line, smelling all the aromas of what was to come, they let us in! This is when I wished I had brought my camera. The decorations were very elegant. They took balloons and made them into mini hot air balloons, which were over each reserved table. Then each vendor decorated their own booths.

They started out by giving you a program and a wine glass (which you wasn't allowed to keep *sad face* .) You are then set on the path to food fulfillment! We soon realized that the direction they pointed us was not the direction everyone was traveling, but it was the direction of wine! I ended up with a glass of Little Black Dress Cabernet Sauvignon. It was very good. My mom kept calling me a lush, because every time we came to a booth that had wine I tried some. In my defense, I am not a wine person, but I wish I was! I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out some new ones! Try I did.

I won't take you through the whole event, as I'm sure it would not be as fun to read as it was to experience. Here are a few favorites of the night, and a few of my not so favorites!

• Southern Foods had an amazing veggie table that was scrumptious! 
• Red Lobster was one of my favorites with their Shrimp Bruschetta. 
• At one of the liquor booths I got to try the new Kraken Black Spiced Rum! It was some of the smoothest rum I've ever drank... try it.... immediately! 

• Brickyard had a pretty good tiramisu, but it still doesn't compare to Verdi's! 
• Four Roses Distillery was there with three different bottles of whiskey/bourbon you could try. I tried the single barrel and it just wasn't for me, but on an up note, I did get to keep the glass!  

• Sysco surprised me by having a lot of green-friendly info at their booth. They have recently started getting all local meats!
• Chuck's Liquor was there with the best wine of the evening! It was Kentucky Orchard Wine's Strawberry! It was awesome. 
• Griff's Deli was a place that I passed by all the time, but never really paid any attention to! I will now! They had some amazing wraps and GREAT salads! 

There was so much food that after the first couple of booths I made a 3 bite rule... 3 bites of each food I got. The rule didn't last long, I had found bananas foster! Oh my!

The best of the evening though was Rafferty's marinated ribeye and peppered prime rib pasta! The ribeye was sooooooo juicy and tender!

Now I have sat here and made myself hungry! I hope that all the locals that read my blog will take part in next year's Taste of Bowling Green! It's worth every penny and it all goes to a help The Dream Factory!

Homemade Philly Cheese Steak Pizza

It's barely past Monday and I've already strayed from my menu plan. I was originally going to make Slow Cooker Chicken Fajita's (I think.) Well, when I got up this morning and checked the weather I found out that it was going to be 66 F here!!!!! 66!!! So, I decided we would grill out. Now for those of you who know me... you know that I have found one of the few men in the world that does not like to grill. Needless to say he wasn't as excited as I was about this endeavor, but he was he climbed on board soon enough. 

As the afternoon progressed I got sidetracked outside and Wezul conveniently got sidetracked on the computer. Next thing we know it's getting dark and we haven't even lit the grill. So we scrapped the whole idea and made pizza. I had some green peppers that were about to go bad and a couple of thin sandwich steaks that I needed to use so I made my own ... 

Philly Cheese Steak Pizza

2 or 3 super thin sandwich steaks

Pizza dough*

1 small onion, sliced thin

1/2 green pepper, sliced thin

Pizza sauce

6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese**

4 slices provolone cheese

*I used Pillsbury refriderated pizza dough, but you could make your own.

**This could be any type or combo of cheeses. I used a handful of mozzarella, a handful of an Italian blend, and sliced provolone. 

Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray an 8-inx11in pan with cooking spray. Then unroll your dough and place position in pan how you like. 

 

I accidentally bought thin crust :( I fixed it up though! 

Next, heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray.  Add steaks and cook for about 2 minutes on one side, flip and cook for another minute or so. (I sprinkle some steak seasoning on them first) 

Yes, that is a pink knife! I love it! 

Remove steaks from skillet, and add a little EVOO. Add onions and green peppers and toss to coat. Saute veggies until softened, about 5-7 minutes. 

 

Meanwhile, slice the steak. 

While your veggies finish cooking, spread the pizza sauce over the uncooked crust. Top with 1/2 of shredded cheese. 

 

When the veggies are tender add them on the pizza, along with the steak. 

 

I have a kiddo who won't eat anything but cheese pizza

Next, top with remaining shredded cheese and then the sliced provolone. 

 
 

Bake in 350F oven for 25-30 minutes, or until crust is firm and golden. 

 

Remove from oven, cut, and serve! YUM! 

  

Country Biscuits

I spent most of my early twenties looking for the perfect biscuit recipe. It took me a while, but I finally found it. So I thought I would share it all with you!

Country Butter Biscuits

1/3 c Shortening
2c all purpose flour
3 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/4 c FIRM butter
about 3/4 c milk

Preheat oven to 450. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut shortening into mixture until it resembles fine crumbs (I use a fork for this). Cut butter into 1/4'' pieces (I cannot stress how important it is to keep the butter chilled and firm for this). Toss with flour mixture (Do not mash them down.) Stir in just enough milk till dough balls up and leaves the sides of the bowl (it usually takes the entire 3/4c plus about another T. for me).

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Gently roll to coat with flour. Now here is the trick to getting perfect fluffy, flaky biscuits. You do NOT want to over work the dough. It will make them dry and dense. I usually knead my dough about 10 times. Also, if you will fold the dough, then mash it down instead of kneading it with your fists, it will create the layers.

So fold it over itself and knead about 10 times. Then roll or pat dough out to about 1/2'' thick and cut with floured 3'' cutter. Place 1'' apart on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for about 12-15 mins. Remove immediately and brush tops with melted butter!

Chicken and Dumplings

Let's see... I've also made homemade Chicken and Dumplings FROM SCRATCH! Yes, I know, people do this all the time, but I had not. I'm not a huge fan of chicken and dumplings, but for some reason I was having a serious craving for it! About that time I happened upon a blog post over at My Baking Adventures with an amazing sounding recipe! It turned out great! Here is the link to her recipe, and here it is again, but with all my tweaks!

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Stock

1 (3 to 3 ½ pound) whole organic chicken

2 bay leaves

6 sprigs thyme

4 to 5 black peppercorns

1 tbs. salt

Dumplings:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

3 T All purpose seasoning

Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons oil

2 carrots, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

6 cups chicken stock

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen pearl onions

1/2 cup heavy cream

Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish

Chopped chives, for garnish

For the stock:

Place the chicken and all stock ingredients in a large Dutch oven and cover with water. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour until the chicken is tender. Skim the surface of fat and scum as it cooks.

When done remove the chicken to a cutting board. Strain the stock and shred the meat into big pieces – the stock will be used for the sauce and the chicken will be folded into it.

For the dumplings:

Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, using a whisk, lightly beat the eggs, seasoning and milk together; pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold. Mix just until the dough comes together; the batter should be thick and cake-like.

For the sauce: 

In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, add the butter and oil. Add the carrots, garlic, and bay leaves and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Continue to stir and cook for 2 minutes to coat the flour and remove the starchy taste. Slowly pour in the chicken stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add frozen peas and pearl onions.

Let sauce simmer until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. The original recipe said that this would take about 15 mins, but it took mine close to 30-40 mins. Stir in the heavy cream. Fold the reserved shredded chicken into the sauce and bring up to a simmer. Using 2 spoons, carefully drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the dumpling batter into the hot mixture. The dumplings should cover the top of the sauce, but should not be touching or crowded. Let the dumplings poach for 7 to 9 minutes until they start to get puffy. Flip the dumplings and cook for an additional 7 to 9 minutes, or until they are firm and puffy. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season with freshly cracked black pepper and garnish with chopped chives before serving.

This was absolutely amazing! It took a little longer than I expected, but was well worth the time!