Are you a food blogger looking for bragging rights or who just wants to win some great prizes?  Then you’re in the right place!   In celebration of launching our new Saucy Mama line of premium dressings, marinades, and mustards, we’re giving away some incredible prizes, including an Amazon Kindle, a $150 gift card to Amazon, plus three runners-up will receive an Audiovox Ultra-Slim 7” LCD Drop-Down Under-Count TV/DVD Player.

As for the bragging rights:  the winning recipe will be featured on Saucy Mama labels in stores nationwide!

Oh -  but there is a bit of a catch …

The first 25 food bloggers who register online at www.barhyte.com/contest will receive a case of our new Saucy Mama treats.  It’s our hope that once you receive these tasty condiments, you’ll start crafting a bounty of original, quick and easy meal recipes featuring Saucy Mama condiments – all of which are just begging to be shared with the world.

We’re looking for quick and easy meal solutions here; the kind of fare that any family can make in about 30 minutes, using basic ingredients found in a pantry, farmer’s market, or grocery store. As for flavor … well, that should be anything BUT basic!  Let your creativity soar as you and Saucy Mama add a hint of charm to your chicken; a little panache to your pork; or some triumph to your tofu.

We’ve already received a number of applications … Space is going fast.  So register today!!

Need something quick and pretty for an appetizer?  Try these quick and easy roll ups…  I took them to a party the other night and they were devoured right away.

I was thinking how good the roll-ups were while I was watering my basil this morning  and decided I wanted to try a roll-up made with the basil and sun-dried tomatoes.  As soon as I got to work I set to putting the roll-up together.  I used both spinach and sun-dried tomato tortillas, because they are pretty arranged together on a serving platter.  I put fresh mozzarella on some of the roll-ups and those were the big hit when I invited our crew up to my test kitchen for lunch.

Basil and Sun-Dried Tomato Roll-ups

2 - 8 oz. Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons Saucy Mama Hot Wing Sauce
1 Tablespoon Pesto
1/3 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
4 Green Onions coarsely chopped
1/2 - .4 oz package Ranch Dressing mix
10 large sun-dried tomato or spinach tortillas (or both)
5 Cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
2 - 8.5 oz jars Julienne Cut Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 lb fresh mozzarella

Place cream cheese, wing sauce, pesto, parmesan, onions and ranch dressing mix in a food processor.  Process until well mixed.

With a spatula spread the cream cheese mixture onto each tortilla.  Arrange
1/2 cup basil and a few sun-dried tomato pieces on top of cream cheese mixture.

Roll each tortilla tightly and place on a large plate.  When all the tortillas are rolled up, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a least 1 hour.

With a sharp knife cut the rolled tortillas into 1/2 inch thick rounds.

Arrange on a serving platter.

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Last spring I got a call from my fabulous daughter-in-law, Irene, saying she wanted to sell me in an auction for Bridgeport Elementary School in Tualatin. Turns out she wasn’t planning on getting rid of me, but on having a Martini and appetizer party at her house. Well, last Thursday was the day. What a good time we had!

I started the evening with a cheese platter out and a Martini bar set up. I had recipes for the different martinis alongside the needed ingredients. I made the first few martinis and then let the guests prepare their own. This freed me up to make the appetizers, and Chris and Irene to mingle with everyone. My first appetizer was a baked brie with apricot pepper jelly, sweet ‘n hot stone ground mustard and Oregon hazelnuts. That was followed by blanched snow peas and asparagus with herb dip. I then made shrimp with our cracked pepper marinade. Everyone ate like crazy, which I love.

I used a little trick to prepare the brie … I found this HUGE wheel of L’Edel de Claron (still in its stapled wood container) and froze it for about two hours.  This gave it just enough firmness for me to cut and then scrape away the top rind with the edge of my knife, leaving the round beautifully prepared for its toppings.  

The apricot jelly I used for the brie came from Rose City Pepperheads www.rosecitypepperheads.com . (It’s an Apricot with an Attitude, and I think it is terrific.)  I spread a thick layer of the jelly over the top of the brie, then finished it with a rough-cut cup of Oregon Hazlenuts. 

Next, I popped it in the oven (IN its wooden container!) at 350 degrees for about an hour (it was a BIG round, mind you; you’d probably cut the time in half for a smaller round). 

I served this with simple sliced baguettes - and when we ran out of that, I added a load of crackers in a basket and watched those disappear at record pace as well!  I thought for sure I’d have leftover brie for a month. How wrong I was!  That appetizer was by far the big hit of the party, and we were left with only the wooden box in which it came.  Yum!

Since we have been eating so much asparagus lately I decided to make Jan his favorite asparagus preparation. Deep fried of course. I have to admit that I love it this way too. I have so many chives in my garden right now that I figured my favorite herb sauce would be great for asparagus dipping. I usually make this sauce to serve with salmon or halibut, but it makes a terrific vegetable dip. Truth be told I love this with almost anything. If you don’t want to use horseradish in the sauce replace the 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 teaspoons of grated lemon peel.

Beer-Battered Asparagus 

1-cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 TBL finely grated lemon peel
¼ tsp black pepper
1 cup beer (a lager works best, but I have done it with a pale ale).  Make sure when measuring to pour the    beer slowly and don’t measure the foam.
About 4 cups vegetable oil
1 pound medium asparagus trimmed (make sure asparagus is thoroughly dry before dipping into beer batter). 

Whisk together flour, salt, zest and pepper in a bowl until combined, add the beer, whisking until smooth.  Do not over beat batter. 

Heat oil to 375 degrees in a deep-fat fryer or a 3 to 4 quart dutch oven.  If using a dutch oven use about 3 inches of oil in the pan.  

Dip asparagus into batter to coat.  Working in batches of 10 spears, drag 1 at a time gently against rim of bowl to remove excess batter.  Drop spears 1 at a time in the hot oil.  Make sure not to do more than 10 sprears at a time as it will overcrowd the pan.  Stir gently to keep spears from sticking to each other.  Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown.  With a slotted spoon transfer fried spears to a paper-towel lined baking sheet.  Keep the asparagus warm in a 200 degree oven while cooking all the spears.

Horseradish and Herb Sauce

 1-cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup fresh basil (chopped) plus whole leaves for garnish
½ cup fresh chives (chopped)
¼ cup fresh tarragon (chopped)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Saucy Mama Creamy Horseradish

Combine all ingredients and top with fresh basil leaves. Serve chilled.

Finally a warm weekend in Eastern Oregon. It felt so good. I am getting my herb garden planted. The sage and a couple of different thymes survived our winter, but everything else has to be replaced. I love planting herbs; my hands smell so good after handling the plants.

Our asparagus is ripe and can be found at our local Farmer’s Market held on Main Street on Friday night, or any of the fruit and vegetable stands scattered around the area. Asparagus is great for that I-need-a-party-snack-now-and-I-want-it-to-look-and-taste-great moment. Just blanch it in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water for a couple of minutes and then plunge it into an ice water bath. I use my pasta pot with an insert so I can immediately pull all the asparagus out of the boiling water and put in the ice water. I keep a bath towel that is only used in the kitchen to dry the asparagus after it has cooled in the ice water. Once the asparagus is dry I quite often wrap it in thinly sliced prosciutto, pile it on a pretty platter and off I go.

At Barhyte Specialty Foods our crew works 4, 10 hour days Monday through Thursday, so we work a short staff on Fridays. That is the day that quite often I like to cook lunch for whoever happens to be around. It a great way to try out new recipes and experiment with our products. This last Friday about 10:00 AM I had a hankering for panini. That meant a quick trip to the store for ingredients, well it was supposed to be quick. Of course the place was packed. I thought I would save some time by going through self check-out, hah! that didn’t happen, the time saving part anyway. I managed to pick out the hunk of cheese with no bar code and choose produce that isn’t listed when you go the alphabetical screen. I am so glad that the fellow working the self check-out was cheerful.

Before I left to do my shopping I preheated my oven to 350 degrees and pulled some boneless skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer. I placed four breasts each in two different 1 gallon zip lock bags. In one bag I poured Saucy Mama Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce and in the other I poured Saucy Mama Parmesan Garlic Wing Sauce. I then defrosted the chicken in the microwave. It is a good idea to put the zip lock bags into a bowl or baking dish in the micro in case a bag breaks during the defrosting process. (Who wants to have to clean up a microwave?) I then poured the chicken with their sauces into two baking dishes large enough so the chicken could lie flat and not be too crowded and placed the dishes into a preheated oven. If the wing sauces begin to burn on the bottom of the baking dishes during cooking I add some chicken broth to prevent that from happening.

When I got back from shopping the chicken was done. It shouldn’t have been, but I took way too long at the store. Thank heavens Mark, my right hand guy, was there to add chicken broth to the pans when they started to dry out. I took the chicken out of the oven and set it aside to cool and began to assemble the ingredients for the two different paninis I had decided to make. My first panini was going to have an Italian theme and consist of pesto spread on sourdough bread slices, fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, prosciutto, creamy havarti, the parmesan chicken and freshly grated parmesan. The second was Southwestern and consisted of cilantro mayonnaise spread on the sourdough bread slices, pepper jack cheese, avocado and the spicy garlic chicken.

I do not have a panini press so I used my range griddle top preheated to about 325. I placed the buttered sandwiches on the griddle and then placed small cast iron skillet on top of the sandwiches for a weight, if you do not have a heavy skillet for a weight use a lighter one with some canned goods placed in it to give that extra heft. A large cast iron skillet preheated to medium will work just as well as a griddle top.

The sandwiches were delicious and we decided we have to have regular panini days at least once a month. We sat around and came up with so many ideas for different combinations of fillings. I get hungry just thinking about them.

Saucy Mama Italian Panini

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(for 1 sandwich)

2 slices sourdough bread

2 tablespoons pesto

3 ounces fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

1 large piece jarred roasted sweet red pepper

1 parmesan chicken breast, sliced into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces

1 slice prosciutto

1 slice creamy havarti

about 2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan

Spread each slice of bread with pesto. Top one slice of bread, pesto side up with mozzarella, piece of red pepper spread flat (use two pieces if necessary to cover mozzarella). On the other slice of bread top the pesto with enough chicken slices to cover, top with prosciutto, creamy havarti and parmesan. Place the two halves of the sandwich together and butter the upward facing slice of bread. Place the sandwich buttered side down on the preheated griddle or in the skillet and place weight on top. Cook until golden brown on one side. Butter other slice of bread and flip the sandwich.

Place weight on top and cook until golden brown. Slice in half and serve.

Saucy Mama Parmesan Chicken Panini (for 1 sandwich)

2 slices sourdough bread

2 tablespoons cilantro mayonnaise (recipe follows)

1 spicy garlic chicken breast, sliced into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces

1 slice pepper jack cheese

2 slices avocado

Spread each slice of bread with cilantro mayonnaise. Top one slice of bread mayo side up with sliced chicken, pepper jack cheese and avocado. Top with other slice of bread mayo side down. Butter the bread and cook as described above.

Cilantro Mayonnaise

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

2 teaspoons fresh lemon or lime juice

Mix ingredients and store refrigerated in a tightly covered container for up to two weeks. Makes a great sandwich spread or serve with fish.

The whole family gathered at Black Butte Ranch in Central Oregon for Easter. Chris and Irene have a house there and it has become our Easter place. This year everyone is brought snow clothes because who knows what the weather would bring, and if it was not snowing at the ranch we knew we could always head up to Mount Bachelor for a day of playing in the snow. Well, tradition has it that Jan and I sit in the lodge by the fire and watch everyone else playing in the snow.

I made a layered potato salad to take with me because it tastes great, looks pretty and travels well. I stopped by the deli and get good quality meats, breads and cheeses and we were all set for the chaos when everyone started arriving. Truth be known, I love all the noise that occurs when the cousins first get together and the adults are all talking at once.

We are certainly not a quiet family.

Happy Spring, Everyone!

Suzie’s Layered Potato Salad

5 lbs small red potatoes ( pick out potatoes all close to the same size so that they cook evenly)
2 cups sour cream
2 cups mayonnaise
2 heaping tablespoons Barhyte Select Horseradish
2 teaspoon whole celery seed
1 teaspoon salt
2 med. Red onions (minced)
2 bunches of parsley (minced)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place the red potatoes in the rapidly boiling water. Boil for about 20 minutes until a fork easily pierces a potato. Allow to cool until the potatoes are room temperature. Slice into 1/6 to ¼ inch slices. Mix sour cream, mayonnaise, horseradish, celery seed, and salt. Place a layer of sour cream mixture in bottom of bowl. Top with layer of potato slices, then sprinkle with a layer each of onions and parsley. Then start with a layer of potatoes, layer of sour cream mixture, then onions and parsley. Repeat until ingredients are used ending with onions and parsley.

This makes a large salad that easily serves 12 to 15 people. It can be halved. This is a very pretty salad when layered in a clear glass bowl with fairly straight sides.

We are staying in the Old Las Palmas area of Palm Springs.  We have been told that it has the highest concentration of mid-century modern homes in the area.  Today we took a long walk around the neighborhood.  So many beautiful homes and yards.  What really impresses me is the fact that the homeowners here have been so careful to retain the mid-century style of the homes when they have done remodeling.  Lots of bicyclists passed us today.  We just might have to rent some bicycles.  Looks like fun.
 
A few years ago Jan and I were told that we must try Amici’s www.dineamici.com and we are very glad we did.  It is now where we go for Sunday brunch.  Today we got a much later start than usual and when we walked in the door, Steve, our waiter let Jan know that they were out of the coffee cake that is served warm at our table as we sit down.  He said that we should call ahead when we know that we are going to be late and let him know so he can put some back  for us.  Next time we will!  Jan ordered Italian Style French Toast, which is made with Panettone (an Italian sweet bread they make with raisins and candied orange peels).  I am glad Jan is good about sharing, it was delicious.  I usually have Eggs Amici, which are baked eggs served on an English muffin with Canadian bacon, scallions, mushrooms and topped with a wonderful lemon pepper cheese sauce.  Today I tried Chicken Breast Cacciatore with risotto and grilled vegetables.  Very good, but the Eggs Amici are still my favorite.

One of my favorite places in Palm Springs is Melvyn’s located in the Ingleside Inn.  The inn is tucked away behind downtown Palm Springs and is surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds and is an official Palm Springs historic landmark. It was definitely one of the places to see and be seen back in the day. It still oozes old Palm Springs charm and has the best bartenders and waiters that can be found anywhere. David, the daytime bartender has the true gift of bringing everyone in the bar together, tourists and locals alike, and pours a mean drink. We have met many folks there that make Melvyn’s their first stop when they arrive into town just to find out what is happening and to unwind into Palm Springs calm.

We have gotten to know David over the years and have been lucky enough to meet his wife Karen. On this trip we all went to lunch at Le Vallauris www.levallauris.com a small French restaurant, that has excellent food and service. We had such a good time eating out on their beautiful secluded patio. If you’re visiting the area and want a place for a romantic dinner this is it.