Halloween is almost here, and in the spirit of the season, I bring you Spooky Silhouette Chili, also known as “Fun With Cookie Cutters”.  If you’re hosting a party this Halloween or just looking for a way to keep the kids smling up until trick or treat time, you’ll definitely get a few smiles with this one.

The shapes you use are up to you.  I used a bat shaped pastry cutter to lay out a few of the good Ol’ Count’s alter-ego’s in sharp cheddar, but cats, ghosts, ghouls and anything else you can make a cutout shape of would work perfectly, and any type of cheese you like is perfectly fine. (Monterrey Jack for ghosts, Colby for owls or whatever floats your boat!)

If you like even more cheese, try doing a backwards silhouette by wrapping the cutter in foil and laying it out on the chili, then covering the rest of the bowl in shredded cheese. (You could even make jack-o-lantern shapes that way…  Fun for black bean chili!)

Method:

Cut your favorite spooky shapes out of any kind of sliced cheese.  Arrange on hot chili (any type will do.  Looking for a good chili recipe?  Try this one.) Eat piping hot and enjoy!

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Tomatoes pack a huge amount of flavor into a very small package. so much so that there is not much need to “guild the lilly”, to turn a phrase.  I made this dish as a side for the tomato glazed chicken we had the other night, but then had to make it again yesterday as a light lunch for myself.

The flavors are more than enough to stand up to being the main course in a light, healthy summertime meal, but if you’re in the mood for something a bit more substantial, just add a few greens and a basil vinaigrette for a wonderful baked tomato salad.  How about using these little gems on your next burger?

I used a mix of Colby and Monterey Jack because that’s what I happened to have lying about at the time, but there’s no reason that this has to be made with those cheeses. If you don’t like Colby and Jack on your tomato, use what you like, this is the perfect vehicle for experimentation! Use some goat cheese and thyme instead for a bit more of a Greek flavor.  Try some pecorino or asiago.  How about a little muenster with a bit of fresh oregano or sage?  The choices are yours.  Please use this recipe as a guideline and create something wonderful with it!

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If you’ve spent any time at all hanging around this blog you’ll know that I love frittata. Just like the omelet, frittata’s offer a nearly unlimited choice of ingredients and variations on a theme. Anything this versatile should be celebrated, and I do every time I’m offered the chance. This time was no different.

This dish features some of the ingredients I had lying about the fridge in need of usage. The spinach was nearing the end of its days, the feta was getting close to expiration and the bacon… Well, let’s just say what wasn’t used here went to the local trash collector. They say that necessity is the mother of all invention. In this case necessity was the mother of inspiration, and I thank her profusely for the nudge.

Regardless of the nudge from my cooking muse, I wasn’t too sure this particular combination ws going to work well. I shouldn’t have worried. The salty taste of the bacon played incredibly well with deep rich flavor of the feta and the spinach just served to tie everything together into something amazing. If you happen to have this combination of ingredients around, I highly recommend you give it a shot.

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I had originally meant to title this post “Ale Bread Part Deux”, but I really didn’t want to make it into any kind of a tribute to Charlie Sheen. (Not that I have anything against Charlie, mind you!)

If you’ve been keeping up with this blog over the last year, you’ll know that baking is one of my biggest fears and is something I usually leave to my wife, who excels at it. I have however, been prodded repeatedly by several people to “bite the bullet and bake us up something fab to drool over”

My last attempt at this resulted in something less than what I expected, even after several goes at it. It was enough to send me away from the baking cupboard in shame for quite some time, with every intention never to slink back to realms in which I obviously do not belong.

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Who said breakfast had to be predictable? Just because you’re in the mood for breakfast ingredients such as bacon and eggs doesn’t mean that they should be served in the classic manner. This little gem of a breakfast idea shares the same basic ingredients found in fast food breakfast sandwiches served in paper wrappers across the country, but the resemblance ends there. It is served open faced with crispy bacon, scallions and sharp cheddar on an oven crisped English muffin, and is far better suited to eating with a fork than as a hand-held item.

If your mind is flashing to soggy English muffins, overworked eggs and processed cheese, be heartened, this dish contains none of those things. The muffins are crisp, crunchy and browned to perfection, the perfect compliment to fluffy eggs, a hint of scallion and crisp bacon. the cheddar brings it all together into something that is somehow more than the sum of its parts in some subtle way sure I can describe.

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Blame it on Elise Bauer. I do. I was browsing through my favorite food blogs recently and came across a photo and recipe at Simply Recipes that made me stop and drool profusely. Not only did her Tarragon Tuna Melt make me want to run to the kitchen and get cooking, and once again her photography skills brought out the green eyed monster in me. (Down, Boy!)

I love tuna melts. They’re simple, filling and scrumptious, in essence, the perfect lunch. It took a few days for me to get around to it, but I finally assembled my version of this absolutely fabulous sandwich. In fact, we’ve had them twice in the past two weeks, so I’m confident in proclaiming it was a hit with my wife as well.

Elise’s recipe called for cheddar and while I’m a fan, I prefer a lighter flavor with my tuna. I’m also not particularly fond of tomatoes with it, so I modified the recipe a bit. (Who would have thought that I’d ever do that!?!) I used low fat mayo instead of “real” mayonnaise to cut the cholesterol content a bit, and I prefer to brown up bread in olive oil rather than butter. I just like the flavor and texture more, not to mention that it’s a bit better for you.

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When the weather gets warmer, it’s time for a bit lighter fare. This salad was the perfect answer to the heat of a Texas spring day. Crisp, refreshing and light, with the zing of a fresh vinaigrette to perk up the palette.

I used a store bought bag greens mix containing frisee, arugula, romaine, red leaf lettuce and carrots, though this would be just as wonderful with baby spinach or plain-ol’ romaine. You can also substitute your favorite crumbled cheese for the feta, if you’re not a fan.

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An omelet can be a cook’s signature dish or worst nightmare. When everything goes properly, the result of a simple mix of beaten eggs, milk and seasoning becomes something more than the sum of its parts. A lighter than air collection of flavors and textures that can make any true foodie cry.

Of course, tears can be shed if things go wrong as well.

That’s my story for this morning. Something went wrong. I’m going to blame my dishwasher, which obviously left a residue in my normally reliable EmerilWare. Instead of sliding gracefully from the pan onto the plate, the otherwise perfect omelet slid gently out of the skillet to right about the half way point , then skidded to an abrupt halt and folded all over itself, leaving me with something that definitely did not look as appetizing as it should have. (I won’t blame the fussy baby, though he was distracting me just a bit at the time.)

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I think the inspiration for this originally came from Wolfgang Puck’s Cooking Class on Food TV some years ago, though it didn’t include a sauce. The recipe I remember was for stuffed chicken legs, though I can’t find the reference recipe on the Food Network site anywhere, so I may be mistaken as to the recipe.

No matter where the inspiration came from, I’m sure that I’ve deviated sufficiently from whatever the recipe was to call this a true Cooking by the seat of my Pants original. As a matter of fact, I changed gears at least three times during preparation, adding a bit of this and eschewing that, so if this is in-fact, based on any recipe by an award winning chef, it has surely been bastardized enough that they would no longer recognize it.

It turned out to be simply incredible. Sumptuous, creamy, mushroom-and-garlicky goodness that fills the palette with multiple levels of wonderful flavors. I may have improvised at every turn, but apparently I did so in the right order , and with the right ingredients.

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Mrs. seat of her Pants took the kitchen out of my control over the weekend, and with stunning results, I admit! she whipped these out Sunday Morning in lieu of the normal “fried spuds” which of course I made on Saturday.

Though we just made these to snack on, I think they would be outrageously perfect if paired with seafood, especially shellfish or chowder.

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