Roaring Fork - 1604 & Huebner

Roaring Fork is a "new" (to San Antonio, at least) restaurant near where I live, and they have a decent patio with a fireplace and eureka! - it's not facing a highway. I keep going back to Roaring Fork and every time I go, we get the green chile pork stew appetizer.



It's savory and delicious - tender chunks of pork with just-spicy-enough green chilies and a sauce that is gravy-like and hearty. The stew comes in a little kettle, and it's accompanied by 4 warm flour tortillas wrapped in butcher paper. Highly recommended!

Mini Chocolate Eclairs

Another kitchen experiment...and it turned out WONDERFULLY! I love chocolate eclairs, and I needed a snack to take to Bible Study (great excuse to bake, huh?) so I decided it would be fun to make tiny chocolate eclairs! But how? Hmmm....


Filling:
8 cups of pre-made sugar free vanilla pudding


Eclair pastry:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

Frosting:

1 container pre-made dark chocolate cake frosting

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
In a heavy saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter, water and salt over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.





Pour in flour all at once and stir vigorously until fully incorporated and mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat, let rest 5 minutes. Mmm, it's resting... what a perfect opportunity to drink a glass of wine.






Then beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. The dough will be very wet - that's good, we want that. And be sure to explain the process to Tinkerbell and Buttercup as you go... because they love cooking too! That's why they watch. To them, you are Emeril. Nevermind the fact that Buttercup seems to be falling asleep...





Drop dough into twelve equal mounds on baking sheets. Spread each mound into a 4x1/2 inch rectangle.


Bake in preheated oven 35 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and make a one-inch slit in the side of each eclair. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Return eclairs to oven for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.








To assemble: Slice each eclair in half lengthwise. Spoon vanilla pudding into a plastic bag and cut off the corner to make a piping bag. Isn't pudding cute?



Pipe about 1 tablespoon vanilla pudding into the middle of each eclair. This can get messy, so be sure to lick your fingers a lot.

Replace tops and frost with chocolate icing, warmed up in the microwave for easy spreading. This is also messy, so get your man to help you ice the little guys. He doesn't have to ice them perfectly - chocolate is chocolate, no matter what it looks like! :)

Lick fingers again. Then.......chill until serving.

Crustless Quiche - Simple but oh, so deliciosa...

I have to say, the best thing I've made in a while just sort of happened by accident the other day when I was hungry but I didn't have much in the fridge. I have GOT to share it, because I've been eating it for every meal 3 days in a row and that, my friends, is unique.

It's healthyish, high in protein, low in carbs, and SO, so satisfying. And I don't even care that it's uncomplicated and not even CLOSE to homemade.

Crustless Breakfast Quiche

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

You need:

- 1 pie dish

- 4 big eggs

- 1/2 cup queso dip

- 1/3 bag of Jimmy Dean Skillets frozen breakfast starter - it comes in sausage, bacon, or ham but SAUSAGE is by far our favorite kind...

This stuff is great - it has potatoes, green and red bell peppers, onions, and yummy sausage in it... lots of meat, and not too many potatoes! I hate it when they load these things with cheapy potatoes and give you, like, 2 pieces of meat. And Jimmy Dean doesn't do this, and that's why I love the Jimmy Dean Skillets. I don't need to saute my own sausage to feel like a real woman.

Now do it:

You don't need to grease the pie plate unless you are just DYING to spray Pam on something. The fat in the queso will be enough to keep things from sticking.

Spread the frozen Jimmy Dean Skillets mix all over the bottom of the pie plate - as much or as little as you like (I like to just evenly coat the bottom with one layer of the stuff). In a separate bowl, whisk 4 large eggs and 1/2 cup of queso together till it's all one cheesy, eggy mess. Mmmm... But don't eat it yet - it's RAW!

Pour the queso/egg mixture on top of the Skillets stuff and pop that pie plate in the oven for 30-40 minutes. You can tell it's ready to come out when the sides are firm and the center is just a little undercooked. It's going to feel like it's too early, but for Pete's sake TAKE IT OUT because the center keeps cooking after you remove the plate!

Give it some time to cool off... THEN, cut it like a pie and serve yourself a piece. If you're a flavor-addict like we are, smother that piece of egg-pie with SALSA and then take a big ol' bite.

Are you in breakfasty heaven? Yes you are!

Now, here are some added bonuses to this recipe:

- the crustless quiche will keep in your fridge for several days, just cover it with foil; it reheats beautifully

- you can take individual pieces to work in plastic bags, heat them for 30 seconds in the microwave, and voila - instant hot breakfast

- you can FREEZE the entire quiche or individual pieces for weeks, maybe even months, and just reheat as needed