Mightylicious Cookies

I was gifted a box of Mightylicious cookies and I want to tell you about them. 

I always get excited about gluten free products. I don't have celiac, but I try to avoid gluten because I'm addicted to products made with wheat. I eat them, can't control myself, and get fat(ter). If I avoid gluten, I really don't crave bread, pasta, pastries, cookies, or pizza, and I can lose weight. Honestly. I think about them from time to time, but I don't need them. But if I have one piece of good bread or a cookie, I have to have a second or third or even fourth piece. So it's just best that I avoid products that have gluten in them. It works for me; it might not work for you. 

Back to getting excited about gluten free products. I heard about Mightylicious gluten free cookies when I was planning my trip to the Summer Fancy Food show last year. I wasn't able to attend the show, but the company was kind enough to send me a bag of each variety of their cookies, plus bags of brownie mix and their gluten free flour. It was a real embarrassment of riches, and I am appreciative. 

This post is only about the cookies; the brownies and flour will have their own post sometime in the future. 

The Salted Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Coconut, Oatmeal Raisin, and Brown Butter Shortbread cookies are excellent. I loved the flavor and the texture of each of them. The Salted Peanut Butter was very much like good old-fashioned homemade peanut butter cookies, made with peanut butter, sweetener, and salt. Mightylicious also adds eggs and vanilla, but no flour of any kind. They are crazy rich and were my favorite of the bunch. One cookie was a perfect snack. Both the Oatmeal Cookies also had great flavor and texture--these are somewhere between soft-baked and crispy cookies--and this raisin-hater even enjoyed the Oatmeal Raisin cookies (though I preferred the Oatmeal Coconut). The Shortbread Cookies were little miracles. Smaller in diameter but fatter than the other cookies, these tasted just like gluten-y shortbread. Maybe not as crumbly as the real thing, but damn close. Highly recommended.

Then there were the Chocolate Chip, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip, and Double Dutch Chocolate Chip cookies. They were also that texture somewhere between soft-baked and crisp cookies--they were fairly moist--but they just didn't have the depth of flavor that I'm used to with a home-baked, gluten-flour, chocolate chipper. They just seemed...sweet. However, all three of them made excellent ice cream sandwiches because they were much less-likely to crack when smushed on either side of a blob of ice cream. And they ate well as an ice cream sandwich component as well. They didn't get soggy, nor were they overly crunchy when they came out of the freezer. I preferred the Double Dutch Chocolate Chip variety for this use, but the other two worked just as well.

Would I eat these cookies again? Absolutely, particularly the peanut butter and shortbread varieties. And I would not be averse to double dutch chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches again. In fact, I could go for one right now....

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Best-ever Shrimp and Grits

I've heard that no two people make shrimp and grits exactly alike. Heck, I don't even make it the same way twice in a row, mostly because I don't tend to follow recipes. Funny, huh, since I write recipes? But those are mainly for the folks who don't prefer to wing it, as I do. At any rate, most of the time I throw stuff together with what ingredients I have on hand. In this particular case, I really only had the basics: shrimp, and grits. I also had some andouille sausage--albeit a mild but still flavorful rope of Johnsonville brand--and a batch of homemade Emeril's "Essence," aka Cajun seasoning. Alas, I didn't have any fresh bell pepper or celery, two-thirds of the holy trinity of Creole and Cajun cooking, but I did have an onion. A decent start, but not quite enough.

I scrounged in the cupboard, hoping I had a jar of roasted red peppers. What I found was one jar of sundried tomatoes and another of Trader Joe's Sweet Picante Peppers with Creamy Cheesy Filling. Hoping these wouldn't be too sweet, I cracked open the jar and popped one into my mouth. MMmmmm! Not as sweet as Peppadews, a bit softer in texture. These would work! I squeezed out the cheesy filling to use in the grits, and chopped up some smoked gouda--who doesn't like cheesy grits? There were some leftover mushrooms in the fridge as well. Why not? 

I wasn't really surprised that the finished dish was tasty. While the elements were thrown together somewhat haphazardly, none of them were particularly weird. There were lots of good textures: smooth grits, perfectly cooked shrimp, soft mushrooms and onions, the slight chew of sundried tomatoes. Since most of the ingredients were pre-seasoned, I really only needed a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture while cooking the onion and mushrooms. It all worked amazingly well, enough for Mr Minx to declare the dish "restaurant quality." 

Shrimp & Grits

This was so good, I'm recording the recipe so I could maybe make it again some day. Not that I'll ever have this same perfect storm of ingredients on hand. But maybe?

For the shrimp:

1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

extra virgin olive oil 

1/2 large onion, sliced

4 ounces white mushrooms, sliced

pinch salt

1/2 13.5-ounce pack Johnsonville Andouille sausage, sliced about 1/3" thick

6-7 Trader Joes Sweet Picante Peppers with Creamy Cheesy Filling

3-4 sundried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped

For the grits:

2 1/4 cup water

1/2 cup regular or old fashioned (not quick) grits

2-ish ounces chopped smoked gouda

the cheese from the picante peppers

garlic powder

Chopped parsley for garnish 

To make the shrimp:

Toss the shrimp in a bowl with the Cajun seasoning and a healthy drizzle of the olive oil. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Put the onion and mushrooms in a saute pan with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook over medium heat until the veg have given up their liquid and have softened and browned a bit. Scrape into a bowl and set aside. 

Add a touch more oil to the pan and brown the sausage pieces.

While the sausage is cooking, squeeze the cheese from the peppers. Chop the peppers roughly. Add the peppers and the sundried tomatoes to the onion and mushrooms. Add the browned sausage to the bowl. Deglaze the saute pan with a bit of water--half a cup or so--and add that water to the bowl, too.

Cook the shrimp in the same pan over medium-high heat, turning once, until all shrimp are opaque on both sides. A tip: don't walk away while you're cooking shrimp. They cook FAST. You just need 3-4 minutes. After that, they're on the fast track to rubber-town. Once the shrimp are opaque, pour in the veg and water, turn the heat up to high, and bring to a boil. Cook until everything is hot, just a couple minutes. Taste the liquid for seasoning and add more salt and Cajun seasoning if you think it needs it.

To make the grits:

Bring the water to a boil. Whisk in the grits, then turn the heat down to low. Cover the pot and cook until the grits have absorbed the water and become tender, stirring occasionally, 15-20 minutes. Add the cheeses and the garlic powder and stir until the cheese is completely melted.

Dollop the grits onto plates, spoon shrimp mixture on top. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Serves 3-4, depending on appetite.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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A Different Kind of Pumpkin Soup

I use a spreadsheet to keep track of dinners and have at least 4-5 meals in a row planned out. I account for new items, restaurant dinners, and the using up of leftovers. But some nights I throw caution to the wind and change things up. Inspiration does that to you. Of course, that means  the spreadsheet must be altered to reflect the change. Friday's dinner was to be frittata; we have lots of eggs, and various odds and ends to add to them. But it was cold outside, which made me think of soup. I remembered that I had a couple of cans of pumpkin in the cupboard, and some Mexican chorizo in the freezer. Why not combine them to make something totally different?

Mr Minx will eat pumpkin soup--as long as it's not sweet. I ordinarily make a curried version, but the Mexican-style seasonings I had received from Spicewalla were calling my name. Spicewalla spices are always very fresh, and their blends are interesting and tasty. They have somewhat esoteric stuff like furikake, mignonette blend (for raw oysters, or dips and salad dressings), and golden milk spice mix, but also "everything bagel," and taco seasoning. And they come in the cutest little tins. The taco seasoning and another one I like a lot, Chilli Lime, were employed to season this particular batch of pumpkin soup, as I knew they would work with the Mexican chorizo. Both the spices and the chorizo contain chiles, so if you're a wimp when it comes to hot foods, you might want to cut back on the amounts of both, maybe up the brown sugar a bit. Or find another recipe--my feelings won't be hurt. Personally, I think the proportion of spice to pumpkin I used is just perfect. Hot enough to know that it's spicy, but not hot enough to burn anything important. YMMV, of course.

Cilantro is one of my favorite herbs, but if you don't like it, leave it out. The soup will be missing something, but the cilantro averse won't even notice. 

Pumpkin Spicewalla Soup

About 1/4 of a standard supermarket bunch of cilantro 
1 medium onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 poblano pepper, seeds removed, diced 

2 cloves garlic, minced

4-6 ounces Mexican-style pork chorizo (I used Cacique brand)

2 teaspoons EACH Spicewalla** Chilli Lime and Mom's Taco seasonings*

2 15-ounce cans pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)

1 quart of chicken stock

1 empty pumpkin can-full of water

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for garnish, optional

Cubed avocado for garnish, optional

Thoroughly wash the cilantro. Remove 3" - 4" of the stems and chop them coarsely. Set the leaves aside for garnish.

Add the vegetables, garlic, and chorizo (remove from casing, if any) to a 4- or 5-quart lidded pot. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until vegetables are wilted and chorizo is broken down into small particles and distributed evenly through the vegetables, about 12 minutes. Stir in the cilantro stems and the Spicewalla seasonings and cook 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin, chicken stock, and the water. Turn up the heat to bring to a boil. Turn down the heat until the soup is just simmering, cover the pot, and cook 30 minutes. Add the brown sugar. 

Taste for seasoning and add salt, or more of the Spicewalla seasoning blends. Ladle into bowls and garnish with pumpkin seeds, reserved cilantro leaves, and avocado, if desired.

Makes about 2 1/2 quarts

*If you don't want to splash out for new seasonings, then you can use a couple teaspoons of regular taco seasoning, or a combination of ground coriander and cumin. Most supermarket taco seasonings are muy salty, while individual spices are not salty at all, so you'll have to watch the balance there. 

** Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.

Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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NY Dining, Winter 2025 Edition

I can't believe I just had to type 2025!

And yes, despite the extreme cold that's been hanging around in the mid-Atlantic region, I packed my stuff and headed to my personal Disneyland, my happiest place on Earth--New York City. And I ate some stuff. But not as much as usual. Still, stuff. Allow me to share my musings on my dining experiences.

My first meal of the trip was a Monday lunch. I briefly contemplated two courses at Cafe Carmellini, but decided the handsome amount of money that would involve should go toward a bottle of perfume. My main agenda for the three day excursion revolved around visiting various perfume shops, with the intention of making at least one fragrant purchase. (I made five.)

One of the stops on my list was The Maker Hotel shop on 16th Street, so for the sake of convenience, I ate lunch next door at The Grey Dog Chelsea.

Guacamole toast? They were very generous with the toppings.

The avocado toast sounded good. What I wanted was a nice piece of seeded multigrain toast topped with several slices of perfectly salted avocado and a fried egg. I got the bread, but the avocado was excessively lime-y, rather mashed, and much more like guacamole than I was in the mood for. My over-medium eggs were perfect though, and the side of home fries was tasty enough though completely unnecessary. (I can't put away as much food as I was able to in the past.)

I had popped into Levain Bakery before lunch to grab a gluten-free cookie for later. It was one of their typically behemoth, scone-sized, lumps--which is really quite delicious when made with gluten. And not at all delicious when made with gluten-free flour. It tasted...gluten-free, which can be a rather sad flavor when one is used to the taste of wheat flour. 

That evening, I had dinner at the bar at Zaytinya. One of Jose Andres' original DC concepts, there is now a location not far from my usual hotel. Since I had passed on a spendy lunch and was disappointed with what I did eat, I thought I'd splurge on something that was bound to be delicious. After all, one of my favorite meals in NY is pretty much anything at his Hudson Yards food hall, Little Spain. Especially the eggs with morcilla (blood sausage). Incredibly, I found everything at Zaytinya to be...meh. The za'atar margarita seemed a little saltier than a normal marg, but it didn't scream of za'atar. The scallops were a relative bargain at $23 for four fat ones, but the rather flavorless apple cacik (the Turkish version of tzatziki) really didn't work for me, and the promised "sesame rose spice" was undetectable. I hoped the smoked beet salata would remind me of the incredible beet and pistachio salad I had eaten last summer at a local French restaurant. It did not. There was too much arugula and the honeycrisp apple chunks had zero flavor (and was probably the same kind of apple included in the scallops' sauce). The beets themselves were fine, though I'd have preferred more of them. Finally, though I didn't need a third dish, I ordered the brussels sprouts because the waiter was still looking at me expectantly. I requested the garlic yogurt to be served on the side (and should have done so with the cacik) as I am lactose-intolerant. The sprouts were nicely crispy, but were otherwise rather boring. A disappointment.

My palate fared much better on day two, which I started at Dominique Ansel Workshop. A perfectly fluffy and tender French omelette filled with Boursin cheese and nestled into a crisp croissant made a perfect breakfast, especially paired with a big cup of La Colombe cafe au lait d'avoine (oatmilk). 

scallop toast

Later, I met up with my friend Daisy, whose company makes even the most delicious meal that much better than it would be without her. We dined at Chinese Tuxedo, a contemporary Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Among the dishes we sampled were the braised black pepper oxtail bun, crystal shrimp spring roll, and scallop toast from the dim sum menu (all fantastic)...

...and the Johny fried rice with shrimp, char siu, and pork floss, the stir fried Snake River beef sirloin with kampot pepper, and the stir fried iceberg lettuce. Again, all fantastic. I'd eat there again.

Mealtime with Daisy usually means multiple stops, so after walking a bit, we took a cab up to Koreatown and had a few super crispy wings at Turntable on 33rd Street. The flavors were bright and the texture appealing. In retrospect, these wings were the culinary highlight of my entire trip.

The next morning, I had a nice breakfast at The Harold, which is conveniently located near my hotel. I ordered the wild mushroom scramble, which was had to include 3-4 eggs and a good half pound of mushrooms. I knew there'd be toast, but not the rosemary potatoes. They're delicious, but made for far too much to eat in one sitting. Next time, I'll ask them to omit the 'taters. 

For a snack, I enjoyed a Midnight Dream (black sesame, espresso, oatmilk) at Elorea, a cute Korean perfume shop with a coffee bar at the back. (I will be going back someday to make a fragrance purchase.)

Finally, I had an early dinner/late lunch at Parm. This is their eggplant parmesan on a sesame seed roll. My server said it was his favorite thing on the menu, and suggested I get the hoagie-sized version so I could take half home for later. I stuck with the small. It was good, but lacking in textures other than soft. I've mentioned this in the past, but I really miss my mother's fried eggplant. But maybe I'm just obsessed with the memory of the flavor of Progresso Italian Bread Crumbs?

The Grey Dog

242 W 16th St, New York, NY 10011

thegreydog.com

Levain Bakery

2 W 18th St, New York, NY 10011

levainbakery.com

Zaytinya

1185 Broadway, New York, NY 10001

zaytinya.com

Dominique Ansel Workshop

17 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016

dominiqueanselworkshop.com

Chinese Tuxedo

5 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

chinesetuxedo.com

Turntable

20 W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001

turntablenyc.com

The Harold

1271 Broadway, New York, NY 10001

theharoldnyc.com

Elorea

41 Spring St, New York, NY 10012

elorea.com

Parm

248 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012

parmitalian.com

* Sponsored post. Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy! 

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Best of 2024

As usual, we ate a lot of good food last year. Here are some of the highlights. 

January 

This monstrous beef short rib wrapped in laminated brioche dough at Dominique Ansel Workshop in NY was freaking amazing. It was expensive, and I had to eat it standing up at a tiny table in the bakery, but it was so worth the price and inconvenience. Would 100% do it again. 

February

This chicken in milk doesn't look too great, but it was astonishingly delicious. Garlicky, creamy perfection. I am heartbroken that Tbiliso closed in the spring. We had several really great meals there, and I will miss all the various iterations of cheese-filled bread they offered.

March

I've never had a bad meal at La Cuchara. I can't imagine I ever will.

Obligatory Squire's pizza shot. Everything minus green peppers is our standard order. Perfection every time. 

April

The eggplant parm at Cecconi's in Manhattan was pretty pricey, but it came with a salad, was more than enough for two, and even tasted good cold. AND, it was vegan and gluten free. The restaurant seemed fancy, which made my BFF Andree and I feel fancy, too.

I make gazpacho a lot, and sometimes I put shrimp on it. Always great. 

May

I make beans fairly often. These gigante beans stewed with tomatoes and topped with homemade pesto were one of my favorite versions.

This duck confit, on the menu briefly at True Chesapeake, was the best I've ever eaten. 

I was fortunate enough to get some exceptional soft shells a few times this year. These came from Johnny's in Roland Park.

June

I can't get enough of the quesobirria tacos at El Salto.

July

I had the best lobster roll of my life at lunch at The Food Market. It was huge, the meat regularly tumbling out of the roll onto the plate, and it had bacon on it. Bacon.

August

While Neal's birthday dinner at Marta was overall fairly disappointing, this foie gras terrine was outstanding, as was my caprese cocktail. Neal enjoyed his beverage as well. 

Crab-topped gazpacho and crabcake grilled cheese. Yes, I am a genius.

September

Went to Pappas for restaurant week just to get these soft shells. The ones from Johnny's earlier in the year were great, but these were even better. And the pickled beets! Outstanding! 

Farmers' market tomato sandwich with Duke's mayo on Pepperidge Farm white bread. 'Nuff said.

October

Speaking of beets, this beet salad with pistachios from Petit Louis was truly one of the best things I ate all year. 

Cacio i pepe spaghetti squash served in an acorn squash at The Food Market inspired me to make a carbonara dish the following month. Amazing. 

November

For the last several years, our Thanksgiving dinner has looked like the photo above: charcuterie, cheese, olives, lots of booze. This time I used some puff pastry that had been hanging out in the freezer for a while to make tasty pinwheels of goodness, filled with sundried tomato tapenade and Parmesan cheese. I will be making these forevermore. 

I made my own birthday dinner this year - eggplant parm. I haven't found a restaurant version I especially liked--excepting the $28 one at Cecconi's (see above)--so I thought I'd try my hand at it. I used Progresso Italian breadcrumbs, which is what my mom always used, but they weren't quite the same. More salt, less cheese and herbs? Just different. My brother also noticed the difference. Next time, I'll add more basil, oregano, and definitely more parm.

December

I made gluten free gingerbread using a recipe from the blog Cotter Crunch. It was utterly fabulous. I used Mightylicious gluten free flour, which may or may not have been a key element in the success of this treat.

This potato leek soup from Petit Louis may seem simple, but it was smooth, rich, subtle, and far more than the sum of its parts.

I like stopping into Golden West for lunch before my thrice-yearly hair appointment at Brazen. Most recently, I enjoyed their vegan chicken and waffles. The waffle was lightly spiced, which made the dish even more delicious than the usual poultry version.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.