My brother-in-law mused on Facebook “will somebody please make a bacon latte?” It’s not a half-bad idea, and someone in San Francisco’s pulled it off:

While some might say that bacon has had its moment, it’s hard to deny this beloved smoked meat’s continued encroachment on the food world. Upon first sip, you’ll notice you’re drinking a creamier, smokier latte thanks to the homemade organic bacon and bacon-fat mixture that’s whisked into the milk and maple syrup, then poured over the double shots of espresso.

And bacon bits on top. I might have to make my brother one.

My wife Coral posted this “playdough” recipe to our friends on Facebook earlier. I don’t recall where she got the recipe, but it’s a good one.

I believe they also added cinnamon & nutmeg. Those ingredients made it smell less salty & more like cookies.

For our preschool project today we made our own playdough:

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup salt
food coloring

Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.

Here’s Mekhi making something with his new dough, in orange:

Here’s something Coral & I made up, with help on the spices from Emeril. Measurements (or lack thereof) are my doing.

• Some potatoes (about 5) skinned, cubed
• Same volume as potatoes: pumpkin, cubed
• Milk, about half the volume of potatoes
• 1/8 medium onion, chopped
• 6 pieces bacon
• Sage (quite a bit)
• Brown sugar (more than you’d think)
• Parsley (quite a bit, it’s pretty but doesn’t taste like much)

Boil the potatoes + pumpkin + chopped onion in enough water to substantially cover.

Cook the bacon crispy, save the bacon grease.

Once potatoes + pumpkin + onion are mashable, drain about half the water out. Mash well.

Add: milk, sage, brown sugar, parsley, and bacon grease. Cook for a while, don’t burn the milk.

Crumble the bacon with some brown sugar for the top.

We have a lot of zucchini these days… this is one of my favorite recipes that use it up. It makes approximately 15 “cookie-sized” rounds.

2 Cups grated, drained zucchini
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 Cup biscuit mix
1/3 Cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon butter (optional for lower-fat)

1a) Grate zucchini and set aside to drain once it settles.

1b) Slightly beat the two eggs then add dry ingredients, folding in just enough to moisten.

2) Add drained zucchini, mix, and drop by spoonfuls to fry in butter on medium heat on a skillet. (Or without butter, on a non-stick skillet.) Fry to golden brown.

3) Serve plain (or with spaghetti sauce, but I never do that.)

This recipe originally comes from the Troy-Bilt (the garden tiller company) newsletter, and has been modified by me.

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

We’ve noticed that customers who have purchased Seinfeld – Season 5 also purchased Veggie Tales, Vol. 3: Are You My Neighbor? – A Lesson in Loving Your Neighbor on DVD.

Hmm?

Veggie lovers love Vegetable Soup Nazi?

Whenever my mom would make pancakes she’d ask us how many pancakes we wanted in pseudo-Spanish. Well, we smart(ass) kids know “Cuántos” is “How Many” so we gave pancakes the formal name “Pancakes Ke-Erres.”

Happy National Pancakes Ke-Erres Day.

A topic for future discussion is how a Kermit The Frog puppet relates to Pancakes Ke-Erres on The Day After.

2/7/06 Update: Soon we’ll all be able to print bacon.

3/2/09 Update: Bacon salt can make everything taste like bacon.

I didn’t make a shopping list for Thanksgiving, so although I didn’t forget anything, I went totally overboard on certain ingredients. I bought about twice as much bread as I really needed for stuffing, so I decided to make a double batch since it was going to insta-mold in bread form anyway. I love stuffing, so this was only a small problem. It’s simple and good.

Herb Stuffing

• 3/4 C. melted butter
• 1/2 tsp. salt (this is the one edit I’m applying to the recipe. The original recipe calls for 2 tsp…. my mom cuts this in half, and i cut it into fourths, as shown here. The salt really doesn’t seem to do anything for it, so why eat so much salt?)
• 1 tsp. sage (or 1/2 tps. each thyme, rosemary, and marjoram, although I like the sage… in fact I usually put in a little extra, which I blame on “classic male baking measurement skills.”)
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

In large bowl, lightly toss mixture with:

• 2 qts. soft breadcrumbs (I always do 1/2 white, and and 1/2 wheat… this makes it look neat. I forget what my mom does. Let this be the official mixture.)
• 3/4 C. milk
• 1/3 C. chopped celery with leaves
• 1/3 C. chopped onion

Grease baking dish with crisco. That stuff’s scary, I just use olive oil.

Place mixture in dish, cover with foil or lid and bake 1 hour at 350. If you like, add meat from the giblets before baking. I never mess with this… I like how it turns out without it.

Toast is hurting America.*

It is a waste of time. It is a waste of electricity. It often burns, is often not toasty enough, and is only perfect in its true, untoasted form… the bread form.

* This may seem irrational. I like it that way. Josh and Ray have no good argument why toast is so great, and so while I have no point, that’s the point. Bread as a weather reporting dashboard might just be the reason for toast to exist… but the same could be done with a peanut-butter printer on plain, unburned bread.