Today, instead of telling you how to make something, I am asking for your help. I want to make weiner schnitzel like I had so long ago in Germany, and more recently at HofBrau Haus in Las Vegas. Now, I have some porkchops in the freezer that I can pound thin, and I know I need a mushroom and onion sauce. Beyond that, though, I am asking for your tips. This is what I want it to look like:

Can you tell me how to get there? Pretty please?

I got a great deal tonight, and I want to share the goodness with you. The fact that I will get an egift card when people participate has very little with my pleasure in sharing my good fortune. Ok, maybe a little bit, but only a little, I promise.

First, go here. Set up an account. You don’t have to love the gecko, or even give him money, you just need the account. After you register, you will eventually get an email. It will have a link to a $25 gift certificate to Omaha Steaks. Go pick up that number, but be aware it can take up to several hours for the email to arrive.

Once you have that number, go to Omaha Steaks and enter your email address. In turn, they will give you 12 free burgers with any order. Click “Redeem here” under the picture of the burgers on that same page, and start shopping. I ordered 12 more four ounce burgers for 14.99. Then I applied my $25 gift certificate, and paid a whopping $3.98 by paypal, (shipping is crazy high, so use that gift certificate to cover it) and I will have 24 hamburgers on my door step next Wednesday.

Let me do the math real quick….. 24 burgers, $3.98, that’s less than 17 cents each, roughly four and a quarter cents per ounce. Go get yours before they wake up!

Well, once again this week, I am not going to tell you about something I cooked, but rather about something I ate that someone else cooked. Slacker! It’s not that I don’t cook anymore, but rather that we are so busy with sports right now that I am relying on quick and easy instead of “blog worthy” to feed us. However, when I was in Orlando, there was no sports practice, and there was Ember.

Marisa and I spent a lovely day at Universal with Colleen, Trevor, Andrew and John Chow. After Universal though, it was just me and her. Andrew and Trevor had both left Universal early, John had plans, and Colleen was on her way home. We attempted to go to a Cajun place recommended by Trevor but they were closed. By the way, on the weekend, there is one word for downtown Orlando, and that word is CLOSED. Behold:

See, closed. All closed.

Except for Ember. Ember had opened on Friday night, so we got to be one of the first patrons, and we got plenty of individual attention, since the place was not hopping. After our, experience, though, I have no doubt it will be! We enjoyed the food and there was plenty of it. We each started with soup. I had the potato and cheese:

Ohmyword good!

We shared appetizers, and I seriously wonder about the size of the entrees after sampling the appetizers. Look at this:

Hummus and vegetables

Buffalo chicken–there were EIGHT pieces of chicken there, people.

And the place is just lovely, inside and out.

The outside bar

Inside

And the music is good, too! We heard Kenny Chesney and Madonna and a whole bunch of others while we were there. You just don’t get much more eclectic that that, ykwim? About halfway through the meal, I looked at Marisa and said, “we have to tell Ted about this place, it would be great to have a party here during IZEAfest next year”, and then I got up to take pictures of the place. And doncha know, before I could get this post typed up, he and Tara had already found it? Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did, Ted!

Oh, one more thing, a gratuitous still life, because I want to be just like Alli when I grow up.

Today, I am not going to give you a recipe and I am not going to review a cookbook. Instead I am going to tell you about two cakes I have eaten lately. Yes, cakes from the store, not from my kitchen. First up is the new Golden Sponge Cake from Weight Watchers.

As you know, I have been trying to diet lately, with more or less success depending on the day and my motivation, so I jumped at the opportunity to test these. Now, if you are a twinkie fan, this is your cake. It is the epitome of the twinkie, and that was my first thought when I bit into it. My second that was “ewwww’ because I am one of the 14 Americans who detests twinkies. Sorry. Please don’t judge me, and I won’t judge you. I will admit that I did eat a second one a couple of days later because I needed something quick and easy, and I didn’t shudder, so maybe twinkies grow on you or something. At only 80 calories, it’s a nice treat, though, and it’s small enough that I would even let the kids have one for snack. The regular twinkies are just way more junk food than I want them to have an hour before dinner.

The next batch of cakes, I would have been way calorie-smarter to not even taste. Downey’s cakes pack about 400 calories per serving, but they are so good. My friend brought them over to taste test, and be assured, there is nothing twinkie-esque about them. No, no, no. There are six varieties and we tried the three you see above. (Click to embiggen.) We both preferred the Lemon Vodka cake over the others. It was so moist and so lemony, and I plan to try to re-create that one here at home. After I lose a bit more weight. The very best thing about these cakes is the cost: at around $4 for a single serving, they are way spendier than I deem appropriate for every day consumption.

So, now that you have read about my cakes, tell me about yours. What is you favorite store bought cake?

Technorati Tags: cakes, Golden Sponge Cake from Weight Watchers, Downey’s cakes

As you read this, I am most likely winging my way toward Orlando. I came very close to just NOT posting while I was gone, and then I remembered that there are folks who come here just to read the series posts, and that skipping both of them this week was probably NOT the best option. So: here I am on Tuesday, typing to you for Thursday, and today my topic is clear glass jars.

You know, as a mom, there is just a comforting feeling about walking into my kitchen and seeing food there. It’s a … good feeling, like warm cookies. And I think food is pretty to look at. So, now on my counters instead of regular canisters, I use these:

I bought one as a cookie jar (currently empty), as you may recall, and then a month-ish ago, I decided I really wanted to use them as useful decor in my kitchen, and determined to by one now and again until I had enough. And then, the miracle of freecycle happened. A lady announced that she had several “glass food storage jars”. Emails ensued, and eventually my husband picked up her jars, and they are exactly like the one I had purchased and intended to buy more of. Let me take a minute to remind us all that God said He delights to give us the desires of our hearts.

Do you like your canisters? Are they clear or fancy? And what do you keep in yours? Will you show us?

If you have been following my little Thursday series for any length of time, you know I love seafood. I especially enjoy local seafood, and living so near the coast, when I eat fresh, local seafood, it is FRESH! BTW, did you know that you can tell how fresh a fish is by looking at the eyes? As the fish ages, the eyes cloud over. Beware of buying fish with the heads cut off at a fresh fish market. That’s not how they usually sell it. Since they sell by weight, they make more if the heads are on. The only reason to cut them off is to hide something, and now you know what that something is. Also, even though you buy it head and scale on, they will usually clean it for you while you wait, or at least my local place will. Dang. Now I want seafood again. I might have to pay them a visit tomorrow night instead of just blogging about them today; I don’t have time to go get it and cook it before practice tonight, and I like to cook mine the same day I buy it. River in the morning, on the plate in front of me by dinnertime. And boy, did I ever get sidetracked there.

Back to the seafood cook off. Today, I visited the Great American Seafood Cook Off site, and voted for the Shrimp and Andouille Cassoulet by Louisianian Brian Landry. That was an easy choice for me because I love andouille sausage. The perfect hot-ness and the flavor, oh my! And also shrimp, but I figured that part might could go without saying. I like that I can substitute bacon or smoked sausage for the andouille, because I can’t always find that. But seriously, how could I not vote for a dish that looks like this?

I also entered the contest for a trip to New Orleans. Because. Hello! New Orleans! Only, please, after hurricane season. Geez Louise! And Gustav!

And yes, I am looking at Hanna, thanks for asking. And Ivan, too. And also, Josephine. Any of ya’ll live a little more inland, and want to host a family of NINE for a week or so?

This weeks menus are made, and I thought I would share. Sometimes I get to it too late to post! We’ll be having

• fried chicken
• chicken and rice casserole
• chicken and pastry
• manicotti
• pork roast
• BBQ sandwiches
• sloppy joes

Lots of quick and easy, because, HEY, football!

Well, it’s Thursday again, isn’t it? Must be time to talk about food here on Cass Knits! First off, have you tried Jasmine Rice? I finally bought some last month! I’d been curious for quite a while as to what the difference could possibly be, and I had always just substituted regular white rice for it in recipes. Well, that won’t be happening anymore, because jasmine rice is a whole new taste world! It’s sweet, and the grains separate very well, and I like it, yes, I do. And it is especially delightful with seafood!

Jasmine Rice with Seafood

2 cups jasmine rice
3 cups water
1 lb imitation crab meat
1 lb scallops
5-6 slices of cooked bacon, torn into bite sized pieces
lemon pepper

Start the water boiling, and cook the rice. While it is cooking, throw the bacon and scallops into a frying pan. Cook them until the scallops are done. That won’t take but a few minutes.

When the scallops are done, put the imitation crab meat in the skillet, add some lemon pepper and stir it all together to mix.

When the rice is done, tip it into the skillet and mix again. Call the crew, and smirk in Rachel Ray’s direction as you serve this 25 minute meal. Just Kidding, ya’ll. I love me some Rachel.