An unreasonable fascimile

A few weeks ago when Ben was visiting, we went to one of my favorite (ok, I'm obsessed) restaurants called Bien Trucha. It's ridiculously small and you have to get there before they open and wait in line if you want to get a table, but the food is so good and the atmosphere unpretentious enough that I completely forgive them for it. I describe them as haute gourmet Mexican food. Anyway, I came home last night from work and found myself trying to recreate a few items on their menu, most notably their version of Mexican corn, esquites (also called elote). I can only describe it as magical corn - I don't really know what all the flavors are or how they do it, but this is the best corn you will ever eat. Mine wasn't quite magical, but it was still pretty delicious. Don't tell Andy but I put a little bit of sour cream in it and he thought it was delicious. Andy, if you're reading this I just made that part up.

Grilled skirt steak, grilled onions and peppers, yellow sweet tomatoes, queso fresco, and almost-magic corn.

Grilled peaches with honey cream cheese for dessert.

I also have a great belly/Ozzie picture to post, but I'm a little sheepish to put it up after talking about all this food. I promise there's more than tons of food in there. I think I"ll just post it on the other blog. 

Raw and Unedited - Fruits and Veggies

It seems that Lisa's culinary entrance has shocked all into a state of summer salad stupor. Due to the dearth of food posts I have no other choice than to post photos of cute kids with huge fruits and veggies. These were all harvested on the estate.

Two apples for two apples of my eye

Kohlrabi the size of your stomach

A David summer classic

I've been eating a lot of chicken this summer, and finally reached a point last week where I couldn't stomach the thought of more chicken for dinner. That's when I remembered the grilled tuna steaks that David made a few times when he lived at home after college. I grilled the tuna and chopped up some tomatoes and onion to put on top. I also grilled some zucchini fries, which tasted amazing! All in all, it was a perfect dinner for a warm summer evening

My first attempt at fancy food

Well, by now you may have all noticed that I'm not quite as culinarily (I know that's not really a word, but just work with me) inclined as all of you. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the only post I've contributed to this blog was filled with pictures of food that I had no part in preparing. So, Steve and Rachel took matters into their own hands and gave me a subscription to Cuisine at Home magazine for my birthday so that I too could venture into the world of food that doesn't come in a box. Without further ado, I give you...MARGHERITA PASTA WITH GRILLED CHICKEN



I was planning on taking pictures along the way so you could see the progress of this fantastic dish, but I kind of forgot. The dish consists of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, garlic, pine nuts, and chicken and is dressed with olive oil. I added a little lemon juice and salt at the end which gave it a good kick. I only set the smoke alarm off three times (I had some problems toasting the pine nuts), so I'm calling this a successful first try!

Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes

Once again, Strawberries are in abundance at the Barnhart house. But this year the girls both know how to pick them when they're ripe. Peter doesn't care yet (though he does care for ripe strawberries and, incidentally, sour green apples).


One of our favorite ways to use strawberries is to make Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes. These are rich and hearty, with a good balance of flavors and contrasting textures. The pancakes have cottage cheese in them and are substantial. Strawberries, graham cracker crust crumbles and sweetened sour cream top it off nicely. We'll happily eat this for any meal.

Thanks to Cuisine at Home for the original recipe.

Pizza Perfect

Well, it's time for the monthly gastronomic grub gala and this time it's just a little pizza to get your appetite worked up. A little pizza and a big pizza pan, that is. On our road trip down south earlier this year, we stopped at the Lodge factory store and picked up...yes... a Cast Iron pizza pan. As you see in the picture it isn't the biggest pan they make, but it's big enough.


I've been trying different methods with the pan and this one was one of my favorites. I preheat the pan and make up the pizza on a peel dusted with cornmeal. Then I slide the pizza onto the hot, freshly greased cast iron and pop the sizzling pie into the oven until its pepperonis are piping hot. The photo almost speaks for itself, but not quite.

For Your Culinary Indulgence, I Give You... Cherry Chip Cake

Yes, you read it right - Cherry Chip Cake. The kind that comes in a box and sometimes goes on sale for less than a dollar. Now, before you cast all manner of shame in my general direction, please consider these points.

• Cherry chip cake brings back fond childhood memories, especially if you are my wife.

• It was Mother's Day and we needed a cake.

• The cake can be (and was) upgraded.

If you still aren't ok with it, just look at the picture for a short while and see if you don't start rummaging for an available cake mix.

Now you may be saying 'this doesn't look like cherry chip cake at all, maybe carrot cake or spice cake' but I can tell you that it is cherry chip though it does share something in common with carrot cake. It is frosted with cream cheese frosting - almond cream cheese frosting. The cake itself is bespeckled with flax since we substitute hydrated flax seeds for the egg. The flax is due to allergies, but it also happens to be cheap, very nutritious, and results in a somewhat denser and moister cake. I think it's an improvement. We paired the frosting with bitter-sweet chocolate chips.

The vanilla ice cream actually wasn't all that good with this cake, but it looks nice for the picture, right? This cake goes very well with a game of Mille Bornes. So there you have it - resourcefulness and a trip to the pantry makes pictures you can post to the high-brow food blog and a fun night (oh yeah, and a way to celebrate Mother's Day).