VIVA MEXICO

Well, after starting a blog about cook club, I finally get to write about it! Saturday night we headed over to Nick and Colleen's house for Mexican night. I love doing cook club with Colleen because she is as excited about it as I am. Plus she is the cooking ying to my baking yang! Colin and Melanie as usual brought the apps and this time they were bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos and Tex-Mex pinwheels.. The pinwheels were amazing. Crescent rolls wrapped around jalapeno cheddar, peppers, onions, and more jalapenos. Top those bad boys off with some Mrs. Renfros jalapeno salsa and it's like dropping bites of love into your mouth! Mrs. Renfros seems to be a staple of cook club, if it's at cook club, it's usually topped with it.. If you haven't had it, you don't know what you are missing....
This week Erin and Chester were lucky enough to get an invite, and they brought the most important part of the meal, MARGARITAS.. These aren't Jose Cuervo premixed junk, we're talking Patron, freshly squeezed lime and orange juice, and pomegranate juice. Unfortunately, these guys were a little late and missed all the apps:( Now that they know what cook club is all about, I bet they show up early next time.. But, good ole Colleen was prepared and we had our first batch of margaritas before they arrived.

nick creating a fajita

prepared fajitas

some of Colleen's art



Michael's dinner, perfectly displayed by him



Colleen was in charge of main course tonight and she outdid herself with a showing or fajita toppings that would impress the president of Mexico. She had shredded cheddar, fresh diced jalapenos, cilantro, pickled jalapenos, sour cream, guacamole, fresh avocado, diced red onion,sauteed peppers and onions, corn and black bean salsa, salsa(two kinds), tomato's, limes, lettuce, corn and flour tortillas, and beef, chicken, and pork. The hubby was skeptical that she could pull off a fajita as good as Puerto Vallarta, he ate his words, and fajitas that night! I had added in some Mexican rice as a side( sounds pathetic after that list, huh?) Everything was perfect, it was like being in a Mexican restaurant minus the mariachi band. Nick even made Michael one of his favorite meals, chicken nuggets, tater tots, honey mustard, and Hawaiian Punch. Kudos to Colleen for a fantastic dinner, and she even did the cleaning.  

Next up was the main event for the evening...... FARKLE.. For those of you that haven't played Farkle, its a dice/betting game that is loads of fun. We add in our own special bonus round and farkle sounds and dances to up the fun factor. Amazingly, the winner usually is Michael(he's 7)  



Erin, after the "I've never had creme brulee announcement"



While all the Farkle fun was going on, I prepped my masterpiece for the night, creme brulee. Creme brulee is usually something you have in a restaurant so it's fun to pull these out as a surprise dessert. Turns out, Nick, Colleen, and Chester haven't had creme brulee before! I find this amazing, so did Erin and the hubby. How do you get to the ripe age of 30 without having a creme brulee?? Well, they quickly saw what the buzz was all about. Everyone ended up having two! That's the beauty of cook club, you want it, you got it, no waitress necessary, and you don't have the guilt of feeling like a fat ass when you order your second creme brulee. I found out later on that night that Nello hid four more in our fridge(because they "did not fit in the case to bring over") I can't tell you how many creme brulee I had this weekend, I can just say, I support the dairy farmers of America! Creme brulee's are really easy to make. If you don't have a torch to brulee the top you can always stick them under the broiler. The recipe is as follows,



Nick and Colleen, their "firs time"



6 egg yolks

6 tablespoons white sugar, divided

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons brown sugar( i prefer white)



Preheat oven to 375

Beat egg yolks, 4 tablespoons sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.

Heat cream in a saucepan until just under boiling, stirring constantly.

Remove cream from heat and temper with egg yolks( temper is a cooking term for adding a little in this case cream to the eggs and mixing to avoid scrambling the eggs)

Add the egg/cream mixture to the rest of the heated cream and mix.

There will be some foam on top, strain the foam and discard it.



Pour mixture into shallow, heat proof cups(  I used disposable aluminum cups I found at Ocean State Job Lot for a buck)

Set cups in a deep baking dish, place in oven, and fill baking dish with hot water(this is creating a water bath for equal cooking of the custard)

Cook for 15-20 mins. or until the custard jiggles in the middle.(it shouldn't be liquid, more of a jello jiggle)

Cool in water bath for fifteen minutes, then cool in the fridge for several hours, preferably overnight

When ready to serve top with sugar, and brulee.

I guarantee this will be a show stopper at your next event! 

Colleen and I are setting our sights on Cook Club Christmas edition, and we already have Tailgating Super Bowl plans as well.. Just a reminder folks, you're nothing if you're not prepared! But, before then stay tuned for our next adventure........