Adventurous Ingredients

Wow!  Can’t believe how the time has gotten away from me!  Not much news to report, except that I am now a working girl!  I got hired on as a temporary test kitchen professional at Oxmoor House.  They are the cookbook publisher for Cooking Light, Southern Living, Weight Watchers, General Mills, and Pillsbury.  I’ve only been there for one week, and I love it!  All the people have been so helpful and friendly.  Everyone wants to make sure that I am learning everything I can, and no one is every hesitant to answer a question.  I really hope it turns into a permanent position.

On the home front, we have our house unpacked (except for a few boxes of William’s stuff…), and we’ve finally hosted a party!  We had a few friends over last weekend for William’s birthday.  It was nice that I had not yet started my job, because I was CRAZY busy with all the cooking and cleaning.  It was well worth it to see everyone enjoying the homemade guacamole, the buffalo-citrus grilled chicken skewers, the polenta squares topped with Cajun grilled shrimp, and of course the caramel cake.

We’ve recently discovered the joys of bison.  This is coming from a girl who a few years ago wouldn’t touch ground beef or steak.  I guess the Southern gentleman I married has had a little influence on me. ;-)

Last night we enjoyed grilled bok choy drizzled with a bit of sherry vinegar, grilled broccoli and corn on the cob (also grilled, of course).  This was served alongside some delicious bison burgers.  We grilled the meat to our liking (on the rarer side of things), and then moved them to the top rack of the grill.  They were sprinkled with some goat cheese and drizzled with a touch of white truffle infused olive oil.  We closed the lid on the grill to let the cheese melt a little.  We added some mixed greens and thinly sliced, locally grown tomatoes…OH MY GOODNESS…..heaven.  The combination of truffle oil and goat cheese was more than perfect on the bison, which has a much “cleaner” flavor than beef.  It made for a very healthy yet seemingly decadent Saturday night meal. 

What’s your favorite “adventurous” ingredient???