The Oaks

This is the most beautiful setting for a restaurant I have ever seen. Our family has a summer tradition to spent time here as much as we can. The food is great. The menu is mostly sandwiches, soups, salads, and burgers, but the dining experience at The Oaks is very special. This is not fast food. The quality is superb.

The Oaks is located a few miles up Ogden Canyon.  Ogden Canyon is beautiful any time of year.  The outside tables are set in little kiosks among the trees. There is also inside dining during the winter. The Fall is spectacular with all the colors. Summer is cool on the patio next to the Ogden River. The sound of the river going by is very soothing. There are hummingbird feeders at the tables and you can just about count on a visit from these wonderful little birds. The ice cream here is famous, and many people come here especially for the ice cream. We usually have ice cream after dinner.

Don’t miss this special dining experience.  

Chips and lime.

This is possibly the most important entry on this blog.

Chips and line are a STAPLE food in our house. If we’ve rented a movie, if it’s someone’s birthday, if someone’s coming to visit, if someone needs a snack, ANYTIME I can think of, someone in my family will make chips with lime.

Nothing, and I really mean nothing, could ever be more simple than this. But you’re going to love it. Anybody who’s ever tried chips and lime in my house has gone on to make it regularly in their own house. Many people tell me they make chips and lime better than I do now.

We’ll see.

This is a Mexican treat, and this is the way folks in Mexico like to eat potato chips. In fact, many bags of chips in vending machines or at convenience stores in Mexico, come with little foil packets of lime juice and hot sauce.

People who try this in my home return to their own homes and try to make Chips with Lime almost immediately. So I’m going to teach you. Pay close attention:

Here’s what you do:

Step One: Get a bag (start with a regular family size bag) of REGULAR potato chips. (This recipe can be done with corn chips, but I believe that makes this an entirely different recipe).

Step Two: Dump the bag of chips into a large serving bowl.

Step Three: Cut a lime in half and squeeze it over all the chips.

Step Four: Generously squirt hot sauce over the whole mess. We like Tapatio hot sauce, but I relucantly will tell you that you can use any hot sauce you like.

Now, at this point, I consider the chips ready for consumption. But my kids disagree. Each one of my kids have developed their own take on chips and lime. When my sons make chips and lime, they put a plate over the serving bowl and shake it all up to evenly distribute the lime and hot sauce.

Finally, remember these Chips with Lime rules:

You can’t use lemons.

You can’t use powdered chili.

You can CHOOSE how much lime to use and how much hot sauce to use.

You can CHOOSE how much to shake them before serving.

You MUST share.

Croquetas de Atun.

Fast and fun and easy.

My croquetas are tuna and potato rolls. Rolled in spicy breadcrumbs and browned in oil, they are a fun meal served with rice and vegetables.

Start by boiling four small potatoes. (for this version of the recipe)

Mash with one can of tuna.

Add salt and pepper.

Add grated cheese. (I use mozzarella)

Add one egg to bind it all together.

Form into little logs.

Roll carefully in bread crumbs.

Heat and oil a frying pan.

Carefully toast croquetas in the oil.

That’s it! You’re ready for a fun meal. It’s great and tasty and nutritious. In our family we put Worcestershire sauce on our croquetas, but we’ve been known to use soy sauce as well.

White Chip Cocoa cookies

These cookies made me famous.

Even I love to eat these cookies. They are so delicious I can’t even begin to explain. And they are very attractive cookies too. They always cook up nice and fluffy, and never turn out flat.

Lots of my friends and family have had great success with these cookies.
No matter how many cookies I make, they disappear in a big hurry after I’m done baking them. Sometimes they even disappear faster if my family can get to the cookie dough. These cookies look as good as they taste. They are dark chocolate cocoa cookies with white chocolate chips. They haven’t really got a name. We just call them “Those cookies”.

Here’s the recipe:

Dry ingredients:

2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup Nestle toll house baking cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

Wet ingredients:

1 cup ( 2 sticks ) butter or margarine / softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups ( 12 – ounce pkg ) Nestle toll premium white morsels.

Mix up all dry ingredients (by hand) and set aside.

Beat: Butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until creamy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Gradually beat in dry ingredient mixture. Stir in morsels.

Drop by well-rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 9 to 11 minutes. 9 minutes gives you soft cookies, more than 10 gives you crunchy cookies. Let stand for 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Café Rio

If no one can agree on where to go to eat, someone will eventually say, “Café Rio?” and everyone will suddenly agree. Café Rio is absolutely one of my favorite places to go for dinner. Café Rio is home-style Mexican food.

I suppose that Café Rio is technically fast food, but the quality of the food is top notch. There are always lots of people here, but we never wait too long in line, and we’ve never had a problem finding a table.

A lot of people ask me if I like to come to Café Rio because I’m from Mexico and therefore I want to find good Mexican food.
Nope.
I just come to Café Rio because I love the food here period.
But as Mexican food goes, there are some things here that make me happy. I love their Horchata. Horchata is rice water, and when it’s made right, it’s very very delicious. It’s hard to find good horchata here in the States. But in general I find the preparation of the food at Café Rio very appealing to the Mexican palate.

I will say that I brought my mother to Café Rio when she came to visit, and she was very impressed. My sister and her family came from Mexico to see us, and they were wowed by Café Rio. So I guess you can say that Café Rio scores points with the Mexican population.

My favorite dish is the steak tostada on a corn tortilla. The burritos are huge and very filling. I love that the flour tortillas are fresh and made right before your eyes.  I’ve always wanted to request one just to take home. Maybe I’ll try that on our next visit.

Sounds like I have a reason to go back soon!

If you love Cafe Rio, then go try The Oaks! ( <-- click there to visit my entry on The Oaks)

Meat Salad

Whenever I can’t think of what I want to make for dinner, my family will always say, “Make meat salad!”

Yep, Meat Salad. Simple name, simple meal.  It’s fast, it’s easy, and it’s delicious. The only hard part is making the video, but I’m learning and they will get better over time.
This is not a Caesar salad. I let my family put their favorite dressing on once the salad is served. This salad is sometimes made with beef and sometimes with chicken. I get the feeling from my family that they prefer the beef.

This is a very easy meal. It’s very quick and complete.

Start with a salad. Any green salad you like. I’m not going to tell you how to make a salad. Just get some lettuce. Maybe add some of your other favorite vegetables.

I like to add Salad toppings or seasoning.

When I make this salad with beef, I often use fajita meat. On special occasions I buy a nice selection of steaks.  I marinate the meat while I prepare the salad and set the table.
The marinade is a combination of vinegar, olive oil, and beef marinade seasoning.

Then I brown the meat. If I’m using steak, I cut the grilled steaks into strips.

Obviously the browned fajita meat is then added to the salad. The meat must be added right when the salad is ready to be served or the meat will wilt the lettuce.

This is a familiar meal. It’s a lot like a Caesar  salad. Caesar Salad just a salad with caesar dressing and grilled chicken.

If you go to Applebee’s, you can have a Ceaser Salad with steak on top, and they’ll cut up an actual steak on your salad.

At my house you’ll have some fajita meat in your salad, but I promise you’ll like it. Or some great grilled chicken. We do that sometimes too.