Most Definitely Edible Mushrooms

On a recent hike, Mr. N and I stumbled across a very interesting looking yellow mushroom. The always curious Mr. N decided to pick up a book on mushrooms so we could learn more about it. I think knowing that some mushrooms are poisonous was interesting to him. Unfortunately, we didn’t take a very good picture of it, but the closest we could find based on our memory was the Hygrophorus vitellinus. However, it looked a bit like the image of the Death Cap we found on this page. As long as we’re not sure, we’re going to stick with mushrooms we know are edible–Portabellos!

These portabello wraps are easy and healthy and used to be a staple in our dinner routine for those nights we didn’t want to waste many calories, but one time I put too much black pepper on them and Kristy swore them off for a while.  After a long hiatus, though, she let me make them again. They’re good, healthy, and really filling.

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Almost Perfect Father’s Day

I had two things I wanted to do on Father’s Day–play golf with my dad and try out the new smoker.  The problem is, smoking and golf both take a long time.  But dad got an early tee time and I figured five hours would be just enough to have dinner ready by six.  Golf was the almost perfect part–I missed my first career ace by less than the width of the ball.  185 yards with a 6-iron on the 15th hole and I hit the edge of the cup on the fly, but it spun out to about 8 feet.  (Sadly I missed the putt.)  Still, it’s always great to play golf with my dad.

As for the smoker, well, that was pretty darn near perfect too.  We got three slabs of ribs from Costco. I thought there were only two in the package, so when we opened them last night and saw how many ribs we had, we quickly called mom’s parents to join us for Father’s day dinner.  Step one was to make the rub, which we did the day before.

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It’s Always Sunny with Philly Cheesesteak

The Philly Phanatic

This meal was all ChefDad, so he’ll share this one in his own words. 🙂

Today we head to Pennsylvania for Philly Cheesesteaks, and if Ribbie and Roobarb merit a spot on this blog, surely we can find room for a true legend among mascots–the Philly Phanatic. I’ve had a taste for a Philly Cheesesteak for the last couple of weeks, though I confess to limited experience with them. We did order cheesesteaks at the old Veteran’s Stadium back in 2003, though I suspect mom was too busy taking pictures of Kyle Farnsworth to pay much attention to her meal.

The internet’s not much help for cheesesteak recipes–it seems there is no universal formula beyond thinly sliced beef, cheese and bread. Nevertheless I felt confident as I began this undertaking, as mom said to Mr. N, “He’s been to Philadelphia once and he thinks he knows how to make cheesesteaks.” Yes I did. We settled on a set of toppings–onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. Continue reading