Pecan Tortoises and Other Indulgences

 Easy Cheesy


The first is a product called  "Toastabags" which I ran across at the Roelli Cheese Haus on Highway 11, outside Shullsburg, on one of my recent trips to Dubuque, IA. They cost $9.99 for three bags; they are probably cheaper bought on the Internet, but I bought them on impulse because I was so intrigued by the idea.




What they are is basically bags made out of some type of heat-resistant material.



 You slide a cheese sandwich inside the bag, then put the whole bag into your toaster.



About a minute and a half later ... voila ... you have yourself a toasted cheese sandwich.



I tried this, and the sandwiches turn out pretty darn good. This only works with the newer "wide mouth" toasters. The sandwiches turn out best with American (processed) cheese slices, which melt quickly. "Real" cheeses such as cheddar, Swiss, Muenster, etc., don't work well because the bread burns before the cheese melts. The other thing to be aware of is that what you end up with is a toasted cheese sandwich, not a grilled cheese where you butter the outer sides of the bread before cooking in a fry pan or on a griddle. It isn't recommended that you butter the bread with this product. The bags are washable and re-usable, but at some point they do need to be discarded because cheese gets into the corners of the bags and gets icky, etc. But what a neat product if you like toasted cheese sandwiches in a hurry!

Kick Your Bagel Up a Notch

Next up, we have a breakfast item that I like to indulge in once in a while. I first tried this at a Hyatt Hotel in St. Louis. It involves one of my favorite nuts, the pistachio. At about $12 per pound (in the shell mind you), these are definitely a binge. But once in a while, I buy one of those 6-ounce bags you typically find in the produce section of the super market for about $4.50



If you are going to do this, be sure you buy the unsalted variety, for reasons I will explain later. Shell about a 1/4 cup of pistachios and spread them on a small paper plate. Take your favorite sweet bagel (I use Bagels Forever blueberry, but other flavors will work equally well ... cinnamon raisin, cranberry, etc.) Toast half the bagel (save the other half for another time) and give it a good schmear of your favorite sweet cream cheese spread. I use strawberry, but there are other tasty flavors as well. Hold the schmeared bagel upside down and press it into the pistachios. Pair that with a good strong cup of coffee, and you've yourself one mighty fine and indulgent breakfast my friend.



OK, the reason for the unsalted pistachios is because the cream cheese, even though it is sweet, has a lot of sodium in it just because it's cheese. If you use salted pistachios, the resulting bagel nut/schmear will be too salty.

Note: If you don't like pistachios, certainly other nuts will work ... cashews, walnuts, etc. But I like pistachios because they have such a unique flavor, and they are the forgotten nut.

Pecan Tortoise

I had about 8 ounces of pecan halves left from my trip back from Florida this past Spring, and wanted to do something with them before they started to lose their flavor. So I spread them out on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. I melted about 8 ounces of caramels, and drizzled those over the pecans. Then I took three standard Hershey milk chocolate bars and put them in a double boiler contraption I rigged using a sauce pan and Pyrex bowl. Drizzled that over the pecans/melted caramel. Popped it into the fridge overnight, and I had myself one honkin' big Pecan Turtle:



The teaspoon sits next to this so you can get an idea of perspective. Since I have never seen a turtle this big before, I renamed it a Pecan Tortoise. Good, you ask? It's practically impossible to go wrong with pecans, caramel, and chocolate!

Thanks for looking in. Now if  you'll excuse me, I have a shitload of dishes to wash.

Bruce

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