use real butter

If you will recall, Jen’s First Rule of Entertaining is: Never try a new recipe on guests for the first time. I broke the first rule, but I more than made up for it with Jen’s Second Rule of Entertaining: Never run out of food and beverages. We had a great showing of guests with good appetites. Afterall, my theme was: Come ruin your dinner with us. They put a big dent in the food, but we’ll still be noshing party food for the next few days. I learned that my neighbor likes the same gin that I do (Bombay Sapphire), and that my other neighbors are total non-cook foodies who volunteered to be my taste testers, and that all of our neighbors are chocolate junkies. I am not a beer drinker, but I try to provide good beer when I have folks over. I picked up some Boulder Beer Copper Ale and a six of this Ft. Collins Chocolate Stout. I didn’t try the stout, but everyone who drank it liked it. I have two leftover and I must say I am excited by this fact – because stout and chocolate are two kick ass ingredients in Good Chili.

I now have five new recipes to add to my photo recipe collection.

**Jump for more butter**

It’s a little nerve wracking to have to bake at elevation when your experience is based solely on sea-level baking.  But…

tonight I turned this baby

into this little number

heather, babe – this one’s for you

I’m exhausted. I’ve been cooking all day. But yay for the Little Experiment!

I read that I should be planting garlic this month. Hmmmm. Maybe I should ask Jeremy to swing by the farmer’s market tomorrow on his way to the bus station and buy a few good looking bulbs of garlic? But he doesn’t really know what to shop for in garlic and I don’t think he’s comfortable asking the vendor about garlic flavor… I guess I should go and clear out the random weeds growing on the plot and cordon off the composting area. I have too much green composting and not enough brown composting.

For dinnah, we had turkey burgers. I can get ground turkey meat at the Wild Oats counter in either breast meat or thigh meat. Ground breast meat tends to be most common, but I personally think the flavor (and cost!) of thigh meat is far better. Especially for burgers, the ground thigh meat results in a more juicy burger. It’s lean because it’s organic and if I can’t find organic, at least “natural” (minimally processed) is better than those national brands with “added flavorings”.

ground turkey, minced onion, minced parsley, garlic powder, pepper, salt

great with a slice of swiss at the end of grilling