How you doin’? It isn’t too often that I find a recipe on someone else’s blog that I feel I have to make immediately. That was the case with this recipe that I sourced from the National Peanut Board (NPB) LinkedIn site.
 
As many of you know, we have worked with the NPB for years and they always have great recipes that are home meal maker easy—we have created many of them.
 
Peanuts have so much going for them—they’re healthy, they’re versatile and they taste great in all their forms—from nut butters to roasted in the shell to dips and salsas and even salad dressing like the one included in this recipe. And oh, by the way, my favorite Butterfinger bars and Chocolate peanut butter cups are included in my personal favorites. It seems the peanut possibilities are endless.

The Peanut Butter Lime Dressing included in this recipe can be used “as is” or as a dressing on other salad styles or as a satay-style sauce for chicken wings, skewered pork or beef strips.  Make a little extra and keep it in the frig.
 
Prep time:  45 minutes
Cook time  15 minutes
Chill time:  30 minutes
Yield:  6 to 8 servings
 
Ingredients 
For the Peanut Butter Lime Dressing
1/2 cup smooth, natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon honey or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons ice water, plus extra
 
For the Charred Corn Slaw
3 ears of corn, husks and silks removed
1 small head green cabbage (about 2 ½ pounds), cored and finely shredded
1 large carrot, peeled into ribbons
1 red bell pepper, cored and finely sliced
4 finely sliced green onions
1/4 cup finely sliced fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup roughly chopped roasted and salted peanuts
 
Directions 
To make the Peanut Butter Lime Dressing

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a sharp “S” blade, combine the peanut butter, garlic, ginger, lime zest, lime juice, honey, cumin, salt and pepper. Pulse the food processor a couple of times to combine.
2. With the motor running, pour the ice water in through the feed tube. The dressing should pale in color, resulting in a slightly fluid, but still creamy texture.
3. Add more water by the teaspoon, if necessary. Once it’s at the proper consistency, check the dressing for seasoning and adjust to taste. Set it aside.

To make the Charred Corn Slaw

1. Bring a medium-large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the corn to the water and place the lid on top.
2. Boil the corn until tender, about 8-10 minutes. Carefully remove the corn from the pot with tongs and place it on a paper towel lined plate.
3. Preheat the grill to high. Place the drained corn directly on the grates and grill, rotating the cobs until char marks appear on all sides, about 6-7 minutes.
4. Remove the corn from the grill and place it back on the plate, allowing it to cool a bit.

To assemble the slaw

1. In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, carrot ribbons, red bell pepper, green onions and mint.
2. Carefully cut the charred corn kernels off the cobs and add them to the large bowl as well.
3. Pour the Peanut Butter Lime Dressing over the vegetables.
4. Add pinches of salt and pepper and lightly toss to combine the charred corn slaw.
5. Garnish the top of the slaw with the chopped roasted peanuts, green onions and mint.

ChefSecret:  You could prepare all of the ingredients up to 2 days in advance. Cut everything except for the mint, place it all in your serving bowl and cover the top. Place the dressing, mint, and chopped peanuts in separate containers. Then, just thoroughly toss everything with a good pinch of salt and pepper at your destination! If you don’t have a grill, you can char the corn in a grill pan or a cast iron skillet. My grill grates are well-seasoned cast iron, so I didn’t need to apply any oil to the corn before grilling. If you have regular steel grates, you may have to give them a spritz of oil.

Quip of the Day:  The mama corn wasn’t worried about her chubby son. “He’s not fat,” she said, “he’s just a little husky.”
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#Salad #Entree#CharredCornSlaw #PeanutButterLimeDressing #Peanuts #PeanutButter #NPB #NationalPeanutBoard #CoolSummerSalads #Summertime #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                                                                   ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

How you doin’? When my dad was running concessions at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, I got hooked on going to rodeo events when they came to town. I loved to be around the horses... they are truly magnificent animals. 
 
Cassie, our hotel general manager, has kids who are active and winners on the rodeo circuit. Last fall, Joan and I met up with her family at South Point Hotel and Casino where they have rodeo events several times a month. It’s always exciting to watch these brave equestrians, but even more so when they are kids you know. Now we go there several times per month to watch these beautiful creatures and their handlers in action.
 
These rodeo goers travel all around the United States on the circuit competing for prizes from “just for the hell of it” to a million dollars.  Last week I had one of the rodeo moms tell me that it an expensive hobby and the least expensive part of the sport is buying the horse!
 
When Perspectives was designing the bar program at Universal City for the Cripple Creek Saloon—a cowboy bar at the Los Angeles theme park—we developed this recipe that I still make at home today. It pairs perfectly with my 14-hour Texas-style smoked beef ribs.

So put on your best 10-gallon hat, that special belt buckle, spit-shined shit-kickers (cowboy boots) and chaps… then belly up to the bar and enjoy a Rhinestone Cowboy Cocktail. Now, that’s what you call “Cowboying!”
 
Prep time:  7 minutes
Yield:  1 cocktail
 
Ingredients 
1-1/4 ounce white rum
1 ounce Bacardi Dark rum
1 ounce apricot brandy
2 ounces fresh orange juice
2 ounces pineapple juice
1/2 ounce Sloe Gin
1/2 ounce 151 Proof Rum
Orange peel
 
Directions

1. Fill a bucket glass with scooped crushed ice.
2. Build the cocktail over the ice starting with the white rum, Bacardi, apricot brandy and orange and pineapple juices.
3. Over the back of a spoon slowly bleed the Sloe Gin over the ice.
4. Float the 151 rum on top of the Sloe Gin.
5. Garnish with a slice of  orange peel.
6. Carefully light the 151 and serve.

ChefSecret:  Because of its high alcohol content, Bacardi 151 is particularly flammable among liquors. For this reason it was often used as the ignition source for "flaming shots" and cocktails.

Quip of the Day:  On the rodeo circuit the more secure way to double your money is by folding it in half and putting it back into your pocket.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

​#Cocktail #HappyHour #RhinestoneCowboy #Rum #151Proof #SloeGin #Bacardi #SummertimeHappyHour #Cheers #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup  

                                                                               ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

How you doin’? Many years ago a couple of young guys had a dream to open a restaurant in Marina del Rey, California. It was designed to look like an enchanting South Seas warehouse where copra may have been stored during the latter part of the 19th century. The two of us came from the motion picture industry—we were true visionaries. We may have been visionaries in the entertainment industry, but neither of us new a damn thing about restaurants, cooking and providing good service. I was a good eater and my partner had run a lemonade stand when he was eight, but that didn’t deter us… we built it hoping that if we did customers would come. And come they did.
 
Opening night was an auspicious occasion. We prepared to serve 100 guests that first night and managed stumble through over 700 people running out of everything but chicken—Open Grill Chicken. And so, that was the genesis of my first restaurant. We learned a lot that first night and the weeks and months that followed. Soon we were running a finely tuned machine with 2 hour waits to get a seat in our 350-seat, 12,000 square foot restaurant.
 
As sometimes happens the two of us eventually went our separate ways. I went on to open over 350 restaurants and my partner continued to operate the original. The saga has continued through these many years and earlier this year I went back for the first time in 30 years. The menu was different, the service standards had changed, and it wasn’t the shiniest new penny on the block, but despite the passage of years and the ravages of the pandemic the old lady survived and hopefully will be there for many years to come.
 
My recipe for Open Grill Chicken has been a staple in my home for many years and now for the first time I’m willing to share it with you—and you only.  Don’t give away the secret—this is just between you and me.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Marinate time: Let the marinade do its thing for at least 4 hours up to 24 hours
Cook time:  15 to 20 minutes
Yield time:  various—allow 3 pieces of chicken per person
 
Ingredients
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup peanut cooking oil (you can use vegetable oil as well)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning (I prefer Penzey’s spices)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2  teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Bone-in chicken pieces (up to 24 pieces)
 
Directions

1. Beat the egg.
2. Add the oil and beat again.
3. Whisk together all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
4. Add chicken pieces and toss to coat.
5. Cover and refrigerate the marinating chicken for at least 4, and up to 24 hours.
6. Remove chicken from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking to allow it to lose its internal chill. This will allow it to cook more evenly.
7. Place coated chicken on a medium-high charcoal or gas grill.
8. Reserve any leftover marinade.
9. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes flipping and basting the chicken with leftover sauce every five minutes. Basting should be light at first and grow heavier toward the end of cooking.
10. Cook until internal temperature of the chicken pieces reaches 165⁰ F.
11. Let chicken stand for 5 minutes before serving.

​ChefSecret:  You can add any shake-on spice flavors that suit your whims—barbecue seasoning for a Texas touch; za’atar seasoning for a Mediterranean flavor; 5-spice seasoning for a Chinese taste.

Quip of the Day:  Q: Why do chickens make great banjo players? A: Because they are great pluckers!
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Do you have a question or comment?  Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
-------------------------------------------
To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#Entree #GrilledChicken #GrilledFoods #SummerFavoriteChicken #MarinatedGrilledChicken #ChickenRecipes #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup  
 
                                                                              ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

How you doin’? One of my favorite things to do this time of year is go to state fairs and eat, eat and EAT! Let’s be honest, isn’t that why you go to the fair? State Fairs just wouldn’t be the same without “fair food” and fair food is great food.
 
The Wisconsin State Fair kicked off on  August 1st. This is Joan’s hometown fair and that explains a lot. This year the Wisconsin State Fair celebrated 173 years (Joan is considerably younger than that but has great fair memories nevertheless), and Joan's cousins' -- The Lepeskas -- were honored for 150 years of family owned and operated farm in Stitzer, Wisconsin.

Cream puffs are a recent addition, only being around for the last 100 years. This year is the 100th Birthday for the Original Cream Puff at the Wisconsin State Fair. This treat has been sold at the Wisconsin State Fair since 1924. It’s the most popular food item for fairgoers every year. With all of the “cafeteria ladies” pitching in to get them to all the hungry fair goers. 
 
How good are they? Here's a tasty fact—the  Wisconsin State Fair sells approximately 30,000 Original Cream Puffs each day during the fair—count ‘em—30,000 a day!
 
This year, the Wisconsin State Fair released brand new, limited-edition flavors throughout the fair including Root Beer Float Cream Puffs, Raspberry Cheesecake Cream Puffs, English Toffee Cream Puffs and Chocolate Birthday Cake Cream Puff. The Original Cream Puff was also available. You can find the original fair cream puff recipe further down in this blog.
 
But you can’t live on cream puffs alone. At the fair this year you could have found hundreds of locations offering over a thousand food and beverage menu choices, it’s little wonder that food is one of the top reasons people visit the State Fair.
 
A few of the newer items were Alligator Tacos--A taco shell filled with alligator meat that is smoked, chopped and seasoned with taco seasoning served with Cajun sour cream, cheese, salsa and jalapeños. Then there were the Asian Sweet & Sticky Tots slathered in a sauce that has hoisin, Asian chili, rice vinegar, sesame oil and ginger, and topped with scallions and sesame seeds.
 
And my favorite savory food from this fair was the Beer Cheese and Brat Spud Muffin. With a nod  to Wisconsin tradition, it combines beer, cheese and brats to create a fun take on a potato pancake—a spud muffin! The Beer Cheese and Brat Spud Muffin features a cheesy hashbrown mixture, infused with beer cheese and bratwurst, baked in muffin pans to form this delicious snack.

Then there was the Cool Ranch Doritos Pickle! This large dill pickle was spiral-cut on-a-stick, rolled into crushed up Cool Ranch Doritos, and you guessed it, deep-fried. Served up with ranch dressing for dipping.

Unfortunately, we missed this year's fair by a day (it ended yesterday), but be sure to mark your calendars for 2025... 7/31/25-8/10/25 West Allis, Wisconsin. 

                                      Wisconsin State Fair Cream Puffs
Here is the basic state fair cream puff recipe you can use as the base for your creative rendition.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Bake time:  35 minutes
Cool time:  45 minutes
Fill time:  10 minutes
Yield:  12 cream puffs
 
Ingredients
For the puffs
1 cup water
4 tablespoons (1/2-stick) unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sifted flour
4 large eggs
1 lightly beaten large egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
2 cups whipped cream filling
 
For the whipped cream
1 cup whipping cream (see ChefSecret)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon confectioners’ (or sweetened to taste)
 
Directions
To make the puffs

1. Put the water into heavy saucepan. Add the butter that has been cut into small pieces. Add the salt.
2. Heat over medium-low heat so butter melts before water boils. Bring water just to a boil.
3. Remove the pan from heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until dough forms into a ball at the bottom of pan. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
4. Preheat an oven to 375⁰ F.
5. Add the whole eggs to the dough, beating in one egg at a time. Dough should be stiff but smooth.
6. Immediately drop 1/4-cupfuls of dough 3 inches apart on parchment lined sheet pans.

Note: For a neater appearance, use a pastry bag with a 3/4-inch plain tip and pipe dough onto baking sheet.

1. In small bowl, combine the egg yolk and milk.
2. Brush each puff with the glazing mixture, taking care not to let liquid drop onto pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes until puffed, golden brown and firm.
4. Cool puffs on wire racks, pricking each with a cake tester or toothpick to allow steam to escape; or leave them in turned-off oven with door dropped open for about an hour until firm.

Note: If baked pastry is filled before it is cool and firm, it will be soggy and may collapse. Baked puffs should have hollow, moist interiors and crisp outer shells that are lightly browned.

1. Cut off the tops and fill with whipped cream (use a pastry bag with star tip or scoop with a large spoon). Replace tops of puffs and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

To make the whipped cream filling

1. Chill a bowl and the beaters.
2. Add the whipping cream and beat on high.
3. When the cream begins to hold shape add the vanilla extract and sugar.  
4. Stop beating just before cream gets stiff.
5. Chill until ready to use.

ChefSecret:  I use the same puff recipe for making baked French-style eclairs and fried New Orleans beignets.

Quip of the Day:  Why did the pastry chef get angry at the dough? It was acting like a puff pastry.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
-------------------------------------------
To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.
 
#Dessert #WisconsinStateFair #CreamPuffs #StateFairCreamPuffs #WhippedCream #FairFood #2024Recipes #T2T #URM #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 
 
                                                                            ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

How you doin’?  The exact origin of the Gibson cocktail is unclear, with  numerous popular tales and theories about its genesis. According to one theory, it was invented by Charles Dana Gibson, who created the popular Gibson Girl illustrations. Supposedly, he challenged Charley Connolly, the bartender of the Players Club in New York City, to improve upon a martini. As the story goes, Connolly simply substituted a trio of pickled onion for the olive and named the drink after the Charley.

Another version now considered more probable recounts a 1968 interview with a relative of a prominent San Francisco businessman named Walter D. K. Gibson, who claimed to have created the drink at the Bohemian Club in the 1890s. Charles Clegg, when asked about it by Herb Caen, also said it was from San Francisco, not New York. Other reporting supports this theory. Edward Townsend, former vice president of the Bohemian Club, is credited with the first mention of the Gibson in print, in a humorous essay he wrote for the New York World published in 1898.

Yet another theory is that the Gibson after whom the drink was named was a popular California onion farmer, as seen in the publication. During the winter of 1852 and '53, snow fell in Onion Valley, California to the depth of twenty-five feet. Even the towns of Gibsonville, Seventy-Six, Pine Grove, Whiskey Diggings, and several others where people had nothing to do but drink, found their martini of the day was a bust without olives so they substituted pickled onion for the olives.

Other stories of the drink's origins are boundless like many of the other origins of legendary cocktails so take them for what they’re worth and just enjoy the gin.

My Gibson is made with gin (or vodka) and dry vermouth, and is often garnished with a pickled onion. In its modern incarnation, it is considered a cousin of the ubiquitous martini, distinguished mostly by garnishing with an onion instead of an olive.

Ingredients 
2-1/2 ounces gin or vodka (I prefer Hendrick’s Gin)
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
Garnish: 3 pickled cocktail onions
 
Directions

1. Add the gin (or vodka) and dry vermouth into a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled. Do not shake or you will “bruise” the gin.
2. Strain into a frozen stemmed martini cocktail glass.
3. Garnish with skewered cocktail onions.

ChefSecret:  My gin of choice is Hendricks. Hendrick's uses a blend of spirits produced from a Carter-Head Still (1948), of which there are only a few in the world, and a small pot still, built in 1860 by Bennett, Sons & Shears. Both have been restored to working order after being bought at auction in the 1960s by the former William Grant Life President, Charles Gordon. The two stills produce strikingly different styles of gin due to their different construction and methods of distillation and the blend makes the difference.

Quip of the Day:  A man and his wife are at a restaurant and the husband keeps staring at a drunken lady swigging her gin at a nearby table. His wife asks, “Do you know her?” “Yes,” sighs the husband. “She’s my ex-wife. She took to drinking right after we divorced seven years ago, and I hear she hasn’t been sober since.” “My God!” says the wife. “Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?!”
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
-------------------------------------------
To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#Cocktail #HappyHour #GibsonCocktail #GibsonGirl #Hendricks #Gin #PickledOnions #SummertimeHappyHour #Cheers #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup  
 
                                                                                ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024