good things in the kitchen

When we lived in the US I didn't cook much.  Ok, hardly at all.  I did have a KitchenAid mixer but sold it because the only time I used it was to make boxed cake mixes.  And that was only a few times a year.

Moving down here has changed a whole lot as far as what happens in the kitchen.  Now I have 4 mouths to feed and there are no short cuts around here.  Our frozen food section in my regular grocery store is one freestanding unit that is a little larger than my refrigerator.  The only products inside are frozen vegetables, fruit and some Tyson chicken items.

I regretted selling that mixer.  I would have used it ALL the time.  I make bread because there really isn't any bread other than the sliced sandwich bread and bolios (which are great) for making a torta or some other sandwich.  I love bread.  Rolls, muffins, baguettes, french and so on and so on.

A few months back a friend was driving down and I asked him a favor.  "BRING ME A KITCHENAID MIXER, PLEASE!"  You can find them here at Sears and Costco and I am sure a few other places but they are more than double the price of buying one in the US.

I went on Amazon, bought one and within a week I had this bad boy sitting in my kitchen!  Oh so happy!

Making bread is so much easier now.  I let the mixer do the work of kneading the bread.  And, everything else is so much easier to do now that I have it.  No more hand mixer.

So, when I want to make something like Croque Monsieur and there is no french bread at the store, I can just whip up a batch! Especially since I can use the Dijon mustard I found in Puerto Vallarta!

I have a recipe that I use for French Bread and it is really great!  It makes two big loafs, so if you want, half the recipe. 

And, since you are in the kitchen making something great, I have another VERY simple dip you can make.  I found the recipe here.  The amount of dip the recipe makes isn't much, so I quadruple it.  This one is a definite must-try!

Now I am hungry!