Last night, dead tired, I tumbled into bed somewhat early.  I picked up a book for a little bedtime reading.  It just happened to be this book:

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook: Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen

Read more about this book here…

I wasn’t awake for long… just long enough to become obsessed with his recipe for breakfast quesadillas.  And the obsession was still there this morning.  I had little in the house to appease the obsession, so I made a quick trip to the grocery store. 

I suspect that I am not unique.  I believe that most people who cook often look to cookbooks for technique and inspiration, not for actual recipes.  And this recipe gave me lots of inspiration, though I didn’t follow it in practice.  Here’s what I did:

• store bought southwestern seasoned hash browns (can be found in the dairy case)
• two chorizo links, diced
• 4 flour tortillas
• shredded cheese
• 2 eggs, fried
• Salsa

Preheat oven to 425.   Brown hash browns in pan.  While hash brown are browning, dice and saute chorizo. 

Lay 2 tortillas out on a baking sheet.  Cover with shredded cheese.  Spread the hashbrowns and chorizo on tortillas.  Sprinkle shredded cheese over mixture.  Place tortillas on top.

Brush tortillas with olive oil, and place in 425 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes, until crisp.

Top tortillas with fried eggs, salsa and cheese, to taste.

Bobby uses bacon in his quesadilla.  I decided that if I was going to make a southwestern quesadilla, I was going to use chorizo.  I think it added a nice spice.

Additionally, I cheated.  I’m sure that homemade hash browns stuffed between the tortillas is the way to go, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go through that effort, so I made due with store bought hash browns.

And still, it turned out great, but incredibly filling. 

Well, not “official” reviews, but reviews that count even more! Fellow food bloggers are talking about Digital Dish!

Breakfast with Pandora gives us his take on the entire idea, while Melissa at Banlieu Blog revels in her newly-arrived copy. There was also a nice mention over at Blogger.com.

Check it out yourself! My copy arrived last week, and it’s incredibly well done!

It is with great excitement that we announce the release of Digital Dish, The Freshest Writing and Recipes from Food Blogs Around the World!

What is this all about, you ask?

It’s an exciting project that started months ago. Designed to show the far-reaching influence of Food Bloggers around the world, Digital Dish spotlights entries of very talented authors in the Food Blog world. We’re proud to have participated in this project, and we’re thrilled to be able to announce that it is now available for purchase. You can preview the book here!

At $19.95, plus shipping and handling, it’s a great addition to your stash of cookbooks.

We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we’ve enjoyed working on the entire project!

For various reasons, I took a brief hiatus. But I’m back again.

We went to dinner tonight at the Outback, which, in all honesty, does a great job considering it is a major chain. And I hate chains, for the most part.

But afterwards, we stopped at a Borders to pick up a housewarming gift for my niece. Yes, the niece I took to feed ducks when she was just a little baby.

What was I looking for? Well, just a nice, straightforward cookbook for someone who doesn’t get into cooking, but still somehow needs to know how to roast a chicken should the rare urge ever strike her.

And you know what? Not too many of those exist.

Oh, sure, you’ve got shelves full of offerings from your latest celebrity chefs. You’ve got lots of specialty cookbooks (in other words: “Low carb in 5 easy steps”). But can you get a book that just tells you how long to stick the frigging chicken into the oven, and at what temperature?

No. Not without digging.

So we dug and finally found the basic Betty Crocker Cookbook which tells you how to not only roast a chicken, but how to roast a roast as well. And we bought it.

She won’t be excited by this housewarming present, but I do know that she’ll use it.

Oh, and I’m probably buying her a bottle of tequila or something too. THAT will make her happy.