…if what they want is GOOD food.

If there’s anything better than the perfect baked potato, it would have to be a twice baked potato. I’m sure everybody’s Mom, Grandma or next-door neighbor has a recipe for double-stuffed potatoes; afterall, if you can bake a potato and make mashed potatoes, you’re pretty much halfway there. See, it’s not so much about how you make them, as it is about what’s inside.

Having eaten delicious versions that included blue cheese, fresh herbs, roasted garlic and even wasabi, it wasn’t until a recent trip to Cowgirl Creamery that I became inspired to make a slightly more gourmet version of a recipe I saw on PBS’s, Cook’s Country.

It was a taste of Cowgirl’s housemade, light-as-air, herbed fromage blanc that set me off. While the Cook’s Country’s version saw the addition of Boursin cheese to their super-stuffed baked potatoes, the bright tasting, herb-packed fromage blanc seemed like it might be able to produce a more sophisticated version of the dish. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of both Boursin and Rondelé cheese, but after eating it by the tub full on crackers as a kid, the lighter texture and slightly tart flavor of herbed fromage blanc seemed to taste a bit more grown up.

Needless to say, the end result was delicious. Topped with fresh chopped chives and a sprinkling of crispy bacon bits, the flavor was ironically reminiscent of savory sour cream and onion potato chips. So much for gourmet, I suppose. But what do you think? Is a homemade dish that recalls the flavor of your favorite packaged snack or fast food meal a good or bad sign? I’m leaning towards the former!

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As I pointed out in my recipe for the B.E.L.T., canned tuna has long had a negative stigma connected to it.  This was not the case growing up in my family where I was routinely fed tuna melts, tuna salad and one of my all-time childhood favorites, tuna noodle casserole.

This recipe comes from my family’s most cherished cookbooks, San Francisco à la Carte, compiled by the Junior League of San Francisco.  Not only does it contain the recipe for my family’s go-to celebration dessert, Sour Cream Chocolate Cake, but also this unique Bay Area twist on the classic, tuna noodle casserole.

Creamy and comforting, this dish has a surprisingly sophisticated flavor that comes from the addition of a toasted almond topping in place of the customary bread crumbs.  With cold weather around the corner, keep this easy-to-make casserole in mind when you’re looking for something to fill you up and warm your belly.

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On a recent trip down to Cabo San Lucas, Lauren and I had dinner at a restaurant serving the largest margaritas I’d ever seen and some pretty decent Mexican food, as well. We were told this is where we would find the most authentic cuisine in town. After paying off the Mariachi band to stop harassing us and shrugging off the guy selling roses, “authentic” is not the word that came to mind.  Still, the food was good.  That night I ordered Tacos de Cochinita Pibil for the first time, and while I’m sure they’re better in the Yucatan, I thought this was a great alternative to your run-of-the-mill taco plate.

Not your crispy, sometimes greasy carnitas or dried out carne asada, this meat was juicy beyond belief and delicately flavored with achiote and garlic.  Served on handmade tortillas and topped with housemade salsa and tart pickled red onions, this might have been the best food I had on the entire trip.

When I got back home, I set out to recreate the dish and picked up a copy of Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen for $6.00 at a used bookstore.  The tacos were met with rave reviews from friends, even without the influence of ginormous maragaritas.

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