Corn Cob Cutter

I have had one of these in my kitchen for quite a while now. I thought it was a pretty cool tool, it would just zip the kernels right off the cob. Easy, right?

Wrong...

For a couple reasons. First, I like corn on the cob just the way it is, no need to remove it from the cob prior to eating. And B, on the occasions I have tried to use it, the corn is too big. Today for example - I stopped at a roadside stand (Ok, it wasn't really on the side of the road, it was in the parking lot of Westen Bowl) and bought some fresh corn, tomatoes, and a yellow zuchinni for a dinner idea. After shucking and steaming the corn, the cob cutter just wasn't up to the task. My trusty santoku was more than adequate though.

It not only made short work of decompiling the kernels (nerd alert), it also chopped three tomatoes and chiffoned some fresh basil. These all got tossed into a bowl with about 3 Tbs of olive oil, 1/4 cup of fresh lime juice, some zest from the lime, and a 15oz can of drained and rinsed chickpeas.

While that tasty mixture was being assembled, a box of whole-wheat spaghetti was busy boiling in anticipation of the tasty sauce.

An interjection: Carol is not used to pasta not being smothered in a red sauce. She looked at what I was making, and asked if I was going to add anything else to it while pointing at the can of tomato paste in the open cabinet. I said nope, this is the sauce right here. She looked a little leery, but she trusts my kitchen skills :)

When the pasta was done, I tossed in the de-cobbed corn to heat it just a little more, then drained it all. Back into the pot it went along with the sauce. A couple good stirs and it was good to go.

Yeah, it was good. Pretty dang good. Carol had seconds...

And to cap it off, fresh, seeded watermelon. Not that unseeded, tasteless crap. Real watermelom has seeds.

Cheap cheeps

OK, so if you're still drooling over the hummus in the last post, be aware that I just made two more batches. Yes, you can have some, come on over. But what to have with it? I mean, I would never, ever just eat hummus by the spoonful. Never.

Quit looking at me like that.

The healthy answers are veggies like baby carrots, celery sticks, and red pepper strips. The answer you probably came up with was chips, be they potato or tortilla. You could grab a bag of those ridiculously expensive pita chips, but... I have a better idea.

Make your own pita chips. They are almost too easy to make, unless you're the type who has to make their own pita bread, then use that to make chips. Me, I just went and bought pita bread. I'm not that ambitious yet.

Here's how I made them. Promise me you won't kick yourself when you realize how easy they are and how much you've been overpaying.

You will need:

1 8-count bag pita bread
Olive oil spray or mister (Dan got us a nifty one for a wedding gift)
Seasoning of your choice, I used Lawry's Seasoned Salt but feel free to experiment.

Preheat your oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper Cut the pita's into wedges - 4, 6, 8 depending on how big you like them. You can seperate the two layers of the pita or leave it intact if you prefer a thicker, crunchier chip. Spray them lightly with the olive oil, and dust with the seasoning. Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Check at 12 minutes since these will crisp up very quickly, especially if you've seperated the layers. Remove from the oven, and cool on wire racks. I just lift the piece of parchment off the sheet and move it to a rack. And once they're cooled I store mine in gallon-size freezer bags.

See how easy that was? So what are you waiting for - go make some! Have fun, get crazy with them.