Guilty Pleasure foods

Tonight was supposed to be book club night with some of my girlfriends. Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts, most people had to bow out before today, and the three of us remaining ended up canceling - mostly because traffic was horrible due to the first snowfall of the season. (Seriously, we live in Upstate NY. The roads weren't that bad, and people should really know how to drive in a little slush up here.) So anyway, my husband already had plans so that left me on my own for dinner.

You know what that means - guilty pleasure food time. We all have a handful of foods that we eat all the time when we don't want to cook/are on our own. Sometimes it's because we just really love the food that much - but usually it's because no one else in the house likes our concoctions, so when we get a chance to indulge, we do so shamelessly. I know my husband's guilty pleasure food is macaroni and cheese made from gluten free elbows and Kraft cheese powder. It's not that I don't like the taste of it - who doesn't? - but if I'm going to be completely honest here cheese just isn't supposed to be delivered in powder form. Maybe if you're an astronaut - but that's a big maybe. So whenever he's on his own for dinner, he happily makes his bright-orange mac and cheese. 

Me, on the other hand? I have a handful of guilty pleasure foods that I can think of. Leftover pizza heated up and dipped in Frank's Red Hot. French fries (those thin "fast food fries" that Ore-Ida sells work best) absolutely drenched in salt and dipped in honey. Loaded nachos - ground beef, refried beans, olives, jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, and TONS of monterey jack cheese layered over tortilla chips (though my husband would be very upset if I ever indulged in that one without him!)

The biggest one though? A concoction that I found out about in college (probably while seriously inebriated) that sounds - and smells - absolutely vile, but tastes like heaven.

Fried Rice. Optionally mixed with Chinese boneless spare ribs. Mixed in with a LOT of Frank's Red Hot. And finally, mixed with some Ranch dressing. Sounds gross, right? ... Do Not. And I repeat, NOT, knock it before you try it. It's Chinese food combined with wings. The best of both worlds. (I just read this paragraph again - I think I can confidently strike the "probably" before "inebriated" regarding the first time I tried this). It stinks the entire house to high heaven, and causes my husband to gag if he's in the room while I'm eating it, but I LOVE it. So that's what I had tonight.

Now, the easiest way to do this is to order takeout. Unfortunately, I know of only one Chinese takeout location that offers gluten free food in our area - P.F. Chang's. (If you know of others, please share!) You can approximate this very easily with P.F. Chang's fried rice - see if they'll do a house fried rice with everything, otherwise get your favorite meat. Instead of boneless spare ribs, the GF Mongolian Beef works perfectly - just make sure not to mix in the scallions. Take everything home, mix with Frank's and ranch dressing, and enjoy!

Too much time/money/distance? Leftover, homemade fried rice also works pretty well with this as well.

Tell me, what are your guilty pleasure foods?

What are your guilty pleasure foods?

I saw this article on CNN about guilty pleasure foods - this is a great topic because we all have a list of a few guilty pleasure foods - foods that we love but only indulge once in a great while, and foods that we love and have as often as possible on a regular basis. I thought this was a great, fun topic - so I'm going to list mine (gluten free for this blog of course, though I'll admit the occasional gluten-filled Chinese food run when I'm not with my husband). So here goes my top 10, in no particular order...

1. King Crab Legs. When done right, possibly one of the most decadent foods ever, and IMO better even than lobster. Done to perfection and steeped in hot melted butter, these are pure bliss. We splurge on them a couple of times a year, but we can easily eat five pounds between the two of us! We'll tend to save these for special occasions and chill some champagne as well.

2. Guacamole. Lately I've been buying Wholly Guacamole (spicy, of course) in Price Chopper, but it's so simple to make - avocados, red onion, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, lime. Jalapeno peppers optional. Guac is the single. best. thing. about football season.

3. Hot Buffalo Wings. Actually, scratch that. Anything with buffalo sauce. I like marinating grilled chicken breasts in buffalo sauce and adding it to salads, buffalo wings (baked or deep fried), buffalo chicken pizza... It's amazing. I'll even buy the Blazin' Buffalo Doritos, even though they're a poor substitute.

4. Caprese salad. I only indulge in this in the summer (because it's just not as good when the ingredients aren't in season). But a ball of fresh mozzarella from the farmer's market, combined with fresh garden-picked basil and tomato, sprinkled with salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, is just about the perfect summer meal. And, it pairs unbelievably well with white wine.

5. Yellow squash. Another summer-only indulgence (it's just not as good out of season), I boil it and load it up with butter, salt and pepper. Unbelievable.

6. Starbucks non-fat vanilla chai latte. 90% of the time that I go to Starbucks, this is my drink (the other 10% of the time it's the holidays and I'm all about the peppermint mochas). It's an indulgence because I feel a teensy bit guilty for spending $5 on a drink, but I also credit this drink for my 4.0 GPA in grad school. (So far at least.) :-)

7. Nutella. A decadent chocolately, hazelnut spread that goes so well on so many things. My favorite thing to enjoy Nutella with is fresh, grilled pineapple. Absolutely delicious.

8. Bleu Cheese. I know there's some debate about bleu cheese being gluten free since it's grown on wheat, but I have read studies that state there is no gluten when the cheese is independently tested. So let's assume for the sake of argument that it's gluten free. It's delicious, crumbly, and there's something about the sharp biting taste that is indescribable - but soooo good. Bleu cheese dressing is also good, but can't compare to a nice wedge of bleu.

9. Milk chocolate. I'm not that picky about it - I love Hershey's, Cadbury, M&Ms, anything. But milk chocolate is so wonderfully sweet and good with a delightfully creamy texture that I can eat about a pound of it if I let myself. And when I really want chocolate, the bitter dark chocolate that I'm supposed to like as a foodie, just doesn't do it for me. I LOVE milk chocolate. Add peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, whatever to it, or just plain.

10. Scallops wrapped in bacon. I don't think I need to say anymore, but the saltiness of bacon combined with the texture of scallops... it's just about the best appetizer on the planet, and as a bonus you can eat it with a toothpick.

And for a bonus, the one thing I miss the most that does contain gluten:

11. Spinach dip in a rye bread bowl. I haven't found a way to duplicate that yet.

Those are mine. Now for fun, what are yours??