Sugar Free Caramel Macchiato Taste Test

With February almost gone and March about to arrive, we're going to sneak in a few shorter blogs covering some things we don't normally do on Six-Seven-Eight.

Megan and I are both dedicated coffee drinkers, and we do everything from making flavored pre-ground coffee in the morning to grinding our own beans and using the French press for a little after-dinner java love.

Awhile back we picked up a sugar free caramel macchiato creamer, which was off the beaten path, since the sugar free options are usually pretty boring. We then bought a different brand by mistake the next week not realizing they weren't the same, so there was only one thing to do - a blind taste test!

This was also a perfect opportunity to use all those little red sauce containers we keep "accidentally" bringing home from restaurants...

Our two competing creamers are from International Delight and Coffee Mate. We used Folger's Vanilla Biscotti flavored coffee (side note - it's the best in that line, followed by the awesome-smelling Berry Cobbler version). The tasters were Megan, myself, and our friend Cristal.

For this taste test we just used filtered water in the coffee maker, and nothing crazy like the French press. Here's the test coffee, with Coffee Mate on the left and International Delight on the right side.

Surprisingly, International Delight came out on top from all three taste testers, despite the fact that I usually don't care for that brand. They're both good, but in this case we had a clear winner - tasty, smooth, and not overly sweet. Give it a shot if you dig flavored creamers and want to try something new.

Pull Apart Pizza

We've covered plenty of ways to make pizza before - including some off-the-beaten-path varieties such as cheeseburger, rueben sandwich, or chicken/bacon/ranch, and even combined our love for outdoor meals by grilling pizza in the back yard, but never before have we put together a pizza quite like this.

Taking the idea of pizza being a sort of finger food even farther than normal, we put together a version that's half bread and half pizza, and can be pulled apart by hand for individual servings.

To start off with, we've made our traditional crust, topped it with our homemade tomato sauce, and then layered on mozzarella and pepperoni. Normally this would be the end of the recipe, but for pizza bread it's just the beginning!

We've made this a few different ways now, and here's another version using different cheeses. You could easily swap out your preferred cheese or even use a different meat, but make sure it's sliced thinly. Salami or turkey would be great, but something larger like chunks of chicken or sausage crumbles could be problematic in the later stages of putting together this recipe.

We're going to start slicing up our pizza - BEFORE it's baked. Start in the middle and begin slicing long, thin strips.

As you cut each strip, pick up the piece and set it down on the next one, so that you you will be stacking each slice on top of the previous one.

Continue slicing and stacking the pizza...

...until it's all one teetering tower of cheese and sauce! But we're not done - starting in the middle again, we're going to begin slicing the opposite direction to turn that tower into smaller slices.

Eventually you'll get to this point, where you have five or six slices of the already-sliced pizza.

Pick up each slice (be careful to hold top and bottom so it doesn't fall apart!) and place it in a bread loaf pan. Press it firmly against the edge so there's room for everything to fit.

Continue stacking each slice into the pan until it's completely full from one edge to the other...

...just like this!

Or this!

Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes or so until it's baked through and then allow to cool. Each slice will easily pull apart from the others just using your fingers, so everyone can serve up as many pieces as they want for themselves. Be sure to save some extra tomato sauce to use for dipping!

Culinary World Tour: Ireland (Shepherd's Pie)

I bet you thought we forgot all about our culinary world tour, right? Wrong! We actually did the Ireland stop awhile back but I've gotten side tracked with other projects and am just now getting around to posting this. If you want to see the other stops in our tour of world foods, check out the previous entries:

Mexico: Posole
Canada: Poutine
Greenland: Suaasat
Iceland: Lamb Pie with Rye Crust

Heading off from Iceland, we move on next to Ireland. Prior to the Iceland-inspired meal we'd never really used ground lamb before, and it got us hooked! For the Ireland stop of the tour we made a simple but delicious dish: shepherd's pie!

In case you're wondering about the terminology - the names "cottage pie" and "shepherd's pie" mean different things to different people, but we're taking shepherd's pie to mean "made with lamb" and cottage pie to mean "made with beef."

Shepherd's pie includes ingredients that will be both cooked on the skillet and in the stove (much like our previous one-pot meals), so we're using a multi-purpose pan that's oven safe. First we're heating diced onions and carrots in butter on the stovetop.

After the vegetables have time to soften, a pound of ground lamb is thrown in.

Much like when cooking beef, we allow the lamb to brown to ensure it cooks all the way through.

Next up we spoon in a can of tomato paste to add in a little extra flavor and texture.

After cooking for a few minutes we get a much different consistency that's a bit closer to stew.

For our final vegetable additions, we throw in both corn and peas. This is a great time to use that bag of frozen mixed vegetables that's been hiding in the back of the freezer forever.

While the veggies and lamb were cooking, we also made up a decent sized quantity of mashed potatoes. Before going in the oven, we spoon the cooked mashed potatoes over the meat mixture and then pat it down so it forms a smooth "lid" of sorts over the filling. In essence this acts as the top layer that would normally be a crust if we were making a pot pie or something similar.

We're not done with the top yet though - first we've got to shred some cheddar cheese on top!

After baking in the oven we get a golden brown crust that looks and smells delicious!

Dig in with a large spoon and dish up the shephard's pie. This one is a bit on the messy side, so you'll probably want to use a bowl instead of a plate, but make sure to get enough from all three layers!

For other looks at how to make shepherd's pie, check out recipes from Food Network and Allrecipes. We'll be moving our culinary world tour throughout the U.K. and Europe in the coming months, so check back soon!

Game Day Pulled Pork Nachos

We aren't particularly fans of football (or sports in general I suppose - unless Kinect Sports on the Xbox counts...), but the Superbowl is a great excuse to put together some fantastic grub. Normally we do our own custom football version of the Gamma World RPG or just watch movies and chow down. Every year we make a variety of snacks, but for 2013 we took it to the next level for some "game day" nachos made with pulled pork loin and homemade queso.

We'll be rubbing down the pork loin instead of injecting it this time, and here we've put together our own rub consisting of brown sugar, red pepper flakes, McCormick "Steak" seasoning, and garlic powder.

As with all the times we did rubs during our summer grillstravaganza, the seasonings are spooned or poured over one side of meat...

...then worked in by hand until it sticks to all the surfaces. The meat is flipped over and the process is repeated with the other side.

Wrap the meat up tightly and set it away in the fridge over night (or even just for a few hours) to let the flavors develop.

The pork loin is set in the crock pot the next morning and cooked - with no extra liquid or seasonings - for several hours so it becomes pull-apart tender. When the pork is nearing done, we go about putting together the queso for the nachos. First we're taking poblano and red bell peppers and cooking them under the broiler until their skin blackens and chars.

Toss the blackened peppers into a bowl and tightly cover with plastic wrap so they steam in their own heat. After a few minutes peel back the wrap and you'll find the skin is now loose and incredibly easy to remove just with your fingernails. Discard the blackened skin and then roughly chop the peppers.

Here we're cooking the chopped peppers, along with some diced onion, in a medium sauce pan.

After the onions soften, cut up large pieces of Velveeta (or whatever cheese you want to use for the queso) and throw them in.

For a little added flavor, we also threw in half a can of tomatoes with green chilis.

Stir regularly as it heats of medium to medium-low heat.

Eventually you'll get to this perfect melted consistency. Lower the heat and continue to stir every now and again as the rest of the meal comes together.

We made our own chips for the nachos, but you could of course use store-bought. For this nacho experience we cut corn tortillas into wedges and then baked them. You could instead fry them in oil on a skillet, or use flour tortillas.

Finally the pork loin is finished cooking through - here it is about to come out of the crock pot.

You can see how the rub baked directly into the outer layer of the meat.

Cooking in the crock pot without liquid creates an incredibly tender meat - the loin literally pulled apart with my fingers and no utensils required at all.

We're going to turn this into "pulled" pork by simply shredding the meat using two forks and pulling the loin apart.

Once it's all shredded, throw the pork loin into a large bowl.

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Although tender and easy to tear apart, the meat will be a bit on the dry side, which we're going to fix while also adding in another dimension of flavor by spooning in some of our homemade meat stock.

Don't drench it, but instead just use a few ladlefuls and then gently mix together so the meat soaks up the liquid.

Now we're ready to assemble the actual nachos by laying out the chips in an oven-safe pan and then setting a piece of pulled pork on each individual nacho. Don't skimp here or throw it on haphazardly - you won't each chip to be full of awesome!

Along with the pulled pork, we also diced up some jarred jalapeno and sprinkled it all over the chips for a little heat.

Finally we shred some pepper jack cheese on top and then set the nachos into the oven until the cheese melts.

After coming out of the oven, we take our previously made queso and spoon it over the nachos.

Yeah...it's stupidly awesome, looking and smelling fantastic!

We're soon going to be plating up these nachos that are exciting enough to be a meal, but first we've got one more element to add...

...some salsa!  Forget the jarred stuff, we're making our own! For this meal Megan tried to recreate the Chili's restaurant salsa and we get really amazingly close. The recipe's actually incredibly simple - canned rotel chili tomatoes, canned jalapenos, and regular canned diced tomatoes mixed together in the blender, then squeeze in some fresh lime juice and sprinkle some salt and garlic powder. The color and texture is spot-on, and the flavor is very close to what you get at Chilis.

Use tongs or a pancake turner to serve a few nachos on a plate, then spoon some salsa on top or over on the side. Delicious!