Snack Time

Some of the things I've been snacking on lately...

Trader Joe's mini pitas topped with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, dried herbs and a few drizzles of Trappey's hot sauce.

Sweet Italian sausage quesadillas with mustard-barbecue sauce.

Beer, bread, burrata and basil.

Every once in a while when I'm really tired or lazy, and TGIFriday's frozen snacks are on sale, I pick up a box. These chicken bites were mediocre at best. I didn't hate them, but there is only so much flavor you can get out of frozen bites of chicken.

The "Honey BBQ Style Sauce" was inedible as is. But...

... reconstituted with some Vietnamese chili paste it was not only acceptable, it was actually quite good. (But I'll never get these again.)

My friend and I split some happy hour nachos at a bar in Old Town.

You can never go wrong having a package of Trader Joe's pita bread in your house. You can make wraps, you can tear it and dip it, you can eat it plain... or you can do my favorite thing: top them with some sauce and whatever toppings you have in the fridge and bake it in the oven. This particular one has Tabasco Sweet & Spicy Sauce, Irish cheddar, green onion and corn.

There are very few things I have ever purchased for the kitchen - actually there are very few things that I have purchased for any reason - that have proven more useful than my panini press. Almost any sandwich can be made a little better by two minutes on the hot press. This particular sandwich was pickles, Maille mustard, Jarlsberg Swiss cheese, salami and Black Forest ham.

An homage to a trip some friends and I took a few years back to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. One day the festival was rained out and we wandered around Bourbon Street, having drinks and listening to bands. At Silky O'Sullivan's we sat at the bar and shared pulled pork nachos, one of those culinary revelations you have in life where you say "Now why haven't I ever had these before?"

The root beer pulled pork I made over Labor Day Weekend provided plenty of leftovers. I happily took some out and piled it atop chips and cheese, with sprinkles of cilantro and a few shakes of a pepper-vinegar sauce. Maybe not quite as good as being in the French Quarter, but pretty damn good.

My take on a Frito Pie: homemade chili on top of chili-flavored Fritos, topped with Irish cheddar.

And finally, what has long been my favorite snack: a turkey sandwich. Sometimes the ingredients change, but this is as close to perfect as I can get - peppered turkey breast, lettuce, pickles, pepperonicini, mayo and mustard, all on white bread.