Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

Potato salad is an American staple and has been around forever.  There are many, many different versions of this delicious staple.  Everyone has their own way of making potato salad and everyone has their own particular favorite recipe.  Because potatoes are universal, there are many ethnic and/or regional influences that help create all these wonderful variations.  I have tried and loved many different styles myself, and am always looking for new ideas and new twists to old classics, not just on potato salad, but for all dishes and recipes in general.   I often make different versions depending on the meal I am serving it with.  Sometimes I like it with Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard and miracle whip.  Sometimes I like it with a dill mustard vinaigrette.  Sometimes I eat it cold, and other times I eat it hot.  Sometimes I use red potatoes and sometimes I use russet potatoes.  And sometimes, I even like to make it purple, using purple potatoes instead.  My point is, there are many ways to cook a potato and many ways to make a potato salad.  There is no right or wrong way, just many, many different and delicious variations.  The sky is the limit on the varieties that are out there.  Don’t be afraid to try new ideas and flavors.  Be open minded and be creative.  You’ll be amazed at the many different and delectable discoveries you might find, if only you allow yourself the opportunity to try.

I only had a few purple potatoes when I made this salad, and there are only the two of us, so this is just a small dish.

Purple Potato Salad with Bacon and Chives

3 lbs cooked purple potatoes

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1 heaping TBSP Dijon mustard

1 tsp each fresh herbs like marjoram, oregano and chives, chopped fine

1 heaping TBSP garlic, minced

5 strips of cooked bacon, cooked to your desired doneness

salt & pepper to taste

red onions, diced fine

Cook the bacon, remove from the pan and set on a paper towel to absorb the grease.  In the remaining the bacon grease, saute the red onions and garlic for about 3-5 minutes or until soft and translucent.  You may need to add some additional olive oil.  Once the bacon has cooled, chop and mix with the onions and garlic.

In a pot of boiling, salted water add the potatoes and cook for about about 8-12 minutes or until tender.  Remove from the water and let cool.  Once they have cooled, peel and quarter the potatoes.

Whisk together all the other ingredients and add the bacon, garlic and onions.  Add as much sauce as needed to your potatoes and mix well.  Top with chives.  Chill for at least 1 hour hour before serving.

You can substitute yogurt for the mayonnaise if you choose.    You can also make this a vegan potato salad leaving out the bacon and substituting vegan mayonnaise for the regular mayonnaise.  I had some left over sauce that I used to marinate chicken in as well.   If you are vegetarian or vegan, you can use your leftover sauce to marinated tofu  or tempe too.  I try my best to be versatile with left overs and to use them in as many different ways as possible.  I just hate to throw food away, so I am always looking for creative ways of reusing things.

I am always on the lookout for new recipes, and when I find one that I just have to try, I am so excited and I usually try it right away.  That happened a little while ago, when a blogging friend, who goes under the name justborkingaround, posted a recipe for a Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake.  I made it a couple of days after I found the recipe, and just loved it.  With the fresh berries, it is perfect for Spring and Summer.  It’s not just for breakfast either.  It makes a perfect snack or light dessert anytime.  I made mine with blackberries, since that is what I had at the time.  I love both blueberries and blackberries, although blackberries rank a bit higher on my preference list.  It was very light and fluffy.  It was also really, really good.  Because this is such a light dessert, the calorie count is relatively low as well.  It makes 12 servings, and each serving only has 226 calories, which is perfect for those of us who are trying to cut down on our sweets and desserts, but still have a sweet tooth.

Blackberry (or Blueberry) Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) at room temperature

1-2 tsp lemon zest

1 cup + 1 TBSP sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups + 1/4 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 cups fresh berries (your choice)

1/2 cup buttermilk  (I use the dried buttermilk, mixed with regular milk.  Follow directions on package).

Preheat oven to 350* F

Prepare an 8″ round cake pan with cooking spray on the bottom and lined with parchment paper.

Toss the berries in 1/4 cup of flour.  I had some leftover lemon cookie crumbs that I ground up in the food processor and added to the flour and berry mixture as well.  Set aside.

Cream the butter and lemon zest and 1 cup of the sugar until smooth and creamy.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix until well blended.  Mix all your dry ingredients together then add 1/2 at a time to the butter and sugar mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.  Mix until all the ingredients are well combined.   Gently fold in the berry and flour mixture, making sure not to crush the berries.  Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.  Sprinkle the top with the remaining sugar.  Again, I used some of my lemon cookie crumbs along with the sugar to give it a real zesty flavor.  Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until it is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.  Cool completely before cutting.

Gently fold in the berries to the mixture then pour into the prepared cake pan.

Top the cake with the sugar (and lemon cookie crumbs if using) before baking.

Again, thank you to my fellow blogger justborkingaround for this delicious recipe.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and I know you will as well.  Please check out justborkingaround for some more really tasty dishes.

In summer and whenever the weather is nice and warm, we dine al fresco on our deck as much as possible.  Our view of the ponds is a bit obscured these days though, because the trees have grown up so much that they cover most of the view.  But we still have a nice view, and we still love it.  The way we see it, the higher the trees grow, the more privacy we have.  Although our ponds are pretty darn spectacular too.  We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful view from our deck and our backyard.  You can see the top of the 2nd pond here, and just behind these big pine trees is our first pond.  There are 6 ponds in our neighborhood, and we are in between the first two.  Our backyard opens up right into an open space and walking area that intersects all of the top 4 ponds.  The other two ponds are behind us, and they are located in a huge open space area that is home to a small free flowing stream complete with a couple of snapping turtles.  In the big open space behind us we also have a few owls’ and eagles nests as well.  We are often greeted by a wide variety of water fowl, including Canadian geese, a few species of ducks, blue herons, snowy egrets, and white pelicans.   Our ponds and open space are a hidden gem to most people, even though we live in a major Denver/Boulder suburb.

Dinner tonight was chicken I marinated in an herbed yogurt sauce that we put on the grill.  I served it over wild rice and some of our left over Brussel sprout salad with naan bread.  And of course wine; a medium oaked chardonnay to be precise.  There is always wine.   It was just a simple meal tonight, but it was the perfect meal for us.

Marinating the chicken before putting it on the grill.  These chicken breasts were HUGE, so I butterflied them.  We easily have enough for at least one more meal.  Today I used dried herbs only because I had not yet been to the store and ran out of fresh herbs.  No, unfortunately, I do not grow my own.  I have many gifts and talents, but growing my own herbs sadly is not one of them.

Herbed Yogurt Marinade Sauce

plain yogurt

lemon juice

garlic

basil

thyme

marjoram

oregano

red pepper flakes to taste

Mix everything together and spoon over chicken or fish, and really coat the meat well.  Let sit for at least 1 hour before cooking.  If you have some left over, top your cooked meat with it as a sauce.  I topped the chicken with chopped tomatoes and parsley as well as some of the left over sauce.

I am new to this whole world of blogging, and am learning more and more everyday.   I am also having a lot of fun with my blog, A Jeanne in The Kitchen.   Apparently you are all enjoying it as well.  Today, I found out I was nominated for the Liebster Award by fellow blogger Mark Anthony from markanthonysblog.  WOW!!  Thank you so much.  This came as a complete shock and surprise, but it is definitely an honor.  I appreciate all the support I am receiving from all of you.

Why am I passionate about blogging ?

I had never thought about blogging at all before a friend of mine suggested it to me because she likes how I know so much about food, kitchens and cooking.  As I mentioned earlier, I am brand new to the world of blogging, and am learning as I go.  I love to write and I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Cal State Los Angeles.  I am also a certified trained chef.  I went to two different culinary schools in Southern California and was in the 2nd graduating class from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts.  So with my blog, I am combining two of my many passions, writing and cooking, and hopefully reaching out to as many people as I can.

My 10 random facts :

1.  I am an avid scuba diver.  We dive all over the world, but mostly in the warm tropical waters of the Caribbean.
2.   I am a swim coach and a masters swimmer.
3.   The older I get, the more extreme my adventures become.
4.   My fur babies are my children.  I have 2 Saint Bernards and 2 cats.
5.  No matter who else goes along with us, my husband is always my number one choice to travel with.
6.  I love to learn new things, and am always challenging myself.  Part of this love to learn is what inspires me to travel as much as we do.
7.  If I had a spare $1,000,000 I would donate it to the animals and animal charities.
8.   I love diving with the sharks.  In Belize, I became known as the “shark whisperer” because the sharks all came up to me and just wanted my attention.
9. Diving with the black tip sharks in Roatan was definitely scary but also very exhillerating at the same time.

10. I’m excited about this post!   I am also excited about how I am hopefully getting other people excited about cooking while taking the fear of cooking away.

I am Nominating:

1.  2020cookingadventures
2.  buyingseafood
3. janowrite
4. Rêveuse
5. Vero and Canito in the kitchen

My 11 Questions to all of you:

1.  If you could do anything, what would it be?
2. Who is the most influential person to you?
3. If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
4. How did you become passionate about what you do?
5. How did you get started doing what you do?
6. What is your most favorite thing about yourself?
7. What is your least favorite thing about yourself?
8. What is your favorite hobby?
9. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
10. What would you do once you got there?
11. What is the craziest thing you have ever done?

The warm weather is here and summer is quickly upon us.  With this, it means eating foods that a lot lighter.  We tend to eat a lot of salads in the summer, as I am sure quite a few people do.  Here is one of our favorite summer salads that is fun and different.  It is guaranteed  to help cool things down when the temperature starts to rise.

I was first introduced to this salad when I went to lunch with a friend of mine a couple of years ago in South East Denver.  They had it on the menu and we both ordered it and raved about it after wards.  So I came home and made it myself.  We have been enjoying it ever since.   It is a Brussels sprout salad with an herbed honey-mustard dressing.  It is refreshingly different and very healthy too, filled with all kinds of flavors and textures.  You can serve it as a main salad by adding chicken or steak, or your protein of choice, or you can serve it as a side salad, and just eat it as is.  You can also make it vegetarian, just skip the bacon.

All the fixin’s for the salad.

Making the dressing.

Brussel Sprout Salad with Herbed Honey-Mustard Dressing

Raw Brussel sprouts, sliced, cut off the ends

red onions, sliced very thin

green onions, sliced thin

apples, small dice.  I used Gala apples, but you can use whatever type you like

Toasted almonds slivers

cooked bacon, crumbled

Bleu cheese crumbles (optional)

Craisins (optional)

Toss everything together and then toss in the herbed honey-mustard dressing and chill.  My husband likes the bleu cheese crumbles and I don’t; I like the craisins and he doesn’t. So we just add those separately and we both have a salad we love.

Herbed Honey-Mustard Dressing

1 heaping TBSP Dijon Mustard

1 Heaping TBSP whole grain mustard

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

1/3-1/2 cup olive oil

2 heaping TBSP honey

black pepper to taste

tarragon to taste

1 tsp each of fresh parsley, thyme, marjoram and oregano.

Whisk all the ingredients together and pour as much as you need over the salad.  Toss everything together well and chill.

We eat everything and are very experimental when it comes to trying new things.  But we do have our favorites too.  We can only try new things for so long before we start craving some of our old favorites, and then we just have to have them.  It is almost like we are recharging our batteries.  Once we have been satisfied, and have had our favorites, then we can go back to trying new things again.  And the cycle starts all over.  It is a pattern and rhythm we have got that seems to work well for us.  One of these favorites and a staple of ours is good old fashioned sausage & peppers.  We use a variety of sausages and a lot of fresh vegetables.

I like a lot of color and textures in most the things I cook, and I love using fresh herbs.  I use all colors of bell peppers, red onions, Roma tomatoes and mushrooms.   Then added the finishing touches of fresh basil, thyme, marjoram and oregano.

Cook the sausages separately until they are browned on all sides.  These were chicken Parmagiano sausages, but you can used whatever kind you like.   Our local Sprouts offers a wide variety of homemade sausages, and we have tried them all for a lot of different dishes.  They are all delicious.

After the sausages are cooked, remove them and set aside.  Using the left over grease, some additional olive oil and about 1 cup of dry white wine, saute the peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic and red pepper flakes (if using) for about 7-10 minutes or until the peppers are slightly softened and the onions are translucent.  Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to get all of the sausage drippings.

Once your onions and peppers are softened, add the tomatoes, fresh herbs, seasonings and sausages.  Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook for about another 10-15 minutes. You want the tomatoes to break down to make a light tomato sauce.

Serve over pasta and top with either Mozzarella or Parmagiano if you like.  We served it with garlic and herb cheese bread.  I served a nice bold red blend to complete the meal.  Manga.

Sausage & Peppers

1 1/2 lbs sausage of your choice

red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers sliced thin

red onions, sliced thin

mushrooms, sliced

Roma tomatoes, medium dice

garlic

red pepper flakes to taste (optional)

1 cup dry white wine

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

fresh basil, oregano, marjoram and thyme

We all eat well in our house, and this includes our four-legged children as well.  I have not started cooking food for the cats yet, nor do I ever think I will, however, I do cook the wet food for our two Saint Bernards, Lucie and Vinnie.  Lucie and Vinnie eat just about as well as we do.   They get a wide variety of foods that include lots of proteins and fruits and vegetables that are dog friendly.  Sometimes they get rice, sometimes sweet potatoes, and sometimes regular potatoes.  I started making their wet food about 2 years ago.  It is much healthier for them and I know exactly what goes into their foods.  I don’t have to worry about them eating things that are bad for them because I am the one making their food; at least the foods I have control over.  Just like regular children, though, they are always going to try to push the limits and go for the taboo items.  Cooking their dog food is actually less expensive than buying their foods, because I know when I cook for them I am cooking them good quality, fresh foods.   Anyone who has pets knows that to purchase good quality foods is a bit pricey.  This week, Lucie and Vinnie are dining on some catfish, chicken, sweet potatoes rice and peas.  They’re not complaining, so I am assuming they like it.  They are such picky eaters, after all.  NOT!  Sometimes I make their dog treats too.  I will keep you posted the next time I make their treats.

Lucie and Vinnie are always ready to help out in the kitchen.  They make a very good clean-up crew too.  Whenever some crumbs or tidbits fall on the floor, they are more than willing to help clean things up in a split second or less.  But for some reason, they ALWAYS seem to know when I am cooking food for them.  They are even more eager and ready to help when it is for them.  I don’t know how they know when I am cooking for them vs. when I am cooking for us, but they do.  I have a little stuffed Saint I have named Fritzie, and she always comes in the kitchen to help out when I am making food for Lucie and Vinnie.  Maybe they have learned that when Fritzie comes into the kitchen Mommy is cooking for them.  Or maybe, they just have a sixth sense about these things.  I don’t know.  What I do know though, is that they are geniuses when it comes to food.

Fritzie is helping and Lucie is standing by very closely, just in case Mommy drops something.  She is being quite the lady.

Vinnie, on the other hand, has decided it is much faster to just help himself.  Lucie is about to do the same, but I caught her before she could join in on the counter surfing action.

Cooking everything up.  Catfish, chicken and sweet potatoes, with a little parsley and cinnamon, boiled in fish stock.  I mixed this in with rice and peas that I had cooked separately.  I also added a little milk and flour to thicken up the sauce, make it more like a gravy.

Lucie is giving me that look, saying “Mom, I’m hungry.  Hurry up with my dinner”.

Vinnie looks guilty.  Who knows what mischief he has been up to.   He is by the wine.  He is definitely his mother’s child.

We love seafood, and even though we live inland, and are surrounded by mountains and plains, we still get to eat a fair amount.  Only what we get to eat is fresh/frozen, which is still very good, but it is not the same as fresh.  The best seafood is always fresh seafood.   Sometimes we get lucky and have the fresh catch directly brought in from the fishermen themselves, but this doesn’t happen too often, especially in the cities or urban areas.  This lucky catch usually only happens when we are on a diving trip on a small island.  The next best thing though, is being in a coastal region, where the food is coming directly from the ocean and it is just a short distance away to the restaurants or markets.  On our recent visit to the D.C. area, we had a couple of days where we were able to go out and dine on the gifts from the sea.  Our last seafood meal for the trip was on our way to Dulles airport, before coming home.  We went to Ford’s Fish Shack in Leesburg, VA.  The food was delicious and cooked to perfection.

We started the meal by sharing a Caesar salad and mini corn muffins.  For our main meal, my husband ordered the blackened sea scallops and I ordered the Atlantic cod topped with crab and a cream sauce, served over mashed cauliflower and green beans on the side.   I made the meal complete with a crisp, refreshing Proseco which paired very well with my dish.

***Ford’s Fish Shack is located at 19308 Promenade Drive, Leesburg, VA 20176 and can be reached at fordsfishshack.com

If you read my post yesterday, I left you with a little teaser about more things to come.  As I mentioned, I was in the kitchen all morning making some delicioso delights from our Southern neighbors.   You all know I made the dulce de leche brownies con pistachios, which were a big hit, by the way.   I also made some Puerto Rican pork empanadas, with salsa de ajili mojili, and of course, some guacamole.  When we arrived at our friends’ house, everyone thought I made too much food.  However, when it was time to leave, all the food had disappeared and everyone was happy and full.  So maybe I didn’t make too much after all.

My husband and I “inherited” a smoker from one of his brothers not too long ago, when his brother replaced his old smoker for a new one.  The first thing we made was some smoked pork.   I planned the meal based around the smoked pork, but knew I wanted to stick with a Latin theme, which wasn’t that difficult since pork is very popular in lot of Latin American cooking.   So I hit the books from my culinary library and looked for something just right for the occasion.  I found the recipe for Ajili Mojili Extravagante, which is a traditional Puerto Rican dip using their local chilies known as aji dulce, garlic (a lot of garlic, which is fine with me), vinegar and lemon juice.  The salsa is named after a famous restaurant in San Juan, and was dubbed by the the restaurant after which it was named, and the residents of San Juan, as the mother of all salsas.  Before using it for my empanadas, we also used it on our eggs for breakfast as well.  It is a very versatile salsa, often used on meats, fish, rice or beans.  It is almost a meal by itself.  It is bold and full of flavor, just the way we like it.

Empanadas de Puerca y Ajili Mojili Extravagante.

Larry, on one of the rare occasions I actually let him in the kitchen, cutting his smoked pork.  He smoked it for about 7 hours.  It was very tender and flavorful.

Making the ajili mojili salsa.

Shredded pork with ajili mojili salsa and cooked sweet potatoes for the empanada filling.

Making the empanadas.

The guacamole.

Jeanne’s Ajili Mojili Extravagante 

3 Roma tomatoes, diced small

1/3 cup white onion, small dice

3 TBSP green pepper, small dice

2 jalapenos, diced fine

3 TBSP garlic, minced

2 TBSP capers, drained

2 1/2 TBSP toasted almond slivers

3 TBSP cilantro, chopped

3 TBSP lemon verbena, chiffonade (optional)

2 TBSP parsley, chopped

3 TBSP red wine vinegar

3 TBSP lemon juice

salt & pepper to taste

ground aji amarillo chiles to taste

1-1 1/2 tsp each oregano, marjoram and thyme

Mix all the the ingredients together and chill for at least one hour before using.  Esta muy delicioso!  Desfrutas!

My empanada dough was just my basic go-to standard dough that I use for so many things.

3 1/2 cups flour

12 TBSP COLD butter, cubed small

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

This made about 2 dozen empanadas that were about 3″ each.

Mix the flour, cold butter and salt in a food processor until everything is well incorporated.  Then add your eggs and cream and mix together until it forms a ball.  Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and chill for at least a half hour before using.  Then roll out onto a lightly floured surface and cut or shape as desired.

My secret for a light and flaky dough is to use cold butter.  I also like using heavy whipping cream because it gives it a real rich flavor.  Some people use water and some people use milk.  Both of these are fine as well.  It is all just a personal choice.  Whether you use water, milk or cream though, you want them to be cold.   I have even known some people that use vodka in their dough, but my favorite is the heavy whipping cream.

I rolled my dough very thin, about 1/4-1/2″ thick and cut them them in 3″ round circles.  After I cut my dough, I flattened them even more before filling them.  Use about 1-1 1/2 heaping TBSP of filling per circle.   If you over fill them, particularly if your filling has any liquid in it, the dough will get really soggy and mushy and it will become very difficult to work with.  Once the circles are filled, bring the ends together and pinch them tight.  Some people even roll them together as part of the pinching.   Use a fork to push down the edges to ensure the pockets are sealed.  Sometimes I fry my empanadas and sometimes I bake them.  Today, I baked them, so brushed an egg wash over the top to help them brown.  I baked them at 350*F for about 1/2 hour, or until they were golden brown.

My egg wash was one egg and just a dash of heavy whipping cream whisked together, and then I brushed it over my empanadas.  Again, some people use water, or milk, and it is just a personal choice.  Because of the different sugar content in all of these, the browning will be a little different.  I like using the heavy whipping cream because it has a slightly higher sugar content, which gives it a little bit more of a browning effect.

*** Ground Aji Amarillo Chilies is from Savory Spice, based out of Denver, CO.  This has become one of my favorite spices.  I use it for a lot of dishes.

We are visiting with friends later on today, and today’s theme is Mexican/Latin American.  When my friend Janet and I cook, we cook.  Both of us kind of feed off each other (pardon the pun, albeit true).   We bounce ideas off each other, and mix and match and just create whatever comes to mind for that day.  We both take themes and love to just run with them, seeing where our ideas will take us and what comes out.  When all is said and done, we always come up with some very delicious, very creative meals.  It is almost like a friendly competition between us, but we put everything together, and pull out some wine and enjoy the fruits of our labors.

I have been in the kitchen since 7:30 AM and just stopped about twenty minutes ago (Denver time, it is about 1:10 PM), making all kinds of things to take with us.  Be patient my friends; you will see all the goods that I cooked, just not all today.  I do have to pace myself, you know.  One of the things I made today was some very rich and decadent Dulce de Leche brownies with pistachios.   As always, I take recipes and change things around just enough to make them my own.  The recipe did not call for pistachios, but I had some chopped pistachios I was looking to use, and the idea just popped into my head to top the brownies with them.  The end result – delicioso!  And I wonder why I can’t seem to lose any weight.  HMMMMM.  Do you think there may be a connection between all the foods I cook and the scale not going down at all?  Especially when I make all of these decadently delicious desserts?  I don’t know;  I’ll have to think about that some.

Layering the brownies with the brownie mix and the dulce de leche filling (dulce de leche means sweetened milk), which is very similar to caramel.

My dulce de leche sauce got a little too thick and hard, so I reheated it and added enough milk to melt it all down again, so I could spread it over my brownie mixture.  I made the dulce de leche sauce ahead of time, which I won’t do again.  Next time, I will make it right before I am ready to spread it so it doesn’t harden too fast or too much.  See, I too make mistakes, and learn from them all the time.

Once I added the last layer of the brownie mixture, I topped it with chopped pistachios and put it it in the oven to bake.

Dulce de Leche Brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed tightly

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa poowder

1/4 tsp salt

dulce de leche filling

1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Preheat the oven to 325* F

Spray cooking spray in a 9×13 baking dish

Mix all your dry ingredients together and set aside.  Cream the butter and sugars together, then add the eggs and vanilla and mix together.  Add the dry ingredients 1/2 at a time and mix until just blended.  Spoon 1/2 the mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly.  Top with the dulce de leche filling and spread evenly over the chocolate mixture.  Spoon the rest of the brownie mixture and spread evenly.  Top with chopped pistachios (or your nut of choice.  Pecans would be very good too).  Bake for about 45-50 minutes and let cool completely before cutting.  They are going to be very moist and rich and gooey, so the toothpick test will not work.

Dulce de Leche Filling

1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 TBSP corn syrup

2 TBSP butter

Combine everything together and microwave at 1/2 power for about 12 minutes.  Stop the microwave and stir thoroughly every two minutes though.  You want the sauce to firm up and become thick with a nice caramel color.   You can also cook it all on top of the stove as well, stirring constantly.  It takes a little longer on the stove, but I think it comes out a little more evenly cooked.  Either way is fine though.  As I said, if it is too thick or hard, just add a little milk, as much as needed, and cook it down again until it is soft and spreadable.