Hi.  My name is Mark and this is my cooking blog.

I get asked a lot for my recipes, so I decided to start this cooking blog.  What you’ll find here will be my recipes and my variations on others’ recipes, my cooking tips and who knows what else. 

I should say up front that I’m lactose intolerant (check out my lactose intolerance site www.nowhey.org) and I also try to live a low-carb lifestyle.  So the recipes you’ll find here will generally be devoid of milk and milk products and try, wherever possible, to be low in carbs.

I hope you enjoy the site and the recipes.

Mark

I recently purchased the Keurig Single Cup Coffee Brewing System and I wanted to try a bunch of different coffees to pick the ones I liked.  It came with some samples, but I decided to order a lot more.  Keurig offers 5 piece sample packs and free shipping if you order enough.   I put together an order of enough sample packs to get the free shipping, choosing primarily string blends as that’s the way I like my coffee.  What follows are my brief impressions of them with ratings from 1 to 4 stars.

Strong Blends:

Van Houtte French Roast:  1 star.  Light to medium body with a brigh flavor.  Not a bad cup of coffee but not much like French Roast.

Diedrich French Roast:  3 stars.  Strong and full-bodied with a classic French Roast flavor.  Very nice.

Coffee People Wake Up Call:  3 stars.  Strong, straight-forward cup of coffee – very similar to their Donut Shop.

Coffee People Donut Shop:  4 stars.  Strong, full bodied and well rounded.  This is supposedly similar to Dunkin Donuts coffee, but I have never tasted it so I can’t comment.  However, this is probably my overall favorite of the lot.

Coffee People Black Tiger:  2 stars.  Strong and assertive with a bitter edge that I didn’t care for.

Coffee People Jet Fuel:  1 star.  Strong but has some off flavors – rubbery.  Not a very enjoyable cup.

Van Houtte Eclipse Extra Bold:  1 star.  Smooth, not agressive, light to medium body.  Not much flavor.

Emeril’s French Quarter Roast:  3 stars.  Has a good French Roast flavor but it’s not too heavy – more like a “French Roast Lite”.

Emeril’s Big Easy Bold:4 stars.  Intense with a sharp bitter edge, but not unpleasant.  If you like Peet’s you’ll like this.

Timothy’s Rain Forest Expresso Extra Bold:  4 stars.  A good, well rounded cup.  Enjoyable.

Green Mountain Espresso Blend:  4 stars.  Intense, strong, full-bodied.  If you like Starbucks (or Peet’s) you’ll like this.

Green Mountain Lake and Lodge:  2 stars.  Smooth, neutral, medium body.

Green Mountain Sumatran Reserve:  3 stars.  Smooth with a slight bitter edge, full bodied.

Green Mountain Double Black Diamond:  3 stars.  Strong flavor but medium body.

Green Mountain French Roast:  1 star.  Light body, weak without much flavor.

Newman’s Own Special Blend:  2 stars.  Medium body and flavor, doesn’t live up to the “bold” billing.

Tully’s French Roast:  3 stars.  Strong, full bodied with good French Roast flavor.

Other Coffees and K-Cups:

Timothy’s Moka Java:  2 stars.  A nice medium cup of coffee, but only slightly reminiscent of a a good mocha java.

Caribou Coffee Caribou Blend:  2 stars.  Medium flavor and roast, nothing to get excited about but drinkable.

Green Mountain Nantucket Blend:  2 stars.  Medium flavor and roast, nothing to get excited about but drinkable.

Green Mountain Hot Chocolate:  3 stars.  Makes a decent cup of quick hot chocolate and it’s non-dairy.