Jack and Janelle's of Cortez, Colorado

Jack and Janelle's Country Kitchen
801 E Main St
Cortez, CO 81321

(970) 565-2572

Website: N/A

When we first began traveling to Cortez, CO for our shopping needs, we found a large selection of places to have a meal. Seeing Jack and Janelle’s sign, it seemed welcoming, so decided to try the place out. It is a medium sized restaurant, clean and the décor is just as the sign indicates – country. For all the times we have been there, we have been usually greeted by Jack; a very friendly and pleasant man who makes you feel very welcomed. The waitresses are also friendly, and make sure that coffee cup is always full.

Breakfast is a wide selection from the basic “American” (eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns, toast or biscuit), French Toast, Corned Beef Hash (crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, and my absolute favorite), Chicken Fried Steak (measuring about 12” long, crispy and delicious), Omelets and Casseroles. The homemade biscuits come with thick, rich gravy. On Sunday, a breakfast buffet is available which consists of scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, bacon, sausage, toast, biscuits, gravy, cereals and pastries for only $8.95.

Lunch and Dinner have a good variety too, and if you add a cup of soup, or the salad bar, it’s only 50 cents more. The salad bar has a nice selection of items and dressings, and is a lot better than most places that offer a salad for $3.99; so don’t be cheap, go for the salad bar. The burgers and sandwiches are thick and come with plenty of fixings. There are “all-you-can-eat” specials, surprise specials, and you have to try the Navajo Tacos (offered on Tuesdays), and the Green Chili.

There is a small selection of Appetizers and the Chicken Quesadillas are highly recommended, as are the Onion Rings.

We have yet to walk away hungry from Jack and Janelle’s, always feel comfortable being there, and you never get the feeling of being rushed to get out.

Mary Cokenour

Yippee-ky-yo-ky-yay; it’s the Bar-M Chuckwagon.

Bar-M Chuckwagon

7000 U.S. 191

Moab, UT 84532

(435) 259-2276

Website: http://www.barmchuckwagon.com/

After a day of sightseeing, hiking, climbing, or any of the other outdoor activities available in Moab, the Bar-M Chuckwagon is the place to go for a relaxing evening. Located just 4 miles north of the Arches National Park entrance and 1.5 miles south of the turn off to Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands National Park, it is right off of Route 191. The ticket booth is located at the entrance of the ample parking lot, and as you make your way down the path to the Bar-M, don’t forget to stop and pay your respects to those buried at Boot Hill.

The evening begins with a comedic confrontation between two cowboys, a meeting with the sheriff, and the shootout. Nothing overly dramatic to frighten the children, and lots of laughter to get everyone in a happy, “yeee-harrr” mood.

Inside the main building, guests can seat themselves at picnic style wooden tables. The sheriff, who is also the ranch cook, greets everyone, and announces how the meal will be served. When he says to hold your plate on the apple sauce side, listen up, cause the hot food is hot; and metal plates conduct heat very well.

The two choices for the main dish are barbequed chicken or roast beef; served with cowboy beans, baked potato, apple sauce, spice cake, biscuit. Drinks are lemonade, iced tea, coffee and water; all refillable. Seconds on the meal are offered, and if you’re still hungry, get up and go get it, for it goes fast. Yes, it was that good!!! Dinner is about an hour, and after cleanup, the musical entertainment starts.

Classic and modern western songs, lots of jokes (mostly corny, but you can’t help but laugh), audience participation is encouraged and very welcome; young and old alike are guaranteed a heapin’ good time. There is a gift shop on premises, right next to the saloon where you can purchase alcoholic beverages and bottled soda.

From start to finish, expect to be at the Bar-M for about 3 hours. Since it goes into late evening, children under the age of 8 might find it to be long, and get antsy and/or cranky. Parents should know their own child/children’s temperament, so plan accordingly.

If you're visiting the Moab area, and want some real old time Western style entertainment and grub (that’s food), then the Bar-M Chuckwagon won’t do you wrong.

Mary Cokenour

Negative Energy Recreation.

Interesting title? Does it mean to create, or bring back, negative energy? Nope, just the opposite. It means to take negative energy and change it into something positive.

So, yesterday I was having a rather stressful day, and I had a few choices on how to handle it. Wallow in it? Been there, done that; don't like it much. Clear my mind and meditate? Fat chance of that happening, since my brain refuses to shut up. Destroy something? That accomplishes nothing, and only causes more stress. Be creative? Eureka!!! Been there, done that, and it works. Whether it is through my poetry, photography or cooking; transforming negative energy into something creative and positive brings comfort,and reduces the stress.

A food that is high on the comfort food scale is pasta, and I had ravioli in the freezer. Ho hum, regular pasta sauce; just not in the mood for making it fresh, or defrosting a container from the freezer. Alfredo sauce wasn't going to give me the zing I needed to get out of my funk. Hmmm, always wanted to try and make homemade tomato vodka cream sauce. I have tried the jarred variety (ok, get over the shock now and move it along), and it was ok, but it still had that processed after taste.

Do you know how many recipes you can find on the internet for this sauce...hundreds! Printed a couple out, compared ingredients and cooking styles, raided the pantry, gave it my own twist and style; and my creation became alive, alive I tell you!!!

Ok, enough of the drama, and here's the recipe:

Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce

A light cream sauce which can be served over any type of tubular pasta (penne, ziti, rigatoni); long, flat pasta (fettuccine, linguine); or cheese filled pasta (ravioli, tortellini, tortelloni).

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter

¼ cup diced onion

1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup vodka

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ cup grated romano cheese

1 lb hot, cooked pasta

minced fresh parsley for garnish

Preparation:

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, melt butter and sauté onion until translucent.  Add tomatoes and cook until liquid reduces by half; stir frequently to keep from sticking or burning.

Add cream, vodka and pepper flakes; bring to a boil; reduce heat to low; add in cheeses and let cook 10 minutes to let sauce thicken.  Add in cooked pasta, toss to coat.  Serve and garnish with minced parsley.

Makes 4 servings.

Note:  a half lb. of medium shrimp can be added the last 5 minutes of the sauce being on low; or a ½ lb of grilled chicken slices.

Mary Cokenour

A day for eating a lot of brownies.

This is the type of day that you never want to remember; that you want to delete from the calendar.  The type of day that you wished you had turned off the alarm clock, stayed in bed, and just let it pass you by.

First - found a brand new houseplant, that Roy had given me, totally shredded.  There was no saving it; even the roots had been destroyed.

Second - I only had my back turned for a minute; one of the dogs had grabbed my breakfast and scarfed it down.

Third - one of the other dogs decided to eat up all the dry food in the cats' bowl.  I had just refilled it too.

Fourth - for the second time, Roy had placed an ad for this food blog in the local "Advertisement" paper.  For the second time, not only was it full of mispellings, but they misspelled my name, so no one could find this food blog using the URL.

...and all that happened before 10am.  For me, this was equal to something that would make a teenage girl grab a plate of brownies, and devour them all, and even lick the plate.  Unfortunately, I can't do that; having diabetes most definitely prevents that; and giving myself a severe stomach ache wouldn't help at all.

So, I will drink my zero calorie/carb flavored water; eat my light yogurt, and give you my basic brownie recipe.  I can't eat them, but at least someone somewhere can enjoy them.

Brownies

A basic brownie recipe; the addition of other ingredients allows for the creation of other types of brownies.

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter

2 squares unsweetened bakers’ chocolate

1 cup sugar (or Splenda for baking)

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

¾ cup flour

¼ tsp salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray an 8” square baking dish with nonstick baking spray (contains flour).

Using a double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate together till smooth and shiny.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and salt; add the melted butter and chocolate and mix well.

Pour into baking dish; bake for 25-30 minutes; until toothpick comes out cleanly from center.

Let cool before cutting into squares.

Makes 9-12 brownies, depending on how small or large they are cut.

Mary Cokenour

August 15, 1988

Additions:

Nuts: Add a ½ cup of favorite type of nut; should be roasted and chopped.

Fruits: Add a ½ cup of dried or candied chopped fruit.  Reduce sugar by ¼ cup.

Chocolate Mint: Add 4 Tbsp chocolate syrup plus ½ cup of either Hershey’s York Candy sprinkles or Andes Candies Bits (available in baking section). Reduce sugar by ¼ cup.

Add additional 10 minutes to baking time because of the syrup.

Walnut, Marshmallow and Toffee: Add ½ cup chopped walnuts, 1 cup mini-marshmallows and 1/3 cup of Heathbar or Skor bar bits (available in baking section).  Reduce sugar by ¼ cup.

Hmmm...Fried Dough.

Fried food, in general, gives you the kind of mouth feel that says, "all is right with the world."  I'm not going into all the scientific facts about why; we all know the answer, it's the fat.  It does something to our tastebuds and our brains that make us feel happy all over.  Sure, we can justify it by saying that deep fried veggies have the nutritional value of the vegetables to consider.  Sure, whatever you say; but we all know it's the crunch of the deep fried batter that we crave.

Deep down inside, we all have a little Homer Simpson in us.  "Hmmm...Donuts".  Nuff' said, and here are two recipes to try when you've got that fried food craving.

Apple Fritters

Ingredients:

Oil for frying

2 cups flour

½ cup sugar

1 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

2 ½ tsp cinnamon

2/3 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 ½ cups diced apple (peeled)

Glaze:

3 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla

½ cup warm water

Preparation:

Fill deep fryer to fill line, or deep skillet halfway up, with oil; bring temperature up to 375F.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.  Add in milk and eggs; beat, on medium speed, till smooth; fold in diced apple.

Use 1/3 measuring cup to spoon up batter, and a rubber spatula to ease the batter into the oil.  Depending on size of deep fryer, or deep skillet, 2-3 fritters can be made at a time.

While first batch is frying, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla and water to make the glaze; whisk until smooth and creamy.

When fritters are golden brown, drain on paper towels and let cool slightly; dip fritters into glaze and place on jelly roll pan lined with waxed or parchment paper.

Makes 6-8 fritters.

Mary Cokenour

December 30, 2004

...but not to be outdone...

Zeppoli

Zeppole; singular term is Zeppola and in the Southern dialects it is Zeppoli, are light, deep-fried dough balls about 2 inches in diameter.  They originated in Italy to celebrate the Feast of Saint Joseph.  Since it is typically in the season of Lent, these can be compared to the German, Fastnachts; a type of deep fried donut make with flour, sugar and a fat.  If in New Orleans, the Beignet is the equivalent; all can be covered in powdered sugar, cinnamon, and, sometimes, filled with fruit or jam.

How to Make Zeppoli

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil

2 cups all purpose flour

3 eggs

3 Tbsp sugar

¼ tsp baking powder

Powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

Preparation:

Pour oil to fill line in a deep fryer; bring temperature to 400F.

In medium bowl, mix together flour, eggs, sugar and baking powder until smooth.  Using a teaspoon, drop batter into the hot oil; depending on size of fryer, about 3-4 at a time.  To turn the zeppoli in the hot oil, use a wooden chopstick or kebob skewer.  When the zeppoli floats to the top, and is golden brown all around, remove to paper towels to drain.

While hot, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Mary Cokenour

March 8, 1985

The Gingers have taken over!

I've mentioned our family of cats that have made a home under our garden shed. Sadly, Momma Kitty disappeared about six weeks ago; perhaps she has passed on, perhaps someone took her in and is loving her dearly. We don't know, and can only speculate. She had two litters while she was residing under the shed, and each litter produced one ginger kitten.

Funny thing about each one of those gingers, they were both the brave ones of their litter. They would confront us and meow with the littlest of meows, demanding to be fed. Then they started to climb up our legs, whether we were standing or sitting on patio chairs. Next, and the bravest thing of all, they would walk into the home when the door opened,and walk the gaunlet of dogs until they reached the kitchen, and waiting bowls of food that belonged to the indoor cats. When they were done, they would walk to the backdoor and demand to be let out.

First Rusty, as we named him, decided that he no longer wanted outside. He liked to cuddle, be petted and play with the other cats and dogs. Two, is the other ginger kitten, and the spitting image of Rusty; who we named Rusty Two, but shortened to Two. He behaved in the same manner as Rusty, and he is also a member of the indoor cat committee. They are also very attached to Monkey, who is also a ginger, so they have their own committee.   Often, we have seen all three conspire against one of the other cats or dogs; and it's one of the funniest things we have seen.

Yep, the gingers have taken over, but we wouldn't give them up for all the tea in China.

So here's a recipe that moves more towards the color and sweetness of our gingers, not the spice.

Bourbon Molasses Chicken and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

¼ tsp each paprika and ground black pepper

1 large red onion, chopped

2 cups chicken broth

¼ cup bourbon

½ cup molasses

2 Tbsp butter

¼ cup milk

½ tsp each ground cinnamon and nutmeg

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp butter

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, on high heat, boil potatoes till fork tender.   While potatoes are cooking, preheat oven to 350F; spray an 8” x 8” baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Season chicken with paprika and pepper.   Place chopped onion in dish, place chicken breasts on top of onion.

In a medium bowl, mix together the broth, bourbon and molasses; pour over chicken and onions.  Bake for 40-45 minutes; until there is no pink in the thickest part of the chicken.

Prepare sweet potatoes by partially mashing, add in 2 Tbsp butter, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar; continue to mash till smooth.

Remove chicken and onions to platter once done.  Place the baking dish on stovetop, on high heat, add 2 Tbsp butter; bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Spoon sauce over each serving of chicken; drizzle over mashed sweet potatoes.

Makes 4 servings.

Mary Cokenour

August 13, 2003

Eddie McStiff's

Eddie McStiff's
57 S Main (Eddie McStiff's Plaza)
Moab, Utah, 84532

(435) 259-2337

Website: http://www.eddiemcstiffs.com/

Eddie McStiff's is located on the main street (Rte 191) of Moab at the rear of their own named plaza. Outside the restaurant is patio seating where one can enjoy drinks, meals and a view of the Red Rocks in the distance. Inside, the restaurant is divided into various areas where the lighting is neither too dark, nor too bright, but just right as Goldilocks would say. We went at a time when it was not too busy, so were able to seat ourselves; when busy, a hostess will seat you.

Our waitress, Natalin, was very friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable about the food items and drinks. The menus for food and drink are not overly large, and that is a good thing, so the staff can concentrate on putting out quality, not quantity.

Eddie McStiff's is a microbrewery, so have a selection of their own brewed products: Rock Amber and Canyon Cream Ales, Raspberry, Blueberry and Pure Desert Wheats. Roy had a Rock Amber Ale which he stated was medium bodied, smooth, slight flowery aftertaste, and slightly hoppy.

To start off our meal, first Brew City Onion Rings - light and cripsy batter; the onions soft, so when you took a bite, the whole onion didn't come out and leave you with a hollow shell; very tasty and served with ranch dressing.

Jumbo Buffalo Hot Wings - these are traditional Buffalo Wings, and when they say hot, they mean spicy hot. Served with bleu cheese dressing (ranch if you ask for it) and celery sticks. They are large, juicy; the skin is not overly mushy, nor overly crisp - Roy described them as "medium crispy".

Main Entrees - Roy had the Philly Cheese Steak which consisted of a toasted roll with provolone cheese, sauteed peppers and onions, and piled high with thinly sliced prime rib. Roy could taste every item separately, and also how they worked together - it was a great team effort too.

I had the McFish-n-Chips: beer battered tempura cod. Now I've had fish and chips at many places, and you usually get 2 pieces about 3 inches large, or one large piece about 6 inches long. I swear, I think I got a school of cod on my plate- 3 overwhelming pieces which hung off the plate that I had to take some home, and that's even after Roy tried some of it.
The tempura batter was crispy, and tasted clean;no oily taste. The cole slaw side was creamy and went perfect with the cod;tartar sauce was the condiment, but I didn't even need it.

We both had the french fries which were skin on potatoes, cripsy, and fluffy on the inside.

Now we've been to Eddie McStiff's many times, and only been disappointed with one item on the menu - the mixed greens salads; or what you would find in the produce department as "mixed spring salad". It's a combination of baby lettuces and other baby leafy vegetables which we find to be either bitter and/or tasteless; and adding dressing makes the leaves more soggy. Now if the mixed greens were added to a crispier lettuce, such as Romaine and/or Iceberg; then there would be a good assembly of tastes and textures. Dressings would enhance, not sog up, the salad itself.

Overall, if you're visiting, or even live near or around, Moab; try out Eddie McStiff's. You won't be sorry.