Thursday Happenings

I feel so guilty that I'm so late in posting today.  I'm still trying to keep up with the everyday thing but today just got away from me.  I didn't have to work today (yippee) and had the morning to myself.  We are having company over for dinner tonight and I knew that a few things had to be done so right after workout I rushed home to pick up the house and make the bed.  I ended up actually taking the upper part of my stove apart and scrubbing.  No get too excited, I don't do that often so it was pretty nasty, couldn't really stand it anymore.  That done I sat and took a break, ate a bit of breakfast and watched last nights 1st episode of this season's Survivor.  Then I rushed to my spa for a massage and facial!  Yes, it was my day this beautiful sunny Thursday.  Back home it was lunch, shower and then a run to the grocery store, liquor store and yet another grocery.  For our company tonight we are grilling pork chops, oven roasting sweet potatoes and asparagus and then VILLA MARIA'S LEMON TIRAMISU .  I saw it on the Cooking Channel on David Rocco's show and just had to make it.  Lemons, Limoncello, lady fingers, egg whites, whipping cream....doesn't that just sound yummy and so easy.  So the run to a couple of grocery stores for the lady fingers and Limoncello at the liquor store I whipped the thing up from my notes, not taking the time to check out the website but I'm not too far off and was so excited to fix it that there are no pictures.  I'm planning on fixing it again this weekend for a spaghetti dinner, perfect, and will take pic's, I promise. 

I'm posting here now, it's 4pm, then I have to close my eyes for a short bit...toodles all till we meet again, tomorrow!

Potato Corn Chowder with Turkey Sausage

I made a successful recipe and thought I would share.  There are not any exact amounts as it is a soup so just go with it.

Ingredients:

leeks
red potatoes (new potatoes)
fresh corn
chicken stock
salt and pepper
turkey sausage crumbles
water
milk
red pepper bruschetta
olive oil
cayenne pepper

Okay, this is how I did it -  I chopped the leeks and then sauteed them in about a tablespoon or two of olive oil.  While that was sauteing the leeks I took three ears of fresh corn and cut the kernels off and then took the knife and scraped the cream off the cob.  Three ears made about 1/2 to 1 cup of corn.  The leeks I salted a peppered as I did the corn and the potatoes.  I tossed the corn on top of the translucent leeks and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper to taste.  I then chopped the potatoes to bite size pieces and added to the pot with about 2 tablespoons of the red pepper bruschetta.  That is a specialty item at the grocery store and is not necessary but it adds color.  You could probably use jarred roasted red peppers.  Then I added some chicken stock, because that is what I had on hand, and water to cover the potato mixture.  When the potatoes were nearly tender I added the package of turkey sausage crumbles and about 1/2 to a 1 cup of milk.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.  This was so yummy you can not believe and it is even better the next day. 



Bacon & Tomato Pasta

I saw this on Giada's show a couple of weeks ago and have lusted for it since.  I didn't copy the recipe from her show but thought it easy enough to recreate myself.  Actually, I have changed it up by adding bacon to make:

Bacon & Tomato Pasta

Saute shallots in a bit of olive oil. 

I added a couple cloves of chopped garlic and then cherry tomatoes cut in half.

Salt and lots of black pepper.

In a saucepan I cooked some pasta, I think fusilli here.  I used a lot of salt in the water to cook the pasta.  Really works well to cut down the salt I use at the table.

Chiffonade about 3 tablespoons of basil.  I cooked bacon crisp in the microwave (about 3 minutes) and chffonade that too.  Then I cut into cubes FRESH mozzarella cheese (YUM).  I drained the pasta, tossed in the tomato mixture and tossed in the pasta/tomato mixture over the cheese mixture and tossed.  The hot pasta and tomato sort of melts the cheese.  It was so yummy and I was so anxious to dive into it I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  Tee-Hee!  Enjoy.

Buck-a-Roo Beans

Some have asked about the Buck-a-Roo Beans I fixed this past weekend.  So here is the recipe.  A different twist on brown beans.  It is an old Weight Watchers recipe that I have tweeked a bit by adding ham.  Enjoy.

Soak 1 pound dried pinto beans overnight, cook with clean water.

ADD:  1 large chopped onion, 2 bay leaves, 2 bulbs chopped garlic, 2 chicken bouillon cubes, ham chunks (or any kind like ham hocks, ham chunks, just ham)

Boil, then simmer 1-1/2 hours

ADD:  1 can whole tomatoes, 2 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1 chopped green pepper, 1/2 tsp dry mustard, 1 tsp brown sugar

Simmer 1-1/2 hours.
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Don't forget that tomorrow is the finale of the giveaway.  Don't forget to go HERE and comment and make sure there is a good email so I can contact you.  Please pass it on!!!!!

More Than a Typical Monday

Yesterday was one busy day and it started with the news from BlogHer telling me my blog was one of the hot blogs for the day!  I was SOOOOOOO excited.  My day was the usual workout and shower, ready for the day.  This past weekend I spent three solid days cleaning and setting up Christmas and Monday was just a continuation of that event. 

• Workout,
• Shower
• Drop stuff at Goodwill from my closet
• Buy HUGE poinsettia for living room
• Work:  Invoicing, open mail
• Bank
• Post Office to mail invoices I typed
• Grocery to buy stuff for the Beef Bourguignon and rest of meal
• Radio Shack - cord to hook up DVD player to my little TV in "my room" - it worked
• Liquor Store - wine for guests and to cook the BB
• Home
• Dinner
• Cook the BB - took longer than the 30 minutes stated on the recipe.  Thank goodness I started last night.

Today I'm too busy to cook the BB but apple cobbler is to be cooked so will be warm for my guests.  I have a hair appointment to wash the gray away, work, art class and then it is party time.  WHEW!  I'm tired I can tell you. 


A side note...I'm listening on my iPod a book called Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.  It is a very powerful book.  I "listened" to another of her books, "A Secret Kept" and really enjoyed the way she writes but it mindful it is really the way it is read as I've only listened to her books but they are well worth the listen!

Recipe Box

Had to make a quick run to Daddy's this morning after my workout.  He's been bugging me to return Momma's recipe box.  I took it when we were re-doing his house so I could make copies of the contents.  I just have not had time or memory to do the project.  So yesterday I was a copying fool so I could return it.  He said there were recipes that momma left for him to use.  Really most of the stuff was cakes and several copies/versions of cavatini that she created.  I have returned it to him!  I think it is more that it was a powerful connection to Momma and it gave him comfort.  I'm glad he is happy. 

Bathtub Chicken 101

First let me say that I made enough of this stuff yesterday to feed 100 people, it was over kill. So the recipe has a lot less ingredients than is show here but basically they are:

spaghetti

Velveeta Cheese

canned chicken

Cream of Mushroom soup or Cream of Chicken or Cream of anything

pimento

water chestnuts

mushrooms

celery

onion

milk

(can also add fresh broccoli or asparagus...endless)

These are the ingredients but I can't for the life of me remember the exact amounts cause it is a feel kind of thing here for me. This is extremly easy and my mother made it for us ever since I can remember. You can add or delete or change most of the stuff, just tweek it for your use as I have here in gargantuan amounts!

Boil your spaghetti according to package directions, probably a little al dente to account for cooking time.

Chop onion and celery

Drain the spaghetti

I like water chestnuts and mushrooms but I omitted the mushrooms today as some are not fond of them. Roughly chop the water chestnuts just to break them up a bit.

Add the pimento. Pimento I never used to like because it was a pepper, but I've since learned to like peppers. It is great color too.

Okay, here it gets a little creepy doesn't it. Usually my mother would buy canned chunk chicken and sometimes would stew here own, but I'm a lazy cook. I could have purchased roasted chickens at the store but I didn't have the room in the fridge or the inclination to debone them on Thursday night when I bought for the party. So, as I was in the canned tuna and chicken aisle I spied the whole canned chickens. Well, curiosity got the best of me...kind of reminds me of the Alien movie doesn't it...chills...

I still had to debone these suckers and let me tell you after the first can, I learned. When I dipped my hand into that first can the whole chicken just fell into pieces, which meant lots of bones to find.
This first mass looks smushed because I was hunting for bones to make sure not a one found its way into my casserole...

Now, that is much better. I learned to slowly pull the leg/thighs out very easily and then it went quick and boneless! Smelled delicious too.

The cans were half full of wonderful chicken stock so of course I poured it in a ziploc bag and stored it in the freezer for the next soup in the fall...

The Cream of Mushroom soup is prepared according to can directions, EXCEPT that I use milk. It is much creamer. I have used Cream of chicken, asparagus, celery, just any kind will do but my fav is the Cream of Mushroom. I also found a couple of cans of the Cream of Roasted Garlic Mushroom which I used...yummy!

Pour the soup into the mixture.

Now the Velveeta. I know it's kind of not really cheese but it is great in this recipe. In my Mother's day there was only one kind but now there are a myriad of flavors so I used some Mexican and Pepper Jack for a kick along with the original. You cube it up for ease of melting while baking. I believe the original recipe called for canned or stewed tomatoes but my mother never used them, instead opting for the pimento. My sister used Rotel tomatoes sometimes. See this is a very adaptable recipe.


I then poured it over the spaghetti and mixed. You can do it in a very large bowl, which I didn't find until this morning while putting stuff away...thump head!

Now comes the cleanup. It would have been a much quicker process if I had found the bowl and used already deboned, cooked, canned chicken but it was fun. I almost forgot...bake @ 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes depending on the size of casserole pan. You just want it bubbly, melted and the veggies done. Delicious with a green salad and garlic bread.


Yes it was overkill for only 21 people but I don't care. I love to cook for people and I'll take some home, some to neighbors and they will all enjoy. You can also freeze them for a later meal. We only dove into one of them so one may make the freezer.

Creamed Corn 101

First I have to digress to share the catch of the day. The Hubby and his catfish that are now resting safely in our freezer...yummy.























This is a step by step of making creamed corn like my granny and mother used to do. Enjoy.

The first step is good fresh corn...This is not a low-cal version.
Ingredients: fresh corn, cream, salt, pepper, bacon drippings, sugar (alternative: milk and flour)
Shuck and clean the silks and cut out the bad spots. This batch was beautiful with no blemishes.




Wash ...
Drop into a pot of boiling water to blanch for about 5 minutes. This makes it easier to cut off the cob.

After blanching for about 5 minutes then drop into an ice water bath to stop the cooking process and make it easier to work with.

Carefully take out of the boiling water and

give it a cool bath.

Now starts the most important process and the secret for creamed corn. You take good knife and in a shallow dish stand the ear on end and just cut the tips of the corn off. Trust me.

When you have cut all the tips off then you take your knife and scrap down the sides to get the cream or milk of the corn, the best part. It will splatter so sometimes I do it in my deep kitchen sink or just wipe down the walls.


See the cream there...
Now the cream is in the pan...yummy

When you get it to this point you can also put it in freezer bags and freeze for that special dinner.

Now, sometimes if I really want rich creamed corn I will use real cream to thicken, or I will make a slurry of milk and flour, not too much but enough to thicken. Lots of salt and pepper to taste and maybe a smidgen of sugar, but not necessary. Oh and the most important part, about a tablespoon or a little more of bacon drippings. This is not a low cal recipe but you can make it that way. If I'm going to this trouble, especially if I'm serving at a get together I will ramp it up.
In a large skillet or saucepan melt your bacon drippings. Don't walk away because the drippings can burn quickly. When hot add the corn and heat. When good and hot then you can add the cream or the milk thickening mixture. Add the seasonings and taste to tweek it just right. Bring the mixture back up to hot as the cream will cool it down. That is basically all you have to do.

Now doesn't that just make your mouth water. I took it to a party last night and it was ALL GONE! Success!