Christmas disaster, I mean dinner

I am not entirely sure I should be allowed in the kitchen anymore.  I went shopping on Monday morning for Christmas dinner.  It should have easily been a "No-Brainer".  I got a turkey breast, bread for the stuffing, celery and potatoes.

Late this morning I put the bird in the oven.  It was not that heavy so I expected it to be finished by 3:30.  Around 3:00 I started getting the ingredients together to make the stuffing when I made a horrible discovery....I was OUT of sage.  My mother's stuffing is extremely basic: ripped white bread, chopped celery, onion, melted butter and rubbed sage.  That  is it. And I had no sage.

Next I discovered I forgot to get ALL the ingredients for the green bean casserole.

Then I checked my bird to see if it was ready for the foil to come off and start browning.  It was no where near done.  Not even close.  I left it covered and kept it cooking in the oven.

I decided to make some form of stuffing.  It would not be mine/my momma's stuffing.  I still used the ripped up white bread, added the chopped celery and onion.  What to do? I started looking around in my spice cabinet.  I added some chopped and smashed fresh garlic, dried basil, paprika, a little bit of cayanne and the melted butter.  I mixed it up and then added more basil, freshly ground black pepper and some freshly ground sea salt.  Are you shaking your head yet? I am.  It's awful.  I went ahead and put it in the oven to bake with the turkey.

My oldest daughter was nice enough to peel potatoes for me.  I got those boiling when I went in the fridge for butter I realized I had not even started the collards.  What is worse is my brain was stopped and I could not even remember how to fix them.  I went ahead and got a pot started with a small amount of real butter, some diced up ham and smashed garlic.  I sprinkled in some red pepper flakes and then added my cut up collards and some chicken stock.  I put  a lid on that and let it steam.

I made tea.  The worst tea ever.....I have no idea how that happend either.  I got the bird out of the oven and upon slicing it realized why it took so long to cook.  I forgot to take the guts out.  The stuffing came out and we all sat down and had a weird Christmas dinner.  Don't get me wrong, I am thankful I am so blessed to be sitting at the table with my family and we have food.  Yes there is that to be thankful for.  The rest? Maybe a shot of pepto bismal or something is needed....and a vacation.  Because usually when my cooking goes bad is when I know I am having some kind of sadness in my heart.  Guess it is time to get more visits in with my heart doctor, Jesus.  He is the one and only one who can lift this burden.

Merry Christmas Y'all.  I hope you had a blessed day with the ones you love.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Jumbled-laya otherwise known as OOPS!

I set out tonight to make another batch of jambalaya.  I ended up committing "cook's homicide" when I did not check and make sure I actually had ALL the mandatory ingredients.  UGH.  I know better than that.  What follows below is an account of my maniacal recipe mangling, otherwise known as tonight's dinner.

It started out all good.  Here are my boneless, skinless chicken thighs frying in my large pan.  I sprinkled them liberally with Soul Seasoning and let them cook until done.  While they were cooking I chopped four small to medium yellow onions and two green peppers.  I did a large rough chop, not small dice.  It is important (I don't know, it sounded good!).

After the chicken was done (I forgot to tell you I fryed them in a little bit of vegetable oil) I put it aside on a plate with paper towels on it.  I drained away most of the left over oil but left a smidge to saute my veggies.

I only sauted them until just tender, I wanted them to retain some of their texture.  Next I sliced my package of Andouille sausage and microwaved it for 30 seconds.  After the nuke cycle I added the sausage to the peppers and onions.  I added the six cups of chicken stock and the bay leaf. 

And here my friends, is where my recipe ran OFF THE RAILS!!!!  As I started to slice my mushrooms I suddenly realized my rice was MISSING.  Good gravy! I thought I had an entire package and it was gone!

I did what an self respecting cook would do....I PANICKED!  I called my daughters into the kitchen because they are taller than me.  I wanted them to check up in the cabinets where Miss Shorty could not see.  No luck.  Next I called my son (who was not home, I called his friend's cell phone to find him).  He was like...NO. I don't know.

Of course, next, I pouted.  Fumed.  Paced.  Then my husband said, "just use pasta".  WHAT? Pasta in my jambalaya??? PFFTT....

Since the recipe was already wrong I decided to just add other stuff.  I added a can of drained and rinsed pinto beans.  I added some chopped green onion.  Then I paced some more.  What on earth could I add?  I did not have any rice.  I started looking at my pasta but I only had angel hair and I just knew it would turn to mush.  That is when I saw it.  I had two bags of Lipton Creamy Chicken Noodles.  They are flat noodles and are rather sturdy.  So I dumped both bags with their seasoning in. 

Well....it actually turned out pretty well.  I like the rough chopped mushrooms and onions.  I like the addition of the pintos.  Even the noodles work.  So, I have some new weird creation.  And the family is fed.  Mission accomplished.

Sugar Overload

I went to our church's Ladies Missions meeting for the month of December tonight.  We made baskets for our shut-in members, widows and widowers.  I even got to make a basket for my "Uncle Buck" and will have the priveledge of delivering it tomorrow night!  I also put together two baskets for two widowers. 

My friend, Christine, made the desserts for tonight.  This girl needs to go on "Cupcake Wars"!!  Let me see if I can remember all the flavors she made:

Banana Pudding Cupcake (TO DIE FOR!!!)
Pina Colada Cupcake (YUM)
Hot Chocolate Cupcake (it had this yummy, light, marshmallowy frosting!)
Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcake
Almond Joy Cupcake

I probably forgot one! I tried the first three! I was not able to eat a whole hot chocolate one because I was SO FULL!! But I really, really, really want to put my face in a bowl of the frosting she made for it.  I must find out her recipe!!

I am sitting here trying to settle down after the effects of all that sugar!!  If you have any cupcake ideas, please share! :)

Chili....really quick!

Last night I was smart and sorted through a rather large bag of pinto beans, got out all the rocks, rinsed them and put them in my crock pot (turned off) to soak all night.  Even smarter, I remembered them this morning! Rinsed them off again, put them back in the crock pot and this time turned it on at the 8 hour setting and went to work!

When I got home at 4:00 today I was greeted with a large pot of pintos that were soft and yummy.  I put in a stick of butter and let that melt.  While this was melting, in a separate pot on the stove I put in a pound of ground chuck (poor chuck) and an onion, chopped to cook.  I also added about four cloves of garlic, smashed and minced.  Once the chuck (poor chuck) was done, I added two small cans of Hunt's Tomato paste and some of the liquid from my crock pot of pintos.  I also added chili powder and my very favorite chipoltle chili powder, more beans and liquid from the crock pot and one can of V-8 tomato/veggie juice. 

This has blended into a very flavorful, tomato-ey chili.  While it simmers on the stove and deepens in flavor, I threw in a batch of cornbread.  All of this delicious food is heading to the nursing home.  I know my sweet momma and  Uncle Buck will enjoy the homemade food.  Well....not ALL of it is going.  I have to feed teenagers and the hubs too!  It was fast and it is healthy and that makes me a happy mom!

Secret Jambalaya

A friend gave me his family's secret recipe for jambalaya.  I cannot break his confidence so I will not post the actual recipe, but I will share with you some of what I made.  I followed the recipe exactly, as I usually do when trying something for the first time. 

This is pretty much all of the ingredients that I used (plus rice, of course).  I resisted the urge to add things! I even managed to curtail my inside Italian and did not add too much garlic! 

This is what the finished product looked like:

It was quite tasty.  When I make it for a second time, I will probably add some of my favorite Soul Seasoning and more diced green onion.  I get why they said to use the chicken thighs as the meat is more flavorful but I think I will prefer the breast meat.

Do you guys have any favorite recipes for cajun food you can share? I would love to try more!

Pasta CarboNOT....

As usual, tonight's dinner inspiration came from my need NOT to go out to the grocery store! I was tired!  I threw a batch of my cornbread in the oven for starters and then begin to look around to see what I had.

Bacon.  You can't go wrong there, right?  I decided to make a sort of Pasta Carbonara...that is until I read the recipe all the way through.  I am not really a big fan of using raw eggs that don't really get cooked (go figure, as I am the first person eating the cookie dough or cake batter!).

As the bacon fried up all crispy in a skillet, I poured a large amount (probably around 2 1/2 to 3 cups) of milk in a bowl and set aside to warm up a little.  Four tablespoons of real butter went in a pot to melt.  To that I added two heaping tablespoons of flour and let it create a nice blonde roux.  This is the way I usually start making my own homemade bechemel sauce.  After the flour cooked a little bit and got bubbly, I slowly added the milk, a little at a time, stirring and adding. I then grated some fresh nutmeg into the bechemel along with some black pepper. I let this simmer on the stove.

The bacon was put on a plate to drain.  I then took a second small saucepan and put two tablespoons of butter in to melt on low.  I added about 1/2 of a large onion, chopped.  Next I added some Hunt's diced tomatoes (drained and only a few tablespoons) and some chopped garlic.  This sat on low and softened and married flavors.

While the pasta was boiling (I used angel hair), I added a small handful of finely grated cheddar cheese to the bechemal. I did not add a whole lot of cheese as I truly was not going for a cheese sauce.  I just wanted the added depth of flavor.

When my pasta was al-dente I drained and mixed in my bechemel sauce.  I added my crumbled bacon and stirred well.  I served this with the onion, tomato and garlic mixture to the side as I have quite a few picky eaters at my table.  I will say it was simply the most flavorful pasta ever! I loved the slight addition of the tomato, onion and garlic mixed in with the pasta and bechemel.  So yum.  I think it has made its way onto my regular menu.  The cornbread served with this made it a rather rustic dinner.

Now I am off to church! Sadly, since I spent so much time with my bechemel I did not have time to make goodies for the youth group! Oh well! I am sure they will let me slide this one Wednesday!