The Cookbook Experiment

My amazing baker/food maker daughter Paulina and I have decided to make every single recipe in this cookbook over the course of time. It won't be wasting food because my husband and son will EAT ANYTHING!!!

The first recipe on the menu today is from Mr. Joe Littles. He is an amazing MARINE and a blessing in our church. He can still wear his uniform and when he does, ooo la la!! Who doesn't love a man in uniform?  The recipe is called "Snicker Salad"

Snicker Salad:
(3) medium apples peeled and chopped
(1) can of Mandarin oranges, drained (okay, I did not drain them until I was done chopping the apples and banana so that the juice would keep them from turning brown. I drained after I was done with the chopping)
(1) banana, sliced
(3) Snickers candy bars, chopped (put them into the fridge to chill a little bit, per Joe (and he was correct!) it makes them easier to chop
(1) large container of Cool Whip
Chopped pecans (optional)

Chop up all fruits and mix together in bowl. Add chopped up candy bars. Stir in Cool Whip and top with chopped pecans if desired.

As you can see, it looks delish! I have put it in the fridge to chill and will have an official taste test after it is completely chilled.  Thanks Joe!

Chicken Salad Adventure

No one, and I repeat, no one can make chicken salad like Ms. Stella out at our church. People have been known to volunteer for events just because they know she is making it!  I do not even pretend to think that I could replicate it but I have decided its time to create my own recipe. My mother had her own version. I was not a real big fan as it was heavily laden with Miracle Whip. That stuff makes me shudder. I guess it has its place....just not in my household. A very nice lady at our church named Linda made a chicken salad recipe that had dried cranberries in it that my daughter and I loved. I used that as the basis of inspiration for my first attempt at our salad.

The ingredients I used were as follows:

• 2 stalks celery diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 chicken breasts, boiled, shredded and cut up
• 1 4 ounce bag of dried cranberries for salad
• Duke's Mayonnaise
• 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper
• dried dill

I found bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts on sale at Kroger. I boiled these and carefully removed the bones. This is a great opportunity to save the chicken stock for later. (I'm going to freeze mine in ice-cube trays!)  Just be very careful to get the bones out of the chicken.  Set the chicken aside to cool while you dice your celery and onions small.  Even my picky oldest daughter will eat this.  She loves chicken salad! She usually does not eat anything with vegetables but as long as the celery and onion are small, she eats!

After dicing the celery and onion, I shredded then cut up my chicken.  I like to shred the chicken with my hands. This way I can feel for any bones I may have missed the first time. After shredding and chopping the chicken, I mix in my celery and onion. I am still using my hands at this point.  I did not use all of the celery and onion.  It is a matter of taste at this point. As I mixed it in, I watched the ratio as I added it.  I really did not want the celery or onion to out-gun my chicken.

After washing my hands I decided it was time to switch to a spoon.  Here is where the measuring goes out the window! Once again it comes down to a matter of taste.  I cut my lemon in half and only squeezed half into my chicken/celery/onion mixture.  I tossed in the bag of dried cranberries and stirred.  Next I added the first of what was to be three large tablespoons of Duke's Mayonnaise.  I kept stirring.  Added salt, pepper and approximately 1/2 teaspoon of dill weed.  I stopped. I tasted. I added more mayo.  More salt. More stirring.  This is where you just have to go with your gut....or more with your taste buds.  I did not want soupy chicken salad.  I did not want salty chicken salad.  I knew if I accidentally added to much dill weed my kids would not eat it.  It was a ballet of chicken salad in the kitchen.  Eventually I stopped adding things and called in the BIG GUNS.  My seventeen year old son has no problems telling me like it is when it comes to my cooking.  He came in.  He took a bite, nudged me out of the way, grabbed the bread and made himself a sandwich.

Later he came into my office and declared it was good.  He thanked me for dinner and asked me to make it again.  He said it needed a little something more.  "Mayonnaise?" I asked.  "No." he said.  "More crunch?" I said. "No, but maybe more of the dill weed next time." Hmm...I was surprised.   Stay tuned for the next chicken salad adventure...

What in the world should this be called????

It was Wednesday night.  I was in a hurry. I had a package of boneless pork chops I needed to use before they went bad.  What happened next was unplanned, unscheduled, nary a recipe followed. It was mostly just a desperation dinner.

As usual, I started with two medium size yellow onions cut into rings. Into my large skillet they went with some canola oil and butter.  I chopped my pork chops into bite size pieces and threw them into the skillet with the onions. I had a large package of white button mushrooms. I wiped the dirt off of them with a damp paper towel and then sliced them.  I put them in the pan with the pork and the onions.

I am stirring it and realizing it is still not enough to feed everyone so I look around for something else to add to the pot.  I smash a few cloves of garlic and toss in. Next, I take out a package of Ore-Ida crinkle cut french fries and start chopping them into smaller pieces.  They get tossed into the pan with the rest of the pork, onions and mushrooms.  I sprinkle in some Soul Seasoning and stir until everything is nice and brown and done.

Was it good? Actually, yes it was. I sprinkled mine with garlic salt and gobbled it up.  Were ALL the family members brave enough to try it? NO.  My husband enjoyed it and so did my son.  I think even Trixie (my "adopted" daughter) ate it.  Not to bad an average.  The only bad side-effect was that I went to church with garlic breath!!

Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy

It was a beautiful day to worship. How nice it was to see Carolyn, the wife of our pastor, at church today. She is an amazing and special woman.  Her husband had knee surgery and has been out for a few weeks. Now he has a pinched nerve in his shoulder. I feel bad for them. I know he is anxious to get back to work. They need lifted up and loved on. The best way I know to do that is to cook. Today I am making them some of my mother's pork chops and mushroom gravy, butter beans and honey rolls.

I start with some fresh center cut boneless pork loin chops, placed in a baking dish and liberally sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper. Next in the pan is some fresh white mushrooms wiped clean of their dirt and sliced. One family size can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup and one can of evaporated milk. Cover with foil and place in a 375 degree oven for one hour until the pork is done, the mushrooms tender and the gravy nice and thick. I take the foil off when there is about 15 minutes left so it can brown up a little bit and get good and bubbly.

Here it is in all of it's yummy goodness! My mother used to make it all the time except she did not add the fresh mushrooms.  That was my idea. I love my fungus! The butter beans are almost done and I need to wrap this dish up and get it out the door and get ready for church.  I hope you are heading to service today too!!

My mother's chicken and stuffing casserole

I was in need of a good casserole to take to some friend's home.  As a member of a close church family, it is a real privilege to help out another family. I was trying to decide what to make. That is when I remembered my mother's favorite casserole.  It was fast, easy and really good.  I forgot to take pictures this time but trust me, its yummy!  Here is what you need:

(1) box of Cornbread stuffing
(1) box of Herb stuffing
(1) can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken and Herb soup
(1) can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (you can substitute the cream of chicken soup if you don't like mushrooms)
Chicken stock
Cooked chicken, shredded

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Into a large bowl combine both cans of soup with 1 3/4" soup cans of chicken broth.  Stir well until combined.  Add both boxes of dry stuffing mix and stir until mixed well.  Stir in the chicken.  Spread into a 13" x 9" pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes covered with foil and then for about 10 minutes without foil until the top is lightly brown.

Be careful about adding any salt to this recipe as it is quite salty enough from the dry stuffing mix.  I think my mom added a melted stick of butter too but I am not sure. I opted to not add it. (I know you are shocked!)

This is a great recipe for church suppers and company. I hope you try it. My mom used to make it all the time.

Desperation Soup!!!

I had (and still have) no plans on attending family game night with the church youth group tonight. AND I thought none of my kids were attending either.  WRONG.  One decided to go, so I had to come up with soup REALLY fast for them to take with them.  I will not send my kid empty-handed!

So now, I go into the kitchen and do what I do best....make something wonderful out of whatever is in my cupboards. I should be named Little Miss Hubboard.  I ended up making Vegetable Beef Noodle:

This is what is in it:

1 pound of ground beef, cooked
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
Carrots
Green peas
Corn
Broccolli florets
Egg noodles
Salt & Pepper
Dry brown gravy mix (yes, I went there....)

While I thawed the hamburger out in the microwave, I sauteed the onion and bell pepper in a scant bit of olive oil. I added the smashed garlic in as well.  After the ground chuck (poor chuck) was thawed I added it to my pot as well. I guess I should explain I went ahead and started with my soup pot, no need to get TWO pans dirty.

Of course, the whole two pans thing did not, well, PAN out! I used a second pot to heat about 4 cups or so of water and added a generous dumping of the dry brown gravy mix.  I did not measure, sorry! I whisked this together until it began to boil then removed from the heat.

I drained the first pot of ground chuck (poor chuck), onions and peppers of the grease from the hamburger.  I then tossed in the vegetables I had from my freezer (the carrots, peas, corn, broccolli). Next came several cups of water and I turned the heat up to high to get a boil going. 

I then added the brown gravy mix I had set aside.  I stirred it well and then washed the pot so that I could use it again (I was determined not to get a THIRD pot dirty!) so I could boil the egg noodles.  I only used 2/3 of the bag of egg noodles.  When they were almost al-dente, I added them to the soup.

It actually tastes pretty good for a desperation move!! Now to go wash all those pots!!

There is actually a very good reason why I was not going to Family Game night. I am in the midst of preparing for something VERY big that I cannot as yet reveal on this website! But when I can, I will let you in on the secret!!!!

Scratch cake and allergies....

It is Wednesday! Youth group meeting night at church.  I made it home from work with about 2 1/2 hours to spare before leaving for prayer service.  I figured that would give me just enough time to get a dessert going and to make dinner!

I don't buy pre-mix cake mixes very often.  It seems like a waste of money when making a cake from scratch is just as easy.  I dove into my trusty "The Good Housekeeping Cookbook" copyright 2001 by Hearst Communications Inc.  It is one that I like to use a lot. Page 652 is a recipe simply titled "Yellow Cake"  It only has 8 ingredients (not including the frosting).  I mixed this up and decided to add some green food coloring since it is March!

While I am whipping this together I am talking on the phone to a sweet friend whose kids also go to youth group with mine.  She asks me what kind of frosting.  Obviously, my immediate answer is "chocolate".  HMM...she says.  He can't have chocolate.  So I switch it up to straight vanilla buttercream.  And I am happy to do it.  I am already aware we have a peanut allergy in our youth group so I make sure I never send anything with peanut butter.  I was very happy to be able to accommodate this allergy as well.

I didn't really think about it too hard until I actually started making the frosting.  I have never made buttercream without a splash of milk in it.  I confess, I like to use milk when I make my buttercream.  Tonight was a first.  My buttercream was strictly butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and green food coloring.  I used extra butter and extra vanilla.  I think it turned out pretty good.  It must have, as the pan came home completely empty!  And of course, there was that text message from my daughter.  The young man told her to tell me "I was the best".  That made my whole evening!  I am glad I could do that because I don't ever want anyone to be left out on goodies!

Something has just occurred to me.  Typically I cannot bake when I am sad.  It always flops.  I am sad but the cake and frosting did not flop.  And I know why.  I was talking to my sweet friend.  She and I are both going through a deep valley and we are both learning to "be still".  Her love and concern carried me while I was trying to show care and concern for her and for my kids at youth group.  Is it any wonder the Bible tells us:

" not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another,and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:25 NKJV


Makes sense to me! Thanks for your love sister! You know who you are!!  I really don't know how people make it without a church family? I know that I cannot.

Another desperation dinner!

So it is Sunday and I did not do very much grocery shopping yet.  I had declared tonight to be "Family Night" and we were all going to watch the new mini-series on the History Channel called the "Bible".  I promised the family we would have dinner together in front of the TV while we watched it.

BIG PROBLEM.  I have not really been shopping yet.  I stood around in the kitchen and tried to figure out what in the world to do.  I had two extra large boxes of beef Rice-a roni.  I threw those in the pot to start that going.  I also had about a half a bag of frozen Italian meatballs in the fridge so I threw those in the microwave to heat up and chop up.  The meatballs (chopped) went into the rice-a-roni to cook.  Add a large portion of frozen peas in a separate pan with some butter and I found an unopened can (and NOT expired) can of cranberry sauce.

THIS WENT BEYOND DESPERATION INTO THE LAND OF TOTALLY WEIRD DINNER!

Yes, I went there.  I was too tired to shop today beyond getting the basics of milk, bread and toilet paper.  So I made the above dinner and surprisingly, everyone liked it.  There were not many left-overs.

The new series on History Channel was very good.

I am not sure I like the way it jumps and chooses some areas to cover while not covering others.  I mean, when you are used to Charleston Heston declaring "LET MY PEOPLE GO" it is kind of hard to watch another in its place.  I am glad we watched it as a family even if two of the kids gave me a little grief about it.

This is our house and we will serve the Lord.
Thank you God for all of these blessings!

Pasta, Salad and stuff

Today was a long day.  We had an Evangelism Tea at our church.  It was a lot of fun. My big sissy came all the way down from Richmond and sat with me.  It was a good time.  Unfortunately, I was rather melancholy when I got home.  I think it was because the speaker's message really struck a chord with me topped off by the fact that I guess I am worried about my husband's test results and my current job status.  WHEW....that is a lot!

This morning while lounging in bed before hitting the shower, I watched the new episode of Trisha Yearwood's cooking show on Food Network.  I love her cooking show but I was especially interested in it today because she was having her husband, Garth in the kitchen.  I really like him and I love Trisha because she is so REAL.  Her recipes on the show today were very diverse.  I have to admit I will never try her black bean & tofu lasagna.  My family would probably run me out of Dodge if I served tofu!  The Ty's Thai Salad sounded lovely.  The peanut butter balls looked delicious and deadly!

After the tea today, I headed to the grocery store alone with my melancholy self to buy milk and eggs.  After hugging my favorite cashier  Oshaine ( and trying to remember to only call him Shaine) I meandered through the produce department.  I suddenly found myself craving the salad I saw Trisha make.  I started throwing things in my cart and trying very hard to keep a count on the amount of money I was spending.

Here is the link to the original Trisha Yearwood recipe:

Trisha Yearwood's Ty's Thai Salad

So I started out by chopping up my cilantro.

There is something earthy and luscious about the smell of cilantro.  It speaks to my heart somehow and I truly love it.  Lately I have been trying to find different ways to use it.  Next I smashed three cloves of garlic. I confess, the Italian in me had me adding more garlic.  Her recipe only calls for two but I added one more.  I love it when I get the smell of garlic on my hands.  I know I am weird.

The dressing for the salad is the strangest I have ever tried.  Two cups of olive oil and one whole cup of sugar!  It was actually very tasty, not to mention a vibrant green!

Here it is in all of its green glory!  It was very, very sweet.  The ingredients were few and basic, olive oil, sugar, cilantro and garlic.  Quite the dressing!

After making the dressing I began to chop up my red cabbage, Napa cabbage and cucumber.  Now I have to make a confession:  as I chopped away (at the same time making my main dish of chicken and pasta) I completely forgot about the edamame. I also had neglected to buy a green onion while at the store, although I am proud of myself as I bought all the ingredients from memory with the green onion the only thing I forgot.  But alas, I forgot to include the edamame in my salad.

I threw some fresh, ripe avocado on top of my salad and three tablespoons of the cilantro lime dressing.  It was a yummy salad.  This was my very first experience with Napa cabbage.  I did not like it very much.  It was kind of curly and weird.  I am not sure what I should substitute it with? Any ideas?  I did like the red cabbage and the addition of the avocado.

I guess I am off to clean up my disaster I left in the kitchen from trying a new recipe.  Sometimes I turn into a tornado of disaster when trying a new recipe!  Don't forget to set your alarm to get up in time for church tomorrow!

Meatloaf two ways

Tonight my sweet husband requested meatloaf.  I had not made it in quite some time!  Most of my family does not like it with the ketchup baked on top but that is my favorite! I decided to accommodate both of us!

The meatloaves started out with the same basic ingredients.  I went to Harris Teeter today and purchased approximately three pounds of a meatloaf mixture:  ground chuck (poor chuck), ground veal and ground pork.  To this mixture I added two chopped sweet onions, one full sleeve of saltine crackers that I had crushed (great stress reliever!) and two raw eggs (cracked, shells discarded of course!).  I also added some freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, Soul Seasoning and garlic powder.  I mixed it together with the two BEST utensils God gave us (my hands). 

After the meatloaf was mixed well, I made four medium sized loaves into two pans.  To two of  the loaves, I poured on the ketchup! I love ketchup baked on my meatloaf! The other two I added two strips of uncooked turkey bacon to the top.  Into a 350 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes they went!

While the meatloaf baked, I peeled potatoes and made mashed potatoes (or as I call them:  mash-a-taters) and also made some mixed veggies.  

Tonight's dinner had to feed two adults and five teenagers.  Fortunately, there was enough.  I am grateful that God has blessed me with so much.  May I never take it for granted.

Time to go do some laundry so that I can be respectable for church tomorrow! Make sure you say your prayers and get ready and go! Do not forsake your fellowship needs!

Talk to you soon!! :)  

PS...I would love to hear from you! I know I have quite a few readers that are not in America.  Please let me know what you think and if you have any recipes to share. I can't wait to hear from you!

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! :)

Hurricane Sandy and my cookie urge!

Hello! I hope everyone out here on the East Coast is staying safe and dry!  We are doing fine although our canal that runs on the side of our house is starting to rise quite high.  I am not nervous because I am confident all will be well.

Since church was cancelled tonight, I got a little crazy and decided to try some new cookie recipes.  The first one I thought I would look for a mocha chocolate chip because I have some real coffee heads in the house.  Here is the link to the recipe I used:

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

One word of caution:  The batter does NOT taste good which is totally weird because the cookies taste GREAT!!  My oldest daughter, and my biggest coffee addict, almost ate the entire batch!!  She loved them.  My sweet husband and the other two kids liked them as well.

The next recipe I tried was for Raspberry Thumbprint cookies.  I am not going to post the recipe as it was rather incomplete.  I got the inspiration off of allrecipes.com.  The basics of the recipe were there.  They forgot to include the temperature they should be baked at and (you know me!) I altered the recipe slightly.

The first batch I did fill with Raspberry jam.  They are light and heavenly.  The second batch I took great liberty with.  I filled a few with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips, a few more I filled with Nutella and finally the rest of them I filled with Strawberry Jam.  I have not tasted the second batch yet.  The first batch were so wonderful.  I was most happy that my husband said they tasted good and reminded him of Italian Christmas Cookies. 

I am taking a small break.  I am not sure if I will venture to a third recipe yet or not.  It was fun and it makes me happy making my family happy.

Winds of Fortune.........

Tonight I am making fortune cookies for my youth group but instead of the usual "fortunes" inside, I am putting their bible memory verse for the following Wednesday! It is kind of a fun and yummy delivery system.  Of course I am changing the recipe a tiny bit (as I usually do) because I am not a big fan of almond flavoring!  I used vanilla flavoring instead!  Here is the recipe site I used as I have lost my original recipe (I had not used it since around 1984!)

http://makefortunecookies.com/

So I have gotten a few cookies done with minimal burning of my fingers.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems.  I think I need different paper.  The regular computer paper is sticking to the cookie.  I also think I may need to re-think the use of only vanilla flavor because they are a little too sweet.  <sigh> A work in progress!  I will keep you updated.

Sunday night dinner

It was a good day at church today.  We got set up for our Secret Sister program.  It was a huge turn-out for Sunday school class.  And now I have dinner in the oven!

BBQ chicken is baking in the oven.  Saffron rice is cooking gently on the stove.  I now just have to decide what vegetable to put with all of this.  There were no special recipes to follow tonight.  I just dumped a jar of sauce on my boneless, skinless chicken thighs and threw them in the oven.  The saffron rice is a pre-mixed package from a favorite manufacturer.  I admit it, I was not very creative tonight!

I hope everyone has a great week! I will be back for more tomorrow and I promise to get creative again!

Heritage....

Sometimes I wonder what has happened to families in America? Very few are actually "americans".  We come from many different countries.  My family, for example, hails from Ireland, Scotland, England and many other countries.  My geneology research has been quite extensive.  Yet, none of our traditions were saved.  There is not one thing that I can point to that we do because we are Irish or Scottish.  We barely have traditions we keep for holidays.

African Americans have Kwanza.  Jewish people have so many things they observe and keep.  What did my my family teach me to keep? There is really nothing I can point to. What have I taught my children to keep? Nothing really.

What traditions shall I embrace? What ways shall I honor my heritage? Is it really important? Do traditions add value to one's life, one's existance?  I am not really sure.

There are things I hold sacred.  These things were imparted to me by my mother and I hope I have imparted them to my children.  They are so important to me that when others do not observe them, I get annoyed.  What are these things?

1.  During the church service, while the pastor is preaching, one should remain seated and quiet, listening to what he is talking about.  This is not the time to get up and go to the bathroom.  My goodness, the service only lasts an hour, bathroom time should wait until after or go before.

2.  During the offertory, it is NOT a time to chat and catch up.  Be reverent.  Be quiet.

3.  During the invitation, this is the most sacred time.  It is time for the Holy Spirit to urge people to accept Jesus.  This is not bathroom time.  This is not time to cut out early so you can get to Red Lobster before everyone else.  Be quiet.  Pray.

These things I have listed are so very sacred to me.  When others do not observe them, I get upset.  My children get sharp reminders from me when they forget, and they seldom do as they have been taught how important these things are to me.

SO....I am not sure what traditions I will keep.  I think 2012 will be a new year and a time to establish new traditions for my family.  I am not sure what they will be yet, but I can assure you that I will share them with you.....