Buttermilk Waffles

This recipe is out of The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. I've had this cookbook for years and have enjoyed many good recipes. This morning we made buttermilk waffles.









1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp double-acting baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 cups butter milk
2 eggs

Preheat waffle iron
In a large mixing bowl add all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredient to the dry mixture.
Pour batter into waffle iron (approximately ½ - ¾ a cup)
Cook according to manufacture’s directions.

Irish Beef Stew

When the weather starts to cool off I get a hankering for stew. My favorite is Irish beef stew. I have the ingredients listed below with a rough estimate of how much to use since I'm not really one to measure.

Ingredients

1/8 cup olive oil
1 - 1 1/2 pounds stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces coated in seasoned flour
6 large garlic cloves, minced
3 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
3 pounds potatoes, peeled, cut (about 7 cups)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons flour

water
Optional:
1 cup of Guinness beer
1 cup of red wine

I like to season my my beef with salt and pepper before I dust with a little flour. Next I heat my oil in the skillet and brown my meat adding the garlic right at the end. Then I add the beef stock simmering the meat for an hour before I add the potatoes, onion, carrots, and additional seasonings. I add several cups of water bring to a boil before I turn the heat down, cover, and simmer all afternoon.

Serve with sour cream and crusty bread.

Tomato Sauce for later

I don't know about you but, our tomatoes have been prolific this year. So I decided it was time I learned to can. Now, like anyone who doesn't have a clue, I ask the wise folk around me how to go about canning and here's what I came up with after listening to many people.... Canning is a long, time consuming process, but if done right the benefits are enumerable. I agree with the time consuming part so if your ready here goes.

First you need to start will a whole bunch of tomatoes.

Something like five pounds. Don't expect to get a lot of sauce in return.

Boil a large pot of water, cut a shallow X on the bottle of the tomatoes like this.

Then dunk the tomatoes in the boiling water for 30 seconds or so until you can see the skins start to split.

After we pealed and seeded the tomatoes we put them in a food processor and pureed them

Since there is a lot of water in the tomatoes we decided to not only season the sauce with fresh herbs we let the puree cook down until there was little if any water left in the pan.

Next we add a 1/2 tsp of fresh lemon juice to insure safe acidity and a touch of sugar to counter act the tartness.

Now keep in mind I've never canned before and I'm inclined to follow directions on this one people even if the directions seem a bit odd.

Then we strained the sauce as we poured it in to our ever-so-clean canning approved jars getting out any seeds that were left behind.

I maybe a smart ass about it, but you really do need to have your jars prepared by washing with hot soapy water or by putting them in the dishwasher.

Leaving a ¼-inch head-space, we wipe the jar rims and adjust lids. Then we processed the jars in a Boiling Water Bath for 40 minutes.

Here's one that my Ladybug plans to enter in the fair next month.

Fried Green Tomatoes

As you may have already figured out, we in the south fry everything.

If you haven't figured this out yet, everything we in the south cook is good and I meant really good.

Here a simple one to add to your recipe box.

All you need is is a little cooking oil, some white corn meal, salt, pepper and a nice firm green tomato.

Slice up you tomato about 1/8 inch thick salt and pepper then dip in corn meal. You will fry it in about 1/4 inch of oil until golden brown on both sides.

Trust me it's delicious!

Squash Casserole

I got ya a new squash casserole recipe. This one is for a yummy little casserole. All you need are:
2 cups of sliced squash,
a medium onion, diced
a 1/2 cup mayo
2 tablespoons butter
1 fresh egg from the chickens bum
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper
some bread crumbs
Boil the squash in salty water until tender (don't let it over cook, there's nothing worse than mushy squash) and saute the onion in the butter while the squash is boiling. Drain the squash and mix in the onion, cheese, mayo, and egg. Salt and pepper well then sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cook at 350 for about 40 minutes.
I'd share a nice little picture except I left my camera at a friends house, oops! I'll post one later...

Southern Fried Okra

My favorite husband will tell you he never knew how truly good fried okra tasted until he had it in the south. You may have tasted that breaded fried okra out of a freezer bag or in one of those big ole buffets, but until you fix it (the right way) at home you can't say you've eat fried okra.

There's a long list of ingredients so get out a pen a paper, this is gonna take a while.

1) fresh okra

2) white corn meal

3) salt

4) cooking oil

Okay, got all that. Now ,here's what you have to do.

Slice up your okra into about 1/4 inch pieces, cutting off the stem.

Place it in a colander and rinse with water.

Salt first then just pour your cornmeal over the okra.

(I just toss it around in the colander over the sink until it's lightly dusted)

Place one layer in a skillet with about an inch and a half to two inches of hot oil.

DO NOT stir it.

As it begins to brown, just turn it over and let it brown on the other side.

When you take it up let it drain of any excess oil. You may want to salt again.

Now start eating!

The Best Garlic Bread You'll Ever Eat

Now doesn't this look simple?

I bet your saying to yourself, "Why do I need a recipe to make garlic bread?" Well, the answer is simple, this is the best garlic bread your ever going to eat and your not gonna want to forget it! Now, let move on.

Take a stick of room temperature butter and a cup of Parmesan cheese, mix well.

Then add a little (or a lot) of garlic, your preference.

If you really want to jazz it up mix in a bit of dried parsley flakes.

Next slice your bread (I like to use different breads; sour dough, french baguette, just use whatever you like) and spread a generous helping of the butter mixture all over your bread.

If you want to make it look real purty like you can it sprinkle with some paprika.

Pop it into a 375 degree oven until toasty brown and there you have it, the best garlic bread this side of the Mississippi.

Southern Fried Squash

We have been getting a lot of Zucchini and Squash in our little suburban garden. I thought I'd share our favorite way to fix squash.

We've grilled it, sauteed it, deep fried it in a tempura batter, stir fried it, sliced and eaten it raw in salads and with veggie dip.
Now I know southern cooking had a bad rap for everything being fried, but good is good and easy is even better.
All you need is a mess of squash diced up, maybe four cups or so, you know I don't measure. Put a table spoon of bacon grease (and yes you need it for the flavor) in a skillet on medium low and sauteed the squash letting it cook down until it tender and browns. I just add salt and pepper, trust me it's delicious!

M & M cookies

My husband has been wanting me to use that bag of M & M's in the cabinet for the past two weeks so, I decided to surprise him and make some M & M cookies tonight. As I was gathering all the ingredients... I realize I was missing one just thing, brown sugar. I quickly hopped on the internet and found a video with directions and made my own. It was really quite simple. Just take 2 cups of white sugar and mix it very well with 1/3 cup of molasses. Now that I had all the ingredients I set to work at making my loving first husband some delicious cookies. Here's all you need ( and yes, I did measure because as I always say: cooking is an art, have fun. Baking is a science, there is no room for creativity) : 2 sticks of softened butter beat with 3/4 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar. When light and fluffy start adding 1 tsp vanilla and 2 eggs (straight from the chickens bum) , mix well, then add 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 1/2 cup of flour. I usually and 1/2 a cup at time mixing well before adding any more. Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 10 minutes or until brown around the edges. I like to bake a few at a time and keep the rest in a covered container in the frig. That way we can have fresh baked cookies hot from the oven anytime we want.

Molasses-Snow Candy

All you need to make candy on a snowy day is a cup of brown sugar and a cup of molasses.

We heated it to 300 degrees.

Had a dish of ice cold snow ready and waiting.

And just drizzled the candy in the snow.

You can make whatever shape you want, then enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

I grew up eating chicken pot pies. Twice a week my mother would drive to a local university to take night classes in order to finish her doctorate. My dad can fry a mean egg and make rice, sort of, but that was the end of his culinary talents. Anyway, he'd heat us up chicken pot pies and we'd sit in the den (ooh, don't tell my momma) and eat them while we watched TV. Tonight I made my first attempt at a homemade chicken pot pie and all I have to say is Marie Callendar watch out!

Here's how I did it.

While I was boiling the chicken in one pot, I diced potatoes and carrots.

Then I sauteed them in butter with some garlic, salt, and pepper.

I added chicken broth and let it cook down until it was tender.

Next I added a can of cream of chicken, a large dollop of sour cream,

about a 1/2 cup of milk, and some English peas.

After mixing well, I poured into a store bought pie shell and covered with the extra shell.

I just baked it at 400 for about 30 minutes.

I think they liked it.

Teriyaki Chicken

If this doesn't make your mouth water you're dead.

My favorite husband, who prefers to remain nameless, fix us up so good eats tonight. This is simple enough even I could make it, but lets not tell him, I like it when he's home to cook.

All you need is some Teriyaki marinade and sauce. My favorite husband crush fresh garlic and cut up some fresh green onions mixed it with about 1/2 to 3/4 of the bottle then dropped in 4 boneless thighs. At it had marinated for over four hours he took the remainder of the teriyaki and stirred in some corn starch (as a thickener) slapped those bad boys on the grill (low heat) and brushed on the glaze.
With this he served rice pilaf and corn because apparently corn is considered a vegetable even if it is a starch. I wasn't going to argue with a good meal, he even did the dishes.

Sweet 'n' Tangy Chicken

You can make this for dinner
or just fix up a mess of wings for the game,
either way you'll be lovin' this chicken.

Per my usual, I didn't measure anything. Can't you just taste the artist comin' out in my cooking? For this meal you will need your chicken, the amount of the other ingredients really depends upon how much you're making. Let's pretend you gonna fix a couple of legs for the kids and some breast for the grown folk. (that's 4 pieces if your not keeping up)

You will need about 2 cups of ketchup, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, a couple of good dashes of Worcestershire, a dollop of Dijon mustard and some garlic.

I salted and peppered my chicken then broiled it in the oven for about 20 minutes,

flipping it after in began to turn brown.

While the chicken was getting a suntan, I mixed the other ingredients in a bowl.

I tossed the chicken in the sauce and poured into my crock pot. Just a hit you might want to grease your crock pot before starting. Clean up will be much easier for you husbands. Trust me they will thank you.

Anyway, I cooked it all afternoon (3-4 hours) on low.

This is a nice change from the usual boring ole chicken. Good luck, it's good!

Mushroom Quiche

Okay, I have to confess something, can you keep a secret? I LOVE MUSHROOMS! shh don't tell anyone, it's just between you and me.

Since we have a plethora of eggs and I have a slight fondness for mushrooms I decide to make a mushroom quiche.

This is all you need, how simple can it be? A premade pie shell and a few items from around your kitchen. Simple, I'm telling you. I started by preheating the oven to 450 while I broke out what I needed. Then I covered the pie shell with foil and baked it for about 10 minutes. While that was baking, I sauteed the mushrooms ( I just cut up a whole bunch , I don't know how many, if I had to guess, I'd say a lot!). You could buy pre-sliced and save yourself a bit more time. When they're done, spoon them out in to your egg mixture (I used about 4-5 eggs and some half and half, seriously use your best judgement people, we're not in kindergarten now are we) along with a couple of cups of Swiss cheese. Pour into your pie shell. I tossed in some parsley flakes for color. Bake this with foil covering the edges of the crust for about 30 minutes at 375.

Chicken Pasta Toss

Oh, you are not going to believe this one. I have really gone and out done myself this time. This is so simple and doesn't take any time at all to make. All you need is:

Cubed chicken breast, minced garlic, some butter to saute with, salt, dried thyme, onion powder, white and black pepper, spaghetti, heavy whipping cream, Parmesan cheese, parsley and a dash of cayenne.

Don't forget that cooking is an art so feel free to add whatever else you think will be good. I ended up adding mushrooms at the last minute and it worked out wonderfully. Also remember that I don't measure so I can only estimate what I used. Sorry...

While the spaghetti was cooking, I melted the butter and added about a tsp of crush garlic. Then I seasoned the chicken with the peppers, salt, and onion powder. After sauteing the chicken for about 3-5 minutes I added the thyme and mushrooms. I then added in about 1 -1 1/2 cups of cream, parsley, cayenne and 1/2 a cup or so of Parmesan cheese, cooking it until the cream thickened up. I turned the heat down and added the pasta, tossing it until it was covered with sauce.

I am so sorry you can't taste this. Oh, it was so wonderful! You just have to try it, it's really not that hard and it only took about 30-40 minutes to cook.

Breakfast Pizza

Here's all you need to make a breakfast pizza.

Unroll your crescent rolls into a baking dish. You will need to pinch the seems together so that you don't spring a leak. Add 1/2 lb cooked sausage crumbled up, then add some frozen hash browns. In this case I shredded a potato, rinsed it and microwaved it for about 30 seconds.

Next you need to add 2 cups of shredded cheese, and a (5) egg and (1/2 cup) milk mixture.

On top of that crumble up some cooked bacon if you like. Salt and pepper.

Cook at 350 for 30 + minutes and breakfast is served.

Orange Roughy and Rice

This is about as simple as it gets, here are the ingredients.

Rice mix, orange roughy, olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and onion salt

I cheated and used a box rice mix.

If you don't like orange roughy you can use flounder or red snapper.




But doesn't that look too good too pass up?

I just mixed the salt, pepper, paprika, and onion salt together. Then I sprinkled the fish while the olive oil heated up in the skillet. Don't ask for measurements, I don't believe in measuring anything. Just use more of what you like and less of what you don't like, that's my philosophy. The original recipe called for dill, but I don't use dill, that's a whole 'nother story.

Here's the rice cooking,

yum! Are you getting hungry yet?



Since I can't eat at Out Back Steakhouse salad every night my next favorite salad is a baby leaf with feta cheese, Greek black olives, croutons and this wonderful vinaigrette by Brianna



Doesn't that look good?

It fast, easy and taste good too, what's better than that? I know eating out, but I'm talking about eating at home people. You really should try this one. Let me know if you make this, I want to hear how it turns out.