These are Better That MRE's

     I have a Nursing exam tomorrow.  I also have a Psychology midterm on Tuesday.  Oh, and let's not forget the 15 page paper that will be hanging over my head until some time in January.  Yet all I want to do is take a nap with my cuddly new kitty, Bruce.  I think it's this time of year.  It's not even that cold out, but I find myself wanting to hibernate until March.  But, there's too much to be done, and so little time to do it all.  The holiday rush is making me feel the pinch, but my husband's looming deployment is also making me want to squeeze in as many activities as possible, so we have a plethora of fun memories to sift through as the months until he comes home pass slowly by.  And of course, I'm still cooking up a storm.  I like to fill J's last couple of months with us with a mixture of his favorites and new dishes I know he'll enjoy so that he'll appreciate my cooking even more when he is living off of galley food and MRE's.  ;-)

     I found this new recipe in my Country Cooking book, and it was really good.  It would make a great  game-day food for a football party or a small gathering.

Crab Melt Loaf
1 lb imitation crabmeat, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup diced celery
2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 (1 lb) loaf unsliced French bread, halved lengthwise

In a bowl, combine the first four ingredients.  Stir in cheese, salt, and pepper.  Spread over bottom of bread; replace top.  Wrap in a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated through.  Cut into 8 slices.

Enjoy

     Now that I feel slightly productive for posting a blog, I'm going to keep this tremendous momentum going by flipping through some notecards for tomorrow's test.

Happy Fall Y'all

     You know what time of year is my absolute favorite?  Fall!  I know many of you will agree with me that there's something about Fall that just makes you feel more alive.  The air gets cooler; the leaves start changing.  People start gearing up for the holidays. We Southerners come out of our summer hibernation.  We may even get a couple of days where we can open the windows and let a breeze blow through.  Yeah, this is my favorite time of the year.  Too bad it's still hotter than Hades here in Gulfport, MS and every tree I've passed is still as green as it was in July!  That is, unless it's brown from being scorched in the sun.  Oh well, in order to compensate for the lack of Fall in the weather, I'm making up for it in my cooking with these:

Pumpkin Cheesecake Parfaits

from the September/October 2011 issue of Cooking With Paula Deen

Here's what you'll need:

3 TBS butter

1/2 (1 lb) package gingersnap cookies, coarsely crushed *I used Murray's brand*

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup plus 2 TBS sugar, divided

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Garnish with pumpkin pie spice and/or gingersnap cookies (optional)

In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat.  Add crushed gingersnaps, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes or until lightly toasted.  Remove from skillet immediately, and cool.  

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese at medium speed with a mixer until smooth; add pumpkin puree, 1/2 cup sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla, beating just until combined.  In parfait glasses (or mason jars) layer crushed gingersnaps and cream cheese mixture as desired, starting with gingersnaps.  Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.  

In a small bowl, beat whipping cream and remaining sugar at medium-high speed with a mixer until soft peaks form.  Dollop whipped cream over parfaits.  Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, if desired.  Serve with gingersnap cookies.

Enjoy!

     In the spirit of Fall, I've begun working on Monkey's costume, and I'm super excited about it.  I just hope it comes out right, because I'm not following a pattern this time.  I'm nervous, but if all else fails, we'll just head over to Spirit Halloween and hope they have a Wolverine costume for a little girl.....  

I guess I can't fail.  :-/

    The imminent weather changes also mean my cooking will be getting a bit heartier.  I mean, who doesn't associate Fall and Winter with big bowls of chili or homemade stews with lots of warm bread for dipping?  Hmmm....sounds good.  And I think I've finally found the perfect bread recipe for my collection.  It's perfect for slicing to make sandwiches, or it's good to slather butter over and dunk in your favorite soup or stew.  Here it is:

Homemade Sandwich Bread

from Daily Dish Recipes

2 cups warm water

2 TBS sugar

1 TBS dry active yeast

1 tsp salt

5 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 TBS butter, softened

In a bowl, pour water and sugar.  Mix until dissolved; add yeast.  Mix until dissolved.  Let sit 10 minutes.  Add flour and salt.  Slice butter into smaller pieces, and add it to your bowl.  Knead ingredient for 10 minutes by hand, or 5 minutes with mixer.  It's done when it feels elastic, smooth and isn't sticking to anything.  Knead into a ball and place in a clean bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap that you've sprayed with cooking spray or rubbed with oil.  Set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.  After it's risen punch it down once or twice.  Knead again 1-2 minutes, forming a ball.  Cut ball into 2 equal pieces.  Knead once piece at a time, shaping each into an oval shape.  Place each in a lightly greased loaf dish.  Put both pans in a warm spot, uncovered, to rise for another hour.  Preheat oven to 350.  Bake for 35-40 minutes; they should be nicely golden on top.  Remove from oven, and let them cool in their pans for 5 minutes.  Next turn them out onto a cooling rack, and let them cool completely before slicing.  This prevents excess crumbling.  Store at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.  (They won't last that long.)

Enjoy!

Herb-Roasted Chicken

     I think I've mentioned before that my step-daddy did most of the cooking at my mom's house growing up.  He also travelled a lot for work.  That meant we had several night where mom was either whipping up something simple (like Kraft Mac-and-Cheese) or we were ordering take-out.  One thing that I remember as a staple in our house were those Lemon and Herb Rotisserie chickens you can get at Walmart.  Mom would take those home, whip up some mac and cheese as a side, and then use the leftovers to make the Chicken Salad I'm going to share in a minute.  Instead of buying a heat-lamp warmed hunk of meat, I decided to make my own Herb Roasted Chicken.

    For the past couple of weeks, I've been babysitting some herbs for a friend of mine while she and her husband were vacationing.  Before she left, she urged me to use as much of them as I wanted, so I wasted no time obliging her :-)   Below you'll see a few samples from her blooming little herb garden.

Chives, Oregano, Rosemary, and Basil (Purple and Green varieties)

  So here's what you'll need for the Herb-Roasted Chicken:

2-3 TBS fresh herbs of your choice
1 TBS salt
1 tsp pepper
2 TBS olive oil
Lemon, onion, and garlic to stuff inside your bird
5 lb whole chicken


Preheat your oven to 450. Remove gizzards and neck from your chicken.  Stuff bird with lemon, onion, and garlic. Set aside, and chop up your herbs.  Mix chopped herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl.  Rub herb mixture all over bird. (You can rub a bit of lemon juice over it too, if you'd like.)  Place in a roasting pan, and bake for and hour or an hour and fifteen minutes.  Remove chicken from the oven, but DO NOT cut into it yet.  Let it rest for about 15 minutes, so that the juices can redistribute.

 Serve with your choice of sides and enjoy!

I love having the leftovers to make my Mom's Chicken Salad.

Here's what you need:

4 cups chicken (chopped)
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 TBS lemon juice
1 cup mayo
small onion, diced
1 cup walnuts
apple, diced
Tony's to taste
2 TBS green onion (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, and serve on croissants, Bunny bread, Rye, Wheat, Wheat Thins, Triscuits or whatever.  This stuff is good on anything :-)

If you'd like, you can substitute halved seedless grapes for apples, and toasted, sliced almonds for walnuts.  You can also play around with the amount of mayo if you like it drier.

Ta-Da!

Also, you can use the carcass from the Herb Roasted Chicken in my favorite Chicken Noodle Soup recipe.  It adds a few new flavors, and is really good.

  Well, I hope y'all are all enjoying this beautiful Saturday.  I'm about to get off of here and go feed my family.

Perspective

   I recently tried these Ham and Swiss Sliders.  They were the perfect weeknight dish, simple, easy and yet with a touch of something different. 

Here's what you'll need:

24 slices Honey Ham

16 slices Swiss Cheese

16 White Dinner Style Rolls, cut in half

1 1/2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

1/4 C  Mayonnaise

8 Tbsp butter, melted

1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

1/4 C brown sugar

1 tsp onion powder

     Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  On a rimmed baking sheet place the bottom half of your dinner rolls.  Top with ham and cheese slices.  Spread about 1 tsp of mayo on top half of bread before placing on top of ham and cheese slices.  Make sure that your sliders are snuggly placed, so that they can soak up all the juice.  In a small bowl combine the mustard, melted butter, onion powder, Worcestershire sauce, poppy seeds, and brown sugar. Mix until combined and evenly pour over the assembled rolls.  Bake, covered with foil for 10 minutes, remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until tops are browned and cheese is melty.  The original poster said that if you're using these for a party or want to cook them later, you can cover them with foil after you've poured the mixture over the rolls and refrigerate them until you're ready to cook them.  

Enjoy :-)

   

      I'm going to keep this short and sweet, mainly because I have a child with tummy troubles who refuses to wear a diaper or a pull-up; so I'm afraid to have her out of my line of sight.  Which is also what I wanted to blog about, so here we go.  Last night was one of those nights where I was so stressed out about everything and angry with everything and nothing was going right, that I felt like I was about to snap.  Monkey was having bowel issues, and the dog apparently ate too much grass, and it was just turning into a big ole mess, literally.  That's when I decided to take Monkey to the store so that I could get some fresh air (and possibly a bottle of wine), and she needed some medicine.  As I was huffing and puffing my way through the store with Monkey in tow, I happen to see something that made all my complaints vanish.  When Monkey dragged me down the toy aisle, I saw a little girl, not more than seven, standing there with her daddy.  She was just as happy as could be, chattering away about her day.  I noticed that this child had lost all of her hair and that her little face looked like she had lost a lot of weight really fast.  I had seen pictures of children with cancer, but never one in person before, and it was all I could do not to cry.  I forced myself to smile at her before turning to Monkey to pick her up and hug her as tight as I could.  Sometimes I get so focused in on my stress and my aggravations that I forget what's important, and every now and then it's good to have your life put into perspective.

And that's what I get for complaining....

   You know, Tuseday night I got on here to blog and thought to myself, “Man, I don’t have anything interesting to say. My life’s kinda boring when J’s not pulling some goofy crap like moving the car around the parking lot while I'm grocery shopping, and Monkey’s not going through any big life changes like sleeping in a big girl bed.”  Well, now I’m eating those words.

   Last night my husband and I were watching two girls who are friends with our daughter as a favor to their mother, who is our dear friend.  Things were going rather well; the girls were all outside playing with J while I was inside trying to put away the giant mass of food another friend of mine had dropped off for us.  She’s beginning a new revolutionary cooking routine that does not include processed foods, so we are the happy inheritors of all her baking goods and misc other items.  As I was putting them away I noticed a large puddle in our pantry.  Thinking Monkey had had an accident, I cleaned it up, grumbling all the way.  Then I walked myself outside to wrestle Monkey inside so I could change her pants.  When I got out there I was puzzled to find that Monkey hadn’t had an accident.  I knew it couldn’t be one of the other girls because the oldest is potty trained and the youngest is in diapers.  I then began wondering how long that puddle had been sitting there and shuddered at the thought.  Finally I shrugged it off and went back inside to cook spaghetti for the girls.  As I was collecting my ingredients from the pantry, I passed by another, larger puddle.  Confused, I looked at the dog, who looks guilty on a good day, knowing that this couldn’t possibly be her work.  She hasn’t had an accident in almost a year.  I walked myself back outside to reconfirm that Monkey was, in fact, dry.  At this point J is wondering why I keep coming outside to stare at our daughter’s butt and why I was not busy cooking.  So I explained to him, and he followed me inside, only to find a puddle right where I had just mopped up the last one.  

  

    Now, I have never heard of a drip pan, except for in passing, and I’ve never cleaned one or dumped one or could even locate one on our refrigerator, but never to be outdone by my husband, I immediately launched into a theory that the refrigerator must be leaking from the drip pan that I have never cleaned/dumped.  Obediently J pulled the fridge from the wall, only to reveal that my cleaning skills really are lacking.  But on a good note, we found all of Monkey’s alphabet magnets.  J mercifully began to clean the floor and diagnose the problem, while I shepherded the kids inside so that I could continue cooking dinner.  Keep in mind that these girls are now trapped in the living room after having the big backyard all to themselves, and my cooking area has now been reduced by about half thanks to the giant fridge sitting in the middle of my way.  Oh, and it was about 6:15, and the girls were getting hungry.  

   So as I was chopping onions and garlic, and browning meat, J was asking for a flashlight or a butter knife or some other tool, and I’m cringing, knowing that we live on base and if he tries to “fix” something and isn’t successful, then it would be our fault and I don’t know what that would all entail to fix correctly.  This is making me a bit snippy with J.  Then he tells me that it’s not the fridge (or my lack of fridge knowledge concerning the drip pan).  Apparently (and this is where he lost me a little) there are pipes in the wall that are setup weird and this weird setup breaks and leaks easily.  And now our tile floors are water logged where the fridge is sitting, b/c who knows how long it has been leaking before the floor couldn’t soak up anymore and it started running out into the middle of the kitchen and into the pantry.  Then I had an attack of mother’s guilt because I kept thinking “How many times were those puddles not a product of Monkey’s accidents?”  Maybe I’ve been blaming my kid for nothing, and now she’s going to have a complex that will cost me a bunch later when I pay for therapy.  And then I was angry with housing for costing me so much money on hypothetical therapy.  Meanwhile I was almost finished with dinner, and I was trying to set the table, but there was a giant fridge blocking me off from the kitchen.  This meant that I had to walk through the living room, around the hall, and into the kitchen to set the table.  Or I could squeeze through the 1/2 foot gap that was a available.  Being a sensible person, I squeezed myself through said gap.  Now, I am no skinny minnie, so it took a bit of maneuvering and a bit more time than my other route would have, but by George I got through, carrying three bowls of spaghetti too, I might add.  J looked up from what he was doing and said, “You know, I’m kind of impressed.”  

   So finally I managed to get the girls to sit down at the table and begin to eat.  Then I remembered that they needed something to drink.  One wanted milk, the other water, and the other just kept repeating what I was saying.  (She ended up with milk too.)  It took about three trips through the tiny crack.  I think my original voyage had widened it, or J had had sympathy and decided to widen when I wasn’t looking.  Either way, I was slipping through there a lot quicker.  

    At this point, J had already made his diagnoses, so I assumed this would mean he’d put the fridge back in its place and call housing in the morning to address the issue.  But   here he was, still behind the fridge.  I was getting a little nervous, thinking he was going to tear down the wall and fix the pipe himself.  When I mentioned that he shouldn’t take it upon himself, he scoffed saying, “Aundraya!  I wouldn’t do that myself!  I don’t have the right tools.”  Well, thank God for that, at least.  So then I’m standing there, waiting for the refrigerator to go back into his place, and it’s not moving.  J comes out from behind the fridge and starts cleaning!  Okay, I’m not ungrateful.  I love when my husband cleans, but not when I need him to restore order to my kitchen! Finally fed up with maneuvering through the tiny crack and getting increasingly move hungry, I finally spit out, “Would you just move the damn fridge?”  (I know, not one of my finer moments.) And my darling J, understanding man that he is, just grinned at me and said, “I love you.  You’re a good Mommy and a great wife.”  Soothed, I rolled my eyes and helped him move the fridge back into its place.  After shoving some towels under there we sat down to enjoy my tweaked spaghetti recipe, while listening to the three girls chit chat amongst themselves.  

    Then J and the girls retired to the living room for a movie while I busied myself cleaning up my kitchen and peace and normalcy was restored.  And that’s what happens when you complain that you have nothing to blog about.

   Oh, and when my dear friend came to pick up her girls, she informed me that there is a 24-hour emergency number for housing, in case of these after hours issues.  Well, imagine that.

    As I said I tweaked my spaghetti recipe, so you can check it out here.  I’m also going to share a quick and easy recipe for Blackened Tilapia Hoagies.  These were super quick, and yummy with out that heavy filling you get from hamburgers or a poboy.

 What you'll need:

4 Tilapia fillets
Old Bay Blackening Seasoning
1 Tbs Olive oil
Lettuce
Tomato
4 Hoagie Rolls


Simply season each fillet with about 1/2 tsp blackening seasoning.  Then heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the fillets and cook about 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked through.  Meanwhile toast your bread if desired.  Serve topped with lettuce, tomato, or whatever you want.

Monkey's pink plate.

    Well I think that's enough excitement for one evening.  Y'all have a good night :-)

Mac & Cheese, Kentucky Brown, and Biscotti

    Omg, where to start?  I guess I should explain my abscence, although most of you already know that I was spending my Thanksgiving holiday in the happiest place on earth.  That's right; the hubby and I took our little Monkey to Disney World!  It was so much fun!  She got to meet all her favorite princesses.  I got to eat all the food I wanted, and J got to experience Epcot and Hollywood Studios for the first time ever.  It was an all-around good trip for all. :-)

    Since I've been home, I've been on a sort-of mental vacation.  I guess I just needed to regroup and go from vacation-mode to real-life-mode.  My mind's still dragging though.  The cold weather and the early nights aren't helping much.  Although, the cold weather has gotten me excited about a few of my favorite things.  One of them is....drumroll please...Christmas!  (Of course.)

     I can't wait until Saturday, because we're going to pick our tree, and for the first time ever I'm going to a live tree farm and cutting down the tree :-)  I'm excited about that.  I'm sure I'll have pictures later.  I also can't wait for Ryleigh to see Santa and the lighted boat parade they do here in town.  I've been in such a holly jolly frame of mind that I've even gotten most of my wrapping accomplished!  The guys at work are a little sick of my Christmas music already, and I did have one tell me that he hopes my "holly-jolly" gets stolen, but whatever!

    I think the thing I'm looking forward to most is being in our own home this year.  As much as I'm going to miss my family and the traditions we've shared it'll be nice to finally be able to start a few of our own.  I can't wait to see Monkey's face we she comes downstairs to see what Santa has left for her.  I am also looking forward to cooking the entire Christmas dinner myself :-)  I'll be sure to post plenty of pictures and recipes too.  That is, if I don't burn the house down in the process.

     In the meantime, here are the recipes I owe y'all from my week-long absence.

The Lady's Cheesy Mac

Once again, I'm using the Paula Deen Southern Cooking Bible, and although this is a goo recipe, I've discovered that I don't like homemade mac and cheese.  I've tried just about every version of this, either making it myself or someone else's, and although this is the best I've tasted, I just don't like it.  I guess it's from all those years growing up eating the quick, Kraft version.  J LOVED it though, so it looks like I'll be making it again.

You'll need:
2 cups elbow macaroni
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping (I ended up using about 3 cups)
4 TBS ( 1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup whole milk or evaporated milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 13x9" baking dish.  In a large pot of boiling salt water, cook the macaroni according to the package directions.  Drain well and transfer to a large bowl.  Add the 2 cups Cheddar and the butter, stirring until the pasta is coated.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream and salt.  Add the egg mixture to the pasta and stir well to combine.  Scrape the mixture into the prepared baking dish.  Bake until golden, 35-40 minutes.  Take the dish out of the oven and top with extra cheese, the return it to the oven until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

   Next, I made something I've never had before, and let me just say: it was amazing!

Kentucky Hot Brown

8 TBS (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (6 oz)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
4 slices white bread, toasted
3/4 lb sliced roast turkey
4 tomato slices
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
8 slices bacon, cooked until crisp

In medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high hear.  Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring with the whisk, for 1 minute.  Add the milk, bring to boil, and cook, stirring with the whisk, until thickened, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the Jack cheese until melted.  Stir in the salt and cayenne pepper.  Preheat the broiler.  Place the toast in a baking dish large enough to fit the 4 slices in one layer.  Divide the turkey and tomato among the bread slices.  Pour the cheese sauce over the toasts and top with Parmesan.  Broil until brown and bubbling, about 5 minutes.  Place 2 slices of bacon (like and X) on top of each cheesy toast and serve.


   Okay, so I realize that none of these recipes are really all that healthy.  Who am I kidding?  Their not good for you at all, but that last one was well worth the 2 mile run I had to do to get rid of it ;-)

   Like I said earlier, those recipes came from the Southern Cooking Bible, but this next one came from my favorite Paula Deen magazine issue.  It's the Holiday 2010 issue, and it's packed with goodies and gift ideas. I'm going to share one more recipe, and then I'm headed to bed.

Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti

Here's my disclaimer for anyone who is a bit like my husband:  A biscotti is just like a hard cookie that you can soak in coffee or hot cocoa or just enjoy plain.  It's an Italian treat that's amazing, so stop asking questions and just try it already :-P


1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped pistachios
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 350.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with a mixer until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until combined.  Beat in pistachios and chocolate morsels.  On prepared baking sheets, shape dough into 2 (12x2") logs.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Using a serrated knife, cut logs into 3/4"-thick slices.  Return slices, cut side down, to baking sheets.  Bake for 10 minutes or until biscotti are crisp.  Let cool on pans for 2 minutes.  Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.  Store cookies in airtight containers.

  And with that, I'm out.  Nighty-night folks :-)