Girlfriends

Mandy' theme for her photo challenge this week is "girlfriends". Most of my girlfriend pictures from my personal experiences are pretty goofy and would be best to keep off the wide world of the internets. But here's a picture I shot while in Sorrento, Italy of some girlfriends out soaking in the sun.

Head over to Mandy's photography blog to see other entries.

Foodie Friday: The Joy of Bacon

I've decided to move my "what have been cooking" posts that I've done once a month (except for big/special occasions) to a weekly post called Foodie Friday.

As a reminder from my post on Wednesday (or in case you're just now tuning in) I'm currently working my way through Cartwheels in the Kitchen by Tanya Turner Leckie.

Mushroom Tomato Bisque, pg 20 (sort of)
I bought all the stuff for the mushie tomato soup but when I got into the kitchen to cook I forgot which one I was going to make and started on the Tomato Basil Soup, pg 26 which doesn't seem like it would be that different- but really it is. So my mushie soup ended up with 2 medium yellow onions and 5 cloves of garlic instead of the called for 1/2 cup of onions and 1 tsp minced garlic.  These were all sauteed together before the mushies were put in (unlike what the recipe says to do) because I forgot about the mushie until the onions were already soft.  But from adding the mushies and letting them sweat and forward I completely played by the rules and I used fresh tomatoes, not canned ones (she gives the option). I served this as a starter in little ramekins when my girlfriends came over but it could have been a meal in itself with a nice salad and some crunchy bread.



Butternut Squash Casserole, pg 41 (aka "the squash goodness")I served this to my girlfriends as well and can't put into words the reception it got.  I think I could have served seconds of it for dessert and they would have been tickled pink about it.  Some of the girls said this would now be replacing sweet potato casserole for their family at Thanksgiving and all of them I think would have fought to take the leftovers home.  I made this because one of my friends can't have gluten and this doesn't have flour so it was good to go for her.  But it really comes out with a bread pudding constancy because of the cornstarch and stiffened egg whites.  Seriously. Amazing.  Oh but- for real, butter the casserole dish before putting it all in there to cook.  Whoever washes your dishes will really appreciate you for doing so (sorry about that one LK- does it help to know I tried to save a dish to wash by mixing the casserole in the dish I baked it in?)




Bacon Roasted Chicken, pg 121

I've never bought nor roasted a whole chicken before.  I've always just grabbed the rotisserie ones they sell in the deli at the grocery store-- but not any more.  This was not only easy to do but so tasty.  She says this needs to be cooked in a roasting pan, but then is kind enough to give advice on what to do if you're like me and don't have one- lay forks together on the bottom of the pan and set the chicken to cook on top of the forks.  Brilliant! There was to be 7 of us at dinner when my friends came and I didn't really know how much one whole chicken would feed, so I got two.  On one I used McCormick's mesquite seasoning that I had on hand (thought about using the citrus one I love so much but didn't know how it would go with the other things on the table- another time perhaps) and then I just used salt and pepper on the other one because I wasn't sure about the gluten content of the seasoning (and I ran out).  I cooked it at 350 and it was pretty well done in 2 1/2 hours.  Again, very moist and yummy (and I'm picky about dry chicken so that says something for sure).





Bacon Wrapped BBQ Chicken with White BBQ Sauce, pg 123

This recipe calls for 2 TBSP BBQ seasoning so to kill two birds with one stone I used the Memphis Style Dry Rub For Ribs recipe that she has listed in the sauces/mixes section of the book (see notes below).  She calls for "Blue Plate" mayo but I used Helmans, and in fact, I didn't tell LK the main ingredient in the white sauce was mayo because I knew he wouldn't eat it if I did (he has the same adverse reaction to ranch dressing).  But even though the main part is mayo- I didn't walk way feeling like I'd sucked down a bottle of the stuff.  The key is moderation and that the cider vinegar and lemon juice thin out the mayo and give it some kick.  Plus if you coat the chicken in the rub like I did, you're gonna need something creamy and dairy based to cool off your tongue. Whew!  I also buy the big bag of boneless/skinless chicken breasts and their pieces are normally pretty big so I cut them in half.  The bonus of that is more pieces= more places for the rub and more bacon!  I also didn't buy panko bread crumbs like she calls for because I had some basic regular crumbs on hand.  The chicken came out so moist and so very yummy.

Memphis Style Dry Rub For Ribs, pg 200
Memphis dry rub.  mmmmmmmmmmmmm -- sorry I'm back now.  After our time in Memphis I can tell you that dry rub is one of those things that will get into your system and wake in a rageful craving that will give you crazy ideas like throwing the family in the car at 2am to drive to Memphis if only for a brief taste of Corky's or the Rendezvous.  And being back in Oklahoma, I've tried to describe why it is that dry rub is so amazing but had not been able to find a recipe that closely recreates the beauty that is.  Until now.  This is it!  I used it for the Bacon Wrapped BBQ Chicken with White BBQ Sauce and dipped the chicken right in so I didn't keep the small amount of leftover rub- but I won't make that mistake again.  In fact I found LK in the kitchen trying to locate where the rub mix was so he could put it on some leftovers we had-- this mix, I do believe, will be made by the jarful and treated like gold around these parts.  Bonus- it's super easy to mix up more once the supplies run low!



Chocolate Velvet, pg 137
Tanya says "You'll be a QUEEN when you serve this." and a queen I was was indeed.  I made this for my girlfriends (and had a little set aside for LK and the boys too) and remember- one girl can't have gluten which really limited dessert making, or so I thought.  You could modify this and have it on a graham cracker or chocolate graham cracker crust and LK said he's like it with coffee and a wafer cookie to cut the richness, but really it was quite nice all on it's own (well with coffee, of course).  Now here is where I have to admit that something dreadful has happened in the world of my kitchen appliances- I've lost one of the beaters to my mixer.  The mixer is old and was soon to be replaced so it's not too sad, but it did make the step of mixing all the ingredients together until "it forms stiff peaks" a bit difficult.  But I did the best I could (mixing on super power high for what seems like 10 times longer than I would have with two beaters) but I can't fault the recipe for that.  I did take her advice and chill everything really well before starting so I can't attest to what travesties will occur if you don't.  It's hard to not want seconds of this for sure!

Liquid Fudge (AKA Chocolate Gravy), pg 166
This was the first step in making the Chocolate Velvet and I don't think I will ever make it again.  Why? Was it hard? No.  Did it taste bad? No hardly!  I will never be able to make this again because after scooping out the 2 cups needed for the second step, I stored the remaining fudge in the refrigerator thinking I could use it sometime over ice cream or pancakes.  But then, like a siren of the kitchen, it kept calling to me.  Telling me I deserved another taste.  Reminding me how I had cleaned the windows, or typed a sentence of an email so I surely deserved a taste.  By golly I had to eat it just to make the thing stop calling to me like that. Dangerous stuff-- and don't say I didn't warn you (okay and Tanya warns you too and I quote "It's quite addictive!")

The Mother of a Brunch

The Mother of a Brunch is a tradition that started the spring of 2005. That Mother's Day I cooked a brunch for both sides of my family as a way to get everyone in the house together and announce I was pregnant. While through the years we've had large crowds of family and like family, this year was a smaller gathering of just the more immediate family members of each side (13 total).

For the decorations I grabbed two mixed floral collections from the local grocery store, made my own arrangements from them.

Then put the arrangements inside zebra striped gift bags. Then I set out a few tea candles and curly ribbons over the white table cloths. For the place settings I used LK's grandmother's cut glass dishes set over a black plastic plate so they didn't blend in with the table cloths.

As people came they brought beautiful flowers as well- my FIL brought some of his homegrown Evelyn's (one of my favorites) that smell better than any rose you'll buy in a store







and my mom brought down one of the centerpieces from the party my SIL threw for her parents anniversary the night before

and the beautiful flowers my dad sent a few days before so they would be open and gorgeous for the brunch (they were also lovely to look at as I was sick in bed the week before the brunch- and yes, I did get a dr's clearance to cook and entertain after being so sick lead up to the party)

The majority of the food came from Tanya's cookbook that I've started working my way through. I did throw in my family's recipe of 5 cup salad, a basic green salad with dried apples and cranberries, rolls (not my MIL's homemade but still good), mixed veggies, potato salad, and one of my SIL's brought some mixed fruit and yogurt dip and the other roasted tomatoes and mozzarella (very yummy- need to get the recipe). But the three main meats and dessert- that was all Tanya.


One Hour Reuben Loaf, pg 102

This was the hit of the brunch- hardly a scrap of it left by the end. Looking at the instructions seemed a bit daunting to me- it calls for yeast and making your own dough yikes!- But really, it wasn't hard. In fact the hardest part for me was getting the stinkin' can of corned beef open. The little key on the side broke off the blasted thing and I was sure I was going to slice my finger off as I tried to figure out how to get the contents out of the can (And no, a can opener did not come to mind thank you, instead I thought I could just stab it repeatedly with a knife and pry the top off. And yes, that is exactly what I did. And no, please do not try that at home). But I'm wondering if I could find those glass jars of the thinly sliced dried corned beef if that would taste better or worse. The canned corned beef was really good (and I will prepare better for the next time). I did leave out the caraway seeds because she said it was optional, I'm not the biggest caraway seed fan, and I didn't have any on hand. As you can see from the picture this looked beautiful even when sliced and was equally as tasty.

Crispy BBQ Chicken from the Oven, pg 126

I had actually bought the ingredients for this prior to getting sick so it was sort of an afterthought to add it to the brunch. Since I wasn't expecting to serve 13 with it I just had the big pieces of bone-in chicken breasts the recipe calls for. So I just hacked them up (removing the smaller bones as I found them) and made smaller pieces of fried chicken. And since it wasn't necessarily the "main" dish of the meal, that it helped it go further. And yes, I know the picture's not that great, but I wanted you to see what it looks like even if through a blurry lens. The pieces that had the skin on were particularly yummy IMO. This was even great as leftovers post brunch.

I also made a dish of Tanya's Poppy Seed Chicken, pg 114 but I reverted to the less-healthy-original version she gave me when I married. I sort of went into autopilot mode and bought what I knew the original recipe called for even though I had the new recipe things written down. I kept thinking to myself, oh poor Tanya, here I am about to show everyone how wonderful your cookbook is and the first recipe is wrong. Only to get home and realize- no. It's not wrong- I was. She's just modified and improved from what I have in the older cookbook. So all that to say, I'll be trying the new version another time and I'll let you know how that one goes. But Tanya, this new one has a lot to live up to. To me, the original poppy seed chicken is one of those comfort food dishes that even ISH will eat- but I'm going to trust you on this one.

For dessert I served the fruit one of my SILs brought and some brightly decorated cookies and Tanya's Lemonade Cream Cake, pg 154. Tanya warns that this is a denser cake than if you just made a cake mix, but she's also right that it's "super soft and light" and it too come with lovely presentation. Believe it or not, I flat out followed the directions on this one (it's that easy). She calls for "1 small can frozen lemonade concentrate or 1/2 a large one." I could only find a 12 ounce can of concentrate, which I took as the large size so it could be it would have been less dense if I used all 12? I don't know- sounds like a good excuse to make this one again!

All in all- it was a lovely time and I'm very thankful I was able to share it my family.

Call off the search party!

Call off the search party! Bring in the blood hounds! I'm here. I'm okay.

Since the beginning of the blog I have posted everyday- 107 days in a row to be exact- and yesterday was the first break in this perfect streak. LK warns that my OCD is showing in this run of postings but I just call it being thorough in my new little hobby (though there was a certain amount of twitching going on come 11:45PM and me not having a post listed for the day but I've calmed down a bit more now).

Yesterday was a day full of cleaning, working, laundry-ing, (which is different than laundering), strawberry picking, guitar-lessoning, cooking, hosting a dinner party for some close girlfriends and then collapsing in bed just before midnight after the guests had all left- and since I hadn't lined up a post autopublish my perfect streak was broken- really I'm okay with it, well getting okay with it.

So since I didn't do it yesterday, I'm going to introduce the new cookbook I'm using this month: Cartwheels in the Kitchen by Tanya Leckie. Those who attended the Mother of a Brunch and my dinner last night (pictures to come tomorrow and Friday) have already raved about the success of this cookbook- I think I sold 5 cookbooks last night just by serving dinner.

Why did I switch from Rachel Ray?

Well for starters, my food budget can only had so much of her exotic little extras, and after while I found the flavors to run together. She has good flavor, but it just started to taste all in the same vein. But most of all I'm the type of person who rearranges furniture often, the person who likes to shake things up a bit- so changing up the cookbook selection is really just par for the course with my nature.

So then, why Tanya?

I decided to go with Tanya because I've had pieces of this cookbook (in it's less healthy form) since LK and I married. Tanya and her husband Doug were friends of my family while I was growing up. I attended church with them as Tanya went through her cancer treatment, was there when they adopted their lovely daughter, Scarlett, and LK had to prove himself worthy of my hand in marriage to Doug by passing a series of New Testament exegetical questions. And when LK and I married, Tanya shared some her best recipes with me- a person who previously never really cooked- to get me started on the right foot in the kitchen.

But beyond the personal relationship factor, I've chosen Tanya's cookbook because following her battle with cancer, she began to rework her recipes to make them healthier. As Tanya says in the opening of her book:

... my friend Barbara gave me some very useful information on ingredients I should and should not be using. MSG has such an adverse affect on me, I steer clear of it. (As Barbara so politely said "It's just not something you should put in your body.") Smoked meats and bleached flour contain carcinogens I'm just not willing to use. That's what makes this book different from any other.

And I love that she has stories to go with each recipe- where they came from, why they're good, how to make them if you don't have the right kitchen tools lying around. And she has useful information at the beginning of each section such as varieties of apples, how much of what you'll need if serving crowds (like 25, 50, 100 servings type crowds), substitutions for missing ingredients (we all know I need this one!), microwave hints, and a handy spice and herbs guide. Plus she had the most amazing dessert section- I mean seriously! I might just have to spend the next while cooking and (sigh) eating desserts.

It is a little scary though, cooking through a book written by someone you know. I doubt Rachel Ray will ever read my blog and see all the ways I've misread and messed up her recipes- but Tanya. Well she just might come down here and revoke my cooking privileges after she reads about some of the things I do.

But it's these "experiments" of mine that I hope give you all courage that if I can misread and mess all these recipes up and the food still turns out pretty much edible most of the time- anyone can do it. I mean, I once had a friend who said she would never try her hand at arranging flowers because she was too much of a perfectionist. Good for her to know her hang ups, but what a way to live-- too afraid to mess up that you never even try. I guess I take the same approach with cooking, decorating, anything really, that I do with parenting. I figure I'm bound to screw this up somehow (I consider it job security for the future therapists of the world), but that's not what's important. What's important is the reaction to the screw up and what you do with the end game.

Wondering what my neighbor who watches me through my kitchen window will think of me now when he see me start doing my own cartwheels in the kitchen,

Faces and Flowers

iheartfaces challenge of the week is combining faces and flowers.  And come to find out, I don't normally add the human element to my flora photos.  But I do have this one.  These girls were preparing their offerings of lotus flowers and carnations to take to the temple at Angkor Wat.

Check out more entries here

Taken by,

They may not be dressed like monkeys, but ...

Mandy's theme for this week's challenge is that the picture must relate to a movie quote, and while I'm all about movie quotes, this one was harder than it would seem. But none-the-less, I present to you, my entry.

Roger. In the computer. It's so simple.

SoCoS: Queue

I know - it's late.  Sorry.  But it's still Saturday so there's still time for SoCoS. Today's randomly generated word is Queue. Ready and go:

Queue is one of those words I never really used pre-LK. Much like capsicum (bell pepper), script (prescription), and mind your .... (as in I'm going to mind your children tonight, or mind your step). All of them Brit words he's introduced to my life.

We once had an argument about what the Otto was. He wanted it taken to the curb and I didn't have a clue. Ah the joys of a third culture marriage. Or maybe that argument was about the meaning of the word taut. Otto by the way is the word the garbage bin the trash men come and collect.

I use queues in work now. We have queues we check every day, but those are spelled Q-U-E-S which only adds to the difficulty I have in spelling queue correctly. Oh how I cannot spell! But that's what spell check is for, right?

Hit a road block, Hit a road block, Hit a road block, maybe I'm hitting these because of doing SoCoS so late today. My apologies. You can all queue up to tell me how it's thrown off your day. Or, if you like, you can just write about it.

Now it's your turn. If you'd like to participate in a little SoCoS action here are your guidelines: Write on the same topic for 3:37 without stopping. If you can't think of what to write, write "hit a road block" over and over again until something comes to mind. When you're done- post a link to your SoCoS writing as a comment to this post.

Looking forward to see what you all have to say