Soup AGAIN? Food and Family

I just developed a soup for Andy to have while Beth and I are in New Orleans. Yes, it is finally happening and guests are gathering there as I write.  In fact, Beth and I will be the last to arrive tomorrow afternoon. The party has started and the guests of honor are not even there yet.  Hey, save some for us, please.

Now the soup.  I am a bit worried, but not too much, that it is a bit spicy for the old guy.  I used everything in the refrigerator to make it tasty but there is a definite edge to it. It has: Bob Evans zesty sausage, (why am I surprised that it is spicy?) shallots, tomato paste, dry Ranch dressing mix, potatoes, carrots, homemade chicken stock, red wine, riced broccoli, fresh herbs, and, at the last minute before serving I pop in some shrimp. He will eat it due to the shrimp. It will also serve us all day as well.

Yesterday at the hair dressers I was so tempted to steal their copy of Kraft Food and Family because it had so many great recipes that I wanted to try and no time to write them down.  I whined a bit, I must admit, and finally they gave me a copy to take home since they always get two copies (free) of all the top magazines for the salon.  I asked what they did with the rest of the magazines when the new ones came in and they said they take them to Half Price Books and get 5 cents a copy for them.  I would give them 5 cents a copy, but I didn't want to stretch my greed because they were putting color on my hair and the trip is tomorrow.  So next time I will attempt to be magazine queen again and please my sister-in-law with a bevy of the best current magazines. If you get a chance get a copy of this magazine.  It has a picture of a  cream puff tower, pate a choux or croquembouche (they do not use these terms for fear of scaring you off this simple recipe--they simply call it a cream puff tower.)  HOWEVER, this was not the recipe (s) I was after.  One of the soup recipes had an idea to add cream cheese at the end of a slow cooked cream soup. Can you imagine?  I will try that.Oh my gosh, the recipe for root vegetable latke looks so tasty.  Must do this when I get home.  I am a potato nut for sure. In fact, I am a vegetable nut period. Well, this little magazine is full of goodness, so don't miss this copy.  I have subscribed, so I will be getting come copies now and then.

Fresh pineapple

Kroger has fresh pineapples for 99. cents each.  They are sweet and delicious.  Andy bought 3 at once, so I have been looking for ways to use them up rather than just passing by the plate and picking up a piece to snack on as we move through the day.  I cut one up in bite-sized chunks, put them in a skillet and sauteed them in butter adding a splash of rum and a bit of homemade vanilla and it is lovely.  I may have to do another before the gang comes home because there is little left of the first batch. I had a bite of ice cream in the freezer and mound this pineapple over it and swooned.  

                                                               

Modjeskas

Whhaaat?  Today on Southern at Heart (tv)  Thanksgiving preparations were in full swing.  The dish that caught my eye was sweet potatoes with Modjeskas.  What is that one asks?  They are marshmallows covered in caramel and a specialty of Kentucky.  Good luck trying to find them around here. We have a niece living in Kentucky who is a great thing finder, so I have set her on the trail.  You can buy them on line if you want to pay as much to send them as to eat them. $13. for a box of ten-twelve and $10. to send the box.  Hey, marshmallows are light and cheap, why the cost?  I am so glad that the thousands of packages I have sent out containing expensive antiques is a thing of the past.   I don't think people would pay what it cost to send stuff now days, let alone getting the items on a plane and into the country. Whew! Dodged that bullet. Now I can relax and chase Modjeska, and go to New Orleans with family for my birthday on Friday. I am packed and ready.  Now all I have to do is train Andy to get the dogs' breakfasts for four days. It is quite the feat to get them fed while they twirl around my feet, separate them while they eat, and let them back in when it is over, which is quick.  They are not much for chewing more like inhaling. 

I can tell you the fifteen or so of us who will be partying in New Orleans are looking forward to a good time and I will have pictures to prove it. 
Thanks for finding these for me Joe and Kathy.

Many Branches, Many soups

I'm on fire in the soup realm.  I have been making a new one everyday from the left-overs and things that need using.  At 2:00 a m I made scalloped potatoes yesterday and after a meal of them I took the left overs and put them with diced cabbage, cauliflower, dry Ranch mix, broccoli, pepper bacon, shallots, mushrooms. chicken broth, cream, and, this is what happened.  Something delicious. Since I just add what I like, I will never get to repeat this one either. Oh well, more soups ahead.

I am happy to report that a very steady blogger and food writer has a book coming out November 11th on Amazon.  If you follow The English Kitchen by Marie Rayner and if you enjoy her recipes, you will probably really enjoy this homey look at a Canadian's life and work in England.  Very down to earth and doable recipes.  I have been reading her blog everyday for a couple of years. I said I would not buy another cookbook because everything is easy to reach on line, but I may give in to this one because it will probably read more like a novel with its over 500 recipes that she has actually created over and over and over in her life.

Nine days and counting

The dogs and I were restless about 2:00 am and I tried to ignore all the thoughts running through my head, after all, I do need my sleep; but, noooo it was not to be so the dogs and I got up and created a lovely dish of scalloped potatoes with Pancetta, cheese (of course), mushrooms and shallots. The aroma would wake the dead, but of course in this house they sleep on.  I also got two breakfasts ready one for Mike and one for Nate.  Nate will soon be off on his travels because it is getting nasty out there and cold.  Well, it is November 1st after all, mine and Beth's birthday month which we intend to celebrate to the fullest this year.  Tonight the four of us are going to dinner to begin with Beth's birthday and in nine days we leave for New Orleans where we will meet up with our favorite ladies for four days of frivolity. Our agenda looks like all we are going to do is eat, but, hey, it's a celebration of my lasting this long (and hopefully longer.)  We arrive on Friday and have reserved a large vehicle, but that does not mean that we will actually get one in New Orleans.  It is a crazy month in that city; the locals know why, I do not. We have booked cars before and they have over-booked so we scurry around like mice looking for a ride.  In the end it works out and I tell you I am not going to worry about one thing, so that car better be ready and waiting.  We will all meet up where we are staying at the Mansion.  Later we will go to Beth's friend's restaurant for a late dinner, and then on to Rock and Bowl where there is a live band and bowling.  Now I do not bowl, but honestly, watching these antics makes it really fun and we do dance, probably not well, but we give it our all.  Saturday morning about fifteen of us are meeting for a bloody Mary breakfast at the Broken Egg.  I am going to have shrimp and grits with my bloody Mary.  Things are planned for that breakfast and after that we shop and do tourists things.  We have the entire mansion at our disposal so we can enjoy cards, games, chatting and of course a glass of wine while we are catching up.  Then it is high tea at the Windsor Court late in the afternoon and a special restaurant late in the evening. Sunday is planned as well with a dinner at Ann's, Beth's mother, who is a great cook.  Monday we come home. Sigh. I am always glad to come home because I feel as though I am on vacation here as well.  Love my home and family.

Date, orange, nut bread

I am preparing to bake a sweet quick bread with pitted Deglet Noor dates which are in individual packets in a large bag which I got at TJMax super store.  They have a great array of gourmet food stuff. (These date packets are perfect for a lunch box and also to have to bake with because the big packages of dates tend to dry out even more and these stay nice and pliable. A great discovery at Trader Joe's was the sweetened dried orange slices.  They are a delicious snack and I want to see how they do in this quick bread. I am using almonds in this recipe because that is what I have on hand at the moment.  I'll let you know how this tried and true batter recipe receives these new and different ingredients.  (This is my banana nut bread base recipe that I have tried numerous addition to and the recipe never let's me down.)  

                    

Shopping today

Run around Saturday Posted: 28 Oct 2017 01:36 PM PDT Beth and I had a run around today.  We had lunch, went to tan, and went to TJMax.  The superstore had a supply of unusual food supplies.  Normally we buy Cavatappi no. 87, but today we found the five color form of this pasta and I think it will be great for Thanksgiving because it holds its ground no matter what it marries and the salad can be made a few days ahead of the event.  The noodles stand their ground. The dates you see are in little individual packets and I think will be delicious in a sweet quick bread.  TJ always has a great selection of jams and jellies. Andy is about to convulse, Ohio state has an opposing touchdown, a fumble, and another opposing touchdown in the first five minutes of the game. OSU is in DEEP trouble and there will be hell to pay in the locker room at half time!

Sunday Soup

Yesterday was a hair-raising day.  On Friday I had been sunning outside in the perfect weather; on Saturday I started out to Carfagnas and snowdrops pelted me.  Well, it is Ohio after all. Then when I got home Andy was in front of the TV looking forward to a game of football at OSU.  It was a calm expectation that turned into terror as Penn State got a touchdown on opening, OSU fumbled, then Penn State got another touchdown all in five minutes of play.   Andy was in a frenzy and the game ended with OSU winning because they were ONE point ahead! Andy had given this game's tickets to Cincinnati nephews so I didn;t have to worry that he would throw himself down the stairs in chagrin during the game.

Today is dark and dreary, so I made soup from the pork shoulder, potatoes, and carrots from the crock pot that we had yesterday. You can count the ingredients that I put in there today from the picture  The unusual addition is Garganelli from the fresh pasta section, but I had frozen them because I could not get to them fresh.  What a lovely addition they are and delicious to boot.  Little spirals of goodness.  Everything I touched seemed to want to go into that pot and so in it went!
YUM.

This and that

What a lovely day this Friday has been.  Sunny and warm enough to leave the back door open.  I think, however, it is working itself into rain and that usually means cooking for me; but it is Friday and the house has just been cleaned and I don't want to mess up the kitchen.  Still, I feel it coming on; another soup creation. Soup has taken over my cooking selections.  I don't find soup recipes inspiring, I just look in the refrigerator and the pot of soup pops into my mind and I just start throwing it together and tasting it until it rings a bell and Bob's your uncle.  Meat is usually involved like the piece of pancetta yesterday.  That sauteed with onions and put to work in a soup was wonderful--no left overs! As you know, pancetta is an Italian bacon that is rolled into a solid round so I cut it into lardons (which is a French word) but with the same uses in stews and braised dishes.  Trader Joe's has little packets of tiny diced pancetta that I buy to use in Mike and Nate's breakfasts...Andy's too if he wants it. Now I am out of both and growing out of the mood to cook anything tonight. Glad that need has passed.

I have been throwing away stuff today in our bathroom.  Half used things that I will never use again and out of date things--I once heard that make up should only last 6 months then it should be tossed.  Well I have some make up and pills older than my dogs, so I purged two bags of the stuff making my shelves look like they have been arranged by an organizer...hmmm, I have one living here and she will notice, she notices everything.

Have a lovely week end.  Just 14 more days until our New Orleans party week end.

kitchen sink soup

This is one of my very best soups and I did not write down the measurements.  I will tell you how it went into the soup pot, but measurements are lost to me, unfortunately.  I never measure when I am making soups.  I looked in the refrigerator and noted several things needing using before Monica comes to clean tomorrow. She looks in the refrigerator and terrorizes me because she left it perfectly last Friday.  We unloaded everything and started over and it was spic and span. Now, not so much.

I saw a hunk of Pancetta from Carfagnas that would be great coupled with the onion that wanted using. So I sauteed them together until they were lovely and brown.  I got out the celery, carrots, potatoes, and cauliflower...oh yes, and the broccoli,  diced them up.  Filled the pot with water and two cubes of chicken bouillon.  So now we are off and running.  I threw in a handful of rice medley from Trader Joe's and got it to the right point and started adding vegetables and tasting as I went.  Something was missing so I put in a packet of dry Ranch dressing,,, mmm, better but not there yet.  I added two squirts of chili tomato stuff from a tube of goodness that Pam had given me. Tasted.  No, not yet.  I added a can of Ro-tel diced tomatoes and peppers; better, much better.  Added salt and pepper, better yet. This lovely mix cooked until the vegetables were softer and then I added the Pancetta and onions and tasted.  Yes, just right.  I ate two bowls then and now! Once the picky eaters are done with this soup, I am putting in spinach.  I think that would make it even better. It's glorious and I think it is the diced Pancetta and onions that completes it.  I scraped every scrap from the skillet into the soup, so none of the goodness was lost.

L

cream cheese brownies

   
I was teaching at the time I first met cream cheese brownies.  Maize School was having one of its frequent bake sales.  There were half a dozen brownies in a package and I ate every one of them on my way home from school. (I weighed 100 pounds back then but it would have made NO difference; had to have them all.)  Had never seen them, had never smelled them, had never tasted them but had to have them (and I am not even a fan of chocolate.) I found the recipe years ago and it was more complicated than this.  This one is a brownie mix topped with a mixture of 8 ounces of soft cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar, one egg and a bit of vanilla mixed and swirled through the chocolate before going into the oven. 350 for 24 minutes.

I have an unusual soup started and I will let you know how that goes later today.
The soup is crispy Pancetta with several vegetables (soup) Note: Turns out to be one of my best inventions yet.I have a nice picture of it on my Facebook, but trying to get it on here was not in the cards today.  I may picture it tomorrow and write up the loose instructions.  My soups are never the same twice because I don't use a recipe.  I do wish, however, that I had written this one down to do again.