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.
                                                                                    

Surprise! It's breakfast chili.

 

Cook's Corner came today with a surprise; a recipe for breakfast chili to serve at tailgate parties or to unsuspecting guests.  The Barefoot Contessa writes that she tries to surprise her guests, just when they are prepared for an elegant feast she serves them spaghetti and meatballs--she says they love it, but by the look on one of her guest's face, who had, by the way, boasted to the others about the gourmet dinner they were about to enjoy, I would say disappointment was the look of the evening.  This recipe is not for those opposed to can soups but the doctoring of them makes the recipe kind of interesting.  Serve it as a soup, serve it over hash browns or on a toasted English muffin, it seems quick and certainly easy.

one pound of breakfast sausage, I would use Bob Evans Zesty (browned and crumbled)
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
9 hard-boiled eggs, diced
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of cheddar soup
1 soup can of milk
1 can navy beans
4 green onions, minced
1 can diced green chilies, drained (I would use Ro-tel)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste (although, I would guess there would be enough salt in this mixture already) I bet this would make a tasty dip.

I don't know why this has to slow cook so long, but here is how it reads:  The night before serving, in a large slow cooker, combine the sausage, bacon, eggs, cream of chicken and cheddar soups, milk, navy beans, green onions, chilies and cheddar cheese.  Mix well and season to taste. Slow cook on low for three hours or up to overnight. (I would never do that, everything is already cooked???) Serve when ready. Now, who is going to be the first to try this?

Mashed potato yeast rolls

This is a recipe you must try.  Yesterday was cold and gloomy so I cooked all day and last, of all, I found this recipe using leftover mashed potatoes from Pinterest called Amish potato rolls. I had heard of using potato water, so I was not surprised when that was included in the recipe too.  But a cup of leftover mashed potatoes???  I didn't have leftover mashed potatoes so I made some in a hurry and to tell the truth, they were lumpy AND IT STILL WORKED.  You cannot fail at this, it makes itself work no matter the mistakes.  You throw all the ingredients into a mixer with a dough hook and let it do the work. You can do it by hand, but why?The oven is at 350 and the rolls, when finished, bake for about 24 minutes depending on your oven.  Tomorrow I am turning these into mini sliders.  We have some roast beef, cheese, and grainy mustard.  I've given you that recipe before and actually, you can use any deli meat and throw on whatever pleases you and stick them in the oven to melt the cheese and toast the tops a bit. We also used Kings Hawaiian rolls but I am eager to try these in place of them.

The rolls
Into a mixing bowl:
2eggs, 1/3 cup sugar,2 teaspoons. salt, 6 tablespoons butter (soft), 1 cup unseasoned mashed potatoes, 2  1.2 teaspoons yeast (1 package dry yeast), 3/4 cup of potato water, 4 1/4 cups flour.  MIX until a ball forms; dough will be sticky. Place dough in greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise for 90 minutes.  Gently deflate and make 16 round balls.  Place them in a greased pan and put lightly greased saran wrap on top; let rise another 2  1/2 hours.  350 for 24 minutes and Bob's your uncle.

These with Balsamic salmon fillets (the post before this one) and roasted vegetables make a lovely dinner.

It's salmon today

Valentina's Corner (blog) has mouth watering salmon recipes and pictures which I hope can stay here along with some of her salmon recipes.  I have such a craving for salmon today for some strange reason.  So, I started searching Pinterest and they have done everything to salmon that can be done.  The recipes are easy and the pictures are glorious.  This recipe from Valentina's is one I want to try today, if possible.

2 pounds salmon
2 tablespoons Ranch mix dressing
2/3 cups Hellman's mayo
2 tablespoons parmesan
1  1/2 tablsp milk
garlin (if you want)
pepper
3/4 cups mozzarella cheese
Bake on parchment 12-14 minutes in 425 oven and then 2-3 minutes under the broiler to brown the cheese a bit.

What could be easier, I ask?
I'll search some more and put on more salmon recipes, hopefully.

I was able to get salmon so I am debating between the above and Balsamic glazed salmon.


Balsamic glazed salmon
In a sauce pan put: 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon diijon mustard
 1 garlic clove diced, if you wish.   Bring this mixture to a boil then reduce heat to simmer until the mixture becomes syrupy. Set aside to drizzle over the pan fried salmon.

Oil in a skillet
 four, 6 ounce fillets with skin off
 salt and pepper both sides
brown both sides in the skillet for three to four minutes
Serve them warm with the drizzle and fresh herbs on top
This may win because it would be wonderful with oven roasted crispy potatoes and roasted glazed carrots.  We have a winner!

Here it comes

After a brilliant October, today the 23rd, brings about a change.  It is dark and gloomy, but a good time to bake brownies in my new copper divided pan.  It is the second go-around for that little device and I like it still.

Today I took several new outfits to the alteration lady.  Finally found one close to home.   I also saw, just down the way from alterations, a new nail salon that I am going to try. I liked the salon I had been going to for a few years, but something happened I didn't like and rather than try to get it fixed I am simply moving on. I am getting too old to fight battles that mean nothing in the end.I just don't like to be short-changed.

I made a nice pot of Amish noodles with lovely chunks of chicken and fresh herbs. I will miss stepping outside to cut a handful of fresh herbs now that fall has taken over.  I can still get fresh rosemary out in the conservatory because it winters over beautifully; sage does well out there too.

It's 18 more days until we leave for New Orleans. Hence, the trip to alterations.  Beth and I are looking forward to merging families in a fun and festive time together. The men will be feeding dogs and 'doing' for themselves for four days.  I think they'll make it. I hope they don't enjoy it too much, however. 

Then when we come home it will be less than two weeks until Thanksgiving.  We are expecting a crowd as usual and looking forward to it.  I wish it would be nice so we could eat outside like the Pilgrims did and some years it is possible.  But, I think our grace period is over and it will probably be nippy. Nonetheless, we will have a good time.