The snow! Oh the snow! It's everywhere! Blocking traffic! Taking out power lines! Closing schools! Wreaking Havoc! Just look at it! Yea...so no snow. But very, very cold. My poor kids are bored to death. We have watched every movie, played every game, put together every toy. We are all running out of creativity. So, I cook and the kids do the best to entertain themselves. We ...
vegetables
Squash,Apple,Onion and Blue Cheese Galette
This post has gone through a couple of updates y'all. Well, this week I made a big decision in my grocery budget and decided to join a co-op. Every week I will be splitting a whole order of mostly local, fresh organic produce with my friend Dawn (who has 18 month old triplets). I have actually been toying with this idea for a while. I love produce and I love to try new foods ...
Quick and Easy Summer Pasta
Does this ever happen to you? You are busy all day going from here to there picking up carpet cleaners and putting up with kids and suddenly it's 5 o'clock and you don't have a clue what to fix for dinner and you already had spaghetti this week and everything is frozen. Toddlers are now standing at the kitchen gate demanding outrageous things for dinner like Popsicles and ...
Fried Okra Patties
Fried Okra Patties are the easiest and quickest way to make fried okra happen in your life. These patties are quick to make and totally addictive to eat. If you are overrun with okra this Summer, this okra recipe should be in your arsenal! It doesn't get much more southern than okra. Originally okra was brought to America by slaves where it weaved itself into Southern culture. ...
How to Peel a Tomato
Should you ever try to can tomatoes or make salsa or spaghetti sauce from fresh tomatoes, you will have to peel your tomatoes first. Just the thought of having to tediously peel tomatoes with a knife is enough to deter anyone from the task. Lucky for us, some genius discovered this very easy method to peeling tomatoes. This also works for peaches, grapes and those tiny little ...
Squash Casserole
Squash Casserole is one of those dishes that Southerners seem to eat a lot of. Everybody knows the recipe by heart and pretty much everyone loves it. Which is a good thing because there are very few recipes for canned/cooked squash and the garden always seems to put out more than anyone can eat in one summer. Please keep in mind that this is one of those dishes that tastes ...
Under Pressure: Canning Part 2
Okay, you have collected all of your items on the canning checklist and you have a bushel of vegetables washed and prepped. Many vegetables require pressure canning in order to be stored safely. These foods are low in acid and have to be processed at higher temperatures in order to kill any harmful bacteria such as botulism. These vegetables include green beans, squash, ...
You Can Can-Can Too!!! Part 1
This post contains affiliate links I'm sure you have all been desperately worried about where I have been ( can you detect the sarcasm?), but I assure you that I am perfectly fine. I have been out of town for a while hanging out with my parents in Tennessee and learning a very valuable life skill; how to can food. We country folk like to call it "puttin' up" and it was ...
Kebaaaaaabs
For some reason, whenever I talk about kebabs I always seem to say it with a Jersey accent. I don't know why. It just sounds nice...kebaaabs.Anyway, summer is the perfect time for kebabs. They are the perfect grill food. A great way to feed many or just a few. They can be marinated and assembled earlier in the day and then thrown on the grill for dinner. I like chicken kebabs ...
Tandoori Inspired Chicken with Spiced Saffron Rice and Roasted Asparagus
Sometimes I get a wild hair and feel the need to really do something different. I get sick of Southern cooking or typical Meatloaf Monday fare and I really just want to branch out and experiment. It usually comes during a long week ( or month) when my stress level is high and I just want to get away. I think a week of potty training twins and trying to get ready for this craft ...
Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry
Ahhh, stir-fry. Possibly the world's quickest cooked dish and one of my favorite things to eat. This is a simple dish with lots of flavor and lots of veggies. I know this is a keeper not because I loved it so much, but because my 2 year olds ate every bite. Even the broccoli.1 pound chicken breast (about 2 breasts), cubed3 scallions, whites only, thinly sliced on an angle2 ...
Beans, Beans, Good for Your…Pasta
Let me tell you a little about myself. I love tulips, trashy novels, my kids and beans. Especially white beans. I could eat them every day and have been eating them every day for the last week. I made a BIG pot of white beans from dry beans and have been using them in cooking all week. Pretty soon, I ran out of ideas. I was digging through the fridge to see what I had for ...
Cookbooks and a Fiesta Chicken Bake
I own a lot of cookbooks. They are a guilty pleasure for me. I love to look at all of the pictures and read all of the recipes and there may be one or two recipes that I will actually cook out of those cookbooks that I buy. But there are two cookbooks that I refer back to time and time again. They are my Good Housekeeping cookbook and my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I ...
I’d rather be on the beach – Orange & Ginger Pork with Corn and Avocado Salad
As I have expressed before, I am sick of winter. And thanks to ol' Phil the Groundhog, it seems that winter is going to wear out it's welcome. I really shouldn't be complaining since I live in the South and we don't get the deep freezes that those north of us see, but it's still cold. Cold enough I can't really take the kids outside to play very often and my toes haven't seen ...
A Little Bit of Spring – Pasta Salad
I am totally over wintertime. I hate being cold all the time and as a tightwad I refuse to turn up the heat. I just want it to be sunny and warm outside. I am ready for Spring. Unfortunately, Spring is a long ways away. Today's weather was beautiful...until you went outside. It was bright and sunny and very cold. As I stared out the window I thought that I would love a nice ...