Thanksgiving Again

Every once in a while, I will talk to my mom about trying a new recipe out on the family, and sometimes I'm met with "Ok, try it but don't make too much because people won't try it". This recipe was one that met that response a few Thanksgivings ago. It was GONE very quickly, so I doubled it the next Thanksgiving and it was still GONE. This recipe makes a nice sized batch, you could bake it in a 13x9 inch pan.

Cornbread Stuffing with Apples, Onions and Sausage

6 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread mix, follow the package directions, baking in two greased 13x9 pans
1 lb. pork breakfast sausage (the one in a plastic tube)
2 Tbsp. butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 apples, cored and finely chopped. Leave the peels on. I use a sweet red apple, not tart, and the red of the peel is pretty
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley
2-3 c. low sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste.

If I'm making this for Thanksgiving, I'll bake my cornbread on Monday and let it get a little stale. You can bake it just before you make the stuffing and that's fine too. Crumble it up in coarse chunks in a large mixing bowl. In a decent size skillet, brown the sausage. Remove from pan, then add butter and bring pan to medium high heat. Add onions and apples and cook until soft but not brown. Stir the sausage, apples, onions and parsley into the cornbread. Add the broth, a half cup at a time and stir. You don't want this to be mushy, but wet enough that it sticks together. Taste it so that you can salt and pepper to taste. Pack it into a greased pan, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and let bake another 5-10 minutes if you like a little crunch on top. If you are making this ahead of time and putting it into the oven cold, allow an extra ten minutes of cooking time. By the way, if you already have a favorite cornbread recipe, by all means, don't use Jiffy. Also, if you have a cornbread recipe that doesn't call for flour, this recipe would be gluten free.

There you go. Super easy and only a few ingredients. We love this recipe and it has earned it's place next to my mom's Stove Top. I don't have any photos of this lovely finished stuffing, but it is so pretty on your table. This photo is from one of our infamous family game nights, I'm hoping that we can get together for one on Saturday night. Enjoy your weekend!

Thanksgiving Part Three

So your turkey is under control, now let's talk about your side dishes. Everyone has family favorites, dishes that they must have on their Thanksgiving dinner table. In my family, it is Stove Top stuffing. For real. It's what my mom always makes. For a few years I've made cornbread stuffing from scratch and it's now become one of those must haves. Watch for that recipe tomorrow. Today we're talking about shortcuts that can add some sass to your table. Here are a few for you to consider:

Cranberry Sauce - Buy two cans of whole berry sauce, stir in the grated zest (shiny part of the peel) of one orange and a teaspoon of vanilla. Chill overnight for a sassier sauce.

Corn - Cook your canned or frozen corn as usual, but just before serving toss in a couple of strips of crumbled bacon and a tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sweet potatoes - Open and drain two large cans of Bruce's Yams. Add 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 c. brown sugar, an egg and a splash of milk. Beat together until smooth and spread in a casserole dish and either top with a little butter, chopped pecans and a sprinkle of brown sugar or marshmallows. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Carrots - Rinse a couple of bags of fresh baby carrots, then place in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap and steam for 4 minutes or so. In a coffee mug, melt 3 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar (in the microwave too). Pour over the steamed carrots add salt and pepper to taste and toss together.

You can think of some simple additions or ways to sassy up a recipe with your own creative spin. Don't forget about the power of color. A sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley makes any side dish prettier, and makes me feel better if I'm serving something straight out of the box. As far as your Thanksgiving desserts go, you have other shortcuts that can help you make a splash.

Pies - Homemade pies can be intimidating. Feel free to buy pie crust in a roll, or a ready made one (but put it in your own pan before baking) and try a new filling recipe. I guess that is what you call Semi-Homemade. Try something with a lattice top, just for the fun of it.

Cake - You aren't going to believe me here, but did you know that all you need to add to a cake mix to bake it is a can of pop? Diet or regular, any flavor. No eggs, oil or anything else. Just beat it with a mixer as you usually would. The result is a softer, moister cake that still serves well from a pan but doesn't do well for cupcakes. Great if you run out of eggs, for dieters, or people with egg allergies (if the cake mix is clear). Try a spice cake mix with root beer, devil's food cake mix with black cherry or vanilla cake mix with orange.

Have fun as you continue to plan your Thanksgiving dinner. One week from today...

Thanksgiving - Talking Turkey

If you haven't read my last post about simplifying your Thanksgiving, please do. Before we talk about how we are going to roast a turkey, let's chat about choosing the right one for you. As far as a whole turkey goes, anything under 20 lbs. isn't worth my while. Maybe it's coming from a big family, but if I am going to take the time and roast a turkey, why not take a little extra time and make it a big one. Even if you are only hosting a few people, the leftovers are great. The next point to consider is whether you (gasp) need to cook a whole turkey at all. If my mother-in-law will be at Thanksgiving dinner, I cook a whole turkey. If she isn't, then we have whole turkey breasts. I purchase several of them and roast them exactly the same way as a whole turkey. These wouldn't be the pressed and rolled boneless turkey roasts, but whole turkey breasts. Big difference there. We end up with only the white meat that my family prefers, and it is a much quicker process. This year we will have one whole turkey and one whole turkey breast.

When cooking a whole turkey or breast, always follow the package instructions regarding temperature and roasting time based on the weight. I generally err on the side of cooking it longer. I do use a meat thermometer to check to make sure it is done, you can click HERE to see how to check using one. Safety first, no matter how you are going to be preparing your bird.

Because we are going to roast our turkey on Wednesday, thawing time of a frozen turkey has to be considered a day earlier because you need it to be completely thawed in time. Wednesday morning, as early as I feel like it, the turkey gets rinsed, the neck and bag of giblets get removed (and tossed!), and patted dry. Make sure that you've prepared by having a huge foil roasting pan, big enough for your turkey and a rack of some sort, to lift the turkey off the bottom of the pan just a bit. You can buy one at the Dollar Tree, or even turn over a muffin pan and place it on that. For the last few years, I've used an electric roaster on my counter top so that my oven is free for baking. It can hold a big turkey, and you set the temperature just like an oven.

Now to season the turkey. It is all cleaned out, patted dry and ready to go, right? Give it a quick check to make sure that there aren't any pokey bits of feather left in the skin. That can happen sometimes, just pull them out. Here is what you'll need to season your turkey:

1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 c. chopped parsley leaves (no stems please)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 whole onion (skins too)
1 large carrot
2 stalks celery
Vegetable or olive oil

Mix the butter, parsley, garlic and pepper together. Coarsely chop the veggies and place them in the cavity of your turkey. Add the parsley stems too. This part is messy but worth it. Without removing any skin, place as much of the herbed butter under the skin of the breast and thighs of the turkey as you can. If there is any left, spread it on the turkey. Then put some oil in your hands and rub the whole turkey to coat. Then sprinkle with more pepper. I don't baste, but you can if you want to. Check your turkey several times during roasting, just to make sure that the breast isn't getting too brown too fast. If it does, take a sheet of foil and make a little tent just to set on top. That should keep it from getting over done. If you know for sure that your turkey is done and it's Wednesday, take your turkey out. Cover it with foil and set it aside for an hour to an hour and a half. That is going to give it time to cool sufficiently for you to be able to carve it easily, but it is also going to give it time for every bit of natural juice to absorb back into the meat, giving you a really juicy turkey. Toss the veggies from the cavity but reserve the drippings in the pan for later.

I use another foil pan at this point. When carving the turkey the day before, be careful to save as much skin in one piece as possible. Set that aside to place on top before you seal the pan with foil. As you are carving, start the white meat on one side and dark on the other of the pan, it's easier that way, I usually leave the legs and wings whole, and they go on top of the carved meat. Once you've carved everything, take some of the drippings from the pan and pour on top. If you aren't sure about this whole "reheating the turkey" thing and fear that it will be too dry, feel free to pour some low sodium chicken broth over too. Place the skin on top, then seal well with foil and pop in the fridge. Clean up your kitchen and you are one really big step closer to a very fun and relaxing Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving Part One

Hello Blog, I'm sorry that it's been a while. This has been a month of personal struggles and the bright invitation to go back to work. Just one day a week, two classes of really fun kids. I had almost forgotten how much I love teaching kids to cook. It's great to be back.

Tonight, at coffee with some of my girlfriends, the subject of Thanksgiving dinner preparations came up and one suggested that I blog a little about the subject. Thankfully, my wise mother made sure that I knew how to cook a turkey before I left her home. What a huge favor that was. My first Thanksgiving dinner that I cooked completely on my own was the third after my husband and I were married. He was deployed with the USMC for the two before that, so by the time I could make him a Thanksgiving dinner it was a really big deal. Dinner that year would be for myself, my husband, our oldest daughter and one of our very good USMC friends. Needless to say, I did all of the cooking, serving and clean up myself. It was a lot of work. Almost too much for me to really enjoy myself. Over the years I felt the need for Thanksgiving to become a more simple affair. Martha wouldn't approve of my methods but my reward is the calmness of the day. I get to watch the parade with my kids, serve dinner from an almost clean kitchen and enjoy the rest of the day without much effort. Sometimes, you just have to be given permission to shake things up and simplify your life. You can so do this.

The reason my kitchen is mostly clean on Thanksgiving day is due to the fact that nothing is actually cooked on the holiday, only reheated. Including the turkey. Shocking, right? I haven't cooked a turkey on Thanksgiving day in at least ten years and I don't plan on ever doing it again. Tomorrow I will tell you why your turkey turns out better for having cooked it the previous day. By next Wednesday evening, there will be a stack of foil roasting pans in our fridge of various sizes, all ready to be popped in the oven for dinner. We use Chinet platters for dinner, but with real flatware. You see, I want to watch football too. Scraping and washing dishes isn't how I want to spend the holiday. I purchase an extra box of plastic storage bags to send leftovers home with guests, or to store them myself, then the foil pans are trashed too. Dinner is always wonderful but in a more relaxed atmosphere because most of the work is done.

Over the next couple of days I will walk you through the basics of roasting a turkey and share some of my favorite recipes. Remember why we celebrate this holiday. If you need the fuss and rush, carry on, but if you are looking for a change, stay tuned. This is going to be fun.

Soup for you!

In honor or the summer cold that we've been passing around, today's post will be about THE chicken soup recipe. The basics of this soup were passed from my grandmother to my mom, then to me. That makes it special to me. I've played with ingredients just a little, because I can't leave anything alone, but this is it. Really simple and wonderful.

There are two parts to making really good chicken soup. Please read the recipe all the way through for ingredients, as they are listed as you need them. Here's how you start:

Place the following ingredients in a big pot, 8 quart sized is fine.
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen is okay for this)
2 cloves garlic, with the skin, coarsely chopped
a handful of celery leaves or tops (the stuff you usually throw away)
half an onion, very coarsely chopped, including the skins, so wash them first
fresh parsley, rinsed but whole, with the stems
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. peppercorns
1 gallon of water

Bring to a boil, partially covered, then lower the heat and simmer for an hour, longer if you are starting with frozen chicken. Check the chicken to make sure that it is thoroughly cooked and tender enough to shred easily. Remove the chicken and veggies and set aside. Strain the soup through a very fine metal strainer into a large enough container to hold the soup. Even a big bowl works, if that's what you have. The stock should be really clear. Right now you have lovely, flavorful chicken stock, with no added sodium and miles better than anything you can buy at the store. You could let it cool and freeze it for later use in your favorite recipes. We aren't stopping here today.

Wipe out the pot you started the soup in. Scrub the white filminess off and rinse well. Return the chicken broth to the pot. To it you will add:

1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced
5 stalks celery, sliced
2 cups chunky - shredded chicken (that you boiled earlier)

Bring to a boil and simmer just until the carrots and celery are tender (about 20 minutes), then add

1/2 c. chopped parsley leaves (no stems please and I use curly for this)
salt and lots of pepper to taste

Serve over egg noodles that are just barely cooked.I cook about a pound, drain them and set aside to be added to the soup by the bowl. Whatever you do, never, ever cook your noodles in this soup. It will turn it starchy and unpleasant the next day. Please don't. This soup is special because of the richly flavored, clear broth. That should carry over even once you've added noodles.

A quick note: There are some that will tell you that you can't possibly make good stock without using chicken with bones. I disagree, and by adding flavorful ingredients along with the chicken, you give the stock a nice depth of flavor without messy bones and extra fat. You will probably have almost 2 cups leftover shredded cooked chicken after making the stock. I'm sure that you'll figure out what to do with it, but if you'd like, pop it into the freezer, we are going to be making chicken enchiladas soon.

Review from right around the corner

So either I'm late to the party or none of my local friends are sharing their secret with me. This weekend, while out with a friend, we ventured into the Latinos Supermarket, right down the street. I stopped there once, years ago to buy a jicama for the cooking class that I once taught, but this store has changed dramatically and is quite an experience now. This store gives you a little taste of being somewhere exotic. It was a lot of fun.

The first thing that I noticed when I walked in the door is a beauty salon. A small one, with adorable ladies getting their weekly set. They also have an on site jewelry repair booth, which is somewhat open, so you can watch the jeweler at work. There was also large booth with cell phones for sale. Those were all unexpected in what I thought was just a Latin American Grocery store. The produce department was so striking and beautiful. There were fruit and vegetables that I had never heard of before with names like Panapen (bread fruit). They had a full service meat counter, and their meat was cut meticulously. They had cuts of meat that are a little more difficult to find cut properly, like beef short ribs. Watch for a recipe soon.

The aisles of the store were fun to walk, just to look at all the different products. I brought several home to try, just because they looked interesting. Coconut wafer cookies, Cilantro flavored bouillon cubes, Chipotle Mojo marinade (the chipotle part was different), and chocolate. The chocolate was really interesting, and from the Dominican Republic. It wasn't like the chocolate I was accustomed to, it crumbled when I chopped it. Because it had a steamy cup on the box, I figured it must be used to make hot chocolate. Half a chopped little bar went into my coffee instead. It didn't make it noticeably sweet ( I still added my usual creamer and sweetener) but it did give my coffee a lovely, warm chocolate flavor. That was a fun to try.

The biggest surprise at the Latinos Supermarket was their cafeteria. They have a large selection of beautiful food as well as a sandwich counter. There were lots and lots of roast meats, rice, vegetables and seafood. The entire place smelled like heaven. The workers could be seen in the area just behind the prepared food, chopping fresh fruit and vegetables as well as cooking the food.

My husband and I went back for our weekly lunch date to give their food a try. We split a pressed Cuban sandwich and the most fresh and lovely tomato and avocado salad. With two bottles of tea, that set us back less than 10.00. Honestly, this wasn't my favorite Cuban sandwich ever, but it was good and contained all the right ingredients. The salad was fabulous, in a light vinegar dressing with onions and spices. That was a find for sure and worth the trip all by itself. I also tried their homemade spicy garlicky hot sauce. Loved it.

We were there for a late lunch but there was a steady flow of customers both eating there and carrying their food out. Some of items in the cafeteria are sold by the pound, others by the plate.

Right before we left, we checked our the really good selection of kitchenware that they had in stock, right off the cafeteria. Kitchenware is my shopping weakness, and I could have spent a really long time checking it all out. Just another excuse to go back.

Latinos Supermarket is located at 131 S.Mt Carmel Rd., just off S.R. 60 in Brandon, FL. My local friends, you must visit soon. Go when you have a little time to wander. Bring your kids and explore a store full of interesting things from other countries. Please leave me a comment if you've visited a Latin American market before or if you have a favorite product that you think I should try.

Simple and easy

Sweet tea is something simple that makes my family really happy. I routinely get phone calls when people are headed home, just to check and see if there is tea made. Water, tea bags and sugar, sweet tea should have been really easy for me to figure out how to make. It took this Northern girl a long time to get it right. I didn't know that you can't just stir sugar into a pitcher of tea and expect it to work. It's about the timing. My husband's granny finally showed me the way. She uses a pot on the stove, but we do it in the microwave and use just a touch less sugar. Here's our standard family "recipe" if you want to call it that.

To make a gallon of tea, you start with 2 quarts of boiling hot water. We do this in the microwave, it takes about 3 and a half minutes. Add 8 standard tea bags (we like Lipton or Tetley) and let it steep for 20 minutes or so (you are making it double strength, so it needs to be dark). Do NOT squeeze out those tea bags or your tea will be bitter. Stir in 1 cup of sugar until dissolved. Fill a gallon sized pitcher half way full with cool water, then add the tea that you've made and stir. That's it. Perfect sweet tea.

One of my most simple and most requested recipes is for the easiest of re fried beans. Honestly, the recipe has evolved over time and we use the beans in several ways. Lately, we've been eating them right out of the pot with cornbread for a lazy dinner. They still remain the very best unfried re fried beans that we've ever had. Please don't be afraid of dry beans. This recipe doesn't require soaking and you're going to be using your crock pot.

Re fried beans
2 lbs. dry pinto beans
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
13 cups water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. Chipotle chili pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin

Rinse and sort the beans. You are looking for little bits of mud or funky shaped or oddly colored beans. Pintos can have quite a few of these, depending on where you get them. Aldi's dry pinto beans are quite lovely and very inexpensive. Once you've checked through your beans, add them along with the onion, garlic, bay leaves and water to your crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours, checking a couple of times just to make sure that they don't get too dry. Depending on your crock pot, you may have to add an extra cup of water, but not too much. If you are uncertain, err on the side of too wet the first time you make this recipe.

At the end of 8 hours, the beans should be soft enough to smash easily against the side of the crock pot with a fork. If not, let them go another hour and check them again. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Your beans are ready to eat right now, just as they are with some fluffy rice or cornbread or both. You can also freeze these cooked beans, whole, in 2c. portions, to use in recipes that call for a can of pinto beans. The difference is, you have dramatically lower sodium compared to canned beans and they are much tastier. Use a slotted spoon to fill up your food processor with the beans, and pulse until smooth. You could use a blender, too, if that's what you have, just fill the blender only about half full or you might have a mess. The beans will set up just a little as they cool, but if your smashed beans seem too dry, add a little of the liquid from your crock pot. There are your unfried re fried beans. Vegetarian and fat free deliciousness.

Taste the beans once you've finished to adjust the seasoning if you like. Frankly, we like them well enough at this point give them a little sprinkle of cheese and call it bean dip. Allow your beans to cool, then freeze in whatever sized portion works for you. This recipe yielded four 2 cup portions of re fried beans and two 2 cup portions of whole pinto beans. Please try this recipe. You will never go back to the can.

Since my front porch looks like this.....

That only means that this is the busiest time of year for my family. My husband is a high school football coach and I am his right hand man. These Fridays are the best, but it takes a lot of work the rest of the week to make it all happen. This week will be extra special busy for me, so in order to keep it all together, my crock pots, rice cooker and grill were all very busy this weekend. That's why my kitchen looked like this....

The good news is that it will take very little effort to put dinner on the table this week. Most of the work and cleanup are already done. Here's our menu for the week:

Monday - Shepherd's pie and tossed salad
Tuesday - Chicken fried rice
Wednesday - Chicken and bean quesadillas
Thursday - BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, corn and cinnamon apples
Friday - Dinner out with the team
Saturday - Pasta with chicken, bacon and peas
Sunday - Grilled Buffalo chicken, Jalapeno Popper dip, potato skins and veggies (football watching food)

The BBQ pulled pork is from my favorite pork crock pot recipe that isn't really a recipe. Costco sells large pork loins at a great price, that's where I get mine.

Pork loin (7-8 lbs)
one medium onion, chopped
20 oz can pineapple tidbits in juice
1 clove garlic, minced

Place your pork loin in your crock pot. Depending on what type of crock pot you have, either cut it into a few big pieces or wrap it around the inside. That's what I do. Dump the other ingredients on top, and let it go, on low, for about 8 hours. After it cools, remove any visible fat and shred the pork. Usually, I shred it all into a 13x9" pan, then using a slotted spoon remove the pineapple and onions from the crock pot and add to the meat.

At this point, you could stir in BBQ sauce of your choice and divide it into 5 freezer bags for sandwiches. I like to remove 2 cups of the pork and stir in a little soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic powder before I freeze and label it to add to a stir fry. If you freeze the shredded pork flat in quart sized freezer bags, it thaws pretty quickly and is a great stand by if you need something really quick. It's like making your own fast food, just add a bag of burger buns and a vegetable. Cook once, eat five times. That's how we get through Football season here.

Midnight at my house

There are really nice things about the fact that my husband works from home. We have a weekly lunch date, his commute is about ten steps each way, and I genuinely enjoy his company. Sometimes, there are emergency conference calls with people in different time zones that stretch into the wee hours. Last night was one of those nights for him. Cleaning and dusting the dining room sounded like something quiet and productive for me to do, but I noticed that there was a spiderweb going across the top of my china hutch. That gave me an idea. More spiderwebs!

I stretched a branch across the typical decorations that are on top of the hutch. Then I followed with some fake spiderweb. It looked pretty good, but it needed something so I tucked in a purple and orange string of lights, which gave the web a creepy glow. This is our eighth Halloween in our house, and I still love finding new ways to decorate. When everything is decorated, I will post more photos. Today, I found this year's addition to the Frankenstein collection. He is sitting on top of a place mat, which is sitting on top of a black rug that was on ridiculous clearance at Target today. I love using woven rugs as table runners. He is perfect for the dining room table, made of metal so the cats can't destroy him and his candy bowl head is full of Tootsie Pops.

About the time the decorating was done my good intentions of cleaning that room went down hill. There was Tuesday night's episode of Parenthood to be watched, followed by an online shopping expedition to look for the cute stacking coffee mugs that are on the counter in Adam and Kristina's fictional kitchen. Then the laundry started calling my name. At almost 2:30 am I let myself nod off on the sofa only to dream that there was a Chupacabra in the laundry room. That meant two things. Maybe I should lay off the Scyfy channel and it's probably time to clean out the laundry room. For now, I'm going to enjoy a cup of coffee in my adorable (undusted) dining room.

Fancy Stuffed Bread

Sometimes it's all about illusion in the kitchen. Very, very simple things can look spectacular and give the appearance that you are an extremely experienced cook when the reality might be quite different. Remember that commercial for Rice Krispie when the mom throws some flour on her face and makes her family think she slaved over that pan of marshmallowy treats? That's pretty much the story of the stuffed bread.

You can either make some really quick pizza dough, or buy a loaf of frozen dough and let it thaw for this recipe. Better yet, see yesterday's post and use some dough straight out of your fridge. Cover your kitchen counter with plastic wrap. Wet the counter just a little first so that the plastic wrap sticks to it, but stays dry on top. Roll out the dough into a rectangle, not too thin. Mentally divide that rectangle of dough into thirds, lengthwise. Put your filling in the center.

About the filling. When I make stuffed bread for breakfast, I use 6 eggs, scrambled, 4 slices of bacon, crumbled, some fresh parsley, a cup or so of shredded cheese and lots of pepper and salt. I cook the eggs and bacon the night before most of the time. Veggies are nice too, but they need to sweat it out first, otherwise your bread will be too wet. After you've put your filling of choice down the center of the dough, you're going to cut the outer thirds of the dough in strips, about an inch wide, trying to have a similar amount of strips on each side. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Starting at one end, start overlapping the dough strips over each other, alternating strips and pressing down a bit to make sure that the filling is nicely tucked in. When you get to the end, do your best to tuck the ends in and make it look cute. If you don't have an even number of strips, just fake it. Everyone will be impressed with your pretty braided bread, they won't notice. Make sure that both ends are pressed closed. Spray a large baking sheet or stone with oil spray and shape the bread into a loose half circle on the pan. Be careful while you are transferring it, but if you lose some filling, just tuck it back in. This is pretty forgiving, really. Brush the top of the bread with some milk and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper, to make it look pretty. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until it's nice and golden brown. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Do not cover it while it's warm or your bread will turn soft from the condensation while it cools. You'll be sorry. Make sure you serve it whole with a little knife so that everyone can see how pretty your stuffed bread is.

So there are endless fillings that you can stuff this bread with. Here are a few of my favorites:

Grilled chicken (2 c.)tossed with Buffalo sauce, chopped celery and onion, shredded cheddar and crumbled blue cheese. Football party fabulous.

Mashed potatoes topped with sliced turkey and spread with a little cranberry sauce. Serve with warm gravy. Weird and wonderful.

Sauerkraut, rinsed, drained and squeezed dry, cooked with onions and layered with kielbasa. Spread the dough with a little spicy mustard first. You'll love it.

Really, you can't go wrong. Use whatever you love as a filling. Have fun in your kitchen.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day? Oh Yes!

A few months ago, my friend Beth turned me on to the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I was so excited by the concept after watching this video on Youtube that I ordered the book right away.



After I made our first batch, using the recipe from the video, my family was hooked. They love the fresh, hot bread and I love the simplicity. Jeff and Zoe's method and recipe produced a delightful loaf that was crusty outside and soft inside, our favorite. After my book arrived I began experimenting more. So far the European Peasant Bread in the book is my favorite. There are so many other variations in the book, but I can't seem to get past the European Peasant because we love it so much. In our last batch, I doubled the rye and wheat flours and cut back on the white flour with good result.

I confess that I use an empty ice cream bucket to make and store the dough in the fridge. It also doesn't get washed between batches because it develops a little sour dough effect from the bits of dry dough that get stirred in. That's another interesting thing about this recipe. After the dough sits in the fridge for a few days, the flavor does change just a bit, making it a little like sourdough. We like that. A plate sprinkled with cornmeal works just fine if you don't have a wooden peel. Just use a spatula to transfer to your preheated stone. The bread dough also makes really wonderful pizza with a nice, chewy consistency. Cinnamon rolls would probably turn out nicely too.

If you've never baked bread before, or you think you don't have enough time, or you're tired of bread that needs lots of kneading and time to rise, this book is for you.

Menu Planning Monday

Menu planning is something my mom taught me when I was really young. She planned our meals then made her shopping list. I'm thankful for her example in that way because it makes my life much more manageable. Being realistic is important in menu planning. If you know you are going to have a screaming busy couple of days, don't plan meals that include homemade bread or complicated recipes. If it's a frozen pizza night, then plan for it and make sure you have what you need to cook before that day or the drive through might tempt you. Here is this week's menu for us:

Monday - Ground beef fried rice (see recipe below)
Tuesday - Crockpot potato soup and homemade bread
Wednesday - Ravioli, salad and bread
Thursday - Bean and cheese quesadillas and corn
Friday - Football game (eat out with the team after)
Saturday - Grilled Buffalo chicken with celery sticks, homemade potato skins, brownies
Sunday - BBQ pork, beans and cornbread

So Tuesdays and Thursdays are consistently my busiest days. My son has a class at 5, followed immediately by football practice. If I waited until I was home from all that, it would be really hard to start dinner from scratch at that point, so it has to be either a crockpot recipe or something that is thrown together fast. The homemade bread part is easy, from a book that I will review soon. Yes, it's on the menu a lot, but remember that I'm feeding three teenagers :)

Ground Beef Fried Rice (for a crowd)
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 med. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 eggs, beaten
2 c. frozen peas and carrots, thawed
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste
5 c. cooked white or brown rice

In a large pan, brown your ground beef, drain and wipe the pan out. Return the cooked beef to the pan, and add onion, cooking until transparent over medium high heat. Scrape the beef and onions to the outsides of the pan, leaving an empty space in the center. Pour beaten eggs in this area and cook quickly, scraping with a metal spatula as needed. When the eggs are cooked, use your spatula to chop them up in the pan. Stir eggs together with beef and onion, then add minced garlic and stir. Next add the Worcestershire sauce and peas and carrots. Stir in cooked rice and add salt, pepper and lots of soy sauce to taste. Add some crushed red pepper flakes too if you like. You pretty much can't go wrong with this recipe, use whatever veggies and meat you have in a pinch. This makes a large amount, but makes for great leftovers the next day with a little extra soy sauce.

Chicago, Pierogifest and my family

Two days ago my girls, my mother-in-law and I returned home from our girls' getaway to the Chicago area. We spent two and a half glorious days staying on the Magnificent Mile and doing exactly what we pleased. We had lunch at the Walnut Room, saw Beauty and the Beast at the Oriental Theater, took Ferris Bueller photos at the Art Institute, stood on the Skydeck and wrote on the walls at Gino's East. The new Marilyn Monroe statue was fun to see, right after it went on display. There were beautiful, bright plants everywhere, giving the city even more life than usual. Our time there was a breath of fresh air and I loved every minute.

We left the city and headed East to Lake County, Indiana. That's where I came from. We made the trip specifically, the last weekend in July so that we could attend the Whiting Indiana Pierogifest. I've been before but my girls haven't. Neither had my husband's mom. She wanted us to come and planned most of the trip herself. She is a gift, even if she is my mother-in-law. We also came to visit my extended family. My dad moved my immediate family to Florida when I was three, and that's mostly where I grew up. I missed my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins always. Every trip we made back made me miss them more. I would soak up everything I could from them and carry it back with me. Sometimes it would be funny stories or family history. Sometimes recipes. Those trips were never long enough and I never brought enough back with me.

My mother is Polish. That's what makes the festival so special to me. My mother didn't cook much Polish food as I was growing up. When her grandparents came here, they were Americans and preferred for their children and grandchildren to be that way too. There are recipes that have been passed on and I treasure them, but I love that the reason that some of the traditions haven't been passed down is because of how much they loved this country. I'm thankful for their patriotism in many ways. During some family history research, I found record of my great-grandfather's registration for the draft during World War II. He was in his fifties.

The festival was great. We ate a little and laughed a lot. The next day was spent visiting my family. I couldn't help but notice that there were fewer people to visit this time. When I was growing up, we always saw "the sisters", my great aunts. They are all gone now. My mom's mom passed away when I was very young so her sisters were very special to me. One continued to send me a dollar in a card on my birthday even after I was married. They are all gone now. The girls and I had lunch with two of my aunts then went to visit my grandmother. That was a very bittersweet visit. She still lives in the same house she has lived in since the 50's, the house my dad grew up in. My grandmother has always been a very strong willed, independent woman but this visit was different. She forgot my name during my visit and I saw her as vulnerable for the first time. I drove away from her house in tears, the same way I left as a child.

We went straight to visit my uncle, aunt and cousin. When I was christened in the Catholic Church, my uncle was my godfather. He has made me laugh my whole life. When the Buccanners broke their cold weather curse in the 2002 season, I was with my uncle watching them beat his Bears. There is no one like him. He fought lung cancer and kicked it's tail. It cost him a lung and a leg, but he's a survivor and still has a lot of living to do. He just doesn't know it yet. Seeing his face after all he's been through was a moment I will never forget. I pray that he will have new dreams sometime soon and see how much living he still has to do. His daughter, my younger cousin, was there with her children. She is an incredible mother and has incredible kids. I loved spending time with them all. It was an emotionally exhausting day but a good day.

Driving back to O'hare, there was so much on my mind. My expectations of this trip didn't meet the reality. I left with a heavy heart but the feeling of being so blessed as well. When I was young, my grandparents were younger than everyone else's. When I was in the sixth grade, they had an Atari, a water bed and a Moped. My grandpa has been gone a long time and my grandmother is finally getting old. I have to start being okay with that. My uncle beat the cancer that took his father at a younger age. He still has a twinkle in his eyes. I believe he's going to open them soon and start living again. We brought home lots of good memories, Garrett's popcorn and a "Polish Mafia" t-shirt for my son. He said it was the best shirt he's ever seen.

Frugal Tool Kit (Part Two)

Okay, there is one monthly expense that I do everything I can to save money on. It's something that leaves us absolutely nothing to show for the money spent. Whether we use it wisely or extravagantly, it's gone at the end of the month. What am I talking about? UTILITIES! Three years ago we had a series of electric bills that were over 400.00 per month, accompanied by high water bills. Our natural gas bill is always lower during the summer but we're going after that in a big way. Every month we suffered from shock at the mailbox. The fact that blew my mind was that once that energy was used it was gone. That wasted energy didn't add any value to our lives. Sure, our food was kept fresh and we were comfortable with the air conditioning running. Reducing our bill wouldn't prevent either of those from happening but it would force us to look at what was important to us on a daily basis.

We were already using CFL bulbs but weren't doing much else in the world of energy conservation. The biggest sucker-of-energy in our home is certainly air conditioning. The summer of the 400.00 plus bills, we kept our thermostat at about 75 degrees. All day, every day. That was where I started. Every other day, I would raise the thermostat by a degree. At first, no one noticed. Then around day four, people started getting a little cranky. Within a week, our thermostat would be set at 79 degrees (higher sometimes) and everyone adjusted. The surprising added benefit would be that our youngest daughter, who has Sjogren's syndrome (an autoimmune disease that damages the moisture producing glands in your body) would stop having almost daily nosebleeds. Less air conditioning brought more than just the blessing of a lower bill. Sometimes, if we are going to have a bunch of company, we turn the thermostat down a bit temporarily.

We did install two additional ceiling fans as well as a whole house fan. The whole house fan was installed in our kitchen ceiling. When it is turned on, we crack the sliding doors and windows in order for the fan to suck the outside cooler air in. We also kick it on when I've been cooking a lot and the kitchen is extra warm. We've watched our inside temperature drop 3 degrees in fifteen minutes with that fan running. We installed it for less than 200.00. This isn't something we use in the heat of summer, but when we have cool mornings or evenings we make the most of cooling the house for a lot less money. We keep our blinds and shutters closed during the day. It's a sacrifice, but one more way we keep the heat of the day at bay. Before summer my husband will be putting up a sun shade on our air conditioning unit outside. Still allowing air to circulate, but keeping the sun from beating on it and heating it up is our goal.

In addition to keeping our cooling costs down, we started unplugging and turning everything off more consistently. I also changed a few things about laundry day. A lot of our laundry is air dried. In the great state of Florida, clotheslines are protected as energy saving devices, so no deed restrictions can prevent you from having one in either your back or side yard. Cool, right? Mostly I dry laundry on our screened lanai and in the laundry room on hangers. First thing in the morning, I do two loads and put them out to dry. The jeans are a little stiff, but my family has stopped complaining. According to the electric company, drying a load of laundry costs between 30 and 50 cents in energy. That doesn't include the fact that if your dryer is indoors, you are also raising the temperature of your home. My goal was to save a dollar a day in drying costs.

We made a few more changes to reduce our energy costs:

When the oven is going to be turned on, I plan ahead to bake everything needed for the week, reducing the frequency of heating up the house.

Cook outside, using slowcookers and roasters on the lanai, using the countertop grill instead of the oven.

Allow dishes to air-dry in the dishwasher

Replacing and adding weatherstripping to doors and windows

Adding extra attic insulation where needed

At the end of the day, it was all worth making the change. Our highest summer electric bill has been almost 100.00 less than what it was before. I keep an eye on our monthly kilowatt hour usage and challenge myself to lower it more. It will be interesting to see if we can get through the summer with lower power bills than we saw last year. That's my goal.

Frugal Tool Kit (Part One)

Lately there has been a lot of emphasis on using coupons. Not just using them to save a little money, but in EXTREME ways. I must confess to being too wrapped up with couponing at one point in time. After becoming too focused on the next bargain, I began to widen my focus on other frugal efforts. Everyone needs to save more and spend less. Not long ago we finished a year of a significant salary cut. There are certain tools that we used to help us make it through. Coupons were actually only a very small part of that effort, and I wanted to share some ideas that others might find helpful too.



Stop thinking everything is disposable. Several years ago, before grocery shopping, I took a look at my list in order to see if there was anything that we didn't need. Paper towels and paper napkins stood out to me. I had to have these in the house, right? We have kids and pets for goodness sake. I began to look for alternatives. First, we became cloth napkin users. I found them on clearance, dug them out of my attic and made some myself. I never noticed any extra laundry because of them. They don't match and some aren't pretty but they do the job. Next we said goodbye to the paper towels. We use newspaper for windows, mirrors and really messy stuff. I chop up old t-shirts into squares to reuse. I purchased a big bag of shop type microfiber rags and have used them for years. Occasionally, if paper towels are free with a coupon, I will pick up a few rolls. Paper products are definitely scaled down to a minimum, and are certainly no longer a part of our budget.

Then I began to look at re-purposing other things that we would usually toss without thinking. My favorite "freebie" would be the plastic bags inside cereal boxes. For real. We open them a little carefully, rinse and dry them. They are used for storing leftover bits of this and that (secured with a clothespin). I cut them in squares and use them to separate portions of meat when freezing. They are great for tenderizing meat, or coating chicken with crushed corn flakes to make baked nuggets. I toss them if they are used with meat, but if they aren't we wash, allow to dry and reuse. They are pretty thick and durable actually. Free storage bags work for me.



We've started to look at everything to see if it has a second purpose. Plastic meat trays are great for painting. Small glass jars are snatched up for my husband in the garage. A valance hangs in our youngest daughter's room made from old clothes. Cutting up t-shirts into rags while you are watching a TV show with your kids doesn't take a whole lot from your day, but it translates into a nice little savings.



Tomorrow's post will be about the one thing that irritates the MOST to spend money on. Seriously.

House Party, HSN and me

Over the last three years, I've been blessed to host nine different House Party events. If you aren't familiar with House Party, they are a marketing company that puts new products and information in your hands to share with your friends. It's the opposite of the traditional home party, your friends leave with free items, coupons, etc. They always send you a little something to keep for yourself as the host too. If you haven't yet, please visit their site for yourself and see if there is a party that you'd like to apply to host. Don't be discouraged if you aren't chosen often, eventually you will be what they are looking for as a host.

A few weeks ago, I hosted another House Party event for Philadelphia Cooking Creme and GreenPan cookware. They sent another fun party pack filled with goodies for my guests, along with a GreenPan stainless skillet for me to use at my party and keep. I was really excited to have been chosen. An email came in asking if I would be willing to Skype with HSN and Chef Todd English during my upcoming event. I sent them a couple of photos of my kitchen, and thought that I could surely pop my computer open and Skype for a few minutes. House Party has been good to me over the years, it was the least I could do. Well, it ended up being a bit more. First there was an interview and then a rehearsal with HSN, both via Skype. They told me what not to wear and how to get everything ready. Where to put my laptop, and asked me to please not use the tablecloth I had used during the rehearsal. I had a little bit of nervousness and excitement. Excitement because I have two sisters that live in Oregon, and they'd get to watch and see our family and friends. When the producer arrived with her stack of release forms for my friends, it seemed real. My guests were caught up in the fun and recorded the show at home too. We were on the air off and on for an hour.


Before the excitement started, I made several pizzas with pre-made pizza crusts and the Philadelphia Cooking Creme so that my guests would have something to try before I cooked with HSN. Their favorite was one that I threw together. The easiest recipe ever:

1 pre-baked pizza crust (I used Mama Mary's)
1/2 c. Savory Garlic Philadelphia Cooking Creme
2 slices crumbled bacon
1/4 c. chopped spinach (frozen, thawed, drained and squeezed dry)
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Spread pizza crust with cooking creme, sprinkle with remaining ingredients and bake for about 10 minutes or until the shredded cheese melts.

I've used the skillet a lot since then and still love it. I like that it doesn't contain or release any harmful chemicals in it's non-stick finish. We've used the cooking creme since then too. I can see that it will help make my life a little easier once football season hits us. There is another House Party event that I've just applied for too. My friends and family are the best. I can't wait for another excuse to have them all over.

Local Strawberry Heaven!

We are blessed to live right down the road from the winter strawberry capital of the world, Plant City, FL. My husband grew up on these beautiful berries, and no matter where the USMC sent him, he could always tell if he was eating a Plant City berry. He knows the difference between a Sweet Charlie and a Camarosa strawberry. Whenever we go picking, the variety of berry is important to him. He never met a local strawberry that he didn't like, but because of his family's background in local agriculture, he likes to know. We love to watch the process of the planting and growing season, pray for the crops when the hard winter freezes hit and wait to see just how good the next strawberry season will be.

Last year saw an especially hard winter for our berry farmers, and a mix of conditions led to a market that wasn't particularly favorable for them. We saw an early U-Pick season, where many fields could be picked for free. We repeatedly harvested berries from a local field and paid a whopping quarter for each quart. By the end of last season we had picked over seventy quarts, freezing many berries for smoothies and shortcake. Then there was the jam. I'm not certain how many batches we made, but it was more than ever before in one season. My husband's sweet Granny taught me how to make jam (always one batch at a time) going on a dozen years ago. She could make something out of nothing, but jam is something she is famous for in the family. I'm so thankful for the blessing of learning from her.

This weekend, we've done just a little strawberry picking. Most have gone into the freezer, but we did make some strawberry milkshakes and a new recipe. Last night I tried my hand at baking a strawberry quick bread. I couldn't find a recipe that made sense to me, so this is the one that I came up with. Surprisingly, it came out nicely.




Strawberry Bread
4 c. fresh strawberries, sliced and some slightly mashed
4 eggs
¼ c. olive oil (traditional, NOT extra virgin)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. sugar, divided
3 ½ c. all purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans. In a medium bowl, stir together strawberries, eggs, oil, vanilla and ½ c. of the sugar. Stir until the eggs are completely combined. In a large bowl add all dry ingredients (including remaining 1 ½ c. sugar). Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly. Stir strawberry mixture into dry ingredients, just until combined. Divide batter between greased loaf pans. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until crust turns golden brown and passes the toothpick test. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

If you try this yourself, please don't be scared if you check the bread while it's baking and it's a scary grayish color. By the time it's done, it's nice and pretty brown. Trust me.

Wearing of the GREEN!

Being of primarily Polish descent, I lived my life without giving St. Patrick's Day much thought. Until my bright boy turned five and decided that he was very Irish (which he is actually just a little bit). I took him to a local St. Patrick's Day celebration and parade, which took place on the Saturday before the holiday. Three days later, he awakened to a new green striped shirt for him to wear to school (no one would be pinching my boy) with great disappointment. "Where are the decorations, where is my celebration?" He was really sad that I skipped over his holiday. That's where it started. The next year, after he went to bed, I decorated everything that wasn't moving. He even found green water in the toilet that morning. I had watched for sales and purchased every over-the-top Irish looking decoration that I could find. He was thrilled. I was too. This was fun.

So that's where it started. Over the years, we've had huge parties and small parties with green bread and corned beef. I've bought Irish butter, Irish cheese and shamrock shaped everything. This holiday has become a part of us. I'm still not Irish, that I know of (there's a story there), but have come to enjoy the celebration. These are a couple of photos of my smiling boy when he was still small and some of our more subdued decorations. The explosion of green won't happen until the big day.

Shower fun

One of my dearest friend's daughter is getting married in a couple of weeks so I helped give her a bridal shower. It ended up being a lot of fun, and my first attempt at a mini candy buffet. I ordered tiny little polka dotted organza bags for guests to take a treat home with them. Extra long handled espresso scoops were great for scooping candy out of assorted glass jars. I've seen photos of beautiful, monochromatic candy displays, but decided that because this was a more casual events, that a classic combination of different candies would be fun. I used glass jars that I had already, jars from friends and even from a thrift store. Candy was purchased online and using really good coupons in different stores. Having a variety of different types of jars of different height made the display more interesting. Notice there were no lids on the jars, just in case anyone else is as klutzy as me, I didn't use them. The tags on each jar were printed on my computer and hot glued to ribbon. Putting the table together was SO much fun and the big smile on the bride's face when she saw the finished result was the best part. Be on the look out for more candy tables in the future.