Thanksgiving Snack-A-Roo

Ok so everyone is always hungry while the cooking is going on so I made some boiled peanuts for everyone to snack on while the cooking missions were being completed. Light, yet a family favorite and everyone we still hungry!

couple lbs of green peanuts

good 1/4 cup of salt

boil peanuts on high heat w/ a lid for about 2 hours

taste to see if they are soft enough and/or salty enough. If not boil longer and/or add salt

transfer to crock pot to keep warm.

enjoy!

Told ya they were easy!

Thanksgiving- Deviled Eggs

I make my Deviled Eggs like my momma taught
me to make them. Im not sure of the exact measurements....as always!

9 hard boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayo (add more if too dry)
1 tsp of mustard
dash of celery seed
dash of garlic
2 tbs dill relish
salt and pepper to taste

Peel cooled hard boiled eggs, split in half and put yoke in a separate bowl

Combine the remaining ingredients in the yoke bowl and mash well. Taste and see if it needs more seasoning. If dry add more mayo because im not sure exactly how much I used and I made these a few days ago and can't remember exactly.

Spoon about a teaspoon into the egg white and refrigerate until serving. So yummy!

Thanksgiving-The Bird

Okay, so this was my first T-day that I hosted at my house and I made the turkey. I had been talking to a friend earlier that day and she asked if I knew what I was doing. I (rather arrogantly) responded how hard could it be? have u seen some of the bozo's that make turkey?


Meet: The Bird. We'll call him Rosco. Why Rosco...idk it just happened.

So this is the point that my arrogance has turned into complete and utter frustration and I realize.....I have no clue what to do w/ Rosco. He was still a touch frozen and I was able to get the giblets bad out, but there was something in his butt which I couldn't get out. So I resorted to my AR friends and they said to put it in water. So an hour later hes almost ready and I attempt again to get the stuff out of his butt. So I tug and tug and finally pull out this well...thing! The neck! Im still having flash backs from that one! So I decided I was going to brine it. Well teeny tiny problem......I don't have a big enough pot so that was out. I decided to put Rosco back in the fridge to sleep off the humiliation of having his butt probed and I'd deal w/ him in the morning.

So the next morning I made some herb butter using garlic, salt, pepper, sage, and some other various spices in my pantry. I forgot to mention that I also stuffed his butt w/ onion, celery, carrots, 2 bay leaves, salt and pepper. And I realized, tonight while w/ some friends that I never removed the bay leaf from inside his butt. But, I didn't geat anything out of the butt so I guess we're good huh?



I rubbed the butter mixture under the skin and all over Rosco. I put him in my pan breast side down and cooked him for a few hours. Then I flipped him and browned the skin on the breast. Rosco was a tasty bird!! My first turkey was a success! See!

Curry Grilled Chicken

Curry Grilled Chicken

This is a recipe that I "rescued" from my Recipe box on AR. This recipe is DELICIOUS!! This recipe tastes like you just stepped out of a Thai Restaurant. Im not a big curry fan, so don't let that stop you from trying this recipe because it is on my fav list now! You can find this recipe at Allrecipes.com


INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup (FYI i was out of ketchup once and used BBQ..tasted the same)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika (I like cayenne instead)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (use more..about 1-2 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 (4 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

DIRECTIONS
In a blender, combine the first 10 ingredients; cover and process until blended. Pour into a large resealable plastic bag or shallow glass container; add the chicken. Seal or cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Drain and discard marinade. Grill the chicken, covered, over medium heat for 6 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. (I put mine on kabob-o's...obviously!)

So w/ the Curry Grilled Chicken I made some fried rice. I, of course, did not measure so Im just guessing on this one. But the rice was good actually.

2 cups of cooked rice

2 TBS oil

1 tbs soy sauce

garlic

cayenne pepper (to taste)

curry (1/2 tsp)

2 eggs

salt

pepper

Directions:

heat oil on med high and add eggs, scramble

when eggs are done push to one side an add rice and remaining ingredients and fry for about 5 minutes or until the rice is a little brown.

taste and add more or less spices.

Tailgating Continuted

Ok so my Buffalo Chicken Dip was mauled before I was able to snap a picture of it. This is a recipe from AR but I don't follow the directions completely.

1 real chix ta-ta, boiled and shredded

1 package of cream cheese

1/2 cup of Ranch

1 TBS of Hot sauce (maybe more)

Dashes of Cayenne Pepper

half bag of cheese, whatever you like

Directions:

Spread cream cheese in the bottom of an oven (and microwave safe) pan

Sprinkle w/ cayenne pepper

Mix chicken, ranch, and hot sauce and spread on top of cream cheese

Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for about 20-30 mins at 350

And, since u have it in a microwave safe dish...if it gets cold u can pop it in the nuker! smart huh!?!

U can also dump all this in the crock pot and heat that way, which is what I will probably do next time, but we didn't have any way to plug in a crock pot so I didn't

I also made pigletts in a blanket, but forgot to take a picture of it...I know..im mad about it too. I mean, it was really a difficult specialty.

1 package of little smokie sausages

1 package of grands biscuits

Tear pieces of the biscuit and wrap around the baby sausage

Bake per package directions and eat umm.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

So for this evenings dinner we had what I usually call: "You know baby, the chicken creamy pasta stuff" but I figured for my blog I could fancy it up a bit. Anyways heres how ya make the dang stuff.

3 chix ta-tas

Dashes of garlic powder

Dashes of Cayenne

2 strips of bacon

2 TBS butter

1 16oz container of Sour Cream

1 can of Cream of Chix

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp italian seasoning

1 tsp parsley

1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 cup parm cheese

Oh yea, and some pasta would be good. bout a box or so

Directions:

Cut bacon into small pieces and throw in a pan and heat until brown

Cut chix into chunks and sprinkle w/ garlic and cayenne

Once bacon is done, turn down heat, add butter and chicken cook for about 2 min on each side

Throw the rest of the stuff in except the parm cheese

Towards the end toss on some parm cheese. If you want to. ur call.

Spoon it over cooked pasta. Whatever you like. Today we had thin spaghetti, but usually, thats now how we roll. We like bow tie or rotini. Stuff with cool shapes. But I was kinda in the mood for the stringy stuff and I was cooking so I did what I wanted.

I also made some bread which doesn't look like much, but it was soo good.

Garlic Bread:

2 hot dog buns split in half

1 tbs of butter

1/4 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp parsley

4 TBS parm cheese

Preheat to 350

Heat butter, garlic and parsley in the microwave until butter is melted

Brush hot dog buns w/ the butter mixture

Spoon a TBS of parm cheese over each bun and bake for about 15 mins or until toasted

Up Next!

Tailgating!! Soon to appear in a blog near you!

So somehow Christopher caught me vulnerable one day and talked me into buying Season Tickets to the Jags games. But Im a Giants Fan!! Oh well. Since we live here I figured it wouldn't kill me to buy a $10 T-shirt and tailgate every week. Afterall...I love sitting outside in my folding chairs and having an excuse to make snack food. Why not right?

Brownies:

1 box of regular brownies, whatever you like, and follow the directions on the back of the box

Once ur bownie mix is ready add an entire back of cream cheese and mix well. It may be slightly clumpy

You may have to bake it a bit longer than usual. Just do the tooth pick test and u'll get it, no worries.

Ok, so I have learned that brownies bake sooo much nicer in glass pans. Maybe I'm making this up, but they always come out soo much nicer for me in a glass pan.

Sweet Potato Casserole.....kinda

So I love sweet potatoes, but I am extremely picky about how they are cooked. I am teetering w/ a recipe from what I have viewed from other recipes on AR. This is what I came up with.

1 really really big sweet potato

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1 tbs cinnamon

1/2 stick of butter

wash and wrap SP in foil and bake for...IDK....and hour and a half at 350. (I got impatient and upped it to 400 after an hour.

unwrap SP and peel. Smash SP w/ sugar, cinnamon and butter.

Top w/ a sprinkle more of cinnamon and brown sugar and bake for about 20 more mins at 350.

This was good, however, it was not very thick and it was a touch on the sweet side. Next time I think I'll add an egg and maybe some heavy cream to the mix. Also, I may skip the brown sugar and cinnamon top. It was alright.

Anita's Meal, Part 5

The last and final part of this meal excursion was dessert. Which just happen to be Anita's brownie recipe which can be found on GroupRecipes.com.

I am unable at this time to complete this 'mission' due to my inability to find one of the key ingredients. I will continue my search for the missing piece and get back to you on this one.

Until next time.........

Anita's Meal, Part 4

The meat part of my meal was Allrecipes Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork, which can be found on their website.

1 2lb pork tenderloin

1 can of cranberry sauce

1/3 cup of french dressing

1 onion, chopped

combine the cranberry sauce, french dressing and onion in crock pot and mix

place pork tenderloin on top and swish the sauce on top. Make sure its covered well.

I cooked it on slow for 3 hours and on high for another 2 because we were ready to eat!

The meat turned out tender as could be, next time I could double the cranberry sauce and french dress, but cup back to maybe 1/2 an onion. My meat was soo juicy I think it diluted the sauce too much so I couldn't taste the flavor of it well. The meat was good anyways tho. Christopher also rated this a 5!

Anita's Meal, Part 3

OMG, these were the best cotton pickin taters I have ever touched to my lips. Heavenly if you will!!! This is also a Pioneer Woman Recipe. Her recipe calls for 5 lbs of taters, but Christopher and I would have taken quiet a while to eat 5 lbs of taters. My listed recipe is downsized. You can see her original recipe on her website.

5 yellow potatoes washed, peeled, cubed (mine were pretty big)

1/2 pack of cream cheese

1/2 stick of butter (ok, so there may have been more butter)

about 1/2 cup milk (PW calls for half and half)

2 heads of roasted garlic (see Roasted Garlic Post)

salt

pepper

boil taters until tender

add cream cheese, butter, milk, roasted garlic, salt and pepper and mash the hell out of umm! I am not joking when I say these are the best mashed potatoes you will ever eat. I mean, they are good enough for u to run to Walmart, this instant, and start making these. I don't care if it 12am...get ur badonkadonk to the sto!

I hope u guys try this and love it! Oh, and Christopher gave this a 5!!!!!!!

Oh, and "Don't Try Her" on this one......

Anita's Meal, Part 2

Roasted Garlic

I have never roasted my own garlic before, but it was soo easy and SOOOO worth it. I don't know if I will ever be able to use garlic regularly again. This is a Pioneer Woman Recipe that you can find on her site, but if u want a quick break down....well here you go!

2 whole heads of garlic

1-2 tbs olive oil

salt

pepper

cut the top off the garlic heads just enough to expose all the cloves. Place the cut side up in a greased pie pan (just sprinkle a bit of the olive oil)

drizzle oil olive over all the little garlic pods (U like that? Pods..hehe) to keep them from burning

sprinkle w/ salt and pepper

cover tightly w/ foil and bake on 375 degrees for 1 hour. (PW says for 40 mins, but that wasn't long enough for me)

Anita's Meal, Part 1

So Anita aka Chicago Cookie and I decided to pick out meals for each other to try this past weekend. I will do this in parts as it may take me a few days to get it all posted. However, you can expected the following:

Anita's bang bang green beans (I gve them that name for her)

Roasted Garlic-PW site

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes- PW site

Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork- Allrecipes.com

Anita's Brownies

Anita's Bang Bang Green Beans

Fresh Green Beans

Butter

Bread Crumbs

Boil GB's until tender

Toss w/ butter and bread crumbs

Yep, that is the EXACT recipe and instructions I got from her. Shocked? Don't be, its Anita. Well she said I'd just know and I did. Since Im the only GB eater in the house I decided to only make enough for me. I used about 1 cup of green beans, 2 TBS butter, and about a palm full of bread crumbs....soo 1/4 cup.

I really liked this recipe. It was a nice twist on such a simple recipe. Bravo Anita!

Toffee Almond Bars

I love love love the Toffee Almond Bars at Starbucks. So my friend and I found a recipe online that is very similar. It was Perfect the first time I made it, but somehow I cannot make it as good as the first time. We made these a while ago, but Im just getting to post the recipe.


1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup (6-ounce package) NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup (6-ounce package) White chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped toffee candy such as Almond Rocca (I used heath bars)

Instructions
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 9-inch-square baking pan.COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and chopped toffee. Spread into prepared baking pan.BAKE for 20 to 23 minutes. Remove pan to wire rack. Cool completely in pan on wire rack; refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes or until chocolate is set. Cut into bars.

Breakfast Bowl...for dinner

This is a simple and easy breakfast or dinner that I make for us sometimes. Christopher really enjoys it and it doesn't take very long to make.

For Grits:
3/4 cup of grits
3 cups water
few good dashes of salt
1 cup (more or less for ur taste) cheese
2 TBS butter
pepper

combine grits, water and salt and bring to a boil. Once boiled turn heat down and let simmer until thick. Add cheese, butter, pepper and more salt if needed

Sausage: I buy the frozen sausage from walmart. Maple flavored. Heat in a pan for about 3-5 minutes per side. (I make 4 pieces for the two of us)

Eggs: Do I have to explain scrambled eggs? ok I will

2 eggs
2 TBS water
1TBS butter
salt & pepper

whisk eggs and water in a bowl
melt butter in a small skillet
add egg and well...scamble
add salt and pepper towards the end.

To Assemble:

Scoop generous amount of cheese grits into the bottom of a bowl. Top w/ 2 pieces of sausage and half eggs. This will make 2 breakfast bowls.

I sometimes change it up and use bacon, biscuits, etc. etc. Very yummy!

Banana Puddin

I made this for my brother and Christopher the other day when he visited. He ate and but didn't say if he liked it or not. But Christopher rated it a 5...I think. Its not the traditional Banana Puddin my momma used to make, but its pretty close.

1 big box of vanilla pudding

2 1/2 cups of milk

1 8oz package of cream cheese

3 good sized bananas sliced into coins

1 box of Nilla Waffers

Sit cream cheese out for a few minutes to get soft and cut into 8 pieces

mix pudding with milk and blend until it starts to thicken. Add cream cheese and beat until smooth.

In a medium sized bowl layer Nilla Wafers, bananas, and pudding mixture. I like to layer it about three times. Last layer should be nilla wafers.

Tony

This is Tony. Christopher gave him to me for my birthday. He his perched nicely so that he can see everything that goes down in my kitchen. After a bottle of wine he starts giving out orders...hes only bossy when Im drinking.... :)

My Brother Visited

So my big brother came over last night for dinner and to force me to look at wedding stuff. And then I made him help me hang this art stuff I have that he gave me...that was a pain in the ace to hang!

For Dinner we had:

Curry Grilled Chicken (From AR w/ modifications)

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (Recipe called for paprika, but I didn't have any and I like it spicy)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 (4 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves Cut into chunks

Combine all ingredients and let marinade overnight.

Thread onto Skewers and grill until no longer pink.

****OMG this was soo good. Taste like u just stepped out of a Thai Restaurant. My brother and Fiance loved this!

I also made Beef or Chicken Marinade from AR

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 green onions, chopped (I omit this)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper


DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix soy sauce, honey, distilled white vinegar, garlic powder, ground ginger, vegetable oil, green onions and black pepper. Place desired meat in marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 4 hours before grilling.

****This used to be my fav until I had the Curry Grilled one. I let this marinade for 2 days once and the chicken was soo good it make you wanna slap your momma!

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

I got this recipe from my Taste of Home Cookbook. This is not my original recipe and believe it or not I did not alter it. (ONly cuz im not a baker)

1 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Filling
1/2 cup creamy PB
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
5-6 tbs milk (I had to use a little more)

in a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, PB and sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture

Shape into 1 inch balls and place 2 in apart on ungreased baking sheets (I greased mine). flatten to 3/8 in thickness w/ a fork. Bake 375 for 7-8 mins (took me about 10-12) remove to wire racks and cool.

Filling: In a large mixing bowl beat the PB, confectioners sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Spread on half of the cookies and top w. another.


***I put the filling in a sandwich bag and pipped it onto the cookies. These were pretty goood. I made them for my neighbors birthday.

Also for this party I made some Bean Dip. A friend of mine in High School taught me how to make this. I have altered it slightly, but the basic recipe is the same deal. We used to eat this about once a week (at least) in art class w/ Mr. B. He was an odd duck!

1 package of cream cheese
1 can hormel chili w/ beans
1 bag of taco (or just cheddar) cheese
Dash of Cayenne
Dash of hot sauce (more of less of those last to...whatever u like)

You can either:

A. Layer cream cheese then chili (add ur dashes here) then cheese on top and bake for about 20 mins at 350. OR

B. Thrown all of it in a pot and heat until melted well. OR

C. Do B and throw it in the crock pot.

It all taste the same to me I think.

Chix Teriyaki

Ok so at first I thought I flopped this recipe until Sunnybyrd suggested I add some brown sugar. Why didn't I think of that. Anyways it was delicious when I added the sugar

2 chicken breast cut into chunks
2 TBS veg oil
2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup of Lowry's Teriyaki Sauce
8 oz can of pineapple chunks w/ juice
1 TBS soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger (would do more next time)
2 TBS brown sugar

11/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 cup water

Heat Oil and add chicken, sprinkle w/ garlic until no long pink (I put a lid on the pan so its not sooo tough)

add teriyaki sauce, pineapple juice and chunks, soy sauce, ginger, and brown sugar and let simmer.

Mix corn starch and water in a small bowl and add to the sauce, let simmer some more.

Serve over steamed rice.

I thought it was really good.

Catch UP

So I've been a little busy lately, but I've been having fun!

We have had a few little cookouts lately. We went on the boat and I made some delicious brownies to take w/ us. My friends all enjoyed them. I used a regular brownie cake mix and topped it w/ cream cheese. A little gooey for my taste, but still yumo. Anita gave me that suggestion.

My neighbor helped me prep the bubba burgers we grilled. She put worstershire sauce, garlic, onion powder, montreal seasoning, and pepper on them. Grilled delicious.

Monday night we were having a small dinner party of 4 which turned into 12. So I grilled some more burgers and hot dog, made the best baked beans ever (recipe to follow), left over pasta sald my friend makes (which is to die for...recipe at a later date when i make it myself) and some tater tots for the kids.

Baked Beans:
1 big can of Bush's Original Beans
2 good TBS of kraft teriyaki ginger bbq sauce
5 TBS brown sugar

Combine and simmer on low for about 30 mins.

I also made some of MY Feta Stuffed Mushrooms (the MY is a joke for the AR people hehe)