Artichokes...

Cooked Artichokes

Artichokepg19:  The bud of a plant from the thistle family; (that's a funny word, thistle)  has gray-green petal shaped leaves with soft flesh that can be dipped in a sauce, and an inedible choke cloaking the tender center (heart) that's considered the prize of the artichoke.

My husband Shawn actually introduced me to whole artichokes when we first met.  It was one the first things he ever cooked for me.  I remember when he first made them I'm pretty sure I looked at him like he was crazy.  I think I look at him like that most of the time anyway.  Ha ha.  But I was like, "You want me to eat what?  The leaves?  For real?"  It was obviously a California thing (FYI, he's from California).  So I was surprised to even see them in the Southern Living cookbook.  He cooks them a totally different way then this cookbook says, and his way works really well, it's a little messy of course.  Everything he does in the kitchen is messy.  Delicious, but MESSY!  Aaaaanyway....You boil them in a pot large enough to cover them with water and add a little lemon juice to keep them from browning.  Is this really necessary?  Shawn's never get brown.  He also steams them in the microwave.  Be careful when you take them out.  They are extremely steaming and hot.  You might just give yourself an artichoke facial!  (There's a new one boss lady!  Ha ha!)  So eating them is the fun part!  Shawn wasn't home when I ate mine, so it wasn't as fun. :-(   You pull off the leaves, dip the bottom in a sauce (Shawn always uses butter and mayo.  I know it sounds icky, but it's not, I promise) and then scrape off the flesh with your teeth.  OK, now that I'm hearing myself say that, it sounds a little carnage like.  Hmmm, I don't know how else to describe it though.  Now I haven't quite mastered the art of getting the heart out of the bottom.  I butchered it to be frank.  (Again with the carnage, I must be low on iron or something.  Sheesh).  There's a fuzzy part of the choke that your supposed to cut out.  You really don't want to eat that part, trust me, it's gross!  But I can never cut it out for some stupid reason.  Shawn usually does that for me, and well, I just didn't have him at me disposal this time. So I put my big girl panties on and gave it a go...and...fail.  No artichoke heart for me.  Oh well.  Better luck next time.

Southernism:  A Carolina favorite, "hearty chokes" were popular from 1811 and were cheap enough in those days that only the bottoms were used, never the leaves.  

It's Kinda Like Crack...

Puppy Chow!

...Not that I've ever had crack before, but this stuff is uber addicting!  It's called Puppy Chow, and no, it's not for dogs.  They cannot and certainly should not eat it.  I've been contemplating on changing the name because every time I tell someone what it is, their response is, "like dog food?" and then proceed to wrinkle their nose in disgust, or something  along those lines.  But then, it just wouldn't be the same.  It wouldn't stick even if I did change the name of it.  It's been that for so long.  This recipe is not in the Southern Living cookbook, but in lieu of the upcoming holidays, I made like 3 freaking batches of it and thought it worthy of blogging about.  I had to do one batch at a time because I didn't have a bowl big enough for it all.  I made a big mess too.  I had to wipe down the counters like 6 times!!!  Puppy Chow has been a long time holiday tradition in my family. More like a staple.  Every year someone asks, "Where's the Puppy Chow?"  Momzy taught me how to make this long before she let me start baking.  I mean seriously, I was probably like 3.  When I was little she started me a cookbook, which was only a spiral notebook mind you, but it was still mine.  She had me write down all the recipes we made together and ones to try too.  I still have it to this day!  And Puppy Chow is one of the first recipes in it.  It's the only place I have the recipe written down.  Because it's Christmas and I feel all cheery and giving, I thought I would share it with all of you.  However...I have made a few changes over the years as I have become more adventurous in my baking and candy making, not that I've ever been a chocolatier or anything, but I'm giving you the recipe as is, and fill in where I've made substitutions and additions.  So Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Ho Ho Ho!!!

The original recipe

 Puppy Chow
1 18oz box Honey Grahm Cereal
1 15oz box Golden raisins (I substitute pretzel rods chopped into 1/4in pieces)
1 12oz can mixed nuts
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 12oz jar chunky peanut butter
1 tsp Vanilla
1 lb bag confectioners sugar
1 stick margarine (butter makes it too greasy, trust me on this)
*this year I added cinnamon almonds yum!

In a very large bowl (the biggest one you can find) combine cereal, raisins, and nuts (and pretzels).  In medium sauce pan, melt together chocolate chips, peanut butter, and margarine.  Stir in vanilla and pour over cereal mixture.  Put confectioners sugar in a large, unscented kitchen garbage bag.  Add the mixture, twisting the top closed, and shake up until all is coated. (Use hands for most of the mixing to separate all the pieces).  After mixed, even out into pans to cool completely.  Store in airtight container.  *side note:  store in individual serving sizes so you don't accidentally eat the entire batch all at once.  Don't say I didn't warn you!  :-)

My house smelled like Christmas!

OK so early last week I made some Apple Butter!  I made two different batches.  One from the book, and the other, one of my personal recipes.  I altered the one in the book mainly because of one particular food natzi in my family, well she's more like a sugar natzi, who will remain nameless.  But you know who are.  Ha ha!  So I will blog about that one.  

Oven Baked Apple Butterpg18  In my recipe, I cook mine in slow cooker.  This one, however is baked, which worked pretty well, except for the fact I felt like I had to keep adding liquid to the baking dish.  I feel if I had just left it in the dutch oven I cooked the apples down in, with the lid on, it wouldn't dry out as much.  The only thing I changed in this recipe is I switched out the sugar for Spenda.  It tasted pretty good if you don't mind artificial sweetener.  I did noticed the color of the butter wasn't as dark as I would think it would be had I used the real deal.  Notice the difference in the two jars in the picture?  The one on the right is full of sinful, delicious sugar, and the one on the left is the more figure friendly imposture version.  Both so deliscious, I decided to can them and give them as gifts this year for Christmas.  Oh, and BTW, apple butter is best when served on hot, fresh out the oven biscuits!  Yummy!!!
Canning:pg82  Preserving food by heating jars of food hot enough and long enough, and, with some of food, under enough pressure to keep food from spoiling.                        

I made a big mess in the kitchen

I swear, I hate dredging!!!  I always end up with a counter covered in flour, not mention I'm covered in flour!  I even got a little in my hair.  Ewe.  OK, so tonight's menu...Classic Trout Amandinepg13 (um, OK, first Publix did not have any trout, fresh or frozen for that matter, so I went with tilapia instead) so, I guess really it was Classic Tilapia Amandine which I served with steamed green beans and for dessert, Granny Smith Apple Piepg17

Tilapia Amandine

Amandine (AH mahn deen)  A French term for a dish garnished with Almonds.pg12  Let me start off by saying this dish was pretty tasty.  The fish was amazing, flaky and light and great flavor.  It was lightly dredged in flour and pan fried.  Hence the mess I made in the kitchen.  You would have thought I had got in a fight with the Pillsbury dough boy!  However the sauce, although good, called for 2 sticks of butter!!!  2 Sticks!!!  It's like Paula Dean wrote this recipe and just added an extra stick just because she wanted to.  It was so incredibly rich, that I almost didn't even try the apple pie.  (yeah, right, who are we kidding).  I think I may have browned the butter a little too much anyway.  I will definitely be modifying this recipe.  It certainly doesn't need that much butter.  Really only enough to toast the almonds.

Granny Smith Apple Pie

I think I may have heard little birds sing when I took a bite out of this pie.  OMG  I mean really!  It didn't come out looking like a blue ribbon prize winner but it seriously taste amazing!  Not to shake my own little wooden spoon or anything, but I think this pie here might give my sister-in-law, Jenn's apple pie a run for it's money.  (BTW, she makes a bomb ass apple pie).  The only thing that would make this any tastier is a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
A La Mode (ah la MOHD)  A French term that has been "Americanized" to mean pie topped with ice cream.pg10   Those French are so smart.

  

On my day off...11/29/11.

So yesterday you could have just called me little miss Susie homemaker.  Not only did I make a few things but I also started decorating for Christmas.  My poor little Christmas tree looks a little like Charlie Brown's, but it will have to do, for now anyway.

Something that made me laugh yesterday...Apparently my husband thinks that this cooking endeavour is solely for his enjoyment.  Which in part, he does benefit from.  He is technically my official taster. When I told him I was making a Lemon Angel Cake his response was, "Why are you baking a cake?  You know I don't like cake."  First of all, I don't understand not liking cake.  I mean, really, I don't get it, but whatever, they are in fact his taste buds.  I suppose taste buds are entitled to their own.  And second, he was extremely sincere when he said it.  No smile on his face whatsoever.  Needless to say, he didn't try the cake.

Lemon Angel Cake

Lemon Angel Cakepg15I'm not really sure what went wrong, all I know is wasn't quite right.  It came out kinda, well spongy.  So if you don't know how it's made, it only uses egg whites, not the yolks, that's what makes it so incredibly light and fluffy.  But my cake was not light and fluffy.  And I had a really hard time getting it out of the bunt pan.  The directions said "Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until golden.  Invert pan onto rack; cool completely."  Well mine became "golden" at about  28 minutes.  So I went ahead and took it out, and I let it cool all the way but then the stupid thing wouldn't come out of the pan.  I mean, I was shaking the crap out of it like a crazy person and it wouldn't let loose at all.  So finally I took a knife to the edges and got it out.  Once I finally got it out it looked, well we'll just say it looked "rustic."  So this is definitely a do-over recipe.  Oopsy, my bad.  Turns out it's a good thing my husband doesn't like cake.  I would have hated to disappoint him.  Ha ha.  Which brings  me onto something else he doesn't like...

Ambrosia

 Ambrosiapg13This is a fruit salad made of oranges, pineapple, and coconut, and topped with whipped cream, minus the maraschino cherry, because I don't like them.  They stuck in my teeth and that's just gross.  I thought this was delicious and it's already almost all gone.  I snacked on it all day yesterday and had it for breakfast this morning.  I told Shawn (my husband) he had to try it, even though he doesn't like oranges or coconut for that matter.  His feedback?  "The whipped cream is pretty good!"  Well half of it was a winner with him.  He's such a trooper.  But in reality he probably only tasted the whipped cream and didn't even touch the other stuff.  Either way, he didn't completely poo poo it like the cake.  

I also made for the first time in my entire life (Do you like how I make myself sound oh so wise by saying "my entire life" like I've been around forever and know everything?) Creme Brulee.  I had all those egg yolks left over from the Angel Cake that I didn't want to waste  (it takes 7 egg yolks if you wondering) so I skipped to page 150 of the cookbook to make this oh so amazing creamy wonderfulness of a treat.  My mouth is literally watering thinking about it.  However I haven't taken any pictures of it yet and I'm way too tired to write about it tonight.  Plus it'll give me something to do tomorrow.  :-)  And besides, the jury is still out on how they were.  The jury being my husband.  There's no way he couldn't like it!

First official entry...

Grilled Acorn Squash with Rosemary

OK, so for my first EVER (I capitalize because I'm seriously that excited) adventure in what already appears to be quite the learning experience, I made Grilled Acorn Squash with Rosemarypg10 , which is the very first recipe in the book. Along with that I made Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Molasses Saucepg516.   Err...well it was actually more like pork loin chops.  I obviously misread the ingredient list before I went to the store today. (*Note to self:  Double check ingredient list before going to the store.)  So I made do with what I had because I sooo did not want to drive the very few miles back to Harvey's.  Oh, and I also want to mention that I may end up actually whipping up these concoctions  slightly out of the order they are printed in the book because, well I want to.  I'm gonna try to put two or more things with each other in a meal so I knock more of them out quicker...efficiency.  Where was I?  Oh, the the food, duh.  OK, the Grilled Acorn Squash with Rosemary.  The only way I ever made squash was roasted in the oven, so needles to say that grilling it was something new for me.  First off, let me tell you, it takes some serious muscle to slice through those little babies, and make sure you have an super sharp knife.  The directions didn't say to take the seed out, but I did anyway, because that would just be weird, and probably slimy.  Then I marinated the slices in oil, vinegar and rosemary.  Easy enough.  Grilling took a long time on my little pan.  Next time I'll use the actual grill (that's usually my husbands domain).  So, the taste?  OK I guess.  I'm not sure it's something I would cook often, but I'd make it again.  The texture was nice and leaving the skin on seemed to be fine.  It wasn't rubbery like I had expected.  There was the savoriness of the the squash and the sweetness from the rosemary that made for a really nice pairing, like they were BFF's.

Grill Pork Tenderloin(chop) with Molasses Sauce

And as for the Pork Tenderloin.  Mmm...it was good.  I could only imagine that it would be better as a whole tenderloin and not a chop (being that's what the recipe called for in the first place).  The molasses sauce was really good, although I think I might have reduced it a little too much, it was more like a gravy, but nevertheless a good gravy.  This was the first time in my entire life I didn't over cook the pork.  Pork is not my strong suite. It usually comes out really chewy and icky, and I end up feeding it to the dogs, but not this time!  It was good.  Again, I probably won't make it a whole lot.  Oooh, it would be great in a panini tho, with some pepper jack cheese and arugula.  Can you say lunch tomorrow?  Holla!

And so it begins...

So the other day I was looking for a recipe for beef stew.  I get sooo flipping tired of making the same recipes over and over and...well you get the point.  I go to my bakers rack and pull out a cookbook my Aunt Joan gave me last Christmas, "Secrets from the Southern Living Test Kitchens" and start thumbing through it.  In our family Joan is the "resindent executive chef."  I'm sure every family has one, Joan is ours and she is fabulous like that!  If you have a question about anything related to cooking and how to prepare things, she usually has the answer.  Now I've made one or two recipes from this book before, however I couldn't tell you what they were.  I started to discover how awesome this cookbook really is and how much I didn't already know about food.  Now I've been baking and cooking before I could even reach the kitchen counter.  My Grandmother, or better known as "Momzy" started teaching me family recipes at a very early age.  I believe Sweet Potato Pie was one of the very first things we made together.  My fondest memories are those in the kitchen with my mother, Momzy and Joan.  So in honor of the three most influential woman in my life, I am going to start my own test kitchen and work my way from A-Z of the this cookbook.  Hopefully by the end of this journey I may be able to teach them a thing or two.  Oh and as for the Beef Stew...oddly enough, there wasn't a recipe for that.  So I just used a good 'ol tried and true recipe I had, and of course, it was delicious!