2nd down

Well, I guess I'll be trying this blogging thing again.  So here it goes....I've recently met foodgawker, pinterest and yummly through my son.  I've stalk those sights constantly!!!   I keep waiting for my notice of restraining order!!  Yes it is that bad.  I've decided that I will make some of theses recipes and document how they turn out.   If I don't like an ingredient or do not have a particular ingredient I substitute, without hesitation.  So it is not always a bad recipe, the majority of time it is a bad follower.  I will note if I've changed something so you can be the judge of the mishap. 


This past week, I've decided that I'm going to try and learn to bake bread.  Since I fail at so many other attempts at cooking, there has to be something I can cook that everyone demands besides my spinach dip and my cream cheese pound cake.  There has to be.......


So off I went in search of an artisan bread recipe, hubs idea.  Of course, careful planner that I am, (not);  I did not have unbleached flour, but I had already thrown the yeast into the warm water.  So I used...gasp....bleached flour.  Failsafe if it doesn't work, right???

I used a recipe from www.somewhatsimple.com/quick-easy-crusty-artisan-bread/.  It was quick and easy and I decided at noon that I wanted to bake bread today. So between this and the other recipes that required 18 hours of rise time, this was the winner.    I decided that I didn't want to make two loaves so I halved the recipe. 

It was very simple to mix, but I struggled greatly with plopping it out on a pizza peel, whatever that is;  a quick google to Williams-Sonoma taught me what it is,  and that I don't have one.  So I used a plate..  Then about 10 minutes in decided it was getting a little too flat and put it back in the bowl I used for mixing.  I added olive oil, I don't know why, but it seemed the right thing to do.    Started the oven to heat my stone and then placed by blob of dough on it.   Note, putting it back into the bowl didn't help it rise.   I peeked through the door about 15 minutes in and holy cow.....It was now tall.   I just took it out. The house smells lovely and the outside of the bread is cripsy.   However, the inside is nice and soft.  The bread looks like it lost a major battle.  It is wider on one end than the other and has various lumps and bumps throughout.  But it isn't bad.  I'm now making a dipping sauce with olive oil and scilian seasons to dip my bread in.  I will later serve this with steak and green beans.  I am pleased with my attempt.  This is edible, a little bland but the dipping oil will help with that.  I may try a rosemary loaf next.   I am going to try one of the 18 hour rises next. Yep, feeling a little cocky since this is actually edible. 


Next time I won't half the recipe and I will let it rise on the plate instead of back to the bowl, I think that was my mistake.  I would up fighting with it a little in order to make it into a ball and I think I probably over kneaded it, since it is a no knead recipe.  All in all, I think it was the bleached flour that made it not as great as the raves from the site I used. 


My noles are off this weekend and I hope they are resting up for the Tigers next weekend.  It is a honor game for me, since 2 of my hubs cousins graduated from Clemson.  This has been an exciting season so far. 


GO NOLES!!

Nole House

Cooking trials

Now for what i've made for February...

Super Quick Chilil - didn't care for it...the taste was okay. We like ours with more kick and I think it's best to put it a crock pot or cook a lot longer for the favors to marry together. I really think that was all that was missing.

Bev's famous meatloaf ..I combined parts of each, so i guess that makes mine kinda better for you. I used lean ground beef (90% 10%) and subsituted the oats for the saltines. I usually use bread...couldn't tell the difference. Loved the sauce on top and the leftovers made for excellent sandwiches the following day for lunch. Keeper and my meatloaf is usually a thumbs down. So I was excited.

Chicken Parmesean from pioneer woman. Never made this before and the chicken parmeasean pizza made me decide to do it. Score....


Pork Chops with field peas - can't get much easier than this. it was tasty my crew liked it.


What's coming up:
Buttermilk fried chicken breasts with okra pilau
Linguine with sun dried tomatos
Banana Bread cobbler



I'm enjoying trying the new recipes, it's exciting!!! I still need to learn to break out and make some things that sound iffy to me.

Cooking trials

After watching Julie & Julia, I decided to break out of the same thing all the time rut. I didn't want to commit to wading through a cookbook so I decided I'll be a test kitchen for Southern Living. I seem to grativate towards their recipes more so than Good Housekeeping or More magazine.

I journaled my notes as I went through the January issue, i'm going to try and make all the recipes unless they just sound too off the wall for me and my crew.

This is what I made for January:

Easy Chicken and Dumplings - a keeper according to my crew. i usually use cream of celery but I like using celery and the cream of chicken soup. I was a little put off by the addition of carrots but once I decided to do they were perfect.

Pam cakes - awesome...i usually use a Krusteaz mix for pancakes but I've definately changed to this recipe. Made with the Buttered Honey Syrup - yummy. another keeper!!!

Good for you collards - they were good, but I prefer the spicy collards for Big Daddy's House (food network).

White Cheddar Cheese Grits - this was my flop!!! or as my family refers to wall paper paste. Had to toss it. too thick. I'm going to try it again since I'm sure it was more me than the recipe.

Publix had bertolli meals on sale so I picked up a few for my lunches this month. Of course, I was late arriving home a few times so we wound up having them for dinner. Our favorite, Italian Sausage with Penne Pasta. I got it just for a change up from the chicken ones I purchased. WOW...AWESOME. I've since learned how to make it (or a close version anyway) because they aren't always on sale and I'm not willing to pay full price for them. I use spicy spaghetti sauce, penne pasta, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, matchstick carrots and ravioli. We prefer the ravioli from Sam's, Member's Mark i think, in the meat section. It's not frozen, and it just has a better flavor. Slice the peppers very thin and saute them with onions and carrots, then add sauce and viola - dinner is finished! About 45 minutes (unless everything is chopped beforehand).

My family enjoyed the new additions and it was nice not feeling like we were eating the same thing over and over and over again.

On to february...

Time Flies

Wow, does time get away from you during the holidays or what? work has been so super busy, end of year, audit, regulatory reports etc. and my 2 weeks flew by and here it is mid January. Was the Gator Bowl not the best bowl game? I cried through almost the whole thing, it was so bittersweet, i've never known FSU without Bobby Bowden. He was the coach there when I started in the late late late 70's (79 to be exact). It won't be the same without him! Here's to retirement for him and the next season for us.

I think our theme this year will be clean, paint & fix it around our house. We have so many remodeling projects hopefully we'll have enough money to complete them.

Found great deals at Publix last week!! so that will help with the money part some. Sirloin steaks for $1.99 a pound. I thought it was a misprint. Stocked up when I realized it wasn't. Will be enjoying some this weekend. Also found whole chickens for 69 cents per pound!! Unbelieveable. Hopefully they'll continue to have bargains like this. While shopping they were cooking their Publix meal for the week, it was a meatloaf sandwich. Quite tasty or so we (me & hubs) thought. Of course we purchased the fixings for this quick meal and I made it last Tuesday. My men (the other 2) were not the least bit impressed. They decided we must be really hungry!

This is what the Nole House is dining upon this week:

Sunday: Rigatoni & Italian Sausage & garlic bread
Monday: chicken soup and grilled cheese
Tuesday: Beef Pasta
Wednesday: Pigs in the blanket chips & dip
Thursday: Pork Chops, cheese potatos & squash w/onions
Friday: Fried Chicken and rice with roasted vegetables
Saturday: Fried Shrimp, French Fries & Cole Slaw

GO NOLES!!!!

OM stars!!!!!! I know I live in the redneck rivera, I try to pretend that it's not so bad. Today I have finally accepted that I do. I went online to read my newspaper and much to my dismay my newspaper is having a tattoo contest and they have entrants~~~~~

I'm waiting for my noles to come on...we've had a rough couple of games and here's hoping we'll come out on top in a big way!!

Dinner this week:

Saturday: Ravioli casserole, garlic bread, fruit

Sunday: Pork Loin roast, turnips, field peas w/snaps, squash, mac/cheese & cornbread

Monday: BBQ Pork Sandwiches, beans & coleslaw

Tuesday: Chicken gyros

Wednesday: Beef Tips w/herb rice, green snap peas, rolls

Thursday: French Dips

Friday: sausage & gravy biscuits, eggs

For more ideas head over to:

http://orgjunkie.com

GAME DAY FOR THE NOLES!!!!

Woo-hoo kickoff day for the noles is finally here. It's raining a little bit here so there goes my day for yardwork (yea). So here's what we are dining on for this week: You'll be able to tell i've been watching food network on this long weekend. for other ideas, check out http://orgjunkie.com

Sun: ravioli casserole, salad, garlic bread

Mon: Steaks, potatos au gratin, squash,grilled fruit (celebrating labor day, we have jobs:))

Tues: lime chicken (rachel ray) , pasta

Wed: beef strognaff, salad

Thurs:pork chops(robin miller), brussel sprouts, mac/cheese

Fri: omelets,potato pancakes(PAULA DEEN- my fave)

Sat: pigs in the blanket (just saw this on foodnetwork, michael chiraello show), lemon fries, this should give a great garnet & gold theme).

Menu Monday; August Reads

WOW.....end of august already, where does the time go. So far so good on school. Yeah, S1 is adjusting to homework, those 4 block classes allowed time for homework or talk whichever one you picked. He did homework. he's not used to cutting his free time out:0 S2 has adjusted to high school. He really seems to like it:) He's in ROTC (truly I believe he has a bet with his friend to see who gets kicked out first) but he seems to enjoy it. (THANK YOU GOD!!!! YOU ARE AN AWESOME GOD!!).

Just discovered a series by Suzanne Brockmann. wonderful reading. It's a spy semi-romance series about Navy Seals. I'm trekking back to the library today to find more.

One more week until the FSU Miami game. I plan on having a little tailgate party labor day for it. We'll definately have some non-alcohol hurricanes to liven up the party. Maybe some cuban food since it's Miami and there's such a large influence down there of Cuban & Carribean culture (so i've heard from transplants that are all relocating up here) I've met 25 or more this year. Insane, which they claim it is down there.

Here's what's cooking at the Nole House this week:

Sun: grilled bayou chicken legs or hamburger steaks, fries, fruit

Mon: East Carolina pulled pork sandwiches, chips, slaw

Tue: clud sandwiches, chips, pudding

Wed: 4 cheese ravioli, salad, garlic bread

Thu: sun dried tomato chicken, angel hair pasta w/herbs, broccolli

Fri: jambalya, rice & garlic bread

Sat: steaks, smashed potatoes, corn

For more ideas head on over to http://orgjunkie.com/