Pot & Cover

whipped cream...thank goodness for the kitchen aid mixer I honestly was ready to completely bow out of Thanksgiving this year...actually I tried to. Last year was rough...really rough... although the food was the best ever...Scott cooked the "full enchilada" last year. Well this year, even though we were in the middle of moving, Scott decided to cook a simple meal and invited a few family and friends to come over...so I ended up getting in the spirit... a little. We did a turkey breast instead of a big turkey, a small ham, Scott's dressing/stuffing, gravy and friends brought some other stuff. Scott's chicken stuffing...we always make too much:) Oh, I'm exhausted thinking about the cooking involved in the holidays....I am thankful for Scott, or I would have eaten pizza in the bed, in the dark...no kidding. Although I must admit, I've grown tired the the "holiday meal". A big pot of chili would have been just fine...more than fine with me. I'm th

dinner 11/15/08 Tyler's Ultimate on food network is one of our fav shows....scott loves scallops and puff pastry...he's always trying to figure out how to encase yummy morsels inside the puffy, buttery flakes. when i saw this episode i knew it was for him... see http://www.foodtv.com/ for the recipe. we used already shaped puffs we had in the freezer...but i would not cut them in circles like he does in the show...just cut it into four squares! why waste any of the yummy pastry, cause to me its the best part! these are really rich, so a green salad with a sharp balsamic dressing would be a great accompaniment. sauteed peas and carrots sauteed onion and mushroom buerre blanc...a.k.a. winey, buttery goodness we had been trying to eat "healthy" all week and this was our splurge meal on the weekend...just don't drink too much before and numb your taste buds...they will want to be present for this meal. i also made choc cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...see scott&

dinner 10/27/2008 scott named this "marriage chili" because we cooked it together and we love it sooooo much...it helps keeps a marriage together. we make this chili very often and this was the first batch of the fall. its based on a chicken chili from emeril. chicken is good, but we both think pork is a little better even. we make a cast iron skillet full of crusty, sweet, fluffy, buttery cornbread to crumble in...and "sprinkle" cheese, usually a mexican blend and a scoop of cold sour cream with lots of fresh cilantro...oh its so beyond chili...it is only right its called marriage chili, i think the word 'sex' should be added to the title somehow, maybe 'sexy marriage chili'...it is really spicy you know...this may be one of my top 5 favorites. and it gets better each day...this recipe gives almost 10 servings...so we get to enjoy it a few days in a row...we don't get sick of it. browned pork=yummy sauteed pancetta, mushrooms, onions and

dinner 10/22/08 we are admitted tv food network junkies. i would choose to watch food tv over any other. we watch lots of these together and its scotts favorite 'cookbook'. he watches and pauses and rewinds and cooks directly from the episodes...just like this dinner from barefoot contessa, ina garten. seared filets, with creamy blue cheese sauce and the best cornmeal crusted onion rings ever. scott made them perfectly. he's been great at onion rings for a while now and these are added to the list of great ones. oh, yah, sauteed mushrooms too...see recipes on food network website http://www.foodtv.com/ or ina's new cookbook, back to basics...eat up:)

i waited too long to blog this and i can't remember what we ate for dinner...although i remember it was really good...but i do remember the chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting cause i took a picture:) i got him a stainless steel mandoline so he can work on perfecting the crispy potato chip and cakes...and my dad gave him a gold plated putter! too funny. well, the cupcakes were a little dry, but the frosting solves all problems...as scott says, you could put it on cardboard and it'd be good. i've used several recipes over the years and this is our new favorite. "sprinkles" cream cheese frosting 8 oz cream cheese, 4 oz butter, 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted, 1/8 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla blend cheese, butter at room temp, add other ingredients and whip a little till fluffy. add your favorite coloring or just enjoy in all its creamy, cheesy whiteness.

breakfast 10/12/08 we love breakfast...especially when we have mimosas to drink as we did for a morning during our birthday week...we decided that since our birthdays are exactly a week apart we get to celebrate for an entire week and since they were on the weekend this year it was more like 10 days... we still have the flutes from our honeymoon...they've made it 16 years, or at least 2 of the 4 did:) ah, dreams of lake tahoe in the fall (speaking of lake tahoe and breakfast...i have two words for you...red hut)...any way, breakfast usually entails creamy, cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon (turkey or regular), surprisingly i like turkey bacon better in this instance, and flaky refrigerator biscuits with butter and strawberry jam. scott usually cooks this while i'm still attempting to avoid the day under the duvet, snugged up with chey all warm and cozy in the dark. sometimes we (i) make cream gravy...or toast instead of biscuits if that's all we have. its a very good way to eas

I must say...and scott said it first...this chowder was even better than the mussels the night before. we used a recipe from america's test kitchen for fish chowder and used mussels instead and added fresh corn kernels we had on hand. we had to find another excuse to use the new pot and we'd never made chowder before. it was so yummy. i only wish it had been colder so the hot soup was even more cozy...its almost thanksgiving and its barely cold...no white Christmas here. i'll have to add the recipe later, 'cause we're moving this week and all my cookbooks are in boxes in our new garage. but you can google any quality recipe for fish or clam chowder, or even corn chowder...enjoy with crispy crackers, crusty bread, fresh parsley, and someone you love. this was even better the next night over rice pilaf (see other blogs for recipe)...sounded weird to me, but scott insisted and it was really good. i think we had bill m.- our friend over to watch the game that night

i turned 35 on oct 10...and got the mac daddy of a 'pot and cover'. scott surprised me with a fire engine red 6 qt dutch oven. we of course had to cook in it right away...and mussels and filet were on the menu...surf and turf i guess:) thank goodness for costco so eating surf and turf is very affordable and high quality! i got around a 3lb bag of mussels...remember its costco ...no small quantities, and scott helped me clean them all, no beards on my mussels thank you. it was a while ago when we actually cooked this...so i don't remember exactly what we did to the meat or mussels...but they were pretty straight forward... mussels in a winey , carmelized oniony, garlicy, buttery sauce with lots of crusty garlic french bread to sop it up and perfectly cooked and seasoned filet . i think we may have marinated them in teriyaki (how do you spell that?) ( yoshida's is the best on the planet...unless you are in Japan i guess) scott just sears them in a screaming hot d

scott made burgers and fries friday night when madi came to have a sleep over. they were nearly perfect and i ate almost the whole burger...which i usually only eat half...i like burgers but not love....i loved this one. and the fries were the best he's ever made. he's been experimenting with fries for a while and had never gotten them quite right...crispy, but light...these were both. burgers 80% lean ground beef seasoned with salt pepper and lite sprinkling of garlic powder, cooked in a dry cast iron skillet on the stove top. white buns, with a choice of usual toppings including diced, sauteed onions fries (recipe adapted from one posted on allrecipes.com) INGREDIENTS 2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon garlic salt 1 teaspoon onion salt 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon paprika 1/2 cup water, or as needed (he added a little more, it was like a tempura batter a little) 1 cup vegetable oil for frying (more if using deep fryer) DIRECTIONS Slice pota

why is it so hard to remember what you ate over the course of a week or so? we've eaten and cooked lots of great food lately, but if i don't document it, we forgot. how sad to forget such good memories. maybe that's why we repeat the activity so often, to remember the most important activity, nourishing ourselves. its usually the most pleasurable activity of the day. oh, i do remember one really great meal...again its one i wrote down, just didn't take the time to blog yet. bacony tomato chicken over pilaf...we also made it with shrimp about at week later...great both ways. scott liked the shrimp best, me the chicken. Bacony Tomato Chicken breasts over pilaf 2 thin chix breasts s&p and lightly floured 1 and half oz of pancetta, cubed Small onion 2 roma tomatoes peeled seeded, rough chopped Olive oil Pilaf One cup chx broth frozen peas...a cup or so...optional Brown pancetta in nonstick skillet and olive oil Set aside Sautee onion till carmelized, remove Add more ol

precious madi was here this weekend...and cheese toasties aka grill cheese sandwiches were on the menu. she's also a big fan of "cheese" popcorn, which is really just microwave popcorn which looks so yellow she's convinced its cheesy. chocolate milk and baby goldfish were also popular menu items. another family carboholic it looks like. shes four and so beautiful and fun. we played hide and seek, with her feet and hands poking out from a pair of overalls shes used to cover herself while hiding in the closet. and giggling all the while we are looking for her. cheese toasties white bread slice of cheddar butter skillet over medium heat add butter to heated pan, coat pan and add toastie, weight down with plate. cook till golden, couple min. flip and repeat. when melted, cut off crusts and cut into small triangles. make sure you pretend you made it for yourself and that she is welcome to have some if she wants...she really wanted popcorn...but ended up eating 3/4ths of th

This is my hubby's birthday dinner from a few years ago...its a copycat of the scaloppini de pollo from macaroni grill. when we were trying to decide what to fix for dinner he asked if we had the ingredients for this...which we almost did. he ran to the store to get the missing stuff and i started cooking. i'm not sure what night last week we ate this but it was so yummy! we only made a 1/2 of the recipe cause it was just for two...but we still had leftovers. s.w. even ate it for breakfast the next day! how can you go wrong with a recipe that calls for a lb of butter in the sauce! i felt paula deen's presence in my kitchen:) this is really a very simple dish that could be made with a variety of proteins. seafood would be fabulous! any way this it the second or third time i've made it and it is so unctuous and satisfying and very easy. i made the chicken but s.w. a.k.a. the hubby decided to use the roma tomatoes we had to make some fried red tomatoes. they were like a bu

lyssy's tacos i must have a deep connection to left overs... other than a few condiments, most of our ingredients were all from left overs. left over seasoned ground beef from the enchilada lasagna which scott ate the last of last night...i ate a couple tacos last night, i guess preparing for tonight... we fried a few (ok, almost a half dozen) flour tortillas, filled them with the seasoned beef, left over sauteed onions (from the enchilada's), canned green chiles, fresh tomato & ice berg lettuce dressed with our favorite balsamic dressing (recipe to follow), sour cream we had in the fridge, el fenix salsa we had in the fridge (one of scott's favorites), ketchup for scott....oh and left over beans...of course! they were so delicious... our appetizer was brewskis (bud lite & st paulis girl) and football for scott, a movie snugged in the bed for me. scott was having a bit of with drawl from not cooking tonight...but he was ok...its so nice to eat well off the fruits

fresh from the oven ground beef (ground round this time) browned then simmered slowly with cumin, black pepper, cayenne, bay leaf, ginger, thyme, and roasted garlic. browned in a little oil, then water added with beef bullion to make it extra beefy. simmered till really tender then put on low heat. caramelized onion, two medium yellow onion chopped then caramelized in a nonstick pan with oil till sticky and sweet. diced potato browned in oil in a nonstick skillet per ina garten the barefoot contessas charge, my husband grew up with potato in his enchiladas so his sweet momma (mama) could stretch the meal in a home with 3 men. sweet roma jean. i grew up with pinto beans in mine...same concept. okay back to business. the business of food. left over corn tortillas that need a purpose in the fridge, coupled with shredded mexican blend cheese and canned enchilada sauce. you can roll it up like enchiladas which is beautiful and loverly , but it tasted just the same all torn up and

leftovers. not a popular topic with some folks...but i feel sorry for those who don't appreciate left overs...but i guess its more food for me. tonight its leftover...oh man we need to think of a better word...good food that i don't have to cook tonight but get to enjoy, much of which tastes better later than right after it was cooked should have a much better name. i'll work on that. we usually don't leave food that will not be as good later...we eat it all. back to tonight's menu...beans (l.0), cornbread (fresh), fat bastard taters or potatoes au gratin if you want the proper name (l.0.), sorry i didn't blog that meal of sirloin with homemade blackening seasoning layered with butter then blackened in a cast iron skillet and served with au gratin potatoes swimming in cream, butter and topped with crusty, bubbly cheese, but i digress . ahhhh ...so yummy, but back to tonight...see "leftovers" are not just good eats but good eats memories:) ok the

kentucky fried 'cause it reminds you of the spices of kfc ... we've been eatin this for at least a year. the first time i made it was just with chicken and its so yummy. its easy and inexpensive...inexpensive being the important word for tonight 'cause i made it with what was in the fridge, freezer and pantry. there are times like today when you realize that the dollars for the next few weeks need to be stretched a bit...and this is a recipe that is evidence that you can eat well while saving your pennies..."save yourself broke" as orender -the velvet hammer- says. ( billorender .com) please note that "chix"= chicken below kentucky -fried braised chicken & sausage over pilaf 2 thin chix breasts & 2 earl campbell sausages (or 4 thin chix breasts), cut into into any size chunks 1 can c. of mushroom soup 1 c water w/ bullion or 1 cup broth dash or more of each cayenne, black pepper, nutmeg, dried parsley zest of one small lemon & few squir

  fresh basil from the garden last night was a classic: beer & pizza...a frozen pizza no-less...it doesn't make the mouth water at first glance...but wait until you doctor it up a little. the beer is usually bud-lite...i know, not very exciting...but its our go-to cheap brew. a few years back my hubby and i stumbled upon red baron frozen supreme pizza...they make two versions, either is fine and we like the classic crust which is thin and gets really crispy...we add our favorite extra toppings and pop it in a very hot 450 oven for about 15-20 minutes and "viola" gourmet thin crust pizza is for dinner. we honestly get as excited about this pizza as take out...and the price is much better. at most a frozen pie is $5 but often on sale for half that. here's what we do to make our favorite pizza...okay we prefer me-n-eds or round table, but we're in texas and they don't have it here...anyway here's the trick to for tricking up your $5 pizza...an

soft beef tacos are what's for dinner tonight. a family staple. another one i remember momma cooking at home. we even had soft tacos for my 15th bday party, with shredded beef. they are addictive and almost impossible to stop eating. i remember both my parents and my grandma wanda cooking away in the kitchen of our little town house while all my buddies and i were bouncing on the trampoline in our backyard that was only slightly bigger than the tramp. there were a lot of dents in the fence. cooking the beef is very important. ground beef tonight. i'm pretty sure that there is a mexican influence on the method, i think maybe "joe" from "la esperanza" in california. i think he was a high school buddy of dads, but not sure. i do know that if i could transplant one restaurant from my hometown, it would be "la esperanza". they have the best beans, rice, chile rellenos and espe (sp?) chips on the planet, or at least the part of the planet i've been t