Pot & Cover

"Love" Martini oh...Valentines day was yummy...shrimp and grits...Scott & I cooked dinner together and made Chef John's chocolate souffles...so yummy. They turned out great...and the rest of the meal was good too...We also made Pomegranite "Love" Martinis (just get a great quality, all juice mixer and vodka)...what a great Valentines day, cooking with my favorite person...xxxooo to my Captain Love...which is what his Valentine T-shirt said:) Shrimp & Grits cheese grits: 1 c stone ground grits, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 c shredded sharp cheddar, 1/2 c grated parmesan, 3 tbs butter, black pepper, franks hot saucebring 4 &1/2 c water to boil and whisk in grits and salt, lower to a simmer and cook 35-40 min till water absorbed and tender...remove from heat and stir in cheeses and butter...add hot sauce and pepper to taste...as much as I love hot sauce..I think I like these grits w/out...over powered the creamy cheese for me. shrimp: 3 slices bacon, chopped, 1 lb s...

The superbowl was a few weeks ago...we had some of our PFS Crew over for the game...and grub...I am craving the ribs and chix balls....we ate... Shane's award winning, slow smoked ribs...Scott's buffalo chix balls with blue cheese dipping sauce...chili boats with fritos...jalepeno jelly cream cheese dip...cold beer...3 D glasses...toffee...brownies...and best of all friends The game was exciting but dissapointing ending to our crowd. But the food more than made up for it. Sorry I didn't get a picture of the ribs...we were too busy eating them.

We eat a lot of these because they are so good, filling, pretty healthy and very quick and easy to make. Its rare that we wouldn't have flour tortillas, cheese, bread, lunch meat and butter on hand. I like my quesadillas better than most I've had in restaurants. I once got a quesadilla at a local "fancy" Mexican restaurant and it was two tortillas, just heated up with the cheese melted on top! I should have sent it back...what the heck is that? Not a quesadilla, thats for sure. Not to mention you usually get charged like 10 bucks for something that is poorly cooked and would take you 3 min to cook at home and cost less than a dollar to make. If I'm going to order something in a restaurant...it is usually something I don't know how to cook, or that is too labor intensive to cook..and I want to eat it now! anyway back to the quesdilla...I need that crispy cooked tortilla on the outside and properly melted cheese inside. Not too many ingredients either...I hate i...

Madi came to stay for a night at Christmas time...and I promised her we would make a gingerbread house... We went to Target together and found a prebaked kit that had all the candies and frosting and even two gingerbread people and a gingerbread Christmas tree. With her supervision, I "glued" it together with the frosting, and Uncle Scott helped us figure out the chimney...which I tried to put on sideways. Madi decorated the house beautifully...even giving the gingerbread people their own garden (in back) and using colored sprinkles to make grass...she put each sprinkle in one at a time:) what a clever girl. She took her house home to share with her mommy...but I'm not sure the gingerbread people survived the trip home:) I hope this made a lasting sweet memory for her...it did for me.

Scott and I have both been sick this week...sinus' issues...and chix soup was much in need. This is based on my mom's turkey soup that we traditionally eat after thanksgiving. you make rich turkey stock out of the turkey carcass....etc, etc. and its really really good...but I was sick, in need of chix elixir, and wasn't about to boil a turkey or chix carcass! So this is the quicky version: 1 store rotisserie chix (however you spell it)...roasted chix!, peel off the chix meat and shred ( I just used the breast and stuck the rest in the freezer) 1 bag shredded carrots about 1.5 cups 6 cups chx stock/broth, canned sliced mushrooms, 8oz garlic, roasted or fresh about 1-2 cloves, chopped 2 14 oz cans tomatoes...any type...i got stewed whole. any other left over vegies that you want (I had a baggie of leftover sauteed onions and mushrooms in the freezer bay leaf parmesean rind...if you have one laying around olive oil spritz of fresh lemon juice fresh italian parsely soup noodles...

objects in picture even more delicious than they appear Scott's assisting our friend Chef John and his wife Kim today at catering/team building event. I can't wait to hear how it goes. I'm at home working on the computer...but daydreaming of the meal they are eating. Fortunately I got to eat it already:) They invited us over for a dress rehearsal of the menu the other night and we had so much fun. I was entirely too full by the end of the night...but how could I turn any of it down?! The menu: Wedge salad with freshly made blue cheese dressing, bacon bits and tomato, (Kim and I worked on this one). Perfectly pan crusted Filet with Cognac cream sauce...that we wanted to take a swim in...oh a loaf of french bread soaked in that sauce could be a last meal. Beef Filets with Cognac-Cream Sauce 4 Six ounce beef filets (I also like to use rib-eyes) Spice mixture: 3/4 teaspoon paprika 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard 3/4 teaspoon dried rosema...