Welp, it’s day 4 days since this stupid rash thing has been all over my face. Since my new food allergies and this horrible pollen season, I’ve been super diligent with avoiding the allergens I can avoid.
Here’s what happened. I ran out of the fabulous AVEDA Kinetics facial moisturizer last week. I have gotten every drop out of that 20 oz-? $77 bottle of moisturizer. I decided to use another sensitive skin moisturizer. Wrong move. My face started breaking out all over. The rash is still there, it’s not as noticeable but it’s there.
I’m now on a 14 day prednisone course. I’ve been down this road. My side effects are usually: headache, sleeplessness and muscle aches (less often). I also am severy watching what I eat to reduce the likelihood of weight gain and water retention.
It’s the age old, cliche question I get from my crew–what’s for dinner? When I don’t have a thought in my mind and I haven’t put meat in the ‘fridge the night before to defrost it, I’m in trouble.
All. The. Meat. Is. Frozen. Rock. Solid. Sooo, what will thaw out in the microwave and not be compromised in texture by doing so? Dontcha hate when some parts of the meat begin to cook before being thawed in the microwave? Well, I do. But cooking some meat from a partially frozen state is fine–ground beef to make spaghetti, same for chicken breast fillets if your grilling them or baking/broiling them. I digress.
So I stumble upon two Italian sausage links that I nicely wrapped in freezer paper, labeled and placed in those plastic freezer bags that rhyme with Lip-Zoc! Ha! I pulled out a partially full bag of egg noodles and decided I’d make a casserole of some sort. Because I had not put away the jar of chicken bouillon cubes from the night before, I figured I’d use some to season the water for the egg noodles.
After defrosting the sausage, I cut a slit down the side to remove the casing. I figured it’d be quicker to cook the sausage if I cooked it in pieces. Let me tell you, it was easier and it made it looks like I had a TON of sausage. I browned the sausage on the stove top.
After draining the noodles and browning the sausage, I dumped them together in a square glass dish, the size you bake brownies in. Well with a casserole, you need some ‘glue’ not cream of anything soup here because I think it’s gross and all of it tastes like it came out of a can to pull the ingredients together. Hmmm.
Whelp, I have milk, eggs and cheese. I heated some milk, added two eggs and prayed they didn’t scramble because I didn’t temper them. I added a couple of handfuls of fiesta blend cheese to the milk mixture. Voilà! Believe it or not, I’ve seen some people spell that word ‘Walla.’ Seriously?. I poured this mixture over the noodles and sausage, topped it with a bit of the cheese blend and sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top for good measure. I put it on the oven to bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Isn’t that the formula for all casseroles?
My fingers are crossed. I’m waiting for it to bake. I’m sipping in Kool-Aid lemonade and am too lazy to change the channel from Sponge Bob, yeah, the remote doesn’t work. When the casserole ‘s done I’ll get up.
If it looks good, I’ll take and post a picture. If not, I may still post a picture. Who knows?
RESULT: It turned out great!!! Gah, it is so good. Now I need to create a recipe so I can repeat this casserole.
It’s a dreary (as in cloudy not much going on) Sunday afternoon here. I did water our new shrubs. Somebody should have recorded that because I’m no outside person. I’m prepared a roast pork piece of meat because I don’t know which cut this is.
Here’s what I did: I liberally rubbed the pork with the Sage and Savory and the Tiny Town Turkey Rub. I used the kitchen twine to hold the pork together and keep its shape while browning and baking. I dusted it with flour and browned all sides and both ends in vegetable oil on the stove top.
My dear friend Brenda invited us to a fish fry and of course I asked what she wanted me to bring. She said I should bring whatever I wanted to bring. I told her I’d bring deviled eggs. That started our conversation about how quickly the eggs disappear when they are part of the spread.
So I’m thinking, hmmm, how do I make enough eggs that there will be more than 10 minutes’ worth on the table. I decided I would boil 3 dozen eggs in the oven. I’ve heard of people doing that and there are a ton of sites on Pinterest and other blogs that provide the instructions for doing so.
I’ll tell you, these eggs were the creamiest, smoothest ‘boiled’ eggs I’ve ever eaten. Gah! I swear. The. Best. I posted on Facebook what I was doing and some asked why? how? Why? I don’t own a pot large enough to boil that many eggs. Also it would take me longer than 30 minutes to boil that many eggs. Final why: because I could.
How? Well, here’s how I did it.
Preheat oven to 325.
On a mini muffin tin, place eggs horizontally across the wells (not in the wells). DO NOT ADD WATER.
Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and place eggs in an ice water bath for 10 minutes.
Crack and peel eggs.
Doesn’t that jerk chicken sandwich look just divine? It was soooo good, tender and flavorful. How did I do it you ask? Here goes…
It was midweek and I knew I wanted to prepare something good and flavorful not just cooked meat. Many times during the week most of the week , I find myself cooking a piece of meat, adding a starch and opening a bag o’ salad. Because I hadn’t marinaded the meat overnight, I was concerned that the jerk flavor profile wouldn’t make it’s way all the way through the meat. So I decided to use my handy meat mallet to pound the meat to within a 1/4 inch of its life. HAHA. I added olive oil to two glass dishes and added the chicken to one dish and pork to another. I sprinkled jerk seasoning liberally over the thinly pounded pieces of meat and added orange juice on top–not too much, just enough. I made sure to flip the meat to evenly cover all pieces.
I used my handy dandy electric skillet as a flat top grill so to speak. Perrrfecccct! I drizzled the griddle with olive oil and grilled sliced red onions until brown. I then grilled the meats (pork with pork then chicken with chicken–thou shalt not cook them together) for a few minutes on each side until done.
I prepared a jerk remoulade (fancy word for mayonaise with jerk spices). My family had the choice to make sandwiches or eat the meat as an entree served with buttered rice and bag o’ salad. I chose the sandwich which I served open faced with jerk remoulade, Swiss cheese, topped with grilled onions and a side of potato chips.
Now you want me to give you my recipe? Well, it’s an approximate recipe. You know me by now. often times i dont use a recipe at all or I use one as a suggestion. HAHA
Jerk Marinade
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c orange juice
2-3 tbsp jerk seasoning
1. Pour oil in glass container for marinating.
2. Place the thinly pounded meat in the oil, flipping to coat both sides.
3. Generously season both sides with jerk spices.
4. Add orange juice.
Set aside for 15 minutes. Remove from marinade and place on hot griddle.
Jerk Remoulade
1/4 c mayonaise
1 tbsp jerk spice
Mix well and set aside.
More pictures of the final product–pork on the left. I sample ate one sandwich of each and my favorite was the pork sandwich. Gah. I’d love one of those sandwiches now!
This venture keeps me right alongside my southern roots, just not modern southern roots. On today’s venture I made BUTTER. Yep! Butter. Why? Because I can! But why you still ask. A dear friend and Soror told me she made butter for a scratch made cake. Wow! Very impressed.
Figuring it took hours to make butter, I was content to think WOW. I hadn’t asked how she made it because I didn’t ever imagine I’d make butter. All I could think about was olden times with a woman who looked like Holly Hobby was churning butter in one of those wooden churns.
I decided to research making butter and learned that I had the primary modern kitchen appliance–my kitchenaid stand mixer. Love. I ran the technique by that friend whom I mentioned earlier. Yep. That’s what she used. In fact, she’s the one who shamed me when I told her I didn’t own a kitchenaid stand mixer about three years ago. She encouraged me to ask my husband for one for Christmas. Other than my engagement ring, this is the Christmas gift I’ve gotten the most use from. Love.
Today I had to take my college aged daughter to Harris Teeter for supplies for a dorm program and I couldn’t resist. I bought a pint of heavy whipping cream and a fresh French baguette from their bakery. My daughter’s used to my folly and just kept it moving like this was normal for anyone to walk past the dairy case filled with butter, select whipping cream to make butter and leave very excited to make butter. Yes. I’m doing too much. Being extra. It’s okay.
All you need is 1 pint of heavy whipping cream, 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of salt and your kitchenaid stand mixer. At most it took 20 minutes. I began making it while our dinner was cooking–actually the fingerling potatoes were roasting. The butter was ready to be served with bread at dinner.
Instead of writing out the instructions, I’m sending you to the website I used: Brooklyn Farmhouse. I chose this site because it had great pictures.
I don’t plan to make our family’s butter for the rest of our lives, but I sure plan to make butter again ’cause I can.
Here are step by step pictures of my butter making venture.
Happy Easter! I’ll keep it simple today. Today’s menu: chicken cordon bleu, rice, and spinach strawberry pecan salad.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
3 chicken breast filets
Sliced ham (luncheon meat)
Swiss cheese
Flour
Eggs
Panko bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper
Pound the chicken breasts to 1/4 inch with a flat meat mallet. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place ham slices to cover the chicken.
Top with Swiss cheese.
Roll chicken like a burrito. Place in the refrigerator for an hour. This helps it hold its shape without using toothpicks.
Take chicken out of the refrigerator. Prepare to bread the chicken by beating 2 eggs and placing in a shallow dish. Place flour in one shallow dish and the Panko in another.
Dredge chicken in flour, dip in egg and coat with Panko. Place on plate seam side down. Repeat for all the chicken. Place in the refrigerator for an hour so that the coating with stick better.
Heat oil in non stick skillet. Brown chicken on all sides. Finish off in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Happy Easter! After painting my front door and watching paint dry for a good portion of the day, I was determined to bake cookies for Easter baskets for my son, daughter, her boyfriend and my 2 year old great nephew. I got a very late start, but baked more than five dozen cookies.
I was excited to use my newly acquired King Arthur Flour (unbleached all purpose flour). It’s supposed to be the best for baking. I’m not sure why.
I’ve made cookies using a cookie press off and on for the past 15 years with varying levels of success and different recipes–I’m not talking taste, but how the cookies actually come out of the press. This time, these were the best. I’m not sure if it was the recipe, cold cheap cookie sheets, King Arthur Flour, the recipe or the addition of gel food colors.
Here are my tips for using the Wikton Ultra II Cookie Press:
1. Use the recipe listed below!
2. Slightly chill (15-20 minutes) the cookie dough after working the gel color through it if you use it.
3. Only use cold/cool cheap cookie sheets, ungreased and without the non stick coating.
4. Use a cookie press with a rubber bottom because it helps prevent slipping when pressing the cookies onto the cookie sheet.
5. Make sure the cookie press touches the cookie sheet firmly while pressing the cookie dough out the press. Press only once.
Here’s the recipe:
1 c butter, softened (I use salted butter)
1/2 c white sugar
1 lg egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c all purpose flour
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla to the butter/sugar. Beat until well incorporated.
Add flour and mix well.
If you are going to color your dough, do it now.
Put cookie dough in the press. Press cookies. Bake for 6-8 minutes until edges are slightly golden.
Cool on cooling rack.
These cookies haven’t been glazed:
Final product! Glazed cookies!!! Yum!
The weather was so beautiful yesterday that I decided that it was ’bout time to paint the front door. Yes, we are that house. The house with the jacked up front door. Really it’s not so bad who am I fooling?. -_- it just needed some love in the form of paint and manual labor. You know me, I’m not paying anyone to paint it for me. It just paint and it isn’t rocket science.
It’s not me if I don’t research the mess out of a new project because I want to get it just right. See, if my daddy were alive, I’d call him and he’d go into the recesses of his encyclopedic mind to tell me exactly what to do. You have to understand, I’ve researched this project off and on for months. With no screen door and a dog who will jet out the front door any chance he gets AND the prospect of flies and other insects entering the house, I was stressed. How do I prevent the outdoors from coming in. I’M NOT AN OUTDOORS PERSON.
My daughter, the entomology student at North Carolina State University, told me that I should
not have insect problems now. It’s been too cold and many aren’t out now. She also told me if I do get flies, I should turn on the AC to make it cold in the house. They will die because they can’t survive in very cold temperatures. Nonetheless, I still feel the need to stand guard at my front door. What if a critter comes in? Heck. Who am I foolin’? What the ham sandwich would I do if one came inside. My husband is out playing golf. I guess I’d call my BFF’s husband to catch it.
How did I do this?
1. Purchased a quart of exterior semi gloss latex paint that was a paint and primer combo. Make sure you purchase the right paint because you can’t put latex on top of oil unless you prime it first. Oil takes forever to dry.
2. Purchased a good quality 2 inch angled brush.
3. Purchased a mini foam roller for doors and cabinets.
4. I prepped the door by sanding some of the chipped areas and wiping it down with a damp cloth.
5. I taped off the hardware and taped the drop cloth to my floor.
6. My son put the dog in his crate.
7. I used the angled brush to cut in the frames, around the hardware and in areas where the roller won’t fit. I rolled the paint on the longer portions of the door in the direction of the grain or the longest strokes. Two coats later. It only took about 20 minutes per coat to paint. I let it dry about an hour between coats. It’s been drying for about 3 hours at this point. I think I can SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! It’s more than dry to the touch.
Before and after:
I just can’t stand to let a day off go by without a project, unless I’m sick of course. Well, today’s a great day! It’s Good Friday and the time that we Christians are in our final spiritual preparations for Easter Sunday! My Jewish friends have been honoring their roots by celebrating Passover this week.
Anyhoo. I’ve had these oversized canvas that I covered in burlap hanging around in my house for about a year. The canvas is upcycled from my 12 year old son’s 5th birthday party table cloth (see I was doing the burlap thing before it was chic to do so). The canvas is upcycled from an art project gone wrong.
You cannot imagine how long I’ve searched for the right piece of artwork to hang on this huge wall I over my sofa. I mean this wall is about 16-20 feet long, empty and white. Ugh. Let me just say, yuck!
With a little ingenuity and determination, I stumbled upon the perfect idea on Pinterest! I set out this morning to buy an oversized stencil that was modern and fresh. This is not your mother’s stencil–all country and what not. I’m not hating on my friends, readers and followers who like that decorating style, it just doesn’t fit in my decorating style.
Off to Michael’s and AC Moore I go. While at Michael’s an older woman asked me to help her match some paint. She said I must be an art teacher–picked a perfect match. *made my day* Because Michael’s (is that double apostrophe correct to show possession in this sense?) didn’t have a great oversized stencil selection, I went to AC Moore.
Voilá! I found the perfect stencil. I picked my paint colors–red, burnt umber and lime green–and mosied on home. After testing the colors on the burlap, I hated the green because it looked too lime-y. Yes, I said lime-y. I added some burnt umber and it was perfect!
Because I used some stuff i had at home, the total cost for this project was $21!
Here’s the final product:
How to:
Supplies: canvas covered with burlap, spray adhesive (the repositionable kind), acrylic paints, small sponge paint rollers, plates (to put the paint on) and stencil of your choice.
1. Test your paint on the burlap for color appropriateness.
2. Use spray adhesive to temporarily place the stencil on the burlap. Follow the directions for the adhesive. Mark the registration marks from the stencil onto the burlap if you will be repeating the design on the burlap.
3. Roll the paint on the stencil.
4. Once completed, let dry.
Yay!
UPDATE: My husband saw the wall art when he came home. He said he liked it! I didn’t even ask if he did!!! Warms my heart. Tomorrow, I shall paint the front door (exterior).
Beyond My Southern Roots
