Happy New Year!

2014 is here!

Here in the South, the new year usually starts with the "good luck" meal of black eyed peas, collards, pork and cornbread. I was not about to test the theory and cook something different! According to Southern Living, "These two Southern classics all but guarantee a prosperous year. Some say the greens represent dollar bills and the peas, coins, ensuring wealth and luck."

I cooked collards a couple of days early, so that we could freeze some for Jessica to take back to Atlanta with her. For Mommy, Daddy and the sisters, we bought canned collards that would survive a two-day drive home. Yes, we take this tradition seriously.

I know, I know. Good southern cooks wouldn't need a recipe. But I do. If cooking greens is not on your regular meal rotation, this recipe from Paula Deen is a good one.

COLLARD GREENS

1/2 lb. smoked meat (ham hocks, smoked turkey wings or smoked neck bones--I use turkey wings)
2-3 teaspoons House Seasoning*
1-2 teaspoons Lawrys' Seasoning Salt
2 bags frozen chopped collards (or 1 large bunch of fresh collards, cleaned and sliced)
1 tablespoon butter

In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add smoked meat, house seasoning and seasoned salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour.
Add frozen greens and butter. Cook for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning to taste.

*House Seasoning: 1 cup salt, 1/4  cup black pepper, 1/4 cup garlic powder. Mix together and store in airtight container.

Another recipe I made for New Year IS a regular in our kitchen. It's easy to prep, then you pop it into the oven for an hour where it cooks unattended. 

PORK CHOPS & BROWN RICE

1/2 cup regular rice
1 can Campbell's beef consomme
3 or 4 boneless pork chops
slices of onion and green pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put rice in a 1-1/2 quart baking dish. Pour most of the consomme over the rice. Brown the pork chops quickly in a hot skillet. Put the chops on the rice, top each with a slice of onion and a couple of pepper strips. Pour the remaining consomme over the chops. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

The rains have passed and the sun has come out. All those years growing up I heard the saying "make hay while the sun shines." And then I married someone who knew it wasn't a saying---it is truth. So yesterday while the sun was shining gloriously, Daddy-O was out cutting hay. (Yes, he is being careful with his bandaged hand. The stitches come out tomorrow.)

Freshly cut hay smells so sweet. He does all the work and I just enjoy the pleasant parts. I hate to admit that while he was out working hard, I was inside practicing music. I'm working on a couple of mandolin pieces for a school program that happens in a couple of weeks. Practicing is work too, but not the dirty sweaty kind. Still, it kept me out of the kitchen for much of the afternoon. Luckily, I had something in the freezer I could pull out for supper—Pepperoncini Beef. And I had baked a couple of extra potatoes over the weekend that I turned into home fries.

I have posted this recipe before and we really liked it. Now, I can tell you for certain that it does freeze well. I thought it would, but last night's supper was proof. It was just as good as the first time. I used sandwich thins last night instead of buns, but still added the provolone cheese. This beef recipe has quite a bite because of the pepperoncinis. The bread and the cheese help balance out the spicy flavor. 

PEPPERONCINI BEEF SANDWICHES

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 lb beef roast, trimmed of excess fat

4-5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 16-oz. jar sliced pepperoncinis, undrained

crusty sandwich rolls

sliced Provolone cheese

Heat oil in a pot or high-sided skillet over high heat. While the oil is heating, combine the salt and pepper and rub it into the meat. Add more if necessary.


When the oil is hot, sear the roast on all sides so the outsides are browned and a little crispy.


Transfer the roast to a slow cooker and add the minced garlic and the entire jar of pepperoncinis (along with juice.)

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours, or until the beef is fork tender.

Drain and shred. Keep the peppers!

Toast buns. Pile drained, shredded meat on bottom bun and top with cheese. Put back under broiler just long enough to melt the cheese. 

To make the home fries, dice a small--medium onion (I used half a small onion for one large baked potato.) Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large skillet. When it's hot, add the onion and saute until it begins to get tender. Peel the cold baked potatoes and cut into small chunks. Add the potatoes to the skillet, season with salt and pepper (I used *House Seasoning) and cook over medium to low heat, stirring occasionally, until potatoes begin to brown and get crusty and are heated through. Don't stir too much, or they will never get to the crusty brown stage--and that's the good part!

*House seasoning:  Mix 1/4 cup salt, 1 tbsp. black pepper & 1 tbsp. garlic powder. Store in an air-tight container, such as an empty spice bottle.

It Was Good

Yesterday we said goodbye to my aunt---the last member of that generation on my mother's side. On the way home from the funeral, I got a text message with a photo of my brand-new just-born great-niece. Endings and beginnings. 

We had a weekend filled with a doctor visit, a trampoline accident and emergency dentist visit and more. Wasn't Mother's Day in there, too? By suppertime last night I was in need some something quick. This was a night that we would have ordered something delivered if that had been a choice. (A friend asked me once, "Who delivers your pizza where you live?" I told her "Daddy-O." We are too far from town for that.) So I made something quick here at home.

The empty plates will have to speak for the good recipe last night. Our supper was beautiful. Imagine beautiful golden brown quesadilla wedges piled on that plate. But we were hungry and didn't think about a photo. After several days of not-typical happenings, we needed an easy supper. On Saturday I had made shredded chicken---that's because my plan to cook BBQ chicken on the grill didn't happen---and put most in the freezer. But I kept out enough for one meal.  

Thanks to Mommy for giving me this idea. She said these quesadillas are one of their favorite suppers. Now we know why. This was really good. The onions made it special.

Chicken, Cheese & Caramelized Onion Quesadillas

thinly sliced onion
small amount of olive oil
shredded cooked chicken

shredded cheese

whole wheat flour tortillas
butter

Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until translucent and limp and slightly browned. Remove onion from skillet. Wipe pan with a paper towel, if necessary.

Assemble quesadillas. Sprinkle one tortilla with a layer of cheese, a layer of shredded chicken, then the caramelized onion, and another layer of cheese. Top with another tortilla. Heat about a teaspoon of butter in skillet and spread over the bottom of pan. Carefully slide the filled tortillas into pan. Let cook over medium to low heat until browned and the cheese is melting. Carefully turn it over and cook until brown on the other side.

Slide onto a large dinner plate and cut into wedges. Keep warm, as you make the rest of the quesadillas. Serve with barbecue sauce and sour cream.

Crockpot Shredded Chicken

4 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon *House Seasoning
4 cups of water (or enough to just cover chicken)

Put chicken breast in crockpot. Sprinkle with House Seasoning. Pour water over. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours. Remove chicken to a pan or bowl. Remove bone and skin if you've used whole breasts. Then using two forks, shred the warm chicken.

To put it in the freezer, let it cool slightly and divide into meal-size portions and place into freezer ziploc bags. Label and date. Freeze and use within a couple of months.

*House seasoning:  Mix 1/4 cup salt, 1 tbsp. black pepper & 1 tbsp. garlic powder. Store in an air-tight container, such as an empty spice bottle.

Colorful Mondays

I was hoping Mommy was cooking supper last night. And I think she was hoping that I would. It may have been a bit of a contest to see who would give in first. It was me. I had just run a few errands and walked back into the house right at supper time. Mommy was feeding Baby Sister and Big Sister was hungry.

Remember the show, Doorknock Dinners, that was on Food TV in the late 1990s? A chef would show up at someone's house and make dinner from only what was already in their refrigerator. That's close to where we were last night.

The first thought was to cook squash and onions. There was fresh squash that Mommy had bought to make baby food. And she bought too much. But we couldn't find an onion. So I went into serious "Mimi mode" and told them dinner would be on the table in just a few minutes. I found grape tomatoes that I had bought for a salad today. And a container of cut green onions left from tacos Mommy had made over the weekend. That was a good start. I did have one package of chicken tenderloins. And my can of House Seasoning is always on the shelf.  (House seasoning:  Mix 1/4 cup salt, 1 tbsp. black pepper & 1 tbsp. garlic powder. Store in an air-tight container, such as an empty spice bottle.)

I started heating the pans with a little oil in them. While the pans were heating, I quickly sliced the squash, threw it into one pan and sprinkled liberally with house seasoning. While it cooked, I put the chicken tenderloins in the other pan--again with another good dose of house seasoning. Then I cut the tomatoes in half and when the squash was nearly tender, I added the tomatoes to that pan and cooked for just a couple of minutes more and then stirred a good handful of green onions into the vegetables. By now the chicken was nice and brown, too.

And somewhere in the middle of all this, I slid a pan of frozen rolls into the oven and steamed some fresh broccoli. Thankfully it was a bag of pre-cut so that was quick. Dinner was on the table in under 20 minutes--a very good dinner.

Then to get Big Sister to eat this hodge podge, I announced that for the month of May, we would be having "Colorful Mondays" to see how many colors we could get onto one plate! She loved this crazy mix of vegetables. She asked if we were having blueberries for dessert.

The only trouble with making proclamations like this is that now I have to think of three more "colorful dinners."

Busy Day Dinner

A few months back I suggested baked (or roasted) chicken for dinner one night. And then realized that Mommy didn't know how to make it. She needed to learn how to do this because it is the easiest dinner you can make. Five minutes or less and it's ready to slide into the oven for an hour. An hour you can use to make the side dishes. Or take a shower. Or bathe the baby. Or just sit down and catch your breath.

You don't always see a recipe for such a basic dish but if you've never done it, you might need a starting place. Big Sister calls it "chicken with juice."  It took me a while to figure out what she was talking about. But it does leave a nice clear broth in the dish.  So here we go...

BAKED CHICKEN

1 package chicken breasts, bone-in, with skin

House seasoning

Wipe chicken pieces off with damp paper towel. 

Place into a baking dish. (A pack typically has 3 breasts which fit into a 9x13-in dish.) 

Sprinkle generously with house seasoning*.

Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour or until done.

*House seasoning:  Mix 1/4 cup salt, 1 tbsp. black pepper & 1 tbsp. garlic powder. Store in an air-tight container, such as an empty spice bottle.

The skin keeps the chicken moist as it bakes. Do not substitute boneless, skinless chicken here! Oh, and the seasoning mix is great on lots of things. I keep it on hand all of the time and use it on most meats and vegetables. Can you get any easier than this? You could serve this on a platter with some parsley tucked in here and there, and maybe a lemon slice or two and it becomes a company dinner. 

When the chicken came out of the oven last night, I was ready to make this side dish. When my girls where little, they both liked this. I liked it because it was easy and it got another vegetable into their tummies. Big Sister tried it for the first time last night and she liked it, too.

CHEESY CAULIFLOWER

1 head cauliflower
shredded cheddar cheese (we like sharp)
Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix

Cut cauliflower into flowerettes (that means smaller pieces) and place into a microwave-safe dish. Sprinkle a little water over it (probably about a tablespoon if you need a measurement.) Cover and cook on HIGH for 4-5 minutes until tender-crisp.
Sprinkle generously with cheese and then sprinkle lightly with stuffing mix. Cook, uncovered, on HIGH for 30 seconds.

And you thought you couldn't get kids to eat cauliflower!