Food And Friends And Family

Turkey Sweet Potato Chili

One of the best things you can do for a new mother is take her a meal. Or even part of a meal. First time mothers have lots to learn about caring for a newborn. Mothers who have other children have their hands full, too. All new mothers could use a kitchen boost. Plus, it tells them they've got friends and family who care about them.

This delicious chili was delivered by Jessica's friend. She brought food and encouragement and helpful advice for the new mom. I asked for the recipe and she sent the link and told me about her adjustments to the recipe. I want to make this when I get home. My older daughter (again...need to rename everyone here on the blog...ugh.) said she has made this recipe several times and her family loves it.

The original recipe is from Skinny Taste. We've used many of her recipes and have found them to be dependably good.

TURKEY SWEET POTATO CHILI

1 medium white onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 lb. ground turkey
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
4 oz. goat cheese, divided
optional garnishes:  sliced scallions, diced avocado

Brown meats in a large pot or Dutch oven on stove top. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT goat cheese. Simmer 2 hours. Before serving, stir in half of goat cheese. Use the other half as garnish when serving. Can use scallions and avocado as garnish also.


To complete this meal, friend Ali brought cornbread and an arugula/orange salad. Oh....and chocolate chip cookies. Can't forget the cookies! This was an easy meal for us to heat up and eat. This new family is learning to eat in the minutes available here and there. This meal works.

There are so many times that homemade food says "I care." Mommy (my older daughter) had already brought Baked Rotini plus sides one night. And wise, experienced mother that she is, she divided the recipe into two square pans—one to bake, one to freeze for later.

Of course, I've taken many meals to people over the years. People with new babies, people home from the hospital, people with a bereavement. I learned from my mom who was a generous cook. But ages ago I got a phone call one day from a friend and she said, "I'm cooking your supper tonight." There was no new baby, no one was sick and no one had died. I was just doing the busy after-school chauffeuring thing. Jane wanted to do a kind thing for me. And it was AWESOME. All these years later, I don't remember what the meal was but I DO remember the dessert. It was a no-bake chocolate eclair cake. I don't have her recipe, but it was similar to this one.

Well, I've managed to make myself hungry. I'll be back soon. After I've found a snack.

Easy Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry

Easy Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry

This is surely not an award winning food photo. But I'm proud there is a picture at all. This was supper the first full day home from the hospital with new baby. Everyone (including me) was beyond tired. But people still have to eat. I knew what was in the refrigerator, so I did a recipe search for "quick easy chicken broccoli." And this recipe popped up at the top of my choices. What a perfect meal. Yes. It was quick and it was easy. And it was really, really good. I want to make this for Daddy-O soon after I get home. 

Here is the wee baby, doing what she does best. She's a champion napper. Now, all the grandmamas know that won't last, but for right now it's good that the new mom can get a little rest, too.

And I'm taking advantage of a weekend R&R. I'll go back for a few more days, and then head back to the farm. I know I won't get to see this little lady so very often, so I've been delighted to have some time with her at the very beginning. And to have some extra time with my daughter. 

Now, for the recipe. I made it pretty close to the original. I did cut chicken tenders (that's what was in the fridge) into chunks which was even easier than cutting up the boneless breasts the recipe calls for. Obviously, either works. Her recipe also called for toasted sesame oil. New mama's pantry had regular sesame oil and that was fine. Don't go buy toasted if you have regular sesame oil on hand.

The 12-minute part? (The original recipe is called 12-Minute Chicken & Broccoli.) Not the way I cook. Looking at the original recipe and doing the math, there is 9 minutes cooking time which leaves 3 minutes prep time. I don't work that fast. And I probably cooked everything a little longer, too. I'm still learning how their stove works.

Here's how I did it:

Set out all ingredients before you start. Measure and stir together sauce ingredients. Start cooking rice before you start the chicken. Rice takes about 20 minutes to cook on the stove top. I toasted some sesame seeds while the chicken was cooking. Put a couple of tablespoons of sesame seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat and stir them occasionally until they are a golden color. Remove from heat.

CHICKEN & BROCCOLI STIR FRY

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 (1-lb) packages chicken tenders, cut into chunks
salt & pepper (I used House Seasoning—see below)
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets (discard stem)
1 teaspoon sesame oil (regular or toasted)
optional toppings: sliced green onion, toasted sesame seeds

Stir Fry Sauce:
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons honey
2 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger
         Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Put 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season with salt & pepper. Cook chicken chunks about 5 minutes, until browned and almost cooked through.

Make sauce (if you haven't already done this) while chicken is cooking.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and the chopped broccoli and stir together. Cook about 3 more minutes until broccoli is bright green. Stir in sauce and cook for about 1 minute, until sauce is thickened. Stir in sesame oil.

Serve over rice and top with garnishes, if using.


I am really happy to have this recipe in my recipe box now. I thought it might need more sauce because similar recipes I've made never seem to have enough. But this was perfect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I always keep a jar of house seasoning on the shelf. Sometimes I make a big batch. Most times I make it in this smaller proportion.
 *House Seasoning:  
1/4 cup salt 
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. garlic powder
Mix well. Store in an air-tight container, such as an empty spice bottle or small jar. 

The Grandmother Gig

I am away from the blog at the moment while I truly am on a "grandmother gig." We welcomed this sweet thing into the family just over a week ago. Yes. Another girl! She arrived weighing 5 lb 8 oz. 

This blog was started when I helped with the first grandbaby born into the family. I'm thinking I might have to reassign blog names for the grandchildren since Baby Girl is no longer the "baby" in the family. I'll have to think on this a bit!

My days are full right now but I'll be back here on the blog in the near future. 

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day meal.

This was the Christmas I discovered that many of my "must do" holiday things were not particularly necessary. I probably knew that intellectually but I never wanted to skip any of it. Until the flu made that decision for me. The funniest part is that no one else seemed to notice what didn't get done. Lesson learned.

I am thankful for daughters and sons-in-law and a capable husband who all pitched in to make sure everyone was fed. I was laying low, looking at friends IG posts of their families seated around beautifully set tables and feeling like I had let my folks down a little. I was sad that my Christmas china never made it out of the cabinet. And then yesterday one daughter told me that one of the best parts of her holiday was eating the Christmas night dinner—standing rib roast and the (fewer) trimmings—on the holiday Corelle dishes, in her pajamas. Nothing fancy required. But we were all around the table. That's what mattered.

Yesterday, it was the traditional Southern New Year's Day meal of peas and collards meal that promises good fortune in the coming year. And I cooked most of it. So good to be back in the kitchen. As we feasted yesterday everyone said this was their most favorite meal. Maybe because it's the opposite of rich holiday foods. And we all wondered why we don't make this menu more often.  

Here are the links to the foods that are on our plate each year. And the recipe to an old, old recipe that hasn't been on the blog in this version. (Before you cringe at the amount of butter you should know I cut it in half from Aunt Bibby's original version.) I often have macaroni and cheese with this meal but this year I subbed "brown rice." It is easier to put together. It isn't really brown rice...the brown color comes from beef consommé. I was completely grown before I knew that real brown rice was rice that retains the bran layer. In my family brown rice was white rice baked in the oven with beef consommé. And butter. This dish still shows up on every church covered dish dinner table.

NEW YEAR'S DAY MENU:

Bourbon Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Collard Greens

Black-Eyed Peas (cook a bag of frozen peas)

Sweet Potato Soufflé

Brown Rice

Pickled Beets (from a jar)

Corny Cornbread

BROWN RICE 

1 cup white rice

1/2 stick butter

2 cans Campbell's beef consommé

1 can of mushrooms, drained (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º.

Melt butter in a 2-qt baking dish (I put the butter in the dish and slide it into the oven while it heats.) Stir in the rice, consommé and mushrooms. Cover dish (I use foil tightly wrapped over the top) and bake for 1 hour.

You may now return to your clean eating plan for the rest of the year.

Easy Hot Fudge Sauce

Hot Fudge Sauce

Need a dessert in a hurry during this busy season? You can certainly dash to the store or bakery and purchase something. And sometimes that is the very best option. Or....you can make hot fudge sauce to spoon over bought ice cream. Sort of a compromise. A little bit homemade if that makes you feel better. That's exactly what I did for our book club supper last week. 

This recipe came from Bon Appétit magazine many long years ago. And it has never failed me. It's been quite some time since a made it. But if you have the ingredients on hand—mostly staples—it can be ready in a jiffy.

Four ingredients if you don't count the water. And about ten minutes to prepare. It's a recipe worth having during this busy holiday season. It's also good in the summer time when it's hot out and everyone wants ice cream.

A few minutes of stirring and the mixture goes from lumpy and bubbly to silky smooth. You can store the sauce in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. If it's for treats at your own house, you can reheat a small amount in the microwave for a single serve portion.

I can never remember how many squares of chocolate make one ounce. I know. I know. I could do the math. Or, since it's a 4-oz box, I could break the chocolate bar into four even pieces and use three of them. But it's also written on the package. If you can find it. It's kind of like "Where's Waldo?" There is so much written on the back of the box, it took me forever to see it. 

If you serve it too hot, it melts over the ice cream.

Since I had not made it in a couple of years, I needed a taster to make sure it was good enough to serve to my friends. Daddy-O was happy to volunteer. And then volunteer again to lick the spoon.

HOT FUDGE SAUCE

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

½ cup water

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoon light corn syrup (such as Karo)

Melt butter with water in a small saucepan over medium heat; then bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Add chocolate and let melt, stirring occasionally.  (Do not be concerned if mixture lumps at this point.)

Add sugar and corn syrup and let boil gently for 5 minutes.  

Serve warm. Or hot. You can decide if you like hot sauce that melts the cold ice cream a little. Or, warm sauce that gets chewy on the ice cream. I like it all.

If you want a Christmas dessert, spoon the sauce over vanilla ice cream, then sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies, and tuck a sprig of mint into the side. Sometimes I add a tiny red and white striped candy cane instead of the crushed candy. And if you're really want it to be festive, look for the Peppermint Stick ice cream at Publix. It's a seasonal flavor and one of my favorite Christmas treats. I bought two cartons as soon as I saw it around Thanksgiving. 

My always willing taste tester.

There are busy days ahead. Blog posts for the next few weeks might be sparse. So just in case we don't meet here on the blog (you are likely as busy as I am) until after Christmas, let me take a minute now to send you my holiday wishes. I wish that...

                         that you enjoy the season,

                         that you get most of the things on your list checked off

                         that you will not worry about what doesn't get done, 

                         that you take time to look at the Christmas stars one night,

                         that you can spend time with people you care about,

             and during this holiday season that can be both joyful and difficult, 

                                                 my wish is 

                         that you will remember to be kind to yourself.

Hamburger Steak with Onion & Mushroom Gravy

Hamburger Steak with Onion & Mushroom Gravy

I had planned to wait and publish this blog post in a week or so when I know I won't have time to write. But the recipe is too good to keep under wraps. So here you go. Enjoy it now!

You would have to have known Mommy as a newlywed to fully appreciate this meal. When she married, she was accomplished in so many things. But cooking was not one of them. She made a lot of cheese quesadillas, Kraft macaroni & cheese and hot dogs in those days. But 14 years later, after many phone calls to mom, watching FoodTV, reading food blogs and simply having to put meals on the table day after day for years, she is an excellent cook, as comfortable in the kitchen as she is singing before an audience.

I had heard about this recipe for quite some time and was happy when she offered to make it for our dinner while everyone was here over Thanksgiving week. Her daughters all love this. J-Daddy loves it. And now we see why. The seasoning is perfect—even with our tweaks.

This is a long list of ingredients. But it's not a difficult recipe. When I make something like this, I usually set out all the ingredients and measure all the spices before I start cooking. Slice your onion and mushrooms. Then it's just a matter of adding them into the pan as you go. 

Don't let the long recipe scare you. It's well worth a little extra effort. It's one of the best dishes we've tasted in a while. Better than many restaurant meals we've had. Mommy spooned the gravy over her homemade mashed potatoes this time. She said she's also served it with noodles and rice, depending on what's in her pantry. It's all good.

HAMBURGER STEAK with ONION & MUSHROOM GRAVY

1-1/2 lb. ground beef (80/20 is best)

2 tablespoon olive oil

salt

pepper

For the gravy:

2 tablespoons butter

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning

1-1/2 cups baby bella mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 cup low-sodium beef broth

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons yellow mustard

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Handling lightly, form ground beef into 4 patties. Don't overwork the beef.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil. Salt and pepper burgers.

Cook burgers about 3 minutes or more, until one side is deep brown. Turn burgers over and cook until desired doneness. Remove from pan and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium. In the same skillet you cooked the burgers in, melt the butter. Add onions about 4 minutes. Stir occasionally, scraping up the browned bits in bottom of pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme and cajun seasoning.

When onions are very tender, add mushrooms and stir to combine. Cook about 2 minutes more. Add cornstarch and stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and add beef broth, soy sauce, mustard and vinegar. Continue cooking, stirring until sauce thickens, 4 or 5 minutes more. 

Return burger patties to pan and spoon gravy over them. Top with parsley and serve

I normally buy extra-lean ground beef, but Mommy said much of the flavor comes from the beef drippings so she uses the 80/20 mix here. If you are feeding 5, just make the burgers a little smaller.

If you are into clean eating, doing Whole30, or need gluten free, check the original source of this recipe, Defined Dish. Mommy makes the original version, but I don't normally stock arrowroot powder, ghee or coconut aminos in my pantry. We reworked it to use ingredients that I had here. She said the taste was a little different with our substitutions but equally good. 

There's Still Time To Make These

Little Sister's teacher gift.

The Christmas crunch is fully upon us. We drove down last week to watch the little girls perform in their school variety show. So much fun to see them, dressed in poodle skirts, sing and dance with three friends to Rocking Around The Christmas Tree! They were so good that they were the opening act. Makes a grandmother proud.

Because Baby Girl told me she lost her little knitting tool, I took them new ones when we visited. Little Sister got one this time, too. She had never used one. But after the show and after dinner at their house, they were not going to let us leave until we knitted something. It was getting late and we still had a drive to Jessica's house ahead of us. But I gave them a super quick lesson. 

I'm an experienced grandmother who has been down this craft road before. I had a plan and came prepared. The Wonder Knitter only makes a knitted tube. (Knitters call that "I-cord.") I had the brilliant idea that they could make little wreaths for Christmas. I made a bag for each child that contained a skein of yarn already set up on the Wonder Knitter. When I handed them the bags, we were ready to go. I showed them how to make the stitches and in a very few minutes, Little Sister had made two green wreaths. I did the finishing since we were short on time. Before we left, Baby Girl had finished one, too, for her kindergarten teacher.

When you finish knitting (6 inches, more or less—we had several sizes of wreaths), you'll have a long yarn tail on each end. Tie them together, making several knots so it isn't going to come undone. Clip the ends and tie a red ribbon bow over the join. Voilà! A perfect teacher gift. The girls each took one to their homeroom teachers the next morning and other teachers asked, "Will you make me one, too?"

Wonder Knitter: How to start, how to knit, and how to finish 

This happy project took a not-so-happy turn just hours after we got back to the farm. I had a tearful FaceTime session with Little Sister, who tried to make another teacher gift by herself. When she took the knitting off the spool, something went wrong and she ended up unraveling her precious work. Baby Girl explained, "It just kept shrinking, Mimi!" We'd only had time for a 30-second explanation of how to end the knitting. And that wasn't enough.

I told them both that it takes time to learn anything new and that there are always some boo-boos along the way until you master a new skill. You start over and try again. And again. I will see them again next week and we can have a better lesson than the very quick session on the busy night of the variety show. But in the meantime, this video will help. It might explain it better than I did, anyway.

I found the Wonder Knitter at Hobby Lobby. They cost about $9. If you have a 40% off coupon, the cost is closer to $5.  Those coupons are available most weeks online or on their app. If you are shopping at Hobby Lobby, they also sell small skeins of yarn in many colors. I think they are priced around  $1.00. (I should have looked closer at the label before I threw them away.) Then I bought a spool of red grosgrain ribbon to finish the wreaths. I like grosgrain because both sides are the same. Makes it easier to tie the bows. (Grosgrain ribbon has a ribbed finish as opposed to satin ribbon that is shiny on one side and dull on the other.)

This is a terrific project for kids. Our two little ones are ages 5 and 9. The youngest needs a little help getting started and maybe ending it. But the knitting part is well within her ability. And I'll be honest—when I was showing them how to make the stitches, I didn't want to hand the knitting spool back to them. The process is very relaxing. I have only done the very simplest projects, but I saw on Google that you can make beaded jewelry, too. I am not ready for that yet.

From the book, Too Much TV, by Stan & Jan Berenstain.

If you have never heard of spool knitting, know that it has been around for a very long time. I had one as a child and knitted a rug for my dollhouse like Sister Bear is doing here. (Wind the knitted tube in to a coil and stitch it together on the back.) I used a wooden spool with four nails in the top. (Link shows how to make one.) Not fancy but it worked. The Wonder Knitter, however, is much more user friendly. If you are an Amazon shopper the Wonder Knitter can be ordered from there, too.

You may think this is too much during this busy time. Or, you may be the opposite and need something to keep the kids occupied during the holidays. But it's a great craft when the time is right. Baby Girl used hers back in the spring and made bracelets and necklaces for herself and her dolls. Just a knitted tubes, long and short, tied together. She was thrilled with her "designs." It's a great way to help little ones become makers.