We have bread....and cheese....

And bacon grease as the case was...I looked at the loaf of good white bread. And I knew we had good white American cheese in the fridge from the much-hallowed Yutzy's. I looked at the leftover bacon grease again. A plan was forming in my head....

Faux Cracker Barrel

Ham, HBC, and a green veg...the way to be. Lovely ham purchased from Yutzy's market. Lovely HBC. And pea pods. (NOT snow peas, sadly). For the ham, I simply sliced it, and put it in a baking dish with a sauce of Dijon mustard, brown sugar, a splash of cranberry juice, and pepper. For the HBC, chop one small onion and mix it with one can of cream of chicken soup, approximately 1 c of sour cream, 1 1/2 c or so of shredded cheese, salt, pepper, 6 tbsp melted butter, and one bag of frozen potatoes (shredded or diced). Mix more melted butter and cornflakes and sprinkle on top. Bake. Inhale. Eat too much. Get sick. Eat more.

Breakfast of CHAMPIONS

Rock the Barrel

Miss Elle and I SLAMMED some Cracker Barrel today. And I mean slammed it. It required a race against the clock south of town, screeching brakes into a parking spot, a race across the parking lot into the store, and a rush to the table to enjoy some downhome country chain store cookin'. I was already halfway out the door with the mention of Hash Brown Casserole, but the realization that fried okra was on the menu was as well had me grabbing my keys and signing out for lunch.

Elle and I both enjoyed "Country Dinner Plates." Elle had grilled chicken tenderloins with ranch, which were delish. She had green beans (healthy) and HBC as sides. Also onion rings for a table side dish. I had ham (HAM!), HBC, and the previously-mentioned okra. We shared biscuits as well. Biscuits = love you know.

So delish.

The Cracker Barrel logo comes from the CB website. Please don't sue me.

Yo Adrian

Another staple of my household is some variation on a Philly-type sandwich. This week, it was chicken phillies with delicious tots. I jazzed up my chicken/peppers/onions/toasted bun with a sauce made of mayo, whole grain mustard, and a bit of a horseradish. Mmm.

Bake sale

My work got bake saled the eff OUT this week.



Coworker Mrs. M made lovely adorable carrot cakes for raffle!

Minor cake catastrophe

This week, we held a charity bake sale at work to benefit Share our Strength. I prepared the Barefoot Contessa lemon cake as one of my contributions. There was an unfortunate "sticking to the pan" incident. See right.




However, if you pour enough gooey glaze over top, you can cover those accidents RIGHT up.







Extreme closeup of a particularly bad spot.

Mmm...giant burrito

Much to my surprise, R agreed to forgo the dull planned dinner of leftovers (blah, pork chops) and replace it with GIANT BURRITOS from Chipotle! Yay! He strayed from his normal fave of barbacoa beef to just regular spicy steak and I had the veggie burrito with black beans. Both of us opted for tomato AND corn salsa with sour cream and cheese. Mmm fat. He also had lettuce. Delish.

I made the mistake of hoovering a bowl of cereal when I got home from work (I was hungry) then eating this burrito less than 2 hours later...I was hurting...I had to lie down on the sofa bed...for an hour...watching Birth Day...

Adult Beverage Saturday

R and I had a lovely cocktail hour(s) on Saturday. R had several cocktails which led to him telling Daisy that he loved her (an odd sentiment, obviously, given their history) but a fun, relaxing evening nonetheless. Which was needed, given the drama of late.

R was drinking a lovely Long Island Iced Tea, the Barefoot Contessa version. You mix vodka, rum, tequila, gin, and Cointreau with a hefty splash of lemon juice and a splash of sugar syrup. Put ice in the glass, put in the booze, then fill to the top with cola.






I made a cranberry cocktail/cape codder/something of that nature featuring cranberry juice, vodka, club soda, and a lime twist. Daisy sneakily drank a sip of mine and seemed to enjoy it roundly.

Disgusting gelatinous mess of goo

Ugh. I made a WRETCHED casserole last night. R declared it "edible" and managed to gag down a bowl, but I could only manage about 3 bites. And I love casserole. To protect the innocent, I won't even link the original recipe, but here's what I did:

I mixed 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, salt, pepper, 3 c cooked egg noodles, 2 1/2 c cooked chicken, and some sauteed onions and mushrooms together. I added some white wine. It still was a bit thick, so I added about 1 heaping tbsp of Miracle Whip, the ultimate casserole treat. I don't know what happened, but the sauce tasted like hot lotion when it came out of the oven. It was way too creamy - like a lotion, not a sauce - and it just tasted funky. R said it was the mushrooms making everything taste like dirt, but I just didn't like the texture and flavor. Bleck. Will NOT repeat.

Cookies!

More cookies...this post will become more comical when you see what else I made for a family reunion this past weekend (have been too lazy to pose those items for a photo). Peanut butter chocolate chippers. Delish. Cream 2 sticks of butter with 1/2 c white sugar and 3/4 c brown sugar. Add 2 eggs. Add 1 c peanut butter. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Mix 3 c flour with 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp powder, and salt (I like more salt, but recipe calls for 1/4 tsp). Slowly add flour mix to butter mix. Add in 1 lb chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tbspfuls on a parchment lined or greased cookie sheet. Bake for 11-14 min. Longer if you make bigger cookies. Cookies should appear slightly underdone, allow them to rest on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Mmm...sausage

Delicious kielbasa. And mustard-roasted potatoes. Mmm. Chop lots of potatoes. Coat with a mixture of olive oil, whole grain mustard, salt, and pepper. Spread on sheet pan along with hunks of kielbasa. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or until potatoes are crisp and tender. Mmm. delish. Mmmmmmmm.....drool....

Ladies Cake

Mmm...cake. I like cake. In addition to the pound cake, I also made a "better than sex" cake and double chocolate gooey butter cake (both Paula Deen - the woman knows her way around a dessert)

Daisy put her face in a corner of the DCGB cake, hence, the removal of a square of that cake in the picture.

D's potato salad

Future s-i-l prepared to the potato salad that accompanied the pulled pork on Friday night (she also pulled the pork, which gave her, I hope, a champ arm workout for the day). She made it look easy. Too easy maybe. Easy enough that I may actually make a potato salad one day. From what I could tell it was potatoes, mayo (only a particularly brand and variety), red onion, egg, pepper, and this seasoning blend that was new to me, Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt. It is a mix of salt and other herbs (not paprika, according to the website) and a teeny amount of pepper, not very much though. It def had a garlicky/oniony flavor, and there were green bits. Beyond that I'm not sure. Crack? Ganja? Who knows. I will be using it in other recipes and delving its Krazy flavor mysteries...

LW continues...

Fajitas. Lovely fajitas. Beef or chicken. Cheese. Sour cream. Salsa. Peppers and onions. Mmm.

Marinade meat (any meat, just adjust marination time - is marination a word?) in lime juice, olive oil, balsamic, garlic, salt, pepper, something spicy (red pepper, cayenne, whatever) and any other seasonings you desire. I let beef go a long time, chicken at least 4 hours. If you AREN'T like me and you DO eat fish, fish just get to look at the marinade for a bit - no more than 20 minutes or so, or else you'll have cooked fishies. Grill that up. Slice and serve. Booya.

Not the easiest food item to take a picture of, especially if you don't have a chip to support your soft tortillas.