Today we had 72 degree F weather.
Go figure!
Take care.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Super Bowl Sunday
Yay! It's Super Bowl Sunday! I don't give much of a hoot for the game, but I sure do LOVE to make foods for the occasion. Today's menu is for one of the unhealthiest meals of the year. You have to do this once in a while, right?
I started yesterday with coleslaw. Actually, I made enough slaw for about 3 meals. I didn't want to have to repeat making it today. I chopped my celery, carrots, bell pepper, onion and cabbage. Then I made my slaw dressing. It is really yummy and puts the store-bought stuff to shame.
Slaw Dressing Recipe
1/2 jar salad dressing or mayonnaise, your choice
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 or 2 tablespoons white sugar, or to your taste
Mix all together and let set for about 10 minutes. This will give the sugar enough time to dissolve and you'll have to mix again. Refrigerate until ready to mix with the chopped cabbage mix. I mix only as much as we are going to eat at a time. Otherwise, it will get runny if you have leftovers for the following day.
Note: Do NOT substitute anything for the lemon juice. I tried vinegar, thinking "It's an acid. It will be just as good." WRONG! It was not good. Also...do NOT put salt in the dressing mix. Salt will pull the juices out of the cabbage and make the whole thing really runny. You don't want that.
Then I was going to make potato skins, but Hubby mentioned twice-baked potatoes. So I blended the two recipes and spiked it up a bit. No booze in here. Just extra cheese, garlic and sour cream are the ingredients to the 'spike'. I started these this morning with baking the potatoes.
Twice-Baked and Spiked Potatoes
Potatoes
Bacon, cooked and drained, one slice per potato half
Sour cream
Garlic, minced
Butter
Salt & Pepper
Yellow cheese(s) of your choice
Oil and Fryer
Wash and bake your potatoes. After they cool enough to handle, cut the potatoes in half longways. Hollow out the halves with a spoon until you have about a 1/4 inch of skin and potato shell. These should look like little boats and should lay by themselves on a flat baking pan. Save the potato you dug out of the shells. Set aside. Set the potato shells aside.
While still very warm, take the dug out potatoes and add a minced clove of garlic to the potatoes. Add butter, salt and pepper. Mix these together using a mixer or blend by hand. Put some sour cream in to make them creamy and set this potato mixture aside.
Take the potato boats and deep fry them at 400 degrees F until golden brown. Remove and drain. Place on a baking tray or dish that will go into the oven. You'll have to fry a couple of the potato skins at a time. Don't worry about keeping these hot. They will get baked again later.
Now fill the potato skins with the cooked bacon, a dollop of the potato mixture and top with the yellow cheese of your choice. I used two different kinds of cheese...smoked gouda and sharp cheddar. I put the gouda in after the bacon and sprinkled the cheddar on top to make them pretty.
Bake at 350 degrees F until the cheese melts on top. Or, broil and watch them carefully so they don't burn.
Lastly, I made the fried chicken. I began this first thing this morning. I pre-boil the chicken before I fry it. The chicken went into the fryer after the potatoes were put into the oven.
Needless to say, we pigged out on this meal. We each ate two halves of potato skins. I ate one piece of chicken and Hubby ate two. Add coleslaw and we're stuffed! I definitely have to get my seven miles in on the stationary bike tonight!
Our next snack will be sugar-free pumpkin pie I made the other day. We'll eat that at kickoff.
I hope all of you have a great Super Bowl Sunday.
Take care.
 |
| Super Bowl Sunday Repast |
Slaw Dressing Recipe
1/2 jar salad dressing or mayonnaise, your choice
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 or 2 tablespoons white sugar, or to your taste
Mix all together and let set for about 10 minutes. This will give the sugar enough time to dissolve and you'll have to mix again. Refrigerate until ready to mix with the chopped cabbage mix. I mix only as much as we are going to eat at a time. Otherwise, it will get runny if you have leftovers for the following day.
Note: Do NOT substitute anything for the lemon juice. I tried vinegar, thinking "It's an acid. It will be just as good." WRONG! It was not good. Also...do NOT put salt in the dressing mix. Salt will pull the juices out of the cabbage and make the whole thing really runny. You don't want that.
Then I was going to make potato skins, but Hubby mentioned twice-baked potatoes. So I blended the two recipes and spiked it up a bit. No booze in here. Just extra cheese, garlic and sour cream are the ingredients to the 'spike'. I started these this morning with baking the potatoes.
Twice-Baked and Spiked Potatoes
Potatoes
Bacon, cooked and drained, one slice per potato half
Sour cream
Garlic, minced
Butter
Salt & Pepper
Yellow cheese(s) of your choice
Oil and Fryer
Wash and bake your potatoes. After they cool enough to handle, cut the potatoes in half longways. Hollow out the halves with a spoon until you have about a 1/4 inch of skin and potato shell. These should look like little boats and should lay by themselves on a flat baking pan. Save the potato you dug out of the shells. Set aside. Set the potato shells aside.
While still very warm, take the dug out potatoes and add a minced clove of garlic to the potatoes. Add butter, salt and pepper. Mix these together using a mixer or blend by hand. Put some sour cream in to make them creamy and set this potato mixture aside.
Take the potato boats and deep fry them at 400 degrees F until golden brown. Remove and drain. Place on a baking tray or dish that will go into the oven. You'll have to fry a couple of the potato skins at a time. Don't worry about keeping these hot. They will get baked again later.
Now fill the potato skins with the cooked bacon, a dollop of the potato mixture and top with the yellow cheese of your choice. I used two different kinds of cheese...smoked gouda and sharp cheddar. I put the gouda in after the bacon and sprinkled the cheddar on top to make them pretty.
Bake at 350 degrees F until the cheese melts on top. Or, broil and watch them carefully so they don't burn.
Lastly, I made the fried chicken. I began this first thing this morning. I pre-boil the chicken before I fry it. The chicken went into the fryer after the potatoes were put into the oven.
Needless to say, we pigged out on this meal. We each ate two halves of potato skins. I ate one piece of chicken and Hubby ate two. Add coleslaw and we're stuffed! I definitely have to get my seven miles in on the stationary bike tonight!
Our next snack will be sugar-free pumpkin pie I made the other day. We'll eat that at kickoff.
I hope all of you have a great Super Bowl Sunday.
Take care.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
After The Ice Came
Here are some pics of what our place looked like after last Wednesday's ice storm. As you see, it was just under 30 degrees. For us, this is cold.
Here is part of what we got on Tuesday night.It was icy rain, sleet and some snowflakes. It was more icy rain than anything else. It was enough to shut down three major bridges, cancel schools and work and a lot of other things came to a standstill. There are no winter treads here. Everyone thinks they can drive on the ice. Well, I hate to say, I stayed home from work because I'm VERY familiar with trying to drive on ice.
Here is what we woke up to. Here is a picture of what we had. Everything has about 1/4 inch of ice on it. Everything is crunchy.
Here are the chickens.
The chickens don't really care too much about what is going on as long as they get their feed. I made them a special treat of plain oatmeal while it was warm. They weren't too sure at first, but they finished it all off. Their waterers are frozen solid, so I had another waterer in the coop under the heat lamp. These are all of the chickens I have left at this time. Loren is coming out of the door. (Sophia just died a few days before) She's a Buttercup. Tigger is the roo. He's the color of Tigger on Winnie the Pooh. I don't know his breed, but he's a good rooster. Ethel is the big brown leghorn. (Lucy died last year) Ooma is the white Lakenvelder. Don't ask how I got that name. It just came to me.
I had to go and check out the Back 40. Of course, it's not 40 acres, but it is a haul to go back and forth from the barn or house to here. Especially to the garden which is by that big plastic container way in the back of the picture. I'm afraid my worm farm probably solidified this night. Maybe not. It was protected from the elements pretty well. We'll see when I change out their container for a new one.
Lovely, wasn't it? It was a nice mid-week day off for me. I did laundry, cooked, read and watched a marathon of one of my favorite shows...Haunted Collector.
Right now, at 6:56 pm, I hear a hooting owl outside of my window. I don't usually hear them this early. But it's out there. I just got the measurements for a Screech Owl box. We have at least four of them screeching at 2 am every night during the summer. Good for another post, ain't it?
Take care.
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| Just under 30! |
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| Porch on Tuesday Night |
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| Doesn't Look Bad. |
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| Clueless Chickens |
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| Trixie in the Back 40 |
Lovely, wasn't it? It was a nice mid-week day off for me. I did laundry, cooked, read and watched a marathon of one of my favorite shows...Haunted Collector.
Right now, at 6:56 pm, I hear a hooting owl outside of my window. I don't usually hear them this early. But it's out there. I just got the measurements for a Screech Owl box. We have at least four of them screeching at 2 am every night during the summer. Good for another post, ain't it?
Take care.
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