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?

Super Bowl Sunday Repast

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.

Stuff Around The House

Today was an eclectic day for us on our little homestead. First thing, we went to Tractor Supply for chicken feed and such. Next, we went to WalMart for some plastic containers. Then, we went to Lowe's for a valve. Then, we went to the flea market to buy veggies and fruits. Then, we stopped for a lottery ticket (can't hurt once in a while). Then, we went home.Woo Hoo! Home!

After lunch, we went outside to feed the chickens. They were pretty hungry by now. And we built a worm farm. Yes! I did it! A worm farm. That's what the plastic containers were for. We put a valve on the bottom one for the wee wee to come out of. We drilled holes in the bottom of another which fits inside the bottom one. Then we drilled some holes in the top for ventilation. Then, we built a stand and put it out of the way in a cool dry place. Now, we have to go worm shopping! They say Red Wigglers are a good variety to buy. The ones from the ground are not. Otherwise, we could use the ones in the compost heap. That should be fun to explain to people. Mr. Store Owner: Why do you need so many worms? Are you going to throw them in the lake and wait for the fish to come up so you can scoop them out? Har! Har!  Me: Well. If you must know...(pregnant pause)...I'm going to farm worms for compost and fertilizer. This way I won't have to come back to your fine establishment for fertilizer and fishing worms. Ha! Ha! (ka-ching!...saving money)

I fixed some soup with potatoes, ham, cabbage and dumplings for dinner tonight. It turned out pretty good considering I've never had anything like it before. Yes. I like to make up dinners. I also baked a pound cake from scratch. It goes well with the next item.

We went outside and picked about a pint of strawberries. I had some left over from last night's picking. We pick them just as they've turned red and they ripen over night. I sliced last night's up and put some sweetener to them. It's just about time for STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE!

Then, we went outside to pick off some rats. Missed them tonight. I guess I'm not that good today.

I hope you had a great day.

Take care.

Nothing Much Today

Nothing much happened today. I had to go get steel-toed boots for work. We have to do a safety check walk-through this coming week. This is something we do to make sure the plant is safe. Being an admin assistant, it is weird to get out of the office and into the plant. However, this is good since I am a fresh pair of eyes to check for odd things around the plant. What is good, that my employers may not know, is that I was an inspector a very long time ago. I inspected plastics for errors in manufacture. I love picking apart things, which is good in a way. One way it is good is that I can pick apart and recreate a lot of recipes that others may not be able to. Actually, to toot my own horn, my recipes turn out better than the originals. IMHO. ; )

I pulled weeds from my itty bitty strawberry patch. Some of those plants have flowers and fruit. They really shouldn't have any since they are so small. I'll probably end up picking off the buds and fruit so the energy will go into making good plants.

I also made another enchilada pie and some ham and scalloped potatoes for dinners this week. I need to think of a cold side dish to make so we can have a variety and quick meals during the week.

I just came in the house and I am ready for movie night on Netflix. We LOVE Netflix!

Take care.