Hey, Y'all!

Fat Tuesday

Like me, my coworkers like to eat. We also like to go out to lunch. It gives us a break from the office, where there are no windows. It gives us a chance to vent if we need to. It gives us a chance to be off the clock for a minute, free of ringing phones and such.  We sometimes walk to a food court, while other times we drive a little further to a restaurant.  Many of us sample one another's food. (ahem, me, cough cough) Sometimes we plan lunch all morning. For us, it's an event.

Tuesday was a particularly spectacular day for lunch.  We walked over to the food court, armed with the knowledge that :

1.  There was a new Mexican place, and

2.  The Shipley's Donut Shop sells box lunches.

We split in half, some going for burritos, the rest of us opting for Shipley's.  Our box lunches featured a kolache, stuffed with your choice of turkey, ham, buffalo chicken, pepperoni, meatballs, sausage, and the like, a donut, a bag of chips, and a drink. FOR LESS THAN FIVE DOLLARS. I mean, with a price like that, they are practically DEMANDING you eat there. 

We all met up and ate our respective lunches, comparing our kolache stuffings and donut choices.  Once the Shipley's group finished, we all just sort of looked at each other until one brave soul spoke up:  I'm still hungry.  That's all it took for me to run to the Mexican place for an order of nachos.  In my defense, WE SHARED.  And they were outstanding.  Then we went back to Shipley's because we needed dessert. Yeah.

One friend, who shall remain nameless, ate the following at this lunch outing:

1 buffalo chicken kolache

1 meatball kolache

1 bag of Lay's potato chips

1 cinnamon sugar donut

1 pint of whole milk

2 nachos with chicken

1 chocolate frosted donut

1 buttermilk cake donut

1 cup of coffee

We're pretty sure he's either pregnant or that God has some big plan for him which will involve hibernation.

Today we took it easy and patronized a food truck that specializes in grilled cheese.  After yesterday's smorgasbord, it almost seemed like we were eating health food.

Next time we go to the Indian buffet, I'll be sure to take pictures. The amount of naan we consume will either impress or horrify you.

 

Chocolate Pecan Pie

This recipe is courtesy of Paula Deen and it is DIVINE.  I've made the non-chocolate version before, but this one puts it to shame.  If you like the flavor of bourbon, Paula recommends throwing in a couple of tablespoons.  It's a really rich, sweet pie, perfect with a hot cup of coffee.

CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE

• 1- 9inch pie shell (unbaked)
• 2 cups pecan halves
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark corn (or Karo) syrup
• 3 ounces (or about 1/2 cup) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place pie shell in pie pan and cover bottom of crust with pecan halves.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and melted butter. (Be sure to let the butter cool a bit or you'll have scrambled eggs!)  Add karo syrup, sugar and chocolate.  Mix well, then pour over pecans.    Place pan on heavy-duty cookie sheet and place in oven.

Bake 10 minutes at 375, then lower temperature of oven to 350. Bake 25 minutes, or until pie is set.

 

Comfort Food Saturday: Blueberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese and Lime Frosting

 

BLUEBERRY CUPCAKES

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

LIME CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 oz. cream cheese
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon lime juice
Zest of 1 lime

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients for cupcakes together in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, vanilla and softened butter.  Mix with hand or stand mixer on low for 30 seconds, then increase speed to medium.  Mix for approximately 2 minutes, until well-blended and smooth.  Fold in blueberries with wooden spoon.  Drop batter into lined muffin tin, using an ice cream scoop.  Bake 18-22 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool completely.

For frosting, allow cream cheese to soften on counter for about 10 minutes.  Combine butter and cream cheese with mixer until well-blended, about 3 minutes.  Add lime juice and zest and mix.  Add confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup at a time and mix well.  Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.



Enjoy!

 

On Our Table

I've shared my menu plans here before, but this week seems like a booming success of planning awesomeness, so I thought I'd let you know what we're eating up in here!  I generally do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Publix. They have great Buy-1-Get-1-Free deals, almost always including things I really need, like apple juice or pasta.  They also double coupons up to 50cents and have the best produce in town.  Their meat prices, however are H I G H, so I do my meat shopping at our smaller "local" stores, the Piggly Wiggly and Lucky's Foodland.  For less than $20 at the Pig, I bought a huge family pack of chicken breasts, a big pack of thick-cut pork chops and a 1.6 pound package of ground beef.  Combined with the rest of the stuff we bought at Publix (which included some non-food items, like parchment paper and Drano, plus some "Stock-up" items like salad dressing and soy sauce), we spent less than $100 at the grocery store this week.

Here's our menu plan:

Sunday:  Grilled teriyaki pork chops with rice and grilled asparagus.

Monday:  Grilled chicken Caesar salads (We are seeing a pattern with the grilled-ness, yes?)

Tuesday:  Pork fried rice (2 grilled (!) pork chops with veggies like bean sprouts, carrots, peas and leeks)  **I did the math (!) and this meal cost us $2.02 per serving.

Wednesday:  Grilled chicken breasts with baked potatoes and kale.

Thursday: Lasagna because MAN are we gonna be sick of pork and chicken! Also garlic bread. Possibly grilled.

Dean and I are heading to my mom and dad's for the weekend and Marcus has a crazy bunch of work commitments Friday through Sunday, so our grill will be neglected for a few days.

 

What are you eating this week?

 

Who's hungry?

Oh, blog friends, how I wished you all lived closer so that I could show up on your doorsteps with some of the food currently inhabiting my kitchen.  You see, it's state screening auditions week here in Alabama, and I cope with the stress by cooking.  Why, since Friday, I've made marble cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting, golden butter cupcakes, roast chicken and stuffing, homemade chicken soup (which ROCKS), and later I'll be making a fudge cake with buttercream frosting and chicken/sausage jambalaya.  There are tubs of leftovers in my fridge and they contain everything from veggies to macaroni and cheese. 

If we're facebook friends, you've seen my status updates, which fall under the category "What I'm cooking today."  The truth is I love food. I like to eat it and cook it and I LOVE to watch others enjoy something I've made.  Is there a recipe you'd like me to share? Let me know.  If/when we ever meet in real life, I'll come bearing baked goods.

Now if you'll pardon me, I've got a date with some chicken stock and turnips.  Stay tuned this week (Or next. Probably next.) for news.  Not THAT kind of news. It's writing-related.  (Though if you want a good HOLY COW, I'M PREGNANT story, go visit Amalah!)

Baby Shower...with cupcakes!

Yesterday, I threw a baby shower for my friend Meredith in her hometown.  A dear friend of her parents hosted us at her incredible, beautiful home and one of Meredith's other close friends helped me with hosting duties.  In true Jen form, I left my camera at home and didn't realize it until I was 2 hours down the road.  Everything was picture perfect.  I snapped lots of pictures with Meredith's camera, so when she emails them to me, I'll post them here.  Let me just tell you that the bathroom in this house is the most incredible thing I've ever seen. The owners went to a lot of salvage sales when they were designing their home, and once in NYC, they purchased the original elevator from Lord and Taylor.  And they turned it into a bathroom! It is a-mazing.

Meredith and I spent the weekend at her parents' house, where I felt like I was being pampered at a five-star resort.  Her father served two of the best meals I think I've ever eaten, one of which I'm begging him to post here for Comfort Food Saturday.  This morning, her mom made her famous breakfast casserole, which is leaps and bounds better than mine, probably because she uses more butter.  We laughed until our sides hurt and had such a fun time showering Meredith and Dave with love and gifts.

My favorite thing we served at the shower was the cupcakes.  I achieved color perfection with the icing on the first try!  They were the absolute perfect shade of Tiffany Blue, the color of Meredith's son's nursery.  We piped on white polka dots and cuteness was achieved.  Here's the recipe I used for the cupcakes:

SHOWER CUPCAKES

1 box white cake mix (!)

3 eggs

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter

1 cup whole milk

3/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place paper liners in muffin tin.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mixing with an electric mixer on low for one minute, then on medium speed for 2 minutes, until well blended.  Using an ice cream scoop, fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cakes will be golden brown on top. Allow to cool completely, then frost.

Comfort Food Saturday Guest Post: Biscuits and Gravy

My dear friend Daniel has started a blog.  It's not just any old blog...it's a FOOD blog.  I met Daniel during my first year of grad school, and he graduated with Marcus.  He also moved to NYC around the same time we did, and we were practically neighbors there.  Many wonderful days and nights were spent in both our kitchens.  Some time, I'll have to get him to tell you the story of the 4th of July when Jen and Daniel refused to buy a watermelon. Daniel is one of the best storytellers and cooks I know.  Please be sure to check out his site Hungry Homo, where behind every recipe, there's a great story.

Now what Southern cook would be worth their salt (apologies to Jen) without their very own Biscuits and Sawmill Gravy Recipe? Now that I live in the Big Apple, I tend to get a little homesick and when that happens there is nothing like a Southern Dish to take me back home. One favorite of mine to make is my Mama Jean's Biscuits and Sawmill Gravy. I believe that the greatest thing about food is the story that comes behind it. You can go anywhere and get a biscuit, but you can't go anywhere and get my Mama Jean's Biscuits and Sawmill gravy. Well, except your own kitchen. Let me tell you a little bit about Mama Jean:
As a child growing up, some of my most formative experiences have happened in the kitchens of my grandparents. My Mama Jean (paternal grandmother) grew up in the country in Carrolton, Alabama. She came from a humble family pretty much not having a lot of anything that money could buy, but always in an abundance when it came to family and support and love.

She shared stories of taking baths in wash basins, using out houses, and killing chickens from the yard for food. As a young child, it seemed like I was hearing about a faraway land and culture. Standing wide-eyed in her kitchen she would tell me about hanging chickens upside down on a clothesline to get the blood out, and eating squirrels.

Once, Daddy and I had to rid the old house in the country of squirrels in the ceiling. We used a shotgun to scare them out, then I shot them with a 22 rifle, and put the squirrel carcasses into the hunting vest I was wearing. After the hunt, we went back to the house, me wearing a vest of squirrels. Mama Jean took them and cooked them. She told me never kill anything just for the sake of killing it. And we then ate squirrel.

Less than a year later, I was at her house playing with my new BB Gun. I had climbed her magnolia tree, and was keeping lookout. In a middle of the imaginary war I was fighting, I accidentally shot and killed a crow. Mama Jean was watching from the window. Petrified, I tried as fast as I could to dig a hole to put that crow in. It didn’t work. Mama Jean flew out of the house told me to get out of the tree and bring that bird inside. She then taught me how to clean and cook it. I literally ate crow. I never again shot anything living with my BB gun.

One of my greatest memories is when Mama Jean taught me how to make biscuits and sawmill gravy. Every time I make this, I’m right back there standing on top of a chair staring wide-eyed into Mama Jean’s perfectly seasoned cast iron skillet.

Now first, you have to make the biscuits. Everybody does them different, and that's okay. There are a lot of roads to get there, but at least you get there--ya know?? Now, in a pinch, you can use Bisquick. The directions are right there on the back of the box, and I know on more than one occasion that my Mama Jean used it. And my Granny J. And even me, the hungry homo. Now here is my biscuit recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, cubed
3/4 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 425. Mix all your dry ingredients. Drop in the butter cubes and work it together using your fingers. When you have something that looks like cornmeal, make a well in the center of the dough and put the milk in it. Knead the dough and continue adding the milk till it’s all in. Roll it out onto a floured countertop, and cut the biscuits using a biscuit cutter. Or you could do like Mama Jean and cut them with a water glass. (I used a biscuit cutter). Pop those in the oven, and in about 10-12 minutes, you will have fresh biscuits! When your biscuits are in the oven, grab your cast iron skillet, and start your gravy.

Don't be afraid if you aren't a "gravy person" (Jen) cause I'm not. This is the easiest gravy you will ever make.Now the secret to this gravy is the ingredients.

16 oz pork sausage (Jimmy Dean if you can find it--in the tube)

4 slices of bacon sliced into 1 inch pieces

1T flour

1 pint heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet (preferably cast iron) brown your sausage and bacon together. After finished browning, pour out all but a tablespoon or two of the grease. Add 1T flour to this and start stirring. The flour is gonna suck up all that fat left in the pan. Stir this around for a couple of minutes. This roux should not brown (this is a white gravy). Pour in the pint of heavy cream and start stirring. Add your salt and pepper at this point. Keep stirring. You are gonna stir this for 5-7 minutes without stopping. The gravy will thicken. Taste it and correct your seasoning--and you are done!

Your biscuits should be just about ready to come out of the oven. When they do, cut them in half and put on a plate. Pour some of this gravy over it, grab a fork, and enjoy. Now I can not be responsible if after you eat this, you just walk right over to your significant other and slap 'em right acrost the face. This is THAT good. Come on over to my blog and tell me how you liked the recipe. I'd love to hear you share your story. There's nothing like getting your family (in whatever capacity you qualify it) around that table eating, talking, laughing, and enjoying each other. It's what we like to call "fellowshippin'".

 

   

Leave a comment here or hop on over to Hungry Homo and let Daniel know how much you enjoyed this recipe and story! He's participating in NaBloPoMo, so there will be a new recipe each and every day this month.

The caf

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, my husband and I have lunch together, usually in the university cafeteria.  The food's not bad.I like fried chicken Fridays a lot and they have great Parmesan Peppercorn dressing on the salad bar.  I've never minded eating in a cafeteria, as there are usually several decent dishes to choose from.  When I was in college, however, I caught the cafeteria blues somewhere around the end of my freshman year.  You see, our cafeteria wasn't that great.  They offered a lot of fish (the smell alone would drive you out the door) and creamy things (I'm lactose intolerant), so I usually ate in the food court or at Chick-Fil-A.  Our food court offered things like pizza, baked potatoes, Mexican food and burgers, but they also had a spot called "Mom's Kitchen" which boasted home cooking.  In all honesty, Mom's Kitchen usually featured something they had done with yesterday's cafeteria leftovers. (Meaning NOT APPETIZING!)  My sophomore year, they opened the PHD cafe (Pro-Health Dining) upstairs in the student center, and I ate there on Thursdays because they served spinach lasagna.  Otherwise, it was usually Chick-Fil-A for me.

I rarely ate in the student center on Saturday evenings, mostly because I had pressing social engagements to get to.  I usually swung by Sonic or McDonald's or went out to eat with friends.

SIDEBAR: The only places to "go out" in Ruston, Louisiana at that time were Shoney's, Huddle House, Ryan's Steakhouse and Pizza Hut.  By about your third week in town, you were completely and totally sick of all of those options.

Anywho, one particular Saturday night, we didn't have reherasal, a work call in the theatre or a party to attend.  Faced with *gasp!* free time, my friend Kimberly and I decided to grab dinner in the caf, then head over to the Lady Techsters game.  I figured I'd end up getting a made-to-order pizza, since we had some time to kill, but I decided to stroll by Mom's Kitchen to see what scrumptious delicacy they were offering that evening.  I didn't think anything could be nastier than their version of beef stroganoff, which looked like they took 3 year old egg noodles and poured half and half over them, but I was mistaken.  There in the little silver serving bin, floating in about 4 inches of grease were the most charred pieces of meat I have ever seen.  They looked like hockey pucks.  I had to know what they were.  I asked the server "What IS that?" and she pointed to a makeshift sign (translation:  A napkin taped to the glass and scribbled on with a sharpie) that read:

FILLET MINYAN.

And then I went to Chick-Fil-A.