Oh Sugar & a Little Spice

08/04/2023

Hey, I'm finally working on the recipe sharing group I talked about a WHILE ago. QR code below if you'd like to join.
Edit
Just follow this link instead. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1257115121660630/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT

01/21/2023

Come on and laugh along with me....

04/05/2022

Happy 40th Birthday Jesse Penman!

02/03/2022

Hey y'all we're still here! I actually managed to snap a pic before I dug into my soup and sandwich tonight. My goal this evening is to finish writing these 2 recipes in my spiral bound notebook (The Notebook of half written recipes lol) type them up AND post them here. That being said...does anyone take dictation or do transcription anymore ? I'll pay you in cookies 😁

09/07/2021

Frozen In Time ❄️
Confession time: lately my fridge drawers have become the place that good vegetables go to die.
Life has gotten a little bit busier and I don't get often get to cook meals when originally planned. In order to break the cycle of spending money on vegetables only to throw them out, I stocked up on some frozen ones.
This also frees up my fridge drawers for my favoritecanned or bottled beverages 😉
Frozen are just as easy to use as fresh. If you're making soups, stews or casseroles you're not going to notice much (if any) difference in taste or texture.
As you can see I bought these at Kroger but all stores should carry these in their frozen section. At around $1 per bag they're definitely going to save you time and money and the shame of once again letting a bunch of vegetables wilt in your fridge.

09/05/2021

My first video! Hope y'all are having a great weekend.

07/25/2021

07/19/2021

Going Dutch
The other evening I wanted pie. It had been “one of those days” and I had already put on my comfy not leaving the house clothes. I began taking stock of my options. I had used up all the pie crust I’d made earlier in the week making apple pie for a 4th of July party. I just happened to have a pre-made pie crust in the fridge from the other week when I needed a fast option for supper and had made a quiche.
Ok i had pie crust, i had 4 apples that I had found on manager special. No bad spots, just a little uneven and not “pretty” but perfect for a pie. I had almost everything I needed except I didn't have a top crust. I started thinking about Dutch Apple Pie. While I was thinking, I opened a package of Pecan Sandies and ate one and was inspired. What goes on top of Dutch Apple Pie ? A crumb topping made from flour, sugar, butter and sometimes nuts! What are Pecan Sandies made out of ? The same ingredients! Just like that I made a Semi Homemade Dutch Apple Pie.

Semi Homemade Dutch Apple Pie

1 (9 inch) pie pan
1 pie crust
4 large apples such as Granny Smith, Cripps Pink or Gala
1 teaspoon of lemon juice or salt in about a cup of water
2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
¼ - ⅓ cup of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of vanilla
1 package of Pecan Sandies or Shortbread Cookies
2 tablespoons of butter, melted.

Preheat oven to
375 degrees
Roll out pie crust onto a lightly floured surface and place into the pie pan.
Peel, core and slice apples thinly into a bowl with lemon or salt water. Once all apples are sliced, drain off all of the water, add flour, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla to apples and toss lightly until coated. Place apples in the pie crust. Crimp the edges of the pie crust or lightly press down using the tines of a fork.

Crush about 15 of the cookies into fine crumbs, mix with melted butter and place the mixture on top of the pie. Bake the pie for about 30 minutes until crust is golden and apples are tender when pierced with a fork.

Serve warm or cold

07/12/2021

Gumbo a geaux-geaux

I just got back from at little trip to New Orleans where I ate everything I could get my hands on for a solid 24 hours. ⚜️ If I wasn’t inhaling beignets and chicory coffee at Cafe du Monde ☕️, I was sucking down oysters and sazeracs and frightening amounts of gumbo and dirty rice. 🦪🥃 New Orleans is a food lovers playground and creole/Cajun food is in a class all it’s own. 🎉The people of the Big Easy are proud of their culinary exceptionality and will gladly force feed any stranger who suggests even the slightest interest in their cuisine. So this year for 4th of July, I got together with my buddy Allyson and we decided to make gumbo for our loved ones. It’s a process, but a labor of love and the result is always a spectacular dish that will have people at your table licking their bowls clean. The base for this magical dish is the roux. Basically flour and oil cooked down until it’s the color of a penny or chocolate. This is crucial that you get it right. Low and slow, you don’t want this to burn. This is the one part of the recipe you can’t cut corners or rush. It’s worth it. Then we added veggies, chicken, andouille sausage, shrimp, and even crab legs. It was a huge portion and fed 12 people with leftovers.
💜💛💚

Roux Recipe ��1 heaping cup all-purpose flour�2/3 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)

Combine and whisk gently and constantly over medium low heat for 30-45 minutes. The roux should cook down and become a thick consistency and almost a chocolate color. This is the base for the stew and a crucial step. It can be made a day a head and stored in the refrigerator.

Gumbo Recipe ��1 bunch celery , diced, leaves and all��1 green bell pepper , diced��1 large yellow onion , diced��1 bunch green onion , finely chopped

10-12 okra pods, sliced

2 cans crushed tomatoes, drained ��1 bunch fresh parsley leaves , finely chopped��2-3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped ��1-2 Tablespoons cajun seasoning or gumbo filé powder��12 ounce package andouille sausages , sliced into 'coins' (substitute Polska Kielbasa if you can't find a good Andouille��Meat from 1 Rotisserie Chicken*��2 cups Shrimps ��cooked white rice for serving

*Once the chicken has been picked clean, cover the carcass in water in a large stock pot, add salt, 1 onion, 2 bay leaf, 1 celery stalk, and 1 carrot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook this for at least two hours to make stock. Strain and place hot stock back into pot. You should have 10-12 cups of stock.

Cook sliced sausage on medium heat with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Deglaze the pan with a small amount of chicken stock and add the drippings and sausage to the chicken stock.

Add the vegetables including garlic to the stock and cook until they are soft. The onion should be translucent.

Add the cooked chicken, shrimp, and any other meats you’re using.

Bring the stock to a boil and slowly add the roux and parsley.

Add the Cajun spice or gumbo filé powder.

Add any other spices you choose. Sometimes I’ll add more salt and pepper and some thyme.

Let simmer for at least one hour. It always tastes best on the second day.

*when I make rice I always rinse it and cook 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of chicken broth with a few pinches of saffron. The broth gives the rice depth and the saffron pairs well with the gumbo flavor profile.

Laissez les bon temps rouler! And bon appétit!

05/11/2021

🤔So finely ground wheat becomes flour but coarsely ground wheat is just cracked wheat.
Gound corn becomes cornmeal whether it's coarse or fine.
Finely crushed saltine crackers are called cracker meal but finely crushed graham crackers are called graham cracker crumbs... The things that make me wonder why sometimes,
Aunt Anita

04/13/2021

Pesto Presto

While I was wandering through the produce section at the farmers market in Dekalb, I noticed they had bundles of basil on sale. I couldn’t resist. They looked so green and were so fragrant when I passed by I had to turn around and get them. After placing them in the cart, or buggy as we say down here, I realized I had no plan whatsoever for these herbs. Their peppery and almost black licorice flavor is tantalizing but it doesn’t work with everything. I looked at the tomatoes and thought I could do a Caprese salad but that’s really only a side dish/appetizer. (I’ll add that this summer for those of you who are curious) Thinking a little more, I landed on pesto. It’s an easy five ingredient sauce for pasta that is a nice change from the usual tomato based sauces we are used to here in the states. I picked up some pre-made cheese tortellini and a salad mix and that was dinner. This sauce is said to have originated in Genoa, Italy and has been eaten there for centuries but really didn’t catch on in the US until the 80’s or 90’s. The star ingredient is pine nuts. By themselves they are naturally oily and have a buttery flavor with hints of pine, when crushed into sauces they become sweet and smooth. Some variations call for walnuts which changes the flavor up a bit but is no less unique and delicious. The beauty of this sauce is that it goes perfectly with just about any pasta and you can make it in minutes. We are going the semi-homemade route with this one but I promise you it will not disappoint.

Pesto Sauce

2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 generous Tablespoons pine nuts
2-3 large garlic cloves
1/2 Cup olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Fresh black pepper
(Pasta water)

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Boil pasta in salted water and cook according to package directions. Once the pasta is finished cooking add one tablespoon pasta water to the pesto and combine. (This helps add salt to the sauce and the starches from the pasta help it “stick” to the pasta better)

**on Parmesan: I’m sure I’ve stressed this before but the type of Parmesan you use is important. The more the cheese ages the better it becomes (like a lot of us). After at least 24 months it takes on a more sharp, nutty, and savory flavor as well as the texture becoming more fine and grainy. This is what you want. Parmesan aged any less can sometimes become “waxy” and flavorless when used in dishes. It’s a little more expensive but worth it for the flavor.

04/09/2021

Chicken and Mushrooms

Yesterday evening I was craving Asian food. I started rummaging through my fridge and pantry and realized that I had the ingredients to make something Asian inspired.
So, purely on instinct I started formulating my recipe. Sure, there are tons of recipes readily available online, but, why not make it up as you go?
Yesterday, I definitely was having trouble maintaining focus on what I was doing. It might have been a good day to have a recipe at least for reference, but, that thought came and went like dandelion fuzz on a warm summer breeze.
The good news is that the final product was really good so I'm going to give you two versions of the recipe. How I meant to make it... And, just for fun how I actually made it.

Chicken and Mushrooms

1 cup jasmine rice cooked according to the package directions.

1 or 2 large boneless skinless chicken breast (or thighs)
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
8 oz sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ cups lower sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon canola oil

This is one of those recipes where you definitely want to practice mise en place. Remember, don't put cooked food back into the same bowl or plate that the raw food was on. Prep aromatics, herbs and vegetables/fruit first and prep meat last.
Also I use my electric skillet to make this. If you don't have one or a wok, then, a deep skillet or dutch oven will work.

Mince garlic and ginger and set aside. If mushrooms are not pre sliced go ahead and slice them and set them aside. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside. Measure chicken broth and soy sauce and set those aside too.

Over medium high heat, add canola oil to your pan and saute chicken until no longer pink, about 7-10 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside.
Add mushrooms to the pan and saute about 5 minutes until done. Remove mushrooms and set them aside with the chicken.
Add the garlic and ginger to the pan cook for about 2-3 minutes. Pour chicken broth and soy sauce in with the garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil, mix cornstarch with about 2 tablespoons of water and add to the broth mixture once the mixture starts to thicken add chicken and mushrooms. Cook for another couple of minutes just to make sure everything is heated through.
Serve over rice.

"What really happened…"
After work I said to myself, hmmm 🤔 Asian food sounds good 🚶‍♀️walk to the pantry, rummage around, come out with rice 🌾, fresh garlic 🧄 and chicken broth🥫. Look in the fridge 👀 ok I've got chicken 🍗, mushrooms 🍄, soy sauce and fresh ginger 🤔 more thinking went back to the pantry and got cornstarch. Survey my ingredients, start cooking rice 🍚, go get my electric skillet out and begin preparing ingredients. So far, so good.
Cooked chicken 🍗, cooked mushrooms🍄, ⏱️ timer goes off, rice is done.💡 lightbulb moment: fried rice sounds good! Add oil to skillet, dump in rice, spread out the rice and let it start cooking. 👀 Look over and see 🧄 garlic and ginger..oh no ! 🤦I forgot to add the garlic and ginger! Throw the garlic and ginger on top of the rice. OMG! 😱 That was for the sauce!! Still thinking at this point that things are under control, continue cooking rice. Think 🤔 fried rice needs eggs, make a couple of wells in the rice and add two eggs, let them cook. Chop up eggs, mix with rice. Push rice mixture to the side of the pan...and promptly pour in the chicken broth, soy sauce and cornstarch. No! 🤦I exclaim, why didn't I take the rice out of the skillet?! Looking helplessly at my thickening sauce, decide what the hell, dump the damn chicken and mushrooms into the trainwreck er skillet.
And THAT my friends is how recipes are made!
**The End**