It was a weekend of cooking, some cleaning and plenty of good football! At least that's how mine was spent :)
I was in a major cooking mood and just couldn't stop myself. I cooked up a storm! lol Everything from mayonnaise biscuits to squash casserole to broiled salmon...it was all on the menu. Sometimes I just get in that mood and I spend my days in the kitchen mixing things up or in the living room catching the scent of whatever I have in the oven or on the stove top. Lucky for me, "most" of it was healthy.
I have to admit that some of it was bad for us but there was enough of it that was good for us to tip the scale in the direction of healthy before it was all over and done with. So I'll go ahead and get the food section out of the way for those of you who get bored with that part or simply don't want to hear it. Believe it or not, when I don't write about what I've cooked, I get email saying that I need to add it back...so there's something for everyone here :) Enjoy.
To set the mood for the food decisions, you have to know about the weather...
On my way home from work Thursday afternoon, it began to sleet. I didn't know what sleet was until it started hitting the windshield of my car. It looks like rain but it has more umph to it. When it hits the windshield, it sounds like little tiny pieces of hail. Unlike hail, it doesn't bounce off, it just stays there or it melts and runs down like a thick, slow, rain drop. Before the trip was over, it turned to snow. Before I made it down the driveway, my windshield was icing over and the wipers were doing their best to throw the ice aside so I could see to make it to the cabin.
I tell you this because it's the reason for why I didn't make it to work on Friday. I was, yet again, snowed in. This time the weather people (who I barely trust anymore) said that all the snow that fell Thursday afternoon froze into ice overnight and created a driving hazard all around greater Nashville. I wish that weather person had taken the time to drive out and see us...they wouldn't have made it 2 miles off Hwy. 100. We tried to get to 100 but were unsuccessful until our attempt much later in the day. It was messy, messy, messy.
I tell you all of that because Friday is when the need to cook hit me - good thing I was home lol! I defrosted some bottom round steak that I had bought on sale a little while back. With this I planned to make my beef, barley, vegetable soup. I defrosted some ribeyes and Wally had already taken out some hamburger meat and sausage. I defrosted the salmon and pulled some summer squash from the freezer. It sounds like a lot but it was really just enough for the two of us with only a few leftovers. It had to cover three days... :)
The goulash you see on the flickr site was concocted Thursday night as I watched the yard turn white with snow before the sun had even begun to set. This was the same afternoon I took the pictures of the bird feeders and the back yard and back porch. I read through a few recipes for goulash but none of them sounded like the one I had used in the past. While reading them I kept getting a nagging sensation that I was missing something. I had discussed it with my Mom earlier and decided to go with what we remembered as being the recipe. I kept getting confused on what ingredients I used the last time I made goulash but I'm pretty sure with this last effort, it all came back to me.
The meat browned while the onions and peppers cooked until they were just getting soft. I added a can of tomato paste, some salt and pepper, paprika and plenty of garlic - maybe 3 or 4 cloves? I added some basil (that came in my CSA basket over the summer - I dried it and saved it for just such a reason), some oregano and a can of plum tomatoes that I chopped up. The macaroni was whole wheat and it boiled while everything else got together in that big ol' pot.
It was thick and hearty just like I remembered my Mom's being and although it looked like there was lots of it in that pot, we ended up eating all but one serving which disappeared around lunchtime the next day :) Neccy wrote to tell me to send some her way - that she was hungry!
The mayonnaise biscuits came as a complete surprise to me. In between cooking, I was reading an old "Future Homemakers Of America" cookbook and low and behold, there it was when I turned to the baked goods section. I just thought it sounded too crazy to work so I had to try it. Get this, it has just 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2/3 of a cup of milk and two heaping tablespoons of mayo. That's it. You stir it together until it's smooth and then spoon the batter into a greased muffin tin (makes 6). I used non-stick spray - it's easier :)
The biscuits cooked for just 15 minutes and they were done. Sooooooooo easy folks. They puffed up nicely and had a regular biscuit texture to them. I split mine open and put a little bit of butter and honey inside then gobbled it up like someone was trying to take it away from me. I'm pleased to say they were quite delightful and will be served up many a Sunday to come in these parts. I hope you'll be here to join us for some soon :) You won't be disappointed :)
It's funny but I don't remember what we had with them...I think it was scrambled eggs and sausage but I can't be sure...lol!!
I had saved some meat gravy from something I cooked back in December. I didn't label the bag other than "meat gravy" and the date of Dec. 1, 2010 so I'm not sure what kind of meat it was other than that it was beef. This I could tell from the color of the gravy. Chicken or turkey would have been a much lighter shade. Anyway, I took it out and figured I would add it to my beef, barley soup. I scraped and chopped up the carrots - I'm a big fan so you'll always find plenty of carrots in whatever soup I make. I chopped up some celery (another thing I'm a fan of...) and I chopped the meat into bite size pieces. I had a cutting board full of goodies just waiting to go in the big red pot.
The olive oil heated up and the meat went in. It sizzled and cooked until it easily came free from the bottom of the pot and then the veggies went in. What a sight - made my mouth water :) I added salt, pepper and anise (just a sprinkling) and stirred in some beef broth. At this point the "meat gravy" went in. It thickened up the soup to a stew consistency which was by no means a flavor disappointment at all. I got it up to a boil and poured in the barley. The pot was covered, the burner was turned to medium low and it simmered for 45 minutes to an hour. mmmm mmmm GOOD!! I know I say that every time I make it but it's so true and so healthy and it never fails to warm me up :)
The raisin muffins had the cabin smelling like oatmeal for some reason. They were pretty good for being whole grain - it takes some getting used to. They do have a small amount of oil in them but the texture is light and they were sweetened with honey and simply packed with warm, juicy raisins. You could butter them I suppose but they don't really need it (Mom). They are a nice mid-morning snack for those of us trying to get more fiber into our diets...if you set one on a paper towel, it won't leave a greasy residue on it like the commercial muffins that are so popular these days.
The recipe made 12 so that provides one for each of us, each day of the week until the time rolls around again for mayonnaise biscuits...lol! Healthy for 6 days, a little not so much on the 7th... :)
As you can see from the pictures on the blog, we had broiled salmon again. Now this is healthy in that it provides a good dose of omega 3 fats which help keep our arteries clean and it's "wild caught." For salmon this is particularly important as farm raised salmon do not have the heart healthy omega 3s that wild salmon have. But I digress... lol I rinsed the salmon and checked for any bones that may have been missed in the filleting process. I marinaded it in the Grill Mates marinade for an hour or so, maybe more. I sprayed my broiler pan with non-stick spray and trust me, you don't want to skip this step. I started the fish skin-side up so it would get crunchy. I heated up the broiler and set the pan in on the very top rack. After just a minute or so I could already hear and smell it cooking. I pulled it out after almost 4 minutes and flipped the fish over so the top part could get a little crunchy too. I gave each piece a spoonfull of the marinade and back under the broiler it went. This time, when it went back in, it was only there about 2, maybe 2 and half minutes and it was done.
It was able to be flaked with a fork which meant it was done and when I did flake it with my fork, juice poured out of it! woo hoo!! Perfect salmon once again. It was tangy as could be from that marinade but it still held up in the texture department. From thick to thin the pieces were cooked through and none were dried out.
With the salmon we had the squash casserole. If you remember over the summertime (oh for those hot, steamy days...lol) I was given many, many pounds of squash. Some came in my CSA basket and some came from Darryl and the farmer lady he calls "Miss Hildi." Well I had so much of it that I sliced it and froze it and stuck it in the freezer with the thought that come winter, we might just be looking for a bag of that frozen sunshine. Hey, it worked out just fine. Squash casserole in the dead of winter is bubbling warm, cheesey, gooey and dilly. When I made a butter and whole wheat Ritz cracker topping, it made it even a little healthy :) Okay, it's a stretch, but it did have the squash in it and the added bonus of some whole wheat in there along with the vegetables...
When we went to Pee Wee's I brought Darryl some of my barley soup and he gave me 4 hamburger patties, fresh from the farm. Oh yeah - that's what I'm talkin about...I love a good beefy cheeseburger and the words "fresh from the farm" just made my mouth water! Seeing as how we never got those cows...this was a good as it gets. I fried those bad boys up and melted some cheddar cheese on top of them and we had us some good eatin' I tell ya! Wally had everything on his - mayo, mustard, ketchup (barf), lettuce, onion, tomato and pickles (my home-made refrigerator pickles of course). Me I had all but the mayo and ketchup (barf). Again, I don't remember what we had with them...but there was something else on the plate. I remember that. Darn, it was probably something really good too...oh well, if I remember, I'll come back to it.
The cake was one of the sugar free box cakes (ha ha Francis!) we were turned on to when Teri and Jay were here. I'm telling you, you would never know the difference if you were given a taste test. It's that good. Why not forgo the sugar every little chance you get? This cake mix makes it easy. It doesn't mean you can eat the whole thing in one sitting but it does mean you don't have to feel bad about eating something like cake when you're trying to watch your sugar intake or trying to lose weight. I mixed it by hand again - I figured I had the time and I needed a break from standing so I sat in the living room and watched tv with Wally while I stirred and stirred. I posted the pictures so you could see what we were eating :) and either get jealous or come see us and share in the goodness :) hahahahahaha Well?
I had some noodles left over from the goulash so I decided on a pasta salad. I just happened to have black and green olives, hearts of palm (jarred), artichoke hearts (canned), red and yellow sweet peppers and cilantro. I chopped up all that stuff, added it to the noodles and then poured on the Good Seasons Salad Dressing... oh yeah, I added a little bit of oregano and salt too... HEY!!! - now I remember, this is what we had with the cheese burgers!! lol! Oh that's too funny... even for me.
For an afternoon snack I made the deviled eggs you see on the flickr site. They are just so easy and everyone likes them and since I had the eggs already boiled (doesn't everyone?), I thought what the heck? I scooped out and mashed up the yolks then chopped up some ham and a couple slices of my refrigerator pickles. I sprinkled in some garlic powder and stirred it all together. I piled the filling on top of those slippery little egg whites and in less time than it took me to make them, they were gone, gone, gone. LOL Ever notice that about deviled eggs? They just go away so darn fast! Maybe I need to make a couple extra next time...sorry for those of you who can't tolerate eggs because they are one healthy little snack that you just can't beat.
Whew - does that cover all the food? I guess so... I'm sure some of you hope so!
The rest of my three day weekend was spent trying to figure out what sort of decorations I wanted to put out. With the holidays over all the holiday stuff is put away. It's no where near springtime yet so it's not time for that stuff to come back out. I'm kind of in the middle with nothing to display... I guess I've never really had to decorate for a winter season having lived in FL all my life...what does one do? LOL Well, I found a few things that looked wintery but not Christmassy but mostly I'm leaving things kind of clutter-free, if you can imagine that coming from me...lol!
There are some white candles in some crystal candle holders on the bathroom windowsill and I have a gourd basket full of pine cones on the table with my more wintery placemats that Sandy gave me. The coffee table and end table have nothing on them except maybe a cookbook or two...since it's been cold, I've been going through those like a white tornado. That's about it... see what I mean?
I got tons of laundry done over the weekend. We have more of it these days as we're having to do some layering in order to be warm when we're outside. Not only that but the clothes are heavier and take up more space in the washer/dryer. I'm having to use dryer sheets for the first time in forever. I don't care for them or the way they make the clothes feel but there is so much static, I had to do something. I was getting shocked all during the folding! Not pleasantly shocked either...
The puppies have grown so much that they're too tall to stand in the doorway of the Ho-dog-house without bumping their heads. They now stand in the house and stick their heads out of the house so they can see what's going on. They follow Smith and Wesson off the hill in the front yard and while the big dogs nap in the sun, we can see them out there in the tall grassess rumbling and tumbling and sniffing everything. When they bark now, they sound like much bigger dogs than they really are and before long they'll be scaring off anything that moves in the woods. Most evenings, after the roosters have flown up, the puppies patrol the edge of the woods watching, waiting and sometimes barking...
We have more sadness on the farm... :( As of yesterday we are one rooster shy. When I got home he had already gone to the Rooster Heaven in the sky. We don't know what happened to him. I hesitate to think it was the puppies because it seems they would have done something like this already if they were going to. Not only that but it's their nature to protect, not harm, farm animals. It could have been the other roosters - maybe something was wrong with him and they knew it and put him out of his misery? I don't know. I have no way to find out. It wasn't Roo if that's what you're wondering. Did I hear a collective sigh of relief? Come bedtime, he flew up into his tree and the others flew up into theirs. One of the thugs has befriended Roo and he now sleeps in his own tree, separate from the others like Roo does. oh well..... :(
When I was on my way to work yesterday I almost had a collision with three, big, fat mama deers. They were crossing the road just as I crested a hill and began my downward cruise. I wasn't even up to 30 miles an hour when I saw them coming and I pushed hard on the brakes. I didn't really "slam" on the brakes but I pushed them hard enough to throw my lunch bag to the very front of the floorboard. All my crap went flying. Water bottle, soup bowl, yogurt container, you name it. All the deer just kept going - thankfully - had I hit the three of them my car would surely have been totalled. I was thankful too that none of my stuff spilled out. I never would have thought those lids would hold so tightly... whew that would have been a big ol' mess.
So Greenbay and the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl, huh? Well I guess you know who my money is on. Who do you like???? I'm sure your party plans are in motion... we'll probably stay home and watch as much of it as we can stay awake for... lol Pee Wee's closes at 5:00 on Sunday so that's out. Besides, you know how early we go to be around here... lol we'll be lucky to make it to the National Anthem :) ha ha ha
The wonderful weather man says we're supposed to have lots of rain today, turning into lots of snow tonight and ending up with 1-3 inches by Wednesday morning. Well, Happy Birthday to me... :) That means we'll probably go out for a little while tonight (if it doesn't snow too heavily by the time I get home) and then hang at the cabin for another snow day on Wednesday. Not a bad plan if you ask me! I'll try to get to the Diner for a cheeseburger but that will be dependent on the weather... :) I already put in for the vacation day.
I'd like to thank everyone for the cards you've sent and Ernie, thank you so much for the magazine subscriptions. I'll be hitting up the recipe sections for more yummy stuff to cook, eat and blog about so I really appreciate you thinking about me so kindly.
To all those of you at the Oriole's - have a drink for me! It'll be Wednesday night bingo so I hope those of you who play will win!! woo hoo - make it the big pot! Tell Ricky, Marsha, Joyce and Lisa Adams I said
hi and please remember the Crites' for me too... Thanks again! I'll be back on Thursday with tales of the birthday to write about... it'll probably be a short little posting that day...lol!
"Believing hear, what you deserve to hear: Your birthday as my own to me is dear...
But yours gives most; for mine did only lend Me to the world;
yours gave to me a friend."
~Martial
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