Celery Salad

Ina Garten has a wonderful recipe for celery salad. I don't have it handy, and I'm not going to fetch it for you because that's not what this is, but it was the inspiration for it.

It's been a long time since I made this one pictured, I can't say the exact ingredients, and since I just found this in my phone, less-than-stellar photo quality isn't much of a help in discovering all of them.

Celery, sliced. On the slant if you're feeling fancy
Lemon Garlic marinade & dressing
Black Pepper
Celery salt
Parmesan cheese, freshly grated with a vegetable peeler
Walnuts, toasted, it looks like...? but I swore I used toasted
Pecans!


Maybe green onions in there. Hard to tell. Good call, though.





I think I see bell pepper, a red one would be nice, maybe a radish? No tomatoes if you want to serve this with any red Italian sauce dish...that's just overkill.

It's delish and pretty versatile. A nice detour from the regular dinner salad.

Green Devils

And ham, or bacon!

I was going to make these for my family while they were here on vacation, but my oldest nephew didn't come, and the younger ones were like, EW! Ssssseriously? If you have kids at home, they'll probably turn their head inside out of you were to present them with green eggs. That's the thing about kids...they don't know what's good, you have to show them! So, make these 'Green Devils' for your adult friends and family, just not for the keg party. Or beer of any kind, really.

Boil, peel, slice, and you know how to make deviled eggs, don'tchya?
Do that, add smashed avocado, top with smoked paprika.
Kick ass and take names.
Top with bacon bits or serve at brunch with bacon...mmm!






It's okay if you can't stop thinking about Dr. Suess.

Tomato Bisque & Grilled Cheese Sandwich

On a hiatus, in Kansas with my mother as she is on the mend from her second full knee replacement. I have actually conjured up a few new things, had some disappointments with some old favorites, and passed on a coveted recipe to my oldest nephew this Thanksgiving. Hopefully, I'll get around to expanding on those, but for now, I dug up my very first food blog post...I dunno why I talk like I have a huge audience, but here ya go people. Both of ya! My ex-neighbor and maternal parent.

Today was a sick day, so rather than just waste it feeling miserable, I decided to create a blog I have intended to write forever and a minute ago. I titled it 'Fear and Loathing in the Kitchen' for a couple reasons--care to guess? Explanations are for another day as I have spent far too long changing the colors, fonts, etc.--so long in fact, I've almost lost the will to peck out these words. The recipe--if you can even call it that, is this:
1 can of tomato soup w/ equal parts milk
1 can of diced tomatoes of your choice. They come in several varieties and I keep enough stocked in the pantry that if the apocalypse comes, you get the idea. *I prefer the garlic, onion, and basil.

1 can of fire roasted tomatoes--diced, of course.

Heat til bubbly & serve with grilled cheeses sandwiches or cheesy bread made from leftover dinner rolls, biscuits, French bread--whatever & a variety of cheeses if ya have them.  My favorite is provolone, parmesan, & cheddar.  Cheesy croissants would be awesome, as would garlic cheddar biscuits.  It's tasty, it's comfort food, it's easy--try it.  If you conjure up something awesome with a different variation, I'd love for you to share.  If you're freaking out because you need some exact measurements for any of the above, you're in the wrong place, we don't do that here!

Mahalo

*recent note
Original date, March 7, 2011
If you read this in chronological order, you will know that carbs are my favorite enemy, and I stay away from them best I can, usually until the cocaine wears off, but in between then and now, some decadence occurred with pesto spread on ciabatta bread plus eight million different gooey cheeses melted in between on a few occasions. Super easy for a huge crowd, as the last time I remember making it was during Inge Festival. Double the above, prep sandwiches, wrap in foil, toss in oven 'til warm and melty...prepare for others to develop a strange crush on you for a few days! Don't worry, it wears off after a while.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a throwback from January 2013. The photo, however is recent...
One of my FAVORITE soups! Enjoy :)

I'm not much of a recipe person.  I look at them, I read them, but I consider them suggestions--to follow one to a 'T' is a damper on my creativity, cramps my style.  The following 'suggestion' is what we were supposed to have for dinner, but the giant dufus that gets mad at me for calling him a giant dufus--forgot to lay out the chicken to thaw in the fridge.  So, to avoid a blog entry about bologna sandwiches, I shall carry on as if I'm cooking it.

Bake some chicken breasts drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, pinch of salt salt, OR dash of cayenne or jalepeno salt if you're a saucy tart--until done, allow to cool & shred with a fork. That not-quite-burnt-but-really-dark juice/spice stuff stuck to the pan, save it for the soup pot.

While that mess is happening in a 400 degree oven, dice onions, sautee (with other veggise like bell peppers or celery, or even carrots! if'n ya wanna) in olive oil, S&P. Prepare 2 servings of parboiled rice.

Bring some chicken broth--ok, a BUNCH of chicken broth--to a boil. Don't watch the pot. Instead, add a mixture of corn starch and broth in small bowl, add to boiling broth & wait til it thickens before you add in your: rinsed black beans, roasted fresh or canned corn, rice, tomato sauce, green chilies, & diced chili-ready tomato product(s)...they come in all sorts of flavors & I have used them all!

Add chicken (and stuck-on stuff) & other veggies. When it's all nice & bubbly, take it off the stove & wait 15 minutes before serving.  You can garnish with tortilla chips, red onion, sour cream or greek yogurt, avocado slices or chunks, and of course, shredded cheese. Fresh cilantro elevates it to a new level awesome, but I don't always have it lying around when I'm making this & I'm NOT usually in the mood to the store last minute. There's people in those places.

Note: I never measure or keep track of anything, tastes the same every time despite this fact!!!

Mummy Meatloaf

This is one of my favorite things to do for my brother's kiddos! It's so much fun, and they love it! Nonna and Halloween kind of go hand in hand, it's may favorite holiday--I hate not being able to be with them this year, but maybe we can get Beetlejuice to put on a show with a holiday turkey to make up for it!

It's pretty easy, just make meatloaf as usual, form into a face(use a plastic wrap or foil-lined mask if you don't feel comfortable doing it free-handed), a foot, or hand--I've only done the face. Use onion layers for eyes, teeth, nails, or bones and bacon for the mummy wrap/zombie flesh affect.

For sides we did:
'Frankenbrains'--fresh, boiled broccoli, whipped in the food processor w/ a little milk and topped with cheddar shreds.
'Monster Mash'--boiled cauliflower(which is also great for stinking up the house, making it smell like fresh death), mashed with baked sweet potato chunks. Don't over mix them, you want to be able to see the 'mash' up, rather than light orange blended blobs, unless, of course, that's the look you're going for.

I just thought of it, but I'm sure some starch-tolerant pinterest person has a recipe idea for 'Hair-raising Hot Rolls' in which you can make scary faces carved into dinner rolls...we try to steer clear of the bread because someone invented things like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and priorities, and stuff.

For dessert we did:
'Zombie Brains' with cream cheese and sugar-free cherry Jell-O. Now they make it easy for you and sell Jell-O molds in the shape of brains!

You might notice we were eating a lot of 'brains' for Halloween, but being of the school that 'you are what you eat' we're gonna stick with it. Have you seen the size of our heads??? If it's too redundant for you, you could change the 'Frankenbrains' to 'Green Goblin Goo' or 'Gremlin Guts'--you get the idea.

Have fun with your kiddos, the don't stay kiddos long enough!!!

Soup Season

It's here! I love soups for a variety of reasons, and I don't think I'm alone in my adoration of them except one issue--not everyone will agree that soups are easy! Some might be more choresome than others, but for the most part, I just throw some old standbys together, no recipes, no measuring, and I'll be damned if it doesn't taste exactly like it always does!

Not so long ago, I made chili--some of the best chili I have ever made--on the fly. No real plan, but it was dinner time and I had all the necessities, so I gave it a go. After dinner...putting my spices away, cleaning my mess, I realized, I hadn't used any chili powder! HA! And it was fantastic. I'm not showing off, or anything, just saying, if this witch can toss ingredients in a cauldron and it comes out not only edible, but delectable, so can you! Quit being such a ninny! Don't be skeered...

I assume that the chili beans I threw in had enough chili spices in them to cover my oversight, but again, the point is to experiment. If it goes horribly wrong, the worse thing that can happen is a bologna sandwich as backup and the comfort of knowing they'll never ask for it again, so later, offer it up when really, you just don't feel like cooking!

Stock the Pantry with:

Stock, or Broth (better yet, make your own & freeze)
Tomato products: diced, stewed, fire-roasted, sauce, etc.
Green Chiles--despite what your Mexican/Hispanic/Latino Neighbors say
Corn starch or flour for thickening
Beans of all sorts: kidney, northern black, pinto, chili-ready, etc.
Chocolate covered sea salt caramel almonds (j/k, were you dozing off?)
...and an array of vegetables (frozen if you prefer)

This way, you've got a starting point and all you need is your perishables. Soups not so quick and easy if you have to make a trip to the market for everysingledamnthing! UGH!

Corn Dog Substitute

Ever since we saw Incubus at Gexa Pavillion, near Fair Park(long before the fair was even going on) I have had an insatiable craving for a corn dog.

Giving in to the beast, I feel I have been punished for doing so...
I got one at a drive-in, it was cold.
I got one that looked totally fair-legit, it was a sausage, not hotdog wiener!
I've tried to divert this craving to hush puppies, even more disappointing.
So, in desperation (mild desperation that is--extreme would have prompted me to just catch the kitchen on fire with exploding grease attempting to make them myself), I made these.

Brown chipotle chicken sausages in a pan, assemble microwaved corn then cheese, tomatoes (because I didn't have ketchup) and mustard (not shown because it was embarrassing for you to see how much mustard I put on it.

It's still no corn dog, but the Kraken went back into the deep, not satisfied, but at least pacified. Had this not calmed the beast, I would have just put hot dogs in cornbread batter and baked. (File that one under stoner/white trash  cookbook.)