Tag: cooking

(im)Perfection

My mom was a kitchen perfectionist. She had precise ideas as to how most things had to be done, and I never quite was able to live up to those ideals. I never stirred correctly, never measured properly, never quite made anything to Mom’s specifications. I’ve always blamed her for my not learning to be a better cook, but truthfully I never enjoyed kitchen tasks.

Every year as Thanksgiving nears I wish I’d paid more attention to Mom’s directives. Even though I’ve now successfully prepared two dozen or more holiday dinners on my own I still have at least one hiccup in the preparation stage every single time. One year I almost forgot to buy a turkey. Another year I accidentally prepared sweet cornbread as the base for my cornbread dressing. That’s a definite no-no! No amount of sage or pepper could counterract the sweetness. There’s no telling what will happen this year. You see, I’m a bit of an imperfectionist.

On Thanksgiving morning I can always imagine my mom looking down from her perch in heaven shaking her head and saying, “Oh, sis, not like that!” But she’s also probably beaming in amazement that I manage to pull the whole thing off, and that so far no one’s been rushed to the emergency room after one of my meals.

Studly Doright and I wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. May your heart be filled with love and gratitude and your belly filled with good food.

Peace, people!

Thanksgiving Day at Doright Manor

Roast Turkey

Cornbread Dressing

Green Bean Casserole (Studly’s favorite)

Grape Salad (from Chicken Salad Chick-my favorite)

Cranberry Sauce

Deviled Eggs

Yeast Rolls

Pumpkin Pie

Wine

  

 

 

Cooking for Studly: Special Thanksgiving Edition

Just when I think I can’t come up with a new way to screw up a meal I manage to surprise myself. Yesterday, I prepared the cornbread for our Thanksgiving dressing. I’ve made hundreds of batches of cornbread over the years, maybe even thousands. It’s pretty much a no-brainer at this point. Bwahaha!

This year I decided to make my cornbread from scratch rather than use one of the handy dandy mixes on the market. And because I’d rather have too much cornbread than too little, I doubled the recipe. Or I thought I did. 

1 1/3 cups of milk? No problem, that’ll be 2 and 2/3 cups.

1 large egg? Easy breezy: 2 eggs.

1/4 cup oil? A little tougher, but my superior mathematics skills came up with 1/2 cup.

So tell me why, when I went to add the cornmeal and sugar I didn’t double those ingredients?

And tell me why I didn’t notice that my batter was a bit on the watery side?

The result was a soufleé-ish concoction with a lovely aroma and squishy texture. I tasted it. Kind of yummy, but not at all suitable for cornbread dressing.

  
So, back to the cupboards for another try. I didn’t double anything this time, mostly because that would’ve meant a trip to the supermarket.

  
It might look a little overdone to some of you, but we like our dressing made from cornbread that is a bit on the dry side. At least that’s what I’ll tell everyone. Just in case, I have a packet of Martha White cornbread mix that I can put to good use.

  
This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for convenience.

Peace, people!

An Ode To Pimento Cheese

Until this week I hadn’t eaten a pimento cheese sandwich in over 40 years. But for some reason this week I felt this need, nay, this HUNGER for a pimento cheese sandwich.

In pursuit of the perfect pimento cheese, I stopped by my favorite sandwich shop, Chicken Salad Chick, on Monday and purchased a take home container of their pimento cheese.

  
Since then I’ve had a pimento cheese sandwich for dinner each night along with a beer and a sliced apple. Mmmmmm!

In honor of the lowly pimento cheese sandwich I give you this poem:

funny yellow substance
funny little spread
served between two slices
of soft white bread.
oh pimento what are you
veggie, fruit, or bean?
never mind, it matters not
your attributes I’ll sing.

Come to think of it, I’m not really certain what a pimento tastes like. I sure like the cheese part, though.

I found this recipe on Pinterest. Keep in mind I haven’t taste tested it, but if any of my readers try it out let me know what you think.

  
Peace, people!

Modern Witch

 Even witches, it seems, are keeping up with modern movements:

What? No kale? Barbaric!:

    
Great use of Twitter:


Well, in that case:

  
 How about a food processor?: 
To all the modern witches. You know who you are!

Happy Halloween!

Update on Cooking for Studly, Dammit!

One of the key ingredients for cornbread dressing is, duh, cornbread. Instead of making my cornbread from scratch I bought a mix. It was a new brand and I read over the list of dry ingredients to make sure there was no sugar in the mix. Sweet cornbread does not make a good dressing base. Trust me on this. 

The cornbread baked up beautifully. And sweet. I must’ve missed the sugar listed on the box. Perhaps I was just weakened by the manual labor. Poor, poor me.

Thank goodness I tasted the cornbread before I began putting together all of the other ingredients. Of course now there’s no time to bake another batch of cornbread, but fortunately I had some Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix on hand. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed and will appreciate it if yours are crossed, too. Unless you’re doing something important, like brain surgery.

Peace, people.

Cooking for Studly, Dammit

Yes, I’m still cooking for Studly Doright. For those of you not in the loop here’s a brief recap: 

1. I’m not a good cook.

2. I’m unemployed.

3. Studly Doright, my husband of 39 years suggested that I need not seek employment IF I began cooking our evening meals.

4. I agreed.

The quality of my cooking is like a roller coaster with big highs and stomach emptying lows. Recently I’ve relied a great deal on Marie Calender and Stouffer’s for our entrees, with Digiorno’s pizzas thrown in on occasion. And while those will never qualify as haute cuisine, at least they’re always edible. Mine cannot always make that claim.

Then last night, out of the clear blue Florida sky, Studly decided he wanted a full-blown holiday-type meal: turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, fruit salad, rolls, etc., on a week night. That’s just sacrilege! Illogical!

But of course I’m slaving away today making Studly Doright a holiday meal. Dammit. I wouldn’t mind it so much if there was a present with my name on it under a tree. Any tree. 

   
 Peace, people!

Cooking for Studly: Not an Update

 A friend shared this on Facebook and tagged me in the post.

 
So far, no demons have been summoned in my cooking adventures, but just in case, I won’t be cooking anything from scratch.

Peace, people!

Cooking for Studly: July Update

As July 2015 fades into history I must confess that I have faded as a cook this month, as well. I’ve relied heavily on frozen entrees these past 31 days, blaming my lapses in the kitchen on a number of worthy excuses:

  • Time spent working in Studly Doright’s shop 
  • Oppressive heat
  • Menopause
  • Humidity
  • Blogging
  • Travel
  • Cat videos
  • Politics
  • Sinus issues

I’m running out of excuses, and once I return home from visiting my daughter in Illinois I’ll need to either start cooking again or come up with some better evasive tactics. I’m open to suggestions.

  

Peace, people!

Cooking for Studly–June Update

Instead of going on and on about what a pitiful excuse I am for a domestic goddess I thought I’d share a recipe that Studly Doright and I really like. If that isn’t progress, I don’t know what is.

FIVE INGREDIENT CROCKPOT RANCH CHICKEN

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast per person

1 pkg. dry Ranch dressing

1 small potato per person

1 sweet onion

1 frozen small corn on the cob per person

–Wash potatoes and slice

–Slice onions

–Create foil packets and put potatoes and some of the onion in one for each person along with a pat of butter and some of the Ranch dressing.

–Wrap individual corn on the cob in foil packets along with a pat of butter and a bit of Ranch.

–Place chicken in crockpot. 

–Pour a half cup of water, along with some butter, Ranch dressing, and onion over the chicken.

–Place veggie packets on top.

–Cook on high for 4 hours.

No kidding, this is one of the best, easiest meals out there. One can substitute kale for the corn packets for a healthier option, and obviously butter needn’t go into every ingredient, but oh my! It’s so good.

Cooking for Studly May Update

A couple of folks have inquired as to whether I am still cooking meals for Studly Doright. Why, yes. Yes, I am.

Studly Doright remains among the living
Even after all of my cooking.

Some nights I create minor miracles
Other nights we survive on cereals.

Still, I miss the cool days of winter
When I could just serve soup for dinner.

Tonight I’m serving veggies and roast
They smell pretty great and that’s no boast.

Let’s raise a glass to good home cooking
But I dropped the roast when he wasn’t
looking.

shhhhhh!

  
Peace, people!