Chicken Avocado Soup

Today I tried something new from "The Lady & Sons" cookbook that I got for my birthday. I followed the recipe, but it didn't seem to turn out how I thought it would. There are no pictures in the cookbook, so I never really know exactly how the end product is supposed to look.

One issue is--I suppose--that I don't know quite how "avocados, diced finely" looks. I THINK I do, but when all was said and done, the diced avocado looked kinda funny floating around the beef bouillon.

It looked funny, but it didn't taste badly at all. So, here is how it went.


Avocado Bouillon- Serves six

Two 10 1/4 ounce cans of condensed beef broth
1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Cilantro
6-8 large leaves of Basil.
Salt andpepper to taste
1 large avocado, peeled and finely diced.

I heated the broth and water and then when it was boiling, I added the cilantro and basil. I removed the mixture from the heat and added the avocado, stirring for a few moments.

The Recipe called for the liquie to be poured at once into heated bouillon cups and to garnish with avocado slices, if desired. We don't have any bouillon cups at this home and I'm not sure I'd even know what one looked like if one was right in front of my very face. So, I just put the soup into regular cereal bowls, sliced some french bread and Pop and I dug in. As I said, it doesn't look rockin'ly cool or anything, but it didn't taste badly. In fact, it was a few steps above "sustenance."

Pineapple Mint/Chives scrambled eggs

Listening to: Beach Boys: Kokomo, Eagles:


I have somehow become a huge fan of eggs in the morning. I hope what the doctors say about eggs not being bad for you anymore is true cos I'm usually eating 1-1/2 of them every day.
So, this morning (di mattina in Italian), Pop and I were both hungry so we baked biscuits (from the pack), cooked bacon and scrambled eggs. I decided to try to herb/mint eggs again. Here is what I did:

I cut 3 long shoots of chives. They averaged 14 inches in length. To make their preparation easier, I used some (clean) scissors and cut them up into little pieces about 1/10 of an inch long with the scissors. Since I could bundle the stalks together, it made it fast and easy. Remember, that you can choose a pair of scissors specifically for the kitchen and use them only for that purpose. The scissors can be washed after each use--in hot water--so that they stay safe.

Then I picked the leaves off of three or four "branches' of pineapple mint. Once picked, the leaves equaled about 1/8 of a cup, packed. You can choose whichever type of mint you'd like. I have about six different types of mint growing in my garden, so it makes choosing more fun. Usually in the spring, you can get a wide variety of herbs at the local nursery. Once you re-pot them, they can grow quite big.

I cut the mint up with a smaller knife--a steak knife--because the larger knives don't seem to cut as easily. Perhaps they are less sharp?

In a small bowl, I cracked two eggs. We only had two. Usually, I use three. The recipe will prolly be better with three eggs. I add some milk, about one tablespoon of pepper, I grated some cheddar cheese (use how much makes you happy!) and then added the herbs.

The end product was not bad. It was definitely interesting. I wonder if the additional egg would tone down the pineapple mint enough to make it just right. I'll have to try again. If any of you try this recipe with a larger amount of eggs, let me know how it turns out.

I enjoyed the meal!

Love,
Lolly Fab :)

Mint Rosemary Eggs

I tried something new. I paired Mint with another herb from my garden. I'd been thinking about it, but haven't tried yet. So, yesterday, I had Mint Rosemary scrambled eggs along with bacon and plain ol' regular (non-whole-wheat) pancakes.
The pancakes were okay, but not as good as they could be, yeah?

So, I cut up some rosemary, some mint, added pepper, mozzarella cheese and milk and scrambled the eggs. You'll see in the picture that the amount of rosemary--once chopped--was rather small. That was evident in the taste. I should have added more of both. I keep forgetting the lesson that MORE is more when using fresh herbs. I could taste the rosemary-a very tiny bit--sometimes. I could taste the mint a very very tiny bit. In the end, however, the eggs were tasty. They just weren't as unique and "zing-y" as I'd hoped. I'll try again sometime.


Oh! I forgot. The pancakes weren't completely just plain ol' pancakes. I added cinnamon. Prolly at least a tablespoon-ful. They were delish--just not whole wheat delish.

Hope you enjoy!

Lolly Fab

p.s. I had a picture of the finished product, but it has disappeared. :(

My First Letter

I found this letter whilst sorting through some boxes this morning.

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

Headquarters 2856th Air Base Group (AFLC)

Griffiss Air Force Base, New York 13440

6 August 1969

Loralee Ford

c/0 TSgt & Mrs. P. Ford

8943 Turin Road

Rome, NY 13440

Dear Loralee,

This is probably one of your first letters. I want to be one of those to welcome you to our great, big world and to congratulate you upon choosing such a lovely home. If you had searched the world over, you couldn't have found a nicer Mother nor a finer Dad.

I know how happy and proud they are of your arrival, you are, without doubt, one of the most precious gifts they have ever received. In fact, you are so precious that they will want you to have the very best of everything, including of course, Christian training in the home, Sunday School and Church.

I hope that you are well aware of the queenly place which you now occupy. I have been told that a king can do no wrong (neither can a queen) so I trust that you will not exercise your authority in loud and lusty edicts too often, especially not at 2:00 A.M. Too much exercise of this queenly right may be quite a tax upon your most loyal subjects.

It is our hope that you will grow up in a household of faith, where many hands of fellowship and encouragement will always be stretched out to help you. May God bless you and keep you always is my most earnest prayers.

yours in Christ

Henry Edelenbos

Hospital Chaplain.

Venison Sausage Gumbo Casserole

One of my birthday gifts was a Paula Deen cookbook The Lady and Sons: Savannah Country Cookbook. Of course, I want to try out as many of them as I can.
Another of my birthday gifts was a day spent with Rachel in Beaumont. Part of what we did was walk around the Beaumont Farmer's Market, whereat I--and Rachel--purchased and shared some okra, some jalapenos, some eggplant, and some cayenne peppers. I was looking forward to using them, so I looked for a recipe which called for okra. When I first saw the recipe, I was a little put off. Shrimp Gumbo Casserole? Blech! Something about the texture of shrimp makes me uncomfortable. Well, I know that I can change up whatever I want to change, so I gave it another look. My first thought was to make it with chicken, until I remembered that we had Venison Sausage in the deep freezer in the back. Now, while Shrimp Gumbo sounds nasty, Venison Sausage Gumbo didn't sound half bad, yeah? So, here was how I did it:

I chopped the venison sausage and set it aside. It is the encased, smoked kind. Really delish AND shot by Cole Younger Whitehead and his Daddy last autumn. :)
I chopped in a rather small manner approximately 1-1/4 cup onion. It was a large onion. The recipe actually called for a cup; however, there was some leftover when I finished chopping up the onion, so I just added it to the recipe. (It didn't hurt anything at all, case you're wonderin')
I chopped, finely, one cup of celery--about 4 stalks.
I chopped about six sections of Garlic (what is the word that means garlic section?) I could have used a lot less, but since I was using my new garlic chopper tool, I had to use more cos the garlic chopper tool often leaves too much in the tool. It is very useful in the chopping part; however, I often have to use more than normal.
I poured about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a big pan and let it heat.
I sauteed the onion, celery and garlic. I ended up having to do it on low for a longer period of time cos I have never made this concoction before today and I wasn't really sure when to do part 1 and how long before part 4 should I start part 3 and all that jazz.
I spent the next twenty minutes chopping.
8 roma tomatoes-and when I was done, I tipped the wooden chopping board toward the bowl with the tomatoes, so that I could get all the juice which had escaped in the chopping process. For your info. The recipe actually called for a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes. I like using fresh, if possible. You can do whatcha want to do, of course.
About 6 sprigs of fresh lemon thyme. I merely stripped the tiny leaves off of the stem and added them to the tomatoes. If you have to use dried, it calls for 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.
About 20-25 fresh medium okras, cut into 1/8 inch slices.
-I chopped one small jalapeno and one cayenne pepper, as small as possible.
About 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil and fresh apple mint leaves. It was...eehhh....1/3 mint to 2/3's basil. Just after I finished chopping the two, I worried that the mixture might be too weird, but it turned out okay. I was substituting both the basil and the mint for lemon pepper, by the way. I really don't like lemon pepper, so I made up my own little dealio.
I added all the chopped ingredients, including the sausage, to the sauteed mixture and began stirring them all together.
I added pepper, to taste, which for me means about two tablespoons full and a dash of salt.
Then, the entire mix simmered for about twenty minutes. If there is any chance that you don't want to do the cornbread topping (thus making it a casserole) you prolly oughta simmer the gumbo stuff until it is boiled down to the consistency that you want. During the cornbread baking part, some more of the liquid is boiled off in the oven; therefore, if you leave off the cornbread part, you'll have to leave it on the stove for a bit longer. I don't know how long. This will have to be your experiment. However, if I every decide to check things out on this matter, I'll let ya know what I have discovered. If you do, perhaps you could let on what you learn, also.

Meanwhile, I had to make the cornbread mixture. Here is where I may have run into a bit of trouble. It is really a pride issue, to be honest. I love my own recipe for homemade cornbread, so though the cookbook gave me "directions" for the topping, I snubbed my prideful nose at it because it called for cornbread muffin mix. I suppose one could use a 12-ounce package of corn muffin mix, one egg, beaten and 1/3 cup milk as the recipe required, but I used my own recipe. Turns out I made too much. So, I'll have to tweak the recipe to see how to change my recipe to make it the right amount. I'll try to remember to add my recipe at the end of this blog.

Okay, so where were we? When I finished the cornbread recipe I poured the mixture onto the gumbo mix and put it in the oven, 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Then I did the dishes, of which I was very happy after we ate cos I was too full to do the dishes by that point.

The result? It was tasty; however there was too much cornbread. It was kinda spicy cos of the jalapeno and cayenne, but you could subtract those foods from the recipe if spice isn't your thing, yeah?

All in all, I liked it and will try it again, I am sure. Perhaps y'all can try it, too. I'll have something new to report in the next couple of days. :)

Love,

Lolly Fabulous :)

Cornbread recipe:

Pre-heat oven 450

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoons powder

a dash of salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup cooking oil or melted shortening.

add all the dry together, set aside.

add all the wet together.

Mix them all together 'til they're just barely mixed together, ya know?

if you're making cornbread, add it to the a greased pan and bake for 20 t0 25 minutes.

By the way, I only had buttermilk, so--according the nice stranger in the dairy section at Kaine's--I used 3/4 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup water to replace regular milk. I love this recipe. This is the only way I make cornbreak unless I have no other option.

Friday Lunch BBQ

So, Pop and I had steak for lunch Friday! I'm not sure the cut or type of steak Marilyn bought, but it was delish! It was a really thin sliced and looked like it was already "tenderized." I marinaded it in BBQ sauce (store bought--I know, I'm a big cheater!) and cooked it on the grill. Yum!

The fun part was the veggie part. I cut up a potato, an apple, and an onion. I cooked the small cut potatoes first for a while by themselves in a spot of oil and some water. When the potatoes look about 1/2 to 3/4 done, I added the the apples and the onion. I also added chopped lemon thyme and the tips of some green onions and--of course--a ton of pepper. I stir-fried it all together 'til they were all done.

Y'all!! Are you listening? I'm talking some serious yum here. I even went back for seconds. When I had about four bites left, I analyzed what was left and ate accordingly--two bites of potato all by themselves--so that my last bite could be equal parts potato, apple, and onion. As I put the last tasty morsel in my mouth, I thought "Hmmmm, I'm kind of like the vegetable version of the 'fruit and cereal lovers' on those old raisin bran commercials, yeah?"

Anyway, the whole compilation made for a very, very tasty lunch. Pop even said, "It was GOOD." I would recommend trying it. And I hope you enjoy it! By the way, I got a Paula Dean (or is it Deen?) cookbook for my birthday. Tomorrow? Venison Sausage Gumbo Casserole. Be assured, however, that I may change an ingredient or two.

Love y'all,

Lolly Fabulous :)

Lemon Rosemary Pork Chops

So, I had my first guests since I moved here to Buna. Jamie and his Daddy, Jimmie, came over to have lunch with Pop and me. I made way too much food!

-I baked a cake last night.

-I chopped up cabbage, carrots, yellow and red and green peppers and 1/4 of a purple onion for a coleslaw. I added about 1/4 of a cup of italian dressing in lieu of mayo and vinegar.

-I stir fried yellow squash, zucchini, orange zucchini, and the rest of the onion in olive oil and pepper.

-I cooked some whole wheat rotini pasta.

-I soaked pork chops in an oil, lemon juice, and rosemary marinade and then grilled them.

-I made tea with apple mint, pineapple mint, and lemon balm mint flavor--fresh from my garden.

I kinda wish I could grow my own real tea leaves, but I think that'd be a serious project.

The meal was delicious, though no one brought their appetites so--there were a TON of leftovers Guess I know what we're having for dinner! The company was nice. Though it was slow-paced, the conversation was nice. Afterward, we talked a bit, had cake, and took a tour of my garden. It didn't last long, but it was enjoyable.

Since I still don't have a camera, I'll have to forgo pictures of the meal and the people who attended ! Needless to say, the lunch looked delicious and the company was great. Perhaps next time, I'll be able to take pictures.

See ya after the weekend,

Lolly Fabulous :)

Stuffed Bell Peppers-yuuuuuuummmmmmmm!

Okay, so today I baked some stuffed jalapenos! They ended up VERY tasty! :)

Here is how I did it:

some olive oil, heated in a pan.

two small jalapenos

two cloves of garlic

1/4 of a large onion, cubed

add the above items to the heated olive oil and stir 'em around until the place is starting to smell good.

then, add:

1 pound ground sausage, brown it.

three romas, cubed

4-6 cubed mushrooms

a stalk of celery

a large sprig of thyme

about 1/2 tablespoon fresh oregano

two to three small sprigs of cilantro

about 5-7 stems of basil

take 'em off their stems and chop all those herbs up--tiny! and add 'em to the ground sausage mixture.

Cook everything together, stirring frequently until sausage is cooked.

Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 350. when it is hot, cut the tops off of 4 green bell peppers, scoop out all the insides and replace said insides with the sausage mixture. Bake in oven for approximately 45 minutes!

It really turns out well. Hope y'all enjoy!

Love,

Loralee Fabulous ;-P

Simon and Garfunkel Squash

Okay, today I made--with the help of my trusty kitchen herb garden--what I've decided to call "Simon and Garfunkel Squash."
I cut a large butternut squash in half length-wise. I scooped out all the seeds (they went into my compost heap) and then placed the two halves, flesh side down on a cookie sheet with about 1/4-inch of water in it.
The stove was pre-heated to 400. I placed the squash in the oven and baked it for about an hour.

Meanwhile, I went to the garden and took at least two large sprigs (or the equivalent) of each of the following: o/' o/'
o/' parsley
o/' sage
o/' rosemary, and
o/' thyme o/' o/'

(get it? Simon and Garfunkel squash?)

I chopped all that up in very tiny little pieces. When the squash came out, I scooped out all the soft, baked flesh out of skin and placed it into a lovely old-fashioned "Grandmommy's mixing bowl." I added some butter and the chopped herbs and mixed it all up together, and I might possibly have said aloud "Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom" cuz it was "deliciano" as my big sister says.

Today, I also cut up a TON of my various mint leaves, placed them in my tea pitcher after having added the freshly brewed tea into it and let it all steep for approximately six minutes. I added ice. I poured myself a tall glass. I enjoyed it. I might even have thought, "Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom" as I sipped its lovely mint-iness!

Hope y'all enjoy, too!

Lolly Fabulous! :)

Steak with Honeycot Marinade

Pre-Script: I'm super tired. I don't think this'll be the best blog I've ever written.

Last week Marilyn bought Pop and I some steak. When I make the grocery list, I asked for hamburger and chicken. Since we'd had pork chops the night I was making the list, I decided not to order that meat. Instead, I wrote something akin to "some meat--you surprise us!" It ended up being steak.

So, last night, I decided to make a marinade. I chopped up--skins and meat--6 honeycots. (they're kinda like an apricot, but not as orange) I juiced two small lemons. When I was making the marinade, the smell of lemon was HUGE. I thought at that time that--perhaps--I should have juiced only one lemon. However, when I tasted the steak--though I could taste the lemon--it didn't seem like it was too much. Just for your information!

I also chopped up a handful of basil and a few sprigs of cilantro from my kitchen garden. I encourage anyone trying this recipe in the future to add more of each of the herbs as their taste in the finished product was very very mild. I also added a ton of pepper. Y'all know how much I like that stuff, yeah? I put the steaks in a seal-able plastic bag along with the marinade and let is work its magic for a day. Then I grilled it tonight. I also stir fried yellow squash, onions, zucchini, carrots, and celery with a bit of olive oil, some chopped tarragon and sage. Again, I think I may need to use more of the herbs in future.

Okay, so the finished product. Both the steak and the veggies tasted good, but they weren't like "Wow, party in my mouth." I'll prolly have to try again and tweak the marinade a bit and see if I can't make it more fiesta-ish. :)

BASIL HONEYCOT MARINADE

6 honeycots, chopped until they're mush

2 lemons--or limes, I suppose.

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Mix 'em all together and marinate the steak

STIR FRY VEGETABLES

a bunch of veggies, which ever one you want!

some olive oil

two sprigs of tarragon

one sprig of sage

two little deals of garlic, minced

cut up the veggies,

cut up the herbs

pour the olive oil in to the pan, heat it.

add the minced garlic and let it cook up a bit.

add the veggies

add the herbs

stir until the veggies are cooked to the way you like them cooked.

Fourth of July Coleslaw

Tomorrow we're having dinner on the grounds. I decided I'd try to do coleslaw again as it has been prolly 8 months since I've done it. I've always tried to make it without mayo, but have never been able to find one that looked good enough to make.

Today, I looked in my red and white checked cookbook (better homes) and found a basic recipe. I tweaked it a bit, and if nothing else--it looks pretty!

Here is what I did:

Fourth of July Coleslaw

-Six cups cabbage, shredded ( I used green, but I imagine you could use purple and it would be more colorful. I'll admit I don't know the difference in taste between purple and green. Perhaps switching them would be bad. If you happen to know the answer to that question, please let me know!)

-Three medium carrots, shredded

-Two stalks celery, shredded

-One green pepper, shredded

-One red pepper, shredded (if you wanted to add yellow or orange, you could do that for more color. If I'd had peppers of those colors, I would have added them for an even more colorful coleslaw. Part of me thinks that a more colorful coleslaw is a more delicious coleslaw ;-)

-4 small green onions, shredded

-1/2 cup Kraft Romano Basil Vinaigrette Dressing (I think it is possible that you could use a bit less, possibly.)

-2 teaspoons sugar.

I shredded all those vegetables and stirred them together, then set them aside. I combined the vinaigrette dressing with the sugar and then poured the combination over the vegetables. I ate a bite before I set it in the fridge to chill (It requires at least an hour of chilling) and was very pleasantly surprised! Not only is the stuff purty, but also, it was DEEEEEE-Lish-oouussss!! I hope the others at the Hwy. 92 Church of Christ also think so tomorrow. However, if they don't, then Pop and I have something yummy for a side dish all week! YAY!

Happy Eating!

Love,

Lolly Fabulous :-P

Perhaps sometime this week, I will blog about my perpetual failure at making what I think should be good--Orange Chocolate Brownies. :(

Grilled Pork Chops and Shish Kabobs

Tonight, I tried something kind of new. I thawed some pork chops yesterday. When they were completely thawed, I poked a bunch of holes in them with a fork, placed them in a sealable plastic bag, and then poured marinade/salad dressing in the bag. I sealed the bag then and worked the marinade around the inside of the bag to try to get it evenly distributed over all the surfaces of the chop. One of the chops was soaking in Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan by Kraft. The other two were soaking in Garden Tomato and Bacon marinade by Hidden Valley. I know that this is kind of cheating, but I haven't learned enough--and isn't learning a long and continual process?--to make my own marinades. Someday, I'll get around to that facet of cooking, but for now, I'll borrow someone else's genius. I hope I'm forgiven!

I also made vegetable shish kabobs for a side. I realize that it sounds like that wasn't a big meal. Pork Chops and shish kabobs?!? That's all? Both Pop and I don't really have huge appetites so it works for us. To make the shish kabobs, I sliced a small red potato very thinly--a little smaller than 1/4 inch--into six slices. I figured that would be best because potatoes take so long to cook. I also added some carrots. I cut it into about three inch sections and then halved those. I cut an apple into 6 sections. And I then cut an onion into six slices. I took a big foot long section of aluminum foil and lay it down on the counter in order to put the finished kabobs until it was time to put them on the grill. I then put the veggies on a wooden kabob sticks in this order: potato, carrot, apple, and onion--twice. Of course, you can use whatever veggies you want and in whatever order you want! ;-P

When all the food was prepared, I got the grill going. I placed aluminum on the grill and laid the three chops onto it and allowed whatever juices were left in the bag to drip onto the chops, hopefully giving them some more flavor. On the other side of the grill, I placed the three kabobs--encased in the 12-inch aluminum foil. The chops were starting to cook. I took a grill brush and swept over the veggies with Tangy Bacon Catalina marinade by Kraft. I turned them twice during cooking and brushed them with the marinade each time. Then I just let everything cook. When it was all done, dinner was served! It was pretty delicious, if I am allowed to say so for myself.

Here are my thoughts on the results of this experiment: Overall, pretty good! Very tasty! I liked the Kraft Red Roasted Pepper Italian marinade best on the pork chops. The other was was good, but the Italian one was just a little bit more flavorful.

Regarding the shish kabobs: FANTASTIC! Especially the apples and the onions. The apples were A-mazing. So Yummy. Especially when hot. The last bites of apple were still delicious, but just a little less good than they were in the beginning. The onions were very tasty, too, when combined with the marinade. And--strangely--when I speared a piece of apple and onion TOGETHER and popped 'em in my mouth, it was ambrosia. Wow!

On the down side, I guess I didn't slice the potatoes thinly enough because they were still kinda crunchy. The carrots were also a little crunchy, but not as much as the potatoes. As far as the carrots go, i don't mind the cruncy cuz I like crunchy carrots. And really, the potatoes weren't UN-delicious. The not-quite-done nature of the potatoes made them a little less delicious.

Overall, I feel like the whole endeavor was a success. I enjoyed being creative in the kitchen and doing the actual cooking on the grill myself. And, I enjoyed the outcome on my tongue!

Yum! I imagine that the same meal can be a completely different one if different marinades are tried. If you try it, I sure hope ya enjoy it! Let me know how it goes.

Love,

Lolly Fabulous :)

Zesty Orange/Lemon Pancakes

I know it sounds weird. I'll give ya that from the start, but I--for some crazy reason--decided to add some juice to the last of my pancake batter this morning and it turned out fantastically!

Here is what I did:

In a larger bowl, I stirred together

-1 cup whole wheat flour

-1-1/2 tablespoons sugar

-2 teaspoons baking powder

-1/4 teaspoon salt

Then, in another, smaller bowl, I stirred together

-1 beaten egg

-1 cup of milk

-2 tablespoons cooking oil

-1 tablespoon vanilla extract

-1 tablespoon almond extract

Then I poured the wet bowl into the dry bowl and stirred them together.

I didn't measure the additions, but since I was juicing two oranges and two lemons this morning for breakfast, I poured into the batter approximately 1-1/2 tablespoons of the orange/lemon blend and stirred.

After I poured that "juiced" batter onto the greased pan, I took a metal zester and shaved off some of the orange rind onto the cooking pancake.

The taste was very subtle, but there. When the maple syrup was added to the "zesty" pancakes, the combination of the four flavors: whole wheat, orange juice, lemon juice and maple syrup was fantastic. I'll be experimenting with it again in the future because I want to get it right, yeah? The zesty orange/lemon pancakes added just that little extra bit to what was already a lovely breakfast.

The other half of breakfast was a two egg omelet with chopped mushroom, cilantro (fresh from my garden), spinach, shredded monterrey jack and cheddar cheeses. Oh, and a healthy dose of black pepper! Really very lovely meal. If you try it or have some other ideas, let me know!

Lolly Fabulous