The Crab Chronicles

Amazing Chicken Salad

My son likes cold salads. This is a very Russian thing, where cold vegetable salads are an integral part of Russian diets.

In America we are accustomed now to being able to buy fresh vegetables year round. Of course, in January they have likely been shipped from California, but they are on the shelves. Russia, despite being a vast country, has traditionally not been able to get fresh veggies so easily in winter - unless you are very wealthy and have access to pricey imports.

Now, to be fair, I last visited Russia in 2004 so maybe things have changed radically and normal folks can get fresh veggies year round. I don't know.

I do know the Russian tradition has been to can or pickle veggies in summer, to see folks through the long winters. Nothing wrong with that. Both my kids were happy to eat vegetables when I adopted them, because fresh veggies were considered a big treat. They would pick onions and tomatoes from the garden and just eat them raw, right then and there. Of course, I was delighted by that, after admonishing them to rinse the veggies off with a hose, at least.

So a few years ago my friend LeeAnn gave us some chicken salad she had made. I am not a big fan of cold salads, but Michael LOVED it. He inhaled it.I didn't even get to try a bite. I put it in the fridge, and the next time I checked it was GONE.

LeeAnn puts chopped celery, chopped pecans, and grapes, in her chicken salad, so it's fairly healthy.

Last week I went to Honeybaked Ham for my lb. of turkey I like to keep in the fridge for a snack. Great low-carb high-protein snack, smoked turkey. They had some small containers of chicken salad in the cooler, and the salad looked like it had grapes in it, which is how LeeAnn makes hers. 

I got home and looked at it and that tiny container was $8! Michael ate it all in less than 24 hours.

I decided yesterday to just find LeeAnn's recipe and make my own chicken salad, to keep in the fridge for Mike. He is never home for dinner these days, always out with friends, but he often comes in at midnight hungry. I'd rather he eat chicken salad than just a granola bar.

So I found the original email from LeeAnn where I had asked how she made her chicken salad.

"I just salt/pepper/boil boneless chicken breasts, shred in food processor, add mayo, pecan bits, a little bit of diced red onions and celery, and a pinch of pepper and salt and a bigger pinch of sugar.  At the end I add celery salt until I like the taste.Then I add the grapes last so they don't get smooshed."

I used rotisserie chicken because it's easier to pull chicken off the bone - and Lola was happy to eat the skin and gristley bits, of course. I went right by LeeAnn's instructions, but I also added some squeezes of fresh lemon juice to the chicken, and some onion powder and Lawrey's seasoned salt. I made Mom taste it. She said it was good. (I couldn't taste-test it because my stomach won't tolerate raw onion, no matter how finely chopped.) The grapes were rather large and I asked Mom if I should halve them. NO. Of course, Michael said I should have chopped the grapes. He ate a big fat sandwich when he got home, though, so it was a win-win situation for me.

I used up a good bit of mayonnaise, and Lola had a great time using her incredibly long tongue to lick the jar...

Elva's Country Fried Steak

Years ago my mother figured out a way to make a delicious dish involving cubed beef and gravy. We call it "country fried steak" although it might better be described as "smothered steak" or simply cube steak and gravy. It's my mother's favorite food [well, besides fried scallops and prime rib, neither of which I can cook]. I try to make her country fried steak every couple of weeks.

My blogging this recipe is really an attempt to think through the process and have a historical record. I could make it in my sleep. One day, I imagine, years from now, I will think of this and want Michael to make it for me. I will also want rice or biscuits, to put the gravy on. There's really no point in making it unless there is a lot of gravy and in the south, that calls for rice or biscuits or possibly mashed potatoes.

Michael watched me make this tonight. I wanted him to watch and learn, even though he has now gone out with friends and likely won't be home for dinner. When I had finished making the gravy and poured most of it over the meat, he asked for the small amount left in the pan. He got a piece of bread and poured the gravy over the bread and ate it. (I used to love "gravy bread" as a kid. Tickled me to see him doing that.)

I will share with you another secret. I cannot make biscuits that are worth a damn. I know, I know, my Mamaw and Granny Butler and on and on back, they are all flipping around in their graves, horrified that their descendant cannot make a decent biscuit. My biscuits are either hard enough to be used as a construction material or the consistency of chewing gum. Mama TRIED to teach me how to make scrumptious biscuits but I failed miserably at it. I accept that. Pillsbury frozen biscuits ROCK - about 90% as good as what my mother could make from scratch. 

 Now, if I am feeling energetic, I will chop up an onion and maybe even some fresh mushrooms and saute them in some olive oil and/or butter, and let them get soft. Then I will take them out of the pan and put them aside. I don't always feel that energetic.

Elva's Country Fried Steak

4 pieces of cubed steak, each piece about the size of the palm of your hand

1 onion, diced

1-2 cups mushrooms, chopped

1-2 cans Campbell's beef consomme or 2-4 cups beef stock

1 cup soy sauce

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

sherry

1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

onion powder

garlic powder

Lawrey's seasoned salt

salt and pepper

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

 

About an hour before you plan to cook, take the cubed steaks out of the package and salt and pepper them on both sides. Then let them sit on the kitchen counter for 30-45 minutes. Preheat the oven to either 250 [if you can let the dish cook at least 4 hours] or 275-300 [if you have 2-3 hours before dinner]. Take a large shallow bowl, like a soap bowl, and put into it the flour, and a few shakes of onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and seasoned salt. Take a spoon and mix it up well. About 5 minutes before you're ready to cook the steak, heat up olive oil or canola oil in a large skillet, to between medium and high. Take each piece of beef and dredge it in the seasoned flour mixture. I usually use my fingers to pat the flour into the meat. Place each piece into the oil. It should fry up and be crispy, about 1-2 minutes on each side. As you finish cooking each piece, put it in a 9x13 pan. Take your onions and mushrooms and put them in between each piece of meat, or wait and add them to the gravy.

Now for the fun part: making the gravy. You should have a couple of tablespoons of oil left in your skillet. I like to also add about 2-4 pats of real butter. Then dump what's left of your flour into the skillet, and stir it around. This is your roux. Cook it on low for a minute or two. Now add in your beef consomme or stock, soy sauce, Sherry, and balsamic vinegar. Keep it on low and keep stirring. Add water and stir it in. Add in extra onion powder and garlic powder. (I like to be heavy-handed with seasonings.) You have to stand there and keep stirring a bit until the gravy looks right.

Pour the gravy over the meat, and try to cover it. Or you can add in the onions and mushrooms to the gravy and then pour the gravy over the steak.

Cover the dish tightly with tinfoil and put it in the oven. Cooking low and slow is best and really brings out the flavors. I made this recipe tonight and mine will cook for 2.5 hours at 275. You can also put it in the crock pot for 4-6 hours on low. The meat should be fork tender when it's done cooking.

Serve with biscuits or rice.

The Always Popular Tex Mex Dip

Many years ago, my mother found a recipe for Tex Mex Dip. She started serving it at parties. People would make fools of themselves eating this dip. I've never seen anything like it. About a year ago, we made it and watched Michael eat it like crazy -- which is a very good thing because it's got guacamole and chopped tomatoes and olives and beans. It's fairly healthy.

Michael invited his friend Eric over to Granny's little birthday celebration last night. We like Eric a lot. Nice boy, very polite. He brought Mother some roses. I sent Michael to the store for last-minute supplies while I made the birthday (rum) cake. He asked about making the Tex Mex dip. I told him all the ingredients and I said IF you buy the ingredients, you and Eric can make it, with supervision from Granny of course.

Much to my surprise, the boys got all the ingredients. It only took 3 phonecalls from Kroger. LOL

I asked Mother to walk out to the kitchen and supervise because I'm not as good at making it as she is. I let the boys do it all except I chopped the tomatoes. (Chopping is a laborious process for Michael although he can do it just fine.)

Anyway, the photos below tell the story, and I've included the recipe -- which is in a cookbook Mom and I wrote years ago.. If you ever have a party, make the dip. Buy Tostitos or Fritos scoops, because you want a big chip to hold the dip. Mother advises folks to dig straight down, through all the layers. Michael usually just spoons a bit bunch of dip onto a plate and sits there and dips off the plate.

We also made Mom's famous shrimp spread [fresh shrimp, cream cheese, mayo, herbs] and Alton Brown's Onion Dip. Our friend Bronwyn came over and had a good visit, too; I just didn't get a photo. So it was a fun evening.

I hope 2016 is a terrific year. Lord knows 2015 was difficult..

 

Real Southern Cooking

I was born in Augusta Georgia and I started cooking [real cooking, not just tuna salad and jello] when I was about 10, so I’ve been cooking now for over 40 years. I’ve lived in either Georgia or Tennessee my entire life, and I come from a long line of strong Southern women who were good cooks. So I know about southern cooking.

Mamaw Hasty, my mother’s mother, was a FANTASTIC cook. I always say when I get to heaven my first meal will be Mamaw’s fried chicken and homemade biscuits and gravy. My daddy loved her green beans above any other food in the world, and she always made them for him, because he had a fit over them. I’ve never tasted green beans that good since she died.

Over at the Bitter Southerner they got a professional food writer to come up with what they call The Seven Essential Southern Dishes. This is troubling for a couple of reasons. One, they left off fried chicken. I’m sure it was deliberate – what better marketing than to get folks riled up. Second, they left off barbeque. That’s just flat out wrong.

Then again, to be fair, barbeque deserves its own article, because it IS in a class by itself.

I told my mother [at 81 years old a true old southern lady] about my issues with the BS article and she talked me through how Mamaw made green beans, and other issues I had with the article.

My Mamaw cooked GREEN BEANS until they fell apart. She stringed them first – you always pinch off the ends and pull the strings off, and rinse them under cold water. Put them in a pot and cover with water and put in a hunk of fatback the size of your fist, plus a teaspoon of salt. (She always rinsed off her fatback under cold water, and didn’t use that curing salt that came on the meat.) Bring them to a boil, then cut them back to a low simmer, with the lid on, and cook 1-3 hours. She always kind of went by when the fatback got done. She never called it fatback – she called it streak of lean. If you can’t find fatback, just use a couple of pieces of raw bacon.

Of course, when you refrigerate the beans then later pull them out, you skim off the fat, at least we do. My grandfather or my dad always ate the fatback.

Mamaw attended Bessie Tift College and majored in Home Economics, and she never put sugar in any vegetable. [Mother and I boil corn on the cob in a big pot with some sugar in the water, though. Makes the corn sweeter.]

Crisco was considered superior to other fats and used for biscuits and cakes. Bacon grease was poured into jars or cans and saved to cook with. Mother remembers that from World War II the fat [lard] was rationed and hard to buy. She never remembered corn oil or canola oil – liquid fats like that were hard to find, and expensive. Mamaw always used hog fat or butter. If you lived in the city you had to use your ration tickets for butter. Mother was glad that during the war they lived on a farm, because they always ate well.

Anyway, I digressed. Back to the Bitter Southerner article..

In an attempt to correct some of the issues I see with their list of foods and recipes, I’ve included here two tried and true recipes and tips.

 

CORNBREAD [also good for hoecakes, and corn muffins]

* we use Lewis Grizzard's mama's recipe:

1 1/2 cups White Lily self-rising cornmeal [don’t use anything but White Lily; you don’t have to use baking powder, baking soda, or flour, if you use White Lily]

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk [you can use sweet milk or even canned milk but it won’t be as good]

2 heaping spoonfulls of Duke's mayonnaise

pinch salt

Mix it all together. Pour it in a cast iron skillet* that has been greased with Crisco or bacon drippings. Mamaw would put the grease in the iron skillet and put it in the oven and let it get real hot, then pour in the batter and put it back in the oven. That makes a nice brown crust on the outside of the cornbread. Cook it about 375 for 20-30 minutes. You can tell if the edges turn brown – light brown.

 

Pound Cake

Pound cake is quintessentially southern. I wrote an entire blog about it. Pound cake stars in my childhood memories – smelling a pound cake cooking is bliss.

 

1 stick butter [real butter, not margarine]

1 cup Crisco

3 cups sugar

Cream the butter/Crisco/sugar a long time. Really let the mixer cream it until it's like buttah, y'all.

Add in 5 large eggs, one at a time, just beating them in carefully, but not overbeating.

Set out 3 cups of cake flour in one bowl on the counter, and a 1 cup of sour cream. In the sour cream, mix in 1/4 tsp. baking soda. Alternate mixing in the sour cream and the flour, beating well after each addition but not overbeating, until everything is incorporated.

Add in 1 teaspoon vanilla, and one teaspoon almond flavoring.

Bake at 350 about 90 minutes. Check it after 80 minutes, if you don't know if your oven runs hot or cool. No oven is perfect.

SOME COMMON MISTAKES:

Use real butter and real sour cream. Don't try to go low fat. Use real vanilla extract and real almond extract. The fake, or "imitation" kinds are not as good. Be sure and grease and flour your pan well. I use a bundt pan that's nearly as old as me, and just give it a spray of Baker's Secret.

A good pound cake will actually be better the second day, as long as you keep it in a good cake carrier.

 

* A good cast iron skillet is a treasure. We have several that have been passed down in our family for decades. Apparently the South isn't the only region to recognize the value of cast iron. Check out this article from Bon Appetit magazine: How to Use a Cast Iron Skillet.

Above [in color] me and my brother with Mamaw and Papaw, about 1964; one of Mamaw's handwritten pages of recipes; Mamaw and my uncle Bobby around 1924.

Culinary Experiment

Every once in a while I try to do something that goes beyond mere cooking and is more in the realm of "culinary." Such was the case yesterday after Michael and I returned from the grocery store and I realized that I had utterly forgotten to buy broth.

I try to keep chicken broth and beef broth on hand because they come in handy for several dishes I cook on a regular basis. 

For instance, if you make rice using chicken or beef broth, it makes the rice much more flavorful. I make real rice, and I make it the way my grandmother did - sticky. Not chewy. I think chewy rice is an abomination. No, I use Mahatma Jasmine rice, and I typically use 1 cup rice to 1 cup water and 2 cups chicken or beef broth. Add a spoonful of salt and a big pat of butter. Bring it to a boil. Cut it down to low, slap the lid on it and simmer it for 20 minutes.

I like to use beef broth when I make a beef roast, along with red wine, soy sauce, onions or onion powder, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Slow cook that in a 200 degree oven all day or throw it in the crock pot. Lots of salt and pepper, too. Yum.

I also like to make meatloaf with lots of beef broth added, until the meat is super moist. It just boosts the flavor. 

I digressed.

So late yesterday afternoon, after giving it some thought, I decided to make my own chicken stock. I remembered seeing Ina Garten make stock, once, and it was a fascinating process, involving lots of ingredients and a pot that Ina probably could have bathed in.

I went online to research making chicken stock. I found How to Make Chicken Stock and Not Call It "Bone Broth," Ever. This made me laugh out loud, in many places. Among the pithy observations:

"Stock, like so many other slow-cooking techniques, originated as a way for very hungry people to wring some nutrition and flavor out of whatever sad, nigh-inedible shit—leftover bones and joints, fibrous vegetation, fragrant twigs, etc.—happened to be around. People who could choose, say, going and getting something else to eat over waiting for hours to see if a pot of hot water with a bunch of gnarled bones in it might magically transform into nutritive sustenance would never have come up with stock."

So I went rooting around in the kitchen and came up with a very large pot that Mother bought me years ago, much to my puzzlement at the time. I then went rooting around in the freezer, and came up with two chicken breast filets. [I also threw out a bunch of stuff that had freezer burn, but we don't need to discuss that...]

I had no carrots or celery, so I called my next door neighbor and she said she had plenty of carrots and celery, and very sweetly brought me over several of each.

[Thin people always have celery. This I learned long ago.]

I next grabbed my pot and filled it with: the chicken breast filets, carrots, celery, bay leaves, and entire package of frozen and chopped onions, salt and pepper, onion powder, and basil, oregano, and sage from the garden. I found a nice jar of peppercorns in the back of the spice cabinet and threw those in.

That was my fatal mistake.

A few peppercorns = good stock

20-30 = disaster

I didn't realize it until I had boiled the mixture for a while. Then I tasted it.

It wasn't too hot, as in spicy hot. It was simply too PEPPERY.

I then had to make a decision.

Throw out the entire pot? Or try to salvage the situation??

I opted for the latter. Soup. Soup is good.

So I painstakingly dipped out all the leaves and all the peppercorns. Took me half an hour. Why didn't you use a strainer? asked Mother. Well, I couldn't lift the enormously heavy pot of boiling hot liquid and I was afraid I'd spill it and make a huge mess. HUGE MESS. So I dipped out everything that didn't need to be in there.

I then shredded the chicken, and cut up the carrots and celery, and added them back in.

Then I got to thinking about the grody old bottle of lemon pepper I'd just thrown out when I spied it in the back of the spice cabinet.

Lemon + Pepper = yummy

So I juiced and entire lemon and put that in there.

Then I got to thinking about another very yummy thing - buttered noodles. So I found some spaghetti in the cupboard and threw it in there along with an entire stick of real butter.

Then I tasted.

It still didn't taste right. I added a teaspoon of sugar, out of desperation.

I know, I know, I know. You're thinking "Dee just lost her mind."

Yes, sort of. But here's the thing: I did NOT WANT TO ADMIT DEFEAT.

So my chicken stock was not to be. SOUP! Soup is a worthy thing.

Mother tasted some of it and said it was fine, just needed more salt.

Michael ate a big bowl of soup when he got home last night. [the above photo is from about 5 years ago, BTW]

I will try making stock again.

I will never admit defeat!

I will probably not put in ANY peppercorns, however.

One day I will make all my own broth, all my own stock, and it will all be excellent. I will revel in my culinary skills.

Of course by then it's quite likely I will be living alone again...

 

Easy and Delicious Chicken

I have found over the past few years that cooking meat "low and slow" in the oven is the way to get the most tender meat. Mother has a lot of issues with her teeth, so cooking meat that is very easy for her to chew is a priority around here.

So tonight I had baked chicken. I knew you're thinking well that sounds BLAH, but it wasn't. It was very easy and very tasty.

Take several chicken breasts -- or an entire chicken, if you like, which is what I did -- and find a dish with a lid. Or use a baking dish and cover it with foil. Wash your chicken carefully and pat it dry.

[Do I need to tell you to be careful when washing chicken and washing your hands?!? Hope not.]

Cover the chicken with liberally sprinkled salt [I like Sea Salt] and let it sit for at least 30 minutes before doing anything else.

If you don't salt the chicken it's 50% less flavorful. Not good.

Take Hidden Vally Ranch dressing -- the original, not the low fat -- and cover that chicken with it. Yes, it's messy. You can wash your hands.

Next, take Italian breadcrumbs and liberally pour those breadcrumbs -- or you can use panko but it's not as tasty -- all over that chicken. Place it carefully in your pan, and pour some water in the bottom of the pan, just so it won't stick.

Cover the pan with the lid or with foil.

Turn the oven on 250 and put the chicken in there and cook it for HOURS. If you're doing chicken breasts, maybe 3 hours? If you've got an entire chicken, 4-6 hours should do it.

If you want to have a complete easy meal, get a Stouffer's Spinach Souffle and throw it in the microwave for 5-8 minutes. A pan of Sister Schubert's rolls can be cooked after you bring out the chicken. Just leave the chicken covered, on the counter.

If you're a working Mom this is a great meal because as long as you have enough liquid in the dish, you will be fine -- the chicken won't dry out. You can put the chicken in the oven overnight, then throw it in the fridge the next morning.

NOTE: I am not a Food Stylist. My food photos tend to be blurry and look like Science Projects, but so be it. The chicken was DELICIOUS. I have a great local place to buy free-range chicken that is wonderful.

Remedial Cooking

I watch Food and Cooking channels a LOT. I see things on there I don't like and things on there that are very interesting. Sometimes I just shake my head in amazement.

Like this morning, Mom and I were watching Pioneer Woman and she explained how to rub softened butter on bought French bread and heat it in the oven.

Seriously?!? I've known how to butter bread since I was.... 3? 5? Not a tough skill to master.

I've blogged before about the simple fact that most people who don't like to cook raise children who cannot cook. We are raising multiple generations of people who are spending their whole paychecks on Whole Foods takeout and eating out and frozen foods. UGH.

So wrong on so many levels.

I'm going to digress for a moment and discuss the strange predilection of non-cooks for crazy fancy kitchens.

I was watching HGTV yesterday and there was a young couple searching for a house. The wife said "I want a really nice kitchen with high-end finishes, even though I don't cook." She then said she would rather have an electric stove because she once used a gas stove and set it on fire when she plopped an oven mitt down on a burner. She didn't realize gas burners involve FLAME. Someone that dense SHOULD NOT COOK. From now on, please buy takeout and eat frozen entrees - safety comes before taste buds.

The most impressive kitchen I've ever seen -- seriously spotless, every appliance looking like it had just been delivered --was in the home of a lawyer I worked for some years ago. She had a kitchen worth about as much as my home at that time. It was important for her to LOOK like she cooked, but she would freely admit she didn't cook. I mean, she didn't even know how to turn on the stove - the maid had to dust it. Boiling water would've been way beyond her. I think she could use her microwave but I wouldn't have bet any money on it.

End of digression.

I guess I am old-fashioned but I think every sentient adult human who is not mega-rich should be able to cook some basic foods.

Really, if you are in the dating world, you need to know how to cook a few things. Just basic things. You will save a LOT of money if you don't eat out all the time. Plus, cooking together is fun and sensual [as in, using the senses - get your mind out of the gutter.]

I advise beginning cooks to watch the Food network and the Cooking channel, but don't be intimidated by the professional chefs. They have all kinds of cool, expensive gadgets and exotic ingredients that puzzle the rest of us. You do NOT need a $500 mixer or a machine that squeezes your citrus fruits with a flip of a switch.

The world really needs a program for people that have no clue how to turn on the stove, and who would stare in bewilderment if told to "zest a lemon."

I could SO HOST that show! I would even curb my exasperation with non-cooks. Promise.

So here are some basic foods and how to make them. Learn them. Then when someone says "Can you cook?" say "Yes, I am learning to cook and expanding my repertoire all the time!"

 

Tuna Salad

At age 5, I could make tuna salad that any adult human with taste buds would enjoy. A large can of white albacore tuna, 3-4 chopped hard-boiled eggs, a few squeezes of lemon juice, Duke's mayonnaise, and liberal amounts of salt, pepper, onion powder, and Lawrey's seasoned salt. Voila.

Pork Roast

Buy a pork roast of 1-3 lbs. I advise buying a pork tenderloin because they are more tasty and less fatty than, say, a Boston Butt. Pull out a pan with sides. Rub some olive oil on the bottom so the meat won't stick. Rinse off the meat under running water. Pat it dry with a paper towel. Take a shaker of salt and liberally COVER the pork roast with salt. If you want to be daring. also sprinkle on some onion powder, lemon pepper, garlic powder, etc. Or buy a pork rub and liberally cover it. Slap it into the pan with the side up that has the most fat on it. Put some water on the bottom of the pan - 1 or 2 cups. Put it in the oven and turn the oven on 200 degrees. Leave it for 8 hours. If you don't eat pork, you could use the same basic recipe for chicken.

Elva's Fruit Salad

Mix: 1 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and juice of 1/2 lime until sugar is dissolved, and taste -  it should be quite tart so add more lime juice if you need. Next, fold in 1 cup miniature marshmallows, and 1 lg. can mandarin oranges, drained, 1 tall can pineapple tidbits, drained, then 2 cups washed, seedless grapes. Fold fruit into the cream mix. Cover and chill til ready to serve. Just before serving , fold in 1 cup toasted walnuts, lightly salted. [spread walnuts on a baking sheet, salt them lightly, and toast at 350 for 10 minutes]

Elva’s Fabulous Salad

 2-4 cloves fresh garlic

Juice of one lime or enough to make a tart dressing.Taste and add more if needed.

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 cups fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced.

½ cup Olive oil

½ cup good feta cheese, crumbled

Chop the garlic cloves fine, or use a garlic press. In a glass dish, place the mashed garlic; sprinkle with salt; mash the salt into the garlic using a fork or back of a spoon. (This releases the good flavor).  Add the olive oil and lime juice. Beat with a fork or whisk. Add sliced mushrooms. Put it aside for an hour or so if you have time. Don't chill it. Meantime, wash the lettuce and put it in the fridge, or spin it and refrigerate it.

 When you are almost ready to eat, tear the lettuce into bite size pieces, add the lettuce leaves and the mushrooms to the dressing. Toss everything well, from the bottom. Sprinkle the feta over the top.Don’t put any other dressing on it.

OPTIONAL: Can add : sliced scallions or cherry tomatoes.  

Christmas Cookies

My son said a few years ago that he couldn't wait for Christmas because he wanted to sit by the fire and eat pecan pie. I love that.

He is old enough now that I need to teach him to make a pecan pie. We have a simple and foolproof recipe. My brother learned to make it as a teenager because he loved that pie so much. He still makes it today.

So much of the joy of Christmas revolves around food. I see nothing wrong with that.

Food is a way I show people I love them. I prepare food with love and I think no matter how good or bad my cooking is, (mostly good, but there are Epic Fails sometimes, as my son says) serving it in a loving way makes a huge difference.

As a little child, part of the wonder of Christmas was the baking. I loved to get down my mother's Betty Crocker Cookie book and read all the recipes and stare at the photos of cookies. Mother often made chocolate chip cookies, and brownies, and Rocks.

Rocks were baked by my grandmother and her sisters in Hepzibah, Georgia, and my dad LOVED Rocks. The delight on his face when he bit into a rock was childlike and beautiful. 

My Aunt Ceph would never give anyone the recipe. Dad's brother married a wonderful cook, my aunt Diddy, and she figured out the Rocks recipe. Diddy is the Queen of Cookies - hers are always the best. She emailed me the recipe years ago.

One thing I love about this cookie is that it's savory, not just sweet. The nuts and raisins give it an unbeatable flavor.

ROCKS

This is the recipe I have, and have used for years:

1 t. soda                  1 t. cinnamon
2 egg yolks              1 t. cloves
3/4 c. butter            1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour            1 t. to 1 T. water
1 1/2 c. sugar           1 box raisins
1 c. chopped nuts ( preferably pecans)

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks, well beaten. Sift flour, spices, and soda together, and blend well with butter and sugar. Add water, nuts, and raisins. Mix well. Drop by teaspoon on cookie sheet and bake in 350 degree oven approximately 15 minutes.

Dee, I use part butter and part margarine, and rarely add water unless the dough is too stiff after testing a few in the oven first.
I thought this was the authentic recipe. Anyway, it bakes heavenly cookies!

below, Diddy in 1972, with me just behind her, my brother in the yellow shirt

Happy Cooking Mistakes

I love to cook and most of the time I am a fairly decent cook, but I've had a lot on my mind lately and some recent efforts have been... not typical.

However, sometimes the thing you screw up ends up being pretty good. A lot of foods are salvageable, even baked goods.

I am famous for being distracted by a writing project and letting things burn on the stove. Michael said once about something I'd burned, "It's an acquired taste." Poor kid.

Of course, whenever he is being picky about eating I have a surefire method of getting him interested in food. I take a red onion and chop it up and saute it. The smell of that onion will bring him running from anywhere in the house.

I made a pumpkin pie the other day. I was watching the Georgia Bulldogs bulldoze Kentucky and I knew we would win. Makes for a not-so-fun game. So I finished folking clothes and made a pie.

My aunt Myrtle made the best pumpkin pie in the world. We always make her recipe.

above, Myrtle on the far right next to Mother

You buy a piecrust. Don't give me any crap about making your own piecrust either. (Bought are always better than mine and I've learned to live with that.) Take a bowl and mix up 1 can of pumpkin, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a lot of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, etc. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then 350 for 35-40 minutes.

I made the pie. It smelled wonderful cooking. As soon as it had cooked I took a piece to Mom in her room. She ate it and made the appropriate noises. As I was leaving she said diplomatically, "How much cinnamon did you use?"

I stopped and thought. NONE. Dang. DANG. SHIT! I left out cinnamon. What an idiot.

But here's the thing: it was still good pie.

Michael asked me last night as he was eating the last piece, "This is good, but next time could you put in some CINNAMON?!?" Hahahaha.

Not.

So tonight I am trying to be ambitious and make roasted eggplant. When you dice it up and toss it in olive oil and garlic powder, sea salt and pepper and roast it at 325 for about 25 minutes, it ROCKS. Oh, and add parmesan for the last 5 minutes. Of course, I forgot to spray the foil. So it also sticks.

I have done that so many times my family knows automatically to carefully peel the veggies off the foil. Very tasty.

While doing that, I forgot and cooked the pasta too long.

Now, my Mamaw didn't believe in al dente macaroni. Nor do we.

Pasta needs to be SOFT, y'all. I would even say flaccid.

Flaccid is good, when it comes to pasta. Cook it 3 times what the directions on the box say.

However, I cooked these noodles until, well... when I put them in the colandar, they congealed into something like a solid mass.

So not pasta salad quality. No no no no....

However, I saved the day. I tossed the noodles with about a cup of mayonnaise and a cup of colby jack grated cheese.

Here's a tip: I always buy pre-grated cheese. Grating your own doesn't save you any money. We've studied it. It will be softer, but not necessarily better.

Michael ate a LOT of my mac & cheese. He also peeled up a good portion of eggplant and ate it.

Anyway, just because you screw something up in the kitchen, it's not the end of the world.

Shrimp

I had a post all ready to go this morning and the computer crashed. Then I had a conference call with a client. Then I had to go to the store before it got too hot. Then I had to come home and rest.

It's been one of those days.

I am slowly recuperating from some kind of stomach virus that just made my weekend miserable. I have had fever headaches, nausea, etc. I will spare you the details. Suffice to say, not fun. Most of the day today I have felt semi OK, just not energetic at all. I ran a load of laundry for Mom and put it away.

I cooked dinner... sort of. Boiled shrimp is really easy cooking. I made homemade guacamole too. It's one of the easiest dinners ever, and one of our favorites. We usually just serve Saltines or Ritz with the shrimp.

You want to know my mom's recipe for the world's best cocktail sauce? Buy a bottle of Heinz chili sauce.

Add a tablespoon or two of horseradish. I can't find a picture of the brand we like, sorry. It's HOT, though. Add in several squeezes of fresh lemon juice and a few drops of Tabasco [if you like to spice things up]. Mix thoroughly. Peel and dip in 2-3 shrimp to make sure it tastes right. :-)

I haven't felt like eating much in days but I ate about a dozen small shrimp... in butter and lemon. Wasn't going to put that spicy cocktail sauce on my stomach.

I have lost a few lbs. the HARD WAY. Diet, exercise, diet + exercise -- those are the easy ways. Being ill is the hard way. The plan is to continue to lose, but with altered eating habits

Michael was in all afternoon classes and his schedule got switched so today he had all morning classes. He is not a morning person. However, he was finished with school and had done his homework by 1:15, so he got to hang out with friends in the afternoon.

&&&& Lagniappe

Love the photo of Lola below. Note the little tongue hanging out?!?