Recently in Cooking Category

Monday: Hamburgers, baked beans, tater tots

Tuesday: Teriaki Stir-Fry

Wednesday: Dijon-breaded Chicken (Saving Dinner p.90 ), baked potatoes, green beans

Thursday: Sweet & Sour Meatballs, egg noodles, peas

Friday: Polenta Pie (Saving Dinner p.157)

Saturday: Lemon Roast Chicken (Saving Dinner p.208), California Medley veggies, rotini

Sunday: Chinese & egg rolls

My "Chinese" is no more Asian than fortune cookies, but it was a recipe I learned early in my marriage and was the first meal I served to a dinner guest. I still like it and it's simplicity is why it was one of the first dinner recipes I taught my children.

The ingredients are few:

Chicken breasts, rice, Chinese vegetables (or substitute with broccoli), Catalina dressing (or substitute with French dressing, minced garlic, soy sauce.

Cook chicken breasts in skillet. Add Chinese vegetables or broccoli to skillet and cook. Add dressing, soy sauce, and minced garlic to chicken and vegetables. Heat thoroughly. Serve over rice.

I know several gluten-free people and thought it was quite prodigious when I happened upon a lovely gluten-free blog, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, this past week. Really, how many gluten-freen people do you know that are also married to their own chef? None, right? I suppose that is what makes this site so different.

The Gluten-Free Girl, Shauna James Ahern, tells about herself in quite a long narrative from 1966 'til now, so I'll let her tell you about herself. Basically she is gluten-free, married to a a chef, and eating wonderful food.

I think you'll enjoy:

the long list of gluten-free links,

the recipe list,

the book, Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You Can Too

You can also communicate with the Girl and Her Chef:

Follow Shauna & Danny on Twitter
Become a fan on Facebook
Email us at mailglutenfreegirl@gmail.com

For your St. Patrick's Day dinner, here are my favorite recipes for this day:

Colcannon

2 tsp. vegetable oil
3 tsp. butter, divided
1 leek, halved and cut in 1/2 inch strips
1 onion, halved and cut in 1/2 inch strips
8 red potatoes, baked
15oz. beef broth
salt and pepper
1 green cabbage, quartered, cored, and cut in 3/4 inch strips

1.  Heat oil & 1 tsp. butter on medium.
2.  Saute leek 7 onion until they start to brown.
3.  Add half the cabbage, stirring and turning until coated with oil and wilted.
4.  Continue adding cabbage and stirring one hand full at a time until wilted.
5.  Pour in half of broth and bring to a boil. Simmer until cabbage absorbs broth. Add remaining broth. Cook until cabbage is soft.
6.  Slice baked potatoes and add to cabbage.
7.  Add shredded or sliced corned beef.
8.  Salt and pepper. Add remaining butter.

Irish Soda Bread (from Martha Stewart)

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup whole-wheat graham flour
2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 2/3 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. With a pastry blender or your fingertips, blend in butter until it resembles small peas. Add buttermilk all at once; stir with a fork until mixture holds together.
2. In the bowl, pat the dough into a domeshaped loaf about 7 inches in diameter. Lift out dough; transfer to lined sheet.
3. Lightly dust top of loaf with flour. Cut a 3/4-inch-deep cross in top, reaching almost all the way to edges. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until deep golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

After H got home from work yesterday, we went to visit his great-aunt, Titi Pepita. The photo above is from four years ago, when she flew here from Texas. Back then, she was still able to play basketball with my kids. You might remember my mentioning her before. She's 104 this month and as fit as a fiddle, save for her hearing aid. There was a big scare a while back when she caught pneumonia and was very near death. At that time, I asked for your prayers. Y'all must have caught God's ear because she recovered and is as chipper as before. She is always happy and high-spirited. Even yesterday she was jolly, though H's grandmother who recently passed was Titi Pepita's best friend since childhood. Her vitality amazes us all. 

Well, Titi Pepita is flying back to Texas tomorrow to see her sickly daughter and I'm sure she'll be detained by some ignorant TSA agent. If Joan Rivers is a danger to security, what will they think of a short, old lady from Puerto Rico who can't speak much English and can't hear? I just hope they don't confiscate her hearing aid as an incendiary device.

Titi Pepita says she'll return later this year and we look forward to seeing her again.

After visiting with Titi Pepita, we happened to drive by a hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint we have passed for ages. It always smells delicious from the road and we say each time we pass that one day we'll have to stop there.  Well, yesterday we made a u-turn and seized the day. Let me tell you, the BBQ was as delicious as it smelled. The people inside were so pleasant, too. They even gave the kids free drinks while we waited for our to-go order. It turns out that the place is run by an ex-football player from the Buccaneers (Go, Bucs!). We tried a combo of pork, beef, sausage, BBQ beans, potato salad, fries, and their special sauce. All was so, so good - much better than the chain BBQ place, Sonny's. I was rather sad to let go of the leftovers so that H could take them to work today for lunch. If you find yourself near the Tampa International Airport, stop by Jazzy's BBQ. You will not be sorry.

And that is my "Carpe Diem" story for the week.

Since I'm still recovering from the whole brain surgery thing, my sister-in-law invited us over for Thanksgiving. My neighbors heard and surprised us by ordering Thanksgiving for us so that I won't have to leave the house. Isn't that so sweet?

My post-surgery update:

• My stitches are out and the Dr says my incision looks great.
• My hair, where they shaved my head, is growing like mad. The rest of my thick hair covers the area.
• I left the house to get the stitches out and was very happy to go home again. I was really dreading going somewhere for Thanksgiving. That's why my dear neighbors bought us a cooked dinner.
• H is back at work but D is in charge and watches me better than a Mother Hen.
• If I bend over, it feels like my head will explode. So, I don't do that.
• I can't really spend much time at once on the internet, but I am at Twitter.

On my Free Things page, you can find my Thanksgiving Menu - if I was able to cook.

I hope to post again before Thursday. If I don't, here's Tennessee Ernie Ford singing one of my favorite harvest hymns:

Since we're in the midst of the Great Waffle Shortage of 2009, I thought I'd post my waffle recipe. I'd love to credit my source; I only remember it was a magazine.

Pancake & Waffle Mix

• 3 1/2 C. flour (I use half wheat and half all-purpose.)
• 1/4 C. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt

Mix ingredients in large bowl with a whisk. Store up to 3 months. Makes 4 cups of mix.

I triple the mix and store it in an empty cracker tin.

For Mix Waffles:

Place 1 Cup mix in bowl. Beat in second bowl 1 egg, 1 Tbsp. melted butter, 3/4 Cups buttermilk, 1/4 tsp. vanilla. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until just combined.

For Mix Pancakes:

Place 1 Cup mix in bowl. Beat in second bowl 1 egg, 1 Tbsp. melted butter, 1/2 Cup buttermilk, 1/2 Cup milk, 1/4 tsp. vanilla. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until just combined. Let rest 2 minutes.

I usually substitute vegetable oil for melted butter and vinegar & milk for buttermilk.

I bake our waffles with a Black & Decker Belgian Waffle Maker and our pancakes on an extra large griddle.

I hope this helps others survive this terrible waffle crisis. ;)

Long, long ago, little D confused the words Jack-o-lantern and Halloween and called carved pumpkins "jack-o-leens".

After much begging, D got her very own pumpkin to carve for the very first time.

Stabbing the victim.

The finished product.

Lit up.

With my sunflowers.

We were careful to save all the seeds. They're delicious baked. Just wash them and spread them on tin foil. Spray them with cooking spray and sprinkle them with salt. Then, bake on low for awhile. Yummy! And so much better than sunflowers seeds, as these can be eaten shell and all. I kept some seeds out to plant next year. We'll see how that goes.