From scratch....Hot Cocoa!!!

Grab a blankie and your favorite socks....

put in your favorite Winter time movie and sip this delicious drink....

enjoy a cozy night!

 Ingredients:  4 cups Milk, 1/2 cup Sugar,1/4 cup Cocoa, 1 tsp.  Salt, 1 tsp. Vanilla, 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

 Take Cocoa, sugar and Salt add to pan,  slowly put in water and make a syrup.  Watch close it will burn while you are bringing it to a boil.  

 Add milk and heat to desired temperature

 This is a yummy find!!!

ENJOY!!!!

What did you say???? GREEN CHILI!!!! OH YEAH!!!

Green Chili!!!  Oh my goodness...such a great amazing yummy food on a cold day!!!  Left overs are amazing and better the next day!   Great over  breakfast eggs, baked potatoes, Spaghetti squash, Grits...you name it!   So get ready to copy this down to your favorite recipe book...ready go!

1-2 lbs pork roast

1 medium onion

Lots O garlic!

2 16 oz cans diced tomatoes

1 can rotel tomatoes

2 quarts of green chili (roasted when in season)

2 Tablespoons cumin

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon oregano

cilantro

chicken broth

water

Sides:  sour cream, guacamole, chips, corn tortillas, cheese

Put pork roast in covered roasting pan ( I use my stoneware baker) and cover with water.  Add 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Bake for 10-12 hours!!

After baking is complete, saute' butter and garlic and onion in soup pot!

Shred pork and add to the onion and garlic mix

Add green chili's

Add diced tomatoes and rotel tomatoes

Add seasonings

MMMMMMMMM good!!!

Home Made Yummy Egg Noodles!!!!

Homemade Egg Noodels!

Here is the scoop...Okay recipe!  

2 3/4 cups flour

3 eggs 2 Tablespoons water

sift flour, beat eggs in glass measuring bowl add water.  Make sure it measures 3/4 liquid.  Add slowly to flour mixture.  Use flat beater for 30 seconds, then change to hook beater for 2 minutes.   Hand knead for 2 more minutes.    Cook in boiling water with olive oil and salt for 6-10 minutes depending on preference.   YUM!!!

TOOLS TOOLS TOOLS!!!!

 Well..after many many many years....I have finally been able to get some really wonderful and amazing tools for my kitchen.   I finally understand after all the years of my husband needing the "right" tool to fix something what it is like to have the right thing!    My husband is the best!!!

New vs. Old....I bought the one on the right at a garage sale for 25 dollars.   It has been AWESOME!   If you do not yet have a kitchen aid save up and buy one!!!!   They are worth it!   Have a garage sale...sell your first born puppy...whatever you can do to earn the money...It makes cooking a dream!

My new kitchen aid was refurbished.   It is a professional series 550 HD.  It normall sells for 419.00....we saved 250 dollars by buying refurbished and an addition 20 dollars because we waited until it was on sale!!!   So folks you do the numbers...we saved for it...so it was not out of pocket expense....totally worth it!!!

We have been cooking with pans that we have purchased at garages sales.  They have done the job but drive me crazy.  They do not cook even (with the only exceptions being my cast iron..I LOVE them)   So we have saved, gathered coupons and my husband bought these two beautiful pieces for my birthday .   We had a coupon for 40% off and shopped the clearance racks.   This sells for 290.00.  We did NOT even come close to that price!   Do your homework...we also asked for the imperfection stock.  They are marked by stickers.  The white stickers are considered grade A.  The orange stickers have imperfections. I am okay with a bit of discolor from the outside of the pan to the inside.   Works for me and still has the same warranty and quality assurance!

I am totally excited about this one  it is normally 300.00!!!  And yes folks you guessed it....we had a coupon and saved!   My husband actually worked over time to spoil me this year and saved for me to have some decent cookware.  First time in my life that I have had truely good cookware!

You can see how this is a multifunction set.  It serves as a lid as well as a skillet.  I LOVE it!

Killer grips to pull things out of the oven!    Just a cool find and only 6 dollars!

 I can't WAIT to get started in cooking with these!!!!  See you soon!!!

Biscuits and Gravy!!!

Here are a few tips for the very old fashion biscuits and gravy...

When making biscuits, a key is to add just a tad bit more milk to the batter.   Dust your board with a good amount of flour.  You will have very sticky dough....the flour on your board will give you enough to make it not stick to your hands.   Knead it a few times and fold it in half.  Pat it out without a rolling pin...the less you mess with it the better it will behave!    When you bake them, wait until the last few minutes and then paint them with milk...they will be golden with a crispy outside!!! Totally yum-lo-lishis!!!

As far as the gravy goes....a few secrets....cook your breakfast sausage in a pan...add salt and pepper, a good amount.  After it is cooked, add enough flour to soak up the grease and create a "dry" look to the sausage.   Cook it for a few minutes and then add milk to the consistency you want.  Once you do that, add several shakes of tabasco!   ENJOY YA'LL   

Toldja I was back!

Ok so here is the deal...I am trying to decide what to cook next.   I haven't done any baking...yet...I love to cook everything...so anyone have a request????

Wellll.....I"MMMMMMMMM BAAAAACKKKKKK!!!!!!

Hello all...been a WHILE!  We had a crazy spring and summer.  I am back and will be posting all sorts of new yummy dishes for winter!   Can't wait!  Gonna clip coupons now!   See you in a day or two!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce!!!!

Okay, this is my families favorite!   Seriously...they actually beg for it.  It is the best when we pull everything fresh from the garden.  So this would be the winter version.  We will cover the summer version...well...in summer!   Enjoy!

Winter ingredients.   I use a small jar of spaghetti sauce to get a base going.  In the summer, we make it from scratch.  This also kick starts it for a faster dinner.

Brown ground beef. 

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup of garlic.

Add fresh veggies to garlic and butter.  We use yellow squash, purple onion, zucchini, mushrooms and red and yellow bell pepper,.

Add fresh parmesan cheese and a little merlot.

Let simmer.  I prefer to simmer for a few hours and if I really plan ahead, in the crock pot the night before. 

Time to serve it up!

Just to busy eating to smile!   Gotta love it!

Nothing speaks louder than a picky 3 year old!

Goin KooKoo!

Frittata has become a more popular dish in the last 10 years.  At least with me it has.  Here is a little bit of trivia on the Frittata!

(Thanks to Wikipedia, the follow information was not extracted from my brain...)

"In Western cuisine, the frittata is usually associated with Italy.

Frittata is equivalent to an Iranian dish called kookoo. There are different types of kookoo such as kookoo sabzi (Herb frittata) and Kookoo sibzamini (Potato frittata)

A frittata may be baked, or it may be started in a cast iron pan. When started on a stove top the frittata can be finished in an oven, under a broiler, or it may be flipped and finished in the pan.

Frittata preparation differs from omelette preparation in that the eggs are beaten to incorporate air where the eggs for omelettes usually are stirred with less air incorporated. The additional air in the frittata mixture allows for a deeper filling and a fluffier result. Ingredients to be incorporated into a fritatta are added to the pan after the egg mixture and before the egg is done in the cast iron pan (in a French omelette they are added before).

A frittata is usually divided into slices. It may also be accompanied with fresh salads, bread, beans, olives etc. "             

You may use any ingredients you prefer...this is what I used for tonight!  You will need oil for the bottom of the pan, so you may use olive oil, bacon grease, butter...I recommend using olive oil if you don't use bacon grease.

Chop veggies and add to the pan.  I used bell peppers, onions, and asparagus.

I then added potatoes and fried them all up together.  Just enough to make the veggies tender and the potatoes hot.

I would recommend using about 10 eggs for a 10" pan with a little milk.  Beating them gently for about 5 minutes adds plenty of air to them and makes for some nice eggs!

Let the eggs cook to where they are holding shape a little bit but still have some runny eggs throughout.

This is the second pan that I made with not potatoes and no bacon grease.  A little less calories!   I added mushrooms and a little bit of bacon.  

Cover in cheese and put in the oven until the cheese bubbles and barely turns golden brown on top.  I usually bake  it for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. 

THEN  I turn the broiler on and broil it for just a few minutes to get the cheese golden brown!  ***Tip...NEVER walk away from food under a broiler, you will most likely have a charcoal cheese! 

I cut it in pie pieces and add garnishes...there are apples and cinnamon sprinkled around the plate.  It really was tasty!

Seriously yummy Tacoritos!!

This is another family favorite.  It requires a little more effort and time, but is a real winner!

Ingredients: ground beef, onion, green chiles, tomatos, chili powder, sage, cumin, flour tortillas, salt, garlic, cheese, lettuce, flour, milk. 

While the ground beef, garlic and onion are cooking. In another pan, melt butter, this will be for the white sauce that you will season for everything.  

Add flour to the butter and cook for 1-2 minutes.  

Add milk until it is the constancy of gravy.  Add Cheese, Cumin, Salt, Sage and Green Chilis.

Add enough sauce to the ground beef.  The consistency should be similar to pudding.  Thick not runny.  Save the rest of the sauce for later. 

Add 1 ladle (about 3/4 cup) of meat mixture to tortilla.  Hint: warm tortilla a little to keep it from tearing when you fold it!

Line up each wrap but make sure you don't stack them.  It makes it much harder to get out later.

Bake in over at 350 until cheese bubbles all over....incase you are wondering, your mouth should be watering at this point and your house smells amazing!

Finale!   Add Sour Cream, cheese, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro...whatever you want!  Enjoy!!!