Barbeque Sauce

We use this mostly with boneless pork country ribs, which are often dirt cheap at Winn-Dixie. The kids request it often and eat it all up! You can do it in the oven or the crock pot. I've never made the sauce separately.

• 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
  
• 1-1/2 cups brown sugar (packed)
  
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
  
• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  
• 2 tbsp chili powder
  
• 1 Tbsp brown mustard
  
• 1/2 tsp pepper
  
• 1 tsp garlic salt
  
• 1 small onion, chopped
  
• 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
  

Simmer for an hour or until it thickens. Or mix it up and throw it in a roasting pan with your meat, basting it when you remember.

Chicken Pot Pie

This is my own made-up recipe, evolved over the past few years.

Preheat oven to 350.

1 whole chicken (or equivalent in parts) , cooked, cut off bone and chopped into bite sized pieces
* 3-4 cups mixed vegetables

** 2 cups chicken broth
3 Tbsp heavy cream or sour cream
1-1/2 Tbsp flour (or half as much cornstarch)

Salt, pepper, other seasonings to taste

1 pie crust (for single crust pie)

Bring the 2 cups of broth to a boil. Simmer uncovered until it's reduced to 1 cup. Mix the flour or cornstarch with enough water to stir and dissolve it. Add to broth and stir till thickened. Stir in the cream.

Stir in the meat and vegetables.

Pour into a 13x9 inch pan and sprinkle with your choice of seasonings (I like garlic salt and lemon pepper).

Here is where I have to confess I never learned to make a pie crust. I will some day - but until then, the grocer stocks nice premade ones all rolled up in the dairy section near the biscuits and chocolate chip cookie dough!

One pie crust unrolls neatly to almost the perfect size. If you pull off the extra and lay it on the end it will cover the entire thing. I have kids who don't care for crust so we just roll up the extra.

Poke a couple of holes in the middle of the crust. Why? I have no idea! I don't think you really need to in this case since it's not sealed. But I do anyway.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

* Canned, fresh or frozen, anything you like. Canned mixed vegetables are simplest. Tonight I used frozen - a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corn and green beans. If you do use fresh, cook them a bit first. Add them while you're doing the broth!

** I almost always use fresh. Often I will cook the whole chicken like this (credit to Frugal Gourmet): put the whole chicken in a large pot, cover with water, add salt and pepper. Bring to a heavy, rolling boil. Boil for 5 minutes, then cover and immediately turn OFF the heat! Leave it sitting there for at least one hour with NO PEEKING!!! At the end of the hour you should have a perfectly cooked chicken and a pot of yummy broth! Divide the broth up and freeze it for use later (I freeze it in 1 cup quantities and also in ice cube trays, each cube is about 1/4 cup.

Tomorrow I'll tell you what we do with the other pie crust in the package!

"Puppy Chow"

As always, this is an adaptation of the original recipe I found. I've been making this for several years at holiday time. Last year I was broke and decided to do it for teacher gifts. I bought little containers for about 50 cents apiece, which held about a cup. I have to say I got more response from that teacher gift than I EVER have before! I think 10 people asked me for the recipe. So I plan to do that again this year, even though I am not so broke. :)

It keeps well if sealed properly. I keep it in a big Ziploc in the pantry and the kids rarely get it zipped up right. We've never had to throw any out for being stale. It is a very QUICK and easy snack to whip up for parties or after school, and you can make it as simple or fancy as you like (the original is simply the coated cereal, no added items). It makes you looks like SuperMom! And that's always a good thing! :)

1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 peanut butter
1/4 cup butter

Melt for one minute in microwave on high, stir, then do 15 seconds at a time as needed until melted (I only do this once).

9 cups any plain, unflavored Chex type cereal (generic or other brand is fine) - I use half and half corn and rice. Have this ready in a large bowl. Pour the chocolate mixture over it and then toss gently with 2 wooden spoons, very gently so as not to crush the cereal. When the cereal is evenly coated, pour into a large Ziploc (the recipe calls for a "2 gallon" but I have never seen these. I use a 1 gallon and it's tight; you could divide in half as well and do it in two bags, but 1 works) with 1-3/4 cups powdered sugar. Shake until evenly coated. At this point I pour it into a clean bag for storage and add up to a cup each (I don't measure, just pour) of stick pretzels, honey roasted peanuts, and M&Ms.

Apple-Cranberry Crisp

Yesterday's entry got me really thinking about Thanksgiving. My family - 2 of my 3 brothers, their familes, and up until now my parents - gets together every year. We've done this for almost 10 years. This will be our 5th year staying at a resort in Hot Springs. The resort we use is not the fanciest place in town but it's perfect for the kids - it's on the lake, there is a playground and a peninsula with tennis courts, mini golf and LOTS of space to run around and play ball. There is a small island nearby and last year the lake was low enough for us to just walk out and explore. Hot Springs gives us plenty to do as well. We've enjoyed the Mid-America Science Museum (a hands on children's museum) for several years. There are also Duck Tours, hikes, walks around Bathhouse Row, and much more!

The first year we went to Hot Springs was 2005. We were in the middle of one of the most horrible times of our lives, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We were just looking forward to getting to a place where every tree wasn't broken or knocked over! At that point in my life I was ready to get back into cooking, something I had largely given up (other than the most basic dishes so my family could eat) way back in '00 when I went on bed rest. I searched around for some new and different things to try.

This dessert was one of them. The adults loved it, the kids not so much. That was the year I decided to let them choose a dessert for holiday meals, after all shouldn't they have something they like, too? They just aren't into the fancy stuff. So for them I still make plain apple crisp, at their request, every holiday meal. But the adults loved this, and I plan to make it again this Thanksgiving. It came from the Food Network website. Enjoy!

Apple Cranberry Crisp

• 4 large, sweet, firm apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 8 pieces (about 2 pounds)
• 1 pound fresh cranberries, rinsed well
• 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 1/2 cups grated white cheddar
• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
  

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the apples, cranberries, walnuts, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, and toss well to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Blend the butter into the dry ingredients using your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Pour the fruit mixture into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking until bubbly and the apples are tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 6 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream on top.

BLT Dip

This was a huge hit at Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, among kids and adults alike. It comes from Mom's church cookbook. 

 BLT Dip 

 6 slices bacon (cooked crisp and crumbled) 

1 cup sour cream 

1 cup mayonnaise 

3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped 

3 Tbsp. fresh minced parsley 

Salt and pepper to taste 

 Thick wavy cut potato chips

 Reserve 1 Tbsp bacon for garnish. 

Mix sour cream, mayo, tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper and chill for one hour. Garnish with reserved bacon.

 Serve with chips.

Chicken Coconut Soup

While in Austin last spring, we ate at a Thai place and I had Tom Yum soup for the first time. Mmmmm!! I was in heaven! The other day I got a hankering for it and ordered some from my local Thai restaurant. Let's just say their version was nothing like the first one I tried. I guess there are different recipes, as with anything else you find. But it was very disappointing, and I ended up throwing out half a container of soup.

So I asked my friend Google to find me a recipe. I found lots - most of which called for ingredients I couldn't find, or don't care for. So I decided to take the one that sounded best and mess with it (of course!)

Here is my version. Out of respect for any Thai people reading this, I am not calling it Tom Yum! It turned out AWESOME. I am beaming! And no one else in the family will like it so that means it's MINEALLMINE! :)

Ingredients

• 2 cans (14 oz.) coconut milk
• 2 cans (14 oz.) reduced-sodium chicken broth (I use fresh homemade)
  
• 12 quarter-size slices fresh ginger, peeled
  
• 2 stalks fresh lemongrass, cut in 1-in. pieces
• 4 ribs celery from the inner heart of the stalk, including leaves, chopped fine
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine
• 2 chili peppers, chopped fine
• 1/4 head cabbage, shredded (I would use Bok Choy if I had any)
  
• 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 4 green onions, chopped
  
• 1 pound boned, skinned chicken breast or thighs, cut into 1-in. chunks (I used leftover picked from the carcass of the broth-making bird)
• 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 Tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (or to taste)
  
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Preparation

In a medium saucepan, combine coconut milk, broth, ginger, and lemongrass and bring to boil over high heat. Add chicken, vegetables, lime juice, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is firm and opaque, 5 to 10 minutes. Discard lemongrass. Garnish servings with basil and cilantro.

Pumpkin Stew

I'm not much of a recipe follower, as you may have noticed...I like to tweak and adjust things and add things that I feel would add to the dish. Sometimes this works well, sometimes not so well, but I can't remember a time when it was utterly inedible so at least there's that!

I found this stew recipe online. I used to have a pumpkin stew recipe I was fond of, but I have no idea what happened to it and stew is pretty much stew no matter what, so I mainly needed to see the details of the method. You cook the stew inside a whole pumpkin, you see, and then when you serve it you scrape out bits of the pumpkin into the bowl. It's looks really cool, and tastes great while being something a bit different - stew is stew, but there's something about ladling supper out of a giant orange gourd that adds to the atmosphere...as well as the little different taste!

This recipe came from Taste of Home Magazine, but to be honest it's identical to 6 other recipes I found elsewhere. I don't know who came up with it first! I made it almost exactly according to recipe because I was put into a rush by a kid coming home and informing me he had to be at a football game 15 miles out of town tonight and I had to take him. I didn't get to eat till we got home, and while it was delicious I did think of a couple of things to try next time - I'll note those on the bottom.

Ingredients

* 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
* 3 tablespoons oil, divided
* 1 cup water
* 3 large potatoes, peeled if desired (I don't) and cut into 1-inch cubes
* 4 medium carrots, sliced
* 1/2 large green pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
* 6 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1/2 teaspoon pepper
* 2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
* 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1 pumpkin (10 to 12 pounds)

Directions

* In a Dutch oven, brown meat in 2 tablespoons oil. Add water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in bouillon and tomatoes. Wash pumpkin; cut to 6 to 8 in. circle around top stem. Remove top and set aside; discard seeds and loosen fibers from inside.
* Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan. Spoon stew into pumpkin and replace top. Brush outside of pumpkin with remaining oil. Bake at 325° for 1 to 1-1-2 hours or just until the pumpkin is tender (do not overbake. Mine took an hour but it was a bit smaller than recommended here. Stab it with a knife and if it's soft, it's ready!). Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little pumpkin with each serving. Yield: 8-10 servings.

***********

Notes: I don't like instant beef broth, Next time I will use real instead of water. I will also add a splash of red wine to the cooking pot. I would also like to see some mushrooms in there and maybe a touch of flour so the gravy comes out thicker.