Royally Exhausted!

The Husband and I rose early to dress for the wedding.(And apparently got dressed in the dark.) We had a small meal of strawberries and cream, mimosas, Croque Monsieur and sausage rolls and then set forth to Westminster Abbey. Between the trees, the hats and the Beckhams, I would have to say it was all very splendid. But what do I know?
The Husband and I wish William and Kate as much hilarity, craziness and love that we have had in our 30-plus years.

HIP-HIP-HOORAY!

We Fight Over the Leftovers...

 Well, not a fight per se, more like a running argument. It begins as soon as I start cooking.

"I'm going to make a stew, " I will say. 
"Don't make too much, you always make too much," The Husband will automatically reply.
I sigh loudly. "I don't know how to make stew for two. Or Spaghetti sauce for one. I'm just going to cook like I know how and you can eat the leftovers."


Last Sunday we gave a casual dinner party for a few friends. We are still eating the leftovers.


"Next time I say we only need to cook one chicken, we're only cooking one chicken," he mutters every time he looks in the fridge. "I don't care if 20 people are coming, we're only cooking one chicken."


As if.

Carrot Soup- so simple- carrots, onions, broth and a little cream.

Gratin Dauphinois- the secret? Don't wash the potatoes!

My go-to salad

The Very Best Lemon Meringue Pie Ever

"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for 30 years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." Calvin Trillin 

 TVBLMPE


Bake your favorite pie crust; in a heavy saucepan (who buys light saucepans?) combine 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of cornstarch and a pinch of salt. Gradually add 1 1/2 cups of boiling water. Stir constantly, and cook over moderate heat till the mixture thickens. Add 2 tsp of lemon rind and 1/3- or more- of fresh lemon juice and stir. Beat 3 egg yolks and add a spoon of the lemon mixture, stir and add the egg stuff to the heavy saucepan... add 2 tbls of butter and cook until very thick- keep stirring! Pour into your baked pie shell and set aside.


In a bowl beat 3 egg whites (they came with the yellow part, remember?) with an electric mixture till thickened, then gradually add 6 tbs of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. With a spatula, cover the pie with the meringue and bake at 325 just until the top has browned slightly. Cool the pie and taste a little springtime! I have some pretty big pie pans (insert joke here) so even this math whiz figured out to double the recipe.
 

Another Freakin Holiday Food Post...

but seriously, can you blame me?

It's St. Patty's Day, a day of beer and leprechauns and Lucky Charms cereal and Bushmills and...well I could go on, but I have a life to lead cha-cha.

Suffice to say ( I always wanted to write that) I am very busy earning a pot'-o- gold or two and  I wanted this meal to be as easy as finding a four-leaf clover. (Trust me, I have found 100's in my time.) But the thought of boiling a piece of meat that has already been brined in water did not really excite this Scottish/Polish/English/Chickasaw gal. So I mixed things up a little. Like Ireland and England.
Enjoy!

So I opened the bag-o-beef and threw it in the crock-o-pot. I added some leftover wine---a rare commodity---and ignored it for a few hours.

Sometime after Happy Hour I rescued the corn (corned?) beef and slathered it with a soy sauce/mustard/apricot jam glaze and threw it in the oven at 400 degrees.

Then I tentatively approached the chou-chou.

I tossed it in boiling water for a couple o' minutes... (are you catching on to the theme?)

I boiled some Yukon Golds and mashed them with sour cream, half & half  and butter. Lot's o' lots o' butter. (I'm out of control.)

Here is the brilliant part; I tossed the warm, buttery cabbage into the mashed potatoes. Oh sweet Jeezuz!

Sliced the baked corned beef...

Mixed it all up on my English China....and ...Ifreann na Fola! Delicious! 
I'm as surprised as you are!

And for dessert- Irish coffee and molasses cookies...I actually had some left from this afternoon. Ahem.

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, May good luck pursue you each morning and night. ~Irish Blessing

N'Awlinz: Dis, Dat or d'Udda.

Dis...I mean, this is my Mardi Gras post. I found some beads buried in my closet and put on my best carnival apron and cooked up some of Chef Paul Prudhomme's Chicken and Andouille Smoked Sausage Gumbo-  Laissez les bons temps rouler!

It was just The Husband and I and a huge pot of gumbo, but I managed to give some away. Still...we'll be eating it for weeks making this month, Fat March!

Mmm..spicy sausage..
  

Chicken breasts instead of the whole chicken- it's a personal choice...

Mix up a little Lake Chelan Hurricane...

Everything nice and greezy...

Start cooking the roux- it's basically grease and flour- yum!

The secret of a perfect roux? Stir the shit out of it and don't wander off.

Mix in the vegy's and the meats....

Cook a little shrimp and hot sauce in butter to top off the gumbo...(I like it better this way... shrimp tends to get disgusting after a few days in the fridge. )

Cook up a pot of white rice and mix it all together....ahh, the Big Easy!



"I don't think life is to be taken too seriously. Take it too seriously, and it'll getcha." Paul Prudhomme

Food Poisoning Or...

broken heart?
Not exactly sure but ever since someone stole my laptop my stomach has hurt.
Yep, some lowlife stole it from my mom's house. That's right, walked right in and stole my words. And photos...
Okay, boo-hoo and all. I'll get over it. And part of my recovery was to eat something...comforting. Something without any redeeming value. And so I went into the depths of my pantry and found it...

Oh my---wheat flour and glyceryl monostearate!

 

Admit it---you were hoping for this.

                                                                 It just got better.

                                                    For dessert- the perfect pan-popped popcorn.

So now I feel better. Well, not really, but now my stomach hurts for a completely different reason.

"I am going on a diet. From this day forward, I pledge there will be no pork chop too succulent! No donut too tasty! No pizza too laden with delicious toppings to prevent me from reaching my scientifically-determined ideal weight! As God as my witness, I'll always be hungry again!" H. Simpson

 The Perfect Pan-Popped Popcorn

I bought The Husband an air popcorn popper for Christmas. It lasted three pops. So back to the stove. Which is the best. This recipe leaves you with zero kernels..if you do it right.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/3 cup of high quality popcorn kernels
• 1 3-quart covered saucepan
• 2 Tbsp or more (to taste) of butter
• Salt to taste

Method

1 Heat the oil in a 3-quart saucepan on medium high heat.

2 Put 3 or 4 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover the pan.

3 When the kernels pop, add the rest of the 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels in an even layer. Cover, remove from heat and count 30 seconds. (Count out loud; it's fun to do with kids.) This method first heats the oil to the right temperature, then waiting 30 seconds brings all of the other kernels to a near-popping temperature so that when they are put back on the heat, they all pop at about the same time.

4 Return the pan to the heat. The popcorn should begin popping soon, and all at once. Once the popping starts in earnest, gently shake the pan by moving it back and forth over the burner. Try to keep the lid slightly ajar to let the steam from the popcorn release (the popcorn will be drier and crisper). Once the popping slows to several seconds between pops, remove the pan from the heat, remove the lid, and dump the popcorn immediately into a wide bowl.

With this technique, nearly all of the kernels pop (I counted 4 unpopped kernels in my last batch), and nothing burns.

5 If you are adding butter, you can easily melt it by placing the butter in the now empty, but hot pan.

6 Salt to taste.