Football and Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible's Pot Roast

There is no way around it.  I love football.  I am that person that believes there are four seasons in life - Preseason, Regular season, Post-season, and Off-season.  Sometimes I wish that I had been born a man so that I could have played football.  I am that person who when watching football with other people does not want to talk about anything else unless it relates to the game.  That drives me nuts!!  Go in the other room if you want to talk about fashion or makeup or heaven forbid, politics.  I have my own Fantasy Football team!  I love both college (Roll Tide) and professional football, but if I had to pick my favorite, it would have to be the NFL!!!

I was introduced to football when I was just 10 years old.  I would sit on the couch with my Dad, and we would watch and watch and watch football.  I think those were some of my most favorite times spent with him.  He would actually explain the game to me.  We watched the infamous "Heidi" game together in November of  '68.  It was the Raiders versus the Jets!  The Jets were leading 32-29 with just a minute and five seconds left on the clock.  The Raiders had the ball and were driving, NBC went to commercial, and when they came back, we were viewing the opening scenes to Heidi.  I hate that movie to this day because of that.  We later found out that the Raiders scored two touchdowns in nine seconds to beat the Jets 43-32.  WHAT??? 

I was watching Super Bowl III when Broadway Joe Namath predicted on Thursday that his lowly underdog New York Jets team would beat the Baltimore Colts and Johnny Unitas.  His prediction came true, and the Jets won 16-7.  Namath was crowned the MVP, and I officially at 11 years of age had a crush on Broadway Joe.  Oh goodness.

I was watching Super Bowl IV when the Chiefs and the Vikings matched up.  I found an entry in my diary that will attest to this fact.

I think it is funny how I crossed out the "not" on going to church.  Who knows!!  I guess I was for the Vikings that day as the Diary reads.  I do remember that I loved their quarterback Joe Kapp and the best defensive end of all times, the great Carl Eller. 
When Husband Fred and I started dating, I was excited to find that he loved football as much as I did.  One of the first things we did as a married couple was to buy season tickets to the Atlanta Falcons.  I can say that those were some of my most favorite times spent with Husband Fred driving back and forth to Atlanta cheering on the Falcons even though they were not that great.  We did make it to a play-off game one year, but we got beat by the Cowboys.  The ride home was really long after that one.  We had to sell those tickets when we moved to Arkansas.  It was sad times, but then along came the Tennessee Titans.  We put ourselves on the waiting list of over 30,000 people to purchase season tickets, and lo and behold, about 5 years ago, seats became available.  They are unfortunately in the last row of the upper deck but who cares!! It is a boisterous bunch up there.  It must be the lack of oxygen from being up in the clouds, but we cherish every moment we are there.  We kick-off the season tomorrow, and the Titans will need help.  We play the Patriots, and oh my goodness!!

Now on to the recipe.  I am still playing the Eeny Game with Paula Deen and her Southern Cooking Bible.  I tell you this is the best cookbook ever.  You must go buy it for yourself.  The Game chose her Lady and Sons Pot Roast, and this is by far, the best roast I have ever eaten.  You must make it this weekend.  It had so much flavor and it was so so so tender.  I wish I had some right now!

You will need a 3-pound chuck roast, onion, bay leaves, white wine, beef bouillon cubes, garlic, Paula's House Seasoning (which I will tell you how to make in a sec), and cream of mushroom soup.

Sprinkle the roast with Paula's House Seasoning.  It is a great all-around seasoning.  You mix 1 cup of salt, 1/4 cup of black pepper, and 1/4 cup of garlic powder.  I just mix a big batch of it and even give it away as Christmas gifts.  People love it!

Brown the roast on all sides about 5 minutes per side.

 Place the roast in the crock pot and cover it with soup, garlic and crushed bouillon cube mixture.

 Then add the sliced onion and bay leaves on top of the soup, and pour in the wine.  You add just enough water to cover the roast.

You take it out of the crockpot after about 8 hours. and it is the best thing you will ever eat.  PS I got a high five from Food Police for my choice of sides.  Yes that is HALF of a baked potato with Smart Balance spread and no fat sour cream.  

Here is your recipe......

The Lady and Sons Pot Roast

Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible



One 3-pound boneless chuck roast

1  1/2 tsps Paula Deen's House Seasoning

Salt and black pepper

Vegetable oil

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 bay leaves

3 or 4 bouillon cubes, crushed

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 C Chardonnay or other full-bodied white wine

Sprinkle the roast on all sides with House Seasoning.  In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers.  Add the roast and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes  per side.

Place the roast in a slow cooker.  Place the onion, bay leaves, crushed bouillon cubes, garlic, and soup on top of roast.  Pour in the wine, and add just enough water to cover the roast.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Remove and discard the bay leaves before serving.

Now go have a great day......

Neil Armstrong and Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible's Pecan Crusted Chicken Breasts

When I saw the news alert about Neil Armstrong's death, I immediately remembered where I was on that July 20, 1969 when he became the first man to walk on the moon.  I was eleven years old and spending a day on the lake with my Great-aunt Roxie.  (I will definitely have to write later about her.  She was a true pioneer in every sense of the word.)  I remember crying because we had to leave the lake early to go watch the moon landing on TV(and I am sure I thought the stupid moon landing - I was only 11 y'all).  But I am so thankful that we did.  I remember sitting down together as a family around the television and being so proud of what we were seeing that day. I love the statement that Neil Armstrong's family made after he passed away -"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.” I will certainly do that! 

Here is an entry I wrote in my diary about that day.  I don't know why it says July 29th.   I probably wrote about it after the fact and just guessed at the date.  Who knows???  I was eleven!!

I imagine being born in Huntsville, AL - the Rocket City- has made me more aware of NASA, the Marshall Space Flight Center, Dr. Von Braun, the Space and Rocket Center, and all the things associated with the space program.  I remember my Nana taking me to Redstone Arsenal for an open house where they were testing the rocket engines.  I still remember how loud and how scared I was when that engine fired.  I remember Challenger sitting on the back of a Boeing airplane in the late 70's or early 80's and how we all stood outside together to watch it fly over and take pictures.  It makes sense that our schools are named for astronauts and shuttles - Grissom, Chaffee, Ed White, Challenger, Discovery.  For the most part, I watched every Shuttle flight including the Challenger disaster in January of 1986.  I was so sad that day.  I remember exactly where I was that day too.

I am excited about the Mars rover that has been sending back some awesome pictures here lately.  I hope we see a resurgence in our Space Program.  It just shows how innovative, intelligent, and courageous we are!! I believe the Space Program brings us together as a country.  It gives us something positive to root for!!  We need that now more than ever.

Now, on to something else that brings us together.  FOOD!!  I am still cooking out of Paula Deen's Southern Living Cooking Bible.  I am addicted to this cookbook.  I am going to prepare one or two more from it, and then move on to the Pioneer Woman who is fast becoming a new favorite.  Don't tell Paula please!!  The Game selected Pecan Crusted Chicken Breasts this time.  Hmmmmm......Paula calls it her version of chicken nuggets.  Let me tell you they were a home run.  I will prepare these bad boys again!!

You will need chicken breasts, mayo, panko, pecans, salt and pepper.  That is it.

 

Sprinkle each breast with a little salt and pepper.  Then coat each breast with a teaspoon of mayo.

 

Dredge each breast in the chopped pecans and panko.  Place in a dish and bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 350 until brown.

 

When you are done, it will look like this.  I know I will get in trouble for the mac and cheese on the plate, but it was actually Lean Cuisine's low fat mac!!  Ha Food Police.

 

 

Here is your recipe......

 

Pecan-Crusted Chicken Breasts

Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible

 

 

4 boneless chicken breasts

1 1/2 tsp salt (I didn't use this much salt)

1/2 tsp pepper

4 tsp mayonnaise ( I used light)

3/4 c pecans, crushed ( Mine were chopped)

3/4 c panko bread crumbs

 

Place an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a baking dish.

 

Sprinkle the chicken with 1 tsp of the salt and pepper. Coat each breast with 1 tsp of mayonnaise.  In a shallow dish, toss the pecans and bread crumbs together.  Dredge the chicken in the bread crumb mixture, pressing firmly to make sure it sticks well to the chicken.  Season with the remaining 1/2 tsp of salt and place in the dish.  Bake until the crust is nicely browned and the chicken is cooked through, 30 - 40 minutes.

 

Now go have a great day.....



 

 

 

Husband Fred and Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible's Basic Meat Loaf

Husband Fred and I have been married for 33 years.  Wow!!  He has had to put up with a lot from me over the years.  The main thing he has had to deal with is "The Plan", as he says, to kill him.  I wanted to update you on "The Plan."  PS If you don't know exactly what "The Plan" is, please go back and read that blog post.  It will become crystal clear what is going on.

First, there have been two new attempts on Husband Fred's life by me.  The first one was about two weeks ago at Body Pump when I did not fully tighten my weights on the bar.  When I picked up the bar, the weights flew off and headed toward Husband Fred's foot.  He jumped around and made a big scene and yelled out "She is trying to kill me!"  Amber - the Wonder Instructor - looked our way and just shook her head.  We probably irritate her.  We have that husband - wife competitiveness thing going on in class -- who can lift more weight, who can stand for the longest on one leg, who can do a better push-up and plank. 

The second attempt occurred two nights ago when once again I took off my shoes in the path to the bathroom.  I don't know why I do this.  I guess it is just laziness.  I was pooped from Body Pump and my first week back at school, and I did not feel like moving them three feet over out of the path.  During the middle of the night, he got up to go to the bathroom and, of course, walked right where I left my shoes.  Why didn't he just walk six inches to the right or left, and then he would have missed them and not lurched head forward into the bathroom after tangling his feet up in them.  Of course, he had to make another big scene and scream and yell and dance around.  He then proceeded to kick one of the guilty shoes across the room and yell "Why are you trying to kill me?"  I wanted to yell back "Why don/t you have a bigger bladder so you don't have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom?"  I just pulled the covers over my head and said nothing.  That morning when we met in the kitchen for coffee, he looked at me with a very serious look on his face, and said "Angela one day you are going to kill me!  You are going to kill me!!"  When he says my name, I know he is serious. Uh-oh!!

I was relaying this information to Kim, my partner-in-crime at school.    I was hoping for some vindication and support from her.  But she looked at  me with a not so supportive glare, pulled her pants leg up, pointed to a 3-inch scar on her shin, and said "I understand exactly where Fred is coming from!"  I had forgotten that I had left the bottom drawer of a metal filing cabinet by her desk open one day.  She got up from her chair and ran right into that thing making a gash on her leg that really looked like it needed stitches.  She jumped around and made a big scene too.  Why does everyone around me have to make big scenes?   Hmmmm.........  

Now on to the recipe.  I was so so excited when The Game chose Paula's Basic Meatloaf.  Oh how I love meatloaf.  It is my go to comfort food.  I really love it the next day served on two pieces of bread and some mayo.  Yes Food Police - MAYO!!  I have tried many different recipes for meatloaf including my Mama's, but this is by far my favorite.  Sorry Mama. 

You will need ground beef (I used Lean), ketchup or catsup. oatmeal, onion, green bell pepper, an egg, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper, and brown sugar.  Sounds good so far!!

 

Combine everything but the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard.  My mouth is watering.

 

Mix your topping together.

 

Shape the meat into a loaf in a loaf pan (Please excuse the well-worn look of mine) and spread the topping over the loaf.  Bake for one hour at 375 degrees.

 

Serve with yummy garden vegetables and you will be one happy camper.

 

 

Here is the recipe..........

 

 

Basic Meat Loaf

Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible

 

1 pound ground beef

1/2 C chopped onion

1/2 C chopped green bell pepper

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1 C canned diced tomatoes, with juice

1/2 C quick cooking oats

11/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

 

Topping:

1/2 C ketchup

2 Tbs light brown sugar

1 Tbs yellow mustard

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine th ebeef, onion, bell pepper, egg, tomatoes, oats, salt and black pepper.  Place the mixture in a loaf pan.

 

In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard.  Spread over the loaf and bake for one hour.

 

Now go have a great day..............

 

 

 

Aunt Susie, Wasps, and Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible's Zucchini Bread

I must do better with writing my posts.  I must....I must.....I must....I have always been a procrastinator.  My use of the art of procrastination started in college, and I still employ that habit.  Speaking of school, it starts Monday (oh my).  This will be my 20th year in the classroom, and I am giving myself a pat on the back.  That truly is an accomplishment that I am proud of.  But on with the story......

You have read about my Aunt Susie in previous blog posts.  She is my mother's sister and is only seven years older than me.  She is more like a sister to me, and I love her dearly.  She is a character that, honestly, I could base a novel on.  She is fun, quirky, sarcastic, loud, loving, hilarious, and the list could go on forever.  I will definitely have to do several posts on her because there is so much story here. 

Susie is deathly allergic to wasps.  She has a true phobia of wasps.  I actually did some research to see if this was a real phobia and guess what??  It is!!  It is called spheksophobia.  There you go!!  You have learned something today.  Susie's symptoms of spheksophobia include becoming extremely agitated when anything that looks like a wasp (even a sweet butterfly), buzzes like a wasp (a little fly), or acts like a wasp gets into her field of vision.  She will attempt to flee, and I believe this makes her an even bigger target for angry wasps, who are far more likely to sting those who make a commotion. And, oh believe me, she makes a commotion.  She goes stark-raving MAD!!  Every where you look at her house there are bottles of wasp spray.  She will hardly go outside in the summer because she is so afraid of the Wasp Nation's conspiracy to sting her.  I ask her why  she doesn't just carry an EpiPen so if she does get stung, she can inject herself (We are both RN's).  She said she was afraid of her heart exploding from the adrenalin.  Hmmmm...  Let me see if this is a true phobia.  No there is no such thing as a phobia of  an Epipen or your heart exploding.

Let me give you some examples of Susie's spheksophobia please.  I recently had the pleasure of going to the Birmingham Zoo with Susie, her daughter  (my first cousin) Roxanne, and Roxanne's three precious children - Daniel, David, and Ashley.  The day was going well until it was time to ride the train.  We all jumped into our seats waiting for the relaxing ride to begin, and the next thing I see is Susie throwing her head down into her hands.  This was not a normal throw-down.  It was such a dramatic and intense throw-down that I honestly thought she was experiencing a brain aneurysm (Remember I am an RN)!!  I frantically asked her "Are you OK?"  She shouted with head still in her hands, "No I am not OK!!  There is a wasp right there, and if I look at it, it will fly over here and sting me in the eye!" I kid you not!!  I shouted back "It will not sting you in the eye if you look at it!  You are crazy!"  She screamed back something unintelligible, the kids are looking like they are ready to run, and the train lurches to a start.  Thank goodness.  Somewhere mid-way through the ride, she finally took her head out of her hands.  We headed home after that.  Party over!

The second example of spheksophobia is the story of Susie driving down the road with her windows open probably singing at the top of her lungs and loving life.  At some point in the drive, a wasp flies into the car.  I kid you not people!!  She literally throws the car door open, rolls out like a stunt woman, to escape the dreaded wasp.  Thank goodness she was not hurt nor was the car or anyone else.  I have no clue what happened to the wasp.

Finally, I had not heard this story before until we were recently discussing Susie's spheksophobia.  I will just tell it plain and simple.  These are her words.  "I was out in a pasture that was up on a hilltop.  I was petting this Shetland pony, and a wasp flew up.  Let me tell you this!!  I beat that Shetland pony back down the hill!"  I got a mental picture of that.  I will leave you with that image.  There is no one like her in the world.

Now on to the recipe.   I am still cooking out of the great Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible!!  The Eeny Game chose Zucchini Bread.  Honestly, that sounded horrid to me, but I promised I would not cheat plus if it is a Paula Deen recipe it has to be good.  I have never had a bad Paula Deen recipe.  Period.

You will need zucchini, eggs, nuts ( I added these), cinnamon, vanilla, flour, and oil.  The applesauce you see is replacing part of the vegetable oil.  This is a trick Food Police taught me to cut some of the fat out of baked food.  The formula is that you substitute half of the oil with applesauce.  I left the sugar out of the picture.  It is a major player!!  Whoops!! 

You get to grate the zucchini!!  Watch your knuckles!!  I used two zucchini to get a cup of grated.

Mix the zucchini, sugar, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla together.

Add the dry ingredients, mix, and put all the yumminess into a greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and 5 minutes, and you get this loveliness!! 

I honestly did not think I would like zucchini bread but this was good.  I never missed part of the oil.  The bread was very moist, and I definitely will prepare this again.  Here is the recipe.....

Zucchini Bread

Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible

1 C grated zucchini

1 C sugar

1/2 C vegetable oil ( I used 1/4 C applesauce and 1/4 C vegetable oil)

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour ( I used self-rising)

1  1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 C nuts (I added these)

Place a rack in the bottom third of th eoven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the zucchini, sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the flour mixture into the zucchini mixture just to combine.  Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is goden brown, 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Then pop the bread out of th epan and let cool completely on the rack before slicing and serving.

Now go have a great day....



Fourth of July and Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible's Real Deal Gumbo

I love the Fourth of July for a number of reasons.  One is that it is right smack in the middle of the summer and gives you a reason to celebrate country, family, friends, and fireworks.   Second is that it gives you license to eat yummy food with the Food Police's blessing.   This year we decided to celebrate at my Dad's pool  with Husband Fred, Food Police, Son-in-Law, and Crazy Aunt Susie.  You know it is a party if Crazy Aunt Susie is in attendance!!  I must do a blog post on Susie!!  She is something else. 

Our menu was simple - Susie's wonderful ribs, crock pot pulled pork sandwiches and vinegar slaw from www.southernplate.com, potato salad, and Food Police's Healthy Corn Salad and Publix's Key Lime Pie.  I am surprised she let us have Key Lime Pie.  That is the best doggone pie I have ever had. If you have not had one, you must go get one right now.  They even have mango-key lime pie.  I getting off subject.  I must be hungry!

After gorging ourselves, we decided to head out to the pool.  Now this family is competitive, and no gathering would be complete without a little sports action.  I had purchased a pool volleyball set that had a bonus basketball goal.  We got it situated, divided up into unfair teams of the young vs the old, and got the game started.  Well.....can you say we should have hired an athletic trainer for this event to treat the injuries that occurred??  It reminded me of the movie - Meet the Parents - when they are all in the pool playing volleyball, the game gets heated, and Ben Stiller's character spiked the ball and broke the soon-to-be bride's nose!!  Son-in-Law must have thought it would be oh so funny to spike the ball as well.  He didn't count on spiking it right into my chest.  For a split second, I thought I was in ventricular defibrillation.  I couldn't catch my breath for a minute or so, but I recovered, gave him the old teacher evil eye, and said "OK Buddy!!  Game on!"  I get mad any time my team is losing.  We were losing in dramatic fashion this day so at one point I got even madder when I couldn't hit a ball back and instead of throwing it lady-like back to the young ones, I proceeded to heave it across the net and hit Food Police right in the face!!  Needless to say, she thought I did it on purpose.  She started screaming "Concussion!", and I started screaming "Ventricular fibrillation!"  Daddy started screaming "Stop yelling!!  A nice preacher man lives behind me!"  I asked "What does it matter if a preacher lives behind you Daddy?"  He replied "I don't want him to think we are heatherns!"  Really!!  What would make him possibly think that??!! The game continued, and the oldies lost in a bad way!!

Then Son-in-Law had the grand idea to transform the volleyball net into a basketball goal.  He wanted to play HORSE.  Now his idea of HORSE is to jump off the diving board and shoot the ball or run along the side of the pool, jump, and dunk the ball in dramatic fashion.  I said "Nope! I am out!!  I know my limitations!!"  Husband Fred, on the other hand, thought he could go toe-to-toe with a 29 year old ex-high school basketball star.  I tried to talk him out of it by reasoning with him, but that only made him want to do it more.  I thought to myself  "This ought to be good!"  Well, Husband Fred hung in there pretty well until the showboating started.  Son-in-Law made the shot where he started out of the pool, ran 3 or 4 steps, leaped, dunked, and landed gracefully in the water.   Husband Fred, of course, missed the shot and landed hard on his right leg in the pool while at the same time creating a tsunami.  For a minute, I thought he had for sure broken his leg.  He had this weird look on his face like the time he sat on the ceramic Christmas tree star in the attic and made a huge puncture hole in his buttocks, but that is another story for another day.  I examined him and decided that he had aggravated his knee which he had already aggravated at Body Pump but that is another story too.  He limped out of the pool, sat down, and asked for the Ibuprofen.  Really????  I shook my head and headed up to the house to eat some Key Lime Pie.

Now on to the recipe...........I decided I would cook out of  Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible.  Can I say that this one fantastic cookbook??  Man oh man!!  I still using the Eeny Meeny Miny Mo Game to select what I will cook.  This time "it" chose The Real Deal Gumbo, and Paula is right!!  It is the real deal.  I have eaten a lot of wonderful gumbo in my day, and this recipe stands up against any of them.

Here she is in all her glory!!  This picture looks a little small!  Sorry I was messing around with my I-Phone and Instagram!!

You will need shrimp, smoked sausage, butter, garlic, onion, bell pepper, flour, okra, and chicken broth.  I forgot to put the Cajun seasoning in the picture.  Good grief.

Saute the okra for about 3 minutes to get rid of the slime!  I hate okra slime!

While the okra is de-sliming, chop up a bell pepper, an onion, and 3 cloves of garlic.

You get to make a roux by mix cooking flour and butter.  It takes about 5 minutes to get it this color.

First, you add the chopped onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the roux and cook for 2 minutes.  Then you add the rest of the ingredients minus the shrimp, and cook for 20 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  I added a can of diced tomatoes at this point.  She did not have this in her recipe but I have always had tomatoes in gumbo!

Add the shrimp for the last few minutes and simmer until they turn this pretty pink color.

 

Here is the finished product.  I served it over rice, and it was delicious.  This is going in the recipe rotation.

Now here's the recipe......

The Real Deal Gumbo

Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible

1 T vegetable oil

1 C chopped okra, fresh or thawed frozen

3 T butter

3 T all-purpose flour

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, chopped

1 T chopped garlic

*I added a can of diced tomatoes.*

4 C chicken broth

3/4 pound smoked sausage, chopped ( I used Turkey sausage)

1 tsp Cajun Seasoning

Salt and black pepper

1 pound, large shrimp, peeled and deveined

4 C cooked rice, for serving

Hot sauce, for serving

In a small skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. 
Add the okra and cook, stirring frequently until no longer slimy, about 3 minutes.  Set aside.

In a large suacepan, met the butter over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until it is a light chocolate color, about 5 minutes.

Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the okra,  broth, sausage, and Cajun seasoning and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Add the shrimp and simmer until they are pink and cooked through.  Serve over the rice.  Pass hot sauce at the table.

Now go have a great day......

 

 

 

Where I Have Been and Calling All Cooks' Atlanta Pork Chops and Rice

My goodness....I asked myself  "Where have I been?"  No really!!  I am concerned!!  My last post was May 5th.  That is pitiful.  I had to do some rewind on the old memory tape, and I realized where all I have been.  The first place I had been was the ending of the school year.  It is a massive undertaking to wind down a school year.  Only those who are educators know what I am talking about.  I won't go into the end of the year checklist that is two pages long where you have to run around the 1,000,000 square foot school looking for administrators to initial their line, or the textbook and equipment inventories, or the final posting of grades and completing the gradebook, or the cleaning out of the file cabinets and your desk, or the getting everything off the floor routine so they can perform the all-mighty waxing of the floors.  It truly is an undertaking, and it takes a week to recover!! 

The second place I had been was the beach for a week with Food Police, Son-in-Law, and Husband Fred.  Now that was a pleasure except for the daily food fights with Food Police.  Don't get me wrong - we do not have the traditional food fights where you actually have fun throwing food at one another.  NO............  Our food fights consist of heated discussions of what we should and should not eat for cholesterol, blood pressure, and weight issues.  Let me give you an example of exactly what I mean!!  I made crab-stuffed shrimp one evening and wanted to pair it with a baked potato and salad.  Does that sound good to you?  Yes!!  We even had fat free sour cream and dadgum fake spray butter to put on the potatoes plus fat free salad dressing.  Honey it was a party with all the trans-fat, cholesterol, sodium, and taste not in attendance!!  What can I say!!!  Woo-Hoo!!!  Then said party grinded to a screeching halt!!  "No" says Food Police.  "Let's do grilled yellow and zucchini squash instead of the potato.  It will be healthier!  We had a lot of carbs at lunch so we don't need the potato!!"  What???  We are hungry!!  Ugh!!  The three of us tried to argue our side of things, but the She-Devil (whoops) Food Police won!!  She has that way about her.  That jaw stuck out, and you know she meant business.  We all accepted the zucchini/yellow squash grill, but then I turned to my major passive-aggressive ways!!  I ate one of Son-in-Law's Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cakes (by the way thank goodness for Son-in-Law!!  I can always sneak some food from him.  He somehow can overpower Food Police and get his way with snacks!!  I must take a class from him!!)  I continued my passive-aggressive ways and began to eat Cheetos straight out of the bag at midnight because I was starving.  I got the Food Police death stare which can be rather frightening.   I wonder if she can read minds!!  On the positive side, we had no waterspouts this year that took our electricity away for 2 days - just sun, sea, family, and food fights. 

The third place I had been was my student's National competition in Orlando, FL at Disney World.  Kim and I took 18 students (adolescents - uh oh) on a charter bus.  Enough said!!  It actually was pretty stress-free.  The students behaved very well except for getting in a boiled egg fight, one team over-sleeping on a competition day, and holding up the bus on the way home because three of them got diarrhea from eating too much cheese dip at a restaurant in Valdosta, Ga . Horrors!! We had a 6th, 11th and top 25 in the nation.  I cannot complain!!  The excitement came when Kim and I rode the horrid Jedi - Mount Everest something something roller coaster in Animal Kingdom.  Now before I continue, let me tell you something about myself.  When I was younger, I put on my Bucket List to ride every major roller coaster in the US of A.  That was in the prehistoric age when the coasters weren't as high as the stratosphere, and didn't do all the horrible things they do now!!   I have ridden a standing coaster that goes upside down, a coaster that suspends you like you are flying, and the wooden coaster at Six Flags that feels like it is going to jump off the tracks!!  I just wanted you to know that I am not a scaredy cat when it comes to coasters. On to the story....We load up all giddy with excitement.  I checked my harness one thousand times to make sure it is locked and settled in for the ride.  We literally take off from 0-100 mph in 5 seconds, and then the darn Jedi coaster grinded to a halt half-way up the tracks pitching us forward and backward hard enough to give us whiplash in the blazing heat index of 100 degrees.  Kim began screaming at the top of her lungs something about it being stuck on the tracks.  I look at her and try to talk her down from her fever pitched hysteria.  I said something like "Oh just pretend we are at the beach lying in the sun soaking up some rays!"  She looked at me like I was growing horns out of my head and continued to scream.  She was frightening the 4-year old behind us!!  Yep!!  Then I start getting worked up because I feel like I am on fire.  You know how I hate the heat, and I thought this is how I am going to die - like a vampire in the sunshine pitched at 90 degrees on a roller coaster!!!  Somebody help us!!  Honestly, it was stopped for about 5 seconds, but she and I can be a little dramatic at times.  You think??  We whoosh on, and then the stupid thing pretends to have a broken track.  The next thing I know we are going backwards in the dark, and my old body didn't know which end was up!!  It was the horror of horrors.  I ended the ride feeling a lot dizzy, and thought I had had a stroke.  I thought this is why they tell "older" people not to ride roller-coasters!!  I did a quick neuro-check on myself and found that all was intact.  I bolted off that thing and never looked back.  I thought I will never ever get on a roller-coaster again!!  I proceeded to ride Space Mountain and the Rocking Roller coaster.  The new thing now on roller coasters is called a "Photo-Bomb!"  You learn alot from hanging around the youngsters.  A Photo-bomb is when you anticipate where the picture of you is taken on the ride, and you make some dumb gesture (only nice ones) or some weird looking face.  Well......... and I wish I had a picture for you, Kim and I tried this out.  I decided I would make the blank stare no emotion face.  I saw this for real when long ago my family went with my friend Cathy's family to Six Flags.  She hates roller coasters but said she had to ride them with her children.  When I asked why she said "Well if the coaster jumps off the track I want to be there with them."   I get it!!  Anyway, we ride the coaster, and run to see our picture.  It was hilarious.  We are all screaming at the top of our lungs.  Our faces are contorted into weird masks, and there is Cathy.  She has absolutely no emotion on her face.  Nothing.  No grimace, smile, not even an eyebrow out of place.  It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen.  The only time I ever saw a face like that was during my psychiatric rotation during nursing school.  She would not let us buy that picture.  Well, that face is hard to do when you are trying, but Kim and I got it pretty good on Space Mountain.  I felt like I had accomplished something.  HAHA!

Enough of where I have been.  Let's get to the recipe.  This is the last recipe I am preparing out of the Calling All Cooks cookbook.  I have yet to pick the next cookbook, but I think it might be one of Paula's.  We shall see.  The recipe is Atlanta Pork Chops and Rice, and it was delicious.  I don't know what Atlanta has to do with it but hey who doesn't love Atlanta??

You will need Pork Chops, celery, tomato sauce, brown sugar, salt, dried basil, and rice.

Brown the chops in a little oil.  That picture looks weird.

Remove the chops, and brown the chopped celery.  I added some onion because the recipe called for tomato sauce with onions, but I could not find this at the old Publix.

Add the remaining ingredients to the pan.

Add the chops, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

I served it with a little broccoli on the side.  Food Police gave it her blessing as long as the rice serving was 1/2 cup!!  AGH!!

Here is the recipe.....

Atlanta Pork Chops and Rice

Calling All Cooks

4 pork chops

2 T vegetable oil

1/4 C chopped celery

2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce with onions

1 1/2 C water

2 T brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp basil

1 C uncooked regular rice

In large skillet brown chops in oil.  Remove and add celery.  Cook lightly.  Drain fat.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Add chops.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer covered for 30 minutes.  Makes 4 servings.

Now go have a great day................ 

Field Trips and Calling All Cooks' Impossible Taco Pie

Let's talk about field trips.  They are just one of the various things that a teacher gets to experience with her students.  Over the past 20 years, I have gone on many a field trip.  I have been to Chicago, Anaheim, Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville, Mobile, Cleveland, and countless other small cities and towns with my students.  The usual method of travel is the good old school bus or as the students so affectionately call it Ol' Yeller or the Cheese Wagon.  Now if you have not ridden on a school bus in awhile, then you may have forgotten that they are not the most comfortable form of travel.  The big controversy about school buses is that they do not have seat belts so what they do to make up for this is wedge the seats so close together, you can't or won't move if a nuclear bomb went off in the bus.  Because I am long-legged, this makes for a very uncomfortable ride.  I have to sit up front so I can stretch my legs out into the aisle because if I don't I will not be able to unhinge my "stove-up" (Bigmama's expression) legs to get off the bus.  My co-teacher - Kim- has motion sickness so she has to pop a Bonine and sit up front too where she can see the horizon.  I remember her first ever field trip with me.  We visited a college to tour their facility.  We were walking around talking to all the professors, and I realized that she was nowhere to be found.  I thought "Well great!!  It is bad enough to have to keep up with the kids, but I didn't think she would get lost!"  I turned a corner, and there she was sitting in the middle of the hall as green as a leprechaun, sweating, and had a cold cloth on her head.  She told me she forgot to take her motion sickness pill.  So now before every trip, I always ask "Did you take your Bonine?"  Doesn't this sound like fun y'all??

So you get on the bus, and the first thing you have to do is count the heads.  There can be 20-35 adolescent heads on any given trip. Horrors!!  Think about that for a minute people!!  You are probably shuddering right about now.  As I begin my count, there is always the wise guy who wants to lie down in the seat so I miss him and have to start over.  Or how about the  smartie pants that as I am counting out loud says the wrong number so that I have to start over again!!  Oh they are soooooo funny!!  NOT!!  I glare at them, proceed to wedge myself into the seat, Kim takes her Bonine, and we are off.  And the fun begins.  If you are leaving before sunrise, it is pretty quiet on the bus.  But if you happen to leave at a normal time of day, the decibel level is about three million megahertz or whatever that unit of measurement is.  Bits and pieces of conversation drift up to the front of the bus interspersed with "Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Holland!!!"  If I hear my name once, I hear it 10,000 times.  I also to get to hear "I need to use the bathroom", "Are we going to stop and eat?", "Can we listen to the radio?" and the always fun "Are we there yet?"  My shoulders start creeping up to my ears. Kim pretends she is asleep.  AGH!!

There have been some interesting things that have happened on the bus.  One time as we were loading up, I was climbing up the steps of the bus and fell flat on my face.  Of course, it was not "Oh are you okay Mrs. Holland?" or "Let me help you up Mrs. Holland!"  It was total silence coupled with a look of disgust in their eyes.  I think I embarassed them.  I embarassed myself.  There is nothing like falling down in front of a bunch of teenagers. My shoulders were in line with my nose, and my knee was throbbing but hey, all is good!!!! It is GO time!!!

Then there was the time there was a lot of laughter coming from the back of the bus.  My little inner voice told me to go check and see what was going on!!  I will never ever forget what I found.  One little imp had made a sign out of notebook paper that said "Honk if you are h****y!!"  Oh yes my friends!!  I had wondered why all the trucks had been honking as they raced by.  I naively had thought it was because the kids were doing that dumb game where you do the old thing with your arm bent to make them honk!!  NO that was not it.  When I saw what was going on, I moved so fast I walked out of my shoes and grabbed that sign and ripped it up to a million pieces in front of him.  I wanted to grab him by the ear and drag him up to the front but I just gave him the old Holland glare, pointed my finger towards the front,  and made him come sit with me for the rest of the trip home.  That is a fate worse than death for a teenager - having to sit by your teacher on the bus!!  HAHAHAHA!!  My shoulders were up to my eyeballs!

Another time I was sitting toward the middle of the bus talking with some students, and all of a sudden, I felt something alive and warm wrap around my leg.  All I could think about was that horrid movie "Snakes on a Plane", and thought to myself could it be "Snakes on a Bus???"   I have a vivid imagination.  I screamed like I was being mauled by a tiger and realized it wasn't an ananconda.  It was one of my students.  She had managed to crawl from the front of the bus under all the seats so that she could scare me.  Are you kidding me??  My shoulders were up to my hairline at this point.

I could write a novel on this topic.  I won't even go into the time we had stopped at a mall to eat, and it was Kim's birthday.  The kids surprised her on the bus with a gift.  She unwrapped it with excitement in her eyes, and then holds up the gift - a pair of thong underwear.  Oh they think they are so funny!!  She was mortified.  Or how about the time we had the "older" bus driver who drove 50 mph on the interstate and what should have been a field trip that ended at 6:00 pm turned into one that had us pulling into the school parking lot at 11:00 pm.  My shoulders were over my head on this one.

Please pray for Kim and me.  In June, we are going to Disney World on a bus with 22 teenagers.  It is a 13-14 hour ride one way y'all.  My shoulders will be on top of the bus.  Anyway, enough about field trips.  Let's get on to the recipe.  It is Cinco de Mayo Day!!  I had to look up what that was!!  I thought it was an excuse to eat Mexican food which happens to be my favorite food of all time.  I am supposed to eat dinner with Food Police and Son-in-Law tonight to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  I thought "Yay we will get to go eat at the Mexican restaurant close to their house!"  But no, she informed me that she was going to cook some Food Police Mexican food.  ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?  SHE IS MAKING A HEALTHY GUACOMOLE WITH ZUCCHINI SQUASH!!!   Never in my life have I heard of such!!!  Luckily, the Eeny Game chose a good recipe for this day.  I did not cheat.  If you will notice, the pictures were taken in March!!  So HA, all you doubters!!  It is Impossible Taco Pie, and I am still cooking out of the Calling all Cooks cookbook.

You will need Bisquick, Cheddar cheese, ground beef, milk, taco seasoning, onion, eggs and a can of green chilies.

Brown the meat and onions!

Stir in the taco seasoning mix!

Layer the seasoned meat in a 10 inch pie plate, and top with chilies.

Top that with the baking mix, milk and egg mixture.  Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees and then add the cheese, and bake 10 more minutes.

Beautiful!!

I topped it with sour cream and jalapeno peppers.  I wish I had some black olives, green onions, and fresh tomatoes.  It was delicious and so easy!!

Here is your recipe.........

Impossible Taco Pie

Calling All Cooks

1 lb ground beef

1/2 C chopped onion

1 package of taco seasoning mix

1 (4 oz) can of chopped green chilies, drained

1 1/4 C Milk

3/4 C Bixquick

3 eggs

2 tomatoes, sliced ( I forgot these)

1 C shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 10 inch pie plate.  Cook ground beef and onion until brown; drain.  Stir in seasoning mix.  Spread in plate and top with chilies.  Beat milk, Bisquick and eggs until smooth.  Pour into pie plate; bake 25 minutes.  Top with tomatoes and cheese; bake until knife inserted comes out clean, 8-10 minutes longer.  Cool 5 minutes.  Serve with the usual taco toppings.  Makes 6- 8 servings.


Now go have a great day!!!......