“Heeeeeeeeyyyyyyy, good lookin’?  Whhhaaaaaaaatcha got cookin’?  How’s about cookin’ somethin’ up for meeeeeeeeeeeee?”

I have no idea what the rest of the words to that little ditty are, but I’ve heard it a thousand times if I’ve heard it once – it was a popular refrain during family gatherings as a kid.

It still is, sometimes.

Can’t you just hear the country twang in the words?  Hmmm, maybe I should change my category listing to “Got Cookin’” instead of “Gone Cookin’” to reflect the words of this immortal kitchen tune.

I’ve had so much fun cooking lately!  I’ve started to feel halfway competent in the kitchen!  Woohoo!

• On the day of Chris’s surgery, I made Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  Started with the whole chicken and all!  Oh, it was SO good.  Even better than  Chick-fil-A’s version.  The recipe was fabulous!  I can’t wait to do it again, but hot summer days don’t tend to lend themselves to hot soup.
• Tonight, I made beans and cornbread.  I still have way too many memories of lots and lots o’ meals of beans and cornbread as a kid, so yes, it’s taken 10 years+ to make it myself.  It was pretty yummy!  I prefer sweet cornbread so I’ll have to change that recipe a bit, but otherwise – easy and cheap and filling!
• Ok, confession – when I made the cornbread, I put it in the skillet on the stove first then put it in the oven to finish cooking.  That was the first time ever I had put a pan of mine in the oven.  I felt so semi-professional.
• I’ve been perusing Meatless Monday’s site for recipe ideas.  I tried the Great Northern White Bean Chili a couple of weeks.  That was pretty good!  (I used MSG-free vegetable broth, all organic ingredients, made my own chili powder, and left out the chiles.)
• One of the sides I’ve tried from that same site was this one with the cauliflower and broccoli.  Oh my, it was so delicious!  I definitely added that one to the repertoire.  (Both needed more salt for our taste…we use Sea Salt.  Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Sea Salt are supposed to be the most healthful.)
• A cooking funny – I made chicken stock the other day and put it in a juice pitcher until I could get freezer containers for it.  S thought it was juice and demanded some, despite my explanation that it wasn’t what she thought it was.  G wanted some, too.  I poured them each some “juice”, aka chicken stock.  G took one sip and made a face.  S guzzled hers and asked for more!!  I’m quite serious!  Chris and I laughed so hard.
• I’ve been reading Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions.  Heavy nutritional info and explanations but very interesting reading.  We already use some of the techniques and some I’m not so sure I can ever implement, but really great information.  I am glad to have this cookbook in my collection now.
• I finally hit upon my perfect tweaking for Chicken Divan.  I quit using the family recipe because of the MSG it was loaded with and switched to the one in my Southern Living cookbook.  I’m happy now with the changes to the recipe (most by accident!  Ha!).
• Another yummy treat that tons of families probably eat already, but that I stumbled upon this past weekend.  I cut up some apples on a plate, added some grapes, topped it with Seven Stars Farms Organic Vanilla Yogurt, sprinkled some homemade granola, raisins, and a little bit of unsweetened coconot on top of that.  Voila’!  A healthy side dish and dessert in one!  I think I’m craving it right now, in fact.
• I don’t remember if I told ya’ll this before or not in another cooking post, but I’ve been making our own salad dressings, too.  It is a lot faster and easier than I expected it would be!  Very yummy!
• With all this summer heat, I think I want some cold soup recipes.  Any suggestions?
• Any of the above recipes that I have not linked that you would like me to post?

Gone Cookin'