“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'

I have a discovered a new kitchen gadget that I wanted to share with you all – it’s true kitchen love.  This thing is awesome!  Which means, do not tell me if you already have one because then I’d have to beat you up since you didn’t tell me about it yet.  

This beautiful piece of work is a butter crock.   I spied one in a magazine I picked up at a local natural/organic food store and wondered what on earth it was, so I did what every like-minded, computer-connected mom would do – I googled it.  

Wikipedia defines it for you here.  

Even better, here is a website that sells beautiful butter crocks:  The Official Butter Bell.  I have to control myself, really.  A butter lovin’ girl could go crazy!  Just google it yourself, I was amazed!

We switched to using pure butter – the good and tasty stuff.  The problem:  it is horrid to spread when it is cold, but it’s great if you desire a hole in the middle of your bread.  I’d have to think ahead to let the butter sit out if we were going to use it.  And we all know how well I think ahead.  Ahem.

So, in case you don’t feel like clicking on the links, I’ll spare you some energy and describe to you what it does.  You smoosh the butter (soften it to room temp, first) into the cup on one side.  Then, fill the pottery side part-ways with ice-cold water.  When you are done using the butter, you turn the cup upside-down into the ice-water, and the vacuum seal keeps the butter nice and fresh at room temperature.  

It’s a beautiful thing.

We love  it!  It’s so cute sitting on the counter, it’s always soft, fresh and ready to spread.  The only thing I have to do is change out the water for more ice-cold water about every three days.   Real butter, spreadable.  

It doesn’t get much better than that.  :)  Unless you get it on sale at Amazon.  

Here are some pics of the new love of my life in my kitchen:

Gone Cookin'

This post should probably be titled Random Cooking Adventures.

Yesterday, you got to see the results of my first attempt at “real” bread, as my friends on facebook wanted to know.  Was it real or quick bread? Hmmm, well, first I needed to what quick bread was, but another friend reassured me it was real bread.  No worries, I know the difference now.  I can’t wait to try cinnamon raisin bread.

We have been making the switch to organic foods, and admittedly, they are quite tasty!  Another side benefit is that I may not be allergic to the fruits I thought I was allergic to, but instead the pesticides and chemicals used.  I took some bites of the organic fruits and had no reaction.  Interesting, huh?  Was it having a great antihistamine on board or the fact that it was organic?  I’ll keep testing the theory, benadryl on-hand, and let you know.  Because I know you’re on the edge of your seat just waiting to find out.

Grocery shopping has been so much easier with our new eating plan (from scratch, no preservatives/additives, no MSG).  No more wandering up and down all the aisles filled with convenience foods.  I hit the fruits and veggies, the dairy section, the meat section, and baking goods aisle – pretty much around the edges of the store.

The biggest shocker – the kids have not asked for Cheerios once!  I know, I had to pick my jaw up, too.  I was prepared for a battle the first week I did not buy the beloved box of round O’s with the cute little striped insect on it.  It appears, however, they do not even miss them.  They happily eat the random assortment of fruits (and maybe carrots, we’re working on the veggies) I offer them for snacks.  My vacuum cleaner is a lot happier, too.

I also had misgivings about the days when I would be unsure of what to cook – days when the meat did not thaw in time or I forgot entirely, or I needed something a little quicker than usual, or the cabinets were bare due to an upcoming needed grocery trip.  The learning curve is lessening as I learn how to scrounge up ingredients to make a good meal.  It is so amazing what can be done when you have all the staples you need!

I think our grocery bill is even gradually going down.  This is pretty nice considering that we are switching to organics and those are typically more expensive.

I tried a new method for cooking the whole chicken last night from something I read online – just putting it into a covered casserole dish in the oven.  Super delicious!  Very moist and tender.  S couldn’t get enough!  In addition to the wonderful chicken, I also cooked up some fried squash.  You can’t go wrong with fried squash.  Heaven in a bite.  G even ate some.

Speaking of frying (I told you this was a random post), I’ve started trying to use coconut oil for its health benefits.  It’s not cheap so I use it sparingly.  I did use it for the fried squash and it worked great.  It was nice to know it was healthy, too.  A wonderful surprise was when I used the coconut oil in place of vegetable oil when we mixed up some buttermilk pancakes the other day.  It added a wonderful sweetness that we all really enjoyed.  Well, let me clarify, the kids always enjoy sweetness, but Chris and I thought it was great.  I look forward to using it more.  Sparingly, of course.

How about a recipe?  A little bit back, I told you would I would share a recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo that my friend Becky shared with me.  Here you go.  Becky said I could share it as long as I promised to share the low-fat version, too.  *sigh* If I must.  *grin*

Note:  Because I eat MSG free for migraine and health reasons, I’ll make my notes in italics on how to make this recipe mostly MSG free, for those of you MSG-free eaters.  Probably only me, but that’s ok.  Also note, this is not a professionally done recipe, I’ve typed it like it noted it in my cute little recipe book.  Apologies to Becky.

Fettuccine Alfredo

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite-size pieces)  (Personal note:  Pre-cutting food for everyone, especially my children is much more efficient especially when I’m so hungry by mealtime that I could chew my arm off.  Gruesome, I know.)
• 1 tbs. olive oil (Personal note: I never measure this, it’s so much more fun to just pour it right out of the bottle and watch the chicken sizzle.  You know, those bottles like on the cooking shows?  I feel so “cool”, er “hip”, er “phat” – dang, what’s the word now?? -  when I do that.)
• Cajun seasoning  (Generally, prepared versions sold in grocery stores have MSG in it.  You can find a recipe to make your own Cajun seasoning here.   Or Google “homemade Cajun seasoning”)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1  8 oz. block Cream Cheese
• 2/3  cup  Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream  (Ultra-pasteurized heavy cream will have MSG in it.  You can make your own substitute for this recipe by following directions here.  I haven’t tried it yet, but looks super easy.)
• Broccoli
• Fettuccine  (8 oz)
• 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (I make my own condensed soup to avoid MSG and preservatives, it’s really quite easy.  I use the recipe here, without beef bouillon, and instead, the chicken stock I have on hand.)

1. Start the water boiling for the noodles.
2. Steam fresh broccoli until preferred tenderness, then set aside.
3. In skillet, heat olive oil and brown chicken, add cajun seasoning to taste, then set aside.
4. (If making your own condensed soup, do that here…) In, well, whatever pot you want (I use my 3 qt saucepan), while stirring constantly, add together  the cream of mushroom soup, then the cream cheese, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese.
5. Season with cajun seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.  And taste, and taste, and taste.  Yummy!
6. Serve over fettuccini with chicken and broccoli.
7. Come back to lick the pot after the meal because you’ll love it that much.  Oh, wait, that note was for me.  Hehe.
8. Low-fat version:  Use fat-free half-and-half instead of heavy cream and fat-free parmesan cheese, as well as fat-free cream cheese.  You may want to use a little more Parmesan cheese to thicken up the sauce.  Becky says, not a lot, only a little.

I served this with garlic bread.  Great meal!  And just in case you want to cut and paste the recipe without my friendly, bossy notes (*cheesy grin*), here are the ingredients again, in no particular order:

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite-size pieces) 
  
• 1 tbs. olive oil
  
• Cajun seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1  8 oz. block Cream Cheese
• 2/3  cup  Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• Broccoli
• Fettuccine  (8 oz)
• 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup 

Gone Cookin'

Check!

From my Going for 101 in 1001 goal list:

10.  Make a loaf of bread.

I was a bit intimidated by the process and I must have read the instructions a thousand times.  Ok, so maybe not that many, but I did read them repeatedly.  It was actually quite fun.  But what does “punch down” mean?  Don’t laugh, but I really did punch the dough.  Hehehe.  It was fun.  Having a martial arts background, punching a punching bag is what came to mind…so…I…punched.   Maybe a little hard, but that’s ok.

After each step, I think I was ready to cheer when this magical concoction actually did what it was supposed to do.  Woohoo!  Then came time to bake and it was smelling oh so good.

Here are the results:

Disclaimer:  I am not a world-class photographer and am only armed with a simple point-and-click, or point-and-shoot, or whatever the term is. I wish I was a good photographer, but alas, I will relegate myself to appreciate the art from afar and leave the true experts to their talents.

PS – I am eating this bread right now and it is mucho good!

And a couple more thrown in for good measure, but he’s just dog-gone cute – oh, there go those puns again!  It must be the downpours outside killing my sense of humor today…

Gone Cookin'

Today, G and I made our own ketchup.  Cheap, delicious, quick, easy and no MSG or preservatives or words I cannot identify in the ingredients.

This recipe came from www.hillbillyhousewife.com and it has G’s stamp of approval.  That’s a big deal in this household.

• 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1/3 cup water 
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch cloves
• 1 pinch allspice
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix with wire whisk and store in airtight container.  I used a can of organic tomato paste from Publix and everything else was in my pantry already (well, except for the cayenne pepper, but I needed it for other things anyhow).  The website recommended letting it sit overnight for the spices to blend.  

I cannot wait to try it on my eggs.

(How many of you did I gross out with that and how many of you had your mouths water in agreement?)

Gone Cookin'