Fried Green Tomatoes

 I planted ONE tomato plant in a pot some time ago and below you'll see the results.

Since I don't have a lot of space, any gardening I do is in a pot or something resembling a pot. 

The tomatoes weren't turning red fast enough for my liking so I decided to do fried green tomatoes. I haven't always been successful with these in that the crust won't adhere to the tomato. I consulted  my favorite choice of knowledge, YouTube to search out a recipe that might work. I found Smoking & Grilling With AB

It's been said that reheating  the tomatoes will only make them soggy. The tomatoes I had left over, I reheated inside a regular oven on 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes. They were fine for my taste.

That's it***

REMIXES - Macaroni & Cheese, Stationery Pouch

"If at first I don't succeed, I'll usually try at least once more."

Remember this? 😩

I tried it again and things worked out a lot better. This time I used a recipe and I had all of the ingredients I needed. No shortcuts this time.

Here's the Remix

I've had this recipe for a long time and have used it on more than one occasion. 

I may not be the best cook but I can follow directions.😃

***

☹️REMIX-Stationery Pouch 

I enjoy crafting and sometimes things don't turn out the way I expect them to. I'll  put things to the side if I feel there is a chance they might be saved later on. And so it was with this stationery pouch which was supposed to be a clutch purse.

Anthropologie

Some time back, I'd observed a tote bag on the Anthropologie site made from canvas art with leather straps. 

As with most of their items price is an object and I prefer smaller handbags to larger ones. I still thought it was a unique idea. 

I headed to a couple of thrift stores to see what I could find. I didn't search high and low because I'm not a big fan of shopping. Jupiter has to align with Mars or something like that to make me WANT to shop.

😲 But, I digress. 

Nothing on fabric canvas was I able to find. I ended up with posters and fabric scraps that I had in my stash which  I cut to clutch purse size, sewed and glued together and sealed the paper with shiny Mod Podge.  

So basically I decoupaged it.💃Whatever.

I still wasn't satisfied so I put it aside until..

EUREKA!➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️ Stationery pouch. I hot glued a piece of grosgrain ribbon to the back to use as a tie closure and I was done.

That's It ***

I'm Not A Role Model

"I'm not a role model."
Do you remember that quote by  Charles Barkley?


In a similar vein, I'm Not a Cook.

There are those who can turn out the perfect dish on any occasion.  
Whenever asked if I can cook, I respond with, "You can eat it."
I'm basically a fast food person.

From time to time I'll have a burning desire to prepare home cooked food and try out new recipes. When I do, I try to prepare enough so that some can be portioned out and frozen for future meals.

The few times I've had guests over I make sure that what I prepare is foolproof, AND often I prepare it the day before so that in the event it's a bust, I have plenty of time to purchase a frozen entree and packaged salad from the grocery store to fill in for the mess up. 

                                                            ***

Macaroni and Cheese.....The comfort food
I wanted the real thing. Made from scratch.  I decided I'd make individual servings using my muffin tins. That way I'd be able to freeze the single servings, heat and eat when I had a taste for it.

There is no end product or Voila' !

WHY?

• I went by memory and didn't use a recipe.

• I didn't have enough whole milk to make the sauce. So, I tried to add Almond milk and cornstarch together to thicken the sauce. BTW-That doesn't work. The cornstarch    didn't even dissolve.

• When I took it from the oven it was a sloppy mess.

Sooooo... It went the route of other cooking catastrophes...

BUT,

The oven fried chicken thighs were delicious. I only oven fry. 

There are too many places that sell fried chicken for me to bother dodging Nth degree,

 hot, popping, cooking oil and maiming myself all in the name of fried chicken.

Another lesson learned in the culinary kitchen.

That's it***

NOTE: 5-30-2019 An update can be found here.

Alabama Firecrackers (8 photos)

There was food galore as we tailgated at the Georgia Steeplechase. One of the newest in our Red Hat chapter, must own a magic cooking spoon. 

She prepared much of the food and it was ooooh soooo delicious. Her Alabama Firecrackers were a big hit. They had a tart, sweet and just  the right amount of heat flavor. I'd never had them before and asked for the recipe which she freely gave.

I tried out the recipe about 10 days later.

The recipe. I wrote it in the same Steno pad my mama wrote her recipes in. Do they even make Steno pads these days?

Gather the ingredients

Mix the ingredients in the bag  by "smooshing" them.

Add the saltines to the mixture . Zip the bag and gently flip it back and forth a few times so that the mixture can coat the crackers. Allow the bag to sit for an hour. Go back and turn the bag on the opposite end for an hour. I did this one hour flipping 4 times. Finally, I allowed the crackers sit overnight.

I couldn't wait to try them the next day.

HOT!!!!!!!

They looked just fine, but too hot for me. Soooooo...

                        I started over 5 days later after reluctantly throwing the first batch away.

Take 2.

I did the same as above in a reduced amount for two sleeves of crackers, AND, when I got to the pepper flakes I used 1/4 of what the recipe called for. This time they weren't too hot for me. 

I even shared with friends who said they liked them. I plan to make them again. 

There's the magic spoon

and  there's the 

                                                                        

tragic spoon.

                                                    

END***

Pulled Chicken with Hoppin’ John and Greens

The local Winn Dixie had free magazines with shopping tips and recipes by Curtis Stone. 

I decided to try one of Curtis Stone’s recipes in an effort to eat something different.

 

Pulled Chicken with Hoppin’ John and Greens 

Prep  20 min.    Cook 1.5.hr.        Serves 4

 

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. chicken leg quarters

• ½ cup dried black-eyed peas
• 8 oz. mustard greens, stemmed, rinsed, and coarsely chopped (I used turnip greens)
• 3 slices bacon, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• ½ green bell pepper, diced ( I used red and yellow peppers)
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice (I used boil- in- bag rice)
• 1 fresh or dried bay leaf

Instructions:

1. In large pot, combine chicken, black-eyed peas, and 6 cups water. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 30 minutes.
   
2. Stir in greens and simmer 15 minutes, or until peas and greens are tender. Drain, reserving cooking liquid and solids separately. Cool chicken slightly. Discard chicken skin and bones. Shred and reserve meat with peas and greens.
   

3. In large heavy skillet over medium-high heat, sauté bacon 5 minutes, or until crisp. Using slotted spoon, remove bacon. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Sautè 8 minutes, or until onion is tender. 

4. Stir in rice, bay leaf, 1 tbs. salt, and ½ tsp. pepper. Add 1¾ cups reserved cooking liquid, peas, chicken, and greens. Bring to a simmer. Cover tightly, reduce heat to low, and cook 20 minutes. 

5. Remove from heat. Fluff with fork. Cover and let stand 15 minutes. Sprinkle with bacon.

 Curtis Stone's

 Mine

Make-ahead
Chicken, black-eyed peas, and greens can be cooked (step 1) up to 1 day ahead, cooled, covered, and refrigerated. Rewarm over low heat before proceeding to step 2

Why I substituted

The grocer didn’t have mustard greens. 

I had red and yellow peppers in the fridge.

I’ve never been successful with rice so I used a boil-in-bag rice. I added the cooked rice at the latter stage of the recipe where listed.

My Comments

This recipe was bland at most even after adding additional seasonings. Different people have different tastes. This recipe wasn’t worth all of the time, preparation and dirty dishes I had to wash afterwards.   It may feed four but, they won’t be able to go back for seconds. I wanted to throw this out but, after all of the trouble I went through, not to mention using my perfectly good chicken thighs, I put it in containers, labeled it and put it in the freezer.  I’ll save it to put in homemade soup.

Since I wasn't satisfied with the meal, I opted for a nice dessert.

That's It ***