The Friday Five - Things I've Loved

Here are pictures of five things that I've loved this week:

An Afternoon Snack



Wearing these shoes

Eating these scones

Hugging this kid!

Drinking this vodka

Spill the beans yo...what are a few things you've loved this week?

Food Photo Purge - No Recipe Fritatta

I like crustless quiches...that's why I love a fritatta! Fritatta's, like quiches, can be filled with nearly anything: meats, vegetables, cheeses, anything! Fritattas are a great dish to serve a crowd!

Over the holiday break I made this one on a whim.  I wanted eggs with some substance!  So I sauteed mushrooms, red onions, garlic and herbs in a little olive oil until caramelized (add the mushrooms last as they will cook down quickly). Whisked together about 10-12 eggs with some heavy cream and pepper (add salt if you like) and maybe 1/4 cup of cheese. Sprayed my cast iron skillet with non-stick cooking spray, add the vegetables, then the egg mixture and topped it with cheese.  I placed the skillet in a pre-heated 375 degree oven and cooked until a toothpick inserted in the middle came out clean, about 15 minutes. Viola...eggs with some backbone! LOL

Cook. Eat.Repeat.

Squash and Onions

Between my grandmothers and my mom, someone always had a garden going.  I rarely remember us buying vegetables from a store because we could always count on someone growing what we ate! I remember going with my great-grandmother to her garden helping her pick okra, tomatoes, purple peas, greens, etc. Let me tell yall how country we were, we ate tomatoes like apples!  When we took a break from picking, we'd take a couple those tomatoes we'd just picked, wipe it off with a towel, sprinkle with salt and pepper and chow down!  Store bought tomatoes, and vegetables in general, ain't got nothing on home grown vegetable goodness!

Yellow squash and green onions were no exception.  This side takes minimal time in the kitchen to prep and packs tons of flavor. The final product didnt last long as we ate it out of the pan...#Greedy

What you need:

• 1-2 yellow squashes, sliced
• 1 bunch green onions, diced
• 1 Tbs olive oil OR butter
• Salt and pepper to taste (I leave the salt out...we gotta watch our intake round these parts)

What to do:

• Place the oil in a medium sautee pan over medium high heat
• Place squash in oil. Season with spices and let it cook for 3-5 minutes.
• Add the diced green onions, stir then cover pan for about 2 minutes to finish cooking the vegetables by steaming them.

 Cook.Eat.Repeat.

The Friday Five - Your 2011 Goals!

Yeah yeah so I'm a little late asking about your 2011 goals but I still wanna know!! Following are pictures from my vision board...that I just put up Tuesday night! It is pretty basic this year because I really haven't had time to make it 'pretty'.

Some of my favorite quotes!

This is my self-proclaimed grinding season so I will be super focused this year. I've let some things linger that I should have completed last year so I am fully focused mayne!

My goals include:

• More old school Sunday dinners. I love cooking and having people over so I figure once a month I can have an old school Sunday dinner with family and close friends; kids playing, husbands and significant others talking noise, women laughing old school music playing in the background... just a good old time!
• More posts on this here site.  Did yall even notice how many posts were up last week?? #JustSayin!
• Vblogs. I think this will help me with my stage fright. I mean when I get in front of a camera and on a stage I want to be READY!! What? Claiming it!
• To be more business minded.  I am very fortunate to have friends who are business minded for me but I need to catch up to them!
• Be a better listener...my sister has the listening game on lock! I will do better in that area this year.
• Have tons of FUN!! I work hard so I MUST continue to play hard!



More personal goals

Yeah I know that is six *shrug*...What are five (or six) things you plan to accomplish this year? I want to be able to encourage you as the year progresses!



My sous chef since way back! Babe.



Food Photo Purge - BBQs and Such

I don't really eat potato salad but I make a darn good bowl of it! LOL

Ribs with my brown sugar rub...so good.

Preparation for corn salsa...

That salsa was fresh and delicious and an easy side with grilled fish!

Potato Crusted Quiche

This is another one of my tried and true recipes from Cuisine At Home...love that mag! 

The filling can be adjusted to just about anything and it doesnt take long to come together.  I've also made this quiche semi-vegan with just roasted vegetables and cheese.  The thing that I love about this recipe is that it doesnt use a pie crust; I don't like pie crust with my quiche! WIN!

Potato Crusted Quiche

Adapted from Cuisine At Home Magazine

What you need:

• 3T butter, divided
• 1/2 lb bulk Italian sausage (I've used regular breakfast sausage)
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• A clove or two of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup jarred roasted red bell pepper, drained and chopped
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 pkg (1 lb, 4 oz) fresh hash brown potato shreds
• 1 1/2 cups fontina or Swiss cheese, shredded (I've used various cheese mixtures)
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 dashes hot sauce (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, (or whatever cheese mixture you like)

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Melt 1 T butter in a 10" oven proof nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add sausage to brown for 3 minutes. Stir in onion and garlic and saute 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl with the bell pepper, stir to combine
• Return skillet to the burner and add 1 T butter and the oil.  Arrange hash browns in pan, pressing and spreading them up the sides to form a crust. Season with salt and pepper, then dot with 1 T butter
• Cook 10 minutes, or until edges start to brown 
• Sprinkle fontina or Swiss cheese over potato shell. Spoon sausage mixture over cheese.
• Whisk eggs, cream, hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste, pour over the sausage and cheese.
• Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 
• Bake for 30 minutes or until center is firm and the tip of a knife comes out clean.
• Let stand 5 minutes, then run spatula around the rim to loosen the quiche. Slide it onto a serving dish and cut into wedges.



Crispy Fried Okra

I own my countriness!

When I was little I hated okra; likely because we picked our fair share of it AND ate our fair share of it! While at a Friday night dinner over the summer with Babe we ordered some. She'd never had it and I realized I'd never fried any as an adult....well I bought the frozen kind for my gumbo but it's not the same!

Babe loved them and requested that we (meaning I) get on frying some for the next day!  Enter our favorite farmers market (which has since closed).  They had the freshest local okra and all summer we bought as much as we could!

The recipe is simple: cornmeal seasoned with salt and pepper,  a little flour and enough oil to deep fry them! We were popping these things like okra flavored jellybeans!!

Food Photo Purge - The Saturday Sandwich

When we were little, there was no such thing as waste in our home.  Every thing was subject to repurpose, including leftovers.  My mother was the queen Leftover Soup.  Essentially, when it was time to clean the fridge, every thing that wasn't spoiled got thrown into a pot, re-seasoned, stock was added and voila...Leftover Soup.  Dr. Momma didn't play so we ate that soup until it was gone! LOL

Guess this is my version...the Leftover Sandwich.  I can't tell you how many different combinations of sandwiches we have created with cheese, leftover meats and leftover vegetables we've had during the week.  I've made vegetable spread to use in place of the mayo and no one has been the wiser.  I'm telling you roasting makes everything taste better! LOLOL

The possibilities are endless!  This one is on a fresh garlic toasted French loaf with smoked and cajun turkey breast, carmelized onions, two different cheeses, then toasted under the broiler...*fans self* delicious!!!

Buttermilk Dipped Onions

I never quite had an appreciation for onion rings until I made these babies.  Heck anything double dipped in buttermilk and fried can't be that bad.  After making these you will never ever ever want that minced onion madness you get in the freezer section.

This can get a bit messy but the end result is pure, fried goodness.  The only change I made was that I added a bit more cayenne and I have cooked these without soaking them. Soaking them in water dilutes the sulfur in the onions. IMO it also allows the batter to adhere to the onions better so that when you bite into them you don't bite the onion out of the fried batter. Also, it is a good idea to have the onion rings all ready for the oil because the double dipped process can be messy and the onions will cook quickly!

Buttermilk Dipped Onions
Adapted heavily from: http://www.cuisineathome.com/extras/063/recipe/double-dipped-onion-rings/

What you need:

• 2 large yellow onions, soaked in cold water for at least 30 minutes but up to an hour
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 T. salt
• 1 T. black pepper
• 1 T. paprika
• 1 T. cayenne
• 3 cups buttermilk
• Enough vegetable oil for deep frying

What to do:

• Drain onions
• Combine flour and seasonings in a large plastic bag
• Pour buttermilk into a shallow dish
• Dip onion rings in the buttermilk, then transfer a few at a time to the flour using a skewer (or your hands!) for easy maneuvering
• Dip rings a second time into the buttermilk and flour using the skewers.
• Set the coated, skewered rings over a bowl while coating the remaining onions.
• Heat oil in a pot over medium-high to 365°. Fry half the onions in the oil until golden, 3–4 minutes. Don't overcrowd!
• Remove from the oil using skewers, then rest over a bowl to drain. Fry remaining onions in the same way.

Cook. Eat. Repeat.

Food Photo Purge - Coconut Curry Chicken

So I'm going to begin an occasional segment here on 3FW called Food Photo Purge.  Basically it will just be a camera dump of pictures I've had forever that won't likely have recipes for whatever reason, the pictures may just be good, there may be a funny story behind said photo, etc.

For my first purge: Coconut Curry Chicken.  This smells so good when it's cooking.  It is spice heavy but worth every single minute in the kitchen. It is made with coconut milk so it is pretty rich so I might make it once a year and eat for a couple of days!  It tastes sooooo much better the next day!

The original recipe (of which I have since tweaked to my liking) can be found here.

Cook. Eat. Repeat.

Beer Battered Fish

This is a kid (and adult) crowd pleaser! I've used different beers and various seasonings over the years so this is just a basic guide.  If you are concerned about the alcohol, use carbonated water instead.  You can also use any firm white fish. I have used cod and tilapia.

Beer Battered Fish

What you need:

• Enough oil to deep fry the fish
• 1 12-ounce bottle beer
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted
• 2-3 heaping teaspoons of your favorite spice mix
• Enough salt, pepper and garlic powder to season fish
• 1 1/2 pounds deboned cod or tilapia fillets (most grocery stores already sale them deboned) cut into strips
• 1/2 cup flour for dredging

What to do:

• Pre-heat oil in a large pan.  The oil should be kept between 375-400 degrees
• In a large bowl, pour in bottle of beer. Add 1 1/2 cups flour into the bowl, whisking gently until just combined. Stir in seasoning mix.
• Season both sides of the fish with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
• Dip the fish in the wet batter, then dredge in 1/2 cup flour.
• Carefully place the fish in the hot oil.
• Cook until golden brown, about 4-7 minutes depending on size of fillets or until cooked through.
• Fry fish in batches and be sure not to overcrowd your frying pan.
• Drain on a paper towel and enjoy with your favorite tartar sauce or a splash of malt vinegar!

Cook. Eat. Repeat.