Rantings of a Creole Princess

Snack!

Have you had a snack today yet?  What was it?

Delicious

If you could have anything you wanted for dinner tonight...what would it be?  Like...ANYTHING.  Even something your mommy used to cook for you.

Me:  Two pieces of fried steak cut catfish perfectly seasoned, sliced tomatoes straight off the vine, a green salad, and self-picked blackberries for dessert.  I'd wash it all down with an ice cold glass of sparkling water and go to sleep thinking I'd gone back in time and was 14 years old again with a nite-nite kiss from my mommy.

SIP:  I'm mad just thinking about that.  UGH!

Tell the truth and shame the devil!

Would it be difficult for you to get used to an allergy to seafood and shellfish?

Home Coffee

I like to put my flavored creamer in first and then pour my coffee next so no need for stirring.

I don't anything else.

What about you?

How do you fix your coffee at home?

 

Neckbone Soup

I've never heard of such a thing and I'm KUNTRY.  What about you?  Have you every heard of or had neckbone soup?

CELEBRATION!

Do you have a bottle of champagne at home?

Cold Coffee

Even if it's like a gamillion degrees outside...I don't like cold coffee.  

But I like mocha flavored ice cream.

Weird huh?

What's your coffee drink of choice when you're buying it out and about?

All Clad

I bought The Robinator one of these yesterday cuz he's the breakfast cook at 13700.  

All-Clad12-Inch Round Nonstick Grill Pan

I tested it out for him first however.  #GoodWife

Back home if you have All Clad you're the bomb dot com.  Do YOU have All Clad?

Smothered Pork Chops

  

 

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6 - 8 centercut pork chops

8 cups of chicken broth

1 onion

1 bell pepper

flour

cayenne pepper

garlic powder

black pepper

seasoned salt

olive oil

green onions

 

 

In a large skillet, heat oil (enough to cover bottom).  In large bag or container, place pork chops in and season with spices.  Shake to coat well.  Then put some flour in and shake really well to coat both sides.

Place chops (3 - 4 at a time) in skillet.  Brown on one side until you see blood seeping through top.  Turn over and brown other side.  Remove and place in a dish.  Do the rest of the pork chops until done.  All pork chops should be in dish.  Saute onion and bell pepper, using a wooden spatula making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom.  "Scrape crust."  Do this until onion is translucent. 

In a nice sized skillet or pot, place chops in and pour sauted onion mix in.  Add broth and bring to boil.  Simmer on low/medium for about 2 hours or until meat falls off bone.  Stir often to make sure nothing is sticking.  If you've coated the chops well with flour....the gravy will be perfect. 

Slice green onions and drop handful in pot.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Serve over rice.  We like brown rice.

I like tacos...

When's the last time you had a taco? 

Crispy or soft? 

Chicken, beef or other?

Do you use cilantro when you make them?

What about sour cream?  Do you like sour cream on your tacos?

Avocado Cubes

 

 

I always think things like this look awesome and that I want one...then...I'm like...hell...how hard is it to do this with a knife and where in the hell am I gonna keep that thing?

So I don't buy it.

Tell the truth and shame the devil...would YOU buy it?

SIP:  You ain't gotsta lie Craig!

Guac - Avacadoes = Salsa

The organic avocados I bought on Tuesday didn't last until Sunday so I couldn't make guac.  I opted to make fresh salsa instead. 

These herbs can be found in the frozen section at Trader Joe's.  They make me sooooooooo happy because they always come in handy during a pinch!

I love how they come in itty bitty cubes.

We used the same chips we were going to use for guac.

HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY!

What snacks did YOU have for Super Bowl watching?  You ever used frozen herbs like these?

Tell the truth and shame the devil!

Do you know anyone who ONLY uses Ranch dressing on their salads?

What did YOU have for lunch?

Were you happy with your choice?

Din-Din

What did you have for dinner last night?

Dinner Party Menu

When you bourgie broads give a dinner party...what is your favorite menu to prepare?

Convo at 13700: Salty Snacks

A friend asked me do I ever crave salty snacks around Midol Week.

Me:  Absolutely.

Friend:  Do you buy potato chips?

Me:  Not really. I'll buy veggie and flax chips every now and then but certainly not monthly.  I just had some this Sunday with guacamole.

Her:  How do you deal with the salt craving?

Me:  Olives.  Hummus and carrots or celery.  A couple of slices of turkey breast.  Stuff like that.

Her:  Oh...I buy chips.

Me:  If you're not eating them every day...it shouldn't really be a biggie.

Her:  You make me feel bad about what I eat.

Me:  Stop talking to me.  Bye.

What do YOU eat when you're craving salt as many of us do during Midol Week?

I don't trust people who don't eat cheese...

Who Moved My (Macaroni &) Cheese? - A Foodie’s Slight Paradigm Shift

ROFL!

The gift that keeps on giving.

So...it seems to me that she only came forward cuz she is going to be the spokesperson for some Diabetes stuff.  ROFL!  You gotta give it to her man...that's hustling smart.  That's making money by any means necessary.  Just...wow.

Paula Deen: I Have Type 2 Diabetes

What say YOU?  Does this change your opinion about her in any way?

Break Yourself Off Fool!

What did you eat for breakfast this morning? 

I stopped asking yall cuz yall stopped answering but turns out a lot of you miss it as a tool you use to hold  yourself accountable.

Me?  I had water and lemon, coffee and oatmeal with fresh blueberries so far.  I say so far because I usually pace out what I eat in the morning because if I do anything too heavy it makes my tummy hurt when I work out and if I eat too light...I got too hungry working out.  LOL!  I usually just have some yogurt and fruit but I've been doing dairy minimally.

I gotta tell yall about the South Beach Diet that Robby and some of my friends have been doing.  Robby and one of my friends started last Tuesday and have lost between 7 and 10 pounds each.  Cool huh?  I'm getting emails from a lot of folks saying they are having similar results. 

Oh well...getting off track...AGAIN.  What did YOU eat for breakfast this morning?  Did you make a good choice?????

JCS Boston Jerk Seasoning

I HATE my friends!  They are always introducing me to some ish I can't go out and buy and have to order and wait before it comes in.  Butta makes the best jerk chicken wings in this entire world and she can't make them for me today because she's out of the sauce.  I EHAT  (yes...I said EHAT) her because I had to order 4 bottles and now I gotta wait until they come in before I can get my wings.

J C S Boston Jerk Seasoning by JCS

AND!  On top of that...they have to marinade overnight.

o_0

I swear Imma get me some new friends soon as I'm able.

Yall ever make jerk wings?  Have you ever tried this seasoning?  OHMGEE!  IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOO BOSS!

My FAVORITE Small Kitchen Appliance!

Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler

I've had several version of this countertop grill over the years and this one is, by far, the smartest.  I love that you can take the grill plates off and wash them and you can flip them over to be used as a griddle.  The thingy that catches the oil which runs off the meat is under it and is a neat and clean way to capture the grease. 

It's so easy to make quick and healthy meals with this whiz and it makes me happy.  GO ME!

Do YOU have a countertop grill?  Which one?

What would YOU say?

Someone asks you for a substitution for cheese.

What would YOU say?

Question...

Do you consider green bean casserole a vegetable?

Contemplating Suicide

One of the loveliest people I knew was a double amputee.  She was smart as heck and funny and truly the sweetest woman alive.  She loved hard and she called me Molly. 

Why?

What would YOU do?

You're having a dinner party.

One of your guests has Celiac disease.

What do you serve?

Southern Comfort Cake

***NOTE:  I have modified this recipe slightly since the last time I posted it.

18-1/2 oz. yellow cake mix
3-1/4 oz. package instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup Southern Comfort
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup oil
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I prefer walnuts.)

Glaze:
4 T. Butter
1/8 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Southern Comfort

Combine cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat at a medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch tube or 12-cup bundt pan. Bake at 325ºF for 1 hour. Cool on rack. Invert on serving plate; prick top repeatedly with toothpick and brush with glaze coating well.

IF YOU WANT TO....after cake has cooled, reheat any left over glaze and brush over cake. Sift 1 t. of powdered sugar over cake just before serving (OPTIONAL).

To make glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in Southern Comfort.

I send these to Robby's office in Plain Cake Boxes which I buy from Michael's (Remember...never, ever, EVER go to Michael's without visiting their website first for a coupon.  They usually have one of those FABULOUS 40% off coupons!).  I also buy the 10 inch cake rounds to put the cake on before putting it in the box.  I think I get 10 in a pack for like $4.  I also print recipe cards with the recipe printed on them for him to put next to the cake in the event anyone wants to make it at home.  It's usually a MAJOR hit! 

LUNCH!

What did you/are you having?

THEME NIGHT!

If you were going to have a theme party...what would you choose?  How would you keep the theme throughout?

Dinner Time Question...

A friend passed by my house recently and we were chatting.  I looked up, saw the time, got up and started cooking dinner.  I already knew what I was going to cook and I started to work it out as she was talking. 

Before long, the timer went off and I got my main dish out of the oven and it was ready to go and the other dish was finished too.  I had the veggies ready to go on the side so that when Robby got home...that's all I had to do cuz I didn't want them to get soggy.

She stopped talking and realized that I'd completed dinner in about an hour and that it all smelled really good.  She then realized that it didn't take me that long at all.

Her:  You do this every night?

Me:  We gotta eat every night.

I mean sure...sometimes we have leftovers and we probably get dinner out once a week or so but yeah...for the most part...I cook every night.

What about you?  During the week...how often do YOU cook?

Question...

Do you feel like you ate too much over the Thanksgiving holiday?

Thanksgiving Restaurant

Someone sent me an email asking for a recommendation on what restaurants are good to have Thanksgiving dinner.

I responded telling them that I didn't know and told them they were welcome at our table.

They responded back and told me it was 6 of them.

I responded back and told them I'd ask yall for a restaurant recommendation. 

ROFL!

We laughed.

That said...in the area you live in, where would YOU go on Thanksgiving day with your party of 6?

Thanksgiving Planning Worksheet

 

I always like to have the majority of my Thanksgiving shopping done early and I consider myself pretty organized in how I get it done.

I made a sample spreadsheet for yall to use.  Mine is set up so that the only thing that prints is the "grocery shopping list."  The other stuff gets filled in while I plan around my dinner time and dishes.

It should be pretty basic so you can add your own items, etc. to it.

Hope it helps!  Download SAMPLE - Thanksgiving Planning

Tell the truth and shame the devil!

When was the last time you had fresh fruit?  What was it?

Thanksgiving Sides

What are YOUR favorite Thanksgiving sides?

 

Break Yourself Off Fool!

I've been eating expensive crap.

Just...ew.

$20 breakfasts, etc.

And nothing that I like to eat cuz then it would have been $40.

I'm home and about to have a FABULOUS breakfast!

Canadian bacon, boiled eggs, oatmeal and fruit, fruit oh GLORIOUS ORGANIC FRUIT!

Yup...the kid is trying to get back on schedule.

What did YOU have for breakfast today?

Split Pea Soup!

Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless

What did YOU have for dinner?????????????????

Smoked Turkey Wings

I pulled two out of the freezer and I'm going to do something with them for dinner but I don't know what.  What would YOU do with two smoked turkey wings?

Making it stretch...

We're having a guest for dinner tonight and I forgot so I'd only pulled out one pound of ground turkey and only had one jar of this fancy portobella mushroom and roma tomato pasta sauce that I enjoy.

And I needed to have enough for Robby and I for lunch tomorrow.

I swished some water around in the jar the pasta sauce came in and added it to the pot.  Then I started doctoring it up using, mainly, tomato paste in the tube.

And it worked out perfectly fine.

Then...I remembered that I learned how to do that from my mommy.  Just simply by watching her make do with what she had to feed her family when my father was showing his azz.

And I got sad.

And I started missing the hell outta her.

And being so very grateful and thankful that she taught me all that she taught me even when she wasn't "teaching."

I'm missing my mommy so much that her memory hurts.  Sometimes...it just hits me.  Sometimes I can't do anything but give in to the pain.

*sigh*

How did YOU learn how to "make it stretch?"  Did you? 

AWESOME!

Creative Cooking...Easy Baked Egg Rolls

Tell the truth and shame the devil!

How often do you cook with fresh ginger?  What's your favorite dish to use it in?

gnu flavor & fiber Bars

I like these.  They make me happy.  gnu

Favorite Snacks!

What are YOUR favorite snacks these days?

Gumbo Crabs!

DC Metro is cool because you can get crabs pretty much throughout the year.  HOWEVER...crabs are the kinda thing you only think about eating when you can sit outside and eat them, apparently, so it's difficult to find them when it's cold out.

And it's already cold.

UGH.

One thing I'm not that crazy about is not being able to find Blue Crabs frozen throughout the year as you can in Louisiana.  It's just not possible in my "hood."  Because of this, I've learned to stay prepared.

The place near me where you can get crabs steamed is closing up shop on November 1, so I had to get some with the quickness before I forgot and missed out.  I figure I'll do two more big pots of gumbo before it's no longer "gumbo season" in my head, so I bought a dozen steamed crabs tonight.

I've since cleaned them and broken them in half and they are sitting on a cookie sheet drying.  Then...I'm going to double bag freeze them, half a dozen per bag. 

Oh...and I always ask for extra claws.

This way...I always have crabs for gumbo even if they aren't frozen and raw.  I just learned to put them in last so they don't overcook. 

If you're in the DC Metro area...check to make sure you can still get crabs in your area come the holidays.  If not...you'd better get to getting!  Hell...I've learned how to make this East Coast living WORK! 

GO.ME!

Monica Mingo's Creole Jumbo Gumbo - UPDATED!

**NOTE!  PUT THE GREEN ONIONS IN THE POT AT THE END WHEN YOU TURN OFF THE HEAT AND LET SIT FOR 30 MINUTES!!!!!**  THE DOWNLOAD LINK HAS BEEN UPDATED AS OF 12:18 PM, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011. 

Aiight people!  Yall have been asking for a more intense gumbo recipe than the lightweight one I created for yall before:  Super Simple Super Bowl Gumbo

The last time I made gumbo...I changed my family recipe up enough so I could make it work into something I was comfortable with sharing for those of you who want to try your hand at something a bit more intense.

(Mainly because I couldn't find some key ingredients that I needed for my family recipe.)

Here it is.  Use it wisely.  Don't make me cut yall. 

Download Monica_Mingo's_Creole_Jumbo_Gumbo

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

Plant Based Diets

A guy I know and respect just had a scare of a lifetime recently.

See...a good friend of his died of a heart attack so he went to get checked out.

While there...he found he had a 100% blockage of one of his arteries.

They did a stint pretty immediately and it turns out it is hereditary for him.

I was shocked when I heard this because, if you looked at him, he was the picture of health.  He worked out often, ate well, and seemed to have a good balance of family/work.

It brought him to the realization that he needed to change up his lifestyle with the quickness so he just shared with me that he is in the beginning stages of a plant-based diet.

Plant-Based Diet for Beginners: How to Get Started

I think Imma get Robby checked out.

We don't eat a lot of red meat.  In fact...I try and keep it to once a month but sometimes it's twice.  It's been twice this month and now...I'm feeling some kinda way.  Cuz we had a ribeye one day and a filet mignon a week later. 

Yeah...Imma get him checked out using the cardiac nuclear scan test.

I gotta keep on top of this ya know?

Again...I'm not worried but this dude I know and respect?  He was the PICTURE.OF.HEALTH.

And so was his friend from what I gather.

I don't think I could give  up meat unless we had to...but yeah...I'll cut waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in an instant.

Do you get concerned too? 

 

Different Types of Steak Cuts

My two favorite steaks are filet mignon and ribeye.

Filet mignon comes from the absolute middle of the tenderloin.  It is the most tender cut you can get and it's a healthier option because of the lack of fat.  Because there isn't a lot of fat...it's not all that flavorful which is why there is usually some kinda sauce or something on it in the restaurants.  Not that it's not good mind you because it sooooo is...but it's not going to be as tasty as my second favorite...the ribeye.

ODE TO THE RIBEYE! 

When I pick out ribeyes...I look for the ones with the most "map lines" as possible.  LOL!  I know that sounds odd.  You see those white lines that map the meat?  That's the fat.  The thinner those lines (IN MY OPINION) and the more prevalent...the more flavorful that steak is going to be.  SO EXCITING!  Like...that fat melts away and soaks all up and through that steak making it juicy and DELICIOUS! If you're somewhere and they have prime beef...it's what they cut up to make ribeye steaks.  That's why when you go to slice some off...the juice runs and runs and runs...

Yessir!  ME LOVE RIBEYES!

The New York Strip steak?  Best steak in THE WORLD for griling.  They are usually an inch to an inch and a half thick so the immediate heat of a grill doesn't mess it up by cooking it too fast.  This is the steak to flex your muscles with on the grill cuz you can make it text book perfect.  I like my steaks medium so that pink center in this cut is always so pretty to me while slicing it. 

The next one I like to grill is the Porterhouse steak which is also the same-ish as a T-Bone.  Why?  Because you get the best of two worlds.  Half filet on one side of the bone and half New York strip on the other half of the bone.  I find these on sale a lot so you can get them for a good deal.  They are really good too.  Brings me joy.  I like my T-Bones thin.  I don't know why.  LOL! 

What is your steak of choice?  How do you like it cooked?  How often do you eat a steak?

 

Tell the truth and shame the devil!

What's your FAVORITE smoothie combination????????

I was feeling snacky...

Roasted Fall Vegetables with Lentils

 

 

OH.

M.

GEE!

This looks sooooooooooo good!  Roasted Fall Vegetables with Lentils