Rantings of a Creole Princess

Presenting Mama Biscuit!

www.MamaBiscuit.com 

I'm country so yall know I was raised to not eat everybody's cooking.  It's a country thing.  You can tell alot about a person's cooking skills and presentation by the way they handle themselves in other situations and yeah...I don't eat from many folks.  Office potlucks?  Yeah...I always ate what I brought.  LOL!  Too many of yall come out the bathroom too quick for me.  I'm good.

My dear framily is about to follow her dreams and audition for a cooking show.  I'm so proud of her decision to do this because it's way outside of her comfort zone.  She is an EXCELLENT cook, a true kitchen cook and she cooks for me so often that I just call her for her grocery list so I can run to the store for her.  And yall...I'm not talking regular food.  I'm talking RESTAURANT looking food.  It's always so pretty you almost don't want to dig in...oh but you do.  Like...she be inviting people over for dinner and I GET MAD!  I'm like...WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!  I WAS PLANNING ON HAVING SOME FOR LUNCH TOMORROW HELL!

SIP:  Just evil.  But for good cause.

Since she's gotten serious about honing her skills, she decided to start a Facebook fan page and a blog.  The blog is going to have tutorials and all sorts of fabulousness.  I'm sitting here now after just finishing checking it all out this morning and man...I'm about to burst the buttons on this henley I'm wearing I'm so darn proud.

When you see your people living their dreams out loud...you're supposed to raise 'em up...waaaaaaaaaay up.  You're supposed to dig in and let them know, without a shadow of doubt, that you believe in them and want what they want for them.  

You show up and show out.

Please visit her social media links and add her if you don't mind helping her out as she's super new to the online world and needs to get her weight up quickly so the producers on the show can see that she's somebody people 'LIKE' and, quite honestly...if you knew her...you'd love her as much as I do.

I'm proud of you Mama Biscuit!  So very, very proud!  You know I'll be there rooting you on the entire way!  Relax, relate, release!  You got this!

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/lesleyrileymamabiscuit

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/mama_biscuit

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJkoP8x2THKy3eF8iwzYFNQ

Don't forget to send her some good wishes!  Auditions are this week!!!!!  SO EXCITING!

 

The Home Cooked Meal

A debate is ongoing about whether or not providing home cooked meals for your family is worth it.  

The Joy of Cooking?

I generally cook every night but I don't have the demands that mothers generally have day-to-day so I don't really know.  My mother cooked every night but back then...there weren't many other options.

Let’s Stop Idealizing the Home-Cooked Family Dinner

What do YOU think?  Is it worth it in your opinion?

80% Diet and Nutrition, 20% Exercise, 150% Mental

I was asked the other day if I juice.  I don't really.  Not like people do these days.  I make a mean green drink or smoothie from time-to-time but not more than once or twice a month.  But...I eat a LOT of fruit and veggies.  Mostly raw and I really enjoy them.  They taste really good to me.  A good cold, crisp carrot?  LOVE the crunch.  Room temperature watermelon?  Apples, pears, bananas.  Tomatoes, celery (with hummus), plums, peaches, nectarines, oranges, tangerines, zucchini, squash, corn...oh goodness...too much to keep typing about.

Not a day goes by that I don't eat fruits and veggies.  And not just a lil corner on a plate...Like all day.  I'm sitting here now and I'm about to grab a piece of fruit when I get up.  I don't have cakes and pies in the house.  No cookies.  No candy.  Not even chocolate or a Jolly Rancher.  No chips.  But...I have all the stuff necessary to make brownies, a cake, some chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies or a sweet potato pie if I wanted to.  I have some kale so if I wanted some chips I could make some kale chips.  Or...if I REALLY wanted some chips (during Midol Week it is a ritual), I can go to the store and buy a small bag of chips and eat them.  

My husband would buy a big bag of something salty and crunchy if left to his own devices and will have the good sense to look sheepish when he sees I notice it.  LOL!  Since I generally control what he eats the majority of the time, no biggie.  I know he can't fall off the wagon with one big azz bag of chips and salsa.

But this isn't a regular occurrence.  

We love popcorn.  Freshly popped on top of the stove in canola oil.  A pound and a half of organic kernels cost $1.19 at Trader Joe's.  It lasts a long, long time.

Sometimes we sit here and my guy will look at me and say...I wouldn't mind something sweet and I'll ask if he wants me to whip up some brownies or some cookies.  He mulls it over for a minute or two and generally picks brownies.  About an hour later...we have brownies.  Hot and gooey with chocolate chunks and walnuts.  GO.US!

I'm careful about sauces and generally eat my own cooking 95% of the time.  

I've read that weight loss is 80% diet and nutrition, 20% exercise and 150% mental.  I agree with that and live by that.  

You can't start exercising but keep the same eating habits that helped put the weight you're trying to lose on you.  You will get frustrated by slow results and give up.  EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.  If you're cool with maintaining where you are...cool.  But if you're not...you know what you need to do so do it.

That's all I wanted to say.  Eat right.  Eat junk food sporadically.  Exercise.  Always keep what you need to make you something sweet because it will take a lot to get you to get up, mix up the ingredients and bake it.  See how that works?

Any tips on the mental part of the equation?  What do you do to make sure the mental part stays on track?

Tell the truth and shame the devil: Ice Cream

Do you ever sit down with a quart of ice cream and a spoon?  Do you finish the whole container?  If not...how many servings do YOU get out of the container?

Name One...

Me:  White sandwich bread.

How to get rid of fruit flies!

At 13700 we eat a lot of fruit.  Since it's all organic, I buy it twice a week so that not much goes bad.  Since it's organic, however, I still run the risk of losing a couple of pieces and pretty much count out how many pieces of fruit I will need for the upcoming days when I buy fruit on Thursdays and Mondays.  I know both of us eat a banana every.single.morning so that's 14 bananas a week.  Then there are apples, pears, mangoes, peaches, nectarines, etc. that I buy too.  Generally, we probably eat 3 - 4 pieces of fruit per day each so, as you can see...that's a lot of fruit.  

From:  How many fruits and vegetables do you need?

And along with this much fruit, there are always fruit flies.

Gnarly bastids.

There are several methods of getting rid of fruit flies including slapping the smack out of them and driving yourself batty chasing them only to have them disappear goodness knows where while you've knocked down wall art and disheveled lampshades.  LOL!  The one I've settled on is the one I've always seen done.  I add some apple cider vinegar to a jar and put some Saran wrap over it.  Then...I poke some small holes in the top and sit the jar on the counter.  The fruit flies can't help themselves and are drawn to it.  They work to get in the holes and head down to the vinegar and well...NIGHT, NIGHT, GNATTER!

How do you get rid of fruit flies?  Do you add a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid to the apple cider vinegar?  How much fruit do you eat per day?  Do you buy fruit in bags?  Ever since that story about the spiders in the banana bag...I can't do it.  Me scared.  LOL!

This is Your Body Without Water

Eating Makes Me Happy: You gon' die from something.

A while ago I was staying at a hotel and needed to go to Whole Foods to get food for my room.  I was going to hit up Uber but when I went downstairs I noted the hotel shuttle was there and asked the driver could he take me.  He said, of course...and I hopped in the van.

Him:  You look like one of them healthy eaters.

In a real disdainful way.

Hmmmmmmm...

I started focusing then and noted his 2 liter of soda, cooler and Big Gulp cup.  And then...I noticed HIM.  All of him.  As much as I could see.

Me:  Yeah...I am.  What about you?  

Him:  Nah...I'm good.  You gon' die from something.  Might as well be happy while you're living.

*sigh*

Turns out dude drank almost two of those 2 liter sodas a day.  He'd had his version of a healthy lunch earlier.  A chicken sandwich from McDonald's.  We started talking about quality of life.  His quality of life was all about him being happy...currently.  And being happy, for him, was tied to food.  Not good food...but food that tasted good TO HIM.  My quality of life focuses more on my body function and well...being vain as hell and well...I'm a punk when it comes to pain.  We're from two different worlds of what makes whom happy.

I get that.

The conversation continued and I asked him was he worried about getting an illness which makes it difficult for him to take care of himself.  I was like...you know  you don't just die in your sleep the majority of the time right?  You get some ish and can't walk and need to use them scooters in Walmart or an oxygen tank to keep your heart going because you're so clogged up stuff doesn't move and flow around inside right?  Who is going to take care of you?  Can your family afford a private nurse and driver to take care of you when they go to work?  Are you from a generational wealthy family?  Can you afford the type of medical care that comes with that kinda of stuff?

And he laughed it all off saying he'll deal with that when it comes.  If it comes.

Yeah...cool.

I went to Whole Foods, got my food and returned to the van.  When I got there, he wasn't there.  I looked around and he was rushing...to finish his cigarette.

Seriously.

Oh well...I guess.

Do you know anyone like this?  "You gotta die of something."

Nutz

I used to keep pine nuts in the house for salads because I love them so.  In the past few years, the price on them has skyrocketed so yeah...I substituted my pine nuts for pumpkin seeds in my salads.  Recently I was at a restaurant and ordered a salad before my meal and pine nuts were on it.  I think I counted 7 pine nuts.  LOL!  Cracked me up.

Are there any nuts you keep in your house for weekly use?  Which ones?  Do you buy mixed nuts weekly?  

Do you know where pine nuts come from?  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/10/pine-nut-trivia-facts_n_4921114.html

Steak 101

When a scoop of ice cream costs $8...

We were out and about somewhere and decided to get some ice cream.  The Robinator told me what he wanted and I stood in line while he wrangled us a table.  When I paid for our ice cream it was like $16 and I was blown away.  I mean...we got the ice cream, but I was shocked at the price for sure.

When I buy groceries, I generally know how much it's going to cost me per week.  I don't really piece it all up but I know what the amount is going to be more or less.  Recently I was grocery shopping and paid for my groceries.  As I was walking out the store, I remembered that I had some red beans soaking and needed some bell peppers and celery.  I went back and got 2 bell peppers, 1 pack of celery, some apples and maybe 6 bananas.  Quick trip.  When the clerk rung me up I did a double take.  It was $28.  Whoa...for bell peppers, celery, apples and bananas.  I mean yeah...it was all organic but that total shook me.

I don't even buy fresh blueberries anymore.  An itty bitty container of organic blueberries is $7.  ONE blueberry ends up costing dang near twenty cents.  Um...I'm good.  Frozen organic blueberries are just fine with me.  Trader Joe's has a 12 ounce bag for $3.99.  I buy two bags a week for our oatmeal.  We barely even eat yogurt anymore because the kind we like costs $1.89 a container.  I used to buy 10 containers a week.  Now?  Four.  When Coley and Kiersten were visiting I bought a gallon of organic milk for $8 and yall KNOW one gallon wasn't enough.  Whoa...

A bag of Glutino Pretzel Twists, Salted, 14.1 Oz  costs $7.99 a bag.  *BLINK*  Bag ain't that big either.  But it's one of the only snacks I truly enjoy so yeah...I get them.  UGH. (I just found them on Amazon Prime Pantry for $6.39!  Now that sounds like minimal savings I know but hell...I like them and saving anything on them is better than saving nothing these days right?)

Just a mess.

When we're out eating and I see a family of 4 or more I think to myself...they must be straight balling.  LOL! Cuz I know how much dinner for just two costs out and about.  

Things have been getting more and more expensive for a while now but dairy and produce has really gone through the roof it seems.  Are you noticing it too?  Have you been sticker shocked by anything in particular lately?

Easter Brisket

I think I'm going to do a brisket for Easter dinner on Sunday.  I'll pick it up tomorrow and I can't WAIT!  

What are YOU having for Easter dinner?  Are you cooking or are you a guest this year?  Are you decorating?

Tessamae Dressings, Marinades and Spreads

I love good eating.  I seriously do.  On the top of my good eating list is a good, colorful and flavorful salad.  Like...my salads be EPIC!  People actually have salads here and ask me for the salad recipe.  I'm like...honestly...I just threw together what I knew I liked and would taste good.

EPIC.NESS.

But now salad dressings that I can eat are hard to come by.  My FAVORITE salad dressing isn't gluten-free so I had to make my own version of it:

Truth be told however...sometimes I'm just not in the mood for all of that. LOL!

I was in Whole Foods one day last week and a woman was sauteing fresh veggies with this sauce:  Tessamae's Soy Ginger

After assuring me it was gluten-free, I tried some.  And then I bought some.  And the same veggies she was using.  And I went home.  And I was in SAUCE.HEAVEN!  

And now...I own three different ones and shall be adding to that I'm sure.  

SO.

DARN.

GOOD!

Brisket for Breakfast

The Robinator both agreed that we didn't want to go out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary this year.  I decided to cook us a special meal at home.  I told him I'd cook whatever he wanted and he couldn't come up with one suggestion stating that it's always good so why does he have to pick something.  Dude would just rather eat whatever is in front of him.

SIP:  Imma remember that.

I gave him all sorts of suggestions from fancy seafood dishes to grilled lamb chops.  He was like...it doesn't matter...but I don't want lobster or lamb chops.

SIP:  *BLINK*

Or shrimp.  Seems like we've had a lot of shrimp lately.

Nothing with gravy.

That wild rice is good.  Kinda.  Maybe not.

It doesn't matter really.  Whatever you decide is fine with me.

SIP:  *BLINK*BLINK*BLINK*HARD.STARE*

I still didn't know what I was going to make as I was roaming around the store and then...I decided on a brisket even though I knew I wasn't going to be able to marinate it overnight.  I'd just told a Jewish friend the other day that I needed to buy a brisket before their Passover dinner because they buy up all the brisket and make the prices go up with supply/demand concept and whatnot.  LOL!  So...I found a nice 4lb brisket, rinsed it off well, seasoned it with fresh minced garlic, diced onion, fresh cracked pepper and a wee bit of cayenne pepper and put it fat side up in a shallow pan.  Then...I added 2 cups of beef stock and covered it TIGHT with 'luminum ferl (aluminum foil) and let it cook without opening the oven on 350 degrees for a solid 3 hours.

Then I removed it and checked the temperature.  It was at around 190 degrees which is what I was going for.  Next...I sliced it and put it back in the pan making sure all the meat was covered with the au jus, covered it up again and let it go for 20 more minutes while I got the rest of the meal going.

I'm not going to tell you how good it was.  I'm not going to tell you how good the house was smelling.  I'm not even going to tell you about how there was some serious sopping up of au jus going on over here.

But I will tell you that I just had brisket and boiled eggs for breakfast.

And I slurped up the juice something ferocious.

LOL!

When's the last time you cooked something SO.GOOD...you had some for breakfast the next morning?  

 

Did you know this about ginger?

Appetizer Idea

As an appetizer recently, I served these with cubes of pepper jack cheese and an assortment of olives.  I simply sliced the sausages in half lengthwise and put them on a hot griddle skillet for about 5 minutes.  They are already fully cooked...just needed heating.

I won't tell you they almost caused a fight cuz a hostess fighting over the last sausage is uncouth and whatnot and I try my best to be couthish.

What's your favorite appetizer to serve at dinner parties?

How do YOU clean your produce?

What Does It Take to Clean Fresh Food?

Do you clean fruit before you put it in the fruit bowl or before you eat it?  

Do you soak your veggies?

Do you own a veggie brush?

 

Honeycrisp Gone Rogue

Yall noticed the price of apples due to the drought out west?

Grocery Stores

I hate shopping for groceries.  I really, really, really hate it.  It's an absolute chore for me that I could seriously do without.  I have to buy the same stuff that I've already checked out or I'm azzed out because I probably didn't bring my reading glasses with me and I can't read the damn ingredients on the packaging.  And...I have to read all the ingredients cuz they slip so much crazy ish in stuff that doesn't seem like it should even be in there.

Crazy.  Crazy.  Crazy.

I feel like I have to do some serious homework before I try anything new.  I run across stuff all the time that I've never heard of and I think I'm pretty well educated on foodstuffs.  The other day, for the first time, I ran into Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA).  I whipped out my phone and found all kinds to stuff including this:  11 Food Ingredients Banned Outside the U.S. That We Eat

That made me sooooooooooooooooooooooooo frustrated.  

When I'm shopping now, I find that I'm not the only person reading the packaging on products.  It seems like just about everyone is conscious that there might be some stuff in there that they don't want their family eating.    I even asked a woman with glasses recently to read the third ingredient in a product to me and she took one look at it, told me I didn't want that and then told me two other things it's in too that would surprise me.

Say bruh...

Meat scares me unless I get it from the Amish market.  Even when it's organic.  I wish I could quit it but I know I can't so I just stick to as much organic meat as I possibly can.

I'm rambling.  I'm sorry.  This food stuff is just too dang weird.  Just...UGH!

Do you find yourself reading more ingredients lists too?

FDA

Do YOU trust the FDA?

Tell the truth and shame the devil!

Have you ever had eggs cooked in bacon grease?

So so so so so good!

You should understand by the shape these packages are in that this is NOT.A.JOKE.

So yeah...get you some of this:

Put it on top of some of this:

Put it on a cracker and add just a dollop of this:

And you will turn into a rabid dog who doesn't like anyone near them while they eat.

You've been warned.

 

Scallop Deliciousness

Shelly had scallops a couple of weeks ago.  I wanted some scallops.  I didn't get any.

A girlfriend had scallops Saturday.  I wanted some scallops.  I got scallops.

I also sauteed bokchoy, ginger, garlic and shitake mushrooms.  I cooked the scallops for 3 minutes on each side in bacon drippings.

I cannot stress to yall how delicious all of this was.

Yum.  Yup.

When's the last time YOU had scallops?

How to set up and stock a home bar!

Up until recently I didn't have an actual home bar.  I had most of what I needed...I just had them all in the basement pantry section and would have to go up and down again when I wanted to mix drinks, etc.

Well...I changed that recently and am going to be complete with it soon.

I'll take pics later.  

What about you?  Where do you keep your home bar?  Do you have a special place you keep everything?  Do you have a nice built in bar?  Is it well stocked?  What is your signature drink you can whip up easily?  What liquors and mixers do you keep stocked?

Here's Martha's take on it:  Home Bar Basics

Dining Out

I dined out more than usual last week it seems according to my bank statement.  LOL!  What about you?  How many times did YOU eat out and about last week?

Super Bowl Party

Are you having a party?  Attending one?  What is your favorite Super Bowl party food?  Any recipes to share?

What happens when you've been glutened?

That's the dish that did me in.  Was it good?  HELL.YES!  Was it worth being glutened?  NOTHING is worth being glutened.

I usually make my own stir fry sauce, of course, but when I went looking for gluten-free soy sauce, I saw the sauce next to it and bought it thinking I was still in the gluten-free section of Wegman's.  Turns out...I was one aisle over in the natural section where they keep the gluten-free soy sauce.

Confusing I know.  I hope they change that soon.  

N E WAY...

Because I thought I was in the GF section I didn't even read the bottle.  I made dinner and within 20 minutes...felt like I was going to die.  *sigh*

It was pretty quick too.

My body QUICKLY got rid of the food and that's the most polite way I can put that.  Oh screw it...yall know me well enough to know by now hell.  I got INSTANT BUBBLE GUTS!  Do you hear me?  INSTANT!  The stomach pain was like the worst kind of cramps plus uncomfortable bloating.  My head start hurting and I was hit with a wall of fatigue.  When I realized that I was feeling REALLY poorly...it hit me that I felt like I was glutened.  

Robby got the bottle and checked it out.  Yup.  My worst fears confirmed.

I started drinking water and took a probiotic.  All I wanted to do is sleep.  I felt sooooooooooooooo horrible!

When I woke up Sunday morning?  Still felt horrid.  I stayed in bed all day long and, here it is 9pm Sunday night while I'm writing this and I still feel horrid.

Only blessing is I no longer feel like this every.single.day.  

I guess I'll feel better in a few days.  

Oh...the sauce was delicious in the event you'd like to try it yourself.  

Annie Chun's Shiitake Soy Ginger Sauce

Gluten-Free Fried Shrimp Wraps (PoBoy Substitute)!

I used to LURVE fried shrimp poboys but can't have them any longer.

My mommy-in-law is famous for her fried shrimp poboys and she made them gluten-free for me and they were soooooooooooooo good!  I couldn't get French bread, of course...but we put them on corn tortilla wraps and baaaaaaaaaaby!  DEEELICIOUS!

I wish I'd remembered to take a pic before we devoured them but I didn't.

Pour SmartBalance oil in a skillet and heat on medium low heat.

Beat two eggs, add peeled and deveined shrimp, pour in enough buttermilk to cover shrimp.  Mix well with hand and let sit for a few minutes.

Sprinkle a layer of gluten flour on a plate.  DUST this layer with corn meal.  Season to taste. Mix with fork.  

Stick your fingers in running water and flick the water into the skillet.  If the grease crackles...it's hot enough.

Dredge shrimp in flour mixture and add to skillet.

Brown on one side for 3 minutes and turn over.  Brown on other side for 2 minutes.

Add fixings to your taste  to tortilla.  (Mayo, mustard, cocktail sauce, ketchup, Creole mustard, etc.) Add shredded lettuce down the middle and put thinly sliced tomatoes over that.  Add shrimp and wrap.

YALL.

AIN'T.

READY.

I also fried some oysters but I didn't get it right.  I know what I think I need to do to make them right.  Adjusting my favorite recipes from home to Gluten-free versions takes some doing.  Yall know I'm funny 'bout my food so I won't stop until I get it EXACTLY.RIGHT!

When's the last time  you had a fried shrimp poboy?  Where'd you get it?

 

Are YOU a Sugar Addict Too?

I recently ate an entire roll of Life Savers in one day.  When I realized exactly what I'd done...I felt like crap.  Four of them make up a serving.  There are probably about 16 in the pack.  

Thirteen grams of sugar per serving.  Four servings.  That's 52 grams of sugar.  If there are 4 grams of sugar in one teaspoon, that means I just sat there and shoveled 13 teaspoons of sugar in my mouth, down my throat, into my blood stream, leaving little sugar footprints all up and through my major organs, settling in for a stay in my stomach.

UGH.

KILL.

ME.

NOW.

I felt horrible.

But look at how quickly that happens.  Just doody doody do...SUGAR.  

I got up and drank a large glass of hot water and lemon juice and just felt disgusted with myself for the rest of the day.  

Does this ever happen to you?  Do you ever eat something...realize exactly what you just did to your body and then you feel sick to your stomach?

I'm totally going off sugar for a month.  I'll only get sugar in natural foods.  No added refined sugar.  None.  

I still feel ugh.

Anybody want to cut out refined sugar with me?  

 

How to Cook a Prime Rib - EASY!

Oh my goodness...our prime rib was SO delicious!  

This rub?  TO.DIE.FOR.DELICIOUS!

How do YOU cook prime rib? Do you do boneless or with the bones? I went boneless. It wasn't very much more than than with the rack. I think I'm going to stick with boneless from now on.

Dear Founding Farmers:

I eat at Founding Farmers pretty regularly.  I love their food, the ambience, etc.  The concept of clean eating feeds my soul and, when there isn't much out there that I can eat on the fly...it's nice to know I can pop over to Founding Farmers and grab a seat at the bar and have something I can eat relatively quickly.

Well...Saturday I had my first bad experience there and it was pretty bad.  I won't go into all the specific details...but I basically stopped talking so I didn't snap and curse and let my friend do all the talking.  Long story short...we were there for about an hour and a half before our meal came and those around us were coming and going.  The truth never really came out...but I sense our waitress simply forgot to put our order in.  Wouldn't have been a big deal except she didn't tell her manager the truth so there was a tad bit of confusion that I decided to NOT participate in.

Before we left...a manager came over and gave us his card.  He told us to email him or call him before we ever came in again so he could personally make sure our experience was a good one.

I thought about it all day and determined that I liked that.  Dude was, quite obviously...a class act.

So I emailed him:

Kahlua, Pecan, and Brown Sugar Baked Brie

You should DEFINITELY add this to your grazing station for Thanksgiving this year.  A friend made some recently and I embarrassed myself with how much of it I scarfed down.  I'm talking...DEEEEEEEEELICIOUS!

About 18 ounces of Brie 

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup Kahlua
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup chopped pecans 

Slice rind off top of brie but don't remove.  Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. 

While brie is baking, melt butter, add Kaluah and brown sugar and bring to boil, stirring constantly, for 10 - 15 minutes (carmelize).  Add pecans for about 2 minutes or so to warm the pecans.

Remove brie from oven and pour sauce over top.  Serve with crackers and apple slices.

You'll want to try one at home first before you share with others.  Not because there is a science to it that you have to perfect but because it's sooooooooooooo good...you won't get enough to satiate you with your friends around.

SERIOUSLY.

GOOD.EATING!

 

Are you brining your turkey this year?

We've Been Eating Apples Wrong!

 

So I tried it.  I couldn't eat the seeds but yeah...I got it down pretty small.  

This is AWESOME!  LOL!  Do you eat it like this yet?  If you've known this...how long have you know?

Angled Dripless Turkey Baster

I absolutely 100% can't WAIT to try my new Angled Dripless Turkey Baster out.  I am so geeked it's crazy.  It has a brush, a flat pour thingy and a nozzle and yall...I think it might be the best thing to ever happen to my turkey!

Do you baste with a baster, a brush or both?

Smoked Sausage

I only buy smoked sausage for gumbo, jambalaya and red beans.  That's pretty much it.  I guess I generally buy fresh sausage for the other dishes I cook.

I've been seeing a commercial with a pasta dish where they used smoked sausage as the meat.  

Hmmmmmmm...

Do you have many dishes you use smoked sausage in?

 

Beef Veggie Soup with Bacon???????

Was buying beef cubes today to make beef veggie soup.

A woman said she puts bacon in hers while we were making polite conversation about it being soup weather.

I pondered that for about 6 seconds and then told the dude behind the counter to add a pound of bacon to that too please and thank you.

I don't rightly know how to make a beef veggie soup with bacon...but I shall certainly be eating a BLT while trying it.  OH.YEAH!

You ever heard of bacon in the beef veggie soup?

Random Blackface: Thanksgiving is Coming!!!!!!!!!

I ADORE Thanksgiving, as you all should know by now, and take my prep and tablescaping something serious.  This year I'm having a new challenge as we're traveling to the mountains for Thanksgiving and will be staying at a cabin.

A cabin I know nothing about.

Williams Sonoma Mulling Spices

Honest gave us these mulling spices and they've been in the cabinet.  I was looking up some adult beverage recipes for the Halloween party and saw a list which included mulled wine so I bought wine and made some using the exact directions on the bottle times 3.  

12 cups Cabernet Sauvignon

1.5 cups sugar

6 tablespoons mulling spices

Warm in pot and simmer for 20 minutes.

DEEEEEEEEEEELICIOUS!

Yall know we love the kids around here but it was even easier to love them after a glass or two of warm, spiced wine.

Have you ever had mulled wine?  It was super good!  

Coffee Consumption

How much coffee do you drink per day?  I drink two 8oz cups and I'm thinking of cutting back to one.

Soup / Gumbo

Have you made some soup or gumbo yet this season?  What kind of soup?

What did YOU have for lunch?

I had my favorite.  

What do you put in your oatmeal?

Fresh fruit?  Dried fruit?  Nuts?  Butter?  Sugar?  Milk?  Agave?  Honey?  

Zesty Red Cabbage Slaw

From: PBS Food

Veggies, Veggies, Veggies!

What is your absolute FAVORITE veggie?  What's your favorite way to have it prepared?

Healthy Coffee Creamer?

My food choices are pretty healthy.  I mean...I go out of my way to make choosing what Robby and I eat all about healthy choices.  Seafood?  Raw caught please.  Eggs?  Organic please.  I can't eat gluten so I always substitute whatever I want to eat...for the gluten-free option.

I don't do a lot of sugar.  I don't cook with salt.  I eat HEAVY veggies and fruit.  HEAVY.  LOTS of leafy greens and I love color.  Hell...I even eat organic lolipops and sour jelly beans.

You get the picture...

Our coffee is organic and we get it straight from the roaster, Mayorga Organic Cafe Cubana.  

My unhealthy, totally processed, sugar laden creamer choice?  Coffemate Hazelnut creamer.  When they started with the natural bliss kind...I tried it, finished a bottle and went back to my old standby because they didn't make a natural bliss hazelnut.

UGH!

But I've been feeling guilty about it.

So I finished the bottle and decided to try something mo'betta for me.  I bought this:  

BLECH!  Tasted fake.  It doesn't go bad until December 23rd so if you'll be at 13700 before then and would like it...it's yourN.

And then I tried this:

And it made me instamad on a beautiful day.  I got so mad at that one I threw it out.  

Full.

UGH!

Will I ever be able to break my addiction to the delicious goodness that is starting my morning out with my coffee sweatened beautifully and creamily by Coffeemate Hazelnut creamer?

What do YOU use?  Anything healthy that won't make me instamad in the mornings?

What's YOUR favorite kind of taco?

I learned on Sunday night that last Friday was National Taco Day.  

I like tacos.

I was mad that none of yall told me it was National Taco Day because that is a holiday worthy of celebration.

Humph.

STEP YALL INFORMATION SHARING GAME UP PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

So, OF COURSE, I wanted tacos last night.

But I couldn't decide which kind.

I finally decided that I couldn't decide so I made two kinds.

Yup!  TWO!  On the left we have chipotle garlic flank steak and on the right...cilantro lime shrimp.

They were both delicious.

The beef was better.

Now I'm hungry again.  I'm thinking breakfast is going to be a leftover taco filling omelet. 

What's YOUR favorite taco?  Do you use hard or soft shells?  Avocado?  Fresh cilantro?

 

Tiny Rooftop Gardening

I was in Baltimore today and looked up and saw a guy on a roof with lots of plants.

I put the long lens on my camera because honestly...I was confused.

Dude was harvesting his veggies.  

On a tiny roof.

Without rail the first.

Then...he started watering them with a hose he'd hooked onto a wire on side of his tiny roof.

I couldn't stop watching him because I was confused as to how he'd gotten out there.  SERIOUSLY.  It couldn't be through the window right?  I mean...there was no door sure...but um...his shoulders looked bigger than the window so yeah...how'd he get up there?  I didn't see a ladder or anything but his veggies were totally impressive.

I.HAD.TO.KNOW. 

And then...I looked up and he'd rehooked his hose and climbed back inside...THROUGH THE WINDOW.

I have to say...in a world where some people wouldn't eat veggies to save their life...it's refreshing to see someone go above and beyond to make sure they have fresh, organic veggies.  

I mean really.  

Eat some veggies.  NON cooked to death or fried.

It will help your quality of life...provided you don't fall off a tiny roof growing 'em.

Don't Overthink Your Diet, Just Eat More Plants: A Cardiologist Explains

Something Crunchy

When you're in the mood for something crunchy...what do you eat?

Bragg's Organic Sprinkle Seasoning

BEST.ISH.EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Bragg Organic Sprinkle Seasoning

You can get free samples here:  http://bragg.com/samples/samples_26749.php