The seventh circle of... well, you get the idea.

This week has been... challenging. 

National Honor Society induction.

Childcare problems on top of problems.

Teacher of the Year application (much more difficult than you would think)

Oh, and I made my students do research papers.  

So they gave me this :)

An A.S.O. is a student worker... and the unfortunate student in my left hand, well, he didn't have enough quotes in his paper.  I think he got what he deserved.

I really like my ponytail.  And my green feet.  And the fact that I am so angry I apparently forgot how to spell enough. 

Slightly more disturbing: when my four-year-old saw this, he said, "Mommy, that doesn't look like you.  Your ponytail is brown."  Hmmm.  Nothing about head shape?  Seriously? 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I love oatmeal raisin cookies, but it took me a long time to find my favorite recipe.  And I almost wish I hadn't.  I eat way way way too many of these.  But hey, that's why I run.

This is another Ina Garten adaptation. She makes hers with pecans and just baking powder, but I've discovered the secret to even better cookies is the correct combination of baking soda and baking powder.

Baking powder makes cake-like cookies - they are softer, more pillowy.
Baking soda makes crispy cookies.  Or at least that's what my very haphazard baking substance research revealed.  Feel free to correct me :)

So by using a combination, you get crisp around the edges, chewy in the middle, perfect cookies.

Oh, and the brown sugar and cinnamon help.

Just don't let your helper eat all of the dough.

Ingredients

2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 extra-large eggs 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt  

3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal

1 1/2 cups raisins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add the oats and raisins and mix just until combined.

Using a small scooper or a tablespoon, drop 2-inch mounds of dough onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper OR onto a baking stone. Flatten slightly. Bake for 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer the cookies to a baking rack and eat while slightly warm :)

This dough keeps in the fridge, wrapped in cling wrap, so that you can make more small batches and always eat warm cookies. 

Now go running.  Or at least, that's what I need to do.

Not-Really-a-Snow Day Comfort Food, Part 3 - Red Beans and Rice

So once again this week, we had cold wet rain that fell from the sky and only turned into snow for about 5 minutes... long enough for a very little to collect on top of patio furniture. 

Dixon said "It's not snowing.  It's mudding." 

But we got out of school again, because our town has no way to deal with snow, so they fear for school buses and icy overpasses.  

They should fear for children trapped in the house for days with restless mothers.  

Especially since children don't see the appeal of going outside to play in the... cold, wet, mud.  (Warm mud, on the other hand, has endless appeal for my four year old).  

So this is what I did when we get out of school because of the fear of snow.

First, I soaked 2 lbs of dried red beans overnight - when they predicted snow.

Then I chopped up two yellow onions and two bell peppers.  If you don't like chopping, I recommend a food processor.  

Throw those in a stockpot with a little vegetable oil.  Add two ribs of celery, chopped.

My dad calls these three the "holy trinity" of Louisiana cooking.

I also added some garlic and red pepper. 

Cook these down until they're nice and soft (about 10-15 minutes). 

Meanwhile, chop up some sausage.

I like andouille, but any smoked sausage will do...
Chop it up...

And here is the secret... my friend Tommy taught me this... throw it in a skillet until it gets caramelized and delicious. 

You can do the same thing with your ham.

Then throw the meat and the beans in with the vegetables in the stock pot.

At first, it won't look quite so yummy...

But cook it for about 2 hours until it looks like this...

Serve it over rice

Or, if you have a "thing" about your food touching, serve the rice on the side and the beans in their own little cup... with a banana, if you are 4 :)

Enjoy!

I doubled this... 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 Tablespoon chopped garlic

Crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper to taste

2 bay leaves

1/2 pound cooked ham cut, into 1/2-inch cubes (plus bone, if available)

6 ounces smoked sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices (1 cup)

1 pound dried red beans, rinsed and sorted through, soaked overnight and drained

8 to 10 cups water

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onions, bell peppers, celery, salt, cayenne, black pepper for about 10-15 minutes. In a separate skillet, saute the meat until it is caramelized.  Add the bay leaves and meat to the pot.   Add enough water to cover the contents in the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally for about 2 hours. Add more water if the mixture becomes dry and thick. Use a wooden spoon to mash about half of the mixture against the side pf the pot. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the mixture is creamy and the beans are soft. Add more water if it becomes too thick. The mixture should be soupy but not watery. Remove the bay leaves and serve with steamed white rice.

Hiatus

Dear blog,
I miss you.  But we've had the stomach virus at this house, and the thought of eating food, cooking food, photographing food, or writing about food is still distinctly unappealing.  What's good for the waistline is bad for the blog.  But I promise to be back in a few days - with the recipe I was going to make for the Superbowl :)

Quote of the week:  I told my four-year-old that he couldn't go to school on Monday since he'd been sick all weekend.  He said (in his angriest voice): "I was NOT sick!  I only threw up SEVEN TIMES."

So I'm guessing 8 is the cut off?  I hope we don't have to see that anytime soon.

Snow Day Comfort Food Part 2 - Cheddar Corn Chowder

No school (YEA!)


No snow (sniff)


No electricity ($&*?!?!)

Yep, that's pretty much how my day went.

They closed the schools last night, getting my son's hopes tremendously high with predictions of 2 to 4 inches of snow.

I realize that in other parts of the country, there are serious problems and inconveniences caused by the powdery white stuff, but down here, we pray for it to fall.

My son is a little spoiled because last year we had a record snow fall of 4 inches!  This made the event the fifth most snowfall since record keeping began in our area, according to the local news.  Since that was the first winter he really remembered, he now expects snow like that every year.

This morning, of course, we awoke to really cold drizzly rain, beautiful frozen trees, and ugly soggy brown grass.  Sigh.

On the bright side, the baby looked super cute in his fuzzy hat.

And my older son had fun scraping ice off my car with a plastic axe from "Dollar Treat."

On the not so bright side, a lot of frozen rain accumulated on the tree branches (not on the ground).  One of those branches snapped and fell on a power line a few houses down, so we lost power for the afternoon.  Since we have a fireplace, and it really wasn't that  cold, this wouldn't have been so bad ... EXCEPT it was during nap time and I was in the middle of making bread! 

So, I called my cousin, promised her homemade bread in exchange for central heat and the use of her oven, and threw the half-risen loaves and the half-awake children in the car.

Our sons made Valentines together, the bread baked, and we were warm.

When I got home (after the electricity was back on), we ate cheddar corn chowder.  It was delicious.

Recipe, adapted from Ina Garten (original is here!)

Side note - I sent some to my mom's and she called to say the "bisque" was amazing.  I told her that merely being made in Louisiana did NOT make a chowder into a bisque.  Bisque doesn't have potatoes.

Ingredients

8 ounces bacon

3 large yellow onions, diced

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon turmeric (not essential, but it gives it a beautiful yellow color) 

10 cups chicken stock (homemade or a good boxed kind - I used half homemade and half Swanson) 

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch cubes

3 pounds frozen corn

2 cups half-and-half

1/2 pound sharp cheddar  cheese, grated

1/2 tsp sherry, stirred into a bowl when serving (optional)

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until it is crispy. Remove the bacon to some paper towels to drain and cool. If you want to use this as a garnish later, hide it from your kids/ husband/ dogs/ anything else that has a tendency to wander through your kitchen.

Leave the bacon fat in the pot and reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and butter to the fat, and cook for 15 minutes, until the onions are soft and brown.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Add the corn to the soup, then add the half-and-half and cheddar. Cook for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Serve with sherry, if desired. 

Serve hot with some crumbled bacon on top.  That is, if you have any bacon left.  I did not.  My son found it and ate it all.

And some French bread, saved from an untimely death by power-outage. 

February Fish Fry

Yep.  It's freezing outside (seriously!  As in, below 32!  Even here in Louisiana!) so what did I decide to make for supper?  The ultimate middle of the summer feast.  I'm weird like that.  I promise warm comforting comfort food tomorrow.  Specifically cheddar corn chowder.

But back to last night's menu.

It started with a cabbage.  Michael grew it in the garden, so we were going to eat it.  And when I started thinking about it, carrots are winter food too.  So I made cole slaw.

First, I shredded the cabbage.

To dress the slaw, combine a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, some lemon juice, salt, lemon pepper, some vinegar (I used wine vinegar, but whatever...).  I also used some carrots, celery, and sprouts my husband grew in the kitchen.  It was yummy.

Then I decided to make sweet potato fries.  Usually I cut them into cubes, but I decided to try strips to make them more appealing to the four-year-old.

My mistake.  He loves the cubes, wouldn't touch the sticks.  Figures.

The baby, of course, loved them.

We had to have something to go with it, and I had more red snapper in the freezer.  My brother went deep sea fishing in the gulf this summer (pre oil spill), and now that I'm making yummy soups, I need freezer space.

So, to fry fish in your kitchen... and contrary to popular legend, IF you have a big black skillet, frying fish is not all that messy or stinky.
Pour a cup of vegetable oil into a big black skillet.  Get it hot.  Really hot.  When you put a drop of water in the skillet, it should pop and sizzle.  If you get it hot enough, the fish won't be greasy and soggy.

In a ziploc bag or tupperware, place 1 cup yellow cornmeal.  Season it with Tony Chacherie's (or salt, red pepper, garlic, and black pepper).  Put the fish in the bag and shake it until it is covered.  Then place in the oil and cook until brown and crispy on the outside (about 5-7 minutes).

Serve with lots of ketchup :)

 He has to keep up his strength so he can work in the garden :)

Garlicky Greens

Greens are part of every winter garden in the south... or at least they should be.

The problem is, I can't ever tell them apart.

Mustards? Collards?  Turnips?  I don't know, but they look like this:

Please feel free to identify, if you're able.  I'll be impressed and grateful.

(Oh, and to learn more about all this green stuff in the dirt, check out my husband's blog -  he's responsible for the growing side of things).

Or, up close, my greens looked like this...

After deciding identification was a waste of time (Hey, we grew them, so I was going to cook them, no matter what)... I removed the tough ribs from the greens.

I put 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet.  I heated them until the butter was melted.  I added 1 tablespoon diced garlic.  Or it might have been two.  I love garlic.

  Then I added the greens, one handful at a time.

I stirred them until they began to wilt.

When they were all wilted, I added 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar and 1/3 cup water.  Also, a little kosher salt and black pepper. I might have thrown in a splash or two of beer.  That might have been the accidental result of dancing with a wriggling baby while cooking and drinking said beer.

 Then I put a lid on them and cooked for about 15 minutes - until the fish was ready.  I also added 1 pinch brown sugar, and 2 dashes Tabasco, while my 4 year old wasn't looking.

The greens had the perfect mix of peppery, sour, bitter, salty sweetness (yes, I realize that's a lot of contrasting flavors).  But trust me, they were yummy.  Both kids ate them, which is a good indicator. At this point, my husband eats almost anything, so he's not allowed to judge.

I served the greens with grilled red snapper.

To grill the snapper, mix 1/4 cup olive oil, some Kosher salt, and the juice of 1 lemon in a gallon zipper bag.  Add 2 fish fillets (this was 1.5 lbs total, according to the scale at the super market).  Marinate for 20 minutes or so (not too long or else the lemon juice will start to cook the fish).

Heat your grill until it's about 400 degrees.  Cook, skin side down, until the fish flakes, about 10-15 minutes for an 1-2 inch thick fillets.  I put red pepper on one, for Michael and me.  My four year old has learned about eating things with "red specks."  Hence the need to sneak the Tabasco into the greens.

I squeezed a little more fresh lemon juice over the fillets before serving with the greens.

OH, and in the interest of full disclosure, I made this meal last Friday.  Last night, when I wrote this blog, this is what we had for dinner.  And it was good.