The most wonderful time of the year

Today is one of my favorite days of the year the day I get out my Holiday dishes. 

 

Before

After turning on a “new” episode of Perry Mason on the Genie I took the doors of the china cabinet off and got down to business.   The matching cups seem to be still packed in the garage somewhere- to be found another day…

Slick is out to dinner for work tonight so the Peep and I will probably be out to dinner ourselves- most likely tomorrow we will have our first dinner on the Holiday for the year- everything seems to taste better and be more festive and wonderful when we eat on them no matter what it is.

Bagels and Cream Cheese? Nahhhh

Tomorrow is a PTA meeting and I'm a signed up to take food.  I know if you've been reading AWPG long you are aware that I love taking food places- neighbors, meetings, strangers, road trips...
When I asked what my assignment was... this is the email reply I received:

If you want to bring bagels and cream cheese or something similar that would be great. 

Um.  Bagels and cream cheese?  I would have to drive the the bagel shop in the morning and stand in line and hope that I make it to he meeting on time.  I despise being late.  I prefer having my ducks lined up the night before.  I prefer to bake at home.  Oh... there it is.  I prefer to bake at home.  

So, if you're at the middle school PTA meeting in the city tomorrow, pumpkin bread is on the agenda. Post with recipe from 2008  can be found here.  

Enchiladas for All!

Tex-Mex.  I love it.  I live in Southern California where there is Mexican food.  Not the same.  So not the same.  So Slick, the Peep and I have taken to eating our Tex- Mex at home- which for the most part means that I cook it and one of our favorite things to have is enchiladas... mmmm.  We may have to have them tonight because just thinking about them makes me want them now.  At 10:45 in the morning.

I made them recently for a few girlfriends over for a book night and several of them have asked for the recipe which is how I come to be sharing it today.

The original un altered and much more lengthy recipe is here: http://www.texmex.net/Recipes/enchiladas

My version is here:

PaperGirl's Enchiladas

First make the sauce- and I don't mean some red out of the can mess.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon  butter
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup onion finely diced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 clove fresh garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 16 oz tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed in 3/4 cup cold water

Directions:

Brown hamburger meat- add onion and garlic.
Add the salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder and stir well.  Cook for another 2 minutes then add the flour. It will get hot and dry really quickly-  Cook for 1 minute more, stirring to absorb the oils.

Add the tomato sauce and stir well, being sure to ‘scrape’ the  bottom of the pan for any sticking particles.  Add 4 cups of water and bring to a slow boil.   Let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes uncovered. Clean up your messy kitchen.

Mix 2 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch into 3/4 cup of cold water.  Increase the heat to a medium high setting and when the sauce is at a ‘rolling’ boil, slowly add the cornstarch mixture into the sauce.  Stir constantly as you do this.  The cornstarch will thicken the sauce, and it is activated when the sauce begins to boil. 

When the sauce begins to boil again, reduce the heat to a medium low heat, making sure there is a ‘slow’ boil.  Simmer the sauce for 20 minutes, uncovered.  Remove from the heat and let
sit for up to 30 minutes.  You now have a great tasting sauce for authentic TexMex enchiladas.

This sauce can be prepared several days in advance and refrigerated until ready to use. Just reheat on a medium low setting and stir often until hot- but why would you do that- make your enchiladas now.

ENCHILADAS

Take your super tasty and thick sauce and get ready to put it to good use-

Beef Enchiladas

• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 1/2# ground beef
• 1 tablespoon margarine
• 1/2 cup yellow onions, diced fine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Gebhardt® chili powder
• 4 oz. cheddar cheese, grated fine- more if you are going to use just cheese
• 6 cups chili con carne sauce (see recipe)

Directions:
Start by heating 1 tablespoon of the oil and the margarine in a large skillet.  Add the meat, crumbling while putting in.  When the meat is light brown, add the onions, bell peppers
and all the spices.  Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.  Remove the meat with a slotted spoon, draining the excess grease.

Put the meat into a bowl and set aside.  Grate the cheese using a ‘fine’ blade.  Set aside.  Put a couple of ladles full of the sauce in the bottom of your 9x13 dish- enough to cover the bottom fully.

Heat the tortillas in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften them so they will roll with the filling in them.  Place one tortilla on a flat surface like the counter-  Put a ‘row’ of the meat mixture ‘off center’ and sprinkle with a little of cheese- just a pinch or so- roll the tortilla up, place in the casserole dish with the ‘seam’ facing down.  Continue until all are done.

Alternately you can fill just with cheese and roll still place seam side down.

Cover with the remaining sauce and finish by sprinkling the cheese on top.  Bake in a 350° preheated oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.  Remove and serve immediately.

Be careful who you serve these to.  Marriage proposals may ensue.

Happy Birthday to the Lulu.

Ten Things to be Happy About today on my Mommas Birthday, y'all- not the least of which is that she is born.

1. Sweet Tea

2. Birthday CAKE
3. fresh haircuts on dogs
4. shined boots
5. Splenda
6. sharpened pencils
7. Eucalyptus trees in your yard

8. colored subway tile
9. math tests
10. clean toilets

Spiced Tea

I was talking to a couple girlfriends yesterday about tea.

One of them was asking about tea for drinking in the cold winter and though I admit that we don’t have much of the cold here in the Big City…

 I started telling her about tea my momma used to make in the 1980’s and then I thought I’d tell you about it.

My Mom has been making this tea every winter as long as I can remember.  When I was in elementary school we used to give it to teachers as our Christmas gifts- you know back when the gifts before December break were called Christmas Gifts- and when December Break was called Christmas Break.  Back in the crazy old days. 

Now my parents give it to their friends in their supper club as part of their annual gift exchange along with homemade salsa.

It’s a traditional and tasty tea- though if you’ve never had it you might think- total gag- but I’m telling you- it is good.  

Seriously good.

So here’s my copy of the recipe on my 1988 recipe cards

Spiced Tea

2 Cups of Tang- you know the beverage of the astronauts. 

2 cups of sugar- (my mom tried using splenda this year- I do not know how it turned out- maybe if she reads this she can let us know)

¾ Cup of Instant Lemon Sweet Tea 

1 ½ Cup of Regular Instant Tea

1 TBSP cinnamon

Mix it all up in a bowl, store it in a jar and when it’s cold outside make a cup of hot water and put in a few teaspoons of the powdery mix and stir it.  Warm your hands on the cup and sip. 

Amazing Almond Cake

Y'all- I have been away for a while and I have been thinking about coming back time and again and it was only the following recipe that has gotten me off my fanny and back on the horse of the typing world to tell you about things in the land of the Paper World.

First and foremost- we have moved.  Secondly- we renovated.  Thirdly- we got chickens.

I tell you all of these tidbits so you will come back another day and hear all about all of them- but today I HAVE to tell you- am basically required by law to tell you about this recipe.

I made it last week to see if it was any good after thinking about it for a couple of weeks, then it was amazing so I made two more that same afternoon to take to a morning meeting for the next day- every bite was eaten by the lovely ladies at the meeting.  Y'all it is delicious.

So here is the recipe as it was published by the Safeway corporation- and then with my revisions.

Safeway's version:

Almond Butter Cake with Crunchy Almond Topping
One bowl and 10 minutes prep is all it takes to make this incredibly moist and flavorful cake.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup Lucerne Sweet Cream Butter
• 2 Safeway SELECT Organic Large Eggs
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 cup sliced (not slivered) almonds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together sugar and butter until blended. Stir in eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Stir in almond extract, vanilla, and salt. Stir in flour until it is incorporated.
3. Pour batter into a greased 9-inch cake pan. Smooth the top. Sprinkle sugar over the top. Sprinkle with almonds.
4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden. Cake will not test clean with a toothpick.
5. Cut into wedges and serve warm, chilled, or at room temperature.

Now- Here's what I'd say about the cake having made it now 4 times.

I lined the cake pan with parchment paper three of the times and each of those times the cake came from the pan beautifully.  One of the times I only greased the pan and tried to get the cake out- it didn't come out very well at all...  so I totally recommend lining the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper and then spraying it all with pam.  I cooked the cakes for 35 minutes and one of the times on convection so 325 degrees F and still for 35 minutes.  I didn't put salt in my cake as the recipe I have from the back of the almond bag doesn't call for it.  Seems like a swell idea though.  And finally I use a tablespoon of sugar instead of 2 teaspoons for sprinkling over the top of the almonds.

Almond Butter Cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted Butter, melted
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp
• 3/4 cup sliced (not slivered) almonds

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together sugar and melted butter until blended. Stir in eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Stir in almond extract, vanilla, and salt. Stir in flour until it is incorporated.
3. Pour batter into a parchment lined, greased and floured 9-inch cake pan. Smooth the top. Sprinkle with almonds. Sprinkle sugar over the top.
4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden. Cake will not test clean with a toothpick.
5. Cut into wedges and serve warm, chilled, or at room temperature.

So there's the most delicious cake you will make this year.  Make it as soon as you can.  It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Christmas Cards

It's a big year for me and I promise not to bore you with the details of it but I'm cleaning house because I'm too anal to let Slick hire a housekeeper.  He's tried for a couple of years but I don't work (outside the home) and I can't justify the expense since I'm here all the time but I suck at housekeeping so things are kinda always in limbo here and things are halfway clean with the rotation of getting clean instead of all the way clean on the housekeepers day and then gradually messy over the course of the next seven to 14 days.

Soooo I have a board meeting at my house in a week and I was doing pre-cleaning this morning- you may not have to do this at your super clean houses- the pick up that you have to do before the cleaning- the moving of the piles so you can dust under them.

This is when I finally threw out (in the recycle bin, thank you) the eight egg cartons we have been collecting to take back to the farmers market egg people and came across a stack of Christmas cards.

These are not ordinary cards, these are cards lovingly sent from our friends from 2012, that's right, I'm admitting to having cards accessible from 2012.  I then stopped everything I was doing that was productive and looked through them.

One by one.  

Reading the inscriptions and looking at how all of your kids have grown into bigger kids, how we have all even come to have kids!  We were just college kids when we met- or high schoolers even!  And some of us met as newlyweds and some of us in the last few years and yet we've all shared so many fun times and now we live hundreds of miles apart and just a few miles apart and I just wanted you each and every one to know- THANK YOU. 

Thank you for taking the time to capture your family on "film."  Thank you for spending the money to have the cards printed and taking the time to address them and spending the money to mail them.  It's not cheap.  I know.  I was in the stationery business for ten minutes.  My girl Penny Still is.  But is is so worth it.  For the time I spend at the holidays looking at the cards is wonderful, but the time I looked at them this morning was so heart warming.  

It made me feel so loved and happy that I had to stop all of the cleaning frenzy to tell you that I loved you too.

39 and holding

Slick turns 40 this week.

Years ago when I thought about 40 it seemed like a big number.  40 was the age of the people for which I babysat.  40 wasn't MY age.  And yet as I''ve approached it year by year it's started to seem smaller and less significant until this year.  

As Slick turns the page on another decade this week I am reminded of so many birthdays we have shared together- 30 when we were in Flower Mound, Texas and went to dinner with our parents at Ocean Aire in Dallas and I was the designated driver since I was pregnant with the Peep.  When he turned 25 and we were planning our wedding and we had the first of what would be hundreds of dinner s with all of the in-laws.  26 when we were just the two of us in Augusta, Georgia and I cooked a whole duck for dinner while talking with Slick's mom on the phone almost the whole time.

We've had good birthdays and ok birthdays, good cakes and pies, funny cards and late presents- but what matters most is what we're having this year:  family.

I have another 6 months before I have to turn the page on another decade so I think I will just hold a while and savor it- like my Memaw would have reminded me to as she sang along to her 8-track- One Day at a Time.

Professional Combine

There's a phenomenon coming soon known as the NFL Scouting Combine.  Very roughly, it's the days in February when players form college who are hoping to get drafter get together and show off for scouts of professional teams in an arena and it's televised and I have to confess that the PaperGirl family has watched parts of it on many occasions.

We're football fans.

I thought that knowing this, you might find it funny that this morning, the Peep was giving an running commentary while I was drying her flowing locks of a combine- mostly of 100 yard dashes- she was calling them 100 yard touchdown runs- but that she was calling out current and past professional players names as the participants.  And using my Ironman watch to time them.
It was FREAKING adorable.

Congratulations to "Brees," "Johnston," "Romo," and TCU's "Pachall."

Fancy Chicken

We're having FANCY CHICKEN tonight and there's not a dang thing fancy about it.

Fancy is what the Peep named it several years ago when I first spotted the recipe on the side of the Bisquick box and started making it- and for lack of a nicer name- Fancy Chicken was born.

It was an actual request by my sweet daughter earlier this week when we were wandering the Von's on Sunday after a trip to my favorite breakfast burrito spot, El Burrito, Jr.

The Peeper spied a bottle of our regular BBQ sauce in the meat section while Slick was checking out bacon and asked then if I could make her "very favorite Fancy Chicken?"  Being such a wonderful momma up for Mother of the Year in so many categories, I let the daddy cook dinner on Sunday night, but here I am waiting for chicken to thaw so I can slice it up and toss it through the mix.

I thought I'd share the recipe with you since you may not have a box of Bisquick in your refrigerator in the garage like I do.  I mean, you should, but just in case you don't, the recipe is sometimes on it.

Here's what the Betty Crocker Website has to say about the recipe.  They're the makers of Bisquick and they know what they're doing.

2/3 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt or Garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 450ºF. Line cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray.

Mix Bisquick mix, cheese, salt and paprika in 1-gallon resealable plastic food-storage bag. Dip half the chicken strips into egg; place in bag of Bisquick mixture. Seal bag; shake to coat. Place chicken on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken. Drizzle butter over chicken.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes, turning after 6 minutes with pancake turner, until no longer pink in center.

Here's what I do a little differently:

I definitely use garlic salt instead of regular salt.  Why not get all of the yummy garlickyness to go with!?  And I never use margarine.  I don't know if I have purchased it in the 14 years Slick and I have been married.  So there now you know.  I am a butter fiend.

Remember to spray your foil with Pam or get the no stick foil- but be sure to put the foil on the pan slicky side up.

I don't like the messiness of the zip top bag, though - I know it is supposed to contain the mess.  I use two plates and dip in egg and then dip in mix.  Also- I can't get the hang of the pancake turner spatula to turn the chicken, so I use tongs.

There you have it.  Years and Years of trial and error summed up and ready for you to take and use.  You'll be an expert from the get go.

Oh- and while my chicken is Fancy, it doesn't really look like that chicken in the picture.

Though I will snap it's picture tonight.

EDIT:  I lied.  I didn't get a picture . We ate it too quickly.  I thought about getting a pic of the empty platter but that seemed cruel, even for me.

Note- If you're waiting on... say a husband to get home from work and you think you live in the 1950's and like to have dinner ready at just about the time he walks in the door... do NOT pre bread the chicken.  It will get gummy and soggy on the breading and that's NOT at all what you are going for.  You want crisp golden brown outside and smoking hot inside.   Just thought you'd want to learn form my experience.

Free this week!

Wait no more! Jan 24-28 #MarkingTime for #Free for #Kindle BookOne in the #ImmortalDescendants series by April White twitter.com/PaperGirlPromo…
— PaperGirl Promotions (@PaperGirlPromo) January 22, 2013

Are you reading yet?

I am not kidding about this friends.  I hope you have taken my not so subtile advise and started reading.

If you aren't reading yet, you are going to be sad when the author, April White, of Marking Time is here talking about her book.

Like sad that you didn't get to meet that JK person the time she stopped by...

I confess... no one with initials has ever stopped by the blog that I know of, but I'm telling you, the Immortal Descendent series is awesome and I have only read book one because so far that's all there is.

According to her blog, Ms. White is working on book two.  And I say good thing because the characters in book one still have so many things to tell me!

Get on it.  Hurry.

Happy Reading!

Time to break out the reading glasses, fuzzy blankets and hot chocolate because I have a book recommendation that you will LOVE and because when we meet here in February to talk about it the AUTHOR will be here with us!

Marking Time is the book and click on the name if you want to go directly to Amazon to get a copy and start reading,  Like right now is when I suggest you start.  Unless you have something to do within the next three days because that's how long it will take to read and you will not want to stop once you start.  I promise.

I have tweated with the author, April White, and she is lovely and she has agreed to stop by the blog for a lively discussion of the book.  While you are reading, send me any questions you think of and I will see about including them in the discussion.  Early February works for me and I  will get with Ms. White's agent to see what is a good day and let you know when you need to have read it by.  You will not want to miss the discussion and you will seriously want to have read about Saira and Archer and the rest of her friends by then.

Here is a review from another reader from Belgium and as strange as it may sound, it is as if I were writing the review myself!  As I read what she had to say about the characters and plot I decided to just link to her and skip reviewing myself because... well... I'd have been saying almost all of the exact same things!  Well said Majanka!

Now get to it and read away!!!

Bon Appetit

Every since the Peep watched Julie and Julia the Sony Pictures Movie based on the book of the same name about Julie a lovely woman cooking all of the recipes in the Julia Child's  Mastering the Art of French Cooking, she has been a fan of Beef Bourguignonne.  Before she ate it the first time and definitely after.   

We have talked several times about opening the copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking we some how managed to liberate from my sweet mother in law's house and making Julia's version at home but we just never got around to it.

Last week we got a William-Sonoma catalog in the mail and it had a lovely picture and recipe for Beef Bourguignonne in it that I decided it was time to make it.  So TODAY was the day.

I really wish for your sake that my computer was enabled with smellovision.  The house smells wonderful.

I admit that I didn't follow Julia's recipe, but the WS version which follows is just as complex, and probably just as lovely, and if we end up liking it I will make Julia's next time and let you know if there's a difference.

Note- I couldn't find the veal demi-glace at the Pavillions grocery store where the Peep and I stopped on the way home from school to ingredient up for dinner- so I subbed in beef bullion.  Meh.

As I sit here though, thinking Beef Bourguignonne in the distinctly Julia Child voice, I Googled her looking for video and came across this from ABC news.  I couldn't find a date stamp on it so I am not sure when it ran, but it was a lovely seven minute or so piece on Julia.

William Sonoma Beef Bourguignonne

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs. canola oil
• 4 1/2 lb. boneless chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 lb. button mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 lb. slab bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 1/2 Tbs. veal demi-glace
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 bottle (750ml) Pinot Noir
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 lb. pearl onions, peeled
• 1 bouquet garni (2 bay leaves, 4 thyme sprigs and 6 parsley sprigs, tied with kitchen twine)
• 3 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Boiled potatoes with parsley for serving (see related recipe at left)

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F.

In a 6 3/4-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm 2 Tbs. of the oil until just smoking. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes per batch. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the remaining 1 Tbs. oil and the mushrooms to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 6 to 8 minutes, adding 1 to 2 Tbs. water if the bottom of the pot becomes too dark. Transfer the mushrooms to the bowl with the beef.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the bacon to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is browned and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer the bacon to the bowl with the beef and mushrooms.

Discard all but 1/4 cup of the fat from the pot. Add the yellow onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, demi-glace and flour and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Return the beef, mushrooms and bacon to the pot. Add the broth, pearl onions and bouquet garni. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot with aluminum foil and then with the lid. Transfer to the oven and cook until the meat is fork-tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Skim the excess fat off the sauce, and remove and discard the bouquet garni. Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the parsley. Serve the stew immediately over boiled potatoes. Serves 8 to 10.  William Sonoma Kitchens

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/beef-bourguignonne-2012.html

Whats with the RIP Morgan Freeman FB Page?

I don't understand what the administrators of the RIP Morgan Freeman FB page are getting from their page?

A million people have liked the page, but the actor is alive... people are all crabby and yelling in the comments sections and others are seemingly boo-hooing at the thought that he is gone.

I can't fathom what someone would gain from something like this. Please advise.

What we're doing for dinner

Like you care, but here's what I'm making for dinner.

It's just the Peep and me for dinner tonight since Slick is at a sales meeting- funny since he's not a salesman- but such is life.

Not because I'm such a great cook- though I'm working on it- but I found it so interesting reading this recipe this afternoon on MommaHensKitchen.blogspot.com

It's a pretty straightforward pork tenderloin- season, sear, roast- it's going to be finished in less than 30 minutes.  Just about enough time for the Brussels sprouts and homemade macaroni and cheese to cook as well.

Here's what I found so intriguing though: in the comment section of the recipe people were so rude.

Apparently they didn't read carefully the recipe and they weren't sure weather to cook the pork in the sauce or not- clearly in- they didn't know where to put the pork while the sauce thickened- on a cutting board tinted under foil- again clearly stated.

Instead of looking at the recipe to see if there was something they missed, they lashed out at the chef poster person who had shared her recipe and were complaining about how long it took their pork to cook, that their sauces burned and that they weren't interested in buying expensive stove to oven cookware.

Why was it people's first inclination not even just to be angry that their pork didn't turn out correctly, but to then take to the "airwaves" so to speak, to complain about it.

 I have certainly had my share of meals that I won't make again- and Slick has made a few bombs over the years- I can't think right now of an instance where we turned to the recipe and said it was it's fault.  It has been my fault if I've talked on the phone instead of taking the meatloaf out of the oven in time, it has been Slick's when he sprinkled a teaspoon of salt on each scallop instead of a teaspoon across eight.  In neither instance would it have occurred to us to blame anyone other than ourselves for the error.

Why then was it this person's fault that someone had their sauce turned up too high; that they were cooking a pork ROAST instead of a tenderloin? I'm all First Amendmented up- I get that they can say whatever- but take some responsibility people.

FYI the recipe in case you feel the need to try it out:

Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin - food.com
4 tbs butter
2 tbs honey
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed
1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup water
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In an ovenproof pot, heat butter and honey over medium heat until melted.  Sprinkle pork tenderloin with Cajun seasoning and black pepper.  Brown each side for 5 minutes in the honey butter.  Lower heat if honey begins to burn.
Place pot in oven and roast for 15 - 20 minutes*.  Remove pot from oven and transfer the pork to a plate. Cover with foil.  Add water to the pot and stir over medium heat.  Simmer for about 5 minutes, until sauce is reduced slightly.  Slice pork on the diagonal and drizzle sauce over top to serve.
*NOTE:  May need to cook longer depending on the size and thickness of the pork tenderloin.

Green Monster

I've done it again. I tried something I read on the interweb.

It wasn't half bad either. I've done it twicest already. :)

I tried the green monster. I first saw it on the uber addictive website Pintrest a few weeks ago and read all about it but wasn't quite ready. Then this week I got a new pair of shoes in the mail from Nordstrom thank you very much and I decided I needed to be a little healthier for them to look their best so here I am back. 

Check it out for yourself, http://greenmonstermovement.com/

Me, well, I kinda jacked the first one up as evidenced by the disgusting color of the green-brown monster. But I tried it anyway after reading all about how much people love them and it wasn't too bad, in fact it was good. I decided I had just put too much blueberry for the green to shine. So being the smart woman I am today no blueberry at all and what a lovely shade of green I had.

So since I know you too are dying to try things you read on the internet, here are the recipes for the brown and green green monsters. That name is probably trade marked. If so, please know I use it with the most reverence, if not, I probably need to check into that.

Brown Green Monster:

Handful of frozen blueberries from the bag in the freezer from Costco that you keep on hand for emergency pies

1/2 a frozen banana that you keep on hand for baking muffins for Saturday breakfast

3 strawberries left over form the Peep's breakfast lying on the counter

1/2 cupish orange juice

1/2 cupish pineapple juice

fill the rest of the blender loosely with fresh clean spinach. Right from the Trader Joe's bag.

Flip on the blender and watch it get gross. If you need a little more liquid add water or juice to loosen it up so the blades can move easily.

Pour into glass and enjoy drinking a super healthy snack!

We didn't take a picture, but I know you're smart and can figure out that with those blueberries and red grapes in there that it was more brown than green...

The Peeper's Monster

Her size handful of blueberries from the freezer, a handful of grapes, 4 or 5 strawberries, 2 slices of apple, slug of pineapple juice, 2 little fist fulls of spinach. I didn't love it but she did and she drank the whole 4 cups in the blender jar. I will say I was impressed.

Green Green Monster:

1 frozen banana

2 slices from a jar of peaches in the fridge

about a 1/2 cup each pineapple juice and orange juice

the rest of the blender jar filled with spinach. I was almost out of spinach so mine was only about 1/2 filled.

Blend away.

I'll let you know if it makes a difference in the shoes.

Get your Velveeta now

You're going to need it Thursday, or in the Paper-Dog family's case on Sunday- either way you will need it the day after you dive into all of the turkey and have your leftover turkey sandwiches.

For it is the day after Thanksgiving diner that I remember fondly from Memaw's with the Tautenhanners that we would have Velveeta cheese dip as children and I loved dunking my turkey sandwich in the dip.  It must have been extra special because we didn't usually have cheese dip at our house in the little city.  

But... get our family of four plus four boy cousins, a favorite aunt, a crazy uncle, a wonderful Memaw, a handy Pepaw, two bedrooms and one bathroom together on 13 acres and look out... cheese dip and card playing were sure to be on the agenda.

Even now over twenty years later I think about those years playing in that little house, being shooed into the pasture or just "outside" and am so nostalgic for a time when things like cheese dip could make a weekend magical.  Maybe it still can.

Lulu, I think I have an addition to the grocery list.