Blueberries and more blueberries

Blueberry picking season is in full swing.  Most of our blueberries have been picked for us.  A family friend enjoys picking and picks before most of us can get out there and do it.  That's actually OK with me, for the most part.  It's really hot out there.  Last week my uncle delivered a Walmart bag full of blueberries to me at work.  We ate and ate, and I gave some away.  Then we froze the rest.  

Yesterday we went to Grammy's house.  Grammy gave us a gallon bag of blueberries.  When we left her house we went to Aunt Glennis' house.  We picked from only 3 of her trees and got another gallon of blueberries.  We've given one gallon away to Aunt Wii.  I still have a full gallon of blueberries sitting in my fridge, and I'm about blueberried out.  We're having a luncheon at work next week and I'm thinking of making blueberry cobbler.  That should get rid of some of them.  

Any suggestions?  I need to either use them up or freeze them soon.  We've had blueberry pancakes, muffins and straight from the fridge.  Now I'm thinking maybe a parfait or an afternoon smoothie.  And of course the cobbler for the luncheon.

Grilled Veggies

With summer grilling season in full swing, I thought I would toss this idea out there: grill your veggies.  I get odd looks when I mention we do this.  Grilled asparagus, grilled Brussels sprouts, grilled squash, it's all good.  And as an added bonus Paige will eat any vegetable we grill.  Even the ones she won't normally touch, put it on the grill and suddenly it's her favorite.

This is actually a very easy and healthy way to cook your veggies.  For most veggies, just a quick prep is all you need.  Asparagus is probably the easiest: cut the bottom from the asparagus, toss in a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Put on the grill for a few minutes, turn, leave for a couple more minutes and remove.  Asparagus is done.  Squash or eggplant requires a bit more cutting.  Cut them the way you would like: either long ways or across, which ever you prefer.  Once again the olive oil and salt and pepper, then grill just like the asparagus.  Brussels sprouts takes a bit more work.  First, you blanch them on the stove for about 5 minutes.  Remove from water and cut each one in half.  Add olive oil and salt and pepper.  Put them on the grill for several minutes, then flip.

Grilling your veggies is quick and easy.  As long as the grill is on, you may as well add something else to it, right?  Give it a try.  Maybe you can get your kids to try something they normally won't eat.

Breakfast for Supper

This is probably my favorite supper ever.  There's just something about eating breakfast at the wrong time of the day that makes it super yummy.  Ronnie thinks I'm a bit odd for it.  For me it's great memories from my childhood.  My grandparents own a little store, and on nights when I would "help close" we would get home late.  They got home late every night and supper was usually somewhat fast.  Granny and Paw Paw would make breakfast for supper, and we loved it.  Paige is definitely my child, loving breakfast foods and always willing to eat it, no matter what time of day.

Around here breakfast is fast during the week.  We have cereal or Special K breakfast bars usually.  I know, not super healthy, but daycare does serve a good healthy breakfast, so it's mainly Paige's first breakfast to hold her until her second breakfast.  (Have I mentioned I'm raising a Hobbit?)  Weekends we go all out on breakfast: hash browns, eggs, bacon, sausage, homemade biscuits, pancakes, waffles, grits, omelets.  The works.  Not all at the same time of course, we do watch our cholesterol.  Paige usually picks the breakfast and always requests bacon and grits.

A friend posted about this on Facebook and it started a whole discussion on grits.  Another friend admitted to putting syrup on her grits.  Now, I must say I was born and raised in the Deep South.  The Gulf Coast and the surrounding area has been my home for most of my life.  I have never put syrup on my grits, or known anyone who did.  Bacon, butter, cheese, yes.  Syrup, no.  In our house syrup goes on pancakes.  I'm wondering if syrup on grits is a Northern thing?  How do you eat your grits?  Feel free to comment away.

Confession:  I don't like butter.  Butter to me is yucky.  My grits are made with salt, pepper, and crumbled bacon.

Boiled Cookies

These are my favorite cookies of all time. I will gladly give up white chocolate chip macadamia cookies for these any day. People will look at you weird if you tell them they're eating boiled cookies. You know, that look you gave your computer screen when you read the title. You'll get that one. You could call them chocolate oatmeal cookies if you want. But, that isn't what Granny called them.

Boiled cookies are easy, even for the kitchen challenged. They may not set right if you make them on a day with 100% humidity though.

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 t. vanilla
2 1/2 cups oatmeal

Put everything except the oatmeal in a pot. Bring to a roaring boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in oatmeal. Drop by the spoonful onto wax paper. Once they're cool enjoy!

Tips:
Use real butter. I've found that using no-salt butter will cause them to harden even in 90% humidity. The Walmart brand works just fine.
For cocoa we have a can of Hershey's. It works great.
Use real oatmeal, not instant. Again, we bought the big tub of Walmart oatmeal. Hey, it'll only be used for these cookies.
We harden ours on our steel table in the kitchen. This causes them to harden almost instantly. No waiting for them to cool.

Finally, hide them from the kids. These things rock. If you share them now you'll be sharing them forever.

Mexican Goulash

Here you go, Beth! This recipe makes about 3 meals for us including the leftovers I take for lunch. Sometimes we end up freezing some of it.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground meat
1 onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 can diced tomato
1 can mushrooms, drained
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can green chilis (optional)
1 package Spanish rice
1 cup water
Cumin
Chili Powder
Salt & Pepper
Cracked red pepper
Garlic
Grated cheese

Brown ground meat, drain. Brown your veggies (cook until tender), and add your beef back in.

Add cumin, chili powder, salt & pepper, red pepper, garlic. All is to taste.

Keep cooking until the mixture is "ooey & gooey."

Add remaining ingredients, except for cheese.

Turn down heat, cover & simmer.

It's ready when the rice is done.

Sprinkle cheese on top & serve.


The longest part of this is the rice. We make it in a large sauté pan. If you don't have one, I would suggest browning the veggies in a large pot while browning the ground meat in a pan. This will save you some time. Normally, fresh mushrooms are better, but for this the canned stuff works best. Spanish rice can be substituted with yellow rice. We were out of chili powder when I made it, so I added Mojo instead.

Enjoy!

Do you salt?

We all have those recipes that call for salt and pepper to taste. Some people have salt and pepper shakers and stand there over the pot trying to add just the right amount. Too much salt, add more pepper, nope, still not right. Let's try adding more of this.

We have a traditional salt and pepper shaker. One is a Corona Bottle the other is a Rolling Rock, I think. They sit by the stove and mostly collect dust. For everyday use, we have this.

It's a tub of salt and pepper. Just take off the top and throw in a pinch. After about a week you get used to just how much "to taste" is.

We mix ours with Kosher salt and a table ground pepper. Not the super fine ground pepper, but a courser pepper. Makes it easier to pinch and toss in a pot. The key is to mix your salt & pepper to a consistency that you like. Ours is heavier on pepper than you would find in most houses probably.

It's super easy to do. Just grab a Ziploc container to start. (Ours is actually from leftover egg drop soup.) Start pouring in a bit of salt and pepper. Cover the container and blend it. Take off the container and add more until you have a mix you can live with.

The coolest kitchen gadget EVER!

Hi, my name is Angie and I can't boil an egg. Really, I can't. It either turns out overcooked, or worse, undercooked. There is a black hole that lives around a pot of boiling water with an egg in it. I just lose track of time, and I usually think it's been boiling longer than it has. Ronnie has the same problem, so I don't feel as bad.

Wendy introduced us to this little gadget. It's the Lux Egg Timer. But it's not a normal egg timer. It's not like I have to remember to set it or anything. All I have to do is remember to toss it in the pot. We've been borrowing hers for about 4 years now. She said if she ever saw one in a store she would pick it up for us. Last Monday was our lucky day. Wendy was shopping the Linens N Things going out of business sale and found just 1 left.



I've been waiting for a chance to use it, but hadn't had one yet. So I created one. I'll be taking a tuna sandwich for lunch tomorrow. I placed the egg and egg timer in the pot and let it go. I checked back once, too early.


Second time is the charm. See?




It works based on temperature, not time. As the water boils the timer heats us and changes color. The timer actually "cooks" as if it were an egg. Cool, huh? I think so too! I like my eggs hard boiled, so I let it turn completely dark before removing.


And here's my perfectly cooked hard boiled egg. I have no idea how long it took. I checked email real quick and typed most of this post. Star Trek was coming on when I started, so it's been at least 15 minutes since I started.




I'm sure you want one for yourself. Lucky you, I found them at Amazon. Lux Egg Timer
They're pretty cheap too. You'll pay more for shipping than for the egg timer itself. Solve this problem by buying a few to give as gifts. They would be great as an extra at Christmas, or even to give to a Mommy of a toddler who has 4 cats a dog and a fish. Oh wait, I already have one. I'm sure once you start raving about it others will want one too. And trust me, they're hard to find. It took 4 years to find this one, and I had searched the internet at least twice before.

Don't be fooled by others. I've found others online before. Their customer comments were not nice. They hold up pretty well too. Wendy has had hers for about 7 or 8 years now. Apart from some slight discoloration from being boiled so much, it's in perfect shape!

English Muffin Pizzas

This has quickly become a staple in our house. I picked up the general recipe from a book of kid's recipes. This one has been altered to fit our needs. For example: I don't make my own pizza sauce. Ragu does it for me. It's pretty tasty too! Paige loves to help with this one and it's really quick & easy on the weekends. I make ours in the toaster oven since it's also a convection oven & a microwave. (Definitely one of my best wedding gifts!!)

Ingredients:
English muffins
Ragu Pizza Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Ham
Olives
Mushrooms
Pepperoni
Whatever pizza topping your kids love

Cut the English muffins in half and lightly toast
Put a spoonful of pizza sauce on (more or less to taste)
Generously spread the cheese
Add toppings

Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes, or until cheese is all melty and gooey.

I consider this one to be somewhat healthy for Paige. I mean, English muffins are decent enough. I use a skim milk based cheese & fresh mushrooms. The olives are definitely from a can.

Paige helps tear the ham up into pieces. She also helps to put the toppings on her pizza. I think more olives go in her mouth than on the pizza. She will sit and watch the microwave waiting for her pizza to come out. I think the fact that she gets to make it is part of why she loves it so much.

Presenting...The Meatloaf Burger

Ingredients:
2 lb ground meat
1T mustard
2T A-1
1/3 c fine diced onion
1/3 c shredded cheddar cheese
1/3c diced ham or diced cooked bacon
2T Mojo (can be deleted if you don't have any)
1/2T Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 eggs
salt & pepper to taste
Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs

Directions:
Add everything in a large bowl EXCEPT the breadcrumbs. Mix well.
Add small amount of breadcrumbs.
Let sit 10 minutes.
Check for firmness. You are going for a meatloaf type consistency.
Slap the mixture (nope, not kidding here). It should be rather still when you do.
If it jiggles like my thighs, add more breadcrumbs. Let sit 5 minutes. Slap again.

Once you have the consistency about that of meatloaf, form into patties and grill.

Ingredients can be added or changed depending on what you have handy or to fit your taste. I think at one point these included green peppers, but I don't eat them. They disappeared.


When making these Ronnie usually does 2 sets of burgers 1 set of meatloaf, 1 set of regular. We usually have regular ones left over and not enough meatloaf.

Please enjoy! Once you've tried them let me know what you think. My office still begs for these at least once a month and it's been a year since he made them. :)