Poor Neglected Blog

Yes, yes I know. This poor blog, born out of love, has been abused and neglected. LOL With the holidays and all I just completely forgot about it most of the time! For Christmas I was lucky enough to get a new chef's knife and bamboo cutting board, silicon muffin pans, a belgan waffle maker (well, that was a gift to my hubby because he loves them so much, but guess who gets to make them every weekend, LOL), and other various cooking and baking things. So, once life settles down (and money builds back up) I will be back to my cooking, recipe searching self. More too come... :-)

Recipe of the Day

So, friday was my husband and I's 5th anniversary. (Yay for us) And he decided to stay home from work, since friday is his flex day. So, I decided to make him his favorite breakfast, biscuits and sausage gravy. There was just one problem, I can't make rolled biscuits to save my life! So, desperately I searched until I found this recipe. It was too easy to be true I thought, but sure enough it turned out AWESOME biscuits!! They rose wonderfully, and were soft yummy. Go ahead, see for yourself. :-)

Quick Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 Cups self-rising flour (or 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1tbls baking powder and 1tsp salt)
1 cup heavy cream
(Yes that really is it!)

Directions:

In a large bowl combine the flour and cream. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until it all comes together and is no longer sticky (it only took me less than a minute of kneading). Then roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch biscuits (use a biscuit cutter or a floured drinking glass). Place on a greased baking sheet (or use parchment paper) and bake at 450 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. They will NOT be brown on top since there is no butter in them, but they will be done.

I think they are supper tasty as is, but if you want you can brush the tops of each biscuit with butter before you bake them (just watch them to make sure they don't burn). These are great with dinner or as breakfast. Enjoy!

Recommendation

So, I must make another recommendation. This time it is for a store, a grocery store. This particular grocery store is called ALDI and is my favorite place to shop!! ALDI just opened in Charles Town and it is a very unique grocery store. First off you rent a cart, you stick a quarter in it and when you are done you return it and get your quarter back. Next, you bring your own bags, they have plastic and paper bags there but you have to pay like 6 cents for them. Next, you bag your own groceries. For payment they only take cash or debit cards, no checks or credit cards. And finally about 90% of what they carry is their own generic brand of food, occasionally you will see "rice crispy treats" or "colgate" toothpaste, but really EVRYTHING is generic. But they have a double money back garantee that if you don't like something they will give you your money back and replace the item (if you want). They also have weekly specials on other things, right now it is a lot of toys and some clothes, but other times it is kitchen stuff or other household items. But basically the idea is that they cut ALL overhead, so that they can give you the cheapest price on everything. Milk there is $2.29 a gallon, at Weis it is $2.99 a gallon, and all their canned goods are $o.50. I did my weekly shopping there last saturday and only spent about $60, and only had to run to walmart to get chicken and a few incidental things. Total I spent about $80 for a weeks worth of groceries. I LOVE THIS STORE!!! If you have one near you, go to it, shop it, love it!! :-)

Recipe of the Day

So, I am finally back here to post! For today's recipe I chose a new waffle recipe I made on sunday morning. I know, there are like 100 million waffle recipes out there, but these really were very good. They puffed up in the waffle maker nicely and were crisp on the outside andsoft on the inside. Plus they lend them selves to any variation you want. I added some cinnamon and nutmeg to mine.

Waffles

Ingedients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbls sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
6 tbls veggie oil
2 eggs, seperated.

Directions:
preheat waffle iron. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt (or just stir it together like I did). Stir in milk, oil, and egg yoks until mixture is smooth. In a seperate bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Then cook per manufacturer's directions in your waffle maker. This recipe makes about 6 large waffles.

Recipe of the Day

So last night was fall comfort food night as I knew we would be up late watching the returns (I refuse to go into politics, but lets just say I was thrilled in the end and my hubby wants to move to Canada, LOL). So, I put a pork roast in the crock pot ( a 3lb roast, covered with a mix of 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup cinnamon applesauce, 1/4 cup water and 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger cooked for 7 hours), I made my pumpkin apple muffins, and homemade creamed corn. This creamed corn isn't totally like the canned variety, it isn't all mushy, the kernals are still whole, but it is thick and rich and oh so yummy.

Creamed Corn:

Ingredients:

2 10oz packages frozen corn kernals, thawed
1 cup heavy cream (it really needs to be heavy cream)
1 tsp salt
2 tbls sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbls butter
1 cup whole milk
2 tbls flour (or I use cornstarch)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)

Directions:

In a skillet over medium heat combine the corn, cream, salt, sugar, pepper, and butter. Cook it all until the butter is melted. Whisk together the milk and flour (or cornstarch) and stir into the corn mixture. Cook stiring over medium heat until the mixture is thickened and the corn is cooked through. Removed from the heat and stir in Parmesean cheese.


This is not a recipe for anyone on a diet, but damn is it good!!

And as it began, it ends

So, my hubby caved. 2 days into his veggie only diet he couldn't stand it anymore. I am very proud of him for how far he got, and I certainly don't blame him. I know I couldn't have done it. So, tomorrow I will be posting more yummy recipes as I will be back on cooking again. In fact, I think I will make some pumpkin apple muffins tomorrow, yum!

Rabbit Food

Well, my hubby will be started the second week of his detox program tomorrow. For the next 2 weeks he can only have veggies, fruits, rice, water, 100% fruit juices, and herbal teas. Of course, he can have as much of each of those things as he wants, but man, he is a braver soul than I!! I love my veggies, but man, after 2 days of that i would be going bonkers for a twinkie!! I am just concerned about him getting enough protien. Up until now he could have chicken, turkey, and fish, as well as beans. We will see how it goes. He is also doing wonderfully not smoking. I think he wants a cigarette as bad as a starving man wants food, but he is restraining himself, and I am very proud of him. He is really trying to be healthy now, which is wonderful. But he is also planning his first day off this program. Lets just say it involves pizza, beer, hot wings, tacos... you get the picture. LOL