Posh And Trendy

Knitting on My Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine

2012-01-23T19:09:00.000-06:00

I haven't been blogging because I told myself I was going to start spending more time knitting and sewing.

I made these socks today on my Bond knitting machine in only 5 hours.

I made these a couple weeks ago.. their chunky yarn and being worn as slippers.

My machine set up to do more then one sock at a time.

I've even did some sewing this month

made this nice padded table runner.

Amazing how much you can accomplish when you're not on the computer all day.

@ @

Small Loaf Pans for Personal Sized Lasagna

2012-01-04T19:05:00.000-06:00

I think these little loaf pans are the neatest things.. I don't just use them for bread, I make individual servings of all kinds of things in them..

Today I fixed up a batch of lasagna to freeze for another day.. I don't cook the pasta first, I just layer it with the precooked meat, dry noodles, cheese and a very wet sauce. If I'm using jar sauce I add water if I'm using fresh tomatoes I normally don't need any extra water..

When you bake the finished product the noodles soak up the extra liquid and get fork tender.

You can either cover them and cook in the microwave or uncovered in an oven.

What they look like before being wrapped and frozen.

Having these made ahead works great for a quick meal for one or more people and keeps you out of the fast food lane.

~~~

I've also used these pans for individual servings of pot pie and shrimp scampi.

Freecycle Free Yarn

2011-12-30T09:36:00.000-06:00

I own a Bond knitting machine which I've been using to knit baby blankets for gifts and to donate to a local women's shelter.
~~~
My next goal is to start knitting lap blankets to donate to our local nursing homes.. but the cost of yarn has sky rocketed.
~~~
A friend of mine suggested freecycle. He said he gets a lot of yarn that way..
~~~
So I posted a want ad, and two days later, on Christmas eve I received a response from a lady that said
"boy do I ever have yarn, when can you pick it up?"
~~~
We made the arrangement that she would place the bagged up yarn on her porch with my name on it and I'd stop by her house on Christmas afternoon.

Of course I was wondering how much she called a LOT.. and was it going to be worth the 5 mile trip..
Oh yes, it was well worth the trip because she had a large trash bag full.
~~~
It's much easier to knit on a machine when the yarn is rolled in balls like these.. I have a special yarn roller and I've spent days rolling this basket full and I still have a box of skeins to do yet.
~~~
Thanks to freecycle I can now use free yarn to make someone's life more comfortable.
How cool is that?

High Cost of Living

2011-12-27T19:28:00.003-06:00

Can you believe these prices?

I just about choked when I saw this ad from one of our local grocery stores.

If I had to pay these prices to eat I'd become

an old lady turned mean,

Who grew so abnormally lean,

And flat, and compressed,

That my back would touch my chest,

And sideways I couldn't be seen

~~~
Please tell me that $15.99 a Lb. is a misprint..
It's not???
Yikes!!!
Wonder if I can afford just a tiny tiny taste?

Knitted Sweater Vest

2011-12-22T14:21:00.002-06:00

I wear vests more often then sweaters because sleeves tend to annoy me and I also get hot working in them.

I knitted this vest on my Bond America knitting machine but it can just as easily be made by hand. I made this pattern myself and it was so easy to do I thought I'd share the information, since you might like making one yourself.
all you need to do is:

Measure yourself around the chest area allowing a bit of wiggle room and divide that number in half.

Write it down on a piece of paper

(The front and back are made separate but will be the same width from bottom all the way to the shoulder.)

Then measure from the top of your shoulder down to how long you want the garment to be.

Write that down

Now decide how big you want the neck opening and measure from that spot down to the bottom.

Write that down

That's all the measuring you need to do.

~~~

Next step is to choose you yarn and needle size and knit up a swatch to see how many stitches and rows it takes to equal one inch.

~~~

Now looking at your measurement numbers you will be able to tell how many stitches it will take to do the width you need.. say for instance you need your sweater front to be 20 inches wide and your test swatch came up with 5 stitches to make one inch then you multiply 5 into 20 to get the total stitches needed. Same way to do the row count... also to know how many rows to the bottom of the neck opening.

~~~

Knit to the neck opening and then start decreasing one stitch every round at neck opening till you reach the total amount of rows to finish the front piece.

~~~

Back is done the same way with a shorter neck opening.. on my back neck I decreased for 10 rows only and it's perfect.

~~~

After the front and back are knitted, attach the two at shoulders and decide how large you want the arm opening and attach the sides.

~~~

I finished my vest by crocheting around the neck and arm openings but you could knit a rib if you wish.

~~~

I love the way the large shoulders drape down over the arm like a short sleeve.

Octopus Meatballs

2011-12-13T08:35:00.000-06:00

Crazy name for these spaghetti and meatballs but they do remind me of octopus's.. I came up with these to tease my husband.. he loves spaghetti but hates meatballs. I didn't want to torture him so I made these as a side dish just to see if he'd eat them.

Well men can be surprising, he not only thought they were neat but ate a generous portion and said the meatballs were delicious. Now he wants me to fix them again but to add more spaghetti to each meatball LOL

Their very easy to fix.. just break the dry spaghetti in half and poke them through the meatballs.

Look like some alien bug now

After their all poked with spaghetti noodles then place them in a pot of boiling water and cook about 10 minutes

They wanted to float a bit so I sat this steamer on top to make sure all the noodles were submerged.

After the spaghetti is tender you need to drain them well because a bit of the water will get into the meatballs.

That's all there is to it, just spoon on your favorite sauce and enjoy.

I made these with store bought meatballs.. they held up real good, not sure if homemade ones would fall apart or not.

Enjoy

Microwave Peanut Brittle in 7-10 Minutes

2011-12-12T09:25:00.000-06:00

This is the easiest and BEST peanut brittle I've ever made

I came across the recipe sometime back on the net and wrote it down.. I don't have the link anymore to give the person credit for it.. sorry

I made it the first time last night and just had to share it with you all.

This would be nice to have on hand when guests come over or to give as gifts. The original recipe says to dip the chunks into chocolate. I decided it would be nice to leave some without.

Microwave Peanut Brittle

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 Tablespoon butter (I used real butter.. not sure if it matters)

2 cups roasted peanuts (I used large party peanuts)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Optional

4 squares chocolate, I used almond bark, probably could use chocolate chips if you want

1/4 cup peanut butter (I only added 1 teaspoon, was afraid it wouldn't harden if I used too much, I will be experimenting with this the next batch)

Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray.. I laid parchment paper on sheet and sprayed it..

Mix sugar and syrup in large microwave safe bowl and cook in microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Stir in Butter and peanuts and microwave an additional 3 to 4 minutes.. the time length here will depend on your microwave.. mine is high powered so I could only cook an additional 2 minutes.. What you need to do is watch it cook and as soon as it turns golden brown you need to stop cooking or it will burn.

Remove from microwave and add the baking soda and vanilla.. stir and spread on cookie sheet, let cool

When cool break into pieces

This does not make a huge batch but it would be easy to whip up several if needed.

Now

if you want to try it dipped in chocolate then here's what you do:

Melt chocolate and peanut butter on high in microwave till smooth and no lumps

Dip cooled pieces of peanut brittle half way up in the chocolate and lay on waxed paper till cool and firm.

Place in bowl

Grab a good book

a cup of coffee

kick back

and

enjoy

Happy Eating

Turbo Convection Ovens

2011-12-10T08:40:00.000-06:00

Since I love to cook I love kitchen gadgets, anything that makes things fast and easier.

This is my two newest toys.

smaller NeWave convection oven on left and large Crofton on right.

Both being used to cook our breakfast. Sausage and hash browns in smaller one, biscuits baking in the big guy.

When these counter top convection ovens first came on the market I bought one from Sam's wholesale club for $149.00... it was called Convection-Air I loved it and used it so much I wore it out.

Every since then I've wanted another but didn't want to buy one from the info commercials on TV.

Then my youngest daughter found this NuWave at Kohl's store, half price for $49 and gave it to me for my birthday.. it's a perfect size to cook steaks, chops etc. for 3 people.

Then I saw in this weeks Aldi ad that they are now selling a large Crofton for $39.

Crofton is Aldi;s own private label brands and can only be bought in their stores.

At that price I couldn't resist buying one.

When asked if I would still use the smaller I said "of course I will, depending on the size of the meal" Why would I want to cook something small in the large one?"

And I can see lots of times when I'll be using both at the same time. How about ham baking in one while dinner rolls are baking in the other.

Lots of possibilities going on with two sizes

smaller one would be nice to take along on vacations..

imagine being in a hotel room baking fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast or grilling some burgers for dinner.

These things are easy to clean too..

Both of them do have temperature controls. You can bake, grill, broil or steam in them. They have different size racks so the food can be closer or further from the heat source.

I've even fried eggs in them... just crack an egg onto a Pam sprayed dish and bake on high for about 4 minutes and you have a perfect sunny side up egg.

Larger one will be baking whole chickens, small turkeys, roasts, loafs of bread, cakes and pies.

Yes, you can bake anything in them. The baking range is like any oven from 150 degrees all the way up to 500 degrees.

I haven't tried it yet but they say you can make soup in the bowl of the large one.

And you can wash it by adding water and dish soap to the bowl.

Guess that's okay but it also fits in the dishwasher so why bother.

Unless

I should decide to take them both on vacation :)

Happy Eating

Pizza Cookie Recipe

2011-12-08T11:33:00.000-06:00

This recipe was in the St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper March 20, 1989 and it is the BEST cookie pizza recipe out there.. I know for a fact because not only have I been baking these for 21 years BUT.. (shuttering)

I lost my copy for while and went searching the net for it or a similar one and not a one could even come close to it.

I even tried the Mrs Fields recipe that is all over the search engines but it was very hard to spread in the pan and was way too sweet and had the texture of cake.

I was so thrilled when I finally found my recipe.. it had slid behind the book shelves where I keep my cookbooks. After that frustrating experience my daughter suggested I blog about it in case I should ever lose it again.

Besides I like sharing my recipes

So here it is

Colossal Cookie Pizza

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

6 oz semisweet chocolate chips (1cup)

1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Decorator's frosting (optional)

In small bowl, mix flour, soda and salt. set aside. In large bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. At low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture until blended. By hand, stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Put dough in refrigerator for about 1 hour, or until well chilled but not hard.

Grease a shallow, 12 inch round foil baking pan or pizza pan. Place dough in center of pan. Press dough to within 1 1/2 inches of edge.

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until done.

Let cool.

Decorate, if desired. Wrap in plastic wrap to keep fresh or cut into squares to eat as cookie bars.

I bake these quite often and cut it into squares for the family or grand-kids to enjoy. I have on occasion baked one and decorated it for a birthday or holiday gift.

So don't think of this recipe as only gift giving things.. it's a fast easy one pan way to have a hot batch of chocolate cookies ready in no time.

Enjoy

Be Frugal and make your own Dry Rub and Seasoning Mixes

2011-12-01T14:04:00.002-06:00

For a few years now I've been mixing up my own spice rubs for barbecuing meats.. and they've been tasting pretty good and I like the fact I can add more of my favorite herbs and spices to the mixes and leave out the ones I don't care much for such as cloves.. ugh

Then I started experimenting with other mixes such as the corn bread mix I blogged about last month... the whole family loves it so much I've been ordered to NEVER serve them that boxed jiffy kind I use to buy.

You'll find that mix recipe here

This is my daughters Taco seasoning recipe

Taco Seasoning

1/4 cup onion powder/ or chopped dry onion

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 1/2 teaspoons oregano

1/2 teaspoons marjoram

(or substitute 2 teaspoons of Italian herb blend for oregano/marjoram)

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder or granulated garlic

1 teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoons corn starch

Per pound of cooked ground beef.. add 2 tablespoons of mix and 1/2 cup water and simmer till thickened.

You will notice that my jar says 'no corn starch' that's because I might use it for seasoning on other meats.. If I wish to use it for taco's then I will add some corn starch at cooking time.

This is one of my favorites.. it's not only good for seasoning gumbo, dirty rice, shrimp etc. it's delicious sprinkled over a bowl of soup or even on popcorn... also can be used as a meat rub

Creole Seasoning

2 tablespoons onion powder

2 tablespoons garlic powder/granulated garlic

2 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons sweet basil

1 tablespoons thyme

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper.. less if you don't like hot and more if you do

5 tablespoons sweet paprika

2-4 tablespoons salt to taste

Not going to show anymore pictures but do have two more recipes to share.

12 Spice rub for pork, chicken or beef

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup seasoned salt

1/2 cup paprika

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 tablespoon celery salt

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons black pepper

1 tablespoon rubbed dried sage

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Directions

Spread brown sugar out on a baking sheet for 1-2 hours so it can dry out and avoid clumping. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well mixed. Or, sift the ingredients into a bowl and whisk them until mixed. Store in airtight container.

TO USE: Sprinkle dry rub mix on all sides of the meat (chicken, beef, or pork) and rub it in. If you have time, wrap or cover the meat and refrigerate it for 1 hour (or as long as 12 hours) before cooking. The fridge time will enhance the flavor, but it's also good if you cook the meat right away. Grill, pan fry, or bake the meat according to your preference. Also good for seasoning meat in slow cooker.

Steak seasoning

4 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon dehydrated onion

1/2 tablespoon dehydrated garlic

1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary

1/2 tablespoon dried fennel

Mix together and store in a shaker. Shake or rub 1 tablespoon seasoning onto 1 pound steaks, pork chops
and hamburgers before grilling or broiling.

None of these recipes make a huge amount so before you go mixing up a huge batch I'd suggest you give them each a try as printed then you can change the spices around to your taste by adding more of one spice or leaving some out.

I buy my spices at Sam's club where you get huge jars of spices for a fraction of what the local stores offer.

So making my own rubs and seasonings end up costing me pennies compared to the cost of those tiny commercially mixed jars.

Hope you enjoy

My next project is making up a dinner roll mix. After I've tried and tested it I'll share that at a later date.

Happy Eating

How to Make Your Own Buttermilk Cornbread Mix

2011-10-27T14:04:00.002-05:00

My family loves hot buttered cornbread

especially when we have soup or chili

but there's only 3 of us so making a big pan of it just isn't frugal when most of it's tossed to the birds.

For years I bought that Jiffy stuff that makes smaller batches and only needs an egg and milk to be in business.

So easy, so convenient, but still too much for just us.

Then I got smart and realized I could make my own mix and could make as small or large a batch as needed.

Here's what I came up with.

Moist and easy Buttermilk Cornbread mix:

2 cups yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 cups flour

6 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

6 tablespoons powdered buttermilk

Mix well and store in air tight container.. I keep mine in a zippered bag.

For every 1 to 2 cups of mix, add one egg, 2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter and enough water to make a cake like batter.

Bake 425 F oven till brown on top.

The picture above is only a 6 inch iron skillet, which is a perfect size for 2 or 3 people. If I have dinner guest then I make a larger batch and use one of my 10 or 12 inch skillets.

If I want to make one of those corn casseroles that most of you make using the Jiffy mix boxes then I measure out 1 cup of my mix per each box the corn casserole calls for and continue with the rest of the ingredients for the casserole.

You can find powdered buttermilk in the baking aisle of most grocery stores. I love that stuff, as long as you keep it dry it will last for months. If you can't find or don't wish to use the buttermilk I haven't tried it but don't see any reason you can't substitute powdered milk.

If you like moist on the inside and crispy crusted cornbread, give my mix recipe a try..

You just might like it :)

My family does and told me to never buy that 'Jiffy' stuff again.

Happy Eating

Shrimp Scampi Pasta

2011-10-26T15:13:00.000-05:00

I personally get tired of heavy red sauces weighing down my pasta and am always looking for lighter ways to fix it.

If you feel the same way, give this one a try.

Recipe

1 pound of either raw or cooked shrimp
1/2 stick butter
2 tablespoons oil
6 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Saute the garlic, oil and butter in skillet for about 2 minutes, add the wine and lemon juice and simmer till liquid is reduced by half.
Add shrimp and salt and simmer about 3 minutes.
Pour over cooked linguine or spaghetti noodles and toss. Add 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper and a bit of either fresh or dried parsley then sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese.

This is a very good light meal for a hot summer day served with a side salad and garlic bread.

One Hour French Bread

2011-10-24T13:45:00.001-05:00

Yippers you read that correctly..

From start to finish you can have two loafs of fresh bread hot from the oven.

and you don't even have to knead it.

Whip up a batch of this bread just before you start cooking dinner, and by the time dinner is ready the bread will be too.

How cool is that?

One Hour French Bread

1 ½ cups warm water

1 tablespoon honey or sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast

3 to 4 cups flour

Combine water, salt, honey/sugar, and yeast in a medium bowl,

Let sit 5 - 10 minutes, until bubbling. Add flour, stirring with a wooden spoon, until dough is no longer sticky.

Roll dough into a 12-14 inch roll or you can divide in half and make into two small skinny baguettes.

Place roll(s) onto a greased cookie sheet and cut diagonal slits across tops.
Cover with towel and let sit 20 minutes.

Now is a good time to preheat oven to 450 F

Bake 20 minutes at 450 till golden brown.. If you don't want a crispy crust you can brush with melted butter.

Pressure Cooked Porcupine Meatballs and Stuffed Peppers

2011-10-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

Porcupine Meatballs:

1 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (re-hydrated dehydrated (that's a tongue twister) onions work well)
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 tablespoons chopped dry or fresh parsley (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
3 cups tomato sauce or you can use one can tomato paste and increase the water to 4 cups.

Mix ground meat, rice, onions, garlic, parsley and salt together and form into 2 inch balls,.

Add tomato sauce and water to pressure cooker and place the meatballs in a single layer into the sauce.. Cover cooker and bring to full pressure.. cook for 10 minutes. Let the pressure drop naturally.
Remove meatballs to bowl and spoon sauce over them.

Did you notice there's only 5 meatballs shown?

No I didn't eat them, I promise :)

My husband and I love stuffed peppers and our daughter cannot eat them.

This is how I please everyone

Wash and remove tops from several bell peppers, place a teaspoon of sauce in the bottom, add a bit of grated cheese, shove a meatball down into the pepper, top with a bit of sauce then sit the stuffed peppers down into the remaining sauce in the cooker. Replace the lid and return to full pressure and cook for 5 minutes. Let the pressure return to normal.

While all this is going on I have a cup of rice cooking.

I then spread out a small amount of the cooked rice in a baking pan, sit the cooked peppers to one side on the rice, mound the rest of the rice in the other side of the dish and place the meatballs on that. Sprinkle a bit of cheese on top.

Cover and place in fridge till ready for dinner.

Can be microwaved for a few minutes or baked in oven till cheese melts.

How to roast pumpkin seeds in microwave, skillet or oven

2011-10-18T22:08:00.000-05:00

Don't toss those pumpkin or squash seeds, you'll be missing out on some healthy snacks if you do. They can be salted or spiced to suit your taste and they can be roasted in the microwave in just a few minutes.

remove all the pulp and wash well, then spread out on towels to dry. After their dry place in bowl and toss with oil or butter and your choice of seasonings. We like seasoning salt, garlic powder, onion powder, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce.. just like what you put on Chex mix. If you wish, you can even make them sweet and spicy using sugar, cinnamon and cayenne pepper or chili powder..

Microwave directions

Spread about a cup of seasoned seeds on a plate and set the microwave for 8 minutes. Let cook on high for 2 minutes then stir.. after the 2 minutes continue to stir at 1 minute intervals until their brown and crispy.

Spread on paper towels to cool.

Skillet method

Place washed, dried and seasoned seeds in heavy skillet over medium heat and stir constantly till their golden brown and start to pop.

You can also roast them in the oven.. I didn't do any this way so there's no pictures to share with you.

Oven roasted

Preheat oven to 250 F

Line a cookie sheet with foil and spread the seasoned seeds in a single layer on the foil.

Bake about an hour, stirring every 15 or 20 minutes until their golden brown

Store in airtight container for up to 3 months or in fridge for about a year.

Making Beef Stock in Pressure Cooker

2011-09-26T13:30:00.000-05:00

I recently bought me a new pressure cooker.

for years I've used one of the old Presto brands with the rattling top but it never seemed big enough being only 5 quarts and I wasn't fond of it being all aluminum. It was okay for cooking beans but I was leery of cooking anything high acid such as tomatoes because of the metal.

This new one is all stainless steel and can be washed in the dishwasher and is 6.5 quarts.. 1 and 1/2 quarts more doesn't sound like much but it actually is and since the cooker is wider I can now place large pieces of meat in it whereas I couldn't in the tall narrow one.

Wanting to use it for more then a bean pot made me realize how lacking the books are that come with the cookers and having some money left from a gift card at Amazon I went browsing for a cook book with time tables and came up with this nifty book
Cooking Under Pressure
by Lorna J. Sass.
$9.99 new hardback

I wasn't so much wanting recipes as the time table and she has an extensive one for anything you wish to cook.. but after reading through the book she really caught my interest in making my own veggie or meat stocks
so over the weekend I bought a package of beef bones.

Cost me just under $2

Following her recipe I put the bones in the cooker along with veggies and herbs

(I won't give you the recipe because I don't have permission)

but I'm sure you can stir up your own variety.

Added 10 cups of water and pressured for one hour

Removed the bones and veggies
(Bet Fido would like these)

And now I have just under 10 cups of rich healthy broth to freeze for cooking.
No MSG and no overload of salt.
and a lot cheaper then canned broth

Cake Mix Lemon Bars

2011-08-11T11:12:00.000-05:00

Love lemon bars?

Try this quick and easy recipe.

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix with pudding
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Add the egg and oil; mix until well blended. Mixture will be slightly dry. Reserve one cup for the topping, and pat the rest into an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with the sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Spread the mixture evenly over the baked crust. Crumble the reserved cake mix mixture over the top.
Bake for an additional 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until filling is set and the topping is lightly toasted. Cool before cutting into bars. Refrigerate leftovers.

Lip smacking good

Andouille Sausage Recipe

2011-08-07T15:56:00.000-05:00

I love making sausage almost as much as I love eating it and lets face it, nothing is better then homemade.

Pork butts were on sale this week and I bought a couple.. one for the freezer for pulled pork and the other one for this lovely smoked sausage.

I'm going to share the recipe with you but there are a few things I need to mention.. one is IF you do NOT like hot foods then cut back on the cayenne pepper or you're going to be one sorry person.

And the other thing is if you don't have any equipment to stuff the meat into castings you CAN still make and enjoy it. Just roll the meat into balls and smoke them.

You can also make patties and fry but not nearly as good as smoked.. trust me, I know.

Okay here's the method and recipe

Andouille Sausage

5 to 7 pounds of pork butt

1/2 cup chopped garlic

1/4 cup cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dry thyme

4 tablespoons salt

6 feet casing (see butcher or specialty shop)

Cut pork into long strips to so it'll be easier to feed into meat grinder and sprinkle all the seasoning over the top of the meat.

Grind pork using the larger grinding plate. After all is ground up then mix it a bit with your hands to make sure the seasoning is well blended in.

After well blended, stuff meat into casings in 6 inch lengths, using the sausage attachment on your meat grinder. Some people like to twist the sausage ever so many inches but I much prefer using kitchen twine to tie it into sections.. its your choice.

After all is finished, rinse the sausage off and place in refrigerator till you can get your grill or smoker ready to cook it.

I just use a regular grill.. I start huge piles of charcoal on each end of the grill and after the charcoal is hot and turning gray I toss on several handfuls of soaked wood chips.

You want to cook and smoke the sausage over indirect heat so that's the reason of having the charcoal on each end of grill.. place the sausage in the middle and close the lid...

Let it smoke and smoke and DO NOT peek at it.. every time you open the lid, you're going to lose smoke and heat so go read a book or something but leave it alone.. okay?

About two to three hours later.. When you no longer see much smoke coming from the grill then get your mitts on and go fetch it into the house because it should be all ready to enjoy..

Wish you could smell and taste this..

Unbelievable

The Andouille may then be frozen and used for seasoning pastas, in rice dishes, cut into chunks for snacks or just slap one onto a slice of bread and enjoy it el natural.

bon appetite

I'm still here

2011-07-01T09:43:00.001-05:00

Since I've been getting a lot of emails asking if I'm okay I thought I'd check in to set your minds at ease..

I'm perfectly fine and in fact as mean as ever :)

I've just kind of moved over to Facebook

but I still log on here and read all your blogs

The pictures I posted are of my recent bounty from Aldi's

This week their selling strawberries for $1 a pound and blueberries for $1.29 a pint.

I spent yesterday washing, stemming and freezing 12 pounds of each.

We use them for fruit smoothies in the summer and syrups and cobblers in the winter.

Nothing taste better then fresh.

Y'all take care now and I'll try to post every once in a while

Winter Pic's

2011-02-05T06:11:00.000-06:00

I think we've all had our share of winter storms this year

First we got ice

Then we got sleet

like 6 inches of it

Then we got snow

and its still snowing

and

snowing

and

snowing

LOL

That's global warming for you

Nook Book Reader

2010-12-08T15:27:00.001-06:00

My son came to visit me last weekend and while here insisted he wanted to buy me a late birthday gift and knowing that I'm an avid book reader he bought me this Nook from Barns & Noble.

I had never heard of book readers until my daughter Helen bought herself a Kindle from Amazon and raved about how nice it is... so I was actually considering buying a Kindle till I talked to my son about which one would be the best choice for me.

After some research I found that I could download audio and ebooks from my library onto a Nook but not the Kindle so the choice of which one was quite simple for me.

Let me assure you, if you love to read then the book reader is what you need. All the free books you could ever want are available in a matter of seconds.. The Nook has a web browser and I can search for any book that I want and have it downloaded in a blink of an eye from free to a matter of cents to a bargain price.

For 99 cents each I've downloaded the entire collection of Shakespeare and Edgard Allen Pole not to mention I have the entire collection of Grace Livingston Hill that cost me nothing.

The web screen

This is the reading screen

.. the Nook has book shelves you create yourself such as Classic's, romance etc. so you can keep everything in their place to make it easy to find what you want..

It bookmarks the page you last stopped at.. you can store thousands of books in it and you can delete any book you won't want to read again.

it measures approximately 8x5 inches.. and is less then a half inch thick and weighs about a pound.

Very comfortable to hold and read whether laying down or sitting.

And as I mentioned, you can listen to audio books on it either with its built in speakers or you can plug in earphones.

If you're only reading the battery lasts for weeks.. it does use more juice if you spent lots of time on the web but even then it still lasts for days.

If you're considering buying yourself one or giving one for a gift and will want access to your library's free books then check first to make sure which reader your library will let you use.

Then go out and buy you one.. you won't regret it

Happy reading

Sifted flour versus non-sifted

2010-11-15T08:05:00.000-06:00

The other day my daughter brought home a box of Swans Down cake flour. She had found it on the discount rack for 80 cents. Nothing wrong other then the box top had popped open but the flour was still sealed in its plastic bag.

I looked at it and pondered what to do with it.. then I noticed it said it could be used in any regular recipe including biscuits.

Bingo!!!

I was planning to make fried biscuits and what better time to try the flour...

let me tell you, those biscuits were BETTER then those high priced ones you get with your carry out fried chicken.

Then a big debate started.. was it worth buying a 2 lb box of flour for over $3..?

In my opinion it was.. then I started reading the box and saw that it said it had been sifted 20 times..

Hmm is that what made those biscuits light as a cloud?

Well, it was because this morning I shifted 2 cups of flour 20 times and guess what?

the above biscuits turned out just as light, flaky and tasty as the ones made with the cake flour.

Does that mean I will be sifting my own flour? or buying cake flour?

Probably both

Life is Good

2010-11-04T08:47:00.000-05:00

Birthday gifts

Paula Deen porcelain enamel percolator and Rachael Ray stoneware dish

Don't you just love these colors? Nothing plain and boring about them.

^^^

My kids are too good to me.. bless their hearts they must spent their lives filing away remarks I make about things I'd like to have because they have the most amazing ways of coming up with just the right gifts... things I mentioned months ago.

It doesn't work for me. When I hear someone say they'd love having something, I'll tell myself that's what I'll buy them but when the gift giving time arrives I can't for the life of me remember one item they wanted.

But not my kids.. they never forget :-)

Months ago I was raving to Jo Marie about Rachael Ray's new colorful casserole dishes with handles and up she pops with one.

Thank you Jo

And apparently Mercedes must have been listening when I was talking about how I'd love to have an old fashioned percolator that could be used to brew tea or coffee and between times it would make a neat tea kettle for just boiling water.

Thank you Mer

And knowing how much I love books..

My daughter Helen sent me a gift card to Amazon and I ordered a cook book I've been wanting for a long time..

Thank you Helen

AND last but not least

My son who is down in Georgia working on a TV series is bringing himself as a gift.

He'll be flying here to spend the weekend with me.

How cool is that?

Life really is good

Rusty Skillets are now like new

2010-10-29T08:41:00.001-05:00

Amazing huh?

When my husband said he was taking these old rusty skillets home, his coworkers thought he was nuts but he knew from experience that they could be cleaned up and retreated.

There's over a hundred dollars worth of skillets here that if taken care of will last forever.

The largest one is a Lodge brand which sells at Bass Pro for $40..

The others were made in England by a Phillip something or other company but the metal seems to be just as heavy duty as the Lodge brand.

I'm pleased with the final result

Thank you Sue for the info on how long and how high a temp I needed to reseal them

Come on over and I'll fry you up some bacon and eggs

I Threw them in the Fire

2010-10-27T12:57:00.000-05:00

Remember these rusty skillets?

Look pretty bad huh?

Sue asked me if I'd cleaned them up yet. Well, it took me a long time to find some metal scrubbers and after I did finally find them it started raining.

I wasn't about to scrub all that rust off in the house so I had to wait until today.

Here's what they look like now.

At first I didn't think they had been used before but after scrubbing the flaky rust off I noticed they did have some patches of cooked on grease on the bottoms and inside the smaller one

so I tossed them in the fire.

And that's where they are at the moment. I guess they'll be staying there until the fire dies out and they cool off.
I'll keep you posted