The Crimson Kitchen

where have I been

2012-10-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I have been on here. It seems that trucking takes up so much of my time and blogging falls by the wayside. Driving a truck eats up my life to the point that I don't have much of a life outside of the damned truck. That my friends is about to change. I have decided to finally do something about it and get out of trucking all together. I have some things that I need to accomplish first and one of them is to buy a second vehicle. Kim works nights and long hours to boot so there needs to be two vehicles in the garage. I can't look for a job without the means to get to work can I?

So this is it, by spring I hope to have the vehicle problem sorted out and on my way to finding gainful employment near home. I won't know how to act if I actually was able to sleep in my own bed every night. We live in farm country so I may look for something that has to do with farming, but if it involves having a commercial drivers license you can forget it.

I don't know what the future of this blog will be but once I am out of trucking you never know. I still love to cook but I don't have the energy to take pictures or write about it. I would like to write about my transition from trucking back to the real life but I may do that at another blog I own.

More later

Peace
Tim

Orange Glazed Pork Chops

2012-03-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

I was doing a little experimenting a week or so ago and came up with what I think is the perfect orange glaze for pork chops. I have used this on chicken as well and it works great on it.

Here is what you need
Two pork chops (Boneless or otherwise)
Three large oranges
3/4 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice (from the three oranges)
The zest of three large oranges
Two heaping tablespoons of orange marmalade
Two heaping tablespoons of brown sugar (Dark ot light

Roll your oranges before you cut them to soften them for juicing.

Cut them in half and juice them.

Then grate the orange zest off of them. If you grate them before juicing them it can be a sticky juicing experience.

Once you have the juicing and zesting done place two pork chops into a fairly large skillet and with a bit of olive oil and start them simmering. Salt and pepper before putting a lid on it. I cooked mine on medium heat.

Put a tablespoon of butter in the skillet and fire it up on medium high heat. Don't walk away as you will be stirring this almost to the end.

Add the orange juice, orange zest, and brown sugar to the pan and start stirring. Once you get that all mixed in add the orange marmalade and stir. Once you get to this point you can leave it for a second and check your pork chops, they are probably ready to turn.

turn the heat up on the glaze and stir constantly until you see it start to separate from the pan a bit. You might see a little wave circle the pan as you slowly stir and that effect will become more prominent as the glaze thickens.

Once you get the glaze to thicken nicely open the lid on the chops and pour the glaze onto the meat. Turn the chops and spoon the glaze from the bottom of the pan back onto the meat as you tilt the pan slightly. Do this continuously turning the chops to coat both sides. Once they look like this,

They are ready to plate.
I served these with green beans a baked potato and a nice roll.

Let me tell you that there were no leftovers to share with the ole pooch!

Enjoy
Tim

2012-03-04T10:30:00.001-08:00

Spring is here! Well at least it is here in the plant incubator, here are some pictures of some of the seedlings that have sprouted.

Tomatoes

Roma

Cherry or Grape

Zucchini

And out in the garden there is signs of life in the cold frame.
Iceberg Lettuce

Only two pots here have sprouted, I am not sure if I am having problems yet as I have not had time to check the germination periods on all these seeds.

Most of that is Brussel sprouts, Broccoli, eggplant and some romaine type lettuce. I may have to restart these. It is warm enough here to till the garden but I am no fool, I will wait. I am taking my vacation this year to coincide with garden planting time, I can not wait. I have not received word if it has been approved yet so wish me luck.

Tim

2012-02-28T19:59:00.000-08:00

I got a few things done this weekend before I had to get back on the road. I Installed a new range hood Saturday afternoon. We had a range hood but it was old and the knobs didn't work so it was just useless sitting there above the stove for the last three years. They are not that expensive so I am ashamed that it took me this long to get to it. We looked all over town, well at the two places in town that would have them, and only found white and almond. Our kitchen is crimson, white and gray. Alabama Crimson Tide Colors, so almond is out and white is to bright. What we really wanted was black but that one is hard to find for some reason. So we headed north 18 miles to Greenville, stopped off at the Huddle House and had some lunch then headed to Buchheit's. Wow do we love this place! If I was a farmer I would be in heaven in there. Wait, I am in heaven in there. They had a stainless hood for around a hundred bucks and was pretty easy to put in. Now I will be able to have better pictures when I get to taking them while we are cooking.

That white shelf above the stove has to go though. when you are standing there cooking and you want something from the shelf you have to stoop to get it as the shelf part is too high up. I need one where the shelf is on the bottom of the backing not the top. I thought of hanging this one upside down but then the hearts would be upside down and that would be silly. It will have to do for now.

One other thing that I got done was I built my first cold frame and set it out. I planted just two short rows of iceberg lettuce in it since it was kinda small. It is only about 34 inches by,,well,,I Don't remember. Its small. I was a little off with my measurements so there is a a small gap in one end but I built it with screws so I can take it apart and square it up when I have time. The old window is just sitting on the top of it for now, once I square it up I will hinge the window and create some sort of prop system to prop the window open during warm days.

By the way, that little heater that we bought to use in the plant incubator didn't work out. It would cut off at the right temperature but would not come back on. I think that it was getting over heated in there. We put one of our bigger heaters in there that just has a dial and a high low button on it. I found a better thermometer and set the heater on low. Then adjusted the dial until I had around 78 degrees constant. It seems to be working well. There are no seedlings up yet so I hope that the little heater's problem didn't cause me to lose what I planted. I should see something this weekend I hope.

Things to look forward to? I was at a hospital auxiliary book sale last weekend and found the cook book section right off. They had a sale on Hardbacks for a dollar and after 3 P.M. they were half off so I got a mess of them for fifty cents. I bought a bunch of cook books there. I am mostly into the older ones from the fifties and sixties along with anything older. I have some great ones now from that sale. Look for some cool stuff from that as soon as I get time to go through them. I'll get to it sooner or later, remember that I am an over the road truck driver trapped in this occupation and have to drive to make a living. I'll someday be out of this truck and into the kitchen full time but until then trucking is eating up all my time. Stay tuned.

Tim

Our Plant Incubator

2012-02-21T15:20:00.000-08:00

Well I got the plant incubator done this past weekend, it turned out pretty good for a thrown together idea. Here is what I started with.This is a picture of a three shelf set, what I ended up using was a four shelf set as the three shelf one had curved shelves in the front and would have caused some major modifications to the Styrofoam.

I cut the Styrofoam to fit the back of the shelves then the sides, all were attached to the shelves with duct tape. In future designs I intend to come up with a more permanent solution possibly using screws and washers. But for now this will work. I cut another sheet to make the door and used about a half a roll of tape to hinge the thing. Again in the future I intend to frame out the door so I can hing it properly. But for now it will serve it's purpose for this season's garden.

It is just latched by two doubled pieces of tape with small screwdrivers jammed into the side for now, again, another design for closing it is rolling around in my head. The light is a grow light from Wal-Mart that cost around ten dollars, there is an outlet bar zip tied to one side that it plugs into. This weekend i am going to add another light for the second shelf. At the moment I don't have the light on as the seeds are not up yet.

we bought this little heater at Wally World for about seventeen bucks, it is wonderful as it has a thermostatic setup on it where you can set it for 65, 70, 75, or 80 degrees. I have it set for 70 degrees and when you open the door you get blasted with a wave of heat. This Incubator works great! The light and the wires from it as well as the heater are all zip tied in place.

This is the first tray of seeds that I put in it. You can see the .99 cent thermometer on the back wall, also from wally World. I have about 6 varieties of Tomato's, about five Varieties of Peppers, some Cabbage, Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts and God know what else started in this one.

More seeds started here. I later had to put some plastic over this one as the heater was sucking up all the moisture. there is some types of Romain started in here and some Squash as well.

Here it is all sealed up. I cut a vent in the bottom of the left side, it is about a three inch by three inch square, there is another one on the same side up top. It vents very well, the heater works great. I need to add one thing next weekend, I need to put a piece of plywood on half the shelf over the heater to protect it from any moisture dripping from the plants after they are up. I'll show you a better view of that after next weekend. It may be rudimentary but it works like a charm.

Starting Plants For The Garden

2012-02-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

Here is just an update of sorts, we have had our own kitchen garden ever since we moved north to Illinois and this year will be no different. I attempted to build a plastic room about the size of a large shower stall out in the garage to heat and start our garden plants in but I think that the plastic was way too thin because the small heater that runs us out of our computer/sewing room couldn't heat that plastic room higher than 30 degrees when the outside temp was 22. I took pictures of it but after it was determined to be a total failure I decided not to post them. Epic Fail!

Plan B was for me to build a couple of smaller desktop insulated boxes with a light inside along with a vent fan connected to an attic fan thermostat. My thoughts were that the florescent lights could heat the thing and grow the plants and the thermostatic fan could cool it down if it got too hot. I thought about something that I see at work and changed to plan C.

We go down to Florida from time to time and reload down there with frozen orange juice. sometimes on the same load we load "Cooler" juice that is not to be frozen so we have to buy these 4 x 8 sheets of 2 inch thick Styrofoam bulkheads to separate the freezer stuff in the nose of the trailer from the cooler stuff in the rear. Usually we toss this stuff in the trash first chance we get after unloading because it is in the way. But sometimes those trailers end up at our yard and have to be cleaned out. I called the boss yesterday to ask what they did with those panels, if they threw them out or saved them for future use? It just so happens that they have a few of them on hand in the warehouse and I am welcome to some of them.

Here is plan C. I have some stackable shelves out in the garage, you know the type that has black plastic shelves with gray or black plastic tubes in the corners to add more shelves? I have two sets of those in the garage and I plan to take whichever set has the most distance between shelves and encase it with these Styrofoam sheets on three sides and the top. I will then create an insulted front door or doors that can be opened to check the plants inside. We bought a heater that has its own thermostat so we can set it for 70 degrees inside so there won't be much of a need for a cooling fan. Walmart has encased under cabinet grow lights for about $20 or I could use the curly cue screw in types with some existing light fixtures I already have. At any rate there is going to be some seeds started for the Crimson Kitchen's, kitchen garden this weekend.

If I find that it gets too hot inside due to the weird winter we are having I have an attic fan thermostat up in the attic, all I need to do is make sure that it still works and find a small fan to vent to upper level of the plant incubator. I will take some pictures of this contraption as I'm making it so I will be able to post some later. These sheets of Styrofoam are a blessing, they cost around $20.00 if you had to buy them from the hardware store. some of the plants that we are going to start are green peppers, yellow peppers, sweet red peppers, Jalapenos, Anaheim chili's, about 6 varieties of Tomato's, some Broccoli, cabbage, and whatever I might have forgot. If this incubator turns out the way I think it is, it should hold about 100 plants. This warm winter has me wanting to till the garden right now. I hope that it doesn't smack us in the face this March since it has been relatively calm so far. More late after I get this project started.

TIM

GERMAN PANCAKES

2012-02-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Recently I discovered a recipe that was a little odd to say the least. I have about 150 or more cook books most of them very old but I was browsing the Internet when I found this one. Have you ever heard of a German Pancake? I know that I had never heard of it but let me tell you, it looked delicious and we were not to be disappointed, it was fantastic! This is a very simple recipe and I am shocked that I have never seen this before. Of course my mother has heard of it, she seems to know everything. We even nicknamed her Google.

OK here is what you need

An 8 inch cast iron skillet ( there is a recipe for a 16 inch I'll put that at the bottom)

1/4 cup of butter
1 cup of milk
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract ( I used a smidge more, I like vanilla )
1 cup flour ( I used all purpose )
2 tbsp sugar
brown sugar
pecan pieces

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees

Place the butter in the skillet and place in the oven until butter is melted.

Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and beat until combined.

Stir in flour and sugar, beat until smooth. Then pour the batter into the hot buttered pan.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until it is puffed up and brown around the edges. Don't freak out when this thing climbs up over the top of the pan. Trust me, it won't go anywhere.

It will have a delish butter slick on top when you take it out. At this point is where I added my soul to this dish. Once it was out of the oven I sprinkled brown sugar all over the top and waited for that to caramelize before I cut it. The next time I make this I am going to carefully open the oven door and slide the oven rack out enough to add the Brown Sugar and the pecan pieces at about the 16 minute mark.

We poured some maple syrup over it and between me and Kim, well,,,,we devoured it!
It was light and creamy in the middle almost like a whipped cheese cake filling. It really is hard to describe, you just have to taste it for yourself.

Here is the recipe for the 16 inch skillet version. if you have a large family I recommend that you use it or bake two 8 inch skillets at the same time.

16 inch cast iron skillet
3/4 cup of butter
3 cups of milk
12 eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all flour
6 tbsp sugar

I would expect that the cooking time is roughly the same, just watch the edge so it doesn't burn.

I hope you enjoy this I know we did immensely!

Tim

THE FLAVOR BIBLE

2012-02-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

well what can I say, here I am still in this truck driving my life away instead of cooking and gardening. I am in Wisconsin at the moment waiting on Walmart to get me unloaded, then I will head to Appleton and reload headed to St. Louis. From there I hope I am going home for the weekend. It is SuperBowl Sunday but I don't really care about that. I do however hope that the Giants whip the stuffin out of the Patriots.

In food news My daughter gave me a book for Christmas!

This is an amazing book! It has all kinds of secrets from chefs around the world in it. It is really a manual on how food flavor profiles work together. In this book the vast majority of the pages are filled with a flavor table of sorts. It lists the ingredient and then lists the tyoe of flavor it is, for instance whether or not it is salty, sweet, bitter, etc. then the strength of the flavor, the heaviness of the item itself (dense, light, etc) and the season that it is at its peak flavor. After that brief introduction you get a listing of the other flavors or ingredients that it goes well with. There are bolt typed ingredients that are highly recommended by the experts and then there are bold typed with an * symbol, these are the " Holy Grail " of that ingredient's flavor profile. For instance, Tomato's and Basil are a holy grail.

I have read through this book to about the half way point and have not found many holy grails, those that I have found made perfect sense to me. I look forward to inventing through this book in the future. Gotta go they just called me on the radio to tell me that my trailer is empty.

More on this book later and I have news on the garden front as well. We have a new member in the family in the cultivating category.

peace
Tim

Catching up

2012-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

Well cookie day went off without a hitch. I forgot my camera and therefore didn't get any pictures of the cookies that I made. I didn't make the pecan pie cookie bars, instead I made some pecan drops, they turned out OK except that they spread out a bit too thin. They tasted like pecan sandies. I wanted to make this blog into something really cool considering all the cook books that I have at home and that in itself is just the problem, they are at home. This trucking job is eating my life up in more ways than I want to admit. I feel like I am stuck in a vicious circle, I can't get a better job at home because there are none to be found at the moment. If there were I don't have another car to use to get to work, we only have one car and Kim uses it to get to her work. I have a passion for food. Growing it, cooking it, preserving it and writing about it. What I don't have is the time and energy to do much with that passion at the moment. Trucking takes up all of my time and all of my energy. When I get home I am so wrung out from the road that all I want to do is relax.

I don't know how to get out of this circle that I am in. I feel trapped. maybe I should change the name of this blog to "Trapped" or "Prisoner Of The Highway"? I was stuck in Salt Lake City over the weekend and got to have breakfast with an old buddy of mine. We grew up together and he is an Army recruiter out there. His wife is from Mexico and I got the recipe for the best damned re-fried beans that I ever put in my mouth. I am going to make that this weekend. I probably won't blog about so I won't lie you and say I will. Someday....

we had a great Christmas at our house, Kim's kids came up from Alabama and i smoked three halved chickens on the smoker. Nothing special just a rub bought from a St. Louis spice shop and a cider spritz to keep them moist. It was delish if I don't say so myself. Made some Pinto Beans the week after and added an onion and some smoked sausage to them. Took some of that in the truck with me. Next time I'll take some "Beano" as well LOL!

Anyway my buddy cooked me an omelet with cheese and pastrami in it with the re-fried beans on top. man was that good eating. Might post that on here later as well. Someday I might win the lottery and retire to do nothing more that garden and cook. Someday...

Cookie Day At Sarah's

2011-11-30T17:03:00.001-08:00

Every year there is an event in our family called "Cookie Day", it is a day full of baking cookies at my sister Sarah's house. Sarah has a nice big house and I think three ovens. I could be wrong as there might be four, a double upstairs and a double down stairs. This attribute makes her house the perfect place for "Cookie Day". The day is just that, those in attendance come over with their cookie baking gear in hand, I.E. mixers, bowls, cookie sheets, cook books and ingredients. It is a festive day of baking our favorite cookies and chatting with family. I have yet to be able to attend this event as my job as an over the road truck driver has kept me from it. It usually is on a Sunday but this year it is on a Saturday so I will be in attendance. I am not sure of my cookie selection yet, I have two boxes in the dinning room floor full of cookie books and I brought four with me this week in the truck.

I have the Mrs. fields cookie book from 1992, the Farm Journal Choice Chocolate Recipes book, a Time Life cookie book from 1982, and a Better Homes and Gardens "Homemade Cookies" from 1989. I like the older books because the recipes are not convoluted with a bunch of useless extra steps. As I have been reading through these this week some items stand out in my mind. Number one is the Pecan Pie Bars in the Mrs Fields cookie book. This is a basic cookie bar recipe but with a pecan pie filling. Being married to a southern gal has me loving pecan pie more than most pies so I am debating making this for cookie day. Let me explain one of the greatest things about cookie day. When all the cookies are baked and laid out on the various counter tops at my sisters house, they get divided up by the number of participants there that day! Yea baby! You got it! It is a bountiful blessing of cookie greatness to be had by all! I have to say though that not every one's cookies come out as the greatest but we just keep our mouths shut and deal with those when we get home LOL.

So with this being my first time to Cookie Day I want to make a good impression yet I don't want to be an oven hog either. There is also the fact that I need to bake enough to make the split fair as well. I'm going to have to get with Sarah and see how the RSV P's are coming so I know what to do. As far as the Pecan Pie Bars go the most expensive ingredient is going to be the chopped and halved pecans. the rest is basic.

Here is how it looks, I haven't made this yet so I don't have pictures yet.

Pastry Ingredients

1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salted butter, chilled
5-6 Tbsp ice water

Filling
5 Tbsp salted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar firmly packed
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) chopped pecans
16 pecan halves

oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl combine flour and chilled butter with a pastry cutter until dough resembles a course meal. Add water gradually and mix until dough holds together and can be shaped into a ball. You can also do this in a food processor and add the water gradually until a dough ball forms. Wrap this dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour or until firm. On a floured board using a floured rolling pin, roll out dough into a 10 x 10 square. Fold dough in half and then into quarters. Place it in a 8 x 8 baking pan and unfold and press into the corners and up along the sides of the pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. They didn't say a word about greasing the pan so I'm not sure what to do about that. Maybe a non stick pan like most people use today is the answer there. Myself I like an 8x8 glass pan with a touch of real butter. Just enough to keep it from sticking.

OK now the filling
Melt 5 Tbsp of butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the the sugar and the corn syrup. Mix until smooth. If you have to double or triple the batch like I do for cookie day, you might want to use the stand mixer if you have one. Add the vanilla and the eggs and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the pecan pieces and fold in. Now pour the pecan filing into the pastry lined pan that you had in the refrigerator. Smooth out the filling and trim the dough down to just above the filling mixture if need be. Bake in the center of the oven for 50-60 minutes or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack then cut into 2x2 inch pieces. Top each piece with a pecan half and serve at room temperature or chilled.

It is supposed to yield 16 pieces

I may make this before hand and bake a simpler cookie recipe on the day. It really depends on how many people are coming. Try this one out and let me know what you think. I will be taking pictures of the grand event and the bounty to share here afterwards.

Piece
Tim

2011-11-21T20:56:00.001-08:00

I didn't get to cook anything this past weekend, Kim was at a birthday party with my camera and at home it was a dreary, rainy weekend. I didn't move much from my recliner. I am however going to translate at least one pie recipe to modern English so I have something in hand when I go to my sisters on Thanksgiving. Am debating a chess pie or one called Ozark pie. I may make both since I am going to use ready made pie crusts. I am at least going to attempt to make my own crusts but with my job being a truck driver, I may not get home in time to get that done. Heck Pillsbury makes a better crust than me anyway, like I have time to bake pie crusts while driving a truck?

That is one of the worst things about driving a Semi for a living. All your time is spent on the road thinking about the things you want to do when you get home. Then when you get home you are beat down from the road and don't want to do a quarter of the things that you thought about. My wife used to not understand how I felt when I got home. Her mentality about it pretty much followed everyone's thoughts on it. " all you've done is sit in that drivers seat all week, how can you be worn out?" Then she rode in the truck with me for two weeks and experienced the road first hand. The idiot drivers, the rough roads, weather, long hours of all the above and so much more. Plus there is the motion factor. have you ever been out on a boat all day and when you got off the lake you were worn out? That feeling is from you body constantly having to adjust your equilibrium all day long to compensate for the motion of the vessel you in. It is the same in a truck and last week was a rough week so I didn't bake anything. I did however buy a pumpkin pie from wally world. It was decent but I can make better.

At any rate look for a post on pies from the past near or just after thanksgiving.

TW

2011-11-15T19:39:00.001-08:00

I am on the road with my dog Pepper in tow and brought a couple of the old cook books with me. I have been looking at one called "Just Like Mother Made". It is a small soft back book from the Ozarks. This one is the Twelfth printing and I can not find a date on it. It looks really old though as the pages are starting to yellow a bit. Like I said, it is not a big book, more like pamphlet size and when it was new it cost $1.25. It has 72 pages and I can not wait to try some of he things in it. I am not sure when we in this country started using measures abbreviations like Tbsp or Tsp, we all know what those are of course. In this book that I got at auction they use a capitol "T" for tablespoon and a lower case "t" for the teaspoon measure. I have seen other cook books like this before and I think I remember them being from the late forties.

There are recipes in it like "Paper Sack Apple Pie" (I have no clue, haven't read anything of it but the title yet),Tomato Rolls, Mother's Gems, Ozark Pudding, and Butter Crust Chicken With Rye Dressing Balls. That is just a sample of what is in this 72 page booklet. I want to try something from it this weekend but I have not had enough time to really look it over. No rush, I'll get to it. All we have is time right. I hope this adventure of going through my cook books turns out to be a great one. I had to come up with a reason to justify my habit or addiction to buying them somehow. Why not share. I am not that versed at setting up this blog so bear with me. I will try to put tags on all the recipes so they are searchable by genre and such. I hope this blossoms into something fun. I will be using pictures as well while I try these recipes so this blog may become picturesque as well LOL.

stay tuned

Tim

2011-11-13T14:11:00.001-08:00

Tried a new recipe from the collection of cook books that I own, an old twist on french toast. This one needs some tweaking before I post it on here. It was more like a batter dipped french toast than what we grew up eating. I think it is missing something. like a bit more sugar, Cinnamon and maybe a fruit salsa or whipped cream and berries. I might try to New Orleans it up a bit. Like some pecan praline sauce or something. Look for this in the near future. I have to head out on the road this evening and I will be taking some old cook books with me. I am going to eventually build this site up so recipe's that I like can be managed from here. Maybe there will be a cook book in my future. I do have some home made recipe's that my family loves but they are in my head or in pieces on paper somewhere. Some like my spaghetti sauce and my rib rub. My mother bought me a digital scale for my birthday so now I can record these recipe's as I make them. I hope this site turns out to finally to be something useful. Wish me luck.

Peace
Tim

Silky Potato Soup

2011-11-10T19:17:00.001-08:00

This is a favorite comfort food in our house.

Ingredients: One or two medium to large onions

                  5 or 6 medium to large potato's

                  One stick of butter

                  Nearly 3/4 gallon whole milk

                  3/4 to a cup of all purpose flour

                  Salt and pepper to taste

                   Cheddar cheese (optional)

Prep: Dice one large onion or two medium ones, peal and cube 5 or 6 medium to large potato's.

This is going to be a large pot of soup that should feed a family of five with a little left over for momma's lunch the next day.

In a large soup pot (6 to 8 quarts) melt one stick of butter on medium heat. Once the butter has melted add the diced onions. Saute the onions in butter until they are nearly translucent. Slowly blend in the flour until you have a nice thick roue. Stir in the a half gallon of milk. Add the potato's and adjust the milk level until you have used about 3/4 of a gallon. At this point I add about a tablespoon of salt and the same of the pepper. If you have a pepper mill, fresh ground cannot be beat. Stir the soup well and cover. Cook until the potato's are tender and the flour has thickened the soup. turn down on low and simmer covered until thickened to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve in hot bowls. Add Sharp Cheddar Cheese and you will have a bowl of baked potato soup.

Note: this soup will stick to the bottom of the pot if you don't stay on top of it. I don't bother worrying about it so I just don't scrape the bottom. I just keep the potato's from sticking.

I hope you enjoy this comfort classic.

Been a while part 100?

2010-11-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

Oh where oh where have we been? We are still here albeit we are not very active on this blog. I am still driving over the road but looking for a way out. I am writing over at Life On The Road.com, its a truckers news and information blog. I do the Nascar stories over there. Check it out if you like Nascar. I wont promise anything but I might get this blog moving again. We'll see. There ya go. A real update from the crimson kitchen.

Snow Bound

2010-02-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

Well here I sit, in the T.A. truck stop in breezewood PA. with over two foot of snow surrounding my parked rig. We sat on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last night for three hours waiting for them to get another truck out of the median barrier. He lost control because I assume he was driving too fast for the conditions (blizzard) and slammed the out side rail then busted through the two foot thick concrete center divider. After that it took another hour to go 29 miles to where I am now. Last night I saw snow flake the size of half dollars! I get up this morning and steep out of my truck into a snow drift up to my knees. I turn on the C.B. and hear that the turnpike (I76) is closed going westbound due to a jack knifed rig over 60 miles west of here. Listening to the PA. dept of trans. radio on the scanner I found out that they have brought out the national guard to bring food and water to cars and trucks stranded out on the highway! Not good news!

So as I understand it, they have miles and miles of people stranded between here and Somerset PA. that have sat there all night while the snow piled up around their vehicles, so once they get the wreck cleaned up they still have to go dig out damned near everybody that has sat out there all night! What a mess! Hopefully I will get home soon! I may have to listen to the superbowl on the satellite radio. Or should I call it the big game so I don't get sued by the NFL?
PEACE

Time to return and time to do the snow dance!!

2010-01-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

Hello 2010! I realized after seeing a comment from Bernie asking where I was and if we are ok.....the bloging holiday break needs to end. Thanks Bernie for checking on us!

We have had some great holidays from Thanksgiving to my birthday. I turned 47 on January 3. Tim and I celebrated my birthday on New Years day (which it snowed!) as he would be back on the road by my birthday. His schedule this week is worked around the National Championship game between our Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas Long Horns! That game is tonight and it looks like Tim will make it in time. We are so excited and ready!

During our break, Mark Ingram of the Crimson Tide won the Heisman Trophy. He is the first to do so for the University of Alabama. This season has been magical.

Tim and I only got to spend 2 days in Alabama for Christmas.... but those two days were a blast. We stayed with my daughter and son-in-law. That is them in the picture below.

Below is my son Nick and my Daughter Erica.

Now some exciting news.....at least to me. Growing up in Alabama you didn't get the chance to see much snow. Every 15 years or so you might get major snow accumulations. I am like a kid when it comes to snow. Here is what I woke up to this morning!! This for me is one of the many benefits of moving to Illinois.

Pepper had a blast early this morning running around in the snow. I will try to get some pictures of her next trip outside.

I have decided to try my hand at selling some of my crocheted creations. There are a couple specific craft show and festival here in Carlyle later in the year that I a going to have my own spot for setting up shop so to speak. I will also be including some fabric artwork, embroidery and fun sewing projects. Wish me luck. I am a bit nervous about asking someone to pay for my craft projects......But, I can't succeed if I don't try!

I am off to do some laundry and crochet. I have the blinds up and I have wonderful views of my snow from my favorite chair.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.

It is almost Thanksgiving!

2009-11-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

Wow another week has flown by me. I have been applying for jobs, crocheting, working on Christmas surprises, planning a trip to Alabama in December, watching some good movies, embroidery, framing of some of my kid's art through the years. I will definitely have to share those with you soon. Right now I have a cake in the oven I am making for my mother in law. Today is her birthday. Tim is on the road and may not make it home until Sunday.

I recieved a sweet surprise today. My kids, which is my dauther, Erica, her husband, Brian, and my son, Nick sent me beautiful Fall Thanksgiving flowers! My photography doesn't do them justice. The are so pretty and smell so good.

This next week is Thanksgiving. The time is flying past me. It seems just like it was yesterday and I was picking vegetables in some awful heat!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Kim

Monday morning musings

2009-11-09T04:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday !

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Last week seem to fly by me and before I knew it the weekend was here. Tim didn't get home until late Saturday afternoon. Friday night I made a rub for spare ribs. Tim has a Bar-B-Que bible and I used a recipe for the rub from that. I let that sit over night in the fridge and then early Saturday morning I put them in the oven on 225 and slow cooked them all day. They were delicious and so tender. So when Tim got home and after a shower and getting comfortable we had the ribs, baked potato and dinner rolls while we started the Alabama vs LSU football game I had recorded on the DVR. Alabama won with a score of 24 to 15. That game was nerve wracking. But even if it isn't pretty we will take the win!

This means we will meet Florida for the SEC Championship!

Sunday we went to Tim's baby sister's house for our niece's 9th birthday. So much fun. 3 out of 4 of Tim's sisters were there with spouses and grandparents were also there.

I have a lot I would like to accomplish this week concerning the house and Christmas presents. Good Lord willing some things we need to take care of will happen this week. One of them is calling the plumber. That is all I am going to say about that......the words "calling the plumber" makes my right eye twitch.

I will leave you with some photos Tim took a couple of years ago back home in Alabama. These are from Maple Hill Cemetary. It is a beautiful place in any season, but fall is extra special. My father and his father are buried there along with some more family and one good friend whom I miss very much. Parts of this cemetary are very old and also many famous Alabama people are buried there.

Have a great start to the week!
Kim

Something is in my yard!

2009-10-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

What is this stuff in my yard?

It is everywhere! I need to do my business but the green stuff is gone!

Did this guy who is just hanging around make this mess?

I think I have picked up trail!

Nope, now I have lost the trail.

I feel so violated. Hold me. Get me a treat, rub my belly, prepare your bed for me....

Easy going days, TV, Crochet and Quilts

2009-10-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday. My days are mixed up. Tim normally gets home on Friday night or early Saturday morning. This weekend he didn't get home until midnight Sunday. So all day Monday I kept thinking it was Saturday. We had a nice day. We went to the library then had some lunch. After lunch we both crashed. After our naps we headed out for some grocery shopping. Back home we then watched some shows that I record when he is on the road and we watch them together when he returns.

We love the show,"Next Food Network Star". We also love the show "Chopped", also on the Food Network.

There are not a lot of TV shows I really like. But I do have a few. AMC's "Mad Men" and "The Mentalist" on CBS. Other than that I am usually on the History channel or the Discovery channel. Some days I don't even turn it on.....I read. Below is the cast of Mad Men on AMC Sunday nights.

I have been known to get sucked into a movie on LifeTime and before I know it I have watched 3 movies back to back. My daughter does the same thing....it is like once you get hooked with what ever tragedy is going on....you become a LifeTime channel Zombie.

Which reminds me, LifeTime had one of my new favorite shows this past summer, "Drop Dead Diva". The main character played by Brooke Elliot is adorable.

I am currently working a new crochet project. That now means I have 5 projects all going at the same time. I have been wanting a shawl that would be good for church. Below is the beginning of the shawl titled "Have a Heart Shawl" I found the pattern on Crochetville's free patterns. That site has been a blessing for patterns. You actually begin at the top of the shawl and work your way down.

Black is not so easy to photograph.

I have several very old quilts hand sewn by my great grandmother I am going to share with you . The quilts date in the 40's and 50's Some are in really good shape and some are not holding up so well. This one is my favorite. So simple compared to her other quilts. This quilt is in good shape and I am using on our bed. It would fit a full bed or a twin better. But it is enough to cover the top of our queen size bed. I have is sandwiched in between other blankets. So cozy. I makes me smile. The flowers are all with the blanket stitch.

I will share more quilts soon.

Well that is it for me today.....It is raining and dreary. Good day to read and crochet.

Kim

Beautiful Fall Saturday

2009-10-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

It is Football Saturday! It is beautiful here today. Crisp cool temperatures, sunshine and trees bursting with color. I love fall.

Just some quick pics. Below is a pillow I made last year with felt, embroidery thread and fabric scraps. I wish now I had made a ruffle type edge around the pillow. I may take it apart and do it ....some ....day.....

Below is one of my afghans I finished this summer. Pepper loves it when I put something new on the bed, she has to test it out to see if it is up to her princess standards.

Also, I saw this idea somewhere years ago. We have a corner in our counter top / cupboard area that is deep and so dark. I tried a lamp and it just didn't seem to fit. So I got a jar and put a strand of white Christmas lights in side. It is so cozy and adds just enough light. We enjoy it even more when night falls. I am going to make a simple fabric cover/lid, but right now it is just open.

I have some things to do before kickoff at 2:30. Tennessee is coming to Big Al's house in Tuscaloosa.

Roll Tide Roll!

Havea a great weekend,

Kim

God's Will and protection

2009-10-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

I came across a post and the many great comments that followed this morning. (Link below) It caught my attention at a time that I most needed it. In the last several months the more I try to keep my faith and seek God's will the harder the devil seems to jump on me and in my mind causing me to doubt just about everything. I find it scary. I have been spending a lot of my quiet time with God in prayer focusing for him to help me get the devil out of my head and let me find the peace I know is there. Listening to the the enemy is such a waste of time and engery that could be used for good and generous thoughts and ideas. If you throw in behavior and thoughts that I am ashamed of.....no wonder the devil is knocking so much on the door to my mind.

I read several Psalms this morning and though by myself I read them out loud. Immediately the first Psalm hits my heart and tells me to trust and have courage. Psalm 27. Also Psalm 91 led me to remember God is holding me and protecing me.

I am sure someone may stumble onto my post today and think wow, this sure isn't a fun place to visit. No not fun today, but by just sharing I think is helping me already.

I think , no I know the last few weeks I have felt alone. More so than I ever have before. It is not the kind of lonely because you are by yourself or missing those you love. It a desolate type of alone I don't think I have truly experienced so stronly before.

But I know I am not alone......but.....I feel alone. I am sure I am not making any sense. But, just having God's word speak to me this morning has already picked me up some. I think I am in a very important lesson in my life......and like all life's lessons, I usually learn it the hard way. But if I didn't I don't think I would remember the lesson! James 1:2-4 tells us to count is all joy when we fall into various trials. I am trying....and will continue to keep on trying.

But I highly suggest you read the post I mentioned above. I will provide the link below.
If you stayed around reading to this last part, thank you for listening.

http://www.conversiondiary.com/2009/10/so-you-went-against-gods-will-now-what.html#

Take care,
Kim

bad photographer

2009-10-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know why my pictures turn out so blurry. When I up load them from the camera and then on to photobucket they look clear. But once I get them on the blog they are real blurry. I wish I could figure out what I am doing wrong. Anyway, I apologize for the bad pictures.

Happy Birthday Tim!

2009-10-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

The house where Tim grew up all decorated for Halloween. I love this house....parts of it are over 100 years old.

Happy Hump Day.

Monday was Tim's 44th birthday and we celebrated at his parent's home on Sunday. We started the day visiting his grandmother for her birthday. It was a full day. We had lots of chili, salad and Tim requested a carrot cake from his mom and oh boy was that thing good!

Here are some pictures. The first one is how things looked after lots of chili and cake. That is Tim's dad on the left and his uncle on the right.

Me earlier in the day seriously looking for some of Granny's chocolate cake. I don't know what was so serious when he took this picture......

Tim getting ready for some carrot cake.

Tim acting goofy. That is Tim's daughter, Lucy, who is a sweetheart and beautiful too.

We had a full fun day. Hope everyones's week is going well.

Take care,

Kim