Awesome August 2014 A Few Ruminations on Food

I do not always cook from scratch, I do not always serve on "real" dishes. With cats, it is much easier to eat from trays in the living room, off of paper plates. Dogs will haunt the area under and around a table - cats will just jump up and sniff the food. 

Hot Dogs, browned crispy in an iron skillet with a bit of bacon grease.

The wieners I remember from my childhood were always boiled in water, pale and flaccid. They never looked appetizing. Mom would occasionally split them, and put them under the broiler. I am not, have never been, a fan of hot dogs, but used to think the broiled ones looked much tastier than the boiled ones. Roger likes hot dogs, so when I prepare them for him I brown them until crispy, usually in a skillet with a bit of butter or bacon grease. 

Chili - extra meaty, with sriracha for a kick.

Another childhood ewww - rolls of chili con carne ( Valleydale brand maybe?), in plastic that was heated in a saucepan. It always had bits if weird stuff in it - I (well, we ) like  canned Texas Pete hot dog sauce. Seeing as I do not eat the wieners, I like to have a substantial chili, so I have started making the Texas Pete extra meaty. I brown a pound of ground beef - always the leanest possible - and break it into really really small pieces. I drain all of the grease off and add a can of Texas Pete and about 2 teaspoons of sriracha ( Cha, also by Garner Foods, the producer of Texas Pete). I then just heat it well, no need to cook it to death. I eat the chili on a hot dog bun, with all the fixin's. Relish, onion, mustard and ketchup. 

Diced Vidalia onion.

Yellow, white, red, scallions - any onion really. I have even made caramelized onion to go on the top of hotdogs, but fast and easy is usually my method, and that means an onion, diced. 

Sliced fresh tomato.

This tomato was a gift, from a dear friend. We did not plant tomatoes this year. If I buy tomatoes from the store, I prefer Roma or Grape for  the most part. I avoid fresh tomatoes from late Autumn until late Spring - I just do not like the hybrid gassed varieties that are so meally and tasteless.

Cole Slaw. 

I love to make slaw, but the mess and time usually means I but a container from the store. I avoid the Reisers if I can - I think it tastes bitter. Ballard and Gunnoes both have a good product. If I am at Food City and the deli is open I may buy theirs. I do not like to get deli slaw unless I know it was made the day I am buying it. When I make slaw, I may or may not add carrot - and the dressings I prefer is my go-to cold salad dressing. I mix mayonnaise (about 2 cups) with a spoon of white sugar { I use a spoon from the drawer like you stir coffee with, not a measuring spoon - trying to keep it real here}, a spoon of cider vinegar, a spoon of yellow mustard, about 4 grinds of black pepper {yes, I use a pepper mill} and if I have any maybe half a teaspoon of celery seed. If there is any left, keep it in the fridge, it is great in potato salad and macaroni salad. I like slaw chilled, and seldom think far enough ahead to have time to make and chill it before we eat. Also, I do not like slaw that is more than one day old. Oh, and I grate the cabbage on a box grater. 

Baked beans.

Another thing I like to make myself but usually buy from Food City instead. Bush's has a good line of specialty baked beans, and Food City has their store brand in the same flavors. I like the Steakhouse Baked Beans. A can is more than enough for two people. We usually have leftovers. 

August is a wonderful time to live in the mountains, where so many people grow fresh fruits and vegetables. The reward for labors is being harvested, and if you have not grown a garden, fresh produce is readily available. We feasted earlier this month, on fried peaches and cream corn. If you Google Fried Corn, you will get lots of recipes, so I will share my simple version.

I had about 6 ears of Peaches and Cream corn. After it was shucked and silked, I cut the corn from the cob and scraped the milk as well. I heated a skillet and added maybe 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. After it was hot but not smoking, I added the corn to the skillet, about 4 grinds of pepper, and very little salt. The Bacon grease was salty, and a light hand is always better when it comes to salt. Stir well, to coat the corn with the grease, and if it looks like it needs more moisture a bit of water can be added, but not much. Fresh corn is sweet, especially Peaches and Cream, so I did not add any sugar. I turned the heat very low, put a lid on the skillet, and let it steam/fry for a bit. I checked it every few minutes, stirred to keep it from sticking, and it was soon golden brown and tender. If you fry corn, and are unsure when it is done, taste it. Crispy but not raw is what you are going for here. When it is done, top it with a diced tomato, and enjoy. I forgot to take a picture of my fried corn, so I am using a picture of Peaches and Cram corn instead. 

Peaches and Cream Hybrid corn

Definitions of rumination: noun:   regurgitation of small amounts of food; seen in some infants after feeding noun:   (of ruminants) chewing (the cud) Example: "Ruminants have remarkable powers of rumination" noun:   a calm lengthy intent consideration

Awesome August 2014 - Fragmented Friday

We build words letter by letter -

Hoping to make ourselves feel better?

A cairn is laid stone by stone

To let the next one know you are not alone

Each letter - each stone - builds bridges as well

Because each of us has a truth to tell

Heart and soul exposed to share

With courage and abandon what we dare

The bravest thing that I can be

Is simply - totally - unabashedly me

This is how I make potato soup:

I can tell you in general what I do. You can buy a product called Chicken Base - are you familiar with it? There is a Beef Base as well, it is like a super concentrated Bouillon paste ... I put chunks of potato, diced onion,  diced celery and some chicken base in a saucepan and barely add enough water to cover, I bring to a boil, grate in a medium sized carrot,  then simmer uncovered until the vegetables are tender and the liquid has begun to evaporate. I taste the broth, and season to taste with Old Bay and freshly ground black pepper. I then add heavy cream or half and half to come about 1/2 inch above the vegetables, use a spoon or potato masher to break up a few potatoes to thicken, toss in about a half a stick of butter, and heat until the butter melts. I do not let it boil after I add the butter, I add bacon bits, grated cheddar cheese, and maybe sliced green onions when I serve it.

Most soups are good with crackers, but I always want buttered bread (not toasted, just plain white bread) when I eat potato soup. I think it is because we often had buttered bread with soup in lieu of crackers when I was growing up. 

I posted this on Facebook earlier today:

a journalist is beheaded

a small town in Missouri most of the US would never have had cause to know existed is suddenly the new incarnation of our worst kept national secret

Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever continues to ruthlessly decimate West Africa

the Israel/Palestinian/Gaza Strip maelstrom is claiming lives at a steady clip

But what the hell? Let's just keep obsessing over the marriages/relationships/shenanigans of so-called celebrities in NYC and LA - Facebook, if you are a snapshot of life as we know it, well - what can I say - Houston we have a problem.

I do soul/spirit soothing posts on Facebook - that is the main purpose of our Apples and Owls page. To try to keep some balance against all of the pain, war, bloodshed that we are exposed to constantly in 2014. I know that this may sound contradictory to what I just said in the Facebook post, but in my mind it is not. Here is my reasoning:

The pictorial posts are for the most part pictures we take here at our home: the cats, the creek, trees, rocks, and bushes. I share my blog posts, my poetry, Roger's artwork and hand-crafted jewelry. I write about what I cook from time to time, and sometimes about an issue that I feel passionate about. 

The thing that bothers me is the obsessive amount of attention paid to the personal and professional  lives of "celebrities" and the manner in which it detracts attention from issues of  national and global concern. There is a "Trending Topics" column on the righthand side of Facebook when viewed from my laptop. As I am typing this, seven of the ten trending stories are celebrity related : a separation, a soon-to-be-released book, a cast change for a television show ...

I read the news online rather than watching it on television because broadcast news had deteriorated drastically over the past ten years. September 11, 2001 changed the way news is reported, and covered. In the years since, there has developed a wider and wider gulf in viewpoints, and I want neutrality. So I search out the news online, and try to find the balance. "There are three sides to every story" I look for the one in the middle.

Information and access are tools. Use with caution and care. 

So I will end my fragmented Friday with a picture:

My awesome life at Little Beaver Creek comes complete with a cat on a log!

Awesome August 2014 Meandering Monday

There is rain washing - again - the trees
Scrubbed clean, from leaves to knees,
By winds and showers, just yesterday.
Whatever capricious God or Woodland Fae
Looked out (or down) and thought,
"I see an acre with rubbish fraught"
Would that they had asked me first - 
Too much of a good thing makes it worse!

From my Facebook page on Sunday: 

I go in to work late today - 4 o'clock. I took the opportunity to make Lazy Hamburger Steaks. I took a pound of ground round and broke it into six pieces, added a sprinkle of Old Bay, browned one side and turned. I added a pint of sliced Baby Bella mushrooms, one half of a huge Vidalia onion I cut into petals, about a cup of beef gravy, and a real good shake of Lea and Perrins Bold steak sauce. Turned the heat down, put on a lid, and it is simmering. Can be eaten open-faced, on a bun, with Mashed Potatoes or rice ... Cooking on the fly, that is how this crone rolls!

I ate one portion with mashed potatoes before I went to work, very filling. I ate another ( Roger had taken care of the other four in the interim ) when I got home from work, this time with brown rice. My only comment would be I wish I had made more! Not shaping the meat into patties, squishing it any, really seemed to work well. I was careful when turning the meat, so as to not make crumbles. The irregular shaped rectangles were sort of whimsical, but as they were broken from the same package of meat they were of a common thickness so they cooked evenly. The looser texture of the portions also seemed to facilitate the gravy permeating the beef, making for a moist Hamburger Steak. I would be hesitant to try this with ground meat that had a very high fat content, as I did not drain any fat before adding the vegetables and gravy. I did not add oil to the skillet prior to cooking either, and had no issues with sticking.  

Politics and social unrest are wearing on me again. I see and read so much negativity, and it is not just on Facebook. It is on the news, be the source print, online content, or television. Online blogs, news outlets, pseudo-news outlets, views through the lens of various religions, beliefs, cultures ... too many agendas, too much division, too much posturing.

In addition to the national and global headlines and events, there are local concerns as well, including a campaign (special election is tomorrow - I am so relieved) that quickly went very south in tone - can we say enough mud has been slung to make bricks to build a good sized stadium? Yes, I think we can. The fact that I am personally acquainted with one of the candidates, and find him to be personable, engaging, and articulate makes the television ads and daily deluge of flyers all the more disheartening. One of the candidates has resurrected a particularly difficult and painful local event from the recent past in an ad, which I know has infuriated a town in the county where I live, and rightly so. It puzzles me to no end how a person endeavoring to be elected to a state office, to become a public servant, could not foresee the possible ramifications of dredging up events that were so horribly and tragically endured by the very people from whom votes are being solicited. It will be educational to see who wins those precincts come Wednesday morning. 

As I type this, Smokie the Black Cat is draped across my lap, catnapping. Mabon the Calico Cat is lying across Roger, cleaning her paws because, well, that is what cats do - endlessly - they clean themselves. And nap. Then demand food. Then clean and nap again. My life is awesome, not because I let myself become unsettled by politics and people, but because I have the cats and Roger and Little Beaver Creek to keep me mindful of balance, perspective, and blessings. Have a good week!

Awesome August 2014 Number Six

On my days off, I like to take the opportunity to cook. This is one of Roger's favorite meals:

Take a sausage and slice it into chunks about  1.5 inches long. Place in an iron skillet over low heat and fry until the casing is crispy, turning from time to time.  Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, preheat with about 2 tablespoons oil, bacon grease, or butter added. Slice into shreds or bite size pieces a head of cabbage and add to the skillet. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, lower heat to medium low, and cover with a lid. Cook until softened and begins to caramelize slightly. 

That is it. Simple, tasty, easy. Onion can be added to the cabbage, but it is delicious either way. The cabbage releases enough water to steam without adding any, and you can cook it to your preference. I add a splash of hot sauce to mine after cooking, and it is great with cornbread. If you want to have a more Asian meal, use a touch of sesame oil, and add a splash of soy sauce rather than the salt and pepper. Eat it with some sauteed chicken, and serve over rice. 

Looking to the sky. What an awesome view. 

Summer Afternoon Sonnet

Dragons are there - pigs and unicorns too

Fairies - sprites - elves - gnomes - magic all around

See all of the animals from the zoo

Up in the sky and clouds all can be found

Look up and watch closely soon you will see 

Not vapors and gas adrift on a breeze

Gifts revealed ease your rush to constantly 

Keep ahead of the crowd and always please

Lie down in the grass or lean back and swing

Optimal viewing postures - ask a child 

An open mind is all you need to bring

Be willing to let imagery run wild

We all live lives of such pressure and stress

Cloudwatching can help untangle that mess

What do you see?

Tomato Free Sloppy Joes and Homemade Potato Salad

The following is a post I copied and pasted back in January from a friends Facebook feed. I have no idea who the originator of the recipe was - that is the thing about Facebook - things get forwarded and copied so much ... (This is as it was posted, I have not corrected any errors)

Philly Cheese steak Sloppy Joes 1 lb ground beef 1 small sweet onion chopped 1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped 1/4 cup steak sauce (like A1) 1 cup beef broth provolone cheese buns Crumble the ground beef into a skillet and add the chopped onion and pepper. Begin to cook, when the beef is about half cooked, add the broth and steak sauce. Cook until all items are done and allow to simmer and cook down/thicken. I used hoggie buns from the bakery. Slice them open and filled 6 with the meat mixture. Then each was topped with a slice of provolone cheese. This was placed under the broiler for 3 minutes.

I  kept going back and looking at the recipe, wondering how it would taste. I save a great many recipes on the computer, and actually prepare very few of them. I make sloppy joes from scratch often, I call it Betty's Barbecue ( That is a tale for another day!) but there are times I do not want a real strong tomato/vinegar presence in my food. I work with a woman named Melissa who recently told me that Lee & Perrins Steak Sauce was her favorite, and that our regional grocery store chain, Food City, had begun to sell it again. I am fond of A-1, but Roger is not enthusiastic, so I thought, why not try the Lee & Perrins, using this recipe?

The beef broth I bought contained 2 cups, so I used two pounds of ground chuck. I like mushrooms, and Food City had sliced baby bellas on special for 99 cents, so I bought a carton. I used a very small amount of green pepper, because I find that too much green pepper in cooked dishes can be overpowering. The steak sauce I bought was labeled "bold", and when I tasted a drop, I found it had a very pleasant hot punch, but not too hot. I did purchase some hoagie rolls and provolone cheese, but tested the final result on toast with a slice of American cheese. It is my understanding that Philly Cheesesteaks traditionally use Cheez Whiz, so the American probably gives a more authentic taste. This is a very loose meat filling, so I would recommend eating it with a fork and knife regardless of your bread or cheese choice. Our accompaniments tonight will be mild banana pepper rings and homemade potato salad. I am also sharing my basic, bare-bones homemade potato salad method - which is short on exact measurements, because that is the way I cook most of the time

So here is my final ingredient list and instructions. 

• 2 pounds ground chuck
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1/2 cup Lee & Perrins Bold Steak Sauce
• 8 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1/2 Vidalia onion, large dice
• 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced into strips

Heat skillet over medium heat and crumble beef into pan, breaking up with a fork (Oh, I use one of those hard plastic pasta servers to do this step. They work great.) Once the meat has begun to cook, add mushrooms, onion, and pepper. Stir frequently to make sure the meat is in small uniform pieces. Once the meat has released all of the fat and the vegetables have softened, drain the juices and return to the stove. Add the beef broth and steak sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes, this will reduce the broth and thicken the mixture. 

Tomato Free Sloppy Joes

• 8 to 10 medium redskin potatoes
• 2 eggs
• sweet pickle relish
• 1/2 Vidalia onion, diced
• about 2 cups mayonnaise
• one healthy squirt French's yellow mustard
• about 1 tablespoon sugar
• salt to taste
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• sweet paprika for garnish

Place whole, unpeeled potatoes and eggs in a saucepan. Cover with water and add about one tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. After about five minutes remove the eggs and set aside to cool. After ten minutes, test the potatoes to see if tender using a paring knife. If the knife easily slides through the potatoes, they are done. Drain the water and set aside to cool. I usually let the potatoes cool for about 20 minutes. While they are cooling, I peel and chop the eggs and dice the onion. Put the mayonnaise, mustard, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add the eggs, onion, and pickle relish. Peel the cooled potatoes and cut into whatever size is your preference. I prefer chunks (or a dice) that are less than 1 inch in size. Add the potatoes to the mixing bowl and stir. At this point, taste test for salt, pepper, and mayonnaise. Adjust to suit your preference. Transfer to a storage/serving bowl and sprinkle with paprika. Chill in refrigerator, or if you are like me, have a bite or two first! You can tell where I sampled by the smear on the left side of the bowl.

Homemade Potato Salad

An Appalachian Tale : Beans and Taters, Taters and Beans

Earlier today, while browsing the internet, I read an article about pinto beans. Specifically, about pinto beans and their traditional front and center place on the dinner table in this region. As is wont to happen with me, a cascade of thoughts and memories started tumbling through my brain. 

We ate dried beans frequently, and by frequently I mean as many as four times a week, when I was growing up. I say dried beans because we did not just eat pinto beans. We ate October beans, Cranberry beans, and lastly Pinto Beans. We called them soup beans, or brown beans. We also ate navy(white) beans, Lima (butter) beans, split pea soup, baked beans, and kidney beans. But most of all and by far, we ate brown beans. The October and Cranberry beans were preferred because the soup/liquid was thicker the day they were cooked. This was important because we usually did not have leftovers.

Mom would task the children, Carol, Eddie, and me, with sorting the beans (we called it picking them) to separate any debris. They were then rinsed well, under cold running water, and left to soak overnight. Before she started working full time, Mom would cook the beans low and slow all day. She used a chunk of streaked lean to season them, and a bit of salt. Salt was added after the beans had cooked for a while, and the amount would depend on the saltiness of the streaked lean she used. Periodically throughout the day she would check the simmering pot of beans, adding more water as needed. There were times when she cooked the beans in a pressure cooker, but for the most part they were cooked in a big pot on the stove. It takes hours to cook beans correctly, a slow process of at least 6 hours. We tried a slow cooker, aka a CrockPot as well, but that left you with a watery broth with little flavor. I think the gradual adding of the water throughout the day gives the melding and blending of flavors time to develop better.

Daddy grew October beans in the garden, and Mom would can quarts of fresh October beans that were ready to reheat, adding your seasoning, when pressed for time. They were really tasty. We never bought canned Pinto beans from the store, like Luck's. We either cooked them from dried or fresh or used home canned beans. 

After I was grown and had my own kitchen, I experimented with added seasonings for beans. A splash of hot sauce and about a tablespoon of brown sugar added to a pot of beans near the end of cooking is my favorite addition. I also sometimes use a seasoning blend, like Lawry's seasoned salt, Jane's Krazy Mixed-up Salt, Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, or Old Bay Seasoning. 

So, after you have your pot of brown beans what else are you going to eat? Decisions, decisions. Mom would often serve Kraut and Weiners. What? You don't know Kraut and Weiners? Easy. Get yourself an iron skillet, add a spoon of bacon drippings, and a package of weiners you have sliced into half inch rounds. Once they have started to puff up and get a little brown, add a bag of sauerkraut from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Not canned sauerkraut, and not the type with caraway seeds in it. Just plain kraut. Cook until the liquid is almost all gone. No need to salt or pepper this. 

Another, and, in my mountain raised opinion, the best accompaniment to brown beans is fried potatoes. Taters. The food that I grew up on. Fried, baked, boiled, mashed, creamed - Oh how I love potatoes. Fried taters are so easy. Hot skillet, bacon grease and butter, sliced potatoes, turn often, cover at first to cook faster, salt and pepper to taste, let them brown, turn them easy so they don't all break apart, add sliced or diced onion at the end so they don't burn. 

Slaw. Coleslaw. Shredded cabbage, a bit of shredded carrot. Dressing? Get a pint jar with a lid. Fill it about 3/4 full of mayonnaise, add 2 tablespoons of white sugar, 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar, a good squirt of French's mustard, 1 teaspoon of celery seed, a shake of salt and three or four grinds of fresh pepper. Put the lid on the jar and shake it well. This is a multi-purpose dressing, good on slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, a dab for devilled egg filling. 

Meatloaf. When I make meatloaf, I use the leanest ground beef I can find. The most mess free way to make meatloaf is to add the ground meat (I only use beef) into a gallon size zip-lock freezer bag, add the other ingredients, close the top securely, knead it together with your hands, then turn it out into your baking dish. I take two eggs for about 3 pounds of beef, break them into a 2-cup measuring cup and use a fork to beat them enough to break the yolks. I then squirt in maybe 1/3 cup of catsup, add about the same amount of milk, a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce, and a good healthy dollop of either Heinz 57, Chili Sauce or A-1 sauce. I mix this together and pour it in the bag with the meat. I then add minced onion, minced green bell pepper if I have any, and about 2/3 cup of oatmeal (uncooked), torn white bread or bread crumbs. The catsup and steak sauce should keep you from needing salt or pepper, but you can add some if you want. Bake at 350f for about an hour, top the last 15 minutes with a glaze of catsup and brown sugar if you want. Sometimes I make large patties of the meatloaf mixture and we have meatloaf patties. Easier for leftovers that way.

Bread. I prefer cornbread with beans, but plain sliced white bread will do in a pinch. I also like biscuits with beans, big fluffy drop biscuits. Cornbread is a personal choice, some use the boxes of Jiffy Mix, I like Martha White Buttermilk Cornbread mix. I like it baked in an iron skillet, I have one of those sectioned cast iron pans that makes individual little triangles, lots of crust that way!

Fresh green onions from the garden, or sliced Vidalia onion. Sliced tomatoes. Sweet pickle relish, green tomato relish or chow-chow. 

Beans and taters, taters and beans - My ideal menu is:

Brown Beans w/green tomato relish

Fried Potatoes w/onion

Meatloaf

Coleslaw

Sliced garden-fresh tomato

Green onion from the garden

Cornbread w/butter and honey

Iced Tea 

Pound Cake w/fruit 

Vanilla Ice Cream

Hungry yet????