Mother's Day Sale

From now until Mother's Day, May 10, I'm knocking $1.00 off the price of my cookbook, Masters & Disasters of Cooking. Do you have a mother who loves to read and cook? If so, then I've got the perfect gift for her. Click on the title above or the link at the right side of the page and go to lulu.com to purchase a copy today. Available in both print and e-book.

Carol

Blog Recommendation

I would like to recommend a Blog for anyone who loves recipes to check out. I read it daily and my friend, Marian Allen has the best recipes on it. Today, she posted a Three-Minute Chocolate Pie. My mouth watered at the thought of Chocolate Pie. THEN, I remembered I started my new diet today. So, I think the closest I'm going to get is Jello's Sugar Free - Fat Free Chocolate Pudding made with Fat-Free Milk. Yum.

Anyway, please check out Marian Allen Weblahg.

Carol

Banana Breakfast Drink

I thought I would start off today with a healthy breakfast drink. I could start my whole day with one of these drinks, if only my husband weren't still in bed on weekday mornings when I need to run the blender. Maybe I need to get one of those Magic Blenders. I'd love to have one of those, but they are probably loud, too.



Or, would a Stick Blender would be the answer. Surely, they aren't as loud as a regular blender. Hmmm, Mother's Day will be here soon. I think I need to start throwing my hints around.

I hope you enjoy my recipe below.

Carol

Banana Breakfast Drink

2 C. milk
2 bananas, sliced
*1 fresh egg
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. sugar
6 ice cubes, cracked
1/2 C. orange juice, optional

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender. Blend on "liquify" setting until ice has crushed. Serve immediately.

*The egg needs to be as fresh as possible to lower the chance of salmonella. According to a Department of Agriculture study, only 1 out of 30,000 eggs are contaminated with salmonella.

All Clean

See my cleaned out refrigerator. It didn't take anytime at all to clean. A few days later, we started it all over again by filling it back up after doing the grocery shopping. I should have taken a "before" picture to compare to the "after" picture. Maybe next time.

Carol

Cleaning the Refrigerator

I admit it, I have been putting off cleaning out the refrigerator for weeks. Today is the day, I cannot put it off any longer. I will be going to my mother's for Easter dinner and when I come home, she will have sent tons of leftovers with me. Unless I clean the frig, I will have no room for anything else.

What's wrong with throwing all the old stuff out? Well, once I do that, it will look like we have no food in there. I'm embarrassed to say it, but I know I have a jar of homemade soup that has been in there in for a year. So, today is the day. I am going to get off the computer and go in there and clean out my refrigerator..... unless something good is on tv..... or someone calls on the phone..... or comes to the door.....

Carol

Apple Pie with crumbled topping

I have been craving apple pie lately. It could be because my husband has fixed fried apples a few times in the last couple weeks. They were so good, but that's a recipe for another day. He isn't home right now and I don't know his special touch.

With Easter coming tomorrow, I decided to bake an apple pie, but I had a problem. I only have one frozen pie crust and no top crust. As much as I hate to make pie crust, I decided that I would bite the bullet (so to speak) and make the dough for a top crust. I've been known to make a pretty good crust every once in a while. I was telling my mom of my dilemma and she suggested making a pie with a crumble top. Perfect suggestion. I don't know why I didn't think of it. So, on my agenda for today is to bake an apple pie and make a loaf of whole wheat bread in my bread machine, another craving I have been having lately.

Even though, I have a whole basket of apples sitting on my table, I'm going to cheat and use a can of apple pie filling for my pie, but below is my very easy recipe for the crumble topping.

Carol

Apple Pie Crumble Topping

3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c stick butter, softened but not melted

Combine the ingredients into a crumbly mixture with a pie pastry cutter or in a food processor. After placing apple pie filling into a crust, sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon on top and then evenly cover pie with the Crumble Topping mixture. Bake pie according to recipe directions.

Shrimp Boil

A few years ago my husband wanted something a little different for our Easter dinner. I left the cooking up to him, a little reluctant about what he was going to come up with. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. He prepared a Louisiana Shrimp Boil. The most interesting part of the meal was when he brought it to the table and poured the contents of the pot out onto the large tray he has placed on the table. Some people lay large pieces of waxed paper on the table and pour everything on that. You pick out what you want and enjoy your meal.

Shrimp Boil

4 quarts of water
1/2 C. Old Bay Seasoning
2 T. salt
8 medium red potatoes
2 large onions, cut into wedges
2 lbs. skinless smoked sausage
8 ears of Green Giant Nibblers frozen corn
4 lbs. of peeled or unpeeled shrimp

Bring water to boil, stir in the Old Bay Seasoning, salt, onions and potatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes and then add the smoked sausage. Boil for 8 minutes. Add the corn and boil for 8 more minutes. Finally, add in the shrimp and boil until they turn pink, about 5 minutes.

Drain all the liquid from the pot. To serve, pour the contents into a large serving platter or tray, or right on a covered table. This makes about 8-10 servings.

Enjoy,
Carol

Fried Potatoes

I just today realized that I have not posted an actual recipe for almost a month. I apologize for that. Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe today either, but promise to try and get one up sometime tomorrow. I have a great one for Shrimp Boil that we fixed a few years ago for Easter.

Today, I wanted to post a short-cut to fixing Fried Potatoes, which I will be using tonight for supper. I'm frying some slices of ham and the Fried Potatoes will go perfect with them. You know how long we have to stand over the skillet frying potatoes and watching them so they won't burn, but still having to make sure they're done? A few years ago, I cut the frying time almost in half. I told my mom about my method last week and she tried it and said she will never go back to frying them the old way again. It's very simple, peel and slice your potatoes as usual, placing them on a microwave-safe platter. All you do then is microwave them for about 4 minutes. When you remove them, they're steaming hot and almost completely cooked. Slide them off into a skillet and finish frying them until they are golden and crisp. Oh, and don't forget to add the onions. I love onions in my Fried Potatoes.

Check back tomorrow for my Shrimp Boil recipe.

Carol