"Life is good!" Love that saying!

When I turned 30 years old I thought I was gonna die. That was going to be the worst day of my life. Suddenly there would be gray hair and wrinkles. Everyone would then know I wasn't in my 20's anymore. But that day came and went with NO change. Nothing happened. It wasn't so bad after all! With another birthday here and it the big 5 0, I'm wondering what all the fuss is about. Heck, it's better than the alternative. That 'dirt nap' can wait.

Food and food service has been a huge part of my life. The way it has changed for me over time has been interesting. The more things change the more they stay the same. Not sure who said that but they were right. No life is set in stone. We all make choices and changes in our lives. Yet we all live until our dying day. (May we all die in our sleep at a ripe old age.)But until then, 'Live'!!! Play with your food like I do and enjoy.

Did you think I wouldn't give you a recipe? This is one that has been with me a long time. It has had some changes over time. And I have played with this one a lot and always come back to this version.

Krispie Bars

Melt 1 stick of butter (or margarine) in a big glass bowl in the microwave. Then add 20 ounces ( 2-10 ounce bags) of Marshmallows. Big ones little ones doesn't matter. Stir to coat the marshmallows with the butter. At this point I also add some Peanut Butter. How much? That depends on how much I have. Usually about 1/2 Cup. Then back in the microwave to melt those . While that is happening I get out a large stainless steel bowl and put 12 cups of Krispy Rice cereal into it. Then spray a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with cooking spray. Leave the spray on the counter, you are gonna need it.

Stir the melted marshmallows to combine everything together. Pour on top of the cereal and mix together. Dump onto the cookie sheet. Spray your hands with cooking spray and spread the coated cereal out on the pan. Set that aside and melt 1- 20 ounce package of chocolate almond bark, or chocolate chips. Use whatever you like best. Melt that in the microwave. It doesn't take long so keep an eye on it and stir a couple of times. Pour the chocolate on the cereal and spread it out like frosting.

The hard part is letting it cool. We usually cut into it while the chocolate is still soft. But when the rest of it is firm to the touch, cut it into bars and wrap in plastic wrap. Sometimes I use cheap zip top bags, sometimes plastic wrap, just depends on what I'm going to do with them.

For the car show on Main Street in Poky last August, I made them to go with our pulled pork sandwiches. People loved them! Maybe it's the 'childhood memory' thing, but people really enjoyed that treat. I hope you make a batch and enjoy them too.

Thawing Frozen Items

This isn't a recipe but a tip, or trick if you prefer.

A customer was in the store this morning telling Russ this. Russ had no idea this was true and didn't believe him. We talked about it after the customer left.

If you have something in the freezer in a vacuum sealed bag, you can thaw it quickly in some cool water. Do not use hot water. Hot water will start to cook the outside while the inside is still froze. Cold tap water is almost too cold and it will take longer to thaw. Cool water will thaw a steak out in 20 to 30 minutes depending on thickness.

Having it in a vacuum bag will keep the item from getting soggy. A zip top bag works if you get as much air out as possible. I don't know or care how it works. I just know that it works when I need it to.

About 3 months ago we cooked on the smoker a couple of pork loins that we had cut into chops. When they were cooked we put them into "sucker bags", (That's what my Dad calls Food Saver bags.) 2-3-4 per bag. To cook them we just put them in a pan of water on the stove top on medium heat until they were just starting to simmer. Mmmmmm

Bacon

It has come to my attention that I need to let people know how I cook bacon. I was working with a woman that wanted to buy a new stove. She wanted to go from a coil top to a smooth top for easier cleaning. "My husband fries bacon and makes a mess of everything!" Most people, including me for a long time, cook bacon in a pan on top of the stove and make a mess. Grease splatters every where and is not fun to clean up. So this is how I have learned to make bacon from being in food service most of my life. No splatters and hardly any mess.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Or you don't have to preheat. There are 2 schools of thought here. Preheating cooks faster and makes a crispier bacon. Setting a pan in a cold oven and then turning it on gives you more rendered fat and limp bacon. Your choice.

Cover one or two cookie sheets (with a rim) with parchment paper or foil. Lay the bacon out on the pan so that the slices are flat and just barely touching. Depending on how much and what kind you are making, a pound of bacon will cover 1 to 2 sheets. Thick sliced bacon has fewer slices per pound than thin sliced bacon.

Put the cookie sheets in the hot or cold oven and bake for 15 to 30 minutes. The first couple of times you do this keep a close watch on it. Thin bacon in a hot oven cooks faster than thick sliced in a cold oven. Play with your food and figure out what works best for you.

When you take the pans out of the oven (with pot holders) have a container ready for the rendered fat. I use pint Mason jars. Now, I pour off the fat right away. It can be tricky to do with the bacon still on the pan, but I have always lived dangerously. You can transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined oven safe plate then pour off the fat. If you don't want to save the fat let the pans cool and the fat solidify and just throw the parchment or foil away.

If you are not ready to eat just yet set the plate in the oven that has been turned off. It will stay hot. If left too long it will cook more, but that risk is minimal around our house. Hope it is at your house too.

Enjoy!

Bacon Ham and Bean Soup

(I'll have to add a picture later. I ate it then put the rest in the freezer and forgot to take a picture.)

I'm not as big of a purist as I might lead you to believe. When I make Ham and Bean soup I use jarred beans. I have done the "soak the beans" thing and it is good and not hard to do, just time consuming. The local grocery store here, "Wood's Supermarket", carries the Randall brand of Great Northern Beans. They are good and fast and easy.


First I brown some bacon. Use as much or as little as you like. With Ron in the house I have gotten used to using a lot of bacon in a lot of recipes. In this soup though, I only use 6-8 slices, or equivalent. (I buy 5 pound boxes of ends and pieces)Chop up the slices and brown in a large skillet or the pot you will make the soup in. We are after the bacon flavor and the fat to brown a few more things in.

Next, chop an onion. Here again use as much or as little as you want. Or none at all if you don't like onion. Sometimes I shred a carrot at this point and brown it too. Potatoes are good diced small and thrown in. I had a Parsnip left from something else one time and used it too. (This is soup, not rocket science)The key here is to begin the cooking process by browning the meat and veggies to give them some color and flavor.

Now that all the veggies are browned add some ham. We usually have some diced ham in the refrigerator or have some that can be diced. Throw in as much as you want or have or need. (If I have a ham bone I use that too.)

OK, so we have some bacon, some ham and some veggies. Time to add the beans and broth to the pot. The beans I use have some liquid with them but not much. Chicken broth works well for this or vegetable broth. Chicken broth is just always in my pantry. Use one approximately 15 ounce can of broth for this. You can use more if you like a thinner soup. I use the least amount of liquid cause I like a fuller soup, less liquid more stuff.

Now the really hard part, waiting. All of this should be in a soup pot. Set this on a burner on the stove on low heat and let it cook for several hours. It should not boil, just barely simmer, if that. Stir it every now and again and smell. If you want to add a bay leaf by all means do. The ham usually has enough salt. Add some pepper if that suits you. I don't add too many seasonings because there are enough things in there already that I want to taste. Sometimes a lot of seasonings can hide the good stuff if you use too much.

After about 3 to 5 hours, eat! By this time I have usually made something to go with it, cornbread, white bread, wheat bread, biscuits,... whatever strikes my fancy. (more of those recipes to come)

Banana Bread

Yes, I know, there is nothing easier or more simple than Banana Bread. But sometimes we want to just have something easy and satisfying. As a beginner cook this is one of the things my mother would let me make.

With 5 kids and sometimes their friends, our house was a loud mass of unruly children. After school we all came home hungry. Most of the time it was a bowl of cereal or a sandwich for us. Occasionally there would be cookies left from the weekend baking. By Thursday or Friday we were down to Jeff's favorite sandwich, (if you are squeamish don't read this) mayo and ketchup. I would watch in awe as he would make and eat it. But with 5 kids and not a lot of money we made do with what was there.

Weekend baking was a treat for me. Mom would make homemade bread and fill the house with delectable smells. Sometimes she would make up a batch of sweet dough and have me put together cinnamon rolls. That was the treat of all treats. Mom didn't like the mess and time involved in making the rolls but I really enjoyed it. I guess the reward of having everyone eat them as soon as they could from the oven was enough for me. (I'm drooling and need to grab a towel.)

I digress. Baking on the weekends might include banana bread. With nuts or without, all of us would eat it. It never lasted long either. In fact one time I wanted to make some for a boyfriend. I had to make 2 batches of bread and hide one loaf just to have some to try and impress my boyfriend with. If my memory serves me, he liked it.

Banana Bread

Combine:
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Mashed Bananas (the blacker the better)
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Pure Vanilla
1 Cup Buttermilk or Sour Cream

In a separate bowl, combine:
2 2/3 Cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Cardamom

Whisk or sift the dry ingredients together. Then stir into the wet ingredients just till moistened. Add a cup of chopped walnuts if you want nuts.

Spray a 9X5 loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into the pan and bake in a 350 degree, preheated, oven. Bake for about an hour. Check at 45 minutes. If it's getting too brown on top tent with foil. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Try not to slice into this until it has at least cooled enough to handle. Spread it with a little butter and enjoy.

Salty-Sweet Nut Cookies

The original recipe comes from King Arthur Flour. However if you know me at all I can't ever leave a recipe alone. I try very hard to make a recipe just as it is written the first time. That's very hard for me to do. There are so many ways to "improve" things! Some of my 'improvements' leave a little to be desired though. Thankfully the guys at Allied Precision will eat just about anything. Very little goes to waste.

This batch that I made last night is going to Pocahontas Ford. Late last summer we bought an Envoy from them. Now that the cold weather has arrived I have been trying to use the seat heater. It wasn't working right. They fixed it for free! How great is that? So I thought I would thank them by baking some cookies for them. Last night I made Chocolate Chip and Salty Sweets. I hope they enjoy them.

1 1/2 Cup Pecan Halves
2/3 Cup Brown Sugar (I always use dark)
2/3 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter softened (always the real stuff)
1/2 Cup Shortening
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Vanilla (always the real stuff from Penzey's)
1 Large Egg
2 Cups Flour (Unbleached All-Purpose)
1 1/2 Cups Chips as in Chocolate, Butterscotch, White Chocolate, Cinnamon...
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 tsp Kosher or Flake Salt (table salt works but the larger crystal of the Kosher gives a better hit on the tongue)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and spread the nuts out on it. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until toasted. Set aside to cool.

In your stand mixer bowl combine everything down to and including the vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and beat till smooth again. Fold in the flour, chips and nuts.

At this point you can chill the dough. An hour works well for me. I don't always do this though. If you chill it the cookie holds it's shape better. The warmer the dough the more the cookie will spread out on the baking sheet.

When you're ready to pan the cookies mix the last salt and sugar in a small bowl or bag.

I use my purple handled scooper for these cookies. It's a #40 or 3/4 ounce. Just a nice size for these. Scoop out the dough and drop in the sugar/salt mixture to coat. Place on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes.

I hope they like them at Poky Ford! Thanks Rob!

Salt Rising Bread

What follows is a post from the Smokin 4 U BBQ Blog. I started that last May. This is a recipe, so I thought I would include it here too. I love making this bread because it's such a challenge. It's not for everyone to attempt but for those of us who can't resist the taste of this bread, it's worth it.

Well, if you read a couple of posts ago I talked about the salt-rising bread that I was trying to make. (trying is the operative word here) It is a long, drawn out process. Especially when you make mistakes or have problems.

You start with the 'starter'. I had gotten some 'culture' from King Arthur Flour. I'm not sure I care for it though, because I have to add to it anyway to make it work. But, it's 3 tablespoons of culture and 2 tablespoons of dry milk mixed into 1 cup of boiling water. Yes, boiling water. This is not a yeast dough. The fermentation comes from natural cornmeal that you use. It needs to be natural or stone ground and still have the germ in it. (Call me if you have no idea what I'm talking about and actually want to know. I'll be happy to explain it to you.)

All this has to be kept at 110 degrees. That is not as easy as it sounds. The light bulb in your oven will keep the temperature at about 90 to 95 degrees. That's too cool. If you take out the 40 Watt bulb that is in your oven and replace it with a 100 Watt bulb, that works. But your oven is then tied up for 3 days. You say, "But I don't use my oven that much." It's one of those Murphy's Law things, If you can't use it you will want to, or need to. What I have found that works for me is my crock pot. I have a really nice crock pot that my son, Josh, gave me for Christmas one year. It has a 'keep warm' setting that is perfect. Just remember 110 degrees, NOT more or less, 110 degrees.

Also, if the water that you use is not boiling when you pour it into the mixing container it will not activate the cornmeal. I'm not sure how the pioneer women made this stuff without all of our modern conveniences, but this was a staple of the pioneer diet. They started with potato water and cornmeal and it worked. Yes, I tried that too. And yes it worked. Temperature is key in this process, have you noticed?

Now that we have it mixed together and in a container in the crock pot (no lid), we wait. 24 Hours we wait. After about 12 hours if it stinks, you're doing well. It should start to smell like a teenage boys dirty socks. Now that's appetizing don't you think? Or smells like Parmesan cheese. Trust me!

After the wait and if your significant other can stand the smell, you are ready for the next step. If you are still reading this, if I still have your attention, please stick with me for a bit longer. Now we need to mix the 'starter' with some flour and water to make the 'sponge'. Now this time the water cannot be boiling. It needs to be very hot but not boiling. I think it's because you don't want to kill the little guys you just nurtured for 24 hours. The flour will be at room temperature and the water extra hot so when you mix them together they are about (say it with me now) 110 degrees!

Now, you need to have mixed the flour and water in a bit larger container, but one that still fits inside your crock pot. Add the starter to your flour and water mixture and stir to combine. Then put it back in the crock pot to stay warm for another 12 to 24 hours. This will grow significantly. You have now fed the little guys so they will be making more little guys quickly. And just like teenagers they smell something awful! Trust me here. If you can stand the smell, it's worth it!

OK, so here we are 2 days later. Now we are ready to make the actual bread. The recipe is at the end here so I'm not going to go into all of the ingredients. After getting all that together you still have to wait. (Sorry) But not that much longer. You now have two formed loaves of bread in bread pans, right?

Cover the pans with plastic wrap that you have sprayed with cooking spray. Guess what you do with the dough to let it raise. Yep! Put it in a warm spot. The way that I do this is to turn the oven on and let it get just warmed. Not completely preheated but warmed (say it with me again) to about 110 degrees. When the oven is warmed put the pans in for 2 to 4 hours. These little guys are very unpredictable, so check the pans after about 1 1/2 hours. Cause you just never know. It's ready to bake when it's about doubled. Take them out of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees, then put them back in and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. If you don't know how to tell if bread is done, don't make this until you know.

You now have the best bread you have ever or will ever toast. It is fragrant, moist, a bit chewy from the corn meal and flavorful. Use real butter and you will be in heaven.

If you want some of this bread but don't want the challenge, call me. I'll make you some. But it may cost you. You never know when I may need a favor. Enjoy!

Recipe:
Starter - 1 Cup Boiling Water
3 T Salt-Rising Culture
2 T Nonfat Dry Milk
Sponge - 2 Cups Unbleached Bread Flour
1 Cup Hot Water
All of the Starter
Dough - 1 T Nonfat Dry Milk
1 T Yeast
1/2 Cup Warm Water
4 Cups Bread Flour
3 T Sugar
1 T Salt
1/4 Cup Solid Shortening (Crisco)

White Chocolate and Cranberry Scones

These are my favorite scones. To me there is nothing better on a cold morning than a hot cup of tea and a warm scone. (I'm drooling even now!)

I have tried using the white chocolate chips... just don't care for them. High quality white chocolate can be kind of spendy but I use it when I want to splurge. The almond bark chopped up works really well and not expensive. Play with your food, see what works best for you.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

8 to 10 ounces White Almond Bark (High quality white chocolate is best but expensive)

Chop into small pieces before you do anything else. Set aside.

2 Cups plus 2 Tblsp Flour
2 Tblsp Sugar
1 Tblsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt

I put the dry ingredients into my stand mixer bowl and switch it on low just to combine.

1 Stick (8 Tblsp) cold Butter (real Butter)

Cut into 10 pieces and put into flour mixture with the mixer still running on low. Let it run for 3-4 minutes till the butter is in small, pea size pieces.

1 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries (Craisins)
The chopped White Chocolate

Put the cream in first. Then add the cranberries and chocolate. Mix only until combined. It will be loose and crumbly. Dump it out onto a well floured surface. Knead it together into a round disc about an inch thick. Cut it into 8 or more pieces depending on how large of scones you want. Gently lift them onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Let them rest in a cool place for 15 minutes. Brush them with milk or cream and sprinkle them with sugar. (I use Sugar in the Raw) Bake for about 20 minutes. May need more or less time depending on your oven.

Serve warm with a cup of Hot Tea! or Coffee! or Milk! or Hot Chocolate! or....

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Now this is some seriously good soup. That is if you like potatoes and ham and cheese and sour cream and onions and bacon... Of course if you wanted to make yourself feel like it's good for you, you could add some broccoli and carrots to it.

4 Large Baking Potatoes
10 Tblsp Butter (the real stuff)
2/3 Cup Flour
6 Cups Milk (low fat or skim is fine)
1 1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded (do not use the preshredded kind, it will make the soup grainy)
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
8 Slices Bacon (cooked and crumbled)
8 Ounces Sour Cream (low fat is fine)
1 Small Onion (Chopped and browned in the bacon fat)

If the potatoes are leftover this doesn't take very long to make. But if you have to start with baking the potatoes it's going to take a while so leave plenty of time.

Here goes:

Scrub the potatoes and wrap in foil. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about an hour to 1 1/2 hours depending on the size of your potatoes. Remove the potatoes from the oven, unwrap and cut in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the pulp into a bowl. Set aside. Save the skins for future use. They freeze well and I will have a recipe coming up for Baked Potato Skins. Save them, trust me. Or throw them out if you don't like potato skins.

Alternatively, you can peel the potatoes and dice them then cook them in chicken broth. Do not drain! You can use the cooking liquid in the soup.

In a stock pot melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the flour, stirring until smooth. Allow this to cook for 2 minutes. (Roux) Turn the heat up to medium and continue stirring while slowly adding in the milk. Continue to stir until mixture is thick. Add the cheese, salt, pepper, onion and bacon, stirring to combine and the cheese melts. Mash the potato with a masher or a fork to break down the large pieces. Add potato to the milk mixture and stir in. When all of this is heated through add the sour cream and stir in. Do not let this soup come to a boil or it will curdle.

This soup is very flexible. When I made it tonight I added ham. The potatoes were not baked ahead of time so I diced and boiled them. If you make this as written and do not add any more liquid than the milk that is called for it will be very thick. Thick enough to hold a spoon upright. I added the broth from cooking the potatoes and it was very nice thick cream soup. Four large baking potatoes should need 2 15 oz cans of broth to cook in.

Grandma Hermie's Chocolate Chip Cookies

When my kids were little I baked chocolate chip cookies for them just like any good mother would do. But they always preferred Grandma's. I wondered, "What is so special about her cookies?" So I asked her for the recipe. This is what I got and have been making ever since.

2 1/4 Cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Shortening
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 Cups Chocolate Chips

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In the mixing bowl of your mixer combine the shortening and sugars until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Put in chocolate chips and stir until mixed in.

Bake in a 350 degree oven 10 to 12 minutes.

Nope, nothing special there. Almost exactly the same recipe I was making. Now that I have grand kids I know what the secret is. GRANDMA! Go figure!

Tonight I had to bake some for the neighbor. He fell off a grain bin this afternoon and hurt his leg. Is there anything better to make you feel better than a batch of chocolate chip cookies?

It's Gonna Happen Here!

Oh boy! Here we go! The smokin' blog has gone so well I decided to start one for recipes.

Please let me know if you try any of my recipes and how they turn out for you. If you have any questions, please ask them. I will not know all the answers but I will try to answer what I can. And we can all learn something along the way. (Hopefully!)

Pictures will be important here. EVERY recipe will have a picture! I'm not the best picture taker but I will give it my best shot.

Keep Reading!