FINALLY.... Blogger let me post the French Toast Pic

Cakes... I told you I don't bake!

So, we were having a mega sweet craving; even me; the non sugar consuming person.
I decided to bake a cake from scratch. I opened my trusty Fannie Farmer cookbook and found a cake that we had all the ingredients for. A Boston Traditional cake A.K.A. a YELLOW cake.

I thought that the mixing of the cake and the baking actually went really well. It was pretty and smelled really nice.
Lindsay was in charge of making the icing; cream cheese icing. I actually ate a sliver of this cake. It was....interesting. Not bad, just not great. I'm now on a mission to bake the perfect cake from scratch...my poor family!

Snow Day and Good Eats!

We are quite literally snowed in. I have zero desire to actually go anywhere, so it works. I made the obligatory grocery store run and have plenty of food although the family complained that I didn't buy enough snacks. Snacks translates into chips, dip and cookies. Uhm...no. lol They are my prisoners and shall eat what I provide or they can go to Kroger themselves.

This morning at Kerry's request I made Stuffed French Toast.


The recipe for this is SO easy; you want to try this, you really do.
In a mixer blend softened cream cheese with a couple of tablespoons of sugar, a tablespoon of Vanilla Extract and a little heavy cream to make it all blend together.

Spread a generous amount of the cream cheese mixture in between two slices of Texas Toast... From this point; you prepare it just like any other French Toast, but don't cook it too long or the cheese will melt and the sandwich will slide apart!

Dinner with Friends

I'm cooking for friends tonight. To show just how chill I've become about this sort of thing, let me tell you that I JUST now decided on the menu. I did start thinking about it yesterday evening while doing dinner service at work. (things went so well that I actually had time to think...that my friends; is a miracle)

On the menu for tonight:

Crab Cakes (MY recipe)
Sweet Corn and Basil Salad
Roasted Asparagus with garlic (so we will smell nice!)
Bread? I dunno... I'm thinking about it.

I'm thinking that Linz is going to bake cookies today, so that is all the sugar anyone needs. I will do an appetizer too, just haven't figured out what.

Carnitas... Finally!

So, we finally got around to having the Carnitas that I made in the crock pot this week. Can we say "YUM"? In soft tortillas with whatever you want...like salsa, avocado, onions, cheese...

We have leftovers...I'm thinking spanish omelets???

I do a lame dinner every now and then.

Last night's dinner, I don't even want to talk about but in the interest of honesty and openess; I will confess. We had our version of fish and chips. Now, lest that conjure up images of lovely plump filets lovingly battered and fried and hand cut 'chips' cooked to perfection; well, I need to tell you that it was from a box in the freezer section of Kroger. Mrs. Pauls and Ore Ida. Go ahead and laugh. I will laugh later.
This lovely dinner came about when I took Lindsay and Kerry to Kroger with me. Linz has this thing for those frozen chunks of greasy fish. I usually cave to whatever food request the girls have, thus my exciting dinner last night.

Tonight I will be at Bon Air Baptist (where I work as Food Service Director) We are making a beef pot pie tonight; this promises to be far nicer than dinner at the Dunnavant's last night.

Tomorrow's dinner will be the Carnitas that I prepared Monday night. I'm looking forward to that one.

Pork Carnitas.... Crock Pot Recipe

1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 pound pork shoulder cut into 1 inch cubes
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
1 Teaspoon Cumin
(HONEST MOMENT - I do not measure any of this. I season until it smells right.:) )

In a skillet, heat the oil and brown the pork. Put pork and spices in the crockpot, mix well. (you can sprinkle the pork with the spices prior to browning. This is my preference) Cook on high for 4 - 6 hours or low for 7 - 8 hours. The pork should easily shred with two forks.

Serve with low carb tortillas, or lettuce leaves if you are REALLY serious about the no carb thing. Add cilantro, salsa, sour cream and avocado if you like!

Here's a recipe you should most definitely try; it's one of our favorites!


Low Carb King Ranch Chicken
Serves 4

1/2 whole green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces sour cream
1/2 tablespoon flour
1/2 of a 14.5 oz can of Ro*tel
or other Mexican style tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 8-ounce can sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 of a 14-ounce can artichoke hearts,
drained and chopped
1 cup cooked chicken, diced
8 ounces of cheddar cheese, shredded
olive oil in a spray pumper, or olive oil
to use for greasing

Preheat oven to 350.

In a skillet, saute onion, garlic, and green pepper in butter.
Stir in sour cream and flour. Heat until smooth and bubbly. Add tomatoes, chili powder and cumin. Spray a 9 x 11 casserole dish with olive oil or wipe the dish with olive oil on a napkin. Add the chicken broth, mushrooms and artichoke hearts to sauce mixture. Fold in chicken. Pour all of the mixture into a casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

LC SERVING SUGGESTION: Serve on a bed of spinach (the heat from the casserole will wilt the spinach nicely) and with a low carb tortilla on the side."

Capital Ale House Eats!

So, I haven't been cooking much lately; I'm not even certain what we've been eating. I do know that we had some yummy and I mean yummy beer and food from The Capital Ale House last night.
The beer was Old Richmond #4, a brown ale which happens to be one of my very favorite things! They didn't have any other brown ales on tap, so I tried it and am a believer! It was dark and rich, with just the right 'bite' and a nice bit of hoppiness, but not a lot. I personally prefer a beer with lots of flavor from hops, but this was really nice.

The food...oh the food. I had Polenta with Mozzarella. This was a lovely dish; triangles of baked polenta topped with a marinated portabella mushroom, topped with fresh mozzarella cheese and finished with a roasted red pepper marinara sauce. Can we say "yummy"?
The Kalamata olives were a little on the too salty side, but I happen to love salt!

A little Wine Chat

I talk about my wine and wine experiences a lot. I thought I'd share a little wine knowledge and some of my personal tastes and perhaps even drop a few names of my favorite wines!

Dry Red Wines(My personal favorite dry red is a Cabernet Sauvignon)are predominantly made from red grape varieties that have been 'fermented to dryness. What this means is that the wine has little or no residual sugar in the finished product. The sugar is fermented completely into alcohol.

MOST Reds are dry, but there are some dessert wines that are sweet.

The TANNINS in wine are naturally occurring compounds in grapes and they are what give the wine the feeling or texture in your mouth. Tannins CAN be drying; they can make your mouth have a feeling of dryness. This does not technically make the wine a dry wine, see my notes about sugar. :)

Acidity and Sweetness of a wine are the taste elements that work together to give a wine a pleasantness of taste. Too much acidity and you have a harsh taste to your wine...not quite vinegar..but something similar. If a wine is too acid, the flavor of the wine will not linger in your mouth long enough. You will have a sensation of having something flat and not interesting at all. You don't want that! Too much Tannin in a wine and you have bitter wine. The right balance of the two; acidity and tannins will give you a wine that FEELS nice in your mouth.

There are many other hints and nuances of flavor in dry red wines; some of them being berries, plums, chocolate, and my personal favorite is the oaky taste. You will quickly recognize the flavor; it's that of freshly sawn oak. When a red wine has been "oaked' well, it will smell slightly of Vanilla. Too much oak is overwhelming, but get it just right and you have the perfect wine. (in my humble opinion)

**Wine is Oaked by the wine being in storage barrels of oak. The newer the oak barrel the stronger the oak flavor that goes into your wine. The Vanilla that is part of the Oaky taste comes from the character of the hardwood. Some wine enthusiasts consider the Vanilla to be a highly desirable taste. (I do!)

I am not a wine snob, quite the contrary; while I adore and appreciate a really fine bottle of wine; I quite frequently will purchase a $6 bottle or ... gasp... one of those BIG bottles you see mostly in grocery stores and Wally World.

The following list is a few of my favorite 'nicer' Cabernet Sauvignons but I'm in no way limited to these.

Robert Mondavi Napa Valley ($20 - $25) '05 -'07 Tastes of plums, blackberries and a hint of spice and lots of tannin for a really bold full mouth feel.

J Lohr 2006 ($22 - $26) Tastes of oak, cherry, stone fruits. Silky and smooth in the mouth, medium weight feel. (I LOVE this wine!)

Hawstone 2006 ($20) Good body, soft tannins, hints of fruit and berry, Earthy. Very nice wine.

Chateau St. Michelle (Columbia Valley) 2006 (Average cost around $15)Has a nice mouth feel, tastes of ripe berries and a tiny bit of oak.

Estancia($13 - $14) Black Cherry and chocolate, nice oaky flavor. For a lower cost it's a super nice wine.

Kendall Jackson ($18) Nice round mouth feeling, hints of vanilla and oak...long finish.


Now for my go wine of 'cheap' wines:

Barefoot makes a decent Cabernet and you can't get one much cheaper. No vintage..lol
It has a nice currant, berry taste with a really nice amount of oak. It may be just a wee bit acidic; but after a couple of glasses, you really won't mind it at all. AND the price makes it a steal. $8 or less a bottle. Try it; you might just like it.