Category Archives: Cook This!

Recipes

Jan10

Pizza Party

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Pizza Party

I Love Friday Nights! Movies, teenagers, and being tired at the end of the week just makes you want to order pizza, right? I am at least just sophisticated enough to make sure that I am  drinking good red wine with my pizza.  I remember late nights at the Zeta house at Alabama when Mr. Meggs, our over-night security guard would answer the door and yell up the stairs, “PEETTTSA”! And it was always Bama Bino Pizza!  Anytime you see that Pizza Hut sign on top of a beat up Corolla drive down your street, you always think to yourself, “Lucky neighbors.”  It gets bad though, when your kids order a pizza from their bedroom and you have no idea until the doorbell rings. The idea of making pizza at home freaks people out.  They are looking for the delivery taste and quality, and it is never the same. But, it can be so much better! Making your own pizza is so easy and the topping ideas are limitless.

After lots of practice, my family has the art of making pizza from scratch down to perfection. Most of the credit goes to Tom, who has the science of the dough nailed. Our crust is always crispy on the bottom, and tender bread on the top. You can make your dough as thick and chewy or thin and crispy as you like. Good pizza dough is very user friendly.

We have tried many recipes for pizza dough, but this one from Ina Garten is always a success. It rises beautifully in a short period of time. Watching any dough rise is such a rewarding accomplishment, so pizza night becomes a lot of fun. Do not  be intimidated by bread dough ever – especially if you have a Kitchen-Aid standing mixer.  So here is our favorite dough recipe, courtesy of Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics:

Combine the water, yeast, honey and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. When the yeast is dissolved, add 3 cups of flour, then 2 teaspoons salt, and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, slowly add up to 1 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic.

Let it rise- place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

A couple of tips about any bread dough – never add salt to the yeast without the flour along with it – it will kill the yeast.  The sweetener, in this case the honey, feeds the yeast. If you see the yeast foaming up when mixed with the water and honey, it is good yeast and you will have success. Have extra yeast on hand in case your yeast does not activate, because it is easy to start that step over. Also, body temp is about 98 degrees, so 100 to 110 will feel nice and warm to the touch, it you do not have a thermometer.

Now here is my favorite dough tip. Publix Grocery Store sells pizza dough in their bakery. It is their french bread dough and it is just a ball of dough in a bag.  It tastes wonderful!  Keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use it, then let it rise in an oiled bowl, with a tea towel over it. They usually have it stored in a small fridge in the bakery so it will not rise until you are ready for it to.

dough

There are two items that you absolutely have to own in order to make awesome pizza – and neither of them should be expensive. Buy a wooden pizza paddle and a large round pizza stone.  My pizza stone is from Pampered Chef and it is black from use.

Now I know this is starting to sound like more trouble than calling Domino’s, but stay with me and you will see the benefit of making your own pizza!

The technique for baking the pizza is easy – heat the stone in your oven at 500 for 20 to 30 minutes – keep that hot stone in there the whole time, and keep your oven at 500, because basically, you now have a brick pizza oven. Usually the dough recipe makes 2 large or 4 individual pizzas. Publix dough makes 1 large or 2 individual pizzas. Roll out a piece of dough, on a floured counter, until it is as thin as you like it. Transfer it to the floured pizza paddle and make sure it will slide around. Add your toppings while it is on the pizza paddle, slide it into the oven onto the stone and bake for until brown and bubbly.  Use the paddle to take it back out of the oven, and let it rest for a minute on a cooling rack.

If using a tomato based pizza sauce, make sure to buy sauce that says pizza sauce, not a marinara or jarred  pasta sauce – it is much thicker and prevents your pizza from being soggy.

Now here are some of our favorite topping ideas:

*Browned sweet Italian sausage, crumbled out of the casing and sauteed with onion and mushrooms.

* Pizza Sauce, Mozzarella, Pepperoni – of course

* White Pizza – a blend of yummy white cheeses like parmesan, mozzarella, gruyere, and garlic olive oil

* White Pizza with Arugula – bake the white pizza, and make a salad with a dressing of lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper and olive oil tossed with arugula. Take the dressed arugula and pile it on the hot pizza so it will wilt a little – then sprinkle with shaved parmesan.

* Spread a thin layer of fig preserves – top with fontina or gruyere and slices of prosciutto or shaved ham.

*Top dough with pulled pork from a Bar-B-Que restaurant, top with cheddar cheese and diced purple onion and a drizzle of Barbeque sauce.

*Margarita Pizza – Fresh Mozzarella, sliced tomatoes – salted, and when it comes out of the oven, top with slices of fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

100_2017

* Once, I caramelized every type of onion I had – sweet onions, red onions, scallions and shallots with garlic and olive oil – I topped this with a blend of mozzarella and feta.

100_2022

 

*Think globally! Greek, Mexican, Asian are fun options.

*Pull out leftovers and get creative.

I know these are lengthy instructions, but after the first try, it will be easy cheese. Practice and play and enjoy your pizza party.

Jul8

Chocolate – The Secret Super Food

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Chocolate – The Secret Super Food

A couple of weeks before Valentines Day, I received my Food Network Magazine, The Chocolate Issue. Every issue of this magazine is fantastic, but this one, all trimmed in chocolate brown and loaded with hundreds of delish chocolate creations was especially appealing. There were even 50 recipes for brownies! My family became inspired to celebrate Valentines with magical days of chocolate.

Chocolate is special occasion decadence for most people. For others, it is daily dietary requirement.  We try to keep chocolate in it’s special occasion place because when things are that wonderful, they should be saved and savored.

My cousin, Sharon, has the most amazing recipe for chocolate frosting. It is the homemade kind you crave when you bake the perfect cake. She inherited this recipe from my grandmother, Mama Harrison. I believe that Sharon is probably the best baker in the family, and it is a treat to have one of her layer cakes. On my last birthday, I had the desire to bake myself the perfect birthday cake, and to enjoy the process as well as the successful end result. So I called and emailed Sharon and asked her for my birth right – Mama Harrison’s recipe for chocolate frosting. She said,” You have no idea how many people have asked me for that recipe, and I just don’t give it out!”  Really?  She was my grandmother too! I still do not have that recipe, forever to be referred to as my birthright .

For one day of the magical days of chocolate, we made chocolate waffles for breakfast. When you are making waffles from a mix, my favorite is Krusteaz – Belgian. You can remove one spoonful of waffle mix and substitute it with one spoonful of cocoa. It seems like a decadent breakfast, but the waffles are no sweeter, and are so good topped with berries.

For one night during the magical days of chocolate, we stole an idea from the Food Network Magazine where you blow up a balloon, dip it in melted chocolate, let it harden, pop the balloon, then, you have an amazing chocolate bowl to eat, what else, chocolate ice cream in. This is what I was expecting to dazzle my family with:

 

And this was the result:

Our beautiful white dog, Cassie, was in the wrong place at the wrong time and took a chocolate shower when the chocolate covered balloon popped. She refused to be photographed.

 

Many years ago, we started the tradition of Valentine’s Chocolate Fondue:

Most great bakers would never even walk down the aisle of the grocery store that has boxed cake mix. But I have some tips to make a boxed mix taste like homemade:

* Always buy a cake mix that calls for butter, not oil

* Always add a good shot of vanilla to your batter

* When using a box brownie mix, add a shot of vanilla, and substitute brewed coffee for the water – then add a small pinch of salt

* Beat cake mix batter with a stand mixer until smooth, creamy and very thick and fluffy

* If you are making a really showcase cake and need to use a mix, buy two mixes, bake 4 layers and just use three, for a tall, 3 layer cake. Freeze the 4th layer wrapped in plastic wrap and foil.

So here is my recipe for Amazing Brownies! I tested this recipe several times until I achieved the perfect ratio of fudgy and cakey and these really are on the decadent, fudgy, super chocolatey side. Camille’s teachers loved me because they were sent all of the test kitchen brownies and they agreed these were the best:

 

2 sticks of butter

1 cup chocolate chips, semisweet

3 oz  unsweet chocolate

1/4 cup brewed coffee

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups chocolate chips

1 tablespoon flour

Over low heat, melt butter, chocolate chips, unsweet  chocolate and coffee until smooth.  Allow to cool.

Stir together eggs, vanilla and sugar. Add chocolate mixture and stir to combine.  Stir in 3/4 flour, baking powder and salt and blend with a wooden spoon until combined. Toss remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips with flour and add this to the chocolate batter. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 for about 18 – 22 minutes. Do not over bake! Take these out of the oven when they are gently pulling away from the side of the pan, and the top looks dry.

 

Now here is the trick to perfect brownies. Allow them to cool in the pan all day or even overnight. You can even stick the pan in the refrigerator, but make sure they are really cool before trying to cut into squares, and they will come out clean and perfect every time. This is even true for brownies made from a mix.

Well today might be a special occasion, so treat yourself well and go make something with chocolate!

Dec5

Missing my Daddy and Craving his Chili

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Missing my Daddy and Craving his Chili

I cannot believe I have neglected my blog. It has been a long and difficult summer and fall because my sweet daddy died in July at the great age of 89. Daddy was always in a good mood, never worried about anything and made everyone in the room laugh.  He was always so happy and my memories are so warm and wonderful. Even the week that he died, and we planned his funeral, there was an abundance of funny stories.  The night before the funeral when our whole family went to the funeral home for a private time, I noticed when I saw him that he was not wearing his wedding band. Through my sobs, I asked my mother where it was. She replied, ” Oh darling, he took it off when he went to the hospital. He didn’t want anyone to know he was married!”  Mama and Daddy were married 57 years. I don’t remember a time when he ever got mad at me. And I know that I gave him plenty of grey hairs!  When I came home from college one semester, after sliding by with barely a passing grade in finance, he just said to me,  ” Keep up the good work, Gina Leigh!” 

The great loves of Daddy’s life were his family, God, and Alabama football. Daddy also had so many friends. He had a magnetic personality – people loved to be around him and listened to every story and every joke he told, even if they had heard them a dozen times.

Some of the best times at my mom and dad’s house were on game day. I would rather watch a game at his house with him than at Bryant Denny stadium with 100,000 of my best friends.  The tradition was that anytime anyone went to the bathroom, everyone in the room would yell and cheer so they would think they were missing some terrific game-changing play.  This was a very annoying tradition when you were the one it the bathroom, missing the action!  Win or lose, mostly win though, we always had a great day of football with great food.  I should give this disclaimer now – my dad invented chips and salsa. He at least introduced the United States to chips and salsa. I remember when I was young, way before people were eating chips and salsa, daddy ate Doritos and Ole El Paso taco sauce.

Daddy loved to make his chili on game days – perfect even on Panama City fall days when it was still in the 70′s outside, not cool at all.  I don’t know his exact recipe and I sure wish I did because his chili had a flavor that could win any cook off!

He started off chopping onions, bell peppers and celery and cooking them down in a big iron pot. Then he would add ground beef and cook that down for awhile, add a couple of cans of drained kidney beans, a couple of cans of tomatoes and cook it all down, all day. For seasoning, he used a package of chili-o seasoning mix. Then he added some kind of magic.  I have tried to duplicate it, but have never hit it just right.

Now I know, you were all born knowing how to make chili. It is so easy, and while I am singing the praises of chili, let me say, it is great on  hamburgers with jalapenos and cheese, awesome on a hotdog with slaw, great on fries with cheese and makes awesome nachos.  But my favorite chili fact is that it is basically carb free. It is a filling, protein rich, flavorful meal!

Here is my favorite recipe for chili:

1 onion, diced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1+ pound of ground beef

2 cans of dark kidney beans

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can tomato puree

1 jar of  Tabasco chili starter – get the medium, not the mild. It has awesome flavor, and not too much heat!

1 Tablespoon cumin

Salt to taste

so easy – saute onion in oil in big pot – yes, cast iron is best, until soft. Add beef and stir and stir until beef falls apart and is not clumpy. When beef is browned , add everything else. Cook on low as long as you need.

Here are some more options on serving -

make Frito pie – spoon over Fritos and top with cheese and onions

serve with great Mexican cornbread

Always serve with good cold beer!

Serve with great chips and salsa!!

Here is how I make homemade salsa -

Diced tomatoes, diced purple onion, diced fresh jalepeno, minced garlic, chopped cilantro, salt and pepper, a dash of cumin, fresh lime juice and olive oil. Chop every thing, mix together, and the longer it sits, the better it is.  Make it as chunky or as smooth as you like.

A few salsa options:

add a drained can of black eyed peas, for Black Eyed Pea Salsa

add a drained can of black beans, for Black Bean Salsa

add a half pound of boiled, chopped shrimp for a fantastic Ceviche

Mash up a couple of avocados with a spoonful of this salsa for great Guacamole

Well, all this thinking about my dad, good football and good chili makes me feel very blessed.  Anytime there is chili and beer and chips and salsa in the kitchen, it feels like a special occasion. And anytime I am thinking about my daddy, I smile.

 

Jul24

Panama City Kids and Coconut Cake

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Panama City Kids and Coconut Cake

Growing up in Panama City was the coolest. Maybe it is because we have beautiful beaches and lots of water for water sports.  Or it could be that all the adults in the 70′s were  really cool and laid back.  I grew up with some really cool kids in the Garden Club Drive area of Panama City. All of the families in this neighborhood had houses that were situated around Johnson Bayou, which went into St. Andrews Bay, then into the Gulf. Some families had boats that they kept docked in their back yards, and everyone with a boat would take all their friends to Shell Island during the days of summer, and would dock in the bay to watch fireworks on the 4th of July. This was 40 years ago, and these traditions remain the same today – any given summer Saturday will find hundreds of people boating and partying at Shell Island.  Garden Club Drive neighborhood kids were always looking  for fun and always had a blast!

All of the kids in my neighborhood were older than me. Some by as much as ten years. They were all  in high school and I was the little kid, 2nd or 3rd grade. I was young but I was so cool. I remember vividly how much they all loved and respected me. The big kids would have camp outs in someone’s back yard, and there would be 10 or 15 or more of them. They would let me tag along for awhile.  All of the adults had outside refrigerators in carports and garages where they would store leftover beer after boating and fishing trips.  So the big kids would send me to sneak in and steal beer. I wanted them to love me so I stole  arm fulls of beer. I don’t think the adults ever caught on that their beer would disappear between boat trips. Usually my mom, who didn’t realize how cool I was, would come to the camp out to get me at bed time, which really made me mad.

All the adults would get together on Friday and Saturday nights at someones house and grill steaks and party and laugh and tell jokes. It was the 70′s so some of the houses had intercom systems. If they were having a party at an intercom house, we knew how to tape the button down where they were so we could listen to all the stories and jokes from another intercom in a bedroom.  Again, they had no idea.

There was one kid who was younger than me and he just was not cool enough to make the cut to hang with the big kids. Bobby Carter. His mom is so pretty and sweet, and a really talented artist. My mom still has a painting hanging in her living room that Jeri-Faye painted for her.  All the moms would love to get together and play cards but they had to get rid of us kids first. So they would send us to the movies. I never wanted Bobby to come along because although he was only 1 year younger than me, he was just way to young to hang with us.  My mom would say, ” You need to let Bobby Carter go to the movies with you. One day you will wish you were nice to Bobby Carter and that you had married Bobby Carter!”  Woman, are you for real?

Many, many years later when I was safely married, and  not at risk of an arranged marriage with Bobby Carter, my mom called me and said, ” Turn on Good Morning America!”  “Bobby Carter is cooking on TV!!!”  I did, and he was. Chef Robert Carter, now one of Panama City’s favorite sons, is an accomplished chef, charming, and even a little cute.  It didn’t stop there – later he was spotted  baking his Ultimate Coconut Cake on Martha Stewart! Now not just anybody can cook with Martha Stewart.  Are you kidding me?  And this is some amazing Ultimate Coconut Cake.

Soon after, Jeri Faye told Ann to tell Jody to tell Mama that Bobby was gonna be on “Throwdown with Bobby Flay”- Yep, a Coconut Cake Throwdown.  Again, are you kidding me?  I Tivoed it and he was amazing.  But that cake is fantastic and gorgeous.

Chef Robert Carter is now and has been the Executive Chef of the Peninsula Grill in Charleston, South Carolina  for well over 10 years. His Ultimate Coconut Cake is why everyone saves room for dessert. To visit this highly acclaimed restaurant is on my bucket list for sure.

Now I am satisfied with the choices I have made and glad I married Tom, but I had to bake that cake. This was no 30 minute-throw-it-together-dessert-for-tonight cake. This was pastry. This project required time, energy, patience, money, coffee, cocktails, tears, and a sense of humor. I did not alter one ingredient by a pinch. I read and re-read every step and the result was absolute perfection. This cake, which stays on the menu at the Peninsula Grill is the favorite dessert that people in Charleston order  for every special occasion from holidays to weddings. This cake is shipped all over the world. It really is spectacular!  Ultimate Coconut CakeCourtesy of Martha Stewart.com

Well, I know I am name dropping, but I am including the recipe for this magnificent creation, straight from the pages of Martha Stewart Omnimedia.  You can find it by clicking here.

And here is a link to the fabulous Peninsula Grill in Charleston .  You can read more about Chef Robert Carter, who is just a Panama City kid who made quite the name for himself!

Jun28

Football Party Cooking

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Football Party Cooking

Alabama Football is in my Crimson blood – I have been watching and going to football games longer than I can remember. I was raised this way – I can remember so many New Year’s Days, in the 70′s, when Alabama would be playing, again, in the Sugar Bowl for a National Championship. It was as big a tradition in our house at Christmas. Mama and Daddy would have an open house all day, always with the same menu – Chili, Barbeque, Turnip Greens, Black-eyed peas, Mexican Cornbread and Bloody Marys. The house would be decorated with Alabama posters and banners and shakers. Every room had a TV with a different bowl game, until the Sugar Bowl came on – then every TV would be on that channel. Friends would come and eat and watch football, but when the Sugar Bowl came on, only true Alabama fans would stay.  Only true Alabama fans could handle the intensity.

Somehow, every SEC rival brings a different menu to the tailgate.  Every Tennessee game is barbeque, the Florida game is usually fried shrimp, Auburn game is almost always chili and the LSU game is something Cajun-creole.  A big football Saturday is a party every week – whether watching at home or tailgating. It is always a gathering of family and friends.  Many years ago, when I lived in Panama City, before I was married, I found myself alone at my mom and dad’s house for the LSU game. My parents were in Baton Rouge at the game and Walt and Barbara, my brother and sister-in-law were out of town as well. I had no one to watch the game with. And I had to have a traditional cajun dish. Cooking alone made no since, so I went to a local, amazing restaurant in Panama City called J. Michaels. I got a to-go plate of their signature dish called Shrimp J. Michaels. I equipped myself with a six pack of beer, my delicious dinner and planted myself on the floor in front of the TV for the next four hours while Bama put another whipping on LSU. I yelled, cussed and cheered. Alone.

J. Michaels is a fantastic place for locals. In high school, many afternoons when the weather was starting to get cool in the fall, Susie and I would stop by after school for a dozen oysters. Raw oysters are a fantastic after school treat! This restaurant has moved around to several locations, but the food stays exactly the same. Visit their website here.

A few years after that LSU game, I was with some friends and someone said they had the recipe for that amazing shrimp dish. I listened but didn’t write it down, and tried to recreate it from memory. I came really close, and started making it often- always changing it up just a little.

Recently, I got a cookbook from the First United Methodist Church in Panama City, and there is a recipe for Shrimp J. Michael in it. It is really close to that original recipe I had, before all of my personal tweeking.  Here is the recipe out of that cookbook, which claims to be authentic:

2 cans cream of celery soup

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 can water

1/4 cup sliced green onion

1/4 cup bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup Rotel tomatoes

1 teaspoon pepper

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon Lawry’s seasoned salt

2 Tablespoon Olive oil

2 lbs fresh, peeled & deveined raw shrimp

Saute all veggies in olive oil. Add Rotel tomatoes and simmer. Add shrimp and cook til pink. Add all the other ingredients and simmer about 20 or 30 minutes. Serve over rice and garnish with sliced green onions and sliced fresh mushrooms.

 

I have never made this exact recipe because of my compulsive behavior of having to “Gina” it up. The temptation to stray and add this and that is too great. But I did make my version of Shrimp J. Michael recently and it was really fantastic. You would have to do a side by side taste test of this and a plate right out of the restaurant to know how far off I am from the original. Here is my version, which I obviously do not claim to be totally authentic, but pretty darn close:

Shrimp J. Michaels

Shrimp J. Michaels

2 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1 chopped bell pepper

1 chopped onion

1 teaspoon salt

8 oz fresh sliced mushrooms

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 1/2 lbs cleaned, peeled, deveined raw shrimp

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Tabasco

Juice of 1 lemon

2 more Tablespoons butter

1/3 cup cream

Saute garlic, bell pepper, onion and salt in butter until softened.  Add mushrooms and saute a little longer. Add Rotel tomatoes and simmer for a minute, then add shrimp, curry and pepper. Add soups, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and lemon juice – use Tabasco to your own heat liking!

Simmer this for a little bit then finish with butter and cream – Serve over rice and garnish with green onions and more fresh mushrooms.

This dish is so easy, I hope everyone will try it. To all my Panama City locals, please let me know how close either of these recipes are to the original that you remember.

Shrimp J. Michaels

Shrimp J. Michaels

 

Jun5

When good cookie swaps go bad.

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When good cookie swaps go bad.

When I think that I could have been in a sorority at Alabama other than Zeta Tau Alpha, it really makes me sad. To think that I could live this long and never have met Angela, Leslie and several Beths is unthinkable! I have lots of close friendships from college, and the best days are the ones when I bump into a sorority sister. I had an amazing pledge class. The first time that Angela and I really hit it off was when our pledge class was going through initiation. We were told to stay in rooms in silence but I was with Angela and I think she was singing songs from “South Pacific”. There was never a party or fraternity swap or night out that was not a blast. I did study some in college – usually I would walk around the sorority house with a text book under my arm until I found a group of girls lying on sofas in the upstairs lobby, laughing and talking.

My sorority roommate, Beth, was a nut. She was a microbiology major. I just struggled even trying to spell microbiology. She would tape record her lectures, then when she was away, Angela and I would go on her tape recorder and tape ourselves saying dirty words. Then we would keep an eye on her when she was listening to her taped lectures, and when our dirty words came up, she would turn really red, giggle like crazy and leave the room.

Angela and Beth and another Beth are good cooks – even great cooks. Leslie can cook. Once, when she made Rice-a-Roni, it turned out really, really crunchy. We asked her how she made it and she said she just did direction #1. She thought you could choose which direction on the box to do, instead of doing all three.

When we get together now, we tell the same stories. There are at least 400,000 stories – Tom once told one of my friends – “tell me your first name and I will tell you the funniest thing you did in college.”

The University of Alabama has not changed that much since I was there. Recently, Gallettes, which is our favorite campus bar, posted on Facebook: “We are open today at 11 am! Come get a Yellowhammer on your way to class!”

The best part about Tom and I moving to Birmingham in 1995 was that I would be with so many of my beloved friends. That first Christmas in Birmingham, when Tom and I were still living in an apartment, Angela was hosting a Christmas Cookie Swap. Angela is a most amazing hostess and cook. I have learned a lot from her about entertaining. She is a beautiful Italian from a family of seven kids. Angela is really smart too. She always seems to know what is best for Beth and I to do.  And for some reason, we always do what Angela says.

The cookie swap was no exception. Angela invited 12 girls with clear instructions to bring 12 dozen cookies – 11 dozen for swapping, packaged in cute Christmas packing that would make Martha Stewart sweat with envy, and one dozen on a beautiful tray for sampling. Some of us received the call that these had to be high quality cookies – no slice and bakes or store-boughts allowed. I confidently chose to bake Mexican Wedding Cookies.  Wonderful delicate pecan shortbread balls rolled heavily in powdered sugar. This seemed easy enough until the math started sinking in- I had to bake 144 of these cookies! And bake wedding cookies all day long was what I did – I scraped that mixing bowl for cookie #144 and had the 12 dozen by the skin of my teeth. I rolled the baked yummy cookies in powdered sugar and dared one to break. There was not one cookie to spare, not one to taste, and no ingredients or time for another batch. My packaging was gorgeous, and my silver tray of  12 beautiful powdered sugar balls for sampling was ready to show off. Now with the work behind me, I was excited about showering and dressing for a fun afternoon at Angela’s – getting into Christmas spirit. When I was dressed and ready to go, I noticed that my silver tray looked a bit off – more disturbing was that Tom’s face was covered in powdered sugar. Yeah, he had eaten 6 of my cookies. I was terrified – I cannot show up with 138 cookies.  So I called Beth – “tell me what to do! you have to help me!” She told me to take 6 cookies from her gift bag, for the sampling tray and I could owe her 6 cookies later. I should go bake Beth a batch of Mexican Wedding Cookies right now.

 

So here is a recipe for an easy cookie that is always a hit:Gina Horn's Mexican Wedding Cookies

 

Mexican Wedding Cookies

1 stick butter

3 Tablespoons Confectioners sugar

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined. This mixture will look like buttery rubble, not at all like cookie dough. Shape into balls about the size of a walnut and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 300 for about 30 minutes. They bake at a lower heat than most cookies, and much slower and will never really change for their blonde color. They will not spread out either.  While they are still warm, roll them heavily in more confectioners’ sugar. This will make about 2 dozen cookies.

You can also substitute sliced almonds for the pecans and add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract.

 

I know that after Angela’s cookie swap, I had the best Christmas cookies in my house ever. It really is a great Christmas tradition.

Gina Horn's Mexican Wedding Cookies

Jun3

Beach Bound

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Beach Bound

I am fortunate enough to be from the greatest place in the world – Panama City, the world’s most beautiful beaches. It is true, the sand is white and perfect and the gulf is perfectly turquoise. Growing up in Panama City was magic – it seems everyone keeps a laid back attitude, because it is impossible to be stressed with that kind of beauty in your back yard.  I am still so lucky because my parents still live there, and they have a pool – so anytime I feel land locked in Birmingham, I have a free place to stay and enjoy my beautiful hometown.

Sometimes, though, I like to stay at a good friend’s beach house – and every year for 10 or more years now, I have gone there with Susie and Lisa, usually in late April. This house, which I could refer to as heaven on earth, gives me goosebumps. It has an awesome smell, a long hardwood hallway that sounds so good when you walk down to your bedroom, with your suitcase, knowing you have wonderful days ahead of you. There is a big screened porch, with big rocking chairs where major problems are solved after hours spent with Alice White. And the kitchen is just fabulous – I love to cook there, always seafood. I mean, when you cross the Florida state line, don’t you immediately think – I need shrimp!

The first time I attempted Shrimp and Grits, as a newlywed, it was really good! Tom loved it so much that the next time I made it and served it to dinner guests, I measured carefully and wrote my new creation down. On a whim, I sent the recipe to Southern Living magazine – and they published it!!  In March of 1997, I was in line to checkout at the grocery store, and on the cover of Southern Living was a picture of my shrimp! I flipped through the magazine, found the recipe, and my name under it – they had adjusted it to feed a large crowd for a wedding but it was my creation. I think they sent me a free subscription for a year, a copy of the Annual Recipes edition and a check  for around $25.

Since then, that very easy Shrimp and Grits recipe  is my super easy go-to dinner at the beach. Here is why it is so easy – you can combine all the ingredients, except for the shrimp, in a large Ziploc bag or Tupperware and throw it in your cooler to take with you – that way you don’t need to buy all these ingredients when you get to the beach house.  When you are ready to serve, dump it all in a baking dish with your cleaned and peeled fresh gulf shrimp and dinner is almost on the table – you can feed 2 or 20!  Make the cheese grits on the stove and throw a big crusty loaf of french bread in the oven for the last couple of minutes the shrimp are baking – you will want to dip the bread in that yummy buttery sauce!

So here is my recipe for Shrimp and Grits – try it – it is super easy, fool proof and was good enough for Southern Living!

Shrimp-

1/2 stick butter – or a little more if you want more dipping sauce for bread

1 Tablespoon Old Bay

1 Tablespoon of any good Cajun Seasoning

1 Small bunch sliced green onions

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 to 1 Tablespoon hot sauce

1 1/2 – 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire

the juice of a whole lemon

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 lb peeled, cleaned, deveined shrimp

If you are preparing this at home, put everything in a baking dish, bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes until shrimp are nice and pink – stir halfway through baking.

Gina Horn's Shrimp and GritsWe are going to serve this over yummy, cheesy, garlicky grits.

Make quick grits according to the directions on the package – when they are ready, add some butter, some half and half , some garlic powder and tons of cheese – sharp cheddar, Gouda, Parmesan – whatever you have on hand – this is a great use for small pieces of leftover cheese – but no blue cheese or feta. Make sure you add plenty of grated sharp cheddar though – add as much butter and half and half as your conscience allows – make sure they have enough salt, and are a little bit garlicky. Keep tasting these grits, when they are super creamy and super yummy, you know you got it right. If you really want to impress your company, cook some crispy bacon to garnish each plate.

This is a fantastic dish for brunch as well as dinner.  Gina Horn's Shrimp and Grits

One pound of shrimp will feed about 3 or 4 people, so adjust according to how many people you are feeding .

I hope everybody gets a chance to go to the beach to recharge your batteries. The best days are spent soaking up the sun and swimming in the gulf – knowing that a cold glass of chardonnay, a shower and lotion on pink sunkissed cheeks is waiting at the end of the day.

Jun2

This Could Get Saucy!

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This Could Get Saucy!

I love the Fall of the year more than anyone in the world. Really, I took a survey and I love fall more than anyone. It is the first of June and I am already dreaming of open windows, cool nights, fire-pits outside, early evenings spent in my kitchen with a big pot of something earthy, a nice glass of red wine and some blues music. I love the end of September when it is staying consistently cool, enough that you need to wear jeans and a sweater, and it almost smells like Halloween outside, with an occasional big orange moon hanging low in the sky. Alabama football just adds icing to the cake.

A few years ago, during early fall, Tom had the need to rewire some of our stereo equipment. I have these awesome wireless speakers, one in my kitchen and one on my screen porch, so I can listen to CD’s while I cook. My kitchen speaker is right by my stove. Somehow, the transmitter did not get plugged in, so when I turned on my speaker, it was not music that I was listening to, but the phone conversations of my neighbor! And not just any neighbor, but a neighbor I knew who was going through a hot and messy divorce.

Soon, these phone conversations became a guilty pleasure. I would listen to conversations with her friends, her lawyer and fights with the soon to be ex. I would hear well meaning friends offer terrible advice, and would occasionally hear her talking about me!  Now I know this eavesdropping is wrong, and I confessed it to Susie in Tallahassee. I also confessed this to my mother.

For the entire fall, and well into winter and spring, every night around wine time, when I was in my kitchen starting dinner, Susie would call, ask me if there was any “action on the speaker” and ask me to turn it on and set down the phone. While I stirred my sauce, and drank my wine, Susie and I would listen to wild and crazy conversations. Then my mom wanted in on the action. She would call and ask me to set down the phone. Then Susie would beep in – soon, Susie and Mom would fight for the right to be the one listening over the phone to the speaker.Meaty Pasta Sauce

The worst day for me was when the divorce was finally over, and the neighbor sold her house and moved. That was the end of my guilty pleasure.

I do however remember one wonderful early fall night – windows open, red wine poured, and a big pot of meaty pasta sauce on the stove.  I listened to juicy conversations, and stirred the pot.  Fall is the perfect time for a perfect pot of spicy, saucy meat sauce to eat with pasta. Here is a recipe – Enjoy!

 

Saucy Meat Sauce

1lb sweet Italian sausage

1lb ground beef

1 onion

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 container sliced Portabella  mushrooms

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1 Tablespoon salt

28 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 soup can beef broth

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 small can tomato paste

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon black pepper

Salt to taste

Saute chopped onion, minced garlic and salt in the olive oil in a large pot – saute on low-medium heat – slowly, until onion is very tender. Add mushrooms and saute another 5 minutes – then add sausage and beef and cook and stir until meat is browned and it is all cooked down together.

Add all the other ingredients, and simmer it on low for half the day if you can. Everybody likes it different – spicier, sweeter, so add more of what suits you.

This sauce is great on any pasta and freezes well to. Freeze half and use it to make great lasagna later. Yummy Spagetti

May6

Who Needs Comforting?

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Who Needs Comforting?

It has been a tough couple of weeks in these parts. This blog is housed right smack in the South, in the middle of Alabama and in the path of the tornadoes that destroyed so much around me on Wednesday, April 27. It is really hard to see your community hurting – but Alabama is special. In the middle of all the destruction and pain, lost love ones, lost homes, my community has rallied! We are neighbors helping neighbors, giving time, money, stuff and prayers. At the end of the day, everyone needs a little TLC. We all have those days, don’t we – when we can just muddle through to the end of the day, til it is time to drink a little Chardonnay and listen to some Jack Johnson. For alot of us, comfort comes from Chinese takeout and a clean kitchen. But for this girl, the most comforting day ended with a dirty kitchen and a homemade Chicken Pot Pie. The process is fun. Here is the rule about your kitchen anyway. Cooking is fun, it is therapy of the cheapest kind, relaxing, and even a little hot! Be in your kitchen alone, or with loved ones, but please have fun and enjoy. If you don’t, order the takeout, and drink the wine anyway-

 

So here is a Chicken Pot Pie!

First, the ingredients – don’t be scared- hopefully you have most of this, and you can leave out the stuff you don’t like:

4 Chicken Breasts, with bone and skin

1 tablespoon each – sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and poultry seasoning

1 cup each, diced carrots and potatoes

1 can quartered artichoke hearts

1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds

1 onion

1 carton fresh sliced mushrooms

1-2 tablespoons butter (for sauteing)

6 tablespoons butter (for sauce)

3 heaping tablespoons flour

1/2 cup sherry or white wine

3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme

1/2 – 1 cup cream

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1 pkg (2 rolls) Pillsbury ready pie crust

Rinse off the chicken breasts, put them in a big pot and cover them with water.

Give it a big sprinkle of each of these:

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Poultry Seasoning

Simmer with a slow boil for about an hour, medium to medium high heat. Do this early in the day, after an hour, turn off the stove and just leave them there. Congratulations, you have beautiful chicken and delicious stock!

Take the Chicken breasts out with tongs, and strain the stock through a strainer in to a pitcher – de-bone the chicken, discard all the skin and bones and gross parts so you have a big bowl of lovely shredded chunks of delicious white meat.

Now lets add some veggies- dice up some carrots and potatoes – I like baby carrots and I just chop them in chunks. I like any potato, I don’t even peel them, and dice the same size as the carrots. Wipe out that stock pot a little – the same one you cooked the chicken in – pour in a little of your stock and boil the carrots and potatoes in it!  Boil them until they are fork tender, drain them and pour these veggie in the bowl with the chicken – Drain the can of quartered Artichoke hearts and throw them in too.

In a large non-stick skillet – saute a chopped onion in a tablespoon of butter – add a little salt and saute slowly and it will not burn. When the onion is translucent, add the sliced or slivered almonds. Cook until they are slightly tan, then add the container of fresh sliced mushrooms! Saute, add a little more butter, drink another glass of wine and when it is a sauteed pan of yum, pour it over the chicken.  

I didn’t say this was a quick meal, just easy and therapeutic!

Now for the last part, the sauce:

In that same skillet, (we don’t like to wash alot of pots and pans) melt about 6 tablespoons of butter and about 3 heaping tablespoons of flour. Yep, we are making roux. Use a whisk to combine so it will be a smooth paste – Cooking this on medium heat only takes about 5 minutes – it does not need to be brown. Keep that whisk moving and add a half cup of sherry or white wine. Don’t add wine if you are running low. You will need that for drinking. Whisk it smooth then slowly add that yummy broth, about half a cup at a time – whisk it smooth and do this until it is the thickness of , well, sauce.  Add the leaves only of the sprigs of fresh thyme, and somewhere between a half and a whole cup or half and half, or cream. This should be a velvety, smooth, not to thick, not to thin sauce. Now send it over the top, and add the grated parmesan. Taste it – it might need a little salt and pepper.  Mix this with all the chicken and veggies.

At this point, you could let this cool, put half in a container and freeze it – this will make 2 pot pies. The one you want for dinner tonight, pour in a casserole dish and put a ready made pie crust on top (Pillsbury, in the box – there are two of them in there rolled up) Just arrange it to cover your filling – this is home cooking, doesn’t have to be perfect – but it is not hard to make a round crust cover a square dish!

Brush top with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt – bake at 350 for about 30 minutes til golden.

So enjoy this comfort meal, and share the second one with someone else who needs some loving. Check back soon because my next recipe will be much easier. It will be a piece of cake. It might even be cake. And I will share stories of my beach trip with my two best friends of 30 years, Susie and Lisa. From now on, they will be referred to as Sus and Lize. Tomorrow I might need to turn on the AC and close the windows. Did I mention I am in the deep south and it gets hot in this kitchen!

Until next time~ Chow!