Balls and Weenies

We used Hillshire Farm and Nathan's this time. both were good.

This is my go to for any kind of party. It's so simple it will blow your mind. You need:

Ro-tel ( if you cant find this use onion, pepper and tomatoes or salsa)

bar-b-q sauce

lil' smokies

and meat balls (use ready made frozen ones)

 

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook till sauce gets thick. You can add water if needed. This may not be the healthiest snack food but everyone all ways raves over it. I say make the people happy.

 



sandies/also called snow balls/ also mexican wedding cakes

1c butter

1/2c sugar

2tsp water

2tsp vanilla

2c sifted all-purpose flour

1c chopped pecans

 

cream butter and sugar; add water and vanilla; mix well. Blend in flour and nuts; chill 4 hours. Shape in balls or fingers. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at  about 20 minutes or until done. Remove from pan until almost cool. Then drop into a baggie full of powdered sugar and shake. Makes about 3 dozen small balls.

Cheese Balls

Mexican ball and bacon chedder.

Cheese balls are surprisingly easy to make. I don't know why anyone ever buys one. Here is my favorite recipe for cheese balls and best of all you can adapt it to your taste.

 

8oz package of cream cheese

2cups of shredded cheese

1/4 teaspoon of westchestershire sauce

 

Soften the cream cheese add the shredded cheese and the sauce and mix. Form a ball with plastic wrap and then refrigerate till hard.

That's it. That is all.

What I do is very these ingredients to make the different flavors. You can use different cheeses. Any soft cheese and any shredable cheese will do. You can add spices. You can add savory things like onion, bacon, vegetables. You could even add dried fruit if you wanted.

I don't know how they get the port wine flavored balls I would guess you would just add port wine and use more stiff cheese and less creamy cheese.

 

I like to decorate the outside of the ball by rolling it in nuts or spices. The profesional ones always have nuts on the outside or you can also use paprika or parsley.

 

When done with them be sure to wrap them tight and refrigerate so the ball will be nice and hard for serving.

  

Plum Sauced Sausages

Well, this one didn't go over too well. I'm not entirely sure but the idea was it was supposed to be German food. I thought how can you make brauts, that are incredibly bad for you, healthier. So I added a fruit glaze.

Plum Sauced Sausages

1/2 cup plum preserves

1 bottle of beer

1tsp of thyme

3 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp of bar-b-cue sauce 

variety of sausages

 

Place all ingredients in crock pot and let cook until sausages are done. This would be a good recipe to then bar-b-cue and use the sauce as a glaze. Definitely better with brauts and maybe Italian sausage than with polish sausage. Leave sausages whole while cooking in the crock pot.

 

We made granola!

I've been saying I was going to make granola for a while now and just never get the time so today I made it finally!

 

 

2 cups quick cooking oats

3/4 cup of original toasted wheat germ

1 cup of nuts

3/4 cup of coconut flakes

3/4 cup of dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

 

2tsp of vanilla

3/4 cup of oil

1/2 cup of honey

 

First we mixed the oats, wheat germ, nuts (we used almond slivers and walnut pieces) and brown sugar in a bowl and set that to the side.

Then we heated the oil and vanilla and honey in a pot till it was bubbling. Then poured the hot mixture into the the oat mixture and stirred well.

We placed it on two greased cookie sheets and baked it at 325 for a few minutes and then stirred. We had to stir it quite often to keep it evenly browned and to prevent clumping. It took about 10 to 15 minutes until the coconut was browned. It came out very good. And definitely cheaper than that expensive stuff you get at the store.

After it cools you could add dried fruit or chocolate chips or what ever you like in your granola. You could also use what ever nuts you like. Such as cashews or sunflower seeds.

 

 

 

Not Caprese salad

 I wanted to make the fancy Caprese Salad that I was seeing every where. I got the fresh mozzarella... some really beautiful organic tomatoes but when I  went to assemble I realized, opps, I forgot the basil. And having none that will grow in my sand. What was I going to do? I had fresh oregano but after it was chopped it was kind of puny looking so.... I added some olives and peperoncinis and ta da!

 Not Caprese Salad! 

2 balls of fresh mozzarella

2 nice tomatoes

peperoncinis

Sicilian style green olives

kalamata black olives

Balsamic vinaigrette

scallion

roasted red pepper

Slice tomatoes, cheese and scallion while pepper is cooling from roasting. Layer everything together. I used a pie plate I had and it worked great for keeping all the juices in. I had to slice the olives too. I like the sicilian green olives, they are less salty. And the kalamata olives taste like the ones my grandmother made when I was little in California. I think it is worth it to slice the olives. When done I drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. I sprinkled with salt, pepper and a little powdered garlic. But I bet it would be good with roasted garlic.

The whole thing went into the frig for about an hour.



Rum drink!

So I bought sprite and planned on having wine spritzers but sadly the wine I had was not for this occasion. So.... I had some rum.... recipe follows and may I say YUM!!

Spiced Rum
Sprite
cranberry/ pomegranate juice
cherry juice
and a cherry

And it's healthy cause of the cranberry juice!

Eat more veggetables!

One of the first things you will be told when your trying to eat healthy is eat more vegetables. Even the Atkins diet people are eating veggies today.  Sounds good to me I started thinking about it and mainly I was eating bread on the food group pyramid. And then I looked it up and they changed the pyramid to a pie shape. MMM.... pie!  I just looked and they've changed from calling it a pie to a plate. I guess that is healthier. The USDA has all sorts of great charts and eating guides to check out but if your like me. When I read that stuff in my head it translates to bla, bla, bla. So Ok, eat more vegetables sounds good, simple and easy to do.

Eat more veggies!
Now every family has their vegetable haters and vegetables they hate. The key to eat more veggies is variety. Because if your eating green beans every night with dinner it doesn't help at all. Some people smother their vegetables in cream sauces or cheese. Yum cheese! BUT! While it's good to get your kids interested in the veggie di jour it is absolutely a bad to eat all that yummy cheese and cream all the time on top of your veggies but it is good to get in your supply of dairy group. Why is it bad? I don't know. Maybe they are fattening. Why? I don't know. If you get low fat it shouldn't be a problem but it is. So just avoid it. But it is cheese, cream, butter so avoid when you can. Also for some reason there is a cholesterol issue with milk products.

Milk Products
 Getting a little off topic. Is the whole issue of: Dairy Group. I don't know if you ever noticed but some of the cheese in the store is labeled cheese food. This looks like cheese taste like cheese but in fact is not cheese at all. We used to call it the plastic cheese cause it just tasted plasticky. It has no dairy in it. I was told, that the molecular make up of the cheese food product is one molecule away from being plastic and there is absolutely no reason to refrigerate it. It wont spoil. Also margarine is the same thing. I don't know what that stuff is doing to my insides but I quit eating it when I found that bit of info out. I know they say plastic butter(margarine) is better than the real thing but  I choose to eat the real thing when it comes to butter and cheese. I think real food is better than artificially created imitation food any day. I can't tell you why I just know it's true.

You want to eat fresh!
What kind of veggies do you eat? Fresh, frozen or canned. Well, my husband can taste the can in canned vegetables so... we avoid them lately. Also I have heard the can has been know to leek things into the veggies like aluminum and the coating is not good for you either. Also they put a lot of salt in the canned veggies that you can avoid if you buy fresh or frozen. You want to eat fresh! the more you cook veggies the less vitamins they have. I like my veggies the consistency of mush. Cooked to death. Unless I'm eating them raw like a salad. So this is a challenge for me. The thing with buying fresh vegetables is: if you don't have time to run to the store everyday... well, they aren't going to stay fresh long. So.... for on the go people, frozen is your best bet. I like to mix it up a bit and buy some frozen and some fresh what ever is in season.

Summer yellow squash and zucchini is in season!
I found this great recipe for a pasta that has veggies, cheese and noodles in the July issue of Southern Living Magazine. Hey, I know... cheese and that darn bread group, with the pasta. But hear me out. My daughter hates squash! It has a slimy taste. Well, this recipe changes the consistency of the squash and the look. So bingo, it wins! I made it and my husband was "Wow, this is great!" That's right I made it! He usually wont let me near the kitchen.

Of course I can't follow a recipe so my version is a little different than the one in the magazine.

Summer Pasta

3 medium yellow squash

3 medium zucchini

3 medium carrots

1 small onion

2 garlic cloves

1 cup of vegetable broth

3Tbsp olive oil

1tsp salt

1Tbsp of dry basil

4 slices of bacon

package of wide egg noodles

1Tbsp of butter

1 shallot bulb

1/2 (8-oz) container of mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Now it should have been fresh basil and  fresh Parmesan but... there you go. Some times you don't have fresh so you use the next best thing. I had to go to the fancy cheese section of the grocery store to get mascarpone cheese. Only to find out it's just like cream cheese. Well, milder, thinner.

This recipe uses every dish in the house just about so it's a time consuming ordeal of cleaning after.

1. Cut up two of the squash, two zucchini, two carrots into 1/4 inch slices put in Dutch oven(fancy name for the big pot) with onion, garlic and 1/3 cup vegetable broth, 3 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp of salt, and most of the basil. cook until the veggies are very tender. 20 to 30 minutes. The squash release a lot of water during cooking so don't worry that it's not enough. 
2. Meanwhile fry up the bacon in a skillet. Dice up bacon when cooled. Drain most of the oil from the pan. Set pan aside.
3. Process the vegetable mixture in a blender to make a sauce. Use remaining  broth liquid to thin as needed.
4. Meanwhile cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
5. Cut remaining squash zucchini, and carrot into strips using a mandolin.Or the flat side of the cheese grater. Stack ribbons, and cut in half length wise. Dice shallot or green onion.
6. Add Tbsp of butter to pan that the bacon was cooked in and saute all the vegetable strips and shallots just until tender. Add some basil and 1/2 tsp of salt. Transfer to a plate and cover.
7. Cook blended squash mixture, mascarpone cheese and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese for 3 or 4 minutes to melt cheese and heat up. Add sauce to cooked pasta.
8. Top with vegetable ribbons, bacon, and more Parmesan.

Of course you could always use ham instead of bacon to make it even healthier.

Trying Healthy Eating

The long hard road to eat healthier in America.
First we are bombarded by all kinds of messages about what is and what is not healthy. One diet says eat only meat another says eat only vegetables. I think diets are designed to keep you confused. It's almost abusive.  You'll want to watch your calories, sugars, carbs, protein, and fat intake. What is left to eat. Shakes, bars and a variety of tasteless things that you have know idea what it even is.
 And then there is the whole where did it come from debate. Was this locally sourced? Did it come from some foreign country that planted a field next to a toxic waist station?
 And then there is the whole is it genetically modified, radiated, pumped with antibiotics growth hormone, sprayed with toxic pesticides?
Then there is how was it made? and by who? Were they clean? Did they receive a decent wage? What did they add to it? Where did they get their ingredients any why? If you read ingredient list do you even know what the words mean? Even when you look them up most things just say preservative. Well, dang it smoke is a preservative. What does that mean?

Well, let me tell you.... I don't know the answers to any of those questions. That's why this blog post is TRYING. Oh if you listen to foreigners it's cause we are all lazy Americans, sitting around doing nothing all day shoving potato chips in our faces and eating giant cups of chemical filled diet soda's. But you and I know that's just not true. Oh if it were, it would be so easy to just eat healthier and get off the couch more. So.... What to do?

We have to look long and hard at what has lead us down this road. Yes we are lazy and sit on the couch shoving potato chips in our face once in a while. And we do eat at fast food restaurants. And have a limited range of what we will and will not eat. As long as we know what we are eating. And we don't exercise like champions. But.... this is not the whole story of our lives. So why are we all so  unhealthy?

First I think and for most is EASE. I think we are completely reliant on the manufacturing companies to provide us with ease in creating food. I'm not talking fast food here. Take cookies for instants. We all know they are bad for us so... Cookies are almost always an impulse buy. You want them, you want them instantly! As in; in my mouth now! Well, cookies are easy enough a few ingredients mix in a bowl they almost always come out perfect. My mom has a recipe that will give you a huge varieties with one basic recipe. But....do we run out to our kitchens to see what cookie making ingredients we have on hand? No. We run to the store. They have those mixes just and eggs or oil some are just add water. Yep there are a few ingredients you have know idea what they are and everything in the cookie mix is dried. But do you grab that mix? No. This is a craving a gotta get that craving. So the refrigerated section has a large variety of ready to go all mixed up doughs. Just bake. Once again there are those strange ingredients you don't know and the date on these packages is almost never looked at. Some people keep them in the freezer for cookie crisisses. But do you grab the cookie in the tube we all love so much with it's yummy fill your house with fresh baked goodness smell? No. This is not that kind of craving. It's a "I just saw cookies on TV and I gotta get that in my mouth cookie, and  maybe some ice cream too, craving. So you grab that pre-made package of cookies. Who knows who made them? ( fat guy with sores maybe) You don't care. Who knows where the ingredients came from. (scraped off the floor of a chemical plant) You can't prove that. Who knows if these things could give you cancer? ( Everything else does) You wanted them they weren't on your diet and you got them. Easy, peasy!

So you've compromised on the cookies. Why not on all your food making endeavors. If it's made at home, it's home made right? Even if it came out of a box that was filled with a list of ingredients that might be directions to build a bomb, as far as you know. It's easy! You try it. Your family eats the unknown creature you created from the box that said just like homemade. And it was easy. It said it had added nutrients so you don't feel too bad. Even though your not sure where the nutrients came from. It was quicker easier and you didn't have to think about it. It was EASY.
 I think this is how they talk models into doing porn. You've already shown some skin why not take it all off? They are so distracted by getting what they want (money, you would be getting what you think is food) That when they loose their integrity completely they don't even know it. Once you have how do you go back? And if you were raised this way... is there any hope for you at all?

I don't know....... What do we do? I don't know.... I don't think any one does. It's a crisis! We ARE diseased, fat, slow thinking, falling behind in every possible way as a nation. But!!!!!! We are Americans so we will roll up our sleeves and dig in! We will fix this some how. Right? Of course we will. I'm working on solving this problem in my home and if everyone in America will do the same, we can fix this.

There is also other factors to eating heathy: time,(finding time to make things from scratch is almost imposible) money, (Organic and healthier foods cost more. That's just a fact. Crap food is cheaper. Sad but true. But eat less and be nurished not fat.)  ability,( Some of us have a food cooking handicap. And our husbands aren't always around to prepare stuff for us.) and willingness of family memers to join in,( if the family wont eat it there is no point in making everyone misrible.)  to name a few. I don't know where I'm going with this but... I will be eating healthier Florida style food, what ever that means! And I'll be posting my ideas and down falls here!

Florida crock pot pork

Here is a great recipe I came across while reading a family members journal. I changed it a little to make it easier and it came out wonderful.

So as the story in the journal went; they were down to the last of the pork and it was up to the voodoo princes to come up with a hearty dish that would fill the guts of all on the ship. She decided to make a stew but being low on vegetables... it ended up being eaten with the last of the bread.

And belly's stayed full for two nights.

So my version.... follows.

Florida Crock Pot Pork

3 lbs of pork butt or shoulder (originally this was for 16lbs of pork. What ever pork you have on hand should work but you may have to add lard to drier cuts)

1 can of ro-tel (or use tomatoes, onions, and chili peppers)

1cup of fresh squeezed Florida OJ ( ok I used fresh bottled OJ)

1/4 medium onion

1/4 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 tsp of cumin
1tsp oregano

6 cloves of crushed garlic (the recipe called for an ungodly amount)

1/4cup of brown sugar

1tsp black pepper

1tsp sea salt

Put the liquid in the crock. Add the butt. Add the spices and garlic and onion. Cook on high for 8 hours. If it dries up you could add water but it is better on the dry side. It should be completely falling apart when done.

In a frying pan add lard or bacon grease. Enough to coat the pan but that's it. Shred up pork into the sauce in the crock pot. Pull some out and fry it in the pan. Flip it over and fry both sides. Serve on buns or bread.



What it looks like before it is fried. Skim off the oil sitting on top.

The recipe called for cayenne pepper as well but I'm not a big lover of spicy so I left that out. If you like the heat, go for it. And you can add what ever spicy peppers as well while frying. Such as jalapeno or habanero. We put bar-b-q sauce on top after it was fried, served it on potato buns and it was good.

Pimento spread

I love pimento spread I guess it's suppose to be a really southern thing to eat but I have no idea why. This is my recipe it is so easy and only takes like 5 minutes to whip up. I guess you could make everything like the mayonnaise and all from scratch if you liked but I always try to go the simpler route.

Jared pimento peppers

package of cream cheese

course shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Mayonnaise

garlic powder

salt

Cheyenne pepper

onion powder

Let the cream cheese soften, then mash with a fork so it is even softer add the chopped pimento's and seasonings to taste. You could go with paprika if you don't like spicy foods but to give it a good flavor I like the Cheyenne. Add a little cheddar at a time it should be equal Cheddar to cream cheese. You want it to be easily spreadable so... add as much mayonnaise as needed to achieve that. Usually a table spoon or so. In the end it should look orange between the cheddar and the Cheyenne. Let it chill about an hour and spread on crackers sandwiches or what ever floats your boat.

Peanut butter pie!

My grandfather loved peanut butter and peanuts. When I was a kid and we visited relatives in Florida we always had to stop and get some boiled peanuts and a water melon. He always had peanuts on hand to eat. He liked the ones with the skin on still.  I know he would have loved this pie.

Peanut Butter Pie

As usual I didn't measure anything I just went on a word of mouth recipe. This pie is easy to make and inexpensive yet fancy enough to empress.

You need...

1 to 2 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter(more or less)

1gramcracker pie crust

1big box of vanilla pudding

whip cream

Now all you do is mix the powdered sugar with the peanut butter till it is the color of brown sugar. It should be like crumbs. So start with the powdered sugar and then gradually add the peanut butter and mix, mix, mix.

After your pie crust is ready to fill and cool, if you baked it with a coat of egg white, add a little less than 1/2 of the peanut butter crumbs to the bottom, spread out to about a 1/2 to 1 inch thick.

Then mix up the pudding, follow the pie filling recipe which has less milk, and pour on top of the crust. Place the pie in the refrigerator and allow the pudding to set up.

About an hour later place the remaining peanut butter crumbs on top of the pudding being careful not to smash down.

Then just top that with some whip cream and your done.

Eat up yum!

I could see making this with all sorts of variations. You could add bananas and call it the Elvis pie. You could use a chocolate crust and call it a peanut butter cup pie. You could use any different flavor pudding. Bottom line this pie was easy and yum!



Left over pulled pork

As if there is any! Belive it or not we had some. And we just couldn't bare to throw it away. Cause pulled pork is just so good. So we came up with an idea.....

Chris's pulled pork burritos

2cups pulled pork

1/2 cup grilled onions and peppers (or saute in butter)

2tbs lime juice

1tbs of brown sugar (optional)

Reheat pulled pork in pot or sauce pan. Add rest of ingredients. Stir all together. Serve on tortillas with rice that is cooked with salsa in it. Also would be good to add some fresh cilantro.

Makes about 12 burritos.



Chris's quest for the perfect red cabbage.

Chris's grandmother used to make the best red cabbage dish in all the world according to Chris. So anyway he didn't have the recipe so he set out to create one. He searched in books he searched on line. His grandmother was German and most of the recipes she made were German ones so when he found a recipe for Blaukraut (red cabbage) he was pretty sure he had it. But.... he didn't remember it having apples so he omitted the apple. His Uncle came by to let him know what he thought and said it was very close to the exact same thing but it needed a little more bite. So maybe more vinegar and he didn't remember any apple either. But... I think that maybe where the kick came from.

Chris's red cabbage

Here is the recipe:

2 Tbs Smoked pork fat (next time he said he was just going to use bacon)

1 onion

1 head of red cabbage

2 Tbs of apple cider vinegar

11/2 cups water

1Tbs of sugar

3 whole cloves (although they both did not like the cloves and said they would leave them out next time)

2 bay leafs

salt and pepper

 He heated up the pork in a large pot. then added the chopped onion till translucent

He then added the shredded cabbage in batches waiting for it to wilt down.

Lastly he stired in the vinegar and remaining ingredients. He reduced the heat to low and simmered for 11/2 hours (but most  recipes called for 30 minutes or so. He remembers his grandmother cooking this dish all day)

We ate this dish with some Polish sausage and some brats with some spicy brown mustard on the side and also some boiled potatoes. I don't usually like cabbage but I did like this dish. It was a good boiled dish and had a different taste than any thing I had eaten like it. I liked the cloves in it and I think if he put an apple in it that it would have been really good.