White Chicken Chili Dinner: 9 '20

 

I made white chicken chili for dinner tonight following this recipe ( except I used ground chicken instead of chicken breasts). Using my instant pot, it only took 30 minutes to make and tasted every bit as good as the batches I've slow cooked for hours in my crock pot. But for those of you without a instant-pot, the directions do tell you how to adapt the recipe to a slow cooker:

https://www.thereciperebel.com/instant-pot-white-chicken-chili/

Garlic Sage Rustic Loaf: 8 ' 20

My latest loaf of rustic bread is garlic sage flavored.

The smell of it baking was so mouthwatering we couldn't wait for it to cool and tore off some big hunks to slather with butter while it was still hot. Paired with homemade cream of aspargus soup it made a delicious lunch.

BJ's favorite Breakfast

 This is what happens when it is BJ's turn to make us breakfast.

He makes us a full-on Country-style breakfast with 

 chicken fried steak, hashbrowns, country gravy 

and  buttermilk drop bisquits ( my contribution).

Prepping the garden and house for Isaias 7 ' 20

  I spent the day prepping the house and yard for Isaias

I moved all our lightweight potted plants to  wind-sheltered locations 

and took all our yard art indoors so hit couldn't become a missile.

Then, I harvested all of the cut-flowers, and trimmed their plants back to three feet of lower so they would have less  mass and be less likely to get flatted.

The large bowls of cut-flowers help make  the house look really cheery.

Next I tackled harvesting all my herbs which are in their peak of  summer growth.

I put all the soft herbs like basil into large bowls of water so that they would stay fresh until I had time to process them into pesto, or infuse them into oils.

The remaining culinary herbs were hung  to dry 

from a pot rack above our kitchen sink.

They make the house smell just heavenly. 

BJ's Hawaiian Poke

  Bruce made us a delicious fresh  Hawaiian Ahi Poke for dinner tonight.

Chag Urim Shameach, 2nd Night of Chanukkah: 12 '19

  

Bruce lit the candles  for the second night of Chanukkah

 on the Menorah he has used since he was 18 years old.

Their light offers such hope for  a joyous New Year.

And of course,the candle lights

added to the ambiance of our Chanukkah dinner.

 Our 2nd Chanukkah holiday dinner consisted of:

 mango coconut curried squash  soup,

Stuffed Cabbage rolls with ginger snap cookie topping,

maple glazed  sweet potatoes,   

and a desert of fresh oranges.

Update on Dorian 9 '19

Hurricane Dorian is a CAT 5 storm with winds gusting to 185mph. We expect to see CAT2 conditions in our area by Thursday. Except that we are not putting up plywood over the windows this year, our house is fully prepped for the storm. 

On the outside, we stripped out most of the flowering annuals;

 a hurricane always seems to flatten them to the ground.

We will be removing the vinyl window panels in the Carolina Room on Wednesday so they don't get damaged by the hurricane-force winds.  Last night we moved all of the house plants in the Carolina Room away from the windows and stacked them close together in a corner. that way they will still get some light but the wind will be less likely to be able to toss them around.

 

Our house sits at an elevation of  13',  and is just barely outside of a flood zone, so we always have to prepare for the possibility that we may get water inside if the hurricane coincides with a high tide.  So just in case we get do get a flood, we rolled up all the carpets, and stacked them atop the table.  Then we stacked all of our indoor upholstered furniture on smaller tables so they are at least or more feet off the ground.  

Of course, that also means we can't use the table or any of our living room furniture, so we brought the wrought iron patio furniture in from the Carolina room.

Our home is all-electric, so any loss of power would mean we would have difficulty cooking.

To compensate we brought our portable grill and a dozen canisters of propane gas inside.

We've also stacked the freezer full of bottles of frozen water to help keep the food cool as long as possible and placed hurricane lanterns and flashlights in every room.

We've discussed whether we should try to evacuate or not. Just in case a mandatory evacuation is ordered, our bags and emergency gear are packed but, unless things change radically over the course of the next few days, we will stay put.

Pizza Nite 7 ' 19

Yummy Homemade Pizza Nite

 with cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and basil.

Moroccan Tangine Chicken 7 ' 19

Bruce made us MoroccanTangine Chicken for dinner with a side of carrots and couscous.

Linguine and clams: 6' 19

Bruce made us Linguine and clams for dinner  from scratch.

OMG!  It was so good.

Seder Prep 4 '19

 Bruce spent most of it futzing around the house figuring out what to make for our Passover Seder and getting some of the early preparations , while I ran errands and attempted to get the out of door chores completed before tomorrow's rain storm arrives.

We're both looking forward to the holiday.

Egg Roast Curry: 4 '19

This week, our weekly menu flan revolves around an Indian theme.

Bruce got  up at 6 am  to make an Indian Egg Roast Curry breakfast for us.

He's learned a lot about  cooking in the past 25 years.

He  stages and preps all the ingredients first,

only uses fresh ingredients,  

and mixes his own spices blends from scratch. 

Then he sautes all the  fresh ingredients

before  blending  everything together.

The result is truly awesome.

For directions on how to make a tasty a Egg Roast Curry yourself, See:

https://www.archanaskitchen.com/egg-roast-kerala-style

Coconut Chicken Masala Curry: 3 ' 19

Tonight we prepared  Indian cuisine

Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk - South Indian Style

Of course we added a few enhancements to the meal -

like home made coconut rice and coconut roti 

plus we simmered some diced eggplant in the sauce 

while we were finishing cooking the chicken.

You can find the original recipe at:

#ChickenCurrywithCoconutMilk #chickencurry #chickenrecipes #coconutmilk#chicken #recipes #homecooking #food #tasty #yummy

Moroccan Dinner: 3'19

We had Moroccan cuisine for dinner tonight:

• Fresh Cod seasoned with Mediterranean fresh herbs and Harrisa 
• Moroccan carrot and parsnip salad
• Red and black rice with golden currants and toasted pine nuts

The house smells so good from cooking with all those fragrant North African spices

What to do with Garlic / Bacon Crisps: 3 ' 19

I woke up this morning to the smell of grilled  bacon and garlic.  It seems that Bruce decided he wanted Maple flavored bacon for breakfast, but didn't want to waste the already opened package   hickory smoked bacon that was in  the fridge.   So he grilled what remained in the open package with some sliced garlic and  put it in a bowl for me to use 'with something" later on. 

Lucky for him I've been spending  a lot of time snapping photos of recipes from the magazines in waiting rooms,.  This recipe from Southern Living for "creamy rice with scallops" (and bacon and garlic) looked like it would do the trick,  

Fortunately, we already had all the ingredients in the house (including scallops and shrimp plus  the pre-crisped bacon and garlic)  so I made us  a delicious southern low-country dinner  this evening.

Now I just have to find a way to rid the house of  that garlic/bacon scent.

Campbell's 'Lobsta Bisque' 2 '19

 I took the empty lobster shells, and whatever lobster meat that was left over,  from our  Valentines Day meal to  make Bruce a bowl of lobster bisque,

or as he calls is

Campbell's 'Lobsta Bisque'

Belated V Day Dinner 2' 19

Bruce and I celebrated Valentines Day with a lovely seafood dinner this evening

Christmas Dinner 12 "19

Bruce used his new Air Fryer to rotisserie a Cornish Game Hen with Sweet Chili Barbecue sauce for our Christmas dinner. CC added Indonesian Fried Rice, and Chinese Snap Peas as the sides, and Triffle for desert.

CC's Birthday Dinner

We celebrated my birthday with a feast of all my favorite foods:

braised lamb chops, buttered rice, steamed artichokes, Barbera Wine.

 and a pear custard cake.

The cake (not shown) was the best birthday desert I have ever had.

you can find the recipe here:

   http://atreatsaffair.com/cinnamon-pear-cake-recipe/

Fall Fare, Braised Brats: 11'18

Fall Fare

Braised brats with cabbage and apples

For recipe see:
https://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/a23336101/seared-sausage-with-cabbage-and-pink-lady-apples-recipe/