Oct 20, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Five Things Friday
Ah, the sounds of baseball and crunchy leaves. The feel of a cool breeze and warm coffees. The taste of chestnuts, roasted apples, pumpkin anything . . . What have I missed? It’s the most wonderful time of the year, before the most wonderful time of the year. Am I right? I think I’m right.
Social media is already abuzz with changing weather, pre-holiday plans, and the color orange. I mean, who can resist? It’s like you just speak the word “autumn” and the Fall Fairies fly out and populate everything into a cozy dreamland.
One of my favorite benefits of this time of year (and I know I’m not alone, y’all) is soups. Ohsomany delicious, hearty, smooth, or chunky moments of hot bliss when the world pauses long enough for you take a sip or a spoonful of pretty much any flavor you want.
Some of my favorite restaurant soups include Olive Garden’s Gnocchi Soup, Marie Callendar’s Potato Cheese Soup, and Mamnoon’s Red Lentil Soup. But I can’t always fly to Seattle when I’m craving some warm goodness, so I turn to my own kitchen more often this time of year.
Whether it’s slow cooker style or stove top friendly, soup is both a main entree or a side dish. Don’t believe me? Try any of these for lunch, dinner, or even a late night snack. Want the recipes? Click on the title links.
- Cheesy Potato Soup. You can make this hearty dish with large or small cuts of potatoes and vegetables. It’s up to you. I like to mix up the cheeses now and then. Gruyere adds a nice flavor, smoked Parmesan too.
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Cheesy Potato Soup
- Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup. This is a recent addition to my recipe planner. It’s easily modified for sweetness and texture, by adding more or less cream and spices, and by pureeing your vegetables before adding them into the soup.
Frankly, My Dear . . . Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup
- Homemade Chicken Soup. This is not only a great recipe for soup, it’s also a great starter for freezer broth to add to later soups and casseroles. It’s incredibly easy, aromatic, and the health benefits are amazing. Your momma always told you to eat your chicken soup, didn’t she?
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Chicken Stock and Soup
- Chicken Soup with Rice. So, this is a little cheater recipe, using most of #3 above. But that’s the beauty of soups! Y’all can fix them to your own, uh, tastes. [See what I did there?]
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Chicken Soup With Rice
- Baked Potato Soup. This reminds me of the egg gravy recipe I’ve loved since, well, forever. Add some green onion and bacon and potato skins. Hulloh! Deliciously perfect. I mean it. Try it. It’s *awesome*.
Baked Potato Soup, from Laughter is Louder with Good Food Cookbook
I’m sure within the week I’ll have more wonderful soup recipes ready to share. How ’bout you?
TWEET THIS: Autumn means soups. What are your favorite flavors? @MollyJoRealy #foodie #flavors
With a a bowlful of warmth and a heart full of joy,
Happy eating!
~Molly Jo
And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!
Aug 14, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @RealMojo68
Frankly, My Dear . . . : What’s on My Plate?
What’s on my plate this week? Well, y’all voted and results are 2-to-1 in favor of Andouille Jambalaya.
Just kidding! You already know what’s on my plate, because you voted for potato chip casserole!
Now, the original version is found in The Unemployment Cookbook, but as you can probably tell by the photo above, BEE The Zebra is not about to let Nippers have all the redoux fun.
Potato Chip Casserole: Five Ingredients
BEE likes to get crazy creative in the kitchen (say that five times fast!), and he also likes to add some sass to everything he touches. Of course he does, he’s a dazzling Zebra, after all.
So of course regular chips and regular meat wouldn’t do for his culinary contribution. Why, he practically leapt out of my bag at the store when he saw these on the shelves:
BEE spicy and sassy!
Hulloh! Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue chips and buffalo sauce chicken? It’s a match made south of the Mason-Dixon Line, yes? Oh, honey, I cannot begin to tell you the mouth watering that happened before we even started cooking.
What’s that? You want the full recipe? Say no more. BEE, if you please:
The Unemployment Cookbook: Potato Chip Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 bag (8 to 12 oz.) potato chips, crushed like little nuts under your hoof
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted. That means don't add anything to it.
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted. Nothing but 100% strength, here.
- 1/2 soup can full of moo juice. That's milk, remember?
- 1 can (10 to 12 oz.) tuna or chicken, drained.
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together like a herd in a stampede. Just not so vigorously it spills over.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
3.1
https://franklymydearmojo.com/2017/08/14/the-unemployment-cookbook-potato-chip-casserole/ (c) 2012 Frankly, My Dear... New Inklings Press
A few helpful tips for y’all:
- If you buy a smaller bag of chips, use a smaller can of meat and only one can of soup.
- BEE likes to get the combo soup- chicken and mushroom in one can. Hey, works for me!
- I mix in a larger bowl then transfer to a smaller baking dish.
- You can sprinkle with cheese or jalepenos. Or both!
The next recipe poll will post next week, so be sure to follow Molly Jo Realy on Facebook for your chance to vote!
How do you change up your family favorite recipes?
TWEET THIS: BEE the Zebra presents Buffalo Chicken Potato Chip Casserole. @RealMojo68 #recipe #amcooking #unemploymentcookbook
Frankly, My Dear . . .: Buffalo Chicken Potato Chip Casserole
With a hungry zebra and a tasty buffalo,
Happy eating!
~Molly Jo
And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!
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Jul 27, 2017 |
by Molly Jo Realy @RealMojo68
Nippers in the Kitchen
So, there’s this cookbook on my shelf and a poll on Facebook . . .
Last week y’all voted, and Hamburger Pie won the election!
This has always been one of my favorite meals since I was young. It’s hearty, savory, and just look at all those mashed potatoes!
Now, you can use fresh ingredients if you want to. My schedule requires something just a little easier, so I opt for the ready-to-use product.
Hamburger Pie: Seven Easy Ingredients
Have I shared this with you before? Well, it’s worth another helping, dontcha think?
Seven ingredients. Six steps. One big serving of delicious!
And, look! You can even print the recipe!
The Unemployment Cookbook: Hamburger Pie
Ingredients
- 1 eye-watering medium onion, diced
- 1 lb ground cow
- 1 can (14 oz) French style cut green beans, drained. Because Arctic beans are just too cold.
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup. Chicken, now. Not peacock or other foul fowl.
- 1 soup can of cow juice (That would be milk).
- 1 box (8 servings) instant mashed potatoes. Abacadabra!
- 1 egg. Again, from a chicken. Nothing else.
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef and onion together. They're in a heated relationship.
- Spoon into 2-qt baking dish. Time to get comfy!
- Cover with green beans. Layers are so stylish this time of year.
- Mix together soup and milk. Pour over green beans. Time to cool things down a little, folks!
- Prepare instant mashed potatoes per package instructions. Take out the day's frustrations and beat in an egg.
- Spread on top of casserole. Apologize to the potatoes for the egg beating and spread them nicely.
- Bake uncovered 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
3.1
https://franklymydearmojo.com/2017/07/27/the-unemployment-cookbook-hamburger-pie-2/ (c) 2012 Frankly, My Dear... New Inklings Press
I like this meal best the next day after it’s firmed up a bit. Don’t get me wrong, hot and fresh is, well, hot and fresh. But warmed up stove top or in the microwave the next day, it still retains the flavor with less liquid.
The next recipe poll will be posted in a few days, so stay hungry. I mean, stay tuned!
What’s that? Y’all want more? Well come on home, honey. You know I’ve got food on the table for you.
You can find the basic version of this and many more table-tempting recipes in The Unemployment Cookbook, available through New Inklings Press. But for a healthy serving of snark, come on back to this table.
TWEET THIS: Frankly, My Dear . . . : The Unemployment Cookbook: Hamburger Pie. @RealMojo68 #amcooking #unemploymentcookbook
Frankly, My Dear . . . Hamburger Pie
And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!
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Oct 9, 2015 |
Pumpkin Soup
October is a beautiful month, isn’t it? Full of crisp air, sweaters out of storage, leaves changing colors and crunching under your feet. The start of the holiday season before the holiday rush. I think October is my favorite month.
On Facebook, I asked “What are some of your favorite fall/harvest moments?” Each reply was unique to the individual commenter, but there was one running theme: pumpkin. It seems pumpkin everything is what gets people most excited about October.
The Pumpkin Grinch
Each year I share this photo. It was taken by a friend about ten years ago. We were at the local pumpkin patch when I spotted this pumpkin. It looks so much like the Grinch to me. I asked suggested begged my friend to photograph it for posterity. A much better way of keeping it than, say, buying the pumpkin only to toss it out in three weeks or less, don’t you think?
As I was going through the blog last weekend, working to make it a better experience for both you as a reader and myself as the writer [read Under the Hood], I realized I’d not posted many articles on food for quite some time. No recipes, no foodie photos. No reasons to salivate or say “I want to try that!” And I’m supposed to be a foodie person.
It’s also been too long since I’ve posted a Five Things Friday as well. No connecting of the dots between A, B, C . . . you get the picture.
What’s This Girl to do? Why, combine it all together, y’all! So welcome back, October. Welcome back, Food. Welcome back, Five Things Friday.
Let’s get this post started.
- Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Creme Frappuccino. Oh, come on. You know you saw that one coming. I may as well get it over with right away. The first week of September ushers us into that wonderful realm of cinnamon, spice, nutmeg, and that must-be-in-everything-from-now-until-Valentine’s-Day ingredient, pumpkin.
Autumn Bliss
Now . . . who’s not a fan of Starbuck’s? I can’t even talk to you if you’ve raised your hand.
- Soups. Now is the time of year when the slow cooker and Dutch oven live outside the cabinets. They’ll take up residency on the stove top and counter, and stay there until January. Homes everywhere will be filled with wonderful aromas, not-so-quick but definitely easy concoctions of broth, creams, and one-pot meals.
Homemade chicken soup . . . Good for the body and the soul.
I love boiling a whole chicken with added herbs and seasonings to make freezable broth and stock. The only part I throw away are the bones and skin.
- Adult beverages. Please. I’m an adult. I find no shame in admitting I’m a fan of adult beverages. This time of year, I’m all about the pumpkin beer. Am I right? That crisp, dry flavor deserves to be imbibed with something special. Like a pumpkin muffin. Or a bowl of chili. Or a breath of autumn air. And let’s not forget my new holiday classic: The Chocolate Martini.
Chocolate Martini made with Scharffen Berger Chocolate.
Remember when I won that Scharffen Berger gift basket a few years ago? And that beautiful coffee table book came with it? In those magical pages I discovered this magical recipe. My holidays are oh-so-much happier now.
- Casey’s Cupcakes. Even though It’s been over a year since I’ve visited my beloved Riverside and my most favorite place, The Mission Inn, I still long for Casey’s most delicious treats. If you’re in Southern California between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, I highly recommend you visit The Festival of Lights and indulge in a little holiday treat from Casey’s.
Glamorous Gingerbread at Casey’s Cupcakes
At any time of year, it’s an experience you’ll savor. (See what I did there?)
- And of course, last but not least, good for any day of the year, could there be anything better for This Southern Girl At Heart than a huge gulp of sweet tea?
Sweet Tea at Blue Ridge
It refreshes my body, it renews my soul. It reminds me of Blue Ridge and my trip to North Carolina. The writers’ conference. The connections. The beauty. We all need a little more sweetness in our lives, yah? Go on. Take a sip. You’ll be glad you did.
BONUS: To celebrate this unofficial beginning of the holidays, and the return of Five Things Friday with this Foodie Post, today only The Unemployment Cookbook Kindle edition is available for free download. Just click through the photo below to get yours.
The Unemployment Cookbook, Kindle edition
Happy start to the holidays. Happy eating.
Now it’s your turn. Leave a comment and tell me: What are some of your favorite foods this time of year?
TWEET THIS: Frankly, My Dear . . . #FiveThingsFriday. What are your favorite foods this time of year? #pumpkineverything @realmojo68
TWEET THIS: Frankly, My Dear . . . #FiveThingsFriday The #Foodie Post. #October is a beautiful month, isn’t it? @realmojo68
TWEET THIS: Frankly, My Dear . . . #Starbucks #Pumpkinbeer #cupcakes A few of my favorite things. #FiveThingsFriday @realmojo68
And Frankly, My Dear . . . that’s all she wrote!
Do you have a copy of The Unemployment Cookbook? Would you consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads? That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Jul 1, 2012 |
I love chicken soup. I love chicken soup plain. I love chicken soup with noodles. But mostly, I love chicken soup with rice.
So after I made my chicken stock, I knew exactly what my first recipe was going to be. Starting with the base recipe in yesterday’s post, today I made Chicken Soup With Rice.
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
2 cups vegetable solids
2 cups shredded chicken
1 cup rice
I heated the ingredients on medium heat for five minutes.
And the result is 8 cups of a hearty, delicious soup. I froze 4 cups for later, and put 4 cups in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch. I just need to reheat on the stove or in the microwave and serve with either a salad or bread or both.
There’s plenty… who’s coming to dinner?
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
