Southwest Chicken in a Crock Pot

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Despite the fact that it is still hot, it is September which means cool weather and sweaters are around the corner, and I am kind of ready for it.  Granted, it will probably be 6-8 weeks before that happens in Charleston, but something about school being back in session and the hope of fall makes me want to pull out the crock pot and cook easy hearty meals.  Wednesday is fairly busy at our house- Walker gets home from school, does his homework, has an hour or so of down time and then heads to football practice at 5:30. Football is supposed to be over at 7:00 pm but it is usually more like 7:15-7:20 and then we rush home on our bikes for Walker’s piano lesson at 7:15.  We were late last night.  By the time piano is over it is very close to 8:00, and Walker is starving.  Fortunately, yesterday I pulled out the crock pot and made southwest style chicken- microwaved some minute rice (please don’t judge!!)- cooked up some green beans, and dinner was on the table by 8:02.  I was pretty pleased with this effort, and I had forgotten the ease of crock pot dinners- throw everything in the pot- turn it on, and it is done 4 or 5 hours later, and it is really delicious.  So, here is my Southwest Chicken recipe.  Basically, you are making soup in the crock pot with chicken breasts thrown in. I got the southwest soup recipe from www.tasteofhome.com, which I just love!

Southwest Chicken in a Crock Pot:

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups water

2 8oz cans tomato sauce

1 8oz can kidney beans drained and rinsed

1 can chicken broth

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup salsa

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

Directions:

Put chicken in the crock pot- cover with the rest of the ingredients and stir.  Turn the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours.  Serve over rice.  Yummy!

 

 

Pimento Cheese Part 2 (and Happy Start of College Football Season Day!)

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It is a good thing I like cheese so much- well maybe it isn’t, but the fact is I do, and since I have made so many batches of pimento cheese in the last week, I guess it is a good thing.  To start right off, pimento cheese made with pepper jack is awesome.  My first batch was very simple- 2 cups of shredded pepper jack cheese, 6 tablespoons of Duke’s mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and a dash of chili pepper.  This one really can’t even be called pimento cheese since I didn’t even use pimentos.  I thought the “pepper” in the pepper jack might be enough, but it wasn’t.  The second batch was pretty much the same, except I added 2 tablespoons of pimentos.  This one had more taste, but I wasn’t happy just yet.  So the third batch, thanks to Frances’s suggestion, I added 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce- this was awesome, except it still didn’t have the color I was hoping for, so finally, for the fourth batch, I used 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, once cup of pepper jack cheese, 6 tablespoons of mayonnaise, salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons of pimentos, and 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.  This recipe is the business!  Now, I am sure that you all know that today is the start of the college football season, and in South Carolina or maybe the South in general, this day for a lot of people is maybe better than Christmas.  It is actually shocking that this is not a holiday  The South Carolina Gamecocks are playing the Vanderbilt Commodores this evening, and we are going of course to a party at a friend’s house to celebrate this wonderful day.

Actually, I should be more accurate- the boys will be watching the game while my wonderful girlfriends and I will have forgotten the game is on and be chatting and toasting to it, almost being Friday.  And I feel this is the perfect place to test my new recipe, although after four batches and a lot of effort, I really think the party should be about my pimento cheese as opposed to football.  I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend and Go Gamecocks!

Parasailing and Pimento Cheese (Part 1)

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Walker had his first day of school yesterday- except that it was only for one hour.  I am not really sure the point of a one-hour day, but I guess it eased him into it.  However, I had to then think of something else for us to do for the rest of the day.  Driving back over the bridge from running an errand, I saw a boat pulling para-sailors in the harbor, and just like that, I had my idea for the day.  I went home and called Tidal Wave Water Sports (www.tidalwavewatersports.com), and two hours later, Walker and I were in a boat headed out to parasail.  It was awesome and not really scary at all (but I was really happy to be back on solid ground when we were done).  I am not sure what the correlation between the two is, but something about seeing the para sailors in the harbor and then doing it myself made me think of a Garden & Gun post on Facebook I saw the other day about pimento cheese and the Lee Brothers.  The post talked about pimento cheese purists who will only use shredded cheddar cheese, Dukes, and jarred pimentos, and anything else isn’t pimento cheese.  Well, the Lee Brothers (I love them!) put a spin on this classic using Swiss cheese and banana peppers.  Highly interesting, and here is the recipe:

Pimento Cheese

10 oz. Swiss cheese, finely grated
One 12-oz. jar pickled banana peppers (hot if available) drained and minced
3 tbs. sour cream
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbs. chives minced (approx. 1/6 bunch)
2 tbs. capers (soaked in fresh water for 1 minute, then drained)

Directions

Mix all ingredients together with a spatula until evenly blended.  Refrigerate, if possible, for 2 hours or overnight.  Serve in a bowl with a good supply of crackers.

All of this got me thinking- well, if you can use Swiss cheese, why couldn’t you use my favorite pepper jack cheese?  And I think that you could, and then I started thinking that you could use this new mixture in the pimento cheese popovers recipe that is so phenomenal (all of this thinking and random associations between this and the para sailing occurred around 3am in a semi dream/tossing and turning state, and all of this would probably make much more sense if I had written it all down last night when it seemed really genius).  So, I am going to try it!  I am going to use Duke’s Mayonnaise Pimento Cheese recipe but substitute pepper jack cheese for cheddar, and if that all turns out to be as delicious as I think it will, I will then make the Pimento Cheese Popovers with the new pepper jack concoction.  And the creating and testing of all of that will be Part 2 (no more para sailing for a while).  If you have any suggestions or helpful hints- they would be much appreciated!!

Tomato for Dessert? Tomato Tart Tatin Might Change Your Mind

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I went to a dinner party a while ago at a good friend’s house.  When she called to invite us, she immediately said, “I know you don’t like tomatoes, but I am making Tomato Tart Tatin for dessert, and you have to try it because I really think you will love it.” I realize that I need to give tomatoes another try since my dislike of them stems from a long ago childhood memory of my aunt’s wedding weekend.  Her soon to be niece was my age (we were 4 or 5 at the time), and we were going to be flower girls together, and so my mother and aunt arranged a pool play date for her soon to be niece and myself.  My co-flower girl was not that strong of a swimmer at the time and apparently I was swinging on a towel bar and kicked her (by accident!!)  into the pool – the shallow end- where she could touch- and she was fine.  But of course my mother, aunt and her mother all jumped into the pool fully clothed to help her out, and I was not the most popular person at the party.  After everything quieted down, they served tomato sandwiches for lunch.  My mother knowing that I was a particularly picky eater gave me the look that saying anything about not liking the sandwiches was not an option.  I think I ate 4 or 5 triangles of tomato sandwich saying they were the best thing ever- hoping that my mother would not be too mad at me on the car ride home.  Anyway- I survived and my aunt’s wedding was spectacular, and I have nothing but amazing memories of it except for swearing off tomatoes from then on.  I love tomato sauce and ketchup and really all variations of tomatoes except for eating them in their original form.  Until my friend’s dinner party.  I don’t remember what she cooked for dinner except that I am sure it was fabulous, but the Tomato Tart Tatin was really divine.  As my friend said, “I often forget my favorite vegetable is a fruit.”  The tart was so sweet and delicious and such an unusual but spectacular choice to finish off a dinner party.  She got the recipe from Bon Appetit at http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/08/tomato_tarte_tatin.  So unique and so wonderful!!

Tomato Tart Tatin

Ingredients:

1 3/4 pounds plum tomatoes (8 large)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed, corners cut off to make very rough 9- to 10-inch round
Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Bring large saucepan of water to boil. Cut shallow X in bottom of each tomato. Add 4 tomatoes to boiling water. Blanch tomatoes just until skins at X begin to peel back, 15 to 30 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer blanched tomatoes to bowl of ice water to cool quickly. Repeat with remaining tomatoes. Peel tomatoes. Cut out cores, halve lengthwise, and remove seeds.
Spread butter over bottom of 91/2-inch-diameter, 2- to 3-inch-deep ovenproof skillet (preferably cast-iron). Sprinkle 3/4 cup sugar over butter. Arrange tomato halves, rounded side down and close together, in concentric circles in skillet to fill completely.
Place skillet over medium heat. Cook until sugar and butter are reduced to thickly bubbling, deep amber syrup (about 1/4 inch deep in bottom of skillet), moving tomatoes occasionally to prevent burning, about 25 minutes. Remove skillet from heat. Immediately drizzle vanilla over tomatoes. Top with pastry round. Using knife, tuck in edges of pastry. Cut 2 or 3 small slits in pastry. Place skillet in oven and bake tart until pastry is deep golden brown, about 24 minutes.
Cool tart in skillet 10 minutes. Cut around sides of skillet to loosen pastry. Place large platter over skillet. Using oven mitts as aid, hold skillet and platter firmly together and invert, allowing tart to settle onto platter. Carefully lift off skillet. Rearrange any tomato halves that may have become dislodged.
Serve tart warm or at room temperature with whipped cream.

She Crab Soup- A Charleston Classic

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We are finally back in Charleston and are not going anywhere for a long time.  It has definitely been a summer full of great travel.  Trying to get back into a routine with Walker before he starts school in a couple of weeks, I asked him what he wanted for dinner. I was expecting the usual answer of pasta with pesto sauce of vodka sauce or if he was trying to be sneaky an answer of pizza.  His answer, “Umm, you know I would really like some crab of some sort.”  This was a little surprising.  I know that Walker loves mussels and oysters and lobster, but he has never requested this for dinner unless we are at a restaurant because he knows that I am allergic to shellfish.  I feel like I am depriving him of great seafood meals because mainly I don’t like seafood, and a little because of my allergy.  I have never been officially tested for a shellfish allergy, but one time I ate some shrimp and my eyes swelled closed, and since I don’t like seafood anyway, this self-diagnosed allergy seems to work out rather well for me.  In realizing I am depriving Walker, I also realized that I never put any recipes with shellfish up on this blog, so while I might not eat them, there are still some fantastic dishes to be shared.  And She Crab Soup is definitely one of them.  I found this great recipe for it in an old copy of Southern Living.  Hope it is tasty!

She Crab Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 medium onion, diced (1 cup)
2 pounds fresh crab meat, drained and picked
1 quart whipping cream
1 quart half-and-half
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
Dry sherry (optional)

Directions:

Melt butter in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat; add celery and onions and saute for 5 minutes or until tender.  Add crab meat and next 4 ingredients; cook over medium heat stirring often until thoroughly heated.
Stir together cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water;  stir in 2 tablespoons of hot soup.  Stir cornstarch mixture and salt into soup; cook 5-7 minutes until thickened stirring often.  Top each serving with 1 teaspoon of sherry if desired.

An Art Show, Cold Springs, and Cold Water Chocolate Cake

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I am continually amazed at how my 9 year old son Walker has no fear.  No fear of jumping off 30 foot cliffs into raging water, no fear of being on a 30 foot cliff above raging water, no fear of cold water.  I am afraid of all of those things.  We have been going on a lot of hikes to different swimming holes this past week up in the mountains, and while I wear my bathing suit to all of them, getting in the water really just doesn’t happen.  Finally, we were at Babel Tower on a group hike where the picture to the left was taken, and Walker was begging me to go in.  There were about 40 people on this hike, most of whom I knew, but I stood on the edge of a 5 foot jump with a line of children behind me waiting to go, and I couldn’t do it.  I am not sure if it was the fear of jumping or the cold water, but I could not throw myself off of that terrifying cliff.  I did spot a ledge just about two feet off the water and climbed down to that one and finally jumped.  The water was freezing and the whole experience was just not that fun, but Walker, of course, made it all worth it by running up to me after I got out of the water, “I am so proud of you Mommy!” And then he went onto this jump. (My brother was with him and there were lots of other braver adults supervising just so you all don’t think I am a completely reckless mother.)  All of this cold mountain water got me thinking about using cold water in a recipe, so I googled “cold water cake” and found this great recipe on www.cooks.com for Cold Water Chocolate Cake.  I can’t think of anything better than chocolate cake after freezing water and a long hike!  The recipe is at the bottom.

I have to talk about the art show that we went to the other night.  Two wonderful family friends set up an art showfor the community at the Pavilion the other night, and I was blown away by their talents.  Bo is an amazing painter who  had pieces of her farm animals on display.  They were so beautiful and such interesting pieces.  Murray is the most talented quilter I have ever seen.  I have one piece of hers that I truly cherish.  Her quilts look like paintings or photographs of fantastic mountain scenes.  Here is an example of a piece she had in the show.  I am utterly in awe of her talent.  You can find more about her at her website  http://www.murrayjohnstonartquilts.com/.

We only have a few days left in the mountains and then back to Charleston where hopefully they have fixed the AC.  I can’t believe it is August already and school starts in two weeks.  Please send in any back to school favorite recipes or traditions- would love to post them!!

Cold Water Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cups cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
3/4 cups oil
2 cups very cold water

 

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk or fork. Pour into a 9 x 13-inch greased baking pan.  Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes and frost with your favorite fudge frosting.

Mining for Gems and Cuban Bingo

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Being back in Charleston for a week in extreme heat was enough, so we are back in the mountains.  Walker finally got back from all of his travels, and we picked him up at the Charlotte airport on Monday on the way up to Linville.  Waking up Tuesday morning to light rain and 58 degrees was such a welcome relief especially since our AC went out again Sunday night.  Since hiking didn’t seem to be an option, we decided to go gem mining.  I had gone once as a child and had the best memories of it, and I couldn’t wait to take Walker.  My brother and Corby came along with us as well.  It was just as good as I remembered, and Walker loved it.  For those of you who have not gone gemming, you get a big bucket of dirt and scoop the dirt into a screen bottom pan- they have little troughs of running water that you put the pan into to rinse the dirt through the bottom and see if there are any gems left.  Here is a picture of all the gems we found with their descriptions.  If you are in the mountains and anywhere near a gem mine and are looking for a great activity with kids- this is it.  And that would have been the best activity we did on Tuesday, except when we got back from gemming, there was Cuban Bingo night at the camp- which, just like gemming, is fun for everyone!  I should explain- it was not Cuban Bingo- the dinner they served was Cuban themed and then bingo followed.   Walker’s school serves Cuban sandwiches every once and a while for lunch, and he gets so excited those days because they are so good.  The recipe from Alton Brown of  the Food Network for Cuban Sandwiches is at the bottom- they are delicious!  The whole evening was so fun.   Just as an aside, I have been coming to bingo in Linville off and on for my whole life, and I have never ever won.  It is incredibly frustrating.  Walker knows this so of course he wanted us all to buy 10 bingo cards each so we could have a better chance of winning- we finally talked him down to 12 cards for the table- mainly because I only had $24.  Walker had 5 cards, I had 5 cards and Corby had 2.  My brother finally joined in the fun and bought 3 cards for himself.  The first game was stand up bingo- basically if they call a number you have on your card you sit down and the last person standing wins.  It is the only bingo game to reward a really terrible card.  Just my luck, it comes down to me and one other person, and they called B5 and I lost, and my cards proved to be pretty miserable from then on.  However, Walker won a game and Corby won the jackpot which was just about the most exciting thing EVER.  So much fun!  Well, it is a beautiful day today, and a hike and tennis are in the future.  Stay tuned for more adventures and yummy food from Linville.

Cuban Sandwich:

Ingredients

4 hoagie rolls

2 tablespoons yellow mustard

1/4 pound baked ham, thinly sliced

1/4 pound roast pork, thinly sliced

1/4 pound provolone cheese, thinly sliced

10 thin dill pickle slices, approximately 2 whole pickles

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions

Slice the bread horizontally in half, leaving 1 edge intact. Lay the bread open and spread each side with the mustard. Divide the ingredients evenly among the slices of roll. Start with the ham followed by the pork, cheese, and dill pickles. Bring the tops and bottoms together.

Heat your panini maker or sandwich press. Butter each side of the press. Place the sandwiches inside, press down and grill until the cheese is melted and the bread is flat and browned, approximately 10 minutes. If you don’t have a sandwich press, you can heat 6 fireplace bricks wrapped in foil, in a 500 degrees F oven for 1 hour and then press the sandwich between them for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

 

Pink Lemonade Pie

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We got back from our month in the mountains on Saturday evening.  When we left Twilight on Saturday morning at 6:30 am, it was 56 degrees.  When we arrived in Charleston 14 hours and 40 minutes later at just after 9 pm, it was 86 degrees.  We had only been gone for 30 days, but that heat and humidity hit me something fierce.  I know I should be more used to it, but holy smokes Batman- it is hot down here.  We had such fabulous weather in the Catskills that I am sure the atmosphere will cooperate, and cool fall weather is just around the corner 🙂 Fortunately, one of my best girlfriends has a place very close by with a pool, and she has invited a few of us over tomorrow night for some pool/girl time.  To show my wondrous appreciation for her very nice cold relaxing pool, I thought I should bring something special to eat.  But then I thought about standing in the kitchen with the oven on and cooking and chopping and sweating, and I got so upset at my friend for inviting me to her pool, but then I thought about the pool again and how nice it is, and realized how ridiculous I was being.  So instead of cooking, I found a super awesome, super easy recipe for Pink Lemonade Pie that should be a perfect pairing with a frosty cold beverage, wonderful friends, and a great pool.  By the way, I love my friend, and if she wanted me to slave away in the kitchen, I would, but I think she will be very happy with this instead!

Pink Lemonade Pie

Ingredients:

1  can sweetened condensed milk
1  can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
1  container Cool Whip (thawed)
2 prepared graham cracker crusts

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together sweetened condensed milk and lemonade concentrate. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into pie crusts. Refrigerate until completely chilled.

How easy is that!!

 

Please Shoo-Fly Pie

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I went for my last hike up High Peak yesterday.  High Peak is actually the 22nd highest peak in the Catskills but because of its profile or where it sits, it looks like the highest peak- hence the name.  Anyway, the great thing about the hike is that I can actually walk out the door and walk to the trail head, and it is a very tough but not too long great workout.  I was pretty excited to get out into the woods and enjoy the peace and quiet.  It was not quiet though.  You know why?  I will tell you- the flies were so excruciatingly bad it was almost unbearable.  It is deer fly and horse fly season up here, and because of the very mild winter, it is one of the worst fly seasons ever.  I would rather take my chances with the bear who has been coming onto our porch at least once a week than deal with the flies.  I wish the ferocious beast Nemo would scare the flies away as well as he scares the bear away, but he is too busy sleeping.  In my  anger-induced delirium, I started thinking about Shoo-Fly Pie and what a great name it is (and of course, how delicious), and then I started thinking that maybe the flies would leave me alone if I was just a little more polite, so here is a great recipe for “Please Shoo-Fly Pie”.  We will see if it works when we go on our hike today- we are actually climbing the highest peak called Slide Mountain- wish me luck!

Please Shoo Fly Pie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, dissolve the soda in the molasses and stir until it foams. Sir in the boiling water and pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter into crumbs.

Pour 1/3 of the molasses mixture into the unbaked crust. Sprinkle 1/3 of the crumbs over the molasses mixture and continue alternating layers, finishing with the crumbs on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the crumbs and crust are golden.

Banana Pudding and BBQ

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This question may have been asked a million times, but it hadn’t occurred to me until recently- why is banana pudding always served as dessert at BBQ restaurants?  Not that I am complaining at all- I love banana pudding, it is one of my favorites.  It is such a staple at my favorite BBQ haunts that I have always taken it for granted, but we had a curious experience up in the Catskills pertaining to BBQ that got me interested in this question.  We were down in the small town of Phoenicia, at the bottom of the mountain, and we saw a BBQ stand.  Intrigued and thinking this might be a quick and easy thing to grab for dinner, we went to the stand to buy some BBQ to take home with us.  When Corby asked to buy 3 lbs of BBQ, the proprietor of the stand was incredibly confused and asked, “Do you want a 3 lb sandwich?”  “No, no- we just want to buy 3 lbs of BBQ- you know, in bulk.”  This did not actually help.  “In bulk? I don’t know what you mean,” our friendly salesman said.  When Corby then said, “You know- in bulk- so we can take it home… for dinner… later… We are from South Carolina,”  we just got completely blank stares.  “Well, do you at least have any banana pudding?” I asked- more stares.  Clearly, we were speaking different languages when it came to BBQ.  We laughed about this the whole way home, and I am sure they laughed about the crazies from South Carolina who wanted a 3lb BBQ sandwich for a long time, too.  So, needless to say, we will be waiting until we return south to get some BBQ- especially in bulk.  But I did start wondering why banana pudding is always served at BBQ.  After some googling, I haven’t found an answer.  It seems that bananas were imported (as they are not naturally found in the United States) from Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, etc, so it makes sense that they would be more abundant in the South.  Vanilla Wafers weren’t around until 1901-1902, and while they make banana pudding that much better, that is no explanation.  My explanation would be that some genius was eating BBQ and then had banana pudding for dessert and thought, “Now those are the two best things I have ever eaten and should always be together.”  I applaud that person and agree wholeheartedly.  Here is the original Nilla Wafer Banana Pudding recipe from Nabisco (http://www.nabiscoworld.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipe_id=55431), and if you have any other insights on this issue, please share!!

Banana Pudding

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup flour
 dash salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
45 NILLA Wafers, divided
5 bananas, sliced

Directions

MIX 1/2 cup sugar, flour and salt in top of double boiler. Blend in 3 egg yolks and milk. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water 10 to 12 min. or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
RESERVE 12 wafers for garnish. Spread small amount of custard onto bottom of 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Cover with layers of 1/3 each of the remaining wafers, bananas and remaining custard. Repeat layers 2 times.
BEAT egg whites on high speed of mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread over custard, sealing well to edge of dish.
BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until lightly browned. Cool slightly. Top with reserved wafers just before serving.