Category: Creative Content

I love grits on a cold day… I actually love grits any time. However, shrimp with grits is pure love on a plate in my opinion.

So for the grits, I used Quaker quick grits, but any brand or type of grits can be substituted.

As for the shrimp, in a pan, I sauté baby Bella mushrooms and chopped green onion in butter. After 5 minutes I added the shrimp (mine were tiger scanpi but any size uncooked shrimp will do) which were seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Pour on top of grits. Very simple.

This is not something I make or eat often, but sometimes you gotta treat yourself, so this morning was a very pleasant morning for me.

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Last night I decided to make buttermilk fried chicken and Italian Pasta bake with garlic butter cresents.

The part of the chicken that I used was chicken legs, but any part of the chicken can be used. I soaked them in buttermilk with salt, pepper, and garlic powder for about 2 to 3 hours. During this time, I prep for the pasta bake.

For the Pasta bake, I used elbow noodles, boil them til they were at the beginning stages of al dente. Drain them and rinse with cold water until they are cool and are no longer cooking from the heat and set them aside.

In a pan, I sauteed one package of italian sausage until done.

I then chopped 1 clove of elephant garlic and 1 shallot and sautee them in olive oil until soft in the same pan as the sausage. I then sliced baby bella mushrooms and added them to the garlic and shallot. I then chopped 8 tomatoes and then added them to a pan along with fresh rosemary, oregano, and sage, salt and pepper. Once they began to cooking and breakdown, I added a bit of sugar and a bit of chardonay wine. I let simmer. Making your own sauces is easy and alot healthier because there are no preservatives or additives.

Once the sauce is done, I used a big mixing bowl and added the pasta, and sauage and 2 of the cheeses (fontina cubed, and jarlsberg shreded) and mixed togetheer. I then added the sauces and mixed, then added to a baking dish with slices of fresh mozzeralla cheese on top and baked in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes on 350 degrees.

While that is cooking, in a plastic storage bag, add flour and seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Heat canola and corn oil in a deep fryer or frying pan; add several pieces of chicken to the flour mixture and cover completely and then fry in oil until done.

The cresent rolls were store bought, but I added a butter garlic mixture to the inside before I rolled them. They only take 10 to 15 minutes to bake, so put them in the oven the last 15 minutes of the pasta baking time.

Dinner was great, and the process of making the sauce took some time, but it was quite relaxing to me. My family enjoyed in immensely.

To go along with my loving fall spices, I also made cookies with these theme ingredients. I don’t bake a lot of cokkies, but for this I decided to go for it. I made everything from scratch and I made there type of cookies. The first was oatmeal cookies with raisins and dried apples, chocolate chip cookies, and “fall cookies”.

For the oatmeal cookies, I used a traditional recipes, but I added raisins and chopped dried apples. I also added allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg to them. Very, very good, and healthy.

My kids are allegic to chocolate, but my husband loves chocolate, so of course I had to make him traditional chocolate chip cookies.

For my fall cookies, I made a sugar cookie dough, but added cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. The smell so good and taste even better.

I made cookies to last quite a while, I wonder if cookies can be frozen. 😉

I absolutely love fall because the food during this time of year is filled with fall spices like cinnamon, allspice, anise, cloves and nutmeg. Yesterday, my house was filled with these warm smells of fall.

For dinner, I made a pork roast seasoned with these spices. I cut deep slits into the roast and put slices of garlic cloves in them. I then seasoned the roast with allspice, ground cloves, anise seeds and a little bit of salt and pepper. I added water to the bottom of the pan and baked in a 370 degree oven for 3 and a half hours (may have to add extra water during the 3 hours). After this time, I cubed an apple and added it to the pan and added dark brown sugar in the juice made by the roast, as well as packed some on the top of the roast and covered with foil and let cook for another hour, or until completely cooked through.

To go with the pork roast, I stir-fried asian vegetables, (frozen fresh: carrots, baby corn, and broccoli) in a wok with olive oil. When the veggies were cooked, I added soy sauce and a little sugar. I then took about a teaspoon of flour and mixed it with warm water and then added the mixture to the sauce in the wok to thicken.

I also made a box of rice pilaf, which my family loves as an additional side.

Chicken, Chicken and more Chicken. I really get sick of chicken, but it is fairly in expensive, and one can do a lot with chicken. Thus, last night I decided to make sweet and sour chicken with white rice and corn.

The chicken I used were thighs and legs. I put them in a baking pan and added white vinger and lemon juice, this is the sour.
Then I put a thin layer of dark brown sugar on both sides of the chicken, this is the sweet. I leave skin side up when I am baking. Bake until cooked through.

With the chicken, I made some instant white rice seasoned with a bit of Kosher salt and butter and corn (leftovers from the previous night).

This chicken recipe was perfect for my kids. My youngest daughter, who will be 3 in a week, is going through her picky stage, and only eats what she wants. This I had no problem getting her to eat. She left not a drop of chicken on her plate. 😉

Something simple for dinner last night, Steak in gravy, Mashed Potatoes and corn. Simple is good.

The steaks were thinly sliced ribeye that I seasoned with pepper, garlic powder and seasoning salt and then pan seared in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes, then removed them.

I then made gravy in the same pan by adding green onions, flour and water. When the gravy was thick, I returned the meat.

As for the potatoes, I made them from scratch this time, using red potatoes and fingerling potatoes. I like fingerlings because they have a unique flavor. I boiled the potatoes until they were soft. And then I put them in the food process, skin and all with butter, a little milk, kosher sea salt and pepper; blended til smooth.

The corn was nothing special, just frozen corn that could be steamed in the bag. I added a pinch of salt and a pad of butter and dinner was served. Simple steak in gravy and Potatoes Mashed, with corn.

A lot of people are probably familiar with tripe in a Mexican dish called Menudo (soup). However, I grew up eating tripe for breakfast fried with grits. So good… But it is a lengthy process.

Tripe is tough and must be boiled. So I boiled tripe in water, added a bit of white vinger, seasoning salt, pepper and garlic powder to the water, as-well-as a medium onion cut in quarters. Let boil on medium heat for 3 hours or until fork tender.

After boiling, remove from water and cut up in steak-like pieces.

Once they are cut up, season tripe with seasoning salt, pepper and garlic and then set aside and let cool.
one egg beaten is needed as well as flour.
When ready to fry, added an inch of canola oil to a frying pan and heat on med-hi heat.
added piece of tripe to beaten egg and cover and then move it to the flour and cover completely. Once the oil is hot, place battered tripe in oil and fry until golden brown.

Once they are done, transfer to paper towel and let oil drain off, sprinkle with a little salt.

Fried tripe can be eaten as is, or with grits, or can be made into a sandwich, with a little hot sauce…very versatile.

Yesterday was Spaghetti night. I love making it because it last for up to three days, sometime more.

Typically when I make my Spaghetti, I make a meat sauce with ground beef, but I decided to do something different this time and made Lamb meatball. So I took ground lamb, added an egg, seasoning salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, bread crumbs and percorino cheese.

After I rolled the meatballs I baked them until they were done.

For the sauce, I used two cans of Del Monte sauce, one mushroom one tomato and basil. Can sauce tends to be a little watery, so I used a trick my grandmother uses, I grated 2 large carrot (fine grated) and added them to the sauce. Additionally, I added sugar to my sauce because I tend to be a bit sensitive to the acid in the tomatoes, so sugar helps cut the acid. I also added Parmesan cheese to the sauce.

I used whole wheat spaghetti for this dish. It tastes no different, but it is a healthier choice.

The dish turned out very well.