Burn Bourbon, Burn!

The sun is shining, and the crying lady from yesterday has disappeared.  With the help of a good night's rest and some dark chocolate, it's a brand new day in my world.  Not a moment too soon either I might add.  I've got company coming to town!

My MIL (mother-in-law) arrives today from the frozen land of Ohio, and lucky for everyone is north Texas...spring has returned!  She's been reading my blog, and she wants me to cook for her.  Did you hear that?  My cooking is being requested.  Look at that, barely 2 weeks into my cooking adventure, and I'm now a requested chef!  A bit much?  Yeah, probably.

Anyways, onto my latest recipe pick...I know I've got to redeem myself on this one after yesterday's disaster, so here goes..."Bourbon Orange Skillet BBQ Chicken with Cornbread Topper."  SO many things sound good in that title!  Cornbread?  Good.  BBQ Chicken?  Good.  Bourbon?  Real Good!  The best part is, I'm optimistic that I can successfully pull this one off & impress my MIL.

Possible pitfalls?  I can really only foresee one, and it's a doozy.  It's the part where I have to set the bourbon on fire.  Yup, on fire.  I've spent several moments trying to visualize this scenario.  Each time, it evokes 2 reactions from me: laughter & fear.  I'm hoping that through the laughter & fear, more important things like adrenaline & survival instincts will kick in.

I haven't purchased the ingredients yet, as I don't plan on making this one until tomorrow night.  So, I don't have any tips to offer you there, but if you're up for a wild suburban Friday night dinner, I'd love to ignite some bourbon with ya!

Bourbon Orange Skillet BBQ Chicken with Cornbread Topper

Who's That Crying Lady?

Ever been to the pediatrician and seen "that mom" crying her eyes out to the nurses?  She's sobbing & frustrated?  You see her?  Yeah, well today her name was ME.

I hope that gives you a glimpse into my afternoon.  LONGEST story short, I called to ask the nurse a question about my 1 year old, which turned into "get here as fast as you can," which turned into me waiting for an hour.  The crying began at the hour point.  I was tired, frustrated, and clueless.  If I needed to get my baby there in such a hurry, why was no one helping us?  I'll save you the drama and conclude that story with...the baby will be fine.

On the drive home I was like, "Um, yeah, there's NO WAY I'm cooking tonight."  Then I thought of my children's less than nutritional dinner from last night, and realized I needed to cook for the kids.  Cooking saved me.  Making this recipe was super easy, and in the process, I slowly began to relax.  Cooking this Philly mac n' cheese totally mellowed me out.  I must give a shout out to my "Yo Gabba Gabba" peeps for entertaining the kiddos.  They watched their show & I got a few moments to cook in peace and relax.  Thank you DJ Lance Rock!!

In making the actual recipe, I made half of it the right way and half of it just the mac n' cheese part.  I just really didn't see my kids going for the "philly" part.  Well, they gobbled that mac n' cheese-ish stuff right up.  I too chowed down on my philly & cheese.  Stress and hunger took over, and I probably ate about 8 generous bites before I realized something all too critical...it's heinous!  I'm super sorry to have picked such a brutal recipe.  Honestly there were a few minutes when it really sounded good, but I have to give it a big ol' thumbs down.

If anyone tried it, again, I'm sorry.  I'll try and do a better job on my next recipe pick.  Hope you all had a better day!  Until next time!!

Hey Spring, Where'd Ya Go?

I'm not sure what it's like where you are, but in north Texas...it's pretty much winter outside.  It's cold, damp, and dreary.  It's the kind of weather where I want to crawl under a quilt and watch a marathon of "The Real Housewives" of anywhere really or a Lifetime movie.  Either way, this weather totally sucks.  Having 2 small children about, there probably won't be much quilt time, so I guess I'll get through this weather funk with some comfort food.

Tuesdays are our crazy day, so there won't be any cooking getting done here today, but I'm already looking ahead to tomorrow.  My next culinary adventure will be Rach's "South Philly Cheesesteak Mac n' Cheese."  Truth be told, I don't really know how I feel about this one.  I love each of these items separately.  The idea of putting them together kind of makes my stomach turn, but nonetheless, with the weather this cruddy, it may take a double comfort food item to apply the appropriate comfort.

I went out this morning to grab the ingredients so I'd be all set for tomorrow.  Just to forewarn you, cavatappi pasta is hard to find!  I looked at probably 40 varieties of pasta, and some were pretty obsure, but no cavatappi for me.  I'm going to use Trottole...equally weird, but findable...and it kind of looks like the picture of cavatappi to me.  The other issue is the provolone.  Apparently provolone isn't shredder friendly. I just bought a pound of provolone from the deli, and I'm just going to tear it by hand and hope for the best.  In this weather, I'm SO not hunting down cheese!  This recipe will be what it will be, and hopefully what it will be is DELICIOUS!

If you're aren't interested in making this one along with me, I totally understand.  For those wanting to go down this road with me on this one, the recipe link is below.  Good luck & may spring find us again soon!

Rach's South Philly Cheesesteak Mac n' Cheese

Mighty Migas, Mighty Fun!

So I read that in spanish, "migas" means crumbs, but what I know, is that in Texas...it means PARTY!

My migas adventure began with a neighbor interested in sampling my miga attempt, and it turned into an impromptu brunch party.  I'm always up for a party, so I was thrilled!  I just made sure that everyone knew what they were getting into...a novice cook making a brand new recipe.  I realize that this added extra pressure, but it also added extra cooks!

How did Rach's "Mighty Migas" turn out?  In a word?  Wonderfully!  I bought loads of extra food in case they were a disaster, but a disaster they weren't.  How could I fail when I had a sous chef and an errand girl?  I should always get to cook under these conditions.  One sweet neighbor chopped everything that needed chopping, while another fetched everything that needed fetching.  She even made sure I took a mimosa break here & there.  Together, Rach's "Mighty Migas" were a success!

No issues? Well, of course, what's cooking without an issue or two?  I can happily report though, that I did find all of the right ingredients this time.  I had a hard time choosing between all the hot sauces sold in Texas, but picked a delish "hurtin' jalapeno" hot sauce (see below) with just the right amount of kick.  The only obstacle to overcome was the chorizo sausage.  I ordered it from the butcher's counter, and when I got it out to use it, I read the first (main) ingredient..."pork butt."  Yep, the main ingredient in my chorizo was literally pork butt.  We all took a moment to ponder our next move, took a quick mimosa break, and then I browned that pork butt in some EVOO & we were on our way!

As cooking experiences go, today was a great one.  Good friends & good food.  Isn't that what great moments are made of?  I hope some of you enjoyed some migas this weekend.  If you did, I'd love to hear your story.  If you didn't, stop on by Texas & I'll whip some up for ya!

Brunch for Steely Stomachs

We just finished up "orange" dinner.  What's this you may ask?  Grilled cheese (American/orange cheese) sandwiches, orange bunny crackers, and oranges.  I'm a culinary wizard, no?  Anyways, I decided I'm too excited about my next recipe to wait any longer.  Since it's something I would eat for brunch, I figured I better get it ready for the weekend.

My next culinary adventure with Rach...Mighty Migas.  I don't know specifically what a "miga" is per se, but what I do know is that every breakfast place I've been to in Texas serves 'em.  I just started ordering them recently, and I'm SO the fan!

Click on Rach's Mighty Migas below, and you'll be directed to the recipe on Rach's website.  I'm SO hoping that someone (with a strong stomach) will try these with me.  Why a strong stomach?  Well, some of the ingredients include: chorizo sausage, a jalapeno, and hot sauce. YIKES!

I'm planning on making them for brunch this Sunday.  That way I can dedicate tomorrow to locating all the ingredients, the right ingredients.  This time out, I'm planning to start my ingredient search at the fancy, specialty grocery store.

Well here's to a great weekend everybody.  Cook up some migas with Rach & me this weekend, and enjoy some lovely spring weather!

Rach's Mighty Migas

Well...

So I guess I should have thought of a way to evaluate myself.  I guess being a teacher in my BK (before kids) life, I'm all about evaluation.  If this were a pass/fail system, I definitely passed in the matter of last night's dinner...the daunting beef & burgundy.  If I were to assign the experience a letter grade, overall I'd say a "B-."

The beef & burgundy was definitely tasty, so that was super exciting.  However, along the way, there were a few issues...

Issue #1: I forgot to buy the frozen pearl onions.  So yesterday I ran around with my 3 year old looking for them.  She only agreed to accompany me on this onion hunt, if she could wear her Belle (the Disney princess) costume.  So "Belle" and I went off in search of the apparently elusive frozen pearl onion.  Long story short, we didn't find them.  So, I settled on fresh ones thinking, "what's the difference?"  Well, I still can't answer that.  What I do know is that the fresh pearl onions shed some of their layers while cooking, and the food looked like it had pieces of plastic wrap in it.  GROSS!  So I had the fun of picking all of those out.

Issue #2: I couldn't find burgundy wine, so technically, we had beef & chianti.  Thanks to my pal google, I learned chianti can apparently be a replacement for burgundy.

Overall, I'm happy the food was delicious & that I learned some important lessons along the way.  For next week, I'm going to bring it down a notch and look for a recipe that has ingredients I can actually find.  Also, 2 hours in the kitchen can be fun, but it's totally impractical with 2 small kids "helping" out.  So, I'll be looking for something WAY less time consuming.

If any of you tried "Elsa's Beef & Burgundy," I'd love to hear how it turned out...and where you got the wine & onions!

Getting started...

First, I should give you some background about me.  I LOVE food!  I come from a family of food lovers.  For this reason, I never needed to cook.  I've grown up with fantastic cooks.  The problem is I live out of state.  If I want good food, it falls on my shoulders now.

So tomorrow is the day to start cooking...wanna join me?  I'm going BIG!  I could start off with soup or a sandwich, but I'm going with what my tummy says.  I'm going to make "Elsa's Beef & Burgundy."  The picture looks fantastic!  (I think that's why my tummy picked it).  It sounds pretty intimidating, but I'm hoping it won't be.  The reason I picked Rachael Ray's recipes on my cooking journey is because they all seem possible for a novice like me.  I guess we'll find out!

If you want to join me, I've posted the link to the recipe on Rach's website.  I thought I'd put it up today to give you time to go get the ingredients.  I'm super excited to cook tomorrow night!  I let you know how it goes.  Wish me LUCK!

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/elsas-beef-burgundy/

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Why?

Why am I doing this? Well, I'm a professional turned stay at home mom with a very little kitchen skills. My mom gave me a Rachael Ray cookbook a few years ago for my birthday. Sadly, it received little use. Now, I'm dusting it off, and together Rach & me, well...we're going to cook! Seriously, if Rach can turn me into a cook...it's possible for anyone!!