House Seasoning

If you don't know me well, here's a little tidbit for you: I wish Paula Deen would be my fairy godmother! I love her show and her food...and her sons...what?

Something of hers that I keep on hand is her House Seasoning. It's so simple and so tasty. You can find the recipe here:
www.food.com/recipe/paula-deens-house-seasoning-mix-57340

I just used table salt, since that's what I had on hand. Now, my other food idol is Alton Brown and at the website www.salt101.com you can learn all about the different kinds of salt (and he makes me look silly for using table salt instead of kosher like the recipe calls for).

Anyways, tonight, I sprinkled a little bit of the House Seasoning on my happy little pork chop and it made it ROCKIN! I recommend keeping it on hand...because all the cool kids do.


Happy Cooking!

Amy

Sammich!

I made an awesome sandwhich the other day...but I ate it before I could take a picture. It's nothing special, but it was delicious!!

Here goes nothin!

3 slices of bacon
1 egg
1 slice white american cheese
fresh ground pepper
salt
2 slices bread of your choice, toasted
2 tsp miracle whip


Okie dokie!
1. Cook your bacon to desired crispiness...I don't like mine too crunchy, but that's just me. After the bacon is cooked, set aside on a couple paper towels to drain the excess grease off.
2. Gently crack your egg into the pan with the hot bacon grease...and remember it's HOT! Be gentle so it doesn't splash on you! Duh!
3. Cook your egg until the white cooks, gently splashing a little bit of the grease onto the egg yolk. After a few minutes of cooking, flip the egg so the other side will cook. Again, be gentle. I don't like to break the yolk till I'm eating the sandwich :)
4. When egg is finished, set it aside on the paper towel with the bacon and blot gently with another paper towel...we're not trying to stop our hearts RIGHT NOW!
5. Toast your bread and then spread the miracle whip on one side of each piece. I just used enough to cover the bread lightly...again I don't want my heart to stop yet! I'm young!!
6. Fit the bacon onto one slice of bread and then top it with your cheese slice. Add the egg to the top of these. Salt and pepper as you like.
7. Slap the other piece of toast on there and you're golden!

It's a great little breakfast-esque sandwich. I loved it!

Happy Cooking!

Amy

Dinner: It's whats for dinner.

That's really not that clever, is it? Eh. Oh well :)

Dinner tonight turned out pretty awesome! I had a delightful hamburger patty under sauteed garlic and rosemary mushrooms. With this I had baked sweet potato fries and a small salad. It actually ended up being so much food that the dog got half of the hamburger! I wasn't about to share the mushrooms, though!


Sweet Potatoes
Preheat oven to 450.
1 small-ish sweet potato
Olive Oil for tossing
Cinnamon
Salt
Sugar

1. Using a good knife (not just a steak knife, but a BIG knife), slice the sweet potato in half. Cut the halves into pieces about 1/4 to 1/2" wide.
2. Put the pieces in a glass baking dish and toss with olive oil. You want them to be slightly covered, not saturated.
3. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and salt. Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then take them out and toss them around a little bit so they don't stick and they cook evenly.
4. Put them back in the oven for about 10 more minutes. They'll be done when you can put a fork in them pretty easily.
5. When they come out of the oven, sprinkle with sugar and toss. Then, sprinkle with salt and toss.
**I like to use a sea salt grinder for these so that you get a good, salty crunch.


The hamburger isn't rocket science...it's a burger. I took a little bit of garlic salt and mixed it into the 1/2 pound of meat and popped it into my pan. I like to use the lean meat, 93/7, so it's a bit healthier and less messy. Cook it over medium heat until it's cooked to your liking. (For me, I don't like the burger to 'moo' at me....a good rare steak is a completely different blog post!)


Mushrooms...these are AMAZING!!!! But, if you know me, you know I love mushrooms!

3 large button mushrooms
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 teaspoon veggie oil
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
garlic salt to taste
fresh ground pepper

1. Wash and dry the mushrooms, then slice them to about 1/4" thickness and set aside.
2. In your saute pan, over a medium heat, put the butter and oil together and let them mix together throughly.
3. When the butter mixture is nice and hot (starting to bubble up a little)add your mushrooms.
4. They'll start to absorb the butter...don't add more!! Instead, when they are starting to brown add your rosemary and a couple dashes of garlic salt and a bit of freshly ground pepper.
5. Cook this all together for about 4 or 5 minutes. You want the mushrooms to get pretty and brown colored.

Put the mushrooms over the burger and you're set!

You know, the funny thing is that I used to not be interested in sweet potatoes AT ALL! Now, I can't get enough! I guess that's a good thing since they're pretty healthy--even with a little bit of sugar on them!

Till next time, happy cooking!

Amy

Bacon...thank you Porky!

So I thought I'd try chicken for dinner...but I didn't want plain old chicken. I wanted something tasty! The menu at Cuisinier à la Maison, was bacon wrapped chicken, carrots and garlic-herb mashed potatoes. Turned out pretty good. The chicken was good but is missing something, I just can't figure out what.

Here we go!!


Bacon Wrapped Chicken
1 chicken breast
2 slices bacon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap thawed chicken breast in bacon and place in small baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is cook throughout and the bacon is cooked.

Super easy, pretty tasty....I'll try to figure out what's missing.

Mashed Potatoes

2 cups water
1/8 tsp salt
1 medium potato, cut into 1" cubes. (I didn't peel my potato, but if you want to, do it!)
1 table spoon butter
2-3 table spoons milk
2 wedges of Laughing Cow Herb and Garlic soft cheese

1. In a medium sauce pan, boil water with the salt in it. As it starts to boil, add the potato chunks.
2. Cook potato pieces for about 15 minutes, or until they are soft. They don't need to be instantly mushy, but there shouldn't be much resistance when you put your fork in.
3. Drain the water from the potatoes and put them back in their pan. Add the butter, milk and cheese wedges.
4. Mash everything together throughly. Taste as you go and add more milk or butter if you want.

Carrots

1/2 cup fresh carrots (About to pieces) (I cheat and used the precut carrots!)
1/3 cup water
1 table spoon butter
dash Marjoram

1. In a small sauce pan, put about half of your water and all of your butter.
2. As the butter melts, add your carrots. Give your marjoram shaker a good shake or two.
3. Cook, covered, for about 15 minutes, adding water as needed so the carrots don't scorch. The carrots will be done when they are somewhat tender. You want them to give a little resistance but don't want them to be mushy. Al dente is the goal.

(Don't hate on my photography skills....)


The carrots and potatoes were heavenly. Seriously. Try them tomorrow...try them later tonight.


Hope y'all enjoy! Happy Cooking!!

Amy

Breakfast....made delicious.

A while back, I saw a pro make a delicious little brunch treat on her show and I of course had to try it! I adapted it a bit to make it just for me...and its awesome.

Sausage Bake

2 table spoons finely diced onions
1/2 cup sage sausage (I used Jimmy Dean brand...it doesn't have to be fancy!)
2 whole mushrooms sliced
1 egg
shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
1. In a small saute pan, brown the sausage and the onions together. When the sausage is about half-way cooked, add the mushrooms. Cook the onions, sausage and mushrooms together until the sausage is pretty much cooked.
2. Pour the sausage mixture into a large ramican.
3. Crack one egg onto to top of the mixture. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. As long as the white of the egg has cooked, you're good! Top with the shredded cheese as you like.

It's super easy and tasty.

Hope you guys like it! Happy cooking!

Amy

My gadget goal...

One of the key points I wanted to keep in mind when I started this blog was to NOT have to buy or tell you to buy any super crazy-chopping-slicing-dicing-pneumatic-roasting and all-in-one gadget! Gadgets? We don't need no stinkin' gadgets!!

HOWEVER, I'm going to break that rule just this one time...hopefully. I found this handy little device when I was Christmas shopping with my mom and lo and behold! I got one!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, for a mere $5 you, too, can buy the Trudeau Flipper Measuring spoons. It doesn't slice and dice. It's not pneumatic. It flips. It's 4 measuring spoons in one, and it's cute, too.

You can find them all over, just google it!


I won't lie, I have another full set of measuring spoons, but I sort of feel like measuring spoons and dish towels are both something you can't really have enough of. It seems like I always throw one spoon in the sink just to turn around and need it again 2 seconds later. And if you saw how many dish towels I have, you'd think I'm preparing for the apocalypse (OK, not really...).

Anyways, this is handy and cute and inexpensive. Get one. Give one. Share the measuring spoon love.

Happy Cooking!

Amy

Woman v. Grocery Store

Let's all say this together: The grocery store is my friend. The grocery store is my friend.

Today we live in a world where you're supposed to buy in bulk so save thirty-five cents and have toilet paper for 3 years. Why? Where am I supposed to put 3 years worth of toilet paper in this one room closet...I mean apartment....

Here's the deal, folks. Don't do it! Break free from the buying in bulk!!!

It is perfectly fine to just buy a regular pack of chicken or toilet paper or whatever it is you need at the grocery store. Since I'm just cooking for me, I know I'm only going to need to cook 1 chicken breast or whatever. I buy my zippered freezer bags and a small pack of whatever and divide the package into portions I will cook. If I need to cook extra...I use two bags. This is ground-breaking, isn't it?!!

I know it gets a little trickier when you need to use canned products, but we can do it. The grocery store is our friend!!!