Christmas 2011

Road trip?!

This has been a very busy and satisfying Christmas season. We spent 10 days traveling around the Houston area visiting and partying. Santa was very good to me this year and I am very grateful for the thoughtfulness that people put into gift-giving. Most importantly, I got to celebrate Christ's birthday with many friends and family members. Even my Grandma, who spent Christmas in the hospital, was full of cheer.

Of course, the big deal in any Southern family gathering is the FOOD! I have a few recipe highlights from the various Christmas feasts.

From my parents: I got to participate most in the making of this feast, so I'm going to list the whole menu. We made a roast, carrots (steamed with salt, pepper, and nutmeg), green beans (blanched, then sauteed with onions and spices), mashed potatoes (butter, milk, & garlic), and to top it all off: the Brown Liquid Reduction. My brother named that, after wondering what "brown liquid" was bubbling on the stove. It is delicious on everything.

Roast and BLR (actually called Beef Tenderloin with Shallot Sauce)
This is a Southern Living recipe from the 2010 Ultimate Christmas Cookbook. The green beans also come from this book.

1 lb. shallots, peeled & halved lengthwise
2 T olive oil
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper

Toss shallots and 2 T. oil in bowl w/ salt &pepper. Set aside.

1 T. salt
1 1/2 t. each: onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, dried thyme
8 lb beef tenderloin, trimmed (yields 6 lbs meat) (we used a 5 pounder)
1/4 c evoo

Combine 1T salt + next 4 ingredients. Place tenderloin into a roasting pan and rub w/ 1/4 C. Oil. Sprinkle with seasoning rub, pressing in with fingers. Arrange shallots around meat. Bake uncovered at 500 for 25 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 and bake for 15-20 minutes until it reaches 160 degrees in center (cooked Medium.)

3 c. beef broth

1 c dry marsala wine

2 T. flour

3 T. water

3 T. butter

garnish of fresh thyme

Meanwhile, stir broth and marsala in large skillet. Bring to boil 8 min until reduced to 2 cups. Remove tenderloin to serving platter and cover with foil. Add broth reduction to pan and place over medium heat on cooktop, stirring to loosen bits. Whisk together flour & water until smooth and stir into sauce in roasting pan. Cook over medium heat 3 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Add butter, stirring until melted. Stir 1/4 t. pepper. Thinly slice tenderloin and serve with sauce.




Cranberry Salsa

This one comes from my Step-Mother-in-Law. It is very seasonal, since you need fresh cranberries, but it freezes well for at least a month. Just thaw in the fridge and serve. 

12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed

1/2 C. to 3/4 C. sugar, to taste

juice of 1/2 large lime
3/4 bundle cilantro, rinsed, large stems removed
1 T. olive oil

Toss it all into the food processor and grind until it is chopped evenly. This takes less than a minute. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Serve with tortilla chips.



Watergate Salad (From my Mother-in-Law)
This is one I can count on every year and I get to have lots of it because my husband doesn't like it. (Crazy.) I didn't get a picture, but it is pale green and light and fluffy and just absolutely dreamy.
Just mix together the first four ingredients, then fold in the Cool Whip and chill.

1 package instant pistachio pudding mix
1 C. mini marshmallows
1 small, flat can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 C. chopped pecans (optional)
1 Large tub Cool Whip

Lazy Enchilada Soup and Cake Cookies

HEB now has these gourmet soups and the sample lady was really nice and they were on sale, so I had a big jar of Cheese Enchilada Soup on hand. I threw some chicken tenders in boiling water to cook for a few minutes, then dumped them out, dumped the soup in and heated. I tore up the chicken, threw it back in the soup, and voila! Soup! Topped with colby jack cheese, cilantro, and HEB tortilla strips, this was quite a success. Great weeknight lazy meal. (Or for when you intended to have chicken barley soup but find out that you didn't buy celery... which sometimes happens to me. Like this week.)

Speaking of lazy: I have a great recipe for cookies that I had heard of but not tried before. 

Cake Mix Cookies! 

1 box of white cake mix (Betty Crocker Party Rainbow Chip)

2 Eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

Mix these ingredients together and form into balls. Drop onto ungreased baking sheet (I used my Silpat mat) and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. 

I topped these with Rainbow Chip icing (not Funfetti... Rainbow Chip is vastly superior but not always available.) Oh My Goodness these are good! Dangerous but good. 

Homemaking Bits

My kitchen helper.

So as y'all know, while I teach full time and have been the household breadwinner for 5.5 years now, what I really want to do is be Susie Homemaker. That said, if you did a white-glove test on my home at any given moment (especially during the school year), I'd fail. So I'm perpetually on the lookout for ways to manage chores better, despite being exhausted.
In a spree of forward thinking* this weekend, I came up with a plan that will keep our home under control with a minimum of weeknight time, but also not require that Saturdays be marathon cleaning days. I made an agreement with SexyLawyerMan that he'd also stick to it, and half a week in, it's actually working. This is the plan:

	Me	Him
Sunday	One load of laundry	One load of laundry
Monday	Grocery run, sweep floors	Tidy his half of bedroom
Tuesday	Guest bath	Change and wash sheets
Wednesday	Pick up living room and kitchen	Master bath
Thursday	Mop kitchen, entry ways	Vacuum living room
Friday	Tidy my half of bedroom	One load of laundry
Saturday	Catch up if needed	Catch Up if needed

Other chores that are monthly have their own checklists so we know they get done at least once a month (such as straightening the back bedrooms and dusting.) There's also an agreement about kitchen chores that focuses on me cooking and him cleaning up, with each of us in charge of clearing plates and washing our own lunch and snacking dishes.

I did have to switch one thing around. Originally, I was scheduled to clean the master bath and he did the guest bath. Well, see... guests use the guest bath. And... um... he's really bad at cleaning stuff. (I had to teach him this week how to turn off the faucet and use a cup to wash dirt from Berwyn's bath down the drain. I thought everyone knew that trick.) So we switched and now I will clean the bathroom that other people see and he can practice on ours. I had a 22 year head start on learning to clean, and he's getting there, but it's slow going. Old dog, new tricks, yes?

What I like about this system is that I no longer feel perpetually guilty for not cleaning NOW. If I have done my load of laundry, for example, I know I'm keeping up and I will get to the bathroom on its regularly scheduled day. No guilt. Also, assuming we can stick to it, my house is cleaner because I'm actually doing it. This is a vast improvement over my old system of not doing it until I get sick of how dirty everything is and I got to the "Bad Place" where I listen to angry music on my iPod and scrub furiously for a few hours while sighing and glaring a lot.

I saw this idea on Pinterest.

In another attempt at Domestic Diva-ness, I have resolved to be greener about wiping counters. We go through a lot of paper towels, so I decided that I need to have washrags in easier reach. I rolled them up and stuck them on the paper towel holder, hiding the actual paper towels under the sink in case we need them. There's a big basket in the kitchen where I can collect used towels until they are washed.

*I also laid out a week of school outfits. Aren't I fancy?

Chicken with Parmesan Grits and Tomatoes

I love, love, love this recipe! I found it in October's issue of Everyday Food Magazine. It comes from a section called Cooking for One, and the recipe as written really does only feed one. I doubled it and it fed my husband and me with a tiny bit left for lunch. Mrs. A was home by herself and promised Mr. A that she wouldn't  eat cupcakes for dinner again, so I passed this one on to her and she LOVED it. Success! So here goes:

Chicken with Parmesan Grits and Tomatoes

Chicken with Parmesan Grits and Tomatoes

Season one piece of chicken (recipe calls for thigh but I used breast) with salt and pepper and panfry. I used a non-stick skillet and no added fat. When done, set aside and cover. In same skillet, saute 2 t. olive oil, 1/4 yellow onion, 1/2 c. grape tomatoes, and 1 clove garlic, minced. Cook about 5 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, cook some instant grits according to package. This recipe calls for 1/4 c. grits in 1 c. boiling water. When cooked, stir in 2 T. parmesan cheese. (Or more.) I added a pinch of salt and some butter, though that might have actually added too much richness. Top grits with chicken and veggies and serve. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Lilac Pepper

Italian Paste tomatoes

Fenced off for safety

In other news: We are nearing winter now, and have had about a week of freezing temperatures. I brought most of my potted plants indoors. This confused Berwyn quite a bit, since he's allowed to pee on pots that are outside yet not allowed to pee on the same pots when they are in my kitchen. (People are weird.) I'm hoping to save the tomatoes that have been slowly but surely coming along. I also have herbs, peppers, and my big aloe vera plant indoors.

Shout out to my grandmother, who broke her hip yesterday morning. She seems to be in good spirits but should be having surgery tomorrow to reset the bone. Keep her in your prayers.

Food Mondays!

Ok, I am absolutely not promising anything, but I would like to start and end-of-year resolution that each Monday I do a new post, preferably with a new recipe. Monday is a good day for blogging since I usually watch my Programs and do some sitting on my ass.
So it is resolved: new food posts on Mondays! I'll start today, even though I made a post already about all the other stuff I've been doing instead of blogging. Here goes:

Citrus-Cilantro Cous Cous

Citrus-Cilantro Cous Cous
This recipe came from the October 2011 issue of "Everyday Food" which is a tamed-down Martha Stewart cooking magazine with fewer strange ingredients than her regular magazine. It's super easy and tasty in a mild and comforting way.
Boil 1.5 C water. (I salted mine slightly.) Stir in 2 T. orange zest and 1.5 C plain cous cous. Cover and remove from heat. Stand 5 minutes then mix in 1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro while fluffing with a  fork. Season with coarse salt.

My only note would be to buy two oranges because one average sized navel orange doesn't make 2 T zest. I used 1 orange worth, and I think it could go with more.

While I'm at it, have you tried these yet? Just Apples dehydrated apples. They are tart and awesome. Kinda pricey, but if they keep me munching on green apple bits rather than jelly beans, then they are worth it. Best part is the ingredients list: apples.

And because I just can't help it:

Isn't he cute?!

Celebrations

We have had a busy Fall including lots of celebrations.  I'm going to summarize with pictures again.

My classroom has been up and running, and I think it might be my prettiest classroom yet. It's not super fancy, but has a more streamlined, uncluttered look. You saw the "before" video earlier, so check the above video for an "after" tour.

Granby turned 92! She's one feisty lady. 

Aggie Football with good friends! Whoop!

Mom's 60th Birthday was this year. I sincerely hope I age like her. We also celebrated Dad's birthday over Thanksgiving, yet somehow I have no pictures from Thanksgiving other than food pictures I took with my phone. He's a keeper. :-) 

My youngest Bussells cousin got married, so I am no longer the only granddaughter  on that side. We were thrilled to add his wife to the family! They had a fabulous Charleston wedding. 

Law Prom celebrated the beginning of the end, with only weeks to go before graduation!

We finally made it to Ren Fest for closing day of the season. I made this skirt special to fit with the "Celtic Christmas" theme better than my usual garb. 

In Which I Knock on Wood...

Oh, right, the kidneys. I wanted to catch up on all departments so I should probably update this one as well. Um, no news is good news?
This time last year I wasn't eating, I had visited the ER on the 2nd day of school, and I was going to the dialysis education class and making decisions. BIG decisions. My kidney function was hovering between 16 and 20%. We had followed the pattern and that pattern said in 6-9 months something would flare up again and my function would drop another 10%, putting me in the danger zone. That was 12 months ago.

Despite weird symptoms from time to time, like that lingering back pain that makes me nervous, and a new intolerance for large quantities of greasy foods, I'm actually doing really well on the kidney front.
My last lab results (September 14) showed creatinine at 2.1. This is the same number I had several months ago that was so low we thought it was a fluke. So if this is another mistake, it's a mistake on the right side of the curve. My current kidney function is at about 33%. Woo hoo! (Ok, that's crap, but to a much lesser extent than before.)
I feel good and I have had my blood pressure medicine dosage reduced twice this summer since I'm just doing so awesome. I intend to finish out this school year and then head to Houston as planned. I'll become the Mama Bear for Sexy Lawyer Man's firm, and we'll deal with transplants and such when I'm eligible, which right now I'm not.
It's really weird to be this sick on paper and feel so good. But I'll take it as a blessing and enjoy the healthy time I have while I have it. Whee!

Summer Garden

It has finally cooled down slightly, and we have had a good rain, but this summer was the most brutal one I have lived to tell about. Our trips to Houston were our only relief from the extreme heat, which says a lot. With zero rain triple-digit temperatures for a record breaking 90-ish days, keeping the garden going was a miracle. I did have a few guys who survived all the way through. My chives are still going strong after a 2nd summer and the aloe vera is happy. That's about it.

In July I added a bunch of new plants. Some were cuttings from my mom's tropical paradise of a garden, and some were purchased.

Fig tree from my parents' yard. Strawberries.

Plumbago. Wandering Jew. 

These all croaked. 

Speaking of croaking... I wondered what kept knocking over the seedlings and found this little guy in the pot one evening. Also, impressively, that plumbago seedling in this picture is doing quite well now. I thought it was a goner. 

In September, I added a bunch of new plants to the garden to get my autumn kitchen garden going. So far so good, I think. I just hope that I get a good harvest before we get a freeze.

The July plantings are coming along well. 

Roma tomatoes

Grape tomatoes, oregano, and purple bell peppers. Also some little yellow tomatoes that didn't take so well to the heat. They are "not quite dead yet!" so I'm keeping them in to see what happens. 

My Summer in Pictures

So I took a bit of a summer hiatus and thoroughly enjoyed the time to relax and regroup. I can't say I did a whole lot. The highlight of the summer was probably my cousin's beautiful wedding, but beyond that I was  a bit of a homebody. I do have a few things to share, and here goes.

Granby adds her magic touch to the new-fangled self-churning ice cream maker. 

Dad approves of the homemade peach ice cream.

Good old American dinner for the 4th!

Playing tug-o-war with Berwyn. Turns out a dog is a lot of work, but lots of fun! 

Potato Cheese Gnocchi (Moosewood Low Fat Cookbook) 

Justin teaches a bunch of concealed handgun courses.

I spent about a week and a half before inservice began preparing my classroom. I started from nothing and made it look pretty good, if I do say so myself. (After photos to follow.)

Berwyn practicing his "I kill you" eyes. 

Yay Summer!

Summer school finished up yesterday, so I floated in a wonderful swimming pool with coworkers all afternoon. It was heavenly. I have also gotten to spend more time getting back in touch with my domestic self. Sure, you have seen my cooking side, but my REALLY domestic side cleans in a mini-skirt and likes it. I had today to do laundry and keep the kitchen clean. Each day I'll be attacking some of my previously ignored chores.
But speaking of the food, I have some food stuff.
Wednesday I made turkey tacos and cheesy rice, and LawyerMan and I had his law partner over as well as their Practice Court witness who is much younger and called me ma'am, while saying he wanted to "grow up to be just like" LawyerMan. But he raved about my food and was well prepared for the project and was generally fun.  We liked him. I highly recommend the Taco Seasoning by Penzey's Seasonings. I also added garlic powder, minced onion, paprika, and chili powder.
Thursday, after my parent conferences and before swimming, I whipped up some Chicken Alfredo Pasta (recipe is back there somewhere). I used a rotisserie chicken (that I cut up Wednesday and stuck in the fridge, using the bones for chicken stock) and steamed some broccoli to round out the meal. Then I ate it for lunch and headed for the pool.
Today I tried an experiment. I had a hankering for tater tot casserole. It probably started when I came back from North Carolina on Sunday with a nasty hangover (don't blame me, blame the TWO drinks I had plus lame kidneys)  and thought that the only cure would be Whataburger taquitos, which come with hash browns. Well, after rushing from the airport to the nearest Whataburger, we found out that they serve breakfast until 11:00, not 11:30, and it was 11:27. In any case, I have had a hankering for fried shredded potatoes all week. Anyway, I bought some chili and tater tots at the grocery store and was determined to make up a recipe for casserole. I searched the internet and found a bunch of recipes. Most of them I didn't care for 100% (jalapenos? ew) so I just made it up. Here goes:
2 cans Chili with beans
1 12-oz package of frozen corn
1/2 small onion, minced
1 28-oz bag tater tots
8 oz colby jack cheese


Mix the chili, onions, and corn in a lasagna pan. (Slightly smaller than 9X13 pyrex, but one of those will work, too.) Top with tater tots. Spread them out evenly and squish them into the chili a little. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes at 350. Add cheese over top, then bake 5 more minutes.
This turned out really good. It was very rich and salty, so I ate just a small bit of it, but it satisfied the craving. It is made of completely processed ingredients, so it goes against most of what I usually believe in, but damn it was easy.

Some food tips, Grilled Chicken, 2 kinds of Potatoes and a Puppy Video

First, as promised, a puppy video.

Ok, now I have a bunch of food stuff to share.

1. Mom's suggestion: do you ever have a hankering for deviled eggs but no time or motivation to make them? Try smearing dijon mustard on a hard boiled egg. It satisfies the tanginess craving but takes minimal effort. Great quick protein if you make a bunch of hard boiled eggs ahead of time. Not as good as a real deviled egg, but not bad either.



2. Thai Cucumber Salad
This is a good cold side dish for summer, but you have to love onions. It keeps for days in the fridge. From the Kidney Health Gourmet Cookbook.
In a large bowl combine 1/3 c. minced shallot, 1/3 c. sliced green onion, 4 sliced cucumbers, and 2-4 thinly sliced red chiles (seeded).
In a small bowl, combine 1/2 c. rice vinegar, 2 T sugar, 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro. Pour dressing over salad and chill for at least one hour.
** Note: instead of the chiles, I use a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. I am a spice pansy, so I don't like much heat. But I do like the kick.

3. Sweet Mashed Potatoes
Pick the reddest ones you can buy when these are in season. (Which is not usually right now.) The pale orange ones taste like crap. Sweet potatoes are high in potassium, so for me they are a "sometimes food" but this is an easy and awesomely healthy side dish for most people. They are also full of good stuff like vitamins (A, B6 and C), fiber and manganese. They have a MUCH lower glycemic index than white potatoes and are said to have anti-inflammatory powers.  OooOOOoooh.
Anyway, I boil mine in lightly salted water for about 15 minutes or until mushy and then run an immersion blender through them.  While I'm blending, I throw in a generous chunk of unsalted butter (probably one to two tablespoons per potato) to make them creamier.  Don't use fake butter; that way lies madness. If you wanna get really fancy, throw in some brown sugar, pecans, and bourbon, but that's another post altogether. ("Not Safe For Work" Sweet Potato Casserole) I love sweet potatoes as a side dish because they're like dessert and they are pretty quick. They reheat well to take for lunch the next day, if any leftovers survive.

4. Father's Day Dinner
My parents came in for Father's Day on the way to my cousin's wedding in NC. (They're driving 1200 miles, so what's another few hours to Waco?) We had a great time sightseeing around Cameron Park and we saw the Dr. Pepper Museum, which celebrates the history of the beverage in its location of discovery. I left there really needing a Dr. Pepper.
Anyway, when we came home, Mom and I whipped up a pretty easy dinner (and Sexy Lawyer Man did the grilling for us) while Dad took a well-deserved nap then joined us for cocktails on the porch.

We made Dilled Potatoes, Grilled Chicken, corn on the cob and a mixed greens salad. So, recipes:
Dilled Potatoes:
Mince an onion and cube a few potatoes. The more onion the better, IMHO. Toss generously with seasoned salt and dried dill, and enough olive oil to make everything shiny. Bake, covered, at 375 about 45 minutes, stopping once to stir. The smaller the potatoes are chopped, the quicker they will cook. These are Mom's recipe which was shared in our church cookbook, so you know it's good. I made this for a bunch of law students a while back and it was quite a hit. Also a good make-ahead, as you can mix it up and refrigerate for several hours. Reheats beautifully the next day. Probably after that, too, but usually gets finished off pretty quickly.
Grilled Chicken: Take some chicken breast halves (I used 5), cut fat off, and pound them flat, about 3/4 inch. Marinate in a mixture of lime juice (2 limes' worth), a pinch of kosher salt, a pinch of pepper, about one T minced garlic, and some canola oil. (Do you know what CANOLA stands for? I do.) Doesn't have to sit long. Just about 20 minutes will do.  Grill to doneness.
Other Sides: probably don't need a separate section. I boiled the corn in water. I prefer it plain but others used butter and salt and pepper and stuff on it. The salad was pretty basic. I tossed together some olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper for dressing.

Puppy Cookies and Gratuitous Cuteness

Ok, so I might be that parent. Plenty of parents I know, whether they have human children or puppy children, flood the internet with cute pictures. And dull pictures. And pictures that look exactly like previous pictures. And I used to think "wow, I won't do that." But I take it back. It must be expressed to the internet how cute my puppy is. So here, world: a video I took of Berwyn waking up. And yes, I woke him up for this purpose simply because he was so cute while he was sleeping. The cuteness, it's rotting my brain.
Now, I promised a recipe. This is a recipe I like to make for Christmas to give away to all the puppies in my family. (Shout out to Esme, Charlie, Abby, Maddie, Sophie and Angel!) There are cats in the family, too, but I really don't have a recipe that's guaranteed to please cats. This is probably because most cats are not pleased by anything except our quiet and distant worship of them. Silly biscuits are for mouth-breathers, they say. Anyway, every dog I ever give these to is very, very excited about them. And I have checked out the recipe for dog safety. So here goes.

Puppy Cookies
Mix together the following: 1 1/2 c. four, 3/4 c. oatmeal, 1/4 c. wheat germ, 1/3 c. peanut butter, 1/4 c. vegetable oil, 2 T. honey, 1/2 t. baking powder, 1/2 c. water.
Roll dough about 1/2 inch think. Cut into desired shapes.
Mix together one large egg and 2 T. milk. Brush on top of cookies.
Bake at 275 for 30 minutes. Rotate pan and bake another 30 minutes until golden brown and firm.
Notes: For Christmas I cut them into festive shapes like stars and trees but this time I had a great idea. Since I needed a bunch of them in small bites, I just cut the dough into strips and perforated them with a knife. When they cooled, I broke them into little bite-sized squares. Now I can easily give them out to reinforce good behavior. Berwyn loves them. But he loves everything.

Now some more cute pictures of my puppy child.