White Cheddar-Chorizo Fondue

I haven't done much cooking this week, and I was eager to get in the kitchen and do something fancy. We had a fondue with chorizo sausage at a restaurant that we really liked, so when Mike found the sausage at Winn-Dixie, I decided to try my hand at it. First, I rubbed the inside of a pot with olive oil and a garlic half, then made a double-boiler with a larger pot to melt the white cheddar with a bit of milk and flour. Meanwhile, I browned the sausage after removing the casing and set it aside to add just before serving. Lastly, I toasted a Cuban Loaf from Publix in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes and cut up some broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. The wine glasses you see are my own creation; I crushed some ice in the blender and whirred some Arbor Mist Zinfandel Sangria in to make sort of a wine slush. Is that a wine cooler?

The verdict
For a made-up recipe, I was very impressed with this dinner. It wasn't a fondue in the traditional sense of the word; we ended up scooping out some of the cheese mixture and schmearing it on the bread. When Mike found out that I only used half of the cheddar to make the dish, he proclaimed, "Well, we can have this again!" I guess he liked it. He likes pretty much anything involving sausage. I give this meal 4 and a half stars for taste and 1 star for health. I apologize again for the poor picture quality, the SOMEONE who lost the digital camers still hasn't replaced it.



p.s. I tried one of the crock-pot roasts I put together for the freezer a few days ago, and it turned out very well. I didn't put any liquid or seasonings in the bag, so I could do something a little different from the first roast. Mike actually put it in the crock-pot, because I had a cold during the middle of the week and wasn't feeling great. It was perfect for a night like that.

I think my favorite is # 2, how about you?



Signs Found in the Kitchen

1. A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is delirious.
2. No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
3. A husband is someone who takes out the trash and gives the impression he just cleaned the whole house.
4. If we are what we eat, then I'm easy, fast, and cheap.
5. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
6. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
7. Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
8. A clean house is a sign of a misspent life.
9. Help keep the kitchen clean -- eat out.
10. Housework done properly can kill you.
11. Countless number of people have eaten in this kitchen and gone on to lead normal lives.
12. My next house will have no kitchen --- just vending machines.

Mike and I spent the weekend in Fort Lauderdale, and while I definitely would not want to live there, the city has some GREAT food!! Mike and I went to a great restaurant called the River House, which was two old houses that were connected and converted into a restaurant. I would like to apologize in advance for the poor picture quality, they were taken with Mike's phone, since SOMEONE lost the digital camera.

First up, a raspberry mojito. This was my first mojito, and I thought it was pretty good. I don't think I'd like a traditional mojito, though; I need the fruit to take the edge off.





Next up, I had crabmeat-encrusted black grouper with a creamy sweet corn sauce and truffle-infused yukon gold mashed potatoes. This was WAY fancier than anything I would make, but I would like to try my hand at the corn sauce, as I think it would make just about anything taste better. The crab-grouper combination was delectable. The potatoes were tasty as well, but I couldn't pick out the truffle taste. I was excited to try them, because I've never had truffles before. For dessert, Mike and I split a Bailey's chocolate-mint cheesecake. It was plated beautifully, and I wish I'd had room to enjoy it better. I couldn't really tase the Bailey's or the mint, but I suspect I was too full! The River House was the most romantic restaurant I've ever been to, and I'd recommend this restaurant if you're ever in Fort Lauderdale. I hope that we can take my parents there next year and I can show you more pictures!

Crock Pot Chicken

I bought a country-style chicken (because I hate cutting it up myself) and I decided to give it a go in my beloved new crockpot. I sprayed it with olive oil, then sprinkled it liberally with onion powder and garlic powder. Then the crock pot did the rest. On the side, we had steamed broccoli, leftover crescent rolls, and brown rice.

The verdict
I don't know what it is, but ever since my days as a camp counselor, I can't stand chicken and rice together. They used to serve this yellow rice dish with chicken in it that was old and tough and nasty, and it always made me sick. I thought this would be okay as long as the chicken and rice didn't touch each other. The chicken was good, and the rice was good, but together...eh. I definitely plan on making chicken like this again, though, because it's much easier than baking it. The leftover chicken and bones are simmering in the crock pot, so look, for a tasty chicken soup in the coming days. I give this meal 2 stars for taste and 3 and a half stars for health.

This morning I cooked Mike a nice breakfast. Here we have crescent rolls, fruit salad, and a hashbrown casserole. I had never attempted to make hashbrowns before; that's always been Mike's domain. To the potatoes I added cheddar cheese, chorizo sausage, onion powder, and garlic powder. Mike seemed to enjoy his breakfast very much!

The Stew That Almost Wasn't

This morning I put a beef roast in the crockpot, and when I got home this evening, I was greeted by the mouth-watering smell. Unfortunately, although I added liquid when I put the meat in, it had all completely evaporated, leaving the beef on top looking more like jerky. Mike sampled it and said it still tasted good, so I added some broth and was going to let it sit for a few minutes while I got the biscuits and broccoli ready. I figured I would just turn it into a beef stew. What Mike DIDN'T say was that he thought turning up the crock pot to high was a good idea, so when I checked the pot again, it had turned into a Thew - a really thick stew! But we were really hungry, so we tried it anyway.

The verdict
Well, this was interesting, if anything. When it was a roast, I didn't add very many spices, but when I decided it was going to be a stew, I tried to give it more kick. Since the water evaporated out again, it was very strong, a little too much so for my tastes. It seemed just right for Mike, though; he put a bisquit in the bottom of his bowl and ladeled some stew over it. You win some, you lose some, I guess! I give this meal 2 out of 5 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.

Ham and Swiss Fococcia

Yesterday I picked up a loaf of garlic fococcia for tonight's dinner. Mike had praise band practice, so I needed something easy that he could have before he left. I cut the loaf in half, partially hollowed it out, then filled brushed the insides with a homemade honey-mustard sauce. Each half was then filled with ham and swiss cheese, and baked at 300 for about 5 minutes.

The verdict
How much easier can it get? This was the perfect in-a-hurry meal. The bread was awesome; crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, with just the right amount of garlic. I give this meal 4 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.

Grilled Amberjack

Tonight after watching my boys, I picked up some Amberjack at Northwest Seafood. It was my first time in the store, and while everything looked awesome, the prices were high, so I chose what was on sale, even though I'd never heard of it. I needed some guidance on how to prepare this fish, so I turned to the Internet and found this recipe for Ginger-Honey Amberjack. I also found this great site, where I learned about removing the bloodline and soaking the fillet in milk prior to cooking to tone down the fishy taste. We also had brown rice and a salad of mixed greens, spinach, carrots, and some corn leftover from taco night. To drink, I made a daquiri from frozen strawberries, a kiwi, Sprite, and Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay Passionfruit Rum.

The verdict
The Amberjack reminded me of mahi mahi, but I'm glad I tried the milk soak. I was a little concerned because when Mike was cooking it on the George Foreman grill, the smell reminded me of canned cat food. Luckily, it didn't taste that way. The glaze was flavorful, and coupled with a Meyer lemon wedge, the taste was very good. I give this meal 3 and a half stars for taste and 4 and a half stars for health.

Today Mike, Sophie and I went for a picnic at Devil's Milhopper. On the way, we stopped at the Fresh Market, where I picked up some rotisserie chicken and baby back ribs. I also got a small bluberry-toppped cheesecake tart. We also had baby carrots with ranch dip, chips, and tangerines.



The ribs were good, but I especially loved the chicken. When the lady at the Fresh Market cut it in half, you could see the juices gushing out of it. It was so tender and so flavorful...but then, oh the cheesecake! It was the perfect ending to a perfect lunch. In fact, this lunch was so good that I didn't feel like I could top it with dinner, so we're having...leftovers! Yay!!

Chicken Tacos

Tonight Mike kindly volunteered to make dinner tonight, and he decided to make tacos from ground chicken. He used my homemade taco seasoning, which I gave as Christmas presents this year to family. For toppings, we had a mexican cheese blend, sour cream, white shoepeg corn, and black beans. Mike also used his favorite sweet chili sauce, Mae Ploy. On the side he served baby carrots with ranch dressing.

The verdict
Any meal my hubby makes is great! The taco seasoning I made was salt-free, but he added aboout half a teaspoon of salt to the meat while cooking, and I think it tasted very good. I enjoyed having the wide variety of toppings. I give this meal 4 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.

Crock Pot Cornish Game Hen

My fellow blogger Kat got me in the mood to try a turkey breast in the Crock Pot. However, I only thought I had one in the freezer. I did have a Cornish Game Hen, though, so I decided to take her basic suggestions and make that instead. I sprayed the defrosted hen with butter-flavored spray, then sprinkled it liberally with Penzey's Fox Point Seasoning. That went into my new Crock Pot, with some sliced garlic and 10 or so of my turkey broth cubes. I had bought some more purple potatoes from the Fresh Market, so I decided to make mashed potatoes, along with a mixture of steamed green beans and white shoepeg corn. The bread is a beer bread from our neighbor Christy. I love her because whenever I, er, accidently leave a dish at her apartment, she always returns it with something tasty on it.

The verdict
The hen was excellent; it was so tender that the meat fell right off the bone. I think this will quickly become my preferred way of making Cornish Game Hen. The potatoes didn't turn out great; I added the sour cream before it was truly warm, like you're supposed to, and that must have been the reason they turned a little gloppy. Christy's beer bread tasted different from my recipe, it almost tasted like it has cornmeal in it. It was good with some Canadian honey on top. I give this meal 3 stars for taste and 3 and a half stars health. I decided to try to make some broth out of the hen, as my turkey broth supply is getting low. I love getting as much as possible from a meal!

Pot Roast

Tonight I decided to try out one of my Christmas Presents, a Rival Crock Pot. My old one was getting old for an appliance. My mother-in-law gave it to me, and it was a wedding gift from when she got married. This one is so nifty! You can take out the inner part and wash it, and it has a setting to keep your meal warm until you're ready to eat. I plan on using it a lot. Tonight I tried a beef underblade roast with a can of cream of mushroom soup, 4 cloves of garlic, some apple cider vinegar, and a few turkey stock cubes from the freezer. As I was trimming the roast, it occured to me that I would be making a huge meal! The beef was two and a half pounds, and I'm really not big on leftover pot roast. I thought about freezing whatever was left after cooking, but that idea didn't excite me either. Then, it occured to me in a flash: why not freeze half of the roast before cooking? And that's exactly what I did. Sitting in the freezer now is an uncooked roast that I can just stick in the Crock Pot on a day I don't know what to do for dinner.


It doesn't look too great now, but it will once it's cooked! On the side we had homemade beer bread, toasted and sprinkled with garlic salt, and some green beans.

The verdict
I'm glad we'll be having this meal again, because it sure was good! The vinegar made a good job of tenderizing the meat, and the soup made for a good base. I'd never tried making garlic bread out of beer bread, but it was tasty, too. This was a delicious, down-home type of meal. I give it 4 stars for taste and 2 and a half stars for health.

Fox-Point Marinated Chicken with Mashed Potato and Cauliflower

I was feeling especially creative a few nights ago, so I decided to try a few new things. First, I made my first stab at using my newest Penzey's Spice, Fox Point Seasoning, as a marinade. I blended it with lemon juice, olive oil, and another new spice, Shallot Salt. Mike grilled the chicken, and I decided to be a bit more experimental for the other new dish. I read in a magazine about mashing cauliflower like you would mashed potatoes, so I decided to blend potatoes and cauliflower together, with some sour cream and cheddar cheese thrown in. For a vegetable, I decided to go with something safe - steamed broccoli!

The verdict
The Fox Point Seasoning made for a very good marinade. We did end up sprinkling more of the Shallot Salt on the chicken, though. In fact, it was so good, we ended up using it on the potatoes and broccoli, too! I'm glad I decided to add cheese to the potato/cauiflower mixture, it turned out very well. I think if I do this again I'll make sure to cook the cauliflower very well, because while I couldn't taste them, the texture was still there. Overall, I give this meal 4 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.


Now for dessert! I bought the ingredients to make this cake for Mike's birthday, but I never had the chance to make it until now. It was so easy!! It's just lemon pudding on the bottom and yellow cake mix on top. It sure was good, though! We've been snacking on it since I made it, and it's good right out of the oven and chilled!

Pork Tenderloin

Tonight I made one of our favorites, Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Cream Sauce. I didn't have any green onions, however, so I tried using dried onion. I never use the green part of the onion as a garnish anyway, as the original recipes calls for. Also, I never have cream in the house, so I used milk and just added a little extra butter for the sauce. I also made roasted red potatoes, tossed with olive oil, garlic powder, and some Vidalia Onion-Peach Hot Sauce we got from our vacation to Atlanta. In the middle (I got creative with my plating) I placed some steamed broccoli.

The verdict
I managed to get the sauce nice and thick, and it tasted the same to me. It was wonderful, as this recipe always is! Mike likes anything that puts the words "hot" and "sauce" together, so the potatoes were a hit as well. I think we would have enjoyed this meal no matter what it was, though, because we were just glad to get a home-cooked meal! Exams are over, yaaaay!!
I give this meal 4 stars for taste and health.

I haven't made much worth posting this week. That's what finals do to you! I did manage to try a new recipe that both of us really liked, Meat Loaf Wellington. The recipe came from Taste of Home Magazine, and looks complicated, but after I read the directions carefully, it was pretty simple. The bread around the meatloaf is from Crescent Roll dough. This meatloaf would be perfect for company! I also made a Waldorf Salad from chopped apples, raisins, and yogurt, and pulled some French-cut green beans from the freezer. Very tasty!!

Mike's birthday was on Friday, so for a special birthday breakfast I made him muffins. This is the most simple recipe in the world: a box of yellow cake mix, a can of fruit pie filling, and two eggs. Not exactly diet food, but hey, you're only 23 once! I tried blueberry pie filling, which made for some electric-blue colored muffins. If you use apple pie filling, they taste just like those Apple McMuffins they used to have at McDonald's. We went to Clermont Friday night, and my mom made shrimp, with fondue for dessert. Mike ate well for his birthday!

Goooooooooo Gators!

For the big game yesterday, I made cookies in the shape of our football players. They were a lot of work, but everyone loved them and I think they were worth it. In fact, I think my cookies were the sole reason the Gators are going to the National Championship. Yep. That's it.




A special cookie in honor of Carlton Medder, whom I went to high school with. He was the guy that cleared the way for Chris Leak to run into the endzone. Maybe my special Carlton cookie was the reason for that, too!



Tim Tebow's cookie, with an especially long neck. Look at his picture sometime and tell me that boy isn't a giraffe!






Disclaimer: if you're an Arkansas fan, this will definitely offend you.


And NOW for the stinkin' Arkansas players!
The toothpicks are supposed to be spears, and that was Mike's doing, not mine.

NY Strip Steak

After work today I went back to the Fresh Market to find something special for dinner. I walked out with several somethings! First, I wandered through the produce section. That's when I ran into something curious: purple......potatoes? Huh? I found a produce guy, because I had to know if they were purple on the inside. He cut one open to prove that they are, indeed, a vibrant purple on the inside. Well, who can resist the idea of purple mashed potatoes? Not me!! Then, over to the meat counter, where I picked up two New York strip steaks. I also stumbled across a bag of herbed yeast rolls that I couldn't resist. While I was in line, I realized I forgot to pick up a fresh vegetable, but when I got home I used up the last of the lettuce for a salad. The purple potatoes boiled and mashed beautifully; most of the skin seperated from the potatoes and they whipped up very quickly. Meanwhile, Mike grilled the steaks, and it was showtime!

The verdict
When I asked Mike what we should rate this meal, he asked, "Can you give a rating higher than five?" This meal...was....awesome! I was a little concerned about how the potatoes would taste, but they were yummy AND fun! Mike said the steak was the best he'd ever had. The rolls were really good, too. I wished I had more room for another one! I give this meal 5 stars for taste and 2 and a half stars for health.

Yesterday Mike and I went to the grand opening of the new Fresh Market in town. It sure looks nice! They had lots of hard to find items and everything looked fresh and delicious. We sampled barbeque ribs, granny smith apples, granola, red wine, marinated beefsteak....basically, we had lunch in the form of samples. We bought a loaf of Ciabatta bread and when we got home Mike made himself a Cuban sandwich on the George Foreman grill. I had a bite - very tasty!

Now, on to the last of The Leftover Files featuring Thanksgiving turkey. I'm so proud that I didn't let any go to waste! We had a church meeting tonight, and it was my turn to coordinate dinner. Mike chopped up the rest of the turkey to add to this Taco Soup while I put it together.

Once we got there, Mike made each person a custom grilled cheese to go with the soup. We also had a veggie tray, and our friend Sherri made a yummy cheesecake in honor of Mike's birthday (which is next Friday - eek!) This meal was a big hit! We have several non-red meat-eaters in the group, so I made a people-pleasing meal AND used up my leftovers! Score one for Jacki!

The Leftover Files

These are the heedy days of eating leftovers. Fortunately, I planned ahead this year and collected some recipes that use leftover turkey. Here's what we've had so far:


First, a T-Day Casserole. I got the idea from a recipe board I visit. Basically you layer whatever leftovers you have and stick it in the oven. I thought it would be good with mashed potatoes, but that's one leftover I didn't get, so I cooked two potatoes in the microwave and mashed them. Then I layered that with some of the corn-chive pudding, green bean casserole, and turkey. Topped off with cheese, this was very tasty. And so easy!! I was especially surprised at how quickly I mashed the potatoes. They took five minutes in the microwave and about five more to mash. Mike must have liked this use for leftover turkey, because he gobbled it right up! [pun intended]




Next up, I got the Turkey carcass from my aunt, so this morning, I picked off any usable meat (Sophie helped), covered the bones and skin with water, and brought it all to a boil. After that, I simmered it, and when we wanted to go out to lunch a few hours later, I just put the top on and turned off the heat. Once we got home, I turned the heat back on to simmer, and before straining the stock, brought it to a boil again to kill off anything nasty that might have found it''s way into the pot. After straining, I had a whole mess of turkey stock that smelled great! I made the soup with carrots, fresh corn, and leftover turkey. An hour before serving, I decided to add a can of cream of chicken soup and a couple of garlic cloves because a taste test revealed that my soup was kinda blah. I cooked some brown rice to add to it, and on the side I made roasted asparagus. I tried something new with the veggies: I peeled the bottom part of each stalk, tossed them all in olive oil, sprinkled them with garlic powder and salt, and roasted them for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees. The rolls were leftovers from the restaurant we had lunch at, because I'm proud to be cheap and I bring free bread home. I'm just cool like that.
The soup was perfect for winter! The asparagus could have been a little more crunchy for my taste, so I think next time I'll jack up the temperature and check them after a short time. I think the key to them being pleasant to eat is the peeling.
This concludes this installment of The Leftover Files. Stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

On Thursday we went to Apopka to Mike's aunt's house. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures! But I did take pictures of the next day with my family in Dunnellon, so here ya go:

The spread:

The Corn-Chive Pudding I made:

The Green Bean Casserole my mom made with bread crumbs