In Memorium

While the rest of the world is obsessing over Julia Child and Julie Powell (the inspiration for the film "Julie and Julia"), I have stood somewhat aloof from this craze.  One reason being Drew and I are not much for most things French.  I know, food snobs in my readership, I will never be a true foodie - oh well.  Another reason must be because I have other heroes in my cooking world.  My heroes have spent lifetimes in their kitchens lovingly preparing food for their families.  They have made recipes not found in cookbooks.  These women in my life have taught me that food is love.  They have shown me the way to prepare food with the eaters in mind - thoughfully and prayerfully.   And they made a kitchen table the place to make the best memories, the place where good food and good conversation led to connections that last a lifetime. 
My world lost one of those remarkable ladies this week.  My Granny, Nellie Grace Dees, passed away on Sunday.  She was a special lady who had a knack for baking that has influenced generations.  I have so many memories from her kitchen in Mississippi.  I will always remember the way her house smelled and the flavors of the food she served.  My favorite recipes of hers are the family favorites I serve Drew now (every now and then): mac and cheese, cheese enchiladas, cherry pie (I ate an entire pie when I was 8 or 9), banana nut bread, just to name a few.  I am so thankful that I got to spend summers at her house when I was young - what a blessing she was to me! 
While thinking about her this week, I have been desiring to make her banana nut bread.  A little comfort food to comfort the weary.

Don't Give Up

My dismay over the last kitchen outing is not what has kept me from recently updating the blog.  Instead, we went out of town for our 5th anniversary.  I always enjoy getting Drew to myself 24 hours at a time.  We had lots of fun and ate way too much.  What romantic place did we dine to celebrate our nuptuals, you ask?  Well, none other than On the Border.  Yeah, we are pretty simple people with pretty simple expectations and what could two people from Texas want more to eat on a special occasion than the best Tex-Mex in Cali.  Hard to say that, but it is true.  I know the Texans reading this are saddened by the plight of this young married couple, but we will live on. Saturday night we stepped it up and went to Red Lobster.  We have eaten at Red Lobster 3 times in our marriage and we really enjoy it.  I have seen a recipe that imitates their biscuits and will have to try it sometime because they are almost worth the price of admission. 
I still have not made it in to the kitchen because Drew had leftovers last night (he heated up himself!) and then tonight we were invited over to Mom and Dad's for enchiladas.  This is something I have never attempted in our 5 years.  Why make it when it can be made for you.  We always enjoy this family favorite - my Granny's recipe (modified over the years) and, of course, the company (its a shame Drew doesn't get along with my family - hah).  Of course, we had to go to Yogurt Island for dessert, but it was a sad trip (indeed) because they did not have our favorite flavor.  Drew abstained.  I tried something else, but it was not the same.  Yogurt Island, if you are listening: Never, Never, Never replace the Yogurt Island Sorbet! 
More adventures from the Hudson kitchen coming up tomorrow!

Special Dinner for my Love

I got my first reader question!  Yea! You should get a prize, but I don't know what that would be.  Oh wait, your prize is...the ANSWER.  For those of you not obsessively reading each comment posted on the blog, the question is: are you cooking through the Pampered Chef cookbook or is it just a coincidence that almost of the recipes have come from there (paraphrased)?  The answer is yes, I am cooking through the cookbook more or less.  Because I cook so many new recipes, I am on a constant search for the next great cookbook and, once found, figure the best way to get to know a cookbook is to cook through it.  This helps with my monthly menu planning (I am sure I will fill you in on that at some point in the future) and it helps not to have  a bunch of cookbooks cluttering my kitchen workspace.  I am currently working through the Pampered Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner 2 cookbook.  I highly recommend the first incarnation of this cookbook and look forward to wholeheartedly recommending this installment.  The key to "cooking through" a cookbook for me is to look through it and weed out the things that Drew and I will NEVER eat.  Then I go through and find the appetizing ones and put them on my menu plan.  I just stated that like it is a process, but it really all happens at once.  You will also notice in the future that some of my recipes are from the Fix it and Forget it slow cooker cookbook.  I have been slowly working my way through this one because I challenged myself at the beginning of the year to use my slow cooker once a week.  I have not always made it on that challenge, but that is the reason it is called a challenge. 

Wow, readers, I hope you were ready for that exhaustive answer!  On to tonight,  We had a special dinner, because we are looking to head out of town for the weekend for our 5th anniversary!!!!  I had planned, without knowing we were going to be out of town to make one of Drew's favorites and I left a night open for whatever, so I just moved my special dinner to tonight - now that is flexibility (wink, wink)!  So for dinner tonight I made a new recipe (yes, I know I said it was a favorite of Drew's, but I meant favorite ingredient): Seared Scallops with Creamy Parsley Pesto.  Be warned, I am not a fan of scallops, but because they are one of Drew's favorite ingredients I made them for him.  Here's the review:
Really quick.  I am discovering it is best with this installment's recipes to have everything out and measured before beginning the recipe.  I know this sounds like common sense, but this is not the way I normally operate in my kitchen.  Everything in this one comes together fast.  I did swap out cilantro for the parsley, because I can't handle parsley (I dislike it more than any food item I can think of at the moment), but I love cilantro more than some people love their children.  The resulting cilantro pesto, I cannot say I was a huge fan of.  I have never put half and half in pesto and I don't think I will again (chalk it up to experience).  The cauliflower was good, but I think could use a little more seasoning.  The scallops seared nicely, but I don't think I had my skillet hot enough when I first started.  Drew liked the scallops.  I would also like to mention here, I am in desparate need of a good food processor.  I will not go into the woes that haunt me each time I use mine; but I will say one would think that having 2 food processors of different sizes would result in "good food processing."  Lets just say, I think Drew enjoyed this one more than I did. 

After our "romantic" one candle lit dinner in the dining room, Drew helped me clean up the kitchen in under 15 minutes (quite the accomplishment, at least I think so because I have never clocked it), then we went upstairs to play Guitar Hero before coming downstairs to what I am sure will become our must watch night of television this fall.  So You Think You Can Dance and Glee, how happy can one couple be?