Recipes

Ever since I started this blog, I’ve become obsessed with recipes.  To the point where I buy magazines for the pretty foods on the front cover. I have yet to actually attempt to make any of these recipes, but I still like to look at them.

I’m simple like that.

Don’t judge me.

And over this past year (and some odd months) I’ve come to love a few favorites…

This one is tried and true. And I secretly thank my mom everyday for hooking me up with what seems to be a lifelong subscription. {Thanks mom!}

And oddly enough, the Williams Sonoma catalog, if you really pay attention, has quite a few recipes…
As a matter of fact, just last night I tore out some stellar recipes for apple-blackberry cobbler, pork ragu, and Tuscan frittat affogata.

Wonder if I’ll make any of these…hmm.

Shocking, I know, but I do love Cooking Light. A good friend was kind enough to give me a few of the Cooking Light Annual Recipes and I’ve been hooked ever since.

But the magazine I am officially slobbering over is one I only discovered last week!

Taste of Home. Seriously. Where have you been all my life?

Guys- if you’re looking for recipes, this magazine is the mecca for all things awesome.
You want healthy?  They give you healthy.
You want weeknight meals? They give you weeknight meals.
You want potluck? Guess what? They give you potluck.

But what I love most about it is this magazine is comprised of real recipes from real home cooks.
Not chefs, but cooks.  Like you. And me.

So…where do you make your recipe discoveries?

Do you obsess over magazines like me? The thumbing through, the ripping out?
Is it online only for you?
Or are you a slave to good old fashion cookbooks?

parmesan crusted pork

It’s been a while, but I tested out a new recipe last night.
Parmesan Crusted Pork. The recipe is from Giada de Laurentiis’s cookbook “Family Dinners”. And it is insanely good.
If you’ve never tried one of her recipes, do so immediately. Typically, they’re incredibly easy and they are always tasty.

You’ll need:

2 large eggs
1 cup dried Italian bread crumbs
3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan
4 center-cut pork loin chops (pound each to 1/2 to 3/4-inch in thickness)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil
Lemon wedges, for serving

To make:
Whisk the eggs in a bowl. Place the bread crumbs in another dish. Place the cheese in a third plate.
Sprinkle the pork chops generously with salt and pepper.
Coat the chops completely with the parmesan, patting to adhere.
Dip the chops into the eggs, then coat completely with the bread crumbs, again patting to adhere.

Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add pork chops and cook until golden brown and the center reaches 150 degrees, about 6 minutes per side. Transfer the chops to plates. Serve and ejnjoy.

In the beginning…

Did I ever tell you about the time I attempted to make Bakerella’s cupcake bites? Come to think of it, I don’t think I have.

I’m not entirely sure what possessed me to step into my kitchen that day with such grandiose plans.  Trust me, that’s not like me at all. Apparently, I’d been bitten by the baking bug. 

In all fairness, I had been reading the Pioneer Woman for a while and had just recently fallen under the spell of Bakerella herself. 

That’s the only excuse I can come up with. Why else would such an amateur anything want to take on Bakerella’s recipes?

Honestly, to this day I still have no idea.

But I did. And for my first foray into baking, I succeeded.
I did.
And it was intoxicating.
It really was too bad that it took me 4 hours, a whole heckuva lot of standing, and an unfortunate timing of Lent for it all to happen.

This event may have been one of the factors behind creating this little blog. (Either that or the fact that I needed a hobby.) And although I have no future plans of recreating the Bakerella wheel anytime soon, the idea of trying something new (and a little daunting) continues to drive me back into the kitchen every single day…(even if i I do run the risk of failing).

If you too are willing to give something a try, Bakerella has a new cookbook coming out soon called Cake Pops. Why not step out of your comfort zone? You’ll be surprised at how well you do.

Cookbook Giveaway Winner

Here is the winner of the Life After Ramen cookbook giveaway along with the answer to the question: What is the one thing in your kitchen you cannot live without?

 

 

#41 Kasey: Good, sharp knives!*

 

Congratulations Kasey! 

Please shoot me an email at kmslat@yahoo.com with your mailing address.

Thanks to everyone who entered and for their fantastic answers.

Here were a few of my personal favorites:

recipe card

extensive collection of takeout menus

big bottle of cheap red wine

the “hi” knob on the stove

microwave- because it does most of the heavy cooking

wine opener (this one made it twice!)

 

 

 

 

*winner selected using random.org

An anniversary and a giveaway

In just a week’s time, this little blog will be one year old.

That means one year of nattering on about nothing.

Making healthy meals. (Hardy har har.)

Showcasing my dogs ad nauseam.

And fumbling my way through photography.

A year ago I never thought I would have “met” so many amazing people…or discovered that I love writing, photography, and cooking this much. Okay, so I didn’t think I would love these things enough to keep doing them every single day of my life. But as it turns out, I do.
A lot.

So in honor of this little anniversary I’m giving away an autographed copy of the cookbook “Life After Ramen” courtesy of the incredibly fabulous authors Randy MacDonald and Ann Thatcher.

*To enter the contest just answer the following question in the comments section of this post:

What is the one thing in your kitchen you cannot live without?

No entries after 11p Monday, March 15th. (thanks becki d!)

Winner to be announced Tuesday afternoon.

Good luck! And thank you for being a part of this first year!

white trash wednesday

It has been brought to my attention (ahem sorry Rhoob) that I’ve been a little slack in posting those good old White Trash Wednesday recipes. So to get back on track, here is this week’s recipe, a few hours early, courtesy of my favorite white trash cookbook Ruby Ann’s Down Home Trailer Park Holiday Cookbook.

Ham Pie
serves 4-6
1 cup cubed cooked ham (find it in the sliced sandwich meat section at your local Wal-Mart…Not to be confused with the deli counter.)
1 cup crumbled mozarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
2 frozen pie shells, partially thawed

In a large bowl, mix the ham, cheese and egg together.
Pour the mixture into one of the pie shells.
Cover with the second pie shell and press the edges to seal.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
If it starts to brown too quickly, cover with aluminum foil.

Serve with a side of creamed corn and a PBR.

white trash cooking

Let me start by saying that I’m from Alabama. Oh and I love cookbooks. I have more cookbooks than I can even begin to count. So it’s no surprise that my family and in-laws will give me cookbooks any and every holiday. Well…while I was going through all of them tonight I came across one that stood out.

You read that right: Ruby Ann’s Down Home Trailer Park Holiday Cookbook

This might be one of the funniest cookbooks out there. And just so you can get a full grasp of what I’m talking about, here’s a recipe: (please note this is straight out of the cookbook. I’m not even close to being this funny.)
Tammy Faye Cake
(makes one cake)
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp baking soda
1tsp salt
3/4 cup oil
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups cold water
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir until smooth. Pour into 2 8inch (or 9 in) round cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool on rack.

To make the “frostin'”:
1/2 creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp margarine
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl, cream together the peanut butter and margarine. Mix in the other ingredients. Continue beating until smooth. Spread some frosting on one cake layer and then place the 2nd layer on top. Frost the cake with the remaining mixture. If you run out, make some more. Just make sure you got a good thick layer all around.

Take a glass of hot water and put a butter knife in it. Let the knife sit for a few seconds, then run it over the top of the cake. Continue to dip the knife in the water to clean it and reheat it; the warmth helps the knife to smooth the frostin’. Take a toothpick and lightly draw out Tammy Faye’s face (you can get her photo off the internet.) Use green glitter on the eyelids, red glitter for the blush, and red hots for the lips. Chocolate chips work great for the eyes and eyebrows. Chocolate chip shavin’s make wonderful eyelashes. Finally, take a little water and add one drop of blue food colorin’. Use a knife to drizzle a stream of tears from the outside corners of the eyes. Make sure to say grace before eatin’ a piece of this.

-Ruby Ann Boxcar, Lot #18

See, I told you it was funny.