My Kids Hate My Cooking

Lately dinner at our house is stressful but I keep trying.  I don't make my kids eat everything on their plate but they do have to try it.  Since I've been shopping Publix and buying a lot of their fabulous buy one get one deals my family is exposed to more of a variety of things.  One of those was Hamburger Helper.  When I placed "stroganoff" in front of Charlie, he screamed in fear and tried to get away from it.  Katherine's reaction wasn't as strong but she made it clear she wasn't going to eat it.
Every Fall I'm inspired to eat squash but I have yet to convince myself or my family that we like it.  Many recipes I have made I couldn't eat because it was just so orange.  This year I made spaghetti squash which tasted very mild and is good with cheese and a tomato sauce, a lot like lasagna.
Tonight I made a Martha Stewart recipe that my family hated.  I think I'm done with her recipes.  They are just too fussy and too refined for our taste.  It was a butternut squash and chicken soup.  Charlie at least picked out the chicken and ate it then splashed the rest out of the bowl.  My husband ate his and tried to convince Katherine at the same time how great a skill it is to be able to eat food you don't like.  I really do try to prevent him having to use that skill.  Poor Katherine, she's so like me in many ways.  I don't see her or me developing that skill anytime soon.

So Gross!

A friend sent me a helpful email with homemade recipes for household cleaners.  One was using Dawn hand soap and vinegar to remove soap scum.  You pour vinegar about half way into a spray bottle then heat it in a microwave then fill the rest with blue Dawn dish soap.  It's suppose to "melt" soap scum.  This was exactly what we needed for our shower door.  I've tried several different methods without any real success.  Then I just gave up.
This is the before shot.  It's terribly embarrassing.  But the recipe really did work!

After scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing and spraying it down with the hose....
it looks clean!

I did try to use this mixture inside the shower.  I about passed out from the fumes.  I just finished the job with Lysol. 

Banana Pops

My grandmother introduced me to these years ago.  I crave them every summer.  You've probably seen this uninspiring yellow and brown box around the bananas in the grocery store.  It doesn't make the idea appetizing but don't be fooled they really are.

These are very simple to make.  Break the peeled bananas in half, poke a Popsicle stick (they come in the box) in the bottoms then freeze.  After they're frozen, dip them into the chocolate and eat.  YUM.
(They're only 2pts. if you're following the Weight Watcher's plan).

Frances' Fried Green Tomatoes

Last week we went to a local farmer's market, and not a very good one. I'm hoping that it will get better as the season continues. I did get a hankering for fried green tomatoes after seeing some. They were $1 a piece, way too much. But I found some at our Food Outlet for $1.19 a pound. I was able to buy 6 for $3 and some change. I have never made these myself so I received a lesson from Chuck's Aunt Frances.

Chuck's Aunt Frances. I asked her to give me a sexy smile, she played along.


Here's how to make them:

Cut the tomatoes as thin as you can.

Soak them in buttermilk.

Dump 1 cup of self-rising flour, 1 tsp. of salt, and 1 tsp. of pepper into a large ziplock bag.
Shake a couple of the slices into the flour mixture.
Place the slices into a frying pan with an inch of hot oil.
Allow the slices to brown all the way around the edge of the slice then turn ONCE.

If you turn the slices over continuously they will be greasy.
Brown that side.

Place the slices into a rack on top of paper towels.

Eat while hot! They are crunchy goodness with a dash of salt.

Homemade Doughnuts!

My mom recently made delicious homemade doughnuts. She pulled out an awesome Nesco fryer from her kitchen cabinets that we couldn't remember seeing before. I'm not an owner of a lot of appliances because I hate trying to store them in cabinets or worse, on top of the counters. But this fryer was pretty cool.




Here's the dough that she cut with her nifty vintage doughnut cutter. We found this for a couple of bucks at an antiques mall. The donuts had a nice cake texture with a bit of Fall spice. We tried using powdered sugar as a topping but it just wasn't as good as the icing recipe.
They were a big hit with everyone! In fact I was so busy eating them that I forgot to take a photo of the end product.


Doughnut recipe:
4 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. oil
1 cup buttermilk

Mix all ingredients together then refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll out dough and cut. Drop into hot oil and turn over. Cook until both sides are brown then drain on paper towels. Top with confectioners sugar or icing.

Icing recipe:
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 Tbsp. milk

Whip all ingredients together and dip the doughnut.

Caramel Apple Mess

I've been cooking recipes out of my new Gooseberry Patch cookbook with a lot of success. I was feeling confident with my skills and tried the caramel apple recipe. (These two beautiful photos are not my end product but from the experts at Southern Living and Country Living magazines.)
It was tiresome opening 100 packages of small caramel candies and my bag of apples looked pretty battered. I should have picked out the apples individually. But I was not daunted yet. The candy melting went well and I was careful not to get burned however, trying to get the apple covered took me a few tries. What worked best was tilting the pot on it's side letting the caramel pool then swirling the apple into it. You must pop any bubbles that form on the apple right away or you will end up with a seriously afflicted looking ball that no one will eat.



The problems began when I tried removing the apples from the buttered wax paper after they had cooled in the fridge. The paper would not come off! I eventually used kitchen shears to cut the apples away. I sent 4 wax paper bottomed apples to my neighbors, I did include a warning.
The clean up was the worst part. Getting the caramel to come off my plastic spoon, ladle, pot, and cake stand took A LOT of hot water and scraping. Caramel apples will not be one of my family's traditions.

Yummy Pad Thai!

My talented friend Polly had a play date/luncheon recently and served the best Pad Thai. I don't normally venture out into the lands of ethnic food but Polly is an exceptional cook so I made an exception. I admire her ability to throw ingredients together and end up with something fantastic.
She graciously took the time to write down a recipe and e-mailed it. The ingredients called for 2 items I have never used before, hoisin sauce and Mae Ploy's Chili sauce. The latter I had to find in an Asian market. That was an experience. If you live around here I went into the Korean Market in the old Waccamaw shopping center. It was only $3. 98.
The dinner turned out to be a great success! Everyone had seconds and we had just enough for Chuck's lunch the next day. It made me feel like a fine cook, thanks Polly!
Polly's Pad Thai

Cooked noodles of your choice.

1 cup Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce

2 Tbsp Hoisen sauce

2 tsp Soy sauce

2 heaping Tbsp Chunky Peanut Butter – or smooth and add chopped Peanuts

Juice of one lime. Put half in the sauce and half on top of your final dish

1 Bell Pepper-big chunks. I like orange, red and yellow mixed.

1 large Onion- big chunks

1 Clove of crushed Garlic

1 tbsp Sesame oil

Large handful of bean sprouts-canned or fresh

Chicken cut in chunks (shrimp is good too)

Cilantro

Green Onion tops. chopped

Cook chicken in olive oil and sesame oil. Add onions, peppers and garlic and cook until tender. Mix Mae Ploy, Hoisen sauce, ½ lime juice, peanut butter and soy sauce and heat until bubbly and smooth. Add water or coconut milk if the sauce is too thick. Pour sauce over chicken and veggies and add bean sprouts and noodles. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Place in dish and sprinkle the rest of the lime juice over top. Garnish with lots of cilantro and a couple of green onion tops.