Winter Storm 2010

We got about 8” of snow starting on Friday afternoon and it continued allll night.

Since we didn’t want to get out in that mess for dinner, we grilled some steaks on our Griddler!

Here’s a picture of our back porch Saturday morning.

I like snow as long as I don’t have to get out very much in it.  And it’s so pretty! 

This scene was all too familiar because this very same week last year, we had 3” of ICE.  Yeah, ICE!  I’m glad we didn’t have that again. 

Here’s some pictures from Ice Storm 2009

It was a pretty bad deal.  The power was out all around the Southeast Missouri and Western Kentucky area for about 2 weeks.  Luckily, our house only lost power for a day.  There were only a couple houses in our neighborhood besides ours that got their power back quickly.  We must be hooked into Walmart’s circuit or something, that’s the only explanation we could come up with. 

We had family and friends staying with us, in what we called our “Warming Station”.  The most we had with us at one time was 11 people.  And several of our friends stopped by to take hot showers.  Both of our families stayed with us the entire time; we had people all over the place!  There were people sleeping on the couch, and on blow-up beds in our spare bedrooms and even the dining room!

We had a pretty good time though, considering the situation.  Everybody else in town was living on generators.  And we sure did eat good every night.  Both of our moms brought everything from their freezers and we cooked off of that the whole time!  Steaks, hamburgers, pork tenderloin, all kinds of stuff.  And you know we had plenty of beer, it stayed in coolers on the back porch.

So this past Thursday when we got the news of a snow storm, the Number 1 thing on our grocery list was…Beer!  You can never have enough beer when you might be stuck inside for whoknowshowlong. 

Corn Chowder

**post edited October 26, 2011 to add pic**  Made this last Sunday night when it was cold and windy.  We stayed in to watch the Cardinals play in the World Series.  Yummy!

Source:  Pat and Gina Neely

I forgot to take a picture of this Thursday night, but I'll try to remember to snap one when I have a bowl of leftovers. 

This is perfect on a cold snowy night, like the past few we've had.  It has a little kick to it, but it is DE-lish!  You can use just 1 jalapeno or leave it out if you don't like spicy food.



Ingredients

• Bacon, 6-8 slices, chopped
• 1 large onion or 2 small
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1-2 jalapenos, seeds removed and diced
• 3 or so Garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup AP flour
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 4-5 red potatoes, scrubbed well and diced small
• 2 cups heavy cream or half-n-half
• 2-16 oz. packages frozen corn
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• bay leaf
• Garnishes: cheese, green onions, sour cream

Directions

1. Saute bacon in a soup pot until browned.  Remove to a paper towel-lined plate but leave the drippings in.
2. Add in onions and both peppers.  Saute until tender, add in garlic and season with S&P.
3. Stir in flour and cook for a minute.
4. Add in chicken stock and potatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
5. Add in corn, cream, bay leaf and cayenne pepper.  Simmer for 15 minutes or until ready to serve.
6. Garnish with the bacon and cheddar cheese.

This is a good base recipe for chowder.  You can sub onions, carrots, and celery for a more traditional version.  Or you could add some chicken, that would be really good as well.

Printable Recipe

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Ok I'm slightly embarrassed by this recipe, because it has Cheez Whiz in it, but It. Is. So. GOOD!

Shhhh! You don't have to tell anyone there's Cheez Whiz in it. I'm sure there's a way to make it with a roux, or maybe just some mayonnaise or sour cream and real cheddar, but this is the recipe I know and I didn't want to change it.


This is the whole recipe for a 9x13 casserole dish, but I just made a half recipe this time and used an 8x8.

1. Brown 8-10 Chicken Breasts with butter, maybe 1/2 stick, in a large skillet until cooked through. Season with S&P. (I used 4 cooked in 2 little pats of butter)
2. Meanwhile, cook 2 cups of Rice and defrost 2 packages of frozen chopped Broccoli. (1 cup rice and 1 pkg. broccoli)
   
3. Remove chicken from pan and saute 1 onion and 3-4 stalks celery. (1 onion, 2 stalks celery)
4. Add in 1 can Cream of Mushroom and 1 can Cream of Chicken soup and a small jar of Cheez Whiz. Heat until melted. (I just used 1 cream of mushroom and a few scoops out of the Cheez Whiz)
5. Mix together this mixture, with the chicken, broccoli, and rice; put in a 9x13 casserole dish. Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes until hot and bubbly. This can be made ahead and frozen.

Printable Recipe
Source: A Slice of Sikeston, Chapter HB P.E.O.

Lady Liberty

Here's something you don't see everyday. The Statue of Liberty was on the street corner outside my office Friday. She was actually advertising for Liberty Tax Service...go figure!

New Smashbox Heartbreaker Collection!

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo
Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo
Heartbreaker, with your forty four...

(Just a little shout-out to The Stones)

Look how pretty! And it's PINK!



See the cute little lips? Squee! I'm a sucker for pretty packaging... I have to have this!

Quick Red Beans and Rice

This is a quick version of Red Beans and Rice that uses canned beans instead of dried.

Have you noticed that most of my recipes are the quick versions of something that would normally take 2 days to make?? (I'll make/blog Miss Annette's, my mom's friend from Louisana, recipe some weekend when I have time.)

Adapted from Epicurious recipe.

Printable recipe

Oh I just now saw that the original recipe said to add in the juice from the beans! Oops! Next time I won't drain them and see how it turns out. But it doesn't have tomatoes...so I would maybe drain the tomatoes a little or use less chicken broth.

Ingredients

• Olive Oil
• Sausage (Andouille, Smoked Sausage, or Kielbasa), sliced into half-moons or discs
• Cajun or Creole seasoning
  
• 1 Onion
• Celery
• Green Pepper (I didn't have one on hand and didn't want to go to the store for just 1 pepper, so I omitted)
• 3-4 cloves Garlic
• 1 can diced tomatoes
  
• 2 cans Red Beans - drain and rinse them
• 1 cup Chicken Broth
• Rice for serving
  

Directions

1. In a 4-5 quart sauce pan, cook the sausage until it gets brown.
   
2. Add in onion, celery, pepper and garlic until the veggies are soft. Season with cajun seasoning.
3. Add in tomatoes, red beans, and broth. Simmer for 30-45 minutes, or longer.
4. Serve over rice
5. YUM!

Some of the comments say to add bay leaves and using beer instead of broth. I'll have to do this next time!

I served this with a simple side salad and crackers. You could make a fancy salad and some garlic bread to make it suitable for company.