Abi Is Graduating, Yea!!!!

Well it's been over a week and I just don't know where the time goes. It seems the last few weeks have gotten busier and busier and I'm ready for things to slow down a bit. I don't think it will until after this weekend.
You ask "why" and I'm so glad you did. My beautiful and wonderful daughter Abigail is graduating from HS. Her mom has been homeschooling her for 12 years so she graduates too. I almost feel like I'm graduating. Oh by the way, her brother Aaron finished his AAS degree in Sound Design but won't officially graduate until August. Things are going to really change around here and we're looking forward to it. Congratulations Abi Phifer, Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We're having the graduation at the church this Saturday at 2 PM. Abi has written a song and plans to give a little speech. Her mom is going to say a few words and of course I'm the MC and the special speaker. I've always wanted to do that, so here's my chance to wax eloquent or wax the elephant as my niece thought I said last weekend.
On our way back to church today we asked Abi what she'd like to eat after the graduation. She said she wanted me to make some chicken tortilla soup. I made this last week and she really loved it. So we thought we'd find an enchilada recipe and make some to go along with it.
Low Carb Chicken Tortilla Soup
1. 1/2 cup of butter; 1 bunch of green onions chopped; 3-4 celery sticks diced; 2 cloves of garlic minced; 1/2 bell pepper diced (optional: Abi doesn't like it) and saute these in butter
2. 3 cups of chicken stock; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1 can rotele tomato with chili peppers; 1 tsp cumin and chili powder; 3 chicken breasts cooked and diced; 2 avocados chunked; 1 tbsp lime juice; 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated and 1 block cream cheese chopped up.
3. Shredded white cheese and 4 flour or corn tortillas.
After you saute items in #1 add chicken stock, cream, cumin, chili powder and rotele tomatoes and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chicken and cream cheese. Simmer until cream cheese dissolves and you have a wonderful soup.
While the soup is simmering take 4 low carb tortillas or corn ones and cut into 1/4 inch strips. Cover cookie pan with aluminum foil and spray with Pam. Lay strips on foil and spray the top of them lightly. Bake them at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly toasted and crispy. Lightly sprinkle with salt. Garnish each bowl of soup with white cheese and tortilla strips.
I was able to use some chicken stock Charlcie had left over from making King Ranch Chicken recently. I thought it really added to the flavor.

Long Weekend Without Cooking

We had a giant garage sale at the church this past weekend. Along with it we had a lot of people cooking cookies and different things to sale. We had a great time and really sold a lot of things. The best part was the fellowship with each other and the community. Lot's of interaction was going on. There was so many people who volunteered to help that it really made it go smoothly. There were a lot of new people to the church and ones that have been a part for a long time. It was good to see new connections and relationships being built.
The week started out slowly, but each day gained momentum. Thursday night we were bracing for the marathon. Sure enough Friday was a marathon. From early in the morning until about 10 PM we were unloading, setting up tables, putting out items and receiving more stuff. Again it was great to have so much help. If we hadn't of, we'd have been here all night.
We got home and into bed about 11 PM only to get up about 4:30 AM. We got to the church about 5:30 and immediately started getting things ready. A few more people showed up to help and we had everything ready by 6:45. By that time we had lots of help.
The day went great. We had some early birds and slowly the crowds built until about 11 AM. Things slowed for 45 minutes but began to pick up until about 1:30 and we shut things down between 2 and 2:30.
Then it was time to load everything up and take it to SAM (Spring Assistance Ministry). I know we sold an enormous amount of things, but you couldn't tell it by how much was left. SAM was glad to get what we had left and we were glad they would take it. Charlcie and I got home about 5 and we were exhausted.
But no rest for the weary. Sunday was communion and Sunday night we had prayer. We did manage to get a nap briefly Sunday afternoon.
Needless to say I haven't had much time for cooking. We've been eating simple things but last night I cooked a wonderful chicken tortilla soup that I'll tell you about tomorrow.

Home Cooked Green Beans

Last night Charlcie and Abi went up to the church to have worship prep; to get ready for worship on Sunday. So I had some time on my hands and I decided to make fresh green beans like my mom used to do.
But first things first, I had to heat up my wonderful bowl of ham bone soup. While it was heating I took 2 cups of stock I'd made with the chicken Charlcie had boiled last week and the ham bone and set it aside. Oh by the way, I forgot to say to snap the ends off the beans and wash them. some people snap the beans in half but you don't have too.
In a large oven pan I melted a couple of tablespoons of unsalted butter and lightly browned 1/4 pound of sliced salt pork. Then I tossed the green beans into the pot and stirred with a wooden spoon to coat them. Now, add the the broth, bring to a boil and add a palm full of salt (I used kosher salt, and a little less), 2 tspns of garlic powder and black pepper. Let this simmer over medium low heat (emphasis on the low) for about 30 minutes, covered.
While the beans were cooking, I ate my soup and man oh man was it good. Then I cut an onion into slivers and peeled the potatoes. You'll want to use 10-12 depending on the size. Add the potatoes and onions at the end of the 30 minutes and cook another 30 minutes, covered. You'll need to check every once in a while to make there's still some stock. Add a little if needed. When the potatoes are tender add 1/2 stick unsalted butter and cook with the lid tilted for another 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
When Charlcie and Abi got home about 9:30 PM we all had a little bowl of green beans. Oh my goodness were they ever good. There's just something about fresh stock, green beans and potatoes.

Back AT It

Back at it, cooking that is. I spent the weekend in Galveston on a men's retreat. We had a great time. The weekend started out at Shrimp In Stuff, a great little unknown restaurant. It's mainly fried seafood, but the gumbo is cooked great and so is the fried seafood. The prices are even better, well not really. They're great but the food is better.
After some great seafood we had a wonderful time of worship in the old bar the restaurant now owns. They let us use it free and that was a great blessing because we had no place to meet where we were staying.
After getting a good nights rest, at least most of us, we went to the airshow. It was great! This was the first time I've ever been, after living in Galveston for a year and in Houston all my life, you'd have thought I'd made it by now. I haven't, but it was great. I enjoyed the WWII planes as much as anything. The museum and plane display was great too.
It seems I've been out of pocket for a long time. Last night I decided to get back at cooking. We were hungry for something different. I remembered we had a ham bone and decided to make some ham bone soup.
While I was at the store I saw some frest green beans. I knew I'd have left over stock, so I decided to try and make some fresh green beans. I remember growing up my Mon's were the best. It seemed she let them cook for hours, but they sure were flavorful. I'm gonna give it a try tonight so they'll be ready for tomorrow. But tonight, I'm planning on enjoying a heaping bowl of ham bone soup.

What Beef Makes the Grade Part 2?

Well I hope I'm finally back. It's been a challenging 10 days. I think I left off talking about what grades of beef are, and how they relate to cooking. Last week I covered Prime. Recently, I had a prime steak at a restaurant in Spring. it was wonderful, but I'm not sure the price difference was worth it.
When I was in Phoenix last week I had a Choice steak. Since I wasn't paying, I don't know the price, but it sure was good. The grade makes a difference, but the cook and the spices do too.
I know this is only anecdotal, but from personal experience I don't know that I'd pay the price difference between Prime and Choice. I would when it comes to Choice and Select though. But let me give you the run down, you do your own taste test and make up your own mind.
Choice is a high quality beef with a little less marbling than Prime. It's generally available at the grocery, but you might have to ask for it at the counter. Select has a lot less marbling and is easy to make tough and dry if not prepared right. It might be best to use a marinade to cook with. Choice is very available at the grocery store.
Standard and Commercial grades are usually your store brand, or marked as ungraded. If you don't see a grade name it's more than likely one of these. These definitely need to be marinated.
Utility, Cutter and Canner are not usually sold as cut meat. They are used in ground beef or in canned products. Things like canned chili, soups to dog food. I know, that sounds yuck. You may want to check with the butcher to find out what grade of meat you're buying.
There you have it. I usually buy Choice when it's on sale and Select most of the other time. It's what fits the budget. Using a little marinade or rub sure makes a great tasting steak.

Out Of Town

Hello friends and neighbors, Charlcie and I have been out of town for several days and haven't been cooking. We were in Phoenix, AZ. for a Vineyard Leaders Meeting. We had a great time, but it's great to be back and I'm looking forward to cooking some home meals.
As part of our being in Phoenix we were treated to a special dinner at a place called "Firebirds." This is a very nice restaurant and the meal was excellent. The atmostphere was great and the fellowship with the other pastors was even better.
Charlcie and I had what they called an "Aspen Steak," which was a NY Strip, cooked with certain spices. They were cooked to perfection. The meat and flavor was so good that I thought we were eating prime, but it turns out it was a choice cut of meat.
It's not very often that I have a glass of wine, but I decided I'd like to try some with the meal. Our leader, ordered a bottle of Merlot. I use an inexpensive Merlot to cook with, but this was not an inexpensive wine. I generally like a little sweeter wine and as I tasted this I thought it was just okay. But when I got my steak and drank some along with it, I found the taste to be much better. Some how or another the steak enhanced the taste and flavor of the wine for me. So now you have my experience in Phoenix.

What Beef Makes the Grade?

Seems like I've lost my sense of humor of late. So I thought I'd start off with a bad cooking joke my brother told me yesterday. What is orange and sounds like parrot? Give up, it's a carrot. I know, I know that's really bad.
Now to more important things. I've been talking about different grades of beef. I've found this fascinating because I didn't know anything really about it. So I've done a little investigating and I thought I'd share it.
Here in the good ole US of A we have the good ole USDA that grades our beef. Now I found out this a voluntary thing, but it's good as a promotional tool for the beef growers, as much as it is a quality check for the buyers.
Some things to keep in mind about grading, I know this is obvious but I'll say it anyway, the higher the grade the higher the price. The growers pay for the grading; isn't that interesting. The ranchers and packers pay the USDA. Of course they pass the price on to the wholesalers who pass it on to the grocers who pass it on to us. You might call this the beef graders food chain. Anyway, a lot of the beef sold in the US is sold as ungraded.
With that in mind let's talk about the grades. Most of us know about Prime, Choice and Select. But there's also, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner. We'll talk about these more later. For now though, let's focus on the top 3.
As I said, Prime grade beef is the most expensive. It's made from well fed young cattle. Also, it has a lot of marbling, is tender and has a lot of flavor when you cook it. Of course when you over cook anything it's going to lose some flavor, but with Prime you stand a better chance of getting away with it. Prime makes up a very small amount of beef sold. You'll mainly find it in really fine restraints or in specialty shoppes. So for most of us Prime is not going to be commonly cooked at home. Watch out for marketing like "prime buy" or "select choice," when you're shopping and check the labeling so you know what grade of beef it really is. Real Prime beef won't need much if any marinade to cook a tender and flavorful meal. Next time will look at Choice.