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.

No Cooking Weekend

You've heard the saying, "every dog has its day," unless it has a broke tail then it's a weak-end. I feel like a dog with a broke tail this weekend as my girls at a church retreat. Aaron is busy all weekend and so I'm on my own. Don't you feel sorry for me?


That means this will be a no cooking weekend. I wish I could say I was relaxing and had all this time to cook up some wonderful meals. But alas, I have a wedding tonight and will be at the church tomorrow from 9-noon. I should have some time in the afternoon to do some relaxing.


I do plan to cook myself a good rib-eye steak tomorrow evening. I already have it marinating. This is my favorite steak. What little research I've done leads me to think that grass fed cattle are the best. The marbling may be a little less but the flavor is better.

Marbled simply means meat that has fat running through it, is more tender and flavorful than other meats. The front part of cattle has more marbled meat (shoulder, ribs) than the other end. For stews and roasts use chuck, it comes from the shoulder. You'll need to stew, boil, or braise the rump or round cuts to make it more tender and flavorful. It doesn't hurt to do it with chuck as well.

Pesto Talapia

We've been cooking alot of talapia lately. I wanted to try something a little more challenging. So I had looked up some recipes on Saturday. I found one I liked and emailed it to myself.

On the way home from work I was trying to figure out how I was going to cook it in the oven along with some aspargus and mushrooms. I decided to cook the aspargus first. While it was cooking I prepared to cook the Talapia.

I ran into a problem though. The internet was down and I couldn't get to my recipe. So I decided to wing it based on my memory. First, I took 8 oz of pine nuts and put them in the blender and tried to turn them into powder as best I could. It turned out better than I thought. Then I took about 4 oz of parmesean and 2 tbsps of pesto and blended them with the pine nuts.

Next, I rinsed the fish off and placed them on a pan with cooking spray. I spread the pesto mixture over about 8 pieces of fish, covering them as best as I could. The oven was preheated to 450 degrees and I baked the fish for 12 minutes. I like mine a little crispy so I brioled them for about 2-3 minutes. Oh, I forgot to say I salt and peppered the fish before I put the pesto on. I probably could have used a little more salt, but Charlcie thought they were fine just the way they were and so did Abi. Another successful cooking event.

Now that the internet is working, I'll have to check the recipe and see what I left out. I know there were some spices mentioned. Everyone liked the meal so much that I'm sure I'll do it again and do it the right the way.

Sausage And Sauerkraut

Something I haven't cooked in a long time and I really like is sausage and sauerkraut. It's so simple. I quartered an onion, chopped up 4 or 5 carrots and put a 32 oz bag of sauerkraut in a pan and turned the stove on high. I think Vlasic makes a good sauerkraut. I use the jar or the kind that comes in a plastic bag. Then I mix it up. While this was heating up, I chopped up 2, 14 oz bags of Chappell Hill Pork and Deer Sausage. Man oh man is this stuff good. I don't know if you can get it anywhere but southeast Texas, but if you can ,you outta try it.


Place the sausage in the pan and mix it up. Then I turn it down to low and let it cook for 4-5 hours. It's best to stir it every so often. You don't have to wait this long to eat it, but it tastes a whole lot better if you do. Most of the liquid will boil out and the flavor and taste will be awesome. Add this one to the cookbook.


This is another recipe I got from my sister-in-law Gen. In the past I spelled her name Gin, not thinking. That's what you get for being in a hurry and not paying attention to important things. The important thing here though, is this is good cooking and eating.

Cooking For Friends

Last night we had some friends, we've known for a long time, come over. Since it was Friday, we needed something quick and easy to cook. Charlcie mentioned pesto chicken. On the way home I went by the grocery store and got some chicken breasts and pesto. While I was there, I thought I'd get some things to make a great salad.
We got some fresh spring mix, a yellow and red pepper, mushrooms and some walnuts. When I got home I brined the chicken for 20 minutes and then put a rub on it and put it in the refrigerator for an hour. While I was waiting I made the salad. I used about a half a head of iceberg lettuce, 4 ounces of spring mix, half of the yellow and red pepper, green onions, carrots, and celery. I chopped up some tomato for individuals to use in their salads, so the leftovers wouldn't get all watery. The walnuts were chopped up and put in a side dish for people to add if they liked as well.
Since I had too many mushrooms I decided to saute about 75% of an 8 once container and put the rest in the salad. First, I put some noodles on to boil and cut up the chicken into a good bite size chunk and sauteed it in olive oil. When the noodles were done (I cooked enough for 8) I added about 2/3 cup of pesto and the mushrooms and chicken and mixed it up. If I had to do it again, I'd mix the pesto and the chicken and mushrooms and serve them in a separate bowl to add on top of the noodles. But it worked and everyone really enjoyed.
For dessert we had left over strawberry shortcake. We used the muffins I had made for pot luck. I had put a little splenda on the strawberries and they were very good. To top it off we added a little cool whip.
We had a great time eating, remembering old times, sharing our lives and praying together. You can't have a better Friday evening.

Strawberry Shortcake

I needed a diet dessert for our potluck last night since I'm trying to eat healthy. I knew there would be lots of temptations and that would help. I found this low carb, low cal muffin mix for strawberry shortcake.

You take 2 cups of almond flour (I found it in the specialty food section at Kroger). Then add 2 tsps baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt and mix it all together. In another bowl mix 1 stick of melted butter, 4 eggs, 1/3 cup of water and about 1/3 cup of spenda. Pour this mixture into the first one and stir well. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees, place mixture in muffin tin ( about 2/3 full) and bake for 15 minutes. I'd check it after about 12.

Next cut the tops out of the strawberries and wash. Then slice them and cover with a little spenda and refrigerate. When the muffins are done and cooled put one in a bowl and cover with 1/12 of strawberries and add a little cool whip. The muffin has about 1.5 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber and about 185 calories.

This was very good and you could add blueberries or apricots to the mix for an alternative. The mix is a little grainy, but everyone liked it. I think I may experiment and try and mix the almond flour with some regular flour and maybe something else low carb. I'll let you know.

Roasted Asparagus & Mushrooms

My dad and I used to grow asparagus in our garden and we really loved cooking it. More than that though we loved eating it. It was a favorite in our family. But since my parents have been gone we have seldom cooked it. I don't know why because Charlcie loves it dearly.

Recently, I've seen it in the stores and we've been trying to eat more vegetables. So a couple of weeks ago I picked up a bunch and pan roasted them with olive oil. They were good but I thought we could cook them better. So I googled asparagus and found some recipes.

We had a pound of asparagus and trimmed off the woody stalks. I put them in a food storage bag along with 3 tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 pound of sliced mushrooms and 1 clove of minced garlic. On a large baking sheet I spread out the mixture and sprinkled with sea salt and pepper and a little more olive oil. Into a preheated oven to 425 degrees they went and baked for 20 minutes. You might want to check it after about 15 so not to over cook. You want them to be tender and lightly browned. This was enough for 3 of us last night and Charlcie and I finished them off tonight. I'm really loving this and this is one for the cookbook.

Success How Good It Is, Cooking That Is!

Sunday was a great day. The worship service was great and so was the spaghetti dinner for the garage sale team after the service. We didn't have any leftover but I was sure glad I added the leftovers from cooking earlier in the week or we wouldn't have had enough.
It really is a good feeling when things turn out. The sauce was hearty, tasty and delicious. I was challenged though, by a great salad that Barbara Smith made. This salad was colorful and crisp, with a wide variety of fresh vegetables. Then Barbara made a rice pudding with brown rice for dessert that was delicious and healthy. It was hard sharing the compliments - not!
Really though, I'm a little insecure about my cooking and I need all the positive feed back I can get (can you hear the violins playing in the background). You'd think at age 55 I'd be past all that but I'm not (am I getting any sympathy yet). I'm being a little silly but not totally so keep up the encouragement.
Last night I made some oven fried eggplant and it turned out great. Believe me, if my 2 kids like something that has to do with a vegetable then I'm doing good. They both loved it and it was so simple. This was the first time I made it and I didn't know how it would turn out. I may have cheated a little because after I baked it I had some hot grease and I quickly fried it to keep it from being so dry. You gotta watch that though, because they can brown really fast. We also had pan fried fish and coleslaw.

Spaghetti Sauce for 18 or More

We're having a planning meeting after church tomorrow for a garage sale. We usually have pizza, but I'm tired of pizza and thought I could make some spaghetti that taste better and would be cheaper. So here's one from the new Phifer cookbook I'll make someday.
I took about a 1 & 1/2 lb of ground chuck and 1 lb of ground Italian sausage and browned it. Then I melted 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of olive oil on medium heat in a large pot. Two onions were diced up and along with 8 oz of mushrooms were put into the pot and sauteed. Then 2 bell peppers and 2 cloves of garlic were diced up and put in the pot for about 2 minutes. The meat was combined with 2 tbsp of garlic powder, oregano, and basil. Salt and pepper to taste. Then I added some left over chicken broth, probably about 4 oz, along with 4 cans of 8 oz tomato sauce and 1 15 oz can because that was all I had. I had planned on using 4 cans of tomato paste but I didn't have time to go to store. I put in 1 tbsp of Splenda Sugar Blend and 1 pinch of cinnamon and I mean 1 pinch. You gotta be really careful with the cinnamon and the sugar.
The whole sauce was stirred constantly and brought to a boil and then simmered on low for about 4 hours. My daughter and her friend Joy cooked up some pasta and used the sauce and loved it.
When I got home from a men's event at the church I tasted it and was very pleased. I had some left over sauce I had made yesterday and mixed it with the new. It had pretty much everything but the garlic powder and the Italian sausage and the chicken broth. Oh yes it also had some left over Marinara sauce I had opened last week to make a sauce. It was good but needed the green peppers, garlic and other ingredients to be really good. I did this because I wasn't sure we had enough sauce for 18 or more people tomorrow. We probably do, but since I'm in a learning mode, I'd rather have to much than not enough. I also think letting it set over night will increase the flavor. I'll let you know how people like it tomorrow.
Hey this is sure a whole lot more fun than opening a jar of spaghetti sauce and browning some meat. And as far as I can tell my family likes the taste a lot better and I guarantee I do.

Cooking Chicken: Brining

Last week my brother and sister in law were over and we cooked 2 wonderful chickens. One thing we did was to brine the chicken first. This is something they reminded us that my mom used to do. I've been captivated by the benefits it has in cooking, keeping the meat juicy, firm and seasoned. I looked up how it works and I wanted to share what I found.

Brining is submerging a turkey or chicken in a solution of salt (sometimes sugar) and water. I'll get to the details next time. But let me get a little technical here because I find it interesting.

Brining works with diffusion and osmosis. When you soak the chicken there is a greater concentration of salt outside of the chicken than in the cells of the chicken. Diffusion means the salt will naturally flow from the area of greater concentration (the brine) to lesser concentration (the cells). There's also more water outside the chicken than inside, obviously, and the water will naturally flow from greater concentration to lesser too. This is called osmosis. Once inside the proteins begin to breakdown and interact and they capture and hold the moisture. Then when you begin cooking, the heat, forms a gel and a barrier that keeps much of the water form leaking out. Voila, you have a chicken that's better seasoned and more juicy.

Monday Monday

Monday, Monday, so good to me. I love Monday, it's my day off and I have more time for cooking. But this is always a special day for me, as it's the day after Resurrection Sunday or Easter as most call the day. I jokingly told my son who had some friends coming to Sunday service but couldn't make it, "if Jesus could rise from the dead surely we can get out of bed."

I'm still basking or basting, too use a cooking term, in the afterglow of the resurrection. Without the resurrection the cross is just a tragic defeat. But the resurrection vindicated the cross and the cross provided for our forgiveness. Well I'm getting a little preachy so forgive me; afterall I am a preacher.

Back to cooking. I'm using the leftover ham to make ham hash or ham and scalloped potatoes. I cut up a small onion and the left over ham, about 1 1/2 lbs. Then I melted 3 tbsp of butter on low heat and put 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and 3 tbsp of flower in with butter stirring continuously. After about a minute I put 2 & 1/2 cups of milk in with the mixture and kept stirring until it boiled for about a minute and removed it from the heat.

Next I took a 2 quart baking dish and greased it. Then I lined it with a layer of potatoes, onions, sauce and ham. I followed with 2 more layers of each item. The oven was preheated to 350 and I baked it covered for 30 minutes. I took it out and uncovered it and baked for another 50 minutes or until the potatoes were soft. It was great!

This may sound like a lot but in between I was doing other things. Mainly I was cleaning our pool. The house we bought came with a pool and I don't recommend one. They are a hassle but we have enjoyed it. Thank goodness we didn't pay for it to be installed although we pay for it in upkeep and electricity. Oh well, enough of the griping, at least I got outside on a beautiful day in Spring, Spring. No I didn't stutter, I live in Spring Texas and it's Spring, Ha!

The Cook Is Out

Well my cooking plan seems to be working, not perfectly but sufficiently. The ham is made and we had ham omelets this morning. We'll have it for sandwiches and other meal ideas next week.
Easter is a really busy time for pastors and it often doesn't let up the next week.
Cooking the spiral ham was really easy but it can take some time. However, if you do it while other things are going on, or you're reading, blogging or watching TV it's not time consuming.
One thing that I read to shorten the cooking time for the ham was to put it in warm water for 45 minutes and then again for 45 minutes. This raises the internal temperature and prevents the ham from drying out. Leave it in the plastic packaging it comes in to warm and then remove the plastic. After this I wrapped it in foil real tightly, preheated the oven to 250 and baked it for 60 minutes. The ham was a little over 5 lbs, so about 12 minutes per pound. It came with a glaze so I used about 1/3 of it to brush over the ham and left the ham opened, raised the oven temperature to 350 and heated it for 10 minutes. Then I let it rest tented 10 minutes and put 1/3 more of the glaze on it and mixed the remaining glaze with 2 tbsp of drippings from the ham to serve as a sauce. It was real easy to remove from the bone. Wow was it great.
I left some of the meat on the bone and froze it to make ham bone soup in the near future. Time is short so I'll get back to you next week; the cook is out. Happy Resurrection Day!

You Gotta Be Flexible

So far very little has gone according to plan this week when it comes to cooking, and I love it. My idea to keep meals simple though, has really worked out. But you gotta be flexible. When things change you gotta go with the flow. I'm still on schedule for the ham this weekend, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. By the way I hope you got the Irish outdoor furniture out for St. Pat's Day; you know 'pat-tee-oh furniture.'

Yesterday my brother and sister-in-law, Gin, came over and we cooked the 2 chickens as planned. They were wonderful. First, my brother and I cut the back out of the chickens and then brinded them for about 1 & 1/2 hours (you need at least 30 minutes but more is better). Then we put olive oil and a little of Emeril's Essence, that Gin had made up, all over the chicken. We had preheated the gas grill to 450 and we were using it like an oven because we were roasting red potatoes with olive oil and cooking a squash casserole in the oven.

We put the 2 chickens into 2 iron skillets with some olive oil and put them in the grill, trying hard to keep the temperature at 450. I'd say we generally succeeded. Oh I forgot to tell you we had heated the iron skillets in the oven at 450 for about thirty minutes before we put the chickens in them. After we cooked the chickens in the grill about 35 minutes we tented the breasts and cooked then another 10 minutes. We were trying to get the internal temperature to around 180 degrees I believe Gin said. She had brought a special little thermometer and we were successful. The chickens were cooked to perfection and everything else was ready. We were able to feed 9 adults and still had 2 chicken breasts left.

This was absolutely a wonderful meal. The chicken was so good you'll have to make it to believe it. Then on top of all that Gin cooked a low fat, almost sugar free cheesecake that was wonderful.

But what about tonight? Here's where being flexible comes in. I'll report back to you tomorrow.

Marinating

The marinade made great cooking. The only thing I might do different in the future would be to use orange juice instead of the lemon juice. You could really taste the lemon flavor and while Abi, Aaron and I liked it, Charlcie was a little less enthusiastic.
Well it's Easter Week and resurrection Sunday is coming and I've been thinking about it allot, or meditating on the resurrection. It struck me how similar meditating and marinating are. I know that sounds silly but here me out here will ya.
When I took the first bite of the sirloin steak I was palatively surprised at the wonderful cooked flavor. I don't even know if palatively is a real word, but my taste buds were delighted with the cooking. The marinade had seeped into the meat, tenderized it and changed its flavor. Isn't this what we want to happen when we meditate. We want the word to seep into our lives, tenderize our hearts and change our lives.