Life inspired by the Southern Fall

This morning as I woke, I noticed a subtle difference in the day as it was. The Sky was brighter, the air was more crisp, the sound of the cicadas was slightly less harsh, and not to mention, I was voluntarily up and active much earlier than normal. There is only one solid explanation for it, and that is, that Fall has arrived. 

I'm a different person in the Fall. I'm a better person. I'm a happier person. 

That's because, with Fall comes many important things in the South, including two in particular, College Football and Hunting Season. With Fall, the sunlight reflects differently, the winds change and rivalries heat up. With Fall brings campfires and family gatherings, brighter days and louder stadiums. With Fall, the sound of hunters' shotguns exploding in the distance seems comforting, and that's something that the city folk just can't understand. 

And growing up in Alabama, where college football is a way of life, there's something special about waking up on a Saturday morning to the smell of an open flame on the Barbecue grill, that the pit master, however experienced he may be, has been up since sunrise tending to. There's something special about stepping outside and feeling that first cool blast of Fall morning air. There something special about putting champagne or Jack Daniels in your orange juice, before noon, and everyone else, not only being completely fine with it, but joining in with you as well. There's something special about the fact that everyone around you has had nothing else on their mind for the past two days, but the game that's going to be played later today. 

There's an exciting change happening this time of year. Right now, if you look around, you'll notice that the leaves on the trees and the grass on the ground is the most rich shade of green that it will ever be all year, and that's because nature knows, it's almost time to turn. It's nature's last chance to show off it's green before the leaves transform into a beautiful finale of colors and then fade away and fall to the ground. Right now, the heat is subsiding, though it's still hot as hell by other Region's standards. Right now the squirrels and the rabbits, the deer, dove and turkeys are all starting to fatten themselves up for winter. 

But not me. You can't keep me down this time of year.

With fall brings more activity that is normally just exhausting in the sweltering Alabama Summer heat. When the sun goes down, I'll stay up late, just to enjoy the Fall night air, and when the sun comes up, I'll be out early to hear the doves coo, before the day gets hot. I'll have an extra cup of coffee, since my day will last longer, despite the shortening hours of sunlight. I'll have some extra gravy on my biscuit, and some grits on the side, since I'll need the extra energy in the field. 

As a child, I was always sad to see the Summer end, but now as an adult, the Summer can't end soon enough. We've waited all year, but now Fall in the South is finally here, and it's something magical.

Thanks for stoppin' by y'all!

My Auburn Football Prayer

For those of you that know me, you know that, I don't bleed Crimson Red like most humans. For those of you that don't, there is a special breed of humans, like myself, that instead bleed Burnt Orange and Navy Blue, the beautiful team colors of Auburn University, the school that my grandfather, my father, and myself are (were) proud to call our Alma Mater. Being a Southerner, College Football is a way of life, almost as if it were a religion. Especially in the SEC, religion and football cross paths regularly, so I wrote the following prayer this morning, with the Eve of Auburn Football drawing closer each hour, and I felt I needed to share it with all of you. 

I would like to Thank God for understanding my sense of humor. On that note, this prayer is serious as the night is dark...

Dear Lord, it's been a tough offseason for those of us who love Auburn Football. After the most miserable season that the Auburn framily has ever witnessed in the long history of Auburn Football, we lost our Coach, and our beloved Toomer's Oaks, and needless to say, all we want is to move on and recover the glory that we were once all so familiar with in previous seasons, such as Eleven and Oh, Thirteen and Oh, Six and a Row, and of course, the Superstars that forged our wonderful school to victory and claimed the National Championship in Phoenix, Arizona on January Tenth, during your year of our Lord, Two Thousand Eleven. 

So Lord, I ask you to give my Auburn family strength this season, as we watch our boys slam into the members of opposing teams at blistering speeds, while they are being screamed at by 87,451 people, most of which will be proudly wearing the burnt orange color that we normally wouldn't wear if it weren't for the loyalty to our Alma Mater.

Lord, Thank you for bringing back The Gus Bus. Thank you for the new plans to reconstruct our legendary Toomer's Corner. Thank you for Toomer's Lemonade. Thank you for the best and most decorated mascot in the NCAA, Aubie The Tiger. Thank you for the Tiger Walk, and Pat, and Bo, and Cam. Thank you for the Loveliest Village on the Plains and for the flight of War Eagle over the Loveliest Village on the Plains. And most importantly, Thank You for the Auburn Family. 

Lord, Thank You for ESPN, and all of the hostile College Sports writers that keep Auburn coaches, players and fans on their toes by always unnecessarily looking for dirt to bring us down. We always overcome the scrutiny, but, Lord, please be with them, and the staff of the NCAA this season, and guide them in another direction, far far away from Auburn, though I do completely understand that the NCAA staff has an obsession with Momma's Love, just as much as everyone else who has ever walked through the doors at Momma G's on the corner or Donahue Drive and Magnolia Avenue. 

Lord, I want to believe that the burnt orange and navy blue that I wear, and the exact position and seat that I sit in during the games will make a difference in the outcome, despite contradictory evidence from last season. While I realize you have many, many more prayers and souls to tend to, possibly much more important than mine, I promise I will only ask once or twice this season that you intervene in the proceedings on Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Tiger Stadium, Kyle Field, Razorback Stadium, and Neyland Stadium, and if at all possible, the The Georgia Dome, and then The Rose Bowl. But only during the fourth quarter. 

Best Friends + Auburn Family, vs UGA  November 2008

Lord, I truly believe you gave us College Football because you love us and you want us to be happy. I believe you gave us Auburn football so that alumni and friends could unite together, win or lose, as the Auburn Family. I believe you gave us a Sound Mind and a Sound Body, and a Spirit that is Not Afraid, and the ability to Believe in Auburn and Love it as much, or more than I love myself. 

Lord this offseason has been an eternity, especially since Auburn did not play in a post-season game for the first time in my lifetime, other than the years we were deemed ineligible by the powers that be. Despite these things, and with the power of your will, my faith still remains unwavering. 

Lord, Please keep our players healthy, our coaches wise, and our fans humble. Please make them kick off the game already. 

In your name we pray, War Eagle and Amen.

Thanks for stoppin' by, y'all.

Bacon, Blue Cheese & Chive Stuffed Chicken with Spicy Garlic Green Beans

OK, so I realize it's been a while since I last posted. I have been busy with many adventures over the summer. Unfortunately, I was not able to take pictures of a lot of them, and the ones I did snap a picture of, I just plain forgot about! 

I promise I will post them later!

But as my idol, Scarlett O'Hara would say, I can't think about it today, I'll think about that tomorrow...

Because today, I am going to think about this scrumptious yummy dish. Because of the popular demand from friends and family that saw the picture of this meal after I posted to Instagram or Facebook, I'm now posting the recipe here. 

So here goes: 

First off, I'm just going to go ahead and warn you in advance, 

you will need at least an entire stick of this:

I'd like you to meet, Unsalted Butter, My new best friend.

But I have a few other friends that will be joining the stuffed chicken party:

Bacon, my old best friend, blue cheese, chives, and chicken breasts.

Before you do anything else, heat up the oven to 400 degrees & set out the butter so it will be room temperature when you need to mix it. I always forget to do this... so learn from my mistakes. 

Once the oven is heated place bacon in a rimmed pan, and cook them on the center rack for about 8-10 minutes on each side. Watch the bacon to make sure it doesn't burn since your oven may cook different than mine (I advocate the non-waste of bacon as a result of burning). 

*If you've never cooked bacon in the oven, you will thank me later...it is effortless, cooks evenly, comes out perfectly crispy, and you don't make a huge greasy mess all over the stove!*

Once the bacon is cooked, lay the pieces out to dry and cool on a paper towel, and turn the oven up to 425 degrees.While waiting for the bacon to cool, mince up the chives, and place in the mixing bowl. Add blue cheese crumbles, and a stick butter. 

Once the bacon has cooled, take a sharp knife and cut up the bacon into small morsels (and try not to eat too much of it while you do it). Add bacon to the bowl with the other ingredients in the bowl, and fold them together gently.

Next, slit open the chicken breasts down one side, but leave enough so that the filling won't squeeze out the other sides. Fill the chickens with as much of the mixture as you can fit and close up the slit. I use toothpicks to hold them shut and set the slit side up, side-by-side in a meatloaf dish so the filling won't ooze out as it cooks. Pepper the top sides of the filled chickens with ground black pepper. 

 Cook in the oven for 35-40 minutes. 

The butter will melt and spill out into the bottom of the pan. You won't actually consume much of the butter, it just acts as a delicious cooking agent to keep the chicken from drying out. Ah-mazing. 

While the chickens are cooking, you can now make the Spicy Garlic Green Beans! 

Here's who you'll need:

Olive Oil, Fresh Green Beans, Garlic Cloves, Lemons for Zest, Red Pepper, and unsalted butter

First, fill a medium sized pot with water, and bring to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil (depending on how fast your stovetop is, since mine boils at the speed of sloth) wash the beans, and snap off the stems on both ends. 

Boil the green beans in salty water for 2-3 minutes, to blanche them. While the beans are cooking, mince the garlic (or press it in your handy dandy garlic press).

After 2-3 minutes of boiling, drain the green beans and put them in bowl of ice cold water to stop them from cooking. 

While the beans are cooling, heat up olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Sauté the garlic and the red pepper in the oil for about 30 seconds, and then add the DRY green beans. Add the lemon zest into the green beans. While the green beans are cooking, I add the butter to the pan and melt over the beans. If you add the butter before when you cook the garlic, the butter will burn. 

Sauté the beans until they reach the doneness that you like. Some people like theirs crispier, some like their soft. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Last, prepare to eat every morsel on your plate!

Ingredients

For the Bacon, Blue Cheese & Chive Stuffed Chicken:

Divided out so you can adjust accordingly for as many servings you want to make...

1 stick room temperature unsalted butter for every 2 chicken breast
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled for every chicken breast.
1-2 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and finely chopped for each chicken breast
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives, for each chicken breast
Chicken breasts
Freshly ground Kosher Salt & black pepper to taste


For the Spicy Garlic Green Beans (serves 2-3)


1 pound green beans, ends trimmed or snapped
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons butter
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Thanks for stoppin' by, y'all!

Post #2 Continued: Using Leftover Pulled Pork for Carnitas

Last night, we completed round 2 of trying to use up the leftover pulled pork from last weekend. Joel even said he was very impressed that we were still eating off of 4 day old pulled pork. 

I'm determined to use all this stuff up and not let it go to waste. 

The good news is, the multiple pounds of leftover pulled pork has now diminished greatly. I think we might manage to finish up the rest of it very, very soon. We are still working on the Banana Pudding...

So to start off, you will need a few things (besides the pulled pork)...

Some of these you might already have in your kitchen, so you really don't have to go out of the way for the ingredients and it's a very simple, low-stress meal to make. I normally have Sour Cream, tortillas, onions, minced garlic, cheese, tomatoes and Cholula Sauce on hand. Limes usually start making a regular appearance in the house around this time of year (Spring-Summer). As for Salsa Verde, this was the first time I have bought it myself, but I've always loved "that green stuff" that they serve at the Mexican restaurants. This delicious sauce is easy to find in the grocery store, on the ethnic foods isle next to the regular salsa. 

Feel free to use your own favorite fixins too, like guacamole, black olives, peppers or cilantro. My cilantro plant died so I was out. :(

Since I have Type 1 Diabetes, I'm always on the lookout for low-carb options that don't taste like cardboard. These new "carb-balance" whole wheat tortillas taste good, but I can guarantee you they are NOT, I repeat, NOT LOW CARB. After eating just one and giving myself the appropriate amount of insulin, my bloodsugar was through the roof for hours, worse than eating the regular old white tortillas. It just goes to show you, that just because it's "wheat," or "low cholesterol," or has "0 trans fats," that doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you. I've had success with other low-carb options, like Dreamfield Low-Carb Pasta (which is magical, considering I'm part Italian), but not these guys. 

Oh well...

After you have all your ingredients gathered, start off by heating up some olive oil on medium heat (just enough oil to cover the bottom of the skillet). Mince some garlic. Once the oil is hot, throw the garlic in the oil to cook. Be careful not to brown and burn the garlic. Burnt garlic is pretty awful... I tell you this from experience. 

While the garlic is cooking, dice up about 1/4 of an onion. You can use whatever kid of onion you prefer. I use the yellow sweet onions since I have a random food allergy to the purple ones (but not white or yellow ones... weird, I know). Once you have the onion chopped up, toss it in with the garlic and let it all cook together until the onions are translucent, like this:

Once the onions are cooked, add in the meat, plus about 1/2 cup of water, salt and Cholula sauce to taste:

I add in water so that the meat doesn't dry out, plus creates a little bit of it's own broth for the meat to marinate in. Cook until all the water has dried up and the meat begins to fry a little bit. 

While all this is going on, you (or your boyfriend, husband, children) can grate the cheese, and cut up the tomatoes. This is a great way to work together in the kitchen as a family, and everyone feels like they are contributing! Cutting up tomatoes, grating cheese and chopping lettuce for taco night are my earliest memories of helping cook with my mom as a kid. Don't be afraid to let your children use a knife, as long as you teach them how to use it properly! 

Joel's favorite part, cheese.

This tends to happen when the cheese comes out of the fridge...

Labrador vacuums at attention.

Next: assemble your creation: The Salsa Verde goes on the pork, add cheese, tomato, sour cream and lime juice all over!

No, I do not actually eat the lime slice! I just took a picture with the lime because it looked pretty. :)

 And Enjoy.

Ingredient Portions:

1/2-1lb of pulled pork

Soft Tortillas

Breakstone's Sour Cream, for topping

1 diced small-medium size tomato

1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 cup diced onion (or about 1/4 of an onion)

2-3 tbsp olive oil, or enough to cover the bottom of your skillet

1 seven ounce can of Salsa Verde

Cholula Sauce to taste

1 lime (1 slice per serving)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Thanks for stoppin' by, y'all!

Post #2 Continued: Using Leftover Pulled Pork to make Pork Hash Potatoes

Here is a step by step guide on making Pulled Pork Hash with that never-ending leftover pulled pork from this past weekend...

This is basically like homemade corned beef hash (not that canned junk), but with pulled pork. 

Here's the cast & crew:

Some of the pulled pork that you've been trying to get rid of, potatoes (I had a mixed bag of small ones, but you can use any kind), sweet onion, cheddar cheese, olive oil, salt & pepper, and....

This guy...

If you leave him out (which I have done by accident), this dish could turn out a little bland... edible, but not nearly as lip smackin' good. All the other ingredients are bland by nature, so you need him to give them a kick in the gluteus.

First things first: While the oil is heating up in the skillet on medium heat, chop the onion:

Heat the onion in the skillet until it's translucent, don't brown the onion. Turn the heat down a little bit if they look like they're going to start browning. 

While the onions are cooking, chop the potatoes into little pieces. You can cut yours up even smaller than mine, or grate them really fine, just do them up however you normally like hash browns.

Mix the potatoes in with the onions once the onions are soft. You may need to turn the heat up to cook the potatoes, but don't go higher than med-high heat or you'll have a burnt mess. 

Important: Make sure not to move the potatoes around a lot while they are cooking, otherwise they will just get mushy and turned into pan-fried mashed potatoes, and that's definitely not what we're going for here. You want them to stick to the pan a little and get crispy, so you only need to turn them over with your spatula about 1 time at this point. That being said, you probably don't want to try to cook this in a non-stick skillet. I cook just about everything in my coated cast iron skillet anyway.

While all that is cooking, chop the pulled pork up like this...

                         

After a few minutes the potatoes will start to get good an tender, add the pork and the Tabasco sauce to taste. At this point I start taste testing to check the status of the potato tenderness and to see how much more salt, pepper, or Tabasco is needed. 

If you don't cook potatoes a lot, you will need to know that potatoes take a while to cook, and require a lot of seasoning, so don't feel bad if they take a while and you have to keep adding more salt to get them just right. Be patient, grasshopper...

 After adding the pork, let everything cook together for a minute or two. You will only need to turn the mixture over completely with a spatula about once more during the process so it gets crispy all over. Once the potatoes very tender, the last thing I add is the cheese, since it's the most likely to succeed, err, I mean, stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. You could even turn the heat off at this point when you mix in the cheese. You just want it to melt, not cook.

At this time, (before turning off the heat) I normally mix in some eggs scrambled with a little cream, or milk, but I was completely out of eggs at this particular time. Gasp! Time to reload. If you try adding eggs, be weary about cooking scrambled eggs in a cast iron skillet. If you try to do that in a normal cast-iron skillet, they will stick and turn your pan into a hot mess (Le Creuset, you're my hero!). 

After the cheese has gotten all gooey, like this:

It's time to serve! 

Nom nom nom. (In my best Cookie Monster voice).

There will definitely be none of this left over!

For those that don't want to wing it and need to know actual ingredient portions:

For this demo, I made 1 Bubba-sized serving (or 2 skinny people servings) and used: 

• 4 small potatoes, chopped
• enough Olive oil to cover the bottom of the skillet
• 1/4 Medium-Large Sweet Yellow Onion, chopped
• Salt & Pepper to Taste
• Tabasco Sauce to Taste
• 1/4 cup grated cheddar 
• 1 cup chopped up pulled pork

Thanks for Reading!

 Y'all Enjoy It!

           

Post #2 What the heck do I do with all that pork?

Over the weekend, I helped host & plan an event. The event was a big hit, but I may have gotten carried away and I ordered way more catered food than necessary, and as a result, we had a lot left over. 

The Hostess in me says it's always better to have too much food for your guests than not enough. Right?

Anyway...at the end of the event, after giving away as much of the leftover food as possible, Joel (boyfriend) and I were left with the duty of hauling away multiple pounds of pulled pork, a full pan of baked beans, 2 gallons of tea, 2 full containers of BBQ sauce, 1 container of pickle slices, 16 buns, and more banana pudding than any Southerner needs to have in 1 refrigerator....keep in mind I say needs, not wants to have. You can never have too much good nanner puddin'!

So after a couple of days of our 2 human household feeding off of the leftover feast we brought home, here is what we are still left with...

If I just threw all this stuff away, I would have nightmares about little children in Africa who are dying of starvation, but it's taking up way too much room in our small fridge, plus and we are getting downright sick of eating it. 

Needless to say, neither Joel or I will be wanting BBQ again anytime soon. Bleh.

It's times like these that I really wish we lived on a hog farm, not because I want to turn my hogs into cannibals, but because pigs are like living garbage disposals, so the food you throw out isn't going to waste. 

But because we aren't becoming hog farmers anytime soon, I've come up with some creative ways of recycling the pork. As for the baked beans, I'm considering freezing them (because there's not much else you can do with them), and the rest of the stuff will disappear with time. The Banana Pudding will probably be gone by tomorrow, if it lasts that long.

Here are the ideas we've come up with so far (actual recipes & photos to follow): 

1) BBQ Pizza

2) Pork Tacos (Carnitas) < click for the recipe demo!

3) Pork Hash Potatoes < click for the recipe demo!

4) Loaded Pork Potatoes

5) Pork Salad (with Blue cheese or Ranch Dressing)

6) Pork Meatballs

7) Pork Patties for Pork, Egg & Cheese Biscuits

The key is, you can't think of it as "Barbecue," otherwise your mind will reject it and you'll just continue to be sick of it! You have to just look at it as Pork and use it in recipes where you would normally use other kinds of pork.

Share your other delicious alternatives to use up pulled pork!

Y'all Enjoy It!

Post # 1 Coming Soon!

I've blogged before, and now I'm at it again, but this time I'm hoping this blog will be a little more relevant and useful to more people. 

I'm still gettin' all this set up, so bear with me! 

Thanks!