Pantry Revisited

This week my Barefoot Contessa's recipe was chosen by Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats . I love soup so I was really thrilled to get to try this one. I went to the store, list in hand, and got all the ingredients I needed. Or so I thought. Once I started chopping and cooking, I realized I had purchased tortilla chips rather than the fresh corn tortillas. I sent my DH to the store with yet another list. As usual, he called from the store and said he had been to two grocery stores and there were no tortillas. He was tired and he was coming back with taco shells as a formidable substitute. One store had a space for them he said, but they were sold out. I did not have the heart to fuss at him for trying. So my soup is sans tortilla strips. I broke up some of the taco shells and threw in there, but I doubt it is the same as the fresh tortillas. We loved this soup and I will be making it again this winter! It had a tiny kick to it and was very tasty. Here is the recipe if you want to try it! M...

Beautiful tree, but no TWD. Sorry, I am traveling this week and time does not permit me to make this week's selection. But be sure to check out everyone else's wonderful pies on Tuesdays with Dorie. And today is my birthday - I'm not cooking today!! I kind of feel like being pampered. . . just this once! Back next week and a very happy holiday this week to all of you wonderful bloggers! May you have safe journeys and many blessings this Thanksgiving!

I'm so excited. I love getting presents and to me an award is like a surprise present! Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs sent me this award and thank you so much Nancy for thinking of me!I'm truly touched. I think it is the prettiest and coolest award I have seen! Of course, there are always rules that go with awards. You have to pass to ten friends. I always find that to be the hardest part because there are way more than ten blogs that I enjoy reading each week! I'm passing to you, but just because I want you to know that I love reading your blog. If you do not have time to pass it along, I certainly understand that! And this award is apparently getting around fast so you may get this more than once. I hope you do of course! All of you inspire me. I have learned so much from each of you. Happy baking this week and happy Thanksgiving! 1. Amy Ruth Bakes 2. Andrea In The Kitchen 3. Anne Strawberry 4. Chocolatechic by Tanya 5. Culinary Delights by Marthe 6. Flourchild by Mich...

Did you know there is actually a Fried Chicken holiday? It is on July 6. Crazzzzy. All you have to do on that day is eat some fried chicken. Heck, everyday for me could be fried chicken holiday! I could handle it. I've even been craving fried chicken. Then I joined a new group. How odd that this week's choice for Ellie Kreiger's Craving Ellie in My Belly was oven fried chicken. Hosted by Lonely Sidecar . Thanks! I'm so excited about this group because the recipes are healthy! I seriously could not take a pretty picture tonight of my wonderful oven fried chicken. And it was worthy ... sooooo worthy. It called for four chicken breasts. I had three, but they were large. Mammoth even. It called for sesame seeds, I used sunflower seeds. It called for yogurt, I used buttermilk. But the end result was fantastic. It was the juiciest, crunchiest, wonderful chicken. I've never had any fried chicken that was better than this - and I am a true Southerner wher...

Isabelle of Les gourmandises d’Isa by Isabelle chose the Arborio Rice Pudding for this week's baking challenge. I love rice pudding so I could not wait to make this. Thanks Isabelle for a great choice! After going to three different grocery stores looking for arborio rice, I finally found it. It was in a beautiful jar and was $5.99. I didn't care about the cost because I actually had the rice in my hand and was on my way to making my pudding. After getting home with it and checking out the recipe and seeing that only 1/4 cup was used I was like - what am I going to do with all this rice I bought! Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a use for good risotto rice at some point and I have this lovely jar to boot! It took forever to cook. Thank goodness for all the comments left by fellow TWDers and even Dorie herself saying the timing was off in the recipe. By the time it was done, for just one second I was actually thinking minute rice would have worked, right? Don't slap me, ...

I'm married to a meat and potatoes kind of guy. That's all there is to it. I keep telling the Yankee that because I am skinny I would love to have more meat and a couple of larger potatoes (if you know what I mean), but he seems happy with me the way I am. That is, as long as I keep feeding him good food! Having said that, there are three things that he absolutely will not eat - bell pepper, turnips, and ONIONS! So when Kelly from Baking with the Boys chose Herb Roasted Onions for this week, I was a bit sceptical of how I was going to incorporate it into our menu and keep Yank on the happy side. I decided to add something to it that he loves and maybe I could save the marriage. So I added - you guessed it - potatoes! I forgot to buy thyme at the store, so I had to leave that out. Also, I was not sure how large the onion wedges were supposed to be, so I cut each onion into four large ones. I was a bit disappointed in how little dressing there was. I barely had enough to cover ...

Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl chose Kugelhopf for this week's challenge. Thank you Yolanda! Excellent choice. First, I did not own nor could I find in our local stores a kugelhopf pan. So my friend Amanda at Beckett Bakes It by Amanda and I were discussing our dilemma and we decided maybe a bundt pan would work as a substitute. They look very similar. However, unlike a kugelhopf pan, a bundt pan does not resemble a turk's head mold or a turban. So, amidst my kitchen being not only a construction zone, but a danger zone as well, I began to mix my cake. First, I plumped my raisins in the boiling water, but then I soaked them in rum. I wanted a little more taste to the cake. Now let’s talk batter. My batter never crawled up my dough hook. I wouldn’t say it even had future intentions of crawling up anything, much less a dough hook. After 10-12 minutes of beating, I decided to call it good and figured I had done something wrong. So I poured, yes I’m telling you poured, my batt...

My sweet friend Laura of she's cookin' now! has sent me this award. I am sincerely touched! Most of the time I feel like I am this average person, average cook, average blogger, average everything, and then along comes a nice surprise like this! Thank you so much Laura for thinking of me. However, nothing comes free in life right? Now she wants me to answer questions about myself. Seven of them. And I have to pass the award on to seven other TWD friends! That will not be easy either because there are so many out there worthy of this award and yet I can only pass to seven. Seven things I say most: I'm so over it! Shut up, are you serious? What's for dinner? You have GOT to be kidding me? When is the kitchen going to be finished? I hate incompetence! Love you Seven things I did before: (My question is before what?) played league tennis taught art appreciation to first through fifth graders Taught beginning piano lessons Was on a bowling league Went to South America on a ...

Sorry fellow TWDrs. Because of our kitchen remodeling project (overwhelming now) I could not enter the kitchen this weekend to manage baking my rugelach. I'm going to make them - I am! But it simply will not be this week. Hopefully next weekend I will have a kitchen and be back in business. Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal chose the Rugelach this week and from the rave reviews I am reading it must be delicious. Check out her link to get the recipe and try it for yourself. Stay tuned for new pictures of the kitchen re-do. Coming next weekend.