Sunday, June 27, 2010

easy three ingredient stuffed mushrooms

go get ya a 8oz block of cream cheese, a pound roll of ground breakfast sausage and a coupla packages of whole button mushrooms. let the cream cheese come to room temp. brown the sausage, drain well and mix with the softened cream cheese. clean your mushrooms with a damp cloth and pop off the stems, feed those to the chickens, dip into ranch dressing for a snack or simply toss, your choice.

fill you shrooms with a heaping spoonful of the sausage mixture. bake in a 350 degree fahrenheit oven for about 20 minutes. enjoy.

now you can up the anty and make it a four ingredient stuffed mushroom by simply sprinkling sharp cheddar cheese on the tops before baking. oh yum.


Saturday, June 26, 2010

mom's 70's jello salad


this is so easy and so good, not healthy, full of artifical flavors and colors. yum. well it is and i wouldn't have it any other way. it is the 70's for pete's sake!


mom's favorite jello salad, circa 1974, can you dig it?

heat one 20oz. can of crushed pineapple in saucepan till hot, add a 3oz. pack of your favorite jello. i used strawberry, mom would also do lime, especially around christmas, the whole red and green color thing. anyway, let it cool for an hour. then stir in a 12oz carton of cottage cheese and put in fridge till thicken, maybe another hour. then fold in a whole 8oz. carton of cool whip, baby. you can put it all in a groovy mold, like my vintage tupperware one, or not. let it chill for several hours and that is it. i am eating it for breakfast right now. far out. enjoy.






Tuesday, June 15, 2010

hubby's peanut butter cookies

i whipped up some peanut butter, so i could make these....





yummy peanut butter cookies. now, i call them hubby's peanut butter cookies, but it is not my hubby, but barbara's over at barbara bakes. her husband makes these for the family with the original recipe coming from the "martha". you can find the recipe here.


this is a great cookie and a big hit with my family, especially when still warm and slightly chewy. the homemade peanut butter? it is nothing to make. throw some dry roasted salted peanuts into your food processor and whirl till blended and smooth. it might take a few minutes, a couple drops of vegetable oil and a few scrap downs, but it's easy as pie.


pie, hmmmmm....now there is an idea. enjoy.


Monday, June 14, 2010

buffalo burgers

my 100% ground bison started out like this....



had a short stint looking like this.....




and finally ended up like this, a strange looking creature, huh? actually it's my burger smothered with a slice of blue jack cheese topped with a few oven baked onion rings. those rings, real keepers, very tasty. oh, let's not forget the good ol'yellow mustard and ketchup for dipping making for another winner of a dinner.
lets talk about those oven baked rings. gosh they were ever so good and super simple to make. i used a red onion, but next time will definitely use a vidalia sliced thicker. here is how you make them.

beth's easy baked oven onion rings
first you plug in your pink plastic oven to get the light bulb heated. what? just joking....heat your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit. cover a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
now slice one onion neatly. do better than me would ya. i had to pick out the nicer looking rings and they still weren't so pretty. set aside. get three bowls for your dipping station. in the first bowl put about a half cup of all purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper. you really could add anything you like, little garlic salt, cayenne, etc...
next bowl, mix one egg white with two tablespoons of milk. whip with a fork till well combined.
last bowl, pour in about a cup of panko bread crumbs.

line in them up in that order-flour, egg white and panko. dip, shake, dip, drip, plop and pat. do it till you have all the rings you can handle. now bake for about fifteen minutes. i could have let mine go a tad longer to be a bit browner. i was truly surprised how good theses are. now they aren't dairy queen good, but are quite close. well, no, not really, but trust me they are good and a lot less guilt. enjoy.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

carne asada buffalo flank steak with grilled corn on the cob

this is one of the best meals i have had in a while. it is buffalo or bison flank steak with a carne asada marinade, fresh pico de gallo, slice avocado and fresh corn, grilled in its husk. it was all unbelievably fresh and delicious. the buffalo came from these folks, edmonds farm, bison ranch and hay farm in lancaster, virginia. i found them at the yorktown market days a few weeks and after giving their bison brats a try we knew we wanted more. we loved them. i made arrangements to get a $50 "sampler" of their incredible meat. it was kinda funny, we rendezvoused in a mcdonald's parking lot at 9:30 at night. they were en route to virginia beach for its famer's market the following day. what nice folks kim and don with their darling daughter valerie and a sweet, little pink piglet named sausage. hmmmmm, interesting name for a pig. well i was lucky enough to get a nice selection to include ny strip steaks, flank steak, ground and summer sausage. i decided to go with the flank first, so....

i reached out to my twitter friends for a marinade recommendation. i should have know my gal barbara over at barbara bakes would hook me up! her recipes are no fail. she recommended a tasty carne asada recipe, smokey chipotle which you can find here. i did marinate the flank overnight. please go pay barb a visit and tell her i sent ya, maybe she will mail me some of those yummy peanut butter cookies she makes. drool.

lastly, i thought i would try my hand at grilling some corn on the cob, still in its husk. oh my lordy, let me just say, too simple and too delicious. i won't boil an ear ever again. hey, why can't you tell a secret in a corn field? too many ears, teehee. sorry, moving on.....

for the corn, take the outer most husks off leaving the last several layers and soak for at least an hour in water. fire up your grill and when ready, drain the excess water off the ears and pile'em on. cook, turning often, for about twenty minutes. my gas grill was on medium.

now if the meat gods are smiling down on you, after ten minutes you will be throwing on your piece of bison flank steak that has been smothered in a smokey chipotle goodness. the buffalo is super lean and literally takes minutes to cook, on each side. watch it! don't kill it twice.

now just look at that ear of corny goodness, those kernels steaming inside the water soaked husks locking in all that sweet corn milk keeping it moist and tender. get the butter ready, the real stuff, not margarine. come one now....

dinner is served. i whipped up some pico de gallo, sliced an avocado, buttered the corn, sliced the steak, salt and peppered the whole plate and dug in. enjoy. i know i did.
how about a buffalo bleu burger next?








Saturday, June 12, 2010

quickie blueberry smoothie


whipped this up for the fam this morning and it was a big hit.
throw in a blender a 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 frozen blueberries, 2 tbsp. instant vanilla pudding, 2 tsp. of vanilla extract[you can use imitation for this] and one cup of low fat vanilla yogurt. whirl till thick and blended. you can also add a banana, too. i didn't. you might need to add more milk, a splash at a time depending on your desired thickness. enjoy. we did.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

veggie casserole

finished dish....

ready for the oven....



i made a great veggie casserole courtesy of pam over at for the love of cooking. i love her site and have mentioned her several times on you know what you oughta do. this casserole is da bomb, regardless of a few things i did wrong, well mostly just one. i used too small of a pan. the zucchini squash should have been packed thinner in order to crisp and mine was a bit watery. oh well, it was still fantastic. i used fresh basil and oregano from my "garden". I use the term garden loosely. It is more like a few plants stuck in the ground. no, seriously, it's sad.


zukes shredded and packed in a too small dish....


i highly recommend this recipe. oh, one more thing i will do different. i will use a red, orange or yellow pepper, the green is just too bitter for my taste. you can find this yummy veggie casserole here. enjoy.





Monday, June 7, 2010

redneck muscial chairs

yesterday we celebrated my son's fifth birthday with a small party. his choice, he wanted a family party at home, no park, no chuck e. cheese, no bowling, etc... and to play muscial chairs. since most of the kids and adults were in our pool, we grabbed the closest folks. travis didn't care, he just wanted play. it was true redneck fun, all for the love of the game and the thrill of victory and not to mention a candy bar! too bad we didn't have some flatt and scruggs, but ace of base will do in a pinch. enjoy.

Friday, June 4, 2010

crazy chicken randomness

one fantastic farmer's market bag directly from nice, france....

one custom crazy chicken drawing from this blog ten dollar drawings....


one authentic crazy chicken named daisy....




another authentic crazy chick...what, how did....oh well, one authentic crazy dog named lily....




just a few pics to tie you over till this one authentic crazy lady does a real post....

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

i am back

my computer died a horrible death. i hope to have a new post soon. love you. miss you.