first time pesto

oh my this stuff is awesome and so dang easy to make. in your food processor whirl three cups of fresh basil with a third cup of toasted walnuts, two cloves of fresh garlic, a half cup of good parmesan cheese and a pinch of kosher salt. you might need to scrape the sides down once or twice. now slowly stream in a third cup to one half of good olive oil, just till you get the consistency you want. that's it, you got homemade pesto! store in an airtight container with a extra drizzle of olive oil on top to help prevent oxidation. it should keep several days, but you can also freeze this in ice cube trays and pop the green cubes into ziplocs for fresh pesto all year around. that is my plan as soon as my basil plant pust out again.



i topped a few triscuits with this straight from the food processor and fell in love. so fresh and delicious. later, i made a light supper by gently mixing some pesto with farfalle pasta, canned, drained, rinsed cannellini beans topping it all with some creamy goat cheese. yeehaw! it was so "miss fancy pants". i hope you will give pesto a whirl when you get a chance. it is dang tasty. enjoy.

italian pot roast with oven baked brown rice

italian pot roast or as my mama would say "eye-talian" pot roast was a family favorite growing up in my house. my brother kevin adores this pot roast recipe and our mom would make it often for him. kevin, the great white hunter or so he refers to himself, would keep the freezer full of game, so mom would often use venison rather than beef. no matter, both options are dang tasty(the beef tends to have less buckshot). admittedly, i had forgotten about this pot roast until recently. i had forgotten just how simple, yet flavorful it is due to both apple juice and apple cider vinegar. i needed an excuse to use my new enameled french oven and this was perfect. i just let it simmer for hours and the chuck roast became so tender it would melt in your mouth. my mom would serve this over white rice, but since i am trying to do the healthier thing these days, i served brown rice. if you think you are not a brown rice fan you have to promise me you will try it my way. if you do, you won't go back to the white stuff. my brown rice is oven baked. it has texture and a wonderful nutty flavor. it is absolutely delicious. all right, without further fanfare, here ya go. enjoy.

beth's italian pot roast

2-3 lb chuck roast, cubed and trimmed of most fat
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic smashed
mushrooms, i use a large can, drained
salt and pepper to taste
cornstarch slurry


combine all in a covered pot over medium heat, once bubbly, turn heat to low and simmer till cooked down and the meat is tender. i then take out some of the liquid and mix about a tbsp. of cornstarch into it to make a slurry, add to the pot and cook till the gravy is thickened.


beth's oven baked brown rice

preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit

in a covered two quart dish, combine 1 1/2 cups brown rice, 2 1/2 cups water or broth, 1 tbsp. of butter or evoo, and a pinch of salt. bake for one hour. fluff with fork and serve.

simple vanilla bean whipped sweet potatoes

holy moly! secretly, this was my favorite food this gobble day. every dish we had this year was a new recipe, with the exception of the straight from the can green beans for the kids and caroline's requested personal sized bag instant mashed potatoes, just add hot water! ick! (oh,let me say, sorry for the unappetizing photo, but all my pics from our dinner are. i was in a hurry to feed the masses, all four us and didn't make much of a photographic effort) okay, let me tell you about these sweet potatoes, about how creamy, slightly sweet and oooooooh so vanilla-y they are. i found the original recipe on recipezarr and change it up a bit. i opted out of the heavy cream for ff half and half, and skipped salt and pepper all together. let me tell you it is worth the sacrifice of a vanilla bean, well half anyway. i just reheated a little bowl for my supper tonight with a pat of butter melted on top. heaven!! i will make these often. jamie, the hub who won't eat a bake sweet potato, loved them. go whip up a batch for your kin. enjoy.

beth's vanilla bean whipped sweet potatoes, her way

4 large sweet potatoes roasted
1 cup fat free half and half
1/2 vanilla bean, cut and scrape out seeds, save pod
1 tbsp of vanilla sugar, if ya got it
4 tbsp of unsalted butter

roast your sweet potatoes for about an hour at 450 until tender. meanwhile, over low heat in a saucepan whisk the half and half, butter and vanilla seeds and pod till warm and blended. once the potatoes are done, let them cool till you can handle and split. scoop the flesh and put into a food processor, sprinkle with the vanilla sugar and process till smooth. now slowly add the the warm milk mixture(remove the vanilla pod) and continue to process. you might need to remove the top and scrape the sides down once or twice. put into a lovely dish and serve, preferably not a pink one like i did. it clashes.

cheese straws, more plank than straw

i have not been to inspired to bake these days and i don't really know why. i do know that i have been thinking about cheese straws though. you know, those buttery, cheesy little crackers squeezed through your mama's cookie press and baked lightly till crispy. they are pretty common here in the southern u.s. and i just love'em. cheese straws make a great nibble paired with some salty green olives or homemade bread and butter pickles. although i didn't really need an excuse to make a batch, i thought they would be tasty with the big ole pot of bean and bacon soup i am making for supper. now, i need to clarify that my cheese straws are more like cheese planks. i did proudly use my mother's 1960's cookie press, but fitted it with the bar disk rather than the star, which would have given you more of a rope that you would need to cut into sections(straws). actually, any disk would work. next time, how about some cheese spritzes!

this recipe for cheese straws is crazy easy and can be made entirely in the food processor.

cheese straws

preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit

1 8oz block sharp cheddar cheese(i use extra sharp)
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 stick of butter, softened(butter, not margarine)
one pinch of cayenne pepper or to your liking(i go easy on the cayenne for the kiddos)
.5 tsp salt

that's it. now, in your processor or by hand, grate the cheese. remove the shredder blade and replace with the steel knife blade. i just dump my grated cheese into another bowl, switch blades and right back in. add the butter, pulse a few times to get it going and then add the rest. you might need to pulse, take off the lid and push things around a bit, but it will magically become a dough ball. now fill your cookie press and start squeezing or twisting, in my case, onto parchment lined cookie sheets. i use silpats. bake about 11-12 minutes. when you smell them, they are generally done. cool and enjoy.


the bean and bacon soup came from here. this is one of my absolute favorite blogs. i did switch up the recipe a bit, instead of an onion, i used a shallot. i used two cans of navy and one can great northern beans. i opted for one large clove garlic instead of four average size. oh, also it was not quite thick enough for me, so i added a little cornstarch slurry. overall, this is a dynamite recipe. thanks pam!

my coleslaw of many colors that my mama made for me

so i made a mess of my lazy man's bbq using a pork loin, no onion. let me tell you, that is some good stuff. it is so easy. i left it in its own juices, shredded the meat with two forks and doused on some honey bourbon bbq sauce. yummy. i had the idea that i wanted to try something a little different than your typical mayo coleslaw, so i scoured the net for ideas, grabbing bits and pieces of info. i came up with this oil and vinegar combo. i was not disappointed. i actually think i like it better than the traditional southern heavy mayonnaised slaw. it is crisp, crunchy and clean, not to mention colorful. i am already thinking about how to use in a panini. did i tell you i got a panini maker? heaven, i'm in heaven........oops, sorry, i digress. anyway, i hope you will give my colorful slaw a try. enjoy.
purdy color, huh?


beth's oil and vinegar slaw

in a huge bowl combine the following veggies:
1 head of purple cabbage shredded
3 carrots shredded
1 yellow pepper, either sliced super fine, or shredded with excess water squeezed out
1/2 sweet onion, do same as pepper

in a sauce pan bring to a boil:
3/4 apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
2-3 hefty squirts of your favorite mustard, i used good ole yellow
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp of seasoned salt
1 tsp celery seeds

once boiling remove from heat and add 2/3 cup canola oil plus 1/2 cup white sugar. whisk till the sugar dissolves and pour over the veggies. stir to combine and let sit for about an hour at room temp. taste it. you might need to adjust your seasonings, such as to add a tad more sugar. also, i add some black pepper at this point and then stick the whole thing in the fridge. the longer it sits, the better it gets.

my coat of many colors, that my momma made for me, made only from rags, but i wore it so proudly, although we had no money, i was rich as I could be, in my coat of many colors,my momma made for me....

funeral potatoes, huh?

what a cheerful name, huh? this is nothing more than a cheesy, creamy, calorie laden potato casserole. i guess it gets its name from being a common sight among the food at funeral gatherings. it is a new one on me. we are a fried chicken and potato salad clan. i guess too if you eat enough of this and eat it often, you could quite possibly make an early appearance at your own funeral. i am sure you can make the casserole lighter by using reduced fat products, but i didn't, so i am guessing my bowl shorten my visit here by at least a day. this was disgustingly good and a big hit in my house. leftovers tonight! enjoy.

funeral potatoes

preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and pam a 9x13 baking dish

in a big bowl mix the following:

1 32oz bag of frozen cubed hash browns
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups shredded cheddar-i used medium
8 oz sour cream
2 green onions, sliced thin, white and green parts
dash of pepper
mix together and put into your baking dish

now melt two tbsp of butter and mix with 1.5 cups crumbled potato chips or corn flakes. bake 45 minutes until brown and bubbly. let it sit about ten minutes for digging in. you could also throw some cubed ham in for a complete meal. teehee, a complete meal, huh?

quick garlic cheddar drop biscuits

this are the easiest little biscuits to throw together. they are wonderful with just about anything, but especially vegetable beef stew, my favorite. you can buy little bags of mix at the store, but they taste so much better when you make them yourself and really, they are just as quick. the only thing i do that adds a little bit more time to the process, is to grate my own cheese. i just think that stuff in the bag is so dang dry. we all love these buttery little blobs, but my daughter, caroline, will eat everyone till gone.

garlic cheddar drop biscuits


preheat your oven to 400 degree fahrenheit

in a large bowl cut with a pastry blender till pea sized, 2.5 cups of biscuit mix(i use store brand), a half stick cold butter, 3/4 cup cold milk(i use 2%). now mix in by hand, 1 cup of grated sharp cheddar and a 1/4 tsp of garlic powder. drop by big ole spoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. bake about 15 minutes till lightly brown. meanwhile, melt two tbsp of butter and add another 1/4 tsp of garlic powder. mix and brush onto the biscuits as soon as they come out of the oven. keep brushing them, use it all up! at this point you can add more or less garlic powder as well as throwing in some dried parsley flakes for color. makes about a dozen, depending on size. enjoy!

hummus, just too easy

i love hummus!! i could eat it everyday with some pita and feta cheese, simply divine. i went to trader joe's today with the mindset of whipping up a fresh batch. i have always purchased the housebrand and have never made my own. i grabbed some canned chickpeas, fresh garlic and tahini. No wait, i didn't get no stinkin' tahini, because TJ's doesn't sell it! pleeeeeze, they sell everything else, why not tahini? i guess they want you to buy hummus rather than make it. i'd showed them. i made mine without the tahini, so there. it was delicious, too. it was not the best, but dang close. it got better the longer it sat. it was creamy and garlicky, just yummy. now, i do plan on buying some tahini next time i see it, but meanwhile i can do without. you know, i have mixed emotions about trader joe's. i find that most of the time i am disappointed with my purchases once i get home. i do have a few staple items from there, evoo, red wine vinegar and chewable melatonin(helps my adhd daughter sleep, great stuff).

tj's, i go once in awhile, spend way too much money and regret it only to return weeks later to start the process all over again.

beth's hummus

in a processor, pulse till smooth the following:

one clove of garlic
one can of drained chickpeas
juice of a half of lemon
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

stream in about two tablespoons of evoo till it is the consistency you like, taste and adjust seasonings. some folks like to add cumin, not me. if you have tahini you could mix it with the evoo and then add. let this sit for little while for the flavors to blend. i like to drizzle a little more evoo on top before diving in with a hunk of pita bread. try not eat all at once. enjoy.

the pita that became a naan

well, i couldn't roll a piece of dough into a circle if my life depended on it. i am geometrically challenged. i had found this really great website with a tutorial on making pita bread. i just knew i just had to give it a try. well, mine were some pitiful pita, in fact it's more like naan bread. they wouldn't puff. i don't know if my yeast was bad. it had a 2010 date or if i used the wrong type of yeast. i didn't have a baking stone either, but used the back of a cookie sheet as recommended. i also preheated both the oven and baking sheet, but they just laid there. in the end i got some excellent tasting, irregularly shaped, flatbread. i got naan. my "naan" came out crispy and slightly chewy. i may have gone a tad overboard on the flour, leaving some exterior excess when done, but no matter, it didn't affect the taste. i slathered butter on the first piece out. it was delicious. go give this recipe a try. it was simple enough and if it flops for you too, oh well, you will have some great naan to share. enjoy.

smack yo mama good crash hot potatoes

look at these puppies. they have got to be some of the best taters i have had in a long time. i had seen the recipe over at the pioneer woman's site quite awhile ago, but had yet to make it. we had sliders with caramelized onions for dinner last night, so leftovers were on tonight's menu. i needed to make a side dish that might distract from that fact. it seemed like a good time to give ree's crash hot potatoes a try. i was not disappointed. the recipe couldn't be more simple. i had a half bag of red bliss potatoes i needed to use anyway. while i boiled them till fork tender in a large pot of salted water, i drizzled a generous amount of olive oil on a cookie sheet. once the taters were done, i placed them on the cookie sheet and smashed each one flat with my potato masher. i then brush more olive oil on top(starbucks is helpful at this step, but not necessary) and sprinkled copious amounts of kosher salt and black pepper. oh mama.
i then popped these tubers into a 450 degree fahrenheit oven for about 25 minutes. They came out so crispy and crusty. i couldn't resist dolloping sour cream on mine, wishing i had some chives. big j smothered his in ketchup wishing, i don't know what he was wishing, probably that he didn't have to eat sliders two nights in a row.
regardless, the potatoes were a big hit with him. he has already requested them for sunday breakfast with bacon and eggs. i think i can oblige. enjoy.

carrot salad, not a big hit

although i thought it was good. i nicked the recipe from here. i guess we just ain't sophisticated folks.

red skinned tater salad, best ever

this weekend we celebrated my son's fourth birthday and i baked and cooked for two days. one of the things i made was red skinned potato salad and you know what? it was the best potato salad i have ever made, seriously. i have always made some version of a yellow(mustard) potato salad and this had some mustard in it, but unlike the others, it was dang good. i mean really dang good. i have an cantankerous aunt who always says she doesn't like anyone's potato salad, but her own. i figured if i could get a compliment from her, and she will let me know, i did good. well, apparently i did do good because she made a point of telling me how much she enjoyed it.

what i did was poke around the net and pick a few recipes to combine. i don't like pickles or pickle relish, sweet or dill, in my salad. i don't like large hunks of onions or eggs either. i think paprika is unnecessary and i sure don't like salad dressing(miracle whip), ick.

i decided that i was way too lazy to peel potatoes before boiling, so i picked red skinned ones. they are yummy to eat, skin and all. i love potato skins, that is where all the flavor and vitamins are. (trying to keep it healthy, yea right) anyway, what i did was basically boiled a five pound bag of red skin potatoes, cooled and cubed into my big mixing bowl. i then mixed the following in a separate bowl:

1 to 1.5 cups of good mayo-i used duke's(good southern tradition and my mama's favorite)
2 tbsp of cider vinegar
a hefty tbsp of yellow mustard
a teaspoon or so of garlic salt
a hefty shake of black pepper, probably about .5 tsp

i blended this together, simply with a spatula and then folded it into my cooled potatoes trying not to break them up too much.

to the potatoes i then added six chopped boiled eggs, two springs onions, white and green, finely minced, and two stalks of celery sliced thin. fold these in till well mixed, once again trying not to break up the potatoes too much. let chill, overnight is best.

my picture does not do it justice. good stuff folks. enjoy.

nothing special slaw

now, my coleslaw is simple. there is nothing special or fancy about it. there are no carrots, onions or any extra "stuff" in it. i make it like my mama and my grandmother made theirs. it is so easy. you simply grate(i use my processor) a head of cabbage, core removed, into a big mixing bowl. okay, maybe i lied just a little at this point, if there is going to be a hard part to this it's now. to the grated cabbage i add the following ingredients, but i don't measure, sorry. what i do is i start off with a big spoonful of good mayonnaise (i like duke's), a good dousing of apple cider vinegar, a healthy sprinkling of white sugar and a pinch of kosher salt. I stir to mix and give it a taste. i add what i think the slaw needs, too dry, more mayo, too sour, more sugar, too sweet, more vinegar and so on. go slow, take your time, because you can always add in, but you can't take out. also, when i get it where i want it, then out comes the big guns-my secret ingredient, shhhhhh-sour cream. i add a heaping spoonful to the mixture. it gives it a nice creamy twang. now it's best to make your coleslaw hours if not a day before you are going to eat it. it gets so much better as it sits and the flavors mingle.

that's it folks, nothing to it. nothing else like it. nothing special.