Blog Archives

Super Boring Randomness On A Cold Snowy Day

1/30/2013

Oh my goodness,
you know this post is going to be a snoozefest when the first picture is the inside of Angie's washing machine!

But look in there!

That's a $10 bill there
AND
another bill!!!

I got excited...it could be like two $10 bills, that's like TWENTY bucks total!!

Twenty bucks! Twenty free dollars!
The world is at your fingertip with 20
FREE
dollars!!
Happiness is just around the corner.
All wrongs suddenly become righted.
and YES MONEY DOES BUY HAPPINESS EVEN IF IT'S ONLY TWENTY DOLLARS!

WHAT THE WHAT????

$11???

What kind of crap is that?

Somehow
that $9 difference is a big deal.
It's the difference between me buying that really cute pillow I've been eyeballing and not buying that really cute pillow I've been eyeballing.

Eleven bucks.

Eleven bucks buys me a gallon of milk, two dozen eggs and a bag of cat litter.

Oh,

and dashed dreams.

Oh well,

at least I have cute blue~and~white napkins.

Seriously? You wake me up and no treats are involved? Gibby not happy.

And a cute
Thanksgiving Day kitty
named
Giblet Pearl
who is a little annoyed I woke her up with the
clicking camera.

Hey, I'm curious.
Do you ever get out the broom just so the kitty in the house can be temporarily entertained?

No?

Well, I don't either.

I just got those pictures up there off internet.

Do you think my fridge needs more stuff
on it?
Is it looking a little bare?

Gibby
is caught red-handed.....

...being naughty.

I love how Vinny in back there
is just sitting like,

"Dude. You are gonna be in so.
much.
trouble!"

I love chunky, colorful glass.

Like this Blenko glass vase.

See that nice sheen on it?

That's called kitchen grease.

I'd like to get serious here for a minute if you will allow me.

I was just kidding about the getting serious thing.
Isn't this 70's vintage Bob's Big Boy cute??

He's a bank!

Maybe that's where I'll hide that windfall from the washing machine this morning.

And how about this vintage 1970's
Curad boy??

Now, how cute is he???

The back of his head is a bank too.

This is in my kitchen.

Because baseball collectibles should naturally be in a kitchen, yes?

See how I keep that girly vase up there though? Hehehe

Now this thing is a vintage 60's popcorn megaphone.

Spectators purchased these at pro baseball games and they held popcorn.

After one was done snarfing the popcorn, you punched out the bottom and it became a megaphone so you could yell at the players.

Below the baseball shelf in the kitchen, sits the all mighty communication board.

I think we're a little late on that Chicken Dinner at St. Patrick's Church from 1960.

See the top right hand corner of this board?

Therein is a turn-of-the-century picture of a lady and her bicycle.
Love it!

Here's the picture,

out of Cedar Rapids.

Man, those ladies were heavily garmented back then,
weren't they?

For those of you new to this blog...garmented is a word...in the Pretend Word Dictionary. Look it up.

Next to the top secret communication board are two pictures of old houses.

The top house is a pencil drawing from the early 1900's,

the bottom is an old photograph maybe circa 1920's.

I love pictures of old houses
and old people
and old cars
and old Christmas stuff and...
well, you get the drift.

OH!
I know what I was going to show you!!

See this? Isn't it cool?
I bought it at an antique shop in Hermann, Mo.
It's a handmade boat dock on driftwood.

Look at the detail of the boat dock...

And the detail of the pelican...

Well,
see Vinny here?

Vinny ATE THE HEAD OFF THE PELICAN LAST NIGHT.
WHO EATS THE HEAD OFF A PELICAN FOR PETE'S SAKE??!

Well, I glued the pelican head back on and it's safe for now.

As another nod to my nautical collection,

here's an advertising thermometer in the shape of a captain's wheel.

OH!

Here's a vintage shell lamp in my kitchen I wanted to show you.

And look at these two adorable vintage birds.

Tweet.
Tweet.

Guess what I found in my barn?

This cool vintage
Iowa plate!

Interesting, hmmm.
1. A field of ripened corn.
2. Where the Indians roamed.
3. Corn fed pork.
4. Ready for market.
5. The capital.

As we all know, Iowa is so much more than, uh, "Ready for market."

Okay, now see this recipe box?
It's from Tim's family.

This recipe says
Rice Salad.

Soft Chocolate Frosting...yum!!

Coconut Cake...oh my!

Yummy
Hunk Pickles!

Hot Milk Cake...what??
I'll take TWO please!

I like chunky, texture-y things like this memory ware vase that I've had for years....

And this shell vase thing...with wings apparently.

This art piece and throw are texture-y and chunky...

And this artwork is full of texture...I love this picture.
I paid $7 for it at a consignment shop.

And who doesn't love chunky beef stew as in
Beef Stew with Paprika and Beer?

Except I won't be sharing this recipe cuz it was just meh. Okay. All right. Nothing to groove on. Typical. Not out of the ordinary.
Done or raw,
fills the craw.
Type of thing.

Should have tasted more interesting with all these ingredients though,
don't ya think?

Well, I better get back to work now.
The electricity has been going on and off all morning due to this heavy wet snow and ice storm.

This picture does not describe the miserableness of the snow out there...it is snowing and blowing terribly...I can't even see my neighbors' houses.
And apparently my spatial meter is off because I reported to Tim this morning that there were no drifts in the driveway.

Tim informed me that the snow there was 3 feet deep and I may want to reconsider my definition of snow drift.

Okay, this was taken out my front door right now at 1:10pm.

Yowza!

Okay guys, thanks for humoring me with this ridiculously boring post!
Have a good Wednesday....stay safe if you're in a
stormy area!!!
Talk at ya soon!!

Haste Makes Waste: Fried Pork Chop Vegetable Soup, A Cautionary Tale

1/25/2013

Hi Girls and Boys!

Thank you for letting me chat a bit about my
book-in-progress called:

Haste Makes Waste;
Fried Pork Chop Vegetable Soup,
A Cautionary Tale

Oh? You're excited to know more about it?
Okay then, I will share the picture book with you.

One day
a woman named Angie was possessed she was going to make

The Neely's
Grandma Neely's
Fried Pork Chop Vegetable Soup.

Now this woman, Angie, doesn't even like pork much,
which is why she rarely makes dishes containing pork.

But she had a hankering for pork chops
that day.

So Angie went to the grocery store and bought everything she needed to make this delicious meal.

This picture shows the ingredients.

Except this picture doesn't show that Angie actually doubled this recipe...see those four pork chops, kids?

4x2 = 8.
That's 8 pork chops she actually made.

Now Angie diced up her onions and her celery and her carrots.

Girls and Boys, never use a knife without parental supervision. and never buy a new set of Rachael Ray knives and think you're an expert and proceed to have a bloodbath on your first chop.

Just sayin' Girls and Boys, just sayin'.

The lady Angie, melted butter in the pan and threw the vegetables in and sauteed them.

She then added the flour into the sauteed vegetables. She did this as a thickening agent.
Now kids, never eat flour by itself. The lady in this story was never very bright and she used to do that...
eat flour as a kid.
And thought somehow, each time, the flour would miraculously taste different.

But it never did.

Anyway,

back to the Pork Chop story, Angie added the tomato paste and chicken stock into the pot.

And then Angie added the diced tomatoes.

And then the lady added the sweet potatoes.

The recipe calls for regular potatoes but Angie used sweet potatoes.

The lady in this story, Angie, she's a rebel, kids.
A real
color-outside-the-lines rebel.

While the soup was simmering, Angie added seasoning salt and
salt and pepper to the flour.

Now kids, what have we learned about flour today so far?
Number one: it is a thickening agent.
Number two: don't eat flour by itself. It's gross.

Back to the story, Angie set up the work station with the pork chops and flour.

Now kids, the lady used 1/2 inch thick chops instead of an inch.
Cause she was in a hurry and wanted them to cook faster.

Angie pan fried the pork chops until they were done.

The recipe says to DEEP FRY them but kids, really,

we save the deep fat frying for french fries don't we?

The lady took the chops out of the pan when they were fully cooked and let them rest on a paper towel lined plate.

Now Girls and Boys, this is where the story picks up.

Angie put all the pork chops in the soup like the recipe calls for.

Isn't that silly? Pork chops in soup?

But this picture looks tasty, doesn't it?

Well Angie let it simmer 30 minutes.

The last ten minutes the lady added the corn and beans.

Kids, you should always eat your vegetables!

Don't they look pretty?!!!!
No???
Well, they will when you're old like me and get a kick out of colorful vegetables you little

Anyway,

when the soup was all done simmering
Girls and Boys,

Angie ladled some up into a bowl and made sure to include a yummy pork chop.

And Angie and her husband Tim ate the soup for supper and really enjoyed it.

The soup did not pack a huge punch of flavor but is enjoyable. Both kids and adults would like it and you can add any seasonings as you see fit.

Isn't that nice kids? Eating good healthy soup with a
pork chop in it? Nice and silly, huh?
Yes?
Good.

Okay, so let me continue on with this story Girls and Boys.

Well remember when Angie doubled the recipe?

Well it actually didn't fit all into one pan, she had to use two pans but never pictured both.

So the lady had
A LOT of soup left over, a huge pan full.

And this is the part of the story Girls and Boys, where Angie recreates the events. Okay?
So Angie is reenacting, right kids?
Okay.

Angie went to put the soup away to store it in the refrigerator so as not to waste any of this relatively expensive soup.

Pork chops aren't cheap kids.

So she opened up her super old crapola fridge but there was no room.

But that was okay.
See, Angie has a summer kitchen and the night time temps were very low, so setting food out there would be like keeping it in a fridge, almost too cold, but just about right. Isn't that nice, kids?
Angie was very, very relieved.

So
Angie put the lid on this heavy cast iron pot.

And she walked it carefully...

....out the back door to the summer kitchen.

Angie thought to herself...

thank goodness the summer kitchen door is propped open,

it makes it easier to carry this big pot inside.

Angie looked around.

Because the pot was hot, Angie didn't want to put it on the antique commode there.

And it was FREEZING out there, Angie was cold and wanted to get inside!

Angie
didn't want to put the hot pot on the plastic tub.

Even though the pot wasn't super hot,

Angie didn't need a melting mess to deal with.

And Angie was smart enough not to put the pot on any of the chairs. Duh, kids, duh.

So the lady who was, uh,
ingenious enough to routinely eat flour when she was a kid,
well......

...she set the pot on the floor.

The covered pot was a heavy cast iron pot

and therefore
very safe there on the floor.

She reasoned.

And then Angie went back into the house and because it was late
and cold
and because she was soooo tired,
she went right to bed,
dreaming of pork chop soup for lunch the next day.

So the next morning, Angie wakes up and the first thing she does is clean out her refrigerator.

And then she goes to collect her pot of pork chop soup.

Angie realized the summer kitchen door was left

propped open all night.

Huh,

she thought to herself.

So Angie went into the summer kitchen...

...and this is how she found the pot.

Something (NOT HER PETS) had gotten into the HEAVY COVERED CAST IRON POT,
pushed the lid aside,

and had eaten most of the pork chops, there were bones everywhere.

And Angie went through her stages of grief.....

and

Yeah, that was about it Girls and Boys,
just two stages of grief for Angie.

Remember, this is the girl who ate flour.

So thank you Girls and Boys,
for letting me share my story.
I really appreciate it!

I hope you can learn something from
my mistakes.

NO! I don't mean the eating flour thing!!
Lordy, GIVE.IT.A.REST!

I mean from being in too much of a hurry and pretty much just inviting critters into your summer kitchen for a nice, late night snack.

Here's the link to Neely's recipe...it's pretty good by the way!
You just need to improvise on some additional seasonings!
Grandma Neely's Fried Pork Chop Vegetable Soup.

Okay, that's all I have for today guys....have a good weekend, stay warm and we'll
talk at ya soon!
:):):):):)

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu And Did You Know It Originated In Switzerland? You're Welcome On That Riveting Information.

1/23/2013

Super Easy
Chicken Cordon Bleu...

This is a
super easy
Chicken Cordon Bleu
recipe.

With a quick Parmesan Dijon Cream Sauce.

Did you know Chicken Cordon Bleu originated in Switzerland in the 1940's?
The earliest reference was in a Swiss cookbook in 1949.

Photo credit: toptravellists.net

The French term
"Cordon Bleu"
translates to
Blue Ribbon.

Did you know Switzerland has a 7 million population and is known for being neutral in most political arenas?

Do you know what else Switzerland is famous for?

lindt.com

Chocolate!!!

Cheese fondue!

Uhhhh,

Swiss bank accounts.

Dear banks of Switzerland,

I am not of the wealthy. Unfortunately we will never have the opportunity to get to know each other better.

Regretfully,
Angie

Swiss watches!

The best in the world apparently.

And of course Swiss Army Knives.

Destination360.com

Who wants to ski the Alps??!!

And most importantly, the Red Cross was founded in 1860 in
Geneva, Switzerland!!
Clara Barton established the American Red Cross in 1881 in Washington DC after having seen and been involved in the International Red Cross while visiting Europe years earlier.

But what does all this have to do with Chicken Cordon Bleu?

Nothing really, but OH!! I wanted to make sure to mention that I've made Chicken Cordon Bleu a few times before but it was
very time consuming!
Pounding out chicken breasts will turn me into an extremely unpleasant person...I DO NOT like pounding chicken breasts...it's messy and gross and I can never get them pounded out evenly.

T'aint no pounding with this Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe!

Here's the fixins for this tasty dish.

By the way, I bought Frick's sliced ham...really tasty...I think this package was $5 or so.

And I used Provolone instead of Swiss. I had no Swiss cheese and several websites suggested Provolone as a substitute.
This organic Provolone is made locally here in Kalona, Ia.
A family who has purchased several vehicles from us gave us this along with many other Farmer's Creamery goodies. Super awesome is what that family is. Top notch!

Anyway,

let's start this recipe by spraying the pan.

Halve the chicken breasts lengthwise...no pounding here,

just be careful.

Now slice up the ham to fit the chicken breasts and slice up that cheese.

So lay that ham and lay that cheese on each thin chicken breast in the pan.

Make sure to eat some of that ham and some of that cheese too...as an appetizer duh...this whole cooking thing really works up an appetite.
True words.

Melt up the butter and and mix in the bread crumbs...
I always use whole wheat bread crumbs.

Now sprinkle that bread crumb mixture on top of the layered chicken/cheese/ham breasts.
Just do it for Pete's sake.
I don't have a picture because apparently I photographed the quick version of this recipe. As opposed to the hundred million super boring pictures I usually take of every.single.step.
Anyway, stick the pan in the oven and bake for
30-35 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, LET'S GET STARTED ON THE PARMESAN-DIJON SAUCE and melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and make a rue.

Rue.
Rue.
Really?
They couldn't come up with a more interesting word?
Rue?

Anyway add the milk and the chicken bouillon to the fabulously riveting rue.

Oh hello rue of whom I'm bringing to a boil.

Rue

???
???

I just looked it up!!
I've been spelling rue wrong...totally wrong....
it should be roux. R-O-U-X.
Looks a lot less bland that way doesn't it?

Anyway, add the Dijon and the Worcestershire
into the
R - O - U - X.

Now add in that lovely shaved Parmesan.

This is the Parmesan I use.

It's like candy.
C - A - N - D - Y.

Candy.

And this is what the Parmesan-Dijon Cream Sauce will look like.

Easy enough eh?

Okay,
let's pull that chicken out of the oven. I always use a meat thermometer, so I pulled it out at 160 degrees and tented it for a bit.

Mmmmm,
do you see that gooey cheese?

I don't either but I know it's there cuz I put it on!!!

So plate a Chicken Cordon Bleu up,
don't be shy!!

Ladle some of that creamy, tasty Parmesan-Dijon sauce over the chicken....

See that ham poking out up there? So yummy!

This dish is so nice and tasty,

the buttery bread crumbs,

the smoky provolone,

that salty ham,

all layered on the top of a juicy chicken breast.

And that sauce is so flavorful, full of nutty Parmesan with the nice compliments of Worcestershire and mustard.

Okay, I'm not waiting for the rest of you to plate up, Ima dig in RIGHT NOW...
out of my way camera.

Okay, so here's the recipe.
Remember, this is the EASY WAY of making Chicken Cordon Bleu.
It came from a cool cooking blog I stumbled upon called Mel's Kitchen Cafe.
Printable version is on the right hand side.

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu
From www.melskitchencafe.com
Courtesy www.turnkeyqualitycars.com
*Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:
For the Cordon Bleu:
3 large chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half length-wise (to form two thinner chicken breast cutlets)
12 slices deli ham
1 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 to 1/2 pound thinly sliced swiss cheese
*Angie's note: I used provolone
For the Parmesan-Dijon Cream Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (or 1 bouillon cube, crushed)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs and melted butter. Set aside.

Lay the cut chicken breasts in a single layer in the 9X13-inch dish. Layer each chicken breast with two slices of ham and top with 2 slices of swiss cheese, shingling across the chicken breast to make sure the entire chicken breast is covered with ham and cheese. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top of the chicken.

Bake the chicken for 30-35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through completely, the cheese is bubbling and the bread crumbs are golden.

While the chicken bakes, in a medium saucepan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in the flour, whisking constantly, while cooking the flour/butter mixture for 1-2 minutes. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking quickly. Stir in the chicken bouillon granules and salt. Whisk constantly over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer and thicken, about 3-5 minutes. Once the sauce has bubbled and thickened, remove from heat and stir in the mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted. Keep the sauce warm until the chicken is finished baking.

Serve each chicken cordon bleu portion with warm sauce.
Make Ahead Instructions: Assemble the chicken, ham and cheese according to the recipe. Store the prepared bread crumb/butter mixture in a resealable plastic bag or other container. Cover the casserole with plastic wrap and store it and the bread crumb mixture in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours. When ready to bake, sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and bake according to the recipe, adding anywhere from 5-15 extra minutes since it was refrigerated prior to baking. Make the sauce while the casserole bakes or make it ahead of time, let it cool, and store it covered in the refrigerator for 1-2 days, reheating over low heat and whisking to recombine before serving.

Oh wait, wait! Don't leave yet...I wanted to show you a couple things....

Looky what I got!!!!

A new coffee maker!!! For Christmas!

My kids think my current coffee maker is old school. Well, I think THEY'RE old school.
That didn't make sense I know.

So Goodness and GreatGuy bought me a new coffeemaker. Now I just have to take it out of the box and figure out how to work it.

And with Kohl's cash, I bought that new Oster blender and that nice Cuisinart immersion blender up above!!!

Do you think I needed a new blender?
My current one, shown here, well, we've had it since our wedding day...

THIRTY FREAKING
YEARS AGO!

Other than the minor leaking issue, we've had no problem with it. It's a little loud and rattle-y but then so am I. Have you met me?

Cluck, cluck.

Okay, I also wanted to show you this cute egg cup thing I bought at an antique shop somewhere this summer.

I just found it in my trunk.

Isn't it cute??!!

And lastly,

here's a not very good picture of some lovely art work by Jack Frost the other morning. I know it just looks like crap from this picture, but it really was quite lovely.

Okay kids, that's all I have for today's geography lesson on Switzerland, with some riveting chicken talk and artsy fartsy Jack Frost stuff mixed in. Is fartsy a bad word? We were never ever allowed to say that word growing up. Ever! My mom reads this blog so I'm sure she would be appalled with my use of this word.

Hey Ma, Ima say it..........fart.
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.

Hmmmm, forty nine is way too old to be grounded,
right???

What My Super Cool, Hip, Young Grandma aka Angie Has Been Up To...A Guest Post By Little Boy Blue

1/20/2013

"OH Hi There!"

says the cutie, dimpled
Little Boy Blue.

"Come a little bit closer and I will tell you what my cool, hip, very young Grandma has been up to.
Oh by the way, my Grandma made me say "cool" and "young" and "hip." Hehehe."

so
at Christmastime,

my super young Grandma
pulled out this Christmas tree from the garage
and put it up for me and her to decorate together with kid ornaments....a warm, fuzzy Norman Rockwell experience she was thinking.

Well,

this is as far as we got.

I kept pulling the ornaments off the tree just as quick as Grandma put them on.

And then I got distracted with the kitties and with putting inappropriate stuff in my mouth.

So Grandma finally gave up.

So the kid tree never successfully got decorated.

But my Grandma did manage to get a big tree up with a few ornaments in the living room.

Grandma said she just wasn't into the decorating this year but that next year she will do better.

See, my Grandma loves her ornaments.

My Grandma used to put up
13 trees.

Her favorite tree was the 9 foot tree with vintage ornaments.

She has over a thousand vintage ornaments alone.

At least.

Grandma,
Are you a hoarder?

Gram was modest with layering on her vintage tree tops this year as well.

And all the pets were all snuggled in their beds for the Christmas season too.

And sometimes the pets even had turf wars with the humans for their rightful snuggy spot.

That's my Auntie Sweetness by the way. She was on break from school. I love her. She buys me fun books.

Auntie Sweetness is a literary arts grad student and she bought me this really cool book with animals in it for my birthday in October.

I LOVE this book!!!

The animals in this book have fake fur on them!!!

See my tongue here??

My Grandma and Grandpa had no idea that I was getting geared up to lick this book.

What???!!

So I like to lick the fur on the animals in that book.

Sue me!

My Grandpa sure got a kick out of it...he started yelling
"Angie, he's licking the book, look at this!"

I don't know what the big deal was.

I'm not licking the book Grandpa! I was just......smelling it. Duh.

See, I can look at a zebra without licking it....

...and I can touch a bear without sticking my tongue on it.

NO I CAN'T!!!

MUST LICK
MUST LICK
MUST LICK!!!!!

Anyway, moving on about the holiday season.....

My Grandma and Grandpa's new kitty Giblet Pearl did a lot of lazy sleeping this season too....in my Grandma's arms....

...In my Grandpa's shirt while he was on the phone....

yes, you read that right, I said IN my Grandpa's shirt.

....and with her
big brother
Vinny on the couch.

My Grandma is happy Giblet Pearl finally wore down moody big brother Vinny with love and licks and jumping on Vinny's head and playing with Vinny's tail and constantly bugging Vinny...

Vinny finally just found it easier to give in to the little love bucket and humor her.

Speaking of humoring....
I humored my not old looking at all, cool, young, hip Grandma and Grandpa on
Christmas Day.

All they want to do is love and hug on me.

Geez, a kid's gotta have some room sometime to breathe
ya know.

So I jumped over to my Auntie Sweetness and her nice boyfriend NiceBoyfriend's lap.

By the way, my Grandma wants me to let you know that Auntie Sweetness may look twelve but she is actually of legal drinking age and it is legal for her to have that glass of wine.

And then it was time to open presents and because I was at my Daddy's family the night before with tons of cousins and tons of attention and tons of presents and activity and stimulation, I was a little wired and tired and ornery and
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
WWWHHHAAAAAAAA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
WWWHHHAAAAAAAAA

Do I look like I've been a 24 hour handful here for my Momma and Daddy??!!!
Hehehehehehe
WHAAAAAAAAAA!!!

And then
I crashed and burned on my Grampy's lap who was winding down as well.

Where's my blankie??!!

Well I better get going, I'm a busy toddler boy you know. My Grandma wants you to know she's been cooking a lot of disasters like this though lately...

She can't even remember what this was but it was expensive to make and it was too sweet and are you wondering where the top of the bundt cake is?

Apparently it didn't want to leave the coziness of the pan.

But at least this super easy chicken cordon bleu turned out pretty decent.

She'll be sharing that with you soon cuz she really liked it.

Okay now I'm really out of here....I got things to do like looking cute and hanging out in laundry baskets.

Thanks for checking in and catching up on my youngish, energetic, hip Grandma. She'll be talking at ya soon and if you're a super cute and adorable yittle tiny baby or toddler, she'll be showering you with a ton of kisses and hugs!

See ya later alligator!
Have a good week and remember: always give little boys everything they ask for no matter how outrageous, okay? Goo Goo
Gah Gah. Thanks a lot!

I Think This May Be The Best And Easiest French Onion Soup Ever

1/4/2013

Do you like French Onion Soup?

Man, this is an EASY recipe and so delicious!

It's from Tyler Florence from Tyler's Ultimate cooking show on Food Network.

I've made other French Onion soups and they just seemed so complicated and time consuming.
The reviews for this dish were outstanding...I just had to check it out!

Here's the fixins for this delicious beefy French Onion soup.

M'kay, we're gonna start by melting up that butter in a pan.

Slice the onions and mince the garlic...

Throw the onions and garlic into the butter in the pan.

Add the thyme and bay leaf in,
the salt and pepper and saute...

Keep simmering and sauteeing....

you want the onions to caramelize...

About like this, although you can brown them even more if you want...

Now's about the time to pour in that one cup of wine...
the recipe says one cup, about 1/2 a bottle...
Say what the what? Since when is one cup a half a bottle????
I just poured in literally
ONE CUP.

HEY!

Here's the Gruyere cheese that the soup bowls are topped with.

Gruyere is expensive but worth it!
Use Gruyere with this recipe, do not use another cheese.
Gruyere is the key to this French Onion soup!

So
grate up that Gruyere!

Okay, back to the soup, let the wine reduce down until the onions are dry...

LOOK AT THOSE LAYERED FLAVORS WOULD YA??!!

Now fish out the thyme sprigs and bay leaf and dust in the flour for thickening...

Turn the stove on low and let the onions simmer, cooking the flour taste out.
Hey, who should clean their stove BEFORE taking pictures to put on the internet?
Nahhhhhhhh.

Okay,

so the onions have cooked down even more,

now add all that beef stocky goodness!

Bring the soup back up to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Looks weird here, but it will scoop nicely into ramekins.

I guess you don't have to use ramekins,
you can use coffee mugs even.
Whatever vessel you use, it just has to be in a hot oven for 3-5 minutes to melt the cheese on top.

I have ramekins.
I picked up these cute black and white striped ones up at WalMart years ago. I think they might be Pyrex brand. I picked them up to make creme brulee but I've used them several other times too.

These black ramekins I just picked up at Hy-Vee.

They're that Curtis Stone line they carry. These were on clearance for $2 a piece. I bought four, that was all they had.

I wish they would have had more, I would have bought all that they had. I like this size and style.
Oh let's face it, I heart dishware in general. LOVE!

Okay, so ladle the yummy FRENCH ONION soup up in each bowl or ramekin...

Confession Alert
Confession Alert!!
At first I inserted the following picture but it looked so gross, I deleted it and inserted the six bowl picture instead....

Why would I even take this picture?

I took it twice in fact. Why?

IT LOOKS GROSS, YES?
Want some?

Anyway, here,

layer up the French Onion soup bowls with good crusty bread and that shredded Gruyere cheese.

Stick these in the oven on a covered baking sheet
(just in case there's any spills) and bake until cheese melts, uh maybe about 3-4 minutes is how long I kept mine in for.
And plate it up!

Look at that melted Gruyere and that beef broth...
so so good!

Now as good as that yummy cheese and crusty bread looks,
the broth is so tasty...not too "oniony" by any means. Very mellow in fact.

Make sure you dig to the bottom for that cheese.

You know, it dawned on me, I don't have a lot of pictures of the broth but it really was so beefy and mellow. It certainly wouldn't hurt little people's tummies or tummies with sensitive spice issues.

Here's the recipe...

French Onion Soup
Recipe Tyler Florence from www.foodnetwork.com Tyler’s Ultimate cooking show
Courtesy www.turnkeyqualitycars.com
Serves: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
    1/2 cup unsalted butter
    4 onions, sliced
    2 garlic cloves, chopped
    2 bay leaves
    2 fresh thyme sprigs
    Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
    1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
    3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
    2 quarts beef broth
    1 baguette, sliced
    1/2 pound grated Gruyere

Directions
Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn't burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

When you're ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the Gruyere and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.

Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.

Alternative method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

Okay, I have a couple more soup recipes that Ima be posting here shortly, one is a healing soup that actually works I think!

Also, Tim wants to eat less carbs (whatever!!!) so I guess Ima try to eat less carbs too for the next couple months.
We'll see how THAT one goes.

This is how I feel about that.

Uh yeah,
is what she said while laying listlessly on the kitchen floor, too weak to move...

CUZ SHE CUT DOWN ON HER FREAKING CARBS!!!

WHATEV!!!

Well I hope I have enough energy to post stuff here.

If there's a lot more typos than normal and a lot of more crazy stoopid nonsense more than normal here in these posts, please, someone, anyone, RUN OVER TO MY HOUSE AND SHOVE CREAM CHEESE FROSTED CINNAMON ROLLS IN MY MOUTH! PLEASE!!! Please don't let me wither away from lack of energy/carbohydrates. Please.

Hey, you don't have any cream cheese frosted cinnamon rolls on ya right now, do ya?
I'm feeling kinda faintish....

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