A light wheat bread, using whole wheat and all purpose flour, wheat germ and a touch of honey, and made with the Kitchen Aid.

Honey Wheat Bread

Time for another bread! Since my forced unemployment, thanks to Hurricane Katrina and this economic tsunami on the heels of her, I have been fortunate to be able to make loads of homemade bread. I guess that is one advantage of being an unemployed career woman now stay at home housewife with no little ones up under my feet all day. I have loads of time to play around in the kitchen. Maybe not so good on my waistline...)

Now, I love making bread. I love the process. Putting it together. Feeding the yeast. Watching the dough come together. Watching it rise. And I really love the smell of it baking. Oh do I love the smell of it baking! And frankly while it takes a bit of the hands-on work away which many people enjoy, the Kitchen Aid sure makes an easy job of it and is certainly less stressful on these older hands.

Sooooo I admit it ... I've gotten a bit spoiled by having homemade bread around. In fact it's truly to the point that I just don't care much for store bought bread anymore, so much so that I'll actually skip a sandwich if I don't have homemade bread on hand. I'm just gettin' rotten like that.

Ranch-Style Beans, known also as Chuck Wagon and Cowboy Beans, are made with pintos and slow stewed with southwestern flavor.

Ranch Style Cowboy Beans

Ranch beans have been around a very long time, in fact, I'm pretty sure that some form of them probably date all the way back to pioneer days and wagon trains, and in this version they are very often referred to as Chuck Wagon or Cowboy Beans.

When I think of these beans I can't help but to think about that scene around the campfire in the movie Blazing Saddles! You know the one.

Yummy Loose Meat Hamburger Sandwich

Dry onion soup mixed with ketchup, mustard and sweet pickles, combined with cooked ground beef, makes this loose meat sandwich sort of like a deconstructed hamburger.

Loose Meat Hamburger Sandwich

I just love this Hamburger Sandwich! Kind of like a cross between a po'boy and a sloppy joe, it's a loose meat sandwich with all of the flavors of the typical All American Burger packaged in a saucy ground beef.

Oven Braised Beef Eye of Round Roast with Pan Gravy

 

An eye of round beef roast, lightly sprinkled with Worcestershire, soy sauce, seasoned salt, garlic powder and ground pepper, then wrap tightly with foil and left to slow braise in the oven.

Oven Braised Beef Eye of Round Roast

This braised eye of round roast is similar to the rump roast I recently posted, except that this one is made with an eye of round roast and doesn't require an overnight marinade, so it simplifies preparation time a little bit. I don't know about you, but I have the hardest time remembering to do things the night before sometimes.

You can also use a rump roast here as well, but if you're looking for a delicious top of the stove rump roast, stop by and check out this recipe for another delicious roast.

A favorite breakfast staple of grits are taken a step up with the addition of garlic and cheese, making them the perfect bed for shrimp and grits, grillades or eggs in purgatory.

Creamy Southern Garlic Cheese Grits

Grits, plain with just butter, salt and lots of pepper are a delicious Southern staple. They are made from hominy or plain corn that has been finely ground to the consistency of sand and are typically served as a side dish with eggs and toast at breakfast, but often show up at other meals too.

I love grits, but I truly love garlic cheese grits. I mean these make my eyes roll back they are so good - creamy, cheesy and loaded with garlic. And, if you're lucky you'll have some left to make fried grit cakes too, because they are over the top, I'm tellin' ya!

Weekend Cocktails - Biloxi Breeze

Patterned after the Bama Breeze Cocktail and made with citrus vodka, rum, cranberry and citrus juices sweetened with simple syrup, my tribute to all the old juke joints all along the Coast that were lost in Katrina.

Biloxi Breeze

At this writing, it's Friday night, the weather's warmed back up again, so what better time for a cocktail? And some music to go along with it. That's on further down, but first a story. Hope you find it interesting!
Now, The Cajun doesn't drink at all these days and so I don't imbibe much myself, so when I do, well, one generally will do it for me, and this is a good one. It's the kind of drink that invokes all kinds of memories of growing up here along the Gulf Coast. And I'm guessing that when CrazySista put it on her menu, and Jimmy wrote the song and did the video, well, they both knew it would.

Baked Chicken with Honey Orange and Garlic Ginger Glaze

Whole cut up chicken marinated and baked in a honey, orange and soy garlic ginger sauce.

Baked Chicken with Honey Orange, Garlic and Ginger Glaze

This chicken offers a fantastic contrast between the tang of the hot sauce with the sweet orange and honey against the traditional flavors of soy and ginger in this dish and is a pleasant surprise from more typical honey and soy combination for chicken.

Frequent basting produces a pretty glazed surface and pulls double duty as a very tasty side sauce as well. Just delicious and The Cajun absolutely loves it. The best part?

It's super easy to put together.

Birds in a Nest or Egg in the Hole, is a simple dish - just an egg, fried into the center of a slice of bread and finished with a sprinkle with bacon.

Birds in a Nest

This isn't really a "recipe," but I had this for breakfast this morning and it's so darned good I knew I had to post it. If you haven't had one of these in awhile, I hope this will serve as a reminder for you to make one! It's a great thing to cook with your kids too, because they are just fascinated with the whole idea of cookin' an egg in the middle of a slice of bread.

A very basic, old fashioned egg custard pie.

Old Fashioned Egg Custard Pie

There is something about the simplicity of an Old Fashioned Egg Custard Pie that just spells comfort to me. With this cooler weather movin' in here again it seemed appropriate to make one.

I like the custard warm more than I like it cold but if you try to cut it before it cools, it'll run. I admit, I have been known to do that anyway. But let it cool and then warm a slice up in the microwave for about 30 seconds or so if you want it warm. I gotta tell ya ... it just soothes the heart.

Banana Fritters - Bananas dipped in a cinnamon batter, skillet fried in butter, then rolled in a mixture of brown sugar and toasted coconut.

Pan Fried Banana Fritters

This works best with the fresher and more firm bananas just from the store, rather than the riper ones that have been on the counter for a few days. They are awesome served alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream, alone with just a simple drizzle of cream, couple sprinkles of pecan or walnut, or even as a side to some hot pancakes or waffles, and with an extra drizzle of cane syrup or honey. Just delicious!