Pumpkin and Black bean soup

Well I thought I was back but we have gone to 5 day a week till Feb. and being out of town does not give me much time to cook. We have been cooking some of our favorites when I have been home so not many new stuff to post. This is one we have seen on a good many blogs out there and we gave this one a try and it was pretty good. It has been cold latley and this was a good new one for us with some good french bread.

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion finely chopped

3 cups vegetable stock(didn't have any so used chicken)

1 can diced tomatoes not drained

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

2 cans pumpkin puree

1 can corn drained

1 cup heavy cream

1 Tablespoon curry powder (as we are not as accustomed to curry we used half)

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper ( we do like this and added a little more)

salt to taste

we used cilantro as a garnish.

Heat soup pot add oil when hot

add onion and saute about 5 minutes till clear

add broth, tomatoes,black beans,pumpkin and corn

bring to a boil

reduce to med heat and stir in cream slowly and then add cumin,cayenne and salt to taste.

Simmer for 5 minutes adjust seasonings and serve.

Did not take long to cook.

I'm back

Wow can not believe its been this long with out posting. Baby is finally back and she can get my pictures set up to post.

I have to admit we have not been cooking any thing much new but some of our older stuff as it was good the first time and we felt like revisiting it.

I have been working on poaching eggs and this is our Will McMuffin for breakfast.

Poach egg, slice of Canadian bacon and some cheese.

Wife added a new button so now the recipes can be printed.

Floyd Eugene Wadsworth

Photo taken 2007

It is with a sad heart that I inform you of the passing of my Father in law.
Floyd Eugene Wadsworth passed away on Oct. 11, 2010. He lived in Birmingham Alabama. He served his country in WWII aboard the destroyer escort USS Wileman. And was a retired Postal Worker of 30 years. He will be dearly missed. My wife Genie is in Birmingham and will be back soon. Upon my wife's return we will resume our cooking adventurers.
Will

Chicken Parmesan

Can you believe I have never made this dish. For some reason I guess I thought it would be real complicated. It was nothing like the chili rellenos we cooked. We got some chicken breast on sale and thought we would give this a go. We had some spaghetti sauce put up and used that.

2 boneless and skinless chicken breast pounded flat

Salt and pepper

Cook spaghetti for two.

1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 egg beaten

2 teaspoons butter

1 cup spaghetti sauce

2 slices mozzarella cheese

1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Flatten chicken and salt and pepper to taste

Dip chicken in egg and then in bread crumbs

Fry in butter in hot skillet, turning and browning for about 10 minutes

or till cooked

remove from skillet

add spaghetti sauce to skillet and heat

Add chicken and place mozzarella on top of chicken

Cover and cook till cheese is melted.

Place over spaghetti and sprinkles parmesan cheese on top.

Salmon with Lime and Cilantro

We have had meat for the last few blogs so its time for a fish. The only problem with this dish is it is the second time we have fixed it and it is so good that we have not wanted to try a new recipe. So we hope you try it and like it as much as we do. We had fried eggplant and fresh green beans with new potatoes. Just look on side bar for recipes for them.

4 salmon fillets

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450

place salmon on baking sheet and season with salt and pepper

Bake until no longer pink in middle 10-13 minutes depending on how thick

remove from pan

In a small bowl mix lime juice,sugar, soy sauce and chopped cilantro

Serve salmon with sauce [poured over it and we also but some in a bowl on the side.

Thanks to every one and poor puddy

First I would like to thank Ms Carolyn and staff at the Comfort Inn in Tupelo their kindness and hospitality is unmatched by any. So if any one is going to be staying overnight in Tupelo this is the place.

Second I would like to thank everyone who visits and reads my blog I look forward to comments and emails.

It has been one long hot summer and I am really enjoying the cool weather that has come in. I'm ready to get back cooking and hope to be home more starting in Nov. Wife and I are already getting into the soup mode and hunting for new recipes. We just have one problem our go to site ( the death of the Zaar is now food .com ugh) has changed and she will not use it any more as it is so hard to find anything and does not work the way it did. It was nice to list what ingredients we had and do a search to find a recipe to fit. So if anyone know of another site please let us know.

We took two of our cats to the vet they are getting old and have bad teeth so we had them cleaned and a few pulled. Talk about working to pay for animals. I think it cost more to take them than us. Spot Jr is just not getting around good right now and was sliding all over the wooden floors. The anesthesia seemed to last a little longer on him.. Here he is in bed with me as I read him a tale of two mice along with Blue.

Smoked Brisket

This is another of one of the meats we smoked in the new smoker. It is nice to cook such a large piece of a cheaper meat and it taste so good. Another plus is we are able to put a good bit up so wife can use for sandwiches while I am out of town. And of course the best sause is Sweet Baby Rays.

Wife thought this was good but she likes the pulled pork the best. I like the beef.

Crowder Peas

A while back I wrote about foods we used to enjoy around the dinner table growing up especially those after church on Sunday.

Another of my wife favorites was peas and rice. Well we have fixed peas and put them over rice many a time but she said there was something different about her Moms. Well the last time we were there we asked and she said they were crowder peas. We found some at the farmers market and that was it. So if you have not tried the crowder peas you all just don't know what you are missing.

2 cups crowder peas

2-3 slices of bacon. (Ms Mona used to use a salt pork )

1 med onion chopped

2/3 stalk celery diced

2-3 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

if you have it a few okra pods

3 cups chicken broth

cook bacon till crisp drain now cook onion,celery,garlic in bacon grease till tender

add broth, peas, salt and pepper (if have okra add now also.) bring to a boil. Skim top if needed.

Lower to simmer, add crumbled bacon to peas cook 30 minutes to 1 hour till peas are tender.

Add over rice!

Green Tomato Casserole courtesy of Cassie

We have made this twice now since we got the recipe from Cassie's site at in Amazing Graceland to check out her site look at the side bar she has some beautiful pictures.
The first time we made it was to bring to our jam night and as we like to bring something new this fit the bill alas we did not get any pictures. This time we got some. We also peeled the tomatoes the second time to make it easier to get out out the dish.
The picture of the green tomatoes at the top is one of wife's set ups so I took a picture and thought I'd post. See what I have to put up with she steals my produce to use in her paintings.

4 thick french bread slices,torn into small pieces about 2 cups
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 medium green tomatoes cut into 1/4 inch slices (we pealed them the second time)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 Tablespoon butter
Preheat oven to 400. lightly grease a 1 1/2 quart casserole or deep dish pie pan
place bread in food processor and pulse to a course texture
Combine sugar, salt, and pepper in a small bowl mix well.
Arrange 1/3 of tomatoes slices in bottom of pan sprinkle 1/3 of sugar mixture
1/3 of bread crumbs and 1/3 of cheese. repeat till you have three layers, leaving of the cheese on last layer, add dots of butter on top and cover with foil.
Bake for one hour, uncover and add last 1/3 of cheese and bake uncovered for 5 minutes or till cheese melts, remove and let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Smoked meat, breakfast fattie

I know it has been awhile since my last blog but I had to kill the computer and reload everything. It was running so slow. Now we are zipping along. I also have been working out of town and coming home on weekends and the heat has me wore out. I'm not a spring chicken anymore even though my head will not admit to it my body sure is telling me.

This last week end was such a tease. I hope every one had a good labor day holiday. I did do a little laboring as I got out the smoker and did some smoking.

We did a beef brisket and what is called a fattie. Wife was not crazy about the fattie maybe we did it wrong. I liked it even if it was a little bit of trouble.

take two sausage pkg. like Jimmy Dean or your favorite. and but on plastic wrap

layer of cheese

can of chillies

3 eggs

then take the plastic wrap and role it all up.

Cook in the smoker when done slice.

Sunday cat featuring Blue

Blue is our teddy bear cat. If you look closely he looks like he is smiling. Blue is one of the amigos and the shyest of the bunch and very aloof. He almost never meows and has a barley audible purr. Never fear he does let us know what he wants by head butting and softly pawing and looking at us with that cute face. He does this the most when we are eating ice cream.

By the way if you click on the picture it should get larger.

Italian Sausage,Tomatoes,Pasta one skillet dish

It is so hot that just looking at the stove makes me break out in a sweat much less turning on the oven. We have been eating more sandwiches like ham and swiss and tuna fish salad. We did have this one that was cooked on top of the stove and it had rained (Thank you Lord) and we were a little cooler so I gave it a go. What is every ones favorite dish when its so hot the roads are buckling from the heat?

By the way this was ok it might be better with hot Italian sausage.

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 sweet Italian sausage links casings removed and crumbled

1/4 red pepper flakes

1/4 cup onion diced

1 1/2 cloves garlic

1 14 oz can Italian plum tomatoes drained and coarsely chopped. (we used our own tomatoes)

3/4 whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 6 oz pasta any we use the spiral

1 1/2 parsley

Parmesan grated

we also threw in a little fresh sweet basil since we have so much.

Cooks pasta... aladenta. you want it to finish cooking in the sauce.

Heat oil in large heavy skillet

add sausage and red pepper cook till no longer pink about 7 to 8 minutes

add onion, garlic and cook till onion is tender

add tomatoes cream and salt and cook on simmer till mixture thickens a little

add drained pasta (cook it aladenta) then add to sauce and simmer serve with Parmesan cheese

Sunday Cat feature staring Frosty

Frosty is a people cat. He does not run and hide like the other scared cats but tries to get up on your lap and give you a sniff all over with his very cold nose. It may be 100 outside but his nose is always cold so his name Frosty has a double meaning.

Frosty is almost as big as the Stinker but in the fact he is overweight and would rather lounge next to you than run around the house. He hates to be away from his people for long and is always on the couch or kitchen with us and sleeps at the foot of the bed.

When we have been away from the house he is the first to greet us and will not quit doing this little hopping thing against our legs till we make all over him. The way he acts one would think we had been gone for days.

We can only think he acts like this because as kitten he was the last for us to catch. We found five kittens under our porch and rescued them. Three we kept and the other two found a home with our Vets sister who had a big barn. We call Frosty and his brothers Sambo and Blue the the three amigos. Brother Blue will appear soon.

Frosty has appeared before as our kitchen cat. He likes to sit on the stool and watch me cook.

Smoked Pork Butt

removing the bone

The outer part is called the bark

be careful it still hot

Ok I left you a with a tantalizing picture and it is from my new toy. Doug got a smoker last year and at our music jams he always had the most mouth watering meat. We got lucky and found a electric smoker at Waley world that was being discontinued and on sale. So I have been looking up on smoking meat and the first thing they said to cook in it was a Boston butt or pork shoulder to help season the smoker. This is our Boston butt and it just melted in your mouth. I really did not need any Bar BQ sauce but we do like Sweet Baby Rays. Now this did take a good bit of time so it has to be done on a weekend for me as it is a two day event.
Injection Sauce
1 cup apple sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
4 teaspoons Cajun seasonings (Zatarains) we like a lot so we used 4 Tablespoons
2 teaspoons powdered mustard.
Dry Rub
4 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons cumin
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon red pepper
Mustard
apple juice
Boston Butts are a cheep piece of meat and are found on sell during the summer. This also makes a whole lot so if cooking for a crowd or like us to but up and have later as sandwiches. I think we got 4 baggies of 4 cups each that we were able to put up in the freezer not counting what we stuffed our self with first. When it is in the 100's like this week being able to pull out a pack and have is great.
Now that you have all the ingredients gathered lets get started.
Take the meat and inject it with the injection sauce.
when that is done take the mustard and rub all over and sprinkle half of dry rub (do not rub it in) on meat and place in foil or Saran wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
Next morning take out and put other half of rub on meat do not rub in just sprinkle it on all over.
Let it set about 20 to 30 minutes.
Get the smoker ready
We used apple and hickory wood chips.
A shoulder or butt will take about 1.5 hours per pound of meat to smoke. You will need to smoke the meat at 225° - 230°F until the internal temperature reaches 140°. From there take it up to or 200° - 205°F to pull it.
We pulled it. We also put some apple juice in a spray bottle and sprayed it on the meat every hour.
When the meat was ready we took it out and let it set wrapped in foil in a foil container for about an hour.
This was still hot so be careful pulling the meat apart. Pour the meat juices into a bowl and put it the refrigerator while you pull the pork or while the meat is resting. After the meat juice solidifies run paper towel lightly around the fat and it will stick to the paper towel. Add back to meat.
Whew that took a good bit of time but let me tell ya it melted in our mouths and we will have some great sandwiches for a few days. As Ramona's dog says nom, nom, nom good

Hello and a peek of what is comming up this weekend.

When I called home tonight wife told me she had added some new gadgets to my blog, Now I barley can type as you all can tell so. I thought I would check it out and tell every one thank you for coming by and checking out my blog. I'm new to this so I'm not sure what the correct way to do things, but I do try to reply to your comments as soon as I can under the comment section. During the summer I'm on the road Mon-Thursday most weeks and most nights I'm so tired I just shower and go to bed. I'm always open to suggestions to make things better.
I got a new toy and will be talking about it this weekend. This is all Doug's fault. One of my Jam buddies got one last year and he has cooked some great meat on his. This is bringing out the cave man in me. LOL

Sunday Cat feature starring the Stinker

This is our biggest baby and I do mean BIG. He must weight around 18 to 20 lbs maybe a little more. It takes two hands to pick him up. Stink was born sometimes around Sept 2005. We found him and his sister under our porch. We knew if we didn't capture them they would end up wild like so many around the neighborhood. We were able to find a home with a sweet 8 year old little girl through our Vets for Pip we kept Squeak (aka the Stinker).

This kitten had a mouth on him like none of our others. We almost called him Ted Turner mouth of the south, but his personality shone there as a real little stinker.... into everything and would not listen and always in trouble.

Like destroying a role of paper towels ,toilet paper you name it. We could not leave anything out as he would get it. He even would drag our clothes around the house. He loves to play with the rope and will bring it to us and drag it around the house. He has mellowed a little as he has gotten older but he still likes to hide in a closet and we always have to check, When we hear this wailing we know he has snuck by us into somewhere he should not be.

Last Friday Tomato post

Well this is our last tomato and it is the White Wonder and it is a white color. This tomato for us was a medium in size and was not our favorite and we will not be growing again. I don't know if it is the white color or what but we have have had better tasting tomatoes. In fact it didn't taste like a tomato to us very much. I can see using it as a garnish as it is a pretty color. We saw Providence Aces Portuguese heart tomato and could not believe the size so we are going to try to get a seed or two and try to plant one.

Out tomato plants only have a few tomatoes on them and we have saved seeds from three of them for next year. The heat down here has been brutal and we hope to start a new crop with the suckers to last until fall soon.

Black Sea Man Tomato

Our tomatoes are pouring in now and this is the Black Sea Man again another one that is supposed to have origins in the Crimea area in Russia. They are a darker red almost maroon and very sweet and mild no acid at all. It was very good naked(nothing on it) and delicious with a little salt and pepper. And made a great sandwich.

Sunday cat feature Laskha

This is a picture of my wife's cat Lashka. He was a pedigree Russian Blue and lived to a ripe old age of 18. We unfortunately do not have many pictures of him as we she did not have a camera. . Some where along the way he lost his eyesight but we didn't know till the Vet told us. He got around the house like he could see. Lash loved to be brushed and all you had to do is get the brush out and there he was. He also liked riding on your shoulder. He was very aloof with the other cats and never made friends with any of them and spent a lot of his time alone. His coat was very thick and frosty. We have other cats that have beautiful blue coats(we will feature them on another Sunday cat feature.) that are mutt cats we have rescued. Lash was the only one that was ever bought all the others found their way to our house and would not leave.

Southern Fried Green Tomatoes and eggplant

We had a dish a while back of tuna and orange white beans that was not as good as we thought so we gave it a try again and much better with fresh basil and a a better orange. See the side and click on tuna to see the recipe.

No..... the star of this meal was the fried green tomatoes as they are in abundance at the farmers market we go to. We also picked up an eggplant. Our tomatoes are coming in now but we wanted them to be ripe to taste as they are new to us.

Now we have cheated as we love Zatarains fish fry and used it in our of flour and corn meal. Made it spicier. Now we do sweat our eggplant and for those who don't know that is where we slice it and sprinkle salt on both sides and let stand for about 10 minutes. We do find this takes our the bitterness.

Chicken Pecan and Cransins with cheese sauce

Ok we thought this would be fantastic it has some of our favorite things. Maybe it was a bad day but it did not live up to our expectations. Now don't let us discourage any of you from trying it because it was good just not out of the ball park for us, maybe not enough heat for us as our taste buds like a little more heat. We got this from Zaar and hate to hear they are changing it as we get alot of our ideas there so we hope its still as easy to use.

We did cut this in half because its just two of us.

3/4 cup tosted and finley chopped pecans

1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries (we used crasins)

4 chicken breast

1/2 cup flour

2 beaten eggs

cheese sauce

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon flour

1 cup milk

1/4 cup jalapeno pepper cheese

2 tablespoons fresh chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375

Stir pecans and cranberries together

Lightly flour chicken breast and dip in beaten egg then coat well with pecan and cranberry's

Place chicken in oiled baking dish

Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until meat is golden on outside and no longer pink inside. (we had two monster breast and had to cook it a good bit longer if doing this again I would use pounded or flattened breast.)

While that is cooking start cheese sauce

melt butter in sauce pan over med heat

Add flour and stir about one minute then add milk and whisk till mixture starts to thicken and begins to boil.

Add cheese and stir till completly melted

add chives and salt and pepper to taste

Serve with sauce over chicken

First Tomato taste test

Black and Red Boar

Sliced

Black Krim

Sliced

We picked and sliced two of our tomatoes the Red and Black Boar and the Black Krim.

The Red and Black Boar is a small tomato and looks like n o other tomato I have ever seen. My wife said it reminds her of a red and green zebra. The insides are a very dark maroon red and I must say it was a tomato explosion in the mouth. This was one small powerful tomato packing with a full flavor.

The Black Krim is larger and also a dark red color and is sweeter. It was real good sliced on a hamburger. So far we can see where the heirloom tomatoes have a great flavor and we will need to try and save some seeds.

Shrimp,Crab, Squash Pasta

We had some left over imitation crab meat and was looking for something to cook with it but we didn't have quite enough for any of the recipes we had. So we just kind of threw this together with some stuff we had left over and it turned out pretty good.

Pasta for two cooked and drained. (We really had enough for my honey to have for lunch the next day)
1/4 cup onion diced

1 one stalk celery diced

a few mushrooms sliced

1 or 2 squash (one per person if small or one larger sliced or cubed)

one or two cloves garlic we use 2 because we like garlic

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes more or less per your preference

1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary ( we have a bush out side the kitchen but you can use dried)

2 sweet basil leaves if small or one large( our basil plant is growing like gangbusters we have got to use more)

salt and pepper to taste

one tomato

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese with extra for topping

about 1/2 pack of imitation crab meat

about 12 medium shrimp

a little water about 1 Tablespoon

1 Tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon butter

Combine oil and butter in large skillet on med high heat. When hot add onion,celery,mushrooms and squash. Kinda stir fry for a few minutes till squash is starting to get tender about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add 1 Tablespoons water and the garlic and cook till squash is tender.

Add chopped tomato, red pepper flakes,rosemary,basil.

Add 1 cup cream and 1/2 cup water stir and bring to a boil. then reduce to a simmer to thicken.

Add salt and pepper to taste

Last add shrimp and crab after pasta has been cooked and drained.

Add pasta to sauce after shrimp have cooked (turned pink) if cooked to long shrimp will be rubbery.

Heat till warm serve immediately and top with Parmesan cheese.

Friday tomato update

Black Sea Man

Black and red Boar

Black Krim

White Wonder

Well our tomatoes are starting to get ripe but they don't seem to be putting any new ones out. I hope they get a new spurt going. As you can see they are turning a little not so sure about the white wonder. How do we tell if its ripe? I guess we will pick when it feel a little soft. The Red and Black Boar is a little small it is supposed to be a salad tomato but it sure is pretty.