Christmas At Our House 2022 – Very Eventful

For our Christmas meal this year we invited daughter, Wende, and family, our friends Kathy and Pat, which along with Cindy, Pat, Bev, and me, gave us 10 diners which fit our number of chairs.

Southwestern Pot Roast & Beef Quesadillas

I found a chuck roast in the freezer and decided that beef quesadillas would be an easy meal for our Friday get-together so I went in search of a pot roast recipe.  I found one that sounded good at one of my favorite recipe sources that we could eat a meal from then use the leftovers on Friday.  The recipe for Southwestern Pot Roast comes from Pam on her “For The Love Of Cooking” blog but I changed the cooking method quite a bit to fit my needs.

Merry Christmas

I generally won't build a fire if the outside temps are above the low 40's but Friday's 10F definitely fit the bill.  I plan for Christmas Eve and Day to look the same.

Kitty has decided she likes the Christmas season providing her a new spot under the tree to hang out during the day.

We hope your Christmas is all you wished for.

Bev and Larry

Pan Fried Crappie With Mustard Caper Cream Sauce

Before our crappie fishing friends go to Florida for the winter (to crappie fish) they always give us a supply of frozen filets so we have plenty and need to eat it regularly.  We have a couple of recipes we really like but I’m always on the lookout for new ones then along came this one.  The recipe for Pan Fried Cod with Mustard Caper Cream Sauce came from Lea Ann on her “Cooking On The Ranch” blog.  Bev was cool toward the mustard idea until I reminded her of one of her favorite fish dishes that contains mustard so she got on board.  I made it per Lea Ann’s recipe except I used crappie rather than cod.

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

It’s been about 10 years since we last enjoyed this meatloaf so we opted to make it for our Friday get together.  Since my cooking is now limited for six weeks, Bev was the chef for this meal.  Our favorite part of a meatloaf meal is the leftovers made into meat loaf sandwiches and to ensue plenty and match our meat amount, we doubled the recipe to get the one below.

Baked Potato Chicken and Broccoli Casserole & Second Toe Surgery

With my second toe surgery was set for Tuesday, and I knew we wouldn’t want to be cooking so I made up a casserole the day before so all that we needed to do was reheat it.  I used the recipe for Baked Potato Chicken and Broccoli Casserole from Mary’s “Barefeet In The Kitchen” blog. Since I wanted plenty of leftovers, I increased the ingredients by 50% to get the recipe below.  Just click on the above link for her original recipe and some tasty looking pics.

Homemade Corned Beef With Spices, Cabbage & Carrots And Sandwiches for Card Night

In early October, I made my own corned beef from a large brisket and posted about it in November.  When I made it, I cut it into two good sized pieces and put one in the freezer which is the subject of this post.

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Potatoes

When Mary posted the recipe for Roasted Chicken Thighs with Red Potatoes on her “Vegetable Recipes” blog, I decided it would be a good use of the thighs I had in the freezer as we like lemony dishes.  I followed her recipe except I used larger Yukon Gold potatoes and I increased the amounts for my number of thighs and extra potatoes.  For the original recipe and some delicious looking pics, just click on the above link to visit Mary’s site.

The Girls At Marco Island

My girls (Bev, Cindy, & Pat) visited Marco Island, FL for the annual visit and I stayed home to mind the ranch and the dogs - neighbor Pat joined them for weeks two and three.  We have had a timeshare there for many years and it is a highlight of Bev’s year.  From left - SIL Pat, Bev, neighbor Pat, Cindy.

Southern Smothered Oxtails

While here last year, our son, Rhett, raved about the oxtails he had made and, since I like braised beef shanks, I knew I wanted to give them a try.  So, when they butchered their beefs last winter, I asked our neighbors to get us some oxtails (really cow tails) and I’m just getting around to cooking them.  

Transylvanian Goulash Inspired Dish And Thanksgiving At Wende’s

When I saw this recipe for Transylvanian Goulash from Debbie on her “A Feast For The Eyes” blog and with my girls, who would be lukewarm on trying it, off in Florida, I was inspired to make a similar dish for myself, especially since I had some pork chops in the freezer and a jar of kraut in the fridge. 

Since I was making it for just me, I halved the ingredient amounts and changed the cooking method so as not to overcook the chops as I prefer them slightly pink.  I debated whether to leave the chops whole or cut them up and I opted for the former.  You can click on the above link for Debbie's original recipe and how-to pics.

A Few Meals I Didn’t Post About - Stuffed Delicata Squash, Baked Steak and Mushrooms, and Mediterranean Potato Salad

I kept seeing these gourd looking things in our fridge and had no idea what they were and hadn’t bothered to ask Bev.

Pam's One Pot Chicken and Lemon Rice For Friday Night

Our Friday night meals have several criteria that I have to work with such as no gluten for Joe, several dislikes for some, no spicy heat for some, ease of clean up for Cindy, the ability to have it cook during the afternoon card session (we play before and after supper), etc.  So, when I saw this recipe for One Pot Chicken and Lemon Rice from Pam’s "For The Love Of Cooking" blog, it met them for the most part.  

Bev reminded me from Florida that we often get these recipes too lemony for our taste so I adjusted the recipe a little and served lemon wedges on the side.  Also, I used six thighs as that's what the package contained and chicken broth for the water as I had it on hand, then I put it in the marinade.  Click on the link above for the original recipe and Pam's great pics.

Autumn Hash - Chicken, Sweet Potato, Brussels Sprouts, Apples

While my girls are in Florida for their annual visit, I’m left with the task of cooking for one and for me, I like to make a meal with plenty of leftovers.  When I saw this recipe for Sweet Potato Brussels Sprouts Hash from “Chisel and Fork” and realized I had everything on hand to make it on a rainy day, so a meal was born.  And for bonuses, it is a one pan meal, low in calories and high in nutrition.  I made a few changes to the ingredients and cooking method based on what I had on hand but the original recipe along with great pics and nutrition, can be found by clicking on the above link.

Go-To Vegetable Beef Soup and Me and The Pups

The boys and me watching a little Saturday football while the girls are in Florida.  Sometimes it's one between my legs and one on each side.

In my effort to reduce our frozen food inventory, I found a chuck roast and several bags of frozen vegetables and with cold weather and our weekly get together coming up, vegetable soup made it onto the menu.  We normally don’t use a recipe and just dump whatever we have into our vegetable soup but this time I decided to start with a recipe from Cooking Classy, which I doubled to get the one below.  I also adjusted some of the ingredients and added some.

Humor For Us Old Dogs Out There And A New Television

I'm a kid at heart and have always enjoyed a good snow fix so if I had heat and power, and a supply of wood for my fireplace, I would have loved being in Buffalo this weekend and maybe you to Betsy.

Beautiful Salmon With Dill Sauce And Mac And Cheese For A Granddaughter Visit

As the grandkids have gotten older, we don’t see them very often so we are always pleased when they want to come for a visit.  This past weekend, Reese (Rhett’s middle child) and her boyfriend Xavier drove in for a long weekend from Charleston, SC where they attend “The College Of Charleston.”  They got in Friday night and left late Tuesday afternoon so we had nearly four full days with them. 

A Delicious Spinach and Chicken Enchilada Casserole With Our Go-To Green Sauce

When I saw the recipe for “Spinach and Chicken Enchiladas” on Mary’s Vegetable Recipes blog I thought it sounded good for our Friday get together.  I’m pretty sure an enchilada is a corn tortilla wrapped around a filling which hers isn’t so I added the word casserole which I believe is more accurate.  I made the enchilada sauce using the second recipe below and I used about twice as many tortillas for the casserole as shown in the recipe below.  You can tell from my plate that I remembered the pic late into the meal.

A Very Eventful Trip Home From The Rally Plus Delicious Peanuts And a Toe Update

While the rally went very well and we had a good time, the same cannot be said for the trip home which turned out pretty bad.  Since we had no hot water and Teddy was sick, we decided to leave around 2pm on Friday rather than spend another night and leave Saturday morning.  We got 11 miles up the road when the coach geared down and the check engine light came on so I pulled off the interstate at the Ooltewah on-ramp.

Since I knew one of our fellow campers was knowledgeable about diesels, I gave him a call and he and several others came to help.  After a little investigation they found the problem and determined it could not be repaired on site and would require a tow.  After a few phone calls, we decided our best option was to have it towed to the repair shop in Maryville and we hired Doug Yates Towing to do the job.  They showed up with a 50 ton rotator rig that looked like this.

A Tea Room Lunch & Campground Review For Day 3 Of Our Last 2022 RV Club Rally

Friday was a light day with lunch at the Genesis House Of Tea followed by card making for the ladies, and nothing planned for the guys.  Since we were still operating without our Aqua Hot (hot water provider) and Teddy was obviously not feeling well, we decided to just head home on Friday afternoon rather than wait until Saturday morning more on the next post).

The girls headed out to Genesis House Of Tea about 11:30 and according to my girls, it was a nice experience, even though they are not into tea rooms.  Per their site “The Historic Dent House, circa 1854, is the last standing antebellum home in Chattanooga. The 165-year-old grand home is the perfect place to experience a full four-course afternoon tea service for lunch, or relax before a fire enjoying a candle-lit dinner.”

A Patriotic Day For Day 2 Of Our Last 2022 RV Club Rally

After breakfast on our own we headed into downtown Chattanooga for a visit to the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal Of Honor Heritage Center so located as the city where the first medal of honor was awarded during the civil war - pic photo bombed by Louie.

My Home Made Corned Beef

We’d been buying corned beef lately but I’m usually disappointed with the small size and the last one we cooked was about one third fat and the whole thing only made four Reubens.  So, I decided to get back into making my own using the 13.64 lb. choice brisket I had in the freezer and that was bought on sale for $1.99/lb. 

Our Last 2022 RV Club Rally – Day 1½ - Miller industries & Porvino's

With only the Christmas Party remaining, this was the final rally for our Tennessee Travelers RV club and we were looking forward to making the trip to the Chattanooga, TN area to spend time with our friends.  We got the coach all packed and ready and got on the road at 2pm for the under two-hour ride to the Holiday Travel Park ofChattanooga which is actually located in Rossville, GA, about a quarter mile below the TN/GA state line.

Steak and Pepper Stir Fry And Chicken Waldorf Salad

I’m working on reducing our frozen food inventory (again) and when I saw this recipe for Steak and Pepper Stir Fry, I knew it would get some freezer burned beef out of the freezer and prevent some of our recently picked peppers from going in.  A one pan stir-fry meal works well for our Friday group and Mary’s recipe from her “Vegetable Recipes” blog fit the bill.  I used beef tenderloin which I grilled over high heat for a couple of minutes to add another layer of flavor.  The original recipe with great pics like the one below can be found by clicking on the above link.

Awesome Fried Bologna For Breakfast

We stopped by Benton’s Country Ham’s the other day so Eric could pick up some ham and bacon for his friends back home and Bev decided to buy a few thick slices of good bologna for frying so I decided to try some for breakfast.  The creation was an open-faced fried bologna breakfast sandwich.  It began with a slice of Bev’s homemade bread coated with Duke’s mayonnaise.

A Little Fall Boat Ride

Due to several factors, we took our first ride on the pontoon boat last week in hopes of seeing some fall colors along the lake.  Passengers included Cindy and two of her great grandchildren, Michael and Lily, Pat, Bev, and me and of course three dogs.

Unfortunately, we have very few native maple trees around here so most of our color is provided by golden hickories.  The overcast day also muted the tree colors and the first shot is heading out of our cove.

Rotisserie Chickens And Visit With Eric & Matthew

The last time I cooked a rotisserie chicken in April, 2020, we thought it was very good and I’ve been looking forward to doing it again.  Before, I cooked one 5½ lb. chicken and I wanted to use two smaller ones this time but could only find 2½ - 3 lb. fryers at Knoxville’s Fresh Market so I bought a couple a while back, stuck them in the freezer and hoped the burner was long enough to cook them together.

Mushroom Swiss Burgers

The burgers you see on many TV cooking shows from restaurants look more like a slightly flattened meatball than a burger patty and as thick as they are, it’s impossible to add many condiments and be able to get your mouth around the sandwich, unless you are Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives) who seems to have a giant mouth.  This makes an impressive pic but hard to eat without destroying it.

Day Trip To Carver’s Apple House And Restaurant

Carver’s Apple House and Restaurant is located near Cosby Tennessee (a wide spot in the road nestled in the mountains about 20 miles northeast of Gatlinburg) and is the retail arm of a 75 acre orchard with 40,000 trees and 126 varieties of apples.  

Pepperoni Pizza Pasta

I really like Kevin’s recipes and I really like pasta and I really like pepperoni pizza and I really like one dish meals so when I saw the recipe for Pepperoni Pizza Pasta on his “Closet Cooking” blog, I knew it was a must try and I thought it would be perfect for our Friday evening get together.  For gluten intolerant buddy, Joe, I decided to make one batch with gnocchi and one with pasta (Bev’s preference), so I doubled everything but the pasta and used both ground beef and Italian sausage to get the recipe below.  I also changed the cooking instructions quite a bit  You can click on the above link for Kevin’s original recipe and I thought it was brilliant to cook the bacon and pepperoni first then cook everything else in the same grease with all that flavor.

Grilled Dry Rub Honey Mustard Salmon

It’s been a while and I was ready for some seafood and had a nice looking wild caught sockeye salmon fillet in the freezer that I wanted to try with a new recipe.  I looked thru my saved recipes and found the recipe for Grilled Dry Rub Honey Mustard Salmon from Chef Dennis in his “Ask Chef Dennis” blog that looked interesting and I had all of the ingredients.  Since I had about three times as much salmon as the recipe called for, I tripled the rub and sauce ingredients to get the recipe below.  Once it thawed, I realized why it weighed so much – I had two fillets so I did them both.  The original recipe can be found by clicking on the above link.

Carne Adovada & Charro Beans

I don’t normally think of the Pacific Northwest as a hot bed for Hispanic food but both or these dishes came from Portland, OR and from the same source.  While I had made both of these dishes before I wanted to try the recipes for Carne Adovada & Charro Beans ala Pam from her “For The Love Of Cooking” blog.  By necessity, I made a couple of ingredient changes as noted in ().  The original recipes can be found by clicking on the above links. 

Home Made Corned Beef

We’ve been buying corned beef lately but I’m usually disappointed with the small size and the last one we cooked was about one third fat and the whole thing only made four Reubens.  So, I decided to get back into making my own using the 13.64 lb. choice brisket I had in the freezer and that was bought on sale for $1.99/lb. 

Sweetwater RV Rally, Wrap-Up, Campground Review, & Scrapple

Our four-day, five-night rally began on Sunday night and officially ended when people departed on Friday morning and I believe I can say we took in about all of the available sites to see in the Sweetwater area.  Our attendance for this rally varied between 15 and 19 attendees which I thought was good for a rally so close to home.

The Sweetwater KOA was a very pleasant surprise both from a facilities standpoint and how we were treated as the management bent over backwards to make us feel welcome and attend to our needs.  The park has 66 sites with a full range of lengths and several holiday sites – they were well spaced so as not to feel crowded.  They also had seven cabins which one of our couples used and liked.  Our site.

Baked Italian Breaded Pork Chops & Briam (Mediterranean Night)

After a week at an RV rally and this week that included three trips to physical therapy, a visit from the RV repairman and a plumber, a colonoscopy (all good), and a trip to the dentist, I needed some home-cooked food to write about.  When I saw this recipe on Claudia’s “What’s Cooking Italian” blog, I was anxious to try it on the chops I had in the freezer.  Since we had a couple of zukes that needed to be used, we sided the pork with Briam ( Greek Roasted Vegetables)  that we had made before.  I had five chops and I changed the  process a bit and cut the breading ingredients in half and still had more than enough.  The original recipe can be found by clicking on the first link above.

Sweetwater RV Rally, Day Four

Day 4 began with breakfast at the Athens Cracker Barrel before heading to the Mayfield’s Dairy Visitors Center in Athens for a plant tour.  Since they began with Jersey cows, it is the company mascot.

Sweetwater RV Rally, Day Three

After breakfast on our own to begin day three, we made the 15 minute drive to Sweetwater Valley Farm for a tour of their milking operation followed by a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and milkshakes.  A dairy since the early 1900’s, the current owners have been involved since 1987

Sweetwater RV Rally, Day Two

The scheduled events for day two began with a visit to Tsali Notch Vineyards between Sweetwater and Madisonville, TN, where they grow nothing but muscadines.  According to Wikipedia “Vitis rotundifolia, or muscadine, is a grapevine species native to the southeastern and south-central United States. The growth range extends from Florida to New Jersey Coast, and west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma.”

Finally, An RV Trip and Rally, Day One

Our last RV trip was in May to Pineola, North Carolina for a club rally then we cancelled our western trip for the third year in a row and this time due to the extremely high cost of diesel – this actually was good as it allowed me to have my toe surgery.  So, the poor, lonely coach has just been sitting out in the driveway all summer wishing we would take it somewhere.

Our RV club (Tennessee Travelers) has held rallies as close to us as Vonore, TN and as far away as Pensacola, FL and as the host for our Sep. event I decided to stay close again and go to the KOA in Sweetwater, TN as the area actually has several things to do and almost none of which I had done.

Alabama Scramble – Different Version

This summer, we made Alabama Scramble a time or two using our normal method of cooking everything in a skillet but since we had oil in our deep frying pan, we opted to change it up some.  We recently had deep fried okra and green tomatoes and realized they needed more seasoning than just S&P at the end so I’ve attempted to correct that.  The following recipe feeds 3-4 people eating only this.