Long Awaited Dream Trip To Italy – Travel and Day 1

For many years, we have been talking about a trip to Tuscany and we finally realized that at our ages, it was now or never so we began planning the trip.  Since we recently sold our small apartment complex, we had the funds that we could also take our kids so we planned a one month visit for us and invited each of the four kids to join us for a week.  Unfortunately, son Eric had just changed jobs and was unable to make the trip but we went for a month anyway.  Our plan included 19 days in Tuscany, 3 days just south in Umbria and the final week on the Sorrentine Peninsula (location of the Amalfi Coast) just south of Naples.  

Oh Wow, Grilled Albacore Tuna With Citrus Herb Marinade & Dot's Pretzels

Now that Cindy is back from a Florida visit, I have someone to share fish meals with as she is also a big lover of all things seafood.  Since she is a big fan of tuna and I have plenty of Albacore, it seemed like the logical meal choice and an opportunity to try a different recipe from the previous meal.  The recipe for Grilled Albacore Tuna WithCitrus Herb Marinade came from Wild Tides Seafoods  and I followed the marinade recipe as written even though I had two loins vs. steaks.  

Totally Delicious Lemon Garlic Butter Flounder And Asparagus

After a three-day battle with Norovirus and 14 lb. weight loss, on the fifth day, I decided I was ready to try something to eat other than boiled potatoes and my choice was a nice piece of flounder from the freezer along with some fresh asparagus.  To make it a one pot meal and cook one of our favorite fish dishes, I decided to cook everything in lemon butter garlic sauce.

Bev's Trip And Delicious Asparagus Scramble From Leftovers

I’ve mentioned earlier that Bev and Pat are in St. Marten and oddly most of the pics she sends me look like these.

Skillet Garlic Butter Shrimp And Broccoli And A Fine Sandwich

Let’s do another post about seafood and veggies.  When Pam recently posted a bunch of broccoli recipes  on her “For The Love Of Cooking” blog, one in particular caught my attention - Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp And Broccoli since I had both that needed to be cooked.  Since I couldn't open her recipe for some reason and I’m not a fan of roasted vegetables (except potatoes), I went in search of a dish that was cooked on the stove top.  The recipe I liked was for Skillet Garlic Butter Shrimp And Broccoli  from the “Gimme Delicious” blog but I adapted it quite a bit.  I like my broccoli to be cooked moist and I didn’t want to pan fry it anymore than bake it so my adapted recipe does the cooking differently and I doubled the ingredients to ensure leftovers.

Albacore Tuna And Fresh Asparagus

My plan for the this meal was to be seared tuna and leftover peas and carrots until I discovered that my asparagus was off and running so I opted for it instead.  I've never cooked fresh Albacore Tuna (was surprised at how it was cut) so I went on line in search of recipes and the one I chose for pan seared Albacore Tuna loin came from "Sea Forager." While the recipe was for a pound of tuna, I still made all of the spice ingredients.

Delicious Pan Fried Halibut (Finally) With Steamed Peas And Carrots

So my girls are off for their annual visit to Sint Maarten/Saint Marten in the Caribbean for two weeks and it’s the (now four) dogs and I holding down the fort.  One of the things I like to do when they are gone is eat the things that Bev isn’t a fan of and this meal fits in that category.  Except for fried crappie in lemon butter caper sauce they want their white fish battered and deep fried so I’ll be having it baked and pan cooked.  Seafood loving Cindy will be back home for the second week that Bev and Pat are gone so the fish-a-thon will continue.

Sauteed Collard Greens And Roasted Baby Potatoes with Shallots For St. Patrick's Day

I wasn’t inspired to cook a typical Irish meal on Monday, so we ate the two dishes below instead (one was green and the other was potatoes though) for St. Patrick’s Day but I did drink a couple of Guinness Stout’s to celebrate. 

Go-To Country Baked Steak And Gravy And A Favor To Ask

I have a favor to ask.  I love to get you comments and I like to know you they are from so if you comment as unknown, I'd appreciate if you would add your first name at the end.  Thanks Much

We had six pieces of cubed steak in the fridge and I considering using the recipe for Smothered Cube Steak on the “Ask Chef Dennis” blog but I didn’t want to use two skillets to cook it on the cook top so I reverted to our usual Baked Steak and Gravy (Bev prefers this anyway).  However, I still used Dennis’ recipe for everything but the final cooking except I increased the meat seasoning by 50% and the gravy ingredients by 25% to get the recipe below.  You can check out the Chef’s site for his great how-to pics by clicking on the above link.

This dish should not be confused with Chicken Fried Steak which is pan or deep fried then plated and topped with gravy but Country Style Steak can often refer to both of these dishes.

Easy Pork Pozole Verde And Riley Visits

Visit from Riley

We had a recent long-weekend visit from granddaughter, Riley, who is a student at the College of Charleston in South Carolina where she is majoring in Psychology and Religious Studies.  It’s been about a year since we saw her and it was really nice catching up with her life.  Here she is with her Meme and Aunt Pat engaged in girl talk.

Riley brought her cat and kept it in her bedroom and this is Romeo trying to look under the door the check it out.

Salmon with Roasted Tomatoes and Shallots

We enjoy salmon and grilled and it is Bev’s preferred way to cook it using our normal method on seasoning with salt and lemon pepper then brushing on a coat to mayo for grilling.  I enjoy it cooked this way as well but I also like a topping and we have used dill sauce, mango salsa, etc. in the past but I went looking for something different this time.  What I found was a recipe for Salmon with Roasted Tomatoes and Shallots on the “Proud Italian Cook” blog.  I used the ingredients list but made extra topping for leftovers and I used the cooking method shown below.  The original can be found by clicking on the above link.

Victory Bar And Grill, Vonore, TN

Bev wanted to go out for a hamburger for Sunday early supper and we decided to give the newly opened Victory Bar And Grill a try.  It is supposedly owned by the same folks as our favorite Cielto Lindo Mexican Restaurant (next door) so we were expecting it to be good.  

Creamy Cheesy Broccoli and Cauliflower And Sablefish With Ginger Soy Glaze

I made this back in 2020 with just cauliflower but since I could only get a smaller head of cauliflower, I added a 4” round of broccoli that we had in the fridge and I used a different cheese than the baby Swiss the first time.  This is previous time.

A New Water System For Our Home

We have enjoyed great success from our water well for the past 30+ years however, the water is hard, and recently it had an off-taste (vs. the usual no taste) and we’re getting a build up on the coffee maker.  So, it was obvious that the old EcoWater System softener had ceased to function properly.  After researching it, I opted to go with a locally owned business in Lenoir City called Aqua Clear.  We knew we needed a particulate filter and softener and since we were a little concerned about bacteria in the future, we also got a UV system to kill any potential.  And while we were at it, we decided to go whole-hog and add a reverse osmosis filter (RO) under the sink for our drinking water.  This is the main system that was beautifully installed.

An Omelet From The Fridge

We had some mushrooms and deli turkey in the fridge that needed to be used so Bev suggested an omelet, which I’m always up for.  Rather than make two omelets, we just made one large one then shared it.  Bev did the prep and didn't measure the ingredients which is why it says "more or less."

Oxtails And Mashed Potatoes

During a recent freezer dive, I discovered a pkg of oxtails in gravy and decided it would be perfect comfort food for a cold Friday get-together meal.  I nuked the meat and gravy then served it over mashed potatoes and sided with green beans.

Some random meals – Cindy Salmon, Shrimp Omelet, And Pinto Beans

Cindy Salmon

Cindy made a very good Salmon dish recently and I didn’t do a post about it as it required typing in the entire recipe.  The recipe for Salmon With Creamed Spinach & Parmesan Sauce came from Tieghan Gerard in an unknown magazine and it was very good.

I Really Appreciate You And Major Beef broth Making

Unlike many bloggers who have thousands of readers and scads on commenters, a really big day for me is 200 reads and seven comments and I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read my ramblings and I love getting your comments.

Our cattle raising neighbor recently had one processed for them and I requested some of the bones that normally get tossed so I could make some beef broth.  As it turned out we had a little miscommunication and I ended up with at least a cows worth of bones already frozen in six 14”x14”x12” boxes weighing at least 40 lbs. each.  Another neighbor agreed to take two boxes but I still had four to deal with.  Normally I make a batch of broth using our 16 qt. pan and that makes all we want for a year.  So I could put one box in the freezer and I removed the thawed bones from the top of three boxes for broth and put the bags in the freezer.

The Patio Italian Restaurant

Once again this year, I gave our friend, Kathy, some free lunches as her Christmas present and this was our first chance to do one.  We opted to go to the Patio Italian Restaurant in Madisonville, Tn and we always try to go when it won’t be crowded.  The last time in Feb 2024, we went around 11:30am and discovered that many others had the same crowd-beating idea so we had to wait for a table but this time we got there about 1:15pm and had our choice of many empty tables. 

Jumbo Shells Stuffed With Lemon Ricotta Filling

We’ve had a box of jumbo pasta shells for I don’t know how long and I’ve looked at many recipes to use them.  Then along came the recipe for Easy Lemon Ricotta Stuffed Shells With Marinara Sauce from Velva on her “Evening With A Sandwich” blog and I decided it would be perfect for Friday now that buddy Joe has found he can eat gluten.  I followed her recipe except for the hot honey and I made a couple of minor changes.

Sicilian-Style Swordfish For Supper And Breakfast

I posted about this dish four years ago and had it not been for a different cooking method, I wouldn’t have posted this time.  We remodeled our kitchen close to 20 years ago and we put in a new technology microwave called a GE Monogram with Advantium Technology and I’ve always liked it even though we didn’t maximize it’s potential.  So, when it came time for a new one, we again went with the GE Monogram except now it’s called a 5 in 1 oven  and our goal is to make more use of the oven and not use it only as a microwave. 

Machaca con Huevo

When I saw this recipe for Machaca Con Huevo (English: shredded beef with eggs) on “the Chef Mimi Blog,” I saw it as something different I could try for breakfast.  Chef Mimi used some shredded beef from Amazon but I decided to see if I could make it with locally purchased beef jerky to see how it worked but I could not find any unflavored jerky so I decided the peppered beef might work.  I just shredded it in the food processor until I had one cup.

Delicious Steak Hash From Leftovers

We started MLK day with a temperature of 12F, which is cold for here, so I built a fire and puttered around doing odd jobs and watching recorded shows on TV (mostly DDD) as there was nothing on regular TV that I was interested in watching.  But I had a plan for breakfast.

We had some leftover filet and ribeye steak from a recent supper meal and I did an online search for ways to use leftover steak and came across the recipe for Steak And Eggs Hash on the “Heavenly Home Cooking” blog and quickly decided hash was my best option for the meat.

Sorta Chicken Cordon Bleu On The Grill Then Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup

We still had ham left from Christmas and some chicken breasts in the fridge that I decided to marry and Chicken Cordon Bleu came to mind but I didn’t want to make the traditional rolled and breaded version.  I wanted to grill the chicken and not roll it up and Bev is not a fan of Swiss cheese so my dish became something very different but still using Chicken Cordon Bleu as the inspiration.  I looked around the web for recipes and settled on the recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu from Nagi on her “Recipe Tin Eats” blog to use as a guide.  I used her recipe for the sauce but my own technique for the chicken.

Chicken Stuffed Peppers And Cindy

Cindy has gone to California for a couple of weeks to visit a new great grandson and his big sister.

and before leaving, she left us with three nice sweet peppers.

Misc. Breakfast Meals From Holiday Leftovers

Cindy brought me the leftovers from her New Years Day breakfast trip to First Watch so I could add an egg to them.  The restaurant meal was an Italian Hash Brown Skillet and it looked tasty.

I nuked the hash and topped with a couple of sunny-side up eggs, one of which I broke but it didn’t matter when I cut it all up together for a delicious way to start my day and I would definitely order it at the restaurant.

Home Grown (Restaurant), Bodie, And Snow

When Madison (granddaughter) lived with us the first time, she was in 8^th grade and, even though we had two dogs, we decided to get her a dog of her own.  After some looking around we ended up with a cute little Maltese puppy that Madison named Bodie and we all grew to love him so we were disappointed when she moved back home and opted to take Bodie with her – but of course we understood. 

When Madison went off to college, Bodie ended up with Rhett and Beth, which is the current situation but since they both retired in October, they have been traveling extensively and Bodie ends up being boarded a lot.  Since they plan on more traveling, we all thought it would be best for Bodie if he stayed with us for a while, which of course we will also like.

To get him we each made the approximately three-hour drive to Asheville, NC and met for lunch at an interesting little place called HomeGrown  which is a converted old house.  I borrowed some of the pics from the web.

Smoked Pork Chops With Sauerkraut, Bacon, Apples and Onions And First Fire

When Karen posted this recipe for Smoked Pork Chops With Sauerkraut, Bacon, Apples and Onions on her “Backroads Journal” blog, I knew I wanted to make it.  We like kraut and pork anyway, but Karen’s treatment of the kraut especially appealed to me.  I made it per the recipe except for mistakes.

4-Ingredient Spinach and White Bean Soup and Eggnog Taste Test

Bev had saved this recipe for 4-Ingredient Spinach and White Bean Soup from “Simply Recipes” and we decided to give it a try one day when we wanted a quick meal.  I wasn’t optimistic that it would be blog worthy so I took no pics of it - this one is from their site and ours looked just like it.  I followed the ingredients list but changed the instructions so as not to have to scoop out half the soup.

Hoppin’ John’s And Spinach Artichoke Dip For New Year’s Day

Tradition has it here in the South that black-eyed peas should be eaten on New Year’s Day for good luck in the coming year.  It’s hard to know if it really helps but we eat them and seem to enjoy good luck and no since tempting fate so we had them again this year.  It’s been 13 years since we used this recipe so I decided a redo was in order but I made several changes to the recipe as shown with the strike thru's.  Also, I tried to add as little heat as possible for Bev and Cindy although the Kielbasa had some.

Eliza Christmas, Neighborhood Ham And Bean Soup

Eliza and family didn’t make it down until Saturday for us to celebrate Christmas with her and for a meal on a rainy day we opted for a soup to use more of the leftover ham from Christmas dinner.  After looking around the web, I settled on the recipe for Neighborhood Ham And Bean Soup from Food.com.  But before we get to the meal lets have a look at Eliza having her second Christmas with Bev’s help.  As a seven year old, she walked in the door, gave me a hug, said Merry Christmas then asked "do you have presents for me." 😊

Christmas Leftovers – Hot Turkey Sandwich And Cheesy Ham & Asparagus Bake

Now that we have made it thru the Christmas meal, we have plenty of leftovers to use up up as you will see on my next couple of posts.

Since I didn’t get to eat as much gravy on Christmas Day as I would have liked, the next evening I made an open-faced hot turkey sandwich.  I added some gravy and sliced turkey to a bowl and nuked it then built the sandwich as follows: slice of homemade bread, turkey, gravy, and chopped bacon.  It was delicious.