Refreshing New Remake!

At times one of the hardest things about meal preparation for me is coming up with side dishes and different salads to serve with a main entree.  I can get in a rut and get very tired of the same old thing.  That's why I was delighted this week to find a remake of a salad from my childhood that was delicious and really, in my opinion, even better than the original recipe.  My husband has never liked carrot-raisin salad.  Something about horrors of the cafeteria lunchroom.  Personally, I didn't buy my lunch much at all when I was in school.  Mom usually provided with us a sack lunch that contained a sandwich, "nice" fruit and a cookie.  I preferred Mom's lunch over the cafeteria soup/sandwich any day--except for the day they served grilled cheese and tomato soup.  That day, I opted to buy.

Anyway, back to the carrot-raisin salad.  I ran across this recipe on "Once Upon a Plate" blog this week that had a refreshing remix of this old favorite.  It doesn't call of a "recipe" but rather simply grating a Granny Smith apple (skin on), grating carrots, tossing in dried cranberries and walnuts (I used pecans simply because that's what I had).  To dress the salad, squeeze the juice of a lemon, add a little honey, sugar or sweetener, and a dash of salt over the mixture and toss lightly. 

And there you have it--an easy, tasty salad.  I am happy to say I have successfully banished my husband's school cafeteria horrors.

Plan B

One night last week my plan for dinner was a dish in my old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook called Chicken Supreme.  It's a baked chicken dish that has great flavor but takes time to bake.  After working at the church all afternoon, I got home at 5:00 and decided that I didn't want to wait until about 6:30 to eat.  Now the question was, what to fix with the bone-in chicken breasts I had thawed out.  There across the page from the Chicken Supreme recipe was a beautiful picture of fried chicken.  These days I try to stay away from fried foods, but I decided it would be a nice treat for a cold winter evening.  Okay--so fried chicken--Plan B! 

What goes best with fried chicken?  Mashed potatoes, milk gravy, peas and golden cornbread.  I turned my oven on "broil" (or so I thought!) and inserted my cast iron cornbread muffin tins and began to assemble the rest of the meal.  I cut the breasts in half, started heating my oil for frying, double coated the chicken (first in seasoned flour, then in for a swim in milk and egg, then for a second coating of the flour), and got it into the hot grease.  I made my cornbread batter, peeled and diced potatoes and got them on the stove.  I put my peas in a dish and seasoned them with dried onion flakes and got them ready for the microwave.  After turning the chicken to allow the second side to brown, I decided it was time to put the cornbread in.  I donned my oven mitt to take out my sizzling hot tins...only I realized when I opened the oven door that it was not sizzling--in fact, it wasn't even warm.  Instead of hitting "broil" then "on" I hit "broil" and "off" which I have done several times recently!

Plan B:  Make fried corn bread!  Now, if you aren't from the South, you may not be familiar with fried corn bread.  As Paul Deen says, "In the South, we fry everything."  I had never had this version of cornbread until I got married.  My mother-in-law, whom I have referred to before, was a wonderful cook, as was her mother.  Katherine made fried cornbread for particular meals--fried cube steak and chipped beef and gravy.  I became a fan.

So Plan B seemed like a good fit for tonight's meal.  The best part of fried corn bread is that it is quick.  Using the same batter for corn muffins or sticks, you heat a skillet or griddle and make pancake-like rounds and cook them until they are golden brown.  Keep them warm in the oven (hit "bake" then "on!") while you make a stack.

You can eat these cakes with butter like you would a normal piece of cornbread or you can layer your mashed potatoes and gravy on top, my particular favorite.  Either way, they are a tasty, quick cornbread addition to any meal.

In summary, it's always good to have a Plan B!  I hope you'll give mine a try.

Click here for a printable version of the recipe.

A Party Fit for a Queen

The ladies at our church are beginning a new Bible study this month.  Our study is "Esther--It's Tough Being a Woman."  If you're familiar with this book of the Bible, you know that Esther was chosen to be the queen to Xerxes, so as we planned the introduction to our Bible study, it just seemed appropriate to make it fit for a queen.  We decorated the fellowship hall with pinks and purples, provided goody bags with makeup samples (remember the beauty regimen Esther and all the other contestants went through?), and served a banquet of desserts. 

We began our evening watching the Anita Renfro's William Tell Mom.  Wow--it IS tough being a woman when you hear all we are responsible for!  We all took the Lipstick Personality Test (check yours out!), then enjoyed some tasty desserts and tea.  Following our refreshments, we watched the introductory session to the Esther study.  It was a special evening.  I know the Lord has some great things in store for each of us over the next 20 weeks.  If you live in Eastern Kentucky, I invite you to join us each Wednesday evening from 7:00-8:00.  If you have never thought of God's word being filled with intrigue, I urge you to fasten your seat belt and hold on tight!  There are highs and lows, dips and turns like you can't imagine!

I made Ina Garten's orange-cranberry scones--a must if you're entertaining a queen!  We served various flavors of teas and I also decided to dig out an old recipe for a spiced tea mix.  It turned out that both were big hits.  If you want to treat someone like a queen, mix up a batch of scones (yes--there's LOTS of butter in the scones, but if you make them dainty, you don't need to feel guilty!), stir up a recipe of spiced tea and lift your pinkie high!  We may not be Esther, but as followers of Jesus Christ, we are daughters of the King and personally, I can't think of any other royal family I would rather be a part of!