ARRGGHHH

• Just because a recipe calls for it doesn't mean you have to use it (I hate cilantro but love parsley)
• Do not ever believe the number of servings because it makes a big difference on who you are feeding
• Good cooking does not have to be or should it be difficult
• Not everything has to be made from scratch
• Great ideas come from food magazines but be daring and change them up
• Cooking for family and friends is good for the soul

  

 

Well I have made it through the tax weekend from hell---broken printer, buy new printer, defective new ink cartridge, buy another ink cartridge---you get the idea.  It was a nothing is going right and on top of that I have to deal with the tax man kind of weekend.  I think cranky would be an understatement and my husband could smell trouble from a mile away.  He gently suggested we go out for dinner.  I think he may have felt that at the rate things were going for me, the oven might explode.  He took me to "Claim Jumpers" where I thoroughly enjoyed my Parmesan crusted shrimp with lemon pasta and the two Stoli's that helped greatly in improving my mood.

Today is another day and it's an interesting one.  So far we've had over 9 inches of rain here and it's going to keep coming.  Expressways are closed, viaducts flooded, cars floating, houses literally under water, and a lot of commuters in the position that "you can't get there from here."  On the Eisenhower expressway a guy pulled over in his food truck and opened it up for business.  Not a bad idea as no one was going anywhere for hours and hours.

Happily, knock on wood, our house is still dry although the sump pump may burn out because it has been running for ten hours straight.  The end of our block is flooded so I'm thinking it's not a good day to venture out.  That being said, today was to be shopping day and I'm running low of milk and out of bread.  Certainly not tragedies but it does make me nervous.  What if I just have to have a sandwich or a bowl of cereal?  And, of course that is what I'll be craving because I can't have it.

Today just screams "soup day."  And one of my favorites is tomato.  However, that brings me back to the bread issue as it is probably against the law to have tomato soup without a grilled cheese sandwich.  Ask anyone. Aha, but I do have English muffins, so here's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to toast my English muffins, and then put them on a baking sheet, spread a little butter on the muffins, top with any cheese I have lying around and throw them under the broiler until the cheese begins to melt.  A "crispy grilled cheese."

And here's the soup to go along with it...

Tomato Soup

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1/4 cup chopped celery

2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 drops hot pepper sauce

 Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic until onion is tender,

Add carrot and celery; cook 7 to 9 minutes until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire sauce, salt, thyme, pepper and hot pepper sauce. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Easter Monday

• Just because a recipe calls for it doesn't mean you have to use it (I hate cilantro but love parsley)
• Do not ever believe the number of servings because it makes a big difference on who you are feeding
• Good cooking does not have to be or should it be difficult
• Not everything has to be made from scratch
• Great ideas come from food magazines but be daring and change them up
• Cooking for family and friends is good for the soul

  

 

Yesterday was Easter Sunday so now we are thoroughly stuffed with any food that we had given up for Lent.  It actually seems to me that on Easter you more than make up for whatever you deprived yourself of. for forty days.  Then there are all the sweets that called to you from your child's Easter basket.  How much fun is it to bite off the ears from those chocolate bunnies?  I think Easter is more about food than even Thanksgiving and that's saying something.

I feel like I have a food hangover and it's been 24 hours since the feasting began.  I wouldn't have a food hangover if I hadn't found it necessary to sample all of the appetizers and the five courses.  And I do mean sample.  If I had had what people consider serving sizes of all this food I would be in the hospital in a food induced coma.

Everyone knows of this great indulgence at Easter and as a result the amount of food that is prepared is overinflated as the host or hostess lives in fear that something might run out.  What could be more embarrassing than having an empty serving plate?  Better to have 50 pounds of leftovers.  

 

There also happened to be a well stocked bar, with delicious Sangria, vodka, wine, Jack Daniel's, beer and a great punch for the kids.  My niece wanted to play bartender and my husband was more than happy to teach her how to make "three fingers of Jack Daniel's."  I can't wait to hear about how well that went over in school,

 

Oh, did I forget to mention the sweet table?  You can't imagine a sweet that wasn't there.  The table was actually groaning from the weight.  Cheesecake, cookies, Easter pie, pineapple upside down cake, turtles, peeps, and white and chocolate cake frosted chicks.   There had to be 4 million calories sitting there.

As we were getting ready to leave my friend's son told me there rally wasn't that much left over.  I told him that was because he gave everyone a 12 pound bag of food to take home.

In case you still have some leftovers

Ham Salad

2 cups mayonnaise

1 cup pickle relish ( I use 1/2 dill and 1/2 sweet)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 pounds ham diced

1 small bell pepper diced (color of your choice)

2 stalks celery diced

salt to taste (be careful as the ham is salty)

2 hard boiled eggs diced.

Mix together and serve on your favorite bread.

And for all those hard boiled eggs you have colored that  are now sitting around with nothing to do

Egg Salad

8 hard boiled eggs chopped

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon yellow mustard (or if you like it with a little kick 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder)

2 Tablespoons chopped green onion

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon paprika

Optional :  Capers and/or chopped green olives

 

And you can add a can of tuna and call it tuna salad.

Mix together and serve on your favorite bread.