Velveeta Ain't Food

A Rerun

Published on 2010-08-20 19:43:00

Let me keep this short and sweet...I posted this before, but it's worth re-posting. First of all, many of you weren't reading back then and secondly the pictures I had were atrocious, and thirdly, well...just because it's delicious and I thought some of you might want to eek just a little bit more tomato out of your summer. (As you can tell from some of my recent posts, I've already gone into the "premature Fall food mode"; this happens to me every year). Anyways- here's one of the last summer r

If I were a writer...

Published on 2010-08-06 11:41:00

If I were a writer I could tell you how amazing this stew was. I could describe the silky richness that the egg yolk imparted to the gravy, the way that the light scent of cinnamon mingled with the fresh, bright lemon. I could tell you how the texture of tender lamb, hearty potatoes, and smooth gravy felt like they were just made for each other.But...I'm clearly not a writer. If I could airmail a sample of this stew to Molly Wizenberg, I would; she'd know just what to say. She'd say it beautiful

The Gyro Made At Home

Published on 2010-08-03 13:56:00

That dang Kelsey at Williams Island Farm has done it again! After a trip to the Main Street Farmer's Market, my mom returned with some produce and Cumberland Lamb; a very welcome gift from Kelsey! You might remember what happened the last time he sent us some produce. Well this time was no different; my enthusiasm was more than it should have been and I became obsessed with looking for lamb recipes. I have an awesome one that uses a leg of lamb, but he'd sent some steaks, chops, and ground meat.

It figures.

Published on 2010-07-30 14:08:00

I am a bona fide rain-loving chick. I can sense how obnoxious I am when people say "Ahh, this is an awful day...what a mess", and I respond with a sheepish, "Actually, I like it". I mean seriously, don't ya just hate those you've-obviously-been-in-therapy-and-I-can-tell-what-your-latest-sessions-have-been-dealing-with-responses?? I feel like the Pavlov's dog of positivity who's been trained to respond in such a manner... Encounter a grumpy person who's clearly already suffering from seasonal aff

Thank you Mexico.

Published on 2010-07-17 10:18:00

It shouldn't have taken me this long to post this (I actually think that I'd assumed I'd posted it until a friend recently asked for the recipe). This is one of those life-changing recipes; one that enlightened me, opened my eyes to the possibilities with food, and increased my desire to be imaginative in the kitchen. It sounded like an unusual combination of ingredients to a young, Southern gal such as myself and piqued my interest immediately. It's simple, it's scrumptious, and like many good

If I had a restaurant...

Published on 2010-07-09 09:42:00

I know you're getting tired of hearing it, but summer life continues to be the same; my fridge is virtually empty, I can't bear the thought of grocery shopping, and every meal seems to be an exercise in creative cooking..."Can I actually make an edible dinner out of basil and wheat bran?" Hmmm...My sweet momma dropped off some asparagus the other day just as I thought that I had exhausted every vegetable resource I had. Woo-hoo! "I can make it without going to the store ONE more day"! (This seem

Fish are jumpin' and the grass is high

Published on 2010-06-26 20:33:00

It's hard to blog in the summertime. The cook in me has been on hiatus; there's always outside work to be done, fun to be had, and we're just flat tired. And hot. And sometimes irritable. Cooking has been more about using whatever we can out of the garden and avoiding the grocery store like the plague. Our refrigerator has never been so bare; for weeks on end now it's been empty with the exception of a few daily squash, zuchinni, cucumbers, swiss chard, kale, and the last few stubborn lettuces t

A year's worth

Published on 2010-06-20 10:22:00

This week marks the first anniversary of this lil' ol' blog. I was telling a friend that it's sort of like having a baby...you don't really remember what life was like before it. Were there really years that I could just cook with abandon, throwing things in a pot without measuring and sitting down to eat without a full-blown photo shoot first? (My husband might wish we could go back to those ways). I've gotten used to these pesky little "nuisances" that come along with food blogging; in fact I'

Big John

Published on 2010-05-31 09:53:00

When I was 17 years old I decided, like most 17 year olds, that I was in need of a little adventure. After searching the public library's collection of books related to "Summer Jobs and Internships" (believe it or not the "world wide web" was still pretty mysterious to me at this point) I landed a couple of phone interviews and ended up with a job at St. Mary Lodge and Resort in Montana. The lodge sat at the east entrance to Glacier Park and was in Blackfeet territory. I was pumped. I had been c

meet jenny

Published on 2010-05-26 09:55:00

This is Jenny. Guest blogger #1. She lives in Seattle. She cooks. She writes. She "sweeps Cheerios professionally". She rocks. Her site, Rainy Day Gal, is full of good food and good design; could ya really ask for more? She has a daughter who's just about the same age as mine. I asked her if she had any "kid recipes" she'd come up with that were healthy and suitable for the grown folks too. She did! (And this looks delish)! Here it is...TAKE IT AWAY, JENNY!On one rainy Monday, after feeing my da

Moe.

Published on 2010-05-24 18:17:00

Cherries. Boatloads of cherries. Sticky forearms, dripping elbows, and a baby in a backpack that repeatedly says "moe, moe, moe"; a desperate, persistent, and exhausting request to eat even "moe" of these delightful treats. That's what life's been like for me lately. I'm not complaining...this year our trees seem to be fuller than ever and for some reason the birds are leaving them alone...must be a "Worms Gone Wild" convention in town or somethin'. And like they say, when life gives you sour ch

This one's for you, JoJo

Published on 2010-05-14 19:26:00

Allright, so I'm finally trying to get back into the swing of life after being on vacation. It's not that I haven't been cooking...I just haven't been blogging. But...I've got recipes piling up around here so I figured I'd better get with it.First of all let me just say that we had a fantastic meal at Robert Irvine's Eat! in Hilton Head. I highly recommend it if anyone's headed that way this summer. They have a Tuesday night special that you don't wanna' miss...half price tapas, house wine, and

My brain is still in Hilton Head

Published on 2010-05-10 20:18:00

Hello all. Sorry for the recycled post here, but I've been on vacation and now that I'm home I just can't seem to get out of "the mode". So, I'm being lazy here and hope that maybe some of you haven't read this one as it's from waaay back in the archives (the recipe has been tweaked just a tiny bit since the last post). I'll try to get back with it soon...maybe tomorrow I'll brush my hair.THE POST:Years ago I used to eat at the Thai restaurant at the corner of Market and 4th Streets. I loved mos

A new take on Empanadas

Published on 2010-04-17 09:14:00

So there I was. 6 pm and not a clue what to make for dinner, hungry, and facing a nearly barren pantry and refrigerator. Don't you love it when this happens? (I mean, really...I actually do...it's a challenge in resourcefulness and for some reason I've always gotten a kick out trying to be resourceful). I was out of all kinds of basics; I mean, there was no rice, no cous cous, no barley, no quinoa, no pasta, no nothin'. Not even a potato in sight. This lack of starch got me to thinkin' about doi

I ♥ Jamie Oliver

Published on 2010-04-11 19:16:00

Just sayin'.

dormir la cuisine

Published on 2010-04-06 18:41:00

I sorta' hesitate to even tell this story...it's one of those that sounds like a bit of an exagerration, if not an outright lie. (Like the story that my dad tells about a friend of his who had a dream that he could play the fiddle, got up in the middle of the night, borrowed one from a neighbor, and sure enough...could play like nobody's business). Well, I didn't fall asleep and wake up a gifted musician, but I did fall asleep and wake up cooking. You heard me. Sleep Cooking. (I will fully be ex

Strychnine Baby

Published on 2010-03-28 20:42:00

"So my baby is poisoned now with your soy sauce meatballs. It's a good thing they were damn delicious or you would be paying. The funny thing is is that I made up for, in meatballs, what I couldn't eat elsewhere. I think I had like 50."-excerpt from my inbox, March 29, 2010What a miserable failure I am. TWO apologies in a row. Excess cheese is one thing, but poisoning babies...that's inexcusable. I guess I should offer some explanantion. Let me start at the beginning....Like so many mommas latel

Like Tiger, I'm issuing an apology of my own...

Published on 2010-03-22 14:16:00

My dear readers,All I can say is that you're too sweet. If you looked at the "Christmas Quiche" recipe that I posted a while back, you surely gasped when you saw (in addition to all the other cheese, butter, and cream in this recipe) a whopping 32 ounces of swiss cheese listed in the ingredients list! YIKES!! Only today, as I was baking this quiche for some friends, did I realize that I'd made such a dramatic and bizarre typo! I have no idea how I managed to type "32" instead of "8", but I did.

THIS is Spring. THIS is sacred.

Published on 2010-03-19 18:55:00

THIS is a wilted salad and if you're not famililar with it, you're not living life to its fullest potential. I don't know where this actually started. My understanding is that it's something that the old-timers did. My great Grandparents did it in Pikeville, Tennessee and I'm sure there were others too...I betcha' Aunt Bea knew a thing or two about it up in Mayberry.When I found the recipe my mom had written for this salad, this is what she had to say about it:"This salad, which all of our grand

Back in the saddle again

Published on 2010-03-13 14:24:00

I really don't believe in diets. I mean, any way of eating that's not sustainable, is just that. How or why would we expect to maintain a healthy weight if we can't maintain the method of eating that got us there? This being said...Michael and I had a bit of a wake up call last year; after having a baby I knew I needed to lose some extra weight and Michael had put on some "baby weight" of his own. We love food (obviously) and we felt like we ate pretty well; vegetables are a huge part of our die

Oh, the terror

Published on 2010-03-04 09:53:00

I have a confession...I'm afraid of sandwiches.Well, I should clarify that I'm not afraid of all sandwiches. If Nigella Lawson or an Iron Chef or my mom or my friend, Katie, fixed me a sandwich I'd be more than happy to dig in, but typically, upon hearing "Come eat with us; we'll throw together some sandwiches" my knees quiver, my spine shudders, and my taste buds tremble with fear.This isn't some irrational phobic episode. This is an experience-driven legitimate reaction to a lifetime of run-in

We shall overcome

Published on 2010-02-17 08:40:00

I hate baking. And I don't like scones. So it came as a surpise to me when I suddenly and inexplicably proclaimed, "Rosemary scones! I'm going to make some rosemary scones." I truly have no idea what made me think of scones or rosemary or strawberry butter, but it hit me like some kind of supernatural revelation and when divinely inspired baked goods occur to this sleep-deprived brain of mine, I take action.This was a leap of faith, indeed. After a series of baking failures over the past month (

A cheap piece u' meat

Published on 2010-02-03 14:27:00

I'm telling you what...my friends definitely know the way to my heart! It seems like every other week I'm getting a delivery of some type of fresh produce! This time, my friend Katie very generously dropped off a LOAD of organic carrots, celery, and onions. I had just been to the store and had a fair supply of this stuff already, but like a dope fiend, I was still excited to get even more. So, I had no choice; a day of stock-making was in order! After putting away 6 gallons of vegetable stock a

If we don't love our farmers, who will?

Published on 2010-01-27 20:22:00

A couple of days ago my husband walked in the door and had with him, a present. No, not a bouquet of flowers. Definitely not jewelry (I'm not that kinda gal). Not even Season 5 of The Office on dvd (I am that kinda gal). Nope; he came in, set down a grocery sack on the kitchen counter and proudly proclaimed, "Kelsey sent us some beets, turnips, and eggs from Williams Island". Then he proceeded to jump out of the way as I lunged towards the bag of produce as if it were a wild boar and I was a sta

Sorry to be boring

Published on 2010-01-19 18:20:00

Yikes...no picture, no time. Just a recipe. My favorite baba ganoush (which is sort of a baba-hummus combo). Great for lunch with whole wheat pitas.Baba Ganoush Peel and cut a large eggplant into cubes (about 1"). Drizzle with plenty of light olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt. Toss well. Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake at350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. You will need to stir it around once or twice.Remove eggplant from oven and puree with the following:a 16 oz. can of ch