Sunday's "Sexist" Sundries......

Well Sir...might just as well post the other female posters Missy Sue sent as well....

Dedicated to our "Better Half's".....

Well Sir....a big old Cookshack Hat-Tip to Sue Gertson fer sendin me this here fine collection of "sexist" material.....

Some Frivolous Friday PotPourri....

Baked Potater Soup.....

Well Sir...I just recently got sent two very similar recipe's fer some real great soundin Baked "Tater" Soup. One recipe was from my good buddy "Bothe" over at A Geezers Corner, and the other recipe was from my good friend Sue Gertson down in Eagle Lake, Texas. Both recipe's were very similar so I'll be givin the credit to both these fine folks.......


Baked Potato Soup



INGREDIENTS

5 big baked potatoes. if you don't have them, rinse, poke some fork holes in the skin, lightly (very very lightly) oil the skins, and wrap with aluminum foil. toss in the oven at around 375 or 400 degF for about an hour. they are done when they give when squeezed

10 thick slices of bacon, fried and chopped. hmm 5 spuds, 10 pieces of bacon. coincidence? i think not. save the bacon grease for saute duty

1 yellow onion, chopped fine to medium. this is about 2 cups of onion

3 big cloves garlic, minced. this is about 1 to 1 2/2 tbs or so

2 quarts chicken stock

2 cups half and half. why skimp?

big handful of chopped parsley

2 tsp dried basil

1 tbs kosher salt

2 tsp coarse pepper

3/4 cup flour

2 cups shredded cheese. i used about 1/2 sharp cheddar and 1/2 colby jack because it melts so well

First, peel 3 or 4 of the baked spuds. don't get too finikity peeling. i leave at least one unpeeled, and don't get too crazy with the paring knife with the others. gives the soup an interesting texture, and a rustic appearance. coarsely chop the spuds.


In your soup pot (remember, you will need good sized pot here kids) heat about 4 tbs of the bacon grease (i measured, that's about how much i got from frying) and saute the onions until they start to turn translucent.

Towards the end, toss in the garlic. give it another minute, then add the flour, all at once.
Basically you are making an onion, garlic, bacon grease roux. stir until you see the flour has absorbed all the fat, then keep stirring for another minute.


Add the stock slowly, wisking the whole time to get the roux dissolved in the stock. bring to a boil, and then turn down the heat to simmer for about 15 minutes.

When the base is yummy looking, toss in 1/2 the bacon and everything else except the cheese. bring back to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and let everything cook together for another 10 or 15 minutes. Don't forget to stir. lots of stuff here that could burn on the bottom of the pot.


When you just can't stand it anymore, or when everything is heated through and through, turn off the heat and add 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Stir until melted.ladle into a soup bowls, top with a little of the reserved cheese and bacon, and dig in.


Mmmm Mmm....I tells ya...with this here cold snap that has set in here in upstate New York...I'll be a makin this soup within the next week or so.....

Take Care and God Bless y'all.....Cookie...

Old Seabee's.....

YOU JUST GOTTA LOVE OLD SEABEE’S:

I was at the mall the other day eating at the food court. I noticed an old man watching a teenager sitting next to him. The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange, and blue.

The old man kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find the old man staring every time. When the teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked, "What's the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?"

The old Seabee did not bat an eye in his response, "Got drunk once when I was still in the Navy Seabees and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son."

Good old Chicken & Dumplin's....

Well Sir...several folks I be a knowin have asked this here Cookie fer his famous old fashioned recipe fer Chicken & Dumplin's...and my Chicken Soup...so here they be....

Now mam...just a note afore y'all start. Expect to spend, at the very least, a half day in the kitchen makin this here family recipe. The upside is that you'll get several meals outta just the one chicken, along with a goodly amount of home-made Chicken Stock (that ya can freeze fer later recipe's), and a nice tasty Chicken Soup (again...freezes real well), and of course...the best Chicken & Dumplins y'all are ever gonna taste...

Grandma’s Old Fashioned Chicken & Dumpling’s / and Chicken Soup

1 Large whole Chicken
3-4 large Celery stalks, with leaves, cut into 2” pieces.
6 medium Carrots, peeled and cut into thirds.
1 medium whole onion, peeled.
2-3 Tablespoons of “Better Than Bullion”™ Chicken Base ( or 8 Chicken
bullion cubes)
2 Quarts of Chicken Stock, OR 6-7 cans of Chicken Broth.
Enough Water to finish covering the Whole Chicken.


Place ALL the above ingredients in a large pot, bring to a boil. Lower heat to just below boiling and cook until chicken is tender and thoroughly cooked.

When fully cooked, remove chicken and strain broth into another large pot. Set cooked chicken and veggies aside to cool until cool to touch. Cut up the vegetables (and onion if you want it) into serving size pieces and set aside.

Dumpling’s.

2 cups Bisquick.
2/3 to 1 cup of milk.


While chicken is cooling, mix 2 cups of Bisquick and 2/3 to 1 cup of milk together for Dumpling batter. Set aside. This lets the batter "rize" a bit and makes for fluffier dumplings.


When chicken is cool, remove ALL skin and discard. De-bone the chicken and cut meat into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

At this point, you will have a large quantity of Chicken Stock. Separate out 3-4 cups of the stock that you will use to make gravy later, AND, 3 to 4 cups for use in making the dumplings. Set aside.

At this point: You can either put the remaining Chicken Stock into containers and freeze for use in recipe's at a later time...OR..continue on and make a great Chicken Soup (which also freezes very well).

Put about 3 cups of chicken pieces and 1-2 cups of cut up veggie pieces (or all the chicken and veggies if you've saved the remaining stock for freezing) in the bottom of large pot. Pour in just enough stock to NOT COVER the chicken and veggies pieces. Bring to a boil.

Using a large spoon, drop spoonfuls of batter on top of the boiling stock and pieces, usually makes about ten dumplings. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, and then cook covered for another 10 minutes (don’t lift cover to peek…you’ll ruin the dumplings).

Gravy

3-4 cups of chicken stock you've set aside.
1 ½ cups of flour
cold water.
1 ½ tablespoons of “Better than Bullion”™ Chicken Base, OR 3 chicken bullion cubes.

While dumplings are cooking, make gravy in a separate pot. Using the 3-4 cups of chicken stock set aside earlier, add the Better than Bullion (or chicken bullion cubes) and bring to a boil. Mix flour and cold water together (shake well) and slowly add to boiling stock until mixture thickens to desired consistency.

When dumplings are completely cooked, spoon out chicken and dumplings into a bowl or plate and ladle gravy over it. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or chopped green onions. Serve hot.

Chicken Soup

8 oz ( 1/2 box) of Acini De Pepe pasta
The remaining Chicken Stock.
The remaining chicken and vegetable pieces.

Bring remaining chicken stock to a boil, and add the Acini De Pepe. Cook Acini De Pepe for 10 to 12 minutes. Add all the remaining chicken and vegetable pieces. Simmer for ½ hour. Serve hot with optional grated Parmesan Cheese.

This soup freezes very well in your freezer and comes in real handy on days when you don’t feel like cooking anything.

I know this is a time consuming meal(s) to make but it will pay off later on when you use the frozen chicken soup or chicken stock.

Good eatin......Cookie....

24..... All too possible....

Well Sir...I gotta say this. I never watched "24" last year at all when it was on, but on every day following it's broadcast...many blogs had a ton of comments about good ol Jack Bauer and his methods. So...in short, this year I decided to watch and see what all the fuss was about.

Man...I never expected to see LA nuked....

...but...as unfortunate as it is...this is a very real possibility in this day of terrorism....

A simple Roast Beef recipe' fer y'all......

Well Sir...this here Classic recipe' was sent t'me by my good buddy Fish over at More Ramblins....Thanks mate




...and yet another old classic from Mr. Fish....

An old joke once more around...

Murphy showed up at Mass one Sunday and the priest almost fell down when he saw him. Murphy had never been seen in church in his life.

After Mass, the priest caught up with Murphy and said, "Murphy, I am so glad you decided to come to Mass, what made you come?"

Murphy said, "I got to be honest with you Father, a while back, I misplaced me hat and I really, really love that hat. I know that McGlynn had a hat just like me hat, and I knew that McGlynn come to church every Sunday. I also knew that McGlynn had to take off his hat during Mass and figured he would leave it in the back of church. so, I was going to leave after Communion and steal McGlynn's hat."

The priest said, "Well, Murphy, I notice that you didn't steal McGlynn's hat. What changed your mind? "

Murphy said, "Well, after I heard your sermon on the 10 Commandments, I decided that I didn't need to steal McGlynn's hat."

The priest gave Murphy a big smile and said; "After I talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' you decided you would rather do without your Hat than Burn in Hell, right?"

Murphy shook his head and said, "No, Father, after you talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' I remembered where I left me hat."

A Thank You to all........

THANKS !! To all my friends, online and off, who took the time to leave get well wishes in the comment section, through E-mails and phone calls...Thank You for your thoughts and concerns.

For those of you who are Insulin Dependent Diabetics, you already understand how a small cold or flu to someone else can hit a Diabetic like a train wreck. Even though I had gotten a Flu-shot, I caught the flu and it put me down like nothing else has in many years. I'm just now beginning to feel somewhat "normal"....

Now Sir...here's a Kitchen Gadget fer all of you good chefs out there who don't use conventional measurin devices.....

...and fer those of ya who seem t'be havin eye problems...here's an eye test that might explain things to ya....just squint if'n ya have problems readin this.....