January 17th, 2012
by Dena
My husband and mother share a love of cookbooks. It is almost an overwhelming hobby if you looked at the stacks of them around our house and garage. Our house is where old cookbooks go to die.Sometimes, I see a few that catch my eye.
I'm offended.
This is an old Junior League Cookbook. I'll have to look and see if Minny has a chocolate pie recipe in it.
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Very. Simple
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I have nothing to say about this. Make up your own caption.
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Nice.
I don't get it.
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In case you don't like MEAT.
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We have more. Lots more. I like to read Stephen King, but somedays a good cookbook can be just as entertaining.
Out of the frying pan | 
2 Comments »
December 18th, 2011
by Dena
I never wanted to be a nurse. Oh, sometimes when I’m at the hospital I fall in love with the shiny things they have to play with. I really do want to look in someone’s ear with that light. But then someone starts puking and I’m listing all the reasons that I’m in education.
This past week I fully intended to document my 12 days of Christmas tradition. I have created my own Rudolph 12 days! But (there is always a but) little Boo got sick. Sick sick. Her mono reactivated and her spleen enlarged and her kidneys got infected and she was really sick.
We had a few nights at various hospitals and no sleep. She shared a room with a girl that had long loud vomiting spells every hour. Of course, that didn’t stop her from eating! Each time I heard a potato chip bag crinkle or her fork hit a plate, I died a little inside because I knew what was coming. My husband would quickly make an exit, “giving her some privacy”. I had to hang around with Boo and just dry heave.
Now we are home but I’m just now catching up. I’m working on a few pinterest projects and am cursing the googly eyes that need glue. I spent 15 minutes trying to peel the back off to stick! How do people do these perfect projects and real life too? I’m never going to be the person that makes homemade marshmallows or color 5 shades of rice crispie treats and mold them into a string of Christmas lights. It’s a miracle that I can make it to the store on most days.
My compromise is cupcakes (yes from a mix) that we frost and decorate with something. Puppy chow that we call snowman soup. I am going to try to make the snowmen from powdered donuts but who knew you couldn’t but candy corn in December? I have a handful of stale ones from Halloween that will have to do.
Hopefully I will have pictures of my afternoon projects. And everyone will pin them, I’m just sure!
Out of the frying pan, Well Seasoned | 2 Comments »
October 10th, 2011
by LanaJoy
Well now that we have a little one, I figured it was time for me to be a good owner and create some treats for little Ewok. Sure there’s tons of treats at the store, but they are usually full of crap I can’t pronounce. There’s even gourmet dog treats at some stores and an entire store in Little Rock dedicated to gourmet dog treats, but I don’t buy anything for myself labeled gourmet, so I’m sure as heck not going to spend hard earned cash on fancy treats when I can make them at home. For any basic dog biscuit, you’re pretty much always going to use wheat flour, and probably oats. The recipe I am going to give you makes chicken flavored biscuits, but you could easily make them beef flavored, or even add a little peanut butter and molasses to make a sweet dog cookie. In other words, it’s not hard, and there’s no reason it should be expensive to give your dog a good homemade treat. Just remember—NO CHOCOLATE EVER EVER EVER EVER.
the basics
Ingredients (beware these measurements make a big batch. I’m freezing my dough to use for later and to give to friends. It should keep in the freezer for a couple of months, so feel free to freeze some or cut these ingredients down to suit what you need)
- 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
- 1 1/4 cups of quick oats
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of low sodium chicken broth (you could do water but it’s not as flavorful)
- 1/4 cup of corn or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 1 small jar of chicken flavored baby food
Hand mix all of these ingredients, then refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes. I do this with all cookies, whether they are for humans of dogs. The take sections of the dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Use your hands or rolling pin to flatten it out to about 1/4 and inch in thickenss, then cut into whatever shapes you need. You can use a cute cookie cutter if you like. I had to cut mine into tiny squares because I have a dog that’s able to fit into one hand. But if you have a bigger dog, simply make a bigger treat.
tiny treats for a tiny dog
Bake them at 375 for 8-10 minutes. They will feel done on the outside but not hard all the way through. I seal his up in a plastic bag and will keep them for about a week. They actually stay soft even after a day or two, which is something I have yet to accomplish with cookies for human consumption. Maybe it’s the baby food………. Either way, this little guy enjoys them, and they’ve been a good addition to our potty training treat selection.
Happy Fall!
Out of the frying pan | Comments Off
October 8th, 2011
by LanaJoy
Ok I have to tell you that I am mildly obsessed with the French onion soup at Panera Bread. If you have one near you, go there and get the soup, you will not regret it! So this weekend I decided that I was going to make French onion soup, and even though I figured it wouldn’t match the splendor of the soup at Panera, it would come close and satisfy my craving. As per my usual custom, I looked at about a thousand different ways to make it. Like most common food items, everybody has their way of doing it, ways they think are best etc. I decided to once again start fiddling with ingredients and see what happened. And I decided to add beef, because I had a feeling if I handed my husband a bowl of onions he would just stare at me and wonder where the meat is.
Ingredients:
- 3 large white or yellow onions, thinly sliced into strings, not big chunks
- 1/4 to 1/2 lb of stew meat, depending on your preference, or hell go meatless
- 2-32 oz boxes of beef broth
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons of worchestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon of flour
- salt and pepper to taste
I used a 6 quart slow cooker for this meal, and it worked out perfectly because it gives the onions time to carmelize. Sear the beef on all sides and set into slow cooker. Take sliced onions and place them in a skillet with a little butter for just a few minutes until they start to brown at the edges to loosen them up a little. Then add them to the crockpot. I had to cook my onions in two batches because I used gigantic onions. Take the worchestershire, flour, and sugar and whisk together and add to onions and beef. Add broth, stir ingredients together. Cook on high for 4-5 hours, low 8-10. It’s important NOT to skip the step of stirring together the worchestershire, sugar, and flour. If you try to just dump it all in and stir it as a whole, it will be a big globby mess. I learned this the hard way with some chicken and dumplings a few months back.
I served this with some crusty french bread cut into little squares and some mozarella cheese one top. It was really tasty and will make a huge pot so you can have leftovers for a day or two.
Out of the frying pan | Comments Off
April 23rd, 2011
by Dena
Six months ago it seemed like a great idea to have a cookie buffet at Joy’s wedding. Then, I started baking cookies. I wanted PERFECT cookies, one that would be better than any other. I also realized that I would have to bake and freeze ahead so that I wouldn’t be stuck in a hot kitchen at the 11th hour.
So, I studied cookies. I have made a few discoveries about cookies that I thought I would share.
- The recipe on a bag of chocolate chips is the same no matter the brand.
- Adding more vanilla to any cookie adds to the taste. Use real vanilla.
- Use real butter, especially in chocolate chip. It makes the edges crispy and the center soft.
- Mix the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for 36 hours before baking. (this is for chocolate chip)
I had the most trouble finding an oatmeal raising recipe that I liked.
I found that most recipes for oatmeal cookies differed.- The best textured ones used old fashioned oats.
- Soak your raisins. You can use water, juice, or whiskey. (I used water)
- We probably won’t be having any oatmeal raisin cookies at the wedding.
I don’t know why I can’t make those taste and look perfect. But I can’t so we will be having sugar cookies instead. Now, to find the perfect glaze.
Out of the frying pan | Comments Off
August 14th, 2010
by Dena
How many ways can you make a peanut butter sandwich? Well, I discovered there are a lot of different ways when I first got married and my expert cooking skills were in the infancy stage. My husband and I can’t even agree on how to make the Elvis classic of peanut butter and banana. His way is wrong of course, but he’s from Texas so I had to learn to overlook a lot of idiosyncrasies early on.
This week we thought it would be fun to show the various ways to make a peanut butter sandwich since school lunches are on the horizon. Some may not travel well in school lunches but are a great after school snack or breakfast.
- The first one is one our dad makes. We all had it has a baby and are thankful none of us were allergic to nuts. Dad always mixed peanut butter and Johnny Fair syrup until it was smooth. This makes a great sandwich or spread for toast or biscuits.
- An alternative to this is mixing with honey. I’m not sure which one I like better but I do like this on biscuits.
- Joy’s favorite is to mix crunchy peanut butter with grape jelly and spread it on wheat bread.
- My husband’s favorite is peanut butter and raisin. He likes the peanut butter spread on the bread and raisin arranged across it so that there are equal amounts of each.
- This is my variation on a peanut butter and banana. You mash the banana and add peanut butter, like with the syrup. Then spread it on the bread. Although more work, it evenly distributes the peanut butter/banana combination.
- Mom takes this one step further and dips this sandwich in an egg and milk mixture. She then fries it on a hot buttered griddle as if she was making french toast. (totally a tribute to Elvis on mother’s part)
- My husband’s version is to cut the bananas and lay across the peanut butter on bread. Simple enough.
- I like to do this with an apple. Slice it very thin and lay it on top of the peanut butter.
- Last but not least is our very favorite way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You make the sandwich as you would and then butter it like would a grilled cheese on the outside. Then we brown it on a griddle and enjoy.
So, how many ways are there to make a peanut butter sandwich?
Out of the frying pan | 4 Comments »
