Grandma's Know Best

While in Kiawah Island on our Christmas Break, my mom and I got to talk my Grandma Joan, who is a fabulous and knowledgeable chef in her own kitchen, about how to make a complete meal.  She use to be in a Gourmet Club for about 10 years with a few other couples.  How it worked is one couple would host, as well as pick out a menu for the other couples to make.  She gave us all her file folders of the menus and recipes! Today we made White Bread fresh from the Bread Flour Recipe,  Fruit Stuffed Pork with Gravy, Sweet and Sour Broccoli and Mashed Potatoes.  6 People Ate, 6 People Satisfied.

Since we've been gone...

It's been almost 3 years since our last post... And since then, we have still been cooking, participating in classes, learning (note the picture of us blanching our own almonds), trying new styles, and enjoying our delicious food.  We are back, and this year our intention is to make meals that compliment each other!  Enjoy some of our pictures from when we left off in 2012 until now!

Super Bowl XLVI

The Super Bowl is known for Dips, Burgers, Wings and most importantly, Beer. Mom and I decided to stick to tradition and cook Burgers & Salsa... Both from the Cooking Light Magazine and they were delicious.  We went for the healthier version of the traditional beef burger and went with a portobello and turkey burger with avocado, & a corn salsa with red onion, cilantro, jalapeno's and poblano chilies.

Pasta with Pruett Vineyard Wine

Mom and I are preparing for the "Pasta Cookoff", so decided to make a Shrimp Tomato Sauce Pasta, all homemade of course.  I bought Mom and Dad a bottle of Scott Pruett's 50th Anniversary 24 Rolex Series Syrah Wine.  While cooking and listening to Dad's updates about the 24 hour race, Pruett was in second, so we decided to open the bottle early and start drinking hoping he could take the lead.  Pruett didn't finish first, but the wine and the shrimp pasta were pretty good.

Like Bubba says..

"Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it." Then there's shrimp, pasta, and fresh parsley.
  

"The Phantom"

A note from the famous "Phantom" got Mom and I cooking again.. On the list was fresh pasta with basil, garlic, and cherry tomatoes, cooked until split.. the verdict: we haven't lost our touch.
Goodluck McDougle Kitchen!

challah

I made Mark Bittman's Challah bread last weekend.  Challah is a traditional Sabbath bread of European Jews - it is rich, eggy, and very tender.  The bread took about 3 hours to make, largely unattended. While I was waiting I researched recipes to make this week and played with my yellow Lab, Lily.