Anniversary gift

My new cookware arrived yesterday! It's so shiny and pretty that I took a picture after I finished unpacking everything. It's not a great photo but I'll share it anyway.

Now it's time to actually use them and I'm a bit nervous. Cooking on stainless steel is going to be a learning curve, but I've watched enough YouTube tutorials on the subject that I feel like I can probably do okay. I'm hoping the quality of my cooking goes up with better tools to work with!

I debated about the first meal I wanted to make with them, and this morning I decided: braised beef short ribs in red wine sauce. I went to the butcher shop down the road and bought two pounds of beautiful short ribs. I sure hope I don't screw them up, because the price was eye-watering. :)  I plan to pair them with basmati rice, green beans from the garden, and slices of fresh tomatoes, also from the garden.

I'll report back tomorrow on how everything turns out! Wish me luck!

No good deed goes unpunished

Yesterday was as nice an anniversary as we've had yet, even though we just stayed at home. The weather was good (a cool breeze was blowing, a rarity in June) and we sat on the back porch in the afternoon reminiscing about our wedding day and honeymoon. We saw the pair of Painted Buntings at the feeder, too, after several days of not seeing them at all. I had begun to suspect that they had moved on, but nope, there they were! That was like a gift!

Our dinner was nice. The Buttermilk Lemon Pound Cake turned out great! I was a little sad that the glaze/icing on top didn't look as pretty as the picture on the recipe, but I'll correct that the next time I make one of these cakes. And I will make it again--it really is delicious.

The icing was too thin but it still tasted good!

Here's a link to the recipe if you're interested: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/lemon-buttermilk-pound-cake.html

For our main meal I made Chicken Fettucine Alfredo and bruschetta with heirloom tomato topping. It was also delicious! This was my first time making real alfredo sauce with heavy cream, and it was so much more flavorful than stuff bought in a jar! Easier than I expected, too. I'll definitely be making this again.

After dinner and dessert, I had champagne. I talked to a guy at the liquor store and asked him for a recommendation for the best bottle in my price range (in fairness, pretty low). He suggested this, which I was kind of disappointed in...oh well.

After the first glass or two it went down just fine! :)

After dinner, sitting on the porch again watching the sun go down. 

*Side note: you know you're in the firm grip of middle age when simply removing the stubborn cork on a champagne bottle makes you pull a muscle in your side! I had to laugh at myself over that one!

In other news, I had a frantic voicemail this afternoon from my 81 year old next door neighbor, Miss Luella. She said "Call me back right away, please!" What the what?!?     It scared me, so of course I called her back as soon as I got the message.

She's tested positive for Covid-19. The reason for her calling me was that I knocked on her door two days ago and gave her half a watermelon. Gregg won't eat them, and I can't finish a whole one, so I often will give half to friendly neighbors like her. Since I didn't go in her house (just knocked on the door and handed her the melon) and we talked for less than a minute (with me standing outside) she said she didn't give my name to DHEC for contact tracing since it didn't meet their criteria for it. She says she's run a low grade fever twice but now she feels fine except for a slight cough. She said she was shocked that she tested positive because she's "been so careful!" and despite saying over and over again that she didn't know how she caught it, she finally admitted that one of her grandsons and his wife and kids tested positive, too. They had a cookout for her oldest son's birthday at her house last week. WHAT THE HELL! When will people understand that gatherings of family that you don't live with are dangerous right now?! Covid-19 cases in South Carolina are skyrocketing. We're having 25% increases in the positive cases every single day for two weeks now. My husband's return to work is going to be short lived, I'm afraid.

I'm sure we're not in any danger from my neighbor given how limited our contact was, but it still serves a warning that now's not the time to get complacent. Next time, I'll just keep the whole damn watermelon and throw away what I don't eat! (Or else avoid buying them altogether this summer). And I was just trying to be a good neighbor! Just my luck.

Back to work

It was my first day back at work after the two week winter break. Most of the teachers and staff seemed notably more relaxed and smiling than before Christmas, and the kids were relatively quiet and well behaved, too. Some time off seems to have done everybody some good!

Last night I seared two pounds of stew beef meat and started simmering it in the crockpot with beef stock, crushed tomatoes, sautéed garlic and onions, and two bay leaves. It went into the refrigerator overnight, and then I put it back on low heat before I left for work this morning. As soon as I got home I tasted it for salt and pepper (the meat was falling apart in the broth) and then added two bags of frozen soup vegetables and a generous splash of red wine. Now it's simmering on low heat, still, and will soon be ready. I'm looking forward to having soup for the next few nights! It will make my first few days back at work easier if I can come home to a tasty dinner that's already made.

Have a good week, everybody.

For Cro, a recipe!

Here is a picture of a very popular breakfast here in the Southern USA....biscuits and gravy! After posting yesterday about my craving for this delicious (yet decidedly NOT diet-friendly) dish, Cro let me know that he had never heard of it. So for Cro and my other friends around the world who have never heard of it, here is a link to a recipe from  The Pioneer Woman website:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/03/drop-biscuits-and-sausage-gravy/

She makes her biscuits with a food processor, which I've never seen done. My grandma (who made the best biscuits ever) always kneaded them by hand. But whatever works. If you've never had this dish, it's worth the trouble....so very delicious, and real Southern comfort food!

Easy-Peasy Pie

As promised, here is a recipe for the easiest blueberry pie ever. It's pretty darn tasty, too!

Easy-Peasy Blueberry Pie

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine 4 cups of fresh blueberries, 1 cup of sugar (more or less depending on how sweet or tart your berries happen to be), 3 heaping tbsp. of cornstarch, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and the juice of half a lemon.

Pour the blueberry/sugar mixture into a prepared deep dish pie crust (I like Pillsbury's).  Dot the top of the berries with pats of butter. I like to cut a 2nd crust into long strips and then weave a lattice on top, but you could just put the whole thing on there (with small slashes cut in to let steam escape).

Pop that baby into the oven and let it bake for about 50 minutes, or until golden brown on top and bubbling. Make sure you have something underneath to catch any errant juices that escape! Let the pie cool, then enjoy.

I tried this recipe with peaches instead of blueberries the other day, and it was great, too! I did decrease the sugar a bit, since the peaches were sweeter than the berries. I got a picture of that one to share:

The lattice is far from perfect, but the pie was delicious anyway!

Recipe--Blackberry Peach Dumpling Cobbler

As promised, here is a quick recipe for a delicious dessert that uses luscious fresh peaches and blackberries that are just becoming available this time of year. I adapted it from a recipe I found at this website Deep South Dish and it couldn't be easier (or yummier!).

Blackberry Peach Dumpling Cobbler

Ingredients:

Crust
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
 1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 tsp baking powder
1 large pinch salt

Filling
6-8 fresh peaches
2-3 cups fresh blackberries
1 cup sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp corn starch mixed with 3 tbsp cold water

To make:
Peel and dice peaches and combine with the blackberries and sugar in a deep, oven proof skillet. Stir in one cup of sugar and lemon juice, and cook gently over medium heat on top of the stove, stirring frequently. Once the fruit is bubbling hot and the berries are bursting, stir in the corn starch/cold water mixture. Lower the heat to a gentle bubbling simmer and continue to stir frequently.

Meanwhile, mix the crust. Combine the flour, baking powder, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter, then slowly pour in the buttermilk while mixing until a soft dough forms. Preheat oven to 375. When the oven is ready, drop small spoonfuls of dough directly on top of the hot fruit mixture, like so:

 

And then put the skillet into the hot oven for around 30 minutes (or until golden brown). This is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven:

Notes:

Cobblers are famously unfussy and adaptable. Most of the measurements here are approximate. The amounts of berries and peaches (and how much sugar is added to them) is completely a matter of personal taste and the sweetness/tartness of the fruit you're working with. I didn't have buttermilk that day, so I substituted regular milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar mixed in. It worked out fine! Also, I've never really known the "correct" way to "cut in" butter, so my method is to use a cheese grater on a cold stick of butter. It may be weird, but it seems to work fine, especially on something as undemanding as cobbler.

This dessert was absolutely delicious, and would have been even more so had I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream to top it with. And it may have been even better the next day, once it was cold! I had it for breakfast with coffee---delicious!

Enjoy!