Lemon Pickle Chicken

Lemon Pickles are delicious if you slice them thin enough and don't salt them too much.

They are Greek/Moroccan/Turkish but a quick internet search also puts them in Indian food.

Done right, they are an amazing seasoning.

You can make them cheaply with stuff you can find at a grocery store and a canning jar.

One Month Refridgerator Lemon Pickles

1 large canning jar

3 lemons

a couple bay leaves

1 part Italian seasoning to

2 parts salt

boiling water

peppercorns (opp)

Make sure the canning jar and the lid are super clean. 

Cut up the lemons with the peel on.

 The picture above is with them cut in half, but I like them cut thin and softer.

Take your Italian Seasoning and mix it with your salt in a 1:2 ratio.

Put that in a pie pan.

Take a lemon slice, dip it both sides lightly in the salt/seasoning mix

Stack the salted lemons in the jar, while adding the bay leaves and the peppercorns.

Pour boiling water over it and seal the jar.

Put the jar in the fridge and make a note to check in them in a month.

The Cypress Knee Daiquiri

It is the opinion of Single Mom's Kitchen team of taste testers that it is never too cold outside for a fruity frozen drink spiked with ethanol.

Fortunately, the Creole swamp monsters down there in Loose-Y-Anna agree with me. They even have a whole party about it.

The Cypress Knee Daiquiri

From the cookbook: Swamp Cookin' With The River People

In a blender, combine:
1 scoop vanilla ice cream

2 shots vodka

2 (or 3) shots rum

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup orange juice

a squeeze of lime

a dozen fresh strawberries

another shot of rum and/or vodka

fill the rest of the blender with ice

mix until smooth

"Pardon me ma'am,

but that's a might-ie fine lookin' dack-rey"

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

Easy Canned Bean Salad and Half Homemade Spoonbread

Everyone one the planet should have this recipe on hand for lazy weekends. Spoonbread is essentially cornbread with a bunch of egg.

It has everything going for it. It's simple, easy, and really really good for you. Leftovers with eggs in the morning is sheer heaven.

Drain all of the juice from the cans together and use it for the spoonbread.

Canned Bean Salad
1 can of black beans - drained
1 can of black eye peas - drained
1 can of white shoepeg corn ( I like Mitchell's) - drained
1 med. onion - chopped fine
3 stalks celery - chopped fine
1 red pepper - chopped fine
1 small can jalapenos (optional) - drained
1 small jar pimentos (optional) - drained

Sauce:
1/2 cup of cider vinegar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup of sugar

Boil until sugar dissolves, let cool for a couple of minutes, pour over ingredients above.

Spoonbread
1/2 cup butter - melted
1 can creamed corn
1 cup bean juice (above)
1 package corn bread mix
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Mix first five items together and add eggs, one at a time. Pour into greased pan or skillet and bake uncovered on 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. Test the center with a knife for doneness, Do not overbake.

The Earline of Sandwich

After 2 weeks of ice and snow, it's hard to get excited about cooking anything. My kids and I have been living on soups, sandwiches, chips, and anything that we can grab out of the fridge. I have tried to add some raw vegis and mix it up a little with stuff in jars and cans.

Here are a bunch of healthy sandwich ideas:

Tuna, Tomato, Pesto, and Mozerella

Egg Scrambled with Asparagus and Breadcrumbs, Mayo, and Tomato

Cream Cheese, Red Onions, Capers, and Olives with Mayo

Canned Fish Steaks in Mustard Sauce with Red Onions, Cucumbers, and Pickles

Hummus, Pickled Beets, Spinach, and Bean Sprouts

Apple, Smoked Gouda, Sprouts, Mayo, and Dijon Mustard

Avocado, Roasted Red Peppers, and Munster Cheese

Know of some others?

Mugsy's Matzo Brei

This is a Passover dish, and I have no idea where my friend Mugsy got a hold of it. But it looks easy and good.

Mugsy's Matzo Brei -

4 Sheets Matzo Bread

3 Eggs Scrambled

Cinnamon

Butter

Honey or Syrup

Take matzo bread, rinse it off slightly, mash the crumbs down to no bigger than a nickel.

Crumble into a bowl of 3 scrambled eggs,

Add cinnamon, mix well, and fry by spoonfuls in butter like pancakes.

Drizzle with honey or syrup.

For the creole version:

Use cayenne or sriracha hot sauce instead of cinnamon.

And here's a whole other Matzo Brei Mexicano.

Also a great recipe to completely rattle that nice Jewish boy you've been eyeing for years, since for some, matzo brei means you really care. :)

Fresh Bread Every Day

Fresh Crusty Bread Right After Work Every Day of Your Kid's Ungrateful Childhood

(Tell them write a tell-all paperback novel about THAT)

Sorry if I sound bitter, but I have been forced to watch my kids mill about the house, enjoying snow day after snow day.....demanding more orange juice and cookie dough. Or maybe I'm just jealous that I have to knock the snow and ice off the car every morning to go to work while they are sleeping until 10.

Their little brains are slowly turning to mush playing video games and watching NetFlix. PLEASE someone come over here with a snow plow and get them back in class and OUT of my cabinets.

Meanwhile, I remembered this refrigerator bread dough recipe from Mother Earth Magazine that is super easy to use for both loaf bread and pizza crusts. It requires a bread stone, which is available from Amazon for under 15 dollars. Get a cheap one.

They sometimes offer a big paddle called a pizza peel. I personally ever have had a need for one. Just one more thing to wash.

"No Knead To Stress"

Refrigerator Bread Dough

3 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 packets yeast

1 1/2 tbsp salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached flour

AND THAT'S IT!

In the water, dissolve the yeast and the salt. Gradually add the flour, one cup at a time. Once blended, do NOT kneed.

Cover it loosely and leave it alone for anywhere between 2-5 hours (doesn't really matter how long within these guidelines). Then stick the whole thing in the fridge.

When you need bread, pull out a grapefruit-sized ball of the stuff and arrange it so that the top is smooth and the loose ends are tucked at the bottom. Add a little more flour if it is sticky. Let it stand again for around 40 minutes ( long enough to prepare the rest of the meal). Preheat oven with bread stone on the middle rack to 450 degrees.

Lightly slice across the top of the bread ball with a serrated knife a couple of times so the bread can expand while baking. Place the dough on the hot bread stone.

Either place a oven safe pan 1/2 full of water under the bread stone OR throw a handful of ice on the bottom oven range.

Bake 30 minutes, or until bread is browned and firm to the touch.

The dough will last two weeks in the refrigerator. Take the last of it and add it to the new batch if you like sourdough.

"No Knead To Stress" Pizza Dough

Is exactly the same, except use a cutting board to roll the dough out after 40 minutes or so to around 1/2 inch thick. Preheat oven and bread stone to 450 degrees.

Add spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, and mozarella to taste. ( or whatever you like)

Take a metal pizza pan, and flip the pizza from your cutting board to the metal pan, so that the crust is on the top and your cheese and stuff is at the bottom.

When the oven is ready, flip the pizza right side up from the metal tray to the bread stone.

Don't worry about the water at the bottom of the oven for pizza. Remove when cheese is bubbly.

Fresh Pizza? Suddenly, you just became Most Awesome Mom, Evah.

About Pork

Pork can be tricky.

There is a reason that entire religions tend to shy away from this form of protein. But, let's be realistic. A pork butt is a southern staple and a cheap piece of meat.

And, it is one of the few things that we eat that also wouldn't think twice about eating you.

So really, fair's fair.

How to cook pork

1) Get a meat thermometer, especially for bigger pieces of meat this is essential.

Also, you can get the meat out of the oven the minute it hits temperature, rather than overbaking and making the meat tough.

Pork is done when the CENTER of the meat is 160 degrees F.

Directions:

1) Rub 4 lbs. pork (country ribs or boston butt) with salt and pepper

2) Preheat oven to 325 degrees

3) Add pork and enough beef broth (sherry optional) to cover the bottom of the cooking pan

4) Cover with foil and bake 1/2 hour.

5) Uncover, render pork fat and broth into another pan.

6) Pour 1/2 your gravy/BBQ sauce, like the Fig Mustard Rosemary Sauce below, on the meat and pour 1/2 of the meat liquid back on the meat,

Put the other 1/2 of the meat liquid in the freezer

7) Cover the pork again and bake 20 minutes more

8) Remove meat when cooking thermometer reads 160 degrees (10 more minutes)

9) Take the meat liquid out of the freezer, skim the top ( fat) off of the stock. Feed the fat to your dog/cat/pigs. Add the other 1/2 of the gravy/sauce.

Put the stock in a saucepan and tighten up with some cornstarch.(Salt and Pepper, optional)

Serve with meat on plates individually.

Sides:

Green Beans

Saute sliced portabella mushrooms in 1/2 stick butter.

Once done, take the mushrooms out for those who don't like the texture of mushrooms, but the butter will still be musky. (Yum)

Put 1/3 package frozen green beans in same frying pan and saute beans 3 minutes

Add beef broth to green beans to preference. Cover and steam 5 more minutes.

Also:

Bush's Baked Beans

Baked Sweet Potatoes with butter