Thanksgiving Snack
Since I didn't have to really cook a Thanksgiving dinner we more or less snacked once or twice over the Thanksgiving weekend instead of eating a full blown meal. I am a snacker. Nothing makes me more content than a crisp apple, a handful of walnuts, aged cheddar cheese, whole wheat crackers and a nice cold glass of wine. I could eat this way everyday, but try to save it for the weekends when we are busy. I got a great bottle of Chardonnay from Michelle at Accidental Scientist. This was an Oregon wine, which I don't get a chance to try very often so the bottle deserved the best setting for the opening. I saw a great recipe that would appeal to me on two different levels on TV. I saw Honey-Nut Glazed Brie and decided that would kill two birds with one stone. I could have my cheese and nuts all at once!! So I went to the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! site and printed off the recipe. I had everything that I needed so this would be a piece of cake. It was totally easy and hit the spot.
This is the end presentation. The wine was nice and had a mild oak taste. It mixed really well with a mouthful of Brie that had been sweetened with the walnuts with honey. I truly enjoyed this and even more so since the wine was a special bottle from Michelle. Since I fixed myself a snack I had to do something for the hubby too. Earlier on Friday we went to a huge craft fair in Virginia Beach. I love going every year and can always find some really great gifts for friends and family. Hubby loves his seafood and was really on to this kit from the Blue Crab Bay Co. We paid $11.95 for this kit, and then had to purchase the cream cheese and sour cream. The directions came stapled to the Crab Dip Blend packet. I decided that if we were going to eat this, we needed some healthy componet to it. I cut up several carrots into sticks and three or four stalks of celery. We stood around the cart and took a dip with the veggies and then decided that the way to go with this was crackers and not veggies. For some reason it just didn't go well with the carrots and celery. I was disappointed but we adapted and overcame. Hubby ate the dip with crackers. I bagged up the carrots and celery and guess what I am having my lunch today??? lol! We had a great time trying new things this past weekend. The only down side to all of this trying, was it all revolved around dairy. I think that if they made a Brie cheese with tofu I would be in soy bean heaven. Oh well!

'Tis the Night Before...Thanksgiving!
I know that most of you out there in food blogger land are gathering up your supplies to make that wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Thankfully I don't have to do it a second time this month. We will have a scaled down version. There will be yet another roasted chicken, pumpkin pie, garlic green beans and some misc. mashed potatoes. I would love to have a pizza instead but I am guessing they will be eating with their families. So Happy Thanksgiving from the Brown family here in Virginia. I hope that you all eat well and enjoy the company you are with whether it be friends or family.

I am always looking forward to Christmas cards to look at the whole month of December. There was a knock at the door. The mailman? Yup! He had a brown envelope in his had and I signed for it. I was a bit confused because I haven't been shopping through the mail lately. I thought it was junk. I looked at the pretty stamps and then the fog began to lift. It was a present from a very far away place...Panama. OMGoodness.! What on earth? My friend, Melissa from Cooking Diva sent me a package. I am tickled pink. I have never mentioned to her that I collect things that are handmade for my Christmas tree. Commercial stuff is okay but I like things that have been touched my someone's loving hand. Guess what!!! I got the nicest box filled with loving items. There was a pig, dove, gingerbread man, two Christmas trees, solider, angel, Santa Claus, a cow and a cat. I just love them and you can bet they will be on my Christmas just as soon as I talk DH into dragging it from underneath the stairs. Thanks to Melissa. That was such a thoughtful thing for you to do. I am certainly shocked and very pleased.

Not only did I get this wonderful gift, but I baked. I know, I know, I haven't put food on the blog in a while but I had to make these to keep from cooking tomorrow morning. I made the Spicy Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins posted by Farmgirl Fare (entry dated November 20, 2005). They were beautiful. I have eaten three already. Please don't call WW and tell them what I have been not counting for my points. Great muffins Susan! Man, I am sure glad you don't live closer to me. I would have to waddle down the road to visit the sheep!

It's Soup!
The weather has slowly been changing, getting colder and colder everyday. Since the time change I have lost all sense of when I am suposed to sleep. I get sleepy at 8 and get up at 5:30. My internal clock has really gotten way off. It gets darker out and my body says it's time for two things...one...naps....two...lots of comfort foods. So I heeded the call of comfort foods and brought out a yearly fall favorite. When I went to culinary school, we were required to take a stocks and sauces class. This class had two purposes. The first was to teach you how to make basic stocks. The second purpose was knife cutting skills. Everything has a name and everything has a measurement. All this was lost on me after I became a personal chef. None of my clients care about some fancy French name for something that is 1/4"X1/4"X1/4". This recipe came from my Stocks and Sauces class in a printed handout of misc. recipes. I would give credit to the author but I have no idea who it is.


This is called Michigan Bean Soup. Here is the recipe and some pictures that I took along the way. It's a great recipe but I do have some comments about what to change up a bit. First I always double the recipe. In order for me to follow the directions I use my food scale. The measurements are in ounces so the scales comes in handy. In the picture above there is the doubled weight of onions, celery and green bell peppers. I did weight the Navy Beans and then soaked them in cold water all day on the kitchen counter. The recipe calls for Ham Hocks and luckily my local grocery store had them. If you can't find them then use a smoked turkey wing, maybe two. There is less fat on the turkey wing and the meat is easier to pick off the bones than all the fat from the ham hocks. We have even used a pork bone from a pork roast that I had frozen. There wasn't a lot of meat but the flavor was good anyway. This is a very hearty and filling soup. We had it with some Sun Dried Tomato bread from the grocery store. It doesn't take much to fill you up. Good hearty food on a cold winter day.

Michigan Bean Soup
Yield: 8 servings (very small about a scant one cup per)
4 oz. dry beans (Navy)
1 each ham hock
2 quarts water or stock (I have used both and really can't tell much difference in the taste because there are so many flavors)
2 oz. onion, finely chopped
2 oz. celery, finely chopped
2 oz. green peppers, finely chopped
2 oz. tomatoes, canned, chopped (buy the pre chopped canned tomatoes-saves time)
1 oz. parsley, chopped
salt and white pepper to taste
2 oz. butter
2 oz. flour

1. Clean and wash beans. Boil in 2 quarts of water or stock. Add ham hock.
2. Cook until beans are tender. Saute all vegetables in butter, dust with flour and cook few minutes. Add to soup and simmer for additional 10 minutes.
3. Before serving, remove ham hocks, dice meat, and return to soup.

Note: Taste soup before seasonings because ham hocks are salty
If ham hocks are too salty for you or you don't need the extra fat use smoked turkey wings.
I soaked the beans for about 6 hours in a bowl on the kitchen counter in cold water before cooking them; overnight is better for less cooking time.

WDB #10 hosted by Sweetnicks
Here is my entry to the Weekend Dog Blog. Lazy dog days of winter have hit the Brown household. I guess we only pay for the furniture but are not allowed to use it! From left to right: Sadie, Edward, Charlie and Moose. What a lazy bunch!
I guess Mom is now considered a lounge chair too. Boy, it's really a dog's life here. Moose doesn't have a clue he has just posed for his first WDB entry.

Now if that's not bad enough, everyone else has decided I make a great lounge chair too. Moose is on the left and Edward on the right and Sadie splits the difference right down the middle.

Weekend Donkey Blog #1

Okay, okay, I don't really own a donkey but I did have a picture from the Chesapeake Heritage Arts Festival from Nov.5-6 this year. I have no idea what his name is but he was a very happy fellow. The owner says he loves women, which only endears me more to him. So here is my entry into the Weekend Donkey Blog #1 hosted by Farm Girl Fare . Boy, won't she be surprised!

Thanksgiving Has Come and Gone...
I look forward to Thanksgiving every year for so many reasons. I have a small family and until recently we all were able to be together for every holiday. When you have two children in the military every moment that you spend together is a treasured one. My oldest son is stationed in Korea and the youngest in Iraq. Since my youngest son was able to come home for a two week R&R leave, I decided that Thanksgiving was going to be when we decided. I asked my son what he wanted and he said to keep it simple and I am all about simple! So that request was an easy one. Saturday morning I got up and started getting things ready. Knowing I would be cooking a 13 pound turkey, I had moved the turkey from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw. It was still a bit icy in the middle when I cut the plastic off of it but nothing too serious. I rinsed the turkey off with some cold water and that took care of the ice. I had seen How to Boil Water right before I got up to take the turkey out and wanted to try something different. I had some fresh sage and rosemary in the front garden and that would be perfect for the turkey. I cut off a few sticks of rosemary and two handfuls of sage and rinsed them off. I took my fingers and ran them underneath the skin of the turkey. Then I took the sage leaves and put them in the space between the breasts and the skin. I had already cut up some carrots, onions, celery and the celery leaves and put them into the roasting pan. When it was finished roasting, there was a mild flavor of sage and rosemary. My son loves and I do mean LOVES sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows on top. So I take fresh sweet potatoes and peeled them. Then cut them into good sized chunks and put them into a casserole dish. I cut up a whole stick of butter and sprinkled the pieces on the top along with one or two healthy hand fulls of brown sugar and sometimes a swing of orange juice. The dish is covered in foil and baked until the potatoes are soft. When the potatoes are cooked I take them out and right before we eat, I turn up the oven to 400. The marshmallows (mini or large) are spread on top and the dish is put into the oven. I turn on the oven light so I can make sure I don't burn the marshmallows. It doesn't take long. When they come out they a nice brown and the top is crunchy. It's a very sweet dish and we eat four times a year-New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving and Christmas. What can I say?? My kid still loves Green Bean Casserole with mushroom soup and Durkee Onions. I offer to do Garlic Green Beans, but got a thumb's down. Drats! I at least opted for making one thing from scratch. I made my husband's grandmother's pie crust. It is supposed to make five crusts but I only usually do four since I like my crust a little thicker. I made one pumpkin and one pecan pie. If the whole family was here there would be two of each and none would be left over. A friend of mine mentioned something about a whipped cream with some flavorings in it so I made "real" whipped cream with sugar and cinnamon. It was really good with the pumpkin, but added nothing to the pecan. Live an learn. So Thanksgiving has come and gone and I am now working on how to eat all the turkey left overs. Last night I made the Turkey Curry Salad for sandwiches and tonight is Turkey Enchiladas. I will write about them on Thursday.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and spends it with lots of friends and family, love, laughter and really good food.

Mexican Monkey Cake will make you Ape about Cake!
I love going to Farmgirl Fare and checking out the daily pictures of her farm in Missouri, but she does post recipes when not tending to the flock and baking bread. I found the recipe on her blog and it looked so good that I had to try it. It has basic ingredients that most of us who cook have at home and wasn't rocket science to make. I was really happy it made a little 8X8 pyrex dish. I was especially pleased with the fact it required no icing. Take a look at the topping. Who needed icing anyway? This was killer and too much more and it would have been overkill. So if you love the farm life, baking bread and getting some nice recipes check out Farmgirl Fare.
Farmgirl's Mexican Monkey Cake
Makes One 8-Inch Square Cake
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) butter, softened (or 1/2 cup trans-fat free margarine, such as Earth Balance)
3/4 cup granulated sugar1 large egg
1-1/4 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (they cannot be too ripe)
2 Tablespoons yogurt or sour cream
1 Tablespoon milk
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using a glass pan such as Pyrex). Grease an 8"x8"x2" baking pan. In a small bowl, combine chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts (if desired), and cinnamon; set aside.In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and egg with an electric mixer until fluffy (I use a hand held mixer). Add bananas, yogurt, and milk, and mix well. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt just until blended.Spread slightly more than half of the batter in the pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon streusel. Carefully spread the remaining batter over the streusel and then top with the rest of the streusel. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.This cake tastes even better the next day, and it freezes beautifully. You can freeze the cake whole or cut it into pieces, wrap them tightly in plastic, and place them in a zipper freezer bag. Defrost at room temperature--or in the microwave.

Going, Going...Almost gone...
While everyone is on the confessing mood I have one that you can see. I know that hardwood is the best kind of wood for a cutting board. I wanted a Boos cutting board but since the Power Ball Lottery tickey has not arrived, I went to Walmart and bought what I could afford. So it was small and cheap. What can I say, you don't get rich being a chef. So this is what I have been using for over three or four years now... but...I have a replacement thanks to the once a year birthday spoiling and numerous hints.

Ta Da!! Is this a thing of beauty or what?? Hubby bought me a nice, huge, new Bamboo cutting board. Of course I told him where he might be able to procure one, but that's besides the point. It's wonderful and is much easier to work on. Bless TJ Maxx and a $40 investment. I have to confess that I still would love a Boos, but this will do for a few years until the Lottery check comes in the mail.

Staunton Farmer's Market
Before taking our vacation we (well actually hubby) did some on-line searches about what the area of Staunton, VA had to offer for eateries and shopping. There were a ton of wonderful locally owned shops and places to eat. I was so pleased and that's when I decided to not eat at a chain the whole three days we were there. Except for Five Guys, I think I did very well. Saturday morning we got up early and drove to downtown of Staunton and checked out the Farmer's Market. It was small but with the weather turning colder every day the vegetables are dwindling as well as the vendors. The die hards are hanging in there until the end of October. We walked around for about an hour looking at the vendorsand what there was and then doubled back to make our purchases. I don't usually buy peppers like this but they were so pretty when I saw them that I couldn't help myself. I think I bought between 3-4 pounds of them. I left them in the refrigerator for over a week and felt sure they would be some long fuzzy disgusting things when I went back yesterday to look at them. When I took the bag out, I was so surprised to see they were as crisp and beautiful as the day I bought them. I wanted to use them to make some Verde Enchiladas Sauce. So I set aside 6 of them to save for a project in the next few days and fired up the old back yard propane grill, which looks like bloody hell but still WORKS! After grilling them I then peeled off the blackened skin and seeded them. I took them and put them whole into a freezer zip bag and they are waiting for me until I have time to get back to them. I don't know who invented a freezer, but God bless 'em!
After grilling the peppers, I was sorry to see such a small pile. Maybe I should have bought more. And while I am full of regret, I should have asked what kind of peppers I was buying too. I know the vendor said they were sweet and I guess if she told me the kind I must have blocked out her voice after the word "Sweet". I have been a mother for 23 years and I think I might have used my mother ears and pulled one of those selective hearing loss things. Oh well, guess when I make my sauce we will find out just how sweet those nameless peppers are! Stay tuned...
I know this picture and the one after it are really out of focus but I wanted to show you that we bought some Strawberry Rhubarb Jam from Farmer Brown. Since my last name is Brown I just had to buy something from this old guy. And yes, I did ask if his real name was Brown and he said yes indeed. That delighted me. Silly, but it did. My husband insisted on buying this stuff too. It's Red Pepper Jelly (sorry about the out of focus). Since my husband works in an office he gets to eat food that folks bring in for the lunches when someone has a baby, birthday or retires. Someone brought in this really hot jelly stuff with some crackers, and cream cheese. He told me that you spread the cream cheese on the cracker (I think it was some kind of a butter cracker like Ritz) and then a little dab of the pepper jelly. I am not one for suffering while I eat food. I like flavor to my food but heat is not my thing. I relented when he wanted me to try this and sure enough it was wonderful. My friend Wendy, from AZ said that when you eat something hot you can either eat a tortilla, piece of bread or some form of a dairy product such as milk or cheese. So I guess the cream cheese toned down the hot jelly. So now everytime we see red or green hot pepper jelly, we have to buy some.
So everyone go out and buy a small jar of Hot Red or Green Pepper Jelly and give it a try!

I Got a Blogger Present!!!!
I was sitting here in the office and I heard that familar sound of the mail man's truck. I ran down the stairs with doxies following me. They just love it when I go to the mail box and leave the door open so they can bark at anything they see; could be leaves, grass growing or just a shift in the wind. They don't care, because can see the street. I walked in my sock feet in the near dark to fetch the mail. I usually dread checking the mail, but today was the exception! I got a GIFT. There was a long box in the mailbox. Thank goodness we opted for the larger mail box years ago when we moved in here!!! Sure paid off today! Yeehaw. I actually screamed outside in the front yard. The two teenaged girl walking down the middle to street probably thought I had lost my mind! Who cares, I got a present!!!
I got a bottle of Oregon Chardonnay, a cute little jar of Pumpkin Blossom Honey, a pretty hefty bag of Oregon Hazelnuts and some Candy Caps (mushrooms) and a wonderful card from...Michelle my buddy from The Accidental Scientist. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! It was so neat opening up the box and checking out all of the Oregon products. When Michelle has her birthday I will send her a Virginia box. I am collecting all the time! Michelle and I stumbled on to each other when we first started blogging in Sept. of this year. It's nice to see there are still nice people in this world! Michelle, you are a peach! Now it's off to the cookbook corner to see how I can best use what was so lovingly sent to me for my birthday. I am so excited I can hardly sit still the type this! Can you see me grinning from ear to ear and twitching with happiness??????? Whoohoo!

How I spent my Birthday!
I wanted to spend my birthday yesterday doing something that would relax me, be fun and educational all at the same time. I came to this event by a series of people knowing people. You know that old cliche, "It's not what you know, it's who you know."? Well this is the perfect example. My husband and I took a little three day vacation last weekend. Because of the need to put things on the blog, we tried not to eat at national chain eaterys and to do some homegrown local shopping. The perfect place to do that was the Farmer's Market. We went to the Market and walked around and met this very nice lady, Sherri Huffer from Mt. Sidney, VA. She had a little table where she was selling her wool yarn and some other items. I focused on the wool yarn. I crochet and love the try new yarns. I have never crocheted with 100% wool.

I talked to Sherri and asked her if there was a place close to me that would teach me how to spin and about wools. She asked for my E mail and I gave her one of my business cards. I never really expected to hear back from her but sure enough the next day I got an E mail from her with the name of a lady in my local area. I shot the woman an E mail and then we had a phone conversation. She lives about a 45 minute drive from my house but to learn spinning it would have been well worth the drive. Mary Scott from Serendipity Farm & Studio, told me that she was going to be attending a Heritage Festival in the Chesapeake City Park and I could come there to meet her and take a look around. I knew I had time on Saturday so I did. I had a ball!!

I think I have "country" in my veins from way back, because I felt right at home with all those little 4H kids. They were so proud of their animals. They work hard all year keeping those animals fattened, washed and shaved. Pride is busting out all over the place when you see them leading their animals out to the rinks to be judged.

I met some really nice folks and wanted to show what we saw and talk about what I learned. I have been reading Farmgirl Fare for a few months now and just love the pictures of the sheep, llamas, Dan the Donkey, the chickens, cats and dogs. Susan leads the kind of life I want to lead! Some day... I met a nice woman and her two children who had a pen of sheep at the fair. I am sorry I didn't get her name but she was so nice and patient about answering my questions. I now know that the sheep with the black face is a white wooled Suffolk sheep. It's raised mainly for meat as well as the others in that pen. Her son was showing the Suffolk but I wasn't able to stay and see if he won anything. There were some pretty fat little sheep in that pen. They had heavy coats. Mr. Freeman from the Gum Tree Farm, was there to do a shearing demo. It was the neatest thing!
The ewe's name is Rose. She wasn't very cooperative and ended up fighting with what she had which was a wicked kick with some sharp hooves. Mr. Freeman got a bit of a cut on his hand.
This is an Angora Goat. He was so gentle and was more like a pet dog than a goat. I think we can all guess why he was so gentle...poor thing. lol! His wool was extemely soft and I see why wool from this kind of a goat makes a great sweater. I did find out from Mr. Freeman when he was shearing Rose, that folks here in this area shear twice a year because the average temperature year round here is 40 and it's still a bit too warm for the sheep with all that wool. So they shear in spring (hopefully before them lamb) and then again at the end of summer before fall gets really cool. That gives the sheep time to develop a little more of a coat before our winter sets in. I did hear that these are very pampered sheep because they have their own barn.
I learned from this from reading Farmgirl Fare that Donkeys and Llamas were great watch dogs for the sheep. Here is Mr. Freeman's Donkey. Sorry I was too busy admiring him to get his name. Mr. Freeman said that he loves women. He wasn't sure if it was the smell of their body lotions or perfume. When a woman would pet the Donkey, he would wag his tail just like a happy dog. He was a huge hit at the fair. There was also a team of Mules pulling folks around in a wagon.

Here are some ladies that I met from the Southeastern Virginia Spinning Guild. I could have sat there all day and watched them spin. I am going to attend their meeting this coming Tuesday and see what I can learn. I am going to call Mary Scott for some private lessons to get me started.

Along with all of this all of the animals and spinning that I was drawn to like a moth to the flame, there was a bee keeper selling his honey, candle makers, Chesapeake Master Gardners, the local Extension Agent talking about canning and preserves, a Black Smith, Rabbit and Guinea Pig Rescue, Pottery, weavers and all kinds of other items.

We did make some purchases and know that we will do business with these folks again. I bought some "by the scoop" organic lavendar, a Christmas tree ornament (hand made) and some honey from the beekeeper, Ken Carmondy. We bought some spring honey, which is very light. Then I had to taste some Cotton honey. Now that was a surprise. I seem to have a palate for honey, but not for wine. The Cotton honey was very strong and dark. At the very end of the taste is tasted like green grass. I wasn't sure that I was going to like it but I bought a jar anyway. It was just such a novel kind of honey. I had some on a whole wheat english muffin for breakfast today and have to tell you that honey like wine, mixed with food produces a whole different taste. The honey was strong but at the end tasted like Orange Marmalade. Who knew. I have to say that all-in-all I had a great time for my birthday. I learned some new things about wool and lamb's meat and even reafirmed that I love lamb buy having a cup of lamb stew. It was good and I have now got to hunt down the recipe. I don't think that you are ever too old to learn something new and chase a dream.

I want to send out a special thanks to my blog buddies, SoCal Foodie, Accidental Scientist, Lucullian Delights, Cooking Diva and my friend personal chef Kathy Gold, for all making such a big deal about my birthday. I have such wonderful friends and I only hope that I can be the same kind of friend to all of you.

Peanuts are deadly!
I just blogged about Five Guys and I wanted to say something else about them that really impressed me. I have a client who is 2 years old and is allergic to peanuts. I have to be extremely careful about what I fix for him. Bless his little heart. He is not only allergic to peanuts, but eggs too. When I cook for him I read tons of labels if I buy any processed foods. So I wanted to give a huge KUDOS to Five Guys for their policy about peanuts.
While I am not allergic to peanuts I applaud the restaurants to who post notices to let everyone know they have peanuts and use peanut products. I did notice that just inside the door of the restaurant, there were stacked boxes of peanut oil. Then, there was another sign posted on the door about peanuts as you leave. I realize that some may think of this as self serving to avoid lawsuits, but I still think this is a great idea.

Zagat Rating for Burgers??
I don't recall ever eating somewhere that has appeared in the Zagat Restaurant guide. My very first place would have to be for burgers. I vowed not to eat at any nationally known restaurants. I can see from the Google search I just did, I screwed up. I have never heard of Five Guys before we went to Staunton, VA. To add injury to insult, I just looked up Virginia sites and there is one right here in my own city. I have got to get out more! Not too far from our hotel, we saw the Five Guys sign and I love hamburgers so we ducked in after the wine tastings and had something to eat. You have got to love this sign. So we went in and had ourselves the most unhealthy meal the whole trip that was the second best burger I have ever had. The best will be blogged about another time. The portion sizes are huge and just shouldn't be allowed to be that big. I thought I would order a large fry and the girl behind the counter said, that will serve 4. Okay, so I got the smaller size thinking she had no idea how many fries I could eat. OMG. I didn't finish all the fries, there were that many! The hamburger alone was enough and really half of that would have done the trick.
I had a great meal there and now since I have found there is a Five Guys here where I live, I will be going back. I might skip the fries (even though they were good) and eat only half the burger. I wonder how many points half a Five Guys burger would be on Weight Watchers??