All That’s Good

Friday night at home….the original trio.

E-meals has taught me something really important about cooking. Critical, even.

To make any main dish taste spectacular, all you need is one of the following:

• onion
• garlic
• butter
• oil
• bacon (or bacon grease)

This week we made two oh-my-goodness-this-is-SOOOO-GOOD! meals: corn chowder and fried chicken tenders.

The corn chowder started with bacon in the Dutch oven….it smelled like a dream.  Then, you use the bacon grease to cook the onions and start the soup base.  It was SO good.  Easily one of the best things I have ever made in my life.  Easily.  And the bacon was crumbled on top.

An daaaaannnnnn…..(said in the voice of the Chinese restaurant drive thru worker on Dude, Where’s My Car?) <- click to watch!

My first time making fried chicken tenders!  They were SO GOOD.  I had the heat up too high on the first batch and burned them to a crisp.  Brent took a big bite and said (with his eyes wide, mouth full and small pieces of charred crumbs on his lips)  “OH MY GOSH!  IF IT IS THIS GOOD BURNED, IT IS GOING TO BE WONDERFUL!!!!!!”  So that encouraged me to endure the constant barrage of grease burns to my wrist/hands and keep going.  And when I finally got the heat just right, they were really good!  I was pleased with myself.  [Clearly my modesty just goes out the window when I cook supper.  But remember – this is the girl who has made us sick with salmon souffle, made biscuits as hard as rocks, tried to serve undercooked pork chops, etc, etc, etc.  In other words, I’m surprised when I can produce something moderately edible.]

And this is what is left over from the ham & cheese croissants that Brent made tonight:

WONDERFUL!

 

Spring flowers in the backyard

Me & my shadows:

New Girl!

Some other (iPhone) pictures from this week:

The moon, my painted candlesticks, the first azaleas, morning sky, our Grow Alabama box, and Oscar trying to stay awake (I guess The Freeman Blog is just soooo boring).  And these next few pictures need a bit of explanation:

So, last night I got off at 9 pm and walked to my car.  I have to cross the street to get to the parking lot.  It was dark, but there are streetlights, and security is driving around, and the road is actually pretty busy.  I didn’t cross at the crosswalk, so I had to go out to the median, wait, and then go on across. I was talking to Brent on the phone at the time and a car was coming (a long way away), so I was really, really focused on getting across from the median –> sidewalk.  I made it, stepped up on the sidewalk, and, well, I don’t remember what happened next.  I went down.  Hard.  My iPhone flew out of my hands.  It knocked the breath out of me.  It hurt!!!  I stood up, got the phone, and told Brent I needed to go, then limped to the car.  When I got to the car, I realized I didn’t have my keys, so I had to go back up to where I fell down and look for them….sure enough, they were just laying in the grass about 4 feet from where I wiped out.

I got in the car and turned on the interior light.  I fell down so hard that my left palm was bleeding!  It’s the 2nd photo above (stigmata?!?!).  When I got home, I was really able to assess the damage.  My shirt was ruined (it had this chiffon-like overlay and was ripped to shreds), my [favorite!] black shoes that I wear nearly every single day to work are ruined (the fabric on the toes is shredded, and my knees and the top of my left foot was skinned up (as seen in pics above).

This morning I woke up SO SORE.  I mean, I feel like I worked out BFL-style and then got into a fight (and lost).  My shoulders hurt, my back hurts (not like disc pain, thank goodness!), my knees hurt, my ribs hurt, my neck hurts…everything.  I keep thinking “wow, I really got a workout!” and then I realize that no, I really just fell down on the sidewalk.  Thank goodness it was dark, although I KNOW some one in a car saw me…they drove right past as I went down.  Mostly I just feel old. 

But at least I am home and it is the weekend!!!  Yay!

And I would like to leave you with a funny pix message I got from Brent at work last night.  I screen shot of a text “conversation” (if you can call it that) between Mama (in grey) & him (in green).

hahahahahahaha!

Ode to Kale

Kale….the best summer vegetable ever.  We LOVE it.  This bunch came from Snow’s Bend, a farm here in Tuscaloosa.  It is beautiful!  Our favorite way to eat it is by making kale “chips.”  They are so good!  I have seen many different variations to the marinade, but we like to coat the kale with ~ 1/2 – 1 tsp. Garlic Gold or olive oil in a bowl, then spread over a baking sheet and sprinkle with Kosher salt.  Then bake until crispy.  I have baked at all different temperatures…just depending in whatever else is in the oven.  Just watch for it to get browned and crispy.  The texture is like a really thin potato chip.  So good!  We love to dip them in ketchup!

Tonight I served the kale alongside the Freeman family’s first meatloaf (e-mealz recipe).  We made it with some meat we bought at the farmer’s market this past weekend. The recipe called for a cup of salsa (I used Thelma’s and actually turned the jar up and drank from it after I measured the cup out – FYI, Brent, sorry!), so I went ahead and added 1/2 package fajita seasoning as well.  It was so good!  Not like a traditional meatloaf.

…..and roasted farmer’s market squash with nothing but salt + pepper (and then I added copious amounts of Mmmm sauce).

Watermelon for dessert! 

And then I picked about 3 pounds of figs from the trees while the pugs ate roughly the same amount from the ground.  Every time I set my basket down on the ground, their heads went right into it like it was a feeding trough.

Hopefully homemade fig bars tomorrow!!!

Late Bloomer

 

I was up ALL NIGHT last night.  Sick, sick sick.  Tossing and turning, sweating, nauseous. Must have been something I ate.  I seriously slept maybe 3 hours.  It was terrible.  I went to work and left after about 1.5 hours.  Came home, bundled up in pajamas and blankets, and turned the heat on.  I was freezing. I felt asleep and when I woke up I felt so much better.

Yesterday I got an un-bloomed Easter Lilly at Publix.   It was the only one with no blooms.

This morning when we woke up, it had started:

 

Smells wonderful!

E-mealz is back!!

It was a long day here by myself.  I cooked an E-mealz supper of Shrimp Linguini.  It was okay.  Not great. There was no sauce!  Just shrimp + plain bland noodles.  I added roasted rosemary veggies to it, which very much improved it.

Dessert:

Grilled Banana with Almond Butter + Coconut Butter

This is a really simple and delicious dessert.  I “grilled” the banana on the stove in a skillet with cooking spray until it was heated/mushy and had a grill stripe down the middle.  Melted 1/2 tbsp each of almond butter and coconut butter and spread on top of the banana.  So good and very sweet.  I have grilled the banana in butter before and it is even better that way, but obviously adds more calories.

We’re watching Chuck and getting ready for bed!  Hopefully I can sleep tonight!

Pugs are so funny.  Every day around 4 p.m. they start watching for Brent to come home.