Bridge Mix

So Thanksgiving is over and the turkey carcass is in the trash for the raccoons to pick over. I absolutely hate any thing made from the carcass of a turkey. After several hours in a 325 oven the taste is pretty much leeched out of the bones. For years I dutifully boiled the thing up and chucked in a bunch of vegetables only to have the whole family turn up their respective noses and they I would throw the soup away. So for the last 20 years on Thanksgiving I just strip the thing and get it out of the house. I do make tetrazinni with the leftover meat and everyone loves it.
This year Mr. Turkey looked as if he had been in a train wreck when I took off the plastic covering. There was a big hole in the skin and I couldn't put stuffing in there and that is my favorite place for stuffing. Then the breast meat was so dry. That hasn't happened to me in years.

A terrible weather front went through here 2 nights ago. I was woke up about 2:00 with a terrible sinus headache and spent yesterday just moaning about the house. Today I feel better and intend to work out later but the sinus thing is still hanging around. Part of the whole cold/sinus thing is I have lost the ability to taste anything. So tonight I am going to sling lots of salsa or curry spice on some pork chops.

Back from Curves. Boy, it is cold out today. Curves has 2 new trainers today and it was great to greeted by smiles instead of grump face.

So back to the pork chops.

Do you ever go to your pantry and find things you just know that you didn't buy? I am positive that in 43 years of marriage that I have never purchased one grain of rice, yet I always have rice in the pantry. Since moving here, not only do I have rice, I have several varieties of rice. I don't really even like rice. It makes me bloat and get fat. I just don't metabolize rice as well as I do Heath Bars.

So here is what to do with all that rice that collects in the pantry.

Basic Rice Recipe

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 to 4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
3 cups hot chicken broth (or 3 bouillon cubes + 3 cups hot water)
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

1. Heat oil in large saucepan.
2. Add onion, garlic and rice.
3. Cook stirring, constantly, until the onion is limp and the rice is nicely browned. The rice will burn easily so don't leave the stove.
4. Stir in the hot broth, stir and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Add vegetables, stir and re-cover.
7. Heat another 5 minutes or until the vegetables are hot through.

Now, here is the fun part. You can add a cup of chopped chicken, pork or beef. Sunday's leftover roast is a good idea. Search the fridge for any leftover veggies, in they go. Drop in a chopped jalapeno, minus the seeds, just for fun. Have a little bit of dry spaghetti noodles in a box? Break into small pieces and add at the saute stage. Voila! Your own Rice a Roni. Add a can of diced tomatoes, a can of diced green chilis, 1 tablespoon chili powder and 1 pound of browned ground beef and you have a great Spanish Rice.Double the recipe if you have company. This is fun recipe to have in the recipe box.

NOTE-if you want to use tomatoes, please discard the skin and the seeds then chop.
Easy way to get rid of the skin-put the tomato into a bowl of boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove from water. The skin should slip off easily.

I am not serving this tonight so back to the pork chops.

Several hours have gone by now and it is time to face those pork chops once again. Still cannot think what to do with them.
I guess I will bake them, bake a potato and make a wedge salad. Little clean up and I can watch a movie tonight.

Here is a picture of my kitchen in Alexandria, Egypt. Cooking in a different country presents weird problems sometimes. At home I have an electric stove with a glass cooktop and an oven that is either electric or convection. Frankly, in 7 years I have never used the convection setting. In Egypt I have a 4 burner gas cooktop, a 2 burner electric cooktop and a convection oven. I love have the convection oven there because it means that I have to have the gas bottle changed less often. The gas bottle lives in a cupboard right next to the stove and I try not to think about it's proximity to the stove when I cook. Lots of cooks get blown up in Egypt when the gas bottles are defective. Also, the gas cooktop is so small that it is hard to get three pans on it at the same time.

Note the hot water heater that is mounted on the wall next to the window. Our apartment has three hot water heaters. One for the kitchen another that services two of the bathrooms and one more that takes care of the other two bathrooms.

I have cooked in Libya, Indonesian Borneo, Jakarta, Cairo and now in Alexandria. Each place has presented different problems to solve. Usually the very first hurdle to get over is what foods are available and what you can do with them. I remember when we first arrived in Libya how thankful I was that I had been raised on a farm and really did know how to cook and wasn't afraid to try new stuff.

We went to Libya in the early 70's and the first night was a nightmare. We had been given an emergency kit that contained some dehydrated milk so before I went to bed I made up about a gallon so we would have it for breakfast. In the morning when I got the milk from the fridge there was a layer of black dots on top of the milk. I can remember looking at it and wondering what to do. In the end, I dried my tears, and skimmed off the drowned bugs and we all had cereal. I vowed that morning that nothing would pass the lips of my kids that did not pass my lips, as well.

I found that so many meals could be made from things that I would never have looked at had I been at home. Tamale pie! I think I invented it. Just brown up some hamburger, onions and garlic and put in the bottom of a 9" pie dish. Open a can of tamales and discard the corn husks, break into small pieces and put on top of the meat. Then make your favorite cornbread recipe and pour on top. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Make a salad and you have dinner. Kids love this.

In Libya I actually let my kids eat cereal called Boo Berry and Count Chakula or something like that. Thank goodness I can report tonight that they all have really great teeth. I was desperate. They won't eat any hot cereals, though. Weird! My daughter-in-law will eat them all, she is great to have at breakfast in the winter time, or any time.

I am writing a cookbook for my kids so that they can remember the foods that they ate as kids. This is the second one I have given them. I am hoping this is a better attempt.

Another day another dollar, at least for me. This is payday for me. I really look forward to this day all month. I get paid for being a wife, mother, chief cook and bottle washer on a couple of continents, traveling to some great places and to some rather icky places, putting up with servants that are older than I am and can't see very well, (hello cobwebs) and having a driver that doesn't speak any of the languages that I speak.

Today it is spitting snow and I am going to finally fulfill a promise to a girl in Virginia who loves my cookies.
So Lisa (or Laura, sorry I can't remember) this is for you.

I am 99% sure that this is the cookie that I sent that you liked so much. Sorry it has taken me so long to get it to you.

Some things to think about before you start these cookies. Most ovens heat differently so use the first tray of cookies as a test tray and adjust the temperature accordingly. Ideally these cookies should be lightly browned around the edges and on the top. Not all recipes double well but this one does. If your eggs are at room temperature then all of the ingredients will be about the same temperature thus the end product will bake more evenly.

If you do not have racks for cooling cakes and cookies, I urge you to invest in some. They are not expensive and will keep the bottom of your baked goods from getting soggy.

This is a good time of the year to check the dates on all of your baking items. If you have had your spices over 6 months, they are past their prime. Baking powder and baking soda should be replaced at 6 to 8 months. If your flour has black specks in it, choose a nice hot day and place the flour in a large, wide basket. Place the basket on the hood of your car and leave it for several hours. When you return all of the black specks will be gone. Now, you must sift the flour thoroughly. You will be left with a bowl of usable flour and a sifter full of little round, white thingies. There is no need for you to worry about what those are, just throw them away and get on with your baking.

Walnut Cookies with Maple Icing

For the cookies:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed
1 egg, room temperature, please
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon EACH ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Heat oven to 375
2. Grease 2 cookie sheets
3. Cream together the butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and beat well.
5. Add the baking powder, salt and spices and mix for 30 seconds.
6. Add flour and nuts and mix very well.
7. Roll into 1"balls and place 2" apart on greased cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
9. Let cool on racks.
10. When completely cool, ice.
11. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.


For the Icing:

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon Maple flavoring
light cream, 1/2 & 1/2 or whole milk

1. Sift the powdered sugar into a meduim size bowl.
2. Melt butter and add to the sugar.
3. Add the flavoring and mix for about 30 seconds.
4. Add the light cream a drop at a time or until the icing is the consistency that you desire.
5. Ice cookies and let dry overnight.

So tonight we will have fresh salmon steaks, brown rice, salad. Ick, Ick and ok. Everyone I live with is on a health kick so I am trying to keep up with them. I joined a gym, ouch. I am eating healthy. Here is what I ate for lunch, a big plate of pasta and 18 of those little chocolate ball things with Heath candy on the inside. What I eat when they are not here doesn't count. I was so desperate for pasta that I took a plastic container of some brown meat with what looked like tomato bits and just microwaved it and ate it over a mix of bowtie and spaghetti noodles. (bottom of both packages.)

Back to the salmon steaks. Served with a nice non-fat yoghurt sauce with dill. Brown rice, boiled in the bag. Probably a wedge salad.

Just a word on the Wedge Salad. I was in Houston a couple of years ago and was invited to have dinner with the wife of the CEO of something, the wife of the EVP of the same thing and my husband's boss's wife. I was picked up in an overly large black car and driven 50 miles north of the city to dine at a restaurant in the Woodlands. Before we ordered I did comment that I thought it was strange to drive 50 miles when Houston offered some very fine dining. I was told, "Dahling, they have the best Wedge Salad here. We felt you shouldn't miss it." So I ordered The Wedge. Those of you that live a more far reaching life than I do are probably laughing your ass off right now but I am gullible. Imagine my surprise when I was presented with a wedge of iceberg and a dribble of blue cheese dressing. All for the low, low price of $10.95. Kids, it was just like the mosquito conversation, I shut up and ate my Wedge.

I share my living space with several other individuals and those individuals have exactly 24 hours to find my new edition of my cooky book.