Slaw Dogs and Sprained Ankles

Thursday was interesting. One minute I was up and the next I was on the floor with my head smashed into the metal frame of a chair and my ankle pulsating with pain... and a room full (ok, there were five, but still...) of adults staring me down. Well, not actually staring me down, two of them catapulted from their chairs and were at my side in seconds, another tossed over a bottle of ibuprofen. Two boys were dispatched to find ice packs and I sat on the floor for a good thirty minutes waiting for the pain to subside, which it never really did. I sat for 2 hours with my foot encased in ice and then headed to Baptist Sports Medicine (thanks, Cher) to let a PT look at it and decide if it was broken, torn or sprained. Thankfully it was the latter. She encased it again in ice (much colder than any ice pack I had ever had in my life), gave me a stretchy band and some exercises and sent me on my merry way... R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and ibuprofen was her diagnosis.

Friday am I called the doctor's office and headed in for their diagnosis. They concurred and gave me a slightly (make that really really) stronger medicine and again sent me on my merry way - back to the couch, ice packs and rest.

Today I was back to teaching - thankfully able to sit for two of the three hours that I taught. Then I did the brilliant thing and went grocery shopping for an hour... but I had little choice. And now we have food :) Tonight's dinner was Slaw dogs and curly fries. I made the slaw, and Kami threw the fries in the oven and the hot dogs on the stove to cook. Slaw is something that I throw together quite often. I'm pretty sure that you have all the makings for a delicious dressing in your refrigerator and pantry. Don't by the bottled stuff - save some $$ and make a much tastier dressing at home. Here is my recipe that makes enough dressing for two small (1 lb.) bags of slaw mix from the produce section of the grocery store.

Slaw Dressing
1 c. mayonnaise (NOT miracle whip/salad dressing)
4 T. red wine vinegar
6 T. honey
1/2 - 1 t. salt
1/2 - 1 t. fresh cracked pepper
(if you want to play with the flavors, you can add 1/2 t. celery seed or garlic powder, possibly some brown or Dijon mustard. You could add some fresh herbs like cilantro and replace the vinegar for lime juice and make a Mexican slaw... or just keep it simple. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl until well-combined, then pour over the cabbage and combine well. I always allow mine to sit for a little while before serving. Some of the liquid from the cabbage will come out and make the dressing a little more wet, so give it a good stir before serving. Tonight I piled mine on hot dogs, but it is good with barbecue, burgers, ham, pork, fried or grilled chicken.

I hope you enjoy it. Until next time, stay warm (or cool - the weather is so fickle in the fall) and full and loved, my friends!!

Kale Soup - The Portuguese Way

Yesterday I posted a Portuguese recipe for cabbage rolls. That is just one of the Brasells family traditional recipes, with a few little additions of my own (I can't help it). My sister-in-law, Beth, knows all about the history of the Brasells family... how they came over from the Azores, where they had migrated from Portugal to escape the Spanish Inquisition, how they changed the original spelling of their last name from Barcellos to Brasells, which family members came, who got mad at whom and never spoke to them again (I almost imagine those grandmothers of old spitting and casting an old Portuguese curse, lol)... I just have a couple of recipes. I hope those continue on in the Brasells family. Nate is the only boy of the only boy of the only boy of his great grandfather, so he is the one to carry on the family name in this particular line. He can cook - I hope he passes this one on to his children... and has a couple of boys, instead of just one :)

PORTUGUESE KALE SOUP

1 med. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 beef soup bone, shank or other
2 t. salt
2 cans kidney beans
2 bunches Kale, cleaned well and chopped
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 head cabbage, shredded
1 lb. linguica, sliced
1 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked

In stock pot, place onion, garlic, soup bone and water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer until meat on the bone is cooked through. Add kale and cabbage, and return to a boil. Simmer until kale and cabbage is about half cooked, then add linguica, potatoes and kidney beans, cook an additional 30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Serve over elbow macaroni.

David likes to cook the macaroni in the soup, but for me, I do it separate. When you eat the leftovers, and there WILL be leftovers, the macaroni tends to absorb all the broth and get too mushy for my liking, so I keep them separate. Do it either way you like it. Also, I prefer to eat it up as opposed to putting this on in the freezer since freezing cooked potatoes is not a good idea either - they get all grainy.

Today is Pepperoncini Pulled Pork in the crockpot :) Doesn't that sound yummy!!
Big snow heading to the Midwest - missing us, thankfully!!
Until next time, stay warm and loved, my friends!!

Portuguese Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

My husband is Portuguese - pretty much 100%, with a dash of "Pollock" tossed in for good measure. Explains a lot, huh? :) I'm kidding - he is a great man, very hard-working, pretty smart and a good cook in his own right. They practically beg him to cook at the firehall! Anyway, because of his heritage, there are a few Portuguese recipes floating around in the family. One of them is for Cabbage Rolls. Then there is Kale Soup and Portuguese Sweet Bread. An old friend from my days in Tucson was looking for a recipe for cabbage rolls, and since my red pen needs a rest from its busy day of essay grading, I hopped on up to look for the recipe and type it up. So you get lucky today and get two awesome recipes. You can get the linguica in Kroger sometimes. It is a spicy portuguese sausage... kind of a cross between hard chorizo and pepperoni... hard to explain, but worth the find.

PORTUGUESE STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

1 lg. head green cabbage
1 1/2 t. salt

Stuffing:
1 3/4 lb. linguica, chopped
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 c. onion, chopped
1 c. celery, chopped
1 c. mushrooms
1/2 c. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
12 oz. can whole tomatoes, crushed and drained (reserve the liquid)

In a large pot, place cabbage in salted water. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 2 minutes or until leaves are flexible. Drain and cool.

Heat oil in saute pan. Lightly saute onion for about 2-3 minutes. Add in sausage, beef, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic and saute on medium low for about an hour stirring occasionally.

Separate cabbage leaves while filling cooks. chop the smaller leaves and stems of larger leaves and add to filling mixture.

When filling is cooked, preheat oven to 350'. In each leave, place approximately 1/2 c. of cooked stuffing. Fold two sides over stuffing, then roll up from the end. Arrange the rolls, seam side down in a well-greased casserole dish. Pour the reserved tomato liquid over all. Cover tightly and bake for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

That's all for today!! Until next time, stay warm and loved, my friends!

Creamed Cabbage with Bacon and Knitting with Ronda

It was a nice weekend, this past weekend. Ali was home all weekend, even came home early because of the snow. On Thursday afternoon it really started coming down hard and it just kept on coming. In an hour our deck was covered and we had almost an inch. The biggest problem was the temperature. It was so cold that it was not just sticking, but it was then freezing. Ali drives the old red 1992 GMC diesel pick-up truck that David bought when we moved here in 1999. She called me from school before she left for work and said she was packing to come home for the weekend because she was pretty certain they would cancel classes on Friday (they did). By the time she got to work, she let me know she would really appreciate it if I would come and get her after work because even with an inch (and more still coming) she was having difficulty driving because it was so icy. Fortunately they closed Starbucks early at about 8:30, so I drove up on very icy roads and brought her home. I am glad I could not really see how bad the roads really were or I would have been terrified to drive on them.

Friday classes were cancelled and we hung out at the house pretty much all day. I took Emily and Ella home at 1 and dropped by Starbucks so Ali could get her truck and then we drove home on the same icy roads, which were a bit better, although still patchy... they don't believe in snowplows in Tennessee, they just spray salt on it and pray. Saturday we went to lunch at Demo's (yum) and got a scoop (or 2) of icecream from Marble Slab (yummier) to celebrate David and Ali's birthdays. Nate went to Savannah's to "do geometry" and I went home and made two pans of macaroni and cheese (one with jalapenos) for David to take to a pot luck with some fellow firefighters.Since I had to pick up Nate later, Kami and I just stayed home.

Sunday - church and then home to pick up a bit and then got ready to make dinner. I made oven-fried chicken, crispy red potatoes and creamed cabbage with bacon. I will get you the chicken and potato recipes later, but for today, it will be the cabbage recipe.

Ronda came over and we talked and knitted and talked and knitted and talked and I came up with an amazing idea. Ali says I am an idea person - I come up with great ones... I just need someone with money to make it happen. Ronda and I one day are going to open a little shop with craft books, yarn, coffee and tea and lots of homemade knitted/crocheted items. I have an awesome name... (and if anyone else out there takes it, I will know where they got it!) "Two Chicks and Some Sticks" (cause we knit.... get it??) Anyway... one day it may happen :) She is making some great scarves, including an infinity scarf and some cowels which look really warm. I have been making socks, little baby "buddy blankets" and washcloths. I try to keep a variety of projects going. All the while I was making dinnner, stopping occasionally to get something going or check on the progress of what was sizzling in the oven. It was smelling so good in the house!! On to dinner...

CREAMED CABBAGE WITH BACON

1 large head green cabbage, shredded
1 med. onion, diced
1/2 package bacon, diced
1/2 c. cream
salt and pepper to taste

I cut up the bacon with my kitchen shears. It is much quicker and less frustration than a knife. In a large pot cook the bacon just until crispy. Throw in the diced onion and cook until onion is translucent. Top with salt and pepper and 1/2 c. cream, cover and cook on medium low for 30-45 minutes until the cabbage is tender. Give it a good stir about halfway through the cooking time, but try to avoid lifting the cover and letting out the steam.

Watch out fo rthe chicken recipe. It was very yummy!! Until then, stay warm and loved, my friends.