Our Bad

Stephen over at Stephen Cooks is a great friend of ours.

Because we're practically BFFs we totally did not even think to redirect you to his site (well, we did, but upon closer inspection it is a little hard to see).

You know, friends borrow shoes and jewelry and you never really thank them appropriately.

To remedy that, let me just ask you to go over to his site and show him some love.

Click here and give him a smooch.

Bobbi's Blue Cheese Dip

This is one of those...well, DUH's! Too, too simple and too, too good. A friend brought it to a branch party once and we had to take the bowl away from my little brother...he was just scooping and eating.

1 cup sour cream
3 ounces cream cheese
4 ounces blue cheese
2 tablespoons green onions
1 teaspoon Tabasco
4 slices bacon

Cook bacon until crisp, drain and crumble. Mix sour cream with cream cheese and mix until smooth. Add blue cheese, chopped green onions and Tabasco and fold to combine. Stir in half the bacon, and sprinkle the other half on top. Serve with bagel crisps.

Now, I usually use gorgonzola instead of the blue cheese, but for Christmas this year I got a FIVE POUND chunk of Point Reyes blue cheese and we are currently just liquifying it and mainlining it. And putting it in my breakfast pasta. Or putting it in this dip.

And four slices bacon? Puh-leeze. I normally cook eight slices, put seven in the dip and sprinkle one on top. BUT. Should you ever get the chance: If you are traveling up or down the center of Alabama on Interstate 65 you will pass a town called Cullman. There are three exits. If you take the middle exit and turn east, RIGHT THERE is a place called Smith Farms. Their smoked bacon is absolutely TO DIE FOR. Without reservation. In fact, it is SO smoky to die for that the last time I was down there? And bought bacon? I put it and the Amish butter in the same insulated container and then had...smoked butter. Which, on cheese bread, is something someone should have thought of a long time ago.

Point being, if you have REAL smoked bacon, you might want to cut it back down to four slices. Although I don't.

Carpenter's Tacos

This would be the older couple who lived at the end of the street Carpenters. As opposed to...bricklayers or sheetrock finishers or roofers.
He was retired from Bell Helicopter. She was...what do you call a Texas Southern Belle? 'Cause you know they ain't doing it the way the rest of us do it. Texas...belle? I guess. I can't believe I don't know that. But she was thoughtful and gracious and every time she visited her daughter in California, she brought me back a bottle of champagne (sparkling wine) from the local vineyard.
ANYWAY.
The neighborhood street parties that caused such a stir? (Saving for later...they'd never heard of chicken stew. And dove wrapped in bacon on my grill.) For football games and this was Texas and Troy Aiken was on every other billboard for about TEN MILLION MILES, we'd have Kirk's Cornbread, and Mr. Carpenter would make these tacos. After the first time, I offered to come help because...for 40 people? Which is what we ended up with by the time everyone's family showed up? YOU NEED HELP. And it was a great learning experience which most of my recipes have been.
Then, we had an auction at my kids' Alabama school, and another parent and I got together and auctioned off a Texas Sunset River Cruise. I made these, packed them in a cooler with a microwaved wet towel in a ziplock bag, and served them, Kirk's Cornbread, salsa and chips, and Cafe Iguana margaritas. It was a HIT...to the tune of about $1800. For the school, thank you very much.

So here are the Carpenter's Tacos.

*6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 3 pounds Boston Butt)
*10 fresh jalapeno peppers
*1 large onion
*1/4 cup ground chili blend (this is my Top Hat, from Pendery's in Fort Worth) or 1 package taco seasoning mix
*4 large potatoes
*Green onions
*Grated cheddar cheese
*Flour tortillas

Put the chicken breasts and about one cup water in a covered saucepan and simmer 20 minutes, until chicken is done. Cool. In a blender, puree the pepper and onion in the chicken cooking water. Dice the chicken. Return the chicken and pepper/onion mix to the saucepan, add the chili blend and simmer until most of the water is cooked out. In the meantime, small dice the potatoes and fry them CRISP in vegetable oil. (Yes. It's okay to use frozen O'Brien potatoes.)
To assemble the tacos and this can be done ahead of time, just wrap each taco in foil: Heat a black skillet or griddle over medium heat. Lay a flour tortilla on the griddle, leave it about 30 seconds and then flip it. It should puff slightly, at which point you fold it in a clean dish towel. (You're not browning the tortillas, just warming and softening them. Keep them covered.) Put about 1/4 cup chicken down the center of each tortilla, top with fried potatoes, minced green onion and cheese. Serve with the usual suspects: salsa and sour cream.
A thing I picked up later: We have a wonderful little couple in Athens AL who get up every morning and make homemade corn and flour tortillas. Taco Blanco. And when THEY make tacos, the smear about one teaspoon guacomole down the center of each tortilla before assembling the taco. This works. NOT A LOT of guacamole. Just a smear.

Let's talk Texas for a bit...

I haven't checked with City Girl on this but I don't think I have to. She'll have a trick up her sleeve. Or five.

We accidentally lived in Fort Worth for five years. Texas is not a place so much as it's a state of mind, and my mind wasn't born there. But we had a GREAT time and met some wonderful people and...ate our way throughout the Southwest. Honey, it doesn't matter WHAT you crave, you live in Fort Worth and your heart's desire is no more than 30 minutes away. Doesn't matter what it is.

I moved out there with a premature baby and a 15-year-old. And somehow or another God got me to Willow Springs Road. A dead-end street 20 miles from ANYTHING, and it was the answer to a prayer. There were only about ten houses on the street. Originally the neighborhood and the golf course it bordered had been a family farm, and four of the ten houses belonged to various and sundry family members...none of whom were speaking to each other.

Enter my clueless ass. Let's have a block party! Great idea! And you know, it was? Because all of the feuders were afraid not to come because we all know...you don't show, you're the one everyone talks about. And over the course of the years, we had some GREAT parties. And I got some GREAT recipes.

THIS recipe is a gem. Kirk and Paula lived at the end of the street, and their son was the same age as my baby. Kirk is the first person to ever tell me, "People who drink light beer just like to pee a lot." He was SERIOUS about his beer. (I drink Milwaukee's Best Light. By choice. Sue me.) Paula grew a great garden every year...I never could get that Oklahoma wind under control...and I ate out of her bounty every summer. I miss them often.

This recipe came to Kirk in another form and he worked with it for a while. The first time I ever tasted it it nearly KILLED me...he forgot to mention the jar of jalapenos. But the next time, I had the beer already open and I am telling you...this is ADDICTIVE. It's one of my most requested recipes, in this neck of the woods.

Kirk's Jalapeno Cornbread

3 large eggs

1 tablespoons sugar

1 small onion

2 packages corn muffin mix (I use Jiffy)

8 whole jarred jalapeno peppers

2-1/4 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4-5 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

1 teaspoon baking powder

Following the instructions EXACTLY, mix all ingredients. Pour the mixture, which will appear thin, into a greased 13x9 inch glass baking dish, cover and refrigerate overnight. Let it come to room temperature, then bake 40-45 minutes at 400 degrees. The cooked appearance is a dark, almost burnt-looking, crust with a moist interior.

Combine cornbread mix, sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Add:

First blender: Eggs, cheese, chopped onion and 1-1/4 cup milk. Blend until smooth and add to dry ingredients.

Second blender: Peppers, oil and one cup milk. Blend until smooth and add to dry ingredients. Stir until all ingredients are well combined...I use a whisk so as not to over mix.

The peppers are to taste...I used fresh peppers once (not a good idea) and they had NO heat, and my friend Robin's dad took the leftovers home with him. For people who don't do heat, four peppers will do. In this house and for my friends, I stem an entire jar of whole jalapenos and blend them right up. The original recipe calls for grated cheese, as well as grated onion. Don't bother. Cube them both and let the blender do the work.

A little factoid: When I was looking for the picture? Something said that one way to gauge the heat in a jalapeno is by the number of little scars it has. I didn't know that.

This is a great take-along recipe...it's just as good room temperature as warm. Perfect with chili, chicken stew or any soup. Also good with...Carpenter's Tacos. Recipe to follow.

P.S...and I posted this as a comment last night and IT'S NOT THERE. Cut this into very small pieces to serve...it's rich. And it is NOT MEXICAN CORNBREAD. Not even close...the recipe creator was always admanent about this. The overnight rest makes it lose the cornmeal texture...this is really smooth.

Where to start, where to start?

Around here, when life is flowing smoothly (re: its regular bumpy course) we pretty much live from holiday storage box to holiday storage box. We pack up one batch and bring another down. So, since yesterday was Epiphany, I am assuming (!) you decorated for Mardi Gras. (Like my friends, B&G, because this really IS their house. Banners complements of Katrina evacuees.)

So let's do a Mardi Gras recipe! This one came from SR, who died a couple of years ago. When her son married, in another state, B&G and I, along with Mary Virginia, packed up a van and drove to Jackson Tn, and fed the rehearsal dinner people. In a lovely old ROUND building that had once been a library. SR made...I think 14...of these, which reminds me they freeze beautifully. And the secret is just TOO TOO tacky, but I'm promising you, you're gonna love this bread pudding.

At some point in the wee hours of the night...like about three a.m...we were staggering through the hotel lobby. I was barefoot with a cigar in my cleavage, a bottle of champagne in one hand and three champagne glasses in the other. (I'm sure, at the moment, this made sense.) And Mary Virginia kept saying, "Let me put that bottle in my purse," and the rest of us kept insisting: "There might be someone here who needs a drink!" We meet a lot of interesting people that way.

Sharon's Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding

2 cups scalded milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 large eggs, beaten

1 package hamburger buns (really!)

Whiskey Sauce:

1 stick butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons bourbon

Lightly grease an 11x9 inch baking dish. Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until butter is melted. Let cool. Mix sugar, salt and cinnamon together. Pour milk/butter mixture into beaten eggs; add sugar mixture. With kitchen scissors, cut buns into cubes. Put bread cubes into a large bowl and pour liquid mixture over. Toss to moisten but don't overdo! or you'll get mush.

Pour into the baking dish, place that dish into another baking pan filled half full of water. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from the hot water. Best when served warm with Whiskey Sauce.

Sauce: Melt one stick of butter, add two cups powdered sugar and bourbon. Mix until smooth and serve warm. (SR swore you'd go to hell if you didn't use Jack Daniels. I'm a bourbon person (Jack Daniels is NOT bourbon) so I prefer Makers Mark. You can just suit yourself, but it doesn't matter...this is wonderful.)

We'll do Red Beans & Rice, and Jambalaya, later.