You know all of the shows, "Best Of" magazine, newspaper and internet articles? I want to know if they are really worth the fuss. I'm trying to find out if I'd recommend them to MY friends and family. And as often as I can, I'll give you the source of who gave ME the original recommendation.
This recipe is dedicated to my precious grandfather, Newt Strength. He loved pork more than anyone I know, except for maybe my father. He came to visit me once in North Carolina before he passed away and I made him this pork loin. He loved it. It’s one of the last things I was able to do for him. I love and miss you, Newk!
Garlic Rosemary Pork Loin
Garlic Rosemary Roasted Pork Loin
Ingredients
2 lbs boneless pork loin roast
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Crush garlic with rosemary, salt and pepper, making a paste.
Pierce meat with a sharp knife in several places and press the garlic paste into the openings.
Rub the meat with the remaining garlic mixture and olive oil.
Place pork loin into oven for 2 hours, turning and basting with pan liquids.6
After 2 hours remove pork roast to a platter.
Heat the wine in the pan and stir to loosen browned bits of food on the bottom.
Seafood is my passion. I love it, LOVE IT. I need to cook it more often, but it does intimidate me at times. This recipe is simple and delicious. Not low calorie, but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Garlic Shrimp
Ingredients
8 fresh Texas toast thick bread, slices
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 lbs peeled large raw shrimp (2 0/25 count)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup butter
4 fresh thyme sprigs
2 tablespoons jarred minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced shallots or 2 tablespoons sweet onions
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley Garnish
lemon zest
Garlic Shrimp
directions
Preheat grill to 300° to 350° (medium) heat. Drizzle 1 side of bread slices with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Grill bread slices 1 to 2 minutes or until toasted. Cut bread slices into triangles. Place on a serving platter.
Devein shrimp, if desired. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Melt butter with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add shrimp, thyme, and next 2 ingredients, and sauté 2 to 3 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink. Add lemon juice and parsley. Serve immediately over grilled bread. Garnish, if desired.
I love seafood. When we go home to Florida, that is maybe what I look forward to most. Right after our family. Oh, and those beautiful beaches. OK, so it is 3rd on my list. We usually get home once a year, for one week, so for the rest of the year I’m here in North Carolina. Lots of lovely restaurants here, but you just can’t compete with a town right on the Gulf of Mexico, now can you?
To get myself through to my next visit, I make these favorites:
Seared Scallops With Bacon, Tarragon and Lemon
I’m sorry for the crummy picture, sometimes I forget to snap one until too late and have to do a rush job. Plus, as you can see, these were frozen scallops, so have some of that discoloration that looks like freezer burn. It didn’t matter. They were absolutely delicious! This recipe came to me as an appetizer, but I put them over pasta noodles I’d tossed with a little butter and Parmesan cheese and made them into a full meal.
Sometimes you just need a big bowl of pasta to get you through. Tomorrow we are supposed to be experiencing a “Snowpacalypse” in the Carolinas, and I am seriously nervous. I hate being closed up in the house for too long, and I HATE the thought of losing power and sitting in the dark and freezing. To calm myself down, I made a big pot of creamy pasta. It worked, I’m cool as a cuke now. Bring it on, wretched snowstorm.
Pasta Carbonara
Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients
coarse salt and pepper
6 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
4 leeks, halved lengthwise, rinsed well, and thinly sliced ( white and light-green parts only)
3/4 lb short pasta, such as campanelle (I used gemelli and more like 1/2 lb.) or 3/4 lb orecchiette ( I used gemelli and more like 1/2 lb.)
2 large eggs
1/2 ounce parmesan cheese, grated ( 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped (optional)
Directions
1. Set a large pot of salted water to boil. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet. (I did not pour off any fat… it looked too good to discard.) Add leeks, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until leeks are golden brown, about 10 minutes.
2. Add pasta to pot and cook according to package instructions. Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking liquid. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, Parmesan, and lemon zest and juice. Whisk 1/4 cup pasta water into egg mixture.
3. Drain pasta and immediately add to egg mixture, along with bacon, leeks, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Sprinkle with more cheese if desired and serve immediately.
Jia is one of my favorite restaurants in Gastonia. The only problem is it is nearly in Cramerton, so if I’m out shopping on the main drag (read that Franklin Blvd.) then it is kind of a haul. But, lucky me, my sister is in Cramerton, so I usually stop by pretty often 🙂
The restaurant is small and unassuming, but we’ve never had a bad meal here. I’ve worked my way through most of the menu, and some of my favorite dishes include the calamari, spring rolls and hot and sour soup. The calamari is crispy and spiced perfectly. The spring rolls have pork and shrimp and are served with the most delicious sweet chili sauce for dipping. But my favorite appetizer is the Hot and Sour Soup. It is chock full of mushrooms and tofu and comes with crispy fried noodles. Perfect for winter!
Hot and Sour Soup
The sushi at Jia is among the best I’ve ever had. The fish is fresh, and the rolls are innovative. If you will check out the Specials board when you enter, you’ll see some specialty rolls that aren’t on the menu and even some that are with lower prices.
As fall weasles its way into the Carolinas, it’s time to start thinking about soup. Here are a few of my very favorites:
Paula Deen’s French Onion Soup
Paula Deen’s French Onion Soup
INGREDIENTS
8 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 cups beef stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 loaf French bread
2 cups grated gruyere
DIRECTIONS
Saute onions and garlic in oil over low heat until tender and golden yellow.
Sprinkle flour over onions, cook a few minutes more, browning the flour well.
Add stock and wine and bring to a boil, add thyme and bay leaf.
Reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for 20 minutes or so. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
Meanwhile, slice French bread into 3/4-inch slices and butter both sides. Toast slices on griddle until golden brown.
Ladle soup into an ovenproof bowl, add toasted bread and cover with cheese.
Place ovenproof bowl on a baking sheet lined with tin foil.
Bake at 350 degrees 4 or 5 minutes under a hot broiler.
Chicken A la Reine Soup
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1 cup finely diced onion
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced carrot
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
8 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup finely diced green pepper
1 cup cooked rice
1 1/2 cups finely diced cooked chicken
1 cup half-and-half, heated
salt
white pepper
directions
Heat butter in large pot and cook vegetables until tender over low heat, stirring occasionally.
Add flour; cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Do not brown.
Gradually stir in broth until blended.
Bring to a boil, cover and cook over low heat 5 minutes.
Add rice and chicken and heat another 5 minutes.
Stir in hot half and half.
Heat, but do not boil.
Season to taste and serve.
Minestrone soup is an Italian classic. This one is simple and flavorful and warms you up on a cold winter evening.
Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
1 lb sweet sausage or 1 lb hot sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrot, diced
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 small zucchini, sliced thin
1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained
4 (10 ounce) cans beef bouillon
2 cups cabbage, shredded
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (15 ounce) can great northern beans
1/2 cup rice, uncooked
1/2 cup red wine
directions
Saute sausage until brown.
Add onion, garlic, carrots, and basil and cook for 5 minutes.
Add zucchini, tomatoes with liquid, bouillon, cabbage, salt, and pepper.
Bring soup to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer covered for an hour.
Rinse beans. Add the beans, rice, and wine.
Cook for 30 minutes, or until rice is done.
You can eat this now and top with cheddar cheese, but it is even better the next day.
Cream of Broccoli Soup With Cheddar Cheese
Ingredients
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cooked finely chopped broccoli
Directions
Cook onions in butter until tender. Blend in flour and seasonings and cook 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add boiling water and bouillon cubes and cook slowly until thick, stir in milk until smooth. Add the cheese and broccoli and heat through. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
I did try a few Pinterest crafts with the kids this year for Christmas. Cute enough, but not the best I’ve ever done. The children had fun, though, so worthwhile. Here’s how my versions stack up to the Pinterest versions:
First up is the Christmas Tree Cone. Here is where the idea came from and what it was supposed to look like:
Perhaps not as pretty, but I let the kids do most of it. You could spruce up the bottom with “presents” from Starburst Candies, or Teddy Grahams..that’d be cute!
Next up:
This is the picture I found on Pinterest. A large marshmallow with peppermint sticks jammed down in them, dipped in melted white chocolate and sprinkled with sugar. These were easy enough, though I couldn’t find peppermint sticks. Thanks, Lincolnton Walmart.
Theirs
Theirs
Mine:
Mine
And the last project: Homemade BBQ Sauce YUMMM!
This one I got out of a magazine and gave it a go. Absolutely my favorite sauce for BBQ..and I even had a couple of calls from people I’d given it to for the recipe. So here it is for the world to see 🙂
Spicy Barbecue Sauce
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar (or white distilled)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons dry rub seasonings, mix
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Stir well. Over medium heat, bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 60 minutes. Stir occasionally as it cooks. Store in refrigerator. Keeps for several weeks.
Back in the day, you used to get recipe cards with your bank statements! At least at the little bank we used in our town of Crestview, Florida. First Bank of Crestview still sends them out to this day! Most of us get our statements online to save a tree, I guess, but lucky for me, my mom-in-law gets them in the mail and still saves the recipes for me! This recipe is from one of these old timey cards.
Now, I’m going to give it to you like it was written. But. I am making a couple of changes next time I make it. My people loved it just this way, but I like my chicken a little more tender. So, next time I’ll either sear it in a pan first or just bake it a bit longer, maybe an hour and half. I’m crazy like that.
Specialty Chicken over rice, green beans and bread with butter. Yums!
Specialty Chicken
INGREDIENTS
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
garlic powder
3 ounces cream cheese, cut in 4 pieces
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
Pound chicken breasts until flat. Sprinkle each breast with 1 teaspoons parsley flakes and garlic powder. Add one slice cream cheese and roll up chicken, securing with toothpicks. Place breasts in a greased 13×9″ glass baking pan. Combine remaining ingredients until smooth and pour over chicken. Bake at 325 for one hour. Serve over rice or egg noodles.
If you’d like an easily printable copy of this recipe, click here: Specialty Chicken
My people love some Mexican food. And this specific recipe is very special to me because a long ago friend from Osceola, Arkansas brought it to a church potluck once and I asked for the recipe. She wrote it out by hand, and photocopied it since there were so many of us who wanted it. I found it tucked away in my files the other day and my brain just flooded with memories of that sweet family!
Three Cheese Enchiladas and the recipe 🙂
Three Cheese Enchiladas
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 (3 ounce) package softened cream cheese
1 cup Pace Picante Sauce
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
8 (7 -8 inch) flour tortillas
shredded Lettuce
chopped tomato
DIRECTIONS
Combine 1 cup each of jack and cheddar, and the cream cheese, 1/4 cup picante, peppers, onion, and seasonings; mix well.
Spoon 1/4 cup mix down the middle of each tortilla.
Roll and place seam side down in 13×9-inch baking dish.
Spoon remaining sauce over top. Cover with remaining mixed cheese.
Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.
Top with lettuce and tomato and serve with additional picante sauce.
Nan and Byron’s is a new restaurant in Charlotte by the folks who brought you 5Church. I understand that 5Church is upscale (I haven’t visited yet) and they bring the same care for their food to Nan & Byron’s but the prices are pretty amazing. We arrived at the restaurant, located in the old Vinnie’s Raw Bar on South Blvd, a little earlier than our reservation time of 8:30 p.m. We were told to have a seat and we’d be seated at our table close to our reservation time. Once we were 5 or 10 minutes past our reservation time, the manager came over to apologize for our wait and brought us 4 drinks of our choice for our trouble. Wow! Actually not a bad move, because we bought 4 more plus our dinner beverages. Still, the gesture was welcome. It set the tone for what was to be a great evening.
Before he even got back with our drinks, we were seated at our table. We were by the bar and near a large party, so the noise level was a bit loud for me, but this time of year, that is to be expected. We were brought our *free* drinks and some yummy chipotle spiced popcorn for the table. It was a welcome, and somehow hip change from the normal bread and butter. The drinks we tried included (but were not limited to) Farmhouse lemonade and the Cadillac Jalapeno Margarita. All were pronounced yummy, but they are a little on the pricey side. Please remember, the food is a bargain, so they have to make their money somewhere!
Chipotle spiced popcornFarmhouse Lemonade
For our appetizers, we ordered Deviled Eggs and Peppedew Poppers. The deviled eggs were so pretty, they tasted nearly as good as they looked. What was very present was a vinegar taste that I thought was a little overwhelming. Still, creamy and delicious! The Poppers were little fritters full of nuclear hot cheese. I took one bite, it spewed on me, dripping on my shirt and burning my lips. So, my tip to you is this…use a fork. No fun with pick up-ables, but trust me, save your shirt and your tongue. You don’t want cat-tongue for the rest of your meal. Once we learned to properly eat the poppers, we discovered them to be more than delicious, breaded nuggets with a fresh dipping sauce that was very herbaceous.
Peppedew Poppers and Deviled Eggs
My dinner came with 2 sides, so for one of my sides I opted for a Caesar salad. The romaine lettuce was chopped into bite sized pieces making it simple to eat, which pleases me greatly. The dressing is very tangy and it is served teeth-chatteringly cold. Sprinkled atop it all was grated Parmesan cheese which gave it a salty bite to perfectly contrast the croutons. I loved it.
Caesar Salad
The entrees were presented so lovingly and were almost too beautiful to eat. I got the chicken, which was a 1/2 chicken roasted in Peruvian spices and sitting atop some spicy green sauce. My other side (besides the salad above) was the macaroni and cheese. They were pretty skimpy with that. Luckily, the deliciousness of the chicken more than made up for this. It was so tender, and juicy! The spices were perfect, not too overpowering, smoky and sweet. It all worked together, perfectly. I will be hard pressed to try something new next time I go.
Chicken with Peruvian spices
The guys got the meatloaf. It is described as seasoned ground beef topped by sriracha ketchup and red wine sauce. I only got a tiny taste, but it was really good meatloaf. Tender, not greasy at all, and that ketchup. Wow. Nan needs to bottle it and sell it. Dustin opted for double starches with mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. It worked.
Meatloaf
The last entree we sampled was a sandwich. My friend got the Farmhouse burger and she was very impressed by all of the different flavors going on: spicy cheese, smoky sauce and salty bacon top the nicely seasoned ground beef. Yummy!
Farmhouse Burger
Desserts are not “officially” on the menu yet (at the time of our visit) but we are told they are made by the pastry chef at 5Church and brought over, so the menu changes seasonally or to the whims of 5Church. We tried the Berry-Apple Cobbler, The Brownie and the Whoopie Pie. The Berry-Apple Cobbler was ho-hum and had an odd sort of processed taste to it. I wasn’t impressed. My friends got the Whoopie Pie, and they said it needed ice cream or something to combat its dryness. Mine however, the Brownie, was a.maz.ing. The brownie was warm and gooey, the peanut butter ice cream that topped it was a perfect rich accompaniment. I wish I had one now.
BrownieWhoopie PieApple-Berry Cobbler
This new restaurant is an exciting new concept for Charlotte, at least to my way of thinking. Our reservation at 8:30 p.m. led us to be one of the last “diners” in the joint, which began to fill up with hip looking young folks. I think Nan and Byron’s might be too cool of a scene for a homegirl like me, but just try to keep me away.
barenakedchefsaidso.com 