Baby Shower

Last week I had the privilege of going to a shower in Decatur for Baby Emma.  It was so much fun!!!

I've included a few photos of our fun morning.

These are the hostesses with Mother-to-be, Bailey.  From left to right--Kate, Mary Ila, Mother-to-Be, Leah, Cathorine and Megan.  Aren't they cute???

 Guess who???  These are the proud grandmothers with Bailey.  Me, Bailey and Ann.

Time to open the gifts      

Baby Emma and Bailey received so many nice and useful gifts

I think Bailey likes this process

She has so many cute friends. 

Kate, Bailey and Heather.  More great friends!!

Juanita and her daughter Kelsey drove from Florence to be at the shower.  Wasn't that sweet.

Thanks Juanita and Kelsey.

Delicious cupcakes---Mmmm good!!

I can't end this post without talking about the food.  I am so sorry I did not take more photos of the table and all the food.  Being a first time grandmother is a bit distracting.  I was concentrating on all those fabulous gifts!!!  The food was fantastic!!  We were met with Mimosos as we arrived and then enjoyed blueberry muffins, fruit, an egg dish, grits(what southern brunch does not serve grits), cupcakes and more!!  It was all delicious, but the coffee/ice cream punch was to die for.  OMG, I could not stop drinking it.  I resisted it until the end of the party and it is a good thing I did or there would not have been enough for the other guest.  I am still dreaming of that punch.  If I can get my hands on this punch recipe, I will share in a future post.   It is definitely worth the millions of calories!!


Thanks young hostesses for such a fun morning.  I am so thankful that Bailey has such wonderful friends that surround her with love and support.
patti

SURPRISE!!!!!!

Yes,  my blogging has been sporadic at best for the last 6 months.  I have lots of catching up to do and will be trying to do that over the next few weeks. So here goes---In October, during a family weekend in Nashville, my daughter, Bailey, and her hubby, Sage, revealed that they were expecting my first grand child. What a surprise and what JOY!!!!  Words cannot express how excited I am about this new little life in our family.  Bailey and Sage will be wonderful parents and if I do say so myself, I think I will be a pretty incredible grandmother.  I must say I don't relish the idea of being called Granny or Big Momma, so I have to come up with a cool grandmother name.  HELP!!!!!   Christmas brought more excitement - we found out the sex of our BABY.

Bailey and Sage revealed the sex of MY grandchild thru this precious cake and I had the honors of cutting it.

  It revealed ------------------------IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Yep, it's a Girl!  This baby girl is going to be named Emma Gunter.  Emma is my Mother's name and Gunter was her maiden name.  How sweet is that??  To make it even more special, my Mother, was on hand for the reveal.   Bailey is so close to my Mother and has always said she wanted to name her little girl after grandmother.  So in conclusion to this post,  Baby Emma is scheduled to arrive on June 4.    

Oh, by the way, the cake was delicious!!!!!

patti

Corn and Wild Rice Soup with Smoked Sausage

Mmm good!!!!

Corn and Wild Rice Soup with Smoked Sausage

I made this over the Christmas holidays to rave reviews.  Last week I decided to make again. It was just as good as I remembered.  I served with crusty french bread.  Yum!!

patti

Pumpkin Muffins

I love this time of year!!! When I saw the big display of pumpkin in the grocery store, I knew it was time to start baking.  These muffins are so good.

Don't you just love these cute fall shapes!!!

I found the silicone baking molds at WalMart several years ago.  I have been searching for another mold for quite some time. It takes a long time to bake when you only have a mold of 6.  I have had no luck until recently.  I was so excited when I found a mold of 6 pumpkins!!!  They are made by Wilton and I found them in the Halloween section.

I sure hope you enjoy the Pumpkin Muffins and find a cute pan to use!

patti

Tuscan Lemon Chicken

I was in the mood for a tasty grilled chicken and remembered how much I enjoyed this recipe the last time I prepared it.  It was as good the second time around as the first.  Thank you Ina Garten!!!! Your recipes are the best.

This recipe seems a little complicated since you cut the bird in half and remove all of the breast bone.  I must admit I was a bit intimidated by this process, but I did it. (miracle)  Removing this bone allows the chicken to lay flat on the grill.  Tuscan Lemon Chicken is so moist and tender.  Make sure you grill the lemon halves and squeeze over the grilled chicken.  I served this with oven roasted broccoli.  Oh my, so good!!!!!

Enjoy,

patti

Bran Muffins

I was getting tired of my usual oatmeal and toast for breakfast, so I decided to make a batch of Bran Muffins.  I froze all but the three that I scarfed down the minute they came out of the oven. Delicious!!! Now that they are frozen and not in my face tempting me,  I can take out one each morning.

This was a nice change for breakfast, but impossible to eat just one.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and changed it just a little.  I added craisins instead of raisins and doubled the amount.  Nuts would have been good but I was too lazy to chop.  These are really yummy!!!

Enjoy,

patti

Taste Buds

After our summer hiatus, my cookbook club, The Taste Buds, reconvened for our September meeting. Peggy was our hostess and she decided to invite other cookbook clubs and have a tailgate theme.  We southerners do love our football teams and this was a great idea for September.  We could bring anything that we would want to take to a tailgate.  We had lots of great food, but first I have to say a few words about where this took place.  As I said, Peggy was our hostess and we met at what her family calls the pool house.  I wish I had photographed this house from the front/entrance but I was too interested in tasting all the good food and forgot.  This house is one gianormous room. It is so neat!!!!! It has the look of an old farmhouse.  I have only been there a few times, but I just love it.  You may wonder, why does anyone need a room/house like this, but believe me this family needs all the room they can get when they come together. There is a lot of them!!  Ok now for the pictures and food:

This gazpacho at the end of the table was fabulous and so smooth.  It would be so good at one of the early games in our very hot southern climate.  My mouth is watering!!

Patricia, Linda, Peggy(our hostess) and Anne

Lillajo, Gay(serving that delicious Gazpacho), Kathy and Anne

Along with great food comes good conversation. I wonder what they are talking about??

Another view of the table and you can also see more of this great room.

 Sissie and Peggy 

 Beth and Brenda standing by my dish.  Do you think they could be discussing how much they like my Tuscan Cheese Torta??

 Patricia, Gay, Jennifer, Linda and Peggy

Jennifer and Linda getting some of the delicious Do-Ahead Brisket from Dallas Dish. This brisket made great little sandwiches. I had two!!  Also a better peek into this fabulous room.

More hovering over the Do-Ahead Brisket. Did I mention how good it was!!!

Linda Kay trying the Salmon Tea Sandwiches.  OMG!!!!  Delicious!

Now on to pics of just the food.  I tried to photograph everything, but I missed some, so please forgive me if your item does not appear.  I also do not claim to be a photographer and some of my photos did not do your dish justice, so I decided not to include.  But here is what I have:

                                                                                                  

                    Chicken Couscous Salad                                                                          

      Pimento Cheese on Cornbread Toasts

             

               Salmon Tea Sandwiches

                       

                              Pickled Shrimp          

                 Tuscan Cheese Torta

                        Do-Ahead Brisket

            Rocky Road Fudge Bars

                     Outrageous Brownies

                            Elephant Ears

As you can see we had a variety of tailgate foods.  I might add that it was all delicious!  Now on to sitting down and chowing down.  Yum!!!

We are serious about cooking and eating.  Examining a cookbook for 2012.

Still eating - it was sooo good!

 Three other cookbook clubs were represented - Dishin Divas,  Red Roosters, and LeGourmet.

It sure was fun having all of you join the Taste Buds for our September meeting and many thanks to Peggy for this great idea and the use of her gianormous room.

If you are interested in any of these recipes, just let me know and I will try to get them posted for you.

patti

Gardening

Well hello everyone. I've been out of the blogging world for a few months. I hope you have noticed. These past few months have been crazy, but I'm ready to get back to cooking and sharing with you. I am including a few pictures on this post to let you see that I am not a total bum. I have been doing something productive --- GARDENING!!!!

                      BELL PEPPER

Is there a recipe that does not call for bell pepper?

                              TOMATOES

What would summer be without these heavenly
fruits??  Although the extreme heat has taken a
toll on them and the worms have had a feast, I
have  really enjoyed them, especially in
sandwiches.

                            CHERRY TOMATOES

I love to eat these right off the vine.  I have
especially enjoyed them in salads and roasted.
The squirrels have also enjoyed them.

                             EGGPLANT

Delicious!!!  Roasted - Grilled - Casseroles
I do love eggplant!!

                      ASIAN EGGPLANT

     These little jewels have been wonderful!!












So what do you think of my garden??  Well that pretty much explains what I have been doing this summer.  Now I am ready to get back to cooking and sharing again.  See you soon.

patti

This Week in My Kitchen

I have been out of my kitchen lately and I am looking forward to the recipes I have selected this week. Ready to get cooking!

     

From top left:


Chipotle-Marinated Pork Chops with Chimichurri Sauce:  The weather is getting warmer and days longer so I decided to grill this week.  This is a cooking light recipe from June 2000.  I had some

canned chipotle peppers left from the salad dressing I made last week, so this sounded like a good way to use them.
Results:  These pork chops were actually good.  I was surprised at how much flavor they had while only marinating in chicken broth and peppers. Love a low fat way to add flavor to a dish.  I think I would add another pepper to the marinade the next time.  I did not like the chimichurri sauce.  Yuk--too much vinegar flavor for me.  I will make the pork chops again but never the sauce.

Baked Zucchini Fries:  (Not Pictured)  I found this recipe on another food blog(Two Peas and Their Pod).  I thought it would be a nice substitute for potato fries.
Results:  This was the hit of the week.  OMG these are delicious.  I served with the pork chops but they would be great with a burger as well.  I liked this so much, I made it twice this week.  Great with ketchup.

Fiery "Fried" Chicken:  This is a Real Simple recipe from 2007.  I love chicken and this is a low calorie recipe that looks "real simple".
Results:  Delicious!!  So easy and fast with lots of flavor. The recipe did not say how long to marinate the chicken.  I did it all day and it was perfect.   I will definitely be making this recipe again and again.

Roasted Cauliflower with Kalamata Vinaigrette:  I found this recipe at epicurious.com.  I enjoyed the roasted cauliflower I prepared a few weeks ago so much that I decided to try this one with the kalamata vinaigrette.
Results: This was great and the Kalamata Vinaigrette was to die for.  I loved it on the roasted cauliflower. So yummy.   I cant wait to serve this to guests.

Can't wait to try these recipes.  Check back for the results.

patti

This Week in My Kitchen

Busy and crazy week, so not too much cooking this week.

Couscous Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Feta, Sun -Dried
Tomatoes and Kalamata Olives

Baby Romaine Salad with Spicy Chicken and Warm
Chipotle Vinaigrette

Couscous Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Feta, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Kalamata Olives:  This is a Food Network recipe that I have been eyeing for some time.  I hope it is as good as it looks.
Results:  Wow!! Delicious!!  A bit tedious but so worth it.  It is hard to keep the stuffing in the chicken breast when browning it in skillet.  Loved the combination of sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta cheese.  Mmmm!!!

Baby Romaine Salad with Spicy Chicken and Warm Chipotle Vinaigrette:  I am a salad lover and this one looks so very good. I found the recipe on the Fine Cooking website.
Results:  This was really good.  I must admit after making the dressing I was worried, but mixed with all the other ingredients it took on a great flavor. You could also add other ingredients to this salad, such as black beans and cheese. Be careful with the chipotle.  It is very hot.  I served this salad as a main dish. 

Check back and I will post the results.

patti