If you got the poison, I've got the Remedy

Does anyone remember this song from Jason Mraz?  Well I DO. And I remember him before he sold out and went all beachy with Colby Caillat, whose popularity still boggles my mind. BUT then again I am I like music of a different era. The hubs and I had our first dance to Queen's Best Friend and when we were announced for the first time as husband and wife, we ran out to Sweet Child of Mine, a song which the hubs was proud to have picked out. I never claimed to be normal, I only claim to be me.

Whoa A.D.D. This kind of non-topic conversation is only appropriate with those that can follow along. I'm looking at you T-Pain and Lady Bird. Why was I referencing that song? Oh yes. Because last week, I was sick as a dog y'all! Like so sick I had to leave work early, and I happen to be one of those weird people who not only LOVES my job, but also really likes the people that I get to see on a daily basis. But I digress. After I sent myself home and let me tell you: I was craving some ginger ale, dayquil and some soup. We had some pre-made soups, but I was a hankering for something hardy! Something that would coat the tummy and give Nurse Sir Rupert some reassurance that I was going to be on the mend shortly. This is him giving me the stink eye. He does not like seeing me sick and wanted me better. In order to make he rest he resorted to pinning me down and giving me dirty looks. Touche' Sir Rupert, you win this round my fuzzy friend.

I had these Irish potatoes from my produce box, and some left over kale so I decided to do a vegetarian spin on the Olive Garden's Zuppa Italiano, which is made with sausage.

Start out by sauteeing some onions and garlic in EVOO in a small saucepan until they are translucent. 

Chop and quarter your potatoes. In a cauldron add your softened onion mixture with 2 cups of vegetable broth with 1 cup of skim milk. Add in 2 tsp of died rosemary and a bay leaf.

Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.

Fish out the potatoes and place into your food processor. If you like some chunks, as I do only take out 3/4 of your cooked potatoes. Puree until smooth. If needed, add some broth to create a nice silky texture. Add this back into your cauldron.

Wow look at the color difference! Go ahead and steam 2 cups of Kale until soft. I did this in the microwave.

I don't have a finished photo, but it was quite tasty. I seasoned with a little salt and a lot of pepper. I also melted cheese it in and ate it with some crushed saltines. Perfecto! And Sir Rupert gave it two enthusiastic paws up!

If you're a meat eater and want to do this with the sausage, just cook it with the onions at the first step. I would imagine it to be tasty that way as well. I ate this for three lunches in a row and it was just as good as the first time every time. Hey- I think that is a line from the Lonestar song: I'm already there. SLIGHTY different context this time! 

Enjoy!

What do you use to mend a Jack-o-Lantern?

A pumpkin patch!

ZING!

Good one. Y'all know I love a cheesy joke.

Fall. Yes. I am going totally over kill with it but I cannot help it. Fall in North Carolina is magical. The leaves changing, the low humidity, the 65 degree weather? Love it! AND I get to wear what many would consider to be my uniform: shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Perfect mix. I don't mind my legs cold and prefer my upper body a bit warmer. Fall is the only time I can do this!

What? What is what you say? SSC! Can't you do that in the spring? NO! AND I am bitter. (I know surprise, surprise!) Spring has been robbed from our quatro seasons here for like the fifth year! It is 30 degrees for all of February with maybe a rouge snow snow, you get one week in March of it being 65 and them BOOM 95! 100% humidity! Frizz everywhere! And UGH! You're sweating and can't breath from all the pollen. This is not a transitional season. It goes from frigid to steamy. It is hell. Pure hazy yellow hell. I am thankful every year that I do not suffer from seasonal allergies. The hubs does though. Poor thing. Everyone in unison now: awwwww!

One of the quatro amigo's introduced me to this concept. While on her blog she is confused, there is no confusing this recipe, it is pure deliciousness. Truth be told Mama Shute introed this concept to me via brownies, and it works, but for the fall season I highly recommend this.

Ready? Buy a box of cake mix. 1 can of pumpkin. Mix with 1/4 cup of water. Put into a 350 degree oven.

Cook for 10-12 minutes, or until you can stick a knife in it and it comes out clean.

Mmmm. Yummy and so moist!

OK! Variation time. I have made these so many times that I am well versed in how to switch it up. All of these follow the same principle, 1 box, 1 can pureed pumpkin and 1/4 c water. Buy a box of gingerbread mix for a spicy seasonal muffin. This also works for spice cake mix too. Also try a yellow cake, with butterscotch chips and a splash of vanilla and cinnamon. And like Mama Shute Suggested, you can also do this with brownie mix, devils food cake and other boxed treats. When the flavors are that strong, you don't even taste the pumpkin. What a nice, healthy and delicious season treat! 

Shoeless Joe's Hometown Eats Y'all

BAM! Field of Dreams reference! And I bought my Chicago cubs tee (and only paid 4 dollars for it, holla!) for next year's sports vacay! 

Two weekends ago I packed my things and headed south to the mysterious and wild land known as Greenville, South Carolina. Why would one leave the far superior state of North Carolina to venture into our savage sister state to the south? Friends. Yes it is that time of the year when flights are booked, monogrammed bags are packed and the quatro amigos reunite for a yearly get together that rivals that of the g8 summits.  This year we all trekked down to the quaint town of Greenville for a hostel takeover lasting 2 nights. I drove back to Raleigh that Sunday and behind me I left my big toenail, my dignity, Saturday night's dinner and a lot of sleep hours. It was in a word: epic. Luckily for us, our hostess greeted us with a delicious shrimp quinoa dish that I have tried to recreate here. This is more of a loose interpretation, because I am 99% sure hers had mushrooms in it and no peppers, but c'est la vie, what can you do?

I started with by sautéing onions and tri-colored pepper in EVOO until the onions were translucent and the peppers soft.

Next I added about 5 asparagus cut into inch pieces and a half a zucchini. These were also sautéed until the zucchini was soft, about 3 minutes. Once done, this went into another bowl to cool while the shrimp cook.

In the same pan I threw in shrimp which were heavily seasoned with a Cajun spice mixture. You can adjust this to your own tastes and heat tolerance. Me? I'm a such a hot tamale myself, I can take the heat.

Say hello to my little friend. As you can see from the photo above, I am NOT referencing Sir Rupert. Folks, meet Seeds of Change. I find this in my organic section of my grocery store, and ever since Mama Shute introduced me to these, I have fallen IN LOVE. 90 sections to perfectly cooked quinoa and whole grains? Yes please. Beats the frozen brown rice, that's for sure.

After your quinoa has been nuked add it into the shrimp and mix lightly.

Add the veggie mix BACK into the shrimp and quinoa.

And serve!

You can very much adapt this to be some type of shrimp stir fry. Add some hoisen and/or soy sauce into the veggie mix and season your shrimp with red pepper flakes and ginger. Easy as pie!

It's 9 o clock! On the Dot! I'm in my drop top crusin' the streets!

Actually. It was 9 o clock and sadly I was in no drop top, nor was I cruising the streets. It was 9 and Todd and I realized we hadn't eaten dinner yet. Opps. Todd usually doesn't get home until around 7:30, so we are used to eating late. And.... I usually come home and take a nap because while I have been out of school for over a year, I just can't shake my naps. I feel like I making up for all the naps I lost as a child.

Story time! 

As legend has it I did not sleep for more than an hour until about 4 years old. Opps. Sorry Mama and Papa Shute! While Papa Shute has a flair for the hyperbole (and now y’all know where I get it from) this apparently has some truth to it. My sister and I are 1 year and 17 days apart and girlfriend had to be relocated to my brother’s room so that she could get some sleep.  This was largely due to my refusal to sleep, a pinch of not wanting to be a part of any of the action splashed with taking a friend traveling down that slippery slope of insomnia with me. I also did not nap. Ever. Nap time was the worst! Now I can’t believe at one point in my life I was REQUIRED to do so.  And now what I wouldn't give to be able to curl up on a soft mat under my desk and siesta mid-day. If I had only known then what I'd be missing as an adult I would have taken every napping opportunity I could!

THE END.

What was I saying? Oh yes. It’s late and I needed to make dinner quick. So how about shiitake mushroom and brie frittatas!??! YES!  Preheat your oven to 350.

Sautee ½ cup of chopped onion until soft.

Add your chopped mushrooms and cook until they start to turn to a darker color.

In a separate bowl beat together 2 whole eggs with 4 egg whites. (or 4 whole eggs if you’re not watching your waistline). Add in 3 tbsps of grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp rosemary and salt and pepper.

Slice your brie and place on top of the mixture. It will stay on top. Cook almost all the way through until the top is still liquid.

Place in the oven to finish cooking. It is done when cooked through, brown on top and the cheese is gooey.

Cut into sections and serve. So good. And ya’ll know I love the brie and shiitake combo!

TGIFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No. Not Thank God It's Friday- this post it Thank God It's Football Season! I love football season. I have loved it since my first game which was ironically on my 18th birthday way back in 20... well that part really doesn't matter. The point is I have loved every aspect of collegiate football and without fail. Yes, thanks for asking as a matter of fact I do judge people base on who they root for. I also without apology judge them harder if they root for a college that either they, their siblings, children or spouse did not attend. Truth y'all. It's all I speak,

Well now that the pleasantries are over with, I can also tell you that I also enjoy the tailgate aspect as much or quite possibly more than the actual game at hand. And for this years inaugural game we decided the best way to christen this event would be with a good ole' fashion Louisiana Boil. It was also our way of pouring one out to honor Lady Bird who cannot be here this season because she is attending Med School at fabulous Tulane in NOLA. I know- I am deeply jealous as well- but no worries folks! We have a crew all ready to go visit her when we find an awesome deal on a flight. I'll keep you posted for when that little adventure happens.

So back to the boil. I'll have you all know I had every intention of photographing every aspect of this boil, but as any good southerner knows: when the firefly sweet tea vodka starts a flowing- just go with it and let the night happen (I think that is in some famous quote book, but not likely. It should be).

This recipe was largely adapted from this website: What's Cooking America?

I only had a 2 gallon pot, so I made this in two batches. This was what I used:
For the actual boiling liquid:
2 garlic bulbs (1 used per batch)
3 oranges (1.5 used per batch)
2 lemons (1 used per batch)
4 light beers (2 used per batch)
water (~3/4 gallon per batch)
Crab boil seasoning (same bag for both batches)
8 bay leaves (4 per batch)

I let these items come to a boil. I will now list the ingredients as a per batch basis. If you have a larger pot then double this or do like I did and make it twice. First you add 9 new potatoes. These need to cook for at least 10 minutes, or until they are fork tender. I had frozen corn from my produce box so I added to the mix 3 ears that were shucked, pre-boiled and were cut in half. Next I added good ole' slice andouille sausage. 2 large links cut into 1/2 inch pieces and added into the pot. These cooked for 5 minutes.

Next I added 1.5 pounds of whole crawdads. As the kind folks at Earp's seafood kindly told me: this aint crawdad season (not to get political, but even it it was I am sure the oil spill would have something to do with the lack of quantity). Apparently crawdaddy season is from January from April. Hello? Who eats crawdads during this time of year? Those critters need to get with the program.  So... all they had were fresh frozen crawdads, which were fine by me. I let them cook in the mix for 5 minutes. Lastly I added 1 pound of frozen shrimp (hey the crawdads were frozen, so who really cares at this point?). These cook for 3 minutes MAX.

I remove everything by cooking everything in a strainer that fits snuggly in my pot. Technically you're supposed to lay everything out over newspaper- but we put each batch into a bowl instead and feasted. Once in the bowl we sprinkled some Old Bay on top for extra seasoning. It was a hit. No crawdad left behind, thanks Dubya. As it should be. Who knows what will happen at the next home tail gate season? We shall see. But this was definitely a hit, one worth repeating. When you have strangers coming up and asking you what smells so good, you know you have done something right!