One of my blogger friends, Chris over at Mele Cotte was nice enough to present me with the “E for Excellence Award”. I would very much like to thank Chris for her kindness and for sharing her wonderful recipes, stories and humor.
Here are the rules friends: You have to choose 10 more blogs of any kind which you deem to be excellent. It’s tough to choose since there are so many excellent blogs out there but limit we must. I’m sure over time all of those much deserving bloggers will be awarded.
Here are my 10:
Mimi (French Kitchen in America) – Mimi gave Noshtagia its first mention in one of her posts for which I will be eternally grateful. Mimi’s blog takes American cooking and puts a French twist on it and her photo’s are amazing.
Butta Buns (Butta Buns) – What can I say with a tag line; “Well butter my buns and call me a biscuit! What’s not to love? Butta Buns has a terrific blog loaded with food, wit and humor.
Nic (Cherrapeno) – Nic was so generous to me, she sent me some smoked garlic that I had expressed an interest in, thank you once again Nic. You will love Nic’s blog the food is always fabulous.
Patricia (Technicolor Kitchen) – Patricia always leaves the nicest comments and her blog is a wonderful read in two languages English and Portuguese.
Gretchen Noelle (Canela & Comino) – Gretchen has a real passion for Peruvian food which she shares brilliantly and the photography is beautiful.
Tracy (Rah Cha Chow) – Tracy is a fellow Rochestarian the name of her blog reflects our slang pronunciation of Rochester. I’ve been rooting for Tracy’s entry in the Pillsbury Bake-Off “Jalapeno Popper Cups”; hope you get that Million Tracy.
Lidian (Kitchen Retro) – If you are a cookbook junkie you will love this blog. Lidian highlights recipes from old cookbooks that stir up delightful memories.
Catherine (The Dish) – I’ve enjoyed meeting Catherine through the blogosphere her blog has so much wit and humor but most importantly really great food.
Joe (Italyville) – I just love Joe’s blog, it reminds me of home and family there are some wonderful old world recipes to be found here that you will absolutely love.
Becky (Biker Chickz) – What’s not to Love about a wife, mother and mother-in-law who rides a motorcycle. Becky may be cool but her recipes are warm and comforting and easy to make.
We take for granted just how easy some foods are to prepare ourselves. It seems that we are so conditioned to automatically purchase certain foods pre-made at a supermarket or by taking a quick trip through a drive thru. I started to think about this when a friend of mine asked me to pick up some frozen onion rings at the supermarket to have with dinner, I said you are kidding those aren’t even real onion rings. They are just minced onion and mostly bread crumbs. I told her I would just make the onion rings, she looked shocked. You know how to make onion rings (like it was some mysterious government secret) I said yes and they are really easy to make and taste a lot better than anything you’d get from a store or drive thru not to mention how much more you would get for a lot less money. So I proceeded to make the onion rings as she watched looking at me like I was some great magician. As soon as she took her first bite she never wanted store bought or drive thru again.
It really is silly the money we waste on certain foods just to save a little time, we get so little and spend so much for what? I think taking the time affords us more in our lives and it sure as hell tastes a lot better when we do.
Beer Battered Onion Rings
1 1/2 cups of flour (pancake mix also works well)
1 1/2 cups of beer, active or flat, cold or at room temperature (Guinness makes for a really rich tasting batter and color but any beer will do).
3 lbs of Bermuda onions, Vidalia or any variety that you like
4 cups shortening or oil
Salt to taste (it's best to salt them right when they come out of the fryer)
Combine flour and beer in a large bowl and blend thoroughly, using a whisk. Cover the bowl and allow the batter to sit at room temperature for no less than 3 hours. Twenty minutes before the batter is ready, preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place brown paper from grocery bags or layers of paper toweling on a jelly roll pan. Carefully peel the papery skins from the onions into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices.
Separate the slices into rings and set aside.
Heat electric frying pan to 375 degrees and heat the cooking oil. With metal tongs, dip a few onion rings into batter. Then carefully place them in the hot oil. Fry rings, turning them once or twice until they're an even, delicate golden color. Now transfer to the paper-lined pan. To keep warm, place them on the middle shelf of the oven until all the onion rings have been fried.
Until spending time with an old friend many years ago I had never heard of any other style of stroganoff other than beef stroganoff. While at my friends house her and her mother got to reminiscing about the stroganoff her mother made using ham. They went on and on about how good it was and it made us all so hungry just talking about it we ended up having to run to the store for the ingredients. It took her mother no time at all to put this meal together and let me tell you it was delicious. Now I have another great use for leftover ham.
Ham Stroganoff
1 lb. cooked ham, cut into strips
1/2 chopped onion
2 tbsp. butter
1 small can cream of mushroom soup (do not dilute)
1 (4 oz.) can sliced mushrooms, not drained
1 (8 oz.) sour cream
1 pound bag of Extra Wide Egg Noodles
Sauté ham and onion in butter until onion is tender. Stir in soup and mushrooms; cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in sour cream and cook just until thoroughly heated. Serve over Egg Noodles
