The Sketchy Recipe

The magic of Amazon.com

sketchyrecipe — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:44:03 +0000

Did I ever tell you that when Amazon first started, I used to get Christmas gifts from them? I am what you might call a Power Buyer. If I can’t get it through Amazon Prime, I will seriously consider not buying it. Sad, huh? Well now, the Devil has a new kind of crack for me - Subscribe & Save. Not only do I get free(ish) shipping, but I also get nicely discounted, 9.25% sales tax free purchases on items not easily found in Recipopolis.

Exhibit One:

This is a staple in the Recipe houshold. This is also impossible to find in my burg. Even at the Whole Foods. This is why I have resorted to buying in bulk from the Amazon. At under $2.00 per pack, I’ve never gotten a better deal.

Exhibit B:

This kiddie crack is 99 cents PER TWIST at the store. I got it for a song and signed up for monthly delivery.

If you haven’t checked out the savings at the Amazon grocery, give it a whirl. I’m going to eat my Sneaky Mac and shop some more.

I’m Cooking again

sketchyrecipe — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:07:44 +0000

Unfortunately, I can’t find my camera for the poor photography portion of the blog. I have been cooking my booty off and plan on posting if I have to beg, borrow, or steal a camera. Hell, you may get bad shots from my phone.

Want a tease? How about Lebanese Lentil and Greens soup? Tofu Creamed Spinach? Marinated Collards?

It’s all happening at Sketchy Central.

Fifi’s French Toast Casserole

sketchyrecipe — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:29:22 +0000

Yuletide comes early to the Recipes, thus my favorite Holiday brunch-ish recipe.

WARNING: ONCE YOU MAKE THIS, YOU CANNOT TURN AWAY FROM THE DARKSIDE.

Thanks Fif!

Only ONCE Per Year French Toast Casserole

Day 1
Combine
1/2 c whole milk or half & half
1 1/2 c dark brown sugar
3/4 c unsalted butter
1/4 c + 2 tbs light corn syrup (Karo)
pinch salt
in a heavy suacepan over medium heat and stir constantly for 5 minutes. Pour into a lightly greased 13″ by 9″ dish. Fit slices of challah, brioche, Sally Lunn, french or stale Texas Toast bread over syrup. Combine
4 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 c whole milk or half & half
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
and pour over bread. Cover and chill overnight.

Day 2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle 3 tbs of cinnamon sugar over casserole, cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes and then remove the cover for the rest of the cooking time.

Take aspirin or have another Bloody Mary. Your arteries need all the help they can get!

RockStar’s Fave Green Beans

sketchyrecipe — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:41:05 +0000

This is a gimme, but if my veg hating kid wants it, maybe yours will too?

RS Tasty Greenies

1 pkg prewashed green beans

1 tbs italian dressing (I use Wishbone italian in the spray bottle)

salt & pepper

Cook green beans in a glass bowl covered with wax paper for 4 minutes. Coat with dressing, salt, & pepper.

RS can make this herself and she loves to spray the dressing. She always gets the green beans and asks to take them with her to lunch the next day. These are better cold.

Campbell’s Tomato soup

sketchyrecipe — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:41:28 +0000

I made it tonight. I feel like doody. I’ve got this funk BabyDaddy brought back from Hotlanta. He also brought back a generous paycheck, but the cold has been here just as long. Bleh.

Sickly Tomato Soup

1 large can Campbell’s Tomato soup (gross)

1 c orzo

dried oregano

*smoked paprika

salt

1 can evaporated milk

**Robitussin DM

Cook pasta in boiling salted water for 6 minutes. Drain out half of the water. Add the “soup” concentrate, shudder, and stir. Add herb, *fancy, schmancy spice, and can o milk (because your milk is now a green planet.) Drink water and chase with Recommended Dose of **Robitussin more water. Stir. Serve. Sleep and pee. Blurg.

The Cornbread Gospels - a Fifi Review!

sketchyrecipe — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:33:21 +0000

Let me set this little scenario up for you.

Back on June 15 (yes, of this year) Sketch gave you her recipe for cornbread. Within a few days she got a comment from a woman who had written a recipe book about cornbread. Would Sketch like a free copy of the book? Being a smart cookie Sketch said, Yes m’am, thank you very much. Within a short time the book arrived. Now we get to the good part. Sketch wanted to do a review of this book but Sketch doesn’t like to write reviews. Guess what, I do! Therefore, here is my review of this bodacious book. Well, actually the book isn’t bodacious, the recipes are but you know what I mean. (I can get a little long winded so Sketch may decide to serialize this thing.)

THE CORNBREAD GOSPELS by Crescent Dragonwagon

Workman Publishing 2007

In the not too distant past I ate food prepared by Ms Dragonwagon in her restaurant in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I can’t say that I remember the cornbread specifically but I do know that I enjoyed the food and meeting this very interesting woman while on my trip. She has since moved away from Arkansas but the traditions and roots of a Southern Lady run deep. It is very obvious that Ms Dragonwagon did extensive research on cornmeal and all the scrumptious foods which can be made from this product. She is a powerful advocate for using the stone ground variety only and all the recipes in this book use that more wholesome version of cornmeal. The author states in the book that this project was six years in the making and I can well believe that after reading this book from cover to cover. Here are some of my likes and dislikes.

LIKES:

1. Each recipe comes with personal anecdotes of where she got the recipe, how she has reinvented it (if she has) and how best to prepare the specific recipe. I just loved all the personal stories attached to the recipes. They give the book a very warm, personal feel.

2. The book contains MUCH more than just cornbread recipes. In fact, I think it should have been called The CornMEAL Gospels but that might not appeal to a very wide audience. There are chapters on variations on the cornbread theme, what to serve with cornbread, and cornmeal used in preparing desserts.

3. I have tried four of the recipes and they are GOOD! My husband and I are in the no-sweetners-in-the-cornbread camp. My first recipe trial was of Ms. Dragonwagon’s own Dairy Hollow House Skillet Sizzled Cornbread. I liked it a lot. Husband type immediately tasted the sweetness and that was it for him - no more! The second time I made it I left out the sugar and he ate it as if he would never get enough. I invited two friends over (Hey there Bonnie and June!) and we had a taste testing. I made Jane’s Texas-via-Vermont Mexican Cornbread (fabulous, can I just tell you, fabulous!!) and a vegetarian soup called Uncannily Good Santa Fe Style Quick Green Chile Soup/Stew. The three of us ate until our little bellies were so full we just had to stop. Then everybody took some home and we all had it again the next day. Don’t you just love the names of these recipes? That is what I mean by the book having a warm, personal feeling.

As you can tell, I really recommend this book, BUT….. there were some problems for me.

DISLIKES:

1. There are no pictures in the recipe book, NONE. A big mistake from my point of view. I realize that it would be difficult to show one cornbread recipe variation from another with a photograph but what about cornbread resting beside a plate of one of those wonderful side dishes? Every single recipe didn’t have to be pictured but it needed something to make it more visually attractive. An opportunity missed from my standpoint.

2. This author makes too much to-do about the differences between Northern and Southern cornbread. Truth to tell, I thought the Northern cornbread recipes were not for a product which would be considered a “bread” to be eaten with a meal. Way, way too much sweetner in the ingredients for a Southern girl to try them with a pot of black-eyed peas and ham. Just put the recipes in, regardless of the region of the country. By the time I’m through with this book I may have tried everything in there, who knows?

3. There is a HUGE amount of material and information about cornMEAL in this book. It has been lovingly collected by Ms Dragonwagon over a long period of time. I started off reading it all. Somewhere about page 100 I realized I was ignoring it in favor of getting to the recipes. I found it overwhelming. So very much information.

Would I recommend this cookbook? Absolutely yes, but (and don’t you just know there is always going to be a ..but,) if you are a novice cook, or if you are going to give this book to a novice cook, make sure you remember that there are no picture helpful hints to aid the cook along the way.

This review is just my personal opinion. Everyone who views a book looks at it from their own perspective. Sketch and I have recently entered into a lawsuit over custody of the cookbook. Somebody (Sketch) is going to have to go buy her own copy. Now, get out your well seasoned cast iron skillet and let’s get to cookin’.

I’m not dead.

sketchyrecipe — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 01:51:53 +0000

I just had RockStar’s 8th birthday this weekend, out of town guests last weekend, and I’m back to my 9 to 5. There are many recipes percolating and I plan on spending my entire weekend writing and setting up posting so it’s back to our regular schedule. (Also, Fifi has a book review to share with the class.)

Keep the faith!

Lady Peas/Being from the Southern US

sketchyrecipe — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:56:50 +0000

BabyDaddy and I scored some excellent, fresh lady peas from the green grocer yesterday. We also got baby sweet potatoes and the Best Tomatoes In The History of Man. Here’s what I do with super fresh lady peas (my favorite cowpea variety):

Fresh Lady/Purple Hull/Cow/Black-eyed Pea:

Legumes

Water to cover

Salt to taste

Wash peas and remove leaves and strings and shell fragments (It ain’t Grammaw pickin’ them clean anymore, kids. Machines can now sit on the glider on the front porch in the heat.) Cover peas with water by one inch. Add one tsp of salt per inch of water. Bring to a boil. Test after 10 minutes. Fresh peas are done when there is a bit of resistance to the tooth and a slight grassy flavor in the end product. Serve with cornbread/biscuits, butter, and hot sauce. Greens and sliced garden tomatoes are mandatory.

You are now a Southerner. Congratulations. Now go support the Dixie Chicks. Sketchy LOVES them.

“I want to bury my face in it,” said Fifi

sketchyrecipe — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:02:25 +0000

THIS RECIPE IS NOT CORRECT. PLEASE SEE FIFI’S COMMENT FOR THE REAL LIPSMACKER.

BabyDaddy ate himself sick and wanted more.

I saw the recipe and would still feed it to my family.

Meet the epitome of Bad-For-You-Food.

Sharon Ritz by Way of Aunt Bunny’s Vermicelli Salad v. Fifi 2.0

14 oz vermicelli, broken into pieces

2 t Accent aka MSG

Nature’s Seasoning to taste (I think this is an herbal MSG vehicle)

1 10oz jar sliced green olives, drained well

1 15oz can sliced black olives, drained well

1 bunch green onions, sliced

1/2 c shredded carrots

2 c mayonnaise

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain. Add Accent & Nature’s Seasonings while pasta is warm. Chill. Add olives, onions, and carrot, mixing well. Add mayo to taste. Chill well.

Warm up the defibrillator.

In honor of my Honey’s 85th birthday

sketchyrecipe — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:05:23 +0000

I present Capers:

The last time RockStar, BabyDaddy, and I saw my grandmother for a visit at home (the very last was at the hospital right before she died) we went to the Kroger in her town and got a regular Sunday morning schmear. Lox, capers, onions, tomato, the works. Out of the blue, she took a caper out of the jar and popped it into her mouth. She was in love with them. Every time I talked to her on the phone after that, she told me how good they were and how she loved to eat capers on her salad. It makes me very happy to know that life has pleasant surprises for us, even in your 80’s with dementia.

Happy Birthday Miss Mary.

(Here’s another pal we met on that trip.)