comfort food

With temperatures dropping significantly this week, my kitchen calls me to make warming, comfort food.  I was home all day yesterday and wanted something in the crock pot to fill our home with the scent of good food.  I made cabbage and polish sausage in the crock pot and topped it off with my Granddaddy's stick cornbread recipe.  I would have and wanted to make PW's cornbread recipe that is my favorite but I lacked enough of one key ingredient in cornbread.... corn meal.  Her recipe calls for one cup and after I had already made some make-shift buttermilk I realized I didn't have enough.  I really didn't want to pour out the buttermilk.  I thumbed through my recipes and found the piece of scrap paper with Granddaddy's recipe on it and remembered the Tuesday evening at his house in 2011 when he taught it to me as he made the recipe that he catered down for himself to only make seven corn sticks which is how many is in one cast iron corn stick pan.  It called for 2/3 cup self rising cornmeal and as I measured out the little bit of cornmeal that I had it perfectly measured out to 2/3 cup.  Thanks Granddaddy... now help with the rest of the recipe that I short-handedly wrote down as you made yours!  Apparently he did because it turned perfect AND it didn't even stick in the pan.   The cornbread and cabbage with sausage was fantastic especially after a cool evening of sitting in the deer blind where I had a two second shot but didn't shoot my first deer.  That is a pretty intense feeling.  I was glad to have supper when we got in the house at least.  I had pictures of the whole crock pot dish but left my camera at home today.  Have a great week!

Monday Night Minestrone

It's a big change from my old Monday night routine of a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich with potato chips and a dill pickle spear to go along with the Antiques Roadshow.  Not that Shaun minds that yummy combination for a Monday night meal which was my forever go-to when I was a single gal!  Seriously, he said that I was going to turn into a bacon, egg and cheese if I wasn't careful.  Monday nights have definately taken a turn in especially in the last several weeks since I discovered this delicious concoction. 

After trying some of the best soup I'd tasted in a while, I came up with my own version that in my opinion may just have it beat!  Gee whiz the smell coming from the kitchen with his soup is fantastic and paired with a simple grilled cheese sandwich it makes for a perfect and quick Monday night meal.

The following recipe is based on what I used that I had on hand.  I use pasta sauce and tomatoes that I canned last year.  The pasta sauce is purposely pretty chunky with tomatoes and I love it!  It's also a great chance to use frozen vegetables that have been laying around in the freezer for who knows how long. 

I also used basil that I froze last year from the garden.  It's so simple to do and handy to have.  You just chop it up fresh, place it by the tablespoonful in ice cube freezer trays, top with water and freeze.  Once they are frozen just pop them out and put them in freezer bags to use whenever a recipe calls for fresh basil.  Fantastic in soups like this one!

Monday Night Minestrone
1 medium sized can spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce
1 large can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 chicken bullion cubes, or 2 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
1 chopped onion
1 bag mixed vegetables such as a bag of frozen carrots, celery and onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup each zucchini and squash (from the garden last year)
3/4 cup macaroni noodles, uncooked

In a large pot combine the first 8 ingredients, bring to a boil and let cook for 20 minutes.  Add zucchini, squash and noodles.  Cook for 10 to 15 minutes more stirring often to prevent noodles from sticking to the bottom. 

Serve with shredded Parmesan cheese on top and a grilled cheese sandwich on the side.  Absolutely scrump and lucky for me it goes perfect with my Antiques Roadshow!

Maybe sometime I will figure out how I can link the recipe to where it can be printed easily!  Now wouldn't that be handy for ya!