Foody Friday - CPK

Tonight was girls night out!! We had a great time! Jenny has a foreign exchange student living with them for a month and her name is Nana. She is from Shanghai! We went to see Mamma Mia! It was pretty good! Didn't expect it to be so quirky and funny. THEN we went to California Pizza Kitchen. Yum. SO excited. They brought back my favorite pizza: Pear Gorgonzola pizza. And it has a salad on top of it. You might think it doesn't sound very good, but it. is. awesome. Oh, by the way, the theme this week is, "What did you cook last week?" So, once again, I am not following the rules.

We were so hungry everyone grabbed slices before I took a picture.



Jenny says, "MMMMMMMM"



She liked it so much she had another (a little protective of it, too!)



Nana said, "This is splendid!"



Ahhh, soooo good!



Jenny and Nana admiring the Tiramisu. Nummy.



Me and Nana right before we said night-night.

Foody Friday - Outdoor Faves

So this week, my niece Jenny picked the theme, "food that tastes good outside" for Foody Friday. During the Great Depression, Shantytowns popped up all over the country. Hobos hopped the trains to find work and food. Hobo Stew became very popular in the Hobo Villages. Any veggies, etc. that folks in the village could contribute would go into the stew for all to share. This is the history of our post this week, which is affectionately called "Hobo Stew".


Here is an up-close view of the foil packs being masterfully maneuvered around the coals.


It smelled so good our neighbors at the next cabin came a-sniffin'!


The beauty of this dish is that there is no real recipe. Just throw together some ground beef or steak, potatoes, onions, carrots, all cubed or cut into bite-sized pieces. Season as desired with salt and pepper or all-purpose seasoning. Seal tightly in foil pouch. (Be sure to use HEAVY DUTY foil.)

Plop onto hot coals. Wait, watch, poke. Flip after 10-15 minutes. Cook for about another 10-15 minutes. The nice thing about the foil pouch is that you can open it up and test the potatoes to make sure they are soft enough if you have to.


The. End.

Dr. Shelton's Soothing Ginger Tea

Today's Foody Friday post features my very own creation: a soothing cup of ginger tea that's guaranteed to help you relax. The following recipe is for one serving.

All you have to do is slice up about two teaspoons of fresh ginger...


...put it into one of these...


...and place it in a cup. Next, pour the boiling water and steep for five minutes.

Add a splash of lemon juice and sweeten with a tablespoon of honey.


This miracle concoction is great for indigestion, sour stomach, nausea, sore throat, coughing, nasal congestion, muscle aches, and a host of other maladies.

What are you waiting for? A prescription? Try some today!

Foody Friday - Desserts!!

Here we go - Foody Friday! Yes, I did say that I am not a very good cook, but folks, I sure can LAYER! Here is one of my staples for any party. Easy Peasy. ALWAYS a hit. I love it when I go up to get my dish at the end of a party and mine is the only one scraped clean.

The TRIFLE. You can buy a trifle dish at Target, Linens and Things, etc. You can't go wrong. I will start with the Triple Berry Trifle.
You can use pound cake or angel food cake. I always use angel food cake and just rip it all up into chunks.

Use whatever berries you want. In the winter, I use a couple of packages of frozen berries - strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. In the summer, I use fresh berries.

You can make some fancy custard if you like more work, but what I do is buy cool whip and a container of pre-made vanilla pudding. I mix the two together. People have asked me for the recipe of my "custard" - haha.

Layer all of these ingredients - cake, puddin', berries; cake, puddin', berries. If I have it, I drizzle strawberry extract on the cake layers before putting the puddin' on. That is it. Save some of the puddin' mix for and some of your prettiest berries for the top. If you have mint in your garden, throw some of that on the top, too. Hey, I can't cook, but I can embellish! If you buy the angel food cake already made at the store this is even easier to make and if you forgot you had to bring something to that potluck, this throws together really fast, too.

Ok, now on to the Oreo Chocolate Trifle. A different kind of YUM.
Make a chocolate cake. If you like mocha flavored stuff, replace the water in the cake with coffee. You can also drizzle coffee on the cake a little, too. Or don't.

After the cake has cooled, rip it all up.

So this is how hard this one is. Cake, chocolate puddin', cool whip, crushed Oreo cookies; cake, chocolate puddin', cool whip, crushed Oreo cookies, etc. (or really, whatever order you like). If you don't have cool whip it is just as good without, but I think it is prettier with it in there. Save some of the Oreo crumble for the top. You can replace Oreo with Heath toffee chips (sold like chocolate chips now), peanut butter cups, or whatever floats your boat!

Yum! Yum! Enjoy!