potato casserole

my momma has this little book of recipes that she has had for YEARS. notice the stains on the page. it is one of those fundraiser projects that small churches do that has 30 pages of recipes from random women in the church. you'll sometimes find a recipe from your aunt to the weird lady on the other side of town to your ex boyfriends mom in there. but hey - that weird lady can make a mean apple pie. anyway, mom made this one:

mmm, butter.

you can make this as a side dish or even for breakfast. throw some bacon in that? good lawd!

snap green beans

there is not much to this recipe. actually, it isnt even really a recipe, more of just how to prepare it. at the grocery store, buy a bunch of fresh snap green beans. they're the long skinny ones with pointed ends. after washing them, pour your husband a beer and the bowl in front of him and tell him to snap off the points. 10 minutes later, you get this:

once that is done, bring out a large skillet and melt a pad of butter. (or olive oil, whatever) if you wish, sprinkle some chopped onions, garlic, pecans, green onion, or whatever you wish or hell, all of the above. once you start to smell whatever you slapped in the pan, place the beans in the pan. yes, all of them.

cook on medium heat for just about 5 minutes. if you wish, (which i totally wished) break off a few pieces of raw bacon or ham and throw that in the mix. add some sea salt and pepper. NOW we're getting southern. pour just enough chicken broth to make the beans float, turn down heat to a simmer and cook (covered) for 15-20 minutes or until they start to weaken. you dont want mushy green beans, you want them to be able to still snap when you bite but be soft in the middle.

and that's it! it is so flavorful and you still get most of the nutrients from a crunchy green bean instead of chompin' down on some soggy from a can green beans. oh and hey, nick even ate them. like, a total of five. score.

jalapeno corn bread, ya hear?

ooh man this crap is awesome. there is a sweet little lady that lives next door to my parents and she makes this corn bread. the first time i had it was when she made too much and brought the left overs over to my parents. i think they got some, i dont remember, my mouth was full. well, when i got married she gave me the recipe as part of a gift. she hand wrote it and even laminated it. pretty darn cute. oh, and she also wrote "jalapena" instead of "jalapeno". extra cute. this is her recipe, word for word.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups corn meal
1/2 tsp soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
2 tblsp jalapenas (from jar, chopped)
1 can creamed corn
3/4-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tlbsp jalapena juice, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

"I use an iron skillet and spray with Pam, then put oil in it to get hot in the oven. After oil gets hot, I pour it back in the mix."
(we did butter - we ran out of oil - same thing)

"Mix all ingredients and pour into skillet."

(i used a lot of jalapeno juice)

"Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Cool a few minutes before serving!"

i'm guessing that was a mini hiatus?

 or stroke? like, blog stroke? ha.

i have been mia on this blog for a while. that move was a royal pain in my ass and i gave up with cooking after the dump rice. that was an all time low for me, im not going to lie.

but i'm back now! i have a new, bigger, kitchen and we're moved in and ready to go!

OH! OH! since we live on the first floor now, we got a grill! i've never learned how to do anything on one of those damn things because we've always lived on the third floor or higher and we weren't allowed to have one on our balcony. well, technically, we're not supposed to have one still - BUT we'll drag that flippin' thing to the court yard. and when i say grill, i mean this little guy:

 

don't judge. anyway, woo! now off to research how to use the dang thing.