Never gonna give you up...

So today is Ash Wednesday and I am married to a good ole Catholic boy and guess who forgot he can’t have meat today?  Well, that would be me- it was an accident I sent him with a peanut butter sandwich this morning, but thankfully I did.

Now for dinner… well, as you know meat does not mean fish so I sincerely thought about just getting fish sticks, but why?  I thought to myself, what would be a tasty little treat for a Wednesday night? Catfish!

Dave likes catfish- especially when in Louisiana or Arkansas. However, I decided I could pull this off. I bought some nice fillets and came home to fry up some fish!  Yet, there was one issue.

When I got home I realized I had no cornmeal.  I thought I did, but I did not. And let me tell you one thing about Arkansas girls, we know how to fry catfish and it is ONLY with cornmeal.  So what to do, what to do? LIGHTBULB!   Jiffy cornbread mix… yeah, I know, how droll, but you know those little boxes come in so handy from time to time.  How bad could it be?  

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
 cracked black pepper
2 tbsp Louisiana hot sauce
1 lb catfish fillets


1.  Heat 1/2 inch (or more) oil in over medium heat.
2.  Combine mix and seasonings together. 
3.  Cover fillets with the hot sauce and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
4.  Dip fillets in cornbread mixture and fry to a golden brown. Remember this is pan frying so let the 
     fish get crispy before turning the fillet. 

Wow… these were good!  I was right in thinking the Jiffy would be too sweet and it was a little sweet, but in a pinch, not too shabby!  I even made my own tartar sauce to go with this simply and fabulous meal.  Yes, there were fries to along side the fish.

Looks like the Lenten season  at Minnich Manor is off to a good start!  PS... Needless to say, I had a hamburger steak!  Protestant trash that I am!  :)

More of the devil ....

OK, it’s a snow day so you know what that means- yep, baking and eating!  Now, I could be healthy and be ‘good’, but come one, what’s the fun in that?  We so rarely have a snow day down South, why not enjoy it a bit? Besides I have to do something while Dave is engrossed in episodes of 'The Walking Dead'

First up today was biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  And might I say, it was fantastic and very satisfying- to the point I knew I would be good the rest of the day- well, until supper of course.  However, I knew yesterday that I wanted the ultimate snow day treat- cookies.  I decided to head to Pinterest and see what I could find on my “Me Want Cookies” board.  I found a recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies using Bisquick.  Yes, I know Peanut Butter is the devil... I give it credit for much of my fat cells. However, you have to admit, there is something quite comforting about the smell and taste- I feel sorry for those who are allergic to it. 

Bisquick is a Kinder family staple.  I always have it in the pantry so I figured, why not try it out? However, I did change the recipe up a bit. I used brown sugar blend Splenda instead of the white sugar the recipe called for- seriously?  I know it needs the brown sugar! I also increased the amount of Bisquick because it was more like creamy peanut butter instead of a cookie dough. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter is the Devil

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/8 cup butter or shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar blend Splenda
1/4 cup boiling water
2 cups Bisquick

Preheat oven to 375*

 Mix peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and water until the mixture is smooth.
Add Bisquick and combine.
Roll into balls and flatten with fork dipped in flour/Bisquick/ sugar in the classic crisscross!
Bake for 9 minutes- remove and allow to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet.

These were good… so good I don’t miss the chocolate chips I intended to put in the dough.  Dave tested and Dave approved

Snow Day NON Gluttons... ooops Glutens!

mmm yummy yummy

Dave decided he wanted something a little different with his beloved pasta bake.  As we strolled the aisles at Wally World Saturday, I posed the question of what he might like IF it snowed (which it did by the way, because I know these things)- he asked if his favorite pasta bake could have a ‘Mexican’ feel to it?  This, he said, would combine two of his favorite types of food: Italian and Mexican.  Well, duh, of course… not hard at all.  So as the snow crept in today, I decided to break out the gluten free pasta and whip up some south of the border pasta bake.

Now, the kicker is that I had bought gluten-free pasta the week before.  My mother in law (who is down to escape the western NY winter and evidently brought polar vortex/snow with her) needs to limit her gluten so we thought ‘why not?’.  I thought the pasta was absolutely FINE…. I don’t know that I will purchase anything but gluten-free pasta from now on out.


SOTB Pasta Bake

1 lb of hamburger
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 jalepeno, seeded and chopped fine
1 cup chili sauce
1 can Rotel
2 cups Mexican blend cheese
2 cups pasta- gluten free for us!
1 package of taco seasoning


1.   Brown hamburger and drain off excess grease.  Prepare pasta. 
2.   Add onion, peppers, chili sauce, rotel, and  taco seasoning.  Cook until veggies are tender.
3.   After pasta is done, drain and add pasta to the meat sauce and combine.
4.  Spray a 9x13 casserole dish and pour mixture into it.  Top with cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly and cheese melts.

What can I say?  This was GOOD… I served it with Mexican cornbread and we gobbled it up. I really think I will use gluten free pasta for this from now on… might have to come up with a mac and cheese using it soon.

Taking out the trash.. not so fast!

I had seen the recipe for Trash Dip on Pinterest when I first joined that little addictive-as-hell site two years ago (I recently helped my MIL sign up and she said it was a bad idea for her to do that after only 30 minutes on it).   I thought that sounds really good, but seriously when your go-to-dip is Rotel cheese dip, why do anything else? 

Yet, it does get kind of boring at times to do the same thing over and over again…. what did Emerson say, 'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds'?   Now, no one can say that Rotel dip is 'foolish' so yes, my Superbowl Sunday will include the ole standard 'dippy dippy do' as my Daddy still refers to it as, but I will add in the Trash this year.  Change is good… or at least in response to food.

I have to admit there was a time when refried beans or bean dip did  NOT appeal to me.  Let's start with the NAME: refried.  That implied something to me that just didn't set well with me for many years.  However, as I am that person who constantly says  "But have you TRIED it?" to people, a taste of my own medicine was in order.    So I tried the beans and guess what?  Yep, a shocker here, but I liked them.  So as refried beans are the basis for this dip, it is sounding more and more appetizing!

So here it is… it's called Texas Trash Dip on some sites, but if YOU know anything about me, I don't care much for anything TEXAS ( used to have a bumper sticker that said, 'Avoid the Rush… Hate Texas Early') so I will refer to this as only Trash Dip.

Trash Dip

1 can refried beans
1 8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 package taco seasoning (3-4 tbsp if you make your own)
hot sauce to taste (couple of splahses!)
1 cup cheddar or jack (fiesta mix/ Mexican mix) shredded cheese


Preheat oven to 350*

1.  Mix cream cheese and sour cream together- cream them!
2.  Add in the refried beans, hot sauce, and taco seasoning.  Combine well.
3.  Spray a 8x8 casserole with non stick and spread the bean concoction evenly.
4.  Cover with cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serve WARM with chips!  And be prepared for an awesome trashy experience.
Definitely Dave tested and approved! 

Let's Go Bananas!

Super simple and simply wonderful is how I describe these wonderful little treats of goodness.
If you have sugar craves, but don't all that goes with it.  I found this to be a very nice afternoon treat on this snow in the Carolinas!

Cinnamon Bananas

1 banana
1 tablespoon honey
cinnamon



1. Slice banana -not too thin or too thick... how's that for you?
2.  Pour honey over bananas and sprinkle cinnamon. Mix well to coat.
3.  Lay on baking sheet and bake in a 350* preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Allow to cool and enjoy!

I think this would be awesome over biscuits or ice cream, but it was fabulous just eating
from a bowl!

Breakfast bread.. yum yum!

I used my cast iron skillet to bake the bread!

The first time I saw this recipe, I thought: YES, this combines two of our favorite breakfast items: Sausage and bread!  Dave had just gotten up and thought 'Ok, how hard could this be?' Then I noticed baking time.  It's was little higher than I was hoping for at that moment, so I simply did something we didn't have to wait an hour for and pushed this off to the side.  However, today Dave was not yet up so I got busy.  Unfortunately, for him, he got up a little sooner than I anticipated and had to wait.  He's not good at waiting for his breakfast!

I changed the recipe based on what I have and like- I know us so why not?  That's the beauty of cooking
You can change it!  I don't understand why some thing 'I must follow this recipe word for word and ingredient by ingredient'- NO, you don't!  Promise!

So here is Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Bread

Ingredients
- 8 oz. hot sausage
- ¼ cup diced onion
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce- Louisiana is the BEST though
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon of pepper
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 2 cups Bisquick
- ⅔ cup milk
- ¼ cup mayo- yep, this is the Carolinas so you know it's Dukes!

Instructions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crumble sausage and brown with  onions over a medium high heat. Set side.
2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine egg, milk, mayo, cheeses, hot sauce, salt, pepper, Old Bay . Mix well.
3.  Add the Bisquick a cup at a time and mix slowly, but well.
4.  Fold in sausage & onions. Mix until just blended.
5.  Place about 2 tablespoons of oil into a 8x8 cast iron skillet with oil-  I added a little of the sausage grease and then allowed the oven to get it hot.  When the oil is hot,  spoon mixture into skillet Bake for 35 minutes.
5.  Let rest in pan for 5-10 minutes before serving.


This came out fabulous!  It was very good and Dave approved, but I have decided to add some things next time.  I will add more Old Bay and hot sauce because I think I could handle more.  Garlic powder would be ok too.   I might add a little seasoning to the sausage when browning.  Any one who knows me, knows I season my meat when cooking!   Maybe pepper jack mixed with the cheddar?  Regardless, this was a GREAT different breakfast for us today.  As stated, it is definitely a Dave approved recipe and Rosie enjoyed it too!

Not Nutty this year...

Last year, I made "Drunken Pecans" with the multitude of pecans I had, but alas this year, the local trees did not produce as they could have due to all the rain this summer.  Well, I thought of buying pecans, but decided it was just too much to spend on nuts! 

I had gotten the idea for the drunken pecans from the whiskey sticks I got at my favorite farm stand/winery in Pennsylvania (the goat's milk fudge and pepperoni bread is awesome too)- so I decided to put my twist on these sticks... by using my favorite spirit, Southern Comfort!

I made these for our annual tailgate to East Carolina back in November and they were a major hit- except with the three year old who declared they were 'bad' pretzels!  Sent some with Dave on his golf outing and all the boys loved them.  So here is the recipe, jazzed up Belinda style!

Savory and Sweet in one bite!

So Co Sticks

1 stick of butter
4 tbsp Southern Comfort
1 heaping tbsp Brown sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
2 bags pretzel sticks or twists

1.  Melt butter, Southern Comfort, sugar and seasonings in a saucepan over medium to low heat.
2.  When melted, pour butter over the two bags of pretzels and mix well.
3.  Pour onto baking sheets and spread into one layer or as close as you can. 
bake at 250 for 20 minutes.  Stir them half way through.
4.  Remove and allow to cool and dry out as they might be still a little sticky!



Be sure to store in an air tight container!

I like to add a little more cajun seasoning to kick it up a notch after pulling these out of the oven.  It cuts some of the sweetness, but makes it a bit more biting!  The truth is that you can add any flavor you like to- I meant to add some hotsauce today, but forgot- however that next batch will be fired up!

So if you are on my 'nice' list this year, YOU might be getting some So Co Sticks!