Down Home Kitchen

Viral Links

A good way to boost traffic……..
Start Copy Here…….
1. Scraps & Shots 2. Simply Jen 3. This and That 4. Fab & Chic Finds 5. A Slice of Life 6. Jenny Talks 7. Tech Stuff Plus 8. Food on the Table 9. Aussie Talks 10. When Mom Talks 11. Moments of My Life 12. My Crossroads 13. A Life in Bloom 14. Because Life is a Blessing 15. Digiscraptology 16. BLOGSILOG 17. Cherry’s Comfort Zone 18. DigiScrapz: Captured Memories 19. Buzzy Me 20. Fab Finds, Etc. 21. Thinking Out Loud 22. Wishing and Hoping 23. PRC Board Exam Results 24. Jobs Abroad 25. My Blog Portfolio 26. Race Corner 27. Mommy Talks. 28. Home and Health 29. All Kinds of Me Stuff 30. Ink Baby Studios 31. The Salad Caper 32. Winding Creek Circle 33. Aggie Scraps 34. Momma Stuff 35. We Are Family 36. Gandacious 37. Busynessworld 38. Folcreative 39. Swanportraits 40. Rumination Under The Clouds 41. Consciously Think 42. Sprawt 43. Healthy Skinny 44. Geekyology 45. When Mom Speaks 46. Rumination 47. Me and Mine 48. Little Peanut 49. Creative in Me 50. Around the world 51. Pea in a Pod 52. For the LOVE of Food 53. Music of My Heart 54. It’s Where the Heart Is 55. Blog in to Space 56. Comedy Plus 57. Lady Coder 58. Programming Made Easy 59. Mr Soleh’s Outburst 60. Homesick Boy 61. My Life & Your World 62. Family Matters 63. Tacky Me 64. Letters To Heaven 65. A Yard Full 66. Down Home Kitchen 67. Fweb Traffic 68. Your blog here
End Copy Here……

My Banana Pudding

I finally got a picture taken of the banana pudding, that I make, which is unbaked………..as you can see…….it’s covered with broken vanilla wafers………which makes it look even more appetizing………………..most of it was gone……..by the time everyone left…….from Christmas lunch…

Gonzalez Mexican Restaurant

Last weekend we went to one of our favorite restaurants. This is one of the great Mexican restaurants in town, who’ve been around for years, that makes everything so good. The decor is right in line with the Mexican flair, so you feel that your really in a place that knows their Spanish cooking. You keep coming back, no matter how big your waist line gets.
We were greeted at the door by a server and when sat at our table, salsa was served with tortilla chips. I’m spoiled to their salsa, because it is kept warm in a warmer, so not only is it hot from the peppers, but it is nice and warm in the bowl, when served. I can fill up on this and not be able to finish my main course.
Gonzalez has some of the best Menudo, in town. This stuff is so delicious and they give you celantro, chopped onions, and jalepeno’s with sliced lemons for your pleasure. They also serve nice warm flour tortillas with your food. Talk about fattening, these babies can pack some weight on. But they are so great with butter.
Below is a picture of a bowl of menudo and I wish I had gotten a better picture. This is the large bowl, you can get a smaller one if you like………I always take the extra home for later…. I was afraid that my flash on my camera would bother some people so, I hope that the lighting would be enough. It looks as though I needed to use the flash to take my pictures. My frozen margarita was great and I had to have to big one………… My spouse had the smaller one……… They offer many other good drinks, if your not interested in a brew, then there’s coffee, tea, water and such.
If you don’t like Menudo, there’s plenty of other good food on the menu. The grilled pork chops are real thick and have great flavor, and are served with rice, beans, salsa, and flour tortillas. Ready for some good Mexican food , then come to Gonzalez for a huge plate of great food……..:)

Pie Crust

1 1/2 cup of flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbs white sugar

6 tbsp VERY COLD butter, diced into small chunks

2 tbsp + 2 tsp VERY COLD shortening

3-4 tbsp ICE COLD water

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter pieces and shortening. Pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine pulsing, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Hold The Mayo

It’s hard to imagine a sandwich or burger without good old-fashioned mayonnaise. However, there’s the appeal of mustard, especially since a tablespoon of mayo will set you back at least 110 calories. This condiment is full of fat and calories and even the light mayo has 50 calories a tablespoon. Mustard, brings along just as much flavor with a fraction of the calories. One tablespoon of yellow mustard contains 11 calories, and it comes in several varieties, including brown, yellow and honey Dijon.

Roasted Plum Tomato Soup

This is good to serve on a cold day, with crusty bread………..
2 T olive oil

1/2 c. finley diced onion

1/2 c. finely diced turnip

1/2 c. finely diced carrot

2 t. mince garlic

4 c. veg. or chicken stock or canned broth

1.4 c. tomato paste

3 c roasted plum tomatoes with cooking juices

1/4 c. chop fresh basil leaves

1/4 c. chop fresh parsley

Heat oil in lg. saucepan over med. heat, saute onion, turnip,carrot & garlic till soft. Stir in stock/broth, tomato paste and tomatoes with jusices, cover bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer 30 min. Stir in basil and parsley, serve in soup bowls.

To Roast Tomatoes:

Pre-heat oven to 325*F. Cut 24 lg. ripe plum tomatoes in half, crosswise. Place on lg. roasting pan, drizzle with 2 T. olive oil, sprinkle 1 T. chop basil & 1 T. oregano. Roast for 45 min., let cool remove skins and cores, & coarsely chop flesh.

My Pecan Pie

As you can tell this is all that’s left of my pecan pie……..I know that if I get a taste of it I will have to eat one………maybe two pieces….

There’s another story to this as well………….the evening I was baking the pies……….sad but true,……..I dropped one as I was taking it out of the oven…….right in the floor………so, I only had one left……..talking about a few choice words……..I was so mad……….and my feelings were hurt……because my spouse laughed at me………….then I was really mad……

The Table Was Set……

Well, as you can tell ………there was plenty of food….. ….front and center was my dressing……..right next to it on the right sliced turkey and then just to the right of the turkey, Mom’s sliced ham……..above the dressing…….is green onions…..the creamed potatoes and to the right of them is the sweet potatoes, topped with melted, marshmallows……….over on the left is some dishes that my sister left covered that she brought, they kept getting cold for some reason………..Above the potatoes were her deviled eggs and banana pudding, which you can’t see, because they are covered…….too………. she was supposed to bring a fruit salad, which she forgot……..

Oh I kept my giblet gravy on the stove……..since there wasn’t enough room for it on the table and was able to re-heat it ever so often and keep it warm……

Hope all of you had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving…….

Happy Thanksgiving.

Need I say more……..

Ginger Cranberry Sauce

16 oz. fresh cranberries, rinsed

2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. water

1/2 c. orange jusice

1 T. chopped ginger

grated zest of 1 orange

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Cook over med. heat till berries pop open, about 10 min. Remove from heat skim over surface foam and discrd. Cool and serve, can be kept in refrigerator up to 3 mon.