MUSHY IS HAVING A SALE!

As most of you know, I have been maintaining a large number of photographic art pieces online since October of 2011.  I greatly enjoy photography, and often surprise myself! 

I am currently offering a 25% discount on all my photographic art “mark ups” through July 31, 2013. 

Click on this link, http://paul-mashburn.artistwebsites.com/, or click below, peruse my galleries for the perfect art for your home or office, and enter the Discount Code: DMKPMV at check out!

I hope you fine something you like!

Mushy

Hamburger Steak Supreme

Yeah, I know this is "Mushy's" cooking blog, but it should be known that my wife (Judy) is also a cook, and I'll admit, a much better cook than me.

It's pretty basic, but tonight's supper is just evidence that she feeds me pretty well.  It was just your basic "hamburger steak" with all her special trimmings, but it was wonderful, as the posted photo shows.

She is a southern cook, raised up knowing her way around the kitchen, studying under her mother's watchful eye.  All our meals are pretty much southern born, nothing fancy, but believe me, there is nothing better in 80% of the restaurants in the country.

She smothered the steak in sauteed onions and red peppers, topped the sweet potato with butter and brown sugar, and sauteed green beans on the side.

If you look at the plate, you can see why I was stuffed; that was a lot of food!  That was also great food!  

Testing Carla Hall's Glorified Grits Recipe

My wife and I enjoy The Chew most everyday on ABC, and we always end up hungry and curious as to whether or not we would have the same results in our kitchen.

So, tonight I decided to whip up Carla Hall's "Glorified Grits".  The recipe is a bit much to do early in the morning, especially when we usually just have one eye open until noon!  Doing it at night, after we've eaten supper and watched the evening news, affords us time to use both our eyes and have a ready made breakfast the next morning.

As a matter of fact, this recipe serves 6, so we should have enough for 2 or 3 mornings!

I did most of the heavy lifting, but Judy was there to separate the eggs and get the herbs out of the cabinet when I needed them.  It goes something like this:

Ingredients - 

• 2 cups grits
• 2 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock
• 3 garlic cloves (or a big tables spoon of minced)
• 1 pound of spicy (we used medium) sausage
• 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano (chopped) (we used powdered and I suggest only 1/2 as much)
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (leaves chopped) (again we used powdered)  (I suggest using half as much, because it was a little strong.  However, fresh may not have had the same effect.)
• 1 1/2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese (I plan on using a big hunk of Velveeta next time as well!  I will add to the creaminess.)
• 3 tablespoons of butter (or margarine) 
• 4 eggs (separated)
• Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425, and grease a casserole dish.

Uncooked mixture.

Pour all the milk, chicken stock into a heavy pot and start the mixture to boiling.  Add in salt and pepper, and then add the grits.  Constantly stir the liquid after it begins to boil, then turn the heat down to simmer until the grits get creamy and soft (and done).  One trick - when the grits pop out on the back of your hand...they're done!

In a big skillet, pour in a tablespoon of olive oil and cook the pound of sausage until it is brown and done.  You can add the herbs and garlic in right at the end.

Cooked mixture.

Put the sausage into the grits mixture and mix well.  Then blend in the cheese and butter.  Also add the whisked egg yokes.

The last ingredient are the egg whites which have been fluffed stiff with a mixer.  Fold them into the grits mixture last.

Pour the whole mixture into the greased casserole dish, place in the heated oven, and cook 25 to 30 minutes.  The top should be lightly golden brown.

It can be served immediately!

It was great!  We have to have a little tonight right after it was finished.  We can't wait until morning to have a larger portion!

         

   

PICTSWEET STIR-FRY NOT TOO SWEET

You know me, I'm always trying to streamline cooking for us guys, but this time I should have stuck to the tried and trued method of chopping fresh vegetable and adding my own seasoning.

I picked out a package of PictSweet Stir-Fry Chinese Style Vegetables the other day; thinking I could just cook up some chicken tenderloins and pop the cooked pieces into the mixture.  Didn't work out!

Although my wife and I ate most of your plate, the taste just wasn't Chinese, or spicy enough for us.  I did add some cayenne powder to the chicken as they cooked in olive oil and garlic, but it still came up short.  I even salted and peppered the chicken, but the seasoning that came on the vegetables just didn't satisfy our taste buds.

The vegetables came out rather tasteless and slightly rubbery to me.  So, before I try this again, I'll have to consider dropping in some major spicy seasonings of my own.

However, before that happens, I will stick to cutting up my own produce!

The best part of this meal...the Tyson chicken!

Kielbasa And Greens Soup

I owe this one to my sister-in-law Charlotte, who passed it on to my wife, along with a "mess" of collard greens.  It's a new way, at least to us, to eat healthy garden greens of any "color", so to speak!

We already enjoy turkey kielbasa fixed in a variety of ways, but I always wondered if the tube-meat couldn't be enjoyed in a healthier way, rather than with potatoes and Velveetta cheese!  Turns out, there is.

Most recipes say to cut up the kielbasa and dump it into the total mixture right up front, but I just can't eat it without browning it a little in some olive oil and garlic.  Do what you want...it'll all be fine either way.

So, cut up the kielbasa along with the following (feel free to add your favorite soup vegetable):

• at least 4 cups of greens (kale, mustard, collard, spinach, etc.); trimmed, washed, and chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 celery stalk chopped
• 2 garlic cloves minced (if you brown your meat with garlic just do 1)
• 3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth of stock
• 1 15-1/2-oz. can of kidney beans* rinsed
• 1 15-1/2-oz. can of great northern beans* rinsed
• 1 14-1/2-oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup dry wine or water (or half and half)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Combine everything in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker.  Cover and cook until vegetables are tender, which is usually 4 to 5 hours on high, or 8 to 10 on the low setting.

*You can use any type and mixture of beans you prefer (except pork'n beans) for this soup.

This soup is found all over the Internet, and any recipe will make your "greens" tasty.  It's a very hearty soup and it will warm your insides on the coldest day, for about 160 calories per cup.

The broth is about all the salt you will need, but the soup can be spiced up to taste. 

One final note...if it seems too healthy for you, then add some cornbread...as did I!

KUNG PAO SCALLOPS WITH A TOUCH OF GRANDDAUGHTER

My granddaughter, Kaitlyn (Katie Bug we call her), spent the night with us last night, and usually we have a big breakfast together, however, today was Judy's "girlfriend luncheon" day, so there was no breakfast.  Judy did not feel like breaking the date, since it had been planned for a month, so Katie and I decided to have an "adventure" day.

She and I used to have "ventures", as she called them (as I've written before), when she was a little thing, and I always cherished those times.  Today was no exception, except that it was more of a lunch date rather than a ride through the country side or a hike.

She decided she wanted to go to P. F. Chang's, so off we went through the rain to Knoxville.

The place was filled with the "sad" working lunch crowd, and it felt so good to know I was retired and didn't have to rush through a meal and get back to work.  We took our time, knowing the only thing we had to rush back to was maybe a nap!

We continued the conversations we had on the 40-mile ride over our "hot and sour" soup appetizer.  She is quite a conversationalists, and very knowledgeable about current events, and worries a lot about the struggles of people today.  We talked about gun and drug control, and various ways they could be controlled, a little politics, school classes, and, of course, boyfriends.

I love these talks.  It helps me get into her mind, and possibly instill some guidance or direction from my life's experience.  Bottom line...I thoroughly enjoyed our day!  I love her so much, and these times help me worry less about her while she's away at school, and her future.

She ordered the CRISPY HONEY SHRIMP, and, as usual, I went for the spicy KUNG PAO SCALLOPS, stir-fried with peanuts, chili peppers and scallion!  I love the "hot bite" of this dish, and the crunch of the peanuts. Both dishes were suburb! I can say that because I tasted of her's too! 

Thank you sweetheart, for the lovely day!  I hope you and Papaw get to enjoy many more days like this in the future.  You are special to me and I'll never forget our time together.

Bailey's Sports Grille's Reuben

Just a quick word about Bailey's Sports Grille's Reuben sandwich!  

Great!

GRILLED CHICKEN BREAST SALAD

Seems like you always find me in the store looking for something to eat.  Probably, that has something to do with my weight, but we won't go into that right now!

Anyway, I spotted a package of Red Label™ Premium Unbreaded Grilled Chicken Breast Strips, and it sparked an idea for a salad.  

I don't like the way the packaged chicken always looks white and tasteless, so I chopped up the strips into medium to large chunks, and put them into a hot pan of olive oil and garlic!  

I opened a package of Fresh Express garden salad fixings, poured half in to two large bowls, added cut-up tomatoes, and hard-boiled a couple of eggs.  For me, that means waiting until the water starts to boil and then hit the timer for 10 minutes.

I covered it all up with a healthy layer of shredded cheese, put in a few peanuts for me, and a few pecans on Judy's, and then put a whole cut up egg on each salad, and then divided up the hot browned chicken chunks!

I drizzled on some light ranch, put a half-dozen crackers on the side of the bowl and we dug in!   Wonderful!

It's all so darn easy...anyone, even a man can do it, which is the way my wife prefers it! 

Easy Man's Gumbo Soup

So, I noticed this package of "gumbo soup mix", by Bear Creek, in the store the other day, and I said, "Hmmm, how can I fix that up!"  I said it to myself, not out loud, 'cause the store was full, 'cause someone had said it was snowing in the Smoky's!  That's all it takes around here!

So, back to the story.  

I plop the package in the buggy, pick up some frozen Sea Best salad shrimps (as Bubba would say*), and a big mohonking package of Hillshire Turkey Polska Kielbasa.

So, from there it is a snap!  Just pour yourself a little single malt, and watch for the pot to boil, and then dump in the gumbo ingredients.

Run some water over the shrimps*, cut up the kielbasa, pop the pieces into a skillet to brown, and then dump it all into the hot soup mixture!

See.  Anyone can cook!

If you want to make it a little more difficult, then make my cornbread to soak up all the juices!  

Jeff's Brochette Recipe!

Well, it's not exactly Jeff's (of Fathairybastard fame), but it's as close as you can get.  I think most Brochette Shrimp recipes involved similar ingredients and steps.  

So, don't attribute this recipe too much to Jeff.  Suffice it to say, the boy drove over 960 miles (just my part...he also visited another friend that's a smart piece out of the way), keeping it all iced down,  just to bring my wife and I a taste of the Texas good life!

The Internet roughly describes the process he completed, in an attempt to duplicate some restaurant's dish, as:

Ingredients

• 2 pounds large shrimp - peeled, deveined and butterflied
• 1 (8 ounce) package Monterey Jack cheese, sliced
• 3 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and julienned
• 1 pound bacon, cut into thirds
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, or to taste
• skewers

Jeff's dish as it came out of the oven!

Directions

1. Preheat a grill for high heat. Soak skewers in water.
2. Place a strip of jalapeno into the opening of butterflied shrimp. Wrap with a piece of the bacon, and thread onto skewers so that the shrimp is pierced once through the head, and once through the tail, and bacon is secure. You can usually fit about 6 shrimp on a skewer. Make sure there is a little space between the shrimp, this will help the bacon cook better. Season both sides of the shrimp generously with Cajun seasoning.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Place shrimp skewers on the grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on one side. Turn, and place slices of cheese over the shrimp. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, until bacon is browned, and cheese is melted.

Like I said, this isn't his recipe, but it approximates it!

Jeff's take is similar to Pappasito's Cantina, and it goes like this: Just one skewer through the head of the shrimp. Slice the shrimp and put a small chunk of cheese and a slice of pepper in there and wrap it with bacon. Then slide the bacon on the skewer. I whip up a mixture of white wine and butter, with fajita seasoning, onion powder and a few other things whipped into the butter. Pour that over the shrimp before you grill them, and then whip up some more to dip the shrimp in. At Pappasito's, where I (Jeff) got the whole idea, they do a MUCH better job.

Just look at the finished product and the eagerness my wife is exhibiting!  Jeff is just like me, never eats without a camera nearby!

That's our traveling chef at the end of the table, enjoying his Fat Tire!  I want to thank him for this "guest post"...maybe he'll share more with us.

So, here is his finished product!  He whipped up the Mexican rice once he reached my kitchen, but the rest was just heated up!  It was well worth the wait!

TALK ABOUT QUICK AND EASY

Well, all except the pinto beans!  Judy soaked them over night and cooked them most of the day, and man, was it worth the wait!

The trick is finding something to go with them that's quick and easy and just as yummy!

We settled on a Food City rotisserie chicken, a can of white/yellow hominy, mac'n cheese, and a big pone of cornbread!

Now, I don't care who you are, that's good eatin'! 

Yeah, it's mostly starch, well, maybe all starch, but who's countin'!?  Besides, there's protein in the beans!

QUICK CHICKEN SOUP

Life is pretty easy around the old homestead these days.  We're retired...just watching grandchildren grow up!  So, we don't put a lot of effort into big meals anymore, except for special occasions.

That's what brought about this quick-n-easy chicken soup.

Okay, so the photo isn't up to my usual standards!

Judy was tired of everything, so soup was the only thing she thought she could stomach last week.  She found some canned chicken chunks, a can of mixed vegetables, a can of hominy, some kidney beans, an onion, and a big container of chicken broth.  That's about it...except for some additional seasoning to taste!

Throw it all together in a big deep pan and let'er simmer for a couple of hours. 

Serve it with your favorite cracker, or like we did, some tasty cornbread!  Yummy!

It's no fuss, one pan, and lots of comfort food!

A TAKE ON YATSOBI!

Yep, Yatosbi, Yakisobi, or some call it Yakasobi!  What ever!

We didn't know it was called either until I wanted to make sure of the ingredients on the Internet and discovered the recipe.

Well, ours came out of a local Baptist church recipe book, and it was simply called "Beef and Cabbage"!

Yatosbi has a couple more ingredients that didn't make it into ours, and, I'm tellin' you, it's still delicious.  Don't sound delicious at first glance, but, try it, you'll like it, and want more!

Here's the traditional Yatosbi dish ingredients that we left out:

6 slices bacon, cooked and torn into bite size pieces (reserve 2 tbls bacon fat)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium red onion, diced (about 1 1/4 cup)
2-4 tablespoons light soy sauce
light soy sauce, to taste
crushed red pepper flakes (about 1/2 to 1 tsp) (optional)

It sounds good too, so you might won't to try it, especially since it has BACON...I probably will soon!

However, here's one I found on the net similar to ours, AFTER having made it from the church recipe:

Beef & Cabbage

1 lb ground beef

1 head shredded cabbage*

2 packages ramen noodles, beef flavor=crushed

3 shredded carrots

4 c. water

Brown beef and drain grease. Add remaining ingredients, including seasoning packets from soup. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Season to taste. *I {original net recipe maker} used 1/2 head. You can also use slaw mix, rather than shredding the cabbage yourself.

Leave the lid off a few minutes for excess liquid to evaporate.

Judy did it exactly like that, except she did add on chopped onion, and I think it made a difference!

The picture does nothing to make you want to try it, but the taste is wonderful!  

So, it's a another quick meal that even I could have made, and it does satisfy the palate!