Recipes # 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21

The Menu (July 8, 2010):

Poppyseed Chicken (#1A)- pg 93

Corn Pudding- pg 103

Green Bean Bundles- pg 105

Crescent Bread- pg 41

Peanut Butter Pie- pg 142

Homemade Ice Cream with Butterfinger (not in the cookbook)

Tonight was the first night of Big Brother Season 12.  I didn't even know what Big Brother was until Daniel and I started dating.  He and his brothers and sister love the show! I've learned that unless I want to be the out-sider, I need to keep up with Big Brother.  So, what better way than to invite everyone over for a Big Brother party!?!?  Daniel was so excited about this night that he even wanted to help me prepare the meal! I think I can handle this big brother business if it means help in the kitchen, especially when it's from my thoughtful husband!  I picked out what entree and sides I was going to make and Daniel picked out which deserts he wanted to prepare.  We made a grocery list and I headed to the grocery earlier in the week to buy all of the ingredients.  Well, evidently I still have some learning to do in the grocery, because between the two of us, Daniel and I made three separate trips to the grocery store while preparing the meal.  Once to Carrie's to "borrow" an egg (sort-of like a grocery store, except free), once for more heavy whipping cream and another time for sour cream.  Thankfully there's a neighborhood grocery store just a little over a mile from our house.  Another bit of trouble we ran in to was the fact that we only have one oven and we had planned to cook four different things that needed to be  prepared in the oven, at three different temperatures.  Carrie tried to tell me that it couldn't be done, and I should just leave something out for that meal.  Well, I wasn't sure if I could make it work or not, but once she said that, I of course had to try and prove her wrong! 

There are four different poppyseed chicken recipes in the cookbook.  I couldn't figure out which one I should use, so I decided I'd just go down the list.  The first one is from Ann Smith.  Ann and her husband Bill are family friends of my parents from Fulton.  They also helped host the wonderful party for us at my great-grandmother's old house in Fulton.  This recipe was very easy and really good!  One note- it says to cook for 30 minutes on 300 degrees.  This was the only recipe that needed the oven at 300 degrees, and after looking at the other three poppyseed chicken recipes that all said to cook at 350 degrees for the same length of time, I decided that it would help simplify the oven situation a little bit if I just cooked it at 350 degrees.  I'm glad I did, too, because I actually ended up cooking it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, and it was still a little more "soupy" than normal.  "Soupy" or not, it was delicious!  with just a tiny bit remaining for leftovers.  

Second on the menu for tonight was corn pudding, a recipe from my grandmother, Annie.  Although she has many, many delicious recipes, this has been an all-time favorite of mine since I was a little girl!  I LOVE it!!  It was also the very first thing I ever cooked for Daniel, for his first birthday that we celebrated together.  Although that particular night was a little bit of a disaster, that's a whole other story though, haha, he loved the corn pudding, and still does! Good thing, because like I said, it's one of my favorites so that works out well!  Everyone else seemed to enjoy it too, as there was very little remaining for leftovers.

Green bean bundles is a recipe from Julie.  It really surprised me when she gave me this recipe because she does not like bacon and this calls for the green beans to be wrapped in bacon.  When I asked her about them she said although she doesn't like bacon, she likes these, plus they are easy!!  And after this meal, I'm going to have to agree with her, of course everything taste better with bacon if you ask me!  I thought I had messed up though, because I looked at the recipe at lunch time to see what needed to be done and realized they were supposed to marinate in Italian dressing overnight.  I thought about leaving them out for this meal, but wanted to try them since Julie was coming for dinner.  I'm glad I did, too, because they were delicious!  I also learned what broiling meant while cooking this recipe.  Everything was almost ready to eat, but the bacon was not crispy at all.  Julie kindly explained to me what broiling meant, and that if you left the green bean bundles to broil for just a few extra minutes, they would crisp right up.  And they did!  Thanks to Julie, I now know how to broil, and crisp bacon!! 

The last item on the menu that I was in charge of was crescent bread!  Probably the best, although least healthy, part of the whole meal! This is a recipe from my mom's friend Marion Kee.  She and her husband helped host a beautiful cocktail party for Daniel and me here in Memphis.  This recipe of hers has been a hit in our family for quite some time now.  Partly because it melts in your mouth and partly because its so easy to make.  Except this time... It was the only recipe that was to be cooked at 375 degrees, for 25-30 minutes, and I knew from experience with this recipe it takes every minute of the 25-30 in order to cook it completely.  I thought about trying to cook on 350, just for a really long time, but I decided that would probably take a while.  So, I decided to cook it first, wrap it in foil, store in the microwave and heat up for a minute right before serving the meal.  I may have gotten distracted by our company and left it in just a little too long, but it still melted in your mouth!! DELICIOUS!! One of my favorites!

Although some, I won't say any names, had their doubts about this meal (ahhmmm, Carrie) it turned out really nice! I was very satisfied, besides the fact that it took much longer than I had hoped for everything to be ready.  But, considering how many things I was attempting to cook at once, I can't complain.  Thank you Ann, Annie, Julie and Marion for sharing such great recipes, and helping make the Big Brother 12 kick-off a success!!

Now for the really yummy part, deserts!!

     Well hello there blog world! This is Daniel and yes this is my first time to write on a blog page, so I'm gonna apologize pre-story for the mistakes... Let's dive right into it. The other day I decided Mrs. Connerley needed some assistance in this cooking deal (later I was informed I was required to write/blog about it, so double wammy for me). But being the world-class chef that I am (I watch Iron Chef and Top Chef just about every week, so yeah, my cooking talents are pretty broad) I decided to take on the final course for this meal. Naturally I had to look through the cookbook and find a recipe worthy of my expertise. After about 10 minutes of deciding which one had the least odds of me screwing up, I chose the Peanut Butter Pie. I have to give huge thanks to Mrs. Nicki Cates! This gorgeous pie is her recipe. She's is a great friend, bridesmaid to Laura, and wife to one of the most fun guys I know, Daniel Cates. They're a blast to hangout with and wonderful friends to Laura and me. I digress...

     What really drew me to this pie was the fact that there is no baking involved!!! It's really a pretty simple recipe. A few ingredients (plus a few secret, extra ingredients I tossed in to really knock out the taste buds), a little mixing, a few hours in the frig and BAM!! I had a Peanut Butter Pie! Now I will tell you, I added the chocolate glaze and Reese's topping on my own direction (looking back it was probably a little over the top but hey, I'm a guy. I can't just follow the recipe). The pie was a success! Very Rich (that was probably my secret additives), but delicious. That's right friends, I actually had some success in the kitchen. It was really pretty fun. That's why I wasn't done with just pie!!

     I also decided I would venture out and try my luck at some homemade ice cream. Laura and I were able to get a homemade ice cream maker with some extra money from the wedding (Now don't think too highly of me. It's not the old-school hand cranking model. I put enough hours back in the day on my dad's manual cranker to feed a baseball park of cream lovers. Not going down that road again... that is until I have kids of my own. Haha!) Anyway, I chose the plain old vanilla recipe that came in the manual with the ice cream maker (Yes of course I added Butterfinger. "Plain old vanilla" is not in my cooking portfolio!). It was just okay. I thought it came out a little too fluffy. Some people may like their ice cream a cloudy consistency. I'm not knocking them. I just prefer mine a little thicker. The Butterfinger pulled me thru. I'll be back to the ice cream maker again, but next time I'm calling Mom and Dad for their recipe.

     All-in-all I gotta say I truly enjoyed my time in the kitchen. I had fun cooking beside Laura. I'll probably never get good enough to cook as good as she does, but at least she lets me make a mess next to her. I'll venture out again, and I'll be back to the blog here to explain to you guys what went wrong. Catch ya later!

Happy Cooking!!