cooking

This is What You Deserve

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Good morning. Make it a good morning regardless of what is or who has got you feeling anything but fine. You deserve to feel good. Take 5 minutes to think rationally and realize that other people’s behaviors are not something that you did or provoked. People are in control of themselves. You are in control of you. You do not control how other people live, think, and act. You are not responsible for their happiness. You are responsible for YOU.

Let that sink it. Take a deep breath and do what makes you happy.

Relax, put your favorite show on, read that book, take a nap, pour a cup of coffee or tea and indulge in the little things that will get you through.

Large Crowd Summer Menu Cookout

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Happy belated 4th of July!

Sometimes it’s hard to put together a menu suitable for a large crowd. You’ll have your gluten free guest, your guest sensitive to spices, another guest who cannot tolerate garlic, and your no onions please guest. Oh and your no beef guest.

So whenever my sister and I put together our menu for the next family function, we have to take all these request into consideration. And, we love it. It gives us an opportunity to get a gathering together fast and be creative.

Remember, more isn’t always necessary because people tend to have a few cocktails beforehand and also nosh on the chips and whatever else precedes the main course.

Here is our typical summer bbq menu:

We usually start with a platter of olives and pickles, chips, celery and ranch dressing. On occasion there will be buffalo chicken wing dip, cheese and crackers, etc.,

Next, here comes the burgers, hot dogs, sausage patties, sausage and peppers, and bbq chicken. Then we have the pasta salad, corn on the cob, and deviled eggs! Yum. I’m getting hungry just writing about it.

Lol well anyway this is just a gist of some menu items you can put together pretty quick for a large crowd.

Here are some pics of our family. I hope you all had a safe and happy 4th.

It was a great 4th of July. We even camped out back in the Yert. The boys slept in their hammocks. I’ll have to try that one night. They said it was wicked comfortable.

Oh geez I almost forgot the most important part of the menu lol, the adult beverage we fell in love with. Saranac’s Moscow Mule ginger beer. If you can get your hands on one, try it. They are so good ice cold. It’s really a great summer drink.

Chicken Cordon Bye Bye Blue

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Okay so I made chicken cordon blue today but had to prepare it ahead of time because of our busy schedule and it came out delish. I had made it before but this time I did it a little different just to give it a little zip.

The problem is that we ate it so fast I forgot to take a “pretty” blog pic to post with the recipe. So the pic I posted was of my sons next to last piece before it disappeared.

My whole philosophy on cooking is that it isn’t an exact science. Yes, to some degree you have to follow the amount of ingredients and preparation but there is room for adding a little pizzazz here and there. One mistake I’ve made in the past is don’t over due it on the salt. Use your other salt free spices and be creative!

Here are the ingredients and the prep which took me about 10 to 15 minutes total.

Chicken Cordon Bye Bye Blue

~ 2 lbs. chicken breast (de-fatted, sliced thin and long)

~ Virginia Baked Ham, 1 slice per piece of chicken

~ Swiss cheese, any kind 1 slice per piece of chicken

1/2 cup of seasoned bread crumbs

salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder about 4 shakes of each on top of the rolled chicken cordon blue pieces

Cream Sauce

3/4 quarter stick of butter

1/3 cup of flour

1 cup of 2% milk

1/4 parmesan cheese

2 tsp. spicy brown mustard

1/3 cup of Honey Mustard dipping sauce/dressing

salt, pepper, onion powder to taste

Roll pieces of chicken with one slice of ham and one slice of Swiss cheese. Hold each piece with a tooth pick or two if needed. Put a few shakes of salt, pepper, and onion powder on each piece.

Drizzle bread crumbs on top of each piece to coat lightly.

Sauce/Gravy Preparation

Melt butter and then add flour to make a roux. Add milk slowly and stir until you see a smooth consistency.

Add mustard and honey mustard.

Add salt, pepper, onion powder.

Preheat oven to 350

Cover chicken pieces with gravy. Cook 45 minutes on 350. Voila!