Buttermilk

Buttermilk.

When I think of buttermilk, I think 

of someone's grandpa somewhere in an old farmhouse 

eating a bowl of cornbread and buttermilk. 

But, not my grandpa.  He didn't live on a farm.

And he was Irish.  And I'm pretty sure I never saw him 

eating cornbread and buttermilk.

But, I bet someone else's did.

Anyway, I was flipping through a magazine and found a 

recipe for buttermilk grilled chicken.  

Sounded interesting, so I tried it.

And because you can't buy just a small thing of 

buttermilk - you have to get a large amount - I needed 

to make something else with the stuff.

And suddenly, I knew exactly what to make.

There is a restaurant in Atlanta called Houston's.

They make one of the best salads ever.  

They have a dressing there called buttermilk garlic.

It's so delish.

So here's my copycat recipe for Houston's 

Buttermilk Garlic salad dressing.

This is so easy.

Take these ingredients and blend together.

The end.

I put mine is this big jar.

It stays good for about 2 weeks.

It's great on a salad like this one, with egg and bacon.

It's also really good as a dip for raw veggies.

And, while we're at it - here's my buttermilk chicken:

Take some chicken breasts and marinate in a bag 

for 2 to 24 hours with buttermilk and pretty much 

the same exact ingredients as the salad 

dressing except for the sour cream and mayonnaise. 

Cook them on the grill.

We wrapped ours up with a toothpick and slow cooked them 

on the top rack.  They were so moist and yummy!! 

Here's the recipes:

Grilled Buttermilk Chicken

6-8 chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

8 cloves chopped garlic

1 tbsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt 

1 tsp black pepper

In a bowl, combine buttermilk, garlic, paprika, salt and 

pepper.  Place in a large ziplock bag with the chicken and let 

marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

Remove chicken from the marinade and grill on low for 

about 30 minutes or until done.

*

Buttermilk Garlic Dressing 

1/2 cup buttermilk

2/3 cup sour cream

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 tsp crushed garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp dry mustard

2 tbsp sugar

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Flavors will blend after it sits awhile in the fridge.

 

Chicken Pot Pie

I made chicken pot pie for the first time :)

Isn't it pretty?

Wednesday's are my favorite lately.

No football and no homework.

We watch Wednesday night church online, so it gives me plenty 

of time to cook a big meal or try a new recipe.

I searched for a recipe that I liked, and couldn't find one.  

So, I took a little from a few different ones 

and came up with this.

I found this chicken in my freezer.

I thawed it.

Then I cooked it.

I put it in this pot with some water, salt and pepper.

Brought it to a boil, and then simmered for an hour.

When I pulled the chicken out, I had the most delicious broth.

The chicken was done and easily falling off the bone.

My chicken yielded about 4 1/2 cups.

Normally, I wouldn't go through the time and trouble of cooking 

a chicken for an hour.  I would use leftover chicken if I had it.  

But, like I said - it was Wednesday and I had time, and this guy 

was just sitting in my freezer begging to be cooked.

Then I made the sauce.

Start with equal parts butter and flour.

Add some salt and pepper.

Whisk constantly until it becomes smooth.

Slowly add some of the chicken broth.

Still whisking constantly.

And some milk.

Then I added some frozen veggies to the chicken.

 

 

I also had a potato that I cut up and threw that in too.

 

 

Then I poured the sauce all over it.

This seemed way too saucy to me and I got scared.

But, I went with it.

I got out my favorite Pampered Chef deep dish pie plate.

Have I mentioned how much I like Pampered Chef?

And lined it with a pre-made pie crust.

 

 

And dumped it all in.

 

And covered it up with the other pie crust.

I cut some holes to try to make it look pretty.

And brushed the top with an egg white and water mixture.

It went in a very hot 425 degree oven for 40 minutes.

It looked really good when it came out.

When I cut into it, it was very saucy.

But, as it sat for a few minutes, it thickened up a lot.

I think I should have let it sit for 

about 10 or 15 minutes before I dug in.

Another thing - my potatoes didn't cook all the way :(

So, next time - I would cut them smaller, or leave them out altogether.

*

Here's the recipe:

Chicken Pot Pie

1 pkg refrigerated pie crusts

3 cups cooked chicken

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup milk

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

1 cup small diced potatoes (optional)

 1 egg white

1 tbsp water

Heat your oven to 425.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. 

Add flour, salt and pepper, stirring constantly until well blended.

Slowly pour in broth and milk and stir until bubbly and thickened.

Remove from heat.  Mix chicken and vegetables in large 

bowl and add sauce.  Mix well.  Line deep dish pie pan 

with 1 pie crust.  Pour chicken mixture in pan.  Top with second crust.  

Seal edges.  Cut a few holes in the top for steam to escape.

Mix egg white and water.  Brush top of crust with egg white mixture.  

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  

You made need to cover edges of crust with foil during 

last 15 minutes to prevent excessive browning.  

Let stand 10 minutes before serving. 

Breakfast Casseroles at the Lodge Part 2

This is part 2 of the breakfast casseroles.

This is supposed to be a sausage casserole.

But, Jackie's husband is a hunter.

So there's always deer meat around.

So, we're changing the name of this one to deer meat 

breakfast casserole, or deer bacon breakfast, or deer for 

breakfast, or something like that.

You get the point.

This is Jackie's deer bacon.

Or I guess I should say this is James' deer bacon.

Anyway - Jackie chopped up a pound of this.

And added it to some eggs.

Then came these items.

Add the cheese last.

Jackie's daughter has a wheat allergy, so she used this bread.

It's holy :)

She cut the crusts off.

And cut it into small cubes.

Look at those perfect knife cuts.

The recipe calls for 6 slices of toasted bread.

We didn't see the point in toasting the bread when you're 

gonna pour egg all over it and then bake it.  

So we skipped this step.

And I think she used 8 slices of bread instead of 6.

  The camera fails to capture Jackie's whisk movements!!

Look at this delicious thing that Letha made and served 

to everyone while Jackie and I were preparing the casserole!!

I guess I should say that Jackie was preparing and I was 

following her taking pictures :)

Anyway - this is a chocolate cake with chocolate strawberry sauce. 

I can't remember the proper name for it.

I'll just call it yummy chocolate cake with strawberries.

(Recipe for this will come another day)

Here's Russell with a ginormous cup of coffee 

enjoying his chocolate strawberry cake. 

Back to the deer casserole.

We've mixed everything up and poured 

it into a greased 9x13 baking pan.

Cover with foil and stick it in the fridge overnight.

This is how it looked after it baked the next morning.

It's thick and hearty and really good.

I could hardly tell I was eating Bambi!!

*

Breakfast Sausage Casserole

1 lb ground pork sausage

(or dear bacon if you have it)

1 tsp mustard powder

(Jackie didn't have this and used Dijon instead)

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

2 cups milk

6 slices bread, toasted and cut in cubes

(you already know how I feel about the toasting)

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Brown sausage and drain.  In a medium bowl, mix mustard, salt, 

eggs and milk.  Add sausage, cheese and bread.  Stir to coat evenly.  

Pour into a greased 9x13 baking pan.  

Cover with foil and put in refrigerator overnight.  

Bake - covered at 350 for 45-60 minutes.  

Uncover, reduce temp to 325 and bake for an 

additional 30 minutes or until set.

Breakfast Casseroles at the Lodge Part 1

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend!!

My friend Jackie invited our family down to her and her husband's

hunting lodge in middle of nowhere, Oklahoma.

Two other families joined us and we had a great time.

We played lots of games, went kayaking, went on a 

scavenger hunt and cooked a lot of food.

Jackie made two breakfast casseroles that I think are super yummy.

The first is this baked peach french toast.

We start with butter and brown sugar.

It's only gonna melt a little.

Add a little water and it becomes a delicious sweet gooey mess.

Pour the sticky mess into a greased 9x13 pan.

This pan was a bit large but we were using 

the other pan for the other casserole.

Then, Jackie lined it with canned peaches.

Slice up a loaf of french bread.

And lay it on the peaches.

Now it's time to make the egg mixture.

This is 6 beaten eggs.

Add some milk.

This is Jackie holding the next ingredients - 

vanilla and cinnamon.

Isn't she pretty!!

Mix it all up.

And pour on top.

Sprinkle some cinnamon on top.

Then you put this in the fridge over night.

In the morning - just throw it in the oven, go take a shower,

and when you're ready - so is breakfast!!

This is what it looked like after it came out of the oven the 

next morning before we destroyed it.

*

Peach French Toast

1/4 cup margarine

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp water

1 29 oz can sliced peaches

(Jackie used an extra small can too because

she doesn't think that 1 can is enough)

1 loaf french bread

6 eggs

1 1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp vanilla

Melt margarine and brown sugar.  Stir constantly.  Add water.  

Pour into greased 9x13 baking dish.  Drain peaches and line them in the pan.  Cut bread into 1" slices and line on top of peaches.  Fill all holes with bread.  Mix eggs, milk and vanilla together.  Pour over bread.  

Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.  Place in oven and then set to 350.  Cook for 40 minutes.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  

You can eat out of the pan like we did, or slide a knife 

around the edges and flip it over on a tray and make it look pretty :)