Friday Night Fish Fry

People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within. -Ramona L. Anderson

 

Bad blogger time again.  But in my defense I have been trying to convert my older computer over to a new one in my spare time.  I've also been cooking, planning, going to the kid's ballgames...working more at My Friends Closet... and I found a new obsession from Seth.  Plants vs. Zombies.  Great stress relief!

The photo above was taken at one of Caleb's games as Seth and Toonces watch him play.

Tulips, daffodils, and other spring things are popping up from the ground and it is exciting.  I actually put lettuce pots all over the patio today.   Thank goodness our only real house project this year is ripping out the patio and laying it all in rock.  I don't know why we didn't do that to begin with but I wanted it to look a certain way and wasn't really thinking about all the painting involved every spring!  Hind sight is 20/20! 

And this week I am refreshing some of the white walls in the house.

I am not actually doing it.  Toonces would never trust me with a paint brush in the house.  No way.  I've asked.  I've begged.  Not happening.

I did my best this month to conjure up the Paula Deen in me and not the Lucy side.  I completed February's recipe in the calendar.  Chicken white bean chile.  It wasn't that bad.  Toonces actually ate a bowl of it the first night.   I made sugar cookies from scratch for V-day and I made the cover pound cake from Southern Living- the strawberry cream cheese pound cake.   I've also surrounded myself with fresh herbs inside the house and out. 

I like creating something and serving it to Toonces.  If only I could get good enough to create my own dishes.   But I love new recipes and following the instructions.   That is more than enough for me.  Especially when I can't even copy some of them very well!

This month T-man is in for a classic Carrot cake featured in Southern Lady Magazine and Neapolitan cupcakes.  Paula's calendar is saying March is homemade chicken pot pie and I am really dreading that one.  I don't see why I can't use Bisquick.  I don't understand cutting Crisco into flour.  I am pretty sure my pastry part would suck.  I don't know how to make real biscuits!!!  I am not even eating bread or cakes or pies or cookies so that extra effort will really really suck. 

I have to let my conscience sit on that one a while. 

Would Bisquick be cheating?

I still have to boil the dumb chicken???

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love." Craig Claiborne

 

Caleb cooking earlier in the week.

~~~~~~

Since Toonces and I got sick and missed our weekend getaway, and I got the kids basketball schedules messed up, and since I had baked sweet potatoes for dinner and had some leftover I thought well, I'll just spend my Saturday night making the January recipe from my Paula Deen calendar.  With a cold theres not much else fun to do.  I'd caught up un-cluttering my magazine stash last night.  I'd played with my Kindle earlier in the day.   So yeah, what better timing?

According to Paula this is an easy dish and takes 15 minutes.  I say sure if you're a pro like Paula.  And your kitchen is set up for biscuit making.  Or if you've EVER made biscuits in your life without your mama standing beside you and you are like 8.     I am messy with flour.  I like to clean up as I go and that is harder with baking I think.  BUT baking those biscuits excited me in that I got to use my rolling pin, a sifter, and tonight even my masher.  I just get the rolling pin out about every six months and look at it lovingly like one day we'll form a friendship.  I have never needed a sifter.  Ever.  But since that is what Paula wanted for January we do not want to disappoint Paula.

I poured the dry ingredients in the sifter while it was on the cabinet not thinking it would come through and leave a pile of flour.  I had to scoop it back in there.  When the recipe said "cut" in the milk I didn't know what to do or what to do it with.  Cut how?  So I just kept squishing it like pizza dough.  I didn't have a biscuit cutter so I had to use a cup from Wet and Wild water park.  My biscuits were the size of big ole country cat head biscuits.  

Since she said don't let them brown too quickly I stared at the oven window for the entire fifteen minutes.  But since I couldn't see the BOTTOM of the biscuits I still let them get too brown :(  Toonces picked out the best one and said he really liked it.  Plus he said it made the house smell really nice :)  He is so sweet.

My nephew Ben will be happy to know that I don't think I will be making Paula Deen's sweet potato biscuits.  He is allergic to sweet potatoes and would never visit if that were on the menu. 

 I have fulfilled round one out of twelve. 

February is going to be tough.  White beans are involved.  A big yuck to the T-man and I.

 

my pitiful biscuit cutter

 

the finished sweet potato biscuit.

more like scones, in her photo they are flat too

 

My sweet but crazy taste tester ♥