So far, so good on the weather front. (ha ha ha! "front" Get it....? ...okay...)

Anyway, we've had an interesting day. Thunder followed by the strongest sleet-fall I've ever seen. It looked like a hard rain, but it was all ice. The weather man said some of it looked like snowflakes incapsulated by ice. I was too cold to go check that out, but it sounds cool. Sleet is great! Rain that freezes later is bad. Our trees are standing, our heater is humming. It is all good.

Man, I made one fantastic meal Friday night! I have been trying out new stuff from Southern Living's everyday recipes and not one of them has failed. I am officially a Southern Living Fanatic.
So here is the recipe:

3-4 pound pork shoulder roast
18 ounces barbecue sauce
1 can Coca-Cola

That's it. You cook it all day in the crock pot, then shred it up with forks (I like big chunky shreds), put some on a bun, sprinkle with cheddar and, oh my good heavens. Oh. Oh. OH! We ate it up with some tortilla chips and mango salsa. You've got to try it! (The smallest roast I found was 10 pounds, so I made a whole lotta BBQ pork, which is all the better. Freezes up just fine!)

I've also got a lasagna in the oven and chili melding in the fridge. Hey, I've gotta keep warm somehow. If you're hungry, I guess you know where to go!

We have an old, old house and on days like today you can really feel it. I once had a friend say he liked old houses because you could always find a room with the temperature you needed: some are warm, some are cool and some are downright drafty and cold. That's our house. In fact, I need to put away the rest of the Christmas decorations, which are all congregating in the great room in like-minded huddles, but that room is the absolute coldest and draftiest place in the neighborhood. My husband brought all the boxes up from the dungeon and is patiently awaiting his turn to take them back down, but I just can't bring myself to freeze like that. I'm trying to appease hime with lots of cooking, and it seems to be working so far.

Maybe I should go make some brownies.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Boil two cups of rice (which makes 4 cups). Put in the bottom of a casserole dish.

Mix together and pour over rice:
3 large chicken breasts, baked and cubed
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
poppy seeds

Mix together and spread over casserole:
Butter crackers (like Ritz), crushed
Melted butter (about 1 tbsp.)

Bake in oven until heated through. This is good served with baked sweet potatoes and a salad.

Chicken Pot Pie. Delicious.
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Yogurt Dill Sauce circa 1986, of course. Didn't you see the blue duck?
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Crabmeat Dip, typed on a card by me circa 1977. Mom still makes this for every holiday. Yummy!
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Jan's Bowl of Red (revised)
(for the beginning of the season, of course)

5-8 slices of bacon
1 ½ pounds hot sausage
1 1/2 pounds hamburger meat
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, minced
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper
Cumin
Oregano
Worchestire sauce
16 ounces tomato paste
8 ounces canned pinto beans
24 ounces water

Cook bacon, crumble. Throw out grease. Cook sausage. Reserve grease. Cook beef and onion in sausage grease. Add peppers for last few minutes. Add to pot. Add remaining ingredients except beans. Simmer 2 hours. Add beans 30 minutes before serving. This always tastes best the next day. Good with grated cheddar, saltines, Fritos, and/or cornbread.

"Leave us face it," I want you for my Valentine! (I have no idea what that means).
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Carrots
We had these for dinner and you should, too. Easy, delicious, fast. What more could you ask?

Carrots
Pure maple syrup
Butter

Clean your carrots and chop them into bite-size pieces (don't scrape them). Put them in boiling water until soft. While they're cooking, put some syrup and butter in a bowl. Drain your carrots, add them to the bowl and stir to coat. They're ready, but if you put your bowl in the oven along with the casserole or bread you're making and let them keep warm for a few minutes, they'll taste even better!

Dude Ranch Casserole
2 1/2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 cups shredded cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes and green chilies
1 can diced green chilies
3/4 cup green onion
1 dozen flour tortillas, cut into 6 triangles each

Mix everything except reserve 1 cup cheese and 12 tortilla triangles. Spray casserole dish, add mixture and cook at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top. Tuck tortilla triangles around the edges. Bake 5 more minutes. Let casserole rest 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with tortilla chips and salsa.

Salisbury Steak
Here's a family favorite. Serve it with mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles and your favorite colored vegetable(s).

1 pkg. beef onion soup mix, mixed with water
(or one can condensed onion soup)
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (seasoned or unseasoned)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash pepper

1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon mustard

Using only 1/3 of the soup, combine soup, beef, bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper. Shape into oval patties. Brown in skillet; pour off fat. Blend remaining ingredients, pour over browned patties and reduce heat, stirring to remove bits from pan. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes.

Okay, while we're on this recipe, here's a little lesson on deglazing. Deglazing is a way to remove those bits that have attached to the bottom of the pan. There are at least two benefits to this. (1) You release the flavor that is in those bits to the dish you are preparing and (2) your pan is easier to clean. Wine is commonly used for a deglazer. But did you know tomatoes do the same trick? So, if you're ever cooking a dish that includes tomatoes, add the tomatoes to the pan just before you're finished. Stir the bottom and, voila!, you have just deglazed. Thanks for coming to class today!

Scalloped Chicken Update
I've heard from many of you that you plan to try the scalloped chicken (see below), but you want to use chicken breasts only. I'm all for making a recipe easy, and I use chicken breast for most of my chicken recipes, but this one really needs the whole chicken. Trust me.

Six Marinades
Thanks to Penny for always keeping me inspired to expand my cooking repertoire! I intend to try all of these marinades. They look delicious!

Scalloped Chicken
Here's what we're having for dinner tonight. It is my grandmother Margaret's favorite recipe. It is NOT low fat, but it will be perfect for this rainy, cold February evening. This makes enough for two families, so you could put half in the freezer for another cold day, or take half to some friends to they don't have to cook!

5-6 cups cooked chicken, pulled or diced (about 2 chickens)*
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 oz. pimiento (optional)
1 can chicken broth
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter
5 slices bread, cubed

Melt butter. Stir in bread cubes. Combine all ingredients. Salt to taste. Pour into greased casserole.

Topping:
1 stick butter, melted
1 1/2 cups butter cracker crumbs

Mix together and pour over top.

Bake at 350 for 60-90 minutes.

Suggested sides: baked sweet potatoes, salad, fruit and/or a green veggie.

*I cook two whole chickens in my crock pot. Put 1/2 an onion inside each and then sprinkle with savory, salt, pepper and some cloves of garlic. Cool them, pull the meat and keep the meat on hand for such recipes. It can be frozen for a month if you seal it well. This time I cooked the chickens this morning, which was NOT brilliant. A brilliant cook prepares the chicken just before the trash man arrives so she has nothing around the house to attract animals!! Word to the wise.