Gravy and Gabbing

It's Friday, y'all. Let's give a collective golf clap, (or a big 'ol hoop and holler, if you're like me.) Another day, another post filled with random goodness - delicious and ready to be served. So let's do it!

Gravy

On Christmas day, I posted a photo of my Memaw's chocolate gravy, which I made for us. I got a couple of emails asking if the recipe was a family secret and I'm happy to report that I have cleared it with the source herself and I can post it : )

Here goes:

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar (white, granulated)
3 Tbsp. cocoa powder (I like Hershey's, but hey - it's your world.)
3 Tbsp. self-rising flour
2 cups milk (skim actually works best.)
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp. real, salted butter
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions:

Mix the sugar, cocoa powder and flour together in a bowl until there are no lumps. In a sauce pan, combine the milk and egg yolk. Add the flour mixture and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It should take on the consistency of pudding. Once it thickens, reduce to low heat and continue to stir constantly until it's silky smooth. Add butter and stir again.

Serve piping hot on top of fresh biscuits for a crowd-pleasing breakfast!

Gabbing

I was BLOWN AWAY by the amount of responses from those of you interested in the mom Gmail chat forum and also the local mom playgroup. I'm currently organizing the emails and will continue to do so over the weekend! I'll email everyone next week with details of both the chat forum and the playgroup/meet-up for Northwest Arkansas moms.

Right click and save the image above, and post on your own blogs to spread the word! The more moms we get, the better the chats will be!

Thanks again for your interest in all this mom stuff! I'm so excited to talk to you girls and meet those of you who are local. Yay for new friends!!

....................

Okay gals, I'm out. Stephen and I are packing up the baby and our 150 pounds of baby stuff and heading to my parents in Heber Springs, AR to celebrate Christmas with them. I'll talk to you bunnies on Monday!

The Best Apple Crisp You'll Ever Eat

Okay, so I may have oversold this recipe just a tad with the post title, but I promise, it is really good. If you like apples. And crisp, buttery desserts. (And if you don't like either of those things, then my friend, I feel sorry for you.)

But, if you're hankering for a delicious, spot-hitting, fall-appropriate, coffee-complimenting sweet treat, then girlies, you've come to the right place.

Ingredients

4 medium tart cooking apples, sliced thinly (I actually use  mixture of granny smith and honeycrisp or gala.)                        

3/4 cup packed brown sugar                        

1/2 cup all-purpose flour 

 

Pinch of salt                       

1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats                        

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened 

 

1 Tbsp. maple syrup                       

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon                        

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg                    

 

Cream or ice cream if desired, (and trust me, you should desire it.)                       

Directions

Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with shortening or non-stick cooking spray. (I use the spray to spare calories. I like my calories where I can taste 'em...in the butter!)

Spread apples in greased pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients except cream until well mixed; sprinkle over apples. 

I recommend sipping a pumpkin spice latte while assembling this dessert. I find it yields a better outcome ; )

Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream or whipped topping!

Confessional/Dip Friday: {Link-Up}

Since this week's topic for CF was "grab bag", I decided to throw caution to the wind (or Velveeta into the crockpot) and blog about...DIP!!

You know, that amazing manna from heaven?

Well, since college football started back last night, I felt it fitting to throw some dip at'cha. Here are a few of my very favorite dip recipes that you can often find the hubs and me devouring on any given game day:

Nothin' Fancy Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chili (we like Wolf brand)
• 1 block Philadelphia cream cheese
• Half a small bag of sharp shredded cheddar cheese

1. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9 x 9 glass dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Melt the cream cheese in the microwave until it's soft and lump free, so that you can easily spread it.
3. Spread melted cream cheese onto the bottom of the dish.
4. Top that layer with the entire can of chili, spreading evenly. Top THAT layer with the cheddar.
5. Now, put the dish uncovered into the microwave for 2.5 minutes or so, until cheese is bubbly.

You can thank me later.

Oh, give me a home dip, where the buffalo roam...
(Photo via recipleaser.com)

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients

• 4 clean chicken breasts
• 1 Bottle of  Hot sauce (12 oz.)
• 12 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup Mexican cheese
• 1 cup Ranch dressing
• Tortilla chips

1. Cook the chicken breasts in water until done.
2. Cut the chicken into small chunks or cubes .
3. Place the chicken in a bowl and pour the wing sauce over it, mixing well.
4. In an oven-proof dish, add the cream cheese and pour the chicken on top of it. Add the cheese over it and also sprinkle some ranch dressing.
5. Bake for about half an hour at 325 degrees.

Tell me this doesn't make you wanna dive in face first.
(photo via Food Network)

Charleston Dip

Ingredients

• 1/2 - cup mayonnaise
• 1 - 8oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 - cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 - cup grated monterey jack cheese
• 2 - green onions, finely chopped
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• 8 - Ritz crackers, crushed
• 8 - slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I prefer center-cut bacon for its thickness.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. In a medium bowl, mix the mayonnaise, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, monterey jack cheese, green onions and cayenne pepper. 

3. Transfer the mixture to a shallow baking dish. 

4. Top mixture with cracker crumbs and bake for 15 minutes, or until heated through. 

5. Remove the pan from the oven and top with the bacon.

6.  Serve immediately with corn chips, bagel chips or crackers.

Sufficiently hungry yet?

If the InLinkz tool is not working, (and it rarely does), just leave your link in the comments!

The Great Souptacular: {Let's Get Soupy}

Grab a stock pot and a ladle, girls – things are about to get hot around here. To me, soup is sort of like a dependable old car. You try out some newer, fancier rides (recipes), but when it comes to dependable transportation (or a satisfied crowd), you pull out the old standby, the ’75 Chevy of meal options – soup.

To kick off this post, I thought we’d start by listing a few of the great qualities of this seemingly un-chic culinary offering:

-It’s cheap. Unless your soup calls for white truffles or champagne infused beets (true story), you can feed one or fifteen people for lots of days. Without lots of dollars.

-It’s really hard to screw up. Soup has a versatility about it that comes in handy for those of us who like to experiment in the kitchen. Too bland? Add some cumin and sea salt. Too thick? Add stock. Too thin? Cornstarch, kids.

-It’s great if you take lunch to work. It’s portable in a Tupperware container. It’s typically calorie-friendly. Soup is also easy to heat up without offending your office mates with a horrid aroma. (Unlike salmon, which some chick at my old job would heat up every Monday, without fail. She had no friends.)

My favorite soup is White Chicken Chili. It’s my personal recipe, which resulted from combining about four various spins on this classic soup.

White Chicken Chili
by Leslie at A Blonde Ambition

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 packet McCormick White Chicken Chili seasoning
1/2 cup flour
1 cup butter
4 cups half and half or whole milk
2 cups of chicken broth
2 cans Great Northern (white) beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/8 cup chopped jalapeno peppers
1 ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken (I get mine at our Walmart deli)
2 cups grated Monterrey Jack cheese
1-2 tsp. of chili powder (depending how spicy you want it)
1 cup sour cream (optional)

Instructions:
Cook onion powder and garlic in a couple tablespoons of butter until soft, not brown. Set aside. Make a roux by melting the butter and whisking the 1/2 cup of flour in. Boil for 3 minutes stirring constantly. Add the onion and garlic to the roux.

Add the half and half and chicken broth. Simmer 3 minutes or until thick.

Pour mixture into a crockpot then add the white beans, black beans, pepper, chicken, cheese and all spices, including seasoning packet.

Simmer 20 minutes. Right before serving add salt and pepper to taste and sour cream (optional). Garnish with cilantro and more shredded cheese.

That’s it. Easy, quick and guaranteed to leave you satisfied.

Behold, I give you soup.

The Great Souptacular

I wanted to come up with a riveting blog topic for today; something that would really ignite some critical thinking and self-examination.

Today, we'll be talking about soup.

Most importantly, The Great Souptacular.

This Thursday, January 17, all of you culinary vixens will be able to link up right here and share your most earth-shaking soup recipe with your fellow blog readers. Here's what to do:

Come here on Thursday and leave the link to your blog, where you'll share your favorite soup or chili recipe. The link-up will close midnight on Friday, just in time for Confessional Friday, so be sure to post your link before then.

Soup is a classic winter tradition and goshdarnit, it's a cheap way to feed a household. So sift through that recipe box and come back here Thursday to link up!

Oh, and in case you wondered, of course I made a button. You can showcase it at the top of your recipe blog post, if you feel so inclined.

The Great Souptacular. Be there.