Let's Put This to Rest, Finally

Way back in January of 2006 we started playing a game based on the cooking show, Ready, Set, Cook! . We played for quite some time and had a LOT of fun.

I think it's time to quit, though and I'm going to refer you instead to The Leftover Queen, Jen, and her Royal Foodie Joust, which was started in June of 2007. They have a lot of fun there, too and she gets far more entries than I. It's basically the same premise, except that you really have to make something for the Royal Foodie Joust, where my R,S,C could be virtual or real.

At any rate, I'm busy, busy, busy and may throw in a game from time-to-time just for kicks.

Ready, Set, Cook! #37 Recipes

Here's what I got for this month's game:

See Ranae's awesome meal at Cornbread & Cookies.

I posted Cauliflower and Leek Fritters (which were served with grilled chicken breasts) at Suite 101.

And this came in from someone who doesn't have a blog and wants to be known as, "a gal who loves to cook" - Good enough for me!

Cauliflower Chicken Casserole

1 small leek - cleaned and sliced
1 large head cauliflower - broken up and cooked in salted water until just tender
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 large red pepper - diced
4 cups white sauce
2 cups shredded Swiss or Provolone
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Cook leeks in a small amount of butter until tender. Mix everything together and put into a greased 9 x 13 pan or large casserole. Bake at 350 degrees F until bubbly and lightly browned - about 30 minutes.

OK, see you next month for Ready, Set, Cook! on March 4th!

One of those weeks

I didn't forget Ready, Set, Cook! and I certainly didn't forget Veggie Wednesday, but this week has been really crazy with the 8 year-old home longer than I expected and weather woes causing early dismissals and snow days. So, I will post R,S,C! submissions next Tuesday (February 19th) and get back to Veggie Wednesday next week as well.

If you didn't get a submission in because you've had "one of those weeks", too, then please feel free to email it to me (irishones7 (@) juno.com) before next Tuesday and I'll gladly add it. I seem to have noticed that this week was a bit bad all around for many people I know. Let's all hope next week looks far better.

Ready, Set, Cook! #37

Click the above photo for Rules of Play if you've never played before.

Today's three are two seasonal vegetables and the easiest protein ever - chicken.

chicken breasts
leeks
cauliflower

Have fun creating! See you next week with submissions.

It's Tuesday Tomorrow!

I bet you already knew that...

Tomorrow is the first Tuesday of the month, which means it's Ready, Set, Cook! time.

If you've never played, or if you've played before but need a refresher course, go HERE to check out the Rules of Play, please.

I don't have 3 ingredients in mind, yet, so if you have an idea-shoot it to me at:
Irishones7 (@) juno (.) com and I'll let you know what I think!

See you tomorrow.

We used to play this little game...

...called, Ready, Set, Cook! named for the old Food Network show and followed loosely on it's rules. We haven't played in quite some time and I don't know when or if we'll ever play again! I'd love to do it, but life happened and I couldn't keep up and then another blogger came along and started something very similar and ... you know.

So, if anyone is up for it, monthly - weekly seemed too often - now is your chance to let me know.

The rules are linked up to the image above, if you're clueless about what this is - and follow the tags below to see games we've already played.

R,S,C! #36 Recipe

OK, all you chickens ... I played. I hate that I had to use the flash for this photo, but my camera wasn't doing the right thing without it--someday I'll have my own personal photographer.

So, what is this? Sweet Potato Fries on the bottom, a Turkey-Scallion Roll set on it and it's topped with a Tart Cranberry Sauce and Fried Scallions.

Do I have a recipe? Nope. Basically I peeled and cut up 4 sweet potatoes, fried them in hot oil and salted them to taste. The turkey rolls are turkey breast fillets that I pounded thin, seasoned well with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper and topped with sliced scallions before rolling up. I floured them, salted and peppered again and fried the same way as the potatoes.

The cranberry sauce is 1 cup of fresh cranberries, 1/2 cup of apple juice, 1/2 cup of cranberry-pomegranate juice and 1/4 cup of sugar combined and simmered until thick.

Ready, Set, Cook! #36

Click the icon above for complete rules. One change is that you can send your recipe to me to be posted here if you don't want to post on your own blog. I know it's not the first Tuesday of the month, but we haven't played in so long, I didn't want to wait until after the hectic holiday season to play again!

So, in honor of Thanksgiving coming up for us Americans, these three ingredients should blend together pretty well!

turkey breast
whole cranberries
sweet potatoes or yams

I'm all over this one!

See you next Tuesday with submissions!

Do you lead, or follow?

Recipes, that is?

When you find a recipe, do you follow it to the letter, make slight changes, or use it purely for inspiration?

I can say for myself, I almost always change recipes around, and most times I pop a cookbook open to get inspiration or have a rough guideline for a dish. Baking is not an exception for me--I still use a recipe for approximations rather than as gospel.

What about you?

Oh, hey! Anybody want to play R,S,C! tomorrow??

***Psst! Update on Marty over at The Rest of Me.

Ready, Set, Cook! #35

Our ingredients today were inspired by my Sunday Dinner post this week. Chicken again...it's so versatile it's hard NOT to use it! So, click the button above for rules of play, and GET COOKING!

boneless skinless chicken breasts
mango
lime juice

See you next Tuesday with submissions!

Rushing!

I'm on a full-steam-ahead schedule today so I'm rushing to get a post out. Today is the last day of school here which means school until 12 for the older elementary kids and a half day for K...that means that Katie goes to school from 10:30 to 12. I've already been there once today to drop off two of the other kids! Back again at 12 to get them all and we are DONE for the year-whew!

My oldest graduates tonight, so we have the ceremony to look forward to this evening as well. That and the forum I help moderate that needed a weekly set-up and the usual "kid stuff" like feeding and diaper changing and, well...you know.

Busy mama.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SO...check out this blog I found over the weekend called #1 Jerky Ramblings written by Greg Mathers. He is a distributor for Jerky Direct and shared this recipe with me and gave me permission to pass it on. I love jerky, and this recipe looks delicious!

Smoked Shredded Buffalo Jerky Cheese Log

8 oz cream cheese
2 teaspoon lemon Juice
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup (1 pkg) Hickory Smoked Shredded Buffalo Jerky

Put cream cheese, lemon juice, garlic powder, onion salt, Worcestershire sauce, grated cheese, and ½ cup jerky in bowl. Blend well. Take 12 in of wax paper and pour ¼ cup of jerky onto the wax paper. Take ½ of the cheese mixture and create a log of cheese by rolling it over the jerky. Completely cover the log with jerky, roll it up in the wax paper, and place it into the refrigerator overnight. Makes 2 logs.

When ready, cut log into disks and serve with crackers.

You can get the Shredded Buffalo Jerky at AVFundraiser.

Hickory Smoked Shredded Buffalo Jerky can be used as a low fat substitute for bacon. Use it in breakfast burritos, tacos, baked beans, quiche, Sloppy Joes, to top salads, and generally whenever you need a smoky meat flavor in your recipe. Keep a couple of bags handy for an emergency.

Greg

@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@

Tomorrow is our monthly game of Ready, Set, Cook!
BE THERE!

R,S,C! #34 Recipe Links

*This post has been UPDATED to include another submission!

We have submissions! This month's game of Ready, Set, Cook! netted the following recipes from a couple of my very favorite food bloggers. Talent and resourcefulness is not in short supply with these two!

This from Krista at Going Gluten-Free:

Sour Cream Chicken & Mushrooms

and this From Ian at The Gallumphing Gourmand:

Flaky-Bakey Chicken Sammies

One more! One more! From dear Shaz at Adventures in Motherhood:

Creamy Chicken

Ready, Set, Cook! #34

Click the icon above for complete rules. What can you make of this?

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 onion, chopped
1/2 pint sour cream

See you next Tuesday with submissions!

R,S,C #33 Recipe

I'm cheating and just posting this one here today.

Please go and visit Dalene's blog, From the Mixed-Up Files of a Middle-Aged Mind.
Her recipe looks delicious!

Scallops and Sugar Snap Peas in Lemon Butter Sauce

1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup whole milk
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced shallots

1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp flour

(3 sticks) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon peel

Reduce the first four ingredients by half in a small saucepan.

In a separate saucepan, melt one tablespoon of butter in the saucepan.
Stir in the flour with a metal whisk until well mixed (but not
browned).

Slowly add the reduced mixture to the roux, stirring quickly.

Lower the heat to low. Slowly whisk in the butter, 2 tablespoons at a
time. Add lemon juice, salt, and white pepper. Add some more broth if
the sauce is too thick.

While the sauce is thickening prepare the scallops however one does
scallops. Steam generous amount of sugar snap peas.

Toss the peas and the scallops with the lemon sauce. Serve with rice
or pasta along a side of nice fresh greens salad.

Ready, Set, Cook! and Peeps

What do those have in common? NOTHING! I just had a couple things to say at the same time :O)

Firstly, this month's Ready, Set, Cook! entries and hyperlinks will be posted tomorrow, so get them in to me today-my email is at the bottom of the page or on the rules page---button over there--->

Now, CookieJill shared this link showcasing Peep dioramas that are so funny you may hurt yourself laughing. Check it out:

Washington Post: Peep Dioramas

Ready, Set, Cook! #33

Please click the link above to read rules of play BEFORE submitting a recipe.

Our three for today are:

1 lemon
1 lb sea scallops
sugar snap peas (any amount)

Have fun~see you next week!

R,S,C #32

Nary a recipe to be found. Not to worry, I don't have one either. I am busy lately with several things, one being some new blogging at Family.com. Not one to give up easily, I have decided to carry on Ready, Set, Cook! nonetheless, but have once again modified the rules.

R,S,C will now be a monthly game with a full week to come up with and post recipes.
Here are the rules as modified:

The first Tuesday of every month we play Ready, Set, Cook! based on the TV show that once aired on The Food Network.

We play our own non-competitive version (at the moment!) and here are the basic rules:

1) Three ingredients are given and each player must come up with a recipe that uses all three ingredients without "losing" any of them in the dish. In other words, while they must not be prominent they must be noticeable in the dish.

2) Your "virtual" pantry is fully stocked with whatever you wish. This is not a REAL game, although I have some players that like to purchase the ingredients and actually come up with a recipe, I don't expect anyone to do that. Basically this is a "virtual" game only. The ingredients will not have amounts listed to allow for greater creativity on the player's part.

3) Once you have decided what you would create with the ingredients, post it to your own blog by the second Tuesday of the month and send me the permalink to your post so I can post it for others to see. Likewise, link back to my blog so your readers can see other submissions. Mail your permalink to me at:

irishones7 (at) juno (dot) com.

Feel free to comment that you will or won't be playing!

If you would like to submit three ingredients for play let me know and you will be credited with that.
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

So, stop by my newest blog venture and check out the entire site while you're there. I really like it and find it to be a great resource!

Ready, Set, Cook! #32

OK boys and girls, before you take a look at today's ingredients, PLEASE click the link above for the NEW rules of play. They were changed just last week and it's important that you check them out.

Today's three are from my third child. She called them; we'll play them.

sausage
eggs
green pepper

Easy, no? I'll be "seeing" you Thursday with links to submissions!

*Note: If you want to play but don't want to post your recipe to your own blog for whatever reason, let me know and I will post it here for you.

R,S,C #31 Recipe Links

Here are links for this week's game of Ready, Set, Cook!

The first is from Krista at Going Gluten-Free, Salmon Newburg Cups

The second is from Cassi at Finding My Inner Cook, Salmon Wellington

My own idea was to make Salmon Napoleons, but I actually wanted to make them, not just post a recipe. I have 5 out of the 7 kids sick with fevers and didn't get that done. I'll do it sometime this weekend and post it then.

Ready, Set, Cook! #31 The rules, they are a changin'.

Before we get to it, PLEASE click on the button above, even if you have played before, for full NEW rules of play.

Today's three ingredients are:

puff pastry
smoked salmon
heavy cream

Bit of a challenge, but I have no fear that you all are not equal to the task.