Shoveling it in …

No snow to shovel, but plenty of food and drink. Here’s what would usually be several posts wrapped up into one:

Soup’s On
This enduring winter weather called for some long-simmering hamburger soup and warm biscuits out of the oven for lunch.

It was the first time to make this soup, which will definitely be made again. I was concerned when it called for catchup and Worcestershire sauce, but the flavor was great and I won’t change anything. The recipe was from the Sentinel-Tribune.


Custom Cooking
We were hungry for a home-grilled burger and onions and I wanted some “special” buns for them. With it just being the two of us, and the fact I’m “cheap” I couldn’t bring myself to pay the price wanted for a tasty bun. Instead I bought a loaf of roasted red pepper and onion bread. After making rectangular burgers I waited until they were cooked, then sliced the bread to the correct size for each burger.

I seldom make “Zetta-style” potatoes and onions, but since it was Valentine’s Day I felt I could splurge and go the “fried” route.

It ended up being a fairly well-balanced meal; it certainly was delicious.


Delicious Drinks
A Valentine treat for us was picking out some special beverages at the liquor store. D chose Bittburger beer which is always a treat.

Several times I’ve watched the Barefoot Contessa use "limoncello” as an after dinner drink, as an ingredient in a cheesecake, and added to a fruit salad. I was tempted by it when I was at Buca di Beppo’s . Saturday was the day for me to make the purchase and try it.

It is so refreshing! I enjoyed several “limoncella martinis” with my meal and into the evening.


Busy Baking
With D not buying peanut butter cookies lately, yet needing sweets for his morning treat, I’ve been trying to bake cookies each week. The last two weeks it’s been “Margaret’s sugar cookie” recipe; this week I tried BEB’s oatmeal/raisin recipe. I prefer putting parchment paper on the cookie sheets and tend to reuse it since it doesn’t take on a taste or burn.

I’m curious how long these will last.

Poor Man’s Pecan Pie
Really, that’s the name of this non-nut pie! Apparently this recipe was developed during the depression.

It’s basically Grandma Orange’s pecan pie recipe, but instead of pecans it uses a mixture of coconut and oats. It was surprisingly good - D and I agree I’ll bake it again.

I’ve finally come up with a way to easily protect the crust edges from becoming too brown. I cut an old foil man to size and place it over the pie instead of aluminum foil. It stays in place better than flimsy sheets of foil and it is reusable. ~~K