Cheese ball

I found this at Beverely's Back Porch cooking blog. http://beverlysbackporch.blogspot.com/ Go by and see her blog - there's lots of good stuff there! I made it the day before, wrapped it plastic wrap and then rolled it in the pecans and let it get room temp before serving it. That's slices of summer sausage and green olive on the platter around it. I added some black pepper and some Old Bay. I think some liquid smoke may be good in it too.
Cheese Ball
about 2 pounds
1/2 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1/4 pound Roquefort or blue cheese (I used crumbles)
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons grated onion ( I used green onion sliced thin)
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup finely minced parsley
1 cup chopped pecans

Thoroughly mix all ingredients except parsley and pecans. Combine parsley and pecans and blend half of them into cheese mixture. Spread remaining parsley mixture on sheet of waxed paper. Form cheese into a ball and roll it in parsley mixture until well coated. Chill before serving. Freezes beautifully. Thanks Beverly!

Pumpkin Bread

Here is a Pumpkin Bread I have made a few times this holiday season. This picture is of one I made today for friends coming up for coffee and dessert. I made a cream cheese frosting and put chopped nuts on top. I like it better than the Streusel topping.

Ingredients
Stir together until well combined:
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp ginger
1 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs lightly beaten
Streusel topping:
Sift together:
1/3 cup flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 2/3 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp firm margerine
Preparation
Stir pumpkin mixture and flour mixture together just until mixed. Pour into greased loaf pan. Combine streusel ingredients together with a fork until crumbly and pea-sized. Sprinkle over loaf. Bake at 350f for 45 or 50 minutes.

stuffed jalapenos

7 whole jalapeno peppers
1 8 oz block cream chesse softened
2 green onions sliced thinly
garlic powder to taste
7 slices bacon cut in half

WEAR RUBBER GLOVES! Cut peppers in half, scrape out seeds and white skin from the inside of the peppers.
Mixed the creamcheese, onions and garlic powder and stuff each pepper with the mixture. Wrap a half slice of bacon around each one. Bake at 450 until bacon is done. The longer they bake the milder the pepper taste will be. Let cool a few minutes. Dip in ranch dressing if desired.

Turkey gravy

The gravy I made this year was alittle different that I usually make. I kinda used Tyler Florence's and added a twist of my own to it. It was easy and turned out great. And I did have plenty of it. Here's a link to Tyler's video showing how he did his gravy:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/tylers-ultimate4/video/index.html
Here's what I used:
2 turkey wings
4 ribs of celery
4 carrots
2 onions
1 whole head of garlic
1 bunch of green onions
water
corn starch
bay leaves
pepper, salt, celery seed, sage

Here's what I did:
I baked the wings until dark golden brown. I rough chopped everything-just cut the head of garlic in half. You will strain the broth so none of the garlic peels will get in. I put all the veggies, seasonings and wings along with the drippings in a large pot and put in about a half gallon of water. I let it simmer until the veggies were tender. Pour through a collander. At this point, you could save and freeze half if it seems too much. I saved the garlic which was like a plaste and added some to the gravy and my dressing. I pulled the meat off the bones of the wings and put it in my dressing too. I put the broth back in a pan and brought it to a boil and added corn starch mixed with a little chicken broth to the pan wisking it in to thicken and make it smooth. The gravy came out great.

How to: Roux or gravy

Many folks won't make gumbo because they are afraid of the roux (ru). It's really not hard and once you get the hang of it, you won't think twice about it again. So here's a few pictures that may help:
Start with oil, or bacon grease and flour. I don't measure, sorry but you'll get the hang of it. This was enough oil to be about 1/2" deep in a normal size iron skillet-which I can't live without-and about 1 cup flour:

use a whisk so there will be no lumps. Not quite thick enough so I added more flour, about 1 cup:

and some moreabout 1 cup again:

staring to get brown now-keep stirring:

at this point, you could make gravy by adding water, chicken or beef broth or tomato juice and died tomatoes for tomato gravy:

but for roux, we want it darker

you want it as dark as you can get it without burning it. Do not walk away from it now, no matter what or it will burn! and don't splash any on yourself-it's really hot at this point

ok finally got it! see how thick it got and how dark? This is perfect. Let it cool some and then start stirring big spoonfuls into your gumbo. Gumbo should be dark and THICK!

Chicken and sausage Gumbo
If you have a really big pot of gumbo, you may have to make another batch of roux. Let the first batch simmer in for awhile and see how thick it gets. If it ever starts to burn while you're making it, pitch it and start over.

Fried rice

We love all kinds of rice dishes, but I had never tried making Fried Rice. This is a great dish and one of those that you can use whatever you have on hand. But there are a few ingrediants that you MUST have:
2-4 cups leftover COLD rice. This is important. The cold rice keeps your dish from coming out too starchy.
green onions-that least a whole bunch, chopped
garlic several pods, minced
oil
eggs 2-3, beaten
Then, any vegetables that you choose or have on hand can be added: Celery, bell peppers, peas, carrots, diced
Any meat you may have either already cooked or un-cooked-chicken, pork, shrimp, diced into small pieces. Here's what you do:

Heat the oil in a wok or large nonstick pan. Cook the veggies for about 5-6 mins. Move to the side of the pan and add the meat, if un-cooked cook until done. Move to the side and put the cold rice in and stir until brown and heated. Mix all together. Make a "well" in the middle of the pan(move everything around the outside of the pan) and pour the beaten eggs in and scramble. Add any spices you like: salt, pepper, ginger, soy sauce, and mix everything throughly together. Serve immediately!

Pecan Pie

I have a new receipe for pecan pie. I found it in this month's Southern Living and they got it from hungry-texan.com. It is easy and so delish:

Ingredients
• 1/2 (14.1-oz.) package refrigerated piecrusts
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bourbon*
• 1 1/2 cups pecan halves
Preparation
• 1. Preheat oven to 325°. Fit piecrust into a 10-inch cast-iron skillet; sprinkle piecrust with powdered sugar.
• 2. Whisk eggs in a large bowl until foamy; whisk in brown sugar and next 6 ingredients. Pour mixture into piecrust, and top with pecan halves.
• 3. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 300°, and bake 30 more minutes. Turn oven off, and let pie stand in oven, with door closed, 3 hours.
• *Vanilla extract may be substituted.