The Holidays & Your Pets

Just a reminder this Holiday Season. If you have cats,  be sure to keep them away from any Poinsettias you may get as a Hostess gift or one you have yourself purchased. While Poinsettias are not "toxic", the milky sap contains an unknown and non-deadly toxin. This can cause irritation to your cat's mucus membranes & excessive salivation.  Your cat should not be allowed to snarf up your bowl of Christmas Hershey Kisses either. Chocolate is not good for your cat.

If you are the parent of a rabbit you must also take care that your little hopping furry thing does not start to munch on your Christmas Tree.

If your Christmas tree has not been treated with  a fire retardant, pesticides or painted, then it should be safe to chew. The natural chemical compounds in some evergreens can cause your hopping furry's urine to turn more orange than usual. But that is not anything to worry about.

Now if one of your "children" happens to be a dog here are somethings to be careful about. We all know the sad look a dog can lay on you when he or she is begging for whatever you are cooking or eating. If your dog eats what ever hits the floor while you are cooking, take care that pooch does not snarf up any onions. Onions can cause anemia & large amounts of garlic can do the same thing. Grapes, raisins & chocolate are also a big no no for Fido. Also be sure your dog does not try to drink the water for your live tree as this can make them sick.

Now with all pets you must be careful of the Holiday decorations. Anything new demands to be investigated by your furry children. I am sure most if not all of you have heard the horror stories of pets & children eating the tinsel. Usually, one has no idea until the tinsel has already made its way through the body & is "discovered". And it is not a pleasant discovery. The eating of tinsel can cause serious damage to the intestine & could end up being fatal to your furry child.

Christmas light cords are a delicacy for your pet. And again one must be careful that these do not become chew toys. Electrical shock may occur from defective cords as well as from your pet chewing through them. So just keep an eye out for your furry kids & keep them healthy & happy throughout the Holiday Season.

I am thankful that I have a legit reason not to share my chocolate with my pet.

Stick to your Ribs Potato Soup

I have always loved Potato Soup & have been making it since I was tall enough to reach the stove. Mom's belief was if you were tall enough to be able to see into a tall pot while standing on a chair next to the stove (not a safe practice...do not try this at home) , you were the newest cook in the house. I remember on my 9th birthday my mother asked what I wanted for dinner that day. I told her & a few hours later found myself in the kitchen on my birthday making pork chops, mac & cheese & corn. Anyway I digress. On to the Potato Soup!

First to go in the big ol' pot is the bacon. I like to use about a half pound of bacon. (Sorry, I am not counting calories or making a heart healthy dish here. I am going for flavor) I let my bacon just start to get crispy & add chopped onion to that. Ahh the smell of bacon & onion cooking together throughout the house just screams "Something yummy is being made"!  Ok so I got the bacon & onion to pose together right before the bacon went into the pot 

Quite the couple!

After the onion starts to get translucent I add a 1/2 gallon of milk then fill the  1/2 gallon jug half way with water & add that. Let it get just to boiling point & reduce heat to simmer. Don't want that milk to scorch. Stir frequently during this process.

While that was going on I chopped up this stuff.

I used five potatoes & made small cubes out of them. Be sure to wash them good first. Sometimes I remove the skin, today I did not. Add these while the your milk is heating. I like to cook my potatoes with the soup & not before adding cause the starches help with the flavor.

I used eleven baby carrots & chopped them up. I am not a real big cooked carrot fan but the Hubs is so these are all for him. If I get a carrot while ladling soup for myself....it gets dumped back into the pot.  Remember to stir the soup.

I decided to chop about 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes to add to the soup. If I happen to have sun-dried tomatoes in the fridge, I use them in darned near everything.

  

The pic is not real good but this is four chicken bullion cubes just covered with water. I put this in the nuker for a minute & then I can smash up the parts that did not dissolve thus eliminating chasing the bullion cubes down in the soup pot to be sure they dissolve properly. I mean these babies are super glued together or something. Are you feeling my pain here? You can skip this & just add the cubes to the pot if you prefer. I just don't happen to prefer.

Did not get a pic but next I mix about a 1/2 cup of flour into some hot water & add this to the soup pot. Your soup should still be simmering. Now you have to stir more frequently while the flour is thickening the soup. 

I had some fresh kale in the fridge & decided to chop that up mega small removing any thick stems & ribs first.  But before that I had the taste tester, Bandit D. Bunny make sure the kale was good enough for my soup.

I let the soup simmer for an hour or so still stirring often so nothing burns on the bottom of the pot & assuring my soup does not get ruined.

I toasted some sourdough baguette I had in the freezer, slathered it with butter & voila ....I present to you dinner! 

Eat up & enjoy! 

I ended up freezing half of this soup for dinner at a later date. The Hubs came home, saw this & fell in love with me all over again.

I am thankful for the Drive Thru Convenience Store in my area that had the milk I forgot at the store the day before saving me from having to change out of my skull lounge pants & for my kale freshness tester. Oh & for large plastic butter tubs to store & freeze soup in.   

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Cubed Steak Meal in a Hurry

The other day I had some cubed steak thawing for dinner. I was planning on make a Salisbury Steak kinda thingy with it. The Hubs called me & told me he was on his way home from work but had a quick stop to make & would be home in about 30 minutes. So I calmly stroll into the kitchen, open my cabinet & discover that I have no beef bullion. (panic sets in) What am I gonna do now? So I quickly scan my cabinets & fridge. My mind is going a hundred miles an hour at this point (kinda made me a bit dizzy) as I am taking in what I have on hand. Aha! An idea pops into my mind & I begin to create.

First I dump some flour in a bowl & add some chili powder. Sorry I do not measure anything usually I just eye it up. I added some ground black pepper & mixed that up. I looked at it for a sec & continued on.

I grabbed my handy mortar & pestle dumped about a tablespoon each of thyme & marjoram. Grind that up a bit to release more flavor. ( I always do this with my dried herbs. Really brings out the flavor & aroma) I add this to my flour mixture & prepare a milk bath for the cubed steak. Just dip the steak in the milk, turn & dip again, then  place it in the flour mixture & cover good with the mix.

Heat oil in the bottom of a 4 quart cooking pot & add the flour coated cubed steaks & cook for a total of 4 minutes on each side.

While that is cooking I mix up a batch of my Great Grandma's secret Stroganoff Noodle recipe & pop them in the nuker (microwave) & set it for 14 minutes.

Next I grab some string beans fresh from the garden.

Once my cubed steaks had cooked I transferred them to a plate. Chopped  some onion & sun-dried tomatoes.

I put the onions & sun-dried tomatoes in the pot I cooked the cube steaks in & over medium heat cooked until the onions caramelized slightly. Note in the photo the browned flour that was left behind from the cubed steaks. Leave these bad boys in there for extra added flavor.

Next I added a can of condensed Cream of Chicken soup & half of that can of hot water. 

I grabbed the White Cooking Wine & poured like a glub glub of that in the pot. ( a glub glub is the sound the wine makes as it pours out of the bottle) Once I got this all mixed together I added my cubed steaks to the pot & let it simmer til the Hubs came through the door. Taking time to compose myself so he would not know that I was frantically scrambling around to put this meal together.

Happily my Hubs loved the concoction I threw together in a panic. Served it up with the family secret noodle recipe & green beans. The little bit of leftovers he ate the next day for lunch while still singing my praises for being such an awesome cook!

I am thankful for being able to think fast when I have to. 

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I am participating in Made by You Mondays over at Skip to my Lou

Ok...I know it is Tuesday now but hey, why not?

Tuesdays are now the new Mondays