I’m honored to have been asked to be a judge at this year’s National Cornbread Festival in South Pittsburg, Tennessee! If you’re planning on coming to this fun event, be sure and RSVP on my Facebook page by clicking here  so I can keep you updated on my whereabouts because I’d love to get to meet you!

Christmas and New Years behind us, and most folks are in the middle of winter, snuggling within their quilts and homes, cooking up stews and cobblers. Oh I’m doing the cooking part but not the rest of it, my mind is on other things.  You see, soon as January hits, I get to expecting spring.

I can’t help it, it is my absolute most favorite time of year for a number of reasons but one in particular – I get to see my daffodils. Now before you go to thinking that I’m looking pretty far off you gotta understand that daffodils are usually in bloom here by February and the first sign of yellow, my heart up and declares SPRING!

I go by my own time table with the seasons, I’m just a wild woman that way.  

I love flowers of all sorts, I am female after all. Oh Alright, I’ll confess to not being a huge red rose fan but toss a pink one my way and I’ll throw that sucker in my teeth and do one heck of a tango. Okay, not really. If anyone shouts out requests for a tango at my next speaking engagement I’m afraid you’re gonna be let down. Holler out that you want me to sing instead, I can’t refuse that, of course you might still be let down once you hear me but that wasn’t my point…

When we moved here to Bountiful a few years back, I was delighted to find a well thought out and beautifully planted ring of spring flowers around each tree in our front yard. Tete a tete daffodils, crocus, and hyacinth came up in unison, presenting the perfect blend of spring colors and fragrance. It really warmed my heart to walk around those trees, kneeling by them and lovingly taking in the flowers, knowing that someone had once cared so dearly for this house.

So that very first fall, I ordered more bulbs. King Alfred, tete a tete, orange throat,  every variety I could find (and afford). I ordered around a hundred that year and got out with my little shovel and planted each and every one of them myself. The following spring the beautiful flower rings around my trees were joined by others out and about in the yard. I had planted them as my mother advised, randomly, with no set pattern so they just popped up in the yard like little surprise blooms of sunshine. They were absolutely breathtaking and I dearly love those few weeks of looking out my window and seeing the happy little flowers waving back at me in the breeze.

A few months back I was in Lowe’s and walked by a bag of 100 more bulbs. They hopped in my buggy and came home with me where Katy Rose and I went about planting them, wherever she felt we needed them to be.

My goal is to eventually have an entire yard filled with daffodils for a few weeks out of each year. They’ll slowly spread from the road right up to my front doorstep . After a few decades of this, and with my kids moving out and more cats coming to live with me (isn’t that the natural evolution of things?) no doubt people will start to talk. I’ll begin wearing a hat with a  giant silk daffodil in it and trade in my preferred red shoes for daffodil yellow ones to match. Folks will start calling me the Crazy Daffodil Lady as I walk around town in my finest daffodil yellow regalia. But hey, I can think of worst things to be called.  By then I’ll have so many that I can make large bouquets and deliver them to nursing homes and other spots around town that need brightening and then come back home to a yard still filled to the brim. We all gotta have dreams.

If you’ll excuse me, I found some daffodil bulbs at Wal Mart yesterday and I think I’ll plant a few before the sun goes down. I know that technically this isn’t the time of year to plant daffodils but I like to live life outside the lines. Heck, I even wear my watch on my right hand, even though I’m right handed and my engagement ring is on my finger first, THEN my wedding band (I’ve gotten more emails on this than I can count).

You see, at the end of the day, I’m just a rebel to the core. Oh yeah, I even eat raw cake batter. I do shocking things like that…and I plant daffodil bulbs in December.

And THAT, my friends, is why I’m gonna make a great Crazy Daffodil Lady someday! I hope I can count on your vote

While I am still pretending to be partially sane, let me bring you a casserole today. There are so many variations on this casserole that you could throw a rock at the internet and hit fifty on any given day. This is mine, it’s pretty easy and awfully good. Modify it, play with it, make it your own. Just let me know what time it is served and try to have plenty of tea when I show up, please Or Diet Dr Pepper…Diet Dr pepper is always good, too!

You’ll need: Long Grain and Wild Rice (with seasoning, such as Uncle Ben’s), Cream of Mushroom Soup (can use fat free), French Style Green Beans, Chicken, almonds, and Ritz crackers and a wee bit of butter to pour over the top, which isn’t pictured. 

If you don’t like Cream of mushroom soup, just use Cream of chicken, cream of celery, or cream of whatever-cranks-your-tractor. You can also use fat free or low fat or i-don’t-wanna-get-fat, if you can find it . For those of us already there, just go with the recipe because it tastes so good .

Nowadays Uncle Ben’s make quick cooking long grain and wild rice as well as the traditional featured here. Use whichever you pick up first.

The almonds are optional but I gotta tell you, I love what they do to this dish!

NOTE: You can also add a cup of sour cream to this and it will be wonderful! This is completely optional, but I love it. I’m not including it in this tutorial but I will list it as optional in the recipe below.

Cook chicken until done.

Note: Normally I wouldn’t have used chicken tenders for this because they are a little more expensive. This is a great recipe to use cooked chicken leg quarters (deboned and shredded), leftover chicken, or a whole fryer (cooked, deboned, and shredded) in, but since I did have this chicken on hand and company was a coming (did I mention I like to make this for company) that is what I used.

Dump chicken, cooked rice, green beans, cream soup, and almonds into a big old bowl.

Give it all a stir until it is good and mixed.

Spray baking dish lightly with non stick cooking spray. 

Spoon casserole filling into baking dish. 

Sprinkle crushed crackers all over top.

Drizzle melted butter over the cracker crumb topping.

Bake at 350 for thirty minutes.

Eat up!

“Your family is important. They left your home this morning and spread out to spend a day making new memories, acquiring knowledge, and growing up without you! Make it a priority to sit down to supper tonight with them and find out who they became today.”

~Christy Jordan

Hey Everyone! I’m thrilled to be able to bring you a guest post from one of the head Chefs at my University’s Culinary School today. I told Chef Lewis that we were always on the lookout for quick and easy dishes that could impress, especially at Christmastime and he came through with one that is just beautiful. I know you’re going to love this idea! Special thanks to the culinary department of the University of North Alabama (click here to visit their Facebook page) and  to all of my wonderful teachers who put up with me back in the day

Gratefully, Christy

Hi there, I’m Chef Lewis from the University of North Alabama’s Culinary Department in Florence, Al. I was asked to do a guest post to share some of our recipes for the holidays, and I was more than happy to do so. We’re very happy to have Christy as one of our departments alumni’s, and we’re happy that we can share some of our ideas with all of you.

Today I’m going to show you how to make a quick and easy party entree that your guests are sure to love.

You’ll need:: 3 cheese tri-colored tortellini, olive oil, pesto, spaghetti sauce, salt, skewers or picks.

Note: This tortellini is found in the refrigerator section (usually near the cheese) or in the freezer section of your grocery store.

Bring the water and salt to boil in a pot.

Add the packages of tortellini to the water, and cook about 2-3 minutes.

Drain the pasta with a colander.

Then place the pasta into a second bowl, and coat with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (this will keep the pasta from sticking together).

Spread the pasta onto a single layer in a pan, and allow to cool enough that you can handle it comfortably.

You can then use either bamboo skewers or small colorful picks to skewer the pasta.

For using the bamboo skewers, be sure to soak them in a pan of water for about 20 minutes before you put the tortellini on them.

This makes keeps them from splintering when you put the pasta on them.

Place them on the picks in alternating colors, using 6 pieces total for the longer skewers, or 3 pieces on the shorter picks.

This is a shorter pick for a smaller platter.

This is a longer pick, where I used a bamboo skewer, for the larger platter. 

Arrange them on a serving dish to look like a Holiday wreath.

In the center of the wreath, place a small serving bowl filled with either marinara sauce, or pesto, whichever one you personally like better.

This photo shows long skewers arranged in a large wreath pattern with marinara sauce in the center.

And here are our shorter skewers arranged around some store bought pesto sauce.

Dip into sauce and enjoy this easy Holiday treat!

Merry Christmas from Southern Plate and the University of North Alabama Culinary Department!

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land,

or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.

– Helen Keller

Submitted by Denise Flynn. Submit your quote by clicking here.

Goodness gracious almighty! Is it just me or are the holidays coming up on us faster than a freight train? At first I was trying not to mention them on Southern plate because, you know, there are holiday police out there waiting to pounce if we mention the holidays “too early”, but then my mother called this morning and said “You know our Thanksgiving is this coming Sunday” and I just had to blink.

So I’m just gonna come on out with it and tell ya – My house is decorated for Christmas and I’m thrilled to death. I know, some of you are thinking “But Thanksgiving is first! You can’t decorate until after Thanksgiving!” Well that all depends on what you’re giving thanks for. The thing I’m most thankful nowadays is the entire meaning behind Christmas, and I’m thankful for that with every breath I take, so what better to give thanks for at Thanksgiving than the meaning of Christmas? ~grins~ Ya just gotta decorate for that… 

My in laws came to visit this past weekend so they could attend my Holiday Cooking Show (I’ll post a recap of that with photos soon!) and while they were here, we put up all of my Christmas decorations.

Is it too early to decorate? Not for me! I’m in the Christmas spirit 365 days a year so getting to take off my hat and let my elf ears show is always a welcome change. So I had my mother and father in law were here for a whole weekend. I’d been traveling some, under the weather for a while, and kinda feeling snowed over with all the work I had on me and I thought “HEY! They can help me with the Christmas decorations!”

With all of us working together we got the halls decked and trees trimmed in no time flat. I was on a roll so to top it off I even made Christmas cookies and the kids had a wonderful time decorating them with their grandparents. We had a great weekend before the folks had to head back to Georgia and we would have missed out on all of that had I stuck to any one person’s plan or ideal time frame as to when holiday activities should happen.

We even got the lights up on the house, so I can heave a sigh of relief that we got through one more year without my husband falling off the roof – I always worry about that. Now little Teaaspoon (our kitten) is enjoying the wonder of a Christmas tree. We have yet to explain to her that it isn’t her personal chew toy or kitty winter wonderland themed obstacle course. I think we need to post before and after pics of our trees when we have cats…

Speaking of trees, we got a new tree this year. It is somewhat smaller, not as big in girth, but still pretty tall and just fits in our den a little better. I went all over tarnation looking at trees before settling on this one. It came from Hobby Lobby (oh my, they have beautiful trees). The display model was on a revolving base and it was just beautiful. I had every intention of getting that base until I found myself gazing at the tree on my third visit to the store standing next to a sweet lady who said “I sure do love that base, but my cats would have fits”. She had a point ~Watches at Teaspoon eyes a sparkly ornament hanging just out of her reach…~

Artificial tree? Yup, it sure is. I’ve always loved real Christmas trees but the winter before I started college (when I was 23) I was in the midst of a mad dash to make as much money as I could in order to make it through my first semester and took an evening and weekend job at a Christmas tree farm. I worked in a credit union during the day and then headed out to Greenbriar, Alabama to hand out saws and explain the finer points of tree cutting for all of the days leading up to Christmas. I’ve never been so cold for so long in all of my life. Just looking at a live tree now makes me want to find an electric blanket and a few more pairs of socks. As a result, I’m one of the few people whose heart (and toes) feels considerably warmer around an artificial pine

So as we head on into the final stretch before Thanksgiving, I thought I’d bring you a quick and easy skillet supper. This is one of those meals that just makes your stomach feel good when you eat it. I could eat this every day of my life and be happy as a lark so I hope you get to try it soon. My son was feeling under the weather when I made it yesterday and I took him a plate and said “Here baby, try to eat this.” He saw what it was and said “Don’t you worry one bit Ma, I’ll SURE be eating all of that!”

**Note: To make this vegetarian, just use cream of celery soup in place of the cream of chicken and ask your hens to lay off the worms before their “big day”.

Just kidding…:)

~Giggle~

You’ll need: Chicken breasts, a can of cream of chicken soup (I’m using fat free*), a package of ranch dressing mix (dry), a bag of frozen vegetable blend (your choice), and some egg noodles.

You’re also going to need a little bit of milk, just 1/2 a cup.

I forgot to put that in the photo because … well when the day arrives that I only have to think about one thing at a time I’m just sure I’ll remember to put everything in the photo them. Unfortunately that isn’t today and as they say tomorrow isn’t looking good either .

*Occasionally I grab something like fat free soup just to show y’all that you can use it and it won’t make a difference. If fat free makes you happy or if that is what you have on hand, knock yourself out. It’ll be just as good. If you don’t have fat free, please don’t go out buying it just for this recipe. On a normal day (one in which I was just doing whatever I wanted and not trying to prove a point) I’d just use regular cream of chicken soup.

Place a little bit of oil in the bottom of your skillet and heat over medium heat.

Add your chicken breasts and cook over medium heat, turning as needed, until lightly browned on both sides.

Once your chicken breasts are browned on both sides, add in the cream of chicken soup, dry ranch dressing mix…

and milk.

Stir that up a bit as best you can.

Note: Your chicken breasts won’t be done at this point, just browned on the outside. That is okay because we’re fixin’ to finish cooking them.

This is our chicken with our little sauce we made all stirred up.

Now cover and reduce heat to simmer for about ten minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.

After about ten minutes of simmering this is what you’ll have.

That sauce is absolutely delicious and we’re about to toss some veggies into it to make it even better.

I like the California blend of veggies that has carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli in it but you can go with whatever you like here.

Pour your frozen vegetables into the skillet and stir them up a bit to coat them.

Continue cooking this whole shebang until the veggies are tender.

Voila! Dinner is done

Salt and pepper to taste if you like, but I like it just as it is.

The ranch dressing mix gives it a fantastic, well seasoned flavor and the cream soup and milk join in to make a delicious gravy, perfect for serving over cooked egg noodles.

Like this.

I’m a talkative person, but it’s not a conversation unless I hear back from you!

Please leave a comment below  

Thank you! 

Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind.

To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy,

is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

~Calvin Coolidge

Towards the end of the week I’ll be giving away an

ENTIRE Set of Calphalon pots and pans!

Be sure to stay tuned to Facebook and Southern Plate for information on when this great giveaway starts!

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/11/creamy-chicken-skillet.html/feed 102 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/10/14-favorite-soup-and-stew-recipes.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/10/14-favorite-soup-and-stew-recipes.html#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:09:16 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=17253 Pin it

I returned from Houston last night just in time to sit down to supper with my family! It isn’t really fall there (yet!) but it sure is here in Bama, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite soup and stew recipes with you today.

If you’re on Facebook, I sure would appreciate it if you’d click that little “like” button above! If you’re an email subscriber and received this in your inbox, please forward it to any friends you think might enjoy Southern Plate! Have a wonderful Wednesday
Gratefully,
Christy

BBQ Joint Stew (Commonly Called Brunswick Stew)

At the first sign of chill in the air, BBQ joints around here start cranking out this delicious stew. It helps them use up any leftover shredded pork and chicken that they may have. By mixing in their signature bbq sauce (my No. 5 signature bbq sauce recipe is in my cookbook in case you need one) and whatever vegetables they have on hand they can turn out a flavorful and filling stew unlike any other.

My Favorite Potato Soup 

Includes lots of ideas to customize this classic and make it your own!

Chicken Tortilla Soup 

Full of flavor thanks to the Enchilada sauce, this soup is a cinch to throw together!

Christy’s Slow Cooker Chili

Any southerner worth their salt has a great chili recipe, preferably a signature one. This is mine

Ground Beef Stew (with a secret!) 

Here is a  fuss free, economical, and delicious beef stew to warm you from the inside out. I just love stew weather! To me, this tastes a lot like Cracker Barrel’s Vegetable Beef Stew, but with more goodies inside! 

Our Family’s Chicken Stew Recipe

This stuff is good, you really need to make it!

Simple Tomato Soup 

With a few ingredients and a few minutes, you can have an outstanding tomato soup. Can you say Grilled Cheese?

Shortcut Senate Bean Soup

Oh my goodness is this ever good. Warm, soothing, filling, and with shortcuts to save time!

Tina’s Corn Chowder

This corn chowder is a great meal for vegetarians. Simply substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth and you’re off to the races!

Chicken Noodle Soup

This soup is the absolute favorite of my son and all of my nephews!

“Free Soup” – Dieter’s Best Friend! 

This recipe is one my mother and I have used for over twenty years, and we still love it. Many diets have “free” vegetables, which are basically vegetables that are allowed without restriction. What this soup does is combine those vegetables in with a richly flavored broth and serves them up as the perfect anytime dish to fight off the munchies, serve as a quick and easy lunch, or a filling side dish with your evening meal.

Tomato-less Rustic Beef Stew

I worked up this recipe especially for my Aunt Sue, who makes the worlds best pound cake but can’t eat tomatoes. How are those two related? Well, beyond me just putting them in a sentence together I reckon that’s about it, but you can get her pound cake recipe in my cookbook ~winks~.

Spaghetti Lover’s Soup 

So if you love Spaghetti…

Taco Soup

World’s Easiest Supper – Nuff Said!

 If you’ve made any of these recipes I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!

Which of these recipes is your family’s favorite?

(I’m trying to decide which one I want to make for supper!)

My Facebook Good Morning Post for the day (I hope you’ll join us on the Southern Plate Facebook Family Page soon!)

‎”We can always be a little nicer. We can smile a little bigger and more often, instead of passing by folks on the street quietly we can greet them with “Good Mornin”. We can be the bigger, nicer person to the persistent grump at work. In time, you’ll be amazed at the people you can soften through the simplest kindnesses but you’ll be even more amazed to find that each little act removes another brick over a huge fountain of joy within you. Eventually, you’ll have a geyser.”  ~Christy
P. S. Good Morning!

Goodness gracious alive, am I ever blessed. As I write this, I have a small suitcase open and waiting for a quick trip to Texas to appear on Great Day Houston. I’ll fly in, do a live tv show (I have so much fun doing tv I feel guilty about it) and then fly back to the great state of Alabama. My kids won’t hardly know I was gone! Don’t forget that I’ll be on Paula Deen’s Best dishes November 5th (Check times in your area). To stay up to date with all of the goings on, join us on Facebook and have a great Monday! 

Comfort food. Pork chops breaded in a delicious crunchy coating served with my MeMe’s ultra creamy mashed potatoes and all of it happily covered in a good coating of milk gravy.

I sure do wish you would have been here last night when we were eating this. I even had an extra pork chop set aside. But alas, we’re screens apart and truth be told my house wasn’t clean enough for company anyway, so you’ll have to make this yourself if you wanna eat it anytime soon.

Now some of you are looking at that plate and thinking to yourselves “There’s nothing green! You’re supposed to have something green!”. Calm down, it’s okay. I kicked the “supposed to” people out of my kitchen a long time ago. There are plenty of restaurants they can eat at on their way back to their house where they do everything they’re supposed to do. If you need something green, head on over and have some of my sweet and sour green beans. I could eat a vat of those every day and still want more. Besides, it’s not like we have to eat the entire food pyramid in one sitting.

If you’re still feeling guilty (Hey, I had that same homeEc teacher in high school, too!) have a salad for lunch. Then you’re good to go

To make the pork chops, you’ll need: Chops, two eggs, and a sleeve of saltine crackers.

Make sure you use the salted crackers because they really give us a great flavor here. This recipe will make four -five pork chops and you can get the thickness you prefer, adjusting cooking time accordingly. I’m using chops that are almost one inch thick so they will take a little longer to cook.

I like to use pie plates for my ingredients to get ready for this.

Crack your eggs into a pie plate or bowl and beat them up with a fork.

In another plate, place your crushed saltines – I crushed the entire sleeve.

Dip both sides of each pork chop into the beaten egg.

and then press each side of each chop into the cracker crumbs.

Place in heated oil and cook over medium heat until browned, then turn and cook to brown on other side, removing when fully cooked and center is no longer pink.

Here is a photo of them just about to come out. It is a bit blurry but so are my kids when they run in and out of the kitchen wanting to know when supper is going to be ready….

so this pic will work just fine because they’re hungry

When your pork chops are completely done, remove them from the skillet and place on a paper towel lined plate.

Now it’s time to make our milk gravy.

There are just a few simple ingredients to making milk gravy and one of them is optional.

Flour, milk, salt and pepper are a must. Bacon grease makes it even better and I’m going to use it in this post but you can leave the grease out entirely if you like, you don’t even have to use oil.

It is entirely possible to make a perfectly good milk gravy with nothing but flour, salt, pepper, and milk. My mother was shocked when I told her this and others probably will be too so lets just keep the whole “greaseless milk gravy” thing to ourselves .

If you are using bacon grease, go ahead and put it in a small skillet and place that over medium heat until melted.

I’ve been storing mine in the refrigerator so it may look a bit more solid than yours.

Now add your flour and give it a gooooood stir. 

If you’re not using grease just put your flour in a dry skillet.

Continue cooking, stirring constantly, over medium to medium low heat until your flour is browned.

Now with bacon grease added the flour is going to quickly become paste-like. Without bacon grease it will just stay dry but it will still brown in a dry skillet. Stir constantly, especially if using a dry skillet, until your flour is good and browned.

You can go ahead and add the salt and pepper before it is done browning.

or whenever you think about adding it  

This is a photo of my browned flour.

Remember, if you aren’t using bacon grease it will be dry instead of pasty but it will still brown.

Pour in milk while stirring.

Cook this over medium low, stirring constantly, until gravy is thickened.

To start with it is going to look like milk with a bunch of brown globs in it. Just hang in there and keep on stirring.

You’ll know it’s thickened when it coats the back of a spoon like this If it gets too thick, just stir in a little more milk. 

Serve pork chops with Meme’s Mashed potatoes and pour gravy over it all. YUM!

P.S. This entire meal is also excellent without the gravy if you have non-gravy lovers.

Come and get it! 

 When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

~Gilbert Chesterson

It always makes me happy when I can bring you another ground beef recipe because I know a lot of families rely on Ground beef as a staple on their dinner table – mine certainly does!

What makes you happy? I think for most of us, it takes a lot less than we realize. A sunny day, the smell of daffodils or cinnamon or apples. We find tiny little happy moments all day long and all it takes is just that split second to stop and pay attention to them.

I’ve known a lot of people who really hold back on feeling happy though. They save it for something big, pinning their happiness on a huge paycheck sometime in the future, a house as big as their neighbors, or their name in lights. Rather than take delight in the little things, the constant influx of opportunities to be happy that appear before us each day, they hold off and keep joy at a distance, holding it up as something to strive to reach one day when Perfect Plan A comes to fruition and the stars align or some other such nonsense. As my grandmama would say, God love ‘em.

Me, I’ll take happiness and joy over a hundred little things a day rather than one big thing every decade. Today, this recipe makes me happy . I love stuffed bell peppers. I love Ketchup. I love ground beef. This combines them all into a one dish meal – which I also love.

Happy happy, joy joy!

Let’s Eat!

You’ll need: Ground beef, saltine crackers, onion, ketchup, bell pepper, egg, and italian seasoning.

You’ll also need a slow cooker. I’m using my Hamilton Beach Set and Forget .

Now crush your saltines and place them in a  bowl with your egg.

Add your ground beef and mix it up well with your hands.

Shape meat into patties and place in the bottom of your slow cooker.

Take your ketchup and water and add a tablespoon Italian seasoning. mix that up really well in a cup or bowl.

You know, if dry Italian seasoning was the only seasoning I had in my cabinet, I could live happily the rest of my life.

Alright, I would also need some cinnamon, allspice, garlic powder, and cumin. But beyond those, I’m pretty well set. It drives me nigh on bat crazy to see a recipe that calls for 1/8 of a teaspoon each of twenty different spices. As my friend Terri Leverett says, K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Sweetie!

Pour your sauce over the patties.

Chop up your onions and bell pepper and add those in.

Cover and cook on low, 7-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.

When it is done it’ll look like this and your house will smell like stuffed bell peppers deluxe

If you want at this point, you can add a little more ketchup to the mixture to thicken your sauce but I like it just like this.

Serve over rice and enjoy!

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Now tell me what makes you happy in the comments below!

You might also enjoy 20 Recipes For Ground Beef. 

“What you do makes a difference,

and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

– Jane Goodall

Thank you Jenny for submitting this! Add your quote to our ever growing collection by clicking here. Lift someone up today!

 My Cookbook is One Today! Click here to read about it.

In today’s video I talk about why I LOVE MY SLOW COOKER and offer some great time saving tips on how to use this wonderful appliance.

I’m happy to bring you another Quick Fix Supper Video from Southern Living! Video is below and may take a moment to load. To get this quick and easy recipe, click the red link below the video.

To get this recipe, please click here.

To view more Quick Fix Supper Videos, please click here.

“We do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.”

― Talmud

Submitted by June. Submit your quote by clicking here.

I hope you enjoyed all of the great apple recipes on Southern Plate last week! I’m working on getting ready for the Southern Living Taste Of Charleston Food and Wine Festival next week and also in the planning stages on my Holiday Cooking Show so today my friend (and adopted brother) Stacey Little is doing a guest post that I know you’ll enjoy. You’ll also see why he is my adopted brother. We share the same heart on so many things! If you enjoy Stacey’s post today, be sure and leave a comment below and visit him over on his blog when you get a chance at Southern Bite!
Have a fabulous Tuesday and I’ll be back with a new post from me in a day or two!

Gratefully, Christy

Hey Everybody! I’m thrilled to be able to come back and visit with you and honored that Christy invited me to post! I have loved being a member of the Southern Plate Family for a couple of years now and getting to share one of my own recipes with you is always a fun treat for me. Today I thought I’d share something that is on my heart because I know it will resonate with you as much as it did me.

The other day a dear friend of mine posted something on Facebook that really got my attention.

Under the title “wisdom” she posted the following excerpt from Anna Quindlen.  The message struck a chord with me and I haven’t been able to shake it.

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is that I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs.

There is one picture of my kids sitting in the grass on a quilt on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.

I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.” — Anna Quindlen

The unfortunate part about living in a world that is constantly connected and ever-changing, is that we frequently forget to slow down and notice the small things that can make each day extraordinary.  Ever since I read this, I’ve been making a concerted effort to notice those small things – the way my little boy talks, the way he eats, the way he smells after a bath.  You might find my living room floor scattered with toys, my car may be littered with baby wipes and candy wrappers, and there might be a dozen loads of laundry to be done, but I’m going to make the effort to stop each day and pay attention to the other things – the more important things.  Our days here are numbered and I’m positive that when I look back and remember the inflection in my little boy’s voice the time he told me I was his best friend, that pile of laundry and that dirty car won’t even be on the radar screen.

Do me a favor.  Sit down with your family at dinner tonight and just be.  Turn off the television, the smart phones, and computers.  Ask, “How was your day?” and mean it.  Don’t expect the same old “good”.  Make a real effort to learn how your family’s days were.  Reconnect.  It’s past due.  Trust me.

Now lets make a supper for you to sit down to.

You’ll need: cooked chicken, instant rice, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, frozen diced onion, shredded cheddar cheese, Ro*Tel tomatoes, some cumin, garlic powder, and chicken broth.

(Okay, so you’re thinking… why the frozen onion? Right?  Well, there are several reasons.  First, frozen diced onion and frozen diced green pepper are a great thing to have in the freezer in a pinch.  And second, use frozen because it cooks through faster and with this relatively short cooking time you’ll need them to cook faster.  Using raw onions throws the cassserole texture way off.  Trust me.  I know these things.)

Okay, this is very scientific, so follow the directions exactly…

Dump all of the first nine ingredients and half of the cheddar cheese in a large bowl and stir to combine.

Next, turn the mixture out into a greased casserole dish (9X13). Again, very scientific. Then top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

“The smallest deed done is better than the greatest intention never carried out.”

Submitted by Rejoiced Over. Submit your quote to our collection by clicking here.

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/09/mexican-chicken-casserole.html/feed 103 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/09/southern-livings-quick-fix-sloppy-joes-and-my-wardrobe-malfunction.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/09/southern-livings-quick-fix-sloppy-joes-and-my-wardrobe-malfunction.html#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:16:17 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=16810 Pin it

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I don’t know what it was about the day I filmed this but we were all feeling a little silly. The studio just had humor in the air and as you watch this video you can see that I’m trying not to laugh! I have made a lot of fantastic recipes in this Quick Fix Supper series but I gotta tell ya, I’m a simple gal and these Sloppy Joes are one of my absolute favorites. They were SO GOOD.

Oh, about the wardrobe malfunction…

Towards the middle of the video, as I was talking and we were filming, I looked down and PLOP, one of my earrings fell right into the middle of the skillet! I remember saying something like “Oh! there’s my earring!” and then we cut so I could get it out and keep on rolling! I hope you enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed filming it.

Remember, just click the link at the bottom to get the recipe!

To get this Sloppy Joe recipe, click here. 

To view more of my Southern Living Quick Fix Videos,

visit my Quick Fix Suppers page on SouthernLiving.com! 

“He’s more turned around than a flyin’ squirrel in a tornado!”

Old Southern Saying submitted by Vicki. To submit your old Southern Saying, click here. 

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I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend! We decided to hit the road and spend the extra few days with the Georgia Jordans and just got back in last night. The kids really enjoyed playing with cousins and grandparents and the hubs and I enjoyed sitting around visiting. Okay, so I might have gotten a wee little bit of shopping in, too, but the North Georgia Premium Outlets just say my name so sweetly that whenever I am near it is hard to refuse.

We left out on Friday around lunch and decided to take backroads in order to avoid the perpetual traffic jam just outside of Chattanooga. Note: We love everything about Chattanooga. It is one of THE most family friendly places on earth and we dearly love to visit there every chance we get. But seriously, there is almost always a traffic jam just outside of it. So you can either hang on to your bladders and hope you get through in an hour or so, or you can go through Mentone .

We had gone through Mentone a few months ago and discovered the cutest little place called the Wildflower Cafe. We actually passed it the first go around but turned around to go back and have lunch there. It was so good that we stopped again on this trip. If you are ever in Mentone and have any room at all for some good food in your stomach, go to the Wildflower. Order anything at all on the menu and you’ll be happy, but you simply must try the tomato pie. It is to die for. While we were sitting there I told hubs that if I ever had a restaurant, I’d want it to be just like this one, but with a little less descriptive naming on the menu. Don’t get me wrong, the menu is divine and very well written. I think I’d just got a bit more common sense and down to earth because that is more my style. If I had a restaurant (which I definitely do not have time for) my menu would read something like this:

• Filet Mignon- The way we cook this steak makes the cow’s death a more noble cause than anyone could have ever thought possible.
• Rolls – Just like grandma made and served hot enough that the butter will be half melted just by sitting on the same tray on the way to the table.
• Tea – Iced. Sweet. Good. Required with every meal.

As we headed out of Mentone on the little winding mountain road, our road trip bliss was interrupted with a very sudden WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP. You got it folks, we have us a flat.

This is how our tire looked. When we get a flat, we don't halfway do it!

Thank goodness there was no one behind us as we pulled over to the side of the road. It was far too busy a road to be able to change the tire on but we were able to move into a nearby driveway and safely get started. I went up to the house in hopes of apologizing and explaining what had happened, and also to assure the owner that we’d be gone as soon as we possibly could. As I knocked I heard some noise inside but no one answered so I went back to the car to help change it. We both immediately got on our phones to look up where the jack was, how to get the tire down from under the car, etc. By the time he had the tire released I knew exactly where to safely insert the jack to raise up the car and we were off to the races. Isn’t internet a wonderful thing? (Our car didn’t come with an owner’s manual, but we have google)

About that time two teenage boys appeared from inside the house and stood staring at us from a distance so I smiled and approached them to explain what had happened. They leaned on their father’s tow truck (which I had previously viewed as a sign Ricky might have more help than me with the tire) and said “Yeah, thats what our dad said probably happened.” I apologized for us being in their driveway and they said “Well, good luck with the tire” and turned to disappear back into the house.

Looks like Ricky had me as his trusty assistant after all. That lucky dog…

It took us about 45 minutes to get the tire off and the spare on before we were on our way again but I couldn’t help but be grateful that Ricky’s head was just where mine was when I said “There is no telling what us having that flat tire just protected us from” he replied “Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.”

Sure, it could have just been a flat tire. But it could have been the one thing keeping us off the road when an eighteen wheeler veered a little too far to the left..or when a deer ran across our path, or when someone who was dozing off turned onto the road without checking traffic beforehand.
True, it could have just been a flat tire but it could have just as easily been a small event orchestrated to protect us from a devastating event. Nothing wrong with being grateful..just in case

Oh, wanna see what it was we ran over? Here ya go…

Whooooweeee Dawgie! See what I mean about not halfway doing it?

Most folks would be content to run over a nail or screw or something. We had this entire thing embedded in the tire except for the last inch or so. Call us overachievers

Now let’s make some Italian Beef Sandwiches. These are SUPER easy and I took them to our tailgate last week. They stayed nice and warm in the slow cooker until everyone was ready to eat and we really enjoyed them. But they’d also make a great weeknight supper or game day meal at the house and leftovers heat up like a dream

You hungry yet? Lets get on in that kitchen and cook us up some grub!

I get bored taking ingredient photos in the same places all the time so today I took my ingredients into the living room. This is what my mantle looks like now. Okay, so I don’t really have a *real* fireplace but I’ve always wanted one so a few years back I saved up and we got an electric fireplace. It still puts out heat and has a beautiful fire look to it, but it’s not real. I’m cool with that though, I have a good imagination and someplace to hang the kid’s stockings on Christmas Eve .

I had it all decorated at one time and it was actually pretty, too, but time and kids tend to redecorate your house and that isn’t always a bad thing. Ours is much more colorful now . So here is my beef roast and can of beef gravy posing on my makeshift mantle with some painted picture frames, crayons, and a hello kitty hair barrette.

Woo, I’m feeling chatty today! Okay, I’ll try to actually get through this post now.

You’ll need: Beef Roast, can of beef gravy….AND

1-2 bottles of Zesty Italian Dressing.

You’re also going to need 1-2 Bell Peppers and 1 Onion.

Pretend you see those here. You’ll see them in a few pictures but they were kinda camera shy so I couldn’t really get a photo of them until I had cut them up and removed their will

I say “1-2″ bottles of dressing and “1-2 bell peppers” because it really depends on how much you like them and how much flavor you want from them. Me? I could drink a bottle of Italian dressing and eat every bell pepper you put in front of me. I only used one bottle in this but I sometimes add another half bottle or so just to up the zingy flavor.

Place your beef roast in a slow cooker (my favorite kitchen appliance!) and cover with can of beef gravy.

Put lid on and cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.

* Note that you are not using your Italian Dressing now. 

After it has cooked all day, remove the roast, drain off and discard all juices, shred the meat and return to the slow cooker.

Add in entire bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing and give it a good stir.

 Chop up your onion and bell pepper and place in a skillet over medium high heat to brown slightly, until your onions are caramelized and your bell pepper is tender. 

I don’t add anything to this but if your skillets tend to stick, you might want to add a tablespoon or so of cooking oil before adding in your veggies.

Now like I said, cook until that gets tender or do like me

and cook it until you get tired of fooling with them and want to get on with things.

Add them in with your beef and give it a good stir.

Place slow cooker on warm setting until ready to serve.

Serve on buns, topped with mozzarella cheese.

 Special thanks to my friend, Tammy, for modeling the sandwich for me! 

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Italian Beef Sandwiches

Ingredients

• Beef Roast (Pot roast, chuck roast, sirloin roast, top roast, etc. Whatever kind you have, just not eye of round)
• 1 can beef gravy
• 1 bottle Zesty Italian Dressing
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1-2 bell peppers, chopped

Instructions

1. Place roast in slow cooker and pour can of beef gravy over. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
2. Remove roast from slow cooker and discard juices. Shred meat and return to slow cooker. Pour bottle of dressing over meat and stir.
3. In large skillet, place onion and bell pepper. Sauté over medium high heat until tender. Stir into beef mixture.
4. Cover and place on warm until ready to serve. Serve on buns and top with mozzarella cheese.

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Great News! 

Another local business in my area has signed on to be a drop off point for our Nursing Home Project. Special thanks goes out to Suzanne’s Bakery and Eatery in Athens, Alabama. Anyone living in that area who would like to help can drop off bottles of Suave Bottle Wash at Suzanne’s and we’ll use them to help adopt more nursing homes this Christmas.

For more details on how the project works (and how you can do something similar in your neighborhood), please click here.

If you have time, head on over and become part of our Southern Plate Facebook Family and while you’re there, visit Suzanne’s on Facebook as well and tell her thanks for helping us out in such a big way!

I like to start each day with a positive or uplifting message on our Facebook page each morning – and I sure do hope you’ll join us over there if you haven’t already! Today’s message bears repeating so I’m adding it here, too!

‎”When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself.”
~Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee Indian Chief