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Recipes: Stove Top Chili

Sep7

Papaw’s Stove Top Chili

When I was young, my Dad would make chili on a cold fall weekend. I wasn’t real fond of his chili, because he liked beans. He would add as many variety of beans in his mix that we had on-hand in the pantry. Then he let it cook all day on top of the stove.

It smelled great, as it wafted through the house. But I don’t like beans. My recipe is much like his, with a few tweaks. Like, I don’t add beans. You certainly can add your favorites to this mix. But no thanks. 😉

The trick to good chili is the meat. You can use chicken or beef with this recipe. But if you use beef, make it a good quality ground beef. Back in the early 2000s, we tried Bison with this recipe and it was extraordinarily fabulous. I highly suggest using it for any of your home cooked beef ground meals!

Also: You might like to try the Slow Cooked Chili recipe as well. It’s different from this one.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4 Hours
Serves: 9 to 12 Continue reading →

Recipes: Slow Cooked Chili

Sep7

Vickie’s Slow Cooked Chili

This recipe is much like my Dad’s Stove Top Chili, with a few tweaks, we add Jack Daniels Honey to ours. And I don’t add beans to this recipe. You certainly can add your favorites to this mix. But no thanks. 😉

As with the Stove Top Chili, the trick to good chili is the meat. You can use chicken or beef with this recipe. But if you use beef, make it a good quality ground beef.

Back in the early 2000s, Gary and I tried Bison with this recipe and it was extraordinarily fabulous. I highly suggest using it for any of your home cooked beef ground meals!

Also: You might like to try the Stove Top Chili recipe as well. It’s different from this one.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 6.5 hours – Crock pot Recipe
Serves: 12+ Continue reading →

Recipes: Southern Glazed Carrots

Sep2

Mamaw’s Southern Glazed Carrots

I can’t remember a single dinner with my Grandmothers, Uncles and Cousins that didn’t have a large serving of Glazed Carrots on the table. I love the way they smell while they’re cooking. And they certainly add a lovely flair of color to any dinner spread.

My Mom often made Glazed Carrots from a can in the winter. But when it came to those special dinners, for holidays or special guests, she always made them from scratch. She would enlist me to peel and cut the carrots. As I got older, she set me to mixing all the ingredients and watching this special dish as they cooked on the stove.  I always loved cooking with my Mom. Continue reading →

Recipes: Beef Stroganoff

Sep2

Vickie’s Beef Stroganoff

This is not your traditional stroganoff… it’s better!

I’m not sure where I got this recipe. But I’ve had it since the 1980s. Everyone has their favorite dinner, and traditional Beef Stroganoff has always been mine.

It’s simple and easy to fix. It doesn’t take a long time to prepare and there’s not really a lot to it. If you can dice an onion, you can make this dish.

Fair warning however,  traditional Stroganoff includes sliced mushrooms. I’ve never been a fan of fungus. So this recipe does not include that ingredient. If you like mushrooms, more power to you. Look for white button mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and sliced.

This recipe is dependent on the quality of beef you use. It’s more expensive, but I like using good quality Filets. It really does make a big difference. The more tender the beef, the better the Stroganoff sauce. Continue reading →

Recipes: Basil Beef Bites

Aug23

Vickie’s Basil Beef Bites #2

We’re still playing with the Bite Size Beef Bite recipe and decided to create an alternative version to the original Bite Size Beef Bites. These are the things we do on cold winter days when you can’t go anywhere in the snow.

Where the other version has a slight Italian flare with sage and oregano, this one uses some of our favorite spices with basil and parsley. So we decided to call this the French flare.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes, plus 1 hour in the fridge
Cooking time: Approx. 20 – 40 minutes Continue reading →

Recipes: Bite Size Beef Bites

Aug23

Vickie’s Bite Size Beef Bites

We came up with this recipe for a cold February Super Bowl game. It’s quick and simple to fix. And they adds a whole a lot of Italian flavor at the table.

Beef Bites are my version of Gary’s Speedies, which can be a little spicy for me. I call these the plain version for beef. But you can make this with any meat. Chicken, pork, or even venison.

They can be served as a main dish or as a warm appetizer for that fall football game. They’re even good for that summer tailgating at the races too.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes, plus 1 hour in the fridge
Cooking time: Approx. 20 – 40 minutes Continue reading →

Recipes: Jack Daniels BBQ

Aug23

Kevin’s Jack Daniels BBQ

Gary’s cousin Kevin, makes some of the best bbq I’ve ever had! He mostly uses beef, but you can use this recipe with pork or chicken as well. It tastes best with beef though.

Preparation time: 15 to 20 minutes
Cooking time: 4 to 5 hours

Ingredients

  • 1 Beef Roast
    3lbs will serve 5 *
  • 1 tspn Celery Salt
  • 1 cup BBQ Sauce **
  • 1 shot Jack Daniels Whiskey ***
  • 1 large stew pot

* You can use pork or chicken for this recipe as well, just make sure it’s at least 3 pounds of meat.
** Kevin uses Stubs BBQ Sauce. We use Masterpiece Original. You can use your favorite brand.
*** Gary adds 1 additional shot of Jack to spike the flavor. So that would be 2 total. Continue reading →

Recipes: Beef BBQ

Aug23

Grand Daddy Holland’s Beef BBQ

Grand Daddy Hollands Beef BBQ recipe was lost when he left us. But Gary’s cousin Kevin,  has been perfecting his version of that recipe as he remembers it. It’s pretty close to the original. But even if it’s not exactly the same, it’s still fantastic!

Every time we make this, Gary remembers a weekend on the Lake in Love Valley, NC where Grand Daddy built a cabin. The whole family would gather there during the summers and enjoy the water, the woods and the many cook outs. I hope your family can make your own memories with this yummy family tradition. Continue reading →

Table Talk: Talking To Your Kids About White Supremacy

Aug16

White Supremacy Propaganda, Extremism and Online Recruitment Tactics

Yesterday I read an article about parents talking to your “white sons” about how white supremacists are using the internet to recruit kids (White supremacists are recruiting white teens online). The article included a link for how to talk to your kids about this topic and why it’s important to do so (Propaganda, Extremism and Online Recruitment Tactics).

What struck me deeply was the article included a story about a Virginia family, who dismissed the signs of their son’s interests as he just had a deep interest in history. Until he killed two people and was charged with a hate crime.

We’re from Virginia, and my son has a deep interest in history and he’s a great kid. But as a Mom, I worry about that balance between protecting my teen son, while giving him a sense of trust and privacy in his own home. Plus this issue is impacting unsuspecting families all around the world. Whither it’s Islamic Extremists, or White Supremacy groups. We have to talk to our children and make them aware of the dangers. Continue reading →

As A Mom, Your Heart Drops!

Mar30

Alexander Cougars

The Impact of School Shootings

It seems everyday in America, parents face the dangers of sending our kids to school. Our biggest concern used to be worrying about their behavior in school. Wondering if they’re being respectful to teachers and their classmates. When they’re very young, we worry about them being taken care of by teachers and administrators, as we put their fate into the hands of these strangers.

But today, regardless of what age they are, we worry about them coming home safe and alive! That’s the impact that school shootings have placed on many parents in America now.

My son is 15 and a sophomore in high school. We live in a rural county in North Carolina. The kind of place where you wouldn’t think of worrying about school shootings. But there isn’t any place in the U.S. where you don’t worry about someone hitting a breaking point and responding with gun violence. Whither you’re out in the middle of no where, in a big city or a sprawling suburban area. No one is immune. Continue reading →