When I Get Tired of Fixing the Same Thing for Dinner

I don't know how you feel about preparing your dinner menus ahead of time, but I find that it's a time & money saver. I started doing this when my boys were little. I've never been one that could walk into a grocery store, know what I needed for the week/month, and walk out with everything I need minus anything that catches my eye. I prepare a menu biweekly, make my grocery list, and hit the store every 2 weeks for "major groceries". There are times, however, when I get tired of fixing the same thing for dinner and decide to try new recipes.
Unfortunately, almost all of the recipes I've tried lately haven't worked out for me. Let me know if you tried any of these and if you modified them, what you did.

If at first you don't succeed...

The Pioneer Woman's recipes are usually very good, but this one missed the mark. CH wanted a chili recipe to take to a friend's for Halloween (they had a chili cook-off). A friend suggested this recipe and it sounded just like what CH was looking for. The recipe was easy enough, and we were able to fix it on the camp stove while we were camping at a state park near CH's friend's house.

It made a LOT. When we arrived at the friend's house, the MIL came in late (just as the judging was supposed to start) but then she insisted that the judging hold off for a while until she was ready. This recipe has masa in it (used to make tortillas), so when it sits, it thickens. It also has a lot of beans (the original recipe has a total of 8 cans of beans) so that didn't help things either. By the time the judges had any, it was pure mush and not appealing to the eye at all.

Looks good, doesn't it?

I wanted to give it another try with just a few modifications: I only put in 1 can of both kinds of beans but kept the meat as specified and added a can of Rotel instead of the tomatoes. I also cut down on the masa and prepared in the slow cooker. I browned the meat first, then put all of the ingredients in the slow cooker, except for the masa, which was added an hour before we ate. I was really disappointed in the taste. I'm not a picky eater, but I won't be making this again. I'm going to go back to my old "stand-by" for chili from now on.

It's a Southern Thang...

How many of you like "Breakfast for Dinner"? We don't have it very often, but it was a last minute decision right before I went to the grocery store, partly because I found a recipe that sounded promising in my Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House Cookbook: Garlic Cheese Grits Casserole. Even though I'm Southern born and have never lived out of the Southeast U.S., I don't recall ever buying grits. (CH said I did, but I'm not sure I believe him.)

I bought the grits and tried out the recipe. I actually thought it was really good and was pleased with how it turned out. In fact, I will probably make this again.

It was a bit much for the 2 of us & I wasn't sure if it was "freezable".  Since the recipe came out of a cookbook and I couldn't find the recipe online by Miss Mary Bobo's, I am not going to share it. BUT...I found this recipe that was very similar; the only difference is that Miss Mary Bobo's uses 4 eggs instead of 1, 1 1/2 cups of processed cheese (I used sharp cheddar instead), and it is baked for 1 hour.

Well, it kinda worked!

The best part about Steak with Beer Sauce and Sweet Potatoes was the sweet potatoes. The steak was way too messy to cook as directed; oil splattered everywhere and there was quite a bit to clean up. Yeah, I probably didn't do something right, but I followed the recipe exactly as it read. I'll definitely keep the recipe for the sweet potatoes but cook the steak some other way. The beer sauce didn't add anything to the steak, but that's my opinion.
Andouille and Chicken Jambalaya was another recipe that I'll save and fix again. I'm not a fan of spicy so I wasn't sure how I would like the andouille. It was just enough spice to give it an "oomph" but not so much that my mouth burned. Just right for me.

Worth another try...or another recipe

The last attempt to find new recipes was Copy Cat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup. We like to eat soup when it's cold, and I love McAlister's broccoli cheese soup. Maybe that's where I went wrong: I thought it would taste the same. This recipe had way too much cheese in it. If I tried it again I would half the cheese and run the soup through the blender/food processor before I served it. It was very thick and honestly, not that good with all of the cheese in it. Don't get me wrong: I love cheese, but it was just too much.
Along with the soup, I made some bread that is supposed to be perfect for grilled cheese. I tried it and had to add about 2 Tablespoons of milk to the dough because it didn't ball up like it should have. I'm not sure if it was because I used white wheat flour instead of bread flour, but I wouldn't have thought that would have made that much of a difference. The bread just crumbled and tasted like cornmeal. Maybe I'll try it again.

So tell me: have you tried any of these recipes? Did they work for you or did you modify them? What recipes have you tried lately that were successes?

Exploring East Tennessee: Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary

I haven't written a Discovering East Tennessee post in a long time. I meant to do one in March but never got around to it. I will, eventually, but this post is about Brushy  Mountain State Penitentiary.
When I was growing up, those four words would send chills down my spine: Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. It's called "The End of the Line" because it's where convicts were sent when other prisons couldn't handle them. They knew if they were sent there that there was no way out. It closed down in 2009 after 122 years of housing bad guys...the worst of the worst.

The State of Tennessee sold the property to Morgan County. Developers had an idea; a way to bring revenue & jobs back to the county. This little community of Petros had many members who worked at the prison. Families had been employed there, kind of like a family business. When the State shut down the prison, the community definitely felt it. But now, new life is breathing into this facility.

If you ask me, the plan is ingenious. Take a run-down, historical prison, fix it up, get a still going, and sell tours & moonshine. All in a beautiful setting.

There were escapes from the prison, but there are also stories of escapees giving themselves up to get back in the walls because of the terrain around it. One side of the prison didn't have a fence. It had a steep wall of mountain rock instead. (The fence was put up for the tourism.)

James Earl Ray (who was convicted of assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr.) did time at Brushy Mountain. He escaped in 1977 but was found 50-something hours later. I remember when that happened, and I remember being scared.

The old maintenance building is now a gift shop and restaurant.

We ate once we went in, although it was a little pricey for a sandwich and a side. I would recommend stopping in Oak Ridge or Oliver Springs for a quick bite before heading to Petros.

There is a museum where you can watch a 20-minute movie about the prison. The tour is self-guided; however, there were 2 former prisoners and former guard on the grounds when we were there. One of the former prisoners walked around with a group of visitors and told some stories of what it was like to be a prisoner at Brushy Mountain.

The Hole

"The damnation of many an evil man,
the salvation of a humble few."

After walking to The Yard, we went back to the Courtyard and listened to the former guard talking to a few people. Someone asked him if he knew if something had happened in the prison, and he said that he only wanted to know what he needed to know, and that was it.

Main building with the gym on the right

The Courtyard

Maximum security prison built within the prison. The whole prison was once all maximum security but in the years before its closing housed some prisoners who did not require maximum.

The Yard

Stage for concerts in The Yard

The manholes had locks on them to deter prisoners from attempting to escape

4 floors of cells

 

Graffiti on a desk

 

Shower at the end of the cells

 

A towel used as a cushion on the hard stool

The site has already held one concert, and there are plans for a campground. Paranormal tours are also available. At one time there was an electric chair on the premises but it was never used. It was sent to the state pen in Nashville. Even though, there were many prisoners who died at the hands of other prisoners (and guards) as well as disease (especially in the early years).

I think the $12 it cost for admission was well worth it. We went on a Sunday, right when it opened for the day. As we were leaving, there was a good crowd. The history was fascinating, and having the former prisoners and guards hanging around was a definite plus.
If you find yourself around the Oak Ridge area, it's definitely worth a visit to the "Alcatraz of the South". I love discovering East Tennessee, and Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary has always been a curiosity, but I certainly didn't want to visit while it was open as a penitentiary! Stop at the Gift Shop for some samples of moonshine. There are 9 different flavors (including "regular"). We were able to chat with the distiller for a couple of minutes...really nice guy!

We left with 3 bottles: 2 are gifts and the other one will probably be in our fridge for a year...at least!

Coming to East Tennessee for a visit and looking for some "off the beaten path" places to explore? You'll want to check out the posts in my Exploring East Tennessee series. Oh, and check back from time to time...we'll do more exploring (which means more posts!).

If you found this post interesting, check out the series that a local tv station aired.
Interested in visiting? Click here for information.
Even though he is dead, seeing the headlines for when Jame Earl Ray escaped still gives me chills. Read about it here.

There's Only So Much Grilling You Can Do

Summer suppers in the South. It can be challenging because there's only so much grilling you can do to try to keep the heat out of the kitchen.  A friend who lives in the Pacific Northwest (or maybe it was my friend in New England. Either way, she's not from around here!) asked what we fix during the summer. I don't know what everyone else does, but here's one of our favorite summer suppers.

Special thanks to MS for letting me use his plate for the picture!

I found this recipe on the Betty Crocker website, so of course, I tweaked it just a bit. It's called Layered Summer Pasta Salad. The ingredients: Romaine Lettuce, broccoli, carrots, plum tomatoes, ranch dressing, and Suddenly Salad. I just chop up some Perdue Shortcut Southwestern Chicken to make it a meal. The chicken is already cooked and in strips, so it makes it a real "shortcut"!

The Directions

• First, fix the Suddenly Salad.  The recipe calls for the ranch & bacon one, but personally, I prefer the Chipotle Ranch, It really doesn't matter which variety you use. 
• When the pasta is cooked, rinse with cold water to prevent it from cooking further.
• In a bowl, mix 1 1/4 cups Ranch Dressing with the seasoning packet. Then add the pasta and the cut up chicken. 
• In a salad bowl, place the Romaine (or whatever greens you want), broccoli, and carrots. Add whatever veggies you want in there.

Since it's called a "layered salad", you're really supposed to layer the pasta mix on top of the green salad but we've found we like it better keeping them separate. That prevents someone from only getting the pasta...or the salad.

• I slice the tomatoes and put them in a bowl.
• Everyone serves themselves by layering the green salad, then pasta salad, then adding tomatoes (or bacon bits) on top. 

I usually have some kind of crackers or pita crisps to go along with the salad.
There you have a quick, easy, Summer Southern Meal!