Chicken stroganoff & peach cobbler

It's been a lazy week here and I only prepared one new recipe. 

 Chicken Stroganoff was mentioned on Marg's site and then Carole made a beef stroganoff last week so...I was wanting to have that for dinner. Tyler Florence had a pretty good recipe so I adjusted it to suit our taste.  I really wanted to use chicken instead of beef so that's the first edit.

The answer is yes to sour cream. I know some of you mushrooms haters will cringe but I added double...cause we love them. If you'd like to view Tyler's recipe click HERE and then make your own adaptions as I did.

Peach cobbler was next to try and it didn't come out as planned so I had to add more of the reserved peach syrup to moisten it. Vanilla ice cream helped it along. This was a Paula Deen recipe from one of her books about cutting back on sugars.  I had a copy of it and had been meaning to try it. Meh...

 

That is the short and sweet post from me this week.  I hope everyone is well and didn't have damage from those horrific storms that sliced across the U.S. this week.

Sharing with 

I Heart Cooking Club for Potluck

Marg at The Intrepid Reader for Weekend Cooking

Sunday Salon updates

It's been an interesting two weeks here. Let's start with the food roundup then I'll get to life updates.

Food / We enjoyed Papa Rellenas which I made from leftovers as well as the usual grilled meals and veggies.  For a new item in the kitchen I pulled from my folder of recipes-to-try. This is a Giada De Laurentiis pasta recipe called Baked Orzo with Peas and Fontina Cheese. 

The pasta dish could be a vegetarian main dish but we served as a side with grilled chicken marinated with olive oil, rosemary and garlic.  I know this will not appeal to those who do not like mushrooms but we are big fans so, I always add extra. The Marsala in this dish gives it a unique taste which I think blends well.

Reading / We went camping about 10 days ago and I forgot so many things. Despite my list, I forgot our tablet chargers and books. I did manage to read quite a few books prior to the trip and after we returned.  Netgalley sent me A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher which is a collection of fifteen short stories and The Vines by Shelley Nolden. In hardcover I had In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, a loan from the library.

Here is a nice shot of the sunset at Lake Seminole. The skies in the evening were clear and brilliant with stars.  Sunsets were consistantly beautiful and colorful.

Every time we camp there I think I want a home on the lake. 

Watching / Justified is a series we saw years ago and it remains one of our favorites.  We are up through season two now. A six season set for $30 was a good deal. 

Life events / Last week I had to have a tooth pulled, an upper molar. Did you now the top teeth have three roots and the bottom only two?  Well that tooth hung on for dear life,  broke and caused all sorts of trouble. After I got home we left for camping so I will blame my "trauma" for the reason I forgot so many items.  Despite always using a list.  Yeah...

Vaccine shots! Yes, we both received the Pfizer vaccine on Friday and will have a followup in three weeks.  This is the beginning of a normal life again.  Where shall we go first...I think it will be for Fat Cuban sandwich.  But that is weeks away.

Kitchen and bathroom remodel - not yet, but we did have a contractor come in and measure.  We are waiting on an estimate. If we have it all done we may need to live in the RV temporarily.

That's it and I hope you all are healthy and happy where ever you are.

Sharing with

Marg at The Intrepid Reader for Weekend Cooking 

I Heart Cooking Club (there were loads of peas for the green theme!)

Deb at Reader Buzz for Sunday Salon

Happy St Patrick's Day

 Silly humor..............

Papas Rellenas

 Last week I promised I'd make Papa Rellenas from leftover Piccadillo.  The recipe in my cookbook Clarita's Kitchen calls for a sautéed mixture of peppers, onions & garlic for the filling but I opted for a recreation of the version I had in Ybor City two years ago.

Here it is plated.  I made these a bit too large and still had some Piccadillo to serve on the side.  This is very filling. I have my wonderful sister-in-law Barb to thank for her advice on the preparation. 

I used a potato ricer to prepare the cooked potatoes instead of my mixer. Less cleanup and the texture was fine.

Once you have the potatoes mashed/ riced you add your fillings, seal the edges and dip in an egg wash. Then you  fry the potato cake. Turn them over gently to brown all edges.

This isn't a great snap to see the filling but I was hungry so....I just tucked in :-)

I've been meaning to try this for ages and am very happy I finally made this yummy lunch. It could be a dinner as well. Also, using only veggies as the filling will accommodate vegetarians.

Sharing with Marg at The Intrepid Reader for Weekend Cooking

 

Stephen Foster Cultural Park

Last week of February we took the RV to Stephen Foster Cultural park in White Springs Florida. If you are in that area I would recommend this as a great park with much to do... IF the buildings are open...so check on that first. 

It's located off the Suwannee River so you can rent canoes or bring your own.  This time the river launches were closed due to the high level of water and flooding.  Safety issues.  We walked to the river a few times, noticed how fast it was flowing and how high.  One of the benches was underwater.

The Suwannee river

 

This bat house was quite active.  When we walked up we heard them squeaking.

This house was magnifcent.  The grounds are lovely to walk about and I wish the buildings had been opened.  Maybe soon that will change and we can go back and see the house and craft village.

I was peeking in the windows of the front entrance and snapped this shot of the door opposite.  I'm a sucker for the old door or window shots.

Gardens surround the house and immediate area. Azaleas and camelias were in bloom, lots of small flower gardens were being tended and I thought it was so pretty.

Love this lamp.

The Carillon bells were silenced by an electrical storm some back and they are working on restoring it.   It gave bell concerts four times a day.

You'll feel you've stepped back in time when you wander about the old buildings. 

More door photos. 

Chandeliers n the live oak trees 

We are looking forward to going back and made reservations for October.  As I said, if you have a canoe or kayak you can float down the river but they rent them if you'd like to do that. We had a few campfires but ran out of wood so, next time we will prepare better.

You can see Doug in the upper right and Loki hanging out by the firepit.  Loki looks good in his new red harness, in my opinion :-)

Next trip will be River Junction in Georgia, an Army Corp of Engineer park with good ratings. It's near a river but not on it as the one we like at Lake Seminole.  

That's all I have for now. Camping update and still waiting on the vaccine.....

The first Sunday Salon in March

 Happy Sunday! I have been negligent posting on either of my blogs as we had been out of town and the new pup has been taking up quite a bit of time.  Hoping to get the photos up for Stephen Foster Cultural Park soon.  Anyway, let's get to Sunday Salon :-)

Books /  While camping I finished A Bit About Britain's History. Excellent book and I can recommend it to a history buff or Anglophile.  I tried Clanlands by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish but it didn't appeal.  Amusing at first then too much buffonery, 

The Heirloom Garden was good and if you are looking for a G-rated book rich in detail about gardens and flowers, this is your book.  I would read more by this author.

I have decided to stop requesting books from the library, letting my holds come in that I have currently. I have so many books in the house already and feel I need to turn my attention to those.  They were purchased for a reason so....I'm looking to thin the shelves here.

Food / We had some great grilled food when we were camping and since we've been home I made a good batch of Picadillo.  See the photos and recipe HERE.

The Loki Chronicles / He was making improvement and then had a relapse of manners. Long story short - this dog had it rough and while he is over the moon to be in a home where he isn't abused, he will still need time to adjust. He Loves us.  No question there. He had a bath day and another examination on Tuesday.  When we went to pick him and he  was brought into the examining room, he went ballistic with joy.  Jumping and wiggling and getting on us and giving kisses. So....we are going to sort him out.  He's on Xanax for his anxiety. Yeah....Xanax. I will never understand how anyone can abuse an animal - I wish them bad karma for their  evil ways.

He did well camping. Liked sitting outside with us and walked all over. Ah...camping was so very nice.  We had good weather and spend loads of time outside.  I plan to post photos of the park soon.

Music / We listen to music outdoors or in the den, weather dependent on sitting utside.  I heard a great version of the Four Seasons on Sirius XM one morning and bought the CD.  The nice thing about purchasing through Amazon is we now have the CD and a MP3 version so we can bluetooth it to the outside speaker.

That's about it for now.  I finally made Papas Rellenos with leftovers and will share that new experience this coming week.  I hope life is good for you and yours!

Sharing with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon .

The Home and Camp Kitchen

Hello and thanks for the comments/emails I have received recently. I have been offline, more like not making time, with our recent camping trip and our hellhound Loki.  I will update in the upcoming  Sunday Salon linkup.

For now, lets visit with In My Kitchen and share with the weekend cooking series.

 First, the outdoor kitchen.  This is our setup at Stephen Foster Cultural Park where we recently spent 5 days.  It was so nice we could have spent more time but our campsite was booked and we'd probably run out of food. 

The camp kitchen has a Coleman stove where the veggies and potatoes were cooked.  Doug has a Weber Q 1200 gas grill, handy and just large enough, easy to pack for travel.

Notice Loki in his chair, hanging out and enjoying the nice weather.

Grilled ribeye with French green beans and scalloped potatoes was one meal we enjoyed. All of the cooking was done outdoors.

Home kitchen - this week's feature is Picadillo.  It's my SIL Barb's recipe and a damn fine one at that.  The aroma of garlic, peppers and onions always gets my stomach rumbling.

Simmering....I always add loads of olives.

Here it is plated.  Served with white rice, El Ebro black beans (the best!), Dole Maduras and homemade bread. For Barb's recipe click HERE.

A dessert indulgence this week was Tiramisu.  We hardly ever get something this rich so it was quite a treat. 

The plan today is to answer emails, visit a bit and go through all the photos I took camping. Planning on  trying Patatas Rellenas with the leftover Picadillo in the next day or so.  I hope all is well in your world and you and yours are happy and healthy.

Sharing with Sherry at Sherry's Pickings for her In My Kitchen event.

Marg at The Intrepid Reader for Weekend Cooking