Shopping Around the World – Reminder

Hello sweet friends.  Did you have a lot of fun with Shopping Around the World last month?  We just have a blast seeing everyone’s recipes and pictures.  Since this is the summer and it is so hot here, why don’t we focus this month on foods that you prepare in this type of heat.  Whether it’s a simple salad, a sandwich with chips, a watermelon salad – what do you fix for dinner when it’s just so hot outside to be cooking anything in the kitchen.

Shopping Around the World will be hosted on Monday, July 31, 2017 here in blogville.  Now remember, link back to my blog here so everyone can find your links.  And remember have fun with your recipes.  Can’t wait to see your recipes, pictures and prices in your area.  ❤

Oh and you haven’t already, please fill free to use my Shopping Around the World with Bacon badge for your blog that my brother Phenny fixed for all of us.  Thanks again brother!

 

Shopping Around the World

Hello sweet friends.  Did you have a lot of fun with Shopping Around the World last month?  We just have a blast seeing everyone’s recipes and pictures.  Since this is the summer and it is so hot here, why don’t we focus this month on foods that you prepare in this type of heat.  Whether it’s a simple salad, a sandwich with chips, a watermelon salad – what do you fix for dinner when it’s just so hot outside to be cooking anything in the kitchen.

Shopping Around the World will be hosted on Monday, July 31, 2017 here in blogville.  Now remember, link back to my blog here so everyone can find your links.  And remember have fun with your recipes.  Can’t wait to see your recipes, pictures and prices in your area.  ❤

Oh and you haven’t already, please fill free to use my Shopping Around the World with Bacon badge for your blog that my brother Phenny fixed for all of us.  Thanks again brother!

 

Shopping Around the World

This month my dear brother Phenny is hosting Shopping Around the World.  His suggestion this month was pie, dessert or anything sweet.  Since I can’t just post a picture of me for something sweet – snorts with piggy laughter, I”m going to let mom take care of this month.  Hope you enjoy my friends ❤

Now this month was hard.  Sweets – my favorites of any kind – is something I’m trying to stay away from here at the Hotel Thompson.  But there are times that the inner sweet monster comes from within and you just *have* to have something gooey and wonderful.  A long time favorite of ours here are Whoopie Pies.  Now if you don’t know what a Whoopie Pie is here, you are a sheltered person and need a fix ASAP!  You can fix them as elaborately as you want or in my case as simple as you want.  And you know me…. I’m all about simple 🙂 

So here is a picture of what a Whoopie Pie looks like.  (I didn’t take this picture.)  This is a simple way of seeing what a Whoopie Pie looks like.  They should be gooey and wonderful.  Most of them are made with a cake batter as the top and bottom.  But remember, I have a favorite ‘quick’ recipe.  Here you go:

◊ Store bought cookies (no lying).  Get a package of the soft cookies – you don’t want a hard one.  Or you can make your own.  Now remember to buy twice as many cookies because you will need two cookies for every Whoopie Pie.  I bought a package of 24 cookies from our local market for $3.29 – I bought Macadamia cookies.  Buy and make whatever kind of cookies you like.  24 cookies will make 12 Whoopie Pies.

◊ Here is the tricky part – what do you want for your center?  You have several options.  You can buy a container of Cool Whip.  You can buy those little containers of pre-made frosting.  Or, you can be lazy like me.  I asked the bakery department at my market to whip me up some butter cream frosting.  A huge container cost me $4.99 – and that is more than enough.  

Now the fun begins.  I take my 12 cookies and place them on a cookie sheet.  I then put my butter cream frosting in a pastry bag and start dabbing frosting on my cookies.  After all my cookies have full attention, I then place cookies on top of the frosting.  There you go – instant Whoopie Pies.  No, they are not like the ‘real’ Whoopie Pies but are your guests or family going to know the difference?  Of course not.  Heck, throw some flour on your face and around the kitchen and let them know you slaved in the kitchen for hours.  Who is going to know?  I’m not going to tell.  ❤ 

 

Shopping Around the World

  This month it is scheduled for December 30th – after the holiday so we can all make plans.  Since it is the Christmas holidays, this month we will again focus on appetizers, side dishes, salads, soups, main entrees or desserts.

This month we wanted to highlight a wonderful soup that mom/dad like to eat during the winter time.  This soup is also a great jump start for their diet… but that’s another story.  Here is what you will need:

♦ Steak Picanha – already sliced into bite sized strips – one package around $5.00 (note any kind of steak will work for this recipe.  In fact, you can even switch the steak for chicken cut into bite sized strips.)

♦ One head of cabbage – $1.48 head

♦ One can of white/yellow corn – $0.48 can

♦ One can of diced tomatoes with green chilis – $0.48 can

♦ One package of beef broth or chicken brother – $1.50

♦ Two cups of water, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes

♥

Cut up the entire head of cabbage and throw in the bottom of the crock pot.  Add your cans of corn, chilis, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.  Add in your stock and water.  Add your meat to the top and put the lid on your crock pot.

Turn on your crock pot to low and let that crock pot do the work for you all day.  When you get ready to eat, you will be amazed at the smell and taste.  It’s hardy and wonderful.  If you want it a little thicker, you can add a cut up potato with your ingredients.

Mom/dad often use this to jump start their diet.  Why?  Well the cabbage is an amazing item…. snorts with piggy laughter.  This soup costs about $9.00 to prepare but lasts for a couple of days.  It’s a little spicy but not so hot that you can’t enjoy it.

 

Shopping Around the World

From the Mommy June….

This month we are highlighting grilling foods, something that we fix this time of the year.   To “grill” you don’t necessarily need an outside grill.  Sure they’re awesome but there are other ways to grill inside of your home.  One year, the hub unit got me some very nice grill pans from the basement sale of a well known department store.  I treasure those pans!  Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing like the taste of outdoor food on the grill but who needs all of that mess?  And sometimes – who has the patience these days?  So, here is my contribution this month.  I hope it gets your taste buds having a party in your mouth like it does ours!

Steak and Homemade French Fries

At the Hotel Thompson, we love ribeye steaks – especially those that are aged with the right consistency of fat/meat in the marbling.  Now of course there are those that say fat is bad.  But we are of the belief that fat gives a lot of flavor, especially in beef.  Now, let’s break down tonight’s dinner.

2 Ribeye Steaks (we got an awesome deal on these.  We buy a whole loin and then have the ribeye’s cut in about 1/2-1 inch thickness.  We then take them home, shrink wrap them two to a bag and freeze them.  The last time we bought a loin, it was on sale and cost $78.94 – we got 16 steaks out of the loin.  That makes each steak only $4.93 – winner winner!)

French Fries – two giant baking potatoes my friends.  We buy a bag for $5.00 at our local Sam’s Warehouse.  There are approximately 10-15 potatoes to a bag.  That makes each potato around $0.50 each – so $1.00 for french fries.

Entire Steak and Fries dinner – $5.93 per person.  Is your mouth watering yet?  And to think, that steak was cooked on an indoor grill just by rotating it twice upon flipping.  I’m going to show you a picture below of the grill pan I use.  Happy grilling my friends.

 

Shopping Around the World – Reminder

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we are highlighting grilling foods.  What is something that your humans grill this time of the year in the Summer?  Something sweet or savory.  Anything at all – just highlight the food (hopefully with pictures) and the prices.

Meet back here on Wednesday, August 31st, 2016 to share your recipe and pictures.

 

Shopping Around the World – Mark Your Calendar

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we are highlighting grilling foods.  What is something that your humans grill this time of the year in the Summer?  Something sweet or savory.  Anything at all – just highlight the food (hopefully with pictures) and the prices.

Meet back here on Wednesday, August 31st, 2016 to share your recipe and pictures.

 

Shopping Around the World

 This month we are posting anything we want to share that you cook, prepare, fix or throw together at your crib.  It can be anything.  So knowing this, we want to share something that we absolutely love here at the Hotel Thompson.  You here a lot of flack about one of the ingredients but to be a true southerner, you love it.  And since some of the ingredients are shall we say  pig related – this is Bacon’s mom taking over the posting today.

For those cool mornings or nights that you don’t feel like cooking much – we fix a big pot of southern cheese and sausage grits.  Yep, you heard it – grits.  Grits are a southern love.  They are made from ground hominy.  And in this picture, we went to our local Waffle House one night for dinner.

Grits are very cheap here.  You can buy a 2 pound bag at most markets for around $3.00 – and trust me, they go a long ways (probably less than $0.50 a meal).  Now here at the Hotel Thompson, we put about three cups of water in a pot and put it on the stove medium high.  Season with salt and add one cup of grits.  You are going to let the water boil and the grits cook for about 20-30 minutes.  Make sure that you stir occasionally – grits will stick and expand.

While the grits are cooking, go ahead and fry up some sausages in a pan.  I make sausage patties and cook them on a skillet beside my grits so I’m constantly watching.  I buy a pack of 12 sausages and cook them for the entire week.  One pack is $4.00 – we use about 6 patties with the grits.

When your grits are about done, add 1/2 stick of butter (around $0.30), more salt to taste and black pepper.  Now add grated cheddar cheese (we buy blocks and rate our own (around $0.50) to your grits and stir everything together to melt the cheese.  Your sausage should just about be done.  Cut the sausage up into bite size pieces and add to your grits, stir everything together and there you go – a southern delight for sure!

And the bottom price with everything – around $3.50

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we are highlighting sandwiches.  Show us your creativity and your best sandwich.  What makes it special?  What kind of ingredients do you have in it and what does it look like?  It can be more than five ingredients.

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This was a tough one this month – not so much as to a sandwich but what to pick to post.  I ended picking a sandwich that we all absolutely love here at the Hotel Thompson.  AND, it’s simple to fix.  Really – it looks like it’s complicated but trust me, it’s not 🙂

Normally we fix this sandwich a lot around the Thanksgiving -Christmas holidays because of all of the leftovers.  You are probably asking yourself well what do you call it?  This is our rendition of a Monte Cristo sandwich.

What you will need:

2 slices of white bread ($0.10)

2 slices of ham or leftover ham (if you buy the deli ham this comes out to less than $1.25)

2 slices of turkey or leftover turkey (again if you buy the deli turkey this comes out to less than $1.25)

2-3 slices of cheese – any kind.  In this situation, we used one slice of cheddar on top and one slice of cheddar on bottom with one slice of swiss in the middle.  (we had all of these cheese on hand and it came out less than $1.00)

Pillsbury pizza dough – yep you heard it.  One can cost us $1.50

Powdered sugar to top.  I’m still using a bag of powdered sugar that I bought some time ago.  I’m going to say this might be $0.25

And you have your choice of any kind of jam you want to dip your sandwich into before eating. Here, we prefer a strawberry jam.  One bottle usually makes it 4 sandwiches so for 1 sandwich – $0.75.

Build your Monte Cristo.  Lay out your 2 pieces of white bread.  Add a piece of cheddar, one slice of ham, one slice of turkey, one slice of swiss, one slice of ham, one slice of turkey and one slice of cheddar.  Take your pizza dough and cut it into two slices.  You just need a half slice to wrap around your sandwich completely – just like wrapping a package.  Get your oil hot in your pan because now you are going to deep fry your sandwich.  Yep, we are in the south – DEEP FRY that bad boy.  When it is nicely browned on all sides, take it out and pat it with a paper towel.  Then cut it into fours, place it on a plate and lightly dust it with the powdered sugar.  Dip in your jam and enjoy.  This is wonderful!

 

Shopping Around the World – REMINDER

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

Me and my pal Fozzie will be holding another Shopping Around the World scheduled for         Wednesday, April 27th. 

Do a posting on your blog linking back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices and recipes from all over the world.

This month we are highlighting sandwiches.  Show us your creativity and your best sandwich.  What makes it special?  What kind of ingredients do you have in it and what does it look like?  It can be more than five ingredients.

Come join the fun of Shopping Around the World – mark your calendars!