Shopping Around the World

Hello sweet friends ❤  For the month of June we are focusing on something that you have cooked lately that you absolutely went bonkers for and everyone enjoyed.  This could be anything – even a cheese cracker.  Just make it the best cheese cracker you ever had and post prices… and pictures are awesome.  That gives us something to drool on while we read your recipe.

Today, I’m handing our recipe over to mom.  Can you believe that me and dad actually got her to cook dinner for us one night?  Now don’t get me wrong.  She cooks for us but she’s been watching her diet lately so we have to say she went overboard with this dinner.  And *we* all appreciated that – trust me.

So without further ado, take it away mom!

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Hello friends.  If you know me really well, then you know here in the south I just can’t get enough of fried chicken – ever.  I’ll admit it.  Usually instead of taking the time to fix it, I will usually just buy it from the store or a local restaurant.  Every once in a while, I will bring out my southern experience and fry some for the family.  Of course when I do, everyone wonders what they’ve done to deserve it – HA!  It just keeps them on their toes I say.  What you will need:

♦ A package of chicken.  We enjoy thighs.  You get whatever pieces your family likes – mixed or whatever.  This date, we bought a package of thighs.  There was 8 of them for $3.23

♦ You should have some of these ingredients on hand:  flour (3 cups – $0.75); buttermilk (2 cups – $0.50); eggs (3 – $0.50); frying oil (4 cups $2.50); salt/pepper/cayenne pepper

Now this is a pretty basic recipe that we have used in our family for years.  You can also use the same ingredients with different types of  meat – fried fish, shrimp and you know that other white meat that we can’t mention on Bacon’s blog.  You can also use different spices that you like.  Be creative and have fun.

Now is the time to get your assembly line going.  It gets a little messy.  You will need two bowls.  One bowl you will put your ‘dry’ ingredients in – the flour, salt, pepper and shake cayenne pepper to your taste.  Now test your taste.  Remember you can add more, you can’t take out.  In the other bowl, put your 3 eggs and beat them.  Add your milk, salt, pepper and more cayenne pepper.  As that is sitting, put your grease in a frying pan (we like to use an iron skillet) and let that start to get hot somewhere around medium/high.  Now while that is getting hot, put about 4 pieces of raw chicken (that you have already washed) into the wet ingredients.  Let the oil get hot.

Once hot, here comes the fun part. You want to take the pieces of chicken out of the wet ingredients and coat them in the dry ingredients.  Get everything coated.  Now repeat that step.  Yep, I believe in double coating for an extra crispy skin on the chicken.  Dip the floured chicken back into your wet ingredients, back into the dry ingredients and then place the chicken in your hot oil skin side down.  Your pan should comfortably hold 4 thighs – don’t overcrowd.  I cook the chicken about 8 minutes and then flip the chicken over to the other side for about 6 more minutes.  Once it is nicely golden brown, put on paper towels to drain and do the remainder of your chicken.

There you go – a classic southern dish from the Hotel Thompson.  Eight wonderful fried chicken thighs for around $7.50 – great for a Sunday meal.  Enjoy ❤

 

Shopping Around the World

 This month we are highlighting items that you are known for.   This is easy.  Mom is *known* for her cornbread.  Here in the south, cornbread is an important side to any meal.  And some of you friends have asked how mom does her cornbread.  So without further ado, here it goes 🙂 – take it away mom!

♥

 

The ingredients to my cornbread are very simple.  In the south, you will find several different versions of cornbread – some with sugar, some with corn, some with jalapenos – the list goes on.  You can make it anything you want in a cornbread.  We often serve cornbread with chili, soups or good old Sunday dinner.  This is a recipe that I tweaked from my family that is so simple.  Here is what you will need:

Two large eggs ($0.26); three strips of bacon ($1.00); a cup of milk ($0.40); a cup of cornmeal ($0.40); and melted butter ($0.20) = total $2.26

AND if you have one (being in the south we have several in different sizes), you need a small iron skillet.

♥

Turn on your over to 350 degrees to preheat.  Take the 3 strips of bacon and cut them in small pieces (sometimes we use more – depends on who you are making it for).  Put your iron skillet on the stove on medium and fry the bacon.  Once the bacon is done, remove the bacon to the side and put in your butter.  Let all of this melt together – the butter and the bacon grease.  Trust me, you will love the taste of this when the cornbread is finished.

♥

Now, take your milk and eggs and mix them together.  Slowly merge together the flour with salt/pepper and add the cooked crumbled up bacon.  The batter is going to be in a thick consistency – that is what you are looking for.  Now, take your batter and pour it into your HOT skillet.  You should hear a sizzle.  That is the sound you want to hear.  Once the batter is in your HOT skillet, place your skillet in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.

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At 30 minutes, take your skillet out and your cornbread should pop right out of your skillet into a plate.  Serve slathered in butter or crumble up in your soups/chili.  The inside will be moist and hot.  And while you are eating, you will enjoy the buttery bacon taste.  Please try one and let me know what you think.

♥

Here in the south, we even take a cold glass of buttermilk and crumble our cornbread in it for a meal.

 

Shopping Around the World – REMINDER

Me and my pal Fozzie will be holding another Shopping Around the World scheduled for Wednesday, October 26th. 

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 items that you are known for.   Do you have that one dish that everyone asks for at a party, at dinner, at the church?  What kind of ingredients do you have in it and what does it look like? Don’t forget to include prices and pictures if you can.

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

 

Shopping Around the World

Welcome my friends to Shopping Around the World.  This month we are highlighting one pot wonders.  

Mom is going to highlight her one pot wonder that she makes in the crockpot.  

I’m licking my lips now – Take it away mom!

With working and trying to rush home to fix dinner, sometimes it can be overwhelming.  So I take help where I can, just like with this one pot wonder in the crockpot.  In the morning before coming to work, I will put some baking potatoes in the crockpot.  So easy huh?  All you have to do is wash and clean a baking potato.  Take a fork and stick the potato several times.  Place it on some aluminum foil and salt/pepper to your desire.  Then wrap the baking potato up securely and place it in your crockpot just like the picture shows.  We always fix extra potatoes because they come out so good for the next night’s meal.  We bought a bag of baking potatoes at the market for $5.00 a bag.  There were 12 large potatoes in the bag making each potato $0.42 each.  After you get all of your potatoes washed, seasoned, wrapped and placed in your crockpot, turn the crockpot on low and forget it.

Now, before I leave the house, I checked the refrigerator for leftovers from the night before.  I found broccoli and cheese and beef sausage.  All I did was place these items in aluminum foil packets and put them back in the fridge.  Around 2pm, I called my hub unit and told him to also place these packets in the crockpot to heat them up.  The broccoli and cheese was a head of broccoli cut up from the  night before with some shredded cheese melted over it.  Total price was around $2.00 but this is the second meal so you can add $1.00 to tonight’s meal.  The beef sausage was $2.50 and again this is the second meal so add $1.25 to tonight’s meal.  So right now, we are looking at around $3.00 for tonight’s meal – so far.

When I finally get home from work, the fun begins.  You take out a baked potato and put it on a plate removing the aluminum foil. Go ahead and mash some of the potatoes out and add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper – whatever you want.  After it is fixed the way you normally eat a potato, add your leftovers. Tonight it was broccoli and cheese with beef sausage.  Now look at that potato. And remember you washed and seasoned the peel, so eat everything.

 It’s whats for dinner and a meal all in itself for around $3.00 for TWO people.  You can’t beat that and it’s great on a cold night… if we ever get cold here.

 

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   Friday, September 30th. 

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 one pot wonders.  This can be one pot over the stove, in the stove or in a crockpot.  What is your one pot wonder?  Something that you ‘go to’ when time is short or you will be working all day and want to come home to a prepared home cooked meal.  Please share and include pictures if possible with prices.  See you here my friends!

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

 

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!

Me and my pal Fozzie will be holding another Shopping Around the World scheduled for   Friday, September 30th. 

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 one pot wonders.  This can be one pot over the stove, in the stove or in a crockpot.  What is your one pot wonder?  Something that you ‘go to’ when time is short or you will be working all day and want to come home to a prepared home cooked meal.  Please share and include pictures if possible with prices.  See you here my friends!

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

 

Dear Bacon

   Dear Bacon – I have the perfect plan my friend.  Oh barks – it’s the best!  Here’s the plan.  I plan on going door to door in my neighborhood.  When humans come to the door, I plan on telling them that I’m and Inspector with C.M. across the country.  You know C.M. = Canine Meals.  And that I’m there to sample their canine meals for originality and taste.  Dude, I think I have a chance.  What do you think?  Signed Inspector Husky

Dear Inspector Husky – Oh dude!  I think you do have a plan there.  I can see it now – canines from all over the world will be catching on in their neighborhoods all in the honor of YOU.  Might I suggest you get a badge made up as well.  You know humans these days won’t let you inside unless your official.  Be safe and keep us posted.

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  Dear Bacon – There we were me and my human going for a walk here in the Spring – rolls doggy eyes.  Yeah Mother Nature has a twisted sense of humor.  Snow in Spring.  Yeah okay.  Back to my story.  We were walking and all of a sudden this snow came drifting off of the roof.  I moved but guess who didn’t?  Barks!  Where’s Lassie when you need her to let peeps know my human fell and can’t get up?  You know I did what I could.  I stuck my head in the snow to make sure they were breathing.  They were.  Signed Lassie in Training

Dear Lassie in Training – Well priorities my friend.  At least you made sure that your human could breathe.  We all know that their hearing and reflexes aren’t like ours.  This is just proof in the pudding – snorts.  You did dig him up, right?  I hope he’s not still there.

.

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 Dear Bacon – Well there goes my political career.  I was going to run for President however this picture has now been circulated by the other candidates.  I knew they were afraid of my charisma and they knew I would beat them.  Darn it.  I missed being President by just a cat’s whisker.  Signed Nip Ready

Dear Nip Ready – You know my friend this doesn’t mean the end.  As long as you didn’t inhale, you may have a chance.  Really – check it out in the past history.  I think you still need to run.  Heck, even with the nip history you still have a better running campaign than some.  Honestly.

.

 

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REMEMBER my friends.  Dear Bacon can’t happen without YOU.  Please continue to send me your letters and pictures to my email address.  ♥

 

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!

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!

 

Shopping Around the World

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

Me and my pal Fozzie are hosting this month highlighting items of Thanksgiving.  Appetizers, main courses, side dishes or desserts.

Most people will look at moms side dish and go no way in heck am I eating those. Dad was like that too. BUT I have to say don’t knock it until you try it. Now this is one of the side dishes that we all look forward to on Thanksgiving – or any time during the year for that matter. 

So let me present moms creation of fabulous Brussel sprouts. That’s right – yummy, buttery Brussel sprouts topped with fried pancetta. I got your attention now?  First up – excuse all piggies from the room which means it’s now time for mom to finish this posting. Take it away mom. 

Okay friends. This is a no place for my boy Bacon to be with this recipe. You will need the following for this recipe:

• Basket of delicious Brussel sprouts 
• Butter and/or olive oil
• Salt/pepper to taste
• Pancetta

Pancetta is an Italian style bacon that is salt cured and seasoned. You can usually get it from your butcher. I always keep some in our freezer here at the Hotel Thompson. Cube up about a 1/3 of a pound and put in a skillet on the stove medium heat. You are looking for a crispy consistency. 

While that is working, clean and cut your Brussel sprouts in half. Once pancetta is done, remove from skillet and put on a napkin to drain the grease. Leave the bacon grease in the skillet and add either a spoonful of butter or drizzle of olive oil. Add your Brussel sprouts, stir into your bacon drippings and season with salt and pepper. Note: go light on the salt because the pancetta is already salty. 

Once they have become softened, remove to a bowl and top with your crispy pancetta. Enjoy and then tell me if you like Brussel sprouts or not. 

 

 

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, November 25th. 

Do a posting on your blog linked back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices and recipes.  I know this is going to be around Thanksgiving so mark your calendar so you can do a posting with us.

This month we are highlighting Thanksgiving items.  It can be an appetizer, a main course, a side dish or dessert.  FIVE items your choice of Thanksgiving.

Come join the fun of Shopping Around the World – mark your calendars – Wednesday, November 25th