Weekend Recap

We just had the best weekend with my parents and my in-laws!!  I love it when we are all together. And we had the BEST food - we ate all weekend long and it was wonderful!!  Most of you know that I am a foodie and as a foodie this weekend topped them all.

 

Friday: Mom and dad arrived around 3, I got off work around 4, and the party began!  They brought up trout (similar to salmon in color and taste) and we had the crew over for trout, rice, salad and Mrs. Deb's strawberry shortcakes.  Sorry no pictures - there was no time- food went down to fast!  I watched dad cook the fish so I will know how to do that in the future, but I still need to sit down with Mrs. Deb next time she makes the short cakes.  They were Awesome!!  

Saturday: We went out to eat at Folks Folly for a little early birthday celebrations. Best steak ever!

Sunday: On mothers day I had a brunch celebration at our house to honor my mom and mother-in-law.  The menu consisted of shrimp and grits, ham biscuits, fruit with baileys dipping sauce, mimosa's, and bloody mary's. I have to say, the shrimp and grits were the best I have ever had.  It started from a Food.com recipe, but I modified it to add white wine, tomatoes, changed the cheese, and added more sauce.  Here it is below:

 

  

 

Shrimp and Grits

(serves 8)

Ingredients:4 cups water

1 (29 ounce) can chicken broth

1 1/2 cups half-and-half

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups regular grits (I used quick grits and they were fine)

2 cups Gouda cheese

4 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

6-8 slices bacon

2 lbs medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flour

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 cans petite diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cup sliced green onion

5-6 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 -2 cup white wine

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

2 to taste lemon wedge

Directions:

Grits:  Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually whisk in grits; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until thickened; add Gouda cheese and next 4 ingredients; set aside but keep warm.

Sauce & Shrimp:
- Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lay down slices of bacon.  Cook in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until it has reached the desired crispiness (Alternative method is to cook bacon in a pan); remove bacon and drain on paper towels, reserve 3-4 tablespoon of drippings and put in a skillet; crumble bacon and set aside.
- Sprinkle shrimp with pepper and salt; dredge in flour. Set aside.
- Saute mushrooms in hot drippings in skillet 5 minutes, or until tender; add green onions and saute 2 minutes; and garlic and saute 2 minutes; stir in white wine, lemon juice, tomatoes, and hot sauce and cook 2 more minutes, stir in salt and pepper to taste. Add shrimp to the sauce and stir until they are pink.  If the sauce looks dry then add white wine and lemon.

Serve: Divide grits into large, shallow soup bowls; divide shrimp mixture into servings and place on top of grits; top each serving with crumbled bacon and serve with lemon wedges

If you are going to make for a crowd then you can do a few things ahead of time:
- Peel and devein shrimp
- Grade cheese
- chop green onions

Afterwards we relaxed on the deck - my kind of weekend!!

 

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the best fall cookies ever go to our recipe blog "Here's to It"
and get the recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate chip cookies.
They are soo good and are the perfect little sweet for a cold fall day!



Enjoy!

Recap Time

Thanks for all of the breakfast casserole recipes. It was a great success!

This is the one I made and everybody enjoyed it!

Egg and Green Chili Casserole
10 eggs
1lb jack cheese grated
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
Salt
2 cans chopped green chill is
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking power
Spread grated cheese over 13x9 pan. Mix remainder and pour over cheese. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Can be made night before and then baked. Freezes great after in squares.
I added sausage (not the ground kind) which I cooked ahead of time and placed it on top of the cheese. Very Good!

I know it seems weird to add cottage cheese but it really made it light and fluffy.

Anne's Birthday Recap!

Jeff and I went down to Birmingham to Celebrate with Anne on her birthday!

There was dancing, great food, mimosas, and tubing down a river!!




So glad we were able to celebrate with you Anne!!
I love me some Family Time!!


So, Jeff and I have made a life changing decision. It might not seem like a big deal to some people but for me it was huge.

We put our house up for Sale!!!

Yep, those of you who know me are saying "Cover, I thought you were only going to be in Memphis for a year" and yes that was the intention when I moved here but I guess sometimes life just gets in the way and 5 years later plans need to be changed.
Jeff and I have decided to move out of our townhouse and look for another house in Memphis. Here for at least another 3-5 years!

HELP!!

I have soo much to catch yall up with...Anne's birthday and trip to B'ham, our recent live changing decision, Mom and Aunt Anne's visit and cooking lessons...but unfortunately I don't have time to do it now. I need your help!!

I am helping with a Baby shower next weekend and am in charge of bring a breakfast casserole. I willingly accepted without hesitation and then realized that I have never made a breakfast casserole. Why I agreed to bring something I have never made is beyond me. I hate to cook for other people when I have never made it before - Hence why I need your help!

Do any of yall have a good breakfast casserole recipe?

I don't think it is going to be a huge group but I might have to make two. If yall have anything different than the traditional sausage, egg, and cheese then please share - but if you have a great traditional one then I will love to get that recipe too!!

I have found a few recipe's on-line that look good, but I never know how they will really turn out. If worse comes to worse, I will have to test one out early next week and Jeff and I will just eat on that all week long -- and by the time Saturday comes I will be so sick of casserole :)

Here's to It

One year for mother's day Anne and I decided to type up all of our mom's recipe's and make her a cookbook. She was constantly shifting through old recipe cards looking for the right one, so we decided it would be easier for her if they were all in the same place. That was the creation of "Teaching Keeley to Cook". Since then we modified the cookbook and came out with version 2 called "Here's To It". We now decided to be more modern and have created a blog to store all of our favorite recipes, some homemade and some not so homemade :)

Welcome to Here's To It!!

We hope that you will use this site as a reference for good recipes, a go to place when when you don't know what to bring to the cookout, or are looking for something great to cook for celebrations! Anne, my mom, my aunt, and myself well add recipes as we find them and test them out. Please feel free to comment and leave a review of what you liked, didn't like, or any changes that you might have made. Enjoy!

April Already

I can't believe it is already April. Where have these past months gone??
Spring is making an appearance

Good-bye fall

- Hello Spring!!

A few weeks ago Jeff and I headed down to the Laughing Place for the opening weekend of Turkey Hunting. He went out with dad touring the land calling for turkeys. Mom and I thought for sure they would come back with one since they were gone so long and considering the luck we had. While the boys were out we took a casual stroll down to the dock when we saw this in the tree above us...

A Turkey!! Right there up in the tree by the lake.
It was a hen but still- we saw more than them :)

They strolled up empty handed - no Turkey


They Looked the part though!


All in all it was a great weekend! Perfect weather for sitting on the porch, taking the dogs swimming, and hanging out in the hammock.

Morning fog on the lake



Ellie learned how to jump off the dock!

And gave Lilly (my parents lab) some competition in the water


Look at both of these great dogs!!!





Jeff was reading Garden and Gun and noticed a great article and recipe on Drunken Pie. He insisted that I make it for the weekend. After reviewing the recipe, I made a few modifications by using our traditional Pecan Pie recipe, (from Renfroe Pecan Company) simply because it called for less sugar, and adding the bourbon. I personally think that Pecan pies are really sweet, but love the Renfroe Grand Champion Pecan Pie recipe.
It turned out great! The bourbon cuts some of the sweetness and really stands out. It was so good in fact that we are going to make it again for Easter!!

Bourbon Pecan Pie


3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup light Karo syrup
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 ½ cups chopped Pecans
2- 2 1/2 tablespoons bourbon

Mix all ingredients. Blend well. Pour into unbaked 9" pastry shell. Bake 350° for 50-55 minutes or until set in center.

Visitors and Food

I always love it when Mom and Dad come to visit!
They came up two weekends ago - Dad drove to Birmingham to pick up Mom (after her visit with Anne) and continued up the road to Memphis!

Friday night we had the Brooks over and grilled steaks at our house.
It was casual, relaxing, and so fun to be with everybody.

I made a simple dessert that turned out better than I expected. It was really easy and the best part is that I made them a day in advance. I didn't follow a recipe, but the next time I do it I will try to get more precise and write it down.


Here is what I did: mixed cool whip, cream cheese, powered sugar all together. Spread some of the mixture onto a chocolate wafer and topped with another wafer. I only did a few plain ones.

Now for the flavored ones: Chop up decaf coffee beans and add them along with some coco powder to the mixture. I did this all by taste- added more coffee and coco after tasting it until it was strong enough to stand out when paired with the wafers. Jeff was my taste tester which I don't think he minded at all. I put them in the refrigerator which hardened the mixture making them less messy and perfect for the next night.

Mom and Dad have reached modern times and finally got an iphone. They use Verizon, which they love, and were reluctant to switch providers so they waited until the iphone came to Verizon. Mom is already addicted to the many apps she has downloaded and she was showing off her new Kate Spade cover to everyone. It is super cute and has a splash of green along the sides.

Dad had President's Day off from work so they were able to stay Sunday night. Having that extra day with them was really nice. We went to my FAVORITE breakfast place - Brother Junipers. The weather was perfect so Jeff and I took Ellie to the park. as my parents relaxed at the house.

By the time night came around we were all ready to party again!
Mom made her home-made salsa!

We picked up Spicy Guacamole at the store
(It was really good for store bought - don't remember the brand though)

Paired it all with some Tequila dad picked up at the store on Saturday and let me tell you- It was really smooth and so refreshing!!

Of course we had to complete our Mexican experience with Nachos and songs about Tequila.
Jeff created a great playlist for the night!

We always have a great time when they are here! Come again soon!