Giveaway Time!!!

I have a confession to make this week I haven't cooked very much,  unless you consider frozen potstickers and Jeno's pizza rolls cooking.  So Instead of sharing a recipe today I thought it would be nice to share with you a few blogs that I enjoy reading and to make it fun give away a cookbook.  The cookbook I have chosen this month is  Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook, by Martha Hall Foose.  This really is an awesome book that is full of great stories and recipes that you will want to cook.

So to enter you must follow my blog on google friend connect or become a follower and you must visit the four blogs listed below.  Then leave a comment telling me you visited them. 

I picked four very different blogs so I am sure you will find one you like.

• Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner  Read five of Pam's posts and you will feel like you have known her for years.
• Nasi Lemak Lover  Sonia lives in Malaysia and it always amazes me seeing that half the world away from each other our lives are so similar.
• Milk, Sugar, Musings, and Love  Ree has a real sweet tooth and I love reading her stories even more than the food.
• Whistlestop Cafe Cooking  Now I have never had one of Sandi's fried green tomatoes, but something tells me hers are the best.

For additional entries you can blog about this giveaway, or share it on Facebook, or Twitter.  Leave one additional comment for each way you share it.  So if you do all four things you need to leave four comments.

This giveaway is open to everyone worldwide!

This giveaway ends on Tuesday August 17 at midnight CST.  I will use a random number generator to pic the winner.  The winner will be announced on August 18th, which just happens to be my 29th birthday.  So be sure to stop back by to see if you are a winner and to wish me a happy birthday.

If you are interested in another giveaway my friend Linda Burgett is giving away a copy of her latest cookbook over at My Kind of Cooking.

Alabama Cookies

I'm seldom in the mood to make cookies, but last night I couldn't sleep.  So it was the perfect time to make cookies.  I jotted down this recipe a long time ago from one of my mom's old cookbooks.  They seemed to have just an odd mix of ingredients and of course a name that just makes you think there is some great story about them.  This was my first time making or eating an Alabama Cookie and I have lived in Alabama all my life.  So I have no idea why they are called Alabama cookies.  If you know, tell me.

Alabama Cookies

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 & 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 cups old fashion oatmeal

2 cups chopped pecans

1 cup Rice Krispies cereal

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  In the bowl of a mixer cream the shortening.  Then add the eggs, both sugars, and the vanilla extract.  Mix until well combined.  Then add the flour and salt.  Mix just until the flour is incorporated.  Then stir in the remainder of the ingredients.  Then drop onto a cookie sheet by the heaping teaspoonful.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and allow them to cool on wire racks.  This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies.

These cookies have the texture of a real crispy coconut macaroon.  We really liked them.  They are a nice change from the normal chocolate chip.

Grilled Chicken with Chopped Greek Salad

Maybe it's because I binged on homemade ice cream or maybe it's just because it is so hot outside, but tonight I just wanted something light and healthy for dinner.  So for dinner I cooked one of my favorite summer time meals.  Grilled chicken is always one of my favorites, but I'm really not a salad kind of guy.  This salad is a different story I could actually eat my weight in it.

Grilled Chicken with Chopped Greek Salad

For the grilled chicken:

6 bonless skinless chicken breast halves

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 tbs lemon zest

juice of a lemon

salt and pepper

In a bowl combine the olive oil, oregano, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Pour over the chicken and allow to marinate for about 2 to 4 hours, any longer than that and the lemon juice will start to cook the chicken.  Then remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels.  Season both sides of the chicken well with salt and pepper.  Then grill over a grill preheated to medium.  Grill for about 8 to 10 minutes on each side or until the chicken is cooked through.

For the chopped greek salad:

1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half

1 small cucumber, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 tbs dried oregano

1 cup pitted kalamata olives
8 oz feta cheese, in bite sized pieces

salt and pepper

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients.  Toss until well combined.  Then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Since I have been trying to eat more organic foods, I figured why not organic wine too.  So with dinner we enjoyed a bottle of Pisato Pinot Grigio.

You might also be interested in Baked Angel Hair Pasta with Italian Sausage and Rosemary Alfredo Sauce and Sweet Balsamic Grilled Chicken.

Chocolate Frosty Ice Cream

Earlier this week my new ice cream freezer was delivered.  Now I already had a ice cream freezer, but I wanted an old fashioned one that you fill the bucket with ice and rock salt.  I couldn't hardly wait to try out my new freezer.  I was tempted to skip work and just make ice cream all day, but I figured that might not be good on my wallet.  So I had to wait until the weekend.

Today I finally found some time to make a batch of ice cream.  I first had this ice cream at a church ice cream social.  The lady who made it shared the recipe with me.  It really is the simplest ice cream I have ever made and it tastes remarkably like a Wendy's Frosty.

Chocolate Frosty Ice Cream

1 gallon chocolate milk

16 oz Cool Whip

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.  Then freeze the mixture in a ice cream freezer according to the manufacturers instructions. 

This recipe fills my 1.5 gallon ice cream freezer.  If you have a smaller ice cream freezer you may have to freeze it in two batches.

And the winner is...

First let me thank everyone who participated.  Nearly 100 names were in the pot and the name I drew was CathysRunning.  So Cathy you are the winner of the $40 CSM Stores gift certificate.  Cathy please email me so you can collect your prize.  Every one please visit Cathy if you get a chance.  Her blog is about running, books, food, wine, and her crazy shoe obsession.

*This is a temporary post...Later I'll add this to the original giveaway post.*

Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

There are a lot of good store bought barbecue sauces out there, but I usually prefer to make my own.  Here is the recipe I make most often.  It is sweet with just the right amount of heat and it has the wonderful flavor of bourbon.  This recipe makes a lot, but it can easily be halved and it will keep for about a month in the fridge.

Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

2 tbs canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
8 garlic cloves, chopped
1 & 1/2 cups bourbon
4 cups ketchup
1 cup dark brown sugar
6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup liquid smoke
1 tbs hot sauce
1 tbs salt
1 tsp black pepper

In a pot over a medium heat add the canola oil.  Then add the onion and garlic and saute for a couple minutes, just until the onions are translucent.

Then add the bourbon.  Bring to simmer and let the bourbon reduce by half.  This will take about 10 minutes.

This is what it should look like after the bourbon is reduced.  *If you don't reduce the bourbon, your sauce will be inedible.  You will have wasted your time and ingredients.  Don't skip this step!*

Then add the ketchup, dark brown sugar, tomato paste, apple  cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, hot sauce, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 20 minutes.  The sauce if fine like this, but I prefer a smooth sauce so I put it in the blender.  This recipe make 2 quarts.

If you have any bourbon left over be sure to make a blackberry bourbon sour.

Blackberry Bourbon Sour

Most summer cocktails are...well very girlie.  There is just something wrong about a man drinking a pink drink with a paper umbrella.  Here is a drink that no man will be embarrassed to hold and that everyone at your summer cookout will love.

Blackberry Bourbon Sour

6 oz bourbon
4 tbs fresh lemon juice
4 tsp seedless blackberry preserves
2 tsp powdered sugar
4 or 5 ice cubes
fresh blackberries, for garnish

In a cocktail shaker combine all of the ingredients except for the fresh blackberries and shake vigorously.  Strain and pour into 2 glasses filled with crushed ice.

Note:  I used Bonne Maman blackberry preserves.  They are already very liquid and I left them out in the sun for a few minutes.  If you use a firmer preserve you may need to melt the preserves first.

Don't you think this is a more manly drink than a Pineapple Sherberita or a Raspberry Sorbet-tini?