Category: Life

New Year, New Me!

It’s a brand New Year and everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that 2020 is over, but are we really out of the woods yet!

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I know cheesy but I couldn’t help myself!

The first thing to do in this new year is to fix up a big pot of black-eye peas with greens and rice to help bring in some good luck for the new year. Black-eye peas is a symbol of prosperity for the coming year, greens are added for of course green money and after this past year we need a little prosperity in our lives. I didn’t use ham or bacon like most recipes, I had a boston pork roast bone that had a pretty good amount of meat on it after I had sliced it up for pork steaks, and decided to use that to flavor my peas. I found out that pork is good luck for New year’s also.

I talked with my chefs at work to help me get as much flavor as I could out of it, so I seasoned up the meat and seared it in a little oil to get some color then added onions and celery and let it cook for about an hour  before adding my peas to continue cooking till the meat was falling off the bone. Threw in some chopped collard greens and made a side of rice, very good eating.

This being a New Year and time for a new thing, I’m making some changes and the first big one will be with this blog (cue music…dum, dum dum). First, I will be changing the name of this blog to “Cooking with Princellar” mainly because where I am now is not where I started and where I want to go in the future. Second I will of course give an update to my site design and putting together a monthly newsletter. I am really looking forward to what this New Year has to offer me, from the new direction in my blog, getting some videos created, getting healthy and just starting over in my love life.

I am looking to get the new name change done by the end of the month, along with the upgraded site. I hope that all of you that are following along now will be on the look out for the new site and then sign up for my monthly newsletter.

Black-Eye Peas with Pork

  • 1 Bag Dried black-eyed peas 
  • 1 Large Yellow Onion (chopped)
  • 6 Celery stalks (chopped)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Boston Pork Butt bone with meat (Use the leftover pork roast from your Sunday dinner)
  • Garlic powder
  • Black pepper
  • Cumin
  • Salt
  • Red pepper
  • 1 bunch Collard Greens
  • 1 box Chicken stock

  1. The night before pick the peas to discard stones and any broken pieces Soak in cold water overnight in the refrigerator. 

  2. Place oil in your Dutch oven, season the pork butt with the list of seasonings, heat oil and sear the meat on all sides till it has a good color. 

  3. Remove the meat and add in the onions and celery cook till soft.

  4. Return the meat to the pot add in the chicken broth and enough water to cover the meat

  5. Bring to a boil, then turn down and cook on medium till meat is tender. 

  6. Add the peas and bring to a boil again, lower the heat and cook till the peas are tender.

  7. Add the greens and cook till the greens are tender.

  8. Serve over rice 

Main Course

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10 Years of Sushi

Today is not only one of my favorite times of the year but is is also our 10 year anniversary. It’s been good, bad, and even ugly at times but we always seem to make our way back to each other. We both love Halloween and it’s become our special anniversary day because we had split-up for a couple of months but got back together on Halloween in time to get dressed up, hand out candy and of course go to our favorite restaurant for sushi.

This year is a little different, because of the pandamic and also because we are fighting or should I say we are a little distant from each other today, but I decided that I was going to continue with the surprise that I had planned regardless of if he’s here or not and maybe it will be the catnip to the tom cat that will get him over.

I was already going to post a recipe for the pumpkin bread that I make every year for Halloween but this year I changed it up and made it a savory style which came out excellant and is now on the menu for good.

Pumpkin Pan
Coming toggether

Then I found that our favorite sushi restaurant “Blue Sashi Sake Grill” had posted their recipe for our favorite soup the “Coconut Crab Soup“, so yes I’m making that and ordering sushi for delivery today.

To complete this Halloween I found the perfect dress from Retro Vixen that is sure to make his heart beat just a little bit faster.

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Here’s to a wonderful Halloween with more treats than tricks for everyone. Enjoy the tasty soup and pumpkin bread if you dare….Happy Halloween!!

Coconut Crab Soup

Savory Pumpkin Bread

  • 1 16oz Canned Pumpkin
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • ⅔ cup Olive oil
  • 4 Eggs
  • 3 cups Flour
  • 2 tsp Baking soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Ground ginger
  • 1 ½ tsp Black pepper
  • ½ tsp Baking powder
  • ⅓ cup Chopped fresh sage
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour pan; set aside

  2. In large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and pepper

  3. Add eggs and oil, beating well

  4. Stir in pumpkin, the sage and 3/4 cup of the parmesan cheese

  5. Mix until blended, pour batter into prepared pan

  6. Bake for 65-75 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean

  7. Cool in pan and sprinkle with the rest of the parmesan

  8. Remove from pan and cool completely

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My birthday is coming up next week and I always take my vacation during that time so I’ve never worked on my birthday, but this year I’m doing a bit of both. I flew down to Florida and stayed for four days and really wish that it was longer and I’m home for a couple of days then work two and off for the rest of my birthday.

So today as part of my vacation I remade some bread and made some basil salt with all the basil leaves I got off my plant and I watched Hamilton which was really very good, too bad I couldn’t do the actually live production but hey this was just as good.

My bread came out really good this time and it looks great.lrm_20200715_123017

You can find this recipe on my post I Made Bread! 

Continue reading “Vacation” →

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Why Do I Cook?

Cooking is life for me, that’s why I cook (#wecook). I’ve loved cooking since I was  little girl and my parents got me an Easy Bake Oven for my birthday one year and my dad had cakes and cookies everyday when he came home from work. Growing up I would cook the recipes out of my “Seventeen” magazine and I remember the first one I cooked was for an orange chicken dinner and ok my first try not great, but my dad ate everything I ever made.

As I got older and started working I wanted to go into the food service industry and I wanted to be a chef, in fact after meeting so many chefs during my early college years I wanted to be just like them a superstar. The one thing those chef’s didn’t tell me was the people that would dislike the food or complain or some other such nonsense and me I  guess I was too thin skinned to be a chef so I stopped wanting to be a chef, but I still loved cooking and that’s why I’m here now.

I cook because it’s an art form for me, I’ll look through my cabinets and throw something together and for the most part it all turns out good and yes I will be sharing those on here. It got to the point were my daughter created a notebook for me to write down all my recipes to pass on to her. I had a tendency to not really write anything down…yeah I know.

It’s so funny but now that my kids are all grown-up they all love to cook also, they have their own different styles but its an art form for them and a way to express themselves and I couldn’t be prouder of all of them.

3 Chefs to be
Oldest, youngest, middle

So that’s a little bit about why I cook, pleasure; art; and to feed the people I love.

The other week I posted about helping out our local restaurants and of course I started utilizing the weekly grocery service offered by Happy Gillis and I was thrilled with my bag so much that I’ve got my mom and sister turned on to it and I just ordered the Mother’s day meal for my mom.

With all the fresh veggies that I got in my bag I was wondering what should I make with the “yukon gold potato’s, fresh spinach, tri-colored carrots and the fresh rosemary. Oh and don’t let me forget about the awesome pound of bacon I ordered also. So what did I make I did a “Garden Bag Chuck Roast” with sautéed Spinach on the side. Next time I’m going to save a couple of more strips of the bacon to really cover the roast up. All in all I will be making this one again.

Bacon Wrapped Roast
Spinach
My Dinner

Garden Bag Pot Roast

Using all the yummy goodness I got from my farmers bag through Happy Gillis

  • 1 Small Chuck Roast
  • 3-4 slices Thick cut bacon
  • 5 Yukon gold potatoes
  • 6 peeled Tri-colored carrots
  • Fresh Rosemary sprigs
  • 1 cup of Red wine (I used a merlot)
  • Garlic powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  1. Rinse roast off, pat dry and season with salt, pepper and garlic rubbed in
  2. Wrap bacon strips around roast and can use toothpicks or the rosemary stalks
  3. In heavy skillet brown bacon wrapped roast
  4. Remove from pan an place to the side
  5. In separate bowl toss quartered potatoes and whole baby carrots with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and chopped fresh rosemary
  6. Toss until well coated
  7. Place a layer of the potatoes and carrots on the bottom of the skillet, place roast on top and place the remaining potatoes and carrots on the sides
  8. Pour a glass of wine over everything
  9. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender

So why do you guys out there cook? I would love to know what you’ve been cooking or your favorite places to eat.

Until next time, peace and all that jazz.

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Online Happy Hours & Yelp Event’s

Over the weekend something cool happened, Friday co-workers that I haven’t seen in almost a month we all got together for a “Zoom” online happy hour complete with our favorite drinks and appetizer’s. Then on Saturday it was an online Yelp event that took place all over the USA to help promote local restaurants called Yelps Big Night In.

It was so much fun Friday to see my favorite coworkers on Zoom and I shared with them my Oven Fried Buffalo Thighs and a daiquiri from the KC Daiquiri Shop 

Then Saturday it was Yelp’s big event and it was wonderful to see the response right here in Kansas City for our favorite local restaurants. We decided to go with Jazz A Louisiana Kitchen and like most of the area restaurants they had a family pack special available. We ordered the family Crawfish Fettuccine Dinner, Voodoo Wings, Red Beans and Rice and their Cajun Fried Shrimp.

Crawfish Fettuccine
Voodoo Wings and Fried Shrimp
Red Beans & Rice

This was our first time trying the crawfish fettuccine and I hate I didn’t get a better picture because it was off the chain good, nice and spicy and still hot from the drive over and as always everything was mouthwatering.

This was the two best ideas since this stay at home order went into effect, it was a great way to see my work family and a way to help out our favorite local restaurants during this crazy time in our lives. So hook up with your friends and even family on Zoom and of course help support your favorite restaurant. Until next time, have an awesome week. 

Oven Fried Buffalo Chicken Thighs

Ingredients:
4 Bone-in, Skin-on Chicken Thighs
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cajun Blackened Seasoning
1 tsp Black Pepper
Your favorite Buffalo Wing Sauce

Directions:
Dry thighs really well, then toss in seasoning and baking powder,
rub in for even coverage.

Lay chicken thighs on cooking wire rack, (coat rack with PAM or oil
so it won’t stick.

Place rack on large baking sheet lined with aluminum foil makes
clean-up easier.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Place chicken on lower-middle rack and bake for 30 minutes. Move to
upper-middle rack, increase temperature to 425 and roast till brown
and crispy, 40-50 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking.

Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.

Transfer chicken to bowl and toss in wing sauce.


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