I love a man who can COOK!

No, I mean I really do, his name is Dan and he is my sweet husband.  We love to cook our way through the weekend.  He is head chef and I'm his sous chef (chef's assistant).  I'm going to share with you what we cooked this weekend and give you some of the recipes.

Saturday morning he made Eggs Benedict

He used a poaching pan but says next time he will do the water bath method.

He also used some of his smoked ham.  He smokes a ham each January

and we package it with our food saver and eat it all year long!

Next, Hollandaise sauce.  I keep a few packages of Knorr's on hand just for times like this.

Yum Yum!!!  Add some mimosa's and you've got a great start to a Saturday.

Later that day he started making a big pot of his delicious Potato Soup

Dan's Potato Soup

70 oz. Chicken Stock (stock not broth)

1 Tbsp chicken granules

1 large onion chopped

2 med carrots chopped

1/2 cup diced celery

10 med potato's cubed

8 slices bacon or smoked ham

(We use cubed ham in the soup and crumbled bacon as a garnish)

1 Can evap. milk

1 pint of heavy cream

1 stick unsalted butter

Grated cheddar cheese for garnish

Bring chicken stock to a boil, add chicken granules,  add onion, carrots, celery and simmer 10-15 minutes.  Add potato's and ham (if you are using bacon, fry and crumble towards end of cooking time)  return to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Cook for approximately two hours until potato's are soft and creamy texture.  At this point we use a potato masher to gently break up the potato's.  Not too much or they will dissolve into the soup.  Now add your evaporated milk, cream, and butter.  Heat thoroughly and serve.  Top with cheese and bacon bits.  This is so good with a skillet of cornbread.  We crumble our cornbread in the soup! 

Makes a great meal on a chilly day!

(OK, it's not fat free but nothing good ever is)

Ok, now on to Sunday.  No, we are not though eating yet!!  We get really great sea food living at the coast.  We have a lady whose family are local fishermen and she comes around every few weeks selling their fresh catch.  We had some of her beautiful large shrimp so we decided to do the following menu for

Sunday's dinner:

S & D Barbecue Shrimp

Crunchy Slaw

Rice

Ciabatta bread

The shrimp reciepe is from the S & D Shrimp House in Dallas, Texas.  He found it on the web.   You can probably google it.

I'll give you the Crunchy Slaw recipe because it's kind of different and Oh so good!

Crunchy Slaw

10-12 servings

Ingredients:

1 lb coleslaw mix

1 large carrot, shredded

1/2 cup green pepper, cut in thin slices

4 green onions, finely chopped (use white and green parts)

1 package uncooked beef flavor Ramen noodles.  Crush or break up

1 4 oz package sunflower seeds

1/2 cup slivered almonds (toast in oven 10 min or until crisp)

Combine all ingredients in large bowl. 

Dressing (make at least 4 hours ahead and refrigerate)

1/4 cup cider or wine vinegar

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup salad oil

package of beef flavoring from Ramen noodles

Pour over slaw mixture and serve.  You can actually make this ahead of time to serve, even the day before.  The crunchies don't get mushy.

To use as a luncheon dish, add 1 cup chopped cooked chicken breast.

Now, go curl up with a good book, be a couch potato, or take a nap!  That's what we did!  Love those kicked back weekends!!!!!!!