Stuffed Pistolettes for Shirley

Let me tell you about Shirley. She's the most lovely person at the hospital. On the occasional Sunday morning at the hospital, the unit clerk will set the call bell to page and Shirley will sing a gospel song, piped into all the patient rooms. Once when one of my patients was on her way to heaven, the family heard this, and requested that Shirley come in the room and sing to mama, which she did without hesitation. Then, a little while later, when the mom passed, Shirley came back in the room and sang again. This resulted in the family asking her to sing at the funeral. She has the voice of an angel, and the sweetest disposition. I made pistolettes once and took them to work, and she flipped over them. She has asked me to make them for her son and herself for Christmas and I am more than happy to oblige. So here's how you do it:

Cut the ends off 12 pistolettes, and with a long fork, scoop out the middle. (I always save the insides in a freezer bag for breadcrumbs later). Then, with the Temptations singing Standing on the Top, chop 1 onion, add it to 1 lb ground beef in a skillet, and cook.

Cook a small pkg of chopped broccoli according to pkg directions, omitting salt.

Once the meat is brown, drain it and add 1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce, sprinkle in a little garlic powder and some cajun seasoning. Then add 1/2 lb velveeta, and cook on low to melt cheese. Jackson Browne is singing Your Bright Baby Blues, and all is right with the world.

Once the cheese is melted, add the broccoli to the meat mixture, and begin stuffing the pistolettes. Once each one is stuffed, replace the end that was cut off earlier, and secure it with a toothpick. Toby Keith is singing Who's Your Daddy? (you are, baby!)

Once all pistolettes are stuffed and their lids are secured, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic powder. If you are serving them right away, place them in a 450 oven and cook 8-10 minutes til light brown. Careful---they burn easily.

I'm not cooking these, so i placed them in the freezer, and will deliver them to Shirley with baking instructions.

Sure hopes she knows what a blessing she is.

Speaking of blessings---here's a personal footnote:

Those of you who know me know that Dan is history---and all I can say about that is good riddance.

But I have been monumentally blessed with a husband who truly loves me, and although I think I'm a pretty neat chick, I don't know why in the world this man can forgive and forget the way he has. Of course, the hurt I felt in the marriage was little by little over the years, culminating in the break-up, but still I would never have expected him to do what he has done to prove to me that he's the right man for me, after the way I hurt him. So I will do all I can to encourage him and let him know he's loved and appreciated. My mom will be so happy!

L

Texas Torte

There's a Christmas party at my second job at 5pm today, but I won't be able to attend, because I agreed to work at the hospital to allow the Rehab nurses to attend their own Christmas party. Still, I wanted to contribute something to my coworkers, and in keeping with the mexican theme they came up with, I decided to make this dish. I got this recipe many years ago from a lady I worked with, who, sadly, died a few years later of cancer. So this is dedicated to Kathy.


I set the oven to 350 to preheat, the Ipod to shuffle, and was greeted with Grover Washington Jr's "One Must Forgive". This man was probably the best smooth jazz sax player ever, and I could listen to him all day. This was a pretty long song, and the prep for this dish is fairly quick.


In a large bowl, I broke 2 eggs, added 2 tablespoons flour, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a 4 oz can of chopped green chiles. With a fork, I mixed all this together, then set about grating the cheese. Of course this can be done with a food processor, but that takes all the fun out of cooking for me, and it was pretty therapeutic to grate cheese to this beautiful song. I was nearly finished grating the 1/2 lb of monterey jack when the song went off, and Five O'clock World by the Vogues came on. This was a short song, and I barely got half of the 1/2 lb of cheddar grated before it went off, and I was serenaded by Seal singing Don't Cry. I finished up the grating, mixed everything together, and poured the mixture into a parchment paper lined 8x13 pan. You can use non stick spray, I just prefer the paper.



Into the oven, and I set my chicken timer for 35 minutes, and cleaned up to Just Ask the Lonely by the 4 Tops. Now I wait, listening to Alright by Darius Rucker. Don't you just love that guy?



Anyway, I will deliver this yummy dish at 1pm today when I go into town, and I hope they enjoy it.



My thanks to Kathy.

Uh Oh Time For Beans and Cornbread Again!

Okay, so the Thanksgiving holiday is over and done, and this year no turkey!!! My mom baked a wonderful Petit Jean ham (15 pounds), and once all the carving was done she asked me if I had a pot big enough to cook it in (with beans of course!). Well, I did what all good foodies do---I lied and said yes. I mean, I can work this out, right?

So this morning, with the rain falling softly outside, and everything lovely and dark out, I got to work on that bone. Naturally, it was too long for my pot, but that wouldn't stop me. After trying the meat cleaver (didn't work), I just put that big boy in the pot with a good 1/3 of it sticking out and started boiling. I turned it often, so both ends would cook (and to keep the food spoilage police from my door), and once done, I stripped it so clean you would have thought buzzards had been on it.

With all those lovely chunks of ham floating around in the simmering broth, I poured in a bag of great northerns, and let it go. Ipod was set to shuffle, so all the while I listened to a veritable cornucopia of music, including Tears for Fears, Nickelback, Conway Twitty, Gary Allen, and Harry Chapin. Good company when cooking, I say.

I also say: Bring on the cornbread!!!!