Hash How Eggs

Today the Pioneer Woman has a post about this wonderful breakfast, heck, anytime, food. I copied the picture from her site, so go check her out. Pioneer Woman is my favorite blog in all of blogland.
In my family we have always called them Hash How Eggs. I have no clue why. They were a speciality of my Dad's. Gosh, I miss him being able to teach the boys about all of the great things we did when I was a kid.

The best part of a Hash How egg is the soft yolk. Yum! All you have to do put some butter in a skillet, tear a hole out of the middle of a piece of bread, crack an egg in the middle and fry until your egg yolk is runny but the white is done.

You also put the middle of the bread in the skillet to fry all nice and golden brown too. So good.

Old friends

Do you have a friend that's been around forever? A friend that, when the going gets rough, always knows what to say and do. I have that friend and her name is Becky. I met her on the first day of Rush in college. We were lining up in the hallway and I noticed this little girl with huge blue eyes and really pretty blonde hair. We started talking and have been the best of friends ever since. We even pledged the same sorority. She was from a small town in southern Oklahoma and I was so intrigued with her small town life. I loved to go home with her and visit. It was such a novelty to get to hang out down home with her family. So comforting and relaxing. She had parents that adored her as much as mine adored me. That's a rarity to find. We were both spoiled little daddy's girls and we loved it.

She eventually left college to go home and marry a local guy. It was such a devastating time when she went home. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Now, years later, she has 5 kids with that guy she left me for.......so I guess it wasn't such a bad idea after all. I actually love the guy and he couldn't be any better to my friend. I hate it that we live a couple of hours apart but it seems like we live right next door to each other whenever we get together. We are as close as ever and I can't even tell the distance.

I'm so glad I have her as a friend....she's the friend I never want to lose.

Pure Heaven....in sandwich form

When I was a very small child, my brother and sister (who are 12 and 10 years older than me) would babysit me during the day in the summers while my Mom worked. I have the most vivid memory of my brother making a tomato sandwich with tons of mayonnaise and garlic salt. Soo, sooo good. You cannot get any better than that. I'm talking soul food. So healthy, yet so sinfully fattening.
The problem is...my family is from Alabama. In Alabama, mayonnaise is another food group and I adore it. I'm not sure it adores me but I worship mayo on any kind of sandwich; turkey, ham, veggie, it all sounds good to me.

Wedding ideas

An exciting life......not really

I found a sorority sister's blog on the internet the other day. She had moved to New York City with her husband and two children. It was a really great blog-describing how many Broadway shows they attend every month, the importance of getting your child into the right summer camp in New York City, their supper clubs, etc. I was reading with such admiration. They are doing so much and seeing so much that my family doesn't, living in a small town in the middle of America. In some posts, I could feel a hint of jealousy springing up because there is a little part of me that's mad at myself for not moving away to an exciting big city and experiencing everything that it has to offer.

Maybe I want to be a mom who just worries about what private school my child should attend or what supper club to attend this month! Dangit! I deserve to be able to shop on 5th Avenue and eat at the most expensive restaurants! I mean, in our family, the choice for dinner is either Sonic or Mazzio's pizza. Oh, or a bbq place. That's about it. In a small town with no choices, it makes us eat at home an awful lot. But then I read on to one of the last posts in my friend's blog and she had a list of the things she misses most about living in New York City and you wanna know what two of the things were.....................Sonic and Mazzio's Pizza.
Just goes to show that sometimes being in the big exciting city just isn't what it's all worked up to be. Maybe I should just be satisfied that we have those choices and appreciate the life I have. Sure puts things into perspective when you read that all your friend wants in New York City is the only thing you have.

My favorite baseball player

This is my nephew Brett Butts, in his current player profile and when he played baseball for Auburn University in Alabama. Last summer he was drafted in the 19th round by the Atlanta Braves. One of the prouder moments for my family. He is a good guy and has worked hard to get where he has already. He currently plays for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He's really enjoying himself and I hope living in every moment. I wish him all the success in the world. And.....I just don't want him to forget me when he hits the Big Leagues!

Lunch with an old friend

Yesterday I went to lunch with an old friend of mine, Jenny. She brought her little 3 month old baby and he was absolutely adorable. Jenny is at a place in life that is so awesome for her. I couldn't be happier. You see....I've known Jenny since we were in the 8th grade. We would run to Sonic with our friend Lisa and order the exact same thing everyday. We did that forever. It was so much fun and we thought we had so much freedom getting to run off campus to eat lunch at a fast food restaurant. Oddly enough, we went to the same college together but were in different sororities, and I dated her now ex-husband before she did. So we have that in common also. Granted, it did seem kinda funny when I would visit their house and her husband was a guy I dated. That's an odd feeling to say the least.

But, it's so much fun seeing where all of our old friends end up. My favorite thing is looking at MySpace or Facebook at pictures of everyone's kids. I love kid pictures. I guess it just makes me happy for all of my old friends that they have found peace and joy in their lives. Some of my friends from high school have really turned into very successful people, and I don't mean that in the business sense only, I mean it in the family, good person sense.

Cooking for two meals

I'm trying hard to figure out how to cook once and use the leftovers again for another meal. The cost of groceries are making it so depressing to go to the store anymore.

We had a huge 4th of July cookout and grilled chicken and pork chops. Well, as I planned, we cooked too much and had a lot of leftover chicken (about 4 breasts) and 4 thin cut porkchops.

While at the store, I tried to think of a way to reuse the chicken without Mr. Hautemama knowing it was leftover food. Mr. H hates leftovers....as in completely despises leftovers. But, I also know that he doesn't pay that much attention to me when I'm cooking. He just leaves me alone to do my masterpieces. So, he would never know that I used chicken from the fridge and not cooked fresh tonight.

My great idea for the leftover chicken and porkchops was fajitas. I bought some Laury's fajita seasoning packets, onions, green peppers, flour tortillas and I was good to go. I just cut up the meat into thin slices, diced some jalapenos (my secret weapon), put it in a skillet with half of the fajita seasoning (too much sodium in the whole packet) and about a 1/4 cup of water to saute. I made some Mexican rice that I had in a box in the pantry, warmed the tortillas and when the meat was sufficiently warmed we were ready to go.

I also cut up one breast of the chicken and cooked a packet of Lipton Chicken Fried Rice and stirred the chicken into the pan with a little of my jalapeno pepper (yum). Great idea for lunches this week. That's also a cause I'm trying to champion. The eat leftovers for lunch and don't go out to eat for lunch cause. I hope I can stick to it.

What ideas do you have for cooking one time and using it for other meals?

Dogs do love the sun

Our dog Allie really loves to lay out in the sun. She's definitely a sun worshipper. The problem is...she's a white boxer and if she's really going to partake in the sun for any amount of time, we have to put sunscreen on her. Not only do we have to slather the kids with sunscreen, now we have to worry about the Diva Allie and her wicked suntanning.

I've never actually seen a dog sunburned but I guess it's a true ailment that can afflict white dogs. But she does love to lay out in the yard right next to the boys when they are playing in their Bonzai pool and slide.

Don't you love summer and watching dogs and cats just enjoying the heat from the sun's rays? It makes me want to just lay down on a towel in the yard and not move. Makes the worries of the world seem so irrelevant.

My favorite casserole-squash casserole a la Paula Deen

I made one of my favorite casseroles for the 4th of July party we hosted. It's squash casserole a la Paula Deen. My friend has celiac disease so I didn't put the Ritz crackers on top like I have in the past but it was still sooo good.

Squash Casserole - Hautemama version

4 yellow squash and 4 zucchini

Cavender's Greek Seasoning (to taste)

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. margarine or butter

1 medium jalapeno - minus the seeds

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

8 oz. sour cream

8 Ritz crackers - crushed

more cheese as needed

Saute the yellow squash, zucchini and jalapeno pepper minus the seeds in the olive oil and butter until softened. Add the Cavender's Greek Seasoning during the sauteing process. When veggies are softened sufficiently, add the cheese to melt. It will become an ooey-gooey, yummy mixture. Turn off the heat (burner) and then add the sour cream, top with more cheese and crushed Ritz crackers and put in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until bubbly. Pure heaven with a little spice!