Sorry friends! We've been SO busy ...

A message to everyone who has been keeping up with A Taste Of Gratitude blog: First of all, thanks for your interest -- that means a lot to me! I apologize for not updating in a long time. So much is going on “offline” these days, I haven’t been able to find the time to update. I do have a few new recipes, stories and photos that I am keeping on file and will be updating ASAP! … When I find the time

Time To Make The Donuts

Last year for Christmas, my mama gave us Paula Deen's, "My First Cookbook" and we finally tried one of the recipes this morning. Whod'a thought canned biscuits could be so good? Checking the pantry, we only had the ingredients for powdered donuts, but Stephen didn't mind. We used an apple corer for Stephen to cut the holes out with, which was perfect because he can grasp it easier. After they were all finished, we each had a donut and split all the donut holes (we each had five). Needless to say, for about an hour we were on an amazing sugar high. I managed to get some laundry done while he chased the cat around the house, but now we've come down from it and are just a couple of lethargic couch potatoes watching the Tom and Jerry hour on the cartoon network. I would advise you to limit yourself to ONE donut if you can, because they are very sweet.

Paula Deen's Canned Biscuit Dough Donuts and Holes
(you'll need the help of an adult for frying the donuts!) ;p

Ingredients:
* Peanut oil, for frying
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup cocoa powder
* 5 tablespoon milk, divided
* 2 cup confectioners’ sugar, divided
* Chocolate sprinkles
* Colored sprinkles
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 2 cans large buttermilk biscuits

Directions:
Heat 2-inches peanut oil in a large pot or dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

In a shallow bowl, stir together the sugar and ground cinnamon, set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, set aside. This is the vanilla icing. In another bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of milk, set aside. This is the chocolate icing.

Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board and with a 1-1/2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. Fry them in the oil until golden and then flip with tongs to fry the other side. You can even fry the donut holes. Drain on paper towels and then toss in the cinnamon-sugar or glaze and sprinkle as desired.

Recipe by Paula Deen
Servings: 16-20 servings
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 2 min
Difficulty: Easy

Who Doesn't Love Pasta?

We love pasta and I'm lovin' the fact that Ronzoni Smart Taste is a healthy, nutritious pasta. I can love my pasta with less guilt!
Click the link below to visit Ronzoni Smart Taste, where you can enter their sweepstakes to win free groceries for a year, print money-saving coupons, find recipes, health and wellness tips and more! I signed up for their newsletter to stay informed of special offers.

Ronzoni Smart Taste

Crock Pot Chicken And Vegetables

This is one of those throw it in a pot meals for busy days. It’s also a good recipe if you’re feeling just plain lazy and don‘t want to stand over the stove. Either way, it’s hearty and comforting.

You’ll notice in this photo that I’m lazy enough to use paper plates. I don’t care who knows - I won’t apologize - I’m not at all sorry for it.

Crock Pot Chicken With Vegetables

You will need:

* It goes without saying, you’re going to need a crock pot.
* A skillet and some light olive oil and butter for browning the chicken.

Ingredients:

* 3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 3-4 carrots, sliced diagonally in thirds
* 3-4 medium russet potatoes, cut in fourths
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (fresh rosemary is even better)
* 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
* salt and pepper to taste
* ½ tablespoon - olive oil
* ½ tablespoon - butter
* 1 tablespoon - flour (enough to make a roux)
* A good quality chicken stock or broth

Directions:

* I like to brown the chicken in equal amounts of olive oil and butter before putting it in the crock pot because it makes it look pretty and appetizing, and the pan juices make a very tasty gravy. Sure, it’s healthier to just use the olive oil to brown the chicken, but if you add a little butter, it’ll brown better and prettier. It’s obvious I like my food to be pretty, because I use that word a lot when I talk about food.
* Because vegetables take longer to cook in a crock pot, go ahead and place the veggies in the bottom of your pot. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper; top with rosemary and chopped garlic cloves.
* Place your browned chicken breasts on top of the veggies; sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
* Add some flour to the pan you browned the chicken in and cook over medium high for about a minute, scraping the brown bits on the bottom of the pan (This is your roux) You may need to add a little more oil and butter.
* Start adding a little chicken broth to this until you’ve got your gravy the way you like it; turn your heat down! And now you have your gravy.
* Pour your pan gravy all over your chicken breasts; add more broth if you need to, to cover the tops of them. Don't over do it with the broth, because it's going to produce a lot of liquid while cooking. Cover with the lid and cook on high for an hour, then cook on low for about 6 more hours. If that time isn’t feasible for you, just cook on low for about 8 hours. You can also cook this on high for 4 hours. Try not to cook boneless breasts longer than that. Trust me, you won’t like the results. Be sure not to open the lid while it's cooking. But if you must, add about 20 minutes or so to your cooking time.

NOTE: When this is done, you’ll notice the pan gravy that you poured over the chicken has gotten very watery by now. If you prefer thicker gravy, follow the steps you followed in making your pan gravy.
Here’s a good guide:

½ Tablespoon - unsalted butter
½ Tablespoon - light olive oil
1 Tablespoon - flour
1 cup - broth

* Cook the oil and butter with the flour on medium-high heat until the flour has cooked to the point it’s browning a little; Add about a cup of the broth from the crock pot to that and stir until it’s smooth. If you feel like taking in a few more calories and fat grams, you can add a little cream to the mixture, but I usually don’t because I’m trying to watch my boyish figure you know.

My Grandma's Baked Apples

Stephen loves helping me in the kitchen and since he is not attending school right now (I’ll talk about that another time), I’ve been trying to come up with things I am sure he can assist with in the kitchen. We’re having fun with our cooking projects, and I want to keep a journal of them -- if I can discipline myself in keeping my camera handy and making notes. In time, I’d like to print our recipes and stories and make a keepsake book for Stephen, which is one reason I created this new food and recipe journal. How I wish I had recorded photos and notes from my childhood when I helped my mama and grandmothers in the kitchen.

Last Friday, Stephen and I baked apples! It was like taking a step back in time for me. I recall being as young as four years old when I helped my grandmother with this very recipe. Grandma baked apples at least once a week. Her little house, which was (and still is) located on main street in our town would smell so wonderful when she baked apples. The fragrance of apples and cinnamon was most distinctive in the fall of the year -- I believe it was because of the crisp chill in the air, and it just made you feel all warm and happy inside to step onto grandma‘s porch and breathe in the aroma.

Now on to the recipe -

You'll need the following ingredients:




* A baking pan, large enough to hold the apples. I like them to fit snuggly in the pan so they won‘t tip over.
* An apple corer is nice, but not necessary
* 6 - apples, washed
* 1/3 cup - brown sugar
* 1 - teaspoon cinnamon
* 1- teaspoon vanilla (optional)
* 1/3 cup- raisins
* 1/3 cup- coarsely chopped pecans
* 2-3 tablespoons - butter
* boiling water - enough to cover bottom of dish

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 or 375 degrees, depending on your oven.
Core the apples and use a spoon or paring knife to scoop out the remaining seeds. If you use an apple corer, I find this doesn’t make the hole in the apple big enough to hold the ingredients, so I make it slightly bigger in diameter with a paring knife.

* Mix the next five ingredients together in a small bowl.
* Spoon the mixture into each apple.
* Top each apple with a pat of butter.
* Add boiling water to bottom of pan.
* Bake until the apples look all shriveled and a knife easily pierces through them - about 45 minutes.
* Spoon the sweet, buttery pan drippings all over the apples before serving.



These are also good topped with vanilla ice cream, but we usually just eat them plain.

A Home For My Recipes ...

Since so much of my blogging these days included the subject of food, I thought it was only fair to give the food talk a blog space of its own.