Everything Hurts

I promise I will post about baby boy's arrival. I just need to be able to have more than 1/2 hour to myself to sit and write it.

For now, everything hurts. My head. My eyes. My body. My boobs. My sleep. My sanity.

I sleep "better" in the rocking chair than I do in bed at night.

I don't remember nursing being this painful or taking as long with Rylin. Baby boy is in reality a barracuda. No seriously. He started sucking on his arm when I had enough after 1.5 hours. He gave himself a hicky. He's done that three times.

He won't take a pacifier either. :(

So yeah. Everything hurts.

Love

 [luhv]

1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person

One of my dear friends lost his mother the other day. She has been struggling with health issues for a long time, but that doesn't make her departure any less heartbreaking. To make it worse, he is halfway across the country from home and won't be able to make it back for several months. He is alone and grieving. My heart aches for him, as do the hearts of many others that have reached out to him virtually. But we all know it's not enough. There's just something about family that soothes the soul. 

My friend didn't grow up in the best of situations. I had a hard time believing it at first. He is extremely intelligent, candid, generous, humorous, fun-loving, and hard-working. He is one of those people that everyone should get to have as a friend. He challenges, inspires, uplifts, encourages, and pushes you to be a better person. And at the end of the day he will race you on tricycles down an aisle at Target. He's that wonderful. 

As I got to know him better over the years, I discovered he has all these amazing traits because of how he grew up. He could have easily become a bitter and hateful person. I am so thankful he took the higher road. He fiercely LOVED his mother despite the problems that arose. And that is what really matters at the end of everything: love. That should be our motivation for everything. True, selfless, Christlike love.

Even now as my friend takes the time to respond individually to the hundreds of messages he has received, he is showing that love for us.

I hope we all take the time to let people know how much we love them. It's the only thing that truly lasts.

Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden-ish)

Many moons ago I worked at the Olive Garden. Without fail, this was the number one requested soup for good reason! I didn't get this recipe from the restaurant (trade secrets and all), but from our perspective, it's pretty close.

What you need:
1 lb. bulk Italian sausage, browned and drained
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup water
1 garlic clove, minced
3 large russet potatoes, sliced (I left the skins on)
1/4 cup onion, finely diced (we didn't have any so I just used onion powder)
1 cup heavy cream
1 bunch (to make 3-4 cups) fresh kale, coarsely chopped
fresh grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

What you do:
1. Place sausage, chicken broth, water, garlic, potatoes, and onion in crock pot.

2. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours, until potatoes are cooked and soft.

3. Add cream and kale just before serving.

4. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve with bread of your choice.


I should add that the seasonings in the Italian sausage and PLENTY of flavor. This is coming from Todd who adds salt and pepper to everything, and he didn't at all! So make sure you taste the end result before adding anything else! This easily makes enough to feed 8 people or 2 plus lots of yummy leftovers. Enjoy!!

So good!!

San Luis Obispo: Old County Deli Dry Rub Beef Ribs.

This recipe is very important to me. As a kid younger than 6 years old, my parents would get these special beef ribs from the farmers market and a special local deli in an area called San Luis Obispo in the area I was born in Central California. I would return every once in a while and camp on the way up from college in Orange County. While not entirely known for it, San Luis Obispo is a hot bed for Oak pit BBQ and has been ingrained in me since I was a kid. I've taken a friend or two a couple of times, and made it an adventure. Luckily once I took a friend and Cordon Blu chef, Jonathan Damron. Much later it was my great desire to take my wife and share with her my tradition.... However when we had arrive they had closed and gone out of business years since.

Making the SLO Old County Deli Beef Ribs has become one of my life's ambitions. Last weekend I fulfilled this item on my list.

Time to make: a while! Start the night before, slow roast for 3-5 hours.
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

Materials:

• Brine Solution  (The Zen of Brines)
• 5 gallon bucket
• Salt
• Dry Rub (A little on Dry Rubs)
• Garlic Salt
• Pepper
• Porterhouse Roast
• Onion Powder
• Barbecue
• Hickory Woodchips
• Kensington Charcoal and Hickory flakes.
• Drippings pan
• Barbecue with air vents in the bottom.
• Tin Foil.
• Meat
• 1-2 half racks (about 6 ribs a piece)

Directions:

• Night before:  

• Make a brine solution. Take 1 quart hot water, and 2/3rds a cup of the salt to it. Dump into bucket. Add 2 quarts cold water. Continue until the ribs are completely covered in the bucket. I use a 5 gallon bucket which means around 5 times. Yes.. that means you need to have around 4 cups of salt.
• Early Afternoon: about 4 hours before you want to be ready for dinner.

• Start the coals. 
• Put the Hickory Woodships in a tub of water to soak for about 15 minutes.
• After they've soaked, wrap them in the tinfoil, creating a pouch for them. 
• Put the soaked woodchips inside, and close the pouches.
• Cut small slots in the what you want to be the 'top' of the pouches
  
• Take the ribs out of the Brine, put them on a large platter and season both sides with the spices. Go a bit heavy on the Poterhouse Roast, Medium on the Pepper and Onion Powder, and a bit lite on the salt considering the ribs have been soaking in it.  In the end however it's ALWAYS to YOUR TASTE.
• The coals should be going ,and hopefully have had a little time to cool. Put the Tinfoil pouches in the coals, place dripping pan over the coals. 
• This is important: Placing the dripping pan over the coals causes the ribs to only be cooked by INDIRECT heat. Direct heat will cook them too fast and cause them to be tough. You want these guys to roast for several hours and be nice and tender. The brine will also help to that end.
• But the grill back on over the dripping pan, and place the ribs on the grill.
  
• The goal is to keep the grill between 180 and 275 degrees. You'll have to check them about every 15 minutes. The ribs will begin to pull away from the tips of the bone as they are nearing ready. Start with fat side down, to get the coals at their hottest point to sear the fat juices into the meat and flip after maybe the first 1/2 hour. 
• Make sure to close the lid, to keep the smoke coming from the wood chips in and getting to the meat.
• After at least 3 hours
• The ribs should be ultra tender, and easily pull away from the bone, and be separated by a knife from the rack. The spices should be visibly cooking into the meat. 
  

Enjoy and Eat! Mildly messy, but not as bad as a wet rub. We like to add cobs of corn to the grill and baste them in butter and garlic salt.

Grandmother's Banana Pudding

Both of my Mom's parents are from the South. This means several awesome things including that entire side of my family pronouncing my name "Gin (yes, like the alcohol)-Uh" instead of "Jen-Uh" like everyone else does. If you can't hear the difference, don't worry, it took me 25 years to even notice it.

Hailing from the South also means awesome and HUGE family reunions with plenty of cousins my age and discovering I am related to an entire town. Of course going to Florida or Mississippi during the middle of the summer now doesn't sound like a vacation at all to me (have I mentioned I hate the heat and especially humidity???), but as a kid I enjoyed every minute. Well, maybe not the horseflies. Those buggers are nasty. But I LOVE my cousins!!!! We even hung out in high school and I still get to see most of them on a pretty regular basis. I especially love that my kids and their kids are getting to spend time together.

But I digress. The MOST important part about having grandparents from the South is the FOOD. I know you're jealous, unless you are just as fortunate and then you know what I am talking about. My Granddad is from Florida, so he passed down a love for seafood. Shrimp (especially), lobster, clam chowder, and his famous clam dip. Seriously. Ask any of my cousins about that dip. He'll only make it by special request now, so I try to specially request it every time. It's A.MAZE.ING. The only thing I (thankfully) didn't inherit was a love for catfish or crayfish. Yuck. On to better things!

My Grandmother is from Mississippi. If you saw the movie, The Help, then you know where she went to college and met my Granddad in Jackson. She is from a small town about an hour south from there. Her Great-Grandfather, Nathan Britt, owned about 80 acres of land there. Needless to say, most of the town was and still are all Britts. The house she was born and raised in is still standing and remains the gathering place during reunion time. My Mom and her siblings and cousins have memories of that house, as do I and my siblings and cousins. I hope I get to take my children there someday, especially since Rylin's middle name is Britt. :)

So, now that you've heard some of my genealogical history, you're probably wondering where all of this is leading. At every single one of those reunions and any other family get-together, my Grandmother has either made her signature ambrosia and/or banana pudding. Don't get me wrong, the ambrosia is good, but it's basically fruit salad with coconut. The banana pudding, however, is something I am certain we will get to enjoy in the great beyond. It's that good.

So here it is, straight from my Grandmother this morning. You should feel lucky I am willing to share this recipe with y'all. :)

*****

What you need:

1 20oz can of crushed pineapple

1 small box INSTANT vanilla pudding

1 small box INSTANT banana cream pudding

3 1/2 cups cold milk

6 bananas (at least)

1 box Nilla wafers

Flaked coconut (optional)

What you do:

1.  Line a 3 quart (13x9x2) casserole dish with Nilla wafers. My Grandmother wants to make sure you know how important it is to "line the sides too."

 

2. Drain the pineapple juice into a separate bowl. Slice and add the bananas, stirring after you add each one. The pineapple juice will help prevent the bananas from going brown, so make sure they get coated well. Once all your bananas are added, mix about half of the pineapple in and stir gently.

3. Pour milk into another bowl. Add both pudding mixes and whisk until well-mixed. Set aside. You only need 3 1/2 cups of milk (instead of 4) because of the pineapple juice. Trust me on this, otherwise your pudding gets runny!

4. Using a slotted spoon, scoop the banana/pineapple mixture over the wafers being careful not to disturb them out of place. Pour remaining juice over the top layer and spread gently to coat.

5. Stir the pudding again, then gently pour over entire pan. Spread evenly to edges.

6. Spoon remaining pineapple over the top (sometimes I don't do this and just add it all to the bananas). Sprinkle coconut on top. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. Enjoy!!!

I grew up under the assumption that this delightful dish was entirely of my Grandmother's making. I later found out that it is very commonly enjoyed in the South. My Grandmother took the original recipe and made it her own though. Just in case you are interested in the traditional method, here ya go:

Remember To Save Your Work

So after two hours of typing disappeared into the interwebs, I feel like crying.

When typing anything, SAVE YOUR WORK!!!!!