Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

comfort food

Prepare For Pumpkins And Comfort Food!

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Gala apples in full beautiful bounty at Packer Orchards and Bakery. Harvest time!

Dashed up the Columbia River Gorge for a pre-harvest comfort food haul before Labor Day. What to my wondering eyes appeared but a pile of mini pies at my favorite bakery and fruit stand, Packer Orchards. With the first of much needed rains coming in tonight to help drown our forest fires and clean the air, I am secure in the knowledge that tucked in my freezer are two huckleberry and peach mini pies. Plus a bunch of huckleberry empanadas. Emergency rations for the coming winter.

This is the time of year I’d like to gather a fuzzy blanket, a pumpkin pie, a can of whip cream and head for my overstuffed chair with a pile of books. Not only does the coming cold wet weather give me a chance to snuggle in and read, but the eats are amazing. Which is why I also have an electric treadmill. Actually using it seems to be an issue. But even my stretch jeans have limits.

Tower of mini pies! Heaven on earth.

Its been a summer of three months of August, according to my temperature chart. I find one month of August quite enough, but the three we had this year kept everyone confused. And holding our breath. At this time last year we were coming off fire evacuation alerts and trying to breathe in a smoke inversion which outdid Beijing, China, on their worst day. Hoping we can all take a deep breath and relax after this weekend. We are supposed to get a couple inches of rain. The trees will be so happy. And the wildland fire fighters. I may frolic in the drops myself.

This has been a summer, a year, and a couple years of crazy for everyone. For me, I’ve learned to really appreciate the little things and keep life simple. My decluttering work goes on, so maybe by next year I can find my carpet and the garage floor. Gives me something to do when it rains.

Monday is the Harvest Moon and Fall officially starts on the twenty-second. The Halloween candy in the stores is getting picked over and I just bought my new Christmas gnome decorations at Dollar Tree. Tis time to shop for the seasons. Or hoard mini pies.

Enjoy these waning days of summer and the glory of the changing leaves. We’ve been through a lot lately, my fellow earthlings. But we’re made of tougher stock than we realize.

Spring will come again. And boy howdy, do I have some pent up adventures to take. Make your travel list now.

A day trip to anywhere counts. Including the backyard or a city park.

Cans of whip cream and holiday cookies count too. COOKIES!

Fall Ho!

P.S. Filbert at the Oregon Zoo shows the exact attitude that makes him our state animal. His work is never done on that blasted dam and he has to cut and haul major snacks back to his den. I appreciate his commitment. We snack seriously here in Oregon. He illustrates me getting food ready for the NFL football season! Did you SEE the RAIDER game Monday night? Good times!

 

Looking For Spring?

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So this was the scene outside my office window after midnight last week. I looked out at 11:44 p.m. and nothing on the ground. At 12:30 a.m. this is what I saw.  Sneak attack snow storm! The third or fourth of the week.

by Kimberly A. Cook

That makes two of us. We had rolling snow storms last week, the arctic equivalent of the movie “Ground Hog Day.” The daffodils were not prepared and tried to go back in the ground. Didn’t work.

I ended up doing combat grocery shopping last Tuesday during the morning snow storm to avoid going out in the afternoon snow storm. When the snow shows up in Oregon, we go to the store and stock up, on donuts. Those shelves were stripped bare. Not a Ho Ho in sight.

And now I am two days into Olympics withdrawal. I suddenly have all this time on my hands. Except I do have a bunch of Hallmark movies on my DVR again after the Olympics. Spring better come soon or I won’t be able to get out of the LaZBoy.

But I have been able to do a ton of reading and writing. How fun. Nothing like being trapped by a snow storm to give you the excuse to read. And munch donuts. I did not buy donuts. I bought Marion berry pie. The cookies were a gift, so I’m not responsible.

Did slog out in one of the snow storms to buy more Fairy Rock Garden accessories. It was a fifty percent off sale and I had an additional twenty percent off coupon. Almost free! I drive a Subaru because I have to get to fairy garden equipment sales in snow storms. Makes complete sense to me. Fewer pesky shoppers in my way too.

Fairy Rock Garden bling makes me happy. Planning for warm weather activities makes me happy. Spring will come again!

Got Spring goals?

Comfort Food Here I Come!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Between the time change, sick cat, election day, my job and Veterans Day last week, by the time Saturday arrived I could have used a cattle prod and a six-pack of energy drinks to get out of bed. Luckily a new purchase arrived and I was feeling dangerous.

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Little Red bravely doing the water test. Such a trooper.

 

My mini pressure cooker. Two quart size. Nickname – Little Red. Since I’m trying to increase my cooking skills, I never would’ve attempted this piece of equipment but it’s small. Figured I might be able to handle it. Maybe.

First I had to go through the precautions and initiate a water safety test. Felt like I was back on drown-proofing duty in the Army. Thirty minutes later I hadn’t blown anything up or had leaking machine parts. Fabo!

Next on to real food. One of the many things that hooked me while watching this little gem on Home Shopping Network, HSN to us loyal fans, was being able to cook things quickly and keep the nutrients in without firing up the big oven.

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Even I can cut up potatoes. Love the skins for fiber and taste. How festive. 

 

Decided to go for mashed potatoes on my maiden voyage. Cut up my favorite red potatoes, skins and all. Put in water. Locked down the lid. Pushed the potato button. How easy is that? Waited. About ten minutes later it beeped at me. Perfect potatoes!

I smashed them with the egg salad maker since I didn’t have a potato masher; then added milk and butter. Next was pepper and done. Wonderful. Ate the leftovers most of the rainy week. Emboldened by my success, I promptly purchased a potato masher. Every girl should have one.

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After the mash and before the ingredients. Can you smell the starch?

 

Think next I’m going big time, moving up to frozen pork chops. Little Red will cook frozen foods, just have to add time from the list in the book. Think I can handle the math.

Figure the worst that happens is I have to wipe pork chops off the kitchen ceiling; but since I haven’t fixed the ceiling yet from the peeing furnace that got torn out, who cares?

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Mix up the pepper and done! Actually, I could carry the entire mini pan and eat out of it, but I chose to go with a plate. Bring on winter!  

 

Supposedly one can bake cakes, pasta and chicken wings in Little Red too. Seems I’ve hired a cook in the kitchen while I watch Football. Perfect.

Viva la Pressure Cooker! Viva la Comfort Food!

Got steam?

 

 

In The Mood For Chicken And Dumplings?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                     (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

We are in the full court press run up to the holidays and things are getting wacky. From crazed drivers to potluck parties and trying to get two minutes to think, taking a break is a great idea. A comfort food timeout is even better.

Dumplings cooking away on the stove, right before the lid went on. Can you smell the magic?
Dumplings cooking away on the stove, right before the lid went on. Can you smell the magic?

I’ve been trying to make chicken and dumplings for two months and I finally accomplished it Sunday.

My co-worker gave me her quick and easy recipe which included using meat from four leftover baked chicken thighs, 6 cups low sodium chicken broth, 1 bag frozen peas and 1 bag frozen corn, 1 drained jar sliced mushrooms, 3 stalks cut up celery, 1 bag cut up baby carrots, minced garlic, 1 small white onion and 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to sauté the onions and then veggies.

The fun part was making the dumplings. All it required was 2/3 cup of Heart Smart Bisquick mix and 3 tablespoons of milk. Mix together and drop on top of the simmering soup, leave for 10 minutes uncovered and then put the lid on for another 10 minutes and dumplings! Too easy.

When I got home from the day job on Monday night, heating up the chicken and dumpling leftovers in the microwave was super easy and left me to watch Monday Night Football. Sometimes we just need to slow down and smell the dumplings.

You could even put these dumplings on top of canned soup. The possibilities are endless. Try the Crock Pot too. The next best thing to Bisquick strawberry shortcakes is dumplings. So take some time in this busy holiday season to treat yourself. Dumplings for all!