Ham I am....

with apologies to Dr.Seuss....

But I was at the Publix today and noticed that the "leftover" hams are starting to get marked down, since Christmas and New Year's are over.

I made a variation of Alton Brown's City Ham yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you, since you might procure a ham in the next couple of weeks on the mark-down rack.

Follow Alton's directions for precooking and peeling the skin off the ham. But, instead of using his glaze, try this:

You will need:
one cup (or thereabouts) of dijon mustard
one-half cup of dark brown sugar
one cup of Apple Butter

yes, I said apple butter. Buy some at the WalMart or the produce stand (I prefer the homemade version I've listed here, but you can buy yours).

Slather the ham with mustard. Pack on the brown sugar. Then, smear on the apple butter.

Finish in a 350 degree oven covered tightly for one hour or thereabouts. Let it set for a half hour, and carve. There will be a beautiful, tangy, rich glaze.

Much love, and then YUM!
Ging

Happy New Year!

It's the first day of the year 2009. I am filled with hope and happiness and cheer for our future.

And that, my friends and readers, is my New Year's resolution for 2009. My only resolution is to find ONE POSITIVE THING every day and marvel at its beauty and grace. In other words, I'm going to work on my attitude toward life.

Now, some of you may think that's the new hormones and B-12 shots talkin' (Remember that scene in Fried Green Tomatoes when Jessica Tandy asks Kathy Bates, "How many of them hormones are you taking, dear?") But I spent a lot of time being upset and hurt last year, and I don't want that this year. So my Mama, rest her sweet soul, said you spend your year the way you spend your New Years.

I choose optimism.

Now, my second resolution involves healing my gastroparesis, but as Alton Brown would say, that's another episode. And like politics and sausage making, the details of some things are best left out.

Let me just add that I hope you and yours had as nice a New Years as me and mine did. We went to the annual New Year's Eve party in Gainesville, with Jeffrey. Like last year, there was not much for me to eat, but in the end, it was OK. I didn't need or want much food, and I enjoyed the company and atmosphere (but there were about 70 people packed in a house the size of mine. Ca-razy! And Jeffrey set a beer record with THREE beers (I think four) and two glasses of champagne.

My first recipe to share with you in 2009 is based on a holiday gift we got from our dear sweet friends Coby and Jen O'Brien. XOXOX. In early December Coby brought Randy (aka Rand-Man)a huge beautiful jar of something he called "All Purpose Red Rub." Coby is such a dear, he included the recipe "So I would know there was positively no gluten." You GOTTA love a friend like that.

Four days before Christmas, I rubbed a five pound trimmed prime rib roast with this mixture, and it made the best prime rib I've ever eaten. Never made a prime rib? Buy one on sale and do this. You'll love it.

Coby's Rockin' Red Rub (I hope it's OK I share it with the readers, Coby. Full credit to you!)
1/2 cup paprika
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated garlic
6 T. granulated onion
1/4 cup chili powder
1 T. black pepper
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

MIX well and store in a jar with a tight-fitting lid.

NOW:
5 pound or larger prime rib, bones on or off, your choice
2 cloves crushed garlic

Several (four worked great) days in advance but at least the day before, generously rub the roast with the rub. Bring to room temperature before roasting. Place on a v-rack in a roasting pan (I set the rack over a bed of chopped carrots). Insert slivers of the garlic into the meat and place on the rack. If you have a bone-in roast, put the bones down on the rack.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roast from 18-22 minutes per pound until it comes to 135 degrees for rare. We cooked ours to about 150 degrees, this side of medium.

Let set about 20 minutes, covered with foil, then carve. Serve with garlic mashhed potatoes.

Much love, and HNY to you!
Ging

The strange after Christmas days...

I have been catching up -- on sleep, mostly -- since Randy's brother left Christmas day. I've had a horrendous case of bronchitis, and I didn't do the math until yesterday when I realized it has been two weeks since I first got that sore throat. I feel almost human today. But I was on the go and sick for two solid weeks, including the entire time Ron was here. And I never really slowed down.

I thought I'd share with you a quick, easy recipe for those after-Christmas days. We are plum full up of leftovers, and we'd had out fill of rich food. With me trying to cut my portions sizes in half, it has been a challenge.

So tonight I made drunk chicken, with a twist.

Drunk Chicken was my friend Susan Holmes Brown's (from Mississippi) recipe in graduate school. She would make it for "company," so I enjoyed it at her apartment a couple of times. I always found it comforting.

Drunk (Garlic) Chicken

One half chicken breast for each person, up to eight halves
One can GF Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup sour cream (light is OK)
6-8 smashed cloves of garlic.
Salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash garlic herb seasoning, and Tony Chachere's

Season breasts with seasoning of choice *but season them well. Lay in a casserole dish and throw the garlic cloves around the breasts.

Mix together soup, wine and sour cream. Pour over.

Bake at 375 degrees for one hour and 10 minutes, basting once or twice (but it should cover the chicken). Let sit for 10 minutes out of oven before serving so juices gather in the chicken. Place chicken on plates and smash soft roasted garlic into the sauce, stirring briefly. Spoon sauce over chicken and rice.

Serve with rice (we used Minute) and a fresh steamed green vegetable (if you have one around.)

OK, I leave you today with the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me in a grocery store. Yesterday we were buying sodas in Publix, and after Thanksgiving, I'd noticed that the turkeys were marked down. So I looked yesterday and sure enough, the Butterball Fresh Turkeys were about 39 cents a pound.

Me: Holy crap, Randy. This turkey is just $3.95
Randy: Do we want one?
Me: (silence, thinking about work involved and lack of freezer room)
STRANGE LADY TO MY LEFT: You can raise a turkey for less than $3.95.
Me: (looking at her doubtfully but not saying anything...)
SLTMY: Really. You can raise a turkey for less than $3.95. (She wanders off toward produce.)
Me: Confused and surprised, I move away from the cheap turkeys toward the deli section...

CURTAIN on Theater of the Non Sequitur

Much love, and more later...I want to share my Christmas Prime Rib rub and recipe....
Ging

Happy Christmas to all

I am not kidding when I say I haven't had a second to post this past week.

With the medical drama over (yes, I have pernicious anemia, and yes, I have to take B-12 shots. but my Celiac panel/biopsy showed good villi and good numbers, so YAY for all of that. I have also been down since Dec. 12 with a growing case of bronchitis. I'd like to say that is on the way out, but I still feel like crap.

OK -- ao Jeffrey and I filled with sleigh, I mean car, with toys and headed south to Tampa, where we're happily enjoying big stores to shop in and the company of my wonderful brother in law Ron (and Randy, of course). We've had friends over for a spaghetti feast (wouldn't be Christmas without one in my family) and went to a lovely party last night at the home of Roxanne, who's from Jamaica. Delightful!

And now, on Christmas eve, I'm washing clothes, wrapping presents, and planning for an evening of party food, luminaria in the neighborhood, and Christmas lights. Randy and Ron are out shopping, and Jeffrey is counting the minutes and trying to peek!

Tonight's Christmas eve dinner is a tradition, of sorts. We're having a buffet full of wonderful hors d'oeuvres, all purchased, and all gluten free. It will be Aidells spinach and feta sausages with grainy mustard, aidells sun dried tomato meatballs, spinach and artichoke dip, and a big pan of macaroni and cheese. I also made a Chocolate Pecan Pie.

For breakfast, I'm baking a sausage and cheddar quiche (so easy). And later in the day we're having prime rib with roasted carrots and potatoes (and leftover everything else).

I wanted to take this time to tell you all, my friends and GF family, how blessed I am to have you all in my life. Like Mariah Carey sings in one of my favorite Christmas songs, "ALL I want for Christmas is YOU." Lucky me. I got that already.

Blessings, peace and MUCH much love, to all of you.
Ging

Chocolate Pecan Pie (from Paula Deen)

One GF pie crust of your choice
2 cups pecan halves
1 cup milk or dark chocolate chips GF
1/2 cup butter melted
three eggs beaten
2 T. spiced rum (or bourbon) or vanilla if you're boring
1 cup white sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place nuts and chips in bottom of pie crust (no need to pre bake it). Mix other ingredients and pour over the nuts and chips. Bake for 35 minutes until the middle doesn't jiggle any more.

Cool and serve. VERY rich and decadent, and the spiced rum....Randy really loved this pie. He said it was the best.

Perniciously Intrinstic, and all that jazz

I don't know what the heck is going on with me, but there has been a cascading effect with my doctors over the last week.

Suffice it to say that because of something in my system, I've got horribly low B-12, which might be something called pernicious anemia, because my addled stomach isn't producing something called intrinsic factor. There are B-12 shots in my future at the very least.

Oh, and I'm fresh outta hormones, so now I'm on pills and stuff. Yay for hormones. (reminds me of a dirty joke...but not here. not now.)

But God bless Catherine Roberts, my internist. She takes good care of me. And God bless Marison San Inocencio, my gyno. I am happy still to be in the care of two such wonderful women. Much love to you!

Sigh. All this confusion explains my absence since grades were due. I've had three doctor appointments and 10 vials of blood drawn. Tomorrow I have an endoscopy at the hospital in Atlanta. Thankfully, Daddy and Mary are putting up with us. I'm also glad I set the alarm...



I had a lovely GF Christmas Meetup of my very own Saturday night -- with Lori from the Delphi Celiac Forum, and Julie from Outback. I was so happy to have the chance to eat and talk GF with people who give a damn. It's so refreshing to know that the food before me won't make me sick. It didn't. I enjoyed every minute of it.

And once again, SHOUTOUT at the top of my GF lunch to Crossville Roswell Outback and Julie and Tom and the crew. Lori said she had a coaster that said, of the coconut shrimp, "If you love them so much, you should marry them." I think I am at least engaged to the GF coconut shrimp, but I also bought and froze a GF Bloomin' Onion for later. Lori and I also strolled the Trader Joe's for GF goodies.

So -- the clown fish above is a replacement of the picture of Lori and me. I had a blast!

Much love, and more later,
Ging

A holiday greeting for you

I saw this today on the Delphi Site, and I wanted to put it here. I hope it works for you. In lieu of mailing cards this year, I have made three holiday donations. One, to Baby Chan's Adoption Fund. Two, to Doctors without Borders. Three, to the Life Enrichment Center in Milledgeville.

A holiday card from Ging!

Much Love and happy holidays! I'll write more when I'm done with my last batch of papers!
Ging

Another great online book auction

That crafty Kate is at it again!

This is a great auction, once again, to help out with the expenses for Baby Chan, who is on her way to her loving parents very soon.

Please consider bidding on this book! It's for a great cause, and it's a great book.

Much love, and mo love to you Kate!
Ging