Kentucky Style Dirty Rice (a quick manly dinner!)

Husband likes spicy, wifey  not so much.  But my go-to Quick Kentucky Style Dirty Rice recipe satisfies us both.  (He does add some Cholupa sauce on his, but the spice in the andouille sausage is just enough for me.) 

The quick part?  This skillet dish assembles and is ready to go in about 30 minutes.  No really, thirty minutes.  I use a pre-pack (already cooked) andouille sausage, so there is no wait time for cooking that up and I chop the sausage and the veggies while the rice is cooking. Then everything is set for dumpin' in and cookin'! 

Quick Dirty Rice

4 C. prepared white rice
1 can red beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 -2 plum tomatoes, rough chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 -2 tblsp. cumin (I use one tblsp. when cooking the veggies and the other when the rice goes in)
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbslp. butter
1 tblsip olive oil
1 lb. (pre-pack) andouille sausage, sliced into disks

Prepare white rice and set aside.  Heat olive oil and 1 tblsp. of butter in a 10-12 inch skillet, add chopped onion, celery and green pepper, stir and cook until onion is translucent

Sprinkle cumin over vegetables in skillet and stir to coat. Stir n the drained beans and add the andouille sausage.  Add that last tablespoon of butter, cover and cook over low heat for several minutes (at least long enough for the sausage and beans to heat through).  

Stir in the rice and last the chopped tomato.    

This is good with cornbread on a crispy cold winter evening or with a tossed salad and some iced tea on a warm summer night.  Either way you ready to eat! 

Hmmmm, what's for dessert? 

Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

Husband's friend Brad has been over (a lot) helping renovate (repair) our little house here in Kentucky.   And I have been plying him with baked goods.  This past week he texted husband his mother's Oatmeal Cookie Recipe. 

So I thought, ok, I'll take the hint and bake these up for him.  Never thinking I'd love them as much as my old stand by Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  And I still do love those ooey, gooey soft and chewy cookies, but this oatmeal version has won a new place of honor in my repertoire of soft and chewy cookie recipes.   These have a lingering vanilla flavor, loads of milky chocolate goodness and are crisp at the edges, yet oh so chewy in the middle (a prerequisite for most of my favorite cookies!). 

Brad's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

1 C. shortening
1 C. white sugar
1 C. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tblsp. vanilla
1 tp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Mix the above together in a large bowl, then stir in:

1-1/2 C. flour
3 C. oatmeal (quick oats)
1 bag chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Do not grease cookie sheet.  Scoop dough by rounded teaspoonful and loosely roll into balls.  Place on baking sheets leaving 3 inches between each.  Flatten each ball of dough using bottom of glass dipped into sugar.  Bake for 10 minutes, cool on sheets for 4-5 minutes before removing to cooling racks. 

Sent a tin of cookies home with Brad and we promptly ate the rest, necessitating my baking another whole batch...

Shhhhh. Here's the Secret Recipe...

I've never shared this recipe...  not like it's not in a cookbook or anything... it is, but it is an old cookbook.  it was in the very first cookbook I ever got, some 40 years ago!  These are hands down, the best sugar cookie e.v.e.r.  Soft, almond flavored, melt in your mouth, frosting piled high sugar cookies. 

Deluxe Sugar Cookies

1 C. butter or margarine, softened (must use Imperial Margarine, must)
1-1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2-1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix margarine, powdered sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract.  Blend in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.  Cover and chill 2-3 hours.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Divide dough in half.  Roll out to about 3/16 inch thick (never in my life have I measured how thick the dough was...  but this is what the recipe says, so measure if you feel you must LOL).  Cut into desired shapes.  Bake 7-8 minutes. 

Now my oven bakes slightly "hot" so I set the temp at 365 degrees and set the timer to 6 minutes.  You can always leave them in a touch longer if need be.  But we really like a soft sugar cookie, so it's usually 6 minutes. 

Cool, frost and decorate.