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turtle pretzels

kdavis 2 Comments

ladies and gentlemen, i present to you the easiest treat ever made by man:  turtle pretzels!  okay, i don’t think they’re really called turtle pretzels, but they’re something i made last thanksgiving with the family, and i never really got the name.  so!  turtle pretzels they will be!

this recipe is so stinkin’ easy that i am not even going to break it down into ingredients and directions.  you can literally read the instructions here and be good to go!

preheat your oven to 250 degrees fahrenheit.

grab a cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper.  if you ran out of parchment paper like i did, use tin foil instead.  place those window pane pretzels on there, just a little spaced out.

pretzels

next, violently tear open a bag of rolos.  i use the word violently because when i cut and ripped mine open, i had rolos everywhere.  it was like an early rolo Christmas just for my tiny kitchen and me.  then, because you don’t want to look too much like a mess, place them all next to the bag nicely as if they had just come out that way.

rolo bag

unwrap those little candies and place one atop each pretzel.

pop the cookie sheet into the oven for two minutes.  only two minutes, kelsey?  doesn’t that seem a little short?  well, yes, in the grand scheme of things two minutes is not very long at all, and you don’t need a long time with these little guys.  they just need to warm enough so that we can smash them down, which we’ll do in just a moment, if you’ll be patient.

after those long and excruciating two minutes are up, pull the cookie sheet out and press a pecan half down on top of each rolo.  the reason you only need two minutes is because if you go any longer, all that caramel surprise inside the rolo will squirt right out, and that’s not what we want.

let the treats cool and harden and then store them in an airtight container.  then take them to your company holiday party and watch them get scarfed up by all your ravenous coworkers who cannot get enough of your baking.  happy holidays!

red beans and rice

kdavis Leave a comment

after my fair share of turkey and dressing over the thanksgiving weekend, i needed a recipe that was a little different and a lot simple upon my return to atlanta.  as my mom and i were in the kitchen, i asked “mom, if i were your red beans and rice recipe, where would i be?  i think i want to make it for dinner and lunch leftovers this week.”

in classic tori fashion, she pointed to her noggin, which meant it was going to be fun listening to her dictate it to me.

“okay, wait just a second.”  i grabbed a notepad and pen from the kitchen desk, right where they’ve always been for the past nearly 20 years, and prepared myself to take note.

i present, here, tori’s secret red beans and rice recipe in all its glory!

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the measurements and preparation here made enough to feed clark and i nearly all week.  his portions tend to be a bit larger than mine, but regardless, you’ll have plenty to share, or not; it’s up to you!

ingredients

smoked sausage (i used a standard hillshire sausage, the stuff that comes in the horseshoe shape)

3 small cans of dark red kidney beans, not drained (or 1 large can, if you can find it in your local grocer)

*if you cannot find dark red kidney beans, light red kidney beans will do just fine

28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, not drained

one medium-sized yellow onion

salt & pepper

garlic

cayenne pepper

white rice (or brown rice, if you’re healthy, unlike me)

directions

cook up some rice according to the package directions, as much as you think you need.  i found that about 8 cups of cooked rice was the right ratio for the final product.

get out a big ‘ole pot and first dump in the kidney beans and tomatoes.  put the heat on medium/medium-high, depending on how quickly you need it warmed.

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slice the sausage into coins and then halve the coins so that you have quarters.  coins?  quarters?  ha, weak money humor.

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dice up that onion and then pat yourself on the back, because you’ve gotten better at dicing onions, as opposed to when you first started being an adult and half the onion went to waste because you didn’t know what to do with it.

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add everything to the mix and let it get nice and hot, and then!  almost drop your phone right in the pot because Lord knows you’re made of money and can afford a new phone at the drop of a hat, right?  heh, that’s quite a sense of humor you have, my dear!

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as you heat it up, add in salt, pepper, minced garlic, and cayenne pepper.  let the flavors simmer and meld, give it a taste, and then decide if it needs more.  i bet some tobasco sauce would be a pretty good choice, too.

scoop that rice into a bowl and plop a bunch of the red beans and sausage on top.  finally, take it into to the office and show off to your coworkers.  they’ll be jealous because this homemade meal took you all of about 20 minutes and i’ll be damned if it doesn’t look amazing!

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thanksgiving casserole

kdavis 2 Comments
all of ze ingredientz.

all of ze ingredientz.

to all my fellow americans and thanksgiving-celebrators out there, happy turkey day!  let’s give thanks for days off from work and no alarm clocks and good food and tradition.  let’s also give thanks for the family and friends we can see today, while also keeping in our memories those who are no longer with us or cannot be with us.

clark and i came home to birmingham tuesday night, and as they always say, there truly is no place like home.  our childhood is here, our past was created here, and i will gladly return to suburbia nearly any day of the year.  it continues to amaze me that although my life is bustling with adventure and activity, i sometimes crave and cannot get enough of a bit of a slowdown, to ensure that i do not let the most cherished people and moments pass me by.

this thanksgiving is full of pajamas and tradition as always, but we tried something new with our grandmother gaga’s breakfast casserole.  my mom had uncovered this dish in her recipe box, and although it’d been years since she probably received it, there was no question that it was penned in gaga’s handwriting.

from the andrich family to you and yours, happy thanksgiving.  let’s eat!

ingredients

6 eggs

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

4 slices bread (cubed)

*we just used a loaf of french bread and ripped it up.  keeps you form having to dirty up a knife and cutting board.  plus, it looks cool and rustic when you rip up bread.

1 pound sausage, hot or mild

*we had some frozen, fully-cooked sausage patties that we just plopped right on top.  worked perfectly!  but, if you prefer to cook and crumble your own sausage, be my guest.

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

*i highly recommend you use at least 2 cups of cheese.  1 cup looked so wimpy, so i said, “to heck with one cup!”  it was a very good choice.

directions

cook sausage and drain.

beat eggs.

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add salt, mustard, and milk.  then get an action shot of the tori, because who doesn’t love to be photographed in their pajamas?

in a greased baking dish (a glass 9 x 13 should do you just fine), layer the bread, sausage, and cheese.  ooh, baby, that’s the stuff.

pour milk mixture over the top and refrigerate overnight.  bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 45 minutes or until set.

eat with a fork, but make sure it’s just like milo is doing here, with a side bite, or else it won’t taste the same!

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rum balls

kdavis Leave a comment

i’ve known my coworker mark now since 2010, and years ago i brought in rum balls per his special request.  now, these things are not my cup of tea at all, but oh goodness, he could not get enough of them!  these strong little suckers are right up his alley, and he so kindly reminded me last week that i hadn’t made them in quite some time…

say no more, mark!  i grabbed my ingredients, made a quick stop at the liquor store for the good stuff, and got to work tonight.  these rum balls are quite easy to make, but i will warn you now that they are a bit messy.  rum balls don’t roll themselves, so be prepared to get your hands dirty.  the recipe is below, along with all kinds of fun pictures.  enjoy!

ingredients

1 cup milk chocolate chocolate chips

1/2 cup white sugar

3 Tablespoons corn syrup

1/3 cup choice rum (i used captain morgan’s white rum this time, but you could just as easily use a silver rum; you could also use bourbon if that’s more your style)

2 1/2 cups crushed vanilla wafers (about an 11-ounce box will do)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

directions

if you were so fortunate to find a box of vanilla wafers already ground up, good for you!  if you were not so fortunate, crush those little guys up with a food processor.  it’ll take all of about two minutes, and opening up a brand new box of vanilla wafers is, le sigh, divine.  those things might be some of the best smelling crackers/cookies in the world.  just my opinion!

next, microwave the rum for about a minute and then add the white sugar to dissolve it.  i promise that doing so will make the mixture easier to incorporate in a minute.

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oh, and after you heat up that rum, it is going to smell strong.  just a warning.

place the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat them in the microwave for one minute.  stir, and if necessary, return to the microwave and heat at 20-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth.

add and blend the rum-sugar mixture and corn syrup with the silky chocolate.

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in a large bowl, stir together the crushed vanilla wafers, walnuts, and chocolate mixture until evenly distributed.

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okay, next comes the fun part.  use your hands to roll the “batter” into little balls, just a skosh smaller than a ping pong ball.  anything bigger is going to be overwhelming, take my word for it.

oh, also take my word for it that it is easiest to roll all of the balls first before we take them for a dip in the confectioner’s sugar.  and yes, your hands are going to get quite icky.  that’s why you have a little brother to take that picture for you, so no one misses any of the fun!

so, the final step is to roll each ball of chocolately-alcoholic goodness around in a bowl of confectioner’s sugar.  i use more like a 1/2 cup of sugar because i like to coat those things well.  after they’re all covered and white like winter snow, pop them in the refrigerator, cover them, and leave them for a week so that all the flavors can blend together.  once you finally do peel off that lid, the rum will be strong and taste even stronger which, if you’re anything like mark, is a glorious thing.

where to eat!

kdavis Leave a comment

the new year seems just around the corner, and with our resolutions come changes, and kelseyv.com shall not be left out of the fun!  my regular readers will start seeing some improvements and new features over the next several weeks, and i want to first point out perhaps the most exciting one:  a restaurant map!  on the new restaurant wednesday page, you’ll find a map of the greater atlanta area with red stars of all the restaurants we have visited and reviewed.  it should help you find the perfect place to dine no matter where you are!

as you begin, or continue, to explore kelseyv.com, please send kind recommendations my way.  there’s always something bigger and better out there!

gypsy kitchen – atlanta, ga

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logo

some of my plans fell through this evening (which seemed to be continuing the weekend trend…), so when clark got back home from auburn, i easily persuaded him to go try gypsy kitchen in the buckhead atlanta area for dinner.  i love going out to eat with clark because he’s always up for it and is usually interested in trying a new place with me.  gypsy kitchen had opened back in mid-october, and after driving by it nearly everyday and seeing it pop up on my facebook newsfeed, it was time we see what it is all about for ourselves.

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la urbana – atlanta, ga

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urbana

***author’s note:  since our visit last fall that prompted this post, la urbana has unfortunately closed its doors.  do read on, though, to hear about how we enjoyed this local joint.

we brought nrw back this week and took it to the westside of town at la urbana, a spot that came highly recommended from my coworker batkinson.  now, i already have my favorite mexican place in town at bone garden cantina, so i was looking to be impressed.

la urbana opened in march of this year, and considering their peripheric location, i’m sure they were thrilled to have nine people come in for dinner.  their spot took over some pizza joint that used to be there a couple years back, and they’ve certainly made it their own.  the large space isn’t too crammed with tables and chairs, and i think we were all comfortable at our tables that were pushed together.

the ey crew!
#andrichheavy.
kyle, kari, me, adex, clark, gregory.
broken bow south reunion!

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mm, noodle soup

kdavis Leave a comment

i hadn’t really cooked for myself in a solid couple of weeks, so tonight i decided to take on homemade chicken noodle soup.  ah, yes, because soup is so difficult!  especially when i don’t make my own noodles and buy frozen ones…but, hey, who’s judging?  if you are, well, then, i got nothing…except this excellent recipe!  the inspiration came from the pioneer woman, but since i couldn’t find those ever so convenient egg noodles, i went with dumplings instead and married that recipe with ree’s.  the results?  my very “own” noodle soup recipe!  ah, just like that!  sometimes life is easy to us.

if you’re in the need of some ridiculously simple humor this evening, i urge you to take a read of all the photo captions.  i had a lot of time to think them up, considering this meal is a labor of love and took about two hours…and it helps that i think i am hilarious!

below are the steps i took after combining directions from the other two recipes.  enjoy!

ingredients

a whole chicken, cut-up (mine had the bones in and skin on and came in a cool griller pack from kroger)

2 whole carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground thyme

2 teaspoons parsley flakes

24 ounces mary b’s dumplings (use half the package or a little more or all of it if you love carbs like everyone in my household!)

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

quite possibly the most uninteresting thing in the world: chicken boiling.
stuff, all chopped up.
mary b’s!
look at all these little buddies (almost of varying heights).
things are getting steamy!
carrot peel graveyard.

directions

cover chicken in 4-5 quarts of water.  bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low.  simmer 30-40 minutes.

p.s.  the smell of boiled chicken is just lovely!  (please sense the sarcastic tone)

remove the chicken from the pot with a slotted spoon.  using two forks, remove and shred as much of the meat as you can.

bring the broth back to a boil and add the frozen dumpling strips (cut to your desired size) and drop into broth one at a time, stirring frequently.

return the bones to the broth, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 45 more minutes.

remove the bones with the slotted spoon.

add the carrots, celery, and chicken to the pot, along with all the spices, and simmer for 10 minutes more.

*a quick note here:  i found my soup was underseasoned, which is either due to the excessive amounts of water or not enough spices or both.  fyi.

mix the flour with a little water, stirring until smooth.  pour it into the soup, simmering for another 5 minutes or until the broth thickens a bit.

chicken carcass!
shredding with forks was WAY too tedious. get your hands dirty!
more chicken!
seasoninnnngggssss.
these chips are not an ingredient. they are, however, the suggested snack while making the soup.

sun in my belly – atlanta, ga

kdavis 1 Comment

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so, check this out, mis amigos.  last weekend our uncle craig was in atlanta before taking a whirlwind tour of the southeast for some client visits.  we got to spend some fun time with him as we gave him the local tour of the city, and considering he had never been here, it was great getting to show him around town.

of the many fun things we got to do while he was here, one of them was grabbing brunch at sun in my belly before he had to hit the road for the carolinas.  uncle craig is from the fair city of san pedro, california in southern los angeles, so we just couldn’t pass up the chance to show him how the south does food.

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zesty corn dip

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corn dip

tori was in town this past weekend to tend to wedding activities (it’s only nine days away – eek!), and like always, she had plenty of things to bring to atlanta from home.  for clark, she brought his winter clothes.  for the kessey girl, she brought me a recipe.  ah, yes, she knows me so well!

this zesty corn dip really couldn’t be easier.  well, i suppose the only way it could be easier is if you didn’t have to do any chopping, but even for the most novice cook, you got it!

ingredients

2 12-ounce packages frozen corn

1 8-ounce block of cream cheese

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup diced green onion, white and green parts

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 2.5-ounce package fully cooked bacon, diced

1 4-ounce can diced green chilies

directions

place all ingredients in a crock-pot/slow cooker.

cover and cook on low for 4 hours OR on high for 2 hours, stirring the dip halfway through cooking time.