Christmas!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Mmmm... Don Pancho's...

Back in college my husband and I enjoyed a tiny Spanish-Caribbean restaurant in Oxford, Mississippi called Don Pancho's. Mr. Don made some of the best food ever!. We would eat there every Tuesday for their yummy, fresh chicken soft tacos and many Sundays for the always delicious lunch buffet. The black beans and rice were to die for and my husband craved their subtly sweet rice pudding.

Cabbage Rolls were on the menu and on the Sunday buffet. I'm not sure why as they are not a traditional Spanish or Carribean dish, but these babies were they good. With the weather getting colder, I thought I try to make them.

I tried a recipe on the Food Network website, courtesy of Mr. Tyler Florence, with just a few minor changes. I added a bit of cinnamon to the tomato sauce and I browned the meat just a little bit before adding it to the filling. The Food Network classified this recipe as "Easy". Ha! This was one of the most difficult recipes I've ever tried to make. And it turned out waaay to salty. (Notice the recipe says to generously season raw meat with salt and pepper, so there is no way to know if it is salty enough.)

Other than the salty filling, they turned out ok. I may not make this again. It took to long for a weeknight meal. This is more of a Saturday or Sunday night dinner.

Later in the week, I used the left over filling to make my version of Koosa, Lebanese stuffed squash.

Koosa:
2 large butternut or spaghetti squash
1 cup uncooked rice
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, lightly browned
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
16 oz diced tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves
28 oz crushed tomatoes
Splash dry red wine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash the squash, cut off necks (if needed), and scoop out the seeds.

Stuffing: Combine rice, ground beef, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and drained tomatoes. Mix well and use this mixture to stuff the squash. Do not pack too tightly to allow rice to expand. Place stuffed squash in a baking dish. Fill baking dish with 1/4 inch water. Continue to add water to the baking dish, 1/4 inch at a time, as the koosa are cooking. Cook for about 35 minutes, or until the squash is soft.

Sauce: While the koosa are cooking, make a sauce to go over the top. Coat a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and a splash of wine. Simmer until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Serve over baked koosa.

The Smoky Mountains in late Fall

A friend and I met in the Smoky Mountains over the Veterans Day weekend hoping to catch the tail end of the fall foliage peak. We were about a week or two too late. According to The Foliage Network, the leaves hit their peak around October 28th and were past peak by November 8th. Leaf drop was high in the Smokies, but my drive up through Alabama and Tennessee was really gorgeous. Here are a few pics from the trip.

Perennial Corner

In the old house, I had a great little perennial bed with rose, shasta daisy, echinacea, daylilly, and gladiolus. I loved that bed because it brightened up the whole front yard. I wanted to do the same thing in the flower bed here at the new house, but there wasn't a good place to do it. The randomly placed junipers in the front bed made everything difficult. Over the past few months I've dug and moved 5 or 6 junipers to one corner of the garden. If you've ever tried to move a mature juniper plant, you know how difficult it is. Every Saturday my arms would look terrible. All red and patchy where they stuck me. I moved the last two junipers on Saturday morning to make room for a perennial bed! I'd already placed the shasta daisy and one echinacea in April. I moved the other plants out of the way, and here is the new bed.


Back row (circled in yellow) : two Russian Sage

Middle row (circled in red) : two Shasta Daisy

Front row, from left to right ( circled in blue) : Echinacea Sundown, Echinacea Twilight, Echinacea Ruby Giant

This is what they'll look like all together. Beautiful! I can't wait until next spring!

The Semi-Circle Bed

Back in August, I wrote about my nutgrass battle in the semi-circle bed. In September I devised a plan to make that my rose and annual bed. On Saturday, we decided to add a crape myrtle 'Natchez' to the bed for height. I want to plant two new rose bushes in the same bed next spring. I plan to keep the top of the crape myrtle fairly thinned so the roses can still get some muddled sun. I have my heart set on Pat Austin and a companion yellow rose: Golden Celebration or Graham Thomas.

Here are shots of the bed in July (top) and the bed in October (bottom).

Have a seat!