IT'S TIME FOR A THROW DOWN!!!

Football...there's no better time for chicken wings! And this weekend is a great weekend to have them. It's the Florida vs Florida St. game. This is one of the most important games a fan can watch! It's rival time! So, why not have some great hot wings to go along? They are super easy and taste better than the ones you would have delivered. Did you know it is just hot sauce and butter?

Here is what you do. After you have separated the wings, season them with some salt, pepper and I like to add garlic powder. Make sure your oil is hot and fry them, as is, for about 12 minuets. Just do a small amount at a time, do not crowd your pot. Melt your butter, about one and a half sticks per family pack of wings, in the microwave. Then combine butter and hot sauce. You control how hot you want the wings.

After all the wings have fried toss with your hot sauce mixture and eat! It could not be easier! Now, all you need is a great game to watch. GO GATORS!!!!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to take this time to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. During this time of year we all get so consumed with our "to do" list for the holidays that we forget what it is all about. Be sure to slow down and thank God for all your many blessings.

Jellied Cranberry Sandwiches

I thought you might be wondering about the jellied cranberry sandwiches. I was too until my son reminded me about the episode on Paula Deen where she made these.

* 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 2 tablespoons good-quality mayonnaise
* 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped pecans
* 1 (16-ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce, chilled

Directions

Mix cream cheese and mayonnaise until creamy. It needs to be spreadable. Add pecans and mix well. Slice cranberry sauce in 1/4-inch rounds and spread cream cheese mixture on 1 round and place another round on top, sandwich style. Cut each round in half like a sandwich and place in shallow container, covered. Keep in refrigerator until time to serve.

Now, I have not tried these yet. I am waiting until Thanksgiving....maybe. Let me know if you make these.

Our Thanksgiving Menu

This Thanksgiving is going to be a little different for us. Usually, we have a huge meal with about 20-30 guests. Ever since we moved here it has been that way. My schedule will not allow for that this year. We have decided to let the boys cook Thanksgiving dinner.

My wife sat down with them and asked them what they would like to cook. This was the first menu the came up with: cheese grits, pigs in a blanket, pancakes, ham, corn on the cob, corn soup, donuts, stuffing, jellied cranberry sandwiches, pumpkin pie and a flourless cake.

This is what we decided on: Ham, Baked Chicken, Corn Soup, Stuffing, Squash Casserole, pigs in a blanket, pumpkin pie, a flourless cake and jellied cranberry sandwiches. Grandma is bringing her delicious eggplant casserole and Dude (my father-in-law) is bringing his famous mashed potatoes.

I still think it sounds disgusting. Where's the turkey? And who eats jellied cranberry sandwiches?? But that is what the boys want and they are the chef's this year. Thankfully, this is a one time thing except...Christmas is on it's way!

Watch out Bobby Flay!!

Redbox

Our family loves Redbox! In fact, Every Monday we have a movie night. Since we homeschool we can make up our own schedule. So on Monday's, if the boys have completed their school work and chores they get a movie night. The best part, other than the family time, is Redbox gives out a code for a free rental on Monday's! Here's today's code 2MNC92.

When you go to rent your movie, you must enter the promo code first. The screen has a special button in the lower corner that says 'rent with promo code'. You will still have to scan your credit/debit card but you will not be charged...as long as you return the movie before 9pm the next day.

Enjoy your free movie!

Thinking Back....

I was just sitting here thinking about when I was in the military. The times I had to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas away from my family. No matter if it was overseas or just here in the states it was hard. I was use to the whole family getting together the night before Thanksgiving and cooking a big meal. On Christmas Eve, we always had a bonfire, cooked hot dogs and had a good time together.

When I joined the Army for the most part that changed. I was stationed in Germany and my first Thanksgiving and Christmas was spent with a German host family. It was great. I had the chance to see and experience how other cultures celebrate the holidays. Even though I was not with my real family, they made me feel as if I were.

I served in a time when there wasn't a conflict going on. Even with Desert Storm, it was over before my group, the 927th med company, was deployed. Now, those who are serving are serving in tough times. They don't have the comfort of host families. Most of them are in harms way. I think it is important, no matter what your opinion of the "war" is, that we thank our troops for their sacrifice and courage. We need to remember them in our prayers. And when we count our blessing this Thanksgiving, we need to be thankful for the free country we live in because of those who have served.

Boilin' n Bakin' in Boogar Hollow

That is the cook book my father-in-law bought me while we were on vacation. Now that's country. Both of my sister-in-laws have always teased me about being a country boy. But this book is far beyond me!

This cook book is something else. You almost need a degree in another language to read it. For example, this is one of the recipes my father-in-law has requested I make for him, but first I'll have to decode it!

Lizzie's Sausage-apple-tater pie
1/2 lb. sausage 1/2 tsp. salt
2 sweet taters 1 tbsp. flour
3 apples 2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup cold water 1 tbsp sausage drippins

make small balls outta sausage......skin taters...skin apples'n core...slice. Mix salt, flour,'n sugar'n stir hit into water. Fix 2'R 3 layers of the sausage, taters n apples in a bakin' pan, n pour sum uf the flour'n sugar mixture over each layer...jist use apples'n sausage on the top layer. Add the drippin's 'n kiver. Bake fur 'bout 45 min. in a 375' oven. This is Lizzie's old man's favorite.

The other recipes are worse to decode! I haven't made this yet but I want to try it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Camping Food

We recently went camping in north Georgia and we stayed for 7 days. A time that I start counting down to every time we get back because I love it so much. I cook all of our meals and that is a lot of meals so I had a lot of planning to do. Because, who wants to eat packaged food for 7 days? We picked out some meals a few weeks before we left, cooked them and then froze them. It worked out great!

When we packed up to leave for our trip we put all of our frozen food in the cooler. It helped keep other things cool so we ended up using less room for ice and more for food. We took the usual must haves, like hot dogs, but we froze them too. We had chili,ham-n-beans and even bacon and onions with our eggs so that we could have breakfast burritos some of the mornings. The boy's love them and there easy on me to cook. Having everything frozen kept it from spoiling. We ate whatever thawed out first and we only took the things we really like to eat by the camp fire[like my baby back ribs]. All we had to do was warm it up on the camp fire.

But, my all time favorite is a nice t-bone cooked on the open fire pit. That's always a must!

I do have a little advice though, never cook fried chicken and dump the grease near your camp or cabin like I did.Or you will have a 200lb black bear climb the side of your cabin to your front porch at 3am!

As a Father

As a father, I want my boys to do or be anything they want to do. Both of them have such a great imagination. I'm always telling my oldest boy, Brandon, to come back to earth when we go to the grocery store.

I also want them to do their own thing. Take Brandon for instance, he just finished playing upward football with our church. He had a great time playing and being with his friends, he didn't care to much about the score. But give that boy a book to read or some gadget to figure out and he is just as happy or maybe even more.

Now, as for Walker he's another story! He is, as my wife says, the bruiser of the two. We were in Wendy's when he was two and a man came up to us and asked if Walker played pop warner football. We told the man he was to young.

As a father, I want them to be like me, as all father's do. But,I try to teach them to be respectful of others and know that God is in control of there lives and to follow God's plan for them.

I knew better...but I let her cook it anyway!

My wife really can not cook. She tries but really she is better at assembling things, opening cans, or pushing the button on the microwave....like my mother-in-law. Anyway, she thawed out a baking hen and was very excited to try and cook it on her own. She likes to watch Nigella Bits on the food network and wanted to try out the recipe. I left her alone and headed off to work....but I should have known better!

She didn't catch the stove on fire,this time, she's done that before. But, the plump hen that I saw before I left for work, was no longer. She tried and it did have good flavor but the poor thing was cooked at too high of a heat for way too long! The skin was so rubbery you couldn't cut it with your teeth and barely could with a knife. My first thought was the turkey on the movie Christmas Vacation!

Not all of us are morons!

There's a commercial that drives me crazy! There are these guys sitting around watching a football game. During half time a guy comes out of the kitchen holding a tray of biscuits and asks if anyone would like one. The guys in front of the tv look at him like he's an idiot. Then the announcer says something to the effect that 'Men don't bake'. PLEASE! All baker's use to be men.

I hate that so many things stereotype us. Not all men are idiots that only want to sit in front of a tv watching football, drinking beer and scratching themselves. Some of us love to watch football and cook great food. Some of us take our responsibility as husbands and fathers seriously. Some of us take pride in cooking for our families. The real morons here are the ones making commercials like these. I guess they are looking to loose customers because "some guys DO bake"!