Thursday, May 21, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
CHICKEN & SMOKED SAUSAGE GUMBO
When I want to cook something different, I browse online, through my hardcopies of cookbooks, and then my digital cookbooks. After deciding on something and looking through the different recipes, I make it my own by adapting different things from all of the recipes, adding some and omitting some. Here is what I have come up with, and let me tell you it is delicious!! Unfortunately, Tony is out on the road and our roommate David has Boy Scouts with his 2 sons, so there is no one to share it with. But guess what is for supper tomorrow night?
INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 lbs. chicken thighs (bone in, skin on) 6 cups of water
3-5 tbsp chicken bouillon powder salt & pepper
1/2 lb bacon, chopped up 1 lb. smoked sausage, cut diagonally
1 bell pepper, diced 2 onions, diced
2-3 celery stalks, chopped 1/2 lb frozen okra (optional)
1/2 c oil 1/2 c flour
2 tbsp. Creole Seasoning (adjust if necessary) 3 bay leaves
DIRECTIONS
A lot of the recipes that I discovered called for adding the chicken after everything goes in it and then removing it and shredding it up. I prefer to cook mine separately, as I like to make my own chicken stock.
1. Put chicken thighs in a pot and cover with 6 cups water. Add bouillon and pepper. At this time, I don't add salt because the bouillon powder is salty. Bring to boil, cover, reduce and simmer around 45 minutes.
2. When chicken is done, remove from stock and cool. I put mine in a bowl and place it in the freezer to cool faster. When cool, remove the skin & bones and shred or chop up. Set aside.
3. Put cup up bacon in a skillet and begin to get crisp. About halfway through, add smoked sausage and brown. When all is done, remove meats with a slotted spoon and set aside.
4. Add veggies (except for okra) into the grease and cook them down. I do add a little salt to the veggies now. Remove veggies from skillet and set aside.
5. Now for the long and tedious part. In a heavy pot, blend the oil and flour over medium-low heat. Constantly stirring, so it doesn't burn, cook the flour/oil mixture until dark brown.
6. When brown, add the reserved stock that you cooked the chicken in and all of the ingredients.
7. Simmer for about 45 minutes.
8. Remove the bay leaves and serve over hot rice.
A lot of the recipes omitted the okra, but being from the South, gumbo is okra!!
This would have been great with some corn muffins but I was out of cornmeal.
Enjoy!!
Patty
Monday, April 27, 2015
Travels with Tony
My husband, Tony, drives a truck for a living. He works for a very good company out of Knoxville, TN with a satellite terminal in Hanahan, SC. His truck is a 2007 Peterbilt that is a color known as "Petty Blue" The truck has a double bunk in the back. I sleep on the bottom and he sleeps on the top bunk; he is too hot to sleep that close together.
I decided to go with Tony last week on a run. When I go on trips with him, we always take the 2 dogs with us since I have determined no one can take care of them the proper way. In the truck, they have their own bed, blanket, and feeding and water bowls. As you will find out, through my writings, our "babies" are very spoiled.
To prepare for a trip, I usually buy a few "snack" items to tide us over between eating breaks. I also have to pack for the dogs and myself. I figured that I would be back no later than Tuesday morning so I only packed clothes to last until Tuesday. When riding in the truck, I usually wear pajamas and then have an outfit to wear when we go into places.
I was very proud of myself in that I had left the house clean and all the laundry was done. We left at 11:30 am last Sunday with a load that had to be in Arlington, TN at 6 a.m.Monday. The drive was pretty uneventful, at this time, and we drove as far as Winfield, Alabama. We had a decent meal at the Huddle House there and then we took a little sleep break at a Pilot Truck stop before traveling the rest of the way to Arlington.
We arrived in Arlington, TN at the appointment time and "Cool Whip" was loaded onto his truck. Believe it or not, this is a very heavy load. It is loaded into what is known as a "Reefer" unit (refrigerated). After getting loaded, we left and drove for a little while. His dispatcher called with a load for Tuesday going to Fletcher, NC. We ended up stopping at The Cracker Barrel in Jasper, AL. I decided to get the Cracker Barrel Sampler which included their chicken & dumplings, a very tiny piece of country ham and a thin sliver of meatloaf. I also got turnip greens and a baked sweet potato. Usually, at every CB I have ever been to, they bring out your bread while you are waiting on your meal. This one didn't. They brought the bread (biscuits only, I had wanted corn muffins) with the meal. They put the my baked sweet potato on the plate right beside the chicken n' dumplings and it was coated with the juices. I tried to eat the chicken and dumplings but they were very bland and are definitely overrated to be called "Famous".
After eating, we drove for a little further then took a break somewhere in Georgia. The weather was very mild so we didn't need to leave the truck idling with the air conditioner on. We left the 2 windows down halfway, and opened the windows at the top of the truck in the back. Somewhere around 2am, we were woke up by a storm with a lot of thunder and lightning. We closed the windows and went back to sleep, got up and left. We traveled to Hanahan to drop off the load at the terminal and pick up the next one.
Tony needed fuel and it was too early so we took a small break in Jacksonboro, SC. Jacksonboro is only 10 miles from our house but I decided to rough it out and continue on with Tony.
Needless to say we overslept. Have you ever watched the television show "Family Guy"? There is a recurring scene where Peter's neighbor, Cleveland is in his house taking a bath. Peter does one of his normal idiotic moves and ends up blowing up Cleveland's bathroom, at which time, they show Cleveland and his bath tub sliding out of the opening and into the yard. While he is falling, he is yelling, "No, No, No, No!" I was laying down and when Tony realized that he had overslept, he sounded just like Cleveland.
I need to stop right here and tell you that I am a terrible wife. I constantly make fun of my husband about everything. My Tony is a terrific man and doesn't take any of my "picking" to heart. I pick on him about the way he eats, what he eats, the way he drives and the things he does. He had gotten some SmartWater and was drinking them. My "picking" theme of the week was that the "SmartWater" was not working.
Anytime we have the dogs with us, Tony always walks them. Since we were running behind schedule I decided to be nice and walk them while he was fueling up. I take them behind the store to a grassy area so they can do their business. While out there, this older lady brings her Ancient English Bulldog back there as well. My dogs go ballistic. Jezzy, the small one, thinks she is a freaking Doberman and will try to go up against anything, any size. I am trying to get my dogs away from this dog and this lady and in the process, Jezzy wraps her leash all around Nikita and it is choking her. I am trying to get Nikita unraveled (she is laying on her back gasping for air) and the lady just smiles at me and brings her dog over to where I am at. Her poor dog is pitiful and can hardly maneuver a 3 inch curb. Finally I get them loose and put them back in the truck and tell Tony, "This is why I don't walk the dogs!". He, of course, finds it all very comical.
We get on the road, heading to Fletcher, NC. Tony had not caught his log book up for the day and there was a "scale house" (weigh station) coming up so he asks me to fill out his log book. There are a lot of lines and stuff you have to draw as to when you are on duty, off duty, etc. I can hardly draw a straight line sitting still, so you can imagine what this looked like while riding and trying to draw these lines. Needless to say, the scale house was closed but at least his log book was up to date. Also while riding down the road, I had a cigarette fly back in the window and ended up down the back of my pants. I guess that was my payback for littering!!
Not sure what the load was but we were late for the appointment. He still got loaded in a reasonable amount of time and had been dispatched for a run the next day in Albany, GA. We ended up at a TA truckstop for the night near Greenville, SC. I had the best meal at the American Pride restaurant located in the TA. After eating, I went outside to smoke while Tony perused the phone chargers. For some reason my phone wasn't charging. Tony was unable to make a decision on a charger so I had to go back in and help him choose which one. After said charger was purchased we went out to the truck and went to sleep. When we woke up, we realized that the dogs (probably Jezzy) had broken into a carryout box from Cracker Barrel and ate a couple of biscuits and all of the butter.
Tony likes a lot of the time to avoid the interstate and take back roads. I love going the back roads IN THE DAYTIME!! On the way to Albany, we went through some quaint little towns in Georgia. In fact, the route he took was a route I had taken with my Daddy when I was a little girl. We ended up going through Claxton (famous for their fruit cakes) and Vidalia (famous for Vidalia sweet onions) in Georgia. Also on Route 301 in South Carolina and Georgia, they had the old welcome centers. It was a later appointment so we didn't have to hurry but there was no where we found we really wanted to stop and eat at until we were 10 miles away from the place. I had found this place called, Salt Licks Sausage & Meats that had a restaurant in it, so we decided that we would stop there on the way out. Note: we were an hour early for his 5pm appointment time. We were also both exhausted as well by this time. He checked in with the shipping office and they told him to turn his CB to channel 12. He wasn't sure how strong their CB was so there was a lot of static/squelch on our CB. He went in the back and laid down, but me being the nice one (LOL) sat up front and listened to the static for 2 hours. They never used the CB, a guy came out and told us what bay to go to. I could have laid down as well. They also had a "truckers lounge" in the building which I had to take advantage of to use the restroom. You could definitely tell that men were the main ones to use it. (Sorry if I offended anyone).
It took them 3 hours to load us! As par for the course, by the time we were loaded the place had closed for the night. As I stated earlier, I love going the back roads during the daytime. At night, it is entirely too dark and now that the Interstate systems are in full swing all of these little diners and such are no longer open because the big truck stops on the interstate has run them out of business. We were starving. Also on the way out of Georgia, Jezzy had to go to the bathroom very bad and there was no where to pull over. When Tony is looking for something, in this case a place to pull over so Jezzy could use do her business, he drives 60 miles an hour and then fusses when it comes up too fast for him to stop. We finally get to the "old style" Georgia Welcome Center and he pulls in and Jezzy does her business. By this time, I had her on her leash and not letting her get out of her bed so she didn't do her business in the truck. Also by this time, I am sleepy, hungry and would love a cup of coffee.
When on the road with Tony I try to "hang" with him and help him stay awake. I have some circulation problems in my legs and needless to say, both of my ankles were the same size as my calves after 3 days on the toad. I also tend to smoke a lot when I am on the road and I am not a fan at all of fast food. It is very hard to get nutritious meals, which is so bad for me since I am an insulin dependent diabetic.
Tony had been dispatched for the next day to what he thought was Beaufort, GA. I am looking it up and can't find it. When we got to Hanahan to get the next load, I realized it was Buford, GA not Beaufort. Tony programs the address into his GPS which I call a POS (piece of sh**) because he has had it for a lot of years and it has never been updated. A lot of the places that he goes to is not on there and he usually has one of his fits, even though he has Google Maps on his phone, he won't use it. If I am with him or even if I am at home, he will call me and I will look it all up for him and give him the directions.
Finally, at 9:30 Thursday morning, I get a cup of coffee. I also get something to eat but I couldn't eat but a very little; the coffee was awesome though! Tony usually talks to 4 of his trucking buddies throughout the week except for David, who is a truck driver as well but also lives with us. The other 3 are a guy from Connecticut named Danny, Jim, a guy that started at TLD (no longer there) the same time Tony did and Old School, a current TLD driver that I call Mr.Ronnie.
Buford is close to Atlanta, Georgia. Driving in the vicinity of Atlanta is very tricky and interesting. At one point, we saw an out of state Florida deputy sheriff swerving all over the road. When we got up to pass him, I looked down into his car and he was playing on his computer on the console. If I had noted his county, I would have called them and made a complaint. There was no sense in that. Other idiotic drivers were texting, on their phones and one was even reading a book on her steering wheel and then of course the impatient drivers!!
After getting loaded with vats of crunchy peanut butter in Buford, we drive a little way to Madison, GA. I had called the TA truckstop and reserved a parking space (they fill up very fast) for the night. I always forget to bring my handicapped placard, otherwise we could have parked for free. We get there and go in and eat(the meal was not impressive) and we are both asleep by 10pm. We didn't wake up until 10 am.
He has a short run to Catawba, SC for Friday but it has to be back at the Hanahan terminal by 7am Saturday. Catawba runs can be delivered 24/7.
Finally, at 3:15am Saturday we arrive home, This was a very eventful week but I am glad to be home. All of the picking and aggravation, these are moments with my husband that can never be taken away and I will cherish them forever. But it is going to be awhile before I go on another run!!
I decided to go with Tony last week on a run. When I go on trips with him, we always take the 2 dogs with us since I have determined no one can take care of them the proper way. In the truck, they have their own bed, blanket, and feeding and water bowls. As you will find out, through my writings, our "babies" are very spoiled.
Jezzy on the top bunk with Tony
Jezzy on the top bunk with Tony
Nikita on the bottom bunk
Nikita in her bed in the front floorboard
To prepare for a trip, I usually buy a few "snack" items to tide us over between eating breaks. I also have to pack for the dogs and myself. I figured that I would be back no later than Tuesday morning so I only packed clothes to last until Tuesday. When riding in the truck, I usually wear pajamas and then have an outfit to wear when we go into places.
I was very proud of myself in that I had left the house clean and all the laundry was done. We left at 11:30 am last Sunday with a load that had to be in Arlington, TN at 6 a.m.Monday. The drive was pretty uneventful, at this time, and we drove as far as Winfield, Alabama. We had a decent meal at the Huddle House there and then we took a little sleep break at a Pilot Truck stop before traveling the rest of the way to Arlington.
We arrived in Arlington, TN at the appointment time and "Cool Whip" was loaded onto his truck. Believe it or not, this is a very heavy load. It is loaded into what is known as a "Reefer" unit (refrigerated). After getting loaded, we left and drove for a little while. His dispatcher called with a load for Tuesday going to Fletcher, NC. We ended up stopping at The Cracker Barrel in Jasper, AL. I decided to get the Cracker Barrel Sampler which included their chicken & dumplings, a very tiny piece of country ham and a thin sliver of meatloaf. I also got turnip greens and a baked sweet potato. Usually, at every CB I have ever been to, they bring out your bread while you are waiting on your meal. This one didn't. They brought the bread (biscuits only, I had wanted corn muffins) with the meal. They put the my baked sweet potato on the plate right beside the chicken n' dumplings and it was coated with the juices. I tried to eat the chicken and dumplings but they were very bland and are definitely overrated to be called "Famous".
After eating, we drove for a little further then took a break somewhere in Georgia. The weather was very mild so we didn't need to leave the truck idling with the air conditioner on. We left the 2 windows down halfway, and opened the windows at the top of the truck in the back. Somewhere around 2am, we were woke up by a storm with a lot of thunder and lightning. We closed the windows and went back to sleep, got up and left. We traveled to Hanahan to drop off the load at the terminal and pick up the next one.
Tony needed fuel and it was too early so we took a small break in Jacksonboro, SC. Jacksonboro is only 10 miles from our house but I decided to rough it out and continue on with Tony.
Needless to say we overslept. Have you ever watched the television show "Family Guy"? There is a recurring scene where Peter's neighbor, Cleveland is in his house taking a bath. Peter does one of his normal idiotic moves and ends up blowing up Cleveland's bathroom, at which time, they show Cleveland and his bath tub sliding out of the opening and into the yard. While he is falling, he is yelling, "No, No, No, No!" I was laying down and when Tony realized that he had overslept, he sounded just like Cleveland.
I need to stop right here and tell you that I am a terrible wife. I constantly make fun of my husband about everything. My Tony is a terrific man and doesn't take any of my "picking" to heart. I pick on him about the way he eats, what he eats, the way he drives and the things he does. He had gotten some SmartWater and was drinking them. My "picking" theme of the week was that the "SmartWater" was not working.
Anytime we have the dogs with us, Tony always walks them. Since we were running behind schedule I decided to be nice and walk them while he was fueling up. I take them behind the store to a grassy area so they can do their business. While out there, this older lady brings her Ancient English Bulldog back there as well. My dogs go ballistic. Jezzy, the small one, thinks she is a freaking Doberman and will try to go up against anything, any size. I am trying to get my dogs away from this dog and this lady and in the process, Jezzy wraps her leash all around Nikita and it is choking her. I am trying to get Nikita unraveled (she is laying on her back gasping for air) and the lady just smiles at me and brings her dog over to where I am at. Her poor dog is pitiful and can hardly maneuver a 3 inch curb. Finally I get them loose and put them back in the truck and tell Tony, "This is why I don't walk the dogs!". He, of course, finds it all very comical.
We get on the road, heading to Fletcher, NC. Tony had not caught his log book up for the day and there was a "scale house" (weigh station) coming up so he asks me to fill out his log book. There are a lot of lines and stuff you have to draw as to when you are on duty, off duty, etc. I can hardly draw a straight line sitting still, so you can imagine what this looked like while riding and trying to draw these lines. Needless to say, the scale house was closed but at least his log book was up to date. Also while riding down the road, I had a cigarette fly back in the window and ended up down the back of my pants. I guess that was my payback for littering!!
Not sure what the load was but we were late for the appointment. He still got loaded in a reasonable amount of time and had been dispatched for a run the next day in Albany, GA. We ended up at a TA truckstop for the night near Greenville, SC. I had the best meal at the American Pride restaurant located in the TA. After eating, I went outside to smoke while Tony perused the phone chargers. For some reason my phone wasn't charging. Tony was unable to make a decision on a charger so I had to go back in and help him choose which one. After said charger was purchased we went out to the truck and went to sleep. When we woke up, we realized that the dogs (probably Jezzy) had broken into a carryout box from Cracker Barrel and ate a couple of biscuits and all of the butter.
Tony likes a lot of the time to avoid the interstate and take back roads. I love going the back roads IN THE DAYTIME!! On the way to Albany, we went through some quaint little towns in Georgia. In fact, the route he took was a route I had taken with my Daddy when I was a little girl. We ended up going through Claxton (famous for their fruit cakes) and Vidalia (famous for Vidalia sweet onions) in Georgia. Also on Route 301 in South Carolina and Georgia, they had the old welcome centers. It was a later appointment so we didn't have to hurry but there was no where we found we really wanted to stop and eat at until we were 10 miles away from the place. I had found this place called, Salt Licks Sausage & Meats that had a restaurant in it, so we decided that we would stop there on the way out. Note: we were an hour early for his 5pm appointment time. We were also both exhausted as well by this time. He checked in with the shipping office and they told him to turn his CB to channel 12. He wasn't sure how strong their CB was so there was a lot of static/squelch on our CB. He went in the back and laid down, but me being the nice one (LOL) sat up front and listened to the static for 2 hours. They never used the CB, a guy came out and told us what bay to go to. I could have laid down as well. They also had a "truckers lounge" in the building which I had to take advantage of to use the restroom. You could definitely tell that men were the main ones to use it. (Sorry if I offended anyone).
It took them 3 hours to load us! As par for the course, by the time we were loaded the place had closed for the night. As I stated earlier, I love going the back roads during the daytime. At night, it is entirely too dark and now that the Interstate systems are in full swing all of these little diners and such are no longer open because the big truck stops on the interstate has run them out of business. We were starving. Also on the way out of Georgia, Jezzy had to go to the bathroom very bad and there was no where to pull over. When Tony is looking for something, in this case a place to pull over so Jezzy could use do her business, he drives 60 miles an hour and then fusses when it comes up too fast for him to stop. We finally get to the "old style" Georgia Welcome Center and he pulls in and Jezzy does her business. By this time, I had her on her leash and not letting her get out of her bed so she didn't do her business in the truck. Also by this time, I am sleepy, hungry and would love a cup of coffee.
When on the road with Tony I try to "hang" with him and help him stay awake. I have some circulation problems in my legs and needless to say, both of my ankles were the same size as my calves after 3 days on the toad. I also tend to smoke a lot when I am on the road and I am not a fan at all of fast food. It is very hard to get nutritious meals, which is so bad for me since I am an insulin dependent diabetic.
Tony had been dispatched for the next day to what he thought was Beaufort, GA. I am looking it up and can't find it. When we got to Hanahan to get the next load, I realized it was Buford, GA not Beaufort. Tony programs the address into his GPS which I call a POS (piece of sh**) because he has had it for a lot of years and it has never been updated. A lot of the places that he goes to is not on there and he usually has one of his fits, even though he has Google Maps on his phone, he won't use it. If I am with him or even if I am at home, he will call me and I will look it all up for him and give him the directions.
Finally, at 9:30 Thursday morning, I get a cup of coffee. I also get something to eat but I couldn't eat but a very little; the coffee was awesome though! Tony usually talks to 4 of his trucking buddies throughout the week except for David, who is a truck driver as well but also lives with us. The other 3 are a guy from Connecticut named Danny, Jim, a guy that started at TLD (no longer there) the same time Tony did and Old School, a current TLD driver that I call Mr.Ronnie.
Buford is close to Atlanta, Georgia. Driving in the vicinity of Atlanta is very tricky and interesting. At one point, we saw an out of state Florida deputy sheriff swerving all over the road. When we got up to pass him, I looked down into his car and he was playing on his computer on the console. If I had noted his county, I would have called them and made a complaint. There was no sense in that. Other idiotic drivers were texting, on their phones and one was even reading a book on her steering wheel and then of course the impatient drivers!!
After getting loaded with vats of crunchy peanut butter in Buford, we drive a little way to Madison, GA. I had called the TA truckstop and reserved a parking space (they fill up very fast) for the night. I always forget to bring my handicapped placard, otherwise we could have parked for free. We get there and go in and eat(the meal was not impressive) and we are both asleep by 10pm. We didn't wake up until 10 am.
He has a short run to Catawba, SC for Friday but it has to be back at the Hanahan terminal by 7am Saturday. Catawba runs can be delivered 24/7.
Finally, at 3:15am Saturday we arrive home, This was a very eventful week but I am glad to be home. All of the picking and aggravation, these are moments with my husband that can never be taken away and I will cherish them forever. But it is going to be awhile before I go on another run!!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Hey Y'all!!
My name is Patty and I live in Walterboro, South Carolina. I am married to Tony and we have a grown daughter, Victoria. We share our home with 3 "furbabies", Nikita, a 10 year old long haired dachshund; Jezzy, a 3 year old very small short haired dachshund and Teka, a 1 year old cat.
Today I am starting my blog. This blog is going to have a lot of things on it and it may change as time passes. This is a place for me to post my recipes and things that I post on my Facebook page: Pattycake's Recipe Exchange. I am also starting to do freelance writing so this may be a place for me to try out my articles and such. I decided to start this specifically for writing about my "Travels with Tony". Tony is a truck driver and I occasionally go with him on runs. It is never a dull moment and I feel like sharing some of these hilarious stories.
I am just starting out, so please bear with me and I look forward to sharing with you.
Today I am starting my blog. This blog is going to have a lot of things on it and it may change as time passes. This is a place for me to post my recipes and things that I post on my Facebook page: Pattycake's Recipe Exchange. I am also starting to do freelance writing so this may be a place for me to try out my articles and such. I decided to start this specifically for writing about my "Travels with Tony". Tony is a truck driver and I occasionally go with him on runs. It is never a dull moment and I feel like sharing some of these hilarious stories.
I am just starting out, so please bear with me and I look forward to sharing with you.
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