Paula Deen's Grilled Apple, Bacon, and Cheddar Sandwich with Roasted Red Onion Mayo

Wow, that title is a mouthful, isn't it? How 'bout just Grilled Cheese?

Okay, I realize that to call this simply a grilled cheese sandwich is a bit like calling Multi BIS/Ch. Chudrinka's Dance In The Wind SDX by the name Breezy. But that's a really long name for a sandwich. Even it's acronym, PD's GABCSRROM, doesn't work. So, grilled cheese it is. Albeit a more flavorful, filling, delicious grown up version of your basic grilled cheese sandwich that Big pup lives on. But whatever you call it, it is heavenly.

2 slices thick cut sourdough or another hearty bread (I used wheat)
4 slices thick cut bacon, cooked crisp
4 slices of cheddar cheese
1/2 Granny Smith apple, cored, sliced thin
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup of mayo
salt and pepper
butter

Toss onion, oil, salt and pepper together on small rimmed baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove, let cool. Transfer to a blender, add mayo and pulse till smooth and creamy.

Heat skillet over medium heat. Spread 1 slice of bread with red onion mayo, top with 2 slices of cheddar, then the bacon, next the apple slices, the rest of the cheddar, finishing with another slice of bread that's been slathered with red onion mayo. Butter the outside of each slice of bread and add to the hot skillet. It's easier to build this sandwich in the skillet.

Happy 67th Birthday Daddy!

See that little boy in the middle? He grew up to be the exact opposite of a lazy dog. He knows everything and can do anything. He does have one peculiar trait that I'm glad I didn't inherit though: he doesn't like sweets. Imagine never knowing the joy of chocolate cake topped with chocolate cool whip and crushed oreos. No, that's a world I'd rather not live in, thank you very much.


When he was growing up in the 1940's and '50's, all the kids at school had to eat all the food on their plates before they could leave the lunchroom. Including dessert. And as much as he hated to, the teacher would always make him finish his dessert. Then he would go outside and throw it up. And it's not just desserts he doesn't like, it's anything with a hint of sweetness to it, like spaghetti/tomato sauce or barbeque sauce. He can tolerate an ice cream sandwich, though. But only half. Half. I could eat 3. In the bathroom. With the lights out. I have dessert issues, too.

Atlanta

A Nascar pit crew can change 4 tires in under 15 seconds. Do you know how long it takes Walmart to change 4 tires? 6 hours! WD and I learned that very expensive lesson Sunday. But onto more pleasant news....

To commemorate Jeff Gordon's Cup debut at Atlanta 15 years ago, he delivered the "Gentlemen, start your engines" command which I thought was a very cool idea. I wish he had put a little more passion into it though. Remember Matthew McConaughey 's delivery? Just like that. Although, anything is better than when they get the ceo of the company that sponsors the race. Boring.

Richard Petty starts the race waving the green flag and loses his hat in the process. It sat on the frontstretch for awhile but they didn't even let him wave a yellow for debris on the track. Go figure.

I did not have access to Elliott Sadler's in car audio yesterday but he must've had a good car. He started 10th and finished 14th. At one point he had dropped to the 33rd position and I figured it would be another one of those races. I was very happy to see him finish so well. I would have been happier if he had gotten some TV time. Maybe next year...

Another exciting finish. Denny Hamlin gambled on staying out during a caution with 10 laps to go but lost. He ran out of gas on the restart and caused a mass of cars to jumble up which took out leaders Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch. The race ended under yellow as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s tire came off which sent him into the wall hard. It looked bad but he climbed out okay. No bow this time, though.

Jimmie Johnson gets the win, Mark Martin gets the Red Lantern, and we're in Texas next Sunday. And this time I mean that literally--WD and I are headed to the Lone Star state this weekend!

Five Dollars Richer

When I was kid, I hated when a tooth would come loose. My mother was always on me about pulling it as soon as possible so the new tooth would come in straight. I was always afraid it would hurt so I never reached in there and yanked one out. At least not for a quarter. I do remember one time Angie and I tied one end of a string around our cousin Ginger's loose tooth and the other end of the string around a door knob. Then we shut the door. Nothing happened. The string kept slipping off her tooth. I hope the pups have Ginger's brave attitude instead of my fearful one.


The other night as I tucked the pups into bed I decided to introduce the whole concept of loosing teeth and the tooth fairy. I don't think I've ever discussed it with Big pup and since he's approaching 6 I thought it would be good idea to give him a heads up before teeth start Falling! Out! Of! His! Mouth! He took the news well, especially when he learned there was money involved. I wonder, what's the going rate for teeth these days?

Happy 88th Birthday Granny H!

This is a picture of my grandmother, Edna, taken in 1944 with her husband and 2 (of 3) pups. Just 25 years old with 3 kids and a husband in the war. Know what I was doing when I was 25? Sleeping till noon on Saturdays, eating dozens of blueberry muffins slathered with butter, catching up on a weeks worth of Days of Our Lives on the vcr. Yep. It was rough.

The other day we were sitting on her front porch, watching Little pup play with the kittens, when she started telling stories of what it was like growing up in the 1920's and 30's. I learned how they stored their meat in a smokehouse while the milk was lowered down into a well to keep cool. And although she enjoyed churning butter, making soap was her least favorite of all the chores. They raised cattle and hogs for meat, chickens for meat and eggs, grew all their vegetables and fruit. Occasionally, they would hitch up Jeff (their favorite horse) to the wagon and head to Bangert's store where they would trade or sell some of their goods for things like sugar or flour.

But my favorite story and Granny's favorite memory involved doughnuts. Every once in a while, Granny's mother would make a huge batch of yeast doughnuts that filled a dishpan right up to the top. Granny, her 4 brothers, and all the kids in the neighborhood got together and ate doughnuts, drank lemonade, and played games. And by the end of the day, the dishpan would be empty.

Mmmm...doughnuts. Yeast doughnuts. Light, airy, Krispy Kreme-like doughnuts. Which, by the way, was founded in 1937. But to hear Granny talk, Vernon Rudolph had nothing on her momma's doughnuts. And although I don't have her exact recipe (I believe it involved the use of hog lard), here's one that's a Krispy Kreme knock off that sounds pretty good. Someone needs to fix me up a dishpan full of these!

Happy 8th Birthday Lexie!

Early 2000, I started searching the internet to find another Siberian Husky. As people with dogs know, they are like potato chips, you can't have just one. Plus, Howard was almost 2 years old and needed a playmate. We didn't check the newspaper for breeders. We had done that with Howard and had since learned more about the unethical business of "backyard breeders." With so many unwanted dogs in shelters and rescue groups, we were sure there was a young, red and white, female Siberian out there just for us. Unfortunately, searching Arkansas' shelter websites left us empty handed, so I decided to check out some Siberian Husky rescue groups in the surrounding states.

One such group, Husky Haven, is located in Houston, Texas which was about an 8 hour drive from where we were living. I didn't think it was too far to drive for a dog so I clicked on their website and there she was! A 4 month old, red and white, female named Sadie. I immediately sent them an email. Several days passed and finally, on Valentine's Day we got a call telling us to come on down and get her. So the very next day we drove to Houston and I was in heaven. Huskies everywhere! I kept saying to WD, "she's perfect! she's so perfect!" We brought her back to Arkansas, changed her name to Lexie (after the wrestler Lex Lugar), and she quickly adapted to our family, letting Howard know early on that she's the head Siberian.

A couple of month's after we brought her home, I sent a letter on Lexie's behalf to HuskyHaven. It's towards the end of the page--8th from the bottom. It brings back a lot of memories. And although I don't spend as much time with her as I did before I had children, I still think she's perfect.

Big Pup's Big Break

This is the story of how Big pup broke his arm. Aka DHS case #571124.


Saturday night (10-13-07) we were just sitting around, flipping channels, watching Elliott Sadler lose on ABC and watching Arkansas lose on ESPN. The pups weren't interested in either one. They wanted to wrestle. So WD obliged. As WD and Little pup wrestled on the floor, Big pup decided to jump over WD. 1st jump? No problem. 2nd, 3rd, 4th jump? Still no problem. 5th jump? Big problem. Big pup didn't quite clear his daddy, tripped, fell, and landed awkwardly on his right arm. He immediately reached for his elbow and started crying. He was in a lot of pain. He held his arm close to him and had to be carried from couch to bed, bed to couch, all night. He woke up every hour and was popping grape Tylenols every 4 hours but nothing seemed to help.


Sunday morning he was still in pain and his arm was still swollen so we took him to the ER. We were hoping for just a really bad sprain but the x-rays showed a break at the elbow. More specifically, a type 2 supracondylar humerus fracture. He was actually very good. He cooperated with the nurses and didn't even cry when they wrapped his arm in a splint. I wish I could say I behaved as well as he did. I felt so lightheaded and thought I was going to be sick. The doctor had to move Big pup over so I could lie down next to him on the hospital bed. So embarrassing. The doctor turned to WD and said, "Don't you wish you had a picture of this?"


Monday morning we met with an orthopedic surgeon. He explained that because of where the break was at, 2 pins would have to be inserted to hold it in place for it to heal. Surgery was not what we were wanting to hear. It seemed like the news was getting worse and worse. We went from the orthopedic clinic to the hospital and completed the admittance paperwork and then we went to the Catholic church in that city and had the parish priest bless Big pup's arm.


Tuesday morning came quickly. We had to be there at 6 a.m. for surgery at 7:30 a.m. When we got there they put his hospital gown on, checked his temperature and heart rate, and gave him some very bad tasting medicine to relax him. And relax him it did. He was a little goofy and kept asking everyone their name. The nurses were very nice and gave him a toy monkey to take home.


At 7:30 a.m. they wheeled him into the OR, but not before I gave him about 5 kisses--he said he wanted a million (awwwww!) The procedure didn't take long at all and it wasn't long before they were wheeling him back into his room. They wanted us to go ahead and start trying to wake him up but he was out like a light. Eventually, he started coming around and they brought him some Sprite. He did get a little upset when he saw his other arm was wrapped up too and said "They gave me 2 casts?!" Actually, it was holding his IV in place. The nurse removed it and we got him dressed and said our goodbyes. He slept on the couch the rest of the day, waking late in the evening for ramen noodles, sprite, and pain medications.


Wednesday, he was up and around, playing with toys, even making a trip with WD to pick up his homework from school.


Thursday, he went back to school and everything is back to normal. Thank goodness. It was a long week!