Coffee Brewer Monday, Good Morning All!

I’m off to a late start this Monday morning and oh what a weekend in New England we just went through with the Blizzard of 2013 and we have a ton of snow outside!

Blizzard of 2013

We were so afraid of losing power that I went into “Cook Mode Overload” on the morning of the storm. I made chicken cutlets for sandwiches, fried chicken strips with a lime mayonnaise dipping sauce, a large batch of macaroni salad with tuna, celery and jalapenos, all stuff we could eat cold when and if the power should fail (thankfully we didn’t lose our power but sooo many others did along with their heat as well).

I did however, make my Zesty Bean Gravy which is an old staple dish that got people through rough times on short change but I love it all the time plus I added your usual VPC twist to it and it’s soooo yummy! I start with fresh light kidney beans and soak them overnight. The next morning I rinse them and put them in a pot of cold water just to cover and bring to a boil on the stove, cover then reduce to a simmer for 2 hours. I keep checking the water level and add more as it gets low. While that’s cooking I chop sweet vidalia onion, green peppers, jalapenos and garlic, salt and pepper and add all of it to the beans along with some bacon grease and fresh lime juice and zest then cook for another 2 hours until its thick and creamy and yummy. This is one of those dishes where you could add a ham bone or hock to the beans or even short ribs! What you do at the end is break open a fresh made corn biscuit and top it with this gravy or top a baked potato! What “I” like to do with it is serve it over tortilla chips with cheddar cheese and sour cream but you could also roll it in a soft flour tortilla and eat it as a bean burrito. I have it the next morning heated next to 2 over easy eggs and it’s to die for.

Zesty Bean Gravy

After that one hot dish, I turned up the heat and fridge and we hunkered down for the blizzard with wine, and snacks and we waited for the MeTV Blizzard of ’78 Special to come on. It was a great show and bought back so many memories. Our electricity flickered a couple of times but never went out. A couple weeks ago we had a few days of 60 degree weather and here we are in a blizzard…only in New England. And of course AFTER the storm, I just had to make fresh Snow Cream out of the freshly fallen snow!

Snow Cream

This morning we have freezing rain and another school snow day so my soon to be 11 year old (tomorrow) daughter and I are going back to bed to watch movies all day. I hear we have more snow on the way this weekend so, all we can do is Let it Snow!! Hey, that cute little coffee mug in the feature photo is hand painted by Ruby Red Bird Designs, isn’t it adorable?

Stay warm where you are and until Friday my friends, have a great week and Drink It In!!

Luv, Your VPC~