This Ain't Rocket Science, It's Food

Plastic tubes and pots and pans, bits and pieces and, Magic from the hand, We're makin' Weird Science!

2011-02-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

Remember when I did that post about the flowers blooming in my house?

Well.... I rubbed the pollen of the striped one onto the stamen of the solid bright pink one, AND... got it knocked up!! Evidence in the first pic! Those there are seed pods, when they dry out, I will have seeds, and then I can plant them, and wait for them to germinate, and sprout, and grow, and then after a year or so of developing a mature bulb, I will get to see what my very own flower looks like!! I feel like a Mad Scientist!

Hopefully we'll still be on Island when that happens so I'll get to see what my creation looks like! (I'd hate to have to break customs laws bringing plants across borders to find out).

Next we have my new hair, I dye it myself. It's and involved process, and no I'm not a hairdresser, I just pretend on my own head. I was pleased as punch that my rainbow turned out tho! Oh, and none of the color anywhere on my head is mine, I have no idea what color any of my hair actually is.

The next two are Jan 29, Steak and Eggplant Parmesan. Grilled the steak on, you guessed it, my grill pan, with S&P, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce. The eggplant is sliced thin, dredged in corn starched, dipped in seasoned eggs, then breaded, layered in a pan with parmesan cheese, and havarti and a thin layer of marinara sauce, repeat till pan is full. I used 1 jar of sauce 7 slices of cheese, 3/4 canister of bread crumbs, 6 eggs, 6 thin japanese eggplant. cook for 1 hr (till fork tender). Everyone loves this dish, and it makes a lot, so we all eat it for lunch a couple of days later (and it tastes better then!)

Last is from 30 Jan, I did Vanilla waffles with peach syrup. The syrup was easy, blendered 2 cans of peaches with the juice (I get the kind packed in 100% juice), add 1 cup sugar, boil till thick, let cool. The waffles, 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 3 tbs Sugar, 3 eggs, 2 oz melted butter, 8oz milk, 8oz sour cream. Combine dry ingredients, beat eggs, add milk to butter slowly, and then combine eggs and sour cream to milk/butter. Mix wet and dry. pour in your favorite waffle iron (makes great pancakes too). To make them vanilla add 1 tbs vanilla.

Now I'm all caught up, hopefully I"ll keep caught up, but once a week seems a little easier? eh, I'll be happy with what I get, and if this is actually helping someone to cook every once in a while!

This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.

2011-02-02T20:11:00.000-08:00

Because I failed at the blog everyday in January, here's what I cooked but didn't have time to post, because of sick kids, an entire house full of closet rearrangements, a new calling at church (I'm helping the Boy Scouts now), and DH's having to go to the gym most everyday after work for mandatory PT. Things are out of order, but I will tell you when I made them.

Top: is the newest addition from last night, Sweet Italian Sausage and Spinach Tortellini with more spinach and cream. I just heated up 10 sausage in my large skillet, turning to cook evenly. I get these bags of dried stuffed tortellini in the pasta section, they have a bit of cheese and spinach in them, but are rather dry if you don't put something on them once they are boiled. I've tried Alfredo sauce and Marinara sauce but both are too flavorful for the filling and ruin the pasta. I now just use a 2 cups of cream and 1lb of frozen spinach (salt pepper, garlic to taste) to make a "sauce" that mimics the filling of the pasta. It's not a regular sauce it's more like a coating to keep the pasta moist. DH asked for sausage to go with this (he actually requested this whole meal, which is an event worth noting) but later told me he didn't care for this particular sausage. go figure. This cooks up fast, just as fast as it takes for water to boil and pasta to soften. The older kids an I had to eat this in the car on the way to our Wed night Church activities, not the way I like to eat my meals at all, but better than fast food.

25 Jan: Grilled Chicken breast strips, Feild peas with green beans, egg noodles with herbs and parmesean cheese. I used my handy grill pan (it's a large pan that has raised ridges in it for grilling on your stove top) an seasoned the strips with dried Mustard, Oregano, S&P, Garlic and Onion Powders. Cooked the veg in my cast iron with my usual Ham Flavor. Spiked the Egg noodles with Olive Oil, Parm, Salt, Garlic, Parsley.

24 Jan: Curry. Thinly slice the sukiyaki into strips and then cut the other direction to create squares, saute in Wok with Soy and garlic. Add 2 cans Mushrooms, 1lb bag Frozen spinach, and 2 blocks of curry sauce. In the Grocery (ethnic asile) there are blocks of "golden curry" sauce, I use one mild, and one medium block. There are directions on the back. I used my rice cooker for the rice. Japanese curry isn't like Indian curry, it's more like a gravy, and it's thick and slightly sweet. You can put what ever kind of veggies you like in it.

23 Jan: Fettuccine Alfredo, Honey glazed chicken thighs, Broccoli and mushrooms saute. In the grill pan cooked the boneless skinless thighs with Gourmet Burger seasoning on them, then I made a sauce with equal parts Brown mustard, honey, and Ranch dressing (about 1 Cup in all) piled all the chicken on a platter and poured the glaze over it and let them sit in it while still hot from the pan. Sauted 1 lb broccoli and 1/2lb fresh mushrroms with 1/4 stick of butter and 2tbs soy in the grill pan (lots of good flavor in that pan from the chicken). The Alfredo was from a jar.

22 Jan: Clam Chowder. Chop 4 large potatoes place in bowl and par cook them in microwave (like I do for mashed potatoes). In my large Crock Pot, dump the par cooked potatoes, and their liquid, 1lb frozen corn, 2 cans chopped clams, 1 can whole clams, 1 box chicken stock, 1 pt cream, 1/2 lb bacon (I cooked mine under the broiler) crispy and then chopped tiny, salt to taste. Cook on high till potatoes are tender, then on warm till ready to eat. DD#1 wanted this, and ate nearly 3 bowls of it, and then begged to take it to school for lunch.

Did my time, took my chances Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet

2011-01-21T20:45:00.000-08:00

We had a small bug hit our house this week, and while only DD#2 got it, she's the most work for me when someone is ill. Since she is still in that baby phase (she turns 2 middle of next month), and not talking ALL the way yet, it's just hard. And there were a couple days were the fever meds weren't helping. So I got little sleep, I was a Zombie Mom for a few days, and I just didn't make it here to blog.

So you get a 4 in 1 today. Lucky you!

First up (17 Jan) : Talapia fillets with teriyaki sauce. I just took the fish, and dumped the glaze over them, rinsed the bottle with water, added that, and broiled (cook for about 8ish min on each side). Steamed green beans, and rice in the rice cooker. I served everything in bowls because the teriyaki sauce was doing all the work for this meal.

Secondly (18 Jan) : Pan fried Scallopini (thinly sliced pork loin). I dredge it in seasoned flour; that I keep in a zip-top bag in the freezer (everyone has one of these right, a bag of seasoned flour in the freezer, that's TOTALLY normal), then fry in my cast iron skillet till golden brown, and then flip over to cook the other side. (I season my flour with garlic, onion, salt, pepper, dry mustard, paprika, and some hot wing seasoning (not sure what's in there, but it's a lil spicy) there's probably a table spoon of each of these things in the 4 cups of flour I use, I mix it all up, and keep it in the freezer, using it for all my dredging needs, pork chops, chicken, scallopini, till it's gone, instead of making a batch every time I need some cause I'm lazy and cheap). Pasta with marinara (just used a jar of what ever I had in the pantry) I added about 3/4 c Sour Cream to make a blush sauce, and some steamed corn.

Third (19 Jan) : Korean Style ribs, rice, glazed carrots, steamed soy beans. I seasoned the ribs with soy sauce (about 4 table spoons, I think we had 14 ribs) heavily sprinkled with dry ginger, light on the garlic, onion, and pepper. I glaze my carrots with butter, brown sugar, and ginger. The soy beans just get salt. This was the day that DS#1's boys scout group came over and painted their pine wood derby cars in prep for the race at the end of the month, it was lots of fun (cept for the baby with the raging fever that demanded I hold her all the time).

Last (20 Jan) : Because I was tired, and knew I would be tired for a couple days I made soup. I can make it in a large enough batch to feed all of us for 2 days, and they like it. I was also hoping that it would ward off the cooties for everyone else. This particular soup was, 2lbs ground beef, with 1pkg Sazon seasoning, Salt, pepper, garlic, onoin, sage, browned. 1 box beef stock, 2 cans garlic and onion stewed tomatoes, 1 lb bag frozen collard greens, 3 cups (uncooked) Minute brown rice, and 1/2 gal water. I browned the meat, dumped in the tomatoes, and greens, added the water, brought it to a boil and added in the 3 cups of brown rice, let it cook for 10-15 min and the soup was ready. Normally I'd use barley, but I didn't have any, and it takes longer to cook than the brown rice (I don't usually buy Minute Rice either, but my neighbor was having an excess in her pantry and gave me a box cause she knows I cook, I think I like it to add in to a quick soup like this!)

The sea was wet as wet could be, The sands were dry as dry.

2011-01-16T23:59:00.000-08:00

I wanted to use this sausage for soup, but the family had enough of soup. So we had a pasta dish instead.

The whole time I was thinking of how to prepare this meal I had images from "The Walrus and The Carpenter" in my head, I'm blaming the pasta.

Cut the sausage into circles, then quarter them, saute with yellow squash (I used two 1lb bags, and cut them up to match the sausage). I tossed in about 2/3 of a head of cabbage. No need to season since sausage has plenty of flavor on it's own.

The men in my house love these lil sea shell noodles, I tossed them with some fresh mushrooms and about 1.5 cups Parmesan cheese, season with S&P and garlic powder. The veg/sausage is an on the side/on top of to go with the pasta.

It was a hit, both girls (and me too) had seconds, and the boys all ate all of theirs.

I used two 12 oz boxes of pasta when I made this so I'd have plenty for leftovers for a fast lunch today, I just added in 1lb peas, and 2 cans of chicken meat (it's in the same area as tuna), added in some poultry seasoning, paprika and heated it all up together. That was pretty tasty too.

Vacation All I ever wanted Vacation Had to get away

2011-01-15T07:08:00.000-08:00

More rain today, and even more wind. Looks like there will be lots over the next two days as well.

No cooking for me today, I get a mini kitchen vacation! Kids finished off the stack of pancakes from yesterday's brunch for breakfast, then we had a late lunch at the food court. Followed by a Birthday Party for friends' kid where there was more food, so I just topped them off with PB&J's before bed.

I'll probably be making some sort of bean and brown rice with sausage soup tomorrow, a la the crock pot while we're at church. That is if I can manage to get it all tossed in before we head out the door round noon.

Tea, a drink with Jam and Bread

2011-01-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

It's a half day at school today, and the kids are missing it. But I had the kids ask their teachers what they would be doing while they were in class yesterday , and they were told, "just this one test, here go ahead and take it now" (their teachers know me too well). So, they're hanging out at the house with me for an extra day! WOOO HOO! also, Monday is a holiday, can you say 4 day weekend!!!

We kicked it off last night with them scrubbing down the bathrooms while I did the steak strips and potatoes (bribery for this morning).

This morning I did a large brunch: blueberry crepes (just thinned out some pancake batter and added an extra egg) (I use Krusteaz) with rasperry jam, bacon cooked under the broiler, canned fruit cocktail, "fancy" scrambled eggs (sour cream, dried parsley, Mc Cormik gourmet burger seasoning; like a dip on top of the eggs), Rose Hip and Hibiscus tea (I get the herbs separate and mix my own tea, I use a French press to make the tea). The crepes did not turn out as well as they do when I make them from scratch, the Krusteaz does good for waffles tho. I just didn't have anything to use for Crepe filling and thought if I used the blueberry mix it would be a good substitute for plain crepes. live and learn I guess. They turned out to be OK thin pancakes tho.

The kids set the table with place mats that DH's Grandma made, some ceramic plates I bought at a yard sale right before I got married (they were my "china", I have matching bowls, tea cups and saucers), mixed tea cups picked up for DD#1 at various places for her tea parties, and had me put all our food in fancy dishes. Then everyone got their bears out. I couldn't argue since they have already agreed to help me scrub the floors today. (they want to go to the amusement park at some point this weekend)

Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka... The Amazing Chocolatier.

2011-01-13T14:30:00.000-08:00

Thankfully my back stopped aching. I spent the day making a Statue of Liberty costume for my neighbor's daughter, it was a school project (her mom doesn't sew). She paid me with a giant assortment of chocolates and Pez! (she works at the commissary and when things get close to the expiration date and have to be pulled from the shelves, she has the opportunity to buy them for penny's on the dollar, and then she shares cool things with her neighbors!)

Since I was cutting and sewing I didn't have time to make any tortillas to go with supper (I've been craving fajitas for a week). Instead I made sauteed potatoes. I washed 4 LARGE potatoes, and then cut them into 1 inch (ish) cubes and cooked them in the microwave (in a bowl with some water, used a plate as a lid, hit the baked potato button 4 times), drain, then in the pan I cooked the steak and peppers in (cause there's good flavor bits in there). 3/4 stick of butter, 1 can of mushrooms, and the potatoes and 1.5 (ish) tsp dried Marjoram. Just keep tossing till mushrooms and potatoes are golden.

The Steak and Peppers was just as easy, I cut 4 rib eyes into strips, tossed with salt and pepper and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce, thin slice a medium onion and cooked on med high heat with a bag of Pepper slices from the freezer. It only takes a few minutes I pull out the strips when they're on the Rare side and pile them all in a bowl and they keep warm and carry over into medium on their own.

I made DS#1's day by having his fav veggie creation as a side. Spinach and corn mixed. He invented it, 1 bag frozen spinach 1 bag frozen corn, add water to cover, I just keep it simmering till everything else is done cooking.

The only thing lacking was pie, I didn't have anything to use as pie filling so I couldn't whip anything together either. So, we ate chocolate! LOL

It's Raining, It's Pouring. (I wish)

2011-01-12T20:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I woke up with my back aching from the work I did the day before, it's a good thing I have a fridge full of leftovers!

It's also COLD (for here) and wet. Not the good kind of rain where the sky opens up and it pours out, but the kind where it's gray and damp all day, and makes you feel even colder than it is. The kind where it doesn't even look like it's raining if you look out your window, but if you go out and stand still you end up damp and miserable.

Combine that with the back ache and I needed some comfort food. So we, started the day off with Cheese Toast and fruit, not hard, or note worthy. But it was YUM! I also made Wassle for the kids (equal parts Orange juice and Apple Cider with a dash of cinnamon, heated).

We ate the leftover Chili from the other day for supper. So, no new pics.

TomAto, tomato, Lets call the whole thing off.

2011-01-11T14:45:00.000-08:00

I've been making supper the same time I make lunch for the little ones and I during the day. This has made my evenings a lot more laid back. But it has also slightly changed the way I'm approaching dinner prep. I'm trying to come up with things that are alright to sit in the fridge until it's time for me to cook them.

I was also too sore/tired to blog last night before I dragged myself up the stairs to bed, I'll blog about that when I finish that project.

But, yesterday I made a pasta bake. I'm not sure what else to call it. With a side of steamed broccoli topped with Parmesan cheese.

Pasta Bake
2lbs ground beef browned with
1 large onion rough chopped
salt pepper, garlic powder, sage, oregano

in my large roasting pan (it's the Pampered Chef one, it's larger than a standard 13x9)
1 box (lb) ditalini pasta (they look like pearler beads, but you can use what ever kind of pasta you like) NOT PRE COOKED
2 cans of mushrooms not drained
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 lb shredded cheese to top
I rinsed my jar of sauce out with water, and dumped that in, and my tomato can, I think I used about half of my half gallon pitcher of water here. My pan was full to the top but liquidy.

stir everything together, even the meat you cooked.
top with cheese, cover with foil, bake at 350 for about 1.5 hours. (till pasta is tender) it will soak up all the liquids)

This must be love 'Cos it's really got a hold on me

2011-01-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

I think we've had maybe (if you add them all up) 2 weeks worth of cold weather this winter. Cold for us, not all ya'll that live in places where it freezes or get snow or something awful like that. I'm talking, mid to low 50's with wind and rain or just gray skies. It's the damp that makes it feel so bad. And it's so warm he rest of the year that you just get used to warmth, so 50 feels COLD.

Really tho, anything much below 80 and I'm not too happy.

To help stave off the cold (and to break in the surprise pans my DH bought me!) I made some "white chili". He knows the way to my heart is thru practical gifts that are kitchen related! Just like I know the way to his is thru a well cooked meal.

1lb navy beans in the crock pot on high with 1/2 gal water till beans are soft. (I drained the beans after)
2 cans black beans drained (forgot to add some dried into the crock pot when I started it)
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 large onion diced small, caramelized
1.5 lb chicken breast cut up into bite size pieces sauted in with the onion, and 2 packs of that Sazon seasoing, and a packet of Ranch Dip (the dry mix)
1 lb bacon, I cooked mine in my new Pampered Chef Bar pans (DH got me both sizes!) and cooking bacon in them is the fastest way to season them. Just get the broiler hot, lay the bacon flat in the pan, and keep peeking on it till it's crisp. Then chop into bits.
1 box chicken stock, and about 1/2-3/4 box beef stock (had some left over in the fridge, you can do all chicken stock)

all that in the crock pot to heat.

I'm thinking about making some cornbread to go with this, but I'll do that a bit later. You can find the recipe here.

I belong among the Wildflowers.

2011-01-09T04:25:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned my love of gardening before. It's as bad as my thing for Santa. I can't go into a garden center without setting myself some sort of spending limit before leaving the house. Even if all I need is a bag of potting soil, or a new trowel, or plant food.

DH's mom sent me some $$ for Christmas, cause it's easier than having to get something and then have to pay shipping for it on top of that. We also get to get our own things, and when we're adults I can see how it would be hard to shop for us.

I took mine and drove quick as traffic would let me on a small island, in the rain, during the holiday season, on a weekend, to the Garden Center and got 3 Hippeastrum (commonly referred to as Amaryllis) bulbs. I got ones that were just growing spikes, and the labels are all in Japanese, so it was going to be a SURPRISE when they opened!

They bloom in the winter/early spring, and usually indoors. I've seen them here growing outside, so after I've enjoyed them this year in the house I'm moving them to an out door pot until blooming again next New Year. The first one that opened had a strong coral stripe, the second had pail pink edging along the petals, and the third was a large bright pink showy bloom. Actually all the blooms are rather showy. They all have about 4 blooms per spike, and each have at least 2 spikes of flowers, that are set to bloom at different times, so I'll have flowers for nearly 2 months! Then they'll die back, and the leaves will come up, to replenish the bulb, and then it will need a dry period over the summer where even the leaves will die back, and then the bulb will be dormant thru the fall. These bulbs don't like to freeze, so unless you live in the south and the ground doesn't ever achieve a hard freeze these are strictly potted indoor plants. Most people use them as discardable blooming houseplants after the blooms have died.

The top pic is an Orchid (I don't know the variety) that Sister Savage gave me. Her neighbor moved out and gave her a bunch of house plants. Sadly (for her) she does not have a green thumb, so she gave them to me! I nursed this one back to life, and it bloomed for me, I got about 40 little yellow flowers on it in total, and they lasted about 7 weeks! DD#1 pressed one of them and is working on an arrangement of that and some Hibiscus from the yard, once it's framed I'll post a pic of that as well.

I've found that Pointsettias grow year round here, so, I"m going to be putting my little ones in my flower beds in front of my canna lilly's, and my nasturtiums are coming back up to climb over my hedge. I have no idea what kind of hedge it is tho, it's got these little blue flowers that stay open all day during the cooler months, but only in the morning during the summer. It's easily rooted also, as it was in my friends yard and I liked it so much that I asked her to have her gardener save me some the next time he trimmed it. I thought he would have to pull me some with roots. He just trimmed off the top 6 inches of the hedges, piled them up in a box for me, and told me to plant them with at least 2 inches in the ground, water well for 2 weeks. My flower bed looked like it had hair plugs for a couple months, but they have filled in nicely. Once the yellow/orange/red nasturtiums start climbing well, and blooming it will be a nice color contrast to the cornflower blue of the hedge.

OK, so now you know I'm just as crazy about gardening as food. And I just barely got started on my plants. I promise tomorrow, back to food, with new pics and everything.

I've been plotting all weekend about a white chili with chicken breast and navy beans.

I Want CANDY!

2011-01-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

LJ asked me to blog all the curious Japanese candy that we seem to have here. this is some, there are more that we eat, but sadly we didn't have any in the house for me to take a picture of.

Top are 4 different soda candies, they are hard candies that fizz in your mouth as you eat them kinda the way soda does as you drink it. And a Hello Kitty candy, it's cute and girly, and star shaped, and grape!

Next are 2 different kinds of pressed sugar candies (my DH's preferred kind of candy). The one on the left is whistle candy, it's shaped like a jolly rancher, but when you hold it in your lips/teeth and blow thru the hole in the center it whistles! my kids love these, and as long as we're not in the car I'm OK with them too. On the right are some other lil bits that were in DD#2's stocking from Santa, they are extremely fruity for such lil bits of sugar. And the package is super cute.

Third is MY fav, they're these grape taffy with soda fizz powder in the middle. This candy also comes in "cola flavor" but I don't care for that, and I've heard a rumor that it comes in pineapple, but I've never seen it. I get these puppies 4 for 100yen (at the equivalent of the dollar store here).

Lastly there are 2 pieces of gum, it's about the same amount in a stick but in a different shape, but in the most awesome package EVER! According to the kids anyway. One is in Mario, and the other in Poke Mon (or Pocket Monster, as they call them over here). These were in the big kids stockings also.

Not pictured but FANTASTIC are these little packages of cotton candy with pop rocks in that turn into gum. I can't remember where we got those, the kids sure had fun with it tho! Also they get really fancy with some of their things, at the 100 yen shop, things you'd usually only see at the higher end candy stores in the states. Santa brought the kids some lolly pops that actually were sculpted fruits.

Most of our candy buying happens in the 100 Yen shops as you can get a small bag (10 pieces) for 100yen, or 4 large pieces, or the gum/pressed candy in strips with multiple packages of each. It's a good place to try out interesting looking candy, somethings are about what you'd expect and are very close to what Americans like, but on occasion you just get oddities. And the chocolates don't seem to be as sweet as American style chocolates, which I'm a fan of. I'll keep my eye out for some of these next time we head out. I'll also try to do a post of some of the savory/salty snacks that we like to get here too.

Hey Food (bad beatles pun)

2011-01-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

SO, I've cleaned out my camera, and will start to take new pictures of food now. I'll try to tell you what this stuff is.

Top: Centalini Pasta in the broth from roasting a chicken, the thigh of said roasted chicken, and sauted green beans and yellow squash with seasoned bread crumbs. I'm pretty sure I've covered roasting a chicken before, and pasta tossed in broth should be self explanatory, the beans and squash are a regular in our house, fresh veg of any kind are an arm an a leg here, so I get the frozen bags of each (this makes the squash pretty mushy, so I pair it with the nice crisp beans). If you've ever had fried zucchini in a restaurant you'll get this next step. When the veggies are just about done I toss in a couple of hand fulls of Italian seasoned bread crumbs it's the same flavor of the fried zucchini w/o it being fried.

Second: thinly sliced beef (here it's labeled as Sukiyaki) cooked with Soy, garlic, ginger, and brown sugar (I think that was it?) and then I tossed in some steamed broccoli and carrot slices. put over rice.

Third: Fetichini Alfredo with Broccoli and mushrooms, and some Parmesan encrusted chicken strips. I seasoned the chicken strips with herbs (?) and then coated them with a good layer of Parmesan cheese and baked them. The cheese turns into a crust. tada!

Fourth: Pan fried pork chop, asparagus and bacon, angel hair and mushrooms. The pasta also has a little sauce I made from the bacon drippings, nothing fancy, I just sauted the mushrooms in the pan drippings, and added some other stuff (this was a while ago, so I don't remember what I did, but I do stuff like this all the time).

Bottom: Brie Puffs. I described how to make these in my Christmas post, I made a super fancy dinner for our anniversary (Oct 7) I failed to take a pic of it tho, well of anything besides the puffs, cause we ate it before I remembered. Paired with the puffs I made asparagus and bacon, seared tuna steaks, angel hair pasta with scallops in a cream and caper sauce. Dh helped with the whole cooking process, a rarity in our house! And we had a quite night in.

We want some figgy pudding Please bring it right here!

2011-01-06T04:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas food. I don't do a big Christmas dinner, instead on Christmas Eve (when we do our present opening) we have an hors devours buffet. I'm not sure how this got started in DH's family, but back home everyone brings 2 or 3 to Grandma's house and we lay them out and snack instead of having real supper, and we play games and visit and open gifts.

We don't live back home, DH is in the AF, so it's just us and the 4 kids. We still do this, but it's just me fixing the fancy snacks. And I start from the time we get out of bed and are still fixing stuff till just before supper time, and we just snack on it all day long.

These pics are from the last Christmas we had Stateside back in Idaho, cause I forgot to take pics of the food this year. Some things are staples, but other things change. As the kids are getting older they are helping more (thank goodness, cause those yummy snacks sure are fiddly to make) and have more input in what we have on the buffet too.

Pictured are: mini apple turnovers (puff pastery cut into small squares filled with chopped up canned apple pie filling, then the corners are brought up, pinched together, and it bakes up like that) meat balls (1lb ground beef, 1 large hand full Parmesan cheese, equal amount seasoned bread crumbs, mix, make balls, bake till brown) Stuffed mushroom tops (I dont remember what I stuffed them with, but I did top them with cheese, sorry) Reindeer cookies ( a nutterbutter cookie decorated with a pretzel, chocolate chips, cinnamon candy to look like a reindeer), a cheese ball and crackers (store bought)

This year I made: Bri puffs (puff pastery cut into small squares filled with brie, then assembled as above, you dip it into Blackberry jam that has been spiked with hot pepper sauce, so it's just a little bit spicy), Spinach dip cups (store bought filo cups, filled with spinach dip, 1 lb thawed/drained spinach, 1 block cream cheese, 1 c sour cream, 2 tbs Gourmet Burger seasoning (by Mc McCormick) ) Lil Smokies (2 packs lil smokies, 1 jar grape jelly, 1 jar chili sauce in a crock pot) Steamed Artichokes dipped in butter, a cheese and fruit platter, Avocado dip and crackers, the cookies we baked.

On Christmas Day I make something easy, or prepare ahead a couple days so I have something to pop in the oven. This year we took the Married Missionaries out to eat a a local family style Japanese place (yay Japan where things are open!) they were going to just raid their fridge for left overs too so this got them out for a treat, and we really love the Savages!

In Hopes That St.Nick Soon Would Be There

2011-01-05T04:32:00.000-08:00

I
Have
a Santa obsession. I don't know what it is about that man. He just makes me happy.

Actually, I might know.

He is Jolly. He gives without looking to receive in return. He loves kids.

He. Is. MAGIC!

Most of our decorations have something to do with St. Nick, on some level. Or they are home made, or when all is right with the world they're BOTH!

Pictured are just the highlights, I hang curtians, I recover the bench by the front door, hang a wreath on the front door and a large garland with ornaments over the hall entryway (that I made). There are lots of silk and paper flowers that get traded out from the ones that sit in the vases and urns and baskets through out the house. Candles, and all the other little touches that go into making a home festive for the holidays too.

At first glance that tree looks like any ole tree in most homes with just a bunch of stuff just thrown at it, but when you look at it up close, there are only a few things permitted on it. 1. Strings of beads that look like cranberries/pearls 2. hand made ornaments 3. plastic candy canes (real ones melt here, and the kids eat them, and bugs, EW) 4. greenery/tree filler/floral picks (doesn't really count cause it's kinda part of the tree?) 5. my tree topper is of the "spike" variety (not sure what you call them?), we had a very pretty red and silver one all thru my childhood, and I got it when my parents divorced, about 5 years ago, our cat climbed our tree, knocking it over, and breaking it, all I could find was a silver plain one to replace it, so I got out the superglue and the glitter and panted on some dots, and snow flakes and did the tip too 6. Santa, and there are no duplicates.

Dh's mom started quilting some stockings for the kids at some point after I mentioned how I'd love for them to have some hand quilted ones. She really is my FAV person EVER! She got about half finished with the project, and handed it over for me to finish, I'm not sure if it's cause she ran out of time, or because she wanted my hand in it too. Either way I'm grateful, and they're a coordinating set, that fits in well with my decor.

The Stockings are hung on a new stocking hanger that I made at a "Super Saturday" at Church in November. "Super Saturday" is when we all got together to make a bunch of crafts. People volunteered to teach them, figured out how much it would cost per person, we signed up, they got the supplies together, so when we showed up we just got a bag with our supplies and set to work! I was the only one with a paint splattered stocking holder. It's just a plank of wood painted in your color of choice, they had the vinyl words done for us also. It was the whole phrase "the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nick soon would be there" but it was done in 2 different fonts in 2 colors, and the black bold letters were the only ones that stood out/looked good against my paint scheme. Also, I wanted to label above the nails. I just mimicked the lettering style of the vinyl letters with my black sharpie for my kids first initials.

The wall hanging, is really just a quilt top I made a few years ago that I desperately need to put a back on and quilt. ONE day I will? The problem is, when I bought the fabric for the front, I didn't buy the fabric for the back, and now I REALLY want that SAME Santa head fabric for the back, and all I have is this poinsettia fabric (ick). I'd really just look at it the way it is than "mess" it up with something less than perfect, and if that's not quilting OCD I don't know what is! Also when I go to quilt it, I think I'll quilt the names of all the reindeer around the border, with a large plate of cookies and glass of milk being the center design of the quilting. You know as long as I'm dreaming of quilted perfection.

Going up the banister is just some ribbon, DS#1 did that! it's my Santa ribbon. there are Santa heads on it, and it says HO! HO! HO!, and it's sparkly too. so it made it FESTIVE on the stairs. I wish I had some of that really soft green garland too to have wound round the banister with it. but alas, just the ribbon.

Oh, and under the tree, are the boxes we use every year to put the kids presents in. There are 4 different kinds of boxes, with 3 sizes for each kind (they nest). And we tie ribbons around the boxes to keep them shut. We do this instead of wrapping, to cut down on waste, and cost, and the kids get to "wrap" things on their own this way. No one has ever peaked! (we've used the boxes for 5 years?) It's handy, cause even when the presents aren't ready to go under the tree, it LOOKS like there are presents under the tree! (the pic of the tree was taken AFTER Christmas!).

My tree skirt (not pictured) was made by DH's mom, it is square, which is an odd shape for a tree skirt. It has the Nativity on it, each side of the square features a different scene from the Nativity story. She Embroidered it for me when we were first married, it might have been my first married Christmas present. I've used it every year.

Even tho there is a Santa OBSESSION in the house, the focus is NOT on presents, or rather, it's in the GIVING THE present. We do things a little differently. My children only receive one gift each from me, and it's hand made. I put a lot of thought into them. My husband only gives each child one gift, it's not hand made, but there is equal thought put into them. Each child only gives each sibling one present (except for the baby, she's too little to give yet) and they are all hand made. And they do 90% of the making, I only step in if there is need. Santa only brings each child ONE gift, it's something larger than Mom or Dad would have gotten. We are usually more excited to find out if the person we worked so hard making a gift for likes it as much as we hoped, than we are in opening our own. Not to say that they aren't excited to find out what is in their boxes, because there is much planning, scheming, and plotting, sometimes for months on the gifts. It's just nice to see you're work well loved. When DS#2 opned his gift from DD#1 and got his "very own Harry Potter Wand JUST LIKE DD#1 and DS#1!!" Everyone was beaming with the thoughtfulness of this well thought out gift. (a couple years before DD#1 and DS#1 had made and received wands from each other, I knew about it, it was epic) When we go on our annual trip to the toy store for "MY" present and everyone (from mom and dad to the baby) picks out a toy that they would WANT and then, everyone hands their toys to the soldiers (and no one has ever complained) for Toys for Tots, THAT is Christmas.

It's not in the "what did you GET" it's in the "what did you GIVE".

All I want for Christmas is My 20 doz Cookies

2011-01-04T05:34:00.000-08:00

I've been gone a while. Let's just pretend that didn't happen.

I'm going to talk about my FAV holiday now, CHRISTMAS, and yes I know it's a bit late, cause it happened 2 weeks ago. I don't care. And since I'm participating in a blog once a day everyday for January I'll spread the post holiday love out over the next few days.

Today will be about COOKIES! cause who doesn't love cookies?

When I married DH I got all sorts of FUN traditions also, like the annual Christmas cookie bake. If we lived back home, we would all go to Grandma's house with at least 2 kinds of cookie dough pre made, and maybe the stuff we need for one other project, like chocolate pretzels, or what I like to call snow balls, or candied pecans, you get the idea. By "we" I mean, Grandma, Dh's mom, Me, Dh's Aunt, Dh's other Aunt and any other female relatives in town. We'd spend all day baking, and then lay the cookies out on the 2 tables in tins and the assemble trays to pass out to our perspective neighbors/coworkers/church goers/ friends/ whomever we wanted to give cookies to as a present.

I was thrilled to be included, in High School I invented a cookie. All my teachers asked me to make it when there was a class party, it was enjoyed by all my friends when they came over. I was a SHOE IN!

You should have seen my cookies for the first 4-5 years we were married. TERRIBLE things! I don't know why they had me join them, or put my "creations" on their trays. Not that they tasted bad, they were just more like "free form cakes" than cookies. And I was watched over too, recipes read to me, steps hovered over. NO ONE knew what I was doing wrong.

My early success in HS was an oatmeal based cookie, and these were all flour based travesties.

I'm glad there is no evidence of my early failures (or maybe there is, and please feel free to post with a linked pic if you have them ladies!)

I've always baked cookies for Christmas with my kids, but I cheated, stuck to oatmeal cookies or amped up store bought things. Slowly I got back into trying from scratch again. I'm not sure when the tide turned, or how. All I know is I'm now the cookie lady as well as the scone, soup, lasagna, steak, bread lady!

This year we had the Missionaries over to help with the baking, to "teach them" how to bake, but mostly to have fun. They are so far from their families and their own traditions that I thought it would be fun to have them over. We had 2 Japanese Sisters, 4 American Elders, and a Senior Married American Couple. Quite a full house with my family of 6! Some of them were taking pictures, and I'll ask them if it's all right to post them here on my blog when I see them on Sunday, for now you just get to see the finished product! We made 11 tins, and I had 3 Tupperware containers overflowing in the house (there are still a few cookies in the house).

When they all left I made Sugar cookies too, cause those are DH's fav, and somehow they didn't make it in the pic! LOL.

We made (from Top Left down, then from Top Right down) Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Chip, Monster Cookies. Peanut Butter balls (one dipped in chocolate and one not) Snow balls, Holiday Bliss, Snicker Doodles and Chocolate dipped Pretzels with sprinkles.

The Chocolate Mint recipe I just got from Food network (it uses chopped Andes mints) Same for the Snicker Doodles, the Chocolate Chip is DH's sisters recipe (don't know if I can give that out here?), the Pretzels are self explanatory.

Snow Balls: a jar of peanuts, a bag of chopped pecans, a bag of dried cranberries, stirred into 2 (or 3 I can't remember) bags of melted white chocolate chips. I melt my chocolate in the microwave, in bursts of 15 seconds, stirring in between, so as not to burn the chocolate (takes a couple minutes total). Drizzle with dark melted chocolate for contrast (and cause I had some left over from the pretzels).

Holiday Bliss: a double batch of sugar cookie dough, a bag of dried cranberries, a bag of dried apples (chopped), a Tbs of cinnamon. (I died them green for Christmas, but usually they're beige). scoop out and flatten, bake like you would a sugar cookie.

Monster Cookies (the cookie I invented in HS!): in a LARGE MIXER start with peanut butter cookie batter, add in oatmeal cookie batter (just follow basic recipes, but add whole eggs not egg whites or egg yolks, you'll need the extra moisture) add 1 bag chocolate chips, 1 bag toffee bits (or, and this is better, 1 box crushed peanut brittle), 1/2 bag shredded coconut. scoop bake 12 min, should be soft when removed and allowed to finish on hot pan out of oven.

well that's it! Tomorrow I'll talk about decorations, and after that I'll start clearing out all the random food pics I have on my hard drive! And I've had a request to talk about crazy Japanese candy. so looks like I"ll have a lot to talk about for a while!

OH!!! AAAANNNNDDD I get my MRI results for my stinking ankle in the morning so we'll finally know what's going on with that, so maybe I can start walking like a normal person? I'm not holding my breath tho!

Might as well eat worms!

2010-08-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

3 of my children have birthdays in the summer. DD#1 in mid July, DS#2 in mid August, and DS#1 end of September. And for some unknown reason they all prefer to have one giant birthday party together?

Odd I know.

I make sure to do something special for each of them on their day. DD#1 got her skirt, and a pedi, DS#1 had his during our adventure, so he got a present, and small cake with his name at on it in the terminal on Hawaii, and we took him to Chili's for supper.

This cake was from the folks over at Family Fun and it's called "Bug Mountain". DD#1 frosted it, the boys made and put the dirt on, and it was a group effort to put the bugs on (the bugs are plastic, and the worms are gummy). It was Strawberry on the inside.

The swarm of teenagers came over and decorated the trees, went in the house and got the food out. Pretty much made it so all I had to do was knock on the neighbors doors and say "Come eat!"

Besides the cake I made my black bean salsa, and chicken with spinach salad put into puff pastry. The chicken salad is just regular chicken salad, I just add spinach when I am filling puff pastry, the puff pastry's are not hard to make, just fiddly.

Bring 1 cup and 6 tablespoons of butter to a boil, remove the pot from the heat, beat in 1 cup of flour, 1/4 tsp salt, (1tsp sugar for sweet pastries) put back on heat, continue to beat till it pulls away from the sides of the pot, but in bowl, continue to beat till cool enough to add in 4 eggs, beat till batter is smooth. Fill pastry bag (zip top bag) pipe out to desired size (1 inch across for bit size, 3 inch across for sandwich size). With a wet finger, smooth over the tips, bake at 400 for 15 min and then at 350 for another 35 min. Let cool, for sandwiches, cut open and fill, for cream puffs, poke a hole in the side with a small piping tip and squeeze in filling (whipped cream/pudding/gnash/moose).

Everything was set up, and we were waiting on one more person to come out when the rain started! in the scramble to get everything covered I realized that if we just ate the puff sandwiches we'd have less to try to cover. Then the rain stopped and we gave up waiting.

Also this week, I made some fresh corn bread for breakfast, and on the side we had apple sauce. Nothing fancy, but I was craving it, and the kids like it.
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
6 tbs melted butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 cup corn meal
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 table spoons sugar
1 cup corn

Combine wet ingredients then fold in dry, will be lumpy. Pour into a greased pan bake at 400 till light golden.

To make this more "breakfasty" I tripled the sugar, left out the corn, and lightly sprinkled the top with brown sugar to make it pretty.

Better Get Me To The Church on Time

2010-08-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

Most of you know (because we saw you) that we went on vacation for 3 weeks to Florida.

This was exciting, now excitement can be both good and bad, and we had both on this trip, as it took us 5 days to get to Florida we spent 8 days there and it took us 8 more days to get back. We traveled Space A with the military to get to the States, and then commercial once we were stateside.

The reason we went to Florida was, DH's Best Friend since they were like 10 was finally getting married! He brought her here to Oki last time we were stationed here, and we heartily approve of her! SO, we couldn't miss out on the big day! (also they have a 4 bedroom house, so they have room for us and our brood!) It was a short wedding, in their back yard.

At NOON. IN JULY. IN FLORIDA!

The reception lasted the rest of the day and was as informal as the wedding, with finger food an snacks, and "Rock Band" played well into the night.

My camera was safely on DH's desk here on Oki while we were on our adventure so our pics are limited to what I could scavenge from other people. Till right at the end of our trip where we realized that we could purchase "throw away cameras" and have them developed at a 1 hr place.

I was delegated to cutting the fabric for the backdrop for the ceremony and making the rice krispie squares in the wedding colors. This still saddens me, but as our arrival could not be guaranteed the bride could not depend on my skills.

Most of our trip was spent in various terminals and hotels throughout New Orleans, California, and Hawaii. Checking out every morning and hauling our things with us in Taxi's to see if there were any available flights for our family of 6 back to our part of the world.

On the return trip we got "stuck" in Hawaii for 4 days (who wouldn't want to get stuck there right?). I had had enough of hotels, and walking around, bum ankle remember? More on that later I'm sure. So on our very last day (as we had given up on flying Space A, and bought tickets back from Hawaii) I splurged and took the family to the Polynesian Cultural Center (google it, it's worth the effort). I'll link in my flikr page so you can browse all the pics.

In Hawaii, there's a most remarkable breakfast item called the "Loco mocco" it's a bed of rice, with a medium sized hamburger pattie, and 2 fried eggs, covered with brown gravy. MMMMM that thing is DIVINE, if you wait till about 9/930 ish to eat it, all you need for lunch is a fruit cup and you're set till supper time. Also Poi is kinda (almost exactly) like the purple sweet potatoes here.

And if you're a family of 6 going on vacation and on a budget, stay with a newlywed couple, that had too much food at their wedding, your mission, eat all the food! LOL

It was good to see everyone, I wish we could have had more time!

Bowling for Soup

2010-08-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

I'm a month late in posting this one, but in my defense we were getting ready to travel to the other side of the world the next day, so my mind was on other things?

Better late than never right? So, here's what I did on July 23!

This was my first attempt at homemade soba soup. I think it turned out more like Ramen due to the style of noodle I used beeing too thin, but it was Uber tasty. I served it with "pork cutlet".

To make the soup I boiled the heck out of a ham hock. Boiled it all day in fact, in just plain water. I just checked on it to make sure it had water in the pot all day. Once I was ready to make the soup, I picked the ham hock clean and left the meat in the broth then added half a head of cabbage, chopped, and 1 and a half bags of noodles and their flavor packtes ( not sure what's in those flavor packets) and just heated till the cabbage was soft and the noodles heated through. The Pork Cutlet is just "scallopini" (a thin cut of pork sirloin, if you cant find it, cut a sirloin roast into half inch slices and then pound flat) seasoned with Chinese 5 spice, and salt and pepper. First dredge them lightly in cornstarch, then dip in eggs seasoned with salt and pepper, and then coat with Panco (bread crumbs found in the Asian section, or there's a Corn Flake's version.) Pan fry till dark golden, and then turn over.

It's a simple but filling meal and the clarity of the soup is a nice contrast to the fried cutlet. This is served at restaurants with a shredded raw cabbage salad.

It’s alright to tell me what you think about me I won’t try to argue or hold it against you

2010-07-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

DD#1 and I have a tradition. She has a birthday, and I sew her whatever she likes.

This year she wanted a skirt made out of a particular fabric. So I whipped out a circle skirt with a handkerchief hemline, trimmed in two kinds of lace. On her birthday she climbed in to bed with me and we had this conversation.

I told her she was growing up way too fast, and she said "NO, Mom, it's going VERY slow."

The sad part is, I can remember seeing it from her perspective. But I can also swear I was just changing her diapers and snuggling up to my first baby! Hopefully she never outgrows letting me sew for her.

I also took her to get a pedicure, she loves having her toes painted up.

OH WAIT, COOKING!! right

I have been doing some of that, not anything too exciting. Made a good last minute stir fry on the 10th. I used 1.5 lbs Sukiyaki (thin sliced beef) carrots and spinach and a bottle of Teriyaki (one day after our trip to the states I'll make Tracy's but I had a bottle in the pantry, so it got used) and put it over rice.

On the 15th I broiled some Salmon (random herbs) and made one of my favorite summer side dishes. Black bean salsa! 2 cans drained and rinsed black beans, 1lb thawed bag of corn, 2 cans of tomatoes, parsley, garlic, onion, salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature. It's kind of a starch and a veggie at the same time, so I didn't fix anything else to go with it. And was refreshing after spending the day out in the sun weeding the flower beds.

Every day for us something new (except today)

2010-07-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Been doing boring stuff for dinner, spaghetti, salad with pork strips (instead of chicken or steak), hot dogs, just regular non blog worthy food.

I'm also trying to whittle down my pantry so that IF we manage to get to the states for the end of the month I won't have a lot of food in the house while we're gone.

We did have a fun cookout with our neighbors (well half a cookout) for the 4th. One neighbor cooked everyone's meat (hot dogs, ribs, steak strips, Korean style ribs) on the grill while the kids all played in the yard, and we all made our own sides, then the bugs set in so we divided up the meat and ate in our own houses.

I'm also slowly on the mend with my ankle, and my hand is feeling about half better? See totally not blog worthy at all.

Flight of the bumble bee

2010-06-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

Supper last night (the bottom pic) was brought to you by: OH SHOOT it's 7:00 and I haven't started cooking yet! AND This is what's left in the pantry and freezer.

I had planned on cooking these chicken breast strips, and tiny red potatoes, so they were thawed (thankfully). I coated my largest cast iron skillet in olive oil, and threw in some salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and marjoram. Halved the potatoes, and placed them all cut side down to crisp and heat thru (the good thing about frozen potatoes, is they kinda turn to mush when you thaw them, so they take no time to actually cook). The pan was pretty full since I used 2 bags of potatoes to feed my army. I had 2 bottles of varying amounts of the same kind of BBQ sauce left in the fridge, go figure. I added a little water to one, shake shake shake, pour into the next bottle, shake shake shake, to combine for a full bottle of slightly watery BBQ sauce. I used an entire 2.5 lb bag of the bonless/skinless chicken breast strips and just lined my pan with them (again a pretty full pan here) and dumped the whole bottle of sauce in, let it simmer and the sauce reduce. Some of the kids wanted sliced pears, and DH wanted Pineapple Chunks, while I wanted Guava paste (it's in the Hispanic section I think?, I get mine via my Panamanian friend/neighbor who gets it sent to her from her dad in NY). It's kinda half way between Jello/Jam/Dried fruit.

The top two pics were a Quiche I made Thursday. It was missing Sausage, so it wasn't my favorite, but the kids gobbled it up, and it had bacon bits on top so DH was in heaven!

I use a casserole dish to make my quiche in because I don't like dainty slices, I want to eat one piece and be DONE (unless it's a brunch, then I do it in a cupcake pan tho, and it's snack size). It takes a double batch of pie crust, 1 doz eggs, 1 lb bag frozen spinach, and 1 cup parmesean cheese, 2 cans drained mushrooms (or 1pt fresh chopped) and usually 1lb cooked sausage, garnish with bacon bits (I make my own).

Just crack and beat the eggs, then stir in the spinach and mushrooms, some salt and pepper, and sausage (if you have it). Pour into the pie crust lined casserole. I use the parmesean to create a top crust, just coat the top with it, it'll melt and harden as it cooks, and be YUM.

Quiche is one of those dishes that you can pretty much add what ever you like to, if it'll be good in an omelet it'll be good in this. Bake at 350 for about an hour, you kinda have to slice into the middle and peek in to see if it's still runny in there.

Pie crust, 1 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 stick butter, 3 tbs COLD water, mush the salt, flour and butter, together, till it barely holds it's shape, then drizzle in the water a little bit at a time till a nice dough is formed. Let sit for at least 10 min, roll/pat out.

Alohoa Oy

2010-06-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

There is no pic of this, and that is sad, because it's pretty and colorful and most importantly YUMMM!

Hawaiian Chicken. It was one of the dishes I made and just didn't have the energy to blog about before, but now that all I can manage is to sit here with my foot up, I've got PLENTY of time!

I make this in large batches because it keeps well in the fridge and is a dish that is almost better as leftovers.

1 bag of boneless, skinless Chicken thighs cut into bite size pieces
1 large can of fruit cocktail
1 large can of pineapple chunks
1 medium onion rough chopped
2 cans stewed tomatoes (or 2 pints of halved cherry/grape tomatoes) (use what ever you have on had/whichever is cheaper)
1 bag frozen sliced bell peppers (2-3 sliced bell peppers of various colors, again, what ever you have on hand/whichever is cheaper)
salt, pepper, Chinese 5 Spice (season to taste)

Everything into a LARGE roasting pan, and bake at 350 till chicken is done (stirring 2 or 3 times to make sure all the chicken gets cooked)

Put this over rice, it has a sweet and sour thing happening with the fruit and the onions and peppers.

I also usually have everything in the pantry to make this dish at all times.

Another fun chicken dish I learned from a friend, we just call it Zesty Chicken
2 lb chicken breast meat cut up (if you have a smaller family use less chicken and only half bottles of dressings)
1 bottle Italian dressing
1 bottle ranch dressing
Maranade the chicken in the dressings, then dump it in a baking dish all together and add in 2 bags of that broccoli, carrot, cauliflower veggie mix. bake at 350 till chicken is done

Put over Tri color pasta. It's creamy and zesty, and colorful, and as close to a casserole as we get in our house.

High on the mountain top, The Badger chased the Squirrel.

2010-06-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Had the Missionaries over again last Friday for supper! They are always so fun to have, and I never have to worry about leftovers! No poetry this time, they sang for their supper tho! I'm horrible with names, so I'll not bother, except for the two in the 3rd from the top, that's the Savages! My real dinning table is in storage back in the states and since every time they come over it's raining, we get to eat on the couch! (Except poor Elder Campbell, he always gets the floor?)

I fixed them some Dirty Spaghetti, Herbed rolls, and Pound cake cup cakes with Cherry topping. And what a treat for us, they sang for their supper afterward! I made a triple batch of sauce (a large crock pot FULL) and 3 lbs of pasta, 47 rolls, and 30 cup cakes to feed them. There was very little left over!

The Pound cake is a family recipe that I'm not sure I'm allowed to give out, but I'll give out the topping, I used 3 bags of frozen pitted cherries, about 3/4 cup sugar, 2 cups 100% berry Juice (Juicy Juice I think) and a corn starch slurry to thicken. just like Pie filling pretty much. And just globbed it on top of the cup cakes.

The bread and sauce I've done before and linked in, so they're clickable, if you need. That was Last Fri and it's Thursday again, we had steak and mashed potatoes with halved Roma tomatoes that I sprinkled with dried basil then put a dab of mozzarella cheese on, then put under the broiler till cheese is bubbly (it's my fav summer side dish, and takes like 5 min to make). I think there was some hot dog action in there, and some leftover/clean out the fridge happenings too.

I have been doing some cooking, between Dr apts. just been forgetting to take pics, and like most things, out of sight out of mind for me. AND I managed to sprain my ankle BAD, so I'm now on crutches, and my foot is an amazing purple/blue/green color! OH!, and remember my hand, that was fracture, no sprained? well, I had a follow up appt and a new xray by my regular Dr at the 6 week mark, and guess what? Totally fractured that puppy, you can tell cause it's half way healed now and you can see the calcification on the new xray, too late to cast, or do anything about now, but good to know huh? DOUBLE guess what? when you have a half healed hand (that would be fully healed had they casted that sucker 8 weeks ago) and now you're on crutches and leaning with your full weight on your hand it HURTS, and will probably re-break any healing that's taken place if I had to guess. But what do I know?

Last night DH and DD#1 did the actual cooking while I directed from the sofa. DD#1 did the rice in the rice cooker and green beans in the microwave! DH did the fish in the broiler, DS#1 brought me a small dish and the herbs I asked for so I could mix them up (salt, pepper, onion, garlic, paprika, marjoram, parsley, water and Worcestershire sauce in the bottom of the broiler pan), and DH sprinkled them on to the fish.

I didn't feel like gimping it over to the desk for the camera. I will however take a pic of my ankle for you! According to the Dr it's not broken, I just popped off a tendon or something, but I'm going to follow this up with my regular Dr ASAP since I'm having tons of swelling and numbness in my toes.

Not sure what we're doing for meals over the weekend, we might just do take out or I might call the Missionaries to see if they can call the Relief Society and have some meals delivered. I'm NOT going to be up in the kitchen on crutches that's for dang sure I can tell you!

I'm a driver, I'm a winner; things are gonna change, I can feel it.

2010-06-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

I've been neglectful, I have no excuse. Been cooking, and sometimes I take pics, but just haven't felt like blogging it.

So, here's my attempt at catching up in a series of posts. Lame I know.

From bottom up (cause that's oldest to newest, one day I'll figure out the order to load them in so I can talk about them in an order that makes sense!).

Cheesy Orzzo (saute 1/2 small onion in butter, and then add uncooked pasta, toss around till some is browned, add in 1 box chicken broth, and some water, cook till tender, and 1/2 lb cheddar cheese till melty). My kids won't eat home made Mac and Cheese but they'll eat this, go figure. Spinach and Corn with ham flavor. That's it no trick, DS#1 invented it about 2 years ago, the kids love it. Pan fried pork chops, I herbed them with randomness and then fried them in a skillet on the stove top till golden and crisp.

Cheaters Chili. 2 lbs Lean ground beef 2 packets Taco seasoning, 2 cans Black Beans, 3 cans Stewed tomatoes in the flavor of your choosing (I think I used plain, garlic, and bell pepper) most of a family size bag of frozen corn, half a bottle of BBQ sauce (I use the Jack Daniels Honey Smokehouse kind) 1 small can of tomato paste, water. Brown meat with taco seasoning, add the cans without draining and then the rest. Heat, enjoy. It really did taste like I had cooked it all day, and it only took about 20 min. Best of all, it fed my kids twice more for lunch! (I think it would freeze nicely too!)

Chicken broth soup. The name pretty much sums it up. Dice up some chicken breats, add to crock pot, add in some broth and some bullion, and 2 bags of soy beans right at the end, put over rice. The kids were not feeling too swell after about a weeks worth of rain and being damp, so we had a light supper one night.

And lastly a melted finger. I was stiring some rice in a pot, it was all gooey and bubbly, and it splattered. Before I could wipe/rinse or anything it melted the flesh off. YAY.

The offending dish was YUM, but not photogenic tho. It was Mexican rice, the way my Mexican neighbors taught me to make it in Idaho is this (the only thing I added is the ground beef, cause my DH likes it with meat in). Beans, and home made tortilla chips.

Saute 1 onion with butter, and 3 cups uncooked rice, till rice is nice and golden, add in water, and chicken bullion and 2 cans stewed tomatoes with green chilies. Cook (stirring occasionally) till rice is tender (I brown ground beef first, and add that in). In the crock pot, 1lb pinto beans and about 3/4 gal water, cook on hi all day till beans are tender, then add chicken bullion or salt or both, to taste. Mash slightly. Cut up some Tortillias (we use flour, cause that's what Dh likes) and fry in a large pot full of oil (BE CAREFUL) (or use a fry daddy thinger) lightly salt. Enjoy your fresh tortilla chips, and rice and beans! YUM, just don't melt your finger (I've been making this dish for about 3 years and it's the first time I've melted my finger, so don't worry, it's unlikely).

This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.

2010-05-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I like to have a "Day Off". Where I get up make sure the kitchen is clean, feed people breakfast, make sure there is lunch in the fridge, and throw something in the slow cooker for supper. Then high tail it outta there for the rest of the day till it's time to eat and put the munchkins in bed.

After the last few weeks with all the trips to the ER, DH being in Alaska, the rain, well I needed that day off lemme tell ya!

I made some Chicken salad for them to eat for lunch while I was out (not pictured). 2 cans chicken, 1/2 cup Mayo, 2-3 Tbs Brown Mustard, 1/4 cup Pickle Relish (kosher or sweet, whichever you prefer), Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Onion powders, and Dry Parsley finish it off. They ate it with crackers, but it's equally good on bread.

For my make ahead supper (pictured top ) I did a chuck roast in the slow cooker. I use the frozen sliced bell peppers (no prep work, the price and availability don't change much with seasons either, and since I'm cooking them I don't mind that they're gonna be mushy from being frozen), 1/2 bag family sized frozen baby carrots (same as the peppers here, all the prep is done, blah blah) 5 LARGE potatoes, washed and cut up into large bite size pieces, 1 large onion rough chopped. All that goes in the bottom of the slow cooker making a bed for the chuck roast to sit on. I seasoned the roast with salt, pepper, rubbed sage, and nutmeg (not much tho, for some reason it just goes well with beef, you don't really taste it, but you'll know it's not there). I also added some water with a few heafty shakes of Worcestershire sauce in it (just enough to see it thru the veg under the roast). Set the cooker on high and left the house!

While I was getting supper ready the kids started on the laundry, and while I was out enjoying a brunch with my neighbor and friend (steak and eggs benedict, mmmm), they got most of it done while I was out and managed to thrash the toy room pretty well too! DH had invited a friend over to play video games, so I came home to a second TV in the living room and lots of monsters meeting their demise.

I just cooked up some butter beans with ham seasoning when I got home to add to supper, you can cook them on the stove top, but I did mine in the a microwave steamer in about 30 min, in 5 min intervals (just cook till tender, check often as it will boil over and your microwave likely has different power settings than mine).

DD#1 had a pretty rough cough Sunday morning so we stayed home from church, and I made the crepes (pictured second) DS#1 had been asking for (for the past month or two). 1 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, 2 Tbs melted butter, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 egg. Combine the wet ingredients then add them to the dry, mix well. Cook in a well buttered pan with just enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan, flip when the crepe looks dry. We filled ours with fresh whipped cream and blueberries (I get them in the freezer section, cheaper than fresh, and I can get them year round).

Supper Sunday night was some baked Salmon and Eggplant lasagna (pictured third). DH gave me a hand seasoning the fish and getting them on the broiling pan while I made the eggplant. The fish were seasoned with Oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, dry ground mustard, marjoram, and in the bottom of the pan he put some water, Worcestershire sauce and a sliced grapefruit to steam the fish. Put all the seasonings in a small dish, and mix, then sprinkle to lightly coat the fish, dump whatever is left in the water below. For the Eggplant Lasagna I used 9 japanese eggplant (they are deep purple but long and slender, use however many you think you will need to fill a 9x13x2 dish), 2lbs shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 1/2 jars of spaghetti sauce (we use a Chunky Garden variety, use what you think is yummy tho), about 1 cup Italian bread crumbs, and a mixture of 2 eggs, a splash of milk and a dollop of sour cream, with salt and pepper. Slice the eggplant thin and on the bias so you get nice oblong slices, and let them soak in the egg and milk mixture for few minutes. Start layering, first a layer of eggplant slices, then sprinkle on some breadcrumbs (think shake and bake here, but only one one side) then spoon on the sauce to cover, then a layer of cheese, repeat, on the last layer I don't put any sauce to avoid any bubbling over. I baked the fish and the eggplant at the same time for about 30ish minutes.

Supper was a hit, DD#1 even went back for seconds! and I think DD#2 would have liked it more had she not rubbed tomato sauce in her eye, ouch.

Pictured bottom is one of my favorite breakfasts (how I started my week), or snacks, or well, foods. A tin of Oysters smoked in cottonseed oil, a plain bagel with garden veggie cream cheese, and a cup of herbal tea. Breakfasts of champions! or weirdo's at least!

10000 bonus points for anyone who gets the song name from today's blog post. And also, my condolences as you too, are probably a video game widow.

Well, don't you know that other kids are starving in Japan So eat it, just eat it

2010-05-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

Still no fever for DD#2, YAY! Called the Dr again, and they still haven't seen the paperwork from our ER visit, but scheduled the follow up anyway. So, progress?

Is it sad when the lady who just makes appointments recognizes your voice, or back story or well, YOU?

Friday is movie night, and I wanted to finish off the left overs from last night, so I let the kids have what they wanted for supper. Be prepared to avert your stomach, er eyes.

Hotdog Helper.

Which is, when you cut hot dogs up into lil bites, and cook them with the pasta from 2 boxes of Mac and cheese, and a bag of peas and carrots, then make the cheese sauce and add 2 Tbs of BBQ sauce.

Really, they only ask for this stuff about once every 2 months, cause there's SO much sodium in it that I think their bodies would die twitchy deaths of horror if we ate it more often. But they think it's fun every once in a while.

Also, I'm SO not taking a picture of this, I've a reputation at stake here.

goodnight, goodnight sweet baby

2010-05-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

A while back my neighbor made some potato salad with Chayote (pictured left), sweet pickle relish, and green spanish olives in it, man oh man, was that the best potato salad I had ever had.

We had plans for her to teach me how to prepare this dish, but with the weather being horrible the past couple weeks, and then the kids getting the sniffles, and DD#2 taking that fall, she just told me to bring over the things I had picked up and she'd make it for me. (when she gives me the recipe if it's OK with her I'll post it)

I love my neighbors!

She made it last night and it chilled in my fridge all day. She even garnished it with some deviled eggs!

I just boiled up some shrimp (salt and lil liquid smoke in the water is all ya need). Made a fresh salad, and called it a night.

Also, I'm happy to report, that DD#2 has not had a fever since yesterday afternoon! Now, if only I could get her Dr to give us that follow up apt that the ER Dr. said she should have.

No more monkies Jumpin on the bed

2010-05-19T03:51:00.000-07:00

OK, she wasn't jumpin on the bed. DD#2 was trying to climb up on her lil scootie car thing and didn't get her leg up high enough and tipped over, gravity took over from there, and she fell to the ground. Hitting her head on the concrete, and getting muddy in the process. Up to the bath she went to get cleaned off, and apparently have a seizure and then promptly fall asleep.

To the ER we go!! (and the receptionist is all, "Oh, it's you again")

Where we sit waiting. For hours. While people with UTI's and sprained ankles and the like are seen first (first come first serve I suppose).

Get to Triage where they take her temp, it's 102.something!! Where did that come from? She had been fine all day. Cutting 6 teeth but fine. Bit sneezy, but fine. Nothing that I would have been alarmed over. And really the bump on the head wasn't even bad, it's just what happened AFTER that made me take her in.

The Dr thinks the sudden on set of the fever triggered the seizure and not the bonk on the head, which didn't even give her a bump on her noggin, but the sent her for a CT anyway to be safe. The CT came up clear. We will be following up with her regular Dr in the next few days.

ALL that to say, I might not be posting the most fabulous things for a while (or anything at all), cause I've got a sick baby, and I'm a bit of a nervous wreck. I'll be back when things settle down, say a prayer for us, think happy shinny thoughts, and know that I'll still be cooking and will prolly think of some sort of silly montage upon my return!

OH! and we had Skettie tonight. that's from the last time I posted it.

Concocting soup inside my nest

2010-05-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

Ever forget you're cooking, till the smell works its way thru your stuffed up nose? And I had been wondering for like 20 min what that LOUD hissssssssing noise was! turns out, it was the pressure cooker full of chicken for soup for tonight's supper!

That was my Facebook status yesterday afternoon.

It got worse.

I then realized that I didn't have what I needed to make dumplings or biscuits, nor did I have any green peas, or any more carrots.

Also DH had the car at work and told me he was going to be working latish.

Here's what I ended up doing.

5 Chicken leg quarters in my pressure cooker till meat was falling off bones.
3 cups brown rice plus 7 cups water plus 3 chicken bullion cubes in a medium pot till rice is tender.
pull chicken out of stock/broth. Add 2 bags edemame and 1lb frozen corn, and the left over glazed carrots (that you rinsed thoroughly) and cooked rice.
pull meat off bones, enjoy.

I should have done more meat, because there was only enough meat for half the soup, the left overs (and what's pictured) are meatless, but taste meaty due to the stock it was cooked in.

I shouldn't have cooked soup when so distracted by not feeling well.

You can't always get what you want

2010-05-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

The other day I made yummy dinner, I did not however take a picture of it, cause I'm a slacker.

Also I didn't want to make yummy dinner, what I wanted was Coco's Curry, cause they have yum gravy and fried meat, and these creamed crab croquette things that are just heaven when you are craving junk food. But DH and I after running our errands as soon as the kids came off the bus decided the responsible thing to do was to go home and let them do their homework. BAH stinking homework, foiling my junk food takeout plans! (that up there by the way is what I wanted to eat)

So, here's what I made.

Broiled Talapia with Salt, pepper, garlic, onion and Thyme powder and a drizzle of Olive oil. broil till flaky and golden brown. In the bottom part of the broiler pan I placed a thinly sliced onion and lemon and some water so that would steam the fish while it cooked and prevent it from drying out.

Glazed Carrots with salt, butter, brown sugar and ground ginger. Just dump all that in a pot and cook till the carrots are tender, and the sugar and butter reduce to make a nice glaze. I think I had 2lbs of carrots, 4 tbs butter, 1 loose 1/4 c scoop of brown sugar (I just keep a 1/4 cup scoop in there and used that, but I wasn't exact here, no packing it in just a lil is all you need) and a hefty sprinkle of ginger powder and a dash of salt.

Steamed Spinach with ham flavor (by Goya) just till hot tho, cause I used frozen spinach so it doesn't take long to cook.

And some fancy twirly pasta with Parmesan cheese and olive oil.

*UPDATE*
I got my curry, a day late, but it was still yummy!

You might have to walk the fine line, you might take the hard line But everybody's working overtime

2010-05-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

Things I learned yesterday:

1:Orthopedic Dr.s are sadists. Called the Dr cause my hand is still hurting pretty badly, I'm now advised to treat my splint/removable cast like a real cast till I am pain free, and they have no desire to do the second set of x-ray's the radiologist thought I needed 2 weeks ago. Oh, and to follow up with my regular Dr. 6-8 weeks from my injury.

2:Turns out one handed sympathy is short lived. DH was miserable from working in the rain for the last few days (who can blame him?). He also went to the store for me to pick up lettuce n stuff for supper, but no help cooking or cleaning from him or the monsters (uh, I mean kids).

3:And Taco Rice is on the list of meals you can prepare one handed. Prepare ground beef as you would for tacos, and everything else, just replace tortillas with rice. Although shredding the cheese was a bit tricky.

4:If on Mother's Day you get up make every one blueberry pancakes, then have to drive to church one handed, in a downpour, with a sty in your eye, and you feel a migraine coming on, you should have stayed home, in bed, cause Monday will SUCK!

Sorry folks no pic, wasn't in the mood for much besides eating and sleeping.

"insert violin music here" Beef it's what's for dinner OR "They're savages! Savages!"

2010-05-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

We had the missionaries over for supper last night, and I really do enjoy feeding large amounts of people. There were 6 Full time missionaries 4 Elders and a Couple Set, Elder and Sister Savage. I had meant to cook for them about a week ago but my injury was too new so I had to postpone.

I let DH and the Elders chose the menu, and when you let 5 men pick dinner you end up with Steak with sauteed Mushrooms and peppers and onions, and Mashed Potatoes, and Pie (I threw in salad for good measure).

I looked pretty much like the farewell dinner I gave DH before his Alaska TDY. But with Mashed potatoes instead, and salad and no artichoke.

I forgot to take a pic of the houseful of people or the food, because I was just too busy cooking and enjoying the good company. The children kept them entertained while I cooked everyone's steaks the way they wanted them. I had everything else ready ahead of time. And since I've posted how on cooking steak (cooked the steaks whole tonight), peppers (I did use fresh now that they're in season) and potatoes (just omit the sweet potatoes) before I'll just link in the details.

The salad was simple, tossed greens, tomatoes, cucumber slices, and bell peppers.

The pie, I wish I had a pic of the pie!! It was GOOD.
for the crust (this is a triple batch)
3 3/4 cups flour, 3 sticks of butter (sorry, it's not diet pie), 1 tsp salt, 1 Tbs sugar, Ice water as needed to form dough. divide in half.

for filling
2 bags each frozen strawberry unsweetened slices and blueberries, about 3/4 cup sugar, about 1/4 cup corn starch, about 1/2 cup water, combine in a medium sauce pan bring to boil, simmer till thick.

Line your desired dish (mine was a large oval dish, because I was feeding 8 adults and 4 kids) with one half the dough. then dump in the filling, and I like to take large marble sized pieces of the other half of my dough, flatten and press into sugar (both sides) and then just cover the pie, it's OK if they overlap, or even if you have to make 2 layers. Think more noodle/dumpling than pie crust with the top portion.

Top with freshly whipped cream. Cream, sugar to taste, whip till stiff peaks. It really is worth the effort.

Dinner was a hit. The Elders were hilarious, one was spouting poetry about my cooking all thru the meal. Sister Savage was sweet in keeping me company in the kitchen and offering to help. DD#2 is smitten with Elder Savage while the other 3 children hammed it up. I have never felt so flattered about my cooking before, with the poetry and another Elder asking where I learned to cook, if I had gone to school or if it was just a hobby. I said it was just a hobby, but that some day I'd like to own my own lunch counter type place so I can cook for people.

They ended the night sharing a message and asking us to be mindful about our friends and neighbors, and in wanting to share the Gospel in a more natural way. Having them over and just inviting our friends to join us, instead of just sending them over on their own, which can be a bit intimidating.

I hope to have the Sister missionaries over soon. Maybe I'll remember my camera next time?
I also don't want to see a steak for a good long while!

i should warn you i go to sleep

2010-05-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

I try to be sympathetic to DH, I really do.

They jerked his schedule around every day this week so his body, not only having to deal with jet lag had to try to figure what shift to work, oh and they only gave him about a day and a half off between traveling from Alaska and here. So when he said he wanted to take a nap I was understanding, especially when he followed it up with a "wake me when you're ready to start supper, so I can help".

Cause I'm in a half cast remember? Broken finger/hand?

So, a hour and a half-ish (maybe two hours) later I go up to try and wake him, NO DICE. That man is dead to the world. And sleeps till the next morning when he needs to get ready for work.

Now I'm left with a completely thawed pork roast that needs to be cooked or it will be spoiled and wasted.

So I do what every sane person would do, I take my cast off (it's removable) and make dinner on my own, and hey, my hand's not hurting that bad after all (for now).

I placed my roast in my roasting pan and surrounded it with chopped fresh carrots and Beni Imo (purple sweet potato) and one can of chopped pineapple and it's juice, and enough water to be level with the veggies. Salt and Peppered the lot and added several drops (10 or so) of liquid smoke and about 1 and a half Tbs of Chinese Five Spice (that's what it's called, you should be able to find it with the other spices by McCormick or in the Asian isle). This is an interesting seasoning mix that is savory and slightly sweet at the same time. There is defiantly some cinnamon happening there and probably some anise as well but that's about as far as I'm willing to go with my guesses as to what's in it. It will fill the kitchen with lovely cooking smells tho! Bake at 375 till veggies are tender and meat is about 165 internal temp (oo look at me getting all fancy with a temperature setting!) Since Pork plays so nicely with sweet flavors and the sweet potatoes and carrots, while not overly sweet have more of a sweet background than most veggies, is why I tossed in the pineapple, to bring that out, and the citrus would help to balance that some. The 5 Spice has enough savory happening that it's not overwhelming or cloying.

I also made some coconut rice, 3 scoops of rice in my rice cooker and 2 cans of coconut milk, turn it on. Steamed and acorn squash, cut up, scraped out seeds, place in Pyrex with lid and about 1 inch of water and in microwave for about 20 min. Scrape out soft squash butter, salt and brown sugar to taste (I used my fancy wheel of brown sugar I got from my neighbor via her dad in NY who is Panamanian, had to grate it, which was a new experience for me, but that stuff has a way better flavor than the bagged stuff that I use for baking!).

We didn't eat till about 9pm. Cause I spent about 30 min trying to wake DH earlier, and it turns out that while it didn't hurt my hand to be out of the cast, wielding a knife on the other hand is an entirely different matter, and slowed the preparation process a lot. My hand was so sore that I couldn't eat. The kids were so tired (cause bed time is at 8 for them) that they tasted everything on their plate and were practically falling asleep at the table, DD#2 fell asleep on the sofa well before the meal was ready.

So, this dinner sits in the fridge waiting for us to eat it Saturday! LOL

And tell me what can I do today ’cause everybody needs a helping out

2010-05-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Been after DH to help me in the kitchen for a long time (read all our marriage). Simply because I think it's more fun to prepare food with people than on my own. The kids I can command to join me both for lessons and general gofer status, but how do you get a grown man in the kitchen when he has no interest in anything other than the final product?

Turns out the trick is to break my hand.

He chopped and seasoned our tiny potatoes that were steamed/boiled, mixed up and formed the mini meatloaves/giant burgers, stirred, flipped and helped dish out plates. I love him!

On to the food!

Field Peas and Collard Greens, plus 2 packets of Ham flavor and enough water to cover in my large cast iron pan (I didn't mean for them to be mixed, but this was the one job I could do last night, cut the bags open and dump them in a pot, and I wasn't paying attention and dumped them in the SAME pot! DOH!!, it was yum anyway). Simmer till Peas are tender.

Mini potatoes washed and cut (I'm not sure how many potatoes were involved since I bought a prepacked bag at the Japanese market) into bite size bits, then seasoned with 2 packets of that Sazon seasoning, and about 2/3 of a stick of butter and salt to taste, in a medium bowl with some water, a plate as a lid and then used the baked potato setting to cook them (pushed it like I had 6 large potatoes in there). The seasoning will turn the parts of the potato it touches a pretty orange but under that they're still white.

The mini meat loaves/giant hamburgers (depending on who you are serving them to in the house) are 2lb 97% lean grd beef, 3 eggs, a handfull of Italian bread crumbs and 1 Tbs(ish) of Gourmet Burger seasoning (it's got dehydrated bell peppers and onions and all kinds of stuff in it). Mash up and then we divide into 4 large loaves/patties. Sometimes I bake these and sometimes I cook them on the stove top, to night we did them on the stove top (cause DH wanted to man the spatula, and he prefers to think of them as giant hamburgers and not mini meatloaf, having been traumatized sometime before me by a meatloaf).

I'm back in the saddle again

2010-05-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

DH is home, and was uber helpful in the kitchen last night!

We made some grilled chicken strips seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, onion and sage. Angelhair pasta with Alfredo sauce and 2 kinds of fresh mushrooms that I sauteed in some butter first, then combined. And lastly steamed some fresh (and frozen, cause I didn't have enough of either) green beans, then sauteed them with butter and soy sauce and a handfull of mushrooms too. MMM mushrooms.

Kids ate their dinner, DD#2 fell asleep at the table tho, poor baby is cutting 6 teeth at once. Fun for the whole house!

I was so busy enjoying DH's company and bossing him around (um I mean directing) that I forgot to take a pic (also the one arm thing makes taking pics a little awkward).

It's the final countdown

2010-04-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

The ER Dr was the same I'd seen Monday, which saved me a lot of talking. I just explained the horror of my NON appointment the day before.

She was aghast. Looked at my xray again, gave me a half-cast and an appointment for orthopedics herself as part of my discharge instructions. Thus sidestepping my own Dr entirely. YAY!

Turns out not only did I bang up my knuckle I also fractured a bone in my hand in a couple places so I get a half cast (it's removable) for the next month. I can take it off for showering and if I'm resting, but if I'm lifting anything or moving around the house or driving or anything other than, sitting or sleeping I get to have it on.

She also gave me Percocet (man I love that stuff). But it turns out the half cast was what did the trick because it immobilized my hand and not just my finger.

The ladies at Church are bringing us supper for the next few days, and DH should be home early next week (cross your fingers he's on the first plane out, and that it doesn't get grounded for repairs).

I fall to pieces

2010-04-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a MESS.

I woke up and called the Radiologist about my hand, who just said I needed a new X-ray and to see the orthopedic. GREAT. To do that I need a referral from my regular Dr. (free health care comes with lots of hoops).

I got an appointment with my Dr. and someone to watch the littlest two kids, circle the parking lot twice to find and parking spot and then have to try parking 3ish times (it's difficult to park when your hand is in a splint) all that makes me a few min late for the apt. I'm informed at the front desk that the Dr has moved on to the next patient and will NOT BE SEEING ME now, because I was supposed to be there 20 min early (the Tech who I was on the phone with neglected to mention this) so even had I been "on time" I would have been late.

She then hands me a slip of paper and says most helpfully how I've been rescheduled for Friday.

FRIDAY!

The vicodin has stopped working for the pain that this is causing, and the Dr won't give me anything stronger with out having seen me first ( the irony is not lost on me). Try icing it and continue with the Mortin they say. I'm in tears at the front desk (me crying in public here, that's how bad it hurts) because I have to wait 2 more days for my hand to get a fresh xray so that I can get the referral to the orthopedic clinic (that is walk-ins only!).

I pick up the little ones from my friends house, and then get home just before the bus drops of the older two.

That morning I had started a Chuck Roast in the crock pot with 1 box of beef stock and some water and a heafty few shakes of Gourmet burger seasoning and salt. I set it on high and let it do it's thing all day.

By 4 pm I'm in so much pain from my hand that I try taking 2 of the vicodin (in hopes that it'll take the edge off) and I can finish supper, no dice. DD#2 thinks she needs to grab either at the splint or the ice pack that are on my hand, and I just can't take much more.

Thank goodness for neighbors and friends, I took her next door to play with her BFF (another baby only a few months older than her).

I also realize that there is NO way I am going to be able to cut up the cabbage or carrots or be able to lift the pot of water for the pasta, let alone shred the roast for the beef and cabbage gravy I have planned for supper. And this is where I get to say, I LOVE MISSIONARIES! (for those of you who don't know I am LDS)

The single missionaries came over and gave me a blessing (which helped me to calm down), and the Couple missionaries came over and the Sister finished preparing our supper for me. It turned out beautifully, and there is enough for tonight.

I'm debating on going back to the ER this morning since the meds aren't doing anything for the pain. But I'm not looking forward to driving at all. And I'm afraid they'd just tell me there's nothing they can do till my Dr refers me to otrho anyway.

For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on

2010-04-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

I've never had a friend as bossy as me before, and I'm still on the fence with how much I enjoy it. Most of the time it's hilarious, because I understand the bossy personality, listen if you want, you're not going to hurt my feelings if you don't. But, with an injury, it's a little different.

My neighbor and friend had planned a pot luck style cook out for yesterday. It rained.

SURPRISE (only not really cause it's a tropical island and it does that).

All the other neighbors decided not to come, but I was told to bring my already thawed steaks over anyway "since now I'm a gimp". Also her DD (who's 5) wanted to play with my DD#1 (who's 9). So, her DH grilled the steaks in the rain, and she made mashed taters, I was allowed to make salad since I am mostly one handed.

My neighbors really have been taking good care of me and I should do more for them. (also, now I know how all MY friends feel! LOL)

There's no pic since it wasn't at my house sorry.

Been crazy all day long and it's only Monday,

2010-04-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

I got an X-ray last night for my right pinky (where the pinky meets the hand) the Dr is not pleased about the bruising and not sure about the xray, said she will have the radiologist look at it and have him call me tomorrow. I banged it on a corner of a wall last Monday, wish me luck!

I came home with a metal splint and 2 bottles of pills, Motrin for day time swelling and pain, and vicodin for night time (to help me sleep, and boy howdy, 2 of those do the trick).

While that was happening the sitter made Dirty Spaghetti for the kids.

The night before (while still in denial about my finger); Fried pork chops, not quite mashed potatoes, and corn with spinach.

I just seasoned the pork chops with Salt, pepper, garlic, onion and Marjoram. then pan fried in veg oil till golden and crisp. I boiled some red potatoes till tender and then stirred in nearly a half a stick of butter and 1/4 cup light ricotta cheese, salt and pepper, garlic powder. they were TASTY potatoes, I will do that again. The corn and spinach are a standard in our house, a 1lb bag each with 2 pkg ham flavor and enough water to simmer till tender. salt to taste.

Note to those of you in denial about hurting your hands, cast iron pans are heavy, so if you cook in them like I do, perhaps you should let them have the night off when you're injured, or just not lift them, or just send the children out of the kitchen when you need to lift them because you will probably swear, a lot, on accident.

Now if you wanna go to get away from it all

2010-04-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

So, thankfully Spring Break happened during DH's trip. I had the kids home to help keep my mind off missing him, and lets face it with 4 kids home a week, and a camping trip planned you don't have a lot of time for pinning away!

The week started off superbly, picnics, lookey-loo shopping, gardening, light dinners, no real cooking. Just some throw together stuff and movies and running around like we had no concerns.

The closer and closer it got to our camping trip the worse the weather looked, and then it hit.

It rained, and rained. We tried to have fun anyway.

And then, cause 4 kids and a mom in a camper tailor for 3 days 2 nights isn't enough, we'll toss in 12 hrs of stomach flu too.

We had hot dogs the first night (boiled on the gas stove) with avocado and tomato dip, and fruit salad (I made at home before we headed out). Night 2 the rain cleared up enough for grilled burgers (the culprit of the tummy troubles?) and grilled veg shishka-bobs. Just some Deli Sandwiches on Pita bread during the day and some eggs and potato stuff for breakfast (the first day, the second day we had dry cereal, LOL).

Our tummies were a tad tender still the last week, so we took it easy with light things not blog worthy.

close your eyes and I'll kiss you, tomorrow I'll miss you

2010-04-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

DH had to go away for a month, so to make him miss me more (if that's possible) I made him a day of send off meals. Scones with fresh whipped Cream and blueberry preserves for breakfast and a Supper of Rib Eye, Artichoke, Garlic bread, Browned Potatoes, Sauteed Peppers, Onions, and Portabella Mushrooms.

We ate outside, because earlier in the day it was beautiful, of course by the time we got to eat the clouds and wind had rolled in, this is my luck! I made them eat outside anyway! LOL

We tried to go to the movies, but that didn't work as "they" called with an earlier plane.

He should be home in a little more than a week now! and I'm glad for it!

I made enough scones to feed 4 sets of neighbors (they all put orders in when they know I'm making them) and they're so easy to make in large batches I don't mind. And really I just love feeding people!

Folks in a town that was quite remote heard Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo

2010-04-05T06:53:00.001-07:00

Mexi-Chicken Pasta Salad
1.5 boxes med size penne pasta cooked and drained
2 cans drained black olives
1 lb bag steamed and salted soy beans
1 can plain stewed tomatoes
1 can stewed tomatoes with bell peppers
1 can green chillies
1 bag boneless skinless chicken thighs broiled in a bottle of Mojito (spelling) by Goya marinade (looks like a wine bottle, with a blue plastic shrink wrapped top. says it's for pork and chicken, you have to shake all the spices back up)

Drain the tomatoes, dice the cooked chicken, then add everything to a large bowl, including a few ladles of the pan drippings (marinade) from the cooked chicken. Toss to combine. Good warm or cold as left overs.

Threw this together the 24th. the kids loved it, the first 2 times they ate it. I ate it for lunch about 3 times after that. It made a lot, oops. LOL

Then I made Sheppard's Pie on the 26th.
Mashed potatoes layered with ground beef cooked with onions, steamed broccoli and Colby Jack cheese. I start with the meat and onions on bottom, then a little cheese, then the veg, the potatoes and top it off with the rest of the cheese, bake till the cheese is bubbly (it's all pre cooked anyway).

I couldn't keep this on the kids (or neighbor's) plates, and it's been requested more often by all involved.

The 28th I made Dirty Spaghetti (again) and roasted a chicken (again). Halved the bird and cooked it on a bed of green onions, bell peppers, and sliced carrots.
DH had a friend over to play video games all afternoon, and the kids were clamoring for their favorite pasta dish, they passed on the chicken tho. The "boys" cleaned their plates between battles with beasts.

I turned the 2 breasts and 1 leg quarter, back bone, neck, liver and various innards into soup in the following days, along with some sliced carrots, broccoli and the mashed potatoes that didn't' fit into the Sheppard's pie (to thicken the broth). Add a box of chicken stock and the pan drippings and enough water to fill the pot.

I think that catches me up again! LOL
I swear I mean to do this every day but then I get tired, or busy, or just plain forget, you can thank Kendra for getting on to me and motivating me into posting tonight!

it seems like years since it's been clear Here comes the sun

2010-03-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

When I'm not cooking I'm either digging in the dirt or my fabric stash.

We moved into this house Sept last year and it had 5 built in flower beds, all sadly over grown with grass and weeds. Our move-in inspector was delighted when I asked if I could tear out the grass and put in flowers. Okinawans have an affinity for all things that grow, this island is an interesting mix of city, and jungle trying to reclaim the city while being helped by everyone's balcony or tiny yard gardens (manicured to varring degrees).

I of course had to un pack and get us settled in (during Typhoon season). And winter showed up (mild as they are here I still don't enjoy it). I tried to dig up the grass/weeds by hand, no dice. They had been in for so long (and the soil here so much like clay) that the only way that was happening was with a shovel or pick. I ended up hiring a yard guy to come and dig them up for me. He needed both a shovel and a pick.

Then I was left with 4 ditches running the length of my sidewalk up to my door, with piles of dirt and weeds in the grass in the lawn. I can't imagine how the "yard nazi's" passed up the opportunity to write us up for what I'm sure were several infractions. I can only think that since it looked (slow as it was) like something was happening. Toss in some sick kids and it took me nearly a month start to finish to get these flower beds planted. You can see before and afters (more than what I posted in this post) here (page 4-5 ish for the before of the yard)

I planted things that I already knew tolerated the climate well, and would fill in the beds nicely once established. They still look a little sparce, but it would cost a fortune to fill them in all the way, not to mention, I'd have to go and thin things out too soon.

I bought some flowers from local nurseries and dug others up from a friends yard (they were getting a little over grown at her place). It'll be nice to one day get to plant a garden and just maintain it and not have to worry about what the next person will do with it. Last time we lived here I landscaped (not just flowers, but shrubbery, and decorative grasses, and the like) the entire yard and the next ppl just pulled it all out. Guess they didn't want to be bothered.

For supper tonight we are having BBQ chicken legs A-La the crock pot, rice and steamed greens.

For the Chicken I didn't have any bottled sauce so I made my own
1 bottle of teriyaki sauce
1 can tomato paste
18 oz water (rinsed the bottle out a couple times)
big squeeze of honey
1 Tbs (ish) Gourmet burger seasoning
whisk

pour that over a bag of frozen legs in a crock pot, cook on high from 11 ish to 6ish.
rice in the rice cooker of course.
and greens in cast iron with ham flavor.

We like to eat the chicken on top of the rice, to give it some flavor, and the greens on the side. It's not pretty (or picture worthy) cause after all day in the crockpot it kinda just falls apart. and is orangy/red.

So this long line of cars will never have an end

2010-03-20T05:54:00.000-07:00

No fevers, hardly any coughing, and just trace amounts of snot! I almost threw a party!! Instead I spent the day outside, well mostly.

First I drove 41Km (round trip) to pick up my new (to me) table and chairs for outside (this trip took 3 hours, to give you and idea of how much traffic is here on Island). It's a LARGE table (with 2 leaves that fold up and into) and 6 large chairs (2 kids can easily sit in one of these things). The previous owner says it's Teak, but I'm not sure (nor do I care). The stain is starting to rub off, which leaves me with the dilemma of sanding and restaining, or pressure washing and painting. Neither fix is permanent here in the elements, too humid, hot, and sunny. I could also leave it as is (but it's brown, and well, my house is beige with brown accents, and so is every other building on the base) so I'd like to get some color involved. I can't wait to get to have meals on a table outside instead of on a blanket!

Then I did some gardening (I thought this was going to be a quick project, but with the rain and the sick kids it's really dragging out!). Now I'm beat!

SO, for supper tonight, I fed the kids leftover beefy soup. They were not thrilled, too bad. Had they eaten their lunches I'd have fixed them a more substantial supper, but their appetites are still not up, and with plugged noses I'm sure nothing tastes right, so soup it is. As it was they only ate half of what I gave them, and were practically falling asleep at the table. Poor kiddo's!

DH and I had (and really, I almost never fix separate meals for adults vs. children) Rib-eyes, new potatoes, and broccoli, cauliflower, carrots medley. I tossed the potatoes in my cast iorn pan with olive oil, salt, garlic and marjoram. Sprinkled the steaks with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion on one side and on the other a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce and a sprinkling of Gourmet Burger seasoning then grilled on my grill pan. The veg just got steamed in the microwave and then the pan drippings from the steak poured over once plated.

Guess who forgot to take a picture till the food was too mangled to be pretty? Sorry, it was pretty too.

Just imagine the pics (and lighting) I'll get when we start eating outside!!! EEK I can hardly wait.

"The kids don't stand a chance"

2010-03-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

I was the only one in the house in the mood for Mexican, so we had more soup. YAY *insert sarcastic look here*. On the bright side, only mild fevers from DS#1 and DD#2 and no vomit inducing coughing fits today!

I was tired of chicken soup so I made beef soup today (and will probably have to eat it for most of the weekend, because there's a pot full).

2 cans mushrooms (not drained)
1 can plain stewed tomatoes
1 can with green peppers stewed tomatoes
1 box beef stock
1lb grd beef 97% lean
1lb frozen broccoli florets (that have been thawed)
1lb lentils
2 cans full of water (rinsed out the tomato cans)
3/4 box full of water (rinsed out the stock container too)
2 packets Saz`on Goya (Coriander & annatto) found in the Hispanic section.
Salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder to taste.

Brown beef in pot, then add everything else, simmer till lentils are tender.
Bring yourself to eat another liquid supper, and promise yourself a nice juice hamburger for lunch tomorrow!

After all that griping it wasn't bad, had a nice beefy flavor, and had a nice balance between the lentils and tomatoes (both can be a bit overpowering in a soup), the mushrooms and broccoli added just enough variety.

On a WAY tangent, I found a new band, and I'm gonna pimp them so avert your eyes if you want.

sometimes my tries, are outside the lines

2010-03-18T03:06:00.000-07:00

Not cooking today, finishing off the soup from last night. Cause the kids gobbled it and there's lots. The orzzo soaked up more of the broth overnight so now it's more of a noodle dish with greens. Still yum tho.

The best thing about today, NO FEVERS!! Snot all round still, but it's an improvement, and I'll take it. The kids were felling so much better that I set up the shade tent in the yard, threw out some giant cushions, and lap size quilts and the basket of coloring supplies. While declaring "Stay in the tent, so you don't run around and cough and then puke on your friends." All the kids in the building (we live in a 6-plex) have the same plague as us so I don't feel bad about letting them all play together.

Probably something in the crock-pot tomorrow, I'm feeling Mexican-ish, and I've a ton of errands and that'll be easy.

My sitter took some pics I'll post one later.

edit***** Um yeah, had this all posted, and was feeling good. Then took DS#1's temp, cause he said he felt "funny" guess who's no longer the healthy kid? On the plus side, his big sis is feeling much better, but is there really any point in sending her to school on Fri when she's only been on Mon (and was sent home that day)? I guess she could collect her homework.

Who used a machedy to cut through red tape

2010-03-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

Know when you microwave something and you reach in and pull it out but can only get it as far as the counter before setting it down while your hands to the "it's too hot to hold" shake-while you hop dance? That's what it was like getting the baby out of her bed this morning.

Yesterday I called the Dr and they were booked for same day/walk ins. So the nurse called back with "take meds for the fever and comfort for the rest" advise. CHECK, been doing that since Sat. wouldn't be calling you if that were working but whatever.

I get on the phone 5 min before the appointment line opens up so that I would be 1st in line to get an apt today!Good plan right?

Well 35 min later, I'm still listening to elevator music and the occasional recording of "please don't hang up, all of our operators are busy, your call will be answered in the order received". YEAH. As DS#1 (AKA the only healthy child) leaves the house for school I'm throwing clothes on the baby and taking her to the ER. Where I can get glared at for using the Navy as a walk-in clinic (we're Air Force).

It's not my bureaucracy that's messed up so this is not my fault, and really as long as they fix the sick baby, they can glare all they want.

An X-Ray, and WWF style breathing treatment later (she really wasn't digging that mask) along with an assortment of meds we find out she's on the verge of pneumonia. But she drank some apple juice and ate some lunch (first thing to go in her in 24 hrs, she wouldn't even nurse!!) then she slept starting at like 2(ish) pm till (well it's now 948 and she's still asleep). I sent DD#1 (who thankfully hasn't had a fever all day but has been coughing so hard her body aches) up to make sure she was breathing (lol, let the paranoia set in).

I'll be back there tomorrow with DS#2 cause it's a "training day" for my clinic (that never has an available appointment anyway). I'm really tired of the puke inducing cough.

SOOOO, all that to preface tonight's supper.
2 cans chicken broth (thanks to the neighbor, I didn't have time to get to the store, nor did I want to take the lil ones out to the store!!)
1 bag frozen chopped collard greens
1 medium minced yellow onion
1 box orzzo
some water and salt and garlic powder.

saute the onion till nice and golden, then add orzzo, saute till lightly golden, then add greens, and broth and water. season to taste.

Warm and soothing and light, and should puke up nicely later when they start coughing, cause last night's fancy rice and pork chops were tasty but a MESS!

This Little Piggy Stayed Home

2010-03-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

3 cups of Rice, 1 can of coconut milk and some water (enough to bring the liquid level up in the rice cooker) a light dash of salt when done.
1lb frozen green beans, 1 Tbs butter, 2 Tbs soy sauce, simmer
4 pork chops, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, ginger, curry, just sprinkle a lil on both sides of chops (they should end up with a nice coating of seasoning when you're done). Grill in grill pan

We had soup for lunch so I decided to do a real dinner, the sick kids just pushed it around their plates and didn't eat much. They did insist that it was yummy, they were just coughing so much that they couldn't eat. The one healthy kid ate his quickly.

Called the Dr this morning as soon as the appointment line was open, but they were already booked for the day (how does that happen?). They said the lil ones are too little for anything other than fever meds. So all I can do is try to keep them comfortable. I think perhaps I should bring the crying 1 yr old to their house and let her cry at them all day? DD#1 is staying home again because she is still feverish. I'm counting down till DS#1 gets this, and his teacher told me that 3 kids in his class have gone home due to "stomach bugs", I suppose I get to look forward to that next week?

sick and tired of (my kids) being sick and tired

2010-03-15T03:43:00.000-07:00

The car is at the Garage getting things fixed, so that we can buy "Japanese Compulsory Insurance" (JCI) and our car inspected to make sure (well I'm not sure what the inspection is for, the car is like a 1992 so I can't imagine it meets any sort of safety/emissions standards of today). Well the car is OVER THERE, and the neighbor was nice enough to go and get DH and bring him home, just in time for the school nurse to call and let us know that DD#1 has a fever and that we have to come and get her from school.

Have I ever mentioned we're a ONE CAR family? NO?, well we are. So, that's gonna be a neat trick huh? Also, it's less than an hour before school lets out. I'll not point out the stupidity of this.

I call my friend, to see if DH can borrow her car and fetch DD#1 home. I'm not dressed, cause I've been handing out meds to the two little ones that the Snot Fairy visited over the weekend. Turns out she was back last night. I've got a plan for that lady should I ever catch her. It involves the pennies we're not allowed to spend on island, and the one tube sock the washing machine didn't eat. If I tell you more you'll be guilty of some sort of conspiracy.

OH YEAH this is a food blog, I'll not go into the fact that the sick kids are coughing too hard to enjoy the food isn't staying in them long. Let's just go with I cooked something bland so that should we be seeing it later it will be less traumatic.

We went with Fettuccine Alfredo with mushrooms and green peas and a can of stewed tomatoes with basil and oregano. No meat tonight. The baby passed out (thankfully) before supper was finished cooking (she won't starve, have you seen those cheeks!?). Although, why she chose to do it in her chair at the table, I dunno (for those of you who don't know we eat at a Japanese style table and so her "high chair" is one that is supposed to be strapped into a dinning chair, but since we just sit on the floor, it's already the perfect height, and she can get in and out of it on her own, we just attach the tray when needed) ? DD#1 and DS#2 are both sick and so are mostly just picking at their food, but drinking Gatorade by the gallon, DS#1 scarfed his first bowl and went back for more.

P.S. Before I finished typing this up, and DS#1 finished his meal, DS#2 had a coughing fit; and sure enough, I'm thankful for bland food tonight! I'll be sending a bowl up to bed with him! How did that Snot Fairy know I just washed sheets?

The car is all fixed up, and has all the stickers it needs for the next 2 years. I think we might also be looking into buying a second car for while we are here (you can get them for under $1000 when ppl leave the island) and DH just wants one to drive back and forth to work so I can have the one full of car seats (how sweet! LOL).

P.S.S. Any tips out there for how to get my pics to turn out better? I mean I just have a basic camera (and have no desire to get anything else). They just always seem so washed out. I promise my food was not all white with green peas and bits of red! LOL and the lighting in the kitchen is not super bright, when I've tried to take pics w/o the flash it's WAY too dim. ok thanks in advance.

If you go down in the woods today You'd better go in disguise.

2010-03-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

Not really in the mood to cook on Friday, so I made Spaghetti, and we had a carpet picnic.

Turns out that's not an ideal dish for carpet picnics when you have a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old. But they thought it was fun, and everyone ate their supper. The dog however, thought this plan was genius, cause she got to play the role of vacuum for the night.

I use a chunky garden style sauce (the more veggies the better for us) and added in 2 small cans of black olives and one large can of mushrooms. Brown the meat with a minced yellow onion and some "italian" herbs, put it all over angel hair pasta. I was out of "sprinkle cheese" and nearly had a mutiny on my hands, thus the carpet picnic.

Saturday we had an actual picnic outside (for lunch) but it was simple PB&J with kiwi slices and oranges, till it got windy and dark and chilly. Then we came inside and finished up in the foyer! DH took us out to our fav Sushi place for supper Sat night, happy tummies all around!

We had big plans Sunday for dinner with my friend and neighbor, potato salad and chicken wings. But that dang Snot Fairy came back to my house over the weekend and attacked my little ones, so I passed out Tylenol and wiped noses Sunday, and ended up exchanging bowls of potato salad for a bowl of chicken wings with the neighbor. During the exchange I ended up eyeballing her can of baked beans (an item I never buy) but was salivating over. Off to my house I went, and to my dismay all I had in my pantry to work with were black beans (normally I only have dry beans, so I was lucky to even have these gems!). Turns out, you can make a pretty tasty baked bean substitute with black beans, here's what I did.

2 cans black beans (and their "juice")
1/4 c brown sugar (I mix both light and dark in my bin, so it's your choice)
5ish drops of liquid smoke
dash ground ginger
2 dashes gourmet hamburger seasoning
GENEROUS squirt of ketchup
1 packet ham flavor

Simmer and reduce down, I didn't let mine reduce as much as I'd have liked because the monsters were getting restless, but it was still tasty.

DD#1 has been asking for queesh, so I'll prolly do that one day this week, and I've been craving pie for a couple weeks now. There are also some pork chops in the freezer whose days are numbered. Oh and it's raining again, so that's nice.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

2010-03-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

So a fellow blogger is having a party, and asked for some recipes, and I thought I'd take this opportunity to post some of my favorite ones here.

I like to serve finger food at my parties, but still hitting all the food groups. Fruit trays are always nice, but I like to make a dip, with Cottage cheese and honey (to taste) and just blender them together. Sounds simple, and it is, but not everyone likes heavy snacks. I sneak veggies in queesh, cause if you put enough cheese and/or bacon in they don't notice! I also like to wrap veggies in bacon and broil them. Surprisingly, I find that most people will eat the sweater (baby carrots, red and yellow bell peppers, sugar peas) veggies just raw, and usually with out any sort of dip.

Still on the light side is Black Bean Salsa, 2 cans of drained and rinsed black beans, 1 lb bag of thawed corn, 1 can green chilies, either 5 (ish) diced roma tomatoes or 2 cans diced stewed tomatoes (depending on season and price) salt and pepper to taste and a dash of cumin, 1/4 cup Cilantro (chopped) fresh or powdered garlic and onion (which ever you prefer) (if using fresh 1 small clove garlic minced, and 1/2 small onion minced) 1 Tbs Lime juice. I like this on a tortilla or that hard toasty bread (not so much for chips).

For something more substantial (and time consuming, but NOT hard) there's always my 4 layer dip. The bottom layer is Pinto beans (you can use canned beans if you like but I make my own (the day before) in my crock pot, I use 1 lb of beans, cover with water, check on them through out the day to make sure they stay covered, and then when soft I add 1 pk of Ham Flavor, and salt to taste, then mash with my potato masher). The next layer is "Mexican Rice" 1lb grd beef browned with 1/2 onion and garlic, salt and pepper and a dash of cumin, remove the meat from pan, add 2 tbs butter and the other half of minced onion, 1 small clove garlic and 3 cups of uncooked rice, saute till rice is slightly browned, replace meat to pan, along with 1 can of stewed tomatoes, 1 can of green chillies, 3 Tbs Chicken Bullion (not the little cubes, over in the Hispanic section they have this stuff LOOSE in jars!! it is easier to use, and tastes better, you can even get it with a tomato base!! who knew! it's a green jar with a yellow label by Knor of course!) Add water to cover. Cook covered, but with lid not on all the way, and keep adding water to cover till rice is tender. Third layer is shredded Colby Jack cheese, and the Fourth layer is either Salsa or Mexican flavored Stewed tomatoes (your choice, my family is not a huge fan of Salsa, as they like their tomatoes nice and chunky). You need a LARGE 13x9 pan to put this in and those restaurant style chips for dipping (I of course fry my own tortilla chips, but no pressure).

I'm sure everyone knows how to make Spinach dip, so I'll not bore you with that, what I will say is that if you add chicken to it and then use it as filling for these Puffs it's like tiny little sandwiches. The Puffs aren't that hard, but they are a tiny bit fiddly. 1 Cup water, 6 tbs butter, 1 tsp sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup flour 4 eggs. Bring the water and butter to a boil, and remove from heat, add flour (in pot) return to heat till it pulls from sides of pan. Remove from pot, but batter in bowl and beat till cool (er) add eggs one at a time, put batter in a zip top bag, cut off corner and pipe onto a baking pan (cookie sheet/stone) into blobs about 2-3 inches wide (wet your finger and smooch down the tips so they are nice and round). Bake at 400 for 15 min and at 350 for 30-35 min. They will puff up and be hallow, once cooled you can cut them open and they will be hallow and be ready for filling. These are the same puffs that they fill with creme, but if you do that make them smaller? (or not LOL). I made these for Christmas Eve and the kids gobbled them, so did the neighbors.

Crepes are simple, and you can fill them with lots of different things. 1 1/2 c flour 2 eggs 1/2 c milk 1/2 c water 1/4 tsp salt 2 Tbs melted butter. Combine eggs, flour and salt, add water, milk and butter. Batter should be thin and then cook like thin pancakes on a well oiled pan. They're good with whipped cream and fruit, or pie filling, the skies the limit here.

For a sweet but not too sweet dessert I like to do Banana Bread with Chocolate chips. 1/2 c shortening 1 c sugar 2 eggs 3/4 c mashed bannans 1 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/4 flour 1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts) 1 c chocolate chips (I use semi sweet or dark) 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Combine all the wet ingredients and then fold in the dry. Put in a greased pan and bake at 350 till you can stick a tooth pick in it and pull it out dry (30-45 min?) I bake a lot so my nose knows ya know?

Also in my blog are my cheesy meat balls, strawberry fluff, plumberry buckle, scones, cookies of various kinds.

I think that's about it. This should also redeem me for the lack of posting this week! LOL, I am cooking all this week, but not getting too fancy (prolly).

I scream, you scream, we all scream, for soy beans and waffles?

2010-03-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

1lb Kielbasa and about 3/4ish lb diced chicken breast, 1 large onion diced, sauteed till onion is caramelized. Add a bag of frozen soy beans, and broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spoon over rice. Simple.

No witty story to go with this supper, we were hungry, the kids like sausage and soy beans.

I forgot to mention that we had Breakfast for supper this week also, nothing fancy, just Waffles and bacon with Pineapple (from a can) on the side. Why is serving Breakfast food after the sun goes down such a novel idea no matter how often you do it? It's like magic, I swear there's no sort of magic syrup or special mix involved, but they act like it's spiked? And I'm not just talking about the children, DH who normally turns his nose up to breakfast is all about waffles at 630pm? And all the Pre-eating frenzy? Oh and just so you all know, if you get tired of the standard fare, you can (dare I say should) substitute your regular waffle mix with banana bread batter (thin it down some). It makes for some FANTASTIC pancakes too, and if you're in a pinch for dessert toss in some chocolate chips and you're "in like flint". And if you're feeling extra adventurous you can just blender some bananas and stir them in to your blueberry pancake/waffle mix (I use Krustease, if I'm using a mix or Alton Brown's recipe if I'm doing from scratch).

I swear I'll change my ways

2010-03-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

This meal is why I don't buy the excuses of "I don't have time to cook". It took me all of 20-25 min from start to finish? (how ever long it takes to boil a large pot of water and then cook egg noodles in it).

Just look at it. Grilled (on my grill pan) Chicken strips (just hit them with some, garlic, onion ,marjoram, and salt and pepper), Corn and Spinach (DS#2's invention, fiber anyone?) cooked in a large cast iron skillet with 2 packs of my favorite ham seasoning, and Egg Noodles, with butter, and Parmesean cheese, parsley, garlic.

Earlier in the day (about 5 min before I started cooking) I was gardening, muddy, and tired, got in a big kerfluffle with DH and was in a horrid mood. He was all for take out, but I'd had enough of that, for the week (had been gardening all week and running errands, so just grabbing and going, or eating fast things at the house, I was ready for a MEAL).

Most of the rest of the week was spent eating salads and cleaning out the fridge of various foodstuffs.

I'll try to post more often, Spring just gets me out doors more often, and sewing more for people that move on Island. I'll also post some of my favorite recipes that I make for parties for my friend over on another blog. Hope all ya'll enjoy!

And I do my little turn on the catwalk

2010-03-02T05:33:00.000-08:00

So after posting the birthday party, and the cake, I felt bad. Cause really I Can make cake, I promise. SEE.

My dad got married last summer. I packed all 4 kids in the car, and drove from ID to FL in 3 days (with my mom, we'll not talk about that part, no really, on the return drive I was solo, nuff said). I made my dad's wedding cake.

Now if you were nosy and looked through my entire flicker page you might have spotted this. But I'm posting it here anyway. I bought the sugar flowers because I didn't have time to make them (the last time my dad got married I made fondant flowers on the cake too, but I lived in the same town back then) Dh's mom supervised, cause she's got more experience at this than me, and I get nervous on wedding cakes, and it's fun to do things with DH's mom (cause she's awesome and loving and supportive nice and I love her, and well the kids were there and she's Granny). It was fun making my dad's wedding cake because I got to know his wife to be more too. Now it's not like my dad's some serial groom, he's been married 3 times, my mom (didn't work out) and his second wife that died, and now his third.

SO, now you know more about me than you ever wanted, but you also know that I can do more than slightly smooched monkey head and bunny head (from a pan) cupcakes, which was the point.

"Happy, Happy Birthday"

2010-03-02T05:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday (a week or so later than I had planned, do to the Snot Fairy's untimely visit) we had DD#2's first Birthday Party!! It was low key, with just the neighbors invited over for cake and snacks.

I did a veggie tray, a fruit tray (with dip, Cottage cheese blended with honey, to taste, till smooth), my cheesy meat balls (recipe below) and cake, my friend and neighbor Amy did the chicken wings (she said she'd teach me how to make them, and I have an extra bag of wings in the freezer waiting for her), there were some crackers and Kool Aid too.

It was perfect, the weather held, there was just enough snacks, and the kids ran around in the yard(s). Between the 4 houses there were 14 kids under 10!! (most of them being from just 3 houses where there are 4 kids each) I'm also including a link to my flicker page so you can see the rest of the pics from the party. I'll just include the pic of the meatballs on this page tho.

Cheesy Meatballs
Normally this is a 3 ingredient list
1 lb 93% lean ground beef
1/2 cup grated/shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

If you are out of Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs (like I was on Sunday) you can use
1 (ish ere on the more side of ish) cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbs Basil
1 tsp Oregano
1 Tbs Sage
1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Moosh the meat together and then roll into ping pong sized balls and bake at 350 till brown.
normally they are crisp looking, if you used the mozzarella they will be gooey, but still tasty. Turns out when you add the extra gooey meat balls to the not so meaty leftover soup it's divine!

The cakes were from boxes (gasp, I know, but hey, I'm not super woman here) and I found how to make the monkey by doing a Google search and Martha Stewart has a video that explains it far better than I could ever dream of doing . The bunny head cupcakes were from a pan I picked up on an after Easter clearance a few years back in Homage to DH's mom (she gave me 2 3-D pans, a bunny and a duck) and when I saw the cup cake pan I had to have it too.

So I called Her Spanish Eyes

2010-03-02T02:33:00.000-08:00

DH had an "Early Out" on Fri, and took us out to eat Italian. Yakisoba Saturday, Birthday party Sunday (will blog about party food later I suppose) Monday we had left over Yakisoba and today, the kids wanted Mac and cheese with chicken, tomatoes, and green chilies tonight. Not pretty, or actual cooking for that matter. But there you have it, tasty, filling, and best of all the kids clean their plates without any prompting.

Big plans tomorrow for some "Mexican" (learned it from my actual Mexican neighbors in ID) tomorrow. And some gardening (if the weather lets me). Cross your fingers!

"She bought some ber-ra-ccoli"

2010-02-27T05:07:00.000-08:00

Is it Steroganoff, or some sort of Alfredo? More importantly, does it matter as long as they eat it? I "invented" this when DH was in Tech school after Basic and I was pregnant with DS#1. Funds were limited, and I couldn't be on my feet too much because of complications. It's another go to meal for when I'm in a hurry or just can't think of anything else everyone will enjoy. It also carries nicely for DH to reheat.

I made this Thursday, but I forgot it was in the camera (I need to stop doing that).

The kids were so tired of soup I thought they were going to mutiny if I pointed out the bowl of perfectly edible (and tasty) leftover soup in the fridge. So I thawed a pound of ground beef, cooked it with the usual (S&P, garlic, and onion powder) tossed in a bag of broccoli florets, a can of mushrooms and a jar of Alfredo sauce . I cooked some fancy giant twirly pasta (DD#2 loves to slurp them up and wiggle them around, it's probably not a good idea to let a 1yr old's style of food play dictate your pasta purchases, but hey, they're only 1 for a short time right? and she does eat it eventually) that I can never remember the name of let alone pronounce. Once drained I tossed it with some EVOO and some grated Parmesan Cheese (and yes you always need cheese).

It's not too pretty, but it gets the job done, and it's mighty tasty. The flavor lies somewhere between Steak and Alfredo that you get at a Italian place (cause of the ground beef, but on a much leaner budget) and strogunoff because of the mushrooms and the pan drippings/de-glazing that happens (since I use 93% lean beef there's not anything in the way of fat in the pan when the meat cooks just the you know little brown bits of goodness down there that the sauce brings up).

I've also done this with chunked chicken breast and even ground sausage or plain pork with varied results (depending on who's eating it with me!).

Domo Arigato MrRoboto

2010-02-27T04:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made Yakisoba, for my friend Tany from over on the TB forums. I showed her a pic of this dish and promised a blog about how to make it.

This can be made with any kind of meat you like (chicken, pork, shrimp, etc) I like to make it out of Sukiyaki (it's a beef cut that you find over here a lot, they start with a Sirloin tip roast and slice it THIN) I use about 1.5lbs and cut it into strips, season with garlic and onion powder and about 3Tbs soy sauce.

Next chop your veggies, again you can use what ever kind you like (or what's in season) there are a couple must haves, cabbage and carrots, and onion have to be in it, but other than that feel free to just go with your gut or taste buds. I like to add zucchini or eggplant, broccoli is good, boc choi (Chinese cabbage), bell peppers, the sky's the limit. In ours tonight were a small head of regular cabbage, and some boc choi, 8 small zucchini, 2 large carrots, 1 large red bell pepper,and 1 large red onion.

You will also need some fresh Soba noodles (most stores are carrying a larger variety of these things now). The kind I use also come with a little flavor packet (kinda like Ramen noodles does). We use 2 bags that have 3 packets (noodles and seasoning) each. If you just can't find Soba noodles you can use THICK spaghetti noodles boiled and drained (and the seasoning packets from either pork or beef Ramen noodles, it won't be exactly the same, but it'll be close enough).

I cook all this in an electric Wok, cause DH's grandma gave it to me years ago. If you don't have a Wok I suggest doing this in a LARGE pan in several batches and putting the cooked items in a bowl to be combined at the end.

Cook the meat first (use a little oil so it doesn't stick, but you're not frying or even sauteing). Then add in the onion and carrots and then the other veggies from hardest to softest with the cabbage on top put the lid on let it simmer/steam for about 5ish minutes. Remove lid and toss. Sprinkle the seasoning packets (should be 6 total and if you're using spaghetti noodles I think 2 lbs of pasta) then layer the already cooked noodles (the soba is FRESH so it's ready to go, just needs heating) replace the lid let steam/heat another 5 min. Remove the lid and toss again. If you had to do this in several batches in a skillet, then just cook the meat and veggies and place them in a bowl, then sprinkle the seasonings on them and add the pasta and cover well (foil/lid) let stand (the heat coming off the meat and the veggies should heat the pasta) and then toss.

Follow this link for all the pics from making tonight's supper (I went pic crazy for Tany too! LOL)

Do You Really Want To Hurt Me

2010-02-23T01:31:00.000-08:00

What do you feed kids that can't taste anything cause their noses are all stuffed up? Well, mostly anything they want, cause they're also running fevers and not that interested in food to begin with.

Luckily they're MY kids and this means they want, Fried eggs, Cottage cheese and Apricots for supper. There's only a couple of things wrong with this plan, I'm mildly lactose intolerant, and eggs make my mouth itch. But the kids are happy, and their bellies full. Hopefully the fevers will be gone, or at least less tomorrow.

There are steaming showers in their future tonight, and there are no clocks upstairs so no one will notice when I put them in bed a half hour early.

she called the doctor, woke him up

2010-02-22T16:50:00.000-08:00

SOUP!!

The Snot Fairy has come to visit my house again, and she brought fevers with her. How generous!
The baby had a runny nose over the weekend, which I attributed to a budding new tooth, and had a very low grade fever. Didn't even break my stride, got out the bulb suction, and baby fever reducer, marched on.

DD#1 woke up with a little bit of a sore throat, and a little sniffle, but it's been raining off and on since, oh, Christmas. Off she went to school. And upon her return she announced how bad she felt and came to give me a hug, where I discovered that she was ON FIRE! Drugged her up, slathered her down with Vapor Rub, handed her a steaming cup of Hot Apple Cider.

It's a good thing that earlier I asked DS#2 what he wanted for supper and he loudly proclaimed "Veggie's Soup, with chicken bits". He dragged over his stool to pick out the frozen bags from the freezer, here's what made last night's cut. 1 lb Lima beans, 1 lb Peas and carrots mix (the kind where the carrots are lil cubes), 1 lb corn, 2 cans Garlic and Onion stewed tomatoes, 20 oz diced chicken breast, half a gallon of water and 3 packets of Saz`on Goya (Coriander & annatto) (found I'm assuming in the Hispanic section, I'm assuming because I get mine from my neighbor, who gets hers from her dad in NY via the mail, and he's from Panama originally) and 1 lb of Lentils. I think this soup would have been better over rice instead of adding the lentils to the pot, live and learn tho. Just bring everything to a boil and let it simmer for an hr or so, turn it down as low as you can and let it hang out till supper. Alternately you could do this in a Crock Pot and start it out on high and then turn it to low, but I didn't think of that till just now.

DD#1 was thrilled to hear the news about soup for supper, said I was a genius and sang my praises all through the meal. Till I sent her to bed a full hour early. Cause what was I thinking right? Sick kid in bed early resting?

Now, back to that Snot Fariy, she was here again last night cause both boys woke up with fevers and snot. So I passed out more drugs, which I'm grateful for, don't get me wrong. I'm glad I live in an age where I don't have to worry about my children dieing from common colds. But there is something to be said about how GOOD the meds make them feel. Ever try telling a house full of children (that still have snot running down their faces) that just because their fever is gone because of the medicine, that they're not really better all the way, and then have to console them in a few hrs when said medicine wears off and they're wiped out again? I'm not sure if the solution is half doses or a dose (to stave off the worst of the fever) or a dose and a lil extra (to encourage a nap)?

I hope don't catch this new bug, because I'm still not 100% from the last batch of goodies the Snot Fairy left for us. And if the baby is still running a fever tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get a Dr apt for her cause 4 days of (even a low grade) fever and snot is enough.

Tiny Bubbles

2010-02-21T03:24:00.000-08:00

Steak, Peppers, and Tiny Potatoes.

While at the Commissary DS#2 was helping to pick out the frozen veggies and was interested in the tiny red potatoes (you can NEVER find them fresh here on island). We used 2 1lb bags, halved ,and sprinkled them with Kosher salt, Garlic and Onion powder and cooked them on the griddle that had a light coating (about a tsp or so) or bacon drippings (from this morning's brunch). Just lay the potatoes cut side down on med heat and let them hang out till they are a nice golden color.

DH was nice enough to cut the Rib Eye's up for me. I used 2 steaks (1.25 lbs worth) cut into bite sized chunks and trimmed of large pieces of fat. You could use another cut of beef if you like but we like the tenderness of a rib eye and the flavor that the slight marbling gives. I salt and peppered the meat and just tossed it in the pan with half a thinly sliced onion and a bag of frozen pepper slices, and 1 can of drained mushrooms.

Just cause I was craving them (and cause they're my favorite veggie) I steamed some green peas in the microwave.

I over did and couldn't breath by the time it was done, so I guess we'll be back to a dishes that require a little less back and forth, chopping and stirring for the remainder of this wretched cold. DH liked supper, and various children liked and didn't like (that's the part they made sure to talk about the loudest and most often tonight) various parts of the meal.

Oh and on Friday we had Mac and Cheese (the kind with spiral noodles) with cherry tomatoes (DD#1 halved them) and a can of green chilies added in (there might have been some seasonings added to this as well but I forget) and Hot Dogs. You don't need a pic of that. The kids love when we add things to Mac and Cheese, and DS#2 loves Hot Dogs so every one was happy.

Magic Cabbages Live and Grow

2010-02-17T02:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had Cabbage soup, with beef gravy?

I'm not sure how else to describe this meal and there are no pics, mostly because I forgot the camera on the desk before we ate it. There are however plenty of left overs and so I shall take a pic of it later, when it's not in large plastic containers.

I think this meal proves that I have the strangest group of people eating in one house ever.

I started with a rather large head of cabbage, DH grew up eating boiled cabbage sometimes at his grandma's house (I think) it's usually done with some sort of pork product in it, but as I've mentioned odd Southern pork products are hard to come by here in Okinawa Japan. Chop up the cabbage and add it to a LARGE pot. Then thinly slice about 6 short carrots and add them to the pot, and a gallon of water, and 3 packets of Ham flavor by Goya. Let it boil till Cabbage and carrots are tender (cabbage more so than carrots). Scrub 4 potatoes and then chop and cook in the microwave (much like you were going to make mashed potatoes) when fork tender, drain and add to pot. Check for Salt and add a heafty amount of freshly ground black pepper.

Dice and trim a 2.75 lb Chuck Beef Roast into (kid) bite size pieces, season with about 2 Tbs Mc Cormick Gourmet Burger seasoning mix and Garlic, small dice one half a small onion. Brown in a large cast iron skillet with a coating of olive oil. De-glaze the pan with water and then make a corn starch slurry to thicken, bring to a boil. Check for Salt.

We ate ours with the meat gravy over the soup, but you could drain the cabbage, carrot, potato meadly and then put the meat gravy over, or put the meat on the side or serve the 2 dishes separately all together. The kids are pretty big fans of soup, and will slurp even cabbage broth. The baby thought the carrot discs were fun to scoot around her tray and bite into. I'm not sure how DH will feel about the combo but luckily he eats his meals the day after and at work!

With DH"S work schedule this week I only had time to get half the grocery shopping done today, so I"ll have to go back tomorrow and finish up. At least I don't have to go down half the aisle's tomorrow, but I still have to go :( if there were only a person I could train to do this one task for me. It's not the act of getting the food itself that bothers me, it's the supermarketness of it. Why are there no longer butchers, and bakers, and so forth? I'd MUCH prefer that, even if it took me longer, at least I'd feel less like cattle being herded through a maze. And I'd know the people from whom I'm purchasing such things from, and I'd be able to make better choices, and judgments about the food I'm bringing home instead of basing my decisions on my pocketboook alone. I think the real solution is for when I grow up to have enough land to grow some of my own produce and raise my own cow?

dusty books of pictures on the floor

2010-02-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

While uploading my pic for my last post I found pics for the last few meals leading up to the my cold (back when I was still cooking but lacking the energy to blog about it).

I shall do my best to recall how I prepared these meals from Feb 5, 6 and 7.

First up was some chicken and shell pasta stuff: dice some chicken breasts, season with S&P , garlic and onion, saute with a little olive oil, then add some rough chopped tomatoes and half a bag of frozen spinach and a can of olives, and about 2 Tbs basil, and about 1lb cooked shell pasta. It was quick and easy and made the perfect meal to eat while watching "Nanny McPhee". The kids liked it enough to want the left overs the next day for lunch.

Next up herb poached Talapia, glazed carrots, steamed peas, and mashed potatoes. I know it sounds like a lot but it goes fast. If you have everything ready that is, and can multi task. I like to make my mashed potatoes with the aid of my trusty microwave. First Scrub them clean, then chop them and put them in a large bowl with an inch or two of water and cover with a plate, use the baked potato setting on your microwave for the appropriate number of potatoes, add 1/2 to 1 stick of butter, milk to thin (you just have to eye ball this) Salt and garlic powder to taste and a nice dollop of sour cream at the end. I also use my stick (immersion) blender to do the mashing/creaming in the same bowl they were cooked in. While the potatoes were cooking in a small pot combine your carrots and a lil butter (maybe a Tbs?) a heavy dash of ground ginger, and several heafty sprinkles of dark brown sugar, and and inch or so of water for steaming. Put a lid on this and let the carrots cook till tender. I also steam the peas in the microwave when the potatoes come out, just put them in a microwave steamer or a bowl with a lil water in the bottom for a few min if thawed or up to 5 if frozen. Now for the most complicated part of the meal. In a large pan on Med-low heat fill about 1/2 way with veg oil and add what ever herbs you like (I added Marjoram, thyme, oregano, garlic and pepper) to flavor the oil. When the oil is hot you can poach the fish (just like when you poach an egg in water. This is rather delicate work and you will have to babysit the fish (which is why most everything else tonight was done in the microwave). When the fish is flaky pull out of oil and place on a towel to drain.

Last on the list of forgotten in the camera dishes is Chicken strips, saute`d mushrooms with rice and some failed fried tomatoes and spinach. I'll start with the failure and work my way up to well there really was no up for me in this meal. By this night my cough was pretty bad, supplies low, and I was pretty light headed and out of breath. DH and the kids will want to interject here with how much they like the food that came out at the end of this, but when you're wanting one thing and end up with, well MUSH it's not good. Start by slicing tomatoes that have just turned red (because you missed your window for fried green tomatoes by hours) and coat them in seasoned flour (salt, pepper, garlic, onion, a dash of cyan) then attempt to fry them, watch them dissolve in the pan, and try to scoop them out. Repeat, because the kids think this will "taste just fine mom, it smells wonderful". Dredge chicken breast strips in same flour and fry in oil. They turn out just fine. Heat up some frozen spinach with that Ham flavor (that stuff never fails, thank goodness for small favors). Saute mushrooms in a tsp of bacon drippings from the fridge (cause you're out of butter), turns out that this actually tastes better! Steam rice in rice cooker (this was actually step one, but it does it's thing on it's own). At the last second remember that Spinach and Tomatoes taste good together and hope that when you add them together (even with the seasoned flour mush stuck onto the dissolved tomato bits) it will be edible. Put mushrooms on top of rice, slop the veg onto plat (it actually makes that kind of sound, *shudder*) and add on the chicken. Now if you don't look at it, it's not bad, with your eyes closed.

OK that's it, I feel caught up, so with that and the random finger food and take out, that's how you get through a cold at my house. Now it's off to the store for me. I hate the store, a lot. Which prolly means take out or some sort of something easy for supper tonight since I will hate my kitchen and all of it's contents in about 5 hrs.

It takes Two Baby, Me and You

2010-02-16T15:38:00.000-08:00

I cooked last night! There was much rejoicing and exclaiming of mom returning!

What actually happened was I went to the Dr and he gave me an inhaler so that when I am up and moving around or have coughing fit I can use it and my lungs will open up and I can catch my breath! Who knew how much a little air could help!!!

So after my Dr apt I stopped by the grocery SUPER fast because DH had to get to work, I picked up 1lb Angel Hair pasta, 1lb 93% lean grd beef, 1pkg kielbasa sausage,and some Parmesan cheese to add to the tomatoes and basil I had at home.

Combine the grd beef with about 3/4 cup each Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoned bread crumbs and form into ping-pong ball sized meat balls, then brown in a skillet. Rough chop the kielbasa and add to pan till brown. I had about 8 orange cherry tomatoes that I halved and about 4 regular tomatoes that I rough chopped and tossed in as well, 2 cans each (drained) black olives and mushrooms, 2 Tbs dried basil (no fresh to be had) some salt and pepper to taste, and some garlic and onion powder.

I don't know what possessed me to add meat balls to the "dirty spaghetti" I think it's because I've not cooked or eaten much with this blasted cold, and really dirty spaghetti is easy and throw together. It was over kill, I knew it when I was cooking it, but overkill in the most lovely way, where every bite is indulgent. I could not eat what was on my plate, but the kids attacked theirs with fervor, and then eyed the left overs. I had to hide the plate in the fridge that I set aside for DH's lunch today.

As soon as I was done cooking I sat on the couch and took a hit off my magic inhaler. Today that baby and I are going to the commissary for some real grocery shopping, cause Mother-Hubbard's Cupboards are indeed bare.

Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air

2010-02-15T19:49:00.000-08:00

The last thing in the freezer is: Salmon fillets

In the fridge there is an assortment of fresh produce picked up while out in town randomly out to lunch with my quilting group. I will use: the green beans and mushrooms.

From the pantry I will use: Calrose Rice, steamed in a rice cooker (really it's the best under $20 gadget you will get for the kitchen, or more $ if you need a larger one), the remains of the Honey (just a few table spoons) and equal amounts of Soy sauce.

Spices for the day: Garlic and Onion powder , Kosher salt, Fresh ground black pepper, cyan pepper, and 1 1/2 tbs butter.

Steam the fresh green beans until tender, then drain and saute with butter, and mushrooms and a dash of soy.

Season the fish with garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and grill either outside or in a grill pan. In a small bowl combine the honey and equal parts soy sauce and cyan pepper and then pour over the grilled fish.

Layer all of the fish and green beans with mushrooms over rice. Sit down and catch your breath, because you should not have been up and moving around the kitchen for that long while trying not to cough on the food. Finally, enjoy, until, that is, your DH tells you the meal is flavor less. Then continue to fuss at the kids (who 5 min ago were telling you how starved they were) to finish their food, then once you have figured they are done eating, scrape the sticky rice off of the baby's sleeves and shirt front.

Now you are ready to take every one out to a family amusement part right? Sorry no pic.

Gotta have a Montage

2010-02-14T18:16:00.000-08:00

Been sick again/still so I've not had the energy to do much cooking or grocery shopping. Meals have been rather low key around here or just plain take out (which I'm not proud of).

In the past few nights we've had Tuna salad wrapped in lettuce leaves, halved cherry tomatoes with S&P, and Ritz Flips Cheddar and Pretzel Crackers. Grilled Cheese and canned fruit cocktail. Pizza. Cleaned out the various left overs from the fridge. Burger King.

Not the highest point in my cooking career, but when you're coughing so hard you loose your breath, or when unloading the dishwasher/walking up the flight of stairs in your home makes you winded you do what you can to keep bellies full. And then hope no one has a melt down on your watch.

There's some Salmon Fillets in the fridge thawing and some fresh green beans and mushrooms I picked up at a farmers market I happened across while on an errand this week that I'd like to saute` and have with some rice. We shall see how I feel later tho. DH is home, maybe he'll give me a hand in the kitchen, if I promise we don't have to eat take out?

I go back to the Dr tomorrow, I am hoping that they can do something other than dope me up.

"another brick in the wall"

2010-02-03T04:12:00.000-08:00

SO, Report card day, or Progress Report day. Or the day where they sugar coat your child's inadequacies while at the same time telling you your children haven't been in school long enough to have been evaluated.

Pick ONE people. Either my children have been in school long enough for you to have evaluated them or not, you cannot have it both ways. Also, when I took my kids to school (because they wanted to go, we've been home schooling for the past 2.5 yrs) and I tell you up front what my kids will do when they are bored, and then they do it, how is this my/my child's fault? Yes, I've told my kids that they should not talk when in class and they should be working, and they know they're supposed to keep their hands off of people (horse play not bullying). And if you (who went to college, as your chosen profession, to be a teacher) doesn't know how to get my child to relax during a test (because we both know she is smart and does the work well, as long as it's not a test) how am I supposed to get her to test better? Ok rant over.

That was just to put you in the mind set for how I approached supper tonight, stressed out.

Combine 1lb ground beef with 1/3 block shredded Clolby/Jack 2 Tbs Gourmet Burger Seasoning and a few shakes of Worcestershire Sauce, form into tiny patties and cook in skillet (think tiny burger with cheese mixed in, instead of on top)

Steamed rice with Nori Fumi Furikake Rice Seasoning sprinkled on top (found in the Ethnic Aisle with the Asian food it's in a little glass jar with chop sticks holding rice with some green flecks and sesame sprinkle stuff on top of the rice picture on the front of the jar). The children (and adults too) like this, as it is reminiscent of the flavors that you get in a sushi shop with the nori (seaweed) wrapping, and the slightly sweet, and vinegar flavor in their rice.

Steamed green peas, and sliced cucumbers that were salt and peppered. Again, I took a pic but will come back and edit it in when I get them off the camera, tomorrow perhaps.

It was all pretty kid friendly and just shy of being finger food (unless your 2 weeks shy of being 1, and then everything is finger food). ONLY 2 weeks and my baby will be 1!!! :( I am so not ready for that. Dang kids and their not listening when I tell them to stop growing.

"Cause we were never being boring"

2010-02-03T03:01:00.000-08:00

Roasting this particular chicken was a bit tricky. I shall break it down into days for you; feel free to edit with a liberal hand.

Saturday (Day 1): Lay out chicken for thawing. Go garden all day. Be thorough enough to make yourself both dirty and sore from head to toe. Place chicken in fridge on plate. Tell DH he's taking you out to supper.

Sunday (Day 2): Do some indoor gardening in the morning while it's raining, and then make lunch. Then, Since it's cleared up outside, load everyone up in the car to attend the Cherry Blossom Festival, only to be rained out. Eat random baked goods at Japanese mall. Drive home in a storm, in the dark, in heavy traffic. Fight off the start of a migraine. Thankfully that's as far as it gets.

Monday (Day 3):Plan to start supper early so that you don't have to rush about later, and so that your husband can take it with him to work instead of eating it as leftovers the next day. But, on your way to the kitchen notice a bookshelf in dire need of tidying and spend an hour or so doing that. Afterward, in a small dish (bowl, mug) combine some 2 tsp garlic, onion powder, ground marjoram, 2 tbs Kosher salt, 1 tsp fresh ground pepper, 2 tsp poultry seasoning. Loosen the skin from the chicken and place the seasoning mixture under the skin on the meat (this is the best way to flavor the meat) stuff 1/2 a red grapefruit into the chicken (this keeps it moist and add a mildly citrus flavor). Chop 5-6 med new potatoes and place them around the chicken in the roasting pan. Add about 1-1 1/2 inches of water. In another pan, chop 6-7 carrots (orange) and 6-7 carrots (yellow) 1 lb bag frozen green beans, 2 bunches of radishes (I didn't have any red onion and used these a substitute). Lightly coat with olive oil and salt and pepper . Roast at 300 for 2 hours and the broil for 15 min till chicken is crisp.

The chicken was a hit, as were the potatoes and all the roasted veg; except for the radishes that is, they have almost no flavor when roasted, they were disappointing.

Now no freaking out about roasting a chicken, you can have a beautifully roasted chicken in about 45 min if you butterfly the chicken (see my post "the best laid plans") I just occasionally like to roast them whole. You know, mix it up a little.

I just realized, this is my 24 post, and this is the first time I've posted a dish (roasted chicken) twice! Are there any other mom's out there that are cooking such varied menus? I never realized before that there was so much time between repeats in our menu. I know we eat a lot of the same things, tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese, rice, pasta, etc. but actual dishes? I know I get bored eating the same thing too often.

Add to that I'm a post behind and it's Tuesday already, and so I've already got to post for today!
I did take a pic but I'll have to come back and edit this post to add it in.

"All That She Wants"

2010-01-29T02:33:00.000-08:00

The little ones and I took a "market madness" tour yesterday and we went to the northern part of the island to Nago and to a farmers market, where the produce was not surprisingly smaller in size and packaged amounts but far cheaper and of far better quality than what is carried in the commissary on base here (most of what is carried there gets shipped in from the states so the selection can be poor at the best of times). But with Japanese supermarkets being even pricier than our own, I usually shop on base, unless that is I happen to stumble onto a corner produce stand. While at the market I went a little crazy with the fresh tomatoes, all the fresh ones at our store are just sad looking, so we've been eating a lot of canned tomatoes. I was in tomato heaven (if there is such a thing). And that inspired tonight's supper!

This is a twist on the "funky spaghetti" from Oprah (that one young British chef was on one day). It looked easy enough, and tasty, I just couldn't be bothered to write down his version (or look it up). I call mine call it Dirty Spaghetti.

Slice/chop 1lb kielbasa sausage
chop 1 med onion
add these to a pan on med height (try not to forget to stir them occasionally)
rough chop and slightly smooch 7-8 ping-pong ball sized orange colored tomatoes (I'm sure these have a name, I just don't know what it is) and 3 normal sized red tomatoes
a soda can sized bunch of fresh mushrooms (we used the tall skinny kind with the tiny tops, again I have no clue what they're called, use what ever mushrooms you can find/you like) add the tomatoes and mushrooms to the pan when the onions and sausage are browned
a package of basil cut into bits (think confetti) add the basil to the pan when the heat has been turned off.
salt and pepper to taste, and add a dash of garlic powder (because regardless of what DH says food is yummier with garlic in and this is the easiest way to sneak it in).

The juice from the tomatoes gets together with the fat from the sausage and makes it's own kind of sauce-ish thing. It didn't even need cheese, and that's saying something coming from me. It came together faster than the water could boil and the pasta could cook, and after a busy day of plant buying and grocery (just the staples, milk, juice, eggs, WIC things) it didn't take too much energy or time.

Sadly there is no picture, cause it was kinda pretty all glossy with in it's own juices and orange and red tomato bits with basil confetti.

toss this with angel hair pasta

In the "Gravy"

2010-01-27T04:32:00.000-08:00

While the bread was doing it's thing....

In my large trusty cast iron skillet, coat the bottom with olive oil and heat. Coat a beef roast with a mixture of herbs (Mc Cormick's Gormet burger, garlic, onion, rubbed sage, black pepper, kosher salt) then sear the roast in the skillet on the stove top. This is not going to seal in any juices, it is however going to make the roast pretty, and going to give the pan some nice "stuffs" that will make the gravy extra tasty later. Once it's nice and seared (about 4ish min on each side) put the pan in the oven (350) and then add water so that it comes halfway up the side of the roast and add about 3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce.

In my other trusty cast iron skillet, 1 lb frozen field peas with snaps and one pakge ham flavor and enough water to fill pan, bring to boil and keep peas covered till tender.

Boil small penne pasta (it has it's own name but looks just like penne only mini) and drain.

By now the roast is done. Pull it out of the oven, and with tongs set the meat on a cutting board, and in a large coffee mug (about 8 oz water) combine with about 2 Tbs corn starch and whisk. Put pan back on stove top and bring to boil, add corn starch and whisk till thickened. Check for salt (mine was fine). At this point you can either have pasta with Gravy or you can do what I did and pour the gravy over the drained pasta in the pot and stir turning the delicious gravy into "sauce" so your DH will eat it. Because he had some sort of Gravy Trauma or something at some point and won't touch it, but if it's stirred in and you call it sauce all is well with the universe. So that's how we roll in our house. Even tho Gravy is one of my favorite food groups.

DD#2 thought the pasta with the "sauce" was fabulous, but I think I'm finding out that she's a pasta fiend, much like DS #1 is a breadaholic. DS#2 had a case of the sillies at supper and picked at his food but declared it delicious none the less, DS#1 cleaned his plate, and DD#1 almost cleaned hers.

Tomorrow is a busy day for us, so it might be a clean out the fridge day again, but with one bowl of soup left, some black beans and rice for 2 adults, or 3 kids, and some from tonight left I think that I deserve a night off.

Sorry for the multiple posts today, but our internet went out for the past couple days and I'm having to play catch up on some entries.

Dough a Deer, a female deer

2010-01-27T03:30:00.000-08:00

My neighbor's teenage daughter babysits for me sometimes, and refuses to let me pay her, or her mom won't let her take money from me, either way it's fine. I'm not sure if it's cause we're neighbors and I mend things for her 5 yr DD and I share my "extra goodies" with them sometimes, but I'm not looking this gift horse in the mouth.

She is also taking a Culinary class at school (not just Home Economic, it's a "culinary class") and she needed to learn how to bake bread for a sandwich project coming up. A few days ago I gave her my recipe for bread. I thought it was fool proof. I was wrong. So we scheduled time for her to come over today and watch me bake some and see how it'd done first hand.

In the Pic is the recipe 4x because I make large loaves so I don't have to do it very often.

2 1/2 c flour (I use unbleached flour, and have replaced up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
.25oz yeast
3/4 c hot water
1 egg (room temp)
a little less than 1/4 c sugar (use a 1/4c measure just don't fill it up all the way)
3/4 tsp salt

Combine sugar, yeast and hot water in bowl, wisk, set aside;
combine flour, salt.
Once the water and sugar and yeast have become frothy beat in egg. Slowly add to flour (the dough should pull together and be sticky but not gooey. Add flour in 1/4 increments until this happens. Humidity, how packed the flour is in your flour bin, how level you scoops are; these things can affect how your dough turns out. Don't feel bad if you need to add more, I had to add almost 1 1/2 extra to my batch today) and knead for 8 min (I do this in my mixer with a dough hook).

Once kneaded, turn out into a glass bowl with some vegetable oil in the bottom, roll over to coat the dough. Cover bowl with a towel and let rise (at least double in size) then beat down (squeezin all the air out of the dough), repeat twice, on 3 beat down place in a loaf pan (I spray mine with bakers joy to make sure it comes out of the pan easily) or form into desired shape and let rise a final time. Bake at 350 til dark golden.

Variations: add herbs to the dough and roll the top in more with kosher salt.
add the full 1/4 cup sugar to dough and then roll dough flat and spread cinnamon topping ( 1/4 butter, 1 Tbs cinnimon 1/2c brown sugar) roll, and cut for cinnamon rolls, let rise and bake as above,
divide into rolls,
divide into large marble size balls dip into herbed butter and line bunt pan, bake as above.
This is a really good basic bread recipe feel free to play around with it.

While the bread was getting kneaded and rising I cooked supper. It's in the next blog.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

2010-01-27T03:19:00.000-08:00

1 lb grd beef
1 lb chopped steamed broccoli florettes
1 lb boiled ditalini pasta (looks like pearler beads)
2/3 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
1 Tbs basil
1 tsp fresh grd pepper
2 tsp kosher salt
some garlic, onion and oregano powder

Mix in a large pot. You can put this in bowls and give it to your children with forks or spoons to eat but the 11month old will just throw the utensil on the floor and pick the bowl up and stick her head in it to eat, much like the dog, it's cute, but you shouldn't encourage it, really. It was a hit, and DS #2 clamored for it for lunch again today. So this might come out again when I'm not really in the mood to cook, or need something fast, although the pasta might change, noodles are noodles right?

A Spoon Full of Sugar

2010-01-27T03:11:00.000-08:00

One of DH's friends on Facebook needed a baking idea, I made this last summer for some friends that came over for supper, they wanted dinner after, and I had some blueberries and a few plums in the fridge, and tossed this together. Turned out well.

Plumberry Buckle:
filling
1/2 pint blue berries
4-5 small plums (diced)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4-1/2 cup water
simmer till berries are burst and liquid is syrupy, then pour into pie pan or other dish that is lined with dough. See below for dough recipe.
Scones:
1 1/2c flour
1/2c cornstarch
1/4c sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 c butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cream
combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, cornstarch. pinch in butter till crumbly. combine egg, cream, vanilla, then add to flour, butter mixture to form dough.

divide into thirds, line the bottom of a dish with 1/3 dough. press pinches of the remaining 2/3 of the dough into sugar then lay (sugar side up) atop the fruit mix till covered.
Bake 350 for 30 min. Enjoy mmmmmm

The Sun Will Come Out, Tomorrow, or the day after, or sometime soon

2010-01-25T03:41:00.000-08:00

The day started out bright and a fair temperature, and all of a sudden without warning, it started to drizzle, and then rain, and it didn't stop. At all. The entire day. Crock Pot to the rescue!!

1 lb dried black beans
1/2 gal water
7 chicken thighs
1 onion rough chopped
3 small cloves garlic rough chopped
1 tsp fresh grd black pepper
2 tsp oregano
1 Tbs paprika

Let the above just hang out in the crock pot all day, just forget it's there. I did. Then around 6 freak out that you haven't started supper yet and rush into the kitchen and burn yourself on said hot crock pot (cause you're trying to move it out of your way, wondering why it's out in the first place). Now that you remember you already have dinner well in hand you will need:

3 cups cooked rice
1/2 (it's all I had, could have sworn there was a full jar) jar of Spanish olives sliced/chopped
and to pull the meat off the bones

Toss all all this back in the pot with the beans and the "juice" . Sorry, no picture tonight, it wasn't pretty, but it sure was tasty!
This ends up being thicker than what I'd call soup but thinner than traditional beans and rice. Now we're just waiting for the sun to come out so we can do some out door things, like yard picnics, and digging in the dirt. And maybe a fresh tomato?

"Fresh Shrimp and Steak and Steak"

2010-01-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

It's official, the aliens have landed, and they took my husband!

I came downstairs after a long day of going through all the kids toys and board games, removing all the trash, broken things, unused, and generally restoring order to the Play Room, and 3 closets, to find DH getting the Rib Eye and Shrimp out of the fridge.

"I was just about to start supper, it's why I came down"

"I'm going to help" he says.

At this point I fully expect him to leave the kitchen because this is as far as his help usually goes. To my shock and utter delight he asks what he can do NEXT. Quick to cover my amazement I set him to trimming the fat off of the rib eyes and dicing them. Salt and pepper the meat when diced.

In a large pot fill with water add 5 heafty pinches of Kosher salt and 1/4 bottle teriyaki sauce (the runny kind) bring to a boil, add jumbo shrimp till they float and just turn pink. drain and let cool then peel. (DH gets the credit for draining the shrimp and peeling them)

dice a orange bell pepper and med size yellow onion then cook in large pan with salt and olive oil till golden brown, add meat to pan and cook on high just till all edges are brown (should still be rare-md rare in inside of chunks) add 1 can mushrooms.

cook 1 lb angel hair pasta (DH also gets the credit for breaking the noodles before adding them to the pot and then draining them once tender) and add 1 can diced tomatoes and 1/4 cup cream, toss to combine.

layer pasta, meat with peppers, onions, mushrooms and then shrimp.

The shrimp had the perfect saltyness to them (which is all shrimp really need) and the steak with peppers and onions went well with the just barely creamy/tomato pasta. Since there wasn't a lot of anything in tonight's supper it wasn't overly rich, it hit all the right spots without going overboard. I was thankful for DH's help in the kitchen (even though he wouldn't let me put garlic in anything) it's always nicer to have someone there to help chop things, and lift heavy pots full of boiling water. Not to mention how much nicer it is to cook a meal with music in the back ground instead of the TV or video game noise!

to get the full effect of today's title listen to this song but use these words
"fresh shrimp and steak and steak
fresh shrimp and steak and steak
fresh shrimp and steak do the fresh shrimp and steak
fresh shrimp and steak do the fresh shrimp and steak"

"insert chicken dance music here" flap, flap, flap, flap

2010-01-22T17:56:00.000-08:00

Why doesn't that song have words? I mean the music is catchy as heck, it's been in my head since my post yesterday when I mentioned the chicken chunks I was contemplating. And I think cooking on a griddle has to be on of the most fun ways to cook, like I'm running my own Diner. I have a pass through on a kitchen counter to add to the feel, a large flat metal turner, and a collection of homemade sassy retro aprons, all I needed was a hair net and I'd have been in business!

I peeled 5 small-med size potatoes and gave them about a 1/2 inch dice (while sitting at the desk watching Hulu). Par steamed them in the microwave (place in bowl with an inch or two of water and a plate as a lid then hit the trusty baked potato button 3 times) drain and let dry a bit.

Dice 1 1/4 lbs chicken breast into bite size pieces season with poultry seasoning and garlic, salt and pepper, lightly coat with olive oil, spread on hot griddle and cook till golden on all sides. Place in large bowl and set aside.

Re-coat the griddle with olive oil and spread the potatoes in one layer, season with marjoram, salt and pepper. The key is slow and med heat to get all the sides a nice crisp golden color. Once all sides are crisp place in bowl with chicken.

Thinly slice an onion, cook on griddle till caramelized, add to bowl.

In a pot on the stove steam 1lb collard greens with 14 oz chopped baby carrots and 1 pkg ham flavor (picked up in the Hispanic section remember?) till tender. Drain WELL. Add to bowl. I had this cooking while I cooked the chicken and the potatoes.

Toss contents of bowl, check for seasoning (salt) the potatoes should still be crisp on the outside but tender on the inside, the chicken moist and flavorful, and the greens should look like confetti through out with the carrots bringing a nice pop of color and sweetness.

This dish was a little more time consuming than I'd have liked but well worth the effort on the flavor front! I think next time I'll do some of the prep work earlier, so that at supper time all I have to do is man the griddle. Most importantly it was a hit all around.

"head, shoulders, knees and toes, mac & cheese, peas and carrots"

2010-01-21T20:25:00.000-08:00

Otherwise known as Tuna "helper". It's not from the box with the creepy talking hand, it's my own concoction (and I managed to spell that word without the aid of spell check!!) But same basic principal. Noodles, cheese, tuna, here's where I veer off the path, a bag of peas and carrots.

Start with 2 boxes of your favorite mac & cheese (we eat Kraft spirals in our house) follow the directions
1 Large can Tuna drained
1 lb frozen bag peas and carrots (the square carrot kind)

dump the veggies in when the pasta is about 3/4 the way cooked, then let it finish cooking and dump it over the tuna that should already be in the colander (warming the tuna in the process)
then add the butter and milk that the mac & cheese called for in the hot pot
with 4oz shredded colby jack cheese (about 1/4 of a 1lb block)
a few dashes of teriyaki sauce
a dash each of garlic, onion and pepper
and the cheese sauce powder mix stuff and whisk till combined
add back the pasta, tuna and veggies

It's not gourmet but gets lunch done in a hurry for a 3 yr old and isn't half bad.
This would normally feed my whole family lunch once, if we were all home (all 4 kids and 2 adults) with just me and the little ones dinning today looks like we have some leftovers for Monday? (unless the older kids spy it in the fridge and snag it tomorrow)

You can substitute the tuna for ground beef/chicken/pork and the veggie combo for what ever sounds good, and the teriyaki for BBQ sauce with equally good results. I always have the cheese to some extent, although sometimes I go with a white or milder cheese depending, and mushrooms can be fun in this also. Over all it's a pretty versatile child pleaser that can be thrown together in under a half hour (good for the lunch rush, or a mad dash dinner) also my favorite go to meal for something to fix and leave with the kids on date nights with DH.

Big plans for steak and shrimp tomorrow, and something brewing in my head with chicken chunks, potato chunks , carrots, and greens for tonight, not sure where that's going. We'll see!

"talk soup"

2010-01-20T04:52:00.000-08:00

We finally got our soup fix!

Although it was fish free it was still tasty. Overtaken with the mood to cook before lunch had even crossed my mind today, I had a recipe forming, that got better only with the actual cooking of it. Dishes like this make me remember why I love cooking so much!

1 lb 97% lean ground beef (browned and drained)
1 acorn squash (steamed and chunked)
2/3 family size bag corn
1 lb butter beans (cooked in water and 2 Tbs bacon drippings till soft)
4 Tbs Soy sauce
1 Tbs Browning (it's over by stuff like liquid smoke, it adds flavor and color)
3 Tbs Kosher Salt
1 Tbs rubbed Sage
1 tsp oregano
1tsp pepper
3/4 gal water

drizzle with fresh cream at the end just to make it not feel watery on the palette (this is hard to explain it has to do with mouth feel, this shouldn't feel like broth, all watery, it should have a richness but not be creamy like Alfredo , it should coat the back of a spoon is all)

I know it sounds like a lot of salt in this dish but I swear squash is like potato in soup. You know when your mom was making soup and she over salted on accident, she added a potato to "soak" it up, well squash does the same thing apparently, so start with a little and taste. Also there are some flavors to me that just go together super well, and squash and soy are one of them, it's that whole salty and slightly sweet thing I think.

This soup was surprisingly hearty and DH even commented on how much he liked it, SCORE! The only thing I will caution you on is that for some reason when I make soup I think the pot needs to be full and feed 10 people. So be prepared for leftovers or invite the neighbors!

Thai-k On Me, Thai-k Me On

2010-01-20T04:29:00.000-08:00

just a quick recipe, and a bad 80's song title pun, for this one because I forgot to post it yesterday.

1.2lbs chicken breast strips
1 pkg rice noodles
1 lb long green beans

follow directions for re hydrating noodles

steam green beans, then drain and add 2 tbs butter and 3 tbs soy saute and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

grill chicken with salt and pepper

sauce
4tbs honey
3tbs soy 2 cloves garlic
2 tsp ground ginger powder (you can use fresh ginger if you have it on hand)
2 tsp onion powder
heafty dash cyan pepper (you want this to be spicy but not burning your mouth)

then coat with sauce

layer beans atop noodles and chicken strips on top of beans then drizzle remaining sauce on top.

"I wish I was a fishy in the Sea......"

2010-01-18T05:03:00.000-08:00

I longed for fish stew all day, day-dreamed of fish stew, imagined fish stew. Or perhaps chowder would have been a better name for it? Well, it would have gone like this :
dice potatoes
add to chicken broth
add corn to broth
add butter beans to broth
add freshly made bacon bits to broth
add chunks of fish (or shrimp or both)
season, and add a dash of cream to smooth it out, not to make it creamy tho, just so it wouldn't have been thin feeling on the palette.

No dice, DH was not feelin the fish soup.

I already had the Mahi-Mahi thawed!! And by golly there was going to be bacon bits and cream tonight! Plan B
Macadamia encrusted Mahi-Mahi in a coconut milk reduction with bacon bits over rice with bok-choy.

Not all these steps are necessary but I will include them so that you can have an authentic dinner prep experience.

Get ready to go to the store, to pick up last minute items for supper. This includes a 5 min argument on weather the 10 month old should have to go with me. I didn't think she should, she didn't.

Wander the store (cause you're there alone). I had a small list: coconut milk, macadamia nuts, cream (I am not sure why this was still on my list), bacon, and for some reason the bok-choy looked super yummy and so did the raspberries so they came home too.

Once home, ask DH to plunger the sink that is slow to drain while you chop the nuts, mix the nuts with equal parts Italian seasoned bread crumbs. Chop the bacon and get it into the pan.

Ask for more help, get ignored. Skin the fish and cut into smaller pieces then coat in breading and nuts. Remember that bacon in the pan? Well, I didn't so now it's mostly burnt, Dh claims that he thought "stir those bacon bits" was a one time event. Salvage some bacon drippings to brown the fish in. I'm not frying the fish I'm just trying to bring out the flavor of the nuts in this step. Once browned on both sides add the 2 cans of coconut milk and let simmer.

Guilt DH into chopping the Bok-Choy while you finish the sauce. Salt to taste. Cook rice (I'm sure you can handle that, if you have trouble with it just do what I did and buy a rice cooker, best $15 dollar gadget ever).

Layer Rice, Bok-Choy fish and sauce add raspberries on the side of the plate cause they're pretty and yummy.

bean, beans, the musical fruit, I'll let you take it from here.

2010-01-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

With all the kids and myself sick (snot and fevers abounding) cooking is not on the forefront of any one's to-do list. Peanut butter had been done the day before, soup the night before, I was running low on ideas and desire. My friend in Colorado gave me a recipe for black bean salsa last week. I picked up a couple cans of black beans during The Grocery Odyssey of January 2010 to try it out (rather than going through the trouble of cooking the beans in the crock pot all day for some thing I hadn't tried before). I didn't however have everything on the list, like the jalapeno or the cilantro, and I added some corn (a`la the southwestern egg rolls at Chili's) Hurray for Salsa!

Here's my version
2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans of diced plain tomatoes, drained
1/3 "family" size bag frozen corn thawed in microwave (not sure how much that it, but it looked to be about the same amount as the beans)
salt to taste
2 Tbs parsley (no cilantro in the house, but it would have been preferred)
1/2 small onion minced into oblivion (you can grate it if you want)
1 cloves garlic smooched
1/2 tsp cumin
dash of cyan pepper (or more if you're not going to feed it to a 10month old)

We ate this with tomato tortillas and smoked oysters in cotton seed oil (the kids like to eat them out of the sardine like can with tooth picks). Not sure if everyone liked this, not sure in my fevered state I care much, it covered the nutritious bases, it was food in the middle of the day, I had it made in about 10 min so I could go back to laying on the couch with my blankie and my box of kleenex. Sorry no pic.

That was yesterday. We are feeling better today, so I am going to the store to pick up a few things for some experiment soup for tonight's supper. If you hear about it again you'll know it was at least edible, if you hear more than that you'll know it was a success.

"On Top of Spaghetti (squash) All Coverd in Cheese"

2010-01-15T03:23:00.000-08:00

On the "Great Trek Through the Commissary" the children saw a spaghetti squash and marveled at my description , they demanded it's entry into the buggy. It would not fit in the crisper drawers in the bottom of the fridge and so it was placed reverently next to the milk on the bottom shelf. You would have thought some exotic pet had taken up residence in the fridge the way the kids have been poking it, and petting it and asking after it, "how are we going to cook it Mom?" "what do you eat with it?" "are you sure it's noodles inside, I've never heard of a vegetable with noodles in it." So, tonight while DH was safely at work, I cooked it (he's not a fan of squash of any kind, usually).

I made the announcement "Tonight we're having fried chicken legs and the squash with mozzarella, tomatoes, and mushrooms". They missed out on the boring stuff like the chopping it in half (cause I have a tendency to cut myself when people grab at my legs and stare at me), scraping out the seeds, and steaming, but I made sure to call them into the kitchen for the miracle that is scraping out the innards and it "magically turning into noodles"! There was much oohing and aahing over this changeling vegetable. I was secretly pleased with myself. My children are usually adventurous eaters but I had my doubts, they had yet to taste it. But I had a Plan. A good Plan.

Here's the Plan
steam spaghetti squash, scrape and salt to taste
shred 1lb mozzarella cheese
toss
top with tomatoes and mushrooms (I've mentioned we like mushrooms haven't I?)

The Plan was not as successful as I'd hoped , oh they liked it, mostly, kind of, some of them. DS#1 gobbled his up faster than I'd seen him eat anything in a while, score 1 for The Plan DD#2 (aka the baby) ate 2 servings, score 2 for The Plan, DS#2 was not as impressed, ate his chicken and 3 bites of the main dish, cause he's 3 and that's the RULE (in our house if you don't like something you have to at least eat as many bites for as many years you are old) and DD#1 informed me that as long as she had more of the toppings in her mouth than the squash it was quite tasty. She said this, mind you, with a mouth full of food and a face that let you know she in no way meant what she was saying (like I was bind and couldnt' see that she'd only taken a few bites of the squash but had eaten everything else her plate).

FAIL.

The fried chicken on the other hand....
1tbs kosher salt
1tsp each the following
paprika
marjoram (the herb)
oregano
onion powder
garlic powder
black pepper
mix with 1 1/2 cup flour
toss with 14 chicken legs
In a large cast iron pan filled almost 1/2 way with vegetable oil that is heated enough to make a sizzle when you lightly flick some of the flour mix from your finger into the pan (or you can get all schmancy and bust out a thermometer with a frying setting, I have one, that I don't use, cause the way Grandma does it is faster) and I suppose you could do this in a non cast iron pan. On a side note, if you want your veggies to taste as good as they'll ever taste, and if you've been anemic ever (I was always anemic growing up, till I met and married DH, and his Papa gave me a cast iron pan, and I learned how to and started using it) you should get a cast iron pan to cook in. They are the easiest things to take care of, the only down side I've found is they weigh a ton, so use two hands when you pick them up. OK back to the chicken. This is known as pan frying not deep frying, feel free to Google it, Alton Brown has an entire episode of "Good Eats" on frying that is AWESOME (all of his shows are awesome). Only cook as many pieces of chicken in the pan so that they are about half submerged. you want the steam in the chicken to have somewhere to escape from. When they are a nice golden brown on the bottom turn and cook the other side.

I thoroughly enjoyed the squash, and the chicken, the combination was kind of like chicken Parmesan, kind of, if you were from the South. I guess I know what I'll be having for lunch next week!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (teriyaki)

2010-01-13T01:57:00.000-08:00

Fevers, night terrors, hallucinations, and limited sleep. Not the best way to start the day, but when you're a mom there's not much choice. Let's add to that gloomy, windy, generally yuck weather, and why wouldn't you want to end it on a rainbow? And as long as there's a rainbow there should be purple mashed potato clouds. Oh and we had some steamed broccoli too, DS#2 was instant on the broccoli, cause he picked it out of the freezer with aid of his trusty stool (it was the only bag of veggies he could touch). The rainbow teriyaki came about one night because the kids were clamoring for shish-ka-bobs, but we don't own an actual grill and the idea of my kids having long sharp sticks at the table did not hold the same interest for me. So that's it, there's no secret, it's the bob without he shish-ka or is it the shish-ka without the bob?

you will need (this feeds us twice for supper and once for one person to have lunch)
2.5 lb meat of your choice diced (I've done this with pork loin roast, chicken breast, beef roast, rib eyes, deer meat, I imagine it'd be good with shrimp or tuna also.)
3-4 bell peppers rough chopped (we usually use one of each color, but use what ever floats your boat)
1 large onion rough chopped
1 large can pineapple chunks and the juice
5-6 roma tomatoes rough chopped/2 cans stewed tomatoes (the tomatoes in the produce section looked sad)
1 jar teriyaki glaze (not sauce it's too thin, however if this is all your store carries you can use it just dump it in a small sauce pan and add a TBS of corn starch and boil to thicken then add to the above)
I've also added zucchini before, pretty much what ever looks good in the produce section and sounds good with the teriyaki sauce. This is tasty over rice, but with the purple clouds on the menu tonight I skipped that part of this dish.

for the purple clouds you need (this too will feed us twice)
5 small-md Beni Imo (purple Okinawan sweet potatoes)
3 small-md reg potatoes
1 stick of butter
splash of milk (to thin, you'll just have to eye this and add as needed)
Salt (to taste)
1tsb fresh grd black pepper
1 dash each garlic powder, onion powder, and nutmeg
peel and dice the potatoes, then cook the potatoes either on the stove top or microwave (in the microwave place them in a bowl with 2 inches of water and cover the bowl with a dinner plate and use the baked potato setting to cook them) when the potatoes are fork tender drain them and add the butter and milk (a little at a time) and mash (I use a stick/immersion blender), add the seasonings. I think the baby liked the clouds the best, because she screamed at me if I paused in feeding her to take a bite of my own supper. Leftovers tomorrow night due to a full day of field trips and quilt meetings!

C is for Cookie

2010-01-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

I got my Sushi and my fancy Japanese Ice Cream, and the next day no one felt well; not food related, at least that's what we're telling ourselves!!

That takes care of the weekend, and yesterday we grocery shopped, for about 2 hours, and thanks to the new way I'm trying to eat I'll have to do it more often, but hey it burns calories so maybe I"ll look at it with new respect at least? Eh, we'll see. After grocery shopping and putting all the food away I was not in the mood for standing and cooking anything spectacular and no one was particularly hungry, the kids wanted: Mac and Cheese (the spiral noodle kind of course) with frozen spinach mixed in and hot dogs on the side. It's a crazy combo but the ate it up, so it must have been tasty, I had a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread sans jelly and blackberry non-fat yogurt. No pic, just picture yellow noodles with green bits floating in and red hot dogs on the side.

I thought I'd share some cookie recipes with you. Cookies are a Christmas tradition in our house and there are usually enough made for a small army, or all your neighbors and husbands co-workers, and still keep your house in cookies for 2 weeks! We do basics as well as some I've tweaked enough to feel good about calling them My Own. I'll just share those with you.

Holiday Bliss
1 1/2 c Butter
2c Sugar
1 egg
1/4 tbs Baking Soda
4c Flour
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2c diced dried apples
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg, in a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Bring the wet and dry together to form a dough, wrap with plastic and let rest for 30 min. roll into ping-pong ball sized balls and flatten. Bake 350 till barely golden (like a sugar cookie)

Monster Cookies
4 eggs
1 1/2c Peanut Butter
1 1/2c Sugar
1 c Butter
1c brown sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2c Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3c Oats
1c chopped cashews (or nut of your choice)
1 bag chocolate chips
1 bag toffee (or what ever that brittle part of peanut brittle is if you can find that)
1 c shredded coconut

Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars, add eggs and vanilla, in a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients, then combine the wet and dry to form a dough fold in the nuts and chips. use tablespoon to scoop out onto cookie sheet bake 350 10 min (do not make the cookies too big as they are very filling).

I know the holidays are past, but I'm always sad to see the giving spirit of them leave us. Feel free to make up a batch and share them with your neighbors anytime!

Simple, but always a hit

2010-01-08T03:20:00.000-08:00

I'm still feeling the effects of the meds, and doing much of anything has been a struggle. I hope this doesn't last long and I adjust quickly. Add to this DS1 has a fever and it makes it nice to have a "go to" meal that you know everyone will like.

Oh! And I have to start being mostly vegetarian (no red meat and just a little poultry and fish, so now I have to think up meals that I can make where I can just avoid the meat portion); thanks again migraines!

my family prefers angel hair pasta to spaghetti noodles.
1lb pasta
2lbs 97% lean grd beef
1 jar sauce (I use the garden kind with carrots and zucchini and mushrooms, you know, the works)
2 cans stewed tomatoes (1 garlic and onion 1 bell pepper)
2 small cans sliced black olives
1 large can sliced mushrooms
1 large onion sliced thin
2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh grd black pepper
1 tbs basil
1 tsp oregano
add herbs and onion to meat and brown.
boil pasta (I think you can figure that out)
combine tomatoes and sauce and mushrooms and olives
normally I'd then add the seasoned browned meat to the sauce, but thanks to my new diet, I layered it tonight, pasta, meat, sauce, for everyone but me, I just had pasta and sauce (yay :( )

I think I might try to talk DH into a date tomorrow and get some sushi, and then we have plans for lasagna on Sunday (I made it on Christmas and froze it) but I"ll post a recipe for something (any requests?) and I'll post the lasagna (cause I think it's pretty dang good) and a pic.

Blame it on the Meds

2010-01-07T01:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the new migraine meds I have been fighting sleep since about 230 this afternoon, luckily there was plenty of soup in the fridge from last night.

Since I did not cook I will just share a favorite recipe with you all.

This was given to me by DH's Grandmother (I think she got it from a restaurant at some point). I've changed it a little bit, but I'll give you both versions with mine in parenthesis.

Strawberry Fluff
1 Cup Ritz crackers crushed, apx 1 sleeve (I like to use Pretzels instead)
1 Cup Pecans chopped
1/2 tsp Baking Powder (cream of Tartar)
1 Cup + 2 Tbs Sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp Vanilla

beat egg whites, sugar, BP, and Vanilla to stiff peaks (this is IMPORTANT)
fold in crackers (pretzels) and pecans.

Bake 350f 30 min in a 13x9 pan (or any pan that is big enough for this to only be about 1/2 inch thick)

1 quart heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
splash vanilla
Whip to med peaks (it will feel like it's taking forever and then all of a sudden it'll happen so watch carefully) and yes it's worth it to make your own whip cream that stuff in the tub in the frozen section isnt' worth the time or money.

2 pints strawberries sliced thin (I use my egg slicer thing for this; just cut the tops off first)

Gently fold the strawberries into the whipped cream and then top the cookie/cracker thing.
slice and enjoy (since I can never seem to get a slice out of the pan and it turns into a big pile of not pretty stuff on your plate I've come up with a solution. Scoop some of the cookie/cracker thing into a wine glass, and then fill the rest of the way with topping, garnish with a strawberry).

This is my favorite thing to take to dinners/events in the summer, it's easy enough I don't mind doing it in a double batch but impressive looking (and more importantly) tasting enough to be a crowd pleaser.

"baby, it's cold outside" (and wet)

2010-01-06T03:51:00.000-08:00

things you will need:
3-4 raw chicken necks, backs, wing tips, and innards (hearts and livers)
1 extra roasted chicken breast
6 cups vegetable broth (mine was left over from making Lasagna sauce, it had shredded carrots, tomatoes, lots of different colored bell peppers zucchini, red and yellow onions and loaded with herbs but just the broth bit I didn't need for the lasagna)
1 lb lima beans
1 lb mixed peas and carrots (the kind where the carrots are squares)
and the most important thing
1 hour to get the soup ready and in ppls tummies.....a Pressure cooker (because you wern't home like you thought you were going to be to cook the soup normally)

load the chicken parts into the pressure cooker with enough water to be level but not cover the meat
lock on lid and set dials (read your manual) let it get to whistling then time 30 min
turn off heat let pressure reduce and pull the meat out of the pot, then pick the meat off bones and discard bones.
add the chicken, vegetable broth, peas, carrots, beans into the pot with the water you cooked the chicken in (it's full of goodness)
Bring to a simmer, check for seasoning (salt/pepper)

Dumplings
2 ish C flour
heavy pinch Kosher salt
heavier pinch Baking Soda
nearly half a stick of butter
4 Tbs milk
4 Tbs sour cream

mix dry ingredients, pinch in butter till mixture is crumbly, then add milk and cream, but don't over work the dough just bring it together with a fork and then fold a few times and pat.
roll into large marble sized balls and drop into simmering soup. Cover soup till dumplings are all floating and fluffy looking.

So at the end of the day my check list looks like this:
Kids in school (although over an hour late, thank you Immunizations Clinic) : check
WIC apt : check (even tho I have to go back in one month instead of 3)
Neurological apt to solve the mystery of migraines : not so much, went to the Dr, but apparently, we still don't know what's causing them so more meds to try, and a new diet and exercise program too (hurray?)
Pick kids up from first day of school (DD went to school when she was younger but I started home schooling so DS 1 has never been in a class room, but they wanted to start going, so I signed them up) : check (and we're going to pretend no one got lost and was walking around crying a lil)
home work (this wasn't on my list at the start of the day but for some reason you send your kids to school for 6 hrs and they have to bring home extra?...WHAT do the teachers do all day?) : check (this is what made me start supper late)
(rush) cook dinner : check

The soup was warm and yummy, and relaxing, a nice way to end a drizzly, chilly and windy day.

The Best Laid Plans

2010-01-05T03:52:00.000-08:00

Some how we all sleep till 730 this morning! Which was nice, so much for my fancy roast chicken lunch.

I did start the day off with my banana pancakes sans chocolate chips, instead we went with a dash of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla. Even the baby ate 2! Sadly DH wouldn't touch them and I had to whip up some blueberry for him (oddly he eats bananas but not banana flavored things, even when real bananas are involved?).

This is how the rest of the day was supposed to go: DH and DS #1 head out and get their hair cut and stop by the store for the potatoes, while I stay home and get the chicken prepped for the oven. Alternately, we all go to the store (the hair cut place is in the first of the shopping complex which is next door to the commissarry) DH and the boys go get hair cuts while the girls pick up the much needed baby gate and make a quick run for the potatoes. Neither of these things happened. Here's what happened. We took DH to work, then I took all 4 kids to the store for the baby gate, DS #2 socks, diapers, wipes, headbands for DD #1, and running shorts for DH. Then I took the boys down to the barber, where DS #2 decided that he needed a hair cut too (he did just not today). Then a quick bite for lunch at the food court and since we're in the car I try to take the kids to their favorite indoor jungle gym. It's closed. On to the Library, and then the food court with the indoor slide/tunnel thing (not as cool as the jungle gym, but I had to take them somewhere or there'd be mutiny).

I prepped the chicken before we left the house (I buy them whole and then split them down the front and back halving it reserving the innards and back bone/ keel bone for soups) and had it in the pan in the fridge for supper.

1 Tbs Kosher salt
1 tsp Marjoram
1 tsp Poultry seasoning
some fresh ground pepper
1 tsp garlic and onion powder

I lift the skin of the chicken and put the herb mix onto the meat, replace skin, and place upside down in a roasting pan with 2 inches of water. Broil for 15 min then flip and cook till crispy and golden brown and juices run clear (or you can use a thermometer, I don't).

Sides for tonight were steamed green beans (the long skinny kind) and egg noodles with mushrooms and Alfredo sauce. Cause oh yeah, I never made it to the commassarry (I told you I loath that place).

Cleaning out the Fridge

2010-01-04T03:06:00.000-08:00

This has to be done, and I know nobody wants to eat the same thing very often, but the cheapskate in me just won't let me throw out perfectly good food. So tonight the boys had pork loin roast that was diced and browned then tossed with a carrot, broccoli, cauliflower and pea mix then lightly coated with sesame dressing put over rice. The girls had rice with pinto beans, taco meat (left over from the Taco Rice), collard greens (cooked till tender with some bacon fat) and salsa. It was a surprisingly tasty combo. Sorry no pics, I couldn't bring myself to take a pic of brown on rice with green flecks (sometimes food isn't pretty).

I have big plans for tomorrow tho. Since DH is on swing shift (lunchtime ish to midnight ish) I have to cook in the middle of the day. (I secretly enjoy this because we aren't as tired)

I think I'll start the day off with some banana chocolate chip pancakes. I use Alton Brown's recipe but instead of 2 cups buttermilk I use equal parts milk and sour cream (I can never seam to find buttermilk on Okinawa). I also add 1 cup pureed bananas and a few chocolate chips. These are tasty topped with traditional syrup or apple sauce.
2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp sugar
combine well

2 eggs (separated)
1 Cup sour cream
1 Cup milk
4 tbs melted butter

mix egg whites with the milk and sour cream till smooth
and the melted butter (at room temp, I learned the hard way to not add the butter to the egg yolks straight out of the microwave) with the egg yolks.
combine them.
add the wet to the dry and mix with a fork but don't over work it (this isn't gravy lumps never hurt anyone).

grease a griddle/pan...I"m sure you can handle it from here.

I also plan on roasting a chicken tomorrow...this might be my favorite dish. I might even make a run to the dreaded grocery for some sweet and white potatoes to mash.

2 Outta 3 Ain't Bad

2010-01-03T04:42:00.000-08:00

It's time to start supper, and there's still dishes on the counter from lunch, so I call DD into the kitchen with me (dish loading is her job) and DS2 follows us into the kitchen and grabs the stool to get to his favorite perch, the kitchen counter. Since I'm using the grill pan tonight I have to deny him, which leads to a melt down about how he is big enough to help me cook. Some quick thinking on my part leads to him picking up any odd things/dust bunnies he finds on the floor under the cabinets and around the office (it's connected to the kitchen). YAY for small jobs for small hands. Meanwhile I'm having to explain for the X718362463th time the concept behind washing the dishes to a prepubescent girl. I did mention I was trying to cook right?

Dinner got started about 30min later than I wanted, so it's a good thing dinner was a quick fix tonight, the salad was made a few days ago (I just added the fresh chopped bell pepper), and the ribs cook up quick on the grill pan. Pasta is always fast, well as fast as water boils (quick tip, put the lid on a pot of water and it'll take less time to boil).

Tonight we had Flaken cut beef ribs (also known as Korean style), they're ribs cut cross wise of the ribs so you get 3-4 bone medallions with meat along one side). I seasoned one side of the ribs with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder, and a dash of Worcestershire Sauce, and a light coating of teriyaki sauce on the other and then grilled. Cabbage salad (equal parts red and green cabbage a shredded large carrot and a chunked orange bell pepper. Penne Pasta with garlic butter and tossed with tomatoes and black olives. I had considered adding some shredded cheese to the pasta, and as it turns out I should have gone with my gut, because I'm the only one who liked the pasta.

And I don't even have a FaceBook!!

2010-01-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

My first blog post, so lets start with setting the agenda: to keep an accurate record of the food I create. I'm hesitant to call them recipes because I don't actually measure things and cooking is usually more like a running experiment. I should warn you all that I LOATH grocery shopping with every fiber of my being, and reading that it doesn't seem to be a strong enough statement to express it fully, so, as it gets closer to shopping day (I try to do major shopping just once every 4-6 weeks with odds and ends being picked up as needed) the more erratic the ingredients being used. I shall also try to remember to take pictures of the dishes I describe, I have 4 kids (ages 9yr daughter, 7yr son, 3yr son and 10mo daughter) a dog, and a Husband in the Air Force, so I might forget entirely or only remember this part of the goal half way thru.

I cook mostly from scratch (my kids will not for the life of me eat home made mac and cheese) and try to only use frozen or fresh vegetables/produce, we make most of our bread (it's not hard) and I also use things like butter, cream and bacon (and the drippings there of). The only way this would be "diet" food is if you ate child size portions, but I promise it will be varied, wholesome, and tasty (this part is a crap shoot sometimes) . We also eat what's been given to us or go without, not to say that they have to like it and I encourage them to let me know when they don't, we should still be grateful for both the time it took us to prepare the food and the fact that we have food. When possible I try to have the older kids help, they do things like stir, measure, pour, open things, add amounts if I'm doubling things (when I bake I try to measure things out).

All this isn't to say that we don't eat out, we do (prolly too much), and I really do try resisting the urge to "fix" food when we do (this is usually averted by just eating out in "town", since I can't fix Japanese cuisine). And I'm no chef (I didn't take home ec. in school) I learned how to cook the old fashioned way ( I watched my parents do it, and when I was tall enough to reach things I took over) I've also learned a lot from my husbands mother (the most patient person I've known and a pretty dang good baker) and grandmother (when ever I get homesick and miss Grandma I watch Paula Dean, she comes close to Grandma).

Mostly I try to put a twist on things and make them my own. Or if it's something simple that we just enjoy eating out I try my best to duplicate it to save on $$$. So, enough about me, on with the food!

tonight we had Taco Rice (as legend goes this was invented out of necessity at one of the U.S. military bases here on Okinawa )
(the title is pretty self-explanatory, you make taco fixings like normal but instead of tortillas you put it on rice.)

This will feed my family with enough for one adult lunch left over (which is usually DH's lunch at work the next day)

3 scoops of rice in the rice cooker and water to the 3 line

10 small hand scoops of pinto beans in the crock pot with half a gallon of water , cook on high for 4ish hours, mash gently and add salt and "ham flavor" (didn't have any bacon drippings to add, and this stuff makes it taste like I cooked it with ham hocks) (you can find it in the Hispanic section of the store it's by GOYA and is in a little box printed to look like wood grain and a pig outline on it)

2 lbs 97% lean ground beef with 2 packs of Taco Seasoning

6 handfuls shredded (or VERY chopped) cabbage/lettuce

1/3-1/2 of 1lb block shredded cheese (I think today we used Cheddar, but it's usually just whatever knob of cheese that's in the fridge)

1 can Stewed Tomatoes with Bell Peppers add equal parts, onion powder, garlic powder, Grill mates Gourmet Burger seasoning, twice that parsley, and 2 GENTLE shakes cayenne Pepper, and 2 good size pinches of Kosher salt. blend to consistency of your liking.

sour cream to garnish

now layer in a bowl, rice, beans, meat, lettuce, cheese, salsa, sour cream. ENJOY

We like this for several reasons, it's tasty, it's easier to eat than a regular taco, and more filing, and I always have rice on hand and rarely tortillas. Sorry there are no pics tonight I wasn't struck with the urge (tho I've been toying with this idea for some time) to do this until dinner was done, eaten and leftovers put away.

ok..One down, I'll try to remember this exists so I can recall things we enjoyed more easily and maybe just maybe help someone not be afraid of cooking, cause it's not rocket science you will not blow anyone/thing up (unless there's a pressure cooker involved, and I'll walk you thru that too), worst case scenario, PB&J or cereal for supper (which always makes them secretly smile on the inside).