Shrimp and Bread Dipping Sauce

Spring seems to have finally made an appearance! The past week has given us a good bit of warmer weather, a sunburn, blisters on both hands and a massive cold. That's right, I made it all winter without much more than a sniffle and when the thermometer his 60 a few days ago I spiraled down into the deep dark pit, where I have found congestion, sinus pain, a fever and exhaustion. 3 days later and I have only gotten rid of the fever, but seem to have replaced it with a horrible cough...the likes of which I will not get into when I about to share dinner with you. Despite my misery I felt better being outside moving and grooving. J and I have big plans for the yard this year! To start, I have been raking like a crazy person, pulling muscles I didn't know I had and uncovering all sorts of fun new aspects of our front yard. Who knew we had so many stone walls and covered up bulbs! 

A good 4 days of raking and there is still so much more to go! But that will have to wait until my matching blisters on both hands heal up. Not to mention I didn't even think to apply sunscreen and scorched my poor exposed skin,  the lilac bush attacked me, so now my sunburned arms also look like a cat attacked them with sharp claws AND I ripped my favorite comfy jeans while reconstructing my herb garden. I came in last night looking like I had just emerged from a war zone and J reheated some left over lettuce wrap mix, which we shared out of 1 bowl on the couch. Don't worry, I had already shared my germs with him..oops! What's mine is yours right?

Today hit 70 degrees and I got a little bit more raking done before I collapsed into a beach chair with a book and roll of TP ( we had no tissues). I even managed to make dinner...Pioneer Woman Shrimp! Not my own recipe, but a good one regardless. Shrimp is often buy one get one free at Big Y, so I used one bag and held onto the second in my freezer.

In my mini food processor, I combined
1 stick cold butter ( broken into smaller pieces)
1/8 cup parsley ( from last years garden)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic
juice from 1/2 of a lemon

This crumbled concoction was sprinkled over my frozen shrimp on a cookie sheet and baked at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until J could wait no longer.

This shrimp was very tasty, but I must say the best part is the dipping sauce that is left in the pan with a nice big chunk of warm bread!

Italian Layer Bake

It's Spring! Okay, well it is technically Spring...I turned my clocks ahead, my tulips are starting to poke up through the dirt and it is currently 6pm and it is still light outside. Despite the fact that the calendar says it is spring, the snow outside is making it hard to believe. We finally were able to see the grass in the back yard about a week ago, and were almost able to turn our cars around in the driveway. But then another 4 inches fell and so continued our nightly ritual of going outside at 10:30 and pulling both cars out onto the road to switch positions for J to go to work. Since then, the temperatures, which a week ago were up in the 50's are topping out in the high 30's. The wood stove is still going daily, blankets are still being piled on while watching movies on the couch and it is still necessary to run out with my hair wrapped in a towel every morning to warm up the car and defrost the windshield. It was decided this past weekend, that we have a serious case of Cabin Fever. Neither J or I remember the urge to go outside being so bad last year. All we want it to go outside without 3 layers and gloves, be able to go for a walk without the snowbanks making it dangerous, and I personally can't wait to open some windows and revive my gardens. It seems that this may not happen for some time, so the need for hearty warm suppers continues.

J is having his movie marathon today, so my plan this past week, while preparing to cook for 7 hungry men was simple satisfying suppers! And I hit it out of the park with an Italian Layer Bake on Thursday! You know it is a winner when J asks if we have red wine to go with it. Both of us were rendered speechless after the first bite, reduced to simultaneous "mmmm's" and  " oh my God this is good's". Both of us went back for seconds, and if not totally stuffed, thirds would have been likely. So while Spring is taking it's sweet time to get here, we shall enjoy a few more cold weather suppers like this one!

Italian Layer Bake

1 package crescent rolls
8ish pieces of ham
8ish pieces of turkey
10ish pieces of hard salami
8 - 12 pieces of cheese ( I used white American because it is what I had at home)
Large jar of sweet roasted peppers
4 eggs and water whisked together

• In a square pyrex dish, I think mine is 8in..press half of the crescent rolls into the bottom of the pan
• On top of the crescents, using half of your meats, layer ham, turkey, salami and cheese

 (the exact amount is up to you, but I simply covered the space with each meat then cheese.)

• On top of the cheese arrange the red peppers
• Pour half of the egg mixture over the red pepper layer
• Repeat layering of ham, turkey, salami, cheese and peppers
• Top the bake with the rest of the crescent rolls
• Pour remaining egg wash over crescent roll top

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes
Remove foil and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes
Let stand for 10 minutes before digging in!

Honey Roased Peanut butter

I live with a self proclaimed peanut butter addict. It is so bad that if I bring "the good stuff" into the house I have to hide it and only bust it out on special occasions...such as a bad day or desperation when there is no dessert. J only likes Smuckers All Natural Creamy PB...my wallet likes Jiff or whatever is on sale. We have been all about natural foods, healthy living and do it yourself type topics lately. Well in conversation at least, the healthy eating part is just taking flight. So J says, "why don't you make peanut butter? How hard can it be? My mom does it." Well right there I knew I would be making peanut butter. Geesh, he had to play the mom card? So on my weekly grocery shopping trip, I was faced with the wall of nuts. What was on sale, what did my little heart desire? When eating peanuts, I prefer the honey roasted, so why not try that? Home I went with my jar of nuts, which I had to steal back from J. The guy doesn't come carry in groceries, put them away or cook them, he just rifles through the bags like a mad man until he finds a treat to his liking and I am lucky if said treat lasts the day. That day he found the nuts.

I busted out the little mini food processor from the back of my pantry, poured about half a cup of nuts in and ground away. Note to self: I need a real food processor..my mini just can't handle the nuts, and it is a much longer process when you have to do half a cup at a time. Grinding..grinding...Now my nuts look like crumbs..hmm..keep grinding...now the nuts are jamming up my blade...still grinding... mini is starting to get a little warm to the touch...ah ha! Peanut butter! It really was a thing of beauty.

By the time I had done the whole batch I may or may not have killed the mini...smoke is a bad thing right? Guess I know what is going on my birthday list.

It took a good five minutes of processing to get that creamy consistency, but man was it worth it. We just sat on the couch with spoons, a jar of preserves and that PB for dessert. I would say it is certainly worth it to know exactly what you are eating, and there are often buy one get one deals, which makes it a much cheaper option than my darlings favorite Smuckers!

Snowed In

Well at least the Weather Channel got it right this time, and gave us plenty of time to prepare for Nemo. We watched throughout the day yesterday as the flurries came and stayed. Only a few inches had accumulated by sundown and we were skeptical of the true strength of what they said was coming. After 2 episodes of the Big Bang Theory ( we are addicted) and a dinner of Portuguese Shrimp and fresh bread we again looked out the window. 8 o'clock and the inches were piling up and the wind was picking up. A plow had not been down our street all night, but the snow mobiles were not having any problems with the road conditions. It was decided that J should leave early for his midnight shift--darn you emergency personnel never getting a snow day! J was rolling slowly down the street by 9:15 and I was snuggled up at home with the wood stove, howling wind and freshly baked muffins. mmmm.... Overall, not a horrible storm right? Ha! Then I woke up at 7 this morning...

Okay, it's white outside, nothing I haven't seen before. When you are just looking out at an open space you have nothing to compare the depth of snow to. I figured I should go shovel a place for J to park his car. Jeans and a sweatshirt went on  over my pajamas, then heavy socks, boots, winter jacket, hat, gloves and 2 hoods...Now where is that shovel?

I had to get out back up shovel to do the stoop because J left the shovel out front by the tree after he shoveled his way out last night. And then I opened the door. Show fell into the kitchen. We have a 4 step stoop and you could not even see bumps to differentiate the steps. The snow was covering the entire stoop--at least 2-3 feet of the white fluffy stuff. Thank Goodness it was fluffy! I shoveled my way off the stoop and stepped into the yard...and sunk into mid thigh deep snow. I finally dug out the shovel from under 30+ inches of snow and for the next 2 hours, dug out a place barely big enough for J's car and a path to the door. By the time J got home after 9 I was frozen without hope of being warmed up, even after crawling back into bed with my personal furnace and hoping for a bit more sleep. It was a lost cause and required a 30 minute steaming shower, a roaring fire and now 2 blankets, hot cocoa and a Lifetime Movie.

Because I am not budging from this place of warmth, I busted out the crock pot once again and have that Italian Chicken cooking away. But for a quick lunch to heat me up..wrapped meatballs!  Yum-O! Super easy and a great dinner if you serve it with a big salad and warmed marinara sauce!

Biscuit Meatballs

• 8 thawed Italian Meatballs- I got a deal on those bags of meatballs from the freezer section
• 1 container flaky biscuits- Grands or similar type
• Several Mozzarella string cheese sticks

1. I semi cooked the meatballs in the microwave
2. Separate the biscuits then cut each biscuit in half.
3. Place 1 meatball and an inch piece of cheese inside of each biscuit
4. Stretch the dough over the meatball and seal--I just rolled it between my hands
5. Place on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with grated parm, garlic powder and oregano
6. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes

That will keep you warm!

1 Crock Pot...3 meals..yes please!

It is cold! I mean wind chill below zero, take your breath away the second you open the back door cold. Ah New England, you have pushed me to the point of pining for Spring once again. I can't wait to be able to open all of the windows, clean the house from top to bottom and not having to put on five layers when I forget something in the car, which is only 10 feet from the back door. Yes, I am officially done with winter. I have been substitute teaching since my long term ended and I do not love not knowing if I am going to get a call to work or not. I especially dislike the morning call. I am not a morning person. Then I have to drag myself out of a warm bed and walk down the freezing cold hallway to get ready. You see, we have been using our wood stove this winter and after 8 hours of no logs being added, my tootsies are almost frostbitten by the time I hit the bathroom. A 30 minute drive to follow plans, or no plans on several occasions--teach a class you don't know that could range from k-grade 5 and have any number of fun personalities to contend with. Oh and no matter what the grade, you have those kids that just love to point out to you what you are doing wrong. Yeah, thanks I know I am not your teacher...in case you haven't noticed, she is not here today, care to help me out? Sigh.... So eight hours later I come home to a wonderful man who has just woken up and is hungry.

Our crock pot is my new best friend, and I totally nailed it this week with getting the biggest bang for my buck. Chicken was on sale ( I adore buy 1 get 2 free deals).

Shredded Chicken Burritos

Day 1:
Put 5 still semi frozen chicken breasts into crock pot...check
Add 1 jar of salsa
Add 1 packet of Taco seasoning and mix as best you can.
Set crockpot on high for 4-6 hours or Low for 8
Shred chicken and return to Crock Pot to soak up remaining sauce before serving.

This lovely combination produced very yummy chicken burritos served in tortillas with lettuce, cheese, salsa and sour cream...YUM!

Day 2: Crunchy Southwest Chicken Wraps

Step 1: Saute half of an onion and 1 bag of baby Spinach

Step 2: Add  left over shredded chicken, half a can of corn and about half a can of black beans to the pan to heat.

Step 3: Add cheese! I used a cheddar jack combo and added handfuls until I like the consistency.

 

Step 4: Assemble! I used 2 methods. I had both leftover tortilla and egg roll wrappers. For the tortilla wrappers, I spooned about half a cup of the mixture into the center of warmed wraps and folded the ends in then rolled. 

For the egg roll wrappers, I spooned 2 or so TBS into the center, spread water along the edges, folded two opposite ends together in the center, then tightly rolled.

 

I lightly drizzled olive oil over all of my creations and put in a 350 oven.

 For the egg rolls, I turned them after 5- 7 minutes, then baked for another 5- 7 minutes without removing. The Tortillas were flipped after about 10 minutes, or when the bottoms were golden and cooked an equal amount of time on the second side.

And here are my Tortilla Wraps: The top was just shredded chicken and cream cheese, the bottom is my Southwest Concoction!

 

And here we have the Southwest egg rolls.

  

This was one of those dinners that J really liked. He liked it enough to take a cold wrap for lunch the next day and comment again on how good they were that night.

Southwest Chicken Salad

And Day 3:

J was sleeping on the couch today and not budging for dinner, so I was on my own and man am I glad he did not wake up mid dinner! I was not going to be sharing this beauty!

 

This is one of those throw everything in a bowl recipes. Here is what I threw...

Chopped Ice Berg Lettuce

1/4 cup black beans

1/4 cup corn

Remaining shredded chicken reheated in the mocrowave

Shredded Cheese

Tortilla strips I had in the pantry for salads 

French Dressing

Throw whatcha got in a big bowl, grab a fork and hide somewhere to enjoy all alone..yum!

Baked Eggrolls

I guess I am at that age where everyone I know is getting married and announcing pregnancies. Sometimes it is hard to grasp the fact that I am an actual....grownup, when did that happen? So being a 20-something means bridal showers, baby showers, weddings and way to many events where I have to wear a dress...cringe. I am a yoga pants (jeans if I leave the house) and a t-shirt kind of girl.I hate getting dressed for work because that means work clothes.  And no matter how hard I try, my hair will just never look like those Pantene commercials. I might straighten it, but I can bet on the fact that by the time I get to where I am going, one side will be flipping one way, and the other side, the opposite way.

So, with wedding season approaching and dress shopping an inevitability, I am keeping a close eye on the scale, which I force myself to get on every time I am at the gym. I am determined to see some sort of downward movement on that stupid scale in the next 3 months. Since I can't magically make the winter insulation disappear, that means finding some healthier meal options. I am trying to do this while keeping the comfort part of winter comfort foods. I just can't do salads daily when it is 12 degrees out, sorry! 

Now I love Chinese food. I love it right when I get it home, I love it as a midnight snack, I love it cold the next day when I nibble it right out of the container while standing in my kitchen pondering dinner options.... But when one is trying to fit into the next size down in 3 months, take out is not an option. But I was able to trick myself into believing I was eating Chinese with these baked egg rolls! Not only were they really easy, but you can play with the ingredients and really not mess up. So here is what I used.

• Eggroll wrappers found in the produce section of my Local Big Y.
• 1 bag shredded coleslaw mix.
• soy sauce
• a dash of ginger
• tiny shrimp, chicken or pork.

That's it folks!

Warm the shredded mix in the microwave and drain any extra liquid
Add your meat of choice and soy sauce to your tastebuds liking.
Spoon the mixture into the center of each eggroll wrapper.
Wet the edges of the wrapper with water and fold two opposite corners to the center, then roll from one remaining corner to the other.

Drizzle with olive oil In a 375 oven bake for 10-14 minutes, flip and bake for an additional 10-14 minutes. and you get something like this...

Crock Pot Obsession

It has been quite some time since my last post, and while I took a vacation from blogging I have not had a hiatus from cooking! I have been busy teaching fifth grade for 12 weeks, then first for another 3. I adored my fifth grade class and wish that could have been a full time position, but that was not in the cards. Now as I face another bout of day to day subbing, I better get working on my cookbook, which of course is going to be my claim to fame, my million dollar check in the bank and lead to my own food network show...or maybe I should keep on the teaching track. Either way, working full time with children at this time of year leads to two things; exhaustion and germs. I just am not in the mood to cook an extravagant dinner when I get home, and by 5pm J wants it ready to eat ASAP. It's not fun when I have to tell him it will be at least an hour. So began my love affair with our crock pot! I can prep before work while I am waiting for my coffee water to boil and my bagel to pop out of the toaster, leave it all day and have not only a dinner ready when I get home, but an amazing dinner ready. J has been loving chicken in the crock pot, which is great because chicken and I have not been seeing eye to eye since my electronic meat thermometer decided to go to you know where in a hand-basket.

I have always been nervous about leaving anything plugged in with the switch in the on position when I leave for work. My mom did a good job raising a girl who triple checks whether or not the hair straightener is plugged in before I leave the house, and probably running back in for a fourth check once I am already in my car. I have even driven half an hour back from work because I left the refrigerator door ajar and I was petrified my cat would crawl in, shut the door and be a cat-cicle by the time I got home.--thanks mom. But here is the great part about having a guy who works the midnight shift...if the crock pot goes up in flames he will be home when the alarms go off and either fix the problem or watch the house go down in crock pot flames from the front yard, neither situation do I want to come home to but it has eased me into leaving the crock pot to do its job while I'm not home.

I have made two amazing crock pot meals with chicken, the first a chicken and dumpling dish, and the second an italian chicken meal which made the most amazing gravy for mashed potatoes!


Chicken and Dumplings: 
3-4 chicken breasts uncooked
2 cans cream of chicken soup
carrots sliced
other veggies if you would like: chopped onions perhaps?
6ish cups of chicken stock/broth: enough to cover the chicken.
1-2 tubes of refrigerator biscuits

Add all of these yummy fixings to your crock pot, cover and set on low for 8 hours
Now go to work!
8 hours later walk into an amazing smelling house!

Now you need to tear refrigerator biscuits into small chunks and submerge in crock pot. Let cook 20-30 minutes until they are not overly doughy on the inside. That's it!

This one is so satisfying for a cold night or soothing for  when you have a cold!


Italian Chicken:
4 chicken breasts uncooked
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz container of cream cheese
1 packet dry Italian dressing mix
chicken stock

Combine the cream cheese and soup in a saucepan..
I did this the day before because oops I realized my chicken went south after I started my meal prep.It was perfectly fine when I used the combined mixture 24 hours later!
Add chicken, soup mixture and Italian dressing packet to crock pot
Pour enough chicken stock to cover chicken
I gave mine a little stir to combine all of the fixings
Put a lid on it set to low for 8 hours and walk out the door.

The sauce from this recipe is ridiculously yummy and I served it over garlic mashed potatoes!

Hurricane Sandy

Being a native New Englander, I am used to tropical storms, Nor'Easters and as of last year, 8 days without power after a freak Halloween Snow Storm. But I am starting to wonder if these October Mega Storms are the new norm. I am currently snuggled on the couch, tuned into the weather channel and watching the wind pick up out the front window. Work has been cancelled for 2 days, CT highways are closing at 1pm and I already had to chase the trash can lid across the back yard. (J is bringing that to the basement when he gets home at 12).

I learned my lesson last year and went out to buy a lantern, candles, lighters, water and a bottle of wine. We have canned fruit, tuna and granola bars galore. But what about meals? I bought 2 loaves of bread along with peanut butter and jelly and last night I made baked chimichongas! Power or no power, tonight we are having left overs!

Similar to a hot pocket, I used ground turkey to make this dish a bit healthier. I made the turkey as I would taco meat, cook, add taco seasoning and water...add diced tomatoes, cumin and oregano, then 1/2 cup each sour cream and shredded cheese and mix... Then I filled 6 Tortillas with the mix, fold seam side down and bake for 15-20 minutes.

We devoured 1.5 each and topped them with sour cream, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, salsa and cheese. Yum! Even if we do lose power, I am sure they will work cold in a pinch.

With my bathtub full of water, blankets at the ready and snacks filling the pantry, I am ready for this hurricane.

Guinness Pie

When I woke up this morning, I was expecting a somewhat relaxing day, J had a family party that we were planning on attending mid day and last week kicked off our Sunday nights on the couch with the new season of The Walking Dead starting. I was up and bopping around the kitchen in my pajamas, getting out my large bowl for the requested chocolate chip pancakes ( J was taking  a break from his typical 3 eggs and an English Muffin). Before I could grab a measuring cup, I hear an "uh oh" from the living room. J was being called into work on his day off. We finally get a weekend scheduled off together so of course an emergency at work has to come up. So in place of C+C pancakes, I quickly threw together an egg and cheese bagel sandwich, wrap it in foil for that authentic "to go" look and pull down the travel mug for an accompanying coffee with cream. Out the door he went by 9am. So now I have an entire sunny fall day to kick around the house and yard and come up with some delicious dinner idea. Comfy clothes were in order, then it was out the door to plant my bulbs so that the spring will come in with some color next year. J's uniform was up next and I was actually able to get it out of the dryer fast enough that no ironing was required. Now for food. I had all day so time was not an option, it had to be warm and filling as all Sunday dinners should be. I have been looking at a recipe on my pinterest board for awhile now and today seemed like a good time to attempt Guinness Pie: an Irish steak pie.

I needed:
a 1.5 lbs chuck roast ( I used pre cubed beef stew meat)
1/4 lb bacon
 1 red onion diced
2 carrots largely diced
2 stalks of celery diced
3 oz mushrooms sliced
3 cloves garlic
1 bottle Guinness
1 cup beef broth
flour for dredging
2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
1 TBS fresh Rosemary ( I had fresh Rosemary frozen from my garden- if you don't use 1 tsp dried)
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
2 sheets puff pastry

In my dutch oven I cooked down the bacon
When done, remove the bacon but keep the grease in the pan.
Dredge the beef in the flour and season with salt and pepper
In batches, brown beef in the bacon grease then remove from pan
Saute onion, carrots and celery until soft ( Add butter if the pan dries out too much)
Add mushrooms until soft
Add garlic and cook for 1 minute
Add Guinness and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits
Add stock, and meat back into the dutch oven
Place pot uncovered into a 350 degree oven for 1.5- 2 hours, checking and adding stock if needed
Remove from oven add cheese and increase temperature to 400
Line 8x10 greased pan  with one sheet of puffed pastry, scoring then placing in oven for 6-8 min so it won't become soggy.
Spoon beef mixture ontop of bottom crust and cover with the second sheet of pastry..
Create criss cross pattern so as not to puff-- not cutting all the way through
Brush with egg wash
Bake for 20-40 minutes

It is baking now, smells great pictures to come

Peanut butter oatmeal

The leaves have just started turning up here in Western MA. Driving down the road there are orange leaves here and there and on occasional tree that I could have sworn was totally green last week, is now completely in the throes of autumn colors. I know that by January, I will miss the color green and the sound of leaves in the wind, and I will be left looking at the blank grey canvas that is a New England winter. But for now, I am anticipating all things fall. Sure I will miss my summer staples; flip flops (my feet really aren't ready for those big girl shoes I have to wear to work), macaroni salad and frequenting the local ice cream stand (which honestly we haven't done for quite some time). But I am ready for all those things that mean Autumn is here; sweatshirts, scarves, apple picking and pumpkin carving. I am ready for J to buy me those Mums he promised...hopefully he remembers he promised. And I am ready for some good old Comfort Food! My Dutch Oven is itching to be used, and I have been stock piling apple crisp recipes.

With slightly cooler weather I have developed an obsession with oatmeal. I have never been a huge oatmeal eater, and if I did eat it, it was the kind in the little pouches. The variety pack boxes where I favored the peaches and cream, apples and cinnamon, and the other fruity flavors to the maple sugar flavor..yuck.

Because J( not an oatmeal eater..more of a scrambled eggs guy..EVERY Morning!) is now a 3rd shifter, he is not awake when I am eating breakfast and a giant container of oats is far less expensive than boxes of itty bitty packets. So I started searching oatmeal recipes...3 have been attempted, 1 was a struggle to finish eating, 1 was pretty darn yummy and 1 was quite delicious!! (found at http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-peanut-butter-oatmeal/)  So I will share with you my quite delicious recipe which I just finished eating!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal

Cook the Oatmeal according to the container. For today I did 2 servings which was :
1 cup oatmeal

1 1/2 cups water
Bring the water to a boil then add the oats
Reduce heat to Medium and cook for 5 minutes
Remove from Heat and cover for 3ish minutes

Now for the Deliciousness....
Add to the oatmeal;

• 2 TBS Good peanut butter ( I used Smuckers Creamy All Natural PB)
• 1 TBS Honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Now because I like to add a little something to the softer oatmeal texture, I reverted to childhood, when I loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches..hmm...

I went ahead and sliced half of a banana and added it right in. I am now fighting the urge to go finish off the pot instead of putting it in the fridge for tomorrow.

So I am ready for those fall flavors, cooler days and warm dishes!

Easy Flour Tortillas- Who Knew?

I've never been a "summer person". I enjoy those warm days that say that summer is coming when I can go outside without a sweatshirt or walk to the mailbox barefoot, but now that August has arrived so has my humidity induced crankiness and unwillingness to move above a snails pace. This being said, the prospect of firing up the stove seems like cruel and unusual punishment, especially when I will have to take the third "just to cool off" shower of the day because I opened the oven door to check the progress of some hot meal. No Thank You!  But today, with the fans blowing and a nice little breeze ringing the wind chimes outside the door, I attempted to make my own tortillas. I had seem this on a blog  ( http://smells-like-home.com/2012/07/diy-soft-flour-tortillas/) while cruising through new Do It Yourself Projects on my favorite website.

Hmm making my own tortillas sounded interesting. I have made bread before, but along with the rest of the country, I am trying to eat healthier and hey-- if the bread is thinner and I shed a few calories while mixing and rolling, and sweating I say it's a healthier way to go..But that's just my way of thinking. It also helped kick up the heart rate when the pan started burning with left over flour between batches and I had to desperatly fan out the kitchen before the smoke alarm went off and I had a very grumpy boyfriend on my hands!

I also altered the recipe just a smidge because when a recipe calls for lard, it's just a turn off. And really, I can't justify making a recipe to lead a healthier life when it calls for lard, seems counterproductive right? So instead of Lard I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, again one of our healthy changes...since J came home one day and insisted we change because some guy in really good shape told him about it in training... Please, nobody tell him about anymore strange diets or eating fads because I guarantee we will be trying it the next day, and I really can't live without bread or pasta or dressing on my salad or..the list goes on... In fact, why doesn't somebody tell him the best way to stay in shape is to buy me flowers or wash dishes..hmm I think I am onto something. Anyways, back to flat bread! I was just doing a trial run so I halved the recipe and made smaller rounds but the actual measurements are as follows...

3 cups four
5 TBS butter- They said unsalted, I used I Can't Believe it's Not Butter and it came out fine
1 tsp salt- I used sea salt because that's all this house carries
2 tsp baking POWDER
3/4 cups warm water

Super easy right?? Literally took 2 minutes once I dug out the baking powder

• First mix the dry ingredients
• Cut in the butter ( I used my hands because I can't afford one of those fancy pants kitchen aid mixers, and the knife trick takes too long for this impatient girl) 
• Divide into 12 equal portions
• Let rise for 10 minutes (mine looked no different but they still turned out okay) 
• Roll out with a well floured rolling pin to about 8 inches- or in my case I used a handy wine bottle :)
• In a dry skillet turned to Medium high, cook one tortilla at a time for 20 to 40 seconds on each side. They really will start to bubble and turn slightly golden brown
• The recipe said not to roll them all out at once because they will dry out, I would take this advice even though I can't vouch for it--I only made 6

That's It Folks, yummy warm tortillas for your eating pleasure! So many options!

I can personally say they are great with salsa as a chip as well as a great wrap for a tuna melt! I am thinking of making J a breakfast burrito when he wakes up! All I can say is next time I am going for the all out recipe and dishing up some carne asada burritos or enchiladas for supper!

That there is my rendition of a tuna melt, then I folded it in half taco style.

Little Taste of Heaven

For some reason, I was really craving Smores the other night after J made his tri-annual meal for me. Because we don't have a working grill. Well, we don't actually know it doesn't work, it has been in the yard since I met J and yet we have never ventured to turn it on. This could be because I am HORRIBLE at grilling, unless that is, you are having a hankering for hockey pucks on a bun... and if I don't do it that means that...wait for it...J would have to be the grill master...Not likely! So our Smores adventure took place in the kitchen, heating marshmallows in the microwave until they were on the brink of explosion, then scooping them onto the graham crackers and chocolate. Not a bad alternative..Except now I am left with a bag of marshmallows and I am not a big fan of eating just a lone marshmallow (Though I hear they are good for sore throats--anyone have experience with that remedy?)  So while cruising Pinterest--which I must admit is becoming a bit of an addiction! I came across a recipe where you coat marshmallows with melted butter, then cinnamon sugar and roll them in crescent rolls and bake.

I expected a tasty treat for this cloudy afternoon at home, but what I got reminded me of those sticky buns mom used to make every Christmas Morning! Ooooh it was gooood!!!! I am restraining myself from polishing off the remaining 7 before J can have a taste. They are light and fluffy and delicious, oh and super easy!!



To use up one tube of crescent rolls, you make 8 tasty treats so you need...

8 marshmallows
1/2 cup ish sugar
several dashes of cinnamon
1/4 stick melted butter
1 tube crescent rolls

My measurements are vague because I didn't really measure, I eyeballed the cinnamon until I thought it looked acceptable and I just saved the extra cinnamon sugar for use another day!

Bragging Rights Chicken

Since what I am about to share with you has only happened a handful of times, I hope you share my sense of awe! My wonderful boyfriend has many talents, but cooking is not one of them...or so he would like you to think. I have always been the queen of the kitchen in our relationship and he has been king of eating what I make for him. He has made 3 meals for me in the past year and all of them were quite delicious! So this past Christmas, my stocking was stuffed with what we like to call "Tiger Bucks", green coupons that he used during his time as a teacher and for each Tiger Buck, I get 1 meal made by him for yours truly! So now that he has finally settled into his new schedule at work I was able to call in my Tiger Buck!!! And after tonight, I am considering handing over the kitchen for a night or two a week. J's spin on chicken pasta (found on Pinterest) was AMAZING! He marinated the chicken in an herb and garlic marinade with added pesto! Then the sauce was a combo of tomato sauce, half and half, chicken broth and more pesto!

Here is what you need:
2 boneless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch strips
4 Large spoonfuls of Pesto
1/2 bottle of herb and garlic marinade
8 oz pasta

For the sauce:
2 TBS olive Oil
3 cloves garlic
2 spoonfuls Pesto
1/2 cup chicken broth
8 oz tomato sauce
1 cup half and half

Marinate the chicken in 2 spoonfuls of Pesto and the marinade

When ready to cook, place chicken with all of the marinade into a pan and cook until chicken is cooked through. Set aside

Cook pasta as per box directions

Cook the 3 garlic cloves in 2 TBS olive oil
Add 2 Spoonfuls of Pesto
Add chicken broth and simmer until reduced by half
Stir in tomato sauce and half and half
Simmer for 5 minutes
Add flour is it needs to thicken (j did this)

Combine the sauce with the pasta and place chicken pieces over top...SO GOOD!!!!

I promise you will not be sorry you made this one, it is one of J's all time favorite dishes now and he can be a tough critic!! He also was pleased to accompany this dish with some red wine!

Amazing Avocado Season

It is one of those too hot to heat up the kitchen kind of days. This is why my crock pot is currently filled with soon to be pulled pork...I hope.With life settling into a calmer pace I am finding myself back to searching my cookbooks for new dinner options. I wanted summer comfort food..is that actually possible? It is too hot for heavy pasta and meatballs, lasagna or bread bowls filled with any kind of soup. But after a day of cleaning out the basement, wiping down the kitchen and working in the garden, I wanted a something creamy and warm and yummy.This is when I stumbled across a recipe (on Pinterest--yes I am an addict) for avocado pasta. It claimed to be creamy like an Alfredo...hmm the wheels began to spin.... It is avocado season...spinning faster...and I could add chicken...faster still...and I can finally house leftovers! TA DA dinner inspiration! Now, J is not usually a fan of cooked tomatoes--yes he has quite a substantial list of things that won't touch his palate, but I figured he could just pick them out if he despised them (aren't I nice?) So here is how it goes, you need:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 3 TBS olive Oil
• 2 TBS lemon juice ( I used lime since I had it)
• 2 cloves of garlic- chopped
• 12ish quartered cherry or other small tomato ( I will use more next time)
• grated Parm
• Salt and Pepper
• pine nuts-optional
• fettuccine
• chicken

About an hour before I wanted to serve, I quartered my tomatoes, coated them in olive oil and some salt and put them in the oven at 300

With about 30 min left to cook my tasty tomatoes...

I started by cooking cubed chicken pieces on the stove in olive oil.

While this was going, I cut and cubed my avocado and added them to my food processor- man do I need a bigger one of those, is it too early to start my Christmas list?

Next, I added the 2 TBS of olive oil, as I had already used 1 for the chicken- 2 TBS lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper to the processor.

Grind grind grind until smooth and creamy...it does not yet look appetizing!

Cook the pasta of your choice to al dente and stir pasta, chicken, tomatoes and sauce all together in a large bowl.

This is where you may garnish with one nuts if you so desire ( I did not simply because I forgot to buy them) But I did add the grated Parm and plenty of pepper!

Holy Guacamole is this delicious! It took a few bites to really appreciate the flavor, and get over the greenness... but Yumm-o! It really was creamy like an Alfredo sauce but tasted fresher and the tomatoes gave it a nice pop of a different texture. The original recipe did not call for chicken, but we are a carnivorous household and why not add some protein? We both nibbled on some seconds and J requested that this recipe go down in my official recipe book to be made again! He also requested a red wine for next time :)

my little oil covered tomatoes

Simple enough- look at that ripe avocado

As I said- not appetizing yet

A little dark but trust me, SO YUMMY!

Home-Made Simple

In our kitchen it's the simple things in life that matter...like having a functional refrigerator! Oh how I am basking in the simplicity today! Our new fridge was finally delivered yesterday and I am working on stocking the shelves with all things that require a chill. Speaking of needing a chill...I had forgotten how useful a freezer is! There are so many things you can do with ice! J's specialty:  Iced coffee, iced tea, a tall glass of ice water with a wedge of lemon...oh and ice cream! One more great thing about a freezer, spending less money on groceries! I can finally take advantage of those buy one get one...or even more exciting, the buy one, get TWO free sales at Big Y. Today, I got two packs of chicken tenders and 3, yes THREE pork roasts for the price of one... Two are currently residing in my Freezer. I will post the recipe for tonight's dinner later on, but I have left over chicken pockets and left over chicken pocket mix for sandwiches! Oh left overs how I have missed you!

Our Latest Kitchen Addition
But in the past few weeks of not being able to thoroughly use my kitchen due to lack of a cold source, I have taken to browsing Pinterest as I noted in my DIY section. I started with a simple lamp painting project, which I completed today with a shade from Lowes, and found myself searching for creative ways to homey this place up with what we already have. I am beyond happy with my latest kitchen addition (and J loves it too).. A wine glass holder made out of an old rake head that had broken off before my time in the House of J.  I have to share! 

 John used 3 nails to secure the rake and used a hammer to slightly bend the teeth up to keep the glasses from slipping out. I used some of my garden twine to make a simple bow, found a blue wine bottle in the basement from last year's apple picking adventure and picked some black-eyed Susans from behind my garden to bring it all together. We are brainstorming sign ideas for above the masterpiece but have not decided on what it should say.

First Pickings

 

It took some time, and even more patience to see my garden take off this year. I lost my lettuce to the hot weather and some of my veggies decided to be persnickety and not grow as their companions did for no good reason. I saw a sign on Pinterest saying "Grow Damnit!" It will be in my garden as soon as I can find some paint and wood. Today, I finally got J to help me pound in the giant fence posts that he salvaged from an old garden fence in our back woods. From these rusty giants, I strung twine that I was able to tie more twine to for my beans to grow up and to lend support to my tomato heavy vines. While assisting my plants in standing on their own, I noticed my beans had sprung! I had beans reaching the ground, some probably 4 inches long! Yikes!!! I didn't plan beans for dinner, but I came in with a Tupperware of beans, one pepper and a shriveled tomato (poor thing). The first pickings from my garden was an exciting moment in this house and J kindly ate a bean prior to washing and reported them to be sweeter than he thought they would be. So now, I am trying to figure out a way to incorporate beans into our dinner of avocado chicken pasta....May be I will just wait for tomorrow and look at those lovely green beans on my kitchen   counter for one more day!

My herb garden is coming along

First Cucumber!!!!

Crab and Goat Cheese Ravioli

 

We had this amazing dish as one of the first courses for Easter dinner and J and I liked it so much, I dug out my Cuisine at Home and found the recipe to make it at home for just the two of us. The exact recipe is coming soon (as soon as I am back in the kitchen and not visiting CT for the night). But to peak your interest, here are the pictures I took of the process. Making these raviolis was time consuming, but worth it! I would recommend trimming the edges, which I didn't do and making them into circles with a cutter. I also overfilled ours and it was even better! This was served with a lemon cream sauce and left overs were delish

For filling

•  4 oz softened goat cheese
• 2 TBS chopped chives
• 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1 can minimum lump crab meat
• 32 wonton wrappers(I used more)
• 2 Tbs olive oil

For Sauce
2 cloves sliced garlic
1 TBS butter (unsalted)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 TBS lemon juice and fresh zest

• Combine goat cheese, chives, crab meat, salt and pepper in large bowl
• scoop 1 TBS of mixture into the center of one wanton wrapper
• brush edges of the top wrapper with water and place wet side down over mixture
• press edges to seal
• Cut to shape if desired
• Repeat until mixture is gone
• Heat pan over medium heat
• add oil and ravioli in  small batches
• Cook until brown on one side (about 2 min)
• Flip ravioli and add 1-2 Tbs water  to pan and cover to steam 1-2 min
• Remove to plate

       For Sauce:

• Saute garlic in butter for 1 minute
• Stir in cream, increase heat to high and boil until cream is reduced to 1/2 cup
• Stir in lemon juice 
• Season with salt and pepper
• Garnish ravioli with zest

Cheesy Hot Chicken Salad

With the New England heat wave rolling through last week, I was trying to find recipes that would be on the lighter side and yet filling for J who has been a bottomless pit the past few weeks. I also still need dishes that will not leave me with left over condiments as we STILL do not have a full sized fridge... I found myself looking through my cooking magazine binder and just did not want to take the time to make some of the yummy looking dishes, but hot chicken salad popped out at me as I had made it once before. I simplified the recipe, using Philadelphia cooking cream rather than buying both mayo and sour cream. I was able to fit the left overs into a medium Tupperware which fit in the fridge and allowed two days of left overs.

For 6(ish) portions:
4 boneless chicken breasts shredded ( I poach mine if I just buy it for this dish)
1 jar pimentos (chopped)
1 small can water chestnuts slivered
1/2 cup peas
1/4 cup slivered almonds ( you don't lose anything if you opt out of these)
1 1/2 cups Philadelphia cooking cream - I used the Italian favor but any would be delish
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
1 bag shredded cheddar
1 small can potato stix
salt and pepper to taste

• cook, let cool, and shred chicken breasts
• In a large bowl, combine water chestnuts, pimentos and almonds
• Add shredded chicken
• In a smaller bowl, combine and mix cooking cream and lemon juice
• Combine the cream mixture with the chicken mixture
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Coat large baking dish with non stick spray
• Spoon into dish
• Top with cheddar cheese
• Bake for 15-20 min at 375
• Sprinkle with potato stix and serve

adapted from Cuisine at Home

funky kitchen

We are still without a fridge, and as of last night, we are also without a kitchen faucet. These issues with the fact that the "mother in dating" officially despises me has not allowed for a pleasant week, and has certainly not encouraged my cooking. This week, specifically this weekend has sent me into an order delivery
 pizza/Chinese/subway funk. I am in a slump, where the idea of going to the grocery store and trying to find a recipe that will yield no leftovers and need no refrigerated ingredients has me instead steering myself toward the take out menu drawer and another 3 episodes of West Wing. This reminds me of a movie I once saw, with Sarah Michelle Gellar I think...Simply Irresistible?  Anyways, I feel that you put yourself into your cooking, and if that is true, anything coming from my kitchen this week is going to be worthy of the compost pile. Hopefully, this too shall pass and my kitchen will be revived soon.

Refrigeratorless

I hate to admit that we have been ordering take out or picking up Panera salads for dinner for the past week or so. Last night J even took me out to dinner at our favorite restaraunt. The reason for this is not because I am tired, or busy with grad school projects, but because the refrigerator decided last week to stop working. Given, it's been making horrible noises since I met J and I had suspicions that the temperature wasn't quite right a few times, when leftovers went bad before they should have. But now there is no doubt that it has made it's move to that big refirgerator warehouse in the sky, it has kicked the bucket, and no amount of J's fiddling will revive it.

This is not a good development for my much needed cooking therapy sessions! I need my nightly destressor to deal with my day to day happenings..a second grader who rolled her eyes at me at least 100 times yesterday, my mother's looming moving day, and that person that you know has something to say about you as soon as you are out of earshot...and infact, you are not always out of earshot. I have found out some very interesting things that I have done or said that must have been done while I was in a momentary coma because I don't remember half of them. I desperatly need this vital aspect of the kitchen back to house my much needed ingredients! But J says PBJ is fine and who needs cream for coffee, we just won't have coffee, or we can drive down the mountain to DD. So now is the time to find some recipes that don't call for eggs, milk, sauces of any kind or will yeild leftovers.

I was is a pickle last week whenI had signed up to bring my pretzel salad to the end of the year grad party at my professors house but had no way to set the jello or keep it cold until the next day... so pretzel salad was out. I needed something easy, with no cold ingredients, no need to set in the fridge and something I could take to work with me the next day and leave in the car for later on. Thinking...thinking...Tumbleweeds!

Tubleweeds are extremely easy to make and extremely easy to eat the entire batch in one sitting if you are not careful! They even passed J's taste test, so you know they can't be bad!

What you need:
3 cups butterscotch chips
3 TBS peanut butter
1 (12 oz) container of salted peanuts
1 (7oz) container potatoe stix
(Picture to come soon)

What to do:
In a medium pot, slowly heat and stir the buttercotch chips and peanutbutter until melted
Remove from heat
Add peanuts and potatoe stix- Stir to combine
Spoon by large Tablespoons onto waxed paper
Let set :)

You can throw these in the fridge to set if you have one available, but mine came out just fine when I left them to set on the counter!

Now that I have a frigeless dessert, I need to move onto the important meals of breakfast and dinner, we miss our scrambled eggs!