Moira's Little World

The road to El Dorado and the next karate kid

2008-10-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

What a week last week! I was home for two weeks after Ike, and then boom, off I went to El Dorado, Arkansas, to handle a fire and then as soon as I got home, I flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, to see my friend S get married.

This week I am home, thank goodness...Thursday P and I will have been married for nine years, Friday is Halloween (McKenna is dressing up as Buzz Lightyear) and Saturday we have McKenna's karate class.

Yes, you read that right, my daughter is starting KARA-TE! HIIIIIII YAAAAAA! This local place comes to her school and does classes. When they offered a freebie, of course I said yes, and they said that she had a lot of fun, so I figured why not? So every Thursday morning and Saturday morning she has class.

Things are good! It's cooling down here in big D and fall's a-coming. It's fantastic.

I haven't cooked much the last couple of weeks, but I am going to help a friend make her boyfriend a fancy dinner Friday night since she is babysitting for McKenna while P and I go out to dinner Thursday night. She is going to make meatloaf, skin-on mashed potatoes, green beans, garlic cheese rolls, and dark chocolate cream pie. All of which I have made before, so I am more than happy to help her out with making. But when she asked me for my best meatloaf recipe, this is the one that came to mind. It's really, really good...and not too spicy.

Milagro Meat Loaf

1 Tbsp butter
1/2 c minced onion
1/2 green or red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 1/4 lb lean ground beef
3/4 lb ground pork
1 1/2 c dry bread crumbs
1/4 c tomato-based barbecue sauce
3 Tbsp sour cream
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
milk as needed
additional bbq sauce for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a heavy skillet and add the onion, bell pepper and garlic. Saute until softened. Add the black pepper, cayenne, salt and cumin, and saute for an additional two minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients except milk to the bowl and mix with your hands. If it is too dry, add milk by the tablespoon until the consistency is right. Shape meat into a 9x5 loaf pan and bake uncovered for 40 minutes at 350 degrees and then turn up oven to 400 degrees and bake for 20-30 minutes. Brush meat with a little barbecue sauce during the last ten minutes of cooking.

Until next time...have a great last week of October!!!

I'm finally home...and remind me never to move near a body of water?

2008-10-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've now been home from my little adventure in Houston for two weeks. I've been just relaxing and recovering since then, catching up on home cooking and sleep and of course, bonding with my little one and my husband and my furry members of the family.

What I learned in H-town:

1) NEVER ever live in a house by a body of water without flood insurance.
2) After a while, piles of trees, carpet and furniture in the front yard of every house do start to appear normal. It's strange. It was the first thing I noticed as different (not the only thing) when I came home.
3) FEMA sucks.
4) If you didn't think traffic in the greater Houston metro area could get worse, take away the traffic lights and see what happens.
5) There are not enough flood adjusters to go around.
6) Contractors, hotels and owners of gas stations who price-gouge and think they are entitled to it just because there has been a hurricane should be shot.
7) Houston is better at recovering from a hurricane than New Orleans.
8) The only thing dirtier than a house that has had a fire is a house that has had a flood and THEN a fire.

Good times. But I have never felt more in my life like I was helping people than I did the month of September. This is what my job is all about.

Gustav and Ike

2008-09-13T19:00:00.001-07:00

I started my new job last week and on day 3, I was deployed to Hurricane Gustav to work two huge tree-on-houses claims. It's very unusual for a new adjuster to get two claims like that off the bat, but I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself. I stayed in New Orleans and drove to Baton Rouge for both claims.

And Monday, I am heading down to Hurricane Ike. I am not sure yet where I am going, but I think they are putting us all up in San Antonio and we'll be driving back and forth to the Houston area. Not really sure yet on that one but we'll see.

To all of my readers in the Gulf Coast areas of Texas and Louisiana, I will keep you in my prayers. I know that this is a hard time for you, especially those that suffered severe property damage to their homes and those that are without power. Just hang in there.

A little hurricane humor to share from my travels...I recently picked up a souvenir t-shirt on Bourbon Street. It reads:

FEMA EVACUATION PLAN
RUN MOTHERF***ERS RUN!

I don't know...I found it funny in a sick way because FEMA just disgusts me. One of my insureds actually approached the FEMA truck asking for a tarp to put on their house that had a tree on it and the driver said, "Oh, I'm sorry, these tarps are for the next parish over." My OTHER policyholder actually was told by FEMA that in order to even 'consider' their request to have the generator paid for that they bought so they could stay in their home (since there was no power and no hotels in the area with vacancies that were open), they would have to see the original receipt. Not a copy, not a fax, but the original. Since I agreed to pay for it anyway, the insured gave it to me when I was out there, and I had to turn around and overnight it to her the day after so she could give it to him. And then the jerk never even showed up the next morning to collect it.

WHATEVER. And they wonder why they are ridiculed. I get that they are overwhelmed and wading through layers of red tape, but do they have to act like jackasses in the process?

I'm home today doing laundry, packing and cooking. I made spaghetti and salads for P and I and I have brownies in the oven right now. I need a little normalcy before I hit the road Monday!

See y'all on the flip side. Be safe.

Has it really been over four months?

2008-09-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

Wow. I can't believe my last post was April 22.

So much has happened over the last four months...but the biggest thing to report is that effective yesterday, I am now a regular field adjuster again. No more supervision. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't hugely relieved. The last two years have been extremely stressful and I am looking forward to resuming life again as a field adjuster.

This time will be different though...I am joining our large loss department which handles losses in the lower 48 states that are at least $75,000 in size. I will be receiving a new claim every tenth day. In other words, I will be traveling a lot; however, it is 100% virtual and I will never have to go into an office. My boss lives in Little Rock. I am so excited and this is SO great!

And...we just got back from a week in Destin, Florida...Faye was kind to us and we got home just ahead of Gustav, and the weather was beautiful. I was stung twice by jellyfish and got sunburned on the second to last day, but otherwise the trip's weather was gorgeous every day.

And...Moira just brought a mouse in the house and dumped it in the middle of the kitchen. Very nice.

That's all for now!

Some things should just not be changed

2008-04-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

I love a good cheeseburger. Always have, probably always will. Fuddrucker's is one of my favorite places to get burgers...they have great flavor. Chili's also has great burgers.

I don't usually make them at home. However, I have certain cookbooks on my shelf that I like to try a new recipe out of from time to time and this is the first one out of this book...it is a low-carb book which probably should have been my first tip. Nothing against low-carb...it's just generally not my style of eating since it's usually higher in fat and heavy duty on the veggies.

Mini-Cheeseburger Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

2 lbs ground sirloin
1/2 c chopped yellow onion
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp grill seasoning **I used McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning
extra virgin olive oil
8 oz chipotle cheddar cheese or any flavored cheddar in a brick
3 Romaine lettuce hearts or a prepackaged bag of Romaine
1 c sliced dill pickles
1 c grape tomatoes
3 Tbsp yellow mustard
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped

Combine meat with the onion, Worcestershire and steak seasoning. Form 12 large meatballs and flatten them into small patties. Drizzle patties with a little oil. Slice cheese into 1/4" pieces. Grill burgers until desired doneness and place cheese slices on at the end of the cooking cycle so that cheese will melt. Chop lettuce and combine with pickles and tomatoes. Whisk together the mustard and vinegar. Stream in olive oil and whisk to combine. Add chives and peppers and stir. Place cheeseburgers on top of salad and top with dressing.

What I liked about this recipe: Extremely colorful. It was a gorgeous presentation.
What I disliked about this recipe: WAY too many flavors. It was just overwhelming.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I bought one of those living herb plants at Target for the chives and after I chopped off what I needed, I actually planted the herb in my boxes to see if it would survive and believe it or not, it DID!
Tastiness factor: P thought this was great and took the leftovers for lunch the next day. Me, I hated it and will never make it again. However, I think it's more my taste preferences than a bad recipe. I just didn't care for it. But it did have everything that a cheeseburger would have except for the bun, so lo-carbers craving a burger should love it. I did add ketchup to the salad to make it a little more palatable and to cut the acidity.

Let's go to Outback tonight

2008-04-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Little known fact: I actually worked at Outback for about three months when I first moved to Texas. Unfortunately, I started working at the one in Addison which didn't have as much traffic as the others and they wouldn't let me switch, so...I finally ended up quitting because I wasn't making much in tips with only 2-3 tables a night.

But one of the best things that I did get out of working there was the best way to make awesome baked potatoes. One of the cooks told me that the reason why baked potatoes are often rolled in salt is because it draws out the moisture from the potato and makes them very fluffy on the inside.

Outback-Style Bakers

Russett baking potatoes
salted butter, melted (use about one Tbsp for every potato you are making)
kosher salt

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Scrub the potatoes well to get all of the dirt off the skins. Prick potatoes several times with a fork. Use a pastry brush to brush butter all over potatoes until well-coated. Sprinkle kosher salt on all surfaces of the potato. If you want to eat the potato skins, do not roll the potato in salt as they will be too salty. Bake at 425 degrees for one hour. Serve with your choice of toppings. (My favorite toppings are butter, sour cream and shredded Cheddar.)

What I like best about these potatoes: They take almost no time to prepare and get in the oven and they are great if you are grilling out. Just put them in the oven before you get ready to start preheating the grill and if they are ready early, just turn the oven down to 250 degrees to keep them warm. You don't have to use foil if you don't want to, but it will save your cookie sheet if you do and make clean up a snap.
What I dislike about these potatoes: The fantastic taste can NOT be duplicated in the microwave, so these aren't a quick dish to make. But the length of time is completely worth the effort.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have a silicone pastry brush which is fantastic to make these.
Tastiness factor: Incredible and SO delicious. I have never served to them to anyone who didn't like them.

Herb-Marinated Steak

2 lb sirloin steak
1 tsp onion salt
1/2 c white vinegar
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
1 tsp fresh tarragon, minced
1 tsp fresh dill weed, minced
1 tsp fresh sage, minced

Rub both sides of the steak with onion salt and place in a shallow dish. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over steak. Cover and marinate at least one hour or overnight. Grill or broil steak until desired temperature is reached, brushing steak frequently with marinade.

What I liked about this recipe: Very easy to make the marinade. You can also use 1/4 tsp of dried herbs instead of the fresh.
What I disliked about this recipe: A little too much vinegar in my opinion.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have an 11x7 glass baking dish that was perfect for marinating the steak.
Tastiness factor: I can not believe I scalped my tarragon plant for this dish. Very, very tasteless. I got more flavor out of the charcoal than from the herbs. I don't know if it was because I opted to use fresh herbs or not. I did not enjoy this as I have other marinades, but it wasn't offensive. Just not as flavorful as I would have preferred. The steak was tender though, probably from the vinegar.

Garlic Ranch Chicken

1 c Ranch dressing
2 Tbsp garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh basil, minced
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Combine dressing, garlic and basil. Place chicken in a Ziploc. Add marinade and turn to coat. Squeeze out air, seal bag and refrigerate up to 24 hours until ready to grill. Grill chicken for 15 minutes on each side.

What I liked about this recipe: Pretty easy to make, really, and you can either use bottled Ranch dressing or make your own with buttermilk and mayo. I opted to make my own fresh and I think it made a big difference since I don't care for bottled Ranch dressing.
What I disliked about this recipe: It makes a wee mess on your grill, so make sure you have a brush or something to clean up with afterwards.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used my mezzaluna to mince the basil. First time harvesting basil!
Tastiness factor: Very, very good. Not sure what the creaminess of the marinade did for the chicken, but it sure made it tender and flavorful. Great dish...definitely one that I would make again. The recipe said that it recommends you serve Ranch on the side for dipping, but we didn't even need that.

Soup Nazi....er, maybe not

2008-04-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, sorry...that was a bad joke. But again, I'm trying to think of a clever title for this blog entry and all I keep thinking of is that Seinfeld episode!

A few weeks ago, I defrosted leftovers of this soup that I made back in December, so I thought I would share the recipe.

German-style Potato Soup

4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 c chopped onions
8 oz cooked smoked sausage, sliced
4 c beef broth
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
2 c packaged shredded cabbage (coleslaw mix)
snipped fresh parsley

Combine potatoes, celery, onions and sausage in a slow cooker. Whisk together broth, vinegar, sugar, celery seed, dry mustard and pepper in a separate bowl and pour over potato mixture. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-4 1/2 hours. Stir in cabbage mixture. Cover and cook for 15-30 minutes more. Top each serving with fresh parsley.

What I liked about this recipe: It was very spicy and the leftovers freeze well.
What I disliked about this recipe: The spiciness of the sausage leeches out into the broth, which is great for the soup, not so great for the sausage.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: At the time I made this, I didn't have my mezzaluna so I used my herb snipper instead. It was fine.
Tastiness factor: Very tasty and very satisfying.

Thyme for pasta!

2008-04-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

I made this dish a few weeks ago as a quick and easy meal on the cheap.

Beef and Macaroni

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
half of a green pepper, chopped
1 c cooked elbow macaroni
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
10 3/4 oz can cheddar cheese soup

Brown beef, onions and green pepper in skillet. Pour off drippings and place in a slow cooker. Add all other ingredients to slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 2-2 1/2 hours, stirring twice.
What I liked about this recipe: Seriously easy. It would be very hard to screw this up.
What I disliked about this recipe: The cheddar cheese soup? EW. I wish there had been a listed substitute. I'm not really sure if I could come up with a good substitute...I have read in casserole books that when recipes call for processed soups, use them, because the results just aren't the same.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My little red four-quart slow cooker was the perfect size for this.
Tastiness factor: WAAAAAAY too strong of an herb taste. I felt like all I tasted was thyme and P said all he could taste was onions. And I even cut the onions to about a 1/2 cup. It is possible that next time could be better if I used fresh herbs, but I doubt there will be a next time. There are just too many other slow cooker recipes out there.

Orange Frosting

2008-04-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

I made a cake for Easter Sunday/P's birthday...his only request was that it be a white cake. I wanted to make something colorful and pastelly for Easter, and I had some leftover oranges in the fridge, so....I decided to make this frosting to go with it.

It was perfection on a plate. I threw some pastel cake decorations all over it and it was just so beautiful! Very pretty and perfect for spring.

Remember this cake? Just no coconut this time...and substitute this frosting.

Orange Sugar Frosting

1/2 c butter, softened
3 2/3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp orange extract
2 tsp grated orange zest
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp half and half

Beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add sugar, extract, zest and salt and beat for one minute. Add the half and half and beat well at high speed, stopping to scrape down the bowl often, until the frosting is smooth and creamy and ready to spread.

What I liked about this recipe: No cooking needed!!!
What I disliked about this recipe: Nothing. It was light, fluffy and perfect!
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My Microplane to zest the orange.
Tastiness factor: The orange flavor was light and citrusy and not overwhelming at all. It was the perfect compliment for the white cake.

Homestyle Chicken and Dumplings

2008-04-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

This isn't as good as the chicken and dumplings that my grandma makes, despite what the recipe claimed, but it's pretty good for being this easy and not requiring an entire chicken OR a pastry blender. Definitely worth a try!

Homestyle Chicken and Dumplings

1 lb chicken breasts, boneless/skinless
2 10.75 oz cans of cream of chicken soup
29 oz chicken broth or chicken stock
1/2 onion, chopped (I used a half cup of chopped)
2 16 oz tubes of refrigerated biscuits, quartered

Combine onions and soups in crock pot. Add chicken breasts. Cook on high for five hours. At five hours, shred the chicken with a fork and add biscuit pieces. Stir to coat biscuit pieces and cook on high one additional hour.

What I liked about this recipe: FIVE ingredients. Doesn't get much easier than that. And it reheats well.
What I disliked about this recipe: The biscuits are seriously fatty. One refrigerated biscuit is 170 calories and 8 g of fat. Not really crazy about that, but they were tasty, so it was worth it!
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Love the Crock Pot.
Tastiness factor: Very, VERY rich with a lot of homemade flavor and yumminess. It was great. I would definitely recommend this if you are a fan of chicken noodle soup as it had a lot of chicken soup flavor to it from the soup and broth.

Sauteed Carrots

2 lbs carrots
1/3 c water
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped dill or fresh chopped parsley
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Peel and chop carrots on the diagonal into 1/4" pieces. Place in 12" skillet with water, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover skillet and lower heat to medium low. Simmer for eight minutes or until carrots are cooked through. Add butter and simmer for an additional minute until water is evaporated and there is nothing but butter left. Stir to coat carrots. Remove from heat and toss with dill. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

What I liked about this recipe: Again, another excuse to harvest more of my dill.
What I disliked about this recipe: A little on the bland side....but the recipe states that it is a simple recipe.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My mortar and pestle to grind the pepper. Ever since I read that pepper is more flavorful if it is ground fresh rather than spooned out of the container because the peppercorns retain moisture, I have been giving the mortar and pestle a workout.
Tastiness factor: Very simple and elegant. The dill really adds a nice taste to it. I don't think parsley would be as tasty.

Grilling rocks!

2008-04-09T13:53:00.000-07:00

OMG, I'm in love with our new charcoal grill. Who knew that $20 at Walley World could bring you so much happiness? It takes a little more time to heat than a gas grill, but the taste and the smell are so worth it.

We have grilled twice in the last week, and both times has been SOOOOOO good. Plus that smell! Oh, that SMELL! It's loverly! Smells like spring and summer! Cookouts rule.

Plus I got to harvest my fresh dill which was FUN.

Tequila Lime Chicken

1/2 c tequila **I used Cuervo Gold
1 c fresh-squeezed lime juice (about six large limes)
1/2 fresh-squeezed orange juice (about two large oranges)
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 whole boneless skin-on chicken breasts or six split
1 Tbsp minced cilantro, optional

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Arrange chicken in a 13x9 baking dish and pour marinade over chicken. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Grill until chicken is done and skin is crispy.

What I liked about this dish: Most of the work is done the night before, which leaves you free to make your sides while the chicken is grilling.
What I disliked about this dish: I can't get skin-on boneless chicken breasts here in big D. It's either skinless boneless or skin-on bone-in breasts. So I bought the latter and deboned them (actually P did). It wasn't that hard, and I'm sure that this chicken would be just as good with skinless breasts, but oh, was it TASTY with the skin on!
Cool kitchen gadgets: I have a small citrus juicer that I use for occasions such as this where I have a dish that calls for fresh juice. It was perfect for this dish. I also used my mortar and pestle to grind fresh pepper.
Tastiness factor: This is seriously the best grilled chicken dish I have ever had. Period. This recipe will be made a LOT in my house going forward. And yes, even though it made six breasts, it refrigerates and reheats perfectly. I have had grilled chicken Caesar salad twice with leftovers now and it is just so delicious. I meant to add the cilantro to the marinade (more harvesting!) but I forgot to do it so next time I will add it and see what new taste that adds.

Marinated Dill Steaks

1 to 1/2 lbs of steaks **I used two 8 oz tenderloins
1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c red wine **I used an Australian shiraz
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
a half bunch of green onions, chopped
one clove of garlic, crushed and minced
1 Tbsp fresh dill, minced, or 1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp celery seed
juice of one lime

Combine all ingredients except steak in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Place steaks in a large Ziploc bag and add marinade. Refrigerate overnight, turning bag when you pass the fridge in the morning. Set steaks out for about forty-five minutes before grilling to allow them to warm to room temperature. Grill on each side about six minutes or to desired doneness.

What I liked about this recipe: Most of the work is done the night before and almost everything is stuff that most people have in their pantries.
What I disliked about this recipe: Nothing. IT WAS AWESOME!
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Besides the grill, I used my herb snippers to harvest my dill...first time cutting my dill. Granted, my dill looks a little bare now, but all my gardening books say the way to get more herbs to grow is to harvest and prune regularly, so we'll see. Even if this is the only dish that I can use dill with, it was worth it...fresh herbs really do make a difference, I'm noticing!
Tastiness factor: Delicious. Definitely a keeper. If you are looking for a tasty marinade, give this a try. Just make sure that you taste the steak before salting it because the soy and Worcestershire do make it very salty...you probably won't need any additional seasonings.

Nutty Sweet Potatoes

two sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/3 c sour cream
1 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp chopped pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
brown sugar to taste

Cover sweet potatoes in a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Mash and blend in sour cream, butter, cinnamon and milk. Fold in pecans. Serve hot with brown sugar to sprinkle on top.

What I liked about this recipe: It is a recipe just for two people, which means very little leftovers, but I still have enough for at least two more servings.
What I disliked about this recipe: It tasted like it was missing something. I can't explain it. It might have been that sugar wasn't added to it while it was stirring, but it was a little on the bland side. The pot also boiled over slightly and was a mess to clean up on my stove.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My mixer is fab for mashing potatoes.
Tastiness factor: I would probably make this again as it was a little on the lighter side with less butter than most sweet potato casseroles, but considering how many other recipes I have for yams, I will probably wait a while. Not bad though...

Sauteed Peppery Zucchini and Mushrooms

8 oz package of sliced white mushrooms
1 zucchini, diced and unpeeled
kosher salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. When oil is hot, add mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes until mushrooms are browned. Add zucchini, garlic and red pepper flakes and stir. Season liberally with kosher salt. Stir-fry for about five to ten minutes or until zucchini is very tender. Serve hot.

What I liked about this recipe: It is a great take on sauteed mushrooms and much much healthier to serve with steaks since it uses olive oil instead of butter. It is also the perfect size for two people and doesn't require constant stirring, so it's a good one to throw together at the last minute while your other dishes are finishing up. I made this and the nutty sweet potatoes at the same time and it went smoothly.
What I disliked about this recipe: It makes the pan very very dirty, so make sure you soak it before trying to scrub it clean.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I always use my large chef's knife to crush garlic before I peel and mince it. Crushing garlic releases more flavor and makes the cloves much easier to peel.
Tastiness factor: I really, really like this dish. It is from one of my books by a certain Food Network chef whom I am not too fond of (think EVOO and yummo) and while most of her recipes to me are WAAAAAAAY too difficult, this is an easy one. I probably use more salt than most people do since I love salty dishes.

Shrimp Monterey

2008-04-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

If you are in the mood for shrimp scampi...try this. It's pretty darn good and SO easy, it's ridiculous. I made it for my sister while she was here and she and I and P killed the whole dish.

Shrimp Monterey

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp salted butter
2 lbs medium shrimp, peeled/deveined/cleaned
1/2 c white wine
2 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced

In a skillet over medium heat, saute garlic in butter for one minute. Add shrimp and cook for 4-5 minutes until shrimp is pink. Use a slotted spoon and transfer shrimp to a greased 11x7 glass baking dish. Cover with foil to keep shrimp warm. Add wine to the skillet and bring wine to a boil. Cook and stir for five minutes. Pour wine sauce over shrimp and top with cheese and parsley. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for ten minutes or until cheese is melted.

What I liked about this dish: It was quick, full of garlic flavor, and fancy enough to serve for company.
What I disliked about this dish: A little heavy on the cheese. Next time I make it, I will probably go with one cup of cheese instead of two.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My food processor to the rescue again with the Monterey Jack. Why do they not sell M Jack preshredded?
Tastiness factor: Excellent. Purely excellent. I will definitely make this again. And frozen shrimp worked just fine with it...fresh good shrimp is not easy to come by in big D.

Good morning, Vietnam!

2008-04-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry...that was just the cheesiest title I could think of that had Vietnam in it. It was either that or pho bistro....which is coincidentally the name of a Vietnamese restaurant down the street from me. I'm not even going to go in there until I have eaten a few more Vietnamese dishes.

So...here's another Asian dish. After I made this, P read in my book that Vietnamese food, traditionally, gets its roots from French cuisine, which would explain why it wasn't as drenched in thick sugary sauces as the Asian food that I'm used to getting at restaurants. This was a very colorful, yummy dish, even if it didn't look exactly like the photograph in the book.

And did you know that fish sauce is the main ingredient in almost all Vietnamese food? Apparently it's a HUGE export of Vietnam.

Chicken with Pineapple and Cashews

2 Tbsp shredded coconut
1/2 c raw cashews
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 c chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp chopped red chili pepper
11 1/4 oz chicken thigh fillets, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 c chopped fresh pineapple
2 spring onions, chopped

Place coconut on a cookie sheet and toast at 300 degrees for ten minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. When coconut is golden brown, remove and put in a small bowl to cool. Turn oven up to 350, scatter cashews on cookie sheet, and roast for 15 minutes until cashews are golden brown. Heat oil in a large wok and add onion, garlic and chili. Stir-fry over medium heat for two minutes and then remove mixture from pan and set aside. Turn heat up to high and add chicken and peppers. Stir fry until chicken is light brown. Return onion mixture to the wok and add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar and pineapple and stir fry for two minutes. Add cashews and toss mixture. Transfer chicken mixture to a serving bowl and top with coconut and spring onions.

What I liked about this dish: It didn't cook as lightning fast as the other Asian dishes that I have made, but I am still very glad that I prepped ahead of time. And I didn't have to buy any weird ingredients since I had fish and oyster sauce on hand already. Those are two sauces that a lot of Asian dishes call for, so if you are going to be cooking Asian dishes, I would recommend picking them up as they seem to be as common as soy sauces.
What I disliked about this dish: I would have preferred more of a sauce to the meat, but I think I may have figured out what happened...I bought a pound of thigh fillets, intending to weigh out what I needed and then forgot, so it's possible that there was just too much chicken to go around. And I didn't think it tasted quite as good reheated, even though P thought it was great. I don't know...it just tasted not as fresh. But it was still tasty.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Tonight was the debut of the Calphalon wok and so far, P and I are NOT impressed. It just didn't seem to conduct heat as well as the other one that we returned. We are going to reserve judgement until we use it again, but so far, not impressed at ALL.
Tastiness factor: Very, VERY good. The toasted coconut totally makes this dish. We forgot about it until we had both served ourselves and taken the first bite, and after we topped it with the golden coconut, it was just yummy yummy. And the pineapple was nice and fresh and juicy and sweet...great combination with the oyster and fish sauce.

The ultimate in comfort food

2008-04-05T14:16:00.000-07:00

I really like meatloaf. Paired with potatoes, it is just very comforting. I have tried many meatloaf recipes over the years, one from a friend in California, a spicy Texas-style one with jalapenos, and a few others, one particularly nasty turkey meatloaf dish when I was dieting hard, and this one...well, this is pretty darn good. And the leftovers are awesome. They really reheat well and I only had to freeze one portion of the meatloaf.

Saucy Meatloaf

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/2 c quick cooking oats, uncooked
1/2 c chopped onion
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 c tomato juice
1 egg

Sauce:

6 oz can tomato sauce
3 Tbsp white vinegar
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp dark brown sugar, packed
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Whisk all sauce ingredients together until smooth and sugar dissolved.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pat into an ungreased 9x5 loaf pan and pour sauce on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours and let stand for five minutes before slicing. Serves eight.

What I liked about this recipe: It was SO quick to mix up and put together.
What I disliked about this recipe: It calls for 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef. Ground beef, at least where I buy it, only comes in 1 lb packages. So now, I have a half lb of ground beef in the freezer in a Ziploc bag waiting for the next time I make this dish.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I realized when I made this that I do not have a glass loaf pan, so I used my silicone loaf pan and it worked just fine! The only change I had to make was that I had to remove the meatloaf from the pan and place it on a platter before serving whereas with the glass loaf pan, you can just serve it right from there. Not a big deal though...I've been eyeing the Le Crueset loaf pans.
Tastiness factor: This is very good and there are no flavors that overwhelmingly stick out. It's just a nice, good, basic tasty meatloaf.

Rosemary Potatoes

6 red potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together and spoon into a greased 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Serves 4-6.

What I liked about this dish: It was very easy to throw together and I was able to bake it at the same time as the meatloaf at the same temperature so that they were both ready at the same time. Can't get better than that.
What I disliked about this dish: It was not as flavorful and aromatic as I had hoped for. And I'm not sure why. My rosemary is not the freshest ever, but it still smells good. The olive oil almost overpowered this dish. I think if I make this again, I will try 6 tsp of fresh rosemary instead and see if that helps this dish.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used my mortar and pestle to crush the rosemary. A molcajete would have been more fun for sure.
Tastiness factor: Not bad, but not my favorite potato dish. Using Yukon golds or Russets may have improved the flavor. It reheated well though.

And then we have a slow-cooker chicken recipe...always a good choice.

French Country Chicken

1 c chopped onion
6 carrots, chopped and sliced
6 stalks celery, chopped and sliced
6 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried thyme
pepper to taste
10 3/4 oz cream of chicken soup
package of dry onion soup mix
1/3 c dry white wine
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Combine onions, carrots and celery in the bottom of a slow cooker and arrange chicken on top. Sprinkle with spices. Whisk together soup and soup mix and spoon over chicken. Cover and cook on high setting for four hours, stirring after one hour. At the end of four hours, whisk together wine and cornstarch and pour over chicken. Stir well and cook uncovered on high for an additional ten minutes until sauce is thickened.

What I liked about this dish: It was easy and didn't require any braising or precooking ahead of time.
What I disliked about this dish: Not much. It was easy.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Love my slow cooker.
Tastiness factor: This was good. Not dry at all, very moist, very flavorful and delicious with mashed potatoes. And it reheated well for leftovers. Very, very good dish.

Swiss Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken halves
8 slices Swiss cheese
one 10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup
1/4 c white wine
1 c chicken-flavored stuffing mix
1/4 c melted butter

Arrange chicken in a greased 13x9 baking dish and top with cheese slices. Combine soup, wine and stuffing mix and spread over chicken. Drizzle with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes.

What I liked about this recipe: ZERO prep time!
What I disliked about this recipe: A little long in the oven, but well worth the time.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have a Pyrex glass measuring cup that was perfect for the butter.
Tastiness factor: OMG. SO delicious. If you are looking for something new to do with chicken, try this and I promise, you won't be sorry. It is incredible.

Brownies of karma

2008-04-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

It just so happens that I decided that I wanted something sweet the other night, and it just so happens that I was wondering how I would use up the rest of my sour cream leftover from brunch that morning. I opened up my brownie cookbook RIGHT to this recipe, and as luck would have it, I had everything on hand to make these. They were perfect. Simply perfect. At least, for the first day.

Sour Cream Brownies

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
10 Tbsp (1 stick + 2 Tbsp) unsalted butter
6 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 3/4 c sugar
1/2 c sour cream
3 eggs at room temperature
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c chopped pecans

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl until combined. Combine the chocolates and the butter in the top of a double boiler and melt. When butter is almost melted, remove the top pan and continue stirring chocolates and butter until mixture is smooth. Transfer chocolate to a mixing bowl and let cool for ten minutes. Add sugar to the chocolate and beat until mixture is smooth and silky, about two minutes with a mixer on medium speed. Add sour cream and beat an additional two minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat mixture after each addition. Add vanilla and beat for one additional minute. Fold in flour mixture and pecans and stir by hand until smooth. Spread mixture into a greased and floured 13x9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing brownies.

What I liked about this recipe: That I had EVERYTHING on hand! What are the odds that I would have bittersweet chocolate chips? And I used up all of my sour cream and my unsweetened chocolate, which is good...I don't like ingredients to sit around forever.
What I disliked about this recipe: It took four bowls to prepare the ingredients (one for sugar, one for the flour mixture, one for the vanilla, and one for the chocolate, plus the double boiler. Lots of dirty dishes to wash. Also, there was a note on the recipe that said that these brownies will keep for four days. I didn't believe it until the fifth day. It didn't taste horrible, but just not great. And they were really crumbly after the second day and not very good without ice cream.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my double boiler.
Tastiness factor: These were good. Very silky and chocolatey. And not too sweet either. Definitely worth the effort. Just not great for keeping for a long time.

I (heart) my pressure cooker

2008-04-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

Finally, at last, I got the pressure cooker to work with help from P. Don't get me wrong, we were nervous that the thing might explode, but thanks to a little guts and a lot of reading of the instruction manual, the house stayed intact.

However, with this first recipe, we decided to just try it as a boiling water canner. Nope. That pot is way too big to boil water in and I don't get enough heat from the radiant range.

Both of these recipes were chosen as the result of seeing that Sprouts (a local farmers' market) had Bartlett pears and strawberries on sale.

Strawberry-Pineapple Jam

3 cups hulled and crushed ripe strawberries (about 1 1/2 quarts whole berries)
1 c drained and crushed pineapple (you will need two 8 oz cans)
6 1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp unsalted butter
3 oz pouch liquid pectin

In a stockpot, combine fruits, sugar and butter. Over medium-low heat, heat the mixture until sugar is completely dissolved. Increase heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add pectin. Return mixture to a full boil. Boil for one minute and remove pot from heat. Allow jam to cool for five minutes and stir every minute to redistribute the fruit. Ladle the hot jam into hot jars and leave 1/4" headspace. Wipe jar rims with clean cloth, cover with hot lids and apply screwcaps. Process half-pints in rolling water bath for ten minutes and pint jars for fifteen minutes. Yields 8 half-pint jars.

What I liked about this recipe: It was easy and strawberries were on sale that day, 2/$4.
What I disliked about this recipe: It did not set as firmly as I would have liked. After 24 hours, I actually labeled the jars "strawberry-pineapple ice cream topping" because I was certain that it had not set correctly. I did eat it over ice cream and it was great. A few days later, I decided to look at it again for jam since I had used all of my old strawberry jam up that I had made in December and tried it on bread. Surprisingly, it was fine and not overly liquidy. I don't know if it's one of those things that just sets a little harder once it's in the fridge or what, but warm, in the jars on the shelf, it's the consistency of ice cream topping.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: None on this other than my lid wand and my funnel that were part of my canning kit. The pressure cooker does NOT work as a water bath canner very well. So I used the inverted method to seal the jars.
Tastiness factor: Oh, it's SO delicious. It has a very very sweet strawberry taste and there's something else in there that just really gives it a beautiful bright red color and a wonderfully tropical taste. Oh, RIGHT, the pineapple! (Dad, I can't wait for you to try it!)

Bartlett Pear Marmalade

3 1/2 cups peeled, cored and finely chopped ripe Bartlett pears (about 3 1/2 lbs)
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
2 medium Valencia oranges (I used navel oranges)
1/4 c water
1/2 c water
8 oz can of crushed pineapple in juice, lightly drained
1/2 tsp unsalted butter
6 c sugar
3 oz pouch liquid pectin

Combine chopped pears and lemon juice and stir gently until pears are completely coated with lemon juice. Set aside. Using a zester, remove only the outer colored peel of the oranges. (Alternative is to cut off the peel with a paring knife and then slice into thin strips.) Peel the fruit and remove the white pitch. Separate the orange segments and remove all membrane and seeds. Chop the fruit and set aside. Combine the orange peel and 1/4 c water in a small bowl and let soak for ten minutes. Drain the peel and discard the water. In a stockpot, combine the peel, chopped oranges and 1/2 c water. Overe medium heat, bring mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add pears, pineapple and butter to the mixture and simmer, uncovered, for five minutes. Stir frequently to prevent mixture from sticking to the pot. Gradually add the sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Turn heat up to medium-high and bring mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add pectin. Return mixture to a full boil and stir constantly. Boil for one minute. Remove pan and let jam sit for five minutes. Stir the marmalade every minute to redistribute the fruit. Ladle hot jam into hot jars and leave 1/4" headspace. Wipe jar rims with a clean cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screwtops. Process half-pint jars in water bath canner for ten minutes, pint jars for fifteen minutes, or in a pressure canner (YES!) for ten minutes at 6 lbs. of pressure. Yields 8 half-pint jars.

What I liked about this recipe: It is VERY unusual! Who would ever pair oranges and pears together? And the pears were 99 cents a pound.
What I disliked about this recipe: It took a REALLY long time to prep and a REALLY long time to cook.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: The zester that I don't own. He he he. Okay, seriously, the pressure canner was The Coolest. Thing. Ever. So easy and it did not explode. We followed the directions to a T and it was SO neat hearing the lids ping as they sealed. Very cool. But I do need a zester very badly after this if I'm going to attempt marmalade again. Doing it the way I did it with the paring knife not only was irritating, but time-consuming and a little dangerous for the little fingers.
Tastiness factor: I had only heated eight jars and had so much left over, I was able to fill one of my plastic Ball refrigerator jars completely and that's what I'm working on eating right now. Same as the jam above...it's very liquidy but seems to gel even more once it's in the fridge. I haven't opened any of the sealed jars yet. I did give a jar to my friend J at her son's first birthday party last weekend and she really liked it a lot and said it was yummy. It is very tasty...it is very much like orange marmalade but not as orangey citrusy...you can distinctly taste the pears and the pineapple. It is very delicious. (Dad, you're going to love that one too.)

Now, my jamming adventures are at a halt for a bit. I have so much jam in the cupboard and while I'm working on giving it to friends and family, I really just can't make any more until I use up more of what I have.

I (heart) jam.

Next up, pickles.

Rice to Riches

2008-04-01T02:14:00.000-07:00

If you have not heard about this place, PLEASE check it out...it's a company called Rice to Riches located in NYC. I was utterly amazed when P told me about this place that he heard about from a girl at work who used to live in New York City.

Question from me: "And all there is in this little container is rice? And milk? No alcohol or anything?"

I have the old plastic container that the girl was going to get rid of (she gave it to us) and when P told me that she spent like $50 on this container (that included shipping), I just was flabbergasted to say the least.

However, it DID put me in the mood for old-fashioned rice pudding. First time I've made it. Pretty easy recipe too...it was one of four that I found in my cookbook collection.

Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding

2 1/2 c milk
1/2 c long-cooking rice, uncooked
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 t cinnamon or nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Cover and cook over boiling water, stirring frequently, until rice is tender and milk is almost absorbed, for about one hour.

What I liked about this recipe: Um, that it didn't cost me $50? For the cost of about a buck, I get really really yummy rice pudding...just not the cool container.
What I disliked about this recipe: Not exactly the kind of recipe that you just let go. It's more of a thing to make while you are cleaning up the kitchen after a huge dinner, which is exactly what I did while I was making it.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my double boiler.
Tastiness factor: Not as sweet as I would have liked, but it is good this way because everyone that is eating it can sweeten it to their specs. When I served this, I put out bowls of raisins, sugar, brown sugar (suggestion from my sister) and cinnamon sugar, and it was a huge hit.

TEQUILA!

2008-03-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Remember my post from the beginning of the month on cooking with alcohol? Now I can add tequila to my list. I made this slow-cooker recipe for my sister and for P when she was here visiting...put it in after lunch, went shopping, and voila, it was ready when we were hungry. It was GREAT paired with Spanish rice.

Tequila Chicken

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp honey
3/4 c margarita mix **I used the Jose Cuervo pre-made kind
1/4 c tequila **I used the orange-flavored Jose Cuervo
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground cumin
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp water
lime wedges

Combine olive oil, honey, margarita mix, tequila, basil, cayenne and cumin in a small bowl and whisk until blended. Fork holes in the chicken and place in the slow cooker. Top with the olive oil mixture. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken breasts and keep warm in a 200 degree oven. In a separate bowl, combine flour and water until well-blended. Stir mixture into the liquid in the slow cooker and cook uncovered for ten minutes, until the liquid thickens. Add more flour if thicker sauce is desired. Remove chicken from oven and place on platter; cover with sauce. Serve over rice with lime wedges on top.

What I liked about this recipe: Lots and lots of intense strong herb flavors.
What I disliked about this recipe: It called for dried basil instead of fresh, but I'm sure I could have substituted fresh (3 Tbsp worth) if my garden had been up and running at that time. It just so happens that V and I went to buy all my herbs while this was cooking!
Cool kitchen gadgets used: The slow cooker...I LOVE IT.
Tastiness factor: While V and P loved this, it was not my favorite. I just thought it had kind of a earthy taste (but not from the herbs...I can't explain it) and the tequila flavor added to it was not my cup of tea. However, it was highly complimented and it is possible that had I thickened the sauce, it would have been more to my taste. I guess I just wouldn't classify it as a Southwestern dish. But it was an interesting taste, that's for sure.

Ways to use up buttermilk

2008-03-30T23:58:00.000-07:00

I have several recipes that I make that call for buttermilk. Yes, I realize that you can make sour milk at home, but I really prefer to use buttermilk when I can and if I am going to the store anyway. And I'm finding that there are lots of recipes that I can make that call for it:

-cakes
-buttermilk bread which is very soft and tender
-banana bread

and...probably the most obvious...buttermilk pancakes! I've had them in restaurants but never made them at home before. I think I'm in love.

Buttermilk Pancakes

1 c all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1 c buttermilk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Combine egg, milk and oil in a small bowl and whisk. Add milk mixture to dry mixture all at once and whisk until blended. Mixture will be slightly lumpy. Cook in 1/4 cupfuls on a heated griddle until edges are bubbly and flip. Serve warm.

What I liked about this recipe: The pancakes had a fantastic flavor and it made exactly the perfect amount for P and I for breakfast. We even made McK a baby pancakes that she played with and eventually gave to the dogs. We're working on grownup food.
What I disliked about this recipe: Hmm...that they didn't cook themselves? He he he.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I think I mentioned before that I recently purchased a double-burner griddle pan from Calphalon. I have been looking at them a lot over the last few weeks and finally found one on sale at a kitchen store for $49.99. Deal.
Tastiness factor: Very, very good. Loved them.

I also tried a new brunch recipe this weekend...

Three-Cheese Western Omelet

3/4 c mild salsa
1 c artichoke hearts, chopped
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 c shredded Cheddar cheese
6 eggs
1 c sour cream

Spread salsa in the bottom of a 10" glass pie plate. Sprinkle artichokes over salsa. Combine cheeses and mix with fork until combined. Top artichokes with cheeses. Blend eggs and sour cream together until smooth and pour over cheeses. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until set. Cut into wedges to serve. Serves six.

What I liked about this recipe: It has a great taste...the artichokes give it a very unique flavor. And it was easy to assemble which is good for lazy Sunday mornings. The thirty minutes that it took to bake, I spent making bacon, toasting bread, making coffee and setting the table.
What I disliked about this recipe: I used a 2.5 quart stoneware casserole dish instead of the pie plate since I didn't have one and it did not work very well. I baked the dish for 45 minutes and it eventually set in the middle, sort of, but was still very liquidy. I am hoping that it will reheat better. I also used salsa verde (tomatillo-based salsa) instead of regular tomato salsa, and it tasted a little funny. And...while I was making it, McKenna decided to DOUSE THE LIVING ROOM WITH CORNSTARCH, so I will always have that as a memory with this dish. By the time I settled down and finished cleaning up the blizzardly mess, the omelet was a tad cool.
Edited on 4/7/08 to add: This omelet heats up WONDERFULLY. I actually liked it better as leftovers than I did the first time! It has been great over the last week reheated on high for 45 seconds.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used my food processor to shred Monterey Jack since you can't buy it preshredded for some odd reason and also to chop the artichokes. I am feeling the need for a new food processor big time.
Tastiness factor: Very good...but I think it would have come out much better had I used regular salsa and a glass pie plate.

The art of cooking Asian

2008-03-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to try Thai and Indian food. REALLY good Thai and Indian food. I've always been a fan of Chinese food and Japanese food, but I've never really tried anything other than Kung Pao chicken or Mongolian beef at PF Chang's and my extensive Japanese selections are limited to certain very cooked sushi rolls and hibachi food at Benihana's or Jinbeh.

One time, my friend S took me to an Indian buffet food place in Charlotte, but being squeamish about buffets and germs, I didn't really enjoy it that much and have always wanted to try it for a second time since then.

However, I never have, and I have come to the conclusion that I am afraid because I don't know what I am getting when I order a dish.

The BEST way for me to overcome food fears is to make it myself. That way, I know what's going in it and can control it a bit more.

So...here are the first attempts at cooking Thai, Japanese and Indian. In order to prepare for this new cooking adventure, I purchased a new wok, a bamboo chopstick set and a lot of really weird ingredients. Not to mention a ton of cookbooks on Amazon. There are some great books out there for this cooking persuasion, and I am SO fortunate to live in a 'burb of Dallas that is a melting pot for different ethnicities...it makes it much easier to find the unusual ingredients. I have a Asian market, a michoacana and an Indian grocery store within a short radius of my house.

Thai Beef with Rice Noodles

3/4 lb sirloin, trimmed, rinsed and patted dry, and sliced into 2" long, 1/2" wide strips
1/2 lb dried rice noodles
1/4 c soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
5 Tbsp vegetable oil (divided)
2 Tbsp minced garlic
bag of baby spinach leaves
2 eggs, beaten
crushed dried red pepper flakes and pepper mill
rice vinegar

Cover noodles with warm water for five minutes and drain. Combine soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar and fresh ground pepper to taste in small bowl and set aside. Heat a wok or heavy skillet over high heat and add 2 Tbsp of the oil. When oil is hot but not smoking, add the garlic. Stir for five seconds and add the spinach, stir-frying for approximately two minutes and set aside. Add 2 more Tbsp of oil to the wok, add the beef and stirfry ntil browned on all sides, approximately two minutes. Set beef aside. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in wok and add the noodles. Toss the noodles until warmed through and set aside. Place eggs in wok and cook without stirring until eggs are set, about 30 seconds. Break up eggs with a spoon and stir in noodles, beef, greens and red pepper flakes. Add the soy mixture to the woke and toss mixture to coat, heating through. Sprinkle dish with rice vinegar and serve.

What I liked about this recipe: It was fun to make in the wok and the ingredients were basic.
What I disliked about this recipe: The eggs cooked a little too fast and were kind of brown.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I really like the wok, but I ended up returning it because the finish started flaking off as the wok cooled. The replacement wok is a Calphalon wok that hasn't even been used yet.
Tastiness factor: Very, very good...nice flavor and not too salty.

Erica's Tips: Do not even think about attempting this dish unless you have prepped every single item down to the last detail. I would even make sure and put the rice vinegar out. It cooks THAT fast. And because the cooking times are so precise, this works better as a duet if you have a sous chef...one to stir fry and one to read the directions! The way we did it, P manned the wok and I was in charge of setting the timer for the cooking times, reading the book and throwing in the ingredients and getting the "set aside" bowls prepared. It worked well, and after we prepped, we were eating in like 15 minutes.

Steak in Roasted Sesame Seed Marinade

1 lb tenderloin, divided into four 4 oz steaks
2 Tbsp white Japanese sesame seeds
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 1/2" piece of raw ginger, peeled and grated
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sake
1 tsp caster sugar
1 Tbsp oil
3 scallions chopped for garnish

Sauce:

1 1/2" fresh ginger
1/2 tsp shichimi togarashi
1/2 c soy sauce
2 tsp dashi granules
2 Tbsp water

Roast the sesame sseds in a dry skillet over low heat for two minutes, stirring constantly, until seeds are well-toasted and start to pop. Crush seeds in a mortar and pestle. Place in a bowl with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sake and sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved completely. Place the steaks in a shallow dish and spoon marinade over the steaks. Let marinate on counter for 30 minutes. Lightly brush steaks with oil and grill them for 4-6 minutes on each side. Let steaks rest for five minutes before cutting them on the diagonal to serve. Serve with some dipping sauce drizzled over the top and the remainder on the side. Garnish with onions and serve with steamed rice.

To make dipping sauce, cut the ginger into very fine strips about 1 1/2" long. Combine ginger, shichimi togorashi, soy sauce, dashi and water and whisk lightly until combined.

What I liked about this recipe: Oh, it smells SO tasty while marinating! Look out, Benihana's!
What I disliked about this recipe: You can not get shichimi togarashi (a Japanese spice blend), dashi (fish soup granules), sake or the white sesame seeds at the local grocery store. Lucky for me, there is an Asian food market around the corner, so I am all set there. However, if you don't have one, these ingredients, especially the spice blend, could be hard to come by. I'm sure you could find a recipe online for making it yourself though, but the ones that I found still called for some hard to find spices, so I would suggest ordering this spice online if you can't find it locally.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have one of those cast-iron grill pans....very handy for this. My microplane was also awesome for grating the ginger.
Tastiness factor: OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH, SO good. Very similar in taste to beef tataki at sushi bars, if you have ever had that, except the beef is cooked to your specifications. However, I think it was really good rare. It was just SO yummy!!! I would definitely make this again.

Erica's Tips: Caster sugar, in case you are wondering, is SUPER-fine sugar. This is a recipe published by an Australian publisher and they use British terms for certain ingredients, I have realized. I learned what caster sugar was when I bought a baby cookbook that was written by a British author. Anyway, you can find it in the baking aisle...usually comes in a small box. It dissolves very quickly, hence its appeal.

And the really complicated recipe...

Spiced Chicken in Green Curry or Murgh Hariyali

Remove stems from two serrano chilies and chop lightly. Place in a food processor or blender with 1/2 c chopped and peeled ginger root and 1/2 c peeled garlic cloves. Blend and add one tablespoon of water to make a thick paste. Remove 2 tsp from mixture and place the rest in one tablespoon portions in an ice cube tray and freeze for future uses.

3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, minced
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste (above)
2 serrano chilies, seeded and minced
4 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
4 Tbsp minced fresh mint
5 Tbsp minced fresh baby spinach leaves
1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized chunks
kosher salt to taste
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 c water

In a large pan, heat the vegetable oil on medium. Add the onions and saute until well-browned, about 7-8 minutes. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for an additional minute. Add the chilies, fresh herbs and stir-fry for about four to five minutes. Add the chicken, salt and chili powder, and fry for five minutes. Add water, cover and cook the chicken until done, about 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep the chicken from sticking to the pan and add a little more water if needed. Add the cream and cook for one additional minute. Serve hot with rice.

What I liked about this recipe: I cooked it exactly as the recipe said, with the exact temperatures and exact times, and it was ready right on time. It also smelled incredible cooking with all the fresh herbs and the ginger-garlic paste and onions. And it wasn't too hard.
What I disliked about this recipe: The prep time was a little long. Again, if I wasn't afraid of cutting my fingers off, maybe it wouldn't have been an issue. Next time might not be so bad since I have the ginger-garlic paste ready ahead of time. Also...when I reheated my leftovers two days later, it had a very strange smell. I couldn't really figure out where that came from.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: The mezzaluna is my favorite thing for chopping fresh herbs. It is great. My food processor was also great for making the paste and for chopping the onions.
Tastiness factor: Delicious. Talk about a taste explosion! It was great.

Garlic Rice or Lasuni Palao

1 c basmati rice
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 serrano green chili, seeded and minced
1/4 c plain yogurt, whipped
kosher salt to taste
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 3/4 c water
1 Tbsp minced cilantro

Rinse the rice 3-4 times and drain. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep saucepan. Add the garlic and chili and saute for about 20-30 seconds or until garlic turns light brown. Add yogurt, salt, and garam masala and saute for one minute. Add the rice and mix well. Add the water and stir for one minute. Bring water to a boil. Reduce heat, loosely cover the rice with a lid and cook about 12-15 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated. Small craters will form on the surface of the rice. Cover tightly and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for an additional 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork and serve immediately.

What I liked about this recipe: The garam masala (or warm spice) smells incredible. I was actually going to make my own until I found it premade at Whole Foods. It's a combination of coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and peppers. Yummy yummy. And I was very unclear about what the yogurt would do to the recipe. Surprisingly, it just dissolved and disappeared in the oil. Who knew.
What I disliked about this recipe: It was a little vaguer than I would have liked. For example, it did not specify that you should use regular white basmati and I used brown basmati, which killed this recipe. BIG TIME. It also did not specify how FAR you should reduce the heat after bringing water to a boil. And...do you see anywhere in the recipe where you should add the cilantro? I could not figure that one out. I ended up just adding the cilantro with the yogurt and salt and garam masala and it was fine. Just added a little crispness to the rice and a splash of color.
Cool kitchen gadgets: I used my large santoku knife to crush the garlic. I had no idea until I read this recipe that if you crush the garlic instead of chopping it, you will actually get a stronger garlic flavor. Cool, huh?
Tastiness factor: As stated above, I used the brown basmati instead of the white basmati and it did NOT work. I could never get the rice to soften up. It just cooked and cooked and cooked and never got anywhere. I thought I had messed up the recipe until I realized that it was probably the brown rice. So, I'm going to try it again using the white and see what happens. However, the few bites that I had of the rice before deciding to give up were very tasty. This rice is very aromatic and flavorful and GARLICKY! I can't wait to make it again. I ended up just making some Minute rice to go with the curry chicken above and it was ok although definitely not as good as the garlic chicken would have been or as good as jasmine rice would have been had I had time to make it.

Added on 3/30/08: I made this garlic rice again tonight, used white basmati and followed the directions to a T, and it was perfect. Not as garlicky as I would have liked but still delicious.

And something for McKenna...

Curried Chicken

2 Tbsp butter
1 lb ground chicken (I used turkey)
1/2 c diced onion
2 diced carrots
1 diced zucchini
1/2 c cold water
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp mild curry powder
2 Tbsp honey
1 clove of garlic, crushed and minced

Melt butter over medium high heat and brown chicken, crumbling it with a spoon. Add the vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally for about ten minutes or until vegetables are tender. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, curry powder, and water until blended and stir into the skillet. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally for about five minutes or until the curry sauce thickens. Stir in the honey and serve over rice. This recipe can be pureed for younger toddlers.

What I liked about this recipe: That McKenna likes it.
What I disliked about this recipe: That McKenna won't eat it reheated now. When she was younger, I used to make this and freeze the leftovers in ice cube trays and she was fine with it, but now, forget it.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love the whisk.
Tastiness factor: It is good. It's a little too mild for adults for the spiciness factor in my opinion, but it is not bad and you can add a little hot sauce to spice it up if you like your Indian food spicy.

Erica's Tips: Make sure that you don't give this recipe to babies under a year old due to the honey. Also, if you are buying curry for this recipe, make SURE you get yellow curry powder and not red curry powder or you will have a very upset kid on your hands. The red is just too spicy for toddlers, even though the color is beautiful. (This didn't happen to me, but I have heard that red curry is very spicy period, and if adults find it too hot, well....I would hate to give it to a little one.)

More Asian recipes to come...these are very fun and challenging dishes for sure.

More brunch food

2008-03-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hashbrown Bake

2 lb package of shredded frozen hashbrowns
1/2 c chopped onion
1 c sour cream
10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup
3 c shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 c butter

Place hashbrowns in a greased 13x9 baking pan and add salt and pepper to taste. In a mixing bowl, combine onions, sour cream and soup and pour over potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until top is golden.

What I liked about this recipe: It was very easy and fast to make. I made it first to go with a brunch and it was just baking away while the eggs and bacon were getting going.
What I disliked about this recipe: Way too rich. I cut the butter to 1/4 c and the cheese to 2 c and it was still very, very cheesy. It also doesn't reheat well.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Hmm...my whisk was handy for combining the sour cream and soup and onions.
Tastiness factor: Good. I'm not sure I would make it again because of the richness, the fact that it doesn't reheat well, and it was a little too oniony for me, but if I had to make something to take to a potluck brunch, this would be a good choice. It says it serves six to eight, but I think that's off...I'd say 10-12 is more accurate or maybe even more depending on the size of the servings. It's one of those dishes where a little goes a long way.

A cheesecake for the Easter bunny

2008-03-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

Easter Cheesecake

Crust:

2 c butter shortbread cookie crumbs
1/2 c ground macadamia nuts or pecans
1/4 c melted unsalted butter

Filling:

6 8 oz packages of softened cream cheese
2 c sugar
5 eggs + 1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 c toasted sweetened flaked coconut**

*To toast coconut, bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees until golden brown and toasted, stirring every three minutes.

Topping:

1/2 c heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 c toasted sweetened flaked coconut

Crust: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Press into the bottom of a 10" springform pan or a 9" springform with 3" high sides. Place in freezer.

Filling: Beat cream cheese and sugar until combined and then on medium-high speed for five minutes. Add eggs and yolk one at a time and beat after each addition. Mix in vanilla and cooled chocolate. Fold in coconut. Pour batter over frozen crust and bake at 350 degrees for 60-75 minutes or until the top is light brown and center jiggles slightly. Cool on rack for two hours and then place in refrigerator covered with plastic wrap for at least eight hours before serving or decorating.

Topping: Beat cream in a chilled mixing bowl on medium high until soft peaks form and then add sugar slowly. Beat cream on high until firm peaks form. Either pipe onto cake or spread with a frosting knife. Sprinkle toasted coconut on top.

What I liked about this recipe: It was fairly simple and didn't really require a lot of work after all the items were prepped and ready to go. The white chocolate melted really well...I've never cooked with white chocolate before.
What I disliked about this recipe: It rises a lot higher than I thought it would considering that there is no flour in it. If I had taken a chance and used my 9" springform, I would have really had a mess on my hands, so if you are considering making this cake, spend the $10 and go get the three-pan Oneida set at Bed Bath and Beyond that I went and got last night.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My double boiler is amazing for melting chocolate. (Thanks, E in Maryland!)
Tastiness factor: This was a cake that P and I made together for him to take to a potluck at work and I threatened him with death if he didn't bring a piece home for me to try. Being that I adore coconut, well...it was a gimmie. It was SOOOOOOO good.

Erica's Tips: Place springform pan on a cookie or pizza pan in the oven as the butter in the crust will ooze out. Also, make sure that you check the ounces on the white chocolate when you buy it. I only bought one bar thinking that surely it was 8 oz and realized when I got home that it was 4. Second trip out.

My solution to my traveling woes

2008-03-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

Now that I am traveling so much, I have discovered that I don't want to stand in the kitchen for an hour when I first get home after either driving or flying all over Texas. However, I don't want fast food either, and sometimes leftovers just won't cut it.

So...my new solution is to make a casserole the night before and have it ready and waiting to go in the oven as soon as I get home. I did this tonight and it just worked like a charm...there are just so many recipes out there that you can make ahead of time and refrigerate until it is ready to be baked.

This casserole is one that I have now made three times. I made it once for one of my employees who was having knee surgery and needed something to feed his mom and sister coming to visit. I made it a second time when my sister was here...she loves chicken and broccoli. I made it a third time this week since I had to drive to Austin. It has been a hit every time and as long as you do the prepwork ahead of time, there is just no way you can mess it up.

Broccoli Chicken Lasagna

4 lasagna noodles, cooked
1 c cubed chicken, cooked
2 c broccoli florets, cooked
1/4 c salted butter
1/4 c all-purpose flour
fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp chicken bouillion granules
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 c milk
2 c shredded Italian-blend cheese

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, bouillion granules, pepper and Italian seasoning and whisk together. Add milk and cook and whisk until thickened. Add cheese and stir until melted and sauce is smooth. Add in chicken and broccoli and stir together until combined. Spread about a cup of the chicken mixture in the bottom of a 8x8 greased baking dish. Top with half of the lasagna noodles, cutting noodles to size. Cover with half of the remaining sauce and then layer remaining lasagna noodles over the top. Spread remaining sauce on top of noodles. Dish can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated up until this point. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. If dish is just coming out of the refrigerator, bake 45-50 minutes. If you like the top a little crispy like a crust, go for 60 minutes.

What I liked about this recipe: That it can be made ahead of time! AND one package of lasagna noodles goes a long way. I'm still on my first package of noodles. And this is also a great dish to use with leftover chicken...I constantly am freezing one leftover breast because a package comes with five and I only need four or something.
What I disliked about this recipe: Italian blend cheese is not my favorite.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my whisk. I have three regular sized and three tiny whisks.
Tastiness factor: SO delicious and homey! What a great dish to come home to!

Food to wake up with

2008-03-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

Breakfast and brunches are fast becoming my favorite thing on the weekends. There are just so many cool things you can make for breakfast!

Banana Pancakes

1 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1 c milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, pureed or mashed

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a second bowl. Add dry mixture to wet mixture and stir until combined. Drop 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle and cook on both sides until done.

What I liked about this recipe: I had everything on hand and didn't need anything special.
What I disliked about this recipe: It was not as banana-y tasting as I hoped.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I just bought a Calphalon double-burner griddle pan and it worked great once I got the hang of it.
Tastiness factor: Very good although I will add a third banana next time, vanilla extract and probably some cinnamon to enhance the flavor even further.

Sugarplum Bacon

1/2 c packed light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
8 slices of bacon, cut in half crosswise

Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Dip bacon in mixture to coat and shake off excess. Twist bacon pieces and place on foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until bacon is crispy and sugar bubbly. Place on foil-lined plate to cool. Makes 16 pieces.

What I liked about this recipe: It was so easy to clean up! I thought it would be a messy recipe but it just wasn't at all as long as the foil was used.
What I disliked about this recipe: Very, very sticky fingers. Make sure there are plenty of napkins available.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Nothing really...it was a snap to make.
Tastiness factor: If you are craving a sweet-tasting bacon, this is for you. It is SO tasty and SO easy to make. I will probably make this next time I am making bacon for a crowd as it is a lot easier and simpler than frying bacon in the skillet or in the microwave AND it doesn't stink up the house. Very delicious.

My bundt cake adventures

2008-03-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

I have a complete set of those silicone baking pans that I got one time at a sale at Kohl's. I have been dying to try the bundt pan for ages, and when I saw this recipe in my book, I decided to give it a try.

Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

3 c cake flour
2 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 c finely chopped apples **you will need about four apples
1 c finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and blend with a fork. Beat eggs in a mixing bowl with electric mixer until pale yellow and foamy. Add oil and vanilla and beat well. Add flour mixture by spoonfuls and continue to beat on low until flour disappears. Add apples and nuts and stir until uniformly distributed throughout batter. Scrape batter into greased pan; use a 13 x 9 inch pan, two 8" or 9" round or square cake pans, or a bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes and cool on a wire rack. Prepare glaze while cake is cooling. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture boils gently. Cook for 3-5 more minutes or until glaze is like caramel. Spoon the glaze all over the hot cake as soon as it is ready and let glazed cake cool completely.

Glaze:

1 c lightly packed brown sugar
1/3 c unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp or 1/8 c evaporated milk, half and half or heavy cream

What I liked about this recipe: Very, VERY easy. GREAT with ice cream.
What I disliked about this recipe: The instructions are not super clear if you want to use a bundt pan.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used my silicone bundt pan for attempt #1 on this dessert. Keep reading.
Tastiness factor: Excellent, excellent, excellent. If you like apple pie and want that taste in a cake, TRY THIS. Both P and my sister V thought it was incredible and the first attempt was gone in about a day and a half.

Okay, so what happened with this cake, you wonder?

I made it the first time, albeit, after I had had a few glasses of wine, and decided to use my silicone bundt pan since I had never used it before. Probably not the best idea, since I didn't really stop and think about the recipe while I was making it and ended up flipping the cake out onto a pan while it was still hot so I could glaze it. BAD idea. The cake collapsed and I had a ooey gooey mess of a cake with glaze on it. The SECOND time I made it, I used the 13x9 pan and glazed the cake while hot but did not remove the cake from the pan. It came out much better. P says he still prefers the first way better because once it cooled, it was just a big sloppy apple mess in a dish and was delicious, but the OCD in me likes the 13x9 better because it is neater. And McKenna loves the cake too. Win win all the way around.

So the moral of the story is...if you must have a bundt, leave it in the pan and don't remove it while hot. The cake will not set.

But man, this is an AWESOME cake. I made it the first time with walnuts and the second time with pecans, and I personally prefer it with pecans, but that's just a matter of taste.

What do you do when blueberries are 10 pints for $10?

2008-03-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

You make blueberry jam and freeze the rest! Talk about AWESOME. I'm not sure what I am going to do with the rest but I had enough for this jam plus a little over a pound to go in the freezer.

Blueberry Lime Jam

4 1/2 cups of blueberries
5 c sugar
1 Tbsp lime zest (about one large lime)
1/3 c lime juice (about two large limes)
packet of fruit pectin

Crush blueberries one layer at a time and combine with pectin in pot. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Stir in zest and lime juice and bring mixture to a rolling boil. Boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Adjust caps and process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner. Yields six half-pints.

What I liked about this jam: It was SUPER fast. It was ready in lightning time and jelled with no problem. It also made exactly what it said it would...I sterilized six jars and lids and that's exactly what I filled up. I actually had about a 1/2 c leftover that I put in the fridge.
What I disliked about this jam: Nothing. It was so easy. I grated the lime zest and squeezed the juice before I started cooking and it was ready in about fifteen minutes flat.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Instead of crushing the blueberries, I processed the blueberries in my food processor. I can't help it...I love the thickness of jam but I like my fruit very smooth, so crushing fruit for jam is just not enough. Jelly is too watery and preserves-type jam is too thick. This way, it's perfect. I also love my microplaner for zesting...definitely in my top ten favorite gadgets.
Tastiness factor: OMG. SO good. The lime really adds something to this jam. It's incredible.

Blueberry Muffin Bread

3/4 c milk
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 c bread flour
3 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/3 c dried blueberries

Add all ingredients except blueberries to machine and select 1.5 lb. loaf size, standard cycle, and light crust. Add blueberries to machine at mix-in signal. Remove from pan after cycle and let cool for one hour before slicing.

What I liked about this recipe: It went with my jam and I needed a bread to give as a gift with my jam.
What I disliked about this recipe: I couldn't use fresh and that was frustrating given the tremendous sale! But I think that fresh would have turned the bread purple and made it so wet that it wouldn't have risen, so I understand the need for dried.
Cool kitchen gadgets: I love my bread machine. Enough said.
Tastiness factor: No idea because it was a gift but it sure smelled good.

Waste not, want not

2008-03-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite thing to use with overripe bananas to keep them from going bad, although with the second loaf I made of this bread this week, I actually defrosted banana puree that I had made in late December and it worked out great. I freeze pretty much any leftover ingredients I have now (even herbs now that I know that you can) and don't waste a thing.

Banana Walnut Loaf

1/2 c buttermilk at room temperature
10 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature and cut into small pieces
2 large eggs at room temperature, beaten
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 c mashed bananas
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 c sugar
2 2/3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c chopped walnuts

Place ingredients in order listed in bread pan. Select 2 lb. loaf, Quick Bread/Cake cycle (or sweet bread) and light crust. Use scraper to scrape the sides of the pan after batter has mixed for about four minutes to blend in all remaining ingredients. Let cool for one hour on wire rack before slicing.

What I like about this bread: It is so good for breakfast. Very tasty, very sweet, and fits in my cake server.
What I dislike about this bread: Because of the fact that it does not rise, it is pretty much just batter when I go in to remove the kneading paddle at the right time and it is disgusting reaching in there and getting the batter all over my hands.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My food processor is very handy for this recipe both to puree the bananas and chop the walnuts. Fortunately I had both ready ahead of time for the second time I made this but the first time I made this recipe, it took a while.
Tastiness factor: It is heavenly. VERY sweet, very nutty, very banana-y and just perfect.

And since I still had some buttermilk left over after making the banana loaf twice, I made this for sandwiches and toast. Waste not, want not although I know you can freeze buttermilk.

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk White

1/3 c water
1 c buttermilk
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
4 c bread flour
1 Tbsp active dry yeast

Place all ingredients in bread pan, select 2 lb. loaf, standard cycle and light crust. Remove from machine at end of the cycle and cool on rack for one hour before slicing.

What I liked about this bread: The top is silky smooth and it smells fantastic while baking and after removing from machine.
What I disliked about this bread: Have you ever smelled buttermilk? Talk about gag when I have to pour it in.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: This isn't a kitchen gadget, but I am delighted to find how many uses I am finding for my dark brown sugar. I usually only keep light brown sugar in the house but bought some dark brown sugar a few weeks ago at Kroger on sale. I'm amazed at how many recipes I am making that call for it! Now I need a brown sugar keeper to go in my dark brown sugar bin...I have one of those terra cotta disks in my light brown sugar bin that if you soak it in water and place it in the sugar, it will keep your sugar from drying out. Note to self: must get another one. This isn't what I have, but it's like what I have.
Tastiness factor: Very, VERY good. Nice and soft and tasty.

Breakfast Strata

2008-03-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I got from my sister V last weekend when she was here visiting. Talk about an interesting recipe you can make for company when you just have a variety of stuff leftover! Lots of taste combinations you could make with this. We actually decided to make this over dinner when I was talking about how to use up my tomato-basil bread that was in the freezer.

Breakfast Strata

1 lb cooked sausage or cooked bacon
12 slices bread, cubed
1 1/2 c shredded cheese
8 eggs, beaten
2 c half and half or cream
1 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp salt
mushrooms, onions, parsley, oregano and/or peppers

Line a 13x9 dish with bread cubes. Combine eggs, mustard, cream and salt in small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Pour over bread. Sprinkle meat, vegetables and fresh (or dried) herbs on top to taste. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

What I liked about this recipe: SO versatile! The combinations are endless. Since we were looking to use up stuff, we used my tomato-basil bread, Monterey Jack cheese, red pepper, fresh parsley only, and bacon. And since I only had a cup of half and half, we used a cup of whole milk.
What I disliked about this recipe: A little too much of a strong vegetable taste for my liking that early in the morning. I like blander things and sweet things for breakfast.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My whisk is great for this and my bread knife cubed the bread perfectly.
Tastiness factor: It was very good the first day but not so good for leftovers. Just too strong of a veggie taste in my opinion. My sister said that using cream really makes this puff up like a souffle, so maybe part of it was because we used whole milk. But I could see this being a great addition to a brunch table or for a potluck, so I plan on adding it to my recipe book.

Dallas' one and only snow day

2008-03-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

I am SO glad I did not plant anything yet. Wouldn't you know it? We got this wicked cold front in from the west and it has been snowing here all day. So. Glad. I. Did. Not. Plant.

However, I did make this wonderfully sinful steak dinner...P and I are trying to reconcile and it was a great dinner for us to make together on a snowy night, paired with a great bottle of Auslese and a bottle of Rioja.

Chateaubriand with Bernaise Sauce

2 1" beef tenderloin steaks, about 8 oz. each
vegetable oil

For steaks, let warm to room temperature for 45 minutes and preheat oven to 450 degrees. Rub on both sides with vegetable oil. Sear tenderloin on each side for three minutes apiece in a cast-iron skillet, sprinkling kosher salt on each side, and then place skillet in oven. Roast steaks to designated temperature and remove from oven. Let rest for five minutes before slicing. (Roasting times: six to eight minutes for rare, ten minutes for medium, twelve to fourteen for well-done.)

Sauce:

2 Tbsp dry white wine
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp chopped fresh tarragon, divided
1 Tbsp minced shallots
white pepper
salt
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 c unsalted butter, melted and hot
Tabasco sauce

Combine wine, vinegar, half of tarragon, shallots and a pinch of white pepper in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for two to three minutes or until liquid reduces to two teaspoons. Set wine reduction aside. Place yolks, lemon juice, pinch of salt, pinch of white pepper and three dashes of pepper sauce in a blender. Blend on low and stream hot butter into blender jar while blending. Blend on low until sauce thickens and add rest of the the tarragon and the wine reduction sauce. Place blender jar in a pot of warm water to keep warm until ready to serve.

To serve dish, pour Bernaise sauce over sliced beef.

What I liked about this dish: It was very easy. I had never made a wine reduction before and it was much easier than I thought. However, I prepared well and prepped everything (and I do mean everything, even down to measuring out the tarragon into pinch pots) before I started the sauce so I wouldn't ruin it or burn it. And it made a LOT of sauce. I put the rest of it in the freezer for another time.
What I disliked about this dish: It called for fresh tarragon. Do you know how hard it is to find fresh tarragon? I went to two places here and couldn't find it so I substituted a teaspoon of dried tarragon. I have vowed that when my herb garden gets going, this dish is the first I am making with my fresh tarragon.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I am in love with my Krups 1000 watt blender.
Tastiness factor: Very, VERY good. I loved it. P thought it was fantastic as well. I am very curious as to whether or not this sauce would have come out better with fresh tarragon. It was a little bland to my taste...being a salt freak and all...and I think using salted butter probably would have made it more to my taste, but it had a very good flavor and was delicious with a little salt and pepper. Very light and herby and tasty!

Cooking with alcohol and wines

2008-03-01T12:52:00.000-08:00

I am always interested and intrigued when I come across a recipe that calls for wine or alcohol or beer. Yes, I realize that the alcohol cooks out, but it's just interesting to see how the additional ingredient gives the dish a whole new flavor. I have cooked with brandy, merlot wine, white wine, sherry, cabernet, citrus vodka, regular vodka and beer. I do keep cooking white and red and sherry around, but if I have an open bottle of wine, I usually try to use that up first.

Vodka Cream Fettucini

3 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
20 leaves of basil, cut into halves
2/3 c vodka
1 lb. fettucini pasta, cooked
1/4 c heavy cream or half and half

Start pasta cooking. Heat garlic in oil in large skillet until garlic sizzles. Add tomatoes and heat. Stir in basil. When basil wilts, add vodka and bring sauce to a boil. Stir and cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer until pasta is ready. Stir in cream. Toss in large bowl with hot pasta and serve.

What I liked about this dish: With the exception of the vodka, the ingredients for this dish cost less than $8. And I still have a TON of leftovers. AND it was fast and easy to make.
What I disliked about this dish: Pasta with no meat is okay, but it's not my favorite.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My mezzaluna minced the garlic perfectly.
Tastiness factor: Pretty good considering how cheap it was. It will be even cheaper this summer when I have my own basil in the garden and don't have to buy any. Definitely beats pasta and jar sauce. And my daughter liked it too. Definitely a recipe I will make again and you can pretty much keep the ingredients on hand to make this.

Gardening, Day 2

2008-02-25T13:25:00.000-08:00

More Southwestern food for the end of day two. The garden is now tilled and weed killer and organic material is in place. I have ordered all my plants too...four cucumber plants, six tomato plants, twelve pepper varieties, twenty-five strawberries, six raspberries and twelve herbs. Can't WAIT.

Southwestern Pot Roast

2 1/2 lb top round roast
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 c cabernet sauvignon wine
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
5 tomatillos, halved and quartered
3 red bell peppers, cut into small pieces
1 large yellow onion, sliced or cut into small pieces
1 green serrano pepper, diced into small pieces
2 large potatoes, unpeeled, washed and diced
8 oz can of Mexican tomatoes (I used classic Rotel)
kosher salt
coarsely ground black pepper

Rub roast with salt and pepper. Heat oil in skillet and brown roast on all sides. Place all other ingredients in cooker and place roast on top of vegetables. Cook in large slow cooker (at least a 5 quart) for 9-10 hours on low. Serve by slicing roast and spooning sauce and vegetables over meat.

What I liked about this dish: It has an incredible peppery Mexican smell as it cooks.
What I disliked about this dish: It just barely fit into my larger slow cooker. The top of the roast is about a half inch below the lid. I had to really move the vegetables around to make enough room for everything.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My santoku knives (I have three) are fantastic for prepping the veggies.
Tastiness factor: Very good and spicy, but not too bad. Great paired with Spanish rice. The meat was falling off the fork tender.

Oatmeal Pancakes

1 1/2 c whole oats
2 c milk
1 c all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 c canola or vegetable oil

Mix together milk and oats and let stand. Whisk together dry ingredients. Stir eggs into oat mixture and then add wet mixture to dry ingredients along with oil and whisk. Drop onto greased griddle in 1/4 c amounts and flip when edges bubble. Cook on both sides until pancakes are golden.

What I liked about this recipe: Very, very filling thanks to the oatmeal. Oatmeal is a very complex carbohydrate and fibrous too so this is an excellent breakfast to get you going when you are doing something strenuous, such as gardening.
What I disliked about this recipe: The pancakes took a little bit too long to cook in my opinion.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Whisk was very handy for this recipe. However, now I want a long griddle that you can put over two burners. My large skillet only accomodated two pancakes at a time and it took probably 20-25 minutes to make all the batter.
Tastiness factor: Great taste. Not too sweet. Very different from regular pancakes and a little more nutritious due to the oats. I served it with maple syrup and the apples from a few days ago and fresh orange juice and it was a hit.

Kid Food, Chapter 2

2008-02-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

Not only does McKenna adore this dish, but my friends like it too.

Macaroni and Cheese

2 Tbsp salted butter
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 c milk
1 c shredded mild Cheddar cheese
2 c cooked pasta

Melt butter in a saucepan and whisk in flour. Stir constantly and cook for about two minutes on medium until mixture is golden and bubbly. Whisk in milk. Lower heat to low and cook for about ten minutes or until mixture is thickened, stirring frequently. Add cheese and stir until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth. Combine cheese sauce with cooked pasta in a large bowl and serve.

What I like about this dish: It is SO versatile and SO easy. You can use any pasta (I used shells tonight) and just about any cheese (I used a Colby/Jack mix). It takes about three to four minutes longer than the box stuff does.
What I dislike about this dish: The color is not the same as the box stuff and some kids will turn their nose up at it. Easily remedied with a bit of food coloring....about six to seven drops of yellow will do it. Add some red if you like your mac and cheese orange.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my whisk for this sauce.
Tastiness factor: It does need salt, I will admit, but for a kid dish, you don't want it overly salty. My daughter loves it and so do I.

Erica's Tips: Boil pasta for about ten minutes with salt and a little bit of oil to flavor the pasta and keep it from sticking together while draining. I always rinse my pasta before mixing in the sauce with it so that way my daughter can eat it right away and it is not too hot for her.

Great gardening food...

2008-02-24T15:27:00.000-08:00

I am tilling this weekend to plant a garden. I have great dreams of making my own salsa with tomatoes grown from my garden, harvesting enough strawberries to make jam for the next year, not to mention being able to go out into the yard whenever I need fresh basil or parsley.

I probably will not plant for a few weeks, but I am getting ready.

As fuel for the fire or a great reward at the end of the day...what better tool to use than my slow cooker? I actually have two now...I bought a smaller four-quart size for side dishes.

Barbeque Chicken

2 lbs bone-in skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 lbs bone-in skinless chicken thighs
18 oz bottle of barbeque sauce
3/4 c Coca Cola
one large lemon, sliced thin
one medium onion, sliced thin

Place chicken in 4 quart or larger slow cooker. Top with sliced onion and lemon slices. Whisk together barbeque sauce and soda in a small bowl and pour over chicken. Cook in slow cooker on low for six to eight hours.

What I liked about this recipe: Simple and easy.
What I disliked about this recipe: Nothing. It was easy.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My large mixing bowl from Williams Sonoma with a pouring spout was especially helpful for this dish.
Tastiness factor: I'm sure this dish would be different depending on the barbeque sauce you used. I used Sweet Baby Ray's. It was pretty good although a tad dry (probably an hour less in the slow cooker would have done it) and a little strong on the lemon taste.

Grandma's Corn

8 oz package of cream cheese
1/4 c of unsalted butter
32 oz. package of frozen corn
1/3 c sugar

Place cream cheese and butter on low in slow cooker and let sit for 10 minutes until softened. Add sugar and corn and mix until the corn is coated with the cream cheese mixture. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.

What I liked about this recipe: Very easy and only four ingredients.
What I disliked about this recipe: I let the cream cheese and butter sit in the Crock Pot for 20 minutes and it never got soft. Next time I make this, I'm using the microwave to soften it a tad more so it will be easier to coat the corn.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: This was my 4-quart cooker's debut! I bought it specifically for side dishes!
Tastiness factor: Great, great taste although it cooked for the full four hours and the corn was not very soft. I would probably go five hours next time. Great flavor though...very sweet and lovely creamed corn taste.

Johnny Appleseed Bread

5/8 c unsweetened apple juice
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
3 c bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of grated nutmeg
1/2 c cored, peeled and finely chopped Granny Smith apple
1/4 c raisins
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Place all ingredients in bread pan in order listed. Select 1.5 lb loaf, standard baking cycle and light crust. Remove bread from pan at end of the baking cycle and let cool one hour before slicing.

What I liked about this bread: Lots and lots of apple stuff in it.
What I disliked about this bread: Too wet and the dough was stickier than anything when I went to remove the blade from the machine.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have a nutmeg shaker full of whole nutmeg that I used to "grate" the nutmeg. I don't even know where you would get whole nutmeg, but I wouldn't buy it just for a pinch for this recipe. I would use a pinch of ground if I didn't have my shaker. My mezzaluna was very, very useful for chopping up the apple very finely.
Tastiness factor: Great flavor but a little too chewy...kind of doughy. I would cut the liquid amount next time.

Erica's Tips: Even though the recipe didn't say, I held the apples and raisins out and added them in when the machine beeped for the mix-ins. I also rehydrated the raisins by soaking them in boiling water for about twenty minutes and tossed the apples with a bit of lemon juice to help prevent browning.

Fudge Brownie Pie

1 c sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/3 c unsweetened baking cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c chopped pecans

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in flour, cocoa and salt. Mix in vanilla and pecans. Pour into a greased and floured 9" pie plate. (No crust.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

What I liked about this recipe: I had everything on hand and it took less than ten minutes to mix up and put in the oven.
What I disliked about this recipe: Not a thing.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my Pyrex pie plates and used a pink one for this dessert.
Tastiness factor: Good. Nice basic brownie recipe and great with ice cream.

Garlic bread

2008-02-24T15:21:00.000-08:00

If you keep fresh Parmesan in your fridge, this is a pretty easy no-nonsense bread to have with dinner. I just popped it in after lunch the other day and it baked while I worked.

Garlic Bread

3/4 c water
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 clove of garlic, crushed or minced
2 c bread flour
1 Tbsp dried chives
1/2 tsp dried sweet basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Add all ingredients to the bread machine in the order given, select 1 lb loaf size, light crust and standard cycle. Remove from machine after baking cycle is complete and let cool one hour before slicing.

What I like about this bread: You can use fresh garlic (some recipes call for that jarred stuff that you get in the produce section and I don't like to use that because I don't use it for anything else and it would go to waste) and fresh Parmesan and all dried herbs. I can't wait until my herb garden takes off and I can cut fresh herbs from my garden for this bread.
What I dislike about this bread: Nothing. It's fantastic. Maybe that I have to wait three hours for it to bake to eat it?
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my garlic press. It has two styles...slicing or mincing/crushing. I used the mincing/crushing side for this recipe. You just put the garlic in the little chamber and just run it up down until the garlic is ready.
Tastiness factor: This is the BEST bread and all you have to do is slice and serve. It is SO flavorful and yummy.

Scalloping

2008-02-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some easy side dishes that I made to go along with steaks this week. Very easy although a little time-consuming on the prep.

Easy Scalloped Potatoes

1 Tbsp salted butter
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 c milk
5 c sliced and peeled potatoes

Melt butter in a saucepan and whisk in flour and salt. Add milk and stir constantly until mixture boils. Add potatoes and stir occasionally until potatoes are tender. Pour into a greased 13" x 9" baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for thirty minutes.

What I liked about this recipe: There were no weird ingredients and it is a very straightforward recipe.
What I disliked about this recipe: It takes a long time to prepare before you even put it in the oven. I could never get the potatoes to quite tender before putting it in the baking dish. It still came out fine but was a little more time-consuming than I thought it would be.
Cool kitchen gadgets: My peeler works great for potatoes.
Tastiness factor: Very, very good, although a little too much work considering that baked potatoes would have tasted just as good.

Escalloped Apples

10 c tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/3 c sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and sliced

Place apples in a 2.5 quart microwave-safe bowl and set aside. Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnmamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add to apples and toss to coat. Dot with butter. Cover and microwave on high for 15 minutes, stopping to stir mixture every five minutes.

What I liked about this recipe: It wasn't too sweet. I was a little apprehensive to make it, thinking it would be more like a dessert than a side dish.
What I disliked about this recipe: The 2.5 quart dish is not big enough to properly toss the apples. I added the apples to the dish and then had to transfer them to a bigger mixing bowl to properly toss the apples to coat them. Not a huge deal but a little annoying because I then got apple juice all over the sides of the casserole dish.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My peeler works great on apples too.
Tastiness factor: This is a good fruit side dish. Not too sweet, not too syrupy, just right. Very similar to the apples at Chili's except a little lighter. I have had it since dinner for a mid-afternoon snack and with breakfast this morning. It would be great over pancakes, waffles or ice cream.

Spicy Steak Marinade

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Tabasco sauce

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and whisk to combine. Brush steaks with marinade and add to bowl. Sprinkle coarsley ground black pepper on both sides of steak. Let steak sit for 5-10 minutes to marinate and then broil or grill to desired temperature.

What I like about this marinade: It is very easy and everything to make it is in the cupboard. It also does not require overnight marination which makes it ideal for a steak dinner on the fly.
What I dislike about this marinade: The quantity given above is not quite enough for filets or strips. It's perfect for a London broil but for filets or strips, I double it.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my silicone pastry brush. It has far outlasted its nylon predecessors and it is ideal for dishwasher cleaning.
Tastiness factor: This is a great basic marinade and is not too spicy at all. The Tabasco does not make it as spicy as you think and the vinegar really make the steak tender. I would recommend letting the steaks warm to room temperature for about 20-25 minutes before marinating and then leaving steaks on counter while marinating. The steaks will cook much better.

That's all I have for today. Have a great weekend!

My Southwestern feast

2008-02-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I just got back from Arizona, and came back armed with a great Arizona cookbook and a Southwestern slow cooking cookbook. What better way to wind down after a long plane ride than to spend a few hours back in my kitchen getting reacquainted with my appliances and a nice glass of wine?

Montezuma Chicken Bake

6 c cooked cubed chicken
12 6" corn tortilla, cut into 1 1/2" strips
1 1/2 lbs of shredded Monterey Jack cheese
16 oz container of sour cream
14 oz can of tomatillos, drained
1/2 c chopped onions
1/2 c cilantro leaves, packed
4 oz can of green chilies, undrained
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

In food processor, combine tomatillos, onions, cilantro, chilies, garlic, salt and sugar and process until smooth to make a green sauce. Grease a 13x9 baking dish and start layers with half of the chicken on the bottom, half of the green sauce, half of the sour cream, half of the tortilla strips and cheese. Repeat, ending with the cheese. Cover with foil. Dish may be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated up until this point. Bake, covered, at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. If refrigerated, cooking time will be 45-50 minutes.

What I liked about this dish: I was able to be a little creative! I substituted the Mexican blend cheese for the Monterey Jack, I accidentally picked up canned jalapenos instead of chilies because I wasn't paying attention (and cut it to half the can), and when I cooked the chicken, I added some chicken rub to it to give the chicken a nice flavor. All of the cheese makes this a great dish.
What I disliked about this dish: The prep time is a little extensive and I was so distracted about halving all of the "layer ingredients" that I mixed up the order and forgot the first layer of tortilla strips. It turned out fine though. Also, in my store, tomatillos only come in a 28 oz can, so I had to guestimate on the amount needed. I wish the recipe had listed the drained tomatillos needed in weight. Also, I bought only one flat of chicken, thinking that would yield 6 cups of cooked chicken. NOT even close. You will need six chicken breasts for this recipe. One breast yields a cup. I had to stop in the middle of my prep and defrost a few breasts out of the freezer so I would have enough chicken for this recipe. Thank goodness I had some in the freezer.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My food processor makes great salsas, so making the green sauce in it was a breeze.
Tastiness factor: Delicious. Probably one of THE best Mexican dishes I've ever made. And it makes a LOT. There will be a ton for leftovers this week. I would easily make this for a party...it will easily feed six or eight people.

Skillet Spanish Rice

1 c instant rice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 c finely chopped onions
2 c chicken broth
1 Tbsp taco sauce
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Saute rice and onions in oil heated in large skillet until slightly golden. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes.

What I liked about this recipe: It was easy and quick.
What I disliked about this recipe: Not as tomatoey as I like my Spanish rice to be.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have this tiny little chopper that I bought for baby food a few years ago and it is great for chopping small amounts of vegetables like I needed for this recipe, and my food processor was dirty from the green sauce for the chicken dish.
Tastiness factor: It was not a bad dish and all of it disappeared. However, it was a little plain and bland for my taste. If your biggest objection to most Spanish rice dishes is the spiciness, you will probably like this.

Golden Cornbread

1 c cornmeal
1 c all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c milk
1 egg
1/2 c vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add milk, oil and egg and beat about one minute until smooth. Pour mixture into a greased 8x8 pan and bake at 425 for 23 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

What I like about this recipe: Easy and no-fail.
What I dislike about this recipe: The first couple of times I made it, I did not find it sweet enough for me, so I upped the sugar to 6 tbsp and it was better.
Cool kitchen gadgets: I love my 8x8 glass Pyrex baking dish. It has a plastic cover which makes it perfect for storing the leftovers.
Tastiness factor: Great. Just great!

Lemon Pudding

2 c sugar
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
juice and zest from 1 large lemon or 1 1/2 small
2 eggs, separated
1 c milk

Cream sugar and butter together and add flour. Blend in lemon zest and juice until smooth. Add egg yolks and milk. In separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold whites into lemon mixture. Spread in a greased 1 qt casserole dish and place in a shallow baking dish with 1/2" of water in it. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

What I liked about this recipe: It was FAST.
What I disliked about this recipe: I did not like that it did not specify the exact amount of zest and lemon juice needed. I measured out what I put in and I ended up using a little less than a 1/2 c of zest and a little less than a 1/3 c of juice. It turned out very lemony and was perfect.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I had bought this 1 qt Lucerne casserole dish at Crate and Barrel about 2 months ago and I finally got to use it for this recipe!
Tastiness factor: I ate it when it was still pretty hot, so it was a little runny and liquidy. I don't know if it still will be today. It kind of had a souffle like top and then lemon pudding on the inside. Very, very good and sweet...great lemon taste. It was a great quick dessert to make for company.

Sassy Sangria

1 gallon red burgundy wine
1/2 c sugar
48 oz can pineapple juice
8 oz can pineapple chunks
1 lime, cut into rounds
1 orange, cut into rounds.

Combine wine, sugar and juice. Add fruit. Chill before serving.

What I liked about this recipe: It required no overnight chilling...many of my other sangria recipes do.
What I disliked about this recipe: It was hard to get the sugar to dissolve, even with the wine at room temperature.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I finally came up with a use for my water bath canner...it is going to be my sangria pot! I also have a neat terracotta sangria pitcher that I serve it in...it has a pinched spout to keep the fruit from going into the glasses.
Tastiness factor: Eh. That's about it. This was not the best sangra recipe I have ever had or made. But it was fast, quick and cheap, and that's what I was looking for. Definitely not as sweet as I would have liked...I ended up adding diet Sprite to it to sweeten it up a bit to my liking.

I also made this bread for my father-in-law a few days ago. While I did not personally get to try it, I heard it was fantastic.

Certainly Citrus Bread

7/8 c milk
1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 c orange marmalade
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/8 tsp lemon zest
3 C white bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp active dry yeast

All ingredients should be at room temperature. Add to bread machine in order given. Select white bake cycle, 1/2 lb setting and light crust. Let cool on wire rack one hour before slicing.

What I liked about this bread: I had everything in my fridge to make it! I basically decided to make it that morning and didn't have to run to the store. Even though I'm sure it would have been better with fresh squeezed juices, I just used the lemon and lime juices I had in the refrigerator.
What I disliked about this bread: I didn't get to try it since it was a gift.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my microplaner....awesome for zesting citrus!
Tastiness factor: I heard it was great! Very citrusy and light and wonderful paired with my apricot jam.

What a fantastic meal! Muy bueno!

Another recipe request-best apple pie ever

2008-02-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

One of my friends, C, wanted to make a homemade apple pie for her boyfriend J for Valentine's Day this week. She wanted some suggestions, as she had heard about this great apple pie from some restaurant in the Northeast. So I pulled out my books looking for her...I searched through Killer Pies, which has pies from great diners and cafes around the country, Pie (that's actually the name of the book) and my vast collection of Gooseberry Patch wonders, and nothing really floated her boat...until she heard my grandma's recipe.

This is the only recipe I have ever made for apple pie. I got it from my grandma probably about twelve years ago and she gave it to me over the phone. I wrote it down on an index card, and then rewrote it again this Christmas since the old one was starting to fade from use. I have literally made this pie about fifty times. It gets more requests than just about any dessert I have ever made over the years (not even my cheesecakes are requested as often) and has some funny stories that go with it, one particularly funny one (not funny at the time) from a Christmas long ago where my dad dumped my freshly baked apple pie on the floor. (Sorry, Dad....it fit the story to mention it.)

Here it is. Enjoy!

Grandma Mae's Apple Pie

six apples, peeled, cored and sliced **I prefer Fuji, but you could use any apple you want. Rome apples work well and if you want a pie not so sweet, Granny Smiths work well too.
two 9" pie crusts, either homemade or store bought
1/3 c all purpose flour
1 c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
dash nutmeg
3 Tbsp butter

Place pie crust in pie dish and fill up with apple slices until pie has reached desired height. Remove slices to a mixing bowl and add dry ingredients. Mix with hands until slices are coated. Spoon slices back into pie crust. Place pats of butter on top of apples. Place second pie crust on top of apples and seal edges. Flute with a fork and cut three vents in pie crust for steam. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

What I like about this pie: It is fantastic and comes out perfectly every time. Enough said.
What I dislike about this pie: Um, the time it requires to peel the apples?
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have a special apple pie dish that was a gift years ago from my stepmom. I only use it for apple pies. It is my special apple pie dish. It is a dish by Marjolein Bastin (all you stitchers out there know her!) and the apples are beautiful.
Tastiness factor: This is just a great, great apple pie. It is the one dish that my father-in-law and my father request every holiday.

Erica's Tips: I strongly recommend placing a cookie sheet on the rack below the apple pie to catch drips unless you are just dying to use the clean cycle on your oven. You might have some juicy apples. Also, I recommend serving this pie with Breyer's Vanilla Bean ice cream. Yummy. The only variation I have made to this pie over the years was one Thanksgiving where I added brandy to the pie. I would not recommend that. If it ain't broke, why fix it? I suppose you could substitute brown sugar for the regular sugar and add nuts to the apples if you wanted to get crazy.

Apricot Jam

2008-02-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

My friend C mentioned that her boyfriend J also mentioned that he really thought apricot jam was delicious. I had never heard of such a thing, let alone tasted it. So, I decided I would try it.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that there are no fresh apricots available and no frozen ones available, I bought eight packages of dried Mediterranean apricots and rehydrated them by soaking them in boiling water for thirty minutes and then running them through the food processor. Seemed to work fine although I'm sure fresh would have been better.

Apricot Jam

2 quarts of peeled, crushed, pitted apricots
6 cups sugar
1/4 c lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot and bring slowly to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook to the gelling point and ladle hot jam into hot jars. Process in water bath canner for 15 minutes OR use inverting method (thanks again, Kelley!) to seal jars.

What I liked about this recipe: Pretty easy to make and it makes a lot. I got two pint jars and four half-pint jars out of it, and since I only bought 1 1/2 quarts of apricots, I cut the sugar to 4 1/2 c and the lemon juice to 3 Tbsp.
What I disliked about this recipe: Again, it bubbled violently and this time burned my index finger. I think I'm going to have to invest in a taller stock pot soon.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I bought a flat of quilted jelly jars with fruity lids and fruity labels. See picture. They are pretty cute.
Tastiness factor: Very good although I have no doubt that fresh apricots would have been much better. I had it this morning on toast and it was very tasty, although the first thing I thought of when I ate it was how much it tasted like dried apricots. Oh, well. Still very very good and very sweet. I have already unloaded a jar on my dad and stepmom as a hostess gift and one on my father-in-law, so we'll see how everyone likes it.

A sweet bread and an unsweet bread

2008-02-16T08:38:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my bread machine!?!?! Geez. Talk about an awesome appliance. Please tell me that there are some readers out there that are enjoying my bread machine recipes. Unfortunately, I just don't have any bread recipes that are made the old fashioned way and I don't anticipate posting any. If you are contemplating trying out bread machine bread, I seriously recommend it...I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Cuisinart.

If you are reading and are addicted to your bread machine like I am, please speak up...I gotta know that I'm not alone!

Gingerbread Loaf

3/4 c milk at room temperature
2 eggs at room temperature, beaten
1/3 c mild molasses
1/4 c unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 c bread flour
4 tsp light brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Add ingredients to machine in order given. Select 2 lb loaf size, light crust and basic cycle. Remove baked loaf from machine and cool on wire rack one hour before slicing.

What I liked about this bread: It gave me an excuse to replace my old molasses, which popped when it opened. I don't know how old it was, but I'm venturing to guess that I bought it when I got my OLD bread machine about twelve years ago.
What I disliked about this bread: It's the first loaf that I have made in my bread machine that has split at the end of the baking cycle. Plus, there is a tiny area right in the top that did not bake all the way...kind of mushy and gross.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: None this time...didn't require any prep work.
Tastiness factor: Very good. Nice and spicy but not overly sweet.

Tomato-and-Basil Bread (sorry, I didn't have time to take a picture before I left for my trip to Phoenix!)

1 1/3 c tomato juice at room temperature
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 c freshly chopped basil leaves
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3 Tbsp rye flour
4 c bread flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine in order listed. Select 2 lb size, French cycle and light crust. Remove baked loaf at end of cycle and let cool at least one hour before slicing.

What I liked about this bread: I got to use the tomato juice from my tomato basil soup I made several weeks ago. WHO KNEW YOU COULD FREEZE TOMATO JUICE!?!?! Plus, it gave me an excuse to add to my ever-growing collection of flours...I now own all-purpose flour, bread flour, cake flour, cornmeal and RYE FLOUR. I keep it all in the freezer except the cake flour which is kept in the cabinet...reason being is because cake flour contains the lowest amount of protein and is the least likely to go bad quickly. Plus, it comes in very small bags and doesn't last long at my house.
What I disliked about this bread: I bought a fresh pack of basil leaves and thought that would be enough. It was JUST short of 1/3 c once I chopped them. I'm sure it's fine though. This is making me think I need to plant an herb garden again...
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My mezzaluna, once again, came in VERY handy for mincing the basil and this time I didn't take a chunk out of my finger.
Tastiness factor: It wasn't a bad bread, but it was not the tasty yummy tomato and basil flavor that I had imagined. I had to put a little salt on it to bring out the flavor. Not my favorite.

Kid food

2008-02-11T12:50:00.000-08:00

One of the things I am trying very hard to do is incorporate more home-cooked food into McKenna's diet. I did SO great for a while with all the homemade baby food, and then after I was promoted, it just kind of went downhill from there. So I'm trying to get back to that place. It's tough finding things that a toddler will eat willingly, and even though I'm sure she would survive on Nutri Grain cereal bars and Cheetos if I let her, I don't think that's probably a very nutritious diet. Just a thought there.

I have a TON of cookbooks for babies and toddlers, and I shelved so many of the recipes because they used foods that she wasn't ready for yet or I didn't think the recipe would puree well. This is one that I had eyed for a while.

Risotto

1/2 c uncooked short-grain rice
1 1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c shredded cooked chicken
1/2 c frozen peas, thawed
2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese

Bring rice and broth to a boil and boil uncovered for ten minutes. Add chicken and peas, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for an additional fifteen minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to another bowl, and stir in cheese. Let cool and serve.

What I liked about this recipe: I had everything on hand. No weird ingredients that required me running to the store. I substituted long-grain rice for the short-grain rice, I defrosted leftover chicken broth that I had in the freezer, I grabbed a chicken breast out of the freezer bag, chopped it up and sauteed it in some olive oil real fast and grabbed some peas out of the freezer that had been in there for a while. I think I had bought the Parmesan cheese for another recipe and not used it because it was unopened. Perfect.
What I disliked about this recipe: The cooking times are REALLY, really off. After seven minutes on the first run, the rice had already absorbed all the liquid and was starting to stick to the bottom. I threw in the chicken and the peas and probably 2-3 minutes of that and it was ready to eat. I had to add probably 1/4 c of water to it after I added the chicken and peas so that I would not burn the rice. I don't know if that had anything to do with the fact that I used long-grain rice, but somehow I doubt it...I would think that with long grain rice, it would cook SLOWER, not faster. If I had believed the recipe and actually let this dish cook for the recommended times, there's no telling what I would have ended up with and my saucepan probably would have been ruined. Fortunately, I learned the hard way with this cookbook when I made Mexican rice for McKenna about two years ago...those cooking times were off too. I'm starting to think that the author of this cookbook makes all of her rice dishes with a stove that is broken!
Cool kitchen gadgets used: The pulse feature on my food processor was very handy for shredding the chicken. I am going to use the leftovers to make this dish again next week, probably. One breast makes probably about 1 1/2 c of shredded chicken.
Tastiness factor: Simple but tasty. I put about a cup in a bowl for McKenna and when I went over with my bowl to see if she ate all hers, she put her fist out to grab the rest of mine out of my bowl since her bowl was empty. Then she ate the rest of what was in the bowl! No leftovers. Guess that means she liked it! It's a very kid-friendly dish.

Pearsauce

3 1/2 lbs of pears, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 c water
1/4-1/2 c of sugar
spices (optional)

Cook pears in water over medium heat until tender and drain. Puree in a food processor. Return pears to pan and add sugar to taste. Bring to a boil until sauce reaches 212 degrees. Add spices during last five minutes of cooking. Ladle sauce into hot jars and seal. Process in a water bath canner OR using the inverted method (thanks, Kelley). Let jars cool and store.

What I liked about this recipe: Pears smell SO good cooking. McKenna loves applesauce, so I thought I would make this instead for a change. You can't buy pearsauce in the store and pears are so great.
What I disliked about this recipe: *sigh* I wanted to try it, so I only bought 3.5 lbs of pears. That only yielded two pints of pearsauce. Talk about a very expensive pearsauce. I don't know what I did but it sure seemed like a LOT of work for very little return. I hope my princess likes it. Plus, I couldn't get the temperature over 170 degrees. I let it boil on high and it just would not go any higher than that. I finally just took it off and I'm going to put the jars in the refrigerator.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used my kettle to boil water to sterilize my lids in before sealing on the jars.
Tastiness factor: Very good. I tasted a spoonful to make sure no additional sugar was needed and it was good. I forgot to add cinnamon to it though...I was too distracted by the fact that I couldn't get the temperature anywhere above 170 degrees. I'm still learning this canning business. But it did pop nicely when I opened the lid this morning.

OVERLOAD ALERT!!!! Tons of recipes forthcoming...

2008-02-10T13:00:00.000-08:00

I have had this post typed for about ten days and I just keep adding to it and adding to it and adding to it. Work has been NUTS! But I have still been cooking...I just can't seem to finish a post without starting to get sleepy. Thank goodness for the draft button. So if you've been thinking that I disappeared from the blog world altogether, the answer is NO...I've just been super duper busy. I'm going to Phoenix Thursday to visit my father and stepmother and go skiing, so I'll probably post another recipe or two before I go and then nothing until sometime next week.

There are pictures now, but because my company deleted the picture editing software off my laptop and Photobucket won't make them small enough that they won't throw off the layout, the link is embedded in the recipe title from now on. Just click on the title to see the picture. Sorry about that.

Canning update first. Kelley, thanks so much for the tip on the canning. I'm going to try that today when I make my apricot jam. I did go to Wal-Mart this week and picked up the biggest pot they had, and it still wasn't big enough for the rack. *sigh* So, I am either going to get a pressure cooker/canner from Presto OR a single-burner so I can boil the pot that came with my kit...kind of like the crystal meth makers do. Funny, funny. Anyway, I will try the inverting method that you gave me today, Kelly...I can't wait to give it a try.

For some reason two weekends ago, I just got a wild hair to do a lot of cooking. Oh, yeah, and the fact that several of my ingredients probably would have spoiled if I did not. And this week I have made a few things also, last night McKenna and I made a cake, and since I'm so behind on posting recipes, well...enjoy!

There are some funny stories that go along with these recipes, so enjoy reading...and I finally got my camera working so I have pictures too!

Irish Potato Bread

5/8 c milk
3/8 c potato water (water that was used to cook the potatoes)
1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c plain mashed potato at room temperature
3 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Place all ingredients in the bread machine pan in order listed. Use standard bake cycle and light crust, 1 1/2 lb size. Remove loaf when done baking and let cool for an hour before slicing.

What I liked about this bread: It smells GREAT baking.
What I disliked about this bread: It's kind of a pain to prep for since you have to use room temperature mashed potatoes, but boy, is it worth the extra time. Just don't do what I did and drain the potato over the sink...I ended up making ANOTHER potato so I would have the potato water. The second time, I remembered.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My Kitchen Aid mixer is awesome at mashing potatoes.
Tastiness factor: This bread is SO smooth, SO soft and SO GOOD. It is great with jam but if you have it plain with butter, you can really taste the potato. It is fantastic. I have made it twice and it has turned out perfect both times.

Peaches and Cream Pie

1 pie crust, refrigerated
1 lb bag of frozen peaches, partially thawed, or 3 cups fresh sliced peaches
1 c heavy whipping cream
1/2 c powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c packed light brown sugar

Place pie crust in deep dish pie plate and freeze for fifteen minutes. While crust is freezing, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine cream, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla in small bowl and whisk to blend. Place peach slices in pie shell and arrange evenly. Pour cream mixture over peaches and rearrange slices until evenly arranged. Bake pie for 30 minutes. Remove pie from oven, turn oven down to 350 degrees, and evenly cover top of pie with brown sugar. Rotate pie so that the side that was in the back is now in the front. Bake pie until top is caramelized or about 15-20 minutes. Pie will still be liquidy. Cool pie on wire rack and let cool thoroughly. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

What I liked about this recipe: It was really really easy.
What I disliked about this recipe: Keep reading.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My whisk. I have a Kitchen Aid one. I also used one of those pie plate edge cover things to keep the edges of the crust from getting too brown.
Tastiness factor: I will never make this pie again. The description of the recipe stated that this tastes like peach ice cream. That is NOT the way I would describe it. It never firmed up so when I cut it, all of the liquid went everywhere and it did not have a good taste to it at all. And I followed the directions to a T with cooling.

Glazed Lemon Poppyseed Loaf

1/3 c water
1/2 c milk
1 extra-large egg
4 tsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp grated lemon zest
4 tsp poppy seeds
3 c bread flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

All ingredients should be room temperature. Place ingredients in machine in order specified. Bake on sweet bread cycle, 1 1/2 lbs, light crust. Remove from pan at end of cycle and cool for one hour before glazing. To make glaze, combine 2 tsp unsalted softened butter, 2 tsp grated lemon zest and 4 tbsp powdered sugar in small bowl and cream. Mix in lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle glaze over cooled loaf of bread.

What I liked about this recipe: It is very citrusy and not overly sweet.
What I disliked about this recipe: The glaze makes storing it a mess. The recipe said that the glaze would "dry" on the bread, but mine didn't. It's still very creamy and wet.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My microplaner to zest the lemons, of course!
Tastiness factor: I am still eating it and it is fantastic with my raspberry jam in the morning for breakfast!

Shepherd's Pie

5 strips lean bacon
2 c finely chopped onion
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 c chopped cooked beef or lamb
1 T Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
3 large eggs, beaten
4-6 c mashed potatoes (see below for recipe)
2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 2-quart casserole. In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, fry bacon until crisp and drain on a paper towel. Crumble bacon finely. Add onions, pepper and garlic to the grease and cook until onions are golden, about ten minutes. Put vegetables in a large mixing bowl and add the bacon, meat, Worcestershire, salt, pepper and eggs. Mix until well-blended and set aside. Spread half of the mashed potatoes over the bottom of the casserole. Spread meat mixture on top of the potatoes. Spread the rest of the potatoes on top of the meat and brush the top of the potatoes with the butter. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

What I liked about this casserole: Very versatile for switching out ingredients. I used one cup of white onion and one cup of purple onion since I had them left over, substituted red bell pepper for green and used 2 lbs of ground sirloin instead of the chopped cook beef or lamb.
What I didn't like about this casserole: A little lengthy to cook due to the mashed potatoes, but worth it. And the leftovers heat up great.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have a silicone pastry brush that I used to brush the butter. LOVE that thing.
Tastiness Factor: Really, really good. I had two servings...it was that tasty! Although now I feel like I'm slipping into a coma...hence the reason why this entry was saved on draft once. McKenna even likes this recipe. I have given it to her twice for dinner and she loves it.

Best Mashed Potatoes EVER

2 lbs peeled potatoes
4-6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut into pats
1 c milk
1 c half and half
1 Tbsp salt

Chop potatoes into thirds, place in a saucepan and cover with water. Add salt. Bring to a boil and boil for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Combine milk and half and half in small sauce pan and warm but do not scald; keep warm. Drain and mash using a potato masher, mixer or ricer. Return potatoes to the hot pot and stir/cook for about two minutes to dry out the potatoes. Add butter, one pat at a time, until butter has melted. Add milk in a slow stream, mixing. Add salt and pepper to taste.

What I like about these potatoes: They turn out perfectly EVERY TIME.
What I dislike about these potatoes: This recipe doesn't quite make enough, but when I have tried to double it, the potatoes aren't as fluffy. I don't know why.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Again, LOVE my mixer! But I also have a small saucepan that I bought at Bed Bath and Beyond to go with my Emerilware set that has a little notch in it for pouring and it is perfect for the milk mixture. What I usually do when I make this for company is to warm the milk while the potatoes are boiling and when it gets hot enough, I move it to my warming zone. When I make the potatoes just for me, I usually will just microwave plain old milk and skip the half and half altogether. They still turn out great.
Tastiness factor: I have made these for a lot of meals and they are always a hit. I could eat them forever. I have tried several mashed potato recipes over the years, and these are THE BEST I've ever had. They are SO good. Another variation is to boil five or six cloves of unpeeled garlic with the potatoes and blend them into the potatoes...they are also very good that way as well.

Erica's Tips: Don't cut down on the salt called for. You will need the full amount to fully flavor the potatoes. Make sure you use unsalted butter as the potatoes will be too salty if salted butter is used. And TASTE the potatoes before you salt them to eat. I'm a serious salt freak but even I don't have to salt these potatoes...the salty boiling water flavors them perfectly. Also, I have yet to use all of the milk/half and half that has been called for. Usually I cut it to a cup of liquid (1/2 c of each when I am making it for company and 1 c of milk when I make it just for everyday) and it's more than enough. Supposedly the moisture contents of your potatoes dictates how much milk you will need and I guess my potatoes are moist enough that they don't need all of the milk.

And...the phenomenon that is coconut cake.

Apparently this is a real Southern tradition. I had no idea...and I lived in North Carolina for a while.

I really love coconut. I think it is one of the best things ever to put in desserts. My fascination with coconut involves German chocolate cake, pina coladas, Mounds, Almond Joys, Malibu rum, macaroons, coconut shrimp, coconut cream pie, and even those coconut slushies. I love everything coconut.

I was looking on the internet for cake books probably about three months ago and came across this one on the internet that has an entire chapter devoted to coconut cakes. At that time, I had never had coconut cake, but I was sure that I would really like it given my love of everything coconut. So I bought it and made a coconut cake at Christmas. It was a HUGE hit with my dinner guests and I even pawned a piece off on my friend D's husband S (by the way, D, how did he like it?) so none would go to waste.

One of my coworkers has been asking me to make him a coconut cream pie for months after hearing that I am quite a baker. He saw me eating a piece of coconut cake for lunch after Christmas and was rather miffed that I did not bring him a piece despite his love for coconut that rivals mine. Yeah, give me an excuse to try it again. My last one was a little thin on the frosting and I've been dying to try it again to get it perfect. So, here is my coconut cake:

Classic Coconut Cake

3 c cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c milk
1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 eggs

Frosting:
1 c sugar
1/2 c water
2 egg whites
3 c shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. Combine vanilla and milk together in separate bowl. In large bowl, beat butter at medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each one until mixture is thick and smooth. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter and beat on low speed, add 1/2 of the milk mixture and beat well, and repeat this until ingredients are all in and mixture is very thick and smooth. Immediately place the batter into the pans and divide it evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cakes are golden brown. Remove and cool on wire racks for ten minutes. Turn out the cakes onto racks and cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, stir sugar into water until dissolved and bring mixture to gentle boil on stove. Cook for three minutes without stirring. Boil for 5-10 minutes more, stirring constantly, until syrup has thickened and will form a 2" thread when dripped off a spoon. Set syrup aside and let cool slightly. Place egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat on high until they are bright white, shiny and cloud-like. Stream syrup into bowl while mixing to blend into white fluffy icing.

To ice the cake, place one cake layer on plate and spread thick layer of icing over top. Sprinkle with coconut. Place second layer on top and repeat. Ice sides. Place cake stand over a cookie sheet and sprinkle coconut over the top. Pat handsfuls of coconut onto the sides and fill in any bare spots.

What I like about this cake: Very spongy and delicious.
What I dislike about this cake: The frosting is really just not enough...it would be a little better if it were thicker. Plus, I almost kind of want to mix the coconut into the frosting for the middle layer...with the coconut on top, it doesn't allow the layers to really stick together so when you slice the cake, the layers fall apart. Make sure and read Erica's tip before doubling the frosting.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have these Magic Cake Strips that I have been using for cakes lately. You can get them at cake stores. You get the strips wet and then wrap them and pin them in place around the pans. The moisture keeps the layers from doming in the middle. They are great for cakes. Makes frosting them a piece of cake!
Tastiness factor: It is a perfect coconut cake. SO freaking good, I can't stand it. It is so perfect for coconut lovers.

Erica's Tip: After making it the first time and my dinner guests telling me (I asked for blunt feedback) that it really needed more frosting, I decided to double the frosting this time and see if that made it better. I do NOT know what happened, but I think the syrup was so much that it deflated the egg whites. It never set up. So I threw that out and made two seperate batches instead. That would have worked fine except for some reason one of the pots hardened the sugar into candy. So I made a FOURTH batch and the sugar caramelized and turned an amber color. That's the reason why this cake is kind of a peach color. It was still great though...but it was an extremely frustrating experience. Anyway, lesson about the frosting; don't double it in the same batch. Double it, but make the frosting twice instead of doubling the ingredients.

And my creation from last night...this is McKenna's favorite cake and also the favorite of my nieces and nephews. I have made it several times and everyone loves it, I made it for her second birthday party, and last night we made it for girls' night. Great, great cake.

Perfectly Chocolate Cake

2 c sugar
1 3/4 c cake flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs at room temperatur
1 c milk at room temperature
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9" cake pans. Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl and either mix on stir setting or whisk. Add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla and beat on medium speed for two minutes. Stir in boiling water. (Batter will be REALLY thin and watery...don't panic.) Pour into pans. Bake 30-35 minutes. Cool for ten minutes on wire racks in pans and then turn out cakes and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted
2/3 c unsweetened cocoa
3 c powdered sugar
1/3 c milk at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

Mix cocoa into melted butter. Alternately add sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla and add more milk if needed.

What I like about this cake: It is so easy to make and comes out perfect every time. The texture is very soft and spongy.
What I dislike about this cake: It's chocolatey chocolatey. What's not to like? I guess if I had to say, probably a little too sweet. But a glass of milk will take care of that.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have already professed my love for my Magic Cake Strips. I used my pale pink heart-shaped silicone cake pans last night and they are so cute.
Tastiness factor: I was a tad short on the cocoa for the frosting (maybe 1/2 tbsp) and I realized when typing this recipe that I forgot to add the vanilla last night when making the frosting, but it didn't seem to matter...the cake came out delicious.

I guess that's all for now...seven recipes in one post is probably enough. I'll post some more as I make some other stuff. Happy cooking!

My adventures in canning

2008-01-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

I realized tonight that I could not use my canning kit that I bought because it is an enameled pot and anyone that has a glass cooktop knows that you can't use enamelware with glass cooktops.

I was very upset about this. I had been looking forward to canning or jarring some jam for DAYS.

Oh, well. I'm just going to start looking for a very large steel pot that will fit the rack that came with my kit. It might take a while.

I still made my jam though...I kind of had to since I bought my raspberries a week ago. As it was, I still ended up throwing a lot of them out that had started molding. I still had a good five cups that were intact, so I made this jam from the Ball book of canning that came with my kit...albeit, altered a bit since the original recipe called for 9 cups of berries and I only got five out of what was left.

Raspberry Jam

5 c pureed raspberries
4 c sugar

Combine fruit and jam in large stockpot and bring slowly to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for about ten minutes or until jam reaches jelling point or 210 degrees. Process in water-bath canner or freeze.

What I liked about this jam: I liked that I didn't need to add pectin to it.
What I disliked about this jam: I disliked that it bubbled so violently and sprayed pink all over my stove.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I did use the pint-size Ball Mason jars that came with my kit...two to be exact...and then one of the Ball freezing containers. I didn't process the jars in the water bath canner for the above reason, but I checked the internet and they all say those Mason jars are freezer-safe, so...we'll see.
Tastiness factor: I only licked my finger just a bit, but tomorrow I plan to have a bagel with butter and raspberry jam, so we'll see. I'll update next time what I thought of it.

Orzo pasta: is it pasta or rice?

2008-01-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

I was out and about all day today and really had no plans to cook, but when I got home from work around 8, I thought, "why not?" I already had everything to make the below dish and I didn't really feel like leftovers, even though this is my proclaimed "leftover week".

Grilled Skirt Steak and Orzo with the Works

2 lbs skirt steak
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil, divided into two parts
coarse black pepper
kosher salt
1/2 pound orzo pasta
half of a red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 fennel bulb, quartered, cored and thinly sliced **I omitted this because I couldn't find it
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 c chicken broth or stock
1 pint grape tomatoes
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 c fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese **I used grated Parmesan

Combine 2 tbsp of the oil with the vinegar and coat steak with it. Sprinkle pepper on steak and let meat marinate in a non-reactive dish for 5-10 minutes or until ready to cook. Cook orzo as directed or in salted boiling water for twelve minutes and drain. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the remaining oil and add onions, garlic, fennel, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, or until vegetables are tender, about five minutes. Season steak with kosher salt and grill in a grill pan or on outdoor grill for three to four minutes on each side. Remove steak and let it rest for five minutes. Add chicken broth and tomatoes to the vegetables, bring to a bubble and cook for two minutes or until tomatoes begin to burst. Add cooked orzo, basil, parsley and cheese and stir to combine. Serve meat alongside the orzo.

What I liked about this dish: Considering that it is on the gourmet side, not too too hard to make.
What I disliked about this dish: I think that the tomatoes should have been chopped up and if I make this again, that is exactly what I will do.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used my cast iron grill pan for the first time ever. I think the balsamic vinegar seasoned it nicely.
Tastiness factor: This was very, very good. I really liked the orzo pasta and will probably make it as a side dish again in the future. Almost like a rice with the seasonings! Very tasty. Not sure if the fennel would have added anything to it, but I enjoyed it as I cooked it very much.

Whew! Busy week!

2008-01-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

This has been a crazy week! I went to San Antonio and Houston in the early part of the week and didn't get a chance to go shopping before I went, so as soon as I got home Wednesday, I went shopping and now have stuff to make, but the issue I'm having is time. It's very very very busy right now.

So, this week has been deemed leftover week. My freezer is full of all the creations that I have made over the last month and I'm going to skip grocery shopping this month so I can eat my food and make the rest of the dishes that I bought stuff for.

Fettucini Alfredo

12 oz fettucini **I used shell pasta because I had it!
4 T salted butter
3 T all-purpose flour
2 c milk
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 c shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

Boil pasta until tender and drain. Heat butter on high one minute in the microwave in a two-quart glass bowl. Whisk in flour. Stir in milk, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and whisk. Heat on high five minutes in the microwave until thickened, stirring twice during cooking. Stir in one cup Parmesan cheese until melted. Toss with pasta in large bowl and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

What I liked about this recipe: It was SO freaking easy. Fifteen minutes and it was done. Plus, it didn't use heavy cream or half and half and that's pretty rare with any good Alfredo recipe.
What I disliked about this recipe: Not much. It was a little less salty than I would have liked, but I took care of that. Glad I used salted butter.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have a variety of Pyrex measuring cups which double as microwave bowls. I use them a lot for microwave cooking because they have handles on them that don't get scalding hot. I have two one-cup dishes, two two-cup dishes, a one-quart dish and a four-quart dish. I used the four-quart dish last night so I had plenty of room for the whisk.
Tastiness factor: This was seriously good. It was just as easy as making macaroni and cheese from the box and in my opinion, MUCH tastier. One of my friends and I were out and about and I invited her home, and raced home 15 minutes before her....and it was so quick and easy, I had it ready about ten minutes after she arrived.

Beef Pot Roast

4-5 lb beef chuck roast **I used a brisket because I couldn't find a chuck roast big enough
1 garlic clove, sliced in half
kosher salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 c chopped baby carrots
1 rib celery, chopped
half of a large onion, sliced
3/4 c sour cream
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 c dry white wine

Rub roast with garlic. Season roast with salt and pepper and place in slow cooker with garlic halves. Add carrots, celery and onion. Combine sour cream, flour and wine in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour into slow cooker over meat and vegetables. Cover and cook on low for six to seven hours.

What I liked about this dish: Very, very fast to make. It took about ten minutes to get this dish in the Crock Pot.
What I disliked about this dish: Next time I would probably cook it for six hours...the dish was just a tad dry.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Love my whisk, love my tiny pink mixing bowl which is perfect for sauces like this and LOVE MY CROCK POT!
Tastiness factor: This was a good dish with mashed potatoes. Not my favorite roast recipe, but it's a basic recipe with no weird ingredients.

My canning kit has finally arrived, so if I can find time, I'm going to make raspberry jam this weekend! I am down to one container of strawberry jam since I gave one to my friend C.

Pumpkin-Pecan Bread

2008-01-13T15:53:00.001-08:00

Pumpkin-Pecan Bread

1 1/3 c canned pumpkin
2 extra-large eggs, beaten and at room temperature
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1/3 c rolled oats
4 c bread flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 c raisins
2/3 c toasted pecans

Add all ingredients except raisins and pecans to your bread machine in the order given. Select the sweet bread cycle, 2 lb size and light crust. Add raisins and pecans to the dough at the mix-ins signal OR five minutes before the end of the last kneading program. When finished baking, remove from pan and cool on a wire rack at least one hour before slicing. Rub one tbsp of cold butter over the top and sides of the bread as it cools. **I forgot about that last step.

What I liked about this bread: It did not have a buttery fatty taste to it like most sweet breads do.
What I disliked about this bread: It had a very odd yellow color and not an orangey color like I expected.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used my tea kettle to boil water to rehydrate the raisins. I've been doing that whenever I make raisin bread. I just soak the raisins in hot water for about fifteen minutes and they plump right up. Much nicer than just dried raisins.
Tastiness factor: I had a slice of this tonight for a snack with a little butter spread and homemade strawberry jam. VERY, very tasty. The pumpkin and pecans and spices combine to make a great bread that is not overly sweet, but just sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth. Good stuff indeed.

Sadly, I did not get the few last pieces of my homey white bread in the freezer in time. I opened my breadbox tonight to find a few spots of green. The only problem with homemade bread is that it spoils so much faster due to the lack of preservatives. Oh, well. I'll make another loaf of that one later this week when I get home from my trip. I'm off tomorrow night on a three-day whirlwind tour of San Antonio and Houston!

The divine casserole

2008-01-13T09:18:00.000-08:00

I LOVE casseroles just about as much as I love slow cookers. I just think they are really cool for entertaining and dinner parties. Plus, they make a ton of leftovers.

There are a lot of really good recipes out there for casseroles, and there are also a lot of really BAD ones out there that use way too many soups and processed cheeses. Those tend to give me a tummy ache so I tend to try to stick to ones like this that are a little more natural.

I made this for a lunch today...my friend J came over to visit.

The Divine Casserole

1 lb ground beef *I used extra-lean so I wouldn't have to drain it.
6 oz can of tomato paste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Tabasco
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1 c chopped onion
1/4 c melted butter, 1/4 c melted butter, 2 Tbsp butter
8 oz small curd cottage cheese *I substituted Ricotta since it's what I had leftover from another recipe; I used what I had leftover in the fridge and then took some garlic ricotta out of the freezer that I had saved from a pizza I made several weeks ago to make up the difference.
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c softened cream cheese *I used light since, again, it was what I had!
8 oz of egg noodles

Cook egg noodles for eight minutes until tender and drain. Brown ground beef and drain. Add tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and oregano, combine and stir until heated. In a third skillet, melt 2 Tbsp butter and saute onions until translucent. Mix cream cheese, cottage cheese and sour cream in a small bowl and add onions. Blend well. Place half of the noodles in the bottom of a 2 qt casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray and drizzle with 1/4 c of the melted butter. Spread with cheese mixture. Toss other half of noodles with the other 1/4 c melted butter and spread on top of cheese. Spread meat mixture on top of second layer of noodles. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until bubbly.

What I liked about this dish: Very straight-forward and easy to follow. Very good taste and I can tell it will reheat well for leftovers!
What I disliked about this dish: It was a little harder to make than it sounded yesterday when I chose it. It's okay if you are good with multitasking in the kitchen, but basically while you are making this, you have three pots going on the stove...the pasta, the meat and the onions. I was so consumed with getting the meat mixture ready that I forgot about the butter and it browned a little bit. Thank goodness I had the heat on medium or I might have had a fire! Also, the tomato paste wasn't quite wet enough in my opinion while cooking...and the meat mixture seemed a tad dry. That also could be a result of me using such lean ground beef. I would strongly recommend having everything out on the counter and prepped to go before you start cooking so you are not distracted by measuring and portioning.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Have I mentioned the handiness of my Sauder kitchen scale? LOVE that thing. Not only was it good to measure out the dry noodles since egg noodles do not come in an 8 oz package, but it was very handy to divide the cooked noodles since my OCD self refuses to eyeball it. The other thing that I enjoyed using was my stoneware 2 qt casserole in beige by Corningware Creations. I kind of wish I had known before I bought my stoneware set that it came in black, but oh, well.
Tastiness factor: It was good. It's not my favorite casserole, but it was very good and very tasty. My lunch guest thought it was outstanding so it might have just been my personal taste. The first thing it reminded me of when I tasted it was a dip that I would eat at a party...probably because of the sour cream and cream cheese. It was also a little cold inside, so I'm sure that the leftovers will be better as I will reheat them to be a little hotter. It never reached that 'bubbly' point, so maybe 5-10 more minutes in the oven would have improved it a little. Overall, a great dish and lunch was a hit.
Tip from me: When I boil pasta, I always salt the water to flavor the pasta and add a tiny bit of oil (usually canola) to keep the pasta from sticking together when it drains in the colander.

Also, my first attempt at fudge!

Granny's Fudge

4 1/2 c sugar
5 oz can evaporated milk
18 oz milk chocolate chips
1 c melted butter
1 c chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine sugar and milk in saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue cooking and stirring for seven minutes. Add chocolate, butter and pecans, stir until chocolate is completely melted, and remove from heat. Add vanilla and continue stirring until mixture is smooth. Spread into the bottom of a greased 8x8 pan. Let cool completely before slicing. Makes one pound.

What I liked about this fudge: I didn't have to use my oven! It was also very, very quick to make and when it says it makes a pound, it means it. I will probably be freezing a lot of this.
What I disliked about this fudge: I don't think dislike and fudge fit into the same sentence. However, if I had to pick something, I guess I would say that it had a very long cooling time. I finished the fudge at about 12:30 am and by the time I went to bed at 3, it still wasn't hardened all the way. I covered it and this morning it was fine.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My kitchen scale was very handy to measure the chocolate since chocolate does not come in 6 oz packages like the recipe said it did. (Every day that kitchen scale is making itself one of my most vital gadgets.) I also liked my heat-resistant scraper for stirring the milk and sugar and making sure I got all the stuff off the bottom so it didn't scald.
Tastiness factor: Licking the spoon was a joy. Eating it was even better. I loved it. My dinner guest said it was a little sweet for her taste but took some home for later. McKenna wouldn't eat it, but considering that she kept calling it "cake" and it didn't resemble cake in any way, that wasn't a surprise. If I make this again, I will probably let the sugar/milk mixture boil a little longer...the sugar was still a little grainy and not all the way dissolved. But it was very good fudge.
Tips from me: If I make this again, I will probably use a 9x9 pan instead of an 8x8. The fudge comes almost all the way up to the lip of the dish. If you have someone on hand who can hold the pot for you while you pour and scrape the fudge into the dish, all the better as that pan IS heavy. I have a heavy-bottomed Emerilware pot with aluminum/copper and I almost dropped the pot a few times. After you bring the pot to a boil, stand there and stir the mixture constantly unless you want a mess on your stove....that sugar and milk do kind of bubble on the violent side. The recipe I used just said "chocolate chips", so I would be very curious to see how this would come out with semi-sweet chips, dark chocolate chips, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, etc. I would venture to guess that you could make a lot of different combinations.

That's it for me...off to clean up the kitchen. All my lunch dishes are still sitting here...I fell asleep on McKenna's bed reading her a book before her nap!

I love slow cookers

2008-01-13T00:39:00.000-08:00

One of the least used appliances in the modern kitchen in my humble opinion is the slow cooker.

What could be better? You toss your ingredients in the morning before you leave for work, and when you come home, they are ready to eat. Plus, it makes your house smell fantastic.

I own a 6 quart stoneware slow cooker and a "little dipper" for keeping dips warm at parties. While I was cooking this dish, I went to Target for some other things and picked up a 4 quart oval red stoneware cooker that I've had my eye on, so I can make side dishes to go with my main dish and for other reasons that require smaller cookers (see below). There are some really fantastic recipes out there for slow cookers...ranging from gourmet to just toss and go. I just love slow cookers. I try to use mine at least once a week. They are the best. It took me a little while to get over the fear that it would burn my house down, but I think I'm there. I've never handled a fire that originated from a slow cooker left on when no one was at home. (And if there is anyone out there that has, zip it...I like to live in my ignorance.)

Today, I made teriyaki chicken with orange sauce for dinner...my friend C came over for dinner.

Dad and Susan, this one's for you! Get that slow cooker out!

Teriyaki Chicken with Orange Sauce

1 pound skinned boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1" pieces
16 oz package of frozen vegetables (carrots, water chestnuts and broccoli)
2 Tbsp quick cooking tapioca (dry)
3/4 c chicken broth
3 Tbsp orange marmalade
2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Spray slow cooker pot with vegetable spray for easy clean-up. Place frozen vegetables on the bottom of a 4-qt slow cooker. (Obviously I used a 6 qt since that's all I had at the time of cooking.) Sprinkle tapioca over vegetables and stir to combine. Place chicken on top of vegetables. In small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and whisk until combined. Pour over chicken. Cover and cook on either low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-2.5 hours. Serve over hot cooked white rice.

What I liked about this dinner: Very, VERY fast to prepare. My friend was coming over at 7 and I had to get it started by 3 and started prepping at 2:40. Very, very quick.
What I disliked about this dinner: I'm not sure if it was the length of the cooking time or the fact that I used a 6 qt cooker and the recipe called for a four, but the broccoli got very, very, very mushy and a little bland. For me, that's GOOD because I don't like broccoli, but if you like your broc a little crisp, you might want to cut the cooking time down and start checking it at about four hours on low.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used all broccoli instead of the mixed vegetables since that's what I had left over and I don't really care for water chestnuts anyway. I had a Ziploc bag of it in the freezer that I keep adding to as I made dishes. Thanks to my new Sauder digital kitchen scale that I bought a few weeks ago, I was able to tell that I had exactly a pound of frozen broccoli that was left over from several dishes that I've made over the last month....namely a chicken broc lasagna for a coworker and a vegetable casserole that I made for Christmas Eve. Waste not, want not!
Tastiness factor: It smelled great when I was whisking the sauce and even better as it started to cook. At about four hours, all I could smell was the broccoli cooking. It was pretty good. Not the best Chinese dish I've ever had, but it was pretty good. I'll enjoy the leftovers. My dinner guest said it was okay, but too sweet for her taste. I think I would probably try this again as I do like sweet chicken dishes and probably try it in my 4 qt cooker with less time to see if that helped anything.

Special Request-Erica's Deviled Eggs

2008-01-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

I had a little email tonight in my inbox from my friend E in Maryland asking for my most recent deviled eggs recipe. Wow...I've never had a request before!

I actually don't make deviled eggs from a recipe. I learned to make them from my mother and it's probably the only thing that I don't have to read a recipe for to make. And they are pretty darn good. I actually made them for my wedding rehearsal dinner as an appetizer...I made about sixty and every one of them was eaten.

If anyone would like to see a recipe for the version of whatever it is you are looking for, please post and let me know...I am ALWAYS up for a challenge and for ideas!

Erica's Deviled Eggs

Place a dozen large eggs in a stockpot and cover with water until the water level is one inch above the eggs. Turn the heat on high and bring to a boil. Boil eggs for twelve minutes. Immediately after removing from the heat, place pot in the sink and run cold water in it until eggs are cool enough to handle. Transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water and let sit for at least fifteen to twenty minutes. (This process will avoid the green slime that the sulphur creates between the yolk and the white.) Peel eggs and cut each egg in half. Place egg halves on a tray or a deviled egg plate and put yolk pieces into a mixing bowl. Mash with a fork until yolks are evenly crumbed and soft. Start the seasoning with a two spoonsful of mayonnaise and a spoonful of yellow prepared mustard. (Any mustard will work fine, even Dijjonnaise.) Add a healthy shake of each of the following ingredients:

red paprika
garlic powder
garlic salt
onion powder
dried chives
dried parsley
dried dill
kosher salt
black pepper
Tabasco

Mix by hand or with an electric mixer until mixture is creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Usually I find that I have to add more mayonnaise, salt and Tabasco. Once mixture is just right, spoon teaspoonsful into each egg half. The final touch is to sprinkle more paprika all over the tops of the eggs and to garnish the plate or tray with fresh parsley.

What I like about this dish: They are SERIOUSLY good, everyone loves them and to me, they say holiday dinners as I rarely ever serve a holiday dinner without them.
What I don't like about this dish: They don't refrigerate very well, so I recommend that you make just enough for the guests that you are serving and make sure that they are all eaten.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have two deviled egg plates since I serve this dish quite often...one is a white porcelain dish in the shape of an egg and one is a cut crystal dish that doesn't accomodate more than a dozen. But I love both.
Tastiness factor: I find that the Tabasco sauce really adds a special kick. I actually started adding pepper sauce to my eggs several years ago after making a spinach and artichoke dip that called for a dash of Tabasco and discovering how wonderful Tabasco is when added in small quantities.

Tip from me: Store Tabasco in the refrigerator to preserve and prolong the sharp flavor and the beautiful red color. It is okay to store it in the cabinet, but the sauce may lose some of its flavor and the color may fade to orange.

E, enjoy the eggs...hope you like them! They are the same ones that I served the night before my wedding!

Who doesn't like La Madeleine?

2008-01-10T01:23:00.000-08:00

I have liked this place ever since Dana took me there for the first time. Great, great stuff to eat with a French air. I like it. And it's yummy for lunch.

My favorite thing that they make though is their tomato basil soup. So, so good, even if it's not the healthiest thing on the menu. I was looking through my loose recipes over Christmas and found this recipe that was clipped from the Dallas Morning News, and I have always wanted to try it. So tonight I did with great results.

La Madeleine Tomato-Basil Soup

4 c Roma tomatoes, peeled/cored/chopped
4 c tomato juice
14 fresh basil leaves plus extra for garnish, chopped
1 c heavy whipping cream
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
kosher salt to taste

Combine tomatoes and juice in large saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes over medium-low heat. Cool slightly, add basil and process in a food processor or blender. Return to saucepan. Add cream and butter and stir over low heat until butter and cream are incorporated. Stir in salt and pepper. Garnish with more fresh basil.

What I liked about this soup: Very, very tasty and very good. Tastes just like the soup at the restaurant!
What I disliked about this soup: It took a lot longer to make than I thought. Peeling and chopping the tomatoes was kind of a pain. I did the "fast peel" method where you slip the tomatoes into boiling water for 30 seconds and then the skins are supposed to just slip off. I must not have boiled them long enough because I had to work to get the skins off. And, because I wasn't paying attention and was chatting with my friend C who came over to try the soup, I cut my left index finger pretty good with my mezzaluna while chopping basil. Ow! Rachael Ray I am NOT! Plus it took a while to get the soup simmering. I finally ended up turning up the heat to medium high to get it to a gentle rolling boil and then turned it down to simmer after that.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I used my mortar and pestle to crack the whole black peppercorns for the soup. I feel like a real chef when I use my mortar and pestle. Now I want a molcajete. And I didn't realize that the fresh basil I bought is actually a plant with roots, so I'm going to plant it tomorrow and see if I can't grow fresh basil in my windowsill!
Tastiness factor: I used Roma tomatoes, so the finished soup was a little sweeter than the soup you get at the restaurant, but I actually liked it better...it was very smooth and not grainy like the soup is at the restaurant since I pureed it in my food processor for a good long minute.

You will also see probably quite a few banana recipes. I think I am on a quest to see how many different things I can make with overripe bananas. I made banana nut bread in my bread machine a few weeks ago. This time, it was this yummy creation which I have eyed several times but never tried.

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

2 eggs, beaten
1 c mashed ripe bananas *I pureed them in the food processor and froze what was left over
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/4 c milk
2 c all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz package of German sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Combine bananas, oil, milk and eggs and stir until well-blended. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a seperate bowl and gradually stir into wet mixture until just moistened. Fold in chocolate and nuts. Pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes and then remove from pan to cool on wire rack.

What I liked about this bread: It was really really easy and a great solution for using overripe bananas, even though most people don't just have German chocolate lying around.
What I disliked about this bread: The instructions say to bake the bread at 55 minutes, but it took me 65 minutes to get it done. Might have been the silicone (see below).
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have a complete set of Kitchen Aid silicone bakeware and tonight was my first night to use my silicone loaf pan. Came out fantastic! I also rather like my cake tester which is a piece of thin wire with a handle.
Tastiness Factor: Very, very delicious. The chocolate is not overbearing and it combines very well with the bananas and nuts for a nice, sweet dessert or breakfast bread. I will probably be eating it for breakfast for the next few days.

Hibachi-style Japanese Ginger Dressing

2008-01-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

I got back tonight from Odessa (I went to work a fire), and let me tell you, for a booming oil town, they have NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING to eat. I ate McDonald's twice and Subway once. I was dead tired when I walked in but I made myself make some dinner and boy, am I glad I did...I was so hungry and I feel so much better already! Amazing what comfort food will do for you...it truly warms the soul and heart.

This is an old favorite of mine that I got YEARS ago from Erin. I have done so many things with it over the years...I have made single servings, doubled it (which is what is below...the original recipe is half of the quantities listed below), quadrupled it and even made a diet version with canola oil, low-sodium soy sauce and Splenda. It is TRULY delicious and if you like the ginger dressing at the Japanese restaurants, you'll LOVE this because it seriously tastes JUST like it.

I find it best if you make this right before serving, but if you make it ahead of time, it will blend back together if you shake it vigorously. I like to serve this with a spring green salad with chopped carrots and sliced cucumbers. Yummo. It is fantastic to take to work.

Japanese Ginger Dressing

1/2 c chopped onions
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/4 c seasoned rice vinegar
1/8 c water
1/8 c chopped peeled ginger root
1/8 c chopped celery
1/8 c soy sauce
3 tsp tomato paste
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Serve immediately or chill to store.

The other thing I made tonight was something that I wasn't sure I was going to like because it was so simple, but it turns out that it was incredible and I loved it...talk about simple comfort food. Just what I needed on this cold night.

Potluck Casserole

1 c chopped onion
1 green pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp butter
1 lb ground beef
14.5 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 c long-cooking white rice, uncooked
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper **original recipe called for 1/2 tsp but after the Ranch dressing, I was scared
1 tsp chili powder

Melt butter in skillet and add onion and green pepper. Cook until tender. Add ground beef and brown. Drain and remove from heat. (I used 4% fat ground beef and thus did not need to drain anything.) Pour tomatoes into a lightly greased 13 x 9 baking dish and sprinkle with rice, salt, pepper and chili powder. Add ground beef mixture and stir to combine. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

What I liked about this dinner: I was exhausted when I came home, but the casserole was made in a flash and in the oven in less than ten minutes. Totally worth it and totally better than stopping for fast food on the way home.
What I disliked about this dinner: It did take an hour in the oven, but I didn't mind...it gave me a chance to open some wine, make my dressing, prepare a salad, change from the trip, kiss the puppies, etcetera.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I just couldn't face chopping all those onions and peppers by hand, so I whizzed them in the food processor on pulse a few times and voila, they were ready.
Tastiness Factor: SO, so good. I don't know what it was that made this dish so tasty, but I gobbled it right up and now I feel better after eating fast food for two days in a row. And it was cheap...the only thing I didn't have just sitting around was the ground beef. Most of the stuff is stuff you already have if you cook on a regular basis. Plus, I had a leftover green pepper that I needed to use and now I have! I would definitely recommend this dish for sure!

Hey, by the way, if anyone tries any of the recipes posted here, please post back to me and let me know under the entry with the recipe...I'd love to hear how you changed it and how you enjoyed it!

Making homemade bread versus buying it

2008-01-08T02:19:00.000-08:00

Is it really cheaper to make your own white bread as you need it rather than buying a loaf and throwing some of it away? That's what I'm faced with right now.

Well, I guess that remains to be seen, but I'm going to try to utilize my bread machine to make my bread for sandwiches and toast from now and see how it goes. I'm not sure how much cheaper it really is, but I can buy a huge bag of bread flour for less than $5 and the bread that I buy at the store is $2.99 per loaf, and mine that I make at home tastes a lot better. I just don't see the point of buying an entire loaf just for me and I don't eat that many sandwiches.

Any thoughts either way? I figure if I have any leftover after a week, I can always freeze it. However, considering that I just made all that jam and have only eaten it once, I don't think any of this is going to go to waste.

Homey White Bread

1/2 c water at room temperature
1 c milk at room temperature
2 Tbsp unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
4 c white bread flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Add all ingredients to the bread machine in the order given, choose the 2 lb setting, the white bread cycle and the light crust, and wait one hour to slice after removing bread from the machine.

What I liked about this bread: I didn't have to buy ANYTHING special for it, it rose SO tall and it smelled great baking.
What I disliked about this bread: I waited a full hour to slice it, and it still was a little too soft and fell apart just a tad. I don't know if maybe I just needed to let it cool and set overnight, so I guess I'll try that next time.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My Cuisinart bread machine
Tastiness factor: Soft, white and delicious...like biting into a cloud. It was fantastic paired up with my strawberry jam and a little butter. Yum yum!

Onion Bread

2008-01-04T03:29:00.000-08:00

I made this bread the other night just out of curiosity. I really love onion things and this bread was very fragrant and tasty...not at all overwhelming.

Onion Bread

3/4 c milk at room temperature
1 Tbsp unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
2 c white bread flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 c dried onions
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp poppy seeds
2 tsp active dry yeast

Add all ingredients to the bread machine in the order listed. Use 1 lb setting and bake on the white bread cycle.

What I liked about my bread: The aroma is amazing! I had it in a small bag at work and it made my cubicle smell just amazing.
What I disliked about my bread: Nothing. It was super-tasty!
Cool kitchen gadgets used: Obviously my bread machine is cooler than anything, but my small pink mixing bowl from Williams Sonoma that is perfect for measuring out bread flour as it holds four cups was nice too.
Tastiness factor: Very, very good bread. The onion taste is there, but not at all offensive like you might think. It is a very flavorful mild bread and I am sure it would be great with sandwiches.

The price of lobster

2008-01-03T01:05:00.000-08:00

I decided to make this lobster pasta this week and spring for a lobster tail.

I should have run screaming when I asked the guy at the seafood counter for a small tail and he said, "do you want the house payment size or the car payment size?"

It didn't occur to me that I would actually spend more on a lobster tail in a market than I would for a fully cooked lobster at a restaurant. I spent $31 on that piece of lobster tail at Central Market.

Oh, well. Live and learn.

Fettucini with Lobster Sauce

12 oz fettuccini pasta, cooked
10 oz can of shrimp bisque *I used this garlic shrimp and tomato bisque that I found at Central Market
1/2 c half and half
1/4 c dry sherry
1 cooked lobster tail, shelled and sliced

In medium saucepan, combine bisque, half and half and sherry and stire over medium heat. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer for five minutes. Add lobster to sauce and stir until heated through. Serve sauce over pasta.

Ranch Dressing

1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c buttermilk
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp fresh minced dill
1 Tbsp dried chives
3 Tbsp fresh minced parsley
2 Tbsp fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 dash Tabasco
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp ground white pepper

Combine all ingredients and chill for 30 minutes before serving with mixed greens.

What I liked about this dish: The lobster was absolutely delicious and the pasta dish was fairly easy and not too complex to prepare and make.
What I disliked about this dish: The lobster was expensive (see above) and the shrimp bisque smelled a little weird.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I had bought fresh parsley for a dish three weeks ago, fresh dill for dilly potatoes the day before Christmas Eve, and fresh mint for sangria on Christmas Eve. I have an herb keeper that I bought at Sur La Table a few years ago that I was keeping my fresh herbs in and it really did keep them fresh...I used up the rest of the dill and the parsley for my dishes tonight. I also used my herb snippers to cut the dill and the parsley leves away from the stems (great little tool) and my mezzaluna (Spanish for "half-moon") is utterly priceless for mincing fresh herbs.
Tastiness factor: The lobster pasta was not too bad, but in retrospect given how much I had spent on the tail, I think I would have rather just ate it boiled with drawn butter and had the pasta on the side. If I were going to make it again, that's probably what I'd do. The Ranch dressing, on the other hand, was the spiciest pepperiest dressing I've EVER tasted. It smelled great coming out of the refrigerator, but after I put it on my salad, it just was WAY overpowering and way too hot. Not at all the creamy dilly Ranch that I envisioned today when I started mixing it together, that's for sure. If you like pepper, you'll probably love it, but I personally did not care for it.

All in all, the meal was not lost, and I ended it with my last piece of coconut cake from Christmas Eve. My Christmas sweets are now officially gone.

I have discovered the joy of jam-making

2008-01-02T01:06:00.000-08:00

After I got a bread machine for Christmas and started making my own bread, I realized that not only are all the jellies in my fridge seriously out of date (a few had mold growing on them) but that they aren't even that great.

So I picked up a $1.99 special Kroger-brand squeezable strawberry jelly. Even worse.

I decided that I would try my hand at making my own jam, which led to a dubious research trip traipsing across the internet looking at sites that teach you how to "can" your own jam, salsa, pickles and spaghetti sauce.

I am intrigued. I didn't even realize that people still canned things or that you could do it with a minimum of equipment. But apparently you can.

If you are intrigued as well, please visit this site and learn all you would like to know about canning, which is kind of an oxymoron since there is no can involved...it really should be called "jarring", but I guess canning sounds better.

And in case anyone is curious, this is the kit that I absolutely have to have after the fun I had this evening making my first batch EVER of strawberry jam. And my stupid squeezable jelly is in the trash. I'm done with it.

However, the cool thing is that you don't have to have a canning kit to make this jam...apparently it freezes well too. Who knew!?!?!?

Strawberry Jam

4 c of mashed strawberries (2-3 lbs of strawberries, hulled and quartered before mashing)
4 c sugar
1/4 c freshly squeezed lemon juice

Put a small dish in the freezer. Combine all ingredients in a stockpot and stir on low heat until sugar dissolves. (Make sure to use a stockpot because the fixture foams up high when it boils.) Turn up heat to high and bring mixture to a full boil, stirring constantly. Cook on a full rolling boil for approximately ten minutes, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer reads 220 degrees. Place a teaspoon of the jam on the plate in freezer and put back in the freezer for one minute. Remove plate and draw finger through jam. If jam seperates without running back together, it is done. Pour jam into sterile hot jars and process in a water bath to seal jars, or, if you don't have a kit like me, pour mixture into freezer-safe containers, leaving 1/4" at the top for headspace, and freeze what you will not eat.

What I liked about this jam: It was SO freaking easy to make, it makes me wonder why I haven't tried to make jam before. If you can boil water and read a thermometer, you can make this jam.
What I disliked about this jam: I feel like my entire kitchen is sticky now. I dropped jam on my floors, on my counters, my stove and me, and it'll probably take me a week to get it all clean and destickyed. But I digress.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: My new candy thermometer was a gem and I bought it just for this jam. I also bought Ball freezer-safe containers just for jam since I don't have my canning kit yet. But my FAVORITE gadget was my heavy-duty copper and aluminum bottomed Emerilware stockpot. From reading all the reviews on the site where I got this recipe, everyone had a really hard time bringing their jam to 220 degrees. Not me. In fact, it took NO time at all to get my jam to that temperature! I love my pot!
Tastiness factor: I licked the spoon and ate some hot jam on a piece of bread at 1 am. How's that for an answer?

And my New Year's meal since I hate black-eyed peas...

Saucy Potatoes and Ham

4 c peeled and thinly sliced potatoes
1 c chopped white onion
10 3/4 oz can of cream of celery soup
12 oz can evaporated milk
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 c cooked ham, cubed

Combine all ingredients but ham in a slow cooker and mix well. Cover and cook on high setting for one hour. Add ham and stir well. Cover and cook on low setting for six to eight hours or until potatoes are tender.

What I liked about my dinner: I used my leftover honey-baked ham from Christmas Eve and added a little cut up sliced ham from the fridge (sandwich meat) which in my opinion, is a great way to use up leftovers!
What I disliked about my dinner: I know that the recipe says 6-8 hours on low, but I think that's too long. I think it would have been ready after five hours. I ate it after it had been cooking for six hours, and it was a little too brown around the edges for me. If you make this, just make sure you are constantly checking the potatoes for tenderness. It is possible that this recipe was done at four hours and I just didn't realize it since I waited until six hours to start checking it. And clean-up was a nightmare; I strongly recommend spraying your Crock Pot dish with vegetable spray since potatoes are sticky. I know better...I don't know why I didn't do that. I had to scrub and scrub to get it clean.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I love my six-quart stoneware Crock Pot. Enough said! And my favorite knife, my santoku paring knife, is just the best knife for slicing potatoes. However, my large santoku knife is pretty darn good for chopping onions in a flash since you can "rock" it back and forth like a mezzaluna.
Tastiness factor: Pretty good. I enjoyed it and I will be taking it for lunches to eat leftovers.

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome back. It's nice to know that there are some people out there who remember me! Hugs to all.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T01:40:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and happy New Year! Best wishes to everyone for a great 2008.

Yes, after a LOOOOOOOONG hiatus, I am back. I'm sure a lot of you are probably in shock from actually seeing the little icon by my blog on your blog list that I've posted an update.

The major reason for me being gone for so long is quite simply this: P and I are divorcing. I don't really feel like going into the details over what has happened, so please don't ask. Just know that I am fine, I am surviving, and that I was the one that wanted out. Let's just leave it at that. There is no need to post any "I'm sorry" comments or "Let me know if you need anything" or "I'll keep you in my prayers". It is what it is and that's it. End of story.

However, the last year has sucked really bad. I haven't really felt like blogging or emailing or posting. I haven't stitched or scrapbooked in probably eight months. With the exception of the last six weeks, I have barely cooked this year, have not slept well, and have made myself extremely run down and sick. Depression is lousy, what can I say? Thank God for antidepressants, or I probably would have died from lack of sleep.

However, it's not all bad. There have been some good things in the last year. McKenna is doing great...she is two now and into everything. She's just a doll and talks nonstop. I bought a redfire 2007 Mustang in May which I adore. I am keeping the house all by myself and have redecorated it to my tastes...the kitchen is Cherry Cobbler red, the main areas are Toasted Wheat, and I have the furniture and decorations and furnishings that I like. I am really reconnecting with my kitchen and cooking for myself and McKenna on a regular basis now which is amazing and I feel so good doing it, not to mention it's FUN and it's keeping me busy.

We did take our vacation in Destin and Destin was a paradise. I can't wait to go back again. I am actually contemplating going for a weekend on my own maybe in March and doing nothing but sitting on the beach for a few days.

Work is going really well, although still really busy. My company finally recognized that fires are my forte (well, DUH) and decided finally to give me my dream job...I am now supervising ALL fire referrals for my company between $30,000-$100,000 for THE ENTIRE STATE OF TEXAS. No more roofs. No more water losses. No more regular adjusters. I now have a team of six fire adjusters, three in the DFW area, one in Austin, one in San Antonio and one in Houston. It is something that I have been working on to make happen for the last six months, and now that it is finally here and live, it is wonderful and I couldn't be happier. It was a hard road getting there though...there were several times over the last six months that I contemplated quitting and going somewhere else, but now I am so glad that I did not and hung in there.

So that's me in a nutshell. Glad to be back.

One of the things that I have contemplated doing for quite a while is revitalizing this blog into a food blog of sorts. I've read a lot of food blogs over the last few months and I love them and think they are so neat. I would love to share recipes, tips I have learned for cooking, cool kitchen gadgets, and just how I enjoyed/disliked making the recipe. How long I'll keep it up, I don't know, but I'm sure going to try! Maybe I'll even throw in some pictures if I can find my old digital camera at work.

Tonight, as a special tribute to the new year ahead, I made a special meal just for me. I even went to Central Market to get the ingredients. I made a crab and artichoke bridge casserole with lemon rice pilaf and opened a bottle of champagne just for me which I am proud to say I am finishing as I type this.

I would love to hear what you think of the food blog format. There's always a possibility that I may not do it very long as I tend to phase in and out of stuff as time goes on, but we'll see.

Crab and Artichoke Bridge Casserole

2 Tbsp unsalted butter + 4 Tbsp unsalted butter (seperated)
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 c milk
1 c half and half
1 lb lump crab meat
8 oz diced mushrooms
8-12 canned or bottled artichoke hearts, diced in a food processor
1/4 c dry sherry wine
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 1 1/2 quart casserole with cooking spray. Melt 4 Tbsp butter in saucepan and add flour. Whisk and cook about three minutes. Remove from heat and add milk and half and half gradually along with a pinch of kosher salt, whisking until smooth. Whisk constantly over medium heat until thickened, about five minutes. Pour cream sauce into a mixing bowl and whisk in sherry, Worcestershire, kosher salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. Melt 2 Tbsp butter in large skillet and add mushrooms. Cook about eight minutes until mushrooms are tender and liquid is reduced. Layer artichokes, mushrooms and crab meat (in that order) in casserole and pour cream sauce mixture over layers. Sprinkle top with Parmesan and paprika. Bake for twenty minutes or until top is golden.

Lemon Rice Pilaf

1/2 c long-grain white cooking rice, uncooked
1/2 c orzo pasta, uncooked
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 3/4 c chicken stock or broth
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat and add rice and pasta. Stir and cook until golden, taking care not to burn rice and pasta. Add chicken broth and bring mixture to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in lemon zest and parsley. Garnish with lemon slices if desired.

What I liked about my dinner: The lemon rice pilaf had a GREAT taste to it...very light, citrusy and flavorful...and I normally don't really care for lemon stuff unless it's loaded with sugar. It was very quick to make, but keep in mind that I do all my prepwork (measuring and chopping) before I start cooking. I like to pretend that I'm Rachel Ray and have all the stuff ready on the counter so I don't have to worry that I've forgotten something. Yup, I'm a dork.
What I disliked about my dinner: When I went to Central Market, all they had was stone crab claws which were expensive and a total pain to clean and shell. My hands are already very dry and cracked from the cold, and working with those things didn't really help.
What I learned: I will probably get a container of loose lump crabmeat rather than the claws as I think it will be MUCH easier and cheaper and I think I will dice my mushrooms in the food processor rather than chopping them by hand.
Cool kitchen gadgets used: microplaner for zesting the lemons, mushroom brush for cleaning the mushrooms and a meat tenderizer mallet for breaking the crab claws
Tastiness factor: The rice pilaf was excellent. It complimented the crab very well and it was really good kind of mixed in with the sauce of the casserole. The casserole was also very good, but it was a lot of work and definitely not something for every day especially given the cost of the ingredients...a pound of lump crab in the carton is about $15 and I spent $18 on a pound of crab claws. But still very good and it will make great leftovers this week.

That's it for now.

Spring Cleaning!

2007-03-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up with an incredible irritation...our house is an absolute DISASTER area!!!

Ever since we really tore through here and cleaned the house in the summer of 2005, the house just has never been that organized again. Even though everything has a place, it just doesn't seem like everything has been put IN its place.

So today, we are starting our spring cleaning. We are both off on Good Friday, so we plan on doing more cleaning on that day, but today is the grand beginning, that's for sure.

Other than that, not much is going on at the moment. Work is incredibly busy. One of my employee is returning from training next Monday, so next week will be crazy, and I'm getting a transfer from another team the week after, so that week will be crazy. I'm involved in lots and lots of projects, I'm organizing training, we have our big bonus day coming up on March 30, and I have my team meeting next Friday. It's just crazy busy! But it's good crazy busy! I'm starting to sort of get used to my new job...it's getting better. Once all five members of my team are up and fully running, it'll be better.

I also started weight lifting again last week...so far, it's okay. I'm sore, but it's good.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

A little bit of "girly"

2007-03-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

It's so sad when the highlight of your weekend is that your brand new cell phone that arrived FOR WORK is Bluetooth-compatible.

I won't even tell you how hard I had to beg and plead for it, but it was a long time coming, let's just leave it at that.

Anyway, after my beautiful sleek brand-new Samsung A640 arrived on Friday, I spent Friday night charging it up and then Saturday, we trucked out to the Sprint store in search of a Bluetooth headset.

Which, I might add, that my company is refusing to pay for because the law only encourages hands-free, not wireless, headsets. Whatever. I paid for it and I'm going to expense the cost of a regular crappy headset. At least they got me the new phone.

So we walk in there yesterday, and lo and behold, the Sprint salesgirl has ONE Scala 500 leftover from Valentine's Day. Guess what color it is? PINK!

Perfect for me...totally girly! I can't wait to use it tomorrow.

Hello from the valley of the sun

2007-02-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm in Phoenix, Arizona, right now visiting my dad and stepmom with P and McKenna, but I wanted to stop in really quick and tell everyone thank you for the condolences about Gabby.

This weekend has been okay, but it's easy to not be sad when you are so distracted with so many wonderful things to do and see in Phoenix, not to mention McKenna, my allergy attack, and the fact that my body is finally realizing just how exhausted it is.

However, the hard times are ahead. Right now, it still doesn't seem real that Gabby is gone. It just feels like she is at home waiting for us to get back from the airport. I think once we get home and pick up the dogs from the boarder, it will be a little better than it was the first night. The first night, we had taken Katie and Simon to the boarder's, and it was just so quiet at home with just us and the other two cats left in the house since McKenna was asleep.

I know she's in a better place and I did the right thing. I'm just going to miss her a lot.

Phoenix has been a lot of fun, aside from my horrible allergy attack and McKenna's ear infection which manifested itself Saturday afternoon. We went to Tortilla Flat, which is an old stagecoach town in the Superstition Mountains, and that was fun. We stopped at this old gold mining town on the way back and I bought a small little "goldglobe" for my desk. It's like a snowglobe, except with flakes of gold and not snow. Pretty neat. Yesterday we went to Arizona Mills and then to PF Chang's in Tempe for lunch. Saturday afternoon, Dad took us to our old neighborhood and I showed P my old elementary school, home and junior high (now a middle school) in Tempe. Kind of strange, but neat.

Anyway, we're flying out today, so I'm off to start packing up.

Goodbye forever, Gabrielle

2007-02-22T21:44:00.000-08:00

Today is a very sad day for me. Today I said goodbye forever to my dear sweet cat, Gabrielle, who I have had the pleasure of having in my life for thirteen wonderful years.

Last night around 11 pm, I went into the office to check on her like I always do and I found her laying on her side on the floor breathing very heavily and looking very sick. I picked her up, took her out to the kitchen, and she flopped over on her side like she just didn't have the energy to go on. I decided to take her to the emergency vet, and they put her on oxygen and basically got her through the night. When I took her to my permanent vet, she confirmed what the emergency vet had told me...that Gabrielle was having some sort of heart failure related to her heart murmur that was discovered ten years ago and that we could run all kinds of tests, an EKG, an ultrasound, chest x-rays, but that ultimately what would end up happening (best case scenario) is that she would be on medication for the rest of her life, be relegated to constant vet visits to monitor her progress, and would risk every day having a heart attack or stopping breathing. Worst of all, the vet said that all of this would be horribly expensive and traumatic, and that she couldn't guarantee us six months or even six days.

Considering her age and the quality of life issue at stake, we decided to do the best thing for her and let her go. It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make and I have never cried so much as I have today. The vet made me feel a little better about my decision when she told me that after Gabby fell asleep when they started the procedure, blood and other fluids started flowing from her mouth, confirming that she had severe pulmonary edema and that this was an irreversible process. Despite that, she died very peacefully. Her body is going to be cremated and her ashes distributed at a local pet cemetary.

Gabby, I will love you forever. I will never forget all the times I drove from Chapel Hill to Winston-Salem with you curled up on my lap. You were my buddy from my first apartment in Chapel Hill (from which I was evicted because I refused to give you up or find another home for you) and you moved with me to eight places after that. You drove with me from North Carolina to Texas. Even though the doctors told me when you were three that you wouldn't live past the age of six due to your heart murmur, you hung in there year after year after year without complaint. You kept me company and comforted me through many broken hearts, my parents' divorce, my miscarriage, and were there on the bed every day with me when I was put on bedrest. Many, many days were spent with you curled up behind my laptop purring. You were sweet to my daughter and showed such patience with every new person I brought into your house starting with the other two cats who to the day you died you merely tolerated, my husband who only took up your space in the bed, the big dumb Labs that chased you around the house, and finally, my daughter who took up so much of my time that I hardly had time for you the last year of your life. Despite that, you always had a meow, a purr and a hug for me when I wanted one, and even at the last moment at which I had to say goodbye to you, you showed affection towards me by rubbing my hands with your head as if to say thank you for letting you finally have peace and make your final journey to the rainbow bridge.

In response, I say thank you for taking care of me and I hope that you will always find a warm bed to lie on in the sun in heaven.

So just how old am I?

2007-02-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

I bought a car stereo today for my Explorer.

Ever since I turned in my company car, it's been like the money pit with my 1999 Ford Explorer Sport, which is a two-door SUV that we bought about two months before I got my company car in 2001. Due to the fact that it was hardly driven for the last five years while I've been cruising around on free gas in the Magnum, it has less than 70,000 miles on it. However, it has had some things going on with it...we had new brakes put on it, a full tune-up and a plethora of other repairs done on it a few months ago to the tune of about $900, which was not too bad. But THEN, a few weeks ago, both the passenger door and the trunk wouldn't open anymore, and since our electric locks had stopped working years ago, we made an appointment at the Ford dealer to have the doors fixed. Wouldn't you know it...on the way there the check engine light came on and it turns out that we had some kind of a manifold leak. That little trip was $790. Ridiculous, but now the dealers charge you like $200 just to look at the car, so we couldn't not repair it.

So after that, we started seriously talking about buying a new car, but there just isn't anything out there that excites us to the point of making us want to have a car payment other than a mini-van which we can't afford right now, so we decided just to keep fixing up OUR cars and then just drive them until they fall apart. Neither one of them has over 80,000 miles, so I figure we've got a while to go considering all the recent repairs they have had done.

So, the Explorer is getting detailed at some point in the next few weeks, I ordered a CD visor and Carolina emblems to put on the back, we're going to have keyless entry and an alarm system installed soon, and today I bought a Panasonic stereo that is going to be installed tomorrow. Philip's Honda is going to get new rims and a new stereo and a full detail as well. And that'll be our remodeling to the cars to keep the "I want a new car" gremlins at bay.

But I have to say, I never felt alternately so young and so old as I did today. The young feeling came when I was actually contemplating which stereo would give me the best sound and whether or not I needed new stereo speakers to install in the Explorer. I felt like I was seventeen and had just saved up my babysitting and lifeguarding money for months to be able to buy my stereo.

The OLD feeling, however, really came from talking to the 19-year-old (or so) that was trying to sell me a super-nice stereo and telling me how he just spent $600 on an alarm system for his car. All I keep envisioning is my friends from high school that would have the biggest heaps in the world but the most sensitive alarm systems and the best sound systems for their cars.

Next thing I want is some of that undercarriage lighting....IN PURPLE. And I'm getting my name painted on the back in pink and white pinstriping. It'll look great against the black.

Okay, so I'm just kidding. I don't feel THAT young.

Making the transition to an early bird...

2007-02-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to get to work early lately (like 7 am early) so that I can leave work early and spend more time in the evenings with McKenna. So far, it hasn't worked once. I keep finding myself losing track of time, getting behind, and whoops, all of a sudden it's 5:30.

I have a feeling what I'm going to need to do very soon is just set a specific time to leave, and then LEAVE. I don't know what else to do. There will always be a ton of work to do, and this will never change. I hate it, but it is what it is.

Overall, things in supervisor-land are going okay. December was horrible, January was better, and February so far is busy, but a little better than January.

I am, however, scoring some pretty neat new toys:

-a new Dell docking station for my laptop
-a wireless optical mouse
-a new laptop
-a new printer (mine broke on Friday so I bought an all-in-one Lexmark printer today)

...and I'm working on getting my office to approve ordering a new Sprint phone that is Bluetooth-compatible. We'll see...that one doesn't look too good.

My team is doing okay....two of my girls are struggling through their training, and one of the guys (M) is applying to transfer to commercial for a change of pace. He claims it has nothing to do with me, and I believe him. C and C (the other two guys are doing fine) although I finally had to buy a voicemail log book tonight for one of them in a desperate attempt to get him to be organized about returning his calls.

My desk is still staying neat, clean and organized. I even have an ivy plant and Lysol for cleaning it. I also started to use my Sony Clie (PDA) a few weeks ago and since I can download Palm Desktop to use on my laptop, I'm even more organized and don't have a bunch of lists everywhere.

So, if I can just find a way to add about six more hours to every day of the week, I'll be all set.

McKenna is doing great. She can now say mommy, dadda, baby, bye, wave, and walk EVERYWHERE. It's insane...she is quite the little explorer. She's now 30 lbs, 32" tall, and according to her doctor, doing great. I'll try to get a current picture up soon.

So, that's the scoop. We're doing fine. Just staying very, very, very busy.

We have our house!

2007-01-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

We finally made our decision, the check has been sent, and WE ARE GOING TO DESTIN!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the link to the house where we are going...don't worry, the address of the house is only available from the owner and I'm not posting the week we're going in case there are any stalkers out there.

Mi Casa Del Sol

I'm really excited. I can't believe that we're going to the beach.

Not much else is going on at the moment. I'm actually scrapbooking again and McKenna is walking. Work is getting better. My house is a mess.

That's all.

Status of Destination Destin

2007-01-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

Have you ever tried to coordinate FIVE FAMILIES to go in together on a house?

It's no small feat, let me tell you.

Over the past week, I have researched a dozen websites and scoured the internet in the search of the PERFECT beach house.

This is what I've encountered over the past week:

-five familes who all want their own seperate rooms and seperate bathrooms and who all have very strong personalities
-my father-in-law who we want to go but not pay
-ten children, two of which are under the age of two
-one of my brothers in law who is the head of a single-income family but has very stringent requirements for what he wants in a vacation and a borderline unreasonable budget
-one of my sisters in law who has a timeshare in Destin and has contemplated buying into the house or just doing her own thing
-my other brother in law who just split up with his fiancee of eleven years and can't see committing past next week, let alone seven months into the future
-an unpublished 2007 school calendar

To say it's been a challenge has been an understatement. However, I'm proud to say that one of my sisters in law and I today worked on my list of fifty houses and narrowed it down to SEVEN...and so far, three of the five families are in agreement on a house.

My dream of a luxurious beach vacation is about to come to fruition...stay tuned.

Destination Destin

2007-01-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

One of my most crucial "to-dos" right now on my to do list is to finalize my vacation schedule for 2007. It's kind of hard because last year was my first year with three weeks of vacation at work, and I didn't really have a chance to use it since I used two weeks of it on maternity leave.

THIS year, I'm having trouble scraping up must-do occasions to use it! I've requested the week after Christmas as kind of a nice end of the year break, and I'm planning trips to Phoenix to visit my dad at the end of February and to Orlando to visit my aunt and grandma and cousins in April, but other that that, I'm free. It's SO heavenly!!!

And there have been no beach vacations in this household since P and I went to Cancun in 1997.

I freaking LOVE the beach. I can't even tell you how much I love the beach. There is nothing that I like better than being lazy and raising my rate of getting skin cancer with a totally fluff book on the beach with my condo/house behind me. I think it kind of started when my friends and I went to Myrtle Beach in 1993 when I graduated from high school. I still rate that as one of the best vacations I ever had. EVER. It was SO awesome and one of the few times I remember being the most relaxed in my life. The most troubling decision I had every day was just deciding where my friends and I were going to go eat each night.

Now, while I realize that I can't feel that free again with a toddler in tow, I'm in pursuit of the ultimate vacation this year, and I've had my sights set on Destin, Florida, otherwise known as the Emerald Coast. I think that my interest in this area was first piqued when I saw my friend T's pictures...she and her family vacation in Destin or Panama City every year so she has tons and tons of pictures from vacations.

Destin is famous for its sugar sand beaches and its green-blue waters. I've seen enough pictures since I've been researching this place this weekend to be convinced.

I'm hoping that we can convince my in-laws to go with us since we've been talking about planning a family vacation for oh, about five years, but this year, I'm hoping we'll really do it, and I'm taking the lead. Over the last twelve hours, I have shirked my five audits waiting for me and have done nothing but researched housing possibilities...there are tons and tons and tons of beach houses waiting that range from two bedrooms to eight bedrooms and are quite affordable. I now have the bead on all the top family attractions in the area. I even know now that Scenic Highway 30-A is akin to PCH in Los Angeles on a smaller scale. I am ready!

And if my in-laws don't want to go, we're going to take McKenna by ourselves. The beach is ideal for a two-year-old, and she'll be three months shy of 2 when we go.

We'll see what happens. So far out of my husband's four brothers and sisters, one family has replied that they are in, so I'm going to see if I can get at least a tentative commitment from people by midweek so I can start researching pricing on houses with the number of bedrooms that we need.

I'm so excited!!!!! Destin, here I come!

Happy New Year…and I’m still here!

2007-01-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

Have I gone into hiding? Only my husband knows for sure.

It really started to get my attention how anti-social I’ve been when I started to get phone calls over the last week from friends wondering where I am…why haven’t I been online to chat, why haven’t I responded to invitations, why haven’t I responded to emails, and why oh why haven’t I updated my blog?

Good question. And I can answer it in one sentence.

My promotion was effective on December 1, 2006.

Effective on that date, I was officially a property claims supervisor at my company. On that date, I officially started to supervise five employees; two new hires, one transfer from liability, and two “special” adjusters. When I was in the field, I was part of our fire team which was two adjusters. When I left it to pursue the supervisor position, an adjuster that I had spent a lot of time training took my place. The two special adjusters, M and C, are the fire team. To say that I was elated to be supervising them is an understatement…these guys are really great. They are wonderful, talented adjusters, and I really consider them both friends. That, of course, is the only downfall…I forget all the time when I’m talking to them that I’m their boss now. And it’s hard to really be objective and critical when I’m looking at their work because I want them to succeed so badly. I want everyone on my team to succeed, of course, but these two men are very special to me simply because I’ve worked so closely with them in the past and I know what great adjusters they are. I know that sounds so cheesy, but it’s true.

So this is what I’ve accomplished in my first month of being a supervisor:

-I supervised the entire team for one of my coworkers who was out sick for three weeks with the shingles.
-I organized our management team’s Christmas dinner.
-I organized our all-employee Christmas luncheon which was catered.
-I organized a blood drive on the same day as the above luncheon.
-I supervised (and am still supervising) a storm adjuster who is up here visiting for three weeks from our Houston office.
-I took on ALL fire assignments for our entire office.
-Somehow I volunteered to purchase a laminating machine for our office, and researching it is a total pain in the ass.

Not to mention that nearly every new adjuster in the office thinks that I am, and I quote, the most helpful and patient supervisor around, meaning that I’m all too willing to stop everything I’m doing to answer any question they have at any given time. I think that a lot of it stems from the fact that a lot of them remember me well from being an adjuster myself, and I think that makes me a tad more approachable than most of the other supervisors in the office. This of course is totally flattering and I love it…on the other hand, it wreaks havoc on my daily workflow. I don’t think there has been a day in the last month where I haven’t gotten to work early, left late, and still worked a few hours after McKenna’s gone to bed. It’s just really tough.

This past weekend was particularly brutal. It was the end of the month and the end of the year, and I was really scraping to finish my file audits and everything. Plus, our virtual private network crashed due to a virus at 8:45 am Friday morning (I remember the exact time because I screamed in frustration) and I went into the office for several hours Saturday afternoon to work and Sunday afternoon to upgrade our virus protection so I could get back on the network. I am praying and hoping that this doesn’t last forever. Every other supervisor in the office assures me that the first six months is the worst. Even my old supervisor K told me that he worked some seriously long hours his first six months as a supervisor. It also doesn’t help that I don’t know how to do a lot of things that I’m being asked to do, like find management information, salary reviews, etcetera. It’s just weird. But I think going forward, it’ll be better and I can manage my time better.

One thing I did this weekend which I’m really excited about and that I’m hoping will help a lot is that I got my desk organized. Organization, as I’ve blogged about before, is a beautiful thing. When I was at the office Sunday afternoon waiting for my stupid laptop to download this virus patch, I couldn’t work on any other programs, so I used the time to my advantage. I cleaned and organized my desk. The supervisor that is sitting in the cube next to me used to sit there, and when she moved, she left a lot of her old crap behind…things like old equipment, binders, folders full of old memos, etcetera, so I basically gathered it all up, threw away what I knew she didn’t need, and stacked it all in a neat pile for her to either keep or chuck this week. I hope she’s not pissed, but I need the room. I didn’t have any room in my desk drawers and I needed the room for supplies and hanging folders. I also went shopping today and bought office supplies. P thinks I’m nuts…I’m the only woman he has ever known that gets excited over office supplies. I’m not even going to ask my new manager if I can expense this stuff, because if I do, I have to leave it there if I happen to change jobs, and I kinda like this stuff. I bought a deep-drawer black plastic desk organizer, a shallow tray for another one of my drawers, a mesh pencil/post-it/envelope holder, and a little paper thingy for incoming/outgoing mail. I also bought more hanging file tabs, index cards (I love the 5x7 size), baby lotion, and I collected the rest of my work things from my desk here at home to take up to the office tomorrow and finish the completion of my desk at work. It’s really nice to be organized, and I can’t wait until I achieve that nirvana (however brief it is) of knowing that every single solitary thing on my desk has a place of its own.

So anyway, I’m hoping for a much better and smoother January.

McKenna is doing great. She’s growing like a weed (28 lbs) and developing and learning more and more every day. There are some changes which are great. She can now walk across our living room, she can climb up on our ottoman if P sits there to act as a step, and she can say three words: hi, bye, and hot. I think she is saying mama and dada, but it’s hard to distinguish those between baby babble and actual words. However, hi and bye she says when she’s waving and hot she said in the car the other day when she was a little warm. It’s pretty cute. I think she’s also starting to sign…she can sign the word for “milk” but again, I don’t know if she actually knows what she’s signing. I know they are teaching them at school, and she does sign “milk” before we give her a bottle, but it’s sketchy sometimes. We’re also working hard on weaning her off bottles and onto sippy cups. There is one big change which is NOT great, and that is her eating habits. All you moms that I irritated when I talked about how great of an eater McKenna was before now all have my permission to say I told you so, because she is really turning into a picky eater. Every since I stopped pureeing her foods, she just won’t eat like she used to. Breakfast is fine…she has oatmeal for every breakfast. Lunch at school is fine because she is eating at the table with all the other kids and peer pressure takes over. However, you get her home with P and I, and you’d think we were feeding her roaches from the way she looks at it. Some days she’ll eat what we give her, and some days she won’t. It just kind of depends. She does really like grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, goldfish crackers, and Cheerios, but won’t eat any of the other normal “toddler” foods like chicken fingers, French fries, PBJ sandwiches or mac and cheese…at least, not for me she won’t. It’s just weird. Her pediatrician said not to worry about it at all since she’s kind of a chubby girl (and if one more person says that to us I’m going to kick their ass) and could stand to lose a few pounds (whatEVER….she’s a baby, for Pete’s sake) but I’m going to try to factor in some time this week to make her some of her old favs like beef stew, curry chicken, and cheesy chicken and veggies so I am sure that she is getting at least some nutrition. Her pediatrician also suggested that we really start cutting down on the milk and start offering other drinks like water and diluted juices so she will be hungrier for her meals. The doctor who treated her last night at the emergency room (I’ll explain in a second) even suggested that we start giving her non-caffeinated herbal teas like chamomile and cinnamon and mint as a nice alternative to juices. We did that today and while she wasn’t wild about it, she didn’t hate it either.

The latest thing though that has happened with McKenna is that she woke up on Friday with a temperature of 102. I kept her home from school and took her to the pediatrician’s office, who said that she had an ear infection in both ears. Okay, fine. However, her fever never broke and since she didn’t have much of an appetite, the antibiotics that we gave her made her vomit. By Sunday night, there wasn’t much of a change, she was fussy, parts of her skin looked sunburned from the fever, and her fever just kept getting worse, so we finally broke down and took her to the emergency room. What a way to spend a New Year’s Eve, but they totally fixed her up. They put her on an IV of antibiotics and saline to help rehydrate her since she wouldn’t drink Pedialyte, and gave her a double dose of Children’s Motrin and Children’s Tylenol to break the fever. It turns out that we were underdosing her since we were still giving her Infant’s Motrin/Tylenol based on her age, and the ER doc said that we should have been giving her Children’s Motrin/Tylenol because of her weight. They took blood and did chest x-rays, and the final diagnosis was a mild case of pneumonia. She’s doing much better today though…tired, a little cranky, and worn out, but her color is much better, skin is cooler and not feverish, and she actually ate quite a bit today…oatmeal for breakfast, yogurt for lunch and chicken/potatoes for dinner with milk. She went to bed pretty early though.

Our Christmas was great. Quiet, but great. We bought each other a couple of small gifts. I got P a Kenneth Cole cologne set and a Mavs cap. He got me a foot spa, heart-shaped silicone cake pans, a cakesaver which I love, and a perfume sampler (Liz Arden and Liz Taylor). We bought McKenna a ton of clothes (I’m now on a no-clothes rule from P for McKenna), a Playskool ball popper, a musical turtle with blocks, a Little LeapPad, some new Baby Einstein videos, books, and a new crib thing. We used to have the Fisher Price aquarium that played music, but when the water started to evaporate, we decided to upgrade her to the new Rain Forest “aquarium” for her crib, and it is MUCH better. She loves it! From her aunts and uncles, she got more clothes and some toys, gift cards from both P’s dad and from my dad and stepmom, and checks for her college fund from my mother, sister, and great-uncle. So it was a great Christmas for all. We also did a white elephant on Christmas Eve with my inlaws…Philip and I came home with a set of melamine mixing bowls from Williams and Sonoma and a bottle of Eternity perfume. I admit that I’m the one that bought the mixing bowls…when no one else at the white elephant chose them, I picked them in the hopes that no one else would steal them and turns out I was right. I thought other people would like them, but no one else bakes on a regular basis in our family like I do. We had our family get-together on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. It was nice, although we learned this year in preparation for next year that we need to start assembling the toys well in advance and not wait until Christmas Eve. We were so tired when we got home from my father-in-law’s house that we ended up just going to bed early and putting them all together the next morning while McKenna ate breakfast. Thank God a lot of them came with batteries already in them or we’d have been in trouble! Next year when McKenna is two, we will have to have it more together, that’s for sure!

Scrapbooking has been completely nonexistent. Sadly. I really miss it so much. I’ve been buying some things…stickers and some little things, but I haven’t really allowed myself to buy much because I can’t justify it if I’m not actually doing it. I am going to go to a crop in a few weeks, so hopefully that’ll kind of get me back in the mood. It’s just hard to do it when I’ve got so many other things going on!

Stitching is about the same. I have worked on the Dreamer a little bit here and there, but not too much. It’s still sitting out though…it’s right there on the shelf with my stitching box, and while I didn’t reach my goal of trying to get it done by the end of the year, I’m going to shoot for maybe getting it done by the end of next year. 2006 is the first year since I started stitching where I haven’t gotten anything done at all. It’s kind of heartbreaking. But it’s not like I didn’t know that was going to happen when I had McKenna…2006 has been really busy. And I need to really start working on Christmas ornaments for our tree. I realized when I decorated our tree this year that I’m really behind on that, and if I ever want to finish my stocking and get it hung, I should probably work on that too.

Here’s a shocker for everyone…I started to lift weights again! I started the week of Christmas (stupid) and actually made it to the gym three times, which is great. I managed to eat pretty well for about a week and then gave in to the Christmas foodies, but at least I held it together for a while. Here’s the really stupid thing though…I hurt my back lifting weights on the FIRST DAY back in the gym. At first, I thought it was just my neck from overdoing it, and then the day before Christmas Eve, it really started to hurt in my back and shoulder. It was horrible. I woke up in the most excruciating pain at 3 am Christmas Eve morning, and drove myself to the emergency room so they could give me a muscle relaxer and pain meds. I felt so dumb every time I told them at the hospital what had happened, but at least it was a quick visit since I was the only one in there. Turned out to be the best thing I could have done…one muscle relaxer and some pain meds and I was back to normal. I really love our hospital…every time we’ve gone to the emergency room, they have been really great, and so far, we’ve been in the ER four times…my miscarriage, when P and I got dehydrated last summer, my muscle strain (that’s what they diagnosed it as) and McKenna’s pneumonia. Not to mention, the hospital was fantastic when we delivered McKenna. We are quite lucky to have such a great hospital so close by.

Anyway, I’m going to start back in the gym again tomorrow…it’s just hard finding time to do it, but I have to. I’ve made the decision to either go to the gym during my lunch hour OR right after work…neither is really appealing, but it sure beats going after McKenna is asleep in bed. For food, I’m keeping it simple and doing very simple combinations of protein and carbs BFL-style, and we’re eating plain old chicken and potatoes at night. That’s it.

And lastly, here are my New Year’s resolutions and goals for 2007…has everyone made theirs?

1) To lose weight and get my body baby-ready for baby #2.
2) To adjust to my job so that I won’t have to work at nights or on the weekends.
3) To start stitching again and finish at least one project by the end of 2007.
4) To start scrapbooking again and get my pictures caught up by the end of 2007.
5) To save as much money as possible.
6) To make the trips to see my father/stepmom in Phoenix, my grandma in Orlando, and to take McKenna to Destin in September.
7) To refinish our bedroom furniture.
8) To repaint our master bedroom and kitchen.
9) To organize our garage.
10) To obtain my Associate in Claims designation.

So, next year when I’m writing my opening blog for 2008, I’ll look back to this entry and see how many of my resolutions that I kept for 2007.

I know this was long, but I had a lot to catch everyone up on! Hope everyone is doing well and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I’ll post some current pictures of McKenna as soon as I get them scanned in.

I like cake

2006-11-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

There is a kid at our office (one of the new adjusters) that has that sign posted on his cube wall. It's pretty funny.

Traditionally, cakes have been my weakest point of all of my cooking. When I was about 23, I tried to recreate a version of my grandma's German chocolate cake. It came out pretty bad. I made it just like the recipe dictated, but it still came out bad. The frosting was great, but the cake was the texture and taste of a Frisbee. Since then, I really haven't tried to make any cakes besides cheesecakes on a regular basis unless it's specifically requested of me to do so.

However, the last year things have started turning around due to the fact that I have a lot of nieces and nephews that really enjoy cake. Kids just like cake better than cheesecakes and pies. My mother-in-law's favorite cake that I made her a few times before she died was a pineapple upside-down cake, which is pretty hard to screw up. The ones with the frosting are the ones that freak me out. Last year, my nephew Z asked me to make him a white cake with white frosting for his birthday, and nervously I obliged. I took my time, let the milk and egg whites warm before using them, and followed the directions to the T as far as mixing and beating times. I even set my microwave timer so I knew how long to let my mixer run when beating the batter. I never do that normally, but as they say, cooking is an art and baking is a science. It turned out pretty good. I'm not sure what I did differently other than to go slower...I did buy new cake flour, so that might have something to do with it, but I had used cake flour with the first GC cake that bombed too.

So, slowly my confidence has returned. I've used several Bed Bath and Beyond coupons to buy some new cake pans...those cool flexible silicone pans that believe it or not, are a LOT more user-friendly than the old metal cake pans that I have. So I have a pair of 9" round pans (red) and a pair of 8" square pink pans. I used the pink pans to make McKenna's cake for her birthday which was a yellow two-layer cake with pink buttercream frosting. Her cake was a single-layer yellow cake in one of the round pans with pink buttercream frosting. Both cakes were great.

And now it's that time of year again...Z requested another cake for this weekend and this time wanted the same white cake but with chocolate frosting. Again, I took my time, used my cool new pans, let the buttermilk and egg whites warm to room temp before using them, let the cakes cool completely before trying to frost them (patience isn't exactly one of my strong suits), and made this delicious chocolate lover's frosting off the back of the Hershey's cocoa container. I even decorated it with writing and non-pareils for color. My cake decorating skills need a little practice, but I'm really excited about the cake. We're taking it over to my father-in-law's this afternoon. I'm not really a frosting fan, but this frosting on this cake is pretty good.

And now, in true Erica fashion, I've decided that I want to master the art of cake-making. I kinda need to...as I said above, kids just prefer cake. I have my eye on some flexible heart-shaped pans and I'm looking into some cake books online...namely The Cake Bible and Great Cakes. What can I say? Cooking is my favorite and most widely-used hobby.

So...I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I've been back from California now for about nine days...and my school went fine. I'm not promoted yet. My office told me when I get back that they want to reinterview me for the position (why, I don't know, since I've already interviewed in August) and supposedly the position will be effective December 1. Well, that's Friday and it's coming up soon. We'll see what happens. I'm not holding my breath.

Not much else is new around the campfire other than my husband got a new job which he is starting on Tuesday and we bought a new bed last weekend. New mattress, new boxspring, new bed (a real bed, not a metal frame), and bedding complete with a duvet. That was very exciting and now I'm getting better sleep since I can rest better.

McKenna's doing great...in fact, she started walking while I was in California. She can't go more than a couple of steps, but it's really fun to see. She's just doing and changing so much right now. It's so much fun hanging out with her!

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

I SUCK at blogging!

2006-11-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

Where do I even start with this? I feel like I am SO BEHIND on updating my online friends, it's not even funny.

There are a few reasons for my blogging suckage of late...and here they are in no particular order:

1) I've been in Los Angeles for training and this is week #2
2) My company has modified their internet policy during the day (see how I'm blogging at night?)
3) I've been working from the office and quite honestly don't feel like booting up my computer at night

Frankly, and I'm sorry to be so honest, the main reason why I'm even blogging right now is because it's 9:19 pm California time and I am waiting for What About Brian to come on television and have NOTHING to do...no work, no reading, no nothing. I'm SO. FREAKING. BORED.

So, here I am, going to write about everything that's happened the last few weeks. I can't even remember what I haven't written about, so I'm just going back to the last real update I have posted, which was October 15.

First of all, that employee that I blogged about in October quit about four days after I put him on performance management. For obvious reasons, I can't disclose anything more than that, but the fact that my entire team quit during the six weeks that I was supervising them really didn't booster my morale and faith in my leadership skills all too much. So, after I finish my training, I'm going back to Dallas, hopefully to be promoted and hopefully to a brand-new team of adjusters.

Our bathroom is done for the most part, albeit it still needs some tweaking. And such little tweaks that we just can't manage to get together. We bought a new toilet seat, but we still haven't bought a new rug or toilet seat cover. Our new shower head and arm leaks. We don't have any art on the walls. And it needs some touch-ups. That's the reason why I haven't posted any pictures yet. BUT, we have used the shower, and it's AWESOME...I love it. I hate the shower head, but I do love the tiled shower stall. It's kind of like standing in a hotel shower stall...the extra foot of room is really great.

McKenna is great. I actually flew home this weekend to spend it with her and P. I spent seven hours in the air, three hours on the road, and probably about two hours in the airports, but it was SO worth it for the precious hours that I got with her. She is such a sweet pea. She's not walking yet, but she's awfully darn close.

So let's see...our latest project around the house has been inspired by a couple of reasons. We have decided after ten long years of sleeping on an extremely crappy mattress and torn-up box spring sitting on a metal bed frame that it is time to replace our bed. Actually, P wanted to replace it several years ago. He started complaining about our bed about three years ago. It's not a horrible bed...well, at least it wasn't until I spent a week sleeping on this ultra-soft comfy bed at the Renaissance in Agoura Hills. After a week of that, my bed at home seemed like a torture device. It's soft. It's lumpy. And there is a permanent dip in the center. It's awful. Pair that with the motivational speaker the other day that lectured our training class on the importance of creating a heavenly bed to human beings' need for rejuvenation, and yes, we are getting a new bed. When I am promoted hopefully in a few weeks, I receive a nice car bonus for surrendering my company car. It's not much...but since we were smart back in 2001 when I got my company car and paid off our cars rather than selling them, I feel like we are entitled to buy a new bed. It was further supported by the backaches that I had Saturday and Sunday mornings when I woke up. So we spent a good chunk of time Saturday afternoon checking out beds and mattresses, and I think that we are going to buy them this weekend. And of course, that will involve new bedding, new sheets, new pillows, the works. I want a duvet SO bad!

So, that's kind of the story right now around the campfire. How about a meme or two or three to close out the entry? I had to really search to find a meme on my list that is still active...I guess I need to find some new memes.

Monday Madness:

1. If you could only read one blog every day- which one blog would be on your daily list? I really enjoy reading the Waiter Rant in my blogroll. If you don't read it, definitely give it a try. It's a waiter in New York City who blogs about his experiences as a server and life in the city.
2. What do you do to de-stress from a hectic day? I usually just sit on the couch and watch television. Boring!
3. What is your favorite piece of clothing to wear in the winter? Well, we really don't have winters to speak of here in Dallas, but I do really like wearing sweatpants.
4. Do you prefer discussing problems with a sibling, a parent, a significant other, a psychologist, or a total stranger? My numero uno person to discuss problems and issues with is my husband, P. Definitely.
5. How long have you been blogging? 2 1/2 years...wow, has it been that long?
6. Which side of the bed? Left if you are looking at the bed from the door.
7. How often do you pig out when you eat? I really pig out when I go out to one of those Brazilian churrascarias...but how can you not for that much money?
8. Do you watch the space shuttle launches? No.
9. What's your favorite leisure-time activity? I can't pick...it definitely is a toss up between shopping, cooking, scrapbooking and cross stitching.
10. When is the last time you said, 'I love you' and to whom? What about hugs? Who is the last person you hugged? Answer to all three of those questions is my husband, P.

The Friday Five:

1) If you had to move 100 miles or more to the north, east, west, or south, which would you choose, where would you end up, and what's so great about there? That's actually a question that has come up this past week since I've been here in Los Angeles since I probably WILL have to relocate at some point with my job if I want to advance with the company. The answer is that I would probably consider moving to Denver or somewhere in the Colorado area. The reason why is because I would love to live somewhere with snow more than once a year and I ADORE skiing. Plus, my company does a lot of business there. There you go.
2) Do you have a favorite stretch of highway or byway for driving, touring, or wandering? I really enjoy driving up and down the North Dallas Tollway. I don't know why.
3) Are you happier to start a trip or return home? Return home.
4) Plane, train, automobile, bicycle, or foot? I prefer driving.
5) Do you overplan or underplan your travels? (Assume that "no" is not a valid answer.) I'd say I overplan if I had to choose, but I don't think I underplan either.

Okay, two minutes till my show. Thanks for tuning in! (Please don't give up on me yet.)

Hello from La-La Land

2006-11-06T22:22:00.000-08:00

Yup, I'm out in Los Angeles again for training...this time for the training that is going to make me a leader. I'll be back in a few weeks.

I don't have much to update on right now other than to announce that my daughter turned one year old yesterday. We had a small family party on Saturday...I made spicy chicken tacos, fruit salad, and a yellow cake with pink buttercream frosting for my little princess....but she got a cake of her very own. Daddy decorated it by lettering it with the following: "You want a piece of me?!?" and she proceeded to do just that in about a matter of ten minutes. She put a pretty good dent into it for sure...she ate about half of it! Anyway, the party was a huge success.

And I miss her like crazy right now!

And I've been tagged!

2006-10-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU:
1. A Cuddler? Yes
2. A morning person? Ha. That's funny. How about....NO!
3. Are you a perfectionist? To my detriment, yes
4. An only child? Nope...I have a younger sister
5. Catholic: Yes
6. In your pajamas? No.
7. Currently suffering from a broken heart? No.
8. Okay styling other people’s hair? I can't even style my own.
9. Left handed? No
10. Addicted to MySpace? I haven't logged into my account in about three weeks.
11. Shy around the opposite gender? Again, to my detriment, no.
12. Loud? Yes.

DO YOU:
12. Bite your nails? Biting my nails is a VERY controlled bad habit of mine. I have bit them since I was a kid. I can control it when I really focus on it and put my mind to it, but you can usually tell if I am going through a period of stress, anxiety and pressure if my nails are chewed down to the quick.
13. Get paranoid at times? Sometimes.
14. Currently regret something that you have said/done? Not yet. I hope I don't regret my decision to become a supe at work.
15. Curse frequently when you get mad? Unfortunately, yes.
16. Enjoy country music? Some of it.
17. Enjoy jazz music? No.
18. Enjoy smoothies? Yes
19. Enjoy talking on the phone? I loathe talking on the phone
20. Have a lot to learn? Yes
21. Have a pet? two Labs, Simon and Katie, and three cats, Gabby, Moira, and Taylor
22. Have a tendency to fall for the “wrong” person? No
23. Have all your grandparents died? My paternal grandmother is still with us
24. Have at least one sibling? Yes.
25. Have been told that you are smart? Yes
26. Have had a broken bone? I'm pretty sure I broke my toe a few years ago in my closet but I never had it x-rayed so I don't know for sure.
27. Have Caller I.D. on your phone? Yes.

HAVE YOU:
28. Changed a diaper? Yes. Three nasty ass ones today, in fact.
29. Changed a lot over the past year? Yes.
30. Had friends who have never seen your natural hair color? No.
31. Had surgery? Yes.
32. Killed anyone? If I had, would I admit to it in a blog? I killed my hermit crab when I was ten by not feeding it...does that count?
33. Had your haircut within the last week? No.

LAST PERSON WHO:
1. Slept in the bed beside you? P.
2. Saw you cry? P.
3. Went to the movies with you? P.
4. You went to the mall with? J
5. You went to dinner with? P
6. You talked to on the phone? P
7. Said ‘I love you’ to you and meant it? P
8. Broke your heart? My mother
9. Made you laugh? McKenna

WOULD YOU RATHER?
1. Pierce your nose or tongue? My nose
2. Be serious or be funny? Funny.
3. Drink whole or skim milk? Skim.
4. Die in a fire or drown? I'd rather die in a fire. Much less painful that way.
5. Spend time with your parents or enemies? Parents.

ABOUT YOU!
1. What time is it? 10:48 PM
2 Name? Erica
3. Nickname(s)? Turtle
4. Where were you born? See below
5. What is your birthdate? May 7
6 What do you want? To have another baby
7. Where do you want to live? Portland, Oregon
8. How many kids do you want? two

Tags: My usual, Dana and Shannon.

I am shameless too....

2006-10-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

I stole it from Sharon. And just who, I wonder, will steal it from me???

1. FIRST NAME? Erica
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My mom told me that she named me after Erica on All My Children. Or, at least, that's where she got the idea from. Apparently at the time I was born, Erica's last name was the same as my maiden name and Mom just thought it sounded good.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? I teared up Friday night when talking to my husband about my mother-in-law who died last fall.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Roast beef
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, I think so.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Duh, where am I posting this?
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? You know, I drove by a place today on I-35 and thought about that very question and my answer is no. I'd be too afraid I'd pull a muscle in my back or neck. I know that's silly, but that's the reason why I wouldn't do it.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Coffee Heath Bar Crunch by Ben and Jerry
14. SHOE SIZE? 10 1/2 or 11 depending on the shoe
15. RED OR PINK? Pink.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My temper
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My mother-in-law
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Again, I'd like to see Dana and Shannon do it in their blogs.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Blue jeans, teal t-shirt and no shoes
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Lays Dill potato chips
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? McKenna sleeping
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Cornflower
23. FAVORITE SMELL? leaves burning
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? P to find out what he wanted me to bring him home to eat yesterday
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? Yes
27. FAVORITE DRINK? iced tea
28. FAVORITE SPORT? basketball
29. EYE COLOR? green
30. HAT SIZE? pumpkin-sized...that's an easy way of saying that my head is too big for hats
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? yes...I've worn them since I was twelve
32. FAVORITE FOOD? steak
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? happy endings
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? winter definitely...summers here in Dallas SUCK
35. HUGS OR KISSES? kisses
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? creme brulee
37. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? probably Dana
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Shannon
39. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? I'm not reading jack. I have a tons of books under my nightstand that aren't even started and a book on leadership on my desk that I need to read soon
40. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? It's a generic Dell one
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? I watched about twenty minutes of The Notebook
42. FAVORITE SOUNDS? the ocean and wind chimes
43. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? the Stones, definitely
44. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME? Freeport, Maine
45. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? extremely detail-oriented
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Ithaca, New York
47. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Stole it from Sharon

My first meme in a LONG time

2006-10-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't really know what to title this post for today. I didn't really even know what to write. Quite honestly, my brain is MUSH right now. I have so much going on and so much rolling around inside my head. It's very hard right now to string together any coherent thoughts.

So I decided to do a meme for the first time in a LONG time. I had to click through six blinkies before I found a current one, so I guess I probably need to update my template sometime soon. And what a surprise...it has to do with WORK. My oh-so-favoritest subject at the moment.

Here's the Friday Five:

1. What job do you have, and why do you like/hate it? I am a property insurance adjuster. I like it because it is something that really interests me, I enjoy it, and I like working with people. I hate it because it is very hard work and it involves working with people.
2. As a kid, what did you want to be when you "grew up?" I had a lot of dreams...I think I wanted to be a doctor until I got to high school and realized that I loathed science, and then thought about being a lawyer until I took a journalism class my junior year in high school. When I was selected as editor-in-chief for our school newspaper, my dream evolved to being editor-in-chief of a major magazine like People.
3. Is the job you have now anything like what you imagined as a kid? One thing's for sure...my dream never involved picking through people's personal belongings after a fire! And I never ever ever envisioned being someone's boss.
4. Do you have a five-year career plan? As coincidence would have it, that's EXACTLY the question that inspired me to make the move into upper management. My managers had invited me to a seminar on becoming a leader in our organization last summer, which I went to just to be taken off new fire assignments for a few days. My boss' boss' boss' boss posed that exact question to our class, and when I thought about whether or not I still wanted to be climbing around attics and on roofs and picking through people's personal stuff, getting filthy, in five years, the answer was NO. However, my current five-year plan is kind of undetermined. Quite honestly, I think I'll still be a claims supervisor in five years. So ask me in 2011 what my current plan is, and I'll give you an update.
5. In order to get the job of your dreams, is there anything you wouldn't do? Why? Well, there's a lot of things that I won't do, but in order to keep this clean, let's just say that I refuse to work the graveyard shift. That's basically what convinced me to give up on my dreams of being a magazine editor.

This past week has been one of the toughest I've had in a long time. Remember that employee I talked about that I think is scared of me? Now I have no idea. He called in last weekend sick for a week, and I spent all week long basically putting out his fires in addition to finishing up my training and going to Oklahoma City for a two-day tour of our call center. We'll see if he comes back to work tomorrow.

Our bathroom is now done. Our contractor finished up on Saturday. Since it turned into two weeks from the original four days we were quoted, he threw in some free texture and cheap crown molding. We selected our paint color this weekend (a brownish-gray called Eiffel Tower) and bought a pedestal sink, toilet topper cabinet, a mirror and a new light fixture. When we'll finish this project is a good guess. We'll see. My weekend plans were thrown a wrench when I came down with an evil stomach virus yesterday afternoon that had me up at 1 am puking my guts out. Nice.

Anywho, that's about all from here. Busy, busy, busy.

Oh, one last thing. I have some shouts out to two girls that I know read my blog. Shannon? Sharon? I left you messages Thursday night!

The book of love has music in it!

2006-10-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, I guess I've watched Shall We Dance one too many times this weekend.

Here are the rules: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Thanks for tagging me, Sharon! Here goes:

-"Lady" by Styx (thanks, Hal Sparks and Dennis DeYoung)
-"Dance with Me" by the Pussycats (again, thanks, Shall We Dance)
-"Just Like Heaven" by the Cure
-all the music from Baby Bach (from Baby Einstein)
-"Since You've Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson
-"Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira
-"Butterfly Kisses" (the country one)

So for MY tags, I tag...Dana and Shannon! Muhahahahahaha!!!

Congratulations to me...tomorrow is my LAST day of my field training to become a supervisor and all I have left is two days in Oklahoma City and two weeks in Los Angeles!! Woo hoo!