Day at home

Made a yummy breakfast of: local, farm fresh eggs, sprouted grain toast with raw, unsealed almond butter/corn syrup free strawberry jam/fresh strawberries, sliced tomato

I borrowed a huge pressure cooker from Mer to see how I like cooking with it.
Today I tried my hand at Caramelized Carrot Soup. It was fast, easy, and so good! Tonight or tomorrow I'm gonna try something with some lamb I got straight from the farmer. Can't wait!

The pic of S standing by the fridge is when she was putting a sticker on get reading chart.

See my shiny fridge? S and I cleaned it today.

Here is S posing in front of the table with her playdough creations. We used a mold to make Hello Kitty and a tea party set.

Lastly, here is the recipe I made this afternoon. Except I added coconut flakes and ground flax seed. It doesn't taste like raw cookie dough and Jason likes it too! I love finding good way to curb our sweet tooth!

Music, baking, and rain.

That's what today has consisted of and it has been a wonderful day - Fall Style!

For starters, this morning Shelby and I went to her 2nd music class. I am really enjoying the chance to be with her and what he interact with kids her own age. She seems to really be enjoying it. She especially likes when the parachute comes out!

 She did not want me to take her pic! She told me no and covered her eyes. 

 Yes, I know it is cold and those sure are sandals. At this age, I'm just lucky she lets me put "somewhat" appropriate outfits on her. We are in WA not Antarctica; she won't get frostbite. That's my stand and I'm sticking to it! :) Now that I'm through being unnecessarily defensive lets move on shall we?

 These are the Carmel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies that I was inspired to make after finding them on Pinterest. I am becoming slightly addicted to this website. Will talk more on this and all the inspiration I have found later. :)

They are yummy and really get me in the Fall mood. Jason is going to have some happy co-workers tomorrow as I am sending most with him.

The rain held off for most of the day but now it is slow and steady. My eyes are already droopy due to a late night of classwork. All 3 of us are snuggling up to watch a movie now. I hope you have a wonderful evening as well.......

Today's Tid Bits

Today has been a culmination of housework, studying, cooking, and errands.

Breakfast was Marianne's recipe for very yummy Health Banana Bread.


Dinner tonight is Baked Chicken with Roasted Tomatillo Cream Sauce....a new recipe I'm trying. I tasted the sauce and it's the bomb! We'll see how the final dish comes together. I plan to serve it over white rice.

Shelby's been a good girl today and has been entertaining herself and watching more movies that I would like but I've got to study! My 2nd psychology exam is on Monday. I hate the days when I'm so preoccupied with school that I don't really get to play with her. :(

As for my errands...Jason, Shelby and I had to drop something at the church, return some shoes (I found Shelby's red, glitter Dorthy shoes for Halloween for $2 at a kid's sale! I was thrilled to be returning the 18 DOLLAR pair.), then to Old Navy where I got 5 shirts for myself (75% off) and one shirt for Shelby and all for under $25. Now that's a great deal!


Unfortunately lil Shelby took her horse in the store without me realizing it and so we left it behind. :( Jason's out fetching it right now. I just checked on the chicken baking in the oven and am now OFFICIALLY procrastinating. I need to go study! NOW

Ok, maybe in a minute.

I am SO excited for tomorrow! Shelby and I will be attending her first Music 4 Preschool class in the morning. I just know she's going to love it. I will be taking plenty of pictures and will talk more about it soon.

Ok, Jason just walked in. He SAVED the horse. Good Daddy :)

Ladies Cook-Off Prep

It's the day after Hump Day! That means it's ALMOST the weekend!!!! :)

On Saturday I will be participating in the Ladies Cook-Off at our church. I'm excited! It's going to be so much fun. Reason one being that I love to cook and reason two is that I will get the chance to meet many lovely ladies! We are still brand spankin' new to the church and this cook-off will allow me to mingle. Yea, so....ummm. Ignore the crossed out text above. Not sure if "spankin" should ever be used in the same sentence as "church"! LOL I can have a strange/crude sense of humor at times; please excuse me while I laugh at myself (HAHAHAHAH). I'm done. For now.

Now to more wholesome topics like-cooking.

Here's what I plan to make for the Ladies Cook-Off.

Layered Casserole with Beef,Cabbage and Potato
Recipe can be found here: http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/905#


Looks good doesn't it! I adore ANY RECIPE from Lidia Matticchio Bastianich.

As I write this post, the dish is cooking away in the oven (test run). The house is filled with the aromas of the aromatics - sage, rosemary and garlic. I can hardly wait to taste! I plan on also practicing the presentation of the dish. For the competition I will be serving tasty bites of my dish to ~100 people. I want to present similar to above, with a sprig of rosemary and a small leaf of sage. With it being such a small taste I just don't want the garnish to overpower the dish. We will see.

Can't wait for Saturday; wish me luck!

Cooking Demo-Spring Rolls

This is a cooking demo on how to make spring rolls. BON APPÉTIT!

The Grands and Brunch

This weekend I was surprised to get a call from my Grandmother and her husband, Mr. Syfrett. They wanted to know if they could come see us. "Well of course you can!" I said. So they did.
They pulled up on Saturday in there brand spankin new (used LOL) motor home. Jason, Shelby and I were given the grad tour immediately following their arrival. While Jason and I marveled at the beautiful fabrics, leather couches, and cherry wood cabinets Shelby was perfectly content to roll around on the bed. Grandmother was getting a kick out of her. Shelby was talking up a storm! Oh, and Mr. Syfrett brought me roses! I had to show you some pictures.


Then on Monday we made the spilt second decision to hop in the truck and go see Ben in Stephenville. I am not sure if I have mention Ben lately on here....Ben is my younger brother and he just started his first semester of college at Tarleton State! I had never been to Tarleton and couldn't wait to look around campus. Ben showed us where all his classes were, the rec center, the cafeteria, the library, and of course his dorm room which is tiny. Seriously tiny. It was wonderful to see Ben; I have been thinking about him a lot since he started school. I know he will do well but I want him to feel comfortable to call me if he needs anything at all and I have this psycho love for editing English papers so I have told him time and time again that I am just an email away from editing his paper. Abilene is only about an hour and forty-five minutes away so I hope he visits often! I have tried to bribe him with food! :D Unfortunately I was too busy looking around to remember take any pictures. :(

Now onto the topics of brunches. They are wonderful aren't they?! You get to sleep in and then get up to a cornucopia of breakfast delights...well, that is if your not the person preparing it. ;) So to treat my wonderful family right I made brunch two mornings.
For morning one I made a basic omlette with mushroom, eggplant, onion, garlic, parsley, zucchini, tomato, green onion, and cheddar cheese. I think that was everything. But instead of folding the omelet in half over itself as is typically done I pulled the pan off the burned just before the eggs were fully cooked and sprinkled the cheese over top and popped the whole thing under the broiler until the eggs had finished cooking and the cheese was melty and just brown on top. Delish!

For morning two I decided to do something a little more special and try some new recipes. So I made a Pomegranate Breakfast Soda which is one of Ina Garten's recipes...I love her!

Next was Breakfast in a Cup by Paula Deen...How can you not love Paula and her obsession with butter! Note: I topped this dish with a dollop of sour cream and finely chopped green onion and it really added to the dish.

Lastly, I prepared French Toast with Strawberries and Cream recipe courtesy of the newest Food Network Chef Claire Robinson.

As you can tell by this very large post I had a wonderful, family filled weekend. Try these recipes; they are scrumptious!

Quick and Easy Dinner

I know that we all could use another simple meal idea for a crazy weekday or lazy weekend that is the reason I came up with this recipe. The cooking time is minimal which is great when you are famished! And don't be scared to change up the ingredients. When I made this I had not been to the store so I just threw in the pot what sounded good to me.

Chicken in Puff Pastry

Ingredients:
extra virgin olive oil
1 TBS butter
1 medium onion
1 TBS minced garlic
2 TBS chopped banana peppers
Provolone cheese
puff pastry (I used Pillsbury Recipe Creations Crescent)

You must be logged in to review/rate a product.

1 can cream of mushroom soup (or whatever else you choose)
3 boneless skinless chicken breast (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 1/2 to 2 TBS chives
1 1/2 to 2 TBS parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drizzle EVOO to coat the pan.
Once hot add the diced onion. Saute until partially cooked, about 2 minutes.
Next add the cut up chicken breast. Brown the chicken but do not cook through as it will cook further in the oven.
Once the chicken has browned add the garlic. Allow the garlic to heat and combine with the chicken and then mix in the soup, banana peppers, herbs, butter, salt, and pepper.
Once combined remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Now take out a baking sheet and cover it with foil. Spread the pastry out onto it and you may stretch it a bit until you have a nice rectangular shape but be sure not to tear it or use a rolling pin because that will tear the dough.
Once the dough is ready you may take the filling and spoon it into to center of the pastry leaving room around the edge to fold it up.
Once all the filling is in the center you may cover it with as much cheese as you desire. Just eye ball it but if your chicken breast were quite big you may not want to use all the filling, but don't sweat it the chicken mixture is very tasty by itself served with a flaky buttermilk biscuit.
Now fold the sides of the pastry up over the chicken mixture. It your pastry tears it all good just use your kitchen scissors and cut some excess from elsewhere to cover the hole.
At this point you may brush it with an egg wash or not. The egg wash will give the pastry a nice gloss when baked...totally up to you.
Pop it in the oven at 400 degrees until browned about 12 to 15 minutes.
Slice it up and serve with a vegatable side. And there you have a wonderful, delicious meal in just a few minutes.

Curious Baby

Shelby's a very curious little girl. She is always on the go...scooting and rolling all over the room to grab anything and everything that has been left on the floor or that is within her reach.
The other day she scooted over to where Jason's guitar was on it's stand and began to push against it with her little feet. Needless to say I shot across the room and scooped her up. She could have pushed the guitar over right on top of herself!
I have some board games stacked on the bottom of the TV stand and she loves to pull the boxes out and kick them and even tries to eat them. :)
And then today she discovered something new and even more fun. While she was sitting in her BUMBO Seat on the kitchen counter "helping" me cook dinner she discovered the toaster oven. Through trial and error she learned how to open the toaster oven door and then would open it and then slam it shut...over and over and over and over again she did this. I could not even cook; I kept watching her learn and play!

Yummy Goodness

In keeping with the Hillbilly Housewife's $70 Low Cost Menu today's lunch consisted of Red Beans & Rice, Candied Carrots, and Cornmeal Muffins. It was inexpensive and super yummy too! I also had plenty of leftovers; I may freeze some because isn't always nice to have a lazy day of no cooking with home cooked meals?! :D Check out all the links for the recipes; let me know if you like them!

Yup, I'm a Hillbilly Housewife.

Tonight when I was getting Shelby dressed for bed I sneezed out of the blue and was caught off guard when my cranky, tired baby laughed! So I fake sneezed and she laughed again! I probably sneezed like 20 times just to watch her face light up and hear her giggle. It's so funny to see the things that make her laugh and to discover new things. I had been trying to make her laugh earlier today and all I could get was a smile...what do ya know?! :D

On a different note I feel like today has been crazy. I have been on my feet all day preparing food ahead of time. I enjoy Susanne's site the Hillbilly Housewife and love to read up an all her $$$ saving tips. In lue of the fact I am trying to be thrifty in the kitchen I wanted to try her $70 Low Cost Menu this week. So today I prepared 2 loaves of homemade bread (1 for this week and 1 to freeze for later), a batch of 15 Tender Cornmeal Muffins (a few for this week and the rest frozen), and Blondies which are a yummy treat (Half were frozen for a later time which will also ensure that I don't eat the whole batch this week! ;) That's not to mention the Rock Botton Salmon Patties and rice for lunch or the coleslaw, and Boston Baked Beans with chopped hot dogs I made for dinner! WHEW! I have been a busy bee. By the way, my total at the grocery store was $64.33 so it was under $70 and I even found that a few of the items at my grocery store costs more that she had anticipated. Also, much of the food I bought will carry over to next week. What a deal! She also has a $45 Emergency Menu if you need it.
Well as Porky Pig would say, "Th th th th th th th that's all folks!" Ta ta for now. ;)

SuperCook

I just wanted to share a website that I stumbled upon. It's called SuperCook. I have yet to make any recipes from it but I hope to soon. On their website they have a great tutorial to help get you started.
You can watch it by clicking on the following link - SuperCook | Tour

Anyway give it a try and let me know what you think. I am trying to save money in the kitchen and I thought that using up the ingredients that I bought for exotic recipes long forgotten would be a good start.

Weekly Menu

I have decided to begin posting my weekly menu for your viewing pleasure. :) If you see something you like and want to make, just click on it and the link will take you to the recipe. However, if the recipe was not found online and you would like it then simply leave me a comment and I will then comment back to you with the recipe. I hope that made sense!

So here it is folks...

MONDAY - Tipalia with Purple Potato Crust and Chive Rosemary Oil
TUESDAY - Leftovers
WEDNESDAY - Easy Lemon Pasta with Chicken

THURSDAY - Tilapia Corn Chowder

FRIDAY - Southwestern Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

SATURDAY - Brisket with Carrots and Onions
SUNDAY - Chicken and Rice Casserole

Easter Cake Balls

Lately there is one recipe that I keep seeing everywhere but have never made...CAKE BALLS! At my MOPS meeting the other day someone had brought some - I ate more than one! I have also noticed that Bakerella has been making some as well as Pioneer Woman. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon.
Here is my Easter version of the recipe.

Here's what you need:
1 box cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Red Velvet.)
1 can icing (I used vanilla.)
Melting chocolate
Optional: Sprinkles to decorate. Not pictured


Now let's get cookin'!
1) To begin make the cake following the instructions on the box. Once the cake is out of the oven set it aside and let it fully cool.
2) Take the cake and cut into 6 parts. Then grab a big bowl and two forks; break up one portion of the cake at a time until the whole cake is broken up into small crumbs with no lumps.
3) Next scoop in some of your icing and begin blending it in.


I agree with Pioneer Woman who suggests that you only use 3/4 of the icing. If you use the whole can I think the cake is too moist. Blend until you can see no icing.


4) Now you can start rolling the cake mixture into balls. I used a tablespoon so they would all be the same size.


Your hands are going to be very gross afterward!


5) Lay them onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about an hour. If they are very cold the chocolate will set better and you won't get crumbs in your chocolate.


6) It's chocolate time! Melt the chocolate the way you want. I prefer a double boiler over the microwave. Then if your chocolate begins to get thick you can just pop it on the stove again.
If using a double boiler stir the chocolate constantly so it won't burn.
If you are using the microwave put it in for 30 seconds at a time then take out to stir. Do this until the chocolate is fully melted.


7) Take a few of the cake balls out of the freezer. I leave the rest in so they stay cold. I noticed that when they started to warm up they became more fragile and I began to get pieces of cake in my chocolate. That's no bueno! I started out with them on a folk and then using a spoon to pour chocolate over the top but I soon realized that there was an easier way. I skewered the cake ball with a tooth pick (all the way through), dipped it straight into the chocolate and used the spoon to get it completely covered. BTW-No I don't have a tan...that's Rifkah helping me! LOL



8) Now place the ball on wax paper to harden. I used a spoon to gently slide it off the toothpick and then put a dab of chocolate over the hole. I hope all that made sense. :)
9) If you choose to, shake some colorful sprinkles on top. I thought the splash of color would be perfect for Easter!
10) Allow the chocolate to set and enjoy!




This is what Shelby was doing while I cooked.

Breakfast Crescent Braid

I was searching for some new breakfast recipes on the internet and found this one. It's so easy and good too! My favorite part is how well it holds together. When you have no time in the morning just cut yourself a slice and pop it in the toaster oven or the microwave until warm. Then wrap in a paper towel and it makes the perfect on the go breakfast. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as Jason and I do.

Here's What You Need:
1 can Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations
Scrambled eggs (I use 4 eggs + milk + salt and pepper to taste)
4-5 strips bacon (Any other breakfast meat would work great too!)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (I love cheese and use more.)
Optional: Hot sauce


Now that you have what you need let's get cookin'!
1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2)Scramble the eggs. Since they will cook some more in the oven, under cook them.
3)Next cook the bacon strips and set aside to cool.
4)Now grab the crescent dough. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll to about 10in x 12in.
5) Lay the eggs down in the center of the dough. Be sure to leave room on both sides and the ends as pictured.


6) Top with bacon (or other breakfast meat), cheese, and as much or as little hot sauce as your taste buds desire.
7) Use a pizza cutter to cut slits as shown in the picture above.
8) Fold both ends over. See picture below.


9) Start on one end of the roll and bring the side pieces in and overlap them. Alternate one from the right and then one from the left. Now keep that up until you reach the end of the roll.


10) This is also optional but I highly suggest that you brush an egg wash on top of the loaf before you bake it. To create my egg wash I whisk one egg and some water together. It makes your loaf shiny on top and helps it to brown nicely. Below is what it looks like after the egg wash was brushed on. I didn't have a pastry brush so I used my fingers! Shhhh, no one will ever know. ;)
11) Place the bread on a cookie sheet. I used a spatula to help get it onto the pan.


12) Put into a 375 degree oven until golden brown. Mine took about 12 minutes.
13) After removing from the oven let it cool for about five minutes before you dig in.


14) Slice on the diagonal, grab a class of orange juice [Add a little vodka if you are facing a stressful day! :)] and enjoy!