Okay, so the title pretty much says it all....I started this food blog a couple of years ago, but once we got pregnant with our second child, I was plagued with morning sickness for 4 months...and the last thing I wanted to do was cook....and then write about it. The rest of my pregnancy went great, but our lives were kind of crazy with both of us going to school, getting a new puppy, and still managing to take care of Zach and each other. Then Kylie came, we adjusted to having 2 children (which is wonderful by the way), and before I knew it....I was pregnant again! More morning sickness...not wanting to cook (or do anything except lie on the couch), etc....and here we are! I am currently 6 months pregnant and feeling great, but missing my husband who is on deployment like crazy. So what will I do to fill the emptiness I feel from not being able to cook for him? Drown myself in recipes, and attempt to find ones that I think he'll love to blow him away when he gets back. And without him here to spend the two hours per night between the kiddos bedtime and mine with me, I have more than enough time to blog about it. So I'm going to say that this comeback may be temporary....especially since we have a new baby on the way, and the fact that I will most likely be glued to my husband and not the computer once he gets back.
I'm super excited about trying some new stuff and sharing it with you!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Friday, April 23, 2010
Mexican Night
A couple of weeks ago we had what I like to refer to as "Mexican night"...which really means that I cook a bunch of recipes that are as close to real Mexican food as I have discovered,,,and long for California. I usually end up making quite a bit of food, so it also means that we get to have company and introduce some deprived souls to the amazing flavors that this ethnicity of food has to offer...so all around a good experience!
This time I made enchiladas, rice, beans, and had a friend bring guacamole. I didn't follow my usual protocol of making a batch of homemede salsa, which I immediately regretted as I put the first chip dipped in Pace brand salsa in my mouth...I will be making some very soon. I also didn't make the usual appetizer of chile rellenos...partially because of laziness and partially because there were only five of us eating, and we already had quite a bit of food. I also think that next time I will attempt to make flan for dessert and horchata to drink (two things I have always wanted to make, they add a sweet balance to a spicy meal).
Enough about the things I did not make, one thing that I did make is Mexican rice according to a recipe that has been handed down to me from my mother-in-law...possibly my very favorite one that she has shared with me. It is ridiculously easy to make, very forgiving, and, of course, delicious. If you didn't want to make a whole mexican spread, you could certainly whip up some of this, put it in a tortilla with a little sour cream and call it a meal. It's that good. For you 24/7 carnivores out there, some ground beef or grilled chicken would be required to complete the meal. Regardless of your protein needs,,,you need to make this very soon...it's simply being unfair to your taste buds to deny them this,
Mexican Rice
I cup uncooked rice
vegetable or canola oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
black pepper
1 can of tomatoes
3 bouillon cubes
21/2 cups pf water
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup of onion, chopped
Just cover the bottom of a medium saucepan with oil (1-2 Tbsp). Toast rice in oil until golden brown. Add garlic and black pepper (a few shakes/grinds will do). Add tomatoes, water, and bouillon and stir until cubes are mostly dissolved. Place green pepper and onion on top of rice and simmer over med-lo heat until all liquid is absorbed.
You could always add more onion or bell pepper to taste...in fact, since my husband despises bell pepper, I usually leave it out completely. You could also use Rotel instead of plain tomatoes to make it a little spicier. Have fun with it!
This time I made enchiladas, rice, beans, and had a friend bring guacamole. I didn't follow my usual protocol of making a batch of homemede salsa, which I immediately regretted as I put the first chip dipped in Pace brand salsa in my mouth...I will be making some very soon. I also didn't make the usual appetizer of chile rellenos...partially because of laziness and partially because there were only five of us eating, and we already had quite a bit of food. I also think that next time I will attempt to make flan for dessert and horchata to drink (two things I have always wanted to make, they add a sweet balance to a spicy meal).
Enough about the things I did not make, one thing that I did make is Mexican rice according to a recipe that has been handed down to me from my mother-in-law...possibly my very favorite one that she has shared with me. It is ridiculously easy to make, very forgiving, and, of course, delicious. If you didn't want to make a whole mexican spread, you could certainly whip up some of this, put it in a tortilla with a little sour cream and call it a meal. It's that good. For you 24/7 carnivores out there, some ground beef or grilled chicken would be required to complete the meal. Regardless of your protein needs,,,you need to make this very soon...it's simply being unfair to your taste buds to deny them this,
Mexican Rice
I cup uncooked rice
vegetable or canola oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
black pepper
1 can of tomatoes
3 bouillon cubes
21/2 cups pf water
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup of onion, chopped
Just cover the bottom of a medium saucepan with oil (1-2 Tbsp). Toast rice in oil until golden brown. Add garlic and black pepper (a few shakes/grinds will do). Add tomatoes, water, and bouillon and stir until cubes are mostly dissolved. Place green pepper and onion on top of rice and simmer over med-lo heat until all liquid is absorbed.
You could always add more onion or bell pepper to taste...in fact, since my husband despises bell pepper, I usually leave it out completely. You could also use Rotel instead of plain tomatoes to make it a little spicier. Have fun with it!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Loving Your Kitchen
This post will have no recipes or really any food related things in it...mostly some thoughts I have been having regarding my kitchen, and how much I have grown to love it.
Before being introduced to my current kitchen, the one I have cooked more meals in than all the other kitchens I have been exposed to combined, I was spoiled. I came from a world where a kitchen only qualified as such if it had granite countertops, brand new appliances, and carefully picked tile floors. In fact, I'm not sure that I thought that another type of kitchen existed unless you were in complete poverty. I was wrong. When we moved to Auburn, I was extremely excited and optimistic about the move. Nathan had told me so much about this wonderful place, and the fact that he loved it so much made me love it and long for it. The only problem was the living situation. As we looked for a place to rent, I became very discouraged...we could not afford anything like what I was accustomed to...and the kitchens were all geared towards non-cooking college students. I was determined to make the best of our situation though, and convinced myself that I was pleased with our choice.
Within a week of moving in our dishwasher stopped working, I burnt brownies for the first time (our oven is 150-200 degrees hotter than what it is set to), and we realized that our ice-maker in the freezer didn't work. Not to mention that it was not even close to my aesthetic standards. I was in my version of kitchen hell. How was I going to make delicious yet nourishing meals for my family? Were we destined to eating out or eating microwaveable meals the rest of our time in Auburn?
Well, we are still here, and I have made many delicious meals (quite successfully) and...I love my kitchen. We have made thousands of great memories in it over the past two years, fed a lot of people that we love, and (once I bought an oven thermometer) I have enjoyed every minute of it. Sure, I have to fill ice trays every time we have guests, check the oven at least five times every time I make bread, and flip the kitchen breaker every time I want to put a lemon peel down the disposal...but we are still able to eat every morning, noon, and night...and for that I am grateful. Also, I have learned that a good kitchen is more about the people you are able to feed with the food and other resources that God gives you (and the love you can show them through doing so) than how closely it represents a picture in a magazine. Something that God, in His infinite grace and wisdom chose to teach me early in both my life and cooking career. Thank you Lord for knowing me and for even in this small way humbling me and showing Your love for me.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Mac-n-Cheese
I am so terrible, I just realized that for this year I have approximately one post per month...so, so lame. Fortunately for my family, this is no indication of how much I have been cooking:)...I just keep failing at this whole "having a blog" thing. Anyway, tonight I made mac-n-cheese that turned out awesome...which is good, because the recipe made enough to feed us for the rest of the week. I got the recipe of off the Pioneer Woman website...my latest obsession, most of my posts (if I ever write any) will probably be repeats of recipes from her website...so feel free to just skip reading my blog and go to hers...she's much more faithful and already has a huge amount of great recipes (I've tried at least ten in the past two weeks) that are all awesome.
I used the mac as a side dish to homemade chicken tenders (also from her blog) that were good as well, but I think I have decided that if I'm going to have chicken strips, I'd rather order them than make them at home. I came to the same conclusion after making homemade pasta a couple of weeks ago...it was good, but not good enough to make me want to make it rather than dump dried pasta out of a box into boiling water to go with whatever sauce I'm making. Besides, in our family, the sauce is really what's important, the pasta is just a vehicle to get it to your mouth.
We also tried a new restaurant recently, in Auburn, called Naruto's. It is a Japanese steak house/sushi place that is much more reasonably priced than a lot of the others in town...and it still tastes good. On taste alone I would prefer Julianna Tokyo, but with both taste and value considered, I would definitely choose Naruto's. The workers were also very friendly and described in detail, without being asked, the things we were ordering. Combine that with the fact that we were starving...it was a great experience.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Breakfast for Dinner
This is one of those posts that has been waiting to be written for just about forever. I have already made this meal twice...and managed to get zero pictures and am just now writing about it! We have breakfast for dinner regularly, but recently found a new favorite...eggs benedict. The only down side to this meal is that it takes a little multitasking, especially when you are making biscuits and sausage gravy alongside (in all fairness we were having guests, better to have too much that too little). You must also learn how to do two things that aren't that difficult, yet hardly anyone I've met knows how to do them: poach an egg and make hollandaise sauce.
As far as egg poaching, it's easy as long as you are not a perfectionist...which poses a serious problem for me in the kitchen. You pour a raw egg into a pot of boiling vinegar water, and wait. The entire time they are cooking you will think you've failed, but then you pull out of the bubbly, egg foam-filled water...a beautiful, delicious, and healthy poached egg. All of this takes place in less than five minutes.
That's where the healthy part ends. To make hollandaise sauce you mix together in a blender, a stick (yes, a whole stick) of hot, melted butter, three egg yolks (there's your cholesterol for the week), salt and pepper, and lemon juice. The result is a light, frothy sauce that tastes like butter with a hint of lemon....it's awesome. To finish, stack a toasted english muffin half, a warm slice of canadian bacon, an egg, top with sauce, and prepare to be amazed! I will also testify that biscuits and gravy make an excellent side dish for this meal:).
If you have never tried breakfast for dinner, you should, it is better than breakfast for breakfast. My husband's reasoning for this phenomenon..."Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day, but dinner is the most enjoyable." I couldn't agree more.
As far as egg poaching, it's easy as long as you are not a perfectionist...which poses a serious problem for me in the kitchen. You pour a raw egg into a pot of boiling vinegar water, and wait. The entire time they are cooking you will think you've failed, but then you pull out of the bubbly, egg foam-filled water...a beautiful, delicious, and healthy poached egg. All of this takes place in less than five minutes.
That's where the healthy part ends. To make hollandaise sauce you mix together in a blender, a stick (yes, a whole stick) of hot, melted butter, three egg yolks (there's your cholesterol for the week), salt and pepper, and lemon juice. The result is a light, frothy sauce that tastes like butter with a hint of lemon....it's awesome. To finish, stack a toasted english muffin half, a warm slice of canadian bacon, an egg, top with sauce, and prepare to be amazed! I will also testify that biscuits and gravy make an excellent side dish for this meal:).
If you have never tried breakfast for dinner, you should, it is better than breakfast for breakfast. My husband's reasoning for this phenomenon..."Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day, but dinner is the most enjoyable." I couldn't agree more.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Beef Bourguignon
After what seems like a lifetime of morning sickness and holiday craziness, I have finally been able to spend some quality time in my kitchen and still have enough time and energy left to write about it. I also got quite a bit of motivation from Edith Schaeffer's The Hidden Art of Homemaking thanks to a sweet friend who got it for me as a Christmas gift. If you are lacking in desire or ideas in any area of homemaking (not just cooking) I would encourage you to take the time to read it.
Enough about my absence, let's get to the food! If any of you have seen Julie and Julia you should be fairly familiar with the concept of this French meal. It is essentially roast beef that is braised in red wine rather than some other liquid. I made mine in the Crock Pot rather than roasting it in the oven and it turned out amazing. I got most of my recipe from the crockpot365 blog and modified it only slightly towards the end for taste. I also made gravy out of the wine/broth mixture cooking it this way produced, and served it with mashed potatoes and homemade sourdough bread. No part of the meal was green which is sort of a no-no in our house, but there were carrots cooked with the beef to help round it out. Everyone loved it, even our guests, but I think I still prefer the American version of roast beef better.
While we're reviewing food, I'm thinking of reviewing local (Auburn) and semi-local (Atlanta to Mobile) restaurants as we try them. Today I had lunch at a fairly new cafe in Auburn, the Crepe Myrtle Cafe attached to the Market at Blooming Colors (located on the corner of Donahue and S.College). They mainly serve crepes, both savory and sweet, but they also serve soups and salads. I had the Cream of Cauliflower and Bleu Cheese soup...I know it sounds crazy, but it is really very similar to broccoli cheese soup with a little extra wonderfulness thanks to the bleu cheese. I also had a panini with roast beef, cheese (cannot remember what kind, but something good), and roasted tomatoes. The roasted tomatoes really took this basic sandwich to a whole new level, I will definitely start using this idea at home. It also came with a small side salad and sweet tea, both of which were good, but forgettable. I had a strawberry and fudge crepe with whipped cream for dessert...honestly, do I need to review this? With those things in it, it had to be good, and it was. The neat thing about this cafe is that they give you great food, with interesting ingredient combinations, and most of the ingredients are locally grown/produced. All of that with a cozy cafe atmosphere is a winner in my book!
Enough about my absence, let's get to the food! If any of you have seen Julie and Julia you should be fairly familiar with the concept of this French meal. It is essentially roast beef that is braised in red wine rather than some other liquid. I made mine in the Crock Pot rather than roasting it in the oven and it turned out amazing. I got most of my recipe from the crockpot365 blog and modified it only slightly towards the end for taste. I also made gravy out of the wine/broth mixture cooking it this way produced, and served it with mashed potatoes and homemade sourdough bread. No part of the meal was green which is sort of a no-no in our house, but there were carrots cooked with the beef to help round it out. Everyone loved it, even our guests, but I think I still prefer the American version of roast beef better.
While we're reviewing food, I'm thinking of reviewing local (Auburn) and semi-local (Atlanta to Mobile) restaurants as we try them. Today I had lunch at a fairly new cafe in Auburn, the Crepe Myrtle Cafe attached to the Market at Blooming Colors (located on the corner of Donahue and S.College). They mainly serve crepes, both savory and sweet, but they also serve soups and salads. I had the Cream of Cauliflower and Bleu Cheese soup...I know it sounds crazy, but it is really very similar to broccoli cheese soup with a little extra wonderfulness thanks to the bleu cheese. I also had a panini with roast beef, cheese (cannot remember what kind, but something good), and roasted tomatoes. The roasted tomatoes really took this basic sandwich to a whole new level, I will definitely start using this idea at home. It also came with a small side salad and sweet tea, both of which were good, but forgettable. I had a strawberry and fudge crepe with whipped cream for dessert...honestly, do I need to review this? With those things in it, it had to be good, and it was. The neat thing about this cafe is that they give you great food, with interesting ingredient combinations, and most of the ingredients are locally grown/produced. All of that with a cozy cafe atmosphere is a winner in my book!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Zach's 2nd Birthday
I have one child, a little boy, named Zachariah. He recently turned two (8/4), so this past Friday evening we had a party for him and invited a few of his friends (which happen to be our adult friends :)). I really enjoy cake decorating, so I had to make him one, but neither I nor my husband really like cake...and Zach likes everything...so deciding what kind to make was pretty tough. I finally decided on a yellow cake (a crowd pleaser) w/ a raspberry filling because Zach loves "beybers" (a.k.a berries). I tend to assume that if something tastes really good that it must be really hard to make...even though I've experienced over and over again that it usually isn't true, and once again I was proved wrong while looking up how to make the filling (I used the recipe on the Wilton website). I assume the same recipe could probably be used for any other frozen fruit if you wanted to change it up a bit (or if for some ridiculous reason you don't like raspberries).
We also tried something else new, grilled pizza. I made a few batches of pizza dough a couple of days ahead of time, made pizza sauce, and bought a bunch of pizza toppings for everyone to choose from. Just before the party, we (Nathan and I) rolled out the dough, brushed it w/ olive oil, and grilled one side for 4-5 minutes on a preheated grill on high heat. Then we let everyone put their toppings on the cooked side brought them back out to the grill and cooked the other side/melted cheese for another 3-4 minutes. Everyone had fun making their own pizza, and I loved not having to worry about making something everyone would like. We also had mozzarella sticks and caprese salad as appetizers.
The party was a lot of fun, especially for Zach (which was the whole point). He loves entertaining guests by singing, dancing, and doing any other new tricks he has learned recently. There is almost nothing I enjoy more than watching him grow, teaching him, and watching him really grasp a new concept. It is simply amazing. As much joy as there is in raising him, there is also fear. Fear that I will not teach him all the right things, be a good example, love him as I ought....the list goes on and on. Were it not for God's grace in my everyday life, I would live my whole life in fear! But God promises us (and He keeps ALL of His promises) that His grace is sufficient for us. There is no way that we can raise Zach properly on our own...we are weak, but God is our strength, and His strength is made perfect in our weakness, so we have hope. Praise the Lord!
"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor 12:9-10
We also tried something else new, grilled pizza. I made a few batches of pizza dough a couple of days ahead of time, made pizza sauce, and bought a bunch of pizza toppings for everyone to choose from. Just before the party, we (Nathan and I) rolled out the dough, brushed it w/ olive oil, and grilled one side for 4-5 minutes on a preheated grill on high heat. Then we let everyone put their toppings on the cooked side brought them back out to the grill and cooked the other side/melted cheese for another 3-4 minutes. Everyone had fun making their own pizza, and I loved not having to worry about making something everyone would like. We also had mozzarella sticks and caprese salad as appetizers.
The party was a lot of fun, especially for Zach (which was the whole point). He loves entertaining guests by singing, dancing, and doing any other new tricks he has learned recently. There is almost nothing I enjoy more than watching him grow, teaching him, and watching him really grasp a new concept. It is simply amazing. As much joy as there is in raising him, there is also fear. Fear that I will not teach him all the right things, be a good example, love him as I ought....the list goes on and on. Were it not for God's grace in my everyday life, I would live my whole life in fear! But God promises us (and He keeps ALL of His promises) that His grace is sufficient for us. There is no way that we can raise Zach properly on our own...we are weak, but God is our strength, and His strength is made perfect in our weakness, so we have hope. Praise the Lord!
"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor 12:9-10
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