Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts

Friday, November 24, 2017

My favorite holiday


I just love Thanksgiving.



Lily does too.  
he pups are waiting for Gary to drop something while carving the turkey.  
Look at her tongue sticking out.


I'm super thankful for our new home this year. We are loving it and we are happy to have invited family to join us in our turkey day feast!


Look at the adorable bottles my momma made me for decor.  I'm going to keep them around all year long, I just love them!


I love food!


I'm so excited we are sitting on our deck. Gary and his awesome buddies build us a deck and we are loving it.  We plan to finish staining it in a few months, but for now it is a wonderful addition to our backyard.  The pups are loving laying on it and sunbathing.  

We are blessed and so thankful! 

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

I'm into bowls lately



I am loving throwing food into a bowl and tossing it around and calling it a meal.

This is a taco salad of sorts.  I had it for lunch.  Spinach, black beans, red onion, ground turkey taco meat, avocado, cheese, jalapenos and tomatoes.  That's it!  I topped it with salsa and called it a taco salad bowl.



Here is where I'm cooking these days.

I'm using all the old stuff from all our other houses for this house.  I mean isn't that what we all do.  The rug bugs me because it should be larger, but it's a rug and this is a rental blah blah blah....  

I have a cute kitchen with plentiful storage so I'm happy.   

I get to cook and put the food into bowls.


This one is pinterest inspired.

It is a sushi bowl with brown rice, cocktail shrimp, shredded carrots, avocado, cucumber slivers and green onions.  I topped it off with soy sauce and yum yum sauce.  

Hello easy sushi bowl!!

The whole family ate a variation of this bowl and we all liked it.  In our 1950's kitchen.

Stay tuned for the 1950's bathroom. 

Thursday, March 12, 2015

fun new foods!


Look at all the goodies I got at the Buford Highway Farmers Market yesterday!



I met a new friend and you will never believe it.  She's a personal chef.  I'm such a foodie and a wanna be, but she's the real deal y'all.  She's fun!  Soooo, anyway, at Hayden's soccer game we were chatting and she mentioned this fun farmers market across town, so we went!  

It was so cool and I was almost as overwhelmed as I get when I step foot into HomeGoods.  You know where you have a plan and you know what you want and then you get so distracted by all the goodies you can't even think.  Yea, that is what happened to me.  It was so much fun!



Look at these little spikey fruit balls.


Have you heard of Rambutan?  I bought a few and they are tasty little treats.


They grow in bunches on a tree in tropical regions of Southeast Asia.  They have a pit, but we just ate around it like a peach.  Yummy!


Look at my pretty white eggplant!  I'm so excited about them.


I got Hayden an apple the size of his face and I got Layla a few pears.  She said it was the best pair she'd ever had!


I know it's hard to tell in this picture, but I also got tuna steaks.  Our family loves thick tuna steaks on the grill!  


There were tons of interesting foods all around.  There were foods I'd never heard of.  We saw chicken feet and the picture above is ox pizzle.  Google that.  Or don't.

What a fun day and now I have some fun new things to snack on and find recipes for!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

chicken tortilla soup

I love Chic Fil A's chicken tortilla soup and I think I could eat it every single day! 
 As with most recipes I fall in love with I try to duplicate them at home in my own kitchen.  It was a fun task and I was happy with the results.  I love all the beans and shredded chicken in the soup.  I'm not usually a chicken fan especially shredded, but I loved the way this soup turned out and I didn't even have an aversion to the shredded chicken.  Each bite was full of chicken and the perfect amount of spice and flavor.
I looked on Pinterest for ideas and browsed a few recipes, but I didn't have the ingredients for most of the recipes I found.  

Here is what I came up with what I had on hand:  
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and shredded with two forks

1 can yellow or white corn 
1 can of black beans drained
   (I don't like the color they add to food so I always drain them.)
1 can white (cannellini) beans 

2 cups of milk

2 cans of low sodium chicken broth, I used the broth from cooking the chicken breast
(more if you like it more soupy.  I wanted a 'stoup' consistency.)

1 cup of saffron rice or whatever rice you want 
(you can omit this, but I used the rice to thicken the soup and I had it leftover in the fridge)
3 tablespoons of taco seasoning

2 tablespoons of Goya Adobo all purpose seasoning with cumin
cumin 
(just sprinkle and taste, sprinkle and taste.  I like A. LOT.)
Cayenne pepper 
(I wanted it hot.  I didn't have green chilies or Rotel on hand so I spiced it up quite a bit with all the seasonings including cayenne)
salt and pepper

I usually add sauteed garlic and onion to everything I cook, but this time I didn't.  Shocker huh?!?  You can add them if you like, and maybe some chopped and sauteed red pepper would be good, but this time I skipped it.

I started with the broth and veggies and just started pouring the ingredients into a dutch oven on the stove top.  I added the chicken last and then added the spices.  The soup sat on the stove and hung out for 2.5 hours simmering.  As it simmered I tasted it and added more spices to please my taste buds.  I added more milk to make it look and taste more creamy.  I also added the cayenne and didn't measure it, so I can't give you an exact measurement.  I will say Gary and I like our soup spicy and the kids didn't eat a bowl, so it was caliente.  We like spice!


I was lucky we had a snow day so I had time to baby this soup.  If  you want to you could throw it all in the slow cooker.  Dinners are always easier in the slow cooker.

Let me know what you think if you make it!

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

orange rolls all waffled up


If you follow me on Instagram you know that I am waffling all the things.  


I have been doing tons of experimenting since Valentine's day with my new waffle maker.  I have done muffin mixes and tater tots and grilled cheese sandwiches and even apples and pears with cinnamon.


Yesterday we had a snow day and so I made orange rolls for breakfast for the kids.  They are ok, but I will do the orange rolls differently next time.  I won't smash them all on the hot iron at the same time.  You live and you learn right?!?   I think it would be fun to make them in different shapes too!


The Pillsbury orange rolls still tasted super yummy even though they looked a little odd! 

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Single Sentence Sunday


I love Sunday's because Gary and the kids cook brunch for us while I relax and have coffee!

Monday, February 9, 2015

the food images on my camera roll

I have a problem. If you really know me you know about my problem. 

I love taking pictures of my food.  

I always have high hopes of posting the pictures somewhere.  I want to write blog posts about my meals, but I don't.  I was just scrolling through my photo feed a minute ago and I decided I must post what we ate last week.   

I really think with a little work I can clean up our menu a bit.  I see so many clean eating pictures on Instagram.   Sigh.  Some days I want to eat more healthy and other days I don't really care.  Not so much bread, stop eating beef.  Do you get me?  I do so well during the day, salad for lunch, fruit and nuts for snacks.  I usually make good choices and then my evening meal I tend to just eat whatever.  


Anyway, clean or dirty here is what our little family of four ate last week.  


Monday Gary worked half a day and he grilled steaks for dinner.

This is a beef fillet on the grill with steamed broccoli and scalloped cheesy potatoes.  I sliced the potatoes with my veggie slicer and added some milk and cheese to a casserole dish and baked them for about 30 minutes.  Wow...maybe not so much cheese on the potatoes next time, huh?!  But I LOVE CHEESE and you know, its for the kids.  



Tuesday I fought a headache all day long.  

This is a quick decision meal.  I didn't know what to make for dinner, so I grabbed 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts and seasoned them with spices. I added a can of low fat cream of mushroom soup mixed it with water and threw it in a baking dish.  I added sliced yellow squash to the mix and baked it for 25 minutes.  
When it was done I sliced the chicken into chunks and plated it on a bed of saffron rice.






Wednesday was a BLT wrap.  

I found some multi grain 'infinity' shaped wraps and loaded them with fresh warm strips of bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes.  You can bet the dogs were swarming the kitchen while the bacon was frying.  They can't resist the smell of bacon.  Who can?   I served the wraps with pizza dip and my favorite organic tortilla chips from Aldi.




Thursday I was feeling yuck from a head cold.  It was one of those things where I never sneezed or coughed, but the sinus pain and congestion was awful!  

I needed comfort.  I made black bean and green chilie chicken enchilada casserole.  First line a casserole dish with canned enchilada sauce.  Second, in a separate bowl mix a softened block of cream cheese and green chilies with shredded cheddar and diced chicken breast (2 cooked breasts).  Layer the shredded tortillas, the mixture of chicken and more enchilada sauce until all the ingredients are in the pan.  Top with shredded cheddar and bake until the top cheese is all melty and brown.  Maybe 375 for 25 minutes.  I am an eye-baller when it comes to casseroles, so just bake it until it's warm when all the ingredients have already been cooked.




Friday was pizza night.  

We have been dying for the bacon cheeseburger pizza from Papa John's.  I was so excited to over indulge and then when I tasted it I only ate one piece.  I had one piece of bacon cheeseburger pizza and half a piece of the kids pizza.  They ordered hamburger, pepperoni and black olives.   I just wasn't that hungry, still with the sinus mess I guess.



Saturday we decided to go out to dinner.  We went to our favorite Mexican food restaurant and I didn't take my phone out of my purse.  Shocker huh?!?  I ordered chicken fajitas and they were amazing!




Sunday isn't really part of last week because I feel like Sunday starts a new week, but I'm posting our burgers anyway.


Mine was the first picture.  It's just a plain ole yummy cheeseburger with lettuce tomato and onion on a seseame seed bun.  Gary's is an insane burger.  He always stacks his burger to the sky and the kids love watching him make it.  We also had oven baked fries and we tried a new kind of canned baked beans.  They are pulled pork flavored and they didn't disappoint.  They were very good!


Now, I am off to do a little meal planning for this week.   I'm thankful the nasty sinus headache and congestion is gone. Woohoo!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

taco soup the second time


Gary has been out of town.  On his was back into town yesterday he sounded awful, so I decided to make a batch of taco soup.


I browned some turkey meat and added a taco packet.  I added tons of veggies, garlic, zucchini, onions, celery, carrots, a can of rotel, corn and black beans.  It let it simmer for over an hour and it was ready to go.  We added a scoop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of cheese and called it soup.


This morning we decided to drain some broth off the soup and add it to an omelet!


I added a bit of mild Taco Bell sauce and another dollop of yogurt.  
Mmmmm Mmmm Good!

I just love food sooo much!

Friday, January 24, 2014

chicken tamale casserole pin gone right, oh so right!

We have had so many school delays due to the weather.  It's been very frigid or snowy this entire month.  When I know I'm home all day I want to make something fun and different for dinner.  Soooo, I get on pinterest and search for ideas!  Pinterest is so very fun.  I found a great recipe to help pass the 'snow day' down time.  As you know, I enjoy being in the kitchen.  Sometimes the kids play together so well I get bored.  I have a problem.  When I get bored I cook.


Also another excuse to cook:  using the oven warms this old farm house kitchen.


I found this chicken tamale casserole recipe. 

I followed it pretty much except I made a few changes.  It's snowing and cold and I didn't have a can of creamed corn.  There is no way I was leaving to get a can, so I put a can of whole kernel corn in the blender and added heavy cream to it.  Viola...creamed corn.  I added a can of chopped green chilis to it for flavor.  Also I must note because of the heavy cream I cut the milk called for in the recipe in half.  I used 4 cooked chopped chicken breasts and I'm not sure if they equaled 3 cups of chicken, but the recipe was amazing anyway.  

Otherwise I followed the recipe.  Ahhhh!  It is OUTSTANDING!

  I am a tamale lover and one of my life long goals is to make tamales from scratch.  Gary and I both want to do this.   For now, this recipe satified my tamale craving.  

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

spaghetti squash


I made spaghetti squash yesterday.


The hardest part of the whole process was cutting the squash in half.


I didn't do anything to my squash once I cut it.  I placed in a 375 degree oven and baked it face down for 50 minutes.  Then I checked on it and baked it for 20 minutes more.


It was sweet perfection.  I scraped the spaghetti strings out of the 'shell' and ate them with a little salt and pepper and a dab of butter.  I love the sweet flavor of spaghetti squash just as it is.  I know there are tons of recipes out there, but I just eat mine plain.  I have more in the fridge.  I'm thinking I should make the mac and cheese recipe everyone talks about.  Mmmmm!  

Monday, November 11, 2013

Chili times two

Temps are swooping down getting cooler and that means time for the first batch of chili for the season!




Hope you've had a great three day weekend! We have!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The Good Stuff


Tonight was one of those nights...it was simple but great.

I was in my kitchen, cooking a meal for my family, having a glass of vino. 

I am so happy to be cooking again and meal planning.  Summer time was just crazy and I wasn't in the meal planning mood.  I bought a bottle of wine at Aldi and was shocked that it's tasty. Good inexpensive wine makes me happy!


The windows were open and the sheer curtains were blowing in the breeze.  I could hear the kids giggling and laughing  and the dogs barking outside the kitchen window.  My iPod was on random and with great tunes blaring.  It was just one of those simple evenings I'll never forget.

The kitchen is my happy place.  I'm happy to be back in our school routine.  I love helping the kids with their homework.  I love having dinner ready when Gary gets home from work.  I'm a simple girl and clearly routine makes me super happy.

Tonight the song "The Good Stuff" came blaring through the speakers.  I got tears in my eyes while listening to it and quite honestly it shocked me.  But it made me realize that no matter what life throws at me I try to always remember the simple things...the good stuff.




Friday, July 13, 2012

my kitchen musts


You must add milk to your eggs before you scramble them.

You must marinate all meats including, but not limited to beef, pork, chicken and seafood.

You must make your own refried beans in the slow cooker.

You must sprinkle brown sugar on your banana bread before you bake it.

You must own a griddle.

You must cook bacon on a roasting pan in the oven.

You must use a slow cooker liner when you use your slow cooker.

You must find an old cookbook and read it.

You must let your steaks rest half of the cooking time before you serve.

You must have a cast iron skillet.

You must crumble chips of any kind Doritos, Cheetos or Fritos onto your salad at lunchtime.