Recipe for Adventure

Truvia

2009-03-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

I saw Truvia at my grocery store, and after seeing a commercial for it, decided to try it. It is made from the stevia plant and is a natural calorie free sweetener. I use it in my tea, and it's great. It doesn't have that chemical taste that you get from other sweeteners, and it leaves a sweet, sugary aftertaste on your tongue for a while, that really satisfies your sweet tooth. I tried a little licked off my finger, and it doesn't taste that good on it's own, so I probably wouldn't use it on strawberries (as advertised), but it's really good in my tea. It is quite pricey, so I think I'm going to look into the possibility of growing a stevia plant and brewing a few leaves with my tea. Not sure if it works that way or not, but I'm going to check into it.

Finally, a new recipe!

2009-02-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

Shelli's Island Chicken

6-8 chicken boneless/skinless chicken breasts
3 cups uncooked rice (I used jasmine rice)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
zest and juice from 2 limes
2 cups chicken broth
1 14oz can coconut milk (lite)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 tsp salt 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut

Heat oven to 425. Put rice in 13x9 baking dish. Prep your zest and set aside. In a bowl, combine broth, coconut milk, cilantro, salt and lime juice. Pour over rice. Arrange chicken across the top sprinkle with garlic, cayenne pepper and zest. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 min or until rice is cooked. (This actually took an hour.) Remove foil, sprinkle coconut over the top and bake uncovered for about 5 min until coconut browns.

This was a great recipe and made a lot, we had it for dinner twice! I think it would be even tastier with jerk seasoning on the chicken instead of the cayenne. If your making it for kids, don't put the cayenne on a couple of the pieces of chicken!

I steamed green beans in a skillet with olive oil, salt, Italian seasoning, then added some pecans till they were toasted up, added a few squirts of lime juice, and served them with the above recipe.

Country-style Ribs and Rice

2008-11-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

I bought country-style ribs at Sam's because they were relatively cheap, but I didn't know what to do with them. I went on foodnetwork.com and found a recipe from Paula Dean, and read the reviews, which were mixed, and decided to try it, implementing the suggestions in the reviews. It turned out ok, not very flavorful though. Scott didn't like it at all, and neither did the kids. I liked it alright, but I think for nastalgic reasons. It reminded me of an old South meal my grandma would have made; warm, filling, and cheap, comfort-type food.
So, needless to say I had alot of left over meat and rice. I dumped the rice down the garbage disposal, cleaned the fat off the meat, and made a great soup. Here's my concoction:

1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic pressed
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 can white cannelini beans, drained
1 large carrot shredded
1/2 cup spinach puree
1 cup squash and zuchini chopped that I found in the freezer, we had grilled them back in the summer, so they added great flavor.
pepper
italian seasoning
salt
2 bayleaves
leftover meat, to desired meatiness

Simmer for a little while and enjoy.

Soups are a great quick and easy go to if you have some pantry staples and leftovers on hand. I think soup is one of the few redeeming things of winter. That and snowboarding!

Trick-r-treat

2008-11-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

Here's Reece and Alli all ready to go trick-r-treating. Reece is Lego Indiana Jones, and Alli is Lego Asoka (from StarWars the CloneWars). I've found I can make anything with Duct Tape, boxes, a paper sack, and spray paint! You can go to Scott's site for more pictures.

Las Vegas

2008-11-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

I went to Las Vegas with Scott in July. His company was having a trade show there. We stayed at the Paris. The whole experience was surreal. You get off the plane and are immediately bombarded with slot machines, right there at the gate! And then as you move through the concourse, the ads for all the nudey shows! We got to the Paris, and it's all fake like Disney World for grown ups. It's hot as hades there in July, kind of ironic considering all the sinning going on there! And it's so dry, I was in chronic thirst, also hades-like. All I did for the few days we were there is lay by the pool and read. This pic is the view from my chair at the pool.
The view from the window in our room. Looks majestic and relaxing! HA! Not! I have a hard time putting into words the spiritual oppression I felt there. On the flight in I was taking in the Grand Canyon and seeing all the glorious colors of the desert, and there are small mountains all around the city, really an artwork of God out there. But the city is designed to make you forget about God. All you can see from the street is man-made buildings, fountains and lights, all designed to distract you away from God and lure you in to the temptations beyond thier doors.
To top it all off, the food wasn't even that great. Except for the dinner we had at the hotel convention center. We had steak, some kind of potato gratin, and asparagus, a great salad, and creme brulee for dessert. It was all cooked to perfection, I could cut my steak with a fork!

HFCS Rant

2008-09-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the recent commercials promoting high fructose corn syrup?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbRxTOyGf0

I am offended that they make those of us concerned about the health of our family diets and the ingredients in our foods look like idiots. They say that HFCS is "all natural, made from corn, nutritional as sugar and just fine consumed in moderation."

Here's the problems with these adds. They're funded/made by the Corn Refiners Association, which suffered an historical loss this year, so it's in their best interest, not ours or our kids. The only thing I do agree with is the "moderation" part, the problem with that is that most people get this in excess through the consumption of processed foods, sodas, and juice drinks. Natural would be the actual corn kernel. MODERATION! Kids, and many adults for that matter, don't naturally do moderation, they have to be taught this by mom throughout childhood in order to establish healthy eating habits.

Many researchers have found harmful effects on the body linked to HFCS compared to natural sweeteners such as honey. Here's a link to one such study.

http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/highfructose.html

I'm not an extreme "t-totaller" on this, but I do avoid HFCS when possible. I'm a proud label reader, and try to avoid the "middle aisles" of the grocery store. As mom, I take protecting the health of my family quite seriously.

By the way, 2 of these commercials have aired on the channel I'm watching in the time it's taken me to write this. It's almost like they're saying "How dare you deny your kids sugar!" I personally don't care for sugar'd up kids. It affects them negatively. I'm done.

Roast Chicken

2008-06-27T20:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I finally tried a new recipe! I did Tyler's Ultimate Roast Chicken. It was incredibly good, I made the gravy and everything! I served it with mashed potatoes and greenbeans.
Go to foodtv.com and get the recipe. It was really easy. I bought a frozen whole chicken at Aldi and thawed it in the fridge a couple days prior to cooking. The only variation I did was I put half the orange and half the onion and the little bits of garlic cloves out of the top I cut off the head into the pan beside the chicken. One other tip I learned on TV is if you don't have string to tie the legs together, cut a small slit in the skin by the opening and cross the leg and insert the joint bone into the slits(both sides). This holds them nicely.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_21965,00.html

Summer Blog Break

2008-05-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

Well, warm weather is here, and I'm spending all my blogging time outside! Playing, gardening, grilling, reading, sunning, and soon, swimming! I'll only be blogging on occasion until the cold weather comes back. Cooking and blogging seem to be my winter hobbies. I'll update every now and then throughout the summer.

Ahhhhhhhh

2008-04-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

I finally made it into that hammock I was wishing about earlier! I got my tea, my book, and my hat and we headed out of the room with our sand toys. I layed there and read for about an hour while the kids played in the sand! This is the palm tree beside my hammock. When the nice gentle breeze blew, the dried fronds against the trunk made the most glorious swishing sound. Ahhhhh. Sun, gentle breeze, nice sound, good book, hot tea, hammock. I wish I were there now!
Reece found some pirate treasure in the sand!

Alli's 3rd Birthday

2008-04-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Alli's 3rd birthday was while we were in Orlando. I usually do pancakes in the shape of their birthday number for their birthday breakfast, but I obviously couldn't do that in the hotel room! We took a break from the instant oatmeal, and had Mickey Mouse waffles at the restaurant for Alli's birthday.She got orange juice in a fancy "princess" cup!
Reece trying to get close to his waffles for the picture.
Aren't they cute? There were tasty, too!
Here's one of the best pics I got of them together the whole week. That's the lake in the center of the resort in the background, isn't it a pretty scene!?

More Orlando

2008-04-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned this previously, but, they have bikes you can rent, and a nice path around the property, so we did that one morning. Here's Reece on his red bike with the required helmet. We're not big believers in bike helmets at our house. You need to learn to protect your noggin, not bash it uncautiously into things! Alli rode in the seat behind me, she loved that!
It finally got warm enough to swim in the big pool.

Reece stays close to the side, always within my sight, very careful.
Alli would swim all the way across the pool away from me, socializing with everyone along the way, singing and splashing in her own little world.
They are so very different, it astounds me!

Sand and Dinner

2008-04-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

Sand writing

Where I wished I was at that moment
This is how I made dinner almost every night. The hotel doesn't have microwaves! I had called about this beforehand, and took food that could be made with hot water from the coffee maker, and took metal bowls small enough to fit on the element to heat the soups. If I had remembered them, I would have gotten those dried soups in the bowls that you just add hot water to, but I had forgotten they made those when I was shopping.
The Disney food is very expensive, and not very tasty or healthy, I learned this lesson on our trip last year. I shipped 2 boxes of food down with the stuff from Scott's office. Including pb crackers, instant oatmeal, instant grits, cheerios, wheat thins, cheezits, rasins, trailmix, chicken salad packets, tuna salad packets, jelly, bread, granola bars, oranges, apples, herbal tea, can soups, etc. This bowl was a little big and we had to bend it a little to make it fit, but it worked!
This is a mule with wings that was in the gift shop. Odd little thing, though cute.

Hot Tub

2008-04-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

It was a little too cool the second day to swim in the pool, so we hung out in the hot tub. Reece loves the hot tub, he actually learned to swim without floaties in the hot tub in Daytona Beach! Alli was not as much of a fan, too HOT! She never got any deeper than this right here.

There was a sandy beach right outside our room, beside the lake that is in the center of the property. Hey look, there's mom!

More Playground

2008-04-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

There were swings on the playground, too.

We spotted the Goodyear blimp several time while we were there!

That's the end of day one, I'll post more later, the kids will be up from naps soon.

Play Ground

2008-04-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

The Resort has an Aztec theme. They have an awsome playground where we spent lots of time. This is important when your there for a conference, and not going to the Parks every day.

Coronado Springs Resort

2008-04-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Disney's Coronado Springs Resort Lobby

Alli couldn't wait to be a princess in Disney World! She's doing Princess spins on their murphy bed.
Alli pinned Reece
Looking at all the money in the fountain
While I was blinking, Reece stuck his arm in, got his sleeves all wet, and pulled out a quarter, and yes, I made him put it back!

Flight

2008-04-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

We had an uneventful flight with AirTran over the Great Southern states to Orlando.

Here is some in-flight advertising, keeping the prices low!

Snack time - be sure to bring an empty sippie cup in your carry-on to prevent spills! I wish I had brought one for myself, as I spilled my Coke on my lap! It dried by the time we got there, and wasn't noticeable.

We made it! The kids are watching cartoons in the lobby while Scott checks us in.

Disney Trip - Finally

2008-04-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

I am finally able to get my pictures to upload! So, here's Alli spotting our plane. Travel tip: Be sure to bring some small quiet toys and books to play with while you wait for your plane. She had fun with a book that you place magnetic letters in. Reece played Brick Breaker on Scott's Pearl.

Finally, getting on the plane!

Meeting the pilots. Reece thought all those buttons looked really fun!
Reece, Scott, and CoffeeAlli, Me, and Coffee
More to come, I only know how to do this 5 at a time!

Vacation

2008-03-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

Hey faithful readers! Did you miss me? We went to Orlando for the week! I meant to post that before we left, but I just didn't have time! I'm going to work on getting my recap of the week posted, but I've got to get through my pics first. Check back tomorrow!

Happy Valentine's Day, and stuff!

2008-02-25T12:01:00.000-08:00

Ha! A little late for Valentine's Day, I know, but I just now downloaded my pics from then, and had to share some. I have been cooking, just too tired to post what I've been making, so here's a few:

The Valentine's day pancakes were a recipe I pulled out of a magazine a long time ago. They were made with oatmeal. They turned out great, very fluffy, and surprisingly not anything like oatmeal. Honestly it wasn't noticeable.

"Buttered Noodles" from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook, this was really fast to stir together, and the kids and I gobbled it up. I used whole wheat spaghetti noodles in it.

Nacho Chicken from a Southern Living cookbook. This is coated in crunched up Doritos. I happened to have some leftover from D-NOW. I made potato pancakes to go with it. My mom always made these, but I only had instant mashed potatoes to use, and I don't think that worked out too well. She said she uses leftover mashed potatoes that are cold from the fridge. You just add a little flour till they are able to be patted into patties, and fry them in some oil. I added some garlic salt. They were still yummy the way I made them, just messy and not the same as mom's. Oh, yeah, and a little burned, that always happens when I try to fry anything! I'll need more practice at that one.

I stirred up some chicken salad for lunch today, just using some leftover stuff in my fridge, and it was really good. Here's what I put in: Chopped chicken, chopped apple, shredded coconut, toasted chopped pecans, celery salt, tumeric, white pepper, mayo, milk, lemon juice.

Hold the Lemon

2008-02-18T17:20:00.000-08:00

Gross, I think I'll pass on lemon water at restaraunts from now on! Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeye8wnBJoU

Mexican Pile-Up

2008-02-18T16:35:00.000-08:00

We had Scott's 9th grade guys over at our house for D-Now this weekend. There were about 13 of them. Reece now has 2 new holes in his wall where one of the guys accidentally got pushed a little too hard in some rough-housing. It's part of welcoming that many kids into your home, that's why we have a well used house, instead of a new one.
They ate here Saturday night and I made Mexican Pile-up for them. This recipe is really easy to feed a crowd with.

meat sauce
1 onion, diced
2 lb ground beef or turkey
2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
2 cans black beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 Tbsp garlic salt
4 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp cumin
brown the onion and meat, add the rest, and simmer till thickened.

cook 2 boxes minute rice (8 cups)

Set up:
3 bags Fritos, rice, meat sauce, lettuce, chopped pecans, shredded coconut, shredded cheese, sliced black olives, picante sauce, sour cream.

I know the pecans and coconut sound strange, but you really should try it, it's really yummy. This is for a crowd of 12 big eaters, 16 if they aren't all boys, half the recipe for less. You could make the big recipe and freeze half of it for another time.

Tortilla Casserole

2008-02-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

Tonight's dinner was really, really good! I made Tortilla Casserole out of Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cookbook. I used a little milk instead of sour cream, though, because Scott won't eat anything with sour cream in it. I've been using this cookbook for about 5 years. It's really good for those of you who like recipe's with only a few ingredients, and few steps. It has alot of one dish meals, and most of the recipes don't take much time either. It also has lots of time saver tips throughout the book.

Spaghetti night

2008-02-11T17:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight was spaghetti night! I did add a can of tomato sauce tonight, which is not on my earlier posting of my recipe for homemade sauce. I haven't posted dinners in a bit, but I've made Chicken Curry from the Betty Crocker Good and Easy Cookbook it was mediocre, but something different. Also, Cajun 15 Bean Soup, according to the recipe on the bag, it's really good. I cook it in the crock-pot instead of stove-top.

Minute Steaks

2008-02-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

I posted pics from Hidden Valley, scroll down to see them.

Last night I made Mom's Minute Steaks, green beans, and mashed potatoes. I'm not really sure why it's called minute steak, because they are really 30+ minute steaks, that's just what my mom always called them. This is what I request for my birthday dinner at my mom's house, I like it best with mashed potatoes and butterbeans (baby lima's). Anyway, here's how they go:

Mom's Minute Steaks

4-6 round steaks, the ones that are tenderized so they look a little like ground beef patties.
flour
salt
pepper
oil
1 package onion soup mix
water

Heat oven to 400. Combine some flour, a little salt and pepper on a paper plate. Put some oil in the bottom of a large skillet that is oven safe, (no plastic or wooden handles), and heat it over med-high heat. Coat both sides of steaks in flour mixture. Brown in oil for about 1 minute on each side, sprinkle a little of the flour mixture into the oil also, to help it turn into gravy while it's in the oven. Remove from heat. Sprinkle onion soup mix over the top, and pour 1-2 cups water in. Cover and put into the oven for about 30-40 min. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Funny Voting Story

2008-02-05T13:04:00.000-08:00

Today, when I went to vote, I told Reece and Alli to stay close by me. I saw Alli walking off, so I told her to come stand right by Reece. I looked back down at the voting screen, expecting obedience, and suddenly heard a whomp and a cry. I looked up, and Alli had pulled the American flag over on her head, hitting herself with the pole! It's funny now, but at the time, I was so humiliated, I mean, who can't get her kids to behave for 5 minutes!

Hidden Valley

2008-02-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

We had a blast snowboarding at Hidden Valley! It's in MO, about 5 minutes from 6 Flags. See that white field in the distance, that's actually 6 Flag's parking lot. And see those 2 cars on the left, they were trapped in thier places by the 2 foot pile of snow from the yahoo that scraped the parking lot!The night before we went, they got 8-10 inches of real snow there, so the boarding was great, nice and soft to fall on. We got up there about noon on Friday, hit the slopes by 1 and didn't quit till about 8pm. Saturday we boarded from about 10am to about 9pm, yeah, 11 hours! Here's a view from the top of the hill. Sunday, we headed back home, I was soooooo sore I could hardly walk! It's no Colorado, but you can't beat it for only a 4 1/2 hour drive from Memphis!
By the way, I really did snowboard, I just forgot to get Scott to take pics of me, too! I've really got to get better about that!

Nacho Casserole

2008-01-31T19:01:00.000-08:00

Last night I broke out the ole Bellevue cookbook, Seasoned with Grace. I made the Taco Casserole, but I've renamed it Nacho Casserole, because it's nothing like a taco, and mostly nacho cheese chips. It was pretty good fresh out of the oven, but the leftovers are no good because the chips get too soggy. I also realized as I was putting it in the oven that it would have been a really easy recipe to add some pureed carrots to.
I usually cook fairly healthy recipe's, but this one was probably the most unhealthy, salt laden thing I've made in a while.

We're leaving to go snow boarding tomorrow!!!!! I'll post pictures probably on Monday!

Nutritional Value

2008-01-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

I found this website when looking to find out the nutritional value of mushrooms. It gives you all the nutritional info you could ever want to know about foods.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20e2.html

Yes, Jennifer, they are good for you!

Mushrooms are a low-calorie, zero fat, zero cholesterol nutritious fungi to work into your diet.

By the way, I made the deceptive Rice Balls tonight. They were all right. I liked them, but Reece didn't gobble them up, and Alli only ate one bite, and Scott didn't say much about them. They seemed like they needed some sauce, but I don't know what kind to put with them. Also, I ended up spraying them with cooking spray and baking them in the oven after my attempt at frying them turned into a mess.
That part worked out well, and I think I will try the same technique for a lot of things that say to fry them. I think the chicken nuggets I did before would have worked well like that.

Spicey Noodle

2008-01-28T19:32:00.000-08:00

Spicy Noodle

1/2 onion diced

1 lb ground turkey or beef

1/4 c raisins

1/2 c water

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp white or black pepper

1 1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp parsley

12 oz spaghetti noodles

Get your water pot going for noodles. Saute onion and brown meat. Add water and raisins and next 6 ingredients, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 10 min. on low heat. Add lemon juice and parsley just before serving. Serve over noodles.

To go with it I made Mustard Glazed Carrots.

Mom's Taco Soup

2008-01-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

Made this easy favorite the other night. We have lot's of favorite's when it comes to meals at our house.

Mom's Taco Soup

1 onion diced

1 bell pepper diced (any color you like)

1 lb ground beef (I use ground turkey)

2 envelopes taco seasoning

2 14oz cans diced tomatoes (I use crushed, bc they're smaller)

2 cans kidney beans undrained (I use black, rinsed, instead, bc Scott doesn't like kidneys)

1 can whole kernal corn undrained (or about a cup or so frozen corn)

Saute onion and bell pepper, then brown meat. Add taco seasoning and everything else. Add some water to desired soupiness, especially if you used drained black beans and frozen corn.

I like mine topped with cheese and sour cream, but it's good all by itself. Scott like to eat his with tortilla chips.

Repeat

2008-01-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

I made Red & Black Beans and Rice again last night. See archive for the recipe.
It's really good!

All in my house have been sick this week, so I haven't felt like making much.

Veggie Cigars

2008-01-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

Last night's dinner was a total bust! I made a recipe I found in the Crock-Pot book, for pork chops and rice. It was not good at all. We still ate it, it filled the belly and all, but it was not very tasty, and the pork was dry.

Tonight on the other hand, I made the "Deceptive" Sloppy Joe's, and they were very good! I'm really excited that I've liked everything I've made in that cookbook.

My freezer is being taken over by veggie "cigars" as I prepare the purees to keep on hand for the recipes. I put 1/2 cup in sandwich bags and roll them up and put 5 or 6 in a quart size freezer bag. The sandwich bags are cheaper, that is why I do it that way, and I can reuse the quart bags. Then when I use them, I thaw it, and then just snip the corner off with scissors, and squeeze it out like icing.

Chicken (er, Turkey) Noodle

2008-01-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

Last night I made a recipe my friend made for a SS potluck one time. Here's her recipe:

Jennifer's Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

6 tablespoons butter
2 medium shredded carrots
1 medium onion, chopped
7 tablespoons all purpose flour
92 oz. Swanson chicken broth (2 boxes and 2 cans)
3 cups half and half
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 tablespoons dried
2-3 raw chicken breasts, diced small

4 cups wide egg noodles
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Place chicken in shallow pan and add enough chicken broth to cover halfway. Bake on 350 until just barely done (it will cook some in soup). Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add carrots and onion. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Gradually mix in chicken stock. Bring soup to simmer, stirring frequently. Add half and half and chopped parsley and simmer 5 minutes. Add chopped chicken and simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes. (Chicken soup can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate.) Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain pasta. Bring chicken soup to simmer. Mix in cooked pasta and simmer 2 minutes. Mix in lemon juice; season to taste with salt and pepper.

I did it a little different, I used turkey, and homemade turkey broth, so I had to add some other flavorings, but I've had it her way and it is sooooo good. My last night's version turned out very tasty as well, but it wasn't quite the same as Jennifer's. I had a completely different dish by the time I was done with it. Actually I guess I made creamy turkey noodle, not really soup. Reece at 3 bowls of it though, if that tells you anything!

Cold Day, Hot Soup

2008-01-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

I hate winter! A nice hot bowl of soup gets me through a few days of it, though. Here's the soup I made last night. It was really yummy!

Jenn's Ham & Corn Chowder

1 medium diced onion, sauteed in a little evoo till soft

6-8 slices of fully cooked ham, diced (about 1 cup) Saute

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 1/2 c milk

1/2 cup cauliflower puree

2/3 cup potato flakes

1 Tbsp parsley

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp white or black pepper

Simmer for a little while, stirring often. Add water if it gets too thick. Top with cheese if desired, and serve.

Shrimp Pasta

2008-01-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

I love garlic! Tonight's dinner:

Garlic Shrimp Pasta

1-2 Tbsp evoo
1 lb shrimp, ready to cook, tails and everything removed
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 cup carrot puree, or 1 cup shredded/julienned
1 Tbsp parsley, fresh or dried
a little pepper
a little garlic salt, go easy with it.
12 oz thin spaghetti

Cook pasta. While it's cooking:
Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add garlic, then shrimp, cook shrimp for 3 min. Add carrots, cook another 2-3 minutes till shrimp is done and carrots are tender. Add parsley and salt. Toss into drained pasta, and serve.

I fixed green beans to go with it. I keep frozen gbs, and sauteed them in evoo with a couple cloves pressed garlic, parsley, salt. Again, I love garlic!

Monsters

2008-01-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

We went to the Monster Truck show on Saturday. It was fun the first time we went, last year, but not so great the second time. I think every little boy should get to go once in his childhood, because it is cool, and loud, and big, but don't waste your money going twice! It's a pretty long slow going show, so they get bored between runs. But, we had a great time beforehand at Huey's with our friends! I had the Cheese Steak, and oh, man it was good! We were going to go to Bigfoot, but the wait was 45-60min! I guess word got out about their awesome sweet potato fries and burgers.

The Brownies

2008-01-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

I noticed today, while enjoying one of the brownies I made last night, that the wheaty taste is no longer there, probably because they are now completely cool. So, note, if you use whole wheat flour when baking, let it cool completely.

Chicken Chili

2008-01-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made the all-time easiest meal.

Chicken Chili

3 chicken breasts cut into bites
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cans chili hot beans, un-drained
1 Tbsp cumin (does not add heat, only flavor)
a little garlic powder

Put a Tbsp or 2 in a big skillet or pot, heat over med-high heat. Brown chicken till cooked through. Add remaining ingredients, and simmer for a little while. Top with cheese and serve with chips if desired.

I use chicken that I've already cooked in the crock-pot for this recipe, because it shreds and Scott likes that better than browned bites.
Here's how I do that: I buy a bag of frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I dump them all in the crock-pot, and cover with water and add a little salt. Cook on high till water gets hot, and then turn down to low and cook about 2-3 hours. Let cool, or refrigerate over night. Rinse, then chop and put into freezer bags, 2 cups in each, because this is usually the amount used in casserole recipes. Keep in freezer.
Don't waste all that broth in the crock-pot either! Run it through a strainer, and put it in a container and freeze it to use for soup! It's cheaper than buying broth.

Okay, on to dessert! I made the deceptive brownies, since dinner was so easy. They have carrot and spinach puree in them, and I know most of you would probably not even try them, but I swear they are delicious and you can't even tell there is anything unusual about them. I did make 1 variation from the recipe that I didn't like. I used half white flour, and half whole wheat flour, and they did taste a little too whole-wheaty to me. I tasted the batter before I added the flour, and it was delicious, but after the flour, not as good, so next time I'll stick with white flour for desserts. I made a chocolate icing to cover the wheat flavor. Me and the kids loved them! Scott doesn't like chocolate. I will never understand that about him, he's just not a dessert person, and Reece is somewhat the same way! He only eats a couple bites of sweet things. Weird people!

Chicken Nuggets

2008-01-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

For last night's dinner I made the "deceptive" chicken nuggets and oh, man were they good! They are dipped in a mixture of eggs and beet puree, and then a breadcrumb mixture that I put some unprocessed wheat bran in. I think the frying in oil part may nix some of the good for you qualities, though! I served them with the left over potatoes from the night before.
I hope this is encouraging you to get in your kitchen and cook up some yummy dishes of your own!

I took this picture because I have so many friends that don't like to touch raw meat! Hands wash, you know. Soap!

The travel log part

2008-01-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

I realize this is more of a food log than travel adventures log right now, that is because we haven't been anywhere since I started this blog. We do have some trips planned in Feb. and March that I look forward to telling you about!

Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

2008-01-09T17:51:00.001-08:00

Last night I made meatloaf, deceptive mashed potatoes (they have cauliflower in em), and steamed green beans, wax beans, and carrots. It was all so filling I didn't get hungry the whole rest of the night. The recipe was passed down from Scott's late grandmother, Dot Holmquist.

Gran's Meat Loaf

1 lb ground beef, (I used ground turkey)
1 egg
1/2 c chopped green bell pepper
1/2 c diced onion
1/4 milk
3/4 tube crushed crackers
1 scant Tbsp all-spice
1 scant Tbsp sugar
1 tsp dill weed, (I didn't have any of this, so I used a little celery salt)
1/2 c ketchup
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
* I added 1/2 cup chopped carrots to add another veggie, next time I will use pureed carrots, because Alli won't eat them if she can see them.

combine all, put in a loaf pan, and bake @ 350, 1 hour, covered.

combine 1/4 c ketchup, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp mustard. spread over top and bake another 30 min, uncovered.

MMMMMMMMMMMMM Good.
The night before that, I also made a McFarland family tradition called "Soppin' Chocolate".
Here's how that goes:

Cook some biscuits, canned or scratch. While they are cooking combine in a small sauce pan, over med-low heat:

Cocoa powder
Sugar
Water
Vanilla 1 cap full

Do about 2 Tbsp sugar to 1 Tbsp Cocoa. I used about 1/2 cup water, and about 3 Tbsp cocoa. Taste it and see if you need to add more cocoa or sugar.
Let this simmer and cook down to a syrup, stirring often. When syrup coats a spoon when dipped in, it's done. Let it cool a little, and it will thicken up a little more, but do serve it a little bit warm over the biscuits.

Mushroom Burger Noodles

2008-01-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

Today we had "Reece and Mom's day of fun"! Alli stayed with Scott's mom last night and today. I took Reece to Toys R Us to spend some Christmas cash, he got another Lego Star Wars item. Then we went to lunch at Quizno's. we had these new things they call Sammis for $2, they were yummy and just the right size for us. Then we went to the theatre and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks, which is enjoyable when you're with a 5 year old.

Tonight we had one my family's favorite's, Mushroom Burger Noodles -

1 onion
1 box mushrooms or 2 small cans, cut small
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 lb. ground meat
1 beef bullion cube, dissolved in 1/2 cup water
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
a little milk
a little pepper
1 pkg egg noodles

Put on a big pot of water to boil for noodles. While waiting for that, saute first 3 ingredients. Then brown beef in with them. Set aside till noodles are done. Drain noodles and return to pan. Turn heat to low and stir in beef mixture and remaining ingredients. Leave the milk for last, and add as much as needed to make it kind of creamy. Turn up the heat a little to heat it all through. Eat this quickly after you get it in the bowls, it gets cold fast. You could stir in a can of green beans if you want, or serve them on the side.

Taco Rice

2008-01-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

Last night's dinner - free bbq sandwiches from The Germantown Commissary! Ya'll, if you've never had bbq from the Commissary, you haven't tasted real bbq! MMMMMMMMMMMM!
Be careful what you wear if you dine in, though, because you will be permeated with the nice hickory smoked bbq smell. It was free because someone sent it to Scott's office for lunch, and he brought home the leftovers!

This is a quick, easy dish that I like to make to take to others. We also like to have it for our own dinner, as well, but today I made it to take somewhere.

Taco Rice -
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 lb ground meat
2 cups dry instant white rice
1 14oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 can chopped green chili's
1 can black beans
1 package taco seasoning
8oz. shredded cheddar

Cook rice according to package. Saute bell pepper, add ground meat and brown. Add all other ingredients, except cheese, to combine and cook down a little if needed. Pour into casserole dish and top with cheese. Bake at 350 long enough to heat through and melt cheese.
Serve with chips, sour cream, picante, black olives.

Pork Tenderloin Dinner

2008-01-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Last night we had the roasted tenderloin, potatoes, and green beans again (see archive). I also made the Deceptive Banana Bread with cauliflower in it. It is really good! I can't share those recipe's online for copy right reasons, but I would definitely recommend purchasing the cookbook.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I started a new tradition for our family. We had Green Eggs and Ham (er, bacon) for breakfast yesterday! I left the actual ham and biscuits in my in-laws fridge Mon. night, so I had to make do with the bacon. It's all pig, right! I suppose you could use food coloring, but I found a recipe using spinach in the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. They were pretty good!

Deception

2007-12-28T14:04:00.000-08:00

My mom gave me a new cook book for Christmas! "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfield.

I made the french toast in it this morning with bananas in it! My kids, neither of whom like bananas very much, didn't even notice any difference. I bought my veggies today, and will be pureeing away tonight! It involves chopping up veggies, so you know I'll be having a good time!

Tonight's dinner is leftover soup that I made last night. I cooked an 18lb turkey, so I would have leftovers, and boy do I! I put 12 cups of chopped turkey in the freezer, and about 2 gallons of broth from boiling the meat off the bones! So, I made turkey soup.

Jenn's Turkey Soup -
1 onion, diced and sauted
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 can black beans, rinsed
2 cans mixed veggies
1/2 cup dry lentils
1-2 cups chopped cooked turkey, according to your desired meatiness.
2 tsps or so italian seasoning
1 tsp or so oregano
1/tsp or so tarragon
a little celery salt, garlic powder, and white pepper to taste
1/2 cup or so orzo pasta
4 or more cups of water. I kept adding as it was cooking.

Simmer until lentils are tender, then add the orzo and simmer until done. Taste about 10 min before serving and adjust seasoning accordingly. The orzo soaks up some of the flavor and salt, so, a little more may be needed.

The day after

2007-12-26T08:59:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! This was the first time that we didn't have to rush around all day. We had a relaxed morning, made a big mess with all the new toys, and then headed to my parents around 1. I did the turkey, and it was delicious. I think the trick is the brine that it soaks in overnight, the butter, and the smokey flavor the grill gives it. For the brine - 1 cup salt, 1 cup apple cider, 2 bay leaves, rosemary, cloves, nutmeg, all-spice, a little water. Boil in a small sauce pan until the salt is dissolved. Pour into a clean 5 gallon bucket, cool down with some cold water. Rinse thawed turkey. Put it in the bucket and add more cold water till turkey is covered. Refrigerate over night. Rinse. Loosen the skin over the breast and smoosh 1 stick of soft butter between breast and skin. You can also smoosh herbs into the butter before you put it in the turkey. Put a quartered apple and onion in the cavity. Rub olive oil all over the outside, and cover generously with grill seasoning of your choice. We have a Holland Grill, that cooks similar to an oven, so we grill ours with apple cider and water in the reservoir, and I pour cider over it every hour. You could also cook it in your oven, and baste with cider. When done, cover with aluminum foil and let rest at least 15 minutes so the juices will soak back in.

Home-made Spaghetti

2007-12-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

I made spaghetti tonight, always a big hit in our house! I started making my own sauce a few months ago after realizing there is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and preservatives in the jar sauce from the store. I try not to buy things with HFCS in it because it's really bad for you, so are preservatives.

Jenn's Spaghetti Sauce -

1/2 to 1 bell pepper diced (depends on size)
1/2 to 1 onion, diced (again, size)
2-3 carrots, almost pureed in the processor (Alli won't eat them if she can see them), or diced
1 pkg mushrooms, chopped (optional)
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

Saute all of the above in EVOO as you get it chopped. You could use frozen pre-diced veggies, I just really like to chop and dice. Weird I know, but it makes me feel like Giada!

1 lb ground meat (I use turkey) brown then add the following:
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
a little pepper
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp sugar or more to taste. This takes that sharp tomato taste away. Don't put too much, add a little, taste, then add a little more then taste, etc.
add more seasoning, pepper, or salt to taste.

Simmer on low heat for at least 20 minutes while you cook the noodles. It can be made well ahead of time as well, the longer the better with sauce! If it gets to thick, you can add a little of the pasta water, it has starches in it from the noodles that help keep the sauce from getting to runny.

It never tastes exactly the same every time I make it, but it has never tasted bad! Enjoy!

Black Beans and Rice

2007-12-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

Last night I made Black Beans and Rice. It's just like traditional Southern Red Beans and Rice, only I didn't have any red beans, so I used black ones!

Jenn's Red (or Black) Beans and Rice -

First get your water started for your rice. I use brown rice that has to soak for 15 minutes and then takes about 20-25 minutes to cook. So I get this process started first.

1 bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3-5 cloves garlic (to your liking), minced
3 stalks celery, chopped however you like it.
Saute all the above in a big skillet.
Add 1 lb smoked sausage. I have taken to using little cocktail smoked sausages cut into 3rds, because we like little bites.
2 cans red beans not drained (if you use black beans, drain and rinse them, and add about a cup of water and a teaspoon of sugar to the pan)
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp parsley
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 splashes hot sauce
Simmer for a while till liquids condense a little. Taste to see if more pepper or salt needs to be added.

MMMMMMM!

Crumpets

2007-12-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

My mom took me to a tea room called Crumpets, for my birthday, last week. It was great! The food was scrumptious, very gourmet. The presentation was beautiful, with shredded rose petals sprinkled around the edge of the plate. The portion sizes were perfect, the prices appropriate. We weren't even made to feel rushed out, which is a miracle at restaurants in this town! They serve yummy little biscuits with some kind of special butter. I had a quiche-like thing for my entree, served with a small salad and a fruit compote. Mom had something sort of like meat loaf wrapped in a puff pastry with roasted potatoes We had a pot of tea and a delicious cranberry scones for desert. I will definitely go there again

The Majestic Grill in Memphis

2007-12-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday night we went to the Majestic Grill downtown for a family gathering. It was an overpriced letdown. I guess you're paying extra for ambiance and location, because the food wasn't that different from what you could get at any other Americana restaurant in town. I also don't understand why they can't charge less and cut the portion size in half. I had enough food for about 3 meals! If restaurants only knew they could sell me more items if the items weren't so big. As they are, I only order an entree, because I know I can't eat even all of that.

Picadillo

2007-12-14T16:00:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made Picadillo. This is an easy favorite of mine.

Jenn's Picadillo -
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic,pressed, or a little garlic powder
1 lb. ground meat (I use turkey)
14 oz can crushed tomatoes (you can also use diced)
1/2 can black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup raisins
season salt, cumin, chili powder to taste

Serve over rice or chips, or both!

Christmas Treats

2007-12-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

My friend, Joanna, and her kids came over yesterday, and we made treats for our kids Sunday school teachers. We made Southern Spiced Tea, and Palmiers. The kids had fun dumping the ingredients together for the tea, and they each got to cut some cookies with a real knife (with supervision, of course).
I got the Palmiers recipe from the Gourmet magazine. They weren't very difficult, just time consuming, because of the chill 30 min, then roll, then chill 30 min then roll again, about 5 times. I did that part the day before, so, it still wasn't too bad. They were incredibly yummy!
We finally had our TMNT birthday party last night for my 5 y/o. It went great! I'm glad it's finally done!

Tonight's Dinner

2007-12-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

Since Reece is sick, I thought chicken noodle soup would be good.

Jenn's Chicken Noodle Soup -
diced onion sauted in EVOO
diced carrots (I keep these in the freezer)
minced garlic
celery I made almost pureed in the food processor and keep in the freezer
frozen whole kernel corn
frozen green peas
chicken broth (I reserve mine from cooking the whole bag of boneless, skinless breasts in the Crock-pot at time of purchase and keep it in the freezer)
Greek seasoning (just a little)
white pepper
any spices that smell like yummy soup
noodles

I did a little different take on the noodle part and used orzo pasta (it looks kinda like rice).
Oh, wow! This was the first time I've made chicken soup, and it was unbelievably good!

Poor Kid

2007-12-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

Well, today, Reece was supposed to have his TMNT birthday party. Yesterday I made a chocolate cake from scratch (because I forgot to get cake mix when I went to the grocery), green Jello Jigglers, and green Kool-aid. Last night, I spent about 2 hours icing the cake to look like Raphael's head. 3 hours later, he threw up and had fever, and we had to post-pone the party till next week! Poor kid, I feel so sorry for him.

Tonight's Dinner

2007-12-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

Tonight we will be having roasted pork tenderloin with roasted green beans, and maybe some rice or potatoes. I'll use frozen green beans drizzled with olive oil and a little salt, wrapped up in a foil packet. I will also line the pan for the tenderloin with foil for easy cleanup. I plan to do a roasted head of garlic on that pan, too. I've always wanted to try that. The tenderloin leftovers make a great lunch tucked into a whole wheat pita pocket with mayo and steak sauce. Mmmm...I think I look forward to the leftovers more than the dinner!

Bah Humbug!

2007-12-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

It's not that I don't like Christmas, it's the gluttony of the holidays that I just don't care for. As I think about what to get for who, and all the shopping that involves, the more I really would like to just donate all we spend to the starving children in Africa.

I used to love to find that perfect gift for each person. It is quite self-serving even when you're giving, when it makes you feel good to know they won't be returning your gift. Sad isn't it?

Well, I've come along way in the past few years, and God has taught me alot about wasted time, wood, hay, and stubble. I want to spend my time, money, effort and energy on things that matter, and things eternal.

I love the part about Christmas that brings family and friends together for food, fun, and fellowship (doesn't that sound baptist - lol). I think it would be more fun and less stressful, and more eternal to donate, instead of sit around in a circle swapping unneeded gifts we got each other at the last minute. We might as well just swap $20 bills, and not feel obligated to pretend we love what we got! I'd rather eat, play games, and go serve at the soup kitchen.

Mountain View, AR

2007-07-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Mountain View is the small town near Blanchard Springs. It is known as the folk music capitol of the world. This lends to curious entertainment on the weekend. Hundreds of people, mostly grey hairs, invade the town square with their lawn chairs to listen to many different folk groups playing all around it. The photos do not do this scene justice. They mostly just play their various instruments, and many of the instruments are home-made, but some groups do have singers. It's weirdly quiet, not much clapping, toe tapping, or dancing, much less talking. Then we realized what it was... its a dry county! We aren't drinkers, but we are from Memphis, where public events are loud, drunk, and rowdy! You definitely don't want to miss this experience if you ever go to Blanchard Springs.
In my hand is fried apples bought from one of the street vendors. They were pretty good! Ice cream is the most popular treat to eat while enjoying the music.

There is a great old-fashioned soda fountain pharmacy right off the square, but you'll want to check their hours, as they aren't open very late. We had a great rootbeer float, and mixed Dr. Pepper!

Blanchard Springs Caverns

2007-07-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

We went on the Wild Cave Tour at Blanchard Springs Caverns. We managed to convince some of our friends that this would be great fun, and not scary at all. Do you know how hard it is to convince people to go into a dark cave? We thought it might be kind of lame on our adventure meter, because it is guided and all. We hoped for more, but really all we expected was a walk off the path through some caverns that you don't get to see on the regular tour. Well, were we surprised! It was awesome. Who knew caving would be "indoor" mountain climbing! You start right off sliding down a steep hillside on your bottom, and if you don't do it right, you could fall right off the edge to your death!!! This sliding had to be done several times on the trip. We crawled through very tight spaces, edged along cliffs, climbed up and around through holes from one level of cave to the next, and climbed many hillsides, always with the fall to death right there! We had a blast, at least most of us did! (Notice the guy with the torn pants.)