Butter is Busy

It is a flurry of business here today in the Butter kitchen. My poor family has been STARVING since I took this new job (no, they shouldn't be, but l-a-z-y). "There is nothing to eat" is the mantra of everyone in this place. I have been guilty of that too, but normally at midnight when I want something gooey and chocolate....

I have been reading books, websites and blogs trying to figure out a way to make dinner when the three of us all eat at different times.....and it hasn't been easy. I have done some batch cooking-making double the lasagne or frying up several pounds of ground beef or poaching a lot of chicken to shred and freeze. I am now trying to knock out several meals to have in the freezer, in portion-sized amounts, so we can all eat good food and a healthier option than say, chips and salsa. Oh yeah, that has happened here many times lately.

I am not up for a full on Once a Month Cooking. I just don't have the attention span to do it. Today I worked on 7 things, but it yielded many servings. I even had DQ in there with me chopping vegetables and sausage, cleaning up dishes and re-organizing some cupboards. She even took it upon herself yesterday when we got home from the supermarket to wash out all the crisper drawers and clean out the old, moldy things we found in there. I was quite impressed with her.

While cooking up a chicken dish, I had two extra chicken breasts left over. She suggested making a burrito type dish that she has had at her friend M's house, who is Latino and will also be her roommate when they go off to school this summer.

Boog's Burritos

2 skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts

2 cups chicken stock or broth

1/2 tsp taco seasoning

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 an envelope fajita seasoning

1 tsp taco seasoning

chopped pepper slices, green and orange

tortillas

rice

shredded cheese

Poach the two breasts in the two cups of chicken stock and 1/2 tsp of taco seasoning. I added about 1/3 cup water to make sure the chicken was covered by liquid. I poached over low heat (little bubbles, not a rolling boil) for about 2o minutes, until internal temp was 175 degrees. Remove chicken to a plate and cover with some foil to rest and cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, remove skin and bones and shred chicken with your fingers, into bite sized pieces and place in a saucepan. Sprinkle with the fajita and taco seasoning. Pour soup over meat, add about 1/4 cup of water to loosen it up. Simmer over low heat until heated through. While the chicken mixture is heating, put instant rice on to cook (or if you have left over in the fridge, heat up). When rice is done, fluff with fork. Heat the tortillas up in microwave for 30 seconds to make pliable. Top with some rice, the meat mixture and cheese. Roll up burrito style and enjoy. Boog only likes a little cheese on hers, so I didn't get a photo with the cheese on.

Below are some of the other dishes I worked on today: carnitas style pork loin, peppers used for several dishes, sausage for his gumbo and a slow-cooked chicken and veggie dish. Tonight I am tackling a shredded pork dish, some chops and making a large batch of meatballs.

If I hear one more person utter 'there is nothing to eat' I won't be responsible for my actions.

Next stop, Crazy Town

CRAZY!

There are 87 cans on my island counter top. 87. This is not including the 18 we threw away because they were past their expiration date.

In my last post, I stated that I have some sort of neurosis about buying food, storing food, starving.

Drama Queen stayed home all weekend-I know, major milestone. She came into the kitchen as I was pulling cans out of the cupboard by our patio door. Dude had put the cupboard up to help tame my appliance addiction. Food soon invaded it and counter top appliances migrated to the basement closet.

I told her there was no organization of our canned goods. There were cans of green beans in the cupboard by the stove and also in the pantry. There were cans of tomato paste in the cupboard by the stove and by the patio door. This would not do any longer. She rolled up her sleeves, took all the cans down, washed off all the shelves, and had me hand them back in the order I wanted. They are now all grouped together by

Soup

Vegetables

Fruit

Tomatoes (since we had so many)

I have 14 cans of Cream of XXXX soup. I can make many hotdishes now. When DQ spotted the Cream of Chicken soup and the enchilada sauce, she set them aside and asked me to make enchiladas. I thought I had posted them here, but cannot find them in my archives. Hmmmm.

These are about as easy as you can get. It isn't even a recipe, really.

I had three cooked chicken breasts I had made yesterday afternoon. I chopped those up, poured in one can of Cream of Chicken soup, 1/2 can of water, and warmed up in a sauce pan. I took 6 tortillas out, warmed them up in the microwave. I brushed enchilada sauce on the bottom of the 8x8 dish, brushed the warmed tortillas with the sauce, spooned about 2 tablespoons of chicken mixture on the tortillas, rolled them up and put in the pan. Brushed more enchilada sauce

on each bundle, topped with a cup of

cheese, and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Oh yummy. Hot, cheesy, filling.

Made this icy, windy day a little more tolerable.

Note to self-no more canned goods for 3 months...

Gotta get some Gumbo

While I'm on leave from work, I have been trying to do some more cooking, within limits of what I can lift and gripping knives for more than a minute really hurts. That being said, I'm trying to go outside the box more and try things I haven't before since I have a little more time to work in the kitchen.

Dude has helped a bit with getting dishes and stuff out for me and last week he said "hey, why don't you try gumbo?" Umm, I have never seen him EAT gumbo before.

I researched it a bit on the Internet then sent him a text message saying that if he picked up some bell peppers and celery, I would give it a go the next day. I had everything else in the freezer or the pantry, so it was cheap as chips to make.


I got this off the Internet either on Allrecipes.com or Cooks.com-I looked at both.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

1/2 pound sausage, sliced in 1/2 inch slices (I used spicy Italian)

Vegetable oil to make 3 TBSP with the drippings left from sausage

5 TBSP flour

1 cup coarsely chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

2 cloves garlic, smashed, not cut

1 medium green pepper, chopped

1 medium red pepper, chopped

1 tsp chipotle pepper

2 cups chicken broth

1-28 oz can tomatoes (I used diced)

4 cups cooked chicken, in bite sized pieces

hot rice, cooked

Cook sausage over high heat in a Dutch oven, stirring often. Remove sausage with slotted spoon to a paper towel on a plate, to reserve drippings. Add enough veggie oil to make 3 tablespoons. Whisk in flour, cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Add onion, celery, garlic and peppers. Cook 5 minutes. Stir in broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer 5 minutes. Add sausage and chicken, simmer covered for 5 minutes.

Serve over hot rice.

Now, I let mine simmer for about an hour. I just thought it would taste better if the flavors had a chance to meld. The only thing I will change next time is to use jalapeno peppers as Dude burped up the green peppers all night and the jalapenos don't bother him. He really liked it and Drama Queen even scooped some chicken up and ate it with the rice. Score!

I only have a 3-quart Dutch oven. After making this, it just reinforced my need for a new Dutch oven. I had been looking on-line and they ranged from $99 to $waytoomuch.

However, on a trip to HomeGoods with my Mom and sister, I spotted this 7 quart for $70!! I love the color, but it doesn't represent very good on here.

I'm in love...

Thank you for all your kind words and emails on my last post. I have been feeling like I'm standing on a ledge, peering over the edge and hoping I won't fall. I really appreciate all of you-people I don't even know, but were right there with insight and hope. Thank you.

Chicken and Stuffing Hotdish

The days here in Minnesota are turning fall-like. Slightly cooler temps. The skies are flipping back and forth from brilliant blue and cloudless to grey and ominous looking. Most of the trees in the yard are bare. Piles of orange, yellow and red leaves are scattered across the lawn. That smell-the smell of turning leaves and crisp air hang all around me. Taking deep breaths, I fill my lungs with that wonderful smell of autumn. It is absolutely my favorite time of the year. We are very fortunate to live someplace that experiences all four seasons of Mother Nature's calendar. But I love fall most of all. The clean air, the changing color of the sky, the crunching leaves underfoot.

Hotdishes.

My parent's families are very different. My Mom had a larger family-all girls. She had four sisters. There are 21 grandchildren, 50 something great-grandchildren and numerous great-great grandchildren (although now all four of my grandparents have passed away). My Dad has two brothers. It is hard to explain, but I have two sisters and a brother, but I am my Dad's only biological child. Because of this, there are 5 grandchildren to my paternal side. I am the only girl. I have several girl cousins on my Mom's side, but I wasn't close to them as most of them were 4 to 18 years older than I. I am pretty close to my cousins on my Dad's side, but I longed for girl cousins there. My prayers were answered over the course of 10 years when each of my cousins married wonderful women. 1990 had a busy summer as three of us got married. I cherish all four of the beautiful women my cousins brought to my life. I waited a long time for them to get here!

All of us know our way around a kitchen. Maybe not fancy-schmancy food, but we can all put a satisfying, hot meal in the bellies of our men and children.

My cousin (in-law) Geri brought this hotdish (in Minnesota it is a hotdish, not a casserole!) to one of our Cousin Christmas parties and holy moly, it is good. I do not like stuffing at all (please don't eyeball me like that). I prefer straight up turkey, mashed potatoes with butter, corn, rolls, jellied cranberries (again with the eyeballing me?) and my aunt's lime Jell-o with applesauce and 7 Up. However, when you bake stuffing on top of this hotdish, and it gets all crunchy? Oh my word, it is heavenly.

Diane's Chicken Hotdish (Geri's co-worker)

3 to 4 pounds chicken

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup (left this out, I hate mushrooms)

1 cup milk

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup butter

2 stalks celery, a fine dice

1 small onion, a fine dice

8 ounce bag of chicken stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Boil chicken and cut up into small pieces. Put chicken pieces into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Mix soups and milk and pour over chicken. Melt butter in saucepan. Saute veggies for a few minutes then add chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Stir in stuffing mix and turn off heat. Stir to moisten all the stuffing. Let sit for a couple of minutes so all liquid is absorbed. Pour over the top of the soup layer. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes.

I picked all the crispy bits off the side of the pan before putting it into the sink to wash. It was heaven.

Souper Duper

I'll admit it. I love Olive Garden. I love the salad. I love the bread sticks. I love the Limoncello Lemonade. We all know by now that I'm a fussy eater. Not very adventurous. I like what I like and that's all that I like (am I channeling Popeye?). Before Hermit Crab went back to college, we spent a day together making some purchases for school and just hanging before she left me again. Going to Olive Garden was an easy decision as it is right next to the mall.


She had taken her sister there earlier in the summer (and they didn't kill each other!) HC isn't a big fan of the salad, so she tried the Chicken Gnocchi soup and loved it. She ordered it again this time and I tried a bite....and then another. It was so good. I wish I had ordered it instead of the salad.

I had an idea of how to put it together at home. Then I Googled it. Turns out I was wrong on most parts. Well, some parts. I'm going to try it the way I originally thought, but this is probably closer to how they make it at the restaurant.

Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Soup

1/3 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound chicken, cubed
1/3 cup flour
1/2 a carrot, shredded
1 stalk celery, shredded
1/4 cup onion, shredded
1/2 cup spinach leaves, torn (I totally forgot to buy!)
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3 chicken bouillon cubes
Gnocchi

Melt butter over medium heat in a soup pot. Add garlic and onion and saute. Add chicken and cook through. Add flour and stir in well to cook out raw flour taste. Add milk and cream and stir well. Add carrots and celery and the bouillon cubes. Cook and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes; add gnocchi the last 5 minutes. Serve with bread of your choice (I made a no-knead loaf-yum!)

I'll admit that I'm not a HUGE soup fan-a small bowl every now and then is fine with me. However, if we ever move to Iceland, soup will be in our future-it is like the national dish there!

Dude can Cook

Well, okay he didn't make this. Thanks to Donna at My Tasty Treasures who got it from Shelby at Grumpy's Honeybunch, I decided to make one of my favorite cocktails from a local restaurant. It came pretty darn close. I had to cut down on the peach schnapps amount since I'm not a huge fan of peach, but enough to taste. Very refreshing...when I'm not spilling it on my laptop. My keys are now sticking a bit, but it didn't short out, so that was a relief!


Dude is on vacation for nine days, so he had to do some cooking while I was slaving away at the cereal plant. He grilled up a whole bunch ....I mean a whole BUNCH of dark meat and he and Hermit Crab feasted on legs and thighs while he made a breast for Drama Queen. He had leftover thighs, so on Friday night he decided to create something with his leftovers.

Garlic toast

So he took my square glass casserole dish, layered in spaghetti sauce, some fresh peppers and onions from the garden, cooked mini shells, the cut up grilled chicken, a little more sauce and some fresh grated sharp white Cheddar and Co-Jack cheese. Heated it up in the little toaster oven and it was dinner!

See? He CAN do it if he wants! No more buying his story of "I can only grill".....

Easy Chicken Dinner

Ever have those days when you have about 28 seconds to come up with a plan for dinner? I do, just about every day. We had sandwiches for dinner at work and I knew Dude wasn't too excited about a second night of them, so I saw a can of sliced potatoes and a can of Cream of Chicken soup in the cupboard. I knew I had a couple breasts left in a bag of IQF *individually quick frozen* in the freezer. I grabbed the chicken, nuked it for a few minutes on defrost, poured the potatoes in a colander and rinsed all the liquid away and shook them to get the water off of them. Poured the spuds into a greased 9x13 pan, seasoned the chicken with some paprika and poultry seasoning, poured the soup over it, covered it with foiled and baked in the oven at 350 degrees F. for about 40 minutes and then took the foil off and put back in for about 10 minutes for it to get some color. It turned out pretty good-Dude ate his whole container full and said he'd like that again.
It doesn't look too pretty in the picture, but it was tender and juicy. It could have used a little more spice, but time was short and work was only 2 hours away!

A Slow Cooker recipe and an arm

I was looking for a nice, warm, comforting meal that all three of us would like. Drama Queen would love enchiladas every day I think. She won't eat pork unless it is ham or bacon, or pulled pork sandwiches, doesn't like meatloaf or fish. She is hard to feed. She does like chicken and spuds, so I threw it all in the Crock Pot and let her rip.


Creamy Crock Chicken

4 chicken breasts-I had boneless, skinless on hand
8 yellow skinned potatoes
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/4 can of water
poultry seasoning
paprika
salt and pepper

Rinse off chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle each breast with poultry seasoning and paprika, salt and pepper. Cube up spuds and slice onion and scatter on bottom of slow cooker. Mix the can of soup with the water (to thin out a little) and pour over spuds, retaining about 1/3 cup. Place chicken on top of spuds, spoon reserved soup mix on top of each breast. Cook on HIGH 3-4 hours or on LOW 6-7.

It creates a gravy that infuses the potatoes and keeps the chicken from drying out too much, which can happen if you leave it in too long,

Drama Queen was quite happy with it and we had no leftovers.

For the arm part, I had posted about having an MRI last week. I saw the doctor yesterday and I have an inflamed tendon with several small tears under the inflammation. He thought we can fix it with Cortisone and a cast.

Isn't it delightful? I have to have it on for 4 weeks. I can't cook, I can't clean, I can hardly put on undergarments (bras one handed?) and I can barely sleep since I sleep on my left side and I can't find a comfy position. Dude had to cut my food last night. It hurts to type with one hand because of the cramped position and he is concerned with a spot in my right wrist that has a cyst-like bump and is inflamed, which he attributes to over-compensating with that hand. I need to call the plant and see if they can put me in a different place for a month or if they really want me to sit on the packing floor for 12 hours a night and just sit. To say I am depressed is an understatement. I'm trying to look on the bright side that after nearly a year of pain, this may just fix it. Tell that to my poor hubby who had to listen to me cry at 3 this morning because I was exhausted but couldn't sleep because the cast is heavy and I couldn't find the right spot to sleep in. Unfortunately we don't have a recliner so I couldn't even sleep sitting in that.

Might have to take a trip to the furniture store...

Chicken soup

I have never made homemade chicken soup before-Campbell's has always done the work for me! I had poached the six chicken breasts and then made the stock. I pulled apart the meat and put into two freezer packages for two different meals. I grabbed one of the packages of chicken, one of the containers of chicken stock, and my orange Rachael Ray cast iron Dutch oven and went to work.

Chicken Soup
1-2 cups cup up chicken
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
6 'new' Yukon gold potatoes, halved and/or quartered
2 carrots, peeled and slice in coins
1 stalk celery, sliced in small half moons
pasta of your choice, I used bowties

Place all ingredients, except pasta, in Dutch oven. Season with salt, pepper, and a bay leaf. Simmer for about half an hour. Pour pasta in and cook to desired doneness. I left mine about another 20 minutes.

Dude wanted more noodles, but I didn't have as much room in my pot as I would have liked, so I only used about a half cup of noodles and it wasn't enough. I made some fresh bakery dinner rolls to go with and packed it up for dinner at work. It was so good! I can't believe how easy it was and how much better it tasted not out of can.

Does everyone have big plans for Superbowl Sunday? Not us. Dude doesn't like football, but I bought some snack food and am making some guac so we can watch. I'm hoping the Saints can pull it off. It would be nice to see a first time winner (still waiting Vikings...).

Off to paint some more trim work in my new scrap room and I have a pot simmering on the stove with the ham bone and ham pieces from last nights' dinner. Trying ham stock so I'm not wasteful and also Dude wants me to try making a ham and potato soup. Hmmmmm.

Giraffe Stock.....tastes like Chicken

Now that I have your attention.......I didn't really make giraffe stock, that is just silly. I don't have a pot big enough to boil one of those! Ina always talks about how easy it is to make your own stock and I have seen different people do it different ways. I saw Ina do it with 2 or 3 chickens, veggies and water. I have seen others do it with chicken carcasses. I always like to march to the beat of my own drummer, so I had poached up 6 huge chicken breasts and then pulled the meat off to use for a couple different meals-one of which includes the stock which I am making here. I put the six breast bones with some meat and some of the skin in my large stock pot, threw in 2 onions that I just sliced in half, a head of garlic that I sliced in half, two carrots that I washed but didn't peel and chunked it up in 2 inch pieces and 2 stalks of celery that I washed and also chunked up like the carrots. I added 10 cups of water and simmered on the stove for a couple hours. I let it sit to cool and then poured it through a fine mesh strainer that I had lined with cheesecloth (I took the veggies out before this step). I let it cool down to room temp and covered and put in the fridge. The next day I went to scoop the fat off the top, but there wasn't that much there since I didn't boil whole chicken and some of the fat rendered off when poaching. I ended up with about 8-1/2 cups of stock after all was said and done and put it into 4 freezer containers and put it in the freezer. I don't know that I'm convinced it is better than the boxed kind, but it did taste pretty good. I didn't add salt because I had added a little to the poaching water and figured I would add some fresh to the recipes I used the stock for.

We received news today that my brother's Dad is in the hospital and they don't expect him to make it through the day. My Mom was married before and yada, yada, yada-we have different fathers. I feel bad for him; they were never very close and had been making strides in the last few years to fix that. If you think about it or have a chance, please say a little prayer for Hans-he is having a rough year-it is his son that just went to Kuwait in December.

Off for the weekend-think I may tackle taxes....then drink vast quantities of wine!

Air "Fried" Chicken and Roasted potatoes

At 3 I still had no idea what we were doing for dinner. I had gone to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday-but forgot about Tuesday. Poor Tuesday-got no respect. I went downstairs to the freezer to pull out the ham for Friday and ground beef for lasagna on Christmas Eve, when I saw a package of chicken. Poultry Tuesday!

I thawed it part way through and pulled out my Easy bake oven, to which Hermit Crab exclaimed "What is that???"

I pulled out the booklet that came with the oven and found Air Fried Chicken. It was for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but I had a family pack which had the pieces with skin and bones still attached. I just added cooking time to the recipe and changed out the breading from corn flakes to panko bread crumbs and changed regular mustard to Dijon, and added poultry seasoning.

Air "Fried" Chicken

1 cut up chicken
1 cup mayo
3 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 TBSP poultry seasoning
2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 tsp paprika

Stir mayo, mustard and poultry seasoning into a bowl until combined. In a pie plate, combine bread crumbs and paprika. Brush chicken with creamy mixture. Roll in the crumbs. Place in NuWave oven on rack. Set for 20 minutes. At end of 20 minutes, flip chicken and set for 20 more minutes. Insert thermometer to check temp. If not up to temp, turn back on for 5 minutes.


I had a value pack chicken, so I had too many pieces to fit in the Easy bake, so I baked the rest in the oven. It turned out the same as the NuWave chicken did, only took a little longer since it wasn't totally thawed. I ended up baking it at 400 degrees for about an hour along with the roasted potatoes.

Roasted Potatoes

5 medium russet potatoes, peeled and quartered, then cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 envelope of onion soup mix

Place all ingredients into a plastic zip top baggie. Shake and squeeze to completely cover potatoes with oil and soup mix. Spread in an even layer in a shallow roasting pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring and flipping potatoes over every 15 minutes, until fork tender.


I lowered the oven temp for the chicken, and just cooked the spuds longer.

Hermit Crab-hates to get her picture taken

Drama Queen-always ready for a close up, goofy face or not

Dude and Tofu

Off to go wake up Hermit Crab so we can bake cookies.

Sometimes you just want to throw in the towel

My weekend at my sister's house. I brought my 'friends on a stick'. It is a joke that started when people couldn't make the pre-reunion party and the reunion, and other various events. I brought all those involved in the 'on-a-stick' program with me! We had way too much fun and spent two days hung over. At 43, I should really know better by now!

Drama Queen passed her driver's test this morning. Let me tell you what dread I had handing her the keys so she could go to school. I did laugh when she called and asked which gas she was suppose to put in the car!

This is what she did when I was at my sister's house. Apparently alongside learning how to make meth on the computer, you can also learn how to pierce your own ears. Sometimes you just shake your head and hope you don't have to call the doctor for a penicillin shot.

Here is my take on Chicken Parmesan.

Tami's Italian Chicken Bake

Boneless chicken breasts, however many you need to feed your family

Poultry seasoning

Salt and pepper

Spaghetti sauce

Shredded cheese, amount up to you

Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Brown in a skillet on all sides. Place chicken in a baking dish to accommodate the amount of chicken you have. Spoon spaghetti sauce over the top of each breast and pour rest in pan. Top with shredded cheese. I used some Mozzarella and a Co-Jack blend. Bake at 350 degrees F. until chicken is cooked through and cheese has melted. I think mine baked about half an hour. Serve over your favorite pasta. I had a pic of the pasta, but can't find it now. We used a penne.

The Dude liked it, but was picturing the chicken cut up in cubes, tossed with the sauce, top the noodles and cheese and baked. I will try that next time.

On a personal note, when I returned from my weekend drunkenness party at my sister's house my husband had received a phone call from his parents. Three years ago his father had eye cancer and they had to take his eye. He goes in for scans every year to make sure everything is okay. Last year he had a little melanoma removed from his face. When he had his scan last week, they found the melanoma has returned and is on his lungs and liver. It is inoperable and will have him do a regimen of a chemo pill. At this time we don't know what stage it is in or how fast this type of cancer spreads, but his eye cancer doc said that it could be 9 months to a year. We knew that with our parents aging this was on the horizon, but you never expect it. He has always been pretty healthy and very active. He will be 85 this winter. I can't even tell you how my hubby is dealing with it because he is very quiet on a normal day. He was pretty matter-of-fact when he told me and I just couldn't get a read on him. We have only lost grandparents in our 21 years together, so this will be a whole new area to tackle. Sometimes you just want to throw in the towel and say 'why us again' but we will get back on that horse and say 'what do we do next'.

We love you Howie and will be standing by your side whatever happens.

Pan roasted chicken

Okay, I have no clever title for dinner tonight. I'll just call it was it is. I had taken some chicken out of the freezer this morning with no idea what to do with it. I thawed it a bit in the microwave and then put in the fridge to finish thawing out. I tried to do chores one armed/handed. It is really hard to wash a dish or fold laundry with one hand! I picked some lilacs, covered all my plants in the garden because we are suppose to have FROST tonight. C'mon, it is the middle of May!! Took all my pots off the deck and stuck them in the garage. Tried to get kids to help me clean for the party, but how convenient for them that they had plans already. Sigh. So I decided to go back and figure out what to do with this chicken. Still had no ideas. I took out some bacon and crisped it up in my new cast iron skillet that I got for Mom's Day. Threw some creamy Italian dressing on the chicken parts. After the bacon was crisped, I threw in some butter, then the chicken pieces that I had marinated, sprinkled on some spices (it was a mix of paprika, garlic salt, celery salt) and browned it on both sides. I stirred in a can of Italian style diced tomatoes that I drained and put the crisped bacon back in pan on top of chicken pieces. Stuck the whole pan in the oven along side the loaf of beer bread. I made myself a salad with some nice crunchy romaine lettuce and I was a happy camper! Dude is working OT, Hermit Crab went to dinner with a bunch of kids from her class for a birthday party and the youngest has barely grunted at me in the last 5 days. It was tender and had a mellow flavor. I bet it will be even better on the second day.

Speaking of the non-speaking to me Drama Queen, here she is ready for her spring concert at school. They did a Disney medley so the choir dressed up as Princesses, which worked since most of them wore their prom dresses. This was the dress she was going to wear to prom but didn't as the whole works got screwed up.

Off to do some more one-handed cleaning. It may take me awhile......

Country Bob's and what it means to me

I so tried to come up with some fantastic way to try this product. Fact is, I decided to just try it in it's simplest form to see what I could tell about the flavor.

First up is chicken. I had a couple problems here. I had marinaded the chicken pieces and was going to throw it on the grill. I had failed to look outside very closely. I was surprised that Dorothy and Toto didn't end up in my backyard. Scratch the grill. In all my genius, I decided to brown it up in my saute pan then bake it in the oven. Let's just say that the sugars in the sauce didn't like the 2 TBSP of oil in the pan. Mad a freaking mess all over my stovetop-which I had just cleaned. It looked very pretty coming out of the oven. However, since I made it in the oven the skin was not as crisp as I would have liked and I only eat my skin if it is fried or crispy from the grill. It was hard to judge the flavor since it was pretty much on the outside of the bird. The chicken was very juicy, so it may have helped that.

Here is our complete dinner: chicken, steamed new potatoes and ciabatta bread

Tonight I made plain ole hamburgers for the grill. I mixed in about a quarter cup of bread crumbs, four tablespoons of Country Bob's All purpose seasoning, a twist or two of salt and some shallot salt. Made up my patties and put 'em on the grill. The flavor was bumped up a bit and they were very juicy. I couldn't really put my finger on a distinct taste. My husband said it reminded him of a steak sauce flavor. I don't know about that, but they were very tasty and I gulped my burger down in about 6 bites!

I was cleaning out my email and found this one from my stepmom Sue. She is the one who drew my header picture for me. Over the years she has drawn us some beautiful pictures; one of our girls that is at the head of our stairs so everyone who walks in can see it, a picture of my dog Mandy, a picture of our dog Gusty, and a beautiful picture of a pail of pansies that she took a picture of on my deck and did it in chalk. I have it hanging in my scrap room so I can look at it and get cheered up when I hit a scrapblock. Anyways, here is what she said about my blog.

Hi Tami,
Just read your whole blog and really, it is AMAZING! It is almost like a magazine! The photos of the food, from prep to finished product are so neat and informative.......too bad regular mags don't do that. I bet you have many, many blogettes...how fun. How neat to read all the interesting things and photos of you and everybody.........very cool. (That bar recipe DOES look awfully good! (If I made that I would have to grab a WHOLE BOTTLE OF INSULIN! Ha!) Anyway, very impressive and thank you for saying the nice things about the butter dish drawing. Glad that worked out okay.
You know, I tell your Dad once in a while, when we're out with people, and I pull him aside and say "if I didn't know you, I'd want to............", and after reading your blog, the thought went through my mind, "I'll bet that people who read this really are impressed and want to write to her!" so........"if I didn't know you, I'd want to after reading all of that......................!" Love, Sue (The letter you wrote to Ally is wonderful........)

Isn't that sweet? It made me cry. She is a special lady and I'm very blessed to have her in my life.

I am baking some banana bread muffins (already posted that) but I made a few changes to my recipe. I melted butter to stir in the end and dissolved some espresso powder in some water and used that for part of the milk. It smells delicious in the oven, so I will see what the family says tomorrow (um, later today). Remember when I said I had organized the freezer? Found some rhubarb that I froze last summer, so I found a recipe for rhubarb bread that I will make after the banana muffins. I also have a pot roast to throw in the crock so the kids can eat and we will have lunch ready for work tonight.

I hope everyone has a joyous Easter. Give thanks for the good blessings in your life. I give thanks for all of you who visit here.

Do you ever get tool envy?

Okay, get your mind out of the gutter. I know yesterday's post about my poor hubby's predicament might have that in the forefront of your mind, but I'm talking about chef tools or if you have absolutely no training, cook's tools. Every time I watch Food Network I drool over the pretty measuring cups, measuring spoons, bowl and platters I have never seen in Minnesota. But two of the simplest things in the kitchen get my goat every time I watch Ina or Giada: have you seen their fresh off the shelf Pyrex liquid measuring cups and the spanking clean stainless steel oven racks? I mean, come on. They cook with these instruments EVERYDAY. Here is my Pyrex:

You can barely make out the word Pyrex, plus after 8 thousand washings, the glass is all filmy and scratched. And don't even start me on the oven racks. I wouldn't even dare to take a photo of mine. Granted, mine were never stainless steel, but it is best that they are tucked away in the dark oven. I looked at those nice new, all-the-writing-is-legible-and no scratches measures today, but could in no way justify buying new ones just because my old ones are ugly. Sigh. Envy continues.

On the bright side, I did find some fun potatoes to go with dinner while at Target Greatland today. I have seen several posts lately about chicken and about roast vegetables, so I put some together tonight for dinner. We scarfed down dinner in no time flat, it was that good.

Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Onions

1 package cut up chicken

1 package small new potatoes (the package was about a pound and a half) or any small spuds

1 onion

Oil (not shown, used vegetable)

poultry seasoning

paprika

Tuscan Sunset seasoning from Penzey's (it has sweet basil, Turkish oregano, Aleppo pepper

garlic, thyme, fennel, black pepper and anise seed)

Rinse off spuds and put in a plastic bowl with lid. Pour over a couple tablespoons of oil; cover and shake so potatoes are coated in oil. Chop onion in slices and lay in roasting pan. Rinse and pat dry chicken. Place on top of onions. Drizzle the chicken with a little oil and then sprinkle on dry seasonings. I used about 1-1/2 tsp of poultry seasoning, about 2 tsp of the Tuscan Sunset and about a tsp of paprika. Tuck the potatoes down into roasting pan so some are covered partially by chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in a 375 degree F oven for about 1 hour 20 minutes. Check chicken temp with instant read thermometer. When it reads 175 degrees, take out of oven and tent with foil for 10 minutes before serving.

Plate up and enjoy. I have seen the purple potatoes on shows and in print, but had never found them in stores around here. The Dude was surprised when he cut one open and it was purple all the way through. They were so good. Potatoes-God's greatest starch ever!

What's for dinner?

I hate those words more than any other in the English language. I love to cook, really I do. But sometimes I just hate it. It is as if I have to think of one more thing to feed my family, my head will just pop off my shoulders and explode into a frightening mess. And given the people I live with, the mess would still be there in two weeks. We are still trying to find our way with our odd work schedule. I admit that the kids don't have a hot, home cooked meal every day. I also think that at 18 and almost 16 and having been schooled for the past 13 and 11 years, they know how to read. No one ever taught me how to cook. My Mom was a good cook; I'm sure she still is, but she is single and lives on disability so her meals are just for her and usually involve veggies, cereal, an occasional chicken breast and coffee. She never offered to show me how to cook. I was the youngest and I was about 7 when my Mom went back to work-she was a SAHM after having me. When she started working, she worked the afternoon shift. My next older(est?) sibling is B. She is 5 years older than I. She picked up the cooking duty from my Mom. She still loves to cook and has entered local cook offs in her town. I don't know if B learned from Mom or by watching Mom, but she learned how to cook. She also learned that A) you can break Pyrex, B) always screw the lid on tightly to the syrup dispenser when bringing it into the living room where Mom and Dad just put new carpeting a couple weeks before (and that syrup doesn't come out of carpeting) and C) your little sister may look dumb, but even she knows that eggplant doesn't taste like spaghetti and it ain't going on my plate. Our parents got divorced, I stayed with my Dad, B went to college-then came back to take care of Mom (that is a whole different story) and I had to learn a thing or two about food. My Dad cooks; he is a good cook too. However, after a divorce he had a few other things on his mind-like that God awful t-shirt bought and thought was funny that said "Vasectomy-all of the juice and none of the seed". Swear to God-I was thoroughly embarrassed. Suffice it say, I spent a good deal of time at home alone with a cupboard and hunger. And then weight gain. I had a panache for chocolate chip cookies. The lesson here is that I learned. Through trial and error. Through hunger. Through enough messes in the garbage can. I'm not a great cook-although when Drama Queen is sucking up she tells me I could beat up Rachael, Sandra, Giada, Ina and Paula. I'm a good cook. I'm a tired cook lately. I spent some time by myself today shopping-retail therapy is good. Nothing really fun, other than a pair of short brown boots that look kickass on, but some kitchen stuff and bathroom stuff. As I was driving away from Kohl's, still excited about my new yellow towels and candle and place mats, it hit me. Dinner. Okay, turn left up here into Cub and think of something. Fast. Easy. Fast. I thought fajitas would be good. Then thinking oh man, I have to slice up beef or chicken and cook it. Then the angels started singing in my ear "Look over there Tami, in that refrigerated case. See for yourself, dinner can be quick tonight". Now, I'm not really big on convenience food, but sometimes I really just can't bear the thought of an hour over the stove (since I haven't figured out how to be more prepared). There, in that refrigerated case.......sliced, cooked chicken and beef! Woo hoo! I could have dinner on the table in about 15 minutes. Grabbed a package of each, some tortillas, a pepper, some onions, a flavor packet and some Pepsi and chocolate cuz the little bee-atches at home found my secret stash and all you women out there know-at 1 o'clock in the morning after all the darlings are in bed, the hubby is doing his thing, and you are jonesing for some chocolate.......and you find it gone? I just about woke each of the them up to start yelling at them. But I didn't. I pouted. And hid chocolate in my dresser today.

Wow, it took me a long time to get to the food today.

Moo and Cluck Fajitas (or simply beef and chicken fajitas)

1 green bell pepper, cut into narrow strips

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced (the Dude wanted these instead of a regular onion)

1 package each Tyson precooked and presliced beef and chicken

1 packet fajita seasoning

Oil

Pour about 1 TBSP oil-I used veggie-into a large skillet. Heat on medium-high heat. Carefully drop onions and peppers into oil and stir around. You don't want to let them sit in one spot too long or they might burn.

After they soften up, about 4 to 5 minutes, stir in beef and chicken. Pour in contents of seasoning packet along with water called for. Simmer for a few minutes longer, until all is heated through. Pile on tortillas and top with cheese. Serve alongside some fresh guacamole.

Funny story. I was at McDonald's many years ago and for a short time they had chicken fajitas on the menu. I was behind this older couple and he ordered a cheeseburger and fry and she orders a fa-jeye-tah. The poor pimply faced teenager had no idea what she meant. She said it twice and then pointed at the menu on the wall.

As it is almost 1:30AM and I'm starving, I am off to heat up the Lil Smokies I was suppose to bring to church today and have a Pacifico beer in honor of our best friends Corey and JoAnn who in exactly 12 hours will be having Pacifico's poolside in Mexico without us this year. Waaaa! It was either pay for Hermit Crab's graduation party or go to Mexico. She won. We don't get to go back until 2012. Next trip is for our 20th anniversary next year (Iceland) and then Drama Queen graduates (God willing) and then, yea! Mexico! Carlos, please be waiting with my Mai Tai and I'll be sure to bring the Ritz Bitz crackers for you-if the salmonella thing is over with.

Oh, and my sister B dropping the syrup on the new carpet (on Christmas morning and Mom and Dad let us eat pancakes while opening presents)? Nothing compared to when I tipped over the full bottle of nail polish remover on Mom's brand new coffee table that she had saved several months' salary to pay for. I honestly thought that they were going to kill me. They didn't, but boy were they pissed. I have kids now. Paybacks are a bitch.