Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Favorite Salad



I love salad! I eat a big plate of greens everyday. I add different things to keep it exciting. I usually wash and chop up a big bowl to have ready. Then I can add some protein to it for a quick lunch. 

This is my new favorite!! So beautiful and so delicious. Baby spinach, avocado, strawberries and sliced almonds. I drizzle my homemade balsamic vinegarette (olive oil, balsamic, pinch of salt, drizzle of honey, fresh ground pepper and a healthy spoonful of dijon mustard) over it. 

Super good. Super healthy. Enjoy!


Other thing I love....

The smell of incense from church in my childrens' hair

An unexpected hug from a child

Hot English Breakfast tea with milk

A pedicure

A dog's devotion


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Manly Soup

I love soup! I make soup at least once and week and sometimes more often. We have our family favorites...chicken noodle, chili, chicken tortilla, clam chowder, vegetable, lentil, and split pea. Yes, my kids eat soup too....even the lentil. It's SO good!


I recently acquired three new recipes for soup. I thought I'd share them with you. They are Manly Soup recipes because they were all given to me by men.






Beef Provencal by Gary (Also know as The Soup Master)


BEEF PROVENCAL SOUP


6 quart pot

2 lbs. ground beef

1 cup onion – chopped

2 cans – white beans

2 cans – diced tomatoes with garlic, basil, oregano – undrained

1 package chopped frozen spinach (or 1 bunch fresh)

4 cups beef broth (or Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix & water)

½ tsp – dried thyme

½ tsp – dried rosemary, crushed

Brown ground beef until beef is no longer pink. Pour off drippings. Saute’ onion until tender.


Add to pot along with beans, broth, tomatoes, thyme and rosemary. Bring to boil; reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir in spinach and continue simmering for 5 minutes. Serve.


This is a good soup to freeze so I often make it with 3 lbs. ground beef, 1 large onion, 3 cans beans and tomatoes, same spinach, 6 cups broth, ¾ tsp thyme and rosemary.








Red Lentil Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk by Jeff (Also know as Chef Romanos)


3 Tbs. veg. oil

2 medium onions chopped

1 C red lentils

3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

14 oz. can coconut milk

1 bay leaf

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch piece fresh ginger, minced

1 Tbs curry powder, preferable hot (Mae Ploy's Curry Paste is what Jeff uses)

1/2 C chopped cilantro


Directions


1. In medium saucepan, heat 2 T oil over medium heat. Add onions, and cook, stirring ofter, until onions start to brown, about 10 min. Add 4 C water, lentils, carrots, coconut milk, 1 tsp. salt and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer partially covered until lentils are tender, about 20 min.


2. Meanwhile, in a small skillet heat remaining 1 T oil over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, curry powder and cilantro. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add to soup.


3. Remove bay leaf. In food processor or blender, puree soup in batches until velvety smooth. Taste, and add a bit more salt if desired. Serve hot.








Chicken Corn Chowder by Jim (Also known as my dad and the Crockpot King)

 Picture is my dad at the latest Nascar race.

2 cans cream corn 1 1/2 cups chicken broth celery onion pepper crushed red pepper to taste (depending on how hot you want it) 1 medium skinless, boneless chicken breast Puree the cream corn and broth in a blender. Cook the breast and cube it into small chunks. Add all together and cook until the celery and onions are tender. It's even better if you serve it the next day.



And what to have with soup?




I usually make biscuits with soup. It's easy and quick. I like the Joy of Cooking recipe. I use half white flour and half whole wheat flour. It gives the biscuit a nice nutty flavor.



I also recently made cheesy bread sticks. I make pizza dough, roll it out and place on large cookie sheet. Then I brush with garlic butter and sprinkle on cheese. I bake it and then but into rectangles. It's wicked good!! Dangerous stuff. I took this photo from Google....but this is what my bread sticks look like...except rectangle in the pan.

If I'm rushed for time I pop some good whole grain bread into the toaster, add butter and voila...done!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Valentine Dinner



We had a lovely dinner and dessert was yummmmmmy! I think it's the best pie I've ever made. The boys bought me my favorite See's Candy chocolate covered almonds....heavenly....now my biggest decision is which to have for a treat...the pie...or the candies...I know...of course I had both! I'm eating for 3 ;0 .

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The Crock Pot

I am trying to make more dinners ahead of time or get started earlier in the day. So, this morning I put Potato Soup in the crock pot to cook all day. It was yummy, easy and little clean up. My pregnancy nausea/hideous heartburn isn't gone yet (I keep hoping it will be subsiding soon as I'm almost 13 weeks along and this is when I felt better with the other pregnancies). Having cereal or take-out for every meal is wearing thin so I'm trying to cook but have it be easy. I need quick, easy and yummy recipes for the crock pot (or ones for getting rid of heartburn). Leave me a recipe in the comments section...I'll be soooo thankful. Better yet, come on over and cook it for us;)

A Few of My Favorite Things

Books
Slippers
Tea with milk
Quilts
Watching a movie in bed

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Apple Butter

Yesterday I spent the day making apple butter. We brought home apples from my dad's house. The boys helped Grandpa pick them from his orchard. It's been a long time since I made apple butter or canned anything. Mr. 4 yr. old had a great time helping me wash the apples, peel the apples, and put them into the pot to cook. I knew I was a little disorganized as a started but as the day went on I realized how unprepared I really was. I had all the jars and lids I needed-that was good. I couldn't remember what I did with my canner-that was not so good. I did have an old pressure cooker in my garage that I had never used. Well, how hard can it be to figure out? HARD! The direction booklet was about the worst one I've ever read. It didn't include any directions on how to actually use it.....things like timing. After consulting the Internet, calling my "knows everything" friend (not "know it all" but really does know everything!) I decided to try the pressure cooker. Oh, and I remembered why I got rid of my canner. You can't use them on a ceramic top stove...which is what we have! Does anyone have a good water bath canner that can be used on a ceramic stove? So, after trial and error and a whole day spent trying to can apple butter it finally got done. It's yummy too!

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