The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 120
Hello again friends, and welcome back! Hope you all are having a Marvelous Monday!
What a day!!! I learned a whole bunch of new things, on the fly, at the new job, which was very cool. I’m understanding more each day, feeling more relaxed, fitting in a little better each day.
William had a little bit of a rough day, but he’s feeling better since we had dinner and went to scouts. He made a tool box tonight at scouts, and he just thinks that’s really cool!
James is off to work, in my car again, still getting used to that. Hopefully he’ll be able to get his car on the road in the next month or so. I know he’s saving up to get his tooth fixed, too, so I guess it’s all about priorities.
Anyway, we had a quick and easy dinner again this week. Here was the entire menu:
Bacon, crispy
Eggs, scrambled with cheese
Wheat toast with butter
How’s that for a cool dinner! It would have been McDonald’s again, but I didn’t have a car! Probably a good thing, we don’t need it.
So, that’s it for Monday. Until tomorrow, eat well, love well, live well!
The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 119
Hello again friends, and welcome back! Here we are again, another week gone, another weekend gone, and ready for a new week to begin. Hope you’ve all had a Super Sunday!
We’ve had a pretty good day around here. My folks brought us a FREE 42″ flatscreen TV, it’s all hooked up and we’ve been watching movies all afternoon. Mike’s been playing with the color and contrast and stuff, trying to get that perfect picture. I think he’s finally got it!
William had a little homework, plus normal Sunday chores, and except for a little complaining, he’s gotten it all done with a minimum of fuss. That’s a nice change!
James is out and about, be home later. He’s had my car all weekend, waiting to see it come home OK! It’s not that I don’t trust him, but without that car, I can’t get to work tomorrow and we’re screwed.
I did the grocery shopping, finished up the laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, and managed to cook a decent meal in the process. Here’s what we had:
Pot Roast
1 Eye Round Roast, about 3 pounds
1 carton beef broth
1 Tsp dried rosemary leaves
2 Tbsp kosher salt
Put everything in the crock pot, cook on HIGH 4 hours, or on LOW 8 hours. Remove from pot, allow to rest about 10 minutes, slice against the grain of the meat and serve.
Baked Potatoes
4 medium russet potatoes, washed and dried
Kosher salt
Olive oil
Pierce potatoes once on each side. Coat lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with Kosher salt. Place on baking pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, or until done through and soft when poked. Remove from pan and serve. Top with your choice of toppings, tonight we did just butter, salt and pepper, but they are also good with sour cream, shredded cheese, broccoli, chili, really whatever YOU want to put on them! I actually cooked a whole bag of potatoes so we’ll have some laying around ready to top. PLUS, they freeze well, so you don’t have to worry about them going bad!
Plus we had a light fruit salad, actually the last of what I made last weekend. We really just had pineapple and grapes, because that’s all that was left, but I had to use it up because I just finished making a new fruit salad for this week with pineapple, mango, papaya and grapes.
So, hope you all enjoy something from this meal, or the whole meal, and have a wonderful rest of the weekend.
Until tomorrow, eat well, love well, live well!
The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 118
Hello again friends, and welcome back! Hope your weekend is starting out well. It’s been kind of quiet around here…
Took all the guys to get hair cuts, probably should have gotten one myself, but not sure what I want to do with mine yet. Got my toes done instead, that was NICE! Hopefully once the paychecks start, I can do that every couple of weeks, maybe get my nails done, too. Other than that, did laundry, watched movies, and made pizza, that’s about it for today.
So here’s the pizza recipe, it’s kind of a cheat, but it was pretty good.
Pizza
2 store bought pizza crusts (I found an off brand that had two in the package at Walmart)
1 jar pizza sauce
1 package mozzarella cheese, 4 cup size (you’ll only use about half)
1 package pepperoni
1 package diced ham
1 package sausage crumbles, pre-cooked (Hormel brand)
Remove pizza crusts from package, place on pizza pan or cookie sheet. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Brush crusts with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder, especially close to the edges. Spread half a jar of the pizza sauce on each crust (less if you like, that’s really up to you!). Top with pepperoni, ham and sausage (or topping of YOUR choice, again, this is your pizza, put what you like on it!). Cover with about 1 cup shredded cheese, making sure to get it over all the sauce, close to the edges, but not hanging over the sides. Cook at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes, cut into 6-8 slices, serve!
I think my next project will be figuring out how to make home made crusts in the bread machine and freeze them. Then I’ll have to work on my sauce, and get back into canning so we always have it around.
Anyway, it’s movie night, so I’m going to get off here now. Until tomorrow, eat well, love well, live well!
The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 117
Hello again friends, and welcome back! Hope you’ve all had a Fabulous Friday!
Things are looking up at work, learning more each day, actually helping other people get caught up on their work while I learn new things. I think things are going to work out! Let’s just hope they feel the same way about me…
William had a really good day at school, and a good afternoon after school hanging with his friends.
James had a kind of rough day at work, but at least he didn’t have to work all night tonight, so we all had dinner together.
And it’s Friday, so we can all relax a little tonight, not worry about getting to bed early or getting up early tomorrow!!
So, tonight I tried my hand at fried chicken, and I have to say, it didn’t turn out so well. Here’s the recipe, and all the issues I had, maybe someone out there can give me some helpful hints:
Fried Chicken
8-10 chicken thighs, rinsed
2 cups Bisquick
1 can beer of choice
2 Tbsp Everglades seasoning
1 Tsp Kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup plain flour
Oil for frying
Heat oil in large skillet to medium heat.
Mix Bisquick, beer, eggs, salt and Everglades seasoning in a wide shallow bowl, making a dipping batter for the chicken.
Put the plain flour in a separate wide shallow bowl.
Coat the chicken pieces in the plain flour, then dip in the batter before placing in hot oil in a large skillet. Cook 10-15 minutes per side, or until a deep golden brown and done through.
This is where I ran into trouble! The chicken was more like brown brown, not golden brown, and was still pink inside. I was cooking over medium heat so it wouldn’t cook too fast, not sure if it was too hot or too cool. I ended up putting the partially cooked chicken on baking sheets and putting them in the oven for another half an hour at 350 degrees just to get them done through. At that point, it wasn’t crispy at all, it was mushy, but it was done through. It had good flavor, but there was no crispy skin at all!! I was REALLY disappointed, as I was really looking forward to some good fried chicken.
I made a simple pasta salad to go with this mess:
Italian Pasta Salad
1 pound pasta of choice
1 cup mayonnaise
1 Packet Italian dressing mix
Cook pasta per package directions. Drain and rinse well. When cooled, mix in mayo and dressing mix, stirring very well, allow to sit at least 30 minutes before serving.
And then since I was so disappointed with the chicken, I decided we needed a treat, so I went and got ice cream, chocolate syrup, butterscotch topping, marshmallow fluff, and we had ice cream sundaes!!
Anyway, now I’m ready to just chill out for a while, so until tomorrow, eat well, love well, live well!
The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 116
Hello again friends, and welcome back! Hope you all are having a great day!
The week is starting to wind down a little, getting close to Friday, and I’m starting to “feel” this whole back to work thing. Got a little slap on the hand for being literally 2 minutes late to work, so now I think William may go to a friends’ house in the morning so I’m not stressing about getting him there too early when there are no teachers around, and then he can get there on time and I won’t have to worry!! Plus, I can hit the road a few minutes earlier and not have to worry about being late. Apparently, that’s the one thing they really stress out about at this place, being late, so I gotta figure it out.
So, William had a really good day at school, and a good time after school, played outside, spent time with friends. We worked on his paper together, got it finished, and he’s really happy with how it turned out, so I’m happy. He told me what to type, I cleaned it up, we both win!
James is home tonight, and playing video games, of course. I’m sure he’s wishing his car was on the road already, he’s getting tired of riding his bike to work, or bumming rides from friends. Soon, I hope! Maybe next week his schedule will be better so he can use my car in the evenings.
Mike is home from work, looking a little worse for wear tonight, but again, it’s getting close to the end of the week. And it’s been a LONG week for him. Good thing the weekend is coming!!
So, tonight we had a nice dinner. Nothing overly fancy, but here’s a recipe for you:
Crock Pot Curried Chicken
3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 carton chicken broth
1 can coconut milk
2 Tbsp curry paste
Put everything in the crock pot, cook on LOW at least 8 hours. Remove from pot, shred and serve!
I also made some rice in the rice cooker to go with this, boiled some frozen peas and frozen broccoli.
Like I said, not fancy, but tasty!!
So until tomorrow, eat well, love well, live well!
The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 115
Hello again friends, and welcome back! It’s been a Wonderful Wednesday around here, hope yours is just a good!
Third day on the new job, starting to get a better handle on how everything fits together, actually got to do a little hands on training AND a little work today, and I only made one mistake! The drive in was horrible, there was a bad accident on one route, which of course caused heavier traffic on the other possible route, so it took me an hour to make a 20 minute trip!! But the boss was really understanding, said a lot of folks were late today, not just me. So far she seems like a pretty good boss, I mean, how far wrong can you go with a red headed Irish woman! And everyone around me is really helpful, very easy to talk to, no one has any attitude issues that I can see, which is a HUGE plus in my book!
Anyway, James is at work, got a ride from a friend, got her to feel sorry for him, need to make sure he gives her gas money, or at least OFFERS! William had a good day at school, FCAT’s are almost over, but he has homework tonight, not too happy about it either. Mike had a busy day, but a good day, and his drive wasn’t too bad for a change.
Seems we didn’t completely avoid the HOA lawn police. SOMEONE came and cut our grass today, which is sort of funny considering the neighbor literally next door has weeds (no grass, just weeds) over a foot tall, which is part of why we always have weeds, but no one is cutting THEIR “lawn”. Oh well, guess we’ll get a bill for that at some point. Better be cheap, though, since we pulled all the weeds, trimmed the bushes, and did the edging last Friday. AND I made sure to e-mail the jerks, and got a read receipt!! I’m ready for them…
So, we had another quick and simple dinner tonight. I had pork chops thawed out, so I threw those on the grill. Salt and pepper on both sides before grilling, cooked about 5 minutes on each side at medium-low setting on our gas grill. AWESOME! Made another baked potato for Mike and I to split, since it was about 2 pounds, that was PLENTY of potato!! William just wanted some Mandarin oranges to go with his dinner, figure he’ll hit me up for chips or popcorn later, but right now he’s doing homework and trying to get done so he can go ride his bike before it gets dark.
Sorry I don’t have any big complicated recipes tonight, but I just wasn’t up for it! Thinking about either fried chicken or curried chicken tomorrow night, so we’ll have something cool for you either way!
Until tomorrow, eat well, love well, live well!
The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 114
Hello again friends, and welcome back!! Today was a really good day, hope it was a Terrific Tuesday for you as well!
I think this new job is going to work out just fine. I’m starting to learn stuff, sat in on my first actual training today, have another training scheduled tomorrow. I’m starting to understand some of the things I’m seeing my trainer do on his computer, it’s starting to make sense. I see how we fit in to the whole process. And I’m working with a very cool group of people who are more than willing to answer questions and share information, so that’s good news after my last experience.
William had a good day at school, FCAT testing seems to be going well, and he’s settling in to spending after school time at a friend’s house. I was a little worried about that, but they seem to be doing really well!
James is off to work, in MY car! OMG!!! We got the insurance straight, and he’s got to work until 1:30 in the morning, so I’M not going out to get him! But that means that he’s grown up, and I’m not sure I’m ready…
Anyway, I think I’m getting the hang of getting everything ready in the morning, actually got dinner in the crock pot before I left, so we had a nice dinner waiting when we got home tonight. Now I just need to finish cleaning up the kitchen so I have the crock pot for tomorrow!! Here’s what we had:
Asian Chicken
3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, frozen
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tsp ground ginger
1 quart water
4 Tbsp corn starch
Put everything except the corn starch in the crock pot, cook on LOW for 8-9 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Take 3 cups of the liquid, put it in a sauce pan, add in the corn starch and cook over medium high heat until thickened. Add in the shredded chicken, and serve!
We had this with Quinoa cooked in the rice cooker, per package directions. Two parts water to one part Quinoa, really simple. It’s an interesting grain, kind of crackly in your mouth, but with a little salt and pepper, and the chicken in sauce over the top, it was pretty good.
We also had some leftover green beans with bacon, peas with butter, and grammy’s baked beans. I know, not the ideal mix, but it was all good in it’s own way! AND, I have a little bit leftover for lunch tomorrow.
And now I need to go clean out the crock pot, and maybe make some blueberry muffins (from a box mix, don’t get too excited there), so I’m off! Until tomorrow, eat well, love well, live well!
The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 113
Hello again friends, and welcome back! Wow, what a day!!! Hope you all are having a Marvelous Monday.
So, today was my first day back to work after more than a year off, and what a day it was. Spent the first hour meeting the other 7 people who started today, getting a badge, filling out paperwork. Spent the next hour and a half touring two different buildings, walking tour, those of you who know me know I’m not a small person, and I have RA, so this was a little more than I had expected, but except for sore feet, it actually wasn’t bad. I’m sure I’ll pay for it tomorrow. And the rest of the day was spent literally watching someone else do their job. I figured out enough to be able to ask some intelligent questions, but watching someone else clicking all over a computer screen isn’t as helpful as you might think. Hopefully I’ll get some more detailed training over the next few days and start getting my feet wet!! They tell me it’s more like three weeks of training… oh well, I’ll get there!
Anyway, interesting day. Had to get up earlier than usual, get William up early, drop him at school early, and deal with rush hour traffic. I forgot what a JOY that can be! Even with all that “early”, I was literally one minute late. Gotta work on that. And the ride home was even longer, thinking about alternate routes! Not that I think any other way would be better or faster, everything is a mess in that area at rush hour, just wishful thinking I guess.
So, got home at 10 minutes to six, have to be at scouts at 6:30, and forgot to put anything on for dinner this morning, so we ate out, William and I. HE really enjoyed it, but then he’s been wanting McD’s for a while and I keep saying “no”. Can’t say I’m doing him any favors eating that junk, but we didn’t really have any choice tonight. Gotta work on that tomorrow morning, too. Planning a nice dinner, including some Quinoa, which I’ve never cooked before, going to see what it’s like. Some kind of chicken in the crock pot, not sure what kind just yet, but I’m already thinking about it.
Sorry to say there are no recipes at all tonight, but I promise to do something cool tomorrow! Trying to get back into that swing of working… I’ll get it down!
So until tomorrow… eat well, love well, live well!
The Great 2012 Cooking Extravaganza! Day 112
Hello again friends, and welcome back! Hope you all had a wonderful Sunday!
My day was SO busy! I decided it was time for a little spring cleaning around here, wanted to get the place spruced up a little before I go back to work tomorrow, and make it a little easier to keep it clean. So, we swept, mopped, vacuumed, stripped beds, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the bathrooms, dusted, used the spot carpet shampooer on the hallway and living room spots, and after dinner I made up what I hope is a weeks worth of sandwiches and salads so that everyone can have easy to fix lunches. Made up a gallon of Gatorade, filled the bottles we reuse, took snacks and some of the Gatorade bottles over to a friends, since she’s going to watch William after school. Good thing that’s his best friends mom! I think I’m ready…
Anyway, we had a quick and easy dinner tonight, tasted pretty good, too! Here’s the scoop:
Pan Fried Eye Round Steaks
1 package eye round steaks, thin cut
1/2 Tsp dried Rosemary leaves
1/2 Tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle all your spices into a large skillet, set to medium heat and allow to toast just a bit before you add in your steaks. Once pan is warmed up, add the steaks and cook about 2 minutes on each side, or just until browned. Might be slightly pink in the center, but not much! Serve!
Sauteed Green Beans
1 Package frozen cut green beans
2 Tbsp bacon bits
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tsp garlic powder
Melt butter in large skillet. Add in green beans, garlic and bacon bits. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until everything is nice and hot. Serve!
We also had some store bought rolls with this, so it was a nice dinner. The guys made steak sandwiches out of their rolls and thin cut steaks!
Gotta come up with something quick and easy, or a good crock pot meal, for tomorrow. Won’t have much time after work and before scouts, so gotta be ready!
Until tomorrow, eat well, love well, live well!
Ramblings and Recipes 