I cook.. I really do..

I have had a crazy week, and whiles I have been cooking all week, my stomach took priority over the photos. Monday night I made Sweet & Sour Honey Chicken Stir Fry with tons of veggies, celery, carrots, onion, water chestnuts, cucumber, and pineapple. Brian made jasmine rice to go with it, and it was VERY YUMMY. Tuesday night I believe was leftovers. Wednesday night I worked. Tonight I believe we are have leftovers as well. I am home today, so I made some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I hope Brian comes home for lunch so he can have a warm one.

Saturday Night: Snack Night

Brian and I went out to Hunam's Chinese Resturant (29th & Fairlawn), and enjoyed a large late lunch. Needless to say supper wasn't high on our agenda so late in the evening we raided the freezer for snacks. Jeno's (cheap pizza), potato skins, and breadsticks. Not health food by any stretch, but still a nice late dinner-snack.

Friday Night Dinner: Re-Run with a new script!

I re-run the butternut squash soup and turned it into a a delicious pasta sauce. I added one can of Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes, I small can of cut up black olives, and 1 to 1.5 cup of butternut soup puree, 1 cup of Sargento Bistro Blends Sun-dried Tomato, and Basil Cheese, & 2 T of Heavy Cream. Mixed together, and placed over cooked spinach pasta, and baked in the oven with cheese on top at 425 F for 20min, until the cheese melted. It was much better this way than as soup. My parents are going to use it as a filling in Lasagna this weekend.
We also used my indoor grill pan and cooked steak, marinated with dried basil, garlic, olive oil, white wine, and sun-dried tomatoes. Then on the side we had salad and green beans. It was a great experimental Friday night dinner.

Welcome Back 7UP Cake

Ok, not the best cake I have ever decorated, but the best cake at 9 o'clock at night. I should have started on it earlier, but it was still worth it. It will be a nice surprise for Melissa's first day back from her trip.

Cooking Light Mac n' Cheese with Grilled Turkey Cutlets

Tonight we had Cooking Light Mac & Cheese (featured on their website), and Turkey Cutlets. I marinated the Turkey Cutlets starting yesterday in:

3 Turkey Cutlets
1 T of Tarragon
1 T of Course Ground Mustard
3 t of White Wine
1 T of Olive Oil
pinch of sea salt
dash of pepper

Put in Zip Lock Bag together and mush around until the cutlets are covered.
Marinate for at least 2hrs, although I did overnight.

Then I removed from bag and placed flat on grill pan, cooked until done on each side.

Local Shopping!

Yesterday, my husband and I made a trip to the local Asian & Oriental Food Market, Mabuhay. It is a local market here in Topeka. We probably stop in every couple months to pick up some of our essential asian food ingredients. Whiles we have a Dillions (Kroger) and a local Price Chopper in-town they just aren't as nice as going out and buying from the nice woman at Mabuhay. On our first trip she was nice enough to give us a tour of her store and she is always helpful with recipes and hints. Wherever you live, don't hesitate to get out and find the local markets. You never know what nice people you will find or what little gems you can find in your own city.

Butternut Soup, Ham & Cheese, & Salad

Tonight for dinner we made Butternut Soup out of Cooking Light's Jan/Feb 08 Issue. I fixed a quick salad and made a small hot ham and cheese with smoked swiss from the deli.

Its time for Spring!

In a rush for spring, we planted one of those herb garden grown in the window kits. Its coming along nicely, can't wait for them to mature so I can cook with them. It would be nice if spring would hurry on along.

Sunday Dinner at my parents

Mom made a traditional "Sunday Dinner" of Meatloaf, Green Beans, and baked potato. The meatloaf was a little different, but good. She used beef, turkey, and pork it was really yummy. The only different was the color of the finished meatloaf. Instead of being a dark brown it was a lighter shade more like tan. I gave her a hard time about changing HER MEATLOAF, but all-in-all you didn't notice the difference. Tonight was a special treat for the family. It is really odd that mom cooks, normally it is my dad, husband or myself. Not that she can't cook, but she just doesn't do it often. She is good at it though.. when she dose it.

Lazy Mom's Apple Pie

I arrived at my parents house to find a warm apple pie just out of the oven... I couldn't wait until l after supper to eat a little of mom's homemade apple pie. The crust was wonderful. I was so excited about the pie it wasn't until a few bites into it when I noticed something extra chewy, stringy, rhine-y, different, and what was this surprise. Mom was lazy and didn't peel the apples. At first she held tight and said she liked it, that it was good. However, after dinner I got her to admit that it was better without the peel. Next weekend she promises to make it again without the peel. :)

Sunday Morning Breakfast: Flapjacks

Why do I call them Flapjacks instead of Pancakes? Well, because... Pancakes in my mind are light and fluffy. These "pancakes" are not. They are flat, they aren't really light and are far from fluffy. These flapjacks are flat, easy to make, and quick to cook. I adapt the recipe from "The Joy of Cooking All About Breakfast and Brunch" one of my favorite breakfast cookbooks.

Here is my version of "Basic Pancakes"

Kansas Girl's Flapjacks

11/2 C of all-purpose flour
3 T of Vanilla Sugar or regular sugar
11/2 t of baking powder
1/2 t of Nutmeg
1/2 t of Cinnamon
Whisk together in large bowl
In a separate bowl mix:
11/2 C of Milk
1-2T of Veg Oil
2 LG Eggs
1 t of Vanilla

add the wet mix to the dry, and whisk together, but don't over-mix. Some lumps but not overly lum-py.

Cook 1/4-1/2 C on griddle until it bubbles and flip over. Cook until done.

PS That is Cool Whip Lite, 2 T

Sinful Saturday Breakfast...

Alright, so I am not supposed to have doughnuts, and I don't very often.... they sounded so good this morning. My husband went out in the snow (what a great guy), and purchased doughnuts from our fav shop "Bakers Dozen."

Friday Night Dinner: Leftovers & Stir Fry out of Box

I had lots of leftover pork dumpling soup so I thought I would share with my parents, knowing that it was a light soup I picked up a box-o-stir fry from the store. It wasn't too bad, now I did add a few things to make it my own. Go figure! I added pork, carrots, celery, water chestnuts, bell pepper, and additional cashews. I also made some fried rice with out a box. We also enjoyed freezer egg rolls.

Thats our pizza!

We finally received our correct pizza (only an hour later). As you can see we wasted no time and started to devour. It was good, and worth the wait... sort of.

Thats not our pizza!

Tonight we ordered pizza. Thin-n-crispy with italian sausage and extra cheese, yum. I was so hungry for pizza and it sounded so good. So you can imagine our surprise when we opened the box to find a PEPPERONI PIZZA! We ordered our Pizza Hut Pizza online and it was WRONG! I mean how hard it is to get an online order wrong? You check a box with what you want on it and hit order. They have it in writing. It is now 7:00 PM and we are still waiting on the correct pizza, maybe we will get it tonight. I wonder if they ever made the correct pizza or if someone opened up their order and found they got the wrong pizza. Oh where oh where is our pizza....

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brian treated me tonight and made Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. It helped fill the gap of a so-so dinner. :)

Revisited Leftovers.. gone wrong

We revisited and attempted to spruce up the Tex-Mex Sloppy Joes, and make "chili mac" by adding the leftover turkey meat mixture to mac and cheese. It was ok, probably wouldn't make it again, or at least with the cheap mac and cheese. Sometimes when cooking at home you win some you loose some. Just seems like lately we have lost more, guess thats what we get for being adventuresome and trying new thing.

Quick Quesadilla's

Tonight we had quick and easy quesadilla's:

For one Quesadilla
2 - Tortillas
Coat each Tortilla with Refried Beans (I used Fat Free)
1/4 Cup of Pre-Shredded Mexican Cheese Mix on top of the one of the Tortilla
Place on HOT Skillet, refried bean side up, and then place:
add chopped bell pepper
Deli Roast Beef 2-3 Slices
Top with 1/4 C of Pre-Shredded Mexican Cheese Mix
Top with other Coated Tortilla
and gently press down top Tortilla

Cut up into slices and serve.

Pork Dumpling Soup

I am not sure we made our dumplings quite right, but they were good all the same. It was a really easy recipe that I found at http://www.myrecipes.com. I did make a few small changes to the broth. A couple of large pieces of ginger, and a dash of white wine. It was really good and full of flavor.

Cupcakes

Simple Cupcakes
2 1/4 C Flour
1 1/3 C Sugar
3 t of Baking Powder
dash of salt

Combine above ingredients in a bowl, set aside

In stand mixer bowl:
1/2 C of Shortening
Start to break up with beater on low for a min.
Then add flour mixture, and let them mix together

slowly add...
1 C of Milk
2 Lg Eggs
2 t of Vanilla
1 t of Lemon

After incorporated run mixer on high for 1-2 Min.

Fill Cupcake Molds with 1/2-3/4s full.
(we used a medium sized ice cream scoop)

New Years 2008.. a little late

Mom's Meatballs with BBQ Sauce, Barb's Steaks, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Cumin, and Chili Powder Rub and Roasted Cauliflower

Umm... Lentils??

My husband said to me on the way out the door this morning "I am looking forward to home-cooked meal tonight." and I agreed. I was pretty excited about dinner tonight, it was Indian Lentils with pita bread. Something adventurous for us! I followed the instructions, but if thats how its supposed to taste... well no one should eat that. It was like badly flavored oatmeal. Upon tasting, my husband and I agreed to eat out. We spit an entree at Carlos O'Kellys along with chips and salsa and came home. Nothing fancy, just filling and better than what we had planned to have for dinner.

Slow-Cooker Beef Tacos

Good news! I am back to feeling better. Tonight for dinner, came from www.cookinglight.com Slow-Cooker Beef Tacos. I would say though if I made them again, I would either sherd the beef or cut it in strips instead of cubing it as it says to. The cubes were awkward in the tortillas. However, it had very good flavor, and was an easy meal for a busy Sunday. They will make for great leftovers later in the week.

Happy New Years

Happy New Years! I would love to write about all the good food I made and ate, but I didn't make or eat any. My husband and I choose to spend the New Years trying to get over our colds! You can imagine the fun we have had, first he got sick on Friday, then I came down with it Saturday night, by Sunday our conversations came down to who was using up to much bed space, and where the Kleenexes were hiding at on the bed. We are both starting to feel better, a few visits/phone calls to the Dr. helped out. I am afraid until I am off the Decongestants my taste buds are shot, and I am eating pretty bland food, but as I get back to cooking I'll be sure to put up the recipes and photos.