Our Home: Craft Closet

I love my husband. He's my best friend, high school sweetheart, and the most intelligent person I know. One quality I love about him is that when he wants to do something, even when he's never done it before, he will do it. He'll learn all about it, become an expert, and go to it. A few summers ago, he took on the hobby of designing and building. We had spent the summer redoing rooms of our house: our then toddler's room from baby to preschooler, the boys' bathroom, and rearranging the living room. We used IKEA as our inspiration.

I love to craft and always had little room to do so without it taking over the house. So, when we purchased new bedroom furniture from IKEA for ourselves for Christmas, we decided to give myself an area in our living room. I had the Expedit shelving and desk, except I had the huge 16 cubby unit. It was a beast. We used it as a room divider/hall extension for about six months until we both decided it was too massive. I forfeited the space and we moved the unit into our preschooler's room, where it stands today. On a side note, I HIGHLY recommend this unit for kids...lots of organized storage!!  During that time of limbo, Kevin secretely began to research closet offices and found one that really excited him. He pulled me in and asked how I would feel about turning our vacuum/coat closet into a space for me. He would design it himself. I was all on board with the idea...especially after I saw his inspiration (you'll see later).  Our closet was one of those you NEVER open when company is there and I cringe to show it today. I have to though to help so the awesomeness of my closet now.


We took another trip to IKEA for the shelving, table legs, lighting (no overhead power though), wall storage, and storage containers. The filing cabinet came from Target and Kevin spray painted it an aqua that matched the wall paper. My sweet hubby even splurged and bought me the exact same (very pricey IMO) wall paper that was in the Country Living magazine here.

So without further ado, here she is!

Before :(

After <3

Another Angle

Original Inspiration

Pinterst Inspiration: Ear Warmer/Headband

Ok, I had to laugh at myself in this picture. I live in Florida. It was absolutely beautiful today on this NYE 2011...like 75* temperatures. Here I am in a spaghetti strap tank wearing an ear warmer. Haha! But, in my defense, it is supposed to get down in the 50s later this week...which is frigid in Florida.

Anyway, I saw here on Pinterst how a blogger pinched her headband with matching yarn. I already had a white scarf, so I used huge-o needles to knit together a headband quickly. Instead of using the white fluffy yarn as the detail, I dug out some pink and purple (my favorite colors) and spun that around. I like it!  I have a purple headband that I made with the purple yarn, so I'll do something similar to the original idea. I won't pull the yarn so tightly and leave the creases in like she did. That'll come soon...when I can dig it out of the drawer ;) 

Pinterest Inspiration with an April Twist: Melted Crayon Art

All over Pinterest you can find a really cool art: melted crayons, as seen here. I couldn't wait to try it out...I had a box of 120 Crayolas perfect for use.  I had a canvas laying around from a project I did in college, but I wanted to save it for something else (future family tree, thanks Pinterest!). So, I went rummaging in our linen closet. I remembered when we moved in to our house five years ago, we found these two cute, three pictures each, frames at Target for $5 on the clearance. We put them aside, waiting for the right place and pictures. Yeah, five years later.... When brainstorming what I wanted to do for this project, I immediately thought of the frames and thought about dividing the different colors into each spot. I had no idea where I would put them until our preschooler asked what I was doing. His room is bright jungle green and I thought right away these would look great in his room, and his walls needed an update anyway. He gave the idea a big thumbs up!  Then the project hit a snag: I thought they were shadow box-like frames because of the double panes of glass. Nope. So, I had to take off the back glass (not easy at all!) and then measure each box, cut the poster board accordingly, and then glue on the crayons with the trusty hot glue gun. I took them outside to melt with the high setting on the hair dryer. But, i found out quickly that they curl when cooling so i had to adjust them while drying. Overall, it turned out pretty cool. Alex is very happy with it, as you can tell by his fingerprints on the glass.....

Going Green: Inexpensive, Good Homemade Laundry Detergent

I'm a green freak. Yep. I try everything in my power to limit the amount of waste our family creates and I'm so proud that they are all on board with me. I'm that person who has more recycle than garbage...I even bring home my school's plastic..about four bins a week. But hey, my students see the example, and isn't that what it's about?  ;)

Anyway, I have to keep detergent in mind for my family because one of us has sensitive skin that doesn't like fragrance and three of us have mild eczema that gets worse when irritated by detergent. I dabbled with store bought natural detergents before and found one a Sam's that I LOVED. Inexpensive, coconut oil based, and awesome. But, we no longer have a membership because it's too dang far to be economical. I used Arm & Hammer for a very long time until I found an economical and easy recipe for homemade detergent on this blog. I decided to give it a shot. The blog even gives you the financial breakdown!

 

The laundry detergent itself is awesome. You use very little (I use two heaping spoons, depending the level of soiled clothing). The softener is so-so. The baking soda settles to the bottom so quickly that when it came time for it to spin out of the cup during the drain, the baking soda would stay. I have just used vinegar in the past with good results, so I just stuck with that. I use vinegar all over the house, so I just buy the super huge bottle...  Just be careful if you touch it to your hands...the Borax dries the skin out very quickly.  Good luck!!

Food!! Funyun M&M Treats

My dear friend Tina is a wonderful cook and is always on the look for great recipes...which she lovingly shares with me. This is a kid-friendly recipe that makes for a dangerous treat...dangerous in that you'll eat your weight in them.  It's simple:  a Funyun, M&M, and melted almond bark, found in the chocolate section of the bakery aisle. I just melt a block or two of the almond bark in a plastic zipper bag in the microwave and then cut a bottom corner from the bag. It makes for a less messy, preschooler-ready icing bag. Just squeeze a drop onto the Funyun, place the M&M, and set aside to cool...or pop right into your mouth. Enjoy!!

My project: Angry Birds jack-o-lantern

Yeah, I"m two full months late, but here is our jack-o-lantern from this year. It's become a time of expectation for our family when I create our family jack-o-lantern because they always embody something special to our family. I've done ESPN, Orlando Magic, our favorite bands Sister Hazel and Big 10-4, Mickey Mouse, a Cross-Country running shoe, UNICEF, and plenty of others I can't think of right now. This year the inspiration to do an Angry Bird came from our two boys who, like most other kids, are obsessed with the addicting game. I found some free Angry Bird coloring sheets online, chose the traditional red bird, and carved away. This year I didn't have any actual openings in the pumpkin, it was all from carving off the skin and shading with Sharpie. The eyes were made from sewing pins because I accidentally shaved off his pupil, oops!

What's extra cool (at least for my family) is that I carve the pumpkin Halloween afternoon, we let it sit outside during trick-or-treating, and the next day it gets peeled, chopped, boiled, and divided for our Thanksgiving pumpkin pies. You know, I gotta keep it green! :)

Pinterst Inspiration: T-Shirt Scarf

I love it when Pinterest projects are quick to complete, and Amanda wasn't kidding when she blogged that this scarf was easy. I began it and finished it all during an DVR'd episode of Dr. Phil.  The hardest part was finding the three t-shirts I could sacrifice for the project. What was great is that the shirts didn't have to be perfect. The white shirt had some spots, but you won't be able to see them.I dug out a purple, white, and gray set of shirts. I followed Amanda's instructions from here by cutting off the hem (used later) and then cutting the shirts length ways at 1 inch strips to make a huge loop. From the three shirts, I made about 33 loops, but you can make as many as you want. You then stretch the loops and then wrap them around your hand a few times until you get the size of the loop you want. Snip a four-inch approximate piece from the hem strip you set aside, tie two loops together. Keep going until you run out of loops. Then, enjoy!  Here is a picture of the scarf in action. I wore it the next day to Epcot and got a few inquiries about it. :)

Here is the original blog...

 

Pinterest Inspiration: Curling Iron Hair

I'll admit it. I'm not a girly girl. I have never known how to do my hair, and when I tried something, my fine hair wouldn't hold anything. When browsing Pinterest (my favorite pasttime), I came across Kate's blog. I love her hair styles and, even better, she showed how to do it! Wahoo!!  I followed her instructions for how to curl your hair with a curling iron (I know...simple stuff...but not for me...)  and I came out with this. I loved it immediately, and my hubby did too.

I loved it. I took me a LONG time (about an hour!) but that's only because it was new to me and I had to go back and refer to the video (thanks iPad for portability!!!).  I also discovered that I need a smaller size curling iron. I had used a 1.5 inch iron, which was a bit too large for my shorter hair. My wonderful 12 year old son (with guidance from my mom) bought me a 1.25 inch iron. Perfection. I used her tips for applying Aquage, except I used mousse...and a bunch of it. But, it lasted a whole day's trip through Disney World!! And, this time, the curling only took me 25 minutes :)

Here is Kate's blog. Warning: It's as addicting as Pinterest!

Pinterest Inspiration, with an April twist: More paint chip art

I like the paint chip art project so much (see my inspiration here), I wanted to make another in a smaller frame. But, I didn't want to make just the same thing...I wanted to change it up a bit. So, for the fun of it, I grabbed my pinking shears that were in  my container by my head and had at it. I started in one corner and just cut chips however long I wanted. Some sides aren't trimmed and are just the straight edge. Those are hidden underneath.The frame did a nice job bringing it together...yet another find in our linen closet and yet another free project!!

Beginning...

After a few chips...

Final piece!

I

Pinterest Inspiration: Paint chip art

So, I fell in love with these two Pinterest projects immediately:

Project 1     and    Project 2

So, I had to try for myself.  What's especially cool is that because I had just purged and reorganized our linen closet, I found this frame. So this project literally cost me nothing. While out for an errand, we swung by Ace Hardware and I grabbed some samples. Sweet!!!  I love the way it turned out :)

My Project: Caprisun Pouch Cape

Ahh, a Caprisun pouch cape. I haven't a clue how this hit me, but I'm glad it did. As I was making the Caprisun pouch apron for my school's Fall Festival, my preschool was running around. He stopped and asked if I would make him something and I wondered what in the world would a four year old want that I could make from these drink bags. The inspiration hit me and a hit was created.  Alex is modeling the one my Green Team students will raffle off in the spring. (I make a prototype for every Caprisun project so I can test its durability. I don't want a kid to receive a weak product!)  He loves his, and I'm sure some young children will be excited to receive on in the Spring Fling!

My Project: Caprisun Pouch Apron

At my school, my class is responsible for collecting and cleaning Caprisun pouches that we send to TerraCycle. Our school earns two cents per pouch (yes, not a lot, but I adds up!!) which is saved for some Green Team Themed item/project for our school campus.  For our school's Fall Festival, I decided to whip up a couple bags and such for the Green Team to raffle off and this came to my mind. This was my initial attempt at a Caprisun pouch apron. It turned out pretty cute, in my honest opinion ;).  It's a simple zig zag stitch with ribbon at the top. A pocket on the front is perfect for a dish towel (since you can't wipe your hands on this slick apron...a bad habit of mine). It's great because it just wipes off, rolls up, and stores away neatly in a kitchen drawer. :)

My project: Caprisun iPad bag

In the spring, I did some action research for our county's technology department on the affects of the use of technology in the classroom. Since they can't pay me in funds for such a job, they pay teachers with technology. In my case, I earned a iPad. Yes, totally awesome. When I first put my hands on it, the very first thing I thought was, "Oh crap. I'm going to break this dang thing!!" So, I went to work that evening creating a bag for it.

I took some Caprisuns that my boys drank over the summer and cleaned them. Whenever I make a Caprisun bag, I always use a zig zag stitch, overlapping the edges of the pouches, but to make it large enough, I couldn't. I had to use space on the ribbon for enough width. After I made the bag, I attached the ribbon handles and set to work on the inside liner. I don't have a pattern for the liner because I just winged it, but it is made from quilting batting and I tripled the bottom for cushion. I was quite happy with the outcome, except when I use my bag, I can't use an iPad case...not enough room. But, there isn't much I can do about that. Anyway, I'm happy with it :)

2012: A time for repurposing and rededicating!

What a wonderful year 2011 was!!  There are too many wonderful things to list, but if all my following years go as well as this, my life will truly have been blessed!  Last year, this blog was only used to share my adventures and misadventures in cooking. Now that I no longer consider myself a beginner, I am changing the goal of the blog to share my life. I'll share my life in sports, the creative freedoms that teaching allows, the amazing projects that Pinterest offers me, and all my other many numerous hobbies. My life is crazy busy, but crazy awesome at the same time.

On my own: Recipe 1: Chicken Pot Pie

I made this recipe last weekend and the weather is one of the reasons why. It had been dark and rainy for literally over 48 hours straight and the temperatures were quite cool. It was weather that I loved, but one of my friends was also losing her mother at the same time so it was truly a melancholy weekend. For whatever reason, I had the urge to cook something (maybe because my friend and her mom are wonderful generous cooks?)  I wanted comfort food, so I pulled out my own recipe...and it's a good one.  My chicken pot pie is awesome, and I'll happily admit it.  It takes about four hours, start to finish.

A few Black Fridays ago, I purchased a food processor and found that it did wonders for making dough. Unfortunately, I had a mishap when I was processing some meat for Kevin's meatballs and it went, uh, kablooey. I stuck a wooden spoon too far down the shoot. Yeah. That's me.  That meant that this time around I had to make the dough by hand. I use the Martha Stewart pie crust recipe. But, since I was making it for pot pie, I wanted it to have a little more flavor. So, instead of using unsalted butter like she uses, I used salted butter and just held back on the amount of salt I put in the recipe. I mixed everything together and mashed it together with my knuckles...yep, really making this by hand.

While the discs sat chilling in the fridge, I went ahead and started the filling. I use the recipe Chicken Pot Pie IX from allrecipes.com and I take some of the suggestions from the users. The recipe alone will be too dry, so I make more of the broth and milk mixture (2c and 1c respectively). I also used two cubes of bullion when I boiled the chicken and vegetables (i normally would have used broth but didn't have enough...this was a good substitute). I also change out the veggies with what I have at the time. I don't add in celery because it's not a family favorite. I normally use carrots, but didn't have any so I added potatoes (win!). I also back down the amount of peas by half. I dashed in some frozen corn as well...I guess I threw in half a cup?  Instead of celery, i used celery salt after i had the milk-broth mixture and it helped to add a little extra flavor.

Before i put the filling in, I lined the pie pan with the lower crust and baked at 425*  for five minutes to give it a head start. Once it's all in the oven, it doesn't take too long and it smells delicious. It was a reallllly yummy batch and I was happy to take leftovers the next day. The picture I used is from allrecipes.com because I realized as i was packing up leftovers that I didn't take a picture. Mine looked just like this one...minus broccoli :)

Recipe 19: Garlicky Mashed Potatoes

After a trip to the garage to peruse the deep freezer, Kevin realized we had a rack of ribs, so he decided to make his wonderful ribs and chicken dinner, which we accompany with cheese and spaghetti and mashed potatoes. Because the mashed potatoes are always my responsibility, I wanted to try something new. When I saw Mark's Garlicky Mashed Potatoes I knew that was the one! 

I will say right away that I got nervous when I saw that I was to use a whole head of garlic. Holy cow. But, Mark has never steered me wrong before so I went with it. I had to cut the top, drizzle with olive oil and pepper, and roast in the oven for like 30 minutes, but that was fine because Kevin had the ribs cooking as well. When it was finished I was supposed to squeeze the garlic out, which I predicted to be so difficult because I know how hard it can sometimes be to peel the husk (?) off when it's fresh. But I did it, and of course, it was easy like he said. I believe the recipe called for five potatoes, but I knew that wouldn't cut it with my boys, so I just made my normal colander-full amount...I also thought that would be good to lessen the amount of garlic flavor.   In the end, they turned out great...not too much garlic, but still so yummy. And yes, I served them with butter. :)  Paired with an adult beverage, this was perfect football food!!

On-the-side: Recipe 2: Chicken Tetrazzini

My wonderful friend Tina is an awesome cook. She loves looking for recipes and trying things out and she's totally comfortable in the kitchen. Yeah, I guess opposites do attract, because that is still not me, at all, haha!!  She's one of those awesome people who will call you up and ask if have had dinner yet and then tell you that she has a casserole dish waiting for us in the oven. Even better, she's just up the street. Yeah, she's that good. :)

Anyway, a few weeks ago at football practice, she mentioned that she had made this killer chicken recipe and couldn't wait to share it.  So, the mom next to her (whose son I teach) made it the next week and sent leftovers with her son for lunch.  I thought, ok, this must be worth it.  

When I made it, I knew that Kevin didn't care for mushroom-based dishes a whole lot, so I added in some heavy cream.  It was very yummy and it made a LOT of food...too much for us. But, I guess that's something else that you learn when cooking.  I've also found that one of my favorite things to do while cooking is to saute. Call me weird, but I love to saute!!! :)

Here's the recipe she sent me:

So delicious!

12 oz linguine cooked according to directions and kept warm

1 ½ pounds raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into small bite size chunks

Salt & Pepper

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 medium diced onion

4 Tablespoons butter

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

5 oz. Grated fresh parmesan cheese

½ cup of water

1 cup of frozen peas (thawed)

1 cup crushed buttery crackers (I used club crackers)

With non-stick cooking spray-spray a 9x13 pan

Salt and pepper the chicken.

In large skillet melt the butter and sauté the chicken along with the garlic and onion until the chicken is done (6-8 minutes)

Remove from heat and add the mushroom soup, sour cream, cheese and water—combine well—then fold in peas—add linguine and pour into 9x13 pan bake top with crackers and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

BTW you can make ahead and store overnight or you can freeze for up to 1 month.

Recipe 18: Lemon-Roasted Chicken

I am allll about simplicity and this recipe doesn't get much simpler....and it turned out yummy too!  This chick just needed olive oil, lemon, pepper, and rosemary (which I clipped fresh off the plant outside our window!).  I was worried about putting the chicken in the oven without anything else in the pan (because the temp is set to 450*), and Kevin was afraid the chicken would stick to the pan. But, I said, "Mark didn't say to put anything else, so I'm not." In my head I was thinking, "Please God, let Mark be right!!"

When I came back to oven when the timer clicked, I saw black on top of the chicken. It's a good thing Mark couldn't hear the thoughts I had in my head at that moment, because I just knew it had screwed up...even though I followed the recipe to a tee. I opened the oven, only to have smoke billow out. I pulled out the bird and realize I was still in the right...the only thing black and smokin' was the fresh rosemary (which i guess was to be expected when being cooked at 450*...). The chicken cooked perfectly, was juicy and done, and not burned one bit. Thank you, Mark! Thank you, thank you!! ;)  


Anyway, I paired this with mashed potatoes, gravy, and mac and cheese...and we called it our Boston Market night. Shoot...i should have made some corn bread!!!

Take Two: Recipe 5: Sweet Braised Beef Brisket with Garlic

I'll admit it. I got behind in my blogging. I didn't cook as much as I'd like to have, but I did cook...and I took pictures. Some of the next few recipes are both from Mark's book, some from a friend, and one is my own!

So yep, this is take two of the Sweet Beef Brisket recipe I tried and destroyed earlier. I didn't give up hope on this recipe...and I now know the difference between stock and broth ;)  Earlier in September I had to boil a chicken for something and remembered that I could freeze the stock. When Kevin and I were making our monthly meal list, I told him I wanted to try the brisket again. He was very supportive, but I could sense fear, haha! I followed all Mark's steps again, remembering to add stock....not broth.  I also picked up some Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce from Publix, something we'd never tried before. It was a perfect match for the brisket! It was very, very yummy and none of us felt like we'd drank the whole Dead Sea. 

It's always great to eat and have a smile on your face, knowing that this time, you didn't screw it all up! :)

Recipe 17: Roast Chicken with Creamed Onions

Tonight I was in one of those moods where I just wanted to cook. It'd been a crazy weekend of a spontaneous dinner at ESPN Club with our friend, wonderful birthday party, rainy weather, and a strained back muscle from Zumba...which lead me to not move from the couch Sunday...and barely even stay awake. So, today I was determined to accomplish something.

We had set out a whole chicken to thaw in the fridge over the weekend but it was one of those moves where we both secretly wanted the other to cook it. Finally today I just took the initiative...I'd already written down in my monthly menu planning that I'd make this so why not. I realized right away I'd need to do a lot of prep and a lot of dishes, so I started with peeling potatoes for mashed potatoes and cutting the onions (six of 'em!!!) for the cream sauce.  I had glanced at the recipe for the chicken and saw a total cook time of 40 minutes and thought this would be perfect...everything should finish about the same time. Then, when I moved on to the chicken I realized why the cook time was short...the chicken was cut up. Damn. I'd never in my life cut a chicken, but thankfully on the very next page of the recipe, Mark explains how to cut a chicken. Awesome!  It was not fun...breaking bones and cutting tissue is not what I enjoy, but I did learn from it and I did cut the bird well. I also have a whole new appreciation for our knives. We splurged about four years ago and purchased a homemaker Cutco set. It cost a chunk, but I knew Kevin would appreciate them and even today he credits them with inspiring him to cook a whole realm of new things.  If you've ever seen the demo, they are impressive, but putting them into action was a whole different thing. I only used our chef's knife and large carver and I may have as well as just cut butter.   I also had a close call with this beloved chef's knife while chopping my potatoes...while guiding the knife along the potatoes on the cutting board (I can't cut potatoes in my hands), I somehow rocked the knife onto my right thumbnail. Amazingly, I must have hit just the right angle because I didn't chop my thumb tip off. No blood either! Score!

Anyway, back to the food. I did manage to forget about the creamed onions while going Edward Scissorhands style on the chicken and my cream boiled down to oil. So, while I baked the chicken, I took out the onions (which didn't soften like I wanted anyway) and tried again. Much better the second time around, especially since I wasn't distracted. 

All-in-all, the food was good. The chicken recipe called for parsley, dill, or basil, and I used all three. We liked it, and decided it can be a regular recipe. It will replace roasting a whole chicken because that's so much like Kevin's rotisserie. He has his specialty, I'll have mine.  I felt there was something missing with the creamed onion sauce. I don't know what...maybe garlic? Maybe salt? I know that if I find it, I'm going to LOVE this sauce. I am beginning to loved cooked onions and who doesn't like them drenched in cream?!

Oh! I'm still not finished! I used the remaining pieces of the bird (the back mostly) to boil up some chicken stock. I do have a corned beef in the freezer....maybe it's time to give that recipe another shot...and not with broth! :)

Recipe 16: Meat Loaf

Alex being a big helper!

I'm sure you're saying to yourself, "What's so special about meat loaf??"  Well, I have cooked Kevin's version of meat loaf a few times with good success, but when I came across this recipe, I wanted to have a chance to try my own. One of the agreements we have in our kitchen is that we don't duplicate recipes because we both want to be able to prepare unique dishes for our family.  But, my justification for prepping this recipe was it gave me a chance to work and learn about working with beef (which we don't eat often) and playing with herbs.  Kevin's meat loaf and mine varied in that his uses green onions and ketchup and I used carrots, milk, and bacon (yes! bacon!!!)

I knew I would like this recipe right away because it's super easy to do. But, I guess that's one of the things about meat loaf...if you've got ground meat and other stuff, then you're good to go. I followed the recipe to the letter, except that I used dried parsley instead of fresh...my last run-in with parsley was not fun and ruined a good batch of salsa.  Regardless, it came out yummy. I paired it with mac and cheese with extra cheese and butter and mashed potatoes made with butter and cream. Yes, right now I can smell the butter through my pores, haha! It was so yummy though...it's not often we eat Paula Deen style, so what the heck!

Now that I have made this recipe, though, I don't expect it to be a regular because Kevin's meat loaf is a family staple. I'll keep mine tucked away for when it's the right time to give it another shot. And, I think I'll be waking up early tomorrow to make sure I get a run or ride in to help hold of some of these butter pounds!!

Recipe 15: Chicken Mark Nuggets



Mark Nuggets, French fries, and
honey mustard, barbeque sauce,
and ketchup...of course!



Ok, I admit. This recipe was cooked nearly a month ago, but dang it if Life Got in the Way (which is the title to one of our favorite Sister Hazel songs...if you didn't already know that...). Anyway, here it is, better late than never!

This recipe offered me the chance to try two new things: Panko bread crumbs (which Mark is very fond of) and Kevin's deep fryer. The Mark Nuggets call for bread crumbs but Panko bread crumbs, which can be found in the Japanese section, promise to not become soggy. I wanted to make sure the nuggets had a texture different than say a chicken Parmesan feel so I gave them a shot. To be honest, they were great! The only down fall is I think I coated the nuggets a little too much, but no complaints about texture or taste.  Using the deep fryer was easier than I had expected and my experience of deep frying this time was much better than the last...last time I tried fried chicken in a skillet and had a small fire on the back burner. Yeah...our older son doesn't let me forget that one! And, yes, I do know how to properly put out a grease fire......  I even got brave and deep fried French fries to accompany the nuggets, which came out perfectly (thanks to hubby's directions).

All in all, this recipe got a two thumbs up from the family and me. It's not one we'll have every month because of the amount of deep frying, but a little drop in the oil can't hurt...can it?  ;-P

Recipe 14: Chicken Stir Fry

Man, I really love to prep for cooking!! I have such a great time cutting peppers (especially when I use different colors), mincing garlic, grating ginger, whatever it takes. Tonight's recipe called for quite a bit of prep and since I was doubling the recipe to accommodate feeding a guest and taking leftovers for lunch, our Cutco knives got their workout!  We originally invested in Cutco knives (yes...invested) because Kevin did so much of the cooking that he needed good knives. Now I think I'm having more of the fun!

Tonight was a first for a couple of ingredients.  I had my first encounter with fresh ginger. I've never even smelled ginger by itself before...I've been missing out! It smelled SO good I wished I could have used it as a room deodorizer, haha!! And, the smell of it made me realize that I've had it many times before when we've eaten out; I just didn't know what that smell was!  It was also the first time I've used wheat spaghetti, this time for lo mein.  For this recipe, it was really yummy! Instead of being nervous about trying things new, I'm becoming excited when i get to use a new ingredient. :)

I paired the meal with jasmine rice, because I honestly didn't know if I'd made enough. Turns out it was plenty and the rice won't be something I'll need to add next time. But, it didn't hurt it either. The recipe turned out wonderfully, with Kevin saying it was "awesome." He makes a killer chicken teriyaki and I was afraid this would either be too close to that...or taste awful, but it really was good. With my variation of the recipe, I had to use six tablespoons of soy sauce (for three chicken breasts...) and it wasn't nearly as salty as I predicted it was going to be. I was very pleasantly surprised. :)  Next time though, I will be adding water chestnuts. I love their crunch and mild flavors and when mixed with peppers they're delicious! I also used half of what was suggested for broccoli and that turned out just fine as well.

So, yet another recipe that I can thank Mark for and try again soon! It's almost time to grocery shop again...I can't wait to see what's next!!!

Recipe 13: Herb Roasted Chicken

You know, in retrospect, it's kinda funny. I'm the one who doesn't know how to cook, but every year, I'm the one who always volunteers to take on the task of making the Thanksgiving turkey. I've been doing this since Hubby and I first got married and we hosted Turkey Day for nine people in our little apartment. But, I've been blessed with never once having a bad turkey. It's always good when you slather it with butter and use a flavor injector!

That being said, this recipe called for me to do a first: roast a chicken. Why was I so intimidated by a four pound bird when each year I bust out with a seventeen-pounder?!  Who knows...but I sucked it up and gave it a shot.  Let me first say that when Mark says a recipe is easy, he's not kidding. This recipe couldn't get any easier...and I LOVE THAT.  I followed his directions for roasting a herb chicken, which basically meant to heat a skillet in the oven, pour in some olive oil, and slap that baby in.  So, I did. I only took one deep breath this time when he gave me a list of herbs I could use to spice up the chicken and I played it safe with basic basil. I combined that with olive oil and when the timer rang, I covered that bird up. I sprinkled on some dried parsley for good measure and let it sit in the oven some more. It was so weird that I didn't have to baste the bird or even open the oven for that matter!!  While that was roasting, I prepared the red potatoes with onions from a previous post and boiled up some fresh corn on the cob (I LOVE corn season in Florida!!).  It all finished right at the same time (score one for my planning!!!) and I even moved the chicken from skillet to serving platter with not a spill at all!!!   I carved and served at the table, finally getting proper use of our Cutco carver, and drizzled the chicken with drippings and herbs.  You know a meal is good when one bite in, everyone is already commenting on how good it is.  Our older son said it was the best meal I ever made and hubby said it was perfect. He even cut off more chicken and made a sandwich for lunch the next day. So, I made it to leftovers!! Wahoo!!  I was even encouraged to make it again very soon...which I'll probably try in June.  Tonight though, it's time to give these quesadillas another shot :)

Recipe 12: Calzone

Ok...I'll admit. It's 11:30 on a Sunday night, I'm running on four hours sleep, and we just finished watching a hard-to-follow, "What the hell is going on??" movie, so my ADD is in FULL gear. Please pardon if I don't flow today, haha!!

Yes, it's been a while. Yes, I've cooked since my last post, but I didn't attempt a new recipe until tonight. I did go back and give another attempt at the Gorgonzola past, but I paired it with steak (my first attempt...not bad, but not wonderful since I had to use our George Foreman grill because of the weather...). Very yummy with steak, although my choice would be grilled chicken...but that's too close to chicken Alfredo. Anyway, it turned out great and our older son inhales the leftovers...something that makes Momma happy :)


Today was our monthly grocery shopping day, which meant that yesterday was my grocery list/explore the recipe book day. We've had the idea for a calzone since last month, but Life Got in the Way and it didn't get made. Since today is Sunday, we had plenty of time to let the dough rise. 


The meal was a fun one to prepare. I always enjoy making dough, but this time I had to mix it by hand since I had a mishap with the food processor...trying to push meatball meat down and I snagged my spoon on the blade and shattered the bowl. Yes, **smack my head**. Thankfully it was a Black Friday steal from a 4:00Am shopping trip to Target.


Anyway, back to the recipe. The recipe called for just sausage, which I'm not totally fond of as the main meat, so I added pepperoni, which was great. The only problem, which is a rather large one, is that the dough tasted just like it was supposed to...like pizza crust. The recipe calls for the use of the pizza dough recipe and it came out just as such...actually, it almost tasted biscuit-like. So, that's got to change. I'm thinking next time I'll add in some garlic, make the dough thinner, cook it less, and brush on some oil and pepper, garlic, or something to the outer crust in an attempt to make it like our beloved Mt. Dora Pizza's specialty dish.  The stuffings were yummy, except the sausage was rather strong. I believe it was Italian sausage, but I'm not sure...that was a purchase from last month. Next time we'll try just mild sausage and if that doesn't work, I may go with breakfast sausage. I think ham would be great in there too. It's definitely a dish that allows me some flexibility, which I LOVE!!  We used my hubby's wonderful from-scratch spaghetti sauce to dip in...yum.


Good thing about this month is that I have about eight meals planned to try this month. We've got a crazy busy month ahead with three soccer teams and my hand bell Spring Ring concert, so we'll just see how many I can pull off.  I'm even getting the urge to go buy some fabric and a piece together my own apron. I think this cooking stuff is beginning to stick!

On-the-side: Recipe 1 - Parmesan Mayo Chicken

Sorry Mark, I stepped out on you for this one...so it inspired me to make a different thread, just for recipes that I try that aren't in How to Cook Everything.  This time I tried Parmesan Mayo Chicken.  So, here it goes!

I'm never a brave one to try a new recipe...I don't like being the one to find out it sucks, honestly. So, when my good friend told me about a recipe that she tried last night and loved so much she wanted to lick the plate, I was all ears. And, even better, it only had four ingredients and it baked in the oven! Simplicity is my best friend.  

I'm sure I scared the heck out of Kevin when I called him and told him not to do anything about dinner and that I wanted to try something new. I got home and got to work prepping, which is becoming one of my favorite things about cooking. There's something about the cutting and mixing, as well as the antsy anticipation about how it's going to come out.  I paired the chicken with cubed red potatoes (also my friend's suggestion...minus eggs, which would have made my hubby lose his appetite...) and green beans.  Before I even put it in the oven it smelled delicious and I know I had to add about 10 extra baking minutes because I kept opening the door to smell it.  When we finally sat down to test it out, Taylor was the first to blurt out that it was, "Oh Mom! SOOO delicious! Where did you get this?" Kevin enjoyed it so much he's taking the leftovers to work tomorrow (that's the subconscious sign of a good meal).  It was tangy and savory...and oh so yummy.  We don't have red potatoes often, and even those were well received.  Green beans? Well, I need to find something to do with those things because I love 'em, but haven't figured out what to do with them.  As for any changes, next time I'll fillet the breasts so they're not so thick, but otherwise it was super!

Since this recipe isn't in Mark's book, I don't mind sharing the recipe.  I'm sure my friend found it from an online recipe site:

It may not look wonderful on the plate, but in the dish it was awesome!

In a medium bowl, mix:
-1 cup mayonnaise
-1 cup Parmesan cheese
-1 teaspoon dried oregano
-1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 
-3-4 chicken breasts

---Lay chicken in a casserole dish and spread mix over chicken and cook at 350* for about 35 minutes (it took me 45...teehee).


Potatoes:

---Cube red potatoes, as many as you'd like. I think I used four or five...but we cook to have leftovers.
-Chop one large onion
-Add 3-4 tablespoons of butter
-(optional) beat two eggs and add to potatoes and onions
-(optional) add garlic salt -- this is what I did instead of eggs
---combine everything into a casserole dish and cover with a lid
---microwave (YAY!!) on high for about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through




Anyway, if you have a great recipe for making green beans, please let me know!  :)

Recipe 11: Beef Stroganoff

Oops! I was just browsing my e-mail and noticed I sent the picture of this recipe to myself, uhhh, on March 8th. Life's been crazy. But, better late than never!!

I've always known that food doesn't always have to look great to taste great....Kevin's corned beef hash for example. Yum!!  This recipe is one of those as well.  I enjoyed preparing this dish; it was actually fun to do all the prep: slicing the steak, chopping onions, etc. It doesn't hurt to have a radio blasting either :)  What I loved about this recipe was the cooking time. It was a rather fast recipe.  I paired this with my homemade mashed potatoes...can you tell we love carbs?

Overall it was well received by the family. It definitely needs some tweaking: I made egg noodles to pour it on top of, but I think I'd like to try rice.  It had a TON of onions in it...two whole onions! My favorite part was the sauce. It had a ton of sour cream (yum!!) and that gave it just a hint of tart. I'll have to tweak it because others in the family aren't as much of a fan of sour cream as I am though.  I had this for leftovers the next day at lunch and I thought it was even better. More of the sauce's flavor had been absorbed by the sirloin. There was one evening when I had plenty of the meat and sauce left, so I just ate it by itself.  Soooo good :)

So, for the most part, I give this recipe a thumbs up. I'll definitely cook this again. :)  And please pardon the sideways picture...I was too lazy to flip it. Hey, it is spring break afterall!!

Recipe 10: Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas

Chicken and cheese...I don't know of any two other foods that are more loved in this house. So, when I came across a recipe for cheese quesadillas, I couldn't help but write it down on my list of recipes to try. 

As with the pizza recipe, Kevin grilled the chicken breasts. I'm not quite brave enough to do anything other than hot dogs and burgers, mainly for fear of overcooking or under cooking poultry. Kev and I have had food poisoning...that's all we needed to make us both almost paranoid when it comes to food prep.  I followed Mark's recipe almost completely, except for omitting the diced chilies and I think I doubled the cheese. I had them ready and waiting to mix in, but chickened out.  We tried different variations: the boys had chicken and a mixture of taco cheese, and cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. Kevin added scallions and red peppers, and I added salsa straight to the quesadillas, along with the scallions. I paired it with yellow rice and the whole dinner turned out to be really great!! My favorite was Kevin's choice...the red pepper made it so much more flavorful, just enough tart and sweetness.  On the side, we had mild salsa (can't have enough of that either) and low fat sour cream.  Yumm.....

Next time, I would like to add in the chile, just to try it. I also found that I only need to make half the recipe....oh, and I'll remember to use the large burner, not the small. One quesadilla was quite cooked in the center, and not so cooked on the outer edges.  I'll blame that on my tired brain not thinking ;)

Recipe 9: Fresh Tomato Salsa

I love me some salsa. Tons of it. Give me a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of mild, even medium salsa and I'm in heaven. When the recipe for quesadillas that I made this evening (see next blog) called for salsa, I took it as a chance to make my own.

Now, part of the problem of being a novice cook is that you don't always predict how things taste. I mixed together the fresh tomato / salsa fresca / pico de gallo ingredients into my favorite bowl: tomatoes, a jalapeno (my first!), onion, garlic, and fresh parsley. I do have to admit that it looked beautiful. I was so excited I even texted my husband boasting how pretty it looked in the bowl (and I can now understand how people can think food is pretty).  I poured in the tablespoons of lime juice, swirl it around with my rubber spatula, grabbed a bite....and spat it back out. I don't know what in the combination made it taste so badly, but it honestly tasted like grass (I'm guessing the lime juice).  I thought it was just me and when Kevin came home, he even cringed. I let it sit overnight, thinking the flavors had to come together, but when my mom came to care for our toddler in the morning, she even had to ask what the horrible smell was.  Let's just say it made it straight to the compost pile.

So, while this recipe experiment didn't pan out to what I had hoped, I did get more practice. I cored and seeded a tomato and jalapeno pepper for the first time...and I can't wait to plant the pepper's seeds soon!  I may give this recipe another shot and this tie puree it in the Magic Bullet blender.  Until then, I'll stick with the jar stuff....

Recipe 8: Ziti with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

I'll be honest...again. When it comes to cheese, I don't have much experience. I know the basics of cheddar, mozzarella, pepper jack, American, Parmesan, and provolone....even some ricotta and feta. So, when I flipped through the cookbook to find my five meals I'd try this month, I came across this recipe.  It was cheese with cream sauce. Sounded good and what can go wrong with cheese and sauce!!

When I went grocery shopping, I once again had to ask where in the world to find what I was looking for. I didn't have a clue if it was block, soft, crumble, wrapped, or in a for that matter, in a can. (Ok, this one not really) With the help of the deli lady who thought I was crazy, I found where they stashed all the specialty cheeses...which is pretty cool. I'm definitely learning more about our grocery store. (Just when I thought I had it memorize aisle by aisle...seriously.) And, because I don't have a problem asking anyone anything, I didn't lose any pride either ;)

Now, on to the recipe. I'll just start by saying that I loved it. My children loved it. And, my hubby, the household chef, gave it a thumbs up.  My favorite part of the recipe is the amount of time it took; 20 minutes total and it made more than I thought!  I followed his recipe (easy!!) and then I ran into scary, uncharted territory: adding seasoning as needed.  I ran a few ideas by Kevin and he suggested parsley and agreed with my choice of garlic.  Sprinkle on a little more Parmesan, because there's no such thing as too much cheese in our house, pair it with Texas garlic toast, and voila! We had one yummy dinner. It was a completely new taste for us; different but good.  Even the smell was different. It had that distinct feta-family cheese smell. The only thing I'd like to look into is matching this with some sort of meat, because it's hard for us to just eat noodles. That'll come later on.

Our older son set up our front porch, so we had this delicious dish al fresco in the beautiful 69* Florida evening. Wonderful!!

Recipe 7: Homemade Pizza

It's Valentine's Day!!  So, to make dinner with the family even more special, Kevin and I thought that making a collaborative dish would be wonderful. While going through the recipes last month, homemade pizza came up and we both thought it would be great. Flash-forward to today: He was responsible for the sauce and the toppings for his pizza; spaghetti sauce is one of his specialties so it would be interesting for him to try pizza sauce. I was responsible for the dough and the toppings for my pizza.

As my dough sat to rise, Kevin's sauce simmered on the stove and I browned mild sausage for my pizza. It smelled SOOO good in our house!! But, I wasn't sure how it would all come together or how the dough would be: would it be soft and undercooked or would I burn the heck out of it?

Kevin's chicken, pepper, onion pizza: before

I rounded out two discs of dough (I found that I LOVE working with dough by hand!) and they each made a surprisingly large size pizza, larger than a Tombstone pizza at least! The last time I used my pizza stone for pizza, it came out soggy, so I used Mark's olive oil/baking sheet method. I brushed olive oil on the pan and on the whole surface of the pizza, then poured on Kevin's sauce, and layered on mozzarella cheese, sausage, and pepperoni on half (older son doesn't care for it). Kevin created his favorite pizza: grilled chicken, fresh green peppers, and onions...and tons of cheese.  Before I put it in the oven, I literally said a prayer for it to turn out decent. Oh yes, I really did.


And, my prayer was answered.  Not only was it decent, it was delicious!!! Crust, toppings, sauce, cheese were all perfect! It was sooo good. I was so happy I did things right on the first try I literally did a happy dance in the kitchen.

So, Valentine's Day dinner was wonderfully delicious and I'm one happy and full girl. Can't wait to take my leftovers to school tomorrow!!! :)

April's pepperoni and sausage pizza:after

Kevin's pizza: after. YUM!

Recipe 6: Oven-fried chicken

It's been a crazy few weeks lately, so I'll admit that we had to lean on fast food a bit and we cooked less. I did manage to cook this meal about two weeks ago and procrastinated writing the blog. Oops. And, I'll also admit that the picture was taken in my leftovers container. Oops again. I promise I'll be better next meal...which I'll write about in two minutes, haha!

This meal wasn't too bad. the oven-fried chicken was good, but the homemade bread crumbs just didn't pan out. They became soggy in the middle, but I did forget to put the Parmesan cheese in the mix, so maybe that had something to do with it. I added Italian seasoning to the crumbs and that worked well. The taste to the dinner was good; just something was up with the texture. On the second shot, I plan to make sure to put in the cheese and I'd love to try the Japanese bread crumbs he suggests...just hoping someone around here carries it!! 

Recipe 5: Sweet Braised Beef Brisket with Garlic

WARNING: If you have high blood pressure, hypertension, are at risk for heart attack, salt-related migraines, or have sensitive stomachs or even taste buds, proceed with caution.

Recipes are a scary thing for me. When I see one, I relate to something I have knowledge about...which is bad because I often set myself up for disappointment.   When I read the recipe for the sweet braised beef brisket with garlic, it reminded me of sliced beef sandwiches from Sonny's or Oakwood. Yum!!!  I purchased a brisket (I had to ask what the heck it was and where to find it) and I followed the recipe through and through. It should have registered right away when I had to braise it with three cups of chicken broth. I let it cook away for two hours, soaking up alllll that broth (ok, not really all).  When it finished, I sliced it up, piled it up on garlic toast, doused it with barbecue sauce and the first few bites were delicious. And, yes, that's all we could eat. My family and I tried to eat the sandwiches, but the salt was killing us. It was one of the most salty foods I've ever eaten. My sweet hubby reminded me that I can always try again.  ::sigh:: 

**Edit: I later discovered that broth and stock are not the same thing. Oops...yeah. SMH.

All was not in vain though. It was a good learning experience: I minced garlic for the first time and I reallllly enjoyed cooking!! I loved the smells and the prep. It was one of the first times I felt confident in the kitchen and I didn't think I was going to truly eff-up our food...

...I did burn a potholder in the making though.  Now I have to bake more brownies because we're all dying for something sweet...along with a dose of Rolaids.

Recipe 4: Cornbread

It was Boston Market night in our house tonight. Hubby has been working to perfect his recipe for a chicken carver sandwich and I added mac and cheese and my yummy mashed potatoes. I also decided to try Mark's recipe for from-scratch cornbread, pictured at the right.

It looks a little wonky because when I poured the batter into the pan, some of the olive oil spilled into the batter. Other than it not looking totally pleasing, it was good!
I'll be honest though...I'm a southern girl and I love my sweet sugar. I like my sweet tea so sweet it locks your jaw and I love my cornbread so sweet it seems like dessert. The recipe called for a tablespoon of sugar plus more for sweet bread. I put in a total of three tablespoons. Yeah, not even close to sweet. For regular cornbread, it's good. To sweeten it up, I whipped up some honey butter, slathered it on the sides of the bread, and voila! Much, much better.

Well, I call this one a success. I just need to find out how much sugar to add...or invest in a good jar of honey!