I am really not good at this....

I don't know if I wear too many hats. I don't know if I am too busy. I don't know if I just don't fancy the computer (actually I do know that one). I am just not good at updating this blog thing.
What is going on with us....

Our garden is going strong. We have golden raspberries, red raspberries, sunflowers, red onions, white onions, corn, various peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, chives, and etc. We are overloaded with it's production but as every year, we are amazed at how seeds can become so much.

This is TODAY'S harvest.
And Bentley Boo under the table

Needless to say, I see a lot of zucchini bread, zucchini chicken, zucchini tostadas, zucchini casserole, etc in our future....


What else is up....

Not much to report. We are still enjoying our first year of marriage. It has been wonderful! Though we have been together for 7 years, things still change when you get married. I am so thankful that it has all been for the better!! I think the best feeling ever is knowing God put this person in your life specifically for you :)

I am delighted to report that Brutus' 3 month checkup (after months of chemo) came back clear this April. His next check up is in July and we are praying for the best. Every day with him is a blessing. He is our miracle baby.

Oh, and we might buy a boat.

Brutus at his miraculous 5th birthday
Yosemite trip for the family

Mother's day for my mama

What I am cooking....

Chicken with yellow BBQ Sauce
Chocolate chip cookie dough brownies
Cinnamon swirl bread (that later became french toast)

That was this weekend

There is more...always more. We are not the 'meal from a box' type of household. My husband and his awesome cooking skills makes this a lot easier when I don't feel like cooking :)

I would love to say I will update you all more often as I cook my way through life, but to be honest...who knows?

Lots of love from this country girl!

Like a year later.....

Seriously! Wow. I have not been in the mood to blog about anything, though I have spent the last year making so many good things. I do PR so after a long day of talking to people non stop I don't always feel like communicating via the internet when I get home.

These, however, inspired me. I could talk about these all day. Every day.

They are French Breakfast Puffs from the amazing cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

I rarely follow recipes. I never follow recipes exactly. As a matter of fact, the only recipe I follow is my grandma's Sock it to Me cake recipe. I follow her recipe because I trust it. How it is presented, how many calories are in it, using fancy ingredients, none of that was important. What was important was that it was a good, home made concoction.

That is how this cookbook is. I trusted this woman's recipes instantly just like I trust my grandma's. So I made these puffs by the letter of the recipe.

And. Wow.

If you are wondering why they glisten, it is because you dip the fresh from the oven puffs in butter then roll them in cinnamon sugar. They are so rich but not too sweet. I would recommend you have one cup of milk available for every one you eat.


Here are some other things I have been up to for the past year:



My sister got married.


I had a wonderful garden as usual


We got married. Twice.


And our honeymoon

And through a long (and continuing) fight against cancer, our baby Brutus has been with us every step of the way. Definitely the biggest blessing of all.


I will see you all on the flip side...when another yummy goodness comes along that I just have to share!

Forever later...An Update

I am terribly sorry I have been away so long! If anyone missed me, go buy yourself a box of SunMaid raisins and blame them! We are finally done with harvesting, shaking, and delivering raisins so back to business as usual.
While I have been cooking up a storm, I have not had much time to document it. I thought while I prepare myself to blog again, I would post my favorite things from the past few weeks.

First and foremost, my two favorite kids in the world turned the big 1-0. The twin nephews are 10! To celebrate, I always make them special cakes. Whichever kind they request! That is a big deal for them since they are the youngest of 5 boys and rarely get to make choices about anything. Here are their cakes!




I just love decorating cakes. I do it for just about anyone that asks, but it makes the experience so much more special when it is for someone special like Seth and Colton.

My last favorite thing of the past few weeks comes courtesy of my dog, Brutus Pickles. I let him outside to do his business and went to grab my phone. When I came back, this is what he was doing. He's kind of a strange duck but he is so cute!!!



Anyways, I will be posting more often, I promise. Here are a few things I plan to make over the next week or two:

Cheesy Potato Soup
Chicken Noodle Soup
Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Yes, the season of warm foods is among us

Hope all is well with everyone out there!

Tebanaki Dinner...the ultimate

My absolute favorite restaurant dining experience is Tepan yaki dinner, especially at Edo Ya in Fresno. The food is amazing! So of course I recreate it at home....
A little background. One of our friends (who has built Tepan tables) was over for this meal and pointed out the term refers to the specific table and I should not call it Tepan yaki because I do not cook on an iron table. He is such a little negative nancy!!! So I took to calling it "Tebanaki" because that is what my dad calls Edo Ya.

Anywhos, I make both steak and chicken versions of this meal with varying sauces. Tonight I chose chicken. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures because Justin wanted to eat right away! He has been up since 5am shaking raisins and did not get a lunch break so he was starved by the time 6pm came around. Here is the menu:

Tebanaki Dinner

Pineapple Chicken
Fried Rice with Bacon
Tepan style zucchini

The chicken is fairly straightforward. Cook in bite size pieces and add whichever sauce or seasoning you want. I love teriyaki, pinneapple, garlic, ginger, etc.

For the fried rice:
Steam white rice. Scramble one egg in large skillet. Add bacon, peas, and carrots (corn, lima beans, green beans etc..change it up!). Over medium heat, stir ingredients with garlic salt and enough soy sauce to turn the rice brown. This depends on how much rice you use and how dark you like it.... Make sure you keep your heat up or else it will get soggy

Oh the zucchini. My favorite vegetable. I am lucky enough to grow this in my garden, however, my plants are always bare because as soon as I see one I snatch it!

Simply cut the zucchini into thin, 1 inch pieces. Add butter, garlic salt, and a small amount of soy sauce. Cook over medium high heat until desired doneness (some like it crisp me not so much)

And enjoy! Not only will you save the 15 bucks per person, but you are guaranteed to not get a bad, rude, or slow chef!

So anyone have any recipes they have adapted from their favorite restaurant meals??

Sidenote: Excuse any mistakes. Criminal minds is on!!!

Sunday (except Saturday) Breakfast..French Toast Edition

Justin, Brutus and I left Sunday to go camping so we had our big breakfast on Saturday. Friday my mom gave me a loaf of French bread (she is random like that) which we used part of for dinner. Yummy BBQ tri tip steaks, mashed potatoes, and garlic bread. I would post the recipes but Justin made it all :)
Anywho, we used the left over French bread for French Toast the next day. French toast is always good, right? Even with normal bread. If you have never made it with a "fancy" bread like French or Brioche...try it! It is so good and a nice change to throw in once in awhile. Plus, it is a good way to use left over breads. So here is French Toast:

1/2-3/4 Loaf French Bread, Cut into 1 inch slices
5 Eggs
1/2 Cup Milk
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon (I love cinnamon!)



Mix it all together in a shallow bowl or pan. I like to use a 9 x 13" pan so I can fit most of it in at one time. I cook mine on the flat side of my grill pan.

Sidenote: If you do not have a grill pan, get one. They are super and make cooking a lot of food so much easier!


Cook until golden brown. Serve with Butter, Syrup, Powdered Sugar, Etc

If you like an extra crunch, add some crushed cereal to the egg mixture. I love it with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Sunday morning we left to go camping. Justin did all the cooking on the trip, but I thought I should point out the delicious cheeseburgers he made. And he added my favorite: Tillamook Colby Jack Cheese. Super!

Is there anything better than BBQ?

Anyone that knows me knows I will cook anything possible on a grill. It is my absolute favorite way to cook! My father got home from the hospital today, so I made him a special BBQ dinner for about 15 family members and friends.
Here was our menu:
Pork Ribs with Home made BBQ Sauce (recipe a few posts back)
Grilled Yellow Squash and Zucchini
Macaroni Salad
Sweet Potato Fries (oven baked)
Watermelon
Fresh Italian Bread

Let's start with the ribs. First of all, my dad claims he is not a fan of BBQ sauce so anything I grill has a rub with optional sauce. I change things up a lot, but this is what I used tonight:

1. Rub the pork ribs with yellow mustard. This is necessary to keep the spices on the meat and adds more flavor since sauce is optional. Add any seasonings you like. I prefer BK seasoning though it is not available everywhere.
   
2. Grill over medium high heat while watching for flare ups. When the ribs are caramelized to your liking, turn burners to low and wrap in foil
3. At this point, add some form of liquid to the foil to keep the ribs moist.
   

I have used (and liked) the following:
Apple Juice, Coke a cola, EVOO, BBQ Sauce
Tonight I used lime juice and it was SUPERB!

Then cook over medium low heat while you prepare everything else. They should be perfectly cooked within 30 minutes, but because they are in foil with liquid you can leave them on for longer. Remember to let them sit for at least 15 minutes before unwrapping!!!

My favorite vegetables are yellow squash and zucchini. This is, to me, the best way to eat them and oh so healthy! All you do is slice them about 1/4-1/2 inch thick, toss in olive oil and chopped garlic, and grill. You can also mix it up with other spices..Italian seasoning it great, too!

Nothing else was grilled, but I still want to give you guys to how to on the Sweet Potato fries. They are wonderful for you, first of all, and they work superbly for us because it gives my dad the sweet taste while keeping healthy!!!
Really easy sweet potato fries:
Wedge sweet potatoes
Toss lightly in butter (I mean LIGHTLY) and cinnamon
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes
This is also wonderful for picky eaters who do not like sweet potatoes. I am by no means their biggest fan but I love them!

Last minute baking..oh the horror

After taking my dog for a walk this morning (loving the weather!), I got a phone call from my mom asking me to make a cake for a last minute family dinner tonight. Let me just tell you, I am a plan ahead type. I was not feeling the desire to run around trying to find a new dessert recipe. So what to do....I just spruced up a boxed mix!
I do this all the time. It is pretty fun and really rewarding to hear how people just love something that came from a box. So I decided to make a Devil's food cake. Yummy! There's a reason they box these things, people. It is because they are good! :) I decided to go with a 2 layer round cake. I figured this way everyone could have a small piece and no over-indulging!
Anyways, I had picked up this new (to me, at least) product at Super Walmart. It is "Easy to use" frosting in a can. This was a good time to try it out since I was just making a small, simple cake. Plus, now I can share my experience with you!!!

The Good:
Wow this stuff was yummy! It had a pretty good flavor for coming from a can
It was easy to use. I was able to make a pretty design with little effort.
It did not require utensils, and had little to clean up

The Bad:
Um..could there have been less frosting in that can? I think not.
I put barely any frosting between the layers and frosted the top.
After that, there was barely any left for the sides! I had to work as much out of the can as I could then spread it with a knife (there went that no utensil thing)
Still, it did not cover the whole, small cake.
I highly doubt that 1 of these cans would cover anything you can make with a boxed cake mix no matter the size or shape.
Other than that, It was a little difficult to wipe off of the pedestal compared to other frostings. (see top picture) I guess it has more sticking power?
And it got a little painful squeezing it upside down.
However, keep in mind I have chronic tendinitis in my hands so that might be a factor.

All in all, I would say it is a decent last minute product. But if you are keeping it on hand for last minute use, keep 2 at all times. I do think it would be good for kids to use. There is less mess to deal with and it is easy to decorate with as it comes with a good tip on the can.
Here are some tips I have for last minute dishes:

• Always keep everything on hand for your favorite easy dish. I always keep ingredients for pasta salad on hand. I can have it ready to go within 20 minutes notice for last minute parties, surprise visitors, or to take with me as needed (for sick friends, picnics, etc). I can also change it up. For example, I love adding cubed, cooked chicken to change it from a side dish to entree. I also like tortilla roll ups, rigatoni, and brownies for stuff like this.
  
• Do not be afraid to google or use a food website. If all you can find to use is one thing, type it in with "recipe" and see what comes up. You may find a recipe you want to try or use as a starting point to build your own.
  
• Experiment! So what if you are missing one ingredient from a recipe or just have a mix to use. Add something else to make it your own! My mom is terrified of this. If she is missing one simple ingredient, she will not make the recipe. Even if it is unnecessary. Drives me nuts!
  

So what do you guys do for last minute dishes? Any tips to share?