Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Remember my last post?
Remember Mike's suggestion? 
Well, turns out,
it turned out!

I tried pounding one chicken breast flat
but it just got really big and not really flat.
So, instead I butterflied them, 
opened them like a book,
stuffed them 
and then
secured the the sides together
with a thin metal kind of 
skewer. 
It's resting there on the back of my plate.
They are supposed to be for trussing up a turkey.

I topped the stuffed breasts with
panko, mixed with some grated parm,
mixed with some olive oil.

375 degrees for 35 minutes.

The man may not be able to cook
but he's got some good ideas.




Sunday, January 20, 2013

Quinoa and Roasted Sweet Potato Stuffed Portabellas

That's a lot of name!
But I think it needs it. 
I'm still on my vegetarian 
three days a week kick.
I found some beautiful portabellas
the other day and spent a few days soliciting
suggestions and just pondering.
And this is what I cam up with:
It's a sweet potato that I diced pretty small
and then roasted with a red onion
and a few cloves of garlic.

I toasted some slivered almonds,
cooked up some quinoa,
and then tossed everything together
with a bit of grated parm.

I baked the cleaned portabellas
for 10 minutes at 450 degrees
then stuffed them and
topped them with some
panko crumbs tossed with
 olive oil,
baked another 5 minutes
and wound up with dinner!

I have quite a bit of the stuffing left.
I wondered out load at dinner what I
might do with it.
Mike suggested I stuff some
chicken breasts with it.

Me thinks someone is missing
something.....

Sloppy Joe Pizza

Can you turn that into a 
pizza?
As matter of fact,
yes, you can.

And to quote 
Genesis 1:31, 
it was very good.



Thursday, January 17, 2013

Too Many Necklaces

And too many picture frames will 
get you 
this:
I was scouring the house for random frames
to do this:
I had plenty.
The frames as sculpture I found on 
Pinterest.

The frame with screening stapled to the back
to hold necklaces was somewhere in the 
recesses of my mind.

Probably that part labeled 
Pinterest.

Scary.

PS, mom, I found that pesky missing "e." 

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Meatless Tuesday

I know 
Meatless Monday
has a certain ring to it, 
but, 
life happens.

I hadn't really thought ahead for dinners this
week and doing the whole
vegetarian days
kind of requires some forethought.

But here you have a meal on the fly and
it was actually (actually)
pretty good!
 I started out making a basic red sauce.
As long as I have a 28 ounce can of tomatoes 
around, I'm pretty much good to go. 
I sautéed a red onion in some olive oil, 
added a couple of cloves of garlic, 
chopped up a red pepper
I had roasted and then threw in some
sliced black olives.
All good but I really wanted to bump up the nutrition 
and I thought, a lot of my creamy soups have
you blend the ingredients, be they 
vegetables or, say, beans.

So, I blended up some northern beans 
and added them to the sauce.
It's hard to see but it made the sauce kind of creamy.
And, I figure our meal some protein and fiber.
 Nice!
I like it when that happens.


Sunday, January 13, 2013

WhereYou Gonna Put That?

My husband's mantra.

I spotted this while perusing the internet.
I was drawn to the bare wood on the sides.
I like the juxtaposition of the beautiful wood grain
against the elaborate floral design.

Now, what to paint, what to paint.

A little foray into my sister's basement
uncovered a small bookcase in the
exact wood finish.
It started it's life at
 7710 Oakton Street.
About a bazillion years ago.
Since then it has resided on
Winchester Way
and 
Hampton Course.

It's had a brief stop on
Prairie Street. 

Now, where does it go from here? 



Sometimes Creativity Just Takes

Time.

Remember this much maligned project?
http://makingitmerry.blogspot.com/2010/11/work-in-progressmaybe.html
I started on this table in 2010.

Today it has met it's destiny.

PS,
it's 2013,
for any of you keeping track.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

What A Difference A Year Makes


Time lapse photography.
In science class the photos were taken from 
one day to the next.

We like a little more "lapse" in our photography.

This was an 11 year lapse.

This was a 4 year lapse.

This was just one year.
That one year made the 
biggest
difference!

Friday, January 4, 2013

Vegetarian Day One

Day one is under our belts,
so to speak.

A couple of friends have said they would
be interested in 
what I make for our vegetarian meals.
Seems we all know a little less red meat 
in our diets is a good thing.

Lunch was tomato soup and grilled cheese.
That's swiss and brie, FYI.

Dinner was 
Aggie's Three Bean Pumpkin Chili.
I wrote about it before.
Here's the link:
http://makingitmerry.blogspot.com/2011/12/aggies-3-bean-pumpkin-chili.html

The link to the recipe is there too.
One thing to note;
I apparently didn't have the Chipotle chili powder
the first time I made it.
I did this time.
That's some hot stuff!
I will cut that in half in the future.

Tonight it's lentils!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

French Onion Soup

And mini cocottes.
I would call them mini casseroles
but I just GTS and it seems 
part of what makes a 
cocotte
cocotte
are it's two handles. 
Hmm.

I love all things 
mini
as well as all thing
Le Creuset
as well as all things 
Shanna, 
so what a perfect combination.
Mini 
Le Creuset
cocottes
from
Shanna! 

And here is my inaugural 
foray into 
mini cocottes:
French onion soup.

The cocottes came with a cookbook
so I took their recipe, 
Googled recipes, 
and came up with this.

It was great!
Here's what I did;
I sliced up A LOT 
of onions and then sautéed them in 
4 tablespoons of butter for 35 minutes, 
not a minute less!
All the flavor gets developed here so you just can't
skimp on the time.
The I added some dried thyme leaves, 
a splash of red wine, 
a couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce 
and enough beef stock 
to bring it to a nice consistency
and then simmered it a bit to reduce down.
 I transferred it into the cocottes
with a toasted baguette slice 
and grated swiss cheese on top
and put them under the broiler to brown up.

So good!


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

It's NOT A Resolution

Mike calls them goals.
I'm not big on 
resolutions 
or 
goals.
In fact, if asked, I will tell you, 
I am hurtling through space. 
And quite happy with that status.
Thank you very much.

Every year Mike makes a "goal" 
to lead a healthier lifestyle
in some form. 
Be it exercise or nutrition.

I'm not so much into being my 
husband's drill sergent but I am
in charge of what he puts in his body.
For the most part.

And usually his desire to eat healthier
falls on my deaf ears. 
We eat a reasonably healthy diet.

But this year I feel the tug for a little 
personal challenge.
I challenge myself to feeding us 
Three vegetarian DAYS a week 
along with one fish dinner a week.

It's totally do-able.
It will just take deliberate action.

But like I said, I am "mostly"
in charge of what Honey puts in his body.
I will NOT be held responsible
for the weekly donut
(or two)
he consumes at his men's 
Friday morning bible study.
God gets that one. 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Christmas 2012

This Christmas had some highs and lows.
All Christmas' do.
But a definite high was
the series of blogs I did with Lory.

 Oh, and this.
And these. 
And these too.

People.
Thank you, God for the people in my life.
The relationships for me to enjoy, 
and most especially the relationship
you have given me with
Jesus.