I child proofed my house, but he still manges to get back in!!

Need I say more?

A determined hand never tires, it just cramps up till you can’t use it anymore

As a child my mom use to crochet blankets all the time. We all loved them, they were so warm and thick. She made many baby blankets and all of her grandchildren received them. Since she has left us, there are a few grandchildren who were not so lucky as to have received their blankets. So as determined as I am, and my thirst of all things new, I logged onto youtube and taught myself how to crochet (yes my ends are uneven, but hey this is my 1st blanket).
Since then I’ve also taught both my neighbors how to crochet, and still need to show my sister, even though she said she knew how and would teach me, but I saw your twisty twirly attempt at a blanket turned scarf. What happened to that scarf, did you finish it? Take a pic and add it to my comments page.

Anyway, a few months have gone by since I started this new adventure of crocheting, and I’m about a quarter, if that, done. God bless you mom, how you made so many in short periods of time. This is hard work. It’s very time consuming and painful to the hand (your hand cramps up so bad when your 1st learning but after a few weeks it goes away, sort of). The overall result, in the end, if I ever get there, will make it all worth while. So here’s my first blanket, I started out HUGE (big mistake, a scarf should have been the way to go, but my motto “go big or go home!”) . It looks bigger than it really is at this point in time. I think I will have it completed around December. It’s summer too remember, in 90 degree weather you can only have a blanket draped across your lap for so long. Plus hey I have a life, dinner to be made, TV shows to be watched and blogs to write.

Thanks Mom, and well gotta give props to grandma for teaching mom the great past time you have given me, and my hopes to pass it along to those who would like to learn. Love ya!

Crème brûlée can never be Jell-O. YOU could never be Jell-O.

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”

Sometimes you just have to sit back and "smell the coffee!" Take it back to when life was simple, no fancy meals or cell phones, a world where you could just send your kids outside to play and not have to worry. The good ole' days as I like to call them. Hot summer days sipping on cold fresh lemon aide (made from real lemons and sugar) not pre-packaged. A world where as kids we played outside everyday instead of on the computer.

When I think of simple and easy, refreshing and wonderful. I think of JELLO. Strawberry and Orange layered Jello to be exact. Sugar-free or regular, this is a past-time treat. Low calories, super easy to make and costs maybe $.45 per box. It just doesn't get better then that. I don't even need to FooFoo it up with fancy whipped cream or fresh fruit. This is about simplicity. The simple pleasures of life.

Inspired by the boys, who both were craving Jello last week at different times to be exact. It just so happens that I have a ton of it in my pantry, so they were in luck. Just add boiling water and cold water and WHAMO, you have great tasting refreshing JELLO. It doesn't get better then that.

Pantry, Fridge and Freezer Essentials

Ever wonder what you should always have available in your pantry, fridge or freezer at any given time? Well here is my practical list of items, I keep on hand, that I actually use in my recipes.

SPICE RACK:

Cayenne pepper

Bay leaves

Ground cinnamon

Sweet paprika

Dried rosemary

Crushed red pepper flakes

Dried thyme

Dried oregano

Kosher salt or Sea Salt

Black peppercorns

Steak Seasoning

Chicken Seasoning

Blackened Seasoning

PANTRY:

Apple Cider Vinegar

Red Wine Vinegar

Distilled Vinegar
Red Wine

Sugar

Brown Sugar

Flour

Various Dried Pasta

Pasta Sauce

Roasted Red Peppers

Garlic

Onions (yellow, white and red)

Lemons

Chicken Broth

Beef Broth

EVOO

Vegetable Oil

Tuna

Rice

Various Canned tomatoes

Bread Crumbs

Baking Soda

Cornstarch
Cereal

Potatoe

FRIDGE:

Soy sauce

Tabasco sauce

Ketchup

Worcestershire sauce

Maple syrup

Mayonnaise

Dijon mustard

Yellow mustard

Milk

Unsalted butter

Large eggs

Cheddar cheese

Bacon

Sherry Wine

White Wine

Pepperoncini

Pickle Relish

Balsamic Vinegar

Parmigiana Cheese

Fresh to have on hand with weekly shopping:

Parsley
Cilantro
Rosemary

Basil

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Mushrooms

Shallots

Scallions

FREEZER:

Nuts (almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, etc., keep your nuts in the freezer, nuts have oils in them and this helps them from not rotting)

Frozen vegetables (broccoli, corn, peas, spinach, etc.)

Frozen fruit (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.)

Frozen Chicken (Skinless Breast, Thighs and drum sticks)

Ground Hamburger

I know it appears to be overwhelming, but most of these items keep for a really long time and you can make almost any recipe with these items. Usually you will have to just pick up a few items in the store to make most dishes (at least rachel ray dishes).

Lemon Chicken with Rosemary Rice and Steamed Organic Broccoli

So my son was craving Lemon Chicken, he recently had it while we dined out with our neighbors at one of our fav Japanese restaurants. Instead of paying $50 for all of us to eat out, I decided to Google, you got it!, a Rachel Ray recipe for Lemon Chicken.

So comments on the meal were:
"It's too lemony."
"It doesn't taste like lemon chicken, I don't like it." (after all of it was eaten except 2 pieces)

Me personally, I would make it again and thought it was good, especially for my first attempt. It was a tad on the sweet side, so I need to either use less lemon curd or figure something else out. Ahhh Lemon Curd, supposedly very hard to find in stores, I found it at Raley's right in the Jam and Jelly isle, so for me it was super easy to find. Well the boy found it first, so props to him.

So this is another bad picture, taken today, yes it’s my lunch. I have to stop using my phone's camera as you can tell it takes horrible pictures. But then again I didn't plan ahead, not thinking I'd be writing this blog, otherwise I would have taken it last night when it was all pretty on the plate with the broccoli. Yes, the broccoli is not here, it was so good there was none left over and I made a whole steamer pot full for 3 people.

So the Lisa scale:
Difficulty: I give it a 10, really simple to make.
Finding the ingredients: I give it a 10, I had everything in my house except the Lemon Curd.
Yumminess: I give it an 8, I’d make it again, just with some minor tweets.

For this recipe I made it just how the recipe states, only I didn't add any hot water. I thought the sauce already looked too thin, so I added more lemon curd to thicken it up and some flour. I ended up using 11oz of Lemon curd, which I think is why it ended up so sweet. I also left the chicken on the side, and didn't put it back in the sauce as the recipe calls for. I wanted to give everyone the option of how saucy they wanted their chicken to be. Plus if they didn't like the sauce at all they could omit it completely.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast or chicken tenders, cut into chunks
1/4 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons wok or vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 tablespoon (a splash) white or rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock 8 ounces
(1 cup) prepared lemon curd
1/4 cup hot water (I omitted)
1 lemon, zested
2 scallions, thinly sliced or 20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS:
Coat the chunked chicken lightly in flour, seasoned with a little salt. Heat a large skillet or a wok-shaped nonstick pan over high heat. Stir fry chicken until golden, 3 or 4 minutes (until it's cooked). Remove chicken from the pan and return pan to heat. Reduce heat to medium. Add a splash of vinegar to the pan and let it evaporate. Add stock or broth to the pan and scrape up any drippings with a whisk. Thin curd by stirring in a little hot water ( I didn't do this, it already looked really thin). Add curd to broth and whisk to combine. Add chicken back to the pan and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken sauce and finish cooking chicken pieces through ( I did not add the chicken back in, I added a little flour and more lemon curd to thicken it up). When I added the flour and more curd (don't recommend adding more curd) I then, add the scallions or chives and zest, and stirred well to combine zest and scallions or chives evenly throughout the sauce.

I served this with Organic steamed broccoli, nothing like fresh veggies steamed. I also had rosemary rice. Rosemary rice is super easy, just add a spring of rosemary to your rice cooker and remove it when it's done. It just gives the rice that little bit of flavor that makes you think "hmmmm, what is that?"

Spicy Shrimp with Bok Choy Noodle Bowl (aka PHO)

So you will find that most, well pretty much all of my recipes come from Rachel Ray. Her recipes are super easy, fun to make and actually taste, well really good. Most of the time, they become my own recipe, as I usually end up changing the recipe to fit my taste. With this recipe I used less red pepper flakes then originally called for (and I like spicy, but come on Rach. 2 tsp is ridiculous). Replaced the shitake mushrooms with white button mushrooms (just cause I had them in my fridge and didn't want to waste). I opted to omit the ginger completely (I'm not big on ginger) and the seafood stock (I couldn’t find it in the store, and didn't even think to look for clam juice). I had to add Serrano peppers and cilantro, seriously what is PHO without that?

I have to say with all the changes, this was off the hook!!!! BEST PHO EVER!!!

So the photo isn't the greatest but this recipe inspired me to start this blog after the fact. I only have a picture because I texted it to my neighbor who I thought had to try it and she loved it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

On the Lisa Scale for Difficulty to make, 10 being super easy and 1 being majorly hard to make.

I score this a TEN, it's a TEN!!

On being able to find the ingredients easily in my pantry or the store, 10 being super easy and 1 being majorly hard.

I score this a TEN, it's a TEN!!

Cook and prep time: Apx 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 3 turns of the pan

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 cloves garlic, chopped (or two teaspoons of the crushed garlic in a jar)

2 bins of white button mushrooms whole, then slice them (or 1 case of the sliced button mushrooms) really any mushroom will work and just put in what you think looks good.

1 medium bok choy, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces, then cut sticks lengthwise (I just tore up 2 bok choy, didn't worry about trimming them or cutting them)
Salt and pepper (this is key to flavor)
2 quart chicken broth (original said for 1 quart, but I added 2 quarts and felt like I could have used 3)
1 1/2 pounds medium peeled and deveined shrimp
1/2 pound vermicelli (thin spaghetti) (I used capellini spaghetti, it's all I could find)
4 scallions, cut into 3 inch pieces, then shredded lengthwise into thin sticks (I just chopped them up)

1 Serrano pepper chopped, seeds and all go in the pot

1/2 bunch cilantro, just chop it up and put it in the soup

Toppings - Soy Sauce (I think this is a must), extra Serrano peppers and chinese hot sauce (any kind works)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat a medium soup pot over medium-high heat. Add vegetable oil, 3 turns of the pan, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic, mushrooms, and bok choy, then season with salt and pepper. Add chicken broth. Put a lid on the pot and bring soup to a boil. Add shrimp, Serrano pepper and noodles and cook 10 minutes. Add in scallions, and cilantro and cook 2 minutes, then turn off soup and let it sit 2 to 3 minutes more. Adjust salt and serve.

"In the beginning it is always dark"

Rockbiter: They look like big, good, strong hands. Don't they? I always thought that's what they were. My little friends. The little man with his racing snail, the Nighthob, even the stupid bat. I couldn't hold on to them. The nothing pulled them right out of my hands. I failed.

Atreyu: No you didn't fail. I'm the one who was chosen to stop the nothing. But I lost the Auryn, I can't find my luck dragon, so I won't be able to get past the boundaries of Fantasia.

Rockbiter: Listen, the nothing will be here any minute. I will just sit here and let it take me away too. They look like big, good, strong hands. Don't they?

It all starts with big strong hands, or a great knife, even you can be a great cook!

I love my Rachel Ray knife, it needs to be sharpened but it's what motivates me to make great meals. There's nothing like chopping up food with a knife instead of an instomatic chopper or what have you. Try it, trust me it's fun.

Get your children involved, purchase a paring knife and teach them to chop.