Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Jake and Luna

Jake is our neighbor. I think he's about 8 years old. Loves cookies and guess who bakes for him. His favorite for the moment is peanut butter. I made a batch and froze them and when he comes over I give him two. He came over last night and informed us that he should get a "few" extra cookies because his family is camping for the month of august and won't see me and reminded me he will be back in September for more !

Luna is mix,and a real good dog. She loved Rip and would look for us and when she saw our trucks she would bolt up the road to play with him. She's just as spoiled as Jake, she gets plenty of dog treats when she visits.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Divingabe's Birthday Dinner


We were going to go to The Lobster Roll but when we finally got there(traffic bumper to bumper) the parking lot was packed and couldn't find a spot. Divingabe was annoyed thus headed to favorite pizza spot where we picked up a calamari pie.


I wanted to make something special for his birthday and he loves very spicy food. I made Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
and Zucchini Corn Muffins. This was a pre and will be post birthday dinner. Nothing like stretching one of his favorites!

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya



12 ounces applewood-smoked bacon, diced

1 1/2 pounds smoked fully cooked sausage (such as linguiça), halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick semi-circles

1 poundandouille sausages, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 pound tasso or smoked ham (such as Black Forest), cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 1/2poundsonions, chopped (4 to 5 cups)

2large celery stalks, chopped

18- to 10-ounce red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

18- to 10-ounce green bell pepper, coarsely chopped

6 large skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon(or more) cayenne pepper
3 10-ounce cans diced tomatoes and green chiles
2 1/2 cupsbeef broth
3 cups(19 to 20 ounces) long-grain white rice
8 green onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
Chopped fresh Italian parsley




Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Cook bacon in very large pot over medium-high heat until brown but not yet crisp, stirring often, 8 to 10 minutes. Add smoked sausage, andouille, and tasso. Sauté until meats start to brown in spots, about 10 minutes. Add onions, celery, and bell peppers. Cook until vegetables begin to soften, stirring occasionally, 10 to 12 minutes. Mix in chicken. Cook until outside of chicken turns white, stirring often, 5 to 6 minutes. Mix in paprika, thyme, chili powder, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne. Cook 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes with chiles and broth; stir to blend well. Add more cayenne, if desired. Mix in rice.
Bring jambalaya to boil. Cover pot. Place in oven and bake until rice is tender and liquids are absorbed, 45 to 48 minutes. Uncover pot. Mix chopped green onions into jambalaya; sprinkle jambalaya with chopped parsley and serve.

Corn muffins always go well with jambalaya. I had zucchini left over and also wanted to try a new recipe.
They were good, I like a sweeter muffin but this went well with this dish

Zucchini Cornbread


1 medium zucchini (about 10 ounces)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk




  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan; set aside.Trim the ends off the zucchini and thinly slice 3 to 5 rounds from one end of the zucchini and reserve for garnish. Shred the remaining zucchini, toss with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and place in a colander. Allow to drain for 30 minutes, then gather it in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out any excess water.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs and buttermilk. Gently stir the zucchini into the butter mixture. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and use a rubber spatula to gently fold together until no traces of flour remain. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and top with the reserved zucchini slices.
  3. Bake until the bread is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely. The bread can be stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.
I will make this again and sure Gregory will love it. He can make up some of his delicious Naan bread to go along with it.











Friday, July 27, 2012

Boston Creme Cupcakes


Today is my Divingabe's birthday. I would bake anything for him, but unfortunately he's not into sweets. He does love French Apple Pie but July just doesn't cut it for fresh apples, it's a fall recipe. Boston Cream Pie is something he has mentioned so I found this very good recipe.

If you can eat just one of these you have self-control, they are that good. I'll make them again but not going to wait for a special occasion.


1 1/4 cups cold whole milk
1 (3.4-ounce) box vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
12 pre-made cupcakes baked from a cake mix
1 cup heavy cream
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted


1. Combine milk, instant pudding mix, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Beat mixture with a hand mixer for 2 minutes, or until it thickens.
2. Place mixture in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Spoon filling into a pastry bag fitted with a medium-size plain tip.
3. Fill cupcakes with vanilla pudding filling by inserting tip into to top of cupcake and squeezing a couple of tablespoons of filling into each cupcake.
4. Heat cream in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat until bubbles appear around the edges. Remove from heat, add chocolate morsels to pan, and whisk until smooth. Spoon or drizzle glaze over cupcakes, or dunk the tops into the glaze.
Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the chocolate if desired
5. Refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour, before serving.
 This recipe from Food TV- Sandra Lee

Note- it's July 2019 and at the last minute ( the night before) Darlin' Gabe said he would like the cupcakes. I didn't have cakemix, milk or heavy cream. I was up at 4 AM and headed over to Walmart. Had the cupcakes made by 6 AM so we could get out for our morning walk.

New and improved photo





Saturday, July 21, 2012

Strawberry Lemonade Bars

Excellent recipe! I was crazy to bake this in July when it was in the upper 90's, but it so well worth it.

Gabe diving The Oregon and might pick up mussels for dinner tonight. He will have a nice treat when he gets home. 

Found the recipe on K & K Test Kitchen

Gave one to Rita and she told me it's a make again for sure

Crust:

1/4 C sugar
1/2 C butter, room temp
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Filling:

1 C fresh lemon juice
2-3 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 C pureed strawberries(about 3/4 C berries)
1 1/4 C sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan

In a large  bowl cream the sugar and butter until smooth and fluffy. Slowly add the flour and salt to the sugar and butter mixture and mix will until mixture is crumbly.

Pour the mixture into the prepared 9 x 13 pans and press and make sure the mixture is nice and even.

Put the pan in the oven and bake for about 17 minutes. It's done when the edges are set.

While the crust is baking you can start on the filling.

In the bowl of a food processor combine the lemon juice, lemon zest, strawberry puree, sugar and eggs until smooth. If you don't have a food processor your blender will work just as well.

Add the flour,baking powder and salt to the above combination and pulse until smooth.

Gently pour the filling over the hot crust -which was baked for the 17 minutes .

Put the pan bake in the oven and bake for 22-30 minutes until the filling is set. 

Remove from oven and cool completely. Once cooled use a damp knife to ensure a nice clean slice.

Store bars in the refrigerator.


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash

                            The heat was unbearable yesterday! I didn't want anything heavy
 for dinner and Divingabe felt the same. I saw this recipe and wanted to give it a try.
                                     

                               Recipe from Southern Lady's Simply Southern      



I used a small part of a zucchini Rita gave me and one summer squash.

This was a very good light meal. I added some shredded Mexican cheese to the top of a few and allowed it to melt in,nice way to get some protein in.

1/2 cup olive oil ( used sunflower oil)
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (white balsamic vinegar)
1 tablespoon minced vinegar ( see note below)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper( Used Tony Chachere's)
3 medium zucchini squash, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
3 medium yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices






  1. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper, whisking to combine well.

2.Place squash in a large, resealable plastic bag; pour marinade over squash. Seal bag and chill for at least 2 hours, turning occasionally. Remove squash from marinade and discard marinade.  I chilled it for about 4 hours

3Grill squash over medium-high heat (350-400) for 4-5 minutes per side or until tender. I'm not the grillmaster in the house, either Gregory or Divingabe do a better job.

I never heard of minced vinegar before and thus made mine up with a splash of soy and minced garlic. Add garlic to your taste.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Yachts

The one on the left is owned by the person that owns the marina, the other one is from Australia or registered there.
It was strange this summer, there haven't been many yachts at the wharf.

Big City was from the Caymen Islands

and then we have




Friday, July 13, 2012

Crockpot Pork and Gravy

                  I love my crockpot! It's so warm outside and sure don't want to put the oven on so it's either the grill or my trusty crockpot.

This is very good and easy. Found the recipe Here


4 bone in pork chops ( I used boneless)
1 envelope onion soup mix ( 1 oz. packet)
1 1/2 Chix broth ( I used homemade broth)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 envelope dry pork gravy mix ( 1 oz packet)

How easy is this- mix above together, put chops in crockpot, pour mixture over chops, cook for 6-8 on low.

Divingabe had potatoes with the meal and I made my favorite coleslaw- delicious:-)





Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Orphans

Last evening Divingabe whispered " get your camera". I saw two baby deer and knew I would never get the shot from the window. I sneaked out and was so surprised I was able to get this close. No mama around, she must of gotten hit by a car. The little ones have no idea what to eat and eat anything that they find.
I gave up long ago planting anything that would make the yard look nice and give it color. I figured they were here first and if they want to snack - munch away.

NOTE: Yesterday was an all time high for hits for my little blog. I had people from Russia,UK,Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany,France, India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia plus all my USA hits. NEVER could of imagined people from all over the world peaking into blog. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!


Friday, July 6, 2012

Zucchini Carrot Fritters

Rita has a wonderful garden,which she so kindly shares peppers,tomatoes and zucchini with us. Lewis, Rita's husband picked this huge zucchini for us to bring home and I wanted to make something different.



This recipe is from Taste Of Home
2 tbl finely chopped onion
1 tbl. butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 med. zucchini, shredded and squeezed dry (about 1 1/2 cups )
1 large carrot, shredded
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbl. cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Oil for frying

Next time I'm going to fry the onions first before I add them to the recipe. I bet caramelized onions would be fantastic in this.

Place onion and butter in microwave dish. Cover and nuke until onion is soft. In a bowl add the onions and butter to shredded carrots, shredded zucchini and egg.In another bowl mix up the flour, parm, cornmeal, salt and pepper. Add the flour mixture to the bowl with zucchini/carrot mixture. Stir until just combined.
Put your oil in pan and fry mixture for 1-2 min.



I did a few and knew divingabe would want them to be spicy. I added  Tony Chachere's to the zucchini/carrot mix and loved it.

I also topped mine with the Jalapeno Relish that I made and recipe is on the blog.



Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Dog Treats

You should always be wary of the food and treats you buy. Many no-name or discount brands you find at bargain stores or grocery stores contain meat from China and other questionably-sourced ingredients (I've personally encountered them in several small and large stores). When in doubt, steer clear. Check ingredients for hazardous ingredients, look for country of origin, don't use brands that look sketchy, stay informed about recalls. And for treats, you can always make your own! It's easy and there are a lot of great recipes online.

Don't buy anything made from Chinese meat (especially the Chinese-sourced jerky) and throw away what you have from this our other suspect brands, but there is no need to panic. As far as renal failure goes, a change in urination habits is the first sign (accidents in the house, whining to go outside more than usual, drinking a lot) and frankly, something that you should always see a vet for anyway.

And to people worrying about the nutritional profile of Milkbones and the like: unless your dog has a pre-existing condition like diabetes or a gluten allergy, don't worry about it. Just like having chips now and again isn't going to make you sick, neither is a few treats every so often. They have ingredients like sugar, salt, and spices (none of which are bad on their own in moderation) to make them tasty and something a little "different" than their regular food. They're not horrible for them, but they're not meant to be nutritionally balanced, they're meant to be tasty-- just like your own snacks. Moderation is the key here! Lots of calories and few nutrients, so only an occasional thing

The FDA's position is they will not implicate nor recall products until a specific contaminant has been identified. The agency maintains chicken jerky treat samples have been tested for drugs, poisons, mycotoxins, heavy metals and certain chemicals, yet the problem remains a mystery.
But while the FDA seems content to remain clueless about what's causing the problem, pet owners and veterinarians in the U.S., Canada and Australia have their own suspicions. These include:
Ongoing melamine contamination
Irradiation of ingredients in jerky treats
An as-yet unidentified chemical preservative
Diethyelene glycol (a toxin)
Symptoms to look for:
Symptoms include loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), increased thirst and/or urination, and decreased activity.
Symptoms appear within a few hours to days after a dog eats the chicken jerky treats. Pets who become severely ill or have symptoms lasting more than 24 hours should be seen by a veterinarian immediately.
Blood tests may show markers for kidney failure. Urinalysis may point to acquired Fanconi syndrome.
Fortunately, most sick dogs have fully recovered, however, an increasing number of deaths are also being reported.