Category Archives: Adventures in the Kitchen

Fall in Love

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IMG_0732[1]I LOVE the FALL!  I love finding my sweatshirts as soon as it hits November 1st.

I love when it turns a little chilly because tortilla soup always sounds good to me. In Texas, however, we may be waiting a while for the weather to turn cold…so my idea of chilly was this weekend when it was in the 60s. Brrrrr.     My friend, Alice, gave me her soup recipe years ago and this has been the one I always go to. My sister Lynda makes it also and loves it.

If you have read any of my my previous blogs, you know I want my girls to love to be in the kitchen. I want them to love finding a recipe and make something from scratch, not a box.  Plus…I want their help.   I certainly don’t want to chop onions all by myself.

Here is a photo of my Tortilla soup.  I purposefully kept my brown avocado and broken sign “Count Blessings” in the background. It reminds me that things are not always perfect.  My photos aren’t perfect and neither is my cooking!  But I do love being creative.  I love attempting to take better photos, learning to cook something new, and finding a recipe that my family and friends love.

I have added the recipe, so give it a try and if you make this delicious soup, let me know what you think! I put it under Mexican Food, since I don’t have a “soup” menu yet.

Thanks Olivia for helping me chop all those onions, and for crying with me during the process.

I usually double the amount of chicken.  I think it makes the soup a little more filling.  And I love fresh cilantro.  How can you go wrong?

Let’s Celebrate…October is here!

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I love the Fall

I love October

I love Chocolate Covered Pretzels

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We always have chocolate covered pretzels seasonally at our home.  These are so easy to make and always taste good and look fun!  This is my signature “sweet” at any party!

I also love to bake Pumpkin Bread…in fact we make this so many times over the fall season that I actually get tired of baking and eating  and baking and eating that I vow I am done with pumpkin bread and may find a new favorite fall treat.   But each October I am ready to start baking this delicious bread all over again!

 My oldest daughter just moved to Dallas and she wanted to bake something together before she left.  We found a recipe for pumpkin cookies and homemade cinnamon frosting. While they were very good, we decided they are not as good as our pumpkin bread. I have added both of these  recipes, so give them a try and see which one you like better.

When Doves Cry

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I love Bacon
Poor Dove

September to beginning of October there is always a chance my husband is going to bring home the bacon…and jalepenos and cream cheese and of course dove!  We love to make poppers and they do not last very long around here.

Grilling
Hot off the Grill
Ready to eat

I am glad only one of my daughters will eat these delicious poppers…more for me and hubby!!!

Final Days of Summer

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My youngest daughter’s last few weeks at home were a crazy mix of excitement and sadness.  Before she headed off to college we tried to spend some quality time with friends and family.  And of course tried to get a few more recipes in before she left!  For our beach trip we made Lemon Crinkle Cookies.  This recipe is a keeper!  See our other August recipes.  You many want to give one a try!

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Peach Cobbler.

These pics do not do justice to this delicious cobbler, but hopefully you are tempted to make this anyway. We did drop 2 bottles of Vanilla in the process!

yum
cutting peaches
sugar and peaches
we broke 2 bottles of Vanilla
left in oven a little too long

Apple Crumble Pie.  I want us to make this again!

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Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken.  Again, tasted better than the pic looks!  That will be my next adventure…learning to use the camera!

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Even our dog was sad to see her go. IMG_0180[1]

Final Cake..(and a few cupcakes)…Funfetti cake.  The cake was good but the frosting was not a favorite.  IMG_0265[1]

Sweet as Sugar

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If you are like me, any occasion or celebration brings about the desire to make something sweet.  Below are some pictures of some sweets I have made with my girls this summer.  Some of these were worth keeping the recipe and making again and some were credited to experience in the kitchen!

Strawberry cupcakes….YES.

Strawberry Cupcake

Sea Salt and Caramel Cupcake…NO.

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Peaches on the grill…Yes!

Peaches on Grill

Homemade Cherry Pie and pie crust…Yes!!!

Delicious!
pitted cherries
homemade pie crust
uneven lattice work

Sweets on Fourth of July….yes!!!

Chocolate Cupcake and Chocolate Icing
My mom’s banana pudding

The day was spent with family and friends with plenty of food and dessert to go around. Sadly, while the chocolate cupcakes were good, they were not “the best chocolate cupcakes ever” as the recipe said!!  My mom’s recipe is better than that and I will stick to hers next time!

My hubby made the guacamole and Hannah and I made the veggie salad.  I do love when we are all in the kitchen together. It’s much more fun!!!

home-made guacamole

It’s Complicated

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My two older daughters and I watched It’s Complicated this afternoon.  This movie always draws us to the kitchen.  First we wish our kitchen looked like the one in the movie and second we all wish I could actually cook like the mom in the movie.  And who doesn’t want to own their own cute, little successful bakery that is as inviting as hers?

I don’t have my own shop to run to and whip up any type of food or dessert whenever I want, but I do know how to run to the local HEB and purchase the necessary ingredients to make “Croque Monsieur” for dinner. My oldest daughter told me we needed to either go to the Steeping Room in the Domain or make it ourselves.  We found a recipe that looked tasty and made it at home.

She wanted wine to go with our meal, so she looked up what pairs well with this french sandwich and we chose the white sparkling wine, which we loved. It was far too sweet for my husband, so he opted for a red Cabernet instead.  We all enjoyed the dinner immensely, but sadly it is time to find some healthier recipes. At least we only used one piece of bread!!  I added the recipe if you want to give it a try. We were not sure of the bechemel sauce and only used it on four of the eight sandwiches. We agreed that the sauce is needed… Bon Appetit!

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Dessert Comes First

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One of the goals of this blog was for my girls to learn some basic cooking skills and also have some recipes they can IMG_6663[1]leave home with and make easily for themselves or their families one day.  

I have realized that when they finally have a home of their own…there may not be a gourmet meal on the table each night, or a healthy side of steamed veggies, but one thing is for sure…there will be dessert!

Claire, my youngest, loves to bake cookies. When she is bored, she will bake them.  When we have guests, she will bake them. Whenever I ask, she always says yes. I don’t usually get that response when I tell her we need to make dinner.

I have to admit that her cookie skills have surpassed mine.  They always come out moist on the inside, a little crunchy on the outside and she never burns them, like I tend to do.  They don’t last long around here. One day she may wish she learned more ways to bake chicken or steam veggies…but for now, she is content to be a cookie enthusiast. 

We did at least try one new main dish this month. I found a recipe for Greek Chicken Kebabs with Tzatziki Sauce. The picture of the kebabs looked appetizing, and the weather was so nice outside, which made grilling the perfect choice.  The family loved the chicken and pasta, but did not love the sauce.  I thought it was a perfect pairing with the kebabs.  Try for yourself.  It is a delicious summer recipe!

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This Is Bananas..B-A-N-A-N-A-S

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In our home when the bananas have turned a little too brown to eat, instead of throwing them out, as I have done many times over the years,  we now cut them up and put in the freezer for our protein shakes.

I noticed the other day that all the bananas I purchased the week before were still sitting in a bowl, turning brown. It was time to cut up and put in the freezer.  We had two large freezer bags full already.  So I decided to use them to make some banana bread.

mashing bananas

mashing bananas

not so pretty...but darn tasty

not so pretty…but darn tasty

I ran across a recipe for a banana cake first and it looked so tasty and the frosting looked as though it would  just melt in your mouth. I knew I could make this taste as good as it looked in the pictures. Here is my attempt at the cake. While the cake was very moist and full of flavor, the frosting did not quite “melt in your mouth”. The frosting did taste great, it just didn’t quite look like the one I found online. It was gone in two days though, so it was not a total failure!

My daughter, Hannah, had asked if some of her friends from College Station could stay at our house as they were in town for the weekend.  We were delighted to have them stay and I wanted to have a little snack for them when they arrived. Since my family devoured the cake earlier, I looked for a simple banana nut bread recipe.  I found one in my recipe box, it looked easy enough, I had all the ingredients and this would be something easy for our guests to grab on the go.  The recipe is actually from Amy Pruitt, a friend I have not seen in many years.  She gave it to me almost 15 years ago. Thanks Amy!  My guests loved it!

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Hey Cupcake!

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I love cupcakes. Evidently so does my dog, Nellie.

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I bake at all holidays, special celebrations and when I am in the mood.  Today I was in the mood.  I was craving a great vanilla cupcake. I do like the ones at Magnolia Bakery so I started by looking in that cookbook. One of my favorites is their Vanilla Cupcake with Butter Cream Frosting. I do have to admit mine did not quite taste the same as I remember at their bakery.  Maybe it was just the ambiance of a bakery in New York City versus my kitchen in Cedar Park, Texas!  Maybe it was something else…but my cupcakes, for some reason, seemed a little bland.  And when my husband innocently asked if I had left out an ingredient, I knew they were not my best! 😦

 IMG_6213[1]Since that did not satisfy my craving, my daughter and I found a tasty looking Strawberry Cupcake recipe on a website called “Cooking Classy”. While the process was longer than we anticipated, the cupcake was worth the wait.   Claire was diligent in the kitchen cutting and pureeing strawberries, mixing and measuring the other ingredients, only asking once if we were done yet. She found them delicious and I was very pleased in how they turned out.   My husband didn’t even ask if I left anything out!  He commented, (with a mouth full of cupcake), “now these are really good”!

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I decided to give the Lemon Cupcake recipe a try as well. I was on a roll! I found it on the same website as above and it looked so good, I couldn’t resist.  The cupcake itself turned out a little dry.  I have to take credit for that as I mixed the batter a little longer than the recipe called for.  What can I say, I was trying to do the laundry as well!   But the frosting was full of flavor!  Delicious!  I will be making this cupcake again.

 

I have added these recipes at the top menu under Something Sweet.  Click on it and give the strawberry one a try!  All the recipes are worth trying, but the Strawberry Cupcake with Butter Cream Frosting takes the cake!