Tag Archives: food

Fall in Love

Posted in Adventures in the Kitchen by

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?

When Doves Cry

Posted in Adventures in the Kitchen by
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

Posted in Adventures in the Kitchen by

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]

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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“New York, New York”

Posted in 2015 Travel Adventures by

Taking my two youngest daughters to New York this summer was an experience….

….An experience in navigation as I was the main adult in charge of trying to get us around the city. It made my girls a little nervous since I can still get lost in downtown Austin after living there for 18 years!IMG_7048[1]

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…An experience in “fast food” as we tried to grab a quick bite in an overcrowded restaurant.  My daughters tended to sleep in late, which made us rush to our destinations on a daily basis. A bagel on the subway was our breakfast on most days!

IMG_7059[1]…An experience in being street smart as a homeless man tried to steal my money in the subway.  My daughter, Olivia, may not look tough but she did scare the man away!!  She was my hero that day!

…An experience in acting cool while seeing a celebrity crossing the street, and trying to tell my daughter to hurry and take the picture because it’s Meg Ryan…while she asks “who is Meg Ryan” ????IMG_7462[1]

…and of course an experience in cupcakes and cannoli…and finding out again that my favorite place to get a cupcake in New York is Sweet Revenge.

Cupcakes on the fire escape
Sweet Revenge Cupcakes
leave the gun….
Love it!
Girls enjoying dessert

I do love New York City!  And I am so thankful I had the chance to experience this wonderful city with my girls.

Lady Liberty

And of course experiencing tasty sweets and Italian food makes me wish I could duplicate it all at home.  I don’t think I can match the cannoli but I will continue to give the cupcakes a hearty try.  Below are some pictures from our trip, delicious food, Empire State Building and Central Park.   I am ready to go back!

I love Central Park
Meet me at the top…
Our fire escape view
SERENDIPITY..of course
9/11 Memorial
Breakfast at Grey Dog
Breakfast at Sweet Revenge

C

The SkinnyTaste Cookbook…Yum

Posted in Adventures in the Kitchen by

We have been cooking out of our new cookbook for the last couple of weeks: The SkinnyTaste Cookbook.  Sounds delicious, I know. I am discovering on many of the recipes, there are a lot of ingredients and I am always tempted to take shortcuts. Since I have never been a detail person, shortcuts are easy for me. This became more evident in my first few years of marriage.  I learned to sew and make curtains for our home. They looked professional, from afar, but I would never want someone to look at the detail work on the other side, or see if the seams were perfectly straight!  I think I have the same attitude in cooking. When it says “one tablespoon” does it really mean exactly one tablespoon, or can I eyeball it?  And if I don’t like an ingredient, can I just leave it out? What difference does it really make?

IMG_5782[1]I discovered it really does make a difference!  It’s just sometimes I don’t want to chop, dice, sautè, cream, etc. And I don’t want to purchase 5 seasonings just for one little teaspoon of each. I just want it to be done!  Like the day I realized that my baked beans tasted amazingly better when I added all the onions and peppers that I was always eliminating. All those seasonings and flavors make a difference, who knew??? 🙂

Below are some of our favorite recipes we have tried from this cookbook. Everything has been tasty so far and thankfully we are discovering we can make a delicious, healthier version of some of our favorites.  While there is certainly lots of dicing, chopping, a teaspoon of this and a teaspoon of that and usually a quick run to the store, it is well worth it. Especially the time spent with my girls in the kitchen talking and laughing as we are figuring out these new meals together.

Olivia chose to make the Western Omelette. Very tasty and easy to grab and heat up in the morning.

Watch those fingers!

Teriyaki-Glazed Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa

Cubano-Style Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

We also made Buttermilk Oven “Fried” Chicken and Skinny Chicken Parmesan, but I forgot to take pictures!  Everyone loved both of these dishes and we will certainly make them again soon.