A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

I'm all about seasons, but Summer has worn on my last nerve. As the temperatures seemed to be showing signs of lowering, I begin thinking about soup.   It kind of drives me crazy to hear, "Soup is just so hot." Well -- I kind of laugh because I'm thinking most  meals are hot and it doesn't keep me from eating them during the Summer months.   For me, though, soup is a comfort food. Usually not heavy, but certainly filling. I get a ton of daily emails with recipes and so many of them I just ignore. But a few weeks ago I received an email with a subject line of "Five Easy Soups." Of course, I took a peak and I liked what I saw! Not only were there five easy soups, but I believe all of the soups had only five ingredients. Sometimes, that can leave you with a bland recipe, but I have high hopes for these soups listed! One of the recipes was for this curry soup. Now!  Before you say, "I don't like curry," I sa...

There are so many good thoughts running through my mind. Pasta! Fresh pasta! Gluten free pasta! YES!!  Five years of being gluten free and having marginal pasta, this was a win! Thank you, Aldi! While shopping at Aldi, I found a FRESH, GLUTEN FREE pasta! Can you even believe it? Me either! I almost didn't care what it tasted like, I was just thrilled to be able to buy fresh pasta. OK -- so I did care what it tasted like.  I kind of over-exaggerated that point. The day Mr. and I were shopping, and I spied this -- I grabbed a few and texted my friend, Sheila. Sheila is a great hostess.  It was during a soirees that my girl cherub had Ms. Sheila's Alfredo sauce. That was several years ago, but I remember my girl cherub raving about it. As you know, I do not really care for pasta. I mean, it's ok. But the Mr. and two cherubs -- they L.O.V.E pasta. The kind of love that never gets tired of having pasta as a meal option. But as for ...

Sometimes I amaze myself! Before Thanksgiving, the Mr. and I headed to the store to grab some necessary groceries. Sweet potatoes must have been a good price, because the Mr. stocked. us. up! He must have thought we were going to feed a small army! When we got home, I realized I already had sweet potatoes. Now -- I like sweet potatoes, but we certainly had a lot of them! I started wondering what to do with the abundance we were experiencing. Trying to think of "meatless" meals, I thought about tacos. I couldn't really sell the family on the option when I offered it. So while they were away, I started cooking. This way, they couldn't complain! It was brilliant on my part, I might add! After peeling and chopping the sweet potatoes, I set out to season and roast them to perfection. After that, the magic happened. At dinner, I told the Mr. and my girl cherub that at a trendy restaurant, these would be called, "Fall Bounty Tacos....

How many times have you read that my family loves Mexican food? Honestly, I am not underestimating the power of the love! It is our go-to, quick-fix meal at home. When we go out to eat, we usually choose something with a Mexican flair. And when we say we're craving something, it usually involves chips and salsa. What I have noticed at these newer, "fusion" taco restaurants, and the like, are the simple toppings. Where we are eating, at least, there is less about smothered cheese and gooey sauces. There's more focus on "less is more." Simple flavors. Simple ingredients. Big impact of deliciousness! Which then inspires me to duplicate it at home so that we don't have to digest the high price tag, too! For a school field trip, my boy cherub had to eat at a local restaurant. Not real sure what that had to do with learning Spanish, as everything is in English. But whatever! We did it. After all, it was apart of his grade. ...

A loooong time ago, a friend of mine had a football watch party. At the party, she served all kinds of tailgate-type food. One of the things she served, of course, was nachos. But they were so much tastier than just plain 'ol nachos. She had "jazzed up" the meat that she put on the nachos. The other day, I texted her to ask what her recipe was. Remember, it was a long time ago . . . but I kind of helped to jog her memory and she gave me, "it was probably   . . . " " . . .or it could have been . . ." But thinking back to what it looked like, I went with the first option of possibility. Here's my dilemma:  I typically like tacos, etc, but I don't typically prefer the taco meat. It is usually dry. It's seasoned fine, but to me, it's just kinda dry. Not so dry you have to choke it down or chase it with a big glass of water. But just sorta dry. So I took my friend's suggestion, tweeked it a bit for what...

If you're like us, you are glued to the TV for the next few days. As in, glued to the Olympics! Since the Opening Ceremony, we have been watching relentlessly! There is something about the Olympics that we love! Matter of fact, we'll watch sports, that at any other time, we're not really interested in! For example, the last time we watched ladies volleyball was . . . four years ago. But put the infamous 5 Olympic rings on the screen, and we become mesmerized by sports! Along with the sports, is the excitement of the host country! We like to learn a little about the country, think of things we'd like to do if we could ever visit, and look at the pretty landscape of the host country as we learn about it through the watching of the Olympics! Typically, on the evening of the Opening Ceremony, I'll make food from the host country. This year, I planned to do that, but our schedule kept us from having a watch party. But I still had the ing...

We love pizza. When we were thrown into gluten free eating, we had trouble finding good gluten free pizza out in restaurants. Which leads to me to ask the question, "Why is pizza so crazy expensive?" I honestly don't understand! While we do like "calling in a pizza," we also really like making them at home more! We all hang around and prepare different ingredients for the pizza bar. Some of us like pineapple. Some like garlic. Some like black olives. Some want meat, while others don't. That's why make-your-own-pizza night is fun! It gets you in the kitchen together, talking, laughing, and making fun of your family members! The other night, we were going to make pizzas but I had no pizza sauce. Stop there. I really don't like buying pizza sauce. I actually don't really like the way it tastes and since we don't use it all at one time, there are left-overs. I don't like using the left-over sauce. ...

Oh my word! How do the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas seem like a never-ending roller coaster that's out of control? Serious! I need to get in control of this! During these holiday weeks, if my family gets dinner, we're lucky. I'm not talking balance. Or even including a vegetable! I'm talking, if there's something that resembles a meal, there's  no complaining! We don't go and grab when it's hectic. It's still easier and far cheaper for me to fix something at home. The other night, I made this for me and the cherubs because the Mr. wasn't at home. It was so good that I made it again, two nights later! It is so forgiving! Since being gluten free, there are some things we miss. Chinese food is one of them! This filled the void! Plum Chicken Chicken breasts, cubed salt pepper garlic powder corn starch 2-3 egg whites, whisked oil plum jelly sriracha sauce For the 4 of us, I used 3 chicken breas...

 My boy cherub turns 16! I think I'm ok with it. . . the driving part, that is! Is he qualified to be behind the wheel? NO! None of us where . . . but it's a right of passage, huh? Is he walking out to a car, sitting in the driveway, with a big bow tied to the top of it as his present? NO! That's only in the movies, or in other people's lives, but not in ours! It wasn't in mine when I turned 16. It surely wasn't in the Mr.'s, therefore, it is not in my boy cherub's! We are celebrating his 16th birthday though, and have been for a week now! He kind of likes it that way! Tonight, even though it isn't his birthday, we are having his family birthday meal. You know, where you can pick whatever you want for dinner, even if it doesn't go together? This year, he picked Cuban food. I'm a little shocked! Not by the Cuban food, but that it isn...

We love Mexican food. Admittedly. We have a terrible crush on chips, salsa, pulled chicken tacos, and most other Mexican-style food. One thing, though, that nobody in our family really cares for is the red chili enchilada sauce. Give us green. Or sour cream. Or even cheese. But not red. So think me crazy when I thought that I'd make enchiladas for dinner using . . .RED enchilada sauce. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was having pregnancy cravings. Because that's what was happening! I was honestly CRAVING red enchilada sauce. Of course, though, I didn't have any of the canned stuff. I don't buy it. But even if I did buy it, I wouldn't have it anyways. Because that's the law of returning home from being out of town. Whatever you need or want when you return from being out of town, you don't have. Period. You have to go to the store. But I wasn't going to the store, because I didn't want to. Plus...

Poblano pepper; image taken from the internet Saturday morning cooking shows are not good for our family! Almost without fail, someone in our house sees a dish being made that seems so appealing. Then, we all want it. But we weren't really paying attention enough to know what was going on. We were only paying enough attention to know that it looked good! It happened again this past Saturday. We all saw something that looked amazing . . . but didn't know what it was called . . . or the name of the show . . . or the name of the chef . . . or really what all was put into the dish. But we knew enough to start; sort of! In the middle of cooking, my boy cherub did some internet research and found what we were looking for! Or should I say, what we were in the middle of making! This is SOOOOO  yummy! It's great stuffed into corn tortillas, or scooped up with corn chips, or tortillas filled with cooked chicken and rolled up tight, then ...

Happy Ocho de Mayo! OK--it doesn't have the same ring as "Cinco de Mayo," huh? With this recipe, you'll be won't care what "day of de Mayo" it is  you'll be happy to have it! Over the weekend, my girl cherub found a recipe that she was dying for us to make . . . Tequila grilled chicken. Well . . . . let's just say we improvised, for a variety of reasons! Monday, I headed to the store to gather everything we would want to celebrate in a Mexican way! chicken corn tortillas jalapenos queso fresco cilantro limes margarita mix Yep, that's what I used instead of the tequila. Margarita mix! We don't know any different . . .we loved it! If you make this recipe, feel free to make any substitutions that you want; after all, that's what we did! My cherub got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman Well, not directly from her, but from the show, I guess. I never saw the recipe, I just went on what my cherub...

I really should have planned better! I made a menu and went to the store. I planned for some new recipes. Recipes from cookbooks that I bought while we were on our Summer vacation last year in Europe. Exciting recipes! Recipes that weren't cooked in the crockpot.  . . . and there's the dilemma! I worked all week! I put everything in the freezer and revamped our weekly menu! One night, I created this dinner sensation!  It's a keeper in our family . . . maybe your family will like it too! Southwest Gravy over Cornbread 1 1/2 pounds ground beef 1 can tomatoes with chilies 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 can cheddar cheese soup 1 tsp. chili powder cornbread mix necessary ingredients for your cornbread mix green chilies Prepare your cornbread according to the package directions.  Add the desired amount of green chilies to the batter.  Place in the oven and cook according to directions while you cook the meat mixture. Ov...

I wish I had a picture of this to post for you. But I don't! Here's our dilemma . . . we want to eat Chinese food, But we can't find a Chinese food place we like. I'm not talking Pei Wei, although, that's nice fru-fru Chinese food. We just want noodles, rice, chicken, sauce. That's it! I make sticky rice at home occasionally. It is a gluten rice that makes it sticky. Get it!  "S.T.I.C.K.Y" rice? You can take a smidge, smoosh it together into a little ball and it stays. It's great for dipping in your Chinese sauce. If you have Chinese sauce. Which we don't always have. So we use soy sauce. But it's not the same. We want Chinese sauce. I found this recipe and made it. I think I've solved our dilemma for Chinese food! I'll make it at home and be very content! I got this from a website, but I have absolutely no idea where it came from . . .that was many weeks ago!  I'm very sorry if it cam...

For my cherub's 15th family birthday celebration, we did a tailgate party and watched the OU game! We did a ton of fun tailgate food that was really yummy! One of the many new recipes I tried for that day was this salsa recipe. We are salsa hounds! We love salsa! I will be making this again, for sure! I loved how easy it went together and how tasty it was! Salsa II 1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, well drained 1 ( 8oz) can of pickled jalapenos and carrots . . .and don't use the carrots (unless you want to!) 1/4 cup onion 1 tsp. garlic salt 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. lime juice Place all ingredients together in a blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate any unused portion . . . like that will happen!

We have been back from vacation for a week now. I need to go to the grocery store. We had empty cabinets before vacation; that's because we had been in NYC for 12 days! When we returned from NYC, I didn't go to the store because we were leaving for vacation in just 10 days! Why go buy stuff, right? I'm not even making this up! I haven't been to the store since July 2. We've been living on weird stuff out of the freezer! It's allowed me to be creative! I think that's good! But now, the grocery list is SO extensive, that I don't want to go to the store! I'm going to have to push that mess up and down the aisles, lug it onto the conveyor belt to check out, lug it back into the basket, to lug it into the back of my car, to lug it into the house, then to put it all up. . . only to later stand in front of the refrigerator that afternoon and wonder, "what's for dinner?" No!  That doesn't sound fu...

When the Mr. was growing up in the small town, he loved to go to "Taco Delight." The Mr. said they had the best "taco burger" ever. Ever. Well, I've been to "Taco Delight." It didn't represent a taco. Or delight. But who am I? I didn't grow up there. I don't have fond childhood memories. Actually, it's teenager memories. You know, when you're with friends, everything is better. That's even true as an adult! But his love of "Taco Delight's Taco Burger" gave me inspiration. OK.  It didn't really. But I'm trying to make the story sound better and the Mr. to feel loved. Truth:  I had hamburger buns and taco meat. There! That's the truth! So we had taco burgers! There's no real recipe. Taco Burgers Your favorite taco meat (I used seasoned ground beef) hamburger buns shredded lettuce shredded cheese chopped tomatoes chopped onions salsa sour cream Asse...

Image from the Internet Thanksgiving has come and gone. And while Thanksgiving was leaving, our company was just coming! It was a busy and fun weekend with The Nutcracker performances, friends and family, and getting back into the routine! Because our schedule included many hours spent at the theater for our girl cherub dancing in The Nutcracker, I wanted to serve something easy to our friends who were staying at our house. I found this recipe for soup and it sounded perfect.  What caught my attention is that it wasn't a "brothy" chicken enchilada soup.  I liked the thought of that! What I wish I had known was that it wouldn't really be soup weather! Oh well!  We just turned on the air and pretended! I'm going to give you the recipe as I made it.  However, we decided while we were eating that it could have used a bit more "stuff" in it!  I'll make that notation for you!  Then!  You decide how you want to make it! Southwe...

As soon as the weather changes, I start getting inspired to try new things. This week, on the menu, are Indian Tacos. I'm not sure that I've ever made these for the Mr. and the cherubs. But as a kid, I remember going to the Oklahoma State Fair and getting an Indian Taco. We could only buy our tacos from one certain Indian Taco stand. Oh, there were others at the fair. But they were impostures, I tell you! But I am not at the fair this week, so I had to make my own. There are several recipes on-line, so I just picked one.  I'm listing it here. After we make it, if we aren't particularly fond of it, I'll try another recipe; but until then, here's what we've got! We topped the fry bread with taco meat, cumin-seasoned pinto beans, shredded lettuce, chopped onions, diced tomatoes, grated cheese, and some salsa.  It was good! Indian Fry Bread (slightly adapted from the original recipe) 1 cup flour 1/4 tsp. ...

Picture from "My Recipes." I found Italian sausage on sale a few weeks ago while at the grocery store. My boy cherub really likes Italian sausage. He really likes the Italian sausage and peppers that I make. But I wasn't in the mood for that the other day. I was in the mood for grits. Which is weird. I don't really ever crave grits. But I was that day. And since I was the one cooking, I gave in to my wants. That's the beautiful thing about "owning" the kitchen! So I thought, "Self!  Italian sausage and grits would probably taste really good together!" And since I'm smart enough to think of it, I was rather certain that someone else had already thought of it too! That started my google search! And sure enough!  Someone had already figured it out for me! I love that! I found a recipe that sounded great and I made it for dinner and the whole family liked it. It was also great reheated for leftovers. And I...