A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

This past weekend was spent at the lake with the Mr.'s family. We had a great time of hanging out, laughing, and sitting by the fire. The 7 cousins played marathon air hockey . . .so much that my girl cherub's arm was sore! With 4 families represented, we decided that each family would take one dinner for each of the days we were together and be responsible to provide the food for everybody. Breakfast and lunch . . .each family brought what they wanted and just shared. But dinner was a little more organized. The Mr. and I had the Saturday night dinner. We had big shoes to fill because my brother in law and sister in law did a shrimp boil for everyone on Friday night. It was fantastic! So Saturday afternoon, we set about our dinner preparation. I did all of the prep work that could be done ahead of time at home so that cooking on Saturday night would be as easy as possible. We had the roasted potatoes that I posted a few weeks ago. http://karen-proverbs31...

      I sat and wrote the post for this marinade. At the very end, I thought to myself, "I wonder if I've ever posted this before?" Well . . . guess what! Here's the link to the very recipe that I was going to post today, that I've already posted several years ago! http://karen-proverbs31.blogspot.com/2012/05/grilled-chicken-marinade.html If you are needing a new recipe . . .or maybe to be reminded of a good recipe, give this marinade a try! Happy Grilling!

It really doesn't matter what the outside temperature is doing; we like to grill! Since it's the Mr. that stands out in the cold, or heat, or mist, or snow, or rain, I'm always game to throw something on the grill for dinner! The other day, when shopping for groceries, I noticed the store didn't carry my favorite marinade. But they had another marinade from a brand that I like that sells BBQ sauce. Plus, it is a local brand, and I like shopping local. So I bought the new brand marinade. But I didn't like it. Matter of fact, the Mr. and cherubs didn't like it either. Not that it was bad, because we wouldn't know. Because it had no taste. None. I'm not into tasteless marinade. So now, with no marinade in the house and chicken thawed out, I needed a marinade. I remembered a teriyaki  marinade that I used to make, but couldn't find the recipe. Then I remembered another one. This one is delicious. I twee...

Image from the internet I think this is my very favorite marinade right now! I love it for it's deep flavor that makes the meat taste like it took hours to achieve the taste. I've been using this marinade for several years, but it wasn't until recently that I have become enamored with it. As in, I use it all the time. Lately, every piece of chicken gets dunked in this marinade. Not dunked . . . soaked! I've told you my marinade method: come home from the grocery store and divide my meat into gallon ziplock bags based on what I'm going to be using it for. Those things that need to be marinated, gets the marinade thrown in the bag right away, then off to the freezer it goes. My theory:  it marinates while it's going into a deep freeze and it marinates more while it's thawing out! It's a win-win situation for everyone! Back to this marinade, I've always purchased a small, normal size bottle. I use it on chicken, beef...

    It's kind of gone from beautiful Spring to hot Summer in just a matter of days. Regardless if you love the heat of the Summer or the perfect-ness of the Spring, you usually think G.R.I.L.L! We love to grill at our house. The Mr. is the master of the grill! I love that the whole meal can be cooked outside. When we grill, we cook a lot of chicken. That's because grilled chicken is one of my favorites. I try a lot of different marinades and this one is simple and good. It comes from a cookbook from my mom's work.  These kinds of cookbooks are some of my favorites -- they're tried and true recipes! With so many marinades on the market -- you may wonder why make your own? Because it's cheaper.   Simple. Marinades are a simple concoction of ingredients -- usually things you've already got in your kitchen pantry. Your investment of cost when you make it at home is so much cheaper than buying a bott...

I love fresh herbs. In the Spring, we always plant a variety of herbs. It's so exciting . . .  . . .at first! Then, I forget to water them. I end up with "herb sticks." You know what those are, don't you? It's limp, dry, sunburned, unusable wanna be herbs that suffered at the hands of me. It's sad. Every year, I vow to do better. I don't! But I do try!  That's worth something, isn't it? Remember, my trips to the grocery store are purely perfunctory. I rarely buy "new and great, just discovered" things because I don't take time to look around. I'm working on that -- there really are some great things to try. But old habits are hard to break and all I want to do is get out of there and get the junk put up at home. However!  One day at the store, while trying to be interactive with my surroundings, I did find something new! And boy!  Is it a treat! It's basil in a tube! It's great!  N...

Many years ago, like . . . M.A.N.Y years, Laronda, a friend of mine, turned me on to Dale's marinade.  This was nearly 20 years ago, and at that time Dale's was hard to find.  It is made in Birmingham, AL.  At that time, it was easier to get The Washington Post than it was to get Dale's; but who really cares about "The Post!"  We wanted Dale's!  Because it was "exclusive," that made it even more special! Fast-forward 20 years and now Dale's is in basically every store I shop!  It's usually towards the top of the shelf, on the same aisle with ketch-up, b-b-q sauce, and other fancy condiments! I just LOVE Dale's.  I think I could drink it right from the bottle.  No!  I haven't tried it -- but I've been tempted! Here's what I do with my Dale's, in numerical order! I always but 2 or 3 bottles at a time; I never want to be without the stuff. I but lots of chicken breasts. I buy lots of gallon siz...