A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

I don't even know what to call this sandwich from today! But we all called it good! Life at my house is just like life at your house right now! I'm not sure why Spring is this way . . . . but it is ridiculously busy and I'm not too sure that I can say that I enjoy it all! This weekend, we ate out twice! T.W.I.C.E! We just don't do that. But today, driving home from church, I was tempted to just pick something up! That would have made three times to have eaten out . . . in ONE weekend! UGH! On the drive home, with the cherubs, we discussed what to do for lunch. I already had Italian sausage thawed out in the refrigerator. That was our start! Here's what we did! We made Rustic Italian Sandwiches. This is nothing new for some of you, I'm sure! But it was new for us and we sure did like it! We are thankful for the bit of leftovers! Somebody is going to be very happy at lunch one day this week! Rustic Italian Sandwiches ...

For Christmas lunch, my mom made a ham and this delicious pineapple sauce. We all instantly loved it! We have eaten cold and we've eaten it warm. We have thought about all the ways to use this sauce: with grilled chicken with grilled/roasted pork with baked ham on sandwiches as a dip mixed with cream cheese wrap brie and this sauce in puff pastry and bake to serve as an appetizer My cherub's really loved this and have already asked for me to make more of it! They're favorite thing right now is to make a grilled ham and pimento cheese sandwich and use this as the spread! They call it "the ultimate ride!" Mix this condiment up and see how many recipes you can create with it! Pineapple Sauce 1 - 20oz can crushed pineapple, undrained 1 cup brown sugar 1 TBSP cornstarch 1/4 tsp. salt 2 TBSP lemon juice 1/2-1 TBSP Dijon mustard Combine the brown sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Stir in the pineapple, lemon juice, and mustard. Cook over me...

I'd like to say "Beef" in the title, or "pork." or maybe even "chicken." But because this is versatile, I just called it meat. Doesn't sound appetizing, does it? I know! I'm not sure that I would have read much further than the title! But I'm just saying, that if you'll give this a whirl, you'll be glad that you hung with me! This can be as spicy as you want. I like this recipe because it's kind of a sweet heat. Because my girl cherub is a wimp when it comes to much spice, I kept it easy. But I will say, I could have easily added an extra toss of the chipotle peppers! Which!  Let me tell you my most exciting find on the grocery aisle this past shopping trip! Normally, I have to buy a can of chipotle peppers. Like this: I pop the top, use what I need and freeze the rest until another recipe. But then I found the peppers, chopped, in a jar . . . a small jar, but none-the-less, a jar! That means I...

The Mr. had a birthday last week. At our house, when it's your birthday, you get to pick your birthday meal. But it's the Mr. He usually doesn't have a preference. So I picked his birthday meal. When I told him, he whinned like a 2 year old that it was " his " birthday meal. " He " gets to pick! Really!  Because I had a good  birthday meal all picked out for the Mr. But NOOOOOOO ! He gets to pick! He picked his usual: Creamy Poblano Chicken over Cornwaffles with a salad and blackberry cobbler. But I hate making blackberry cobbler the way he likes it. And since his birthday, I've sworn off making anymore cobblers the way he likes cobblers. Let me make cobblers they way I know how and lets all be happy! There! That feels better! So, since I didn't get to make the Mr. the birthday meal I was going to make for him on his birthday, I made it a different day. It was so yummy! It smelled so great cooking. And ta...

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...

Remember the cowboy nachos from the other night? I used left-over pork loin from a previous meal. I actually love roasting meat. To be truthful, I'm not sure that I'm roasting the meat at all -- I just like the way I cook meat in the oven. It's kind of fool proof. It always turns out juicy and amazing. I'd use the word "moist" -- but I have a friend that reads this and she can't stand the word "moist." So I won't say the meat is "moist," I'll say it's "tender and juicy." I think that's the same as "moist!" Anyway -- I do beef and pork the same way. All I do is change the seasoning. This time, I used the seasoning from Goya , called Sazonador Total .  I found it on the ethnic aisle.  I didn't know anything about it.  I just thought, "that's something new to try." And guess what! We love it. We love it on meat. We love it on corn. We love it on other ...

It's our last day of Summer break and today we're working on making sure we have everything together, then celebrating with a "Back to School" dinner!  The kids picked Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions.  This is a quick, throw together meal, that's colorful and tasty! Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions 1 package fresh Italian Sausage 1 Green Pepper 1 Red Pepper 1 Yellow Pepper 1 Onion Cut each sausage link into 6 bite sized pieces.  Clean each of the veggies and chunk them into pieces.  I call this "rustic" chop.  You definately don't want them too small -- you don't want to sautee them, you'll cook them until their tender-crisp. Heat a bit of olive oil (maybe 2 TBSP) in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Put the Italian Sausage in and stir until coated and cook for 7-8 minutes.  Add the veggies, stirring to coat with the olive oil and cook thoroughly until  meat is done, stirring of...