CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Thursday, November 10, 2011

John's Favorite Breakfast


John sliced open a perfect avocado the other day. Then he put it on this 9" plate and took this picture and said...Let's have my favorite breakfast.

Which is Huevos Rancheros.


So I whipped it up for us...I like my eggs easy over, with a runny yoke. John likes his with the yoke cooked hard. To make the guacamole, I basically just chop the nice soft avocado with a knife and mash some of it down a bit with a fork, and that is it. We like it chunky, not smooth. I sometimes will put in a fine diced garden ripened tomato, and a tiny bit of fine diced onion, but I am a purist and just love the pure taste of the avocado. We drizzle Tapatio on it and the eggs and beans. John also puts ketchup (yuck) on top of the Tapatio.
So here is John's plate.We love Tapatio because it doesn't have vinegar in it lie a lot of sauces do.













Chicken on Sale

I love to buy whole chicken when it is on sale. This one was 69 cents/lb. and over 5 lbs.


I baked it in the oven with carrots, onions, celery inside the cavity. Then I cooked the carcass after I took the meat off the bone....with water in my crockpot on low for 8 hours. Got the best broth!!

I got 6 one cup bags of chicken for the freezer ( I nibbled on some so actually the yield was higher than 6 cups)...to use when whipping up a quick meal such as chicken curry...or chicken and gravy and mashed potatoes...or to put in stuffing, or to make BBQ chicken sandwiches (just thaw in microwave and add some BBQ sauce and pile in toasted buns. Anyway..here are the baggies before I put them in the freezer (In another heavier plastic bag of course.)

Clever Megan

So, I made pancakes one morning while we were in Gilbert: my favorite buttermilk pancake recipe...and what do you know? Clever Megan whipped out her pizza cutter to cut the kids' pancakes nice and cleanly! Wow! If only I had used this device when the kids were growing up and I made pancakes several times a week...for nearly 2 decades.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Favorite Lentil Soup


This nice glass bowl is actually holding quite a bit of soup.


Once, when John and I were making one of our many trips to Wisconsin
and had been eating quick fast food or road food for a while (we had been in Missouri visiting Molly and family and had so many things to do -places to go- that Molly didn't have time to make any gourmet meals like she is wont to do. We even had a meal at Sonic. We had frozen custard at Drew's. Then on the long drive from St. Louis up to Wisconsin, we had Burger King, etc. ) When we got closer to Wisconsin, I called Jane, my dear friend in Point, and asked her for a favor.

I said:"I NEED some Lentil Soup! Can we come visit you and can you, will you please, make some for us and we can talk while we eat. We want to come to your house before we even go to 509 First Street. " She agreed to and we drove along happily, in anticipation (at least I was happily anticipating the soup, John could take it or leave it.)

When we got to her house, she did not have the soup even started. She had had a very busy day that included riding her bike a long way to one of her doctor appointments. She had other things going on, too. Nevertheless, she assembled the ingredients and followed the recipe exactly, like it is written here. I don't grate the carrots, but fine dice.

So we talked while she made the soup and while we ate it. Fully recharged with this wonderful nutrition, and our visit, we then got into our rental car and proceeded to my folk's house.

Note...you can subsitute a bottle of spaghetti sauce for the diced tomtaoes.

My Favorite Lentil Soup from (from Jane Brody’s Good Food Book- a bit tweeked)

2 T. oil
2 large or 3 medium onions, chopped (2 cups)
3 carrots, coarsely grated (Joan prefers tiny diced)
¾ t. marjoram, crumbled
¾ t. thyme leaves, crumbled (or just use 1 1/2 teasp. Italian seasonings if you do not have the marjoram and thyme )1 28-oz. can tomatoes with their juice, coarsely chopped (I buy S&W’s diced in juice)
4 cups broth (I use salt free broth made with boullion)
4 cups water
1½ cup dried lentils, rinsed and picked over
¼ to ½ t. freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley or 2 T. dried parsley flakes
``````````````````````
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, and sauté the onions, carrots, marjoram and thyme, stirring
the vegetables, for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, broth, and lentils. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer the soup for about 1 hour or until the lentils are tender.
3. Add the salt, pepper, and parsley, and simmer the soup for a few minutes.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Best FOOD Product of the YEAR

This product deserves an award! I would love to know the history of this product:who thought it up, who designed the very appealing packaging? It is so comfortable to hold and lovely to look at! Inside this genius packaging is one of my favorite dried fruits. What is it?
*
*

*
*





Plum Amazins! Look! It almost sounds like raisins, which is very appropriate since they are a dried fruit like raisins. For some reason, people don't like the word "prune" and I have noticed that in the last little while packages of prunes were being labeled "dried plums".
I found these at the Apple Valley Wal*mart this past week. I paid $2.00. The plastic container is definitely re-usable...just peel off the plastic label.

I looked for them at WinCo and at Stater Brothers grocery stores. Not there.

Here is the Nutritional label.... the other side of the box has bar graphs that show that this product has 50% more fiber than raisins or cranberries....and half the sugar! Wow!
Have you ever tried to dice a prune? ...the pieces stick to your knife...it is just a mess. Well, here you have chopped prunes ready to go...ready to sprinkle on your hot oatmeal, put in cookies...
...or sprinkle on your yogurt fruit salad. Thank you Sunsweet!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Moores Pasta Salad

Whenever we go to Moores Cancer Center in San Diego, love to go up to the snack bar where they serve great chicken curry sandwiches on the best fresh bread and always with aside of this wonderful savory cold pasta salad.
I was craving it again...(I made some while we were at Megan's,too) so got the ingredients and made some.

Moores Pasta Salad


1/2 box whole wheat rotini, cooked
1/3 cup basil pesto
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup diced red pepper,
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley



Finished product! You can add more diced celery and red pepper and even more pesto if you want. If you don't have parsley, it still will be very good. I love the fact that the whole wheat pasta has lots of fiber.

Butternut Squash

I found butternut squash at the 99 Cents Only Store Today!

This is how I cook it.

I first poke it with a sharp knife in several places and microwave it for about 90 seconds...one and a half minutes.
Then I take it out of the microwave and cut it in half. Then I scoop out the seeds, and place cut side down in a glass baking dish and bake at 425 degres for 45 minutes...sometimes less...It is done when you poke it with a fork and it goes in so easy...The softer the finished product, I believe, the better.
Golden and sweet...with a little butter...it is my FAVORITE squash.