Shire Pie

so i was looking for my Lembas recipe, like you do.......


what, you don't have a recipe for Lembas????  that's just crazy talk.  anywho, i couldn't find it, so i googled Lord of the Rings recipies, and came upon this GEM of a website, http://lotrscrapbook.bookloaf.net/other/recipes.html#top .  it not only has a recipe for Lembas that is better than the one i already had,  but it has a TON of other recipies.....  including Rosie's Shire Pie.

now, Hubular has been asking for a Sheppard Pie for a while now.  and i haven't done it.  because....  well, i have no good reason.  i just didn't do it.  but i saw this recipe and i was intrigued.  real food?  check.  LOTR based?  check.  something that the love of my life has asked for anyway?  YEP!!!  so i made it today.

after a quick stop at the store for supplies (like chicken stock, don't judge me), i was ready to start.  ......

once again, i used my best friend Helga Marquis de Kitchenaid to mix up the crust, and my trusty Knights of Cast Iron Frying Pan for the filling.  it turned out beautifully.  the crust is buttery and moist, it has a good mouth feel, the filling is rich without going overboard..  all in all, wonderful.

sadly, Blogger is frakking up, and won't let me add pictures, so i can't SHOW you how awesome it turned out.  if i can update this later with pictures, i will.  

Icy Treats

i don't know about your neck of the woods, but it's been 800 degrees of Hades around here.  so hot that normal food is just down right unappealing.  so for the most part Bubby has been existing on fish sticks and ice pops.  not exactly ideal nutrition.  so here are a few frozen treat recipes that i've come up with to help fill in the nutritional gap.  use these recipes as a starting point, i usually don't really measure, and i have small Popsicle molds so i  just throw stuff in.  hope you enjoy them as much as B does!

Monster-sicle
1 carton of yogurt
3 hand fulls of spinach
1/2 c frozen blueberries
orange juice

put everything in a blender or magic bullet and blend.  add the oj as needed to make it smooth.  pour into your popsicle mold and freeze till firm.


Yo-Yo Pop
1 carton of banana cream pie yogurt
1/2 a banana cut into slices
3tbl of milk

mix up the milk and yogurt.  slice the banana and put the slices into the mold.  add the runny yogurt mixture.  freeze.

Almonds of Joy
1 part almond milk
2-3 squirts of chocolate syrup
1/4 part coconut shreds

mix it all up and pour into the molds. freeze.  mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Pineapple Pops

juice from one pineapple after you've cored it.

pour the juice into the mold.  freeze. yeah, that's an actual recipe.

the BEST chicken salad you will ever eat in your life

i made chicken salad.  wasn't really expecting a lot, but i figured i'd give it a shot.  and since we're trying (TRYING) to eat more on the "only real food" bandwagon, chicken salad seemed like an easy way to start.  i mean common, it's chicken salad.  not rocket science, right?

WRONG!

there are many subtle sciences into making chicken salad.  get just one wrong, and you have crap.  and no one likes to eat crap.  but the chicken salad i made was sublime.  it was wonderment.  it was damn tasty.  and seeing as the only thing i seem to have time to blog is recipes, here goes:

The Best Chicken Salad You Will Ever Eat In Your Life

one whole roasted chicken, de-boned
2/3 c mayo
2 tbl mustard
2 tbl lemon juice
6 cherry tomatoes fresh from the garden - quartered
5 basil leaves - chopped
hand full of fresh cut chives - chopped
3-4 Thai basil leaves - chopped
1 jalapeno - chopped

i shredded my chicken with the help of Helga (my Kitchenaid), and just dumped in everything else in order and let Helga do the mixin'.  pop it in the fridge for an hour or so to get nice and chilled, then spread a spoonful or so onto some sourdough bread.  delish.  

Stuffed Peppers

I started a running club.  We get together once a week at the local high school track and run/walk/jog laps around the track.  the last lap or so we tend to walk in a pack and today we got to talking about our food intake.  I told the guys about what i'd made for dinner tonight and they asked for the recipe.  so i decided to post it here for all to see.  here you go.  enjoy!



Stuffed Peppers

1lb turkey breakfast sausage
4 green peppers
2 jalapenos
5-6 cherry tomatoes
2 cups of cooked kidney beans (or bean mix of your choice)
5-6 basil leaves
4-5 Thai basil leaves
handfull of chives
1 container of part skim ricotta cheese
4 slices of pepper jack cheese (or provalone, or go cheeseless)

preheat oven to 350

cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the insides.  dice the fleshy part of the tops that you just cut off and set asside.  brown the sausage, add the beans and diced pepper.  dice the jalapenos, cut the cherry tomatoes in half or quarters, and dice the herbs.  add to the pan with the sausage/bean mix.  add the container of ricotta cheese.  when the ricotta is melty, scoop some of the mixture in each pepper, and top with the pepper jack.  pop in the oven for 10 min, just enough to get the cheese melted.

eat.

long term planing

the second raised bed was put together today.  it was the first time i've used the circular saw.  im very proud of myself right now.  i have crossed over into the realm of tool geek.  im awesome.

there isn't any dirt in bed two, but that's not a problem.  i'll be getting 5 fifty pound bags of topsoil a day and putting them in the bed a little at a time.  that way i won't get too burned out, and it won't take a whole day to fill up the bed.  so it's time for a little long term planing.

i've got 3 types of tomatoes, 2 pepper plants (jalapenos, both), 2 types of basil, and a thyme plant in.  i'll be adding to the 'plant stash' once the dirt is in the beds.  that will take care of my summer crop.  once fall hits i'll be planting spinach (note to self, get spinach seeds) and garlic.  i'm going to build a couple of cold frames to cover the beds for the winter so i can extend the growing season.

i'm also going to learn how to can stuff.  i've wanted to for a long time.  i'm hoping to get a couple of friends to come over and can with me, so we can mix and match stuff, that way we can all have not only the stuff we grew, but also stuff that other people grew.  that and i want to make my own salsa.

between that and starting seedlings indoors next spring, i'm hoping that i'll be able to make a years worth of food out of my own garden starting (slowly) now.  

Mutual

Welcome to the Spank Out Day 2012 Carnival

This post was written for inclusion in the Second Annual Spank Out Day Carnival hosted by Zoie at TouchstoneZ. Spank Out Day was created by The Center for Effective Discipline to give attention to the need to end corporal punishment of children and to promote non-violent ways of teaching children appropriate behavior. All parents, guardians, and caregivers are encouraged to refrain from hitting children on April 30th each year, and to seek alternative methods of discipline through programs available in community agencies, churches and schools. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

***



I was spanked as a child. I wasn't beaten,  I wasn't abused. My parents didn't terrorize me. My sister....... Anyway. So Hubby and I never has anything set in mind when we had BamBam.

I guess I always thought that I'd do the same as my parents did.  But I haven't.  Its not that I have negative connotations associated with spanking, I don't.  As I said, I was not scarred in any way.  but the more I get to now my little man, the more he is exactly that... a little man.  He is deserving of love and peace, but most of all respect.

I respect my children. They are willful, and imaginative, and wonderful. They deserve respect. Part of respecting them is to practice peaceful parenting. We don't hit. We use time outs, redirection, and explanations. And I honestly believe that that respect will serve them well. Being respected will allow them to respect others more. And that's really the jest of it, isn't it? Knowing your loved and respected.  That's what everyone wants.




Welcome to the Spank Out Day 2012 Carnival

This post was written for inclusion in the Second Annual Spank Out Day Carnival hosted by Zoie at TouchstoneZ. Spank Out Day was created by The Center for Effective Discipline to give attention to the need to end corporal punishment of children and to promote non-violent ways of teaching children appropriate behavior. All parents, guardians, and caregivers are encouraged to refrain from hitting children on April 30th each year, and to seek alternative methods of discipline through programs available in community agencies, churches and schools. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

***

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a quiet moment in time

BamBam is napping.  On the dog bed of all places.  Hubby is playing modern warfare. And I'm listing a (another) kitchen redo. This time its entirely likely that it will be a total overhaul.  Spearheaded by yours truly.


I'm not going to take it down to the bare bones, but its probable that it will be unusable for a day or so.  here's the list:

Refinish cabinets to a antique white

Repaint/Replace counter tops

Scrape off old peel and stick floor

Replace with pine laminate

Replace defunct overhead fan with a light that.... lights

Build wine storage in the cabinet we dont use

Re paint

Possible under cabinet lighting

So, yeah, thats totally doable, right?

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