June...already!

Sorry I have been MIA! Just haven't been in the mood to be here plus just been so busy with so many other things...which spring brings. Finally, got all my flowers planted. There just was not the variety of flowers to buy as in years past...makes me wonder if alot of them came from places ravaged by hurricanes, flooding and other disasters. I must admit too that my nose has been in all of these wonderful food blogs here...OH MY! Where have I been all this time? There are so many wonderful ones to read and that I have. I have been working on getting all my recipes organized on discs and what an undertaking that has been. You know...the ones that you clipped 30 years ago? I still have a long way to go but I am determined that if the recipes sounds good then it must go on my organized discs. I have also been trying many of these recipes so that I can share them with you and continue to add to "my favorite recipes" cook book that one day I am gonna publish...if not publicly then at least give to my closest friends and family. LOL

I too planted some tomatoes in a big ol' pot and am happy to report that I have 4 fairly good size ones...plus for the first time I planted some gourd seeds in a big pot too. My friend, Penny from Canada sent me the seeds and I am so hopeful that I will get a few. They are spinner gourds, banana gourds, cannonball gourds and some other small ones so keep your fingers crossed for me. I have seen two leaves sprout up so I'm hopeful. Only been 10 days since I planted them so it will take some time. What fun to rush in from work and check on all my babies! LOL

My very favorite food blog right now is "The Pioneer Woman." This is the link to her blog.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

I know she has been around for a long time but I have always been the "last to know." I tried her husband's favorite sandwich last week along with these delightful loaded potato muffins that are on her "tasty kitchen" section and they made a wonderful meal. Here are the recipes in case you wanna give them a try. Enjoy! If you have never checked her out, please do coz she is so entertaining.

Marlboro Man Sandwich
1 whole large or two small onions, sliced (I used one big one)
2 sticks butter (I used only 1)
2-3 pounds cube steak, (I used 6)
Lawry’s seasoned salt, (I used Season All)
½ c. Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce, to taste (I used Frank’s hot sauce)
4 whole French/deli rolls (Earthgrain’s are Ree’s fave – I used Arnold’s Italian Steak Rolls)

Slice onions and cook in ¼ stick butter until soft and light brown. Remove and set aside. Slice cube steak against the grain. Season with Lawry’s. Heat 2 T. butter over high heat (in same skillet) until melted and beginning to brown. Add meat in single layer. Cook one side until brown, then flip and cook until brown, about a minute on both sides. Add ½ cup (at least) of Worcestershire sauce, 5-6 shakes Tabasco and 2 T. butter. Add cooked onions, stir to combine. Butter halved French rolls and brown in skillet (I buttered bread and broiled in oven until crisp). To assemble, lay bottom half of French roll on plate. Place meat mixture, followed by a spoonful of juice from the pan. Top with other half of roll, cut in half and devour!

Loaded Potato Muffins

Hand-held baked potatoes.

Ingredients
• 3 whole Russet Potatoes
• 1-½ cup Shredded Cheese, Plus More For Topping
• 2 Tablespoons Milk
• ⅓ cups Sour Cream
• ½ cups Chopped Onion
• 2 teaspoons Butter
• 1-½ teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 4 slices Cooked Bacon, Crumbled

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º.
Fry up your bacon until crispy and done. Set it aside to drain on a paper towel. In the same pan, add butter and saute onions. Make your potatoes like you like them, some bake them; I just chopped them up and skillet-fried them until they were done and golden. When potatoes have cooled down, mash them up a little and add cheese, milk, Worcestershire and sour cream. Stir to blend. Fold in the onions and bacon. Taste and season to your liking. Don’t forget the salt and pepper.
Spray your muffin pan with cooking spray and fill the tins evenly with potato mixture. Top with extra cheese. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on their tops.
This recipe makes 12 muffins.

Until next time!!!

Italy one week and Mexico the next...

Ever wake up in the morning and before your feet hit the floor you are already thinking about what you are gonna cook for dinner? That happened to me on Saturday and what I wanted I didn't even know if I had the ingredients or not but I was gonna make it work no matter what. Plus we were having a few people down to watch our precious University of Kentucky Wildcats play Vandy (GO CATS!!!) so I knew it had to be good food. I was craving Mexican. I have this delicious beef enchilada recipe that I think I got off of a can of enchilada sauce. It has been my "go to" recipe for enchiladas. After digging through my cabinets for all the ingredients it takes I didn't have one ingredient, salsa...can you believe it? Salsa of all things. So, I started digging for a recipe to make my own salsa...luckily found one that was EZ and I had all the ingredients for it. Was this a labor of love or craving or what? Made up the salsa recipe and let it sit 4 hours before I used it like the recipe said. Salsa was made before breakfast. You can either use store bought salsa like I usually do or you can try my EZ salsa recipe. I will have to say that the homemade salsa really gave the enchiladas that extra "kick" and some of the comments from my friends were that they tasted like "authentic" Mexican food...best compliment I could possibly get 'eh? Hope you enjoy this!

Mexican Beef Enchiladas
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
16 oz. salsa
1 garlic clove, minced
2 t. chili powder (I think this is the secret ingredient)
12 tortillas
(2) (10 oz.) cans red enchilada sauce (the recipe calls for only one but I love this stuff)
1-1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I usually use Mexican blend or Monterey Jack and cheddar)
Shredded lettuce
Sour cream

Heat oven to 350. In skillet, brown beef and onion; drain. In bowl, combine salsa, beef mixture, garlic and chili powder. Fill center of each tortilla with beef mixture. Roll up; place seam side down in greased 9x13 baking dish. Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 40 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve with shredded lettuce and sour cream. I love ranch dressing poured over mine, hubby likes guacamole.

EZ No Cook Salsa
2 cans (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes (I used 28 oz. can)
1 can (4 oz.) diced green chiles
1/4 c. thinly sliced green onions
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
2 T. lemon or lime juice
1/8 t. pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t. salt, to taste

Drain tomatoes, reserving 1/4 c. of juice. Combine tomatoes and juice with remaining ingredients. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.

Recipe Blog Land

Gosh, why am I always a day late and a dollar short? What rock have I been hiding under? Me? Miss Recipe Lover that I am? I have just entered recipe blog land...such a wonderful place to visit. I had no clue there were so many WONDERFUL food blogs out there! I just had to share a few that I've had my nose stuck into most of this week.

http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/

http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/

http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/

Why is it that you start out on one and then end up about 20 blogs down the road? I love that some of these blogs will show other places to visit by putting the link in blue and you end up even more lost in blog land.

Happy to report that I have printed off several new recipes to try in the next week so I will definitely post my review and share them with you after I do so. Can you believe that I am FINALLY even trying my hand at making homemade guacamole? Hubby loves the stuff and I'm not sure yet if I do. I have always thought it was the ugliest food out there so I would not try it. I will let you know if I am a guacamole follower after I make it this weekend.

Hope everyone has a most wonderful weekend!

My Own Italian Restaurant?

Yesterday I had a snow day (off work) and was in the mood to cook. As some of my friends and family know I have been on this quest for some time to find the perfect pizza crust. The reason for this is because I live in the boonies and can't order pizza to be delivered. Well, this may not be the perfect pizza but I will have to say that so far this one is in the lead. It holds together so well and the tip of pricking the crust and sprinkling olive oil on the crust before the first baking made it really crisp and wonderful. I got this off ourbestbites.com and will have to say that I'm pretty darn happy with this recipe. It made enough for two pizzas but since I had made hubby spaghetti already (and I was in the mood for pizza), I split the recipe and made one crust and used the rest to make breadsticks, using their garlic bread seasoning...all I can say is YUMMO! When hubby got home he was excited to have such an array of Italian food waiting for him. I felt like I had opened up an Italian restaurant or felt like Martha Stewart. LOL Can't wait to try more recipes off this wonderful website. Here is the recipe I used.

1-1/2 c. warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 T. sugar
1 T. yeast
1/2 t. kosher salt
3-4-1/2 c. flour

In large bowl combine water, sugar and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly. Add salt and stir. Add 1-1/2 c. flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (I used a little less than 3 cups - recipe says 3-4 cups)until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and barely sticks to fingers. Spray glass or metal bowl with PAM and place dough in bowl. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For pizza

Punch down dough. Spray pizza stone with Pam. Remove from bowl and place on pizza stone (recipes said to put it on a lightly floured surface). Roll out (my pizza roller from Pampered Chef really does the trick)dough to form a circle and pinch edges. Prick the dough with a fork all over. Drizzle crust with olive oil. Sprinkle garlic salt over dough. Bake 10-12 minutes. Take out of oven and spread layer of pizza sauce (I'm gonna try their homemade sauce next time and will give a review of it in the future - didn't have the ingredients), then toppings, ending with Mozzarella or Pizza cheese. Sprinkle with oregano (I didn't have oregano so I didn't get to taste that but will try next time). Bake 10-12 more minutes.

For breadsticks

Prepare dough per first paragraph. Spray baking sheet with Pam. On floured surface roll dough into triangle and cut into 12 strips with a pizza cutter. Roll each piece into a snake and twist. Place dough on baking sheet. Cover pan and allow dough to rise again for 30 minutes. Bake 10-12 minutes and brush on melted butter and sprinkle with the Garlic Bread Seasoning below:

Garlic Bread Seasoning
1/2 c. powdered parmesan cheese
2 t. kosher salt
2 T. garlic powder
2 t. oregano
2 t. basil
2 t. marjoram
2 t. parsley

Mix together and save in a shaker or empty spice bottle.

Visit to Eddie Montgomery's Steakhouse

Gosh, been snowed in for a few days and just got back to work today. Hubby and I took off work on Friday to enjoy a LONG Valentine's weekend. Met with a contractor to hopefully do some major remodeling on our home (can't even imagine what that estimate is gonna be like) and then hubby took me to Eddie Montgomery's Steakhouse that just opened up in December for lunch. I will have to say that it had one of the best burger's I have ever eaten...the beef was really good! Service has to get a little better but then it is fairly new so I'm sure they will work out all that in time. Such a beautiful place. Wish you could have joined me. It is made out of logs and it is just gorgeous (see picture above)! Rocky Top Log Furniture which is only about 5 miles from my home built it for them. If you ever get to come visit me, we will sure make the trip to grub out at this place. Is is only about 12-15 minutes from my home.

MIA...Sorry...just a piddlin'!

Sorry I have been missing in action...I guess this time of the year it is normal to shut yourself inside the house and do much of nothing, after all it is after the Christmas rush and that it was for me. All those ornament orders about did me in. I never want to be that busy again, thus, I'm trying to get a jump on things (like I promise myself every single January). It has been fun to just piddle (I love words, try to learn new ones all the time). Interesting, piddle...what is the definition of piddle? It says that the definition is:

To spend time aimlessly; diddle.

Yup...that would be me! You that know me know that just isn't in my makeup but it is time to get to unpiddling! I have managed to paint two of my thirty new ornament patterns so I guess I haven't been 100% piddling have I? Below are the two newest ones added to my Etsy shop.




Unfortunately, I did not make a new year's resolution to lose weight or to eat healthier. I am trying to get in that mode as swimsuit season will be here in about 4 months (always an issue). Time to do something. In the meantime, I want to share one of my favorite recipes that I have made ALOT lately. It was one of my dear mom's recipes and it is so EZ and so VERY good! The meat is just so tender! It is so good that I would make it for company and that is saying something. Whip you up some mashed potatoes and put a few of those Sister Shubert rolls in the oven and you have a most wonderful, fulfilling meal! When I cook and there are only two of us I always make enough for two meals so here ya go:

Mom's Round Steak with Gravy
2-3 large round steaks
2 jars beef gravy (original recipe called for 1 but I love it so much I use two)

Tenderize steak with steak tenderizer or by fork. Cut round steak into small pieces and place in baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Slice an onion thin and place over steak. Pour beef gravy over steak. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 2 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes.

I will try my best to get back here more often...just not had much to share I guess. Take care and have a wonderful 2010!

My Mom's Gingerbread Houses

Every Christmas my mom would make gingerbread houses. She would shop for different candies to use on them way before Christmas. She was such a talented lady. It was fun to watch them get bigger and fancier as the years passed. These are only a few that she has done, the only ones I could find quickly. In the one with the church she even made a dog house for her beloved "Skippy." I love the thought of her being with her precious furbaby as well as with mine.