and so it begins.....

     Welcome to my blog. I'm trying to phase out another blog I had (http://letstrythese.blogspot.com)I had going all about food and thought that I would remain silent. Writing must be in my blood though (not grammar so please be kind!) as I find solace through writing. I don't think I have anything exactly profound to say... maybe it won't even be interesting to any one else but me...But I went to bed last night with this thought of a new Bible study I will be leading by Priscilla Shirer, on the book of Jonah.  I just love the title of her book; Life Interrupted:Navigating the Unexpected.  That is and has been my life in a nutshell...Life interrupted... the unexpected...
      My life is typical of everyone else's life.  As the book of Ecclesiastes has taught me, there is nothing new under the sun.  Will my life may have different twists than yours, I also know that your life has been its own fun filled twisted journey.  We go through our lives facing the unexpected.  Sometimes those unexpected things are just a minor glitch while other times they are a major interruption!
     This past year has been one interruption after another: Three surgeries in seven months, a child going through divorce, medical bills, adult children moving back home (one hasn't left yet as he has Asperger's Syndrome, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, OCD and the list goes on).  Chaos abounds most days but I know that God is strong enough to handle everything!
     I'm married 27 years to the most amazing man(such a cliche, I know. But he really is!) and have three grown children plus one absolutely adorable grand sweetie.  The oldest is one of two sons and is looking for employment. Our middle child is the lone daughter and then there is our youngest who is the remaining son.
     My husband and I are part of several ministries in our church.  We are especially active in children's ministries where together we teach the First and Second grade Sunday school class.  Love love love those kids, 'nuff said :-)  I also direct our weekly preschool AWANA Cubbies program, run the nursery, teach Bible studies and do whatever else God leads me to.

Part of the fun of teaching is decorating the classroom.  We change it up a few times a year but here are some pics of the classroom decorated right now:

idea from Pinterest

     I'm so excited about starting this blog... I look forward to meeting with those who choose to join me on this crazy ride!
Vivian
Galatians 5:5

Pinned there, done that: Baked sweet and sour chicken

This weeks Pinned there, done that recipe is from Life as a Lofthouse: Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken.  Its a fairly new pin for me but I needed to find another chicken dish to round out this month's menu.  When I pinned this, the comment stated that it was very addictive... It is very good, not exactly addictive, but very good.  Be sure to click here for the original recipe.  I switched it up some in the spice area but kept to the cooking concept.  I actually increased my chicken amount from her recipe but I didn't double all the ingredients.  For some reason I just felt that 1 1/2 cups sugar would be a bit much!  I am also hesitant to call this a "baked" recipe since it does require some partial frying.  I'll call mine Semi-baked... or maybe it should be half baked... you decide.

Semi-Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

For the chicken coating:

6 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 teaspoon salt + pepper

11/2 cups cornstarch

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 eggs, beaten 

1/4 cup canola oil

For the Sweet and Sour Sauce:

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

3/4 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Combine the cornstarch, salt, pepper,garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne. I missed the instruction part when it said, "Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs."  I actually reversed the method and did the eggs first then into the cornstarch... it worked out perfectly.    Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook chicken until lightly browned but not cooked through.  Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish (I lightly spritzed with cooking spray) and place in browned chicken pieces. Put all of the sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl, mix together with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. The ingredients said to bake for one hour, but ours was done in thirty minutes.  I stirred the chicken twice during the baking time. 

Serve with rice and side vegetable.

Pinned there, done that challenge #1 - Hearty Black Bean Quesadillas with Lazy Spanish Rice

Sorry about the lack of blogging this summer.  Too much medical rubbish made for little blogging enthusiasm.   I was struggling with keeping the whole joy thing,  There has been much to be joyful about this summer, too... friends having babies, weddings, showers.... numerous cupcakes for the various events. Then Hubby and I took an amazing trip to San Francisco together.  He is an awesome traveling companion!

I'm a huge fan of Pinterest (perhaps addict would be the better word) but while pinning is fun, it will be much more fulfilling to actually do the recipes and projects I have pinned.  Therefore, I will be adding a new feature, "Pinned there, done that."  It will be a way to highlight many of the great ideas out there on Pinterest. And I don't know about you but I while I know that most all of the projects "pinned" are done by actual people, I like to know what ones can actually be done by amateurs, like me. I hope you will join me in our new adventure.
There are some other changes to come.  I hope you will continue to hang out with me!

Tonight I made a recipe I had pinned from BudgetBytes.blogspot.com (I have it pinned on my healthy cooking board).  I loved the idea of making a hearty black bean quesadilla!  I made them fairly close to her recipe but served with a side of creamy jalapeno ranch dressing that I made up.  Yummers! While it was filling enough to eat just the quesadilla (especially for mom and I) I served some lazy Spanish rice for the hubby and the boys to make it even more hearty.  Budget Bytes is an awesome blog and has several things I've pinned along the way.  Visit her site and share some blogger love :-)

  
 Fiesta Quesadillas
adapted from hearty black bean quesadillas by BudgetBytes.blogspot.com

2 cups frozen corn (thawed)
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 packages taco seasoning
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
1 tablespoon bacon grease, optional
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup chicken broth, or water
10 whole wheat tortillas
2 cup cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese blend

In a large skillet,heat bacon grease over medium heat and add corn, onion and garlic; allow corn to slightly char and onions and garlic to lightly brown.  Add black beans, cilantro and taco seasoning, add broth (I felt this allowed the mixture to be less dry but is totally optional) and let simmer for fifteen minutes.

To assemble:
I like to slightly warm my tortillas to work with them.... especially if they have been in the fridge...
On half the tortilla add sprinkle some cheese (the amount is up to you... I used less than 1/4 cup per quesadilla) top with 1/2 cup bean mixture and sprinkle with a bit more cheese; fold over.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.  They can now be frozen once they are assembled.

I didn't freeze any as I made half of them and used the remaining black bean mixture with Spanish rice side dish I had made for a future casserole.
For cooking the quesadilla, I lightly sprayed a skillet with cooking spray and allowed the quesadilla to crisp up a bit.


Lazy Spanish Rice
1 cup long grain rice
2 cans Campbell's tomato soup
2 1/2 cups water
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 pound hamburger
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium skillet, over medium heat, brown hamburger and onion; drain off excess grease.
In a 2 quart casserole dish, add rice, tomato soup, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin and salt; mix together and add water.  To the rice mixture add the hamburger and onion mix and stir together to completely mix.  Cover and cook in microwave on high heat for ten minutes; cook for another fifteen minutes on half power (I have to use power fifty on my microwave).  Let set for five minutes then uncover, stir and serve.

Crazy Cooking Challenge: Roasted Jalapeno Ranch Dressing

We have the New and Improved Crazy Cooking Challenge this month.  One of the changes is that we are now able to use any recipe, not just a recipe from another "unprofessional" blog or we can create our own recipe.  That's the option I used for this last minute challenge; my own creation of Jalapeno Ranch Dressing.  Is it all that original?? I doubt it.  I mean, face it - there are just so many ways one can make ranch dressing.  I think I would have liked a little more oomph to it but since I need to be also preparing food my hubby will eat this worked out nicely.
 I served it over some bean quesadillas and thought it was the perfect addition to them.

Roasted Jalapeno Ranch Dressing

Makes a bit over 1/2 cup

1 to 2  roasted jalapenos, seeded

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon dried dill

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2-3 Tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

kosher salt, to taste

In a food processor, or blender, place in all ingredients and process until smooth.

candied lemons

I had a huge wedding order for both cupcakes and a wedding cake.  Her colors were yellow and green and the entire decor just suited her perfectly!  Since we were going to do the lemon cupcake with lemon curd filling I needed to do something for the decoration; candied lemon.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and was pretty gosh darn tasty.  My only problem was getting them to dry.  Even after fifteen hours they were still very, very sticky so I put them into my dehydrator and dried them that way.  I was quite pleased with the results and my mom hasn't been able to keep her hands off the left overs.

To candy the lemon I followed the directions from here.  Here are some tips I learned along the way:
Make sure your pieces of lemon are even.  I used my mandolin and did they 1/8 inch thick as it didn't seem to mangle them as much.
I would blanch the lemon longer than one minute.  The peel was very tough and I think the extra blanching time (maybe a minute longer) would help that out.
I have a glass top stove and my first batch cooked in the sugar water absolutely burned.  It was NASTY! Throughout the remaining batches I had to keep a very close eye on things.  The second I started to see it getting even slightly bubbly, I turned off the heat to let things cool down.  The process still only took a bit over an hour but it certainly saved things from burning and browning.

Oven Corn on the Cob with Molasses Cilantro butter

  Nope... I have drifted off into the wild blue blog-o-sphere.  I'm still here!  I've had a few rough months and blogging is the last thing I've had on my mind.  I've got yet another surgery coming up this Tuesday and hopefully that will bring me some much needed relief from pain.
I'm still facing eating challenges but its slowly improving.  I've not done much cooking... lack of appetite, pain and eating issues just killed my desire.  Unfortunately, its also played havoc on our finances!  Time for me to get my but in gear and start making meals for the family again and staying on budget.
Yesterday was another hot and muggy day... perfect burger weather!  Homemade hamburgers are THE best.  I would rather have a burger cooked on the grill at home than any fast food or restaurant burger.  Maybe its the touch of my husband... man, does he cook a good burger!  I had some corn on the cob and tried a new technique; for me it was a new technique. It was pretty darn good corn!

Keep the corn in its husk and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  I just laid the corn straight on the oven racks; no sense getting more dishes dirty!  Let the corn cook for thirty minutes.  Remove from the oven and shuck.  Easy Peasy.

I was going to leave it like that but figured for my blogging friends I would go the extra mile... hey! You're worth it!  I found a recipe for a Molasses Cilantro Butter and while it looked icky (sorry, brown is just not the eye appealing color for food unless its chocolate!) the flavor was a nice touch to the sweet corn.

I found the original recipe here at delish.com    I had to substitute dried cilantro for the fresh since mine isn't growing too well yet and I really wanted that molasses flavor so I upped the amount.  
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon molasses (it originally calls for 1 teaspoon)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried cilantro

Combine ingredients to blend completely.  The recipe says it makes enough for eight ears of corn.  We used about a teaspoon on the butter mix per ear of corn.  We really liked the extra molasses addition but I think starting off with the 1 teaspoon and adding more to taste would be ideal for most people.

Secret Recipe Club: Crumbs and Chaos Butterfinger grape salad

 

This month I had the honor of stalking the wonderful blog of Crumbs and Chaos for my Secret Recipe Club assignment. SRC pairs us up with another blog which we must then challenge ourselves to make one of their recipes.

Crumbs and Chaos is a blog created by four sisters.I loved that they had an index for their recipes (look under Crumbs) and spent many an hour browsing through the recipes. I couldn't decide on one recipe, so I actually made two of them for our Fourth of July celebration: Cream Cheese Corn and her Candy Bar and Grape Salad

While we all enjoyed the creamy deliciousness of the corn, it was the grape salad that stole the show. The response went from "What?" To "Oh my gosh this is fabulous!"

I made a few changes: cutting the grapes to make it appropriate for my grand daughter and using vanilla and honey Greek yogurt, leaving out the sugar from the original recipe.



Butterfinger Grape Salad
adapted from Crumbs and Chaos
1 1/2 cups Red Grapes, cut into fourths (I did this because our grapes were HUGE and I had little ones eating)
1 1/2 cups Green Grapes, cut into fourths
4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
3 ounces Vanilla and Honey Greek Yogurt
2 reg. sized Butterfinger Candy Bars

Directions:
Rinse grapes and cut into fourths; Place into a large bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth and creamy. Pour mixture over grapes and stir, gently, to combine. Coarsely chop the Butterfingers candy bars and divide in half. Combine half to the salad and stir to mix in. Top with the remaining half prior to serving.
As an added note, this recipe did not really keep well since I cut the grapes into fourths. I added the cream cheese/yogurt mixture prior to serving to keep it from having to much liquid..

Cream Cheese Corn

from Crumbs and Chaos

1 pound frozen corn, thawed
3 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste ( I used scant half teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper)
paprika, optional for topping

Directions:
Cook corn according to package directions ( I like to steam mine in the microwave to retain all the nutrients!). If boiling the corn, drain off excess liquid after cooking. Add cream cheese and butter to cooked corn and stir in to combine. I had to microwave mine for an additional thirty seconds to get everything to cream up nicely. Add cayenne, salt and pepper and mix well. Top with Paprika, if desired. Best served warm.