a good life: cooking

Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts

Monday, July 20, 2015

A Week in Pictures: 13 July - 19 July

7/13 - He shaves. This part is not a good look.

7/14 - I took Ivan & Jenelle bowling. It was so much fun. The girl was disheartened at first, when she was getting only gutter balls. This game ended with a total of 10 points and she was thrilled!

7/15 - We've been trying to grow okra for a few years, but it never does anything. Our weather has been really hot and I think we might actually get, oh, I don't know, 4 okra this year!

7/16 - Hannah was out of town with friends on her birthday, so when she returned I took her to get her license. She dropped me off and the gym and drove away. It was pretty surreal.

7/17 - Beautiful girl (and her new favorite shirt)!

7/18 - Got this old cookbook out and realized there are some really good recipes in here that I'd forgotten about!

7/19 - Checking out this year's farmer's market. We decided that 10am wasn't too early to eat a hot dog.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

A Week in Pictures: 22 March - 28 March

3/22 - Donald and Ivan went on an early morning hike. They left before dawn and made it to the top of Mt. Clemens in time to watch the sunrise. Ivan came home with a fist full of wildflowers for me. They lasted all week!

3/23 - Ivan's 8th grade drama group had their play on Monday. They created it themselves and it was very funny. Ivan got the lead and was a Star Wars loving video gamer named Ricky Jones. He had the whole school cracking up! He's a natural!

3/24 - I had a horrible cold that really knocked me out on Tuesday and Wednesday. The worst is over...but now I'm just annoying everyone with my cough!

3/25 - Hannah's high school spring break trip to France and Spain started on Wednesday. She knows I have self diagnosed "Passport Paranoia"! So...I get this!!

3/26 - Bubbles before school!

3/27 - I put together a menu of 12 meals and some extras. I grocery shopped for most of it on Friday and am thrilled that I have almost all the ingredients in the house ready to go! I can always hope we get a lot of leftovers out of this, but these days our meals don't seem to stretch quite as far!

3/28 - Getting ready for Wine & Cheese (at home) date night! It's when I really show off my excellent parenting skills and feed the kids pizza rolls, mac and cheese and carrot sticks!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Braces, Autumn, Cats and Apple Pie

I could win contests on the creativity of my blog post titles!

First!

Hannah got braces!

She was kind enough to take this selfie for me when the doctor stepped out for a few minutes...

And a more relaxed position...

They are only on the top teeth right now.

We go back in December to get the bottom set.

Very exciting!

Stay tuned and we'll show you the results in about two years.

Up until yesterday, we have had the most amazing fall weather!

And the colors have been brighter than I remember in Yakima!

Very cool mornings and evenings with beautiful sunny days and temperatures in the 70's.

But early Sunday morning a front blew in and took away the warm days - and most of the leaves off the trees as well.

With the cooler weather setting in, Sir Pounce takes advantage of warm cars as quickly as he can!

And finally - pie!

We have had the motherload of apples this year from our orchard friends!

I've made lots of applesauce and many many pies at the request of Ivan and Donald.

One night after a dinner out, Donald and I came home to see this...
He's even done some "dessert math" to prove that he has taken the first slice.

Soon after this pie had been eaten - I was told to please don't make any more apple pies for a while.

Not sure, but this could have been the fourth of fifth pie that those two had devoured in a couple of weeks.

And that's our start to the fall!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Hey Good Lookin'

Whatcha got cookin'?
Well - spaghetti and meatballs.

I have recently gotten back on track with asking my kids to choose a meal a week to plan and prepare - as much as they can do on their own anyway.

A week ago it was Jenelle's turn and she chose spaghetti and meatballs.
We found an easy and delicious homemade sauce recipe and a separate one for meatballs.
They were so good that I'm going to include them here for you...yes YOU!

Here's the chef of the week preparing our dinner.
Her favorite part of this is mixing it all together with her (clean) hands.

As you can see with the loose hair cascading down her shoulders, she's off to a good start including at least one hair in every dish like her mom does!
Nothing says "I love you" in a meal like a little bit of you!
Just teasing Granny and Grandpa who are going to be eating in our home in a month!
:)
Anyway...the meal turned out amazing!
I wish I had doubled the recipe!

Basic Tomato Sauce (adapted and only slightly changed from this recipe at Simply Recipes)

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 to 1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 28oz. can petite diced tomatoes, including the juice
1 8oz. can of tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery. Stir to coat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet and coo for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are softened and cooked through.

Remove the cover and add the minced garlic. Increase the heat to medium high. Cook garlic for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, including the juice. Add the tomato sauce and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a low simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered until thickened - about 15 minutes.

Authentic Italian Meatballs (adapted and only slightly changed from this recipe at Food.com)

1 lb ground beef
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl by hand.
Roll meatballs into 1.5" size balls.
Spray a 9x13" pan with cooking spray.
Lay meatballs in the pan in a single layer.
Bake in the oven until they are cooked through.
Add the meatballs to the simmering sauce.

Enjoy it all with some pasta, garlic bread and a veggie of your choice!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Our Easter Weekend

*I know...Easter has come and gone...I'm just late!!*

It started with an egg hunt at a local high school.
The morning was chilly, but the sun was out and it was going to be a pretty day.
Here's my hunters...

Notice anything?
Yes - Hannah decided that this year she wasn't going to hunt eggs.
Totally underestandable...but a bit sad too.
Not even candy could entice her!
The best part of egg hunts is watching kids in nice clothes holding pretty baskets run like crazy to get the loot!

Speaking of baskets - I love the ones they have used for so long.
I remember my childhood Easter basket too.
I had the same one each year.
I see cute baskets in the stores every year but they can't replace these wicker treasures.
Jenelle's basket actually first belonged to Hannah.
Hannah used it to hunt eggs on her second Easter.

When we moved to England, some of our things hadn't arrived in time for Easter, so I found two baskets at a charity shop on the Cheltenham High Street.
I bought a few ribbons and little chicks at a craft store and pieced together a basket for Ivan

and Hannah

...giving Jenelle Hannah's original.
(Poor thing...story of her life!)
The little chicks were added on with a hot glue gun and I'm amazed that after 10 years and lots of use, they are still hanging on.

So Easter morning arrives

and the egg hunt begins!

Yep - Ivan needs a LOT of new pajamas - problem of skinny tummy and long legs!

This year Hannah didn't hunt the eggs herself, but she decorated eggs, helped Jenelle find some eggs, ate eggs and even made some delicious deviled eggs!

It was a beautiful day - one of the prettiest we've had in a long time!

Over the past 40 days of Lent, as a family we agreed (or were coerced - Jenelle and Ivan)
to give up meat entirely.
We did eat fish on Fridays while St. Joe's had its "Fish Fryday" fundraiser, but besides that we were meat free.
It was really not as difficult as anyone thought, and in fact, we plan to keep meat at a minimum in the future as well.
But - to "celebrate" our 40 days ending, we decided to go all out and Donald smoked ribs and that smell on Easter morning was amazing!!

A delicious "Bunny Butt Cake" topped off our yummy meal.

Jenelle is pretending to like it, but she really doesn't like coconut,

so we made her an individual cupcake with frosting and chocolate chips and Hannah even cut out hearts from the same candy that was on the cake.

And while I like the pictures above for presentation purposes, this is what we all agreed the bunny would really look like...

Yum!!
After dinner Jenelle played "Happy Birthday" on her viola for Grandpa who's birthday was the next day!

And speaking of Jenelle and her viola...watch for more news as summer approaches.
She has decided that she wants to be a part of the YYSO...the Yakima Youth Symphony Orchestra.
She has a scheduled audition on June 8th!