Peasoup Gallery

Tomato Lover

2009-10-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I looked out the large window that over looks my backyard tomato patch. I do this every morning to check for the hint of red that lets me know that romas, better boys or brandywines are to be on the menu that day. This very morning I did happen to see red out my window, but it wasn't the beautiful red skin that I was used to seeing. It was deep red flesh! I clearly saw the insides of one of my better boy tomatoes. "How horrible", I thought to myself, "a deer must have gotten past my fence". I knew this first assumption didn't make any sense, I mean...why would the deer not devastate my peppers? And why didn't they finish off the snack? I went along my usual morning business and went outside to water my plants. And that's when I found out for sure that it wasn't the deer that loved my tomato. It was a tomato worm!

The season is coming to a close and I found that finding this tomato worm was not as disappointing as it would have been earlier in the season. I decided to let the big guy feast on the tomato plant that he clung to...at least for the day. I have not decided what I am going to do with him after that. No worries though. I doubt this will be his last meal, though my tomatoes have proved to be a worthy one.

Pasta-rific

2009-10-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

I love making lasagna. There's just something about the pasta, meat, sauce and cheese combo that makes my mouth water and my heart warm.

A few years ago Chad and I picked up a pasta maker at a Sunday yard sale. It was the best $2 I've ever spent! I even found a ravioli mold at one of our local thrift stores! I started making pasta (and ravioli) like crazy. It was fun to make fresh pasta and I got a workout at the same time. The only downfall was that I wasn't a pro at it. So I would usually find my day gone after only making a few batches. That all changed when Chad, the sweetheart he is, bought me my Kitchenaid mixer. Can you hear the harps and angels singing?

Needless to say this took my pasta making to a whole new level. Kitchenaid makes a great mixer and they have lots of attachments available to buy. The first attachments I got were the pasta attachments. It came in a set of three. A flat roller, a fettuccine roller and a spaghetti roller. Here you'll see I used the flat roller to shape the dough into long sheets for my lasagna. Then all the leftover sheets I fed through the fettuccine roller.

Lasagna Noodles:
2 cups White Flour
2 Cups Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
Fresh herbs (oregano and basil)
Garlic
4 Eggs
4 TBS Olive Oil
2 TBS water

I mixed everything together in the blender until it was nice and crumbly. Sometimes you have to adjust the amount of water to get the consistency you want. Too much water and you'll have a sticky dough that you can't work with. Too little and the dough will be too crumbly and won't hold. You have to get it just right.

I got mine to how I wanted it. I took a handful and pressed the soft crumbs together to form a ball. I worked the ball for about a minute and then put it on my counter to roll out. I rolled it out thin enough to go through the largest setting on my flat roller. Then the process starts. I usually do a couple turns through the first setting. Then I move to a thinner setting, putting the dough through once. I then fold the flattened dough to form a rectangle and then put it through the larger setting again (this gets the final shape I want). Then I put it through the lower setting again. The result is a long section of dough that you can cut or put through another attachment. I kept most of the sections the way they were so that I could use them for my lasagna. But the rest I put through the fettuccine roller.

I left the pasta out to dry, but then decided to freeze it instead. I was going to use it in a couple days anyway, so there was really no use drying it.

And that's about it. I feel like I am forgetting something, but I am sure it will come to me later.

...coming soon...LASAGNA

Cause it makes me laugh!

2009-10-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

From the mouth of Kenneth Parcell, 30 Rock

Random Kenneth Quotes

"Science was my favorite subject. Especially the Old Testament."
"Are you pickling squirrel meat? Cause I can lend you my skullpresser."
[betting on a bad hand] "Why? Because I believe life is for the living. I believe in taking risks and biting off more than you can chew. And also, people were yelling and I got confused about the rules."
[on coffee] "I love how it makes me feel. It's like my heart is trying to hug my brain"
"That lady you European-kissed last night was actually a gentleman."
"We lose half the congregation every time American Idol starts up."

Warning Pete about the perils of dancing: “Do you remember the movie Footloose, where those evil kids won in the end? You’re going to make a mistake tonight.”

Refusing free coffee: “I don’t drink hot liquids of any kind. That’s the Devil’s temperature!”

Excited about finally having cable: “There’s a whole channel on the cable that just tells you what’s on the other channels!”

Describing how he spends his savings: “I’ve had to send more money home lately. There are problems on the farm. After years of inbreeding, the pigs are getting violent, and the pig shield around the house has worn thin.”

Trying to seduce Tracy’s wife: “I like your top. I’m a real good sex person. I do it all the different ways.”

After Dot Com tells him they need to talk: “Oh, I’ve had this conversation before. You’re marrying my mom, aren’t you?”

On special treatment for the disabled: “I wouldn’t have this job if it wasn’t for the mouth in my back.”

S-ss-ss-ss-alad Time!

2009-09-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

I have been addicted to getting Southwestern Chicken Salads whenever we go out for fast food. So I decided to make one of my own. This is the second time I made this, and it turned out better than my first attempt! Chad is not much of a veggie person, but he has started to really appreciate a good salad! Go Salads!!

Southwestern Chicken Salad
2 romaine hearts all chopped up
3 small precooked chicken breast - cut into strips
1 can Southwestern Corn (Ho-Ho-Ho...Green Giant)
1 tomato - diced (from my garden)
1 avocado - sliced
shredded cheese - Not much, I just put it on for color.
tortilla chips - crunched up
Briannas Chipotle Cheddar Dressing (my favorite)

I assembled the salads for everyone and let them put the dressing of their choice on their salads. I used the Chipotle Cheddar because it ROCKS with this salad. Chad and Alexis went for the Zesty French...also made by Briannas. Once you go Briannas, you won't go back. It's true.

I love getting precooked chicken breasts that are frozen. You just pop them in the microwave and VIOLA! They are great for pastas.....and of course, SALADS!

Something comforting

2009-09-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

It's the holiday weekend, but no relaxing BBQs for us. Alexis has softball games the entire weekend...but Chad was nice enough to let me stay home today. I got quite a bit done. It's always nice to have the house to myself every now and again.

I was really in the mood to make tacos tonight, but for some reason I passed up that idea for something a little more comforting. I went the cupboards to make sure that I had everything I needed for a hearty pasta dish. It was my lucky day!! So here is a quick run through of what I did.

Comforting Goulash
1-lb of lean ground turkey
1-lb of ground sausage
1 small onion (diced)
1 cup mushrooms (sliced)
1 red pepper (diced)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
several turns of the pepper mill
1 (14oz) can of diced tomatoes
1 (14oz) can of diced tomatoes (with basil and oregano)
1 (24oz) can of tomato sauce
fresh basil
fresh oregano
1 box of gemelli pasta

I browned the turkey and sausage until it was cooked almost completely. I then added the onion, mushroom, red pepper, garlic and pepper. I let all that cook until the onions started to get translucent and opened the cans of the diced tomatoes and sauce. (I am a diced tomato addict! This is one thing that I am sure to have on hand at all times. They are great for soups, sauces and even salsa! I cant wait until I can start canning my own!) Then I hopped over to my window sill and pulled off some fresh basil and oregano (another great thing to have on hand) from my plants. I tore up the leaves and added them to my sauce. It was starting to smell wonderful!

I made the box of pasta as directed, but cut about 4 minutes from the cooking time. I wanted to leave the pasta a little undercooked so that it would finish in the sauce. I drained the pasta and tossed it in with all the other ingredients.

My mom used to make goulash all the time. I remember she used to use a can of tomato juice and she always used the macaroni noodles. This was always one of my favorite meals! Can't really go wrong with pasta, meat and tomatoes.

Woot! It's now on the kitchen stove on low heat. Chad, Alexis and Brandi (friend of Alexis) will be home in about half an hour. So it worked out perfectly! I plan on making some garlic bread to go with the pasta. I hope that everyone else finds it as comforting as I do.

2009-09-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

We've been eating out way too much lately. It's always bad when our daughter, Alexis, has something going on. Right now it's softball and highschool. These activities usually require me to take on the roll of the taxi driver rather than the cook. However, tonight I made it a goal to be both! I served a quick and easy meal that satisfied everyone!

Easy-Peasy Chicken Legs: (okay, you might not find peasy in the Merriam-Webster dictionary...but I'm sure it's in the Urban one!)
Oven at 350 degrees
6 Chicken Legs (rinsed and pat dry)
6 thin slices of butter
garlic
smoked paprika
pepper

Side #1
3 red potatoes
3 thin slices of butter

Side #2
Green Beans and Almonds

Okay, this is going to be simple. I put the rinsed and dried legs in a 8x8 casserole dish. I put some minced garlic over each leg and gave them a little massage. I laid one slice of butter on each leg, a little bit goes a long way. I then sprinkled on some smoked paprika. (I got this paprika for some deviled eggs I made awhile back. I don't think I'll ever go back to that plain ol' stuff I used to get!) I take my pepper mill and do a few turns over each leg. These legs are looking mighty fine!! (ZZ-top song now fills my head.) "Shes got legs, she knows how to use them."

Anyway, I throw the casserole dish with my speckled chicken legs into the oven. Now I move onto my side dishes. I decided to go with baked potatoes...I told you I was doing it easy tonight! I picked out 3 red potatoes from the bag and I rinsed them under the cold water. I then got my hand-dandy foil out and pulled off three pieces. I placed a potato on each sheet and cut a slit in the top of each. I put a slice of butter on each potato and then closed them up. I threw them into the oven next to my chicken legs. I let all of that cook for 45 minutes and then pulled them out of the oven.

Now all I needed was a veggie. I decided to go with the green beans and almonds from General Mills. I have to say that I love these things! They are easy, only takes 5 minutes in the microwave and taste so much better than canned.

That was my easy (peasy) dinner. Actually I think it took more time to write all this down than it did to prep everything! But this keeps me on my toes...and I am learning things in the process. Like how much I love to use butter!! haha

Thrifty

2009-08-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

Alexis had a scrimmage game against another softball team today so I had the whole house to myself. I blogged earlier about my the game hens I cooked for dinner on the 27th. Well, 4 Cornish Game Hens for 3 people left us with a lot of leftover chicken. So today I spent a lot of time in the kitchen being THRIFTY!

As I was looking in my cupboards for inspiration two little, magical chefs appeared on my shoulders. I bet you'd like to know what kinda stuff I have in my cupboard, right?! I promise there are no magic mushrooms or anything of the sort in there. Anyway, these two little chefs...okay, there were no chefs. But those two chefs represent what I was pondering for the chicken! On one hand I knew I could make the old standard, Chicken Salad! It's always great to have a light sandwich for lunch and it couldn't be easier! But the other "shoulder" had a different idea. Chicken Tortilla Soup. My mind started to reel! What should I do? I decided to take the chicken out of the fridge and have a look at what I had to work with. You know what I found? I found I had enough chicken to do both! I felt those little chefs dancing for joy as I hopped around the kitchen gathering the ingredients for my first meal.

I decided to start with the chicken tortilla soup. I figured that Alexis and Chad would be wore out from sitting in the hot sun and would be in need of some comforting food. Soup might not be the best for a hot day, so I turned a couple fans on and put the air down to 74 to set the mood.

Chicken Tortilla Soup: Okay, I admit that I make this often. But never the same way twice. I like to scavenge through the kitchen and just throw stuff together.

1 box of Spanish rice (I usually use this as a base for the soup, it has a great spice and I LOVE rice)
8 cups chicken broth (from bouillon cubes..if I had been thinking ahead I could have boiled down some the chicken parts a couple days ago for the broth)
1 onion
1/2 red pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes with zesty jalapenos
1 can of diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions
pepper
cumin
black beans (leftover from a southwestern salad I made a couple nights ago)
About 3 cups leftover chicken, cubed

There's not really much to this one. I kinda just throw it all together. Today I started with the rice and broth and let it cook until the rice was about done. Then I threw in the onion, red pepper, tomatoes and spices. I let all that stuff cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat and then I threw in the beans and chicken. I ended up adding more pepper after I tasted the juice, but oh my it was tasty!!

I then moved onto my Chicken Salad!

Chicken Salad: This took only a few minutes! I absolutely love my Cuisinart Smart Stick. This baby has been with me for awhile now and has made my life so much easier.

rest of leftover chicken (maybe 2 cups)
1-1/2 stalks of celery
1/2 small onion
1/4 cup mayo

I put the leftover chicken into the food processor attachment on my Cuisinart Smart Stick and chopped it up pretty fine and emptied it all out into a bowl. I then put the stalks of celery and the small onion into the processor and did the same thing to them. From there I put everything in the bowl and mixed it up! No rocket science here!

I finished a little after noon and started to feel pretty proud of myself! I decided to let the soup simmer until Chad and Alexis got here...

...ring
ring...
...ring

Me: "Hello"
Alexis: "Hey. We are at Taco Bell, what do you want"
Me: *sighs* "I made lunch for us."
Alexis: *silence*
Me: "Get me a Burrito Supreme."

Tonight's menu:
Leftover Chicken Tortilla Soup

Home Schooling

2009-08-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

The other night I came to a realization about my childhood. You might be thinking, "Oh no! Not another self-journey story". And you're right...but it's not like the journey you read about most often.

I had this realization a couple days ago while cooking beautiful Cornish Game Hens. I was standing there in my kitchen, patting dry the hens and placing them in the roasting pan. At that exact moment my brain flashed back to my childhood. I drifted back and tried to picture what my mom might do with these hens. What would she put on them? For a little back story, my parents anniversary was to be the very next day, so my thoughts might have been prompted by missing my dad and being so far away from mom when I know alone she must feel. Either way my realization was this; that I couldn't think of exactly what my mom would do with the hens. Why couldn't I put myself in my mom's apron? Well, the only answer I could come up with was that, like most kids, I wasn't as intent on watching my mom make dinner. I was more focused on the smells that filled the house and of course the end result..YUM. So now, here I am. I'm 32 year old wife and mother and I am just now getting into the hang of things in the kitchen and desperately wishing I had paid a little more attention.

Where would I be if I had watched less TV and watched my mom instead? I probably wouldn't be as good at 80s trivia, for one. If I had been at my mom's side I am pretty sure I would have a lot more confidence in the kitchen and I'd know more about food than I do now. But most importantly I would have more memories and a bond with my family that would close the distance between us every time I made something from my childhood. It will be something I'll always regret and miss. It's ironic that I spent 22 years under my parents' roof and while a lot of my memories take place in the kitchen, most of what my mom (and my dad) cooked there, in that very kitchen, is lost to the past.

All of this left me with a deep sadness until I came to another realization (hey, I'm on a roll). I may have regrets about not paying attention to my mom and dad in the kitchen, but there is something I can do for the future. For my kids' future, and perhaps to start that self-journey for myself, I've decided to do an online blog of my cooking.

With that in mind here's my first entry!

Cornish Game Hens: made on Thursday, August 29th, 2009

4 Game Hens
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 onion
1 apple
toothpicks
minced garlic
salt and pepper
1/4 cup butter
a few pinches of fresh basil
1 cup chicken stock

Oven was set at 350 degrees.
I rinsed and dried the game hens and placed them onto the rack in my Kitchenaid roasting pan. I cut up all the veggies and the apple into chunks and stuffed a little bit of each into the cavity of the hen (cavity seems like such a gross word). Anyway, I stuffed those hens as full as I could and closed up the cavity by crossing the legs of the hen over the opening and sticking a toothpick through the legs to make them stay. Usually you can truss them with string, but I improvised with the toothpicks. (Alexis actually gave me this idea when I ran into this problem a few months back with a turkey. She suggested I use kabob skewers since I didn't have any string. Worked like a charm! Now I like to stab things with wooden objects. Watch out, Buffy Summers!! I'm the new Chosen One!) So, my birds are stuffed and sitting nicely in my pan. Now I decide to throw some stuff on top of them. I go for the garlic first. I rub about a 3/4 teaspoon of minced garlic all over my un-feathered friends. Then I grab the salt and pepper mills and do about one turn of salt for each hen and a few turns of pepper on each. Oh, they were looking good! (I almost took a picture, but I thought it was a little morbid at the time.) Okay, then I took the butter and cut it into 4 slices and placed a slice on each hen. I almost stopped there...but then I saw that my basil needed a little pinching! I pinched off quite a few of them and tore them up and threw on top of the hens! I was almost done, but I didn't want my little birdies to dry out, so I put about a cup of chicken broth in the bottom of the pan. Voila! Those bad GIRLS were ready to go in the oven.

They ended up cooking for about an hour and fifteen minutes.

By luck the hens were so pretty that I decided to take a picture of them! So that's another reason they are the subject of my first food blog!