My gas efficient car is not so gas efficient any more !!!! Blahhhhh
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Im Hooked. . .
Last week I posted about how Don and I were starting to read The Hunger Games Trilogy. Don finished ALL three books in 6 days. I am jealous… I wish I had the time to read that quickly, however I did finish the first book, The Hunger Games, early Sunday morning. I read for about four and a half hours on Saturday, and enjoyed every minute of the book. Sunday, I woke up around 7:30 a.m. and immediately finished the last 6 chapters I had left.
I have avoided the movie trailer every time it has come onto tv. I did not want to spoil the book while I was reading it. I got home today and watched the trailer. I cannot wait to see the movie THIS WEEK 
I also began reading the second book, Catching Fire. I have heard several different opinions regarding the second and the third books and which of them is more preferred over the others. I am looking forward to forming my own opinion… sooner than later… I hope!
Parmesan Crusted Chicken
I found another EASY chicken recipe from a fellow blogger whom I actually found through pinterest. I made this dish on Wednesday evening. It was quick, easy, and very few ingredients. Chicken is one of the few meats we constantly keep in the freezer. Apparently the recipe came from straight from the Hellmann’s website, which is A-okay with me because I love mayo and dont eat it often. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure how the recipe was going to go in my household due to the PICKY EATER we have here. I knew the word PARMESAN CHEESE would win him over quickly.
RECIPE:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Hellmann’s or Best Food’s Real Mayonnaise ( here in Florida we have Hellmann’s)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese ( publix has good fresh shredded parm)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 1 1/4 lbs. ( I used the amount we were going to eat, no waste.I am only cooking for 2)
4 teaspoons Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
Place mayo and cheese in a bowl, Mix together… WE LOVE CHEESE SO I ADDED EXTRA
Place chicken on a baking sheet, Spread mayo and cheese mixture over each chicken.
Cover the tops with bread crumbs.
Bake chicken at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.
I served the dish with potatoes. Mine sweet and Don had a regular.
If you need something quick, easy and few ingredients… this is a good recipe. The chicken came out very nice, NOT DRY. Next time I cook this i will serve it with a green veggie instead… Just my preference.
ENJOY THE WEEKEND !!!! Its a WHOPPING 87 degrees here in Orlando…
Backyard Project #3
We are almost done with our backyard. Its finally starting to look like alive instead of a desert with a huge water hole. JUST IN TIME FOR POOL WEATHER…. :0) We have primarily concentrated on the one corner you see in the pictures. The next project and hopefully the final project will be in another corner you really have not seen in the photos in project one OR two .
We finally picked up the remaining rock and pavors …oh! my! goodness! that was alottttttttt of rock. Don has a friend who owns a landscaping business. We decided to call him and ask for recommendations about sod and where to purchase. He was actually able to purchase the sod and bring it to us. We were very thankful as we do not have the appropriate vehicle to transport the layers of dirt, grass, ants and whatever else crawls through sod ( however we will soon 
)
Enough of the blabber, here is the start and the ‘finished’ backyard.
Finally looks like a back yard…. HAPPY HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE !!
I’m hungry for ….
The Hunger Games ;0) hehe
Like most, I have decided to read The Hunger Games ! We borrowed the trilogy from a friend of ours on Saturday . Don has finished the first book and in the middle of the second book -Catching Fire! I am starting the book tonight hoping to finish before Friday. I have heard the series is much like Twilight … In a sense that it is easy to read AND hard to put down ! Im looking forward to reading this book series. I definitely will post after reading 
Orange and Soy Glazed Ribs
This recipe came from my very first issue of Bon Appetit (Jan2012 issue). Its a unique spin on ribs. I love soy sauce but I do not get to eat it very much since Don is a picky eater. The one thing I will suggest about cooking this recipe is to make sure you buy good quality ribs OR else you will be spitting out pieces of fat throughout your meal. . . NOT APPETIZING.
( Photo Courtesy of Bon Appetit )
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 pounds baby back pork ribs, cut between bones into individual ribs (18–20 ribs)
- 1 cup soy sauce, divided
- 9 garlic cloves, minced, divided
- 5 teaspoons cumin seeds, divided
- 3 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes, divided
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 scallions (white and light-green parts separated from dark-green parts), finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice plus zest from 1 orange
- 3 tablespoons honey
- Zest from 1 lemon and 1 lime
Preparation
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Place ribs, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 3 minced garlic cloves, 2 tsp. cumin seeds, and 1 tsp. red pepper flakes in a large pot; add water to cover completely. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a simmer. Cover with lid ajar; cook until ribs are tender, about 2 hours. Drain ribs; set aside for 10 minutes.
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Meanwhile, heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat; add remaining 3 tsp. cumin seeds and 2 tsp. red pepper flakes. Toast lightly until fragrant, about 30 seconds; add remaining 6 minced garlic cloves and white and pale-green scallions. Sauté until just soft, about 2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup soy sauce, orange juice, and honey. Bring to a boil and cook until sauce is thick, 12–15 minutes. I did this when I had about 20-30 minutes left for the ribs to finish boiling.
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Preheat broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place ribs on prepared sheet; brush with sauce. Broil until sauce bubbles, 2–3 minutes. Turn, brush with additional sauce, and broil until ribs are heated through and sauce is bubbling, 2–3 minutes longer. Transfer to a platter. Drizzle with remaining sauce. Sprinkle dark-green scallions and citrus zest over.
I know my pictures don’t quiet look like the magazine photos, however the ribs were yummy. As you can see I made a side of white rice. I boiled the rice in beef broth ( just to get rid of it so it didnt spoil) and added a slight hint of soy sauce. I ll be honest, I think my beef broth was already spoiled OR the combination of beef broth and soy sauce just did not go together.. Plain ole white rice would have tasted better than that stale stuff… Ick….
Happy Monday People. Enjoy your week !
Our First DIY
One day I was sitting in our family room and got the itch to sand down the mantle and re stain OR paint it. I instantly pulled out our electric sander and began sanding. Don quickly stopped me so we could go to Home Depot to purchase all the items needed to finish this project. **Beware… the photos REALLY enhanced my wall color… i can assure you they are not that color***
When we started the project, we did not have a clue on how to stain wood. Naturally we asked the person at Home Depot what to purchase and the process of staining wood. He recommended paint stripper, prestain, stain and protective laquer.
We got home and instantly painted the mantle with the stripper. We both were a little excited that we weren’t going to have to put the leg work into sanding… boy were we wrong…or misinformed I should say
It only took off the clear laquer. The employee said it would strip the entire stain off the wood. I knew it sounded to good to be true…so for the next couple of days and a few curse words here and there, the mantle was fully sanded. For any one who is going to be sanding down any kind of wood with intricate grooves and frame work , I WOULD NOT SUGGEST USING THE PAINT STRIPPER ( Its really hard to remove from the small hard to reach areas).
After all of Dons hard relentless work, I was second guessing whether I wanted to stain the mantle OR paint it white to match the molding around the floors. Three people suggested to paint it white. One of those three being an interior designer. Well… Dons mother is also an interior designer and suggested for us to stain the mantle. At this point I am going crazy and I literally have the rest of my work day to decide, because when I got home from work we were going to begin staining. I called Don and talked to him about it, He was very quick to state, we did not do all of that sanding just to paint the darn thing. I agreed and we were to continue our original plan.
We prestained and stained the mantle. Finally after a weeks worth of work we were getting to see what all this work was for.
I am really happy with how it turned out. The wood stain matches all the furniture we purchased for this room and adds richness. The tile on the other hand was done very poorly, and will need to be redone soon.
There were a few disadvantages to doing this …
1.We had freshly painted walls, during the sanding process the walls around the mantle were scratched and will need to be repainted ( See above photo) .
2.The tile within the mantle was so poorly done that the grout extends onto the mantle so when you are close up you can see stained grout.
3.Due to our lack of knowledge about staining, we purchased way to much pre stain and stain. We could have saved a few dollars knowing that a little goes along way. Oh well…
I am glad we ended up doing it, I am much happier with this mantle than the old mantle :0)
Happy Pi Day !!!
Twisted Snack
Don and I keep popcorn in the house on a regular basis. Its easy. Its quick and it can be relatively healthy compared to some other snacks! Its also always BOGO and the store.. with coupons and the sale ITS CHEAP :0)
I came across a recipe for buffalo popcorn. We both enjoy buffalo flavored food ..wings, dips, pizza, etc. We have been pretty lazy today due to the undecided weather here in Florida, sunny one minute, cloudy the next, pouring , then it starts all over. Instead of a full blown lunch, we have been snacky..cookies, cheese, AND buffalo popcorn
Recipe and Photo Courtesy of : Easy Recipes
I took the recipe and made it my own just a little bit however it stays pretty parallel with Easy Recipes.
My Directions:
Pop your favorite popcorn as directed.
I used 1/2 tsbsp of butter. Melted in a ramekin by microwave.
Add 1-2 tbsp of your favorite buffalo sauce. Our favorite is Texas Pete Buffalo Wing Sauce.
I tested it out in a separate bowl instead of ruining the bag of popcorn. Put desired amount of popcorn in bowl, use a spoon to pour over popcorn, using opposite hand to mix thoroughly. This helped the sauce to spread over the pop corn evenly and not letting the pop corn get soggy ( unfortunately some will )…Repeat until you have the amount of popcorn with the amount of buffalo sauce.
ENJOY !!!
I am glad to report my Saturday is not as bad as last Saturday . Have a great rest of the weekend
Kony2012
Everyone is talking about it. Over 64 million views over a few days. I had chills the entire time I watched it. Thanks to fellow bloggers and local radio shows, I had to find out what it was all about !
Please take the time to watch this video,become informed !
I pledged, will you ?
Chewy MnM Cookies !
Thanks Six Sisters for posting the recipe for homemade Chewy M&M Cookies. Although I did not NEED to be making any cookies to keep around the house, I had all the ingredients in the house and I was in a baking kind of mood… Why not?
Click photo or above link for recipe.
It only took my a few minutes to pull out my mixer and whip up these puppies. I gave don the job of placing the M&Ms on the dough balls before putting them in the oven. When I turned around he selectively paired blues/oranges and reds/yellows together. We are a house divided ..Seminoles and Gators of course (at least he thought of me.. I am the NOLE )
Anyways back to cookies… I decided to make slightly larger cookies then the recipe called for. I used a scoop. If i had to guess maybe equivalent to a TBSP. Of course I had to bake them longer also ( 15 +\- min.) As they came out of the oven I let them cool a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack… I tried hard to keep my salivary glands under control. I made a glass of milk and grabbed a cookie!!
I followed the recipe to a T, maybe not using as many M&Ms as called for but all the other ingredients were exact. I kind of thought they were a little salty.. Don even made a comment about the salt. Maybe that was the idea for this recipe..sweet AND savory ? I think the next time I try this recipe..yes there will be other batches …I will use 1/2 teaspoon of salt rather than a whole teaspoon…
Till then… Go make these cookies !! Yay tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!
