Lauries Kitchen

Sunday, March 28, 2010

7th grade track pictures

Savanna, Grace, Makenzie
Grace, up close and personal                                                 Grace throwing the discus

Yeah, Mama's not real happy with the split in her shorts on the sides!

Palm Sunday

yes, this is Palm Sunday. This is the day we celebrate that Jesus rode into town and people heralded him with Palm tree leaves. Now, we have a palm tree in the fron flower bed....yes, it is something Coy 'just had to have'.  No, they are not native to East Texas. But it is nice to be able to go out and show the girls what a palm tree leaf is....even if a different variation was used back then. I am going to try and remember to celebrate all this week. Even if I am swamped beyond belief at work, even if my house is getting messy again, even if there is a pile of dirty clothes higher than Mt. Everest and even if I am tired. I will celebrate !!!!

We are planning our Easter meal and it has been hard. We are trying to try new things and I have so many ideas that run through my head. We normally eat our Easter meal on Sat. as a late lunch. Easter Sunday is full of church acitivities and it's hard to go and then come home and cook a huge meal. I know, I know my grnadmothers did it every year for every celeration but I am not them!

Here's the menu so far....got a little more planning to do ....

Tea
Grilled something --maybe chicken, steaks
Strawberry/Spinach Salad
Baked potatoes
Strawberry Pie
Something JoGail makes --who knows what at this point! I'm thinking something chocolate!


 I need some ideas...please leave a comment if you have an idea!


I have to work all five days. Eustace has early release on Thursday and no school on Friday. So I will be making my grocery lists and sending HIM to the store! HAHA

Strawberry Spinach Salad ...from a friend who got it from a friend at the Victorian Tea Room in Mabank, TX

1 bag spinach
1 small can mandarin oranges
1 apple-chopped
1/2 cup raisins
Sliced strawberries to make 2 cups
1/2 cup almond slices

Mix together right before serving. Serve with poppy seed dressing.


Mom's Strawberry Pie

 I do not know where she got this recipe from. She has used it for years. 1 pie was never really enough for our huge family growing up! I think I remember her always making at least two which was a treat since strawberries weren't cheap!

from Mom and Dad's book 'Now you Know'

1    9 inch pie shell baked
1 cup water
2 1/2 Tablespoons corn starch
1 cup sugar
1/2 packgage...3 oz   strawberry jello
4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
Cool whip (optional)

Place sliced and drained strawberries in the baked pie shell. Cook together th water, sugar, and cornstarch. After the mixture thickens, remove from the heat and add the jello. Pour over strawberries and allow pie to cool. You can top the pie with cool whip if you want.


~Laurie

Friday, March 19, 2010

I finally did it!

I finally clened up the labels on my posts. Now you can find the recipes easier on the sidebar! I can too...I get tired of hunting down a recipe.....this will make it so much easier! One of these days I am going to print my recipes and put them in the recipe cookbook my awesome sister made me! That will make it even easier....hummm maybe a summer project?????

JoGail absolutely love sthe instant oatmeal pakets! We will never go back to the store bought ones! Thank you, FishMama for the idea! She has a blast making them and we can alter them however we want!

 For those not on facebook, 4 puppies mysteriously showed up at our house yesterday....yeah...joy joy! The girls are elated while Coy and I are wondering what in the world to do. We really wouldn't mind having a dog IF we had a fence. JoGail woke up up this morning screaming and crying because the puppies ran across the street to play with the cows.....not exactly how I wanted to wake up on my last day of spring break!


Speaking of joy, joy, Grace got her braces off yesterday! Along wiht her teeth cleaned, her second guardasil shot and her hair cut! She's reay to go back to school. I was a little afraid since she has been coughing alot that she might be coming down with strep so I had the doctor test her. It was negative. He said she is developing allergies-ugh. She has never had any so we're trying some meds to see how it helps.

Ok on to some recipes.......I have been trying some new ones over the break and have discovered some I like !!!

Cinnamom Coffee Cake (Taken directly from the cutting back kitchen). Let me tell ya when she says the cinnamon smell is wonderful, that's an understatement...this will definately be making an appearance at work! Easy and you probably have all the ingredients already. This would be also be great to take to a Sunday School breakfast. JoGail gave this a BIG thumbs up!


Cinnamom Coffee Cake
from Cutting Back Kitchen

1/4 Cup oil
1 egg
1/2 Cup milk
1  1/2 Cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teasponn salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8x8 pan with pam.
Mix together until well blended. Spread into pan. Mix topping.

Topping
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon melted butter

Mix together until crumbly. Spread over batter.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Here's another recipe. I think was kind of made up by some friends but has quickly become a favorite of mine. Don't substitue the Apple dippers! I don't know why but there is a big difference when you do! I think it's because of the variety of apple they use....This makes an awesome mid morning or midafternoon snack.

Apple Delight

2 pakages McDonald's Apple dippers
1 teaspoon melted butter
cinnamon
1 packet splenda

Place apples in microwavable dish. Pour butter over. Sprinkle splenda and cinnamon. Microwave about 30-45 seconds.....yummo!

The next recipe is something I kind of made up....I was craving Chinese tasting food but didn't want the sodium! So I set out to find a fried rice recipe with no soy sauce in it.....couldn't find one....so I tried my own! I really liked it....kind of more Hawainny to me than Chinese but it hit the spot for me. I made the rice a couple of hours before and let it sit out at room temperature....several recipes suggested this to keep the rice from sticking when it gets heated. 

Fried Rice

1 cup prepared brown rice
1 small can pineapple tidbits, drained and rinsed or fresh pineapple cut into small pieces
2 eggs
fresh veggies cut up-broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, whatever you have
Precooked Protein-chicken, shrimp, pork  whatever you have.....I didn't use any but you can add it
Whatever seasonings you want

Heat large skillet to high..I use a non stick pan but if you don't have one just add some olive oil to the skillet. Put veggies in and let them saute....after about 2 mins push them to one side. Add eggs and scramble. When eggs are starting to congeal mix with veggies. Add seasonings. Add proteins and rice and pineapple and 'fry' rice for a couple of minutes. Divide up and enjoy!

Never did find the written down reipe for MawMaw Collin's Egg Salad....I remember her making it when she would come to the house though...I do know how my mom made it....so I'm guessing it's pretty close. I don't have exact measurements for the ingredients, so add them to suit your taste.

MawMaw's Egg Salad

Peeled and mashed boiled eggs
Maynonaise
Mustard
Salt
Pepper
Pickle Relish

I have found that if I mix the mayo and mustard together with the seasonings it mixes better. Then mix it with the rest of the ingredients. I always put more mustard than mayo as well. Mix well. Eat plain (I remember her doing this) or as a sandwich on your favorite simple bread. I sometimes add cayenne pepper to spice it up and I NEVER had pickle relish....I do not like pickles, their smell or anything remorely close to that smell. I do not know why. I just DON'T. Even when I work concession stands I will not do the pickles. My girls and husband love them. I buy them for them but do not open, clean up or otherwise smell or touch the jars. When the jars are empty they have to put the lid on it and take it out to the garage to the trash container out there. I know too much information, but I am on a roll.....

Grandma is Coy's mom. NOw when she was alive and we would visit we would have sandiwches adn chips at least once. Sometimes it was lunch meat soemtimes it was tuna fish. Now my mom would add apples, pickle relish ( see above), and just about anything she could to tuna fish since she had five kids and was stretching the tuna. Grandma's recipe was way more simple and just as delicious. She showed me how she made it on a trip she took with us to Ruidoso. I've been making it her way ever since. Simple. Not crunchy. So if you like crunchy tuna fish this recipe is not for you!

Grandma's Tuna Fish

1 package water packed tuna
2 Tb mayo

Mix together and spread on bread. Sometimes she would coat each piece of bread with a little more mayo.

JoGail likes to eat this plain. No bread. No crackers....crazy girl!

 I plan to try a recipe for butternut squash fries today.....not sure about them but since the butternut sqush was only $1.29 I thought I would give it a whirl....

Going to enjoy the rest of my last day off!!!! Cold weather (possibly more snow!) is predited for tomorrow....really really hoping they cancel the soccer games!!!! I think I am going to make a big pot of shrimp gumbo for tomorrow.....

~Laurie

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Meat Pie, Asparagus my way, and Instant Oatmeal

Since we are on spring break I am trying new recipes....here's what's for supper tonight....meat pie and aspragus.

The meat pie recipe was tweaked from this blog Big Red Kitchen. She called it a 1607 Pie. I tweaked it to make it easier for me to fix as a quick meal.

Meat Pie
1 pound ground turkey
2 shakes worcestershire sauce
1 can Del Monte diced potatoes DRAINED
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 pkg Pillsbury pie crust

Set oven to 350 degrees. Line 1/2 pie crust in bottom of pie pan. Brown ground turkey in cast iron skillet. Add onions powder and worc sauce. Mix well. Then add potatoes. Add meat and potatoe mixture to pie crust. Top with other 1/2 pie crust. Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is done.


I thought about adding a can of rotel but am glad I decided not to. Cheese would be good in it though. A good meat and potatoes dish.

I served asparagus with it. I have bene searching all over for a good asparagus recipe and kind of just put some ideas together for this..

1 bunch aspragus washed and patted dry
olive oil
Mrs. Dash garlic and herb blend

Turn oven to 350 degrees. Cut woody stems off aspragus....this is not the artichoking looking end...Lay in pan. Drizzle olive oil over and sprinkle with seasoning. Bake about 30 minutes...

Folks, this is why I love my double ovens....dinnerr was ready in no time. Both got done about the same time. Everyone loved the meat pie and Grace loved th aspragus....so I will be making both again.

This afternoon JoGail and I tried another new recipe.....one for instant oatmeal. She has promised to try one tonight so we'll know how it is....I altered this recipe http://lifeasmom.com/2010/03/frugal-friday-making-my-own-instant-oatmeal.html. I'm not sure why the instant milk was added. I decided not to add that since I didn't have and didn't want to spend the money on some.

Instant Oatmeal
1/4 c instant oatmeal
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspooons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together and store in a snack bag. Add 6 tablespoons hot water.

I'll let you know what she thinks of it.....if it works it will definately save us alot of money!
You can adjust the flavors to whatever you like, dried fruit, raisins, etc......

Tomorrow's dentist day and then on Thursday Grace gets her braces off!!!!! So we're heading to the show (I think) to see Alice in Wonderland and let her finally have some popcorn!

~Laurie

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Trying to be healthier....

OK I admit it..I am trying to eat healthier...but boy is it hard tobreak old habits! Coy found some gummy bears that are loaded with fiber....we had ot hide them from JoGail! They taste great though! I am trying to cook better, more fibery....more vegetably....you get the idea! Coy's managed to lose a little weight (like he needed to).....I'm umm working on it.

Today we had two girls basketball teams in end of season tournaments. One playe din Scurry and the other in Trinidad....I had to coach the little girls (JoGail's team) in Scurry. They played two back to back games and played hard. They scored 14 points in their final game! WAHOO!!!!  Coy took the 5th and 6th grade team to Trinidad. They placed 3rd!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Out of a BUNCH of teams! We were both so proud of them!

It's a beautiful day here but rain is expected tomorrow....JoGail had a friend over last night. They had the metal detector out in teh front bar ditch adn had a blast. I think they uncoverd some petrified wood. JoGail went home with her after the games....without PUPPY.  She told me shew as too big for him....we'll see!!!!!

Here's my latest favorite veggie recipe.....I love this...

Zuchinni & Mushrooms

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a shallow roasting pan with pam. Cut up 1 medium zuchinni. I cut mine in half. Then thirds and then into cubes. Add about 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms. Bake until zuchinni is soft. (about 20-25 mins)  Can sprinkle with mozz cheese if you want. you may also want to salt and pepper it before roasting. Yummo a
Spring Break!

I thought I posted soemthing last week but it's not here now! I posted a quick recipe too but can't even remember what it was! HA I must be getting older!

No real big plans for this break.....mainly just hoping to rest!

I tried a new recipe for breakfast.....got it from a diet center cookbook but I am sure others have tried it as well! Oh my! It is good. It really hit my spot this morning. May become my Sat morning breakfast!!

Favorite breakfast

2 eggs (per person)
1 TBSPN water
1 laughing cow cheese wedge

Beat eggs and water together. Pour in heated teflon pan. Start scrambling. As eggs congeal add wedge of cheese and mi well. When eggs are starting to set take them off heat and pour onto plate. Let cool and enjoy!

Soccer today! I am hoping to get soem good pictures since it's a  beautiful day!
~~Laurie