We eat a lot of rice around here, and when our grocery store installed a wall of grain and pasta dispensers a while back, I started getting curious about cooking with some new grains (This part of Georgia is not very 'cultural', but we are starting to get a few things). Long ago I picked up some barley for soups, but I must have been put off by the two hour cooking time and haven't tried anything in a while.

Well, with the last grocery trip I was determined to pick up some quinoa, which I've seen mentioned online a lot lately. (I've actually eaten it before, in a Kashi brand microwavable meal, but with the blend of grains I could not pick it out.) Those plans failed pretty quickly, I could not find it anywhere, but I found a box of Kasha (Buckwheat) instead.

The preparation was quick and intriguing. Bring two cups of broth to a boil with a little butter, salt, and pepper. Meanwhile, you beat an egg and stir in one cup of kasha until coated. Here you can see the tiny uncooked grains, coated in the egg.



Next, you heat the kasha in a pan for about 2 minutes to cook the egg and separate the grains. Pour in the boiling broth, cover, and simmer 3-5 minutes and you are done. Still very tiny, but more translucent now. You end up with 4 cups cooked.



I am no good at discribing flavors, but it was pretty similar to a rice or couscous, perhaps a bit nuttier, and with a fun texture from the tiny little grains. Next I am going to look for some recipes. While it is very good on its own, the light pieces threaten to fly all over the place. (The recipes on the box involve preparing as usual and mixing in some sauteed vegetables, and another version where you cook it with milk and serve it with more for a breakfast dish)

Oh, and I had a bit of a scare when I was reading the nutritional information as 170 calories in 1/4 cup. That was printed right on the corner you push in to create a spout, and once I pried out the tab I saw that it was 1/4 cup uncooked and 3/4 cups cooked. Much better! I knew that didn't sound right. It is also very low in fat and high in protein, exactly what the nutritionists tell you to look for.

Mmmm, this is one of my new favorites.

Coconut Rice


Adapted from a previous recipe, this is great on its own, or topped with some stir-fry.
I've been eating for lunch a lot with a little broccoli.

I've never been a fan of coconut used in desserts, but with a little rice and meat and vegetables, its a whole different world. The next step is trying out the recipe with some brown rice, but I wanted to make at least one last batch with white for the photos.

The weather is finally warming up and grilling season has begun!



Mmmmm.... kabobs!

Luckily Home Depot has all sorts of replacement parts, Justin got the grill working like new again. While we were there we browsed through all of the accessories and picked up a basket for all of those things that like to fall through the bars.



We had quite a fun dinner last night, sitting out on the back porch, reading, eating food off of a stick. That's the life.

When I was entering my recipes at SparkRecipes.com a while back (to get the nutritional information for the cards), I had a bit of a suprise. I did a double take, had to go back a page, and sure enough... my Crispy Baked Eggrolls recipe had been awarded with an 'Editor's Choice' label! The even made it on the Top 10 list for the week.

So many people have made the recipes and loved it. There are 82 ratings and even more comments! I get so excited about sharing recipes, it is such a great feeling to know that many people actually *made* one. And especially this recipe, which is something I completely made up (after looking through a few versions that weren't quite right).

The only downside ~ The recipe is not really updated, and I'm not allowed to edit it now. I wrote it out for canned shrimp, but we ended up switching to chicken early because the fishy flavor was too strong (I list it in my Recipe Book as a vegetarian recipe). In the comments you will notice a lot of people that mentioned trying chicken and liking it better as well. Oh well, nothing I can do about it!


While we are talking about old news, and cooking...
I snagged a gorgeous red cast-iron recipe book holder (eBay) ~


And a lovely large black & white serving platter, (Hobby Lobby) for all of those times we have to bring food somewhere. We still need a few more of these. (Technically, I think the plate might have been meant for decoration instead, but I don't care!)

It's been a while since I updated my Recipe Book,
but today I bring you new pictures and recipes!


First, some brand new recipes ~

Polynesian Chicken


This picture is technically of 'Polynesian Pork Chops', but since you can't see much of the meat I figured I would use it! We were making the pork chop version *a lot*, but when I went to calculate the nutrition information for the card, I realized it was a really high calorie meal. Switching it to chicken cut out about 200 calories alone!


Crabmeat Casserole


I have no idea how to photo casseroles! They are not meant to look attractive, but it doesn't matter when they are tasty. We made this one again last night, and the whole time I kept saying 'oh my gosh, this is soo good!'. (Hopefully some of you can figure out a vegetarian version)



These two recipes have been up in picture-less card form for a while,
so I made sure to snap some pictures last time we made them ~

Chicken & Potato Bake



Turkey, Spinach & Stuffing Bake




And I finally put together a card for these delicious cookies
(recipe courtesy of Sarada) ~

Cinnamon Chocolate Cookies

And here are the things that didn't work out so well for the party!

The plan was to make two large Piranha Plants using styrofoam balls for the heads, styrofoam rods for the stem, green craft foam leaves and green flower pots for the pipes (you saw one on the table in the previous post). We were going to use the pots as chip bowls for the tables.

I had seen some of these made with a wedge cut out for the mouth and little teeth added in. But when we got home with only an hour to spare before the party, I opted for the nearly-closed-mouth variety with some little painted teeth.



Unfortunately, the paint would not dry quick enough for me to finish them. Even though acrylic usually dries right away, the styrofoam soaks in so much of it, and it was still leaving little dots of paint on my hands hours later. These are currently unfinished still, but I'm definitely planning on finishing them later on (after we left the store we realized those styrofoam balls were $11 each! Ridiculous.)

Speaking of paint that wouldn't dry...



That was going to be a ginormous chain chomp (purely for decoration). We bought a giant rubber ball, black spray paint, and silver pipecleaners to form the chain. The paint, however, is still not dry, even a week later. There must have been some weird chemical reaction going on there, I don't know what happened!

Here is a little folded prototype I did of Andross' head. He is not a character I recognized, but I saw him as I was going through the Smash Bros. site and knew right away I could make him. Maybe one day, Andross!



I was planning on making a larger version from posterboard, with colored paper behind the eyes and mouth, and paper squares shooting out of his mouth held by wire (click on the link up there if you want to know why). But considering he wasn't even a character in the game (just an assist trophy), he wasn't top priority.

And lastly, we made some hideous cupcakes.

This was one of the few things I had planned for the girls to play around with while the guys played game after game. They were supposed to turn out something like this (cut bottom off cupcake & flip over), but red/green with white spots like little Mario mushrooms. We could not find white candies *anywhere*, even in the midst of the Easter pastels! Then the piped frosting we bought ended up super drippy, nothing was cooperating.

We were pretty embarassed by the ugly, but the boys did not seem to mind.



I had also picked up some slice & bake cookies to decorate like Pokeballs, but there was already way too much food to bother. I tried it out on one of the cupcakes for fun (stupid drippy icing & lack of white candies!)



Now I can finally get to all of those other posts I've been wanting to make! ;)

While most of the big decorations we planned fell through,
we did manage to throw together a nice array of themed food!!

Star candy dish and fireballs ~


Yoshi egg veggie dip with toad shrooms ~


Star cheese ~




Lakitu's spinies (porcupine meatballs) ~


Peach "Power" Punch ~


Falco (hot) wings ~


A few things that did not get in the pics ~
the wall behind the table with more print outs of the main game characters
a poster Justin got from the stradegy guide
a "Zelda" sword from the dollar store that makes "schwing" noises
a few more Yoshi eggs
gold coins scattered around on the tables
cupcakes, which I'll be showing with the failures
(which I'll be posting next)
and I think that was everything!

Why do we have to have the best idea
at the same time we have a million other things to do?

There has been a long standing agreement that all of the college guys would get together the weekend after Smash Brothers Brawl came out, and that means party at our house Saturday! Well, Justin made the mistake of mentioning that we could make some SB themed food... immediately my crafting brain is in ecstatic overdrive. A themed party?? Yes, please! (SB is made up of the main nintendo characters, so there is so much you can do)

And then we stepped back and looked at all of the things we have coming up now through Sunday ~ yikes. We have no kids to drive to clubs/classes, our schedules are pretty open most of the time. But it seems everything is jammed into the next few days ~

Tonight we need to make batch after batch of cookies and brownies that will be sold as a school fundraiser tomorrow. Friday we really need to do cleaning for guests, and hopefully get some more pictures hung & things arranged around the apartment. Saturday morning there is a meeting, followed by the get-together (and people spending the night). And on Sunday we have church, then a membership meeting, then small group, which we need to bring a casserole for. And I am probably forgetting something! How did all of this get thrown on the same weekend?

But...
I am not going to let this stop the festivities.
There will be a themed party!
There will be lots of pictures of all of the cute food and decorations.
It will get done somehow!!

Then again, I don't want to run myself ragged so that I can't even enjoy myself when our friends arrive. We will have to take it one step at a time and scale things down if necessary. Even if we only have time to make one plate of nintendo themed cookies, that is better than no nintendo cookies at all!

Justin brought home his pile of teacher gifts & suddenly our house has been infested with piles of cookies (at least 10 containers), breads, chocolates, pretzels, and other assorted sweets. I am not much of a cookie/chocolate eater myself, and with only two of us living here, it is always *way* too much. Yesterday I made a vow never to give out food gifts to teachers, unless it is nowhere near a holiday.

Meanwhile, all I want to eat is warm salty foods!

I've had a few food pictures sitting around forever now, they kept getting pushed aside for holiday themed posts. But if you are getting as sick of sweets as I am, you will enjoy these ;)

Pretzel & Peanut Coated Chicken ~


This recipe was so simple I didn't bother making a card. Chop up pretzel sticks and peanuts, add a dash of red pepper flakes, dip your chicken in egg white & milk, then coat & bake. Delicious! I love unconventional breading like this, it helps us all think outside of the bread crumb box.

Chicken Florence with Mushroom Sauce ~


This one may look good, but it turned out 'blah'. Too much of the same flavor, which was not exciting to begin with. We both only ate about half of our plate & then headed out for something else. I love trying out new recipes though, even if there is an occasional flop!


Black Thai Chicken ~


This is your basic pea-nutty satay sauce with some salsa mixed in. I would have never thought to mix those two flavors but it was very tasty! I added the recipe to My Recipe Book.

I also made up a recipe card for the Almond Barley Soup I posted here earlier.


Unfortunately, while I was calculating the nutritional information for these two recipes, I realized they were both higher in calories/etc. than I would have thought! Oh well, you live & learn. Next time I make them I will play around with ratios & ingredients to make them a little more waist friendly (and will update the cards with any changes).

I came up with these cookies last year and think they will be a new Christmas tradition around here!

First make a batch of plain sugar cookies, either slice-and-bake or from scratch ~



Then use your snowflake cutting skills in reverse! Fold your paper into sixths, cut it into a circle shape (slightly larger than the cookies), and then cut out a snowflake stencil ~



Lay your stencil over a cookie and sprinkle with cinnamon. Carefully lift the stencil off of the cookie and turn the cookie over to dump the excess.

Now don't they look fancy? The cinnamon also gives them a great Snickerdoodle flavor. (I've tried it with powder sugar as well, but I kept choking on the powder when I tried to eat it. Would not recommend)



You can use this same stencil technique to create all sorts of fun designs on pies, cakes, all sorts of food!

I love throwing together soups for lunch, pulling together random things we have on hand. I picked up some barley for the first time, specifically for soup making ~ I was very excited to see a new by-the-pound section of nuts & grains at our Ingles.

I started by cooking the barley for 2 hours & draining. Then I added broth, italian seasoning, chopped carrots & celery, and some sliced almonds to finish it off. It turned out so good! And it seems like a creamy soup, even though I only used broth, which I suppose is because of the starch from the barley.


The only problem with making up your own soups is when they turn out so-so, and you've got quite a few servings to suffer through or dispense of. There was a while there when none of my creations were turning out so good, which turned me off of soups for a while. I'm pretty sure broccoli or black-eyed peas were to blame.


I finally snapped a shot of our Chicken Pot Pie, which you can find the recipe for in My Recipe Book, linked on the sidebar. It evolved from the Campbell's recipe you can find on any can of Cream of Potato soup, but I replaced the Bisquick topping with crescent rolls for a tastier crust. And of course, I have to add garlic to most anything.



And lastly, we have boiled peanuts ~ a southern favorite!


Anyone here who has not tried them before? I *love* them.
We've tried making them on the stove with no success, but last time we made them in the crockpot and it was much easier & tastier. This time they went into the crockpot again, but did not turn out as well. We are guessing the peanuts have something to do with it. Perhaps fresher is better? I'll have to experiment a little more to find out.

To make them fill up your crockpot with raw peanuts and water, and add in quite a bit of salt. Cook on High for at least 15 hours, the longer the better. The nuts should be very soft & moist when ready.


Well, Justin is out tonight, playing bass at our old music minister's new church. Which is nice, because he has missed playing since our church stopped meeting (and I've missed singing!) Whenever is out for the night, I seem to get so much done!

I've knocked off everything I wanted to get done today, and had time to make a home-made lightbox for taking photos (Directions courtesy of Strobist). I have yet to try it out, but I cut some strips of the Christmas wrapping paper I bought on sale last year to serve as backdrops for the fabric gift bags. The paper wanted to curl badly, so I re-rolled them and are letting them sit for a while before I can do anything with them. Hopefully I will get some good shots!

After the successful Chicken Taco Soup, which was based on a Rachael Ray recipe, I decided to try out a few more of her recipes that caught my eye. Things did not go well!

My first trial was this delicious looking Soba Noodle Bowl I've been drooling over. I don't know who wrote this recipe down, but there is no way the thing is accurate. I halved all of the recipe except for the broth, added 4 more cups, and there was still hardly any liquid.

At this point I have 6 large tupperwares (about 1.5-2 servings each I would say), for *half* of a 4-serving recipe. Are you following this math? After all of that, it wasn't very good, and most of it will probably be thrown out. :(




Next we tried out Thai Shrimp with Coconut Rice. This one actually turned out very tasty, but we used 1/4 of the shrimp, added in broccoli, and split the recipe. It worked out really well. If we had followed the recipe, we would have had twice the amount of shrimp (too much!), but at least the recipe's picture looks pretty accurate.




And some jambalaya ~ not from Rachael, but a good use for the rest of the shrimp. (And there were no problems with this recipe ~ coincidence?) This recipe that had been sitting in my "try sometime" notebook for a long time now, and was so good it will be replacing the one we've used before.

The colors were so pretty in progress, but dulled by the end with the addition of rice ~

When it's time to get groceries, I always have trouble figuring out what I want to make for lunches, so I'm always curious to hear what other are eating.

What do you eat for lunch?



As for me ~ most of the time I don't pick up anything during the grocery trip, I throw together a soup (cooked at night, heated for lunch), or settle for a pack of Ramen noodles. Sometimes I will buy something to heat up in the microwave, sometimes there are leftovers. Whatever it is, it has to be fast. Anything that takes preparation, an oven, or a stove, tends to get ignored and passed over for something quicker. (My lunches are also pretty low in calories, about 200-300, followed by a snack a few hours later.)

Oh, and btw, the picture above is my Creamy Chicken & Vegetable Soup, which I've been meaning to post a recipe of. So good! I have the original recipe, but I need to write down everything I put in when I make it next time, I'm not sure what proportions I actually use. I always make it as a dinner soup though, because I don't usually bother with meat for lunches.

We made the soup again, with the changes I wanted to make,
and it turned out even better. So, here is the recipe! ~

Chicken Taco Soup Recipe

The other night we whipped up this delicious Chicken Taco Soup from one of Rachael Ray's recipes. She created the recipe for children's lunches, so the soup was not very flavorful, but we took care of that with some taco seasoning. We also used a regular salsa, since we couldnt' find any of the verde.

If you decide to give this one a try, don't be afraid to go with a spicy salsa, it's so spread out, you won't taste the heat unless you add in tabasco. There are quite a few changes we will make next time, so I'll post the revised recipe once it is perfected.

And this is what it takes for me to cook or cut onions anymore. No, it's not mood lighting.



Tonight Greek Chicken with Pasta was for dinner.
You can find this one in My Recipe Book on the sidebar.

I'm pretty peeved that I forgot to hit the macro (close-up) setting on my camera, and was doomed to a pixel-y picture. And I was looking forward to getting a good picture for my recipe cards. We were out of the angel hair pasta we would normally use, so I guess it was not meant to be.




Justin and I started talking about letterboxing again, and about planting our own boxes at Berry. And that got me thinking about book-making. I gave it a second try & created this little spotted book, which turned out nicely, but I will need to try yet another glue next time. Last time I tried a cover with a spine, which did not work out well, and covered up all of the pretty stitching. The open cover is definitely for me.



And here's a little project that got lost along the way. The girl that ordered the brown pre-made patchwork skirt wanted to get an applique added to the front. I had been thinking an applique would look great there, but never decided on one. She chose an Athenian owl, which I think turned out lovely, and great with the shades of brown.

Last week we made the yearly trip to our local craft fair (at Roselawn). The first few years we were enchanted by the crafts and inspected each booth thoroughly. Then we realized that they are the same booths & same crafts each year... and we quickly lost interest in everything but the prospect of greasy festival foods.



There are a few artists that we really like, so in our quick walk-through we have to stop to see their new work. Most notable are a few ceramic artists. (I didn't want to take any close-up shots, I know how some people bring cameras just to steal ideas)



Wait, is that an *actual* tent? Haha! I can't decide if this is a good idea (eyecatcher), or a bad idea (claustrophobia).

Here is something else I had not seen before ~ seasoning packets!
All sorts of flavors (garlic & onion, lobster, roasted tomato), most of which were to be mixed with sour cream to make dips, and a few sweet flavors (chocolate, tiramasu) to be mixed with cream cheese. Each with a sample mixed up.

What a great idea! Easy to transport, will keep for a long time, and very unique. Unfortunently, we had only brought enough cash for food, and the packets were on the pricey side at $4 (for a 16 oz. sour cream, which you also have to pay for). Maybe next year!




Last night a few friends came over for dinner. We made chicken divan and I tried out charaxinae's focaccia bread, and they brought assorted cakes for dessert. Calories were not counted yesterday! I thought it might be odd to snap pictures of our food with guests over, but I did take a picture of the left over focaccia.



(The recipe is on a locked entry, so I'll have to post it soon) The dough is mixed in the breadmaker, then baked in the oven. It is full of chopped red onions & lots of herbs ~ I *love* those purple & green shades.

Unfortunently, I have a low tolerance for onion fumes. When I tried to mix the chopped onions into the dough, I had tears pouring down my face so bad that I couldn't even keep my eyes open. Justin came to the rescue, blotting me with tissues. Lit candles are supposed to help with the fumes, so I got him to bring one in the room. And while I've never noticed a big difference when I've tried this before, as soon as he set it down, I had no more problems!


Fans of The Office (American version) ~ get ye to a Target! They have all sorts of magnets, pens, pencils, post-its, etc. in the $1 section! We went a little crazy. I also found this great set of tiny alphabet stamps, and I know how pricey a set can be at the craft store! They are about 3/8" square.



The busy week continues with mom's birthday, a non-craft fair, possible trip to the doctor, church clean-up day, car repair shop, visiting more friends, and who knows what else!

The last few days I've been working on a little project I've been planning for quite some time. I'm so happy to finally have to put together, and love the way it turned out! Thanks to some heavy inspiration from Every Little Thing, I present to you My Recipe Book!



(I've also added a link on the sidebar)
I photographed our recipe binder for the background image, so it really is 'my recipe book'!

The recipes will all print 4x6 card size, some with a front and a back image. I put any important information on the front of the card, while the backs might have pictures, nutritional info, or notes. I plan to add & update cards along the way ~ Any suggestions are welcome!!

More custom ambigrams ~

"Schade" & "Taylor" Ambigram


"Morgan" & "Caeden" Ambigram



And I forgot to share this before ~ the day I mentioned I had a very dizzy head, I ended up taking a nap when Justin came home. I woke up to find him cooking dinner (which we normally do together, so it was a pleasant suprise).

What was for dinner? Porcupine meatballs! I had been craving them ever since I ran across a recipe online. I remembered mom making them just a few times when I was younger, and had completely forgotten about them. However, she always made them in a saucepan, not the oven, and they didn't have such lovely 'spikes'.



Very easy to make, and fun for kids ;) Take your favorite ground meat, or meat-like product, and mix in some seasonings & uncooked rice. Bake in tomato sauce (mix in a flavoring, like worcestershire sauce or soy sauce if you like). Justin had never had, or heard of, them before ~ they were sooo good!

Saturday we picked up the first of my soldering supplies ~ flux, disposable brushes, metal foil tape and some jump rings. I thought for sure Hobby Lobby or the scrapbooking store would have the microscope glass slides, but I had to order them online. When those come in we're going to Home Deopt for their larger selection of soldering irons & solder. Cross your fingers for speedy shipping!

I have *finally* finished the wolf landscape applique, but have yet to take pictures. I'm hoping to have the top & underskirt completely finished tomorrow. There has not been much crafting going on after work these days. This week I've been piecing together one jig-saw puzzle after another. Puzzles & cooking ;)

We tried another experiment tonight & made baked eggrolls. (Spring rolls were the original plan, but the grocery store didn't have the rice paper) The texture is different from fried rolls, but they are very crispy, tasty & much lower in calories!

Justin wanted to take some action shots...




I am just too speedy to be caught on film! It's all a blur.

And here are the finished rolls, all lined up on the pan (with some eerie lighting coming in the window from the setting sun).





We glanced at a few recipes & grabbed some coleslaw mix to make it nice & easy. Mixed in some bean sprouts, chopped green onions & flavoring, and had enough filling for 20 rolls. (We ate 6 of them as a dinner, and have more left for lunches). And they only take a few minutes to whip together!

We will make a few minor changes next time around, and I'll post the recipe when we have it perfected. But for now, I typed up tonight's recipe here. (The website is down as I'm typing this, but hopefully it will be back up soon)

I never had any problems with sushi until Justin and I made our own. I'm going to assume that we bought a bad brand of nori (seaweed sheet wrappers). I had a great time picking out the fillings & shaping the rolls. But the nori smelled & tasted so strong... I had lost most of my appetite when it was time to eat them. And the smell seemed to linger in the house for days! We've only gone out to eat sushi once since then, and even the hint of nori (which was rolled on the inside) made me a little uneasy.

Sweet kawaiikiki understands my pain, and sent me some mamenori to try! They are wrappers made from soy & come in lots of colors. Justin and I finally got the chance to try them out Wednesday night, when we decided to give sushi-crafting a second try.



We grabbed some crab meat, match-stick carrots, and sliced up cucumber, celery, & green onion. I had to start with the tasty looking sesame sheet, which is sprinkled with seeds you see. My first roll turned out perfectly and I eagerly sampled a few pieces. I tell you, without the nori, I really enjoy sushi!



It was a little harder to make the rolls though, since the mamenori did not seem to stick to its-self. My first roll held up well enough, but our others were not as lucky.

Now, I should mention that we were about out of sushi rice, so we used regular long-grain rice. Justin thinks it was not sticky enough & was part of the problem. He always seems to use too much rice & normally has a hard time forming rolls.



For my second roll, I wanted to see if I could roll the sushi wrapper-less, which I've heard you can do by placing seran wrap over the rolling mat. I should have waited until we were using sushi rice, & only created a big mess. I pilled my clump of rice & fillings on a wrapper and tried to roll it more like a burrito, but it was not tight enough & the slices were falling apart. Justin tried to use half wrappers to make the smaller sized rolls, but it ended up more like a taco.


I would happily use the soy wrappers again, but I think Justin had too hard of a time with them. I would say he could use nori, & I would use the mamenori, but I know the nori smell would still haunt me! (Perhaps I could do the wrapping for him, but that would take some of the fun out of it) I've been reading that spring roll wrappers (rice paper) work well, and forming it with molds. We have more experimenting to do!

For the sushi-making girls out there... I have a question about sushi rice. It says to rinse the rice until the water runs clear, before cooking. I've not found a very easy way to do this, and it takes *forever*. The water gets clear-er, but never fully clear. Any advice?