Wednesday, February 27, 2013

I am on a cooking jag!

I cook most when my husband is not around, he has been helping James get his race car ready for testing this Saturday and has been working at the race shop with him the past 2 weeks. I have been supportive and cooked for them and done as much as I can, but not much a girl like me can do around race cars, plus the noise and grease and fiberglass can be murder on a girlie girl like me! hee-hee!

 Cooking is sweet therapy for me, it keeps you busy and you don't have time to think about being alone. Also, it is cheaper than therapy and cheaper than being on the Internet shopping!!

So, this morning I cooked my dinner, Cajun Chicken Pasta from The Pioneer Woman Blog. It is so much better when you make it early than come home and reheat it, the flavors are explosive, my favorite pasta in the whole wide world! Wait, I forgot about my brown butter raviolis, OK could be a tie there! I will share that recipe one weekend when hubby is off racing and I get on a cooking jag again!
So far today, I made my pasta in the morning, went to work, came home, did a 40 minute 400 calorie burn on the treadmill, than opened a bottle of Riesling (it is wine Wednesday, you know) and proceeded to make lemon meyer pudding cakes while reheating my Cajun pasta! Oh it is a good night in my kitchen!
My mom loved meyer lemons, she collected a lot of lemon items, this month is the anniversary of her death last year. my sister who gets her produce delivered to her home (the perks of California living) had a bunch of meyer lemons delivered but she did not know what to do with them and they perished, so these lemons have been on my mind lately. As I went shopping last week, I saw a bag of them sitting in the produce section and I could not resist, I had to make something with them!!

So here you go Lemon Meyer Pudding Cakes:

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cakes

by


A very easy, but elegant dessert! Meyer lemons are best, but regular lemons can be used, also.
¼ cups Flour



⅓ cups Sugar

¼ teaspoons Salt

2 -3 Meyer Lemons

3 whole Large Eggs, Separated

2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted And Cooled

1 cup Milk

¼ cups Sugar, Plus Additional For Ramekins


Preparation Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease eight 4- to 5-ounce ramekins; sprinkle with sugar to coat the bottoms and sides of the ramekins. Shake out any excess sugar.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt. Set aside.
Grate 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon peel and squeeze 1/2 cup juice. In large bowl, with wire whisk, beat egg yolks and lemon peel and juice. Whisk in butter and milk. Gradually whisk in flour mixture.
In another large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Add one-third of the beaten whites to the yolk mixture and, with rubber spatula, stir gently until incorporated. Gently fold in remaining whites until just incorporated. With a ladle, divide batter evenly among prepared ramekins.
Arrange ramekins 1 inch apart in a large (17-inch by 13-inch) roasting pan. Fill pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Carefully transfer pan to oven and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cakes are golden brown and tops rise 1/2 inch above rims. Then, remove them from the oven.
Cool cakes in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. With a sturdy metal spatula, carefully remove ramekins from the water filled roasting pan and transfer ramekins to a wire rack to cool to room temperture, then cover with saran wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve, then invert on a plate and
garnish.

Here are mine, they come out so interesting, once you invert them you have a cake on the bottom but then there is custard on the top!

In the warm bath getting all puffy!

After you invert them and add garnish! Beautiful Dessert!

 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Cooking Day!

This morning I decided to do some cooking, I needed to make food to take to the raceshop later. If I don't bring food to my husband he just won't eat. He gets busy working on the cars and won't stop. So I usually have to make him stop to eat, luckly, he likes my cooking most of the time so he will stop for my food!
Yesterday I made a pot of chili for the boys to eat, my crockpot came home empty, a good sign there!

Today it is mexican/southwest flair food. I made chipolte enchiladas, rice, and pico de gallo.

I hope they enjoy it! Oh, the pico de gallo is all mine, I love to snack on that with some chips!

Here are the recipes I used:

Pico De Gallo

Spanish Rice

Enchiladas






Saturday, February 23, 2013

Do not go see this.....


CIRCUS OZ SHOW
....unless you are a five year old!
It was a hokey pokey juvenile show!

It was held at The Smith Center the new fancy smancy theatre/playhouse here in Las Vegas, I have been dying to go to a show there so when these tickets came up I grabbed them, I could only get 2 so I invited Tanya to go, she likes weird stuff!

The place was beautiful, I thought, Wow, this is going to be good! Boy, was I wrong... Lots of noisey, kick the back of your seat kids in the place. I hate that, if you take your kids out to a nice place teach them some manners first, oh and don't forget to use your indoor voice, does anyone teach their children, that anymore??? Manners, people, manners. I was taught them when I was young so I know it can be done! All my mom had to do was give us the LOOK, and you better believe we sat still like little angels, never heard a peep out of us!

So to recap, show sucked, but The Smith Center was real nice!
My photo of the chandeliers:

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Fancy Chicken and Rice



This dish is a relatively versatile and easy to make stunner that will knock your flavor socks off. The creamy herbed rice creates a kind of French risotto vibe that melds perfectly with the flavorful and juicy chicken. It is at once comforting, interesting, and a nice change for those who usually don’t do French because of sauces that are too rich or recipes that are too involved.

Ingredients

  • 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter
  • 6 whole Chicken Thighs
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon Herbs De Provence
  • 1/4 Medium Onion, Chopped
  • 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
  • ¼ cups White Wine
  • 1-¾ cup Chicken Broth
  • ¼ cups Half And Half
  • 1 cup Uncooked White Rice

Preparation Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and butter in a large sauté pan on medium high or high heat (hot enough to brown but not burn). While you wait, season the chicken pieces all over with salt and pepper and herbs de Provence seasoning.
2. Working in batches, brown the chicken pieces on both sides, about 1-2 minutes per batch. Add a little more olive oil if needed after every batch if needed. If the chicken is cooking correctly, this will not be necessary. Please note that the chicken does not have to be cooked through, only browned on both sides. Remove chicken pieces from the pan and set aside in a bowl with paper towels.
3. In the same sauté pan lower the heat to medium. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, cook 30 seconds more. Remove onions and garlic to a shallow (9 x 13 x 2) casserole dish.
4. Add the dry white wine to the pan and stir to deglaze the pan, scraping off the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Since I use a nonstick pan there are never any bits. Let the wine reduce to about 1 tablespoon then add the chicken stock, and remove pan from heat.
5. Stir in the half and half.
6. Add the raw rice to the casserole dish. Then pour the cream mixture over the rice and stir.
7. Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice mixture in a single layer if you can. Don’t panic they will be crowded. Bake in a 375°F oven for 45 minutes uncovered. If the casserole is still too liquidy, let it cook a few minutes more until the excess liquid has evaporated away. This dish usually takes about 50 minutes in my oven. The chicken should be a safe 165 F by then.
8. Enjoy!

I had to adapt this recipe to conform to my husbands tastes, the original is from southernlady64 at tasty kitchen. I like my recipe as it is simplified and easy and tastes amazing!!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do, it tastes like you are dining in a fine restaurant but you are home and not paying that huge bill and tip!
 
 

 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Update!

The John Lennon Necklace has sold, but there are plenty of other sweet goodies in my shop!
Thank you,
jackie

Friday, February 15, 2013

PeaceLoveAndArtshop.com

Hey, just a heads up..I added some new necklaces to my Etsy shop! Go crazy everyone, remember no pushing and shoving and we accept Paypal! ;-)

PeaceLoveAndArtshop

John Lennon inspired harmonica necklace! The back of the peace sign charm says "IMAGINE"
Love that song!
In store now!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Good Food and Lots of Love!

love love love
 


Happy Valentine's Day.

I hate these made up holidays.

Just a trick to get us to spend more money.

And forget trying to go to dinner on this blessed day! So now I have to cook something.
UGH, The horror!

We actually trade cards and he gave me flowers, I tied a piece of lindors chocolate to his card, just a little treat for him as he is cutting way back on his junk food.

We also went to dinner last night to Ventano's, for the always yummy "shrimp on the stone"!

Then we went to our local hangout had some wine and beer and played some music and pool.

Always my favorite way to spend wine wednesday, I tried two pinot grigios last night, Kris at Ventano's and Santa Christina at The Cigar Bar. Both were cool and refreshing and light!

I don't need a made up holiday to know I am loved, I get shown almost daily, and I try to show how much I love him daily, (little secret to a long lasting marriage-24 years now) .

 Love each other everyday not just on Valentine's day!

Good Luck with your restaurant reservations tonight, I will be cuddled up on the couch with my hubby, all warm and cozy!
 

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Pizza and the Faux Bee Gees!

The Australian BeeGees Tribute band!
 
What a fun night! It was just fly by the seat of our pants night, no plan making just get in the car and go...We made no dinner plans, got to the Excalibur, got our tickets and had 1 hour to eat and we were both starving, so we ran into BucaDiBeppo's, thinking soup and salad, but then you have to share dinners there so we chose a pepperoni pizza and ceasar salad! It was the best dinner ever! So good!
We got to the showroom and had fabulous seats with our own private bar over looking the whole crowd, the music was fantastic! I highly recommend this show to anyone coming to Vegas!
Thanks to Tanya for always being ready and willing to just go to any show! We got our picture taken, I gotta admit we are very photogenic!

Here are the real BeeGees performing my favortie song:



Thursday, February 7, 2013

Stampin'Up Demonstrator!


The catalog
 
I decided since I use so much of their stuff to just bite the bullet and become a Stampin'Up rep!

So if you enjoy cards, paper, embellishments, stamps, ribbon, and a whole lot more, get in touch with me to get a catalog chock full of wonderful ideas and products!
I will also teach one on one classes so you can learn to make scrapbooks, gift items, cards and more!
Email me at Creativcat@aol.com
 

Here are some of my favorite items that SU sells:
Ink Pad Carousal, it really spins!


Supplies


Monday, February 4, 2013

Scrapbook Expo! Anaheim!

Scrapbook Expo weekend in Anaheim! We had a fun time shopping and scrapping and walking to dinner each night, Oh, and the wine was really good! Mary brought a 10 year old Shiraz, velvety smooth and delicious, Christy found a great white, Pacific Rim Reisling, and I had a Pinot Grigio, forgot to photo the label and I can't remeber the name!
I hope we can all make it to San Diego in June!
 
Here are some photos of how we Roll....all of our scrapbook supplies that is!!
 
Christy

Me

Mary

One of my pages I completed!

Another scrapbook page!