Western days.....

Hi,
Tanya and I will have a booth selling our jewelry and more (if you ever wanted a Tanya purse, here is your chance) at Western days on 500 E. Washington this Saturday from 10-5...it does cost to get in, 7.00 but there are tons of things to see and do! Plus, if you wear your cowboy hat you get a free raffle ticket to win prizes! Come out and have some fun! Yippee-Ki-Yay!!
Check out beadandneedle for complete details!

Once again...

Well the year continues to bring more heartache....

I had to put my Toby Monster to sleep on friday..he was about 17 years old...he was failing in health and when he would not even eat tuna straight from the can or whip cream from charlie..I knew it was over..We bundled him up and took him to the vet...and he went to heaven to be with my mom and charlie's mom.....my faithful companion gone..the house is lonely and I look for him every where.
Sammy is here hanging out ,but he is not my Toby....
Toby ate breakfast with me...he always wanted my leftovers...sammy does not eat table food, he does not beg, and has no interest in what I cook...weird huh? Sam does not eat table scraps, he has no clue about them. Not Toby, Toby knew when spaghetti was on the table or chicken....anyway, I will miss him and my heart is broken once again....

Toby Monster, My faithful friend and companion! xoxoxoxo!

Dinner for one...

I love the chicken crepes at ihop or mimi's cafe, they are fabulous! So I went on a quest to find the perfect chicken crepe recipe...I combined a few of them to make my life easy..so here is my take on the perfect chicken crepe dinner recipe. Fast and fun and so hearty and delicious! A go to recipe for sure! One of my favorites to make when charlie is not home, he hates mushrooms and spinach but really this is so good, he does not know what he is missing!!

1 package chicken tenderloins, chopped into 1 inch pieces
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tblsp butter
2 tblsp olive oil
1 cup chopped small mushrooms

1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk (I may try cream next time?)
4 oz sharp cheddar cheese-grated
4 oz swiss cheese-grated
1/2 bag fresh spinach chopped small
lots of salt and pepper

Brown your chicken, garlic, mushrooms, in a large non stick pan with the butter and oil..after nice and brown but only about 5-10 minutes..add in soup, milk, cheeses, spinach and s&p. Bring to a boil then cover and put on med/low to simmer and cook while you make the crepes.

CREPES:
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Blend well, I used my blender, then heat a skillet with rounded bottom, non stick type, spray it anyway with pam...once heated pour in about 1/8 cup of batter, swirl around until bottom of pan is covered..let cook until bottom of crepe is browned, never flip!! Just slide crepe out onto plate with paper towel, cover with another paper towel and keep making crepes until you are done.

Once you are ready to eat..put a crepe on a plate and add a few spoonfuls of chicken mix, roll and add another crepe, fill and roll..then top with more chicken mix and serve! Yummy!!
This is one of those fancy dishes your guests will think you slaved all day in the kitchen for, but it is so easy a monkey can make it!! hahahaha!
Bon Appetit!

Just a thought...

In case someone close to you passes away, or you know of a friend or loved one who has had their special someone leave them to soon, you may want to keep this site or pass it along...
http://www.perfectmemorials.com

They have beautiful jewelry that are actually little tiny urns, so you can put a little bit of a loved one inside and carry them with you everyday. Even if your loved one is a pet who was much more then a pet but a part of the family, they have beautiful jewelry just for that as well.

I chose one, and my sister chose one, for my mom who passed, and charlie's sister is getting one for her mom who passed. They have over 1000 pieces to choose from!
They are very well made and packaged with instructions and everything you need.
I highly recommend this site, beautiful jewelry!

Improv Night!

Hey You! After much pondering and thinking and mulling it over...I have decided to say farewell to the cooking blog and when I cook up something spectacular or not so dazzling, I will just post it right here on my plain old dull and boring basic blog....One less click for you, I know, you can thank me later! Besides, I just don't get to cook as much as I would like, and usually it is the same old stuff dear hubby wants...tacos, meatball sandwiches, oven chicken...blah.

Also, my mom (she passed away four weeks ago) is no longer around to criticize my cooking, that makes me sad. I will miss her comments most of all, she was full of sarcastic comments and full of dry wit and humor. You just can't understand unless you have a mom like that how much you miss those lines when you no longer hear or see them. :-(
Yes, I can hear her now with my latest recipe.."I don't think you should be eating all that pasta, do you want to get fat??" Um, maybe?? I dunno know?? Hey, as long as the hubby is happy, I am happy! Thanks mom.....

But on to tonight's dinner and the theme of IMPROV!

Remove chicken and just eat the veggies and pasta, it is really good!!

I found a recipe for chicken fettuccine from America's Most Wanted Recipes, it was for a lighter version just a little garlic olive oil sauce not the heavy Alfredo sauce and I thought OK, let's give it a go!

But then I had, asparagus not mushrooms, I had roasted bell peppers not tomatoes...uh, white zin not white wine...hmmmm...what now? IMPROV...

I made this with chicken but then did not eat the chicken pieces, just wanted the veggies tonight,  so I decided when I write it up, I am omitting the chicken, this is a great light dinner of just angel hair pasta and veggies! I LOVED it!!

So since I really changed it up..this is MY recipe for DJ Jackie D's Pasta and Veggies! (don't ask, just follow along) It was very delicious!!

8 oz angel hair pasta ( OH, don't you think eating angel hair pasta makes you feel like you can eat more cause it is so tiny?? Yeah, Me too!)
olive oil and butter - about 5 tablespoons, each don't skimp here!!
3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 of an onion chopped small
1/4 cup white zin or any alcohol you have in your glass at the time! Wheeeeeee!
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 bunch asparagus chopped into one inch pieces
1 jar roasted bell peppers drained and chopped
3 tablespoons basil either fresh or jarred (sorry I don't use it enough to keep fresh on hand, I use the jarred stuff)
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese ( I always have a block on hand of fresh in the fridge!)

Cook your pasta and set aside, or cook it while you make the veggies and sauce....to make the veggies and sauce:
heat up the olive oil and butter in a cast iron skillet (you get better flavor from a good ole cast iron, mine came from my mom when I got married almost 24 years ago now!) sorry another memory comes back to me, it happens a lot now days....
add garlic and saute for a minute or two
add onion and asparagus and bell peppers, cook about 5 minutes
get the heat up to a full medium high and add wine and chicken broth, keep at a medium high until the broth reduces to half,  then add in the cream, basil and parmesan, salt and pepper, stir until well mixed and hot and thickened....
Plate your pasta and top with your veggies and sauce! Yum!
This was very good, I just love asparagus and pasta together it is a match made in heaven! Or is that the wine, cheese and heavy cream, hmmmm?? You decide!

What I wore on my birthday!

Taking a little part of Annie's blog (Originate and Renovate) for my birthday post, you just gotta love her "What I wore Wednesday" posts, she is a fashionista!
So here goes: What I wore on my birthday:

 Jennifer Lopez Shorts and Halter top!

Her new clothing line is at Kohls. She always looks smashing and I love her shorts! Charlie always wants me to wear a mini skirt but I just can't bring myself to do it, but when I saw these shorts, I thought ok I can wear those! And I read an article on what to wear if you are short, they said halter type tops, so there you have it, Charlie was very impressed! I still felt girly without having to worry about showing my undies off in a mini skirt!! Wheeeeeee!

 Dinner at the Elephant bar, wow, that Ahi Tuna Salad was yummy!

Then we went into the Green Valley Resort, Charlie gave me 100 to play with since I won 1600 last year for my birthday there, he thought it was a good idea!

I just love caveman keno but my big win came on the megabucks, 700.00!

We walked out with 800.00 total!

I am lucky, you know, I have the tattoo to prove it !

So, all in all, I had a fun time picking out a birthday outfit, having dinner with Charlie and playing a little, well a lot, we were there until midnight! When my birthday was over we walked out with 4x what we walked in with!

Can't wait until next year #48....I wonder what I will wear??

The big 47!!

It is my birthday today, and I think birthdays are more special than any other holiday, it belongs to you and you only! I always try to make birthdays special for my friends!

47....Wow, that is only 3 years from 50...eeeekk!!!

Stop the train, hold the presses..I am not budging from this number...ok, I said that at 44.

I loved 44, that was when Napoli played for the Angels and my baseball jersey fit me, haha. Ok, I am entitled to a little middle age spread. I worked hard for it, ok, scratch that, I ate a lot of good food for it!!

I better get on the treadmill, summer will be here soon and I do not care if I am 47 or 67 I am still going to wear a bikin at the pool...don't judge, I gotta be me!

Have a great day, I am going to do my best at having a great day!
Peace out - my peeps!
Jackie