Fun Finds!

I got to go antiquing with my friend Tanya, she loves to find unique objects, I like to find vintage kitchen stuff.
I found these little Shawnee Pottery Shakers, they were about 6.00. I knew they were worth more then that plus they were too cute to pass up!
I got home and found the sets going on ebay for 22-27 dollars! Not a bad pick!
Kitchens seem to take on a life of ther own, even though I wanted a totally retro ktchen, my shelves are fillng up with the cutest pigs or shaker sets! I love each piece as they were given by dear friends or found lovingly by me!
We had a fun time looking at old photos and yearbooks and making up stories of old discarded items!
It was a nice day out! Thanks Tanya!

Recipes sometimes fail...

When charlie is busy with the race cars, I love to try new recipes, but they don't always live up to my expectations. I am not sure if it is because I am a really bad cook, no matter how hard I try. Or are these recipes really are not as good as they sound?
So I ask my fellow bloggers try some of these recipes and see what happens in your kitchen! Please let me know your results if you decide to try them out!
In the last couple weeks I made the lemon ricotta cookies here: Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cookies
they were very bland, but my oven decided to pick it's own temperture so maybe the baking got a little funky on them??
Then there is the ribeye from Pioneer woman :Ribeye Steak with Onion Blue Cheese Sauce
I had high hopes for this but I guess living in OK you get melt in your mouth steak, here in Vegas you get old dried up shoe leather steak, I did not over cook it, it was perfect, pink and beautifully cooked but had no flavor (meats fault) and the sauce was kinda bland as well??
Next up: Fettucini with Creamy Portobello Gruyere Sauce I really thought this was going to knock me out of my socks but it fell flat, really flat. I did use bowtie pasta and I added some pan seared chicken but still BORING!

I will have to say I had a terrific HIT!

Chicken-Broccoli Penne Alfredo Her recipe was so delicious! I will be filing under my ultimate comfort food!! Really tasty!
So there you have it, I have been busy cooking and spring cleaning and working for the man, it does have it's perks, I am getting a new laptop, faster than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, yes, it is made of steel, Haha! My superman laptop, I call it my "laptop on steroids" will be here soon. My 3 year old laptop is a dinosaur in todays techno age, plus my hubby broke my screen by tilting it to hard and now I have vertical lines constantly while looking at the screen, so it was time....see you soon in cyberland with my almighty new laptop!

My new favorite show!

I have been catching all the Nadia G's Bitchen Kitchen episodes! She cracks me up! I record them and then I have something fun to watch on my treadmill.

She cooks great food and she also has a fish and meat guy, a spice guy, and an eye candy guy that make up the show. I have learned a couple new tips from her already. I like that she cooks in layman terms and not all fancy stuff! Her shows are themed and last night I got to watch The Last Supper show, all about cooking a meal to break up with your boyfriend..it was hilarious! So catch the show if you can, if you like cooking shows. The cooking channel will have her line up!

Etsy is filling up!

One of my Dog Whistle necklaces on sale now!

I put some new items in my etsy store www.peaceloveandartshop.com
Headbands, dichroic glass, guitars!

I will be adding more on saturday so stay tuned...

And please support you straving/traveling artists...every necklace counts!

Chicken Piccata and Sauteed Spinach!

Chicken Piccata always sounded intimidating, well, that's what I always thought! This was super easy and fast!! It really came out amazing, just like a dish I would get in a restaurant!
I combined a couple recipes and techniques, I mainly went off of Pioneer woman's recipe but I know Chicken piccata needs capers, so I used allrecipes.com recipe as well, they even have a video of a chef cooking it!
I served this with spinach sauteed in 2 cloves of garlic and olive oil, don't forget a dash of nutmeg for the spinach and some parmasan cheese! Fabulous!

Ingredients

• 4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• Kosher Salt To Taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 5 Tablespoons Butter
• 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 cup Dry White Wine
• 3/4 cups Chicken Broth
• 2 whole Lemons
• 3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
• 2 Tablespoons capers rinsed

Preparation Instructions

If chicken breasts are overly thick, slice in half, or pound until 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides, then dredge in flour.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry two of the chicken breasts at one time until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes on each side; a little longer if breasts are thicker, a little shorter if breasts are thinner. Remove to a plate, then add the other 2 tablespoons each of butter and olive oil. Fry the other two breasts until golden, monitoring the oil/butter mixture to make sure it doesn't burn. Decrease heat as needed! I put the cooked chicken on a pan and placed in a 200* oven to stay warm while I made the sauce.

After removing the chicken from the pan, have the heat on medium. Pour in wine and chicken broth, and squeeze in the juice of two lemons. Whisk the sauce, scraping the bottom of the pan. Allow sauce to cook and boil until reduced by about half. Sprinkle in a little salt and pepper as it's cooking.
Reduce heat to low and pour in cream and capers. Whisk together and allow to cook for a couple of minutes until sauce thickens. It did not seem to be thickening so I added a spoon of corn startch mixed with a spoon of water then added to the sauce, only because I like thick sauces and I learned that little trick a year ago! This was really nice dinner, too bad my hubby is at the races and missed it! Yummy!

70 More Days!

70 more days until summertime! This would be a nice addition to my swimming pool!
I need to get out in the backyard and clean and organize and figure out how to utilize the table area better...
70 more days, I can't wait!!

hubby made me do it! The Kiss!!

I just like his music, I would not really like to kiss him..but charlie saw the poster and thought it would be a fun photo op!