A Little Catching Up

I've bee MIA for a few weeks. It started out just by missing a week here and there, then that turned into two weeks, then three and, well, you know how it goes. I've just been busy lately! For the first time in years, I've had energy and drive to really get things done. 

To make a long story short, back in March my allergist diagnosed an infection I've probably had for years. I have been feeling like crap for a couple of years now and my family doctor told me I needed to lose weight. She didn't seem to understand I physically did not have the energy to get up off my butt! However, my allergist knew within 3 minutes of conversation what the problem was. I'm on my third month of this medication and I feel great! 

Much to my husband's delight, I've gone fishing with him several times already this year! 

He's been catching them left and right! 

My dad has gone with us a few times as well. 

They have great luck....here's what I catch:

Maybe I should stick to cooking. 

I've also been busy in the garden. The recent heat has really helped the garden grow! 

Above: tomatoes at about a month

Below: Potatoes at 3 weeks

Broccoli at two months

 We finally have tomatoes now! 

 Also learned a valuable lesson in composting. When you toss your jack-o-lanterns into the compost box, don't be surprised when pumpkins grow in your herb garden!!!

I think I'm going to officially put Made From Scratch Tuesday on hiatus for now, but I'll try to make some time for blogging this summer! 

Flowers for Leontien

Sending some love to Leontien!

Source: pinkwallpaper.blogspot.com via Vicki on Pinterest

Made From Scratch Tuesday 4/24

The other day, I had a serious craving for some fajitas. There's just something about the spicy strips of steak and the crunchy peppers that really gets my mouth watering! And I'll admit that even though I have a spice rack that would make about any home cook jealous, I always buy fajita seasoning. Why? I have no idea. I have everything I need right in the kitchen. So I figured it was about time I made my own! After looking around on the interwebs for a bit, I realized all the recipes I found were about the same. So I used this one I found on food.com.

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon crushed chicken bouillon cube

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon cumin

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. I cut a flank steak into strips and tossed with about 3/4 of the seasoning mixture. I cooked them on my electric grill to medium. At the same time, I sauteed 2 large peppers cut into strips, 3 cloves of garlic (chopped) and an onion cut into small wedges in a little bit of oil and the rest of the seasoning mixture. 

As I was enjoying dinner, I suddenly realize how crazy I've been for buying seasoning packs all this time! I'm definitely going to keep using this recipe! 




Now it's time to link up all of your creations!
Here are the rules:
1. You can link up as many posts as you'd like.
2. The post has to be made from scratch.
3. The post you link up MUST CONTAIN A RECIPE! 
4. If you want to put my button somewhere, that'd be cool. You can grab the code for the Made From Scratch Tuesday button on the top right of my sidebar.    

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Is there anything better than chocolate topped with chocolate? Only if it's topped with even more chocolate! And that's exactly what the Chocolate Blackout cake is.

"The Blackout Cake was the creation of Ebinger's, a famous New York-based neighborhood bakery chain. An indecently rich, dark tower of chocolate, this cake has become something of a Holy Grail for many bakers. Cult-like fans went through Blackout withdrawal when the bakeries closed down and The Cake disappeared. Many have tried to re-create this cake; I feel this version comes close. It is a multi-stepped process (remember, this was a bakery specialty) but it can easily be broken down into components." -Food Network show "Sara's Secrets" 


I assume my mom followed the recipe on the food network site. All I know is I got this picture the other night on my phone: 

So much chocolate! Maybe it's just me, but I think it's kind of cruel to send someone pictures like that and not bring me a piece of cake.

So I figured the only logical thing I can do with these pictures is to share them! I hope you all are craving chocolate cake like I did after seeing these!!

Make sure to visit the fantastic blog parties on my sidebar, and of course, link up all your made from scratch recipes on my Tuesday linky-Made From Scratch Tuesday!

Made From Scratch Tuesday 4/17

Sometimes I miss living near an ocean. Ok, so I miss it a lot! The biggest thing I miss? Fresh seafood. Which is odd because I was never really one for seafood when I was a kid. But now, I crave it. And I mean I really crave it! Short of paying for fresh seafood that was flown in that morning (which I have been known to do from time to time), I have to eat frozen. Now frozen shrimp isn't really all that bad. It's not as good as fresh, but it will work. When the husband and I had a shrimp craving, I knew we were going to try out a recipe I saw on the Food Network website from the Neely's!

Start out by cleaning the shrimp. I left this to the husband. But save the shells to make stock for later use!

Start cooking pasta while you work on the rest of the dish. With all your ingredients ready to go, this entire dish will cook in about 10 minutes, which is awesome for those nights when you don't feel like standing in the kitchen forever! Anyway, while your pasta is cooking, saute shrimp for a couple of minutes in olive oil. The shrimp will not be all the way cooked; you don't want to overcook them later on!

Remove shrimp and set aside. In the same pan, saute garlic and red pepper flakes for about a minute. Then add the lemon juice and white wine and reduce for a few minutes. (And I have to point out my new measuring cups that my friend just got me. Aren't they cute?!) Mix in butter and a spoonful of the pasta water.

Toss shrimp back in pan, remove from stove and add in drained pasta. Toss well with parsley, lemon zest, salt and pepper!

Now it's time to link up all of your creations!
Here are the rules:
1. You can link up as many posts as you'd like.
2. The post has to be made from scratch.
3. The post you link up MUST CONTAIN A RECIPE! 
4. If you want to put my button somewhere, that'd be cool. You can grab the code for the Made From Scratch Tuesday button on the top right of my sidebar.    

Made From Scratch Tuesday 4/10

Crock Pot Pheasant

What you'll need:
4 pheasants
1 c orange juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, chopped
3 T Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 bottle soy sauce
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar
2 T White Wine

Mix all ingredients (except pheasant) in a large glass bowl. Remove about half a cup of the sauce and set aside. Let pheasants marinate for 30 minutes. Place pheasants and marinade in the crock pot and cook on low until done, about 5 hours. Serve with remaining sauce.

Now it's time to link up all of your creations!
Here are the rules:
1. You can link up as many posts as you'd like.
2. The post has to be made from scratch.
3. The post you link up MUST CONTAIN A RECIPE! 
4. If you want to put my button somewhere, that'd be cool. You can grab the code for the Made From Scratch Tuesday button on the top right of my sidebar.   

Easter 2012

We tried something new this year. We used KoolAde to dye our eggs. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but they were actually really bright!

The girls had a blast finding eggs!

And I made there baskets by gluing together boxes of candy. I filled their "baskets" with hair ties, candy, make up, and "carrots" of goldfish crackers stuffed in a piping bag.

Make sure to visit the fantastic blog parties on my sidebar, and of course, link up all your made from scratch recipes on my Tuesday linky-Made From Scratch Tuesday!