181. Ham and Potatoes on the BBQ

BBQ season is slowly coming to an end as we are almost to September and the weather will soon be getting much cooler.

I can't say we don't BBQ in the Fall but it is definitely not as often.

This was a dish that I threw together because I wanted to see if I could use my grill like my oven.  I already had the ham in the refrigerator and tossed in some potatoes, carrots, onions, salt and pepper.

I used a cake pan, covered it with foil and cooked them on the BBQ for 30 minutes.  The temperature was set to 350.

I removed the foil and added some cheese…tadah…dinner was served!

It also made great leftovers and a wonderful breakfast the next morning.

Simple.  I like that.

187. Lemon Pound Cake with Cherries

I remember the first time that we gave Isabella a slice of lemon.  We had gone to the zoo with a group of friends in Salt Lake City, UT.  Isabella was about 1.5 years old and at that curious age of being a toddler.

I can see us all sitting around the table at Red Robin chatting about our adventures and encounters of lion, tigers and bears (OH MY).  

Many of my friends enjoy having lemon with their Diet Coke.  If you have ever had teenagers while at the same time having a toddler, then you know that they master mind together.  Drake and Rye could not wait to see their baby sister enjoy a lemon slice.

We had brought our cam corder and so we were set to see the puckers, lip smacking and shrills of delight coming from Isabella.

She did not disappoint.  I told her it was sour and that she may not like it, she still reached for the slice of yellow flesh I held in my hand.

OH boy was it cute.  She did all of the right facial expressions and we laughed uncontrollably for an hour, in fact we still reflect on this memory.

To this day Isabella loves the slices of lemon that we get in our ice teas.  

I, on the other hand, don't think to make a lemony treat when I bake.  I am more of a chocolate and peanut butter kind of gal.  On this day I was desiring something new and light.

I had these cherries in the fridge and I was afraid they would go bad.  We love the Washington Cherry's but the season for those is short.  I then go for the red cherries and my family does not eat them.  I don't know why this is.

I love the colors  red and yellow together.  I pair these two colors together often when I quilt or decorate so it was an easy marriage of the two: lemon and cherry.

My oldest daughter loves pound cake.   In searching for a recipe I found this recipe on The Food Network.  The reviews were good and this led me to try it for the first time.

Delicious!  

 I used my mini bundt pan that  Cory and the kids had given to me for Mother's Day.  They were so dang cute in the palm of my hand.  There it sat, all alone, pretty pale yellow and ready to be dressed up.

The cherry compote was a success too.  I had never boiled down fresh fruit for a dessert topping before.  I started with a little of this and a little of that and came up with this easy recipe.

Lemons and Cherry work together.  They compliment each other on a white plate.  They create a nice balance of sour and sweet. 

Simply put, it was a real treat that was different for my family and one that they enjoyed.  To add the gourmet touch to these cute little cakes, I dusted them with powdered sugar, topped them with whip cream and found the perfect cherry to go on top.

Recipe:  Lemon Pound Cake with Cherry Compote
Makes one bread loaf pound cake or 18-20 mini bundt cakes


1 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Attach the paddle to your Kitchenaid, in the bowl cream the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time and mix well.  Add the vanilla.

Add the lemon juice and dry ingredients alternately until well combined.

If using a bread pan,  line it with parchment paper.  If using a mini bundt pan, use Pam to spray the pan well.  If using a cupcake pan, use liners.

The bake times for each will vary:

Bread pan- 1 hour and 15 minutes
Mini Bundt Pan-15-18 minutes
Cup Cake Pan- 15-18 minutes

Let cake cool completely on a wire rack.

Serve with your favorite glaze, compote or topping.

Recipe:  Cherry Compote, makes 1.5 cups

1 teaspoon of lemon zest
juice from 1/2 a lemon
2 cups of pitted cherries
1/2 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4-1/2 cup of sugar, use the minimum amount if you don't want it too sweet

Combine all of the ingredients in a sauce pan.  

Cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil.

Boil for 15 minutes, reduce heat and let simmer until the cherry compote reduces and gets thick.

Serve warm or store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

186. Curry and Chicken Rice

Dinner tonight was a hit.  I made curry and chicken rice.  I made a huge batch and we barely had any leftovers for tomorrow.  I love when that happens.

My recipe for Curry and Chicken Rice can be found on Recipe Lion or HERE.

*A few of my recipes are shared on their site first for a few months before they are displayed in full on my blog.  

Sifting Through Life: Wings and Pretzels

Pretzel recipe can be found here.

It's Friday morning and I am sitting at my MAC thinking…

"I have had an interesting week, do I talk about it or not?"

In a nutshell it went like this:

Friday-photo shoot
Saturday-pack for trip, leave on trip, car catches on fire, return home
Sunday-great day, book store, shopping, day at the park
Monday-work
Tuesday-work, adjuster declines claim on car
Wednesday-find out damage of $3500 for said car
Thursday-buy new car and have lunch at The Tilted Kilt, all hell breaks loose for 15 minutes
Friday-recovering from long week

Where to start is a good question.  If you know me well then it's not a surprise that my red hair and Irish  spirit comes out every so often.  I am the first to admit, in my younger days, it was pretty much a daily episode until I learned to harness my attitude and personality into something more approachable and manageable.  I became a lady and not a rogue.  LOL

To say I was high strung, unrealistic at times and high maintenance might be an understatement.  I was raised to believe that I was the cream of the crop and therefore there was a sense of entitlement that was bestowed upon me at an early age.

Through the years, and a lot of miles into my life, the struggles and triumphs made me change.  I wanted to change.  I did not like that person more times than not.

So when I have a moment when I wig out…and I did…it is unsettling to me.  Let me explain.  If you are familiar with Hooters (wings) and the Tilted Kilt (pretzels) then you may understand why I wigged out.

Having an old car with issues was such a no brainer to me, it was old and we expected the mechanical part of the car to not last forever.  I was cool, calm and collected.  We made a decision to go and buy a new car.  Keep in mind that we have not had a car payment in 8 years.  We have always tried to pay cash for our vehicles and run them into the ground…basically use them until we have no other options.

We did this with our Volvo, our last truck and the two vehicles before that.  I believe we both felt that our time of driving old cars and worrying about problems had come to an end.  We needed and wanted peace of mind while driving our family around Maryland.

I dread going to the car dealership.  Our last experience was a joke. We were very honest with the dealership about our credit and the amount of money we could put down.  We test drove a few cars, went through a few sales people and finally settled on something we liked.  Keep in mind, we did not love it but we needed a car and we were willing to settle.  As we entered the financial part of the office and found a comfy spot on the couch, the deal was preposterous.  They failed to listen to our situation, to how much money we were willing to put down and how much we needed our payment to be each month.  Without batting an eye and seeing red…we left.  I was furious that they had wasted our time.

This was our last experience and this is why the thought of going through this again was causing my nerves to bristle with anticipation at the thought of wasting another whole day sitting inside a small waiting room while 4 men decided if we could buy a car.

In preparing to go to our dealership, Cory did all of the paper work in advance.  This was awesome!  We new what we could afford, he had told David about our experience with the last dealership and we were set to go.

We arrived, he showed us some cars, we nodded our head, test drove some, agreed on how much money we would be putting down….done deal in 2 hours!   Now folks, in my opinion that is how it should be done.

Straight forward.  I was so happy!  Our week went from uncertainty to problem solved in less than two hours.  Happy dance!

In the process of buying the vehicle we opted for the warranty and this would require the car to be in the shop for an hour or so to have the paint sealed.  By this time we were starving and decided to go have lunch while the car was being taken care of.  We lived almost two hours from the dealership and this would be easier than driving back to White Marsh next week.

David told us where we could get something to eat.  This is where the wings and pretzels part of the story get really juicy and frankly a bit messy.

We found this lovely outdoor mall with a ton of places to eat.  As we pulled in from the road we could see some familiar restaurants , we thought, this is good.  We were hungry.

Walking through the mall we had a tough time deciding, I will admit at times finding a place for us to eat wheat free is hard but there is always or usually a salad option.  As we approached the center of the mall I notice a restaurant named The Tilted Kilt.  They had outside eating.  I LOVE to eat outside.

In my mind this is what I am thinking:

--oh, we can eat outside…bonus
--kilt, that word makes me think of Scotland, and that makes me think of Scotch Eggs..YUM

I love scotch eggs!

My husband says to me,  "This is so and so's favorite place to eat."  Keep in mind he has a strange smile on his face, but I am so focused on scotch eggs that my WIFE DETECTOR does not go off.

As we open the door and we are greeted by 5 lovely pairs of perky breast in little red plaid bra's and the shortest kilts I have ever seen…it's all starting to come together.

Oh our waitress was so cute and perky and did the best job.  The girls were all quite pleasant.  I have eaten at Hooters a few times, hell, I have been to Vegas multiple times and loved every minute of it.

To see girls in their underwear was not the issue for me.  The fact that my husband knew what type of establishment this was and did not warn me set me on fire.

Our day together to this point was wonderful.  We were laughing, hugging and having a great time.

BUT…and this was the issue for me….when I walked into this restaurant with no warning as to what I would find greeting us at the front door, he immediately put a wedge between us.  I felt out of place.

I was wearing no makeup, a top knot.  I looked frumpy.  I was not on my A game.  I felt that if we are going to this type of restaurant then let me look my best so that I don't feel like a mother hen.

Honestly, I felt a bit ambushed.

Do you know that look that Victoria Beckham has all the time…the glassy eyed glare…well, that was me through the whole lunch.

My husband knew he had made a mistake.

When we sat down to eat (outside) he mentioned how good their pretzels were (oh, so he had been here before). NICE.

When I hear these words, "Hooters has the best wings".  It makes me angry.  WINGS?  REALLY?

Just like here, "They have really good PRETZELS"…..news flash,  I make really good wings and pretzels too.

To make a long story short, we ate our lunch, paid our bill and walked across the street to spend a few minutes in the book store.

I opted to sit on a park bench out front.  I was fuming!  In my mind I am thinking what is wrong with me.  I am 45 years old, been married for 25 years and all of a sudden I am jealous!

What the heck?  I was upset, but I was really trying to get a handle on what was setting me off at the moment.  Was I having a pre-menopausal fit?  Did I really feel threatened by these young girls?

I would have been fine, if I could have just sat there on my little park bench and had a few minutes to my self.

My hubby new he had messed up and I should have kept my mouth shut.

I should have, but I did not.  Every Irish, red head vein in my body came unglued.  When I get upset, and I know this may surprise a few, but I turn into sailor Bob.

My mouth opened and out came the foulest words that a diginified lady should never ever say.  I am pretty sure that was the longest 3 minutes my husband has had in a while.

He says he loves my honesty, well he got some and then some more.  Lets just say that fudge and freckle were not the f words I chose to use.

I stormed off and walked back to the car and cried.

He felt horrible and I believe that he did.  He had no idea of knowing that one decision to eat at this type of restaurant would set me off.  I had no idea either.

He apologized and we had a good talk.  His attempt at having a burger and beer turned into an emotional roller coaster ride for me.

So where was my emotion coming from?  Fear.

I have had a hard time aging.  My husband just keeps getting more and more handsome as he starts to age.  The silver is coming in perfectly.  His body is not changing shape.  He is not having mood swings every other week.  He is pretty much the same guy I married 25 years ago.

On the other hand, I am not having the same experience and so I do fear that he might get tired of me.  This is not how he feels, this is my mind playing crazy games with my head.  I exercise every day, watch what I eat and try to stay sane.  Some days are better than others but it's a daily job that I must keep up on.

It is the fear of being alone, of loosing my best friend.

Yes, wings and pretzels are good, they are fun to have, even to look at but I don't take my husband to restaurants with hoagies and six packs (good looking men) and I don't want him to take me out for wings and pretzels anymore.

I really am not a fuddy duddy but I have come to a place in my life that I don't want to sit and look at girls that are my daughters age flirt with men my husbands age while I am trying to enjoy my salad.

Am I the only one with a pretzel and wings story to tell?  I would love to hear your story and how you handled the situation.


NOTE:  My husband proof read this entire article and we had a good laugh this morning.

Oreo Wafers

When I was a kid I would share my Oreo's with my dog.  He got the creamy center and I got the cookie.  Now that I am a parent, I used to share my Oreo's with my kids.  They got the white soft center and I got the cookie.  With this recipe I solved my issue, no creamy white soft center.  Just a nice simple, thin wafer all to myself.   I still share though.  

Recipe:  Oreo Wafers

Simply Gourmet

Yields: 30-32 cookies

Prep time: 5 minutes

Bake time: 7-9 minutes

skill level:  easy

Preheat oven to 375.

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 large egg, slightly beaten

In a Kitchenaid bowl, combine all ingredients.   If you don't have a counter mixer, then use a medium size bowl and mixer, combine all ingredients.  

Mix ingredients until well blended.  Batter will be similar to thick brownie batter.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Using a scoop, scoop cookies 2 inches a part.  These cookies spread and you will need the whole cookie tray.  Don't try to make them fit or you will end up with one large cookie.

Bake for 7-9 minutes.  They are very thin and will burn if you over bake them.

Remove cookies from oven and let rest on sheet for a few minutes, remove carefully with spatula to a cookie cooling rack.

If you would like to have a filling, let cookies cool completely and then fill.  

Cellophane Noodle Stir Fry

One of our favorite places to eat in Annapolis is a restaurant named Lemon Grass.  All their food is excellent.

What is amazing to me is the size of the restaurant.  It is very small with a few tables inside and a few tables outside.  In the summer we usually don't have any problems getting a seat but come winter..you better be prepared for a wait and it's a packed wait.  There is maybe a 4X6 foot spot when you first walk in to wait.

I love it because it's a great chance to meet new people.  The tables are very close together and you may even get a  chance to say hello to more new friends…LOL

My favorite dish is the fried duck.  I can't for the life of me figure out how they get the duck slices so crispy.  I have been asked by several friends what I think their secret is and I can't find anything that would give a hint as to what they do.  I know of a friend who knows the owners and even he can't get the "recipe"…LOL

While my mom and sister were in town a few months ago we took them to Lemon Grass.  They had to agree the food was excellent.  My sister always orders this one dish named Pad Woon Sen.  She asked me to come close to reproducing it for her so that she could make it at home.

It wasn't too hard to make because this is a dish that we make a lot, not ever realizing it had a fancy name.

I use a simple sauce of three ingredients.  This sauce I use on most of my asian noodle dishes.  I know that some recipes will call for hoisin sauce or plum sauce.  I personally find these sauces to be too sweet.  I want to taste the noodles, veggie and meat more than the sweet sauces used by some.

Another new favorite I have discovered is Pork Belly.  When we go into our Asian market, they sell it by the pounds.  I could never figure out what it was used for, until now.

I bought some and did some researching in trying to figure out how I prepared the meat.  I found that you cook it similar to a pork chop.  I will tell you how I prepare the pork belly below in the recipe.  You can always use chicken or beef in this recipe.  I just enjoy pork belly, way too much!!!  LOL

I think this recipe fits right into our Simply Gourmet way of eating.  We use wheat free noodles, lots of veggies, a little bit of meat and a few sauces.  It's fresh, beautiful and sure to be enjoyed by the whole family.

This recipe was featured over at Amee's Savory Dish for her Fit and Fabulous Friday feature.  You can see the other links here.

Recipe:  Cellophane (Glass) Noodle Stir Fry

1/2 pound of pork belly, prepared…see below
1  small head of green cabbage, diced into 1x1 inch squares
1/2 red onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 packages of cellophane noodles, prepared according to package
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce (use this sparingly at first)
peanuts to garnish
Cilantro to garnish

NOTE:  There are other things that can be added to the recipe: scrambled eggs, mushrooms, bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken, etc.

To prepare the pork belly I use a cast iron pan.  Preheat oven to 350. Score the pork belly across the top of the fatty side every inch.  Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in pan and add pork belly.  I cook the pork belly until crispy on all sides. Place cast iron pan with seared pork belly into oven to finish cooking.  Cook for 15 minutes until it is no longer pink on the inside. This is the amount of time it should take you to prepare the noodles and veggies.

Prepare your noodles according to the package.

In a saute pan, add sesame oil.  Add your veggies and saute until they are cooked to your liking.  We like our veggies to be al dente, still a little bite to them.

Drain your noodles and add them to the veggies.

Add the dark soy sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce.

Remove pork belly from the stove and slice into bit size pieces, add them to the veggie and noodles.

The noodles can be pretty hard to stir into the dish because they are so long.  I will take a fork and pull the noodles up and cut them with a pair of kitchen scissors.  It makes the dish easier to serve and to eat.

I like to add peanuts and cilantro to my Thai dishes, but it's up to you and your guest.

For cooking pictures, see below:

Pork Belly, cut and ready to add to the noodles and veggies.

Veggies before they are sauteed.

Veggies and Pork Belly awaiting the noodles.

Noodles.

Noodles, veggies and pork belly with sauce.  YUM

Buffalo Chicken Dip

 The very first time I tried a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, I was hooked.

The combination of hot sauce, blue cheese and crunchy celery kept me coming back for more.

I have a tendency to "obsess" a bit about things.  When I find something I like I have no problem eating it over and over, back to back for days.

I like this recipe because it can be made in the crockpot, in the stove or thrown together in the microwave.

I like to cook this dish in the crock pot if I have the time.  I also make a large loaf of warm bread for family and friends. You can find the recipe that I use for the bread here.  I chop extra veggies for those that cannot eat the bread (like me).

I also think that this could be made without the chicken pieces and still taste yummy for your friends that don't eat meat.


Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Dip

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup of green onions, diced
1/2 cup Franks hot sauce
1/2 cup Jack or Cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1.5 cups of cooked,diced chicken
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
2 celery stalks, diced for garnish
Serve with celery sticks, crackers or fresh bread

I used my crockpot to prepare this dip.  If you wish to use your oven, preheat oven to 350.  Use a pie dish and cook for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

To prepare in the crockpot:  Add cream cheese, mayonnaise, garlic, green onions and hot sauce.  Combine until mixed, it does not have to be smooth.

Add cheese and chicken. Mix well.

 Cook on high for 2 -3 hours.  Check every so often and stir.

Transfer dip to a pie plate and garnish with blue cheese and celery pieces.

I used the left over dip on a salad the next day.

I grilled my lettuce on the grill with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Warmed up the dip and enjoyed a buffalo chicken salad.  It was delicious.