Been Awhile

So, It's been FOREVER and a day since I posted anything here. I've had a ton of stuff going on, and truthfully I couldn't come up with anything except me whining, so I figured I would take a little blogging break.

But anyway, have I ever talked about my ummmmm obsession with bread? I love everything about the bread...... the smell, the taste, the texture. While American white bread has it's place in my heart, my real love is Artisan bread.

I swear while I was in Europe I could have lived on bread, wine, cheese and chocolate..... ok and REAL Italian pizza and pasta.

Since coming home, I have searched every bakery by my house for some bread that would come close to the yummy goodness I had in Europe. Sadly nothing has even come close to being close.

So, a few days ago I headed to my local B & N in search of a new cookbook about Artisan bread and I found one that looks promising.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. What you do is mix all the ingredients into a container, toss it in your fridge, cut off a hunk every day, shape it, then bake it. Seems easy enough to me!

I started my first batch of dough today and I bake tomorrow.

Wish me luck because this bread lovin' woman is in need of lovin' from her oven.

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Catching Up

Wow! It's been forever and a day since I posted anything on here. With all of the holidays I just haven't been able to come up with anything but mush....lol

Lets see...... Our Christmas was very good. Everyone got what they wanted and were very pleased. I got the normal stuff...... clothes, bathrobe , perfume, body wash est. But my most favorite gift was my pasta press attachment for my stand mixer. I am IN LOVE with it! I love fresh pasta and and this little number works like a charm.

We hosted this years Christmas dinner and I made herb crusted prime rib, roasted garlic red skin potatoes, steamed veggies & homemade bread. For desert I made an apple tart with a homemade carmel sauce. It was deemed the best desert they've ever eaten and many wanted to bathe in the carmel sauce. So worth the time and effort to make it.

New Years eve was at our house, we get together with the same friends every year and take turns hosting. For that I made a Southwest chicken soup and a new chili recipe. They were both really yummy and are on my must cook again list.

I don't do the whole "resolutions" thing. They are to easy to break and every day is a new day to start new so why do we need a new year to make changes to our lives.

I did set a goal for myself this year, I won't cry if I don't reach it but it should be fun none the less. I have this huge collection of cookbooks, mostly bought for a recipe or two that I wanted to try. After that they just sit around collecting dust. So my goal is to cook my way through all of them. Some of the recipe I won't be cooking, since I know my family won't touch them...... none of them would touch octopus with a ten foot pole. Once I've cooked them I will post a picture here and give my thoughts on each recipe. Should be a lot of fun and we'll get to try out new things to eat along the way.

Well that's pretty much it in my part of the world. Barry is back in Arkansas after being home for two weeks and the kids go back to school tomorrow. I can honestly say that I'm so ready to have this house all to myself again ...... well except for the cat but she sleeps all day long lol

Until later my friends

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Inspired

I was so inspired after seeing Julie & Julia last night that I cooked up a storm today.

For dinner I made grilled ribeye steaks with herb butter sauce. Along with that I made grilled red skinned potatoes .

And for dessert I made mocha chocolate cake ( no box mix ! ) with espresso glaze. To top it off I also made a vanilla sauce.
Don't ya just want to lick the photos?

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Julie & Julia

Last night my Bestie and I went to see Julie & Julia .

I have been waiting for this movie to come out since the very first time I saw the previews.

As a young child and teenager I have such fond memories of watching Julia Childs cooking shows on PBS. Even at that young age I was fascinated by process of taking seemingly simple ingredients and turning them into works of culinary art.

During the entire movie I laughed, smiled and visually ate each and every recipe that was prepared.

I felt connected to both Julie & Julia as they struggled to find their way and voice in this world. Something that I, myself am trying to do.

I walked away from the movie not only visually stuffed but inspired.

" Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it"- Julia Child

" The only time to eat diet food in when your waiting for the steak to cook"- Julia Child

" The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a What the hell? attitude"- Julia Child

" In spite of food fads, fitness programs, and health concerns, we must never loose site of a beautifully conceived meal "- Julia Child

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Yummy Chicken

Last night for dinner I made rotisserie chicken for the first time and it turned out so good. So much better then the ones you can find in grocery stores.

I started the night before with brining my whole chicken like I do my Thanksgiving turkeys. The brine is never the same way twice and is always based on what I want the meat to taste like.

For this one after I cleaned out the chicken I put it in a huge bowl and covered it with cold water. I then poured in about a cup of whiskey ( it was the end of the bottle and looked like a cup), a half a cup of salt ( I know that sounds like a lot of salt but trust me the chicken will not taste salty) , a palm full of dried rosemary, sage, thyme & fresh ground black pepper, and the juice of one large lemon. I then covered it with ice, put some foil on the bowl and stuck it in the fridge over night.

The next day about an hour before I was ready to cook it I took it out of the brine and in the cavity I place some fresh rosemary, sage, thyme and half of a lemon. After that I trussed up the chicken and placed it on the spit.

This is what it looked like.

It takes about an hour to hour & a half over medium heat ( roughly 350 degrees) depending on the size of your bird.

And this is what mine looked like when it was done. OMG ! it was so tender and juicy ! I will be making this again, but with two birds next time because we finished that one so fast and wanted more.

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This & That

Jen over at Making Sense of it All asked me for my BBQ ribs recipes.

Since you have an iPhone, Weber grills has a app. that is filled with many of the pork rib recipes I have used. They are all easy and don't require a smoker. Or if you don't want to do the app thing, I make these from the Weber cook book.

For my beef ribs I used this recipe from Fine Cooking.

In other news:

I got to talk to Barry last night, while this may not sound like such a big deal to some to us it was huge. We haven't spoken for more then a few seconds since he went back to Arkansas back in the beginning of July. The man has been so busy with work that he hardly has time to sleep let alone talk to me. But last night we got to talk and it was great. Not sure when he will be home again, but I for one can not wait to see him again.

This week I have to take B-Monkey and J-Bird to school and do the whole back to school registration thing. And of course they aren't on the same day because that would be to easy for me if they were on the same day. J-Bird will be in Middle school this year and that will be so strange for me. I'll have the entire house to myself by 7:00 ! What will I do with that extra hour and a half?????

So hard to believe that summer is almost over with! Where did all the time go? Before long you will be reading about me freaking out over planning two graduation parties ( on the same day) and what life is like having two college kids. But no thinking about that until January....lol

Lets see what else? Oh this Friday I'm going to the movies with a friend. I haven't been to the movies in forever ! We're going to see Julie & Julia and I can not wait.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.

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Could You Tell?

Could you tell yesterday that I was bored? When I'm bored I tend to make way to many posts in one day.

That happens when-

The Hub's is in Arkansas for yet another Easter and spends his day working from "home". Which means I hardly got to talk to him.

Son M spent his Easter with his Dad

Daughter K had to work

Daughter A spent the entire day texting with her friends about how bored they all were at their family gatherings

B-Monkey spent most of his day playing outside with friends

J-Bird spent his day like he always does- playing games on the computer.

Which left me to make a ton of posts on my blog lol

But I did manage to cook a full Easter dinner, complete with homemade brownies- no box mix for this girl.

Back up all my iTunes ( can you say took FOREVER!)

Back up all my photos on my external hard drive ( can you say FOREVER again !)

Took a soak in the hot tub. With all the neighbors looking at me like I was strange. Um hello we bought the darn thing to use, so I'm going to use it Thank You very much.

Polished off an entire bottle of wine by myself. Which is something I never do! Normally I just have a glass a day until the bottle is gone But for some reason yesterday I just kept pouring. Oh well I slept really good last night lol

So that was my Easter in an egg shell lol

Today I'm sitting here watching the rain and listening to B-Monkey & J-Bird fight over the computer. Is it Tuesday yet?

Don't forget to enter my Spring Cleaning Contest And to post any of your photography questions you may have !

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You Capture- Week 7

Fun that was the theme for this weeks You Capture.

Fun is such an subjective word. What I find fun may be completely different from what you find fun. So I thought it would be fun to show you a nano fraction of some things I find fun. And to also see just how many times I can use the word fun in one post. LOL


Spending almost an entire week with The Husband was fun. We laughed, talked, had many lunch dates, shared bottles of wine and had several midnight soaks in the hot tub.



Sadly I just said good bye to him and he is now on his way back to Arkansas. Behind him he's transporting something he finds extremely fun. If your a reader of my blog you know how I feel about that, but I won't get into that here. I will ask that you say a little prayer that he and the beast make it there in one piece.



Moving on...

I find cooking fun. Chopping, mixing, stirring, creating. It's all fun to me



The only thing better than creating the meal is eating the fruits of labor.





Followed by eating some kind of chocolate, which is also fun.







While sitting still for hours isn't fun, nor is dealing with the after care. I do find The Husbands & my tattoos a lot of fun. Please excuse the crappy photo of mine, it was taken with my webcam.





But what is really fun is reading comments on my blog. So leave one and I'll love you forever.

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Chocolate Anyone?

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins


Baking Away In The Oven


Fresh From The Oven


Cool Enough To Eat

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Recipe Share Tuesday- French Onion Soup

I have decided to change the day of Recipe Share Thursday to Recipe Share Tuesday. This yummy French Onion soup was on the menu for the husbands welcome home dinner last week. Bon Appetit




Ingredients
6 tablespoons butter
8 medium size onions, sliced thinly
4 thyme sprigs, leaves stripped
1/2 cup sherry
4 cups brown chicken stock
2 cups veal stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
French bread croutons
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
Directions
In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, add butter and melt over medium heat. Add the onions and lower the heat to medium low. Add the thyme leaves and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions start to turn golden brown, about 25 minutes. Add the sherry and cook until the sherry is almost completely evaporated and the onions are brown, about 15 minutes.

Add the stocks and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Ladle the soup into 8 oven-proof soup bowls. Place the soup bowls on a sheet pan. Place the croutons on top of the soup, to cover. Top each bowl with 1/2 cup grated cheese. Place in the oven and cook until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly, about 10 minutes.

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Recipe Share Thursday- A Weekly Feature

Another great recipe from Emeril



Grilled Prosciutto, Soppressata, and Mozzarella Panini - YUM!





1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 slices ciabatta bread, or other rustic Italian white bread, thinly sliced
4 ounces thinly sliced mozzarella
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
2 ounces thinly sliced soppressata


Whisk 1/4 cup olive oil, vinegar, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl to blend. Arrange the slices of bread on a flat work surface and, using a brush, divide the vinaigrette equally among 1 side of each slice. Divide the mozzarella equally among the bread slices. Top 4 of the slices of bread equally with the prosciutto and soppressata and then place the remaining 4 slices on top.
Brush the outsides of each sandwich with some of the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Heat a large skillet or grill pan over medium heat. Add the sandwiches and cook until the bread is golden brown and the cheese is melted, pressing occasionally to compact with a large spatula or the bottom of a heavy small saucepan, about 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Bon Appetit !

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