About Me

Words to describe me include: fun-loving, kind, caring, outgoing and up for a new adventure. Some of my interests in a nutshell, gardening, crafts, cooking, the outdoors, camping, hiking, photography, and creating positive relationships.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Success!

Spring break is here! I am definately enjoying my time off. I have been very busy in the kitchen! :-)

I went on to one of my all-time favorite recipe websites,
www.allrecipes.com, and then did a search. Then I added all of the recipes to the shopping list. That is the neatest tool! It creates the list combines all the recipes and gives you the exact measurement needed so when you are shopping you know how much to get. It even lists the items needed by the department you will find them in. I also really like this website because it calculates the recipe for the amount of servings you want. It also gives you nutrition information. The reviews from the other users are great too!

Yesterday I did it! I created the "exotic" pizza. Not really, but that's what Steve thought, ha! I made a crust from scratch via Betty Crocker.

1 package regular yeast or dry active yeast
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt

Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Then roll out on to the greased/floured pan. For thin crust bake immedately, for thick crust let rise again for 30-45 min.

I made a thick crust. I made a white sauce to put on top of the pizza. I browned 1/2 # of sausage. I added 2 cloves of fresh garlic and 1 tsp of Italian seasoning. I cut up one potato, I boiled it in water. I also sliced up 1/2 an onion. When the crust came out of the oven, I spread on the white sauce. I then added the Italian sausage, potato, Hormel real bacon bits, onion, mozzarella cheese and a little cheddar on the top.

It turened out delicious! Steve admitted it WAS good. :-D I do know a thing or two when it comes to cooking and what would be good. I think it could also be made as a breakfast pizza, doing everything the same but adding scrambled eggs to the mix before baking. This was a thick crust so it was very filling.

On Monday, I made barbecued pulled pork in the crock pot...mmm...mmm...good!
I found this on allrecipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Pulled-Pork/Detail.aspx
This is VERY easy. You put in the roast, pour in root beer and let it cook. When it is done add barbecue. We added Famous Dave's. I got whole wheat buns and Bibb/Boston lettuce from Trader Joe's This gave the sandwich good texture and color. I served this with a pickle and Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips. I then added Chipotle Mayo from Target for Steve, he likes things with a little more spice/heat. I just had mine plain and it was delicious.

Today for lunch I made my super-duper top secret red chili, I made my own recipe ;). That too was pretty darn good! For dinner, my 17, almost 18 year old brother is visiting. I have a beef roast in the crock pot with cream of mushroom soup and french onion mix. Here is the recipe from allrecipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Awesome-Slow-Cooker-Pot-Roast/Detail.aspx
I then added onion on top of the roast. I also added peeled potatoes and carrots. It is supposed to make it's own gravy, I am sure I am going to have to thicken it up when the meat is done. I will update later on how this turns out. So far it is all cooking very well.

I also finished a book by Jodi Picoult, My Sisters Keeper. WOW! Amazing, if you haven't read it I highly recommend it.

Skippy go neutered on Monday. He is healing very well. I wouldn't even think that he had the surgery except that he has a lampshade on his head and an incision. He runs around just like usual, his happy-go-lucky self! He has been enjoying the patio.

That is all for now, I will update later!
Tootles :o)


***UPDATE***
The roast turned out really well. I think next time I might try buying a different cut of meat. It was good, but not as good as Mom's. :-)) But for my first time, I think I did pretty darn good! The gravy turned out and the potatoes and carrots were also good. Steve really really liked it too.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Pfew!

Ahhhh! *exhaling* What a day!

Mr. Skippy is going through puberty! He is just like my students and does not know what to do with himself! He is giving me a headache. I don't know what to do with myself either! Ha! I can not wait for spring break. It is a well needed vacation. It is also good because I made an appointment to get Mr. Skippy neutered! :-)) Then hopefully he will go back to being the sweet puppy and not psycho crazy dog. This just started this past week. He just turned 6 months. On Saturday Steve took him to the park and he started lifting up his leg to go on trees. He is only a 20 pound dog! We'll "fix" him real quick! :-) I've included a video of him after his bath. Which I described yesterday, check it out.

I made a delicious smoothie! I added fresh strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen peaches, 1/2 a frozen banana, and 3 frozen peach slices. I added orange crystal light for my liquid. Dee-lish!

I baked tilapia tonight with lemon herb, it was delicious!

So now I am going to veg out and watch tv and hopefully go to bed early!! Man, is this daylight savings time killing me in the mornings!


Have a great evening!
Annie


Monday, March 9, 2009

Good Day!

Good Evening!

Today went by very very fast. The kids made bisquick cherry swirl coffee cake. They glaze and eat it tomorrow. It looks delicious.

I was prepared with my food and I stayed within my points range! Yay me! I also took the dog out for a walk around my neighbor hood. I met some friendly people who also had dogs. What a great way to meet your neighbors. The dogs just walk up to each other and then you're forced to say hi. One of the people is a teacher in the same school district as me!

When we got back Skippy was nuts! He was barking like crazy and running around. I then gave him a bath, he was even crazier. He proceeded to run back and forth between the two bedrooms, marking the floor mid-run, and tried to take all of the covers off of the bed. He was using his head as a bulldozer! He finally settled down. I don't think he likes the feeling of being wet and he also had his raging hormones and has no self control.

Now I am sipping hot cocoa and watching Dancing With The Stars.
Tootles!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

A New Week

It is now bedtime. I thought I'd write a quick blog before I go down for the count.

I love that it is daylight savings! It is so motivating! It feels like spring and summer are soon on the way. It means more time outdoors. :-)

For dinner I marinated chicken in lemon pepper marinade. I then put it in the crock pot; I added 2 cups of chicken broth to cover the chicken. I cooked it on high for 4 hours and it was perfect! So simple. The meat was so tender it broke with the fork. I didn't even need a knife. I also peeled carrots and potatoes and boiled them.

I am confident I am going to have a great week! I am going to follow the WW points! I have leftovers (2 meals) of the chicken, carrots, and potatoes. I bought Talapia, Fiber One muffins, fresh strawberries and raspberries today too. I love berries! This evening I made WW 0 POINT soup. It is very tasty.

Now that it is day light longer I feel like I will be more motivated to work out too! If not at the YMCA, on the Wii fit.

So long, and good night!
Annie

Day 2

Good Morning!!!

Today I made us blueberry stuffed french toast...a little putsy but VERY easy! Just cutting bread and cream cheese. I took the texas toast and cut it in 4 stacks of 3. Steve cut the cream cheese. Then you throw it all in a 3L baking pan. That's it!


Here is the link to the recipe.
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1638/Big-Blueberry-Stuffed-French-T107856.shtml
I did not make the syrup though. I just bought a bottle of blueberry syrup.
I also used frozen blueberries and low fat cream cheese.


Steve loved it! He said it was very good, 9 out of 10. I have to agree with him on this.

This is something you can put together the night before (the bread, the cream cheese and the blueberries) and (1st pour egg mixture on top) bake the following morning. It would be great if you have a group for breakfast.

I currently have chicken breasts marinating in lemon pepper marinade. I am going to either bake it or find some way to put it in the crock pot. I will give an update later. :-)


Skippy decided that he really likes cream cheese. As we were cutting the cream cheese into small cubes he was on his hind legs sniffing all around the kitchen. When we put the wrapper in the garbage, he then sat by the garbage and cried. He then go sneaky and grabbed the wrapper out of the garbage and frantically started licking it, knowing I would quickly come to snatch it away from him.

Happy Cooking!
Annie

Saturday, March 7, 2009

First TIme

Today is my first day as a blogger.
Here are my hopes and goals of this blog:

  • Share the stories in my life. I love a new adventure. I always have very strange things happen to me. I am accident prone.
  • My stories as a weight watcher member.
  • I love to cook. I want to share my adventures in the kitchen. I will rate and review recipies I have tried.
  • I will rate and review resturants I have tried.
  • I teach middle school FACS (Family Consumer Science), it grew out of Home Economics. Always an adventure in the classroom.
  • I also have a 6 month old puppy. His name is Skippy, he is a Cavapoo. This is a mix of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Poodle.
  • I am not a writer.

I hope you will find enjoyment in my stories I share.

My new "concoction" I want to try in the kitchen is potato pizza! I've had it before at the Green Mill and at the Minnesota State Fair. Both have been very good. I plan on making the crust from scratch via Betty Crocker. I will make a white sauce from Homemade Gourmet. I plan on cooking the potatoes then cutting them up and putting them on the pizza.

My boyfriend Steve is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. So I plan on browning a quarter pound of sausage with some garlic. We love garlic. I will put Italian sausage, bacon bits, mozzarella cheese, some cheddar cheese, onion and potatoes on the pizza. I am not sure of the seasonings I want to add yet. When I had it at the State Fair, it was dill, they also had rosemary. I will have to do some research on this still. Steve is very hesitant, he told me he doesn't like "exotic" pizza's. I think the combination of white sauce and potatoes on a pizza makes him nervous.

I am certain when I make this he will love it! I often make things, and surprise him. He doesn't have a sense of smell so he can be in the other room and have no idea what I am making! When ever it comes fresh out of the oven he is always happy.

I will update when I actually create this pizza!

As for breakfast tomorrow I am either going to make blueberry stuffed cream cheese french toast or carmel rolls from scratch. Yet TBD.

All for now! Good night :-)

Comments are always welcome!