How To | Simply Recipes

How To | Simply Recipes

This is a great list of how tos that will help even the most inexperienced chef get through a meal. Simply Recipes is one of my favorite sites and I hope you all give it a gander.

J is for Jack of All Trades

I am a lover, a chef, a mother and an a**hole. Jack of all trades? Yeah, and I know this. My biggest passion is food. Yesterday, my husband saw me staring at the computer. He asked if I was chatting someone up. Out of all the things I could be doing. How dare he? I was staring at Amanda's Cookin' blog. I was enchanted by all the ooeey, gooey desserts she had on the site, trying to see what I would make. Look at this:

From Amanda's Cookin'

Indignant

I have a sister that calls me every time she wants to make something. She needs directions. She will call from the grocery store. Once she prepares her meatloaf, spaghetti, mac and cheese, whatever, she feels the need to tell me that her was better. Who said it was a competition? I get indignant and want to hang up. I thought food was better than that, but even then, there is competition.

Hard

I am so frazzled. I figured this challenge would be a wonderful chance at posting everyday. I find it hard. Am I the only one?

"G" Can Only Mean One Thing..... Garlic

Anyone that knows me understands there are three levels of eaters in my home. I have a husband that abhors white, creamy things; a son who will not let me chop a chicken breasts, finish cake batter, or make pizza dough without snagging a bite; then there is my daughter....she is my partner in crime, er I mean garlic.

There is nothing she and I love more than a pizza with garlic, potatoes with garlic, pasta with garlic...garlic, garlic, and more garlic. It does not feel right if a meal is missing this special ingredient. Unfortunately, my husband wants a kiss and because he is overwhelmed if there is more than a clove of garlic in anything (I probably have three heads of garlic in me right now), it is kissus interruptus.

So what, I am going to go childish with this and say "I hate his perfume, blech!". So there.

F*ck It!

F*ck it! That is how I feel right now. I have nothing in the kitchen that speaks of easiness except rice. I have not even started brining the chicken for our meal. I wish I were Samantha or Jeannie and could snap my bloody fingers and have a meal on the table in seconds. I guess if food comes out of nowhere, you have to wonder if it really is food. We'll be eating air pies and calling it delicious. Maybe magic isn't the answer.

Back to the drawing board.

E is For Empty Headedness

I got so caught up I forgot about the challenge yesterday. I made lasagna bolognese and spaced out. My son was moody and my daughter was fluttering like a butterfly. I felt insane.

D is For Dora and Her DNA (From Paula Deen's Restaurant)

I love Paula Deen, I truly do and I have gotten used to her licking her fingers after tasting her food. Today, I watched an episode of 'Paula's Best Dishes' called 'From the Ladies with Love'. The food looked especially tasty and my waistline expanded just watching them dig into baked spaghetti and cheese biscuits. I just could not stomach looking at Paula and her chef Dora licking their fingers and snacking while preparing the food. I am used to Paula, but must everyone do this? What really killed me was Dora putting the trifle together. I could see the pudding residue from when ***Dora had licked her fingers as she continued to manipulate the trifle and Paula had already licked her fingers before placing mint on top of finished dish. I wonder if DNA sharing is part of eating at The Lady and Sons.
***correction - Those were Paula's fingers 04-06-11

Menu:
* The Lady and Sons Cheese Biscuits
* Dora's Baked Spaghetti
* Chocolate Trifle

Links to the recipes can be found here: http://bit.ly/g2GQ2c

What is C for? Coffee and Caffeine, of Course!

I will tell you a really embarrassing story. I was recently visiting my mother and had not drank my 2 morning cups of coffee and chicory. Anyone that has ever had coffee like French Market or Cafe Du Monde (my MIL is from New Orleans) knows how different it is from your regular cup of joe. The color is rich and the flavor is mellower. The smell....... Gee, I am craving it right now, just talking about it.



Now, going without my coffee would have been fine had I been close to home, but I was out for hours. On the way back in the late afternoon, I was carrying bags and dealing with the worse headache. Friggin' caffeine withdrawal. I stopped into Paper or Plastik for $3 cup of whatever blend they had, just to get home without collapsing.

I love coffee, but I hate that I cannot function well without it. I am my own worse enemy.

B is For: Beef...Sometimes

I have been on a quest to make beef less of an issue, by adding some vegetarian options to our meals. I was not a big beef eater when until I would visit my doctor. He always commented on my being anemic. Instead of prescribing iron pills or dark, leafy greens, he told me I needed eat more beef.  Overnight, I traded my chicken breasts for steak.

Then came burgers. I dream of different ways to dress a burger. I look up the online menus of food trucks that roam the streets of Los Angeles, just to see what they are slapping on a bun. One episode of "Food Wars" had me at hello. Grill 'Em All battled it out with Baby's Badass Burgers.

Yep, I love beef, but in my mind, I'm all vegetarian.

A is for Anxiety: The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge

So, I joined the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge and my first post will be about 'Anxiety".
I am absolutely panicked that I will be unable to keep up with the challenge. My wish is to blog about food and food stuff all day, but I get sidetracked by the minutia that is my life. I get the kiddies ready and I actually start planning meals in my mind that day. Sometimes I will make two different meals. My kids love pot pies in a white creamy sauce. My husband hates white creamy foods, so there is always some weird adjustment. (He had a mayonnaise incident that has scarred him for life).
I start looking for one recipe and two hours later, I am still searching. This is because everything sounds so delicious. Eventually, I will have rewritten that recipe because I know what will work better with my family. Anyways, I am off in search of a banana pudding recipe that I can tinker with.

Here's to getting rid of all that anxiety about being a proper blogger.
Wish me luck.