Beautiful Food

Isn't food just beautiful sometimes? My husband and I made these kabobs the other night. I couldn't get over how beautiful (and tasty) they were. My friend Nikki and I used to have to make what seemed like hundreds for our family campouts when we were in junior high and high school. Each of our families had six people in them, and most of them were boys. Our moms always overplanned and made us make all of the kabobs. I didn't enjoy it at the time, but now I'm thankful for my kabob skills. The best part of these were the onion chunks and roasted tomatoes. Yumm-o. Sometimes it's the simple things in life that make life oh-so wonderful.

Salsa Fresca

On Sunday I finally made fresh salsa for the first time. It was on my summer to-do list. I went to the local farm market (my husband said it can't be called a farmer's market since it was produce from only one farm) on Saturday to get some fresh tomatoes. Then, I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com. You can find the link here.

It worked out pretty well. I had never even heard of a jicama before and neither did the check-out boy at the grocery store. It's considered to be a root/tuber and can be used as either a vegetable or a fruit. My husband and I tried a raw piece. It reminded me of a grainy, unsweetened apple. It's not bad. I have to figure out what to do with the rest of it now.

The salsa tasted good the first day. I haven't tried it again since then because I had a queasy stomach yesterday from some bad Mexican food the night before. I might try it today to see if it flavored anymore. My husband LOVED it and says it's the best salsa he's ever tasted. He is a bit biased, though.

Nostalgia Before Nutrition

For some odd reason I've been nostalgic lately. It may have something to do with reading memoirs with one of my ESL students. I also end up telling lots of childhood stories to him because he's curious about our culture.

Anyways, I had a hankering for some boxed mac 'n cheese with cut up hotdogs in it. My husband and I both grew up with this "staple." It sure beats PB&J (which I despise).

Now I know there are all sorts of horrible things in boxed mac 'n cheese and hotdogs. But, I don't really care. The flavor is amazing. The saltiness of the hotdogs pairs perfectly with the mac 'n cheese. So, for  Sunday dinner today I made mac 'n cheese with hotdogs. I used my fine china because...well, I could. When you're an adult you can do eccentric things like that. It was a fantastic meal. We both loved it. I'll take nostalgia over nutrition any day.

A Day of Food

I've spent a lot of time focusing on food today. I decided to dig through old magazines with the intention of finding good recipes. I decided to rip out the recipes and through away the rest of the magazines. My friend, Liz, gave me these magazines last summer and last fall and I'm just now digging through them. Here's the lovely stack I had to dig through:

While I was working on this stack, I also whipped up some Honey Mustard Chicken. My husband's aunt gave me a box of laminated recipe cards that came from various members of the family as a wedding gift . She put little notes and memories on each card. I cannot tell you how much I treasure that recipe box. This recipe is probably my favorite from the stash.

Honey Mustard Chicken

Ingredients:

  6-8 Chicken Thighs, or assorted pieces

1/3 c mustard (honey mustard is the best)

1/3 c honey

3 Tb milk

2 Tb butter, melted

1/2 tsp curry powder

Instructions:

Mixed together above ingredients. Roll chicken pieces in batter and lay in FOIL LINED baking dish. You will regret if you don't line pan with foil! Pour remaining batter over chicken. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour 15 minutes. Baste about every 15 minutes and the chicken will be golden brown when finished. 

Serving Suggestion(s): Serve over cooked white rice. I usually double the sauce recipe for extra deliciousness.

Yield: 4-6 Servings

Every woman needs a rice cooker!

 I also watched 11 Rachel Ray video clips on Swag Bucks.com for three lousy Swag Bucks. I'm trying to rack up as many as I can to get gift cards to help my husband buy us a new TV. Ours was free from my grandma. You can barely read any of the words on the screen because she kept the TV on for about 12 hours a day for several years before she gave it to us. Needless to say, we need a new TV! I did learn a few tricks of the trade from Rachel, though. I'm going to start using a garbage bowl as I cook. It will save me a ton of time and will keep germs and messes from going all over my kitchen. I also might look into grating fresh nutmeg. I may even think about using some EVOO. I do have a slight aversion to olive oil after a camping trip gone awry. It might take a few years before I can eat it again.

It's been a great day foodwise. I think I might go create some sort of dessert out of whatever few ingredients I have lurking in the cupboards.