Well it seems that I will be moving my blog else where. I will not pay to upload pictures and now that goggle has taken over picasa and here pictures I never uploaded to picasa are now there and my storage is full and I can no longer upload pictures to this blog unless I upgrade and pay Picasa for storage space. Well they are storing pictures I never asked them to store due to updates and changes made by goggle so I feel they should not charge me for a service I did not request.

October one very Spooky Month

What a month! The entire month was filled with tricks and treats. Let me just say I would rather have the treats.
  This month Allrecipe gave their brand ambassadors a sweet month as they partnered up with Karo syrup to bring us some of the best recipes to help make any party a sweet success.

 There are so many good recipes made with Karo syrup that are perfect for the holidays starting with Halloween and not stopping at Christmas. There is a caramel corn recipe that I wasn't able to try this month but the rave reviews it received has me convinced that I will be trying it next month and maybe making it as a Christmas gifts.
Caramel corn
   Normally Halloween is a big deal with me decorations, costumes, parties, and lots of treats. This year however this month threw so many tricks my way that Halloween was lost in the shuffle. Not completely lost just almost. 
    I had such a good time with Madeline decorating my front yard it was very much like a party. We ran around on a perfect sunny day placing plastic pumpkins and Styrofoam gravestones in just the right spot to be spooky. We laughed and joked, so fun.Then she helped me take the perfect picture of the pie that to my surprise my picky 4 yr old kept picking at. She wouldn't out right eat it but she picked enough to tell me she liked it. I had never made a pecan pie before and never knew how easy it was. 

Posing like she is scared in a graveyard

                                 

Forgetting to be scared in the graveyard

Not just easy but so good as well. Madeline wasn't the only one that thought my pie was good. I had a hard time convincing this guy to get off my pie.

  Pecan Pie
 On the Monday before Halloween Sandy was starting to blow her mighty winds and rains our way leaving us with little doubt that she meant business. So while I still had power I started making my spooky marshmallows. Yep that is right marshmallows. I kept my fingers crossed the entire 10 minutes it takes to mix this. The only electric needed. I just finished spreading my mixture when the lights went out. I am not talented at some things and cutting shapes into marshmallow is one of those things so I accepted this fact and gracefully moved on and just cut the marshmallow into bite size squarish pieces. I did my best to make my photo ghost like spooky to live up to the name of the recipe "Spooky Homemade Marshmallows"

Spooky Homemade Marshmallows
Madeline says these are better then the ones in a bag. I was sure she wouldn't try one because of the shape. Bill says they make the best S'mores ever, and for the first time in forever Hot Chocolate is on the list so I can float my marshmallows.
  I saved the best treat of the month for last. This recipe will be my go to recipe from now on when I want an apple pie. Hands down this was the best Apple Pie I have ever eaten let alone made.

 Caramel Apple Pie
This pie is so good and will be doing a guest spot on my Christmas table.
  So while Octobers tricks were large and at times painful, her treats were just as sweet and more often then not full of joy.

                              Happy Happy Halloween!

   

Getting Back into the Swing of things.

I have no pictures or recipes to share still I felt the need to get back to writing. My life seems to have gone on hold with the whole Mom issue.
  Mom now lives with me and while it is nice to have her here, it is a full time job keeping up with her needs. I have taken no food photos or tried no new recipes and I am 12 days or so behind on my project 365. My Oct. activities haven't been looked at let alone started, but my house is clean and more organized then it has ever been before. So now it is time for me to get back to my normal  lifestyle and make it all work together like words and music in a song.
 Because of the excellent medical care Mom was getting from the medical staff at her DR's office I came home not knowing how to test Mom's sugar levels. For almost 2 weeks I didn't know if I was feeding her correctly or not. I figured I would know if I was really messing up. She got her first reading yesterday and it was 142 meaning I have been feeding her well when it comes to sugar and diabetes. There was no swelling in her legs and both the heart and lungs where clear of liquid meaning I also have the salt thing under control. I love salt and crave it so this one will always be a challenge to me.
 In Michigan I had no choice but take out and restaurant food. Once I got us home the first room I got in order was the kitchen and that very night I started cooking again. Bill nice guy that he is offer to take us out to dinner that night but I wouldn't have it I wanted a good home cooked food.
  I have stuck with basic simple meals during this learning period. I am not sure what Mom likes or will eat for that matter so I have tried to limit the ingredients to things I remember eating growing up. So far she has liked almost everything I have made. Everything except vegetables and stuff that is suppose to be good for you. Getting use to making 3 meals a day has been a challenge as well. I am a 1 meal a day kind of person with a snack or 2 thrown in for good measure.
 I am going to have it easier then most because my Mom only gets the food I serve her so she can't sneak extra sweets and snacks into her day.
 Here is a dish Mom really enjoys and it is not really bad for her.
  Strawberries over biscuits: I used about 1 cup frozen strawberries defrosted in a Medium bowl. When they where defrosted completely I added about a tablespoon of honey drizzled evenly around the berries. I made Bisquick biscuits following the spoon drop method. When ready to serve spoon berries over the biscuit and serve. I didn't but you could use heavy cream and whip it into whip cream with out adding sugar to it.
 This is one of those almost guilt free dishes. The sweetener in the strawberries is the only added sugar and you can control the amount you add. There is no sugar in Bisquick and not a lot of fat. So the result is a dish that will satisfy your sugar craving diabetic, while satisfying you that you have done your level best to keep the one you love healthy and happy.    

Still in MI

I am still in MI collecting Mom and her belongings to come and live with me. So no cooking and very little time to eat let alone photo it and write about it. 
 In a week I will be back and cooking up a storm writing about just like always. 
 Stay with me to see how I learn to cook for a diabetic with huge salt restrictions.

Relaxing in the yard or A chicken nugget kind of weekend

Its the weekend and we didn't really feel like making dinner and we definitely did not want take out  and sitting out back with a fire sounded so much better then a restaurant. I had a Brisket in the crock pot but that wouldn't be ready for hours.(an improper working crock pot made it days before the Brisket was ready) So anyway we still needed to eat. I scrounged around the kitchen looking for tasty quick and easy. I found it in the freezer and the crisper. Popcorn chicken in a salad of baby spinach, cucumbers, Shredded cheddar cheese and tomatoes. I topped that off with blue cheese dressing and hot sauce. I took the bowls of yummy goodness out to the fireside where we sat and enjoyed the night. So much better then take out or a restaurant.

 Saturday night was pretty much a repeat of Friday night, fire, cocktails, and chicken nuggets. Only this time I served them with some left over Mac&Cheese. I heated it up in the oven with some shredded cheese sprinkled on top and while that was heating up the nuggets were cooking as well. Earlier in the day we had burritos made with shredded brisket, spinach,and shredded horseradish cheese  Yummy yummy. A little mac&cheese with chicken nuggets were all we needed. Except for the cake. I made a 3 layer cake and then realized I didn't have what I needed for the frosting. So today I will be frosting a 2 layer cake. 

What a great way to enjoy the perfect September evenings.

My Recipe? Maybe

 Part of this months activities with Allrecipe.com is to use al fresco all natural chicken sausage. To make a recipe from the Allrecipe site and to create a recipe. 
  I think the other night I created a recipe but I am not to sure now. I went to the store used my coupon and got a package of the sausage. I got buffalo style hoping Bill would like the spice in them. Last time we had this assignment Bill wasn't a fan. SO any way I come home and go on the AR page and search the recipes. No matter how I searched I couldn't find a recipe for buffalo style and no one else could either. In the end I decide to make them into sandwiches kind of a cross between sausage and peppers and a buffalo chicken cheese steak. So here is my recipe,
  the buffalo sausage 4 links cut into pieces on an angle
1 med onion cut into slices
1 red bell pepper cut into slices
1 green bell pepper cut into slices (I used a sweet green pepper we had from the garden)
1/4 to 1/2 cup blue cheese dressing
3 tablespoons hot sauce (adjust to your taste)
fresh baby spinach
4 hoagie rolls
In a skillet heat up enough oil to just cover the bottom. Place the sausage in the heated skillet and cook until nicely browned on both sides. Add in the onion and pepper cooking until tender. Remove meat veggies from the heat and place in medium size bowl. Mix in blue cheese dressing and hot sauce. Mix everything together making sure all the meat gets coated. Toast you rolls if desired and then make a bead of spinach on the bottom half of the roll, place the sausage mixture on top of the spinach then place top half of the roll on. 
 Here is my sandwich

Now here is the recipe I found on al fresco's site after I had already made this sandwich.
Buffalo style chicken pasta
I hope that link takes you right to the recipe in question if not click on the buffalo style link and click on the title above.
Any way they are so close I am not sure if I created a recipe or not.
 What do you think? I would really like to hear your opinion about this so if you don't mind leave a comment.   
Disclaimer( The information and free al fresco products were provided by alfresco through the Allrecipe Allstar Brand Ambassadors program)
 By the way Bill really liked the sandwich I am pleased to say. He made comments like you can do this again and I hope there is enough for lunch tomorrow. There was.

It wasn't my favorite

Up till now I have enjoyed the Progresso recipe starters and recipes I have tried. Not last nights recipe. It was easy to prepare with only a few ingredients. A few of the ingredients are pricey in my neighborhood making a disappointing recipe even more disappointing.
 The free Progresso Recipe Starter products and the information about it were provided by Progresso through the Allstar Brand Ambassador Program. 
  I followed the recipe exactly as written even after reading a few reviews that said the recipe needed some tweaking. The recipe got a fairly high rating and I wanted to see for myself  how it would come out as written. It was dry and flavorless. Beyond bland. I was expecting a creamy noodle dish full of flavor and texture. This recipe just fell flat.
Tetrazzini Recipe

I made a very green very good salad to go with this dish. The salad was dinners highlight. It was filled with all kinds of goodness like spinach leaves and peas,cucumbers, tomatoes,and toasted pecans.All topped off with croutons and a delightful Mandarin Orange and Ginger dressing.

 I gave the salad a 5 but when I rated the recipe I felt it deserved no more then a 3.
  This one so so dish won't stop me from trying more of the progresso recipes and recipe started. After all so far I have liked more then I didn't.