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. 

I use to love take out night or night out for dinner. Not any  more. 
  Last night Bill and I did not want to cook so we ordered out.The Pizza was the worst pizza ever. The onion rings where all bread and take out night was so ruined. 
  Why is it lately that pizza is bland and full of grease. I hate a slice of pie that flops at the end from sogginess and the grease runs off in rivers.That is all that has been coming out of the oven lately. No wonder we eat in and cook for our selves most of the time now. Even a bad meal from our kitchen is better then the take out and eat in around here.

At last my activities begin

I have been slacking on my blog I know. I still don't know what to feature for the months of fall and the winter season. I should be prepared months in advance with pictures and text I know, but I have been doing this day to day and up until now it was working for me. So I am still thinking and thinking and still coming up with no ideas. While I have been slacking on this page I have not been slacking in the kitchen.
  Allrecipe has been in the kitchen with me all week as well. Some of my dinners are part of the activities for this month and some of my dinners were just from searching recipes on the site and liking what I read.
 Our activities this month is among other things Progresso Recipe Starters. There are a verity of flavors and so far I have tried 2 of them.Both of them got 5 star ratings from me. Not only were they quick and easy to make and easy on the purse they where so tasty. Just wait till you hear how tasty.  " Disclosure: The information and free Progresso Recipe Starter products were provided by Progresso through the Allrecipe Brand Ambassadors program. All opinions expressed here are freely given and my own."
progresso
Before I get to the recipe starters let me tell you about the lovely Lemon Baked Pork Chop. What a yummy recipe. I over did the lemon by having pasta in lemon sauce, and lemon zested broccoli. Even still it was a delicious dinner. I will be doing it again soon I am sure. I will lessen the lemon only a little. It was overpowering to a point and it still was a refreshing meal with a wonderful punch of flavor.
Baked Stoy Lemon Chops

You can see how tender the pork chop turned out and the flavor was so good.Lip smacking good. 5 stars all the way.
 My first activity this month was a meat loaf made with the Progresso Recipe Starter and a cup cake pan. It was extremely good, even Bill my meat loaf not loving man really liked this dish. He normally doesn't like tomato sauce in the meat but he liked this one. He went back for seconds and thirds, good thing I put 2 meat cakes aside for photos.
Cheese Stuffed Mini Meatloaf

The meat was moist and tender, and the Tomato sauce was mellow and rich in flavor. I will use it again for this recipe and many others.
  My second recipe in this months activities was also a Progresso Recipe Starter. This time it was chicken with a creamy sauce and it was so so so good. Do you want to know how good? Yes? Well I will tell you then, it was so good that I had to tell the teacher the dog ate my home work. That is right there is no photo from me to go with my review because Bill ate all of it before I could get my camera set. I told him to not eat what was set aside, well he ate every bite in the kitchen. Oh I was not happy, until I thought about it. I get to make this again soon. Trust me I will make extras and put them out of site. This also got a 5 star rating from me. 
Progresso Creamy Chicken Piccata
 Can't wait to have this dish again and to try some more of the Progresso Recipe Starters.

Hey All

Hey all I am not gone just looking to see what I want to say this fall and winter. I am thinking desserts, something like 1 a day. Just not sure I can live up to the challenge. What do you think?

Dinner in the Summer Time/ Cooling down in the kitchen

My kitchen has been so laid back this week. I made dinners each night but nothing new, no faceless recipes or dishes I just had to try. I am waiting for my activity kit to arrive so I can get started on this months activities. It sounds like it is going to be a fun month with the new products we are going to try. For this past week however it was mostly quick and easy comfort food.  I have photos of my 2 favorite of the week.
 1st up was inspired by Lillian Russo and the commercial she did for McCormick special spice blends. I didn't have the spice blend but I had the spices to make the blend my self. The infomercial had enough of the recipe directions that I was able to mimic the chicken, tomato, and pasta dish that looked so yummy on film. You cook the chicken and tomato on a baking sheet together in the oven and then mix with pasta. I loved the out come.

number 2 is a dish my family calls "slum gully" it was a family favorite and was made many different ways depending on what was in the cupboard. There were some basic ingredients that were always in this recipe or idea of a recipe. On a good week there would be beef and canned tomatoes in the elbow macaroni, along with onion and tomato paste. On a bad week it could be elbow macaroni, with onion and ketchup. Sounds awful I know but it really wasn't. Most of the time there was always a can of tomatoes in the house. That was a staple in my mom's home. Well I made it like a good week. I always add ketchup and use less paste, but that is just a personal memory kind of thing.

Comfort food and memories.
 While I have been quit in the kitchen Bill has not. The peppers are in and I have been slicing and dicing the bells and freezing them. Bill has been being very creative with his cherry bombs. He has spent days working on a recipe he got from a friend for stuffed cherry peppers. First he had to clean and seed them then put them in a brine for like 2 days. Then add lemon juice to the brine and soak some more. Next he stuffed them with provolone and very thin Italian ham, he placed them in mason jars with garlic cloves and some herbs,he covered the peppers in olive oil and put the lids on the jars. In a week they will be ready to try. Hopefully I will also have permission to share the recipe by then as well. Until then I did take a picture of the jars filled the with yummy looking goodness.

Good job Bill the peppers look so good.

Dinner in the Summer Time/ End of the season let down

A lot of food bloggers at this point doing a review of the past month or season. Other bloggers are gearing up for the cooler season, while stile others are moving towards the holidays. Me I don't know what I am ready to do now. 
  After last months faceless recipe marathon my kitchen seems quit and still. No summer BBQ's and parties to prepare for, my Allstar activities haven't started just yet and my dinners have been our normal much loved everyday meals. Some would say the calm before the storm. What ever you say there is a sense of let down or of missing your best friend kind of thing. Before the month is over my kitchen will be humming again with making soups, and freezing what comes out of the garden, as well as Allstar activities. For now though I believe I have the going to miss the summer time blues.
 Here's what I have been up to the week.

 Baked pineapple. I like this dish so much. I just couldn't help playing around with my piggies when I took the picture.

 This was better then good. I used the Sunday ribs and the leftover pepper steak to make this. The two taste came together making one of the best dirty rice dish I have ever tasted.

Tossed salad of lettuce, tomato, smoked almonds, cheddar cheese with an Asian ginger dressing. The open face is beef cooked in a crock pot with dark beer and beef broth.Wheat bread and mashed potatoes. What is not to love.

Dinner in the Summer Time/Wedding Feast

I almost always love being a guest at a wedding. Weddings are so much fun you get to Eat Drink & be Merry. Last night I attended the wedding of Homer and Nora. Such a great couple and such a wonderful wedding. The Bride was just absolutely beautiful, The groom was as handsome as can be and together they looked like the story book couple that get to live happily after. After a lovely binding ceremony and all the pictures were taken the happy couple stepped on the dance floor with a style and flair of their own and started the party. There was music,dancing, spirits, and so much good food. The buffet table was just loaded with all kinds of goodness. I loaded my plate with a little bit of just about everything.  After a little dancing and a few drinks I was hungry again so what I didn't try the first time around made it to my plate the second time around.
  The food was delicious and as I said plentiful unlike other weddings I have attended the food stayed out almost until the end of the night. I liked that, it always bugs me when the caterer seems in a hurry to take the food away. One thing that was done last evening really impressed me it was such a good idea and I had never seen it done before. Not only was it  efficient it was thoughtful and some how heart warming. Instead of just taking the food away, compostable take home containers were placed on the buffet table and we were invited to fill them up and take them home.  
 I only took a few pictures last night. I was dancing and having to much fun to concentrate on photography. I did focus enough to take a picture of my first dinner plate.

  It was just as tasty this morning when I heated up my take home container.The happy couple were very generous with their guest, they provided lovely fans and cute little flags to wave at the end of the ceremony saying yay!, flip flops for the ladies with sore feet, and best of all look just past my plate that glimpse of blue ribbon is our party favor and it is a little loaf of I believe that one is banana bread. 
  Best Wishes Homer and Nora! Thank you so much for inviting us to share such a happy occasion with you. It was a wonderful wedding and we had a blast.

Dinner in the Summer Time/ Its Sept. Already

I can not believe that today is September 1 already. Where did the time go. It use to seem like summer was this long lazy season that lasted forever. Not any more it is like I blinked and summer was done.Well not really done more like coming to a close. School has started, there are winter coats on the racks in the clothing stores and the days are getting shorter. Just what I need shorter days I can't keep up with myself as it is.
 Last night I did 2 more faceless recipes. The last for the month of August. 23 recipes all total for this month. Not bad not bad at all. There are others with bigger numbers then that way bigger but I am satisfied that I did my part to help put faces on the faceless.
 This being the end of August my pepper plants are all full of peppers that are ripe and ready just begging to be picked. I picked a half a bushel and wasn't ready to clean and freeze them yet so I wanted to use a few with dinner. I took out a small piece of chuck steak earlier in the day. I really didn't need a recipe to make peppers and steak but I went looking anyway and the first one I came across looked real good and had no face. So I put a face on it. 
Chinese Pepper Round Steak

This was so good I followed the recipe almost as written I used paste instead of tomato soup as one reviewer suggested, I used a low salt beef stock and added what was left of my homemade beef stock with onion. I need to make more broth this week. Other then that I didn't change a thing and it was of the wall delicious. The meat was tender the peppers,(Okay so I changed one more tiny little thing) I added last to keep a little of the crispness to them were sweet and tasty, the gravy was such a nice change from the brown gravy I normally make. The tomato and ginger add a nice little zing in this dish.
  I had a pineapple that  was just hanging around begging to be invited to dinner. I did a recipe search in Allrecipe.com and I came up with over 200 recipes for fresh pineapple. It took me some time to find a recipe I liked and didn't have a face. I am so glad I spent the time. My side dish was baked pineapple. It was listed as a side dish but this could be a dessert as well. As a side dish it was a nice compliment to the pepper steak and rice.Simply delightful. Bill compared it to pineapple bread pudding. I don't think it is as sweet as bread pudding or as breaded, but I do see his point. I cut the recipe in half and only used about half of the pineapple. The recipe calls for canned pineapple slices, it worked just fine with my fresh pineapple.
Baked Pineapple

This was just so good. It would be a nice addition to your holiday menus,as well as your every day dishes. After all who said dinner couldn't be sweet.