New Recipe!!!

Hey everyone, I've posted a new recipe on my 'Year in the Life' blog.  I have six months left where I'll be blogging on it everyday.  So, if you haven't been over there to check it out, I hope you'll take the time to scoot on over.  :)

The great thing about this recipe is that it can be served as an appetizer, as a salad topper, or as part of a larger meal.  Very summery, very light, very yummy! 

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer!

Blessed beyond measure!
~ashley

Really? Really...

Yes, really!  My goodness, I'm frustrated.  I've made my MeMaw's homemade mayo 1000 times, at least, and for some reason I've tried twice today to make it & both times it has turned back into oil.  Do you have any idea how frustrating this is for me?  I just want to bang my head against the wall.

I've been finishing up the Christmas decorating so everything can get to the right temperature. (this is crucial to the making)  The tree has the pre-requisite 5 million strands of lights, the tables are festive, the last few doodads are out, and I just need some homemade mayonnaise for my food.

I think I'm being impatient.  It's like I'm learning to make it all over again.  I think the day I learned I went through at least 8 eggs and 8 cups of oil in the process.  One wrong move and the whole thing will fall.  It's quite tedious.  We have leftover turkey, dressing, and sides from yesterday that are screaming for homemade mayo.  The fam is asking for it too, and I so want to give it to them.

I'm also reliving when I made a cake out of a box and it fell.  Yes, I know you're wondering how that happened, but you know I don't like to measure anything...so that's pratically how it happened.  I can't remember it all, I'm blocking it out, but I don't think I used my mixer either. I found out much later that a cake needs air to help it poof in the oven.  It would help if I had read all the instructions...duh.  Baking is frustrating.

Well, I'm going to check my bowls, because it's getting close to dinner time, and we're hungry.  I just realized I didn't eat lunch because I was waiting on homemade mayo.  Oh well, here goes nothing.

If it turns out this last time I'll post a picture at the bottom of this post.

Merry Christmas & y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

No More Men in My Kitchen

I'm pretty good about sharing my kitchen with the fam, but I'm about to ban all men from it.  Hop & his very first best friend, Will, wanted to cook Red Fish Stew on Saturday, and me being the wonderfully nice mom I am (insert hysterical laugh here) allowed them access to my kitchen.  I figured since they are leaving in a year and a half for college, it was time for them to start learning to cook things on their own.

Hop started skinning & dicing the Red fish & Will started chopping the onion and making the roux.  I had to talk them both through the process, thankfully they caught on pretty fast.  In the picture to the left, Will (on the right) has started cooking the roux, and Hop (on the left) was dicing the fish.  I was proud of Will, he said the roux smelled like his Granna's Jambalaya.  I told him that he was so smart because when you make Jambalaya, you make a roux.  I think he was proud of himself.  Sweet Will!

Here is the finished product.  We decided to half the recipe because there were:  the two of them, Henry had one of his best buds, Josh, over that day, and then me.  It was just enough to feed the 5 of us.  There was about 1 serving left in the bowl.  It all went smoothly, but I have one HUGE complaint...those boys did not clean up my kitchen.  I don't mind you cooking, but you better clean up after yourself.  It's funny, I remember my mom saying the same thing to us growing up.

I pointed out several times what needed to be washed by hand & what needed to be rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher.  The trash from cooking needed to go into the garbage can & that garbage taken outside; counter tops needed to be washed off; and clean dishes they cooked with should have been put away.  Did any of this happen?  No it did not, and that leads to a very frustrated, very unhappy mommy.  I don't mind you using my kitchen, but you better leave it like you found it...and for some reason no one ever does.   So, I'm thinking about posting what I expect if you use my kitchen.

Momma's Rules for the Kitchen

1.  Yes, your momma lives here, but she does not like cleaning up your mess when you cook,
      CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF
2.  If you are unsure about what you are doing, ask questions first before you do anything.
3.  Have a wonderful time cooking.  Any other questions can be answered by reading rule #1.

Since football is over for the year, I think the big boys are going to plan a fun night that includes cooking in my kitchen & hanging outside around our fire pit.  I guess I better get the rules posted by Wednesday.  I'll choose to look the other way as they make a mess in my kitchen & I'll help them clean up after it's over...maybe.  ;)

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

So Proud of my Girl

This summer has been fun, fast, and is now coming to a close.  For me it's been especially fun because I have watched my sweet Elizabeth begin her journey in cooking. 

This has been the summer of homemade pizzas, and Elizabeth is the best at making one.  Her brothers, with their mouths full, will mumble that her pizzas are good.  From a boy that's a pretty high compliment.

Last night she made a full cake by herself.  I didn't even supervise...a little scary now that I think about it, but she did it beautifully!  (I can't bake so I'm pretty proud! and a little jealous.)

Tonight I'm letting her make dinner.  She learned how to poach chicken & why it's better to poach it than boil it.  I'm letting her choose the menu & she decided to make PoppySeed Chicken.  Hoppy will be excited, it's one of his favorite meals.  She is shredding, mixing, spreading & crumbling.  She has decided that broccoli will go great with our chicken.  I agree, so the picky one will be most upset that he will have green trees on his plate to eat.  (If he wants cake...he'll eat broccoli.)  The only part of cooking I don't think she's going to like very much is the clean-up.  Then again, I don't like the clean-up either.  (I think I'll be nice & help her with this part.  Misery loves company.)

I'm so proud of her.  I wish my mom & MeMaw were here so I could share this memory with them.  I know they would praise her accomplishments.  For those of us who cook a lot, PS Chicken and broccoli is a simple meal to prepare, but for someone who doesn't know how to cook, it's huge.  We've shared E's cooking ability with GiGi & Pop because they spent the night last night & were able to let Elizabeth know how much they loved her cake.  It's nice when people notice your hard work and let you know they appreciate you.

So today's post is for my girl...I'm so proud of her!  She makes my job as a mom easy.  :)

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~Elizabeth's very proud mommy ~ ashley

It's Just Broken

Well, I've finally made it back to MOJ.  It's been a rough month.  You might remember when I mentioned my cooktop was broken.  We thought we had it fixed, but then it quit again...very bad.  We have since found out that we are lucky the cook top didn't burn our house down.  Like I said, very bad. 

Well it didn't & we are fine except that I can't cook a lot of stuff.  It's kind of a pain.  Everything has to be baked, grilled, or zapped in the microwave.  Or maybe we can just have peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, again.... 

I've been pricing cook tops, and WOW, the companies who make them really like their products, alot!  I'm not asking for a Viking or Thermador...this is just a plain jane cook top.  Now, I would really like a Viking or Thermador, preferably gas, but the accountant says it's a no go.  (Hopson is my accountant for those of you who don't know.) 

I get a huge laugh at some of my friends who don't cook, but have a mack daddy kitchen.  Then there's me, I cook, and have the smallest oven ever built & an electric cook top that potentially could have burnt my house down.  Oh well, if that's the worst thing I can complain about, I guess I'm not doing to badly.

Trying to figure out dinner has been interesting for the last 2 weeks.  Last week I decided to try to poach some chicken in the microwave.  It didn't turn out to badly.  You just have to make sure you don't cook it on high heat; you cook it on a power level of about 4 until it's cooked.  Anyway, I was craving a BLT.  I don't know why, I just was.  So I decided to make a Chicken BT casserole.  It was actually very yummy & even the picky one liked it.  I'm having trouble with my wegottaeat webpage, so I'll get it posted asap!

Y'all be blessed beyond measure!
~ashley :)

Creativity is the Key

Sunday afternoon I was very proud of myself.  I was going to get dinner put together early so I would have time to do other things.  (nap, laundry, unpack, or a nap)

Since we just came back from vacation, we are out of a lot of stuff, but we have staples in the house.  (ie chicken)  Poached chicken can be used in so many different recipes I decided to get ahead for this week and double what I poach.  So I have my chicken going and realize that the little red light on the stove is off.  Uh oh.  That is a bad sign.  No red light means that the breaker has been tripped.  I go out to the garage and flip the breaker.  I should be able to go back in, turn on the eye & start cooking again.  One problem, nothing turned back on.  I call Hopson, my in-house handyman, to figure out what is going on.  I mean the man installed a fan in the ceiling when we first got married FTL.  Not that impressive unless you take into account he had to wire it too.  (Hopson is a CPA, but likes to play an electrical engineer on TV.)  I was impressed.  The resident handyman couldn't figure out the problem or fix it either.  OK, I have 2 pounds of chicken sitting in a boiler waiting to be poached & no other way to cook them.  Until I remember...

During Thanksgiving and Christmas we have to use the grill to cook & keep food warm.  (I have a very small oven.)   I decided I would cook on the grill.  I'm cooking with gas, which is better anyway, right? 

It was not as easy as I had hoped.  I had a hard time getting the temperature just right.  It was either too hot or too cold. So my chicken and noodles go from doing nothing to boiling over.  I just laughed.  (It was either that or cry.)  My next problem was how to make the pesto.  No eyes working, so for this I used the microwave.  It turned out ok, a little messy in my microwave though.  I didn't realize how much I cook on my stove top.  Yikes!

I decided to make a chicken noodle pesto dish.  It is similar to my chicken pesto rolls, but you add a layer of lasagna noodles and no corn flakes. 

The electrician came out today to look at the stove top; we decided that calling him first would be wise since the breaker kept tripping.  Our electrician said it was not in the electrical system.  I have scheduled the appliance people to come out, but they won't be here until Friday morning.  It looks like the fam is going to be eating a lot of grilled meat or stuff cooked in the crock pot.   The selfish part of me really wants a new cook top.  5-6 gas eyes just makes me salivate.  I could be a cooking machine.  Or at least a more efficient one.  :)

Until we find out what is wrong, I will be happy I have a home and a kitchen I can semi-cook in.  It's all in how you look at it I guess.  My life is good. 

I wanted to wish a very happy birthday to my sweet Elizabeth! Today is her 11th birthday.  I can't believe she's that old.  What a sweet girl she is growing up to be.  She is how I wish I was all the time.  Today would have also been my dad's 63rd birthday.  He has been in heaven for almost 19 years, and I still miss him.  I know he would have fallen in love with E.  Her birth story is funny, I'll have to share it sometime. 

Y'all pray for me as I try to be creative in my kitchen!

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

heaping teaspoons of life

Ok, I must admit, I'm a little nervous.  I've read others blogs, but never blogged about, well...me.  I'm just a mom, so here goes nothing.  Many of you have commented on the recipes I put on facebook, so instead of putting them there, I'm going to put them here.

 I have loved cooking since I was little.  I remember sitting to watch my mom & paternal grandmother,  from here on out known as MeMaw, cook things that would melt in your mouth.  Both of them are in heaven now, but when I cook, they are always in the back of my mind. 

We are all busy.  Families, jobs, homes to take care of, who has time to cook anymore?  Well, I'm taking it back.  (for my family at least!)  I hope this blog will help you do that too.  I may offer some parenting tips, love tips, or ask for some in return.  This is just me, exposed.  (in a good way) 

One of my favorite verses in the entire world is 2 Tim 1:7  "For the Lord did not give us a spirit of fear, but one of love, power, and a sound mind."  I don't know about y'all, but I need those on a daily basis.  My prayer is that you may feel the love of the Son today.  I'll be posting some of my FB recipes if not today, then sometime this week.  It's crazy~ 2 school open houses down...2 to go!

Be Blessed beyond measure,
~ashley