The 5 P's of Life

Prior   Planning   Prevents   Poor   Performance

My 5 P's of life.  I would love to take credit for them, but I heard them first on the Rick and Bubba Show.  I am a task driven person by nature.  If I have a list going & do things that aren't on my list, I'll add them on there just to be able to mark them off.  Yes, it is a little twisted & sick, but it gives me a great amount of happiness.  You know, that little 'woohoo, one more thing off the list' moment.  I put everything on my calendar which is on my computer & on my crackberry.  Both pop up reminders 24 hours in advance of something that has to be done, attended, purchased, etc.  (I'd staple it to my shirt if it wouldn't make me look silly just so I would have one more way to remember stuff.)

If you are a mom with multiple children, you have to live by the 5 P's at least part of the time.  If you don't, I want to know your secret, because I'm going to market it and make a mint!  :)  Just kidding, but I would love to know if you have to have lists to get through your days too.  Yesterday was pretty busy, and I knew I would not have time to cook dinner tomorrow night.  I actually thought about dinner yesterday morning when I woke up at 4:45 am.   I was thinking something like a jambalaya, but there was no time to cook it the normal way, so here's what I did. It's a busy momma's jambalaya.

poached chicken & sausage

I poached the chicken in the crock pot with some Cajun Injector marinade, tons of garlic, 1/2 a small onion, and some chicken broth.  (I used the creole butter.)   What a beautiful creation my crock pot is.  It's almost 20 years old & still going strong.  I can put the meat in there frozen & it comes out fully cooked.  (which is what I did yesterday.)  I also included a pound of turkey sausage.  To the right is a picture of the finished product.

the roux

I had 30 minutes to complete everything else for the dinner.  I needed a roux with this.  The great thing about a roux is a little oil & flour can make a lot.  The way to make it go farther is chicken broth.  :)  A wonderful ingredient, it will add flavor to anything.  Here is my roux while it was cooking.  I added a little kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, a little ground red pepper & ground pepper flakes, and the secret (my favorite) ingredient is Chef Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic.  Yum!  When it was finished I wanted to just eat it out of the pan by itself.  I cooked it to a light brown.  After it was cooked I added 1 onion & 1 green pepper.  (actually you know how lazy I am when I'm in a hurry, so I used frozen onions & green peppers.)

I cooked 2 cups of rice, and shredded the chicken and cut up the sausage and added them to the roux.  Here is the finished product.  It's  hard to see the chicken because it literally fell apart in my hands as I was trying to cut it up.  Henry had 2 or 3 helpings, I couldn't get a firm confirmation, but it was a lot.  The picky one said it was good but not amazing.  He liked the sausage the best.  (I would have used 2 pounds, but I only had one in the freezer.)  Harry said he didn't like it already mixed in with the rice.  He would have liked it all separated.  Picky eaters...

the finished product

Do I use the 5 P's everyday?  No, and  you know what, on the days I don't I'm not nearly as streamlined and productive in what I have to get done.  The day's I use the 5 P's, I can totally rock this mom thing out!  Well, now I can go mark a few things off my list.  :)  And so it begins...

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

Dinner and a Movie Part 2

As you know from Dinner and a Movie that while I was growing up, when one of the big 3 classic movies was on TV we would eat spaghetti.  While my children have been growing up they have not really cared for my homemade spaghetti.  I've tried making homemade marinara, and since they didn't like it I just gave up & used the stuff out a jar.  I know it's sad and pathetic.

But guess what, I found an easy (YEA!!!) but very yummy basic marinara sauce.  We love to watch Cake Boss.  Buddy Valastro, who owns Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, NJ, is now doing a show called Kitchen Boss, and can I tell you I LOVE IT!  It's like all the cooking shows that are out right now, but he made a marinara sauce that is to die for & because the entire fam loved it, I want to share it with you.  One neat thing about this recipe is that once you get the garlic cooked, you can make the rest of it in the crock pot.  That's right, I said the crock pot!  I am thankful for my crock pot, it has been a wonderful friend to me over the years.  :) 

I know you're going to laugh when you see the marinara recipe, but try not to.  Just be thankful!  It makes enough for 2 full servings, so you can use one and freeze one.  After my sauce was cooked, I added ground venison with onions, garlic, and a ton of Italian seasonings & returned it to the crock pot for a few hours to really get the flavors simmered together.  They all inhaled it, even the picky one.  It was a very successful night!  Everyone went to be full and happy & I went to bed satisfied that I now have a marinara that they love & will eat! 

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

A Twofer

I've finally gotten off my duff & posted the second recipe. 

I was a little nervous about serving it because my family is known to turn their noses up at soup. (and not just the picky one)  They want something that is meaty & hearty.  Something that coats their stomach's and doesn't make them hungry in 5 minutes.

This recipe came out of desperation.  It was cold.  Squirrel...  I'm cold natured & am not a fan of being cold.  I know you can bundle up to get warm, but I never feel warm!  I have to be in my bed with my:  electric mattress pad (I would love to kiss the person on the mouth who invented this), sheet, electric blanket (between the electric mattress pad & electric blanket I feel like I'm in a warmth burrito~it's heavenly!), polertic blanket & down comforter.  Even then it takes me about an hour to warm up & be toasty.  My family thinks I'm crazy & they call me a cold prickle.  I've come to terms with it. 

Anyway, like I was saying, it was cold outside.  I had some stew meat that I needed to find a way to eat, because I had cooked it a few days before & served it with rice, but I had a good bit leftover.  I hate for food to go to waste.  Sooooooo, I came up with the stew. 

The fam actually liked it.  They really liked it because I gave them each a huge hunk of bread to go with it.  (I love the bread you get at Panera Bread when you order their soup.)  Yum is all I have to say.  I ate some today for lunch & it was delish.

On the we gotta eat site I've included how to make this meal a twofer, so you too can cook the meat once, but eat twice.  No thanks needed, just throw money.  HaHa!  Just Kidding.  (I think that was in a movie from the 80's.)  We love to say random movie lines & see if others in the fam can figure them out.  I know, we're a little kooky!  :)

Y'all have a wonderful Veteran's Day!
Be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley   

Not cho' daddy's ribs

I have been hyping these ribs with the fam. for a whole week.  We were going to all sit down, watch the Thursday night ball game, (which is a very big deal in our house because we have no TV during the week) and just spend some time talking and hanging out together.

That's a big fat not.  I'm not going to bore you with details because it has happened to all of us.  I felt like I was in a movie...you know where the wife spends time preparing this elaborate romantic meal & her husband works late.  That was me, just with kids.

I started preparing these ribs 2 days ago.  I was in the grocery store a few weeks ago looking for some spice & came across different meat rubs.  (I found mine at the local Wal-Mart grocery store.)  I have quite a few men I know who are wonderful at cooking meat on the grill, and from what they say, the rub plays a big part in the taste of the meat.  You know, they are right.  (Pop, Robert, Steve & Coach Dennis)  I coated these ribs generously with my new found rub.  I was kinda giddy about it.  My kitchen & fingers smelled great all day I can imagine how they will smell cooking.  I decided to let the ribs sit for 24 hours...but then I remembered that it was only Tuesday & I wanted to serve these Thursday, so they had the privilege of sitting for 48 instead.  Does that happen to anyone else?  Wishful thinking...

I know a lot of you purists are going to poo poo on me, but I say talk to the hand....I cooked these bad boys in the crock pot!  WooHoo, no-think cooking, the best kind for crazy moms on the go.  I hope it will make  you feel better that I cooked mine for 11 hours on low.  They fell apart before I could get them on the plate.  All kids gave it a thumbs up & definitely a do again.  Everyone fed, everyone happy, my kitchen cleaned-up for the most part & one more easy recipe on the books.  It's official...for tonight...the kitchen is closed.

Y'all enjoy the ribs.  Click the link below to see the recipe.  It's truly a no brainer.  If you don't see the recipe pop up, click the recipe tab at the top of the opened page.
http://wegottaeat.com/ashnance/recipes/not-cho-daddys-ribs

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley