The Sneaky Chef

DH is not a fan of foods when he doesn't know all the ingredients I put in.  We had leftovers from last night's chicken quesadilla's that I thought would make great additions for today's chicken fried rice for lunch.

I pulled out diced chicken, green bell peppers, onions from the leftover containers.  Then I found snap peas in the freezer. Excellent.  2 carrotts, okey dokey.  A zucchini. perfect. Celery. nice and crisp. Turnip greens. why not.

Yup, those greens threw DH for a loop.  I thought it provided nice contrast and a great way to get some extra dark greens into our diet. 

Yeah, DH and Pearl didn't really go for it.  You couldn't stop Pearl from devouring her rice, carrotts, and snap peas.  She even ate a few onions that she didn't see:)  But the greens?  They were politely pushed aside in search of the "good stuff."

Oh those two...cut from the same cloth.

In the Kitchen

That's where I'll be this afternoon until we head off to Dentist Appointments.

DH is cooking for Men's Group tonight....translation: I am cooking for Men's Group tonight:)

Since we'll be gone this afternoon, I've got Chicken and Dumplings going into the Slow Cooker to cook while we're away.

I'm also baking some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and putting some bags of frozen mixed veggies aside for him to take.

Very well rounded and wholesome if I do say so!

Easter Menu Plans

In between helping DH prepare for a school weekend, caring for Pearl and comtinuing my spring cleaning, I am working at getting my Easter Menu all planned out.

We are having our third annual Easter luncheon, in which we celebrate with a few friends. I'm still waiting to hear back from a few folks, but we're very excited!

So far for our menu I have planned a few of our favorites: spinach/artichoke dip with pumpernickel bread for dipping, deviled eggs, special rolls with "lamb butter", and a cookie cake homemade by a dear friend...actually I just took a look at my menu from last year, and it's almost the same:)

Fancy that.

Oh well, some of our favorite foods to celebrate. I think instead of a London Broil like last year, we are going to do a ham. Last year, I was expecting Pearl and anything pig turned my tummy. So this year, we'll do the ham.

I already picked up our Easter candies which I have ready to put out. Pearl's god father and a fellow seminarian will be joining us, so I made sure to pick up peeps, their favorites.

I'm working at finding my recipes to have at hand and then I can make my grocery list for next week. So far the planning is going great

If I could only get the motivation to finish my spring cleaning...

Gingerbread

Gingerbread has been baked in Europe since the eleventh century. In some places, it was a soft, delicately spiced cake; in others, a crisp, flat cookie, and in others, warm, thick, dark squares of "bread," sometimes served with a pitcher of lemon sauce or whipped cream. It was sometimes light, sometimes dark, sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy, but it was almost always cut into shapes such as men, women, stars or animals, and colorfully decorated or stamped with a mold and dusted with white sugar.

In Medieval England gingerbread meant simply "preserved ginger" and was an adaptation of the Old French gingebras, derived from the Latin name of the spice, Zingebar. It was only in the fifteenth century that the term came to be applied to a kind of cake made with treacle, an uncrystalized syrup drained from raw sugar during the refining process, and flavored with ginger. Ginger was also discovered to have a preservative effect when added to pastries and bread, and this probably led to the development of recipes for ginger cakes, cookies, and flavored breads.

From its very beginning gingerbread has been a fairground delicacy. Many fairs became known as "gingerbread fairs" and gingerbread items took on the alternative name in England of "fairings" which had the generic meaning of a gift given at, or brought from, a fair. Certain shapes were associated with different seasons: buttons and flowers were found at Easter fairs, and animals and birds were a feature in autumn. There is also more than one village tradition in England requiring unmarried women to eat gingerbread "husbands" at the fair if they are to stand a good chance of meeting a real husband.

Of all the countries in Europe, Germany is the one with the longest tradition of flat, shaped gingerbreads. At every autumn fair in Germany, and in the surrounding lands where the Germanic influence is strong, there are rows of stalls filled with hundreds of gingerbread hearts, decorated with white and colored icing and tied with ribbons.

One of the many Christmas delicacies I look forward to making!!

C is for Cookie

Hmm, I think I might give these a try.

Over the weekend

A little bit of a hiatus over the weekend. My monstrance cookies did not turn out as I would have liked. I think I did figure out a better way to make them though. What I would do differently:
-use sugar cookie dough and shape dough into small crosses (monstrance like shape)
-make an indentation in the top of the dough the size of a small coin
-while cookies are baking, melt white chocolate in a double boiler.
-when cookies are done, remove, and place white chocolate in the indentation on top.
-place cookies in the fridge for about 15 minutes to allow chocolate to cool and solidify.

I'll try that out next time I want to make cookies. I think it will work in theory, but I need to experiement to perfect them:

No pictures this time, but the next foray into creative baking will yield a photo.

Lunch Time

You Are a Ham Sandwich

You are quiet, understated, and a great comfort to all of your friends. Over time, you have proven yourself as loyal and steadfast. And you are by no means boring. You do well in any situation - from fancy to laid back. Your best friend: The Turkey Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

H/T Summa Mamas

My Mastercard commercial

When you realize that your tortilla was consumed by your spouse: Upsetting

When you realize that the cheese was going bad and had to be thrown out: Disgusting

A sandwich bought by the spouse: Pleasing

Finding still-good tortilla chips and salsa in the fridge: Great

The perfect avocado: Priceless