Rodeo Season Yeehaw!

As usual I am running behind on my posts. Perhaps I will start to consider anything within a two week span as being 'on time' and anything in two day span as being more of 'early'. About a week and a half ago now I made another new recipe from my magic book (still testing out names). Since my previous experiment was a huge dinner feast, this time it was a very simple recipe, an all in one pot chicken and pasta dish.

First you cook the chicken in the pot. 

Then add in your vegetables and continue cooking until onions are golden brown.

Next (after switching to a larger pot because you started out in one too small - so much for less dishes) you add the uncooked pasta and water (or something other than water, I use chicken broth a lot because I've found that it makes the overall meal more flavorful for the pasta to be cooked in a flavor). Then cover and let simmer until the pasta is cooked.

Drain any excess water, add a little tomato based pasta sauce. I'm not a big fan of tomato based sauces, so I just put enough for there to be some red sauce on everything in the pot, roughly 2/3 of a jar. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and cover just until the cheese it melted, then serve.

I made a huge pot of this and it only took about 45 minutes, with 15-20 of it waiting for the pasta to cook. Very easy and good. Obviously not a gourmet meal, but I will definitely make this again when I'm crunched for time.

Garden:

Once again just after planting new plants we have had weeks of rain and very little sun. I'm not sure that the newcomers, my little strawberries, are going to survive it, they are after all a full sun plant and have seen little to no sun since their planting. Unfortunately, unlike watering, there is nothing I can do to make the sun come out from behind those clouds. My larger plants on the other hand seem to be enjoying the nutrient rich rains (as opposed to the hose water lacking in natural elements they typically receive). My pomegranate tree for example has sprouted countless leaves, where just a few weeks ago there were only a few green buds. Also, my lime tree had a few budding flowers before, but is now covered in them!


Those of you who aren't southern may not understand this, but it is currently one of my favorite times of year. I considered giving you hints and making you guess, but with hints like cowboys, bulls, beer, and music I didn't think there would be much of a game in it. It's rodeo season! Yeehaw! Are there rodeos north of the mason-Dixon? Maybe some of my more northern friends can fill me in. Tonight I have the privilege of getting to hear Alan Jackson's rodeo performance, and I am thrilled. Not so thrilling is remembering that I have to be at work by 7:45 tomorrow morning. Oh well, we can sleep when we're dead right? After all, it is the rodeo, and it only comes around once a year!

Spring Fever Has Struck

Since Houston weather is nothing like what normal seasons should be, we are already experiencing the "spring" most other places won't have for at least a month. Of course with spring comes spring fever. Mine started over the weekend when I decided that I couldn't stand to let my plants go any longer without the necessary adjustments.
Some simply had the debris in the top o their pots cleared and a little fresh soil added. My pomegranate tree is now over over six feet tall (approximately the same as my lime and mandarin trees) so it needed to be moved into a larger pot, which opened up its old pot for the Meyer lemon tree. I also bought... Drum roll please... Strawberries! My experiment for the year. Last year my experimental fruit was watermelon which sadly never blossomed, hopefully there will be better luck this year with my strawberries.

Of course I have already forgotten which is which, 

but here are two of my pretty trees, one with blossoms, hooray!

This is my pomegranate tree, I have learned that during winter they look like they have died, 

but you can now see (if you look very closely) that small buds are springing it back to life!

And last but certainly not least are my baby strawberries. I'm so excited, I hope they work out!

 

Also I happily get to say that since planting these we have had a pretty good week for plants. The days have been alternating with rain and sun and will hopefully give them all the little boost they need. I hope that one day soon I can plant some bigger things like apple and pear trees, unfortunately those really need to be put in the ground and I wouldn't want to have to get new ones every time I moved rental houses. On a last note, I happily accept all gardening tips and tricks since I'm only a year into the game!

More Food, Weeks 1-6

In a continuation of Week 1/2:

I made two additional new recipes: pumpkin pound cake with buttermilk glaze, and lemon knot cookies. Can I just say mmmmmm. Well at least for the lemon knot cookies. It is a rare day indeed that I enjoy my own baking, mostly I love to bake things and share them with others, but these little tangy, sweet, soft lemon cookies are scrumptious! The pumpkin pound cake was also good, however not my favorite.

Pumpkin pound cake with buttermilk glaze

Lemon knots - The ingredients were very simple (like sugar cookies with a lot of lemon juice and rind added) then you split the dough into six pieces and roll each one out fairly thin. You cut the rolled out dough into 5" pieces and tie the knot (some looked better than others).

You only bake them for about 10 minutes, enough time that the bottoms are golden brown but the tops still look pale yellow. Last you make the glaze which is lemon juice and powdered sugar to lightly glaze the top of each cookie with.

 I found them to be quite scrumptious, especially when enjoyed along side a cup of tea. I finished making them just in time to watch Downton Abbey with tea and cookies, it felt appropriate.

Week 3/4:

My roommate and I had a friend over for dinner on a Saturday night, he grilled some chicken that she used to make chicken bryan Texas (which was delicious). The new recipe from my book that I made were cheese puffs, which are small bread puffs with cheese in them. I also made a champagne risotto with asparagus, that I've made before, and my famous apple pie for dessert.

The cheese puffs were very good and I could easily see them becoming addicting. I ate at least 4 while waiting for the chicken to be ready. I made them with shredded gruyere, but I'm sure they could be made with any number of cheeses. First you heat the wet ingredients in a small pot, then add the flour, baking powder, and cheese. Last you scoop out tablespoon size balls and sprinkle a little more cheese on top then bake.

Very simple and very good!

Current Week 5/6:

I wanted to try something big, so I found in my book a standing rib roast recipe, then I invited 7 people over for a dinner party and had a marvelous time. The rib roast was paired with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts from me, my guests brought bread and salad, and I made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Everything was delicious, but the roast was the star of the meal! I rubbed it with salt, pepper, dijon mustard, garlic, green onions, thyme, and rosemary - and I have to say I don't think I would ever prepare it another way now.

I sadly didn't get a chance to take an after picture of the roast before it was devoured by my guests, but this is what it looked like going into the oven, and on the right is the roasted brussel sprouts.

Chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels. Yum.

Chicken Fricassee - New Year, New Food

One of my goals for this year is to try at least one new recipe every 2 weeks. That may not seem like much, but considering I eat lunch and dinner at work almost every week day it only leaves the weekends for my fun experimenting. The reason for this is that I have a very large binder full of recipes I have been collecting since roughly 2007, most of which I have yet to try. I'm hoping that I can really start going through them and as I do I will choose what I want to keep/repeat and what can go.

Week 1/2: Chicken Fricassee. For those who aren't familiar with this dish, don't be alarmed, I wasn't either until I clipped it out of a magazine. It's a traditional French dish, halfway between a saute and a stew. One of my favorite things about it? One dish. In a home without a dishwasher these things come into play.

First you brown the chicken in the pot.

Then you remove the chicken and add the mirepoix (a French term which essentially means celery, onion, and carrots).

After allowing the mirepoix to soften you add the mushrooms.

Then you add the white wine, chicken broth, and put the chicken back into the pot along with the tied herbs.

Then you remove the chicken and herbs, allow the sauce to reduce a little, add the liaison (a thickener made of egg yolks and heavy cream). Add lemon juice and tarragon, and serve.

Somewhere around the middle of making this I realized how wrong it would be to make a traditional French dish without having homemade French bread as well, so naturally I whipped up some quick french bread rolls. For everyone's information quick and French bread might as well be an oxymoron since they take approximately 2 hours. 

 

The verdict: Delicious. Tip for anyone who considers making this - I would de-bone my individual piece of chicken next time before putting it in the bowl because it is rather hard to do while it's soaking in the sauce.

So far I am enjoying my new project. 2 new recipes down and they both turned out well. Good food. Plus cooking is such a joy and stress reliever. No matter how tough a day or week I have I can always trust that when I walk into my kitchen it all melts away like butter on a pan.

New Years Prayer

Wow look at that it's a whole new year! I vow that this year rather than making resolutions for being a better person (sanctification through works? -hmmm) I shall simply say:

Lord God,

mighty Creator of the universe,

and my Abba/Father,

I pray that I will depend more on

You this year, that You will continue

to shape and mold me into the

person You want me to be and

that my joy will be founded in

Your unchanging love.

Amen.

May the Lord do wonderful things for the Kingdom this year, and may He be ever more present in all of our lives. Thankful to be a blessed child of God.

Sleepover!

My dear friend Katie and I hosted a sleepover for the teenage girls at our church, and it was an absolute blast! We decided that for dinner we would have a "create your own pizza" night. I of course decided to make the crusts from scratch for the first time ever (and I personally think they turned out awesome and easy). These are some phone documentation of the pizza fun:

I might have over estimated the amount of dough needed just a little bit, but it turned out just fine because I brought dinner to a friend who just got home from having a baby the next day. The girls got to choose whatever toppings they wanted and make their own pizza look just the way they wanted.

This was my pizza, and if you can figure out what staple pizza ingredient is missing you either have a very good eye, or you know me very well.

As a side not I recently started going through the Book of Psalms and I cannot begin to describe to you how they are speaking to my soul. So forewarning, expect many to come.

Psalm 13

 "How Long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face form me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me."

This Psalm describes how I feel right now quite perfectly. Who hasn't asked the Lord, "how long?" at some point in their life? I'm currently struggling with a place of uncertainty and direction. I don't know whether to go or stay, or what to do. But blaming God or being sorrowful is the easy way out - rejoicing in Him and trusting His way is better than yours, that is harder. That is how we should all strive to respond to hardship.

If you are God's child then trust Him, for He only has good planned for you.

Oh, Victoria

I was recently reminded that I haven't posted the pictures from my trip to Victoria, Texas with my mother and grandmother yet. So I of course had to immediately remedy this. Below is the adorable bed and breakfast we stayed in - while charming and old from the outside, not quite as pleasant inside. Unfortunately the place seemed to be falling apart a bit, the owners seemed to be borderline hoarders (is there such a thing as borderline?), and it was a bit dirty. Despite all this however we did enjoy our stay with them.

There was a historical tour in the city, and quite a few old homes that were magnificent looking, however most of our sight seeing was done via car, so few pictures were taken.

We did see this beauty however.

And we even went inside to get a peek at the sanctuary.

While in the sanctuary I took advantage of the amazing acoustics and sang a little song - I put it together with a few dancing clips for kicks and giggles.

Then later that evening I caught a free Easton Corbin concert at the town square for their local "boot fest," which is essentially a mini rodeo minus the actual rodeo functions (sale booths and music only). For a small town festival it didn't seem too bad, though you have to remember I grew up in Austin, where a little music festival is 3 sold out days in the biggest park with 5 stages and a TON of bands, so I might be hard to impress on that front.

Just before taking off to our separate homes at the end of our relaxing weekend we took a few pictures together on the front steps of our B&B.

Of course this is my favorite one, where I am still smiling at the camera but mom and grandma have turned to each other to share a few choice words.

While on my drive home I stumbled across some remarkably beautiful countryside that I felt the need to photograph as well.

While photographing the barn I was kneeling next to a barbed wire fence and a thorny vine, so I also took some close ups of those.

Then shifting to my left I discovered I was kneeling right next to this beautifully frightening scene, so I snapped a couple quick ones and then quietly backed away. (Notice the one on the top right of the nest is staring right at me EEK) Still gives me the hebegeebees.

Just past all of that fun there was a magnanimous cotton field (even though I'm from Texas I had never seen one in person) so I naturally couldn't resist it's beauty either.

Scripture:

I saw this one in a frame on the wall at a friend's house, though I had read all of it before I had somehow never really noticed this one until now, which makes it seem like even more of God's doing since it's rather pertinent to my current life situations.

"In his heart a man plans his course,

but the Lord determines his steps."

Proverbs 16:9

You may plan out your life, but God will direct you where He wants you to go.