I came across two great giveaways today on two of my favorite blogs.
Over at Kara's Party Ideas, she teamed up with Favor Affair and they are giving away a $25 gift certificate! Favor Affair has some great stuff and Kara always has great ideas. Her site always inspires me!
And over at Her Cup Overfloweth, Michelle has a new sponsor... Faith Baby Wear. I have already checked them out and their shirts are so cute! Well, they are giving away a onesie or t-shirt! How exciting!
Definitely check out these giveaways. And while you're there, check out Kara and Michelle's blogs because they are just plain awesome!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Stress-Free Christmas - Week 2
To kick things off this week, let's take a look at how this past week went. It was Planning and Paperwork week over at Organized Christmas. Part of the week was to declutter the home office and create a filing system. We don't have a specific home office. We keep our files, stamps, etc. in the back closet of our master bedroom. Well, that closet was horrific! It was so messy and I had finally started organizing it. I made a specific spot for the files and letter-writing supplies.
I don't have a before picture because I wasn't thinking of this plan when I started organizing. But this looks so much better and everything can actually be found when we need it! We already have a filing system and we had gone through it lately, so that wasn't a big deal for us.
I also already had a household guide that I had started. It has recipes, household tips, and sections for each holiday. So I added the calendar, master gift list, etc. to the Christmas section. Unfortunately our color cartridge in our printer ran out so this week's list is in black and white, but that's okay! I plan on using red and green pens to make it more festive. :)
Now on to week 2, moving towards an organized, stress-free Christmas season! This week is all about calendars and creativity. Here is the link for the checklists and papers to print out. My space to store all my craft supplies is also in the back closet I mentioned before. I have not completely organized that section of the closet yet, so I'm glad that this will give me a renewed focus and a place to start when heading to the closet again. I work really well with lists, too, so I'm hoping looking at them from time to time will keep me motivated!
If you jumped in and decided to follow the Organized Christmas plan, I would love to see how you did on week 1! Feel free to leave a link to your post. If you haven't joined yet, feel free to do so now!
I don't have a before picture because I wasn't thinking of this plan when I started organizing. But this looks so much better and everything can actually be found when we need it! We already have a filing system and we had gone through it lately, so that wasn't a big deal for us.
I also already had a household guide that I had started. It has recipes, household tips, and sections for each holiday. So I added the calendar, master gift list, etc. to the Christmas section. Unfortunately our color cartridge in our printer ran out so this week's list is in black and white, but that's okay! I plan on using red and green pens to make it more festive. :)
Now on to week 2, moving towards an organized, stress-free Christmas season! This week is all about calendars and creativity. Here is the link for the checklists and papers to print out. My space to store all my craft supplies is also in the back closet I mentioned before. I have not completely organized that section of the closet yet, so I'm glad that this will give me a renewed focus and a place to start when heading to the closet again. I work really well with lists, too, so I'm hoping looking at them from time to time will keep me motivated!
If you jumped in and decided to follow the Organized Christmas plan, I would love to see how you did on week 1! Feel free to leave a link to your post. If you haven't joined yet, feel free to do so now!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Saturday Picture Surprise
Happy Saturday everyone! This week's random picture is from July 2007, picture #17.
It just so happened to be a picture of my cat carrying around one of her babies... she has a stuffed pink puppy (pictured) and a little white cat that she carries around absolutely everywhere! It is so cute. She even takes them over to her food bowl every now and then because apparently they get hungry. :) Sorry about the weird glare in the picture. We had lost some pictures on our computer awhile back so we took a picture of this picture. haha
To see what others were taking pictures of in July 2007, please head on over to From Pigpen To Paradise.
It just so happened to be a picture of my cat carrying around one of her babies... she has a stuffed pink puppy (pictured) and a little white cat that she carries around absolutely everywhere! It is so cute. She even takes them over to her food bowl every now and then because apparently they get hungry. :) Sorry about the weird glare in the picture. We had lost some pictures on our computer awhile back so we took a picture of this picture. hahaTo see what others were taking pictures of in July 2007, please head on over to From Pigpen To Paradise.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Book Fan Friday
Baby Girl decided to take an early nap today and slept through storytime. Well, to tell you the truth, I really didn't feel motivated enough to go just to get a new book. Lazy, I know, but I have been feeling worn out lately and wanted to just relax. Nothing wrong with that every now and then, right? Anyway, so I decided to pull out a book from our own little home library that we haven't read in awhile. I decided to pull out a classic... One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss.
Can never go wrong with Dr. Seuss!! This was one of my favorite books growing up and my wonderful husband found it at a garage sale here shortly after Baby Girl was born. She loves all the colors in the book. It was a perfect choice for this lazy Friday. :)
Please visit my Amazon store to purchase this or any other books featured on Book Fan Friday!
Can never go wrong with Dr. Seuss!! This was one of my favorite books growing up and my wonderful husband found it at a garage sale here shortly after Baby Girl was born. She loves all the colors in the book. It was a perfect choice for this lazy Friday. :)Please visit my Amazon store to purchase this or any other books featured on Book Fan Friday!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Chicken Pot Pie
My friend Jamie asked that I post my chicken pot pie recipe, so here it is! It is pretty easy and SO yummy! Along with the beef empanadas I posted about, this is one of my husband's favorite dishes. I believe I found it on Food Network, but I don't remember. This is the recipe as I found it. It says it makes 4 individual pot pies. We usually cut the recipe in half and make one big pot pie in our corningware. Half the recipe makes PLENTY for the two of us (Baby Girl gets little bites and she really enjoys it, too) with leftovers.
Chicken Pot Pie
Filling
- 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (we rarely use yellow onions in anything... we always get vadalia onions)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas ~ about 2 cups (we just use canned)
- 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions (we never put this in, actually)
- 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
Pastry
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
- 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp. water, for egg wash
- Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, and cut chicken into a large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.
In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well.
For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade (we use our stand mixer). Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water (not letting the ice fall in, of course); process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls (again, we just put it in corningware - 2 if we make the whole recipe). Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle (or as large as whatever you are putting it in). Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2 inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.
It is delicious! And one great thing is that we always end up with extra dough so we make a quick pie filling and make pie pops with the extra. Easy and delicious... always a good combo!
Chicken Pot Pie
Filling
- 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (we rarely use yellow onions in anything... we always get vadalia onions)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas ~ about 2 cups (we just use canned)
- 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions (we never put this in, actually)
- 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
Pastry
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
- 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp. water, for egg wash
- Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, and cut chicken into a large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.
In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well.
For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade (we use our stand mixer). Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water (not letting the ice fall in, of course); process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls (again, we just put it in corningware - 2 if we make the whole recipe). Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle (or as large as whatever you are putting it in). Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2 inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.
It is delicious! And one great thing is that we always end up with extra dough so we make a quick pie filling and make pie pops with the extra. Easy and delicious... always a good combo!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Beef Empanadas - Super Yummy!
Every week or so, hubby and I go through recipes and figure out what we want to make for the week and make a grocery list. A few weeks ago he came across a recipe from Food & Wine magazine for beef empanadas. We had just made a new recipe for chicken pot pie (PERFECT recipe, at least for us!) and were on a dough-making kick. I made them and they just disappeared! They were delicious and are one of hubby's favorite meals now. We made them again a few nights ago and I remembered (barely) to take pictures so I could share the recipe with all of you.
Beef Empanadas
Ingredients:
Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
Filling
- 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp. achiote seeds (also called annatto seeds) **Note - we omit this because they don't
carry them here in GTMO, so I can't personally say if it makes a taste difference.
- 1/4 lb. ground beef
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 small onion, finely diced (I'm not a big fan of onions so I put in less)
- 1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper (hubby prefers a little less than this)
- 1/4 cup chopped, seeded tomato
- 1/2 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 1/4 cup chicken stock or low-sodium broth
- 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Vegetable oil for frying
1. Make the dough. In a food processor, pulse the flour with the sugar and salt. (We have a mini processor so we use our stand mixer.) Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Beat the eggs with the wine and vinegar and drizzle over the flour mixture. Pulse until the dough just comes together. On a floured surface, gently knead the dough until smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
2. Prepare the filling. In a medium skillet, heat the oil. Add the achiote seeds and cook over moderately high heat until the seeds darken and the oil is orange, about 1 minute (again, we omit the seeds and just heat the oil since our NEX doesn't carry achiote seeds). Discard the seeds. Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until no pink remains, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, onion and bell pepper and cook over moderate heat until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato, tomato paste and chicken stock and simmer over moderate heat until the liquid has nearly evaporated, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Let cool.
3. On a generously floured work surface (and they mean generously! This dough is sticky), roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. With a 3-inch round biscuit cutter (we used a cup about the same size because we don't have biscuit cutters... yet), stamp out as many rounds as possible (you should have about 24). Reroll the dough scraps and stamp out additional rounds if possible. Brush the excess flour off the rounds. Working with 1 round at a time and keeping the rest covered in plastic wrap, form the empanadas: Spoon 2 tsp. of the filling on one side of the dough round. Fold the dough over to enclose the filling and crimp the edges with a fork to seal. Cover with plastic wrap while you form the rest of the empanadas.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a deep skillet, heat 1/2 inch of oil to 350 degrees. Fry 4 empanadas at a time, turning once, until browned and crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels and transfer to a baking sheet. When all of the empanadas have been fried, reheat them in the oven and serve.
DELICIOUS! Make a quick side of spanish rice and you're set! I totally suggest trying this out. Enjoy!
Beef Empanadas
Ingredients:
Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
Filling
- 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp. achiote seeds (also called annatto seeds) **Note - we omit this because they don't
carry them here in GTMO, so I can't personally say if it makes a taste difference.
- 1/4 lb. ground beef
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 small onion, finely diced (I'm not a big fan of onions so I put in less)
- 1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper (hubby prefers a little less than this)
- 1/4 cup chopped, seeded tomato
- 1/2 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 1/4 cup chicken stock or low-sodium broth
- 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Vegetable oil for frying
1. Make the dough. In a food processor, pulse the flour with the sugar and salt. (We have a mini processor so we use our stand mixer.) Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Beat the eggs with the wine and vinegar and drizzle over the flour mixture. Pulse until the dough just comes together. On a floured surface, gently knead the dough until smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
2. Prepare the filling. In a medium skillet, heat the oil. Add the achiote seeds and cook over moderately high heat until the seeds darken and the oil is orange, about 1 minute (again, we omit the seeds and just heat the oil since our NEX doesn't carry achiote seeds). Discard the seeds. Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until no pink remains, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, onion and bell pepper and cook over moderate heat until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato, tomato paste and chicken stock and simmer over moderate heat until the liquid has nearly evaporated, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Let cool.
3. On a generously floured work surface (and they mean generously! This dough is sticky), roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. With a 3-inch round biscuit cutter (we used a cup about the same size because we don't have biscuit cutters... yet), stamp out as many rounds as possible (you should have about 24). Reroll the dough scraps and stamp out additional rounds if possible. Brush the excess flour off the rounds. Working with 1 round at a time and keeping the rest covered in plastic wrap, form the empanadas: Spoon 2 tsp. of the filling on one side of the dough round. Fold the dough over to enclose the filling and crimp the edges with a fork to seal. Cover with plastic wrap while you form the rest of the empanadas.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a deep skillet, heat 1/2 inch of oil to 350 degrees. Fry 4 empanadas at a time, turning once, until browned and crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels and transfer to a baking sheet. When all of the empanadas have been fried, reheat them in the oven and serve.
DELICIOUS! Make a quick side of spanish rice and you're set! I totally suggest trying this out. Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)