Necessity is the Mother of awesome recipes in the kitchen!

So, I wasn't going to post again until I write the piece about my Grandmother, but I made such an amazing dinner tonight that I had to share with you all (i.e. three friends and a handful of family. . . but whose counting? Oh yeah me!)!

Earlier today my daughter wanted to make soft pretzels. I love them and they are a fun thing for us to cook up together in the kitchen so I said what the heck, lets do it! Well the soft pretzel recipe makes 12 fairly large, buttery, delicious, warm, salty, chewy pretzels. Are you drooling? I am! After our snacking, we had a bunch of leftover pretzels that I didn't want to waste. I was thinking, why don't I just make some sort of sandwich with these! I had planned on making stuffed squash for dinner tonight, but failed to get my shopping done yesterday. I had the ground beef thawed already, so I ventured to the fridge for inspiration.

Remember the other night I made that Oktoberfest stew (which was so delish BTW)? Well  I had a half head of cabbage leftover. We generally only eat cabbage in March so I don't cook with it often, but I didn't want to waste it. So I grabbed that and an onion, some grainy mustard, some garlic and some apple cider vinegar. The result was a phenomenal, loose meat sandwich with a distinctively German theme! I threw some thinly sliced potatoes into my fry daddy for some homemade potato chips to serve on the side and voila! (or the German equivalent) Dinner was served!

One other thing I wanted to tell you all before I give you the recipe: I am sorry that I don't have awesome, step by step photos of all my posts. I wish I did, but in all honesty I don't have very good lighting in my house for photos. I love the look of a brightly lit, well focused, food shot. But I often wonder if these people only cook at 2 o'clock in the afternoon! Its never that bright in my kitchen at dinner time! And even when it is, my photos still come out sub-par and I'd rather you used your imagination to see my food in your mind than look at a crappy pic. But I digress so, without further ado I give you:

Oktoberfest Loosemeat Pretzel Sandwichs

1lb ground beef
1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1/2 head of cabbage, halved again and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1tsp ground mustard
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1/2 cup German beer (I only had Blue Moon on hand, but it was great)
2tbsp Apple cider vinegar
Stone Ground Mustard

Brown beef in a skillet over medium heat until cooked through. Drain off fat. Toss in onions and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until just translucent. Mix in the ground mustard, salt and pepper. Add the cabbage and mix well, stirring until cabbage starts to soften. Add the beer and cover to allow the cabbage to steam for about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cover the pan again. Stir occasionally. Keep cooking until your cabbage is nice and soft and reduced in size. You'll know its done cooking when its translucent and there no longer seems to be more cabbage than beef. Just before serving, stir in the vinegar.

Slice the pretzel rolls in half and put a spiral of stone ground mustard on both halves. Spoon your desired amount of meat onto the bottom of the roll and squish the top on. Serve and enjoy! Its a messy sandwich, similar to a sloppy joe but without all the sauce. You may need a fork! We each had one sandwich and have enough leftover for lunch tomorrow! YAY!

Here is a link to the recipe I used for my pretzels.
http://www.yammiesnoshery.com/2012/04/auntie-annes-pretzels-copycat-recipe.html

Okay, so this pic turned out pretty good. But its just the pretzel.

Rather than making them very long and thin, like mall pretzels; I made tight, thick knots so that they would be more "roll like". Feel free to comment if you have any questions. If you try my recipe, I'd love to hear what you thought! If you chose to blog about it, please link back to me!
Ein Prosit!

Ten amazing years!

Hello my dears! I am sorry that I've been absent. Its been a very busy couple of weeks where in I finished a big project for a friend, cooked many wonderful meals, mourned and remembered our fallen patriots and celebrated the tenth anniversary of the day I married my husband!

Handfasting Ceremony

Taken overlooking Big Bear Lake, Sept 13, 2013.

September 13th, 2003. It was a beautiful North Idaho day. I woke early, my stomach full of butterflies and anticipation. My soon-to-be-husband had spent the night away in the old tradition. He had his own preparations to attend to. We had spent the last six months planning our wedding down to the last detail. We wanted a ceremony that was both magical and meaningful. We had written all of our vows together and composed the whole ceremony.

Our wedding took place outdoors, on a cliff overlooking Lake Pend Orielle. The skies were clear and deep blue. The wind was mild. My beau had built a beautiful, cedar arbor that we would stand under to exchange our vows. We had chosen music from our favorite movies to be played throughout the ceremony. Everything was perfect! Bald Eagles dipped into the lake to catch their dinner. Several deer pranced around the grass. To this day, we still look back in awe of how wonderful our day was.

This past weekend, we were able to have a very romantic getaway at Big Bear Lake, California. We rented a tiny cabin, went kayaking on the lake, when antique shopping, sat in a hot tub under the stars, slept until 10am. It was great! Such a wonderful way to rekindle our love.

I am making our Sunday dinner while I write this post. Oktoberfest Lager Stew, from this recipe: http://thecozyapron.com/oktoberfest-stew-and-shiny-happy-people/
And I am taking down notes to prepare a very important blog post about my personal hero, my Grandmother Norma. I want to make sure I give this post the attention it deserves so it may be a few days in preparation.

Life throws a few curve balls

Hello lovelies! Last week, I had planned to give you all a few great recipes and a tutorial. Mother nature had other plans, however. You see, I live in the High Mojave Desert in an area that frequently sees 110° weather and rarely sees any precipitation. Last week though, we had monsoon weather come through from tropical storm Ivo (I think that's what it was called) which created a flash flood. The ground could not absorb the water fast enough and so it all just picked up and moved. Seriously, our whole town was decimated. The building where my roller derby team skates was filled with two feet of water, sand and mud. Many buildings were flooded, trees ripped out of the ground, parks are now devoid of sand and full of large boulders and sharp rocks, streets were filled with mud and debris, wild animals were displaced from their natural habitats and took up residence in peoples back yards. It was a mess.

I live on a military installation and so we were lucky enough to have our own "built in response team". It was really great to see soldiers and families banding together to clean up the streets and repair buildings. The elementary school was hit hardest of all. Soldiers worked day and night to clear out a barracks and relocate the entire school so that the kids would only be out of their classrooms for a few days. Unfortunately, the State came in and told us that the buildings were not up to their standards so all that work was for naught. Still, it was great to see the response time.

So, here we were, recovering from this massive flood and then what happens next? A storm blows through town about 100 miles away and knocks over two power poles which feed our post with electricity. In this 100° plus heat, we were now without power for over 24 hours. This is actually the third time this year we've experienced these outages. Let me tell you how much fun it is to have no electricity when its hot as Hades. . . its not. There are many people who are well suited to live through crisis with a smile on there face and a wonderful plan for weathering the storm (as it were). I. Am. Not. That. Person. Beast-mode kicks in and I get very irritable. I tried my best to keep a happy face, for my daughter at least. We made origami butterflies and played dolls and puzzles. The heat became too much so we retreated to my car where we could languish in the AC.

My weekly meal plan pretty much went out with the power outage and we had to improvise, so I have no recipes for you. I did however make a really cute little diaper bag and set of accessories for my Bug from this fun tutorial:
http://thediymommy.com/sew-a-deluxe-dolly-diaper-bag-and-accessories/

Here is Bug modeling her new bag. I'll post pics of the rest of the items when I get them all finished up. I had to hand sew the diapers when the power went out. I was lucky to have just finished the bag right before the lights went out. I still need to make a changing pad, a few more diapers and some bibs. So far, Bug is thrilled with her new toys! Her baby dolls, Luke and Leia are very happy too.

A few things about me AND some info about meal planning and shopping.

I am assuming that most of my readers right now are friends and family and you all know me fairly well, but for the few that don't - here is a brief summary of me, my lifestyle and my family. 

(And a really stinking cute pic of my Bug modeling a purse I made for her)

I am a thirty-something, Army Wife, mother-of-one, entrepreneur, small business owner, aspiring writer, roller derby blocker/part time coach, Pinterest addict, cook-it sew-it make-it-yourself'er. 

My husband and I will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary next month. He is a Specialist in the Army. We made the decision to join the military when work in the civilian world became very difficult to rely on. He was a Journeyman Electrician and we lived in a economically sparse area. We are stationed in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Although its tough to be away from family, joining the military was a great decision for us. It will give us a stable future and that is what we wanted for our family. 

Our daughter just turned four. She is a spicy, creative, crazy dare-devil and a perfect blend of her Daddy and I. She keeps me on my toes and is whip smart. We chose to have only one child and we love our decision, no matter how much controversy it creates.

I started a small business when she was 6 months old, called Bug-a-Booties. I made soft soled baby shoes for her and everyone else. My business was small and moderately successful and I shipped products world wide. When my daughter stopped wearing booties, I started making other things. After a while, making booties for other peoples children didn't inspire me that much anymore. Did I mention that I am a very changable person and have the attention span of a gnat? Yeah, there's that. I've been sewing since I was a child, though only truly learning to do it properly for the last 13 years or so. I pride myself on my ability to be able to recreate just about anything I see. Lately, I've been making purses, wallets, messenger bags and household items. I'd really like to get into making clothing for myself.

So there is a whole lot of information about me. Now, onto the good stuff. I try my best to plan my meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks) for the WHOLE MONTH! I know, that sounds like a lot. And its a lot of work but after you've done it for a whole year, you can keep going back to your monthly plans as the seasons change. 

I do my shopping on a two week basis. That means I buy everything I need to make all the meals and snack for 2 weeks in one trip. I'll still hit the store to pick up fresh produce occasionally. We live on a modest income. My husband brings home the bacon and its lean but consitant and we are HUGELY grateful for that. I try to plan meals around inexpensive ingredients and I tend to make a lot of things from scratch. We will splurge on an excellent cut of meat for the weekends, but we eat a lot of chicken, pork, turkey and vegetarian dishes throughout the week. I get half of my meal ideas from other bloggers via Pinterest and the other half are tried and true favorites or spur of the moment concoctions. I love to play around with flavors and hybridize recipes.

This month has been very tight for us. We are catching up from vacation splurges in August. So for this month I have been doing what I call, "Clean out the Pantry and Freezer". When we are really strapped for cash, we end up eating a lot of rice and pasta to fill in the gaps. The meals I cook for dinner are large enough to serve leftovers for lunches. This saves me having to come up with ideas for lunch (my biggest struggle). Here is an example of what we are doing for dinners this week, including links to recipes:

Monday: Chicken Parm Bake w/ salad http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2012/03/chicken-parmesan-casserole-2012-new-hd.html

Tuesday: Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta Skillet (my recipe, see yesterdays blog entry)

Wednesday: Sweet Hot Mustard Chicken Thighs w/ Roasted Cauliflower  http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2013/06/sweet-hot-mustard-chicken-thighs-good.html

Thursday: Chicken Adobo over Rice and Steamed Veggies (I'll post the recipe on Thursday)

Friday: Cheesey Taco Calzones (The original recipe calls for pilsbury crescent rolls, but we prefer homemade pizza dough) http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/taco-crescent-calzones-recipe/1/

Saturday: Cranberry Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Steamed Broccoli and Couscous (my recipe, I'll post on Saturday)

Sunday: Spicy Sausage Pasta Bake (we love this recipe and probably make it twice a month lately. plus this gal's blog is adorable) http://abitchinkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/09/spicy-sausage-pasta.html

Let's get it started.

Hello friends! I have been talking about it for quite a while but there is no time like the present. So here it is, my work in progress blog. Why blog, you may say? Well, those of you who already know me know that I am always posting on facebook with whatever crafty thing I have made or recipe I have attempted. Some appreciate it, some don't. Sometimes I have a lot more to say than what can just fit into a status update.

For my first entry I would like to talk about this amazing meal I made for dinner. I had pinned a few recipes for roasted butternut squash and bacon pasta, but after reading through them I decided they just weren't what I wanted. So I concocted my own creation and am so happy with the results. So with out further ado, I give you:

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta Skillet
(I don't bother with prep time, cook time and serving size. It will take as long as it takes to prep. It'll be done when its ready and a few people can eat a lot or a lot of people can have a little. You can figure this part out for yourselves. I know you can.)


3-4 lb butternut squash; peeled, seeded and cut into 1" cubes
1 medium onion, rough chopped
1-2tbsp olive oil
1 lb of quality bacon
8oz of pasta (I used penne)
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups grated monterey jack cheese
1tsp dried, ground sage
salt and pepper to your taste

Preheat the oven to 450°. Peeling and chopping squash can be quite a chore. To make it easier, I through my whole, uncut squash into the microwave for 3-4 minutes to soften it up slightly before chopping. After you have your squash and onion chopped, toss them together with the oil and a little salt and pepper before spreading them onto a baking sheet. Make sure the sheet is not over crowded or the veggies will steam rather than roast. Place in the oven for 25-35 minutes, tossing after about 15 to evenly roast. Keep a close eye so they don't burn.
Meanwhile, cook your bacon in a large, preferable cast iron skillet. If you don't have cast iron, use a dutch oven or other large pot. Drain off the fat and crumble your bacon. Add the squash and onions to your skillet with the bacon. Pour in your broth, milk, cream, uncooked pasta and sage and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the pasta is cooked to al dente, stirring occasionally.

Once the pasta is cooked, add 1.5 cups of the jack cheese and stir to distribute. Once that cheese has melted in, sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top and place skillet under broiler until its all melty and delicious. 

Serve and enjoy!

Everyone in my family loved this recipe! Its definitely not low fat, but its great to splurge on something delicious now and then! I wish I had better pictures to offer you, but you'll have to make due with my iPhone pics. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them here. If you try my recipe and blog about it, please link back to me and let me know what you thought of it!