Move over Betty Crocker....

Well... not really, but I do think she would be impressed that is.  Thanks to my new BFF's Alton Brown and The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, my culinary experiences are leaning more towards the impressive side and less towards the "its edible but...." side. 

I am actually excited aobut learning to  make new things.  I have been spending too many hours perusing recipes and techniques, but like my favorite phrase of all time... knowledge is power.  Cooking really is an art, and I believe that all artists need to be passionate about their craft.  The closest experience I have had to passion about food is savoring it as it enters my mouth.  My long standing love affair with food is not an unknown fact,  my waistline can prove that.  Until now though, the actual thought of crafting something that is beautiful and delicious, never really seemed that interesting to me.  Thanks to network TV and thinks like Altons lovely scientific show Good Eats that caters specifically to my inner science geek, creating delicious meals is suddenly now more appealing and after a few rounds in the kitchen, I realize I CAN cook.

As I have mentioned before.. for all my good creations, there are bad ones.  So I'll begin there.  Who knew no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies would be a huge DESERT FAIL.  Yep, I goofed those up.. instead of firm mounds of chocolately goodness with a hint of peanut buttery flavor I ended up with a giant glob of gleatenous goo.  Sure it tasted ok , but after I plated it up (fancy cooking terms for you wanna-be-chefs) it fused into one giant oatmeal cookie that never firmed up!  I didn't feel the need to archive my catostrophic attempt.

Next fail, and I was not surprised, was my bread.  The bread I have eaten often at my kids preschool and had to borrow the recipe.  I ended up with about 8 mini loaves and 2 large loaves of dense, un-risen yeast bread.  Well, it rose halfway but almost only counts in horseshoes and honey we aren't playing picnic games here.  After talking to many, bread takes time and practice.. two things I have very little of, but I am determined to make it work.

Now for successes! I can now roast a chicken.  Yep you heard me, I had never roasted a chicken til about 2 weeks ago and it turned out great.. Rosmary and thyme chicken stuffed with garlic and  lemon.  It was soo good even the kids gobbled it up.  Brent is a little weary of  food that too much resembles its former life, but he might have to get over that.  It was just too easy and so versitile! (insert picture of roasted chicken that my budding photographer husband did not think was good enough to keep)

Next up.. Alton Browns Baked Macaroni and Cheese sans the onions and voila, instant success.  Super easy and after 2 meals the whole dish was consumed!

The day before I made some of Ree's Restaraunt-style Salsa.  I am super picky about my Salsa, but this turned out very good! It has been requested that I spice it up a bit more next time.  I can hardly wait to make it again.

Then I made her Panko-breaded Mozzarella Sticks.  Had these not been paired with the super cheesy dish above, they probably would have been a bigger hit.. Natalie loved them! 

 

Next I will attempt some Flank steak and Roasted Carrots.  I also plan on attempting homemade bread.. again, if only it would rise.

A is for Awesome

Thats right.. A is for, I am Awesome cause I got an A in both my Physical Geography and Art History II class.  This was my ultimate goal this semester.  I made B's last semester but knew I could do better so I gave it my all.  I wish I had been this dedicated when I was in college before.  Who knows what I might be doing today had I applied myself like I do now.  All that being said.. I loved both classes.  I learned far more in Art History than I even imagined was possible, partly due to my instructors passion for the subject.  The fact that she was a Biology Major first, gave me a sense of connection with her I think.

So, now that summer (for me) has officially begun, I really need to make plans for me and for the kids.  I am more relaxed about the pending move than I was before.  I'm not nearly as angry as I was even though I still don't like it.  Brent and I are really getting our act together so within the next year we can buy a house.  I am more than ready to settle down.

There are so many things I want to do.  I definately want to spend time with the kids.  I want to hike more, work less, sew again, and get organized.  Taylor wants me to teach her how to sew so I think that is something I will work on.  I need to get the kids involved in some activities and sports and I really want to do some swimming too.  Oh yeah, I am also going to improve on my cooking skills, which, I might say, have improved over the last couple of months.  We have tried a few new things, we have a larger variety of menu items to choose from and for dinners we eat more vegetables than before.  Tomorrow I am going to make a chicken.  I have never bought chicken as a whole before, its always been boneless, skinless breasts.  However when I realized how much a free range chicken is compared to the breasts, I quickly see the savings by using the whole bird.

I am going to try and update this more frequently now that I don't have classes.  I just want to keep it interesting.  I hope this summer will bring lots of discoveries and adventures.

Synopsis

Holy camole... what a week this has been.So much has happened that I can't think of any better way to explain it than to just wrap it up in one blog post.

My Master Naturalist class ended.  I am very sad, I loved my free Tuesdays to learn and mingle with like-minded people and learn so many things.  I am now looking forward to volunteering to fulfill my 40 hr volunteer requirements to become certified.  This week I went to a Class in the Creek and helped out for a little bit.  It was fun watching all the kids discover what critters were living in the river.

Where's the Beef?  That's right, here baby, in my big ol' freezer.  I went at the end of last week to pick up our 1/4 cow.  We have already had steaks twice and are having roast later this week.  Honestly those steaks were so freakin good.  I cannot describe how good they were.  One can only live off ground beef and fish for so long.

We are in the market for a place to live.. again.  We have lived here for 4 years and will soon be moving to our 4th house.  Last Sunday we were informed that our landlords were foreclosing on this house and we were going to have to find a new place at some point.  We also discovered that for the last 6 months they were pocketing our rent money and not using it for the mortgage payment. This did not settle with me well.  This was supposed to be our last rental, we were supposed to become homeowners after this.  Right now it isn't looking promising for us to have a home unless we get lucky and fall into an owner financing deal.  So needless to say, I am NOT building my garden, so local-yokels, if you are in the market for some veggie plants, they are all doing great and will be ready for new homes in a few weeks.  I am so bummed that I cannot grow them in my garden bed like I had hoped.  I am also very disturbed to the possibility of having to uproot the kids again.  They have moved far too much in their short lives.

I am not dying, I don't have some sort of cancer or underlying disorder causing my pain in my ovary and lumps in my breasts.  All my uber expensive tests I had done came out "within normal limits"  so no scare there.  However I have a theory as to why my cycle is so out of whack.   You know how they say a woman will become synchronized with others around them?  Well I am thinking my tween daughter whom I thought was far too young to deal with this caliber of a nuisance might have something to do with it.  So parents, just when you think you have time to explain things to your pre-teens, you might not have as much time as you think.  I think this is opening up a whole new can of worms to come and I was NOT prepared.  One day at a time.  I seriously think that there is something to all the theories that all the hormones our children are consuming daily is causing them to develop at a faster rate.

On a lighter note, school is over in one week!! I have 3 tests left and then "School's out for Summa!"  I am stoked.. I mean there is so much I want to do and now more things I have to do, that not having to worry about reading or tests or labs is excellent.  I do have to figure out my classes for next semester though which is not looking good.  I either have to go one more additional semester OR take three classes in the Fall if I want to graduate in the Spring.  For sanity's sake I think going one more semester might be worth it, however I just wanna be done! I want to finish up and get it over with.  So only time will tell. 

Well thats generally whats been going on.  Life get's crazier by the second.  Now I suppose I better get to reading so I can take one of the three tests tonight.  One step closer.  Then maybe I can do a better job on posting on here.