Category:

Tim Said This Post Definitely Did Not Make Him Hungry...Uh yeahhhhhhh.

8/2/2015

DIG IN!!!!!

What, you say??
You say you don't know what-it-is?
Why, it's burnt chicken wings, Silly.

Even though olive oil does NOT have a high smoke point,
I thought I would be that one super duper, special, awesome person who would prove all the cookbooks wrong and pan-fry chicken wings in olive oil without burning them.

I was wrong.

Soooo, was it the cook or the recipe?

Um, it was the cook.

Okay, next up:

A Baked Italian Spaghetti Squash recipe...

I have made this twice...

I made it exactly according to directions.

Bland.

Very bland.

Was it the cook or recipe???

It was the recipe.

NEXT..............
Okay, we have these simple, easy, no bake chocolate crisps...

They look yummy,

don't they??

And with just a few ingredients, how could you go wrong?

Wayyyyy too sweet!!!

Nothing to balance out the sweetness. Wow.

Had to throw them all away.

And frankly, I can and will eat anything, but these made me pucker.

Verdict...cook or recipe????

Recipe.

Moving along....

I have no idea
what dish this is from July 12 of this year.

No idea.
No notes, can't find the recipe.

I just know it had no flavor and was
unappetizing.

Cook or recipe????

Recipe (I think).
Heck, I can't remember what I ate for breakfast much less a meal I made three weeks ago. Still, I'm going with recipe.

Okay, lets move along to this
Mexican Green Chile Veggie Burger from the other night...

Maybe I'll put that veggie burger on a bun with cilantro, salsa and advocado and see if it's any better....

Answer be nope.

Cook or recipe???

In all honesty, I think it was the cook.
I should have used avocado oil instead of olive oil for high heat cooking. Sighhhh.

Now we come to a Cuban sandwich....

Fact #1...A Cuban Sandwich has the following on it:
Pork
Ham
Yellow mustard
Dill pickles
Swiss Cheese

DO NOT.............I REPEAT...........DO NOT:
1. Confuse yellow mustard with spicy brown mustard
2. Confuse dill pickles with bread and butter pickles
3. Confuse Swiss cheese with any old cheese you have laying around in the refrigerator.

So who's fault is this craptastic attempt at a
Cuban sandwich??? I mean, it was baaaaaad.

Oh heck yeah, The Cook all the way!!!
I'm not the brightest crayon in the recipe box. :(:(

And now on to one of my biggest failures....

Hello,
everything that is needed for stir fry...

a Chicken Garlicky, Vegetable,
Tasty, Stir Fry.

Except.
No flavor.

WHERE IS THE FLAVOR???

WHERE???
BOR-ING!

I want flavor.

Verdict???

Now this is recipe all the way.
I made this exactly to the T, to the T!
I blame the addition of the tasteless garlic sauce.

Okay, let's move along to a
Pork Roast and
a Parsnip and Potato Gratin...

M'kay.....
Pork Roast: No flavor but I'm not a huge pork person.
Parsnip and Potato Gratin: Too onioney, definitely not a keeper.

Sighhhhhhhhhhh. I wanted it to be good, I reeeeeeaaaallly did!

So who was to blame??...The cook or the recipe???

The jury is still deliberating.

For my next trick, I tried making cornbread
for the 1000th time.
Normal ingredients PLUS the addition of chives and white cheddar this time.
Sounds legit. I just know I will be successful this time.

I mixed everything up according to directions and cooked it in a cast iron skillet and did everything right...

Except it had no taste. Except flour.
Is flour even a flavor?

Did I ever tell you about the time I ate flour as a kid?
Actually, I ate flour more than once. Apparently, I was holding out hope that the next time there would be flavor. I was wrong each time.

Kind of like me and cornbread. Cornbread is my old flour.

Moving along,
let's discuss this picture.

I had deleted the recipe so I can't remember what this dish was other than not very good.

I think we all can agree there is quite a bit of work still needed on improving my food photos though.

Such as
the next picture...

I'm assuming NOT taking a picture of a chicken's butt was probably learned in Food Photography 101.

I think I forgot to take that class.
I was too busy eating flour and being hopeful.

The recipe was ultimate delish though. It really was!

And lastly we come to a really big disappointment.
This was all due to the recipe, not the cook :)
I even went out and bought a $12 pretty green bundt pan.

This was supposed to be a delicious Kentucky Butter Cake....

And these were the fixins for this cake...

Of course I had to do some self-talk since
I AM NOT a baker, am terrible at it, and despise it!

The cake is looking great in the oven,

yum yum,

I can barely wait for it to be ready....

So I drizzle the melted butter over it, fresh out of the oven...

I invert it over on a pretty tray and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top.

I was so excited,
couldn't wait to try this dee-licious moist cake...
How could one go wrong???!!!

So I grabbed a piece and
and
.....
and
.....

it tasted like a big ol' stick of butter.

And flour.

Flavorless butter
and
flour.

How can this...

...turn into such blah?

Was it the cook or the recipe?

I'm going with recipe on this one, folks.

However,
I am blaming The Cook on the following disasters though...

October

Y'all know I hate doing dishes, right?
And I'll let them collect for up to 5+ days at a time, right?

November

Just so you get the real effect of how much I hate doing dishes and cleaning up, let's get a good
long view going on here...

Heck,
even the cat wants out of here!

February

HA HA HA!!!

TRICKED YA ON THAT ONE!
I cleaned up that crappy mess that night. And noooo, the dirty pans were NOT thrown inside the oven.
This time anyway.

And trust me, these cats were no help either!

April

It occurs to me at this point that there are three constants in all these pictures: cat treats, coffee cups, and dirty wine glasses. Huh.

So this wasn't such a bad week, only two dirty cast iron pans, two baking sheets and one lid.
Pretty darn good, I'd say!!! I'm actually kind of proud of myself.

June

In my defense, this was 24 hours AFTER we celebrated an 80th birthday Open House for Tim's dad. Still. 24 hours. I cleaned it up the next day though,
48 hours later.
*patting myself on back*

July 16

Only thing missing here is cat treats although I do appreciate that the orange fly swatter in back is showcased.
See the red dotted tumbler up front with plastic wrap over it?
The tumbler has cider vinegar in there and the plastic wrap has holes in the top to catch fruit flies. Huh. I have no idea whyyyyy the fruit flies are so bad. What?

WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!

Before you leave I feel I must redeem myself a little bit here.

Now SOMETIMES I do clean up after a meal, EEEspecially if I know someone will be coming into the house.

SOMETIMES I do keep a clean kitchen. Sometimes.

At least I did on January 30 of this year when I took these pics.

Seeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
I told ya I was capable of cleaning up every now and again!! Seeee!

Please note there is not a cat treat bag, dirty coffee cup, or a wine glass full of fruit flies sitting anywhere. Well guess there aren't too many fruit flies in January but still. I'll take those small successes all day long :)

Okay guys!
That's enough embarrassment for today :)
Hope everyone has a good week!
I'll be back next with either a Healthy Mexican Casserole or an awesome Butterscotch Pretzel Chocolate Chip
Cookie recipe!

Stay cool y'all,
and talk at ya soon!!!!

P.S. NO JUDGING!! :):)

Angie Decides To Torture Herself By Attempting Baking Again, But By Golly, She Perseveres and These Snickerdoodles Came Out Pretty Decent!

1/13/2015

I knew I could do it!!!!

I BAKED!!!!!
Snickerdoodles!!!

Tim has a sensitivity to white flour,
so we try to use whole wheat as much as possible,
which is why I made these Snickerdoodles from 100 Days Of Real Food.
These cookies are 50% whole wheat.

Here's the fixins for these
Whole Wheat (50%) Snickerdoodles!

What's up with the upside down butter?? I'm a dork.

Ummmm, s'cuse me for a minute,

but my line-up of the fixins up there is wrong...

See the Clabber Girl
Baking Powder there?

Well, the recipe calls for cream of tartar.

Apparently "baking powder" is NOT "cream of tartar."

Huh...........

Public Service Announcement.....Cream of Tartar is NOT the same thing as baking powder.

Pffffffftttt...
Whatev.

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I TOLD you I abhor baking!

Anyway, I caught my mistake and didn't let it slow me down with these whole wheat snickerdoodles.
I was determined to get these cookies made,
and made well!

Said Angie in her very
very
very
determinedly voice,

to herself,

in her head,

determinedly.

So anyhoo, let's start with these exciting baking pictures!
Mix the dry stuff up together in a bowl and don't overstimulate your eyeballs on the massive colors taking place in that bowl...

Mix up the cinnamon and sugar
to use for later.....

Throw the eggs and butter and sugar in a bowl.
Try not to miss the bowl.

Okay. Because I SUCK at baking, I made sure to be organized,
and at this time I took a dishrag to the counter,
I put all the crap away,
I set out all my bowls in an organized manner.
I just knew I could finish this without dying of complete, utter,
mind numbing
boredom.

I came prepared this time....

I cracked my knuckles for starters....

...and did some meditative poses with Tim...

PHOTO SOURCE: SHEKNOWS.COM

WHAT???????

IT COULD HAPPEN Negative Nancy, Doubting Thomas, Disbelieving Dave, Dream Crushing Deena, IT COULD HAPPEN!!!

Anyway, what did happen is I mixed all the wet
stuff up.....

And then I threw the dry stuff in there.....

Then I took one of those things that makes perfect melon balls and grabbed some cookie dough...

Then I threw the cookie dough ball into the cinnamon and sugar...

Then I fell asleep from boredom.

Then I woke up cause the cats were trying to eat the cookie dough...

KIDDING!

They weren't eating the cookie dough, geeezzzzzzz.

They were eating the butter that was left out.

Oh c'mon...kidding!!!

Anyhoo, I managed to roll all of these beauties in the sugar and cinnamon....

...and I threw them in the oven for around
10-12 minutes and they came out like this.

Yeah.

If you looked at these REEEAL
close up,

without glasses
or contacts
or a magnifying glass,

they didn't look so bad, really...

But when they were put on the cooling rack,
they looked a little....mmmm, how shall I say...
wonky.

So I made smaller cookies the next round and didn't cook them as long.....

And it worked!!

Is this a snickerdoodle or what??!!

Remember these are 50% whole wheat!!

Go ahead, grab one!
They're in the freezer, in a baggie. They freeze AWESOME!!
Just take a cookie out quick and it thaws within a minute or two and is a delicious snack.

Okay, so this Snickerdoodle recipe is from Lisa Leake of www.100daysofrealfood.com.

This is her new cookbook.

You've heard me talk about her website
before here.
It really is informative, approachable and fantabulous!

WholeWheat Snickerdoodles (50% wholewheat)
this is straight outta www.100daysofrealfood.com
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
Ingredients
1 cup wholewheat flour
1 cup allpurpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened (but not melted)
1¼ cups + 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 eggs
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and eggs together using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk or
beaters. Slowly add in the flour mixture until it's thoroughly mixed.
4. Use a 1 or 1½ tablespoon cookie scoop to form balls from the dough. Alternatively, you could roll the dough
between your hands to create balls.
5. Mix together the 3 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl and roll each dough ball around until
evenly coated. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 to 12 minutes

Click here to go directly to Lisa's recipe.

So that's another chapter in
Angie's Life of Baking.
Pretty torturous but I made it through, thanks for caring :)

I LIKE cooking, man...it's just that baking is just too detailed and intense for my
pea brain.

Which is why I will be sharing two other cookie recipes I made this month.

WHAT?????

Apparently I like torturing I MEAN CHALLENGING myself.

CHALLENGING!!
I LIKE C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-I-N-G MYSELF.

Torture. Pfffft, if I wanted torture I would raise kids again...WHAT???? KIDDING!!!

Okay, stay warm and cozy and we'll talk at ya soon....probably tomorrow with an AWESOME empanada recipe!!!
And by tomorrow, I mean sometime within the next week,
cause I am timely like that :):):)
Talk to ya soon!!!
:)

The Mystery of The Missing Five Million Dollar Stuffed Peppers And A Naughty Kitty

6/5/2014

Look!
I mean LOOK at all these ingredients!!

For Pete's sake, I almost had to take out a loan to make Guy Fieri's Turkey Stuffed Pepper recipe!

My heart races and my face gets flushed when I think about all that money I spent on this crappy recipe!!!

For one thing....uh....let's start the cash register

$4.99      1 lb of ground turkey breast...turnkey breast is NOT cheap!
$3.00     2 green peppers (depending on the time of year, this was March)
$4.00    2 red peppers depending on time of year
$2.00    Quinoa - 1 cup
$5 million dollars     Pine nuts - have you priced pine nuts????? Ca-Raaaaazzzyyyy!!
$2.00     Whole wheat panko crumbs - 1 cup - whole wheat panko is EXPENSIVE in the organic dept

Anyway, it was like
$$$FIVE MILLION TWENTY DOLLARS$$$
to make these stuffed peppers!!

It was actually more $$ than that,

I had made EIGHT stuffed peppers,

not FOUR like the recipe called for..

These peppers were dry and boring.

Tim and I ate barely 1/2 of one.

I was unhappy to have spent that much money on a meal that was not tasty and cost a ton of prep time in the kitchen.

I went to bed a little hangry (hungry plus angry:). I was not happy I had spent that money on a boring, dry dish. Tim said he would put away the leftover peppers. Okay, fine.

I woke up in the middle of the night though, and decided I would remedy the dryness of the peppers in the morning, so that they wouldn't go to waste.
I would scoop out all the stuffing and pour chicken broth over it and add salt and pepper.

I figured I would then restuff the peppers with the more moist, doctored-up quinoa and turkey filling and it would all be tasty for lunch for the next few days and my time and money wouldn't have been wasted.

So with a renewed culinary spirit,
I bounded to the fridge that morning to pull out the tray of remaining seven stuffed peppers that Tim had put away the night before.....

This is what I found instead.

What?

Wait...

What?

I don't get it.

Cuz this is what the tray of peppers looked like before I went to bed that night.
There were SEVEN peppers
on this tray.
Seven. Count them. And they were all filled.

And THIS is what was left??

It looked like a family of racoons had opened my fridge and had a
late night snack.

Well, Tim is n-o-t-o-r-i-o-u-s for dropping stuff,

so I scoured the kitchen floor by the fridge...

searching for a clue........
of where my missing peppers would be....

Nah...nuttin' by the fridge....the obvious place to look...

So I looked by the counters and stove, on the floor...
surely the floor over there would provide some clues....

Nope.
No clues.

Wait. Now where could the rest of the peppers have gone? My counters were all clean.
I don't get it.

I was clueless. I knew something had happened to those peppers but usually I can piece together a story by using kitchen clues....you know what I mean, right?
As women, we can spot the most subtle of clues when we need to, right?
AmIRight?
AmIRight?

Well, then it dawned on me.....

Hmmmm...Let me try one other place.

I opened up the trash can.

Bingo.

Yeah, so Tim told me he dropped the tray of $5,000,020 stuffed peppers on the floor while trying to fit the tray in the fridge
the night before.

Later, I introduced him to my helpful friend Saran Wrap and
Saran's buddy, Aluminum Foil.

Now remember when I said I scoured the floor and couldn't find ONE shred of evidence of any stuffed peppers, especially by the fridge?

I asked Tim about that,
why were there no crumbs at all on the floor
from the mishap?

Tim said.....

and his exact words were......

"I tried to clean it up real good so you wouldn't notice."

Really?

Huh.

I said, "Well, didn't you think I would notice there were missing peppers, once I opened the fridge?"

He said he didn't think that far ahead, it was late.

I laughed and told him it had to have been a huge mess all over the floor, all those tiny quinoa grain pieces and everything. He said it was awful and the cats kept tracking all over it and wanting to play with the broom while he was trying to clean it up.

So anyway, that's my $5 million dollar
Pepper Mystery Story.

We all have a story like that though, don't we?
Frustration on spending too much money on ingredients for a sub par meal.
Spending way too much time cooking something that in the end is dry and boring.
Needing therapy and such.

Okay kids, that's all I got for today.

OH! WAIT!!!

Naughty Kitty Picture Alert....

Naughty kitty
on the microwave.

Makes ya wanna eat at my house, doesn't it?

Stuffed peppers, anyone?

So They Make These Receptacle Things To Help With Crappy, Messy Laundry Rooms Called BASKETS! Also Baaaad Food Pictures, Cute Babies And The Big Finish Of Hot Dogs!

9/9/2013

Floppy Magoo Recipe #1:
Does this look yummy to you?

It doesn't, does it??!!

This was supposed to be Apple Crisp.

It was more like
Apple Flop.

Apparently the "topping" was supposed to be a "crumble" not a smear of goopiness.

And apparently this was supposed to have "flavor" too.

Floppy Magoo Recipe #2: This Squash Bread Stuffing was more like Let's-Dry-Out-Your-Mouth-And-Dehydrate-Your-Whole-Body-By-Sticking-A-Bunch-Of-Bread-In-There-With-A-Tiny-Bit-of-Vegetable-And-Bacon-And-Call-It-A-Stuffing Dish.
I felt like I was in the Sahara Desert.
Waaaaterrrrr, I neeed waaattteeeerrr.

Floppy Magoo Recipe #3:
Chicken on Nachos.
So I was TRYING to make something
original.
Something that no one has ever made BEFORE - ever in all the culinary history of the world.

Shut up!!!!

I SWEAR on a stack of Grandma's Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks that the crap laying on those chips is real food!!!
F.
O.
O.
D.
Food!!!

Not poo!!
Food!!!!
It was supposed to be Chicken Nachos.

Tim wouldn't eat it.

He's a snob.

Floppy Magoo #4: Could someone come over and clean my kitchen?

What about my kitchen from a week ago?

WHY CAN'T I KEEP A CLEAN KITCHEN??!!?
And why does my mother-in-law leave her empty wine bottles on my counter all the time??!!??!!

Heeeeeeeee. I'm just teasing.

Those aren't my mother-in-law's.

Those are my mom's!!

Dear Ma,

Please Do Not take me out of the will. I was kidding for Pete's sake!! It's pretend, it's a blog, I LIE sometimes!

Love,
your favorite daughter Angie

Hey LOOK!!! My laundry room is a little clean though!!!!

GO ANGIE, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY, GONNA PARTY. LIKE IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY. Re-looking at this picture again, I know it looks messy but BELIEVE ME, this is CLEAN! For me.

I discovered "receptacles" y'all!!

The fancy word for them is "BASKETS!!!"
They are helpful in corralling laundry!!

Still partying, like it's my birthday, keep partying, even though it's not my birthday!

And one month after discovering receptacles, how is the laundry room looking,
you ask??!!

GO ANGIE, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY, GONNA PARTY, oh I'll shut up now.

YAY!!!!
Still clean!!!!

Kind of.

Cloooose enough!!!

Completely random photo of
birds on a wire in the yard a month ago!

Floppy Magoo #5:

*shaking head*

I have no explanation.
Move along now.

*shaking head*

Floppy Magoo #6: These combo potatoes didn't look too bad before going in the hot oven, did they?

Well, we didn't eat them. They came out limpy-magoo and flavorless. Even the cats wouldn't try one. They sniffed and walked away.

Completely.

Utterly.

Serious.

Human mom crayzee. She can kiss our smelly feeeet.

Okay, let's move on to more
deeelish things....

Our beautiful, soulful niece Annabelle and her family came over for dinner one night this summer!

Annabelle &
Little Boy Blue played
and played
and played!

And Annabelle's parents brought a bee-utiful baby boy with them...our new baby nephew Graham!!

This yittle chunky baby was not even two months old!

That is one well fed yittle tiny baby boy!!!
Look at those chunkmeister legs!

However...
Little Boy Blue
was intrigued by this new baby boy his Grandpa was holding and talking to...

yet confused why HE wasn't the recipient of the holding and cooing.

So everybody
practiced the art of compromise.

Oh my gosh, don't even get me started on our two new baby nieces who are one month apart!!!
They look like yittle tiny burritos I love them so!

Baby Niece Kathlynn is six weeks old here....and Baby Niece Matti is two weeks old!!! Oh my gosh, Ima eat those two babies up they're so darn yummy!!!
And the kicker is Tim and I got to snuggle all three brand new nieces and nephew within a few months of each other! Blessed is what we feel!

So I'm going through my roll of pictures and I
spy this picture....
Now why would I take a picture of my dirty work shoes and dirty work shorts at the end of the day with that super lovely birthmark on my leg?

Well, the next picture told the story.

No it didn't! It didn't tell the story!!
These pictures were taken FIVE WEEKS AGO! Heck, I can't remember what I ate for breakfast much less why on earth would I photograph dirty clothes?

The only thing I can think of is to prove that I work hard.
Really? Why would I think dirty clothes prove that?
My cats go outside CLEAN every morning and roll in the gravel and dirt for hours. Does THAT prove that they are hard workers? On the contrary. They're lazy, spoiled felines who do things like roll in the dirt and gravel for hours. For fun. Just Because.

Clearly there's no closure to THAT conundrum so let's keep moving on...

It's very important
what I want to show you next....

Orange
and
yellow handled silverware!!!
Picked these up at auction. They forced me to bid on them. Cause they're awesome.

Also I wanted to show you the
summer kitchen.
We use it as an outdoor sitting room/office.

See that Radio Flyer wagon by the door,
in the left hand corner up there....

...It cost like
30 million dollars!!!

Seriously, have you priced wagons lately??

When did little red wagons get so expensive?

Back in my day, you could buy them for a nickel and stick of sugar I'm pretty sure.

So this is the ceiling of the summer kitchen.

I have a few vintage frames just hanging around up there.

And on the floor is this handmade,
all weather, turtle rug...it came from a Florida flea market.

Washes and wears great! Perfect for a summer kitchen.

I'll tell ya what I like A LOT is this set of rattan nesting tables.

Cute AND functional.

Picked up this set for $25 at a used store this summer, what a steal!

Now this is a 1940/50s metal outside set that I had purchased several years ago. There is a chair too.

I still have the original floral plastic cushions but traded those out for these more comfy ones.

This is a set of 4 cottage prints that look better in person than this picture shows.

Okay, since all these fantastic pictures and text were just sooooo exciting today,
I feel I must end this post with a bang!

Did you know you can put hot dogs in the crockpot!!!
True dat!

It's so much better and easier than cooking 56 hot dogs over a hot grill while everyone else is having fun!

Worked perfectly by the way!!
Throw them in on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.
They get all nice and warm and taste like the dogs you get at the ballpark! The outside ones even get some lines on them. Yum!
Crap. Now I'm hungry.

Thanks for humoring me guys!
Oh! I did make some beef fajitas that were absolutely fantastic so I'll be sharing that recipe next time.

Stay cool and we'll
talk at ya soon!!

In Theory

11/8/2012

In theory,
this Indian Tomato Chicken should have had more flavor, more taste, not been so bland.

Not the most photogenic food dish, but still...

The recipe starts out good enough
...look at those spices and simple ingredients.

How can you go wrong with onion, ginger and garlic?

And all those healthy spices....turmeric, cumin, cardamon, nutmeg...yum.

The onions sauteing in the pan with the fragrant spices...

Easy enough, now add the cubed chicken breast
and the tomatoes....

But alas, not much flavor....I don't know why. Maybe this is supposed to be a mellow dish.

Now Tim liked this and ate the whole thing over the course of two days.

It is very healthy. I just prefer more flavor.

Here's the link for this Indian Tomato Chicken though, in case you want to check it out though.

In theory,
Whole Chicken + Bacon = Now How Could This Have No Flavor????
Alex G's Roast Chicken with Bacon.

Whole Chicken seasoned with salt and pepper...

Stuff it with lemon and thyme...

okay, sounds like a plan....

Wrap the sucker with bacon.

Well, why not?!!!

BRING!
IT!
ON!

Bake the chicken in the oven until temperature reaches 160 degrees, about an hour....

HEY!!!
Where'd all the bacon go???

Well, I know the flavor went down to the bottom of that pan.

So I mash the lemons, just as the directions say to,
to get that citrusy juice out.

I add the pan juice into the lemony juice, and I add the mustard in and let it all come to a boil for the sauce.

Yes, I do think this chicken will have sooooooo much more flavor with that sprig of thyme on top,
why do you ask?

Also, that dinner plate,
INSTEAD OF AN APPROPRIATE MEAT PLATTER,
should help make this chicken dish taste yummy too, yes?

No.
No flavor.
None.
Even with that citrusy pan juice.

And no.

Even paired with whole wheat fettuccine and marinara.

Just no.

No flavor.

I have since gone into therapy cuz the equation
Chicken + Bacon = True Love Forever is sometimes...

wrong.

Another example of Chicken + Bacon = Sometimes Makes Angie Cry Instead Of Go Mmmmmm........

Pioneer Woman's Ranch Style Chicken.

Now how can all this goodness not yield much flavor?

And I love the Pioneer Woman's recipes...they're usually spot on!

You start by pounding out the chicken.

Mix the mustard, honey, lemon juice, paprika and
cayenne pepper together....

Add the chicken to the marinade and refrigerate 1-3 hours.

Get Sylvia The Cast Iron Pan out.

You remember Sylvia from this post, yes?

Fry up the bacon.

Yes. Yes, I think I will.

Clean out the pan and brown that chicken up on both sides pretty good.

Looking tasty already!

So after putting the chicken in the oven for ten minutes and then bringing it back up to the stove, throw the cheese and bacon on top.

Plate one up for yerself....
take a bite and ask....

"How can all these yummy ingredients create a chicken breast with so little flavor?"

Flavorless
almost.

Makes no sense.
Maybe I did something wrong but I don't think so, it's a pretty simple recipe. Anyway, here's the link just in case you try it and get a different result.
If you do try it, pleeeeze let me know :)

In theory,

These
Jamie Deen Barbeque Baby Back Ribs should be finger lickin' awesome!!!

This recipe required lots of stuff, the usual, but that's okay.

A good barbeque rub and sauce is hard to beat and worth the extra ingredients and work.

The rub...lots of good stuff in there like paprika, dry mustard, chili powder, brown sugar and more....

And the barbecue sauce fixins should be good too....oil, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar and such...

Mix it up and let it simmer on the stove in a sauce pan for 30 minutes or so until it thickens.

Once the ribs are done grilling or baking, slather the thickened barbeque sauce all over the ribs and dig in and enjoy.

Now wait a minute! There's no big flavor other than the barbeque sauce.

Which is fine.

But it tastes like barbeque sauce you can get out of a bottle.

All that work for
nuttin' special.
Crap!

You know, folks will probably think this sauce is real good but with the amount of work and ingredients, the taste should be something a bit more special.
It was just average to me.
I was surprised cuz I like Jamie Deen's recipes typically.
Here's the link in case you want to take a gander at it.

Okay lastly, In theory,

Bill's Bourbon Chili

should have been a huge hit.

But it wasn't.
*insert frownie face*

Lots of good stuff though here....
see the ground turkey breast in the lower right corner?

I think that's where I made my mistake.
The recipe called for ground beef.

Anyway, I'll share all the pictures......

Seems easy enough....
so then you plate it up and look forward to that total yumminess Bourbon Chili..

But the flavoring just was not there, even though chili powder and chipotle chili pepper were in there.

So I crunched up tortilla chips thinking that would add flavor.

But it didn't.
Oh well.

YOU KNOW WHAT WAS GOOD THOUGH????

That sour cream on top with the lemon zest!

Seriously, this sour cream recipe was so refreshing and so easy!

Zest up the lemon peel and mince that mint and throw it all together.

See,

I even wrote on the legal pad,

it was so nice and refreshing.

So this recipe was worth it just to find out about this simple sour cream topping.

Well I do have more disasters to share, but I don't want to bore you too much...

I'll wait till the next edition of Cooking Misadventures to do that :)

Now I gotta get back to work and post this
2001 Pontiac Bonneville SLE
with 107K miles...metallic dark blue,
super excellent condition inside and out as always :).
Yee Haw, check it out on the Turnkey Auto Inventory page!

All right guys, that's all I got!
Have a good Thursday day and evening and we'll talk at ya soon!!!!
:)

Ridiculous Ramblin'

3/24/2012

This is a ramblin' post.

I figured Ramblin' Rose by Neil Diamond was gonna be the video that would be perfect to embed with the theme of this ramblin', nonsensical post.

Except I discovered Neil Diamond sang
Cracklin' Rosie,

not Ramblin' Rose.
Nat King Cole sings Ramblin' Rose.

You can enjoy both Neil Diamond's video and Nat King Cole's video
down below here.
Unless you're name is "Ma" and you read this blog on an I-Pad and Steve Jobs didn't want you to use flash player on your I-Pad so now....oh whatever...

MA!

GO USE A DESKTOP COMPUTER...

NEIL DIAMOND IS SINGING TO THE RIGHT!!!!!!

Geez...

AHHHH,

And then we have the fabuloso
Nat King Cole...

LOVE!!

Okay, let's get started with this Really Ridiculous Ramblin' Post
Thingie #1

The outside of the house is messy cuz we're getting new siding on part of it.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #2

While checking out the new siding outside,
I wondered if it's too early to take down the outside Christmas lights and decorations.

What do you think?
I'm torn.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #3

And then I wondered if this plant was dead or just went dormant through the winter.

Huh.
*shrugging shoulders*

Which leads me to Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #4
I saw more Christmas lights outside on the fence by the horse trough planter.

And I wondered if those plants in the horse trough were dead too from last year.
Or just dormant.

Someone who may or may not be named Angie was lazy and did not clean out her flower beds last fall.
Huh again.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #5

But I did notice some of my perennials were coming up from the ground already with the warm weather.

Shocking that we need siding on the house in this picture, isn't it?

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #6

I went inside to discover the hammering from the siding caused one of my pots to fall off the shelf in the laundry room and broke.

Thank goodness cuz now it matches all my other pottery, as evidenced by that one handled floral vase there.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #7

Well,
at least the clean laundry has finally been folded and put away from the washer and dryer.

CRAP!!

Foiled

AGAIN!!

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #8

Checked on a new recipe that I tried out...
a Turkey Pot Pie.

So far, so good.

Oh goodness, making a crust for the pot pie.

A homeade crust that does NOT come out of a foil pan or frozen box.

My attempt at a pot pie crust is beginning to stink by this time.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #9

And the finished product was not much better.

At all!!!!

I will not be sharing this recipe.
Clearly.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #5000

My cheap-o-rama camera battery thing broke and I have to use a rubber band to hold it shut now.

One of the naughty cats dumped it off the table.

I'm not gonna mention any names.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #8764

OH! OH! OH!
I posted this hot 1999 Grand Am GT online with 102k miles for $4485.
It's sporty and hot looking! Check it out on the "Inventory" page.

Ridiculous
Ramblin' Thingie
#10,267

My Ma and her hubby Davey send me pictures from a weekly flea market of pretty shiny tableware.

Fieeeesstttaaa!
I'm in luuuurve!!

Ridiculous Ramblin Thingie #47632
OH!

Tim and I went to the Avett Brothers concert at the Union a couple weeks ago.
It was awesome!!!
Our favorite band ever!
And bought a concert t-shirt,
just like we used to in our golden rock concert days of the 1970's and 80's.

Except the t-shirt was a size 2T.
For our itty bitty grandson Little Boy Blue.

Choo, choo.
Ca-choo.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #22600

This cafe is in an old service station in Mt. Union and I loooove it!!!

A nice lady runs it six days a week.

My kind of cafe!!!

Will be talking more, another post, about my lovely conversation with this great lady that took place after she almost ran me off her property.
Seriously. Not kidding.

Ruby is my new BFF.
I just hope SHE'S okay with that.

Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #Oh Who Cares, Why Are You Even Still Reading This???

I picked up this gorgeous Mikasa coffee cup and bread/dessert plate on the clearance table at Dillards. $2.80 for each. I love the art deco styling.

Originally $20 and $25 a piece. Yeah, riiiight. Uh huh.

Last Ridiculous Ramblin' Thingie #Oh Stop Your Jumping Up And Down, It's Embarrassing.

For me.

Oh how you know I love the bright shiny stuff...I was looking at shiny planters the other day at Iowa City Landscaping...gorgeous! I need a planter for the right hand side of the door with the new yellow siding.
I love the aqua drip glaze on the left and this color green on the right is so soothing too.

Or

how about

these

scrolly

beauties?

LOVE!

Their prices are really reasonable this season too!

Okay, thanks for humoring me through this whole boooooring blog post!!! :):):):)

You're awake still, right?
Yeah?

Helllooooooooooo!!!

HEY LOOK!! IT'S GEORGE

CLOONEY!!!

Bet you're AWAKE now.
:)

Talk at ya next time friends!

Have a fun rest of the

weekend!
But stay outta jail.
:)

Floppy McFlop Food Photos

11/27/2011

I am not a proud cook.

Nor necessarily a decent cook.
I can only cook by a recipe and I rarely deviate from the exact directions.

And my photo skills are exceedingly lacking.
I'm certain most everyone who reads this here blog agrees with this assessment.

It's in that vain, that I am going to show you the floppy mcflop recipes and pictures that never made it onto this super professional, top-notch, high quality, almost award-winning blog.
These recipes and pictures never made it here because the pictures are embarrassingly bad and some of the recipes are not that groovy.

And remember, I have no shame :)

Let's start with one of my favorite foods; chicken.
Cluck, cluck. (It is a chicken that goes cluck isn't it?)
Let's observe several of my attempts at cooking a whole chicken.

I rock with cooking whole chickens but my photo skills do not indicate this. For some reason, my whole chickens always have meat missing off the legs. Two different times. Why? And they look unappetizing.

See the meat missing off the right leg back in August?
It didn't photograph well and looked weird. Although it was tasty.

A few months later, the left leg on this chicken is missing it's meat.

Again, this picture is not appealing at all.

And the bottom of the chicken...Uh, I think we can all agree it looks rather uncomfortable, yes?

So we move onto more chicken.
This recipe is for Beer Braised Chicken Thighs.

Truly tasty but the pictures looks like the mysterious food that hangs out in the back bottom shelf of my fridge for decades.

My eyesight is not what it used to be, that's the only excuse I have for sloppy looking plates.

And what is it with me plopping bread on every plate in every picture?

Clearly I have a starch fetish. Believe it or not, this picture was the best one of this dish.

Sometimes I make a dish that does not have much taste and is disappointing, such as this marinara from a food network tv person thingie.
The photograph is not so bad but the marinara was tasteless.

I'd taste good if only I had some more salt, pepper, basil, oregano, wine and thyme added.

And Mama's Lasagna from the Neelys of Food Network was pretty excellent, really tasty in fact
but my picture lacked, uh, shall we say, appetizing value.

Seriously, what is my issue with plopping bread on EVERYTHING? It's almost like a crime, a bread felony or something. Lord, I need rehab for bread idiots!

I will say that this whole lasagna pan picture is a slightly better photo than the individual slice from above. In fact, I liked this recipe so much, I'm going to share the link:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/mamas-lasagna-recipe/index.html

OH! OH! OH! This one is not my fault,
pinky swear!

Yeah, so late at night, we (by "we" I mean "I") got an itch that needed scratched in the way of I WAS STARVING FOR BAKED CHICKEN WINGS!
BINGO!
I had some wings in the freezer, 4 lbs had just been purchased fresh from the meat counter a few days earlier.
Fantastic! Awesome! I can't believe my luck at 11:00 at night! Woo Hoo!!

I defrost all four pounds, throw open the packaging to begin washing the wings and this is what I found.
Now you tell me, do these look weird to you?

Really? Really? The dude didn't notice THERE WAS NO MEAT? Really?

EVERY.SINGLE.WING but two had the meaty drummie part removed. EVERYONE BUT TWO!
So basically, in a nutshell, to be more clear, and my blood pressure is rising as I type this, I had four pounds of nuttin' to cook!!!
Really, could the meat dude not see this when he was scooping up FOUR POUNDS of chicken wings for me?

We interrupt this blog to bring you the following...

YAY!!!! Rainbows and Unicorns and Cheesecake,
DOUBLE YAY!!!!

Okay. All better now.

Let me show you something that I did make that was amazing but I only took one completed picture and no pictures of the process.

Heirloom Tomato Pizza with a rustic wheat pizza crust.

Yum!

I'm saving the best horribly unappetizing picture for last. Try not to upchuck your cookies.
...
...
...
...

Turkey Cassoulet

This is the photo of the whole dish served on a platter.

This was just taken last week!

Although the dish was tasty, this picture is totally unappetizing!

Once again, this was the best picture of the dish. *sigh*

I plated it up to see if I could make it look more appealing.

I couldn't.

Dang!

Well I giggled at a lot of these craptastic pictures while I was posting them.
Well, I giggled between the shuddering anyway.
Hope you weren't too grossed out and giggled or shuddered too :)

Have a great day and talk at ya soon!!!

Tim Said This Post Definitely Did Not Make Him Hungry...Uh yeahhhhhhh.

Angie Decides To Torture Herself By Attempting Baking Again, But By Golly, She Perseveres and These Snickerdoodles Came Out Pretty Decent!

I knew I could do it!!!!

I BAKED!!!!!
Snickerdoodles!!!

Here's the fixins for these
Whole Wheat (50%) Snickerdoodles!

The Mystery of The Missing Five Million Dollar Stuffed Peppers And A Naughty Kitty

So They Make These Receptacle Things To Help With Crappy, Messy Laundry Rooms Called BASKETS! Also Baaaad Food Pictures, Cute Babies And The Big Finish Of Hot Dogs!

In Theory

Ridiculous Ramblin'

Floppy McFlop Food Photos

Author

Categories

Archives

Tim Said This Post Definitely Did Not Make Him Hungry...Uh yeahhhhhhh.

Angie Decides To Torture Herself By Attempting Baking Again, But By Golly, She Perseveres and These Snickerdoodles Came Out Pretty Decent!

I knew I could do it!!!!

I BAKED!!!!!Snickerdoodles!!!

Here's the fixins for these Whole Wheat (50%) Snickerdoodles!

The Mystery of The Missing Five Million Dollar Stuffed Peppers And A Naughty Kitty

So They Make These Receptacle Things To Help With Crappy, Messy Laundry Rooms Called BASKETS! Also Baaaad Food Pictures, Cute Babies And The Big Finish Of Hot Dogs!

In Theory

Ridiculous Ramblin'

Floppy McFlop Food Photos

Author

Categories

Archives

I BAKED!!!!!
Snickerdoodles!!!

Here's the fixins for these
Whole Wheat (50%) Snickerdoodles!