Skip to main content

recipe disclaimer

first off, i am, by no means, a gourmet cook, or even a 'foodie'. i do not watch cooking shows or have any aspirations to become a 'good cook'. i have crappy knives and most of my pots and pans are not stainless steel. BUT, i have a family to feed, and i want to do it right. i try to do 'homemade' as opposed to packaged as often as possible. i like things to be relatively simple, have less than 100 ingredients, have mostly ingredients that i can pronounce the names of, and can find at my local grocery store. i like soups and casseroles and good old fashioned farm food. i try to find things that my whole family will eat, but with a 'chicken nugget and hot dog kid', that's hard to do. that said, i DO NOT make more than one meal per night. if my kids don't want to eat perfectly good food that is in front of them, oh well. they will not starve.

but i digress.

i am NOT a “by the book” cook. i have trouble following a recipe exactly and usually feel the need to ‘fiddle’ with it a little. if you have trouble with terms like “a bunch”, “some”, “a few good shakes” and the like, you might be frustrated by my recipes. i’ll try to be as clear as possible when it really matters!

for convenience, i have a list of links to recipe posts on the side bar.

you may like...

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2!  i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical.  we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice.  allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before gril...

does home ec even exist anymore?

my last post got me thinking about how i somehow missed 'learning' all of those things which are essential in running a successful home. i'm wondering who dropped the ball on this (because, i can't possibly take responsibility for my own shortcomings here). i guess traditionally, one learns these things from their parents. i suppose i did learn a lot of my domestic skills at home. for example, the husband is supposed to eat the leftovers in the fridge. when making a bed, the 'top' of the top sheet goes down so that when you fold the edge over the blanket, the 'top' side is then up. why this matters when you are just going to cover the whole thing with a pillow and comforter is totally beyond me. but that's how you do it. so yes, my mother taught me how to iron, do laundry, clean a toilet, etc. my dad taught me how to plant a garden, mow a lawn, appreciate baseball, etc. and then there's home ec. do people still take home ec? i took it ...

homemaking 101... ponderings, ramblings... the usual.

so i've been analyzing lately (because that's what i do) why i get so frustrated with myself, my shortcomings in the areas of housekeeping and organization, creativity, cooking, etc. it would seem that i'm trying to live up to the expectations of june cleaver, or my grandmother, or something equally unrealistic. no, i don't expect to push the vacuum and baste a turkey in heels and pearls, (besides, i have the roomba , remember?), but i do expect more of myself than i have been giving currently. why? i've been doing what i usually do when i have an issue i want to know more about; i check out every book the library has on the subject (organization problems anyone?). there are a LOT of books out there written by homemakers, for homemakers with a lot of different slants on the whole subject. interestingly enough, the view that disturbs me the most is not the one that suggests that God has decreed it so that women have no other calling than to be wives and mothers (alt...

smoothie-crazy!

I’ve always been into smoothies. but I kind of go in phases with them. there will be times that I have the ALL THE TIME, and then other times when I’ve forgotten about them and don’t have them at all. right now, I’m on a major smoothie kick. I was reminded of their sweet, wonderful yumminess a while back when I read a post on the pioneer woman’s site about smoothies . of course, she’s all photography-savvy and has a clean kitchen and whatnot, and I don’t, but this is my take on smoothies. actually, it’s just today’s take on smoothies. it changes daily, depending on what I have on hand or what I’m in the mood for. as you’ll notice, it’s also a shameless plug for my 3rd favorite kitchen appliance. (the first being my coffeemaker, obviously, and the second being my coffee grinder.) so today’s smoothie consisted of the segments of 1 clementine (I have a 5 lb. box that I need to use up before they are not so good… plus, I figure the vitamin c will not hurt me any.), a BUNCH of frozen raspb...

week 14 in pictures

sunday’s POTD: had a lovely dinner w/ some lovely friends at a lovely restaurant… where we sat gabbing for 5 hours! monday’s POTD: shane took toby out to experience the rain. he was not a fan. that picture catches him mid-meow to be let back in! extra pic: again with the cat and the dairy products… extra pic: layla and micah turned the sit n’ spin upside down and made it a merry-go-round for polly pockets. extra pic: micah was playing with shane’s cars. I’ve never seen him line them up like this before, but shane used to do it ALL THE TIME. kind of compulsively. walking by and looking in to see this was kind of nostalgic for me! wednesday’s POTD: yup, north of us had reports of snow. us? we put on swimsuits and went outside! extra pic: I brought in a basket of clean laundry. it was warm. layla climbed in. micah climbed in. then layla drug the cat in… extra pic: the bouncy ball in the sippy cup. extra pic: as part of layla’s superhero obsession a couple months back, s...