Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Kisses
Today Zelda gave me a kiss, then she pressed her nose to mine, so I gave her an 'eskimo' kiss. After that she banged her forehead against mine, putting her right eye as close to my right eye, and said "Eye!", then she moved her head to the side of mine, lightly touching, and said "hair"...after this she moved her right ear to my right ear, saying "ear". Guess she thought all parts of the head should have their own kiss ;)
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Nigh Nigh
Typically Zelda likes to say goodnight to certain things before she goes to bed. This usually consists of "nigh nigh Mickey" & "nigh nigh Kitty". This started several months ago, when after putting pictures of Mickey in her room, I suggested she say goodnight to him before putting her in her crib (got her in a better mindset for going to bed).
Anyway, last night she came into the living room, waving to her sippy cup, saying "Nigh nigh Nilk" , her way of saying "goodnight, Milk".
:D
Anyway, last night she came into the living room, waving to her sippy cup, saying "Nigh nigh Nilk" , her way of saying "goodnight, Milk".
:D
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Smoked Sausage Pasta
(Transferred from the old blog, Numeenum)
Pasta is a frequent meal at our house. Its cheap, good, and easy to make a variety of it. This dish was originally made for us by Ryan's brother Rodney while he was visiting us last year. He cooked up some smoked sausage and diced green peppers, added the sauce, then cooked bowtie pasta. He let it all simmer for about 10 minutes. I loved it! I have made it quite often ever since.
This time I added mandarin oranges to the mix, a recommendation from Rodney. I didn't have bowtie pasta, but any will do, and spaghetti was what I had on hand. This is my favorite twist on pasta sauce.
PS...a few days ago my friend Jen, a vegetarian, came over and made a sauce using zuchini, yellow squash, and green bell peppers. This was great as well!
Pasta is a frequent meal at our house. Its cheap, good, and easy to make a variety of it. This dish was originally made for us by Ryan's brother Rodney while he was visiting us last year. He cooked up some smoked sausage and diced green peppers, added the sauce, then cooked bowtie pasta. He let it all simmer for about 10 minutes. I loved it! I have made it quite often ever since.
This time I added mandarin oranges to the mix, a recommendation from Rodney. I didn't have bowtie pasta, but any will do, and spaghetti was what I had on hand. This is my favorite twist on pasta sauce.
PS...a few days ago my friend Jen, a vegetarian, came over and made a sauce using zuchini, yellow squash, and green bell peppers. This was great as well!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
How to Make a Mojito with Cap'n Rich
This past Sunday our neighbors came over and we introduced them to the lovely drink now pretty well known: a Mojito. While enjoying the refreshing drinks I entertained them with the following instructional video featuring my family. If you have seen this, then here is another chance to enjoy, and if you haven't seen it, then I hope you have fun. It really does teach you how to make a delicious Mojito, but it also shows what a day in the life is like back home @ my parents' place in Utah.
"Floridian" Arizona Green Tea
(Transferred from the old blog, Numeenum)
So, I love a good, refreshing iced tea. Arizona's brands are delicious, except I really do not care for the high fructose corn syrup that they put in them. So because of that and the fact that making your own tea is significantly more affordable, I decided to come up with a way to make my own.
I simply brewed some green tea, and figured about 1/4 of local honey (here it is orange blossom, naturally) added to it would do it right, and it did. So there you go...make your own "Arizona" green tea with honey (I guess you could add ginseng if you want, but that stuff makes me twitch!) and enjoy the remaining days of summer, which for us in Florida is about another 2 months. ;)
Grilled Cheese made Numee
(Transferred from the old blog, Numeenum)
Ok, so, a staple most everyone loves is also one of my favorite quick fix meals: grilled cheese. There are two 'trick's I recommend to everyone that will get you the best results.
1) Use olive oil - I heat my pan slightly, drop a bit of olive oil, just enough to dip one side of each slice of bread into it, lightly covering the side you'll be cooking. This makes the bread crispy and flavored nicely. It cooks faster than butter or margarine, and is much better for you.
2) Use multiple flavors of cheese, and have fun with it! Its b
est to use cheese that melts quickly if you can, because the bread will cook pretty fast at medium heat. If however your cheese isn't melted all the way, pop the sandwich in the microwave after it has been grilled...just long enough to melt the cheese but not to make the bread soft.
The sandwhich I made had a shredded italian mix, a small amount of smoked gouda, and some horseradish cheddar. The horseraddish gave it a great kick...I love some heat, and this gives just the right amount where you still get to enjoy the food.
Cheers!
Heather
Ok, so, a staple most everyone loves is also one of my favorite quick fix meals: grilled cheese. There are two 'trick's I recommend to everyone that will get you the best results.
1) Use olive oil - I heat my pan slightly, drop a bit of olive oil, just enough to dip one side of each slice of bread into it, lightly covering the side you'll be cooking. This makes the bread crispy and flavored nicely. It cooks faster than butter or margarine, and is much better for you.
2) Use multiple flavors of cheese, and have fun with it! Its b
est to use cheese that melts quickly if you can, because the bread will cook pretty fast at medium heat. If however your cheese isn't melted all the way, pop the sandwich in the microwave after it has been grilled...just long enough to melt the cheese but not to make the bread soft.The sandwhich I made had a shredded italian mix, a small amount of smoked gouda, and some horseradish cheddar. The horseraddish gave it a great kick...I love some heat, and this gives just the right amount where you still get to enjoy the food.
Cheers!
Heather
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Thai Red Curry
(Transferred from the old blog, Numeenum)
I love making curries. They are easy and amazingly delicious. While I primarily will make Indian curry, Thai makes a nice alternative for 'curry night'. Many people think of the simple cumin curry when they hear the word "curry", but in all actuality a curry is a type of dish with food in a sauce, kind of like a thick stew, typically served over rice. There are many curry recipes. Curries from India typically are tomato based, heavily seasoned, usually with cumin, are served with Basmati rice, while curries from Thailand are coconut based, seasoning includes lemongrass and ginger, and served over sticky rice. There is an Indian curry that bridges with Thai, a coconut curry called Korma, which is one of my favorites. I will post that someday soon for sure.
Today I worked on a Thai Red Curry. I had two different sources for flavoring the coconut milk, one being the standard red curry paste that you can find at your grocery store, and the other being a packet of dried herbs I got in St Augustine at Old Spice Traders. You can get the seasoning packet online, along with the special rice I used, a green bamboo flavored sticky rice.
Thai Red Curry typically has potatoes, various colored red bell pepper slices, choice of meat or tofu. I didn't have anything on hand but tofu and chick peas, which I consider my "curry staple" since that mix goes great in every curry I have tried. I also added green peas to the red curry, which added a little more flavor and was quite yummy.
To make the curry with the dried herbs I used 2 tsp of the powder, 1 tsp olive oil, stirred to a paste, then added half a can of coconut milk (the other half was used for the store bought paste). I simmered this for an hour to get the flavors to mix together. Then I added my 'curry staple' of tofu, chick peas, and green peas, simmering for 20 minutes, then served over the sticky rice.
The image above is of the curry I made with the standard paste, the one to the right with my spice packet. Both were great, but the one made with the spice packet seemed to have a little more kick, which Ryan and I prefer.
I love making curries. They are easy and amazingly delicious. While I primarily will make Indian curry, Thai makes a nice alternative for 'curry night'. Many people think of the simple cumin curry when they hear the word "curry", but in all actuality a curry is a type of dish with food in a sauce, kind of like a thick stew, typically served over rice. There are many curry recipes. Curries from India typically are tomato based, heavily seasoned, usually with cumin, are served with Basmati rice, while curries from Thailand are coconut based, seasoning includes lemongrass and ginger, and served over sticky rice. There is an Indian curry that bridges with Thai, a coconut curry called Korma, which is one of my favorites. I will post that someday soon for sure.
Today I worked on a Thai Red Curry. I had two different sources for flavoring the coconut milk, one being the standard red curry paste that you can find at your grocery store, and the other being a packet of dried herbs I got in St Augustine at Old Spice Traders. You can get the seasoning packet online, along with the special rice I used, a green bamboo flavored sticky rice.Thai Red Curry typically has potatoes, various colored red bell pepper slices, choice of meat or tofu. I didn't have anything on hand but tofu and chick peas, which I consider my "curry staple" since that mix goes great in every curry I have tried. I also added green peas to the red curry, which added a little more flavor and was quite yummy.
To make the curry with the dried herbs I used 2 tsp of the powder, 1 tsp olive oil, stirred to a paste, then added half a can of coconut milk (the other half was used for the store bought paste). I simmered this for an hour to get the flavors to mix together. Then I added my 'curry staple' of tofu, chick peas, and green peas, simmering for 20 minutes, then served over the sticky rice.
The image above is of the curry I made with the standard paste, the one to the right with my spice packet. Both were great, but the one made with the spice packet seemed to have a little more kick, which Ryan and I prefer.
