That's all I've got to say...about that.

Here's what I know about making homemade french fries in the oven.   

#1.  Make sure each french fry is the same size.

#2.  Make sure you coat them in olive oil and sprinkle them with sea salt.

#3.  Make sure they are in a single layer on your pan.

#4.  The most important one...MAKE SURE you take them out halfway through cook time, get a spatula and flip them!  That...or buy a better pan than I have so they don't stick. 

Also, don't drop the whole pan on the floor after you take them out of the oven.  Cause that's what I did with last tonight's batch of homemade french fries I made for the Super Bowl. I may or may not have cursed in front of my father-in-law.  Luckily, none of us are crazy and we still ate them. And lucky for me...it's not the first time I've cursed in front of my father-in-law and he's the type to be A-OK with cursing. 

Also, I bought some new "Snapware" tupperware at CostCo.  AKA...Mia's new toys.

The best part of Nebraska I've never seen.

So, I'm from Nebraska...and will always be a Midwest girl.  Having lived in both Tennessee and now Texas, I can tell you...it's a very different place, with different people and different vibes.  Not bad...It's just that's where I fit in best.  Too bad it's so cold there.  Cause I sure don't miss it enough to endure 6 months of below zero temperatures. 

Anyway, my mother in law is also from Nebraska.  We are from opposite sides of the state (me, the east...her, the west).  I have never been to where she is from, but thanks to her...I do have a little "flavor" of where she came from.  And that flavor is delicious!

In 2 words. Jiffy Burgers.  I guess there was this great little locally owned burger place where she grew up and this was THE thing to eat.  She tells me stories of when she came home from college on the weekends and before she could go home, she had to stop and get a Jiffy Burger. 

So, I got the recipe from her and made them.

Here's where it starts.  Hamburger and Onions...drain the grease...easy enough.

Then you add these...cream of wheat and worcestershire sauce. Cream of what? 

Then you add the sauce...and no, it's not just sloppy joes with mustard.  It's so much more...including a cup of mayo and more onions.

Mix it up!

Buy the cheapest, white bread buns you can find.  Usually white bread is a NO NO in my house, although on occasion, my husband has asked me to buy it...and I usually do.  But, let's take this sandwich for what it is...hamburger with lots of fat-filled ingredients in it.  It would only taste good on a white bread bun.  Served with chips.

Good Good Good.  I ate 2 and a half and then couldn't move for an hour and half.  JC ate three and will probably eat the rest of the leftovers today.  I'm thinking these will be one of our "fun" foods for a long time to come. 

In other news.  My daughter is pretty, smart, sweet and is getting the BEST sense of humor.  I sure love her.

I love her more up real close.

A short story.

Today, I woke up, looked out my window and saw this.

So I rubbed my eyes and looked a little closer.  Whoa.  That's a lot of snow for these parts of the country. 

This period in history will now be known as Icemageddon meets Snowmageddon of 2011.  Now I have to hear about how this proves Global Warming is a myth created by Al Gore.  Awesome.

So, I walked to my favorite little's girl's crib and told her we were gonna seize this 5th day of being house-ridden and make these...from scratch!

Haha.  Just Kidding.. 

She was not amused.

But that's okay.  Cause I had this for breakfast and didn't have to go out in the snow.  I chalk it up to a win.

A week at home...

I did move to Texas, right?  The place where it's supposed to be no colder than 45 degrees in the winter and hot as the surface of the sun in the summer? I did leave Nebraska and it's snow, ice and -20 (with wind chill) temperatures 2 years ago, right?  K, just checking.  Cause we're covered in ice and the high today was 15 degrees.  It's cool though, cause I've been working at home all week with my Mimi and husband.  He's been sequestered in his office since Sunday cause it's National Signing Day week.  If you don't know what that is...click here... www.huskersillustrated.com. That's where my husband lives.  In that website.  So, if you want to say hi to him, that's where you should go.

I'm supposed to go to the office tomorrow, but it's not looking good anymore...given that my boss called me and said to stay home.  So, that means, I'll be staying home while my husband tries to fly to Nebraska for tv interviews.  We'll see if THAT happens with the frozen tundra that has taken over pretty much the entire country. 

Anyway, Mia went to bed early tonight and so I have time to work and cook. Here's what I made...

Breaded tilapia with rosemary, parmesan mashed cauliflower, cherry tomatoes with italian dressing (fancy, I know) and some bread.   It took all of 15 minutes to make (minus the steaming of the cauliflower) and it was EXACTLY what I wanted to eat. Easy, yummy and little clean-up.  See, complicated food makes me not happy.  I don't want to have to wash a million things and I don't want to have my eyes glued to a recipe in order to cook something.  Simple food is the best food.  Period.

So, you're wondering what's on the bread?  Oh, I'm glad you asked...it's butter and jelly.

Why? Because I'm from the country in Nebraska and that's how we eat our bread at dinner.  With butter and jelly (or homemade strawberry jam if you're at my mom's house).  Don't worry, I'll get there, eventually.  There is just something about the little bit of "sweet" with a savory meal that just makes me feel good.  I LOVE those contrasts, sweet and salty...hence, the brownies with sea salt.  That's LITERALLY sweet and salty. 

And the tomatoes with italian dressing...it's something that I learned from a coworker that is delicious. 

And how much simpler can you get than that?  You can't really.  Oh, unless you add salt and pepper.  Which I did.

What does that mean?

People say this sums me up well. (That's me holding up the toy Mickey Train)  By people, I mean my sister in law Brandi and my husband.  To them, I say..."What does that mean?"  It's funny...how in your head you think you are one way and then to the people who love you and are around you alot, they see you differently. 

So, if this is how they see me, then what does that say?  I can't see?  I have no idea how to read things?  I make the WEIRDEST faces EVER when I look at toy trains?  Or maybe I'm just really animated.  Yeah, I'm going with that.

Good.

Have you heard of Whataburger?  Well, I of course, have...but had never eaten there cause I'm not really a fast food kinda eater. When my husband heard me say I had never had a Whataburger, he RAN out the door and bought two.

The empty calories, the artery clogging additives, the all around gross-ness that is fast food...well, I'm sorry to say.  But it was worth it.  Yummy.

The best homemade dessert I've made...maybe.

I'm not a dessert maker.  I really don't enjoy baking all that much.  Mostly because you "really" have to watch the measurements of the ingredients and I just don't have the patience for that.  I like to add a little of this and a little of that when I cook.  See, when you do that when you're baking, you get a cake that won't rise or lumpy pudding.

Anyway, I did have enough patience to make this last week.

It's another Pioneer Woman recipe.  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/09/pretty-little-brownie-bites/

I don't have mini muffin tins so instead of pretty "little" brownie bites, these are just pretty "regular sized" brownies.   But, seriously, how pretty are these?

All from scratch...and they are SO good!  Really rich...so if you're not a sweets person, then I'm not sure this one is for you.  But, if you are...holy moly...they're a total win.  In case you're wondering what's on top...that's sea salt.  Yup, sea salt.  Mia and I took a trip to Whole Foods (YES) and got some really great sea salt for these.  Something was telling me that my sea salt grinder from CostCo wasn't gonna cut it here.

At first bite, I was a little disappointed.  I asked JC, "So, does the sea salt really work on this?  Or do they just taste like brownies with salt on them."  I'm still not really convinced.  I've had chocolate truffles with sea salt that were amazing, but this didn't quite have the same flavor profile as those did.  I was assured by everyone who ate these at JC's birthday dinner that the sea salt was amazing on them...but who knows.  Maybe they were just being nice.  Salt or not, they were still really good.

In other news, the sick girl (yes, she's still sick) is a walking fool.  Look out world! (and Goose, our cat.)

Ta-Da!

That Pioneer Woman...man, does she know her stuff!  I know, I know...you're thinking..."Jill, how original.  Every single wife/mom/girl talks about their aspirations to be Pioneer Woman because she's witty, quirky, cooks and makes living in the middle of nowhere sound so darn charming."  Well, yeah.  I guess I'm unoriginal, cause I thinks she's pretty awesome too.

Here's why.  This recipe.  This recipe alone is enough to make me become a faithful follower of her forever. 

Drip Beef Sandwiches.  There I said it.  I'd never heard of them.  Really, it's another word for French Dip...but the meat, is SO much better. 

In honor of JC's birthday (who is a lover of all things red meat), I made them. I prepared the meat the night before, had JC put it on low in the crockpot at about 12noon and by 6pm...we were in Drip Beef heaven. 

Wanna see? 

Yes, it's full of beef fat.  But it's also full of onions, beef that falls apart when you touch it and just really really really good stuff. And it's easy, and fairly inexpensive.  Most of the things you need to make it are already in your pantry.  Just a $10 3.5 pound Chuck Roast is all you need to buy, really.

The finished project.  Ta-Da!

A toasted sandwich bun, melted swiss cheese on top, and the juice to dip the sandwich in. Oh and green beans really just for decoration.  Nobody wants to eat those when you have that sandwich next to it.

Poor little Mimi is still a little sick in her tummy, so she's still doing the BRAT diet.  (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast).  I did give her a few pieces of the beef though...because I'm not that cruel.  She kept pointing at it and whining.  So, I gave in.  And she was happy.

Drip Beef Sandwich Recipe: (I made recipe #2)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/drip-beef-two-ways/

Horrible Picture...Decent Dinner

I'm not gonna go on and on and on about the sickness that has taken over my beautiful, vibrant baby girl.  I'm not gonna talk about how tired we are and how none of us has slept for more than (approximately) 4 hours a night for the last month it seems.  No...I'm not gonna talk about how there is not enough coffee in the world to keep me awake right now.  

I'm not gonna talk about it.  Instead, I'll just share this.  This is about all of the effort that I can muster to cook.  That should sum up the Talman state of affairs quite nicely.

It's not pretty.  Picture was taken on my Blackberry so the photography sucks.  Still it tasted good.  Grilled chicken, corn and tomato quesadillas with spicy sour cream dipping sauce.  It was the best I could do with the hour I had in between Mia's crying fits last night while the poor baby tried to sleep. It was a "what's in the pantry and fridge that's about to go bad so I have to cook it tonight" dinner.

In happier news, today is my hubby's birthday.  Tonight (pending any sickness catastrophes) I have planned a lovely birthday meal.  Seriously...I think I had dreams about what this is gonna taste like.  Here's a preview..

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/drip-beef-two-ways/ 

A dinner fit for JC...

So, here's the thing.  I like to cook (duh).  My husband likes to eat (duh).  But, sometimes my cooking tastes and his eating tastes don't always mesh.  You know in the late 90's/early 2000's when putting fruit and vinagrette on salads was the new "thing."  Yeah, he used to get mad at his mom for what he called "fruitin-izing" the salad.  He wants lettuce, ranch dressing, cheese and maybe tomatoes.  It is just his preference.

He's a "meat and potatoes" guy.  He likes home cooking, particularly red meat. 

Don't get me wrong, he eats anything I cook and always says it's wonderful, but I know him.  It may taste good, but it's not what he'd "pick" if he could choose what I would cook for him.  So, in honor of him...I made this. 

New York Strip (grilled because it's like 55 degrees in Dallas), steamed carrots and cous cous. 

He loved it.  And these were the proverbial "cherry" on top. 

Sauteed mushrooms and onions.  Simple, delicious and so easy I didn't need a cookbook.  A nice departure from Ellie Krieger...

A project....

So I had this chair when I was little...cute, wooden rocking chair.

It's been in storage at my mom and dad's house and she brought it to me so I could have it.  So it stayed in Mia's room and she knows how to "rock" in it...which is adorable by the way, but probably a story for another post. 

Anyway, the seat was pretty dirty from spilled sippy cups, food, whatever me and my brother's grubby little hands got into...

So, after covering up the chair with a cute blanket, I decided to do something about it. So, Mia and I went to Hobby Lobby, spent $5.99 on cotton batting, $4.69 on 24 inches of fabric and $4.69 on some paint. 

And here's the result!

I think this chair could totally be sold in Pottery Barn Kids for probably $100.  (Cause Pottery Barn Kids is cute but seriously overpriced).  I did it for under $20!

Mia likes it too.

More of the sick....and some shrimp!

Really? When does this sickness stop?  Is this life with a child forever as I know it? Will it get better?  Ugh...I feel so bad for my little girl and at this point, all three of us would benefit from about a week's worth of straight sleep.  Needless to say, it's hard to concentrate on work...with the sleep deprivation, crabby baby with a cold and all. 

Back to cooking.  I did have a chance to cook a little in the last few days.  This one is from Ellie's cookbook...again.  It was a good one.  Maybe the best one I've made from it so far.  This recipe is the exact reason why I love cooking like Ellie Krieger and Ina Garten.  Fresh ingredients, not alot of prep or cook time, put together in a simple way for a DELICIOUS meal.  Here's the thing...I'm not a fan of cooking "technique." I am not good at butchering meat (I really don't even know how to cut a whole chicken that well) and I don't enjoy long, complicated processes to cook something.  Although, I do enjoy a really nice slow roasted piece of BBQ... 

But again, here's the other thing...I also don't like to take short cuts with fancy kitchen gadgets.  I like to chop an onion with a butcher knife...not a fancy onion chopper thing.  I just want a set of really good knives (that I now have thanks to my awesome mother-in-law), a cutting board and raw, fresh food. 

So, maybe that sounds a little contrary, but that's how I like to cook.

Okay, onto the meal.  This is Garlic Basil Shrimp.  I followed this recipe almost to a "T"...I seasoned the shrimp a little more with some Old Bay and it didn't really call for that. I also added a little butter to the orzo before I added the shrimp...but other than that, followed the recipe perfectly.

Next time, I'm getting better quality shrimp...but that's hard to find in January in North Texas.  The tomatoes on the other hand, were beautiful! Not as good as the ones I am going to grow this summer, though. Stay tuned for that!

Meh...

So, here's the deal with our darling baby...I mean, toddler, Mimi.  She is an early to bed person.  We hit the kid jackpot and have a child who "usually" sleeps 12 hours a night and has for a very long time.  Although, this winter cold/stomach flu nasty sickness season and recent teething have put a cramp in that dream.  Anyway, since she usually is in bed by 7pm on average, she has dinner around 5:00pm each night.  So the three days that I travel the 30 minutes to Addison for work, I usually don't get home until around 6:00pm or a little earlier...leaving no time to cook a "family" meal. 

I think this is where my cooking funk began.  See, we got into the habit of feeding Mia (whatever we had in the fridge, leftovers, etc.) and then after she went to bed around 7 or 7:30pm, JC and I would sit down together and eat.  Sometimes I could cook, but usually the meal consisted of frozen pizza, lunch meat sandwiches or a Lean Cuisine. I'd worked all day, been up since 6am and usually didn't feel like cooking.  While those food choices are not bad on occasion, I'd say for a good 2 months straight my husband ate ham sandwiches and salt and vinegar chips for lunch AND dinner.  While I always handed him a vitamin at night to make up for his nutritional deficiencies in the day, it hardly makes up for a balanced and well cooked meal.  Besides, I wanted to start eating together at the table as a family every night.  I did that as a kid and think it's a very good habit to get into.

So, here was the plan.  On Mondays (I go into my office T-Th each week), I would create three meals to freeze, so JC could easily pop them into the oven at 5:00pm and we could all sit down together for a wonderful meal (with pizzaz if possible) when I walked in the door around 6pm. Last night was our first run at that...

I give you Gourmet Tuna Noodle Casserole.  (picture taken with a blackberry b/c I could find our SD card).

So, it's not very pretty and I couldn't eat more than a few bites of it when I got home (I blame some leftover stomach virus nauseau), but JC liked it. No, he loved it.  And Mimi had three helpings. 

I used white albacore tuna, added brocolli and peas, parmesan cheese and some other things.  It's actually a recipe from...you guessed it, Ellie Krieger's book So Easy.  It was okay, but...I think I can do better.  Good news is that Mia did not have leftovers from the night before and JC didn't eat a ham sandwich.  It's a start.

And we're back!

We're back folks!  The three of us have appetites, can hold down more than water and we're ready to cook.  Goodbye stomach virus plague 2011...you will not be missed.

Okay, on to today's cooking endeavors.

After I picked Mimi up from her Mother's Day Out program, we went to Tom Thumb. It's the fancy grocery store in my neck of the woods.  Well, I live in a fairly nice part of town so all of our grocery stores are pretty darn nice...but Tom Thumb is probably the prettiest and most overpriced. But, their produce is always spectacular, so...there I went. Also, it's closer to Mimi's daycare than Kroger.  And Whole Foods is only for special occasions.

I made these this afternoon. Kind of a whim, just to see what they'd taste like.  These are kicked up rice krispie treats.  Found the recipe on the back of our Cost-Co size bag of Craisins.  I know what you're thinking..."This girl's idol is Ina Garten and she's getting recipes off the back of the Craisin's bag?"  Like I said earlier, we gotta start somewhere.

I give you...Trail Mix Treasures. Cheasy name, I know...blame the Craisins bag.

They are delicious, let me tell you.  I don't even think JC could put into words how good they were. Just alot of "yeah, good, uh huh..."  Simple too.

1/4 cup of butter, melted in a large saucepan
1 bag of marshallows, add to melted butter and stir until completely melted
Add 5 cups of rice krispies and stir until evenly mixed
Add 3/4 cup of craisins and 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and stir until mixed
Spread evenly into an 8x12 greased pan and top with 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and a handful of slivered almonds.

Delicious!

Tonight's meal is vegetarian, mostly because I still really can't stomach the smell of any meat cooking just yet.

Parmesan Primavera...another recipe from So Easy by Ellie Krieger.  She's a great chef, most of her recipes are healthy, simple and lowfat.  And...YUMMY!  Well, so far...I've only made two, but I aspire to make many, many more.

Here's tonight's meal.  The only change I made to this one was substituting whole wheat pasta for regular linguine.  A little less healthy, but it tasted better!

Mimi liked it. She likes to slurp the noodles and was making the funniest noises when she picked up her tomatoes.  Like she was telling them a story...She'd babble really seriously at it, and then smile and laugh.  Babble seriously, then smile and laugh.  It was the best thing I've seen...well, ever.  How can you not love this face?

Stomach flu sure mucks up your cooking plans....

So, remember how I said that Mia contracted a stomach virus that put her in the hospital on Friday.  Well, my husband and I "caught" it last night.  Not fun. At all.

Needless to say, food does not sound fun right now.

Let's try this again.

Well I used to blog.  Alot.  I used to blog about being pregnant with my first baby and all of the fun things that were happening with her, me, my body and our little family. 

So, I gave birth and ran out of spare time.  For those who are pregnant or thinking about having a baby...let me just tell you.  The first year is spent completely devoted to just adjusting to life as a parent. It was for me anyway.  I spent the last year so utterly enamored with my little girl that I really didn't want to think about anything else.  And if you are a working parent (like I am)...you start to spend your time at home thinking about work and you spend your time at work thinking about your little one at home.  There is little time to even think about anything else.

I am a go-getter.  I have a hard time sitting still and am always doing "something." Nothing about that has changed since our family of 2 became a family of 3. The problem...is not having any time for anything other than washing clothes, vacuuming the floor and feeding the cat.  (You get the picture).

Our "baby's" first birthday has come and gone and she is now 13 months. I am slowly gaining more confidence as a mom and am still trying every day to balance home and work.  That'll always be a challenge, as I'm sure it is with every other working parent out there.

This blog will be my creative outlet. A place for my passions. What are my passions...hmm...let's see.  Let's start with food.

Since I was about 22 years old, my love for cooking has slowly grown.  You see...I love food.  I love shopping for food.  I love picking out food.  I love dreaming up with I'll make with the food.  I watch the Food Network for fun. My heaven is Whole Foods. I framed a picture of the best caprese salad I've ever eaten when I was in Venice, Italy. That picture hangs on my wall at home. I almost went to culinary school (until I saw the $80,000 price tag).  My idol is Ina Garten. To put it simply, I. Love. Food.

Don't get me wrong, I still cooked during my first year as a mommy, I made homemade baby food for my little Mimi for 6 months.  But I haven't cooked with...oh..."pizazz"...if you know what I mean.  Lots of vegetable, starch, meat meals with no character, flavor composition or well...pizazz.

I'm claiming back my pizazz.  So, I'll start here.  I have aspirations to grow my own vegetables.  I live in Texas where the soil isn't exactly vegetable growing friendly, but I'm giving it a shot.  I did grow my own basil, chives and cilantro last summer and it's a FABULOUS feeling, walking out your backdoor and cutting your herbs for dinner.  I'm gonna do as much as I can of that. 

I'm going to cook healthily and organically when I can.  We're not made of money and I don't necessarily think that every piece of food you eat has to be organic.  You just have to know the basics and have an understanding of the type of inorganic foods that are most harmful.  Minimal processed foods, no hormones, pesticides...you get the picture. 

And this blog will be where I share it. I've already started the "pizazz reclamation" process...it's slow going...but you gotta start somewhere.

Friday night's meal...taken from Ellie Krieger's cookbook So Easy. I altered the recipes a little bit.  Oh yeah...that's something else you'll learn about me.  I really don't like to measure and I change just about every recipe because, well, that's just me. Don't tell me what to do. :)

Friday's Menu...simple and easy. 


Garlic Lemon Turkey Breast
Rosemary Red Potatoes
Parmesan Brussel Sprouts

I'm also trying to photograph my food and know NOTHING about that.  We have a fancy Nikon.  I have a sister in law who is an unbelievable professional photographer and a husband who is pretty good also.  I'm not gonna pretend to be a photographer.  But this will be so much more fun if I can take pretty pictures of my food.

Soon after we had the above delicious meal, Mimi started throwing up so much that we ended up in the ER.  So, Saturday night's meal was a pepperoni pizza from Domino's because we were going on about 4 hours of sleep. But Sunday night...game on.

Sunday night's menu...my recipe.

Sweet Pork with golden raisins and onions
Acorn Squash

This is my recipe...something that I came up when I wanted to clean out the fridge/pantry.  It's now my husband's favorite meal and the only way I know how to cook pork without drying it out.  

Recipe:

Pork Tenderloins (4 thin tenderloins)
Brown Sugar - (1/4 cup)
Golden Raisins - (a handful...or more...depending on how much you like raisins)
Yellow Onion - (half an onion, cut in half and then sliced into 1/2 rings)
Salt and Pepper - (to taste)
Olive Oil - (4 tbsp divided)
Orange Juice - (1/4 cup)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Rub the tenderloins with 2 tbsp olive, salt and pepper in an 8x12 baking dish.  Set aside.  In a mixing bowl, combine the the rest of the ingredients.  Pour over the top of the pork evenly and cover the dish with tin foil.  Bake for 45 minutes covered or until pork is done, raisins and onions are soft and sauce is thickened.  Enjoy!

I also made acorn squash. I made it the way my mom always did...with butter and brown sugar.  Hated it as a kid, LOVE LOVE LOVE  it now.

So there you have it.  The beginning of growing, cooking and photographing my own food.  When it warms up around here and I can actually plant things...this will really get interesting.

Also, today, Mimi had her very first apple.

She liked it.

Mai's first attempt at cereal

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