Sweet Hello's to you - My name is Mel and this is my cooking blog. This isn't really a how-to cook blog but more of a how-not-to cook blog. Confession: I am a terrible cook. I have been married for three years to my sweet husband and I am certain he would be 10 pounds heavier if I was a decent cook. So I am gettin' my domestic on in the kitchen and look forward to sharing my lessons learned and many triumphs!
I love Iced Tea in the summer. And I love it with some sugar and fresh squeezed lemons. Since the weather in IL has been rainy for the last month I haven't been able to make sun tea. So instead I heat up water for tea in my cheery red tea kettle. I like having the tea bags in the kettle while it boils so I get every last drop o' tea out of the tea bag. Frugal yes....smart....well I thought so, until this happened.
While cooking a lovely dinner I asked Sweet Husband, "Do you smell that? Does it smell like something is burning?" Sweet Husband sniffed the air and agreed something was burning. I checked the oven. Negative. I checked the pasta I was boiling. Negative. Then I looked at the tea kettle....the papers on the tea bag were on fire. Sweet Husband came to the rescue and put out the fire for me. Lesson Learned: keep a shorter string on the tea bags.
As Sweet Husband and I were perusing the aisles at Pet's Smart we realized that dog beds are incredibly overpriced. As I looked at the pillows my domestic side kicked into full gear and out flowed from my mouth, "You know honey, I bet I can make Jake a pillow just like that." And so, that is what I did. I made our silly boy Jake a huge dog pillow!!! In the store the large pillows were priced starting at $80.00 - which is a bit ridiculous. I was able to make this pillow for $39.00. My fabric ranged from $5 a yard for the Navy and White and $9 a yard for the Navy Canvas. I got 2 yards of each, heavy duty needles, thread for denim (it is really strong) and I also bought 3 bags of stuffing. This bed is for a dog that is about 70 lbs and 3 feet long.
Material - Navy and White stripes and the bottom is Navy canvas
Sweet Husband and I now have a dog!!!!!!! Big smiles and squeals!!!!!!! Our dog's name is Jake and he is the sweetest sweetie ever! Sweet Husband and I put the dog crate together the other night. Here is our teamwork =)
Sweet Husband is super sexy when he is hard at work =)
Last week I made Tortilla Soup. Sweet Husband said it best "Honey, this is amazing." =) I recommend you make this recipe for the sweet man in your life....
I was inspired by Kara to make yummy BLT's for dinner tonight - with Duke's Mayonnaise - thank you Kara for bringing this to my attention! Let me just say that Duke's Mayonnaise really tastes different than any other mayo I have had - so you should get some.
We started off cooking turkey bacon. I was looking for our tongs and realized we didn't have them anymore - who knows where they ended up. A friend of mine as some tiny bamboo tongs that she uses when she cooks bacon, so I looked around my kitchen for something similar - and this is what I found:
A wood close pin =) It worked perfectly!
I cut up some tomatoes, fruit, and pulled out Duke's Mayonnaise.......
I spent the afternoon with Laura sipping on tea while I learned how to make a yummy Mediterranean meal for Sweet Husband and I. Laura talked about ways we can make dinner beautiful - not just putting a good meal on the table but how you can make it look really beautiful with garnishes and pretty dishes - and fresh flowers! My mom and dad always made yummy meals and made them look beautiful too. Dinner was always a wonderful time for my family to get together and just talk and enjoy one another and some yummy food.
When I got home that night I put some fresh cut strawberries and apples on a pretty plate so Sweet Husband would have a healthy snack when he got home from a 14 hour work day. I don't really do appetizers because I am trying to finish the main course up. But I like to have something for Sweet Husband to eat as dinner finishes up. So Laura suggested fresh fruit and veggies as an appetizer. She said you might have fruit and veggies in the fridge but it takes time to cut them up - if you already have them sliced and laid out nice on a plate you can just dig right in until diner is ready =)
This was our dinner table - Water with clementine slices and a garnish for the glasses (Sweet Husband's glass is missing because he was drinking out of it!) Lilacs on the table and then in the middle I had the fruit. I also put the flowers that Laura gave me from her garden on our ottoman in the living room - I just love fresh flowers!
On the Menu:
Lemon Rosemary Chicken
Chicken Breasts, Salt/Pepper, Olive Oil,
Lemon Pepper, Lemon Juice, Fresh Rosemary
Bake for about 40 min on 400 degrees
Tabbouleh
See Recipe Below
This is DELISH you will want to make this!!
2 ¾ c. water
1 1/2 C. bulgar (cracked wheat) or couscous (we used couscous)
½tsp. salt
Bring water to boil and put in the grain. Turn off heat, cover and let sit on burner for 10 min until liquid is absorbed. Cool and place in large bowl.
Add to grain in large bowl:
1 medium cucumber, diced
3 medium green onions, coarsely chopped
1 - 2 (15 oz) cans of kidney beans, rinsed, drained (You can make this without beans if you choose)
I came up with a snazzy little recipe for Baked Ginger Lemon Chicken:
Chicken Breast
2 Inches Ginger
Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
Olive Oil
Bake at 400
I let the chicken marinate all day and then baked it. The chicken wasn't dry, but it was as bland as a room without some hot pink. Dinner ended up in the trash - there was no reviving it. Sweet Husband was, well, very sweet. He hugged me as I was near tears and said, "Babe, it's OK, you worked really hard and I am really thankful for your hard work."
Sweet Husband always makes me feel good even when dinner is an epic failure - he has had a lot of practice encouraging me through many less than delish meals! =) So instead for dinner we had PB and J with veggies.
