A Dinner Delight (Yesterday)

Well my pictures posted backwards so we'll start with desert first. People say you should anyways. This is my concoction of chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, and some chocolate cereal with marshmallows. It is SO good. I don't eat it all the time, but when I do I scarf it down.

Who can go wrong with bread warmed in the oven? No one I say. I felt obligated to add some bread to the meal since the hubby usually makes fun of me for not doing it. I'm not from the south, I'm from the north, bread wasn't a staple on the table with meals. I tell him he knows where the bread is. This meal though, I delivered.

This is the pretzel bread crumbs I made to top my roasted garlic. We had one of those huge plastic things with pretzels that were way to salty for either of us. I didn't just want to throw them out, so I grab a few, pounded them a lot, threw them in a pot with a teaspoon of butter and a teaspoon of olive oil and browned them away. I have to say, I might be doing more pretzel bread crumbs, it was sooooo good.

Ahh, the roasted cauliflower that I ate the heck out of. I partially boiled it in some water (unsalted because I forgot), once it was about half way done, I drained it, threw it on a baking pan sprayed with corn oil spray with a sprinkling of salt. I threw the cauliflower on the pan, gave it a toss and roasted for about 10 minutes. It didn't have to cook long, just enough to get the water off and get a little brown. It was very good. I almost liked it more than the main meal.

Tada! The main course. Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole. I scaled it down to 6 servings, mixed swiss and mild while cheddar, didn't use the mushrooms, and used 3 chicken thighs that I boiled in a water, white wine, and red onion liquid. It still needed something, and what I think it needs is a garlic crouton bottom and some grated onion mixed in with the sour cream and and cream of chicken mix. It just seemed to lack a few things and I think those changes would help. I was worried that it wasn't all going to fit in the pan but there was plenty of room.

Tonight for dinner was frozen pizza, so no pictures, nothing special. I'll have to check what I want to make tomorrow for dinner, if anything. I might just go and get something since the hubby has to work tomorrow night. Lame.

Ciao!

Some Pictures & Updates

I finally took some pictures and decided to upload. No time like to now to start on the whole keeping up with the blog this year thing. I'll go through and explain the pictures. I guess I'll put the explanation under the pictures.

This is all the seeds I could find. I'm still missing one packet, not sure where they are but I do need them for this hanging thing I have.

This is a hanging tomato planter that I got last year that I completely forgot I bought. Why? Because I bought it when it was clearanced so it was well past the time to start the seeds that came with it. I remember taking the seed packets out to look at them but they didn't make it into my stock of seeds, so I'm hoping that they ended up on the floor in the closet. Otherwise, I'm going to just pick a new seed to start and try in there. The picture above is the whole setup.

This picture just shoes the container itself. The two holes are plugged right now so you can grow the seedlings without the dirt spilling out. These holes become the watering holes. You're suppose to plant three seedlings in this thing. Seems a bit much to me, but I'm willing to give it a try with three if I can find that darn seed packet. If not, I'm sticking to just one hole.

This is a bag o' mini onions that I picked up from Lowe's the other day when the hubby and I went to go check out some stuff. It was only $2.00 so it was hard to pass up. The growing instructions are as lame as you can get, but I guess I'll try it either way. They will however be a spring planting. I doubt they will last 'til fall.

These are the potatoes that the hubby wouldn't let me leave without. I didn't put up much of a fight admitingly (sp), as I do want to grow potatoes, I just don't have the means to do it just yet. The instructions are pretty lame too. I'll have to research how to plant these, they are themselves mini taters.

So all in all, it has begun. I've updated The seeds I own link on the right, the ones highlighted in purple are the ones I am willing to trade/give away. The number in the far right column is the number of seeds you will get. If you need more, just ask and we'll see what we can work out. The links on the right will be updated after this is posted with a few new sites. In my last post for some reason my in post links never posted. I'll have to go back and modify that.

On another note, my planning in general is in full swing. In the next post I'll share links to the products I'm planning on buying. Well most links. I don't want to over load with a bunch of hyperlinks, but I will try to include the names of everything. I'm still working out my plan with my new set up, and I'm still 16 squares short of product, so I'm thinking that the onions will definitely be a few squares. But here I go on telling everything so I don't have to do another post. What fun is that?

When life throws you lemons, throw rocks back and laugh.

Ohmagosh, I have pictures!

Upper left, cauliflower cheese soup. It was good but thicker than I wanted. I will be using this recipe again.

Upper right, bratwurst boiling away in water and beer. I do this so they can be cooked mostly through and then get their color on the grill without burning them.

Lower left, hubby's steak burger. It's about an inch and a half thick and truly tastes like a steak when it's cooked. It's really good.

Lower middle, the cooked brats and burger with the addition of turkey dogs at hubby's request.

Lower right, ore-ida french fries. There are just something that I wont skimp on and french fries are one of them, these just always turn out the best.

That's all you get! Ciao!

Well I almost did...

I thought long and hard about posting dinner, but just wasn't in the mood. Go figure. So I'll do a gardening update instead.

I've FINALLY been going through all my seed catalogs to see if there was anything I wanted to change, and the funny thing is, that most of the things I'm going to be ordering from, they don't even have catalogs. Of course this is only if we get a good haul back from tax time, and the hubby's preliminary doing seems to have us getting a very nice haul back. So I'm just going to continue on planning.

So this is what I've been planning. This is about half the size of what I was wanting to do last year, and this year as well. But I'm more concerned about doing it slow now. I'll get everything I want to grow eventually. All the tomato plants I'm going buy between two places.

This place has all their plants at the same price, the down side is that you have order 12 or more plants. I was so concerned about tomato plants that I didn't honestly even think about pepper plants, well duh, that's kind of what they sell. So, while I already have all the seeds I need for all the tomatoes and peppers, I'm just not in the mood to get those to grow from seed.

This other place is as close to local as I can get right now. I love that they have honest pictures of their actual harvest of the what the tomatoes look like. The downside (and there are a few) is that they don't always have the same plants in stock and their plants cost $6 each. This includes shipping but that's still almost $3 per plant. The other place charges $11 for 12 plants. You do the math. However, I'm willing to purchase 6 plants from them to see how well they are.

I'm going to concentrate on growing my beans from seed, I did it last year and had good results, and if they don't seem to be turning out, I'll just direct sow them and take a late hit on them growing. I'm planning on trying 4 types of corn this year too. I've never grown corn and the varieties I picked grow shorter, but they all have to be direct sown. I'm really going to try and keep records this year of everything and actually take pictures for a change.

I'm going to start seedlings on Feb 5th and start them a few different ways. I might still start some other plants as well, but I'm not concerned as I was last year. If something doesn't work out, I'll just go out and buy the plants that I need or start over and do a fall harvest on beans instead. The corn will be a slight disappointment, but we'll see if that happens.

I already own all the bean seeds, corn, and other. However, all the tomatoes and peppers I decided that I was going buy this year and test some growing mediums and get use to growing my main crop plants from seed. I want to be confident and not scared. So I'll bite the cost bullet this year, but after this year I want to start saving my own seeds and doing my own seedlings.

I believe that this is going to be a great year for gardening. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get an irrigation system going. I still need to post all the new supplies I get this year. Seriously, I plan on documenting everything. Maybe if I had a few followers, I'd be motivated.

Ciao!

Sunday Dinner

Leftover pizza from Papa John's. Tastes better when fresh.

So what's on the menu for tomorrow? I have soup and sammies on the menu, but I might do breakfast for dinner instead. I'm not sure, but hopefully, just hopefully, I'll blog about it.

A New Twist with the Blog

So, as part of a decision to save money and be accountable for what I'm (the household) eating, I'm going to blog about dinner meals. That's the meal that I really plan for and usually have it to go by for grocery shopping. So, here is the first, albeit lame, dinner choice.

Papa John's for dinner. Two large pizza's for $10, still cost $28 with a tip. How lame is that? I could have made my own pizza's for a fraction of the cost I'm sure, and then found a use for the leftover ingredients. Pasta salad anyone?

No need for any kind of picture, I'm sure most people have eaten Papa John's pizza. It's alright, nothing to write home about.