Eggo’s and Sausage

Eggo's and Sausage

Today we had a late lunch with some friends. We went to a really good Mexican restaurant in Meeker and I wish I had taken a picture of Steve’s lunch. He had a seafood stew with just about every kind of seafood in it… crab, shrimp, octopus, fish, etc. Next time I’ll bring my camera. But that was lunch, for a late dinner Steve had Eggo’s smothered in peanut butter, butter and real maple syrup and sausage. Two very different meals in one day.

Read Full Post »

Seared Scallops and Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

Well today I finally finished organizing the basement. There is still stuff I want to get ride of but my goal now was to get it presentable for Seth and Berkley’s visit over the 4th of July. Mission accomplished! Next project is the office, the TV room and guest house. That will all be done by Seth’s wedding in August. Oh my aching back!

This morning Steve had his first per-opt visit with the doctor and his recovery is good and on schedule. His next visit is in three weeks.

I planned a nice dinner tonight of seared scallops and brussels sprouts with bacon and rice pilaf. It was a little delayed because of Wintergrasp. What is that? A World of Warcraft  battleground. We still love playing that game….

Brussel Sprouts

Seared Scallops

Read Full Post »

P.F. Chang’s

No, unfortunately we did not go to Denver and go out to dinner at P.F. Chang’s. I fixed one of their frozen dinners, Beef and Broccoli. Frozen “TV dinners” have really improved since I was a kid. For those of you in my generation do you remember when we actually had TV trays and sat in front of the TV and watched Ed Sullivan on a Sunday night eating a TV dinner?  … cooked in the oven. Donna Reed, Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver… the all American Family, where did they go?

P.F. Chang's Bef with Broccli

P.F. Chang’s frozen dinner is not as good as actually enjoying eating it in the restaurant itself but it was good.

Read Full Post »

No Birthday Dinner

Ramen Noodles

Steve has a sick stomach tonight so my birthday dinner turned into Ramen Noodles for Steve and Eggo’s for me. Certainly made it easy…

Read Full Post »

Tacos

I have a list a mile long of things to do before Seth and Berkley’s wedding at the end August. I whine but it’s good for me to keep active and moving. I continue to purge every room in the house of useless stuff that has sat dormant for decades…. It feels great. But as we all know the minute I get rid of something I will inevitably want it. Steve is still recuperating from his knee surgery. He is so restless, complete opposite of me.

Can’t get away from his favorite meal, Tacos….. I just got sucked into a TV commercial for York Peppermint Patties, man would I like one of those right now.

Tacos

Read Full Post »

Kielbasa with Black Beans and Rice

In the summer I live in a very small town that has no traffic light,  six restaurants, one drug store, one grocery store and three gas stations. Of course there are other miscellaneous businesses but most of the time you have to drive at least a couple of hours if you want any major shopping. The lack of a good grocery store is the most frustrating. They have the basics most of the time but not always. If you want any specialty foods you can forget that. Health food options are a joke. We’ve learned to live with it but when I go to Florida for the winter it’s such a treat to have good shopping. Of course Lake Placid’s shopping does not even come close to the shopping in LA and Atlanta where my kids live.

Tonight we had beef Kielbasa with black beans and rice, sautéed yellow, red and orange bell peppers and onions. Topped with pepper sauce and cilantro. This is one of our favorite meals.

Kielbasa with Black Beans and Rice

Read Full Post »

Beef Stew (Goulash)

Crock Pots are the best invention. Throw just about any ingredient in them, walk away and at the end of the day you have a meal. And if you’re home all day you get to enjoy the aroma of your upcoming dinner. I found a Knorr Beef Stew packet in the cupboard and  decided to make a beef stew. I salt and peppered a round roast and browned it in some oil on the stove top. Placed it in the crock pot and added the Knorr Beef Stew mix. I spiced it up a bit and added a can of green chili peppers. It made a great gravy. Sautéed some yellow squash, zucchini and onions, made some rice and home-made biscuits. It was a great meal.

Goulash

Read Full Post »

Mini Pepperoni Pizza

Let’s see now, what should I post today? When I had a young family we lived a very back to the earth life style. We lived on the Lazy Shamrock Ranch outside Kremmling, Colorado. Emily was actually born at home there. Jessica was sitting at the top of the bed watching as her little sister came into this world. Seth was too young to watch so Clara (Steve’s mom) kept him busy. He was so excited when he finally got to see her. Back then we fed our family by Steve’s hunting and fishing. We had a garden, raised chickens for eggs and meat, raised a pig and had a milk cow. Milk cows are a lot of work. Steve had to milk it twice a day 365 days a year. I remember one Christmas Steve having to beg someone to milk the cow on Christmas day so we could spend Christmas with my parents in Colorado Springs. We made our own butter and had the most amazing thick fresh cream everyday. Let me tell you, Cream of Wheat made with thick fresh cream and honey is to die for. We also raised a cow for beef, the meat lasted all year. We had no TV. The kids were very young but their days were spent playing outside, doing art projects and entertaining themselves in imagination. It was hard work but the best experience of our lives.

So what triggered this walk down memory lane? The “frozen” mini pizza I served Steve for dinner. Fennel…. you ask fennel?  Back in the day I made everything from scratch, and I mean everything. It was a luxury (or curse) when we were able to buy already prepared foods or go out to a restaurant. So my days were spent taking care of little munchkins and making big quantities of food to freeze/can/dry… etc. One of the things I made was pizza sauce. It was the first time I discovered fennel. You either like that flavor or not but we really liked it and added it to the sauce. It was the best pizza we ever had. I also made whole wheat pizza dough from scratch too…  So tonight (30 years later) Steve got a frozen mini pepperoni pizza and a salad. It really looked pretty pathetic compared to the great home-made pizzas I used to make. He still liked it though. Oh well what can I say, life moves on in different ways but at least we still have the memories.

Frozen Mini Pizza

Read Full Post »

Lemon Pepper Tarragon Talapia

I feel like the more I try to organize my house the worse it gets…. One of us wants to keep everything and one of use wants to get rid of everything… I’ll let you try to guess who is who.

There are so many great recipes out there but if they have more than about 5 ingredients you can forget about me making it. The simpler the better and I think healthier. I am not into being in the kitchen more than about an hour… Tonight I made lemon pepper tarragon tilapia, rice pilaf with green peas and roasted cauliflower for sides.

Lemon Pepper Tarragon Tilapia

Read Full Post »

Steak Salad

Steve’s knee surgery went really well but the doctor did say this was the last temporary fix and next time it will be a complete knee replacement. Hope that isn’t anytime soon. He’s now resting in bed being waited on hand and foot by yours truly….lol.

Made a steak salad for dinner along with some cottage cheese and pears. Nothing special but it was good.

Read Full Post »