July Update

Wow It has been a while since I have been here.
So just an up date on what has been going on.
Wife was dx. as diabetic and high BP. So a massive change in our diet starting last Oct.
  Had to learn a new way of cooking and reading new sites and trying new recipes. The recipes we have found are from some great low carb sites we have found
We have been on a lower carb and no processed food diet and I must say we feel better and sleep better. Both of us used to snore real loud and now we don't or at least wife isn't poking me in the ribs to turn over all night.
  Good news is she has lost 44 lb. and I have lost about 22. She has been able to get off the BP meds and mine is a lot better.
  Computer went on the fritz and still not acting right. We have XP and it is not working like it did. Had to clean it off and start over and lost some of our stuff.
A new one will not run our older programs like wife's genealogy program and creative suite what a bummer.
   Wife had cataract surgery. She can see great now. I'm so jealous. (we had sticker shock on this the $ it cost was outrageous)
  Lost several cats. Mr. Gray, Moon, Jr. Tom Tom, but we have also gained Smudge, Ce Ce, Toes, and 8 kittens. Wife is working on catching them to take to the big fix. People who just drop off cats and think its ok not to have the males fixed drive us nuts. The males have been fighting and have their paws all swollen and tore up. We put peroxide on them is they let us. But the feral ones will not come close.
  We have tomatoes this year and they are doing good. Provence Acres thanks for the seeds we got from you a year or so ago. We over wintered some sucker plants from Toms sweet Cherry and one we call mystery tomato, it is a cherry with a potato leaf and a explosion in your mouth.  But we do not know the name it came up from your seeds.
Well got to go pick some blueberries.

Where has the time gone

It has been so long since I last posted the dang blog was giving me a hard time in logging in. I also do not like how it has changed and do you have a hard time seeing the crazy letters you have to type in ? I go threw about 5 before I get it right.

We have been having really hot weather like most of the country at least right now we are having some rain. We went for about 3 weeks with out any and wife has been watering the tomatoes twice every day. They have about finished putting out any new ones Here is a picture of them early in the season. the one circled is one of our mystery tomatoes. It grew all winter in our plant room and now it still has a few green one and it tasted really good. We think it is German Queen. That is Moon keeping an eye on us.
We have not been cooking much because it has been so hot only quick stuff and sandwiches a lot of tomato sandwich. They ripened all at once. We also made a spaghetti sauce using our tomatoes and it was great.

Chicken Fajitas from Homesick Texan

We found this recipe from Homesick Texan blog and it was pretty good. Wife prefers beef to chicken but this is some we needed to use and we had all the ingredients on hand. Plus it was a good excuse to make some more salsa Veda and guacamole. We froze some of our batch of salsa Veda for later dishes. Recipe is on the side bar.

http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2011/09/chicken-fajitas-recipe.html

visit this blog for some great dishes. we also used the Serrano chile's instead the chile's in de arbol sauce.

First tomatoe

This is our first summer harvest. The tomato grew in our plant room over winter and had flowers when we put it out. But for the life of us we do not know the tomato. We think it may  be German Queen.
See what happened last year was a dud for us in the tomato growing. Nothing produced. We had a German Queen, Big Boy and for the life of us we can not remember what the third was. We had taken suckers of each and planted them and this is the only one that lived. All I can say it has been growing like crazy and has about 20 tomatoes on it now and boy was it good. The potatoes are from a two potatoes we had forgot in the pantry and we just threw them out in the dump pile and next thing we knew there was a plant. When  the top died we went to move it and low and behold we had a few little potatoes. We are going to give it a try in a bucket.

Sunday Cat

Isn't this a beauty. The motel I stayed at while out of town for work a while back had a family staying at the same place that was having their home fixed after a tornado went threw the area. You could tell this baby was ready to get back to his home.

Ms Curtis's Cat

This is Mrs Curtis's cat that found her way to our house for a snack. She is a pretty cream or blond color. We have not seen her in a while now hope she is ok.

Baked Salmon with Basil Pesto and Tomatoes

We made this before really good home grown tomatoes are coming in and we know this would be soooo much better with a home grown tomatoes.
2 salmon fillets about 6 oz each
2 tsp. olive oil
4 tsp basil pesto (we bought some from Sams but later this year we are going to try the real thing.)
we used 1 Roma tomato.
Preheat oven to 450
Tear two pieces of foil big enough to wrap salmon with some overlapping.
Place 2 tsp. of oil on foil in center place salmon on top of oil.
Spread each piece of salmon with 2 tsp each then arrange tomatoes on top.
Wrap other piece of foil on top and seal edges.
Place packet on baking sheet and cook 15 minutes
Remove from oven and let sit 2-3 minutes. Open carefully and serve while salmon and tomatoes are hot.

Pasta and cheese

We did not have any of the pasta shells the dish called for but we used some pasta called radiatore. We also felt it was a little dry maybe less bread crumbs or because we used the wrong pasta?
1 lb small or med pasta shells
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter divided
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. fontina cheese shredded
salt
pinch of nutmeg
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 fresh grated parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400
cook pasta according to directions just till 1 2 minutes shy of al dente
dice 4 tablespoons of butter in a large mixing bowl. Warm cream in a small sauce pan or microwave. Cover and keep warm
When pasta is cooked add to bowl and toss to coat well, next stir in warm cream and cheese till it starts to melt.
Salt to taste and nutmeg
Pour into a butter 2 quart casserole dish. Melt remaining butter and mix in panco breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, toss with a fork and sprinkle evenly over pasta.
Bake until sauce is bubbling and top turns golden brown about 20 minutes.

What I have been up to

Hello everyone I cannot believe it has taken me so long to post anything but let me tell you why I have been away.


It all started when it was wash day and wife thought she heard water running. Trip out side found a lake growing in the back yard and under the house. Not good.

I was out of town the coming week so all running of water was cut to a minimal so it could dry out and I could get under the house next weekend. We did have a loose pipe and thought that was it but when we washed there it was again and we could not see where it was coming from. So that meant under ground. OH NO.

Another week went by with out using much water no cooking just sandwiches so we didn’t use much water again to dry out.

Had a plumber come out that Sat and he ran a snake down the hole and thank the Lord it was not a broke pipe but roots. Yea! I was getting tired of sandwiches.

Above is one of the other Toms that come by for a snack we call him Badger.

Chicken with Green Sauce

We had enough of the Salsa Verde left to make this dish and again it was lip smacking.
4 chicken breast filets\
1 cup flour
4 Tablespoons butter
2 and 2/3 cups salsa Verde
1 cup chicken broth
3 cloves of garlic minced fine
1 fresh jalapenos seeded and minced
3 Tablespoons cilantro minced fine
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup sour cream
3-5 green onions

We pounded the chicken to flatten it out some you do not have to do this.
Salt and pepper the chicken
dredge on both sides with the flour shaking the excess off
Melt butter in a large heavy bottomed pot
Add chicken and cook over med high heat turning once until both sides are well browned but not quite cooked about 6 to7 minutes per side. Remove and keep warm.
Pour chicken broth into the pot and scrape up the bits from the bottom of the pan
Add green salsa garlic,jalapeno,cilantro to the pot bring to a boil
Just as the sauce begins to boil, reduce the heat to a slow simmer, add the chicken back to the sauce and spoon over each piece of chicken.
Cook until chicken is cooked through and tender about 15 minutes
Add more salt and pepper if needed
Plate chicken and spoon over sauce top each with a teaspoon of sour cream and sprinkle some chopped green onions.

Carnitas

Wow we just love this dish. As of this past Sunday this is the 3rd time to make this. It is really tasty.Now it is a weekend dish but you can still be doing other things around the house.
3 lbs boneless pork shoulder or pork butt cut into 2 inch cubes. We used country style ribs and we did find some cubed pork pieces at Sam's last week that worked out great another time.
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lime juice
4 cloves garlic crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Corn or flour tortills
avacado slices,cilantro,
sauted onions and bell pepper
what ever garnish you like.
 Place pork in large dutch oven or heavy pot. Add orange juice, lime juice,garlic, cumin,
 salt and enough water to baarley cover the meat.
Bring to a rip roaring boil then reduce to a bubly simmer and cook for two hours uncovered. Do not touch meat.
After 2 hours increase heat to med high and occasionaly stir turning the pieces, cook for about 45 minutes until all liquid is gone. You should have a little pork fat sizzling to brown the meat in. Turn till all sides are brown. When browned on all sides yhey are ready.
Serve with warm torillas and fixings.
Yum Yum

Sunday Cat Baby Girl

Well we had hoped to find Baby Girl but it looks like she will be staying with us. We would still like to find her a home so if any one is interested let me know. She is a sweet cat and small about 8 lbs. She is stronger and is getting around much better. She still falls over and sounds like thumper in her room. She can not jump up so we have used boxes so she can use to get up on the bed. She loves to be petted and we have not heard her make any sounds other a slight purr.

Guacamole

Another side dish we made and must say it was as good as the restaurant. And it was really easy.
2 ripe avocado's peeled and pitted
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 medium tomato halved
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
Place all ingredients in bowl and use a potato masher and squish.
Blend till mixed
do not over mix leave a little chunky.
Serve with chips.

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

We have seen these green looking tomato like things but had never used them in anything we have cooked.
We had this dish at a Mexican Restaurant called Canitas and this was served with it. Well we were in love with this dish and the green sauce. So wife searched on net for some recipes and I have to say we have made this 3 times now that's how much we liked this. (the computer was acting up so this is from our first time around.)
1 1/2 lb tomatillos about 10 to 12
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 jalapeno pepper or 2 Serrano stemmed, seeded and chopped (we used jalapeno)
salt to taste
Remove paper husk from tomatillos and rinse well
cut in half and place cut side down and place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.
Place tomatillos, lime juice ,onions,cilantro,chili peppers,sugar in a food processor or blender. Pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in fridge.
Serve with chips or as a salsa accompaniment to Mexican dishes. Makes 3 cups.

Spanish Rice

This is a side dish we had for Mexican Night. It was easy but to tell the truth we have found the rice mix is just as good.
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 1/8 cups chicken stock
1 cup rice
3/4 teaspoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
5/8 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
3/4 teaspoon cumin
In medium saucepan combine all ingredients (kinda of squeeze the tomatoes to break up.)
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low
Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or till rice is done
Garnish with green onions.