Puppy Luv...

It has been a nutsy 5 days here.  We have a PUPPY!  Wow!  Yes, a new puppy.

Our beloved German Shepherd doggie Jake died at the end of January unexpectedly, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.  My husband was heartbroken (he raised Jake from a puppy), and the children were left without their buddy playmate.

The last 2 months have been a healing process for us, and months in which the children have been longing for another pet to play with and love.

Fast track to this last weekend...we went to our local pet store to see what kind of pets they had at the weekly pet adoption.  There was a little black Labrador mix female with the saddest eyes just laying there quietly in one of the pens.  The kiddies saw her, and fell in love.

5-month old Dixie is loving her new forever home.  Her fav place to lay is on the couch, her fav snack is an ice cube, so she can chew it, and bat it around the living room. 

My new duties?  Getting used to puppyland (WOW!  She is ENERGETIC!), primarily.  Thankfully, she is mostly housebroken.

Which means, posting every few days has become a new way of life for me, instead of every day.

Never fear, virtual readers!  I shall return later this week with more exciting things...maybe a recipe.  Maybe a household tip.  Maybe a new Dixie story!  I'll try to post some pics later of our new puppy. For some reason, pics don't want to upload from this machine. 

Later gators!

Crispy Porkchops...From 2 Days Ago!

Yeah....so I'm a bit behind.  What can I say?  March has roared in like a lion, and it's taken me with it.  No time...no time!!!  Sorry. :)  But hey, you can make these awesome pork chops for dinner tonight or tomorrow!  We had them the other night, and they were simply scrumptious.  Fork-tender, juicy, and crunchy on the outside.

Ingredients needed:

For marinade
2 cups plain yogurt
2 eggs
4 pork chops (bone-in, thick cut, thin cut, boneless - whatever you want - I used thick cut this time)

For breading:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup wheat bran
Herbs and spices of choice (I used paprika, sage, black pepper, turmeric, garlic powder and dried chopped onion)

First things first...a few hours ahead of cooking time (you'll need at least 3 hours),

Whisk your 2 eggs in a large bowl.  Add in plain yogurt, and whisk until blended.  Pop your pork chops in, make sure they are covered at least 75%.  Cover bowl, and shove in your fridge.  Flip the pork chops after about an hour and a half to make sure they are evenly covered.

PLEASE - be aware of raw meat and cross contamination!  Clean your work station.  Keep your raw meat utensils on a paper towel separate from the rest of your tools!  WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!!!!

Let me just say at this point that I would love to add pictures so you can see what I'm doing, but I keep getting an error when I try to upload them.  So...SORRY!!!!!!

Now...grab your largest liquid cup measurement tool (a 4-cup one is best).   Next, you'll need a gallon storage re-sealable plastic bag.  Place the bag inside the measuring cup, and tuck the bag edges over the rim of the cup (here's where the pics would come in HANDY *sigh*)

Add your dry breading ingredients to the bag, and mix them with your hand.  Then, add your marinated pork chops, seal the bag and shake, shake, shake!  You are essentially doing a shake 'n bake, but all with your own ingredients!!!

Heat up your pan, and add a tbs of extra virgin olive oil.  After about 30 seconds, grab a fork, and fork your pork chops out of the bag, and into the pan.  (You won't get your hands dirty!!!)

Cook the pork chops on medium heat for the next 5-7 minutes, and then flip them.  If you need to add in more oil, go for it.  Cook another 5-7 minutes, or until they are no longer pink in the center.  (Use your meat thermometer, if you need to).

They should be beautifully crispy, crunchy and golden brown.  Remove from skillet, let them rest for a minute, and then slice for serving.  Serve with rice, or veggies, pierogies, whatever you choose!  These are fork-tender, and mouthwateringly juicy.

Have the kiddies set the table, thank the Lord for your food, and ENJOY!!!!!! (sorry again about no pics - rotten Firefox).

Reduce Paper Clutter...Say What?!

We are gearing up for spring cleaning in our home...at least, our son is.  He wants to spring clean in the WORST way.  Good for him!  I'm proud of him for taking initiative and wanting to clean up.  Our daughter...she wants to dust the furniture.  And that is good, too!  I'm proud of her as well (she's only 4; I take what I can get...).

Before we can do anything spring cleaning-related, we have to clean up the piles of papers in the kitchen.  Lots of instruction manuals, guides and warranties sitting around from Christmas, and some broken appliances that needed replacing.  You know how it is.

I started doing this years ago...I found it on the Internet at least a decade ago, and I've been doing this ever since.  Now it's my turn to share with you!

Get yourself a 3-ring binder (or more than one; in fact, I need another one), those handy-dandy plastic paper inserts, and all your papers that are laying around gathering dust.

Plastic inserts...ooooooohhhh

Sort out your papers, should you desire, into sections - toys, appliances, misc, whatever floats your boat.

File your shtuff!

Put each paper into a plastic insert; or, if the paper has only one side, reduce even more by utilizing front and backs in each insert!

Pop those filled inserts into your binder, and voila!  You have a neat, tidy binder to refer to whenever you need those oh-so-important papers.  They won't get lost!  Any time you have a new paper, shove it in your inserts in your binder!  You'd be amazed at how much space it cleans up!

Look how nice that looks!

Go crazy with it. You know, you can do this with any kind of paper...bills, recipes, how-to things from the internet, kiddie papers, anything!  I have at least 3 recipe binders in my cabinet.  I use it all the time, especially at the holidays!  It is so handy, and keeps the recipes from getting dirty while I'm cooking and baking!

Easy peasy!

Happy paper sorting!!!!  And, hey, you know, if you have stuff you don't need anymore, you know where you can easily find the instructions!  That way, you can include the whole thing when you sell or donate your items!

Crazy, Crazy!

So yesterday was one of those days where it was go, go, go!  Delayed openings for the kiddies, grocery shopping, cleaning, errands...I was so glad when it was bedtime, but that meant I had no time for you...my virtual blogger friends!

Today is just a short, simple helpful hint kind of day.  Want to save cash, soften your laundry (towels, particular), and help eliminate harmful chemicals from the water supply?

Start using plain vinegar as your liquid fabric softener!  I use it in my laundry all the time.  Here's a bit of background...liquid fabric softener has several chemical ingredients in it, including a long complicated ingredient, more commonly known as quat.  Quat can be comprised of either animal fats (yuck) or veggie based fats.  It provides that silky smooth feeling on your clothes, and helps to reduce static.

Here's what you may NOT know.  Over time, that quat keeps building up on your fabrics, especially your towels, so that instead of being soft and fluffy, they become ewwy and crunkly.  Plus, that whole animal fat thing is a major turn off for me.  Who wants animal fat on their laundry?  I sure don't.  In all fairness, many companies have switched to a veggie-based quat ingredient, but still.  Yuck.

By using vinegar, it does a few things for your laundry.  1)  It prevents soap build-up in your loads of clothes / towels, 2) it deodorizes, 3) it NATURALLY softens your laundry.

Here's how to use it...if you have a front loader washing machine like me, add your vinegar to your liquid softener compartment in your dispenser.  (If you use 1/2 cap of LFS, then use 1/2 cap of vinegar.  = to =).  If you have a top loader traditional washer, add it into your barrel with your detergent.

For added softening and deodorizing, add a cup of ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda to your barrel for either traditional or front loading machines.

Run your laundry as usual.  You'll find that your towels will be softer and fluffier, and the more you use the vinegar, the happier your laundry will be. 

Think about it.  A 64oz bottle of Downy costs, what, $5 now?  A gallon of plain distilled store brand vinegar (or even Heinz vinegar) is no more than $2.99 at my ShopRite.  Plus, you are no longer pouring chemical ingredients into our water supply.

Vinegar has a ton of uses - it's a great, natural way to clean stainless steel appliances, as well.  Doesn't streak or scratch them.

Try it, and you'll see!!!  Happy Saturday!

Choco-Butterscotch Cookies...YUM!

Sooo......if you are like me, and live in central NJ, you are currently buried under at least 10 inches of snow.  Ugh.  Is it spring yet?

I would like to share 3 things today:

1) Shoveling should be a man's job.  Hands down.  Hate it.  Especially heavy snow.

2) I don't have to work out for the next month thanks to shoveling out our driveway and sidewalk (see item 1)

3) The kiddies and I made chocolate chip-butterscotch cookies this afternoon.

I like option 3.  I hope you do, too.

You'll need:

2 sticks of butter (salted or unsalted - your preference.  I used salted)
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (dark brown sugar will give you a crunchy outside, and a chewy inside)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 sticks of butter

2 eggs
Dash of milk
1/2 tsp ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda
2 1/2 cups flour
your choice of chumks (do you want nuts, chocolate, toffee?  White chocolate?  You choose!)

Preheat your oven to 350 for a regular oven, and 325 for convection.

Almost looks like peanut butter, it's so creamy!

Cream your butter and sugar in your mixer on medium.  No butter chunks, please.  Nice and creamy is what you are looking for.

Blendy, blend, blend!

Add your vanilla and your eggs, blend, then add your baking soda and your splash of milk (between 1 tsp -1 tbs)

Add your flour, and blend until just incorporated.

Go ahead, you know you want some raw cookie dough!

Dump in your flavors.  (go ahead, sample a few to make sure they taste good!).  Blend.

Just chillin'

Chill your dough for at least an hour.  Your butter will start to break down as it warms up, and you want your cookies to be nice with a great crunch on the outside and that ooey chewy on the inside).

My good helpers' results

Drop in spoonfuls (or, if you are my children, smash them down on the cookie trays as hard as you can until they are nearly obliterated or flat pancakes) on your cookie trays.

Ready to bake!

Pop in your toasty oven, and let them bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges look a bit brown and solid.  The tops may look a bit undercooked, but taking them out of the oven before they look brown will save them from burning.  They will still cook as they sit on your stovetop!

Mmm...mmm....gooooood!

Give them a few seconds, then use your offset to release them from the tray, and place them on your cooling rack. 

See?  Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside!

Grab a glass of milk, pop a few on a plate, and you've got yourself a sure-fire way to enjoy a snowy afternoon treat with your family!!!

Here's hoping you enjoy this awesome recipe, that you are not completely snowed in, and that spring comes really, really, really, really soon. (I would like my daffys, tulips and hyacinths to actually grow this year - last year it snowed so much, they were buried past their season, and I never saw them. :(  )  Did I mention I'm sick of snow?  God bless!

Saucy Splattering...I Mean Ravioli

So tonight's menu is ravioli with homemade sauce.  Simple ravioli.  In the interest of time and our two rambunctious children in the far corner of the living room, this will be brief. :-)

You will need the following:

1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion (white or yellow - I used Spanish tonight)
2-3 cloves chopped garlic
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 cup red wine
1 tsp ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda
herbs of choice
1 small can of tomato sauce (we use no salt Hunts) - just in case
Half a lemon
2 pots - fill one with water for boiling and cooking your ravioli

Ravioli of choice - we use Jolie Ravioli - found in the organic section of your local grocery store (it has fun shapes for kids, and the flavor beats the other ravioli brands.

Saute onions and garlic

Diced tomatoes

In the bottom of your first pot, pour in your olive oil.  Turn on your burner to med-low heat, and add your chopped onion and garlic.  Saute them down until the onions are relatively translucent.  Add your tomatoes.  Give it a stir! 

Down the hatch (add your wine)!

Baking soda fizzies

Turn your heat up to medium.  Pour in your wine (and of course, pour another glass for yourself).  Give it a stir, and let it start to cook down.  After about 5 minutes, add your baking soda.  Your sauce will fizz up.  (Now, this may be an old wives' tale, but supposedly adding the baking soda will reduce the acid in your tomato sauce.  Since my husband's tummy doesn't always react well to tomato sauce, and neither does mine, I add it in - hey, you never know, right?  Some people swear by it.  Trust me, I know).

Stir your sauce.  Your tomatoes should be breaking down nicely, and a beautiful saucey aroma should be starting to fill your kitchen.  If it is too thin, add that little can of tomato sauce.  You can also add a tomato paste can, if you like a thicker sauce.

Stir, stir, stir!

Add your herbs and spices

Add your herbs and spices.  I've added a sprinkling of black pepper, a dash of paprika, about 1/2 tsp of turmeric, a shake of sage and about 1/2 tsp of dried basil.  In the summer, I use fresh herbs from our planter garden.  It's all about layering, folks.  Layer your flavors!

Start your water up for your ravioli at this time.  Get it nice and bubbly boiling, and add your ravioli.  It won't take long to cook, so pay attention!  When your ravioli starts to float to the top, it's done cooking.  Drain it, and put it back in the pot.  Pour in your delish sauce, and squeeze in your lemon.

Drain your ravioli!

(Helpful hint - if you roll your lemon on your counter before you cut it, it will help to release the juice.  Roll it like you would a rolling pin, you'll feel it soften up.)

Roll your lemon, cut in half, and squeeze!

Give everything a gentle stir, grab your grated parmesan (or block of parmesan, which we prefer), and plate your food.

Set your table, grab your kiddies, thank the Lord for the food, and enjoy!  Stay warm...tomorrow is another snow day in NJ.  Ugh.

Snack Attack!!!

Hi, there! It's another grey day here, and there is more snow in the forecast. (*sigh*)  However, it is warm and cozy inside our home today, and our daughter wants a snack.  Not just any snack, mind you.  A WARM snack.  A snowy snack.  A snowy snack, you say?   Oh yes, indeedly do.  A snowy snack. (Say that 10x fast).


"Well," I ask our daughter, "what snowy snack do you want?" "Popcorn!" says our blondy-blue-eyed beauty.

Now THAT is a snack I can get behind!  We love popcorn here.  I grew up loving popcorn.  My dad was a popcorn pro, and would get out the popcorn maker during the winter (you know, that big clunky thing from the '80s, but it made great popcorn).  He'd make mounds of it, then melt down a ton of butter, pour it on and salt it up.  Yum.  I still love my dad's popcorn, but without all the butter (I can't eat buttered popcorn anymore - it's too slimy, to say nothing of my cholesterol levels).

Then...I met my husband.  He has taken popcorn making to the ultimate level.  The man is a popcorn genius.  He makes popcorn in a pot.  His popcorn is light, fluffy and just lightly, LIGHTLY salted to perfection.  Even my mom, who doesn't like to eat popcorn, loves my hubby's popcorn.

Now you know my popcorn-loving background, and you want to know how to make it yourself.  I know you do!

So, here I am at home, with my daughter who wants popcorn.  Luckily, Mr. Popcorn King has taught me the rudiments of making his popcorn.

Peanut oil.  Gotta have peanut oil.  High burn level, no added flavor, best to make popcorn with.
Kernel popcorn.  Do not use store brands unless you must.  Jiffy Pop is best, preferably yellow kernels.  (White kernels don't always pop as well, and there are more kernels left in the pot then when you make yellow).
A nice big pot with a matching lid.

We like Planters Peanut Oil

A container to put the popcorn in!
Salt - optional
Butter - optional
Any other flavoring you want - optional

Fire up that burner on your stove (if you have electric, let it warm up to hot!!!).  We have gas, so I apologize for not being familiar with electric; let's just say the hotter the better!

Yes, I like Strawberry Shortcake.

Put your pot on the stove, and pour about a tablespoon of peanut oil into your pan.  Wait about 30 secs to 1 minute, then drop 1 or 2 kernels into the bottom of the pot.  If they start to sizzle, your oil is ready to go.  Depending on the size of your pot (ours is a 6-quart), pour 1/4-1/2 cup of kernels into the bottom, pop the lid on, and shake it up (hold the handle and jiggle, so the kernels are coated with the peanut oil).

Ooooohhhhh

Give another shake or two over the course of the next minute or so.  You should hear the kernels starting to pop, and then it will go poppin' crazy.  KEEP THAT LID ON!!!!  Nothing worse than trying to peer into your pot, and getting a boiling hot popcorn kernel shot into your face (no, that has not happened to me, but people don't always think when they are cooking.  Safety FIRST!)

Big container!

When the popping starts to calm down, turn your flame or your burner off.  Remove the lid, after making sure you have the burner off, and no more popping sounds are coming out.

Pour into your container, and add your toppings.  We add about 1/2tsp of salt to ours, and mix it into our popcorn.  (We like classic popcorn).  Take yours to the next level!  Add paprika, grated cheese, cinnamon, sugar, butter, whatever you want.  Make it your own.  Make it GOOD.

Popped perfection.

Me?  I'm off to go have a snack attack with my little Nordic princess who is happily watching Lady and the Tramp (brilliant idea of my husband's today - a nice, quiet movie for our little chugabot girlie - thank you, my love!!!!).

Enjoy your popcorn and movie!!! (Make it a Disney one, hint! Hint!!!)

Until tomorrow, God bless and stay warm!

Psssst! Wanna Know a Secret?

Of course you do!  Who doesn't?!  I love secrets!

Baby wipes containers...who knew?!

Well, here's mine.  It has to do with recycling and reusing! (2 of my fav things to do - just ask my husband.)  You know all those baby wipes containers that no one ever knows what to do with when the container is empty and / or baby no longer needs them?  We use them!  Everywhere!  For everything!

Small toys!

Totally.  I mean seriously.  We love them here.  These are the greatest inventions since sliced bread.  Ok, I may be exaggerating a bit, but we do love them.  They keep toys in place.  They hold millions of crayons and markers.  They capture all those little crafting pieces that escape confinement constantly.  Just poke those pesky little buttons or sequins through the wipe release, and TA-DAH!  DONE! 

Crayon corral!

Yes, they still hold wipes (and we use wipes to keep little hands and faces clean!).  They are great for traveling, and hold snacks or toys for the back seat.  They are great for packing things away like Christmas decorations!   Piggy banks!  They make AWESOME piggy banks for little fingers.  Easy peasy, right?

Christmas decorations!

They organize.  They stack!  They row up.  They form patterns!  They come in tons of patterns.  DISNEY PATTERNS!  Oh yes.  Disney patterns.

Octonauts!

Let's see...I have been collecting these since my son was an infant.  We have Mickey Mouse, Nemo, Pooh, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story, Rapunzel, Frozen and more!

Telepods!

I digress.  But it's so cool to talk about Disney things.  Back to reusing and recycling!  These are AWESOME!  And with the official start of spring a few weeks away (Praise God!), now is the time to start thinking of spring cleaning.  Hence, my post about wipes containers!  So, if you have baby wipes containers laying around, and don't know what to do with them, explore the possibilities!  Don't send them to a landfill!  There are infinite possibilities with these wipes containers.  Who knows?  You may have a secret Disney collection just like me (one of many Disney collections; I don't think there is a room in our home that doesn't have Disney in it one way or the other).

Do you like my secret?  I hope so.  No food post tonight, so enjoy the sun, the heat wave (if you are in NJ, you know what I mean), and the ones you love!  God bless!

Chicken Tonight!

This is going to be a quick post.  It is almost time for bed for the little ones!

We had roast chicken and couscous with asparagus for dinner tonight.  Easy peasy for this wintery day (by the way, it is now sleet and ice here; safe travels if you are out and about!).

First, I laid down tinfoil on my pan to catch any drippings, then laid down my drip tray on top.  I arranged the two chicken breasts (bone-in) and four drumsticks on the drip tray, then brushed on some extra virgin olive oil.  After that, I sprinkled my spices and herbs (paprika, turmeric, black pepper, sage, garlic powder, and grated some fresh lemon peel on top of each piece.  Into the convection oven at 350 it went! 

Prepping the chicken

Herbed up and ready to bake!

By the way, always be aware of your actions with raw meats.  Use a separate cutting board, and dedicated utensils.  Cross contamination can and does happen.  Keep those Clorox or Lysol wipes on hand; they are easy to use and can be thrown away.

Simmering couscous

About 45 minutes later, I started my whole wheat couscous.  First, I coated the pan with extra virgin olive oil, and let it heat up.  I poured in one cup of the couscous, and lightly browned it.  I had a pot on the stove top with hot water in it, and poured in the couscous, along with half a lemon.  That simmered for about 20 minutes.

Checked on the chicken, coated the chicken with a little olive oil again, and squeezed on some fresh lemon juice.

Searing the asparagus

Now for the asparagus...I chopped off about an inch and a half of the stems (after rinsing, of course), and coated my pan with olive oil on medium heat.  After the pan heated up, I dropped in my asparagus for a quick cook.  I turned off the cousous, drained it, and added it to the asparagus.  Sprinkle on some black pepper, add some more lemon juice, and we have a delish side.

Took the chicken out of the oven, plated up the food, grated some fresh parmesan on the couscous / asparagus blend, and dinner was ready!

The kiddies set the table, we thanked God for our food, and dug in.  Stay warm, stay safe, and God bless!

Pretty plate!

Happy Snowy Sunday?

So...it's March 1st, and March is roaring in like a lion...or at least padding in on silent giant snowy feet?  *sigh*

After watching Big Hero 6 today (this is 2 days in a row now - we are LOVING Baymax!!!), it is muffin time.

OT - I love Disney. I love all things Disney.  If I could be one place right now with my family, it would be Disney World.  I love Disney.  Therefore, I love Baymax in all his giant lovable squishy robot-y self. Anyone have a Frozen flashback when Baymax's glove demolishes Hans?  Love that part.

Back to muffins...

I always buy bananas each week.  At least 8 of them.  4 or 5 for the kiddies to muddle through during the week, and 3 or 4 for muffin magic on the weekend.  The muffins get my husband through the day at work; he needs a snack mid-morning, and the muffins give him a nice, healthy boost until lunch.

Start with 1 stick of salted or unsalted butter (I use salted most of the time) and 1 8oz block of your fav brand of cream cheese (I use Philly - not the reduced fat stuff - the REAL stuff!).  Blend, blend, blend, using your paddle on your mixer.

Butter, cream cheese & paddle

Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  I prefer to use light brown sugar because it matches nicely with the bananas (reminds me of a banana cream pie in a way).  Cream away with your mixer.

Add 3-4 nicely ripened bananas.  It is ok if the bananas skins are brown!  The browner, the better.  Blend.  Add 2 eggs, 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda (I use ARM & HAMMER­® Baking Soda).  Blendy, blend, blend.

Creamed sugar...ooooohhhh

3 bananananannas

Add 2 1/2 cups flour and blend again.  If your mix looks too thick, thin it out with a splash of milk.  It should have the consistency of a thick pudding. (mmmm....pudding!!!!).  Now, here's where I get creative with mine, and it all depends on my mood.  Sometimes I add cinnamon.  Sometimes I add nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and it tastes like banana pie.  (YUM).  Sometimes I add nuts.  I do a little of this, and a little of that.  I have been known to add Craisins, raisins, white chocolate chunks, dark chocolate chunks...sometimes all at once.  It really totally depends on my mood.

Whipped banana muffin batter!

Today, I just added about a tsp of nutmeg.  Then, the fun part - WHIP IT!  I turn my mixer on super high and whip the batter for about 30 seconds.  It aerates the dough, and makes the muffins super fluffy.  YUM.

Aren't these just the cutest?  Snowmen and mittens.  The kids LOVE THEM! (Yeah, I know the pic is upside down.)

Spray your muffin tins with your spray of choice, and heat your oven up to 350 or 325 if using a convection oven like me.  Put the dough in the tins, pop the tins in the oven, chill while baking, and after about 20 minutes or so, you should have golden muffins waiting for you (peek on them first!).

Take them out, let them cool, and pass those babies around with butter or honey!  YUMMY!!!!  Just look at that final product.  Snack time, right?  I

Getting ready to bake!

So warm, so fluffy!  So ready for school and work!

think so. (Don't forget to thank the Lord for the food!).  See you in a few hours for dinner!