Three Recipes (from three different sources) Equal a Full Course Meal (and a nasty note about aspartame)

On the first warm day of the season (back in March?), I got a hankering for BBQ steak. So inspired was I that I found and made two other recipes for the same meal. This post is a quick run-down of the dinner I made for my family that day.

Braised Cabbage with Homemade Spicy Croutons

I've made this recipe a few times. It's that tasty and easy! This time, I didn't feel like taking time to remove all the crust from my skinny baguette, and I discovered that they tasted just as great with the crust as without!

Let's just break it down nice and simple for my fam- er, friends who don't like to cook but wish to partake of tasty grub! Above is the quick process of tearing apart the bread. Below is a picture of the spices used .

This (hopefully) shows how easy it is to fry 'em up in the pan with those spices and oil.

Cut the cabbage in 6 wedges (I make 4-5), as well as the lemons.

Braise (high-temp fry) the cabbage in the same pan as you made croutons.

Throw it on a platter and garnish with the lemon wedges and croutons and whatever spices the recipe calls for.

Creamy Risotto with Corn and Tomato

I've also made this recipe a couple of times. It's not MY favorite, but everyone else raves about it. Again, for my friends who think recipes are complicated and take too much effort, here's a run-down:

Drained, rinsed corn; basil; chopped tomatos

Risotto is, I admit, more time consuming than most dishes, but considering it provides such great flavor and reward, I deem it worth the extra time. Here, I'm stirring the hot milk mixture, half a cup at a time, into the risotto mixture (see recipe!)...

End results are soooooo delicious!

STEAK STEAK STEAK STEAK STEAK STEAK STEAK

I believe this is the first time I BBQ'ed a steak alone without my husband here 'guiding' me along. And to my surprise and utter delight, he gave me 100% kudos! Cooked to perfection!

Of course, while I toiled at the BBQer, funny 4 year old played in the water table.

And she even took her first useable photo of me! Hooray, my face will finally make it in scrapbooks and on blogs! LOL.

Here it is...

Presenting BBQ'ed Steak, Braised Cabbage and Spicy Croutons, Creamy Risotto w/ Corn and Tomato

Heard of aspartame, haven't you?

 But do you know what it's made of? Suffice it to say that aspartame is a  genetically modified E.coli bacteria... but if you want more info than that, read this, and be DISGUSTED!

Picnic Potato Salad, Plain Zoya manicure, and my child's new favorite snack

Thought I'd start this blog with my daughter and her antics. She recently decided that yogurt with granola in it was permissible to try, and to her delight (& mine), she enjoyed the new idea! So, here she is pouring granola on the table, picking some up, and putting it in her yogurt. LOL. I guess if she puts it into the yogurt all at once, it would get soggy. Then she wouldn't eat it. I'd have to throw it out. Then I'd scold her for wasting. And she'd pout. And I'd have to correct the pouting. Hmmm, smart kid. LOL.

Typical silly face of my girl. She really does get that from me. My whole family is goofy that way.

By now, I don't remember what caused her to crack up, but it was something I said.

Do you miss my muffins? I haven't made anything new lately. Winter is slow at the farm, so I stick with what I know will sell. Orange Almond and Peanut Butter pictured here.

Orange almond, raspberry chocolate chip, mint chocolate mini muffins for our fellowship. Actually, I had made three batches for jumbo muffins for the farm, in three flavors for variety. But I knew they wouldn't all sell, so I used some of each batter to make minis for another event.

 

MORE PHOTOS FOR MY FAMILY

While my four year old was distracted by a television show, I braided her hair for the first time. It turned out nice, for an amateur job. She discovered it after the show was over, & I instantly thought that she'd pull it out- such was the case anytime I tried to do anything fun with her hair....until this time. She LOVED it. For nearly two weeks, I was asked to french braid her hair every day. Unfortunately, only this first one turned out pretty.

Do you miss my manicures? I  don't. LOL. Actually, I think this is the last one I have in photos to post, because my nails are such a mess that I don't even paint them. I'm still trying to pinpoint the issue. My midwife and I have ruled out low thyroid and calcium. Fish oil capsules are under way now. At any rate, everything I'm taking is herbal or natural food substance in pill form, so it's benefiting baby #2.

A  bit ordinary, but I tire of all the layers and designs. I just wanted a pretty coat of polish.

Course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and had to try out Sally Hansen top coat with specks of sparkle in it (sorry, too lazy to get up and go read the name!)

After I applied the sparkle coat, I wished I'd left the Zoya alone. I really am pleased with Zoya untouched.

My girl and her snake, Slimy. I guess he was misbehaving that day, because he found himself in a grape tomato clam pack for the next 5 days. LOL. I'm the one who let him out. She had left him under the bed to rot. Just kidding. He's stuffed. (Ask her what kind of snake he is, and she'll 'rattle' off a bunch of technical snake names like, "Asp Viper", "Massassagua", "Puff Adder", "Reticulated Python", and "Rhinoceros Viper"!)

Okay, the promised Picnic Potato Salad recipe. Mmm-MMMM! First, I apologize for not having "prep" photos. I claim pregnant brain and only remembered to snap a shot of the end result, but at least I have that!

 This is a delicious potato and egg salad! I didn't follow the recipe exactly (for example, I had no cucumbers for garnish, and I didn't exactly use the size potatos they asked for. I just used what was in my house), but that's the fun of cooking, right? Improv if you can or if you must!

This side dish is tops in my recipe book. It was easy, not to time-consuming, and very tasty!

 

One last note- er, jab....

DIRTY SECRETS ON THE VACCINE INDUSTRY

Click here to read more

That's all for now....