Month: January 2015

Recipe Swap

While paying at Trader Joe’s, the cashier and I enjoyed swapping recipes made with TJ’s ingredients-

Mine-

Chicken Won Ton Soup

1 qt chicken broth; one beaten egg; 1/2 package TJ’s Chicken Cilantro Won Tons; 1 T soy sauce; 1/2 t sesame oil; sliced green onions. Bring broth to boil, and while stirring, drizzle in the beaten egg. Add the half package of wontons and simmer according to package directions. Stir in soy sauce and sesame oil, and top with some sliced green onions.

Hers-

Parmesan Potato Casserole

1 bag frozen parmesan garlic potatoes; 1 jar Alfredo sauce; 1 bag shredded sharp cheddar

Whoops- all she told me were the ingredients so I had to make up the rest of the recipe… I layered the potatoes and the jar of sauce with about one cup of the cheese. That was it! She said don’t worry about having too much sauce, it will look like too much, and it did. It was. I’d add only half the jar, next time but I probably could have used more cheese.

I guessed on the time and temp- 45 min at 350, uncovered for the last 15 minutes, and served them with baked, seasoned chicken pieces and a side of simple, plain broccoli (to soak up the cheese sauce, yeah!).

NOT light on the calories… wow. File this under comfort food! I skipped dessert and will be eating lighter tomorrow for sure. BUT, everyone liked these potatoes, from the teens to the husband!

Anyone else have any sure-fire comfort food combinations that they love? I adore recipe swapping!

You Go Ahead

“Be blessed and RAK on!” Why, yes, thank you, I will!

Tamara Letter's avatarcelebrate kindness

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When was the last time you got all the way home from the grocery store only to discover you never picked up an essential item on your list? So frustrating! Thankfully, I only live a hop, skip, and a jump away, but still… so annoying.

I forgot snack bags. Again. I always neglect to check our supply at home before going to the store, then lo and behold, we are out when I need them the most. Tonight I decided to stop by my neighborhood Food Lion after I dropped my daughter off at dance class, hoping for a quick “in-and-out” purchase.

Yes, I know it’s a holiday and yes, I know it’s prime time shopping hours for those who were not as lucky as me to have the day off. Stop laughing at my naïveté. I really was optimistic that I could grab what I needed, make my purchase…

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Pho for Me

On our quest to try some new eats! This time we tried a restaurant that many people have been telling us to try, a chain called Pho Ca Dao. According to one of my kid’s teachers, if you aren’t swearing, you aren’t pronouncing it correctly… I hope she wasn’t pulling my leg.

The daughter’s boyfriend helped us order and he picked some winners. We loved the soups, the pork with rice noodles were meh. Egg rolls- fabulous, spring rolls- less so. I think I am spoiled by having friends make home made spring rolls on many occasions, though.

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Yum! Beef with rice, pork with rice noodles and egg rolls, spring rolls, beef pho and chicken pho with all the condiments- love the sprouts, basil and cilantro!

I’m really glad I finally tried some of the dishes from Pho Ca Dao, and am sure that we will hit it again- great dishes at a surprisingly low price. Here’s the menu, via allmenus.com:

http://www.allmenus.com/ca/san-diego/32447-ca-dao/menu/

The Good on The Web

It’s common knowledge that The Intertoobz is both a gateway to knowledge AND a portal to Hell. It all depends on where we allow ourselves to travel down the Information Highway.

If admitting this brings you down and now you need a pick-me-up, go hit the search engines and look up “random acts of kindness.” Here… I’ll do it for you:

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We all look out for friends and strangers each and every day, but I love how some kindhearted souls have shared how much joy they experienced when completing a list of RAOKs challenges. Some ridiculously easy, simple, kind actions are right there. Here is the Net at its best. On your screen. And we can play, too! all we have to do is just pick one.

One blogger took her children and turned her birthday into a day of good deeds- one for every year. Very sweet, simple and a great learning experience for her kids!

I borrowed one of her small ideas- my son wrote the note and we left a bottle of soap in the laundromat near our house. Thanks for the inspiration, TicklesToGiggles.blogspot.com! (links to the original birthday article)

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New Menu Monday- Carnitas… from Heaven!!

Pulled pork is fabulous in the crock pot; sprinkle a lot of onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper on a pork shoulder butt and 4-8 hours later you have a magnificent meal. With BBQ sauce for the meat, we round it out with a baked sweet potato and maybe green beans. We all love it.

Tonight we are making carnitas with the same cut of pork and swapping out the sweet potato and green beans for a boat load of cilantro, chopped onions, pinto beans and tortillas.

I love me some Pinterest- that’s where I dug around for the carnitas recipe. This is what I found:  http://www.afamilyfeast.com/carnitas/#_a5y_p=1366830

I changed up the recipe only a bit- freshly made mini corn tortillas instead of the suggested flour, and I tossed everything together on the baking sheet- the onions, garlic and I squeezed the citrus juices and 1/3 cup of bacon grease over everything. I only used oregano, salt and pepper, too, and skipped the other spices. I don’t think we missed the one pound of lard to cook the meat in, either… the bacon grease and pork fat from the meat was puh-lenty. But read the original recipe, it looks great as-is.

It was FABULOUS!! Seriously, try the recipe, and if someone really does cook it in the lard, I’d love to know how it turned out.

This was so good, I’m going to serve it to my mother-in-law. Yep. That good.