Ash of All Trades

Here is our yummy version of a sausage potato packet...I am sure plenty of people make many varities of these and I hear they are great when camping but I like to make them at home! Use one Hillshire Farms sausage link. Cut it up into bite size pieces. Get some fresh or frozen bell peppers and onions. A few potatoes.  (4 for the four of us). Wash them. Poke holes in them. Cook for 2-3 minutes (not all the way) just enough for the cooking process to have started.  This way you don't have to wait 40 minutes for the potatoes to cook on the bbq. Add the sausage to a strip of foil. For a packet with some heat - chop a jalapeno or other chili. Add the potatoes, bell peppers, onion, (chilies) and olive oil. You can peal the potatoes or leave them whole - they get a bit crispier if you leave the skin on! Spread some garlic salt over the top. Mix with your hands to coat a bit. Cover with another piece of foil that is ni...

Today was my very first House Party and it was a ton of fun!  We enjoyed making and preserving Freezer Strawberry Jam and preserving Marinara Sauce.  My guests are all looking forward to canning again in the future and some neighbors and I plan to make a ton of different jams for Christmas presents!  Here are pictures from our day! The Finished Product: Homemade Strawberry Freezer Jam Rinsing the most delicious strawberries ever! Everyone hanging out and mashing berries! The best gift ever from my super crafty friend and neighbor: Monica @ http://monica-polkadotsandpeonies.blogspot.com/   Patriotic decorations - flowers and flags - in all American Ball Jars! Setting up the iced tea station.  Jars with bands, straws, and labels made perfect cups! The goody bags! Everyone munching on the: bruschetta, chips & salsa, cheese & crackers, cookies and fruit! Mashing 12 lbs of strawberries! Marinara Sauce Cooking Filling jars with marin...

One of our criteria when house hunting was a pantry - perferably walk in - but definately a pantry and not just cabinets!   Then trying to organize the pantry I could not think of a way to explain what I wanted to the Hubs so I told him we needed a doohicky!  Well I meant a hook but of course I didnt want just a hook but a basket and multi hook combo!  Enter the doohicky: Somewhere to hang all of our aprons (can you tell we love to cook!) and store our cooking mixes/marinades.  Yep I do buy convenience things sometimes - mostly in the form of cake mixes or in this case marinades and seasoning packets.  Making Mongolian Beef from a packet is much much easier than from scratch and awesome on those days when we won't be home until right before dinner time! Life is simple my friends - give me a pantry doohicky and I will be giddy every time I get my apron or make up a marinade - wahoooooo! Thanks for reading, Ash of All Trades 

Many of you have been waiting for our kale chip update - my sincerest apologies (you will see what kept me busy tomorrow).  But here is the kale we cut from the garden: 6 1/4 Ounces of Kale! The recipe we used (thank you Jen!): http://www.foodnetwork.com /recipes/melissa-darabian/ crispy-kale-chips-recipe/i ndex.html We Tore them Up: Placed them on a cookie sheet and drizzled olive oil and sea salt on them: Bake them per the recipe above and voila! Now I do think I over cooked them a tad (hence the browning in the picture above) and that I should have tore them into slightly bigger pieces but I always think there is some way to improve a recipe. The most important thing is I thought they were pretty good (not a huge kale fan) but Little C and the Hubs LOVED them.  Like gobbled them up and asked for more...so this afternoon we will be making more! Enjoy, Ash of All Trades

Yum - Delicious! Ingredients: 10 Garlic Cloves Juice of 2 Limes 1 Bunch Fresh Cilantro 1 Fresh Green Chili - Seeded and Chopped 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin 1 Chicken (or 4 game hens) Chopped Green Onions Instructions: Combine garlic, lime juice, 3/4 of the cilantro, green chile, and cumin in a bowl. Press onto the chicken (or hens) and marinate for at least 3 hours in the fridge. Place the chicken in the crockpot and cook on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours. Serve with a sprinkling of remaining cilantro and green onions!  Note: The original recipe called for 4 Game Hens and included a Pepper Sauce.  It also called for the chicken to be cooked in the oven (which I tried) but seeing as how I can't get a chicken to cook all the way through in the oven (for the life of me) I just use the crockpot! !Come`! Ash of All Trades

As many of you know our dating anniversary is New Year's Eve and on that very first date 7 years ago we went to Stadium Brewery in Aliso Viejo then watched movies at my parents house!  For a few year's after we continued going to the Brewery but once we had kids everything changed!  Every year since then I have recreated the meal Justin chose that night (and I now get every time we go) - Chicken Parmigiana - delicious! Their chicken parm is the best and I haven't quite recreated an exact version but ours is pretty good!  The important thing is that they serve it with alfredo pasta mmmm mmmm good! Chicken Parmigiana: 2 eggs 1/2 cup parmesan cheese 1/2 cup bread crumbs (seasoned) 1/2 tsp italian seasoning (if bread crumbs aren't seasoned) 1 cup flour 1.5 lbs chicken thighs or breasts Marinara or Pasta Sauce Shredded or slice mozzarella cooked pasta alfredo sauce (store bought or see below recipe) Preheat oven to 350 degrees 1. Lightly beat 2 eggs in a bowl - set aside...

For about a year now I have been itching to get a bread maker and make some homemade bread.  Well I am so loved that for Christmas I received two!  Now we will take one back and get some more awesome kitchen gadgets (like a food scale so I can track the produce we grow in our garden this year) but one we will keep and I get to make homemade bread! This past Sunday we spent some time getting to know our bread maker by making some Garlic Bread sticks .  Bread sticks only use the kneading element of a bread maker but we thought we should start with something basic!  Here is my WestEnd Bread Machine : Ahh perfect heaven! Now in preparation for using our bread machine I did buy Bread Flour and Yeast this week.  In my research I found a ton of people who say bread flour and bread machine yeast don't need to be used but others say it does so I am using the real deal!  (And for anyone else who makes bread Ralphs brand Bread Flour -unbleached - is on sale for ...

One thing I have found with lunches is that if we plan what to eat we end up with leftovers if I don't plan then we scramble (sometimes eggs)!  What I usually do now is have some go to ideas.  When I make pasta for dinner one night I make plenty of extra for a lunch or two for me and the girls!  I also make a batch of hardboiled eggs for egg salad or to eat plain.  Having beans one night make extra and keep them in the fridge they make great burritos, tacos, or go in salads etc.  Thinking ahead saves me time later - I can do the opposite to - if we want pasta for lunch but need it for dinner make extra.  Chopping things for lunch/dinner chop extra for another day!  This makes things go smoother and keeps me from cooking three meals from scratch each day.  Just a handy tip I have realized makes my life sooooo much easier.