Prep...

I know there will be lots of "Prep" to do for all the dishes I will be making this new year. But first there were a few other places in the house that needed prep too. First I had to "prep" the kitchen, and I did, 2 days worth of cleaning and organizing... SO much better... Now today I am going through my PC and cleaning out all the old junk files... DAYM there is a lot of junk files to clean out. Ironically in the background I am watching "Clean House" I love that lady Niecy Nash. She is so much fun. Where does she come up with all those quick witted comments. Anyway... it's another cold 20something degree day. I know I have to get all the Recycles out, and then prep the motorcycle for the winter. Anyone want to help me move a 423lb motorcycle ? I have to figure out how to "push" it over as far as I can, in hopes of parking a car in the garage too this winter. OY !

Here is a little photo of my beautiful bike...

Organization

Organization is the key to a well "oiled" kitchen. So since I am on Holiday Vacation from work this week, I felt I should tackle the kitchen and get it ready for the new year. I decided to move the flatware from where it was in the cabinet to where we were keeping the food, and vise-versa. I found a few boxes of dry goods that expired, dare I say, 3 years ago ! Oy! But all the expired stuff is now gone.

Here is what all my hard work looked like. Sorry I don't have a before and after... but here is the after.

Next project... the FREEZER (and I'm doing this on a day that is 19 degrees out side ! I am crazy :-)

A Few New Kitchen Utensils

Yesterday I headed over to my friend Timarra's house to check out her new Wii. Needless to say we could not get it to work, turns out that a bunch of Wii's were sent out with bad game CD's. So the only thing we could do was go to the store and find a different game to play. We headed to Wallmart first for a quick cheap shopping spree of some home goods. I wandered over to the kitchen section and said "I am just looking for a lemon zester I'll only be a minute."

About 10 minutes later I was still there looking at all the fun utensils. I even had two lemon zesters in my hand... wondering... do I get the $2 zester or the $6 zester? We decided there is a reason why the one was only $2, and that reason may cause me to slice open my fingers... so I got the $6 one.

This is a zester, cheese shredder and carrot slicer all in one... It was just what I wanted.

Then I found a stack of wooden spoons for like $1 !

You can never have to many wooden spoons.

Timarra then points to a wine bottle opener and says "I know what that does, the rest I haven't a clue" Hehehe. Hey, I give her credit for even entertaining my obsession of the kitchen department in every store we go to. I even dragged her to look at the refrigerators when we went to Best Buy later that night ;-)

I fond some mini cutting boards too...

Yippee no more washing the cutting board between meats and veggies while preparing a dish. I was a happy camper and we went on our way.

Then later after playing Timarra's new Wii game, she gave me my Christmas gift... MORE KITCHEN UTENSILS ! SCORE ! I got a cake lifter, a cake slicer, and a pastry cutter. Today was a good day.

Keurig Christmas Coffee

This Christmas I gave my mom a new Red Keurig single cup coffee maker . I have a jumbo sized one at work and it always makes great coffee, but it's way to big our loud for the home, so when I found this little guy I was super excited. Off to BBB I went with one of my many (Thank you BBB for sending them out all the time) 20% off coupons to find a Keurig in red. I have to have red, all my kitchen utensils and soon to be all my appliances will be red, oh yes they will... and I went off rambling again... Anyway, there they were, little Keurig coffee makers all line up in a row. I grabbed the first red one I could find and hit the register. But not before drooling over the Kitchen Aid mixers and food processors....

Well Christmas morning came, and what do you think was the first gift that needed to be opened? You know it, my new, errrr Mom's new coffee maker ;-). It comes with a few sample flavors, and that's a good thing considering the fact that I forgot to buy some :-D.

While we were opening other gifts the little coffee pot was hard at work brewing coffee... YUM YUM YUM the Timothy's Italian blend is the bomb... I hope mom likes it too, because that's what I'll be buying.

Wow I didn't realize I could ramble on about a coffee pot, maybe it's all the coffee I've been drinking? Anyway, here it is, and look how tiny it is... perfect size for not taking up valuable kitchen counter top space.

OH my one public service announcement about this brand of coffee pots, just because I use one at work... if you do get one, run water w/o a K-Cup through at lease once a week to keep the needles clean, or it will clog and no coffee will come out.

And for you environmental protection folks... Keurig offers a "My K-Cup" filter where you use your own coffee grinds, no plastic K-Cup to toss in to the trash!

SpongeBob BandAid Days

It would not be a complete baking day for me if I didn't burn myself on the pan or oven rack. Oy... I got myself good today. Right on the top of my right hand ring finger.... :-(

But I have Sponge Bob to save the day !

(testing out some YUMMY brownies for the new year's 365 project !)

365 Teaser Photos

Here's a few teaser photos to help get you through the new year when the recipes start coming !

New Cooking Tool

So I went to my all time favorite home shopping store.... Bed Bath and Beyond... I LOVE the kitchen section, I could live in there with all the fun gadgets.... Then I take a few minutes to drool over all the pretty KitchenAid Mixers all lined up... Some day, some day I will have one of my own. Anyway, I headed over to the pots and pans area and found the thing I was looking for. A double sided grill for the stove top. One sides is a griddle for things like pancakes, and the other side is ribbed like a grill... AND I had one of those 20% off coupons burning a hole in my pocket. Needless to say I scooped it up and ran to the registers... $7 off the original price... not too bad... Once I got home I just had to use it... so I grilled up some YUMMY Swiss Cheese and Mushroom Burgers (Recipe to come soon).

But here it is, and it fits perfectly over my center "long" burner on the stove.

Fun Fact About Me

Here is a little fun fact about me... The only 2 cookbooks I have ever purchased in my lifetime were not even for myself... they were gifts for other people... I personally do not own a cook book !

365 Recipes Adventure : Thoughts #3

Yesterday was my Office Christmas party. Lysa, one of the wonderful ladies in the office went all out this year. We moved the party from the large conference room in to the hallway of our department... A move we all thought was a little crazy at first, but in the end, it really did feel cozy and we all talked and laughed, it was a good time.

Why this relates to my 365 recipe mission? Well there were at least 5 different things that people brought in that I can not wait to try... chocolate and pretzels, Beer Cheese!, bacon dogs, etc.... The holiday time is the best time to stock up on new recipes... and these days people are trying new and crazy flavors and ingredients.... This year will be very interesting.... I can't wait!

I hope I don't lose you in the waiting time, maybe I can post some teaser photos to get me through the next week......

365 Recipes Adventure : Thoughts #2

Well you all know I said I was just going to make one big list and go from there... yeah that is really stupid, i mean really, how did I expect to filter through a huge list like that... So I have broken the list down to 6 sections. Main Dishes, Breakfast, Apps/Sides, Desserts, and Drinks. I decided that drinks can be recipes only after one person voted "YES" I figure if I'm not the only one who thinks so, then it's good enough for me to consider a mixed drink as a recipe :-).

Well I have been slacking, not good when my project only starts about 12 days from now. I am up to 54 recipes on my list. I think I'm being picky, I only put things on there I know will be yummy. But that's not the main point of my project, I need to learn new things. And if I make all the dishes I know I like in the first month, well.. the rest of the year is going to be tough.

I tested a few recipes over the last week, and I'm very happy with them, they are definitely comfort foods... (Stews :-) ) I used a slow cooker for the first time... but I don't want to give anything else away.

Wow I really need to start posting some photos here or even I'll get bored of my own blog.

365 Recipes Adventure : Thoughts #1

So here I am, one day after my announcement, wondering and thinking, what could I possibly make, and why did I do this to myself knowing I only have $50 a week to spend on myself !?!?! This is going to be tough... (EAP!) But I'm sure I can do it, yes I am sure I can. Whenever I fell like I can't I know I have wonderful friends who can help me along the way and my mom will always help in a pinch when she can. I know she's just happy I'm finally going to be cooking more... Wait... Maybe I should have told her my idea before I committed to using her kitchen without her knowing ! ;-) Oh well I'm sure she'll understand.

So here I sit at work, yeah I know bad, but technically I at "lunch", since my lunch is from 11 - 12, I just didn't leave my desk today... ANYWAY....

Here I sit at my desk, wondering what I could possibly make... I thought well lets see how many dishes I can come up with off the top of my head... WOW depressing.... I have 26... I have no creativity on the spot, recipes just don't jump in to my head that quick. Ugh I think today after work I will spend some time walking around the local Stop & Shop to get ideas. I LOVE the fruit and Veggie area, everything smell so yummy and fresh and you always know when the strawberries are in season because you can smell them all over. Hmmm do you think chocolate dipped strawberries is to simple of a recipe to do? I think not, heck you need at minimum 2 items and you have to put them together... that to me is a recipe... hehe. Ok it's added to the list... under my desserts section... no I don't have a desserts section, I'm not that organized, if I did, it would be overly organized and it would be so confusing, even I'd get lost, so it's just a list. I put it right there under "the Pioneer Women's Orange marmalade rolls".... I can't wait to try those ... but the recipe makes like 70 rolls!!!!

Anyway I started rambling, again.... I do that a lot... I apologize in advance for this...

So now there are 27 recipes on my list, YIPPEE it's growing.

I wonder if my first recipe of the new year will be a "getting over a hangover drink"? Hmm can drinks be recipes too????? I will have to put up a poll on that... is there an option on here to add a poll? Well.. if there is... look for a poll in the near future.

Well off I go searching for more recipes, I have about 30 minutes left to my lunch. Wish me luck!

365 Recipe Adventure

Hello everybody out there in blogger world... As you all know, well those who actually read my little blog, I love photography and have photographed a few recipes... Well this is all going to change come the new year.

You see the other day I watched the movie "Julie/Julia" and fell in love with cooking all over again. And it was just the inspiration I needed to get me out of my little photography rut. For some time now I knew I needed a project and I knew it had to involve photography, but that was all I was working on. That's not much for this girl who has a hard time making up her mind. But I do love to cook and bake, so here it is...

I will attempted my very own spin on the Julie/Julia project. I will Cook or Bake 1 recipe for every day of the year. That will be 365 recipes. My mission is to learn how to cook/bake new dishes I've never tried before. They can be recipes for Breakfast or Lunch or Dinner or Desserts or Snacks or Appetisers. Some of the recipes I make may be ones I have made in the past, but most recipes will be ones I've never tried w/o the help of others.

The only thing I ask of you guys is your support, your comments, and maybe even some suggestions on new recipes. You see I will not be following one book, rather I will be following my cravings and your wonderful suggestions.

I think this will be a fun learning experience for me and I hope it will accomplish two things... 1st (and most important) it will further expand my knowledge of photography, and 2nd it will help me become a more rounded cook in the kitchen.

Here are my only rules....

1st. Because I am limited to "how" I can cook a meal, all recipes must be able to be cooked/baked in/on : (Gas)Oven, (Gas)Stove,CrockPot, Pressure Cooker, (Charcoal Webber) Grill, and the dreaded Microwave, and heck if it is a dish that only needs to "set" I have a fridge and a freezer !

2nd. I do not have a fancy KitchenAid Mixer, nor do I have a food processor that can chop up more then one "vegetable" at a time, I'm terrified of those large deep firers burning down the house, and sadly I just got ride of my rusted old Wok....

3rd. I may buy a new kitchen "tool" here or there IF my budget allows, but it will have to be simple.

4th. I will try ALMOST anything

5th. I will post 365 recipes, they may, however, not always be posted every day, I will allow myself to skip days if need be, or if I am out of town/not feeling well. All I need to do is hit 365 different recipes by the end of the year.

6th. The dates for my 365 Recipe Adventure will be from January 1, 2010 until December 31, 2010.

So there it is... I've made my decision... no backing out now.... I'm actually very excited, and I can not wait to see and taste all the new dishes! Oh yeah... All recipes will be photographed and posted here on this blog.

I hope to hear from you soon.... :-)

P.S. There might be some "give aways" or "surprises" along the way !