Rachael vs Rachel

Finally figured out how to edit the title so I've spelled Rachael correctly! Yay!!

Jan 31, 2011

I don't remember what day I am on the 365 days - I think it may be day 7 or 8 and I am realizing that I am going to have to get my act together and make some grocery lists so that I can make some of the things in this cookbook.

Also, I said I could only have three days off...that was wishful thinking. I need to count up how many recipes that we will never ever in a million years make. Recipes with portabello mushrooms as the main course for instance. Or veal - we just don't eat veal. I can't eat a baby cow. Sorry. Lamb may be a problem but we'll give it a try at least once. And, I just saw a recipe for mussels. Hmm. Not so in to mussels. Maybe I can swap some shrimp for that one. Anyway, there are some recipes that just don't fit our family, so I need to count those up and go from there.

Oh, I got my paper done. Went to bed after midnight, got up at 6 this morning, painted with my friend then worked at Edible Arrangements until 7:20. Came home and made a chicken and super mashers. Basically, it was stir fried chicken with onions and peppers served over mashed potatoes. It was good. But, I do need to go to the store so we aren't just eating the same foods over and over again because that's all I have in the fridge. Gotta be just a wee bit more organized.

So, as this is sort of like a journal for me - no readers so far - hopefully that will change but I won't be holding my breath - I thought I would talk a little about what is going on in the world. Egypt is going crazy. The people are revolting against the president and are demanding democracy. Will that work in an Islamic state? The media is speculating that an extremist Islamic regime may take over. I doubt it. If the people are revolting on the strictness of this regime, it seems doubtful to me that an even stricter regime could take over. It's history in the making.

In other news, we are supposed to get a snow storm that should turn to ice tomorrow. Nice. I'm supposed to work at Edibles from 12-4 tomorrow. We'll see how this goes.

Bonne nuit mes lecteurs
( just used Google translate...it says good night my readers but I just realized that I was using the wrong form of bon all this time. Right up there with misspelling Rachael Ray's name and using her cookbook for a blog. Huh. One of these days I'll get my act together.)

Had the Smokey Turkey Shepherd's Pie tonight - quite good. I have a paper due tomorrow morning and it's after 9 pm so this will be very short. My kids loved it. I did a one and a half times of the recipe because the package of ground turkey I had was 3 lbs and the recipe called for 2.

Bon nuit....I gotta get cracking on this thing...It's on Sojourner Truth - fascinating person - google her!

morning

Last night, as I was by myself, I watched "Eat Pray Love." In a scene, a rather chubby Italian man says that Amercians don't know how to experience pleasure, that we sit in our pajamas and watch t.v. on the weekends and talked about how Italians have 'the sweetness of doing nothing.'

Well, there I was, not in jammies but close, watching t.v. How about the sweetness of doing nothing combined with worry, worry, worry? Do Italians do that? It was, "Oh, I hope the boys are warm enough camping!" and "That boyfriend that I know so little about, he better be nice to my daughter at the dance! He better be safe when he's driving her home! He better not try any funny business!" and for the daughter who didn't go to the dance " I hope she's okay and not disappointed that she didn't ask anyone to go. I hope she's having fun with her friend and they aren't sitting there commiserating." That's how I spent my evening. Watching someone else go to Italy, India and Bali while on my couch thinking about my family who was not there and worrying about them. Sounds pathetic doesn't it?

But, I'm trying to find the gratitude in my life, so let's turn this thing around. I have a couch. I have a t.v. I have a house that keeps me warm. And I have someone to miss and love and worry about. Those are blessings indeed.

The boys come home today (my husband and son.) I can't wait. I'll make pancakes for breakfast. Which the only kind of pancakes you can have in this house are made with Bisquick. If you make pancakes with some box of crap that you only have to add water to it, throw it out and go get some Bisquick. Seriously. You add a half cup of milk and one egg to every cup of Bisquick. It's very easy and they make the best pancakes out there. Even better than the Betty Crocker recipe where you make them from scratch. Seriously! And then, if the mood strikes, you can make biscuits or waffles some time.

I'll write later when I have figured out what to make tonight. It's got to be something with either chicken, ground turkey or ground pork because that's what I've have in the freezer!

Bon jour! Off to make 3 cups of bisquick, 1 and half cups of milk and three eggs.

Saturday night is a night for leftovers

I am by myself tonight. Ken and son are camping, one daughter is at the school dance with her boyfriend, other daughter is at a friend's house. So, I had said that I would only give myself three days to not make a Rachael Ray 365-No Repeats dinner. Well, there is a porkchop that is leftover that's calling my name so I'll heat that up, have a glass of Pinot Grigio and call it a night.

It's strange to be in the house by myself. Is this what it will be like in a couple of years when they've all left? Not my husband of course - at least I hope not! But, it's so quiet. Empty nest syndrome, I guess.

Well, off to heat up that pork chop. Bon nuit!

day 7 which means recipe 6

Okay, so this is an awkward night. My husband is away with our son camping and my 16 year old daughter has her boyfriend over. I've met him maybe 3 times and well, I can't say much about him other than it's awkward having him here. Do you know what I mean? He doesn't like to wear shoes and wears flip flops in the snow. That's about the extent of what I know about him. He's kind of short. A little chunky. And, my daughter is this really petite, cute freakin' cheerleader! Shouldn't she be dating some amazing hunky guy? I don't know. I've hardly heard him talk. The girls (my twin daughters who, amazingly, are both 16) say he's funny. I haven't heard it but that doesn't mean he isn't. It's just awkward.

So what do you make when you're having an awkward night? I made the chicken in mustard sauce with a box of Chicken Rice a Roni and canned green beans. And, he had just eaten so he didn't have any so I don't even know what his eating habits are. Is he picky? I don't know. He made jokes about watching us eat but we ate while we watched t.v. to make it very casual. Is that okay?

The chicken was quite tasty and I only changed the recipe a smidge. I have all this flat leaf parsley and no fresh tyme so I used the parsely and I added a bit of white wine to the sauce. What can I say? I like white wine with dijon mustard. It was delish and I liked the parsely added to it.

Now, you're wondering what they are doing as I type, right? My twin girls are watching Toy Story 3 with this guy. I'm in the kitchen. They're in the family room. Oiy. How do I get him to leave after the movie? How long is he allowed to stay? I have to work early in the morning...I don't think I can go to bed while he's here! Maybe I should put some big, fat curlers in my hair, put on my jammies and a nice green mask on my face and tell him goodnight. That should turn his stomach enough that he won't want anything more from my daughter than a little peck on the cheek! Maybe I'll try that.

Good night Readers!

Fancy Pants Bangers 'n' Mash

As I was making dinner tonight, realizing that I don't have any red wine because we drank the last bottle last night, and as I was improvising once again - I don't think I have made a single recipe exactly as it's written, I wondered what would Rachael Ray say about that?

So, no red wine and I needed it for a sauce with onions and sausage. In cooking the sausage, I wasn't getting any fat coming out, which I would need to cook the onions and garlic. So, I had a brilliant, beyond brilliant idea. I threw in 3 slices of bacon into the skillet with the sausage and used that fat for the onions and added sweet peppers and green beans (this is a favorite of mine.) In the mashed red potatoes, I put in the 3 slices of bacon!! Oh, how awesome was that! So delish.

My peppers, onions and green beans recipe is super easy. Just slice the peppers and onions. Heat some EVOO on high heat in a non-stick frying pan and throw in the peppers and onions. After about 5 minutes, put in the frozen green beans. Let everything brown just a bit (almost like they're grilled) and then drizzle about two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar over everything. Love this with zucchini too. Tonight, the recipe called for chicken stock so I put some of that in as it tames the spicyness of the balsamic vinegar. It was quite good.

I loaded the pasta bowls with the red-skinned mashed potatoes, put some of the veggie mix on one side and the sausages on top. It was quite good.

Tomorrow, we're having some salmon. We tend to center our dinners around the meat and I love how many different options I've been able to do.