My sister hosted game night and we played the card game “King in the Corners”. My sister made homemade Apple Cinnamon Bread with apples and caramel dip. Papa brought fried chicken and fish. My Sweetness also joined in the games and fun–My sister and nephew also played in the games and goodies!
Life is better with loved ones and fun family nights! Of course, the highlight of the evening was getting to play with my nephew and watching “bop bop” along to music and hearing him squwak along as he played card with us.
Want to partake in the games and goodies? Follow the links below!
My Sweetheart’s Mother planted a small garden before going to visit family and asked me to help him take care of it while she is on vacation-what to do with the harvest but to eat the bounty!
Chop and simmer the following:
2 Green Bell Peppers
1 large (or 2-3 small fresh zuchinni)
2 small purple onions
4-6 toes of garlic
2-4 fresh Jalepenos
10-15 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
Himalayan Salt, Pepper, and ground cumin
In a Seperate pan, Simmer 2-3 large chicken breast, once cooked, top with a jar of Korma Sauce (usually found in the international aisle of the supermarket), simmer until warm.
Ladel the steamed/sautched vegetables into the bottom of a bowl, top with the chicken korma mix, enjoy! Top with a bit of siracha sauce and/or feta cheese.
Summer in the South is especially hot and I don’t like heating up the house in the middle of the day to cook myself a meal and make the house even hotter, so what is the solution? A salad!
A bag of salad mix ( I used a Farmers Blend as it was on manager special)
a half pint of slice cherry tomatoes
small avocado, chunked small
2 tsp of chia seed
dressing of choice
*optional to add a can of tuna or leftover chicken
Adventuring with a buddy is always so much fun, especially when your buddy is your Egyptian neighbor and friend. Nourhan is an international student (such a lovely lady)-so this eveing, our schedules finally aligned where we could go on an adventure together!
Nourhan spends a lot of time in the classroom and labs at Clemson University, studying hard, doing research, and working on her thesis–and hasn’t had much time to explore before now; We are making up for lost time!
We enjoyed the local history of the Maiden taking shelter along the waterfalls to escape her captors- and the history of the Stumphouse tunnel(where the Clemson Original Bleu Cheese was originally formulated and made by the old irish immigrant recipe and more!) Plus, on our way out, a fun armadillo decided to grace us with it’s presence as it crossed the road as we drove away. Nourhan hadn’t ever seen one before and asked me what it was, a cute little armadillo!
It has been a giant blessing having Nourhand as a neighbor and a friend and I am so glad she moved in next door to me!
Making a message for Nourhan’s momNourhan Elashkar and Anna Potthoff @ Issaquena Falls Stumphouse tunnel entranceNourhan ElashkarNourhan Elashkar drinking from a stream that feeds the waterfallNourhan Elashkar Stumphouse Entrance Hanging out with Yet, the Big FootNourhan Elashkar and Anna Potthoff with Big Foot, Walhalla, SCNourhan Elashkar first time eating mexican food, a hard taco, a Relleno, rice and refried beans at Los Arcos
Sometimes we need things that are easy and don’t cost an arm and a leg while we are busy doing other things but we also don’t want to eat “junky crappy” food either. Here’s a combo that made it super easy (and I happened to pick up the soup on sale 2 weeks ago while grocery shopping.) The cornbread is technically homemade with help, a lovely combo!
Recipe
Dump the Box of Soup into a medium pan, warm on medium low heat (start after you pop the cornbread into the oven)
Open the box of cornbread, dump into a mixing bowl with milk and egg (directions are on the side of the box)
Bake the Cornbread according to the package directions; you can put it into a muffin pan or in a greased 8×8 baking dish; either way works.
Once the cornbread is done and the soup is hot, serve up. I found that the cornbread and soup makes four small servings or 2 larger servings.
Not too many people enjoy eating the same dishes over and over and over again-especially me. So what is a girl to do? I sought out some recipes to help expand my cooking skills and meal variety. Eating out gets expensive quickly and adds to my waste line far too fast (I swim for overall benefits but also to help trim down and be more curvy!)
I purchased a jar of Thai sauce, claiming to be good for dipping and cooking and found a recipe that could use it.
Ingredients:
2 large chicken breasts, chopped and cooked in olive oil
1 medium sized onion, chunky chopped
2 dried red spicy peppers crushed up
1 small bag of frozen brocoli florets
2 Tablespoons of Thai Peanut sauace
1/4 cup slided almonds
salt and peppper
Cook the chicken in the oil, add all the other ingredients and let simmer for 20 minutes on medium low heat. Serve! Serves 3-4 people. So Yummy!
Okay, there are some days that life just needs to be made easy; yes, there are times even when i don’t want to cook for myself because I am just not feeling groovy or adventerous in making different food. When one lives alone, one gets to do all the cooking and cleaning and sometimes, a little easyness is needed!
My meal today for lunch was made easy by using sliced strawberries, bananas, chopped walnuts and a bit of feta to create a quick and easy meal for myself. Who else needs quick meals sometimes?
Rising prices in eating out, inflation can be felt nearly every where these days but it doesn’t stop us from wanting to eat something tasty, go on date night or want to serve/dive into good meals. Eating is an essential but it should also be a nutrious joy, too!
I am a huge fan of getting good steals, using coupons and shopping local–thankfully, Aldi’s stores has had a good selection and price on fish lately and it has made cooking this winter a lot easier.
Tonights pre-dinner entertainment was provided by myself, compliments of singing to Ed Sheeran and my trusty wooden spoon was the microphone. My apologies to the neighbors and to my Sweetness, who was delighted to hear that super was being served and my horrid redentions were over.
4-6 Pieces of Frozen North Atlantic Cod (thawed)
2 Cans of Green Beans, drained
1 cup white rice (not boil in the bag)
Lemon Pepper, Salt Pepper, Garlic Powder, Cajun Spice, Lemon Zest, Cayenne Pepper, 3 cups of Corn flour, French Onions (course crumbled)
2 -3 eggs
Oil for frying
Crack the eggs in one bowl, in a second bowl, mix the corn flour and all the spices and herbs
Dip/Run each pieces of fish through the beaten eggs, thoroughly, and heavily coat in the corn flour mix, place in cast iron frying pan (with about an inch of oil of your choice in the bottom).
Make Rice in a seperate pot or in a rice cooker, adding 2 tsp of old bay seasoning or lemon pepper plus a little splash of oil.
Fry Fish on medium heat until fish is thoroughly cooked and crunch on both sides.
Warm Green beans
Plate a bit of each item on to a plate and serve. You can now unplug your wooden spoon “microphone” and put in the dishwasher.
As you can hear and see in the short video I snapped/shot, the wind is really howling! It’s so cold, too and the icy winds bite at the skin. Yes, it’s blizzarding! Welcome to the cold and snowy Colorado plains! I also got my wish for Christmas, I witnessed a good snow fall and all was merry and white!
Thankfully, the blizzard did stop and I own plenty of warm wear to go out and play in the snow, a favorite past time of mine, while also getting to enjoy the warmt of the indoors, with hot cholate and games with family and friends.
We are playing Scattergories, Clobber, and card games, always a delight, no matter the weather!
A low country boil, as I have been told, is very similar to a crab cracking party–either way, it’s a whole lot of good food and fun to be had with family and friends. I was put in charge of finding clean newspapers and a steaming pot (with the fire ring kit, etc) for the party. The fire ring kit and steaming pot was the easy part, I borrowed one from my neighbor (and invited him to come along!)
I obtained the clean stack of newspapers with a stroke of luck; I happened to catch a newspaper delivery man and asked if he had any unsold newspapers from previous days that I could purchase off of him–he gave me a stack of folded, untouched papers for free, which was a blessing as we needed a lot of newspaper to line the tables.
The low country boil was held outside in a friends backyard. Everyone brought something along for the shin-dig and oh, boy, what a party!! Music, dancing and of course great food!!!
The large steam pots were put over fire rings, using propane tanks. The guys steamed up potatoes, chunks of corn on the cob, sausage chunks of an assorted variety, and of course, shrimp, lots and lots of shrimp–people even brought homemade cocktail sauce, drawn butter, paper towels, and more!!
Even the pups got to enjoy some scraps (and no, they weren’t eating from the tables!)
My Travels 