Cali's First Trip to the Park

The weather has been very nice the last few days. A rare treat in March for Utah. It was 70 degrees yesterday! How can you stay inside when the weather is that nice? So, I decided to take Cali to one of our local parks. (One of the few that allows dogs!) She hadn't been before because she didn't have her shots. I was excited to see how she would take to it. She loves being in the yard so I had a feeling she would really like it. She did! She is a sniffer that girl, all day-every day, so this was like sniff overload for her. HA! She couldn't put her nose close enough to the ground. She was very intrigued by the ducks and geese. If she could have gotten closer she would have. She growled at every little kid...don't know what that's all about, but it was funny. I was very proud of myself that I made it around the biggest part of the pond...that's a feat for me. Cali gave up before I did. She wanted to lay down and hang out! I kept telling her "c'mon, you can do it, I know how you feel." She was ZONKED out by the time we got home. Needless to say it was a funny experience and I can't wait to take her back. Better yet, I can't wait to take her camping for the first time!

Gourmet Girls' March Madness

So this month's theme for cooking club was Tried & True. Everyone was supposed to make a recipe that is a family favorite that they use over and over. It was a very successful night as usual...lots of great food and hilarious conversation. Here's some of our dishes... I am missing pictures of two additional dishes; Heather's Artichoke Dip and Vanessa's Chicken Cordon Bleu.


Christy's Party Punch and Brittany's Sundried Tomato Chicken


Amy's White Tacos and Christy's Shrimp Pasta

Jen's Creamy Carrots & Broccoli and Amber's Cranberry Salad


Kathryn's Sweet Potato Casserole and Cindi's Cream Cheese Tarts


Jill's Chocolate Molten Cakes


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CREAMY CARROTS & BROCCOLI
by Jen

3 cups cooked carrots
2 cups cooked broccoli
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese


Cook carrots and broccoli until soft. Mix sour cream and mushroom soup together; stir in carrots and broccoli. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Add cheese for the last 5 minutes.

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CREAM CHEESE TARTS
by Cindi

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 pkgs. mini graham crusts
fruit pie filling of choice or fresh fruit

Bring cream cheese to room temperature. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla. Fill graham crusts ¾ full. Chill in fridge for at least 1 hour or until firm and set. Top with fruit filling or your favorite fresh fruit.

March 1989

Actually, October 1989, not March. Couldn't find a picture fo March. This was taken during Spirit Week (Homecoming). Spirit Week was a BIG FAT deal for AHS during those years. It was a HUGE event. Our theme that year was Nightmare On 89th Street. I was a dead Prom Queen from the competing school. These are my friends Tom and Maurico. We were getting ready for our skit...which included a group us doing the Thriller dance by Michael Jackson. Wonderful memories! Enjoy the music from the chartsduring the month of March 1989...

Is this a full load?

Chinese Food Passion

I have an obsession with Chinese food. It is my favorite international cuisine. We served it at my birthday at the end of January...the very next week I had it at book club...then the following week I made Beef/Tomato Chow Mien and Orange-Ginger Chicken...then we celebrated it at cooking club. Yumm-o! Anyway, I took a picture of my Orange-Ginger Chicken that I made up myself...the recipe follows if you're interested.

ORANGE-GINGER CHICKEN

4 chicken breasts

cornstarch

onion powder

garlic powder

1/2 cup orange marmalade

juice from 1 large orange

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 T. ginger, crushed

1 T. garlic, crushed

1 T. cornstarch

2 T. water

assorted vegetables

Slice chicken on the bias very thinly. Coat with cornstarch, onion and garlic powder. Set aside. In a bowl combine marmalade, soy sauce, juice, ginger and garlic. Set aside. Heat up a couple T. of olive oil until just smoking. Add chicken and saute quickly, stirring constantly. Cook until just done. Remove from pan. Add a little more oil if needed. Saute vegetables until hot, don't overcook them though, should still be slightly crisp. Add chicken back into pan. Add sauce. Simmer chicken and vegetables for a couple of minutes. Thicken sauce with cornstarch and water. Serve.

Happy Chinese New Year!

This month the Gourmet Girls celebrated Chinese New Year by cooking up some amazing homemade Chinese dishes! Everything was so yummy. We had quite the variety to choose from...what can I say...another successful night of cooking club.


Kathryn's Tempura Vegetables (technically Japanese, but who cares)


Cindi's Noodle Cakes



Brittany's Chicken Lettuce Wraps


Michele's Chinese Green Beans

Heather's Ham Fried Rice

Amber's Sweet & Sour Chicken

Vanessa's Teryaki Chicken

Jill's Pork Potstickers

Christy's Mongolian Beef

I am missing one recipe that I didn't get a picture of for some reason. Amy made "dessert" spring rolls. Spring roll wrappers around a banana with brown sugare and 5 spice. Fried and drizzled with chocolate sauce and white chocolate whipped cream. It was WONDERFUL.
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Asian Noodle Cakes

1 pkg. Chicken Ramen noodle soup
1 medium zucchini, shredded
2 scallions, cut in long, narrow strips
1 medium carrot, shredded
2 large eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Break package of noodles in 4 sections. Cook as package directs, then drain. Reserve seasoning packet. Put noodles in a medium bowl. Stir in zucchini, scallions, carrot, eggs, flour and seasoning from packet. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place some of the mixture in the form of cakes into the pan. Fry 2 to 3 minutes per side. Repeat, using remaining oil. Mix soy sauce and lemon juice for dipping sauce. (Makes 6 small cakes.)

Chinese Green Beans

1 ½ lbs fresh green beans
2 T chopped garlic
1 t dried chili flakes
1 ½ T sesame oil
3 T soy sauce
1 ½ T rice vinegar
1 T brown sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cornstarch (mixed with water to thicken sauce)
Sliced almonds
Sesame Seeds

Cook the green beans in a pot of boiling water just until crisp/tender about 3 minutes. Plunge into an ice water bath to cool, drain well and pat dry. In wok or large skillet over high heat, add sesame oil, garlic and chili flakes. Sauté for a minute or so, add green beans, toss to coat. Add in soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar and salt/pepper. Cook until sauce reduces slightly and coats the beans. If you need to thicken the sauce mix a small amount of cornstarch in cold water and add to beans. Add in almonds and sesame seeds last.

Bath Time

Cali gets very straggly looking very quickly with all of that hair. I bathed her when we first got her and 2 weeks later she needed another. She is not very cute wet...she looks like a little rat! HA! My mom couldn't even look at her (she hates rodents!). We were pleased to see that like most dogs she looses her mind after a bath and runs all over the house like a maniac. Too funny. I took some video, but can't seem to upoad it here. I'll keep trying. Anyway, she sure does clean up nice. All fluffy and cute...

Max & Oscar

The other day I was snapping some pictures of my 2 cats staring out of the slider at the snow coming down when I realized that they never get any face time on our blog. Well, let's change that shall we. Introducing....Max and Oscar....TUH DUH!!! Here are some fun shots of them doing whatever it is that they do; playing in their tent, laying in baskets that are 2 times too small, watching snow and finally death defying balancing acts!

Sinfully Delicious Site

My cousin Jill turned me on to the wonderfully sinful baking blog site. It's called Bakerella. It is such a fun blog and it offers awesome baking recipes. Some of which are so easy. I got on there for the first time this week and tried out some "cookie-sandwiches." She used red velvet cake in her recipe for Valentine's Day, but she said that any box mix would work so I tried chocolate. I also cheated some by using cream cheese frosting from the can in place of making my own. They turned out perfect. And it was such a cinch. The cookies are made from a boxed cake mix! Well, I just wanted to share the blog with all of you and the results of my first recipe. (You can find a link to Bakerella on the left side of this page under Favorite Blogs & Sites.)

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

Cookies:

1 Box red velvet cake mix*

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients until combined. Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool.

Cream Cheese Filling:

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature1

1lb. Box of confectioner's sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Makes about 24 cookies or 12 cookie sandwiches

*Any cake mix should work.

Recipe amended slightly from this one at allhomemadecookies.com