Isn't Family Grand?

So my husband is the pickiest eater I've ever met. He has a thing with texture so won't eat sour cream, pulled meat, chicken, or fish. He's not a big fan of red meat. He doesn't care for cooked, even steamed veggies, all too much. He's a real pain to cook for! (Apron is made by Boojiboo. Isn't it so cute and classic looking? Spicy too!)

He loves his pasta (darn italians!) and will eat mexican food (thank god for that!) but isn't big on green chili. My family loves our green chili! He has tried it a few times when people have made it to be polite. He does like it, but we make ours with shredded pork roast, simmered all day in spices. And he doesn't like pulled meat (see above statement).

He will however try things, once. Which is a blessing when it comes to finding meals to prepare. However, if he has had it before in his lifetime, he's not always keen on trying. Although I will give him if he doesn't like chicken because of texture, I don't know how to cook that out of it. (Pork Chop Casanovas by Stellalola, too cute not to pass up when this comes up on a search for "pork"! Her shop is adorable with all the smiling art prints of normal everyday sorts of things.)

The point of this background is I was on facebook the other day where his cousin (who recently moved out to our area having married a man in uniform as well) was saying how she was making green chili. So when I told her I wish she were my wife, she made me my own green chili! We had it for dinner tonight over turkey tacos (ground turkey is ok in the texture category) and it was spectacular! Started a whole dialoge on making green chili and trying new things that make us both happy in the green chili department.

Figured I'd share since I know in marriage we all have things we do and don't like about our spouses and have had the food talks as well. Anyhow, what did you have for dinner? (Photo Cousins 1987 by Toshio. I love black n white photography, so much depth to it. Was pleasantly surprised when this came up in a "cousins" search. Try searching your day on Etsy today! If you do and blog it, I'd love to see what you come up with.)

Buh-bye Berries

My latest berries to leave the nest are a strawberry and blueberry. They are on their way to their new home. They turned out rather well if I do say so myself. It's my fourth strawberry I've made and sold. Made an extra so that I could have one in the shop as well. Will be working up another blueberry after finishing an order for some apples.

That's the fun of taking the orders, there's always something to work on. However the new ideas can get pushed back a little. I've got a few rolling around I'd like to work on in the next few weeks.

We'll see how time pans out. Life always seems busy and full of projects, craftwise or not. It's still an enjoyable way to me to spend my time and hey, I'm just happy people like my crochet and knitting and that I can have a little fun along the way!

Muffins

So I bake like I crochet and knit. A bit of a recipe, a lot of changes. Never sure what sort of flavors sound good to me. Muffins are my fun play around food. Today we made Banana Kiwi muffins and Pear Carrot Raisin Kiwi muffins. Used my new favorite basic muffin recipe, made a double batch and added in the rest. Here's the basic recipe along with the bits for these muffins. However, I don't measure everything so the spice is approximate.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 Cups Whole Wheat Flour


• .5 Cup All-Purpose Flour


• 2 tsp Baking Soda


• 1 tsp Baking Powder


• .25 tsp Salt


• .5 Cup White Sugar


• .25 Cup Brown Sugar


• 1 Cup Canola Oil


• 3 Eggs, beaten

I added

1 Pear chopped

2 Kiwis smashed up

.5 Cup Raisins

.25 Cup Carrot Juice

1 tsp Chai Spice Blend (Ginger, Cinnamon, Nutmeg)

Put pears, kiwi, and raisins in a bowl with carrot juice mixed up in the fridge for at least 3o minutes. Helps plump the raisins and give a little flavor to the rest.

And added to the second batch.

2 Bananas smashed up

2 Kiwis smashed up

1 tsp Chai Spice Blend (Ginger, Cinnamon, Nutmeg)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or use muffin cups.

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Make a well in the center add eggs and oil. Mix just till evenly moist. Fold in fruits.

Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and enjoy.

'Matos and Cheese

Since my hubby is part Italian, he loves Italian food. It's what he grew up on and what he eats. Tomatoes and cheese are his bread and butter! While looking over Joyful Abode's website, I saw a recipe for Tomato Pie. Thought it sounded like it could be a great meal to try out. Did make some modifications, used half whole wheat flour half white flour for the crust. Used oregano and basil as the spices and subbed ricotta cheese for the mayo.

Turned out pretty well, but I bought too many tomatoes. With the extra tomatoes, figured I'd make some stuffed tomatoes to eat with a ham steak last night. Took four medium tomatoes, cut them in half and took out the seeds. Since we had some portabello mushrooms in the fridge, used one and diced it up along with 2 cloves of garlic. Sauteed it in a pan with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and some oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Once that was done, put the mushrooms in the bottom of the tomatoes and covered with some sliced parmesan and shredded mozerella. Stick it in the broiler for 5-10 minutes (till the cheese is golden) and viola! My hubby loved the tomatoes, he did say he wished it was more filling, but it's not really a meal on it's own. Enjoy!

Memorial Day

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day. Take the time to think of those that this holiday celebrates. I don't have many words of wisdom to share with you, however there are a few blogs I can turn you to instead. Homefront, Ella Bear, as well as TerryAnn wrote some great things on the holiday.

My daughter's response on the holiday came from making these. You can check the Homefront site to see what she said :)

As for a recipe, it's a simple cinnamon and sugar baked apple! Slice it cut out the core. Mix cinnamon, brown sugar, little wheat flour, ginger, nutmeg and a tsp of butter in a bowl. Reassemble each apple in some tin foil and fill the center. Stick it in the oven (350) for about 10-15 minutes and you're golden!