Food = Love

In my world food = love. When you love somebody, you want to take care of them. If you don't particularly care for a person, then you don't really care if they're hungry. Hunger is one of our most primal needs. Therefore, the more I care about you the more/better/tastier/healthier I feed you.

For example, when I bake to bring stuff to work, I usually make cookies or some kind of sweet. Sure I like the people I work for, so the food is tasty, but it's not cooking at my best, and it's certainly not healthy... cause I don't really really care about their health. (oops I think that came out wrong. lol)

I bet you thought this was going to be a touchy feely blog... ha! Wrong! It's a food blog!! But I had to explain all of that so that I could say "I must really love my husband and dad" and have you really understand why I say that.

Father's day Menu... Mojitos, Mules



steak on the BBQ, sausage, Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread



Cola Ribs, potato salad, and....



Chocolate Banana Split Dessert.



Really me,
Your loving wife, and daughter,
Nik

Nanna says...weather

Red skies at night, sailor's delight.
Red skies morning, sailor's take warning.

Really me,
Did anybody see the sky this morning?
Nik

Hi, my name is Nik...

and I have a shoe problem.

Shocking right? A woman with a shoe problem. I'll tell you why we like shoes... and jewelery for that matter. Because they always fit!!

No matter how much weight you gain, how many double chins you have, or what the label on your jeans says. Those pretty shoes are still pretty on your pretty little feet. And that diamond necklace, or sparkly bracelet is still just as pretty.

These are my new lust.



They're Champion brand. I love Champion. I love that Payless carries Champion. Cause you know, I love to pay less.

I also have a crush on these.



I know I will most likely never wear them... but I like the way I think I would look in them. Yes, that's right. I envision myself wearing the shoes. I picture what I would do wearing the shoes, and what I would wear them with... and how people would look at me and think, "I like those shoes."

My problem has now become my daughters' problem. I see cute little mini shoes and I just have to have them. This is the pair that I saw for Demi when she was just born. I thought they were so cute that I bought a size 3m and a size 12m for her.



I know, I don't really know what I saw in them, but it was my fledgling start into the world of little shoes. My tastes have grown and matured since then... these are the ones I picked up for Jordyn.



See... much better. Now I just have to wait 9 months until they fit.

Really me,
Shoeaholic,
Nik

Weekend of cooking II

K and I had a nice romantic dinner last night. Though Demi did share in the pasta she made in the form of linguine.

Some of the recipes I read called for wonton wrappers instead of pasta. Somebody suggested doubling the wrappers to give you more of the pasta texture. Since I have a pasta roller, I made my own.
The pasta recipe I used can be found here, only I doubled the recipe. The trick to pasta is letting it sit after mixing for about 30mins to come to room temperature, and to take your eggs out ahead of tie so they are also at room temperature. I mixed my pasta in the bread maker, which also warms up a bit. That made life extra easy!

Crab Filling

1 can (4-6 oz) of crab meat
1/2 tub of marcsapone or ricotta cheese
1 tsp of italian seasoning
or
garlic, onion, basil and oregano to taste
salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the crab meat and keep the liquid aside for the tomato sauce. Combine all ingredients. Store in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

Creamy Tomato Sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic (or as many as you like)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter
basil, oregano and thyme to taste
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar or honey

Saute the onion and garlic. Once golden brown add tomatoes, crab juice, basil, oregano thyme and salt and pepper. Let simmer for about an hour so that the juices reduce. Use an immersion blender to puree the tomato mix. You can completely puree the tomatoes, or leave some chunks, whatever you prefer. Add butter and cream. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

To make the Ravioli I rolled out 2 flat sheets of pasta...err. Demi rolled them out. I used a small cookie cutter with a scalloped edge pressed gently into the dough just enough to leave the imprint of the outline. Then I placed about 1/4 tsp of crab in the middle of each ravioli. Use water to wet the ravioli around the edges. Place another sheet of dough on top, press down around the filling to seal the dough together. Then use your cookie cutter to cut out your ravioli. Make sure to use plenty of flour on the cut out pieces to make sure they don't stick to each other.











Really me,
The Chef
Nik

Weekend of cooking I

Crab ravioli with a creamy tomato sauce, garlic bread and banana cream puffs... sound good? That's what I made over the weekend. None of which is half as hard as it sounds. I will say in advance that I have a bread maker, and a pasta roller.

Grandma's Bread

In a bread maker add the following ingredients in order.

1 1/2 cups of warm water (about body temp)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter (or margarine)
4 cups sifted flour
1 package yeast

Turn the bread maker on to dough/pasta setting. Allow the dough to rise once in the bread maker. Turn your oven light on. Flour your working surface, remove dough from the bread maker. Beat it down, separate the dough in two even sections, roll into a loaf, and put a few slits on the top of each loaf. Place the loafs into a greased bread pan. Place the bread pans on the middle rack in the oven, cover with a tea towel, allow the bread to rise for at least an hour, up to 3. Remove from oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake bread for approximately 20-25 minutes. *Tip: for a softer crust on your bread place a dish with water on the bottom rack while you're preheating and cooking your bread. You can also substitute shortening for the butter.

Cream puffs, and eclairs are some of my favorite treats. They've always seemed very daunting. But really it's not so hard at all. The recipe below is a combination of a bunch of recipes I found.

Banana Cream Puffs

Prepare 1 box of banana (or whatever flavor you're in the mood for) instant pudding.

1 cup water
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

In a medium sauce pan bring water and shortening to a boil until the shortening is completely melted.
Add vanilla, sugar, and salt. Remove from heat add flour and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball. Allow the dough to cool until it is just warm (about 45mins or speed it up by mixing it more). Once the dough is cool, add the eggs one at a time stirring vigorously to add as much air as possible. The dough will be thick and gummy.
Preheat oven to 425. Spoon little balls onto a nonstick baking sheet. Cook the puff shells for 20-25 minutes. When they begin to get brown, be sure to poke holes in them (a shish kabob skewer works well). This is crucial to make sure that the inside puffs up and dries out.
Allow the cream puffs to cool. Use an icing bag and medium pipping end to fill the shells with pudding. Top with icing sugar, or if you're any good with a double boiler, dip in a chocolate gnash. I suck when it comes to a double boiler so I just melted some chocolate chips in the microwave and dipped the puffs in that.
I also filled some of the puff with whipped cream. The canned kind made filling the puffs really easy and fun!



Stayed tuned for weekend of cooking II

Really me,
The baker,
Nik

A great gift... or a curse?

For mother's day my darling husband got me a USB mouse from the girls, and a $100 prepaid Visa card from him. I was thrilled! As you know after a baby, clothes don't quite fit the same (in less of course you're a certain friend of mine who mentioned that she weighs less now than she did before her first baby. You know what? Shut it! LOL) Demi also needed some summer outfits so off we went to Walmart.

Demi is easy to shop for, everything looks cute on her. I could shop for hours for her... or rather, I could take 5 seconds, pick pretty much anything, and she would look great in it. Is it bad to be jealous of your daughter? Ha ha.

Me on the other hand. Shopping is hell! As a teen I spent hours out shopping with friends. I have never been the bean pole, but I think your mind set as a teenager is such that you think you look pretty darn good in anything you wear. That makes shopping easy and fun. But now. Now I see all the rolls, and fat that shouldn't be there. The bra line, the panty line, even my belly button!! Eeek

I used to wear a size 7. So I started with a size 12. I pick up the shorts, lift them up in front of my face and hold them out. "Oh ya! Size twelve will definitely fit. These are definitely big enough!" In fact, size 12 looked so big that I grabbed a size 10 too. Then K and I pick out some shirts that look baggyish in the belly so that I can't see my belly button through them, and try to pick things that I can wear a tank top under so I can still breast feed. Before the fitting room, it's the dreaded bra section.

I have been looking for a bra that fit for years now! Every time I go to Walmart, Zellers, La Senza or La Vie en Rose I try to find one that doesn't make my boobs look like butts split down the middle, and aren't so tight that they give me back boobs, 2 are enough for me! I used to be a size 34B, but I've heard so often lately that my boobs are huge, that I picked up a 36D (you see your ribs spread when you pregnant...so do you hips...and it takes 7 years for them to go back to 'normal'... no I'm not making this up, it's a fact!)

"This is huge" I say to K. "My boobs aren't this big." I say thrusting the cup of the bra in his face.

"Ummm, have you seen the girls lately? They're huge! Err, full of milk" He says.

Ok, so I take the size D just to amuse him. In to the change room I go... 6 items at a time *eyeroll* I try on the size 10 shorts. Ha! They hardly go up my thigh. Ok, well the 12s will surely fit. No such luck. I can get them on. I can even do them up... but then I look like an oversized muffin, like the ones you buy in stores. I ask K to get me the next size up. When I try those on, they fit ok. but I still have the muffin top, more like the ones you make at home this time. Now I'm so embarrassed that I text K to get me size 16!! When the heck did I get to be a size 16?! I'm convinced that sizes are shrinking. Surely I am not growing. The 16s fit well, no muffin top, and I can sit down without fear that the button will shoot off and blind somebody.

Next I try the bra on. Can you believe it? It fits!! The straps feel comfy, the underwire stays where it's supposed to go, I don't have any spill over. It's great!! Next up are the shirts. I had one with those big arm holes on the side. I looked like a flying squirrel! That one went back.

So in the end I did get 2 pairs of shorts, 4 shirts, and 2 bras. What's important is that I they look good on me. I don't think anybody's going to be reaching down my pants to check the number on my tag.

That being said, I'm starting Weight Watcher's PointsPlus next week. lol

Really me,
size 16
Nik

Lawn work is not house work

After all this rain we got, our grass was crazy long, not to mention the dandelions were about as tall as I am. I got lucky on Friday, Jordyn fell asleep in the morning and Demi was quite happy chilling on the couch with a little bit of a runny nose. So I had a chance to mow the lawn.

First of all, starting the lawn mower is no fun. You have to pull that damn string until your arm falls off before the motor finally catches. Then the mower blows nasty smoke in your face, and shoots out old dry grass clippings that impale themselves into your newly shaven legs.

Mower going, I attack the front lawn. When I say attack, I really mean attack. After watching some other people cut the grass this weekend, I realize that I do it all wrong. I cut the grass like I vacuum. Instead of trying to explain myself I drew you a diagram.

You see, this is how my husband (and most others) cut the grass.



See nice straight lines, up then down.

This however, is how I cut the grass.



Back and forth,and back and forth, aiming for the pieces I missed on the last pass.

This is probably the reason that my lawn now has a mohawk running through the middle. At least it's the coolest lawn on the block!

I think I'll stick to my vacuuming and leave the mowing to K.

Really me,
Lawndresser
Nik