That summer garden

Ah, that summer garden I nursed and spent so much time on all spring  only to leave it with reckless abandon to the care of my overworked husband when I went out-of-town for two months….

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How Not to Burn Dinner–Chicken Cacciatore style

I almost burnt dinner. I almost cooked it to dinner death. I’d never made cacciatore before. It sounded very Italian and very difficult, but when I looked at the ingredients, I had everything but the chicken breasts and a few canned items. Well, hey! I can do this! I didn’t anticipate getting locked out of the house and overcooking the chicken. But I’ll let you read that in the end results.

Matt "the cheese lover's" plate.

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Spicy Mediterranean chili

Matthew and I have been on the Mediterranean diet kick since we got married. Let’s get it straight, we’re not on a diet, period. But we’ve tried to incorporate as much food as we can that is served in the Mediterranean. They tend to live longer, thinner, happier lives than many other cultures. Obsessed with Roman culture, if Matthew were given the chance to go back in time but had to give up everything in his present life, including me, I think he’d do it!

Though we’re in the middle of summer, we’re still crock-potting and eating fabulous foods–soups, stews and chilis. We haven’t melted yet.

Served with feta cheese, plain yogurt, red wine and pita! Just lovely if I do say so myself.

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Roast, carrots and potatoes

I’m a “meat and potatoes” girl myself. I’ve heard that line from my mother my entire life. In high school, I experimented with soufflés and quiches. No one in the house ate my food, mostly because it wasn’t meat and potatoes. Frustrated and heart-broken, I remember tossing entire freezer-burnt concoctions in the trash.

18 years later, my family is much more open-minded. They always eat my new concoctions and love them. Or at least, they tell me they do! They’d better if they’re in my house, right? (joking!)

But I try to make things they will like, and things they are comfortable with. After all, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.

So, here’s mama’s receipe for roast, carrots and potatoes. It’s what this girl grew up eating, and one of my husband’s favorite meals.

Roast bigger than 2 to 3 pounds won't cook through in 6 hours....

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Lentil soup gone wrong

I met a colorful character in the blogging world named Alison at Alison Amazed. Born British, but brought up in Canada, her blog is littered with both English and Canadian terms. I adore folks who have one foot in one culture, the other foot in another culture and a finger and toe in a third and fourth. She makes beautiful, vegetarian dishes, but alas, I am not a real cook and need a recipe. Alison gave me directions. Not quite the same. But determined to eat more lentils for the folic acid and the fact that my cousin who lived in Chile for years claims they are so delicious she could eat them daily, I thought I’d give it a try. I can do this….right?

Who am I kidding? This chick needs a recipe. I will never be Rachael Ray. (And that’s okay. I’ve come to terms with it.)

Cooking lentils...

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Jennifer’s Whole Wheat Low-fat Lasagna

“What do you want for dinner tomorrow?”

“Lasagna—with lots of cheese.” Ahhh, my cheese-lover, no surprise there.

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Black Bean Soup

A family member was kind and generous enough to send me one of her cookbooks. She collects cookbooks and reads them like magazines, but this was one she didn’t use much. She’ll be thrilled to find I discovered some recipes I really liked. I tried the black bean recipe courtesy of Kay Ward.

Addictive black bean soup with tortilla chips

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Carrot cake in the crock pot

My aunt Pat asked if it was possible to make cake in the crock pot. I looked it up and honey, it’s been done! I would never have thought…..
I chose the cake I like most–carrot and found a “low-fat” recipe on food.com  by Purdy Good Cook. I looked around the kitchen and said, “Let’s do it!”

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Bean experiment gone awry….

As we get closer to another move, it’s time to start cleaning out the fridge. I had bags and bags of random beans from this recipe and that recipe. What to do with all these beans?

All the beans...

I decided to cook them the same way I cook the pintos and see how it turned out. It couldn’t be that different, right?

How I cooked it:

Pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans and black-eyed peas—about 3 cups worth. I threw them in the crock pot with 8 cups of water, a turkey neck and a red onion and a white one I found in the fridge. I planned to turn them off in 8 hours at 10:00 p.m. Oh, but then I fell asleep. I didn’t wake up until 8 the next morning….

Not my best outcome.

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Roasted Chicken with Veggies

A whole chicken? With the insides and the bones? I’d never even tried. It seemed too…..overwhelming. But this year of cooking and the very reason for this blog is to try something different, be bold, take a chance. To cook!

So, I did it.

I cooked a whole chicken. I touched everything. I wasn’t afraid. And it wasn’t as bad or as difficult as I thought it would be. I can do this! I am like my grandmother!

What a scary sight.

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