Chicken, Peppers & Carrots

This is a dish our family enjoys regularly for dinner.  It is a great way to get your veggies and enjoy a really tasty meal.  It is prepared in a wok, so it moves fairly quickly once the veggies are prepared. 


What you need:
boneless, skinless chicken breasts
green bell peppers
'matchstick' carrots
vegetable oil 
rice
sugar
soy sauce
ginger

Slice your chicken into small strips. Optional: marinade the chicken in a little soy sauce and powdered, dried ginger. Now slice your bell peppers. Shread your carrots if you didn't take the easy route and buy them ready to use. 

Preheat your wok to medium high and add a couple tablespoons of oil.  First you will cook your bell peppers.  When tender, remove and do the same for your carrots.  Remove.  Add more oil, which has 2-3 teaspoons of dried ginger added to it,  and cook your chicken, now.  Stir occasionally as your chicken cooks throughly.  If you haven't already started your instant rice, do so now.  Return the cooked veggies to the chicken in the wok.  Add a tablespoon of sugar and a couple tablespoons of soy sauce.  Cook another minute or two, until flavors blend and veggies are re-heated.  Serve over bed of rice.

My Easter Shawl

Last year, Easter was difficult as we learned the news of my niece's (Amy) passing just as we finished our last service.  Amy had Cystic Fibrosis and lost her lifelong battle just before her 23rd birthday. 

I decided, because I really love the dress, to wear my pink linen Ralph Lauren a second year.  The dress is sleeveless, and I never show off my ugly arms, so a covering is necessary. But for my emotional well-being, I decided to avoid duplicating too much of last Easter and made the decision to knit myself a new shawl to go with my dress.  This is the Summer Blooms Shawl, designed by Susanna IC for the cover of Interweave Knits Magazine, Summer of 2012.  My yarn is Tosh Merino Light in the colorway - Molly Ringwald!  I love the blooms visible in the pattern and the beads which add elegance.  The shawl took me about 35 hours to complete to the point of blocking. 

It's Greek (Salad) to me!

Many years ago, a friend shared her family recipe for this Greek Salad with me.  It is refreshing and makes a great change from lettuce based salads.  Not to mention, easy to make, great tasting and pretty decent nutritionally - all making this a weekly lunch "special" each spring/summer. 


What you need:
English Cucumber*
Red Onion
Tomato (Roma/Garden/or what you have)
Feta Cheese
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice

* English cucumbers also go under the name burpless or seedless.  They come in a long version or multi-packs of a miniature version.  If you don't have these, simply take a spoon and scoop out the seeds of a garden cucumber - or leave them is you prefer (but note that the ackward side effects many have related to this veggie are a result of the seeds usually).

Chop your veggies and put them in a large bowl.  If using grape-sized tomatoes, cut them in half.  Add feta crumbles.  In a jar or a bowl large enough to mix dressing in, use equal parts of good olive oil and good/fresh lemon juice.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.  Mix well and pour over the chopped veggies and feta.  Mix.  Refridgerate for a bit, just long enough to chill.  Toast up some pita or pocket bread to sop up the extra dressing and enjoy this guilt-free treat.

Beaded Knit Shawl

I have been doing some knitting for myself following a season of knitting for others.  I'd discovered this pattern for a beaded lace shawl in the Knit Red book.  The book proceeds support heart health and have many lovely donated patterns.  I choose this pattern by Andrea Jurgrau almost immediately.  Although I'd never before knit with beads, I can't imagine working this pattern without them.  The yarn used is Madeline Tosh: Tosh Merino Light in the colorway Torchere.  I used red glass beads which have silver linings.  There are over 650 beads just on the bottom edge! After some aggressive blocking, the final shawl measures around 30 inches to the center point and about 70 inches across, excluding the scallops.  I put about 50 hours total knitting into this shawl, with the bindoff taking 5 hours to add those 654 beads.  Still, it's kinda like childbirth - now that it is done, I'm so happy with it that the time it took to bindoff is just a memory.

More Peas Please...

It can be a real challenge to get kids to eat veggies, especially peas.  This small little green vegetable is more likely to be used as a projectile, kicked off the plate with a flick of the fingers, rather than consumed.  I may have a way to change that!

White Sauce is a cream gravy base which is easy to make and extremely versatile to use in meal planning.  Mom taught me to make this and mix the peas into it and wow - peas get eaten and you might even hear the phrase "more peas please!"

White Sauce
You will need:
* 2 Tablespoons Butter
* 4 Tablespoons Flour
* 1 Cup Milk (whatever % you like)
* 1 Can Peas (drained)

Ok, people may tell you this is difficult because it is a form of gravy, but you can so do this - just follow these steps, give yourself a few more minutes than heating a veggie, and don't stop stirring!

Grab your trusty wire wisk.  In a saucepan over medium low heat, start melting your butter (you can use margarine but I simply prefer butter for this recipe) and add your flour - yes, before your

butter is finished melting.  Constantly wisk, stirring and cooking the flour, incorporating it as the butter melts.  When you have a paste mixture (still wisking), add half the milk.  Stir and combine, not forgetting the bits hiding in the corners of the pan.  The mixture will become pretty thick, and when it does, add the remaining milk and wisk some more.  This is the time to season with salt and pepper to taste.  Drain your peas and add them to the mixture, changing to a spoon rather than the wisk.  Continue to stir (easy though, so you don't smash the peas) as they heat. 

You can, and probably will want to, adapt this recipe to include some other favorites.  Leave out the peas and add sausage to make a gravy for your biscuits.  Use more, or less, milk to make your sauce the consistency you like.  Add lots of pepper to make a great cream, pepper gravy for a chicken fried steak. I like to add rosemary sometimes or add a pinch of chili powder.  Try adding other veggies, like corn, to make them creamed. For the classic comfort food, creamed (or chipped) beef on toast, just chop up the contents of a jar of dried beef to add to the basic cream gravy. Now that you know how to make this white sauce - you'll think of all sorts of ways you will want to include it on your menu. 

From Street Walker to...

Well, he is more of a German bread than Irish but since we adopted him on St. Patrick's Day 6 years ago, he qualifies as a naturalized Irish!

This is Shea.  Since all our furry family members have names beginning with the letter 'S' we obviously needed a name for this sweet boy with the same.  Hence - Sheamus McCauley Krone! 

Shea's past is unknown except that he has given us a few clues through his personality.  He is unfriendly around men wearing ball hats.  Despite 6 years of not worrying where his next meal is coming from, Shea still feels the occasional need to dumpster dive for treats.  He hates storms, but then we know he was found on the streets during a severe storm.









The vet confirmed that some people are just more cruel than I could ever imagine when he told us the mark near Shea's privates is where someone tried to tattoo this dear puppy.  Also, his jaw had been dislocated, leaving the vet to conclude that our loving boy was the sacrifice dog for those training their fight dogs! Dislocating his jaws meant he couldn't clamp down and bite what these awful people wrongfully considered to be the more valuable animal.

We are thrilled that Shea escaped and found his way to our family and our hearts.  Over these past 6 years, he has proven that his greatest need is like that of many of us - to just be loved for who he is!  What a great example of our Father God's love for us.  Just as we are, with our hurts, disfigurations, brokenness and needs, our Lord desires to adopt us into a loving family of faith who only wishes to care for us eternally.

Instant Pork Sandwiches

Want to have everything handy so you can pull together a meal in mere minutes?  Well, this is the recipe for you!






















When pork roast goes on sale - buy as many as you can afford. Slow roast the pork at the same time with just salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy pork roast with veggies for your dinner and then, once the roasts have cooled, slice them up into pieces manageable in your food processor.  You want a fairly dry roast, so only add enough broth to aid in the processing.  The smaller you chop the pork roast, the faster it will prepare from a frozen state.  After chopping, bag up the roast into portions appropriate for your family.  Freeze these bags.  Next time you are at the store, pick up the appropriate number of bottles of bar-b-que sauce to match the bags you froze. 

Then when you need a really quick meal - pull out a bag of chopped pork, place it in a sauce pan with just enough water to allow steaming to begin, and cover as you re-heat the pork over medium heat.  Every few minutes, break up the pork until totally thawed.  Because you froze the pork chopped and fairly dry, this won't take long, especially if the pork is chopped finely. Add your favorite sauce while you toast bread or buns.  Just that quickly, a tasty dinner is ready to serve!