I want to be a part of it, NY NY!

This past weekend we visited my family in South Orange, NJ.  My uncle, aunt and two cousins live there and they live a convenient distance from NYC.  It's about a 30 minute train ride.  We went into the city on Saturday and had a great time.  It was chilly!  Whew!  We saw 911 memorial and the building of the new Freedom Tower, it was crazy to see a building going up over the skyline of the buildings downtown again.  Surreal.

Here are some pics of our trip:

Here is the Freedom Tower, going up as the new WTC - it's going to be awesome!

Here are Dave & Ashley in front of one of the two memorial (North and South) pools of the 911 Memorial.

Here we are at S'MAC in the village.  This place was awesome!  It's a Mac & Cheese bar and they serve the M&C in little cast iron skillets, all different flavors!  We loved it so much I actually re-created a batch at home...read on for that recipe - YUM!

Dave got an Italian flavor one with basil, tomato and Italian cheeses.  Ashley got the American one, just cheddar and American cheeses with bread crumbs.  I got the buffalo chicken one, yummy but SO spicy!!  It's a small store front, and crowded, but worth the fight to get a table, trust me.

I can't seem to stay away from Disney, here I am in the princess portion of Disney Store Times Square.

Dave & I posing in busy Time Square!  My hat is way too big for my head, but hey, it kept me warm and it's really cute;)

Me at 30 Rock!

This is a pic of Rue57, my family's FAVE restaurant in NYC.  So yummy, soooo expensive, and so worth it!  It's the quintessential NYC restaurant with the ambiance and decor and food...and prices;)  If you go, get the Steak au Poivre or the Filet or the sushi or anything - its all delicious!

A moment for a smooch on the town;)

Here is a pic of my Mac & Cheese from S'Mac.  I was determined to make M&C this way...so here we go..

This version is a copy of their Alpine M&C which is Gruyere cheese and bacon. For their other flavors, check out their website & menu here

Alpine Mac & Cheese:

1 pound of elbows mac
16 oz of Gruyere cheese (I use applewood smoked, yummy!)
8-10 slices of bacon
4 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of flour
2-3 cups of milk
bread crumbs (I used Panko for more crunch)
parm cheese

Ok, directions:

Cook your elbows according the package:

Cook your bacon in your cast iron skillet.  After you are done, keep the skillet with the bacon juices.  Drain it so that there is just a thin layer of the juice leftover, enough to coat the bottom.  Bacon juice = everything is more yummy;)

Chop your bacon up.  Shred your cheese.  I actually didnt have enough cheese, I just used 8 oz.  It was still good but the M&C didnt come out as creamy as it should...I had to tweek the milk and roux ratio - but if you use 16oz use my suggested amounts listed above.  It'll be a lot yummier!

Get your milk and crumbs ready:)

In another saucepan, make a roux,  This ends up making a great base for your cheese sauce, trust me!
Melt your butter and then add the flour, mix together and frequently until it turns golden.  This will take about 5 minutes.

Add your cheese and stir until is fully melted.



Drain your mac and return the pasta pot.  Once your cheese sauce is all melty and gooey, add it to the pasta.

Then, add your lovely bacon.  Bacon does make everything better.  Just don't put it in everything, or you will gain 500 pounds!

Stir that up all together and then add this to the cast iron skillet that you cooked the bacon in.  You could also divide this up into little cast irons like S'MAC if you have them, for individual servings.  Or you make different cheese sauces and do different flavors in each - that would be really fun, but messy and lots of work.  But worth it.  Hmmmmm....anyways!  Add this to the skillet...

Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs and Parm cheese - I just eyeballed this.  I covered the whole thing with both!  Bake it at 400 degrees until the top turns golden.  When it's done it'll look like this, and it will taste AMAZING!!



And that, folks, is how you make Mac & Cheese in a cast iron skillet.  Best M&C ever.  I can't wait to try this again with different flavors, and more cheese! 

Ok I am off to Lowes to pick out paint for the kitchen and learn how to finish the floors in there with our leftover Pergo flooring!  I love that when we bought our house, the sellers left TONS of Pergo floor tiles - our kitchen floor is so yucky, its that old gross tile, and Dave & I want to finish it to look like the rest of the first floor and we have more than enough Pergo to do that.  I just need to learn how:)  I can't wait to get his project under way!

Value meals, not the fast food kind!

These days I'm all about being frugal and finding value in every crook and cranny of our lives.  I am learning to appreciate how far we can stretch a dollar, or more!  For the first time in a while, both Dave & I have full time careers that we love and enjoy, which means we are re-learning the whole budget thing.  We want to pay off debt, and be able to save, and on top of that we like to LIVE like go out to eat and travel all over and you know...go on the occasional, but always frugally based, shopping spree;) 

Therefore, I love meals that I can get A LOT out of and so far the best "bang for my buck" is making a whole chicken in my trusty crock pot.  Not only is it super frugal friendly, but its so darn easy!  Sadly I don't have any pictures, I'll add them next time I do this - I JUST made this last night and I am kicking myself for not snapping a few! I 've been doing this meal(s) for about 5 months now - and I usually make this every other week.  Another reason I love it is that I can prep it at night, throw everything in the fridge, and then pop it all in the crock pot early in the am and let it cook all day while I try to counsel the young minds of Harford County.

BTW the crock pot or slow cooker is your best friend if you want easy, simple, frugal meals!  I can't wait to get our chest freezer so that I can take a Saturday and make around 20 meals for it and freeze them.  Life is easier with a slow cooker, I promise!!

Crock Pots =   love love love;)

Whole Chicken in the Crock Pot

1 small whole chicken (I usually use the 3-4lb ones that I can get on sale or clearance from Safeway or Shoprite)
1/2 bag of baby carrots
3-4 stalks of celery
1 small to medium onion

Rub: I usually just throw this all together and don't really measure it...play around with it and tweak to your tastes!
Paprika
garlic salt
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt
Pepper

Clean and dry your chicken.  Chop all your veggies in to bite sizes.  Put the veggies on the bottom of your crock pot and place the chicken, breast side down, on top.  Stuff the chicken with some of those veggies and even a lemon if ya want.  Then, I rub mine with some olive oil and then sprinkle the rub all over, and put some inside, season it up right nice!  You do not need any liquid to this, I promise, it creates all it's own!  Put the lid on, set the time for 8-9 hours on low and leave it alone, go to work, go shopping, clean the house...whatever it is you want to do for that long and when time is up, you have a fully cooked, fully yummy chicken for dinner!  I serve with mashed potatoes and green beans, and I scoop up the veggies and serve them too.  SO good. 

It doesn't end there!!!  After dinner I may save a few meaty pieces for the hubs to eat again (he's always eating again!) and then I pick the chicken clean of all meat.  It's the grossest thing I've ever done and every time it makes me want to be a vegetarian...I try not to think too hard about it.  After I am done I have a bowl full of shredded chicken and then all the bones and juices from the chicken left in the crock pot.  I leave all the leftover "junk" in the crock pot and fill it about halfway with water.  I add a little salt and pepper, and a bay leaf, and then put the lid back on and turn it on to cook overnight.  In the morning you have a huge crock pot full of homemade broth!  Without all the crap that usually goes into broth.  Cool it down, skim the fat, and freeze it.  I freeze it in containers or bags in 2 cup quantities.  I get around 4-6 cups from each chicken.  Crazy right?  Saving money right there!

But wait!  There is still more!!  Aren't I just like a cheesy infomercial?  With the leftover shredded chicken, I make chicken soup.  Oh, its so yummy, so so yummy.  I learned from my MIL, her soup is awesome.  Actually, its her mothers (Grammy!) recipe.  I don't really use their exact recipe, I don't know it.  I stumbled onto it when I made my very first batch about 5 months ago and Dave said it was almost like his moms/grandmothers, minus the potatoes.   Well, now...I add potatoes too:)  Here is that recipe, I promise you won't be disappointed:

Chicken Soup: (can be tweaked easily if you need more or less)
Shredded chicken - I just use whatever is leftover
2-4 cups chicken broth (I always use my homemade broth for this - I use a 2-4 cups from the previous time I made all this, because the broth from THIS chicken isn't ready yet...if that makes sense)
1/2 bag of baby carrots, diced
3-4 stalks of celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
2-3 small potatoes, diced
2-3 cups of egg noodles
Salt
Lotsa pepper

In a big pot (I use my lovely green Martha Stewart dutch oven, it's my FAVE piece of kitchenware) toss in all the fresh diced veggies, and 2-3 cups of broth.  Cook until the veggies are nice and tender.  Then add the diced tomatoes and the chicken, and add more stock if needed (depending on how much "stuff" you put in there, you may need more).  Mix it all together and give it time on the burner to macerate (lol...let the flavors mix) and then throw the egg noodles in there.  I usually let it all simmer together for at least 20 minutes and then I season to taste with salt and pepper.  We like it peppery around here.  Sometimes I add a few red pepper flakes too for a little zing.  My recipes are usually my own measurement, so really live it up here and do what you like, add more or less veggies or different ones if you want, and season to your liking.  It could be better, but we love it just the way it is.  So so yummO;)

This soup is delicious.  We eat it for days and days.  That is why I love this meal!!  I get a whole meal just from the roasted chicken, and it's always a nice meal - sometimes I break out my lovely Kate Spade wedding china.  Then, I get a lot of broth/stock out of it.  THEN, I get 2-3 days worth of chicken soup from it.  You can't beat that for value!  Let me know if you do this too, or if you try it and love it.  I'm sure you will. 

Toodles!

Progress!

It has been a long Monday! 

I've started to re-do the old bloggity blog here...so please excuse me while it is transitioning:)

I'm also starting some fun, Pinterest related projects soon!  Just as a preview, more specifically...these things:

This fun "BOO" Halloween decor, from here :

Also, I'm dying to try this, from here :



More updates on those as I get the projects underway.  I am totally excited about doing home decor stuff again, cooking fun new things, reading fabulous new books, and sharing it all here for you!  Good night!

Around my French Table - YUM

The cookbook I am reading this month is awesome.  Oh so yum yum amazing.  That's not sophisticated enough of a description!  J'adore, beacoup!  I think that is sort of right.  My French is so rusty.  I'm sure you get the gist of it;)  I love it!

Guess what I made first?  Yep - that there right on the cover!!  Chicken with garlic and lemon.  I have pics of some of the steps and of COURSE I forgot to take a picture of the finished product!  We snapped the top off and dove right in and taking a picture of it slipped right out of my mine as I enjoyed the delicious, perfectly cooked chicken;)

 Most of my ingredients, minus the 4 pound chicken...

 Through all of the veggies and lots of garlic in a saucepan...

 Put it in my fave cast iron pot, brown the chicken and put it on top with lots of salt, pepper and other herbs and trim the pot with dough - this seals in the lovely juices and herbs...

....and here it is all down waiting to be cracked open (actually, I didn't really have to crack it?)  But alas, no picture of the opened pot!  Oh well.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!  I'm going to make maybe one or two more things out of this cookbook.  There is something so awesome and amazing about reading and cooking with the French.  Maybe it's because I love France so much.  I love PARIS so much.  The first time I went and was out in the open in that beautiful garden between the Louvre and the Champs Elysee (Jardin des tuileries) - I was head over heels.  I've been there twice and I hope to visit at least two more times in my life.  I'd love to learn to cook there one day, maybe we can even live there when we retire.  Ah, a girl can dream.  But I do love to dream big!

Until then, I'll keep learning about French cooking and making lovely meats and breads and cheese platters and just dream away!

Oh yeah, I give this book a 5.  Because it's French and it's that awesome!

Oh what a week!

Oh man!  I'm finally starting to feel better!  Yay!!  My head feels clear, I don't feel flu-ish, my congestion is still kicking but less fiercely.  The only problem is, I'm still really tired.  I can't seem to kick that yet - but hopefully tomorrow I will feel more energy.  I haven't clocked a lot of shut eye the past two nights.  Tuesday was the sad, sad anniversary of Dave's fathers passing - we had a late night of being with family and remembering such a wonderful man.  Then, last night...this happened:

Poor Dave!!!  He has been so sick too, but he hasn't been getting better:(  He has this terrible cough and wheezing and pain in his chest, so we went to the ER last night to get him checked out.  He's ok - DR thinks its a bad virus or a minor case of pneumonia.  But alas, we were there from 6:30 to 11pm - not a great way to spend an evening after working all day (but totally worth it for him feeling better!).  This is him getting a bunch of breathing treatments (he sanctioned this blog mention, btw!) because of his crackling, wheezy lungs.  Poor baby, feel better soon!!

So that is why I haven't been sleeping too well the last few nights!  Whew!  No celebrating St. Pattys Day for the Blands, this year anyways.  However, I did make a delightful Irish dinner: Irish Shepherd's Pie with warm bread, it was SO yummy, look:

Its a beef and veggie dish with mashed potatoes baked on top.  DE-licious!  That's our St Pattys Day celebration, that and sitting on the couch for the rest of the night.  Being sick really stinks.  Especially if it's a virus, which we think I may have too since he does its just not as bad with me - viruses just make you so tired!

But enough of that ick - i - ness!! 

Since Dave & Ash both have bad allergies sometimes, and we are on a quest to be healthier as a family overall (pretend you don't see that huge 1000 calorie dinner pic up there!) I have decided to slowly change over all our household products to all-natural supplies.  There are so many options in this area.  In the one blog I adore, a bowl full of lemons , the host of this blog sells Shaklee products.  Once I read about the Basic H product I was sold. Then I read how BAD regular cleaning products are for you and your household (words like allergies and cancer were thrown at me!) I was REALLY sold.  So after lots of research I ordered the Basic H product AND the Scour Off product which is for deep cleaning like on and in the stove, etc. 

The Basic H comes in a 16oz bottle and then you can put it in the dripper bottle and so LITTLE of it goes into the spray bottles full of water.  Its SO economic, first of all.  For instance, the window cleaner - if you just uses that Basic H bottle for window cleaner (1-2 drops to a full spray bottle of water) it equals something like 5,800 bottles of Windex?!?!  Um, hello???  That's awesome!  Plus it's all natural qualities that will keep our house clean will being good for US and the environment is all good times!!

Theres another line called Norwex and a few friends of mine are hosting parties for this line.  I still want to check out their all natural products too - they seem to have a lot of good stuff but nothing equivalent to this awesome stuff. 

That is my quest to making our home more healthy and green.  I never really cared about that before, but if it helps US be more healthy I'm all for it.  Does anyone else use these products?  I can't wait to start cleaning with them this weekend, I wish I could now but I have not the energy!  I'll let you know how I like them when I do!

Oh and book 4 is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  I love it so far! 

Reviews and love about this book hopefully tomorrow.  I have some serious catching up to do on reading - I can do it!

I hope everyone is having a great week.  Mine is looking up!  I have got lots of projects to do this weekend, including a Budget Box and jazzing up my guest bedroom and craft room.  That means lots of organizing - oooo that excites me! 

Moving right along...

Yay I am onto book 7!  I finished Breaking Free yesterday.  I kind of already talked about how I feel about this book - I did learn a lot from it, even though it's not the type of Bible Study I like to do.  She talks about the ways we live in Christ, the obstacles that parallel those truths, and breaking free from any bonds that hold us back.  Essentially it is a great topic to talk about, but like I said - I am not interested in reading about it from a broken, sad place.  Maybe it's because I'm not in a broken, sad place in my life?  I've had times like that, for sure - and I'm really not sure that I'd like the way this book is written even in those times.  I'm such a tough love type of person.  Suck it up, pray about it, give it to God, get over it.  But then, even though I have tragedy in life, but maybe not to the caliber that some people have where they could get a lot out of Beth Moore.

I am moving on to Backstage with Julia: My Years with Julia Child by Nancy Verde Barr.  It is a memoir of Julia Child from a friend she worked with organizing cooking demonstrations.  Julia's life fascinates me, because she basically taught herself how to cook, with help from classes here and there, and she traveled and live all over (including my FAVORITE FAVORITE city, Paris!!!), and is just generally a fascinating person.  I'll let you know how it is!  I found this book for $4 at Barnes and Noble, randomly.

To kick off this book, I am making Boeuf Bourguignon (fancy beef stew) from Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume 1.  This is one of Julia's best recipes in the cookbook.  Dave loves it.  I love it.  I can get Ashley to eat mushrooms with this dish - they taste just like the beef!!  It's delicious!!

I only have 1 week and 1 day to finish 4 books - Feb is a short month!!!  Can I do it?!?

Craft room is coming right along, I am custom making a desk today and tomorrow!  Can't wait to post pics;)  Have a happy Sunday!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I wake up to....

 Flowers and breakfast from Dave, who just got off work and hurried home NOT to sleep but to make his Valentine a nice breakfast!  How sweet!!

 Our first Valentine's Day married!!  I look rough here, sorry, I just got out of bed, didn't know where to look at the camera and whoa....just whoa....brush your hair Tina!!

We got these utensils as a wedding gift, they are really cute - see the hearts at the bottom?!?!

I'm still in the middle of trying to customize my blog!  I am having a hard time getting my awesome made-by-me header/banner to be centered on my page.  It's really cute, I hope I can make it work....it's really a pain in the but, I need to take a graphics design class to learn this stuff!

I'm realllllly behind in my reading this month.  I've been busy looking for jobs, helping my mom renovate her house so they can sell it this year, and hanging out with friends!  I'm halfway through Dead in Dallas by Charlene Harris...the True Blood books.  It's good!  But it's only my 3rd book!!  Yikes!!  It's halfway through the month, I should be done 5 by now!!!  But I'm not worried because the Martha Stewart sewing book and the Dave Ramsey book will be easy, one-day reads!

I already have a list of at least 10 more books that I was told about or saw in a store, I'm excited to pick out my new ones - Feb is just flying by.  The library called with another book I picked out, so that's 11 for this month but I'm not officially adding it unless I have time!  If I don't it'll go on Marchs list.  March!  Already!!

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy your Valentine's Day.  I know I will!!  Dave just made me a lovely breakfast, my sweet Valentine, and now I may  go help mom, and later after picking up Ash we are all going to dinner together and then making fondue!  Dave & I are celebrating our Vday on Friday, when Ash is with her mom and he has off.  We make it work around here:)  Have a great week!

I know I promised house pictures, I will get them up this week.  Oh and I'm also doing the Weekly Challenge over at A Bowl Full of Lemons to make a recipe binder!!  I'm so excited!  Check out her blog, it's awesome!

The smells of Boeuf Bourguignon....

I haven't gotten to the library yet!  I'm on page 234 of 307 in Julie & Julia.  The reason I may be so behind is because reading this book has made me so hungry for REALLY good food, that I spent the morning making Oeufs en Cocotte and I've spend most of the day making the multi-step, kind complicated yet very easy Beef Bourguignon.  My goodness, our house smells amazing!!!  AMAZING!!! 

I am ok with my pace of reading though, because if and when I get a job I wont be able to read all day, and cooking/cleaning today has taken that place thus far - so I keep telling myself its ok its ok...its day 3 and I should be moving on to another book, and I will!  Ashley (stepdaughter) and I will go to the library tonight after she is done mounds and mounds of homework and I'll pick up my 8 books:)

I really like this book, so far.  I'm almost done so I can't imagine I'll change my mind!   There is bit of language in it, but I've been able to stomach it because the talk of the food is so glorious.  Just like Julie, I have also 'stolen' my moms copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 - the cream colored one with the orangey Fleurs de Lis on it, I think it was my grandmothers, an original copy.  Trust me, if you read this, you will want to cook!  I think its almost IMPOSSIBLE to read it and not cook something from the cookbook - its either so inspiring or makes one so hungry that its inevitable! 

The eggs, cream and butter I made this morning were the best tasting eggs I've ever had, so so yummy!  Maybe one of my 8 books with be a Julia Child biography.....

Anyways, as this is not a copy cat blog of Julie Powell, enough of the Julia Child/cooking talk.  Its a good book, if you love cooking and twenty to thirty something humor, read it:)