Spaghetti Squash- where have you been all my life??

I used this recipe as the base for dinner tonight. It was really good!

I had never cooked a spaghetti squash in my life, nor eaten one.

First, I used a metal skewer to pierce the squash in many places all around. Then I put it on a jelly roll pan and baked it for about 45 minutes @ 400. Once done cooking and cool enough to handle I split it, removed the seeds and pulp, then scraped the flesh out with a fork.

I had thawed 2 large chicken breasts and sliced them thinly. These I sautéed in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) with onion and garlic, a couple splashes of lemon juice and a couple splashes of Chardonnay and some sea salt.

When the chicken was done I put it aside in a bowl. I then followed the above recipe with the following changes:

- substituted EVOO for the vegetable oil

-finely diced about 1/4 of a red bell pepper and added it after the onions were softened

- simply chopped 2 mid-sized vine ripened tomatoes

-nixed the feta because I abhor it

-nixed the olives (ick!)

- easily doubled the basil because 1- I like it, 2- I have it growing out my ears

-added a light dusting of sea salt and a touch of pepper

I did toss the squash into the pan with everything else to warm it all up nicely. I did not add in all of the chicken to the finished product. I left about 1/3 of it out for other uses.

I was the only one who ate this for dinner as my husband had been traveling and was not hungry (though he liked the taste he had) and it was well after 8PM by the time I ate. The children had already eaten...pizza. :) Since I was famished I easily ate half of it.

I look forward to the rest for lunch tomorrow.

My weekend project.

So glad to be nearly done. :) The closet doors have been primed, yet still await paint. I love the color! It is a grey/blue (Sherwin-Williams "Sleepy Blue") which provides a very nice backdrop for the lighter furniture in particular. It sure beats the former white which was peeling in a few spots revealing a sickly yellow underneath. I'm so glad for the ONE coat of primer needed vs. the three coats the girls room (2x's the size!) required on walls and ceiling.

I'm still waiting for enough inspiration to tackle the master bedroom. The former owners painted over the not-so-lovely oil based Pepto-Bismol pink that covered all moldings and built-ins/closet doors with a much preferred white. Only the white is latex. Can you guess what it looks like now? Yep- like it's been bombed. (Is this where I mention that pink is certainly NOT one of my favorite colors?) Dh and I had the Master bedroom assigned a week this past summer, however, a family emergency requiring 6 of dh's weeks took priority. Hopefully we will be able to work on it during Christmas break. :)

Flavorful beans/rice/meat

I made this for dinner and thought I'd share. It was an instant favorite when I first tasted it sometime after moving to NYC. :)

Start by making "Sofrito".
(Here is my modified version as I can't get all the original ingredients (ajises, recaito) outside of NYC.)


3 bunches of cilantro
1 can mild green chili's
1 lg white onion
1/2-1 bell pepper
6 cloves garlic
olive oil to liquefy
1 tsp of original "Adobo" seasoning
(You can add in red bell pepper or pimentos if you choose. I do not.)
Puree it all together. It will fill a blender. I store it in quart-sized ziplocs frozen flat and chop off what I need. (One recipe make about 3 ziplocs divided evenly.) I like a lot of flavor so I use at 1/3 to 1/2 of a frozen bag for each recipe.

Sofrito can be used as a seasoning base not only for rice and beans, but also for meat dishes- like pork roast, or arroz con pollo.

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To make beans and rice-

Dump one can of black beans (my favorite! Or pink beans, or kidney, or chick peas, or white beans) into a pot on med heat.

Add in the sofrito (frozen or thawed), a good dose of oregano (like at least a TBSP of dried) and a touch of olive oil.

Dump in one 8 oz. can of Spanish style tomato sauce if you can get it or just regular if you cannot. (Alternatively, you can use 3 'ice cubes' of frozen tomato paste. I have come to prefer this method over tomato sauce.)

Add in a ham packet (Goya ham flavored concentrate) and a Goya Sazon (accent mark over the 'e') packet. (These both contain MSG. You can add in some small bits of ham in place of the ham packet, and the sazon packet has some garlic, cumin and coriander.)

Simmer for a couple minutes on low for flavors to blend.

Add to pot 4 cups of water, stir, then add in 2 cups rice. Give a stir, let sit for a couple minutes, then stir again then DON'T touch for the rest of the cooking time. Turn to low. It's done when the rice is cooked.
My Puerto Rican friends tend to let the water boil down to the top of the rice then cover- but the rice is a bit drier that way- which we do not prefer.

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If you were to make Arroz con Pollo (Chicken w/ rice) you follow the same basic directions with these modifications:

Leave out the beans.
Get 6 leg quarters (with skin) and cut at joint and I also cut off the last 1" or so of the drum bone.

Dredge chicken in some Adobo and oregano and minced garlic. Brown in the sofrito/tom. sauce (or paste)/oregano/oil mix.

Follow the rest of the recipe as written. You can add in chicken bullion granules with the water or use chicken broth in place of the water. With meat in the pot I do add in more sofrito- doubleing what I'd use for rice and beans, and Oregano. I also double the 2 flavor packets.

I am not one who typically leaves the skin on chicken. I do not eat it, BUT in this recipe the bones and skin make a huge difference and are much more authentic. I have tried it with chicken breasts both with and w/o bone and they are always pretty dry. The dark meat is the best! (I only like dark meat in this recipe and in the form of BBQ'd chicken.)

Ha!

I have rescued my blog from "The Cutest Blog on the Block"! The background went funky and the colors awry. I replaced it with a template for Blogger and found and removed the code that was partially blocking the template and writing over my Sonlight widget.

~Whew!~

It now looks normal. Even ok. :) Next task at some point...to set about 'cute- ning' it again. Dang. I rather liked what I had.

If Poison Ivy, Oak or Sumac are your nemesis- you need these!

I'm new to the south and it's vegetation. I have had the unfortunate experience of having several interactions with poison ivy (or possibly poison oak). Each reaction has been more severe than the previous one. This current one is a doozy. My arms are covered, mostly the tender under sides with raised weeping sores. It has spread behind my knees, the sides of my torso, even my neck and face have splotches. I had to remove my wedding ring due to an outbreak on my finger. Did I say it was miserable?

I have found two things of significant help. The first is an oatmeal bath that I do each night just before bed. It says it is useful for poison oak, ivy, sumac... or other contact dermatitis issues.

Oatmeal/ Essential Oil Bath
(from "The Complete Book of Essential Oils & Aromatherapy" by Valerie Ann Worwood)

2 - 2 1/2 Cups oatmeal flour ( recipe says 4 cups quick cooking oats- I grind rolled oats in my Vita Mix)

1 cup Epsom Salts
3 drops lavender oil
1 drop peppermint oil
1 drop chamomile oil
1 drop geranium oil

Tie this all up in muslin or a sock. (My dh's wears a size 15 and his socks aren't large enough so I use a bird's eye cloth diaper with the edges pulled together and rubber banded.) Let this float around as the tub fills and keep it in the bath.

The bath helps to reduce the horrible itch and I think it has also aided in reducing the weeping.

The most amazingly beneficial product (homeopathic) is Jewelweed. I purchased this after 3 days of pretty intense suffering. Of course, that means I've had it for even longer. The Jewelweed took 2 days to arrive. Here I now sit - almost 24 hours after it arrived and I feel light years better! The itch has subsided substantially, as has the redness. The healing has begun. The weeping has also decreased considerably. I feel almost human again.

At the advanced stage I was at the soap does sting. The spray stings even more. The salve- is wonderful!! It does sting some as well, but is more gentle than the spray. I'd certainly NOT fore-go the soap. When I begin to itch- I head for the salve. It is worth EVERY penny.

I say if you or anyone you love suffers from Poison Ivy- be prepared and get the kit! (and the oils!)

Here are photos taken the day I received the Jewelweed kit and the same spots 2 days later.

(The photos are 'before' and 'after' in sets of 2 on down.)

Yes, she's one...and yes...it's a new generation of...

Facebook users. They start young these days. JUST KIDDING!! ;)

This is what happens when mom steps away from the computer even though she had turned off the screen. Teigen turned it on, and managed to get a video playing from Mom's news feed. She was very pleased.

My husband says I can be a tad obsessive.

He may be right. ;)

When I get an idea I tend to run with it ...with all I have... until completion. On Monday I had no thoughts about planting or landscaping ANYthing. It's Friday and here I sit- mission completed, and some. Now I need my husband to make some sweet tea so I can go sit on my porch with a good book. I now find it much more inviting to do so with the new colors and wonderful winged visitors- NOT the biting kind!

We had plants die due to the unusually frigid winter resulting in gaps left in the planting beds. No plants, plenty of dirt. Then the dogs decided they would dig in said dirt. I was not thrilled. Dirt all over my porch (winding up inside) is not my kind of living.

Here are some before and after shots.

These next two shots inverted somehow and I don't care enough to try and change it. LOL. It has been scorching hot and I'm tired folks!

The bushes seen below were azelea's that were as old as the hills and a major chore to dig up. They were not pretty to look at and required far too much trimming. My wonderful husband got busy with the pick axe (the one he chided me for buying a few weeks ago ;) ) I got busy with the shovel and we uprooted the buggers.

Notice the plant at the corner of the house? It WAS an oleander. Like who's idea was it to put a plant with ginormous potential smack next to the house and UNDER the eaves? I'm still scratching my head on that one. You can't really see it, but I now have a lovely hydrangea bush in the oleander's place. It was an easy choice as Hydrangeas are one of my favorite plants and I'm allergic to oleanders. :)

The border at this point is recycled brick found in the yard when we moved in. In the above pic there is still 'monkey grass' to be dug up in front of the brick, but it'll do for now. I'm sure I'll be digging soon as I had to buy several more Mexican Heather plants than I needed. I know right where they need to go...