Baked Halibut with Vegetables and Cherry Tomato Salsa

Hubby is a big, big fish eater. He loves fish, so long as the fish doesn’t taste “fishy”. Nice, light, white flaky fish, that’s what he’s looking for. Hubby tends to like his fish battered, but I really think that has more to do with upbringing than preference. People from the Mid-West tend to like big, heavy portions of everything. I suppose the same could be said about most things – our preferences are more a product of upbringing. It took a while to get him to move away from heavily battered, deep fried things.

Continue reading “Baked Halibut with Vegetables and Cherry Tomato Salsa”

Classic Mashed Potatoes with Rich Brown Gravy

Hubby is a real fan of meat and potatoes. It’s that whole mid-western upbringing. Most of the time when we are having a roast, I will roast the potatoes right along with the beef. Love roasted potatoes that have soaked in all the beefy drippings from a cross-rib roast, don’t you? Most of the time when making a roast, there’s an ocean of pan drippings perfect for whipping up some gravy. But what if you’re pan searing a steak? Sometimes I am in the mood for steak with mashed potatoes and rich brown gravy.

Continue reading “Classic Mashed Potatoes with Rich Brown Gravy”

Chicken Tender Salad with Buttermilk Chive Dressing

As with anything worth having, it takes time to make a great chicken tender salad. This salad isn’t a throw it together and chow down salad. The chicken needs time to marinate in the buttermilk. The salad needs time to chill. Oh but this is so delicious, you really don’t mind the wait.

Continue reading “Chicken Tender Salad with Buttermilk Chive Dressing”

A Celtic Full Monty Breakfast

The Celtic Tree of Life symbolizes harmony and balance in the universe. Celts believed that trees were the ancestors of human beings and that the Tree of Life possessed special powers. Trees were a connection to the world of the spirits, doorways into other worlds. The most sacred of all trees is the Oak Tree which represents the center of the world. The Oak tree is the doorway to other worlds, the realm of Fairies and Magic. It was believed that the roots of the tree penetrated the depths of lower worlds, while the branches stretched out to touch the heavens. The tree is a symbol of long life, wisdom and rebirth.

Continue reading “A Celtic Full Monty Breakfast”

Bacon Wrapped Maple Glazed Carrots

Do you have a bacon lover in your house? I swear, Kiddo is the equivalent of the Cookie Monster when it comes to his love of Bacon. When it comes to breakfast meats, I’m a sausage eater at heart. However, I do appreciate a good, smoky piece of bacon every now and again. I don’t know about the bacon eaters in your house, but mine tends to shy away from vegetables. Well, there’s more than one way to get him to eat his carrots . . .

Continue reading “Bacon Wrapped Maple Glazed Carrots”

Corn Chip Taco Tater-Tot Casserole

My phone chirped – I had a text. It was coming up on five and I guessed Hubby was letting me know he was on his way home. I was right, it was Hubby. I was mistaken about the message. He was going to be late. No worries. My casserole wouldn’t take long. Planning ahead for late evenings is something I take pride in. And besides, it’s summer. There is something perfectly acceptable about eating dinner at seven in the summer. Eat at seven in the winter and you feel like it’s midnight. Why is that?

Continue reading “Corn Chip Taco Tater-Tot Casserole”

Caribbean Yellow Rice with Peas

While this rice dish might look very much like my Island Rice with Peas, the two are very different creatures. Island Rice has golden raisins and coconut milk. Both are lacking in Caribbean Yellow Rice. This dish, while equally delicious, is a bit more subtle in flavors.

Continue reading “Caribbean Yellow Rice with Peas”

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast

When do you usually do your marketing? We have gotten proficient at shopping only one day a week, which is both cost effective and efficient use of time. To make this possible, I plan our meals in advance, take full stock of what we have and what we need. One of the biggest reasons we try to avoid shopping more than once a week are those “grab” items. Walk through your local market and see how they tempt you to buy things you neither truly want nor need. You only think you want chocolate cookies. You only think you need to eat them tonight with a tall glass of milk. Now notice where the milk is kept – all the way at the far end of the store. How many temptations stand between you and a gallon of milk?

Continue reading “Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast”

Pork Chops Swimming in Wine with Garlic

Sometimes I think that Pork, any kind of pork besides the famous Ham, is often over looked. Growing up, you ate Ham twice a year, ribs in the summer and fried pork chops the rest of the time. That was it, a rather limited selection. Not any more . . .

Continue reading “Pork Chops Swimming in Wine with Garlic”

Easy Skillet Chicken Parmesan

Good morning everyone! I was so busy working on our shopping list for the week that I forgot to post a second recipe today. Not good. Now I suppose I could have made up for the oversight with an over the top production. But I’m in a simple yet tasty sort of mood, so an easy skillet dinner is just the ticket.

Continue reading “Easy Skillet Chicken Parmesan”

Teriyaki Beef Skewers for the Pure Beef Eaters

Where’s the beef? Right here. Don’t mistake Beef Skewers for Beef Kabobs. The two are completely different creatures. Kabobs include vegetables. Skewers do not. Now that we have cleared up the confusion, let’s get down to grilling, shall we?

Continue reading “Teriyaki Beef Skewers for the Pure Beef Eaters”

Small Town Life and Buttery Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Good morning everyone! Hope you are enjoying an awesome day. It’s Saturday, and that means the start of another great adventure. Hubby, Kiddo and I live in a town of about 200,000 people. That’s fairly small by California standards.  Take San Francisco with a population pushing 900,000 or LA with nearly 4 million as comparisons. Yeah, we live in a small farming community surrounded by even small farming communities. The best thing about small town life is that there is always a fair or festival or open air market somewhere. Small town USA really love to strut their stuff.

small town oakdale parade

Continue reading “Small Town Life and Buttery Garlic Mashed Potatoes”

Corn Flake Crunchy Oven Fried Chicken

So, how is your July thus far? Too early to tell? Yeah, I hear you. July is a special time of the year for us. Kiddo gets another year older every July. And we do something special together as a family every July. Last year, it was 8 days in our nation’s first National Park, Yellowstone. This year we are Oregon-Washington bound.  Kiddo has always been interested in earth sciences, so we plan to spend two days exploring Mount Saint Helen. I am so excited about this trip. My sister and her husband live in eastern Oregon. We are meeting on the coast for a little sisterly R and R. I cannot tell you how excited I am!

Continue reading “Corn Flake Crunchy Oven Fried Chicken”

Broccoli With An Onion-Cheese Sauce

My guys are constantly bugging me to make a cheese sauce when I cook broccoli. Making the sauce isn’t complicated, as you will see. However; I like to reserve a cheesy broccoli dish for rare occasions. While I love cheese, having your veggies swimming in sauce does lower the health benefits of eating steamed vegetables in the first place. Lord knows, cheese is a weakness for many of us.

Continue reading “Broccoli With An Onion-Cheese Sauce”

Pineapple Boat Teriyaki Chicken with Rice

The first time I had ever seen Teriyaki Chicken served in a hollowed out pineapple boat was at a very upscale Asian Restaurant. We all did our share of oohs and aahs when the pineapples filled with Teriyaki Chicken came to the table. That spectacular meal was one of the last we enjoyed together as a family before Brother Dear lost his battle to cancer.

Continue reading “Pineapple Boat Teriyaki Chicken with Rice”