Aug. 21, 2008 - Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Tafy's Recipe Thursday

I found this recipe believe it or not on a package of steak tips. Again, I wasn't sure my family would like it. It is a nice recipe for a change of pace and doesn't require alot of work. At least, I don't think it does. It is relatively inexpensive. It is a good meal to make meat go further and get in vegetables in the meal. If you like Asian type food, you will like this.

Asian Beef & Broccoli with Noodles

Ingredients:

1 pound of steak tips

2 packages of Oriental-flavored instant Ramen noodles

1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch, dissolved in 1/2 c. water

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 pound of broccoli florets

2 medium carrots, thinly sliced

1 1/2 c. of water

Directions:

Combine seasoning from Ramen noodles w/ cornstarch mixture in large bowl. Add steak tips and toss. Let meat marinate for 30 minutes. (I let it marinate while I cut up the broccoli and carrots.)  

Drain meat. In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. of oil until hot. Throw in the tips and brown. Add broccoli and carrots. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Add noodles and 1 1/2 c. water, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.

I have found it needs more seasoning for our taste. So I add garlic salt and pepper. Season according to your family's taste.

I serve this with a crusty Italian Bread. Yum-Yum!

Reflecting On One's Life

I just got off the phone with my grandmother. She called to wish me a happy 16th birthday. LOL!  I told I wish I was 16 again. My aunt ont he other line askled me how old I was. I told her 39. She said I remember turning 39 and thought I would stay 39 forever. I laughed and said on second thought I am glad I was 39 and not 16. I don't want to be 16 again. My grandmother said she wouldn't wish one year back, just a little more strength. She is 82 and gets around very well. I told her there would be very few things I would like to go back and change.

That got me thinking or reflecting back on my life. What I told my grandmother was the truth. I would change very little. I am happy with my life. I am growing every day in my relationship with the Lord. I am married to the love of my life. He is a wonderful, caring man and a great provider. I have 2 beautiful daughters. One is an angel in heaven. The other is here on earth with me. I have a caring, supportive family. We have a home I dreamed about and DH worked hard for. We live a comfortable life-style that isn't extravagant or rushed. I am happy and content.

Here's to the next 39 years! 

Jul. 31, 2008 - Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

I ran across this recipe while I was clipping coupons. I didn't think my family would like it all that much, but I tried it anyway. I like to try new recipes to get out of our rut of meals. Little did I know, it would become one of my family's favorite meals. This recipe is from Campbell Soup. I made one change. The original recipe calls for Cream of Mushroom Soup. I use Cream of Chicken Soup, instead. I serve this dish with a crusty Italian Bread. I got the Italian Bread recipe from Tammy's Recipes.

Ingredients

• 8 oz. of linguine noodles
• 1 c. fresh or frozen broccoli
• 1 lb. of cooked chicken, cut into pieces
• 1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• black pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare linguine according to package. Add broccoli during last 4 minutes of cooking time. Drain linguine and broccoli well in colander.

In a skillet; combine soup, milk, cheese, and linguine mixture. Add chicken. Add black pepper to taste. (I add a little garlic salt, too.) Cook until mixture is hot and bubbling.

This recipe is a great way to make meat stretch to make it seem like more than it really is. It was suggested you could replace the chicken with shrimp. I am sure you could use fresh or frozen peas instead of broccoli. It is a simple quick meal to put together. Enjoy! 

May. 29, 2008 - Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Tafy's Recipe Thursday

I discovered this cookie recipe in a cookbook I purchased at a bakery in the Amish community about an hour away from our house. It has become one of our favorite, if not the number one favorite, cookie recipe. Every time I make them, they don't last long around the house. I made them for Christmas to take to my Grandmother's house. They lasted about 45 minutes. The cookies are called Party Cookies in the cookbook. I have tweaked the recipe a little and I call them M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have added semi-sweet chocolate chips to the recipe. The cookies taste just as good without them. Enjoy!

M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 c. brown sugar
• ½c. white sugar
• 1 c. shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1½ tsp. vanilla
• 2½ c. flour (I use half white/ half wheat)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1½ c. M&M baking minis
• 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (opt.)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream the sugars, shortening, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the soda, salt, and flour. Add blended dry ingredients to the sugar mixture. Mix well. Add M&Ms and chocolate chips. (I usually don't measure the M&Ms and chips out. I just pour them in until I feel like I have enough.) Scoop about a tablespoon of dough into your hand. Roll into a ball and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The bottom of the cookies should be golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and place on a cooling rack to cool.

These cookies are really great still a little warm from the oven and a big cold glass of milk.

Silly Me

Do you want to hear something really silly about me? Well, you are going to whether you wanted to or not. I have been very irritated, no aggravated, no disappointed, no ? , , well, I really don't know what to call it, over the fact the blogs I enjoy reading aren't updated daily. I turn the computer on and go to them first thing. I eagerly await the new post only to find there isn't one. Hold on, I am getting to the silly part. I went to my own blog and realized,, you silly goose, you have not done a very good job at keeping yours updated.  LOL.

If everyone has been a busy with vacations, gardening, and graduation plans like I have, no one has the time to keep the updated. I have also realized something else about myself. (I know, I know, enough of the confessions already.) The blogs I enjoyed reading before we got the internet, I really don't enjoy as much because I check them EVERY day. I use to enjoy the anticipation of catching up on the goings on in their lives. Now, I log on to the blogs because I get bored. Yes, bored. I have to many things to do and unfinshed projects to be bored but yet I turn on the computer and stare at it much like I use to do the TV. I go from blog to blog like I would flip through the channels on the TV. Going from one thing to another. Enough is enough.

My new resolve, hopefully, is to only check on the blogs I enjoy once a week. Saturday afternoons would be a good time. My computer time will be spent updating my own blog and redecorating occasionally. No more mindless staring and clicking. Pray for me. I don't want to get sucked in deeper to the worldwide web.

May. 22, 2008 - Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Homemade Lemonade

I looked high and low for a simple homemade lemonade recipe. I found many that involved making a simple sugar syrup. I didn't want to go to that much trouble, so I kept looking. Finally in an Amish Cookbook, I found an easy recipe. The first time I made it was for some dinner with my parents. My dad said it tasted like the lemonade his grandmother made. I knew I had hit the jackpot with this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 5 to 6 lemons
• 3 cups of sugar
• 1 quart of hot water
• 2 to 3 quarts of cold water

Put one quart of water in pot. Put on stove and bring to a simmer. Put 3 cups of sugar in a large bowl. Wash off the lemons. Roll the lemons between the palm of your hand and the counter. This will help release the juices. Slice off ends of lemons and discard. Slice the rest of lemons into slices (not to thin or thick). Save some of the prettiest slices to put in pitcher for decoration. Add lemon slices to the sugar bowl. With a potatoe masher, mash the lemons and sugar together. Stir, from bottom to top at least twice, to make sure all the sugar and lemons have been incoporated. Add ¾ quart of hot water to the bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour this mixture, through a strainer, into a beverage container. Take lemons from strainer and squeeze out any juice left back into the sugar bowl. Discard the lemons. Add the rest of hot water to the bowl, using a rubber spatula scrape down sides of bowl and pour back thorough strainer into the container. Add the cold water, 2 to 3 quarts according to taste, to the container. Stir mixture. Add saved lemons to container for directions.

It sounds like alot of steps. However once you get use to it, the lemonade doesn't take long to fix. It is some YUMMY.

May. 1, 2008 - Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Some of you may have read about me serving a vegetable salad with meals, when I was posting my menus. (I hope to start that up again soon.) The salad is not what you may think it is. It contains, no lettuce. It was a way I could get DH to eat different veggies other than in a regula salad or with dip. My mother gave the idea. We think it is very good.

Vegetable Salad

These are the veggies, I normally use; cauliflower, carrots, and cucumbers. Chop up cauliflower and cucumber into desired size. Shred the carrots, if you have baby carrots , just chop them. The amounts of each are up to your taste. I like more cucumber and carrots in it than cauliflower. When DH makes it, he put in more cauliflower. Place veggies in a bowl. Top with ranch dressing. (We use the Hidden Valley Ranch you mix up yourself using milk and mayo.) Again the amount is up to your taste. I use alot, enough to almost make it a little soupy. We like a little salad with our dressing. It is better when it sets a little while. All of the juices and favors start to blend. I add broccoli when I have it. Since radishes are in season and growing beautifully in my garden, I have been adding them. It is a simple side dish and besides the salad dressing a relative healthy one.

Mar. 27, 2008 - Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Tafy's Recipe Thursday

Today I am going to share a simple pasta recipe that goes well with grilled or pan-fried steak. It would work well with marinated chicken, too, although we have never tried it. It may work well with fish, but I wouldn't know. Fish is the one meat that I can not stomach.  Enjoy!

Pasta w/ Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1-8 oz. box of rotini noodles

1-14.5 oz. can of Hunt's™ Basil, Garlic, and Oregano Diced tomatoes.

Shredded Parmesan Cheese-to taste

Prepare noodles according to directions on the box. Place noodles in a bowl.  While noodles are still hot, open can of tomatoes and pour on top of noodles, stir. Top with as a much Parmesan cheese as you like. You don't have to warm up the tomatoes. The warmth of the noodles provide all the heat needed to warm up the tomatoes. This dish is very good on a hot summer day. You aren't using your oven for long and it takes very little time to prepare.

Spring Cleaning Checklist

This a detailed list of what I did the Spring Clean our guest bathroom and our laundry room.

Guest Bathroom

*Scrubbed the shower walls

*Cleaned the cervice between shower wall & tub

*Took down shower liner & curtain, washed both

*Cleaned shower caddy, shampoo bottles, & decorations

*Cleaned mirror, basin, & countertop

*Dusted & organized cabinet underneath sink

*Throughly cleaned toilet, inside & out

*Swept the corners clean of cobwebs

*Swept & mopped floor

*Dusted light, cleaned light switch plate & outlet

*Clean drains w/ baking soda, vinegar, & hot water (haven't done, yet)

Laundry Room

*Swept cobwebs down

*Clean off shelves, dusted, reorganized

*Moved frig, dusted behind, & swept

*Cleaned frig inside & out

*Cleaned washing machine inside & out

*Cleaned dryer inside & out

*Dusted coat rack & reorganized

*Dusted air condition grate

*Swept & mopped floor

*Washed windows on backdoor & screen door

*Dusted blinds

*Hung rug on clothes line & beat dirt out of it

I realized something last night. You know you are getting older when you are sore all over from just 2 days of Spring cleaning. Today, I am not doing any Spring cleaning. My spirit is willing but my body is screaming, I NEED REST. So rest it shall be. I need to make out the grocery list anyway.

Have a blessed day!

Mar. 13, 2008 - Tafy's Recipe Thursday

 Tafy's Recipe Thursday

I have often talked about posting recipes. So far I haven't posted any. I thought it was high time I did. I am going to post them on Thursdays in what I am calling Tafy's Recipe Thursday. Here is the first of what I hope will be many.

Macaroni & Cheese Pizza Casserole:

Ingredients

1 box of Kraft macaroni & cheese ( any brand will work)

1 pack of Hormel pepperoni, chopped (We buy the box & use one pack)

Half of a small yellow onion, chopped

Half of a sweet pepper, chopped (We like to use red or yellow)

Small can of mushrooms, chopped (Can use fresh, to taste)

Garlic Salt, Basil, Oregano, and Parsley Flakes to taste.

Preheat oven to 300°. Place chopped pepperoni, onion, pepper, and mushrooms in a pan. Warm ingredients in oven while macaroni is cooking until onoins and peppers start to soften. Prepare macaroni & cheese according to the directions on the box. Once mac-n-cheese is prepare, stir in warmed ingredients. Sprinkle with spices according to your tastes and stir. Place mixture back in the oven and heat for 10 minutes giving the flavors a chance to blend.

Serve with a salad and a good Italian bread.

*I know this is not one of the healthiest dishes on earth. However it is a simple, fairly inexpensive dish to fix. It is a filling dish that we just eat with bread most of the time.