Whoops.....

I didn't realize that my last post was in April. I guess it's been a while!

Some updates for you: my last day at Aldi was just this past Friday. Hell yes....and I also started working this past Monday as a PetNurse (aka vet tech). Since I don't have formal training as a vet tech it is going to be a lot of learning, but at least I have the biology and animal background to help me do it (which is why they hired me). I have all my little flash cards made for all the abbreviations and terms I need to know.

Now to everything else! Lets jump back to the night of April 30th, right after I posted the last blog talking about rib night. Here is rib night:

I used the Sweet Tea Ribs recipe I found in my Food Network magazine from last month. But instead of the lemony potato salad I made my spicy potato fries again:

All together now:

Remember....the black on top is not burned meat, it's cooked tea leaves. What an excellent taste these had. You could really taste the orange as well as the black tea. I have another rack of ribs in the freezer (they were 2 days from their sell-by-dates at Aldi so they were $4 off each! So I bought 2) and I may try a different type of tea next time and see if it changes the taste. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the taste of these, but something new might be exciting. Also, these ribs are really tender but not fall-off-the-bone tender, which both Mike and I like better since it makes them easier to eat and a little less messy.

Now onto May 1st, taco night. I still had some chorizo left in the fridge that needed to be used. Last time we made chorizo tacos they came out spectacular, so why not do it again? Plus this time I had just made fresh guacamole and had some fresh avocado slices. While I was prepping everything Mike got hungry and made himself a turkey-dog:

He had to take pictures of it to put on the blog. I guess he put cheese, salsa, and avocado slices on them and said they were "muy bueno". He also wanted a picture of his master piece taco:

He managed to get it to stand up and stay up for the photo, just a like a good little taco should. Then we ate them all and had no leftovers :)

Skip a few more days and now we are onto May 5th and back to our "always trying to make homemade" food kick. I have not made homemade granola bars since last year! With me no longer working at a food store, I figured it was time to make some. Here they are before the oven:

And after as I begin packageing them:

 I really can't remember where I got this recipe, but I wrote it down in a little notebook so I could use it over and over:
2c       rolled oats
3/4c    brown sugar
1c       whole wheat flour (could use white if you like)
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp baking powder
1tsp    cinnamon
1tsp    salt
1tsp    vanilla extract
1/2c    honey (sometimes I use agave nectar and it turns out just as good)
some water

extras (to be added by the 1/4c to your liking):
raisins
dried cranberries
sunflower seeds
slivered almonds
or whatever esle you may like

Pre-heat oven to 325F. Mix all ingredients up to vanilla together. Then add in all extras that you want and mix. Then add vanilla and honey and mix. I usually have to end up adding water a little at a time until all is moistened. It usually ends up being almost 1/2 cup of water, but add it a little at a time since you don't want it runny. Then press mixture into a greased glass baking pan (mine in the picture is a 11x8 but you can use bigger or smaller depending on the thickness you want for your bars). Then bake for 20-23 minutes (more time if thick bars, less time if thinner). Once the bars have cooled for about 10-15 minutes you can cut them into whatever shape you like and package them how ever you like. Just make sure to store them in the fridge. I wrap my in foil and then put them in a plastic container for the fridge.

And finally up to yesterday. Another bargain I got at Aldi was a half pork loin roast for $4 off, so lasts night's dinner was pork roast using part of a recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and a marinade packet (I did not buy this packet, it was given to me... you know if I had the choice I would make my own marinade!). The roast going in:

I decided to keep the fat on and roast it fat side up to try and keep as much of the juiciness in.  While it was roasting, I went out side and look at what I found in Mike's new planters:

Seedlings! Yay! Hopefully sometime soon we will have fresh vegetables and it will help cut back on our grocery bill more! Speaking of grocery bill. I have been spoiled working so many hours and Alid, but I won't be working as many at the vet (which is fine, I will have more time to do what I love to do). I have been paying for most, if not all of the groceries for the past 3 months, but I am going to have to cut back and start budgeting again. Maybe I will finally do that "living on $150 a month for food" thing I kept talking about all those months ago. I digress....back to the pork.

The finished pork:

The left half would be used for dinner and the right half would be cut very thinly for sandwiches for the rest of the week. With some freezer burned green beans (I forgot they were in there!):

You may be asking yourself....what? No gravy or sauce? Trust me, this roast did not need it. It was so juicy and tender that I don't think I could have handled anything else. It made the freezer burned green beans taste that much better!

And something else I can finally share with you since the person I sent this to has gotten it (Happy Birthday!). The purse/tote bag:

With my busy work schedule I had been working on this bag for a few weeks in hopes to get it out in time for a certain someone's birthday (which also happened to fall on Mother's day this year). It was my first time working with pleats. I spent of ton of time making sure my pleats were immaculate and super even. Then when I went to sew the top band onto the bag, all my work went down the tubes. Apparently I basted my pleats too high up and they got all mushed around while I was sewing on the top piece. Well at least I know for next time (as well as maybe adding some inside pockets next time). Here is the inside so you can see the pretty fabric I found for the lining:

And now you are all caught up. I work the next 3 days in a row so do expect anything else till maybe Wednesday or Thursday. Until next time, please enjoy this photo of a New Caledonian Giant Gecko that my research team (back during my masters in Aug 07) was able to work with at a reptile show in Cleveland:

How does your garden grow......

First off.....I got the job!!!! I will be working as a pet nurse/vet tech at Banfield Pet Hospital. I will be free of Aldi after May 14th. I feel bad since I liked the people I worked with so much, but the job was just not worth it. So now instead of a green polo shirt, I will now be wearing light blue scrubs and a stethoscope. Of course we will still shop at Aldi since the prices are so good, but where I will be working is right next door to a Whole Foods Market which will help Mike and I in our quest to avoid high fructose corn syrup (or anything with fructose or corn syrup in it), avoid preservatives and additives, and overall eat more unprocessed and healthy foods.

On to the new stuff.....

From my new Better Homes cookbook, on Tuesday I made Sour Cream Chocolate Drop cookies:

 They were really, really moist, but I could faintly taste sour cream. I don't know how I feel about them or if I will make them again.

Over the weekend, while I was working, Mike decided to be earth friendly for Earth Day and buy lots and lots of plants. Here is a look at our backyard now:

If you enlarge the picture, you can see I labeled the trees. On the left is the key lime tree, the middle is some sort of lemon, and the right is valencia orange. What are those boxes on the fence? Well let me show you:

The first box on the right hold three bush goliath tomato plants. Now the middle box planted with bibb lettuce and spinach seeds:

And the final box is planted with romaine lettuce and swiss chard:

Another view of the trees:

But thats not all Mike got:

He also bought two blueberries bushes! And of course our lavender and avocado plants are still going strong. And the long box in the middle? Well it's holding my basil, parsley, and cilantro that I seeded a few weeks ago:

When everything starts growing and blooming and fruiting we will have quite the garden!!

Mike wanted me to show off the fish he pan fried for dinner on Wednesday night (as well as my homemade mashed potatoes made with my homemade chicken stock):

I think this was the mackerel, but you would have to ask him.

And then yesterday I went on a cookie spree. Again, from my new cookbook, I made snickerdoodles:

And I modified the chocolate chip cookie recipe with a mixture of milk chocolate and white chocolate chips. The mixer in action:

Yummy:

Tonight is rib night! I am going to try a recipe from one of my Food Network magazines. I will let you know how it goes!

Until then, please enjoy this photo of some baby alligators at a put-put golf place in Orlando that I visited when my Aunt, Uncle, and their girls were here:

A little bit of fishing

I know it's not really crafting or cooking but I wanted to share some of the pictures from the week with you. First it was a visit with my Aunt, Uncle, and their three girls while they were vacationing in Orlando. Here is me with Benita, Jessica, and Alandra:

It was great to see them, it's been a while. Up till about 6 or 7 years ago our families lived near each other in Ohio and I spent alot of the time with the girls when they were young. Now they are all (almost) grown up. It's so amazing what great girls they have become!

After two 10+ hour days at work, I decided that on my day off I would go fishing with Mike, my Aunt Lorri, my Grandma, and her boyfriend Ray. They caught pinfish, jacks, mackerel, trout, and grunts. I lost count of who caught what, so just enjoy these photos:

Waiting....

UPDATE: Still waiting to hear back from that opportunity....one of the ladies was out of town till today, so that explains the delay.

Sunday, of course, was the day to try out a new recipe from my new cookbook. So for breakfast I made cranberry muffins:

I am glad that my cranberries were still partially frozen cause they would have been a pain in the ass to "roughly chop" otherwise:

I substituted 3/4 cup of white flour for whole wheat flour to make them a little healthier (and more filling for breakfast). As you can see from this picture, I beat the batter a little too much since I got some peaks on my muffins:

Very, very good. I like muffins with "fresh" cranberries instead of the dried, sweetened ones.

After my muffins, I had to tackle this:

We bought too many canned goods on Saturday, and I had to rearrange the cupboard to fit them all in, but until I did they sat on the counter like this all day Saturday and all day Sunday.

I had to work the closed shift on Sunday so I asked Mike to make me his pan-seared fish. And he lovingly did:

It was so so so good! The mackerel smelled fishy but did not taste it at all. I can't really describe what is tasted like (I guess like the sauce Mike put on it).

On Monday before work I made a large pot of chili so Mike could have left overs for the week. The onions, yellow peppers, and garlic sauteing in my wonderful dutch oven:

And the finished chili:

Exciting, I know.

Today was a pork roast in the slow cooker (sorry no pictures) and a fresh strawberry pie from my new cookbook. Now technically they weren't "fresh" strawberries, but it was very close. They were strawberries that were once fresh but were frozen and then thawed. And then Mike and I each ate a piece before I remembered to take a photo:

It's not very pretty, but it was good. I made the strawberry glaze myself and didn't do a half bad job.

I was scheduled to work tomorrow, but my boss texted me and told me I had the day off. I still haven't decided what I am doing tomorrow! It will be my first day to myself in a while. On my days off I am usually cleaning since I normally only get 2 days off a week. So until next time, please enjoy this photo of Toehead. He is a bearded dragon that used to be part of the collection over at the Malone University Serpentarium. He is aptly called "Toehead" because he has a genetic defect that caused him to grow a toe out of his head:

Who needs take out (or even frozen for that matter)?

Tonight was pizza night! Yay! Mike really really loves homemade pizza and it's way cheaper than take out and even the nicer frozen pizzas. Tonights choice was half mushroom, half spinach, but all sliced olives:

My base is a homemade dough made without yeast or eggs (sometimes I make a yeast based dough, but I like the flat bread taste of this one better).
The recipe for the dough is:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk (I normally use skim)
1/4 cup oil (I normally use olive)
This dough is fairly sticky, so you may need to add a bit more flour to pick it up and roll it out on your pizza stone or whatever. If you are using a pizza stone, I do not pre-heat it since I have to roll the dough out on it. Then I top it with my homemade pizza sauce. I don't normally measure when I make the sauce, but I will give you the ingredients. It's one can of tomato paste, olive oil, minced garlic, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, and sometimes onion powder. I normally make it before I do anything else so it has time to sit and absorb all the flavors. Then I use whole milk mozzarella and slices of tomatoes. You can top it how you like from there. This pizza had fresh mushrooms (but I have used canned and they are awesome), canned, rinsed olives (I have used fresh and they are also awesome), and canned, rinsed spinach (I have not used fresh and I need to try it!). I have done chicken before, just make sure you saute it a so it's not completely raw when you put it on the pizza. I have also done a chorizo pizza too. Once you top it, bake your pizza at 425 F for about 20-25 minutes.

Alright, enough about pizza. Let me show you what Mike made for himself last night while I was at work:

 Sorry the picture is sort of blurry. Mike went fishing last weekend and ended up coming home with a ton of mackerel. I don't know what exactly he cooked it in or what spices he used, but he pan seared it and then ate it:

He said it came out really good and wasn't too fishy. Now I need to convince him to cook for me one of these nights :)

Guess who has a new cookbook? I found this at TJ Maxx for $13:

It's the Better Homes and Gardens Limited Edition Celebrating the Promise cookbook. I have not gotten a chance to look through it yet since it came plastic bound from the store. I did see it has a slower cooker section so I am pretty excited about that since mine needs some hardcore use.

Until next time, check out this photo of me from sometime back in 2007. I had dyed my hair black and cut it fairly short for me. Do you like it? Do you think I should try it again? I know Mike didn't care for it much, but I thought it was quite fun: