Easy crock pot Carnitas

Carnitas, literally translated means "little meat" and is one of my favorite Mexican dishes to make at home. I think I have probably posted this before, but it is so easy, and so versatile, and well... so tasty, that I felt it bears repeating.

You will need:
1 large (family pack) pork carnita meat
1 small can dices chilis and tomatoes. I tpically use the Rotel brand
4 garlic cloves

In a large crock pot, combine the meat pieces and canned chilis and tomatoes. Using the ribbon grater, grate your garlic cloves directly into the crock pot. Give it all a good stir to make sure the pieces of meat are well coated. Set the crock pot to low and allow to cook for at least 4 hours.

Once or twice during the cooking you can move the meat around, but it is not required.

Once the meat easily falls apart when moved, it is done and ready to eat. Traditionally you'd serve with tortilas, salsa, guac or avocados, lime, cilantro, jalapenos, hot sauce, sour cream and cheese. However, there is enough broth from this to literally have Carnitas Soup, which is exactly what I did today.

Enjoy!

Almost totally Paleo Clam Chowder

There is something uniquely satisfying about good soup. My favorite has always been clam chowder. Perhaps it is because whenever my grandpa made soup, or took me out to eat, clam chowder was the top pick. Today I was chilly all day. It just seemed natural that soup was in order.

I say this is "almost" Paleo because there is a small amount of flour and some red potatoes in it. While the cream and butter are not traditionally Paleo, most "Paleoists" agree that real butter and heavy cream are acceptable in moderation.

I had to pause while I was scarfing it down in order to take a picture. Sadly, my desire to consume the contents of the bowl got the better of me when it came to geting an attractive shot. Just trust me when I say it was nearly perfect....the clam flavor was subtle and the chowder was a perfectly creamy consistency without being too thick.

I will say once again how much I love my food processor. It made slicing the veggies so easy. Here is what you will need to make the chowder:

5 medium to large red potatoes, diced into about 1 inch cubes, skin left on

1 leek, sliced thin, use the entire base, and you can use the tops if you like

4-5 smaller carrots, sliced thin

1 bunch of celery, sliced thin, icluding the leafy tops

3 cloves of garlic, grated over the pot while cooking

About 3 tbsp. bacon drippings or butter

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. flour

4 cans of diced clams

1 bottle of clam juice

heavy cream, I probably used about 1 1/2 to 2 cups, but you can adjust as needed.

Sea Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste.

I sliced the carrots, leek and celery in my food processor. In a large stock pot, melt the bacon drippings, or butter. Add in the carrots, leek and celery. You want to just sweat these out. Basically, you want the leek slices to separate and nearly fall apart.

Next, add in the garlic. When it comes to processing fresh garlic, I learned a really cool trick from Rachel Ray. Get what is called a ribbon grater (here's a link). Mine is a Medium and I got it at Walmart, and I will say it's on my list of kitchen "must haves." It's way easier than mincing and it releases more of the flavor into the dish and no chunks! Simply hold the ribbon grater over the pot while it's cooking and grate the garlic right into it! Give it a good hard tap or two and you should be left with little to no garlic on the grater - and if you are, it wipes off really easily resulting in very little wasted garlic. But you will have to get used to getting it on your fingers.

Add in the potatoes and stir well. At this point you want to add in the clam juice and the canned clams (NOT drained) and enough water to just BARELY come up to the top of the contents of the pan. Cover and bring to a boil.

While that is cooking, take a smaller sauce pan and melt the tablespoon of butter, and then reduce the heat and whisk in the flour. It should immediately become very thick - this is roux (pronounced "roo") and is the basis for all creamy sauces (and gravy without lumps). Add to this about a cup of heavy cream and whisk until it's thickened up.

When the potatoes are tender, pour in the cream roux and mix well. Add in additional cream if desired. Simmer over medium low heat, stirring regularly. The chowder should thicken nicely. Add sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste - it'll likely use more salt than you expect, just keep tasting until it's right. 

Since I'm not eating bread, I just ladled it into a bowl and tried to be patient until it was cool enough to eat... But, should you be so inclined you could serve this in a sour dough bread bowl and I'm sure a good food coma would follow. 

Kindle..... Nook.......Tablet... what to choose, what to choose...

For the last week I've struggled with my Kindle Touch. I got it for Christmas and initially was very excited about the prospect of having a bunch of books at my fingertips in a very condensed space.

Overall the experience was positive. The screen was easy to read, the device was easy to use, and really weighed no more than most paperback books. Battery life was impressive - I read voraciously and only had to charge it once.

However, I began to notice subtle things that I wished were different. While the e-Ink screen is fabulous for reading print (it's eerily like reading a hard copy book) it was nowhere near as good when you tried the "experimental" features - like web browsing. It was a neat idea, but really not all that enticing without color.

One of the biggest frustrations is that the pages in the books I read were not numbered. All that was displayed was a % of the book. Now this may not seem like a big deal....BUT, if you brush the screen it jumps MANY pages and you never know where you were because you could have been at 75% and you're now at 89%, but that could include a dozen pages or more in each 1% increment, depending on the length of the book. In the last book I read, I lost my place more than 10 times due to this "feature" and one of those times was when I set the book down, went to get a drink (or snack) and the kitten walked across the surface. Sure I should have put the screen saver on, but hey, I didn't realize that this would happen till after the fact. But more often than not, the edge of the blanket just brushed the screen... the eReader slipped off my lap or something equally accidental.

I began lamenting these issues and started wondering if I'd made the right decision in the Kindle Touch. I started reading about the other options. I knew I wanted an eReader with extra bells and whistles. And while I'd love a full-fledged tablet, what I found was the one I wanted was MUCH more expensive than the eReaders. I also didn't want to sacrifice screen size if I were getting a true tablet.

A 7" screen is great for an eReader. It keeps the device light enough that it's not a strain to hold it while you read, yet it's large enough to allow you to easily see what's in front of you. I would not however, want to watch many movies or play games of any significance (other than say Angry Birds or Solitaire) on a screen that small. I also would not want to tote around a 10" tablet just to read a book.

As far as features went, the options of a camera and microphone were pretty low on my list of considerations. My phone has a better camera than most of the low-priced tablets so why bother? I also knew that I wanted Android vs another OS. Additionally, as much as I've heard people rave about the iPad, the price is so far out of budget it's not even in the same zip code.

And that brought me to my next issue: price. I have a budget of $250 before I have to start tearing the couch apart looking for change. Since I knew I wanted a 10" tablet I first did my homework to see what the best bang for my buck was. What I found were LOTS of tablets under $250, but I also found lots of complaints about laggy response, freezing and other "issues" which I just really didn't want to have to deal with. As a result, it ruled out every 10" tablet for the price point. As a result, I ruled out "true" tablets.

That left me with the eReaders. When it comes to color there are basically three choices: Nook Color, Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. That's not to say there aren't a lot of other color eReaders out there. But what I saw in reviews made me run for the hills of either Amazon or B&N.

Every review I looked at said it was worth every penny to forego the Nook Color and get the Nook Tablet. I saw many reviews which compared the Nook Tablet to the Kindle Fire, even with the $50 price difference. I did more homework. I found that there was a small difference in screen appearance, with Nook coming out on top. Fire had more apps available, but Nook had a massively larger book collection, including the volume of free titles. Nook also beat out the Fire when it came to memory. While they both have the same processor, the Nook has 16GB memory to the Fire's 8GB and you can add 16GB more with an SD card. The Fire doesn't offer any expansion for memory.

While Amazon offers more videos and streaming, you have to pay $79/year for Prime membership. Since the point of the eReader for me is NOT watching movies etc, the Nook wins out here as well. Amazon Prime upgraded shipping didn't impress me - when I have ordered from Amazon the items arrive quick enough for me to be perfectly happy with standard "Super Saver" Shipping. Nook offers a really cool Read To Me feature, as well as the option to record my own voice reading a kid's book, which LD can then read along with later.

For what I'm going to be doing with it, the Nook Tablet was the clear winner.

But there's now icing on the cake for me - through our business we have B&N as a partner. This means we will earn a % back on all purchases made through them. This includes the Nook Tablet, eBooks, and any accessories I might decide I need down the road.

What did I take away from this? Do your homework. I can't say that enough. I heard really good things about the Kindle Touch and then when I got one, the things that bothered me were never anything I'd read about! So make sure you go hold the device if at all possible. Play around with it. Get to know it. Spend so much time there that the sales people wonder just how long you're staying. Ask a lot of questions. Read every review you can find.

Most importantly have in your mind two things: 1. How much you're willing to pay and 2. The purpose of the device. Price is easy. We all know what we're willing to (or able to) spend at a given time. Purpose however, can be a little more difficult. Look at what you get for your price point and then list off the top 6 things you MUST have, in order of importance. Then you can decide where you're willing to compromise and where you aren't. If you compromise because there are too many things you want but you can't afford the better model, you may find yourself with a bad case of buyer's remorse later, and often beyond the return window.

Happy New Year!

2011 was an interesting and eventful year for us. We got to spend lots of time with family, though it never seems enough.

Today Beth starts on her trek back to Colorado - see you in March Sweet Pea! Until then, We'll remember this:

This morning Dale took us to his office where we were given a tour of the inner workings of some of the paramedic rigs. While Beth was interested in seeing it all, she was not entirely enthusiastic about going IN any of them. LD on the other hand.... he was all over that!

Special thanks to Chris and Kevin for opening up shop and giving us an insider's view!

I put the camera in Dale's hands and had a rare opportunity to be an observer for a change.

Christmas Past

Keeping it short and sweet, so as to avoid taking away from life!

Christmas this year was exactly what it should be. Family together. Good food. Lots of wonderful memories to carry forward.

If everyone else had such a holiday every year, life would be perfect.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled surfing.

This..... is a War Cake

A what?

You heard me, A War Cake.

How did we get to the point where a War Cake was needed? Being born on Christmas Eve kind of sucks. Luckily, LD doesn't know this. We've always made sure that we have his birthday party a week before his actual birthday, so that he never suffers the "Merry Birthday" consequence of having been born so close to Christmas. Right now there are Christmas presents under our tree, and right next to them on the piano bench are his birthday gifts.

The gifts are easy. Toys. Just about any toy. Heck, the box the toy comes in is good as far as he's concerned. The cake on the other hand can prove to be difficult to guess. Last year he wanted simple. As long as it was chocolate, it was all good. This year? Not so much.

When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, LD said, "a war cake."

A war cake? Please explain....

Army guys, a tank... and then exploding noises.

Ok, I get it. A war cake.

Initially, I thought maybe I'd take the easy way out. As much as I like cooking and baking, I was feeling a decided lack of creativity and figured if I could get a place like Costco or Winco to make and decorate the cake, then it was worth the cost. After spending almost an hour at three bakeries last night, I realized that the choices of commercially made birthday cakes were lame, lame and well.... lame. The closest to a "war cake" was one of those where they put a photo image of the child's face on the body of a soldier. I knew that really wouldn't do.

I spent another hour looking for the right army guys - mainly I wanted something that was more than just the plain bag of them that you find everywhere - there had to be more to it. What I ended up with was a big tub of military stuff. It's neat because once the cake is gone, LD has one more toy to play with (and storage for it!).

Today LD and I baked, assembled and decorated his cake, and it went a little something like this:

That's two very thin layers for the base

The start of the mountain for the waterfall

At this point the battery died in my camera... so I missed a few shots. But we had good momentum so there was no way I was going to stop and wait for the battery to be ready to go. I opted to remove the piece on the lower right corner - in order to fit in the tank... cause what's a war cake without a tank?

All I can hope for at this point is that the little guys don't escape and completely destroy the contents of our refrigerator before tomorrow afternoon.

It's a 90% kind of day

Sometimes, eating completely Paleo is just, well... I don't want to. However, I also know that I definitely don't want to go back to how I ate before. So, on days like today, I'll shoot for 90% Paleo. Here's an idea of what it looks like - a little washed out from the flash:

This is chicken from the crock pot; sausage, celery and onion dressing and a nice green salad. 90% Paleo means that at least 90% of what I eat is Paleo. In this case, the salad dressing and bread in the dressing was NOT Paleo. However, given the overall volume of the meal, the non-Paleo portion was at 10% or less.

If you are interested in trying Paleo but think you will have a hard time sticking to it 100% of the time, don't sweat it. As long as you're eating this way 90% or more of the time, you'll notice the difference!

I'm in love.... with Kale!

For those of you who already know about Kale and like it, forgive me, I just "discovered" it and think it's awesome. If you aren't familiar with it, you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.

Kale is a DARK green leafy vegetable. It resembles leaf lettuce... on steroids. It's stiff, crinkly and I don't know that I'd want to eat it raw. However, with a little heat and water or oil (or bacon grease) it becomes a brilliant bright green addition to foods. It doesn't take more than a few minutes to turn from crunchy and, frankly bitter, to a tender burst of color while still retaining some of it's density.

Most recently I made this:

It's sliced up chicken and apple sausages, onions and kale, all sauteed in olive oil. And yes, it's ALL Paleo "approved" so no need to worry there! To make it you'll need:

Olive oil - 1/4" in your non-stick saute pan
half a yellow onion, sliced
1 package chicken & apple sausages, sliced
a few leaves of Kale, rinsed and torn into smallish pieces.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat, add in the onions. Cook until they start to brown. Add in the sliced sausages. Allow these to cook so they brown slightly on both sides. Add in the Kale, cook until "wilted" and serve. We had broccoli with this, but you could add in more Kale and serve it solo without any side dishes.

Win a Kindle!

Yet another GREAT freebie from my absolute most favorite resource site: Freely Educate.

Right now, they're running a promotion where you can win an Amazon Kindle eReader. I know too many people who want one of these right now, including your's truly! If you're on that list, go to their website and follow the directions to enter the drawing. You can enter through Cyber Monday, November 28, 2011 at midnight CST

Just take a moment and go to Freely Educate and follow the easy instructions - you have 4 possible entry methods!

After you've entered, take some time and peruse their GREAT website - it's packed with tons of free homeschooling resources. 

Meatloaf & a yummy salad

I snapped this shot with my cell phone because if I didn't do it then, I wouldn't have gotten a picture of it before I ate it all gone!

Dinner tonight was individual bacon topped meatloaf and a salad made of avocado, eggs, tomatoes and red onion. The food was strictly Paleo, super easy to make, really filling and well, delicious!

For the meatloaf you'll need:
2lbs ground beef (you can sub 1lb of the ground beef with any other ground meat you like)
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes and green chilis
4 eggs
18 strips of thick cut bacon

Preheat oven to 375. Set out a broiler pan with the drip tray - so the meatloaves don't sit in their own grease.
Mix together all ingredients except the bacon. Divide into 6 equal portions and top each loaf with three slices of bacon. I found a roundish shape worked well, but you could try rectangular as well - whatever floats your boat.

Cover with foil and bake for about an hour - or until done completely through. Remove the foil, change the heat to broil and return to the oven just long enough for the bacon to crisp up a little - keep your eye on it as it can go from undercooked to incinerated in the blink of an eye.

For the salad you'll need:
2 avocados - I used small but you could use two large ones and have even more avocado yumminess!
2 medium tomatoes
4 hard cooked eggs
3 slices of red onion

Do a rough dice of all ingredients, put in a bowl and mix well - don't worry about mashing the avocado, in fact you want this to happen as it creates the creamy "sauce" that coats everything. Season with salt & pepper, or whatever strikes your fancy. Tonight I used Mrs. Dash "Table Blend" and some sea salt.

Serve as is or over some leaf lettuce.

For a real treat, add some crispy bacon!

14 already?

Sorry folks, I don't have any pictures right now - they're all still in a box, as yet unpacked.

Fourteen years ago today, shortly after 7am, Beth decided to join us. Life has never been the same since. I continue to be amazed by the wonderful young lady she's growing to be, and hope that each birthday will be wonderful.

Please join me in wishing a happy 14th birthday to my Sweet Pea!

We love you!

Whew! Glad that week is over!

The last week has been a busy and stressful one. We started on 9/30 with a rushed trip to pick up my grandma in an attempt to get her back here before my uncle Doc passed away. Unfortunately, since we all decided sleep was sort of important, we missed by a couple of hours.

Then  came our "stumble" upon a rental house in Chico that would work great for us. We signed the lease on Friday. So, long story short, we'll be moving in on the 14th!

Yes folks, the day I never thought would happen, has happened. I've given up rural life (not entirely without some kicking and screaming) to come back to Chico "for good"... or at least until my dad reaches the point where he can no longer take care of himself. We're all hoping that's many years off.

Halloween is coming and then begins the crazy holiday season. We're looking forward to having family & friends over to the new place. And of course... the man cave. Yes, a literal cave under the house. Ok, so it's technically a dirt floor basement, but Dale is thrilled and frankly, so am I. I don't care that the location of the entry to it totally throws off the layout of the kitchen work triangle.

Every guy needs a man-space, just as every woman needs to have her home be a home, not a catch all for her hubby's toys. No offense guys, but let's face it, your stuff can overwhelm a house is a short period of time. To any woman who thinks her husband or significant other doesn't need this, I'm sorry, but you really should try it. In fact, we all need a space that is just our own. I don't disagree that many women have their home overrun with their stuff too! Heck, I wish the house we'd found had 4 bedrooms so I could have a room dedicated to crafts and sewing. But... I'll settle for Dale having his own space at this point!

Now for the bad news - once we move our only internet will be by way of our phones, or if we bring our laptop to my mom's or another location where there's wifi access. I guess I better figure out how to blog from my phone huh?

Counting down to the "big move".....

Life happens. Then you die.

Life is what happens when you make plans, or... when you wish you had better or more fun things to do. Then you die. It's inevitable.

I've become engulfed in life over the last decade or so. I've had so much to deal with and so little time to accomplish all that I planned. And it seems, things have rarely gone the way I'd hoped they would. Not that it's a bad thing, just the reality of life. I've wavered, waffled and wondered what the heck I should be doing. I try not to look at things as good or bad, only as learning experiences and sometimes, I can be, well... rather thick headed about learning these lessons. Note to self - pay attention and learn the lesson offered (no later than the second time offered), rather than having to be smacked about the head with it for several years before it sinks in! Just sayin' self, get a clue.

I've moved, AGAIN, and feel in a sort of limbo, AGAIN, waiting for things to settle and the dust to clear so I can get my bearings and decide what direction to head next, AGAIN. Gosh, I think I see a pattern here.

I tried a "dot-com" web address (for a fee) for a year and have decided that despite how "cool" it may seem to have my own dedicated web address, I just can't justify the cost. Maybe in the future, but not now. So I'm reverting my blog back to it's previous "dot-blogspot" address.

I got new camera lenses for my birthday and haven't had the time to go try them out. Why? Because life happened.

It all culminated with the death of my Uncle Doc yesterday. My mom and I both have the same reaction right now - "I'm not sure how to feel about it yet." So, for now, I think I'm going to leave it with some of the memories that I have of him - and these were so typical for him.

He had a cat named Malt. Malt was a short haired, solid black cat. When Malt purred, which he did often, it sounded like a pigeon cooing. At the end of Doc's life, a picture of Malt was near his bed.

Once Doc took "putting presents under the tree" quite literally - he HUNG the Christmas Tree from the ceiling, rather than putting in on the floor.

Doc LOVED The Far Side comic strip and regularly would cut them from the paper. There are MANY of these clipped cartoons saved now because of his love for them.

My first exposure to tofu was at his house. I refused to eat it thinking he'd said it was "toad food." Who knew that I'd grow up to love frogs and toads later?

When you'd ask Doc how he is, a typical response would be, "oh moderately well."

So, Uncle Doc (who's given name was Lyle), thank you for your contribution to our lives and for reminding me that following through on my plans is something I need to do even though life happens. Because some day I'll die and it'd be really nice to be able to look back over my life and see that I actually lived it, took charge of it, as opposed to just letting it happen.

I think that's a lesson we all to easily forget.

Proudly Paleo

During the last week of July we totally changed how and what we eat. For those of you who've seen it on Facebook, the "diet" is referred to as the Paleolithic Diet, or just Paleo. We've removed all refined sugars, starches,grains and simple carbs from our diet and our home, as well as dairy and any artificial sweetners. We've said good bye to pasta, bread, cereal, rice, legumes (including peanuts) and potatoes. We're eating everything FRESH - lean meats & fish, produce and good for you fats (such as olive oil, coconut oil, avocados and nuts).

In a month's time we've lost weight without trying, we feel better, have more energy and a whole host of other good things - including, for the most part, sleeping better. We also joined a gym a week ago. And, I don't even want to talk about the muscles that I'd forgotten I had, which were tortured for 30 minutes yesterday evening and have become progressively more sore as the day wore on today.

I thought I'd share some of the questions I have been asked since I started eating this way:

"where do you get your carbs?" I get complex carbs from fresh veggies and leafy greens
"how do you deal with not eating bread, pasta or dairy?" surprisingly well
"how do you handle cravings?" Well... I haven't really had any
"are you hungry all the time?" Nope, not at all. In fact, I'm often feeling full longer than I did before eating this way.
"all that fat can't be good for you." Referring to eating lots of nuts, avocados, bacon (oh yes bacon), olive and coconut oil. Well, since everything else I eat has very little fat, I actually NEED to consume GOOD fats regularly - these not only help me feel full, but they're good for me!
"what about ice cream? (or bread, or insert whatever food you think you can't live without here)" I really thought I'd crave these things - they were such a huge part of my life before "going Paleo" that I was certain I would cry at night when I thought of ice cream or brownies or a loaf of fresh hot french bread. Yet, I have not shed a tear, not even once. I have not longed for anything that I thought I would.

To give you an idea of what a typical day's food looks like for me - here's what I ate today:

Breakfast - egg fritatta with onion, bacon and broccoli with a large spoonful of left over sausage gravy from Sunday's brunch. Lots of water
Lunch - turkey lunch meat, cole slaw and grapes
Snack - 4 Medjool dates filled with sunflower nut butter
Dinner - salmon cakes, broccoli and bacon
Dessert - brownies and coconut vanilla ice cream

In my experience, the very best part of eating this way is that you eat till you're full - there's no calorie counting, no portion size control, nothing that you'd typically associate with dieting. Definitely NO starving!! All in all, I have a really hard time viewing it as a "diet." It's just my life now.

The item people have been most interested in are the brownies. They look and smell nearly 100% like a traditional, from the box or from scratch brownie. They baked up somewhat firm but chewy around the edge, and the center rose during baking and then fell back down after resting a few minutes. The center was VERY gooey, I cooked them only 30 minutes, the recipe's minimum cooking time, because my whole family likes them barely cooked in the center. I think in the future I'd cook them the full 35 minutes. The brownie recipe can be found here, and uses NO sugar or flour. It calls for walnuts, but you could sub ANY nut (almond, pecan, cashew, macadamia etc). It uses honey (raw) for sweetener and bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder for the amazing chocolate flavor.

The brownies are heavy, dense and definitely stick to your teeth, particularly if you get one of the edge pieces - just how I like them (I'm not a fan of cake type brownies). The flavor is extremely chocolatey, but not sweet - like eating a very bittersweet chocolate bar. But, it's not so sweet that you cringe. If you wanted a more mild flavor, you could use 70% cacao instead of the bittersweet. I'm also contemplating macadamia nuts in place of walnuts.

How do they compare to traditional brownies? Well, they're NOT the same. I think the mistake a lot of people make when doing things like this is that they expect to find a substitute that is identical to what they're used to. In this case I went in NOT thinking of traditional brownies, but rather viewing this as a NEW kind of dessert - asking myself several things - do I like the flavor, the texture, the after taste etc. Most importantly, would I eat it again? To all of these questions I can most certainly say YES!! but not soon.

One of the things Paleo does to you is quell your cravings for sweets. Typically a date or two or some fruit is all it takes for me to NOT want anything remotely sweet for a while.

At any rate, the brownies were, in my opinion (and my mom's - who LOVES brownies) a success and we will definitely make them again... just as soon as we're recovered from this batch. I'll leave you with pictures of the four things we ate tonight and an open invitation to ask any questions you have regarding Paleo.

Salmon Cakes: canned Alaskan wild salmon, eggs, red onion, ginger and dill (s&p to taste)

Brussels Sprouts and Bacon: brussels sprouts, thick cut bacon, white onion, garlic and a chicken broth reduction (these are the brussels sprouts that convinced my mom to eat them - the last time she had them was before I was born and they were "awful"). If you think you don't like these little gems, you owe it to try  them this way.

Brownies: no flour, no sugar, recipe here:

Coconut Vanilla ice cream: no cream, no sugar, recipe here - notice the brown color? It looks like coffee flavored ice cream due to the vanilla extract and honey. (On the recipe page they used NO honey and vanilla bean instead of extract). I was thinking mmmm some espresso powder would make this amazing!!

What have you been doing lately?

A lot of time summer comes around and, particularly in the heat of the valley, people do a whole lot of nothing but lounging around, inside where it's cool, or outside by the creek/lake/pool.

I've been down in Chico for a while now, mainly because the bulk of projects at Dad's are done, but also to spend some much needed time with Dale. We're enjoying the warm weather - when it comes to playing in sprinklers, going swimming and in general staying inside with AC when it gets too hot.

A couple weeks back, the roommate situation became more than we could take. I won't go into all the details, but needless to say we found ourselves wanting to move overnight. Dale is currently waiting to find out IF a house we'd like eventually becomes available, so he didn't want to move to another rental if we could absolutely avoid it. If the house does come through, it looks like LD and I (and the pets) will be back in the valley permanently. Of course we'll still make several trips a year up to dad's to help him out with big stuff (stacking wood and the like), but for the most part it looks like we may be back!

After deciding there was no point in renting (specifically getting locked into a year lease) I talked with my mom and we put a bunch of stuff in storage (from Dale's and my mom's) and we moved in with her. While we were all originally concerned it'd feel crowded, it's surprisingly not, even with only one bathroom. Dale and my step dad work nearly opposite schedules, so there's hardly ever a time when they're both home (aside from weekends) and LD and I have plenty to do during the day. Everyone has their own bedroom, albeit LD sleeps on the air bed in the office, but hey, it works!

Since we've been here I've helped my mom & step dad by:

• cleaning out and organizing the office
• organizing the laundry room
• cooking meals
• doing dishes
• general household cleaning
• doing laundry
• mowing the lawn
• doing other assorted "needs to be done" items

Most recently she commented on her flower garden. MANY years ago she wanted an "English-type" flower garden. While that's often hard to accomplish in the valley heat, she did come up with something lovely. Since then however, she went back to school and life took over - and so did the weeds. Her garden was totally overgrown and you couldn't see what was there. 

Last week, I decided I was going to start weeding it. Since then, I removed all the weeds. Over the weekend, mom and I expanded the area that the flower garden occupies. We also laid down newspaper over the freshly tilled soil - this action serves multiple purposes. First, it keeps her kitties from making deposits in the soil. Can you say EWWW??? Second, it acts as a weed barrier. Ideally MANY layers of paper would be put down, but we didn't have many layers, so we went with what we had, which was two layers. It'll work for now. 

Next weekend is a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. She's taken this whole week off. Yesterday she spent the afternoon looking up all the plants she has in her yard - she wanted to know what conditions were needed for each plant and which of those in pots could go in the newly cleared flower garden. Last night we placed 6 potted plants in the garden area. 

Today I'm going to continue working on yard clean up and then after that I'll move on to the landscaping plan I came up with over the weekend - it will take out some of the lawn in the back that is patchy due to poor conditions (foot traffic, water deficiencies, etc) and replace it with pavers and a brick border. 

Yesterday I also fabricated an outdoor turtle pen. $15 and some DIY turned a kids' plastic wading pool and some hardware cloth into a pretty nifty outdoor place for Hector. 

Eventually I'll try to get some pictures of things, but for now I need to get back out there. It's cool and starting to get light, the best time to work outside in Chico during the summer. 

What have you done over the last couple of weeks? Any projects accomplished? 

Pico De Gallo

Some call it Salsa, others call it Pico De Gallo. Americans often confuse the two. Salsa is typically cooked, Pico is not.

Keeping it short and sweet:

This makes roughly 7 cups of Pico.

1 bunch cilantro, diced, with about 2 tbsp set aside - you won't be using all of it. I used about 1/4 of the bunch
1/2 of a  white onion, diced
6 large roma tomatoes, diced
3 tomatillos, diced
2 jalapenos - diced - remove the seeds and white inside from one of them before dicing, set aside half of the other one with the seeds
Juice of 6 limes, set aside the juice of one
Salt

combine all ingredients, except those you've set aside, in an air tight container. In a food processor, blender or "bullet," blend the lime juice, cilantro and jalapeno you set aside, pour it over the rest of the ingredients.

Mix well.

Salt to taste. I usually let it sit for a while before adding the salt. You'll find it takes more salt than you anticipate.

Crazy Salad

For tomorrow's summer BBQ at my friend Sonia's house, I am making a pasta salad, ham and cucumber wraps and pico de gallo.

Today I'd like to talk about the salad. I need help. This makes an obscene amount of salad... I keep telling myself that "next time" I will make less, but somehow I never do. I must be crazy to be making this much pasta salad.

This is also quite possibly the most expensive pasta salad on earth - at least considering it's one that does not use specialty ingredients like say...truffle oil or lobster, or things you have to go to a specialty store to obtain. It does make a large quantity, but even considering that it's still on the upper end of cost for potluck bbq foods.... As a result, I make it maybe once or twice a year. The salad is appealing, both visually and to the pallet, unless of course you don't like pasta salad, in which case, we need to re-evaluate our friendship. If you don't like pasta salad though, this one might change your mind. For the sake of our friendship, just try it...

One thing I've never liked about most pasta salads is that they use mayonnaise or oils as the basis of the dressing. Don't get me wrong, I like mayo - on sandwiches, in potato salads and of course to make ranch dressing among other things. Oil is ok too, but not here.

When it comes to pasta salad, I like things with a lot more flavor and texture than what is typically found. This salad can also become a full meal with the addition of some diced ham or even some chicken, or as is for those of you who are averse to meat in things (like your stomach). To make my pasta salad you'll need the following - and be warned - this makes a HUGE amount of salad (Beth said she thinks 20 lbs) so feel free to cut it in half or even in quarters... or take it to a BBQ where there are lots of hungry people. Other than that, you'll have to resign yourself to eating it for every meal for the next week straight....

You'll Need:
4 12oz packages Rainbow Rotinni
4 12oz bottles Johnny's Jamaican Mistake dressing
2 8oz cans cut baby corn.
2 3.8oz cans sliced olives
2 5oz cans sliced water chestnuts
4 6.5oz jars marinated artichoke hearts, these come "quartered" and we'll cut them in half again
2 English cucumbers, diced (no need to peel these!)
3 4oz containers crumbled tomato and basil feta.
8 "mini" bell peppers - you can use your choice of colors. You can also use full size ones. In that case you'll probably only need one or 1 1/2
4 Roma tomatoes - find large ones, or use more smaller ones, dice and remove all the seeds (slime as Beth calls it)
1 large red onion, diced

Boil the pasta until just cooked - don't overcook it or you'll be sorry. You're shooting for "al dente" texture here. If you aren't sure what that means, simply remove the pasta from the heat before it's completely tender. If you test it and think it needs another couple of minutes, it's time to stop cooking it. Drain and run under cold water until it's no longer warm - you want to keep it from cooking further. Four bags of pasta fills two collanders.

It really is pretty stuff. I use the "rainbow" rotini because it adds nice color to the salad.

Once it's cooled, find a huge bowl, preferrably one with an air tight lid. Place all the pasta in the bowl and add in two bottles of the dressing.

Make sure you lick the little paper seal that comes off the dressing from under the lid... It's sort of a sweet, tangy dressing. Add a little water to each bottle and swish it around - you want to make sure you get all the goodness from the bottle as well as add just a little extra liquid. I don't know about you but I really can't stand a dry pasta salad. Place the lid on the bowl and send the pasta to the refrigerator to think about what it's doing. It needs to repent for a while with the dressing.

Find another large container and put all the veggies in it. Realize that your "large" container is not large enough and find something bigger. Make sure to remove all the spongy and seeded parts of the tomatoes.

When removing the "yucky" part from the tomatoes here's what you'll have - on the right, the stuff you keep; on the left the stuff you don't.

Empty all the canned items into a colander and rinse well. For the artichoke hearts, drain and rinse and cut in half - there's enough flavor left in them and with the dressing to make you happy. Cut the water chestnuts in half or even quarters. Add in a bottle of the dressing.  Send this to the refrigerator because like the pasta even veggies need to repent.

Leave both containers in the refrigerator overnight. Stir occasionally - this is especially important with the pasta - you want the dressing to really soak into the pasta. The next morning, combine the two containers, add in the last bottle of dressing and the Feta - making sure it's crumbled up well - may people aren't a fan of it, but I find that crumbling it more seems to take the edge off. You can omit the cheese if you really feel the need. (psst... don't omit the cheese.)

Give it all a good stir and return it to the refrigerator until it's time to serve. This is best if served well chilled.

Right now, this is what it looks like... The pics of the finished product won't be available till after tomorrow so stay tuned.