She's going to add WHAT to the salad???

I enjoy food. Okay, I enjoy GOOD food. I would never venture to Food Critique aspirations (or Bizarre Foods either!), but I am open for new food experiences. I have expanded my palate as I've grown older and have tired some pretty exciting things over the last 10 years (Alpaca, cow tongue, cow heart, cow intestines, different kinds of calamari). However, when I was younger, my idea of a salad was pretty basic: iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, maybe carrots, I'd pick out the onions if there were any -- ALL of it smothered in Ranch dressing!

My mother got us to first eat salad with what we called "Vinegar-Oil Salad," a scrumptious mixture of tomatoes, shredded cheese, chopped celery and diced avocado mixed with apple cider vinegar, oil, s/p, garlic and onion salts -- all tossed together with (she used) shredded iceberg lettuce, and we'd scramble over the bits left in the bowl after the lettuce was gone. Still a family favorite but all us kids have added to it our own twists.

But my Mama taught me to be respectful to others and if you were eating at someone else's house, to eat what you were offered. How she enforced this I have no recollection; maybe I'm just naturally polite :) So, one time on my mission, my companion and I (Hi, Sarah!) were with an investigator in her tiny apartment. We had to catch a train, but this lady wanted to make us something fast to eat before we left (bless her heart).

She has me cutting lettuce and Sarah cutting up fruit (strawberries, nectarines, kiwi) while she's making a vinegar dressing. Then, much to my surprise, she tossed it all together!! Fruit and lettuce?? What?? She kept saying over and over, "Lettuce is just water. You need something filling (pointing to the fruit)." And I'm thinking sarcastically, I know we're in a hurry, but do we really need to toss it all together?

With my first bite ever of fruit, romaine lettuce and vinaigrette, my vegetable life has never been the same! Wow! What have I been missing?!? If you've never tried a kiwi or nectarine or strawberry in a vinaigrette salad, you really need, no - have - to try it! This coming from a Ranch lover. :)

Expand your taste buds...your mouth will thank them!
Just leave the lobster and crab in their tanks for me :) Hey, I have to draw the line somewhere!

And We're Moving On...

That was fun. No, I didn't make this pie; I bought it from someone at work who was selling them for a Scout fundraiser. I just let it un-thaw then zapped it in the micro for a few seconds. After I took this picture, I added two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream and enjoyed sharing it with my hubby after the girls were in bed.

Why am a showing a picture of a piece of a pie I didn't make...? I was sick of politics and didn't have any chocolate :) This was the best I could do. Plus, it was delicious!! :)

Enjoy the small things, because before you know it, they're gone (like chocolate chips)!

Men Vs Women

In an earlier post, I had mentioned how my husband and his father had offered to go to the store while I was at work and pick up a few requested items (honestly, 6 things) I needed for meals for the weekend that I didn't have time to get before I left for work that day. I had also said that it was a whole other story, for another time. I've mainly put off the telling of this story, not because of any significance, rather I would hate to come across ungrateful or demeaning. On the contrary. I love our differences and his help around the house, and I am grateful to my in-laws for the help and support they give us. (Disclaimer: D read this and approved it--chuckled-- before it was posted)

Simply put: Men think differently than Women

(W= explaining to M before she sends him to the store with a list)
(M= explination after returning home from the store)

**identity of items changed for their own protection**

W: I need a block of cheese and 1 pound of hamburger
M: The corn chips were next to the cheese.
W: We need chicken breast for the BBQ.
M: But the stakes were on sale.
W: 5 pounds of potatoes, some carrots (yada,yada) so I can make a stew for next week.
M: Dinty Moore was having a sale, 10 for $10! Look, now you don't have to make it at all!
W: Here's the list
M: I know _____ wasn't on the list, but I figured since it was on sale, you could do something with it... what milk?

Tip: Cash and a calculator (but that's a good tip for me, too)

Guess What I Made???

Let me tell you now I never confess to be anywhere close to Rachael Ray. I make cookies now and then (my sister makes them better), the occasional chocolate cake, and fudge of course. But homemade biscuts? Never thought I would, but I was craving biscuts and sausage gravy for some odd reason. I didn't want to go to the store to get the Pillsberry biscuts so I figured I'd look for a recipe. Then, as if a sign, I was looking through my Better Homes and Gardens magazine while at work last night and low and behold...a biscut recipe! Looked easy enough, but I'd need buttermilk. Daryl went to the store with his Dad (he was visiting). Bad idea, but that's another story. Let's just say I gave them a list of 6 things and they came home with a whole lot more. :)

Anyway, feeling quite accomplished, I tried to get some pictures but the pictures don't do it justice. They were a bit heavier than I would have liked, but for my first try they tasted pretty yummy.

Just know that a good friend inspired me to give homemaking a try. I may even try bread after this, without a bread maker...maybe. :)

They were more golden then the pictures shows