Company is Coming...and we're making a MESS

The cooking is still on a back burner sorry to say, I miss cooking! The garden is in full swing and the weeds are growing just as well as the plants are. The bank is driving us absolutely crazy and I can't tell you how my life will change when and IF this FHA loan goes through.

We are cutting down yet another tree today. A large limb fell and shattered Chuck's nice new truck window and dented the side of his bed. A couple months ago another limb knocked off his side mirror. So we have a complete mess in our front yard and half a tree to finish cutting down tomorrow. The stress of hoping Chuck doesn't get hurt is almost too much for me. I just hate it. We can't afford to get someone to do it and he does have lots of experience and has taken down 4 others so far, but I don't like it nonetheless.

Chuck's Aunt from Florida is coming one day this week, and I have to make something homemade since she is on the road and eating out so much. And I want to impress, since she is the closest thing to Chuck's Mom besides his sisters.

I going to try one of my readers recipes this week. Chicken Salad on buns and Cranberry Orange Walnut Salsa. Yum.

You'll find her Chicken Salad Recipe under my last post in comments. She is starting a cooking blog of her own...Which you'll find in my listing.

Here is my version of Cranberry Orange Salsa
1 12 oz bag of cranberries
1 large or 2 small pkgs cranberry jello (strawberry or cherry could be used here)
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tsp grated orange peel
2 oranges peeled and diced fine (yes there will be more juice from chopping them fine, that's a good thing)
1 cup toasted walnuts chopped fine

Combine first four ingredients and bring to boil, cooking until jello disolves, cranberries are tender or pop and mixture thickens, about 10 min.

Mix in chopped oranges and toasted walnuts. Chill at least 4 hrs and keeps up to a week.

Thank you Annette, this is a life saver this week when I'm terribly stressed and not in the mood to make decisions...you really helped me out by your posting! This sounds very homey, light and refreshing. This should be a nice break from the road food Chuck's aunt is getting lately.

I'll let you know how the Chicken Salad turns out : )

Can't wait for your posts to start rolling in from your new blog!

Hoping to get back to cooking and/or baking soon!

Summer heat is here...Bring on the Pizza Pasta Salad!

I feel it's been longer than two weeks since I've posted, and really miss it. This new job and all the yard work, garden to put in, and getting this house loan through the bank...is taking up all my time lately. I love the yard and garden, but will be glad that most of the hard work is done for this year, and this stressful loan stuff is almost over now, and I can get back to regular posts soon. We've lived here for three years now on land contract and we are going through our second loan attempt. We could use a prayer or two! These pics were taken a couple weeks ago, and lot's has been done since then and it's amazing how much things have grown, bloomed and changed in the garden in just two weeks. I wish I had pics from when were first got here. The whole yard was over grown like you wouldn't believe. The grass grew in the back yard b/c it didn't see the sun...you had to see it...we've come a long way baby! We love to work in the yard/garden together and it's a good thing : )

That front bed at the drive is new and there's one on the other side of the drive too. There were bushes all along the property line on the outside of the garden, shading some of the garden....no more! Yippee! Eventually as $ allows we will put up either alot of ornamental grasses or privacy fence or both...we have new grasses planted every 3 ft or so and spread wildflower seeds between so we'll see what happens.

Enough of that...

I made something this past week, that I haven't made since last summer, that I have to admit I have really mastered and am pretty proud of...Pizza Pasta Salad. You haven't tasted another Pasta Salad like it.

No, no picture...can you believe it? Sorry. The story on THAT is I had it all made and was waiting on getting my mozzarella/provelone at the store, and my "almost hubby" couldn't wait...and I ended up adding his fav Sharp Cheddar that doesn't go with this...but is his FAV cheese (he's a cheese freak...my big RAT)...so I just added it and said "whatever" this time. He was happy. Sometimes it's good for Papa to be happy. Especially when he's trying to quit smoking...arg.

So, I wasn't about to take a pic of this truly awesome pasta salad with the wrong cheese in it for you! I will make it a few more times over the summer and post a pic...but after I tell you about it, you'll want to make it pic or no pic!!

PIZZA PASTA SALAD RECIPE


2 boxes of Tri Color spring shape pasta
Drain good.
Pour into the largest bowl you own.
Pour over warm pasta 1 bottle Ken's Zesty Italian Dressing and 1 medium jar your favorite Salsa
(this salsa idea works especially well for those who don't care for raw chunks of tomato, you know who you are out there...)
1 long pepperoni chub or 2 shorter Hormel chubs (whatever you find at your store)
You want to hand cut this pepperoni into small bite size chunks how ever you like, and fry them up...yes...fry them up! This drains about 1/2 cup grease from it and intensifies the flavor, trust me. Drain on paper towels and let cool a bit, then add to the bowl. This really is one of the star ingredients of this recipe. Just trust me.
If you like your pepperoni crisp on your pizza...you know what I'm talking about...

1lb Mozzarella however you like it best. I buy the fresh chunks and dice it up in cubes.
1lb. Provelone same as above.
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
Throw all the cheese in the bowl. Toss it all around to coat it all with dressing.

Now, you get to customize and use the toppings you normally would order on your side of the pizza!

Here's what we add:
1 medium jar whole green olives
1 small can slices black olives
2 containers of whole mushrooms
slice them and saute them in olive oil and wine a few minutes till soft but not mushy maybe 5 min.
1 green pepper/1 yellow pepper ...both medium sized 
Blanched well and diced (not too small)
Fresh ground Black Pepper and  a bit of Fresh Oregano and Basil (if you have it) makes it all POP!
If you don't have a bit of these fresh herbs, the herbs in the Ken's dressing is quite enough, so don't worry about it. Dried won't be the same here so I don't suggest it.

Throw it all in the bowl and fold so all is coated well and let sit for a day...YES a WHOLE DAY! haha

I've also put young zucchini in it before and it's great, although I know it's not a pizza topping : )

You can't fail at this since it's all premade basically, and your putting in what YOU like. And it's good for you too!

This stuff is so good you can eat it all week and not get tired of it...we pack it for lunches and snack on it, and it's so good for a cool dinner in hot weather. It's a meal itself, nothing else needed.

The combo of the Ken's Zesty Italian and the Salsa is really great for the dressing! Hope you like it!

The bread is on hold till the heat of summer is past...so we're back to buying bread for a bit. I just can't get it all done right now. But it's a goal to eventually have enough of the house work done to be able to bake on Sunday. Just not there yet.

Considering a new cooking project now that I have the bread where I want it. We love wings and have kind of ran out of places we want to go to get them.
I may start a Wing Project, starting out green...not making them at home hardly ever...and perfect a recipe for wings we can make at home, just the way we love them...and not settle for what we get eating out. I love a dry rub, low sodium and just a bit spicy...or a sweet sticky BBQ. He prefers Hot Wings (not me). What about you? Have a great wing recipe??

No, I have definitely not forgot about the "Legal" Rich Chocolate Cake recipe from the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook...it's coming soon. Wish I had a big old piece of that cake tonight with a tall cold glass of milk!

How about sending me one of your favorite summer recipes?

Janie