BBQ hamburgers

I over cooked these! They tasted a little like beef flavored cardboard. Oh well...

Homemade chicken soup

Lots of chicken soup around here... soon we will be healthy!

Canned Chicken/ Rice soup

I added spicy hot dogs and it tasted good.

BBQ beef sandwiches

Beef and Bean soup

It was going to be chili but I was stressed over the fact that my Mother-in-law was in the ER. I total forgot it and didn't even notice until Marielle pointed out it was the best chili I had made. She doesn't like chili so that makes sense!

Beef Stir-fry

Charlie's presentation

I'm home sick today so I thought I would put up a photo of Charlie at a school presentation. He had to come up with a mock business (bakery) and I helped out by making 4 batches of cupcakes and 2 batches of cookies over the weekend. The students judged each other and Charlie thought a sweet bribe, I mean sample, would help. I think maybe he has learned something at school after all. Sorry it's such a bad photo- his teacher took it.

Figaro's Pizza

They have only been in town for about 3 months. What did we do before then?

Hamburgers

Chicken Curry

See- food

The kids were gone to a mission fundraiser at the church. They will be serving the urban poor in LA this summer. I pulled weeds ALL DAY LONG so I wasn't cooking dinner. It was a meal of eat what you see.

Breakfast for dinner

Scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. When the kids were little, breakfast used to be a big meal. Gordon often cooked and it was anything from waffles, crepes to french toast.
Things have changed but that's OK. It's nice to occasionally sit down as a family and have breakfast for dinner just to remember the "good old days".

Leftovers

Spaghetti, chicken soup and boxed pizza. It's good to clean out the frig!

Chicken Soup

Gordon is sick so I made chicken soup. To make the best broth, cook a whole chicken for at least an hour. Skim off the fat, remove the chicken from the bones and reserve it. Cook up the veggies in the broth, add crushed garlic and seasonings. I like poultry seasonings. After the vegetables are tender add some of the chicken and pasta if you want.

Spaghetti

My photo didn't turn out so good!

True Cod

And I put the camera battery in the charger.

Tri Tip Steak

I couldn't take a photo because Charlie ran the battery down on my camera. He was taking a video of a bird building a nest in our bird house. It actually kind of funny because the bird kept trying to fit in sticks that were too big. If she tried to put them in sideways they would fall out of her beak. Over and over she tried, I guess that's survival of the fittest.

Leftovers

BBQ Chicken and cheese cake

I still had some raw chicken left over so I barbecued it--American style. After 20 minutes on the grill, I convection roasted it in the oven to make sure it was cooked.

Low-Carb Cheese Cake

* 1 1/2 lbs cream cheese (room temperature)
* 4 eggs (preferably room temperature)
* 1 and 1/2 teaspoon (1/2 Tablespoon) vanilla
* 1 and 1/2 teaspoon (1/2 Tablespoon) lemon juice
* artificial sweetener to your taste
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* Crust:
* 1 cup almond meal
* 2 Tablespoon melted butter
* 2 Tablespoon sugar equivalent in artificial sweetener

Heat oven to 375 F.

Tip: If you have bricks or a pizza stone or unglazed ceramic tile*, put them on the lower rack of the oven. This will hold the heat in the oven. Combine ingredients for crust, and press into the bottom of a springform pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until fragrant and beginning to brown.

Raise oven heat to 400 F.

Put cream cheese in mixing bowl, and beat until fluffy. Add other ingredients, scraping the bowl and beaters each time. When all ingredients are combined, scrape one more time, beat one more minute, and pour mixture into pan over crust.

After putting the cheesecake in the oven at 400 F, turn the oven down to 200 F. Bake for 60 to 90 minutes, checking often after an hour. When the cake is firm to touch but slightly soft in the center, or the center reaches 155 F, remove from oven. Serve chilled with strawberries.

BBQ Hawaiian Chicken

My mother used to make a recipe like this. I basically took the ingredients and modernized it. 

BBQ Hawaiian Chicken

several lbs of chicken
1 green pepper
1 bottle of BBQ sauce (I use Stubb's original)
canned pineapple 
oil as needed
1-2 Tablespoons of cornstarch in cold water
Coat the chicken with a thin layer of oil and barbecue for about 10 minutes on each side. Don't worry about cooking the meat through. At the same time, saute the green pepper in oil on the stove in a 12 inch frying pan. Once the pepper is done, stir in a bottle of BBQ sauce and add a can of pineapple with juice. Remove any bones from the chicken and chop into large cubes, add to the BBQ pan and simmer on low, while covered for 45 minutes or so. Stir in cornstarch mixed in cold water to thicken. Serve with rice.
 This recipe is very good because of the BBQing before cooking. If you are going to skip that step then you might as well get pizza.

Hen Soup

It just us hens for dinner. So I made up some homemade tomato soup with crackers. I used 3/4 can (why is it always 3/4 and not the whole can?), water, sweetener, spices and cream. A little pad of butter on top makes it just right.

Egg Scramble

We went to Honors Night at Crater for Marielle. Of course, she deserved her award but some of those kids? Come on, this is not kindergarten where everybody wins!

Gordon whipped up an egg / sausage scramble. Any meal I don't have to make is delicious.

Koi Club Potluck

I had a hamburger, salad, deviled egg and cookies. The rest of the family had to fend for themselves.

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

 

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

3 pounds of boneless beef chuck shoulder roast
2 cups ketchup
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup molasses
2 Tbls. Worcestershire Sauce
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper

Cook all ingredients in a crock pot for at least 6 hours. Remove the roast and take off the excess fat. Skim any fat off of the cooking liquid. Return meat to crock pot until reheated. Use a potato masher to crush the meat chunks. The fat can also be removed before cooking.

Ham and White Bean Soup

I pulled frozen ham from Easter out of the freezer.
Hmm... 5:54, what to make, what to make-- I started by sauteing some onions and celery in a little oil. I then added the chopped ham, water, 2 cans of white beans and garlic. I simmered that while I mixed up some cheesy drop biscuits.

Creamy Meatballs

Make meatballs out of meat (2lbs), egg and oatmeal (3/4 cup). Fry them in a large skillet, turning frequently. When they are done, drain oil and add water/broth and steak seasoning. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup of sour cream and you're done. I thought these were just OK but everyone else seemed to really like them.

Pasta Salad

True Cod and asparagus

Omelet Bar

Chicken pepper soup

 

I made up this recipe so the amounts are just approximations.

Creamy Chicken Pepper soup

1 1/2 cups of chicken
1/2 lb. Beef Polska Kielbasa (or sausage)
2 slices of onion
1/2 small red pepper
2 Tablespoons of oil
3 Tablespoons of flour
1/4 cup of cream (or milk)
1/3 cup salsa
1/3 cup corn
1 teaspoon sweet mesquite seasoning

In a large pot, boil a left over roasted chicken for at least 1/2 hour in several inches of water. This will create a broth and soften the chicken so it is easy to remove the bones. You can also use boneless chicken and broth but it won't taste as good. After the broth is made, remove the chicken from the bones and skim the fat off of the broth. Add the chicken.

In a frying pan saute the sausage, onion and red pepper in oil. Scoop out the sausage mixture into the broth. Skim off any fat in the broth created by the sausage. Add the salsa, corn and sweet mesquite seasoning.

Put some of the broth in a cup and mix in the flour. Add the cream to the flour/broth mixture and pour it all back into the soup.

Serve with shredded pepper jack cheese.

Roast Chicken...

and homemade bread.