Happy 4th of July!

Free Vintage 4th of July Clip Art

Quick, Cute & Easy 4th of July Table Décor with jars...one of my favorite things!

Click HERE to check out more jar ideas in my
 "Put It In  The Jar" Pinterest Board.

Click on the painted jars picture to get some great 4th of July Recipes.

Have a safe & Happy Independence Day!

Sweet Sunny Spicy Spanish Guitar kind of Day

Yes it's 100 outside but you know I like it hot! Red Pork Chili Colorado, Fry Bread & Yellow Lemon Buttercreams. Yum.

I had some beautiful chops but was craving something spicy & saucy even though it is hot. This is great though because it's simple and you don't have to stand in a hot kitchen fussing over it. This is just 4 large chops cut in big chunks, browned, 2 chicken boullion, just enough water to cover and 1/2c spaghetti sauce (I didn't have 1/2 can of tomato paste but this came out great), 1/2 large yellow onion slices really thinly, 4 cloves of grated garlic, 2 tbsp of chili powder, 1 tbsp of cumin. Stewed for about 2 hours or until pork is tender. Simple and so so good.

I'm experimenting with a fry bread recipe. I'm really trying to work that one out for my son who is thinking about getting a gourmet food truck. I started with a "biga" as though I were making a foccacia bread. I hope it turns out. It looks bubblalicious right now. I will repost a picture to this post if it comes out good so stay tuned. Is there "bad" bread? ...I don't think so!

Don't these lemon buttercreams look so sunny and summery? They will give you a sunny disposition for sure! I scored a bunch of great Mr. Candy molds for only $.50 each and they were unopened and brand new. (Thrift store, I donate then buy stuff. hahaha) I got this sunflower, a frog, pineapple, seashell, rose w/ leaf, turtle, leaf, and shamrock. When I got them I thought I would use them for clay but the recipe looked so easy, and my guys have sweet teeth, so I tried it. The guys loved them and I'm all for easy. If you come to visit you will get these on your pillow and I am now planning to make some for Christmas packages. Peppermint extract is now on my shopping list. Don't worry you don't need a mold to make these buttercreams! You can roll the dough into thin logs and cut into equal pieces or roll them into balls. This would be great for kids to do too! I hope you give this yummy recipe a try.

Buttercream Candies

1 box of powdered sugar

1/4 cup of melted butter

10 drops of food color

1/4 tsp of extract or flavoring - I used lemon extract

Work with hands to dough that sticks together, then roll into log or press into a candy mold. Place on wax paper or parchment paper. Dry for 1 hour then turn over and dry on other side.
Store in cool place. These can be frozen up to 3 months.

Thank You beautiful Charo for helping me have fun while cleaning my kitchen! So Caliente!

Prepared To Be Stuffed...

Yesterday I made sausage for our turkey dressing and it came out really good if I say so myself! So in the spirit of the season I am sharing my recipe. You may not have a grinder but you can ask the butcher at the grocery counter to grind you some pork or buy it already ground. I used 4 large fatty country pork ribs. This time I made it I omitted 2 tsp of paprika and like it much better. I omitted it because I didn't want the red color of the paprika. I might add it back in if I was making breakfast sausage. I put all the spices together on a paper plate then added them to course ground pork, mixed it well, then ran the pork through again on smaller grind. There are 3 favorite dressings that we argue over every year. #1 San Francisco Sourdough Stuffing w/ artichoke, Parmesan cheese & mushrooms, *a family favorite from the early 90's or late 80's found in a Sunset Magazine* #2 Oyster Dressing w/ oysters from the Pacific Northwest or #3 Sausage & mushroom, either with wheat bread or cornbread. This year it's homemade sausage & mushroom. Our worse stuffing ever was a few years ago when I decided to add hazel nuts. I know it sounds like it might be good, but it was disappointing. A good portion of it ended up getting lost to decay in the back of the frig. E U. I'd love to hear what your favorite is and what's your worst!

I have all my onions, celery chopped & put into bags, I sauteed the sausage just until done & put in frig too, all ready to use. Today I made sweet potato pudding *it's like bars really* and got my pie shell baked, ready for pineapple filling. My son is making the pumpkin pie. The last few years I have had the privilege to be able to take my time, really enjoy cooking & the holiday. Doing the prep work ahead really helps, so that when Thanksgiving day comes I'm not too exhausted to enjoy the meal.

4 Cup ground pork

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground sage

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp fennel seed

1/2 tsp black pepper

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am Very Thankful to all my Faithful Followers & Visitors!

God Bless You this holiday season!

A Big Shout Out & Thank You goes to SassySashadoxie for including my Angel with a Pink Rose in her lovely Etsy Twitter Treasury! Check out her sweet Doxie art!

A Real Hottie

If you are a regular visitor, family or friend, you know how much I love hot food & salsa! I love Chipotle, a chain of gourmet burrito shops. When I was working, in the corporate cubicle, if I would to able to get out for lunch, my likely destination was usually Chipotle. I can't finish an entire burrito bowl, which is what I normally order, that's because I'm too busy scarfing up the chips & salsa. Now that I work from home, almost a recluse, I hardly ever get to go. Recently my Hubby took me there and boy was it soooo good. This time I paid attention and deconstructed the salsa best I could. I decided I'd give it a try at home. OMgosh. I think I've got it or I've got it just as good or better! I literally made a bucket of it! I'm so addicted. I'll be putting it on everything now! I started by putting a bag of dried Arbol peppers into 3 cups of water. I boiled them for about 15 minutes. I put 20 El Mexicano Tomatillos in the blender with 3 cloves of garlic & 1 C - very loosely packed of Arbol peppers , 1/2 cup of tomatillo liquid and approx 1 tsp salt. I pureed until smooth. It's so easy & so delicious! I'm pretty jazzed that it tastes almost identical to Chipotle's hot salsa. Again, the simplest recipes seem to be the best! Now if only I could figure out Panda Express Gourmet Chinese Food's recipe for eggplant & tofu! ....

I Found A Priceless Treasure!

While going through a box of my Mother-in-Law's cookbooks and piles of scribbled recipes on all kinds of paper, I found a recipe from my Gramma Mollie in her own handwriting! It was like hitting the lotto. She once asked me what I wanted for Christmas and all I asked for was a piece of this cake. I got it too. It's so good with a cup of tea or coffee. A few years after Gramma passed away my Aunt sent me the recipe but I had lost it. She also sent me 1/2 of a cake. (It's dense and a bit expensive to make) and I pretty much ate the whole thing by myself! That was a great present! My Gramma lived in Florence, SC and was famous for her cooking and gardening. I'd like to think that I get a little bit of my abilities in the kitchen from her. Last year I ate onion rings for my birthday. This year I am going to make this cake!

I was going through my Mother-in-Law Joan's big box of things desperately hoping to find her spaghetti recipe for my son, well for all of us, but him mostly. His birthday is coming up and he longs for her spaghetti. Her spaghetti was his favorite thing and she made it for him for his birthday dinner every year. It was the best! After she passed away I had quickly looked for it, didn't find it, then the box was stashed away in the garage. Joan was an excellent cook and real "Foodie". I learned so much from her. We have tried to duplicate her recipe over the past few years but it never tastes quite like hers. All spaghetti sauces are compared to hers. We all know one of her secrets was a can of Homestead sauce, which can be hard to find at times. Next time we go to San Francisco we are going to stop by the Homestead factory. She never shared the recipe even though we asked for it. It was her special treat. She would make it for my son's birthday, she would make it for us when we begged, or sometimes to bribe us into going over to her house and it always worked!

About a year after Joan passed away I bought a small spiral notebook that I keep in the kitchen. I wrote in it all my "secret" recipes that my family loves. Some are southern recipes that were passed down from my Gramma, some are Joan's, Joan's mother's, my sister's, but most are mine. I can't even tell you how many salsa & hot sauce recipes are in there! haha I now have a couple of notebooks. If something should happen to me I wanted my family to be able to make something that I made, taste that taste, smell that smell, and have a piece of me at the table with them.

So if you are hiding your "secret" recipe that everyone loves, that only you make, please write it down. You don't have to share it now but put it in a safe place. Don't let your family mourn for not only you, but for one more bite. That special recipe of yours will be a priceless treasure. Isn't there a dish that someone made that you'd like to have one more bite of?

Follow the Directions? Hum... Maybe....

I went to the printer, mailed out prints, then I loaded up on canvas today! Yippee! For some reason when I only have a few I can't seem to paint so I've been knitting instead making things for my new grandson. I used to make decisions for a living and now I can't decide on what I will do next. Go figure. Little JJ is still in the hospital. The kids had to leave him there and go home without him. I know how hard that is. I had to do that with both of my sons. He is doing better today and hopefully will be coming home tomorrow. I will be going over to hold him tomorrow or Wednesday. I miss him already. He's been in ICU so we couldn't hold him.

While in the waiting room awaiting his arrival, I knitted, pulled it out, knitted, pulled it out...probably about 5 times! At one point I had 1/2 of a scarf made, then pulled it out. I had no direction, no idea what I was doing. It passed the time. So I decided that I would make him something out of the "labor room" yarn and knitted him a little ear flap hat yesterday. It's big so he won't be able to wear it until winter time next year! I think it came out cute though. I still have to sew a loop & button on the little sweater (pattern is below) but I'll show you the picture without the button. I am putting a loop & button rather than the ties as shown. I have a hard time following a pattern to the T or a recipe for that matter!

Speaking of recipes... I'm usually pretty good at coming up with some tasty things on my own and some people say I'm a really good cook. I did come up with a doozey of an experiment the other day. Costco has the most wonderful bean salad - Paisley Farms. I just love it & love the brine that it's in. I can eat the whole gargantuan jar by myself! Not in one sitting, but I usually do end up being the only one that eats it. Isn't that sweet of my husband to pass on it! haha I also love pickled okra and have been craving it. I bought some at the farmers market and had what I thought was a brilliant idea, pickle some fresh okra in the brine left over from the bean salad. Well... don't try that, it's totally nasty! I think my craving is cured for the time being! I have been a subscriber to Gourmet magazine for about 15 years now. I get lots of inspiration but it's not too often that I actually try a recipe to the letter in there. I will, however, be trying the yellow squash recipe that's in this months issue! We don't fry a lot of foods, but this one will be worth it! I will post the recipe below in my recipe of the week section. Doesn't this look great!?!

Night or Day? I Can't Tell Anymore!

It's so dark in my living room now it looks like it's storming outside. You know I love the rain but this is making my time clock go wacky and making me feel tired. Weird. Too bad that soap opera Dark Shadows isn't still on tv, I'd be in the perfect setting to watch that! Ok I am aging myself now! I used to rush home from school to watch that with my mom and to this day I am afraid of vampires! hahaha I don't watch vampire movies either! Thank you Barnibus Jones! Anyway, we installed shade screens on the front of the house. My husband picked out the color and it's almost black. We have 5 very large windows in the front and in the afternoon with the sun glaring in it's hot and unbearable. I have noticed a huge difference in the heat but maybe the money we are saving will be a wash since I have to have the lights on to see in here during the day!

My husband's band played last night so I had the house to myself. I got a lot done yesterday! At one point had a cramp in my hand that wouldn't go away for awhile from knitting & crochet at warp light speed. Odorless non-greasy sports creme is the best thing ever! I started work on my painting commission and made some more cuffs. I also started knitting the cutest baby sweater hoodie. I am using soft yarn that looks like denim like I did on the little hat in the picture below. I got the free pattern at http://knittingpureandsimple.com/babycardi.html This website has really beautiful knit patterns! It's suppose to be simple but the directions seem a little complicated to me. Crossing my fingers I don't mess it up! My oldest son's baby is due any day now so I hope I can get it done before the baby gets here! I gave them the denim hat tonight and they loved it. I am going to donate the light blue one.

We had a bbq tonight. I wish I had taken a picture of my chicken & my oldest son's rice! It came out so good. I marinated the chicken yesterday morning, in lots of spices, lemon juice and tossed the lemons in too. Pollo asada. My husband cooked it perfectly too on the "big bertha",(his solid stainless steel monster grill). My son's rice was so delicious and it was so simple. He fried the uncooked rice in a little oil and butter with 4 cloves of garlic, not little cloves either, they were dinosaur cloves, then added water & chicken bouillon & 1 can of tomato paste, salt & pepper. It sounds simple & plain but boy was that great! I am totally stealing that recipe! I made a pico de gallo with a little twist. I finely chopped onion & rinsed it really well, then added chopped cilantro, lemon juice, salt, pepper and the twist was dried oregano & a tbsp of olive oil. That was so good on the chicken.That's one recipe I will write in my little kitchen notebook and do again. Give it a try!