A broke woman's blog.

This night here my dad waited until 6 o'clock to decide what he wanted to eat. Oh gosh my wheels were spinning lol. I hate it when somebody decides when it's almost time for bed to want me to cook. Well anyway, I went a head and played the polite hostess and fixed him spaghetti and garlic bread like he wanted. If you are ready I am ready!

Mise En Place

Hamburger meat
Spaghetti sauce
Onions
Bell peppers
Mushrooms
Spaghetti
Butter
Garlic powder
Bread
Shredded cheese
Seasoning


1. Put hamburger meat in skillet and let it brown.
2. Cut onion and bell pepper in half. Clean the seeds out of bell pepper. Wash off onion and bell pepper, dice them up and put them in the hamburger meat.
3. Add seasoning and mushrooms.
4. While the hamburger meat is cooking boil some water for the spaghetti. Once it starts to boil add the spaghetti and cook it for about 12 - 15 minutes. You don't want you spaghetti mushy.
5. Once the spaghetti and meat is done strain them both. Leave just a little bit of water at the bottom of the pot so the spaghetti won't get dry. Or put in a little bit of oil. Now preheat the oven to 350.
6. Open the spaghetti sauce and pour it over the meat and let it simmer.
7. Get some butter and sprinkle some garlic powder in it.
8. Get your bread and paint the butter sauce on it. Add some cheese!
9. Put it in the oven until the cheese melts.
10. Serve it up and eat!

So I've been away for some time. Okay not away from the computer but just away from my blog. Something has been going on for about a month or so. I signed up for this social networking website. I've connected with a lot of my school mates. Facebook is it's name. But here is my addiction. The is this game on Facebook called Farm Town.

The first time I played that game I didn't know what in the world I was doing. I've been playing it over a month now. The object of the game is to plow, plant and harvest your crops. The more you do the more coins and points you get. There are different levels in this game. The points are called experience points.

When you get to a certain level you can hire someone to come plow or harvest your crops. You keep more money and experience points that way. Crops can be harvested between 2 hours and 4 days. The graphics are nice.

Since I've been playing this game, I am on level 27 which makes me an extraordinary farmer with 36491 experience points. I love to plant my crops and make designs with them. Now we all know in real life I would NOT be a good farmer lol.

You can go to the market and sell your harvested crop. I like to wait until I have a bunch of crop to sell before I go to the market. There is also a realtors office where you can purchase more land. I purchased more today. You can even go to the Inn to get a drink. It's only water but they don't actually give it to you. And they have a bank. You can pay through credit card to get more coins. Yes an actual credit card lol. Me, I just hire folks and I make my money.

Well I shall be around some posting more recipes. I do apologize from not posting. My internet sister got on to me about it. Well sis this is for you. Now you know what I have been doing instead of posting. That is the story of my addiction!

My dad and sister came to town yesterday. I fixed them dinner today. I made oven bbq chicken, mostaccioli, and baked beans. Oh lawd it was so good. Well are you ready? On your mark. Get set. Go!!!!!!!!!

Mise en place!

Bbq chicken

Chicken (of your choice)
Medium diced onion
Seasoning
Bbq sauce of your choice

1. Wash off chicken and get fat off you don't need.
2. Season up your chicken, sprinkle onions on chicken and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes.
3. Take chicken out and drain off fat.
4. Pour bbq sauce over chicken and baked it for about 15 or 20 minutes to let bbq bake on chicken.


Mostaccioli

1 bag of mostaccioli pasta
Seasoning

1. Boil water for pasta and add seasoning.
2. Once water is boiling add pasta.
3. Let pasta come to a boil for about 13 - 17 minutes.
4. Once finished drain water off.
5. Put on a plate and top it with cheese or sauce.

Baked beans

Can baked beans
Diced onion
Brown sugar

1. Mix beans, onion and brown sugar in a baking pan.
2. Put in oven and bake for 30 - 40 minutes.
3. Once done you may eat!

Source: Bree

I found this recipe and I just had to try it. I got everything that I needed and fixed it. It was absolutely fantastic. Well here I am giving you the recipe! Here we go!

Mise en place

3 cups of milk
1 pkg. (8 serving size) chocolate pudding
2 cups thawed whip cream
16 oreo cookies (or your choice) crushed (about 2 cups)
8 marachino cherries (or topping of your choice)
8 paper cups

1. Pour milk into medium bowl and add pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes. Gently stir in whip cream.
2. Spoon 2 tbsp of chopped cookies into all eight of the 8 oz. paper cups. Cover the cookie crumbs with the pudding. Repeat until out of cookies and pudding mixture.
3. Freeze for 5 hours or until hard. Let sit for 15 minutes at room temp before serving. Peel away paper from the dessert and plate it. Add topping. Store leftovers in the freezer.

Source: Kraft foods! Thanks Kraft!

Here is a simple recipe for you to follow. It's easy as 1 2 3!

Mise en place

4 chicken breast (or according to your needs)
1 or 2 onions (whatever size you like)
1 or 2 bell peppers (whatever size you like)
shredded cheese
french bread loaf(or whatever you prefer)
Seasoning

1. Wash your chicken.
2. Cut chicken breast into half inch strips long ways and put them in a bowl.
3. Cut your onion in half on the ends. Lay the onion flat and cut it on the sides as thick as you want them and put in a bowl.
4. Cut the bell pepper the thickness you like put them in the bowl with the onions.
5. Rinse onions and bell pepper.
6. Pour enough oil to coat the bottom of your skillet and let it get hot.
7. Put your seasoning on your meat, onions and bell peppers.
8. Once your skillet is hot sautee the onions and bell peppers. Don't put them all in the skillet if you have a bunch.
9. After you get your onions and bell peppers sauteed put your bread in the oven and let it toast for about 5 or 7 minutes then take it out.
10. Once you have sauteed all of your onions and bell peppers put some chicken in the skillet and stir it around so it won't stick.
11. Add more oil if needed.
12. When you turn your chicken over add some onions and bell peppers. Continue until you are done.
13. Take your bread plate it and put some cheese on the bottom bun. Then add your chicken, onions, bell peppers, more cheese on top and close the bread top.
14. Now enjoy!

Source: Bree

Ha ha! It's my day to cook.....Let me see. Today I made some lasagna, cheesy garlic bread and a spinach and tomato basil salad. I haven't cooked lasagna in about a year. We had went to Detroit and my little cousin wanted me to cook her some. So I cooked her some but I had used rotini pasta. I try to do things different at times. But today I just used the regular lasagna noodles. My girls and I went to the store and got everything we needed the night before and I forgot the french bread. So I had to use what I had to make the garlic bread......hot dog buns lol. Well it worked! You learn to improvise. After everything was cooked and we dug in lol. My lasagna fell apart on me but it's okay. It was still good! Okay are you ready? Well here we go. Remember, cook according to your needs.

Spinach and tomato basil salad

4 large tomatoes
1/2 purple onion (to your liking)
1/2 bunch fresh basil (to your liking)
1/2 teaspoon of salt (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon of pepper (to taste)
2 oz. red wine vinegar
hand full of spinach

1. Rinse off tomatoes, spinach and basil.
2. Let basil and spinach dry while you slice the tomatoes.
3. Slice the ends of and cut the tomatoes a 1/4 inch thick from side to side.
4 Lay the slices flat and cut into 1/2 inch medium dice.
5. Put them in a mixing bowl.
6. Cut your onion in 1/4 inch small dice.
7. Put onion in the bowl also.
8. Chop up the basil to YOUR liking and sprinkle it over the mixture.
9. Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste.
10. Add spinach.
11. Add about 2 oz. of the red wine vinegar.
12. Stir it and let it marinate.
13. Taste it and if you need to add something more, do so.


Lasagna Bree's way!!!!!

Hamburger
Sausage
Medium onion
Medium bell pepper
Minced garlic
Tomato sauce
Sour cream (optional)
Cottage cheese (optional)
Corn (optional)
Shredded cheese (any kind)
Lasagna
Seasoning (optional because of the sausage)


1. Cut the ends and hull off onion. Diced onion very small.
2. Cut ends and top off bell pepper. Rinse off and dice it very small.
3. Mince garlic.
4. Saute the onions, garlic and bell pepper for about 2 minutes then add hamburger and sausage.
5. While that is cooking, boil your water for the lasagna.
6. Once meat is done drain all the fat off.
7. Add lasagna to the water. Stir it around a little bit so it won't stick. Cook it for about 12-15 minutes. The reason is you want your noodles al dente (half done because when you bake the lasagna your noodles won't be mushy).
8. After the fat has drained off put the meat back in the pot and add your tomato sauce.
9. Add some sour cream to the mixture and let it cook down.
10. After your 12-15 minutes turn your pot off on your lasagna and quickly pull them out and layer them on the bottom of your pan.
11. Layer your meat mixture, cottage cheese, corn, cheese and lasagna until you run out.
12. Put in oven on 350 for about 15 minutes.


Cheesy garlic bread

Hot dog buns
Garlic powder
Butter
Shredded cheese

1. Spoon out how much butter out you think you will need in a bowl and put it in the microwave until it starts to melt.
2. Add some garlic powder to taste.
3. Drizzle over hot dog buns.
4. Sprinkle cheese over buns and bake for about 5 minutes so they won't get hard.

Source: Bree

I've been waiting patiently on my grades from my classes. Well I can't say patiently lol. I thought I passed my classes with a B. I got an e-mail from my lab partner asking me if I got my grade from our class. I hadn't check since Friday. Oooooooooooooooooh I checked today and I have A's in both my classes! Oh my word I'm so happy! I had to share that!

This semester I took two classes and finals this past Monday and Tuesday. I made a 86 on my Nutrition final and a 93 plus 20 bonus points on my Food Pro I final. Oh and I made a 92 on my knife skills test! I felt soooooooooooo great lol. I start back in three weeks taking ServSafe Sanitation and Intro to Hospitality. Excited? Yes I am!

But anyways!!!!!!!! I got a new job! I work for a restaurant now. My instructors friend owns it. He called him and told him he had an employee if he wanted one. He told me to come visit with him and he hired me right on the spot before I filled out the application. He told me that my instructor bragged on me and thought I had potential. I wanted to cry.

My first day was pretty crazy. I was doing fixing up veggies, salads, muffins and just whatever. It's so funny because I'm the only woman in the kitchen lol. The other women are managers or waitresses. It's really funny because I want to talk to my trainer as if he was a woman and I have to be quiet lol. He is so funny.

I'm the salad lady lol. I make the salads and I like it. I had to make a cheat sheet. They only thing I don't like is when we have 3 or 4 different salads come in. My pressure goes up then lol. We got compliments on how pretty the salads looked today. I'm so happy. Sorry, I didn't mean to bore you I just had to share that with you.

Yes I know I'm late but I've been tired lol. I just wanted to share a picture of what my youngest daughter did for my mom and I. She got up Sunday morning and fixed us some chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, sausage and some diced strawberries. She is getting like her mom with the cooking! It was so sweet. I got a card and purple flowers. She loves her grandma and momma and we love her too!

There was a group of students to help prepare for an event at Land's End Plantation. I didn't want to go reason's for (hence the name). Yea, I made a joke about it. Anyway, we all met up at the school and finished doing the last of the prep work. We left the school around 3. It was raining. Ugh I don't like rain lol. We all followed one another to the plantation. It was about a 30 minute ride.

So anyway, we made it to the plantation. I never seen such a pretty place. It had so many beautiful trees and everything. It would have been more fascinating if it wasn't raining! We all parked and went into the house. Once we got in we were by a mini pony! Not a real pony but the dog was big as a pony in my eyes. It was a Great Dane name Shadow. He was toooo big for me. I was scared at first lol.

We were introduced to the owner and his lady. They made us feel so welcomed. We all got our Mise En Place ready to start getting things in order. I had to finish setting up my cheese tray. I was trying to put my crackers on the tray and I heard some smacking. I looked up and it was Shadow licking his lips lol. I said to myself, "Man if this dog gets at me this whole house will be tore up lol."

Okay now it was time to get busy. We all started get the food together. Oh it was so fun. We had 23 or 24 plates to get ready. For hors d' oeurves (the French and their spelling ugh) we served tarragon shrimp bruschetta, boursin stuffed mushrooms and Importer cheese w/ assorted crackers & bread (my cheese tray)! While the guest at those we had to hustle getting the first course together. That was a grilled caprese salad (grilled tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil w/ aged balsamic syrup and extra virgin olive oil. I've never heard of that until that day lol.

The entree was a beef tenderloin gratinee (pan seared beef tenderloin topped w/ caramelized red onions & gruyere, cream cheese & chive mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans and rosemary & cabernet infused au jus reduction). I know, a lot of words lol. For dessert there was cranberry pecan bread pudding (bread pudding custard w/ traditional bourbon sauce w/ sliced green apples on top). I will not bore you with the serving details lol. But know this......we had a blast! I made everybody laugh.

After everybody at we had to clean up. I got smart and started washing dishes after the servers brought the plates back lol. My momma didn't raise no fool! We were so tired. I swear I washed dishes for 2 or 3 hours straight. I handed those dishes off to my classmate like the runners do when they hand the baton to the other relay race runner lol. That was a tiresome night for all of us. That was on Saturday that we did that and I'm still tired. The owner, his lady and their guest were very pleased with our services.

This link is here. There were tooo many pictures to upload on this page.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=3157363&albumId=3163534

For the love of sleep I can't get the link to embed. Just copy and paste. Geesh!

Tuesday we had our knife skills test. I was nervous as I don't know what. Before we went to the lab we sat in class for lecture. I love the class but I hate lectures. I feel like a kid in class. I can't be still! But anyway, Chef D. split us up into three groups. He gave us one hour to complete our 10 cuts. Everybody was trying to get their things together in my group. In class, I had decided what order I was going to do my cuts in. Carrots I don't like to cut them ugh. They were first on my list.

For some reason my back started to hurt like I was having spasms. I got really nervous and I started to mess up. I forgot some things that I needed to cut. All I kept saying to myself was to be calm. That didn't work at all. I guess I felt out of place because my lab partner was not in my group. J and I always work side by side. We've been partners since the beginning of the semester.

We all tried to finish our test in the hour. I finished mine with about 10 minutes to spare and I tried to weed out the messed up cuts and fix them. I did good I guess. I made a 92 so yes that was good. I just need to focus more. After we finished, Chef D showed us how to cut up a chicken. He told everybody to get a chicken and go to work. Boy was I happy because J and I worked by each other. We have so much fun together.

My poor chicken......they made fun of it because it's legs were crossed. I told them that's what ladies do while they are sitting down! I had to put her down and cut her. I loved that chicken! After we cut them up we got the breast and cooked. Everybody cooked what they wanted. There was some good looking food up in there we did. The presentations were marvelous of the ones I saw. I cooked for J and I.

So here is what I did. I fried chicken breast and potatoes. Yes I will share with you.

Potatoes small dice 1/4 inch cubed
Onions (small dice)
Parsley
Seasoning

1. Put onions and potatoes in hot oil. Season them and put in parsley.
2. Cook them to your liking.
3. Once done plate them!

Chicken breast
Onions (Julienne)
Chopped parsley
Flour
Seasoning


1. Wash chicken and season it up the way you want it.
2. Sprinkle flour over the chicken lightly.
3. Once oil is heated in pan, put chicken in and let it fry.
4. It should take no more than 5 minutes to fry a thin piece of chicken breast.
5. While your chicken is frying, put some onions in there and let them sautee.
6. Once chicken is done, plate it, place the sauteed onions on top going the same direction and sprinkle some parsley on top. Just enough to give it some color.

Source: Bree

I love my dad yes I do, but that man kills me with the things he does. Remember in my opening statement I said "I may make you laugh, cry, smile, sleepy or even hungry?" Well this is the part where I may make you laugh and cry. My dad will do anything. Today he decided he was going to shoot some fireworks. Yes I said fireworks. In the middle of April.

You gotta love him. He will do anything for my girls and I. He decided to light a roman candle lol. Needless to say the stem went out. He was standing in the front door and snapped it in half. The candle started shooting and he threw it in the trash lol. All of a sudden I hear somebody loling. My girls were standing by him screaming, "Papa you set the grass on fire." I got my camera and ran to the front door. He set the trash on fire instead of the grass lol. You think I should get my girls some glasses?

I was filming and telling them to get the water hose. He tells my youngest to go move the table out of the way and let the trash burn because we have to clean the yard up lol. My youngest wanted to shoot some missiles on a brick. When they where shooting up in the air, the were not going high enough. They were popping a few seconds before they hit the ground. We were running like crazy to get out of the way lol.

It's funny. My dad's about 6'12" (6'4") and about 320. He's a country boy and will walk around outside without shoes. He's a barrel of laughs!

You know a Sunday would not be a Sunday if I didn't get in the kitchen and cook. So here is how my day started. I went to the store at 9:30. I really didn't want to go but with hungry family members to feed I reckon I had to. Let's see, I grabbed some green and red cabbage, augratin potatoes, carrots, bacon, and sweet potatoes. The agenda for today's dinner was a roast, baked pork chops, cabbage, augratin potatoes with carrots and sweet potatoes. For dessert, I made an apple shortcake. Did I say that I made a tip for cooking? A friend of the family gave me a $10 tip for fixing him and his family a plate! Uh huh...a tip for me. Let the cooking begin!!!!!!!!!

Roast or pork chops

Roast or pork chops
Chopped basil
Chopped chives
Baby carrots
Seasonings

1. Wash your meat off and carrots.
2. Season them with your seasoning, basil and chives.
3. Pop in the oven and cook to your liking.

Cabbage

Green or red cabbage
Bacon
Seasonings

1. Fry your bacon in a skillet or pan.
2. Cut up cabbage and rinse it off while bacon is cooking.
3. When bacon is done cooking pour off some off the grease.
4. Add cabbage, seasonings, and a 1/4 cup of water to bacon.
5. Cook to your liking.

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes
Butter
Brown sugar
White sugar
Cinnamon


1. Rinse sweet potatoes off and peel off the skin.
2. Cut them up a ¼ inch thick cross ways the sweet potato. They cook quicker when sliced thin.
3. Rinse them off.
4. In a medium sauce pan put enough water to coat the bottom of it.
5. Add sweet potatoes, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon.
6. Let the sweet potatoes cook and simmer in the juice.
7. Taste the juice to see if it’s sweet enough and taste the potato to see if it’s done enough for you.
8. Once they are the way you like them serve them.

Augratin potatoes

Buy a box of augratin potatoes and read the directions!

Source: Bree

In Tuesdays Food Pro I class we learned how to mince shallots and make concassee. It was so fun. Our class is not your typical class if you know what I mean. Half of our class is of younger students and the other half is of older students. It's a funny mixture. Most of us have nicknames we've given each other in the class. Like my good friend Wolverine I mean Glen! Glen is really funny and a hard worker from what I've seen. I have no idea where Derrick came up with the name of Big Red for me lol. I had to ask him if I looked like a red soda pop. He just laughed. We all have different personalities in our class. Some are quiet and some are extremely loud. When it comes to getting a job done we all pull together as one.

But anyways on to mincing shallots and making concassee! Mise en place!

You will need:

Shallot
Cutting board
Knife

1. Cut the end of the shallot and rinse it off.
2. Lay it on it's flat side and cut it a 1/8 to a 1/4 inch thick horizontally half way through the shallot.
3. Then turn the cut it towards you and cut it a 1/8 to a 1/4 inch vertically to the half way point.
4. Turn it side ways to where the cut end is facing you knife.
5. Finish cutting the shallot a 1/8 to a 1/4 inch.
6. Cut up the finished shallot until it's really fine.
7. Take your knife and turn the blade on it's side away from you.
8. Put your hand about half inch to an inch away from the spine on the blade.
9. Rub you blade over the shallot towards you until the shallot is completely minced up.
10. Now you can do whatever you want with it!


Concassee

Roma tomato
Boiling water
Ice water bath
Knife
Tongs
Cutting board

1. Turn tomato upside down and score it on the tip like a small x.
2. Put it into the boiling water for about 15 - 20 seconds.
3. Use the tongs to pull the tomato out after time is up.
4. Put it in the ice water bath for a few seconds to stop the cooking process.
5. Once out of the ice water bath pull the skin off from where you scored the tomato.
6. One the opposite end cut the plug out.
7. Turn tomato horizontally and cut it in half vertically.
8. Take out all of the seeds.
9. Turn back on side and cut it to the thickness you want it.
10. Turn the opposite way that it it's been cut and cut it that way.
11. Put it on anything you want!

That concludes our lesson today.

These are videos of my instructor Chef Douglas.

I don't think I need any introduction from the title. You already know Sunday is my day to cook dinner at my house. This is the meal that I wanted to cook the previous Sunday but my dad beat me to it! Well I finally got a chance to cook what I wanted. My dad is a bird lover and I love bird too! He loves it fried but I love it baked. So are you thinking we had bird for dinner? You guessed it right. Baked bird it was. I made baked chicken with cream of mushroom, wild rice, corn and sweet peas mixed, biscuits and a Reeses pieces cake. Yea, my daughter wanted that cake lol. I'm the type of cook who will cook from scratch and out of the box. You don't have to be a professional chef to make wonderful tasting food. It's all in your mind and hands. All you have to do is find it! So let's get it started!

Mise en place [MEEZ ahn plahs]! Don't worry. You do this all the time I hope. All that's saying is for you to have everything in place that you need to prepare your meal. You will tire yourself out running back and forth throughout the kitchen looking for stuff.


Baked chicken

Chicken (whatever parts you like)
Chopped chives
Chopped basil
Seasonings (whatever you like)

1. Pull off fat on chicken and wash it.
2. Season it and sprinkle chives and basil over it.
3. Let it cook to YOUR liking. Done, I hope!

Wild rice

1. Just buy a box of Rice-A-Roni and follow the directions.

Mixed sweet peas and corn

1. Open a can of sweet peas and corn and bring them to a boil.

Biscuits

1. Grands biscuits. Follow the directions on the can.

Cream of mushroom

1. Open can and scrape the cream of mushroom in a saucepan.
2. Heat up and serve it on top of chicken!

Reeses pieces cake

1. Buy cake mix and follow directions on the box.
2. When cake is half way done, drop some reeses pieces in the mix.
3. When the cake is done, you can put your icing on so it can melt into the cake.
4. An hour after cake has cooled off sprinkle more reeses on the icing.
5. Put cake in the freezer for about 30 minutes to let icing get cold, then take it out.
6. You may eat!

Source: Bree

Yesterday some of the Culinary students volunteered to help at the Chefs Ball at the Governor's Mansion. I was sooooooo nervous going to the mansion. I've lived in Little Rock up until I was 16 and the only thing I've ever done was pass by the mansion. There I was at the security gate and I forgot to turn my radio down. It wasn't loud but I'm pretty sure the guard could hear. I introduced myself and told him what I was doing there and he told me where to go. No he didn't tell me to go to H E double hockey sticks!!!!! So I get to the side entrance and once again I had to introduce myself and the gentleman told me where to park.

I had to think about what I was doing. I grabbed my cap and jump out of my truck and walked up to the door. I know people was looking at me like I was crazy but I was nervous as a bull rider! When I walked in the house my mouth hit the floor (not literally but you know what I'm saying!) It was so pretty in there. The first person who I say was Mrs. Beebe. In a low faint voice I asked where the culinary students were. She told me and I proceeded on. As I walked towards the steps I saw the dining area and I was in complete awe! There were so many tables and what caught my eyes were the globes on the table. They had red flowers in them. But I thought to myself, "How in the world are we going to serve all of these people?"

I found the kitchen! There were about 10 students and chefs in the kitchen. I didn't know where to turn. There was Chef Will and I asked him what he wanted me to do. I had the great pleasure of trimming toothpicks down to about 2 inches. Oh what fun. If you believe that I can sell you water from a water fountain! Once I finished that I watched Chef Will roll some sushi. It was interesting. At that moment I probably would have been amused watching water boil lol.

There was a familiar face that I saw. It was my lab partner Jason! I was so happy to see him. Jason and I have so much fun. He's funny. We talked and laughed. Chef Douglas brought us trays and told us how we needed to carry them. Jason, Lee and I handled the hors d'oeuvres. PAUSE...Wait a second....who in the world came up with that spelling? That word is not spelled the way it is pronounced. Is the v silent? Doesn't it seem like it should be pronounced ordurves? Okay that's just me. Never mind. It's a French word. No wonder! PLAY...Jason had Teriyaki beef. I had shrimp shooter's and poor Lee had sushi lol.

We were standing in the walkway and I kept advertising for my shrimp shooters. Jason and I had almost emptied our trays. Lee my poor friend he still had almost a full tray of sushi lol. Jason and I finally moved to our second tray and Lee was still on his first. I'm was good at advertising there was a gentleman that came up and Jason asked him if he wanted to try the Teriyaki beef. He took one and I said how about a shrimp shooter. He said I don't like shrimp much. I said all you have to do is chew it up really fast, swallow it and get more Teriyaki beef. So he said I heard they were good. I said go ahead and get one. He ate it and chased it with some Teriyaki beef. He said it wasn't that bad. So I said how about some sushi? He just looked at me. I said come on now you gotta try it lol. I said chase it down with more Teriyaki beef. He said okay. If I was a sales woman I would have made five sales!!!!!! I've never had sushi and I had to choke it down. After the fifth one I think I was okay with the taste.

We kept advertising to everybody who walked by. I heard some music playing. I turned around it was a band playing some Jazz. The drummer turned out to be the guy who I sold the Teriyaki beef, shrimp, and sushi to lol. I told Jason and Lee and they said they hope he wouldn't get sick!

We made our way back to the kitchen and that is where the rest of the magic took place! All of us students and chefs got in the kitchen and hustled our behinds off. Every chef had their own dish to put out but WE ALL worked on the dishes together. It was tight in that kitchen but we worked our way. We were all together as one heart beat. I have never seen so many people come together and be productive as we were. One chef handed out trays of food and I pulled the trays in from the servers. It was beautiful. On the main course we had 15 people in an assembly line fixing plates. Everything went so quickly we finally finished. We all were tired.

Governor Beebe came in and told us that we had done a fantastic job! We all pitched in to clean up and all the Chefs commended us for doing an excellent job. All I can say is, I'm so glad that I have chosen this profession to go in. Team work is so important and that is what we had in the kitchen!

You already know what today is. It's Sunday and it's my turn to cook. Well see here is the problem.......I went to the store last night to get what I wanted to cook for dinner. I wanted baked chicken covered with cream of mushroom, mashed potatoes, corn and cornbread. My stepdad had other plans. He baked some ribs. All I can say is mmmmmm delicious. Well I woke up to him yelling, "Are you going to finish dinner." How could I say no! We had baked ribs, mashed potatoes, corn, fruit salad, and a cake. I had my tummy ready for that baked chicken! What's so funny about it is that he LOVES chicken but he wanted ribs. Oh well. I shall have it one day. But all I want to know is are you ready to cook? Well let's hit the kitchen!

Ribs

Ribs (beef or pork)
Bay leaves
Seasoning

1. Cut your ribs up and wash them off.
2. Season them really good to where you can smell your seasoning.
3. Get a roasting pan and put the bay leaves at the bottom.
4. Put ribs in the pan and let them cook to your desired finish.
5. You can pour off the fat or leave it in the pan so your ribs aren’t dry.

Mashed potatoes

I do not measure butter or milk. So use it at your discretion.

Box of potato buds
Butter
Milk
Water

1. Boil water and add a dash of salt in it.
2. Put buds in a plastic bowl or mixing bowl.
3. Add water, butter and milk.
4. If you like a lot of butter add more.
5. Use a mixer to mix all the contents together.
6. Whatever more you need add it.
7. Potatoes should come out fluffy like a cloud!

Corn

Can of corn

1. Clean off top of can.
2. Open can.
3. Put corn in a pot and heat them up.
4. Once heated you may eat!

Chocolate cake
Any chocolate cake mix will do

1. Read the directions!
2. Once cooled cut cake in half horizontally.
3. Put icing and whatever topping you want in between the layers.
4. Do the same on top layer.
5. Put in fridge and let chill for about an hour and serve!



Fruit salad

5 large strawberries
1 Granny Smith apple
1 Red apple
½ peach
10 medium sized seedless grapes

1. Cut up strawberries in small dices ¼ in x ¼ in x ¼ inor close to it.
2. Slice apples in half down the middle.
3. Turn apple on flat side and cut in ¼ in halves.
4. Turn them on flat side again, cut down the middle and turn them horizontally.
5. Cut them in ¼ in squares.
6. Do the peach the same way but only half of it.
7. Put fruit in a bowl and put in grapes.
8. Mix the fruit and refrigerate.
9. When ready to eat put a teaspoon of cream cheese topping and eat up!

Source: TJ (my stepdad) and Bree

Friday was here and I couldn't wait to get off work to go home, take a shower and just relax. It was my last day to work. Boy was I happier than a puppy with a new chew toy! I knew that next day I was going to help out for an event at the school. I think I had excitement written on my forehead. Sleep was not my friend at all until about 1:30 or 2 A.M. Well, finally when the alarm went off for me to get up, I kept hitting the snooze button. It's so funny. I know I hit that snooze for about an hour lol. But anyways, I got up and got ready to leave for school!

I had my uncle with me and my word. He just would not shut up for nothing. All I heard on the road was, "Did you see those blue lights? Man if you can't drive that truck better than that you need to pull over (that was to another driver not me)." I just turned the radio up while he kept talking. I even started singing real loud to get him to see that I was really trying to tune him out. Only if I had an eject button in my truck for the passenger seat like Inspector Gadget! I would have pressed that button as soon as he asked me if I saw the blue lights. Yes I know, I know. I shouldn't do my uncle like that. BUT IT'S FUN!!!!!!!

On to the school I shall go! Well, I finally make it to the school. I was walking to the front door and I caught a beat down by the wind. Yes it was windy outside. I walked into the kitchen and I was put to work! Chef Will had me to cut up the strawberries. By the time I finished cutting up those strawberries I felt like a strawberry queen. Here comes Chef Douglas wanting me to watch some sauces he made. I was so funny. He says, "Bree, put these sauces in some sauce pans and don't let them scorch. Watch them!" He points with his index and middle fingers from his eyes to the pots lol. So me being me, I stood there at the stove and made sure they didn't scorch lol. Then I stripped the bark off some asparagus. Not bark literally but the hard part on the stem. It was so cute. I would stir the sauces between stripping the bark.

On to Chef Will....he's so funny. Him, Toast and I were making dumpling balls and singing to some songs on his phone. I must say I wouldn't pay to see us singing. We sang Queensryche's Bohemian Rhapsody, Nickelback and somebody else. I made up my own words because I didn't know all the words. Now that's how I do it! We had to go introduce ourselves to our dinner guests. I was the first to walk through the door. But I was the last to introduce myself. I was nervous lol. We went back to the kitchen and cleaned up the dishes we had used. A little while later we went back to the dinning area and ate.

Some how Chef Douglas, Toast, Lee, and Wolverine (Glen is his real name he has hair like Wolverine lol) got me to try some hummus. I must say the first bit was not so good but the more I chewed it tasted pretty decent. Everything we ate was good. We sat around and talk and back to cleaning up the kitchen we went! Lee and I mopped the floor. Poor Lee. His mop bucket fell over twice I believe lol. Good thing it wasn't filled all the way up to the top lol. We helped him clean it up. All in all we had fun. Those guys are crazy lol.

Sunday dinner again! Let’s see what do we have here! Hamburger casserole. Hmmm hmmm hmmm. This was my first time making it and it was delicious! It started off with my dad wanting some lasagna. Well, he always gets what he wants so I cooked what I wanted lol. For dessert I made a cake. That was good too! Let’s get this party started shall we?

Hamburger casserole

Hamburger meat
Noodles
Sour cream
Cottage cheese
Chopped basil
Chopped chives
Chopped onions
Cheese
Can of sweet peas
Can of corn
Seasoning

1. Brown hamburger meat and add in onions, chives, basil and seasoning.
2. Boil water for noodles while hamburger meat is cooking.
3. Add noodles when water starts to boil.
4. Once hamburger and noodles are done drain them.
5. Dump hamburger meat in a pan and top it with cheese.
6. Pour peas, corn, sour cream, and cottage cheese on top of hamburger meat.
7. Pour noodles on top and add more cheese.
8. Mix all together and then add the chives.
9. Put in oven and bake it for about 20 minutes and let stand for 10 minutes.
10. Now you may eat!

Source: Bree

Quesadilla? Nope! Breadsadilla? Yes! So I ran out of tortilla shells! Even the store was out of them. So what was I to do? I did the next best thing. I had to use bread! I had to use what I had to make what I wanted. There is nothing wrong with that! They turned out good too. Oh wait! Yea, I made some breadsadillas lol. They were better with bread than with the tortilla shell. My family loved them. Are you ready to get started on the breadsadillas? Remember cook accordingly to your household! I used a griddle to cook everything on instead of the stove. You can cook everything at the same time on it! Here we go!

Breadsadilla

Eggs
Hash browns
Bacon
Cheese (I used shredded)
Chopped chives
Chopped onions
Seasoning
Bread

1. Cook bacon until crispy and drain the grease off.
2. Use some bacon grease to cook the hash browns and onions in. Add some seasoning.
3. Once they are done take them out put them in a bowl.
4. Take your bread and lightly toast it on both sides.
5. Add cheese on the tops of both pieces.
6. Cook your eggs while the cheese is melting on bread.
7. Put some hash browns on a piece of bread and top it with the egg, bacon and chive.
8. Put the other piece of bread on top and gently mash it down.
9. Flip it over and let the cheese continue to melt through everything.
10. Now you may eat!

Source: Bree

Sunday dinners are the best dinners ever. I always ask my family what they want to eat but not this time! I cooked one of my favorite meals for dinner. Meatloaf, candied yams (NOT OUT OF THE CAN BUT HOME MADE!), and whole wheat rotini and spaghetti w/ cheese and bacon. Boy oh boy it was some gooooooood eating! You know the food is good when you don’t hear anybody talking but the tv! Well you already know what time it is. It’s time to cook! So let’s go! One more thing, remember to cook according to you family needs. I cook enough for at least two days.

Meatloaf

3 lbs of hamburger meat
Saltine crackers
1 large chopped onion
1 large chopped green bell pepper
1 egg
2 cans of Manwich (yes I did say Manwich it’s sweet and will go well with your spices)
Spices (you can put whatever kind of spices you want in it)

1. In a large bowl combine all of your ingredients.
2. Once mixed all together put mixture in a baking pan that is suitable for the size that you want your meatloaf to be.
3. Put in oven and baked it for about 45 minutes.
4. Take out the oven and drain the grease off of it.
5. Take a knife and cut the meatloaf in square and space the squares out if you have room in room pan.
6. Pour the Manwich over the square and in between them.
7. Bake for another 20 minutes and serve!

Candied yams

I didn’t measure the sugar BUT put in more brown sugar than white.

3 large sweet potatoes
½ stick of butter or how much you prefer
Brown sugar (yes yes yes experiment a little)
White sugar
Cinnamon

1. Rinse sweet potatoes off and peel off the skin.
2. Cut them up a ¼ inch thick cross ways the sweet potato. They cook quicker when sliced thin.
3. Rinse them off.
4. In a medium sauce pan put enough water to coat the bottom of it.
5. Add sweet potatoes, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon.
6. Let the sweet potatoes cook and simmer in the juice.
7. Taste the juice to see if it’s sweet enough and taste the potato to see if it’s done enough for you.
8. Once they are the way you like them serve them.



Rotini and spaghetti w/ cheese and bacon

1 box each Whole wheat rotini and spaghetti
Velveeta cheese
1 pack of bacon

1. Boil water for the noodles.
2. Cook bacon while noodles are boiling.
3. Cook bacon according to how you want it but make sure it’s done!
4. Cut up cheese into ¼ inch small dices and cover the bottom of a large bowl with it.
5. Once noodles are done, drain them and rinse them off with hot water to get the starch off. Why hot water? When you put the noodles in the bowl it will melt the cheese.
6. Rinse off bacon to get access grease off and put in noodles.
7. Cut up more cheese to cover top of noodles.
8. Mix noodles up so the cheese can melt through.
9. Cover noodles and let the cheese continue to melt.
10. Once melted to your liking serve and eat!

Source: Bree

Since I go to school on Monday’s and Tuesday’s, I spend the night over to my sister’s since she lives about a mile away from school. The first night I stayed I made a homemade pizza. I didn’t even take a picture of it like I usually do. Ugh! But hey, I did cook Monday night! I made some lemon pepper chicken and some veggies. Oh gosh it was so goooooood. Yes I did take a picture and I will share it with you. So are you ready to get to cooking? Well let’s go!

Chicken

Any type chicken breast, legs, wings, or thighs

Veggies

Broccoli & cauliflower (frozen mix…..cuts down time!)
Carrots (baby carrots already cut!)
Onions
Potatoes

Seasoning you like
Lemon pepper

Green scouring pad (to scrub your potato skin) Hey I learned it in lab! I actually did it on these potatoes.

1. Wash your chicken and season it real good with the lemon pepper.
2. Scrub your potato skins with the scouring pad.
3. Cut them about ¼ inch thick so they can cook all the way through.
4. Cut the ends off the onions and cut the onion in half though the ends.
5. Cut the onions vertically.
6. Put the potatoes, onions, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower in a plastic bowl and rinse off.
7. Season the veggies with whatever season you chose but not the lemon pepper. Why? You want a mixture of flavor.
8. Put veggies at the bottom of a roasting pan and put chicken on top.
9. Bake at 350 until done.
10. Plate it up and eat!

Source: Bree

Howdy, howdy, howdy! I’m back! Well, I haven’t been gone really. I’ve been swamped with reading in my Food Production I (Douglas) and Healthy Foods/Nutrition (Blackmon) class. I love my classes. Chef Blackmon and Chef Douglas are pretty cool. We have a lot of fun in class. It’s kind of hard to be me in class because I’m trying to take my classes serious. We’ve been in school for six weeks and I really haven’t opened up. Ugh! I know, I know. There is a time and place for everything including laughter and cutting up. My ears and eyes are open in class. Wait! Sometimes they flutter when we watch the videos. Okay, okay, okay! They are pretty interesting but sometimes sitting so long makes me restless. BUT………..I have learned a lot of stuff in my Nutrition class. If you are not big on Nutrition, I suggest you go do some research on the web or go buy a Nutrition book. You will be surprised at what you learn!
So far in my Food Pro. I class we have learned how to do Juliene, Batonett, Brunoise, Small dice, dice onions, and do diagonal cuts on carrots. For the love of Marty Moose! It is hard trying to cut the way we were should how to cut. It drives me insane! I have to pretend I’m a virgin cutter. That is hard to do! It’s so funny. I’m in the kitchen and Chef Douglas will tell me to straighten my knife when I cut. The first lab we had to do Juliene, Batonett, Brunoise, and Small dice cuts on potatoes. That was terrible. He said I did good but……..Okay I did do good for my first time. I think I cut up about 40 potatoes that day! Just kidding. I did about four. Now the carrots…….that’s another subject. 1/8 inch diagonal cuts. I think I maybe have had one that was perfect. Not one carrot but one diagonal cut perfect lol. Oh well! I’m working on it. Oh well enough of my rambling. See you next blog!

There is nothing like having a party. All the people and all the treats. We threw my stepdad a birthday party this past weekend. He was so nosey trying to figure out why was I cooking lol. Me being me, I just told him that my co-workers gave me some money to go buy food for a bridal shower to fix. Ha ha! When he saw all that food he told me that it was not leaving the house before he got a bite of it. Little did he know that it really was for him. The poor man kept trying to stick his finger in the food lol. It smelt really delicious! The menu consisted of: Sausage balls with and without sauce, 5 layer dip, baked beans, semi spicy bbq chicken wings, cream cheese ball, spaghetti, deviled eggs, and Mexican cornbread. So are you ready to get started cooking? Well let’s go!

This is the recipe that I used. You can always modify it. Make sure that you always cook according to the number of people you are serving. Remember, I did this for a party.

Cream cheese ball

4 packages of cream cheese (use the fat free or 1/3 less fat)
12 pieces of bacon (whatever kind of meat you want to use)
1 bunch of scallions (green onions with the white bulb at the end for those who didn’t know)
Salt or accent to taste
Crackers

1. Fry your bacon until it’s really crispy (that doesn’t mean burnt) rinse the grease off.
2. Put your cream cheese in a bowl and mash it up so it can be soft.
3. Cut up your scallions in small pieces and rinse them off.
4. Sprinkle your scallions, bacon and salt over the cream cheese and mix together.
5. Form the cheese into a ball and use Reynolds or plastic wrap to wrap it up.
6. Refrigerate until its firm. When it get firm you can shape it better.
7. Put it on a platter and surround with crackers.
8. Now you may eat!


Source: MA, modified by Bree

2 cans of refried beans
2 cans of rotel
1 lb of hamburger meat (or whatever meat you like)
1 cup of shredded lettuce
1 cup of shredded cheese (any kind or a mixture)
Seasoning

1. Brown your meat, add seasoning for taste, rinse off the fat, and let it drain.
2. Smooth refried beans over plate.
3. Lay hamburger meat on top of beans.
4. Next is the rotel. Don’t put all the juice on there. Just the juice from your dipping on there.
5. Next is the lettuce.
6. Last is the cheese.
7. Now you can eat!

Source: Bree

6 cans of baked beans (all different kind is how I do it)
1 onion
1 bell pepper
Half cup of brown sugar
1 lb of hamburger meat
Seasoning

1. Cut up onions and bell peppers. Rinse them off.
2. Brown hamburger meat, onions and bell peppers together. Add seasoning to taste.
3. Rinse off hamburger meat and let it drain.
4. Pour beans in a roasting pan with hamburger meat.
5. Add brown sugar and pop in the oven.
6. Let cook until the top is brown.
7. Now you can eat!

Source: Bree

2 bags of chicken drumlets
Seasoning
Crushed red pepper
Bbq sauce
Dried chopped onions

1. Wash your chicken off. Season it with you season of choice, crushed red pepper, and dried onions.
2. Pop in the oven for an hour.
3. Drain of the grease and top it with bbq sauce.
4. Let cook until the bbq sauce bakes on the chicken.
5. Now you may eat!

Source: Bree

2 lbs of sausage (turkey even)
1 onion
1 can of cranberry sauce
1 bottle of chili sauce
1 ½ cup of Jiffy baking mix

1. Chop onion and rinse them off.
2. Put meat in a big bowl. Mix in onions and baking mix.
3. Once mixed together, make balls about the size of a golden dollar.
4. Put them in a baking pan.
5. About every 15 minute, shake the pan to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom.
6. Let them cook until they get dark brown. Not burnt. Drain grease when they are done.
7. In a small sauce pan, mix the chili sauce and cranberry sauce together.
8. Stir and let it come to a boil. Keep stir so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of pan.
9. Take a pick and dip them in the sauce and plate them. Or you can use a spoon with holes in the bottom to drain the sauce off and plate them.
10. You can even eat them without the sauce.
11. Now you can eat!

Source: Some Magazine…I forgot!

Today was a day of many events for me. I started my day at 10:15 in the morning. What a bomber! It was the first day of school for me. Yes that's right. I'm back in college again. This time, I'm going to Culinary school to get a better grasp on cooking techniques. I was driving along to class and I was just as happy a puppy with a big bone in it's mouth.

I called a friend and talked to her and low and behold she told me that I missed the inauguration!!!!! Gee whiz. This was a day that I never wanted to miss. Oh I was mad. Out of all days we had to start school on Inauguration Day. I knew I should have bought my ticket the day he won the election. Oh well!

Anywho, I talked on the phone with my friend until I made it to the campus. I was telling her how nervous I was. There were several thoughts running through my mind. How many people would be in there. How would my instructor be? Well the closer I got to school I started to get nervous. Oh jitterbug I thought. I hadn't eaten anything either. That was not good. I think I must have fumbled like a football player trying to catch a football.

I was so nervous that I almost threw up. I started to think.....girl if you don't suck it up and calm down you are going to really be sick. I straightened up quick. I walked into the building and I saw a gentlemen with a chef uniform on. I followed him and said, "Excuse me. Were we supposed to wear our uniforms today?" "No. You can get away without it today but next week you need them," he said. He asked me if I had a schedule and I showed it to him. He said, "Hey I'm going to that class here it is." He took some papers off the door and said don't worry about that. I said to myself dang he fine! He turned around and I said, "Are you the instructor?" He turns around, shakes my hand and said yes.

Anyway, all the other students showed up. The instructor introduced himself again and made us get up and introduce ourselves. I was like ugh noooooooooooo. My turn came and I was as nervous as the little puppy on the Dalmatians that Pete on the floor. I was so nervous I almost fell over the table lol. After we introduced ourselves, We went over the syllabus and had to read the rules out loud. Ugh I don't like to read out loud lol. He took us on a tour of the cafe and the kitchen that we will be cooking in. It's not really big but it will do. It was a good day.

I left school and was on my way home. Why in the heck did I give my kids and my mother my cell phone number? They blow me up all the time. Can you go to the store and get this and get that ugh! Gotta love them though. But she did remind me that it was my stepdads birthday. I forgot. How could I do that? So basically that is the day that I had today.

That wasn't too boring was it? Oh well! There will be more to come. I'll will talk to you later. I have homework to do!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Everybody knows on Sunday you have a big feast. Have you notice that you tend to throw down on Sundays better than you do during the week? I love Sundays. A good Sunday dinner will make you shout. Can I get an Amen?

Today I made Sunday dinner. I made a pot roast mixed with carrots and potatoes, cabbage with Cajun turkey and smoked sausage, and cornbread. For dessert I made a marble cake with chocolate frosting and a strawberry delight. This one turned out better than the last one I made. So let’s see what ingredients I used today. Remember to buy and cook according to your family size!

Roast

1 roast
1 bag of baby carrots
3 or 4 potatoes (cut in quarters)
1 whole onion (cut vertically)
Seasoning

Cabbage

1 cabbage
1 package of Cajun turkey meat
1 smoked sausage link

Cornbread

Jiffy (gotta have my Jiffy!)

Roast
1. Cut up your potatoes and onion. Rinse them and your carrots off. Let them drain. Season them.
2. WASH YOUR MEAT OFF!!!!!!!!!!! Season it to your liking on all sides.
3. Layer the bottom of your roasting pan with half the onion, carrots, and potatoes.
4. Put your meat on top of the bottom layer.
5. Top the meat with the rest of the onions, carrots, and potatoes.
6. Put in over for about 350-375 for about 2-3 hrs. Don’t over cook it or under cook it.

Cabbage
1. Cut up your cabbage and rinse it.
2. Cut up smokes sausage and Cajun turkey.
3. Put some oil in the bottom of a pot just to cover it. The cabbage produces water.
4. Throw in your cabbage, sausage, and Cajun turkey.
5. Season to taste.
6. Cook it to your liking. Wilted or crunchy.

Cornbread
1. Follow the directions on the box!
2. When it’s done you may eat!

Source: Bree, and Jiffys

What’s up my virtual audience? I have a loooooove for peanut butter. I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one who loves peanut butter. The first time I tasted this candy I fell in love. Guess what? I have something for my peanut butter lover’s out there. This recipe has been around for awhile. But I just recently had the pleasure of indulging in them. Want the recipe? Well here it goes……but I do have a confession before I start………..I forgot the name of the candy. I just call it peanut butter candy. But have no fear the recipe is here!

1 cup of Caro syrup
1 cup of sugar
1 ½ cups of creamy peanut butter
4 or 5 cups of corn flakes

1. In a medium sauce pan bring the syrup and sugar to a boil.
2. Stir in peanut butter. Keep stirring so the pot doesn’t burn.
3. Mix in one cup of corn flakes at a time.
4. Don’t put to many corn flakes in the mixture or it will not form right.
5. Get a teaspoon or tablespoon and spoon drop them mixture out on wax paper.
6. Let candy cool.
7. Now eat them!

There is a yield of about 3-4 dozen.

Source: Kellogg’s

Hellur, this is my other homemade pizza I promised. This is made with a fool proof crust that you CAN'T mess up. If you do then hang up your apron! I always wanted to make my crust homemade and I found a site that had a recipe for homemade crust for dummies like me........well not dummies but those of us who um, try but don't succeed well in homemade dough or crust. Well here it is like a promised.


Crust

2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 c. water


Toppings

1 onion
1 bell pepper
Hamburger meat (browned)
Cajun turkey
Mesquite turkey
Canadian bacon
Shredded cheese
2 tablespoons of butter
Garlic salt or powder
Tomato sauce


1. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and water.
2. Knead on floured counter just until workable and spreadable, about 2 minutes.
3. Roll out your dough, put it in a pan and spread it out evenly. I used a 15x9 cookie sheet.
4. Melt butter and put garlic salt or powder in it to taste. Spread over your crust. If more is needed add it.
5. Cut up onions and bell peppers finely.
6. Cover crust with tomato sauce then layer it with meat, onions, and cheese.
7. Pop it in the oven on 425 for 20 minutes.
8. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
9. Now you can eat!


Source: Cooks.com (crust) and Bree

Howdy dooooooooooody good people in the virtual world. Let's see what Bree is cooking up today! How about some pizza! Who is the world doesn't love pizza? Well I can say that I looooooooove pizza. I've always wanted to make some homemade pizza BUT I didn't know how to make the crust. Well today I'm going to show you two recipes that will allow you to make it. The first time I made the pizzas were when we had Christmas Around the Hospital where I worked. Oh I was so excited about it because I knew I was going to show off my skills in the kitchen.

My co-workers love it when I cook for them. Everybody who came by our department even before the event started could smell what I was cooking. The kitchen workers know to come get food when I cook. Makes me feel good knowing they enjoy eating my food. They were the first to come to our department lol. They bragged about the pizza, mini pineapple upside down cakes, and sausage balls I made to every department. Made me feel proud and I blushed too! Even the President and Vice President of the hospital bragged on my dishes. Okay enough Bree enough. It's a sin to gloat on yourself......Let's get it started okay! This is how I made my mini pizzas.


Crust

1 can of Grands biscuits (because of the flakiness)

Topping

Cajun turkey
Mesquite turkey
Canadian bacon
Shredded cheese

1. Pull biscuit apart on the side in half
2. Turn outside of biscuit to you and gently mash it around so it will spread. Mashing the inside will cause the biscuit to stick to your thumb.
3. Once you have all of the biscuits done take your meat and mash it in the biscuit so it can stick and top it with cheese.
4. Put in oven until biscuit is done.
5. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
6. Now you can eat!

Now you can do it the way you want to do it!

Source: Bree

Okay, here is one of my family’s favorite deserts! We had a potluck at my job about 10 years ago (gosh that makes me sound old). One of my co-workers made this desert and I have never forgotten about it. The first time I made it my mouth watered. It seems like the more I make it the better it gets. I made this for Christmas and it was just delicious. Well here goes the recipe.

Crust
2 cups of flour
2 sticks of butter or 1 cup
1 cup of nuts (optional)

Filling
Powdered sugar
1 8oz. of whip cream
1 8oz. of cream cheese
Strawberry filling or glaze
Strawberries

13x9 pan

1. In a large bowl pour flour and butter and mix it together. It should be kind of crumbly or like dough.
2. Press in a 13x9 pan evenly on bottom. Press nuts in there if you want them.
3. Bake in oven on 350 for 30 minutes.
4. In a large bowl mix whip cream and cream cheese thoroughly.
5. Add some powdered sugar about ½ cup and mix with mixer.
6. Stir in strawberry filling or glaze to get it some color but not a lot.
7. Taste the mixture to see if it’s sweet enough. You don’t want it too sweet.
8. When crust is done let it cool off for about 10 minutes.
9. Pour mixture on top of crust and spread it out.
10. Cut strawberries vertically but not through the top so you can make them like a fan.
11. You can put the strawberries on there anyway you like.
12. Put in fridge and let it chill for two hours. Or if you really want to eat it put it in the freezer for 45 minutes to an hour or until chilled.
13. Now you can eat it!

Source: W.N.

I tell you my family thinks that I'm spose to cook all kinds of sweets and food for them. Oh wait, duh. I did say that I liked to cook...........I'm a sucker for recipes. I bought some cookbooks through a book sale at my job and I cook things out of them. I've tried to make some homemade cookies before. Those were the ugliest cookies I've ever seen. My family liked them. Well check out these cookies that I made. These turned out pretty good!

1 Package of yellow cake mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup uncooked old-fashioned oats
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used white chips too)

1. Preheat oven on 350. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray.
2. Put cake mix and baking powder in large bowl. Add oil, eggs and vanilla.
3. Mix with blender on low speed until well blended. Stir in oats and chips.
4. Drop dough using tablespoon 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
5. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cookies stand and cool for 5 minutes.
6. Now eat them!

This dough yields about 4 dozen cookies. Hope you enjoy!

Source: Ultimate Cake Mix Books

So let me let you in on a little secret........I love to cook. Basically, the majority of my blogs will be about cooking. To me cooking is a key to the soul. A meal can make your stomach happy. That's what I love to do is make people happy.

At my job we used to have potlucks on Fridays. I would always cook something good. One day I made some stir fry. Man oh man was it good. I love to cook and now I take pictures of what I cook. I'm a sucker for short cuts on some things. I don't buy any special seasoning. Whatever seasoning I have in the cabinet goes in my food. Not one, but all. Here is what I made and what it consisted of.

Stir fry

2 medium onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
5 polish sausages

Seasoning

Rice (use how much you need)

1. Cut up your bell peppers and onion up into ¼ inch vertical strips.

2. Cut up your polish sausage ¼ inch horizontal strips.

3. In a skillet add enough oil to coat the bottom of it.

4. Let oil get warm place your veggies and meat in pan.

5. Add seasoning.

6. Stir veggies so they dont get wilted.

7. Boil rice and rinse it off when it done.

8. Plate your rice and scoop some stir fry on top.

9. Now you can eat!

I never cook the veggies all the way. I like them crispy. But you can cook it however you want. Hope you enjoy!

Source: Bree