Busy Nights Real Food
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
 
Wow. I can't believe I even remembered the password to this thing. It has been almost 3 years since I last posted and boy have things changed since then. Funkbobito and I are still happily married, we have added a very crazy, but very sweet dog named Bella to our family. We love her, though she definitely keeps us on our toes. She's a rescue mutt so we gotta love her.

We also added another little member to our family. Our little Matthew was born last February and he's awesome. I love being a mom and I'm pretty sure its the best job I'd every want. Wish I could say thats the only job I have, but alas I'm still at the daily grind working in retail.

Life is good, but I'm missing one big thing. Food. Between my work schedule and now a baby I feel like I have no time to even think about cooking so most nights I end up with the easiest and simple meals one can imagine. But I think I need this back in my life. I've lost one of my favorite hobbies. So while it may sporadic, and rather uninspired, and very low budget (a new house and daycare have cut into our budget a bit), I feel like I need it for me.

So I'm a little out of practice with the food pictures, but this was my only impressive meal of late. Ok so just the chicken was impressive.

Buttermilk Chicken Legs
4 Chicken Leg Quarters
2 small containers of buttermilk
1-2 Tbsp salt
1-2 Tbsp Steakmates

Comine all ingredients in ziploc and marinate in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 425. Roast chicken on a rack for about 45 minutes until nicely browned, juices run clear (internal temp 160 I believe). Remove from oven, cover with foil and let rest for 10-15 minutes.

Delish.
 
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
  A new summer favorite
I have heard a lot about grilled pizza. And so I decided it was time to give it a whirl. I started by making dough. You may notice in the recipe that it says 3 Tablespoons of yeast, that was mistyped, I used 2 packets so if you use the jar, do an equivalent, about 3 teaspoons I think. I don't know why I was so afraid of making pizza dough from scratch. It really is so easy and tastes so good. Well, I made 2 pizzas, one for me and one for Funkbobito. I went with olive oil, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, your typical margherita. Funkbobito had pepperoni.
We rolled out the dough, preheated the grill to medium, oiled up the grates and threw on the crusts. After about 5 or 7 minutes (we have gas, so easier to control the heat here), we pulled off the crusts, flipped them over and put all our toppings on. We dropped the heat on the grill to medium-low and put the pizzas back on. This time we closed the lid and checked every couple of minutes until the bottom was nicely golden. It only took about 5 minutes tops. The results were great. Sorry there were not pictures of the pies whole, we just couldn't wait to cut into them and give em a try. If you have a grill, this is definely a must try meal.
 
Thursday, May 04, 2006
  Before and After
Who doesn't love the before and after pictures on your favorite talk show. I know I always do. So here is the Punky version



Before
Simply steamed with a quartered lemon. Served with a bit of melted lemon butter. So good.













After
Well, we loved it and thats all there is to say.













Before
Awesome, amazing, super yummy Apricot-Mustard Grilled Pork Tenderloin from the Char-Broil website. It was so tender, and moist. This will be made again and again.







After
Well, even though my attempt at mashed potatoes were a bit runny, Funkbobito and I had no problem finsihing them off. I flavored the potatoes with butter, sour cream, milk, Asiago cheese and garlic powder, and salt and pepper of course.







Before
Almost 3 years ago I cut off all my hair and then decided to see how long it would take to grow out. Several times since then I thought I would cut it all off again, but really wanted long hair when I got married. So here is how long it got in 3 years (it was pretty short before)








After
I love that it is all gone. Without losing all my anonymity, I based the style off this picture.
So excited that it is gone and that I don't have to put it in a ponytail tomorrow.






Well, before I wrote this post I was worried about posting my first meal in a long time. But after its all done, it went alright. And you all really have to try that pork, its fantastic.
 
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
  Back on the horse
Well, after way too long without a focus on cooking, its a little weird to get back into it. My motivation to try something new is pretty low. But I think it is growing, and I am just about ready to get back on the horse. I have magazines and cookbooks galore to cook out of, and a day off tomorrow that I may have to whip something up.
While in Mexico there was really only one thing I really wanted to bring home, a bottle of pure vanilla extract. Well, I brought home 2, a clear and dark, and I can't wait to choose a recipe to try them in. I had a picture to post, but my internet isn't letting me open that tab, so you get to visualize it all on your own.
So I work the late shift tonight so I am eating a sandwich and my HUSBAND (still so weird to say) will get to fend for himself at home. Hopefully a night like this will really inspire some great dishes on Thursday.
 
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
  Finding what you're looking for
I'm not sure if anyone still swings back by here, but I thought I would pop back in. Just in case anyone was missing the puns, corny jokes, cooking disasters, and all around mediocracy that is my blog. So where, you may want to know, has Punky been all this time? Why has she abandoned her little piece of land in cyberspace? The answer is so simple its silly, you may even chuckle at how ridiculously simple it really is...I've been really freakin busy.

Last June, Funkbobito popped the question, and after 4.5 years of very patiently waiting (and constant hinting) of course I said yes. So began the journey that is wedding planning. Next time I do this, I will hire someone else to do it all (and no, I don't really plan on there being a next time). Well, after hours and hours of picking colors, flowers, dresses, fonts, table cloths, etc, etc, etc, I wasn't much up for cooking, and being that this is a cooking blog, I thought you all would rather not hear the details of frozen pizza, take-out, and my beloved Kraft mac and cheese.

In November, I followed my life long dream to work a crappy job and accepted a promotion at work, I'm a supervisor now. No really, I like my job, it just isn't at all what I thought I would be doing and definitely not in the field I was hoping to work in. Oh well, you gotta survive right? My schedule got much more irregular and once again, cooking suffered. It was no longer something I did for fun, I now did it because I was tired, wanted to be off my feet sooner than later, and really didn't care what I ate. Enter canned soup, salad bars, and lots of eggs.

Well, all this craziness had to wind down at some point, and it finally did. On April 22, Funkbobito and I finally got hitched. He was definitely what I'd been looking for. The wedding was great and I can't believe I pulled it all off. Our photographer has a blog that has a few sample pics on it. What a fun day, can't wait to see all our proofs. Then it was off to Mexico for our honeymoon. Now that was fun. Our resort was gourmet all inclusive so the food was spectacular. Yummy.

On a sad note. About a month before the wedding, my sweet Gidget passed away. She had been sick for about a week and was showing improvement. I was going to take her in to the vet so he could check her and her heart gave out right before we were leaving the house. She was my sweetie for 16.5 years and I miss her everyday. Its still weird, over a month later to come home and her not be here. But Funkbobito and I are hoping to get a puppy sometime this summer.

Well that's about all I've got, hopefully there is still someone out there.
 
Thursday, February 09, 2006
  Alfred Hitchcock Presents


The cushion
(Hum the Hitchcock theme song to yourself)















It was a cloudy and cold day. The ever changing weather had driven Punky to her couch to blog. She had been cooking and needed to update her readers on what she had been eating in the last few days. Her vicious attack dog slept at her side. No one would know that a horrible butchering was taking place.



Punky was focused on sharing the horrors that were her Martha Stewart recipes when she had the feeling that something wasn't quite right. But maybe it was those boring recipes for tilapia and Spicy (not) black beans that were causing her distress. As you can see it even looked a little scary.



As Punky is not an overly paranoid person she kept blogging. She was preparing to rave about the movie night her and Funkbobito had. They had a real treat of a dinner with wine cheese, sausages and fruit. Nothing like munchies for dinner. But her unease arose again, but she just simply blamed it on the atrocity of a film that The Brothers Grimm really was.

She returned to her blogging hoping to actually get something posted. And after a vegetarian meal that was to die for, she thought this would be the day. Roasted veggies and home alone beans were a hit, even with Funkbobito (who believes a meal really should have meat). But something was still not quite right.

So Punky let her vicious attack dog outside to do her business. When she returned something was not quite right.

So Punky went outside to check out what was going on. It was then that she saw the carnage, the horror, the cushion...

Her blood curdling scream was only in her head, but the fountain of expletives that spewed from here lips was definetly audible. She wondered what would lead to such a violent act on a mere six month old cushion. What had it done to deserve this? She thought of all the logical explanations (Kraft sends warning to stop referring to their products, the Foodies mob is placing a hit on her for the large use of convenience foods, Columbian drug lords hid their stash in her Pier One cushion before it shipped out and they have been searching for it for the last 6 months, etc). There was always the improbable chance that it was a squirrel trying to build a nest. But she decided it was really a curse from the Blogger gods for not keeping her blog updated. The terror of further hostility towards her outdoor furniture has led her to post and she has taken this warning to heart.

 
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
  Greek Garden Party
One of my favorite shows is Project Runway on Bravo. Its a competition between fashion designer and they have different design challenges each week. I was addicted to the 1st season and now the 2nd. Tonight's theme was a garden party dress made all with flowers and plants. They had some really interesting dresses. If you haven't seen it, try to catch an episode. Its a keeper.

Tonight we took a little trip to Greece. Well, more like the Greek restaurant, only I was the chef. We started with a great homemade tzatziki. It was very easy and had a great little zing to it. I got the recipe from the Cooking Light Bulletin Board and will definetly make it again. Toasted up some pita and had a great little appetizer.

Anytime Funkbobito and I go to Greek restaurants for dinner we ALWAYS get gyros. While I would love to tell you that I made gyros (meat and all) tonight, lets get real and remember whose blog we are reading here. No we made Greek Steak Pitas (adapted from Cooking Light). The flavor of this was great and easy to put together. HOWEVER, I will not be using flank steak again. This is the second time I have tried it and the second time I found it tough and stringy. Ahh the curse of being raised by a farming family. Anyways this recipe will be one that can stick around, but I will use strip or something a bit more tender next time.


Tomorrow we are trying some recipes from Martha Stewart. I can't really stand her and have only made her cookies so we'll see how we end up liking these new recipes. Oh and on a totally girly note, I get to go buy my wedding shoes tomorrow, YEAH!! Can't wait to see them with my dress on Friday. Now this is the fun part of wedding planning.

 

Name:

Just a mom, sharing our life on this little blog.

LINKS
Epicurious / Food TV / Cooking Light / Lone Star Diva

BLOGS I LOVE
Adventures in Food and Wine / Amateur Gourmet / Culinary in the Desert / Farmgirl Fare / Food Blog Scool / I Like to Cook / Jeff's Stuff / Kayaksoup / Mona's Apple / Musings / Savory Notebook / Sweetnicks

ARCHIVES
July 2005 / August 2005 / September 2005 / October 2005 / November 2005 / December 2005 / January 2006 / February 2006 / May 2006 / December 2009 /


Powered by Blogger