Flowers and bbq’ing on Memorial Day

I guess it’s been a couple of weeks since my last posting, but with my back and hip and all the problems that can be associated with it, sometimes even getting to the computer can be a chore. But…I am feeling a lot better now and was able to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend with my hubby and even spend some time out on the porch with the flowers that are beginning to take over!

We went out a lot over the long weekend, but as always, we BBQ on Monday. No matter what’s going on and where we are, we always make sure to grill on the holiday. I decided that a light dinner was our best bet, as we had over indulged in rich food all weekend…lobster, steaks, out for a burger etc…So, grilled chicken that had been marinated in lemon/pepper, baked potato and some nice grilled cauliflower (one of our fav’s in the summer). here are some of the photos of what we grilled…

All the ingredients that I use to make my grilled cauliflower. plus salt and pepper of course…

Olive oil, balsamic, thyme, basil, oregano, minced garlic, and s&p…let it sit for about 30mins, stirring every once and a while to let it marinate before putting it in a grill pan on the grill.

Now the chicken…

It marinated overnight in a lemon juice, pepper, salt mixture I made and then to make sure that i have a plate to come in with it, I cover the plate with cling wrap and then place the chicken on that. that way when I remove the chicken to cook it, i peel away the cling, and presto, a clean plate to take it in with 🙂

Off to the BBQ…

This is the best veggie grill basket/bowl/cooker that i have owned (and i have had quite a few!). The cauliflower goes on first…chicken doesn’t take long on a hot grill!

Once it is all done i put everything back onto the cookie sheet that I carry it out on, and head in to eat!

The chicken was perfect…

Now, after all that, we head in to eat and then enjoy some time on the porch with the plants. I tell ya, this year they over taking it for sure! he tomato plant has grow so much. I can almost see it growing everyday! All the others look great as well…here are a few photos of what it looks like now….

The tomato is fabulous!

Some thyme that I have yet to plant…it’s on the agenda for today!

The sage looks great!

We always fly both flags…

Gotta love the hanging basket now!!

Some close ups of the flowers on the tomato “tree” 🙂

Last but not least, the plants that get the humming birds to come and visit!

Celosia, and Salvia…beautiful

Have an amazing day everyone, and an even better weekend coming up. i will post the little baby quilts that I have finally finished in a bit! As always, ❤ much love ❤

Chicken Cacciatore, and new cookware

I have always anted to make my own pasta, and before this past Christmas I had tried it a few times, but without a machine. I had asked for a machine or at least one to attach to my Kitchenade, for a few years, but had yet to receive it. Well,,this past year, my hubs did the ultimate, and got me not only the machine, but a few attachments and a motor for it (to save my arms from hand cranking).I am in love with it! I have made pasta numerous times, and have made homemade ravioli’s and gnocchi also. The other night we had chicken cacciatire with homemade linguine and here are a few photos of how that process went…

Gotta love this machine!

Lay flat, till I get the rack out (I use a plate holder stand I have for dinner parties)

I just love how this pasta tastes and cooks up in about 4mins!

Chicken cacciatore with homemade linguine and garlic bread…not too much else better.

o after a good dinner with the family, my hubs got online to check out some auctions (NOT ebay lol) and found a collection of cookware that I have been eyeing for a while now. I have used Calphalon for years, but I had so badly wanted a good stainless set. Well as it turned out we were able to get a beautiful Wolfgang Puck set for a reasonable price. They arrived today and I cannot wait to use them! They have great little ideas that most pots and [ans do not have. From a pour spout on the pots on both sides, to the holes in the lids edges to drain the pot without taking the lid off, are great! Here is a couple photos so you know what I’m talking about….

This is the smallest saucepan, and it has 2 different sizes of holes on each side…

The final photo is the whole collection, and I think I will be extremely happy with it…and will let you know after i cook dinner in them. I hope everyone is happy and healthy and as always ❤ much love ❤

Planting flowers…even on a rainy day

Well, as expected, it poured rain here yesterday, but I was determined to get almost all the flowers in their respective planters. While the sun was out in the morning – and it was a humid 81F, this is what i got done before the hail, high winds, and torrential downpour happened…

Some herbs (chives, sage and oregano), but more to be planted for sure!

The tomato plant is growing HUGE!

The flat of impatiens still need to be planted downstairs in the barrel. (another day)

These rail boxes will fill out like crazy in no time!

I love to read out here, although the back pillows are inside preparing for the rain!

Well, since it was so humid yesterday and I was so busy with planting, I never got my bread done, so now I am off to the kitchen to prepare the dough, and get some pasta ready for the chicken cacciatore that we are having for dinner. I hope everyone has a great day and as always ❤ much love ❤

Another fairly successful Mother’s day

I have to admit that Mother’s day is a mixed emotions day for me. I am so very happy to have 3 step children that enjoy my company and have always (for the most part lol) taken timeout of their day to come and see me (the boys are now 21 and 24) and spend some time with me. On the other hand, it is a grim reminder of the son that I lost. I still say that the hardest thing to handle (after the grief was not as raw) was to realize that for the rest of my life, I would never hear anyone call me “Mom” ever again. It was a name that I grew very attached to and would give a limb – and then some – to hear again. It’s something that you are so used to hearing, you don’t realize that it will not be said again. Now, with that being said, our 15yr old will refer to me as mom to her friends, but at home and when talking to me directly, I am Rustie.

My mother is still alive – she is almost 89 – and I call her of course…as she is in another country from me, and I will not see her till next summer for her 90th birthday. I also have a mother in law whom we used to get together on Mother’s Day, but for the last couple of years she has gone to the cottage and we will see her either today or tomorrow instead. My husband always goes out of his way to keep me busy and to make sure that not too much time is spent alone thinking over the sad things. It is also one of the few days a year that I will have a few drinks and try an relax and laugh with the boys, now that they are older and can join us at our favorite pub on the East side of the city. We come home after that and grab Chinese food and just try and relax together as husband and wife. All in all, the day has gotten easier to handle, and I have my husband to thank for that.

So, now it is a normal Monday in my home and I will make bread for the week, get things organized for dinner tonight (easy burgers and some chips) and then maybe get some planting done in the baskets and rail boxes on the porch – depending on the weather…looks like rain right now.

I will post photos of the flowers after they are planted and of course of tomorrow nights dinner – I am making Chicken Cacciatore with a loaf of homemade Italian bread. So, after a long weekend with family, it is now time to get back to the regular things in life and get going on my week. I hope you all have enjoyed yours and a belated Happy Mother’s day to all of you. As always ❤ much love ❤

A quick little baby boy’s quilt

I haven’t decided who this little quilt is for yet, but I had some extra material leftover and had already made a little girls one, so this is the matching baby boy’s blanket. I like to have them on hand and ready to send, or gift to family and friends for their new bundles of joy. I can get a small quilt done in a day, although I am finishing this one today. I was so tired yesterday that I put it away to make dinner, instead of worrying about binding it right away. I will post a few photos of what I have done, and then later I will post it done, along with the matching baby girl’s one.

Here are a few photos, some with the vertical quilting done, and then the horizontal done to form the quilted squares. As I said, the binding is not done, but I am sure you will get the idea.

A close up of the material

The finished squares…

Enjoy the day everyone, it’s sunny here in WI – for a while anyway, and I intend to try and be outside in some it and then in to bind this little blanket.  As always ❤ much love ❤

One of my favorite times of the year – Spring

I absolutely love the spring and all the things that go along with it. The smells of  fresh cut grass, the sound of the birds chirping loudly in the morning, and of course all the planting of flowers, herbs and veggies, that I do. My husband and I headed out yesterday for a nice Sunday drive to a little spot in Caledonia – waynesdaughtersgreenhouses.com – to take advantage of some great sales they had going on their hanging baskets and geraniums. We got a tad lost on the way there – lol – but it was just nice to take a drive on a sunny Sunday afternoon. After all was said and done,I ended up with a couple of really nice baskets, some vines, geraniums and a free wave petunia. I will grab the rest of what I need next weekend at my local shop – www.steingg.com – and then hopefully y next weekend i can get them into their baskets, planters and rail boxes. Here are a couple of photos of what came home with us….

This is my double hibiscus that decided to bloom yesterday also (just wanted to insert this before I forgot!)…it will go outside as soon as it gets a tad warmer.

I bought a few succulents and put them into a small container. So cute…

My patio tomato looks great!….

The chives are up, but I have yet to see the thyme poking through, should be soon!

The geraniums (pink, orange, fuchsia, and white). They will look great when they are put into the right planters. The vines are for the rail boxes.

A small hanging basket that I will place into a floor hanging planter when I get it all sorted out…

The larger basket of multi colored “party mix”, and yes, it is hung already. This is a spot that gets a hanging basket every year and it attracts so many humming birds! I hope you enjoyed the photos, and have a wonderful day…mine will be spent at the sewing machine, and then a new pasta recipe that Rach and I are going to try out for dinner. I will post how it goes later or tomorrow. As always ❤ much love ❤

It’s been one of those weeks!

The plan was to get all my curtains, window coverings, windows themselves, and of course the cluttered (from over the winter) cabinets, cleaned up, washed and wiped. Well, I got as far as all the curtains, and windows, but I have had a bad back for more than 10yrs, and have had at least 7 surgeries, including a spinal fusion and stimulator implant. So, needless to say my back is kinda screwed up. I do my best to be productive and keep active, but if I fall (which I did “slightly” on Wednesday afternoon) I am forced to shut down till the pain goes away. 

I did get some quick breads made at the beginning of the week and here are some of the photos from them. I had some dried cranberries and reconstituted them in orange juice and then added them to an orange loaf to make cranberry/orange quick bread. I also made my weekly (or bi-weekly) chocolate chip loaf. Everyone seems to love it for breakfast and my daughter calls it “Muffin bread” lol. Here we go…

The cranberry dough…

Into the pan…

Chocolate chip dry ingredients…

Add the oil…

The water…

I always get the eggs ready for ANY and all breads that i make. Whisking them before adding them, makes sure they are well blended before folding into a recipe. If they are not blended, they can form hard stringy “bits” throughout the bread, cake, brownies, etc…

Into the bowl…

Well mixed…

Into the pan…

Cranberry/orange loaf out of the oven and sprinkled with sugar (I add the sugar before the last 15mins of cooking)

Both loaves out of the oven and ready to cool and be wrapped for the week.

We are planning a simple weekend of cooking for me. Friday night is chicken tacos for my daughter and I (hubs will have beef tacos and some nachos), and then Saturday night (which is usually my night off from cooking) we plan on take out from somewhere and bring it home, sit on the living room floor and just relax and have some fun as a family. Sunday night I am making ribs. We all love this dinner. I will make some sort of starch (probably potatoes as we are having a pasta dinner on Monday) and of course either a salad or a vegg. Later today I am planning to make Chinese dumplings again, but this time I am making chicken ones and will add salt! I will take photos as I go along and then when I cook them later I will post that also. I will post photos throughout the weekend, and I truly hope that you all have a great one! As always, ❤ much love ❤

A Weekend of baking, the public market, and a light fish dinner at home

One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday (or any day for that matter) is to drive downtown and meander around the Milwaukee Public Market. It has everything and then some. While we were there buying a new rolling pin, a bamboo pizza board, a small specialized spatula, and my favorite homemade Baklava…oh, and of course some beautiful fresh Walleye and 2 lobster tails, I took some photos so you could see where I am talking bout. Here they are…

The outside of the building…

A few shots from the second level of the old building that was converted years ago…

The Spice House is why I go there most of the time….

The bread smith, the wine area and of course the seafood area…the best fish mongers in the city!

The amazing cheese area…wonderful!

Seafood!!! (my photo was very blurry,so I found this one!)

We brought home some wonderfully fresh walleye, some beautiful spring greens for a salad and the lobster tails for another night. I like to have a nice light dinner every once and a while, and when Rach is not here for dinner, we can get away with fresh fish (she loves fish, but really just wants it battered). Here is the fish from start to finish…

The fresh greens and some raspberry vinaigrette…

All de-boned and ready for the frying pan and brown butter sauce and pink salt

Crisp the skin in the brown butter

The greens with a bit of cucumber added (that’s all it needs)

The finished product and we are ready to enjoy a light healthy dinner on a sunny Sunday after a wonderful weekend 🙂

I think we all need quiet weekends to reconnect with the ones we love the most, and mine was no exception. I will post the baking that I did later in the day today…from chocolate chip bread for my hubby and daughter’s breakfast, to cranberry orange bread for my breakfasts….as always ❤ much love ❤

It’s a cookies and bread day in my house

Sometimes when it’s cold outside – yes, it’s still cold! – I tend to want to make the house warm with my oven. I decided earlier this week that when I had time I would make the family their favorite cookies (chocolate chip) and of course the weekly bread. Well, I found myself wanting to warm up a bit today and didn’t have anything really planned, so off to the kitchen to make bread and of course some yummy, chewy, chocolate chip cookies. I don’t eat cookies, but they say they are great 🙂 I took some photos, and they are as follows…

The dough is ready to form the cookies…

Then with my medium scoop I will get them onto the parchment lined sheets…

Ready for the oven!!

Mmmmmm, nice and warm…

Cooled and ready to be stored…

Meanwhile, the bread is rising…

And it’s hot and smells delicious…

It’s been a good day and i got the things that i wanted to done…so now I will relax in the living room, and then take my daughter out for some frozen yogurt. This is a photo of where I like to relax…someday I will paint it something other than beige, but for now it’s where I like to unwind………

This will also be the place that my husband and I will relax tonight after a dinner of spaghetti and homemade bread and watch some television. Have a great day everyone and as always ❤ much love ❤

A Wonderful Easter :)

I think when I get very busy, I get so involved with cooking, baking and of course cleaning up the house for company, that i forget about the Internet. not such a bad thing, but the last weekend from Good Friday till now, has been hectic. We go out for fish on Good Friday, do the shopping that’s necessary on Saturday and try and get to church on time, then I start the ham and such early on Sunday and have the family in at around 3 pm. The amount of people has dwindled over the years, but it’s always nice to have the kids, their girlfriends, my mother in law and of course myself and my husband, all sitting around the same table for a special meal – I wish we could do every Sunday! I took a few photos of  some of the food I made this past weekend…from scalloped potatoes, homemade dinner rolls, the ham covered with pineapple and maraschino cherries, to the new dessert I thought I would try (Double lemon cheesecake bars)…they were wonderful! I also made brussel sprouts, corn, and mashed potatoes (but I didn’t see the need to post those!) So now I will share some photos with you….

I had to cover the bottom and sides of the 9 x 13 pan with foil…for easy removal and cutting…

The first layer of the dessert is vanilla wafers and melted butter…

Add the melted butter…

Softened cream cheese, lemons (both zest and juice), ready for the mixer…

In they go, with sugar, flour and vanilla…

Press the wafers into the pan, and get into the oven for 10mins….

The filling is very creamy when it’s ready

Pour the filling over the cooked wafer bottom, and cook..

It looked puffy when it came out….and on the day of, I covered this with homemade lemon curd…they were delicious

Now, make the scalloped potatoes…

Into the oven…

All cooked….

Hot and ready for the fridge till the “day of”

Rise the buns….

Into the oven…

Out, and brush with butter…they smell delicious!

Easter Sunday, and everything getting ready to go into the oven to be warmed up…

Cover the ham with pineapple and cherries, and cook (I added some pineapple juice in the bottom too)

My table before company arrived (I prefer not to take photos of people when they are eating…or to post them on the Internet either…so this is it for the dinner!)

I also cannot have Easter morning without an Easter egg hunt in the house…always little chocolate foil wrapped ones, all over the place…here are 2 photos of a couple of the eggs (our 15yr old had fun looking for them, although these are really out in the open!)

And Easter isn’t the same without a beautiful Easter lily…

I hope that no matter what you did, or what you celebrated, or who you were with, that you enjoyed every moment of it…we are not promised tomorrow, so we have to enjoy today and make the most out of it. Have a great day, and as always ❤ much love ❤