Sweet and Sour Ribs...

I'm still cleaning out my fridge and freezer for 2012. This is an old recipe for Sweet and Sour Ribs from my old Chinese cooking class.

4 cups spareribs cut into small pieces.
3 tsp. soya sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vinegar
1 tbsp flour
Flour ribs and then add the rest, coating each rib. Deepfry at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or just brown them in a pot of oil till all red is gone.
Sauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup vinegar
2 cups water
2 tsp. soya sauce
Thickening made from cornstarch and water.
Bring sugar, vinegar, water and soya sauce to a boil in a pot and add browned  ribs.  Simmer till ribs are well done...anywhere from 1-2 hours depending how soft you like gristle.  I like them simmered about 2 hours and when they are just about ready I thicken the sauce.  You can thicken earlier if you want. Garnish with pineapple chunks or serve by themselves.  I added a bit of red food colouring.

Best Beef marinade for Beef and Tomatoes

Sirloin Marinating steak or Flank steak

Round if you have to...but I prefer not. 

Freeze and when half frozen or half thawed, slice in thin slices. This is much easier when half frozen to get nice thin slices. If using round steak just marinate a little bit longer.

Best Marinade:

(from Chinese cooking course 30 years ago)

½ cup cold water

½ tsp. cooking wine( had none so  I used Wine Vinegar)

½ tsp. soya sauce

½ tsp. salt

Touch of pepper

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. accent( I use ½ tsp)

2 tbsp. oil

Mix together and put in your beef slices. Let sit for 30 minutes or longer,  and add 1 tsp. cornstarch to mixture and stir. This marinade makes the beef really tender.  You can fry in hot oiled pan and serve with rice or prepare this meat to stir fry with veggies like Tomatoes and onion. Withthe cornstarch on this the meat strips fry with a batter crispiness.

Beef and Tomatoes

Blanche  1 cup chunked onion and 1 cup chunked  celery in a pot  for 2 minutes.  Takeout and put and set aside. Prepare your beef  and fry in skillet or wok, until redness is gone and remove to another dish. Clean skillet and add fresh oil and add 6 medium chunked tomatoes, onion and celery. Add 1 tsp. soya sauce, 1 tbsp,. accent ½ cup sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 2 cups water or chicken broth, and bring to a boil.  Add a bit of cornstarch to thicken.  Last add your prepared beef strips and serve on white rice.

I was cleaning out my fridge and only had 1 big field tomato so decreased my veggie juices to 1 cup water-1/4 cup sugar-3/4 tsp. soya sauce and 1/2 tbsp accent. 

Yummy.

Apple Crisp a bit different

Apple Crisp in 9 by 13 pan

Cover  greased pan  with sliced apples( I used about 7 apples)

Sprinkle apples with ½ cup brown sugar

In a bowl mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup white sugar, 1 tsp. Baking Powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 eggs. Will be coarse and lumpy. Sprinkle over apples.  Sprinkle 1 tsp. cinnamon over batter.  Melt 1/2 cup butter and drizzle over everything.  Pop in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Bottom of pan will have juice and butter.

Brown Rice Tabbouleh

1/2 cup uncooked Instant Long Grain Brown Rice
11/2 cups veggie broth
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp, lemon juice
1/2 tsp.  minced garlic
1/2 English cucumber finely diced
4 Roma tomatoes
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 tsp. salt and pepper

Rinse rice and drain well.  Combine rice and broth in saucepan and brong to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to low simmer....until liquid is absorbed...about 40 minutes. Remove from eat ad let stand 5 minutes.  Fluff and cool.
In mixing bowl whisk olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic.  Stit in everything else and season with salt and pepper.  Cover and refrigerate.

Blueberry muffins with cottage cheese

My favorite recipe for blueberry muffins calls for 1 cup sour cream. So of course today I had none.....but I had some creamed cottage cheese...so I blended a cup and I think I like the consistency of these better.

Beautiful boy 5 days old

Welcome little boy.

Nase nowy mala dziecko....Conor

Uwaziej.

IMG_0183.MOV

Dole crushed pineapple has green mold in tins.

Nice green  mold from a can of  Dole crushed pineapple baked into my nice carrot cake.

2nd time I've had this.

Done with Dole...product of Thailand.

Lukee singing and talking about new baby...

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to Lwow, Ukraine

Cutest New Years Eve Eggs

How about these for the cutest New Years Eve eggs  with red pepper rings for breakfast??

These would be nice with toast and smoked salmon

A year later....and still half the size

Gorgeous Christmas Cactus

Babcia's cactus

Vegetarian Kielbasa for Christmas

Here' a new twist on Vegetarian foods...

Kielbasa shortbread.

How about crackers and cucumber slices?

Green and orange food colouring in shortbread.

I must admit this was a stroke og genius after making a mistake with shortbread.  I was originally going to make candy canes.  One rope red and one white...but the mistake I made was following an untried dough recipe out of a "Christmas Book", that wasn't very impressive.  The dough was too fragile and kept breaking.  So no patience from my end I just squished all the dough together and was going to chuck it.  But as I was marbelizing it I thought OMG this looks like Italian smoked sausage.  So I rolled it, chilled it, sliced it and Voila

 " Kielbasa".

Jewish Potato Latkes

Had a craving today....not much of a diet food but me and the scale aren't in sync with each other today,   so I just peeled a potato and said " I'll just have to take my chances"

Enjoy today, pay tomorrow!

 

Had to share half with the neighbors because these were just too good.....and would be too tempting to snack on.

4 Bakers potatoes grated

1 small onion grated

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

salt and pepper

Veggie oil to fry in

Grate potatoes and leave in cold water until ready for use. Cold water keeps them from turning brown. When ready squeeze the water out of potatoes and put in a bowl. Beat the eggs till frothy and pour over potatoes and onion. Sprinkle in flour and baking powder.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Pour enough oil  to give you 1/2 inch in the frying pan.  I heated mine to medium high (7) and found that temperature allowed me to cook all my batches to a beautiful golden brown without the oil getting dirty and needing to be changed before you're finished.  I had three full fry pans and they were beautiful latkes.  Sour cream is a must to have on these.

Dreaming about spring already

I'm already dreaming about a Cathedral Bell Vine that I want to plant next spring somewhere in my windy yard.  These are just beautiful and will grow beautifully here if you find the right sunny spot.

They grow about 4-5 feet.

A Lovely Story of Narcissus and the Lake

The Alchemist picked up a book that someone in
the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages,
he found a story about Narcissus.
The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth
who daily knelt beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty.
He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell
into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower
was born, which was called the narcissus.
But this was not how the author of the book ended the
story.
He said that when Narcissus died, the Goddesses of the
Forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh
water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.
"Why do you weep?" the Goddesses asked.
"I weep for Narcissus," the lake replied.
"Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus," they
said, "for though we always pursued him in the forest, you
alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand."
"But..... was Narcissus beautiful?" the lake asked.
"Who better than you to know that?" the Goddesses said
in wonder, "After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each
day to contemplate himself!!"
The lake was silent for some time.
Finally it said:
"I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus
was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my
banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty
reflected."
"What a lovely story," the alchemist thought.

A Lovely Story About Me

A Lovely Story About Me

One day long, long ago, there lived a beautiful woman who did not whine, nag, bitch or drink.

(That would be me.)

 

But that was a long time ago and it was just that one day.

Happy Halowe'en

The Simple pumpkin

The Diet Pumpkin....no bread

Okay a real carver pumpkin

My Oh My Chicken Pot Pie and Iyanla Vanzant

This looks like a Picasso painting

And then "Voila"

A Chicken Pot Pie

It's a shame to flute and concern yourself with the crust because once you cut into it it looks like it does before you put it into the crust.

But a good and hearty meal.

Definitely freezing this in containers for lazy days.

Way too much food for a dieter.

Served with Cranberry dressing

And then a lazy day with a good read.

My Autumn Pumpkins

The Greatest Joys

I'm the Man

Once upon a time there was a pumpkin patch.....

Easy Cabbage, Barley Soup with Ham

Cabbage, Barley and Ham Soup

A good autumn dish is soup.

3 medium potatoes diced
1 small onion diced
2-3 carrots diced
3 cloves garlic
1/3 c pot barley
4 cups chopped cabbage
1 can whole mushrooms
1 1/2 c diced ham
2 T oil or bacon fat....2 bacon slices diced
1 litre Campbell’s chicken stock

2 cups water
1/2 ground sage
2 tsp frozen chopped Italian parsley( I always have frozen on hand)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions, carrots and garlic and in oil a few minutes till onions are translucent.

Add diced bacon and remaining ingredients and simmer for about 40 minutes, until cabbage and barley are tender. I add two cups water to the litre of broth because I find it to salty by itself.  I freeze this as well, for nights when I want quick soup.o

This is also a good diet soup

on the heels of a five kilometre walk

 bringing me up to almost 

 100 kilometers in 40 days.....

and 11 pounds lighter.

Delicious Diet treat for Being Good

I'm not a great fan of chocolate.  I'm not a fan, mainly because the sweetness of chocolate hurts my teeth.  Since I  have started food control, I have new appreciations for anything that tastes good.  Anybody who thought sphaghetti squash was a treat should be able to indulge in a chocolate treat once in a while.  I just found these in Costco and thougth I would buy them as a gift. They are Crispy Belgian Chocolate Thins, and a product of Belgium.   Instead of leaving the box alone, I decided to try one. 

 Hmmmm....not bad. 

Not bad because they are thin and the sweetness doesn't kill my teeth.  Actually they are delicious.  But if you want them more delicious and considered a very special treat.....spray them with real whipped cream.  Who doesn't like chocolate anything with a glass of  milk?  Like a chocolate cookie with milk. 

Well I wanted a really special treat and this is it. 

My New Drinkin' Boots

I may not have the original Ugg, but I have new drinkin' boots.

All furlined

Wallymart..10 bucks...Michal's $4.00...

I actually wanted a black sequined heart but couldn't find one.

Chicken Fingers in Cornflake Crumbs

What a yummy coating on Chicken fingers.
A little crunchy if you like Crunch.

3 chicken breasts sliced into thin pieces
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup milk
1 cup cornflake crumbs
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. poultry seasoning  (or more to taste)

Put milk in a wide bowl and put all chicken pieces into it. Fill a plastic bag with the flour and crumbs, salt and seasoning.  Put a few pieces of chicken into the bag and coat evenly with the crumb mixture. Lay the chicken pieces on a lightly oiled cookie sheet covered in foil.  When all pieces are on the pan, drizzle the melted butter over them all slowly.  Put in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Serve with VH plum sauce.

 Delicious! 

You'll never eat store bought breaded chicken fingers again.
Keep the flour and crumb mixture made in advance and ready to go.
No fuss in preparation or cleaning and fingers are very moist on the inside.

Leather and sparkles is my new thing this month.

Love, love  sparkle and sequins.My new black leather pants and sequins to match my couch.

The sparkles from the top make my mirror look dirty.

I woulda bought the fake Uggs in black sequins but a little too unrealistic for our winters. I mean who would see the sequins in 2 feet of snow. 

Teaching our Children

And....five lessons to live by:

1. Money cannot buy happiness but it's more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on a bicycle.

 

2. Forgive your enemy but remember the bastard's name.

3. Help someone when they are in trouble and they will remember you when they're in trouble again.

4. Many people are alive only because it's illegal to shoot them.

 

5. Alcohol does not solve any problems, but then again, neither does milk.