Creamy pasta with leeks, peas and parmesan (and grilled chicken pieces)

I'm constantly finding things I want to try and cook to see if we like. This one had no meat, and for the most part it wouldn't bother me but I have 3 guys in my house who would have had a fit without meat of some sort so I added grilled chicken strips and mmmm mmmm mmm was it good!

http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/Creamy-Pasta-with-Leeks-Peas-Parmesan-Recipe

Heres a simple 30 min meal...

12 oz of orecchiette pasta
1 10 oz pkg prozen peas
1 lemon
2 TBSP Olive oil
4 leeks (white and light green parts only) sliced into half moons

kosher salt and pepper

3/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
2 Tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (approx 1 oz)
 grilled chicken strips if desired diced and cooked ahead of time

1) Cook the pasta according to package directions, adding in the peas during the last 2 minutes

2) Meanwhile, using a veggie peeler remove 4 strips of zest from the lemon and thinly slice on a diagonal

3) Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and cook stirring occasionally until tender 6-8 minutes.  Add the cream, lemon zest and nutmeg and simmer until slightly thickened 2-3 min.

4)  Add the pasta peas and pre cooked (ahead of time) chicken strips to the skillet and toss to combine fold in tarragon. sprinkle with parmesan cheese befrore serving.

All Shiny and Ready for Summer :)

    Last post for the evening, but I just had to share a little story. I don’t particularly know why but this year I was stuck on these shoes (Flip-flops) I saw in an ad for one of our local stores. I literally would have died for these shoes (Ok I'm being a little on the dramatic side but you can tell I really had it bad for these shoes. *sigh*).

    You should probably know I’m not your typical girly girl in the shoe department. Don’t get me wrong I love shoes but when it comes to the shoe area I usually opt for practical and weigh what’s going to be the most versatile  to what is absolutely cute and un practical because I doubt I have anything that matches it therefore furthering the need for yet another shopping trip and even more spending.

    Anyways it was around the time the rodeo was coming to town so probably late January early February when this ad went out. Of course most of you folks are thinking OH MY FLIP-FLOPS in the dead of winter are you crazy? Well to answer your question no.  We usually do not end up with the traditional winter weather that most of you northern folks are used to. As a matter of fact I think old man winter completely forgot about us this year. While we did have one strong freeze that caused quite a commotion, it didn’t get below the upper 40’s all winter. I think our winter started like Mid December and was gone just after the first of January, and was shortly thereafter replaced with spring which again seems to only have lasted a few weeks because this week it was in the mid 80’s all week long.  So yeah it’s already time to be busting out those summer shorts, dresses, tank tops, and of course the ever so loveable Flip- Flops! J  Long past are the days of blue jeans, jackets, and long sleeved shirts, all of us Gulf coast dwellers will mourn your passing. It was nice while it lasted but too short lived.

      Anyways back to the coveted shoes. OH my how I held on to that sales ad drooling for weeks. We went on a field trip with the boy’s school to the rodeo and I saw this as my opportunity to shop for said coveted shoes! While I did find an enormous array of cute flip flops in a similar style I couldn’t fine MY flip flops. I know call me picky but if you’re going to spend 50 dollars on a pair  (Insert Gasp and You have got to be crazy look here. But hey I did warn you I had it bad!) they dang well better be ones you like. Am I right?

     Well anyways, I left the rodeo thoroughly disappointed and thinking I wouldn’t find my shoes before the season. * Sigh again* Well today, nearly a month later, with full support of my hubby I went for a pedicure and to look for my fancy shoes.  I am proud to announce I found MY SHOES and in my size (8.5). I also found a cute little pair of blinged out sunglasses to boot! And here’s where you can find your own cute blingy shoes http://www.yellowboxshoes.com/

Mini Van Drivers

So I’ve been told time and time again, that I am just plain odd. I guess my brain just thinks differently than most, and I’m pretty observant. Well, to say the least I people watch. I mean who doesn’t right, it can be quite entertaining. Anyways, I will have you know I found a man just as odd as me! J … My husband asked me this question yesterday and now I’ m asking you… Have you ever noticed when driving down the road, the way people drive can be classified into 4 different categories?  For example Guys driving minivans. (Yep he surely does sound like me… well of course my reply was a quick yes and here’s some of our bantered conversation witty sarcasm, and combined conclusions.)

The first category we will call The Devoted Father. This driver drives his van out of love and is extremely cautious because typically he is carrying precious cargo. He often can be seen with please drive safely, children on board signs in the windows. He will often opt to start stopping at a green light instead of going through it thus causing you to have to swerve to avoid rear-ending him. This man is proud to drive his minivan. He views it as a badge of honor. He doesn’t view himself as girly or feminine at all.  The fact that there is a sports car in the lane next to him does not faze him nor does it make him feel like he has been castrated. He does not look upon sports cars as drool worthy because it wouldn’t look as cool to have my child is an honor student at *fill in the blank school*  on a sports car or truck. As long as he is driving his minivan, he views himself as a stud. He thinks he’s stylish sitting in the car rider lane at his child’s school because after all he is a minivan Dad! I think for this father we should make him stickers that say soccer dad instead of soccer mom.

The second category we can call Mechanic Man.  The Mechanic man is typically just that some sort of company worker, or in the “Service” industry. This man drives a solid white minivan and typically has some sort of insignia on his car representing the company he works for.  He and his decked out van like to speed because he always is in a hurry. Heaven forbid if you were to be in front of him going much slower than he wants to go because you will be shoved down the road.  Do not anger this man! He drives his minivan as if it were a rented car. He does not care what happens to this van of his, just as long as he shows up where he needs to be on time. Which has never ceased to amaze me how they give you a window say 2-4 and always end up showing up at like 3:45… why don’t they just say I’ll be there at 3:45, maybe  Mechanic man wouldn’t have to race to every appointment. How’s my driving the vans rear end challenges… Dare I answer?

The third category we will call the Macho Man. Ah, Macho man. This driver drives exactly like Mechanic man except he has no excuse (he’s not a service man). This man has a lead foot and doesn’t mind using it.  He can often be seen trying to race at Red lights. He will accelerate while holding his foot on both the gas and the brake so that his van revs like a race car.  Often times this man is not a man at all but a teenage boy! You might wonder if he accelerates much more if his van might explode. Maybe he dreams of being the next famous race car driver.

The fourth and last category we will call Manic Man.  Manic man is angry because he has to drive his van.  His minivan is often thoroughly beat up, with paint chips missing, rust spots exposed, headliner dangling, no ac, windows down, and tail pipe dragging the ground.  This man cannot afford a new car thus furthering his anger at said van. He whips in and out of traffic, narrowly missing cars on any given side of him. He runs red lights, and disobeys all traffic signs. He has a general uncaring attitude toward all things living while in his van. His seething rage can be further explained by the loud heavy metal screaming coming from the minivans speakers.  This man is generally angry at the whole world, which is seen by the expression he has on his face.  He is sometimes seen on the side of the road with the vans hood popped up and smoke rising from within. I wonder if he’s ever thought about taking a tire iron and just going to town on his car. After all it is his cars fault he has to drive it! If you see a Manic man please be extra cautious!

Do you know or have you ever witnessed one of these drivers? (Hope you found it as amusing as we did.)

Have a good weekend folks! J

How to properly clean and maintain your Garbage Disposal.

Ok, so not every house has a Garbage Disposal, but I'm going to start with this appliance first because it's the easiest to maintain, and should be done no less than once a month. One of the most important things to remember about Disposals is that unlike it's advertised to do, it can NOT grind steak, raw chicken, bones of any kind, or anything HARD, Gummy or Chewy. And NEVER EVER over fill it.  Sure it will try to dispose of anything you put in it, and yes it can give you some nasty cuts (the larger ones could potentially  cut off a finger or so but who wants to really find out???  NOT ME!) but in the long run doing so will cause it to break. Rule of thumb if you have a hard time chewing it, its not for the disposal! Cleaning it is a breeze but most people aren't sure how to do so... Here is how.

Step 1- MAKE SURE NOTHING IS IN THE DISPOSAL! ( This is the most important thing you need to always check even before you turn it on to chew up the last bits of foods. Reason being is silverware, glass, fish rocks, bones, straws and plastic baggies all clog up even the best of disposals, and or can break the blades.)

Step 2- Always turn HOT water on before running your disposal, it can not work properly with out water.

Step 3- Run disposal for at least 30-60 seconds to make sure the food has all been cleared from the disposal.

Step 4- Turn the hot water off but leave the disposal running. Grab 5-10 Ice cubes from your Freezer and plop them into the disposal making sure you do not put your fingers anywhere near the entry of the disposal. Also be sure not to over load the disposal either. Let the disposal Grind the ice until melted usually less than a minute or two.

*The reason you put ice in the disposal is to sharpen the blades. Most people do not think about it, but over time the blades will become worn from use and need sharpening just like knives do.

Step 5- Turn the Hot water back on while the disposal is still running to flush the disposal.

Step 6- With both the hot water and the disposal running you may then pour in  1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar or even plain Vinegar, whichever you prefer. (This helps with the smell and also helps to dissolve the food.)  New (ish) on the market is something called a PLINK you may substitute the vinegar for the Plink if you prefer either way you are just making sure its sanitized, less smelly, and has some enzyme to eat away the foods.

TaDa! Congratulations your disposal and handy dandy appliance man thank you! Make sure to do this at least once a month, you can do it more often if you feel like its not grinding the food well, or even if it just smells.

My First Blog

So I have had this blog for awhile now, actually so long that it closed down because of lack of use. So of course it then had to re-open it. YIKES!  So please stick with me here because I am new at this, and expect a HUGE learning curve because I have NO idea what I'm doing here when it comes to blogging. The first post might be a little long winded I can talk sometimes. after all I am a southern girl and we girls don't lack in the gift of gab. I have a few goals I'd like to do with this blog.

The first is giving you guys some tips on how to clean and maintain your appliances. Sorry folks but its true there are hidden things that are breaking your appliances and you can't even see them! Unfortunately, yes ladies just another thing to make sure you've cleaned, aside from the visible that its.  My husband owns an Appliance Repair business...well the more accurate description would be EAT, Sleep (what little we do manage to squeeze in) and Breathe appliances. We've owned our own business for 10 years. YOU bet your rear-end I claim to own part of it.  After all I did spend the better part of 8 of those years sharing my home (see I use the term spare bedroom loosely so to say it was in our spare room would also have to include our hallway, front entry way, front porch, back porch, and from time to time the dining room/ kitchen), time, energy, thoughts, blood, sweat, tears, stress, HUSBAND, ect. On making it the success it is today. I may not have my name on the business plan or DBA but I've surely more than contributed in making it work. So I guess you could say we epitomize the term LIVE to work or more so we make it a literal fact. So of course I've picked up some Handy tips and tricks to help you folks out and save some money.

The second is responding to questions, if you have a question about a certain brand or a certain problem I can help! So before you call that home warranty company or your local repairman, check here because it might just be as simple as flipping on a light switch. Trust me when I say it HAPPENS ALL THE TIME! You don't want to spend 100's of dollars when you might be able to fix it yourself in 5 or so minutes for less than 50.

The third is I'd love to share some of my expertise with you guys on other things as well. I mean it when I say I dabble in a little bit of everything.  Not only am I a stay at home mom of twin boys, One has asthma. And a milk product intolerance. My whole family has allergies (ever want to know how to make your home allergy free yes I have tips for that!) me being the worst of them. I have PCOS, but  luckily we still managed to have children and am able to keep my weight decent, I'd love to be a little thinner but mostly I just want to be fit and healthy (trust me when I say it's not an easy road to have to take.) Lets add in the fact that prior to having my boys I was in college to be a teacher. And then there is my mom who bless her heart wanted to go to school to be a florist, but she didn't want to go alone, so she asked if she paid my way if I would go with her. A few weeks later I was a certified florist.  Who knew I'd end up enjoying it A LOT, and I'm pretty good at it to boot. I also love to read and dabble in a little writing as well. I LOVE to garden, I can't remember a time growing up that my dad and or grandpa did not have a garden. Gardening is in my genes, Flowers, Vegetables, Weeds, you name it we try and grow it. Not only is it fun for the kids to grow your own veggies and eat them but it's also so healthy for you! We even as of this year started composting. My dad is what most folks would call a handy man, or maybe even a Do-It-All kind of guy. He builds new homes, remodels’ old ones, landscapes, builds shelves and all kinds of cool stuff, so after all the years of watching him. I've managed to become quite skilled at doing some handy repairs around the house. Can anyone say pass the wrench? So between my husband working a bunch, and the two boys I find myself fixing most broken things around the house.  If I can fix it myself without bothering my husband who has so much on his plate already, I'll do it. With that said you know I have 3 growing boys under my roof (yes my husband counts as a growing boy.) Luckily I have been handed down and discovered some of my family's favorite recipes but be warned I am a Texan so it's all southern cooking, but that doesn't mean it's all fattening.

And Last, I'd love to be able to share with you guys the ramblings of my brain from time to time. And maybe even some of my family adventures. After all raising children is quite entertaining at times. A long time ago before my boys were born my husband and I made a plan to visit every National Park before we pass away. Needless to say we've visited 4 so far (Hey now don't laugh that's a good start, only like 50 left to see!) You really never know what I might come up with to talk about! So please stay tuned and check back often and PLEASE don't hesitate to ask questions! I'll up date again later with a list of what days I'd like to dedicate to which subjects. Thanks for reading! :)