More Weekend Cooking Projects

Lately I have been a little busy so my weekend cooking (and cleaning) has deteriorated significantly. I have so many recipes I want to try so I'll have to be better at managing my time and planning ahead. I recently went to Texas for a friends wedding. While there I met up with a good friend from college and he took me out to eat at a BBQ place (naturally). It was there I was introduced to creamed corn. This is nothing like the mushy stuff that comes in a can. This is whole corn kernels in, well, cream (and other things)! MMmmmm! Then again at my friend's wedding reception creamed corn made an appearance on the menu! It was soooo good! When I got home I had to try my hand at making it. It was good, but not as good as real Texas creamed corn. I'll still probably make it again, but with no butter this time.

Another nostalgic treat I made recently is toasted ravioli (T-ravs). I was first introduced T-ravs by a friend in St. Louis. I love T-ravs! Once upon a time ravioli was on my list of foods to try to make. So I thought why not coat them in crumbs and fry them? They tasted delicious but most of the crumbs fell off during the frying process. That was two years ago. After making the jalapeno poppers and having good luck with the crumb coating I decided to apply the same process to the t-ravs. It was a success! They were so sooo good!  Delicious as they are, it will probably be another 2 years before I make them again! Homemade ravioli are a too much work!

And this wasn't a project. This was "uh oh, I forgot to plan something for supper and we need something fast!". Put tomato sauce on a garlic pita, top with cheese, put in toaster oven. MMmmmm, our new favorite homemade pizza! I don't think we'll ever make a pizza crust again it was so good. A garlic pita has just the right flavor and just the right consistency to be the perfect crust. I can't wait to try out different types of pizzas.

mMMm, Stir Fry Sauce

You can't tell from the picture, but inside that jar is a very delicious stir fry sauce! I would definitely recommend giving it a go sometime! I found the recipe on allrecipes.com but modified it based on others suggestions

Mix together in a saucepan:
1TB corn starch
3TB brown sugar
pepper flakes or cayenne pepper to taste (yum, the more the better!) (the recipe calls for 1/8 tsp)

Then stir in:
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 TB dry sherry
1 TB sesame oil (I didn't use nearly this much)
1 TB rice vinegar
1 TB minced ginger root (I used about 1tsp powdered instead)
1 TB minced garlic

Then cook over medium heat (it should boil) until thickened.

I sauteed some tofu in this sauce and it was so tasty. So tasty I'm going to go reheat some leftovers right now.

He cried all night for some rice :(

Garage Sale Season is Here!

I LoooOOOOooove garage sales!!! Every weekend there is a different community garage sale or two going on where we can visit 30+ homes without having to drive all over town. Today was Lehigh University's annual "Great South Side Sale". At the end of the year the college students donate their unwanted items to the sale instead of throwing them in the dumpster. Then the proceeds go to local south side programs. What a great idea! When we arrived at the sale the line was already several hundred people long!! It felt like shopping on Black Friday. People were packed elbow to elbow inside the tents. But whoa, what prices!! Check out our score of the day.

Sure, just some boring coats and snowpants. BUT brand name coats and snowpants that look like they've never been used and for only fifty cents a piece! This makes our foster care budgeting goal very happy! Some of my other favorite garage sale finds of this season include a really cute wooden storage bench, a toy cash register (yessss!), and a cute magnetic calendar/planner. Not to mention my new ant farm. I have some ants in my kitchen right now that would probably appreciate it. We also now have more blocks than any kid will know what to do with. See if you can guess who was crying on the other side of this door (I'll give you a hint, it wasn't Justin).

Not pictured are the two other containers of wood blocks

Look at this awesome little train set. It has two sets of tracks and probably 7 or 8 bridges and tunnels. Hopefully some little kid will have fun with this, I don't see how they couldn't...