Trying Something New

In the month of July we are going to try something new.

Since my life is quite chaotic at times, I don't always have time to make a good healthy meal or even eat at all. I know bad for me and all that but I do sometimes miss a meal due to I feel like sleep is more important at the time.

Anyways since I won't have any classes for the whole month of July and almost all of August, I have decided that we will only eat out once a week. That is it once a week no excuses. We out way to much right now because it is convenient or I have an hour between classes and I don't feel like cooking.

I have been looking at my recipes that I have and thinking since I am home virtually for all three meals of the day, I think I am going to get tired of leftovers relatively quickly.

So here is my question to all of my wonderful readers...what is your favorite recipe?

Over and out,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Grrr Some People

On my way home from dropping off what could be the second coolest gift that I have ever gotten Big-D, I got in a little bit of a fender bender (well it didn't actually involve me fender but it wasn't a huge accident.)

Tail light completely gone!

Decent size scratch and dent in the side of my truck.

As I was sitting on the side of the road, waiting for the cop to arrive I was texting a friend of my mine, E.

Me: I tell you women drivers

E: I know, get off the road

Me: I am one just hit me!

E: Oh, you got in a car accident.

Me: Yeah, she hit the bed of my truck.

E: Cops on the way?

Me: Yea but I really have to pee.

E: That's good. She'll get a ticket and her insurance will go up.

Me: I know but I have to pee.

E: Sorry lol

Well I guess the lady that hit me supposedly didn't see me and decided that she wanted to switch lanes. Personally I think that she didn't look because I was in front of her. I mean I could understand if I was behind her, maybe riding in a blind shot but I was in FRONT of her.

The best part of this whole thing is not only am I missing my tailing all together and have a nice dent in the side of my truck but her car has like a 2 inch scratch.

Over and out,

A Engineer in the Kitchen

Daily Dog Challenge: Who me, spoiled?

Over on Flickr there is a photo challenge call Daily Dog Challenge that is similar to the 365 Challenge. Since I've been taking a photography class that will be over shortly, so sad it was a fun class to take and I actually learned a lot.

Anyways, I thought it would be fun to start doing the challenge on here instead of Flickr since I rarely actually use my Flickr account and because I love my puppy Hank so much. I don't think I'll put up the challenge everyday mainly but I will definitely try to do it about twice a week.

Daily Dog Challenge Day One: Who me, spoiled?

I'd say he is pretty spoiled...not only is he sleeping in our bed but he is sleeping on my pillows right in front of the fan. It was a very hot night.

Hank says night night,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Ranch Dressing

Okay me and Ranch dressing are best friends. I put it on salads, dip vegetables in it, and sometimes I just stick my finger in it (I really love ranch dressing.) If I don't put Ranch on it that's because I put Ketchup on it. Yes I am one of those, nothing is safe on my plate.

I remember growing up my mom would tell my brother and I that we weren't allowed to put Ketchup on something because it was an expensive cut of beef. That only worked until we started raising cattle, then I would tell her that I raised it, I can put whatever I want on it.

Anyways back to Ranch dressing, I love the Hidden Valleys packets that you can buy at the grocery store and then mix it into mayonnaise and sour cream. But one day I was looking for something a little different and after I mixed a couple of different recipes together, I came up with one that I love and eat all the time.

The spices from left to right: salt, dried parsley (fresh can be used), dried chives (once again fresh can be used), dill weed, garlic powder and pepper.

In a mixing bowl add REAL mayonnaise, olive oil, lemon juice and sour cream, I do use the light version for both but real mayonnaise is need none of the Miracle Whip stuff. Then add all of the spices.

Mix everything all together and add a splash of milk (the more milk you add the thinner it will be). I make it so I can dip vegetables in it.

Place in some type of resealable container. I found these crazy cute containers at Meijers and fell in love with them. The only problem was I had no idea what I was going to use them for so I didn't end up buying them. When I started making this recipe I ran back to the store and bought them because I finally had a purpose for them.

Let cool in refrigerator for about an hour then enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of real mayonnaise
• 3/4 cup of sour cream
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1.5 teaspoon of dried chives (1 small bunch of fresh chives)
• 3 teaspoon of drive parsley (1 small bunch of fresh parsley)
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons for garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of dried dill weed
• Milk (as much as you choose)

Directions:

• Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, olive oil and lemon juice together.
• Then add spices (either one at a time or all at once).
• Add as much milk as you desired, the more milk added the thinner the dressing will become.
• Place dressing in some type of resealable container.
• Refrigerate for one hour before serving.

Enjoy,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Hank and the Lawn Mower

Every little boy likes to help their daddy with mowing the lawn...

Does that include puppies that we think are our babies?

Big-D was out mowing the lawn and Hank was bugging me to go outside. I ignored him for a while but good god he can howl and cry at me for only so long before I think I am going to start going deaf. When I let him out he did his business then was standing watching Big-D and I had to run back into the house to get the camera because Hank started to follow Big-D around. It was so cute.

"I shall follow right behind you."

Beware of the puppy, he will eat your lawn mower.

"Dad play with me, your ignoring me and I want you to throw me a stick."

I was very surprised by the fact that he wasn't afraid of the lawn mower; he isn't afraid of the vacuum cleaner either. I find that very weird. 

Hope you enjoyed the random pictures of my cute puppy. I will have to tell you the Chiuahua story sometime too because that is really funny. I still laugh when I think about it.

Over and out,

A Engineer in the Kitchen

Italian Dressing

This is just a simple Italian Dressing recipe.

I use Italian dressing quite often as a marinade. It use to be all I would eat on salads but I have since then fallen in love with Ranch dressing and no longer us Italian that much on salads.

From left to right: Salt, dried parsley, dried celery leaves, dried oregano leaves, onion powder, garlic powder, ground basil leaves, dried thyme leaves and pepper. Mix spices together add vinegar (whatever kind you want, I go back and forth between white and red wine) and olive oil.

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons or garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon of onion powder
• 2 tablespoons of oregano
• 1 tablespoon of dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of ground basil
• 1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried celery leaves

Directions:

• Mix all spices together in a resealable container
• When ready to make dressing add 2 tablespoons of dressing mix with 1/4 cup of vinegar of you choosing, 2 tablespoons of water and 1/2 to 2/3 cups of olive oil.

Enjoy,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Yummies in Our Tummies

A list of the things that are yummy in our tummy and I hope that they are yummy in your tummies too!

Meals:

• A Cowboy Sandwich
• Ramen Noodle Chicken Stir Fry
• Goulash 
• Meatloaf 
• Mini Cinnamon Rolls Quick and easy, done in 15 to 20 minutes. 
• Chili 
• Shish Kebabs (Kabobs)  Perfect for a BBQ party
• Lemon Garlic Shrimp Can use for shish kebabs or whatever you want
• Italian Stir Fry 
• Lemon-Lime Pork Chops 
• Orange Pork Chops 
• Tacos "Homemade" taco seasoning recipe

Snacks:

• Pizza Crescent Rolls
• Spicy Chicken Nachos! Hot and spicy but so good.

Cookies:

• Snicker Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cookies There is no flour in this peanut butter recipe!! 
• Oatmeal Cookies  Cookies that are actually very good for you. 
• Insane Brownie Cookie  It's a cookie and a brownie in one...
• Oatmeal Cherry Cookies Use raisins, dried cherries, dried blueberries or dried whatever fruit

Desserts:

• Chocolate Cover Rice Krispies

Cupcakes: 

• Reindeer Cupcakes Really cute and fun for the Christmas holiday.

Misc: 

• Ranch Dressing 
• Italian Dressing
• Chicken Marinade Great for the Shish kebabs

Cool Birthday Cake

Today is my birthday!!

I'd be excited if I didn't have to work and go to class on it. To make it better I got all of 45 minutes of sleep.

Anyways, I wanted to be really creative come up with something cool  but I have about 20 minutes before Hank wakes up. I feel like such a mother, blogging when the baby is sleeping. I love little Hank though.

Since I didn't come up with anything, I thought I would show you guys the coolest birthday cake I've ever gotten.

 

 

A really good friend of mine from high school stepmom wanted to get me a Barbie cake. I really don't care what the cake looked like so I said sure. 

And I totally loved how it turned out. I don't think I will ever have a cake that is this cool. 

Brandon Inge was my favorite Detroit Tiger, however, since the Tigers released him a few months ago he is now just my favorite baseball player. I want to name future son Inge after him. 

Over and out,

A Engineer in the Kitchen

The Chicken Marinade

I know such an original name, hope I don't come up with another marinade for chicken because what am I going to call that...Chicken Marinade Junior or The Second.

Anyways, this is so amazing it's not even funny. It is really just a little bit of that a little bit of this.

From left to right: Dried oregano leaves, garlic powder, dried thyme leaves, ground mustard, dried rosemary leaves, salt and pepper. Mix all of the spices together add some red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

• Mix all of the spices, vinegar and olive oil together in a resealable containter
• Add chicken breast 
• Give the container a good shake or two
• Let marinade in the refrigerator over night
• Grill chicken until no longer pink in the middle

 Enjoy,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Lemon Garlic Shrimp

I LOVE shrimp.

I love it raw, I love it grilled, and I really think I'd love it anyway you could give it to me.

From left to right: lemon juice (you can use fresh but I'm lazy and don't like squeezing lemons), garlic (once again laziness, cloves would be excellent), cilantro leaves, crushed red peppers, thyme leaves, and parsley leaves. Oh and I left out the olive oil opps. Mix all together in a small bowl or bag, something that is resealable.
 

Add about twentyish shrimp, shake a little and place in the refrigerator for two to three hours. When ready place on place on grill.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons of minced garlic (4 cloves if using cloves)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro leaves
• About 20 shrimp Enjoy,

Directions:

•  Mix all of the ingredients in a resealable container
• Add shrimp 
• Give container a good shake or two
• Mariniate in fridge for about 2 to 3 hours
• Grill

Enjoy,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Shish Kebabs

Is it kebabs or kabobs...does it really matter?

I like kebabs cause everyone I know says kabobs and I like to be different.

The thing that makes kebabs the best thing in the whole world if you are feeding more then one picky person (Big-D can be rather picky and I had friend over that is kind of picky as well) is that everyone got to make their own. Okay I made Big-D's lets be honest here. 

I am also very happy that I got the HUGE grill because we cooked a lot of food all at once. From left to right, red potatoes, corn on the cob and the shish kebabs in the really cool rack thingy that I got from Target. 

For the veggies I used green, yellow and orange peppers, a sweet onion and pineapple (I know that's not a vegetable.) For the meat I used sirloin streak marinated in Italian dressing, chicken marinated in what I will call the chicken marinade (I know I am so clever) and Lemon Garlic Shrimp.

The red potatoes were first boiled until a knife stuck in them smoothly, and then I cut them into eighths added about a half a stick of butter (cut up into chucks) and sprinkled with pepper and Accent. Then used some tin foil to steam the potatoes on the grill.

The corn on the cob was soaked in water for about 30 minutes before they were placed on the grill.

The skewers were stuffed with as much yumminess that we could possibly put on them and cooked until chicken (may concern) was fully cooked.

Stay tuned in for the next couple days I will post the marniades that I used for the steak, chicken and shrimp.

Over and out,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Laundry Room Update

We have been working on relocating the laundry. The washer and dryer is currently in the dining room and that greatly bugs the crap out of me.

Now that we officially have the electrical permit, I decided to work on it for a little bit last night. I didn't get all that far since I had to pull down some nails and boards but I did at least put the electrical boxes up where I wanted the new outlets to go.

View from the hallway minus the doorway to the laundry room. It's easy to keep Hank out of there if he can't get in from the hallway and we have a old closet door in front of the small opening.

 Looking from the office, still need to take down a few small pieces of drywall but for the most part gutted and cleaned up.

 

Where the stacked washed and dryer will go.

Doorway that will lead into the hallway.

I feel like I have been pulled in so many different directions over the last couple weeks that I can't seem to get anything done. Guess it doesn't help that I only have one day off a week and who really wants to work on their one day off.  Oh well maybe by next weekend I will have the last couple of pieces of drywall down and the wiring in and some new drywall up (I can't completely enclose the room until the inspection but I'd like to most of what I can have up up.)

Anyways, I still have Linear Algebra homework that I need to get done.

Over and out,

A Engineer in the Kitchen

This Is What The Boys Were Doing...

while I was cleaning the house, making dinner for tomorrow (had to marinade some steak and chicken) and doing laundry.

I promise I will post lots of new recipes this week.

Before Hank climbed in bed and decided to use my pillow (that little brat) he was helping me with the ten loads of laundry (in the pictures below I was at like three loads). I mean seriously how do two people produce ten loads of laundry. Easy they don't do laundry for like three weeks.

"Mama, can we please go to bed yet?"

Good thing he barely sheds or his mama wouldn't be to happy with him.

Alright time to go finish the dishes and then off to cuddle with that little cutie.

Over and out,

A Engineer in the Kitchen