Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

Teenagers are teenagers no matter what “skin” they are wearing. I saw the first batch of baby ducks, who are now teenagers, and they are every bit as curious and rebellious as human teenagers. They want to do their own thing while at the same time are still pretty close to mom. But they were really cute. They were off exploring the tall grasses before taking a dip in the pond, and then back to the grass.

Let’s play a little game of hide and seek.

While Mom was off with the kids, dad decided to take a little break.

Sometimes we have a whole flock of pelicans around and other times, we only have one. This is one of those times when I only had one, and he was completely enjoying having the lake all to himself.

Things here have been even more crazy and chaotic than usual these days, which means I haven been making simple things and easy-peasy things, most of which you have all seen before. We are also eating a lot more salads at the moment too. So because of this recent chaos, instead of sharing delicious recipes with you, I will share some fun food quotes. There are so many fun food quotes out there, and I love to share them with you. I hope you enjoy them like I do. It’s good to shake things up a bit. 🙂

Have a great day Everyone. Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

I saw my goslings again today. Boy, they sure are getting big, and so fast too. The whole family was catching a bit of shade, just relaxing under the tree.

Their personalities are starting to show a bit too.

It won’t be to much longer and they will be all grown up.

It’s summer, which means we are even busier than usual. I am cooking simple things and I am cooking up lighter things as well. This time it was just a simple meal with hints of citrus flavors sprinkled throughout.

I marinated some pork chops with lemon pepper, lemon olive oil and lemon balsamic vinegar and cumin for about 1 1/2-2 hours before putting it on the grill.

As the pork was marinating, I cooked up the shallots and the sweet potatoes. I just drizzled in a tiny bit of the Cara-Cara orange balsamic vinegar to help caramelize the shallots and to add a hint of orange flavor as well.

I pan fried the sweet potatoes in a separate skillet, and when they were done, I added the shallots and some fresh parsley.

As those were cooking, I put the pork and the corn on the cob on the grill.

Once everything was done, I finished it off with yet another hint of citrus by adding a lemon verbena sprig on the plate for some more color and pizzazz. It was an easy-peasy summer meal that took no time at all, but tasted oh so good. I think it was even better because we enjoyed out on our beloved deck too.

Things don’t have to be complicated to be good. Sometimes simple is best.

Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

I just love our egrets. I think they are so beautiful and graceful. We are seeing so many around our lakes these days too. And that’s OK. I always love it when they pay us a visit, and better yet when they decide to stay with us for awhile.

We had a very busy weekend, with not a lot of time for cooking. I have to admit, I got a wee bit lazy and prepared two very similar meals for two separate groups of friends over this weekend too. Both times, we had the Mediterranean Tapas, Tapas for Dinner and then on Sunday, we served that with some pesto pasta with shrimp and vegetables as well. This being said, I had a lot of leftovers. So, I did what I do best, and invited my good friend “The Queen of Leftovers” to stop by and we went to work creatively, to re-create something new from something “old”. We came up with some Mexican Mole chicken with vegetables. !Delicioso!

This whole meal was re-created from what I had leftover. I cleaned out my refrigerator. I had rice, roasted peppers, squash, mole sauce Pollo con Mole de Manzana con Pasilla and a Costco rotisserie chicken. I did add some red onion slices and a jalapeno, but other than that, everything was just re-created from what was leftover.

I needed to cook the red onion slices and jalapenos first.

Then I added the rest of the vegetables to heat them up.

I cut the chicken into leg and thigh portions and added them to the mix as well, and continued to cook it all for about 10 minutes or so to heat up the chicken.

Once everything was heated up and ready to serve, I just plated it up and topped it all with some of my mole sauce and served it with some toasted bread and a buttery chardonnay to complete the meal. Who says dinner has to be complicated? All that really matters is that it tastes good and is made from love.

Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

Columbines are the Colorado state flower. Usually they are in various shades of bluish purple with a white center and little hints of yellow, though they come in many different colors.

Around my lakes, I am seeing a lot of Columbines, but I haven’t seen any blue or purple ones. Instead, I am seeing them in a variety of other beautiful colors.

This gorgeous cat was just begging to be a part of the collection as well.

Color your world beautiful.

What do you make for dinner when you are having company but you are not going to be home when they arrive? Easy. You make tapas for dinner. Make something easy to prepare ahead of time and have them ready when your guests arrive.

I just started coaching for the summer again (I am hoping it will turn into a full time gig, but for now it is just for the summer), and our friends Leslie and Tim were coming in from out of town, but they were only going to be here for one night before they were on the road again. Leslie and I have known each other since 7th grade, and have been life long friends/family. Larry was home when they arrived, but I would not be home until later that evening. So I prepared a charcuterie tray and a some antipasto. Originally they were going to just be appetizers, but I kind of over prepared, hmmmm, imagine that, so it became a quick and easy Mediterranean tapas dinner instead.

It was all very simple, but a delicious tapas dinner that got rave reviews. I love mixing my olives, so I combined 4 different types of olives and Peruvian peppers. Then I made a charcuterie tray with a bunch of different cheeses, breads and sausage and a couple of zesty spreads. I also made a simple little antipasto tray with dolmas, marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts and a roasted red pepper salad with a rosemary vinaigrette. And since we were with friends, who are really family, of course we had a couple of bottles of good wine as well. These were all just supposed to be starters, but they turned out to be dinner instead. What we eat is only part of the fun. What really mattered was sharing fun times with each other.

After a tapas dinner, we all enjoyed each other’s company over a few fun games of Farkle. The next morning, we all enjoyed an early breakfast, at one of our favorite breakfast spots, EAT! Video #16 – Eat at EAT! Food & Drink before Tim and Leslie were on the road again, off to their next set of adventures.

Life is short and unpredictable. Make the most of it while you can and enjoy it with friends and family. Even when time is limited, make the most of it. And of course, good food and good wine shared with good friends and family always makes it much more fun too.

Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

It was yet another gorgeous day, and all my neighborhood “friends” were out and about too. It was yet another fantastic photo day. I saw a few cormorants, but one was just having so much fun showing off and airing out his wings. He was the king of the rock, and he knew it too. He was proudly on display for everyone to see. And when he was done for the day, off he went to destinations unknown.

Sometimes it’s good for all of us to air out a bit. It helps to cool us down on a hot summer day. 🙂