I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
There are still lots more flowers, of all kinds, all around. They are still putting on their colorful best and brightening up the days. It seems like everyday I am seeing more and more beautiful and brightly colored flowers. I am enjoying every bit of it too.
The birds are all around, singing their songs of joy. I have a wide variety of birds found in my backyard and around my lakes. Some are very colorful, while others like to blend in to the scenery more. Some are found in the trees and way up high and others like to stick to the shores or to the ground. Either way, I love the birds. I am always on the lookout for as many varieties as I can see. I love identifying my birds (just like I do my fish when we are diving, but I digress). My dad and I used to love bird watching together, so I guess I am thinking of my dad when I see all the different kinds of birds.
Here is just another small sampling of some of local birds.
Both the American Goldfinch and the Canyon Towhee were in my backyard, probably even in the same tree. This American Goldfinch was a lucky shot. He is just a little thing, and I almost missed him, in a couple of ways, but as you can see, I did get him in the end. Just as my camera focused in on him and I snapped the shot, my battery said it needed to be changed, so I really wasn’t even sure if I got the shot. I couldn’t even take another photo of him because he flew away immediately after, but, as you can see, I got lucky.
Canyon Towhee
We have tons of barn swallows all around, but sometimes they can be hard to get some good shots of. Again, I got lucky. In fact, most good photographs, at least mine, are just plain luck.
A Mourning Dove sunbathing down by the lakes.
I don’t see these to often, but every now and then, we even have a few Iceland Gulls around too.
I hope you enjoy my bird show. I will keep sharing them with you as as I can “catch” them. Sometimes, they can be a bit elusive, but persistence usually wins out. If I wait long enough, and am patient enough, I believe I will get them. 🙂
I got some new “toys” yesterday. PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT play with these though. They are NOT really toys. Only use them if you really know what you are doing. When I say “toys”, they are are definitely NOT toys in the playful sense of the word we normally think of. However, they are “toys” to me because as you all know, I love to “play with my food” and every chef needs good knives.
I bought a couple of new CUTCO knives yesterday. CUTCO knives are very good quality, lightweight knives that are guaranteed for a lifetime. Of course I already have a lot of very good Henckle knives, but believe it or not, most of them are over 20 years old. They still work absolutely fine, and I still use them everyday, but that doesn’t mean I can’t spruce things up a bit too. My Henckles are good quality German steel knives and I love them. The German steel though is considerably heavier than the steel used in my new knives. Because I am so used to my heavier steel, it may take a little while to get used to my new lighter blades, but I am sure I can manage. 🙂
I only bought two new knives, and that still set me back a couple of hundred bucks. If I bought the whole set, it would have been over $1200. Larry would have killed me for sure, though he forgets, I definitely know how to use my knives. 🙂
I bought a new, smaller chef’s knife. My old one is an 8″ blade, and this one is only a 7″ blade. I used to use a really big 12″ blade back in my professional days though. it is all a matter of getting used to what you work with and then you develop a comfort level. With knives especially, it is all about respect for the equipment and using them with proper skill.
I also bough a multi-use cheese slicer, but it can be used for oh so much more than just slicing cheese. I tried it on potatoes at the demo before I bought it. It cuts through potatoes like a dream.
These knives are VERY sharp indeed. I highly recommend them to anyone, but just know they can be dangerous if you do not respect them and know how to really use them. So BE CAREFUL, especially at first until you get used to them.
Be careful, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
As we have seen, flowers come in all shapes, colors and varieties. Some grow from the ground, some grow on trees, and some are even vegetables. In fact, a lot of vegetables actually start off as flowers first before developing into the delicious fruits and vegetables we eat. A couple of my neighbors have some flowering vegetables growing in their yards at this very moment too.
I took a nice walk around my lakes today before it got too hot. For the most part, the lakes were pretty quiet. I think it because the changing of the seasons are upon us. But and lo and behold, I was very pleasantly surprised by what I saw. I had to do a double take. We still have ducklings! It’s very late in the season to still have tiny baby ducks, but sure enough, Momma was out with her babies. They were having a swim lesson today. There was mom and her 3 babies all out enjoying their day. They are green-winged teals.
Of course they were all going in different directions.
Mom finally got them all lined up though. She looks so proud.
If you have your eyes open, and of course the camera ready, you just never know what you’re going to see.
The little things in life just get me so excited. I just can’t help it. I am like a little kid in a candy store when I find new, fun food products to try. This time I found a new hot & spicy honey. I found this purely by accident when I stopped in the store to pick up some fried chicken. There was someone doing a tasting and demo and they were featuring this hot honey. Ironically, he said it also went very well with fried chicken, which I just happened to have in my hands at the time. It did go well with fried chicken too. Instantly, I started thinking of other great ways to use it as well.
When I made my sweet & spicy Asian green bean salad, I really wasn’t even thinking about this hot honey at the time. I was trying to come up with a cool way to beat the heat, that would use up some of green beans. The recipe I found actually called for honey and siracha sauce, but I used my new hot honey instead. Of course, I also recreated it in my own way as well. That’s just what I do. 🙂
I used my sweet & spicy Asian green bean salad as a side dish for some grilled kielbasa sausage and potato salad. It was a cool, easy-peasy way to dine without creating any more heat, since the day was already hot enough.
Sweet & Spicy Asian Green Bean Salad
I lb green beans, stems removed
1 cup corn
1/4 red onion sliced very thin
1 cup cheery or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, chopped fine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP rice vinegar
1 TBSP hot honey, or to taste
1 TBSP regular honey
salt to taste
1/4 cup cashews, chopped
Cook the green beans in boiling water for about 6 minutes, then immediately place them in an ice bath. Once they are cooled, cut them into pieces about 1 inch in size. Combine the corn, onions, tomatoes and cilantro with the green beans and toss well.
Mix the olive oil, honey, vinegar, soy sauce and salt together and combine well.
Add as much of the oil and vinegar mixture to the vegetables as needed to coat them and flavor them without drowning them in the sauce. Toss the sauce in just before serving. Top with the chopped cashews and more cilantro. Because of the acidity from the rice vinegar , the green beans will turn brown if you add the sauce to the vegetable mixture to early. You want them to still be vibrant and green when serving. Serve the salad chilled.
The hot honey really packs a punch, so a little goes a long way. If you are not a big fan of the spicy heat, cut down on the amount of the spicy honey and use it to your taste. We love hot and spicy, so for us, we like to kick it up.
This salad is very tasty and colorful, not to mention very healthy too. It is nothing but vegetables and nuts. It will brighten up any dish you decide to serve it with. I just know you’re going to love it. It is a great easy-peasy summer salad. 🙂
Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
Not all flowers grow from the ground. There are many beautiful that are found in trees as well. There are flowering trees of all colors, just like there are ground flowers of all colors. So many of these “tree” flowers are very fragrant too. You can’t help but stop and smell the flowers when walking by.
Yesterday I gave you some of our beautiful wild flowers that were growing out in the open space behind our house. Another Day, Another Flower – 6 Today, I give you some “domesticated” flowers I have in my kitchen.
I love the bold, vibrant combination of purple and yellow flowers. They just seem to beg you to take notice. Sunflowers of all variations are some of my favorite flowers and i used them a lot. I also love to mix and match them with other flowers too. This time I believe I mixed them with sweet peas, but for those of you flower aficionados, please correct me if I am wrong. All I know they are beautiful and very fragrant.
Never forget to stop and smell the flowers. It’s the little things that mean so much.
You all know how much I love recreating my foods and turning the leftovers into something completely different from my “firstovers”. Sometimes it can be challenging, but I have turned it into a fun game. This time, I reused, repurposed and recreated my Romanian garlic steak Grilled and Garlicky and turned it into a Mediterranean pita sandwich. This lunch would easily be a lunch you would find in any Mediterranean bistro, whether here in the United States, or dining al fresco with the Mediterranean Sea as your backdrop. I should have used the pocket pitas instead of the regular pitas, but it still worked out and tasted great, and that is all that really matters.
Mediterranean Beef Pita sandwich
Sliced cooked beef, sliced thin
pocket pitas, cut in half and opened
red leaf lettuce
tomatoes, sliced thin
red onion, sliced very thin
Mediterranean spread
For my Mediterranean spread, I used some of the juice from my Mediterranean salad Mediterranean Fresh mixed with some hummus. I spread that on the inside of the pita pocket. I didn’t need to do anything else for the sauce because the juice from my salad already had so much flavor.
Once I got my pockets lined, it was all just building the pitas from there. How to Build a Pita
Once our pitas were “built”, I plated everything up with some steak fries and my Mediterranean Fresh salad. This made for a very quick and easy-peasy lunch that we thoroughly enjoyed out on out beloved deck, overlooking one of our lakes.
As I keep saying, play with your foods. You never know what you can create. It doesn’t have to be complicated or fancy. You just want to make it fun and delicious. I used up two of my leftovers for this meal, and you would never know. That’s what make it all so much fun. I keep you guessing all the time. 🙂
Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
I love the freshness and simplicity of Mediterranean cooking. This style of food is hands down, one of my favorite ways to eat and to cook. It is light, refreshing, and made with simple, basic ingredients. It is also one of the healthiest ways to eat as well. Plus it focuses on fresh ingredients that are found locally. This all makes it a win/win for me.
We bought some fried chicken the other day, and I needed something quick and easy to go with it. I had all the ingredients to make a fun, fresh Mediterranean salad, plus I wanted to create another fun recipe showcasing my new Lemon Balsamic Vinegar. A Cool New Summer Salad Hence, a new simple and simply delicious Mediterranean salad was created. I have already used this salad twice, with a 3rd way to serve it in the very near future. This dish is also a vegan dish, so it is friendly to everyone, regardless of their dietary restrictions.
I am so enamored with this Lemon Balsamic Vinegar, that I went out and bought a BIG bottle of it too, along with some other fun new goodies as well. I am always excited when I find new ways to create with new products. I promise you, there will be a lot more new recipes coming your way very soon with all these fun new products I have discovered. You just have to wait a bit for them. Anticipation, you know. 🙂
Mediterranean Fresh Salad
1/2 cucumber, seeded and sliced
1/4 red onion, small dice
2 tomatoes, small dice
1/2 yellow bell pepper, small dice
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
2 TBSP garlic olive oil
1/4 cup lemon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste
1-2 tsp black pepper
Toss everything together well and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours before serving. If you like feta cheese, you can also add this to your salad as well.
This simple and delicious salad goes with everything and is a perfect dish to take with you when you pack up a picnic basket or for a BBQ. It is also perfect for those hot summer days because it is so cool and refreshing. I promise, you’re going to love it no matter what you eat it with.
Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 