Old Fashioned Creme Pie - From Mom's Kitchen

There are just some things you cannot recreate. I'm sure you know what I am talking about. Mom's cooking! I've tried and tried to make things that I remember my mom making and they never taste the same...ever. I hope someday when my children are grown there are things that I make now that they will remember and and wonder how I made it taste so good. It's love. The secret ingredient is love. Here is a recipe that my mother is always getting requests for. Ole Fashioned Cream Pie. It is a simple classic that doesn't take a lot of ingredients but steps that require close attention.

Ole Fashioned Cream Pie
-From Mom's Kitchen

What You'll Need:
Makes 1 9inch Pie - Recipe can be doubled, but use a larger mixing bowl

1 Pint Half and Half
1/2 Stick Butter
1 cup Sugar
2 1/2 TBS Cornstarch
1tea Vanilla
Sprinkle of Nutmeg

1 - 9 inch DEEP DISH regular UNBAKED pie crust (Usually found in the freezer section)

While we are mixing up all the goodness preheat that oven to 350F

*Please Follow Directions Exactly for Best Results*

In a medium sized microwave mixing bowl warm the butter and half and half. The butter will not melt completely, that's okay. You just want the mix warmed.(About 2 minutes)

Mix together the sugar and cornstarch in a separate small bowl - be sure to mix the two well, or the cornstarch will clump when mixed with the milk/butter. 

Pour 1/4c of the butter/milk mixture into the sugar/cornstarch, mix just so moistened. 

Pour the sugar mix into the remainder of the milk. (All into the microwave safe bowl)

Mix well.

Microwave at 2 minute increments stirring between each time. Do this until the mixture is the consistency of pudding. This will take 6-8 minutes but adjust for your microwaves power.

Pour mixture into the pie crust, sprinkle with vanilla - do not mix vanilla - then sprinkle with nutmeg. Nutmeg is strong, a little does the trick! =) 

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until the top of the pie is browned. 

Let set for about 15-20 minutes 

Enjoy warm or cool! Delish!

Store in the refrigerator for up to a week...but I promise it won't last that long!!!

Your pie won't taste as good as mom's, unfortunately. But I promise it will be delicious!! And no worries, mine never tastes as good as her's either...it's just the cold hard truth haha!

Enjoy and Until Next Time!

Lady Bea

Soft Taco Lasagna

I could not for the life of me think of a name other than the old stand by "Taco Bake" to call this! But when my family tasted it and said it looked and tasted like lasagna the name "Taco Lasagna" stuck in my mind. It really does have the look and texture of a fabulous lasagna! Tired of the same ole taco night? Change it up and make a few variations of taco lasagna. My family is pretty simple, for my lasagna I used meat, taco seasoning, rice and cheese. You can top your lasagna when it is finished baking with diced tomatoes, olives, sour cream or anything else you would normally put on your tacos!

What you'll need:
Makes 1 10" lasagna

1pkg 10" soft tortilla shells
Large Pkg of your favorite taco cheese
1lb lean ground beef (or whatever hamburger you prefer)
1pkg of your favorite taco seasoning
3tbl olive oil
and any toppings that you want on your taco lasagna

While we are working the lasagna, go ahead and preheat that oven to 350F! 

Fry the hamburger and mix in taco seasoning per directions of the package. While the hamburger is frying, lightly oil the bottom of a round baking dish (preferably 10" or the same size of your tortillas). Lay one tortilla on the bottom of the dish. When the hamburger is finished frying and chopped small layer the tortillas, cheese and meat in the dish. Depending on the depth of your pan you should be able to get 6-7 shells into the dish. You can go over the top of the dish as well, because it does melt down. For the next to top layer add the remainder of the meat and top with the tortilla. Rub/Dab/Mop over 1-2Tbl of olive oil and sprinkle liberality the remainder of the taco cheese.

Bake in 350F oven for 20 minutes or until cheese on top is throughly melted. Cut pie style and enjoy!

Serves 4 comfortably.

Until Next Time...

Lady Bea

Stuffed Crust Pizza

So a while back I shared a recipe to make homemade pizza. So I wanted to share a little alteration I made to that recipe a few days ago. I made it stuffed crust pizza! I have always loved stuffed crust pizza when ordering out but never knew that with a little extra effort I could have a homemade version that taste even better! How do they get the cheese into the crust you ask? String Cheese! Yep, simple as that! I bought Sargentos Provolone/Mozzarella mix cheese and simply folded and pressed the crust over the string cheese before adding any sauce or toppings. I did have to break some in half and you're going to have to constantly reshape the dough because it is so soft and elastic. BUT, the end result is delicious homemade stuffed crust pizza at a fraction of the price of delivery. Kids will love helping with this!

Sorry for the bad quality picture! Kids literally could not wait to dig into this homemade deliciousness! Next time I promise to get much better pictures!

Until next time...
Lady Bea

"Jimmy Dean" Style Breakfast Bowl

If you're anything like me you love breakfast bowls. Specifically Jimmy Dean brand ones. I just find sometimes I want the same general thing but a little more hardy. So I decided to embark (If you wanna call it that) and make my own. This is definitely something I would only make if I had the extra time and it made a wonderful breakfast for dinner dish. It's super easy and delish too!

What you'll need:
Eggs (I served 3 people with 7 eggs)
Cheddar Cheese
Sausage, cooked and crumbled
7-8 red potatoes - Diced small, I leave my skins on
White gravy mix (Easy - just buy the country time packages in the gravy mix section!)
Milk, for gravy
Salt, pepper to taste

Basically, cook it all up and mix it! See how simple it is?? I promise it tastes 100x better than store bought and you can serve everyone with it. You can even fry up some peppers and throw them in! Change up the cheese for American! Jim and the kids don't like gravy so they omitted it from theirs but me...I love gravy! Anyways try it out..make it your own. It's so easy..like even a caveman can do it...has that been used somewhere before? lol

Enjoy and until next time...

Lady Bea

Oven Baked French Toast

I found this recipe on Pinterest and haven't been able to trace it back to its roots. That being said, I used the basis of the recipe and then completely changed it to my liking, so really I just got the idea from someone else, not the recipe.

This oven baked french toast does require prep the night before so be prepared to be thinking about the dish for an entire 12 hours at least. Since last night all I thought about was "If I put it in the oven at 4:30 we can eat by 5:15...but if I put it in at 4:15 we can eat it at 5." Seriously, it looks that good.

What you'll need:
1 loaf (or more if you do not like using the heels of bread)
4 large eggs
1.5c milk
cinnamon/sugar mix
1c brown sugar
1/2 butter
1tea vanilla

*Cut the crust off every piece of bread, set aside
*Melt the butter in a small bowl, in the microwave, and then add the brown sugar ..Mix well
*Meanwhile whisk together the vanilla, eggs and milk, set aside
*Pour the brown sugar mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish, spread around so that the mixture is covering the bottom of the dish
*Layer the dish with 1 layer of bread
*Spoon over about 1/2 or a little less of the egg mixture over the bread, trying to cover all of the dry spots.
*Layer the rest of the bread in the dish
*Spoon over the rest of the egg mixture on to the top, be sure all dry spots are covered.
*Sprinkle cinnamon & sugar liberally over the top of the bread
*Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill overnight in the refrigerator.

*Preheat the oven to 350F
*Uncover the dish, and recover with foil -
*Bake covered with foil for 30 minutes
*Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes

You can serve these with warm maple syrup if you wish however I think they are sweet enough with the brown sugar mixture. When serving flip over on the plate so that the brown sugar is on top. Mmm mmm delish! Hope you enjoy!

Until next time..
Lady Bea

Grilled BBQ Pork Loin

It's that time of year folks! I love the smell of anything cooking on the grill, something about it just smells so amazing. Tonight I was going to make pork loin in the oven, but the grill on the back porch just kept staring at me and wanting me to use it. So, I did. This pork is so juicy, so tender, so divine...you have got to try it.

What you'll need:

2-3 pound pork loin
garlic powder
salt/pepper
your favorite BBQ sauce

That's all! Oh and a grill, that helps for the grilled part!

Season your pork on all sides with garlic powder, salt and pepper.

On a folded in half piece of foil, place pork loin on foil and BBQ the top with a brush. You will flip every 15 minutes and brush on more sauce. The key here is not to slather the pork in sauce. The sauce is complimentary and not the main flavor. Do this for 1.5 hours or until the pork reaches 160-170F

Viola! The best grilled pork loin ever!

Veggie Brownies...

Yep, you heard..or read rather, that correctly. Veggie brownies. Can't get the little ones to eat their veggies? I bet they will devour these brownies, and they won't even know they are eating wholesome fresh fruits and vegetables.

What you will need:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup coarsely chopped semi sweet chocolate
2 eggs
2 tea vanilla
1/2c sugar
3 cups raw baby spinach
1 -1/2c fresh blueberries
1/2 tea lemon juice
1/4c plus 2Tb flour
1/4c rolled oats, processed in a food processor or blender
1Tb unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tea salt

• Preheat Oven to 350F
• Spray the bottom only (not the sides) of your 9x13inch or 9x9inch brownie pan
• Melt the butter and chocolate together in a double broiler (No worries if you don't have one - you can use a microwave with stirring every 15 seconds until the chocolate and butter are melted.)
• Remove from heat and let cool a bit (5 minutes is plenty) 
• In the meantime, put together the spinach, blueberries, lemon juice and 1Tb of water in a puree machine and puree until very smooth.
• In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, 1/2 c of the puree mixture, mix well and then add in the chocolate mixture
• In a separate large bowl combine the flour, cocoa, oats and salt
• Add to the wet mixture and mix together until well blended
• Bake at 350F for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Allow the brownies to cool completely before serving. As an option you can top with a dusting of powdered sugar, or sprinkles, I used a drizzle of caramel.

I hope your children love these brownies (Mine did!) and that you love that they are actually eating fruit and veggies with their snack!

He even asked for seconds!

For the remainder of the puree' - You can freeze it in an airtight container or separate it 1/2c portions in zip-lock baggies for up for 3 months.

Red Wine Glazed Pork Chops

Okay, I adore Italian cooking. A-D-O-R-E. My family, well they like the pasta, but not the strong tastes of oregano, thyme, cilantro etc. like me. However, sometimes I make a heavily Italian inspired dish and they love it, they probably could eat it every day just like me...in my dreams haha.

For this dish I decided to go full on Italian with heavy spices and jazzed it up with red wine. I thought these pork chops where fantastic, and the family agreed.

You will need:
6-8 bone in, Pork chops
Red Cooking Wine
Olive Oil 
1 clove of Garlic

Spices you will need:
Thyme
Parsley
Cilantro
Oregano
Salt/Pepper

Heat up a large skillet on medium heat- with the clove of garlic, coarsely chopped and 1tea of olive oil. Heat up for about 2 minutes. Add in 1/2cup red wine - BE CAREFUL, THE WINE CAN AND WILL FLAME UP AND POP. I removed the pan from the stove to add the wine. ADD SLOWLY. Simmer for about 5 minutes, the wine will reduce. The smell is amazing.

In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup olive oil, 1tea of each thyme, parsley, cilantro and oregano and then 1/2t each salt and pepper. This mixture will serve as a rub for your pork.

Slather the chops with the mixture on both sides with the mixture, and add two at a time into the pan and cook for 6-7 minutes, turn over and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes or until done. Adjust cooking times for your stove.

I served this dish with rice.

Until Next time....
Lady Bea

Homemade Pizza

There is nothing more satisfying than making your own pizza and the kids yelling "Hey! This is better than delivery!"...you know in the back of my head...I thought "Yeah and 10 times cheaper too!"
This is a recipe that your older kids can help with, and the younger ones can help with the toppings. They will think that this is SO fun! Kid and Mother approved!

You will need:
1 1/2 c warm water
1 package (2 1/4tea) active dry yeast
3 1/2c bread flour, you can also use all purpose flour but your dough won't be as crisp
2 Tbsp olive oil
2t salt
1tea sugar

For the toppings:
Pepporoni
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza sauce
and whatever other toppings your family likes

Making the dough:

1 - In a large bowl add warm water, sprinkle in the yeast (Do not dump the yeast, it will clump) and let the yeast sit for 5 minutes to dissolve. After the 5 minutes stir completely to ensure that the yeast and water are mixed.

2- Mix in the olive oil, flour, salt and sugar into the bowl. Mix the dough until it forms into a round ball, at this point - remove the dough ball and knead for 10 minutes on a clean floured surface. If the dough seems too wet, add a sprinkle of flour, if the dough seems too dry add a few drops at a time of water.

3-Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil and  return the dough ball back to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave sit in a warm room until the dough doubles in size. This can take about 2 hours. This part is essential to the process.

 Preparing the pizza:

1- Preheat the oven to 450F
2- Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl and punch the dough down, so that it deflates a little, seperate the dough into two balls, place into two seperate bowls and let sit for about 10 minutes
3- Prepare your toppings in the meantime note: You will not want to load up these pizzas with toppings, just add enough that you're happy with it, and leave it be. The dough will not get crisp with many toppings
4- Working one ball of dough at a time, flatten and move outwards creating a circle pizza shape with the dough. Any holes made can be pinched back together. When the dough is flattened and rounded pinch up the edges for a crust

5- Brush the top of the dough very lightly with olive oil, then using your fingers make dents along the entire surface of the dough. This prevents big bubbles in your pizzas
6- Repeat with the second ball of dough
7- Use 1/3 cup pizza sauce and spread around on pizza - about 1 inch from outer edge of dough works well. Add cheese, and desired toppings.
8- For best results, sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza stone and cook the pizza on that, otherwise you can use cornmeal on a pizza pan as well.

9- Cook each pizza by itself in a 450F oven for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is a light golden brown

Makes 2 10-12 inch pizzas


SO GOOD!

Chicken Scallopine With Mozzerella and Basil

This dish is so ridiculously good, and worth the effort to make. It is quite the process but it is so good. The only thing I would change is that I would make more of it! 

What you will need :

Chicken Breasts - I used 3, but adjust for your family

1/4 (Or more hehe) White Cooking Wine (Found by the vinegar, very affordable)

Mozzarella cheese - I use fresh

Basil - Dried

Large Can of peeled whole tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped

3 TB Olive Oil

Toothpicks - A must! 

Salt/Pepper 

1. Butterfly the chicken breasts and pound them to about 1 inch thick. You can also purchase thinly cut chicken breasts however I find that these have holes in them and its hard to wrap them sometimes. 
2. Spinkle with salt and pepper, 1tea of basil, and a cube of mozzarella cheese - about 2 inches by 1 inch. 
3. Roll up the chicken and secure with one or two toothpicks, you want the chicken wrapped tight
4. Warm the olive oil in a skillet and add the chopped garlic into the oil, allow the garlic to heat, moving the garlic around frequently, until the garlic becomes fragrant - about 4 minutes
5. Add in the chicken and brown on all sides, do not worry that the chicken is not done at this point. You want to cook the chicken for about 3 minutes on each side
6. Remove the chicken from the skillet and discard the garlic cloves
7. Add the wine to the skillet (Leave the chicken aside for a moment) and simmer the wine for about 2 minutes while scraping any bits on the skillet around. Then, let simmer stirring occasionally for about 3 more minutes.
8. Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes, 1/2t pepper, and 1/2t salt into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the tomato mixture to the reduced wine, simmer for an additional 5 minutes to let all the flavors combine
9. Add the chicken to the pan, and simmer for about 10 minutes, turn over and let simmer for an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until thoroughly cooked
10. Don't forget to remove the toothpicks before serving! 

  

Recipes From Around the World

So, with the summer months coming rapidly upon us and the kids getting out of school. I've come up with some educational fun things for the kids to do. One of the things I have come up with is Recipes Around the World. I am very excited about this project with the kids! Every week, minus a busy week here and there, I will make a recipe from a foreign part of the world. During the week I will have the kids research, yes research in the summer months, about the country. At dinner, when we are eating our new ethnic meal, they can report to Jim and I some interesting facts about where ever our dinner inspired from. I think this is going to be awesome! I am even thinking about getting a map to mark off where we have "eaten". I was also thinking about letting them make different place mats for dinner to go with the theme of the meal.

I just had to write this down, have you ever done anything like this with your kids? What did you do? Did they enjoy it?

I was thinking about doing dishes inspired from Mexican, American, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, French, British, German, and Australian cultures. I am very excited about this adventure as I will learn a lot of new thinks as well.

Lady Bea

Baked Penne Pasta

Such a simple, quick alternative to spaghetti. My kids LOVE spaghetti, but it gets so old. So I whipped up some baked penne pasta...kids loved it, and I loved it...win win. I know your family will love this dish, and it is so customizable. Next time I will be adding sausage or hamburger to it.

What you will need:
1 12oz Box Penne Pasta
1 jar spaghetti sauce - your choice
3 large pinches freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups Italian cheese blend (You can use provolone or mozzarella too)

While we are boiling our pasta and building our dish, go ahead and prep that oven at 350f

*Boil the pasta per directions for al dente pasta on the box. For penne it is about 8-10 minutes.

*Butter the bottom of a 9x13 inch glass baking pan (you can use a dark non-stick pan as well)

*When the pasta is done, strain and pour into baking dish, and mix with spaghetti sauce. 

*Sprinkle in Parmesan cheese and 1 cup of Italian cheese blend, toss well

*Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the pasta

*Bake for 30 minutes in the oven

Let this dish cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving as this is a very hot dish. Serve with garlic bread, and enjoy!

Until Next Time..

Lady Bea

Cinnamon Banana French Toast

This super sweet concoction is sure to have your kids begging for more. I whipped these up for lunch today for Jim and I and I am sure he’ll be asking for it over and over again.  Even looking at this delicious meal will have you salivating.

What you’ll need:

Thick Cut Bread – Texas Toast Style

3 Eggs slightly beaten

2Tbl heavy cream

1tea vanilla extract

Cinnamon

Brown sugar

Butter

1 large banana

Beat together lightly the cream and eggs, and dip each slice of bread covering each side. Fry as you would regular French toast, in butter, sprinkling cinnamon over the toast after the first flip.

When finished, put on a plate and set aside, this next part will be done before your toast knows it’s done frying.

In the hot pan, add in 2tbl (one large spoonful), vanilla, 1Tb brown sugar, and sliced up banana. Glaze the bananas until they are soft and the liquid ingredients are thick and dark.

Pour over French Toast and add a SMALL amount of syrup if you wish, don’t add much your topping is sweet enough =)

Until Next Time...

Lady Bea

Italian Roasted Potatoes

I don't know about you but I HAVE to have side dishes with my meals. This being said, I do get tired of the same ole mashed potatoes or rice. I decided to take some of the potatoes I had and make roasted potatoes and see how they turned out. Let me tell you what, these are so simple yet so amazing! I will make these over and over again, and my family agrees.

Go ahead and preheat that oven to 400f while we are working!

What you'll need:

This recipe is very customizable but I used 6 medium potatoes for my family. Use however many you need to feed your family. 

Olive Oil

Parsley 

Italian Seasoning

Salt and Pepper

and that's all!

Wash your potatoes, peel them and cut them into about 1 inch squares...doesn't have to be perfect. 

1/4 cup olive oil over the potatoes and mix until the potatoes are coated. 

Spinkle 1Tb Italian seasoning, 1tea parsley and add salt and pepper and mix well

On a foil lined baking sheet cook for 40 minutes. 

Done! So worth the 40 minutes to make a side too! I promise you'll love these! 

Until Next Time...

Lady Bea

Bed Head "On the Rebound" Product Review

So I started a new venture into reviewing products for websites. The website I joined was BzzAgent.com. The site is a review site that sends out campaign samples and the user, in this case me, reviews the products and lets everyone know what they think about it. Definitely worth a look if you're into that sort of thing. I'll put the link at the bottom! The first campaign I was awarded was for BedHead products. I received these products free of charge from Bzzagent for purpose of review, and I am required to state that I have no connection with the company whatsoever.

In my kit I received 'On the Rebound' Curl Recall Cream, Recharge Conditioner and Elasticate Conditioner. Let's go over the pros and cons of each product.

Bed Head Curl Recall Cream-
This product has a great product description which made me very enthusiastic to try it. On the product it states "Reform rebellious curls into soft and defined ringlets. Our curl recall technology instantly reforms, ensuring they bring back into shape with just one scrunch." I was excited...curls that last all day? Well needless to say I wasn't disappointed when it didn't work. Not many things work in my hair which is slightly curly, slightly wavy..completely unruly.  However I did love how light the product was. It didn't leave any residue in my hair and it didn't feel like I left wax in my hair like some creams do. It was light and airy, I enjoyed wearing it for several hours before I lost my curls. I would recommend this product to someone with light thin curls, and not to someone with heavy thick hair like myself.

Recharge Conditioner-
This conditioner is amazing. Simple as that. My hair felt unbelievably soft and smelled so good. I have no negative comments about this conditioner as I loved it so much. I would recommend this product to anyone without oily hair, it kind of adds a shine which tells me there is some sort of oil or serum going on that might make someone with oily hair have extra oily hair with usage.

Elasticate Conditioner-
This conditioner claims to strengthen your hair. I used it once and didn't notice a difference. Although I am sure that the strengthening comes with time I probably wouldn't spend my money on it. It doesn't smell as good as the Recharge and I didn't notice a difference like I did immediately with the recharge. If you have tried this product and liked it, let me know!

https://www.bzzagent.com
=)

Until Next Time...
Lady Bea

 <img src="https://img.bzzagent.com/image/tigi.jpg?Type=activity&Activity=7455890443&Campaign=8725355002&Uid=1450916&token=a0c23bccdbdac9c069c555028ca49cda" alt=""/>

Photoshoot with Cyn!

There is nothing more breathtaking then getting that one shot you can't take your eyes off of. All you think is wow, I took that? And you remember why you got into the game in the first place. Every single time we shoot with Cyn, that's how I feel with at least 1 of her shots. She is a fantastic and very pliable model and will pretty much try anything no matter how weird it sounds. So, we shot Cyn yesterday and I have a new favorite shot in my portfolio....

We have several shoots coming up, so be on the lookout for more work. This image was shot with a Nikon D90 with a 24-105 lens, 7.1 Apeture, 1/125Shutter White balance measured on a grey card then set on flash, and 100 ISO with Paul Buff strobes. I edit in Lightroom then CS5.5

Until Next Time...

Lady Bea

Homemade Crock Pot Beef Stew

Don't you love when spring decides to come and such beautifully warm days and cool evenings? Ah perfect evenings for a warm bowl of beef stew. My recipe is SO simple and made in the crock pot so you get to smell the yumminess ALL day long. Mmm Mmm Mmm.

You will need :
2.5 Beef Stew Meat
3c Beef Stock Broth
1.5c Cranberry/Grape Juice
Carrots - About 3 medium carrots
Potatoes - About 4 medium
1 Medium to Large onion depending on your families taste
CornStarch
Flour
Brown Gravy Mix
Au Ju Mix


I cut my potatoes and carrots the night before because it was a long process. Dice the potatoes into cubes and cover them completely in water and in an airtight container in the fridge to ensure that they do not turn brown. Do the same with the carrots. (Of course you can do this all morning of as well)

In a separate container add your beef and 1/2c flour, 1tea salt, 1/2tea pepper, 1tea garlic powder and mix until all the beef is completely coated. Dice your onion small and mix into the beef.  Then pour in 1/2 of the container of beef stock and mix. Cover and place in refrigerator until the next morning.

Wake up! It's time to start dinner! Beef stew takes 7-10 hours to cook, so get an early start so you'll have the most tender beef you could ask for!

In the crock pot add in your Beef and onion mix, the rest of the beef stock, cranberry juice, carrots, potatoes and the following spices..

1Tb Parsley
1Tb Oregano
1/2Tb Thyme
1/2Tb Salt
1 package of brown gravy mix
1 package of Au Ju mix

And add in enough water to cover the stew just so it is barely covered.

Andddd that's it! For 5-6 hours anyways. Crank that crock up on high and cook all day...

1 hour before dinner time take out 1/2 c of the broth and add in 1.5Tb of Corn Starch, this will thicken the broth into gravy. If in 15 minutes it's not thick enough for your taste add another Tablespoon of corn starch, but chef beware...the sauce WILL thicken as it cools..don't add too much or you'll get a very floury taste to your stew.

Enjoy!!

Crock Pot Beef Stew

Chocolate peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies

What is better than chocolate and peanut butter? Nothing. Nothing is better than chocolate and peanut butter. Especially in a cookie. These soft brownie like cookies won't last long in your kitchen! I promise!

What you'll need:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown
1 large egg, room temperature preferred*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons milk
1 and 1/2 cup peanut butter/chocolate chips plus a few more to press on top

Using a handheld mixer cream the butter on medium speed for about 20 seconds. Add the sugars with the mixer running on medium speed. Cream it all together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

In a separate medium size bowl, toss the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. Slowly add to the wet ingredients with the mixer running on low. The dough will be very thick. By hand, stir in the milk, then fold in the white chocolate chips. The dough will become thick and very sticky.

Chill the dough for at least 2 hours covered with saran wrap. Do not skip this step!

Preheat that oven to 350F degrees. 

 Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.

Take 2 Tablespoons of chilled dough and roll into a ball. Place on cookie sheet and press a few more peanut butter chips on the top.

Bake for 14 minutes. Cookies will appear undone and very soft.

These cookies are so soft and delicious, they will be a family favorite for sure! A big glass of cold milk and a few cookies and you're in for a fantastic, chocolatey, peanut buttery treat!

 

A twist on a classic favorite - roast beef bread bowls

Who doesn't love hot roast beef smothered in gravy atop a heaping pile of mashed potatoes and bread? Hot shots are by far one of my favorite dinners. However even I get bored of my favorite things, so I decided to mix it up a bit and instead of regular bread on the bottom of the yummy pile of goodness I decided to bake up a delicious bread bowl.

How to make the bread bowl :

What you'll need :

2 cups + 4 Tablespoons warm water

2 packages of active dry yeast (5 1/2 teaspoons)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

3 teaspoons salt

6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour - If your dough is too sticky you may add additional flour at 1 tsp at a time. If your dough if too dry add water 1tsp at a time. NO more or you could ruin your dough.

Using a large mixing bowl, add warm water and sprinkle in yeast.  Let dissolve for a few minutes until yeast becomes foamy.  Be sure to sprinkle the yeast and don't just dump into the water ..It will clump and become unusable.

Add melted butter, sugar and salt and mix until combined.  Gradually add flour.  Once combined, knead your dough for about 5 minutes, or until it becomes a puffy firm ball of dough.

Form into 6 equal sized balls.  

Place on a greased cookie sheet and let rise until doubled - about an hour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. 

 Let cool until warm and cut off the top, remove some of the bread from the inside...this becomes your bowl for your potatoes and roast beef.

The gravy is VERY HARD to make (not really) I take a package of brown gravy mix, a package of Au Ju gravy mix and 2tbs of all purpose flour with the recommended water (2c) and mix in a medium sauce LAN on medium.
After the mix is well mixed with the water add the sliced roast beef, the gravy will flavor the roast beef as it thickens.

After the gravy is hot and thickened, put a scoop of mashed potatoes in the bread bowl (I used garlic mashed potatoes) and use a spoon and kind of push it down into the bowl. Next spoon over roast beef and gravy...and there you have it. A twist on a classic meal. It is sooo good!

Meal Plan for Sunday 4/28 - Saturday 5/4

I love meal planning! I started meal planning about a month ago and I'm not sure I would ever change back to figuring out whats for dinner each and every night. As a Mom don't we have more important things to do than figure out dinner? So per request of many friends here is my meal plan for next week.

Sunday 4/28 -
Crock Pot Beef Stew

Monday 4/29
Stuffed Pork Chops
Rice
Sweet Corn

Tuesday 4/30
Homemade Lasagna
Garlic Bread

Wednesday 5/1
Bake Garlic Parmesan Chicken Breast 
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Rolls

Thursday 5/2
Sirloin Steaks
Buttered Egg Noodles
Cooked Baby Carrots
Homemade cracked wheat bread

Friday 5/3

On Fridays we typically go out to eat

Saturday 5/4
Cheeseburgers
Fries 

The desserts I plan on making this week are chocolate chip banana muffins, and an Oreo chocolate pudding pie. I'll post recipes throughout next week.

Do you meal plan? How does it work for your family? Do you wish you meal planned if you don't?

Pork Chop & Rice Casserole

I'd like to thank my friend Mary for giving me this prize winning recipe. Anything that has very little leftovers is a winner in my book. Here is a fantastic recipe for Pork Chop & Rice Casserole.

This recipe is simple yet sooo good. Mix the ingredients in a casserole dish and let bake while you do your other duties around the house. Makes dinner easy and very very filling.

You'll need
3 Boneless Pork Chops (I use thick cut)
1 bag frozen mixed veggies (I used Birds Eye brand)
2c white minute rice
1 large can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup

That's all you need to make this delicious meal!
Mix the can of cream of chicken soup with equal parts of WARM water then add the rice and veggies. Combine ingredients until all the veggies and rice are covered. Then lay the pork chops over top the rice mixture. Spoon over some of the mixture over the pork, but they don't have to be completely covered.

Cover the dish with foil, and bake at 400f for an hour or until the pork is done throughout.
I hope you enjoy this fantastic and simple recipe! Let me know if you try it in the comments! Or if you have any other ways to make pork chop casserole!

Until Next Time...
Lady Bea

The Search for the Perfect Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe...

Over the winter months Dunkin Donuts came out with a banana chocolate chip muffin that one day I spontaneously purchased. It was LOVE at first bite. The fluffy moist banana taste with the chocolate sweetness was just delicious and I had found a new favorite treat. Over the next few weeks Jim would buy me 6 muffins when we were close to the DD and I would snack on them through the week. One day I went to get my weekly muffins they told me the worst news ever...my muffins were discontinued. So there starts my search, for the perfect banana chocolate chip muffin recipe.
I tried Krustez Brand chocolate cup muffins, which were fantastic but they just wasn't giving me that taste that my taste buds ever desire. Betty Crocker makes a chocolate chip muffin recipe with alternative directions to make banana chocolate chip muffins....not the same, in fact we didn't like them at all. So I decided I have to take this upon myself...to create the perfect banana chocolate chip muffin.

Today my bananas were just at that point where I could use them in the recipe. I tried my first recipe...which came out way to dense. I would NEVER make it again. So...3 attempts down, however many the universe decides to torture me with left.

Photoshoot - Katzen

          Today we shot with Katzen, a model we haven't worked with before. To be honest, sometimes I get really nervous working with someone new. I guess that's only normal for anyone. Anyways, she showed up and she was ready to shoot, opened up right away and for me that was awesome. The concept of our first shoot was Flapper Girl. Here is my best shot from the look...(Jim's shots are MUCH better)

         I think that the look that Kat gave was perfect for the style. In Lightroom I did lower saturation, increase blacks and contrast, lowered opacity and adjusted the lens (added the darkening around the edge). After opening in CS5 I healed a few blemishes, nothing major, and burned the eyes a bit to help them stand out. We did three looks total..and she killed every single one of them! She is an awesome model to work with and we would recommend her! =)

  ....here is my favorite of the shoot as a whole....(so far)

I just love love love love this shot!

Until Next Time...
Lady Bea

Photoshoot Tomorrow!

So another thing I wanted to share on my blog was my photography. We own a studio called Studio 1 Eleven and since our new little man, Zachary, moving and full time school work we only seem to shoot occasionally anymore and it really stinks since we both love it so much (Jim and I). Anyways, we are shooting with a new model tomorrow so I am excited about that. I will share my best image here and tell you why I like it, how I took it etc. I hope that you will comment or give some feedback on what you think as well. In the meantime, I thought I would share an image from our last shoot. Kirst, whom is a favorite model of ours, came and shot with us and we got some really really nice shots! My favorite was one where she was wearing her latex cat woman suit.

We shot using Paul Buff Strobes
My camera had the following settings:
1/125 shutter
F9 Aperture (My camera's sweet spot)
ISO 100
WB was on Flash

Here is the image I liked best!

 

And truthfully, Kirst requires little to no editing. All I did to the image was lower the exposure a little because my camera tends to overexpose, I increased the blacks and contrast and lowered the opacity. I removed a few, and I mean a very few, blemishes. Otherwise, Kirst just looks this fantastic right out of camera! We are shooting with Kirst again in May and I suspect that I will be uploading another fantastic image then. In fact, my very favorite picture in my portfolio is one I took of Kirst. <3

Tomorrow, I will update with the shoot we are doing in the morning! Hope you enjoyed this shot as much as I do!

Until Next Time...

Lady Bea

Easy Peasy Cheesy Taco Bowl!

So, I love tacos...but I am sooo picky about my tacos and so is my family. I tried that Hamburger helper taco box and it was too spicy for Raiden so I decided to make my own version of it. It's very simple, delish, and you can customize it any way you want! Easy Peasy right!?

Here is what you'll need
Frito Lay Corn Chips
1lb Hamburger
Velvetta cheese
Shredded Cheese, whatever kind of cheese your family likes on their tacos
1 pkg of taco seasoning mix

and whatever toppings your family likes on their tacos, for mine I just had the cheese

Cook your hamburger the same way you would making tacos, layer the chips, cheese and hamburger in a bowl...viola! Easy Peasy Cheesy Taco bowl!

Chicken Parmesan

Ahhh Dinner tonight was AHmazing! I just can never get enough of Italian based meals. This meal is simple, yet impressive enough to wow your family. "Wow..mom made this???"

You will need: Yields 3
3 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts
2c Unseasoned Panko Bread Crumbs
1c Freshly Grated Parmesan (fresh is best and highly recommended)
1 egg
1c All Purpose Flour
Olive oil
Thinly sliced Provolone Cheese
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 
Spaghetti Sauce, I used a chunky Garlic Herb Sauce (Prego Brand)
Parsley
Basil
Salt/Pepper
Cilantro

While we are preppin' the chicken go ahead and preheat that oven to 450f

Panko:
2c Panko
1Tbs Parsley
1Tbs Basil
1Tbs Cilantro
Salt and Pepper
**You can also buy pre-seasoned Panko**


* Trim your chicken breasts of any fat and butterfly each one. In between two layers of wax paper take your frustration out on the chicken until it is 1/2 inch thick. This isn't hard if you've had a bad day. Your kids might think you're crazy..but you probably are, right?
*Salt and Pepper your chicken breast BEFORE coating in flour or anything else
*Coat the chicken breasts in flour, then dip in egg, then coat in the Panko Mixture
*Sit the chicken separately, not on top one another, on a plate and sit aside for about 10 minutes

In the meantime, heat up 1 inch of olive oil in a large skillet. By time your 10 minute holding time on the chicken is done, your oil will be hot enough for the chicken.

*Cook the chicken on each side for about 2 minutes or until a golden brown color. Don't worry about how well it is done at this point, it will finish cooking in the oven.
*Place chicken breasts in a casserole dish
*Layer on each breast 1/4c spaghetti sauce - I really don't recommend using more, about 1/4c Mozzarella cheese, and 1 slice of provolone cheese. If you are like me you'll be temped to use more cheese..don't...trust me.
*Sprinkle about 1/5c (a palmful) of grated Parmesan cheese over the contents of the dish.
*Add a pinch of parsley on top of each breast
*Lastly, sprinkle 2Tbl of olive oil over all the chicken breasts (2Tbl for the entire pan, not each)

*Bake at 450f for about 20 minutes or until done.

*Cook angel hair per directions of the box, when done add in a mixture of 4Tbl butter and 2tsp of garlic powder.

Until Next Time..
Lady Bea

A Letter to my Boys

Dear Christopher and Zachary,
         My dear boys, Christopher..you are beyond handsome, intelligent, so bright and determined...I love you so much, I am sorry. Zachary..my how mommy loves you so. Such a miracle, so beautiful and on the go, you're perfect in every way possible, I am sorry.
         I'm so sorry for the world mommy brought you into. All the bad you'll have to learn and see. I am sorry I can't protect you from the violence and hatred that you'll grow up hearing about, seeing on the television, reading about online...I'm so very sorry.
          I look into your deep dark brown eyes, and your bold bright blue eyes and I am saddened by the thought of that the innocence I see there being taken by anything. I never want you to be corrupted by the world, by the people in the world, by all the bad that happens. I know..these things seem inevitable but I pray each and every day that I raise you to know that although bad things happen there are always good people in the world..and you are one of them.
           I want you to stand up for yourselves, but I am sorry that you'll have to.  I want you to fight for what you believe in, but I am sorry that you'll ever have to give reason for your beliefs. I want you to protect your children, and yourselves but, I am sorry that you even have to think about how you will protect your family. I am so sorry.
          I want to vow to you, my beautiful perfect children, to fight for you. To fight for your rights, for your freedoms. I vow to do everything in my power to make sure you're taken care of medically, financially, emotionally and another other way you need mama to. I vow to love you unconditionally even when you do things I disapprove of. I love you, that will never ever change. I am so sorry for all you will see, hear, or experience. I am sorry that you will have to learn the hard way through life.
          With all the bad you will see, hear about or experience I promise there will be so many things making life worth while. College, children, experiences you'll have will make you so thankful you are alive. When you look into your children's eyes for the first time, I promise you will forget the bad, you'll forget all the hatred in the world and all you will feel is love. The same love I feel every time I look into your eyes. When you graduate high school and go on to College, you'll feel accomplished. When you buy your first car, or home..you'll feel rich. When you marry the woman of your dreams you will feel as if you've won the lottery.
          I guess what I am saying, my beautiful little men, is don't focus on the world as a whole. There will always be war, hatred, and crime. This is the devastating truth of our existence. Focus on what is important. Your family, your success, your world is what you want it to be. I am sorry for all the bad that will be around you, but I am not sorry to be able to witness you grow up and be the incredible people I know you will be.

I love you to the Moon and around the sun and back,

I am your Mommy and you are my son's.

Mommy <3
        


 

Statistcally Speaking...

         Did you know that the world has only been at peace 8% of the last 3,500 years? Pretty sad in my opinion. 8% of 3,500 is 280 years, that's less than 3 long lifetimes over 3,500 years!

         I came across this statistic online while researching for my midterm in Statistics class. Honestly,  I can't help by feel very saddened by this fact. Why can't we get along? It must be human nature to fight and bicker all the time. Someone always wants to be better than the other person. In this case, we are talking countries and territories but this holds true on even smaller scales...even children fight all the time. We have to constantly reteach their human nature of violence and show them that being jealous of one others toys or whatever they are fighting over that second is wrong. We have to constantly show them that being peaceful and talking about our feelings is the better way to handle disputes. We teach our children not to fight or hit...but why can't we as adults practice the same lessons?

       For the sake of our children and their children, and their grand babies and their grand babies children..I hope and pray that the next 3,500 years are much more peaceful...otherwise..we might just end human civilization on Planet Earth ourselves. 

       Heading to bed feeling very blessed for my children, and hoping I can raise them to love one another and help them make their footprint on this planet a peaceful one. I want to teach them right from wrong and have them pass on those lessons to their children.

    Question for you....How does this statistic make you feel?



Until Next Time ...

Lady Bea

Rustic Pizza Poppers

Hello! Today I decided to cook up something a bit different for lunch. Turns out, it's an absolute hit and I will be making it for years to come. Here is my recipe for Rustic French Bread Pizza Poppers!

You will need :
1 egg
Mozzarella/provolone cheese sticks
Can of Pillsbury Simply French Bread
Pepperoni
and Italian seasoning.

Recipe makes approximately 12 poppers

                     While you're making your poppers go ahead and preheat that oven to 350F =)


*Separate the dough into about 12-15 pieces. Don't worry if some are bigger than others- just make sure you get to the biggest ones first...trust me you'll want the big ones!

*Flatten the dough one by one - this is important because dough of this nature will just reform back into a ball, so best to just do it one by one to save you the new grey hairs.

*Add your pepperoni and cheese - You can use your favorite kinds of cheese and add different toppings as well. If you do, please come back and leave me a comment with how it turned out!

*Pinch the edges over the toppings. Be sure to make sure there are no openings or thin spots showing color from the pepperoni. Place the popper pinched side down on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

*Continue to do this until all your poppers are created....You're getting hungry aren't you?

 *When all your poppers are completed brush the top with lightly beaten egg and sprinkle with Italian seasoning.

* Bake your yummies for about 20 minutes...

~Let them cool, they will be very hot!~

Serve with warm pizza sauce for dippin' & enjoy!

           My family loved these! I know for sure that next time I make them I will have to double up on my recipe. Also I would add more cheese to my poppers. These are very customizable and the bread is just amazing. I made a few with only cheese and they were awesome too! Let me know what you think!

Until Next Time....

Lady Bea

My Apologies...

So, I know I haven't posted...seem to have chose a terrible time to start this journey! I had to travel to Ohio to take my son, Christopher, to his fathers. We had a fantastic spring break! So now I am back to the everyday grind and I am ready to go! Are you? I promise to be more active, and post a lot more!


Here are some recipes you can expect to see throughout the weekend:

Manicotti
Rustic Style pizza poppers

I will also discuss:

 A new service based learning project I will be working on over the next several weeks. Web Marketing components and data processing for websites. I found some really awesome websites for all the marketers and business owners out there. 


Hope everyone has had a fantastic last few days! What did you do over spring break?

Until next time...(which will be soon, I promise!!)

Lady Bea

Cinnamon Roll "Cupcakes"

Do your kids ever ask to help you bake in the kitchen and flour, egg, sugar and chocolate all over your kitchen instantly come to mind? Happens to me all the time. I would love nothing more than to let my kids help me in the kitchen whenever they want but the truth is I don't want to clean up their messes every time. Because their messes...are huge! So I am constantly on the look out for extremely simple yet fun things for the kids to cook up in the kitchen. The other day while I was making cinnamon rolls, a family favorite, I thought..how fun would it be to make these into cupcakes?...so I did.

 The only thing I needed was cupcake wrappers, a muffin tin and a can of your favorite cinnamon rolls. I used Pillsbury Flaky Cinnamon Rolls with Butter Creme Frosting. I used regular paper cupcake wrappers and found the the rolls stuck a little bit and the paper absorbed a little of the moisture of the rolls, I would recommend using foil lined wrappers to eliminate this dryness.

You can take the rolls and push them into the wrappers in the muffin tin but I recommend putting the rolls in the wrapper prior to putting them in the muffin tin. They don't get squished that way.

The can calls for 12-13 minutes at 375 degrees however I ended up having to cook the rolls an additional 2 minutes to get them all the way done in the middle.

After your rolls are done remove them from the pan for 5-8 minutes to let them cool. Then add the provided frosting/icing and enjoy! Your kids will love to help make this and there is really hardly any cleanup! Win-Win right, Mom??

Until next time...

Bea

Christopher's Birth Story...8 years late

I guess I never saw the importance of writing down your birth story but recently I have felt compelled to jot it down before I get old, and lose my mind even more and not remember it at all. ...I am getting there..trust me.  So here is my first born son's birth story, a bit late.

It was the year 2005, and I didn't have a home phone. The apartments that I lived at had a payphone and I used that phone to set my doctors appointments and call family when I could. My mother worked about 20 yards away from where I lived so I visited her when she was at work or walked across town to her house. I was pregnant and so excited to meet my new baby and go on this new journey in my life. It was a dream of mine since I was a tiny girl to be a mommy and this tiny baby in my belly was going to make my dreams come true. Christopher was going to be the first boy born in my family since a cousin 9 years earlier. My due date was May 5th.

On Valentines Day I received a letter in the mail from my Doctor's office. The letter was in concern with my urine test that I had the week prior. I found .50 cents and called the office and they said I had high levels of protein in my urine and they wanted to see me immediately and I did not need an appointment. There was no further explanation and to be frank...the nurse scared the shit out of me. I called a friend, Chris, to come take me to the doctor's office.

When I walked in they noticed me immediately, and took me straight back to do another urine test. Then I waited, and waited, and waited. When the doctor came into the room I could see the concern on his face. He looked at the rest of my chart information and then preceded to tell me that I had Toxemia and would not be going home. He handed me admission papers to the hospital and told me to go the maternity ward.  So...here starts my long stay in the hospital.

As the weeks past I started to gain water weight and lots of it. When the protein in my urine kept rising they discussed the possibility of taking the baby early, but would have to transfer him to Dayton - over an hour away and I had no car - because he would be extremely premature. The goal...KEEP THE BABY IN AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.

March 15th - First attempt at induction. The Doctor decided it was best for the baby to come. My kidneys were failing and I had stopped urinating completely. I could not walk from the swelling and I was in a lot of pain. They tried multiple medications to induce the labor but nothing worked. 2 bags of Pitocin..and nothing but mild contractions. The next day they decided to let him wait a few more days and see if maybe my body would cooperate then.

Everytime they changed my IV, they would miss. They couldn't even feel my veins anymore. They would attempt, miss, attempt, miss..until they called in a specialist and after he/she missed 4 or 5 times and I was extremely pissed off they got the IV in. This was an every 3 day thing for the duration of my stay. 

March 18th - Second attempt at induction. Here we go again. Same attempts, same medications. Same outcome. Now we wait again....I am in so much pain. I can't move without hurting. I can't even wiggle my toes and I have lost all ability to naturally reflex. At this point I am very concerned with how I am feeling. They are juicing me with medication because literately my body does not want this baby in me and is fighting like he was an infection. I was so exhausted..

March 27th - Easter 2005 - Third Attempt at induction. This time they explained they were going to use more drastic measures to get the baby out. They used medication in my cervix to soften and help it thin out. They used high doses of Pitocin. The nurse said she had worked for 28 years as a nurse and had never seen Pitocin not cause contractions on a woman....until me. Nothing was working and I was feeling pretty worn out and wondering if this was even worth it. Then...an advancement. In the middle of the night my water broke. At this point I knew..I was going to have a baby. The thought of a c-section had never crossed my mind and I began trying to rest for pushing time.

After 14 hours of hard-enough labor I had only dilated to a 2 and wasn't advancing anymore. Then my heart rate started to drop a bit and so did Christopher's. They came in and said if I did not have the baby by 3pm they were going to have to take me in to have a c-section. So at that point I called my family, my then-husband from work and a few select friends. This was it - really it. I was going to have a baby...today.
Here is how I remember the next few hours...within 10 minutes of being told I would be taken to c-section at 3 (which was 3 hours away) the room filled up with blue masked people. "We need to take the baby now" and they were all scattering around getting me ready for surgery. It was a haze. They needed to do an epidural to take me in but the anesthesiologist couldn't see my spine from water retention.  She missed, and missed and missed a total of 6 times. Then the nurse blew my IV..and had to put my IV in again..while they were giving me the epi. I was terrified.

They look me into C-section and 5 minutes later I freaked out. I yelled at the doctor "Did you just cut me??" The look on his face was pure horror. He called for another dose of epidural. I still felt him cutting me. I couldn't move and it hurt so bad. I was crying and shaking and afraid for my life. The doctor told the anesthesiologist to knock me out...I stopped him. I wanted to hear my baby cry. I wanted to see him. I said I was fine, I lied. Then they said "Here comes baby boy!" and I waited and waited..isn't he suppose to cry? Aren't I suppose to see him? Where is he? Then I seen him. My tiny 5 pound baby..he was limp in the nurses arms, no one was smiling, he was completely lifeless and blue. It took about 10 minutes to get him up to where he should be with breathing. I heard a tiny cry..short...tiny...but enough.

Later, I found out his hips were lodged under my ribs. They vacuumed, forceps, tried vacuuming again, and then used the Dr's hands and twisted him out, nearly cracking my babies neck.

He's here, and perfect and today..He turned 8 years old. I was on a bad path and he completely changed my life. He is my first born, my first true love, my sunshine. Happy Birthday Son...May you have many many more. I love you.