Sunday, February 12, 2012

Dinner in under an hour!!!!


I'm confessing right up front.....I don't like to cook!  I use to be a pretty good cook until I had children!  It was always 2 liked it and 2 didn't.  The only universal foods were Pot roast on Sundays and the Friday night pizza.  Then there is the child that doesn't like cheese and the one that doesn't really like pasta,  what's left to cook????  They have ruined my potential of becoming a great cook!!!  Oh and not to mention working all day and coming home to those dreaded words...."Mom, what's for dinner?"  Well here is one of my solutions to that dreaded time of day or for those of you who like to cook this is a wonderful dinner that your family and friends will love no matter what your cooking style!!!!   

I was lucky and got to the Kroger just as they had put out some discounted meat.  I got 4 beautiful pork chops for the price of a hamburger combo!

My sister Debbie told me this is how she cooked her pork chops.
                            

I like to trim the fat off my meat first.  Then I spray the frying pan with pam and get it hot so I can get a good sear on my meat.  I brown both sides and season them well with my two favorite things.  See below!

I love love love Greek seasoning and put it on everything!!!!  The ladies I work with laugh, but I have converted a couple!  My other standby is onion powder.  If you have those that freak over bits of onion in their food this is a good way to get the flavor with out the evidents!!!
After I have the meat browned with the seasoning and OH Boy it smells good, I heat up a cup of water in the microwave and put in a spoon full of beef granuals.

then I pour it over the pork chops!


Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes depending on the thickens of the pork chops.


Side dish #1
This has become one of my family's favorite ways to eat potatoes.  Hope you will try it!

We like potatoes and these are small so about 2 per person and then one....who doesn't like left over mashed potatoes for lunch!

Peeled washed and ready to cut!


If you cube the potatoes it will cut down on the cooking time.   
Ann and Bobby would be so proud of my knife skills!!!

Along with the potatoes I put in fresh garlic cloves.  I used about 5 small cloves.  The garlic will cook and get tender just like the potatoes.

Did you know that if you rubbed your hands with a stainless spoon after handling garlic that it would take the garlic smell out of your skin!

Strain the water off the potatoes when they are tender (other words when you stab the potato and the fork comes out easily).  You won't even see the garlic it just blends in with the potatoes.

Next you will need some milk and butter and I like to mix my potatoes with my hand mixer.  I like my potatoes with a thicker constancy so I use a small amount of milk.  If you like what is called "whipped" potatoes you could use more milk.  Start out with a small amount because you can always add more.  I also put the butter in while the potatoes are hot to give them extra flavor.  This is also when I add the salt.  Not to much because you don't need that much with the garlic.

Don't they look yummy!



Side Dish #2

You can't go wrong with a bag of Steam'able Veggies.  Just follow the directions on the back.  After cooking I added a pat of butter and some sea salt.

                           
Dinner is served!!!!

Bon Appetit!


It was Delicious!!!  45 minutes start to table.  I hope you will try this and see if it makes your family as happy as it does mine!!!!


~ Sally ~

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Does it work?

I'm always looking for a short cut when it come to cleaning. After working all day and then coming home and being the care giver for Kenneth, I need help!!!  So when I saw on pintrest a no scrub method for cleaning the burner drip pans on your stove ( On Good Thing by Jillee).  Since my stove got a beating over the holidays I thought I would give her method my own does it work challenge.  Here's my results.........

Take one pretty bad looking drip pan.  This one  has seen a lot of cook'n!



Next you will need  a gallon Ziploc bag and some ammonia.
Place the drip pan in the Ziploc bag.  Pour in a splash of ammonia and zip up the bag.  Let is set over night.


I think it worked pretty well.  This pan is more than 7 years old and the paint is dull. BUT there isn't any crusty stuff on it, no ruined manicure or split nails!!!!!  All I did was use dish washing soap to wash the ammonia off!
I hope you will give it a try!  thanks Jillee for the great tip!

I think I will link up to the following parties.....

Metamorphosis Monday

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

X's and O's


This apothecary jar looks so pitiful empty after housing my vintage Christmas ornaments.  I have been thinking about what I could put in her.  Last night I was at Target and took a quick scan of the dollar bends. Take a look at what I found......


I found these plastic gems for $2.50 a box

they're so cut!

they look like candy!  Hope I can convince the grand kids we can't eat them.

They looks so pretty.  I LOVE this affordable Valentine Day decoration!

XOXOXOXO

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Christmas mantle Simple and Understated

I love Christmas!!!!  I love the decorations, the lights, music, the spirit of caring, giving and love.  It seems to bring out the best in most people.  Oh and did I say the smells of Christmas, yummmm.......   This year I went with  simple and a bit of sophistication.  I love how it turned out.  I wish I could have each of you over so you could see it in person with all the lights on!



All the candles are battery operated with a timer.  What will they think of next!
Last Christmas I found these candle holders at Goodwill, they were brown pottery looking things.  Spray paint can do wonders!
some mercury glass mark down from last year.
I use to put these red bead on my tree.  I have had them for 25 years!



Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

An Apothecary Jar and a Cloche

There are so many beautiful ways to display your favorite things.  Two of my favorites are an apothecary jar and a cloche.  I was able to find this great apothecary jar at TJ Max for a mere $12.99 and thank heaven for 50% off glass at Hobby Lobby for the Cloche.  I'm very fond of pretty vintage things.  A few years ago I scored on these shinny bright (name of the ornaments) on ebay.  I didn't want all of them on my tree so there they sat in their box until now.  I think they look so pretty, almost like candy.  They bring back happy Christmas memories.  The ones from my youth are hanging on our tree.







Now for the cloche....  My inspiration came from a pintrest pin from brabournefarm.blogspot.com hers was in an open dish.  I thought it would be fun to see what these ornaments looked like under glass.  My daughter Kelly saw it sitting in my room and mentioned how pretty she thought it was.  I knew then it was a winner.  She's not always supportive of all my "stuff".




 I love these silver, white and of course mercury glass ornaments.

The magic of Christmas is in the air!!!!!!

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Wow Us Wed.
Show me what ya got
Show and Tell linking party
Primp you stuff Wed.

Monday, November 28, 2011

She's crazy bout that Mercury glass....

  I love love love mercury glass!!!!! It is right up there with depression glass.   So when I saw that Anna over at  takethesidestreet.com had made her own and of course "Martha" has too!  I thought, I need to give this a try. After all a girl can't have to much mercury glass especially at Christmas time!  Here is my tutorial on making your own mercury glass candle holders.
Decide on what you want to use for your candle holder or vase.  Remember if you are going to do a vase it needs to be a container that you could put another vase inside to hold the water and flowers.  If you put water against the paint for long periods of time it will make the paint peel off.  I bought these at the Dollar Store.
Cover the outside of your container.  The paint will only look like mirror from the inside out.  Make sure that you tape right up to the edge of the container.
I was lucky and found the spray paint at Wal-Mart.  It was almost $9.00 a can.  It doesn't take that much paint.  Make sure that you shank the can well and use short quick shots into your container.  I found that the paint is very liquid and would run to the bottom of the container.  I would swirl it around to cover where I had missed places. 
After the paint has dried for a few minuets I used a spray bottle with white vinegar.  I sprayed the inside where there are beads on the sides, then let it dry.  This is the long part.  I'm an instant gratification kind of gal and this was hard for me.  I had to spray several times. For me this was not a one day project.  At one point I even ran my hand up and down in the container and it took off some of the paint(that is what I wanted).  This is the part you will have to just experiment with to get the look that you want.

The finished product!  

I'm very happy with the way that they turned out and I will be making some more for my Christmas decorations!

I hope you will try this!

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