I got into a nesting mode Saturday. Maybe it was because Alli’s stuff had been moved out – I don’t know. I emptied the fridge and cleaned it and the freezer. I changed some of the decor in the kitchen. My herbs have done really well this summer, so I made a little display on the counter…

I took some of my fresh herbs and made a bouquet for the kitchen table. It looks and smells so fresh! Thyme, basil, rosemary and parsley and mint will be ready to use for recipes since they’re sitting in water. I love this little wire basket – I use it for lots of different things (thanks, Whitney!)

Sunday dinner was just the two of us because:

1. Alli’s back in college
2. My husband had a nasty cold

However, I tried to make it as special as if we had a house-full.

Menu
Stuffed Peppers
Fresh corn
Carrot-Raisin Salad
Parmesan Bread

This recipe is really tasty, and if you don’t normally like stuffed peppers you need to try these. A dear lady at church shared her garden’s peppers with us and I couldn’t wait to make this recipe! The peppers are only boiled a few minutes, so they’re still crispy instead of boiled to death, and the filling is really yummy. Here’s the recipe:

Stuffed Peppers

2 large green peppers

8 ounces ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

1/2 cup long grain rice

1/2 cup water

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Fresh basil leaves (opt)

Halve peppers lengthwise and remove stem ends, seeds and membranes. Immerse peppers into boiling water for 3 minutes. Invert onto paper towels to drain well.

In large skillet cook meat and onion till meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat. Stir in the tomatoes, uncooked rice, water, Worcestershire sauce, basil and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 15 – 18 minutes or till the rice is tender. Stir in half of the cheese. Spoon meat mixture into peppers. Place peppers in an 8x8x2-inch baking dish. Spoon any remaining meat mixture into baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, in a 375 degree oven about 15 minutes or till heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes or till the cheese melts. If desired, garnish plate with fresh basil leaves. Makes 4 servings.

Being mostly empty nesters (Alli is home about a total of two months in a year now), can I just say again, that this is God’s plan? I am amazed at how many of our peers we run into when taking our daughter to school, and see that they’re struggling with having no children at home. I love my girls and I love it when they’re here, but you know what? Alone is the way we started out and it’s the way it will end up, and we are okay with that. Our friends look at us with horrified expressions when we tell them that we’re adjusting to and even enjoying this phase of our lives. Dinners should still be served with careful attention and love, just as they were when all the family was gathered around the table. The house needs fresh touches and decor so that our husband knows we care about him.

Don’t fold up and die when your children are gone! If your family is young right now, start preparing yourself for the day when they will leave. You do that by leaving them with a babysitter and go out on a date regularly. Every couple of years, leave for more than a day and have a vacation alone. Sorry if I sound like a broken record on this subject, but I keep running into this at every turn, so I just have to address it! 🙂 I learned this lesson from my parents. They’ve been great examples to me of keeping their marriage alive, and enjoying each phase of life as it comes along. I am asking the Lord to help me do the same.

Have you and your husband had a special date lately? What did you do?

What’s been cookin’ in your kitchen lately?

With love,

Our whole family was together this Sunday – a rare event these days! What a blessing to minister in music together in the morning church service. Whitney was at the piano while Alli played her violin to accompany my husband and me singing, “Consider the Lilies.”

After the service ended we came home for dinner. My husband and I sat at the counter so we could pop up and serve. He’s my favorite dinner companion!

Katie Brown Chicken w/carrots

I served our favorite dish – Katie Brown Chicken. That’s our name for it. Katie Brown is a woman who had a cooking/decorating/crafting show at one time. I loved it. I’ve lost touch with what she’s doing now, but I sure wish she’d bring back her old show, “Next Door with Katie Brown.” It was so good. One great thing about it was getting this recipe from it!

 

Katie Brown Chicken

What was cooking in your kitchen?

With love,

Here was Sunday dinner:

To prepare the pork: Rub meat (tenderloin or chops) with herbs and salt and black pepper. Heat olive oil in a very large pan until smoking hot. Add the meat and sear well on all sides (if using chops sear both sides, turning once.

Mix the honey (or agave syrup), garlic, mustard, shallots, lemon juice and zest, and pinch sea salt. Pour over the meat and place in the oven and cook until meat reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the meat.Remove meat to platter or plates. Place the pan on stove top over medium heat and bring to a boil add the butter and adjust the seasonings. Pour over sliced tenderloin or chops and serve hot. (Alternately offer the glaze at the table to allow each diner to add their own.)

Later this week I’ll also share the recipe for these muffins – a new one for me. I served these for Sunday morning breakfast. They were full of blueberries and baked up better than other recipes I’ve tried. Usually the topping sinks down into the muffin, but these stayed high and pretty!

Herbes de Provence is a blend of herbs native to the Provence region in southern France where the fresh herbs are gathered from the mountain sides to use in traditional dishes. Rosemary, thyme and bay leaf are the base for the blend-without these it is not herbes de Provence. From there basil, lavender and fennel are added. In France, lavender is only added in very small amounts and sometimes excluded.

Here is a very basic blend that can be mixed, although each cooks adds her or his own touch to the blend which changes it slightly.

Dry herb Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon marjoram
1 tablespoon summer savory
1 tablespoon thyme
1 crushed bay leaf
1 teaspoon lavender
1 teaspoon fennel

Mix together and keep in a covered container.

It was a busy weekend in my kitchen! What was cooking in yours?

I’m freezing! With summer temperatures at 90 degrees, I’m certainly not talking about the weather. I’ve been freezing food this past weekend. My mom has had some real issues with back pain, and I prayed about what I could do to help her and my dad. Food seems to be the greatest need. Though my dad is very efficient in every other area, cooking is not a skill he enjoys! I’m headed to Kentucky today with a cooler full of food that I prepared on Saturday and froze in individual servings for them.

I made…

Countryside Chicken Bake and cooked apples
Oatmeal, pecan, chocolate chip cookies

Sloppy Joe meat, Taco meat, & Banana Bread

I also cooked fresh green beans and put them in individual serving sizes. And I fried up a batch of bacon so all my dad would have to do is warm it for breakfast or BLTs.

If I worked outside the home, I would definitely do this type of cooking/freezing each weekend. Everything I did is completely cooked to simplify it for my dad, but you could get the dish ready up to the point of baking it, then freeze it.

To make up the lasagna, tacos and Sloppy Joes, I followed this game plan from Robin Miller on The Food Network. You make up one big pan of meat, then add different ingredients for the Sloppy Joes and Tacos.

I’ve made this Beef meal before and it’s all very good. The reviews written on the recipes are very critical, but as with any recipe you use, adjust it to what your family likes. I will say that it is a little soupy, so you might want to reduce the amount of liquid from the tomatoes, maybe drain one or two cans before adding them to thicken it up, or add some tomato paste to do the same thing. All in all it’s a great plan and will provide you with many meals in one cooking time. I was in the kitchen the better part of the day making all that, but it was well worth the time! Now, I can spend time visiting my parents instead of being in the kitchen!

What was cooking in your kitchen this week?

With love,

I know it’s not Monday, my day to share recipes, but I was wondering if you have an overflow of tomatoes at your house? What do you do with them? We have been blessed to have a supply of tomatoes given to us by gardeners in our church. Oh, how we love them! I love them in salads, or on a piece of bread with a little mayo (my sister thinks this is strange! Does anyone else love tomato sandwiches?). We also love Tomato Pie .

This week I tried another recipe using fresh tomatoes and basil and we really loved it. it’s called Tomato, Basil and Parmesan Flatbread from Cooking Light. We had tried a chicken flatbread at Olive Garden and loved it, so I knew I had to try to this recipe.

First you make up the flatbread recipe, then you roll the dough into four pieces and layer it with yellow and red tomatoes. It goes into the oven for 13 minutes.

Meanwhile you mix up the basil, garlic and Parmesan mixture to put over the tomatoes…

Pop it back into the oven ’til the Parmesan cheese melts.

This makes a great appetizer. You could add chopped chicken to it to make it a little more hearty. If you have tomatoes lying around that you don’t know what to do with, try this!

So, what else do you do with your summer tomatoes?

Thanking the Lord for the bounty,