Freak of Nature

I went out to the garden yesterday to pick some vegetables and this is what I found.

A conjoined yellow squash. They some how fused together while growing.

Weird.

Join me, won't you?

I have been in the works of getting together all of my favorite recipes to eventually write a cookbook. In the meantime, I've created a new blog about some of my recipes. The blog is brand new and needs your help to stay going! I've only got a couple of recipes listed so far, but I plan on posting almost everyday with a new recipe. So, if your looking for some good recipes to feed to your family, follow me over to my new blog "But Mama, I'm Hungry!". I look forward to sharing my family's favorites with your family. If you have any tried and true recipes that you'd like to share with me, I'd love to see them! See you soon over at But Mama, I'm Hungry!

SO MAD!!!

Ugh!! I just thought to look to see if the Pillsbury bake off contest is going on this year. It is, and I missed the deadline to enter by a day! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!! I am so mad at myself right now. I found one of my entries from two years ago just a few days ago and didn't think to look at the website until today.

I've Done It!!

I have created a sweet and sour chicken recipe that is just as good as any good Chinese restaurant! And I mean a good one in California, because we all know that the Chinese places out here in Idaho kind of suck. Here it is.


Sweet and Sour Chicken
Just as good as take-out!

1 ½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into small bite size pieces
1 cup flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 1/3 cups cold water
oil for frying

Sauce:
½ cup ketchup
½ teaspoon soy sauce
1/3 cup white vinegar
¾ cup water
1 ¼ cups sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
3 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup cold water
½ large onion, chunked
1 green bell pepper, chunked
½ cup pineapple tidbits

In a medium saucepan, combine all of the sauce ingredients, except for the onion, bell pepper and pineapple. Bring sauce to a boil and turn heat down to medium. Add the onion, bell pepper and pineapple and heat until vegetables are soft. Stir occasionally. Meanwhile, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and water in a large bowl. Whisk together well to make a thick batter. Dip chicken pieces in batter and drop in hot oil. Fry until golden brown and chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Let cool on paper towel lined plate. Serve over hot cooked rice, pouring sauce over chicken and enjoy!

I would have taken a picture of it, but for the past, um... six months my digital camera has been lost. Just yesterday I found it!! After dinner was already all eaten though. :) The dang thing was behind the dvd player, which stopped working on Wednesday, so we got a new one and while I was putting the new one in, I found my camera! Yay!! And here we were blaming poor Adam on the missing camera! :)

Alphabet Meme

My sister in law Aleyta tagged me, so here goes.

A - Available or Taken: taken
B - Best Friend: my mom
C -Cake or Pie: cake all the way.
D - Drink of Choice: water or coke zero
E - Essential item you use everyday: flour
F - Favorite Color: pink
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: chocolate please
H - Hometown: Hayward, Ca
I - Indulgence: really good lotion
J - January or February: no thanks, not a fan of winter, but Todd's birthday is in February.
K - Kids & ages: Brandon 3 1/2 & Adam 18 months
L - Life is incomplete without: family
M - Marriage Date or Most Memorable Date (and why): marriage 11/08/03
N - Number of Siblings: 3 two brothers and 1 sisty
O - Oranges or Apples: clementines
P- Phobias or Fears: freaky laughing people. (don't ask)
Q - Fave Quote: "Whats right isn't always popular and whats popular isn't always right." My senior quote that they some how messed up really badly.
R - Reason to Smile: my crazy kids.
S - Season: Spring
T - Tag 3 or 4 People: If you'd like to do this, go right ahead!
U - Unknown fact about me: I didn't believe in killing animals when I was younger. So I didn't eat meat.
V - Vegetable you don't like: I don't like squash, other than zucchini.
W - Worst Habit: I guess you'd have to ask Todd. lol, I can't think of anything.
X - X-rays: yep, I've had a few.
Y - Your Fave Food: La Pinata Mexican food, which I only have like once a year since it's out in CA. But, I really love homemade bread....mmm!
Z - Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Make This For Dinner NOW!!

So, you say your family doesn't like tuna casserole? Really.... Well, I challenge you to make this recipe and tell me that they don't love it! I used shell pasta and the bread topping. Go make it...NOW!!

The Food Game

My sister-in-law Aleyta tagged me with this fun little game. Things in bold are foods that I've tried in my life. Lots of them I haven't tried, including any of the alcohol, but this should be fun.


1.Venison - duh!!
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghan
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi1
5. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns - When I was a kid I had a Filipino friend that I would go to her house sometimes, and one time we had these! Yummy!
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans - of course!!
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters - only fried though, I don't think i could handle raw!
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - when Todd and I were dating we went to a Giants baseball game and got some clam chowder in a sourdough bowl to share and Todd was eating some of it and not really paying any attention and ate the whole entire thing!! To this day if he eats everything of something I laugh and say "was that good clam chowder?"
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float - I am mormon!! hehe
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka + Jell-O - only the jello part of this one! :)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat - ate this with Lita (my grandma) in an Indian restaurant when I was a kid.
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu - isn't that the fish that can kill you if not made right?! I would never eat that!
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - when the Krispy Kreme opened in Union City when I was a kid, we stood in line out in the cold for like an hour just to get some! We even got one hot off of the line!
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. ratatouille
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain - of course!!
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill - This all depends on what you call roadkill.
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict - My mommy makes the best!
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse....yuck!! I can't believe people would actually eat a horse!
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake