cranberries

Fresh cranberries for cranberry sauce. So easy and so much better than canned. All you need is...
1 bag of fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
In a small saucepan on med. heat disolve the sugar in the water. Reduce heat and add cranberries and orange zest. Simmer uncovered until all of the cranberries have popped and the sauce is at desired thickness... the more you simmer it the thicker it will be.
After all the cranberries have popped I like to use a potato masher as a stirrer to smash the bigger chunks or you can run the mixture through a strainer for a smoother jelly-like sauce.
Can be made the night before. This recipe makes quite a bit of sauce, you should have plenty for Thanksgiving dinner.

Veggie time!

So after a lazy summer spent drinking too much, a hedonistic trip to Mexico that would have made the Ancient Romans jealous and a Thanksgiving weekend choc full of mashed potatoes and cheesecake it's time to start taking better care of myself again......darnnit.
Anyway here's a good way to start....mushrooms, zucchini and onions sauteed in garlic and olive oil. A couple of drops of sesame oil make it taste like butter. I like it when the veggies are still kind of crunchy.

Studio Friday....Let's Pretend!

It's 5:07 am...I should be in my nice warm bed. But instead I'm sneaking out of the house and into the cold and snowy darkness to take advantage of all the post-Thanksgiving sales because now it is time to pretend to be........Santa Claus!

Sunday breakfast

Easy like sunday morning...
Dreary day, big mug of joe and the sunday paper. I like to read the comics first and then if the paper is depressing I read them again. My husband made breakfast and fed the kids.
I even have dinner in the crockpot (potroast).
Ready, set..........loaf around.

My new purse.

Cool plushie corduroy (I think it might be upholstery fabric) on the outside and super skinny corduroy on the inside. Nice and deep to hold lots of junk.
Thanks to my pops-in-law for the vintage fabric.
On a side note... check out the retro-chic genuine Naugahyde wing-back chair and recycled towel pillow circa 1970's.
Recycle reuse renew......or just cheap?
You be the judge.

more pizza

What can I say, it's the perfect food. This one is Greek Pesto from McGlinn's.
A delicious mix of artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, onions, garlic, spinach,fontina and feta... hand-tossed and wood-fired to perfection. $11 well spent.

Sweetness

My first Studio Friday....woot!
I love candy! Gummies are my favorite and who could resist these. They really did have little tire tracks on them! I tried to get them to show in the picture but I'm not much of a photographer... they sure were yummy though. I ate the whole bag while at my sewing machine. I'm glad there wasn't very many blue ones.... they tasted kind of funny.

Check this out!

Ultra-cool artist Nishant Choksi.
Sigh......I wish I had laser vision.

Seeds

My favorite part of carving the Halloween pumpkins? Roasting the seeds. I like to toss them with a little fine grain sea salt before spreading them out on a baking sheet and sticking them in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes. I've tried a few different spices over the years ...garlic salt, cumin, Johnny's and even cinnamon, but salt is my fave. The darker roasted ones are extra crunchy. Yum.

Tuna!

Mr. Janedoh caught this Yellow Fin Tuna off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. He really wanted to catch a Dorado, supposedly they are good eatin' but I think it's kinda funny that he caught a tuna because he is always telling me how much he loves it when I make it for him for lunch... so much so that now I just roll my eyes and say "I had no idea". It was an adventure in itself just bringing that baby home. We luckily were able to get it fileted, frozen and packed in a cooler(along with the Marlin my friend Carla caught) before we had to jump on a plane back to the real world the next day. Thankfully the cooler passed customs and all the fish stayed frozen till we got home...about 30hrs after this picture was taken. I had visions of the empty cooler coming down the luggage conveyer belt followed by half-frozen chunks of fish in ziploc bags leaking stinky blood all over my fellow travelers luggage. It was all cool though, we ended up with about 25lbs of tuna and now we know what to expect for next time.
I caught and released a 6ft. Marlin...reeled it in all by myself, thank you very much. Well kinda, I had excellent instructions from Fisherman Nino and lots of experience in boat piloting from Capt. Roberto...oh and thanks first mate Martin, you the man! We drank many beers on the boat, ate pretty good boxed lunches and an excellent time was had by all.
I can't wait for our next trip to Mexico. We promised the kids a trip to DisneyWorld next year but after that we're Cabo bound baby!

pizza

Homemade crust, olive oil, garlic, spinach, red peppers, zucchini, green onions, feta, mozzerella, olives and shrimp. Yum.
The crust was a little too sweet, I'll adjust the recipe for next time. Everything else was delicious.....the feta gave it a nice flavor and the shrimp was perfect. I really like using olive oil and garlic instead of the usual red sauce. Half the usual amount of cheese made it nice and light, reduced the guilt factor.......c'mon veggies are good for you, right.

Apparently....

...when you make oatmeal cookies, you need flour. Who knew!
I would have liked to have seen the confused look on my face as I wondered where I went wrong.

bubbles

pumpkins

Ahh...what lovely little pumpkins you are! Perfect for pies and other goodies.
Generously given to us by friends in exchange for homemade lasagne...an excellent trade.
I love Fall.

bringing up the rear

A nice sunday hike ..... right before meeting the grumpiest, most ill-tempered and tenacious rattlesnake in Tumwater Canyon. It was right in the middle of the trail and would not move! My Mr. Janedoh hurled rocks at it to chase it off but it only moved a couple of feet off the trail so we kept an eye on it and then hauled-ass by.... we had a good laugh in the car about how much of an animal lover he is as he was just trying to chase it off, not trying to kill it. I was so proud of the kids, they stayed calm and did as they were told.
Mountain kids ... roar.

cheetos!

I'm allergic to strawberries......these have not one speck of real strawberries.
SCORE!

Calamari

Finally......pictures of a giant squid!!
Let's deep fry that baby and dip it in wasabi!

Tossed salad!

Veggies are good.

Peach Pie

Fresh peaches from our neighbors tree. I'm not very good at making pie crust so I cheated and used store bought, it was okay.... just okay. I think next time I'll at least make an attempt at making my own. Baking it in my springform pan made the pie nice and thick...it also gave me a great idea for deep-dish pizza....yum.

Leftovers

Leftovers from my husband's birthday party. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures the day of because I was so darn busy!
We had delicious slow cooker BBQ beef, corn-on-the-cob with fresh dill butter, black-eyed peas, grilled salmon and of course... CAKE! My husband boozed up a watermelon with Rum and blended us up a couple of batches of watermelon daiquiris that sure did hit the spot 'cuz it was blazing hot that day.
Sometimes the only thing better than having a party is chowing down on the leftovers the next day. I made these tacos from the BBQ beef and leftover pico de gallo and we even had leftover beer...yay for me. Oh and I'll be damned if I gonna do any more dishes....paper plates and plastic forks for all!