Grillin' & Chillin'

Last night was SO nice outside that I had some (unnatural of late) extra energy and decided to cook dinner on the grill & eat outside. It was GREAT! Hanging out with Todd, eating a good dinner, drinking some wine, spending time in our backyard, and kicking it with the pups made for an awesome night.

Kitchen's Closed!

Monday night, while my meatloaf was baking, Todd called to me asking for help with the oven. I knew that dinner wasn't burning! Instead, the oven itself burned. The heating element just melted!

Now, I know you're wondering why the kitchen closed just because the oven died. The microwave and oven are a single circuit unit, so we lost use of both. And if you're wondering about my meatloaf, I carefully finished baking it in the toaster oven and it was good. :)

Well, my kitchen actually reopened by noon today thanks to a very prompt repairman. Now that the kitchen has reopened, I guess I'll get some cooking done.

Kristin Cooks

That subject line makes it sound like me cooking is a rare thing. I can honestly say that I cook plenty. Anyway . . .

One of Todd's favorite dishes is Pad Thai. I make it every now & then, and I know he wishes I made it more often. It's really tasty, fresh, good for you - plus it looks good. I've always been into presentation & color of dishes. Apparently when I was very young I made a dinner salad for my parents. It included red hot candies to give it some color.

Tonight's Pad Thai did not include red hots. :)

What's Cooking?

We both had a difficult week of work. It's a VERY stressful time at my school as well as Todd's. Today I thought I'd make us some comfort foods. Although it looks like I was in the kitchen for a while, I wasn't. That was my favorite part!

For breakfast - Sausage Balls
I made a variation of the recipe on the Bisquick website. The recipe called for 1" balls, but I'm obviously a bit measurement challenged. They were so good though! (ps - There were twice as many earlier today!)

For lunch tomorrow: Grandma's Chicken Salad

My Grandma Tolle hooked me with her chicken salad. Of course, she doesn't have a true recipe. "It's just chicken, onion, celery, mayonnaise, and salt & pepper" is what she always said every time I asked how she made it, so I quit asking. Thanks to much practice and my food processor, I have it down and Todd LOVES it. He adds curry to his while I eat mine as is. I've thought of adding nuts or apples or grapes to it, but why mess with perfection? Cindy - if you read this, you can come over and have some. Only one sandwich though!

For dinner - Chicken Pot Pie

This is a variation of a pie a friend made for me once. It's so easy and so good. It's just two pie crusts, boiled & diced chicken, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup & Veg-All. When I asked Todd if Chicken Pot Pie sounded good for dinner, he responded, "Yes. My throat hasn't been feeling good this week and I think chicken would help." :) He wasn't sure as to why I was laughing. My mom's husband, Rick, swears it's the best he's ever had.

Next: Work on my food presentation skillz. I'm obviously not a professional chef or food photographer, but we don't starve around here!