Women's Day Review

Well, I took all the time I could on it, and I must say as far as from what it advertised, I was not impressed. While they had some great articles including one on how to make your own jam (an easy version!) and yes it was cheep, just wasn't for me. I would for sure say to go try it for yourself, but I wouldn't say go run out and grab a subscription.

Woman's Day

I was wondering around Wal-mart today after taking some change into the bank, bought myself some cat food, well it's really for the cats, but you get the point. As I was checking out I noticed a magazine, now I'm not one for blowing $5 for this type of thing. However, this one was only $1.99, and it said something about trimming my grocery bill, and exclusive coupons, so I figured why not, there has to be at least one recipe in here that I will have to try. So now here I sit rattling on about it, when I could be reading. So I guess tomorrow I will let you know if it was worth it or not. Happy Cooking!

~Skadia, the rambling panther

Basic Rolls

     Sundays are generally known as a family day. No matter what religion or what place of the world you live in, there is always a wonderful feeling of getting together with loved ones for a relaxing day. Even a general family dinner can be nice. Want to make it extra special without spending a lot of money? Simple fix is home made bread. Now yes, it's a drawn out process, yes there are other frozen or pre-made breads on the store shelves. But they are by far not the same at all. If you have ever had home made bread, I'm sure your mind is traveling to that wonderful smell that fills the house as the yeast rises, and the mad fight for that first wonderful piece, maybe even like in my house even the fact that there will be no leftovers for tomorrow breakfast.

     I'm going to share with you a recipe that I tried out yesterday, I personally made a few tweeks, but either way it's a super simple recipe and it doesn't take all day! Sense I am not happy with my version yet, I will just give you what the book's version for now.

What you'll need:
1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110-115 F)
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided
1 cup warm milk (110-115 F) anything much warmer than that will kill your yeast.
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten

Instructions:

     In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 teaspoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Beat in the milk, shortening, salt, egg and remaining sugar. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough.

     Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm (I like adding humidity to this personally) place until doubled, about 1 hour.

     Punch the dough down. Divide into 18 portions; shape into balls. Place in greased muffin cups. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

     Brush tops with melted butter and top with poppy seeds if desired. Bake at 375 for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown.



Source:Taste of Home winning recipes V1 

I do hope you enjoy a little bit of baked love.

~Skadia, the baking panther.

The Wonders of Water

Water, it's so simple but yet so good for you. The human body itself is made up of 80% water, so think how important it is to your body. Without water organs can shut down and you can even 'fry' your brain due to dehydration. Well we can't let that happen, so keep on reading for tips on how to stay hydrated this summer.

You want your daily goal to be 12-8oz glasses of water every day. Thats a total of  96 ounces of water.

Now what else can water do for you, check this out.
It can naturally suppress appetite
Prevents water retention and bloating
Helps muscle tissue work better
Helps rid the body of toxins

Ok now I am hoping now you are starting to wonder how you can get more water in. Oh did I also mention adding water to your diet can actually help you lose weight? Right, lets get going.

• Drink 1 glass every hour while you are at work. 
• When you crave anything drink a glass.
• Use a straw, you will take larger sips.
• Water down your fruit juice with some water.
• If you go to the bathroom, replenish by drinking another glass.
• Drink 2 glasses between each soda you drink.
• Drink 2 glasses with each meal.

What else can I drink? Who wants to always drink water all the time. Sometimes you have to switch things up. You can keep drinking your morning coffee, or even an iced tea. Herbal tea is a great choice as well, and normally are light enough so that you don't need sugar. Club soda and Sparkling water are always good choices as well.

So now, go enjoy your summer and stay healthy and hydrated!

~Skadia, the hydrated panther.

Restaurant Review - Red Lobster

Well I am happily back from our min-vacation. I was extremely excited that I was able to take my partner out for her birthday. We are not often able to get out but when we do, oh we love our choices. She adores seafood and I swear I could eat my weight in crab legs. So we generally try to make it out for seafood once in a while. Our normal locations are Chinese or Italian, nothing to spicy. I decided instead of fighting for a topic for today I figured I'd review Red Lobster and see what you all think of it (my review!). Without further ado let me introduce you to my experience at Red Lobster.

What is Red Lobster? Well you might be asking this right now, so how about a little background. It's a high class seafood joint. They stretch across the United States and possibly elsewhere but location is not my cup of tea. (That's for sure peppermint.) The one I want to talk about is the one that is Pueblo Colorado. It was right off the highway and super simple to find with a lot of good parking. It was the first time I didn't have to cross a busy road to get into one. haha. It was a Wednesday at 6 pm and I figured it would be pack, however I was happily surprised with no wait time. While there is no real dress code, it was for sure an upper class type of place. Similar to Olive Garden if you are familiar with that.

The atmosphere was wonderful. All of the staff was very friendly. Fish and sea fair items adorned the walls and it had a wonderful feel too it. A soft almost natural light created a perfect dining atmosphere. It's not really a kid friendly place, but they were very happy to accommodate them with child's place mats and crayons. It was also a very quite environment for how many people were there.

Now that I have you interested in maybe heading over there, let me give you all the juicy details about the menu. They recently got new ones in and it included a wonderful fresh fish menu, consisting of all the fresh catches that were brought in that day. It also held their current promotion, and my personal favorite, Crabfest. There appetizers were all pretty well seafood friendly things like crab dip, and lobster pizza, but they also had simple things like general mozzarella sticks. Their dessert selection was slightly lacking, but luckily not fish related. Simple things like cheese cake and apple crisp were there just in case. Now while most of the menu is seafood don't worry there are also some wonderful chicken dishes. Not a lot of variety there but at least they are on it. I personally enjoyed the wonders of crabfest while my partner enjoy what's called seaside trio. It was a dish containing lobster, crab, and shrimp. As far as any other specialty diet need like vegan or what not, I would ask the location about it prior, it didn't seem to accommodate things like that. It was also interesting to learn all the shrimp is fried together. So be careful if you have any allergies especially to coconut. All of our meals however did come with salad and choice of side.

The meal we ate was generally simple, no crazy special orders. We try not to make a servers life difficult. All of the food was good save for the asparagus. My Aunt (who was with us) ordered it. It's only available during it's peek season and they still charge extra for it. Now I don't mind paying for something like that, however when it comes to me cooked wrong, I get a little annoyed. It was very woody and fibrous. When we brought up the problem staff was happy to fix it and refunded me the money.

On the note of staff fixing problems, lets talk about them. They are a major part of the restaurant so lets give them their spot light. All of them from hostess to manager was extremely pleasant. All of them had a smile on their face. The manager walked around a few times checking on tables and was very involved with his business. The waitress was happy to fix any problems and kept our drinks full. (To me that's very important.) The food was out quick and was still hot when we got it. All wonderful.

Now for the real thing on everyone's mind. Well how much is this going to cost? I wish I could say it was cheep, but sadly it is for sure an upper class restaurant. Great for a special occasion or just a once in a while treat. If I had a great paying job, well then I would personally make a habit of it considering in Colorado good seafood is not easy to find. The average plate runs about $20, with drinks being about $3. So estimate about $25-$30 per person in the group. For our table of three the bill was over $80. We each got an entree, drink, and a salad. My aunt also got a bowl of soup. That's it, no booz, no appetizers, nothing crazy.

My overall opinion for this visit was wonderful, the kind staff and good food offset the price. Also, it was for a birthday, so the price isn't the important part. We all had a great time and went home full. They also gave us some of their amazing garlic cheese biscuits to take home.

Rating:

Staff: 5/5 They were willing to help work us through a menu that was unfamiliar to us.
Food and Presentation: 4/5
Ambiance and Decor: 5/5
Quality of Service: 5/5
Favorite menu item: Seaside trio
Kid Friendly: No (this is not a place to bring a group of little ones for a birthday party)
Vegetarian Friendly: No
Overall Rating: 5/5

While we did have a problem with one food item they were happy to fix it. So thank you Red Lobster.

Cheesy Rice-getti

So we all know how road trips go. They are a ton of fun with (normally) awesome people, and that wonderful fast food you live off of. Well ok, that last part isn't so great later, but at the time, it was so there. Now that you are out of a moving car, you're not just hungry, but tired as well. Who want's to cook at that time?! (Other that this crazy panther.) Well here is something quick for a great pick me up, or even just a quick after work fix. This recipe makes a lot of food, so you may not need it all, but feel free to break it in half and go from there. Also it's cheap, to feed 6 people with this it only cost me about $14. Even better, it's a complete meal.

Gather these first:
1 small (8oz) block Velveeta cheese
1 small white onion
2 packs (2 sausages each) smoked sausage (or similar)
1 can diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil (or your own favorite)
2 Tablespoons black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 Tablespoon white sugar (or brown sugar if you have it)
Hot cooked rice (or even shaped pasta)

Start cooking:
Start your onions cooking in a large frying pay with a little oil on medium heat. Cook those down for about 5-10 minutes. Then add your can of diced tomatoes. (Don't drain them.) Turn the heat up to medium high and cook another 10 minutes. While that is cooking cut up your sausages. I personally cut them into slices then into quarters, but it's however you want them. Once those are cut dump them into your onions and tomatoes and turn the heat back down to medium. Add in all your seasoning. Dice up the cheese while that cooks. Add your cheese and drop the heat to low. Mix until all the cheese is melted. Serve on top of rice.

Enjoy!
~Skadia the traveling panther

(I will actually be on a trip for the next two days with no access to internet. So I shall see you all when I return!)

15 Cooking Tips for the Weekend

First of all I am happy to announce that I am going to get this little project on a schedule so you all know what is coming out and when. It will take a week or so, but you're smart, you will see the pattern. I will also be adding more pictures, so look forward to that.

For this weekend I'm going to leave you with 15 of my favorite cooking tips. Little things that are golden little tidbits for a life in the kitchen, enjoy!

1. Make yourself some mint ice cubes. Just add lose mint to the ice cube tray for a great addition to your iced tea, lemonade, or even a great way to cool down your hot coco.
2. Savory Starters- When you have a free day, get some butter, soften it (don't melt!), and add in herbs and spices that you use greatly. Then roll it up in wax paper and freeze. Use this as a simple way to flavor dishes right from the start!
3. Wanton Wrappers- Keep a pack around, they are great for stuffing just about anything in and cook up quickly in many different ways. They are also super simple to work with.
4. Lemon juice is great to keep that sliced up apple from browning. It also works for potatoes, and bananas as well.  
5. To have a nicely level top on your cake, bake it a little longer, but drop the temperature about 25 degrees. You will love the difference.
6. Also a great way to save money! Buy your bread when it's on sale and store it in that extra freezer that's sitting in the garage. Bread will last up to 2 months in the freezer and it will save you a few extra bucks.
7. 3 teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon. Also make sure you are not using actual tableware, the measurements are not exactly the same.
8. Don't have cake flour? No problem, just substitute all purpose flour, for once cup cake, use 1 cup minus 2 Tablespoons of normal all purpose flour.
9. 1 lemon = 1/4 cup juice.     1 orange = 1/3 cup of juice.
10. Soup to thin? Easy fix, just add some instant potatoes to your soup of stew to thicken it right up.
11. Freeze your meat if you want to cut it in thin slices, it makes it much easier. 
12. Always use shortening to grease pans. Butter will brown and burn your food. Lard will work great as well.
13. Fill an empty sale shaker with flour for quick and easy dusting, for work surfaces.
14. To prevent cheesecake from cracking, place a pan of water under it in the oven.
15. Always add your salt to water once it's boiling.

I hope you find at least one of these tips helpful over the weekend. Now off I go to test new recipes!

~Skadia, the always cooking panther.

Almost Perfect Pancakes

There is nothing better than waking up to that first cool day after a long summer heat wave. Temps drop from the 90's and 100's down to a low 70 and the air is crisp. Not quite fall yet but a good relief from that dreaded heat. Finally it's cool enough to start cooking again. What's better than pancakes? They are perfect carriers of butter and syrup, or maybe even some fruit compote. You can even fill them with flavor by adding seasonal nuts or even jam. You just can't go wrong with them.

Yesterday was a crazy day, go to work, come home only to have to go back to work later that night. I needed something simple and filling that could feed an army and placate a two year old. (Don't get me wrong I love when family visits, but there is only so much picky, spoiled two year old I can take.) Breakfast is always my go to on days like this. Where the air is cool and it reminds me fall is almost here (most bakers favorite time ever!) and with everything going on what could be easier.

Most of you right now might be reaching for that box of pancake mix, ready to get flipping some flap jacks. Just wait a minute, from a box? Really? Why? Oh right because it's easy. Well let me tell you how easy it is to make that mix yourself. Trust me, it's not only super simple, and I bet you have everything you need on hand, but it has so much more flavor. (Yes pancakes do have their own flavor.)

Basic Pancakes:
 
2 Cups of all purpose flour
4 Tablespoons normal white sugar (you can change this for your own liking, but don't remove it, trust me it needs that little sweetness, and honestly, it's not as much as you think.)
1 Teaspoon salt, table or kosher, or even sea salt is fine, for this I personally prefer the plain old table
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 Cups Milk
4 Tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra for frying

Directions:
Simply mix all dry ingredients together, then add in the wet and mix thoroughly. When you feel that your batter is mixed let it sit for 5 minuets then stir again. You want this batter to look more like actual cake batter than how that box stuff turns to almost a liquid. If it's a little too stiff, feel free to add more milk, one table spoon at a time. This batter also should be fairly smooth by the time you are done with it. Lumpy batter always confused me, who wants to bite into a clump of flour?!

In your frying pan heat up about 1/4 an inch of oil. Yes we are almost going to deep fry these, but trust me, the texture is amazing. Nice crisp outside, but so fluffy inside. Now that your oil is nice and hot (I would say just under medium heat, roughly a 3 or 4 for an electric stove.) If your oil starts smoking, stop right there, turn it off and let it cool before you go any further. That means the oil is too hot. So now your pancake is cooking, wait for it to start bubbling and the edges will start to look slightly dry, that is when you flip it. Be careful so that you don't splash that oil back at yourself. Cook a few more moments then it's done. Repeat with remaining batter and eat them however you want!

While these pancakes are not perfect, it will make any morning perfect. Weather if it's just with a cup of coffee or the whole family. They are so simple to make from scratch, really. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

How to get the Best Deals on Produce!

I just want to toss around a few simple ways to get more healthy veggies for your buck.

The simplest way, is to find out what is in season. Different fruits 'bloom' at different times, making them much easier to get, hence the lower price.

Watch to see if an item is priced per item or by the pound. You might think it will cost only .99 cents but at the register it may ring up for $3!

Now going a little off of what was just said about price per pound. Always keep in mind how many you are feeding. Fresh fruit and veggies go bad much quicker than canned. So if you are the only one eating carrots for the next week, don't get the 20# bag, unless of course you will eat all those.

Another simple thing to help you save money is learn how to can. It's not very hard at all, but can save you a lot of money. You can either 1. just grow your own food, and save it, or take notice when you're most used produce items go on sale, stock up and can them. Then on their off season you will still be enjoying them at sale prices.

~Skadia, the fruit loving panther.