Monday, March 21, 2011

Sautéed Asparagus & Mushrooms

For the first time, we have our own fresh asparagus growing in the garden! We dug asparagus crowns from another local vegetable grower last year and planted them at our house.

One way I really like to cook asparagus is to simply sauté in a little butter.

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You’ll need asparagus, mushrooms, parsley, and butter. You can play around with the ingredients and add whatever you’d like.

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Slice the mushrooms.

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To prepare your asparagus, first you’ll need to cut the fibrous end off.

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The white end and the purplish stem at the bottom are both too tough to eat.

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Cut right above the purple area. The knife should slice relatively easily through the stem. Try cutting through the more fibrous part and you’ll feel the difference.

Some people like the snap the ends off. Either way is fine, just get rid of the tough stuff!

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Slice the spears into 1” to 1.5” sections.

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In a frying pan, melt a little butter. I used less than two tablespoons.

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Throw in your vegetables and sauté on medium, medium-high heat. The heat depends on your stove!

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The vegetables will not take very long to cook.

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You want this nice brown color on the mushrooms and asparagus spears. That’s the flavor!

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When the vegetables are almost ready to come off of the heat, add your herbs and seasoning. All I added was dried parsley from my garden. For us, this dish didn’t even need salt or pepper, but add it if you’d like!

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Serve the asparagus and mushrooms next to a baked potato and a big steak! Just a suggestion, this side is really good with anything!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Around the Garden

Here are a few pictures from around The Estate.

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Elizabeth, pre hair cut, helping Momma plant green beans.

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Peach tree blooms.

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Paperwhite booms.

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Elizabeth, post hair cut, helping Momma plant green beans…again!

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Her sweet little hands holding bean seed!

Our gardens are planted and the little plants are growing! Do you have plans for a garden this year?

Monday, March 7, 2011

DIVA 5K Run

Saturday, we had our 5K run and the results were posted today!

  • There were 702 women running (it was a women-only race)
  • My time was 32:56 (minutes!)
  • I came in 139th out of 702
  • I came in 33rd out of 120 in my age group (25-29)
  • I was 11:53 minutes behind the leader

It was super windy, but I still had a decent run time. I had a great time with the girls! Hope we can do it again!

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Before the race: Leslie (Lisa’s friend), Karen, Me, Lisa

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After the race. We went out to eat at Cheddar’s and then took a picture outside. We were all handed a tiara, a feather boa and a rose as we entered the stadium.

I had a great time and am looking forward to our next one!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

This chicken pot pie recipe was given to me at one of my wedding showers. I never made it until this year and I didn’t know what I was missing! For me, this is about as close to a one-dish-wonder of a meal as you can get!

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You’ll need a can of Veg-all (original); Cream of Potato Soup; Cream of Chicken Soup; Pepper; Milk; an egg; about 2 cups of cooked chicken; and 2 pie crusts. I usually make my own pie crusts, but this night, I was in a hurry and had picked up the refrigerated kind. Either one will work!

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Put the Veg-all in a bowl. This stuff is great! It has carrots, peas, corn, celery, potatoes, and probably a couple of other things in it…You know you’re getting vegetables!!

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Add a can of cream of potato soup.

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And a can of cream of chicken soup. Cream of mushroom would work here, too, but I prefer the chicken.

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Add 1/2 cup of milk…

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A teaspoon of pepper…

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The 2 cups of cooked chicken…

A note about the chicken: You can use whatever kind you like. I’ve roasted a whole chicken in the oven and saved the breasts for this and I’ve used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and seasoned them with Tony’s and roasted those in the oven. You could also boil your chicken or, if you’re really in a hurry, use canned chicken. I will say that roasted chicken, either whole or breasts, seasoned add a ton of flavor to this meal.

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And stir to combine!

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Unroll one of the crusts and place into the bottom of a 9” pie plate.

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Add the chicken/Veg-All mixture.

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And seal with the other crust.

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Cut slits for vents and brush with a beaten egg. (This step is optional.)

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Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbly.

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Serve and enjoy! This is a hearty meal that you won’t mind eating the left-overs!

If there are any, that is…

Here’s the recipe:

  • 1 can (10 3/4 oz) Cream of Potato Soup
  • 1 can (10 3/4 oz) Cream of Chicken Soup
  • 1 can (16 oz) Veg-all, drained
  • 2 cups cooked, diced chicken
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 2-9” pie crusts, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw)
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten (Optional)

Combine the cream of potato soup, cream of chicken soup, Veg-all, chicken, milk & pepper. Spoon into prepared pie crusts. Cover with the top crust, crimp edges to seal. Slit top and brush with egg, if desired.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Wine Making

We’ve attempted to make wine nearly every year and so far, we haven’t had much luck with the finished  product. Well, we’ve decided to try grapefruit wine again and here are a few pictures from what we’ve done so far.

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Elizabeth, helping chop the raisins in the food processor. She likes to “Pushy Button!!”

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I did convince her to stop slaving away for a second and give me a big smile!

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Travis, measuring and stirring.

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I also got him to look at the camera…

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A few days later, it was time to siphon the wine must out of the buckets and into the jar. Elizabeth was helping Daddy so I could snap a few pictures of my wine snobs!

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Hmm…without her, I might actually have had to help! Maybe since she’s so “sweet” the wine will be good this year!