Golden Friday

Have a wonderwoof weekend!

☺Samantha

Wordless Wednesday

♥June

Weekly Menu

Sunday - Hot dogs and hamburgers

Monday - Chicken Burritos (my version)

Tuesday - Pork Tenderloin wrapped with bacon

Wednesday - Spaghetti and Meatballs

Thursday - "Philly" Cheesesteaks

Friday - We have a wedding to attend this evening

Saturday - Maybe Fish Fry

Do you like Mexican food? I like Mexican food but hubby doesn't. He had a very bad experience eating mexican food once and he would never eat mexican food again(he also hates beans). So as a "compromise", I make my version of Chicken Burrito. It's very easy to make. You are welcome to try it if you have a "picky one" who wouldn't go to a mexican restaurant.
This recipe makes 4 burritos.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 medium green pepper(more if you like pepper), sliced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 box Zatarian rice pilaf or your favorite brand of boxed rice
• About 3 cups(or more, just "eye-ball" it; now I sound like Rachel Ray) shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 large tortilla wraps
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Taco seasoning, optional
• Olive oil/butter for cooking

Instructions:

• Cook the boxed rice according to the box instuctions. Set aside cooked rice.
• Heat(on med high) 1 tablespoon oil/butter in a saute pan. Saute onions and garlic for about 2-3 minutes.
• Add chicken pieces and season with salt & pepper and/or taco seasoning. Cook chicken until it's no longer pink.
• Add green pepper and cook until the pepper is slightly soft.
• Taste and re-season if needed.
• Preheat oven to 350F.
• To assemble: Place a tortilla wrap on a cutting board or on your counter or on a plate(If you buy the refrigerated tortilla wraps, heat the wrap in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it a little so it's workable). Divide the chicken mixture as well as the rice into 4 portions. Place 1 portion each of the rice and chicken mixture in the middle of the tortilla, top with a handfull of shredded cheese. Wrap the tortilla wrap(this sounded funny) and place it in a baking dish. Continue wrapping the remaining wraps. **
• Sprinkle more shredded cheddar cheese on top of the wraps and bake in the oven for about 15min or until the cheese is melted. You can then broil it(quickly) to brown the melted cheese. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

** This recipe makes 4 big burritos. You can make 6 smaller sized burritos with lesser fillings in each.

Food, Inc.

Do you know where your food comes from?


If you love Foie gras, ever wonder how it's produced?


Ever wonder what's in your hamburgers?


Have you watch FOOD, Inc. before?

If you haven't, please consider watching it. It will be an eye opener! If you have PBS, please check your local airing dates and times. If you do not have PBS, you can check out the link below:


Official Food, Inc. Movie Site - Hungry For Change? - About the Issues


I'm not saying that don't eat meat anymore and become a vegatarian. I for one will never "survive" being a vegatarian, I just love to eat meat. But think about it next time when you pick up at package of chicken or steak or ground meat at the supermarket.

After watching Food, Inc., it gives me more reasons to eat local and buy local.

Golden Friday

Just some random pictures of us, taken from different days.

Samantha: Can you please let me in?

June: I'm just chillin' and sun-bathing

Samantha: I'm still waiting...

Samantha: Soaking up the sun

Samantha: Ahhh.....

June: Noticed Samantha and her Kong? She is always carrying that around. She even sleeps with the Kong in her mouth!

Toppings

While I was eating my hamburger on Monday(posted the menu here), I can't help but wondered what others put on their hamburgers. So therefore I'm going to ask you:

What do you normally put on your hamburgers(toppings)?

For me it really depends on the hamburgers. Ok here goes:

1) For store-bought hamburger patties, it would normally be hamburger buns(those store-bought, 8-pk kind) and top with raw onions, white american cheese or swiss cheese and mustard. If I have meat sauce, then I would top it with meat sauce too. Hubby would add ketcup with the above toppings.

2) For homemade big fat(thick) burgers, now that requires better toppings. First the buns, it would have to be kaiser rolls or hard rolls. Toppings would be lettuce, tomato(only when in season, I very rarely buy tomatoes in the winter time), onions(sometimes raw sometimes fried onion strips), swiss cheese(sometimes crumble bluecheese and swiss cheese), sometimes bacon, sometimes jalapenos. No mustard or ketchup or mayo. Hubby would add steak sauce with the above and no jalapenos.

3) Doggies' turn: we eat our hamburgers raw, mixed in with dry dog food. Nom nom nom....

Weekly Menu

I started posting my weekly menu here last Monday. I am going to try to make this a weekly Monday post, as a way to:

• Keep track of the different dishes I made
• Share recipes with my blog friends
• Provide dinner ideas for my blog friends

I will try to post at least one recipe of what I will be cooking each week. If I'm trying a new recipe, I will note that it's a new recipe and then the following week, I will follow up on the "result/outcome" of the new recipe. If there is a dish that you are interested in making but I didn't post a recipe, please let me know and I will try to give you the link(if it's a recipe I tried) or write a recipe(if it's something I made up). How's that sound?

Sunday - Smoked Sirloin Roast & Grilled potatoes

Monday - Hamburgers. As I was typing this post, I have a sudden craving for big juicy hamburger, so hamburger it is.

Tuesday - Parmesan-Crusted Chicken with wild rice

Wednesday - Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo

Thursday - Crispy Pan-Fried Pork Chops with Nutty Cheese Tortellini(recipe below)

Friday - Chicken Parm Pizza (was on last week's menu but didn't make it)

Saturday - Maybe smoked ribs

Nutty Cheese Tortellini (new)

Ingredients:

• 1 pakage (9oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Cook tortellini according to package directions; drain.
• In the same pan, melt butter. Stir in tortellini, parsley and walnuts. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and season with salt & pepper. Serve.

Hopkins Inn Rosti Potatoes (made this last week for the first time)

Ingredients:

• 4 large red potatoes
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup diced bacon slices
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Wash and boil the red potatoes until tender but not soft; cool in refrigerator. Peel off skins and shred potatoes using a large grater.
• Saute the onions and bacon until golden brown. Drain off bacon fat.
• Mix the onions and bacon with the shredded potatoes and season to taste.
• Spread this mixture in a non-stick frying pan and saute at moderately high heat in melted buttter. Do not stir or mix the rosti. The rosti should be turned over when you can see the steam rising through the mixture. If you cannot flip the potatoes, cover the pan with a plate, turn the potatoes onto the plate and slide them, suteed side up, back into the pan. The potatoes should be throughly cooked when the steam can be seen again. Both sides should have a nice, golden brown color.

My Notes:

1. I guess I don't really understand the "cook potatoes until tender" part. I cooked the potatoes to what I thought was tender(inside still slightly crunchy/uncooked) but outside is slightly soft. So when I shredded the potatoes, it all seemed to be a big mush(like mashed potatoes). I'm pretty sure I cooked it too long.
2. The overall taste is pretty good with the bacon and onions. I just didn't like the texture, it's kinda like mashed potato pancakes. Hubby didn't like it either, he said the potatoes tasted "waterlogged". Maybe next time I will try it with uncooked potatoes.
3. If you do give this a try, will you please come back and let me know what you think of it?

Golden Friday

Please bigify the pictures

How much is that doggie in the window? (Woof! Woof!)

The one with the waggley tail.

How much is that doggie in the window? (Woof! Woof!)

I do hope that doggie's for sale.

No, we are not for sale. That's what we do everyday around 5PM - Mom's home!!!

How To Grow Sweet Potatoes

I first posted about my sweet potato "experiment" here. Here is how it looks like now!

Do you know that sweet potatoes are not grown from tuber(the potato itself)? Unlike a potato, which you grow from the "eyes" of a potato tuber, sweet potatoes are grown from slips. Slips are those green vines that grow right out of the sweet potato. My next step(which I think I am a little late in doing) is to cut those slips at the base of the mother sweet potato and transplant them. Sweet potatoes need warm climates, so for me, I would have to tranplant the slips into different pots(to get a jump start) for now until there is no danger of frost, then they can be planted outside. If you live in the southern states of the US, you can cut the slips from the mother sweet potato and transplant them outside when the soil is at least 70 degrees. For detail "How tos", please go here.

Do you also know that sweet potato plant is actually a vine?

Weekly Menu

I have seen my friend from The Long Haul post about Menu Plan Monday week after week. Personally I think it's a great idea! Do I do it too? Not quite. But that is going to change. I have in the past just think ahead(kinda) of what I would like to make and it actually made things easier. It made buying grocery easier; it's easier on our wallets as we are not ordering out at the last minute because I don't know what to make for dinner; it is healthier too(that is if i choose to cook healtheir) because we are not eating a lot of greasy-processed-fast food or take outs.

I have heard people said that "How does she(my friend) find time to make all those delicious food, she works full-time?" Simple, she planned ahead, so she knows when to make what.
So if you have not already have a weekly menu plan, perhaps now is the time to start planning. I know I will try to do a weekly menu plan and will stick with it as much as I can.

I am not sure how well I'll be following this week's menu because hubby is severely in pain. He's got lower back problems and it seems like this time it's getting worst. He is trying to go to a new neurologist, hopefully sometime this week. He's on strong pain meds right now, so if he is up to eating, then I will cook. So here's my menu plan for this week:

Sunday - Fresh pasta with Ricotta and Walnut sauce (Didn't make it, we had leftover mac & cheese in stead)

Monday - Bison steaks and Rosti Potatoes (I will post the Rosti Potatoes recipe later this week)

Tuesday - Spaghetti with turkey meatballs

Wednesday - Southwestern Pork Tenderloin sandwich

Thursday - Chef Salad

Friday - Chicken with Cashew and rice. Or maybe Chinese take out.

Saturday - Chicken Parm Pizza

Golden Friday

Beef short ribs fur the puppers.

A little note about cooked t-bone steak bones that mom asked about here: She gave us their "leftover" t-bone bones which she will never do again! We had the dreaded "D-word" fur 2 days!
But we were fine with these raw short ribs. So, from now on it would only be raw bones.

June: Please excuse my eyes do-dos, mom did not clean them fur me

Happy Tail-Wagging Day

Yesterday we went to Khyra's Khorner and read this post about Buddy. You see, Khyra's mom is a transporter for rescue doggies. She, along with other transporters, provide their time and doggie mobiles to help getting those not-previously-loved doggies to their new furever homes.

Buddy was on last weekend's transport to go to his new furever home. He was surrendered by his previous owner from the Wilson NC area - because 'owner said his tail hit things in the house and his wife did not like that'!!! Can you believe that? Stooopid people!

Here's Buddy in the back of Khyra's mobile:

Here's Buddy's nice fluffy tail. Mom said this picture looks just like June!

So, for that stooopid "tail" reason(Buddy being dumped because of his nice fluffy tail), we declared today: "Tail-wagging Day"!

June: Me, wagging my tail and wooing

June: My fluffy tail

Samantha: My not-as-fluffy-as-June tail

Here's us wagging our tails in the snow back in February

Grow and Meme

We were tagged by our friend Sammie to do this meme. We have done something similar before. The rules are: Open the first photo file folder. Go to the 10th photo. Post and tell the story about that photo. Then tag 5 other bloggers to do this meme.

Ok, we went to our first photo file folder for 2010(because the ones from previous years, you have already seen) and the 10th(we had to include 11th & 12th also) photo is this(below):

Want to take a guess who done it? If you guessed Samantha, you got it right! Samantha, the toy-hog & toy-destroyer, got a purple Wubba for Christmas and she destroyed it in February.

It is Spring and it is planting season. Yay! About 2 weeks ago I went to Lowes and got an inexpensive plastic shelf and some grow lights and made myself a grow-rack.

So far I have got almost everything started except for the cucumbers, zucchinis, pumpkins and winter squash. I'll be starting those in another week or so. Here are what I have started:

• Peppers (Jalapenos, Sweet Banana, Italian Pepperoncini)
• Tomatoes (Cherokee Purple, BetterBoy, Beefmaster, Yellow Pear, Black Cherry, Costoluto Genovese*)
• Herbs (Sweet Basil, Cinnamon Basil, Parsley, Fennel)
• Onions (Red Marble Cipollini, Copra)
• Flowers (Marigold, Carousel Mix Zinnias*, Lilliput Mix Zinnias)
• Asian Greens (Baby Bok Choy, Pai Tsai, Kyona, Napa Cabbage) - These were transplanted outside yesterday
• Cabbage (Couer De Boeuf Des Vertus - a French bull-heart type) - Transplanted outside yesterday

*Got these from Lena from Sleeping Dog Bakery

I've also planted outside the following:

• Snap Peas (Sugar Sprint)
• Lettuce (Mesclun Mix, Grand Rapids, Amish Deer Tongue*)
• Radishes (Sparkler, Watermelon)
• Carrots (Red Cored Chantenay, Purple Haze)

Sweet Potato Plant

Back in late January or early February I put this sweet potato in water hoping to grow it. My plan was to start it indoor and if it grows, I will try to plant some sweet potatoes this year. I'm not sure if sweet potatoes will grow here in upstate NY but I sure can try. If it grows, hoo-ray! If not, then "oh well, I tried".


About 3 weeks went by and I started to noticed roots coming out of the bottom of the sweet potato. I got a little excited to see that!

Then while we were away, it really took off growing! This is how it looks like now!

Golden Friday

Furst thing first: Our furfriends Miley and Sugar so kindly awarded us with the above Sunshine Award! Thank Woo! We are very honored!
The rules for the Sunshine Award is to post the award(which we proudly did) and send the award to 12 bloggers. Then leave a comment with the 12 lucky bloggers and post the intructions in this post so they will know what to do.
As always, it's hard to pick only 12 but we will(kinda sorta) follow the rules this time. We have a few new blog friends lately so we are going to give them this sunshine award:

Meeka
Major
Fern & Bambi
Wrigley
Ciara

Now on to some nommies. Mom got us these yummers nylabones from Dr. Foster & Smith.

June: Psst, Samantha, you distract mom and I will steal these fur us.

Samantha: I can smell it...is she going to give them to us?

June: FYI, I was not growling at mom. I was chewing the bone.
It's just the way this photo came out.

Have a wonderwoof weekend and Happy Easter!