Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Newest Obsession: Ziplist

   Ok you can go ahead and add me to the growing list of people singing the praises of a little do-diddy called Ziplist. I first saw it mentioned by a reader over at {lifeingrace} then my friend Katie wrote about it on her blog Dishin and Dishes. (My link tool is not cooperating, so pretty please find these sites over on the right…)

   It. Is. So. Cool.

   Basically a website-slash-phone-app, Ziplist is equal parts menu planner, recipe box, and grocery list, all in one. So efficient! Even for a newly converted electronics girl like myself (I only used my brand new 2013 paper planner for like two weeks before recently going 100% online), Ziplist is a piece of cake. And it will probably even help you bake that cake! Sha-za-amm.

   Basically, you just start by collecting recipes from the internet using either your laptop or your phone (I started with my Pinterest boards). Just follow the website’s instructions, okay? I am no good at explaining these things. I promise you it’s easy, and it’s also free.

   Then the magical internet elves behind your smudgy screen translate the recipes you want to try into shopping lists, broken down by grocery store departments. So neat and tidy! You might want to spend a couple of minutes filtering through the lists based on how well stocked your kitchen is, and perhaps adding some items, but pretty much you can just head straight to the store at this point. PAPERLESSLY.

   As you shop, just tap item after item and it disappears. If you have time to buy it all at once, cool beans. If not, you can actually sort the master list by recipe! I love this, because maybe one day I just have time to drop by a store on the way home from somewhere and fill in the grocery blanks for just that night, versus the entire week. This doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. All I have to do is sort my list to that night’s cooking and run like a crazy woman through the store. And the remainder of the week’s shopping list stays in tact, hidden meekly somewhere in the ether of my technology.

   Oh this reminds me to say that collecting recipes is not necessarily the same as building a shopping list; you can designate either or both as you add recipes to your profile. So your recipe collection can grow leaps and bounds while your shopping list is nicely controlled. Easy! There are still more features on the site I haven’t explored yet. Go for it!!
 
   Since I started using Ziplist almost two weeks ago, I no longer have scraps of paper floating around my purse and denim jacket pockets, urging me to remember three and a half groceries every other day but NEVER on the day I am either wearing that jacket or carrying that purse. It is all on my iPhone, which goes with me everywhere. And I can walk from department to department knowing exactly what I need and then go home fully prepared to tackle new recipes.

   You guys, I had no idea that in one narrow little slice of January I would:
     a) surrender my paper planner to an online Google calendar and
     b) stop writing my menus and shopping lists on paper in favor of Ziplist.

   I feel so modern and grown up, it’s completely ridiculous. Next, I might even stop carrying a boombox around on my shoulder while running.

   You never know.

   You’re jot using Ziplist yet?? You’re on the verge of being pitied like a fool.

What’s for dinner at your house??
xoxoxoxo

 

 

Impromptu Stuffed Mushrooms

   Two special circumstances have intersected to bring about a new recipe at the Lazy W tonight:

  1. Handsome and I have been trying to eat a little less of the sweet, fluffy, carb-laden foods we so adore, because we might want to buy skinny jeans.
  2. Mushrooms were on sale at the grocery store yesterday. Firm, plump, unblemished, clean, earthy smelling mushrooms.
   I started dinner preparations super  late tonight. Hungry but also sleepy from a really fun and busy week, I tried to think of something to cook that would warm up my tired bones but also not undo all the healthy habits we’ve formed lately. Handsome had already declined a baked potato. So while three thick, boneless pork chops were rotating seductively in the counter top rotisserie oven, I chopped up a green salad and decided to see how hard it would be to make stuffed mushrooms. You know what? Not hard at all. The finished product is not only delicious but also as filling as a baked potato and way more satisfying because it doesn’t  give you that sugar-tummy feeling afterwards.
   Pretty much, this is all it entails:
  1. Remove the stems from a package of fresh mushrooms and chop em up.
  2. Dry roast the plain mushroom caps in your oven for a few minutes. They will go into the oven dry and emerge about ten minutes later with little oily puddles of moisture in the center of each. Like pools of collected tears. Or dew drops from the garden of good and evil. Or the sweat of unfulfilled longings. Or… mushroom water. Whatever.
  3. Saute in butter and olive oil those chopped up mushroom stems along with some minced garlic and whatever spices you want. I let it all cook until the butter browned and foamed and the earthy mushroom fragrance filled the downstairs of our house. More autumnal smelling than apples and cinnamon!
  4. Combine the cooked garlic-mushroom mix with some grated Parmesan cheese, Panko crumbs (or I suppose bread crumbs, Panko is just what I had), and more spices if you want. How much? Not really sure. I just poured things into my favorite pink bowl until it seemed like enough. And it was way too much.
  5. Spoon this crumbly, fragrant, slightly moist stuffing into each of the roasted mushroom caps, accepting emotionally that you do not understand the law of displacement since obviously the void left by the stems could not possibly be so great as the mass of said stems combined with several other bulky ingredients.
  6. Bake these stuffed mushroom caps and goof around for a while. Pretend like you’re writing a novel in thirty days. Eat some of the cherry tomatoes you had thrown lazily on the salads. Curse forever the bane of houseflies. Try to remember without aid of a search engine the name of the guy who is credited for the law of displacement.
  7. Decide that if you ever have a turtle you shall name him Archimedes.
   These stuffed mushrooms are pretty darn delish, you guys. Firm, flavorful, almost meaty in your mouth, and technically a vegetable, right? They come out of the oven unreasonably hot, though, so do contain your curiosity for a while in favor of an un-scorched tongue.



   I was way too sleepy tonight to stage the food for a nice photo, so above you see, instead of a garlic-mushroom-stuffed mushroom, a kitten-stuffed pumpkin with a side of happy little girl. It’s pretty much the same thing.
   Cheers, friends! And happy culinary experimenting to you!! See you soon for a return to Proverbs 31, some nephew stories, and much more!
Actually, Happy Little Girls are Way Better than Stuffed Mushrooms.
If You Have One, Hug Her!
xoxoxoxo

Pinspired in the Kitchen

   Hey you guys! (By the way, sometimes when I say that I do it long and drawn out and super loud, like on Electric Company. Remember that awesome show?) This summer I have collected more gorgeous, tempting, and inspiring ideas on Pinterest than is probably healthy for any one person. One day I was even (politely) kicked off of the site by the Pinterest Powers That Be for displaying signs of being a Spammer. I Pin you not. They actually thought I was Spam. I am not Spam. But I do love me some Pinterest.

   Anyway, it’s been a while since I posted Pinterest experiments here on this blog, so tonight I’m just gonna offer up half a dozen recipes drawn from that deep, glorious, digital well of brilliant ideas. The only photo I am using here is my own. And I have linked you to the original posts then included my notes for each.

   Ready? Okay! (Say that like a cheerleader.)

Cooking hot dogs in a slow cooker:
Crock Pot 365 blog
WAHOO, this works pretty great! They really did taste like the roller-cooker style hot dogs you might buy at a gas station.

Muffins that taste like donuts:
Stylish Cuisine blog

   Okay. These. Are. Delish. They are tender, soft, and yummy, and the buttery-sugary coating is just so good. Downside? This recipe is tiny. I mean, it doesn’t make very many individual servings. I made mine as miniature muffins, and they spilled over so far that the muffin tops ended up looking more like cookies. Not a disaster, unless presentation counts for you. I had made these to send to Handsome’s office food day, but they were rather ugly, so…we ate them all. We are martyrs in that way.
Suggestion: use muffin papers and double the recipe.

Zuchinni Tots
Curious Country Cook blog
Oh, yum. These were very, very good. I made them on the recommendation of our friend Steph. Even Handsome loved zuchinni tots, which is fantastic! Any new fresh-vegetable dish we both enjoy is a score. And these are fast to make, too, with few ingredients. Try this recipe!

English Muffin Bread
One Good Thing by Jillee blog
Another easy recipe with big returns on flavor and homemade goodness kitchen Karma. Do you love English muffins? This bread has that fab texture on both sides when you slice it. And as with most homemade bread, the lingering aroma pretty much doubles the work pleasure.
Suggestion: Make this in triplicate. I shared some with our neighbor as a thanks for inviting our horses to graze on his rye grass meadow, and he loved it too!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Tidy Mom blog 
I made this for Handsome on a night I was absent for book club or beekeeping or something. I thought it would be super satisfying for him, kind of a comforting, spicy, guy’s dinner for playing video games or whatever. I served it with a big bag of tortilla chips and wished him luck. It turned out okay, but he was not crazy about it.
Suggestion: Use less of something liquid, maybe the ranch dressing, or maybe add more chicken. I think it would be flat out delish and addictive with a little more substance. Or maybe my guy was just sad I was gone all night.

Butterfinger Chunk Cookies
Recipe Girl blog
These are so tasty, and obviously the aroma? Oh my… The whole farm smelled like Butterfingers and bread and general bakery goodness the afternoon I made these for a going-away-to-college dinner for our friend’s son. But they are not fool proof. I baked these exactly according to the recipe, but they were too crisp for my taste. As in, they stuck in my teeth. Not fun, but still tasty.
Suggestion: Under cook these bad boys more drastically than you have ever under cooked anything in your culinary life. 

So there you have a handful of recipes to try! Perhaps it seems like all we do is eat. Perhaps that is a fact.

What’s Cooking in Your Kitchen These Days?
xoxoxoxo

Chicken Caesar Po’ Boys and a Glitzy Grimy Cafe

   Okay you guys, last night our supper was another Nawlins-inspired recipe, something (sort of) healthy and high in protein so we could feel better about polishing off those Pecan Pralines. YUM. This meal was neither complicated nor terribly original, not really even Cajun, but for Handsome and me it will always evoke good memories of a special meal in our favorite city.

   The place where we grabbed this meal is called Angeli’s on Decatur. Like most spots in the Quarter, it is very, very old. It boasts exposed beams and peeling paint, happily chaotic gallery walls made up of mostly Mardi Gras images, and over-sized mirrors. Late each evening, one plainly painted wall in the dining room is the screen for playing old projected movies. How cool is that? But my favorite part is what hangs from the ceiling…

   Multiple disco balls and star shaped, glittered lanterns strung up in constellations all over the room deny the age and shabbiness of the cafe. This much careless, happy contrast pleases me deep in my belly, and I plan to copy it pronto, Tonto.
   Okay, here is the food… Handsome ate his in Po’ Boy form; I ate mine as a breadless salad; and soon we both pushed away our plates, stuffed. But not too stuffed for another Praline. Duh.
This is a recipe approximation… All you do is…
  • Season and grill some boneless-skinless chicken breasts then chop them into bite sized pieces…
  • Then in a large skillet, heat up some olive oil for re-warming the chicken I had grilled mine earlier in the day and cooled them, to avoid the heat of the evening…
  • Along with the chopped chicken, add to the skillet a third of a bottle of Caesar salad dressing and stir it all up, heat it through, etc. This worried me at first but it doesn’t burn at all. And it smelled delish, baby. The aroma drew Handsome in from the green room during an episode of Storage Wars. This is a big deal, you guys.
  • Split, butter, and toast a simple French bread loaf. Layer it with ribbons of cold romaine lettuce and then top with the hot, dressed chopped chicken. I added to my salad a handful of cherry tomatoes from our garden! No extra salad dressing needed, because the chicken was so moist and flavorful.
  • We also ended up adding Parmesan cheese to our respective plates, the super classy kind that comes in a green plastic can. Because we are very high falootin folks.
   That’s it! We loved this even more than the original and will end up adding it to the main menu rotation around here. I’m excited about having a satisfying, nourishing meal that has this kind of emotional value, you know?
   What are you cooking this week? What memories does it evoke?
“Memory is always faulty. Emotions are always true.” ~Anonymous
Gently Wrap and Preserve Your Best Emotions
xoxoxo  

New Orleans Style Pecan Pralines

   After any trip to an unusual place, but especially after every trip to New Orleans, I come home full of cravings and ideas and this insatiable desire to adapt those things to my own to my home. Or my home to that town, or whatever. The urge covers everything from recipes to decorating ideas and (of course) gardening. Once in a while I get lucky and discover some foreign treasure that both Handsome and I would like to enjoy again, as is the case with Pecan Pralines.

   Last week in New Orleans, while strolling somewhere between downtown and the French Quarter, we followed our noses past the raw sewage (an unfortunate fact of life in some parts) and into a heavenly cloud of butter and sugar and toasted pecans and other wonderful fragrances. We cruised a glass front case that had been stocked with every imaginable variation of praline possibly known to man. We watched someone making the pralines fresh. And then we sampled tiny little crumbs offered by a temptress in a cotton apron, both of us staidly acting as if we still might not actually buy anything.

L O L

   So anyway, ten minutes and eighteen dollars later we emerged from the store with a box full of various candies, sealed with a pretty little foil sticker. I may or may not have felt panicky over the long walk back to the hotel. Will they melt in the box? What if we get mugged? I feel faint, I think my blood sugar is low. We better stop and eat all of these right now, just in case of all that. I definitely said most of this out loud.


   I am fairly certain my husband took a deeper breath than he actually needed, and he purposefully did not make eye contact with me.


   We each ate one praline as we walked through the skinny, bricked streets lined with book stores and art galleries. None of the other pralines melted. We certainly did not get mugged. And my blood sugar has not been low once since that heavenly day. That is how powerfully sweet these things are.

   I was shocked and delighted that Handsome liked this delicacy enough to want more. So when we got home I suggested he look up some recipes, and within a few minutes we had agreed on the first one to try. You can find it by clicking on this link.  It is perfect. PERFECT. I do not need to try any more.

   

   If you own a candy thermometer; if you can gather six basic pantry supplies; and if you have half an hour to spend in the kitchen then another half an hour to let these firm up, then you too can have New Orleans style Pecan Pralines. I pinky promise you this. I am not really known for my candy making skills, but I must say that this was super easy. It was even easier than making cookies, and much faster. Go figure, since it hails from the Big Easy, right?

   The photo above was taken immediately after I spooned the hot mixture onto waxed paper. The pralines look extra dark, almost like chocolate no-bake cookies, but that changes.

   A couple of hours later they were sturdy, flat bottomed, and that believable golden pecan color that makes me miss my Grandma Stubbs.
   As I write this, the time is 2:46 p.m. I have already eaten two pralines since lunchtime, and my blood sugar levels would probably give a hummingbird the shakes. That weird but wonderful sensation is the only thing ensuring that my husband will have pralines to eat when he gets home from the Commish. It also means I will never be making this recipe while he is out of town, because basically I don’t trust myself.
   More Nawlins stories and inspiration to come, I just had to share this with you guys real quick.

Eat dessert first.
xoxoxo