Zzzzzzz....

Hello everyone, sorry it has been several days since I posted something. It has been a crazy past new days, I had physical therapy 3 days in a row, kicked my bottom but I really love the folks that work with me there. I have surprised them with cookies a couple days, they really seemed to enjoy them which is great. They work hard and really make a difference.

So yesterday, and today if I am being honest, I have fallen asleep on the floor of my living room in front of our electric fireplace. It is like heaven. I feel sort of like the cats though, they lounge in front of it all the time. Lazy bums...Just kidding.

My sister took/takes me to therapy and in a reward I usually cook something, she is also my guinea pig for all of my recipes...she either has it easy or horrible. She washed my dishes and ran the vacuum in the living area, she is my hero.


After my nap yesterday I had some extra energy, so I made cookies. Lemon Crinkle Cookies! They are amazing, they are light and slightly chewy, sweet with a hint of lemon. Needless to say i had about a dozen of these little suckers before I had to have a come to Jesus talk with myself about eating any more of them. I packaged them up today and took them to the lovely folks at my PT place to get them out of my house.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 C butter softened
1 Cup white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup of powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored non stick baking sheets.

Cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Add in the egg, vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice, scrape sides and mix again.

Stir in dry ingredients slowly (excluding the powdered sugar) until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again.

Pour Powdered sugar in a separate bowl.

Roll a heaping tsp of dough into a ball and roll into the powdered sugar, place on greased baking sheet and repeat until dough is all gone.

Bake for 9-11 Minutes or until bottomsbegin to barely brown and cookies look matte (not melty or shiny). Remove from oven and cook cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Enjoy!

As always, if you have any questions or comments or would like to let us know how it turned out, Please leave a comment or email me at landoffoodandkitties@gmail.com

My Cat Hid My Phone

When I take a nice relaxing bath I like to read my eBooks on my phone. Because I am so clumsy and klutzy I put my phone in a zip up plastic baggie just in case if I drop it the phone won't be ruined. Well, apparently to my youngest fur baby, putting my phone in a baggy signifies that it is leftovers. Of course since he is also a  fur vacuum he grabbed it and ran. I was in the middle of bathing so I had to wait to go looking for it. 30 minutes later I finally find it because he wanted to hide it, I found it under the couch cushions where one section of the couch meets another...insanity I tell you!!



Today I decided to make something that tastes like it would be soooo bad for you but it isn't. Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta! It sounds so sinful, doesn't it? But if you make it with low fat ingredients it only comes to less than 500 calories! Yay!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

Ingredients

2 butterball turky bacon strips cooked and shredded (I just used left over bacon bits I had from the potato soup)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 can of cream of chicken soup (10.75 oz)
1 cup of fat free sour cream
1 lb of chicken breasts
8 oz pasta, your favorite type

Combine the first 5 ingredients together set aside. Spray your crock pot with no stick spray and place chicken breast in the bottom. The chicken can be either frozen or thawed, it doesn't matter. Top with the mixture you set aside earlier and book on high for 3.5 hours. Cook the pasta per package directions. Shred the chicken and place back in the crock pot and stir. Top off the pasta with chicken mixture. Enjoy!!

Before it's cooked

Our chicken breast that looks like Africa!

after you shred the chicken.

If you have any questions please feel free to comment or email at landoffoodandkitties@gmail.com

I like the Cookie

Today I feel like that poor little squirrel from "Over the Hedge" after the raccoon throws the cookie he wants over the hedge and he says "I like the cookie". I have discovered heaven on earth with this little cookie of amazingness. I have four little words for you....cookies and cream cookies. Its a cookie, that has little bits of another type of cookie stuffed into it. I know...my mind is blown also!

I had physical therapy yesterday for an hour and a half. I love my pt peeps, they are funny and keep me in great spirits. Again I give trubute or kudos for all in that profession. That being said..having physical therapy for that long made me feel like death today.

What I am sure I looked like when I got up today!

I am sore all over but as my dance teacher once said, "if you aren't sore the next day, you didn't do it right". We apparently did everything super correctly. I love that it is helping me though! Hopefully I will be back to normal soon!

To cheer myself up (okay...you caught me, I was already cheerful, I just wanted an excuse to make these amazing things!) 

Cookies and Cream Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened (I know, I know stop channeling Paula!)
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. white sugar
1 package cookies n'cream pudding mix
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 C. flour
1 tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
10 oreos chopped
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together the butter and sugars, then stir in pudding mix.

add eggs and vanilla to the creamed mixture and incorporate completely.

mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt into the mixture.

chop up the oreos into small pieces. What I did was put them in a bag and pound them a few times with the meat tenderizer...but whichever would work best for you.

add the oreos and white chocolate chips to the dough and stir until combined.

Drop spoonfuls of dough into a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes or until slightly brown on top.

I know I say this after all of my recipes, but I really want you to enjoy this one. I have had 3 today...shame on me I know. They are sooo delicious I can't help myself.

If you have any questions or would like to show or tell me how any of the recipes turned out please feel free to comment or to email me at landoffoodandkitties@gmail.com 

Thanks for reading!

Spinning Wheels and Wing Sauce

So...as usual I have to open with the weather. Today we got around 6 or 7 inches of snow...and it's still coming down!! Also, as usual when it snows, I find myself wanting to get out in it and drive, but now that I am not driving anymore for health reasons this puts a "hitch in my giddy-up" so to speak.

Our back yard!

I have been craving wings from a popular wing joint I used to frequent always in Roanoke. Buffalo Wild Wings has all of the amazing things in the world that a person needs to be happy. Fatty amazing tasty food, booze, sports, huge televisions, and a place to go and talk to people. Sounds good right?? I used to go there a lot when I lived in Roanoke and now that I'm not there any longer I find myself missing the wings...and the booze lol. So to finally get to the recipe for today, Buffalo Wild Wings sauces, I only made two because really there is only 2 kinds that The Beloved and I really enjoy. Asian Zing and Parmesan Garlic. YUM!!!!! I forgot to take pictures of these amazing sauces after they were made...blame my forgetful nature, blame my starving hunger for this sauce...I will take the blame, and the next time we eat it I will remember to take pictures...hopefully!

Without further adeau!

Asian Zing

2 tsp. cornstarch
4 tsp Rice wine vinegar
1/2 C. corn syrup
1/3 C sugar
1/4 cup Chili garlic sauce (side note, my grocery store doesn't carry this sauce, so I used Sriracha sauce)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
 1/4 tsp. minced garlic, or garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions

 Combine the cornstarch and rice wine vinegar in a small glass and set aside

combine the rest of your ingredients in a medium or small sauce pan, add in the cornstarch and rice wine vinegar mixture you had set aside earlier.

Heat on a low heat stirring frequently till it comes to a boil. Keep on this temp stirring frequently to prevent sticking until it thickens up. Cool down and then refrigerate until you are ready to use!             

Parmesam Garlic

1 C. Butter (I feel like I am channeling Paula Deen here!)
1 clove of garlic (2 if you want a zestier flavor)
1/4 tsp. onion salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/3 cup of each of the following:
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Mayonnaise

Directions

 Combine your ingredients in a small or medium pot, heat and stir until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Side note on this one...after it looks like it is completely combined I would it heat for a few more minutes because mine didn't get heated long enough and separated. 




I hope you enjoy the sauce recipe, always feel free to comment or to email me with any questions at landoffoodandkitties@gmail.com  

Wasn't it NICE!

So it was a BEAUTIFUL day here today, I know I seem to talk about the weather a lot...I apologize it's just something I do for an opener.

On another note...I realized that my cat is the raccoon from Pocahontas the cartoon. He will actually swat a food that is on your fork and or in your mouth....this is why anytime we have food eating going on we have to lock him away in the bedroom. He is a trouble maker I tell you.

So I am being very random today and skipping around on a lot of different subjects, I had physical therapy today which means I am dead. This also means that I did not cook because of the aforementioned dying. BUT I do have a recipe that I have been meaning to put on here for a week or so now and I hope that you like it. Its a very good, very amazing, and very comforting food. This is another of the recipes that I learned from my Mama, which means that it doesn't have much by way of measurements. I'll tell you how I usually do it and give you some pictures on how it looks etc. Feel free to comment or email me with any questions.

Sausage Gravy (from scratch) 

Ingredients

1 lb. Ground Sausage (I usually use a country sausage or sausage with sage in it, it gives the best flavor)
about 1/4 C seasoned flour (again guessing on the measurment thing it will depend on how fatty your sausage is.)
butter
milk
water (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Brown up your sausage in a deep skillet, I usually have to add butter to mine to keep it from sticking because the sausage I use is pretty lean. Don't cook it so long that it gets crispy just until no longer red.

Depending on how much grease you have in the pan with the sausage you may or may not need to add some more butter, it looks about right if there is a small amount coating the bottom of your skillet.

Add the seasoned flour (the seasoned flour is the most important ingredient. It gives you tons of amazing flavor and a really nice consistency.)

Stir until the flour is absorbed and slightly browned, then add milk I would say at least 2 cups worth be sure to completely cover the sausage, don't worry this will thicken up as it cooks, keep stirring frequently so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of your pan. If you want to you an add a little water if the milk is a little too heavy for you. Cook until thickened up and then spoon over top of biscuits (and since I haven't mastered the way to make those yet I use canned ones :-)

I hope you enjoy, as always feel free to comment or better yet email me with any questions that you have at landoffoodandkitties@gmail.com 

SNOW!!!

Its snowing outside!! It is very beautiful, we went for a short drive to a gas station just to be able to get out and see the snow.

Happy Friday everyone! So today I woke up feeling pretty rough because of pt yesterday but as the day went on I felt a little better. I made a new soup today which was pretty good Tortellini Soup for the crock pot. It was soooo easy! So easy my cat could do it...lord knows if I don't put him away in the bedroom while I am cooking he would be giving Bobby Flay a run for his money (just kidding! he wouldn't cook anything...he would eat all the food in sight!)

See he is trying to escape!!!

Tortellini Soup

Ingredients

1 bag frozen tortellini
1 small bag fresh spinach
1 box or 32 oz. of chicken broth
1 cans of italian style diced tomatoes (soup can size)
1 block cream cheese

Directions

 1) place the ingredients in the crock pot. (be sure to chunk up the cream cheese so that it gets incorporated into the mix)
2) cook on low for 5-6 hours gently stirring occasionally
3) Bowl up and enjoy!



This is definitely one of those recipes that taste better than it looks, but I promise it is very good!
I hope you enjoy the recipe!

Did Someone Say Ouch?

I did! I said ouch!! Pick me, Pick me!! I had my first awesome (but painful) visit to physical therapy today. I love love love it so far, granted its only been one day but, I think it is really going to help. Big shout out to my physical therapist for today, he worked with me well not to mention hes pretty comical which is what I needed, I also want to send a big shout out to all of the physical therapists out there that help people get their movement and life back. The work you do is amazing!

Sadly I didn't cook today because I was completely wiped out by the time I made it home. The Beloved took me out to a celebration dinner at Ruby Tuesdays (salad bar!!) because he is wonderful and thinks that I deserved a treat for working hard today. This is why he is the love of my life...just sayin'!

There are a couple pictures of the kitties, because lets be honest...you can never see to much kitty cuteness (minds out of the gutter folks).


Anyways, I hope that all of you are snuggled up warm today, and having a wonderful life. Please feel free to comment or send me pics of your fur babies to be featured on the blog at landoffoodandkitties@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!!!

Now off to soak my sorry self in the tub! Ha Ha!

Aliens

They walk among us! They do and I have concrete proof...are you ready?!?!

 

Things that are normal shouldn't glow like that...just saying! Little furry aliens!!!

Anyways, its been cold weather and snow and yuck here lately so I decided it was time for some feel good food. (enter stage left- Chicken Noodle Soup!) Plus I needed a little pick me up, I start physical therapy this week. I know that it will be helpful but it is going to hurt and be a pain in the butt! It is thankfully a good step in my recovery (neurological disorder problems) so that way I can get back to normal! Yay normal!

On to the recipe, my mom used to make this soup and it was always so wonderful! The problem with having a mother that is the best cook in the world is that she cooks without recipes, she just eyeballs it...so in advance I apologize for the lack of measurements below. With that being said the best thing about this recipe is that you can tweak it to how you like it.  There are tons of options that you can use to make this soup your very own, so without further adieu here is the recipe!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

1 lb. Boneless skinless chicken breast (trim all the little bits of fat from it also)

3 or 4 large carrots

2-3 stalks of celery

1-2 green onions

1 bag medium or large egg noodles

Chicken bouillon granules OR Chicken broth

a little dash of garlic powder 

a little but of parsley flakes

salt and pepper to taste

So what you want to do is to chop up all of your veggies and put them in your soup pot along with the chicken breast and cover with the water and chicken bouillon or just cover with chicken broth (whichever you prefer I use the granules because I like a lot of chicken flavor in my soup, and let me tell ya, I use way more than I probably should I would guess at least 2 tbsp. for a 5qt. soup pot. You might not want that much because it is salty etc. this is where you can take this recipe into your own hands.)

After your ingredients are covered in (insert liquid of your choosing from before) Add in just a dash of garlic powder and add parsley to taste, then cook at a medium heat stirring occasionally until veggies are tender and chicken is cooked. 

Add in the egg noodles and cook until tender, bowl up and enjoy!

If you have any questions please feel free to comment or to send me an email at landoffoodandkitties@gmail.com

I hope you enjoy this recipe!!!

Burgulars

So...I am pretty sure that if cats had opposable thumbs that they would make some great burglars; or they would take over the world. Just saying. I caught my little burglars tonight sneaking into the cabinet that we keep their food in. This cabinet is an upper level kitchen cabinet that they break into as a team. The little dare devil (Ashes) hops up on top of the cabinets and paws the door open, while the devious one (Isis) sticks her body in the opening so it doesn't close...it is all downhill from there. Thankfully I caught them before they could knock the food container ( a completely sealed Tupperware shoebox looking box) into the floor. Ninjas, I tell you, Ninjas!!! Anyways, moving on!

So I got to hang out with my family today which is always a blessing. I got hauled to Walmart, which is good because I needed a couple of things, but bad because 1) I hate going 2) people are there in hordes 3) just lots of gurr and ahhh going on. I was with my Mom so it made the trip worth it and awesome.

I didn't actually make today's recipe today. Lately it has been great reconnecting with old friends, and talking with people you haven't in a while. Chatting about old times makes me think about the good and great things from high school or even middle school, and one thing I remember being amazing is Cornflake Cookies. These little babies will give you the sweetness, crunchiness, and deliciousness you are craving. 

Cornflake Cookies

Ingredients

1 Cup Peanut Butter (creamy kind works best in this recipe)

1 Cup Light Corn Syrup (or Karo Syrup for the brand name peeps)

1 Cup Sugar

5-6 Cups plain Cornflakes

Directions

In a medium sized sauce pan combine the first 3 ingredients. 

Heat on the stove on medium low heat until it is smooth (sugar dissolved and no lumps) be sure to stir frequently as it sticks easily. 

Place the 5-6 cups of plain cornflakes in a bowl (large bowl) and pour the peanut butter mixture over it and mix it up until cornflakes are coated. 

From here it is up to you, you can spoon them out onto wax/parchment paper to make separate cookies; or you can spread the whole thing out in a baking dish (spray very lightly with cooking spray) and let set and just let everyone pick it apart (this is what I usually do)

I hope you enjoy!!!

The Toilet Paper is Everywhere but in the Toilet

The cats have decided to play with the toilet paper...again. This morning we woke up to find little shreds of it everywhere!! Needless to say I will be sweeping and picking it up for the next 2 weeks. Oh the joys of fur baby motherhood. They also are still running Nascar Races in the house, but to add to that the little cat has decided to try to break every single door we own. Going to the bathroom alone? Not anymore, he tries to fut underneath the door to come tear stuff up in there while your doing your thing. There have been quite a few time outs in the Eppling-Lipes household this week.

Anyways on to the recipe for today, I'm actually cheating, I made this a few nights ago. It looks awful when you make it but it is absolutely amazing. Its cock pot loaded potato soup! Omm nom nom nom nom!!

Crock Pot Loaded Potato Soup

Ingredients

1 30 oz. bag frozen hashbrowns diced ( I used shredded and I think he diced would be better)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 32 oz box of chicken broth
cheddar cheesse
3 oz. bacon pieces/real bacon bits
1 block of cream cheese (not fat free)

Place the hashbrowns, cream of chicken soup, half of the bacon bits and, the chicken broth in the crock pot adding salt and pepper to taste.

cook on low for 8 hours or until potatoes are tender.

About an hour before serving cut the cream cheese into smaller blocks and stir into the mix. Let it melt and stir occasionally during the last hour of cooking.

Once it is melted you are ready to serve.

Top with the remainder of the bacon bits and cheddar cheese (you can even do green onions or whatever else you like on your baked potato).

This soup was awesome, I had never made potato soup but this will definitely be a repeat in our house! I hope all of you enjoy!

Whelmed but not Overly

So today is the day that I decided that my kitchen doesn't have any counter space. I made pretzels today, which if you don't have counter space to sprawl out on...and I am a sprawler, can be difficult. This is where a creative side comes out to play, "if i sit this here, i wonder if it will stay or fall over" or something like a circus act with tight rope balancing and juggling things, and since I only have one sink...its for lack of a better word, pain in the butt.

The good news is that the pretzels turned out amazing!!! I have already nibbled 2 of them, sooo good!

I got this recipe from a nice blog, the address for that blog is here. She has great pictures if you don't like my pictures....

Lets dive in, shall we?

Sourdough Soft Pretzels

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar (divided)
1 cup hot water
1 1/2 cups starter
2 teaspoons kosher salt (Mine would have turned out better had I used kosher salt I used reg. table salt)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour (also I didn't use bread flour, I used all purpose)
1/4 cup baking soda
1 egg (turned out my eggs were bad, so I used melted butter)
Sea or kosher salt, for sprinkling

 Directions

In a bowl dissolve the butter and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in the hot water. 

mix in the starter

add the flour and mix it up well

the dough will be pretty stiff, so to make things better scoop your dough out onto a well floured surface. Start kneading in the bread flour kneading well after each addition. 

Keep kneading until you get a nice smooth stiff dough.

Place in a well oiled bowl and let rise for 2 hours.

Since this is made with sourdough starter, it will not raise a whole lot, so don't worry about that. 

After the 2 hours are up, punch down the dough, and toss back onto the well floured surface and knead a few times. 

Roll it into a log, and cut into 16 pieces or 32 pieces if you want to do smaller pretzels. 

Roll each piece into a long strip and then make into a pretzel shape. 

Bring a pot of water to boil, place the remaining sugar and the Baking Soda in the water (be careful and add the soda slowly because it will make the boiling water foam up, so just add small amounts at a time) 


 Place each pretzel into the pot to poach it for about a minute each. Remove it from water and let drain on a wire rack. They will float when they are close to being done.

While they are draining, heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit  

Beat the egg (we promise not to call the authorities for you beating it up) and take a pastry brush and brush on the top of the pretzels, this will make them have that nice golden brown color in the oven, sort of like us with tanning oil at the beach, unless you are a freckled fairskin sister like myself...then we burn...so don't burn the pretzels :-) 

 Transfer them to greased baking sheets 

Bake for 15 minutes 

Take out of the oven and enjoy!

These pretzels are great when they are fresh out of the oven but they will also keep for  a week...I have a feeling they wont last that long in our house!