Reflections

There it is. That's the first meal I cooked for Jeremy when he got his first apartment. We were 22 years old, engaged, and completely clueless. I still lived on campus, but I very frequently went over to cook supper. I figured that with him not getting off work until 7, I had plenty of time to burn supper and start over. And I did, a lot.

That meal up there? That's tacos, canned corn, and a .79 7 minute rice pack. In the glasses? That's the most epic mixture of both orange and cherry kool-aid that you will ever experience. When I see this picture, I see extremely humble beginnings, two clueless kids hopelessly in love and tackling the world together, and yet I can pinpoint this exact moment as the start of my love of being in the kitchen. I think that's why I took the picture.

I've come a long way in the kitchen. First of all, I will never buy that rice again. It's terrible. We've graduated from kool-aid to water and milk (for health, not choice) and I very rarely make tacos like this anymore. I don't use as much processed food in our meals because I want to keep my family healthy.

I don't know why I feel like sharing this with you. I guess because I keep getting emails and comments about "I am impressed with your cooking!" and "I need to learn to cook!" Here's where I started! With a 15 minute taco recipe.

I do this blog for this reason. You can get there. Not just as a spouse or a homemaker, but in anything! In one year's time I've got from dorm-room microwave disaster to a wife, homemaker, and executive chef in the Ingle household. Small beginnings my friends, small beginnings.

Love, as always,
Courtney

Here's My Breakfast Pie!! (sang to the tune of Cherry Pie)

Hubbers loves this recipe, I love this recipe, friends love this recipe... and it's easy as pie!

I introduce you to Breakfast Pie! Breakfast Pie is a product of playing "cookbook roulette." (Cookbook Roulette is what happens when you throw all the cookbooks in the floor and randomly pick recipes because you don't really know what you want for supper.)

Here is this heavenly concoction. People, friends... fasten your seatbelts.

You'll need:

1 can of evaporated milk (NOT CONDENSED MILK)
5 eggs
3 cups of shredded hashbrowns (thawed if they were frozen)
1lb of sausage (I used Country Sage)
2 cups of cheddar cheese shredded
2 pie crusts, the rolled kind from the refrigerated section

*optional ingredients
1 half bell pepper, diced
1 half onioin, diced

Lay you out a pie crust in that awesome round pan. 

Brown up that sausage

If using the optional ingredients, dice up that onion and bell pepper

Get them hashbrowns. 

Now, for whatever reason, I don't have pictures. Oh, technology. But you'll want to beat those 5 eggs with the evaporated milk. Then, when the sausage is brown, layer that in the pie crust, then dice the onions, then layer the hash browns on that. Next, put on the cheese, pour the egg and milk concoction, and put that other pie crust on. Bake for 25 minutes at 400. 

Boom! Slice that girl open. 

Can. You. See. The. Goodness?

Hubbers gave this one a Thumbs Up. This is one of those great ratings that you don't just win at the Oscar's. Just saying. You may want to write this one down in the history books. 

Serve this up with some salsa for an extra kick. 

Guys, seriously, try this one. It's awesome!

Love as always, 

Courtney 

Chicken Fried Rice... Minus the Chinese Take Out.

Hubbers LOVES this recipe. Adores it. I try to make plenty for leftovers and that usually doesn't happen because he and my "brother in law" (Jeremy's best friend/brother, best man at our wedding) destroy it before the plates even hit the table.

You'll need:
1 can of carrots
1 can of peas
1 cup of rice
3 chicken breast
1 bottle of soy sauce
*eggs, scrambled
*green onion, diced
*zest of two oranges
*juice of two oranges

(**Means optional ingredients)

First things first, boil your rice. That's one cup rice, two cups water. Pour the rice and water in together, and bring it to a hard boil. Once it's boiling, cut the heat off, stir it, then put a lid on it. Let the steam work from there. This takes about 20 minutes. 

In the meantime, cook that chicken in the skillet. (I only used a few strips of chicken for a smaller amount. I like less chicken, you may add more.)

Next, combine all of your ingredients together. The peas should be drained as should the carrots. The chicken, once done, should be diced. Stir it all together so it looks like it does in the picture above. *If using optional ingredients, now is when you'd add the green onion, scrambled egg, and orange zest.*

Go ahead and heat up that skillet, wok, pan, what have you. I have an electric skillet that works wonders for this. 

Use max heat if using an electric skillet. 

It's not fried if there's no butter ya'll! Use about 2 tablespoons of butter to drop in that skillet. Paula Deen would use more, but we're not trying to lube up our arteries here. 

Throw that beautiful mess into the skillet once the butter has melted and sizzled. At this point we'll add the soy sauce, as much as you like (you won't use the whole bottle, hopefully. Taste it along the way. I like mine a little salty.) **If you're using the optional ingredients, add the orange juice here.

It's done when the excess juice and sauce have cooked into the rice. Enjoy this bit, kids, cause everyone is digging it!

Love as always, 

Courtney 

Good Morning! Get Up, Seriously...

It's an early morning in the Ingle house. Mardi was whining to be taken out, Winry was meowing because Mardi was whining, and of course the hubs was fast asleep. On today's agenda, I have to go to the library for my research, go purchase a weather radio, make a trip to the Wally World AND prepare garlic bread and a dessert for our dinner party tonight with friends.

See, my social life has not ended because of marriage or because of graduate school. If you don't find the time for friends, forgive me, but you're doing it wrong. My husband and I need each other.. but we also need the comfort and warm embrace of fun times with great friends and family.

Later today I'll be bringing you two separate recipes. One for the garlic bread I'm making(hopefully, if it works. I'm terrible with bread) and one for a dessert that is near and dear to my heart.

I wanted to share with you something I saw on Pinterest this morning: 31 Things To Freeze and Save Money is a great read by a very talented blogger/homemaker. Jill has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve, so check her out!

Also, if you ever want to just peer into my brain, my Pinterest boards are the best way to do so. There's everything from my humor to what I want to try on there, so give it a look.

I better get back to my day. Stick around folks, I'll have that garlic bread and that dessert for ya soon.


Love always,
Courtney