Joyful Abode

Joyful Abode now has writing kits! Each kit includes 12 pieces of writing paper, 6 matching envelopes, and 12 matching stickers. The paper and envelopes are 30% post-consumer recycled paper, and acid-free, too!

We’ve got adorable owls perched on cherry trees…

…nostalgic roller-skates and jacks…

…and the most precious hedgehog ever, in a tire swing.

For a limited time, these sweet writing kits are on sale for only $10 each! Hurry to snatch up your favorites!

PS If you signed up for my email newsletter, I apologize for your email having the wrong subject line… it used the same subject line as my FIRST mailing, which I’m now confused about. Still trying to get used to this emailing program! Bear with me!

When you’re finished with your engagement chicken and there are just shreds of meat leftover on the carcass, you can pull them off and save them in a little container for later. And when you’re ready, these chicken quesadilas are a yummy way to use it.

Just warm up a tortilla in a pan, add cheese, sauteed onions, and chicken, fold and heat through.

Mmm… the best kind of leftovers.

Engagement chicken is basically a roast chicken with lemons shoved up its butt (or neck, or whatever).

Whether or not it’ll magically get your boyfriend to propose to you… I have no clue. But it is pretty darned good. And easy.

I stabbed my lemons before shoving them into the (rinsed, guts removed) chicken.

And did the whole oil/salt/pepper thing on the outside.

And when it was done? It didn’t look like a chicken from a magazine, but the lemon-infused flesh was very tasty.

I served it with veggies… zucchini and onions sauteed together with some cumin and olive oil.

And egg noodles… and some gravy I made from the lemony chicken drippings (which was soooo good).

It’s an easy homey meal, and even if no one proposes, it’s worth making.

OK this is pretty odd… I have “a way” that I like to make boxed macaroni and cheese. Which is kind of ridiculous, but it always turns out really yummily.

YES! Spiderman!

I cook the pasta in salted water…

And meanwhile, I mix the milk and fake gross cheese powder.

I use a small whisk or a fork to combine it really well… this way you don’t get powder chunks in your noodles.

Then when the noodles are done, I drain them (and do NOT rinse), put them back in the pot,  and add the butter… with the heat still on low.

When the butter is all melted and every noodle is coated with it, I add the cheese liquid. And stir until it’s all combined. Then turn off the heat and let it thicken for a couple minutes.

It’s soooo delicious. I like mine with a little bit of ketchup on top (but not mixed in). When I was little sometimes I’d eat it with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt.

How do you like your boxed macaroni and cheese? Do you have a method you use every time?

Or do you only eat the “real” good stuff baked in the oven with actual cheese from a cow?

You will NOT be sorry if you marinate your steak in:

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
•  Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove of minced garlic or some garlic powder

When I read a similar recipe, my jaw dropped. It’s like… everything good in one marinade! Yum! I adjusted the ratios a little bit to suit my tastes… the original was a bit heavy on the Worcestershire sauce.

We made these steaks when we  had just moved in to the house, didn’t have any pots, pans, or the grill, and really wanted to eat something “real”… we found the broiler pan in that drawer under the oven and rejoyced!

To broil a steak, first turn on your broiler and put the pan in the oven to preheat.

When everything is super-hot, plop your marinated steaks on the pan and return to the oven (don’t forget oven mitts!)

After about 4-6 minutes (depending on how you like your steaks cooked), flip over your steaks.

And another 4-6 minutes later, you’ll have delicious steak.

I like mine on the rare side, so I kind of under cooked it… The edges were really good but I did have to cook the middle a bit more.

But… yuuuum.

So, I’m really really bad at doing follow-up posts, post series, etc.

Case in point: This hummus post from APRIL, in which I said I’d also be posting my tapenade recipe and how to make pita chips. I haven’t forgotten about those other posts, but the passage of time has also sort of… gone really fast.

So, Tapenade, huh?

This is a great spread to make for crusty breads or pita chips, and though it’s typically made with anchovies, mine doesn’t have anything like that.

Here’s how I do mine:

1. Haul out the food processor.
2. Chuck in a ton of olives… If you don’t want it to be super-salty, make sure to use more black olives than green. Kalamata olives are always nice (and really the best for this), though I didn’t have any. Pulse.
3. Throw in a spoon of minced garlic. Don’t add too much at once… you can always taste and add more, but you can’t take it out once it’s there! Pulse.
4. Throw in a whole bunch of capers. Pulse.
5. Turn the processor on while you drizzle in extra virgin olive oil.  You can add some lemon juice too, if you’d like.
6. Taste, and decide if it needs anything else.
7. Serve and enjoy!

If “serve” is too vague, try some of these ideas:

1. Cut horizontal slits in chicken breasts and fill with a dab of olive tapenade before baking.
2. Serve broiled fish with a dollop of tapenade on top.
3. Use olive tapenade to stuff mushrooms as delicious crowd pleasers.
4. Find some delicious crostini (little pieces of crusty toasted bread) and spread with cream cheese, feta, or goat cheese, then top with tapenade.
5. Make summer appetizers by layering a bagel chip, a slice of mozzarella cheese, a slice of a Roma tomato, and tapenade.
6. Toss mixed greens with olive tapenade as a salad dressing.
7. Try a little bit in your morning omelet.
8. Add tapenade to angel hair pasta, chopped tomatoes, and fresh basil. Toss.
9. Serve with pita chips and yummus hummus, of course.
10. Make a delicious sandwich on focaccia with salami, pepperoni, cream cheese, fresh tomatoes, and olive tapenade.

I finally decided to get my butt in gear and get a mailing list service. I had wanted to figure out how to do it manually… to set up a form on my site where people could sign up, to send out pretty picture-filled emails, etc… but guess what.

I’m not that code-savvy. Really.
Mother, are you listening? I’ll never hack it as a web designer.

So I decided to suck it up and pay for an email service. It’s only about 4-5 dollars a month, but all of these little things (web hosting, shop fee, etc) add up!

So please please please, if you like my things at all, sign up for my mailing list so I’ll feel like it was worth it! I have an email going out on Wednesday which will have an awesome coupon code in it, just for email subscribers (so you’ll feel like it was worth it too).

I also haven’t decided on a good format for the emails… should it just be about the shop (with discount codes or sales), or also include hostess tips / quick cooking tips / whatever else? What do you think? What would you be excited about getting in your inbox?

You can sign up right here in this post, or in the widget on the left sidebar!

 Look what we got! Guess where we got it! Yeah, our garden. *blush*

So I put it to work for dinner, veggie-nacho style!

I cut up the tomatoes and de-seeded them (because I can’t stand the seeds and seed snot).

And peeled, chopped, and salted/oozed the eggplant (you know, the whole leeching out the bitter juices thing).

Heat some olive oil in a pan and throw in the eggplant. Toss it around, and sprinkle liberally with chili powder and cumin.

Then, add about 1/4 cup of water and cover to let it steam for a while. Keep checking it ever couple minutes, until it’s pretty easy to pierce with a fork or butter knife. Remove the cover and let the rest of the water evaporate (which should be really fast).

In a casserole dish, layer corn chips, cheddar cheese, eggplant…

…tomatoes…

…and whatever else you’d like. I added spinach, and the guy suggested black olives for next time.

Sprinkle with a little more cheese (I used Mexican Blend, just because I had it lying around) and bake about 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or until all the cheese is melted (even in the middle).

Serve it up! Looking at this picture makes me want a margarita.

Enjoy!

Good: Basil is growing (from seed! Thanks Meagan, for the herb kit)
Not so good: No parsley is growing… it died (I like basil better anyway). Also, something is munching on the basil leaves a little.

Good: The eggplant is making lots of fruits and flowers. The plant is in generally good health.

Not Good: Something ate lots of little holes in all the leaves on the entire plant.

Good: Tomatoes galore, and they’re finally ripening!

Not so good: A few of the tomatoes were affected by less water while we were in Michigan, and have cracking on them.

Not so good: No zucchinis in a while… and the plant does not look happy. It got this way while we were in Michigan. Moral? Never go out of town, ever.

Not so good: Cucumber plant has lots of sad dead leaves (again, trip to MI).
Good: It has flowers and  little baby cukes.

Good: Banana pepper has a few tiny peppers forming.

Not so good: The last two banana peppers that got big at all ended up getting big brown spots and I had to get rid of them. Also, the plant is scraggly and sad looking.

Good: Our green beans look happy and there are itty bitty beans starting to grow!

Good: Zora is a very good helper. Here she is letting us know which tomatoes to pick.

…and inspecting the fruit.

So… we sprayed insecticidal soap on the ones that look like something’s been eating them. But any other ideas? Any amazing tips?

Most of all, I want our zucchini to spring back… I LOVE zucchinis, and the ones from our garden have been so good.

This is the first toy that has actually defeated my dog.

She and her Kong toys have an understanding… they’ve declared a draw.

But this one? This one kicked her butt.

Now, I know what you’re thinking… that toy is a TIRE! It is TOUGH! Of COURSE it’s going to beat that little dog. Well, yes and no.

After about 10 minutes of vigorous chewing, she had managed to shred parts of it.

So it looks like Zora’s winning here, right? Again, yes and no. It looks like this might be part of the “2 ply flossing nylon” the toy claims to be a good thing. Also notice that this is a “New Stronger Design” and that satisfaction is guaranteed. Plus, the back of the package has recommendations for which sizes to get for normal chewers and strong chewers (and the weights of the dogs). We got the size recommended for strong chewers up to 50 pounds. She’s 26 pounds.

After a few more minutes, she started ripping off chunks of the tire and trying to eat them. As with any new toy introduction, I was of course heavily supervising… which includes opening her mouth and scooping out tire pieces each time she got one ripped off.

And after a few minutes, I tired of it (pun intended) and took the toy away.

And all evening, Zora threw up everything in her stomach. Non-toxic, my butt.  I freaked out, of course, being a new puppy mama who’s never had a dog before… and I called Zora’s vet. On Saturday night.

I have to say, it is the most fantastic vet office… they have an answering service during off-hours, and they take your number and have a doctor call you back (really quickly). The doctor talked me through how to take care of Zora’s tummy (including people pepto-bismol and dramamine!) at no charge at all. So nice!

And the next morning Zora was okay again. And I’ll definitely be trying to get a hold of that toy company because I’m not satisfied (and they guaranteed my satasfaction!).