Monday, April 5, 2010

A Giveaway, Something from Scratch, and Growing Fruits and Vegetables

Day 95.

In five days, I will celebrate my 100th day of blogging! To celebrate, I'd like to give away some of my favorite kitchen items. I haven't decided on everything I'm putting in the box, but here are a couple things I'm sure will be in there:
  • White Lily Flour (There is none better in my opinion!)
  • A bench scraper (A baker's best friend!)
  • Vanilla extract
  • 3 Madagascar Vanilla Beans to get you started making your own extract
  • course AND fine sea salt
  • some of my favorite coffee for you to enjoy on your kitchen break :)
I'll be picking up some essentials throughout the week and I'll keep you updated!

To enter:
  1.  One entry for commenting here with your favorite recipe from my blog so far.
  2. An extra entry for following (public followers only) via google. Please post a comment here letting me know you're following.
  3. TWO extra entries for blogging about my blog in general or about my giveaway on your own blog, and linking back to mine. Post a comment here with the link back to your post.
I'll use random.org to choose a winner. Drawing will be on Saturday, April 10th, after 6 p.m. eastern time.

********************

Now, onto my gardening projects. I love fresh produce. What better way to get fresh produce than to grow it myself? I am growing in containers, as I live on a military installation and we're not supposed to grow in the ground. That does limit what I can grow, but I think I've done well. I'm growing cherry tomatoes, red and green bell peppers, potatoes, strawberries, rosemary, thyme, parsley, basil, and hot peppers. Here are a few pictures of my baby plants. I can't wait until we can go out on the back porch and pick some fresh foods and eat them.

Top to bottom: my first red strawberry, a bell pepper plant, and potatoes before being covered.



On the cooking front:

Yesterday, I was able to get back in my kitchen and it felt wonderful. I made Cornish Game Hens with Rice Stuffing, and a garden salad. Everything was so fresh and full of nutrients that our bodies all needed so badly after all the salty, greasy, processed foods we've been eating lately.

Cornish Game Hens with Rice Stuffing
Serves 4

What You Need:
  • 4 Cornish game hens (about 1 pound each)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 cup of cooked rice
  • 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
  • 1/2 cup chopped white onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheese (Swiss is nice)
  • 4 Tbsp butter, cut into 1 Tbsp slices
  • Melted butter for basting the hens
How it's Done:
  1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Rinse out the hens and pat dry. Lightly salt and pepper each hen, inside and out. Set aside.
  3. In a mixing bowl, combine rice, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and cheese. Mix well.
  4. Divide filling evenly between hens, stuffing them quite full. Push a pat of butter into each hen.
  5. Place breast side up in a baking dish with high sides.
  6. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil. Bake an additional hour, basting with melted butter every 15 minutes or so.
Enjoy! I hope you all have a wonderful week. I am unable to do a menu plan this week, as I never know what my in-laws are going to want to do or eat. Next week, I can get back to my usual planning, cooking, and baking.

23 comments:

Barb said...

I subscribe by rss. My favorite of your recipes is your bread machine buttermilk bread recipe. I use it as my basic go to dought recipe! Right now I use it to make: dinner rolls,bread,doughnuts,cinnamon rolls,pretzels,pizza crust. I just add a few spices for each different item aka cinnamon... Thanks so much!

Heather said...

I forgot...I follow you via Google reader!

Love the extra entries :)

Heather

Heather said...

I am torn about which recipe to list. I love the cream cheese frosting stuffed strawberries...seriously easy and YUMMY!

However, I am hoping that my favorite will be the bagels. My husband is intrigued and your recipe seems simpler than some I've tried. I'll be trying these soon and if I have good results I'll be making a few batches for the freezer for after the baby comes!

Thanks,
Heather

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

I'm a follower :) Its really hard to choose just 1 recipe from your blog as my favorite. I'm gonna have to vote for the chocolate syrup - or the cheesecake. Its a tough call LOL :)

tunamarie said...

I'm following! and my favorite recipe is your Lentils 'N Rice Tacos! and I made them and they pleased me and my boyfriend!

faitcam said...

I would have to say the Oatmeal Cream
Pies I made the other day!

Amy said...

I also follow you via google reader! :)

Amy said...

My favorite recipes of yours so far are the smores brownies (delish!) and the blueberry coffee cake. I made the blueberry coffee cake for my son's Baptism a few weeks ago and it went so fast that I didn't even get a piece of my own, I had to steal a bite from someone else!

faitcam said...

I'm following you publicly via google!

Amy said...

I also posted about your blog and giveaway on my blog today. Congrats on your 100th day of blogging!

You can view the post here:
http://foodiefairytale.blogspot.com/2010/04/celebrating-100-with-fellow-blogger.html

Out of the Box into the Kitchen said...

I follow!

Out of the Box into the Kitchen said...

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm dying to try the oatmeal cream cookies! I know my husband would love them!

Out of the Box into the Kitchen said...

I've talked about you on my blog! For a recipe and an award!

http://outtatheboxintothekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/03/chocolate-syrup.html

http://outtatheboxintothekitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/awards

Angie said...

I really want to make your Heart-Shaped Peanut Butter Cups...my hubbys fave candy!

Angie said...

I am a follower too!

Unknown said...

mmmmmm...that's a tough one.. we get to only pick one??? Ok, I think your Mini Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cheesecakes are my fav... or the homemade oreos..wait that's two. Ok the mini cheesecakes!!

Unknown said...

and....I blogged about your giveaway too :)
http://jennsfoodjourney.blogspot.com/2010/04/peanut-butter-ice-cream.html
Thanks Michelle!

Anonymous said...

I'm also a subscriber!

Anonymous said...

My favorite is (even though it was hard to choose....) Strawberry Breakfast milkshake! Yummy!

Mandy Bird said...

My favorite...desserts! All of them. They are my favorites of your posts.

Mandy Bird said...

I am a follower on google.

Windthicket Fables said...

The Strawberry Strudels! OMG. DELICIOUS!!!!!
I'm also a follower!!!!

Roxanna said...

I sub via Google reader :) I love your blog I decided to pledge(to myself LOL) that I was going to start cooking from scratch and never looked back! I can't believe I waited so long.

I love tons of your recipes but I will tell you what my boys(including DH) fav is your browines!!! I seriously turned my head and they were all gone.

I actually came her to ask if you had a button I could put on my blog I bet a few of my readers would love seeing your recipes I do :)

*NEW!* Stay current on what's cooking!

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails