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Menu Plan Monday

August 12, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

Do you ever feel like you cook the same meals over and over again?  I know I do so I am going to try to make more of an effort to try a few new supper ideas in the coming weeks.  I hope to add one new thing each week if time permits and it should.  My hope and prayer is that life just settles down in the near future.  There are a few projects, both big and small,  that C & I would like to start on so hopefully we will be able to. 

I had a new experience over the weekend and I hope it is not the last time.  I took exhibits to Louisville on Saturday to enter in the Kentucky State Fair.  I was a nervous wreck by the time we got up there.  I don’t know if I was just scared that something was going to happen to my food and photo before I handed it off or it is just the thought of someone “judging” the things I do.  We made it safely though and I hope to get a good response from my entries. 

I hope all my readers have a safe and blessed week! 

Basic meatloaf with baked potatoes and corn on the cob

Beef stew with noodles

Enchilada beef with salad

Grilled pork chops with oven fries and salad

Pizza night

Classic baked ziti (new)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Posted in Menu Planning | Tagged , , |

Peaches & Cream Cake

August 8, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking


Lady Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge

Who doesn’t love peaches?  They are one of my favorite fruits and when Lady Behind The Curtain decided to use peaches and cream as the special ingredients for the August edition of her Behind The Curtain Dessert Challenge, I knew I had to participate.  I have an easy peach cobbler recipe that I use a lot, but I had never used both peaches and a creamy ingredient together so I got to experiment a little.

I found this recipe at Mel’s Kitchen Café where you will find all sorts of tasty new treats to try.  I have followed her blog for a long time and always enjoy her recipes and photos.

Peaches&CreamCake

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup milk

6 tbsp. butter, melted

29 oz. can sliced peaches in juice

For the topping:

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp. reserved peach juice

cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13×9” baking pan.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar & cornstarch.  Make a well in the center and add the vanilla, eggs, milk, and melted butter.  Stir until well combined and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan.

Drain the peaches, reserving the juice.  Chop the peaches into bite sized pieces and sprinkle over the cake batter.

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In a separate bowl, combine the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and reserved peach juice until the mixture is light and creamy.  Carefully spread this over the peaches and cake batter.  If a few peach pieces are showing through, it is okay.  Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the cream cheese layer liberally. 

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until the edges of the cake are done.  The center may still jiggle just a little, but it will firm up nicely as it cools. Let the cake cool completely before slicing and eating.  This will let the cream cheese layer “set”.

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Peaches&CreamCake

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Posted in Cooking | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments »

Menu Plan Monday

August 5, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

Why does it seem like summer is over already?  Oh, that’s right…school starts tomorrow.  Bummer!  C & I don’t have little ones in school, but since C works for the school system, we still feel the back to school stress around here.  I know it will all calm down once we get into the regular routine, but the first few days are hectic.  This is also a extra busy work week for me since we have multiple court days scheduled so both of us will be on the go quite a bit.

That means a week of fairly simple meals so I don’t have to spend all of my evenings in the kitchen.  The taco roast got rescheduled to this week because it got knocked off the list last week, as did the frozen Oreo pie.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week especially school staff, teachers and students headed back to work!

Salsa burgers with oven baked fries

Bubble up enchiladas with salad

Baked ziti

Pineapple pork loin with baked potatoes

Banana pancakes with sausage

Beef taco roast with fries

Frozen Oreo pie

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Posted in Cooking, Menu Planning | Tagged , , |

Pineapple Banana Smoothie

August 3, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

I have been on a bit of a smoothie kick in the last few weeks and I came up with this recipe myself.  I like to eat bananas when they are still a little green so when the black spots start to appear, they lose their appeal to me.  No pun intended!  Now when that happens, I just slice them and freeze the slices for later use in smoothies or ice cream.  No more wasted bananas!  I also bought two or three pineapples when they were on sale, chopped them, and froze the chopped pieces with the bananas.  Now when I want to make this smoothie, I don’t have to use ice and the fruit is ready to go.  Hope you enjoy!

pbsmoothie

1 cup plain unsweetened almond milk

1/8 cup plain low fat Greek yogurt

1 1/2 cups frozen pineapple chunks

1/4 cup frozen banana slices

1 tbsp. honey

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Place all of the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.  This makes a delicious and filling breakfast drink.

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pbsmoothie

Posted in Cooking | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments »

High Five for Friday

August 2, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

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1. I had the honor of guest posting over at HerKentucky this week and made this delicious Strawberry Yogurt Cake with Lemon Glaze.  I HIGHLY recommend this sweet treat!

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2. The 2nd generation of cucumbers are just starting to having baby cukes on them and the 3rd generation has sprouted.  Hopefully there is enough time and warm weather left for the new ones to prosper.

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3. I got a late birthday present from C this week and I can’t wait to try it out.  My old blender was having trouble with my smoothie making so I wanted one that had more power but didn’t want to drop $400 for a Blendtec or Vitamix.  I about hit the floor when I saw the prices of those. RIDICULOUS!  This Kitchenaid beauty will be perfect!

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4. Is this actually August in Kentucky?  The weather has been cool and damp so it really doesn’t feel normal, but the clear evenings have been gorgeous.  Get outside and enjoy!

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5. Last but definitely not least, I had lunch with a wonderful friend of mine that I hadn’t got to talk to in about a year and we had such a great time.  I am not sure if we came up for air during my entire lunch hour.  We had so much to catch up on.

Posted in High Five for Friday, My Thoughts | Tagged , |

Book Beginnings

August 1, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

Welcome back!  Join me over at Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings and you just might find a new book to add to your “to-be-read” pile.  Today I am sharing the first lines from the second book in the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon called “Dragonfly In Amber”:

“Roger Wakefield stood in the center of the room, feeling surrounded.”

Hmmm, was Roger really surrounded and, if so, by what or who?  The Outlander series is one of my absolute favorites and I am actually re-reading it now before the newest book comes out at the end of the year.  Ms. Gabaldon weaves a story like no other that I have ever read and “Dragonfly In Amber” is full of historical facts that bear looking up for more information.  So much was happening in Scotland around the time that is portrayed in this book and it is so sad that so much destruction had to happen to such a beautiful place.

These are long and detailed books, but they are worth the effort it takes!

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments »

HerKentucky Guest Post

July 30, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

Hi, all!  One of my favorite blogs is HerKentucky which is written by an all female team who also have a great love of Kentucky.  The last couple of weeks, they have had guest writers and I got to be included.  It is quite an honor for me and I hope you jump over to their site and read my post, but don’t just stop there.  Read them all!  I hope you enjoy their posts as much as I do.

This link will take you to my post.

Posted in Cooking, Kentucky Proud | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Menu Plan Monday

July 29, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

Good morning, folks!  It’s Monday again so it is time for a fresh start at home and work.  This weekend has been beautiful and the unusually cool weather is supposed to continue through this week.  I finally had a chance to weed the garden and strawberry beds last week and I hope to clean out the front landscaping this week if all goes well.  The weeds like this nice weather as much as the good plants do.  They just keep growing and growing and growing!

Since it has been cooler, it gets me in the mood for fall home improvement projects and we may have a couple in the near future.  We have to get past the beginning of school first.  Even though my husband works year round for the school system as technology coordinator, the beginning and ending of the school year is always a stressful time.  Once he gets back in the swing of things, life can get back to normal. 

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven fries

Enchilada beef with fruit

Taco ring with fresh veggies & fruit

Pineapple pork chops with grilled potato wedges

Taco roast with oven fries

Pizza night

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Posted in Menu Planning | Tagged , , |

Cucumber Dill Greek Yogurt Salad

July 27, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

For many, many years I have made Kansas Cucumber Salad and I posted about it here back in 2009.  When I saw this recipe on the awesome blog, She Wears Many Hats, it reminded me how good the Kansas Salad is.  The two are very similar except that this new one is healthier since it uses Greek yogurt instead of mayo. 

I have come to love the tangy flavor of Greek yogurt.  It can be used to replace sour cream and mayo in many recipes to make them a little lighter.  So if you like creamy salads, but are watching your weight, give Greek yogurt a try.

cucumberdillgreekyogurtsalad

5 or 6 medium cucumbers

4 tbsp. Greek yogurt

1/2 tbsp. dried dill

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

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Peel, half and slice the cucumbers.  You can seed them if needed, but mine didn’t need to be. 

In a bowl, combine the yogurt, dill, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and garlic powder. 

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Pour this over the sliced cucumber and toss to coat.  Chill for about an hour and serve cold.

cucumberdillgreekyogurtsalad

Posted in Cooking | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments »

Thoughtful Thursday-Just for Fun Edition

July 25, 2013 by pictureperfectcooking

C has been a comic book fan for years so we decided to check out a comic convention in our area.  We went to one in Lexington, KY, a couple of months ago and enjoyed it, but it was so crowded that it was almost overwhelming.

Louisville, KY hosted its own Derby City Comicon on June 29th, so we went to check it out.  It didn’t seem to be nearly as big or well attended as the one in Lexington, but it was still fun.  I am not that knowledgeable about the characters that were popular.  I was always an Archie comics fan myself and you just don’t see much of that anymore.  Hmmm, I am getting old!

It was a beautiful day to get out and do something so we were both glad that we took the time to go.  It is fun to people watch and see the different costumes that people come up with.  Here are a few of my favorite from that day:
Girlified Iron Man, Loki & Captain America from The Avengers:

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A Steampunk Wonder Woman costume: (I loved this one!  If you are wondering what “steampunk” is…it is a style combination of Victorian and industrial items.  Kinda weird, but way cool!  Go here for more steampunk inspiration.)

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A mini Darth Vader:

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One of the Mario Brothers:

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A mini (& injured) Green Lantern with his Bat Girl mom:

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Joker & Harley Quinn from Batman:

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The Riddler from Batman:

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Posted in Entertainment, Fun, My Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , |

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