Sunday, July 11, 2010

Contest and Review at A Pocket Full of Buttons for a Flirty Aprons

4 comments Posted by Marisa Lyn at 5:42 PM

Ok so I was just sitting here today at my computer looking up recipes and surfing twitter and I came across a giveaway. Now I am always ready to enter giveaways to try and win so when I saw a tweet from someone I had just started following on twitter whose blog I had begun following the other day I decided to check it out. The giveaway is at A Pocket Full of Buttons for Flirty Aprons and it drew my interest.

Now I must tell you I don’t normally wear an apron when I cook because I could never find one that fit me right or because it was not very stylish. However the aprons I saw at the Flirty Aprons website are so cute and stylish I couldn’t resist entering. Flirty Aprons also sales aprons for men and for children as well. As I am torn between two different aprons if I am lucky enough to win I will most certainly be buying the other. But go and check them out yourself.

If you go right over to A Pocket Full of Buttons-Flirty Apron Review and Giveaway you can enter as well. The review of these aprons is very informative and seems very honest and that’s what caught my attention. Below are the two aprons I really liked. So go right over and check them out for yourself.

The design is called Cherry Blossom

This design is called Chic Pink

Good luck to everyone who enters.

*Please note that all attached photos are the property of Flirty Aprons.*

 

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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Getting Back to the Business of Writing

6 comments Posted by Marisa Lyn at 8:55 AM

Ok it’s been over a month since I wrote my last post and yes I am well over due for a new one. I have been doing a lot of experimenting on recipes and taking a lot of pictures but did not feel I was ready to write up a post on the various recipes I’ve been working on. Weather it’s because I felt I wasn’t ready or I was not inspired enough to write I have to push past those feelings or I feel I will never write again. So here it goes.

Mini Ham and Cream Cheese Sammys made from rolls made from Grandma May’s roll recipe

Lately I’ve ventured back to the passion I had when I was a teen which is baking but I have been exploring the world of homemade as apposed to semi-homemade and it all began with my Grandma Mary’s dinner roll recipe. Before I ventured into the world of food blogging I had a resurgence of a desire to really cook by learning as much as I could about ingredients, food production and how everything works together. I have had a desire to work more with locally grown foods and products. Although I love making things from scratch I do believe there is a place for pre-made products such as mixes and seasoning packets as much of my readers already know. I choose to embrace both aspects of the food world as I am not a food snob. There’s a place for everything and everything has its place.

So this post will be the introduction to a new aspect of food exploration. I like to find out how versatile a recipe is and how many different ways I can change it and still keep it the same if you know what I mean. Just like Alton Brown feels about multi tasking utensils in the kitchen I feel the same with recipes. I know that not all recipes can be multi taskers but the ones that are will be used more in my kitchen than the others because they are more versatile. I am a simple cook although I am sure I can tackle a complex recipe with no problem. I love to explore the dishes that are from the home and then see if they can be changed in any way to accommodate different tastes or occasion.


Chicken Pancakes made from using a basic home made pancake mix

Most of us have had pancakes at one time or another and most use a prepackage pancake mix, as I used to myself but every since the first time I made pancakes from scratch I have not purchase any pancake mixes. With this simple recipe I was able to come up with my loaded chicken pancakes which I have been told look a lot like a fritter. This is what I am talking about when I say a versatile recipe. What else can I do with it? What other I direction can I take? Can this recipe be used as a substitute for a fancier recipe? Asking questions is my way of exploring the world of cooking and food.

I hope you will stay with me as I post up my explorations.



 

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Saturday, May 22, 2010

The Bread Art Project

6 comments Posted by Marisa Lyn at 8:03 PM

Below is the bread art I created in support of The Bread Art Project by the Grain Foods Foundation to support Share Our Strength. This toast is call Yo-Yo Mania.


This spring the Grain Foods Foundation is teaming up with Share Our Strength® in their efforts to end childhood hunger in America by 2015.

Share Our Strength helps to close gaps between nutritious food programs and families in need. Join us as we support them in their efforts to end childhood hunger through their program Operation No Kid Hungry™, by creating art at breadartproject.com. The Grain Foods Foundation will donate $50,000 to Share Our Strength and will make an additional $1 donation for every piece of Bread Art submitted and approved, up to a maximum donation of $100,000, now through June 30, 2010.Create Bread Art. We'll donate $1 to Share Our Strength.

 

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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Bento #17

4 comments Posted by Marisa Lyn at 9:08 AM


Bento #17 was from Sunday dinner. I know it was Mother’s Day but we didn’t do anything special. I had been retrying recipes for homemade tortillas and I finally got one that worked for me. So I decided to make a stir fry and have tacos for dinner. The stir fry was very simple consisting chicken, chopped broccoli, chopped red bell peppers and shredded carrots with a little soy sauce.

Now for the bento. In the bottom part I had mini chicken stir fry tacos, mini homemade tortilla chips and tamagoyaki with harvest dill seasoning. In the top part I had watermelon and strawberries for dessert. This dinner was very simple but very filling.

So until my next bento, Itadaki masu!

 

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Friday, May 7, 2010

Bento #16

8 comments Posted by Marisa Lyn at 9:51 AM


Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day here. The sun was out the temp was just right. So I decided to make a lunch that I though would be great for a picnic bento. All the items in the bento are what I think of as standard picnic foods. Normally I would have the broccoli raw with other salad items or a dip but I thought about these broccoli bites I like to make when we have movie night.

The broccoli bites look very much like they are tempura broccoli and in a way they are. I have tried to cook them using a tempura batter but they never came out right. So one day I was frying some chicken strips where I coat them with flour then drench them in an egg and water mix then back in the flour before frying them. Well I wondered if this technique would work on broccoli too. I took several florets out of the freezer and followed my technique and they came out so delicious. If you think about it I am using the same ingredients for the tempura batter only in a different way. I believe in whatever works better for you is how you should cook.

For yesterdays lunch bento I kept it very simple with my picnic food. In the bottom tray I had fried chicken strips, tempura (my way) broccoli, two small square onigiri flavored with Hidden Valley Ranch Harvest Dill Dip Mix. In the top tray I had chunks of sweet watermelon and 4 oatmeal raisin cookies.

So until my next bento, Itadaki masu!

 

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