The Best Day of My Life

April 24, 1999 was the best day of my life.  That day, my son Jonah was born.  I thought I knew what love was until that day.  When Jonah came into my life, I quickly realized that I possessed a love that I had never experienced before.

 

 

As Jonah grew, I tried to show him the most important things in life:  God and family.  I'm still working on getting him to realize that importance of God in his life.  I think he understands that family is important.

Tonette watched Jonah until he was 2.  Jonah and Dominic became so close.

Spending time with his cousin Dominic, playing with dinosaurs.  Jonah knew

everything about dinosaurs when he was 3.

 Jonah loved Buzz Lightyear!

Everyday, he would dress up in a superhero costume!

Although time has gone so fast, my love for him grows stronger everyday (even though he is an annoying teenager).

 

As my relationship with God grows stronger, it amazes me that He loves all of us even more than my love for Jonah!  That is amazing!

Picking "hapatos" with Nonnu

I think of how lucky I was growing up - having such a loving family.  It makes me so sad to realize that there are so many children without parents that care, parents that want to spend time with their child. 

Jonah's first day of Kindergarten

This past year I lost my dad and a dear friend Keith.  Life goes by so fast and change in an instant.  Cherish your loved ones and never take them for granted.  

Jonah and I when we got married to Joe.

It is so easy for me to get distracted by my computer, phone, Facebook, television, books.  God and family are what is important.  I pray to God that He helps me remember my priorities and helps me be the best mother I can be.

Jonah-4th grade talent show

He sang Hungry Like a Wolf!

 Jonah challenges me everyday.  God give me strength.  He pushes boundaries.  God give me strength.  He is moody.  God give me strength.  He is still the most important person to me.  God give me strength.  Jonah is a wonderful young man.  God give me strength.  He is smart and good looking too (some say he takes after his mother).  God give me strength.

 

 

Happy birthday my dear sweet boy.  God give me strength.

 

Tried and True Recipes #10

Hello to all!  I hope you had a fabulous week!  It was a busy one - my son turned 14!

He is a young man now..............time goes by so fast!

This week we had some great recipes again!  Here are a few of my favorites:

Streamliner Cake by Yesterfood

Turkey Meatloaf by My Turn For Us

Asian Roast Beef by A View From the Pew

Thanks for linking up everyone!  I think it is time to shake things up.  I'm wondering if anyone would like to co-host the party next week.  If we can share our readers, maybe we can expand the party a little bit.  I don't want it to get too big, but a few more recipes would help us all!  Email me at:  rediscovermom@yahoo.com if you want to co-host.

Don't forget to grab a button and spread the news of the blog hop!

Remember the rules:

1. Link up a family recipe or craft
2. Please follow my blog - I'll follow you back
3. Please link to this post in your blogs-there is a button on my sidebar to make it easy
4. No spam, contests or giveaways please
5. Please note that by linking up your posts and projects you are giving me permission to use your photos in the featured posts and possibly on my social media outlets. All photos will be linked back to your sites and your posts
6. Visit at least two of the links and comment on the page so the blogger knows you visited

At the end of the week, I will pick out a few of my favorites! Spread the word - there are so many great blogs out there. Let's learn from each other!

Seafood Risotto

Italians love risotto-a hearty, thick rice.  This version includes seafood - some of my favorites!  I made my own seafood stock and included some other goodies to finish off the dish.

Here are the ingredients for the risotto:

Stock:

Shells of shrimp and crab
2 carrots, chopped into large hunks
2 ribs of celery, chopped into large hunks
1 onion, quartered
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 lemons, quartered
2 teaspoons fennel seed
2 teaspoons peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
Handful of parsley sprigs

Other Ingredients:

 2 cups Arborio rice
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
Pinch of saffron threads
12 large sea scallops
12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound crab meat
1 cup frozen peas
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 shallots, diced fine
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

To begin, steam the crab legs and remove the meat.  Keep the shells for the stock and set the crab meat aside, until you are ready to add it to the risotto.

Take all of the stock ingredients and simmer for 2-3 hours.  If you feel your stock needs some extra zip, you can add dried mushrooms or some chicken base/bouillon. When the stock in done, strain the solids from the liquids.  Keep the liquid and discard the solids.  Put the hot stock back on the stove, on low heat.

In a sauce pan, saute the shallots, mushrooms and peas with a little olive oil and butter (about 1 tablespoon each).

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and add the olive oil.  Add the rice and let it toast for a few minutes.

While that is toasting, take 1/2 cup of the hot stock and add a pinch of saffron threads to it.  Let that sit until ready to add to the rice.

When the rice has absorbed the olive oil and butter, add the wine, making sure it cooks out, before going on to the next step.

Once the wine has cooked out, add ladle fulls of hot stock, stirring constantly.   As the liquid cooks down, add more.  This process will take 25 minutes, or until the rice is al dente.

In the meantime, take a saute pan and get it really hot.  Pat your scallops dry and season with salt and pepper.  Add a touch of olive oil and add the scallops.  The scallops should sizzle when putting them in the pan.  The scallops should only cook for 2 minutes on each side.  Scallops should still be opaque in the center when finished cooking.

When the scallops are cooked, set aside and saute the shrimp.  The shrimp should only take a few minutes, or until pink.


When your rice is al dente, and most of the liquid has cooked down, add the mushrooms, shallots, peas, crab meat, parsley, Parmesan cheese and cream.  Put a portion on the plate, and add scallops and shrimp on top.

This recipe is labor intensive, but the results are well worth it.  This is a restaurant quality dish- bring it out when you want to impress someone!  This serves 4-6 people.

Mangia!

Cinnamon Crunch Muffies!

Have you ever eaten a Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagel?  It is heavenly.  I like bagels, but I like muffins better, so I set out to recreate the crunch topping from the bagel and add it to a muffie (muffin top).  These muffies turned out great and they were so easy to make!

Here are the ingredients for the crunch topping:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup cinnamon

Here are the ingredients for the muffies:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

Begin by mixing the ingredients for the muffies.  Using a mixer, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Add salt, cinnamon and baking powder.  Add the two eggs.  Slowly, add the flour, alternating with the milk.

Next, melt the butter for the crunch topping.  Add the sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Add a little of the crunch topping to the bottom of your muffie pan.

 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until the muffies are brown and the top is crunchy!  YUM!

Enjoy!

Chicken Gyros

I love gyros!  If you haven't had one, find the nearest Greek restaurant and go!  Greek restaurants have this heat lamp/broiler that cooks the meat that has been layered on a spit.  The meat is then shaved off and served on pita bread, with tangy tzatziki sauce - LOVE!

I do not have a spit or a heat lamp to make authentic gyros.  However, this recipe allows anyone to make flavorful gyros.

Here are the ingredients for the marinade:

4 chicken breasts
4 lemons
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons oregano
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Tzatziki Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
8 ounces Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped mint
Salt and pepper to taste

Other ingredients:  Pita bread, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sliced red onion, feta crumbles

To begin, cut the chicken into long strips.  Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl.  Leave the lemons in the bowl after they are squeezed.  Add the rest of the marinade ingredients.  Let the chicken marinate for one hour.

Assemble all of the tzatziki sauce ingredients in a bowl.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Mai is grating the cucumber for the tzatziki sauce

Grill the chicken

Gather a few extra items for the gyros:  tomatoes, lettuce, red onion, feta cheese

Roll the ingredients with the pita bread, like a taco, and chow down!

Check out this great recipe for Home Made Pita Bread

Mangia!

Pita Bread

I love experimenting with making breads.  I love learning about breads from other cultures.  One of my favorite breads to eat is pita bread - a flat bread popular in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries.

Here are the ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
3 1/2 - 4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil

To begin, put 1/2 cup warm water, salt, sugar, and yeast in a mixing bowl.  Wait a few minutes and make sure that your yeast is active.  You will know it is active because the mixture will start to bubble or foam up.

Once you know your yeast is active, slowly add the flour, olive oil and water, alternating between them.

Once the dough balls up on your dough hook, it is ready.  Put the dough in a well oiled bowl.  Set the bowl in a warm place and cover it with a towel.  Let the dough rise for 30 minutes.

Punch the dough down and break into 8-10 smaller pieces.  Roll the small pieces out, using flour to keep the dough from sticking.

Heat a cast iron skillet.  Put a little oil so that the bread doesn't stick as it cooks.  Brown the bread on each side and keep warm until serving.

For a healthier version or to allow the bread to form a "pocket," place in the oven to cook.  The bread will bubble up and form a pocket.  You can stuff the pocket with goodies.  I cooked mine with the cast iron skillet because I used the bread to make gyros!

Enjoy!

Tried and True Recipes #9

What a crazy week!  We had several days of torrential rain and my basement flooded!  As I speak I can take a deep whiff of....................moldy, wet basement.  UGGHHH!

Needless to say, I haven't done a lot of cooking this week.  Instead I've been going through boxes, and throwing out things I should have gotten rid of a long time ago.

Anyway, I your week was better than mine.  Last week I put out a challenge for you.  If you brought a friend to the blog, you and your friend would be eligible for a gift card.  Thanks to all of you that participated!

The winners are......................Beth from The View From the Pew and Lucy from Coffee With Us 3.  Congratulations ladies!  I will be emailing you the details of your prize!

Now, onto the featured recipes.  Once again, I learned so much from you.  I loved reading about the Russian piroshki, making your own sausage, the chicken ravioli, and the rice from Sierra Leone!  You are all so talented - every.single.one.of.you!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Taco Pizza from One Organic Mama

Lumpia from Spatulas On Parade

Toffee Apple Tartlets from With A Blast

OK, ladies - it's time for a new week!

Don't forget to grab a button and spread the news of the blog hop!

Remember the rules:

1. Link up a family recipe or craft
2. Please follow my blog - I'll follow you back
3. Please link to this post in your blogs-there is a button on my sidebar to make it easy
4. No spam, contests or giveaways please
5. Please note that by linking up your posts and projects you are giving me permission to use your photos in the featured posts and possibly on my social media outlets. All photos will be linked back to your sites and your posts
6. Visit at least two of the links and comment on the page so the blogger knows you visited

At the end of the week, I will pick out a few of my favorites! Spread the word - there are so many great blogs out there. Let's learn from each other!

Smoked Chicken

Last summer I purchased a Brinkmann smoker.

It is my favorite gadget!  I love putting some meat in the smoker and walking away.  Letting the meat cook slowly, on a low heat, produces some of the juiciest, most flavorful meat I've ever tasted.  My absolute favorite meat to smoke is chicken!

It is so easy to make!  First thing you must do is start a charcoal fire in the bottom chamber of the smoker.

Determine what type of wood you want to put on top of the fire.  I like to use apple wood, mesquite or hickory.  Soak whatever wood you want to use in water.

In the smoker, there is a pan for water.  I like to put onions, lemons and other herbs and spices in this pan to give the meat some extra flavor and aroma.

What makes smoked so flavorful is the spice rub you put on the meat before putting it in the smoker.  I used the following for the chicken:
 
1 teaspoon zesty pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika

Combine the spices and rub all over the chicken.

Put the chicken on the smoker, put the lid on and walk away! 

The chicken will need to stay in the smoker for 6-8 hours, or until the chicken registers 180 degrees, using a meat thermometer.

My smoker has a gauge that I can use to make sure I keep it at ideal temperature (around 220 degrees).  Every few hours I add a few charcoal briquettes and some wet wood to keep the smoke going.

The skin on the chicken is crispy and the meat is extra juicy!  It is one of my favorite meals to cook!

Enjoy!