Debbie Delozier :: A Casual Affair

Our family had this salad for supper last night.  The only problem with it was that J and the teenager were fighting over the last bit of salad on the platter.

These are the ingredients you’ll need to make a meal for 4 normal appetites: (note:  normally I would have removed the membranes from the orange, but I had a hungry family)

¼ cup jellied cranberry sauce
¼ cup orange marmalade
¼ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup canola or olive oil
2 tblsp lemon vodka
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
¾ tsp sea salt
¾ tsp lemon pepper
10 oz bag European blend salad greens
½ cup dried cranberries
2 cups orange segments (you could dice these if you like)
2 tblsp orange zest strips (get the zest before you squeeze the juice)

This is how I made it:

Combine the cranberry sauce and the orange marmalade in a small saucepan.  Warm, over low heat, and stir until melted and well blended.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the lime juice, orange juice and oil.
Remove a ½ cup of the mixture and set in the refrigerator to dress the salad later.

Allow the remaining mixture to cool, then stir in the lemon vodka.  Season the chicken breasts with the sea salt and the lemon pepper.  Pour the cranberry mixture into a large plastic bag, add the chicken breasts and seal.  Refrigerator for at least an hour, turning occasionally.

When you’re ready, preheat the grill to medium heat.  Remove the chicken from the bag and discard the marinade.  Grill the chicken for 5 minutes, turn and continue cooking until the you get a reading of 165 degrees with a meat thermometer.  Remove the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for about 5 minutes while you make the salad.

For the salad; combine the salad greens, the cranberries and the orange segments.  Pour the reserved citrus marinade (dressing now) over the salad and toss to lightly coat.

You can do this on one large platter or you can divide the salad between 4 serving plates.
Top the salad with the sliced chicken breast and sprinkle with the orange zests.

Enjoy!!!

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Have I told you lately how wonderful my loving husband is?  Here’s the story:

Last evening the teenager and I attended Ash Wednesday services at our church along with my beautifully voiced sister-in-love Debbie (who sang along with the other Women of the Well) and my sweet mother-in-love Ruth and my getting stronger and healthier everyday father-in-love Jerry.  Loving hubby J called me as I was getting ready to leave the house and said he didn’t think he would be going to the services.  He said he had just noticed that things around the office were really starting to bug him and he thought he might be a bit on the gripey side.  So, I left the house and met the teenager at the church (she’d had youth group after school and remained at the church afterward).

The services, as always, lead us into these thought provoking, soul searching, seeking a closer relationship with our Lord days of Lent.  The teenager and I left the services a little on the giggly side as my sweet, wise-cracking teenager had to point out that I had a little somethin’ somethin’ on my forehead.

Note:  for those who have never attended an Ash Wednesday service, our pastor marks a cross with ashes (from the burnt palms from last year’s Palm Sunday service) and cinnamon oil on our foreheads symbolizing that we belong to our Christ who died on the cross for our sins; for from ashes we come and to ashes we will return.

We didn’t leave the church until just before 7 so I needed to get home and get supper started.  I’d planned on having beef tacos with all the toppings, refried beans and spanish rice.  I had cleaned the lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, etc for the tacos and had them sitting in the fridge ready to chop and the rice was sitting on the counter ready to prepare when I returned home.

When I walked in the door I could smell the rice cooking and I heard J working away at the counter.  Within 10 minutes of my return home we were all sitting at the family table holding hands and saying Grace.

So, in case I haven’t told you lately (or you either Sweetie);  I have a wonderful husband that I adore.

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Our meatless meal this last week was this vegetable stir-fry.  The teenager and I had our chopsticks in hand (J prefers his fork) and we all dug in and enjoyed this meal.  It is quick, well except for the chopping of the veggies, nutritious, pretty and very tasty.  The original recipe did not add carrots nor broccoli florets, but as you are well aware I can not leave an original recipe alone.  So I added the extras and then adjusted the sauce amounts so that it would suit the rest of the ingredients.  This recipe will serve 4 very healthy appetites.

If you like Asian type foods I think you will enjoy this.

Get your knife out and start chopping:

1 lb fresh asparagus, trim the stems and cut into 1” pieces
3/4 cup broccoli florets
½ cup sliced carrots
½ cup chopped green onion
½ cup chopped sweet red bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

The other ingredients you will need are:

1 1/2 tsp canola oil
3 tblsp cornstarch
2 ¼  cups vegetable broth (feel free to use chicken broth if that is what you have)
4 ½  tblsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 – 1 ½  tsp gingerroot, minced or ½  tsp ground ginger
¾ cup cashews
4 cups hot cooked rice (I soaked Basmati rice all day to use in this recipe, but brown rice would be yummy)
In  large skillet (or wok, I purchased this one at the Asian Market in Tulsa, I think it was around $12) saute the asparagus, broccoli, carrots, onions, red pepper & garlic.

Combine the cornstarch, broth, soy sauce & ginger until blended;  add to the skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, this will take about 2-3 minutes.   Reduce your heat, add the cashews. Cook another 2 minutes until thick and heated through.

When you first pour the sauce in it is going to look like the vegetables are swimming drowning, but everything is going to be fine once the sauce thickens up.

Once the sauce has thickened serve it over the hot rice.

Did you notice (in the first 2 pictures) my very, very long chopsticks?    Your assignment is to leave me a comment, tell me how long you think the chops sticks are and I will send a set to the person who comes closest.  The deadline is Saturday at noon (this gives those people who have an actual paying job out of the house a chance to read their favorite blogs (surely this is their most favorite) and post their guess.

I hope you’ll give this dish a try.  If you do, let me know what you think and any ingredients you added (I would have put in water chestnuts but that silly teenager of mine doesn’t really care for them).  Also, think ahead (I didn’t) and get some fortune cookies, they always add a few laughs to any Asian dinner.

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As most of you know, I’ve sort of been a Debbie of All Trades throughout the last 30 years.  I worked for the family chemical business for 13 years (my father-in-law put me to work less than 3 months after J and I were married).  I’ve been a stay-at-home mom to our 2 beautiful, happy, wise-cracking daughters.   I volunteered at our elementary school for 4 years, being 1 of the first 2 members of the Century Club (meaning I had put in over 100 hours of volunteering to help children with their reading, math, etc.).  Volunteering led to subbing for 3 or 4 years.  I’ve taken oil painting classes (many, many moons ago), ceramic classes, stained glass classes and have, in the last 3 or so years, been a caterer.

One of the many highlights of all of this was meeting Trenton.  I met Trenton when he was in elementary school and I was subbing for the special needs children.  Trenton was always happy and helpful as I remember.  I hadn’t thought of Trenton in many years, until my friend Sarah sent me this email this morning.   Go here to meet Trenton (you will have to watch the Cox commercial first).

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This is a “baked” Swiss Steak.  I emphasize baked because I have always simmered mine on top of the range before now.  You can tell by the picture I cut my steak into strips; you don’t have to do this, you can leave yours in individual steaks for serving.  I also served mine over rice because we like rice (a lot) but you could serve this over egg noodles if you like (as if you need permission from me, you can serve it on anything you want and you don’t even have to tell me what you served it on).

Gather up these ingredients:  (this amount will serve 4)

1 lb tenderized, boneless round steak (or cube steaks)
4 tlbsp all purpose flour, divided
1 tsp salt
4 tblsp olive oil
2 (14.5) cans stewed tomatoes
¾ cup chopped carrot
½ cup chopped celery
2 tblsp chopped onion
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

Cut the round steak into 4 portions; pound to 1/4-in. thickness. Combine 2 tablespoon flour and salt; coat meat on both sides.

In a skillet, brown meat in oil. Transfer meat to a greased shallow 2-qt. baking dish; set aside.

To the pan drippings, add tomatoes, carrot, celery, onion, Worcestershire sauce and remaining flour.  Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes.

  Pour this over the meat.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 1-1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.  At this point the “original” recipe (the one I found and adjusted to our liking) said to cover with shredded cheese and return to oven until melted then to serve it.  Although we (especially the teenager) are a cheese loving family I really don’t think this recipe needs cheese, but if you would like to try it go ahead and let me know what you think, maybe I’ll try it that way next time.

Hope you enjoy this, we sure did.

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Free your heart from hatred – Forgive.

Free your mind from worries – Most never happen.

Live simply and appreciate what you have.

Give more.

Expect less

These may be called “Simple Rules” but we all know:

forgiving isn’t always easy to do even when the forgiver is the one that benefits;

you can tell yourself to stop worrying, but that is easier said than done;

living simply isn’t always an easy thing to do;

giving is easy, “more” sometimes is hard to do;

expect less  – of ourselves -  of others -  of life;   toughest rule of them all?

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We’ve had a busy weekend;  our first steps starting us down the road for a busy week I suppose.

Friday evening J and the teenager went over to J’s parent’s apartment to get their television scanned for these new digital channels.  J also picked up a shirt (a gift) that Dad needed to have exchanged in Tulsa and since we were going we said we’d do it for him.

On Saturday we did a few things around the house before heading to Tulsa and our errands of exchanging, shopping, hopefully J getting us a bite of lunch, getting a few kitchen design ideas on cabinets, counters, and new appliances, and stop to get a few groceries to restock the pantry, the fridge and make it possible to cook for my scheduled meals.

We did stop for a bite of lunch at Los Cabos in Broken Arrow (we were at Bass Pro anyway).  J and I had eaten at Los Cabos in Jenks many years ago and wasn’t that impressed with it.  We keep hearing people go on and on about it, so we thought we’d give it another chance.  We tried this earlier this winter when J, the teenager, the young married couple and I were going to grab a bite there.  The wait was 45 minutes and they closed in an hour so we decided to do it another time.  Yesterday turned out to be the day.  We walked in, sat right down on the glassed in patio (looks like in the summer the windows raise ((I think they are on garage door type doors)) and then you’re eating by the lake), ordered drinks and the Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes as an appetizer.

not a fantastic picture as it was taken with my phone camera.  It is a sweet, moist cornbread topped with cilantro cream, spicy guacamole and salsa verde.  It was quite tasty.

J ordered a chicken chimichanga, I had the flautas and the teenager had a taco salad.  Everything was good, but it definitely does not replace our favorite Mexican restaurant.

We ended up not getting to run by the grocery store as working with the Lowe’s design team and designing the layout of cabinets, etc for our dream kitchen took a little longer than expected.  We ended up having lunch out but also having to have supper out too before getting home after dark.

My dad called me while we were in town and said he thought he’d cook Sunday lunch so that we could all get together for my baby brother’s 37th birthday.  He said he’d cook it and bring it all to my house after church.

Sunday we hurried home from church, my sister showed up a bit later, then Mom and Daddy with a pork roast, potatoes, carrots, green beans, corn, and a birthday cake with ice cream.  Yummy!  Just a bit later my brother, his wife and our baby Courtney arrived.  After birthday cake and ice cream we all sat around, visited and let Courtney entertain us.  Believe you me, she was very entertaining.  She loves Aunt Debbie’s jewelry as you can see.

After our company left J and I left for the grocery store.  We didn’t make it back in time to get everything put away, have dinner and make it to the church for the Women of the Well program, but that gave us a little time to relax through the evening and rejuvenate ourselves for the busy week ahead.

Now I need to go put a roast in the crockpot so that it can cook overnight so I can bbq it for Tuesday’s Rotary lunch.  Tomorrow I will make coleslaw and strawberry cream cheese cupcakes.  I need to have everything ready early Tuesday morning as I have a previous engagement before setting up the Rotary lunch, so if I have it all prepared it will be a lot easier to complete all the tasks I have scheduled for that day.

So, now I better get cookin’.

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The Greats would be my great nieces, and of course their mom and dad too.  They have been visiting from Boston this week.  Our nephew, Chris (J’s sister’s son) left Nowata many years ago to attend school at M.I.T.  As often happens when the kids are off at school, he met someone.  That someone is now our Alice as Chris and Alice have been married about 12 years now and have blessed our extended family with two more little girls:  Emily (the oldest) and Eva.  Here they are pictured with J’s mom and dad (the girls call them GGMa and GGPa; as in GreatGrandma and GreatGrandpa.  Just too cute, isn’t it).

They were all leaving for home this morning so Debbie & Mike hosted a “come and see the kids/pizza night” last night.  Most of the family were there, we missed a few (Cale, Lacey, Graham, Cass & Travis).  I hear through Facebook Cale may have been off visiting a girlfriend, Cass and Travis were at a big to-do for Travis’ mom who was receiving Broken Arrow’s Teacher of the Year Award and Lacey may have just been trying to keep Graham away from germs and all since he is due for a heart procedure in the near future.  Whatever the reason, they were missed.

I was not able to get a snapshot of Chris and Alice, either I was off visiting or they were, but I did get quite a few of the girls.

Here they are with our teenager:

Here the girls are with their Grandma and Grandpa (Debbie & Mike):      

Debbie and Mike have a wonderful time when the kids are all here.  They only get to see them 2 (maybe 3) times a year, so they try to fit lots of extra loving, hugs and kisses into those few hours and days.  You can see how much they love getting to be with them.

Of course we all love getting to see the girls, but as they don’t get to see us very much we are, more or less, strangers to them.  Emily is getting old enough to remember us from one time to the next (as we don’t see them but once a year most years).  I try to send them little gifts as a reminder of me off and on during the year.  It must work a little as both Emily and Eva gave me hugs (without urging them) when we left last night. They hugged the teenager too, but then everyone loves the teenager;  she is just so loveable.

I’ve been working on kitchen design ideas for our new build on.  J called a contractor yesterday and he is supposed to come tomorrow and look around and hear our ideas so he can give us a price, hopefully it will be one within our budget (you know, deep down I’m pretty cheap and will change to something that “will work” rather than go over budget). So I best be getting back to my design ideas.

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I’ve been posting recipes lately; and nothing else, so I thought I’d catch you up on what is going on in Watova the last few days.

Today they are clearing out the old house across the street.  It has been an eye-sore for years now.  The house, it’s roof, the septic, etc has been so horrible I don’t know how the last few families that have lived there actually did live there.   For the last couple of months our local fire department and area fire departments have been using it as a fire/rescue house.  They would start small (smoldering) fires inside and then practice their rescue missions, etc.  It was really cool to watch.  You can check out a few photos I took while they were practicing;  just click up on the photo gallery and check out the Fire Rescue House.

Sunday after church and a lunch of cold chicken, a salad and fruit, J, the teenager and myself left for Oklahoma City.  J had some business there on Monday morning, the teenager didn’t have school and my schedule is usually somewhat flexible.  We called our friends Jim and Linda, told them we’d be in the “city” and would like to have dinner.  Fortunately they are spontaneous people just like we are (maybe that’s why we’re friends).    After checking into the hotel and relaxing a bit we met our friends for a long, chatty, yummy dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

Monday morning J went about his business in the city, the teenager slept and I did my clerical work which I, knowing I would have a few hours in the morning,  had taken along.  J arrived back at the hotel just as the teenager and I had finished getting dressed and packed up.  Of course, you know I can’t leave the city without going by the Asian market while I’m there.  I just can’t do it.  While we were there I bought 2 steam-boat pots for the oldest daughter, some fruit drinks for the teenager.

Personally, I don’t think these taste that great but the teenager likes them.  She may actually like them because the bottle itself is sealed with a marble.  See how the neck of the bottle is shaped?  You unwrap the top, push the marble through the plastic ring and then when you drink it you have to turn the bottle so that the marble gets caught in one of those pockets on the side so that you can drink from the top of the bottle.  Jim and Linda’s grandson, Josh introduced the teenager to these one time when we went to the market and now she purchases them every single time we go.

We also purchased a little pack of candy because one of the boxes looked somewhat like the Bazooka Bubble Gum package:

See the one there, the blue and red one, it sort of reminds you of the Bazooka Bubble Gum package.  The teenager tried one of them and said it sort of tasted like the Bazooka gum then she tried one of the other boxes and said it was okay.  As for me, and because I can’t read Chinese, I opened one of the boxes and it had 4 or 5 little round balls that looked sort of like little jaw breakers;  I ate 2 of them before I realized it was gum.  Ha!  Hope it doesn’t take me 14 years to get rid of those 2 little gum balls.

We also purchased a Chinese grapefruit:    these babies are huge.  One of the men at the market told us how to prepare it.  He told us they are sweeter than the grapefruits we are used to here, so we were really excited to try it out.  We picked a firm one (as told) let it set in a sunny window for a couple of days to soften (as told), then yesterday I peeled it.

You can see the skin is very thick. 

You can see it is much larger than our Texas grapefruit that we are used too around here.  But it is not as juicy as our luciuos Texas variety.

The gentleman told me to take the peel and membranes off then to put the actual fruit in a bowl of water and refrigerate it.  He said he like it cold better than room temperature.  So, I stuck this fella here on the left and a few of his friends in a bowl with cold water and let them chill (thats chill as in chillin’ not chill as in getting cold, haha) in the fridge for a few hours before dinner.

The teenager didn’t care for it, J doesn’t care for grapefruit period (Texas nor Asian) and I think it’s okay.  It’s different, it is a tad bit sweeter so those who put sugar on their grapefruit might like it;  however I’m a salt on my grapefruit person, so I like the tartness of our Texas brand.

At any rate, it was fun to try something different;  and now I can say we’ve had one.

Wednesday I went to Tulsa to have my eyes checked again.  I can report that my eyes have healed fantastically since the laser surgery.  Dr. Wofford said I have a speck of haze left on the left eye that should go away in the next few days at the most.  The right eye is perfectly healed and I am seeing 20/20 out of each eye.  Let me tell you, if you are considering the laser surgery, do it.  You’ll be so glad you did.  I am so glad that I did.  My only regret:  not having it done 15 or 20 years ago.

Tonight we’re going over to J’s sister’s house, her son, his wife and their 2 daughters have been here visiting from the Boston area for the last week.  This is their last night before jumping back on the plane in the morning, so we’re going to get some hugs and kisses.

So, that’s how it has been around here;  I’ve left out boring details – the teenager’s research paper, J sleeping on the couch because my allergies are so bad and I’ve been snoring, very loudly I’m told, and all the other day to day details.  Now I’m off to take some allergy medicine again.

Love and Sneezes

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Well, dairy-free except for the handful of grated cheese I threw on top because we are a cheese-loving family.

These are so yummy, you will never miss the milk; cross my heart, hope to die, you will not miss it.

Here’s what you’ll need to make these creamy tasting spuds:

5 large potatoes
¾ cup sliced onion
3 tblsp margarine
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 ¾ cup low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
2 tlbsp lite mayonnaise
¾ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Paprika for the top if you like (or a handful of grated cheese if you have a family like mine)

Now that you have everything gathered up, let’s get to work.   Preheat the oven to 325.  Peel and wash the potatoes, slice them into thin slices, then slice the onion into thin slices also.  Layer the potatoes and onion in a greased baking dish.

Make a rue in a saucepan (melt the margarine and stir in the flour until smooth).  Gradually add the broth, the mayonnaise, the salt and pepper.  Cook and stir until thick and bubbly; this will take about 2 minutes.  Pour this over the potato and onion slices in the baking dish.  Sprinkle with paprika (or the cheese), cover with foil and bake for 2 hours or until tender.

Yes, 2 hours is a long time, but take the time, these are so totally worth it and your family will thank you (if you allow them to talk with their mouthes full).  I paired these potatoes with the 2 day brisket and it made for a wonderful meal.  If you’re serving more than 6 for dinner (or you want leftovers) double this recipe.  If time is an issue, you can prepare these the day (or evening) before, cover and refrigerate and bake them the next day.

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