from city to shore …

Just a few shots from a recent trip to the beach.  The sky was just so full of these huge white clouds.  I’ll let the photos do the talking today.  Enjoy!

Best,

Stephanie

 

a few I missed …

I just came across these shots I missed a few weeks ago when I was on my blog break.  Even if I’m not blogging, I’m almost always taking photographs.   My daughter and I walked took a long walk that day - over 40 blocks.  Phew! 

The first two photos are in Central Park.   I can’t encourage you enough to walk through the many different areas of the Park.  Nearly every walkway has something you would enjoy seeing. 

     

These next two are a reminder to keep looking up in NYC.   There is so much neat and varied architecture.   This church on the Upper West Side could have been in England.

 

Bringing the farmers market to NYC…  This was a weekly event at Rockefeller Center.   If it weren’t raining and I had more time,  I definitely would have shopped more!

And finally, palm trees in Rockefeller Center.   I thought it was neat to see a palm tree and a skyscraper in the same frame.   Not something you see everyday.

Hope you enjoyed taking a walk with me!

Best,
Stephanie 

a heart and a quote for friday …

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I loved this hydrangea – it looked just like a heart to me.   Hope you see something beautiful today.  Have a great weekend, my friends!

Best,
Stephanie

dinner in a hurry …

Okay, so I am clearly not a food photographer, especially with the camera and editing issues I’ve been having.  But trust me, this one looked way better in person and it’s delicious.  It is one of my go-to meals year round whenever I need dinner in a hurry or I don’t want to turn the oven on.   A meal the whole family will eat, in less than 15 minutes?  I’m so there.  It’s too easy to even call a recipe, but here goes:

BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad

1/2-1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce, depending on amount of chicken used

Chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

Your favorite salad fixings (I used lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onions)

1/2-1 cup of corn, cooked and cooled

Shredded Cheese (I used the 4 cheese blend here) 

Ranch dressing

1.   In a medium to large saucepan, heat up enough BBQ sauce over medium high heat to coat the chicken.   For a family of 4, I find that 1/2 a cup is generally plenty. 

2.  When the sauce is warm, add in the chicken, stirring occasionally, until cooked through.  For bite sized pieces, this is usually 10 minutes, but do check a piece for doneness before you take the chicken off the stove. 

3.   While the chicken is cooking, cook the corn, and prepare the salad.   I like to put it in a ring around the outside of the platter, and then leave a space in the center for the chicken.   This way the heat of the chicken won’t wilt your lettuce.  

4.   When the corn is cooked, run it under cold water for a bit and then drain thoroughly.    Sprinkle the corn on top of the salad.  

5.  Top the corn and salad with cheese.  

6.  When the chicken is done, put it in the center of the salad and serve with Ranch dressing.

7.  Optional:  If you want to be a little bad, this salad also works great with fried onion strips, tortilla strips or chips, or croutons. 

The nice thing about this salad is you can make it as healthy or as naughty as you’d like.   I find the salad is satisfying the way it is, so I just use a tiny bit of dressing to give it a little zest.  But the combination of flavors really works well together.

Enjoy!

Best,

Stephanie

baking!

With the cooler weather upon us, my self-imposed baking hiatus is at an end.  Last week, I made cupcakes, chocolate chip cookie-brownie bars, cinnamon rolls (and if you haven’t tried Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls, you are definitely missing out!), cookies, and homemade dinner rolls.  I was still feeling blue, and all that baking was therapeutic.   The kids and neighbors were really happy too.   It was the first time I ever made bread, and boy did this house smell good last week!

All of that baking made me think it was a good time to share with all of you two of the easiest ways to decorate a cupcake.  Take your favorite frosting, a bag for your frosting, and a 1M tip.  A 1M is a little bigger than your average frosting tip.   Set up your tip, then fill the bag half way with frosting.  The easiest way to fill the bag is to take a tall glass and “cuff” the top half of the bag over the edge.  Then fill it up to the top of the glass, take it out of the glass, twist the top closed, and pipe away.  Uniform pressure is the key to good frosting, and always remember to remove the pressure before you pull up the tip so you don’t get any “tails” or trails.   For both of these, you keep your tip straight up and down – a 90 degree angle to the top of the cupcake.

For the ice cream looking swirly top, start at the outside of the cupcake, and make a circle swirling back to where you began, and towards the center.   As you pipe towards the center, you are going to build your frosting a little over the outer row, to give it a little height.  When you get to the middle, release the pressure on the bag and then pull up slightly in the center.   That’s how you get that little “kiss” in the center.

For the rose effect, you use the same tip, but start at the center, then work your way outside in circles.  Don’t build up the frosting by overlapping like you do on the swirl one – you want it to lay flat.  The tip does all the work for you.  Just be sure to let up the pressure before you get to the very end, and then gently pull across to finish the rose.   The red streak was done by striping the inside of the bag with red gel food color, but these look just as pretty in solid colors.

Hope you all try it out!  And thank you very much to all of you for your kind words about my Godfather.  I truly appreciate it.

Best,

Stephanie

soup’s on!

Sorry about being an absentee blogger again! With the first week of school and football, softball and violin lessons starting up, it’s been busy.  And I’ve been pretty sad about the passing of my godfather.  He was absolutely an amazing man, and I think I may do a post all about him one day soon. 

On a happier note, I made my family very  happy this week, with the assistance of some good old Steak Soup.  It’s definitely a hearty soup, but a little lighter than a stew.  I topped it with homemade onion straws, but the canned ones or croutons work just as well. 

Steak Soup

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 cup onion, diced

1 tsp minced garlic

1 cup carrots, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1/2 cup of flour

1.5 qts low sodium beef broth

1.5 quarts low sodium chicken stock

2 lbs skirt or flank steak

2 cups diced Idaho potatoes

Worcestershire sauce

1.  Grill the steak to medium, cut it into bite sized pieces, and set aside.  I grill it even in the winter, but a broiler will work just as well.

2.  Heat olive oil over medium to medium high heat, in a large heavy saucepan (at least 5 quarts in size).   When heated, add in the onion and garlic, and sautee about 5 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned.

3.  Add in carrots and celery and cook a few minutes more until softened.

4.  Stir in the flour and cook another minute or so.  You want the flour to cook a bit, but you don’t want it to get dark.

5.  Add in the chicken and beef stock, and stir to mix.

6.  Toss in the steak and potatoes.

7.  Bring to a simmer, and then reduce heat to keep it at a low simmer.   Cook for 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are fork tender, but not mushy. 

8.  Add in Worcestershire sauce to taste – I use about 1 tablespoon – and then stir.  Taste for seasonings and add a dash of pepper or even Tabasco sauce if you want a little kick.

9.  Top with onions or croutons or whatever makes you happy!

Makes about 12 good sized bowls full, and it tastes just as good on day two.  Enjoy, and as always, let me know if you give it a try!

Best,

Stephanie

 

back from the missing …

 

This last little blog break was planned.  Not only did the kids start school yesterday, but we dashed in and out of town for my nephew’s wedding.  Blogging had to take a back seat to that!   My camera is acting up, and my editing software isn’t working properly, so it makes it hard to post photos.   But here is an unedited shot from the wedding. 

I was so young when my nephew was born that we really grew up together.  So it was extra special to see him get married.  It is interesting to travel to different parts of the country and see the wedding customs there.   It definitely was different from a New York wedding, but geez did we dance up a storm and have a ball!  They’re enjoying a honeymoon in Hawaii right now.  With all this rain we’re having, they sure picked the perfect time for it. 

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and a terrific first day of school for those who started this week!

Best,
Stephanie

september!

Wow!  Can you believe it’s September already?   I’m still hanging on to summer!

These are just some quick snapshots of a little place not far from home.  It’s a like a little taste of Maine.  This lobster “shack” and seafood market has their own fleet up in Maine, and brings the seafood down fresh the same day.  Order at the window, eat overlooking the water.   Not too bad on a summer’s day, right?  I’m still having some computer issues, so these are unedited. 

 

I love how they still have their old truck with the lobster traps out front.  For a NY girl, I am definitely developing an old-truck obsession. 

And a little family of swans to entertain us as we ate. 

Not quite as relaxing as a trip up the coast, but not too bad for less than half an hour from home.   A nice morning at the beach, and then a really good meal overlooking the water.  Anyone want to come with us next time?  

Best,

Stephanie