My New Tea Toy.

It is official I have a child in school (well pre-school) and with that comes the obligation of fundraisers. I know I have to pace myself because this was only the first one and I am sure there will be many more. I approached this as I do my souvenir shopping when I am on vacation. (Those who know me know I love my gift shops!) Find something that you haven't seen before or you can't get around home.

Since this was the old wrapping paper/chocolate one I didn't really see much that fit this criteria. Then I turned the page to the handful of gifts they had and saw what I wanted. A silicon strawberry tea infuser which in the catalog was RED and the one I got is YELLOW (anyone ever seen a yellow strawberry?). I love drinking tea and with the winter weather coming I am going to be doing that a lot more often. Also it fit my criteria of I have never seen this before in any store around my house...SOLD!

Strawberry tea infuser with lid.

Action shot

Another action shot

Review: I now need to go and buy more loose tea so I can use my new tea infuser more. The tea I made was...wait for it...strawberry sencha tea. I just realized that I made a strawberry tea in my strawberry infuser which was totally not on purpose...it was the first loose tea I found in the cabinet. I have used those metal infusers before which always seem to leave a lot of tea leaves at the bottom of the cup. This one really did not leave much behind but I will hold my final approval in that department for when I have tried a few more teas. Overall I am happy with this purchase and I think I did good.

May recipe - Beef Burgers

I couldn't tell you the last time I had a homemade burger. I remember when I was little I use to hate it when my mom would make burgers from scratch. But I found a new respect for the flavors that can enhance the taste and take it to a whole new level. I didn't get crazy with the burgers I made, but I'm willing to practice until I found a recipe I love.



Beef Burger

1/2 lb ground beef
1 small onion grated
a few dashes of worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper

Mix ingredients together, shape into burgers and cook.


I got to use one of my new gadgets for the kitchen/grill. A grill press. It flattens the burgers and helps cook them faster.

My Review: Burgers were easy to make and tasty, but I cooked it a little to well done. Not juicy enough. But I'm going to keep I trying. If anyone has a good recipe, please share!!

Quick and Easy Dinner

During the week it's hard to think of quick and easy dinner to make after a long day at work. One that I like to make often is chicken stir-fry. To make it easy I usually buy Tyson's or Perdue's thin cut chicken tenderloins and a bag of the frozen stir fry veggies. Cook the chicken, throw the veggies in and your favorite sauce and wa-la....dinner. But I made the mistake of buying Perdue's thin sliced chicken breast instead. Well that got the wheels turning on another quick and easy dinner. Stuffed chicken breast!! You can use whatever fillings you want the list is really endless, just think of any combo that works and go with it.

So I decided to make Artichoke, roasted red pepper and feta cheese stuff chicken. You're probably wondering does it taste as good as it sounds. OH YEAH!! I knew I had a keeper when my husband asked me where I got the recipe from and I told him I made it up. His reaction was the best....he was like....really because it's good!!

What you need is 1 package of Perdue thin sliced chicken breast , a can of quartered artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and feta cheese. There are no measurements so you can use as much or as little of the ingredients as you want. I have a Black and Decker Handy Mini chopper, that now has become one of my favorite gadgets. All you need to do is throw everything into it and chop. Spoon the mixture on to the chicken, roll and place seam side down on a baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Almost apple pie time!!!

As all you girls know, we've been talking apple pie's all day today. I was telling Jenn that this apple peeler from LLBean is AWSOME!! Such a great thing to have especally if you like to make apple pies. It cuts down the peeling time by so much. This peels, slices and cores all in one swift move. Very well worth getting. I use it all season long.

My new toy...

A few months ago I bought a cookie scoop (1 tablespoon size) because I was always wondering about them. If it was worth the money buying a scoop to make drop cookies or would doing it by hand be OK. Let me tell you it was awesome using it. Not only did the cookie come out pretty much uniform but my fingers were not covered in cookie dough like they usually get when I make drop cookies. I just made these cookies while my son was taking his nap...so not having my fingers covered in cookie dough is good in case he got up and I need to get him.

I think I might have to go out and buy the next size up because this one is great for small cookies but I think I would like them to be a little bit bigger the next time.

New Product

There is a new product out there from the company Ziploc and I am thinking about trying it out. It is a Ziploc Zip n' Steam which allows you to steam food in the microwave. Since I will be trying to eat healthier this seems like a good step. If anyone has seen them or has tried it out let me know how it went.

My New Favorite Gadget

I had bought OXO's Julienne Peeler a while ago and never really used it. But now when making breakfast on the weekends I use it all the time to make a giant potato pancake. One large potato can make a pancake big enough for four people. All you do is just peel the whole potato and add any spices you want. Throw it in a pan with some oil and let brown on both sides. One time I added some diced green pepper.