Author: Lala

I love good food, collect cookbooks,teacups,love entertaining friends& family!

Loving Self is Self Care

This post is a little different from the others but that’s ok!

This is for you!

Sometimes in the midst of what is going on, the changes, new mandates, family being at home, we can be stressed,our internal reserves are low, we need a break! Now!

So, I need a well deserved time out! I need time to be quiet, to self- reflect, enjoy being me!

Sometimes we need to sit, listen with our spirit to what Pure Love is sharing with us: A new song to write, ideas for a book, to reach out to the hurting, forgive someone, or Pure Love just wants time with you!

The thought of having a quiet spot, cup of tea, with cake is so inviting to me.

Determine to spend a little quality time with yourself, and Pure Love!

You’ll feel refreshed, recharged, and ready to go again with purpose.

Do not neglect you! You have given much, endured much, now spend some time loving yourself however that may be!

Directions:

Use your favorite cake mix, or favorite recipe. Follow instructions. Using a bundt cake mold, greased and floured. Pour 2 or 2 1/2cups of mix into mold. Bake. Cool. Carefully turn bundt mold right side up. Place on cake platter/ stand. Shake powdered white sugar over top cake, add berries, chocolate sauce, etc.

Brew favorite tea. Follow tea box instructions.

Determine ahead of time where you want to rest. Use your favorite mug, silverware, plate, etc. Use candles, flowers, music, etc to set the tone.

This is your time! Set your alarm or timer for this! We have to make time to have time for ourselves. Just do it! No guilt or condemnation for self care!

In the Kitchen,

by Categories: Baking, Kitchen, Spirituality, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Dinner from the Grill

Still the temperatures are soaring, lazy days, no one at home wants to cook but, everyone wants to eat!

So, we grill outside, early evening. We wanted food but not a heavy meal. Veggies, salad to the rescue!

Easy to do!

Find a marinade that suits your taste. There are many to choose from. For example: Hickory Smoke,Lemon& Cilantro,Soy sauce, sweet& sour,Italian dressings,etc or simply tap into the creative power of PureLove for your unique marinade!

Directions:

Wash assorted produce. Dry. Cut into chunks, that are for your liking.

Using a container, pour in 1/2 cup of your choice of marinade.

Add veggies to marinade. Cover. Let the veggies marinade for 20 min- 60 min.

Remove veggies from marinade, tap off any extra that drips

According to your grill instructions, use their guidelines for preparing grill for your veggies.

I brushed a grape seed oil on grates of the grill to prevent sticking. The coals were a medium temperature.

Put veggies on grill, turn them over when there are grill marks on one side. These will cook quickly, stay close by.

Remove from grill, put on platter. Add extra seasonings to taste.

Include a salad, crusty bread, or whatever!…

Dinner is done! Relax!

Spend some time with PureLove!

In the Kitchen,

by Categories: Chicken / Beef /Veggies Dinner, Easy Family Recipes, Fitness/exercise, Spirituality, Uncategorized, vegetarian dish Leave a comment

Sharon’s Spicy Spaghetti Creation

It’s been a while since I posted, during that time, there was passing of a family member, and family needed my attention.

So, when life looks like it’s coming apart and we can’t control what is happening… Hold tight to PureLove! You’ll get through it!

Enough said…

I’m so excited! One of my readers decided to take the plunge and let Pure Love guide her to create a delicious, spicy pasta dish!

It’s so easy, quick to prepare, especially in summer heat!

Ingredients

1 -Red, green peppers, sliced, sautéed

1 small onion, sliced

1 Beef kielbasa,sliced

1cup fresh spinach

1 can black olives

2-Tbsp olive oil

1-pkg of pasta (your choice)

1/2 cup Italian dressing

1/2 c parmesan cheese, shaved

Directions

Boil choice of pasta to your liking or according to package.Rinse. Set aside.

Sauté veggies, onion, with 1Tbsp olive oil in pan, till soft. Set aside.

Sauté sliced kielbasa, until warmed through. Set aside.

Place pasta in serving dish, add warmed veggies, kielbasa, etc in pasta dish. Add olives,tomatoes,and spinach(some prefer to use heat from the dish to warm spinach instead of sautéing) to dish. Mix well with Italian dressing. Add shaved Parmesan cheese.

This is great! A healthy quick meal that can be improvised to your own tastes too.

That’s the creativity of Pure Love!

I would like to know if you tried this recipe.

Thank you Sharon! You’re definitely listening to Pure Love for ideas!

In the Kitchen,

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Leftovers in Salad

Sometimes you have to use what you have and be creative!

There were several leftover odds and ends in the fridge so I decided to create a dinner salad using leftovers!

It was delicious, and filling!

Determine what you could tolerate in your salad!… Everyone has different taste!

Recipe:

Using leftover sweet potatoes,cauliflower florets, cooked ground beef, chopped onion,beans, cheese,carrots, these were the ingredients for the salad.

Next, add your choice of lettuce.

Then add your favorite dressing.

I used a chili lime dressing which was refreshing with the potatoes, and topped it off with a splash of olive oil!

It’s simple, budget friendly, and tasted great!

There are so many combinations that you could use!

Example: Leftover cooked fish, green beans, Mac& cheese. Just a thought!

Use your imagination, and get inspiration from Pure Love!

I would love to hear your ideas!

In the Kitchen,

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Baked Apples… is Comfort Food

Being home is a way to rediscover some things that I had forgotten about… like Baked Apples!

A cold dreary rainy day just calls for baking in my house!

I wanted something sweet, fresh, so Pure Love got my attention to look in the refrigerator.

There was a bag of beautiful organic green apples. Further back on another shelf was a bag of walnuts! Yum! The answer to my prayer.

This was easy to prepare,

Bakes quickly, fragrant, reminiscent of my childhood days. After the first bite, it transported me back to the kitchen with my Mom!

  • 5 medium green apples sliced thick
  • 1/2 black walnuts chopped
  • 6 Tbsp sugar
  • 4-5 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp water
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • A squeeze of fresh lemon

At 350 degrees.

On a sheet pan, toast walnuts for 3minutes, then remove them. Set aside.

Wash and peel apples. Place in baking dish. Combine butter, sugar, nutmeg and toasted walnuts. Sprinkle mixture evenly among the apples. Pour the water in bottom of baking dish squeeze a little fresh lemon over apples. Bake apples at 375 for 30 minutes. Serve warm.

You can make it more rich by adding whipped cream,or Carmel on top!Use your creativity!

Try it! Put Pure Love into your recipes, ideas! I would love to hear them!

In the Kitchen,

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My Go to Family Meals

Chicken, Broccoli,Rice in a Pot

    Over the years I had to be quite resourceful and inventive while working a split shift, having children at home. So dinner had to be creative quick tasty and budget friendly. So this is my go to recipe. Please leave me your your thoughts and your ideas
    Here we go…

Directions

Using a heavy cast iron skillet with lid or any oven temperature proof pot with lid.

Add 2 c water to pot, then put 1 Tbsp chicken bouillon , mix together well. Add 1 cup rice of your choice to water. Stir. Add well seasoned chicken breasts to pot. Add 1 cup broccoli on top. Take 2 Tbsp of butter pieces on top of whole mixture.Cover. Place in oven at 400 degree for 40-50 min. Serve to plate. Add sour cream,salsa on top! Yum. Serve with salad. This is my go to and still is!

Let me know your thoughts, ideas. I would love to hear from you!

In the Kitchen,

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        Thanksgiving in Casserole Dish

        A friend of mine remark that she still have turkey wrapped in the freezer,and longed for Thanksgiving again! So, I got a inspirational idea from Pure Love to create some of the food from Thanksgiving into a casserole dish!

        1 1/2 c diced frozen turkey or chicken

        1c leftover frozen green bean casserole( minus any frozen onion rings please!) They get soggy!

        2 c stuffing/ dressing

        3/4 c chopped onion

        3/4 c chopped celery

        1c chopped sweet potatoes

        1tsp fresh thyme,sage

        1 cup prepared turkey gravy

        2 Tbsp olive oil

        4 Tbsp butter

        Salt/pepper

        In a pan sauté diced turkey or chicken in 1 Tbsp butter till slight brown. Put aside.

        Sauté celery, onion in pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon of butte. Add stuffing/ dressing. Add 1cup chicken broth to mixture.

        In same pan, add sweet potatoes, leftover green bean casserole or can green beans. Lastly, put in green bean casserole to mixture. Stir. If there’s not enough sauce from green bean casserole add prepared turkey gravy to mixture. Add rest of olive oil , butter, herbs salt&pepper to mixture.

        Adjust seasonings to taste.

        Place this mixture in a oven proof dish. At this point place onion rings on top.Bake for 45 min or until bubbly!There you go!

        A thanksgiving in a casserole dish! It was so good! Try it!

        In the Kitchen,

        by Categories: Baking, Chicken / Beef /Veggies Dinner, Cooking, Easy Family Recipes, Kitchen, Spirituality, Uncategorized

        Tired of Turkey yet?Eat Polenta!

        I am! Oh gosh! It takes a full day of cooking all those savory, delectable dishes!

        Tasting, adjusting spices, inhaling all that goodness all day leads to… well… me really not eating the turkey dinner!

        I always wondered why some of the cooks in my family only ate a small portion of food after cooking the turkey, etc .

        So, I made… are you ready?… a cup of broth and a organic beef hot dog!

        So, I’m republishing my last recipe: Perfect Polenta

        Organic Polenta( Italian spice)

        1Tbsp butter/ oil (Fat of your choice)

        1/4 tsp of each: Oregano, thyme, basil

        Salt& pepper to taste

        1/4 c shredded cheese( your choice)

        1/2 c chopped onion * optional

        Fry polenta in butter, add desired seasonings if you want for 2-3 min over a med heat. Keep aside.

        Add Pasta sauce ( your choosing), add your desired seasonings, herbs

        Add onion, garlic. Cook till soft. Med heat

        Add your favorite cheese to sauce until cheese is stirred in.

        Place polenta in pasta sauce or plate polenta and pour sauce over.

        Add your favorite veggies, use what you have! Try some green bean casserole!

        It’s so easy to cook with! Try it!

        In the kitchen,

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        Perfect Polenta Dinner Dish

        Quick, nutritious dinner in 30 minutes?… who wouldn’t want that?

        Sometimes we’re just running behind, get in the door late, the kids want to snack but it’s too close to dinner time! What to do?

        Keep polenta in your pantry! It’s a attitude saver!(Lol!)

        Polenta is mild, can be mixed, paired with just about anything.

        Here goes:

        Organic polenta (Italian style)

        Organic pasta sauce (just add your own “Pure Love” creativity to it! Add your own spices, herbs! You can do it!

        1 Tbsp Butter or olive oil ( fat of your choice)

        Garlic, thyme,oregano, salt& pepper

        1/4 c Cheese( your choice)

        1/2 cup chopped onion

        Fry polenta in butter, add desired seasonings if you want for 2-3 min on med heat. Keep aside.

        Pasta sauce (your choosing)add your desired spices, herbs. Add onion, garlic, cook till soft. Medium heat. Add favorite cheese to sauce until cheese is stirred in.

        Place polenta in your pasta sauce or plate polenta and pour sauce over!

        Add your favorite veggies. Use what you have! I would have used broccoli! I didn’t have any! Oh, well.

        This dish can be used with eggs, fish, meat, it’s so easy to cook with!

        Dinner in approx 30 min!

        Try it! Let me know how you prepared yours!

        In the kitchen

        by Categories: Chicken / Beef /Veggies Dinner, Cooking, Easy Family Recipes, Fitness/exercise, Kitchen, Spirituality, Uncategorized, vegetarian dishTags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment