Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken:

4 or 5 legs and thighs with skins on OR a whole cut up chicken

Salt and pepper to taste

Water to cover the chicken

2 -3  boxes of low sodium Chicken Broth

Dumplings:

4 tbsp water

4 eggs

Flour – all purpose

2 tsp salt

Directions:

Fill a large soup pan half full of water. Start to boil and add salt and pepper. Add chicken. If chicken is not covered with water, add some more water to cover the chicken. Allow to boil until chicken is done. Remove chicken from broth. Set broth aside. Skim some of the fat off the top of the broth and discard the fat.

Debone the chicken. Throw away the skin and bones – unless, you have a lucky dog at your house. Add the chicken back to the broth in the pan. Add the additional boxed broth to the pan. This just makes it so you can make more dumplings.

Beat eggs with water very well. Add flour and salt to egg mixture until sticky, yet forms a ball. Then, add flour until not so sticky.

Start with 2 cup of flour. You made need more. You want a ball of dough that is not sticky. When you are making it you will know.

Roll out dough as thin or thick as you like. I like them fairly thin. Cut and add to boiling broth. Stir and add some more. Stir and add some more

Cook for 10 minutes more. Then, serve and enjoy. They taste just like Mom’s.

Every morning while we were in California, the girls and I would take a stroll on the walking trails outside our hotel. The hotel and walking trails overlooked the San Francisco Bay and wound past some beautiful plant life.

One of the things we would do on our walks was count the pretty pink and yellow flowers growing riotously on the side of the Bay. The girls would run from one to the next, finding another gem. Karlista and I reminded Valeigha repeatedly that the flowers were there to be pretty, not picked.

The girls were 10 and 2 then. A year has passed and the girls have grown; still, those memories are trapped in this painting and make me smile.

4 – 6 Extra Thick (1.5 in) Pork Chops

1 Packet of Taco Seasoning

Canola Oil

1 Jar Picante Sauce

1 Jar Apricot/Pineapple Jelly (sometimes peach/pineapple) If you can’t find this, buy one of each and use half of each.

Directions:

Coat each pork chop in Taco Seasoning. Cover the bottom of a heated skillet with canola oil. Brown each pork chop in the skillet. This locks the juices inside the pork chop.

In a bowl, mix the hot sauce and jelly.

Prepare your crock pot. Place a liner in the crock pot. (I love these things. It makes the cleanup so much easier than scrubbing the pot.) Spray inside the liner with Pam. Spread your pork chops out in the crock pot. Pour the hot sauce/jelly mixture over the pork chops.

Don’t cook the life out of them – 2 hours should be plenty.

Serve with or over rice and a side salad.

Shrimp Creole Recipe

4 large Portabella Mushroom Caps, whole

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ Onion, chopped

1 Banana pepper, chopped – or other sweet pepper

2 Yellow Squash, rough cut – or okra

1 head of Garlic, minced

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 tbsp New Orleans Cajun Seasoning

2 Bay Leaves

1 tbsp corn starch

2 tbsp water

1-2 lb Shrimp peeled and deveined – you can use fish also

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Remove stems from Portabellas and set caps aside. Chop stems.

Almost cover the bottom of a medium hot skillet with EVOO and add onions, chopped mushroom stems, banana peppers, squash and garlic.  Add salt and pepper. Simmer and sweat them down. Do not brown. Add ½ Cajun seasoning. Pour in tomatoes and add remaining seasoning (some like a spicier creole.) Throw in bay leaves. Stir. Place whole mushrooms on sauce and let simmer covered for 10 min. Take mushrooms out, removing sauce from the mushroom and place mushrooms in a warming oven to keep them warm.

Mix cornstarch and water in small bowl. Slowly, add enough cornstarch mixture to the sauce to make it bubblely and thick. You may not need it all. Add the shrimp and stir. Continue until shrimp are done. This will only take 2 to 3 minutes – until shrimp are white.

Fill each mushroom cap with the Shrimp Creole and top with Mozzarella.

Many serve Shrimp Creole over rice. Either way, you will love it.

Tomato Bruschetta

French bread loaf

7 Tomatoes diced

Mozzarella cubed

1 Garlic head finely minced

½ Onion diced (if you like)

Basil leaves roughly torn as much or little as you like

Extra Virgin Olive Oil      

Sea salt

Black pepper freshly ground

Directions:

Mix all  ingredients – except for French bread and 1 clove of garlic - together in a bowl. After making the tomato mixture let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes to allow the flavors marry.

While that is sitting and getting yummy, slice the French bread on the bias as thick as you prefer. Drizzle with EVOO. Turn the oven to Broil. Toast the bread slices until lightly browned. When you remove the bread from the oven, use one whole garlic clove and rub over bread.

When you are ready to serve. Place tomato mixture on the already toasted bread. Garnish with extra basil. Enjoy!!

Pam – butter flavored

1 cup diced cooked ham

1 cup shredded cheese – I use Mexican mix with 4 cheese pregrated

¼ cup onions, chopped

½ cup mushrooms, sliced

2 eggs

½ cup milk

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425. Press hash browns between paper towels to remove excess moisture. Spray a 9 inch pie dish with Pam. Press hash browns into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Spray the top of hash browns with the Pam, also. Bake for 25 minutes. While that is baking spray non-stick skillet with Pam and cook onions; then, add mushrooms and ham. Cook until onions and mushrooms are soft and not crunchy. Set aside and let cool. In a separate bowl place eggs, milk, salt and pepper; do not mix yet. Remove hash browns from the oven and reduce the heat to 350. Spread ham, mushrooms and onions over the hash browns. Sprinkle cheese in next. Beat the egg mixture until frothy. Pour over the stuff in the pie plate. Bake for 20 minutes.

Yields 6 servings.

Wrong!!!

Now, you need to look at four other parts to the Fine Art decorating delimma. In this post we will discuss the first one.

1. Does the painting fit the space you have available?
2. Are the colors of the work of art complementary to the room?
3. Does it create the correct mood in the room you have chose to display it?
4. Do you LOVE the piece in the setting you have chosen?

1. Does the painting fit the space you have available?

Yes, in this instance, size does matter!!! The painting of course!!

Loving a piece of art will not make it fit the area you have chosen to display it. Unfortunately, you will fall in LOVE with some pieces that just won’t work because of their size. For this reason, it is good to know the size extremes you need (smallest to largest that will fit) BEFORE you start looking.

So, get out your handy dandy tape measure and get to work. The time you spend measuring now can save you much sadness later. You know how awful it is when you can’t have something that you LOVE. –And remember that is the only kind of art you should buy when you are decorating your living space. It must pass the “OMG!” Test. (See the previous post for the OMG! test.)

Other things to keep in mind when you are contemplating the size of artwork you are choosing are size in relation to the furniture and the size of the wall.

The “chosen” painting should not be longer than the piece of furniture it is behind/above. For example if you are hanging a painting behind a sofa, the piece should not extend past the width of the furniture. Otherwise it looks off balance, making the arrangement awkward.

When you have a narrow  wall you will want to look for a narrow creation. If you have a large area, go in search of  a huge piece of work. I know, it sounds like common sense. But you have to stop and think about what you need before buying art online or at an art show.

My motto…. Live with Art you LOVE!!

What a  feeling!! And the object of my undying love isn’t even complete yet.

This piece is inspired by the spray of yellow flowers that grow along East Texas highways.

I remember my daughter bending to pluck these flowers. Then, she would run back to me with them clutched in her tiny hands. The yellow blooms were a demonstration of her love.

Each year, I wait for the same roads and hills to dance with the brilliant blanket of yellow flowers.  And when they do, I smile remembering the bouquets that were picked with such care just for me.

We all remembers bouquets that were picked with love by tiny trusting hands.

Now, I don’t have to wait for those flowers to bloom to take out that special memory. It will be hanging in my living room.

I will post the completed piece when I am finished with it. Keep checking back to see how it turns out.

Purchasing Art Online

When you are looking for fine art online you have tons of artist sites to visit. (Of course you will want to check out my Gallery.) Still, it can be almost overwhelming. To help you feel more comfortable, find an artist that you LOVE their style. Sometimes you will want to watch the artists site for a time period and other times you can tell they have been there for a while and aren’t going anywhere. Either way don’t buy until you feel good about the purchase. Hopefully the canvas that you LOVE will be there when you are ready.

It is okay to actually purchase a piece of art online. Most artist want you to enjoy and love the piece of art that you buy from them. They are not going to leave you holding a piece of art that you receive and then HATE because it looks different than what you thought.

Some of my clients have felt better about purchasing art over the Internet after a telephone conversation. This way you know the artist is a REAL person. And, you feel better about making the transaction. 

Purchasing At An Art Show

When you are at a Fine Art Show you are limited to the artists that are displaying at the time. That is fine, too. This makes it easier to narrow down to your favorite pieces. The benefit to an art show is that you can feel and see the texture of the painting. Not only that, you can hold your favorite pieces next to each other to compare them.

Often at a Show you will get to meet the artist who put their time and energy into the piece that you love. Artist like to meet the people that are taking their “babies” home to enjoy. Trust me each piece of art is like a child. From conception to completion, each stroke took time and care.

Of course you choose which way you feel best about making an investment in your art collection.

This floral oil painting is 5″X7″. The coloration ranges form soft pinks to rich burgundies. It makes you want to pick the flowers off the canvas and place them in a vase on your side table.

Notice the rich texture of the oil paint that was used. It gives the flower an added dimension of feeling and depth.

Contact me for information on pricing and shipping. See the Gallery for other fine art floral paintings.