Some health issues...

I have recently... in the past week, been diagnosed with a hypothyroid disease and will need to start moving toward some dietary changes. I am looking into the Zone Diet because it comes highly recommended for hypothyroid disorders and for building metabolism. I will start putting both school and baking stuff along with some things I am trying that are new here soon. I am still in the beginning phase of taking the medication and am just trying to get through this past few weeks until it starts to take effect. Stay tuned for my Daring Baker Challenge coming on the 28th of January and some beginning of school stuff. I start classes again tonight and will have lots to share because I am taking 4 classes this semester - three of them being lab classes with lots of cooking and baking. :)

Just took yesterday off because...

I had a birthday in the house... mine. :) So, my family took me out to eat and I did not cook much yesterday. Today, however, we are baking cookies this afternoon and I am still pondering what is for dinner. I will share the cookie experience with you and try to get a list of my favorite Christmas cookbooks up for you a little later on, too. So, maybe two posts besides this blurb today. :) Have a great one!

Cooking over the coming four days...

Our Tiger Cubs are making cookies on Monday night so I am making dough on Sunday and chilling it.

I am also making a beef and bean chili to go over rice for Tuesday night's Scout party.

I also have plans for a sweet potato pie

Chicken enchiladas for Sunday's lunch here at home

and the starting of a Gingerbread house that the kiddos can work on over the coming week as they finish their work

I also have to bake bread

Make laundry detergent - not for human consumption by the way... LOL

and there might be pancakes or waffles at some point, too.

So, those are the coming food plans and I hope to be recovered enough to really do a foodie post with gusto by Monday but there may be pictures on the way to Monday. We shall see...

The picture above is the gingerbread house the kids made in 2006... :)

Menu plan... and some updating

I did not do a menu plan for this week because we are basically on the run. We are doing sandwiches a few nights this week and so I thought that was not very interesting.

So...

Monday: we had a roasted chicken with veggies
Tuesday: Sandwiches and fruit
Wednesday: Sandwiches and cut raw veggies
Thursday: Something in the crockpot
Friday: Family sit down meal but I have no idea what yet! LOL

That is boring... LOL ;)

The updates would include the fact that I had a nutrition test last week and have been studying a lot. Baking class has been really cool with the baking of yeast breads and a few quick breads. I have TONS of pictures but they are all on my computer. I am blogging on my hubby's computer because mine is no longer able to be online without the severe risk of viruses. I am shopping for a new one sometime in the near future so we did not upgrade our virus software because I don't want to put it on a computer I am not going to be using much longer. I have lots to share with you when I upload some pics here.... which I hope will be soon. In the meantime I will pop in and get some book stuff up and maybe have a bit of time to post some recipes. Life is NUTS right now but oh, so, enjoyably fun!!! :)

No calories...

Here is something for the chef and the crocheter combined. A link to a crochet cake!!! It is so cute!!!!! That would be such a cute little display. I need to add that to the things I want to crochet during the TV free cold months. LOL

In other news, I wrote out my menus for the week but they just did not get posted. I was offline a lot yesterday because I have been purging the house. I started school last night, too. I am taking nutrition and fundamentals of baking. This is going to be a very enjoyable semester for me. My first love is baking!!! Maybe with nutrition and baking together I will not gain much weight because they will balance each other in my brain somehow. Maybe I will think twice before taking that second bite while testing recipes. Maybe... ;) Let me settle in and then I will be posting regularly again... :)

Cooking lull...

I have been in a cooking slump the last five days or so. We rushed in from Colorado on Tuesday night only for me to have to go to some flower show training I am working on Wednesday-Friday. It is a National Garden Clubs certification class. There are four and I have attended the first two. The next one is in January or February of 2008. It is something that is helping me with table and plating design in some really cool ways. It is expanding my creative eye and that is good for everything I do.

I have been so incredibly exhausted when I get home at night that I have not been in the mood to stand in the kitchen being creative. I am hoping this next week will be better. Dan is gone this weekend and when he is not around I am not as likely to step outside the food box either. The kids have their favorites and I just make those. We just finished off a homemade pizza and that is the extent of it for the day. LOL

I did purchase my baking fundamentals book and I officially begin the pastry chef program in a little over a week. I am also taking a nutrition class that is required, too. I am looking forward to both classes very much. I often wish I could take more than two classes at a time but with my full load at home and homeschooling I just have to be patient with taking two at a time. I will be finished somewhere close to 2010. LOL ... but I will have both chef and pastry chef done when I am finished and I am working on a personal chef certification as I go, too, on my own. By the time the kids are all older I will be ready to start a full-time business. In the meantime, I am just having the time of my life in school!

... another little tidbit... I am doing my first Daring Bakers Challenge.... shhhhhhhhh..... it's a secret.... I have some shopping to do after payday this week then I get to play in the kitchen. Stay tuned for results and recipe at the end of the month. :)

Stay tuned for Monday Menus and some recipes for back to school quick dinners...

My first wedding cake...

Happy 4th of July to you all!!!

Hope you have lots of cookouts, staying cool by the pool and fireworks planned.
We are doing a bit of it all today.

I got a call this morning to let me know of a lady in our church that is getting married on Sunday. She had a lady to do her cake but that fell through and now I am doing it. This will be my very first wedding cake and I am a NERVOUS WRECK!!!!! LOL I am going to Hobby Lobby this afternoon to pick up some new supplies (they have an online coupon for 40% off Wilton Products for this week) and the rest of the week is all about getting that cake made. I will share pictures when I am done.

Oh, and today is my 1 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY for Crunchy Culinary Capers. I am still in the process of getting a new template made and making some changes but it is coming. I am working around school and, now, the cake to get some new stuff done here. Bluebird Blogs is doing the design and I am so excited to see what she does with this place. She does such beautiful work!

Summer stuff...

I am finally back home from our trip to my folks and such - you can catch up on all that stuff at my family blog if you like (Prattling Pastor's Wife). I am back to regular classes, too. We are only doing management and purchasing this summer so it is a lot of lecture. I am developing a business plan for a Bed and Breakfast for my project. It has been fun working on this project but I have LOTS of stuff to get done in the next week with it. I also have a few quizzes and some chapters to read so all my "so called" free time is taken up with that stuff. I am also coming up on a year as a food blogger and am getting a new look very soon, too. I am VERY excited about that!!!

I did, however, have some time to peruse some other foodie blogs yesterday and found this little tidbit at SuperChef... That inspired me to drag my copy of the Nancy Drew Cookbook out in anticipation of the new movie which opens this weekend. Here is my copy... in all it's splendor!!!

Out of pocket...

I have been on a bit of short vacation trip and my friend Natalie that had been diagnosed with stomach cancer just passed away so I have not been here to share anything. I will be back to it on Monday or sometime next week and I am also getting a new design for my blog very soon. It is going to be beautiful!!! I cannot wait... :) See you all next week and have a lovely weekend.

Summer school...

I started summer school yesterday and am taking two classes. I am only in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that is a plus. I am taking Restaurant Management and Purchasing for Hospitality. They are both project driven courses. I have my first assignment due tomorrow and have done it but still need to read for class from the textbook. My heart is just not in it yet but it will get there. Once our trip to Dallas is past things will settle in...

I did make a mighty tasty Stroganoff in the crockpot last night. I will be back to share the recipe and a picture at some point before the weekend. I will have to type it in and upload the pic but I promise it to you by Friday some time.

Irregular week...

I finally gave in to the sickies today. The menu planning took a detour with bad news on Monday and being sick since yesterday. Dan has been cooking whatever he can put together from leftovers and ingredients. I will get back to it when I feel better later in the week.

The end is in sight...

...at least for this semester. I have knife skills tomorrow and Thursday night. I will spend the weekend making terrines, pates and Hors d' Oeuvres. I have my Market Basket practical for International next week along with my tray and presentation items for Garde Manger. I will take lots of pics to share.

Dan's birthday is on Sunday and I am cooking and baking for him this weekend, too.

I have been planning to get back to weekly menu planning. I have let it slip far too much lately. After finals I will get back in the routine. Until then you can see other menu planners and see the new Menu Plan Monday Logo...

It is very cute...

Struggles with eating Vegetarian...

I tried to eat more vegetarian last year. I did pretty well eating breakfast and lunch more vegetarian and limiting my meats to small portions with dinner. The problem I have is that I am allergic to soy and ALL soy products including tofu, soy milk, miso, soy flour, soybean oil, soy lecithin and soy sauce. One of the biggest reasons I cook from scratch is because soy is in EVERYTHING that is prepackaged. Many recipes for vegetarian cooking call for soy as the protein. I recently found this nice little substitute for soy sauce so I can flavor my stir-fry items. I am still looking for other ways to cook without soy. I am putting it here so I can ALWAYS find it and maybe someone else can use it, too. You can click on the title to see where I found it...

SOY SAUCE SUBSTITUTE
1 1/2 c. boiling water 4 tbsp. low sodium beef bouillon Pinch pepper 1 tbsp. dark molasses 4 tbsp. cider vinegar 1 tsp. sesame seed oil Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stirring to blend thoroughly. Pour into jars. Cover and seal tightly. May be refrigerated indefinitely. Shake well before using. Makes 2 cups sauce.

I also have to watch the MSG (also got soy in it) and Nitrites in things such as bullion but there are alternatives out there. Another reason I buy from a cooperative is that I can get such products. ;)

Happy New Year 2007

Hey guys!!! I have not done much cooking this week. After a week of being sick and with a house full of sick kids, too, I am still fighting a sinus infection. I am such a granola that I refuse to go to the doctor for meds until I am on my death bed!!! I am not that bad yet so I am still fighting it with natural remedies. They seem to be working. It would help if I had gone to bed at a decent hour last night but I did not. I stayed up to be with friends and family and I am a bit wiped out today.

Dan - the hubby - is putting in a new bathroom today. He is doing toilet and tile in the kids bathroom and I am just working on a resting, making a pot of beans and trying to think through a few things that need to be done in the next two weeks before I head back to school for the semester.

I did make some breadsticks and meatballs for our get-together for last night. I am still not eating much. It is so hard to enjoy food when you cannot taste it. *sigh* I have to be well in the next few days because Dan heads back to work. I am hoping to do some Once a month and freezer cooking this year. I have been asked to share some recipes on all of that and on crockpot cooking. I will put some things together for you guys... just let me get past the yuckies first.

I am also losing some more weight this year. I lost almost 15 pounds last year and I still have another 15 or so to go. I have some cookbooks coming that I bought with some Christmas money. I also got four new cookbooks for Christmas but they are about the pastry chef in me more than the healthy chef.

I also need to start thinking through some catering things because I have two events coming in about two months. I also need to get my name put on my chef jackets before the semester starts. I want to get a new jacket for my new business, too. I have got to start putting together a business plan and a bazillion lists of things to get done this year as I move through my coursework and get closer to becoming a REAL chef. I will have 13 hours under my belt toward the chef program (can only take night classes at this point in my life) and am playing with the idea of doing some summer school (nutrition and accounting???) I start the pastry program in the fall and I am so excited about that!!! I am working on a few new bread recipes, too. I need to get them honed and then put them on the list of breads I want to offer to customers.

There might be a cookbook started at some point in the new year, too. We shall see... (Wilm are you reading???) LOL

Well, that is a start for the new year. Happy New Year to you all!!!!!

Oh, one more thing... I opened a new Flickr account for my food stuff only.

Here ya go...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chefleann/

What's cookin' this week...

Well, right now there are four out of six of us sick in this house. We have been surviving on peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese and today I broke out the golden elixir called chicken broth. I tend to store buckets of chicken broth in the freezer for just such a week as this. I pull it out of the freezer, heat it and dilute it a bit with water, add some salt and throw some whole wheat pasta noodles and some herbs, onions and garlic in and I have my own homemade batch of "penicillin". That is what I am having most of today. I will be back when we are feeling better and my head stops throbbing.

Passing it on...

Oh ye of little faith... You know you thought that my crazy life would take away from my schooling my children. At least some of you thought that... I can FEEL IT!!! LOL (Just teasing... you guys have been very supportive). I am making a point here, too...

We have decided to do a formal dinner once a week in our home and utilize all the skills mom is learning and teach the children the preparation, setup and manners to go along with a formal dining experience. I found some websites the other day on napkin folding (I have to know five folds by the end of the semester for my basics class) and the kids took off. They are napkin folding maniacs!!! I am teaching them how to set a semi-formal table for dinner tonight and then we will work up to a formal table setting in the coming weeks in preparation for the holidays. JoNathan is learning some kitchen skills at home and in Boy Scouting and is becoming more and more help in the kitchen. Emmy is into the whole table setting and napkin folding idea and will be doing that this week for our dinner. We are doing it tonight because the weekend will be a bit crazy.

So, on top of their schooling they are learning life skills and manners. I LOVE IT!!!!! This experience is so good for all of us. It is really cool that JoNathan got to go to school with me yesterday and see what happens in a college classroom. I think he enjoyed the classroom time even if he had no idea of all that Chef was talking about. He was not allowed in the kitchen but he sure heard Chef yell at us a time or two. Not a Hell's Kitchen kind of yell just an urgency type of yell. He thought that was funny... ;)

The years of taking the children with me to the grocery store and comparison shopping and menu planning have paid off, too. JoNathan was shopping with his troop for a coming camping trip and he was noticed by the leaders as he kept telling the other boys that the items they chose were too expensive and he kept going to the products and comparing prices and getting the less expensive item each time. Kudos to the boy!!! I am a proud frugal mommy!!!!! I am enjoying the reaping years with this boy more all the time...

On another note...

Class was frustrating last night. You know you can start to pick out the people who are really serious about being there and knowing what they are doing by six weeks into the semester pretty well. Chef keeps shaking things up and pairing and grouping us in different ways to see what happens. I got paired with two people last night that have NO IDEA what they are doing. They kept asking me questions and wanted me to read the recipes to them and talk them through all of their work plus do all of my work. Chef saw it and noticed my frustration. He got onto me about getting things to service NO MATTER WHAT I was dealing with in the kitchen. I am going to have to think through last night and make some decisions on how I could avoid that whole thing again. It did not help that I was making a "new to me recipe" and was trying to figure things out as I went. Pretty chaotic night...

What I do for fun...

I am so warped!!! I cook three plus meals a day for my kids 7 days a week, then I go to culinary school 4 nights a week and then when the house is empty and I am by myself, what do I do??? I crank up jazz, bluegrass or contemporary Christian tunes (not all at the same time just - my mood dictates the kind of music) and COOK AND BAKE MYSELF INTO OBLIVION!!!!! LOL

Here is what I have been doing this weekend...

An Apple Salad for Rosh Hashanah...



Whole Wheat Challah for Rosh Hashanah...

This particular recipe is from the book Healthy Recipes from the Heart of Our Homes: In the Kitchen with Phyllis and Shirley



this is before it rises and those are poppy seeds sprinkled on after eggwash is brushed on




It is done and YUMMO!!!!! It is made with honey so it has a sweet taste and the soft texture is from the milk and eggs I use in the dough. It could almost be dessert!!!

A Chocolate Sorbet to usher out summer...



The Strawberries and Ricotta...




someone asked how I made this so here it is...

1 small package Ricotta Cheese (I buy the generic brand at Walmart most of the time)
Several tablespoons of powdered sugar - adjust to your own taste of sweetness
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
just a touch of vanilla extract and stir together and put over your strawberries.

How goes the diet? ...and some culinary school nerves...

Well, I have lost 5 pound as of this morning. I am feeling good and eating mostly vegetarian. I find my body craving a bit of real meat from time to time, though. My book (The Sonoma Diet)and new scale (Tanita brand) should be here this week.

I start school tomorrow and will be doing some weekend menu planning for the weeks ahead as I go. I am using the crockpot more frequently and will try to do some Dinner's in the Freezer sessions when I can, too.

My family is quite precious to me and they are making some sacrifices as I go back to school, too. They are having to suffer through taste testing all my new food skills. ;) (Dan is quite excited about this) They are having to give me some time to study and work. They are doing more chores to help me out. They are also having to do without me in the evenings. ...BUT one thing I have made plans for is the MANDATORY FAMILY DINNER time each night. I have scheduled my classes so that I am home to eat with them every night of the week, either after class or before I have to head out for the evening.

I am really excited about tomorrow and quite a bit nervous. I just hope I am not older than all my professors! LOL

I leave you with this little quote...

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.
~Jim Davis, "Garfield"

Thursday Thoughts: My Personal Food History

My life with food started in the average way with being born and needing to eat an all. ;) I began to develop a real love for food, though, when I would go to my Meemaw's home to stay periodically. You see, I am a southern girl and I like my southern food. I know what black eyed peas really are and they aren't for cows! LOL My Meemaw could make them better than anyone on the planet. I also grew up with the wonder of buttermilk biscuits and homemade plum jelly. She could cook a chicken like nobody's business!

I was born in Louisiana and raised in Texas. I have a real stomach for the cajun and seafood things in life. I am also a spicy kinda gal with my cravings during pregnancies for the spicier things like Pico de Gallo and jalapenos in my food and a great deal of salsa poured over my plate. I grow things in my garden like peppers and tomatoes so I can have a fresh supply of it all summer long.

Back to my history...

I must admit that my mom was lacking in the gift of culinary arts. My Father and Meemaw, on the other hand, were fabulous cooks. I would spend weeks at a time at my Meemaw's house and would be allowed to hang out with her in the kitchen enjoying those smells and tastes that only she could bring to life. My Dad would cook that down home full bodied style of food on weekends when he was home. While I was growing up we had lots of things like homemade stews and soups, biscuits, cornbread, pot roast, meatloaf and other comfort type treats.

So, maybe I did not grow up eating super healthy but I did learn to love brussel sprouts, carrots, and broccoli. I enjoyed salads and chicken and fish. There were some healtier things in my childhood. Not all of it was cholesterol, sugar and fat - but lots of it was.

In my adult years I have had to learn several things. I have learned how to cook. I have learned how to eat healthier. I have learned how to feed my family differently than I ate so that they won't have to struggle with losing weight or health issues. My parents did the best they knew at the time and they eat differently now, too.

When I was in college I ate in the cafeteria at school. I did not have to think much about cooking. I had classes to attend and studying. I gained the typical freshman 15 when I started school and a late night pizza was all the rage during study session. I explored my freedom to eat whatever I wanted and I paid for it. ;)

I got that degree and lost 20 pounds for my wedding. I starved myself for about 8 months to do it but I made it into that size 6 dress.

After I married I had to finally buckle down and learn to cook. I had no idea what I was doing in the kitchen outside the realm of boxed mixes, macaroni and cheese and Hamburger Helper. My precious husband was so patient with me. He even ate burned Spam without a word of criticism.

I buckled down and finally got out some of those cookbooks that were given to us for wedding gifts and discovered that I could really cook some things without a box and packets. I began to try out new things on my hubby and by the time our oldest was born I was getting pretty good. I had enough skills that I could make something for church dinners that would actually get compliments. I was also discovering that I really enjoyed cooking and baking. When our oldest was finally ready for solid foods I found myself making choices to make his baby food myself instead of buying those little jars. It is amazing how much more you pay attention to what is in something if you are putting it into your little ones. I wanted pure and wholesome stuff for them and had already chosen to breastfeed so this was a natural step for me. I read books on making my own baby food and gleaned tips from a variety of sources. My babies ate it like it was ice cream. Natural carrots, peas, green beans, spinach, sweet potatoes, avocado, fruits of all varieties (except citrus) were so easy to make with a steamer and a little food processor.

Little did I know that the journey had begun that would bring me to the place I am today. During this time my Dad started a small catering business and did Barbeques for organizations and such. That was of great interest to me and I started picking his brain on how he did such things. When I had a culinary question I would get on the phone to get instructions and recipes from him. I learned to make those roasts and meatloaf. I started making briskets and chicken and a variety of other things that I thought were impossible at one point in my life.

I actually did finish college and got a master's degree in Special Education. I taught a few years before I had my first baby. We started contemplating homeschooling and my desire to ever teach again in the public schools had changed. I began to look at other things I was interested in and contemplating going back to school to do something else at some point.

Through the last 13 years of being home with my children my cooking skills have grown. I have taken on the task of running our church kitchen. I am the go to girl for everything kitchen oriented in our little church. I shared on that here...

Almost 3 years ago I began to investigate the idea of milling and baking my own bread for my family. We had experienced some allergies and health issues and this would be a very healthy and wise choice for us. I started playing with my bread machine, Kitchen Aid and some recipes and made some rather dense and heavy brick-like loaves. LOL I realized that the yeast I was using was not consistent so I began looking for better yeast. That made a difference but I still did not like how the loaves turned out from the bread machine. I found a local bread maker and teacher and began taking classes. I purchased my first grain mill and bag of grain, chunked the bread machine and I was on my way.

Since that time, I have broken the Kitchen Aid and purchased a Bosch mixer instead. The Kitchen Aid could not take the daily use I was giving it (but I would like to eventually get another one for other purposes). I bought a Whisper Mill, too and now I purchase a year's worth of grain at one time from Wheat Montana and a local cooperative as I need other things. I have been schooled on the kinds of grain and their purposes. My family eats ONLY homemade bread (except when we visit someone else's home). I make all my bread and grain products from freshly milled flour. That means everything from muffins, waffles, pancakes to cakes, tortillas and breakfast cereals and granola. One thing led to another and in January 2006 someone offered to pay me for bread and I was in business.

I am a Christian and decisions are made through prayer in my life. I felt God leading me to learn more about all of this - cooking and business and such - so I am now headed back to school to start a new career at the age of 39. Culinary school starts for me on Monday August 21st. I am a part time student working on an Associates in Culinary Arts at a local college. It is not a fast track program and it will take me 2 to 3 years to complete it all. That is ok with me, though, because I have a husband of 17 years and four children and they still need me. I am not in a hurry. I want to learn all I can and be as effective as I can in my job to feed others and do ministry. It is, afterall, a service industry. I have never been more excited about the prospect of school and working as I am now.

I think about cooking and meal preparation most of my day. I spend time pouring over cooking magazines and kitchen remodeling information. I am always bugging friends to show me how they made something. I will ask to watch them cook so I can learn what they are doing with certain dishes. My family LOVES being the guinea pig for all my experiments. I even started this blog outside of my main blog because I needed a place for a personal passion that would not overtake the rest of my life. Oh, and those few cookbooks I started with... have grown to over 200 books and I read those like other people read novels. LOL

What do I want to do with my degree? I want to be a home-based business. I want to be able to remodel my kitchen and work from home as much as possible (not the cooking but the business part with scheduling, menu planning and working on a cookbook or two of my own). I do have the church kitchen to use as my commercial kitchen when I need to do that. Right now I want to continue to sell bread and baked goods to friends and family. I want to do some small affairs catering and I would LOVE to teach others how to cook and do some personal chef work. Healthy whole foods for families is my focus. It is all in the Lord's hands and we shall see where He takes me in all of this...

Thanks for reading!

A bit of structure for this blog...

After a month of being online I am refining what I want this place to be. I have a few missions in life and lots of plans for the future (all flexible as God shapes them and me). I have decided that there needs to be some focus here at this blog. I realize that I need it to keep me consistent. So, here goes...

* Monday Menu Planning - menu plans when I have them and recipes on this day
* Tuesday Tidbits - Gadgets and tools I love
* Wednesday Websites - websites I find helpful and full of great food and recipes
* Thursday Thoughts - just random food and thoughts about food, memories of great food and sharing it with great people and culinary stuff that I am enjoying
* Friday Cookbooks - cookbooks I love or wish I had along with book reviews on good reads in the culinary world I have found

Sound like a plan? Now, I hope I can follow it all... ;)