Barbecue Chicken with Mustard Glaze

So since I started working my day goes something like this Get up at 6AM (TOO DAMN EARLY) cuss at the time, Go pee, take a shower, have some Norman coffee, make my lemon water, and make my coffee mug to go, head to work, get to work, work till 1:00PM, go to lunch, take an hour, then back to work till 5PM, then after work head to the gym, some days I work out for 2 hours, some an hour and a half, then I either head home or I go tan, then I get home about 7-7:30 start, or help with dinner, eat, help clean up, sometimes I have to make cupcakes or a cake so while I cook dinner or eat dinner I bake, Then finish baking sometimes that lasts till 1AM, then I get my cloths ready for the next day, clean my face, and get to bed…and I can’t figure out why I am tired?!!! But I am happy that I have a job and a life these days! YAY!

Love me some chicken thighs! If I had to choose the part of the chicken that I like the most I would pick thighs as they are dark meat and I LOVE dark meat, That’s why I LOVE Normy, hes dark meat! HEHEHEHE Then I like drumsticks and then Chicken breasts…

Recipe

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

8 (6-ounce) skinless, bone-in chicken thighs
Cooking spray

Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl.

Combine ketchup and next 3 ingredients (through mustard) in a small bowl;


stir with a whisk. Heat a large grill pan over medium-high heat. Rub spice mixture evenly over chicken thighs.

Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 12 minutes. Turn chicken over. Brush with half of ketchup mixture; cook 12 minutes. Turn chicken over. Brush with remaining ketchup mixture; cook 2 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165°.



Dinner is served

Basic Breakfast Potatoes

Well it was a busy week and a busy weekend for me! Go go-go. I feel like I haven’t had anytime to relax. Between Cupcake orders and cake orders and the holiday this weekend, it was busy!

So this past week I had me two cupcake orders, and a cake order and then I decided to make a cake for Easter Sunday! Check them out:

Chocolate cake with Maraschino cherry frosting topped with Maraschino cherries…

Lemon Cupcakes, with Lemon Buttercream Frosting


and then the cake I made for Easter



Normy can’t wait to try it:

So for Easter we celebrated with Normy’s Family and went to my Mother in Law’s for Brunch: She had a nice Spread:

My Father in law made (The Best) Bloody Mary’s:

So I asked him where he got the recipe from, so he said Food Network and he searched Bloody Mary, Pitcher and its the first one, and so I searched and I found his recipe (as he told me what was in it). So here is the recipe which I am thinking I am going to make more this weekend as they are so GOOD! I think I had 4 of them!
There were also Mimosa

Normy likes him some of those!

My mother in law also made some fabulous casseroles, Farmer’s Casserole and French Toast Casserole!


I’ve made Farmers Casserole before: recipe
and the French Toast Casserole was AMAZING! I am not a big fan of French Toast, but this is so GOOD: Recipe Make it this weekend! I am telling you, you will LOVE IT!

And I made The Pioneer Woman’s Breakfast Potatoes:

Recipe

■4 whole (to 5) Large Red Potatoes
■1 whole Onion
■1 Tablespoon Vegetable Or Canola Oil
■1 Tablespoon Bacon Fat (I used Butter)
■ Salt And Pepper, to taste
■ Red And Green Bell Peppers, Diced (optional)

Place potatoes in a large pot and cover entirely with water.

Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are fork tender. When they are ready, place the potatoes on a cutting board and dice them into 1-inch pieces.

Next cut up an onion into a large, rough dice.

In a large skillet heat oil and bacon fat over medium-low heat.(I added butter instead)

Put the onions in the skillet

and sauté until they start to turn brown.

(You can also use red and green bell peppers diced up. If you do, throw them in at this point).

Next, throw in the diced potatoes.


Stir well and then slightly press/pack then. Now you will cook them without stirring for several minutes. You want the pan to be hot enough to crisp the potatoes but not hot enough to char them. (Optional step: sprinkle a bit of flour over potatoes as they cook). Cook for several minutes and then flip them with a spatula. Salt and Pepper them as they cook. Cook until desired brownness.


and check out the Fruit kabobs my Favorite Sister in law Tara made:


Heck check out the whole spread!

oh and you need a side view too

My mother and father in law know how to have brunch!

Here’s my Plate:

Oh look, I can get my Sister in law to do what I do:

all the kids after they went hunting for eggs

and me and my Normy

The End!

Ham Salad

Have you missed me?

Well I have completed my 1st week of work! Its been tough and I am sorry to say that I only cooked dinner one day this week! I have baked more than cooked and I am bummed! I need to get back in that kitchen and cook! I also got my new camera this week! YAY!!!!! It’s Beautiful! I am in love! I need to practice more with it and get better! But I am loving it!

recipe

2 cups finely diced ham

3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp minced onion

2 Tbsp minced celery
2 Tbsp minced red bell pepper
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp lemon juice
A large pinch of cayenne (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Mix everything but the salt, pepper and cayenne in a large bowl. Taste and add cayenne, salt and black pepper to taste. Serve chilled.

Serve straight, or mixed in with macaroni, or in a sandwich in a hamburger bun, a Kaiser roll, regular bread, in a pita or as a wrap.

Maple Salmon

My last post was so depressing! So I had to follow it with a Happy, fun, yummy one!

I love my hairs! (Think I have said that before) But I do! They are famous on Flickr too! I get quite a few compliments when I am out and about too. So Thursday I got my hairs did! They look so pretty! One of the best ways to make a woman feel great is for her to get her hairs did!
First you must pull them up so your stylist can color the ones under neither, so you look like this:

most people would not want anyone to see them this way, but me, I take a picture. Made me laugh when I saw it…Why its Cindy Lou Who, from Whoville! Or maybe its Jamie Sue Lou!?
Then you need to add some foils, incase you want to get extra channels on your TV! hehehehe

and then afterwards you look like this:

purrrrrfection!
and then after you get your hairs did, its very important that you still go to the gym. Gotta look good and feel good!

and LOOK the hairs STILL look FABULOUS! (Now THAT’S a good hairs day)

And then you come home and make you and your Latin Lover Normando Luis a fabulous dinner, as you spent an arm and a leg to make those hairs looks so good! So you have to make him forget that with a delicious dinner!

recipe

1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound salmon



In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup,

soy sauce,


garlic,


garlic salt,

and pepper.

Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture.


Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Place the baking dish in the preheated oven,

and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork.

Update…

To all my Blog fans, I am sorry to tell you that my camera has died…

Last night I did not have a good night…It started out good and then I cut my finger again…this time, I cut the nail off. Probably too much detail for you, but I am a visual person and I like details, I also like pictures and visual effects too, so I took some pictures for you so you could see my finger…

and then because I hurt my finger I thought I had a hold of the camera and well I didn’t and I dropped it. (I cried) So because I dropped it, its last and final time, it no longer works…I am so upset with myself for dropping my camera, as I LOVE that camera. It is apart of me. I took pictures EVERY day with that camera and now I will not be able too….

I have an injured finger (might need stitches) and a broken camera…Not a good night! Chefs have battle scars, I have MANY! I can’t even count how many times I have cut myself!

So on a good note I have ordered me a new camera! I got me a D3000 camera!

I needed a new camera, I was due! So it will be here on Tuesday and I will need to learn how to use it. So until then I will be making dishes I have already made as I can’t take pictures at this time. I have my i phone, but come on, those pictures don’t even compare!

Sad to say goodbye to my old friend, but excited to have a new friend Mr. D3000!

Thanks old Camera you were very good to me, and I am sorry for dropping you and getting food on you, and dropping you on the burner. I will take better care of the next one…I filled up a 320GB hard drive with pictures from you, I’ve shot many amazing food pictures, family events and goofy times with Normy with you. I’m sorry I didn’t treat you better… I will miss you…and Thank you for all your hard work…signed Jamie

A very sad day for me…

My Version of Strawberry Shortcake

So when you make a nice dinner, and dessert its nice when the guys you cook for, offer to do the dishes for you!

So you can stand on the other side of the counter and do things like this:

So basically Strawberry shortcakes (To me) consist of Pound cake, Whipped Cream and Strawberries…

So I just bought a pound cake (sorry to say I didn’t bake it).

Strawberries (sliced)

and of course the whipped cream HAS to be homemade (you know I have never in my 32 years of life have ever bought Cool Whip, and I NEVER Will) For the whipped cream, I just used a pint of heavy whipping cream to my handy, beast the kitchen aide mixer, Whipped it a little and then added in vanilla extract (about a tsp) Then whip a little more, then add in bakers sugar, (did this by taste) Couple tbsp I would say,


then whip in med, to med high speed until you get stiff peaks.

Then I got some pretty Martini glasses and sliced the angel food cake into slices and then into bite size pieces and then I took the whipped cream and put it in a pastry bag with a tip instead of just scooping it out with a spoon, thought I would use the pastry bag and make it look nice.

So I started with a little bit in the bottom of the glass then topped that with the chunks of angel food cake, then added the sliced strawberries and topped it off with more whipped cream…
This is what I came up with…



I made each of us our own, and I did the whipped cream on top, different for each of us…

Roasted Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto

Been looking online at all the recipes on The Cooking Channel and found this recipe. You know I love Giada De Laurentiis, I have made many recipes by her and I am never disappointed and I wasn’t disappointed with this one either…

1 pound asparagus (about 19 stalks), trimmed

1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 to 8 paper-thin slices prosciutto, halved lengthwise

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Snap the dry stem ends off of each asparagus and place on a heavy baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss. Roast until the asparagus is tender, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Wrap each asparagus with 1 piece (about 1/2 a slice) of prosciutto, exposing tips. Arrange on a platter and serve at room temperature

Potato Cups in Muffin Tins

recipe

2 cups shredded potatoes
2 tablespoons onions, minced
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
freshly grated nutmeg
kosher salt
freshly cracked peppercorn
butter, to grease the muffin tins

Preheat oven to 350° degrees F.
Mix together the potatoes, onion,

Parmesan,


nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Generously butter 6 muffin tins, 2-1/2″ size. Press the potato mixture evenly into the muffin cups. (I added a little cube of butter on top, to add a little extra flavor)



Bake 45 minutes or until the edges are well browned.

Remove from the oven to a rack to cool slightly. Loosen and invert the potato cups onto a plate.
I served mine with sour cream.

Mexican Meatloaf

Last night when I made this dish I invited our good friend James over for dinner. James is a very good friend to Normy and me. We have become close to James this past year and well he’s just a great guy. I have posted about James before, because well he kinda kicks ass! (can I cuss on my blog) I’m a person who cusses, so I’m going to say its ok to cuss on my blog. Some would say That’s not very lady like…Oh well!

So anyways, I wanted to have James over for some Jamie cooking, as I start my new job next week and well who knows when we would have James over again? Probably in a couple of weeks. But I just wanted to have him over, it had been too long since he was last over. So I decided to make him some meatloaf. The meal I made tonight, everything was cooked in the oven. Nothing says loving, like something from the oven!

I LOVE when we have people over for dinner, especially James! (Think I said this before) I love taking pictures and hanging out, drinking some wine, and just enjoying each others company and OF COURSE enjoying the food!

recipe

1 lb lean ground beef

1 medium onion, diced small

1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs


1 egg, beaten

1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning


3 tablespoons ketchup
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can Ro-Tel tomatoes
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to your liking (optional)
8 ounces shredded four-cheese Mexican blend cheese

Mix the hamburger, minced onions, bread crumbs, beaten egg, and Italian Seasoning together well with your hands.

Add in the ketchup, 1/2 the can of tomato sauce,

and 1/2 the can of Ro-tel tomatoes.


Mix well.


Put 1/2 the mixture into an oven-proof baking pan, making a square or a circle, whichever you prefer.
Cover the top of the meat mixture with a generous amount of cheese, not coming quite to the edge.


Top the cheese with the rest of the hamburger mix, and pat down to make a loaf. Press the sides together a little so the cheese won’t drip out when cooking.
Mix the tomato sauce and Ro-tel tomatoes together and spread on top of the meatloaf.



Bake in a 350 oven, for about 30 minutes before taking it out,

to drain off the juices in the pan.
Put back in oven for 30 more minutes then take out, and cover to top of the meatloaf with the rest of the cheese.


Put back in the oven, and watch carefully for the cheese to melt on top.
Remove, cut, and serve.

I made extra tomatoe sauce, and rotel, salt, red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning and mixed it together to spoon over the meatloaf