https://delightfullydoable.com

What is “Love”

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 29 June, 2013 No comment

Yes you, my husband. I can’t begin to explain the depths of my love to you. I know I fail and say hurtful things. I know I’ve let you down, hurt your heart, and spoken out of line. I know my approach is not always the best, but please believe me when I say I will always strive to be a better woman, wife and mother. My deepest desire is first and foremost to express my love on a daily basis that is unspoken. A love that goes beyond words and action, but simply is the basis of who I am and how I act with you. This is my heart’s desire.

I have reached the point in my life of complete contentment. Contentment on a level of having everything I truly need. I have the love of my life to share in every adventure we go on. Good and bad, trial and error, heartache and happiness. I have the best baby boy with big blue eyes who holds my heart so dear. This truly is all I’ve ever wanted and I have it. It’s mine, my childhood dreams come true. My heart it happy. Beyond this I have a blessed life living in suburbia in an upscale, safe and quite neighborhood. I have a beautiful house, car and many other material things that have blessed our lives. These things I am fortunate to have and undeserving. This isn’t the issue though. These material things will never be the basis of my happiness and will never define who I am; Tiffany Joy Cook.

All my childhood I dreamt of the day of being married, having babies, and living happily ever after. I have accomplished my biggest dream of life. 26 years it took me to finally reach the end goal. I’ve made mistakes and plenty of them, I have drove down roads I wish I hadn’t, I had many worldly experiences that I wish I could erase but through these challenging, difficult disappointments, I have also realized not to dwell on them but to become a stronger woman through it all. The innocence I hold now is a pure love for the fact that forgiveness reigns and circumstances don’t define a person. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”Oh, how this is beyond true. But not only do I want to become stronger through trials and tribulations, I want to become a woman who is viewed as blessed no matter her circumstances and will make something positive out of a negative. A woman who loves her Lord and Savior more than anything and whose life reflects that to the best of my ability. I long to be an example to my child and most of all you; strengthen you, encourage and help you through difficult pain in life and the joyous moments as well. This person that I am describing and the job it holds to accomplish this task is not an easy one, but is a road worth traveling.

We chose the hard path initially. Getting pregnant after dating a couple months and then getting married. Seems to be a common approach in our lives. We not only should embrace this factor about ourselves but laugh through the crazy times. Life will continually throw curve balls, how will we choose to dodge them. Shall we hide in a corner and cover ourselves as we get annihilated, jump gracefully through the air and understand it will pass, or shall we take off running in the opposite direction and leave the arena pretending we can escape. I want to stand firm and fight the battle jumping through hoops trying to avoid as much pain as possible while embracing the learning opportunities through each hoop we jump through. I want to look back at the end of my life and feel as though I fought for the things that mattered, not the things that will be left behind. At the end of my life I will stand face to face with God in hopes to hear “well done, my good and faithful servant.” This is my desire. I do not want to hear how I wasted my one shot at life and sought after all the wrong things.

I love you Michael John! You are my joy!

Barbequed Yam Salad

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 24 June, 2013 No comment

This recipe originated from my husband. He is the chef that cooks only his three specific meals that he’s mastered. Other than that he will once in awhile get a bee in his bonnet and experiment with some sort of steak or burger spread. Apart from that I am the chef, maid, nanny, wife, and now gardener.

This recipe is actually really good and sounds interesting but even my dad who absolutely hates sweet potatoes or yams will eat this dish.

Ingredients:

4-6 yams
1 ½ cups grated cojita cheese
1 red onion
1 bushel chopped cilantro
¼ cup Olive oil
Sea Salt

Chop the yams into ¼ inch pieces and drizzle with EVOO and sea salt. Place in a barbeque basket and grill for approximately 25-30 minutes depending on your grill. The goal here is to have the outer layer a bit soft with the inside still a little crunchy; leaving them perfectly grilled without being too squishy.

Meanwhile, chop the cilantro, red onion and grate the cheese.

Once yams are cooked, combine everything together adding another drizzle or so of EVOO and sea salt (to taste). Serve freshly warm.

This dish goes really well with burgers, steak, or ribs…

Egg Tarts

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 25 May, 2013 No comment

Oh my goodness this dinner was incredible. I absolutely loved it and the flavors were perfect. You can make this for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. I am trying to add more fruits and veggies to our diet and this really helped with the vegetables.

We actually were packing a picnic and going to the park tonight. We have been doing the movies in the park here locally for summer. Every Thursday and Fridays they have a movie in the park. It’s been pretty fun and good quality time together as a family. We usually go around 6:30 and let Cooper play and eat dinner. The movie usually starts around 8:45 (dusk) and depending on Cooper’s mood we stay the whole time or leave a little early. The adventure of Cooper playing in the grass with his toys is so fun for him and he absolutely loves to people watch. The other night we saw the third Men in Black movie. It was definitely fun especially because I have been giving Cooper his second nap a lot later so he is rested when we head out. We were able to stay til 10:30 that night. It was great! This week however we were headed to the park and not for a movie. The movies have ended for summer which is a bummer because it has been really nice out still and a fun time as a family.

We were walking to the Pool on our way to the park to check on pool maintenance. We have a neighborhood pool that we share with 10 families. Apparently this week has been our week to clean, yet we didn’t find out until Wednesday as this is our first time on maintenance. Unfortunately we found out on our walk down on Wednesday that our pool key is different from the pump house key and yet we are put off another day to clean. We feel as if we are becoming “those” neighbors…we don’t want to get there yet…at least not so early. :) Now today is Friday and we must clean since it’s been five days. Anyway, after eating on the lawn by the pool we took a walk to the park and went down to the river. Cooper has never been to the river before and it was so sweet to see his little eyes and brain stimulated by such newness.

It was a fun night full of adventure as we headed out for the river. We are trying to enjoy as much of summer as possible.

Tonight’s Menu: Egg Tarts

Pastry Tart:

1-1 ½ cup flour
½ cup cold butter
1 egg yoke
2 tbsp cold water
1 tsp salt

In a food processor add flour and cold butter and mix until it becomes crumbly. Add egg yoke, water and salt. Mix well. It will be very sticky. Fold onto a floured surface and add more flour as you knead with your hands. Add enough flour that the pastry can be rolled out with rolling pin. In four large ramekins divide the dough and fold up the sides of the ramekins and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Filling:

EVOO
4 slices of Bacon
1 medium tomato chopped
½ cup onion chopped
4 large mushrooms
Spinach
6 eggs
2 tbsp milk
Mozzarella cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet add evoo, bacon, onion and mushrooms. Once cooked add tomatoes and spinach, heat through. Turn off heat and crack all 6 eggs directly into the skillet along with 2 tbsp milk. Mix well and spoon into ramekins. Sprinkle with cheese.

Place the four ramekins on a baking sheet and bake 30 minutes or until eggs are cooked and pastry has browned.

Creamy Chicken Sausage over Rice

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 25 May, 2013 No comment

Due to the rain the last couple days I wanted something warm and comforting for dinner. Something cozy for days like this is always satisfying to my palate. Although with moving I haven’t had a lot of time to plan meals while taking care of our 11 month old. It seems our cupboards and refrigerator has become quite empty lately.

I must say after the heat the last few weeks, I do enjoy a cool day to bring our household temperature back to 68 degrees. Living in Portland it is not very common to find homes with AC, because it’s truly only needed at most a couple months out of the year. Those couple weeks make AC worth every penny in my opinion. Although I did grow up in central Washington where AC is like water; you find it in every home. Anyway, since the heat decided to take a backseat today, I set aside the summer pasta salad, fruit salads, and BBQ recipes and took every opportunity to make something warm and use my Crockpot to pretended it was Autumn outside.

Going to the grocery store has been very unexciting to me lately and I have been avoiding this for awhile. I just haven’t quite been feeling up to it with all the errands I’ve been running lately, and moving has become very taxing on me, or shall I say my son. I get more excited to rush home and put little man down for a nappy-poo (aka nap).

We have two weeks until we are officially out of our current home. This has been a bit harder for the hubby than for me, due to the attachment and the reality that he has lived here four years longer than I. Although it is our first home together and as a family it will be bitter sweet.

Anyway, this afternoon I decided to throw a frozen chicken breast in the Crockpot unsure of what I was going to make but figured this had to be a good start for something tasty. You can’t really go wrong with seasoned chicken. As the afternoon progressed I decided I would throw a couple apple sausages from Costco in there as well, and at that point I knew dinner absolutely couldn’t go wrong. First, the crockpot is my best friend especially on busy days. Second, I love sausage and could eat it every day of the week and well, chicken is a staple for most households who are animal lovers.

This meal is super easy and truly takes no time at all. Quick and delicious.

Ingredients:

1 Chicken breast
2 Apple Sausages
2 cans Cream of Chicken
¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
Rice or Egg Noodle Pasta

Seasonings:

Garlic
Oregano
Italian Seasoning
Hint of paprika

Throw all the ingredients into the crockpot except greek yogurt and rice/pasta. Once cooked (4 hours on low heat), shred chicken and cut sausage into small pieces. 15 minutes before serving turn the crockpot on warm and add yogurt and heat through. Serve over rice or egg noodle pasta.

I served this over rice tonight and had a fresh cut salad with beets, radishes, orange, yellow, and red peppers, cubed cheese and croutons with delicious honey mustard dressing. It was the perfect meal for a cool, rainy afternoon.

Plastic Soup

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 8 May, 2013 No comment

The other day I was meeting a gal who I’ve asked to “mentor” me. I really want a lady who has been married longer than I, who has experienced life a lot more than I, and has a lot of wisdom, advice and godly character to share with me. This gal is great. I’ve got to know her pretty well the last year and I’ve reached the point where now, I have a little more time on my hands.

We met for lunch the other day, as if the day wasn’t busy enough with Michael being home for a couple of interviews, trying to help him prep, feed the family, etc. I was rushing to get to lunch on time and take the little blueberry with me. Lunch was at an unnamed restaurant due to the popularity of this place, I don’t want to mention it. After I ordered my food, I had to take it back because it was the wrong order. They fixed my order and gave me the first lunch as well as my actual order considering they have to throw it out anyways. My little man was upset when I went to do this because he is going through separation anxiety due to his age. I am rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to not leave Cooper with her, exchange my meal and get my drink all at the same time. (This was not fast food, Subway, Quiznos, etc)

Finally I sit down, start feeding cooper some soup, take a deep breath and enjoy some conversation with Laurie while catching up on the chaos of life. Mid conversation I take a bite of soup and wind up with a huge plastic chunk rolling around in my mouth. DISGUSTING! I spit it out mortified as well as paranoid that this was ever so easy to have wound up in Coopers mouth. I sit there in awe while Laurie was trying to figure out what we should do. She was so concerned for Cooper; he could have chocked. I do not like to make a scene and be “that” person, but at the same time I really felt strongly that they needed to know. There were a lot of kids at the restaurant eating soup all around me, I felt strongly they needed to throw that batch of soup away. I walked up to the counter and asked for the manager. This man was beyond helpful. He let me order anything else I wanted, threw the batch of soup away, and apologized immensely. At that point I wasn’t even hungry so I got it to go. This basically took our entire lunch hour and was just one of those days; something was bound to have happened.

I ate it for lunch once I got home even though I had this eerie feeling something else gross was going on in my lunch. I didn’t run across anything else but once you experience that, you tend to remember anything can happen when you are eating bulk food at a restaurant. Kind of gross to think about. It did remind me of the one and only time I ate at TGI Fridays, when I drank a diet coke. Once I reached the bottom of my coke I saw a beverage napkin soaked in the bottom of my cup. To my knowledge, this cup missed the dishwasher and probably was full of germs. I never ate there again. So sick!

Now if you go out to eat today… enjoy and have a great time without plastic and napkins!

Morning Muffins

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 1 May, 2013 No comment

My mom was visiting us a couple weeks ago and was telling me about my grandma’s recipe for morning muffins. My mom was up visiting my grandma one afternoon while she had these muffins in the oven baking. The smell of them filled the whole house my mom could barely wait to try them fresh out of the oven. She had two muffins and wanted the recipe so she went home immediately and made them that evening. When my dad arrived home, he smelt the muffins as well and ate five that very night. :) So while they were down here visiting, she and my dad were raving about them and how delicious they were and how they didn’t even require warming them up or putting butter on them. Now in my parents household that is unheard of. They are a butter loving family. I figured something must be tasty with these muffins if they eat them without butter, that’s a huge statement I told my dad and I hope they live up to it.

I started making them the other day and realized it was a little inconvenient so I switched a couple things up. Needless to say, they are delicious and I will continue to make them. Very moist, tasty, and does not need butter. :) I was proud to say I ate three the other morning straight from the platter; no heat, no butter but straight to my tummy. They were delightful.

Now there are a couple ways you can make them. Follow the recipe below or see the notes following that in the second batch I made. My husband loves these muffins but is a huge fan of coconut and likes the second batch better. Honestly I think you get two different muffins so each are equally tasty.

Morning Muffins
Dry ingredients

Mix together:

1 ½ cup flour
¾ cup flaxseed meal (flour)
¾ cup oat bran flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix the following together:
1 ½ cup shredded carrots
2 apples peeled and shredded
½ cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix with dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the liquid ingredients:

¾ cup milk
Two eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together liquid ingredients.
Pour into all other ingredients and mix well together.

Pour into cupcake tins and bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. My oven cooks them perfect at 18 minutes. Do not under bake.

Note: I did not separate the ingredients, I mixed everything together in the order listed on the ingredient list except added the cranberries in the very end. I also did not beat the eggs. I would suggest using a Kitchen Aid mixer to make sure you mix very well if you don’t follow the directions above. They turned out great.

Second version:

Dry ingredients

Mix together:
1 ½ cup flour
¾ cup flaxseed meal (flour)
¾ cup oat bran flour
1 cup honey instead of br. sugar
2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix the following together:
2 cup shredded carrots
1 jar of pears (My sister canned pears from the previous summer and thawed and used an entire mason jar)
½- ¾ cup coconut
You can also use nuts if you would like. I wanted them to be a bit different so I omitted nuts in this batch.

Mix with dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the liquid ingredients:
¾ cup milk
1 egg, I only had one left, but the amount of pears still made this moist
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together liquid ingredients.
Pour into all other ingredients and mix well together.

Excellent in the morning with a cup of coffee or….anytime during the day.

Caribbean Jerk Chicken

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 27 April, 2013 No comment

Today I really was in the mood to cook and enjoy some time in the kitchen. All this packing and crazy business has got to me. I decided I would set this all aside for the afternoon and make a tasty dish with what’s left in the cupboards due to all the packing going on.

My dutch oven completely went splat on me two weeks ago. I was putting spaghetti on while I emptied the last can of olives into the mix and heard a loud pop that finally burst and painted my kitchen walls. I was covered from head to toe. The bottom of my dutch oven cracked a perfect hole that completely broke off and left another crack around the entire pot. The piece broke so perfectly I couldn’t understand what happened. I should have took a picture but was too concerned with my broken dutch oven and painted walls.

Needless to say I was very discouraged because I used the last of the turkey meat and had no clue what to make for dinner now. It was the perfect day for homemade spaghetti… until now. This being said, I use my dutch oven for EVEYTHING. I make stew, soup, bread, and much more in this miraculous pot and now it meets her maker. I went on a hunt looking for one the other day and had no success. I need it to be at least 4.5 quarts and red.

While the hunt is still on for this amazing pot, I was limited as to what I could make for dinner tonight considering my dutch oven is gone and I’ve packed up many other pots and pans. I decided I would cook some yummy Caribbean Jerk chicken, I have become very fond of this seasoning lately. I made quite the dish tonight and truly could have eaten the entire pot full.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts
1 Asparagus stock
1 lb Mushrooms
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Orange Pepper
2-3 tbsp Minced Garlic
1 Onion

Sauce:

4 tbsps cream cheese
½ cup half and half
2-3 tbsp flour or cornstarch
2 tsp Caribbean Jerk Seasoning

I used a rotisserie chicken purely out of convenience. If using regular chicken breast, cook chicken until no longer pink. Slice into strips and set aside. Meanwhile chop asparagus into thirds; slice mushrooms, peppers and toss in skillet with 1 tbsp EVOO. Add garlic and onions. Cook approximately 5 minutes depending how tender you like your asparagus (I prefer mine to have a bit of a crunch). After five minutes add cooked chicken and heat through.

Spoon cream cheese into skillet and turn heat to medium-low. While that’s melting pour half & half into a small bowl and whisk flour and seasoning together making sure there are no lumps. Once smooth, pour into skillet and let mixture thicken for a couple minutes.

Meanwhile cook your linguini to al dente making sure not to overcook your pasta. Spoon pasta directly into a serving bowl allowing the pasta water to follow; this will allow the sauce to adhere to the pasta and become flavorful.

Hint: Draining pasta for a warm dish is great but always leave about ¼ cup pasta water in with pasta when serving a hot dish. NEVER rinse with cold water. This brings the sauce and the pasta together rather than repelling the sauce away.

Serve with side salad or on it’s own. J

Hats off to the Law enforcement

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 17 April, 2013 No comment

I can’t stress the immense amount of hurt I feel towards the security officer who passed away after the Boston Bombing, and the families that have suffered through the destruction of these two young men. As I watch CNN live, the anxiety of this circumstance is definitely high. I break for the families that are on lockdown, the families who lost a loved one, lost a limb or are still in the hospital.

This is an unacceptable behavior and makes everybody uncomfortable because you never know anymore when and what will happen. How someone can cause such destruction is beyond me. I can’t fathom the pain and fear that lie within the city of Boston as they are on lockdown.

I can’t stress my appreciation for the FBI, Police, CIA, SWAT, and firefighters that are involved with this case. The fact that this isn’t a safe search has got to be a hard task for them and the families involved. Honestly all I can think about was how I would respond if in this particular situation. If this was my son, or my husband I would go crazy. My husband is a runner so I can’t begin to understand how such an innocent event could bring such disaster. I believe someone can’t be in their right mind to follow through with such a task. Heartbreaking!

I can’t believe nor do we fully understand the great lengths our law enforcement goes to in order to keep our country safe and find people who are threats to our nation. I don’t think we can begin to understand what goes on behind the scenes, but I am very appreciative and thankful for the work that is put in for our safety. It’s easy to take for granted the frustrations in our country as well, but when terror comes, reality hits and thankfulness sets in.

Our country will be in my prayers as we continue the hunt. I pray they find the last suspect today/tonight so that we can rest and the city can be released from lockdown. Lord protect our country!

Easter Sweet Rolls

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 2 April, 2013 No comment

My Easter Sweet rolls are super easy and a great roll for Easter dinner or any holiday for that matter. I call them Easter sweet rolls because that is when I originally made them and they are fancy enough for a great holiday meal yet easy enough for during the week as well. They are fluffy, moist and very tasty on a left over ham or turkey sandwich from Thanksgiving, or plain ol’ lunch meat. Send with the hubby to work or to school with the kids.

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp butter, softened
3 tbsp sugar
2 ½ cup flour

Directions

In a standing mixer with a dough hook, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let stand for 5 minutes, you should see foam on the top. Then add butter, salt and flour one ½ cup at a time. Blend for 3-4 minutes, dough will be sticky. On a floured surface knead for an additional 3-4 minutes until smooth. Place dough ball in a large oiled glass bowl after coating both sides with oil (either coconut or butter). Cover with a clean tea towel and let rise for 1 hour until doubled in size. Punch down and form little balls and coat each individual ball in oil and place in a prepared pie pan. Cover and let rise an additional 1 hour.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Be sure not to overcook to avoid dry rolls.

Good Saturday

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 31 March, 2013 No comment

Today we had such a busy day but boy was it a good day. Nothing extremely exciting happened, but it was a well versed day with lots of cooking, cleaning, shopping, family time and enjoying the beautiful weather. A clear 76 degrees in sunny Portland today. Days like today make me thankful I live in such a beautiful city. Living in the suburbs with a view of Mt Hood from our porch and simply popping onto the freeway, you can instantly see Mt Hood, St Helens, and Rainier. So beautiful, I am blessed.

My husband and I were enjoying the leafless tree we had a little yonder in the distance. The lack of leaves allowed us to see Mt Hood in full view while sitting on our porch, playing with little man and drinking a cup o’ joe. Then we remembered that we won’t have this view once the leaves come in, except from our bedroom. Speaking of leaves, today we also had an arborist stop by. They are taking out all of our trees on the side of the house because our neighbors above us have begun to lose their view as well. We will be losing a lot of privacy and exposing most the neighbors around us unfortunately; but at the same time we found out they are so rotted that it will require a different approach to take them out. Come to find out there are nine trees tucked back there. It’s been so covered by ivy that no one actually knew how many were back there.

While my husband slave labored outside over the weeds that have turned our front yard into a meadow, I went grocery shopping and began the cooking for Easter Sunday. Might I add, our house has been a complete disaster today and well…. It continued to end the day in a complete disaster. I never quite made it around to vacuuming, dusting and picking up toys and nick knacks that lay about. I also had decided today (the day before Easter) that I would like to color eggs. Now being that Easter is tomorrow and we have plans all day, I realized we wouldn’t have time for this and quickly placed it on the “good idea list” to accomplish Monday. Now why would I want to color eggs after the holiday? Well…it is our sons first Easter and being that he is 9 months old, he won’t know any different. Secondly, the day after, I realized this was a genius move considering it will all be 50-75% off for the coloring kits.

We ended the day with stopping by our neighbors house. They have a cute little three month old girl, who weighs only a half pound less than Cooper at 9 months old. We had a good laugh and she is quite the cutie. As we were walking home I realized my husband was quickly losing his upbeat attitude. Was this because it was past dinner time, was he exhausted, tired, or all three. Yes, it was all three. This man had been up since 6:30 and as you already know he has been working roughly 70 hours a week due to tax season. So needless to say, we ate a delicious homemade pizza and salad, by 8:45 tonight he quickly began the zzzzzz’s.

Happy almost Easter!