Raige Creations

I shouldn't feel lazy, right? I shouldn't give myself a hard time for my unproductive behavior. I keep telling myself this, but we are our own worst critics, aren't we? We all are going through strange times. Our lives have abruptly changed. There is stress, worry, anxiety, and rules. Harsh rules. I am not allowed out and about from 7pm to 5am every day. Only from 5 am to 7 pm can we venture out. And even then there are further restrictions. Sundays I am not allowed to leave my yard at all. I am allowed to leave my house to exercise for 90 minutes daily during the hours mentioned above - except Sundays. I am allowed to go to the grocery store, gas station, or liquor store { yes they are essential apparently } only on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. They split the alphabet and the first half can go those days, the 2nd half can go the other day, you have to show your ID to get in the store. I will be arrested or fined if I break any of these rules. I am working...

If I hadn't made it clear in any of my earlier posts, I think I have hinted at it, planning dinner stresses me out most of the time. I have tried having the kids cook, hubby cook, asking for requests, and  planning days ahead . Ultimately, these things fade away, and I am back to stressing about what to cook at the last minute , order , or suggest for dinner. This morning, having this discussion with my 2 kids who had the luxury of a 2 hour delay of school, we had some fun with weekly dinner plans. Today, being Tuesday and having our oldest son coming home from college who loves anything as long as a tortilla is involved, we decided to have our 'Taco Tuesday' . This is a popular one we have been doing for years now. Celebrating a Previous Taco Tuesday My kids drew this for me. photo: Raige Creations This led to 'Meatloaf Monday ', since that meatloaf was a huge hit the other day, and 'Spaghetti Sunday' , since we have pasta at least once a week...

My daughter had been asking for meatloaf for days (!), as we all get so tired of the same old meals, and we hadn't had meatloaf in forever! So meatloaf it was. (I just said meatloaf way too many times.....) As you know, hubby can't have any dairy, so milk was not an option. So here the easiest, milk free, recipe for a great meatloaf. Ingredients: 2 lbs Meat - I used a mixture of ground chicken and ground pork 4 Green Onions - or one regular would do just fine 1 heaping tsp Garlic - I used jarred, but fresh or powdered is fine Ketchup - a squirt - then about 1/4 cup for topping 2 tsp Pickapepper Sauce - then 2 tsp more for topping 1 Egg 1/4 cup Breadcrumbs Salt and Pepper Dried Basil and Parsley to taste Crushed Red Pepper to taste Olive Oil cooking spray Instructions: One reason I love meatloaf is that it is so easy! Just throw everything in the bowl and mix. That is basically it. But I took pictures so you can see the progression. Slice the green onions...

I am notoriously bad at cooking fish. I do not like pan frying it because it sticks to my pans and falls apart so easily. Deep frying it, I always get burned, and have the same problem of it falling apart. Baking it, well in the past when I tried baking fish, let's just say we ordered pizza that night. But I was determined to find a good fish recipe I could handle, because we are all sick to death of chicken!   This fish recipe sounded just like something we all could eat and enjoy. (thank you Food Network )  But of course, I did not have all the ingredients on the list, so I tweaked it with what I had on hand. Here is my take.I substituted parsley and tarragon for the cilantro, and lemons for the limes. Plus, I used just the pineapple juice instead of the chunks of pineapple. I also doubled the recipe when I made it because we have hearty eaters here, but this one here should be enough for normal people. OJ and lemon photo courtesy of Raige Creations Ingredients:...

I get tired of roasts. They are just boring sometimes. I sometimes want something more cozy, comforting. Less dry.... So this time I decided to try a slow cooker stew.  I found some good recipes (like  this one that I AM going to try  when I get some squash), but ended up using several as a reference and tweaking, as usual. Potatoes and onions in the Crock-Pot photo courtesy of Raige Creations I started with using the same ingredients I would with a roast. Ingredients: Potatoes, onions, carrots, meat.  I cut up the potatoes and onions and popped them into the Crock Pot dish. Meat photo courtesy of  Raige Creations I got a Pork Loin Roast, it seemed like a better deal, and tried to cut off some of the fat. Leave a little, it adds to the flavor.  Cut that into cubes, about 2 inches square-ish. The supporting cast photo courtesy of  Raige Creations Then I assembled some spices and the juice needed to make it more stew-like, and ad...

For me, it is hard to find a good recipe I can follow directly. I scoured the internet for chicken and dumpling recipes, but wasn't satisfied with any I found. For one, hubby can't have milk or cream, so that ruled out half of them. Second, I didn't happen to have any biscuit mix and I wasn't about to go to the store at 7:30am to get some. Besides, growing up in the 1970's I have had my fill of Bisquick . (my mother didn't use flour at all that I can remember, only Bisquick .) So I found if I took ideas from these recipes, and tweaked them to suit our needs and tastes, I could create my own perfect homestyle meal, and make my own comfort food recipe.  I love slow cooker meals ( I have raved about them before ). There is nothing better than coming home from work with dinner ready. No stress for me and a wonderful meal to enjoy with the family.  For this meal you will need: Big Ass Chicken One whole Chicken (I got a big ass chicken from Sams Club) salt ...

I always wish I could cook ahead, make several meals to either freeze or put in the fridge to just heat up on the days we are strapped for dinner. I am known for stressing about dinner, so this would make things so much easier on me, and thus everyone. But I rarely have the time or ambition to make more than the meal for that night. Often we eat dinner late because it takes me a long time to find the motivation to cook at all. Hubby complains that I don't cook all the time, and all I can say is, "Well, you married an American Girl hun. You knew what you were getting into!" But now, this girl is fully embracing her Crock-Pot ! Well, I am proud to say that last week I cooked 3 days meals in one day! Thanks to my Crock-Pot , I was ambitious enough to clean and season chicken enough to throw in there for the next two days. That day, I relied on an updated, clearly fast-cut American style, recipe of Chicken and Noodles.  It is an "American Busy and Unmotivated Mom...

I was shopping with my daughter the other day, which is always a nice treat for me to have her help me at a task I do not love. She thinks of things we need that didn't make the list, she is great company. An added bonus is that sometimes we plan dinners together while shopping which is also a huge treat for me because planning dinners is more often stressful than enjoyable for me. But sometimes I question what she puts in the cart. Like the other day, when she brought a bag of cherries to the cart. I said, "Don't we still have some of those in the fridge? I just bought some the last time I was here!" She said, "I don't know...I think we ate those...". Yes, she kinda trailed off while saying this, giving me the feeling she really had no idea, but didn't want to take the chance that we might be out because she really wanted them. So I gave in, and a big bag of cherries we bought. We got home, I go to put the cherries in the drawer in the fridge, a...