The Verdict!

Alright! The Mac'n'cheese'n'squash....... was GREAT! ok. with a few minor adjustments :P I used mozza cheese (noo idea how much. I just grated till I got bored) and parmesan. And I also tossed in a bunch of bacon bits (till I ran out) and some Progresso Garlic & Herb bread crumbs on top for a extra punch of flavour. It was a hit in the house! Everybody went back for seconds. I really need to measure when I add to a recipe instead of just throwing in things to taste. But yeah! It was good :) I recommend trying it :)
Till next time
xo
Lisa

In West Philadelphia Born & Raised!

Yep. I'm rapping out to that while cooking today. I'm soo cool eh? Today I'm making Macaroni and Cheese (yumm!) With Roasted Butternut Squash (mac n cheese n squash? Whaat?) 

Here's the recipe before I go any further and forget to give it to you :) 

Ingredients

• 400 g peeled butternut squash, finely diced, about 3 cups
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups dry elbow macaroni
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne (optional)
• 1 cup grated white cheddar, preferably aged
• 1 cup grated light mozzarella
• 1/2 cup grated gruyère
• 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

Instructions

• Position racks in centre and top third of oven. Preheat to 400F. Toss squash with oil on a baking sheet. Bake in centre of oven until tender, stirring halfway through, 16 to 18 min. Remove to a rack. Preheat broiler to 500F.
• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water, following package directions but omitting salt, until al dente, 7 to 8 min. Drain.
• Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium. Whisk in flour. Mixture will be dry and very lumpy. Gradually whisk in milk, Dijon, salt and cayenne. Stir until mixture comes to a boil, 5 to 7 min. Remove pan from heat and stir in pasta,cheese and squash until just coated. Do not melt cheese. Transfer to an 8-inch- square baking dish or 6 individual ovensafe dishes. Sprinkle panko over pasta.
• Broil until top is golden, 2 to 3 min. Serve immediately.

Now I'm making some adjustments to this because I don't have all the "proper" ingredients and I'm too poor to buy them haha

I'm just using plain mozza and cheddar since I don't have light mozza, white cheddar or gruyere. I bet it will turn out just fine with normal cheeses haha

here is the link to where the recipe can be found online even though I copied mine out of a book at work during Wednesdays midnight shift (gag) I'll let you all know how it turned out after I'm finished!

http://www.chatelaine.com/recipe/world-cuisine-2/macaroni-and-cheese-with-roasted-butternut-squash/

xo Lisa 

A First...and an apology (kinda)

Today I have to admit, I had a little meltdown. After I ate supper, I came downstairs to a song playing on the radio that makes me cry every single time I hear it. Usually just a sniffle and I'm good, but tonight I bawled.
Wondering what the "first" is yet? I cried about a boy. I, Lisa Keough, aged 22 have never ever cried over a boy. Until tonight. But, I didn't cry because he broke my heart, or didn't want to date me. I cried because my friend is hurting and I felt powerless.
The last boy I knew who hurt was sweet Jaydee. He tripped and scraped his arm. With Jaydee though , all it took was a cuddle and a kiss and he was all better. The boy I cried for today hurts inside and I don't think I can kiss and cuddle it better. And I'd just recently been kind of rude to this boy because he made me angry. I sent him an angry Facebook message (oh I know. 'oooh how scary!') and when I seen him the other night I ignored him, even though I could see that he stopped and waved at me. (Sorry :[ ) Now what I was angry at him for seems silly. It was foolish really. The reason now doesn't matter.. all that matters is I'm awful sorry. Sorry for being selfish and sorry for being just plain stupid. And sorry for your hurt. I wish I could make it  better for you. I love you.

thats all for tonight folks.
xo Lisa

Have You Ever Heard A Snowflake Fall?

It's the most amazing sound. To me it sounds like God is whispering in my ear "it's going to be alright."
The other night it was snowing and it was so beautiful that I just had to go outside and walk. I found the quietest part of my neighborhood and just stood there. It was so quiet you could hear the snow falling all around. It is something I never want to take for granted again. Every time it snows gently like it did the other day I want to take at least five minutes and go outside and just breathe and listen to the snow. Because who knows how many breaths and snow falls I have left?
I learned again this week just how quick a life can go away. I went for coffee last week with my father and the "crew" and yesterday morning I woke up to the news that one of the dear sweet old men who make up the "crew" had passed away suddenly. Jimmy was the sweetest man and will be missed so very much. I knew him for a very long time, but about 6 years ago I got the chance to get to know him even better when I started to date his grandson, Alex. I loved him very much and my heart is broke to know that he is gone. But, Carrie Underwood has this song out called "See You Again" which has given me some measure of comfort because it is true. I will see Jimmy again. Much as I miss him I hope that it will be some time before I do. I have a lot of living to do before I go to heaven :)
On a much happier note.. I did some baking this morning! I made six mini loaves of Banana Bread. and boy is it yummy! haha I made two batches of the recipe to make up the six loaves. One batch had chocolate chips in it (yumm!) and the other had cherries at my mother's request.
This is the recipe that I used.

Banana Bread Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour
• Yield: Makes one loaf.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

METHOD

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

I would tell you how much cherries and how much chocolate chips I used, but I really don't know. I just dumped them in until it looked like enough to me haha. I encourage you to try this recipe though! It is delish! 

Here is the link to where I found it.. .http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/

enjoy your day! 

xo Lisa

I didn't say what Monday!

I am back (for the millionth time!) Why does it always seem that whenever I try to blog (or do anything) steady.. something always happens to disrupt it! Argh. We've been doing renovations to our house  and my poor computer got buried and I just found her yesterday evening. Getting the charging cord took me till today :P
On to exciting things..
I GOT A KITCHEN! It's all mine! :D Yay for Christmas cooking! Or any kind of cooking to be honest! ;) Be on the lookout for recipes. It's gonna be a rough little while for me and my family. My father has cancer and I'm scared. I really am. So I'm hoping to try to find an "out" to keep me busy when I get worried. Especially in the tough times. Since I know I like to cook and bake and experiment, I'm gonna try that :) I'm gonna get so fat... lol
Oh.. listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBJ8iGHUOEg while you read. It'll make you happy. :)
One more month till Christmas (eve!) As much as I love Christmas.. I really just want this year to be over so we can jump into next years trials and hopefully triumphs.
Wait! I take what I said earlier back. Do NOT listen to the above video while you read.. WATCH it after :) It'll make you happier, I promise. :D How could Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra NOT make anybody happy? Seriously? They're beautiful. I'm not just talking about their voices either haha..
Lately I've been feeling rather.. frustrated.. with my job. I thoroughly enjoy what I do, most days anyways, and I think almost 4 years proves some sort of dedication... right? I've been working faithfully for Walmart for that long and I'm still part time and pretty low on the food chain so to speak. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, because I am oh so glad to have a job, but I'd really love to have full time at least. Just this week I found out that a young gentleman (he's still in school...) who has been there roughly a month is now my supervisor. Why? They wanted a male CSM because all the females have been getting pregnant lately. What? Stereo-typical much? Last time I checked you usually have to, erm, have sex.. to get pregnant. So I'm safe. In fact.. if I do become pregnant in the near future, somebody'd better call the Pope.. I'm not saying I want the supervisor position, because I really don't. I wouldn't turn it down if offered, but I wouldn't necessarily beg for it unless it was a full time position. I've even spoke to my boss, and explained my whole situation to him and said look, I need more hours. It's not any longer a "want" thing. Since we found out that dad has cancer, it has become a "need"..
Anyways... lol I'll post pictures of my kitchen as soon as it get's completed. :) My taps have got to go in yet, and my dish washer :) Then I get to decorate. Eeeeeeee! I'm stupid with excitement hehe
Speaking of work though.. I have to work in the morning! So it's off to bed I go. Well, as soon as I plug in my Frank Sinatra Christmas CD and put it on repeat repeat repeat :P
Night lovies
xox Lisa

What A Week!

Due to a passing of a dear friends mother, I will not be blogging for the next couple of days.  I will be back by Monday though :)
till next time
xo
Lisa

Soldiers Angels

My apologies for not posting yesterday... things got a little busy haha
Today's post is going to be about an organization that is very dear to me.. Soldier's Angels. Their motto is "May No Solider Go Unloved" and that is exactly what they aim to do! Their goal is for every deployed hero to have someone write to them and send them goodies from home, to express our gratitude for their hard work and dedication to their country. Yes, they are an American company, and I am a Canadian, but I still believe strongly in their dedication to the service men and women.
Soldier's Angels has several different "teams" that you can join to support the troops in many different ways! If your strength does not lie in writing letters and cards, and you're more of a baker, you can join the Angel Bakers and bake some yummy goodies to send to the men and women overseas.
To find more about the teams at Soldiers Angels visit this link.
This month they are collecting Christmas cards to send to the troops (yes, I know... too early to think about Christmas.. and snow...) I've been writing them out by the dozen haha.
If you are interested in "adopting" a hero you can visit Soldiers Angels by clicking here. It's a really great thing to do to bring a little joy to someone who is fighting for their countries freedom. And! If you wanted to send a Christmas card (or more haha) there are two addresses you can use :
Soldiers’ Angels Christmas


5068 US HWY 64 East

Franklinville, NC 27248 

OR 

Soldiers’ Angels Christmas


145 N Sierra Madre Blvd. 

Ste 5 


Pasadena, CA  91107

I have been an "angel" off and on since I was about 12.. I still keep in contact with my first soldier and he's one of my dearest friends. He was redeployed a few years ago and I sent letters to him again while he was overseas. 

Currently there are 346 heroes waiting for "adoption" why not sign up today? Perfect timing for Christmas! You could  bring some joy to a deployed hero far away from home at Christmas time. 

till next time

xo 

Lisa