Peach Cobbler

I've found myself in the kitchen quite a bit lately. One of the things I never realized is just how much life revolves around meals and eating. In college cooking dinner consisted of boiling noodles and pouring jar spaghetti sauce over the top. I just never had the urge or desire to spend lots of time in the kitchen preparing delicious tasty meals. Which is why it was always such a treat going home for breaks because my mom would spoil us with our favorite meals.

 

Then when I started dating Brandon, it didn't take me long to figure out that they key to his heart is actually through his stomach. I began cooking more substantial meals when I would visit him during the weekends. I know the type of food and quality that is typically served to ballplayers and just felt that I wanted to cook him something that would actually fill his belly. I also knew that he was away from home cooking for eight months and some home cooked meals would hit the spot.

 

Now we are married and isolated in a foreign country that has even more limited food options and so my skills as a cook in the last five months have far succeeded what I thought I was capable of. The first meal I cooked in this apartment was hamburgers and a box of Kraft macaroni. Not my proudest moment but we didn't go hungry and at that point I imagined we would have lots of burgers and lots of macaroni. We ate them on bread with ketchup and that was that. Fast forward a few months I made burgers again but with homemade macaroni, lettuce, tomato, and bacon to top the burgers and we had them on buns. I remember thinking, 'wow I've come a decent way in the cooking department.' It wasn't a huge accomplishment but what I realized is just how much more comfortable I've become in our new surroundings. Little victories.

 

Even more so in the last month, Brandon often makes comments like the following, "You know what sounds good? That mozzarella cheese dip you make. Do you think you could make that?" My first instinct is to say no way, I will never find all the ingredients I need but for some reason I don't have the heart to say no. I understand what he is going through as far as wanting certain things from home to eat or snack on. So I make the efforts and attempt to fill those requests with a positive outcome more often than not.

 

Thus began the real advancement of my cooking abilities. Dip turned into potato salad, which turned into his Mema's chicken and dumplings, which turned into me wanting a peach cobbler. I don't know where the notion came from in my head that I couldn't make any of the above but it was there. I'm happy to say that it has since been removed and I now feel like I could attempt to make just about whatever Brandon's requests. Other things I've cooked include chicken fried chicken, a cheesecake, meatballs, curry and rice, beef bowls, cinnamon rolls(fail), biscuits(semi-fail), lemon garlic tilapia, vegetable soup, stuffed chicken, and chicken and noodle soup. I will admit that some evenings the last thing I want to do is cook dinner, or maybe it's getting the groceries, but the satisfaction I feel after making something delicious and seeing Brandon dig in for seconds or thirds far exceeds the workload.

 

I've taken for granted the amazing cooks in my life and this year has made me appreciate their talent and gift so much more. I can't count the number of times I wished I could pick up the phone and called to ask how to make a certain dish. Maybe it's knowing I have my own child on the way and that I want to be able to always provide delicious meals. It could be just the simple fact of knowing that if I don't cook, our options for meals here are extremely limited. Either way it has sparked a passion for cooking and learning how to cook some of Brandon's favorites and some of my own.

 

With all that being said, summer is not summer for me without a peach cobbler. Usually I just have to sweetly ask my mom and wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am a peach cobbler is served.  However not this year. After a long discussion via facetime with some secret tricks and tips I slapped on my apron and gave it a whirl. Ok there was no apron but what's a little flour on your shorts going to hurt?  So I now present to you the makings of my very first ever peach cobbler. I know I have one proud grandma in Heaven.

 

 

If you are wondering if it tastes as good as it looks then I will lie to you out of the sheer kindness of my heart that it was awful. No good. Not making it again, until Brandon gets back on Monday. This one I plan to dish out to some of the gracious friends I've made here. Ones that borrowed me the sugar and the glass dish for which this delicious treat wouldn't be possible otherwise. And probably to anyone else who knocks on the door between now and when it disappears.

 

Cooking and baking has also helped fill a small void that I've had to create. I truly miss sewing and crafting, and even writing here regularly. But again a passion has been ignited for me lately and I hope to continue to share these things with you, just from the kitchen instead of in front of my sewing machine, at least for now.

 

As always, thank you for letting us share pieces of our life with you! It means show much to be able to not only experience this adventure but to share with everyone back home just how much God is richly blessing our lives and helping us grow in areas that are lacking. Amen for that.

 

The peach cobbler recipe can be found here.

Cheat tips:

Slice peaches into dish. Immediately add lemon juice over peaches.

Add 1/4 teaspoon almond extract with step two.

Eat with vanilla ice-cream.



Chicken Chimis and Crockpot Salsa Chicken

It might be a little easier to understand why food has become so important lately, but enough about the baby for now. I just want to pass on a few dishes that I feel are worthy of recommending. 

 

Here is an easy chimichanga recipe that I originally found here via Pinterest. I am always skeptical of the recipes I find there because the picture can be so deceiving of what your expecting. But this one was right on.

 

 Baked Chicken Chimichangas

1 lb shredded chicken

8 oz shredded cheese (calls for pepper jack, I used Colby jack)

1 8oz pkg cream cheese

1 1/2 Tbsp taco seasoning.

 

Preheat oven to 350*. Spoon mixture onto flour tortillas, wrap, and bake for 15 minutes in non stick or sprayed pan. Flip and cook for 15 more minutes. Top with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, or any of your other favorite toppings.

 

 

 

Simple. Easy. and Tasty. One that is getting added to our favorites menu.

 

But I'm not finished because last night our neighbor brought us dinner and it too is going on the favorites menu.

 

What you'll need and I don't know measurements and haven't cooked it myself but it won't be long until I try.

 

Crock pot Chicken Salsa

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

Salsa

Crock pot

 

Pour salsa over chicken in crock pot. Cook on low for approx 8 hours. Serve over rice.

It was SO good and simple.

 

And if you don't like these directions or need to have measurements, I'm sure there is a recipe online for this somewhere too, I'm just going off of what he told us.

Cooking

"What's for dinner?" Seriously this question is asked about four times a day if not more. There is just two of us eating each night so it shouldn't be that difficult to decide on a meal.

 

But then we do and I go to get the recipe and I run into the problem.. Oh, I don't have crescent rolls, or I can't find that type of cheese or seasoning packet, or cilantro for crying out loud... you get the idea and its frustrating. Shopping in the meat department here is also a little questionable because I don't know what cut of meat I'm buying and that doesn't sit to well with me.

 

I'm tired of our go-to hamburger casserole, hamburgers with macaroni and cheese, chicken teriyaki, chicken casserole, spaghetti and spaghetti casserole- are a few of our favorites.

 

I've turned to Pinterest frequently for NEW recipes but still find myself at a dead end often. I made an effort to try something new starting with the fish, and roasted vegetables, chicken noodle casserole, baked ziti, and chili dogs. I was on a roll and and then we had repeat BLT's and Teriyaki Chicken Stir-fry and I felt myself slipping back into our regular meals.

 

We don't own a casserole dish, just a few disposable foil pans. We can't grill and we don't have a crock pot or slow cooker (but I plan to shop around for one this week.)

 

Tonight it's an attempt at chicken chimichangas, and tomorrow our neighbor offered to bring dinner over and so I have a few days to gather some ideas. 

 

If you were in my shoes what would you cook or try to cook?

Randoms from Week 4

Hello, slacker here. I do not have much to report on our end.

 

The season has officially started -- YAHOO!

 

 

 

I have turned into an excellent chef. Homemade chicken noodle soup. Minus the noodles but over rice was just as tasty.

 

 

 

I made a delicious tomato cream sauce pasta to celebrate opening night. I also drank coke from a wine glass because I am fancy like that AND I have been giving in to the soda cravings. I need something American in my life. Although it's not like it used to be and makes my stomach a little crazy. I also discovered that Pizza Hut delivers to our building so THAT is good news. Can I get an Amen? Pizza party next week for sure!

 

 

 

Forgot this awesome video from the game last week. It was a city rivalry game between the Hanshin Tigers and the Orix Buffaloes. Way more Tigers fans.. oh well. This is the 7th inning stretch ritual here. No singing of take me out to the ball game, instead these balloons are just as fun, right? Nothing like celebrating with balloons that look like male reproductive cells. This was post game after the Tigers claimed victory.

 

 

 

Also missing everyone this Easter holiday but found a way to still hear the good news online. You can watch here if you just can't get out of bed some Sunday mornings. I have heard there is a church some of the other Americans ball players that live in our building go to so I'm going to do more research to find out where and when. Just another way to meet and make some friends!

 

 

 

In other news I am three movies deep in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Not sure why I've never seen any of them but figured now is as good of time as any to get on board. Pun intended. Slightly obsessed with becoming a pirate, not really but Keira makes it look fun. And because I can't just sit still and watch a movie I started another cross stitch project.

 

 

 

I have one sightseeing location on my list while Brandon is gone mostly for the photos (and shopping) and I haven't figured out which day is going to be best to go. I would like to be there at night but slightly afraid of getting disoriented, not lost. Perhaps I'll go twice, once during the day and once at night. Good plan right?

 

Okay sorry I have no raw egg stories but everyday can't be that adventurous. If you decided to go out to eat this weekend and enjoy some fine American cuisine please dedicate a bite or two for me. Oh and if you know how to order a pizza in Japanese please email me - you'd be my hero.

 

Hope you all have a Happy Easter!

Raw Egg and Off Day Exploring

Monday was an off day for Brandon. No practice, no baseball, no obligations! We had decided we were going to go out and do some exploring together. I have made several trips over to the Sannomiya area but they have always been solo. Yesterday we headed out together to see what we could find.

 

Let me back up a quick minute. Saturday I went to the game with one of the other wives. After the game the five of us went to find a huge dollar store just a few train stops from home. Dollar stores here are amazing! We bought all kinds of kitchen gadgets for a buck. After we shopped for a bit Brandon and I decided to stay and eat. His teammate, wife, and daughter headed back early. They just didn't think their active 18 month old was going to make it through a sit down dinner.

 

We sat down and started looking at the menu. There was zero English. Brandon has been able to figure out what certain symbols mean and with the help of his phone he can look up some things too. He knew what he wanted and had seen it in the food showcase outside. I had no idea. I said just order me some plain noodles. We are both on our phones looking up the equivalent to plain noodles. We did, sorda, and this was my meal.

 

 

All of a sudden I am kicking myself for this bright idea to try something new.

 

Raw eggs? No not for me. I don't even like my eggs a tiny bit runny. Blah. Suck it up Lauren! This isn't real life. How am I going to choke down this entire bowl?  

 

Major mental pep talk going on inside my head. Brandon proceeds to tell me to stir it up to eat it and that I wouldn't ever know and before I knew what was going on his chopsticks had punctured the yolk and he was vigorously mixing the egg into my entire meal. Ok, I thought maybe I could just scoop the egg out and eat the noodles but that surely wasn't happening now. I had a frothy bowl of noodles and egg. I did what I promised him I would do. I tried it. I couldn't do the slippery texture and I'm not a huge fan of Udon noodles. As I felt Brandon looking at me with a smidge of disappointment, I said ooooh yummy these are so delicious and tried taking several more bites. A fair shot I would say at trying the meal. As we were walking home, he told me that he was glad I continued to try it even though I didn't like it. Luckily we had a frozen pizza snack in the freezer and I had that for dinner. Moral of the story, I don't like raw eggs. Period. The following night this was our dinner. I had to have a little taste of home and it sure hit the spot.

 

 

 

So back to exploring. It was chilly and windy but that wasn't stopping us.

 

 

We were in the same area to where I had been going before but we walked passed and all around what I had already discovered. There is a huge department store, Daimaru, and we checked out all nine floors. There was everything and it was all very expensive and upscale. Men's fashion here is very different than in the US. It is often hard to tell if you are in the men's or women's section they all blend together. So we just kept finding more stores and continued walking and walking. We started to get hungry so we turn around and started to walk back. Through the side streets we kept seeing lots of people and so we cut over and checked it out. Hello Chinatown, in Japan!

 

 

Lined down both sides of the street were vendors selling hot food. Here we go again with the food and it's uncertainty.

 

 









I told Brandon to try whatever he wanted. It all smelled really good but I couldn't help but wonder what it was that we were going to be trying. We got to the last vendor without any food but decided to get an order of Gyoza to hold us over until we found a place to eat. There was five in an order so we split 3/2 and I was SO bummed we didn't each get our own order. I can't wait to go back. Truthfully, can't believe I'm admitting it, we should go back and try some of the other stuff too. Of course don't tell me what it is before I eat it but maybe trying it first won't be so bad. Best gyoza ever!

 

 

At this point we were back to most of the stores I had already seen and so we found a place to eat. Obviously I am a bit skeptical about ordering food and not being exactly sure what I'm getting. I mentioned before that most restaurants have displays of their dishes outside of the restaurant. Once we picked a place, we both decided to take pictures of what we wanted and would just show our waiter or waitress. I know this seems REALLY bizarre and possibly rude but what other option did we have? When it was time to order, our waitress started to tell us to go out to the case so we could show her what we wanted. Wow that's funny we took pictures so we showed her, she took our order, and wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am our food is what we picked out. It was good too. I really needed a meal that was going to boost my confidence in the food department after the raw egg dish from two days ago.

 

food photos  are from the case // us with actual food

 

Then guess what we did? More walking and shopping. When I say shopping we barely bought anything ALL day. I grabbed a coffee so I would quit complaining about being cold and then we found another building that had floors of shops. We discovered some pretty amazing camouflage shoes yesterday and I had one extremely happy guy ready to do some buying. Except we both have big American feet and most the shoes here are too small for us. We never found a men's  shoe size over 11, maybe came across a 12. I can find some shoes but most of them are for ladies sizes 8 and below. There were some cute little artsy shops with stationary and that type of thing. There were furniture stores and housewares shops, you name it, they had it.

 

 

 

It was a good day. Our wallets thanked us for barely buying anything. Brandon's loot included a camouflage umbrella and a camouflage pair of socks. I picked up a pair of work out pants and a tank from the trusty Gap. We picked up milk and chocolate chips on our way home. I made another batch of cookies to send with Brandon on his long road trip and we called it a night. We got plenty of exercise, had decent food, and spent lots of quality time together. I'd say it was an off day well spent.

Food (Tabemono)

Konichiwa! I decided to take yesterday (Thursday/day 4) off from exploring. When I got out of bed my calves were extremely stiff. I guess I'm not used to walking everywhere and I haven't been wearing the comfiest shoes.
 
I didn't think laying low would be appropriate all day because I could see myself forming a bad habit. I don't want to become a hermit. We were out of milk so I knew I had to go down to the market and also had to figure out something for dinner. The previous two nights we had hamburgers with macaroni and cheese and chicken alfredo.  It was food but nothing special and I knew that I was going to get burnt out really quickly trying to cook American style food in Japan.
 
I messaged a friend of my sisters who is currently living in Tokyo and I knew that she would have some excellent tips, recommendations, and resources. I was right. She explained some popular dishes and some of her favorites and directed me to several websites and recipes they have tried.
 
I made my grocery list and attempted to have the Japanese pronunciations with me. I didn't think I would have a problem finding most items but just in case. In my head I knew I wasn't making a quick grocery run. I was there to scope it out to see what they had. I tried to find as many English labels as I could and if I couldn't, I picked an item based on instinct and guessing. I believe I looked for green onions for over 10 minutes and finally settled on chives. As soon as I did I walked past the little English sign say green onions.
 

 

I had planned to make curry and rice and some gyoza. Gyoza is a fried dumpling with cabbage and ground pork. In the meat aisle I was looking for stew meat and ground pork. I have never bought stew meat back home so I knew this was going to be tricky. Before I went to the market I watched a quick video on cooking curry and rice and I was looking for the meat that looked like that from the video. There was NO English labels and at one point I think I stood there waiting for magic to happen and the meat I needed would just jump into my cart. Then I saw a picture that I knew was curry and I assumed that was near the meat that was used for curry. I know that seems pretty obvious but over here they use all parts of the animal and I really, really didn't want to make a mistake. Oh did I mention I invited our neighbor, another American player, over for dinner? No pressure.

 

 

Next I needed ground pork and thankfully for pictograms (cow cartoon = beef, cow and pig = mixed beef and pork) I assumed the other without a label of any sorts was pork. I thought about asking and I even had my cheat sheet but I didn't.

 

Then I had to find everything else I needed, sesame oil, vegetable oil, vinegar, soy sauce. And just like home of course there is cholesterol free, fat free, low sodium, etc. For most items there are a bunch of different kinds but then there might be three items with English labels. Again I used my instincts and guessed. At this point I'm grateful that I have cooked back home as much as I have. To be able to recognize different things without needing an English sign to tell me what they are makes me feel good.

 

Forgot this pic first time (daily workout)

 

 

I got started on dinner and was hoping for the best. I can read a recipe and follow instructions so that's what I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides the rice cooker directions being in Japanese, Brandon figured it out and cooked amazing rice to go with our meal. It was delicious. Both boys liked it and had seconds.I also picked up some ice cream treats that were recommended and those were awesome too.  After dinner we sat around talking, mostly about baseball, but I got to see just how much happier Brandon is with this team. I can't explain it, but it's just different and it makes me happy.

 

I think this is one of the best meals I've ever cooked. I normally stick to lasagna, spaghetti, or casseroles. I know for sure this boosted my confidence in the kitchen. And apparently Brandon's confidence too because he requested sushi next time. I'm willing to try but I'm not making any promises. Although I didn't get out much yesterday I tried to get in touch with the Japanese culture in a different way and feel that it was a success.

 

In case you are looking for something new to your dinner menu here are the recipes I used for both dishes. Enjoy!

 

Curry and Rice

Gyoza

Ritz Chicken Casserole

I haven't shared a recipe in a while so I thought I would. I realized this season how NICE it is to have some of my favorite recipes blogged. Sometimes my hard copy gets lost moving so now I can reference the old blog for the ones I use most often, like meatloaf, mozzarella cheese dip and lasagna. 

This is one of Brandon's favorites that his sister always makes for us when we are home. We like it so much we had to start making it for our self the other six months of the year. Until I couldn't get a hold of her so I looked up a recipe online and found something close. Then I typed this up while it is baking so I have the recipe forever. I'll let BD decipher if it's the real of a new recipe. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups chicken - cooked, drained, cut up or shredded 

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 8 oz tub of sour cream

1 sleeve Ritz crackers

4 tbsp butter

1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cook chicken and cut into bite size pieces or shred. Mix cream of chicken and sour cream thoroughly. Spread in bottom of small casserole dish. Next layer chicken. Cover with shredded cheese. Sprinkle a sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers over the top. Dot butter over the top of the casserole. Bake for about 30 min or until bubbly and brown. Enjoy!

LD

Tater Tot Casserole [A Recipe]

I love casseroles and I love easy meals. 

Easy to shop, prepare, cook, clean up, and to eat.

Here we go.

1 lb ground beef

1 can french style green beans (drained)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup milk

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

1 bag of frozen tater tots

Brown ground beef. I always add chopped onions for flavor. Drain. Cover bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with browned meat. Next layer green beans. Mix cream of mushroom soup and cup of milk together pour over meat and beans. Cover with shredded cheese and top with frozen tater tots. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until tater tots are soft.

Enjoy!!

Mozzarella Cheese Dip [Recipe]

My computer is down right now. Not sure how soon we are going to get it fixed so for now I'm posting up at my man's computer. There is a new blog hop going on and I hated I missed it so I'll be posting my Manicure Monday post later this week - plus I have a surprise to reveal.

Anyway.. if you follow me on Instagram, which you should -larnlevydickson- unless you get annoyed by multiple updates a day via photos of my life, then you've seen that I've been spoiling my man lately with all his favorite snacks. It's my fault this all started. The second night we hung out together I made him brownies. Not only does my guy have a huge heart but his stomach is impossible to fill. It's a deep bottomless pit.

I like to keep his favorites around or at least make sure to make them a few times a month. Some of his favorites include; lasagna, red velvet whoopie pies, brownies, cookies, turtles, meatloaf, banana pudding, sweet tea, ice cream, and mozzarella cheese dip. He clearly doesn't live off just these but when he leaves town or is just getting home I try to have a little something waiting for him.

If you have never heard of mozzarella cheese dip I'm going to share it with you here today.

Ingredients:

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mozzarella cheese

2 tbsp parmesean cheese

1 tbsp parsley flakes

1 tbsp onion flakes

1 tsp accent

dash of garlic powder

raw veggies or fritos/chips

Mix mayonnaise and sour cream. Then add parmesean cheese, parsley flakes, onion flakes, accent, and garlic powder.

Finally add the mozzarella cheese last. Refrigerate for a few hours before eating for best results. Letting it sit for a while helps all the flavors take.

Now grab your favorite veggies and enjoy. Brandon enjoys his favorite dip with Fritos. I personally love this paired with baby carrots.

Such an easy recipe for summer BBQs or picnics and I'm sure it'll be a hit. Please let me know if you try and it and if you love/hate it.

Boogy Woogy BUGLE snacks!

I fell in love with this little delight last week when we received a bag of Christmas goodies. 

Although peak holiday baking season is over, you may be able to garnish your NYE party table with this dainty snack.

Ingredients: 

Bugles

Creamy Peanut Butter

Dipping Chocolate.

Fill your Bugles with peanut butter. I used a Ziploc bag, cut the corner off and used it like an icing bag.

Then dip the end of Bugle in Chocolate.

Lay on parchment or wax paper. 

Refrigerate until chocolate hardens. 

Enjoy.

Not joking here. The first pan was gone that quick.

So easy a cave man can do it. 

Ten Randoms 'til Christmas

In no particular order:

I got a part time job until it's time to leave for spring training. I am so thrilled.

We have only bought a few Christmas presents, meaning two maybe.

I'm on my way home to see all my family for my little brothers graduation from MIZZOU. Congrats little bro and to Mom and Dad for having four {MIZZOU} college grads. We hope we've made you proud!

I switched my etsy shop to STORENVY www.laurendarlings.storenvy.com

I hope it snows while I am home.

I'm having a sleepover with my two favorite kiddos for Christmas tonight and they don't know yet. They are going to freak!

I miss my Mr .... already.

I made Chicken Tortilla soup last night and it was amazing. I shocked myself by how good it was. I'll have to share that recipe soon. Brandon ate three bowls so obviously he loved it.

I miss having a live tree at Christmas.

I take my blog way to serious. Its just a blog. =)

Chex-mas Cheer {A Recipe}

I've been hit by Christmas fever! 

And so has everyone else. The stores were a disaster this weekend. 

My fault for not going earlier in the week.

Anyway..I spent an evening in the kitchen, made homemade broccoli cheese soup and red velvet whoopie pies (separate post). Then I made some Chexmas Cheer, I want to share this concoction with you here.

There may be a recipe somewhere online just like this, but I honestly didn't use one and just threw it together.


Chex-mas Cheer

Ingredients

2 cups white chocolate chips

1 stick of butter/margarine (1/4 cup)

2 cups Chex rice cereal

2 cups cinnamon Chex cereal

2 cups popped popcorn

1 cup dry roasted peanuts.

Confectioners sugar aka powdered sugar

Dash or 2 or 3 Cinnamon

Holiday sprinkles

First melt the white chocolate chips and butter for 2 minutes stirring every 30 seconds.

Mix cereals, popcorn, and peanuts in large bowl.

Pour melted butter and white chocolate mix over the dry ingredients. Stir to cover all pieces. 

Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Mix.

Repeat again with only powdered sugar. 

Add sprinkles to your discretion. The more the merrier.

Pour out on a pan covered in wax paper or foil to dry. 

Package for giving if you haven't eaten all of it yourself. 
I etched PEACE on the side of this jar from the dollar store and embellished with some Christmas colored ribbon. My first ever win on a blog giveaway was this etch all cream from I {heart} Nap Time. This is the first time using it and now I am obsessed.  I quickly realized I should have used the words COMFORT & JOY cause any food or snacks going in this jar will probably provide both.

Anyways...consider yourself warned is delicious. 

Or as Fergie would say, D to the E to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S! 

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