Turkey sausage Tostada's

This recipe makes as many or as little as you want:

Small corn tortilla's

Ground turkey sausage (I made my own with ground turkey and a sausage seasoning from Penzy's)

baby spinach

shredded Mozzarella cheese

sour cream

salsa

First I got my corn tortilla's crunchy. I put mine in a cast iron skillet with a little oil

until bubbly and then let sit until crunchy, you could also do it in the over but I don't think they get crunchy. Of course you could also just buy already made tostada's but then you wouldn't be able to use them for anything else (I use mine for enchilada's also)

Top your tortilla's with 

cheese 

turkey sausage

spinach

a little more cheese

salsa

sour cream

If you want it extra spicy  you could add hot sauce also.

Getting rid of toxic things

I tried something different last week and I absolutely love it.
My mom told me about something she found on Pinterest (gotta love Pinterest)
using Milk of Magnesia in place of deodorant. I know this sounds really crazy but I thought I'd give it a try since my mom liked it.

Let me tell you that its awesome! Of course it won't take away the sweating, only very bad anti-perspirent does that, but it takes away the smell. IT DOES! I've used it for almost a week now and no smell at all, even yesterday when I was sweating cause it was so hot in the house.
Bonus..It's only $1.78 if you get the off brand, which is really the same anyway.
All you need is the Milk of Magnesia that is found in the isle of your grocery or pharmacy for constipation and a small spray bottle and ta dah.

Now I'm a very skeptical person about some things until I try it myself, but as I researched it I found out that Milk of Magnesia is an inorganic compound that is perfectly safe to use, it is mildly alkaline, bacteria cannot live in alkaline which is why it works so well as a deoderant. 

I found out you can also use it as a help for cankor sores and dandruff. Here is a link if you want to learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_hydroxide. If you read the reviews on using it as deoderant, I have not found one person that says it doesn't work. 

Oh yeah another bonus is that you will always have a travel sized deodorant!

Salsa Meatloaf and Swiss Chard Saute

The other day I made a wonderful meal.
Wait for it.......Salsa Meatloaf with Avocado Aioli and Swiss Chard Saute.
Doesn't sound all that wonderful until you eat it.

Forgive the picture, I was halfway through my meal when I remembered that I wanted to post this recipe. Yikes it looks bad and the color is not good for the avocado Aioli but trust me, it was good and everybody (sister in law and friend) included liked it.

Salsa Meatloaf with Avocado Aioli:

1 1/2 lbs Ground Beef

to that add:

1 C. Breadcrumbs (with Parmesan cheese and salt added to it) add as much Parm. Cheese as you like.

1/2 C. Salsa

1 T. Cajun Seasoning

1 t. salt (more sprinkled on top of finished loaf

Form into loaf pan and bake 350 for 45 min.

Avocado Aioli:

In food processor add 1/4 C. chopped onion and process until minced; add:

2 Avocado's 

1 t. lemon juice

1 T. Apple Cider Vinegar

1/3 C. Sour Cream

salt and pepper to taste

Puree until smooth

When the Meatloaf is done spread the aioli on top of the meatloaf or serve it on the side for dipping.

Swiss Chard and Shiitake mushroom saute

Saute:

1/2 Onion in 1 T. Butter and a 2 T olive oil

When the onions are almost soft add:

1 C. Shiitake Mushrooms

Saute those until soft

Add 1 Bunch of Swiss Chard and cook until the Greens are wilted.

Add salt and pepper to taste

Homemade Tortilla's

Last night I made homemade tortilla's!! Yum Yum.
I think I might just start making them instead of buying tortilla's, and I will know what's in them... 5 ingredients.
Trust me, they take almost no time to do. I made these while 'little man' was taking a nap.

Here is the recipe for Homemade Whole Wheat flour Tortilla's:

Ingredients:

* 2 3/4 whole wheat flour
* ½ tsp of salt
* 1 tsp baking powder
* ½ cup of olive oil
* 1 1/4 cup of hot water - you really don't need this much water I found so don't pour it all in, just a little at a time.

Directions:

- Mix the flour and salt.
- Mix in the oil by hand until the mixture resembles small peas.
- Add the water slowly until you have a soft elastic ball. You may need to add a little more or less water, but do it slowly. You may not really need as much water as you think you do.
- Knead until smooth.
- Cover with a damp towel and then let rest 1-8 hours.

- Make about 10-12 golf ball sized balls.
- Flatten and roll each ball into a flat round disk.
- Cook on a very hot skillet. No oil is necessary.
- Flip when bottom side is golden, the top should be bubbling slightly when ready. Use a spatula to lift the edge and check for doneness before flipping completely.
- Keep the cooked tortillas warm by covering with a damp towel while you continue to cook.

Makes 10-12

Remember the Quinoa Salad I made the other day?

I put that and and some cheese in a heated up tortilla shell, boy was that good

Go ahead and make these! (make sure you have at least one warm fresh off the griddle)

Quinoa summer salad

My main source of recipes now a days in Google. It's all wonderful,  until you realize that there are too many choices and you don't know what to choose, and then you find yourself an hour later still flipping between 6 recipes wondering which one would taste the best. They all have great pictures and look really tasty. The one you really want to make you don't have two ingredients and so you are sad about that.

That is my dilemma pretty much every time I look for a recipe on line, yet still I look.

Ok my complaining is done.

Here is what I made today for lunch:

1C. cooked quinoa (cooled)

left over black beans (optional)

1 vine ripened tomato, chopped small

2 ripe avacado, cut in bite size pieces

half and squeezed lemon

2 T. chopped cilantro

salt and pepper to taste 

hot sauce to taste.

Mix all together and serve cold

I served this with scrambled eggs, but I was also thinking about other ways to serve it.

You could put it in a tortilla shell with cheese and lettuce and chicken

This is just a great side dish for summertime

Everything Beautiful

In my devotion this morning it was talking about God's good things. The reading was for Colossians 2:21 where Paul was warning Christians about asceticism (renouncing the material world and denying the body of any kind of pleasure).

The author said something that I had never thought of before and quoted John Calvin

"Now if we ponder what end God created food, we shall find that he meant not only to provide for necessity but also for delight and good cheer. Thus the purpose of clothing, apart from necessity was comeliness and decency. In grasses, trees and fruits, apart from their various uses, there is beauty of appearance and pleasantness of odor. 

Did He not distinguish colors as to make some more lovely than others? What? Did He not endow gold and silver, ivory and marble, with a loveliness that renders them more precious than other metals or stone? Did He not, in short, render many things attractive to us, apart from their necessary use?"

I knew that God made things beautiful of purpose but I had never thought about making colors and precious metal, some more beautiful that others or food that would taste good. I just assumed that's what is was. I guess He could have made food tasteless. (Thank goodness He didn't)

So when I think that my love of fashion and wanting to look good should be considered vanity I remember that I'm not trying to be fashionable because I want everyone to see me, but because I like the way outfits look together and I like to look nice instead of frumpy. Or food is not just nourishment but should be something I take delight in making and eating as long as it is within right bounds.

2nd night of leftovers

As long as I'm doing leftovers let me tell you about what I made last night.

I had leftover Asparagus from grilling verge's out and chicken sausages. 

I also had about 1/4 c of creamed spinach that needed to be eaten or thrown away and a 

thyme mushroom and ricotta cheese blend that I used when 

I "attempted" to make my own ravioli. 

I took the asparagus and chicken sausages and whipped up 4 eggs and 

milk and made a crustless quiche, (sprinkled some cheese on top of course).

And with the spinach and mushroom thing I made crustless quiche also with 2 eggs, 

except I didn't have as much of that so I put that in 4 small ramekins. 

It turned out really good, I was surprised 

I just love taking things that are in the fridge and making something yummy out of them. 

You can also do the same concept with leftovers making a shepherds pie or pot pie.

All you have to do is take your leftover roast, carrots and potatoes. Or your chicken peas and 

gravy and put in in either a pie pan with no pie crust or inside a pie crust and then top with mash potatoes or dollop the easy box biscuits on top and bake. 

Leftover Stir Fry

What do you do with leftovers? They never seem to get eaten when its just some leftover green beans, plain rice and cooked carrots from that roast you made.
But I have a delicious way to make all of those come together.

I give you...dum ta dum...Stir Fry!!! Yes that's right, throw it all in a skillet with sesame oil and you have wonderful tasting meals.

My dad did the same thing growing up except his meal was certainly not good. My brother and sister and I hated it when he went through the fridge looking for leftovers, because he made soup. His soup consisted of left over meat, vege's water and some frozen cabbage. Spice it up with salt and pepper and you have a meal. NOT! And he always made so much we would freeze it for future meals. He did this alot and we had to eat everything on our plates (or bowls). Ever since then I've never really cared for runny soup. (I'm getting better now that I know how to make a good tasting soup).

OK so this picture doesn't really work but I'll get better at that. 

What I did:

2 stalks of Celery sauteed in olive oil

when they were half way softened I added my left over steamed green beans

cooked carrots from the roast chicken and mushroom I had left over and minced garlic.

 I sauteed them in the olive oil and added about 2 Tbs of Sesame Oil.

When that looked good and hot I added the rice and soy sauce and Sauteed that until it was hot. 

Pretty much you could do this with anything that sounds good with sesame oil and soy sauce, and of course you really do need rice to make it a stir fry.

We had some left over the next day and my husband reheated it in the skillet with more sesame oil and scrambled one or two eggs with it and it was quite good.

Whats in a name?

My first blog. What should it be about? What am I about?

Should it be about raising kids? 

I only have one that is three months old so I'm kind of new at the raising kids thing.

Should it be about DIY projects? I guess I could have some of that except I end 

procrastinating on the cool projects that take some time. 

How about food? I love to cook and try new recipes.

I've decided that its going to be about all the above and things I like to talk about.

I 'm an old-fashioned gal that likes to go back to the basics,  I like home made food and doing things                       from scratch not convenience. But I also love the modern relevance of things today. I love being in style whether its my house or my clothing. I like being on the "cutting edge" of things, it should be a good mixture of both I think.

Why the name? "Like a Breeze Gently"? I guess I thought of what I love, my style. One of my favorite things is to see white curtains blowing in the wind, its so relaxing. I have the airy beach theme in my house with light color palettes and soft things. I like my clothes to feel light and airy too, probably why I don't like winter clothes, I feel so confined in them...give me a pair of shorts a light flowy shirt and flip flops and I'm a happy girl. I love light streaming through the windows and the windows open for a cool breeze to blow through. 

So you see, that is why I just had to name my blog for what my life is.