close up of flower

close up of flower
Originally uploaded by jeaninesturgeon

Wow there is not too many times that the picture is actually prettier than the real flower

Details, love the details!

Close up of flower
Originally uploaded by jeaninesturgeon

I love the detail that my camera picked up, this was lot of fun with my sister Bobbie.

Guess who's comin up!

My sister Bobbie! You know, from Bobbie's house in the Ranch blog. I am so excited! My B-I-L and Andy are golfing, I am thinking he is getting serious about this sport, well it has to be better than riding motorcycles.

Anyway, we are going to have a girls day which hasn't happened since my birthday in September. I told her to bring her camera so we can play.

I'll post pictures, YEA!!!!

Deep Fried Jalapenos! Second Recipe

My husband and I were at Hooters, and yes I do go there for their chicken wings! We were with my sister and B-I-L and we ordered these little golden goodies.

To start, I love hot food, but not hot food to burn me, I like the taste not the burn! So, I loved these so much I came home and tried these the next week. I am (very lazily) making a spicy cookbook and it will be done hopefully not in long in the future, I said that last year, but getting it done is a lot harder than saying it.

Let me know what you think, remember to wash your hands after handling the peppers, there was a time that I cut jalapenos then wiped my eye......

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 eggs
1 cup beer
1/2 quart vegetable oil
2 cups sliced jalapeno peppers


DIRECTIONS
Mix flour, salt, pepper, red chili powder, garlic powder, eggs, and beer together in a bowl.
In a deep fryer, or large pot heat oil to 365 degrees F (180 degrees C). (Or until it bubbles when you add the first jalapeno)
Dip the sliced jalapenos in the batter. Place battered jalapenos in deep fryer. The jalapenos are fully cooked when they float to the surface of the oil. They should be golden brown and crispy.

P.S. they are REALLY good served with Melted Nacho cheese!

I am all over the place on this blog...... Cabbage and Leeks in Cream

Remember a couple of posts ago, I wrote that I wanted to start putting on recipes? Well I decided what a better time than right now! I looked at my calender and saw that St. Patricks Day was on the 17th, which is only 12 days from now! You ask, do I celebrate St. Patty's Day, only when it comes to food. Give me any holiday and I will think of a meal to go with it, Halloween ='s chili, Easter ='s Ham, Cinco de Mayo='s Tacos, My Birthday ='s crab, 4th of July ='s ribs, see it's that easy!

So, on the 17th when everyone is eating Corned Beef, I do as well, (my findings will be on another post) what do you serve with it? Cabbage of course, but how blah!!!!!! I found the most incredible recipe from a cookbook my sister sent to me years ago. Actually, of all the hundred's of cookbooks I own, this is one of my favorite's. It is called the Greenbrier Cookbook from the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia. I love cookbooks that have history, stories, pictures and of course, great recipes! I made this not knowing the incredible flavor it would have and the requests I have for the recipes is so much I have them on note cards to give to my guests when they ask (which is every time).

Simple but elegant: Here is my gift to you for St. Patrick's Day:

Savoy Cabbage and Leeks in Cream
(Don't worry I don't know what Savoy cabbage is either, I just used regular cabbage, just as good)

1 medium head Savoy Cabbage (1 1/2 pounds), cored, and tough outer leaves discarded
1 1/2 Ounces Bacon (about 3 strips) cut into 1/2" strips
5 Medium Leeks (2pounds) whit part only, split and cut into 1/2" slices
3/4 cup Chicken Broth, preferably homemade
3/4 cup of heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Few drops of lemon juice

Separate the cabbage leaves. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the leaves by boiling them for about 2 minutes. Drain, then refresh under cold running water and pat dry with paper towel. Stack several leaves together and roll them up like a cigar and slice crosswise into 1/4" strips.

In a large saucepan, cook the bacon strips over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is almost crispy, 3-4 minutes. Drain off most of the fat leaving 2 tablespoons. Add the sliced leeks to the bacon and saute over medium high heat, stirring until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.

Add the cabbage and saute for another minute, stirring to combine the ingredients. Add the stock, season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer, stirring frequently, until the leeks and cabbage are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the lid, add the cream and simmer uncovered another 10-15 minutes to reduce the cream until slightly thickened. (The mixture should be very creamy, but not runny). Add a few drops of lemon juice, taste, and correct seasoning.

Serve hot.

Now, in regards to the leeks, it took me until this recipe before I tackled these unknown things. What are they? Huge onions, well in a form, yes. So, I took these aliens home, cut them like they said and thought, "wait a minute, I remember something about sand and dirt being in them from the Food Channel". Good thing I remembered that, so I soaked them and boy the dirt and sand that came off of them!!! Please do this because your side dish is not to have crunchies in them! Make sure you swish them when they are soaking and rinse thoroughly!

Let me know your thoughts on the recipe once you make it, I promise this will be a favorite of yours and it makes you look really good!

Well I did it, I posted my first recipe, yea for me!

Look at all the yellows!











Daddy with his boys!


The male is going up for show pretty soon! The little yellow is ours!













Another picture of him, can you see where it is blurry, it is from dog nose! Too Cute!

Look who's joining our family!

But to make the Vegas trip that much better....We are getting a dog! He is an incredible animal. We are getting him from Springwood Labradors in Pahrump Nevada.

The breeder is the same one where we got Nestle from. I waited and waited, not really wanting another dog, see, once you have had the BEST dog in the world, there is no getting any better than that.

I lost Nestle on December 10th, 2007. The picture I have of her on the bottom of my blog was the day we went to the vet for the last time.

I had the hardest time with her passing, she truly was my best friend and she was my first dog.

I have myself a long time to mourn for her and lately we have been talking about getting another dog. Our lifestyle works great for a dog. The mountains, the lake, and we are truly dog people. Andy is REALLY EXCITED!!!!

So when we were done with Red Rock Canyon, Andy drove me over to Pahrump (a surprise). I thought he was taking me to Mountain Springs Bar for a drink, for old time's sake. Well, we did go there and then kept on going. Absolutely clueless about where we were going to until I said to him, you really do need a dog, s-l-o-w-l-l-y I turned toward him and he started laughing and said "I wondered how long it was going to take you to figure it out"!

Jillian was as sweet as ever, It was soooo hard to pick out one we wanted. I picked out 7, but Andy said we better just start with one. I tried to compromise with three, a chocolate, yellow and black. Again, he said let's start with one. Joy Killer!

Ok, I really worked on narrowing it down, I decided against the chocolate, because it reminded me too much of Nestle, and if I was crying at the breeder's with her, what would happen when I got her home, plus she was only 5 1/2 weeks old. TOO young!

I like black, but Andy said he has had many black dogs before, so we got to the yellows. Male or Female? I fell in love with this little guy and when Jillian let him out to play with the other dogs, he was extremely focused on a piece of wood, worked the other dogs like crazy to get and hold on to that piece of wood. So, we picked him, he is now three months and we will pick him up at the end of the month. Four months works for me, they have a better settlement when they stay with their brothers and sisters for that time. That is how old Nestle was when we got her. I really don't want the little puppy stage.

We are thinking of naming him "Woody" because of the piece of wood he had. Cute, huh, we will figure out his name for good when we get him home. How exciting...I will keep you up to date with my progress of this little guy!

Last Week was WONDERFUL!

Well, we decided to go to Vegas for a fun couple of days to celebrate our anniversary. You know, do the tourist thing, with Kim and Daryl they were going to celebrate Kim' s birthday.

Sunday morning we took off-Andy and Daryl heading for the golf course and Kim and I heading for SHOPPING! Wonderful afternoon, ended with a wonderful dinner at the Rio.

Monday Andy and I went to Red Rock Canyon, one of my favorite places in the WORLD. It was cloudy, cold rainy and what a gorgeous place to take pictures.

I have a Nikon D40 camera and really wanted to open this baby up, considering all the pics I have been taking have been of the snow. Well, I did what I wanted to do. This camera is incredible! What an WOW day! They have a 13 mile loop one way, with the clouds, mist, rain, some parts sunshine was a picture wanting to be took!

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did, I am going to have some of these made up to frame they came out that good!

What a beautiful world we live in!

Wow what a wonderful picture right out of the truck window!

This is the highest point of Red Rock, what a great picture of this tree!

Wow what a wonderful picture right out of the truck window!
Originally uploaded by jeaninesturgeon

This was taken in one of my favorite places in the world. Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas. Enjoy!