Adventures in food

   I haven't been wanting to cook in my kitchen lately since the ants moved into the wall between my kitchen and master bedroom bathroom.  However, after constantly cleaning my kitchen and keeping up with natural remedies to get rid of ants, they aren't as bothersome as normal.  I just have to make sure there are never any dirty dishes and I have to clean the microwave pretty much daily.  I guess it's not really a bad thing, a lot of people constantly clean their kitchen and don't let dishes pile up.
  Today's blog is actually about cooking.  I love cooking.  I love baking.  I essentially love making things for people to enjoy, that includes food.

   I'm going to share a "recipe" (I use the word recipe pretty loosely since I cook by mood) that is healthy and a not so healthy recipe.

  As summer looms over most people (or in the case of those of us in the desert, it hits us like a rock),I've come up with a recipe for a yummy summer drink.

Black and Blueberry Freeze
about 1 cup of blackberries
16 oz of concentrated blueberry green tea (I'll explain)
1 cup of ice
Sugar to taste if desired

This recipe can be easily modified to suit your taste.  I took my blackberries and blended them while my water was boiling.  I then took 2 blueberry green tea bags and let my them steep for about 4 minutes since my water wasn't boiling hot.  I then added sugar (I love my tea super sweet, but if you don't you can skip this step.) After sugar, I added a few ice cubes and stirred.  I then added my tea to  my blender and added the rest of the ice and blended until all the ice was crushed.  I tasted to make sure the flavor was to my liking and here you can add a little more sugar if needed or ice if you want more of a smoothie type drink.  I just wanted something cold.  This will make a full pitcher and you can share with friends or place it in the fridge and drink throughout the day (evening, whatever floats your boat.)

Now for the not so healthy recipe:

Stroganoff  Casserole

1-2lbs ground beef

3 cups cooked rice

1 can cream of mushroom soup

your favorite seasonings

shredded cheese

I used minute rice and as that was setting (I also want to add that I season the water as it boils with garlic salt) I cooked my beef with chopped onion and chopped bell pepper.  I also used garlic powder and a bit of smoked paprika for seasoning.  I didn't want to use anything salty because of the cream of mushroom, this is only a bit of guideline for this recipe and I suggest seasoning for your tastes.  After the ground beef was cooked, I drained the grease and then added the cream of mushroom.  This was a concentrated can that you add water to, I only added about 2/3 of the suggested amount though to keep it a bit thick.  When that was finished cooking, I got my casserole dish and layered rice then a bit of cheese then my beef mix on top and then another layer of cheese.  My oven was preheated to 350F and I popped the casserole in for about 15 minutes, however that may differ on your area/stove (I've found that my stove cooks things pretty quickly per other recipes I've made).  Just check and make sure all the cheese is melted.  

The taste reminded me a bit of beef stroganoff, hence the name of the recipe.  I recommend experimenting a bit, that's pretty much how I cook everything.  I rarely measure things so I have plenty of screw ups along with lots of happy accidents.  I cook the way I crochet, I just go with it.