http://keehnphotography.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 30, 2011

Death by French Fries

What is one thing that you could eat every day for the rest of your life? That even if it is completely bad for you, it wouldn't matter, because this is just a hypothetical question anyway!

Would it be ice cream?

What about chicken fried steak?

Mac and cheese?

Pancakes?

I would most definitely say mine is french fries in any form and fashion. I've realized over the last year or 2 how much I really do in fact, love french fries. When I order them at a restaurant, I really don't want to share them with people, but I will if I must... and for some strange reason, no matter how full I'll get, if there are fries left on the plate, they. will. get. eaten.

It's really a strange phenomenon. nom, nom, nom...

Curly fries are definitely a top pick as well as potato wedges. I also go for the really crispy fries that are a little more cooked than the others and have a little brown tint to them. I like the texture and the crunch. However, I don't really care for crinkle-cut fries unless they are a little crispy on the edges. And none of that McDonald's crap. Those aren't even real potatoes anyway.

But one thing is for sure: I gotta, musta, needa, betta have my ketchup. And a lot of it. When fast food places only give you those 2 small ketchup packets, I'm like, "What the heck man? Don't you realize that will only get me through 5 fries??"

Which is why I have a ketchup packet stock-pile in the middle console in my car. Just sayin'. You never know when you might need some more ketchup.... except I should probably clean that out and start over because they might be a little old... but who will really notice, huh?

All I know is, french fries and ketchup are the best. And just know, that if you ask for one of my fries, I will share with you. only a little begrudgingly. Just kidding. But seriously.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tasty Kitchen

Ok, so, I've become obsessed with this cooking website/blog/heaven/thing called Tasty Kitchen. Basically, anyone anywhere can put a recipe on this site, and people and rate it and review it, and it's awesome.

I currently have 8 tabs on my internet open of recipes from Tasty Kitchen that I want to make. And I just spent the last 30+ minutes looking at even more recipes specifically for a crock-pot.... Good thing it's almost the weekend.

I tried to make it simple so you could click on the picture and go to the recipe, but it did not want me to do that... but if you go to the website, just type in the name!

One of those recipes on my tab is for "The Yummiest Peach Cobbler". Not only does the recipe sound easy, but it looks dee-lish!


Another one is for "Quick Pickles". I love pickles and this just got me excited because I've kinda been wanting to make my own pickles, but without the jars and the canning and all the work. So this recipe was JUST up my alley.



The next one is "Chocolate Peanut Butter".... need I say more?



Ok, this one looks super easy AND it's perfect for the fall season that is upon us! "Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese"



This next one actually sounded a little complicated... but the picture looked SUPER yummy and heck, who knows? Maybe I'll attempt this for a special night! "Prociutto-wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Basil and Cheese".



Then I got on my little crock-pot kick and started looking up a bunch of recipes for the slow cooker. (for those days when I KNOW I won't want to do a single thing after work) This first one is "Crock-pot Spicy Chicken Soup". I like spicy, but I may need to tone it down a little for my husband...



Ok, this one.... this recipe, just has my name written all over it. It made me want to go to the store and grab all the ingredients and make it now! Who cares if it wouldn't be done until 9:30 tonight?? It sounds amazing!!!! "Crock-pot Buffalo Chicken Soup"!!!!!!



And the last one I have, and just because I've only recently realized just how much I love mac-n-cheese (I know, crazy, right?), is "Crock-pot Mac and Cheese".


Who doesn't love thick, creamy, hot, cheesy-perfection????


If this website is new to you... beware. You will find amazing things. And then you will promise to yourself that you will make all these amazing things at some point in your life for people, and they will "oooh" and "aaah" at your creations. And who knows, maybe you actually WILL make those amazing things and people will eat them up and love you for it. But until then, I haven't made it to the kitchen, I've just been stuck at my computer, addicted to this website.

Someone help me!

Mike?... Mike?...

He probably can't hear me because I'm whispering. I lost my voice.

Oh well. I'll just look up a few more until he comes around. : )

Check it out! And let me know if you ever make something from it, and I will too!

Searching and Cooking,
lisa

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Temple Grandin

This past week was one of the busiest weeks I've had yet. Something was planned every night of the week, which was fun, and made the week fly by! On Wednesday I went to see Temple Grandin speak. If you have no idea who I am talking about, read below, watch the movie, and read one of her books. She is incredible.

The Temple Grandin presentation was very inspiring. Temple was diagnosed with autism in the early '50s when the term 'autism' was just beginning to come around. She didn't speak until she was 3 1/2 years old, and obviously had several challenges ahead of her. Doctors said she should be institutionalized, but her mother was dedicated to helping Temple achieve more in life. Despite those challenges, Temple is a leader in the autism world for her incredible intellect (she has her Phd!!!), is a professor in Colorado, and has discovered humane ways to care for cattle that almost 1/2 of the U.S. slaughterhouses use today.

That's Temple. She is always wearing something 'ranchy'. : )

A characteristic of autism is that of fixations. Temple was fixated on a machine that she would try to dream up that would offer her a stimulating feeling that she longed for from human contact, but because of autism, would reject any physical contact made. After working on her aunt's ranch in Arizona, she saw the cattle being put into this cattle chute to hold them and to calm them down if they needed vaccinations or branding or something like that. This device fascinated Temple and she literally made her own cattle chute for herself to calm her nervousness and anxiety, and that would later help her accept and give physical contact to others, and also help her understand her emotions.

Temple speaking. It is really incredible how far she's come.

Temple signing someone's book!

Temple signed my book! : ) And I only have 2 chapters left! Who wants to borrow it?

It's an incredible story. The thing about Temple is, is that she is so aware of herself and her thoughts. She thinks in pictures, which most of us do. But with Temple, if you say the word 'shoe', she literally can picture any shoe she has actually seen and know who was wearing it.

It was really neat; at the end there was time for questions and a lot of people in the audience on the autism spectrum went up and asked her questions.

I would highly recommend everyone watch the HBO film about her life, called Temple Grandin. It stars Claire Danes, who does an incredible job of taking on Temple's voice influx and mannerisms.

Well, I hope you are enjoying your weekend as much as I am.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

My creation!

I was all set and ready to make a peach ice cream smoothie, but only to remember there was no more vanilla ice cream. I didn't think mint chocolate chip or cookie dough would be very tasty with peaches, so I thought about going to the store- keyword, thought.

I decided to be bold. To be brave. To go where no one has gone before. To do the unthinkable. (not really at all... but fun to think so) I looked up some alternatives to making peach smoothies without ice cream, and then decided to just whip out my own lil' version.

In a blender, I started with some ice, then sliced up the peaches. (which was a good thing too, because they were beginning to get all kinds of soft and stuff...) Added the peaches, threw in a whole container of raspberries- 1. because I LOVE raspberries, and 2. because I was worried that later in the week they would end up looking somewhat like the peaches, with mold or something. Anyway, ice, peaches, raspberries, a splash of milk (my splash was very small, you probably could not tell I even added anything), a drizzle of honey, and then one of those personal, small sized yogurts from HEB that was peach flavored. (why not?!)

And what came out of this adventurous start was a yummy, fruity, refreshing peach/raspberry smoothie!

Pretty, huh?

Oh yeah! It was tasty!

Lisa's Peach-Rasp Smoothie
some ice, maybe 2 cups? maybe more...
2 peaches
a small container of raspberries
a splash of milk
a drizzle of honey for about 3-4 seconds
a small container of peach yogurt

I know, I think writing and creating recipes is my gift. Enjoy!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Our Home in Bryan

Bryan's slogan is "A Great Place to Live". And I would have to agree with that. I really do think it is pretty great. We are becoming members of the church we have been going to on Sunday, so that is exciting, and have been learning our way around town.

One day, I got lost for 30 minutes. I'm not even kidding.

Here is a look into our lovely apartment. Enjoy!

This is the view from the front door of our living room.



We have a lot of books... and a very small TV we bought especially for the VHS player. That's right, I said it, the VHS player. Oh yeah, be jealous.



Our fun little vintage, 1960s Neiman Marcus mannequin from Miranda-the-Great, currently sporting my rehearsal dinner dress.



A view of our dining room from the living room. Looks a little messy right now... that's because it is.



Another view from of our dining room. Those are awesome built-in shelves! I have one shelf just for all my cookbooks. Glorious. And yes, that is the book Music Teacher from the Black Lagoon. : )



We also need 3 shelves to house all our board games.... we love board games. You should come over and play with us sometime. The Life, Risk, Careers, and Monopoly that is at the very bottom are from my Mama Kay's house. They are from the 60s and I love them. If you have never played Careers, you need to get over here! It's one of Mike and I's favorite!



Our kitchen that is small, yet still MUCH bigger than our last one! (If you can believe it!)



More kitchen. That door leads out to a patio we have. It would be nice to go out there, but I don't like sitting in 110 degree weather...



Our guest room. The most 'unfinished' of all the rooms.



Mike's Star Wars shrine, uh, I mean collection, yes there we go, resides in the guest room. : )



Guest bath. (I think it looks better than our own master bathroom!)



And our room. Very plain right now. We still need very much so to print wedding pictures out and hang them on the walls. I have a feeling though that won't happen until Christmas Break.



Anyway, so that's our place! You are invited over anytime!!