I wasn't feeling myself yesterday, I've been exhausted from watching the girls so much recently with everyone back and forth to the hospital where Chris girlfriend Sierra is still at but recovering well and sends her appreciation for all the prayers.

Truthfully I've been lazy cooking for more meals that I care to admit to. Just something quick to throw in the oven has been my mantra recently. I'm pretty sure it's a desperate need for a vacation that's dragging me down. I need a plantation on the beach.. Or on a mountain... Sighh...

But, let me get back on topic.. This was a throw it in the oven and let it tend itself meal, and I thought it was going to be a great thing, and It was.. The meat was tender, the rice fully cooked the flavors were amazing,  The only thing was that I did not intend to make cheese curd carrots.

I was reading recipes and I read a couple different ones that sounded awesome, and thought I would try... well all of them, at once.. Well not all of them, but some parts of several different ones. Well one had plain yogurt in it and it looked so creamy and yummy, and I was attracted to that for sure.. Another had nutmeg and lemon in it and I also have a love for those things, so I added them all and popped it into the oven and let it do it's thing. I didn't not realize mixing yogurt with lemon juice makes cheese.. Now, I didn't just make cheese curds.. I made cheese curds from vanilla yogurt.. So..

Just for fun here is a link to a yogurt cheese recipe. Proof that you are never too old to learn, that is for sure and this is also going to be a chemistry experiment with my youngest.. We shall make cheese. Truth told it wasn't a bad flavor... Yes I am a foodie.. Yes I tasted it.. I wiped it all off the carrots and fed it to them without cheese curds but I tried the curds, and I did not die, and I did not hate it. So I will be playing with cheese recipes. I always thought cheese was hard to make but how much simpler can it get if you can accidentally make it huh? Watch for my experiments in cheese coming soon. 

So, now on to the recipes... Im gonna throw the carrot recipe in there too just so you know what not to do hahaha.. Enjoy..

2 cups stew beef cubes

1/2 cups jasmine rice (you can use plain white, or Basmati or whatever you like best. Jasmine rice is just my favorite)

1 package Lipton onion soup mix

2 tbsp instant coffee powder

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

4 cups water or beef broth

1 can campbell's cream of onion soup (you can use mushroom and i probably would have but I was slightly angry with hubby and he hates onions so I onioned that sucker up good.)

onion salt to taste

garlic powder to taste

salt and pepper to taste

1 stick of butter melted

mix all ingredients in a bowl and stir to coat everything then turn into a grease casserole dish cover tightly with tinfoil and bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours, then turn heat up to 350 and bake another hour and a half DO NOT UNCOVER 

 after removing from the oven let stand 10 minutes 

meat with be melt in your mouth tender...

this okra was some I froze from last years harvest and Used the last package for this recipe and it was so yummy.. I could eat it again right now.. I don't mind the slime.. It's just part of okras goodness...

My okra was in a quart ziploc freezer bag, but my guess is that it was about 2 cups so I'm going to say 2 cups, but this recipe is easy the few ingredients in it are to taste anyway.

2 cups whole okra

1/2 stick of butter

garlic powder (to taste)

salt and pepper (to taste)

2 tbsp chicken broth (or water)

Melt butter in a cast iron skillet and then add other ingredients and cook over medium heat stirring ocassionally until okra is tender, serve warm

1 bag baby carrots

vanilla greek yogurt

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp nutmeg (or to taste)

1/2 tsp garlic (or to taste)

salt to taste

parsley (for color use your own judgement)

Mix all ingredients and cover with tinfoil and pop in a 350 oven for 2 hours.

(then wipe the cheese curds off your carrots, serve it up and don't mention those curds to a single soul.)

Next recipe will be for what we had for dinner tonight.. Here is a little preview of it.. It was awesome enough they actually made the trip into the room I was in to tell me how good it was.. That's right mama did good..