Tasty Tuesday’s – Homemade Ginger Sauces

 

Have you ever gone out to eat somewhere and developed a craving to have that certain food prepared exactly as that particular restaurant could make it.  Then you go other places and find yourself being disappointed over and over again.  We have such a food from such a restaurant.  When we lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina, we had one of the best Japanese Steak Houses.  We would go in every year for Valentine’s Day, typically with my husband’s brother, his wife, my husband’s best friend along with his wife and typically one other couple.

Dennis and I always ordered two separate meals – one of us would get the Hibachi Steak and the other would get the Hibachi Chicken and we would share.  My favorite part of the meal was the Ginger salad dressing and the ginger dipping sauce.  Since we left North Carolina, almost 9 years ago, we have not been able another restaraunt that is as good.

As a result, I have been on the hunt for a good recipe online to make the salad dressing and the dipping sauce.  This weekend, we made both using fresh ginger root.  The two recipes I tried (one was from Allrecipes) and the other I found on another site online.  They came out amazing.

 

We planned on fixing sushi, however, my husband is not a fan of the seaweed used.  So we thought about using cucumbers to wrap them.  However, we did not have a sushi mat to roll the sushi with, so we made a “sushi” bowl instead.  I used the basic ingredients of a California roll – including sushi rice, avocados, carrots, cumbers, imitation crab sticks, and cream cheese.  I was pleased with how they turned out.  We used the ginger salad dressing for this.  Also, we had egg rolls, Teriyaki chicken, Stir-fried cabbage and Zucchini stir-fried with onions.

So what have you been cooking at your house?  I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew are posting about this week, click here or on the link below.

 

Review of Heirloom Audio Production’s Wulf the Saxon

Our family loves listening to audio dramas.  They are a marvelous way to pass the time – especially when taking long trips in a vehicle.  So I was thrilled for our family to have the opportunity to review another audio theater production by Heirloom Audio Productions.  Heirloom Audio Productions brings another G.A. Henty novel to life with Wulf the Saxon!  This drama thoroughly captured the imaginations of my husband, our 17-year-old son, and myself during a recent trip we took that was about two hours away from our home.  For this review, we received audio cd set, which includes two compact discs that we were able to listen to easily in our vehicle.

 

I love how Heirloom Audio Productions always begins with an interaction between the character of G.A. Henty and some other individuals.  Then because of something that happens – in this case, two young men start arguing and fighting with one another.  The character of G.A. Henty then begins to talk about a story he knows and begins to tell the story to them.  I love how Heirloom Audio Productions is able to easily transition from G.A. Henty telling the story to the actual audio drama.

The story centers around the character, Wulf the Saxon, who is a young Saxon landowner. He demonstrates courage, leadership, wisdom along with his faith throughout the story.  It chronicles his journeys, adventures, and experiences throughout England and Normandy during the intense fighting that resulted over individuals wanting to claim the throne of England.  Wulf finds himself in various situations including being held captive, making new friends including Agnes De Burg and her family, fighting battles, conveying messages, and even protecting the king.  He consistently exhibits a faith that is inspiring.  He shows himself to be a true friend.  There were times, I was concerned about what would come next.

Our heart broke for Harold when he and his love Lady Edith had to part ways for the sake of England and then again when Harold died on the battlefield.  One of my absolute favorite lines from this audio theater drama references the fact that those who are able to marry for love are truly fortunate.  Wulf is fortunate to be able to marry someone he loves. I found it fitting that this quote is included in the CD case.

This audio drama is recommended for ages six to sixteen, but I believe all ages can enjoy the story.  Because it deals with the subject of war, parts of this drama are somewhat graphic and intense during several of the battle scenes.  So you may want to use discretion on who is allowed to listen to it alone.

This production displays excellent acting, wonderful sound effects and a brilliant musical score.  The original score for Wulf the Saxon is by John Campbell, who is an Emmy Award Winning composer.  With two sons in our local homeschool band and our other son and our only daughter participating in the Homeschool Strings program, I tend to really listen to the music in the background.  The music selected for this drama suits it perfectly and helps to perfectly set the stage for the drama.

To go along with the audio dramas, Heirloom Audio Productions has introduced a club called the Live the Adventure Club that includes a wealth of resources.

This club includes many valuable resources including a study guide for the drama.  The study guide is available as a download on the Live the Adventure Club site from Heirloom Audio Productions. The study guide offers background information on what is included in the study guide, a background on G. A. Henty, information about Heirloom Audio Productions, a list of the members of the cast and crew, background information on important people during the time of the story.  Even though we did not receive the bonus materials as part of this review, I still highly recommend you investigate it for yourself.

Our family thoroughly enjoyed Wulf the Saxon from Heirloom Audio Productions and definitely recommend it.  You may also want to check out our family’s reviews of Captain Bayley’s Heir and In the Reign of Terror – two other audio dramas by Heirloom Audio Productions.

If you would like to check out reviews by other members of the Home School Review Crew, click here or on the graphic below.

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Tasty Tuesday – For February 20, 2018

 

I am back again today with another Tasty Tuesday installment.  This past Friday my husband had off for a long weekend for President’s Day.  We had to drive to Corpus Christi for a doctor’s appointment for me.  When we do day excursions like this we tend to take one of our children with us for one-on-one time.  Our youngest son who is seventeen went along for the ride this time.  We tend to try to pick places to eat that suit the personality and tastes of the child/children we have with us.  So this time, we saw a sign for CiCi’s Pizza and decided that was a good place to stop.

With three sons in our family, we have found buffets tend to be the perfect place to come.  Unfortunately, this time, a school bus full of other teenagers arrived at the same time we did.  Now having three sons of my own, I know teenage boys can eat a lot! I repeat teenage boys can eat A LOT!  The food was okay but not as great as we remembered.  Our son loves to get the Hawaiian pizza from CiCi’s that has ham and pineapple on it.  They had a Hawaiian pizza, but unfortunately, it did not have one of the two required ingredients, which mad our son disappointed.

For one of our other meals, we had my husband’s fried chicken.  This is something he has mastered the art of cooking.  We take a pack of drumsticks, all-purpose flour and some cornmeal for the coating.  He mixes it together, coats the chicken and proceeds to fry it in a cast iron fry pan.  It comes out amazing.  We served it with Western Beans from Aldi’s, mashed potatoes (that I added some of the sauce from the beans to my potatoes), and green beans.  All in all, it was a really good meal.

Tonight we are having Mexican for dinner.  What are you cooking at your house?  I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to see what other members of the Home School Review Crew are posting about this week, click here or on the graphic below.

Wordless Wednesdays

Tasty Tuesday – Fat Tuesday

Today is Fat Tuesday – the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Even though our family is not Catholic, we typically partake of a Fat Tuesday meal of pancakes.

The overwhelming favorite part of this meal was the bacon, which we cooked a new way today.  I placed tin foil on a cookie sheet with the sides turned up slightly around the edges.  Then I placed the bacon on the sheet and preheated the oven the 425 degrees (our oven tends to run slightly cooler than most – so we typically bump it 25 degrees.  We let it cook around 15 minutes.  However, it just did not seem to be cooking right.  So we switched the settings to the broiler and moved the cookie sheet closer to the broiler and let it cook around 10 more minutes or so.  The bacon was ready the same time the meal was.  It was so good to everyone in the family.  Many were wanting more.

So what have you been eating that has been really good at your house?  I would love to hear from you!

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Tasty Tuesday – Some Meals

Here is one of our meals from the past week. We had salmon, purchased from Sam’s Club, a blend of Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots, which we steamed, seasoned with salt and pepper and butter. The salmon was cooked in the broiler for roughly ten minutes on each side.

Then tonight we had the Pioneer Woman’s Spicy Pulled Pork.  I added some more brown sugar than the recipe called for to help counteract the effects of the Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce.

So what are you eating this week?  I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to read what other members of the Home School Review Crew are up to this week, click here or on the graphic below.