ASIAN CASHEW CHICKEN, AND THE ROAD TO HERE........

Our journey to The Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York has been a long and interesting one, to be sure! B.A., Little Miss Thing and I have moved around this country quite a bit in the last 20 years (due to B.A.'s amazing career), and we feel so blessed! The places we've seen, and the people we've met! In fact, whenever our daughter felt a little blue about changing schools, yet again, we always reminded her that in the end, all of this relocating will make her into such an INTERESTING person,  into someone who is not afraid of change or meeting new people! To be honest, sometimes our little speeches worked on our grumpy teenager, and sometimes they didn't. But we tried--always looking on the bright side, we Willards!

Just like Little Miss Thing, I moved around quite a bit as a child also, but all within the state lines of California. My father was a banker (who didn't retire until his 70's!), and I was born in Orange, California, which is a hop, skip and a jump from The Happiest Place on Earth, Dizzyland!................(just so you know, most of these travel photos in this post are from Google Images).......

When I was a little bitty baby, my folks decided to move to Central California, to the utterly breathtakingly gorgeous Monterey Peninsula. Truthfully, when I think of "home", I think of that area....it's where I spent my formative years. Our first home was in the quaint seaside village of Pacific Grove................

We also lived in nearby Carmel by the Sea for short periods of time....just about the cutest artists village you'll ever wanna see.......this is the bank my dad managed at the time....I think it's now an antiques store.............

The darling mom and pop shops on Ocean Avenue, reminiscent of an old English village................

But for most of my childhood, we lived in a beautiful home on Pebble Beach's Seventeen Mile drive.....I know, I know, I had a rough upbringing!...........

We spent my high school years a little further south, in Santa Barbara....truly a Southern California paradise by the sea!. Love those tiled roofs..................

After high school, I was off to college at California State University, Chico (just north of Sacramento, in the central valley agricultural region)--voted #1 Party school in the nation by Playboy magazine when I was there. I can still chug beer and play Quarters with the best of 'em...............

This was my dorm......where I met Mr. Badass! I truly did get my "MRS" degree, marrying him the year after we graduated.....

Back to the Monterey Peninsula we went to get married and set up our young newlywed lives in Monterey, home of John Steinbeck's Cannery Row , an amazing Fisherman's Wharf and the famed Monterey Bay Acquarium......

It was in my homeland, the Monterey Peninsula, that we had our beloved daughter, Little Miss Thing. After a few years of banging our heads against a wall and finally realizing that we could never, ever afford even a tiny shack in the area we loved and I grew up in (sob!), we tearfully decided to relocate to the area my parents had recently retired to, the Motherlode region of Central California. We bought our first home there in a darling town named Twain Harte (after Mark Twain and Brett Harte, the famous authors), and enjoyed everything that living in the central Sierra Mountains had to offer....lakes, skiing and fresh, clean mountain air (we lived at 4,000 feet elevation!)......

Six or seven years later, it was time to pack up again, as B.A. was offered a position at the famed Omaha Country Club in Nebraska, an offer he just couldn't refuse! We loved living in Omaha...what a vibrant and friendly city.................

Most people don't know this, but Omaha is home to one of the country's most amazing zoos, the Henry Doorly Zoo. I used to spend daysss there......

(you can see more of gorgeous Omaha by visiting one of my older posts, "My Old Home-Aha, Omaha")

Three years later, B. A. accepted his current position as General Manager of The Adirondack League Club here in Old Forge, New York, a position he has held for over 7 years now.....

 He truly considers this the "job of a lifetime" ; really, it was tailor made, just for him! 53,000 acres of pristine wilderness! No-motor lakes! Lodges! Hiking! Hunting! Cross country skiing! Awesome members...who could ask for anything more.

We built our home in nearby Thendara in 2004, and our daughter was able to stay at ONE school for the remainder of her junior and high school years....................here's a photo of the Old Forge Pond, where the kids swim each and every summer. Again, PARADISE! I'd certainly say we've been one lucky family, wouldn't you?

Here's the one and only school in our town, grades K-12.....

 

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Who knows where the future will take us next? Well, for now we're just enjoying life here in the Adirondacks, one dinner at a time! Hey, what's for dinner at your house tonite? If you'd like to try something a little different but super delicious, you should whip up a batch of my Asian Cashew Chicken.....I've prepared this recipe probably once a month for YEARS now, and it always comes together perfectly. AND, it makes for the best leftovers, ever! Please don't be intimidated by these ingredients--they are available at just about every market on the planet.

To begin, you need to assemble your marinade with these ingredients..........

Combine sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, chicken broth, apple juice and garlic powder. Cut chicken breasts into bite sized cubes, then add to marinade and toss..........

Cover and refrigerate chicken for 2 hours or more. Remove chicken from marinade (reserve marinade!), and brown in oil over medium heat...............

Remove browned chicken ; in same skillet, stir fry broccoli and carrots.........

Next, combine these ingredients in a small bowl, plus the reserved marinade.........

Don't make the mistake that I did and use a stir fry sauce instead of Hoisin sauce! The outcome was NOT the desired one--Hoisin is a jelly like consistency that adds the most wonderful color and flavor, ever, and refrigerates well for a long time......

Add Hoisin mixture to vegetables....cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Stir in cashews, chicken and sliced water chestnuts............

We like to eat ours over brown rice, but this would also be perfect over some nice thick Asian rice noodles.......Enjoy!......

Here's the recipe......

ASIAN CASHEW CHICKEN

Serves 4-6

1 tblsp. sesame oil

1 / 4 cup rice wine vinegar

3 tblsp. chicken broth

2 tblsp. apple juice

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 and 1 / 2 lb. chicken breasts, cut into bite sized cubes

3 tblsp. vegetable oil (I used peanut)

3 cups frozen broccoli florets, thawed

1 cup thinly sliced carrots

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 / 8 cup soy sauce

1 / 3 cup Hoisin sauce (found in the Asian Foods section)

1 tblsp. ground ginger

1 cup salted cashews

1 can sliced water chestnuts

Hot cooked rice or noodles

In a large bowl, combine first five ingredients ; add chicken and toss. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Remove chicken from marinade and reserve marinade. Heat oil in large skillet. When hot, add chicken and cook for 3 minutes or until no longer pink. Use slotted spoon ; remove chicken and set aside. In the same skillet, stir-fry broccoli and carrots until crisp tender, about 2-3 minutes. Combine soy, cornstarch, Hoisin, ginger and reserved marinade ; stir into vegetables. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Stir in cashews, chicken and water chestnuts ; heat through. Serve over hot cooked rice or noodles.

TODAY I'M SO THANKFUL FOR.....

***Good insurance that extends all the way to California! Little Miss Thing has a few back problems and is finding huge relief from a Berkeley back cracker.

***My continued relatively good health! I feel good more days than not lately--first time in over 6 years!

***The fantastic and soul-soothing conversation I had with BFF Lisa yesterday--that girl GETS me!

CROCK POT APPLE BUTTER AND MY INCREDIBLE DRIVE TO THE MALL!

As most of you know, I live in the sticks. They're gorgeous sticks, but they're still the sticks....takes an hour to get ANYWHERE, like a Target store, a large grocery store or the hospital or most doctor's offices. And, it takes 2 hours to get to the closest large city (Syracuse). Which is where the airport is and the "major" malls. We are fortunate in that we have a smallish mall in Utica, which is about an hour away, and you can bet I know that highway BY HEART ;  I've been driving it, once or twice a week, for the past 8 years. Especially when I had a teenager in the house with a never ending need for new shoes and jeans and such ; a typical Saturday was spent driving Little Miss Thing and a friend (or two or three) to a fun-filled day of shopping and lunch (always paid for by Mom!) and just getting out of our small town.

On this trip, I was on a major quest for PANTS--see, I've lost over 30 pounds in the past few months, and have gone down 2 pant sizes.....Woot Woot for me!..............

Do you remember the other day, when I was in my Indian Corn induced Sugar Coma? Well, I came out of that just fine and was all prepared to capture the glory of an Adirondack Autumn for you on my drive down to Utica, but the weather wasn't cooperating AGAIN (what is with this warm and rainy Fall we're experiencing so far, I want to know). I still snapped some photos, but they would have been much prettier on a crisp, blue-sky day. I'll keep trying for you, promise, but in the meantime, I think I'm pretty blessed to get to drive to the mall on our incredibly beautiful Hwy 28......check it!................

Did you know that New York State is one of the world's largest apple producers? I didn't, until I moved here. We have so many apple ranches around, and I picked up yet another bag of crisp little beauties at a darling farm stand in Clinton before heading home...................

When we have a plethora of apples around the house I like to either bake them up in pies or crisps, make apple sauce or my NEW personal favorite, Apple Butter. And that name is very deceiving---Apple Butter actually has NO butter in it--did you know that? It's really more like jam--great spread on toast or biscuits, or eaten over vanilla ice cream. So, get out those crock pots and let's make some apple butter............

First thing I do is peel, core and slice about 8 to 10 apples. Place them in your crock pot.............

Add  1 / 2 cup fresh apple cider to the apples, then add 2 cups of brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of good cinnamon....................

Give it a good stir, then put the lid on. Cook on High for 5-6 hours, or low for 10-12 hours. At the end of cooking time, use an immersion blender to puree the apples into a smooth sauce. If the sauce is too watery, take the lid off of the crockpot and cook on low for an hour or so until the apple butter is nice and thick..................

I store half of my apple butter in a plastic container in the refrigerator (keeps just fine for a couple of weeks), and freeze the other half. You can also make applesauce in your crockpot.....just reduce the amount of sugar (brown sugar for darker applesauce, white sugar for lighter) to 2 tablespoons, add cinnamon and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

I tell you what.....this apple butter is DA BOMB served over vanilla ice cream...tastes like apple pie, a la mode! This dessert would also be great with a few chopped pecans or walnuts sprinkled on top.........................

Here's the recipe.....Enjoy!........

APPLE BUTTER

8-10 peeled, cored and sliced apples

1 / 2 cup fresh apple cider

2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Place everything in a slow cooker; give it a good stir. Cook on high for 5-6 hours, or low for 10-12 hours. At the end of cooking time, use an immersion blender to puree the apples into a smooth sauce. If sauce is too thin, continue cooking on low for another hour or so, until the apple butter is nice and thick.

TODAY I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR......

***Sleeping in this morning until 7 a.m.! I know, I know, we are OLD--B.A. thinks he's a farmer, in bed by 9, up by 5:30 most days.....

***This gorgeous day!

***The smell of spicy apple cookies in the oven....recipe to come soon!

COMFORTING BEEF STEW WITH POTATO DUMPLINGS AND A GRAND ADVENTURE!!

A "Grand Adventure", you say? Leslie, where on earth are you headed this time? Is it Gay Pareeee? Africa? Kollyfornia? Intercourse, Pennsylvania (wink, wink, Susan!)? Well no, dear readers, my grand adventure this week was so fantastical, so gosh-darned GLAMOUROUS, that it's gonna blow your little minds...........see, I had every intention of taking a bazillion snapshots of our world famous Adirondack Fall Foliage today on a walk, but then I fell asleep on the sofa while watching Mystery Diagnosis on Discovery Health. And when I woke up, probably because I snarfed down a huge handful of Indian Corn an hour earlier (someday they'll feature me on a Mystery Diagnosis, where they'll diagnose horrible type 2 diabetes from ingesting handfuls of Indian Corn, I'm suspect), I had a ZILCH energy level. Like, it was seriously so hard to get up and just do something...ever have days like that? Well, I knew the dog needed to go out and do his monkey bizness, and I knew my cat Jack was super bored, so we decided, just the three of us, to saunter across the street to the river and see what my camera could see.........here's what Jack was doing when I found him, in the driveway gravel, rolling around..........(mind you, he's SIXTEEN plus years old...that's about 94 in human years......and I still think he's damned sexy, despite his funny hanging belly these days!)...................

So Sexy Jack, Wee Willie and I sauntered ALL the way across the street (see, I told you I had low energy!) to the lazy Moose River to hopefully get some decent photos, despite the dreary gray day at hand. My neighbors, who seriously worship the ground I walk on, always let us go and hang on their dock, and since they weren't home this afternoon, I knew they wouldn't mind. Here's what's really cute...Sexy Jack loves to follow us across the street (where he is forbidden to go, actually, but if you've ever owned a cat, well, you know quite well that they don't follow rules) and sit on the dock, easy as you please...here is he, breaking da law.......

And here are the photos we three took on our Fantastical Adventure this afternoon.....you can make out the beginnings of the spectacular show that the Adirondack trees put on each and every Autumn.....

Pretty, no? We really feel very blessed to live in such a gorgeous place! Hopefully soon the weather will clear up and then I'll just go NUTS with my zoom lens and take you all on a proper tour....but until then, this is what you're gonna get, folks!


Hikes in the woods really work up an appetite (or, in my case lately, lolling on the sofa!), and the other night I made a traditional beef stew for supper, but sans the traditional diced potatoes that traditional beef stews normaly have, BECAUSE this recipe calls for Potato Dumplings. Does that sound like comfort food, or what???? I am being totally honest with you when I tell you that B. A. (his nickname used to be B.D., short for Big Daddy, but has recently decided that he's done with that boring nickname and now prefers to be called Bad Ass, so B.A. for short....is it too late for an annulment?) seriously said to me, after inhaling his Beef Stew with Potato Dumplings, "honey, I would eat this meal again and again!" How can you not love that? It's that good, especially on a brisk fall day.

I know fall is here, each and every year, when I get out my trusty old Red Dutch oven....what did I ever do without her? ..............................

To begin your stew, cube up about 2 pounds of beef stew meat......

In a plastic bag, combine flour, salt and pepper--add cubed beef and shake well to evenly coat.............(looks kinda gross in this photo, I know)......

In a Dutch oven or large non-stick pot, cook meat and chopped onions until browned. Stir in condensed beef broth......

some water, vinegar, carrots and spices; bring to a boil................

Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for about an hour to an hour and a half, or until the meat is tender.

While the stew is bubbling away, you can start preparing your dumplings--so much FUN! Just don't grate your knuckles (I KNOW, I keep doing that!). In a bowl, beat an egg, then add bread crumbs and seasonings..............

Grate about 3 or 4 peeled large Russett potatoes into a strainer (you won't believe how much water potatoes have in them)..........

Stir grated potatoes into bread crumb mixture; mix well. With floured hands, shape into 1 and 1 / 2 inch balls. Dust with flour and set aside until stew in done.....

Bring the stew to a boil; drop dumplings onto stew. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until dumplings are done..........

Serve to hungry guests right away......

Doesn't this dish look like something they'd serve in some Eastern European village somewhere? Prepared by a plump little 82 year old woman, maybe? Well regardless, I hope you love this as much as we do...enjoy! Here's the recipe....

BEEF STEW WITH POTATO DUMPLINGS

Serves 4-6

Stew:

1 / 4 cup flour

 3 / 4 tsp. salt

1 / 2 tsp. pepper

2 lbs. beef stew meat, cubed

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 tblsp. vegetable oil

1 tblsp. butter

2 cans (10 and 1 /2 oz. each) condensed beef broth, undiluted

3 / 4 cup water

1 tblsp. red wine vinegar

5-6 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch chunks

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 / 2 tsp. garlic powder

Dumplings:

1 egg

3 / 4 cup seasoned dry breadcrumbs

1 tblsp. flour

1 tblsp. dried parsley

1 / 2 tsp. dried thyme

1 / 2 tsp. salt

1 / 2 tsp. pepper

3 of 4 peeled large Russett potatoes, finely shredded (you'll need about 2 1 / 2 cups)

additional flour

In a plastic bag, combine flour, salt and pepper. Add meat; toss to coat. In a Dutch oven, cook meat and onion in melted butter and oil until the meat is browned and onions are tender. Stir in broth, water, vinegar, carrots and seasonings; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 to 1 and 1 / 2 hours, or until meat is tender. Remove bay leaves.

For dumplings, beat egg in a medium bowl; add bread crumbs, flour, parsley and seasonings. Stir in potatoes, mix well. With floured hands, shape into 1 and 1 / 2 inch balls. Dust with flour and set aside.

Bring stew to a boil; drop dumplings onto stew. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes (do not lift lid) or until dumplings are done. Serve immediately.

TODAY I'M SO THANKFUL FOR.....

***My dinner out tonite! B. A. and I are trying out a Thai restaurant in nearby Utica...nothing like driving an hour each way to have dinner!

***Freakishly warm temperatures today....even though I'm looking forward to sweaters and boots, it is nice to keep on wearing my sandals and capri pants in late September!

***Our daughter's improving health--she's been down with a flu bug this whole week, and just texted me to let me know she was IN class, and not running a fever!