Amazing weekend!

I have shared part of my life with people before, but I have never went real in depth on my blog.  From 1993 to 2004 my parents owned and operated a 11 greenhouses.  My sister and I helped my parents.  While I may not have appreciated it then, I do now.   I feel that with my parents business I gained my work ethic, knowledge about plants, customer service skills, and much more.   I can go to other green houses and tell what a plant is(for the most part) without looking at the tag.

So when Red an Alpha E Active asked me to help her with flower bed in the front of the house, I was ecstatic! We went to Meijer picked up some plants and started around 9:30 am working.  We pulled rocks and garbage out of the soil, added some more soil and nutrients back into the soil, and then used some bricks to edge the flower bed.  Then we planted and transplanted some of the flowers that we in other flower beds. I took out all my stress and aggression on the dirt, but then used my nurturing caring side when I planted the flowers. I had pollen and dirt everywhere and I LOVED it!


I felt like a new calm had taken over and everything was right in the world.  G. noticed this and said "our next home has to have at least one flower bed, because he hasn't seen me this happy".

The four day Holiday weekend is just what I needed.  I did some house work, went to some garage sales, relaxed, played some video games, had dinner with my family, and spent some time with G.   Lately, we have had an amazing time together! This weekend we talked about the future and our "plan" for it!

I have some more recipes coming soon ... I just have to revamp them a little bit!

As always stay strong, love one another, and keep cooking!

My "Food" Inspiration

Martin K. Czeiszperger

Family is very important in my life.  Throughout the years I have lost three of my four grandparents.  My Grandpa Czeiszperger and I were quite close.  He is my food inspiration! Grandpa did most of the cooking in their household and my Nana did the baking.  I don't remember when Grandpa starting showing me how to cook, but I will never forget what he has taught me.

I never liked venison, steak, lobster, roasted cauliflower and etc, but because of him I have took on the life motto of " Try something once, if you don't like it, than at least you can say that you tried it".  He would eat Kimchi (fermented cabbage and what not) and I would smell it and walk away. One day I decided that I would make him happy and give it a shot.  I don't think that I would eat it again, but I can say that I have tried it.

  My grandpa taught me how to make and use a Mirepoix.  This is a mixture of chopped Celery, Onions and Carrots.  Every time he cooked something that required a mirepoix - he wanted me to help him chop the vegetables and put the meal together! I MISS THIS!  I would give anything to have one more conversation, cooking lesson, or just even hear his amazing laugh.


He used to make this spaghetti Carbonara with bacon and my sister and I would lick the plates clean.  He would always try and convince Nana to eat the spaghetti like Lady and the Tramp!   My grandpa was Hungarian. Nana and Grandpa would make Töltött Káposzta or as most people know it Stuffed Cabbage.  When I was younger the only part that I would eat would be the meat balls, I would push all the cooked cabbage off to the side of my plate and let one of my family members eat it.  Finally, I got brave, remembering what Grandpa had always told me, and I ate everything on my plate.  When I found out that I was allergic to beef, I tried making stuffed cabbage with ground turkey as the base of the meatballs and they were amazing!

A year after Grandpa passed away I went for a jog. I was crying and thinking about how much I miss him. As I was doing this, I tripped over a rock about the size of a lemon.   I picked it up and now it sits on the self above my oven.  When I am home alone I talk to it... trying to look for a sign from Grandpa on how to make some thing taste amazing.  Other times... I ask for advice and as creepy as it sounds, I always feel better when I talk out loud about what I need.

  Most of you know that I have gone gluten free, not by choice, but for health reasons. So I went grocery shopping earlier this month and I got Thai Rice Noodles. They have the Gluten Free stamp of approval on the box.   I did some looking online, but none of them sound that good.  I guess that I will keep looking until I find something that inspires me.

So if you have any recipes... let me know!

Stay strong, Love one another, and keep cooking

Good Friends, Good Food and a new recipe

So last Thursday we had friends over and together we cooked an amazing meal.  I cooked my normal, Crab Rangoons, and T. and J. cooked Egg Rolls.  They were amazing, easy, and didn't take very long at all to cook.


1 package of coleslaw mix
4 cloves of garlic -chopped
1/4 cup of onions - chopped
ginger paste - a couple of squirts - to taste
Gluten Free Soy sauce
Dash of salt a
Little bit of water
1 package of egg roll wrappers

Put the coleslaw mix, garlic, onions,  Soy sauce, salt and water in a pan.  On medium heat cook it until the cabbage is soft.  Then add the ginger paste and and mix.  Let it cook for 5 more minutes.

Then put some mixture in your egg roll wrappers and  seal.  You can use either water or egg to seal your wrappers.  We used water.  Then we deep fried them in corn oil.


As we were cooking we realized how many other vegetables and/or meat that we could have put in them.  We are also going to bake them next time so they are healthier! : )  So I think that there is going to be another Egg Roll party at my place. 

As always stay strong, love one another, and keep cooking. :)

I pledge....

I normally say " I can go for a walk tomorrow".  I have started drinking more water in the last few days and last night I felt really good.  After coming into work this morning and listening to the best Pandora station ever(90s pop radio) I have decided that I am just going to get up earlier every morning and go for a walk!    I even wrote it in my planner.


So stay strong, love one another, and keep cooking!

Missing out on the little things... Croutons

I love croutons! Before I found out  that I had to be on the gluten free diet... I would eat croutons for a snack! I know ... too many carbs.  I love having a Caesar salad with croutons on it.  I had some left gluten free bread that I cubed .  I put it in a bowl, poured some olive oil over it, some salt, and some Italian herb seasoning.  Then I spread them out on a cookie sheet, put them in the oven ( on 250 degrees) and let them cook for about ten minutes.  I stirred them twice to make sure they toasted evenly. 

Lets just say that after the ten minutes... I was a HAPPY girl! :)

Stay strong, love one another, and keep cooking.

What to do with this Zucchini...

G. and I have been quite busy lately and we didn't get home until 8 o'clock pm on night and I was starving.  Instead of munching on something bad for me I decided to go to the refrigerator.  I am someone who will open the refrigerator and stare inside... hoping that something I want will jump out at me.  Then I will close it, walk around the apartment, open it again and keep staring.  However, this time was different, the zucchini that was in the refrigerator fell on my foot.  So I decided... why not try it!

So I washed two the them, cut the top and bottom off, then chopped them up.  Then I chopped 1 clove of garlic and a little bit of onion.  I added olive oil, the garlic and onions and let that cook for a little bit.  I added the zucchini, gave it all a quick stir and let it cook for 15 minutes. I added some Parmesan cheese and stirred that in. 


Then I ate almost all of it. Completely gluten free!!!!!

Stay strong, love one another, and keep cooking!

Chicken, rice and cheese ... Oh my!!!

I normally don't like leftovers, but this dish has the best left overs ever and has leftovers in it! I had some cooked plain white rice and I wanted to do something with it.  I read online somewhere that cooked rice can be saved for up to a week in the refrigerator.   One night I had no idea what we were going to have for dinner and I pulled the leftover rice and the chicken out of the refrigerator. I just started cooking and G. said that " he could eat this every night".


3-4 boneless/skinless chicken breast - cubed
1(or more) cups of cooked rice
2 garlic cloves - chopped
Olive Oil( to your liking)
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 1/2 cups of broccoli - cut to the size that you prefer
1/4 white onion -chopped 
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of cheese soup
6 sliced mushrooms
dash of salt and pepper


After prepping your chicken and vegetables, put some oil in your pan and turn your burner on medium heat. Then place your chicken, garlic and onions in the pan and let cook until the chicken is no longer pink.  Then add your can of cheese soup, can of cream of chicken, broccoli, mushrooms and milk.  Let this come to a boil for about 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Then reduce to low heat and add your rice, salt and pepper and let this cook for another 10 -15 minutes.  If your vegetables are to your liking, then it is ready to serve.

You can add any vegetables that you like.  I have tried peas and it was great too.  G. always puts some shredded cheddar on top of his portion. 


Like I have always said ... make this recipe yours! I don't mind... but comment if you have a new combination of ingredients.

As always - stay strong, love one another and keep cooking!

Crab Rangoons... An all time favorite at my apartment

The idea for this recipe all started when I was hanging out with one of my closest friends.  We went to Meijer and ambitiously bought cream cheese, green onions, imitation crab and wonton wrappers.  We mixed together the ingredients and put the wonton wrappers in a muffin tin.  This was our first attempt so we had baked crab Rangoon.  Over many more months and trial and errors... I think I have perfected it.  Try it and see what you think!


1 package of cream cheese - softened
3 green onions - chopped
1 package of imitation crab - chopped (you can use as many as you like. I typically use 4 pieces)
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce... I use gluten free
1 package of wonton wrappers
2 chopped cloves of garlic or garlic powder to taste
corn oil (for deep frying)

Mix together the cream cheese, green onions, crab, sugar, ginger, soy sauce and garlic.  In a wonton wrapper I put a teaspoon of the mixture (large teaspoon).  I use water to seal the wonton wrapper.   While I am prepping  the mixture and stuffing the wontons, I heat the oil.  I normally drop three or four wontons in the oil and let them cook until they are golden brown.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce or plain (that is how I like them).


I will try and add pictures of the process... I am making this recipe tomorrow for my date night with my fiance and two of our friends! : )

Stay strong, love one another and keep cooking.