I mixed it up the other night with this new recipe and it got major kudos from my man.  I feared I might regret that I didn’t just order Chinese, but once we tasted the finished result I was convinced the effort was worth it.  I felt it was much healthier than restaurant Chinese probably because I used organic chicken and cashews, brown rice, the freshest veggies and no msg or other bad ingredients.  You will need:

• 2 chicken breasts, cut length ways to make four thin pieces
• 1/2 pound Chinese snow peas
• 1/2 pound shitake mushrooms
• 4 green onions
• 1 cup bamboo shoots (from can) drained
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 T corn starch or 4 T flour
• 1/2 t sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 4 T peanut or sesame oil
• 4 ounces cashew nuts
• 1 1/2 cups rice

Prepare the rice as directed.

Prepare the veggies.  Remove the strings and ends of peas pods.  This makes them nicer to bite but if you don’t have time, it’s no drama.  The peas will have a little more to chew but it’s not that noticeable.  Slice the mushrooms and green part of the onions.  Keep the onion seperate from the other veggies.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.  Heat one T of the oil in a skillet, add the cashews and stir fry for a minute, tossing the nuts lightly.  Remove nuts from pan and set aside.  Pour remaining oil in the skillet and stir fry the chicken until opaque.

Mix the soy sauce, cornstarch or flour, sugar and salt in a seperate dish. Add the chicken broth to the frying pan, then the soy mixture and stir.  Add the peas and mushroom.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until thickened. Add the green onions and cashews and simmer for a few minutes.  Serve immediately with the rice.  Delicious!

Wanna make some extra cash this summer?

Why not set up a lemonade stand?  My friend did one in the Hamptons in which the proceeds went to a charity organization and she raised over five hundred dollars in a day.  Ok, so you’re thirty years old and she’s ten, but you could hire some kids for the cute factor or bust out your Daisy Dukes.

I was at a street fair this summer and the first thing I bought was a lemon shake up.  When I saw the guy make it I thought, “That’s so simple”.  Put ice in a cup, add a quarter cup sugar, squeeze half a lemon on top, fill the cup up with water and shake.  Then when I saw myself pay five dollars for it I thought, “That’s a really high mark up.”  I walked around the fair sucking on my lemonade with a straw like a baby on a pacifier.  I was so in love with it, I went back for another one.

So, next time you want to raise money, forget about a car wash or garage sale.  Go somewhere with a lot of people who are really hot and sell them lemonade.  I guarentee you’ll make some serious cash and they’ll love you for it!

If you have this extra feature on your gas grill, use it! It’s so easy to make a delicious dinner for a family. Serve it with a salad, baguette and wine or cole slaw and French fries. Either way, it’s gourmet and good times!

The simple way to make a perfect rotisserie chicken. You will need:

• a 3 pound bird
• 1/4 cup butter
• paprika
• salt
• pepper

Put the chicken on the rotisserie, turn the grill to high and cook for ten minutes. Mix the other igredients. Turn the heat to medium and baste with the butter mixture. Close the lid and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, basting between sips of wine and good times. When the leg jiggles and could easily be pulled off, you’re ready to roll!

When we get together on the farm one of everybody’s favorite homemade delights is my mom’s strawberry preserves.

The secret according to her is not the recipe. She uses Sure Gel and follows their instructions. The Indiana-know-how tip on it is to freeze it in plastic containers rather than put the wax on top and can it. This is because, for some reason, the consistency and flavor changes with the preserves when waxed. If it’s frozen and thawed it tastes the same as it did when it was freshly made and that’s freakin’ sweet!