Sloppy Joes II Recipe

Transparency Alert: I LOVE sloppy joes. The sloppier, the better. Yes, I did enjoy the school cafeteria. Don't judge me.

But it's time to grow up a bit! Here's an excellent recipe for Sloppy Joes from All Recipes without the canned sloppiness. You could call these gourmet, if you like. I do.

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef 1/4 cup chopped onion 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard 3/4 cup ketchup 3 teaspoons brown sugar salt to taste ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.
2. Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

When green peppers go on sale, I buy several, chop them, and then store them in snack size bags in the freezer. It's helpful to have those already on hand when dinner calls and you're in a pinch for some added flavor.

Darn* Delicious's One Pot Pasta Recipe

Photo Courtesy of Damn Delicious

There are a lot of recipes on Pinterest. A. LOT. And most of them that I've tried are pretty disappointing. It should be a rule that if you're going to "pin" a high class food photo to your recipe, that it should TASTE like something at a high class restaurant. But there are no rules on Pinterest, so the false advertising continues.

The photo for this one-pot wonder by Darn* Delicious was decent, so I figured it MIGHT be flavorful.

....and it was! So if you're looking for a FAST, pantry-friendly main course, look no further. This recipe also has the added bonus of less dishes to wash.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 (12.8-ounce) package smoked andouille sausage, thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cups halved grape tomatoes
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup grated Parmesan

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, combine spaghetti, sausage, onion, tomatoes, basil, garlic and 4 1/2 cups water; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
2. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until pasta is cooked through and liquid has reduced, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in Parmesan.
3. Serve immediately.

Ian Knauer's Meatloaf Recipe

Who is Ian Knauer? I haven't the slightest idea, but he's put together a fabulous meatloaf recipe that is truly delicious! Most folks balk at the thought of meatloaf. They shun the jolting memories of a hunk of meat covered in sugary ketchup. No longer, my friends, no longer must you run. This recipe is fit for a crowd, considering it calls for just over two pounds of meat! However, if you end up with leftovers, they won't last long. I made a few adjustments (as noted below by asterisks), but otherwise, this has all the makings of perfection.

Ingredients:

• 1c fine breadcrumbs, seasoned*
• 1/3c milk
• 1 medium onion OR small shallot*
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium celery rib, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 2Tbs unsalted butter
• 2Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1Tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1/4tsp allspice, ground
• 1tsp salt*
• 1/2tsp pepper*
• 1/4lb bacon (about 4 slices), chopped
• 1/2c pitted prunes
• 1 1/2lb ground beef chuck
• 1/2lb ground pork (not lean)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3c fresh parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack set in the middle of oven.
2. Soak bread crumbs in bowl of milk.
3. Meanwhile, cook onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low, then cook until carrot is tender, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, allspice, salt, and pepper.
5. Add to bread-crumb mixture.
6. Finely chop bacon and prunes in a food processor, then add to onion mixture.
7. Add beef, pork, eggs, and parsley and mix together with your hands.  
8. Shape mixture into "loaf" (9"x5" oval) onto broiler pan*. (The broiler pan will allow grease to escape from your meatloaf so that you don't end up with the soggy, greasy mess that we think of when making traditional meatloaf.)
9. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of meatloaf registers 155°F, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
10. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Since this is a pretty labor intensive recipe, I found it helpful to chop and cook the onion mixture (later adding the Worcestershire mixture to it) and chopping up the prunes and bacon the NIGHT BEFORE. The day of, I combined all of the ingredients, including my milk-soaked breadcrumbs, by hand. (....also, in an effort of full disclosure, I did not use my food processor because I didn't want to clean it up afterwards......I used kitchen scissors instead.)

I would caution you to add the salt and pepper to TASTE rather than simply going by the ingredient amounts above. Mr. Knauer originally called for 2tsp salt and 1 1/2tsp pepper. That seemed a bit extreme for me personally, so I halved it. In the end, our meatloaf was still a bit too peppery, so I recorded it as a third of the original recipe above. One way to "test" your "to taste" with raw mixtures, is to take a 1" ball of the mixture, flatten it, and pop it in the microwave for thirty seconds to one minute. It won't be EXACTLY like your oven, but it will give you a decent approximation of taste.

Farm Life

I've never lived on a farm. I've never even spent the night on a farm. I've probably spent less than 6 straight hours on ANY given farm. But I'm pretty sure I live the farm life.

How so?

Well, each day I rise to the squawk of a rooster. She's only 7 months old, but she'll let you know it's time to get up. Sometimes the sun isn't even out, but she's busy at her morning duties.

Then my morning is filled with feeding baby pigs. Cute. Adorable. Sloppy. Somehow sweet potato mush ends up all over the wall and cereal bits on the floors. One still requires some bottle feeding while she's busy trying to look all around as her older sister empties the cabinets and decides to play chef while dressed up as a doctor in purple, feathery heels.

There's the spraying down of stalls and shoveling manure. Thank goodness for diapers, wipes, and Spray N' Wash. Potty training is such a thrill.

My barn is stocked with sandbox toys and a red and yellow plastic car. The tractor sits outside in the elements, but it's happy to accommodate even if it does require extra washing.

Of course, these farm chores are interrupted by other household duties that any house momma knows: dishes to put away, laundry to spin, bottles to boil. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I might find a bathroom break for myself, but it would require too much effort to clean the dirt from my basil-plucking hands and shake off the chalk dust, so I just hold it. It's more fun to frollick in the fields to the song-birds (read Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Hot Dog song) and redecorate the front stoop in happy pigments.

There is no break. The farmer never stops. But she is GREATLY blessed. Her heart is full. Sleep is for the ..... hmm, who is sleep for again?

Happy Farming.

Chocolate Chip Cookies {Cake} Recipe

 

This is the second time I've used Sally's recipe and honestly, the results are so perfect and consistent that I can't help but blast it from the rooftops,

BEST. CHOCOLATE. CHIP. COOKIE. EVER.

No really. Seriously, why aren't you getting out the ingredients right now?! The first time I used her recipe, I made two 9" round cookie cakes in pie pans. They were dense and delicious. I baked them about 10 minutes more than the suggested time, but every oven is different. I gave it the old jiggle test to see if it was done. (If it looks like jello, it's not done.)

This time, I used the SAME recipe to make just over 3 dozen drop cookies. The recipe probably would have made 4 dozen if I hadn't grazed sampled the dough. (Don't worry, I removed my sampling from the big bowl --- no germs shared, promise!)

These cookies were perfect at 350F for 9 minutes. I used my silpat (honestly, you should put that on your Christmas list because those are a life/pan saver) and then cooled on my stackable cooling racks (collapse nicely for efficient storage). At 9 minutes, the cookies looked puffy, but after cooling, they resembled the most perfect chocolate chip cookies. And after 2 days, they were still just as soft. Yep, soft. SOFT! I hate hard cookies.

So if you're looking for a tried and true cookie recipe to make for your kids' teachers (because they REALLY deserve cookies...every day), this is the one you should make. I will warn you, this recipe will totally NOT WORK if you do not measure your flour correctly. This is THE most crucial ingredient. You have been warned. If you use too much flour, you're going to need to add more of the other ingredients and just make more cookies. That's the only solution.

Happy Baking!

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Good game, Satan. You really know how to bring it. Some days I wish I could fight dirty like you, but that's just not how my team plays.

Satan is a formidable opponent. Surprisingly, I didn't realize this until the last month. I've often erred on the side of caution, reserving very little credit for Satan doing much of anything.....because I'm supposed to believe that my God is bigger than Satan, controls him, and only allows what He's approved, so technically, the Devil is weak. The truth is my God IS bigger than Satan; He does control him; and He only allows Satan to do what He has approved. I think about Job. God actually asked Satan if Satan had had a chance to check out Job's love and devotion to God.

 

⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” ⁸ And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” ⁹ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? ¹⁰ Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹ But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” ¹² And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

- Job 1:6-12

God brought it up! Why in the world would God do a thing like that?! Is God crazy?! Doesn't God know that Job might be broken by all the terrible things Satan could do?! Yes. He knows. He also knows Job's beginning and end.....and everything in between.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

- Psalm 139:16

God allows Satan to test us because the sifting ultimately is for our good and His glory. You see, Satan is trying his hardest to recruit an army against God on this earth. And I believe the folks he seeks and attacks the most, are those seeking God. Like those individuals searching for His salvation through Christ's substitutionary death, or those babes in Christ who desire to start a habit of digging into God's word, and even those who have been saved for years and are trying to spread the Gospel to the next generation. Satan knows that in order for him to gain a foothold, he's got to put all his weight into turning those who seek God, away from the Lord.

 

⁸ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

- 1 Peter 5:8-10

So Satan deserves some credit. He whispers lies to believers all day long, yearning to turn just one heart away. Passive acceptance of this reality is not an option.

I started two new Bible studies in the last few months. Both have me digging into God's Word,  shoveling fistfuls of rich truth in the garden of my heart. Satan sees that. He sees my desire to grow closer, to know better the God of all grace and comfort, so he's hitting me where it hurts. Lies he's been busily whispering in both my ears are common to every one of us: You're not worth it. You don't matter. You aren't loved. You have no value. No one sees you or hears you. No one cares. You are alone.

Honestly Satan, you've done a great job of convincing my heart momentarily that these lies must be accurate based on circumstances surrounding me. I've shed many tears. What if Satan is right?!

But your hard press has only made me more aware of the truth.

My God IS bigger than you, Satan. The Lord is in complete control. The Lord seeks my best.

It's TRUE that I'm not worth anything, that I don't matter, that I don't deserve an ounce of love, and that I am alone APART FROM CHRIST. Because of His death in my place, I am completely WORTH IT. I am completely LOVED. I am ENOUGH BECAUSE of Christ.

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

- Colossians 1:21-22

Your plan of attack backfired, Satan. God is still winning. You can keep TRYING to turn all these WONDERFUL things like being a stay-at-home-mom of babies who whine, cry, and have leaky poop diapers, into TERRIBLE TRIALS. You can keep trying, but I'll keep fighting because of the One who redeemed me and loves me perfectly.


Resources: IF Equip: Acts & Good Morning Girls: You Are Loved

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Found this recipe on AllRecipes.com! It's rare that a dish gets a solid five stars after so many reviews, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I think the author measures out a bit more ingredients than are required, so I changed it a bit to avoid waste.

Despite being labor intensive, this recipe is a keeper. I made everything during nap time and then refrigerated the dish until dinner. Even though the dish and its contents were cold, I think it was a little overcooked at 15 minutes. All ovens are different, so keep an eye on your chicken parm!

Ingredients

• 2lb Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2Tbs Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 2c Panko, seasoned
• 1/2c Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 2Tbs Olive Oil (for frying)
• 1/2c Tomato Sauce
• 1/4c Mozarella, cubed
• 1/4c Fresh Basil, chopped
• 1/2c Provolone, grated (OR 6 thin slices from deli)
• 1/4c Parmesan Cheese, grated or shredded (I like it shredded for topping)
• 1Tbs Olive Oil (for drizzling)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Pound chicken to 1/2" thickness. I like to toss my chicken breasts into a gallon ziplock bag, and pound with the back side of a cooking ladle. Unconventional, but the Calphalon ladle doesn't slice my bag and the bag keeps all of those funky chicken juices contained.
3. Get out 3 shallow salad bowls. Place flour in the first bowl; beaten eggs in the second; combined panko and parmesan cheese in the third.
4. Dip each breast into the three bowls: coat with flour, dunk in egg, toss into panko/parm. I personally like to go back and dunk in the egg and panko/parm a second time. I really like carbs.
5. Lightly fry breasts until golden brown.
6. Place breasts in 9x13" baking dish. 
7. Top breasts with tomato sauce, mozzarella, fresh basil, provolone, and parmesan (in that order).
8. Finally, drizzle some olive oil over the top and pop it in the oven for 15-20min.
9. Make sure your chicken reaches 165F. We use a digital meat thermometer that keeps track of what kind meat you're cooking and what the suggested internal temp should be. If you don't have one of these, put it on your Christmas list!

Freezer Mashed Potatoes

I LOVE real mashed taters. It's true. They are amazing. But I have always hated the effort. Lazy, I know.

I've made this recipe a few times for others and am finally getting around to making a BIG amount to freeze later. Usually I half or even third the original recipe when making it, but this time I went all out with 11 small-medium potatoes. To save even more time, I don't cube them, I just toss them in whole. That's probably bad chef-fery, BUT I'd rather spend time in the kiddie pool with Sophia.

Ingredients

• 9 Large Potatoes
• 6 oz Cream Cheese (softened OR cubed)
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 2 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Pepper

Directions

1. Boil potatoes until tender but firm. (I have NO idea how things can be tender AND firm....but it sounds good.)
2. Drain.
3. Add the remaining ingredients.
4. Mash until smooth. (I usually get out my hand mixer, apply the lowest setting, and mix until everything is JUST combined.)
5. Spoon out into greased baking containers.
6. Seal up and don't forget to write the name, date, and "next steps" on your container.
7. When ready, thaw in fridge and bake for 30-40 minutes (or until heated through) at 350F.

This recipe filled two 9-inch cake tins (handy for storing sides, not just cake) from the dollar store. The author suggests using 1 and 1/2 cup servings for storage so that you can pull out exactly what you need, but again, the weather is gorgeous and that kiddie pool was calling our names.

I've Been Doing It Wrong All My Life!

Sally's Ingredients

I needed to whip up some cookie cakes for this weekend. Of course, one of my pet peeves about cookies is when they aren't soft. Cookies should ALWAYS be soft. ALWAYS. Most times, I can create a soft cookie, but chocolate chip cookies have always defied my best attempts. No matter what I add, I can't get it right.

But, I needed to get over that fear, so I decided I would make them as cookie cakes this weekend. Thanks to Google "soft chocolate chip cookie cake", I stumbled upon this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. Great pictures. Great prose. Don't fail me now, Sally.

When I started to read through the recipe, something caught my eye. Do you see it? Right there after "2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour" it specifically says CAREFUL NOT TO OVERMEASURE. Sally goes on to explain the correct way to measure flour in her Measuring 101 post. Sally, you're my hero. Who knew all these years I had been measuring my flour wrong???

I got out my trusty food scale (thanks, sister Lindsay) and set off to finding out how terribly I'd messed up in the past. To get the most out of your scale (and avoid the math), you'll need to put your measuring cup on the scale and then press the "tare" button. This will set the scale to zero so that you don't have to subtract out how much your measuring cup weighs.

Based on the "normal" way I'd get a cup of flour (scooping with the measuring cup and then scraping excess from top with a flat edge), I was getting 161 grams! One cup should only weigh 125 grams. That's 29% MORE FLOUR than necessary. In fact, this recipe calls for two cups, so I would have used almost 60% more than I should have if I'd persisted in my naïve measuring.

Wow. Yep. That pretty much explains it. Thanks, Sally.

What have you been doing wrong all these years?

Crock Pot Hibachi Chicken & White Sauce Recipes

This isn't a common recipe on the web. Sure, there are lots of recipes for Hibachi, but VERY FEW for crockpots. So I wasn't really sure what I was going to get when I dumped all the ingredients into a gallon ziplock the night before. Here's the original recipe from Designed by Dawn Nicole. Here's my version.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (breasts work too), trimmed of fat and cut into bite size pieces
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions (optional)
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
• 4-6 cups white rice (can be made ahead of time and frozen)
• 1 onion, medium and sliced
• 1 zucchini, large and sliced
• 1 cup mushrooms
• 1 cup cabbage or baby bok choy
• 2 tbsp oil for frying

Directions

1. Combine chicken, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic in gallon bag. (Can be made ahead of time and frozen.)
2. Toss contents of bag into crockpot on HIGH for 2 hours. Your chicken may need to cook longer, but CHECK IT at 2 hours. It should definitely not need more than 3 hours.
3. Meanwhile, steam the onion, zucchini, mushrooms, and cabbage. (I don't really care for cabbage, so I just stuck with the other 3 for steaming.) When finished, toss into the crockpot to soak up some of that sweet sauce!
4. Fry your white rice in a bit of soy sauce for flavor and color.
5. Plate your crockpot creation over fried rice.

Clearly, you're missing the best part of the meal if you stop here. Please read on! Drizzle (or POUR if you're me) the coveted white sauce over the plate. Here's the recipe I used for mine. It makes just over a cup of sauce. You MIGHT have some left over after the meal depending on how much you love white sauce.

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cup Hellman's mayo (HAS to be Hellman's)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp tomato paste (HAS to be paste)
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• dash cayenne pepper (you can get away with skipping this, but it won't be perfect)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and wisk together.
2. Refrigerate overnight. (But in a pinch, you can make it an hour before.)
3. Serve room temp.

DIY Ruler Growth Chart

It seems like these are all the rage! They are all over the blogosphere and honestly, I can see why. THEY ARE SO EASY! No really. E.A.S.Y. And they can be done over time without a lot of supplies, so you don't have to worry about your project junking up the dining room or garage or wherever you get your craft on.

Supplies

• 6'x6"x1" Board. You can find these at ANY home improvement store. Look for one with some fun knots. I got mine at Lowes for under $7.
• Small Can O' Stain. The stain manufacturers want you to think that stain is like paint. It's not. Go small. You'll seriously thank yourself later for not dropping a nice chunk of change on a big can you'll never finish. I used Early American 230 by Minwax 8oz.
• Brush and Cloth for Staining. I used a foam brush to apply the stain and then wiped excess with an old kitchen towel.
• Pencil.
• Scissors.
• Black Sharpie Marker.
• This FANTASTIC Template. (This is a Microsoft Publisher file. Every time I tried to convert it to pdf or xps, my page would shrink and not maintain the correct measurements. Since it is a tracing template, I assumed you'd want the template to be correct.)

Instructions

1. Stain your board. If you've never stained anything before, this is a great time to learn and make mistakes. Stain is pretty user friendly as long as you aren't in direct sunlight (the sun will warm your wood and make your stain a bit tricky to work with). Simply paint on and then wipe off the excess. I let my stain rest about 5 minutes before wiping. You might want to start with the sides or the ends to see if you like the color stain that you chose. Some woods suck up stain faster than others, so just make sure you are getting the color you want. If you aren't happy, try applying a wood conditioner first that will enable the wood to absorb a more accurate color. I probably applied 3 coats. And because I have 2 littles, I didn't wait between coats. If it felt dry, that was good enough for me. If you're planning to stain furniture, be a bit more picky! Out of my 8oz can, I probably have about 4oz left.
2. Print out the DIY Ruler Growth Chart Template. The font for the numbers is Century 200pt (almost 2" tall). As for the notches, I used 4 different lengths and made them as chunky as the numbers so they would appear proportionate.
3. Start with notches. Cut along the dotted yellow line. You'll need to decide where you want to start numbering. I started 6" up from the end of the board as my 1' mark. This will allow me to hang the board on the wall above the baseboards. It also allows me a few more inches above the 6' mark at the top (though I doubt any of our kids will come close to six feet tall). When you decide where you want your 1' mark, grab the notches print out! Turn it over on the back and scribble (with pencil) across each of the notches. Now turn the paper right side over and line up your desired 1' mark with the FOOT notch. The dotted yellow line should be flush with the edge of the board. Hold your paper steady and simply trace around each of the notches. This will transfer the scribbled pencil on to your board so that you can go back later and color them in with your Sharpie. You'll need to keep an eye out for HALF FOOT and FOOT notches, but the 5 shorter lines in between repeat just fine no matter what order. I found it easiest to simply mark all the HALF FOOT and FOOT marks first, then go back and fill in the 5 middle notches.
4. Now onto the numbers! Each number has a solid line running through it. These solid lines divide up your number so that it aligns properly with the numbers above and below it on your board. For my board, I centered my numbers 3/4" away from the foot notches. I've marked those in red dotted lines. You could space them further at 1" away, noted in blue dotted lines. Turn your numbers over and scribble away. Turn the paper right side over, align end of foot marks with either red or blue dotted lines and the horizontal solid line, and trace.
5. Finally, the most exciting part! Color in all of your traced lines with a nice Sharpie!

TADA! See, I told you it was easy!

Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin Recipe

This recipe from AllRecipes.com was nothing short of AH-Mazing! We used the 2-pack of tenderloins from Costco and planned to have a good amount of leftovers....but that didn't happen. It went well with some mashed potatoes and broccoli (with cheese, because we are cheese lovers).

Ingredients:

• 2lb pork tenderloin
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1c water
• 3/4c red wine (or 1 mini bottle)
• 3Tbs minced garlic
• 3Tbs soy sauce, reduced sodium
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Place all ingredients in crock pot
• Cook on High for 3.5hr

One special change you'll want to make is to cook this on HIGH for 3.5 hours, not LOW for 4. I think the original poster must have made a mistake. For the red wine, we used a cabernet sauvignon. Since we don't typically keep alcohol in the house, we usually buy the mini-bar bottles that come in 4-packs when a recipe calls for it. We've tried the "cooking wines" in the past, and those are full of salt (as a preservative). It's better to just get the real stuff in smaller quantities, albeit less cost effective. This recipe is a great freezer meal. Simply combine all ingredients in a gallon ziplock bag and freeze until you're ready. Thaw overnight. You can also freeze the marinade part separately if you want to make up a few bags using a full size bottle of wine. The marinade portions fit nicely into quart ziplock bags. If you've got leftovers, try pulling the pork and saving for later to use on sandwiches with your favorite BBQ sauce.

As a side note, let's take a moment to talk about fresh minced garlic. There. Is. No. Substitute. Do not use one of those bottles of minced garlic. Don't grab the dehydrated flakes. Fresh garlic is amazing and will change your life. When you go to the grocery store, buy a head of garlic (looks like a white ball with some roots coming out of the bottom). When ready to use, pull off a few small cloves (look like oval pieces). Next, peel them. You can easily peel the skin off of the individual cloves by pinching the clove or rolling it around on the countertop. Finally, place your skinless cloves into your press. I love my Pampered Chef garlic press, specifically because it comes with a cleaning brush that clips into the handle when not in use. If you don't have one of these, get one. ...And while you're at it, buy one for a friend too!

Toddler Neck Pillows Pattern

Last week as we drove my family back to the airport, Sophia did something that she rarely does. It's so rare, that I've never considered how I could improve the process....She fell asleep. In the car. What?!

We've all seen pictures of toddlers and children with their heads slumped forward while sleeping in carseats. I know I personally would get a ridiculous crick in my neck, but kids don't seem to mind. So on to Pinterest I went, in search of a toddler neck pillow pattern. Eunice at Mommy Sew Pretty has a free pattern and simple tutorial (cut, sew, flip, stuff). To print the pattern, open the link with Paint, select Print Preview, select Page Setup, and change the orientation to Portrait. The image should take up the majority of the 8.5x11" paper.

I used scraps of fleece from the girls' reversible carseat ponchos and pink broadcloth from Sophia's birthday dress. The project took less than an hour from start to (almost) finish to make two. Before stitching the pillow closed, I want to make sure that the amount of stuffing is just right when the girls use them in their carseats.

Reversible Car Seat Ponchos

Sophia isn't a fan of posing...

These have been a lifesaver during our unusually cold and LONG winter! I'd read all of the warnings before on how dangerous it is to put kiddos in their carseats with puffy winter coats. Here's a link for more information just in case you haven't heard/seen the possible effects if you're involved in an accident. Blankets are great, except that if your child can move his/her legs, the blanket stays on for about half a second. Then there's whining for "banket, myyyyyyy BANKET!" coming from behind the driver's seat and unfortunately, you can't grab the "banket" because you're driving.



Blob of Fleece - DON'T DO THIS (source)

So ponchos seemed to be the best solution. Most of the ponchos and patterns I found through my Google Images search started with a square of fabric with a hole in the middle. Not a bad plan as long as you don't mind hanging all that extra fabric around the carseat and making the child look like a blob of fleece.....actually the more I look at the Blob picture, I can't help but think how much space storing that big of a fleece blanket would require. Best case scenario, you've got a van, but still....it's just too much!

I decided that I would start with a rectangle instead. I quickly tossed Sophia in her seat (Britax Boulevard) and measured the diagonal length from the top of her head to her toes, then added about 8". I also measured the outside width of her carseat at her lap, then added 2". I repeated the process for Abigail. She's still in the infant carrier (Peg Perego), so her rectangle didn't need to be as wide or as long. One yard of the front multi-color and one yard of the back solid-color fleece was enough to make these two blankets.

After cutting my rectangles (purple and multi-color fleece), I sewed them together leaving a small opening for turning. (Turning isn't necessary with fleece, since fleece DOES NOT fray, but I like the look of hidden edges. I also stitched around the border of the rectangles to keep my turned edges clean.) Before turning, I picked a spot toward the top of the rectangle and traced a half circle using a random lid that was roughly 4" in diameter. Fleece stretches, so even if you think 4" is too small, start with that and expand if necessary. (To maintain the stretch, DO NOT sew around the neck opening.)

Sophia's neck hole was much larger...because I thought 4" was too small. Clearly I believe my child has a gigantic head, oops. So I figured it would be best to add a hood to her poncho. She LOVES hats and hoods, so I couldn't deny her of the joy! I made a hood using this tutorial, creating a pattern from a hooded jacket that she likes to wear. In order for all my edges to match, I had to sew the hood pieces together with right sides facing each other. (Only sew around the part of the hood that goes over the back of the head.)

Then I opened those pieces and put right sides together for the outside multi-color and inside solid color. Make sure to line up the two seams at the top of the hoods (illustrated by the pink circle) and also at the bottom corners. Stitch around the face only and then turn so that the right sides faced out.

Finally the trickiest and most annoying part, I folded all the pieces inside around the edges as I stitched the hood into the fabric of the poncho. That part was ridiculous, but my seams were so beautiful that I got over it!

Curb Appeal: Porch Complete

 

Our front porch is finally complete! Check out this post from last March if you're just joining us! We started the project in October 2013 and had high hopes that it would be finished within 3-4 weeks. Sadly, our amazing JELD-WEN Craftsman 6-Light Camber Top door was on back-order from the manufacturer, so we had to wait....and wait....and wait. In the mean time, our contractor, Jason of Pathfinder Construction, was constantly checking up on us and evaluating each nook and cranny of the jobsite. He (and his crew) went above and beyond to ensure that every detail was on par with our expectations. They also did a great job of cleaning up at the end of each work day. I can't say enough good things about this contractor!

We decided to keep our black shutters and paint the new door black to match. When the door was first installed, we began the process of staining the fiberglass. It took 4 days for the first coat of stain to dry. Not okay. This prompted us to do a bit more research on after-market staining/poly coating of fiberglass and the good folks of the blogosphere gave a resounding warning of peeling within the first 2 years. Sooooooo, we opted to sand the door, prime it with Kilz to block the stain from bleeding, and paint it black latex semi-gloss. (The interior face of the door was painted white to match the other doors in our home.)

You'll notice we also had the gable work completed. We chose Granite by Heritage for the vinyl shakes. (Here's a link to the website, but it looks like they may have discontinued that color. It is slightly darker than the Georgian Gray. The Georgian Gray was almost a perfect match for our light gray siding.)

Two of my favorite details of the project were the Elijay Bronze Lantern by Savoy House and Hawthorne Handleset by Kwikset. Both arrived within 2-3 days of my online order and look fabulous.

We are really looking forward to the temperature rising so that we can fix up the garden beds and bring out some pots for the front porch.

Rolled Sugar Cookies Recipe: Perfect. Every. Time.

My stepmom, Marti, has the best recipe for cut-out sugar cookies. The BEST. She said that it was given to her when her kids were younger and she needed something tried and true. After years of making these cookies, the recipe remains the same! These cookies freeze well and look amazing with Royal Icing. They are soft and chewy even after you've had them out for a week.....if they last that long on your counter :)

I've made these before, but today was the first time Sophia got to partake in the event! Loved watching her face light up as she got to add ingredients, roll her dough, and cut out her shapes. I let her pick out which cookie cutters we would use. On that note, cookie cutters make great gifts that can be used over and over for years! I like to find the seasonal sets at Walmart for just a few dollars.

Perfect-Every-Time Rolled Sugar Cookies
Yield: about 24 cookies (2-3" in size)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4c White Sugar
• 1c Shortening (butter flavored Crisco is amazing, but margarine works too)
• 3 Eggs
• 1tsp Vanilla
• 3c Flour
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4tsp Salt

Directions:
Cream sugar and shortening with mixer. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl. Slowly add bowl contents into your mixer. Refrigerate dough overnight and roll the following day for best rolling results. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. They are perfect when the edges begin to turn light brown. Let cool before icing.

You can squeeze out more than two dozen cookies if you roll the dough thin, but I prefer a solid cookie that looks just as good as it tastes.

Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole Recipe

Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole by Money Saving Mom has a few more steps than I like in preparing a freezer meal, but I LOVE that Crystal's recipe makes 4 batches. That's right, I said FOUR! One for you and three to give away!

Her recipe calls for cooked amounts of food, which wasn't very helpful to someone like me who doesn't know a whole lot about how much raw is required to make cooked portions. Thank goodness for Google....and my own mistakes :)

For reference, 10c cooked rice is made from 7.5c of uncooked rice, and 4c cooked chicken is made from 3 breasts. I really like the way she bakes her chicken. She chops it then bakes it on a cookie sheet! Genious! I rubbed poultry seasoning on my chicken before baking. It took about 10 minutes to bake, turning about halfway through. I also baked my chicken on a Silpat so that I didn't have to worry about the chicken sticking. Love my Silpats!

In the future, I would cook the rice in chicken stock rather than water for more flavor. Additionally, I found the defost time of 8 hours to be too short if you're pulling this out of a chest freezer. I also increased the cook time to 60 minutes instead of 30 to get my casserole nice and bubbly.

Crock Pot Mongolian Beef Recipe

This recipe by Who Needs a Cape was SO simple to assemble and did not require any prep beyond opening containers. In short, this is my kind of recipe! I made two bags since you'll use a full jar of hoisin sauce with a double recipe. For this meal, I only defrosted and cooked one of the bags.

I followed the recipe with only one substitution (shallots in place of onions), and the crockpot was smelling like a tasty Asian restaurant after about 3hr on low in my crockpot. I continued to cook on low until we hit 6hr. In my opinion, we should have eaten this dish at 3-4hr. By six, the meat was chewy and the smell wasn't as appetizing. It was just overdone. I added 1/4c of water around 4 hours because I thought it looked a bit dry, but that didn't prevent the resulting dry meat.

Before serving, I heated up a steamer bag of broccoli and tossed it (drained, of course) into the crockpot so the broccoli could soak up some of that delicious sauce. Then I plated the beef and broccoli over white rice.

This meal froze, defrosted, and cooked beautifully (despite the suggested cook time being too long). Definitely an EASY freezer/crock-pot meal to file away for the future!

Pioneer Woman's Hamburger Soup Recipe

This recipe was GREAT. Despite the time it took to chop everything, it was easy to throw together for the actual cooking part. It helped that I could chop throughout the day as time permitted. It made a ton! The wonderful thing about cooked soup is that it is perfect for freezing. I was able to make two gallon freezer bags (with 4 cups each) in addition to what we ate for dinner that night. Those two bags went into the freezer!

Before I tossed them in to freeze, I wrote the date and directions for reheating on the bags. I also wrote down suggested sides. My goal with these freezer portions is two-fold:

• Make dinners for myself a snap!
• Have meals on hand to deliver to others, that don't require being eaten the same day.

In the last 7 days, Brian and I have heard of 4 families that could use a meal. Two families just got more foster kiddos, one welcomed a new baby this past weekend, and the fourth family just needs a break. Looking forward to this new ministry of freezer meals thanks to the inspiration of Roshena over at Grey House Green Door who has blessed us REPEATEDLY with freezer/fridge meals and desserts!

Pioneer Woman's Bowtie Chicken Alfredo Recipe

Source: Pioneer Woman

I've heard about this pioneer gal for some time. Seems like she's got some fabulous recipes out there, so I thought I'd click over to her site and take a look. I really enjoy her writing style and her attitude toward food prep. She appears confident but not obsessive, which I would love to become!....both parts....confident in cooking and no longer obsessive about getting my ingredients just right :)

The Bowtie Chicken Alfredo was my first attempt at one of Pioneer Woman's recipes. The recipe was easy. I enjoyed ALL of the pictures. I did not use my cast iron because I couldn't count on being able to stand next to my stove with two kids under the age of two needing my attention, so I changed up the chicken portion. I cubed 3 breasts and covered them in olive oil and poultry seasoning, then tossed them on a cookie sheet in the oven for about 20 minutes. They came out extra moist and delicious, but I admit that this change probably had some overall effect on the flavor of the dish. I also didn't have any fancy white, dry wine....I just had a small bottle of white and since I'm wine illiterate, who knows if it was dry. This was probably a bad idea. I should have googled the name on the bottle to see if I could use it with the recipe......but again, the two kids under two thing was a bit of a priority.

The end result was simply ok. Not fantastic. It was easy and quick, but I probably wouldn't use this recipe again. I've got another recipe from E-Meals that adds baby bella mushrooms, and boy is that recipe ever amazing! Also, the serving size listed by Pioneer Woman is 6. She must have 6 adults in that household! It made a ton! Brian and I ate healthy portions the night of, had some for lunch the next day, and still had at least 4 more servings left. I would definitely cut this recipe in half or thirds next time.......