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.

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!

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.

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!

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.......

Pie Pumpkins

"You're going to do WHAT to my pumpkins?"

I first saw these at the grocery store a few years ago and purchased them for each of my students for Halloween. They were doubly excited when they found out that they could actually eat their pumpkins! I have to admit that I never cooked mine. It ended up in the trash after the holiday had passed and I never thought about it again, until I saw a recipe for pumpkin baby food!

Baking the pumpkin was the easy part! The most difficult task was cutting it in half! I followed this tutorial to bake my pumpkin face down in a 9x13" glass dish. While it was in the oven, I separated my seeds & innards with a method I'll coin "Squeeze The Guts" in light of Halloween (which I realize was a month ago, but you can call it that next year). I grabbed handfuls of the guts and seeds and simply squeezed them in my fists over a colander. The seeds fell effortlessly into the silver colander...and so did a few bits and pieces of the guts, but nothing I couldn't fish out. The seeds needed to dry overnight before baking, so I laid them out on a cookie sheet and went about my day.

Back to the pumpkin. It cooked for about an hour in the 1/4" water. Then I scrapped it out, pureed it, and poured it into ice cube trays. I reserved 1/2 cup to mix with some Granny Smith apples I had simmered with just a touch of cinnamon.

As for those tasty seeds, I tossed them in butter mixed with garlic salt and baked them for 30 minutes at 300*F. Another variation I saw was to boil the seeds in salt water immediately after harvesting, rest overnight to dry, then toss with butter (and garlic powder if you prefer) before baking at 300* for 30 minutes.

Twice Baked Potatoes - Freezer Style

My husband LOVES twice baked potatoes. Are you shocked we've never made them? They look like sooooooo much work, and you have to bake them not once but TWO TIMES! I don't think so.

However, when my stepmom was here for Thanksgiving, she let us in on a little secret. She makes bunches of those tasty sides at a time. Here are her simple steps:

1. "Bake your potatoes like normal." (What's normal? Check this out!)
2. "Scoop out the insides." (I used an ice cream scoop, but a spoon works great too.)
3. "Put all the potatoes, sour cream, cheese, bacon, and milk in a bowl and mash." (I used a hand mixer to speed up the process, but the key is to keep those potatoes looking mashed rather than mixed.)
4. "Fill up your potato boats." (Literally scoop heaping amounts of the delicious potato blend back into their skins.)
5. "Stick 'em in the freezer." (She said you can pop them wherever they will sit upright long enough to firm up. I left mine on a cookie sheet and laid it on one of the freezer drawers.)
6. "Bag 'em." (Storing them in a gallon size bag in the freezer allows you to use as many as you need for a meal or snack.)
7. "Bake them the second time." (When you're ready to use them, pop them in the oven for 20 minutes or so once they come up to room temperature.)

I did read one warning about green onions not freezing well....I trust Pioneer Woman, so I'd skip those onions if I were you.

Baby Food Made Easy

I still can't believe the prices stores charge for such a TINY jar of pureed food. Of course, it's just 60 cents now, but what about when Miss S really starts eating solids?! There are a bazillion tutorials on how to make your very own baby food, so I'll simply direct you YouTube one of the many. A fantastic reference website is Wholesome Baby Food. The site has easy to search and follow recipes from your basic plain Jane sweet potatoes to a delicious meal! They have a companion book as well! My neighbor is lending me her's for the moment, and I can't believe how EASY and COST EFFECTIVE it is to simply make my own.

Supplies:

• Food processor OR immersion blender. (I LOVE my Cuisinart processor!)
• 3-4 Ice cube trays. (I picked mine up at the dollar store in a 3 pack.)
• Cling wrap (to cover your trays once they are filled).
• Quart/Gallon size freezer bags.
• Sharpie.

It really doesn't take much! I picked up two small sweet potatoes from the store, microwaved them (I know, I would have preferred baking, but I didn't have time), peeled, tossed in the processor whole, and then continued to play with Sophia until they were a smooth paste. To thin them, I used water/formula. Then I poured them into the 1 tray and continued about my day. (Two larger potatoes probably would have filled two trays....) Each cube is 1 oz of food. Happy Processing!

E Meals

This past week EMeals was featured on Groupon. It was a one year subscription for half off ($29 total). I had heard lots of great things about EMeals and wanted to give it a try. All I can say is WOW! Check out this 60 second video they have posted on their website...

Pros:

• Emails a list of 7 dinners every Wednesday.
• Dinners correspond to what's on sale that week at the store of your choice.
• Side dishes are listed with your dinners.
• A grocery list, showing sale prices is also included.
• If you don't want to use all 7 meals, no big deal. Your grocery list also lists which meals each item pertains to, so if you are skipping meal #2, don't buy the items listed for meal #2.
• We signed up for 1-2 person meals, but we had leftovers!
• The menu has the dinner/sides as well as the recipes all on one concise page.
• I no longer have to come up with weekly menus and then hunt down which ingredients I need to add to my grocery list.
• I no longer have to sort through 25 books to find the recipe I wanted to use.
• The recipes on EMeals are actually good! (...Pinterest, I've been slightly disappointed a few times.)
• I can save my EMeals menus/grocery lists to reuse another time. Of course the sales prices listed won't apply, BUT I'll have saved myself a ton of time!

Cons:

• ....(crickets)

55 Salad Recipe

I am not sure HOW I forgot to put this on here, but below is a GREAT salad recipe for any occassion! My Aunt Linda made this for Thanksgiving dinner in 2011 and it was all the rage! 55 used to be a restaurant in Columbus, OH that is no longer, so to keep the nostalgia alive, she whipped up this tasty treat!

 

Salad:

• Romaine lettuce (I bought the 3 pack that you have to wash and tear yourself)
• 1 red pepper chopped
• 1 medium red onion chopped
• 8 oz of crisp bacon crumbled
• 8 oz of feta cheese
• 3/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Dressing:

• 1/2 c canola oil
• 4 T white vinegar
• 4 T sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 dasheds of garlic and pepper

 

To toast pine nuts place on baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 5 mins. Watch carefully so they do not burn.

 

The sugar and pine nuts are what seals the deal on this salad. The presentation is helped with the red peppers ---- they don't fall apart like tomotoes. Here's a picture of the salad that I made for a Christmas dinner. The lighting is terrible, but you get the idea!

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

I am going to try a new recipe this week! Normally, I make my Grandma's recipe for meatloaf, but I am going to live dangerously and switch things up. This new recipe has some room for growth. Based on the 4K reviews it's received, I am going to try:
- 1/4c Ketchup instead of 1/2c
- Baking in muffin pan at 350 for 30 minutes instead of loaf pan for 1 hr
- Adding celery (because I LOVE CELERY!)
- Swapping seasoned bread crumbs for crackers
- 1/2c milk to cut down on the possibility for mushiness
- 1 tbls Worcestershire in meat AND in glaze

I'll let you know how it turns out!

From Drop Box

The meatloaf "cupcakes" (as my husband refers to them), tasted great. I was actually a bit short on the amount of ground beef --- note to self, make sure I get the right package out of the freezer to thaw next time. The size was extra convienient too. The meatloaf proportions were handy and having them as "cupcakes" made for easier packing for leftovers. The brown sugar was a sweet touch, but wasn't too overwhelming. We served it with cheesy broccoli and biscuits. I would like to add a second vegetable next time, but I am not sure which. Maybe beets, for their color.