A glimpse of control amid the chaos

Jo, Beth and I made these AMAZING cookies yesterday:



Though it appears that they are cooling right on my counter, which would be okay, since it was CLEAN, they are actually cooling on wax paper. But I am not here to convince you of the sanitation level of my counter-tops. No, I am here as a public service to YOU and anyone for whom you will ever again bake a cookie. So as I was saying, we made cookies. Basically, we did the same as we did here, but instead of using chocolate chips, we used dark chocolate M&Ms and Heath toffee bits. Also, I think I have found the perfect amount of pudding mix to add - to a double recipe add one of the big boxes of pudding mix. It's a 6-serving box rather than a 4-serving. I have to say that I think these are the best cookies I've EVER HAD. Ever. Ever. In my life. And I've been around a while. And in that while I've eaten more cookies than most people eat in a lifetime. Really. So I know what I'm talking about.

Moving on...

A few days ago, Amy was setting up bowling pins all in a row. If one would get knocked down, she would say, "Uh oh, pin," and pick it back up and put it in it's rightful place. I thought this was pretty funny:



BUT THEN...

At my house, the playroom gets completely and utterly DESTROYED on a daily basis. Furniture covers pulled off the furniture and thrown on the floor or heaped back up on said furniture, crumbs all over the carpet, toys scattered everywhere, puzzles dissembled and scattered, etc. By the time Amy goes in for her nap, it is total chaos and you can't even walk through the room. So every most afternoons at nap time, I try to get in there and straighten up a bit before it gets ripped apart again later. Lately, I've been finding some odd order amid the chaos:











Hmmm... Thoughts?

Next, a random picture. Just a head's up for Kellogg's: Calibrate your Eggo machine, dude.




[30 Day Shred update: Day 5: Although I have not lost an ounce (I attribute this to the lack of change in my diet; I will try to do better, though making cookies was OBVIOUSLY not a good idea.), my ass is no longer being served up on a silver platter. Rather, *I* am starting to kick some ass. I think that I will continue on Level 1 for the weekend and move on to Level 2 on Monday.]

Is it an illness?

After spending HOURS entering contests and mentally noting all these great new blogs to go back and peruse when I have a chance, I FINALLY entered them ALL and am now ready to post something new today. Oh, wait, I just refreshed and there are MORE, so gotta go. I'll leave you with this to ponder:



Illness, or reasonable fear of store running out of yummy creamers? In my defense, two of them say "Limited Edition."

Cookies!!!

Yesterday afternoon, we made chocolate chip cookies. These aren't just ANY chocolate chip cookies, though. They are AMAZING chocolate chip cookies (at least we think so). Here are my helpers, Jo and Beth:

[Prior to making the cookies:

Beth (picking up the bag of chocolate chips): I LOVE these. (pauses) Ooooh, mom, mom.

Me: What?

Beth: USUALLY, when people make chocolate chip cookies, they taste the chocolate chips before making the cookies.]

Now, initially, a dozen of these cookies was supposed to accompany each of the prizes that I finally, just this morning, sent out to moo, Saly and Alice. But then I got to thinking:

Real butter + Chocolate chips + 2 to 3 days travel time + Summer heat = Possible food poisoning.

Possible food poisoning did not seem like a good prize, so I ditched the idea of including cookies. HOWEVER, I thought I'd provide you all with the recipe, as the cookies are to die for. It's really very simple. You use the Toll-House cookie recipe on the back of Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate chips with the following changes:

Change the first: Either double the recipe except for the amount of chips, or use half the amount of chocolate chips the recipe calls for. This is because my modified recipe for the cookies makes them so rich that also using the amount of chocolate chips the recipe calls for could quite possibly kill you. I even half the chocolate chips when I DON'T add the secret ingredient that makes them so rich because it really is just too many chips. I suggest doubling the recipe, so you can put plenty in the freezer for later and still have plenty for NOW.

Change the second: Where it says butter or margarine, you use half the amount of REAL BUTTER and half the amount of Crisco shortening.

Change the third: Add the SECRET INGREDIENT:



Vanilla pudding mix. Mix this in with the dry ingredients before adding the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Play around with how much. One box per recipe (two boxes if you double) is what I usually use, but I have made a double recipe with only one box and the cookies were still awesome. Also, I don't think it matters if you use the cooked or instant variety, but I generally use the cooked. And the back story behind this secret ingredient was that a guy I knew in college told me about it. A GUY. In COLLEGE. What college guys do you know of who know how to bake awesome cookies? I probably should have knocked off his girlfriend and married him. But... you know... she was nice and I liked her and I would've felt guilty. Not to mention the jail time.

That's it. Other than that you just follow the recipe they give you. Afterwards you can eat THESE:



I really need a new counter-top...

German potato salad

I have a bunch of posts in my head that will probably never see fruition, because no doubt I will forget them before I have a chance to write them. Things are INSANE here, what with all the end-of-year crapola. Yesterday I spent the day at T's field day. Today I had to run German potato salad to S's school for her German class's food day, and THEN had to go to T's school AGAIN for her end-of-year party. Whew! So, while I don't have time for much, I did at least photograph our preparation of the German potato salad and will now regale you with it's yumminess. [Shauna, it uses a WHOLE POUND of bacon, INCLUDING the grease!]

First you get a five-pound bag of red potatoes, cut them up into chunks and put them on to boil. While they are boiling, you want to finely chop about 3 stalks of celery.



You also want to finely chop some onion (I used one medium yellow onion) and fresh parsley (the curly kind, not the Italian - this is a GERMAN dish, after all). I don't have pictures of those two things. You also want to finely chop one pound of bacon. If you have a big, sharp, heavy meat cleaver (which I don't), you can even do this part prior to frying everything, which makes it easier. I tried with my butcher knife, and ended up with kind of a mess of bacon, but it all straightened out by the end. I just fried up the mess and then chopped up what didn't chop nicely before. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Fry up the bacon. When it's nice and crisp, if you didn't before, pull it out of the grease and chop it up finely. To avoid burning the grease while you're doing that, throw the celery, parsley and onion in the grease. Throw the chopped bacon back in and stir it all around.



Mmmmmmmm. Don't you just want to eat that out of the pan with a spoon? Okay, then you take the potatoes, which are probably done by now, drain them and throw them in a bowl.



Then you pour everything from the frying pan over the top of the potatoes. Let it sit on the counter for two hours. Then toss it all together. Serve warm.



This recipe came from my step-father's step-mother (Yeah. Also he is no longer my step-father since he and my mother divorced.), who escaped from East Germany during the rule of the Nazis by crossing a river in the middle of the night with her brother. Neither could swim and she was the only one who made it. She then hid from soldiers as she made her way to safety. So this is probably pretty authentic. Even if it's not, it's damn good.

Almond Roca

Ever have one of those days where you read something a blogger wrote and it SO totally reminds you that "YES! I, TOO, LOVE THAT STUFF!" and so you buy a big canister of it and eat half a canister on the ride home from the store and then the next day you have the other half of the canister for lunch? And half a canister is like WAY WAY too much and may even leave you ever so slightly queasy, but you don't care because holy heck it's GOOD! No? Never mind, then.

Let's talk about FOOD, ba-by

Yeah, I know the song says "Let's talk about s.e.x, baby," but frankly food is more interesting. You know I'm right, even if you won't admit it. Also, my oldest daughter reads this occasionally, as does, I have recently been informed, one of her friends. So, as they are learning everything there is to know about sex from their 13-year-old peers, as is the right and proper way of the world, I will not further educate them here. Also, I should consider moving to a secret blog.

Anyway, the first order of business here is bittersweet. Not chocolate. Coffee. I love and adore some of the creamer flavors that International Delight produces. Their chocolate caramel flavored creamer is a staple in my house. But what really turns me on (still talking about food, stay with me here) is the Limited Edition flavors they come out with. A few months ago they had Vanilla Caramel Brownie. Holy moly, that was to die for. Now they have this:



In case you can't read the label, it says "White Chocolate MUDSLIDE." And the party in your mouth it provides along with your morning dose of caffeine is better than that subject we're not discussing right now. But, BUT. Those flavors are Limited Editions. So while they give great pleasure, they only do so for a short time (STILL food, people!). Thus the bittersweetness.

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On to other food. I made Tamale Pie, originally brought to us by Partners in Dine, for the second time last night. The first time I didn't take pictures, so I didn't post about it. Anyway, as our good friends Brett and Caroline told us, it is EXTREMELY EASY to make. Except the part where they say to shred the cheese. SURELY THEY JEST. What they MEANT TO SAY was buy a bag of shredded cheese and use that. So being able to read their minds like that, that is what I did. Anyway, here is a photo record of the process (for the actual recipe go here):

Brown the meat:



Drain the meat and add the beans and salsa. By the way, I couldn't find ranchero beans, so I assumed that ranchero=pinto, and used pinto beans:



Pour in pan and sprinkle cheese on top:



Pour cornbread batter over top and spread out (I just used 2 8 oz. boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix because I couldn't find a 12 oz. box of cornbread mix that was called for.) Bake. I forgot to take a picture until after it had been in the oven for a couple minutes.:



Done.:



Serve it up with a dollop of sour cream. If you want to be healthy about it, have a side salad as well (for this I highly recommend buying a salad in a bag for the ease factor). It's easy and delicious.

Let's go bat for the other team, Michelle!!

I made Garlic Cheddar Chicken for dinner last night. If this is representative of the things Michelle makes when she cooks, then I will divorce my husband, become a lesbian, convince her that she is also a lesbian, marry her (okay, CIVILLY COMMIT to her) and completely support her so that the only thing she has to do is cook. Holy moly!! That was some AWESOME chicken!

I served it with Creamy Parmesan Chicken Rice-a-Roni (Yeah, I kept a couple boxes. It's my fault there's no more Journeyman.) and steamed broccoli. Look how yummy:



Also, in a turn of events that had me clapping and cheering, Amy LOVED the entire meal. You may recall that my two middle kids are horribly picky, so seeing Amy eat her weight in broccoli before moving on to the rice and chicken warmed the cockles of my heart. (Also, exactly what part of your heart are the cockles? Anyone know?). Check it out and let your cockles be warmed too:







Indeed, the fork IS totally superfluous. She's working on about her 7th stalk (? - Is that what you call a piece of broccoli?) in these pics, and yes, Virginia, that IS a file cabinet in my dining room piled with a couple weeks worth of mail and a hairbrush. And plastic drawers where I keep the three school kids' recent papers that may or may not need attention. Who knows, since I rarely actually OPEN the drawers. But ignore that. Aren't your cockles all warm and tingly?

U-PICK dandelion greens

I noticed at the grocery store a few days ago (By the way, do you say "grocery store," "supermarket," "market" or something else?) that they sell dandelion greens in the produce department. What the hell?!?! I know they're edible, but I thought that was only as a last resort, like on "Survivor" or something. Or if you find yourself stranded in the middle of a giant trailer park after a nuclear bomb has eliminated every other living thing on the planet, and it's just you, cockroaches and dandelions. And you have to choose: cockroaches or dandelion greens. Hmmm... I guess I'll eat the dandelion greens.

But I guess I'm wrong. There are apparently people who PAY to eat the weeds that grow copiously throughout my yard, which I'm now thinking should be a U-PICK farm.

Winter Woods Chili

I had been keeping an eye out for a chili recipe that didn't use ground meat (I wanted chunks of beef) when I came across a recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine that looked pretty good. I tore it out and then procrastinated a while, but I finally made it last night. Um, hold on a sec while I search the web for the recipe so I don't have to type it all in...

[jazzy elevator music version of "Livin' on a Prayer"]

OK. Found it. Here's the original recipe:

Ingredients
4 slices bacon
3 lbs beef stew meat
1 large onion, sliced 1/2 inch thick
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 (28ounce)cans whole tomatoes
1 (15 1/2ounce)can navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 1/2ounce)can red beans, rinsed and drained
2-3 tablespoons chili powder, to taste
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
snipped fresh oregano (optional)
cooked bacon, crumbled (optional)

Directions
1. In 4-6 qt Dutch oven cook bacon and beef, half at a time, over medium heat until beef is browned. Drain fat. Return meat to pan. Reduce heat; add onions and half of garlic. Cook and stir till onion is tender.

2. Add undrained tomatoes, beans, and 1 Tbsp of chili powder. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining garlic, chili powder, and vinegar. Cook, covered, 1 hour. Add water to desired consistency. Season to taste. Top servings with cheese, oregano, and crumbled bacon if desired.

This chili is heavy on the meat and light on the beans, which is how I like it. Too many beans ruins a good chili, but I think this chili actually could have supported the addition of another can of beans. It didn't need it, but it could have handled it with no ill effect. The above picture (which I got from the web page of the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens) is a little deceiving in that it pictures a greater ratio of beans to meat than existed.

The recipe calls for 2-3 tablespoons of chili powder; I used three. I added two of them at the same time as the tomatoes and beans and the last one with the second half of the garlic and the vinegar. In my opinion, the chili did not require the addition of any water; the consistency was perfect. I served it with shredded cheddar and sour cream. I would have also had crumbled bacon if I had been able to restrain myself and the other bacon mongers in the house from eating the cooked bacon before the chili was ready. The recipe also suggests fresh snipped oregano, but to me oregano belongs in Italian dishes, not chili.

If you enjoy a good chili, you should give this one a try. It wasn't too spicy for my oldest daughter, but had enough spice for my husband. If you like fire-breathing, eye-watering chili, just add some Tabasco sauce to your bowl. I imagine that would do it. Or you could just go with straight Tabasco. Because if you're breathing fire and your eyes are watering, are you really TASTING the chili?

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For any of you wondering, I am walking with less pain today, though my knees still hurt if they get bumped, so I think they'll be okay soon. Luckily, I'm a pretty fast healer.

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I am tired of not having a digital camera. I still use my Nikon N80, but that's for home use, it's too much of a pain to scan pictures in to use those shots here. I can not at the moment justify buying the camera I desperately covet, the Nikon D300 (but Nikon, if you're reading, I would gladly accept a free one in exchange for many laudatory posts on your wonderful product), so I need help deciding on one of those little silver jobs. Do any of you have one that you particularly love or hate? A feature to me that is of utmost importance is NO SHUTTER DELAY. I hate pushing the button for a perfect shot and waiting just long enough for the shot to SUCK before the camera actually takes the picture. So, help me out. What would you recommend and/or what should I steer clear of?

Valentine treats

If you're like me, then whenever you are presented with a snack sign-up sheet, you sign up for whatever day is available as far in the future as possible, because SURELY BY THEN you'll have your shit together enough to bake some cookies or something. So I invariably end up with Valentine's Day. Then February rolls around and it turns out that while I THOUGHT my shit would be together, in fact IT IS NOT.

The good news is that there's an easy way to make it look like you worked hard on something, when really it only takes five to ten minutes of your time. Also, these are good for ANY holiday.

Step 1: Buy a package or two of individually wrapped Rice Krispy Treats or some ready-to-decorate pre-baked cutout cookies.

Step 2: Buy icing that comes with tips. It comes in either bags or cans that work like Redi-Whip.

Step 3: Wander through the bulk-candy section of the store and purchase holiday-specific candies to decorate the tops of the treats. These can be anything: gummies, hard candies (depending on the children's ages), chocolates, etc.

Step 4: If you bought Rice Krispy Treats, unwrap them.

Step 5: Using the icing, decorate the cookies or Rice Krispy Treats. Stick on a candy, and you're done.

This year I bought pre-baked heart-shaped cutout cookies and used a large-sized conversation heart as the candy. I don't have a picture because our digital camera is broken. But last year I made these using Rice Krispy Treats and a large heart-shaped gummy candy:



Awesome, no? They're a HUGE hit and seriously only take a few minutes.

The sauce

Friday, I posted about meatballs. But what good are meatballs without the sauce? (Well, they're still good, but I'm talking about sauce today.) Oh, but first a shout out to Dixie, just because I like saying her name. She's in Georgia, y'all. And I'm from South Carolina, so we're like next-door neighbors. Or were, before I moved to PA. And she's my new reader. AND, over on her blog, she punctuates "y'all" correctly, which we all know is EXTREMELY important to me. So everybody say, "Hi." [Hi, Dixie!] And HI to Jill, another lurker (we already met Katie). I have TWO lurkers!!!!! Exciting stuff! And bananafana, who is no longer a lurker, but a full-fledged participant, and who also has a name I like to say, that I say often when singing "The Name Game" to my kids. As CS pointed out, I could have had a bit more patience waiting for my lurkers to come out of the woodwork. True. But really, my impatience was all in jest. I don't care if you lurk and NEVER let me know you're here. That's okay. But it's better if you tell me I'm awesome, like Shelly did. Sometimes we, and by we I mean I, need that. So to all of you, my regular readers and commentors, my occasional commentors and my lurkers: YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!!!!!!!

But I digress. Yet again. Back to the sauce:

So this recipe came from another of my sister-in-laws, and my mother-in-law also uses it. They're all Italian, though, so wherever I got it, it's legit. It's just a very simple basic sauce. And totally simple to make. First, you go pick fresh red ripe Roma tomatoes off the vine... what? Okay, just do what I do, then. Go to the grocery store and buy 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes and 6oz cans (or, if you're willing to do math, the equivalent of what you need in bigger cans) of tomato paste. I make A LOT and freeze it in containers roughly the size of a jar of sauce you'd buy at the store, so I usually get 6 of the 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes and 2 18oz cans of tomato paste (because I'm willing to do the math - gotta use that degree for something).

**Edited to add -- Duh! You can't do the math if I don't give you something to work with, can you? For every 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, you use 6oz of tomato paste. **

[Aside: Is it commentErs or commentOrs? Probably neither. It's probably not even a word. But I've never let that stop me before. Google spell-check doesn't like either, yet it's okay with "gotta."]

Anyway, you'll also need olive oil, basil, oregano and garlic. Fresh is best, but I generally, like this time, end up using at least one dried herb. Here are all the ingredients:



So then you throw everything in a big pot and add the same amount of water as tomato paste. Stir it up and simmer it for a few hours. Then you're done. Freeze it in small batches and take it out whenever you want a quick meal. Throw some meatballs in for spaghetti and meatballs. Make chicken parmesan sandwiches. Whatever. Last night I made stuffed shells. Anyway, here's what the sauce looks like:



What's that? You want AMOUNTS of oil and spices to add? Just to taste, I guess. For that HUGE amount of sauce I make, I guess I add about 1/4 cup of olive oil and a couple tablespoons of each spice. I don't measure it, though, I just dump and pour. The amounts must not be crucial, since it always tastes good.

Pathetic with a side order of meatballs

I see [blah blah blah, stuff about a post I'm not transferring, blah blah blah] That is just pathetic. And sad. And did I mention pathetic? But we did meet Katie (our lurker). Hi Katie. :) And we met Alanna from Two Fat Als, who will now be focusing all of her energy (and that of the other Al, I assume) on figuring out how to get my kids to eat something.

Speaking of eating... (FABULOUS segue, that)

Last night I made meatballs. I do this every couple of months or so and freeze a bunch of them for quick meals. I make sauce, too, but I didn't do that last night. I'll do that over the weekend. Anyway, like I was saying, meatballs. You all want to know how to make homemade meatballs, Italian-style, right? Okay, then. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, and it's damn good. I'll tell you the recipe, but I should add that I have NEVER followed it exactly. I ALWAYS add more garlic, because there's no such thing as too much garlic, and the meat mixture is always different, depending on what is available in the meat case at the grocery store the day I'm there. And probably a few other things that I'll remember as I'm typing this. And I ALWAYS double the recipe so as to have PLENTY in the freezer.

First, you want to gather your ingredients:



And those ingredients are (I'll list amounts for the single recipe, so use twice that if you want to double):
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground veal
3 eggs (I use large size, what the heck does anyone use small size eggs for anyway?)
3 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley (yes, you can use dry parsley if you insist, but it won't be as good)
1 large clove garlic, chopped fine (you'll notice my laziness has purchased ALREADY chopped garlic in a jar)
1/4 cup grated Locatelli cheese (just use grated Pecorino Romano, or an Italian blend of Romano and Parmesan)
3 pieces of bread (I've used white, whole wheat and this time potato bread - doesn't matter, though there are subtle differences in the taste of the finished meatballs)
Salt and pepper to taste (but don't go tasting the raw meat mixture, just guess; I always forget to put these in anyway)

You will not need the baby oatmeal, that was just there. Although, it could add an interesting twist. Feel free to try it. Anyway, it so happens that I went to the grocery store late at night (as usual) and had to take whatever ground meat was available (as usual). Usually, that means I end up with half beef and half pork, but this time there was actually ground veal on the shelf. There was only one package of pork and one package of my preferred 95% lean beef (I also had to get a package of 90% lean). So my meat mixture ended up being 1/2 beef, 1/3 veal and 1/6 pork. In any case, what you do is mix your meat and eggs. Add your chopped parsley, garlic and grated cheese and mix it up some more. Then wet the bread and squeeze out the water. Mix it into the meat mixture. If the mixture feels too soft (I don't KNOW, just use your judgment) add some dry bread crumbs. I've only ever added the bread crumbs once, and I don't really know that I needed them then. By the way, you are using your hands to mix. And it is dadgum cold. I have to keep stopping and rinsing my hands in warm water to stop the PAIN from the cold. Maybe if I had one of those fancy industrial sized mixers with a bowl... But I digress (I do that a lot). Your final mixture should look something like this:



Now, according to the recipe, you now shape into balls and either fry in very little oil with some garlic or place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then you put into your sauce to finish cooking. I don't do that. Because it is a rare occasion indeed (in fact it has NEVER happened) that I am making my sauce and meatballs at the same time. What I do is this: I put my meatballs in a mini-muffin pan (isn't that an AWESOME idea?):



Then I bake them at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. The meatballs are done then (I guess mini-muffin size is smaller than whatever size the recipe assumes you'll make). Cool them off and store them in freezer bags in your freezer until you are ready to use. Then you can take them out and throw them in some sauce to heat up when you need a quick and easy meal (you can thaw them first, but that step is not required). The cooked meatballs look something like this (I didn't realize my picture was blurry until this morning, and the meatballs are already frozen, so you'll have to imagine what they'd look like in focus):



Oh, and by the way, my two picky eaters WILL NOT EAT these. But the rest of us will, and they are oh so delicious.

Easy chicken corn chowder

You may have noticed that this week lacked an update to the world's most reluctant stage mother series. Yeah, well that's because I didn't finish it. I'm like that sometimes. It'll show up eventually. In the meantime:

For those of you who like measurements for your recipes (like I generally do), this recipe may not be for you (though somehow I manage). If you like just throwing random amounts of things together with crossed fingers, like Flibberty's fiance (how do you make those stupid accent things?), then this is for you. It is a good wintertime chowder, and it is easy easy (I meant to type it twice) to make. You will need:

• regular old white potatoes (I usually use 4-5 medium-sized ones - I see you measurement people are already cringing)
  
  
• one medium onion
  
  
• water - I'll tell you how much in a minute
  
  
• a small can of evaporated milk (I don't know how many ounces - I've only ever seen two sizes, a small one and a bigger one. Use the SMALL one.)
  
  
• one can of creamed corn (the 15oz size, or is it 16? Who cares - just use it)
  
  
• one can of kernel corn (again the 15 oz size, or I suppose you could use frozen - hey, go nuts)
  
  
• one can of chicken breast meat (I KNOW, I didn't realize these little cans of meat had any use either! Other than, you know, BOMB SHELTER supplies. Oh, and for you vegetarians, this is optional, you could have plain old corn chowder. OR, for you folks who like a lot of meat and want to use up what the vegetarians are letting go to waste, add more. I'm kidding vegetarians; don't attack me.)
  
  
• butter, the real thing, no margarine people!
  
  
• salt and pepper (preferably fresh ground cracked peppercorn pepper from your pepper mill. You do have one, right? If not put it on your shopping list right now.)
  

Okay, so now what you do is first peel and dice the potatoes into chunks approximately the size of, I don't know... DICE? Throw them in a pot and just cover them with water. Yes, that's how much water to use, just cover the potatoes. Chop the onion and throw it in. Boil until the potatoes are done. The onion will be done then too; it works out nicely that way.

Add the can of evaporated milk and the can of creamed corn. Then add the can of kernel corn, but DRAIN IT FIRST! Add the chicken, also only after draining it first. Then add a big chunk of butter. No, I don't know how much, how much buttery goodness would you like it to have? Add that much. I usually use about 1/3 of a stick. You can always add more to your own bowl later. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat it through and serve.

I don't have a picture, because I made it and we ate it before I realized that this would be a quick and easy post that maybe people would like. But it looks yummy. Just take my word for it.

Weekend dinners and a question

As some of you are aware, I was making Easy Cabbage Roll Casserole from Beck's Recipes on Saturday. I want to first thank Beck for giving my family a much more interesting week food-wise. I had gotten in a rut of the same meals week after week, so it was nice to branch out a little. As usual, due to my being lazy lazy, I looked for any way to shortcut the work. So instead of shredding cabbage, I used this:



It contained a few shredded carrots as well, which I thought ended up adding a little extra flavor.

Here is what the casserole looked like while cooking:



I served it up as suggested with mashed potatoes. I didn't post a picture, because I didn't want to scare anyone away from making it. It did not look at all appetizing. HOWEVER, I LOVED IT!!! I thought it was great. A perfect winter meal. My husband thought it was "okay for something that has cabbage in it." My oldest daughter was not a fan, but she did eat it. The other two, as you know, don't eat, and as usual, since it wasn't a smooth puree, the baby gagged. I froze the leftovers for future lunches for myself.

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On Sunday, I completely forgot that we would need to eat dinner, and therefore when dinnertime arrived, there were lots of frozen things in the freezer, but nothing thawed and ready to cook. But I had planned to make yet another of Beck's Recipes last week that I had not gotten around to, and it had not one frozen ingredient. So, Beck to the rescue! We had Sweet Potato Soup and sandwiches. The soup was wonderful! I don't have pictures, but imagine tomato soup, but orange, and that's what it looks like.

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Originally, I was going to post an episode of the modeling story each Friday for however many it took, but apparently MadMad can't wait that long, as she reminded me on Saturday that she is still waiting for the rest of the story. It's really not all THAT exciting, and I almost feel guilty for making anyone think that it is. But not enough to stop leading you on. Anyway, my question is: Should I stick with my original plan and do the modeling story posts on Fridays, or should I throw one up at whatever point in the week I have one ready?

Last Monday was my first birth story, and in keeping with that, today and the next two Mondays will bring my other three birth stories. You can't wait, can you?

Oops, forgot to tell you about dinner

Thursday, at the end of [a post called "You know what bugs me" that I haven't transferred yet], I promised to tell you about the Rosemary Chicken with White Beans that I made for dinner Wednesday night. But then I forgot. So I'll do it today.

I got the recipe from Beck's Recipes. It's a slow-cooker meal, which I like in the winter. There's something about a bunch of different food groups all simmering together in one big mish-mash for hours that screams warm and cozy food. Plus, they are generally easy, which appeals to my laziness.

This particular meal was quite easy. It only took about 15 minutes of prep-work, including browning the chicken and chopping the celery. I cheated on chopping carrots by using those bagged, pre-washed and peeled baby carrots. Hey, I'll take any shortcut I can get. Here's what it looked like when it was just about done:



I should note that the house was filled with a mouth-watering aroma all afternoon. The first words out of my daughter's piano teacher's mouth when he showed up for her lesson were, "Wow, something smells really good in here." And he's a vegetarian! Apparently one that appreciates the smell of cooking chicken breasts. Anyway, I served it up with bowtie pasta and here is what it looked like all dished up:



See the veggies? Beans, corn, celery. What a good mom! But only one of my kids ate it, the others are either picky eaters or babies who have chewing and gagging issues. Anyway, the one kid who ate it and the two parents LOVED it! So Beck's Recipes are two for two. I'm making another of her slow cooker meals for tonight, the Easy Cabbage Roll Casserole. A little heavier on the prep-work, which makes the lazy in me unhappy, but it's cooking now, so we'll see if the end result is worth it. I'll be sure to let you know. Because I know the suspense is killing you.

Reading challenge - Part 3 AND Last night's dinner

It's two-fer Tuesday!

The "Something About Me" reading challenge is wrapping up now, and I obviously committed to reading MANY more books than I am going to be able to finish. My original list of the books I wanted to read is here, though I did add I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak to it later. Unfortunately, it is becoming fairly obvious that unless I figure out a way to halt the world around me while I do nothing but read the books that I have yet to complete for the challenge, I am not going to be able to read everything that I had hoped to read. I have read Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter, and will be posting a review soon. I hope to get one or two more read and briefly reviewed this week, but don't hold your breath.

I do intend to read all the books that I selected. I have all but two of them sitting on my dresser. No one has these two listed on Bookmooch and my local library does not have them. They are The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes, suggested by Christina, and Papa Married a Mormon by John D. Fitzgerald, suggested by Suey. They will remain on my Bookmooch wishlist, until I break down and just order them, as I really do want to read them at some point.

The ones I did manage to read up to today:

From Bonnie's list: Booked to Die by John Dunning

From Twiga's list: The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers

From Chasida's list: Good Grief by Lolly Winston

From Dewey's list: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

From Jill(mrstreme)'s list: Christ the Lord by Anne Rice

From Booklogged's list: From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz

From Vasilly's list: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

From alisonwonderland's list: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

From Becky's list: Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card

From Stephanie's list: Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter

From Sarah Miller's list: The Giver by Lois Lowry

My favorite of these is The Time Traveler's Wife, no question.

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Have y'all been checking out Beck's Recipes? I've printed every one of them and I'm trying a few this week. Last night I made Enchilada Stuffed Shells. Check 'em out:



They looked less like dog vomit in real life, and no doubt Beck's look much better, but they tasted delicious. I served them up with a wedge of cornbread (store-bought, not homemade, you can only ask so much of me) and a dollop of sour cream. Yes, I know there is a distinct lack o' veggie here, and normally there would have been salad with this type of meal, but I kind of desperately needed to go to the grocery store, since the only veggie in my house was about 5 baby carrots left in the bag to wither. After the kids were in bed, I went to the grocery store, and I will be sure to include a veggie in my next food pic.

The ITHA meeting will now come to order

Hi, welcome to Iced Tea Haters Anonymous (ITHA). My name is Fiona Picklebottom and I'm an iced tea hater. Yes I hate iced tea. Unless it's prefaced by the words "Long Island." But that's another meeting.

My hatred of iced tea would have gone by unnoticed, probably for my entire life, had I not grown up in the south. In Charleston, SC, however, it is perfectly acceptable and even expected that one is offered nothing except iced tea to drink, whether in someone's home for an informal visit or at any type of gathering. Which means I must have said, "No, thanks, could I just have water?" about 974,649 times. Enough to have a T-shirt printed with those words to wear to those gatherings. Wish I'd thought of that then.

Iced tea (sweet, by the way, so it's also known as 'sweet tea' in the south) is such an expected part of the southern meal, that people just assume everyone likes it, and it gets served to you sometimes even when you ask for water. They just think you meant water in addition to your tea. I've even been to restaurants where a glass of iced tea was already at your place setting along with the usual glass of water. Or a pitcher of tea was on the table.

And the looks of absolute shock one gets when the words "No thank you," come out of your mouth in response to an offer of iced tea. It's like the person who offered suddenly does not know what to do. He or she is in a complete state of befuddlement. Sometimes their mouths will even open and close like a fish, like they feel the need to say something but for the life of them can't think of what.

The dislike of iced tea in the south is a sacrilege. Kind of like a southerner disliking grits. I go to that meeting, too.

Picky eating: is there a solution?

In a word, no. Last week, I read this post, which prompted me to think about all the various things I've tried to get nutritious foods into my picky eaters. My oldest was never picky, she'd try and eat pretty much everything. I'm not sure about the baby yet, but I am a bit worried, since she's almost 8 months old and I can't get her to eat any kind of solid food. But my middle two are horribly picky!

The 4-year-old will only eat cereal, crackers, muffins (without fruit or nuts), plain bagels, frozen waffles, wheat bread, chicken nuggets (only from a fast-food place, not made at home), apples (only red ones, no green), and red seedless grapes (no green or black ones), granola bars (no dried fruit in them), cookies, cake, milk, and almost any kind of juice. I can't make her a sandwich because she won't eat any kind of meat, peanut butter, cheese, or any condiments. She won't have anything on her bagel - no butter, no cream cheese. No yogurt, no ice cream, no hot dogs, no pizza, no burgers, no mac 'n' cheese, no eggs, nothing that is typically considered "kid-food." And of course, no veggies.

The 6-year-old will eat more than the 4-year-old, but not much. She'll eat most of what her little sister eats (with the exception of the apples and grapes and juice, what kind of kid doesn't drink juice?) plus french fries, mac 'n' cheese, cheese pizza, peanut butter, jelly, yogurt, hot dogs (no bun), butter, cream cheese, ketchup, ice cream, various kinds of cheese. So at least I can make her a sandwich, but not with lunchmeat. But no meat or eggs(other than the nuggets and hot dogs) and no fruits or veggies.

Now if you are the parent of a picky eater, you know that everyone has a solution. Yeah, right. Here are some that I've been told, tried, and failed miserably:

Advice: Offer a wide variety of healthy foods. Lots of colorful fruits and veggies.
Result: They ate only the things they like, i.e. the foods listed in the above paragraphs, and ignored the rest. When I tried only putting out fruits (except apples and grapes) and veggies, they didn't eat.

Advice: Give them the same dinner you are eating. If they don't eat it, don't give them anything else, and give them the same meal for breakfast. If they still don't eat it, give it to them for lunch. And so on, and so on... Eventually they will eat. Kids won't starve themselves. (I believe I heard this one on Dr. Phil, but I'm not sure.)
Result: Kids will starve themselves. Or at least make themselves sick. Dr. Phil underestimates the degree of stubbornness of my kids.

Advice: Make food fun. Call broccoli "trees," make "ants on a log" out of celery, raisins and peanut butter, cut sandwiches in fun shapes, make peanut butter toast or cheese toast and make a funny face on it with fruits and/or veggies, etc., etc.
Result: They don't care how "fun" it is; they won't eat it.

Advice: Take something they will eat, like bread, muffins, brownies, etc., and spike it with fruits or veggies.
Result: My freezer currently contains zucchini-carrot muffins, various breads with fruits and veggies baked in, brownies with spinach baked in. They wouldn't eat them.

Advice: Get the kids involved.
Result: We had a vegetable garden for a few years (not this year, because the new baby). The kids loved helping me with it, but they refused to eat anything out of it. I had them help me prepare meals. They loved doing it, but surprise, surprise, wouldn't try a bite.

Advice: Any and all combinations of the above.
Result: Nothing works.

So let me just say to all you people with solutions, like these people, "You are full of crap!"

Oh, and before you tell me to get them together with friends so they can be influenced, I've tried it. My kids are impervious to peer-pressure. They don't care one iota what their friends like. So I guess we'll just let them eat what they will eat and hope that at some point they will try things on their own. Unless you have another idea?

Photo credit: Stole it from those people above who are full of crap.