Adventures in housewifery: Cooking, crafting, and not a lot of cleaning
Chocolate chip pecan banana bread
Chicken Divan
Beef Quesadillas and salad
Chicken/Turkey burger with mushrooms, cheese, and onions
Pot roast with noodles, carrots, and potatoes.
“The Best Mac and Cheese!” -According to the Husband. I used marscapone.
Blueberry muffins
PB Molten Lava Cake in the Instant pot.
Apparently a stomach bug is going round and the Husband and I both got it. I had a milder version than him, but we both had some icky days. We had to cancel our Harry Potter party, which was sad, since we had food all ready and everything is decorated. It was better to be safe than give anyone else stomach issues though, so cancelled. The Husband has two plays coming up in December and January, but we’re hoping to be able to reschedule. I thought I would show you the party foods I made and some other delicious meals.
These are the green tomato mincemeat tarts and the Cornish Currant Cake. They were both delicious.
The Currant Cake was originally going to be Cousin Jack cookies, but the batter was super weird and I got nervous.
So I did what any other self respecting Midwestern housewife would do- I called Mom in a panic. 🙂 She suggested putting it in a glass pan and treating it like a bar cookie. It worked out very well!
The tarts were especially good with whipped cream. I was surprised at how much I liked the mincemeat. It had a hint of vinegar still, but was sweet and gooey. I would make it again.
We also had pumpkin banana bread. I used the Pioneer Woman recipe: https://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/pumpkin-banana-bread/
It was very good and a hit at work. The Husband’s coworkers also liked it. We decided not to make too much more food, but I did make turkey pinwheel rollups for dinner this week. I was hosting my craft group this week, so didn’t get a picture of them, but they were pretty good and originally for the party.
Since we were sick, we had some soup, french onion and some buttermilk biscuits from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.
A favorite: Chicken Divan was also enjoyed.
Brinner is one of my favorite dinners when I don’t know what to cook, but the Husband isn’t terribly fond of it, so we don’t have it often. I call this one “Take that Ihop!” Cheesy scrambled eggs, buttermilk pancakes with macerated strawberries, and chicken sage sausages. And whipped cream, of course! The pancakes were from the Better Homes book as well.
Another quick dinner was Loaded Baked Potatoes. I forgot how good they are, so we’ll definitely be making them again. The Husband cooked his own potato and skipped the broccoli.
We had two poblano peppers from the garden, so I used them to make beef fajitas, along with a garden purple pepper. I’m planning on growing some next year too. The tortillas are homemade, so are rustic looking. 😉
We had a fun day making peirogi with K and J and we got to take a bunch home. So of course, we had to try them! These are with a cheddar chicken sausage and fried in butter and olive oil.
We have a new favorite fried chicken recipe from this website: https://blog.sweetopia.me/2019/05/how-to-make-buttermilk-chicken-tenders.html
I seasoned the waffle fries with Sandwich Sprinkle. The Husband just shook his head at me, but did admit they were delicious.
And for the last item, we have delicious popovers with plum cardamom jam. They were delicious!
I’m planning to make a couple of the party foods for just regular day foods. Who says Tuesday isn’t an occasion befitting a chocolate dragon shaped bundt cake? 🙂
For now though, dinner awaits. Have a great week!
We’ve had some exciting new recipes lately and a few older favorites. With my schedule stabilizing, I have been able to do a bit more meal planning, along with adding an “on your own” day permanently into the rotation. That has been super helpful for Wednesdays or Thursdays. The Husband has been requesting more dishes too, which helps. Today we had chicken pot pie over noodles, which we haven’t had in a while. I was hungry, so forgot to take a full picture!
I loudly and snottily announced that I was going out to the garden to pick fresh herbs and the Husband laughed at me, but then told me that I should probably be Instagramming the whole experience. I was the one laughing then. Silly Husband! I was not Instagram dressed! They did look really pretty cooking down with the onions though.
The potpie was made with leftover chicken from this dinner:
Herb Butter Baked Chicken Breasts with Stovetop Stuffing and roasted carrots. I used the Sandwich Sprinkle on the carrots (seriously, I need a bigger jar of it) and fresh garden herbs for the butter.
Rosemary, thyme, sage, basil, and oregano were all included. I actually used some lemon thyme and basil in my strawberry shortcake, which we had for dessert.
This was the lemon thyme batch. It needed a little more herb in it, but it had a subtle lemony taste. The basil one came out much stronger, but basil is a stronger herb in general. I’ve been eating that one over yogurt too and it’s delicious!
So why all the strawberry things, you might ask? I dragged the Husband (yes, dragged, he doesn’t enjoy it) picking with me on Sunday after a panic moment of “what if they run out?!” We may have helped with that. We picked in between 12-13 pounds!
We tried a new farm, but didn’t like it as much, so will stick with the old one if we go together again. I might go on my own one more time, but I can also just pick some up from the farm market. I have a back quartered for eating or jam, and a batch left whole in the freezer. We have some to eat fresh in the fridge and some as shortcake. The shortcake ones will probably be made into jam, as they need to be used up quickly.
I also made this:
Is your mouth watering yet? No? Here, try this picture instead:
MMMMMMM! This recipe is soo good! I found it online at Pumpkin Inn Spice. https://www.pumpkinnspice.com/strawberry-pound-cake/. There were lots of delicious looking recipes, but this one said it was one bowl and that was good enough for me! I finally used the Bundt pan that Mom got me for Christmas.
I have a Strawberry Cheesecake Pie in the fridge that I’m super excited about too. I tasted the filling and man, oh man! I could have eaten it like a pudding! I’m looking forward to trying it tomorrow after it has set.
I’m still plotting what to do with the jam strawberries. I know I want to make Strawberry Rhubarb and I want to try an InstantPot Jam recipe too. We’ll see how ambitious I get.
We had a mental health professional game night this week and I forgot to get any pictures! We were having too much fun! I did make some things for it. We had a Caramelized Onion dip (https://pinchofyum.com/onion-dip) and pico. K brought a Chicken Bacon Ranch Dip. Of course, we had a veggie tray for the hummus, but no pickles. It wasn’t a formal party, Mom! I didn’t need the pickles! I made sure to tell everyone that I had some though, if they wanted them… 😉 I also made Chocolate Fondue for a dessert dip. We ended up just talking instead of playing the second game, which I think says a lot about the group of friends we have. 🙂
Oh, I did get a picture of the drink I made for the party the next day. I used the basil to make Basil Lemonade from Southern Living: Little Jars, Big Flavors. I have wanted to make that since I got the book, but my basil did not do well last year. You make a simple syrup infused with basil and then make up the lemonade.
It was deliciously tart and then mellowed over the course of the day. I will definitely be making more. You could taste the basil, but it wasn’t super overwhelming, which can happen with basil. It was so good!
We had cream sauce over pasta this week too. Since the Husband has convinced me that I can use up the half gallon of cream from Costco, I have been using it a lot more to be my go to meal.
Mine had asparagus added, but the Husband had the plain one mushrooms and the Sandwich Sprinkle. Gosh, I might need a spice intervention here! It’s just so useful! It has Italian herbs, salt, pepper, and garlic! Basically everything that runs in my cooking veins, I think. Eventually, I promise to use it on an actual sandwich! Knowing how things go, I’ll probably end up hating it in a sandwich. 🙂
I forgot to share this recipe, I think. Pardon me, if I have done so before. This is Balela Salad from Reluctant Entertainer. https://reluctantentertainer.com/balela-salad/
I had this first at Trader Joes and liked it so much that I decided to make my own. Lo and behold, I had actually pinned a recipe a long time ago! I used fresh parsley and basil in this. I didn’t have mint, so left it out. I had this at my sewing day with a friend and it was yummy! I would definitely make this again.
We had slow cooker BBQ flank steak tacos this week. I had them the second time as tostados, but I think I really wanted puffy tacos instead. For the leftovers, I added green enchilada sauce in a skillet and rewarmed it basically. We liked the meat. It was nice and tender. I was at work the first night, so only have a picture of the tostados. The Husband stuck with tacos.
I didn’t use a recipe for either dish, just threw things in the slow cooker or pan and added a few spices. Surprisingly, not the Sandwich Sprinkle! 😉
I think that’s all the foods since the last food post. Stay tuned for more strawberry recipes soon. I still have a bunch to use up!
With that, I’m off to dream strawberry dreams! Have a sweet night!
This was how my weekend went. On Friday I had a conference which took all day, followed by a Trader Joe’s trip (No, Dad, I didn’t see the chili lime spice.) Then frantic cleaning, because I have been sick all week and the last thing I wanted to do was tidy the house.
Saturday, I had my monthly staff meeting, followed by more frantic cleaning to get ready for the fondue party. The Husband and I had the following conversation as I was staring at my list of fondue dippers, 2 hours before the ladies were due to arrive.
Me: “I have strawberries, pretzels, apples, graham crackers, and croissants for the chocolate. Do you think I need a pound cake? I could make a pound cake.”
The Husband: Laughs hysterically before saying “I don’t think you need a pound cake.” 🙂
This then led to a discussion of whether or not a support group for Scandinavian people attempting to rein in the concern for having enough food at gatherings would be productive or not. We decided it would probably just devolve into the members just trying to outdo each other in baking skills. 😄
I called my Mom to check on the group idea and got my Dad, as my Mom had just gone off to her church lady meeting, carrying no less than four items for the potluck. I think I’m probably doomed…. Later she called me back to suggest I was remiss in my hosting duties for having no pickle tray and no pound cake. I love my family…
The fondue party was fun and I completely forgot to take pictures. We watched a couple of chick flicks and ate just about all of the fondue. We had cheese and chocolate fondue. I’ll give you the recipes for both.
Chocolate Fondue– by Linnea Sieh
Ingredients: cream, semi-sweet chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate, chocolate/orange/kalhua liquor. (I used Godiva chocolate liquor.)
Heat your fondue pot, add 3/4 cup cream and let it bubble. Add about a cup of the semi sweet chocolate and a cup of the bittersweet chocolate. Let it melt and stir it in. Add more cream or chocolate until it is dippable consistency.
Wisconsin Trio Fondue – from Dip Into Something Different from The Melting Pot. (I based mine on this, I didn’t really follow it.)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups shredded Butterkase
1 1/2 cups Fontina
3 T flour
3/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 tsp chopped shallots
1 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup Blue cheese
2 T chopped scallions
Directions:
Toss the Butterkase and Fontina cheeses with the flour. Using a double boiler (or bowl and pan) bring water to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and pour in wine and sherry. Stir in shallots using a fork. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring consistently. Add half of cheese blend and cook until cheese is melted, stirring constantly. Add remaining cheese slowly, stirring in a circular motion after each addition until cheese is melted. Fold in pepper and Blue cheese. Pou into a fondue pot and keep warm. Garnish with scallions.
Modifications: Subbed a chedder/Gruyere blend for the butterkase. Subbed more Fontina for Blue cheese. Used onions instead of shallots. Omitted scallions by accident.
It turned out very good. I apologize for the lack of pictures. We were too busy eating it.
We ate less fancy foods during the week. The Husband and I were still a sick at the beginning of the week, so we had a couple of soups and a crockpot beef meal. I received my Pampered Chef order, so two of the recipes involved things from the box.
We had Scotch Broth, from my recipe.
It was delicious, as usual.
I had bought a Carnitas spice rub blend from Pampered Chef, so I threw that on a flank steak along with some peppers, onions, and about a half cup chicken broth in the crockpot and let it cook for 10 hours. We had it in tortillas.
It was delicious! We might have the rest of the meat as nachos.
I’m trying to be better about repurposing leftovers instead of wasting them, so I used some of the jerk chicken to make this soup, Chicken ‘N Gnocchi Soup from 29 Minutes to Dinner- The Pampered Chef.
I left out the sage, as I thought it might not play well with the seasonings, but it was definitely tasty. I couldn’t stop sneaking crispy gnocchi out of the skillet though while the soup was cooking.
The Husband really liked it and kept telling me that we could definitely have it again. You’ll be seeing this cookbook a bit more too. It has delicious sounding recipes like Oven-Fried Chicken with Waffle Sticks, Asian BBQ Chicken Drumsticks, Savory Shrimp Rolls, Middle Eastern Beef Pops, and Japanese Steakhouse Pork Chops.
I’m going to write my monthly review post early, as we will be on vacation during the normal time. I need to get some more sewing done too. I have a bag that I want to finish for the trip and a dress to make for the wedding that we are attending. Hopefully you’ll see some updates on Tuesday’s sewing post!
We’ve been eating leftovers, since Chinese New Year. We had so many! I made steamed buns on the day when every appointment, except my very last one, all cancelled for various reasons. I did make a few new things though.
Tonight we had a mushroom cream sauce over mini ziti, with baked calamari. The calamari were from Costco, I only baked them.
The Husband says that I just “wave my arms about” and food appears. Tonight was one of those recipes. It turned out good.
Here’s what I did:
Creamy Mushroom Pasta, recipe by me!
1/4 cup butter (half a stick)
2 T olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
5-6 garlic chives- optional
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth- approximately. I forgot to measure.
1 lb mushrooms, sliced- I used button mushrooms.
2 T flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Cooked pasta- I used half a box of mini ziti.
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Put the butter and olive oil in a skillet and turn the heat to medium. Add the onion, garlic chives, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook until veggies are soft. Sprinkle the flour over veggies and stir until coated. Add in the chicken broth, cook until the it thickens. Add the cream and cook until thickened and bubbly. Add garlic powder and salt and pepper. Add the Parm and stir. Put the cooked pasta in the sauce and mix until coated. Serve and enjoy!
I made a new breakfast recipe- Chai Pear Scones by Baked By an Introvert. https://www.bakedbyanintrovert.com/chai-pear-scones/
They have delicious bits of fresh pear in them. I would maybe up the spices a bit, but they were good. I did use the glaze, which I typically won’t do, but it was delicious. I brought them to my Supervision groups for the last two days, but sadly came home with a lot more than I can eat. I’m going to try freezing them, even with the glaze.
I had a craving for turkey burgers, so I found a fun Asian inspired recipe. It was originally a beef recipe from Carlsbad Cravings. https://carlsbadcravings.com/asian-burger-recipe/
I didn’t have a recipe when I went to the store, so ended up not using the slaw part. We also didn’t bother with the ketchup. Neither of us like it. I did make a little sweet chili mayo and it added a nice bit to the burger. It looked a little plain, so I sautéed mushrooms and green onions in olive oil. They turned out to be a pretty decent burger. I would make them again.
This week, the Husband is going out of town for a couple days, so I’m trying to decide what recipes I want to make just for me. Any good vegetarian ideas? Send them my way if you have them. I may also have some Lebanese food. Mmm… For now though, I’ve got some figure skating to watch and am trying to decide which thing to sew next. Have a great weekend!
It has been a snowy couple of days! We were supposed to get around 9 inches and we did get about that much yesterday. I got to stay home and snuggle Fancy and bake. The Husband had to go into work, but got to leave early to come home and said it wasn’t too bad.
I waited to write this review because we used the Instant Pot again last night, this time for Pot Roast and Veggies from the recipe book that came with the pot. It was actually a bit bland and would have been way worse if I hadn’t added seasonings before I pressure cooked it. The recipe didn’t even call for salt and pepper on the meat! I added oregano, a bay leaf, salt, pepper, and garlic and it was still bland.
I still like oven roasted pot roast more. My mother-in-laws pot roast is the best. My Mom makes a good roast, but my M-I-L’s falls apart if you look at it funny.
I did some baking on my snow day. Fancy needed biscuits, so got pumpkin, banana, cinnamon ones from Endlessly Inspired. http://endlesslyinspired.com/2016/09/01/pumpkin-banana-dog-treats/
I added the cinnamon because she likes it.
She enjoyed these very much. 🙂
(Please excuse the blue fluff all over. She’s shredding her rope and any time she moves it we get a million fluffs everywhere.)
Having homemade treats didn’t stop her from licking my carrots later in the day and shamelessly begging for my pasta lunch. It’s a good thing she’s cute!
After I made the treats, I had a banana and half a can of pumpkin left over, so I made Pumpkin Banana Bread from Oh Sweet Basil. https://ohsweetbasil.com/pumpkin-banana-bread-recipe/
It is delicious! I gobbled a bunch of it already yesterday. It has three kinds of chocolate chips in it, mainly because we’ve used up our semi-sweets without realizing it. I had a quarter bag of mini semi-sweet, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate left, so I threw them all in with wild abandon.
I made a lentil dish for lunches this week. Lebanese Lentil Salad with Cumin, Mint, and, Garlic from Kayln’s Kitchen. The link looks unfinished, but it will take you to the right recipe.
https://kalynskitchen.com/recipe-for-lebanese-lentil-salad-with/
I used dried herbs and it came out fine. It smelled a little weird from the combo of herbs, but tasted good. I had it with rice.
The latest Food Network magazine had an overnight oats page, so I tried the Spiced Mango recipe and it was alright. I don’t know if I’m completely sold on them. I might try heating it up next time. No pictures because I was running out the door with them.
I made a tortilla chicken soup for Superbowl Sunday, even though we actually recorded the game and then fast forwarded through the game to watch the commercials. We’re weird like that. We watched “Pitbulls and Parolees” instead. 🙂
It was delicious as well. Just a little bit of spice on the back end. I tried to measure so I could share the recipe too. The Husband cut the chicken for me, while I messed around with the rest of it and he did a great job. Here’s the recipe!
Linny’s Superbowl Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 cubed and cooked chicken breasts (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, Penzy’s “Forward” spice, and chili powder. Cayenne pepper is optional. Alternatively, use leftover chicken.)
1-2 jalepenos, one seeded, one with seeds
2-4 medium to large tomatoes, quartered
1 medium onion, quartered
1 bell pepper, any color, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
32 oz. chicken broth
4-8 oz tomato sauce. (I had half a can leftover, but would have used a full can if I hadn’t had a half already opened.)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Chili powder
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
Method:
Put the roughly chopped veggies on a foil lined sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Broil veggies until char appears and then flip to broil the second side.
While veggies are cooking, cook cubed chicken in batches, either in soup pot or in a skillet.
Chop the veggies or blend them with an immersion blender until they are in small pieces and add veggies to the soup pot. Pour in the broth, add the spices, and tomato sauce. Bring to boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with tortilla chips.
Chicken Tortilla Soup is one I make frequently when I need a quick dinner idea. There are a ton of recipes out there, so you can customize it as you see fit. It also freezes really well.
We’re doing some meal planning today, I think. We have plans to stay in and be cozy after running the couple of errands we have to do. For now though, I think I’m going to grab a slice of that pumpkin bread and have an Elevensies snack!
I really have to remember to take pictures of all my recipes, not just the new ones. This week, we had spaghetti and lasagna and I only got the spaghetti photographed. I ate separately from the Husband most nights, so that’s probably why.
This spaghetti was made on the stove and it cooked for about 6 hours. There was a little too much acid in it and I ran out of tomatoes. I used a can of tomato paste and one can of sauce with two cans of diced tomatoes.
We had lasagna on Monday. The Husband baked it and I ate some when I got home late. No pictures, because I kept forgetting. It had fresh mozzarella, Boursin cheese, and Parm in it.
We also had mac and cheese later in the week. I made it in the morning and the Husband baked it when he got home. It doesn’t photograph well, especially as leftovers, so no picture. No fancy cheeses for this one, except I added a tiny bit of cream cheese for extra creamy texture. We were out of milk, so the roux was chicken broth based instead. I find it’s not as creamy that way, hence the cream cheese. It wasn’t the best thing ever, but it was decent.
We also had caramelized onion bacon pizza. I had a scary moment where I thought bacon might have to come out of my diet, but it turned out to be the dairy instead. I haven’t had any problems since, so I think bacon is still in! We fell on it like starving wolves, so no pictures. I used the thin crust pizza recipe from a Food Network magazine, I think October 2015?
So now for a new recipe, this time with pictures!
Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken from The Recipe Critic.
https://therecipecritic.com/2016/09/sheet-pan-teriyaki-chicken-with-vegetables/
I think I ate sautéed spinach with it. I have a picture of the spinach and I remember eating it, but it seems like a very long time ago…
The chicken was good, the veggies were an absolute salt bomb. Blech. Next time, they will not be seasoned, just have the glaze. I’m going to make this up as a freezer meal and it will be a good one to keep around. The spinach was good, just olive oil, garlic, s + p.
Tonight we tried out a recipe from Peking Table Top Cooking by Linda Lew, Anges Lee, and Elizabeth Brotherton. We used the Chimney Soup recipe from the Firepot chapter.
This is the end noodle soup with the extra bits. It was hard to take a picture of the hotpot and the bits, we were eating them too fast! The Husband said it almost reached the level of the duck and requested the 3 ingredient marinade on all the meats. 🙂 Seriously, this magic marinade was 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 T sherry, and 1 T of cornstarch. The recipe called for Chinese rice wine or ginger juice and I had neither, so subbed sherry. It’s in a lot of the other marinade. I was happy that he liked it so much though.
I did spice up the broth with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, and ginger.
Mom would have frowned at us though. We pretty much ate standing at the stove, until we had the noodle soup. We couldn’t figure out managing the fondue pot and extension cord on the table and managing Fancy at the same time. She was extra interested, as she got some little pieces of steak that wouldn’t work for the dinner when the Husband cut the steak. He did an excellent job, we had very little waste and perfect strips of meat. We’re trying to figure out if he could do this with pork too. I’m sure he could.
Next week I have all late nights except for Monday, due to some emergency appointments. I really need to start keeping to my hours, or just accept the fact that I probably won’t be home before 8 most nights. That’s a terrible thought though, so I need to figure out something else.
This week includes probably another Instant Pot dinner, possibly pot roast, ice cream, and fancy muffins. It should be fun, assuming I can work it all in.
Possibly also biscuits for Fancy. She’s been super-duper snuggly today and I think misses us. She’s not eating when we aren’t both here and it’s gotten worse. She won’t drink water either. We’re trying to train her to specific meal times. Currently, we have to hide tiny pieces of treats in her bowl in the mornings to get her to eat even a few mouthfuls. Then she eats too fast in the evenings and gets very bad, stinky, gas. Like, clear the room bad. Here she is all mad that I told on her…
Hopefully she will learn that she can eat and she’s safe, even if our schedules change. Wish us luck!
I’ve been actually going to bed early this week and we had some car trouble, so I only made a few new recipes. I am hoping to make a few more new ones over my little break from work.
My clients were amazed that I was coming back to work on Wednesday, but the Husband doesn’t have time off anyway, so I don’t need the extra time. I’m sure Fancy would love it if I were home to snuggle her, but I didn’t really have much planned. A friend and I are going to get together to do some Zumba, I think, but it should be a relaxing couple of days.
I do need to make this cherry fudge for the Husband’s work people. They’ve been asking for it since I made it last year. The problem is, I dislike the fudge itself and it’s a pain to make. The recipe list includes cherry jello powder, white chocolate, and marshmallow fluff… It’s too sweet for me and that should tell you all you need to know about it. It was, apparently, the best thing I made though, so they’ll get it on Wednesday, I think. I have all day Tuesday to make myself do it.
I made two more cookie recipes from the December Food Network magazine, Lemon Spritz and Walnut Cardamom Crescents. They were both good, but I liked the lemon ones better.
1- Lemon Spritz from FN December 2017
I used my Grandma Florence’s cookie press to make these, so that was special. I actually have cookie presses from my side of the family and from the Husband’s dad’s side. Oddly enough, I was gifted both of them for Christmas the same year, I think, from my mom and M-I-L. Now I have to use my second one for another recipe to honor both sides. Oh darn… will have to make another spritz recipe… 😉
These were good, nice and crisp, with a hint of lemon. I had gold sanding sugar too, so they were all sparkly. I brought an entire tin of these to my work, which only has about 7 of us, and when I went back in the afternoon to see how they had gone over, the entire tin was almost empty! The office manager said she had been eating them all day. 🙂
One of the cookie presses has a dog shaped form and I may try to pipe some dog cookies for Fancy with the biscuit recipe I have. Would that be weird though? “Here Fancy, eat this other pumpkin flavored dog…” :p
2-Walnut Cardamom Crescents from FN December 2017
I may have toasted the walnuts for slightly too long. They didn’t look brown, but had a very strong flavor. I couldn’t find the cardamom in them after they were baked. They are a very delicate cookie and kept breaking when I tried to roll them. I might just stick to my traditional snowball cookie recipe.
3- Stovetop Mac and Cheese, by me.
This version had shredded pepperjack and cheddar cheese in it. It was pretty good, nice and gooey. We used small shells for it.
4-Tacos, by me
No picture, too hungry! I browned a pound of hamburger, drained it, added about a 1/3 of a jar of salsa, cumin, garlic and onion powder, and salt and pepper. I used the leftover meat for quesadillas the next day. Mmmmm…
5- Sweet Chili Chicken and Carrots from Sweet Pes and Saffron https://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/7-chicken-marinade-recipes-freezer-friendly/
I added the carrots so there would be a veggie. We used leg and thigh pieces instead of breasts. We had it for lunch one day when we were both home. It was good. I was having trouble with meat texture, but the taste was good. We had it over rice. I may use the leftover chicken in stir fry for lunch tomorrow.
We are just headed out for a lovely Friendsmas party. I’m wearing my annual Christmas pun shirt. It features a large mustache and says “Staching through the snow.” It is my very favorite holiday shirt. 🙂 I may need to look for another punny holiday shirt though, so I have an extra one. Maybe I’ll find one on clearance!
Have a wonderful day!
I have one recipe this week. I think I’m losing my way a little. I know I’ve said this before too, so I apologize for repeating myself.
Meal planning has been out the window and my schedule has turned into late nights almost every night. That should be a little more under control in a bit. Fridays are going to be off my schedule after tonight. I need to go back to dance and have a night in. My Monday nights will be earlier too when I am able to switch to just one center, probably only until 6:00 pm. The Husband will be happy to see me, I think. 🙂
My one new recipe was Jerk Chicken, which was a freezer recipe from Sweet Peas and Saffron. https://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/7-chicken-marinade-recipes-freezer-friendly/
I got home late and haven’t tried it yet, but the Husband said it was good. He had it with rice and we had applesauce or strawberries as sides.
We also had spaghetti and lasagna this week. The Husband pointed out that I change how I make those each time. He’s right, it changes with what I have in the fridge. The spaghetti had celery and less mushrooms than usual this time.
I used some of my flamingo pasta for lunch one day with the spaghetti sauce. It made my lunch more fun for sure.
The lasagna had fresh mozzarella instead of ricotta and didn’t have any shredded parm. It also had a mix of shredded mozzarella and provolone. The Meijer brand, I think.
I also made bread, well, attempted to make bread with my Dad’s method. It did not go well.
The spoon in the first picture was made by my Dad for our wedding. I love it too much to use it. I just gaze at it. I have very distinct memories of watching both my parents make bread, but I associate it more with my Dad. We had a huge bread bowl that would hold enough dough for three or four loaves. My brothers and I would fight over who got the end piece with butter… Mmm… He sent me his method written out, but I forgot to see if I could post it. I’ll ask him and post later maybe.
This, kids, is what happens when your yeast dies a horrible death…
I didn’t use enough yeast and it got too cold. It didn’t rise even after being in a warm oven. Our house is freezing. We’re playing the “See how long you can go without turning on the heat” game. I’m perpetually cold, no matter what, so just add hoodies and socks. Fancy snuggles more, but she doesn’t seem to mind as much as me.
Poor bread. It tastes good, but it’s pretty sad. I’ve made bread before lots of times, but always with measurements. My Dad has been making bread for many years, so he knows all the tricks. I’ll have to study his methods a little more. For now, I might stick to recipes.
Speaking of recipes, I was overcome at Costco and now we have 5 dozen eggs… This week we will have the crustless quiche, homemade ice cream, and I will have egg salad for lunch. Possibly also chef’s salad and I’ll have to bake something. Many things… They are good until the end of the month, so I’ve got time. We’ve also got our Elevensies/Lord of the Rings Party coming up, so it should be okay. If you have any other ideas, let me know!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go cuddle this cold puppy and find more egg and party recipes. I’m behind on planning.
Since I will be dancing my heart out this weekend, I thought I would post my recipes early. 🙂 We had a lovely brunch with Kayla on Sunday and I made a Quiche recipe that I actually liked! Typically, I’m not a fan of baked eggs, but this was very good and even better on the second day. I also made a new freezer recipe, for which I cannot find the recipe and a new pork recipe for the Husband.
I’ll start with the food I can’t find the recipe for.
1- On the freezer bag, it’s called “Hungarian Beef Stew.” It specifically called for mini peppers and had caraway seeds in it. Betty Crocker has a similar slow cooker recipe, but it doesn’t have all the ingredients.
I believe I used a slow cooker recipe and just prepped it to freeze, but don’t remember. I cooked it for about 7 hours in the slow cooker. I liked it. The meat was very tender. The Husband thought it had a strange taste, most likely the caraway seed. I probably won’t make it again.
2- Quiche Lorraine from Bacon 24/Seven by Theresa Gilliam
This was delicious! I had one less egg than I needed, so I added more cheese. I used smoked Gouda. I also made it crustless.
We had it with a salad and some yummy almond flour muffins that Kayla brought. The Husband loved it! He requested it again on a future weekend.
3- Baked Pork Chops and Rice from Baked at Midnite. https://bakeatmidnite.com/baked-pork-chops-on-rice/
The Husband said he liked this. I need to find different ways to cook them, but there don’t seem to be too many different ways that don’t require searing or stove top, neither of which the Husband is comfortable doing on his own. We’re going to try having him do that when I’m home.
4- Sautéed Spinach and veggies, method by me.
I sautéed sliced garlic, mushrooms, garden tomatoes, and spinach in some olive oil, salt and pepper. It was delicious. The Husband doesn’t eat spinach, so I didn’t even have to share! We ate it with smoky paprika turkey tenderloins and boiled carrots with butter.
It was a pretty good week for new recipes. The Husband has some leftovers for the weekend, but also has the play, so he’ll be on a weird eating schedule.
I made some tea blends for Ooky to go with my tea wallets too. There’s three green tea blends, and three black teas. They are in cute little 4 oz. Mason jars.
Wish me lots of sales this weekend! I know the dance part will be a ton of fun already!
