This, that, and a whole lot of food...

April Fools!

2009-04-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

Last year I made my kids a "pot pie" for dinner and a "raspberry pie" for dessert. However, the raspberry pie was meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top (died pink with beat juice) and the pot pie was pudding with candy pieces shaped to look like veggies in a pie crust.

They had fun with it but weren't too interested in eating much of it. Randomly, Ethan asked me to make him that pot pie for his birthday this year. I knew he didn't want to eat it but thought it would be fun.

I talked him out of the pot pie but knew I had to have a plan for April 1st this year.

I found a cute idea on familyfun.com. I made fish sticks with catsup served with peas and carrots.

The veggies are airheads candy. The fish sticks are Keebler fudge wafer cookies covered in peanut butter and rolled in corn flakes and served with strawberry jam.

They ate these ones.

Do you guys do anything for April fools?

Facebook...

2009-04-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long. Is there anyone here? Hello? Are you still out there?

I've been cooking. Just not blogging. Sorry.

I recently went on vacation to San Fransisco with Dustin and the kids. That was fun. I'll post some pics later.

First I want to post pics of some treats I made for friend from Facebook. My sister did this note where you promise to send a home made gift to the first five people to respond to the note but they have to copy and paste the note to their own and send out five things themselves.

I sent food. Dessert to be specific.

Devon got Fruit Loop Cupcakes. The recipe came from this blog.

I sent Sharon Samoas bars from Dinner & Dessert. (My favorite is the dessert!)

I sent Derin the ugly baby in a shadow box frame (long story but the frame with baby looks awesome!) and Dorie Greenspans Coconut Butter Thins. Tuesday's with Dorie made these this week. The recipe is posted on Jayne's blog @ The Barefoot Kitchen Witch.

I made David a Kentucky Butter Cake which I've made before. The full recipe is posted at Ezra Pound Cake.

Lastly, I plan to but haven't yet made Kevin Crispy Cinnamon Streusel Banana Cream Cheese Bread from A Recipe A Day. I'm waiting to find out if they like pecans...

I told Steve that I would send him something but I don't know what and I told Eric a long time ago that I would send him something sometime. Then there is that that guy from work who went off to Irac. He's not there yet according to a girl at work so I'm not going to worry about it for now.

I would send something to each and every one of you except the shipping gets expensive. :-( So sad.

Cooking with Alicia and Annie: Mousse Au Chocolat

2009-03-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Yet again, I've coppied a recipe from Amanda who host's Cooking With Alicia and Annie Blog Event. This is one I saved in my ever growning list of "recipes to try". I'm making treats to leave for our house sitter, my cousin, Jessie.

This one got rave reviews from Amanda so I have to give it a try. I loved the coffee mousse that she tried before this one and didn't like as well.

So here it is.

Mousse au Chocolat (chocolate mousse)
1 6-oz pkg semisweet chocolate chips
2 tsp instant coffee
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
whipped cream (optional)

In medium saucepan (or you can use a double boiler), combine chocolate chips, coffee, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and 2 tablespoons of water. Stir constantly over low heat, until chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. using a wooden spoon, beat until smooth then let cool slightly.

Add the vanilla. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, beat the egg whites just until soft peaks form when beater is slowly raised. Add remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form.With rubber spatula or wire whisk, gently fold chocolate mixture into egg white mixture until combined well.

Spoon into six serving dishes and refrigerate until well chilled, about an hour, or until serving time. Garnish with whipped cream.

This one was more "mousse like" than the coffee one. The coffee one got it's body from gelatin and this one from eggs. The flavor, however, was just too chocolatey for me. I like coffee flavor more.

Caitlin liked her bite. I wouldn't let her have more than that due to the coffee but... it was good enough. I would make this for a dinner party or something... if we ever had dinner partys. We're too lazy and reclusive to have people over.

Cookie Carnival: Inside Out Carrot Cake Cookies

2009-03-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

INSIDE-OUT CARROT CAKE COOKIES
Gourmet April 2004
Yield: Makes about 13 cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
1 scant cup walnuts (3 ounces), chopped
1/2 cup raisins (2 1/2 ounces)
8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup honey

PREPARATION
Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets.
Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins at low speed, then add flour mixture and beat until just combined.
Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.
While cookies are baking, blend cream cheese and honey in a food processor until smooth.
Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between.
Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between.

I whipped these up at my parents house while my car was at Les Schwab. I brought just enough cookies home for pictures. These were pretty good. My family is opposed to raisins and carrots. Yeah, big surprise.

Ethan LOVED the cream cheese filling and I didn't mind him eating it so much, being that it was just cream cheese and honey. I will have to keep that one in mind in the future for other uses.

Caitlin liked the cookie well enough to take several little bites. She didn't finish it but that's okay. I know my parents liked them a lot.

I left the nuts out. My parents probably would have been okay with the nuts but I just don't like walnuts enough to purposefully put them into my cookies.

They are quite pretty little balls of sugar. I like that. I may make them for a pot luck sometime.

Can't wait for next months Cookie Carnival. It is really fun to see what we make next and I love looking through the round up of everyone's pictures and blogs.

If you're interested in joining, you just need a blog to post it on. Send an email to Kate. Check out her blog and click on the Cookie Carnival pic on the side bar for the rules. (Devon, I'm talking to you!)

cupcakes... a thing of beauty.

2009-03-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes!

2009-03-19T10:07:00.000-07:00

STRAWBERRY LEMON CUPCAKES
(Recipe from iheartcuppycakes)
Makes about 14 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
For strawberry cupcakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, sliced (I used fresh strawberries)

For lemon cream
1/2 cup sugar
Grated zest of 2 lemons
2 large eggs
3/8 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2-3 lemons)
1 stick plus 2 Tbsp butter unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon size pieces, at room temperature.

INSTRUCTIONS
To make cupcakes—
Preheat oven to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk. Mix for 3 minutes. With a rubber spatula, fold in the vanilla and strawberries.
Fill cupcake liners 1/2 - 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan.

To make lemon cream— Have a instant-read thermometer, a strainer and a blender (1st choice) or food processor at hand. Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.
Put the sugar and zest in a large heatproof bowl that can be set over the pan of simmering water. Off the heat, rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy, and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the lemon juice.
Set the bowl over the pan and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture fees tepid to the touch. Cook the lemon cream until it reaches 180 degrees F. As you whisk- you whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling- you’ll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as it gets closer to 180F, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point- the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don’t stop whisking or checking the temperature, and have patience- depending on how much heat you’re giving the cream, getting to temp may take as long as 10 minutes.
[NOTES: Many TWDers had problems getting it up to 180F. I relied on Dorie's description of how the cream should progress. I had it on medium heat and it took me about 15 minutes. I think using a metal bowl helped too.]
As soon as it reaches 180F, remove the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of the lender (or food processor); discard the zest. Let the cream stand, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes.
Turn the blender to high (or turn on the processor) and, with the machine going, add the butter about 5 pieces at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed as you incorporate the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going- to get the perfect light, airy texture of lemon-cream dreams, you must continue to bend the cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests, and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats.
Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight. (the cream will keep in the fridge for 4 days or, tightly sealed, in the freezer for up to 2 months; thaw it overnight in the refrigerator)

These were quite a winner. These were the main one people commented on as being something special. I thought they were good but not my favorite of the bunch. I'm not into sour and the lemon was a perfect sweet/tart. It was just a little too much for me at times. It depended on what I took a bite of just before.

These will also be at the wedding.

Strawberries Romanov

2009-03-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Strawberries Romanov
From Emeril Lagasse
Serves 2

6 ounces vanilla ice cream, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup sweetened whipped cream
Orange-flavored liqueur, like Brandy, Cointreau or Grand Marnier, to taste
2 cups rinsed, hulled strawberries
Mint leaves, for garnish
Shaved chocolate curls, for garnish

Mix ice cream, sour cream and whipped cream together and slowly add alcohol to taste, adjusting flavoring to your liking. Divide berries between 2 glasses, and spoon cream mixture over. Garnish with mint and chocolate.

I think mine was too watery. I should have been more careful combining the sour cream and ice cream with the whipped cream. I also added a lot of liqueur. I wanted to be able to taste it! I used Grand Marnier. I bought some for the pomegranate cupcakes anyway. (Mmmm. Pomegranate cupcakes. Be watching for those!!) Well, it tasted good, even if it was soupy.

I don't know that I will waste good strawberries with all that sugar and fat again. Seriously. Strawberries are good enough on their own AND entirely guilt free!

Well, back to baking. So far today, I've made Milk and Cookies Cupcakes, Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes, Pomegranate Cupcakes, and mini chocolate chip cookies. I still need to make the ever popular Chocolate-Coffee Cupcakes w/ Mocha Ganache and Mascarpone Cream and Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cupcakes.

:-) Fun!

Milk and Cookies Cupcake

2009-03-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

It's cupcake time again. I'm going to be making mini cupcakes from my friends wedding so I want to try out a few more recipes and have her taste them. She has chosen some recipes of her own and I will be making those in a few weeks for her to try.

Anyway, these are mostly for my coworkers who love to eat and frequently have wonderful pot luck dinners at night. A husband of one of our nurses has been through cooking school and sends amazing foods for us. Others are just dang good and still others are ethnic and make great, authentic things (like spring rolls). Mmmm.

I supply dessert.

This recipe from iheartcuppycakes blog sounds awesome. She always rates her foods by her husband and herself. She gave this one a great rating. I have to try it.

I used this recipe to make the little cookies. I used a 1tsp measuring spoon to keep myself from lazying into larger and larger cookies.

Very cute.

And now for the main event...

Milk and Cookie Cupcakes

(Recipe adapted from Alton Brown, foodnetwork)

For tres leche cupcake

1-1/2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

5 eggs

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For glaze

6oz evaporated milk

7oz sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup half-and-half

For whipped cream

2 cups heavy cream

8 ounces sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

[NOTES: You could probably 1/2 the whipped cream recipe but my pet peeve is running out of frosting so I always make more than I need.]

18 mini chocolate chip cookies, garnish

INSTRUCTIONS
To make cupcakes—Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low and with the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar over 1 minute. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl, if necessary. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix to thoroughly combine. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches and mix just until combined.

Fill the cupcake liners about 1/2 full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until the cake is lightly golden and toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the cake pan to a cooling rack. Poke the top of the cupcakes with a skewer or fork. Allow to cool completely and then prepare the glaze.

To make glaze—Whisk together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and the half-and-half in a 1-quart measuring cup. Once combined pour about 2-3 tbsp of milk mixture over each cupcake.

Do it slowly.

You will have to wait as the milk mixture gets absorbed before adding more or it will over flow your cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes overnight.

You will have some milk glaze left over.

To make whipped cream—Place the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whisk together on low until stiff peaks are formed. Change to medium speed and whisk until thick. Spread the topping over the cake and allow to chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

These were good. Some people commented that they were "soggy" but liked them when they tried them. Some said they were there favorites out of the bunch. They weren't my favorite but they were good.

I will be making them for the wedding coming up. :-)

Cute Pics.

2009-03-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

Our poor, loved and strangled Maddie.

Cute all around.

And, in closing, look at this cutie.

In honor of Ethan's 6th birthday- Mii's!

2009-03-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

I don't exactly remember how this idea came up. One of my favorite food blogs is bakerella and she makes these great cakepops. You make your cake, crumble it up and mix it with frosting. Put it on a stick and then I had to freeze it to get it to hold shape on the stick while I coated it in white candy coating.

I died chunks of white fondant the colors I wanted and I just carved out my shaped with a small knife. I found food writing pens at Michael's. It was relatively easy.

I had some great pictures of my initial work and the preparing of the Mii's but I deleted them as they were loading onto blogger and it didn't work so... no more progress pics.

Here is my family. These are our actual Mii's from Dustin's Wii. This is Dustin and me before I got my hair cut.

Caitlin, Callie and Ethan.

That is cousin Cassie in the red hat. That is from their Wii but you can share your characters with other peoples blogs. These are some characters from friends blogs that I thought were fun.

This is my cousin, Ashley.

Caitlin and Ethan wanted to make some. Caitlin's is the blond and Ethan's is the brunette.

These were really fun to make. I was hoping to take them to Ethan's party. I don't know if they are quite good enough. I don't know what I'll do with them if I don't. Hmmm. Oh, the perils of baking.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Strawberry Salad- 2 WW Points

2009-03-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

Guess what! The Alicia and Annie blog event has Weight Watchers recipes, or at least low point recipes with the points worked out. Cool!

I chose almost all of them to try this month. I started with Strawberry Salad. The kids should like this one.

Strawberry Salad - 2 Ww Points
2 (.3oz) pkgs strawberry sugar-free gelatin
1-1/2 cups boiling water
2 cups strawberries, sliced
1 (15-1/4oz) can pineapple tidbits in juice, drained
1/4 cup chopped pecan (I skipped this for the kids)
1 cup low-fat sour cream (I used fat free cause, hey, why not?)
Cooking spray
Curly leaf lettuce leaves

Instructions
Combine gelatin and boiling water in a bowl;stir until gelatin dissolves. Add strawberries;chill 30 minutes or until partially set. Add pineapple and pecans;stir well. Spread half of gelatin mixture evenly into an 8 inch square pan coated with cooking spray;chill slightly. Stir sour cream into remaining gelatin mixture;spread evenly into pan. Chill 20 minutes or until set. Cut into squares, and serve on lettuce leaves.
Serves 9

Calories 102;Protein 6.3g;Fat 5.7g;Carbs 7.4g;Fiber 1.2g;Chol 10mg;Sodium 21mg

Well... OF COURSE my picky kids didn't want to try this. Caitlin was all excited but Callie picked at it and fussed about wanting an Eggo and Ethan joined her with a little pouting of his own.

I ate Ethan's piece. It is really good. It mostly taste like fresh strawberries. The pineapple flavor is lost in the strawberry Jello. The sour cream wasn't a distinct flavor, either but it was pretty and slightly creamier than the bottom, just Jello layer.

Give this one a try for a light and healthy dessert, snack or even to go with breakfast.

Weight Watchers: Oat and Apricot Breakfast Bars

2009-03-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

Oat and Apricot Breakfast Bars

POINTS: 3

INSTRUCTIONS

1 cup(s) whole-grain wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup(s) packed brown sugar

1/2 cup(s) uncooked quick oats

15 pieces dried apricot halves, diced

2 tbsp sunflower seeds

1 tbsp reduced-calorie margarine, melted

1/2 cup(s) fat-free egg substitute

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, oats, apricots and sunflower seeds.Whisk together margarine and egg substitute. Quickly mix together wet and dry ingredients. Spoon into prepared pan and smooth top.Bake until firm, about 20 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into 8 rectangles. Yields 1 bar per serving.

This was really good. My kids didn't like it because of the sunflower seeds but I thought they added something... I really liked it. I need to make some more of these soon.

Weight Watchers: Nut and Fruit Breakfast Bites

2009-03-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

Nut and Fruit Breakfast Bites

POINTS: 3

INSTRUCTIONS

1/3 cup(s) reduced-calorie margarine, soft

1/3 cup(s) sugar

1/4 cup(s) honey

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cup(s) dried mixed fruit, such as raisins, apples and cranberries

1 cup(s) uncooked quick oats

3/4 cup(s) uncooked old fashioned oats, coarsely crushed

1/4 cup(s) chopped walnuts

*I bought a natural fruit combo of strawberries, cranberry's, raisins, and Bing Cherry's and a heart healthy mix or peanuts, almonds, pistachios, pecans, walnuts and hazelnuts. Sounds good, huh? I also used all old fashioned oats. I didn't have quick oats. It worked fine.

Combine margarine, sugar and honey in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in remaining ingredients.Press mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Allow to cool and then cut into 16 pieces. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.

This was decent but it had a strong, artificial butter taste. It also didn't hold together in bar form very well, hence the yogurt concoction above. It was good like this. I prefer the oat and apricot bars but it was worth a try. Maybe with a little tweaking...

Macaroni and Cheese Casserole by Weight Watchers

2009-02-27T12:47:00.000-08:00

Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

POINTS: 7

INSTRUCTIONS

1 spray(s) cooking spray

8 oz uncooked macaroni, elbow

10 3/4 oz Campbell's 98% Fat-Free Cream Of Celery Soup, or Chicken Soup, or other brand

1 cup(s) fat-free mayonnaise

8 oz low-fat cheddar or colby cheese, shredded

1/2 medium sweet red pepper(s), chopped

6 oz canned pimento, chopped

4 oz whole-wheat crackers, mashed into crumbs

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a 9 X 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.Cook macaroni in a large pot of boiling water until just tender, about 7 minutes; drain and transfer to a large bowl. Add soup, mayonnaise, cheese, pepper and pimentos; mix well to combine.Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish and top with cracker crumbs.Bake, uncovered, until top is golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.

I'm stupid and I used half my supply of reduced fat cheddar on the kids quesadillas the other night so I used about half cheddar and half shredded Parmesan for this recipe. It was wonderful. I dished it up into individual servings as you can see below and I've been eating it at work over the weekend. I will make this one again, maybe with more veggies.

Oh My Goodness, Good, Spinach Triangles by Weight Watchers

2009-02-27T12:46:00.001-08:00

Spinach Triangles

POINTS: 1 (for two or 12 pts for the whole batch...yeah.)

INSTRUCTIONS

10 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed

1 medium onion(s)

1 medium garlic clove(s), minced, 1/2 tsp

3 oz feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup(s) fat-free cottage cheese, drained

1/2 tsp dried oregano

3 sheet(s) phyllo dough, (about 12 x 17 inches each)

Squeeze excess liquid from the spinach and set aside.Coat an unheated large skillet with cooking spray. Add the onions and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until onions are tender, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the spinach.In a large bowl, combine the feta cheese, cottage cheese and oregano. Stir in the spinach mixture.Preheat the oven to 375°F (175°C). Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside. Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a piece of wax paper; coat evenly with spray. Repeat layering and spraying the phyllo two more time (you¿ll use a total of 3 sheets).Cut the stack of prepared phyllo dough horizontally into six strips, then vertically into 4 strips. You should end up with 24 squares.

Place a teaspoon of spinach filling into the centre of each square and fold it in half so that your square is now a triangle.Transfer the filled triangles to the prepared baking sheet. Coat with spray. Bake until golden brown, 15 minutes. Yields 2 triangles per serving.

*photos by Caitlin

These Were Great!!! Caitlin and I both LOVED THEM! That's all I ate for dinner that night. These would make a great appetizer or party food. My friend has a wedding coming up and I want to suggest these for a vegetarian option. These WILL be made again.

2009-02-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

Apple-Cranberry Breakfast Cookies

POINTS: 2

INSTRUCTIONS

1/4 cup(s) no-salt soft margarine

3/4 cup(s) dark brown sugar

2 large egg(s)

1/2 cup(s) unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 cup(s) whole-grain wheat flour

1/2 tsp table salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup(s) uncooked quick oats

1/2 cup(s) dried apple(s), chopped

1/2 cup(s) dried cranberries

1/2 cup(s) chopped walnuts

1 serving(s) butter-flavor cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°F.Combine margarine and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer; beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs and beat for 30 seconds; add applesauce and beat just to mix.In another bowl, stir together flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda; add to mixer and beat to form batter. Add oats, apples, cranberries and walnuts; combine by hand.Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or coat with cooking spray. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons 1 inch apart. Bake until cookies are lightly browned and firm, about 13 to 15 minutes.Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes. Move to wire rack and cool completely. Yields 1 cookie per serving. (Note: Store leftovers in an airtight plastic bag or container in the freezer.)

The kids and I all liked these BUT I used some black walnuts that I had unopened in the fridge and they tasted bad. Maybe we don't like black walnuts. I don't think they could have gone bad. I only had then a couple weeks and, like I said, they were unopened in the fridge. I don't know that I've ever had black walnuts before.

I want to try these again but with a different kind of nut or no nuts at all. But First (as Julie Chen would say) I am going to try Apricot Oat Bars and Fruit and Nut Bites. I'd like to find some healthy, grab and go type breakfast for me and the kids.

two recipes without pictures... sorry.

2009-02-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I made cookies last night and I mad the quesadillas for dinner tonight but neglected to take any pics. Oops. I want you to have the recipe and a chance to make them yourselves, though.

The quesadillas were great. The Caitlin though they were okay but I used only the taco meat and cheddar cheese for the other two kids. It would have been a waste of food to give one to the little kids.

This recipe was intended to make two large round quesadillas cut into 8ths and for one person to eat two wedges. I ate a whole round with less cheese. I totaled the points of my ingredients separately and it was 5 pts. Delicious and filling, it was.

Beef, Blue Cheese and Spinach Quesadillas
POINTS: 2
INSTRUCTIONS
1/3 cup(s) cooked lean ground beef
3 tbsp taco sauce
4 large burrito-size wheat flour tortilla(s)
4 oz blue cheese, crumbled
10 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

In a small bowl, stir together beef and taco sauce.Lay two tortillas on a flat surface and divide beef mixture between them. Sprinkle each tortilla with half of cheese, spinach and red pepper flakes; top each with a remaining tortilla.
Set a large, heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place one quesadilla in skillet and cook until brown spots form on bottom of tortilla, about 3 to 4 minutes; flip and cook until brown spots form again, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove quesadilla to a large cutting board and cover to keep warm; repeat with remaining quesadilla.Cut each quesadilla into 8 wedges and serve.
Yields 2 wedges per serving.

AND don't forget the...

Frosted Mini Cookies
POINTS: 1
INSTRUCTIONS
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup(s) part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup(s) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg(s)
1 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp canola oil
3 tbsp fat-free skim milk
1 1/2 cup(s) powdered sugar
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

Cream together 4 tablespoons butter, ricotta and 1/2 cup sugar. Add vanilla and egg; mix thoroughly.Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, and blend into rest of mixture. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Place chilled dough on a strip of wax paper and roll into a 14-inch cylinder. Put in freezer for 2 to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Slice off 1/3-inch-thick rounds and place on a non-stick baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (cookies should stay pale in color). Cool on baking rack.
For icing: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in microwave or over a very low flame. Mix with canola oil and milk. Sift powdered sugar, and blend into liquids. Divide icing into two bowls. To one bowl add cocoa and mix to blend.When cookies are cool, spread white icing on half of each cookie and chocolate icing other half of cookie, or cover each cookie completely with one type of icing.
Yields 1 cookie per serving.

These were wonderful, especially with the chocolate icing. The problem was making them small enough to come out with 5o-something cookies like you are supposed to for them to equal 1 pt. I ended up with 36 cookies and I used less than half the icing. The icing has A TON of powdered sugar in it so I decided to call them 1 pt anyway (unless I was eating 2+ and then I would add an extra point... you know, assuming they are close to two points but not quite.)

Well, that's all for tonight. Good night.

Alright, this just isn't working...

2009-02-25T21:19:00.000-08:00

Uuuuuhhhggg! I am NOT sticking to any kind of diet lately. It's just constantly back and forth for me.

I want to fix healthy meals for my kids. I don't expect them to eat the 6WBM food with me, That's far too strict for them. HOWEVER... Weight Watchers is not. Hmmm... I 've done Weight Watchers in the past and succeeded with it. I've been getting emails of recipes from them ever since.

We could do this. I will stick with it all the time and the kids (and maybe even Dustin) can eat WW meals with me for dinner. Weight Watchers is nice because you can eat out with your family AND you can have dessert!! I have a million WW dessert recipes. I actually made 1 point cookies tonight which I will post next.

So, without further ado, I present our dinner tonight. Sesame Chicken with Sticky Rice and Asian Snow Peas and Carrots. I served this with a sliced orange for dessert.

Recipe Renovation: Sesame Chicken

POINTS: 4

INSTRUCTIONS

2 tbsp sesame seeds, raw

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp dry sherry

1 tsp ginger root, fresh, minced

1/2 tsp five-spice powder

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 pound(s) uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch pieces

2 tsp peanut oil

Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sesame seeds and cook until lightly toasted, shaking the pan frequently, about 2 to 3 minutes; transfer seeds to a shallow dish and set aside.

Whisk water, soy sauce, maple syrup, sherry, ginger and five-spice powder together in a small bowl; set aside.

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish; add chicken and turn to coat. Shake chicken pieces to remove excess flour.Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sauté until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add soy sauce mixture to chicken and cook until sauce thickens and is almost evaporated, about 2 to 3 minutes more.

Dip chicken pieces in toasted sesame seeds and serve, drizzled with any additional soy sauce mixture.

Yields about 4 strips per serving.

AND

Asian Snow Peas and Carrots
POINTS: 1

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

2 tsp dark sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp ginger root, peeled and grated
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/2 cup(s) Del Monte Carrots, matchstick-cut
1 cup(s) sweet red pepper(s), thinly sliced
1 cup(s) snow peas, trimmed
8 oz canned water chestnuts, drained

Instructions
Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium-size bowl; stir with a whisk. Stir in carrot and remaining 3 ingredients. Cover and let stand 1 hour.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup).

(My 5 year old took these pictures. I was being lazy and wasn't going to bother posting this but he's on top of things. :-) Thanks, Ethan!)

A new addition.

2009-02-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

Critter has not retruned. I miss him. I still look for him every time I drive through our neighborhood. He used to come running when he heard our cars.

Well, we have not repleced him but we did get a sweet little baby kitty!

Welcome Maddison (Maddie) to my blog. I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of her.

She is a spoiled little kitty. She has her own room. It is Ethans room that he doesn't use any more. We moved one of his bunk beds into the girls room cause he was too scared by himself and wouldn't sleep throught the night.

So Maddie has a room with lots of little places to explore and hide. She has things to climb on and toys to play with. We tied a string to a table so she has all kinds of fun and as you can see she has a drawer in the bottom of Ethans dresser with a soft, cheniel type blanket to sleep on.

We can tell she feels very safe and secure in her room. She spent most of her first day at our house in her room. She was scared after the hour drive home when I picked her up.

Oh my goodness, the kids love her! She is surpriseingly good with them, too. She was scared the first day but now she follows us around everywhere we go. She always seekes out Daddy or Ethan to sleep in their laps. They play really well together and Callie is usually very gentle. Maddie is all Callie ever talks about any more.

We sure love our little Maddie.

I miss Critter.

Our cat has gone missing.

2009-02-18T21:06:00.001-08:00

Critter didn't come home in the morning for breakfast.

This cat's an eater. He is instantly asking for food the second he hears a peep out of us.

Since we moved across town, he has only stayed away from home for a couple hours at a time. He was gone all day today. Last night he was hollering at us to let him in about the time we were heading to bed. That's the last we've heard from him.

Critter, as we came to call him, was left in our old neighborhood by people who moved away. We always wanted a cat but were not aloud in the place we were renting. We decided to camp out on our door step; it was a sunny spot. I noticed he scratched a lot and was missing patches of fur. He was also acting like he was starving. I decided he must be a stray and I fed him. Then I bought him flee treatments, and eventually took him to the vet for a check up and to help his incessant scratching.

He was such a good cat. So affectionate. I would sit outside and pet him for an hour every evening. We followed the "no pets" rule pretty well most of the time. Dustin developed an allergy to him so we didn't let him in often. Just when it was particularly cold out side or something of the sort. I bought him an igloo dog house to keep him warm through the winter outside. I eventually found out from some passersby that he was left and could be officially mine.

We never could get his scratching under control. He has some kind of skin allergy. Steroid injections didn't help for more than a couple days. Poor guy was just doomed to look mangy.

I put a collar on him on three different occasions and somehow it would rub all the fur off his neck. It wasn't too tight, it wasn't too loose. He is just sensitive. So no license for him. He's destined to be free. A lone wolf. A rebel.

He survived the move across town. We kept him in the garage for a day or so and then let him out to roam. He wandered for an hour or so and came back home. He was going to continue as an outdoor/garage cat at our new house for Dustin's allergies and to protect our pretty new house. However, Dustin now seems to have no more allergy symptoms with him.

The kids are so sad. No tears yet. They accept that he is either dead, taken, or sent to a shelter. I called around this evening but everything was either closed or not updated yet. I'll try again tomorrow.

This will probably sound cold hearted but we've always wanted a kitten. When we got Critter we could tell he wouldn't put up with any other cat invading his territory. So the plan was that someday when Critter dies (the vet said he was probably 7 years old and the poster on the vet wall said outdoor cat's live 7 years on average) we would get a kitten.

We are talking about getting a kitten from the shelter sometime soon. Dustin asked the kids tonight a dinner if they could choose a new kitten or for Critter to come home, which would they choose.

"Critter", said Caitlin.

"Critter", said Ethan.

"Critter", said Callie.

And I want him to come home too.

He is a really good little guy. Sure he smells sometimes and he always has patches of fur missing. He jumps in the car every time we open the doors and we have to spend 5 minutes running around the car trying to shoo him out of various doors. He haucks hairballs ALL OVER our garage and driveway. I've tried every treatment and even expensive food. He has started drooling when he's happy and he rubs his face against me and leaves a trial.

But he's such a lover! I hope he comes home.

We wish him luck...

2009-02-18T20:47:00.000-08:00

I just found out last weekend that one of my coworkers is in the army reserve and is being shipped off to Iraq after this next weekend.

This is a guy who is always quick to ask if I made any cookies when he sees me coming to work. He's a sugar man, just like I like them. :-) (Just playin', honey!)

He requested cookies for his last weekend of work. White chocolate chip cookies.

I found this recipe on the blog crazydeliciousfood. She said that these are the BEST chocolate chip cookies. A lot of people claim that about various CCC's but if I keep trying them, eventually I'll find the one that's BEST to me.

Obviously I am substituting white chocolate. Here's the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until warm

1 c brown sugar, packed

1/2 c granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Heat oven to 325 degrees
Mix Butter and sugars until combined
Add eggs and yolk to butter mixture
Add Vanilla
In separate bowl combine and whisk dry ingredients then slowly add to wet ingredients until combined
Add chocolate chips

Make balls with 1/4 cup of dough and bake for approx 15 minutes

Yup. That's how you do it.

He was quite happy with his cookies. Another co-worker said they tasted like Subway cookies (which are THE BEST) so... maybe these are a true winner in the best CCC category.

Time (and lots of cookies) will tell.

There, that's better.

2009-02-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

Don't you think?

I guess when I comes to this cake, bundt is the only way to go. That is just a beautiful shape. You can see all that sugary, rum flavored glaze soaked half way up the bottom of the cake. It kind of crystallizes into a bit of a crunch when you bite into it after it's sat over night.

Wow, this really is a good recipe. I told my husband that it seemed like something his mom would make.

Linda, you have to try this. It's right up your alley.

THIS one's going to work with Dustin. :-)

Wordless Wednesday.

2009-02-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Coffee Mousse

2009-02-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to bother entering this in the Alicia and Annie Blog Event because someone already made it this month but I had to try it. I saw it on the host of the event's blog and it sounded good. I had the ingredients so... why not.

I did change it up a little. I got the impression, reading between the lines, that Amanda didn't like it so much and that the coffee flavor would be too subtle for my taste. I took care of that. I used 1/2 cup strong coffee from my french press and 1/4 cup heavy cream, cause it was easier to get to than the milk in the fridge.

This is a very good dish. It tastes like a latte. It's a little gelatin-y so I think maybe half a packet or something... mine was more creamy Jello texture than Amanda's appeared. Here's looked like mousse. I'm not complaining. Trial and error, right?

Coffee Mousse
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup strong coffee
3 egg whites
1/2 cup whipping cream

Instructions
Mix unflavored gelatin and sugar together in top of double boiler. Add yolks, milk, and coffee. Cook over water until thickened. Remove and cool thoroughly.

Beat cream in large mixing bowl at medium-high speed for 4 minutes or until peak forms. Add cream-coffee mixture. Mix at low speed for 1 minute. Pour into molds or serving dish, Chill.

I've got a recipe for you.

2009-02-17T17:46:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make something tasty to send with Dustin to work tomorrow. I had saved this Kentucky Butter Cake recipe from exrapoundcake blog a while back and opted to go with that. HOWEVER, I don't own a full size bundt pan. I have a mini bunt pan that put out smaller-than-cupcake sized cakes.

I whipped up the following recipe:

Kentucky Butter Cake

Adapted from Nell Lewis, Bake-Off® Contest winner, 1963

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla or rum extract
(325* X 60 min if done in bundt pan. Leave in pan and poke holes in cake.)

Glaze:
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla or rum extract
(Heat until melted but do not boil and pour over hot cake. Cool cake completely before removing from pan.)

I put this batter into my mini bundt and left to pick up Caitlin from school. Of course I was gone longer than I thought I'd be and my poor little cakes were awfully brown and had over flown from the bunt shape to large rings around the bottom. They taste good but were not pretty enough to send to work.

So I switched to a new heart shaped muffin pan my mom just gave me for V-Day. I still had batter so I used my larger heart pan, too (from the candy box cake). These worked much better but also were not exactly pretty.

This cake is so flavorful that I MUST try again in a real bundt pan. None of this batch will see the inside of Dustin's office but some day. Oh yes, some day.

Oh, Callie.

2009-02-17T17:30:00.001-08:00

"Callie, look at this mess!"

"What happened, Mama?"

"Callie happened."

"Oh, Mama!"

"Callie, turn around so I can take a picture of your pretty dress."

She's just too cute!

Oooo! Fun!

2009-02-13T10:45:00.001-08:00

Valentines day is almost here. I really don't care about Valentines day for the sake of greeting cards and men guilted into buying sappy gifts for their women.

I'm taking this as an opportunity to bake!

I wandered blogs and collected recipes for weeks. I ran through my selection with various cupcake eaters and adjusted my choices to find something truly special.

I settled on the following:

Chocolate-Coffee Cupcakes w/ Mocha Ganache and Mascarpone Cream from the blog Iheartcuppycakes.

Car Bomb Cupcakes from the blog SmittenKitchen.

Red Velvet Swirl Cupcakes from the blog Iheartcuppycakes again. (She's good!)

Lemon Raspberry Mousse Cupcakes from who else but Iheartcuppycakes.

And I pieced together this cupcake featured on cupcakestakethecake. It is a chocolate mud cupcakes with creme de menthe infused Italian meringue butter cream. The Chocolate Mud Cake was posted on Flickr. I used a Mr. Brown's Italian Meringue Butter cream recipe that I found with Google on RecipeZaar.

These were good choices! They are all so good! I thought the Guinness cake was so good all by itself. I don't like beer but it really added something to that cake. The Creme De' Minthe icing was great and the raspberry mousse, Oh, the raspberry mousse! I could have just sat there with my piping bag and squeezed the whole thing into my mouth. I DIDN'T, just so you know.

I boxed some up for the kids to take to their teachers today at school. Today was Valentine's party day. Ethan came home full of stories of trading Pokemon valentines and arguing over candy. I forgot to send a box of cupcakes for his teachers new helper so I'm going to have to remedy that when we go pick up Caitlin.

She said she wasn't having a party but they would just be passing out Valentines today. We'll see.

See the pretty, Creme De' Minthe cupcakes and the raspberry mousse on the lemon cupcakes is SO WONDERFUL.

These are the car bomb cupcakes with that Irish Cream icing... OH MY GOODNESS IT'S GOOD!

These are the Chocolate-Coffee cupcakes. Oh, I could die now. I'm a coffee lover so maybe that is why but this is the best dessert I've ever tasted. The ganache taste exactly like a chocolate covered coffee bean but without the grit of the real thing. I can't wait for my fellow night shift, coffee loving, sleep deprived co-workers to get their hands on these.

I had to put my chocolate into the fridge to get the hearts to solidify. I had just taken them out, placed them in my cupcakes and started taking pictures... maybe 5 minutes time or less. See that sad little droopy heart in the front of the left box. They all started doing that the minute I put the camera down.

I guess I'll get some chocolate covered coffee beans for the tops. Quite descriptive anyway.

Although I would have been perfectly content to just know Dustin loves me and pass out my baked goods to everyone I know, Dustin surprised me with a delivery of 2 dozen lavender and yellow/orange roses from Proflowers. It came with chocolate, a vase and a sweet note from him. I truly didn't expect anything more than a card. We both agree that V-Day is a bit commercial but I did appreciate that he went to the effort and decided to spend the $! They are beautiful. Wanna see?

Tonight the kids and I are are going to a chocolate festival at a local historic property. It is a beautiful place and a fun event. We went a few years ago.

Happy Chocolate day everyone! Hope you get some good lovin'!

Copy Cat

2009-02-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

I saw the COOLEST THING EVER on one of the foodie blogs I visit. Before you go any further, look at this!

Did you look?

You CAN'T see my pathetic attempt until you've seen what it could have been.

Okay. So, you've seen how to do it and how awesome it could have been. Now, I'll tell you that I don't think mine is terrible. I was really excited and impressed with my "truffles" or cake balls. I thought they were lovely. This was my first time using fondant on a cake and, let's just say the box was... unfortunate.

Here is a link to the cake balls. This is worth knowing. You could throw these together for any party or pot luck. I could see taking these to just about any occasion. You could really have fun decorating them, too. It looks like Bakerella used cookie cutters to get heart shapes. You could use white almond bark for the coating... the possibilities are unlimited!

I'll get better. I'm trying a lot of cooking methods that are new to me lately and I WILL eventually go to cooking school. (Maybe just the baking part...I'd like to be better at the rest but the baking is really what gets me going...hmm.)

Well, I'm taking it to work anyway. They will get the idea, I'm sure, and I'll have wonderful cupcakes to make up for it if they are appalled.

Mmmm, Brie.

2009-02-12T09:47:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite blogs to read is the Barefoot Kitchen Witch. She did a couple posts in which she wrapped brie cheese in puff pastry with various sweet and savory fillings. The sweet one she tried was a mixture of nuts and cranberries and orange marmalade. The savory combo was caramelized onions with balsamic vinegar.

This just looked SO GOOD in her pictures. Look here and here and here.

I wasn't content with just looking. I whipped one out myself.

I tried her onion combo.

I baked the little bundle at 425* for about 20 minutes. The puff pastry was crispy and golden brown. Perfect.

Caitlin started to cut it open.

"Wait! I need to take a picture!" Thus, the cut marks on the intact pastry.

And then I cut into it, and as the original brie baker said, the cheese didn't ooze out, it POURED out.

Mmmm. Cheesy goodness. Give it a try!

Yo Ho. Yo Ho. A Pirate's Life for Me!

2009-02-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

Arrr! Hare be the dread pirate Ethan; most fearsome pirate to ever sail the salty seas!

Check the tat's! This proves how tough he is!

His body is covered with scars from bar room brawls. Oh, he's a mean one. You can see the pure evil in this eye. Sailors beware!

I think he drank a little too much grog.

Thanks, Sabrina for the left over party favors! We put them to good use!

Cookie Carnival: CHOCOLATE FUDGE COOKIES with TOFFEE and DRIED CHERRIES

2009-02-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Yay! Cookie Carnival time again. I don't know why I get so excited about this. I guess I just like cookies and I like trying new recipes. I like to try one someone else picked. So here we go!

CHOCOLATE FUDGE COOKIES with TOFFEE and DRIED CHERRIES
makes 40 large cookies
INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup plump, moist, dried sour cherries
8 oz. bitter or semisweet chocolate chopped into chunks about the size of the cherries
1 cup English toffee pieces for baking such as Skor Bits

INSTRUCTIONS
1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. line two heavy baking sheets, not non-stick, with parchment paper and set aside. sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together into a bowl and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars until light in colour and fluffy, about 2 minutes. add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl. beat in the vanilla.

Stir in the flour-mixture in 3 additions, blending just until the dry ingredients are moistened. I find this part of the job easier with a wooden spoon, rather than a mixer, as i can see better which parts of the batter need more attention without over mixing.

Stir in the chunky ingredients and mix until they seem evenly distributed. (the dough may be frozen at this point for up to 4 months: wrap the dough securely in plastic wrap, then in a plastic freezer bag. thaw the dough in the refrigerator without removing its wrapping before portioning the cookies and baking.)

2. drop the batter by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets and place them in the center of the oven. if you have a large, evenly tempered oven, place the 2 sheets in at once, on two racks positioned close to the middle of the oven. switch the position of the trays once during baking. if your oven is small, or tends to have hot or cold spots, bake one tray at a time so the cookies bake evenly.
3. bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes, or until barely set in the center and just firm around the edges. rotate the sheets once or twice. cool the cookies on the tray for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before storing. (feel free to eat them at any point.) run the hot tray under cold water to cool it, dry thoroughly and repeat with remaining dough.

Store the cookies in airtight containers, layered between sheets of parchment or waxed paper for up to 5 days.

These are good. The my son liked them a lot. My other two kids just picked at them. I thought the cherries were a great addition but the toffee was lost in all that chocolate.

I think with the world peace cookies yesterday, I'm chocolated out. I plan to take all these cookies to work this weekend so we'll see what they all think of them. I have a request for more macaroons so that is next. I won't post those. I'm using the same recipe I have posted before. Macaroons with cream cheese in them are better than any other. If you get a coconut craving, you have to try them.

I've GOT to stop looking at what the Tuesday's With Dorrie bakers are doing!!

2009-02-05T13:14:00.001-08:00

This week they made World Peace Cookies. The way TWD works is as follows: You buy the book, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Then you get signed up on the TWD website, which is a lot harder than it sounds, believe me! Every week, someone (they take turns) chooses a recipe from the book and everyone bakes and blogs it. Cool, huh? The best part is that this cookbook is AWESOME! Everything in it is the best thing you've ever seen or tasted.

This, my dear Friends, is why I keep getting sucked into making what they are making. I don't yet have the book and I have asked to join and have heard no word. There are already hundreds of members and a waiting list of more to join. I am somewhere far down on that waiting list.

Back to where I started, this week they made World Peace Cookies. These are chocolate Chocolate cookies which really isn't my thing but what's cool about them is Fleur de Sel.

"What's that?" You say? It's rare, hand harvested French Sea Salt. Ooooo!

Some background on the cookies themselves was provided by the cookie chooser this week, http://www.cooblookhabit.blogspot.com/. She said These cookies (originally called Korova Cookies in Paris Sweets) were the creation of French pastry god Pierre Hermé. In the recipe's introduction, Dorie shares how the cookies got their new name - her neighbor, Richard Gold, is "convinced that a daily dose of Pierre's cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness."

And so I had to make them, don't you see!?!

World Peace Cookies

Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Makes about 36 cookies.
Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

OH, I should point out that I sprinkled a little fleur de sel on top of the cookies as well. One of the TWD bakers was commenting that there was not enough in the dough and she would sprinkle some on top next time. I decided after trying one of the first cookies out of the oven that they would be good, and pretty, with a little on top. I'm a glutton, what can I say?

SERVING: The cookies can be eaten when they are warm or at room temperature — I prefer them at room temperature, when the textural difference between the crumbly cookie and the chocolate bits is greatest — and are best suited to cold milk or hot coffee.

STORING: Packed airtight, cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

*No one, including me, needed to worry about storage. These seem to just disappear. EVERY blog I read on these noted that they are not into so much chocolate but ended up loving these cookies.

2009-02-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

I work with the best people. Most of them are so considerate of others. People around there know I love to cook and I love my kids. I talk a lot about my kids and I'm always bumming all these deserts off on them at night.

My friend, Pam brought me this Great cookbook the other day. I love it! It has so many great looking recipes in it. I started with bread pudding and an easy meal.

The bread pudding was really good and easy to throw together. I brought the last too muffins to work for another friend who said she loves bread pudding and she said it was one of the best she ever had.

I don't know what the "rules" are on printing a recipe on line without permission that you took from a cookbook. If anyone is interested in the recipe, leave me a comment and I'll send it to you. I'd hate to get busted for copyright infringement or something stupid.

Mmmm. The kids liked these and actually had a lot of fun chasing each other all over the house for them. I don't know if they really liked the muffins that much or if they just enjoyed fighting each other for them.

I also made a weird casserole type dish that consisted of ground beef, beef flavored Rice a Roni, BBQ sauce, corn, and cheese. The kids didn't want to eat it much because of the corn but I loved it! I ate all the leftovers over the next few days, too! Yum!

Now how about some dessert?

sorry

2009-02-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

I do have a growing list of posts to do. I know. Thank you, who ever you are, for continuing to check up with me here. :-)

How about a little Callie story before I get back to cooking. She is starting to complete her sentences and really share her little baby thoughts.

Critter, our cat, was in the house today for a bit. He is an out door cat so I when he is inside, we keep good track of where he's at and what he's doing so we can be sure he is behaving himself. I was upstairs cleaning the bathroom when Callie showed up upstairs, asking me to open play dough for her.

I asked her where Critter was.

"Downstairs."

"What's he doing?"

Callie brought her hand to her mouth and pretended to lick it a couple times. "Licking... Chocolate!" She nodded assuredly as she decided that is defiantly why Critter licks his hands. "Cookies! M&M's! He likes it."

So now we know the truth behind why cat's lick their paws.

6WBM: cucumber salad, not chow mein, Dustin!

2009-01-30T20:33:00.000-08:00

Cucumber Salad
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 packet sweetener (equal to 2 teaspoons sugar)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 cucumbers, sliced
3 tomatoes, diced
1 medium red onion, sliced thin

Mix all ingredients together and let sit in the refrigerator for about an hour.

This was really good. I did add the garlic and I think it would have made a negative difference if I hadn't. Of course, this would be tastier with a little salt but it's quite decent and a nice light snack.

I made A TON of the Asian Balsamic Chicken today. Remember that one from an earlier post. That stuff was so good that I wanted a lot of it cooked and ready to go so I can have it whenever. I froze two containers of it and there is one in the fridge for now. Yum!

I will post the non-6WBM food I made for dinner tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Our little Callie

2009-01-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

Isn't she sweet?

She LOVES Critter. He is a little unsure of her. He does not hesitate to protect himself if he feels threatened or just put out by her. So here they sit, watching each other carefully, Callie attempting to pet him with a long toy. He snagged her shirt sleeve with his claw a second later.

This collection of pictures is our little Callie getting into all kinds of trouble. She knows better!

I'll have to highlight one of my other kids soon. :-)

So what have we been doing, instead of blogging?

2009-01-30T19:16:00.001-08:00

Well, first of all, I caught a cold. I've been working and therefore I'm tired. I should be at work right now but I got canceled. People are just not having elective procedures due to the economy and therefore all the hospitals are low on patients. Our census is not high enough for all the staff who are scheduled so here I am, dressed in scrubs, killing time on the computer.

So what have we been doing?

My cousin, Chelsea, just got out of beauty school recently and now works at Great Clips. Ethan and Callie were looking a little shaggy so I took them in for a hair cut by Chelsea. When we got there Caitlin decided she would get one too and I just COULDN'T be left out. I cut over 10" of hair off and donated it to Locks of Love. My hair came down to my lower back and now it's above my shoulders. Wanna see?

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE

AFTER (Ethan doesn't like cutting his hair and wants to grow it long and shaggy like the teenage boys do now days. He is such a little rebel, it would go nicely with his personality.)

I couldn't find any before pictures of me. I kind of avoid pictures whenever possible. Here's my new hair.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Creamy Fudge

2009-01-23T16:17:00.003-08:00

Or in this case, S'mores fudge, thanks to Caitlin's suggestion. I found this recipe on Alicia's recipe site and decided to make some for my co-workers this weekend.

Creamy Fudge
1/3 cup Butter - Melted
1/4 cup Sugar
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
3 oz. Cream Cheese (or Neufchatel) - Softened
3 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips (1 1/2 Bags)
1 1/4 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Walnuts or Pecans

Instructions
Melt butter in oven in a 9" square pan. Add the cracker crumbs & sugar. Press firmly in pan. Bake 8 min. Cool. In a saucepan melt the chips with the milk & vanilla. Remove from the heat. Stir in cheese then the nuts.

Spread onto prepared crust. *We had leftover marshmallows from the Haystacks so Caitlin suggested we add them to the fudge. With the gram cracker crust, this became S'mores fudge. Yay!*

Chill until firm. Store covered in refrigerator

Mmmm.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Creamy Fudge

2009-01-23T16:17:00.001-08:00

Creamy Fudge
1/3 cup Butter - Melted
1/4 cup Sugar
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
3 oz. Cream Cheese (or Neufchatel) - Softened
3 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips (1 1/2 Bags)
1 1/4 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Walnuts or Pecans

Instructions
Melt butter in oven in a 9" square pan. Add the cracker crumbs & sugar. Press firmly in pan. Bake 8 min. Cool. In a saucepan melt the chips with the milk & vanilla. Remove from the heat. Stir in cheese then the nuts. Spread onto prepared crust. Chill until firm. Store covered in refrigerator

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Butterscotch Haystacks

2009-01-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

I like to bring treats to my co-workers. I enjoy making sweets and my co-workers seem to enjoy eating them. It's a win-win.

This weekend I made Butterscotch Haystacks and S'mores Fudge.

Butterscotch Haystacks Candy
1 (11 oz. pkg.) butterscotch morsels
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cans(5 oz. each) chow mien noodles
7 ounces miniature marshmallows, (3½ cups)

Line trays with waxed paper. Microwave butterscotch morsels in a large,
microwave-safe bowl on med-high power (70%) power for 1 minute; stir.

Microwave an additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth. Stir in peanut
butter until well-blended.

Add chow mien noodles and marshmallows; toss until all
ingredients are coated. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared trays. Refrigerate
until ready to serve.

As my husband will tell you, I tend to have a little trouble reading directions. I assume I know what comes next and before you know it, I've messed up.

And thus became Butterscotch balls. I melted the marshmallow into the butterscotch/peanut butter mixture. It became thick and gooey (would have made great fudge squares) and would not take the chow mien noodles. I crunch and stirred until there were bits of noodle mixed in and formed balls. The kids LOVE them. These will stay home.

Second time around, I followed the directions and now we have cute little "haystacks" for work.

Let that be a lesson to you all. :-)

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Red Beans and Rice

2009-01-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

This took the full 5 hours to cook and more. If you choose to make this dish, PLAN AHEAD!! It didn't get done in time for dinner last night so I tried a little today. Eh. It need's something...

Red Beans And Rice
1 small bag dry red beans

1 ham bone

1 onion, chopped

Water to cover

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. vinegar

1/2 c. salsa to taste

Cooked rice

*I added some Tabasco, chili powder, Cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic, oregano, onion powder, and paprika.

Instructions
Rinse red beans and place in large pot or crock pot. Place in ham bone and one chopped onion.

Cover with water and cook on low heat until meat is tender and falls off ham bone, 4 to 5 hours.

Remove bone and add brown sugar and vinegar and salsa to taste. Serve over cooked rice.

This dish was okay... the vinegar in it gave it a different taste. I think I would have preferred less to none of that. It needs some alterations.

Fried Pickles

2009-01-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

When I was pregnant with my first baby, Dustin and I took a trip from Oklahoma City to Dallas, TX. On the way home we went to a random Cajun restaurant. I ordered craw fish for the first time and it was disturbing. They brought me a plate full of red bugs with another plate over the top. Legs and tentacles were sticking out from under the top plate. Uh! It was hard to get started on them but it was good when I did. I couldn't quite get the trick to getting the meat out and I ended up peeling each one a bit at a time. Phew!

Anyway, Dustin ordered fried pickles for the first time. They were strange and tasty. He has been excited to find them in random restaurants ever since. (You know, they sell them at Sonic now.)

Here is how I made them.

In one bowl:

1 cup Flour

Salt and Pepper

Garlic powder

In another bowl:

3 eggs

Tabasco

I cup large pickles into 1/4" slices (bias cut). I let them sit on paper towel to dry for a little while. Then into the egg mixture, followed by the flour mixture, and into the hot oil. I had my gas stove set a little above low. I let it preheat for quite a while so the temp would be consistent.

They cooked about 1 minute or so. I pulled them out just before they turned brown. They were very pretty and Dustin and Caitlin liked them a lot. The others didn't try them.

Not so healthy but a nice accompaniment to Cajun food. Try it sometime.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Cajun Chicken Strips

2009-01-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

Last night for dinner, I decided to make a Cajun meal. I made red beans and rice, Cajun Chicken Strips and fried pickles (one of Dustin's favorites).

I was excited to find this recipe on Alicia's site. I've been making these for years from a Quick Cooking magazine. These are the best. I could eat it every day.

Cajun Chicken Strips
1 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
3/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
Italian parsley and chili peppers, optional

Instructions
In a large resealable plastic bag combine the first six ingredients. Add the chicken strips, half at a time, and shake to coat.

In a large skillet, cook the chicken in butter for 8 to 10 minutes (or until the juices run clear.) Garnish with parsley and peppers, if desired.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the beans started in time. They weren't done when it was time to eat, or even past time to eat. So I put the chicken on bread with mayo for the kids. They loved it. I wanted to add lettuce to Caitlin's but she didn't want it. The chicken is just awesome and would be good in any presentation. Play around with it. It's the best.

Crescent Chicken Squares

2009-01-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

This is another recipe that Dustin's mom gave me when we got married. This is simple, quick and really good.

Here's the recipe.

Crescent Chicken Squares

BLEND UNTIL SMOOTH:

1 (3 oz) pkg cream cheese

2 TBSP butter (melted)

ADD:

2 cups cooked cubed chicken

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

2 TBSP milk

1 TBSP chopped onion

1 TBSP chopped pimento (optional)

1 (8 oz) can Crescent Rolls

1 TBSP melted butter

3/4 C. seasoned croutons (crushed)

Separate dough into triangles. Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture into center of dough. Pull corners together and seal edges. Brush top with melted butter (or roll in butter). Dip in crushed croutons. Bake on cookie sheet until golden brown. Bake at 350* for 20-25 min.

This is REALLY good and not too bad for you this time. The crescent rolls make the crust flaky and buttery. It's really tasty. Give it a try.

Chocolate "waffle" cookies

2009-01-21T17:40:00.000-08:00

I picked up a recipe for chocolate waffle cookies from Quick Cooking back in 1999. I think I remember making it once... but here I am with all the ingredients so I tried it again.

Here's the recipe.

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

6 Tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 square (1 oz) unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

confectioners' sugar

Cream butter and sugar, then beat in egg and vanilla. Add melted chocolate. Add flour and mix well.

Now I was supposed to drop small amounts onto the waffle iron and bake 1 minute. I suspected this would not turn out right as the texture of the dough was light like a cake.

This is what turned out, on my second try! It stuck really bad, even with cooking spray. The edges burnt and the cookie itself was so fluffy and cakey, there was no way it was going to come off in one piece without turning the whole iron upside down and shaking.

Plan B.

I was hoping for something tall, round and poofy but there is no baking powder in the recipe so no leavening agent. They flattened out to little, chocolaty pucks but the kids LOVED them. I had about 15 when it was all said and done and they are almost gone, about 18 hours later.

I may revise this recipe with a little B. Powder and make a cake next time. Sounds good.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Amish Yeast Rolls

2009-01-21T17:37:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe on Alicia's recipes site. Sounds great! Everyone loves a good dinner roll.

Amish Yeast Rolls
7 c. flour (save 1 c. to knead)
2 pkgs. quick yeast
1/2 - 3/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
WET: 2 sticks butter
1 c. sour cream
1/2 to 1 c. milk

Instructions
Place in microwave. Heat until butter melts (should be hot but be able to stand to stick your finger in this). Mix wet to dry ingredients and knead 10-15 minutes.

Put in warm place and let rise about 20 minutes. Put dough on floured board and punch down. Shape in desired shapes. Let rise again, 20 minutes or until doubled.

Brush tops with melted butter. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 2 dozen or more.

I messed this one up, somehow. They didn't rise. I would like to try them again sometime. Dustin said they tasted like... bread but heavy and dense. That's about what I expected when I saw they didn't rise. Everyone ate them but I know they should have been better. I did something wrong.

I haven't made a lot of yeast breads in my life, yet. I would like to get better at these things I'm inexperienced with. I don't know much about fish or red meats, and I'm not super comfortable with whole poultry. I always buy it pre-cut and ready to cook.

Some day I will make it to cooking school and these things will be a breeze. Until then, bare with me.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Broccoli Cheese Soup

2009-01-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight, for dinner, my family is having Grannie's famous Crescent Chicken Squares, Broccoli Cheese Soup, and Amish Yeast Rolls.

I started with the soup as it has to cook 3-4 hours in the crock pot. I halved the recipe (though I shouldn't have. It didn't make much.) thinking we should try it before I make enough for left overs. I thought this may freeze well but I really want to make sure everyone likes it first.

You'll never guess that I left out the green pepper and onion. I added about 1 tsp onion powder for flavor.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 tbsp. butter, margarine
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 c. milk
1 lb. Velveeta, cubed
1 pkg. frozen, chopped broccoli

Instructions
Saute onion and green pepper in butter. Combine all ingredients and heat throughout in large skillet, or simmer on low in crock pot for 3-4 hours. Add no salt. Serves 4-6.

My family really liked this soup. I REALLY should have made the whole recipe or even doubled it. It was enough for everyone but leftovers would have been nice.

Because I didn't have as much volume in the crock pot, the soup got a little over done. Also, the velveta didn't melt evenly. I will take care to stirr it more often next time during the cooking.

A big pot of this would be nice on a cold night.

school lunch for Caitlin

2009-01-21T10:06:00.000-08:00

Caitlin loves feta cheese and greek olives. She wanted to take her lunch to school today so I made her a greek pasta salad.

I cup up an english cucumber, greek olives, crumbled fetta and light italian salad dressing in a bowl. I added cold, multi-grain rotini noodles and chilled it a while.

I threw a clemintine orange in and a package of fruit snacks and there is a decent lunch.

6WBM: Asian Style Balsamic Chicken

2009-01-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

Asian Style Balsamic Chicken
6 to 8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, uncooked and diced
3 to 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Splenda
½ teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
pineapple, to taste, optional (fresh or canned unsweetened in its own juice)

Mix all ingredients together and allow to marinate for at least an hour. Simmer in a non-stick skillet until chicken is tender and liquid is mostly absorbed. Be careful not to overcook, because then it becomes too dry which can happen very easily!

Additions: Pineapple is very good added to this - however, not everyone is allowed this fruit. If you do add this, add it at the very last minute, just to warm it through. I serve this over rice or mix the rice in last minute as well - kind of like a stir fry.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Diet Apricot Oatmeal Bars

2009-01-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make something to take to my parents house we we go for a visit tomorrow. I chose this "diet" recipe so they could eat them with quasi abandon (there is a decent amount of butter in this recipe but no sugar). My dad is diabetic and they both try to avoid too many sweets.

Caitlin ate one and said they were really good. I have one saved for Ethan and Callie but it is bed time and they are brushing their teeth. Tomorrow.

Diet Apricot Oatmeal Bars
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup quick or old-fashioned oats, uncooked

12 packets Equal sweetener

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold stick butter

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup apricot or peach spreadable fruit

Combine flour, oats, Equal, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until mixture is very fine in texture and begins to stick together slightly.

Stir in water and vanilla until well blended. Reserve 3/4 cup flour mixture. Press remaining mixture firmly and evenly onto bottom of lightly sprayed 8-inch square baking pan.

Bake in preheated 375 F oven 12 to 15 minutes or until mixture is lightly browned at edge. Remove from oven and spread with fruit. Sprinkle with reserved flour mixture, pressing gently into fruit.

Bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until flour mixture is lightly browned on top. Cool completely on wire rack. Cut into squares.

Store in airtight containers at room temperature

calories 108,

protein 2g,

carbohydrate 14g,

fat 6g,

cholesterol 15mg,

sodium 27 mg

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Chili Cheese Rice

2009-01-17T08:57:00.000-08:00

I chose this recipe to serve with Mimi's Sticky Chicken for dinner last night. I left out the green chile's for my husband and kids. I think the chile's would have bumped it up 10 notches!

Chili Cheese Rice
1-1/2 c. uncooked instant rice
2 c. sour cream
3/4 lb. Jack cheese
4 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chile
Salt to taste
1/2 c. grated Jack cheese
Butter

Instructions
Cook rice. Combine with sour cream and season with salt. Arrange half the mixture in buttered ovenproof casserole. Layer with Jack cheese, cut in 1 1/2 inch cubes and the chopped chile. Top with the remaining rice mixture. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top. Dot with butter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. This recipe can be prepared ahead and refrigerated, or frozen, then thawed for 1 hour and baked.

Strangely enough, my eater, Caitlin, didn't like this one. She LOVES sour cream but said that the sour cream made it "sort of wierd-ish". Dustin told her that her really enjoyed it and she said Ethan liked it too. Maybe with more cheese... No, it's the green chile's. I'll have to try this one when I can eat it or for a potluck or something. Too bad.

*Thank you, Dustin for taking this pic.*

Scones!

2009-01-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

My aunt brought us a Christmas basket that everyone made up for each family at our family Christmas gathering. It had a couple of scone mixes in it. :-) I made them and took them to work last night.

One was lemon poppy seed. Those are always good

I also had a sweet cream scone mix. I added dried Cherry's and white chocolate chips with white chocolate drizzle on top. Mmmm.

The kids all loved them and made me save a few at home. The people at work were all commenting on how good they were, especially the cherry/white chocolate ones. I sadly couldn't take too much credit as they were a mix but I'm glad they were good.

I went with 15 scones and there were about 7 left for tonight.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Mimi's Sticky Chicken

2009-01-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

THIS RECIPE WORKS FOR THE 6 WEEK BODY MAKEOVER IF YOU SKIP THE SALT!!!

I made my family a whole chicken for dinner tonight. I never cook a whole chicken, or at least very rarely. I've made the turkey for a holiday meal a couple times but... this may be my first chicken. I left out the salt so I could have some. I figured they could add it after if it needs it. We'll see.

Mimi's Sticky Chicken
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 whole roasting chicken, about 3 pounds
1 cup chopped onions

Instructions
Combine all spices (first 8 ingredients) in small bowl. Rinse chicken, inside and out. Drain well.
Rub spice mixture over skin and the inside of chicken. Place in a resealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to roast, preheat oven to 250Â° F and stuff cavity with onions. Place chicken breast side down in roasting pan. Roast uncovered at 250ÂºF for about 5 hours,(that's not a typo,it's really 250Âº. Anything over 225Âº is safe as long as the chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 155Âº, which this does, and more). Baste occasionally with pan juices or until pan juices start to caramelize on bottom of pan and chicken is golden brown.

This was really good and smelled so wonderful as it cooked. 5 hours of slow cooking made the meat so tender, it just fell apart. It took me about 2 minutes to de-bone the chicken. It's well worth the cook time.

6WBM: Shredded Chicken Spanish Rice

2009-01-16T17:21:00.000-08:00

When I get to really cooking, some times I don't read the directions carefully. I just started chopping and this "Shredded" Chicken Spanish Rice became just Chicken Spanish Rice. My chicken is cubed. Oh well.

Shredded Chicken Spanish Rice
2 lbs. cooked chicken breast, shredded
3 (6 oz) cans nsa tomato paste
2 cups uncooked rice
3 small onions, chopped
3 fresh jalapeño peppers, chopped
nsa chili powder, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
ground cumin, to taste
ground red pepper (cayenne), to taste
4-5 cups of water

Mix all ingredients in crock pot, cook all day on Low (about 8 hours.) Very delicious.

And that is what I did.

It tastes pretty good. You know, with our limited ingredients, all the various recipes with tomatoes, Mexican seasonings, and rice eventually start tasting about the same. I will eat it. The rice near the bottom of the crockpot got a little over done. I even stirred it through the cooking time.

I'm still really hooked on that chow mien I made recently. It's just so good! It tastes like there should be something in it I shouldn't have but I used all on plan ingredients and even made my own broth. You dieters need to try that one.

By the way, yesterday ended my second week and I've lost 15lbs! I can tell a big difference in my clothes already so I'm quite happy. Now on to week three.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Tuna in Ice Cream Cones

2009-01-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

I've done a lot of cooking today. Laundry, dishes, driving kids to and from school, and cooking was my day today.

The Cooking With Alicia and Annie contest is giving away a great prize this month and I would like a good chance at it. I have chosen a lot of good recipes from the two sites and I will be cooking dinner for my family using as many of these recipes as I can.

I started today with an after school snack for Caitlin of Tuna in Ice Cream Cones. She loves tuna salad and I thought she would go for this. Ethan was disgusted by the idea and thought we were playing a practical joke on Caitlin. Ha!

It's a basic tuna salad with pickles (the only way to do it!) and an olive on top to complete the look.

She really liked it and was more than happy to pose for as many pictures as I wanted to take. The other kids were happy to have left over ice cream cones for ice cream after dinner.

This would be fun for a picnic.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Angel Cream Buiscuits

2009-01-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

Angel Cream Biscuits
Makes 12 biscuits

1 package quick active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups Original bisquick ®
1/4 cup half-and-half

Instructions
Dissolve yeast in warm water in medium bowl. Stir in sugar. Stir in Bisquick and half-and-half until dough forms.

Turn dough onto surface generously dusted with Bisquick; gently roll in baking mix to coat. Shape into ball; knead 10 times. Roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut with 2-inch cutter dipped in Bisquick.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise in warm place about 30 minutes or until soft and puffed.

Heat oven to 425°. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Everyone loved them. They were said to be especially good with honey and butter. They were crumbly and yeasty and very easy to make. I will probably make these again.

Poppy Seed Chicken: A recipe from Dustin's childhood

2009-01-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

Dustin's mom gave me this recipe when Dustin and I were first married 10.5 years ago. I've made it a few times but it is awfly rich and fattening. Dustin enjoys eating it but complains the whole time about his fat/calorie intake, so it remains an occasional treat. Dustin and I look at a dish like this and gain 10 lbs. The rest of his LITTLE family stay slim and trim. They may not think so but those guys always look so annoyingly good!!

Poppy Seed Chicken

8 chicken breasts

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 (16oz) carton sour cream

2 tsp poppy seeds

2 cups crushed Ritz crackers

2 sticks margarine

*I halved this recipe because my family doesn't do leftovers. I used chicken tenders instead of whole breast. I also forgot I was halving and used the whole 2 cups of Ritz but stuck with the 1 stick of butter. Oh, I also used butter because I had very little margarine. I've been keeping butter around more lately for all my baking. Now, enough disclaimers, on to the cooking!*

So I prepped my ingredients and I'm ready to go. Coat the chicken in flour and fry until done.

Place in bottom of greased baking pan.

Pour soup mixture over chicken and top with Ritz mixture. Then top the crackers with butter. Bake at 350* for 25 minutes or until brown and bubbly like this.

This is really good but will make you a fatty so eat sparingly!

Thanks, Dustin's Mama!

6WBM: Chow Mein

2009-01-14T12:20:00.000-08:00

On the recipe exchange, they titled this "Chow Mien 2 (for One)" because it was the second Chow Mien recipe posted and they portioned it for one serving. I wanted a lot so I portioned my chicken and noodles for 8 servings and used as many veggies as I wanted.

This is a good one! Take this one down!

Chow Mien 2 (For One)
2 cups nsa chicken broth
2 oz. cooked chicken breast, turkey breast, ground turkey breast or ground beef (I went with chicken.)
2 large fresh mushrooms, sliced (I used canned shimeji mushrooms bought at an Asian food store.)
2 baby carrots, sliced
1 stick celery, chopped
Sliced onion, to taste
On plan veggies, (your choice), to taste (I used snow peas.)
Nsa bamboo shoots, to taste.
1 teaspoon fresh parsley (I used dried for all of these and it worked out just fine.)
1 teaspoon fresh chives
1 teaspoon fresh basil
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
dash of pepper
6 – 7 teaspoons arrowroot powder
1 oz uncooked rice noodles (ARC Gail Note: Please be sure to use one of the Asian style rice noodle varieties which require only soaking in warmed liquid to soften.)

Boil onion, mushrooms, carrots, veggies, parsley, chives, basil, and pepper in chicken broth till soft.

Reduce heat to medium. Add cooked chicken breast. Add arrowroot powder one teaspoon at a time and stir until desired thickness. It will get thicker as it cools.

Put uncooked rice noodles in bottom of bowl and pour chow mien over.

Let cool and enjoy a hearty meal.

Mmmm. This is good. It tastes just right. It's like light and healthy REAL Chinese food! That is a nice thing to find when you are on a strict diet. It's also nice to have meals like this to turn to when you are going to live this diet forever.

It is very light. The rice noodles are not filling AT ALL but the taste is worth being hungry again soon. That's how I feel about all the smoothies, too.

Give it a try. Especially those of you who are on the 6WBM with me.

Healthy info

2009-01-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

Click here to read an article about why it is truly so important to drink so much water. This is a really good one! http://www.inch-aweigh.com/water.html

(Here is a thought provoking article on dairy products. I think at some point in the article it goes a little extreme but a lot of it makes a lot of sense. check it out.)

"MILK" Just the word itself sounds comforting! "How about a nice cup of hot milk?" The last time you heard that question it was from someone who cared for you--and you appreciated their effort. The entire matter of food and especially that of milk is surrounded with emotional and cultural importance. Milk was our very first food. If we were fortunate it was our mother's milk. A loving link, given and taken. It was the only path to survival. If not mother's milk it was cow's milk or soy milk "formula"--rarely it was goat, camel or water buffalo milk. Now, we are a nation of milk drinkers. Nearly all of us. Infants, the young, adolescents, adults and even the aged. We drink dozens or even several hundred gallons a year and add to that many pounds of "dairy products" such as cheese, butter, and yogurt. Can there be anything wrong with this? We see reassuring images of healthy, beautiful people on our television screens and hear messages that assure us that, "Milk is good for your body." Our dietitians insist that: "You've got to have milk, or where will you get your calcium?" School lunches always include milk and nearly every hospital meal will have milk added. And if that isn't enough, our nutritionists told us for years that dairy products make up an "essential food group." Industry spokesmen made sure that colourful charts proclaiming the necessity of milk and other essential nutrients were made available at no cost for schools. Cow's milk became "normal." You may be surprised to learn that most of the human beings that live on planet Earth today do not drink or use cow's milk. Further, most of them can't drink milk because it makes them ill. There are students of human nutrition who are not supportive of milk use for adults. Here is a quotation from the March/April 1991 Utne Reader: If you really want to play it safe, you may decide to join the growing number of Americans who are eliminating dairy products from their diets altogether. Although this sounds radical to those of us weaned on milk and the five basic food groups, it is eminently viable. Indeed, of all the mammals, only humans--and then only a minority, principally Caucasians--continue to drink milk beyond babyhood. Who is right? Why the confusion? Where best to get our answers? Can we trust milk industry spokesmen? Can you trust any industry spokesmen? Are nutritionists up to date or are they simply repeating what their professors learned years ago? What about the new voices urging caution? I believe that there are three reliable sources of information. The first, and probably the best, is a study of nature. The second is to study the history of our own species. Finally we need to look at the world's scientific literature on the subject of milk. Let's look at the scientific literature first. From 1988 to 1993 there were over 2, 700 articles dealing with milk recorded in the 'Medicine' archives. Fifteen hundred of theses had milk as the main focus of the article. There is no lack of scientific information on this subject. I reviewed over 500 of the 1, 500 articles, discarding articles that dealt exclusively with animals, esoteric research and inconclusive studies. How would I summarize the articles? They were only slightly less than horrifying. First of all, none of the authors spoke of cow's milk as an excellent food, free of side effects and the 'perfect food' as we have been led to believe by the industry. The main focus of the published reports seems to be on intestinal colic, intestinal irritation, intestinal bleeding, anemia, allergic reactions in infants and children as well as infections such as salmonella. More ominous is the fear of viral infection with bovine leukemia virus or an AIDS-like virus as well as concern for childhood diabetes. Contamination of milk by blood and white (pus) cells as well as a variety of chemicals and insecticides was also discussed. Among children the problems were allergy, ear and tonsillar infections, bed wetting, asthma, intestinal bleeding, colic and childhood diabetes. In adults the problems seemed centered more around heart disease and arthritis, allergy, sinusitis, and the more serious questions of leukemia, lymphoma and cancer. I think that an answer can also be found in a consideration of what occurs in nature & what happens with free living mammals and what happens with human groups living in close to a natural state as 'hunter-gatherers'. Our paleolithic ancestors are another crucial and interesting group to study. Here we are limited to speculation and indirect evidences, but the bony remains available for our study are remarkable. There is no doubt whatever that these skeletal remains reflect great strength, muscularity (the size of the muscular insertions show this), and total absence of advanced osteoporosis. And if you feel that these people are not important for us to study, consider that today our genes are programming our bodies in almost exactly the same way as our ancestors of 50, 000 to 100, 000 years ago.

WHAT IS MILK? Milk is a maternal lactating secretion, a short term nutrient for new-borns. Nothing more, nothing less. Invariably, the mother of any mammal will provide her milk for a short period of time immediately after birth. When the time comes for 'weaning', the young offspring is introduced to the proper food for that species of mammal. A familiar example is that of a puppy. The mother nurses the pup for just a few weeks and then rejects the young animal and teaches it to eat solid food. Nursing is provided by nature only for the very youngest of mammals. Of course, it is not possible for animals living in a natural state to continue with the drinking of milk after weaning.

IS ALL MILK THE SAME? Then there is the matter of where we get our milk. We have settled on the cow because of its docile nature, its size, and its abundant milk supply. Somehow this choice seems 'normal' and blessed by nature, our culture, and our customs. But is it natural? Is it wise to drink the milk of another species of mammal? Consider for a moment, if it was possible, to drink the milk of a mammal other than a cow, let's say a rat. Or perhaps the milk of a dog would be more to your liking. Possibly some horse milk or cat milk. Do you get the idea? Well, I'm not serious about this, except to suggest that human milk is for human infants, dogs' milk is for pups, cows' milk is for calves, cats' milk is for kittens, and so forth. Clearly, this is the way nature intends it. Just use your own good judgement on this one. Milk is not just milk. The milk of every species of mammal is unique and specifically tailored to the requirements of that animal. For example, cows' milk is very much richer in protein than human milk. Three to four times as much. It has five to seven times the mineral content. However, it is markedly deficient in essential fatty acids when compared to human mothers' milk. Mothers' milk has six to ten times as much of the essential fatty acids, especially linoleic acid. (Incidentally, skimmed cow's milk has no linoleic acid). It simply is not designed for humans. Food is not just food, and milk is not just milk. It is not only the proper amount of food but the proper qualitative composition that is critical for the very best in health and growth. Biochemists and physiologists -and rarely medical doctors - are gradually learning that foods contain the crucial elements that allow a particular species to develop its unique specializations. Clearly, our specialization is for advanced neurological development and delicate neuromuscular control. We do not have much need of massive skeletal growth or huge muscle groups as does a calf. Think of the difference between the demands make on the human hand and the demands on a cow's hoof. Human new-borns specifically need critical material for their brains, spinal cord and nerves. Can mother's milk increase intelligence? It seems that it can. In a remarkable study published in Lancet during 1992 (Vol. 339, p. 261-4), a group of British workers randomly placed premature infants into two groups. One group received a proper formula, the other group received human breast milk. Both fluids were given by stomach tube. These children were followed up for over 10 years. In intelligence testing, the human milk children averaged 10 IQ points higher! Well, why not? Why wouldn't the correct building blocks for the rapidly maturing and growing brain have a positive effect? In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1982) Ralph Holman described an infant who developed profound neurological disease while being nourished by intravenous fluids only. The fluids used contained only linoleic acid - just one of the essential fatty acids. When the other, alpha linoleic acid, was added to the intravenous fluids the neurological disorders cleared. In the same journal five years later Bjerve, Mostad and Thoresen, working in Norway found exactly the same problem in adult patients on long term gastric tube feeding. In 1930 Dr. G.O. Burr in Minnesota working with rats found that linoleic acid deficiencies created a deficiency syndrome. Why is this mentioned? In the early 1960s pediatricians found skin lesions in children fed formulas without the same linoleic acid. Remembering the research, the addition of the acid to the formula cured the problem. Essential fatty acids are just that and cows' milk is markedly deficient in these when compared to human milk.

(This is a LONG article. They go on to talk about diseases and what not. If you want to read the whole thing, click here.)

There are a lot of interesting things to read on the Best of the Boards forum from Michael Thurmon's 6 Week Body Makeover.

Dorie sucked me in, again!

2009-01-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in the last post that my aunt was coming over tonight to bring us our Christmas gifts along with Dana, an honorary family member. Christmas was so screwy around here due to the snow and ice, we missed out on my families Christmas gathering.

Anyway, I wanted to have something sweet to offer then when they got here. My mind has been wandering around the recent Tuesdays with Dorie posts about the French Pear Tart chosen by Dorie Greenspan herself. Everyone was going on and on about how good it was, and it was beautiful... or has potential to be beautiful.

Want the recipe so you can try yourself? I thought you would.

FRENCH PEAR TART

Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours' (but taken from my manuscript, so the wording may be a little different from the way it appears in the book)
Makes 6 servings

For the pears:
6 canned pear halves OR 3 medium pears, firm but ripe
1 lemon
4 cups water, optional
1 1/4 cups sugar, optional
For the almond cream:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup ground blanched almonds
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 large egg
2 teaspoons dark rum or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 partially-baked 9-inch tart shell, made with Sweet Tart Dough (see below), at room temperature
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting, or apple jelly for glazing

Getting ready: If you are using canned pears, you have nothing to do now. If you are using fresh pears but do not wish to poach them, you have nothing to do now. If you are using fresh pears and want to poach them, peel them and leave them whole. Bring the 4 cups water, the 1 1/4 cups sugar and the juice of the lemon to a boil in a saucepan just large enough to hold the pears. Add the pears to the boiling syrup, lower the heat so the syrup simmers and gently poach the pears until they are tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes. Cool the pears to room temperature in the syrup.

To make the almond cream: Put the butter and sugar in the work bowl of a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and satiny. Add the ground almonds and continue to process until well blended. Add the flour and cornstarch, process, and then add the egg. Process for about 15 seconds more, or until the almond cream is homogeneous. Add the rum or vanilla and process just to blend. If you prefer, you can make the cream in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl with a rubber spatula. In either case, the ingredients are added in the same order. Scrape the almond cream into a container and either use it immediately or refrigerate it until firm, about 2 hours.

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have a lined baking sheet at the ready. If you are using fresh (unpoached) pears, peel them now. If you are using poached or unpoached pears, cut them in half from blossom to stem and core them; rub the unpoached pears with lemon juice. Whatever pears you have, make sure to pat them dry – really dry – so that their liquid won’t keep the almond cream from baking.

Fill the baked crust with the almond cream, spreading it even with an offset metal icing spatula. Thinly slice each pear half crosswise, lift each half on a spatula, press down on the pear to fan it slightly and place it, wide-end toward the edge of the crust, over the almond cream. The halves will form spokes.

Put the crust on the lined baking sheet, slide the sheet into the oven and bake the tart 50 to 60 minutes, or until the almond cream puffs up around the pears and browns. Transfer the tart to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature before unmolding.

Right before serving, dust the tart with confectioners’ sugar. If you prefer, prepare a glaze by bringing about 1/4 cup apple jelly and1/2 teaspoon water to the boil. Brush the glaze over the surface of the tart.

Serving: This tart goes very well with aromatic tea.

Storing: If it’s convenient for you, you can make the almond cream up to 2 days ahead and keep it closely covered in the refrigerator, or you can wrap it airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months; defrost before using. You can also poach the pears up to 1 day ahead. However, once you’ve baked the tart, you should be prepared to enjoy it that same day.

Playing around: The almond cream is a great companion for a variety of fruits. It’s as good with summer fruits, like apricots or peaches, as it is with autumn’s apples.

SWEET TART DOUGH (Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours', but taken from my manuscript, so the wording may be a little different from the way it appears in the book)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

To make the dough: Put the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely – you’ll have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pea-size pieces and that’s just fine. Stir the egg, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses – about 10 seconds each – until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change – heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface.
Very lightly and sparingly – make that very, very lightly and sparingly – knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

If you want to press the dough into a tart pan, now is the time to do it.

If you want to chill the dough and roll it out later (doable, but fussier than pressing), gather the dough into a ball (you might have to use a little more pressure than you used to mix in dry bits, because you do want the ball to be just this side of cohesive), flatten it into a disk, wrap it well and chill it for at least 2 hours or for up to 1 day.

To make a press-in crust: Butter the tart pan and press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Don’t be stingy – you want a crust with a little heft because you want to be able to both taste and feel it. Also, don’t be too heavy-handed – you want to press the crust in so that the pieces cling to one another and knit together when baked, but you don’t want to press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly shortbread-ish texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To make a rolled-out crust: This dough is very soft – a combination of a substantial amount of butter and the use of confectioners’ sugar – so I find it is easier to roll it between wax paper or plastic wrap or, easiest of all, in a roll-out-your-dough slipcover. If you use the slipcover, flour it lightly. Roll the dough out evenly, turning the dough over frequently and lifting the wax paper or plastic wrap often, so that it doesn’t roll into the dough and form creases. If you’ve got time, slide the rolled out dough into the fridge to rest and firm for about 20 minutes before fitting the dough into the buttered tart pan. Trim the excess dough even with the edge of the pan. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil tightly against the crust. Bake the crust 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack; keep it in its pan.

As it turns out, my aunt is avoiding sugar now. She did eat a tiny piece but I feel bad for sabotaging her. They said it was really good. They commented on the shortbread crust. I made 4 mini tarts and we only cut into one tonight. I plan to visit my mom and my friend Sabrina this week, hopefully. Maybe I will take the remaining tarts to them. If you do it all in one large tart pan, the fluted pears form a sort of pin wheel. It's beautiful. I would recommend that if you have the pan.

Well, that's it for now. I have some articles on salt, water, dairy, etc that I want to share with you all tomorrow. They are very much worth reading. Give them a chance.

6WBM: Sweet and Spicy Shrimp

2009-01-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp
½ cup pineapple juice
½ teaspoon dry mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons Brown Sugar Twin (BMOS Note: Brown Sugar Twin is available in many markets in the baking section.)
1 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons dry sherry or white wine (BMOS Note: Please be sure to select regular table wine rather than cooking wine which is loaded with sodium.)
1 lb. peeled, deveined, and cleaned shrimp

Combine all ingredients except shrimp, mixing well. Add shrimp and let marinate 30 minutes. Grill or barbecue, brushing with leftover marinade.

I bought my shrimp frozen from an Asian food store. You need to check the ingredients on the bag to be sure it wasn't frozen with salt. Most sea food is. I separated it into quart sized freezer bags and pulled out one bag at a time so it doesn't go bad as I'm between seafood cravings.

Serving Idea: Serve with sticky Japanese short grain rice.

This was very good. I don't have much experience cooking sea food so I tend to over cook it a bit. I'm afraid of not getting it quite done. I don't want worms! So my shrimp was a little more firm than it should have been but the flavor was spot on. I recommend you try this one. Two ounces equals three shrimp. It doesn't seem like much but I'm not hungry anymore. That was way too much veggies, too. I ate about a fourth of it.

Well, back to cleaning. My kids TRASHED the house yesterday and we have company coming over tonight. Wish me luck! I need it!

6WBM: Nina's Turkey Rice One Dish Wonder

2009-01-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

Before I go further, I want to show you the new pan I got for Christmas from my mother-in-law. She actually gave me this nice, big, non-stick skillet, a small sauce pan with a pour spout and two big wooden spoons. It's so nice. I didn't have a non-stick skillet last time I was on this diet. My pans were high quality and made to cook without oil, etc, but this is TRULY non-stick.

And now for the recipe.

Nina's Turkey Rice One Dish Wonder

1 pound ground turkey breast
16 oz mushrooms, sliced
½ - 1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup or more nsa chicken broth
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 -2 handfuls sprouts
2 (8 oz) cans nsa tomato sauce
6 oz can nsa tomato paste
uncooked white rice to equal 4 cups cooked (BMOS Note: Some rices double in volume when cooked; others may actually yield three times or more than their uncooked volume.)
garlic powder, to taste
onion powder, to taste
basil, to taste
oregano, to taste
parsley, to taste
black pepper, to taste
any Mrs. Dash seasonings, to taste
arrowroot powder, optional

Brown ground turkey and seasoning of choice in saute pan, drain any excess fat from cooking, re-season as needed or to taste.

Add to skillet mushrooms, onions and garlic powder and saute briefly.

Add in rice, cabbage, sprouts and any additional seasonings you may like in 1 cup chicken broth so that it covers the turkey and veggies.

Cook over medium heat and let gently bubble. Add more chicken broth if necessary (and OH, was it necessary! I used about 3 cans by the time I was done). Cook until cabbage is slightly wilted. Turn heat down and allow to simmer till rice is almost done. Add tomato sauce and paste and stir and continue to cook until desired thickness.

The recipe says you can use arrowroot to thicken if it's not thick enough for you. Mine was firm and casserole-like.

Do you see where I went awry? I added the tomatoes right away. I don't see what difference it would make, aside from the rice absorbing tomato flavor and not just broth... It worked out okay. Judging the amt of rice was hard, and my two year old was doing the scooping and wanted to keep going. I think I'm okay with the portions but... we'll see. I will just be sure to scoop out a rice appropriate serving and the protein will just have to suffer a little.

You know how all ground meat packages come with 1.25lbs and the recipes ALL call for 1 lb. I'm not going to leave out the forth pound of meat so, I have to adjust my portions for what they suggest anyway.

6WBM: Pumpkin Custard

2009-01-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Custard

(This was adapted from the Libby's pie recipe. BMOS Note: Due to the amount of sugar substitute in this recipe, while using it you may wish to monitor your monitor your reduction progress closely. As this may be quite sweet, you may trigger unwanted sugar cravings.)

1½ cups Splenda
3½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
14 egg whites
2 cans (3 1/2 cups) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Mix Splenda and spices in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and Splenda-spice mixture.

Bake in pie plate for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350ºF; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Wow. WOW! This is GOOD! The first couple bites were awesome! Several bites into it, it started tasting artificial... and wet. It was cooked through to "custard" texture... or at least as close as these ingredients could get. I just enjoyed the dry scrapings I ate from the remnants on the pan.

I'm thinking maybe after the above listed baking... you could slice it and bake again for a bit... until it is dry and kind of cake like... It's almost like bread and is very sweet. It's really satisfying. Try it!

Sneeky Little Wonderful Man

2009-01-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

On Dustin's birthday we met my parents for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. After lunch, we all went to the mall to get Caitlin a Build-a-Bear for her birthday. While we were there, Dustin split off from us because he needed to "go check out a store for something". I got something to eat because there was nothing close to plan friendly (6WMB) at California Pizza Kitchen. While we were sitting there Dustin came back carrying ... A KITCHEN AID MIXER!

He bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer on his birthday!! He used a bonus his boss gave him at work to buy me a gift for no reason. He said merry Christmas but I wasnt short any Christmas gifts from him. He's SO NICE!

Wanna see it?

YAY!

Now, what to make?

Haitian French Toast

2009-01-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

If you read the previous post, you'll know that we had Caitlin's birthday slumber party last night. This morning, I made the girls Haitian French Toast for breakfast. It was a hit. They all, including Ethan, ate it all.

I found the ricipe by Googling Baguette french toast. We had chosen a recipe from a cookbook Caitlin checked out at the school library. However, Dustin sent the books back to school with her the day before I needed them and I hadn't written it down. Oops.

This one was better anyway.

Haitian French Toast
Ingredients
1 day old French baguette
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup white sugar
1 dash ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons powdered sugar (for dusting)

Directions
1 Cut off the ends of the baguette a reserve for another use. Cut the remainder in 1/2 inch slices. Let them stand for at least 4 hours or overnight to dry.

2 In a 9x13 pan combine the orange juice, heavy cream, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and white sugar.

3 Place the bread slices in the pan, turning the slices until the liquid is absorbed.

4 In a large skillet, melt butter over medium to medium high heat. Add bread slices and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Dust heavily with powdered sugar to serve.

5 I always include maple or fruit syrup on the table.

6 Heavenly way to start the day!

7 Prep time doesn't include the bread drying step.

Happy Birthday, Caitlin!!

2009-01-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Caitlin turns 8 this week! She had her first slumber party for her birthday last night. The last girl just left. The house is still realtively clean! :-)

They started off playing for a while. Then Cailtin Opened her gifts.

Then we went to Out of this World for pizza and playing. We came home to eat cake and watch a movie. They had popcorn, root beer floats, and candy. They had a good time and stayed up way too late!

This morning, I made them all a special french toast breakfast (which I will post next). They all ate all their french toast! Can you believe it?

Finally, the girls dressed Callie up like a princess, which she was thrilled about! It is so nice that they include Ethan and Callie. I'm sure it won't last long but they I bet they will remember these times fondly.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Cherry Delight Cake

2009-01-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

Well this one's interesting! I gave Caitlin a few choices of desserts for her birthday and this is the one she chose.

She had a slumber party with a couple friends last night. I'll post some pictures of that next.

Here are the ingredients for Cherry Delight Cake.

1 box yellow cake mix

1 can crushed pineapple

1 can "light" cherry pie filling

1-2 sticks butter or margarine

2-4 c. pecans, chopped

That's it. Strange, huh?

Even stranger is the directions.

Start off pouring the cherry pie filling into the bottom of a 9x9" casserole dish. Then top it with the entire contents of the pineapple can. Once this is all spread out top this with the POWDERED cake mix.

Strange, huh?!?

Now, equally weird, or just disturbing, you pour 1-2 STICKS of butter over the top... I used one. I guess you use that amount in cookies or breads... you're not eating the whole thing... or in this case, more than a couple bites... it's okay, right?

STILL WEIRD, you MICROWAVE it! The directions said "on roast for 17 minutes and on high for 6" but my microwave doesn't have a roast setting so I did high for 23 minutes. It worked.

The fruit bubbled out over the edge a little during cooking. I expected that cause it was full almost to the top. Then it sunk down quite a bit.

The cake mix with the butter became a hard crust. It was like a pie or a cobbler. I think calling it "cake" is far from accurate. There was no cake like texture at all, but that's okay.

The kids all really liked it. They made it themselves. One of the girls said pineapple makes her stomach upset and she throws up so she didn't try it. The other kids all said it was good but only one girl ate her whole piece. Dustin's stomach was upset and I'm dieting so neither of us tried it. It sure smelled good...

Tall & Creamy Cheesecake by Dorie Greenspan

2009-01-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

The wonderful Tuesday's With Dorie bakers made this cheesecake a couple weeks ago and everyone was raving. Well, Dustin's birthday is coming up and his favorite desert is cherry cheesecake, so it's my turn to make it.

Tall and Creamy Cheesecake: A Basic
- makes 16 servings -Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons sugar

Pinch of salt

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:

2 pounds (four 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two

*note: the sour cream creates more of a tangy flavor, like a New York Cheesecake and the heavy cream creates a more mild flavor. I went with all sour cream on this one*

Procedure
To make the crust:

1. Butter a 9-inch spring form pan—choose one that has sides that are 2 3/4 inches high (if the sides are lower, you will have cheesecake batter leftover)—and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil; put the pan on a baking sheet.

2. Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. Turn the ingredients into the buttered spring form pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides. Don't worry if the sides are not perfectly even or if the crumbs reach above or below the midway mark on the sides—this doesn't have to be a precision job. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven.

3. Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F and place the spring form on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

To make the cheesecake:

1. Put a kettle of water on to boil.

2. Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and lives up to the creamy part of its name, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition—you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

3. Put the foil-wrapped spring form pan in the roaster pan.
4. Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the spring form pan. The batter will reach the brim of the pan. (If you have a pan with lower sides and have leftover batter, you can bake the batter in a buttered ramekin or small souffle mold.) Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the spring form pan.

5. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.
6. After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the spring form pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

7. When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.

Serving:

Remove the sides of the spring form pan—I use a hairdryer to do this (use the dryer to warm the sides of the pan and ever so slightly melt the edges of the cake)—and set the cake, still on the pans base, on a serving platter. The easiest way to cut cheesecake is to use a long, thin knife that has been run under hot water and lightly wiped. Keep warming the knife as you cut slices of the cake.

Storing:

Wrapped well, the cake will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or for up to 2 months in the freezer. It's best to defrost the still-wrapped cheesecake overnight in the refrigerator.

My family loved it and the leftovers were eaten up at work. This is a good one.

6WBM: Pina Colada Smoothie

2009-01-07T16:09:00.001-08:00

Piña Colada Smoothie
2 egg whites, pasteurized (available in carton)
2-4 packets of Splenda (or to taste)
1/2 cup pineapple (use fresh, canned or snack pack variety packed in own juice. Be sure to drain juice before use.)
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
1 1/2 cups ice
1/3 cup water (more or less)

Blend egg whites and Splenda in blender; add pineapple, coconut extract, ice and water. Blend until smooth.

This is good! Everyone would like it. People and my last job used to drink them with me even though they were not on the diet. It's really tasty and healty. You know, they say egg whites are the perfect protein based on the lack of fat along with the high protein content. In this smoothie, you are getting fruit and protien without carbs of any kind. That's a perfect breakfast or snack for anyone.

6WBM: Green Bean Chili

2009-01-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

Green Bean Chili
1 lb extra lean ground beef or ground turkey breast
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cans of nsa diced tomatoes, drained
3 cans of nsa french cut green beans, drained (frozen works fine too)
1 large can tomato paste
1/8 cup (2 tbl) nsa chili powder (I use Spice Hunter brand)
1 tsp cocoa powder (**you cant have this on the 6WBM diet reduction phase so I skipped it in mine)

Saute garlic, onion and bell pepper in saucepan; when soft, add meat and brown.

Drain meat mixture. Place meat mixture into crock pot. Add tomatoes, green beans, tomato paste and sauce.

Mix in chili powder and cocoa (or eliminate it to make it more plan friendly), then cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

Note: You can also replace the green beans with pinto beans (if you're not on the reduction phase), the dried ones, soaked and prepared according to package directions, but the green beans are very satisfying, and allow you to get those veggies in!

This one was good. It makes a bunch so I'll be eating it for a while. The first few times I had it I really liked it. I ate it last night and didn't like it... but bad food cravings just kicked in last night.

It's going to get tough for me now. I should know. I've been going back and forth for 9 months now. I know I can make it several days without trouble and then I start craving things... everything that would just sit heavy in my stomach and make me feel full, peaceful, and content for hours. I'm good so far today but I expect a tough week ahead. If I can make it through another 7 days, I'll be good to go for the duration. Wish me luck!!

6WBM: Marianne's Baked Fish

2009-01-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

Marianne's Baked Fish

1 lemon and 1 onion, both thinly sliced
a filet of any kind of fresh solid white fish (haddock, cod, halibut, tilapia, etc.)
pepper and Mrs. Dash nsa seasoning to taste
3 - 4 tablespoons liquid: water, nsa chicken broth, or for extra flavor either white wine, dry sherry or Marsala (BMOS Note: Should you opt to use any of the wine selections, please be sure not to use anything labeled for cooking use, which is loaded with sodium.)

In the center of a large piece of aluminum foil, layer ingredients as follows:

half the onion
half the lemon
the fish fillet
Mrs. Dash seasoning of your choice
lots of black pepper
the rest of the lemon
the rest of the onion
Pour on top 3-4 tablespoons of liquid.

Fold the foil to make a pouch, and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. If you have fresh herbs around, add a large sprig of fresh dill or parsley on the bottom (before the onion) and top (after the onion). I've also added coarsely chopped celery or fennel, leaves and all, before/after the onion.You can also bake chunks of potatoes this way, cooked in a separate pouch at the same time (depending on size of potato chunks, may take 45 min to cook).

*I cooked mine at 425* for about 15 minutes. It was a little too long. Try 10 and check it.)

It was okay. I cooked enough fish for two servings and I ate my first serving for a meal in which I couldn't have veggies. It would have been really good with a bite of asparagus. The potatoes were great. I used too much pepper so the onions were spicy. I used a dry Chardonnay instead of the broth. The fish was a little tough but had good flavor.

I have more fish to cook later (it's frozen cod) and I think I'll try a different recipe next time.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Chicken and Dumplings

2009-01-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

I made this for my family for dinner tonight. It was quick and easy to make.

Dustin said it was good but he would have preferred the chicken shredded instead of cubed.

Caitlin said it was weird. She ate mostly salad and Clementine oranges.

Ethan told Dustin that if he ate it he would puke. Dustin told him he had to take a bite and if he puked he would buy him a toy. :-# He did not puke.

Callie picked at it which is more than we normally get.

I say it's a winner!

Chicken And Dumplings
1 stewer or fryer

1 diced carrot

1 diced potato

Parsley flakes

Salt

Pepper

Garlic salt

1 (8 oz.) pkg. wide noodles

Instructions
Cook chicken in seasoned water until tender. Remove. Cool. De bone then return to broth. Add carrot and potato; cook until tender. Then add noodles and top with the uncooked dumplings spooned on dumplings.

DUMPLINGS

2 c. Bisquick

2/3 c. milk

Cook uncovered 10 minutes. Cover. Cook 10 minutes.

The dumplings were not cooking on top so I had to flip them. Other than that, it cooked up very easily.

6WBM: Chili Roasted Vegetables

2009-01-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

I thought this sounded. It is tasty. It would have been better with oil. :-( I'm on day 5 so I'm not quite used to the lack of fat yet.

Here's the recipe

Chili Roasted vegetables

3 zucchini, sliced ½" thick
1 eggplant, ends cut off and sliced into ½" thick rounds, then sliced into ½" moons
2 large sweet red or yellow peppers, cut into 2" chunks
2 large red onions, cut into 2" chunks
1 cup sliced fennel

1 tablespoon nsa chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons nsa chicken broth

Caitlin came home from school and asked if there was anything we could cook cause she was in the mood. I put her to work.

Preheat oven to 425º. Place zucchini, eggplant, pepper, onion and fennel in very large bowl or pot and toss to combine.

Mix chili powder, garlic, and cumin in small bowl. Sprinkle over vegetables. Toss again to coat vegetables with spices. Pour vegetables into large roasting pan. Drizzle with chicken broth. Cover with foil and roast in oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil from pan and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.

Vegetables should be soft. Serve hot or cool slightly and chill for later.

I am missing the egg plant and I added carrots instead. I bought an egg plant on Friday and it's bad by today. I didn't get around to making it as soon as I planned. Oh well. These will be eaten none the less.

6WBM: Pineapple Upside Down Cake Smoothie, as promised

2009-01-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

This smoothie is SO GOOD. The white chocolate sugar free syrup was a little hard to find. I found it at a restaurant supple store called Cash & Carry. The pasteurised egg white are located in the egg section of any grocery store.

So first of all, you need a bit of crushed ice in your blender. Then 1/3 cup of pasteurised egg white (that equals 2oz or two egg whites). Next is 1/2 cup of pineapple (try crushed pineapple if you've got it). Last but not least, 1 tsp (or more if you want it sweeter) of the coffee syrup.

Blend it all up and you have something truly wonderful!

6WBM: Mexican Chicken Soup

2009-01-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

This one is Great! I really like it. I made it really spicy

Mexican Chicken Soup
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2½ tablespoons cumin, preferably freshly ground
1½ tablespoons nsa chili powder
1½ teaspoons cayenne
2 (14.5 oz) cans nsa diced tomatoes
3 cups nsa chicken broth, preferably homemade
16 ounces cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Preheat large (3 quart) pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook for 3-5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Use a bit of chicken broth to keep onions from sticking to the pot.

Add tomatoes and chicken broth, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and add chicken. Simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in cilantro, and simmer for 5 minutes more.

I served mine over 1/2 cup rice. I dished out 2 oz chicken and the soup and veggies to go along with it. I really like it. This may be one a normal family would eat along with you.

6WBM: The Perfect Smoothie

2009-01-06T01:40:00.000-08:00

The Perfect Smoothie

That's what they call it. There are a LOT of great smoothie recipes in the breakfast recipe portion of the recipe exchange. I LOVE the Pineapple Upside Down Cake Smoothie. I'll post that one later.

This one consists of whatever kind of fruit (6WBM appropriate fruit, that is) in the appropriate portion (fruit A is 1/2 cup and fruit B is 1/4 cup) I used a small chunk of banana and about 1/4 cup of canned chunked pineapple (canned in juice! Be sure none of the fruit you buy is canned in syrup!).
¼ cup warm water
4 level teaspoons powdered egg whites
2 teaspoons Splenda (or you can use Sugar Twin Brown Sugar which is quite yummy!) (BMOS Note: Brown Sugar Splenda would not be a recommended substitute as this product contains sugar. )
1 teaspoon vanilla
7 ice cubes

The powdered egg white are REALLY expensive. I think that can cost me $17 but it last forever. I bought this can when I first started my diet over a year ago.

Blend it up. My blender isn't breaking down the ice very well. I would love to get a Magic Bullet. Have you heard of those? It's a little, powerful blender device that blends in large cup sized containers. Then you can microwave, freeze, or put the lid on it and store it in the fridge. I don't know. It sound very convenient to me.

I didn't get around to prettying up this cup. I will next time. Just wait. It was good anyway. Not very filling for the three hours between meals but they really satisfy the sweet cravings. Try one!

Okay, this time for real!!

2009-01-06T00:53:00.000-08:00

It's time for me to quit procrastinating and lose this weigh I've put on. I'm going to start posting a lot of 6 Week Body Makeover recipes, starting with my basic staple, Breakfast Sausage.

I find the majority of my recipes on the Provida website, 6WBM recipe exchange. I have tried many versions of breakfast sausage posted on the recipe exchange but I tend to prefer ones I just throw together myself.

Start with ground turkey breast. It's more expensive than any percentage of lean ground turkey but the point is to have the leanest meat. Chose your seasonings and mix well. I tend to come back to garlic powder, onion powder and dehydrated minced onion, black pepper, crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning.

Here is the combination of seasonings I used this time.
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup dehydrated onion
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp summer savory
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper

Form the turkey into 2oz patties and cook on a dry, non-stick skillet.

(Do not use cooking spray, oil, butter, salt, etc. You may think a little won't hurt but it will!! You will never get use to the lack of salt if you sneak it in!)

Oh, I wanted to add something, I needed cooked chicken and no sodium added (nsa) chicken broth for the next recipe I was making so I just poured water into this skillet after the sausage was done. See all the bits on the pan? That makes for great flavored broth. It turned out really good.

Look at the cute pan I got for Christmas from my mother-in-law. It's big and red and heavy and non-stick. It's from Paula Dean.

Here is my breakfast. Two ounces of protein and 1/2 cup of fruit. If anyone is interested in the program, order the kit. This diet works and it's such a healthy way to live. I don't want to give away all their secrets so I'll be a little discrete with my descriptions of my diet.

Check back soon for Mexican Chicken Soup and Green Bean Chili.

Teacher gifts, take two.

2009-01-05T09:05:00.001-08:00

You know that caramel corn we made for the kids teachers? Well, because of the snow the kids didn't go to school that whole week and then had two weeks of vacation. I took the caramel corn to work for the snow shut-in's.

The kids go back to school today so we whipped out these chocolate covered pretzel's to go along with the theater gift cards.

We used milk chocolate and white chocolate for our pretzels. We sprinkled different pretties on the chocolate. I think they came out very nice.

They kids sure think they are tasty. Everyone knows chocolate covered pretzels are good. Callie is loving them. We used the whole bag of pretzels and only filled three little clear bags. So we sent one with each kid and there is one left here for the kids to munch on.

Thumb Print Cookies

2009-01-05T08:48:00.001-08:00

Caitlin got a couple of cookbooks for Christmas this year. Santa brought her a Paula Dean kids cookbook and my mom gave her and the other kids this cookie book. She's been in the mood to cook lately. I've thrown my back out and didn't feel like putting the painful effort forth to clean the kitchen in perpetration for baking but... my little chef demands it. She cleaned the kitchen (as well as an almost 8 year old can clean a kitchen) so I would okay it and therefore, Thumb Print Cookies came to be on our counter top.

We started with a Easy All-Purpose Cookie Dough recipe.

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

We whipped up this dough and Caitlin sadly put it in the fridge to chill. It's so hard to wait. After an hour we rolled balls of dough and Caitlin gladly stuck her thumb into each ball to make room for the jam. We went with strawberry and blackberry jam

The kids loved them and Caitlin refused to let me take them to work. So here they sit on my counter to tempt me in a down moment.

Chocolate Cherry Trifle

2009-01-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

I don't have any pictures of my own trifle. I made the bits and pieces as quickly as I could and ran off to work. I put it together during the night shift and it was eaten gradually over three days.

I really wanted to buy a trifle bowl for presentation purposes but it is the gift buying season and I really needed to save the money. I put it together in a basic glass bowl.

I started with the chocolate pound cake. I found a recipe through Google that was great.

Chocolate Pound Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup milk

Preparation:Beat butter and shortening; add sugar and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in vanilla. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Bake chocolate pound cake in a greased 10-inch tube pan at 325° for 80 minutes, or until chocolate pound cake bounces back when touched lightly in the center with finger.

This turned out REALLY good. I doubled the recipe cause I was afraid I wouldn't have enough but I had about three times as much as I needed. I smeared a little leftover cream cheese frosting from the fridge on the cake and left it for my cousin who was house sitting for our vacation.

Friday before Christmas was the day I was bringing this dessert for a coworkers birthday. I mixed up the pudding as fast as I could and prepared the cake and jam. I left out the brandy due to work (can't have a bunch of tipsy health care workers running around) but I think it would have really added so much. I will try this again sometime. It truly was wonderful and definitely worth repeating.

Chocolate Cherry Trifle
Ingredients
2 (approximately 12 ounces each) chocolate pound cakes
1/2 cup black cherry jam
1/2 cup cherry brandy
2 cups drained bottled sour cherries (recommended: Morello)

Custard:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, minimum 70 percent cocoa solids, chopped
1 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon milk
1 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup cocoa

Topping:
3 cups heavy cream
1-ounce bittersweet chocolate
Special Equipment: Large wide trifle bowl

Directions
Slice the chocolate pound cake and make jam sandwiches with the cherry jam, and layer the bottom of a large wide trifle bowl. Pour over the cherry brandy so that the cake soaks it up, and then top with the drained cherries. Cover with cling wrap and leave to macerate while you make the custard.
Melt the chocolate on low to medium heat in the microwave, checking after 2 minutes, though it will probably need 4 minutes. Or you can place it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once the chocolate is melted, set aside while you get on with the custard.
In a saucepan warm the milk and cream. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cocoa in a large bowl. Pour the warm milk and cream into the bowl whisking it into the yolks and sugar mixture. Stir in the melted chocolate, scraping the sides well with a rubber spatula to get all of it in, and pour the custard back into the rinsed saucepan. Cook over a medium heat until the custard thickens, stirring all the time. Make sure it doesn't boil, as it will split and curdle. Keep a sink full of cold water so that if you get scared you can plunge the bottom of the custard pan into the cold water and
whisk like mad, which will avert possible crisis.
The custard will get darker as it cooks and the flecks of chocolate will melt once the custard has thickened. And you do need this thick, so don't panic so much that you stop cooking while it is still runny. Admittedly, it continues to thicken as it cools and also when it's chilling in the refrigerator. Once it is ready, pour into a bowl to cool and cover the top of the custard with cling wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
When the custard is cold, pour and spread it over the chocolate cake layer in the trifle bowl, and leave in the refrigerator to set, covered in cling wrap overnight.
When you are ready to decorate, softly whip the cream for the topping and spread it gently over the layer of custard. Grate the chocolate over the top.

IN THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF YO GABBA GABBA AND OUR LITTLE CALLIE

TRY IT! YOU'LL LIKE IT!!

It's been a while, I know!

2008-12-31T16:35:00.001-08:00

Well, here are my many excuses.

First of all, there was snow.

Lot's of it!

So much snow that I made it to work Saturday night but could not make it home in the morning. One of my two chains broke on the way there and was unrepairable. So I walked to breakfast in the morning with some more stuck co-workers. The snow was about 1-2 feet deep on the sidewalk areas so we walked down the middle of the street in the ruts. No one much was out so it worked out well. We stopped at Freddy's for some Jammie's and returned to work to sleep in the unpopulated end of the third floor.

My side of the family was planning to do a Christmas gathering Sunday afternoon at my aunt's house. This was canceled because she lives up a very steep hill which was currently covered with snow and ice. We gave our kids their Christmas gifts from us on Thursday or Friday night. We were all suck at home and we knew things were a little crazy. So I really wasn't missing much, except my little family.

I worked the next night and, determined to escape in the morning, spent about 3 hours defrosting and digging my car out to drive to my parents house. I slept about 4-5 hours there and my sweet parents picked me up some new chains, as my remaining chain broke while attempting to evacuate my parking space at work. I made it home by 7:30pm Monday night.

There was a lot to do Monday night. Our plane was due to take off at 11:40-ish Tuesday morning. We were concerned about cancellations as most flights throughout the weekend had been canceled, but we packed and cleaned as much as we could that night to prepare. My cousin was coming over to house sit and feed our pets so we didn't want to leave too big a mess. I couldn't get as much done as I would have liked. Dustin and the three kids had been stuck at home all weekend because I had the van with their car seats at work work me. They were all stir crazy and quite messy.

Anyway, we left early Monday morning for my parents house, did a quick gift exchange and we were off to the Airport. Every thing went a planned and all was well on the trip down.

Our kids have a good group of cousins in the South. There are 6 and 4 year old boys, a two year old girl ( about 5-6 months older than Callie) and two new little ones. A 6 month old boy (little Indy there) and a 4 month old girl. We also spent a day driving to Oklahoma to see my sister and brothers families. They have four kids between them. My kids had TONS of fun and were quite sad to leave either place.

I can't figure out what is going on with the layout of this post and the more I mess with it the more pictures I accidentally delete. So I'm just going to do my writing here. I need to explain that funky, 1980's prom picture of my husband down there. That is one of his aunts and him at a "High School Homecoming" murder mystery that we did at a HUGE family gathering. Everyone was supposed to dress in formal wear but also to fit their role in the mystery. It went well enough. "Camp" is always an adventure. :-)

It was a fun trip. We are looking forward to the next one.

Some meals made with what's on hand.

2008-12-17T18:00:00.001-08:00

So the question lately is "What are we going to eat?" The ground is covered with snow and ice and we are broke, broke, broke. Also, the kids have taken turns puking and feeling sick for the last week. FUN!

Last night we needed to feed us all before we sent the kids off to bed. I dug through some recipes and decided to make my own.

I used a lb of ground turkey breast and seasoned it with salt & pepper, dehydrated minced onion and garlic. I rolled this mixture into balls and sauteed it in about 4 TBSP of sweet chili sauce and about 2 tsp garlic chili sauce. I should have used less of the garlic sauce for the kids. It was kind of spicy all together. I also added about 1/2 cup of unsweetened pineapple juice from a can of pineapple chunks.

When the outside of the meat balls was browned, I added some veggies and pineapple chunks, covered and cooked this for maybe 15 minutes. I cooked some rice and served it with the meat balls.

Caitlin then puked, Callie passed out, and Ethan said it was too spicy so I ate it alone. Maybe I'll have leftovers for dinner tonight. It was really good and healthy.

For lunch today I made some home made mac and cheese. I don't do this often but it turned out great. Dustin thought I was going to make Easy Mac and was kind of iffy about the whole idea of experimental cooking.

I boiled about two cups of noodles, drained them and added about 1/2 cup margarine. When melted, I added about 1 cup of an Italian cheese blend and about 2 cups of mild cheddar. I added some milk until it was creamy and about a teaspoon of Paula Dean's house seasoning (2 parts salt, 1 part pepper, 1 part garlic powder). It was really good.

Dustin said it was decent and in some ways better than a box but he is use to the box and therefore likes it better. He said it is one of the better home made mac and cheese that he has had.

Alright, I'm done. I would like to start making up more of my own recipes. I can't take any credit for it if I'm using someone else's recipe, you know?

Cherry Almond Biscotti, just for fun.

2008-12-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

Caitlin and I were browsing other food blogs this afternoon. We came across a biscotti recipe and Caitlin got all excited. So we searched biscotti recipes to find one that suited us and require ingredients that were already in my house. We chose Almond Cherry Biscotti from AllRecipes.com. We didn't want nuts in our cookies so we added almond extract and I'm calling them Cherry Almond Biscotti instead.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold butter (no substitutes)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped blanched almonds
1 cup halved candied cherries

DIRECTIONS
In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In another bowl, beat eggs, milk and vanilla until blended; stir into dry ingredients until blended. Stir in almonds and cherries (the dough will be crumbly). Divide dough in half; shape each half into a ball. On an ungreased baking sheet, roll each ball into a 10-in. x 2-1/2-in. rectangle. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully remove to wire racks; cool for 20 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board; cut diagonally with a sharp knife into 3/4-in. slices. Place cut side down on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until firm. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container.

I had maraschino cherries left over from previous baking so these went into our biscotti instead of candied cherries.

The batter was very crumbly. I kneaded it a bit to form the rectangles. The first baking went well. I cooled it as called for. Cut each rectangle into bars and arranged them on the cookie sheet to go back in.

Then the power went out. We were without power for about an hour. I put the cookies back in when the power came back on. They never crisped up like biscotti does but they are SO GOOD anyway.

The directions say to bake 15 minutes OR until firm. I was impatient and took them out after about 20 minutes.

I'm baking a chocolate pound cake for a work birthday this weekend. I'm making a Black Forrest Trifle. :-) Mmmm. I'll post that a little later.

For now, look at my biscotti and be tempted to whip some up yourself. It's really not hard and the ingredients were pretty basic.

Caitlin made us all tea to go with our treat. It was quite lovely.

Fiestaware giveaway!

2008-12-16T21:26:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? Homer Laughlin China Company is giving away four 4 piece place settings of Fiestaware curtsy of Ravings of a Mad Housewife.

Go to Homer Laughlin's site and choose your favorite color that you would like in your free Fiestaware. I like Scarlet! Post a comment on Mad Housewife's site.

I'll tell you now, though, there are 581 entries already!! The drawing is Christmas eve so get there soon!

Good luck!

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Breakfast Pizza Recipe with Strawberries

2008-12-16T16:56:00.000-08:00

Doesn't that sound like a nice after school snack? That was my plan but school has been out due to snow for the last two days and I just heard it's out tomorrow now, too.

We were home most of the day today with no real plans so it's a good time to cook.

Breakfast Pizza Recipe with Strawberries

1 package (10-count size) refrigerated biscuits
1 Orange
1 package (8 ounce size) light cream cheese, softened
5 teaspoons Honey, divided
1/2 liter Basket fresh strawberries, stemmed and halved

Instructions
Adults: Preheat oven to 400F.

Kids: Stack 2 biscuits. Roll out to a 6-inch circle, 1/8-inch thick. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Prick all over with fork. Repeat with remaining biscuits to make 5 circles in all.

Adult: Bake until golden, 6 to 8 minutes; loosen and cool slightly.

Kids: Finely grate peel from orange. In bowl combine cheese, peel and 3 teaspoons of the honey to blend set aside.

Juice orange into large bowl. Add strawberries and the remaining honey toss.

Adults: Increase oven temperature to 425F. Spread biscuits with cheese to within 1/2 inch of edges. Bake until cheese edges brown lightly. Top with drained strawberries. Serve warm.

None of my kids were interested in cooking today (or Caitlin was burnt out after the caramel corn) so I did this on my own.

The stores didn't have any fresh strawberries when I went so I got frozen. They are not quite as pretty but, they still taste like strawberries.

This cream cheese, orange zest and honey combo was wonderful. Really tasty!

Mmmm. This wasn't bad either.

All the kids liked this one and ate it without complaint. I ate some without complaint too. I will come back to this one a few times, I'm sure.

Cooking With Alicia and Annie: Caramel Corn

2008-12-16T16:22:00.000-08:00

Kids now days have a lot of teachers. Caitlin and Ethan each have their primary teacher, and then there's the librarian, and music, PE, the counselor, and the principal. Caitlin wants to give gifts to all of these people.

Caitlin is such a good little chef, we decided to make caramel corn from Alicia's site with lots of Caitlin help.

Each kid chose a little ornament for their teacher and we're set.

First we popped a ton of popcorn the old fashion way with oil on the stove top. Then Caitlin and I made the caramel.

Caramel Corn
7 qt Popped popcorn
2 c Brown sugar
1 c Butter
Vanilla
1/2 c Corn syrup
1 ts Salt
1/2 ts Soda

We started with melting the sugar, butter and corn syrup together and boiling for 5 minutes.

Caitlin poured our popcorn onto large trays to go into the oven.

When the caramel was ready, I poured it onto the popcorn and stirred it until it was well coated. I didn't let Caitlin help with this part as hot sugar sure can burn but she took the pictures which I think she enjoys more anyway.

The trick now is to bake it at 250* for an hour to kind of dry out the caramel, stirring it every 10 minutes to cook evenly and break up major chunks.

I had some vanilla sugar that came with a little coffee kit I bought once and I thought that could be a nice addition to the caramel corn. So when I was stirring the popcorn, I sprinkled some sugar over it a couple times. Not that there wasn't enough sugar in the first place...

We packaged it all up in nice little cellophane bags with Christmas ribbon. The two for their primary teachers have the ornaments and a little tag with the address of this blog so they can get the recipe and see Caitlin's handiwork if they're interested. We also got them a little movie theater gift card. Teachers gotta unwind!

I REALLY love the taste of this caramel corn and I think our packaging is pretty cute too. Now the ice on the roads needs to clear up so the kids can deliver these cute little gifts.