Thanksgiving -- Another Great Recipe for You

I won't be able to post a completed picture of this dish until Thanksgiving, because it's one of the few dishes I insist on making the day of the dinner. However, it's so good that I want to get this recipe into your hands in time for your big day. I'll update the recipe with completed photos once I prepare it. Of course, I could always just make one just for the blog, and another for my family's celebration. However, that's not economical for my wallet or my waistline. I can't resist this dish, so twice a year is all it gets. :)

There are so many versions of corn pudding available to try. Some use saltine crackers. Some use bread crumbs. Some use bell pepper. Some use bacon. Some include green beans. Mine is a result of my family loving corn but not being satisfied with the recipes out there. It takes a while to bake, so be patient. It's well worth the wait.

Buttery Corn Pudding

What You Need:

• 2 cans of corn, drained
• 2 cans of creamed corn
• 1/2 lb cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 a large onion, minced
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 cups of Ritz-type cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• ground black pepper to taste

How it's Done:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (or, leave it at your turkey roasting temperature). Spray a 9x11" casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray or coat with butter. Set it aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine all four cans of corn, 3/4 of the shredded cheese, the onion, the eggs, 1 cup of the cracker crumbs, and pepper if desired. Pour this mixture into your baking dish.
3. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top of your corn mixture.
4. Combine the other cup of crumbs with the melted butter, and sprinkle the crumbs over the top of your casserole.
5. Bake, uncovered, for an hour at 350 degrees, or 90 minutes to 2 hours if you're baking it alongside your turkey.
6. Let the dish stand for ten minutes before serving.

Lightened Up Chicken Spaghetti

In the past, I've made some delicious chicken spaghetti that had Rotel tomatoes with green chilies and loads of Velveeta cheese. It's really good. But it's really bad for you, too. As I've mentioned, I'm doing Weight Watchers, so I'm not eating much by way of Velveeta these days. Actually, I haven't had Velveeta in almost a year.

Anyway, Weight Watchers eTools has something really cool that I've been playing with, called Recipe Builder. You tell it what you're putting into your recipe, and it tells you how many POINTS value are in each serving. I can't share those values with you, because it's copyrighted material. I just love that feature. It helped me plan today's dinner. Here it is:

Chicken Spaghetti
serves 6

What You Need:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded or cut into chunks (I did a combo of the two, just quickly cutting it up)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup sliced bell peppers
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/2 lb dry spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 2 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (use less if you don't care for it that much. We love it.)
• 2 gloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup of cheese (I used Weight Watchers brand 4 cheese Italian blend, made with 2% milk)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided

How it's Done:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a 2 quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or mist with oil.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the pepper and onions, stirring until soft and fragrant. Stir in sauce, basil, garlic, chicken, and spaghetti, mixing well. Stir in half of the Parmesan cheese.
• Pour spaghetti mixture into the prepared dish. Top with the remaining cheeses.
• Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Let the dish sit for five more minutes before slicing and serving.

Incidentally, I had my third weigh-in on Wednesday, and have lost a total so far of 10.8 pounds, eating stuff like Chicken Spaghetti, and putting cream and sugar in my coffee. It works, and it's sound, and it promotes whole foods eating. I love it.

Diner Food

Diner food is comfort food. It's not health food. However, when you live your life in an "all things in moderation" way, diner food has its place. There's just something about the classic cheeseburger, fries, and a thick chocolate shake that soothes the soul.

Recently, my sister found a new diner in her area (Orlando) and decided to give it a try.

The diner couldn't make her a milkshake.

What kind of diner doesn't serve milkshakes? The waitress told her that they hadn't gotten their milkshake machine in yet.

Wait. What? Milkshake machine? You mean a blender, right?

Nope. They mean a milkshake machine, like those you see at fast food restaurants. C'mon now. Milkshakes are milk and ice cream. Period. Any diner worth it's Wait to be Seated sign can make a real milkshake.

Anyway, she planted the seed in my brain and I decided to serve up some real diner food last night, with a twist. I made patty melts, sweet potato fries, and chocolate shakes. A patty melt is basically a thick burger served with cheese and fried onions (sometimes mushrooms) on grilled bread. Basically, a grilled cheese burger. Very tasty.

Diner-Style Patty Melts

What You Need:

• 1 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup melted butter plus a couple Tbsp more for pan
• 1 large onion
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 10 slices of buttered bread (rye or sourdough is best)
• 10 slices of American cheese
• mayonnaise if desired

How it's Done:

1. Combine ground beef, melted butter, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Form into five patties.
2. Heat skillet over medium heat and add some butter to the pan. Fry burgers until cooked to taste.
3. Meanwhile, fry onions in oil and toast buttered bread on a hot skillet.
4. Prepare burgers: Slather on side of bread with mayo. Top with cheese, burger, onions, cheese, and then top slice of bread. Cut in halves and serve.

To make the sweet potato fries, peel sweet potatoes (1 for every 2 people) and cut into matchstick strips. Toss with 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp melted butter per potato. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt before serving.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies For the Best Kids

My great-grandmother was an imprecise, messy cook. She didn't measure things. She just made good food. One of the things she did very, very well was to bake chocolate chip cookies. I opt for measuring things, for my readers' benefit. I used to be a tosser just like my great-grandmother. Her chocolate chip cookies have been made for four generations now. Everyone loves them. They're not gourmet. They're not loaded with several types of chocolate. But when you want a great cookie, this is your go-to recipe.

My daughters started school today, so I'm baking these as a special after-school snack. They'll be thrilled. I hope they've had a great first day. All throughout my day, I've been thinking of them and wondering what they were doing, what they were feeling, and if they made any new friends. First days are tough sometimes, especially when you're starting middle school.

Here they are on their first day of school.

Bayberry started middle school this morning -- 6th grade.

Picky Eater started 2nd grade.

Want to follow my journey as I pack both kids' lunches all year? I have a blog for that. Want some yummy cookies? Read on!

Great-Grandmother's Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies

What You Need:

• 
  
  1 cup butter at room temperature
• 
  
  1 cup brown sugar
• 
  
  1 cup granulated sugar
• 
  
  2 tsp vanilla extract
• 
  
  3 large eggs
• 
  
  1 tsp sea salt
• 
  
  2 tsp baking soda
• 
  
  4 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  
  at least 12 oz but up to 18 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

How it's Done:

1. 
   
   Preheat your oven to 375 and have a few ungreased cookie sheets ready to go.
2. 
   
   Cream the butter at medium-high speed for 30 seconds or so, to make it fluffier. Add the sugars and beat until creamy and smooth. One at a time, add the eggs, beating well between additions. Then, add the vanilla extract.
3. 
   
   Stir together the salt, flour, and baking soda. Add it to the batter slowly. Your batter's going to be so thick that you'll doubt the listed amount at first. Keep going. Four cups is not a typo.Scrape the sides as needed.
4. 
   
   Stir in, by hand, the chocolate chips. You're going to need a solid wooden spoon or something of similar strength for this task.
5. 
   
   Roll the dough out into big, thick, 2 to 2 1/2" thick balls. Place them 3" apart on the cookie sheets. Don't flatten them.
6. 
   
   Bake for 15 minutes or so, until the cookies are lightly browned. Try your best not to burn your mouth on the freshly baked cookies. As if I'd try to tell you to let them cool. Ha!

Coconut Black Beans & Rice and Summer Corn Salad

Happy Friday to all of you! Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? A band called Seven Oh Sixx is performing here at Fort Benning, free of charge, so we're going to go enjoy the show tomorrow night. We're also hosting a sleepover -- a sort of last hurrah before school begins.

My blogger friend Heather at Out of the Box Into the Kitchen made some coconut black beans and rice, but advised that it was bland. So, I decided I'd try it differently and see if I'd like it. The idea of adding coconut both intrigued me and made me nervous at the same time.

WOW! Everyone gobbled it up, even Picky Eater! It was so delicious I'll never make black beans & rice differently again. I know it sounds odd, but give it a try. We had summer Corn Salad on the side. It was fresh and delightful. A good accompaniment to the main dish.

Coconut Black Beans & Rice

What You Need:

for the beans:

• 1 lb black beans, cooked, and drained (or 2 cans, rinsed and drained)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil or butter
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 green onions (greens and whites), sliced
• 1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• a few cranks of freshly ground black pepper

for the rice:

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice (sticky rice is great here)
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup coconut milk (full-fat, also called coconut cream)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 green onions, sliced
• a few cranks of freshly ground black pepper and a few more shakes of sea salt

How it's Done:

1. Bring the coconut milk, water, and 1 tsp sea salt to a boil. Add the rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes (for white rice). When finished, remove from heat and stir in green onions and pepper & additional salt (as needed). Rice will be creamy and will absorb the remaining liquid as it sits a few minutes.
2. While the rice is simmering, prepare the beans: In a skillet, heat oil or butter. Saute onion and pepper several minutes. Add garlic, salt, pepper, beans, and coconut, Cook and stir until heated. Stir in green onions.
3. Serve beans over rice.

Simple Summer Corn Salad

What You Need:

• 15 oz can white corn kernels (drained of liquid)
• a handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 1 banana pepper, sliced into rings
• 1/4 onion, diced
• a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• the juice of one lemon
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper

How it's Done:

1. Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl.
2. Cover and chill several hours before serving.

Welcome, friends new & old! Don't forget to enter to win a SodaStream Home Soda Kit! Also, I'll be drawing later this evening for a random follower winner of my Georgia Pay it Forward prize pack! (To win the Georgia Prize, all you need to do is become a public follower via Google Friend Connect!)

This post is linked to...

http://friday-follow.com/

http://www.breastfeedingmomsunite.com/

A Week of (Healthy) Bare-Bones Meals: Day 4

Welcome, Tuesday Tag-Along friends and welcome to all of my wonderful readers. :)

Today's day 4 in my week of meals that cost very little but provide lots of taste and nutrition. On today's menu: a sandwich that uses up the leftover chicken from the past two days' menus.


Day 4

Breakfast: scrambled eggs & biscuits with jam
Lunch: Leftover Fried Rice or Soup
Dinner: Chicken Burgers on Soft Rolls with Lettuce, Tomato, and Onion

Chicken Burgers on Soft Rolls
Makes 6 chicken burgers and 16 rolls

What You Need:

• 1 lb cooked, boneless, skinless chicken
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 to 3/4 cups bread crumbs (just toss the heels of your homemade bread into the food processor for this)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tsp minced garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder, if that's cheaper or easier to get)
• 1/2 an onion
• 1 Tbsp oil plus more for cooking
• rolls for serving (recipe follows)

How it's Done:

1. Combine chicken, eggs, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and 1 Tbsp oil in your food processor or blender. Process until smooth, adding tiny bits of water if needed.
2. Form the mixture into 6 patties.
3. Fry in oil over medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes per side. They're already almost completely cooked -- you just need to heat them up completely and brown both sides.
4. Serve on rolls with your choice of toppings.

Yummy, Cheap, and Easy SOFT Rolls for Sandwiches

What You Need:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used honey, but for cost purposes, I'm listing sugar. Use honey if you have it.)
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 Tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 tsp honey or sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 tsp sea salt

How it's Done:

1. Heat milk on stove or in microwave until steaming (about 4 minutes in microwave for me). Add oil and 1/4 cup sugar or honey. Let this cool down.
2. Meanwhile, combine yeast with 1 tsp honey or sugar AND 1/4 cup warm water in a large mixing bowl. I used my KitchenAid stand mixer. Let sit for 10 minutes.
3. After 10 minutes, pour the milk mixture into the large mixing bowl. Turn beater on or stir by hand. Add 2 cups of flour and 1 tsp salt. Stir briskly 2 minutes. Then, let this sponge sit undisturbed for 10 minutes.
4. Now, add in 3 cups of flour, slowly, beating all the time. You want to form a soft, smooth dough. Add additional flour as needed.
5. Knead for five to eight minutes on a lightly floured surface.
6. Move the dough to a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
7. Punch the dough down and divide into 16 roughly equal bits. Roll out into ropes, then spiral them around themselves like snail shells, pinching the ends securely. Cover and let rise 30 minutes.
8. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden in color.
9. Brush with melted butter if desired.

Frugal Tip #4: Use your time and energy wisely. Why make only 6 buns for one meal, when you can make 16 and use the rest over the next few days? Baking in large batches saves time, effort, and energy cost.

Who says livin' cheap has to mean eatin' junk?

This post linked to:

Silly Warning Labels

Day 137.

Have you ever paid attention to some of the warning labels on merchandise? Here's a few I can remember:

• On a fishing lure: Caution! Harmful if swallowed.
• On a stroller: Remove child before folding.
• On a hair dryer: Do not use while bathing.
• An iron: never iron clothing while it is being worn.
• On a wheelbarrow: Not intended for highway use.
• On a Dremmel tool: Not for use as a dental drill.
• Christmas Lights: WARNING! For indoor or outdoor use ONLY!
• Car window sunscreen: Do not operate car with screen in place.

Pretty funny, right? But you know that there's always a reason for those weird labels. Someone had to be dumb enough to do that stuff and sue the company over it before the company had to put those warnings in place.

Here's another warning:

This warning it on the back of my can of sweetened condensed milk.

Call me a rule breaker, or a label maker. I heated it in the can and it was wonderful. Note: I do not advise you to heat your sweetened condensed milk in its can. No, I would never advise you to use your slow cooker and a can of sweetened condensed milk to make luscious dulce de leche that's so tasty you can scarcely let it cool enough so as not to burn your tongue before diving into it.

Because the can says you should never do that.

Ever.

...But if you were interested, for purely scientific reasons, about how mine turned out, it would only be fair for me to show you, right?

So first, you'll want to peel off the label. That way, the pesky warning isn't staring your defiance in the face the whole time. Set it on an old rag in your slow cooker. If you don't, you'll end up with a weird ring where the metal of the can meets the crock. Fill the crock with water. Cover it and heat it on low for 8 to 10 hours or so.

Take it out with tongs. It's hot. Open it up. Mine squirted hot caramel at me when I punctured the can, so be careful.

Try not to eat the whole thing at once, and maybe you can use it to make these delicious brownies:

Dulce de Leche Brownies

What You Need:

• 1/2 cup dulce de leche
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• dash of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

How it's Done:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a square 8" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Beat butter, eggs, and sugar together. Add vanilla.
3. Stir in cocoa powder, sea salt, and flour.
4. Spread batter in prepared pan. Dot with dulce de leche. Use a knife to create some swirls with it, but leave some of it in clumps, too.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Allow the brownies to cool before cutting. If you can.

Once in a Blue Moon

Day 136.

Normal dinner table talk at our house:

Picky Eater: Are there onions in this?

Me: Yes, but they're small. You won't even be able to see them.

Picky Eater: I don't think I like this.

Me: Just try it. You won't know unless you try it.

Picky Eater: How many bites do I have to take?

Me: Take as many bites as you'd like. Just give it a fair shot.

Picky Eater: (pushes food around plate. takes a lick. pushes some more.) I don't like this.

Me: Okay, but that's what we're eating this evening. I'm sorry you don't like it.

Picky Eater: But how many bites do I have to take?

Me: As many as you'd like.

Picky Eater: But how many? How many, Mommy?

Me: Five. Take five bites. How's that?

Picky Eater: (quickly shovels five small bites in her mouth.)

That's an average day. But every once in a great while...every blue moon...dinner goes like this:

Picky Eater: Are there any onions in this?

Me: Yes, but only a tiny bit.

Picky Eater: How much?

Me: One-fourth of an onion.

Picky Eater: Okay.

Me: (okay? Did she just say, "okay?")

Picky Eater: (happily chowing down) If I'm still hungry when this is gone can I have more?

Me: (Is this really happening?) Sure, honey, there's extra.

Picky Eater: Good, 'cuz this is delicious, Mommy.

Me: (sighing happily)

Picky Eater-Approved Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Serves 4 to 6

What You Need:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/4 of a large onion, diced
• 1/2 lb pasta, cooked and drained (I used ziti)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• salt and pepper to taste (1 tsp of each was just right for us)
• 2 cups milk
• 2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup ketchup or barbecue sauce
• 4 strips of bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled

How it's Done:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Brown ground beef with onion. Sprinkle with flour. Cook and stir until all the flour is absorbed.
2. Slowly stir in the milk, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir until thickened like gravy. Remove from the heat and stir in 2 cups of cheese and ketchup or BBQ sauce.
3. Toss pasta and sauce together. Pour into a 2 quart baking dish.
4. Top with the remainder of the cheese and the crumbled bacon.
5. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese is melted.

English Muffins, At Last!

As promised, here is the recipe for English Muffins. It's from The New Betty Crocker Cookbook and while it's time-consuming, it's pretty easy to do.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm milk
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp (2 packets) active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour (plus a little more for kneading)
• cornmeal

How it's Done:

1. Proof your yeast. In your mixing bowl, combine warm milk, sugar, butter, and yeast. Let it sit, undisturbed, for ten minutes. It should double in volume. If it does, proceed. If it does not, throw it out and go get some fresh yeast.
2. Stir in salt and flour.
3. Knead 6 to 8 minutes until smooth and elastic.
4. Coat with oil. Place in a large bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.
5. Punch down. Turn dough out onto a floured countertop. Cover it and let it rest 10 minutes.
6. Roll to 1/2" thickness. Using a 4" biscuit cutter (or, ahem, the can that used to hold a whole lot of chickpeas, which you removed both ends from and washed), cut circles.
7. Lightly moisten each side and dip both sides in cornmeal. Continue until all circles (you should end up with 12) are coated. Cover them and let them double in size in a warm place. This will take about 30 minutes.

8. Now it's time to cook the muffins. On a dry griddle heated to 325 degrees (or medium), cook a few at a time, turning every 5 minutes, for about 30 minutes. Store the rest of the uncooked muffins in the fridge while you cook a batch.

9. When you're ready to serve them, split them with a fork, not a knife. Fork-splitting gives them the nooks and crannies.
10. Be prepared to never want Thomas's again...despite the long hours involved. Yum.

The Key is Experimentation!

Day 79.

Do you know how to come up with something fabulous in the kitchen? Don't be afraid to play with your recipes! I took a standard potato roll recipe and turned it into fabulous sandwich buns. I'm glad I was careful to remember what I put in them, because this recipe was a winner. I wanted a soft, flavorful roll to hold my BBQ Pulled Pork (recipe follows), and I wanted it to be different than your standard sandwich bun. I had some sweet potatoes that needed to be cooked. So I made sweet potato rolls. I wish I could hand you one right now to try. They're soft, and yeasty, and sweet, and salty, and buttery, and perfect.

You must make these. Right away.

Go. Make rolls!

Sweet Potato Sandwich Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of warm milk (I microwaved it for 1 minute, stirred, then microwaved it another minute and it was perfect. You want it warm to the touch, but not hot)
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk (use the white for something else)
• 3 Tbsp softened butter
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato (about 2 sweet potatoes)
• 3 2/3 cups bread flour
• 2 Tbsp melted butter for finishing (use salted. It leaves wonderful grains of salt on the bread when it "dries".  Don't skip this step.)

How it's Done:

1. Proof your yeast: In your mixing bowl, combine warm milk, sugar, and yeast. Stir it up and then let it sit undisturbed for ten to twelve minutes. It should get bubbly and double in volume. (If it doesn't, don't proceed, because it means your yeast is dead. Go out and buy new, fresh yeast. Yeast should be used by the expiration date. If you buy it in a jar, use it within 6 months of opening.)
2. Stir in egg yolk, butter, and salt. Add mashed sweet potato and stir to combine.
3. Half a cup at a time, stir in your flour. If you're not using a stand mixer, a wooden spoon is the best tool for this job. Your dough will be slightly sticky when all the flour is stirred in.
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. You could also use your stand mixer for this job. By hand, it will take about 8 minutes.
5. Form the dough into a ball. Coat lightly with oil and place in a large mixing bowl. Cover gently and let rise until doubled in size. This will take anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes.
6. Punch down your dough. Divide it into 10 equal parts. Roll each piece into a rope. Roll cinnamon-roll style, pinching the end seam to seal. Place each on a cookie sheet that's been oiled and dusted with cornmeal. Cover loosely. Let rise again, until doubled, about 45 minutes to an hour.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake rolls 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned.
8. Immediately upon removal from oven, brush rolls with melted butter.
9. Slice horizontally to serve.

Here's what I served inside mine:

...and here's how to make it:

Slow Cooker Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 3 lb boneless pork roast
• salt and pepper
• 1 bottle barbecue sauce (I recommend my homemade recipe)
• cole slaw
• sandwich rolls

How it's Done:

1. Sprinkle pork roast with salt and pepper.
2. In a slow cooker, combine roast and 1/4 cup water.
3. Cook on HIGH one hour, then on LOW 8 more hours.
4. Remove roast to a cutting board. Empty slow cooker of all liquid.
5. Shred roast using two large forks. Return meat to slow cooker.
6. Add barbecue sauce to slow cooker. Toss meat so that the sauce is well distributed.
7. Cook on HIGH one to two hours.
8. Serve barbecue on sandwich rolls with cole slaw on top of meat. The creaminess of the slaw and the spicy tang of the sauce complement each other very nicely.

So THAT'S What Little Debbie Meant it to Taste Like!

Day 78.

It's Cookie Friday! Each Friday in the month of March, I'm duplicating a classic cookie recipe. This week, it's Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cream Pie.

Last week, I created a cookie recipe that was so good that I have held off on posting its recipe, because I just might sell the cookie instead. Sorry, folks. ;) Anyway, that cookie prompted a discussion between my mother and me. She said I could be the next Mrs. Field's. I argued that Mrs. Field's cookies weren't as good as mine, therefore I didn't like the comparison. Well, Mrs. Field's cookies used to be delicious. I bet Mrs. Field got her start in her own kitchen and sold her cookie recipe to be mass produced, and now you can buy them in the cookie aisle and at any convenience store. They no longer taste home baked, though. Mass production makes them lack that home-baked taste.

The same can be said about Famous Amos and other cookie companies. Even Little Debbie. I wonder if Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies were once the brainchild of a fabulous home kitchen cook.

I found a recipe for oatmeal cream pies at honey & jam and I followed the recipe almost exactly. They turned out very well.

Oatmeal Cream Pies (modified from honey & jam)

Ingredients:

for the cookies:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla (make your own! It's easy and so much better than McCormick's!)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (don't use black or dark here)
• 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

for the cream filling:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 7 oz jar marshmallow cream
• 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp milk

How it's Done:

1. First, make the cookies. Cream together butter and sugars. Add molasses. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then add the vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa, cinnamon, and oats.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet, gradually.
4. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
5. Drop dough by heaping tablespoon onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cookies will look undercooked. DO NOT OVERBAKE.
6. Let cookies cool briefly.
7. Make  cream filling. Cream together shortening and marshmallow cream. Beat in vanilla extract. Gradullay add in confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Add milk and beat well for one minute.
8. Place a tablespoon of filling on the flat side of one cookie. Cover with another cookie, flat side facing filling. Continue until all cookies are filled.

Picture Day

Today was Spring Portraits Day at my girls' school. I used to dress them up in their best clothes. No, wait, that's wrong. I used to go out and buy them new outfits for picture day. I'd do up their hair really nicely, and make sure they knew to brush their hair and check their teeth before the camera snapped their images into their places in history.

Then it hit me.

My girls don't have perfect hair. They don't wear fancy dresses. So I don't want pictures of perfectly coiffed children in frilly, pink gowns, with big silky bows in their hair. I want pictures of my little athlete with two ponytails (one purple tie, one blue tie) and a hairband (because she's in that awkward growing-out-the-bangs stage) and the other kid, who's into doing her own hair, can do whatever she pleases (even if her part is crooked). I let them wear what they wanted. Little Kitty wore her Rock Star shirt (it's grey with white sleeves and grafitti on the front) and jeans. Bayberry wore a purple shirt and jeans.

It's who they are.

And it's awesome.

Part of who I am is a frugal cook. The other day, I made straw and hay. It's delicious. Prosciutto gives it a wonderful perfume-y flavor. But is it frugal? Sure, if you get a good deal on prosciutto. But what about for regular days? Can't I do better than that?

So I created this dish. It's very similar to straw and hay. It's more budget-friendly, and it's saltier. But it's more down-to-earth. It's more me.

Cheesy Pasta with Bacon and Peas

Ingredients:

• 1 box tri-color rotini
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 a large onion, diced
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 5 slices of bacon, cooked crisp, drained, and crumbled
• 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

How it's Done:

1. Boil pasta. 
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saute pan. Add onion and saute for 3 minutes. 
3. Add milk, salt and pepper, and parmesan cheese. Cook and stir until simmering. Remove from heat and stir in mozzarella. Stir in peas and bacon.
4. Drain pasta. Toss with sauce. Serve.

This Bread is Easy to Make

This bread is a wonderfully different bread to serve with anything Italian, or any dish. Or by itself. Because it might not make it to the table. Your family might eat it all while you're taking pictures of it. So snap your pictures very, very quickly.

                        

Garlic-Parmesan Focaccia

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp (1 package) active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• topping: 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp shredded parmesan cheese, and 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• cornmeal for dusting baking sheet

How it's Done:

1. Proof yeast by combining it with the water and the sugar and letting it sit for ten minutes. Mixture should double in volume.
2. Add salt, flour, and 1 Tbsp olive oil. Mix until all the flour is incorporated.
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 6 to 8 minutes.
4. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled, or about an hour.
5. Punch down dough. Divide in half. Form each half into a ball and place on a greased baking sheet which has been dusted lightly with cornmeal. Cover and let rest ten minutes.
6. Press or roll each ball into an 8" circle. Press your fingertips into the dough to make indentations every couple of inches. Let dough rest, covered, about twenty minutes, or until doubled in size again.
7. Drizzle each round with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp shredded parmesan and 1 minced garlic clove on each round.
8. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until puffed up and browned.
9. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Kids are Expensive!

Day 75.

Yesterday, my girls had their 6 month dental visit. $300 in crowns for one kid. The dreaded ORTHODONTIST referral for the other. Thank goodness for dental insurance, because the first kid's teeth would cost over $1,000 without it, and the orthodontist without insurance, well, who wants to think about that nightmare? Not I!

Today, they both brought home tee-shirt order forms for their school's annual field day event. This is not optional. It's the field day uniform. The shirts are $10.00 apiece. Not too expensive, but that's $20.00 for my family. Then, there's picture day. $10 each for class pictures, paid up front. Individual spring protraits will be sent home for our approval (read: sent home to guilt us into paying for them) prior to payment.

Popcorn and pickles are sold each Wednesday. A quarter and fifty cents, respectively. Not a big deal. One of each, once a week, for two kids will cost me $60.00 over the course of a 40-week school year.

My oldest has been invited to participate in the Cup Stacking Championships. It's by invitation only, and she needs a special tee shirt for the event. Six dollars.

This Thursday, the same kid is singing in chorus for some basic training graduates. She has to wear dark pants and a white shirt. She doesn't have any dark pants, so I have to go buy her some.

Both kids came home with literature for selling frozen cookie dough. One catch: you can only sell to family and friends. And all your friends attend the same school and are selling the same product. And your family is across the country, because your parent is in the military. So basically, you can only sell to your parents. The packs of cookie dough were $15 each. You had to sell two to get the smallest prize. The prize? A latex balloon. I didn't buy any cookie dough.

It's almost Earth Day. There will be a school-wide celebration. And they sold tee shirts for it. $7 each. That's fourteen dollars for my family.

Speaking of tee shirts (they seem to be quite popular at our elementary school), you must pay $10 each to have a school tee shirt to wear on spirit days, which are each Friday. That's $20 for my family.

Some Fridays, they sell candy. I could go on about why I disagree with the selling of candy to elementary school students. I'll just say that the candy was $1 each.

Oh, and there are the Smencils. These are scented pencils. One dollar each.

There is always at least one fundraiser active at this elementary school. Surely I can't be the only parent experiencing burnout. Why not just ask each parent to write a monthly check?

At least I know I can save on groceries ($2.00 for a tiny school lunch, by the way, and it doesn't fill my first grader's belly). Here's a recipe that will give you a reprieve from all those "free public education" expenses. :)

Sloppy Cheeseburgers

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb lean ground beef
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 Tbsp dill relish
• 1 Tbsp yellow mustard
• 1 lb shredded cheddar cheese
• buns or sliced bread for serving

How it's Done:

1. Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain and return to skillet.
2. Add onion and saute 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and cook and stir until cheese is melted and bubbly.
3. Serve on buns or bread.

Have You Ever Seen a Lassie Dance This Way and That Way...

Day 68.

~**~My 100th Post!~**~

and only since December 13, 2009!

Reminder: Bring your friends! To celebrate the 100th Day of my blog, I will be hosting a little giveaway. But today is Day 68. So back to the business of eating.

Do you remember the song:

Have you ever seen a lassie, a lassie, a lassie,

 

Ever seen a lassie dance this way and that?

 

Ever seen a lassie, a lassie, a lassie,

 

Ever seen a lassie dance this way and that?

 

'Cause her dance is his dance and his dance is her dance,

 

Ever seen a lassie dance quite like that?

 
...Well, here's a burger that will make you sing. It made me sing.
 

Have you ever had a burger, a burger, a burger,

 

Have you ever had a burger that melts in your mouth?

 

It's yummy for tummies

 

And tasty, so tasty!

 

Have you ever have a burger that melts in your mouth?

 
What? You haven't? Fear not, gentle reader. For that is about to change.
 
Just don't let your doctor read this post.
 
Butter Burgers (Yes, Butter Burgers)
 
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1/4 cup melted butter plus 2 Tbsp additional butter for pan AND 1 tsp butter for each bun
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• sturdy hamburger buns

How it's Done:

1. Combine melted butter, ground beef, bread crumbs, and Worcestershire sauce in a mixing bowl. Form into patties. 
2. Fry in 2 Tbsp butter  until burger raches desired doneness.

3. Butter buns. Top with desired condiments. Serve.

...and then have some hand-sized chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Tortilla Soup

Here's a hearty soup that's not too spicy, but it's plenty flavorful. If you need more kick, a tablespoon of hot sauce in your bowl will heat things up nicely.

Tortilla Soup

makes a huge pot of soup

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef (totally optional -- can omit for vegetarian, or use shredded chicken instead)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion (cut in half -- dice one-half and put the other half in your blender bowl)
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic (half goes in your blender bowl)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro (shove a bunch in the measuring cup until it's full, then dump it in your blender bowl, saving a tiny bit for garnish)
• 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 green bell pepper (cut in half -- dice one-half and put the other half in your blender bowl)
• 8 cups broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable)
• 2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 6 corn tortillas, cut into rough 1" cubes
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 2 Tbsp cumin
• 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 cups frozen sweet corn
• salt to taste (I felt like it needed quite a bit and ended up using 1 full tablespoon -- perfect -- but I used sodium-free bouillon to make the broth)
• tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, and sour cream for serving

How it's Done:

1. Start out by blending the ingredients you were to put in your blender bowl and set this mixture aside. It will thicken the soup a little bit later.
2. Brown your ground beef in a large stock pot if you're using it. Add the diced onion and the other half of your garlic and cook a couple minutes.
3. Add the cut tortillas, bell pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Mix well.
4. Immediately add the broth and blender ingredients to your pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes to an hour. The longer you simmer, the more the flavors will meld.
5. In the last five minutes of cooking, add the beans, corn, and lime juice.
6. Serve over tortilla chips and cheese, with more on top for garnish. A dollop of sour cream is nice, too.