September recipes

I think it's funny that a lot of my friends think I'm super organized when it comes to meal planning. The truth is that for about nine months of the year, I am scrambling around at 5 p.m. trying to scrape together various cans of this and whatever meat I can find in the fridge to come up with something edible before my kids start eating "chip sandwiches" because they are so hungry. (Yes, they do think that putting potato chips between two slices of bread counts as a meal.)

Many days, my husband will save the day by picking up some meat for the grill. At least once a week, I justify calling Papa John's since it's right around the corner, and they can cook dinner in less time than I can.

Finally, I hit rock bottom. I get mad at myself for not planning. I kick myself for not going to the grocery store. I scream at myself for my empty pantry. And when I get mad, I go overboard. I overcompensate by creating huge meal plans, cooking in bulk, freezing up a month's worth of meals. And THAT is the part that you usually see here on the blog.

I've noticed from reading my own blog, that I tend to do this right around the time school starts. I also seem to get organized around Jan. 1 and then again right before summer starts. For those three months of the year, I am totally organized and my family loves me.

Well, I went on a meal-planning rampage this weekend. We were in the car for 12 hours, driving to and from a funeral. During the drive, I went through two of my favorite cookbooks and marked all of the recipes I want to try. Being the complete geek I am, I then tracked down those exact recipes on the web sites of the companies that published the cookbooks, and I e-mailed them to myself.

When I got home, I entered them into my profile on allrecipes.com. That's when I discovered allrecipes.com has a ton of new features which I have never used! I signed up to become a "supporting member." This means I can organize my recipes into meal plans by dragging them onto a calendar. I can also assign them to shopping lists, and print out exactly what I need to buy for that meal plan. I can save my menus, making it easy to repeat them later. I haven't had this much geeky, obsessive excitement since I bought the game "Myst" for my first Macintosh computer back in 1992.

I found enough new recipes to complete my meal plan for both September and October. This means I could have TWO full months of organization before my life falls back into disarray.

In the past, I think I have overwhelmed myself with my meal planning by assigning myself a new recipe every day of the month. This time, I decided that every other day I would throw in a no-brainer. These are the foods I cook all of the time anyway. I usually have the ingredients. They require no thought and very little effort. But I still have to put them in my meal plan to remind myself what I'm supposed to cook that night.

A few people on Facebook asked me to share this list, so here goes. I am majorly motivated by words of affirmation, so let me know if you would like to see my October list, as well.

All of the recipes (other than the sloppy Joe and chili) are from one of two cookbooks: "Best-Loved Slow Cooker Recipes" or Pillsbury's "Fast & Healthy Cookbook." In other words, you can either make them in the crock pot or they are quick recipes.

They also are all "family friendly" to some extent. With the exception of two of the recipes, which are risky, I'm fairly certain my family will eat them.

Finally, this menu does not purport to be healthy, low-cal or fat free. The recipes include tons of sour cream, cream cheese and red meat. Side dishes around here are usually green beans, carrots, corn or fruit cut up into slices. It's not fancy, but hopefully better than we would get from KFC or Papa John's if I didn't cook.

Well, I'm off to the grocery store to use the shopping list generated from my meal plan! In the meantime, let me know your meal-planning secrets. How do you decide what's for dinner every night?

My September Menu

Hamburgers on the grill
Cream Cheese Chicken with Broccoli
Spaghetti
Curried Pumpkin Vegetable Soup (with salad for those who won't try it!)
Tacos
BBQ pulled pork sandwiches
Pizza (frozen, home made or delivery)
Italian Beef
Rotisserie Chicken (from the grocery store deli)
Chicken Club Wraps
Sloppy Joe sandwiches
My Favorite Chili
Hot Dogs/ Chili dogs
Company Pork Chops
Honey Mustard Chicken Wings
Pancakes with chocolate chips
Chicken and rice in crock pot
Hamburgers on the grill
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Spaghetti
Round Steak
Tacos and/or bean burritos
Beef with Apples and Sweet Potatoes (I'm not sure about this one, but I want to try it!)
Pizza
Caribbean Chicken and Pineapple Salsa
Rotisserie Chicken (from the grocery store deli)
Chicken and Apple Clams
Sloppy Joe sandwiches
Turkey and Twists in Tomato Cream Sauce

The menu

I don't get out much. My idea of "me time" these days is sitting in the dentist's chair being lulled into a mindless state by the steady hum of the drill.

My idea of a quality meal is when I add a side dish of a flavored rice packet to the chicken and mushroom soup mixture in the crock pot.

And a quality conversation usually involves topics like, "What would you like to be when you grow up?"

So, I have to say that going out to dinner with my husband's boss last night was a rare treat. I had to focus all of my brain power to keep up with the conversation on politics, sports and all of the famous people he somehow knows.

And my stomach still hasn't quite regained full functioning ability after the shock of the culinary extravaganza that was put before us. So, yes. To prove just how uncultured I have become, I will now write a blog post about what I ate for dinner. I hope you will be just a tiny bit impressed. (If you aren't, I will have to pull from my long-lost brain cells some forgotten fact about all of the governors of Illinois and how many have been imprisoned, as I did last night.)

I have to say this combination of food at The Gage would have to go in my Top 10 list of the most unusual meals I have ever consumed.

FIRST (SNACKS)

House Poutine: Elk Ragout, Curd Cheese, Chips

Gage N-17 "Fondue": Butter Kaase, Spinach, Toast

Braised Swan Creek Goat: Ricotta Gnocchi, Fall Vegetables

SECOND

Smoke Haddock Brandade: Grilled Miche

THIRD

Three Rivers Greens: Dried Cherries, Pistachio, Blue Cheese, Sweet Sherry Vinaigrette

FOURTH

(I went with the house special. I was on the fence until my husband's boss declared, "When in Rome..." And since it was more expensive than the 16 oz. steak, I decided it MUST be worth trying.)

Roasted Saddle of Elk: Rutabaga, Aged Goat Cheese, Juniper-Cherry Reduction

SIDES

Organic Greens and Duck

Roasted Woodland Mushrooms

Brussels Sprouts, Brie, Applewood Bacon

DESSERT

Baked Chocolate Parfait: Whipped Pumpkin, Fried Chocolate Truffle, Cocoa Nibs

And now, to somehow speed up the digestion process so I can go out to my staff Christmas lunch in an hour. (I need a nap.)

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This app just changed my life... or at least my meal plan

I have been sitting at my computer for the past hour blurting out phrases like, "I don't believe this." "No way." "I love this." "You have to be kidding."

What's all the fuss? Well, if you know me then you can probably guess it has to do with my unnatural obsession with meal planning.

I don't know WHY with all of the blog posts I have written about meal planning I didn't think of this sooner: "There MUST be an app for that!"

So, I went online this morning and found the meal-planning app that has become my Saturday morning obsession. I hope it turns out to be as fabulous as I think it is so far.

It's called MacGourmet and let me tell you a few things that it does. Like many of the popular recipe web sites, you can store all of your favorite recipes and create shopping lists from them. But this also features an optional plug-in that allows you to drag and drop the recipes you plan to use each week into a meal planner.

You can easily import recipes from web sites like allrecipes.com with just a couple of clicks. Then you drag them into your calendar to plan your meals. You can print out a list of that week's meals, print a shopping list, sync with your iPhone and even upload to your iCal.

I decided last week that I wanted to create a meal plan with 30 days of crock pot recipes. I'm so tired of scrambling to make dinner every afternoon. So, I just spent the last hour choosing crock pot recipes and soup recipes from allrecipes.com and importing them into MacGourmet.

All you have to do is highlight the URL and use an option in your menu bar to import the full recipe, including instructions, photos and notes. It works with about five of the major recipe web sites.

Say it with me: "I can't believe it!" "This is awesome!"

The bad news is that it costs $30, and the meal planner plug-in is an extra $10. But considering I had just asked my husband to buy me a crock pot cookbook for Christmas, I am thinking this would be a much better gift. The application has a trial period that allows you to test it for free for about a month. (Dear MacGourmet, if you would like to give me a free copy of your software I would be happy to be your spokesperson.)

I have tried other apps like Dinner Spinner (from allrecipes) and the recipe and shopping list app from Epicurious. But this is the first one I found that allows me to create meal plans and send them to my iCal to remind me what I am planning for that day.

So what do you think? Does anyone else already have an app they use for meal planning? Is anyone else even one-eighth as excited about this as I am? How about one-sixteenth? One-thirty-second?? Anyone?

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You're one cute cookie!

Last weekend, a friend invited a few ladies over to learn how to make cookie bouquets. I had no idea what this day would include, but I was in desperate need of some adult conversation and it sounded like a fun excuse to get together with some friends.

My friend's friend makes cookie bouquets as a hobby, and she agreed to show us the ropes. One of my many jobs in college was at a cookie store. I worked at the most popular cookie shop on campus and it was my job to decorate large cookies with inspirational sayings like, "Get psyched for formal!"

I wasn't in a sorority myself, but I was able to learn from the pros and perfected my sorority girl penmanship — or I guess you would say, frostingmanship — over time.

But that was back in the dark ages of cookie decorating long before the aisles of Michael's were packed with every shade and shape of sprinkles, not to mention cutters for every occasion. And I had not ever tried the art of "flooding", which, for the uninitiated, is how you give your cookie a super smooth coating of frosting.



Luckily for us, my friend had pre-made about eight batches of cookie dough and three enormous batches of royal frosting. She also supplied tons of cookie sheets, counter space, sprinkles, a huge assortment of snacks and her floor on which we could drop as many crumbs as necessary without being reprimanded.

We ended up spending about five hours making the cookies! It was a blast! I went home conjuring up images of how I could make cookie bouquets for birthdays and special occasions. Of course, it might not be quite as fun when I have to prepare all the dough and frosting myself. Or when I'm not surrounded by friends to inspire creativity.


But I do plan to try it again soon. Cookies, anyone?

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The BIG meal plan

Well, Hello! How are you, Long Lost Blog?

We have been having a great summer. We've been spending long days at the pool, hanging out with friends or going on adventures. But the summer schedule has taken a toll on my meal-planning efforts.

I'm determine to get back in a rhythm. I'm actually going to go to the grocery store, stock up my pantry and plan my meals for the next few months.

Here's my idea: I'm going to enter my meal plan into my iCal so I get a daily reminder of what's for dinner. I have about 55 dinners listed below, so I should be able to plan for the next few months. We'll see how that goes!

Since people seem to ask me a lot about ideas for dinner, here's my BIG LIST. Please leave any ideas for YOUR favorite meals in the comments so I can add them to my list.

The list includes simple stuff, like lunch meat or a rotisserie chicken from the deli, because I still like to schedule those meals, even though they don't involve cooking. We also eat breakfast food for dinner at least once a week, so that category is actually DINNER!

A few other notes: When I make taco meat or Sloppy Joe, I cook 5 pounds at a time and freeze it in small quantities for a quick meal. I also cook about 10 pounds of chicken at a time and freeze it in small bags so I can make the chicken meals quickly. If I make manicotti or stuffed shells, I double the recipe and freeze an extra meal or two.

You will find links to many of the recipes below. The new meals I'm trying this month are: fruity breakfast burritos, taco roll-ups, ham and potato pockets and End of Summer Harvest soup.

THE BIG LIST

Breakfast

Waffles
Biscuits and gravy
Crepes
Fruity breakfast burritos

Pancakes

Chicken

Kluski noodles (cook in chicken broth with shredded chicken and carrots)

Chicken enchiladas (my favorite recipe is in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.)

Chicken and dumplings (I usually find a recipe on allrecipes.com and use refrigerated biscuits for the "dumplings".)

Chicken tortellini soup

Chicken crescent squares

Chicken club wraps (shredded chicken, bacon, green onions and ranch dressing, wrapped in tortillas)

Creamy egg noodles
Swiss Chicken

Crock Pot

Beef stroganoff

Italian beef

BBQ chicken thighs (chicken thighs, a bottle of BBQ sauce and about a cup of water)

Slow cooker lasagna

Pulled pork

Roast with veggies

French Dip sandwiches

Easy/No cooking

Lunch meat sandwiches

Chicken patties from freezer

Hot dogs

BLTs

Rotisserie chicken (from the grocery store). I either serve this as it is, or put it on salad. The leftover meat is great for other meals.

Ground beef

Cornbread chili

Shepherd's pie

Meatloaf (I use the recipe on the McComick's seasoning packet.)

Sloppy Joe sandwiches

Hamburgers on grill

Mini meatloaves

Impossibly Easy Hamburger Pie (recipe on the box of Bisquick)

Italian

Manicotti

Spaghetti with homemade meatballs

Pasta with bacon and chicken

Homemade pizza

Lasagna

Stuffed shells

Fettucini Alfredo

Baked spaghetti

Mexican

Frito tacos (taco meat, with cheese, sour cream, lettuce and tomatoes served on Fritos)

Taco roll-ups

Quesadillas

Tacos

Pork

Pork roast

Ham and potato pockets

Tangy Pork tenderloin

Soup

Butternut squash soup

Cheeseburger soup

Chicken enchilada soup

Chili

Corn Chowder

End of Summer Harvest soup

Vegetable soup (Make the day after you have roast or pork roast with leftover meat.)

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WFMW: Backward meal plan

I don't know about you, but the hardest part for me about cooking dinner has nothing to do with cooking.

It's simply coming up with the ideas for what to cook.

I go through spurts with my meal-planning efforts. Sometimes I plan out meals for a month. Other times, I do Sunday planning sessions for the next week. And then there are many, many days when I'm just hoping to come up with an idea by 5 p.m.

When Jan. 1 rolled around, we were still adjusting to our new life with four children and getting into a routine with a newborn. I definitely wasn't in the mood to think of meals for the month. But the pressure was on. Our string of wonderful meals that had been showing up at our door in the hands of smiling, caring friends was about to run dry.

So, I decided to plan my meals in reverse. In other words, when Feb. 1 rolled around, I wanted to be able to look back at the meals we had in January to use as my foundation for the month.

Each night, I would try my best to come up with a decent dinner idea for my family and write it in my planner. I wanted to make something different each night. By the end of the month, I should have at least 20 dinner ideas I could use in February.

I used lots of family favorites. I tried some new recipes. I mixed in some super simple ideas. And usually on Friday or Saturday night, we ordered pizza.

If you are in need of meal-planning ideas, here's what we have been eating for the last month:

• Pork roast with carrots and potatoes
• Italian beef (made in crock pot)
• Vegetable soup, made with leftover meat from the pork roast. I simply put the meat in the crock pot and added one can of each of the following: beef broth, diced tomatoes, green beans, corn, as well as some chopped carrots and a potato.
• Manicotti (when I made the manicotti, I doubled the recipe, then divided it into four small pans. I froze the other three pans for a quick meal another day.)
• Kluski noodles cooked in chicken broth with diced chicken and carrots
• Chicken enchiladas
• Biscuits and gravy
• Potato soup with sausage (a friend brought this one)
• Frito tacos (this is taco meat and toppings served with Fritos instead of taco shells)
• Homemade waffles
• Lunch meat sandwiches with chips and dip and pasta salad
• Chicken patties (from the frozen aisle) with sides of corn and fruit
• Cornbread chili
• Shepherd's pie
• BBQ chicken thighs (I buy a big package of chicken thighs and cook them in the crock pot on low all day with a bottle of BBQ sauce.)
• Hot dogs, baked beans, chips
• Crepes with cream cheese filling
• Spaghetti with homemade meatballs
• Pasta with bacon and chicken

I have a few new recipes that I want to try later this week. And I'm hoping to look for some healthier meals next month.

Will you help me come up with some new ideas for February? What is your family's absolute favorite meal?

My backward meal plan worked for me! For more great ideas, head on over to Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

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Chili in a pan, chili in a bowl, chili on the blog

Last night, I served my kids one of my favorite comfort food recipes. It's officially called "Meat and Corn Bread Squares". But I think we will rename it Corn Bread Chili, since it's basically chili mixed with corn bread in a pan.

I wasn't sure if my kids would eat it, but all three reported, "Wow, Mom! This tastes good!" I'm so glad they have learned that sometimes food tastes better than it looks.

The second recipe in this post is for my friend Lisa's Award Winning Chili. (She won the award from me and all of our other friends who have tried it.)

This recipe makes a huge quantity. The next time I make it, I'm going to try putting together all of the ingredients and freezing it before I cook it. Then, I can pull it out of the freezer and cook it the day we plan to eat it.

Corn Bread Chili

1 pound ground beef

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 4-ounce can diced green chili peppers, drained

1 package Jiffy corn muffin mix, plus the ingredients to make the mix

1 cup cheddar cheese

Cook the ground beef and add the cornstarch, chili powder, garlic salt, diced tomatoes and peppers.

Mix up the muffin mix and add the cheddar cheese.

Spread half of the batter into a greased 9x9x2-inch baking pan. Spoon meat mixture atop. Top with remaining batter.

Bake in a 375 degree oven about 30 minutes.

Lisa's Award Winning Chili

3 lbs. hamburger

1/2 cup onion

1 cup celery

4-5 tsps. chili powder

chili beans (2 40 0z cans of Brooks)

2 cans diced tomatoes, drained

2 large cans tomato juice

2 to 3 cans tomato soup

1/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup white sugar

Dice celery and onion.

Brown hamburger, onion, celery, part of chili powder, salt and pepper.

Drain most of the grease; leave some to taste.

Put meat mixture in pot and start adding liquids, tomatoes and beans.

Salt and pepper to taste. Add rest of chili powder. Add sugar.

Simmer 3-4 hours. Stir often.

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Cucumber pasta salad

I have so many favorite recipes, but I often have to go on a search to find them when I need them.

Some are in cookbooks. Others are on the Internet. And others are stored on little pieces of paper tucked somewhere in the cabinet.

Recently, I've started using my own blog to find recipes that I have published here. So, today's post is written for myself! I can never remember where I originally found this recipe on the Internet and have to go on a big Google search each time I want to make it. Now I'll be able to find it!

This pasta salad has a great flavor. The original recipe said to use 3 Tbsp. of the Salad Supreme, but I have always used 1 Tbsp. because I'm cautious that way.

Cucumber Pasta Salad

Ingredients

1 box Bowtie pasta

1-2 Cucumbers

4 Green onions

1-1/2 c. Miracle Whip

3 tbsp Vinegar

1 tbsp Salad Supreme (in spice isle)

1/2 c. Sugar

Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation

Prepare pasta and drain. Slice cucumbers and green onions, and toss with pasta. Combine remaining ingredients and mix into pasta. Serve cold.

**
How do you organize your favorite recipes so you can find them when you need them?

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You haven't seen Christmas cookies like this before

The past 19 days have been a blur. A comfy, cozy, cuddly, sleep-deprived blur.

The days and nights are a never-ending cycle of naps, feeding baby, changing diapers and staring into deep dark baby eyes, sprinkled with home school, taking turns holding baby and trying to sneak in a shower sometime before bed.

On Friday, I looked at the calendar and realized Christmas was a week away. I have only left the house twice since coming home from the hospital to attend the Christmas programs of the kids.

I haven't wrapped a gift. Or purchased a gift. Or baked a cookie. Or read the Advent book. Or purchased Christmas cards. Or even located the Christmas music.

So, I went online and made a few purchases. I found the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. And I sent my husband to the store to get some ingredients for cookies.

While I was holding and feeding baby, I asked CapableDad to make some cookies with the kids. I gave him a simple recipe: Holiday Wreath Cookies.

They are basically Rice Krispie Treats, but made with corn flakes and green food coloring.

I couldn't believe how they turned out!


The recipe said it would make 18 cookies. They managed to make 10. Have you ever seen Holiday Wreath Cookies that looked quite so... so... um... so... gloppy?


They were soooo gooey. And green! And wow! That was a lot of red hots!


They were definitely the best wreath cookies I have ever tasted. The bright green marshmallows were stuck to our fingers and hair afterward. Really? How can you go wrong with a recipe involving marshmallows, cereal and butter?

I immediately ate three, which would have been six cookies of the normal size. I'm saving the rest for breakfast.

I just showed my husband the cookies in the photo.

"Ohhhhhhh," he said. "So, THAT is what they were supposed to look like?!"

Um. Maybe I should have let him see the picture in advance.

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Make-ahead cookie dough

What is this strange force that takes over the mind and body of a woman in her final days of pregnancy?

It makes no sense. She feels about as poorly as she ever will. Her back and legs hurt. She should be sitting with her feet up.

And yet, she can't sleep until she cleans the linen closet. And washes the washing machine. And organizes the kitchen cabinets.

And makes meals to put in the freezer.

That darn nesting instinct.

It takes over all rational thinking and nothing can stand in it's way. Not even a few contractions will stop this woman from cleaning a closet that has been messy and unorganized for five years... since she had her LAST child.

Wouldn't it be great if the nesting instinct kicked in right BEFORE pregnancy began? Wouldn't it be wonderful if a woman's psyche could tell her she needed to make 16 freezer meals and scrub the bathtub BEFORE she became nauseous, moody and fatigued?

Oh, no. It waits. It waits until she has zero natural energy and every cell is in pain. Then it kicks into gear with a last-minute surge of adrenaline, allowing her to complete VERY important tasks, possibly life-saving, preventative tasks... like making chocolate chip cookies balls.

And that, my friends, is actually the point of this post.

Among the million other crazy things I have been trying to accomplish the past few days, I could not rest until I took care of the cookie dough. I read this tip somewhere else, and I love it.

I know. Most normal people simply buy break-and-bake cookies. But due to allergy issues, most of those are off limits for us. And besides, I love homemade chocolate chip cookies.

But instead of baking the whole batch, I only bake one pan. Then I scoop the rest of the dough onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Freeze the dough until it is hard. Place the dough balls in a freezer bag.

Now, you can grab a handful and bake them when the craving strikes. I even will bake just five at a time in my convection toaster oven so we can each have a nice warm homemade chocolate chip cookie with our lunch.

Hey, it works for me! And now, I can rest easier tonight, knowing that when the baby is crying and the children are fighting, at least I can have a warm cookie.

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What to do with ALL that turkey?

I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving! Ours was perfect.

My parents, three siblings, one brother-in-law and eight of my nieces and nephews joined us at our house on Thanksgiving Day since I wasn't able to travel. The best part? THEY brought all of the food.

All we had to do was cook the turkey and make a salad. My husband used his amazing Orion Convection Cooker to cook the turkey to moist perfection. AND he cooked it outside, so we still had plenty of room in the oven for all of the side dishes.

My unbelievable sister then took all three of our children to her house for the weekend, giving my husband and I time to relax, go out to dinner and knock off a ton of things on our To Do List. Dare I say it? I think we're ready to have a baby!

Unfortunately, one of the kids spiked a fever today and as much as my sister was willing to keep the sick children away from me, I couldn't bare the sound of his sad, sick voice so far from mommy for the night. So, my husband is en route to pick them up at their aunt's house two hours south of here.

The empty house and four hours of solitude gave me some serious motivation to complete one more thing I really wanted to do before the weekend was over: Figure out what to do with ALL of that left-over turkey.

I ended up making five meals, all but one of which went in the freezer to be used after baby's arrival. Here's what I came up with:

Jody's Turkey and Noodles
I got this recipe from Once A Month Mom. I opted for the freezer version of the recipe.

Slow Cooker North Woods Wild Rice Soup
I combined the turkey and veggies in a freezer bag and plan to heat this one in the crock pot. I added a label with the full recipe so I will remember to add the evaporated milk and flour at the end.

Turkey Club Braid
This is one of my favorite recipes from The Pampered Chef cookbook, All the Best. I usually make it with chicken, but I think turkey will work, too. I put the filling in a freezer bag and plan to bake it in the crescent rolls later. This is my official stand-by recipe when I invite a friend for lunch. Amazingly enough, my kids LOVE this recipe!

Club Sandwich Salad
This is going to be lunch tomorrow. I cut up the turkey and the rest of the bacon from the Turkey Club Braid and put it in a ziplock. I will add the other ingredients when we get home from church. I think I will add an avocado to the recipe, too, to make it more like a Cobb Salad. If I change my mind, I will mix it with cream cheese and make sandwich wraps.

Curried Turkey Salad
I am going to freeze this in individual serving-sized storage bags since I am the only one in the family who likes this kind of recipe. This will be my lunch when the kids are eating frozen pizza or corn dogs. Yum!

So how about you? What are you going to do with all of that left-over turkey?

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I *heart* this cake pan

I love my Wilton Heart Tasty Fill cake pan.


It makes it so easy to make an ordinary box mix cake something special.

In the nine months since I purchased it, I have filled cake with ice cream.



Cool whip and strawberries.



More ice cream.

(Oops! I made the heart upside down that time!)

Pudding.



I love cutting it open to reveal the heart in the middle. Now if only the Wilton spies would come by and give me another cake pan to test. I would love the one with the square in the middle.

To use the pan, just make an ordinary cake mix.

Spray the two pans with cooking spray. I also sprinkled it with flour recently, which was a disaster. The cake stuck to the pan and broke into a million pieces.

Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes and then dump it out onto wax paper.

Fill each cavity with whatever you would like. Freeze until both sides are hardened.

Put them together. Frost the outside. Put back in the freezer until ready to serve. Let the cake defrost about 10 minutes before cutting.

Today I’m thankful for my cake pan that makes me look more creative than I really am.

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Five easiest meals... ev-ah

Judging from all of the cards and letters I have been receiving, you all have been dying to know what ever happened to my UNBELIEVABLE Seven Day Meal Plan That Never Changes.

As you might recall, my goal was to make the same seven meals every week for a month. Actually, it was 14 meals, since my plan included lunch, too.

The first two weeks were awesome. Each day, both my husband and the kids would ask with anticipation, "What's on the meal plan for today?!" Or "What is on the schedule for Wednesday?" They were all actually planning ahead and looking forward to their favorite meal of the week.

Grocery shopping also was so simple. With the same meal plan each week, it was easy to remember what ingredients I needed, and I could stock up for future weeks.

But about halfway through Week 3, someone started getting tired of the rotating meals.

She started to complain. She couldn't stand the thought of Sloppy Joe. Her former love for BLTs was turning to revulsion. And biscuits and gravy? No way.

And since she IS the mom of the family, she started making substitutions. And why does it always seems that substitutions = Panda Express?

Well, I've been getting back into planning mode. I still have my basic meal plan on the fridge to use as my baseline, but I've been throwing in some of my Easiest Meals Evah to mix it up.

And since it IS a new month, I thought maybe we all could share our favorite simple meal. That way, we can all enjoy a little variety this month.

Here are five of my favorites:

1. Our Meijer store sells a fully-cooked rotisserie chicken for $5.99. That is almost as cheap as buying a raw whole chicken! I grab a loaf of French bread from the bakery and add a salad or veggie, and we have dinner.

2. That chicken goes a long way. So, the next day, boil a big pot of chicken broth and water and cook some Kluski noodles with diced chicken. I usually either throw in some carrots, or serve carrots on the side (cooked or cold). This is by far the favorite meal of my children, and we usually have enough for lunch the next day.

3. My top-secret meatloaf. I buy a package of McCormick's meatloaf seasoning and follow the directions on the back. I serve it with a veggie and some cornbread. Believe it or not, my kids love this meal, as well.

4. Slow cooker lasagna. I can't believe how good this recipe is! The secret is that you only want to cook it for about 5 hours on low.

5. Cheeseburger soup. Filling. Cheesy. Comfort food. Yum.

Your turn! What's your favorite super easy meal?

By the way... In case you have forgotten, there is a PERSON living in my tummy! She needs a middle name! Have you voted? I think she's ready to bust out, and we haven't made up our minds. Help us break the tie.

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The meal in my back pocket

I seem to be surrounded right now by people who are either pregnant or have newborn babies. Several friends also have had surgery or serious illness.

So, it seems like every few weeks a request goes out looking for people to bring meals to one of these families.

A few years ago, I couldn't wait to take someone a meal. I loved to cook. And I felt like it was a really easy way to help someone in need.

But lately, I've developed a weird meal-bringing phobia.

What if they don't like what I bring? What if it doesn't turn out right? What if I can't think of anything to cook?

Well, in the past few months, I decided it was time to conquer my fear of making meals for other people. I mean, this silliness was really standing in my way of helping others. It also was keeping me from inviting people over for dinner. I had even greater anxiety about eating a meal I made in front of friends who wouldn't be able to hide their disdain of my cooking.

So, I came up with my standard-issue meal. This is the meal in my back pocket that I turn to every time I need to make dinner for someone.

It's easy.
It's all-American.
And I don't have to think about it.
I always know exactly what I'm going to cook.

But before I give you all the details, I was wondering: Do you have a standard meal you turn to every time you need to cook for another family? Do you have a favorite meal that someone has made for you?

Do you love the chance to make dinner for friends or does it cause you to break out in a cold sweat and chills?

**

Here's my super easy Meal in My Back Pocket, with the easiest variation and then a just plain easy version.

MAIN DISH

Easiest: Pulled Pork sandwiches
I usually have my husband cook the pork in his fancy Orion convection cooker. It takes about four hours, so this works if we can use it on a weekend. Serve with a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce and buns. Everyone raves about my husband's pulled pork, and it makes my life much easier to let him cook the main dish.

If he's not available, I put a pork loin in the crock pot and add a bottle of BBQ sauce. Cook all day on low. Shred the meat. Serve with buns.

Still easy: Italian Beef
I linked to one of many similar recipes. I usually use Chuck Eye Chuck Roast for my meat. This always tastes best to me. Cook all day in the crock pot. Shred the meat. Serve with buns.

SALAD

Easiest: Emily's Famous Coleslaw (OK, soon-to-be famous!)
Bag of pre-cut cole slaw mix from the produce section
Honey-roasted sunflower seeds
Raisins or dried cranberries
Jar of cole slaw dressing
Mix in whatever proportion looks good to you!

Not too hard: Broccoli Cauliflower Salad
I always get rave reviews on this salad. I make a few changes from the linked recipe.
I usually use one head of broccoli and one-half head of cauliflower. I chop them to smithereens using The Pampered Chef "Chopper".
I don't use the eggs, onions or vinegar.
I throw in extra bacon and cheese because what's a salad without bacon and cheese?

SIDE DISH:

Easy: Creamy Corn Casserole
This is one of my favorite comfort foods!

Even easier: Chips and Dip

DESSERT:

Easiest: Cherry Dump Dessert
I make this with two cans of cherry pie filling, no pineapple, no coconut and no nuts.

Still pretty easy: The Great Pumpkin Dessert
I just made this dessert for the first time and it was good, especially for someone who can't get enough pumpkin lately! It's a lot like the cherry dump dessert, but made with pumpkin.

The next time I make it, I'm going to try it with 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, instead of 4. I thought it was a little too spicy.

**

So, if you are pregnant, about to have surgery or coming to our house for dinner, now you know what I will be serving. Enjoy!

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Squashed!

I've been having some squash issues lately.

It started with the pumpkin. I must have pumpkin pie. All the time. I think I have baked and devoured four pumpkin pies in the last two weeks.

I do have help. Everyone in my family seems to love pumpkin pie. And really? I think it should count as a vegetable. Why not? It's pretty much become a side dish around here.

Then over the weekend, my friend, A Musing Mom, bragged... I mean, mentioned on Facebook that she was making homemade butternut squash soup.

I don't think I had ever even tasted butternut squash soup before in my life. I know. I'm sheltered. I did have some type of squash soup at the Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in the airport one time, but I'm not sure if it was butternut.

My craving for squash-related foods intensified. You see, if I so much as hear a food-related word it could suddenly and without warning spark a strange craving that I never even imagined was lurking deep within me.

Can I just say again, "Please, please... do NOT mention the words K-r-i-s-p-y K-r-e-m-e". Don't say them! All of those restaurants have closed and it is not possible for me to fulfill that craving. Don't torture me! I won't be able to sleep.

Anyway. Back to the squash.

So, I went out yesterday and bought all of the ingredients for Butternut Squash Soup. It was a LOT more work than I had imagined to cut open the squash and cut it into cubes. When I got to the part about pureeing the squash in the blender, I almost turned back.

But it was delicious. I think they should re-name it "Cream Cheese Soup".

Oh, and I bought a spaghetti squash just in case. When I was growing up, I loved spaghetti squash. I know. It's a strange thing for a teen-age girl to love, but I was weird that way. I can't wait to bake it.

Who knows? It could even happen in the middle of the night. Stranger food-related occurrences have taken place around here at 3 a.m.

So, before I give you the recipe for A Musing Mom's Butternut Squash Soup (straight from AllRecipes.com), please tell me two things:

1. Squash, yes or no? I mean, you either love it or you hate it, right? Do you have a favorite squash? And a favorite way to eat it?

2. What is your favorite soup? I'm on a real soup-making kick right now and I would love some new ideas.


**
Butternut Squash Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 6 tablespoons chopped onion
• 4 tablespoons margarine
• 6 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
• 3 cups water
• 4 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

1. In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes, or until squash is tender.
2. Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan, and heat through. Do not allow to boil.

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Cinnamon and Coffee Terrine with Mexican Chocolate Ganache

A few weeks ago, when we had our ladies' game night, part of the fun was a pie-judging contest.

I was so excited that my pie was part of a four-way tie for first place!

This is really a super simple ice cream pie with a fancy name.

I made a few exceptions to the recipe:

• I didn't use the cayenne pepper.
• I couldn't find any cinnamon ice cream, so I used vanilla bean ice cream mixed with one teaspoon of cinnamon.
• I made mine in a regular pie pan, rather than a loaf pan, so it would qualify as a pie. This also eliminated the tricky part of pulling the pie out of the loaf pan, detailed below.

Let me know what you think about adding in the cayenne pepper. My small group is having a Mexican night in a couple of weeks, and I'm planning to make this dessert again with the pepper!

Ganache
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup heavy cream

Terrine
2 cinnamon graham crackers
1 pint coffee ice cream
1 quart cinnamon ice cream

To make the ganache, combine the first four ingredients in a stainless steel bowl. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream to a boil while stirring. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Mix with a wooden spoon until melted and well blended. Let cool at room temperature until spreadable and cool (at least one hour). Place in the fridge if you need the ganache to cool faster.

To make the terrine, put two layers of cling wrap lengthwise in a 9x5-inch loaf pan with several inches of overhang. Then put two layers of cling wrap widthwise, allowing five inches on each side for overlap. Let coffee ice cream sit out for 5 minutes, until softened. Spread softened coffee ice cream into the pan and put back in freezer for 15 minutes.

When the ganache is well cooled, spread it on top of the coffee layer, and place back in freezer for 15 minutes (until ganache is hardened). Soften cinnamon ice cream, and spread it on top of ganache layer. Crumble the graham crackers on top, and press lightly into ice cream. Cover with overhanging cling wrap.

Freeze for several hours before serving. Can be made three days in advance. When serving, use cling wrap to lift terrine out of pan. Slice horizontally into 8 servings.

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What's for dinner this week... and the next... and the next...

OK. That's it. I've had enough.

I can't possibly be a good mom, tote around a growing baby in my tummy, keep the house clean, home school the kids, stay on top of the laundry, write my blog, tell myself jokes, take naps AND still be expected to come up with what we are having for dinner every single day around here.

I'll admit it. I have completely stopped using my VERY OWN meal planning sheet that I created and then try to sell to other people in my everydayMOM planner.

But you know what? I got that thing out, and it was pretty darned helpful, I must admit.

I would love to say that after watching Julie and Julia I was inspired to create some truly gourmet dinners for our family. But actually, I'm striving for bland.

I decided that instead of planning out a whole month's worth of menus, we are going to eat the same exact thing every week. That's right. Every Monday, for example, we are having taco salad. Fridays are home-made pizza.

Same goes for lunches. If it's Tuesday, you better believe we are having chicken nuggets, pumpkin muffins and corn.

We are going to try this for one month until everyone in this family knows that Thursday is pot roast. And maybe, just maybe, if I can master seven lunches and seven dinners without ever wondering what we are going to eat next, we can start having something else once in a while.

So, speak now, my dear family, or hold your peace for one month. Here's what's for lunch and dinner (don't laugh!):

Sunday
Lunch: BLTs, fruit, yogurt
Dinner: Sloppy Joe sandwiches, chips, green beans

Monday
Lunch: Pizza, carrots and applesauce
Dinner: Taco salad, refried beans

Tuesday
Lunch: chicken nuggets, pumpkin muffins, corn
Dinner: Chicken in the crock pot, rice and steamed broccoli (I have a feeling my husband will have to work late on Tuesdays.)

Wednesday
Lunch: Sandwich wraps (tortilla with cream cheese, ham, cheese and whatever else you like... lettuce, avocado wrapped up and then sliced), fruit, cottage cheese
Dinner: Pasta with marinara or al fredo sauce, (grilled zucchini and tomatoes for me), garlic bread

Thursday
Lunch: Tomato soup, crackers, grilled cheese
Dinner: Pot roast in crock pot with potatoes and carrots, rolls

Friday
Lunch: Plain pasta, bagels with cream cheese, veggies
Dinner: Homemade pizza, salad

Saturday
Lunch: Hamburgers on grill or fish sticks, cantaloupe, baked beans
Dinner: Biscuits and gravy (I love breakfast for dinner!)
fruit

Snacks:
apples, pears, mandarin oranges, grapes, bananas
carrots, green pepper, cucumber slices
cheese sticks, vanilla yogurt with mix-ins
bagels, English muffins, Nutrigrain bars

There you have it. That's what's for dinner. And lunch. And snack.

Whew. Now I don't have to think.

Please feel free to send me your ideas for next month. We might need a new rotation!

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s'mores galore

We got together with some friends today to celebrate another cold, rainy June day in the midwest. I decided to cook my oldest son's favorites for our lunch.

These are two simple recipes that my kids and most of their friends love! (My friend's kids were actually asking me to give their mom the recipe, so here you go!)

Bow tie pasta with chicken and bacon

Ingredients:
Da-da-da... None other than:

Bow tie pasta (one box)
Chicken (two cooked chicken breasts, cut into small pieces)
Bacon (one pound, cooked cripsy, cut into small pieces)

I toss this together with olive oil and serve it just like that for the kids.

Then, for the adults, I add basil, chopped tomatoes and top with Parmesan cheese (feta would probably be really good, too!).

For dessert, S'mores Galore:


Oops! I forgot to take a picture until we had eaten half of them.

This is a great way to make S'mores without a fire. I love taking these to cook-outs in the summer. And everyone seems to love them!

Ingredients:
20 whole graham crackers
6 Hershey bars
16 ounce bag of mini marshmallows
6 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons milk

Arrange about 12 graham crackers in a single layer on a large bar pan. Toast in the oven for 2 minutes at 350 degrees.

Combine three cups of marshmallows, three tablespoons butter and three tablespoons milk. (Isn't that easy to remember? 3-3-3.) Microwave for one minute. Stir until smooth.

Now add... guess how many?... yup! THREE Hershey bars. Mix until melted.

Spread the chocolatey goo on top of the graham crackers.

Melt another 3 tablespoons of butter. Coarsely chop about eight more graham crackers and toss with the butter. Add the remainder of a 16-ounce bag of marshmallows. Coarsely chop three more Hershey bars. Toss it all together.

Spread mixture on top of chocolatey goo. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 350.

Yum!

Now go try it! You can thank me later.

resurrection rolls

This is one of our favorite things to make around Easter. It's a great way to talk about the resurrection of Christ with your kids. And it's fun to see their reaction when they open the "tomb" after the baking is done.

Plus, they are yum-my!

Ingredients:

• 1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 8 large marshmallows
• Melted butter
• Cinnamon

Directions:

• Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll. This represents the tomb.
• Each child takes one marshmallow which represents the body of Christ.
• Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.
• Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.
• Make sure all seams are pinched together well. (Otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams)
• Bake according to package directions.
• Cool.
• Break open the tomb and the body of Christ is no longer there!

Do you have a favorite Easter recipe or tradition? I would love to hear about it!

I hope you enjoy this blessed weekend.

cooking lessons

Hello.

I thought I should share a few cooking lessons I learned this weekend after our birthday extravaganza.

Did you know that you can wrap potatoes in aluminum foil and cook them all day on low in the crock pot? By dinner time, you can reveal 12 fully baked potatoes, and you didn't have to microwave, bake or grill to make it happen.

Did you know that it's really easy to make Italian beef? And really tasty? You just put some beef in the crockpot, a package or two of Italian-style salad dressing mix, a can of beef broth and a jar of pepperoncinis. I used five pounds of beef, three packets of the seasoning and one big jar of mild pepperoncinis. We had enough Italian beef to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner for several days. I would recommend making a smaller quantity.

Did you know that people like to eat raw veggies?

When I am cooking, I always feel that I should make a few of my most delicious, time-tested, raved-about recipes. And those always seem to include at least one cup of mayonnaise, sour cream or Ranch dressing. Or at least one stick of butter.

My husband's uncle, Jerry, was visiting us from California this weekend. We are all amazed that a couple of years ago, Jerry went on a medically-supervised fast and lost 90 pounds. I'm pretty sure he ate nothing whatsoever for a month, and then worked up to a liquid diet and finally, a highly-controlled diet.

He now eats lots of veggies. And zero-calorie salad dressing. Along with really lean meat.

Italian beef and baked potatoes aren't tops on his diet. And mayonnaise and Ranch dressing? That would be the equivalent of just applying fat directly to the skin.

I had no clue how to cook for him, so I let him contribute whatever he could eat to my high-fat offerings.

I was so amazed at how the whole family kept gravitating toward Jerry's ultra-healthy salads.

It got me thinking. I wonder what would happen if I served meals that were totally healthy. What if the next time we had dinner guests I made grilled chicken and steamed zucchini? I might try it sometime just to see what would happen.

Maybe I should experiment on my family first.

But not yet. We still have to finish this, which is sitting in our freezer.