Hell Holes and Food

I'm to a, sort of, lull in my year end activities.  Maybe lull isn't the right word - a place I can squeeze in a break would be better.  I have some e-filing to do and then I've got the yuckier part of closing out the year:  inventory.  I've decided there is no way I can concentrate on counting when the store room and the area around it is an utter sty.  I'm hoping that today I can make some inroads, literally - paths into the disaster that lower level has become.  I've fortified myself with coffee and oatmeal pancakes.  I've got my iPod loaded with podcasts and the weather, though it doesn't look like it now, is supposed to be open-the-windows good.

Dear hubby celebrates his 50th birthday next week, but the party will be this weekend.  Luckily, we're not having it here at the house so I won't feel rushed to "clean."  Clean translates into "get the rest of the tree down."  Yep, it's still up - though half the ornaments are off.  

The menu this week was all Pinterst.  If you're looking for a menu or a recipe that's quick, easy and yummy then check out this past week's menu.

 

I'm a big fan of Snickerdoodle cookies.  I almost made this Apple Butter Snickerdoodle recipe for the cookie bake, but passed on it.  I made them last week and oh my.  Learning my lesson from my last Snickerdoodle adventure, I didn't over smoosh them and I watched the cook time - which for me up at altitude usually means less time than the recipe calls for.  They were light and soft.  They were good!

One of the outcomes from all the doctor's appointments, was a need to be more aware with some diet issues.  In an effort to up the nutrition and fiber in a weekend stack of pancakes I found these Healthy Oatmeal Pancakes.  I didn't have buttermilk, so I did the substitute thing (I may need to keep buttermilk on hand more than I'm used to.)  This recipe produces a light, fluffy, moist pancake.  I served them the day of with fresh strawberries and this cinnamon syrup.  I've had the leftovers reheated with bananas.  Both good options.

While some of us were eating Oatmeal Pancakes, one of us was enjoying these Bacon & Egg Stuff Avocados.  They were really easy and I'm told very good.  My only problem was we buy large eggs and there was no way I would scoop out enough avocado, and still have avocado left, to not have the eggs overflow.  I used the blogger's tip to use muffin tins to hold the avocados, but next time I'll put muffin liners underneath to make clean up easier.  

 

We love a good sandwich for dinner and French Dip is one of our favorites.  These Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches were good.  The recipe calls for a particular roast, which either because of vernacular or availability, I couldn't find.  Add that I cooked it high and for a shorter time (I prefer low and slow), shredding wasn't going to happen.  But they were still quite good, I just sliced it really thin.  I've got other French Dip recipes to try and others that I have liked better, so this one won't make the rotation again.

If it's not a casserole this time of year, it's something covered in a creamy sauce.  Just like this Chicken in Cream Parmesan and Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce.  The sauce was killer - I'm not a "mopper" for sauce, but I was totally dragging my dinner roll through the stuff.  I think I may have seen someone just pour the sauce directly on his roll.  I served it with a side salad, but only because I didn't have the amount of Orzo I thought I had.  You definitely need a way to use up all the dreamy sauce.

We were watching our niece on Tuesday afternoon and she was likely going to be around for dinner, so I planned a kid friendly meal.  I was intrigued by this Ham and Cheese Skillet recipe for its take on a roux, which didn't use milk, but sour cream instead.  It produced a rich and creamy sauce.  I upped the called for pasta, without altering the rest of the recipe, just to be sure there was enough.  I used 10 oz instead of 8 oz and we fed nine.

 

What was I saying about casseroles?  I didn't put this Slow Cooker Cheesy Tortellini in the slow cooker, I did it in a skillet on the stove.  Usually when a recipe calls for straight ground beef in an Italian recipe I sub in Italian sausage - I like the additional flavor it provides.  I didn't do that with this one and I missed it, so next time sausage it is.  I'll also drain one of the cans of tomatoes.  Since the sauce isn't a marinara, it was a bit watery for me - I'm sure the intent is that the tortellini will cook in and soak it up.  I added double the tortellini (and still too much water), but didn't otherwise adjust the recipe. 

 

I'm pretty sure I've made this Skillet Cassoulet before.  It's from Taste of Home, so I'm sure I made it from the magazine.  I doubled the recipe for us.  I toasted up some buttered sourdough and it was a complete meal.  It's zesty and warm, with that browned goodness of spicy sausage.  Hearty too!

Well, if I'm going to accomplish anything, I'd best dig in.  

Happy Friday,

We Are

After the upheaval of the recent months, and the chaos that is the holiday season, it seems we have reached a quiet spot in the road, so to speak.  We seem to be relatively boring, which I gotta tell you, I'll take it.

But it also means there's not as much to take photos of.  This is where something like ProjectLife® comes in handy.  None of these things are much of a story on their own, but they do show where we are right now.  

• We are receiving bright, unexpected bouquets on cold, dreary days.
• We are fog and frost-bound for two days, which never happens in Colorado.  At least the fog part.
• We are all about routines on school mornings, which include "Hurry up!" and "Eat" on repeat.
• We are watching the big ball rise.  Today it's an odd light-pink for being this high in the sky (lens didn't do a great job in capturing the color) which is a sure sign of big-time inversion.  Pretty.  Just don't think about why.

Happy  Wednesday,

Needed

I posted on Facebook that I've decided to embrace "the slump."  Not that I have a lot of choice at the moment.  As much as I'd like to put some crafting/me time at the top of the list, I just can't.  There are some other things that need to be dealt with first.  That's the thing about priorities, they are shifting.

I have decided that I need to take a class.  I've checked over at Big Picture, my go-to, and while they have a ton of classes and eBooks, they don't have the kind of thing I need to get me going.  I'm not very good at the self-paced thing, though they look really interesting, I need the accountability.  However, I've got several classes I've paid for and/or taken that I could re-do - though there's that whole accountability thing again.  I also have several challenges from the last class I took that are sitting on my cluttered work table still to do, as well.

I had a friend try to get me to a crop on Saturday, but I fell asleep.  Actually I had planned on taking her kit to her after church on Saturday evening, but forgot it at home.  Once I was home, I was done.  I fell asleep as she was dangling drinks at me via text.  There is another, longer crop later this month. . .maybe that'll be my ticket.  The store also had a couple classes that looked interesting; perhaps one of those would work.

Anyone got any other ideas for get-me-going classes?  I did a brief Google search and most stuff was digital and I'm a paper gal.

I thought about maybe teaching myself to convert some sketches into digital stamps and create cut-files via YouTube, but I run into the same time crunch at the moment.  I really need to learn this stuff or find someone I can work with who already knows.

Hey, does anyone know how to do that - take a sketch and create a digital stamp and/or a cut-file?  Email if you do - we can talk.

For now, I'll take down my tree (nope, didn't happen over the weekend) and try not to think about the changes that will be taking place when I take out all those ornaments and decorate the tree next Christmas.

Happy Tuesday,

Ice and Food

I had to break out the chisel again this morning to get my car out of the ice block it had become overnight, but even that didn't work.  Bring on the hot water.  They say we should get to freezing tomorrow.  

I've got a list in my head of things I'd like to get done today, besides getting dinner together.  Among them start to take down the tree (the rest of the house is pretty much devoid of Christmas), tackle some end-of-year paper work so I can move on to the next step, and start to work on the basement (there's not need to talk about the pigs that moved in down there.)  We'll see how it goes, since it's cold enough outside to not make me leave until I do the kid round-up later.

While I still can't manage an ounce of creativity in the crafting arena, cooking is flourishing, and usually does this time of year.  The menu for the week was all Pinterest.

Let me state - there is NO bourbon in this Bourbon Chicken recipe.  This is more like Bourbon Street. . .and holy cow was it good.  I doubled the recipe in both chicken and sauce.  I also used chicken thighs, instead of breasts, because they hold up better for simmering.  There were a couple comments, on the original blog post, that it was overly salty, but I didn't think so.  I used low sodium soy sauce, so maybe helped.  I wouldn't add any additional salt though.  I also used pineapple juice, which I keep on hand in small cans.  You could add julienne carrots, sweet peppers and broccoli if you wanted to up the nutrition. 

Sunday night my family found me and asked for dinner, of which I had none planned, because I usually do leftovers on Sundays.  I remembered pinning this Potato Kielbasa Skillet and it looked quick enough for a toss-together meal.  The bad part of not menu planning, you're not sure to have everything on hand.  Enter tonight's meal.  I didn't have red potatoes, enough spinach and zero onions (a staple in my kitchen.)  However, I did have russets.  Note, leave the skin on, they'll hold up better.  I also had about a cup of the four cups of spinach, though I think one was good enough, maybe two cups, but I think four cups would have been a lot.  I didn't have onion, but I had dried onion and some green pepper.  It was good.  I knew it wouldn't be enough for the six of us, and debated adding in a can of northern beans, but instead left the skillet to my kids and hubby and had leftovers myself.

I am cooking this week by the seat of my pants.  I have the menu, I just haven't hit the store.  So it's been interesting as to whether I have the ingredients, or if I'll have to wing it; I did send the 16 y.o. to get me onions.  I thought I had everything I needed for One-Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls.  I was wrong, by one can of black beans (also a kitchen staple.)  This was a quick In-Law dinner meal.  I toyed with the idea of using Quinoa instead of rice, even brown rice, but thought I'd give it a go as written.  Plus I still have a ton of rice to use up from one of hubby's restricted diets.  I will give the Quinoa a try, though.

On Mondays I usually make a dessert that doubles for the kids' lunches.  They are die-hard Chocolate Chip Cookie lovers, big time.  I keep trying to broaden their cookie horizons, usually with little won effort, which just means the cookies last all week instead of two days.  So, when I found these Cranberry Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, I thought the chocolate chips might give me an edge.  Turns out, they love them.  They'd be really good with dried cherries, which would have been my go-to had I not had enough dried cranberries and I was about 1/4 cup short, actually.

Apparently I should have waited one day before making Creamy Chicken and Corn Chowder; it was 55 degrees when we sat down to it, but less than 12 hours later it was 16 degrees, and wouldn't get any better than that.  Still it was thick, creamy and smooth.  I used rotisserie chicken, as I usually do with recipes like this.  It's even better the next day.

I had already determined to make my own, well, everything, for this Meatball Sub Kabob recipe.  The sauce, the bread dough and the meatballs.  My sauce is tried and true, as is my dinner roll recipe.  The only thing I don't have is a good meatball recipe.  Well I have a good one, but wasn't sure the flavors would "go Italian."  I should have just tried it, because I searched, found one and tried it and they were so-so.  I usually mix in ground pork to keep things moist, but didn't have any on hand, so the double cook times dried out the meatballs.  Next time I'll either go with the Salisbury steak-style meatball recipe I have, or re-try the recipe I found adding ground pork and then cooking the meatballs, just until they hold their shape, since they're getting cooked again.  I might also make them a bit larger, more meal sized.  Those things aside, I still liked them.  Meatball sub-y without all the bread and the mess of eating a fully sauced sandwich.

This week's menu has been an exercise in flexibility and creativity (at least there's creativity alive somewhere in the house.)  Take this Avocado Black Bean Enchiladas recipe, which was supposed to be my meatless meal for the week.  I had everything on hand, but the avocados weren't ripe; I could barely cut into the stupid things.  Luckily I had a rotisserie chicken in the 'fridge.  The recipe calls for flour tortillas, which I had, but I had planned on using up some corn tortillas instead.  I found those had become a science experiment, so flour it was!  The flavor was great and we agreed to try it again with the avocados.

I have my plan for tonight, which is supposed to be french dip, but since I have no roast I'm not sure creativity and flexibility will work with that one.  Which means I either head out, into the ice, for the roast or come up with something else.  I think I'll see what I've got for fish in the freezer.

Happy Friday,

Got Something to Countdown?

So I remain blocked, uninspired, uninterested, whatever you want to call it.  It certainly doesn't help that I've got some serious must do's on my plate at the moment.  But the most creative thing I've done, and I use the word "creative" extremely loose here, was to sew snaps back on my winter coat.  The creative part?  Well, one I did it while waiting in the drop-off line this morning and two, I was missing a mate for one of the snaps and I pulled one from under the collar; I never use that closure anyway.  

I know.  Creative, huh?  I'm sure you're thinking, "Whoa, slow down.  You are blowing our minds with your creative endeavors."  I wish.

You know who's always got her creative on?  Kristin Perez.  Last month she created this adorable Countdown calendar, using the December Bigger kit.  

Now, don't go thinking, "Fat lot of good that does me now," because you can, 1) use the kit to make your own for next year, or 2) use the idea to create a countdown for a different event.  There are countdown calendars for all kinds of things these days:  Birthdays, other holidays (Easter, Halloween), even big trips or vacations.  Maybe you've adopted a fitness program - are you running every day for 30 days?  Maybe your training for a 5k, 10k, half or full marathon.  Are you trying to eat better - healthy eating for 30 days?  Make a countdown that is not only a physical reminder of your upcoming plans, but helps you track where you're at.

She started by using cardstock from the kit to create the base, then cut down the patterned paper to fit inside.  Now, she used the Countdown paper that was part of the kit, but don't worry if don't have that.  You can use stickers, stamps, diecuts, or your good 'ole fashioned handwriting (it's just a number for heaven's sake!)  Use a coordinating cardstock color, or another patterned paper (small, pale patterns or grids would work best, so you can see the numbers.) Then she just set about doing simple embellishments to each of the cards.

  

On this one, she glittered her number, used glitter velvet from the kit and the satin bow was also part of the kit.

On this one, all she added was a metal snowflake, found in the kit.

Here, she's added a cookie cutter button, a length of gold velvet ribbon and a small brad - all from the kit.

For this one, she's simply added a sticker pennant from the kit.

You can embellish as much or as little as you want.  Shoot dig through your stash and use up some bits and bobbles - this is a perfect project for that.  Mix and match journaling cards from your stash into a kit to create the bases.

She punched holes through the cardstock backgrounds and strung all the cards on a round metal clip.  I don't know what her base originally was, or is, but you can use a small picture frame, with the glass out and back off.  Prop it up on a plate stand/easel that can be found in the framing department of almost any craft store.  You could use a frame with chicken wire attached to the back and string, or clip the cards to the wire.  You could just pin them to a bulletin board.  Shoot you can tape them to the front of your 'fridge.  A quick Pinterest search for Countdown Calendar Holders netted me this adorable DIY holder.

Counting down to something is fun and adds to the excitement, especially if you've got kids at home.  So, go be creative.  Use a kit.  Dig out some stash.  Track your progress.

Happy Thursday,

We Are

I woke up to a glazed world. . .and not the good glaze, like on a donut.  No, this was the bad kind.  The ice kind.  Even my super-killer ice scrapper couldn't touch it.

• We are two tails waiting for butter on New Year's Eve - our yearly tradition commences.
• We are left alone as the other four head off to the movies.
• We are making our annual pilgrimage to the "Halloween House" after many requests by the 6 y.o.  His older brother took him by the night before, but I was told they "only heard one song."  The lights are synched to music, so the 6 y.o. and I wandered over after McD's to close out the season.
• We are practicing our "cover the puck" moves.
• We are so very proud of the this boys achievements, which garnered him the Golden Rocket Award for December.  
• We are lettered.  We are licensed.  We are taller than mom.  We are ready for time to stop ticking away so fast.

Happy Wednesday,

New Year, Old Goals, Good Food

Happy New Year!  I hope that you had an enjoyable, peaceful couple days.  Once Christmas was over, we've managed to be pretty couch-potato-y.  It's been awesome.

 

We, here, did our usual thing - the kids got their favorite take-out and hubby and I sat down to feast on lobster.  This year the take out choice was Five Guys for the boys.  My daughter wasn't feeling hungry before heading off to a friend's, but she used her "I wasn't hungry" defense to request Papa Murphy's Mediterranean Chicken pizza last night.  Worked for me, I wasn't feeling like cooking. 

 

Hubby and I, after years of over planning, have figured out that less is more with our traditional meal.  We've done the surf and turf, we've done one or the other with various sides.  We've basically stuffed ourselves silly.  I think we've got it now - one choice from the sea (crab, scallops, or lobster), one side - typically a good salad, and a good bottle of wine.  Occasionally, we'll add dessert - but it's usually leftovers from some recent gathering; this year it was the Buttermilk Cranberry Breakfast Cake found below.

 

It's a fresh beginning for a new year.  I always wonder what lies out there for us; what changes I don't know are coming.  As with any bright and shiny new year, I wonder what goals I should undertake, and how can I stay accountable to them.  As I've said in the past, I don't like resolutions, or the word anyway.  I looked over my intentions from last year aannnddd. . .yeah, well; some did good, some not so much.   I could actually just duplicate the list this year and be good.

 

The only thing that hasn't changed, that I stayed on top of during the year and the holidays, was menu planning.  I tell you, if you don't menu plan you should add that to your list for 2015.  It's great to have a plan for dinner, have the ingredients on hand and the ability to shuffle things around if you feel like it.  We tend to eat better, and probably a bit healthier, plus save money.  I'm not a fussy cook - I like simple, good and easy to pull together.

 

I made these Apple Kuchen Bars for dessert for In-Law Dinner night.  I had a ton of apples to use up and this seemed the quickest way.  They were good and would be a good breakfast/brunch addition to eggs.

I'm not sure these are The Best Snickerdoodle Cookies, but they were good.  I made them for our Cookie Bake.  I probably flattened them a bit much, as they didn't look like the round little puffs in the photos; they spread much more.  But they were light and soft and chewy.  Plus it's a Snickerdoodle, unless they were burned, how bad could they have been?

You're going to start to see a theme here, starting with this Apple Cranberry Baked Oatmeal.  I had cranberries, oranges and apples out my ears from holiday cooking.  This baked oatmeal, which I love because you can eat from it for a week, has been on my Pinterest board for a while.  This was a moist from the applesauce with tart pops of cranberry.  I'm pretty sure I used frozen berries, and they worked just fine.

I went glazeless for these Fresh Cranberry Scones.  By the time they were done, I just wanted to eat one.  They were light and fluffy and I didn't miss the glaze.  Scones can be a bit more step-intensive recipe-wise, but they do come together pretty quickly - plus I love scones, so for me, are worth the extra steps.

We had a big buffet ham for Christmas Eve, that I glazed it with Pioneer Woman's super simple, how-is-this-a-recipe, Raspberry Mustard Glaze.  As a result, I have plenty of leftover ham.  This BBQ Ham Pineapple Kabobs recipe helped use up more of the ham, plus it was super simple for dinner with the in-laws.  I used fresh pineapple instead of canned.  The large chunks of ham stayed moist and the sweet pineapple with the spicy BBQ sauce made for a good meal on a really cold night.

I've been doing a lot of soup lately, which my family doesn't consider a meal in itself, so I generally have to have something to go with it.  I made tomato soup, Pioneer Woman's is my go-to (I leave out the sherry) so I needed something to go with it.  The Food Network's Southern at Heart had this lovely, gooey recipe for Grilled Pimento Cheese Sandwiches.  Oh my, they were delicious!  My kids ate them; not even a complaint about the roasted red peppers.  Use a sturdy bread to get a crispy outside.

This Cranberry Orange Skillet Cake was dessert on Christmas Eve.  It was a good make-ahead, like early in the morning make-ahead.  It was very festive with oranges and cranberries and white chocolate.  The glaze/sauce was just the ticket.  I'm becoming very fond of skillet desserts.

And, let's see, how 'bout more cranberries?  Buttermilk Cranberry Breakfast Cake almost used up the last of them, plus the last of my buttermilk.  I know it says breakfast, but I made it for dessert and it was a nice finish to a lighter dinner. 

I made these Orange Ricotta Pancakes to use up some of my zest-less oranges and some left over ricotta.  They were good.  Light and spongey.  Lots of orange flavor.  A good-start to one of our last do-nothing days.

I've got plans for today.  Things that I hope will get me back into the swing of things.

Happy Friday,