Breakfast Casserole: Veggie Egg Tater Tot Bake

Once a month, K and I go to the church to serve breakfast to those in need in our area.  It's important to say that these folks don't have to qualify.  If they show up, we provide them with toiletry items/cleaning items (toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, soap, shampoo . . . ) that they might not be able to get otherwise.  We love this ministry.  For the first few times we came, we helped without bringing anything.  We really didn't know what to do.  After a few cracks at seeing what works, I have come up with a recipe that volunteers and visitors alike love.

Veggie Tater Tot Bake
Serves 12 or more (depending upon how you cut it)
NEEDS TO SIT OVERNIGHT.  (Don't say that I didn't warn you. ;) )
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Cooking time:  1 hour and a half

I have always made this in a standard sterno warmed foil pan.  (The kind that go into disposable catering trays.)  You could also put it together in a cake pan.

1 bag of frozen tater tots*
1 dozen eggs
A cup or so of milk
1 package of pepper jack cheese slices
Probably 1 cup of shredded cheese (I've used cheddar or colby jack)
2 1/2 - 3 cups diced veggies  (I use broccoli, carrots and sweet peppers)
Salt and pepper to taste.

I started creating this recipe by seeing what vegetables needed used in my crisper drawer.  Probably horrible to admit, but it is true.  Whatever you choose, chop up those veggies! 

Throw them into a bowl with the FROZEN tater tots.  My salt and pepper measurements are by pepper grinder and salt mill.  For me, it is 12 cranks of each one.  Toss in your shredded cheese.  Stir all of this together and place in a pan sprayed well with Pam.  

Into a 4 cup measuring cup, I crack 1 dozen eggs, top off to the 4 cup mark with milk then add 5 more cranks each of pepper and salt.  Scramble all this up in the measuring cup then pour evenly over the tater tot/veggie mixture.  

If I was thinking, I would have taken a picture but I didn't.  Here is where you place the slices of pepper jack cheese on top. 

If using a foil pan, place your pan on a cookie sheet, cover with foil SPRAYED WITH PAM on the side of foil closest to the food, fold the foil edges down over the sides and leave in the refrigerator overnight.  

Place your oven rack one step down from the middle.  (Meaning not the bottom rack.)  Bake at 375 F for an hour and a half.  You may want to double check baking times and adjust for your own oven.  

This is done when you can cut into the middle and see no liquid sloshing around. 

Enjoy!  

*Don't use hash brown potatoes.  You'll be tempted to.  They were bland and watery.  I've already made the mistake for you.  Trust me.  Avoid them, please.  

Not the Apple Cinnamon Cream of Wheat from my youth.

I have a love of the packaged Apple Cinnamon Cream of Wheat from my youth.  It was and still is my very favorite.

I haven't been able to find it.  Not just recently.  I haven't been able to find it in years.  

Last week, we were in Amish Country.  I found a giant bag of plain Cream of Wheat.  "I can try to make it myself!"  I got to work.

I was on the hunt for dried apples.  I couldn't find those, either.  I did find freeze dried apples on the Target clearance rack yesterday.  It's kind of what I wanted anyhow.  I didn't want the squishy dried ones.  

I individually bagged 15 servings.  (I made a total of 16 servings, but had to test drive one.)

It doesn't look like the Cream of Wheat of my youth.  It's a bit more cinnamony than what I had, too.  It is still good.  

Amy's Fake Out Apple Cinnamon Cream of Wheat

1/4 cup plain cream of wheat

1 T raw sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1 1/2 slices freeze dried apple, chopped

Dump your ingredients in a snack bag.  You'll have to figure out how much water you like.  I'm not for watery cream of wheat.  Boil your water and have at it.  

Enjoy!  

Because not everything has to involve a can: Homemade Cherry Cobbler

I was rooting through the refrigerator today.  I was teaching K how to make a chicken pot pie and we needed the ingredients to make it happen.  The cherries I bought her about a week ago had shuffled towards the back of the fridge and I forgot about them.  "But I wanted to eat them, but they weren't washed yet."  I have to introduce her to the Duggar way of life with that.  The child is fully capable of washing her own cherries.  Anyhow, it left me with a bag of cherries that were a little too ripe for dropping in your mouth and eating, but not quite far gone enough for compost.  (Some were, but there were plenty of good ones left.)

What am I going to do with these?  I washed and pitted the cherries.  I wondered if a cobbler would be possible.  I looked it up on Pinterest.  Certainly it seemed possible, but everyone used cans of pie filling with the goo.

Um, I don't even like cherries and that seemed kind of gross.

I had to do an independent internet search for cherry pie filling and since I only had half of the cherries it called for, I just split the recipe.  On Pinterest, I found a recipe for homemade cobbler (not the dump method) and I was all about that.  Here's what I ended up with:

Cherry Cobbler Filling

1/3 cup raw sugar
2 decent T cornstarch
1/8 t salt
2 cups pitted cherries
3/4 cup water
1 T lemon juice
1 - 1 1/2 T vanilla*

Combine all in a saucepan, bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes until thickened and remove from heat.

(This is where I tell you that it called for additional red food coloring.  I skipped it.  Looked red enough for me and why would I want to add that?)

* This was my own addition.

Cherry Cobbler 

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup white sugar
3/4 t salt
2 t vanilla extract*
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
Homemade cobbler filling from above

Preheat oven to 350 F.  It said to use an 8 x 11 pan, but I used a little smaller oval French White Corning ware dish.  Coat the bottom of the dish with Pam.  Cream all ingredients together except for cobbler filling.  Spread 2/3 of the batter on the bottom of the baking dish.  Pour cobbler filling on top and dollop the rest of the batter on top.  Bake for 30-45 minutes.  Cool, slice & serve.

* I was taught to always double the vanilla, so this has already been doubled.

Yum!

ETA:  It was delicious, but I admit that K ate my hunks of cherries for me.

A paid day off and a pot of soup.

I got the call at 6:15 AM to say that my place of employment was on a delay open.  We usually open at 10 AM (and 6:15 AM was a little early to call) but with the 3" of snow covered with ice, it was decided that there would be a wait-and-see approach to opening.

Julia, my coworker, texted me to ask what the update on work was.  She said she doesn't speak English at 6 AM.  I gave her my update and called Judy back.  She said to give her another hour to make a determination.

She called before that hour was up.  The local university (which is a block and a half behind our store) closed, so she decided to close, too.  HOORAY!   A paid day off to putz around the house, load a bunch of CDs into iTunes (Pavement, CAKE, NIN, Blind Melon, Rusted Root, Squirrel Nut Zippers and onward to Porno for Pyros and Jane's Addiction and more) and cook up a pot of soup.

What soup am I cooking?  It's called, "I'm making from what's in my cupboards and refrigerator!"  We have turkey kielbasa, dried mixed beans, barley, corn, carrots, peas and half of a green pepper.  I'll bust out a pan of cornbread and the world will be a delicious place.

Be safe!

Taco Soup-- A recipe that I don't want to forget.

I served Taco Soup at my Christmas Tea.  It may not be a very tea-like soup, but it was danged good.  It was so good that I'm going to write it down here before I forget.  You see, I went to one of those female obligation parties where food is had and sold and whatnot.  I purchased the Taco Soup and the Sea Salt Caramel Brownies.  Now, I could live without the brownies for a few different reasons.  First off, they had no actual sea salt.  Hmm.  I'm thinking that the name suggested and all.  Thankfully, my MIL just gave me a sea salt grinder.  Secondly, the caramel provided was nearly impossible to work with.  Thirdly, the brownies didn't wow me.  The soup, however, wow'd everyone.  I was disappointed when I opened the soup mix and thought, "I paid $7 for that?  I have the ingredients in my house!"  Besides, I had to add an extra taco seasoning, because the original package didn't have enough flavor.  With all that, here is my version of a more affordable Taco Soup.

Taco Soup 

A cup or so of holiday soup mix beans, soaked overnight.  -- You know the kind with 12-15 types of beans in there.  Too lazy to count the beans listed out on my bulk bean label.
A pound of 93% fat free ground turkey.  You could use beef if beef is your thing.
1 can of whole kernel corn with water
1- 14 oz  can of diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 bag of matchstick carrots
2 packages of taco seasoning
3 cups of water
A couple of cranks with the sea salt grinder and of the pepper grinder 

Pre-cook your meat, then add the rinsed beans (that you left soak overnight,) a regular size can of corn with the water (don't drain,) the diced tomatoes (don't drain,) the carrots, 2 packages of taco seasoning, water and salt and pepper.  Bring it to a boil, then simmer for 1-2 hours.  Do not cook in a crock-pot or slow cooker.  

Voila!  Done!

People raved.  Not that I mean to toot my own horn, but it was dang good!

Holiday Cookie Baking: A lost lid, oven flames and 5 pounds of baking soda.

I have a rather minuscule home.  I don't mind it.  I really don't.  I do have to store some baking pans in the oven.  In there I have my Pampered Chef stones.  I pulled the baking pans out, pulled the stones out, turned the oven on and went about my business.  I came back in a few minutes later, K working on getting baking things ready and I see flames-- flames in my oven.

Crap.

Hubs is behind me yelling something.  K is starting to panic.

"I've got this.  No big deal."

Hubs kept yelling to put water on it.

"This isn't an electrical fire, but it is small and enclosed in the oven.  You don't want to put water on it.  I have baking soda.  It's all good." Y'all-- it took 5 lbs of baking soda to put it out.  I swear to you.  Hubs did make me put one glass of water on it.  By the way, it did nothing.

So what went aflame in the oven?  It was a 13 x 9" cake pan lid.  A plastic lid.  Stinky.

Once I got the fire out (and I do mean flames) I carted the oven rack outside and doused it with water to be extra certain I wasn't going to light any of the wet leaves on fire.  :S  It was easy to get out since when I was busy trying to put the fire out and calming K at the same time, Hubs was running around opening every window and door he could find.  The back door was propped open, the smoke detector screaming, K crying, Hubs insisting I use water and all the while, I stand there with the Rapunzel plastic drinking cup and a 13 1/2 pound bag of baking soda, flinging cupfuls of baking soda at the flames.

Good times.

We only lost the cake pan lid.  (K was rather distressed.  I told her it was better than burning the house down.  A lid is a lot easier to replace.  That's what Black Friday is for!)  I scraped the pounds of baking soda back out of the oven, Hubs swept it out with the shop vac and I wiped it all down.  We fired it back up as high as she could go with the oven door open so that we could burn the remaining plastic off of the element while the the winds would carry the evil plastic smell out.

I'm happy to announce that the cookies are baking just fine with no plastic smell lingering.  Well, that is until I place the involved rack back into the oven and rock it out in heat as high as I can make her roll.  Hubs saved it.  He pulled all of the plastic off that he could and scoured the rest with Scotch Brite.

I was that mom who used this as a teachable lesson to K.  "What do we do if there is a fire?"  "Don't panic and if it is small enough, the fire extinguisher or Mom's giant bag of baking soda may take you where you need to go.  If not, exit the house, call the fire department and let them take care of business."

For those of you wondering a few things-- I clean with baking soda, which is why I have such a large bag.  I also had the bag on my kitchen table from dough day yesterday.  You can purchase the Arm & Hammer 13.5 pound size at your local Sam's for around $4.00.  It's handy to have around!

Holiday Cookie Baking: Dough Day!

I looked deeply into my calendar and had a realization.  If I did not do holiday baking this weekend, there would be no solid string of days between now and December 26th to do it.

I'm not really about giving holiday cookies after the holidays.

We went to Amish Country last weekend to wrangle up the supplies.  I went to the store yesterday, then returned after signing K up for Archery league because I forgot a major ingredient.

Today is officially Dough Day.  What is Dough Day?  Well, I like to do one day of just making dough.  That way, I get all of the measurement and whatnot out of the way.  I'm able to concentrate on what the recipes call for instead of skipping between mixing, baking and cooling.  Tiredness made me goof once, so I'd like to avoid that.  It wasn't inedible.  I mistook mint extract for the vanilla extract and put that in chocolate/chocolate chip cookies.  Actually, it came out rather delightful.  Still, this method works for me.  One day dough.  One day bake.  Generally, I have a remaining day of packaging.  We'll see how that goes.

And yes, we have a chest freezer in the basement.

K has a test on Wednesday on measurement.  Today has been a test of measurement and a test in patience.  Neither one of us corner the market in the area of patience, so we've made two doughs and took a break.  Gone back, made two more doughs and took a break.

It should be said that our ginger dough needs to sit for 24 hours, so that is kind of where the true inspiration of dough day came from.

We've also made peanut butter dough, apple oatmeal craisin cinnamon chip dough, and thumbprint dough.  We have red hot sugar cookie dough to make, then onward to chocolate/chocolate chip (minus the mint this time.)  The Almost Candy Bars are not a sit-and-get-happy kind of dough, so we'll make those up tomorrow.

What we make this weekend is what we'll have.  I'm okay with that.  I didn't want to rush cookie baking, which is why it is getting done now.  Next up?  Addressing Christmas cards and making a little label for the backs of the cards.  I mail them out the day before Thanksgiving, so I have a week and a half yet to go.  I don't want to rush those, either.

I hear the Kitchenaid calling.  K is hovering so that she can get onto Webkinz while I do a bit of wreckage removal.  I mean, the child is laughing and staring the big greens right into my big brown eyeballs.

She is nearly sitting in my lap.  Pardon me.  I'm getting kicked out.

ETA:  Some of my recipes are here.

A Pinterest recipe that worked: Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Color me shocked.  After the poundage of quinoa incident with the breakfast thing I made, I was a little shy with Pinterest recipes.  I'll tell you the original recipe, then I'll tell you my modifications.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies 

2 large bananas
1 cup quick rolled oats
chocolate chips, coconut or some other type of mix-in

Mix ingredients and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

When Hubs read over the original recipe with me, he requested a touch of sugar.  "I think if there's absolutely no sugar, they are going to be gross."  Since I was making a treat that all of us can enjoy, I thought that I could tweak a bit here and there and see how it goes.  I have a very hard time just sticking to recipes anyhow.  Most of the time I need to alter something.  Call it the rebellious artist in me.  ;)

Amy's version of Banana Oatmeal Cookies 

2 large bananas
1 cup rolled oats/rolled wheat flakes
1/2 bag mini chocolate chips (with mini, you get better chip dispersal!)
2 T vanilla extract
2 heaping T Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter (the kind you mix, but we drain the oil off)
2 T honey
1/4 cup turbinado sugar 

Mix ingredients and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  

They were absolutely wonderful!

Yesterday was homemade garden burger and black bean nacho burger day.   I admit that my garden burger was a combo of things until it looked right.  I can't give you a recipe because I don't have one.  I can tell you that it has shredded yellow squash, mini red sweet peppers and cherry tomatoes from the garden.  There were also peas, corn, carrots and broccoli with a handful of herb garden chives, cooked lentils, shredded cheese and (because it seemed a little dry) some spaghetti sauce I had in the refrigerator.  I ground some pizza spice and sprinkled that in along with some salt and pepper.  I had my garden burger patty cold with a pasta salad at lunch today and it was great!  For $5.00 or a little less, I made 28 patties total.  I made them fresh and at $3.69 for a box of 4, I saved a lot of money.  It did take me a good amount of time to make all of the patties, but if I do it once a month or so, it isn't that big of a deal.  They were small enough to place one patty in a ziplock snack bag.  I have them individually frozen and labeled so all I need to do is to grab a pre-cooked patty and drop it in my lunch bag.  Hooray!  Next time, Hubs asked that I consider using his safe cheese so that he can eat them.

I shall take my domestic goddess apron off and scoodle to bed.  K is in pre-fall for the next two weeks and 6:30 AM comes around very quickly!

Have a great night!

Pinterest recipe success!

I made the Oatmeal Lemon Cream Bars yesterday and they were so delightful and dinner was late because Hubs worked late, that my Lent sacrifice was botched for yesterday.  Rachael assured me that God forgives.  I'm sure if He ate one of those bars, He would certainly understand.

We also had Yogurt Chicken (as I call it) and no Janeen, mine didn't look like hers either.  I really don't know how they got theirs to look like that.  I did do about 10 minutes under the broiler to brown mine up.  The general family vote was to please do it again.  I only had vanilla Greek yogurt and next time I will definitely use the plain.  Outside of that, we found it to be very yummy.

Do you want to check out some other yummy possibilities I've found?  Click the Follow me on Pinterest button at the bottom.  Look under Deliciousness for all of the grand possibilities I have on deck for some day.  One day.  I promise.

Over and out.  Must shuttle on and sell things to the public.  I display and sell stuff.  They pay me.  It's a nice arrangement we have.  :)

Eating and not wasting.

I am embarrassed to admit that I cleaned out our freezer today and threw away far too many things.  I had meat that looked freezer burned, so that got flipped.  I had leftovers that were well intentioned on the freezer front, but moved their way to the back and were forgotten.

Never again.

I cleaned and restructured the freezer today.  Hubs wanted a Nutri Bullet, so we purchased him one with Christmas money.  I found that the grocery had frozen fruit on sale BOGO, so we've stocked up on that and the Greek yogurt that they had on sale.  He and K- can continue to enjoy their smoothies in the morning and at night.  Our freezer can accommodate their healthy snack choice.

I have basketed the meat.

I have basketed the vegetables.

Everything is well within sight.

I shall never freeze leftovers again.  They just get wasted.  :(

The grocery ad comes in Friday's mail.  We're going to sit as a family to map out the menu for the following week.  We'll take into account what we have on the downstairs shelves and in the fridge and freezer.

No more waste is our motto.

We had spaghetti tonight.  We enjoyed garlic butter crescent rolls and have some left for tomorrow.  Not only are we trying not to waste, but we are being more mindful of serving sizes.  I made the entire box of spaghetti noodles knowing that we wouldn't eat all of them, but I would have enough of everything left over for the following recipe.  It has been in my file for years and I decided that we shall try it tomorrow.  As I type, Hubs and K- are building a doodling robot and the Spaghetti Pie is baking for tomorrow.  Here goes:

Spaghetti Pie

8 oz. spaghetti noodles (we had whole wheat linguini noodles)
2 eggs, well beaten
2 T butter (or Smart Balance)
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 1/2 cups Ricotta (Cottage Cheese for me!)
Mozzarella and Extra-Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated (whatever you have would work)
Spaghetti sauce

Boil noodles as directed on package and drain.  Return to pan and add the 2 T butter; stir until butter is melted; add the well-beaten eggs and grated Parmesan.  Pour into a well-buttered (or Pam) large deep dish pie plate; spread around bottom and up sides making your "crust."  Spread Ricotta (or Cottage Cheese!) over all the noodles.  Top with your spaghetti sauce; top with grated cheese (as much as you'd like.)  Bake at 350 F for approximately 20 minutes.

We've reused our leftovers before we could forget about them.  I have baked it already so that all I have to do tomorrow is to heat it up.

I'll continue to report our success and :gulp: failure, if we have any.

Ding!  Spaghetti pie is ready!

Have a great night!

Cruciferous Vegetable Night

Season 4, Episode 2 of the Big Bang Theory is called "The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification."  When my husband saw me preparing 1/2 of a head of cauliflower for consumption this evening, he insisted that I suit up with Beano and warned me that his evening sleep may be taken on the couch.

He sees a replay of Sheldon's Cruciferous Vegetable Night.  Of course, the most hilarious portion of his night was not on You Tube, but this will suffice.

Let's hope that we don't have a re-run. At least I can tell you that I am not designed for nor do I run. (Well, not unless it is an emergency.) Falling down steps while running shouldn't be a problem for me.

Recipe alert! Mexican lasagna

First off, I haven't forgotten about you.  My computer has been ailing more than usual and frankly, sometimes it isn't worth the intense fight just to get it to boot up.  With that said, since you've heard from me last, I've had  10 hour (in some form or another) PTA meeting, a Garden Fair at school for the kids, a butterfly hike to my house where we taught 20 people how to tag butterflies all the while our child was in the house quarantined to her bedroom because of a virus that had given her a fever that we didn't want to share.  Oh, and PMS.  Let us kick that in just for giggles, eh?

But here is your recipe.  I found it delightful even after it was frozen.  Yum.  I ate most of it!

Mexican Lasagna (that isn't what they call it, but I made a copy and can't see the title)

Makes 4 servings
Prep time:  15 minutes
Cook time:  17 minutes
From:  Fitness Magazine

1 15-ounce can pinto beans (though I used kidney since that's what I had.) 
1 1/2 cups chopped roasted tomatoes (I used those fire roasted from a can.)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 1/2 cups shredded poached chicken
1/2 cup scallions (I always use less)
1 T chili powder *
1 T ground cumin *
1/4 t salt *
8 6-inch corn tortillas, each cut into 6 wedges (I used wheat.)
1 cup shreadded Monterey jack (I used rice cheddar instead.)
1 small beefsteak tomato (I used cherry tomatoes from the yard.)
    *  I used taco seasoning instead.

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Coat an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray.  (I used two loaf pans so that K- and I would be able to have two dishes out of it, since it isn't something that Hubs can eat.
2.  Combine pinto (kidney) beans and their liquid, tomatoes, corn, chicken, scallions and seasonings in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture is bubbling and corn is completely thawed. (I actually cooked it for an hour. I wasn't in a rush so I thought I would let it cook for a while and get happy.)
3.  Layer about a third of the tortilla wedges, half bean mixture and a third of the cheese in a prepared baking dish. Repeat this until done. I ended up making another layer. Top with remaining cheese, bake until cheese is melted and the casserole is heated through. Let it cool slightly before serving; garnish with diced tomatoes.

Yummy!

Yes, the computer decided to have a convulsion and I had to finish the post on the Kindle.

Clothes don't dry real well on the line in 88% relative humidity and other things I learned this weekend.

I tried to dry laundry on the line today.  I did happen-- eventually.  I found that the humidity of a terrarium tends not to dry laundry so well.  My cousin used to live in Gonzales, Louisiana and she used to say it was like living in a terrarium.  Isaac was kind enough to bring that air to us and when I was hanging laundry at 9:30 AM and sweat was rolling down my back in all of 83 F (generally a very nice temperature), I felt just a taste of the humidity pain she lived for a while.  Wow. 

The Black Bean Nacho Burgers were so good the other day that since I had the general supplies on hand (except for needing another can of black beans), I decided to make another batch and freeze those for later dinners.  Yum.  Lookie here!  I added some red pepper and carrots this time. 

Yum! Getting ready to cook these up to freeze for two different meals for K- and me. Recipe in the previous post.

We've been tagging Monarchs and were successful in getting 10 tagged and on their way today.  It was a family effort, but we're chipping away at the 100 tags that we purchased. 

On Saturday, we went to Amish Country.  We stopped in at our favorite vegetable stand and I purchased yellow squash, 3 pounds of green beans, 5 pound of fresh dug potatoes, a few sweet candy onions, 3 red peppers, a few heads of butter lettuce and a mum.  The squash was shredded, bagged in snack bags then double bagged into freezer bags.  Green beans were blanched and got the same treatment.  Onions were sliced on my Pampered Chef slicer (the one that straddles a bowl) and those were bagged, as well as the red peppers.  While at our favorite bulk food store, I did purchase a number of things for my Christmas baking, since it doesn't look like we'll make it back down until after the holidays.  I also purchased a lovely salad spinner.  We washed and rinsed the butter lettuce, then gave it a good ole spin.  Damp salad is a pet peeve of mine, so I was thrilled with how wonderfully it worked!

We stopped in at an antique mall on the way home and darned if I didn't find 2 more Holly Hobbie glasses that I didn't have.  Drat.  I just found a few more.  I just marked them for Hubs :wink, wink: for Christmas. 

I may not have mentioned that I burned the top of my hand on my birthday when I was trying to help my sister get lunch for 6 kids.  I've been using the Avalon Organics Lavender Hand and Body Lotion on the burn a few times a day.  They don't advertise it as burn cream at all, but it has done a wonderful job at keeping the area well hydrated and though there is an area that is still quite tender (where the blister formed and subsequently was injured further when I accidentally smacked my hand against my nightstand- ouch!), I'm happy to say that it seems to be healing nicely.  Yes, it will leave a permanent mark. 

I scored some lightly worn Ann Taylor Curvy jeans at the thrift today for a whole 50 cents.  I found a pair of Docker jeans for the same.  I scored a pair of uniform skorts for K for a dollar and we found a white graduation gown for $2.00 for her to wear when she is Princess Leia for Halloween.  (We have to go with something big enough to fit over a winter coat.)  We've collected the whole set at this point, so Hubs will go as Darth Vader, I'll go as Queen Amidala (Amidolly, in our house) and K- as PL.  She's thrilled and apparently, we have the correct order of mom, dad and child.  Who knew? 

I've gotten to the bottom of my laundry bucket.  HOORAY!  It won't last long. 

We went to University Circle yesterday and visited the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Museum of Art. It's been wonderful to stop in at the art museum and see how far they have gotten with their 10 year remodeling/addition plan.  This time, there was a huge courtyard open for people to walk through and the flow of the museum is now a bit more friendly.  CMNH was busy and we stopped in at the cafe for a snack, but they only had two people on staff and they were so very much in the weeds.  We bailed, knowing that we'd never get out in the next hour with anything and when we walked by a half hour later, they had a sign up that they had closed early.  That's okay, because we went ahead and went here. Why yes, we took a hungry child to the largest candy store in the states.  Don't worry.  She was good and we didn't go out with a bill the size of the national debt.  We found things for my FIL's 70th birthday tomorrow (Charles Chips chip tin and a refill bag, candy of "his time" and some Velamints, which he used to love.) 

We've done lots this weekend and frankly, I'm tired. 

Have a great day!

Recipe Alert! Tonight's dinner.

I was thumbing through Fitness Magazine this morning and ran across a recipe for what they titled, "Patty Svelte."  Here she is:

Black Bean "Nacho" Burgers

Makes:  4 burgers
Prep time:  25 minutes plus 30 minutes chilling
Cook time:  12 minutes or a little better

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup finely crushed tortilla chips (preferably blue corn)
1/3 cup salsa, plus additional for serving
1/2 cup 50% reduced fat cheddar shreds or 1/2 cup cheddar Rice Dream shreds (what I used)
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 scallion, white and green part, finely chopped or a half of a lil garden onion finely chopped (what I used.)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper or about 10 grinds of the pepper mill (what I used)
4 hamburger buns or 4 whole wheat sandwich thins (what I used)
2 t vegetable oil (I skipped this)
4 butter lettuce leaves (I skipped this because I didn't have it)

1.  Use a food processor or a potato maser to smash beans until chunky, leaving some partly whole.  Stir in crushed chips, salsa, cheddarish cheese, egg, scallionish onion and black pepper.  They say to shape into 4 patties, but I didn't until I plunked them in the pan.
2.  Refrigerate mixture for 30 minutes.
3.  Preheat pan (I used a grill pan with a little bit of Pam in place of a standard pan with oil) and place or form mixture into patties.  Cook until golden brown on one side, 6ish minutes.  Flip and continue to cook until golden brown.  Serve up on buns and with lettuce and a dash of salsa just for extra flavor.

We had blue corn chips and salsa with a side of corn.  Yum!
Voila! 

Smiles in my day:
-  I bought myself a Baby Cakes Rotating Cake Pop maker with birthday money I had.  I was gifted a Kohl's gift certificate and some cash, received a coupon for an additional 15% off, so now K- and I will be venturing into that great world of cake pops.  We had them last week at the wedding reception and loved them.  Yum!
-  It probably shouldn't make me smile, but it did.  Hubs got so mad at the caulk and his caulking gun (bad, wrong caulk that caused the caulk gun to blow), and he pitched it (not his style) across the front lawn.  I came home to the caulk gun near the sidewalk and knew what happened.  He discovered a 4" section of swell on our one sill in the living room.  He took off 1/2 the woodwork around the window, cut out a section of the drywall and found the non-expanding foam to be sopping wet.  He continued to dig and discovered that there was a hairline crack in the caulk of the window which allowed water to seep in.  Since we are expecting Isaac to make landfall for us sometime tomorrow, Hubs was concerned because, "THERE'S A HURRICANE COMING," and the window was exposed.  He has everything sealed up, but will have to go back through and rework all of his work after Isaac has left us.  Still, the caulking gun straddling the sidewalk line was hilarious.
-  A friend gave me a Ghirardelli Dark and Caramel bar (Carmel or caramel for you?  For us, it is car-mel.)  It is calling my name. 

A bath. That is calling my name as well.  Enjoy the tasty burgers!  They were absolutely lovely.

Have a great weekend!

Tales from the Trenches: Inventory-sminventory.

It's like A Christmas Story all over again.

Meatloaf,
Double beatloaf,
I hate meatloaf.

Only in my case it is:

Inventory,
Sminventory,
I hate inventory.

We're a mom and pop.

We inventory by hand.

Everything.

One person reads.

One person writes.

Each. and. every. thing.

We touch it.

We read it.

We dot it.

We log it.

It is mind-numbing. 

On a completely different story, my neighbor called to tell me that he made spaghetti squash for us.  He made an Alfredo half and a spaghetti sauce half.  I should be embarrassed to say that I just ate an entire half of a spaghetti squash.  I called to tell him how good it was and he said, "You ate all that?!"  Well, I ate and it was good and I was watching Dirty Jobs and before I knew it, I hit the bottom of the bowl. 

I'm wondering how half a squash is going to settle in my digestive tract. 

On another good news front (not my potential digestive distress, but a wonderful neighbor-made meal), K- reported that, "GOOD NEWS, MOM!  I CAN RUN AGAIN!"  Her foot is feeling a-okay, and that is great news.  "See, K-!  You did what Dr. P- told you to do and you are all better again!"  I was glad to hear it.

So, I'm off.  I've drawn a bath, my people will be home soon and I have some math to tutor K- through.  Apparently, she reports that it is rather tough. 

Have a wonderful evening!

Cottage butts and a talk with a rodent.

Hello.  I'm caffeinated.  Do the best you can to keep up. 

When I went grocery shopping about a week and a half ago, I was walking through the meat department, saw these cute little hams and thought that it would be perfect for ham and bean soup.  I flipped it over to see how much.  $3.65.  A bargain!  My love is to go to the Honeybaked Ham to get their bean soup mix and a lovely ham bone.  Considering that is an investment of about $20.00 and that particular store is 25 minutes away, I'll take the tiny supermarket ham and the lovely dried bean mix that I bought in Amish Country.  I had to laugh when I read further on the label.  "Cottage butt."  Really?  Why would anyone ever think that would be an appetizing name? 

I'm happy to say that my Cottage Butt Soup turned out just fine.  I called my sister, the meat guru, to see if I should lob it in whole or cut it up into large hunks.  I told her that I had a cottage butt.  Then I cut into it and saw a wide swath of fat hunked in the middle.  Cottage butts are not the best cut of ham, says my sister who basically managed a supermarket meat department for years.  "Well, it was a little ham and I figured that it would do the trick."  "It's a soup ham, only good for what you are using it for, so leave the fat because your soup needs it anyhow."

I'll admit now that I cut about 1/2 the fat off that was exposed and that I could just easily chop off.  Squishy butt fat just didn't seem appetizing. 

As I said, the baby ham rocked it just fine.  When I got home, I pulled out the hunks and shredded them into bits, removing the squishy fat, then dumped it all back in.  I flipped in a few spices, some potato flakes to thicken it up and it was delicious! 

This morning as I was learning how to work with my cottage butt, I checked to see if we "had company" as K- would like to say.  Why yes, we had 6 squirrels at the feeding area.  Too bad that they were being pigs and not allowing the birds to enjoy.  They've decided to climb the pole now, so Hubs instructed me to open the door and clap my hands at them.  I did that and 5 of the 6 scurried off and away.  There was the 6th who hung out on top of the pole, in total defiance.  I started speaking to him, asking him if he really wanted me to come over there.  He just stood there on the top of the pole, chuckling to himself on the inside.  "She'll never come over here.  She's in her slippers and there is snow everywhere."  I surprised him and walked in the snow in my slippers to the pole.  You know what?  He didn't flinch.  Not a tiny bit!  So there I was, eye to eye with a rodent on top of the feeding pole figuring that now I was within about a foot and a half of him.  Certainly, he would be scared and run off. 

Uh, no.

"Why is it that I have to come here to speak with you?  Do you know that you aren't supposed to be on the pole?  Do you know that this is not your seed?" 

He stood there.  Then thoughts started coming through my mind.  Maybe this isn't a squirrel just used to humans.  Maybe the squirrel is going to jump off the pole and onto my face and begin gnawing my face off.  No doubt that one of my nosy interested neighbors would come to my rescue.  Certainly they would see all that was going on since they were watching every single move that we make enjoying our bird feeding area and all of the wildlife it attracts. 

After a minute or two of stern discussion, the squirrel slowly, and I mean slowly, made its way down the pole and stood on the ground eating the seed that had just been tossed out there for him 15 minutes prior. 

"I'll eat from the ground because you are standing right there, but seriously, would you want to eat from the ground when you have a perfectly good opportunity to eat from a dispenser and all of the seed is dry?  I'll be here right now, but as soon as you pull out of the driveway, I'll be back.  And no, I won't even wait for you to exit the street.  Thanks again for all the seed.  Keep it coming and don't buy any of that cheap millet stuff.  Keep up the good work and buy the stuff chocked full of sunflower seeds.  That's my favorite."

Smiles in my day:
-  I have two W-2's now!  I printed the mortgage interest statement online, but now I'm waiting for the bank interest statements.  Granted, it is probably under $50.00, but I claim all income and I'll hold on.  I did as much on Turbo Tax as I could do, so now I wait.
-  Homemade soup for dinner.  Yum.

Have a great day!

Dough a deer, a female deer... No, wait. Wrong song.

I was the dough lady today.  I actually spent the better part of the day preparing the cookie doughs that I needed to bake my cookies.  To do it all in one fell swoop seemed reasonable.  At least then, I only trash the kitchen with flour and whatnot once.

The cookies will be baked tomorrow. 

I have the following prepared and chilling:
Ginger (for Ginger Kisses)-  It needs to sit overnight anyhow.
Red Hot Sugar Cookies-  I'm thinking that they might benefit from some overnight rest.  The cinnamon flavor will settle in better.
Crunchy Peanut Butter
Chocolate Chip
Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip-  I've learned to steer clear of flying cocoa powder.  One year, I ended up inhaling a huge cloud and ended up ill.  I swear that the upper respiratory infection I got (I started coughing right then and didn't stop for 6 weeks) was an inhalation cause.  I was so sick.  Antibiotics and a lot of Mucinex were involved. 
Butter Crisp-  Very easy cookies that involve Rice Krispies and a box of cake mix.
Thumbprint AKA Fingerprints-  K- has some ideas about how best to place the indentations into these.

I have a couple of batches of brownies to make and a pan of Almost Candy Bars.  Those change flavor by the year, so I'll be winging it on that.  As long as I have the cake mix crust and sweetened condensed milk top, all the rest is up to whatever I have. 

I will be caffeine driven.  It has to happen tomorrow.  My Susie Homemaker apron will be on and my trusty side kick will be at my side. 

Have a great weekend!

A handful of days that involve lots of bon bons.

Really, notsomuch. 

I had many days filled to the brim with much to do.  Let's see.

Tuesday: 
Worked all day, then came home, did homework with K- and made chocolate/chocolate chip bar cookies with her for the PTA cookie drive.  Our post office has an orphan Thanksgiving for all those living around here that have no family to spend the holiday with. 
Wednesday:
Did that thing called work all day.  Came home and started some prep for Thanksgiving.  Got rolls on the rise and baked two pumpkin pies.  They always take longer than I anticipate.  They never take the 45 - 50 minutes that they say.  Hubs and I watched the Biggest Loser update show while we smelled them baking.  Well, it was only me smelling them as Hubs' cold had reached the point that tasting and smelling no longer occurred. 
Thursday:
Got up at 7 AM to start the prep to get the turkey in the oven by 8 AM.  Turkey got in the oven by 8:15 AM.  As I prepped the turkey, I baked 3 1/2 dozen dinner rolls and a double pan of corn bread.  As the turkey cooked, I steamed potatoes (a few carrots, too) to mash, prepped the cornbread stuffing to bake, steamed some fresh green beans and got glazed carrots rolling along.  Hubs was feeling a bit under the weather, so he stayed home.  He didn't want to share his cold.  K- and I had lunch with my parents and dessert with Hubs' parents.  I got home, got my ads together and took a two hour nap.
Thursday evening:
Left at 11:15 PM to go get my sister for shopping.  Worth noting, it was 44 F when I left.
Friday:
We were at Walmart at 12:05 AM.  Their sale started at 12:01 AM.  All DS and Wii games were wiped out before I reached the cardboard carcass of a rack.  We scored some $4.00 jammies and my sister got some $5.00 fleece coats.  We stood in a long line to cash out, but everyone was kind.  No gun involved this time! A highlight this year was that my sister's partner decided to call her 7 different times.  I mean, he called to tell her that L- was crying.  He called back to have L- scream in the phone.  He called to ask when we were coming.  He called to ask where we were at.  He called to ask if we had left.  He called to have L- scream in the phone, again.  He called again and by that point I announced loudly, "IT'S THE 7TH CALL!"  We were in the store for about an hour.  My sister turned so that she could keep talking with him.  When we left, I drove her back home, watched a couple of episodes of Cake Boss (boy that guy is obnoxious!  I had never watched him and don't think that I could.) before going out on my own at 2:45 AM.  I hit Kohl's and stood in line for an hour.  I then drove to Target about a half hour away, fetched the items that my sister was going to buy but wasn't allowed to leave the house for.  I went to Joann Fabrics after that and scored myself a steamer iron presser thingy to use on K-'s uniforms, as well as some odds and ends that I cannot remember right this second.  I went from their to our local mall to hit Big Lots.  They had nothing left of the Zhu Zhu pets that they had advertised on sale.  After all, I was there 1/2 hour after they opened.  Who could expect anything to be left?  I decided to slide on over to that Target to use the $10.00 gift card that I earned at the previous Target for spending over $100.00.  I figured that I bought things for two people, combined them to make the $100.00 and since I stood in line, it was a reward for me.  I used that card to buy K- a robe that I'll use as gift wrap for her birthday gifts.  I hopped on over to Toys R Us, found absolutely nothing and drove on to Lowe's in a completely different section of town so that I could get Hubs the light spikes that he was longing for.  I, being a good wife, decided to give him a call to let him know I was there.  He then needed another extension cord.  Then he needed two additional sets of lights.  Then he needed a drill.  A new drill.  A drill that was on sale for "Only $99.00, but it was originally $199.!"  Reluctantly, I picked it up for him, knowing that we have a couple of other drills at home.  I scored a poinsettia for me, a set of tools for me to gift to K- and I was out of there.  Since I was so close and I was still riding high on an additional 15% discount from Kohl's, I went on an undergarment replacement mission.  I caught sight of the fact that they were on sale when I was in the never ending line at the previous Kohl's, but without my sister, I couldn't abandon my post with my belongings and expect people to save my place.  Besides, I didn't want to explain to a stranger that I had an undergarment let go earlier the previous week and I really needed to replace it, especially in light that they were 50% off and I had an additional discount.  After scoring at Kohl's -- again-- I had to stop by Joann's to return the tool box that I now didn't need since the tool set I bought K- conveniently comes with a tool bag and apron.  I called my sister, told her that she owed me $50.00 more for more presents that I scored for her and that I was dropping her things off.  She was thrilled.  She kept saying, "You saved me $55.00!"   She also promised to have my nephew weaned before next year.  I made my way home and none too soon.  I was starting to fall asleep on the way there.  It was 9:30 AM, I had been out since 11:15 PM and a cold front came in as I was out and about.  By the time I reached home, it was light out and a crisp 27 degrees.  Hubs and K- understood my collapsing in bed exhausted.  I laid down at 10 AM with the intention of sleeping just an hour and woke up three hours later.  Hubs and K- had put the tree up, so it was my task to start the decorating.  I was still so tired and spent that I started it, but the task had to roll on over to Saturday.
Saturday:
Stayed home all day and decorated the tree with K-.  Yes, it was an all day affair. My tree?  Some branches have 3-4 ornaments per.  It is a study in engineering.  Can I really get that much stuff to go on that amount of fake greens?  It takes a bit of work.  I think that we watched Girl with a Pearl Earring, Year Without Santa Claus, Santa Claus is Coming To Town, The Toy that Saved Christmas,The Star of Christmas and one of the Home Alones that involved a kid that was not MC.  Every now and then, I must walk away for a few to uncross my eyes.  By 10 PM, I put the finishing touches on.  Part of the time it takes rolls into a walk down memory lane.  It always takes a while.
Sunday:
Went to Bass Pro Shops.  We had a drive ahead of us, but we got there by 10:30 AM.  Hubs took K- to enjoy their Winter Wonderland as I did some much needed shopping for him for Christmas.  K- enjoyed the activities, she took an absolutely awesome picture with Santa, made a "Bobber Santer," had lunch and before we left, we got some ice cream.  I had pumpkin with bits of graham crackers and pumpkin.  Oh, it was lovely!

A funny thing to note:  I noticed that they had gift wrapping tables set up with paper, scissors and tape.  "Oh!  You have gift wrapping!"  The cashier apologized that their gift wrappers weren't there.  "Would it be okay for me to wrap the gifts that I purchased here today?"  "Oh, sure!  It's not a problem.  Just have your receipt with you."  So K- and I went out, fetched my gifts and went back in.  I hurried up and wrapped them, got ready to go and the blasted alarm went off.  The guard lady stopped me and said, "Well, since your packages set the alarm off and we DON'T have gift wrappers on duty today, I'll just have to unwrap all your packages."  "Are you serious?"  "Well, I have to see what is going off."  "I have receipts for all I purchased.  I have four things.  I have four things on the receipts.  I swear I didn't steal anything."  Someone else went through, set the alarm off with the motorized cart and she let us go.  We dropped the things off in the car, then went to track something down for K- to buy for Hubs.  She found her thing, we picked up pictures that we had developed, went to the counter, paid for all and quickly wrapped up her item.  The guard lady came through and said, "Well, let me check and make sure that it doesn't set anything off.  Make sure that you hide the scissors because we really aren't encouraging people to wrap their gifts."  "I'm so sorry.  The cashier told me it was fine!"  For the love that is all good and right with the world.

When I reported being stopped by the guard at the door, I was teasing when I told Hubs that, "They were gentle, though."  I was so kidding and he seriously thought I really had been patted down and searched! 

Today we brought The Elf on the Shelf home with us.  His name is Buddy.  He has brown hair, blue eyes and he is currently resting with the Christmas books awaiting his child to find him in the morning.  K- read the book to us tonight and totally got into the whole thing.  Let's see how it works.

In the last few days, we've managed to get our whole house decorated and Hubs even gave me beautiful woodwork around both kitchen windows as a holiday bonus.  Go Hubs!

I have some turkey that I need to freeze, so I'm going to scadoodle here.  Besides, there is a half gallon of caramel cone ice cream calling my name.

Smiles in my week off:
-  Listed above. 

Have a great day!

So wrong that it is right.

I have a wonderful co-worker who will occasionally gift me chocolate to see how far I will go.  She bought me something delightfully and wrongfully wonderful.  She bought me Mo's Dark Bacon Bar.  Now, I understand that it sounds disgusting. 

It is so wonderful!

Bacon?  I could probably eat a plate full of wonderful true traditional bacon that is board straight and crispy, please.  Think of Vlasic pickles.  Your bacon shouldn't be floppy.  Now take that overly delicious and crispy bacon and encase it in dark chocolate.  (Because of my fantastic cholesterol, I allow myself bacon at Christmas breakfast at my in-law's.  No, I don't eat a plate full.)

Hardly anything in the world will bother you for that one moment. 

Yum.

For all those wondering, C- found the delightful bar at World Market (aka Cost Plus to some.)  If you aren't vegetarian, go and enjoy.

Smiles in my day:
-  Mo's!
-  Hubs didn't tell me that in order to keep K- awake on the way home, she has been reading to him.  That's a 20 minute + drive.  Since each one of her 100 Book Challenge steps are 15 minutes of reading, I went into her log and back dated 8 entries to reflect her "Daddy Drive Time" reading.  I left her teacher a post-it to know what the scoop was.  Shoot!  We aren't going to miss out on logging all that reading!  We have goals to meet and anything to help her along is great!

Have a great day!

Prayers, praises and pots of chili.

Prayers:

-  Marcy, the granddaughter of my gallery director, found out on Monday that she has a "hot spot" somewhere in the region of her collarbone.  She is going for a biopsy on Thursday to have the doctors formulate a treatment plan.  One plan would be a bone transplant.  Another plan would be treatment at a facility that would require travel.  Marcy was diagnosed with lymphoma and went through a bone marrow transplant this past spring.  (If memory serves on the time.)  Marcy is young.  She is in her 20's.  The treatment for the lymphoma in her lungs has thrown her into early menopause.  Her hair fell out.  The treatments made her incredibly ill.  This setback is very devastating for Marcy, Maggie and her whole family, I'm sure. 

-  Karen, our church secretary, has been suffering from some breathing issues.  They cannot figure out what is wrong with her.  A bone marrow biopsy (I suppose it was something like that) ruled out cancer.  PRAISE!!!  Still, she is basically like a case for Dr. House, as they cannot figure out why she is in the condition she is in.  She has been in the hospital for a week and a half. 

-  Josh, a friend's son, fell off of his bike on Monday.  He crashed kind of hard and there were witnesses that saw it.  He was crying, but can be a bit dramatic anyhow, so they watched him.  After a few hours, the crying persisted and dinner went untouched.  A trip to the ER confirmed that his leg is broken in 5 different places.  (Small fractures.)  He kind of twisted his leg as he went down since he was trying to brace himself.  He is in a cast above his knee and is not to place any weight on his leg at all.  He has three siblings ranging from 6 weeks to 3 1/2 years.  Josh's 6th birthday was Tuesday.  :(

Praise:
-  Karen's NO CANCER ruling.  Oh, how that e-mail brought instant tears to my eyes.  I know that I inhaled a deep, cleansing breath. 
-  Mom is healing nicely.
-  A friend's husband got spectacular news regarding a health issue he had been suffering.  He has been cleared and the weight of that health problem was able to leave him. 
-  K-'s penmanship was so wonderful on her spelling test tonight, that I gave her a Japanese eraser as a reward and incentive to keep up the good work.  Her penmanship (she's 6 remember) can be a little dreadful, so I was glad to see her working so hard to improve it.  Whatever her teacher is doing with them in class is working wonders.  

Our first fall leaf of the season!



Pots of chili:



Since mom is still on the mend, my sister and I are still trying to flip my parents a few meals each week.  If she catches a double meal night and I catch one, it gives them a few to fend for themselves.  I called my mom, told her that the chill in the air had inspired me and that I was going to make chili.  I offered my parents a pot.  (Dad loves my chili.)  As K- read to me last night, I cooked and chopped.  After I got her to bed, I finished the prep and delivered a pot for my dad to plug in on his way out the door to work. 

Mom called and said that my dad had come home for lunch and ate two bowls of chili for lunch. 



He ate another bowl for dinner.

He still has half the pot left.

My message on their answering machine?  "I cannot be held liable for any middle of the night attacks of heartburn or any backlash that may be experienced tomorrow."

I made a batch big enough to split, so K- and I had a crock pot full awaiting us when we got home.  It was so funny to hear her talk about the chili to Hubs as they were walking in the door.  Made my heart happy that she was that excited for chili!



Smiles in my day:

-  Included above.