We're on a roll, a casserole that is!

My mother in law always the helpful one likes to give me recipes from her church cookbook that she and the other ladies have put together.
This one I have done before with success so I feel confident in sharing it with you all!

Chicken Casserole

2-3 chicken breasts chopped
1 C rice (cooked in 2.5 c water or steamed if not instant)
1/2 onion diced
1/2 C celery diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 C milk
Grated cheese for topping

Brown chicken with garlic powder, set aside.
Saute onions and celery
warm up cream of chicken soup with 1/2 C milk
Mix all ingredients together, then top with cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted all the way.

Grandma Wise's Potato salad

This is a potato salad that my own mother makes every Easter and Thanksgiving or she has a mutiny on her hands if she doesn't.
We as in my brothers and I LOVE this stuff! It is not like the salads you buy or would normally have at a church potluck either.
Sadly I have not been able to make it yet this week due to illnesses in our home so my cooking has been happening but nothing fantastic really.
Bragging about how well I can bake salmon fish sticks didn't seem all that cool so my blog is a few days behind now.
I can brag though that they are all natural and hormone free! Go Costco! :)

Granda Wise's Potato salad

6 medium to large russett potatoes
8 hard boiled eggs
6-8 stalks of celery
4-6 medium sized dill pickles
1/3 C onion
3/4 C mayo
1-2 Tbs Milk
1 Tbs Cider vinegar (optional)

Peel, boil and cut into chunks the potatoes.
Cook until fork easily punctures potatoes but not so much they become mushy.
Chop the following; celery, pickle, onion, hard boiled eggs.
Mix mayo with a small amount of milk (1-2 Tbs) and 1 T cider vinegar (optional)

My mom usually judges everything by the amount of potatoes after they are cooked and chopped into bowl, she likes a balanced look in the colors and flavors.
Blend the liquids together set aside, mix the potatoes and veggies then mix with liquids.
Sprinkle top with Johnny's seasoning salt (like we do) or paprika if you prefer.

DeFrost Master 2000

Ok so this has nothing to do with what I learned form my mom but it's a cool gadget that my husband picked up for me at our local thrift store.
It came complete in box and seems to work as it claims.

Instead of thawing frozen meat in a bath of hot water or leaving it on the counter to defrost you put it on this metal tray, that sits in a drip dish and has a cover too.
Supposedly the metals in the tray work with the ambient heat in the air to naturally defrost the meat quickly.
So far we have melted an ice cube in 78 seconds on the thing which was fun to watch and worth the few bucks we paid for this item.
I plan on using it tonight to thaw the chicken breast for dinner so hopefully it works out!
The unfortunate thing is that they no longer sell this product in the stores or online (it is an older as seen on TV item) they do have something called the Miracle thaw the reviews seem to be very mixed on that one so I can't tell you if it works or not, though or thrift store does have that one as well....hmmm maybe time for a science experiment!

Quit loafing around!

Meatloaf has been created and recreated thousands of times by many different people.
I have never been able to find and make a "great" one really because somehow I always manage to mess it up.
Well I finally found one courtesy of my mother in law that even I can't screw up!
Her trick is to add sausage to the ground meat so it has a little kick to it when you take a bite.
I have one other recipe that I've tried before with success as well, but since it is moms week and not what I learned from the great ladies at church we're going with this one. :)

Meat Loaf

1lb ground beef/turkey (I used 98% lean ground beef)
1/2 lbs Farmer John sausage links removed from casing (I ended up using Jenni O turkey sausages that don't come in casings. Defrost them before mixing in meat)
1 egg
1 green bell pepper chopped (I chop mine finely as my husband prefers it this way)
1 small onion (again finely chopped)
2 or 3 slices of day old bread or 1/2 C of bread crumbs
1/4 C milk

Mix all together, shape into loaf in meat loaf or bread pan.
Bake in 375 degree oven for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hrs.
Drain liquids/fat from pan
Top with 1/2 ketchup, let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

What I learned from my mom (or mother in law) week!

This week is all about the yummy things that have been passed down to me by my mother and her mother before her or something I learned from my wonderful mother in law! :)
Today because I have so many sickies in the house I made Sally Crawfords (my MIL) Chicken Noodle Soup and it was great!

Mom's Chicken Noodle Soup

1 49.5 oz can of Chicken broth (I used bouilion and made my own broth as I made a huge batch)
1 can of water (is using the premade broth)
2 packages of frozen egg noodles (or like I did use the yolk free egg noodels, 2 packs)
1 medium onion
1 small bag of baby carrots or 5 regular carrots
3-4 stalks of celery
1 26 oz can of cream of chicken soup warmed up
3-4 chicken breast cooked and shredded

Cook chicken, set aside to cool so it is easier to break up into bite size pieces.
In a stock pot add broth, water, celery, onion and carrots till cooked through-take out veggies-set aside
Cook noodles according to package (since I used the yolk free noodles I was not able to cook them in the broth but rather separately in water.)
Add chicken and veggies, then warmed up cream of chicken soup.
Check consistency, if too thick add more broth, if too think add more cream of chicken soup.
Season with Morton's seasoning or just regular salt and pepper. (Generally I don't add seasoning to the pot but rather after each person is served that way we all have it to our personal taste)

Chuck Wagon...salad?

I won't be getting around to actually making this today but I thought I would share it anyway.
We lasted on leftovers a lot this week, hence the quiet blog.
Today we are finally going to have those chuck wraps and I know for sure I will be making that chili again, it has become my new favorite food!

Chuck Wagon Salad

* 1 cup uncooked wagon wheel pasta
* 1 cup sliced, cooked lean sirloin, cold
* 3/4 cup sliced onion
* 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
* 2/3 cup barbecue sauce
* 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 2 cups red leaf lettuce, rinsed and torn
* 2 cups green leaf lettuce, rinsed and torn
* 1 tomato, sliced

Directions

1. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine pasta, beef, onion, and green pepper. Mix well. Stir together barbecue sauce and prepared mustard, and mix into beef mixture.
3. Serve beef mixture over mixed greens, and garnish with tomatoes.

That's a wrap!

Here in our house most anything can be eaten with a tortilla....just ask my husband! He is the king of tortilla wrap ups.
So this is in honor of you John.

Chuck Wagon Wraps

Ingredients

* 1 lb lean ground beef
* 1 (28 ounce) can barbecue baked beans
* 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn, thawed
* 4 1/2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
* 1 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
* 12 (8 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
* 3 cups shredded lettuce
* 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
* 3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

In large nonstick skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.
Stir in the beans, corn and Worcestershire sauce; mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 4-5 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese and cook 1-2 minutes longer.
Spoon about 1/2 cup off center on each tortilla; top with lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. Roll up and serve.

Is it just me or is it 'chili' in here?

I have never tried my hand at making home made chili before so why not during "chuck week!"
Today's meal idea comes from www.allrecipes.com


Best Ever Chuck Wagon Chili

Ingredients

* 2 pounds ground beef (I ended up using the leftover chuck roast meat, shredded)
* 1 teaspoon butter
* 2 large white onions, chopped
* 2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
* 1 habanero pepper, chopped (I put in a small can of Trader Joes green chilis)
* 3 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
* 3 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
* 1 drop super-hot hot pepper sauce


Directions

1. In a large pot, cook the ground beef over medium heat until evenly browned. Drain off grease, and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the onions, green pepper and habanero pepper until onions are translucent. Remove from heat. Transfer the onion mixture to the pot with the ground beef, and set the heat to medium.
3. Add the kidney beans and tomato sauce to the beef mixture, and season with chili powder, salt, garlic salt and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a simmer, and adjust seasonings to taste if necessary. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

OR you can do what I did and put it all in a crock pot on low for the entire day! :)

Footnotes
Tip
You can leave the hot sauce out, and add at the end if you are unsure on how spicy you want it.

Crockpots, the poor cooks friend.

I love my crock pot, it has been in the family for many years as it was given to my parents as a wedding gift and then it was given to me when I got married. It is an original Crock Pot slow cooker, orange insert and all!
Chuck roasts are one of the cheaper and easiest roasts to make and it's hard to mess them up.
This particular recipe is from http://www.grouprecipes.com, my roast will be larger so I will have to double some of the ingredient portions.

Ingredients

* 2 pounds beef chuck roast
* 2 cloves minced garlic
* 1 small (or medium) onion, sliced
* 1 sprig fresh rosemary
* 1/4 cup soy sauce
* 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
* 3 cups water
Directions

1. Place the roast in the slow cooker. Put in the garlic, onion and rosemary. Mix the soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce together and pour in the crockpot. Add three cups water. Cook on low for eight hours. Shred the beef and serve on rolls with some of the juice from the pot. You may want to skim some of the fat off, depending on how fatty your roast was.
2. (My roast was small. If you use a bigger one, you may want to increase the amount of liquid. You want the liquid to nearly cover the roast.)

Chuck!

In honor of my favorite show having come on again last week, this weeks theme is all about foods with the word Chuck in them! :)

Chuck Wagon Casserole

1/2 C onion, chopped
1/2 C green bell pepper, chopped
1 lb lean ground beef or lean ground turkey
1 can (15 1/2 oz) mild chili beans in sauce
1 can mexican corn (I ended up just using regular canned corn)
1/2 tsp salt
1 package (8 1/2 oz) corn muffin mix
3/4 C BBQ sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop onion and bell pepper. In frying pan, cook and stir meat, onion and bell pepper over medium heat 8-10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in chili beans, BBQ sauce and salt. Bring to a boil; Spoon into 9" square pan.
In small bowl prepare corn muffin mix according to package directions; stir in corn.
Spoon over meat mixture.
Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes 6 servings

(Note- the woman I got this from adds a little mayple syrup to her corn bread mix to make it taste a little sweeter but that is just an option. I used honey.)

Breakfast doesn't always have to be an omelette.

So I didn't get this ready in time to make for this morning, but I'm hoping to have it for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Orange Kisses (Breakfast Rolls-Bread Machine) From Electric Bread!

1 1/2 cups water
4 tablespoons butter
4 cups white bread flour
1 tablespoon orange rind, dried
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fast rise yeast or 4 teaspoons active dry yeast


Coating
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons orange rind, freshly grated
1 cup sugar
1. Remove dough from your machine after the dough or manual cycle is completed.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form a large ball.
3. Divide into 16 portions.
4. Form into balls, and coat each ball with softened butter.
5. Roll in orange-sugar mixture.
6. Place 8 balls into a 9" pie pan.
7. Allow to rise until dough doubles, about one hour.
8. Bake at 350 degrees or until just golden brown.
9. Success HInts: Use only the orange portion of the orange rind.

Dessert time!

Oreo Cookie Bread

3/4 cup milk
1 egg
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3/4 cup Oreo cookies, crushed

Bake according to manufacturer's instructions, adding the Oreos during the
raisin-bread cycle, or five minutes before the final kneading is finished.

I tried making this yesterday and I either did something wrong or it's just not that great of a bread....
But my machine doesn't have a special order for putting things in for raisin bread either.
Either way, I ended up with a chocolate loaf of bread and not the speckled thing I expected.
It might taste good with peanut butter though, who knows!

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling on the counter.....

Today's idea, Dinner rolls! Some may know that I enjoy the frozen Sister Schubert dinner rolls that you just pop into the oven to reheat with meals.
But they can be somewhat expensive, so my husband suggested I learn to make them at home!
Some books suggest making the dough in your machine and then putting it into muffin cups or if you want a round roll just make little balls and drop onto a cookie sheet then bake!
Well tonight I plan on using the muffin tin plan as that is what was requested of me.

Here are 2 ideas, 1 can be found HERE or you can use this one, which I got from my cookbook that came with our bread machine.

Dinner Rolls (the only exception here is that I put them in muffin cups instead of rolling flat and then wrapping them up like croissants.

3 1/4 C flour
1/4 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs dry milk
3 Tbs butter or margarine
7 1/2 fl. oz. water
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

Optional

1 egg, beaten fro brushing on top.
3/4 Tbs poppy or sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

Variation: Whole wheat dinner rolls, replace 1 1/2 C bread flour with whole wheat flour.

After the machine is done, take dough out onto lightly floured surface and divide into 18 pieces. Roll each portion into a ball. Cover and let rise for 20-30 minutes.

Roll one end of the ball on a lightly floured surface to make a cone shape.
Roll each cone into a wedge, approximately 1/4 inch thick using a rolling pin.
Starting with the wider end, roll up the wedge loosely towards the narrower end.
Place seam side down on a greased baking pan.
Spray water on top, proof (let rise) at 90 degrees F or in a warm area for 30-50 minutes or until doubled.
Brush rolls with beaten egg, and sprinkle with seeds if desired.
Bake in 350 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Is it Superbowl yet?

Dinner tonight may not be so healthy but sure is good!
Hungry man Casserole with a soft pretzel on the side (ok these are really just a treat for my kids, but I had to tie it in somehow!)

Today's meal was given to me by an old MOPS friend named Terra Coppinger.

Hungry Man Casserole

1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 tsp. salt
1 (16oz) can pork and beans
1/4 C BBQ sauce
1/2 C ketchup
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 chopped onion or 1 Tsp dehydrated onions
1 can refrigerated biscuits each cut in half
1 C cheddar cheese grated

Brown and drain meat, salt and onion in a large skillet. Stir in BBQ sauce, ketchup, sugar and beans; heat until bubbly. Transfer into a casserole dish and arrange biscuits on top. Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.


Soft Pretzels (for the bread machine)

* 1 (1/4 ounce) package dry active yeast
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 3 cups flour
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons oil
* 1 egg white, slightly beaten
* coarse salt
* butter

Directions

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer.
Select White Bread setting, Manual and then press Start.
After the machine has completed the second rising cycle, it will beep.
Remove the dough onto a very lightly floured surface.
Divide into 4 parts.
Divide each fourth into 3 pieces.
Roll each piece into an 18 inch rope.
Shape rope into a circle, overlapping about 4 inches; from each end, leaving ends free.
Take one end in each hand and twist at the point where dough overlaps.
Carefully lift ends across to the opposite edge of circle.
Tuck ends under edge to make a pretzel shape; moisten and press ends to seal.
Place on greased cookie sheet.
Let rise, uncovered, until puffy, about 20 minutes.
In a 3-quart saucepan, combine 2 quarts of water and 1/3 cup baking soda; bring to a boil.
Lower 1 or 2 pretzels into the saucepan; simmer for 10 seconds on each side.
Lift from water with a slotted spoon.
Return to greased cookie sheet.
Let dry briefly.
Brush with 1 egg white slightly beaten.
Sprinkle with course salt or sesame seeds or leave plain.
If you leave them plain, after they bake dip into melted butter then in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake at 425°F for 4 minutes; then turn cookie sheet around and bake 4 more minutes.

Back to the sticks!

Since we had so much leftover from last nights feast of pizza bubbles we plan on finishing it off for dinner tonight.
But I face the dilemma of not having a bread machine recipe to show off today, or do I? :)
To go along with our meal I plan on making garlic bread sticks, hey they offer them to you when you order a pizza so why not make them at home instead!

Soft Garlic Breadsticks from allrecipes.com


Ingredients

* 1 1/8 cups water (70 to 80 degrees F)
* 2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
* 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 3 teaspoons garlic powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 3/4 teaspoon minced fresh basil
* 3 cups bread flour
* 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
* 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine, melted

In bread machine pan, place the first nine ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed). When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 20 portions. Shape each into a ball; roll each into a 9-in. rope. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Brush warm breadsticks with butter.

Sandwiches are beautiful, Sandwiches are fine.....

That was a song I used to sing a lot as a kid...if you don't know the tune sorry, if you do welcome! :)

Today has been a busy day for me thus far, I have made no pudge brownies (thank you Trader Joes!)
loaded up my bread machine with some ingredients to make sandwich bread dough and am now waiting for it to rise so I can bake it!
I also have a continuation of the MOPS cookbook week for tonight's dinner, pizza bubbles!

Basic Sandwich bread (or small loaf)

3 C bread Flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 Tbs Dry Milk
1 1/2 Tbs Butter (used to use margarine but butter just works better and is natural)
1 1/2 Tbs Sugar
1 1/4 C warm water
1 tsp Dry yeast

Now I use a bread machine on the dough option because I don't like the way the bread looks after baking in a bread machine pan. So I'm picky and prefer my "wonder bread" appearance oh well.
If you want to make life super easy just load up your machine and let is mix, knead and bake all in one.
I on the other hand only let it mix, kneed and rise in there for a bit.
Then I take it out onto a lightly floured surface, punch the dough down in the middle with my fist and then fold the outer edges over into the middle.
Then gently shape the ball into a loaf shape by patting and pinching the sides together.
Lay the dough seam side down into your prepared baking pan, cover and set in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes OR until it has doubled in size. For some reason mine took almost an hour to do so, must be a temperature thing but it did rise!
When that is done and your dough has finished rising again, bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes.
You know it's done when it is hollow sounding when you tap on the top.

Now as for dinner tonight we are having Pizza Bubbles, thanks to Julie Culwell for her recipe!

Pizza Bubbles

1 lb ground beef or turkey
2 C pizza sauce or marinara
8 refigerated dough biscuts (pillsbury country)
4 oz can of mushrooms (I'm not using these as my husband hates them!)
4 oz diced green peppers or half of a diced bell pepper
sm can of black olives
1 onion
8 oz mozzarella cheese

Brown meat with diced onion. Add pizza sauce and pour into 9x13 greased pan.
Top with green peppers, mushrooms and olives. Quarter each (unbaked) biscut and press into pan.
Top with cheese and bake @ 400 degrees Farenheight for 25 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly.
(you can use any pizza toppings you want, these are just the Culwell family favorites)
I will be adding some pepperoni, more veggies to ours.

Bread Machine week!

Today is Sunday, day of rest, therefore it is traditionally the no cook day for me but rather a leftovers or going out after church day! :)
Come back tomorrow to help kick off dinner ideas from the bread machine week.

To eat or not to eat....that is the question

Well yesterday's meal was hit and miss, parts of it we all enjoyed but the part we all agreed on not liking was the mushy bread.
We're texture people over here and that is one texture we could do without!
We will finish off the dish yes......sometime this weekend but to give my family a break I am making some baked Ziti tonight for dinner. Thank you Patti Garcia for the recipe!


Baked Ziti

15oz Ricotta cheese
2 C. Mozzarella
1/2 C. Parmesan
Italian seasonings
Salt and Pepper
Crushed Garlic (optional)
1 lb. ground meat (beef, turkey, etc)
1 jar of Prego pasta sauce (or your favorite, we like Newmans over here!)
Cooked pasta (can be Ziti or Penne)


Brown meat with some chopped onion. In large lasagna pan or baking dish, combine meat, noodles and Ricotta/Mozzarella cheeses.
Top with Parmesan.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30-40 minutes.
This recipe can be varied so much. If you want some veggies, you can saute some chopped carrots, onion, celery or even spinach and add to casserole mix.
Enjoy with warm bread!

A day late and a whole lotta dollars shorter!

Did my weekly grocery shopping yesterday only to discover today I forgot to get more bread! aacckk!
So today I get to make some home made bread instead, I'm sure my family will enjoy that too. :)
I generally use the basic white bread recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook, but a lot of bread machines (like mine) come with a bread book that tells you all sorts of great ideas.

The meatloaf was a success and as for the Farmer's Strata that is yet to be determined as the meatloaf ended up being a 2 night meal we had so much of it! Hooray!
I love leftovers, makes my life so much easier that way.
Be forewarned when making the strata, it does take quite a bit of prep time and isn't the healthiest of dishes either. I did a lot of substitutions to make me feel better ie using turkey bacon, non fat milk, low fat cheese etc. I also used red potatoes instead of russet as they have more antioxidants in them too.

Tomorrow I plan on making a Baked Ziti courtesy of Patti Garcia recipe to follow!

Theme of the week.

Yesterday we took my mom out for dinner for her birthday so cooking at home didn't happen! :)
Today however kicks off my theme of the week cooking.
This weeks theme comes from the ERCC MOPS cookbook, things we've had at MOPS luncheons!
To start off with though I want to show you a neat little chart that our MOPPETS coordinator shared with us one day during our "learning to cook" day at MOPS.

Cooking Chart

Now back to the Dinner of the day! :)
Tonight's MOPS inspired meal is provided courtesy of Lori Osbourne



Farmer's Strata

1 lb bacon sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
2 C chopped fully cooked ham
1 sm. onion chopped
10 slices white bread, cubed
1 C cooked potatoes cubed
3 C (12oz) shredded cheddar cheese
8 eggs
3 C milk
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dry mustard
Pinch of salt and pepper

In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp, add ham and onion: cook and stir until onion is tender then drain. In a greased 13x9x2 inch baking dish layer half the bread cubes, potatoes and cheese.
Top with all of the bacon mixture. Repeat layers of bread, potatoes and cheese. IN a bowl beat eggs, add milk, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper. Pour over all. Cover and chill overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake uncovered, at 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the strata comes out clean.
Yields 12-16 servings

Ok, so this is really for tomorrow night but I have to make it today! :)
We're actually eating a Meat Loaf from a recipe that I got from Mentor Mom Beth Koontz.

Meat Loaf

2 eggs
1/2 C fine dry bread crumbs
2 Tbls snipped parsley (or dried)
1/2 tsp. ground sage
1/4 C catsup (ketchup)
1 tsp. dry mustard
3/4 C milk
1/4 C chopped onions
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 lbs ground beef or turkey
2 Tbls. brown sugar

Combine eggs and milk, stir in crumbs, onion, parsley, salt, sage and 1/8 tsp pepper.
Add meat; mix well. Pat into a 8x4x2 loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 1/4 hours.
Spoon off excess fat. Combine catsup, brown sugar and mustard; spread over meat.
Return to oven for 10 minutes.
Makes 6 servings

Hooray for soup!

The soup was a success! Once I remembered to add salt that is....lots of dirty dishes later my family has requested I make this again. :)

Never did get my meal plan list finished so I hope to do that on Monday.

Split pea and ham!

Today is the day I attempt to make Andersons Split pea soup with ham.
First off I need to gather my ingredients which does mean a dash to the local grocery store but that's alright.
In the future though I plan on meal planning a weeks in advance, ok when I say future I mean tomorrow I plan on sitting down and meal planning for the week.
I also have a plan for tonights breakfast, but it does require a bit of prep.
Thank you to Karen Brookes for providing this yummy dish at MOPS and for sharing the recipe too!

Breakfast Casserole

-Scramble 12-18 eggs (depending on how many people you're feeding)
- Put scrambled eggs in the bottom of a 9x13 pan
- Pour ("glop" is more like it) approx. 1 pint of sour cream on top of eggs (you decided exactly how much sour cream to use)
- Combine 2 cups cheese, 1 cup cooked crumbled bacon, and 2 Tb. chopped green onions
- Sprinkle cheese mixture on top of eggs and sour cream
- Bake 20-25 minutes at 350

Off to a new start......or so I thought.

Well First of all......



Ok, well I had thought to start the day by making a nice breakfast for the family but it turns out they had other ideas!
Due to the nature of the beast of New Years and our all staying up so late you could say I was a bit tired.
I was woken up to the sounds of "mom we made you breakfast in bed!" I buried under my blankets, and trying to figure out what they were talking about responded with a "oohhh uggghhh, huh what??"
So breakfast by me was scrapped, but thank you G and Daddy for making me waffles! :)
Next up was lunch, easy right? Nope! Yet again I am beat to the punch by my husband who while I was getting kids ready to go for an afternoon/evening of fun at family's house made sandwiches for the everyone! Guess what kind....come on! Guess!!
That's right, HAM!
I won't even pretend to try and say I had dinner all planned out, we were out at family's house today so we ordered pizza.
So today's day of kicking of the new year with a bang ended with a thud in the cooking department, but at least we had a great time together and with family!
To me that is way more important then being the master of the grill, oven or kitchen.