Thursday, September 27, 2007
Stranger Birthday Party
MJ turned 5 a few weeks ago and I was feeling a bit sad for him. He had drawn pictures to send to his friends in Buffalo and asked me to write invitations to his birthday party. Broke my heart really. Well, I've joined a bible study with a bunch of other moms with young kids and they offered to have a birthday party for MJ. I was just expecting that we'd get together and play and eat cake, but they all had their kids bring presents for him and everything. It was awesome! I mean, how great is it that he could have a friend birthday party without actually having friends? God is super good to us!
Ridiculously Nice...another thing I love about about the Mid-West
Is there such a thing as ridiculously nice? I'll let you decide. A few days ago I was walking to the post office, pulling the boys in the wagon. We were about to cross the main road and I'm standing there waiting for the light to change with my letters in hand. A car was waiting at the light with us and the lady rolls down her window and yells out, "Are you taking those to the post office? I can drop them off for you. I'm on my way there." I was stunned. I couldn't take her up on it because the letters did not have stamps and I didn't think she was offering to buy stamps for me. (Now that would be ridiculously nice.) When we saw her at the post office she said, "Oh, I just thought I'd save you the trip across the highway." Now isn't that nice?
While we were in the post office we witnessed another act of kindness. A woman had carried in several boxes of packages to mail and she asked the postal worker where to put them (she had left them in the hallway). He told her that she needed to bring them in to the counter. So she began to retreive them and another man jumped out of line and helped her carry them all in. Again, I'm surrounded by nice, nice people here. I'm thankful for that.
While we were in the post office we witnessed another act of kindness. A woman had carried in several boxes of packages to mail and she asked the postal worker where to put them (she had left them in the hallway). He told her that she needed to bring them in to the counter. So she began to retreive them and another man jumped out of line and helped her carry them all in. Again, I'm surrounded by nice, nice people here. I'm thankful for that.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Kids' Alias
I've been giving some thought to giving my kids an alias for my blog. I'm not generally paranoid about privacy and all that, but they are my kids and I don't want to be foolish with all the weirdos you hear about doing weirdo things on the internet. I do want to share about them since they are really the source of the richest of content, and I don't want to keep referring to them as, my 5 year old boy or my 2 year old boy, etc. SO I asked them what they would like their aliases to be. My 5 year old boy chose Michael Jackson. Since that might be confusing to those who haven't read this post, I will refer to him as MJ. (In case someone thinks that the real Michael Jackson has somehow become part of our family.) My 2 year old boy chose the alias "Shrek" on suggestion from MJ. Since Shrek is not all that different from his real name (not to give it away), I think it fits. So from here on out, my kids are MJ & Shrek. If you have any problems with it, take it up with them!
And the winner is...
OK, I didn't realize how hard it would be to pick a winner. Some of you took this really seriously and some of you are totally goofy! I love it. I'm going to have to give the prize to Gloria. Her idea was to freeze them up, strap them on your feet and use them as skis. I just love the mental picture that creates for me. It reminds me of a Pinky Dinky Doo episode where she can't find her shoes so she uses meat loaf (or maybe one of her friends used meat loaf--can't really remember, but anyway, it's so gross and silly!). Anyway, Gloria, you win! Email me to claim your prize.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
A Couple of Recipes
I am just loving those ideas you've written (or called) in. Keep 'em coming! In the mean time, I had promised Angie some new freezer cooking recipes so I thought I'd post them here for all to enjoy. If cooking is not your thing, I apologize. This just happens to be the topic on my mind this week. I will move on to other things when I've exhausted this one...or when I'm just plain exhausted. The latter will probably come first!
Hamburger Noodle Casserole (Thanks Kris!)
8 oz egg noodles
3 T. margarine
4 oz cheddar cheese--shredded-1 cup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
3/4 pound ground beef-browned
1/3 cup onions-chopped fine
1 1/2 cans tomato soup (10.75 oz cans)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-1.5 quart casserole dishes
Cook noodles al dente. Drain, and add margarine. Stir to coat noodles, then cool. Once noodles are cooled, also add the cheddar, cottage cheese, and sour cream. Mix thoroughly. Brown ground beef, with onion, salt, and pepper. Drain meat and cool. Once meat is cool, add soup and mix thoroughly. Layer noodle mixture then meat mixture in each 1.5 quart casserole dish. Cover with saran, foil, label & freeze.
To prepare for serving: Thaw and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 15 minutes.
BBQ Cups (Thanks again Kris!)
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup BBQ sauce
4 oz cheddar cheese shredded
2 tubes large or giant refrigerated biscuits
4 quart-size ziploc bags
2 gallon size ziploc bags
Brown meat, onion, garlic and spices until meat is no longer pink. Drain fat. Divide BBQ sauce and meat into 2 1-quart bags. Divide cheese into 2 1-quart bags. Place a bag of meat mixture and a bag of cheese into each gallon bag. Label. Freeze.
To prepare for serving: Thaw. Warm meat mixture until heated through. Press biscuits onto the bottom and up the sides of greased muffin cups. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of meat mixture into each muffin cup. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Top with cheese during the last 5 minutes of baking.
OK--This one has absolutely NOTHING to do with ground beef. The main ingredient is imitation crab meat. Maybe you Boston chics can buy giant tubes of imitation crab for 99 cents a pound since you live near the ocean. Actually, imitation crab is probably made from fish farmed in the Mid-West so we may be able to buy it cheaper. We'll have to compare. Anyway, it is a great freezer recipe that was received very well in my house, except for my son who does not like his food to touch, but he's funny like that. I'm sure he would have liked it if he would have tried it. He opted for PBJ instead. BUT, the little one said, "Mommy, dis dinnah yishish." (That means delicious in 2 year old language.)
Crab Shells (Thanks, yet again, Kris!)
6 T margarine, divided 2 and 4 T
6 green onions, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Dijon style mustard
1/2 pound imitation crab meat, chopped or shredded
1 dash salt to taste
1 dash pepper to taste
12 jumbo pasta shells
4 T flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2 oz Parmesan cheese--1/2 cup divided 1/4 and 1/4 cup
2 1.5 quart casserole dishes
Cook pasta shells al dente. Cool. In a small saucepan or skillet melt 2 T of margarine. Add chopped green onion, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, crabmeat, and salt and pepper to taste. Sire over medium heat until heated through. Fill pasta shells with mixture and arrange shells in round baking dish that has been treated with non-stick spray.
In same skillet melt the remaining 4 T of margarine. Stir in flour. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in milk. Return to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. Stir in salt and pepper to taste, and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, stirring until the cheese melts. Pour sauce over shells, and top with remaining cheese. Cover with saran, foil, label and freeze.
To prepare for serving: Thaw and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.
If you need more recipes, let me know. My new freezer cookin' friend, Kris, gave me a ton. Plus I have a few favorites that I fall back on. I'm sure many of you have been subjected to my chicken broccoli ziti. Speaking of which, I had a major freezer cooking mishap with that one. While making the white sauce for this recipe, I accidentally scorched it. The bad news is that I didn't realize I had done it until I poured it over 4 whole 9x13" pans of chicken broccoli & ziti! I know it seems crazy that I didn't know, but I'm adjusting back to an electric stove (after having gas since college--that doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean!) and I thought that maybe something had dripped onto one of the burners and was making that awful smell. But NO, it was my white sauce that was now all over the chicken broccoli ziti! So now I have 3 pans of food that have a distinct smoky flavor and I'm too cheap to throw them away (we ate one for dinner that night--Bo said you can't taste the burn when you put hot sauce all over it). Maybe my next contest will be ideas on how not to waste 3 9x13" pans of chicken broccoli ziti. I was thinking that if we were invited to some large pot luck dinner where no one would have to know what we brought, I could quickly slip it onto the table and run away! That's just wrong, I know, but this is my blog and if I want to share my deepest, most evil thoughts, well, that's my prerogative. Feel free to comment.
Hamburger Noodle Casserole (Thanks Kris!)
8 oz egg noodles
3 T. margarine
4 oz cheddar cheese--shredded-1 cup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
3/4 pound ground beef-browned
1/3 cup onions-chopped fine
1 1/2 cans tomato soup (10.75 oz cans)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-1.5 quart casserole dishes
Cook noodles al dente. Drain, and add margarine. Stir to coat noodles, then cool. Once noodles are cooled, also add the cheddar, cottage cheese, and sour cream. Mix thoroughly. Brown ground beef, with onion, salt, and pepper. Drain meat and cool. Once meat is cool, add soup and mix thoroughly. Layer noodle mixture then meat mixture in each 1.5 quart casserole dish. Cover with saran, foil, label & freeze.
To prepare for serving: Thaw and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 15 minutes.
BBQ Cups (Thanks again Kris!)
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup BBQ sauce
4 oz cheddar cheese shredded
2 tubes large or giant refrigerated biscuits
4 quart-size ziploc bags
2 gallon size ziploc bags
Brown meat, onion, garlic and spices until meat is no longer pink. Drain fat. Divide BBQ sauce and meat into 2 1-quart bags. Divide cheese into 2 1-quart bags. Place a bag of meat mixture and a bag of cheese into each gallon bag. Label. Freeze.
To prepare for serving: Thaw. Warm meat mixture until heated through. Press biscuits onto the bottom and up the sides of greased muffin cups. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of meat mixture into each muffin cup. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Top with cheese during the last 5 minutes of baking.
OK--This one has absolutely NOTHING to do with ground beef. The main ingredient is imitation crab meat. Maybe you Boston chics can buy giant tubes of imitation crab for 99 cents a pound since you live near the ocean. Actually, imitation crab is probably made from fish farmed in the Mid-West so we may be able to buy it cheaper. We'll have to compare. Anyway, it is a great freezer recipe that was received very well in my house, except for my son who does not like his food to touch, but he's funny like that. I'm sure he would have liked it if he would have tried it. He opted for PBJ instead. BUT, the little one said, "Mommy, dis dinnah yishish." (That means delicious in 2 year old language.)
Crab Shells (Thanks, yet again, Kris!)
6 T margarine, divided 2 and 4 T
6 green onions, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Dijon style mustard
1/2 pound imitation crab meat, chopped or shredded
1 dash salt to taste
1 dash pepper to taste
12 jumbo pasta shells
4 T flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2 oz Parmesan cheese--1/2 cup divided 1/4 and 1/4 cup
2 1.5 quart casserole dishes
Cook pasta shells al dente. Cool. In a small saucepan or skillet melt 2 T of margarine. Add chopped green onion, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, crabmeat, and salt and pepper to taste. Sire over medium heat until heated through. Fill pasta shells with mixture and arrange shells in round baking dish that has been treated with non-stick spray.
In same skillet melt the remaining 4 T of margarine. Stir in flour. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in milk. Return to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. Stir in salt and pepper to taste, and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, stirring until the cheese melts. Pour sauce over shells, and top with remaining cheese. Cover with saran, foil, label and freeze.
To prepare for serving: Thaw and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.
If you need more recipes, let me know. My new freezer cookin' friend, Kris, gave me a ton. Plus I have a few favorites that I fall back on. I'm sure many of you have been subjected to my chicken broccoli ziti. Speaking of which, I had a major freezer cooking mishap with that one. While making the white sauce for this recipe, I accidentally scorched it. The bad news is that I didn't realize I had done it until I poured it over 4 whole 9x13" pans of chicken broccoli & ziti! I know it seems crazy that I didn't know, but I'm adjusting back to an electric stove (after having gas since college--that doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean!) and I thought that maybe something had dripped onto one of the burners and was making that awful smell. But NO, it was my white sauce that was now all over the chicken broccoli ziti! So now I have 3 pans of food that have a distinct smoky flavor and I'm too cheap to throw them away (we ate one for dinner that night--Bo said you can't taste the burn when you put hot sauce all over it). Maybe my next contest will be ideas on how not to waste 3 9x13" pans of chicken broccoli ziti. I was thinking that if we were invited to some large pot luck dinner where no one would have to know what we brought, I could quickly slip it onto the table and run away! That's just wrong, I know, but this is my blog and if I want to share my deepest, most evil thoughts, well, that's my prerogative. Feel free to comment.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Kick-off Contest--Why I love the Mid-West!
After hearing over and over, "You should write about your move," I'm finally doing it. I'm new to this whole blog thing so be patient with me please. I never was the most technology savvy chic and now that the most frequented website in our household is pbskids.org, it's even worse. So if you see that I'm missing some important feature of all those really hip blogs out there, or you have any advice for me, feel free to pass it along. I am grateful.
OK, with the preliminaries out of the way, I'll bet you're dying to know WHY I love the mid-west. Well, there are many reasons, but today the #1 reason is that this is the first place I've ever purchased ground beef for $.99/pound. (OK, I mean since adulthood...maybe in like 1989 it was that cheap, but I can't remember ever buying beef for less than a buck--not even at Budweys, fine home of ghetto meat!--I say that affectionately, by the way. I do miss Budweys....) The only catch is that you had to buy it in a Giant 10 pound tube (limit 2). Yes, I did buy the limit. I simply could not help myself. The good news is that while giant tubes of meat are very weaponlike, 10 pounds is too heavy for my boys to actually use as weapons (although they did try). My freezer is now well stocked with meat loaf, meat balls, enchillada pie, hamburger noodle casserole and chili. Phew!
BUT it was suggested to me that a fun way to officially kick-off my blog would be to have a contest to see who can come up with the most (or most creative) uses for a 10 pound tube of $10 meat. Depending on how inspired you are, I may just run out and buy me another tube. I think it would be great fun to send you your own personal 10 pound tube of $10 meat if you win, but that would be gross SO instead I will use this opportunity to shamelessly promote my ecommerce website, www.booksfromsarah.com and offer a FREE card pack called 50 Science things to make and do for the winner of this Kick-Off Contest. In case you didn't know, I sell the most wonderful children's books on the market and for those of you who do not like to stretch your imagination and make up creative uses for meat tubes, we have great activity books and card packs to give you ideas. As of yet, we do not have a card pack called 50 things to make and do with a giant tube of ground beef, BUT we do have a pack of recipe cards called 30 Healthy Things to Make and Eat, which includes several recipes containing ground beef. You do not need a 10 pound tube to make any of them, however, so please don't be scared. I will announce the winner at the end of the week.
In the mean time, I am going to take great delight in mid-western living and enjoy my well-stocked freezer. If you can get over the fact that your meal may have come from a tube, join us for dinner sometime!
The First One Is the Hardest--Get It Over With!
I created this blog a few weeks ago, but ever since I've been too scared to start writing. I mean, what if no one wants to read it?...or worse, they do want to read it and I write something stupid? So, I'm conquering my fear right now and just getting the first one out of the way. I just need to prove to myself that it's not hard to do it....I don't have to be profound...I don't have to be funny...I can just put it out there and that's enough. No pressure. Just getting it over with...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)