The Weekend

The Weekend in Photos.

Spaghetti & Meatballs.

Cookies.

Crazy Salt Chicken.

Fried Zucchini & Squash.

Cannoli Cake.

Oh and I never said, GOOD photos. Just photos!

Kitchen Organization

Well my kitchen is pretty organized.  Mainly cause I only just started using it recently after a 6 year standoff.  But I need some sort of outside influence to organize the rest of my clutterzone or- the rest of my house! So here goes. Thanks A Bowl Full of Lemons for the 21 day challenge.
We'll attempt it. I say we, but really just ME since the Toddler ain't helpin!

Souffle? Suuuure.

Everything on the Kraft Foods website is easy to make.  Sometimes TOO easy.  I've grown weary of some of their multiple choice dinners.  Been there, done that. I made Enchiladas darnit, from scratch darnit, with two children awake at the Witching hour [I love you Rants from Mommyland] darnit and BY MYSELF DARNIT. I was abandoned by the male species. Grumble.

Ok so I was looking for a breakfasty idea on the kraft site because I just couldn't get creative with scrambled eggs for breakfast AGAIN.  I stumbled on this recipe for Cheese Souffle.

C is for Cookie.

Everything about butter and sugar is wonderful.

Coffee and toast

Cinnamon toast. Elevated to a new level of deliciousness.  Thank You Pioneer Woman for increasing my butter purchase for weekly consumption. I stole and adapted my creation from PW's Cinnamon Toast the Right Way. I needed to change the recipe because otherwise I'd eat all 15 1/2 slices by myself and allow the Toddler to at least  t a s t e  it.  I also adore bubbly hot brown sugar.  See Apple Crisp.

My Baby Can Break-dance

She totally does. Its really funny.

Except the only part she can do is lay on her belly and lift her legs up in the air like you took a freeze frame of a break-dancer.

Yesterday nap times for both girls were relatively at the same time.  Perfect time to try out the Pumpkin Muffins from Juggling Act. Thanks Jackie, they were delicious. I'm also happy on the decision to make half. I would have eaten them ALL. YUM!
I also decided to make Enchiladas for dinner.  Thank you Pioneer Woman for making my mouth water.

Giving credit

Hubs got in on the, making dinner thing.  He even took his own photo so his dinner creation didn't get left out. How sweet.  Dinner WAS sweet!  BBQ Bacon, Chicken & Pineapple Pizza.  Something we've had before but Hubs found a recipe that added a little Umph to it.  Cajun seasoned Chicken! Oh and BACON!

He had book-marked the recipe and stated we had no Cajun seasoning.  I was pretty sure in my growing arsenal of spices we had Cajun seasoning deconstructed...  So I told him to consult the all knowing Google Search.  Compare a few recipes for Cajun Seasoning and I'll just make it now. How long could that take?  In retrospect it would have made some super cool spice photos if I had thought about it before my brain sent the message to my hand to stir the bowl. Oh well.  I do however now have my personal stock of Spicy Cajun seasoning! It certainly has a kick!! Woo!

Getting Antsy...

I've been off the baking train for what, a week, ten days? No new freshly baked sweets to devour. Boooring.

I was pleasantly surprised at the scale this morning. It simply stated 0.8 down instead of the up it has been taunting me with lately. I felt much better about the ridiculous face that the Hubs made at me, the other day, when he opened the box of Ring-dings to find one left, out of the perfectly packaged two he had expected to pack with his lunch for work. I sheepishly told him, but I'm saaaaaaaaaaving it so I can have one tomorrow too! He grumbled and had to take Oreos instead. Oh the heartache. Haha!

I'm getting antsy now, I need some new baked goodies in the house.

I had book-marked some things to try and was browsing by way of 'what do I have left in my pantry' that I can make something with... I came up with Caramel Coffee Shortbread Cookies.

For dinner, Honey mustard Kielbasa and red potatoes. Finally I get to use my fancy wiggly cutter thingy. [Yes that is a technical term]

Updates and Recipes

I updated 'Cream Cheese anyone?' with more pictures etc. Check it out.

My friend that I made the egg fritatta for asked for the recipe. I had to laugh, she does NOT use her kitchen.  When asked what she's been doing all these years she replied, "...cheese and crackers? or I just eat out." Ah I will make her a recipe card then. lol  Egg, cheese, milk, tomato, basil, seasoning!  She also returned my pie plate and some misc. baby items we left at the party. Do does anyone else leave a trail of baby items as they go places? or is it just me?

My basil plant isn't completely dead... yet.

Oh and against my 'Betty Crocker Hotline' best friend's better judgement I added all the pasta to my soup and it did soak up ALL of the liquid.  Another two cups or so of broth fixed that... Ok OK! You were RIGHT. xoxo

I have an hour...

Our household 'resolution' was to create meal plans for every week.  So far, the first week worked well! Tacos have been on the top of the second list since day 1 and thats it.  Every time I look at it, I think of tacos.  Every time I mention to Hubs that coming up with a new list needs to happen so we can shop, I think of tacos. Every time I look in the fridge the salsa sings to me "I miissss yoooouu."
Ok so we don't have tacos as often as i'd like.
So with tacos on the brain, I stumbled on this Tex-Mex recipe on blog Homesick Texan.
Flour Tortillas! Hey I've got an hour, girls are sleeping. What's to loose?

Cream Cheese anyone?

I love bagels and cream cheese. I'm from Jersey, it is required.  Cream cheese has now migrated from one of my favorite breakfasts to my favorite desserts.  I made two things tonight for the last of our holiday parties.  Espresso Cheesecake Brownies again since Hubs requested them and a new one Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough DIP. Yes Dip. O-MY-GAWD. I am in-love.

Pork-chaaaps and applsaaaace

So I picked up a Basil plant instead of just a package of Basil when I went shopping for NYE.  Lets try this, not killing the plant thing, again.  I can't justify paying 3 bucks for like 5 basil leaves and throwing the rest out cause it went bad before I used it again.  Yea, you've been there too, I know.  Having two kids, or any for that matter makes you take a good hard look at your spending.

So I have this plant for 5 days, I managed to get it IN a little pot on my counter [day 1] but suddenly realized it looked wilty [day 5] and I had forgotten to water it since.  Buuut I was so efficient to get it in a pot right away....   I used the leaves for my tomato, basil & mozz egg creations and promptly forgot about it.

Shhh, there's Spinach in my kitchen.

Frozen chopped spinach was way less scary than I thought.

Today's recipe is Chicken Soup with Stars & Meatballs from Epicurious.

New Year's Day Eve

A friend posted, "Sometimes you just have to bake" this was mere moments after I pulled this outta the oven.  If only we lived closer to share our treats...
Hubs & I had a long hard new year's day of doing absolutely nothing.  I found some amazingly huge Granny Smiths a few days prior and threw together a super quick dessert that we enjoyed after the girls hit the sack [finally.]
I made a batch of Crumb Topping which really covers a 13x9 but these little pyrex bowls are perfect for one large Granny Smith Apple cut up and shared between the two of us.  So I put the rest of the crumb topping in the fridge for later use.  Darn we'll have to indulge more during the week!
After I threw this in the oven, we started the girls bedtime rituals. It was ready to enjoy by the time the girls were all snuggled up for the night.  It didn't even matter that we ate devoured while watching the rest of Winnie the Pooh for the hundredth time, it was SO good.   Hubs and I need more Us-time like this, maybe we'll remember to throw in a PG-13 movie next time! ha.

Happy New Year's Eve, can you bring dessert?

We were invited to an old family friend's house for NYE.  My dessert tray at our Christmas Eve party was a hit so naturally I was on dessert duty for the festivities once again.  2010 was definitely a year of new traditions, some due to [obviously] having another baby and other traditions and regularly scheduled gatherings changing because of divorces.  Two couple's divorces really caused a rift in a formerly close nit group that effected everyone.  Especially me.  How do you choose?  Well I didn't.  Choices were made for me in some cases,  others I just tried to stick with 'the usual' scheduled holiday celebrations. That left certain divorcees to just work around me.   I'm okay with that, I mean why should I change MY agenda because of someone else's life choices... Ugh.
Okay enough of that nonsense.  Dessert.