Week 4: Awards Week

Recipes to Go: 507 472

Weeks to Go: 52 48

Recipes Made This Week:

Minestrone with Turkey

Olive-Onion Cheese Bread

Veggie Mac 'n' Cheese

Sweet 'n' Tender Cabbage Rolls

Banana Crumb Snack Cake

Onion Sausage Quesadillas

Sweet Sandwich Cookies

Southwestern Spinach Salad

Holstein Crinkles

I wasn't planing on making anything on Sunday, but it was so cold (barely 70 degrees, which after months of 92 feels quite frigid) that I needed some soup. Plus I had all the ingredients on hand for Minestrone, except the turkey. So we made the Minestrone with Turkey without turkey. That didn't stop it from being delicious.It hit the spot for a colder day.

On Tuesday I made Olive-Onion Cheese Bread and Veggie Mac 'n' Cheese. I probably should have sliced my veggies smaller for the mac 'n' cheese, but it was still delicious. And I found out that The Captain really likes Cauliflower. Which worked out really well since it was my least favorite thing in there. So I gave him all of those bites and everyone was happy.

The Olive-Onion Cheese Bread was delicious. I'm glad I didn't use all the butter it called for. I only used half and it was still plenty greasy. And of course I used fresh mushrooms instead of canned mushrooms. I think I might be morally opposed to canned mushrooms.

The winner of this weeks yummiest recipe award goes to the Sweet 'n' Tender Cabbage Rolls. Blew all the other contestants out of the water. This one took some effort to make, but it cooked in the slow cooker. And everything from the slow cooker is even more yummy than regularly cooked things.

This picture doesn't make them look very appealing, I know, but trust me, they melt in your mouth. If only I had the patience to make this everyday. Maybe in a year we'd all be sick of it . . . maybe.

The Banana Snack Cake on the other hand has been the first recipe I don't think I'll make again. But that's only because I don't really like banana bread and that's basically what this recipe is, except in much larger proportions.

Why is the batter so good but the cake not as much? Oh and maybe by the end of this year I'll figure out how to take good food pictures. Sorry.

The Quesadillas were easy to put together and very delicious. Unfortunately, I didn't think about it in time, but I only made 3/4 of the original filling proportions and used all the recommended tortillas, so they were a little thin and sad.

Luckily the filling is still delicious and easy enough to try again. Quesadillas are a good go-to meal when you're short on time.

I cheated and made the dough for the Sandwich Cookies last Friday, intending to take them to a church activity, but I talked to my neighbors for too long before hand. It was worth it, though because I got cupcakes for the Great Exchange. So that meant that putting these together was really easy. Which was helpful on a Game Night where putting The Captain down on time is a little more important.

I've made cookies like this before, fairly recently actually, from my Pillsbury dessert cookbook that has not steered me wrong yet. However, I creamed the butter and sugar too long so the cookies had an off-putting lack of texture. Also, I used too much milk in the frosting so it was thin. This time around, I'm happy to say I learned my lesson and the result was wonderful. 2,000 times better than the first attempt. They got rave reviews by the game crowd as well.

I was planning on making the Southwestern Spinach Salad with the Quesadillas earlier in the week, but things got away from me, as they do with a one-year-old. But it was a salad, and a filling one at that, and we had plenty of leftovers to eat through, so it all worked out. I really liked this salad.

I would have liked it more if I had used red peppers, but at $2+ for one, I was willing to settle for green. And the green peppers are still plenty expensive. It's times like this that I miss Reams and it's produce section. It's nice to get inspiration to put together interesting salads and creative homemade dressings. This one got a great response so I'll probably put together something like it in the future.

The last recipe of the week was what could be the Best Cookies Ever. Of course it doesn't hurt that I accidentally put in more chocolate than the recipe called for. I swear I read 6 oz. unsweetened, but it was actually 4. By the time I realized they were almost all melted, so I thought, less oil should even it out. I'm not sure if that's true, but it certainly didn't hurt the end product.

These were a bit of work as well, but The Husband said I couldn't give any away because they were too good, so I guess in this case the hard work paid off.

Week 3: The Great Cupcake Exchange

Recipes to Go: 507 483

Weeks to Go: 52 49

Made this Week:

Tomato Corn Salad

Tuna Pasta Salad

Bacon Cheeseburger Buns

Honey Barbecue Sauce

Giant Calzone

Raisin-Zucchini Spice Cupcakes

Lemon Crumb Muffins

I was gifted some fresh, local corn and garden tomatoes from our wonderful neighbors on Friday when they came to Game Night, along with some yummy cupcakes, which started the Great Cupcake Exchange that went on this week. Possibly the best thing ever.
So on Sunday, I decided to make a Tomato Corn Salad. Since I only had what I had, I just eyeballed the vinaigrette instead of following the recipe exactly, and it was too vinegar-y. That didn't stop it from being delicious, but it did stop me from taking pictures, sorry.

OMG the food this week was so yummy. Tuesday we made Tuna Pasta Salad, Bacon Cheeseburger Buns and homemade BBQ sauce for dipping.
The tuna salad was pretty much like one I'd buy from the store, and so wasn't really anything special, but I did discover that it is pimentos that stick to the back of my throat and make me hate store-bought potato salad. So that's worth something. But the Bacon Cheeseburger Buns . . . my oh my were they good. And the recipe made a bigillion or so, so we got to eat them all week. And the BBQ sauce was smoky and not as sweet as most and the perfect dipping sauce for these babies. I will definitely make these again. Bacon is becoming a staple for my kitchen. And the dough was from scratch for these and so easy to work with. I just have nothing bad to say.

Thursday I made the most beautiful thing I've ever made, a Giant Calzone.It was still cooking when we put The Captain to bed, so it stayed in the oven longer than intended, which as you can see just made it look amazing. This dough might, with a few tweaks, end up as our pizza dough. I usually don't do the stretching for our pizzas, but I did stretch this dough and had zero problems. It completely cooperated with me. When has a dough ever done that? Oh, and what is this giant calzone stuffed with, you wonder? Sausage, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cheese, everything good. And stuffed is the right word, the crust isn't that thick. Just thinking about this makes me want to have people over for dinner.

Along with the calzone, I made raisin-zucchini cupcakes with cinnamon frosting. I am not a zucchini bread fan, usually. I know, just ostracize me now. But these tasted nothing like it. All I could taste was raisins and deliciousness. This was how we used our first zucchini from the garden, and I couldn't have been happier. It was really easy to make, too, spice cake mix, eggs, etc., zucchini, raisins. Bake. Enjoy. So Mom, if you have spice cake mix to use, this is the recipe to do it with. Plus they are easy to give away, which is what we did with some of them. To our neighbors, of course, who had a birthday. And thus there were cupcakes at there house that we exchanged. Snickers cupcakes.

Oh, sorry, did I mention The Captain could not get enough of these cupcakes. Loved, loved, loved them.

So on Saturday, to complete the Great Cupcake Exchange, I made Lemon Crumb Muffins.Now, we all know the difference between a cupcake and a muffin is when you plan on eating them, so I felt justified in gifting these in a cupcake exchange. Oh, I wish the picture did them justice. They had a crumb topping, of course, then a lemon glaze on top. They were so, so good. And sadly I had but few of them. I will definitely make these ones again as well. Maybe I'll even use the original recipe yield of 40 muffins next time . . .

Oh yes, feel free to comment if you want the recipe for anything and I'll shoot it over.

Week 2: Dinner Guests

Recipes to go:507 490

Weeks to go: 52 50

Made this week:

Meaty Pasta Casserole

Almond Chicken with Apricot Sauce

Buttermilk Salad Dressing

Creamed Corn with Bacon
Frozen Fruit Pops

Ozark Sloppy Joes

Pasta with Cream Sauce

Frozen Fruit Fluff
Lone Star Cheese Ball

Fluffy Scrambled Eggs

I didn't take a picture of the Meaty Pasta Casserole. I kind of cheated with this one anyway because the recipe makes two casseroles, one to eat and one to freeze. Monday's meal was the frozen one, but since I'd already made the recipe before, I'm counting it. It froze really well, too, which means if you need a meal from me, you might be getting this.

This was Tuesday's meal with the missionaries. The next three recipes on the list.

The Captain loved the dressing. I used Miracle Whip instead of Mayo, so it was sweeter than intended, but who says that's a bad thing? Anything with bacon is good so the corn was great. And I managed to convert 2 chicken breasts into 6 servings, so grab a pot, bang out your frustrations, and enjoy a little extra money in your purse.

I made the popsicles on Tuesday, but we're still enjoying them.

This is the easiest and best recipe yet. Three ingredients, blend, freeze, enjoy. In fact, you don't even have to freeze, it made a great smoothie. 3 cartons yogurt (the individual ones), 2 Tbs. lemon juice, 2 bananas. Easy peasy. Yummy tummy.

These are the sloppy joes outside their buns. Sorry for the nudity.

We invited our neighbors over for dinner on Thursday, already having the menu planned. Things were great until the power went out at 1 and didn't come back on until 5:15! Did I mention they were coming at 6? Total panic. Luckily I started chopping veggies on faith at 5 that the power would come back on, so when it did it was turn on the burners and pray. Things came out fine, though we did do the tour of the house before dinner.
Here is the yummy pasta that didn't quite get enough time to reduce.

They brought a delicious corn meal casserole with fresh, local corn in it. Mmmm. And they gave us the leftovers. Sweet! Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the Frozen Fruit Fluff, which I made with local blackberries. It was never frozen and didn't cooperate for pictures. Enjoyed it for days, though.

Friday was Game Night and we had a great turn out. Sadly, not because of this baby,

but that didn't stop it from being delicious. And I guess it's not sad that our friends come because they like playing games and not because they want to be fed. I'll keep feeding them, though. I used my sister-in-law's fresh jalapeno peppers from her garden that she left when she house sitted, instead of canned green chilies the recipe called for and it was perfect. Just the right amount of kick.

I was a little worn out by Saturday. Luckily, these scrambled eggs were easy.

Eggs and evaporated milk, which made them sweet in addition to being fluffy. I added some fresh thyme from my herb garden, which counteracted the sweetness nicely, I thought. The Husband commented on both flavors favorably, so I guess it worked. Man, I love thyme. It's my favorite go-to spice.

Week 1: Beginnings

I have plenty of time consuming hobbies in my life, but recently I have felt the need to complete my 50's housewife persona by encouraging my budding love of cooking. This has been difficult to do since my creativity in the kitchen has fallen to an all time low. We were living off crackers and store-bought cookies a week ago.

Rather than increasing my creativity by subjecting myself to the chore of finding FoodNetwork shows on the internet (since we don't have cable), I decided to take a page from the movie Julie & Julia and cook through a cookbook. But instead of Julia Child's cookbook, I went for something more pedestrian- the 2009 Taste of Home cookbook my mom got me for Christmas 2 years ago. Everything I've tried from there up to this point has been good to the point of gorging, plus the ingredients are not exotic and the recipes are simple.

So I did some research, dividing things into categories, looking for ingredients, reading recipes. And I figured that I'd have to cook approximately 9.4 recipes a week to get through the entire book in one year. That seems ridiculous until you realize that 2 recipes for one meal isn't unreasonable, so 3 meals a week, a dessert, breakfast on Saturday, and a treat for Game Night on Fridays, and that's 9. Which leaves plenty of time during the week for consuming leftovers. Result=culinary bliss.

Well, that was the idea, anyway. As I tend to do, I started this new goal on my new year--my birthday, which was on a Sunday this year in July, which made calculating weeks pretty easy.

Recipes to Go: 507 500

Weeks to Go: 52 51

Recipes Made This Week

Golden Corn Quiche

Special-Occasion Chocolate Cake

Chicken Fingers with Lemon Sauce

Lemon-Butter New Potatoes

Corny Lettuce Salad

Taco Salad

Simply-a-Must Dinner Rolls

The bliss part has been true thus far. Let's start at the beginning, Sunday. I made this delicious quiche:

and this magnificent cake.
Why yes, that is homemade ganache.

We had to cut the slices really thin so people didn't explode.

The rest of the week was tricky since we were flying to New York on Thursday morning. But I still found time to make the most delicious lemon sauce with the best fried chicken The Husband has ever had, lemon potatoes and a corny salad.
The dipping sauce definitely stole the show that night.

Then the next night we made taco salad. Really, really, really yummy taco salad that seems overly spicy to me, until I remembered that I did have two large, annoying cankor sores that emphasized the spiciness.
Not the best picture, but The Captain loved it, as did Grandma, my sister-in-law, and her little girls who were house sitting for us. I hear the leftovers were also good.

Also pictured is the dinner roll. I've never made crescent rolls that didn't come from a can before. I didn't know I could do that. And best of all, they weren't that hard, and they were really good.

So, not quite 9 recipes, but considering I was three days short, I think 7 is respectable. Plus, with all the holidays coming up, I'll make up for lost time, I promise.