Best Ever Sugar Cookies

Best Ever Sugar Cookies

1 cup Margarine
1cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 Eggs
1 cup Oil
1 tsp Vanilla
4 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt

Mix margarine and sugars together.  Add eggs and beat well.  Add oil and vanilla and beat again.  Mix dry ingredients together then add to other mixture.  Form a round ball, press flat with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.  Bake 12-15 minutes @ 375 degrees.

My Notes::  Butter is an option for these cookies, but they are better with margarine.  This recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies.  The dough is soft, soft soft, fluffy.  It gets a bit tedious with the glass/sugar method so I have also refrigerated the dough and used a scooper, dropping balls of dough into a sugar bowl, coating before putting on the tray.  This method is much quicker and the cookies come out more uniform.  This is NOT a recipe for roll and cut cookies.  These cookies are light and soft, crumbly after a couple days.  Perfect as is, also very good frosted, but dont expect to shape them.

Bacon and Cheese Pull-Aparts

While I was cleaning my desk today, I recovered this recipe from Pillsbury:

Bacon and Cheese Pull Aparts

So I thought, HEY, Why not make it for dinner? Yup, It will be great!

Hahahaha! I have to learn to actually READ the recipe first. This ended up NOT being the biscuit topped omelet I had envisioned.

But, I still recommend the recipe. It was delicious.

The Farmer's Market Calls

I stopped at the Farmer's Market in town this morning. It had been calling to me for weeks. After finishing my other errands, I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and chopping so that I could make my absolute favorite!

MINESTRONE SOUP!

Traditionally, Minestrone soup is a vegetable in beef broth soup. While I have a basic recipe that I follow, this has become one of those dishes that I do not measure and add or subtract ingredients as the local harvest allows. This is the ultimate in soups and one I crave year round.

To give all credit where it is due, my rendition of Minestrone is loosely based on the recipe by Marcella Hazan in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. She says "The result is a soup of dense, mellow flavor that recalls no vegetable in particular, but all of them at once." She continues "Note that all the ingredients do not go into the pot at one time, but in a sequence that is indicated. By first sauteing the onion you produce the essential underlying flavor, which is then imparted to the other vegetables in turn."

Having made alterations over time, I have found that 3 things contribute most to the flavor of this soup: 1) the theory of cooking them in sequence, 2) the addition of cheese and 3) the beef broth. With this in mind, I shop from my local farms (or my own garden when I had one). Whatever I can bring home, goes into the soup.

As you can see, today I brought home a number of squash and zucchini, tomatoes and green beans. To this I added potatoes, celery, carrots, onion and canned beans (garbonzo, cannellini and kidney). I follow no set measurements and just clean and cut the veggies as my mood allows.

To begin, melt 3 TBSP butter in 1/2 cup olive oil.

Add in 1 cup onion, sliced very thin. Cook until it turns golden but not brown then add vegetables in turn, cooking 2-3 minutes between additions.

Carrots

Celery

Potatoes

Green Beans

Zucchini (and other squash)

Add 6 cups Homemade Meat Broth (or 2 cups canned beef broth with 4 cups water) Adjust the amount of liquid to the amount of vegetables you add.

2/3 cup canned Italian plum tomatos (or use fresh tomatos and canned tomato sauce)

and an OPTIONAL crust from a 1-2 pound piece of parmigiano-reggiano cheese, scraped clean.

Add a sprinkling of salt. Check for taste later.

Cook at a gentle simmer for 2.5 hours then add the canned beans and cook for another 1/2 hour.

Cook until the soup is fairly dense.

My opinion is that this, as many Italian dishes, is better the second day. This soup freezes well as long as you dont mind your beans exploding while frozen.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE SOUP! Enjoy it and let me know what you think of it!

World's Easiest Homemade Alfredo Sauce

Have you seen those recipes for Alfredo sauce that involve eggs and a ton of stirring?

Forget it!! Try this easy alternative.

Put 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and a stick of butter in a pan.

Do not boil.

Simmer until reduced by 25%.

Add 2 more cups of heavy whipping cream, 2/3 cup parmesan cheese

(I actually use pecorino-romano) plus salt and white pepper.

Cook 1# pasta to al dente, add pasta to sauce and serve immediately.

Tastes the same. Much easier. Freezes great.

Also don’t forget these ideas…

• tetrazinni -add shredded chicken (crock pot method) and some fresh spinach to the alfredo sauce after you add the cheese. It is delish. Even better than that is to soak the shredded chicken in the 2nd half of the cream over a low heat while you wait on the first half to reduce. It gets into every morsel of the chicken and infuses it with FLAVOR.


• Or make carbonara… add chopped bacon or pancetta to the alfredo with sliced mushrooms (or without).


• Or use it instead of cream of *** soup. Leave out the cheese and add blended veggies.


• Or melt 2 cups shredded cheddar into it and make mac n cheese... or thicken with flour and use as a cheese coating on broccoli or potatoes.

Ohhhhh, so versatile and so tasty!!!

Chicken Tostada with Spanish Rice

Truth is, I grew up in the midwest and had no idea what a Tostada was until the day ... I was 27 or 28... my best friend's husband (yes, he cooks) handed one to me. Hmmm... What the heck is THIS????

Basically it is anything you can find that you might stuff in a taco but piled on a fried tortilla. You know, an upside down taco salad!

He had given me a fried tortilla with refried beans, taco meat, lettuce, tomatos, cheese... and a squeeze of lime on top. It was amazing. The crunchy of the tostada, the hot of the beans and meat, the cold of the lettuce and tomatos and the zing of the lime. MMMMMMM

Easily reproduced at home in less than an hour, tostadas are a great meal. Mind you, they are messy finger food.

Tonight we had tostadas with spanish rice, chicken, lettuce and cheese... I would have liked some tomatos... but alas, none to be found. Still, a family favorite.

I hear you! Out with the details, Anne....

First, the chicken. If I had any shredded chicken left in the freezer it would have been even easier! No chicken in the freezer already prepared, so I started there. 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts and some broth in a sauce pot. After 20 minutes, I shredded the meat in the pan and added taco mix.

Second, the rice. Fry onion and rice until golden, add garlic, tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil, then simmer 15-20 minutes.

Now the difficult part... the tostadas. While they are available for purchase in most grocery stores, you can also make your own. Approximately 1/2 inch of oil in a pan, when hot, add a tortilla until crispy. Remove from oil and blot off grease with paper towels.

Chop the veggies. And Assemble.

Keep in mind the versatility of this meal...

• pico de gallo or salsa
• ground beef, shredded pork or chicken
• steak or chicken fajita meat
• all vegetarian
• refried beans
• avocado or guacamole
• fish
• sour cream
• jalapeno peppers
• onions
• cheese (cheddar, pepper jack, queso fresco, jack)

Recipes:

Spanish Rice (from Mia Alvarado)

2 cups white rice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil or butter
1 Lg white onion minced
3 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp chicken bouillon
4 cups water
1 15oz can tomato sauce

Fry onions and rice in oil or butter until rice is the color of a penny. When rice is browned, add garlic and sauté for a minute then add tomato sauce. Add water and bouillon and bring to a fast rolling boil. Lower heat to lowest setting and cover. Let cook twenty minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Taco Seasoning Mix

Each Package is enough mix for 1# of ground meat or 2# Chicken
1 t Instant Minced Onion
1 t Salt
1/2 t Chili Powder
1/2 t Cornstarch
1/2 t Instant Minced Garlic
1/8 t Dried Oregano
1/2 t Ground Cumin

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and blend well. Makes 1 package of mix. Using the above recipe as a guide you can increase the amounts to make any number of packages


Pico de Gallo

6 medium Tomatoes diced
1 medium Onion diced
1/4 cup fresh Cilantro chopped.
2 to 4 Fresh jalapeño seeded and minced
garlic powder just a pinch
Salt to taste

Put all ingredients in a bowl add 1/2 cup of cold water, mix well. Let set a few minutes.

Refried Beans

This post linked to Tasty Tuesday and Tempt my Tummy Tuesday .
This post also linked to I am Blissfully Domestic.

Anxiety over Teen and Menu Plans

Do we look alike?

(Daughter on left, me -at same age- on right)

The last 10 days have been some of the longest days in my life. It is amazing how much stress you can feel from a very independent, "I disowned you 6-months ago, Mom," graduates in 1 week and has a full 4-year scholarship to the local state college, 18-year-old daughter.

And she doesnt even live with us!

But I have been in tears and in constant worry over her as she makes her own choices and pushes toward self-sufficiency. Not that I didnt do the same thing at that age, but I like to think that I did it in a non-hurtful way. And yet she is leaving a wake of worried and *now* emotionally damaged adults behind her as she pushes ahead.

And whether she chooses to believe it or not, I love her as much as I did when she was a little, bouncy, sweet curly-headed girl. Recent events aside, she is an amazing girl. Letting go is so difficult... not that the last 2 years have left me any other option... just that it is difficult.

And dont even remind me that I put my parents through the same worry and heartache. Trust me, my mother has reminded me of that many, many times these past few days.

oh... and can I even mention the girl that my 16 yo daughter brought home for the weekend??? Decent kid at first glance, friendly and forthright. Uh, until she started telling me how she had pierced herself in about 20 places on her face... shutter... as well as tattooing herself... creeps.... and how she spent 5 weeks in a "hospital" in between 2 of her closest friends commiting suicide.

Yea... these are just *some* of the reasons I worry...

BUT we still have to eat... so my plan for this week is as follows:

Sunday - Pot Pie (using shredded beef from the freezer)
* I have decided that I prefer my meat cubed, not shredded... but alas, all I had was shredded.
Monday - Chicken Tostadas with Spanish Rice
Tuesday - Pork Roast with fried potatoes
Wednesday - Spaghetti and Meatballs (2 freezer sauce recipes to follow)
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Homemade Pizza
Saturday - Steak on the grill

Freezer Chili

How much would you pay for 10 Qt of chili with meat and beans? What would it cost you? This pot of chili cost less than $10.

First of all, 10 Qt is a lot of chili. That is what my pot made. Usually that is enough and I move on... but this time I made 2 pots. It is a simple, basic, mild recipe enjoyed by the entire family. It freezes well. Stretched further by serving over elbow macaroni, this is a regular meal at our house.

As you can see, this is one recipe that isnt vacuum packed before freezing. I admit that I dont do so well with my Food Saver and moist foods.

This hasnt always been my method for storing the chili. I started off storing it in canning jars in the freezer. There was a real trick needed to remember to thaw the chili ahead or to microwave it to thaw without cracking the jar.


Moving on to quart size freezer bags was the best thing ever! They are easy to fill and seal, easy to stack, take up much less room than any other storage method and thaw rapidly. I label the bags with a Sharpie pen, roll back the edges, pour in 4 cups (from a liquid measuring cup), unfold the edges (nifty clean) and squeeze out the air before sealing. Frozen flat, these packages stack well or stand file-style easily. 5 quick minutes in the micro and the chili can be popped into a pan and heated within minutes. As mentioned above, we generally serve this over elbow macaroni with cheddar cheese and sour cream.

This recipe is from my Mother-in-law, Dottie.





Chili ala Alagna
saute 1 3/4 to 2 lbs ground beef with salt and pepper
add:
5 cloves garlic crushed
28oz can diced tomatoes with just enough water to rinse can
2-40oz cans store brand chili with beans with just enough water to rinse the can
27oz can red kidney beans
16 oz tomato sauce with 32oz water
3 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
heaping 1/2 t red pepper
2+ t chili powder
3 shakes tabasco
1/2 lg onion chopped
1 1/2 green peppers chopped
1/2 c chopped celery

Cook 5 hours.
Better the second day or after being frozen.
Yield: 6-8Qt

~Anne

Pot Pie for Dinner Tonight!

Chicken, Beef or Turkey... this pot pie took 10 minutes prep time, 30 minutes bake time.

Here are the ingredients:

2 cups of chopped Turkey

2/3 cups mixed veggies (any mix, frozen or fresh)

2 cups chopped, cooked potatoes

2 cups gravy (canned, powder mix, or homemade)

1 deep dish pie crust

Last Thanksgiving we had friends over. I cooked everything. A couple days before, she showed up with a turkey. I already had a turkey. I cooked her turkey and left mine in the freezer. Until the Freezer Frenzy in March. Then I pulled that 23 pound turkey out and baked it, divided it up by slicing most and chopping the rest. So tonight it was easy to pull a package of 2 cups chopped turkey from the freezer.

I used the cheap-o veggie mix, also in the freezer.

Last night we had mashed potatoes. I needed to use up some spuds and just kept peeling until they were all in the pan. Before mashing, I set aside a few cups of the chopped potatoes which I was able to pull out of the fridge for tonight.

I suppose I could have made homemade gravy when I made the turkey, or at least saved the broth, but didnt do either this time. Out comes the trusty *fake* gravy mix. I love this stuff. No mention, of course, for how bad it is for you....

And a cheap store-brand premade pie crust... I do not make pie crust. I hate working with pie crust so much that I dont even top this pot pie. You can top it. Go ahead! Make your own crust if you want! Dont let me stop you from making this more work.

So... combine the ingredients, pour in the crust and toss in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 - 45 minutes.

Dinner's ready!

AND there are a ton of other options to consider here:

• type of meat
• type of veggies
• replace the gravy with cream of something soup
• place in a casserole dish and top with biscuits
• make a bunch at once, wrap, freeze and stack. (to reheat from fully frozen, bake at 325 for an hour and 15 minutes.)
• nuke some potatoes or use baked potatoes
• replace the potatoes with cauliflower chopped small
• use raw potatoes and veggies... increase bake time to 1 hour- not frozen
• Divide into smaller measurments and make individual pies or meat pockets.

What will you do for dinner tonight???

~Anne

Finishing up the Chicken Meals

This is only one of the large trays of chicken that I used for freezer food. These Boneless-Skinless chicken breasts were made into

chicken fingers and

Bruschetta and Cheese stuffed chicken breasts

(recipe HERE).

*For easier prep, I cut a pocket in each breast instead of pounding and rolling. This saved me about 45 minutes...

For freezing: assemble the breasts and stuffing, bake for 20 minutes, cool and freeze.

To reheat: thaw and place in a pan with the dressing and cheese. Bake until heated through.

Next we tackle chicken thighs and drumsticks.

So let's make BBQ chicken. No browning, no grilling.

With about 8 ounces of BBQ sauce, use tongs to coat each piece of chicken and arrange in a single layer. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool and package. To reheat: wrap in foil pouch and bake 30 minutes until heated through. OR nuke it. Either way, same results.

Final Chicken packages (with the exception of the shredded chicken) on their way to the freezer:

~Anne

Ground Beef Bonanza *EDITED

**Edited to include recipe and additional details.**

I bought TWO of these. That is 20 pounds of ground beef.

You can't even begin to understand how much I hate touching ground beef. I would rather kill and clean my own chicken than to touch ground beef! It is GROSS!!

So you KNOW the second my hubby walked into the kitchen and asked if he could help with anything I yelled MEATBALLS!!!! I luv luv that my hubby likes to help in the kitchen. Especially since meat doesnt bug him.

Look at what he made!!!

Meatballs

1# 80-85% lean ground beef
1 egg
¼ cup bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ cup water (1/3 cup if using less than 80%)
2T grated parmesan or romano
1 teaspoon worcesterchire
1 teaspoon parsley (dry)
1 teaspoon basil (dry)
¼ to ½ teaspoon pepper

Combine well. Should make about 1 dozen balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

To make for freezer, Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool before packaging.

To reheat from frozen, simmer in spaghetti sauce for 15 minutes.

Impressive, huh! But meatballs and meatloaf arent the only things you can do with ground beef.

• What about tacos,
• baked ziti,
• lasagna,
• nachos,
• chili,
• enchiladas,
• sloppy joes....

I buy tons of GB, toss it in the BIG pan (10QT), brown it all, and package. Easy smeasy!

What do YOU make with Ground Beef?

~Anne

Easy Oven Chicken Nuggets

Sufficiently scolded by Kathy, I am here to post the remainder of the Freezer Food posts. Sorry for the delay... I was sidetracked trying to decide how to put this in print. That and I tend to be a starter and not a finsher. Procrastinator, bad word... ANYWAY... I will figure out how to make this all printable later. For now, more posts:

We were talking about chicken. I really like to keep my freezer chicken simple so that it can be used many many ways. You have heard about my garlic chicken. But let's talk about plain chicken. PLAIN. I said it. You heard me!

This would be shredded or chopped chicken. Salt and pepper at the most. BORING. I alluded to this in the last post. Then I started to think that maybe I should share it, boring or not.

What I do is haul out the crock pot... add in 6 or 8 Boneless Skinless FROZEN chicken breasts... pop on the lid... turn it on... and walk away for 6 hours. It stinks. Dont get me wrong. I think the only thing I hate worse than that smell is hamburgers cooked in the microwave. ANYWAY, you can rotate your breasts here and there if you want, but it isnt necessary. You can just walk away. When they are done, chop what needs to be chopped and take two forks to the rest to shred it. Remember, I package mine in 2 cup baggies. But you can do yours however you want.

Great, so now you have a stinky kitchen and a bunch of cooked chicken. Now what???

Well... they sell chicken in the can. Dont buy that anymore. Use this.

Chicken salad sandwiches
Chicken and rice
Chicken soup
Chicken tacos
Chicken noodle casserole
Chicken tetrazinni (white sauce, chicken, spinach)
Chicken pot pie

There are a million things you can do with it, and save yourself tons of time by cooking it ahead. I used to flavor it and then freeze it, but now I just freeze it all plain and flavor it at dinner time.

I also made Chicken Nuggets or Fingers or Filets or what ever you want to call them. These are great as baked (fried) chicken dinner, chicken parmesan, chicken fingers, salad topping, chicken sandwiches... etc.

And they are soooo easy!



I started with fresh Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts. I sliced and diced them to my heart's content.











When I was happy with what I had done, I dipped them in egg,
rolled them in a bread mixture (italian bread crumbs, salt, pepper, shredded parmesan, parsley)

plunked them on a cookie sheet. After about 10 -maybe 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven they were DONE... and packaged.

Nom Nom Nom. These pass for McDonald's expensive chicken fingers around here. And make for fast, tasty dinners!

I will be back with more after I feed my little rascals. Kielbasa and potatos tonight.... =D
~Anne

Freezer Frenzy -Part Two

Chicken!!!

Today is Chicken day. When completed there will be garlic chicken, shredded chicken, diced chicken, baked chicken, chicken cacciatore, chicken rollups, rotisserie-style roasters and chicken pot pie.

I hear you... How boring is that! shredded and diced chicken. Bleck!

I should explain. Not everything that goes into my freezer is fully prepared. Mostly I stock up items that are base ingredients for multiple dinners. Having the chicken pre-cooked can save 30-60 minutes per night.

For example, garlic chicken is a simple chicken marinade. Generally I grill the chicken. It makes great sandwiches, salad topping or pasta additive. A grilled garlic chicken breast with a small side of pasta is a healthy, tasty meal all on it's own!

Shredded or diced chicken can be used in pot pie, soup, casseroles, tacos, tettrazzini, enchiladas, chicken salad and many other dishes.

Breaded, baked chicken is great just the way it is, similar to a faux fried chicken. It also makes a great chicken Parmesan, chicken fingers snack or even a ranch wrap.

Now that you have the general idea, here is my quick and easy garlic chicken:

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
• Olive Oil
• Chopped Garlic
• Black Pepper
• Chopped Parsley

You can add a ton of other herbs and spices, but I try to keep it simple enough to use in many different recipes. I don't measure anything. I pour a cup or two of oil in a big bowl, add about 1/2 a cup of garlic, parsley and pepper. I dip the chicken into the mixture picking up as much garlic on the chicken as possible, bag, vacuum seal and freeze. To use, you can thaw, but it isn't necessary. With a foil liner, you can put this directly on the grill. Or cheat like I do and toss it on the George Foreman Indoor Grill.

~Anne

Freezer Frenzy Part One

One long week is done and my freezer is almost full. Who knew 22.5 cubic feet was that much bigger than 14.7 cubic feet!

ANYWAY

I came home from the store with tons and tons of stuff. First, I took care of the pantry items, wiping off shelves and taking inventory as I updated the stock... new items in the back, old items in the front.

I even found 2 cans in the back of the pantry that were busted and oozing. Something my mom brought over years ago -from the discount store, pricetag still attached. Expiration date circa 2000. Sorry, Mom. Apparently we don't eat that.

Then came the fridge. WOW. That is a LOT of stuff to work on!

So I started easy. I began by packaging foods that were bought in large quantities and just needed to be broke down into meal size.

12 pounds of cheese. I dumped it into a large bowl, measured it out by 2 cups and bagged it. Why 2 cups? Because the majority of my recipes use 2 cups or less. Plus it fits perfectly in a sandwich baggie.

Then I packaged:

• muffins (big ones cut in half 'cause ya KNOW I shouldn't be eating a whole one),
• hashbrowns (love em but not in a 5 pound bag),
• shrimp scampi (hubby cant eat spaghetti without it)
• and frozen veggies (5 pound bag again).

Why the extra hassle when I could just take what I need out of the big package?

There is no portion control. If 12 ounces of hash browns will feed the family, then why does a 5 pound bag only last 4 meals? Picture this: Big plastic bag, tons of frozen hb, skillet, pour. The hash browns just keep coming out of the difficult-to-control-plastic-bag until the skillet is full. The more food you have prepared, the more your family eats. And whatever is left goes in the trash. Yep. Portion control is necessary.

But there are other reasons too. The freezer fills up with package, and it doesnt store efficiently for the space available. So a huge, half empty plastic bag takes up the room of a small roast. And the product left in the bag becomes balled up and doesnt lay flat or stack. (OCD nightmare)Plus smaller, vacu-sealed packages keep the freezer burn to a minimum on the unused-but open portions.

With my foods divided, packaged, labeled and stored in the big freezer, the remaining task will be foods that need to be cooked or mixed or prepared in one way or another before freezer packaging. I will start with one kind of meat and work on it until it is done, clean the kitchen and then start on another. Trying to eliminate any cross contamination.

The plan:

Chicken
Roast Beef
Ground Beef
Pork
Sauces, Soups and Stews
Baked goods and breakfast foods

Stick around. The fun has just started!

~Anne

My March Mayhem and Madness

Some days even I wonder what I am thinking! In fact, that has been a pattern in my life. I am either really on or really off... no real middle ground here.

So last week I was "off" the first 3 days of the week. Really off. I got out of bed, but I might as well have just stayed in bed considering the lack of any accomplishments at all. By the time Thursday came around, I knew I couldnt live another day like THAT, so I dragged myself up and out.

Ok, That is good. Way to go Anne. Join the world of the living.

Uh, Yeah. So what was I thinking when the first thing I did was to drive 35 miles to Sam's Club and fill 2 carts? What was I thinking when I had to call hubby at work to come get the last 1/2 cart worth of stuff that wouldnt fit in my car? What was I thinking when I spent nearly $650 in an hour and a half at ONE STORE?

Well, I suppose I was thinking that, not only do I hate leaving the house, but I also hate shopping and that if I got it all over with, I could avoid going again for a few months.

Yea, you heard me.

What was I thinking????

By the time I got home I was exhausted. I did NOT want to do anything with all that food. I just wanted to crawl in bed for a couple more days. Fat chance of that happening. Not with that much food and 2 months worth of food budget on the line. I did what HAD to be done and left the rest for the next day.

This is what I saw when I woke up Friday morning:

OMG! What did I do?!?!?!?

(That is 34 pounds of Chicken, 20 pounds of ground beef, 14 pounds of beef roast, 18 pounds of pork loin, 12 pounds of cheese and 3.5 pounds of steak in my fridge.)

Dont get me wrong, I have always been one to stock up and fill my freezer... but COME ON!

Needless to say, I spent Friday putting pantry stuff away, cleaning the kitchen and beginning to divide, cook, package and wrap foods for the freezer. This isnt just OAMC (Once A Month Cooking), this is Once a QUARTER Cooking! Holy crap!

Stick with me throughout the week while I share my freezer madness complete with photos, recipes and menu plans for the next 90 days.

Oh, and it's not like I ever answer the phone anyway... But I really dont think I will have time to answer it at all this week!

*giggling in the midst of my freezer frenzy*

~Anne

Boston Cream Pie -Chocolate

Sunday was my husband's birthday. His favorite cake is Boston Cream Pie.

I shudder at the thought. Anytime I have to stack a cake, it always seems to shift and fall. Oh, I have spent hours upon hours carefully creating the perfect BCP... and then found out that he wanted a fluffier cake and frosting instead of the hard chocolate shell. That was the year I gave up.

This year I wanted to do something special, so introducing the BCP was again the idea. I was nervously biting my nails waiting for the day to arrive until I found this recipe...

Whoo Hoo! Boxed cake mix and instant pudding. That is my kind of recipe!

So while I was breathing easy, I knew I had everything I needed except the pudding. The morning of his birthday I bought the pudding. I set myself up in the kitchen to bake the cakes... and that is when I realized:

I used the yellow cake mix a couple weeks ago to make something else!

Husband sounded like he was mainly concerned about the pudding so instead of running back to the store, I used what I had. Devil's Food cake mix cupcakes, Vanilla instant pudding, a bit of whipped cream and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

They look like Fluffy Oreos... but they taste like BCP!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Love, Anne.

Menu Plan Monday -Mar 16, 2009

This week I am working on emptying my freezers so that I can fill them back up with a OAMC weekend. By next Monday I hope to have at least 3 months of dinner prepared and frozen in my larger freezer. Stay tuned this week for additional details.

Sunday - Roast Beef and gravy

Monday - Chili Mac

Tuesday - Roasted Chicken (second recipe from the bottom)

Wednesday - Frozen Pizzas

Thursday - Turkey Dinner (I have a 22# turkey taking up half a shelf in my freezer)

Friday - Beef stew

Saturday - Leftovers

For close to 400 meal plans per week go to OrgJunkie.com. This week's Meme guest hosted by $5 dinners.

~Anne

Party Flips and Flops -Menu Plan Monday -Giveaway

You KNOW that I am *so* OCD that I plan every moment of my life, right? So what was I thinking when I planned a dinner and game party on a Monday for Saturday?!?!?!?

And amazingly, with everyone's crazy-full schedules now-a-days, 20 people RSVP'd. Whoo hoo! Party on!

So what did Anne do? you ask....

I will tell you what I did. I went nutz cooking and cleaning all week. And I learned some lessons along the way. Sure, most of it was "Duh" stuff that I should have realized, but I thought it was worth sharing.

So Let's start with Party Flips... all the good stuff that went over with a BANG!

• Ooey Gooey Bars. Basically yellow cake mix and a whole lot of powdered sugar. Yummy. Too sweet for me, but half the platter was g-o-n-e!


• Bruschetta Chicken well, kinda bruschetta chicken. I ran out of time and just chopped the chicken, tossed it, the stuffing, and the tomatos in a casserole and baked it. Eventually I remembered to pour on the dressing. I forgot the cheese entirely. It looked like crap and I felt weird serving it, but I *needed* another main dish. Threw-together-chicken-surprise-casserole was the ONLY dish completely emptied. AND 3 people asked for the recipe AND one couple invited themselves over again this weekend and specially requested it again! Who knew!


• Utility Sink Bar Fridge. Because there is only so much room in the fridge and no one wants to go out in a Mid-west winter to get stuff from the garage fridge... stick a plug in the drain, fill the sink with ice and add bottles and cans.

And now the Party Flops... all the things that went wrong.

• Spaghetti Cups A great idea from Picky Palate, but never try a new idea the day of the party. Oh yeah, and dont forget to buy the main ingredient.


• 20 people frenzy. I went all out, didnt really figure out how much food was appropriate for the number of guests. I really overdid it.


• Dinner Party/Game Night. You can't do it all in one night. We started and ended with food and drinks. We never got to the games. Sure, we had a blast, but it wasnt game night.

Hmmmm!

Now my menu for this week:

Sunday - Spaghetti

Monday - Chicken Pot Pie

Tuesday - Nachos

Wednesday - BBQ Beef Sandwiches

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Homemade Pizza

Saturday - Take out

And the GIVEAWAY: I saw this on Jill's blog and just HAVE to join the fun!

The first FIVE people to comment on this post will get something made by me!

I am going to echo her disclaimers:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.


2. What I create will be just for you.


3. It'll be done this year.


4. You will have no clue what it is going to be until I post it and ask you to contact me with your mailing address.

To qualify you must comment here after you repost this on your blog offering the same to the first five people who comment on your blog.

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

~Anne