April Fool's Day

Hey, your shoe is untied.
Made you look! :)
Ooooh, April Fool's.

Ha...

So today I thought I would celebrate a little bit of foolishness with some April Fool's recipes (thanks to Pinterest, of course!).

Today we had 'chocolate chip cookies' and 'grilled cheese.'  You will soon see why I put those in 'quotes.'


Here's the link/pin for the 'Cookies.'

Here are the pictures from my attempt:

The ingredients.

Pre-oven

Post-oven

Here's the recipe I used:

April Fool's Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Make one box (2 servings) of instant mashed potatoes.
        I was lazy and used instant potatoes.  I bought the cheesy ones so they would have a more 'cookie' type of colour, but that didn't really work!
3. Open, drain, and rinse can of black beans.
4. Mix beans into potatoes.
5. Put on cookie sheet.
6. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until they look like cookies!

Verdict:  they were okay.  Actually, not bad - but when they got cold were soggy and gross.



And now for the 'grilled cheese.'
Here's the pin I used for inspiration:  http://makingmemorieswithyourkids.blogspot.com/2011/03/two-more-april-foolds-day-fun-food.html
There are other cool ideas here, too - but I am not overly talented with fiddly food stuff.

 So here are my pictures from the process:

The ingredients.

Getting started.

It was hard to put pound cake in the toaster, rather, it was hard to take it out.

Tried the sandwich maker.  Was better.

Finished product: cute little sandwiches!

Now here's the process I followed:

April Fool's Grilled Cheese

1. Cut pound cake into slices.

2. Add food colouring to frosting.  I used whipped frosting and added red and yellow until it looked like Cheez Whiz.

3. Toast the pound cake.  NOTE: My first two pieces worked okay in the regular toaster, but it falls apart so easily and got stuck in my toaster.  For the rest, I used my sandwich maker-thingie.  I think it worked well.

4. Enjoy! :)

Verdict:  Well, I couldn't stop eating the broken pieces, and it looks pretty convincing, so I say - recommended!

Happy New Year!

Phew! It's been a bit, eh?
Well, we are back and so is the blog!

Last night we had: Stuffing Meatloaf and Twice Baked Potato Casserole.
Comfort food!  So much for resolutions! ;)

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures, but the photos on the links below are pretty accurate to how mine turned out.  The meatloaf was ridiculously easy to make and tasted delish!  The casserole was a little more labor intensive, but also tasted nice.

Here are the links and recipes:

Meatloaf with StuffingPinterest:  http://pinterest.com/pin/249457266831578139/

Ingredients:
1 lb ground meat (I did one dish of beef and one of turkey)
1 box stuffing (I used cornbread with the beef and turkey with the turkey)
1 egg
1 cup water

Directions:
Mix everything together
Put it in the dish (the directions I read said to "smoosh" it...which I did)
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes
(seriously, so easy)
Serves about six

Twice Baked Potato CasserolePinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/249457266831495102/

Ingredients:
6 baking (russet) potatoes
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup butter (softened)
2 cups shredded cheddar (divided in two)
1 cup milk (warmed)
1/2 cup sour cream
5 green onions, chopped and divided (I didn't use any at all, just as optional garnish)
Bacon Bits (or real bacon!)

Directions:
Pierce skins of potatoes with a fork and bake at 425 degrees for 60 minutes (until tender)
Slice potatoes in half and scoop insides into a bowl
Mash potatoes
Add salt, pepper, butter and 1 cup of cheese - beat well
Add milk and beat until fluffy and cheese is melted
Stir in sour cream and 1/2 the onions (if desired)
Spoon potato mixture into lightly greased 9x9 pan
Sprinkle with remaining cheese and onions (and bacon)
Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 15 minutes (or until heated through and cheese melts)

Makes 6 to 8 servings.


Enjoy!  Let us know if you make these with any additions or suggestions!

Bless you and your New Year!

More Catching Up

Hi Again,

This past Monday, we used a Pinterest-inspired recipe: beef and broccoli.
I thought it was pretty yummy, and we had no leftovers, so it must have been okay!
The process was pretty easy (especially since I bought pre-sliced beef) and was ready in time.
We had it with rice and mini egg rolls.

Here's the pin:
http://pinterest.com/pin/249457266831418247/

And how it looks online (I forgot to take a picture of ours):

The pin was from: http://www.bsrecipe.blogspot.com/2012/04/crock-pot-beef-and-broccoli.html
And here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 pound boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
1 cup beef consomme
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sauce from the crock pot after being cooked
Fresh broccoli florets (as many as desired)
Hot cooked rice

Directions
1. Place beef in a crock pot.
2. In a small bowl, combine consomme, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, and garlic. Pour over beef. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
3. In a cup, stir cornstarch and sauce form the crock pot until smooth. Add to crock pot. Stir well to combine.
4. Add broccoli to the crock pot. Stir to combine.
5. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes on high (the sauce has to boil for it to thicken).
6. Serve over hot cooked rice.

I doubled the recipe and it served 7 (and a bit) with some for seconds.  The website says it is too saucy, but I didn't have that issue (besides, I prefer saucy).  My beef kind of fell apart, but it tasted fine.  It just looked a lot less pretty than the photo here!

Result: recommended

Catching Up..

Okay, it's been awhile!  Oops!
We are rather busy this time of year.

A few weeks ago with did another Pinterest craft.

A melted snowman!
Here's the original post for it:  http://eyeballsbydaycraftsbynight.wordpress.com/category/craft-shows/
You have to scroll down quite a bit to find the instructions!

It's a clear bulb filled with salt, peppercorns, and carrot noses.  Our crew used Sculpey for the noses.
An easy and cute idea!

October 29th Verdict - Egg Brunch Casserole

Hi There!

Tonight we partook (is that a word?), of the Pinterest-inspired recipe as seen in the previous post -- Egg Brunch Casserole.
I tweaked the recipe a bit - I omitted the onion and dill, and only put in a little bit of green pepper.
In looking at the comments on the original post, there were many suggestions about it being too bland and that the cooking time was too long.  Taking these into consideration, I kept the seasonings as listed, but did cut the cooking time to 7 hours (not 8-10), and even then the sides were quite crispy.  To take care of any potential blandness, I offered some ketchup, Cholula and salt and pepper to be added as needed.

Everyone said it tasted good, and I agree!  I will make this again, perhaps with more bacon in it! (I used pre-cooked this time around for convenience).  It would be great to make the night before Christmas or some other day when you have company over and want a big breakfast!

We paired it with cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, and turkey sausage!  Yay breakfast for dinner!

Verdict:  Recommend  :-)

Adding all the ingredients together.

After 7 hours in the crock pot.

Tomorrow Night

Hi There (Again),

Here's our recipe for tomorrow night -- it's breakfast for dinner!

Egg Brunch Casserole
(Pinned from: http://www.alattewithotta.com/2010/11/crock-pott-recipe-egg-brunch-casserole.html)

You Will Need:
6-8 Strips of Bacon
1 onion peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 red or green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 (2lb) bag of frozen hash browns
1 ½ cups shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp dried dill
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

To Make:
1. Spray crock pot with non-stick spray.
2. Cook bacon until crisp, cool, set aside, and chop into ½ inch pieces.
3. Sautee onion, garlic, and pepper for five minutes.
4. Place 1/3 of hashbrowns in crock pot.
5. Add 1/3 of bacon and onion/garlic/pepper, then 1/3 cheese
6.  Repeat layers, ending with cheese.
7. In large bowl, mix eggs, dill, salt and pepper,  and milk.
8. Pour over ingredients in crock pot.
9. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

(Note: comments on recipe suggested cook time was too long.  Keep an eye on it for your crock pot)

Catching Up....

Hi There!

I am sorry, it's been busy, but here's an update!
We didn't meet on October 15th, but we did on October 22nd...and here is the recipe:

Corn ChowderPinned from: http://crockingirls.com/recipes/nicoles-corn-chowder/

You Will Need:

4 potatoes (peeled and diced)
1 Can of cream corn
1 Can of whole kernel corn
2 Cups of chicken broth
8 Ounces of diced ham
1 Cups of diced onions
1/4 Cups of butter
2 Cups of half and half 

To Make:

Step OnePlace potatoes, both cans of corn, chicken broth, ham, and onions into the slow cooker.

Step Two
Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Step Three
Mash the mixture to your desired consistency and then add the butter and half and half. 

Step Four
Cook for an additional 30 minutes on high, and you are set!
 

(sorry, it's a phone picture, but it was yummy tasting and smelling)