Providing Meals for a Others

With the recent arrival of Baby E, we have been extremely blessed to have been given several premade meals!

One of my friends brought a premade (but not precooked) meal to us in early October when I was still pregnant.  When I went to make it, I was impressed with how she wrote the baking instructions for us.  Instead of including a little piece of paper, she wrote directly on the plastic wrap!  I thought it was brilliant!

The basic meal was in a 9x13 Pyrex dish.  The dish was wrapped with plastic wrap where the directions were written.  On top of the plastic wrap she had placed peppers and croutons in baggies (separately).  Then the entire dish and baggies were wrapped with aluminum foil.  All nice and neat, you know?

(With a baby who needs to be held all day long, making meals seems a near impossible task right now.  May I say how incredibly thankful I am for these meals!?  The bonus is that one meal usually lasts us for two or three dinners!  So thankful!  I look forward to passing on the blessing of meals for those in need.  We've been helped with all three births of our children and two of their long hospitalizations...and truly grateful and remember it when I know of others in need.  May I also say that I was very thankful after the kids' hospitalizations for the meals.  I had actually said "no thank you" at first...because I was healthy and didn't want to put others out when I was capable.  But I had also been in the hospital with each child...and much had been neglected, including ourselves, and the meals really helped us, as a family, to return to the new norm.)

Writing directly on the plastic wrap or tin foil would also work on your own freezer meals!


What works for you when preparing a meal for a friend?  Have you been on the receiving end?

Getting Rid of Fruit Flies

My first experience with fruit flies was in college.  I had a crazy (wonderfully good crazy) professor who taught a great class called Science for Elementary Education (or something like that).  We basically created a habitat for fruit flies and then invited them to come live in our 2-liter bottles.  

My next experience was not so contained.  When we returned from our honeymoon, our apartment had fruit flies.  The source?  A shoulder bag I had used for school...and the RIPE banana inside of it.  

A couple weeks ago we had fruit flies.  I actually started using my garbage disposal on a daily basis because of those pesky flies. 

Right about that time, a friend mentioned that she had success using vinegar to remove fruit flies.  Thank you, Stephanie!!  I decided to try it, too.  I put one drop of dish detergent in a little bowl of vinegar.  

The nasty pests would visit the bowl, but they didn't drown.  So I put plastic wrap on it and poked holes in it. This was even less effective.  But I knew Stephanie and others had had success with vinegar, so I took off the plastic wrap.

The next morning I took this picture.  (The vinegar seemed to turn cloudy.)

The little dears finally drowned!  I had victory...at least over some of them.  It took a while, but they are gone!

Butterfly Cake (Or How to Thrill Your Daughter)

My intention was to make this banana butterfly cake with my daughter, but as it turned out, she spent a very long (contented) time in her room cleaning it while I made the cake without her.  However, she did help me frost it.

I got the idea for the cake and the recipe from Superheros and Princesses.  Christy's banana cake recipe was awesome.  In my opinion it doesn't even need frosting, but that is my opinion about every cake, so you may not want to listen to me.

The gummy worm antennae have been saved since Easter for this very project.  Yes, that's right.  My kids got gummy worms at an Easter egg hunt, and I saved them for months.  (Should I admit now that other Easter candy can be found in our house?  We're pathetic.)

M was excited to see the circle cake turn into a butterfly.  She helped me make the frosting and decorate it.

Today I have a guest post over at Milk 'n' Honey Learn and Grown.  Check it out, if you wish!

Kids in the Kitchen: Chocolate Eclair Cake

I made an eclair cake with just vanilla filling years ago...long before children.  Since I wasn't sure what recipe I used then, though it was good, I went looking for another recipe when I had a lot of milk to use.  This one came from my friend as part of a collection of recipes for a bridal shower gift.

Chocolate Eclair Cake (or any eclair cake) is a simple dessert to make and makes a good* choice for Kids in the Kitchen!


Chocolate Eclair Cake
Small box instant vanilla pudding
Small box instant chocolate pudding
4 cups of milk, separated
8 ounces whipped topping (more if you want to add it to the top for serving)
graham crackers (LOTS)
chocolate icing (I used this recipe, but you could buy a can of it.)

Mix vanilla and chocolate puddings, separately, with 2 cups of milk each.  Then mix vanilla pudding with approximately 4 ounces of whipped topping and the chocolate pudding with 4 ounces of whipped topping.

Arrange graham crackers to cover bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Pour chocolate mixture on top.  Arrange graham crackers on top of chocolate pudding to cover.  Cover graham crackers with vanilla pudding and then another layer of graham crackers.  Spread icing on top.  Refrigerate overnight (or at least 3 hours, but more is preferred). Serve cold.

Kid Tasks: (for ages 2 and 4)
Mix puddings.  Layer graham crackers (depending on age, adult may want to do layers on pudding).  Mix whipped topping and pudding.

Mom Tasks: 
I completed all the mixing, making sure each was mixed thoroughly.  I also helped my daughter pour the pudding mixtures and spread them.  The icing was also spread by me.

I knew I didn't want to make a 9x13 pan of the chocolate eclair cake for our family of four.  Instead of just making a half batch with leftover pudding, we filled two 8x8 pans and sent one to work with my husband.  If I had not split it into two pans, the layers of pudding mixture would have been thicker in the photo.

This was delicious!  I suspect the regular eclair cake recipe I made was this one from Kraft.  I suspect we'll add this to our dessert line-up for our family on a regular basis.

*This would have been a much better Kids in the Kitchen activity if I had two whisks.  My son didn't like giving it up to make the chocolate pudding!  He's two years old though.

See our other Kids in the Kitchen post, too.  I'm linking up to Adventures in Mommydom's Kid Friendly Recipes!

Thank You Gift

It's that time of year again...the end of the school year!  As a former teacher I know how much personal notes are appreciated at any time of the year.  Friday is actually M's final day of preschool until fall.  (She'll be 5 in October.)

I wrote a note to M's teacher, and M also made a card and dictated a thoughtful note.  (She mentioned Mrs. S's "great forgiveness" which tells you that M is not a model student-or even average when it comes to behavior-even for a 4 year old).

We gave the teacher the notes, along with an edible thank you and a gift card.  I made sugar cookies, and wrote T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U, along with some shapes in frosting.  (This was my most successful attempt at frosting...it doesn't usually go well.)  I lined a box with tissue paper and then tin foil, and placed the cookies inside the box.  Nothing exciting, but hopefully appreciated.  (Not all teachers like edible gifts...I have no idea if Mrs. S. does or not, but it's worth the chance for me.)

(In making the sugar cookies, let me tell you what torture it is to have scrumptious cookie dough in the fridge that is strictly off limits!!  UGH!  The only time I don't eat cookie dough, due to the raw eggs, is during pregnancy.  It was pure torture.  However, on baking day I made up for it.  I'm not certain of the number of cookies, but I think it was under ten.  These are my really irresistible sugar cookies...the kind I can't walk by without eating one...or more.)

How do you say thank you?

(The photo of M above shows her wearing a long necklace with graduation caps on it.  It was given to her when we went to a graduation party last year.  I don't think she equated her "closing day" ceremony with graduation, but when she asked to wear it, we said yes.  In case you are wondering, she has pony tails and wanted to wear her headband.  Then she added her sunglasses to the top of her head...all before heading off to school on Thursday.)

Cooking Flops

Just because I  like to share recipes on this blog does not mean I'm a good cook.  Nor does it mean I can always follow a recipe.  I'm sure you know that some recipes just aren't meant to be duplicated.  I wish I was talking about them, but I am talking about my own human failures.

In the past I've had some problems.

I burn things.  A lot.  Too many to count.

*first time I made the chocolate chip cookie pie that I love so much, the recipe called for 1 1/2 sticks of butter.  I put in 1 1/2 CUPS instead-twice the amount called for.  It never hardened, and was really rich, but pretty good.

*I forgot blueberries in blueberry coffeecake.  Our company arrived as I was about to fold them in to the batter.  They were rinsed and in the sink-out of sight.  It wasn't until I returned to the sink to clean up that I realized my mistake.

*I've made the occasional loaf of bread that wasn't completely cooked in the middle.

Recently I made cinnamon rolls.  I couldn't figure out why I didn't like the icing (though I'm not a huge fan anyway).  Derek realized the cream cheese was too strong.  The original recipe called for one 3 ounce package of cream cheese.  I didn't notice the 3 ounces, and used a full brick of 8 ounces.  It was definitely still edible though.

The worst mistake I probably made when I forgot to add brown sugar to apple crisp.  I couldn't figure out where I went wrong, but Derek certainly did.

This weekend I had another butter issue with the chocolate chip cookie pie.  I only use 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick).  When I was preparing to make the pie, I set the butter outside to soften.  It is such an easy recipe (1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, flour, butter, 2 eggs, and 1 cup chips) that I don't need the recipe.  Well, I didn't think I needed it.  But this weekend I forgot the butter altogether.  I added extra chips, so I thought it seemed thicker than usual, but blamed it on the chocolate and peanut butter chips.  Oops.  We ate it the first night, but ended up throwing it away because it was SO hard!

Derek and I were laughing at all of these when he brought up how he recently doubled the Crisco in the chocolate chip cookies he was making.  They weren't exactly good.

When Derek and I were dating and first married, I lost a few quite a few pot holders or kitchen towels to hot burners.  Since we moved into our new home almost three years ago, I have not had this problem.  We now have a flat top stove, which seems to help.  It has an indicator to let me know when it is hot.

See, I have experienced some improvements, or at least one!  What has been your biggest cooking disaster?

(* Indicates that others had the blessing of eating it, instead of just my family.)

My BEST Homemade Pizza

For well over a year I have been on a quest to find a homemade pizza that we really can enjoy.

Let's see.  To have good pizza, you must have good crust.  That's basic, common knowledge.  I have also learned that freshly shredded mozzarella cheese is important.  Do not purchase shredded cheese for pizza.  And the third thing for our family is homemade pizza sauce.  I have an easy recipe.  I like to double it, and then freeze it (once cooled) in baggies in the freezer.  An extremely important tip is to put the sauce on very, very lightly!  Many swear that the hot oven and pizza stone are crucial.  They probably are.  Since the oven is SO hot when I use it, I have learned the hard way (repeatedly) to keep my oven light on while cooking the pizza, and to check it after just five minutes.  Seriously, we have eaten too much burned pizza.

In the past, I have shared about grilling pizza.  That was very good.  I also wrote about pizza buns.  Not Derek's favorite, but still good.

When time is short, and it usually is, I use this recipe for my quick pizza dough.  It only takes about half an hour.

I know the best pizza dough should ferment overnight.  (I'm not sure if ferment is the right word, but that's what I'm using.)  I had tried this recipe a couple times.  I know I burned it once, and I think I did something wrong the other time, too, even though it was still good.  Well, this past week I wanted to keep at my pizza attempts.  AND I remembered the day before that I wanted pizza the following day.  It was time to try a brand new recipe!

The winning recipe that Derek and I both really liked comes from 101 Cookbooks.  It is amazingly detailed!  I truly think all those details are what made this recipe a success for me.  It gives instructions for hand-kneading and for using a stand mixer!  There are nine steps total, and wow, are they detailed...perfect for someone like me who really isn't a very capable cook past the basics.  Find the Best Pizza Dough Ever by clicking the link.  You'll have to scroll down a ways to get to the recipe, but it's well worth it.

Some things to know.

• For this recipe, you need to prepare the dough a day in advance.  
• It makes a large amount of dough.  The directions tell you specifically how to freeze the dough, too.  The directions suggest you divide it into six equal pieces, but I divided it into four.  We froze two pieces for future use, and used two pieces for our family, and that was perfect for us, with just a snack left over.
• I have found that 500 degrees is hot enough for our oven and pizza stone.  If it's hotter, I seem to burn the pizza.  
• I made both pizzas on the stone.  With only taking a bit more than five minutes to cook, it was just fine.
• We're rather boring.  We prefer cheese and sauce on our pizza.  Nothing else.  (Though ham can be a nice treat on occasion, according to me.  Derek doesn't mind pepperoni and some other toppings.)  When testing recipes, try to be consistent in your toppings (or lack thereof) so you can fairly gauge the pizza dough.
• We've only made this pizza one time.  It was very good.  It was also sticky.  Though I had learned to "knuckle" pizza dough when I was a teen working in at Roman Pizza, I struggled with using my fists this time.  Next time I will thoroughly cover the backside of the dough in cornmeal...it still stuck to my pizza peel a bit, and my pizzas were NOT circular.  Despite the funky shapes, we agreed that this recipe was a keeper.
• Is all the effort worth it?  Yes, I think so.  I would like to eat pizza every week.  Take out gets pricey, even with coupons.  And really, take out just isn't practical for us to do each week.  This is good pizza, and worth the effort...and though very good, nothing compares with pizza from your favorite pizza joint, though this is close!

If you like thin crusted pizza, I would definitely suggest trying this recipe.  Let me know what you think!  

Ham Problems

Over the weekend we determined that it would be best to use the delay start feature of our oven.  (Having lived here for nearly three years, we had never used it.)  We wanted to have a mid-day dinner and would not be home from church until late morning.  Saturday night we practiced see how it worked.  Sunday morning my brother-in-law walked me through the steps that he had done the previous night.  Everything looked good to go.

We arrived home a few hours later...and the ham was cold.  (Boy, was I thankful to have already read at the Smithfield ham site to let the ham sit out at room temperature for a couple of hours before roasting.)  Derek's grandmother had the brilliant idea of just slicing the ham off the bone and frying it!

It worked perfectly.  I put Derek's aunt to work frying the ham, and she did a great job, despite her lack of cooking skills.  (I know she can cook a hot dog, but, and she admits, not much else.)  It turned out very tasty, and since we still roasted the remaining meat and bone, we were able to make gravy, too!  We were able to eat dinner at a decent time thanks to frying the ham.

I thought I'd share in case you have a ham emergency someday!  As it turned out, our electricity went off while we were at church.  My alarm clock was blinking when we went to bed, so that is how we found out!  Mystery solved!

Rainbow Dessert

As yesterday was the first day of spring, and my husband was away on business, I decided to give my kids something to enjoy since they have been miserably sick for a full week.

(M's chest infection has much improved.  E however has a horrific cold-but just a cold at this point.  I don't mean to be pessimistic, but in all likelihood it will become an ear infection since he currently has fluid in his ear.)

Offering Hospitality had a Spring Party Hospitality Challenge.  The best I could do for our "party" was make rainbow pudding!  I had wanted to use vanilla yogurt to keep it healthier and keep the colors true, but as it turns out, this was tons of fun, and we were able to eat it for dessert.  I also do not care for vanilla yogurt-not even if it's pretty.

First, I made instant vanilla pudding during nap time.  Once M (but not E) was awake, we turned that pudding (divided into several bowls-but left out indigo) into a rainbow by adding food coloring and mixing well.  I added the color and M mixed.  We did not add food coloring for yellow.


M told me what color to make each time by looking at a recent rainbow project.  Though she loves to mix marker colors to create new colors, she needed some help remembering how to mix colors.

After all the colors were looking so pretty, we created rainbows in clear plastic cups.  I let M decided if she wanted to begin with red or purple, and she started with purple.

I wish I had started with more pudding in each individual bowl.  We were a little shy on making the pudding stretch to the sides, but for a certain four year old, it did not matter one bit!  (And I didn't mind giving the 2 year old a little less.)

I filled E's cup and my own.  M then used the remaining pudding to fill her cup.  She loved this process so much.  If she does indeed have a rainbow birthday party in October, we may revisit this as rainbow yogurt (along with these rainbow party ideas), even if the party is just for our family.

As I expected, M was not able to finish her pudding in one sitting.  E was too sick to want to even try it.  Yep, that is sick!

In case you haven't experienced this, explaining that spring has arrived to a 4 year old isn't as easy as it seems since it could still snow!

If you are interested, we have a simple rainbow craft you can check out.  You can also return tomorrow to see our newest name rainbow craft!

Pancake Shapes

We often have pancakes or waffles for dinner.  I love nights like that when everyone enjoys dinner.  Despite the treat that pancakes for dinner might be in itself, I do like making it a bit more special.  A while back I shared how I make monogrammed pancakes using a medicine syringe.

On some other evening I wanted to get creative with the pancakes again, but I wanted to do something different.  Using the medicine syringe again, I drew up pancake mix.  I drew a basic outline of a couple of shapes and then filled it in with additional batter after letting the outline cook for a few seconds.  Then I just flipped when they were browned. 

Works of art?  No.  Smiles for my kids?  Definitely!  They loved them.

The only downfall is that my daughter has started to expect something special with her pancakes.  Last week when we had them, she asked if there was an M for her.  Oops.  She forgave me.

I'm linking up to ABC and 123's show and tell  and Kids Get Crafty today!

Some New Things That I Love (Crock Pot 101)

I was absolutely shocked when my husband brought home a new crock pot for us to use-before Christmas.  We tend to be very practical when it comes to gifts...and a crock pot is definitely practical.  Derek got it for about $6 at Lowes!

Seven and one half years ago we were given the big crock pot that we registered for as a bridal shower gift.  My aunt and uncle gave it to us.  When we were registering, I thought bigger was better.  I was wrong.

Our 6 quart crock pot is just too big for our family.  I rarely make roasts that large, and cooking two or three chicken breasts in a large crock pot just dries out the meat.

This picture actually shows
 the crock pot too full!

When it comes to crock pots, it is best to keep it 1/2 to 3/4 full for most efficient use.  If you only put in a little meat, then it's best to add lots of vegetables to make it half full.  My large crock pot was never half full.  

I am so thankful for my new 3 quart crock pot.  We'll keep the big one for when we have company-or four children.  Which ever comes first.  (I'm joking, but not opposed to a larger family either.)  The big one has served us very well, but now my little one is taking up much less room in the cupboard!

Over Thanksgiving we also got a new treat for cold nights-which is every night for me.  We bought a king-sized electric blanket!  It was a real steal for about the price a twin electric blanket would be.  My nights are so much more comfortable now!  With dual controls, we can both be comfortable!

In the future I will be reviewing a product for CSN Stores.  It will likely be something very practical for our home.  We could really use some help with our basement organization, so if you have any tips or product recommendations, please let me know!  They have everything from TV stands to toys to book cases, and I look forward to working with CSN Stores again for a product review and a giveaway for my readers, too!

Pizza Tips and Pizza Buns

I love pizza.  We typically have pizza on Fridays.  I like to make my own and continue to be on a quest to make a great pizza.  I like this recipe, but you need to make it the day before.  It is good though.  I also shared about our grilled pizza.  Very good, but with a thick crust.  I tried another new recipe (pictured below with the first cut) and we really liked it.  It was really fast and easy, too.  Unfortunately, I made the pizza too large (16", but still had leftover dough) and had to bake it in my pizza pan instead of on my pizza stone, but it has great potential.  Doesn't it look good?

To make a good pizza at home, we feel a few things are needed.

1. homemade crust  (check links above if you don't have one)

2. homemade pizza sauce (Linked to my easy sauce.  It makes enough for several pizzas.  I freeze the extras.)  Also, I recommend spreading the sauce thinly.

3. mozzarella cheese purchased in a block and shredded by you.  Purchased shredded cheese just doesn't work on pizza.

4. pizza stone -This is somewhat optional, but makes a big difference.  You also need to preheat your oven, with the stone inside it, for about 45 minutes.  It's not ideal in the summer, but works great the rest of the year.   

5. hot oven-You want your oven as hot as possible.  I've also heard that using the lowest part of the oven is good.  

Since the Mennonite Girls Can Cook's pizza crust recipe was so good, I decided to try their pizza buns too.  They were good!  I used the French bread recipe mentioned in the post instead of my own.  (Of course you could even buy a can of French bread dough.) 

 Sorry for the orange picture.  (Silly oven light.)

  Anyway, these pizza rolls were really good, though next time I will sprinkle additional cheese on top for the last five minutes of baking.  Too much of the cheese oozed out during the baking process, as seen on the parchment paper below.  Anyway, if you are looking for a good pizza alternative, these are pizza-but perfect for on the go with no mess...and loved by children!

What pizza tip do you have for me?  

Favorite Kitchen Items

Over the years, I have been given many kitchen gadgets that I use and love.  I thought I'd share my favorites in case you want to think about your Christmas list or someone else's.

1 ounce/teaspoon/tablespoon liquid measure I use this all the time!  A lot of my recipes seem to call for 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil, milk, or water and this little "shot glass" is so helpful to keep those liquids accurate.


Kitchen Aid I haven't used my hand mixer since getting it years ago!

Kitchen Aid Fruit Strainer (applesauce maker!) This is how I make my applesauce now.  It takes much longer to cook the apples than to strain them!  Please note that the food grinder is also needed to use this product though.  You can buy the strainer and grinder together, too.

Kitchen Conversion Calculator (mine is a bit different)  This is perfect for doubling and halving recipes simply.  You can also convert from tablespoons to cups to quarts to teaspoons as needed!  Though I know there are two cups in a pint and many other conversions, this is still really helpful!  This can also be used as a regular calculator.


Measuring Spoons with "odd" measurements (mine set is a bit different)  I really like having a 1/2 tablespoon measurement as well as a 1/8 teaspoon.

Pampered Chef Scraper I actually have two of these "original" scrapers, and I use them many times a week, and sometimes wish I had a third!  (I have had other scrapers, but these are much better, and longer lasting!)



Pampered Chef Mini-Serving Spatula (I want the large one!) This is perfect for cutting brownies and removing cookies from a cookie sheet.


Medicine cork (It allows you to draw up medication into an oral syringe directly from the bottle.)  If you know anyone who draws up small amounts of liquid medication daily for oral use you might suggest something like this that can be found at any pharmacy.   (And yes, if it clutters my kitchen counter, it's a kitchen gadget!)


Parchment Paper I really like using parchment paper when I make a batch of cookies.  I'd like to get the Silpat mats though to try.  Anyone out there recommend them or not?

My favorite three of these items are the shot glass ounce cup, the Pampered Chef scraper, and the kitchen calculator.

What is your favorite kitchen helper that you recommend?  

Homemade Butter for Kids

Back when I taught third grade we had a farm unit that incorporated some nutrition, too.  We made butter together, and I remember it was some of the best tasting butter the students and I had ever had!

Recently, Superheroes and Princesses also made butter...and it reminded me of my previous experience.  Check her out for some more of the scientific reasons as to why the butter is formed.  Well, after making some fettuccine Alfredo, I knew what to do with the leftover whipping cream.

First, I gathered my materials: whipping cream, marble, jar (any clean jar with a lid works).  I added a dash of salt, too.

Place the cream, salt, and marble in the jar.  Seal.  Then shake.  Shake.  Shake!!

The marble speeds the process a bit.  Keep shaking even after the marble stops moving around.

Eventually, you will have a solid and a liquid!  Think of Little Miss Muffet.  The liquid here is called whey.  The butter is made from the fat in the whipping cream.  Whipping cream is preferred over milk because it has more fat in it.

To do this properly, you should remove the butter from the whey and rinse it in cold water.  

Be sure to enjoy the butter!   

I prefer my butter at room temperature, but this was stored in the fridge.

I'm linking up with Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom!

Monogrammed Pancakes

In the past week I have not been doing too well in the kitchen.  Friday night I made apple crisp without brown sugar.  It was thrown away.

Yesterday was even worse.  I decided to make my cousin's chicken soup (so good!) and some bread.  I had just learned about Irish soda bread.  Since it is quick, I wanted to try it.  I used this recipe.  Well, I ran out of all-purpose flour.  So I used a combination of all-purpose, bread, and white wheat.  That is not what killed the bread.  It's called soda bread for a reason, you know.  It uses baking soda instead of yeast.  Well, guess what I did!?  I used baking powder instead of baking soda.  Maybe it was okay, but the soda bread wasn't appealing to Derek, so we didn't eat it.

Oh, remember the soup I wanted to make?  Angie suggested a 3 pound chicken.  Mine was six.  AND I only allowed about three hours to cook it.  It wasn't going to be ready for dinner at five o'clock, so we had pancakes instead.   I used my homemade pancake mix from the cupboard.

First, I should say that this idea of writing in pancakes is not mine!  I'm not sure if I saw it in a magazine or on-line.  Unfortunately, I have no idea where I saw this.  If you know, leave a comment so I can give credit!

To make a monogram, smiley face, or anything else is quite simple.  I used one of our many medicine syringes, and I filled it with pancake batter.  Then I wrote the children's initials (backwards so when they flip they are correct) on the griddle and a smiley face for Derek.  After they were cooked, I poured additional pancake batter on top.  Then, you just flip and serve as you normally would!

My kitchen woes didn't stop there.  Notice how dark the pancake is.  Two of my pancakes stuck to the griddle and wouldn't flip.  I did turn down the temperature control (which is not accurate), but the griddle was still acting funny.  I think it's time for a new griddle, and I'm not sure I can hold off until Christmas! 

(I did manage to make the fudge nut bars and blueberry coffee cake this week.  Successfully.  Whew!  See, I have much to be thankful for!)

Moldy Applesauce

I could not pop the lid with my thumbs.  There was no "pop" when I checked the lid, so it did the proper pop initially.

But still this jar of applesauce had mold on it when it was unopened.

I don't know how that could happen since the other jars are fine that were made and canned at the same time.  At least it's just one quart!  

Waffles and WHAT?

Derek and I were dating. I was at his grandparents' home and was offered waffles and gravy. Yes, waffles and chicken gravy. Seriously, it sounded, um, not very good. I was thankful they also served maple syrup (yes, real syrup) with the waffles.

I wanted to be adventurous though. After a waffle or two with syrup, I tried a waffle with chicken gravy. Shockingly, it was DELICIOUS! Think about it; people don't think twice about biscuits and gravy, but somehow this sounds weird.

Grandma makes the chicken gravy. Grandpa make the waffles. And everyone is happy!

Well, last night, for the first time I made my own chicken gravy to go with waffles. In the past, I didn't want to attempt the chicken gravy. I struggle to make gravy, let alone to add chicken to it AND have it be the main course.

Why, after almost seven years of marriage, did I finally make waffles and chicken gravy for dinner? It was 4:15. Derek was due home within fifteen minutes...and I had not even given dinner a thought. On nights like this, I typically think A) leftovers, B) spaghetti, or C) pancakes.

Option A was not an option...they were gone. B was not an option since we had Skillet Pasta and Beef Dinner (think lasagna in a pan...but as easy as Hamburger Helper) the previous two nights. C was also not an option because we are completely out of our maple syrup. We only use the real stuff, and buy it from the farm, not the grocery store if we can help it.

I realized I had plenty of chicken in the freezer along with the "chicken juice" (stock) as I label it. I also had my Krusteaz Belgian waffle mix to make light and fluffy waffles. So I made my very first chicken gravy. I added water to the chicken juice and a flour/water mixture to thicken it. Once it was simmering, the chicken was thrown into the gravy. The results: A GREAT DINNER!

What do you think? Would you consider trying waffles and gravy? Does it sound just too weird? Have you already had it and love it?

(I know this is my third food post this week. Forgive me.)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tried another new recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  I liked it-a lot!  These cookies have substance and good flavor.  They definitely turned out better with the dough chilled, in my opinion.  I never include as many chocolate chips as called for, in case you think the chips look sparse in the photo above.

It's another recipe from allrecipes.com.  If you are looking for a recipe to try, check out the award winning chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I cut it in half this time, but next time will make a full batch.  In full disclosure, my husband said they were good, not great.  We haven't found a recipe that he loves other than his mom's.  (I can never get that one quite right and have stopped trying.)

I have definitely been baking a bit too much recently.  Maybe I should say I've been eating a bit too many sweets.

My excuse for making these cookies was that my cousin and her family came to visit on their way to the beach!  I wanted something sweet to serve at lunch time...and something to put in the freezer.

Yes, I freeze my cookies!  It's nice to freeze cookies so that you don't feel the need to eat all of them before they go stale.  I literally just put my cookies in a freezer bag.  No need to wrap individually or anything like that.  Now, my cookies don't usually last for more than a week or two in the freezer either.  If you wanted them to last for three months, I still think they would be fine in just a freezer bag.

If you need an easy dessert to make for dinner with friends, don't forget to try my Chocoloate Chip Cookie Pie.  It is so easy and so good!  I'm going to make it tomorrow since we were invited to a friend's house.  It always gets rave reviews (and recipe requests), and I don't mess it up....like I do so many other things!

Grilled Pizza

It was Friday night...and we were going to have a steak for dinner.  I'm not a big fan of steak, and I knew the children wouldn't eat much either.

The result was that I grilled my very first pizza beside the steak!  I used the grill dough recipe from allrecipes.com.

Since Derek was mowing, I actually operated the grill for the first time.

I only grilled half the dough right then...saved the rest for later in the weekend.  I used my easy and yummy pizza sauce and topped with some mozzarella cheese.  (We definitely suggest shredding it yourself for pizza purposes.  It makes a big difference!)  This pizza was easy, and it was quite good.

I used my bread machine to knead it, and needed to add flour to the mixture to make it less sticky.  When it was time to grill the pizza, I placed just the dough on the grill for a few minutes.  Then I removed the dough, flipped it, and then topped it with sauce and cheese before returning it to the grill.  If we were only having pizza, I would definitely use all of the dough to make the two pizzas for our family.  Both of the pizzas were pretty small, but very tasty!

I can see myself using this recipe all summer!  Let me know if you try it, too!

Any Time Rolls

I just love fresh, warm bread.  My bread machine makes a 1 1/2 or 2 pound loaf at a time.  We tend to eat a lot when the bread is fresh and hot, but not so much after it cools unless we have company for dinner.

I decided to turn my bread dough (from the machine) into rolls.  You can, too.  It's really easy.

First, I made my favorite bread recipe in the bread maker (no special recipe needed).  After the dough was mixed, I broke the dough into pieces and rolled it into little balls, as seen below.

I placed the dough balls on a cookie sheet.  For crustier rolls, space them about 2 inches apart.  For softer rolls, place them closer together so that when they bake they touch edges.  You can even bake them directly in a cake pan if you want softer rolls.

Let your dough balls rise as directed in your recipe.  Then bake them just until they are starting to turn brown.

When completely cooled, separate your rolls, if desired, and freeze your rolls in a zipper freezer bag.

When you want fresh, steaming rolls, pull them from the freezer and bake for 7-10 minutes at 350 degrees!  It really is that simple!