The Weekly Menu and Off The Camera Card

Today is a mixture of subjects.

First, I MADE THE BEST TASTING ROAST LAST NIGHT!!!! I bought a Better Homes & Garden cookbook the other day. It's the special pink one for breast cancer. I found this crock pot recipe and had to try it.

Basically you take a chopped onion, put that in the crock first. Then put your beef roast on top on the onions. In a small bowl combine a big can of diced tomatoes with basil, oregano and garlic, 2 teaspoons of Italian Blend Spices and pepper. Pour over the roast and then add one bay leaf. Cook all day on low. When you are ready to serve and have put the roast on a serving plate take a slotted spoon and add all the veggies around the roast. You can pour some of the "juice" over it as well. Then take some crumbled feta cheese and sprinkle over the roast and veggies.

IT WAS YUMMYLICIOUS! I had to make a word to describe it! I served it with roasted red potatoes, peas and mac & cheese.

Rest of the week I have planned:

~Meatloaf
~Chicken Parmesan
~Fried Rice with Chicken
~Tuna Pasta
~Quiche

Not in that specific order but whenever the mood strikes me.

If you want to share a recipe with me, send me a comment!

Cleaning off the camera card:

Having cereal for the first time.






Sitting up:






We all know how I feel about RUFFLE BUTTS!!!!!


Breaking out into song.

*talking*
Oh my goodness
Honey, look at her ruffle butt
Its so pink and frilly
She looks like one of those diaper commercial babies
That are always on television
They only use her because she looks like a total doll baby
I mean her ruffle butt
It's just so pink and frilly
I can't believe it's so adorable
It's just out there
I mean, it's just so cute
Look, she's just a baby

*rap*
I like ruffle butts and I cannot lie
You other mommies can't deny
That when a baby strolls in with a ruffle butt
All pink and frilly
You get excited
Wanna ask to hold her
Cuz you notice that butt is ruffled
All pink and frilly
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh, baby I wanna hold ya
And take your picture
With your pink and frilly ruffle butt
But that butt you got
All pink and frilly
Ooh, ruffle butt
You smile and look my way
Well use me use me I’ll hold your frilly ruffle butt

I've seen them lookin’
To hell with onesies
She's got pink frilly ruffle butt

I'm tired of plain ole onesies
Saying they are the thing
Take the average mommy and ask her that
She’s got to have frilly ruffle butt

So Babies (yeah) Babies(yeah)
Have you got pink frilly ruffle butt (hell yeah)
Well shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake that ruffle butt
Baby got frills



Eating cereal with pears for the third time.


Yes, it does taste better when it's all over my face.


Superdad took this picture last night of Mads chilling with Supermom.

Giveaway #2 Goes toooooooo

Jennifer!!!!

I know I never actually posted giveaway #2. How did she win you ask???

Because I made 2 AWESOME quiches over the weekend. Jennifer posted 2 recipes when I wanted to exchange recipes few weeks ago. Thank you Jennifer!!!!!! I used that recipe as a guideline and made 2 ham & cheese quiches. Instead of pizza dough though, I used frozen organic pie crusts that I found at Earth Fare. They were yummy. I'll have to use them to make something sweet in now!

I sauteed a red onion and then mixed everything up and baked.

THEY WERE A HIT. Except boy child picked out the onions.

Soooooo, Jennifer come over and pick out your goodies!!!!

Artichoke and Spinach Dip

I love to eat this with a butter cracker like Ritz or salty chips.



14 oz artichoke hearts, drain and chop up

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup grated Parmesan

sprinkle of pepper

10 oz chopped spinach, thaw and drain



Combine and put in greased dish.

Sprinkle with paprika.

Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes.

I just like to say SALSA!!!!!!!

I have posted this recipe before. But it is sooo yummy it needs to be posted again!!!!!



Mango Salsa

2 Ripe Mango's peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 Red Onion chopped
1 cucumber peeled and diced
3 Tbsp chopped fresh Cilantro
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Avocado
salt and pepper to taste

I love to make this with a white fish or just with SALTY chips.

~this recipe was taken from another site, I wrote about it in the other post~

Lets Share A Recipe!!!!

I love cooking and call myself an Amature Chef! With it being sooooo hot I try not to spend much time in the kitchen. I also enjoy getting my kids in the kitchen!! It is a big plus letting them help.

I'd like you to comment with a FAVORITE recipe of yours! I'll return the favor!!!

Lets have fun with this!

:)

Banana Crumb Muffins

I found one that I LIKE!!!!

I made these this morning and they are YUMMY!

Banana Crumb Muffins

The only thing I changed was—I added about 1 cup chopped pecans to the batter before I spooned it into the muffin cups.

I am trying to save some for the kids and NOT eat them all.

The Kids Even Liked Them

I made another new recipe last night. Two actually. I made these great burgers.

Heidi’s Vegetarian Lentil Burgers

We have one of her cookbooks that my husband picked up. The burgers were tasty. I did what she suggested and after they were cooked, I cut them in half and added a slice of Swiss cheese. I put them back in the pan and put the lid back on until time to serve. The cheese was melted just right. Next time I am going to add some sauteed onions when I add the cheese.

I made this Slaw w/Apples as well. I am not sure if I like that recipe. I think I’ll search around for another one to try. If you have one, please share.

Then I diced up potatoes and sweet potatoes. Threw them in a baking dish, added sea salt, lots of garlic cloves, onion and olive oil. Baked until done. Another family favorite.

I went to the doctors yesterday and we saw our sweet sweet baby girl. I weigh in at 146. I knew I gained some pounds. 7 pounds in fact since I was last there for a visit. It’s nice to have an appetite back. Even if it is with the help of medication.

We really like the new doctor in the office and have chosen her to do our cesarean. She said we would schedule it closer to time since they are only up to February in making appointments for them. Something like that. LOL

I woke up this morning about 2 am’ish with a COLD! It’s just not fair. I have a killer headache, my nose is all funky, aching ears and sore throat. Wahhhhhh!!!! ~Insert pouty face here.~

Well, have a great day everyone!

Recipe Sharing

I made a yummy soup today.

White Bean & Vegetable Soup

I love this website and have tried several recipes from it.

I also made homemade Banana Nut muffins for the family to munch on this week for breakfast and snacks.

I hope you try the recipe above. It is tasty! Great with toasted french bread dipped in it.

A Great Salad To Make For Get Togethers

Spinach Salad

Make the dressing the night before.

1 cup Canola Oil
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Cider Vinegar
2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Ketchup

Shake well and refrigerate overnight.

1 bag of Spinach (I used a container of organic I found in veggie section.)
4 boiled Eggs, sliced
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled. (We aren’t bacon eaters but it really compliments the salad—so add it.)
1/2 large Onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped English Walnuts

When ready to eat, pour dressing over salad. I do NOT use all that the recipe makes. Just adjust to your personal taste.

This salad has to be eaten all at once–it does not taste good if you refrigerate left-overs.

My HB brought home a great cookbook last week.

Super Natural Cooking By: Heidi Swanson

Please check out her website! She has wonderful recipes and writes a great blog. I have already bookmarked a few recipes in her book to make this week. I’ll tell you how it goes and link the recipe!

Everyone is home. B2 loves his quilt! H leaves for GA Camp in the morning and be gone until Friday! WOW, can you believe school is almost ready to start? It seems unfair that summer has gone by so quickly. Sad I tell you.

I am trying to work out a few things.

1~ How can I start to buy all my groceries at Earth Fare and Green Life? How can I stop shopping at Ingles? Ingles carries great organic food at a much lower price. (We are mostly an organic food family.) I am just tired of having to shop at all these places to get my weekly grocery list checked off. We are going to hit the tailgate market Saturday morning. We want to make this a weekly thing. Maybe this will be one step at shopping at ONE place and buy from local growers!

I am wanting to start using Agave Nector instead of sugar. I want to stop using white sugar all together. Opinions?

We pretty much have a wonderful diet. We don’t eat a lot of meat but we are not vegitarians. I just want to continue to use healthy organic food and make wonderful meals for my family.

Anyway….. I hope that everyone has a wonderful week ahead of them.

Recipe For Salmon Patties

Salmon Patties

1 egg
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 green onion
2 Tbsp. Mayonnaise
14 3/4 oz can Salmon. I buy it ready to use in pouches. Much easier.

Combine egg, bread crumbs, onion, mayo and salmon in a bowl. Mix well.
I use my griddle. Drizzle some olive oil on and I have it set at 300. Make out some small patties and place on griddle. Just let them brown on both sides. ENJOY!

Dill Sauce

1/4 cup mayo
1 Tbsp. Dill
1 Tbsp. Milk

Stir together. Add more milk if you want more of a sauce to pour over them.

Maybe, Maybe Not, I Just Don’t Know

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. I am not a superstitious person but some are. I would be freaked out to see a black cat outside though now that you mention it. Anyway…

I have been sewing on the quilt. I cut all the squares out the other day and laid out a pretty diagonal pattern. Looks really good. When I get enough sewn for a picture, I will post one.

I finally got my hair cut. My sis did too. We both looked fabulous after!

Not much going on here. Just being lazy I suppose.

I made a nice dinner other night. Mango Salsa and Tilapia Fish again. I made a homemade carrot cake as well last night. I also tried another recipe from my new favorite blog.

BAKED BRIE

I had sliced up a french loaf, an apple and some grapes. (I used grape jelly instead of the Raspberry since we aren’t raspberry jelly fans.) It was really yummy. I love baked brie at anytime off the day or night. A local restuarant we visit has it on their menu. I try to get it every time we go–it’s only on their dinner menu I think.

I am a little bummed and yet I am trying to not be. Lil O turned 2 in March and still nursed to sleep. It didn’t bother me at all. I enjoy nursing and I am all for nursing moms and babies. She has weaned herself. She has wanted to nurse but then I tell her it’s all gone. She has done really well since Saturday. I wonder what has changed for her to not want to nurse. Like Saturday she tired and then made a face and stuck her paci in her mouth. So, she is taking it better than I am….lol

Well, I am going to snuggle with Baby O and take a nap. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

A Flea Market, Blood, Shepherds Pie and Homemade Biscuits

Hello Everyone. HAPPY SUNDAY!!!

My sister wanted to have a yard sale yesterday. Instead we gathered up a LOT of things and headed to the flea market in Hendersonville. That meant me getting up at 3:30 am to get ready for the day. It was nice and cool then got terribly HOT!!!!! It was nice seeing people go through things that we were happy to get rid of. They thought the more they dug through boxes or piles the better the bargain. I promised myself I wasn’t going to look at any other tables and buy with the money I was making. But then on my way to the bathroom I passed a “store” in the flea market. So after we had packed up what was left into the Outback we headed over. I spent $30 on a Dora blanket for O. It was worth it seeing her face. Then we left everything else at Goodwill. I wasn’t going to take anything else back home!

B2, H and B went to see Ratatouille when I got back home with the rest of my Flea Market money. I had hoped for a nap since I had been going on 3 1/2 hours of sleep..but O had other plans for me. Anyway…..

Today has been a nice day. Everyone let Mommy sleep in. I needed it. Then of course I made a recipe from my favorite blog!!!!!!

Shepherds Pie

It was TASTY. I used 2 pounds of meat and added a garlic clove. I only used peas in the meat mixture and before adding the mashed potatoes I added a layer of corn. Along with some homemade bisuits—it was AWESOME! ~~Have I ever mentioned I won a biscuit baking contest in high school?~ I totally blocked it out and never really baked bisuits again. Since I made some many in high school. But my HB loves them! With my moms homemade pear jelly. Sooooo

Doctor Who is over so we have nothing fun and exciting to watch today. Unless I watch My Family. It’s another BBC series. It’s no longer on but HB found them for me on DVD. It is hilarious! Or I do have Sledgehammer!!!! I so love that show!

Well, I guess I’ll go play the loving mom and wife. Have a lovely Sunday afternoon.

BTW, My son cut his finger and the bathroom looked like a crime scene.

Shopping and Homemade Pizzas

Happy Saturday!

Been a busy day in our house. I finished the blanket yesterday and have it ready to be shipped to Texas–then on to California.

I was inspired by my new favorite blog and I made a really quick and easy dinner tonight!

The ingredients:

Tortilla shells, pizza sauce, red onion, garlic, pepperoni, mushrooms, asiago cheese and salad veggiges. Where did those nice looking salad greens come from? My garden!

I sauteed some mushrooms and garlic together and some red onion and garlic together. I used a round pizza baking sheet with holes in it. Sprayed it really well and put the shell on first. A little bit of sauce. On his pizza I put the mushrooms, onions and lots of cheese. On mine I added pepperoni. NO MUSHROOMS. It must be a texture thing for me because I cannot eat them.

I baked them for 5 minutes in a 450 degree oven.

I just loaded the dishwasher and I am thinking about a piece of carrot cake!

I guess it is time to find another project since the blanket is finished. I am thinking about a quilt for my B2’s bed.

Have a lovely night!

YUMMY DINNER!!!!

I found this recipe on my new favorite blog and I made it to go with dinner this afternoon.

Mango Salsa The only 2 things I changed in the recipe—I did not add the hot pepper and I did go ahead and add the avocado.

Looks pretty!!!!! It was really tasty!!! It went perfect with dinner. I baked 2 pieces of Tilapia in a garlic butter I made. Added some dill to it as well. Then I sauteed some corn with butter, red onion, minced garlic and a sprinkle of dill. Dinner was TASTY!

What was for dessert you ask? Homemade carrot cake of course!!!!

Well, I am going to hang out with my handsome husband. He came home early today and taking tomorrow off. It’s nice having him home with me. Have a lovely night!

Carrot Cake

Yesterday was filled with company, grocery shopping and stepping on a toy.

I am crocheting on the blanket to mail on Monday. I also made a carrot cake from scratch as they say. My friend Tammy sent me the link to the recipe she uses and LOVES.

Carrot Cake Recipe Click Here

I cut the cake in half and made a 2-layer square cake instead. It is really yummy!!!! I just ate a piece. ha ha

My New FAVORITE Blog

Some how I found this WONDERFUL cooking blog yesterday. I am wanting to try every single recipe she has shared! Well almost all of them! GO check it out! You must if you love to cook!!!!

Simply Recipes

I am making my grocery list as I type for a few things already!

YOU can live without these 10 kitchen items:

My husband sent me a link and I wanted to share. Here are the 10 things we are supposed to live without.

BREAD MACHINE You can buy mediocre bread easily enough, or make the real thing without much practice.

MICROWAVE If you do a lot of reheating or fast (and damaging) defrosting, you may want one. But essential? No. And think about that counter space!

STAND MIXER Unless you’re a baking fanatic, it takes up too much room to justify it. A good whisk or a crummy handheld mixer will do fine.

BONING/FILLETING KNIVES Really? You’re a butcher now? Or a fishmonger? If so, go ahead, by all means. But I haven’t used my boning knife in years. (It’s pretty, though.)

WOK Counterproductive without a good wok station equipped with a high-B.T.U. burner. (There’s a nice setup at Bowery Restaurant Supply for $1,400 if you have the cash and the space.)

STOCKPOT The pot you use for boiling pasta will suffice, until you start making gallons of stock at a time.

PRESSURE COOKER It’s useful, but do you need one? No.

ANYTHING MADE OF COPPER More trouble than it’s worth, unless you have a pine-paneled wall you want to decorate.

RICE COOKER Yes, if you eat rice twice daily. Otherwise, no.

COUNTERTOP CONVECTION OVEN, ROTISSERIE, OR “ROASTER” Only if you’re a sucker for late-night cooking infomercials.

Here’s the actual article~~~> New York Times

I feel pretty good because I only have two of those items. The rice cooker which I cannot do without and copper pots. I agree with the article because I hate cleaning them!!!!!

Raining here. I went to doc and they are scheduling a MRI for me. ~sigh~

Guess I’ll relax on the couch. Until….

I almost forgot:
1- The much needed rain.
2- My husband is home from work.
3- There are no dirty dishes.

Recipe

Okay, now that my husband has tried a cookie I can post the recipe. He reads all labels and high fructose corn syrup is not in our diet. We eat mostly organic. Yes, I buy the occasional Nutter Butters for H & B2. I try to do to better when it comes to HB. But somethings I like easy and some of those things are not organic. Anyway….

Worst Ingredients for a Yummy Cookie. My mom used to make them and for some reason they popped into my head the other day and I wanted to make some. So since the cable was out—I did.

Cool Whip Cookies (I found a recipe of their website.)

1 (8oz) Cool Whip ~thawed~
2 eggs
1 package any flavor cake mix
Confectioners sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slightly grease cookie sheets.

Beat together the eggs with the cool whip. Add the cake mix and continue to mix. The batter will be stiff.

Drop by teaspoonfuls into a bowl of confectioners sugar and roll to coat. Place cookies onto baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Let rest a couple minutes before removing. Enjoy!

Lemonade, Egg Salad and a Massage.

Hello everyone. Busy around my house. O has been playing outside everyday in her pool. I have been trying to stop her from picking the heads off my marigolds. I think all my pots look beautiful. All the grass seed is coming up as well. I love seeing progress like that.

The camera got dropped. ~gasp~ The LCD screen doesn’t work properly so it is being sent back to Canon. I hope it won’t be gone to long. I take pictures almost every day. The said once they receive it; it should take about 7 days.

I still have no car. Maybe today. Here’s to hoping.

I made some homemade lemonade this morning.

Take 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil-stirring-until sugar melted. Set aside. Juice 4 lemons. Add juice and sugar water to your pitcher. Add 4 cups cold water. I sliced up 3 lemons and dropped in pitcher to add some color and make it look pretty. Enjoy!

Then I made some egg salad for us to make sandwiches with at lunch. I just throw some boiled eggs that have been chopped in a bowl. Add some onion, mustard, mayo, salt & pepper and a shake of red chili pepper powder. YUMMY!

I have an appointment at 1 to get a massage. I am really hoping this will help my hip and sciatic pain. She is a fellow Doula and a Registered Massage Therapist. I look forward to it and I hope that if it helps, I can make it a regular thing. Until I am better of course.

Well, I just wanted to write a quick post. I am going to finish getting ready and then get O down for a nap. Ta Ta!

Hmmmmmm?

As I sit here wondering how come I was left to load the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen after I cooked dinner for them to take a walk around the neighborhood. Hmmmm???

Here is a yummy recipe. I served it with rice, black beans and warm flour tortillas. (And fried plantains if you have them.)

Ropa Vieja

1 1/2 pounds flank steak, trimmed of excess fat
2 large carrots, cut into 1 inch slices
1 cup vegetable stock
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (I didn’t add that much due to kids eating.)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced (I only added 1 since the kids were eating it.)
2 Tbs. tomato paste

Place the flank steak, carrots and vegetable stock in the crock pot. Cook on low 7-9 hours or 3 1/2-4 1/2 hours on high. Remove the flank steak and carrots and shred the steak. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the liquid from the crock. In a large pan, saute the onion, garlic and green pepper, seasoned with the caye