Where I Learned Everything I Know

From the lovely Carol Ann Collins.

Here she is with her husband, Ron Meese, in Chicago in 1962:



She was the most amazing woman that I've ever met. And her birthday would've been December 18. She's been gone 15 years, but she was one awesome lady.

Two New Dishes in ONE Day

The first was an epic fail. It was our take on a Margherita Pizza.

We bought pre-made dough, and put half a jar of Bertolli's Basil & Garlic Spaghetti Sauce on each 12 inch dough piece. Then we added spinach to one with 4 oz of mozzarella. To the other, we added 4 oz of mozzarella, 2 oz of feta, and 2 oz of shredded cheddar.

Let me tell you something: half a jar of spaghetti sauce is a FREAKING lot. It was all sauce. I mean, it didn't taste terrible, but it was NOT my favorite.



Our second attempt was the "Super BLT" (recipe from Allrecipes.com). We made thick Applewood bacon, and put cream cheese on one side of the sandwich and guacamole on the other side, with the bacon, lettuce, and tomato in the middle. Now this, I could get behind. I thought it was a bizarre recipe (and it is), but it was actually pretty decent.



And just for the hell of it, what happens when Chris and I cook together:







Lesson of the day: part of the beauty of being domesticated is having someone to fail with.

Devils Food Cream Pies

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com and I didn't change a thing. Why? Because #1: I do not bake. #2: Could not have Chris joke me for disgusting desserts.

BUT I just tried one and they're awesome. Chris isn't home yet for the awesome dinner that I'm going to make him, but I thought I'd post the recipe here for dessert first:

2 18.25 oz boxes of Devils' food cake mix
1 cup shortening
4 eggs
1 container of cream cheese frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix everything but the frosting together in a mixing bowl. Use a pastry blender until it's mixed. I know, never heard of one of those? Me either. I got all the ingredients and then luckily read the recipe again before I went home. Had to go to Wal-Mart to buy one. Don't worry, they're only $6 and look like this:



2. Once it's nicely blended, put quarter-sized round balls (insert dirty joke here) on nonstick, nongreased cookie sheets. Make sure you have an even number.

3. Put them in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool for 5-6 minutes, then add icing and create cookie sandwiches.

That mixture makes two batches, so I'm going to have a ton, and plan on bringing them over to Chris' parents house tomorrow. Word to the wise: they're rich. If we weren't lactose intolerant, they'd be AWESOME as a "devils food cream pie ice cream sundae".

Shrimp Pasta tonight

...and I'm inventing it. I couldn't find a recipe that I liked, so I'm making one of my own. This should be VERY interesting.

By the way, I'm off today, so I get to spend all day cleaning and prepping for our date night meal. Sweet!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

So today was the real test as to whether or not the food I'd been making Chris all week ACTUALLY tasted good. His parents came over. After hours of cleaning and prepping, they tried the chicken cordon bleu. Showed below, I did it with the same rice and veggies that I did the other day (hey, they're my safety sides, don't judge). I do want to add: I burnt my hand on the top of the oven today. Oh the pains that we'll go to in order to make a delicious dinner. In all seriousness: it blistered and it hurts.





Chicken Cordon Bleu

6 boneless chicken breasts
1/8 tbs ground pepper
1/8 tbs ground Italian seasoning
9 slices of Swiss cheese
6 slices of honey ham
6 pieces of bacon
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbs lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 7 x 11 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Pound chicken to 1/4 inch thickness
3. Dip chicken in eggs, then place on a plate with the bread crumbs spread on it to get the bread crumbs spread evenly on one side. Add to the side facing up the Italian seasoning and pepper, then one piece of ham and one piece of swiss. Roll up and add bacon on top. Secure with toothpick and place into pan. Repeat for however many chickens you need. Sprinkle extra bread crumbs on top in pan if necessary.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes until there is no pink on the chicken. Add half a slice of swiss on top and put back in oven to melt for another 3-4 minutes.

Serve!

It was awesome. The in-laws loved it, and the stress of the day is officially over.

On a lighter note: buying a car in the rain = not intelligent. I found a HUGE scratch around my tires that we couldn't see yesterday. Sad, but luckily the car is a color that you don't really notice it. I may or may not get it fixed.

Being Domesticated Also Means Having

4 doors on your car.
And I officially do.

As of today, I am the proud owner of a used 2008 Nissan Versa with 10k miles on it.




I have been blessed with excellent negotiation skills, and talked them down $4,000. Why did we get a new car you ask? Two very domesticated reasons:

1. Spending less money in car payments
2. Room to grow the family in the future (scary, right?)

So we now have this awesome car and Chris still has his super sporty GTI. RIP VW Rabbit. You will be missed.

Spinach & Feta Stuffed Chicken

...wrapped in bacon. I know, amazing, right? Chris LOVED it. And it was really easy and surprisingly cheap. This is another recipe that I got from allrecipes.com except I used the fresh minced Roasted garlic instead of garlic cloves. Thought it would be more delicious. Can we talk about how disgusting it looks in pictures?? It was, in fact, fantastic, though.

Spinach & Feta Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Bacon





Ingredients:
1.5 lb chicken breast (for us, that was three), butterflied
1 tbs McCormicks' fresh minced Roasted Garlic
1 tbs McCormicks' grinding Italian seasoning
1/3 cup feta
1/2 cup mayo
1 package frozen spinach (10oz)
6 pieces of bacon (2 per chicken breast)

1. Set oven to 375
2. Mix feta, mayo, spinach, roasted garlic, and italian seasoning in a mixing bowl.
3. Butterfly each chicken breast, ensuring that you don't cut right it in half.
4. Spoon feta/spinach mixture into the middle.
5. Wrap bacon around the chicken to keep it all in place.
6. Place in a clear, shallow pan, and place a toothpick in the center just in case.
7. Bake for 60 minutes.

I cheated with the sides- I just did zucchini and squash with some butter and Italian seasoning and did one of those packages of the "Chicken & Broccoli" Rice Sides. Don't judge me- I'm not down to cooking the entire meal by scratch yet. I'll get there.

Made-From-Scratch Spaghetti

I took yet another recipe from allrecipes.com and had another success. This time I put even more of a twist on it. Here's my recipe:

Made From Scratch Spaghetti





2 8oz cans tomato sauce (did you know that they make 8oz cans and 15 oz cans but not 16oz cans? Crazy, I know)
1/2 lb Jennie-O's Italian Flavored ground turkey
1/2 lb sweet sausage
one onion
two medium tomatoes
1 box spaghetti
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs Worchestishire sauce *autocorrect can't even figure that one*
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tbs garlic salt

1. Cook spaghetti- add olive oil to taste
2. Brown sausage, turkey, and cut onions in a skillet until browned. Add tomatoes, spices, W-sauce and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve!

Now, I know that ground meat and sausage normally comes in 1 lb packages. What I did to save some money is bought those packages, and froze the rest together so that I could use it next time. It was a really cheap meal too. I had the spices already, so I just had to buy the basics, and it was only $10 for the two of us!

Chris said, "I'm glad you added sausage." It was an amazing pasta, but it would've been quite bland without the sausage and the added spices (oregano, basil, and garlic). He even requested that I make it again (which is much better than "it's alright"). Coming from a husband with an Italian mother, I'll take it!

Christmas Card Photos

Christmas card photos or "family photos" were something I wanted to do the second I got married. Partially because I'm an attention whore and partially because we never really did them growing up, and I think they're kind of fun. I'll put in some outtakes in this post so you can see the kind of people that me, my husband, and our insane dogs are.

The last one is the actual photo that we'll send out. We had a blast last night (that is, until it became a battle of settings on the camera and focusing and getting the dogs to actually look at the camera or stop licking our faces). But hey, at least we know that the dogs love us!













Tonight I'll be trying one of my many attempts at cooking again. We'll see how that goes.

2 out of 5 isn't AWFUL

I did go to bed by 10:00.

I did make AMAZING Mediterranean pasta.

We shall see about the rest. I work until 9:00pm today, so sadly, I don't get to try any new recipes tonight. But I will tell you about last night's recipe. I stole it straight from allrecipes.com and didn't change one thing. So they get 5 stars in my book. Not only that, but I stepped it up and took photos this time. I've discovered that the flash from my camera doesn't make much look appetizing, but this still looks delicious.

Cooks 4 servings (perfect for 2):
1 8oz package of linguine pasta
3 slices of bacon
1 pound boneless chicken breast, cooked and diced
salt to taste
1 14.5 oz can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
2/3 cup pitted black olives
1 6oz can artichoke hearts, drained

1. Cook the linguine as instructed on box and drain it.
2. Cook the three strips of bacon and drain, crumble, and set aside. We added the chicken to the bacon grease to cook it- it added a lot more flavor.
3. Stir in bacon with chicken in a large skillet. Add tomatoes and rosemary, and simmer 20 minutes. Stir in olives and artichoke hearts and cook until heated through. Toss with linguine and serve warm. You can add extra feta if you want. We didn't, we're lactose intolerant.

And I added photos this time. I'm getting decent at this.

Goals For Today

Goal 1: Pick up dog from vet on time... should be easy, right? Not so much. Chris was going to do it, but then we forgot that they take his collar off when they bring him back, so if he got away, his little microchip would be the only thing to bring him home, so I have to get off work early. Joyous!

Goal 2: Obtain raise. :::fingers crossed:::

Goal 3: Take Christmas photo (that was my goal this past weekend, but hey, what can you do?)

Goal 4: Make an awesome Mediterranean pasta for dinner with a recipe that I got from allrecipes.com - I'm giving their site another chance, even though the chicken pot pie stew was not so awesome last night.

Goal 5: Go to bed before 10:00 so I'm not exhausted after all of this tomorrow.

I'm sure I'll add more to that by the time the day is over. Hence the reason a girl's work is never done.

Chicken Pot Pie Stew

with 8 servings (which we all know means 4).

here's what's in it:
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
5 red potatoes, quartered
4 carrots, chopped
3 pieces of celery, chopped
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1/2 can of water
1 can mixed vegetables, drained
1 tbs celery salt
1 tbs garlic salt
1 tbs black pepper
1 tsp bay leaves
1 tsp dill

Instructions:
1. Cut up chicken, then cook it. I added a little lemon juice for flavor.
2. Put fresh vegetables, cream of chicken soup, spices, and chicken in the slow cooker. I cooked on high (I have a relatively small slow cooker) for 4.5 hours.
3. Add mixed vegetables, drained, to the slow cooker. Continue to cook for 45 minutes.

Eat it. I took a picture, but to be truthful, it sort of just looked like vomit to me. We ate it with rolls, and it tasted alright, but it was definitely missing something. I took the recipe from allrecipes.com and added a couple of spices since I could tell it was going to be bland, but STILL missing something. My husband says next time I try it, I should change it up. I get the feeling this means that I won't be trying it again.

Seriously, my biggest gripe with slow cookers and crock pots is that it takes forever and you don't even know if it's going to taste good. Again, it didn't taste bad, but was it worth 6 hours of prep and cooking? Definitely not.

Irish Beef Stew

I'm starting a blog to not only chronicle the trials and tribulations learning to cook, clean, and do other hazardous things that my mother once did, but also to teach those that will come behind me. Likely I will have very little effect on anyone, but hey, it could be fun!

Last night, I made an Irish Stew. I took a recipe from kraftfoods.com and altered it to my taste and it was AMAZING. I think it's safe to say that for the first time in a very LONG time, I made something that I wasn't scared to taste. That's not to say that it should win any awards, but I'd serve it in a restaurant one day.

Want the recipe? Here it is:

1.5 lb of beef stew meet
4-5 cut red potatoes
3-4 chopped carrots
one onion, sliced into large pieces
Good Seasoning garlic & herb dressing mix
ground up beef bullion
4 dried bay leaves
a dash of basil
a dash of pepper
1 tbs. ground coffee
2 tbs. flour
3 pieces of celery, chopped
1 can cut green beans, drained
1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 can beef broth

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot (note this says pot, not skillet, not pan... I made this mistake and had to quickly correct it).

2. Coat the beef in flour, putting it into the pot with the onions until browned.
3. Add beef broth, stewed tomatoes, dressing packet, and other seasonings and bring to a boil.
simmer, covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add all vegetables, and simmer covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Uncover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

It was awesome. I had it for leftovers today for lunch and it was still pretty tasty. Two notes to make:

1. Next time, add Guinness. Then I might win an award.

2. Use half a can more beef broth, just to jazz it up since I added more vegetables.

That's all for now. I'm trying out a chicken pot pie stew today. I'm not sure that it's going to be worthy of posting, but I will. My kitchen is already a mess, but I'm a firm believer that if I dish takes 6 hours, then it had better be well worth it. Maybe this time I'll add photos.