22 down, about 10 to go

It's been cook day all of October 11 in the Wesner house. For the first time, 3 of the girls helped me. Rose, Bug, and JB were all in on it. JB cracked us up with her hand-mashing of the meatloaf. Rose was completely grossed out.

Speaking of meatloaf, we tried doing it in muffin tins. They're little meatloaf muffins. Great for when just a couple of us are home and we only want a little.

Lots of soup and crock pot items this time as well. Beef Burgundy, Vegetable Soup, Taco Soup. It's fall and soups are great with bread.

Tomorrow is full of Chicken Enchiladas and several other chicken dishes, as well as a few beef. But the kitchen is clean tonight and the soups and crock pot are cooking. Never let it be said that there's nothing to eat at our house.

xoxoxox

Just a Couple of Quick Things

I was cooking dinner tonight -- Cashew Chicken -- and I realised that I am not a lover of cooking.

What I love is to create something pretty that everyone loves. Cashew chicken is a very pretty dish, and everyone at our table loves it. Interesting realisation.

I also thought about what makes cooking easier for me, and I thought I'd pass along a couple of things, in case you're a new wife or mom and are newish to the cooking thing:

1. Buy a rubber or silicone spatula. You'll be so glad you did. You'll be able to get the last little bit out of virtually everything.

2. Be careful when you're cooking over gas not to catch the potholder on fire. It's really easy to do.

3. Buy a really good chef's knife and learn how to use it. I have one of those santoku knives and I love it. But any kind of knife block will have a decent chef's knife in it.

4. Buy some of those kitchen tongs that caterers use. We call them "grabbers" at my house, and we have 3 different pairs. They're like salad grabbers (tongs). I was stir-frying the chicken tonight, and thought "these are so handy when you're cooking pieces of things." They really are; you can turn over individual pieces of things, toss a salad, even grab an oven rack when a potholder isn't handy.

5. Get a cutting board. I have about 4 in various sizes, but you really only need one. I use two small ones that have handles the most. Don't cut stuff on your countertop; you'll damage that and wreck your knife. Use a wooden cutting board, and then rinse it off with soap and water when you're done. I've had glass ones before, but again, they'll wreck your good knife. Just get a good wooden board and you'll use it forever.

Those are some of the most basic things that have made my life much easier in the kitchen. I hope they help you too -- you can always add them to the list of things your mom or Grandma gave you!

xoxox

On Couponing

Good grief, has it really been since mid-July that I've posted to this blog? For shame! I hang my head!

Well, let's have a word on couponing, shall we? It is the blessing and scourge of my life. I would love to be wealthy enough not to have to do it -- and yet I don't think I could resist saving all the money I do, so I'd still have to do it. Maybe I'd hire someone to cut them all out and file them.

Time consuming: yes. Worth it? Definitely yes. Here are a couple of blogs that I subscribe to, in case you need a coupon fix:

Clipper Girl's Saving Spot

It's Hip to Save

The Krazy Koupon Lady

I have the posts emailed to me -- and they are full of all kinds of ways to save. A virtual myriad of where to use the coupons you get, where to get them, where to get more, and how to best use them.

I have to try and limit myself, because I have a tendency to just go haywire. I only have so much room in my pantry, after all. I do try and get to Harris Teeter (my grocery store of choice) when they're doing either Super Doubles or Triples. I also try and pay attention to Target and WalMart, since I shop both those stores fairly often.

It can get overwhelming. And it's so tempting to buy everything that's a great deal, whether you need it or not. Fortunately, I have one Hunk O Man who commonly will say "Do you really have to grocery shop this week?"

He's right of course, and since Harris Teeter is about 35 minutes south of me, I usually wait.

On filing methods -- I've gone from an indexed box to a binder full of trading-card pages. It's still not perfect, but it's working for now. It's nice and portable and the best thing is that when you drop the binder, the coupons don't all fall out. Well, usually. It depends on whether or not I've gotten them into the little pockets in the pages instead of all stacked in the front of the alphabetical section.

We just can't all be obsessively perfect, you know. ; )

I do plan a cook day sometime this month. I've gone back to college with my two eldest -- we're all at the community college. Then there are three busy girls in high school -- so between jobs, school, high school tennis team matches, local theater productions, and Hunk O Man's job, it is a rare night we all have dinner together.

So I compensate by making something and leaving it on the stove for everyone. This is usually appreciated. In fact, Hunk O Man has been asking for Firecracker Cassarole lately --

xoxoxox

Firecracker Cassarole

This is your basic variation on a mexican-flavoured cassarole dish. But we loved it -- enjoy!

FIRECRACKER CASSAROLE

2 lbs. ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1-15 oz. can black beans, rinsed & drained

1-2 Tablespoons chili powder

2-3 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

4-7" flour tortillas

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1-10 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilis, undrained

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a skillet, cook the beef and onion until the meat is no longer pink. Drain.

Add the beans, chili powder, cumin, and salt.

Transfer to a 9" x 13" baking dish.

Arrange tortillas over the top.

Combine soup & tomatoes, pour over the tortillas.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until heated through.

8 servings.

Jen's notes:

1. I haven't made this in some time, but I do remember that we loved it when I did.

rating: 4 stars. A very good variation on the theme.

Graduation Cupcakes

We had two high school seniors graduate on Friday the 12th, so some celebrating was in order.

"Hello Cupcake's" blog has struck again. I found these adorable Graduation Cupcakes and had no trouble making them from Healthy Choice Devil's Food cookies, chocolate covered grahams, and a little yellow licorice.

I made the vanilla "from scratch" cupcakes, and they are amazingly delicious. Here's the recipe:

VANILLA CUPCAKES

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsps. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk (evaporated milk would be really good, or buttermilk)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1. Oven 350. Cream the butter and sugar; add the eggs.

2. Add the dry ingredients

3. Add the milk and oil, beat until smooth.

4. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full, and bake about 20-23 minutes until golden.

To make the little diplomas, I just took a box of Golden Oreo "Fun Stix" and cut each one in half, wrapping a bit of licorice around it. Our school colours are black and gold, and honestly, the black licorice would have probably worked better. But the yellow was fine -- just a bit gooey in the middle, and we had to get creative with scissors.

I absolutely love Hello Cupcake in all its many forms. The blog, the book, it's all full of amazing designs that work with real ingredients -- and they work for those of us who are sewers and not chefs! Or bakers!

xoxoxox

Very Funny Stuff

I love British humour. I love spelling things the British way as well. I think my ancestors were British, although I'd have to live either in a British colony in the Caribbean or in Bermuda if I were to actually move to a British place. Can't take all that grey cloudy rain.

Anyway -- I found this on a blog called Cake Wrecks. It is very, very funny. Enjoy!



xoxox

Quick Tip

I make bread about every 2-3 days in our breadmaker. I've done this for years, since it appalls me that the cost of a loaf of bread is $1.00+.

Here's my basic recipe --

1 cup plus 2-3 T water -- enough to fill a one-cup liquid measure all the way to the top
2 eggs
2-3 T. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. instant mashed potatoes
1/4 - 1/2 c. instant dried milk
3 c. flour
2 tsp. yeast

The other night I was completely out of eggs AND bread. Instead of running to the store at 11PM, I decided to try and use mayonnaise.

I know. Mayonnaise IN bread? Not ON it?

Well, it worked! My philosophy was this: mayonnaise is basically just eggs and oil. So since these are two things I commonly use in my bread, they worked. In fact, the girls commented that it was really good bread -- and it was. Very moist and soft.

So there you go. If you're out of eggs and your recipe uses both eggs and oil, try using mayonnaise instead. It just might work.

xoxox