Taco Soup in the Crock Pot

So I don't forget -- I made a delicious taco soup in the Crock Pot while my mom was visiting over Thanksgiving break. I am making it again today and don't want to lose the recipe in and among the hordes of similar recipes. This one is probably the easiest out there, but I might have added too much water today! I eyeballed it until the crock pot was full, egads. Here's my slightly modified version, mainly that I cook the meat with the taco seasoning instead of adding it with the liquid).

• Brown one pound of ground beef and one chopped onion with packet of taco seasoning until meat is brown.
• Put the mixture into the Crock Pot. 
• Add 2 cups of beef broth (about half of a standard size box); a 28-oz can of Rotel, undrained; a 15 oz can of pinto beans, undrained; a 15 oz can of corn, undrained; and one cup of water. 
• Stir it up, sprinkle on a dry packet of ranch dressing and slowly stir in. (There's probably a smarter way to do that too without sloshing the liquid! Maybe sprinkle the ranch over the meat after added?) 
• Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
• Put shredded cheese and sour cream on top to cool it down and cream it up. 
• Eat with Tostitos Hint of Lime chips (Jane's favorite) or Fritos (maybe my favorite).

Tastes even better the next day heated up. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Gobble Gobble Wobble Wobble

Back from our friend's house and it was a lovely holiday. I am very full and tired. Still have to get the girls showered and in bed. I took corn casserole, pumpkin dump cake with ice cream and cranberry Jello salad.

I thought of a sort of good blog post to write, but I'm going to try to use it for the magazine, i.e. get paid a little bit for my writing. We'll see where it goes though. I haven't been writing the last few weeks much. Been busy/distracted/boycotting a little. I don't know. Will catch up me next week for deadline!

Only two more posts to go before December. I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I had an index card somewhere with some post ideas. Kind of in a food coma now and just want to watch TV after the kids get in bed. We watched 3 hours this morning with the Thanksgiving Parade. Screen time is my favorite.

Lack of Cooking

In usual Novembers, and NaBloPoMos past, the day before Thanksgiving has been another free space for me because I can catalog what I've been cooking. Today all I made were deviled eggs. I have some cooking to do tomorrow and actually a couple easy things to make tonight because I forgot. (Cranberry salad and pineapple cream cheese ball.)

Instead of cooking the full meal for the five of us (my mom is visiting), we decided to accept an invitation to a friend's apartment. I hope it goes OK, and I'm not sure my mom totally wants to go. But the allure of not having to do the entire meal (turkey included) was too much to pass up. And we had Thanksgiving with this friend last year and it was pleasant. I've gotten to know her better this year too. I just hope the worlds colliding (of family and chosen family) goes OK.

My face at "Defy" - LOL, jk

We went to "Defy," which used to be "Area 51," which used to be something else. It's a trampoline park. The girls had a great time -- I knew we couldn't just stay home all day. They also got to go to the park, and I got some time at home and tidied (cleaned filthy bathrooms and vacuumed) plus got a huge chunk of my mariwalker.com website together. All still drafts, but I have posts with my magazine content and blog posts ready. I just need to fool with the layout and colors I guess.

I may re-do this site's template too. There's a way to have a Featured Post in the layout at the top with some of the choices. There are only a few choices on Blogger -- so if I'm planning to stay with it (might as well?) -- I can pick one that's got that on the top built in so I can have my How to Buy a Crochet Hat post at the top -- so when people get my card at a maker faire or otherwise are looking for me because of crochet that will be easy to find.

News you can use: the entire Frozen 2 soundtrack seems to be available on Amazon Music for free. Exciting. I adore Unknown.

Cooking for Crowds

I'm kind of a terrible housewife in that I hate to cook and hate to clean. Cooking isn't SO bad, and I definitely like to eat. But the clean up is annoying and the constant cycle of come up with ideas, shop for the ingredients, make the food, rinse and repeat, is a less-than-delightful part of my life.

Today I cooked multiple things. Tomorrow we are going to a Friendsgiving dinner, so I made a cornbread dressing and deviled eggs. The dressing is the kind Gran made for holidays -- cornbread, a stuffing mix, butter, onion, celery and seasonings. I hope I didn't make it too salty. Meh. It makes two big pans, so I'll save the other either for Thursday or for Christmas, depending on what we end up doing for Thanksgiving proper.

I also made a Mexican black bean lasagna that we'll heat up for tonight. It's basically onions, jalepeno, red bell pepper, corn, black beans, garlic, chili powder, cilantro and lime juice as a cooked filling layered with red enchilada sauce, corn tortillas and cheese.

I'm tired from it -- took a couple hours multi-tasking -- and the kitchen is still kind of dirty. Ran the dishwasher once, but have another load after we've eaten. So first I have to empty the clean dishes. Ugh.

Shawn's home from his latest trip, my mom and aunt are here too. Shawn hasn't had any time at home yet though, so things like my tire's air pressure, the leaves all over the yard, etc. haven't been addressed yet. More failings of house-wifery.

Preparing for a Feast

We're going to be home, just the four of us, for Thanksgiving. I bought a smallish turkey (11 lbs), the smallest I could find anyway. And I got ingredients to make deviled eggs, cranberry salad, green bean casserole, cornbread dressing, pumpkin pie, sweet potato casserole (at Jane's request) and mashed potatoes & gravy.

On Monday we got an invitation to come to Thanksgiving at a church friend's house. Regular Mari's knee-jerk reaction was NO. I've planned, I'm cooking and I want to have the leftovers. But after talking to Shawn and then Jane, and finding out they both definitely wanted to go I decided "OK."

Look at me being flexible! (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

When I told our host that yes, we'd like to come, but I that already bought a turkey, she said to bring it and she would be glad to not have to make one! (She will have ham, sides and desserts.) In my reply I said OK, and that I would also have to bring the dressing and cranberry salad (can't eat turkey without dressing, and the cranberries are fresh so they wouldn't keep -- although can you freeze berries? Maybe so). Then I told her the other things (minus the deviled eggs!) I'd been planning to make and she said to bring all those too.

My little sous chefs!

SO, now I am halfway through my Thanksgiving feast preparations, AND I have to figure out how to transport them all. Today I did the deviled eggs and pumpkin pies (both with help from Jane, who is 7 and able to actually be helpful -- although our kitchen is much to small for more than one cook), sweet potato casserole, cranberry salad and cornbread dressing. I took zero pictures of the food -- before, during or after. Hrm. Looking back looks like the last time I took pictures of food was 2015. Can't imagine why...

At first I thought I would use one of the many delivery boxes we've got and stack the casseroles with cardboard between. I may still use a carton for the turkey (which I'm debating carving here for ease of transport and I've NEVER made a beautiful bird), but I pulled out my casserole carriers and I happen to have 3, one of which is a double, so I think I can carry the sweet potato casserole, dressing, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes (I guess I'll put them in a casserole dish too). I'm mostly using my disposable pans, although my cranberry salad is in Shawn's grandma's bowl as usual. I can probably put the sliced up turkey into another disposable casserole pan, but I'd have to put it in a box/carton to carry it. The pie and cranberry salad will have to be separate. Oh, and I plan to whip cream so I'll need a way to carry it. I wish I had a thermos to carry the gravy (either making it or warming from a jar -- although maybe if I do the jar I can just do that at the hosts' house).

The meal will be at 3, which is a weird time for us with kids. Usually I make my meal about noon, just as the parade is ending. So I plan to serve deviled eggs and pigs-in-a-blanket (both Shawn's faves) around 11 to tide us over to the big meal at 3. Livia will be able to take her nap while I finish up everything.

After the turkey roasts I need at least an hour to bake the other things (dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole), so the turkey needs to come out by 1:45 at the latest. (Our hosts' house is about 15 minutes away and we should probably get there a little before the meal starts since we're bringing a lot of food!) If it takes 3 hours to cook that means it needs to go in at 10:45, so I'll probably try to put it in at 10:15. That's much better than waking up to put it in at 7! My oven can hold the three casseroles at once so they can bake together. The disposable pans mean they need cookie sheets under them, so I should probably double check that I can fit that many in. I'll have to use the toaster oven for the pigs-in-a-blanket, so I'm glad I have that as an option.

Wish me luck - GOBBLE GOBBLE.

Mermaid Pull Apart Cake

Jane got the idea for a mermaid party by looking at the Oriental Trader catalog, so we've run with the idea as best we can. We have mermaid-themed goodie bags, and her invitation had a mermaid on it. The bounce house place didn't have a mermaid-themed bouncer, but they did have a castle that we decided could look like it's under-the-sea. (If the rain doesn't stop we'll really BE under the sea for crying out loud. It is supposed to be clear and cool tomorrow.)

Cooling cupcakes

For the cake Jane originally wanted a sheet cake with mermaid pictures on it. I MAYBE could have done something like that (using cut outs or toys on the top), but after a perusal of Pinterest I found a cupcake pull apart cake in the shape of a mermaid tail. I showed Jane several versions, heavily influencing her to pick the one I liked/thought looked best and easiest. I also liked the idea of a cupcake pull apart cake in the shape of a 7 using the mermaid colors of teal, pink and purple, but she liked the tail better. So here we go!

I baked two boxes of cupcakes, and I got 23 out of each box. I used an ice cream scoop I bought specifically for this project to try to keep the cupcakes the same size. It didn't really work because I was impatient and sloppy. But in the end it was OK. I let them cool while Liv and I went to her Spanish class, ate lunch and she laid down for her nap.

I'd made the buttercream frosting Wednesday -- I made it and the chocolate frosting for Jane's birthday birthday cake on the same day. One batch of chocolate and three batches of vanilla -- dyed two batches pink and split the third between teal and purple. I was making the frosting just before we left to go to supper at church on Wednesday, and I couldn't find my specifically purchased food dye. (It was with the party favors instead of in the pantry!) So I put the buttercream in the fridge, went to our meal and came back to try to dye it. I let it warm up but not enough -- dying it was SUPER hard. Today I left the frosting out all morning -- so probably 4 or 5 hours -- so the icing was smooth and spreadable, and I could have easily added the dye today. Oh well. (Remember how anti-food dye I once was? I still am, but I've kind of given in somehow and not sure how to return to my puritan ways.)

In formation!

After Liv laid down I got to work. I tried laying out empty cupcake wrappers to get an idea of how the cake would look, but they didn't hold their shape. So when I was ready to frost I just laid out the cupcakes, following my inspiration picture. I had read some tips online, so I knew they might slip around. I didn't want to waste icing (or make things even messier when we eventually EAT the cake), so I tried double sided tape on the cupcake wrapper bottoms to keep things stable. It didn't really work, but luckily the cupcakes didn't move around too much.

I had a ton of frosting, and I scooped it on before using my offset spatula to spread it around. I worked from top to bottom - purple, teal and pink. I added white sparkle sanding sugar and then tried to pipe on scales and details like the picture. I had bought a Dollar Tree piping bag to try, and it was the PITS. My frosting was too thick and it broke the "reusable" bag. I salvaged what frosting I could into a regular piping bag (because of course I got those too) and almost ran out. In retrospect I should have laid out my lines with a knife -- just sculpting it in the frosting before I piped on the lines. I've seen videos where they do that for details, and it's such a smart idea. Luckily Jane doesn't mind unrealistic scales! I also need to buy more couplers to use with the regular piping bags -- I only had one, even though I have many types of tips.

The finished product!

I made quite a mess of the kitchen and had enough frosting left over for the 10 extra cupcakes that I didn't use. (Nine are available for the party -- I snuck one of the butter yellow ones -- YUM.)

I used a cake box made for a sheet cake, and it worked fine. I didn't get the cake exactly centered, but it's not bad. The box was able to fold up around it, and there's a lid. I put the whole thing in the fridge -- will take it out before the party to come to room temperature, but this way it will stay fresher I guess?

Not sure how eating the cake will go, and I definitely could have made things neater and prettier (those scales will haunt me). But it was fun to research and execute, and Jane is happy! Hope it's a hit at the party!

Pre-Holiday Preparation

Today was a cooking day for me, with the girls getting to go with Daddy and grandparents to the Knock, Knock Museum. They had a great time, and I got everything done. Our dishwasher is getting a workout! Today I made:

• Deviled eggs (these are ridiculously hard because of the shelling -- I cannot do it well to save my life)
• Cranberry salad
• Pumpkin pies (one regular, one sugar free)
• Rice Krispie treats
• Mashed sweet potatoes (debating putting marshmallows or pecans or both on top when I bake tomorrow)
• Cornbread dressing, Gran's recipe

Tomorrow I have to make

• Turkey - going to inject and roast it ... this is Aunt B's best tip
• Cook the dressing and sweet potatoes
• Corn casserole
• Green bean casserole
• Warm rolls
• Boil and mash potatoes
• Heat gravy
• Whip cream

What am I forgetting? Hopefully pictures tomorrow, although you could look at years' past to see the same dishes.

I'm going to try to take Christmas card photos of the girls tomorrow in matching sweaters. The light's actually pretty good right now in the back yard, but I don't have it together to get it done. There's a sale on Amazon cards ... 50% off and it includes free envelope personalization and printing on both sides of the card ... through November 25, so Saturday. Surely I can get it done by then.

A Sixth Birthday

A second birthday cake for a six-year-old girl. This one I bought from Ambrosia Bakery. I got white icing because it looks prettier with the pink, but the cake itself was chocolate with chocolate buttercream inside. It was also THICKLY iced. Like, THICK to the point of tasting too much and too sweet. Jane ate some, and Liv ate some cake itself. Cake is probably her new favorite word. Jane would NEVER have eaten cake when she was 19 months old. Perish the thought. Things change I guess.

I had a great time going to Jane's class and reading Twinderella -- a "fractioned" fairy tail because it was a re-telling of a fairy tale and this one used fractions -- halves, quarters, doubles. The teacher said it was her best reader yet, mainly because of how well the book fit into their unit. We had checked it out of the library by chance from the new books section. I also got to eat lunch with Jane, and that was fun. Daddy stayed home with Liv. He took her to her library story time so she didn't have to miss that. Sweet potato!

This afternoon I was going to take Jane shopping for a new lamp, but she decided she'd rather go home and open her presents. She's got a ton of great things from family and us. My absolute favorite was when she opened the Target Our Generation doll (a knock-off style of American Girl Dolls) she jumped up and said "thank you, thank you, thank you, Mommy" and came and tackled me in a huge hug and let me snuggle her for a long time. I think I'm going to have some fun crocheting clothes for her doll, which she named Indigo, and probably buying some matching Jane and Indigo outfits too.

Anyway, Jane said I could pick out her lamp on my own later, so I will. Only requirement is pink, her favorite color. We've re-arranged Jane's room to make for a side table and access to a lamp, tissue, trash can, water, etc. Still getting used to it, but it's a good set up.

Domestic posts don't make for good blog fodder, but someday I'll be glad for these ramblings, just like I'm grateful for the record of my weeks in email format.

Day of Preparations

Today has been a busy day. Jane stayed home this morning, since we had an orthopedic surgeon appointment at 10 a.m. It was a LONG morning, but maybe easier than taking her to school, picking her up and hour and a half later? I don't know.

The appointment was OK, and Shawn stayed with the baby. I can take her with me next time now that I know what to expect. We have to go back and check weekly to make sure the bone is staying in place, which means weekly X-rays, ugh. The appointment felt rushed after waiting so long. I am totally freaking out about the whole thing, but what else is new. I'd like to ask a lot of questions. Maybe I'll just call and talk to a nurse about my worries next week.

Sixth birthday cake frosting procedure

In between that, mopping the floors and carpool I baked Jane's cake for her party tomorrow. (We're also buying a cake from Ambrosia Bakery for Heavenly Hash at church on her actual birthday.)

For her party Jane wanted a half chocolate-half vanilla cake. If we'd had the party at the trampoline place as planned I would have just bought the cake too, but in an effort to save money (the painting party is about the cost of a cake more than the trampoline party was), I decided to make it. Especially since it doesn't need to be transported!

The chocolate cake is DELICIOUS. I used the same Pioneer Woman best chocolate sheet cake recipe as last year, although I didn't do the fudgy frosting. I made a basic vanilla cake from the Internet, and that was a mistake. I should have found a Pioneer Woman one or some other trusted site. The cake is fine, but when you taste the chocolate it's sad in comparison. (I got to taste both because I didn't cut the cakes exactly evenly, so when I stacked the top layers were smaller than the bottom layers. So I sliced a bit out of the middle and smooshed the remaining cake together to make it even.)

I made my sister's/aunt's buttercream frosting that's basically Crisco and powdered sugar. You whip it for 10 minutes (in the Kitchen-Aid) so it's light and fluffy. I needed a recipe and a half, so a TON of frosting! The pink is sanding sugar that I got on 70% off after Valentine's Day this year at Target. I used cookie cutters, sprinkled the sugar in with a baby spoon (I had to freehand a bit for the inside of the A and the 6). And then I just sprinkled around the edge to get a little border.

By no means professional, and I can't do a crumb coat to save my life ... perhaps it's about that lack of patience?! But as long as Jane likes it it will be just fine!

My kingdom for a bigger kitchen!

Thanksgiving Prep

Last year I wrote detailed posts about my Thanksgiving menu and the cooking/prep process. Today has been a busy day with prep and cooking. I didn't take any pictures of the food. The menu is basically the same, although I'm not making the broccoli salad (it's never been as good as it was the first year I made it), and I'm giving up on homemade rolls. They're amazing, but store-bought brown-n-serve will be just fine too.

I'm tired. Was on my feet a lot. Last year I was pregnant and had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes for about a month while I was doing the Thanksgiving cooking. I was on my feet and busy all morning. I'd had my snack but I still felt weird. That's the only scary episode I had during the pregnancy, and I kind of blacked out -- not fully but everything went black/I lost vision while I stumbled to the table and sat down. I couldn't stop laughing after I recovered. But it scared Shawn. I was very pale too. Nothing like that happened today, of course. I'm healthy-ish.

I am not in a cheery, holiday mood. I don't know how I'm going to celebrate Christmas. It's not going to be the same. I am looking forward to Advent -- sitting in the dark, waiting for the light. And I hope and pray the the miracle comes to me again anew. At the very least I'll be going through the motions for my girls -- Jane's sixth Christmas season and Livia's first. My precious baby girls.

There's something to be learned here, even though I would give almost anything to not be learning it.

A Baker I am NOT

My sister has a cake decorating business on the side. This is decidedly NOT in my skill set.

When I looked at buying Jane's birthday cake I balked at the price -- about $70 for a cake from a nice bakery that would have enough to feed as many people that *might* come. (That's another issue -- I'm getting RSVPs today for a party that's tomorrow!) This is the first year we've invited her entire class, so we have the potential for a few dozen people in our backyard. (Thank God for gorgeous weather!)

Anyway, I decided "I can do that" and planned to make the cake myself. I did do a test cake, and I picked the Pioneer Woman's "best chocolate sheet cake ever" because I wanted something to feed a crowd. I also bought a sheet pan to make it in! The cake was delicious, and my Sunday school class agreed. But it was thin and didn't seem very BIRTHDAY-y to me.

So my plan was to bake the cake twice and stack it up, using the fudgy frosting from the recipe, although without nuts, as a filling/on top of the first cake. Sounds good to me/easy enough, right? I even bought a box so that I could easily move the finished cake in and out of the fridge.

My first attempt at the cake was fine this morning, but I didn't put a lot of thought into how I would get it from the pan to the cake "platter," which ended up being a piece of cardboard wrapped in foil. And I tried to move the cake immediately/while it was still warm. FAIL. I had a broken cake, a crying baby (from being neglected) and serious agitation.

I threw the cake into a bowl and set it aside. I took care of Livia and tried again once she was napping. I was smarter and able to flip the cake onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and then flipped again onto the foil cardboard. I put the fudgy, warm frosting on top of that layer then made the second cake. It also turned out fine and I put it in the fridge because I read layers are easier to work with when cold.

YEAH, they are, if they're out of the pan. D'oh. I didn't take this one out of the pan and it was impossible to get it out. And I'd used the last of my sugar on the third cake. Being the clever, clever girl I am I first tried using my iron to heat up the bottom of the pan and get the cake to release. It didn't work -- possibly because of lack of patience. I was baking cupcakes at the time (because what if someone doesn't like chocolate?), so I slipped the pan in for a couple minutes to warm it up. That worked and the cake released.

Back into the fridge to cool off some more. Good grief. The cake was still mostly cold, just wanted to chill it back as much as possible. The cake is so big it won't fit in my freezer, since we have a side-by-side and the freezer is smaller. ANYWAY.

My prayers worked because the cake layer did NOT crumble and I was able to place it on top of the fudgy frosting layer. I made a Mark Bittman chocolate buttercream recipe from a library book, and it technically wasn't enough. I got the top frosted really well and most of the sides, but it definitely doesn't look professional. I'm hoping the fudgy middle party will make up for that. Argh.

I also made vanilla buttercream and piped on Jane's name using letter cookie cutters to make an outline. It worked OK, but my star tip was crummy and it was just easier to draw a line. I also put sprinkles on and they migrated much farther across the cake than I intended. And in a dumb move I put sprinkles on the letters, kind of obscuring them. Hopefully people will think Jane helped and did that. (HA! She helped with the cupcakes, but not the cake itself.)

We'll see how it tastes tomorrow. I'll keep it in the fridge overnight and then pull it out in the morning so it can be room temperature for the party. I have ice cream to serve with it, and I'm making cake balls with the first destroyed cake. We'll see how those turn out. I'm not that hopeful, and honestly don't really feel like doing much more work tonight...

The moral of the story is that next time I am absolutely going to BUY a birthday cake. (And if someone doesn't like chocolate/whatever Jane chooses for her cake they can settle for ice cream!)

Thanksgiving Cooking, Day 2 and Birthday

This is 35 (and 4)

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. You say it's your birthday. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Happy birthday to you! 

I woke up to Shawn singing "Happy Thanksgiving to you, Happy Thanksgiving to you. It's also your birthday, let's celebrate that too!" Sweet. I got to open presents on Thanksgiving, and I'll get to do it again on Christmas in less than a month (!).

Shawn preheated the oven for me, and I put the turkey in just about 7:30 a.m. (My family tradition is to eat at lunch so I keep that going. Mainly I like to get it over with AND I like having the leftovers ready for supper.) Pretty sure I made a mistake by cooking the turkey with the giblet/organ bag, but whatever I did I couldn't find it pre-roasting! The turkey was pre-brined from Trader Joe's ($25 for 12 lbs). And the turkey turned out OK even with that dumb mistake.

Last night I did make my Parker House rolls, a recipe from Bon Appetit, a copy of the magazine I got as a hand-me-down from a friend when she moved. I've made them for a few years now and they're very tasty although a pain in the neck. Timing is hard too because you're supposed to let the finished rolls rest in the fridge for 30 minutes - 6 hours. I just did it overnight, so probably more like 15 hours, and they turn out fine. There's also the rising and kneading time to consider. Delicious.

The turkey cooked while we watched the Macy's Parade on NBC. Jane hadn't seen it before, but we're loosening up on screen time restrictions -- or maybe the better way to say it is that she's at an age able to handle more screen time from time to time. She really liked it, although she set up her table and chairs in front of the TV so she could color and "work" to pass the time.

Not quite a beauty shot, but I promise it was cooked to temperature and looked better IRL

After the turkey cooked for 3.5 hours I pulled it out to rest and baked the dressing (it looks a lot better after being baked). It really tasted good and like "home" for me. I make it a little drier than Shawn's grandma does, but they just poured gravy over their servings to get their preferred consistency.

20 minutes after the dressing went in I added the green bean casserole to the oven. I add sliced water chestnuts to the generic recipe and go overboard with the fried onions. NOM.

10 minutes after that in went the rolls and the sweet potatoes I pre-prepped yesterday.

These were browner in person too -- and also the melted butter and salt added at the end make them taste OMG.

While that was baking I whipped cream in my Kitchen Aid mixer. Super easy, but I didn't think to take a picture. I also didn't sweeten the cream, so we have a lot left! I can always fold in a bit of powdered sugar to up the yum factor even more.

I also heated up some Trader Joe's turkey gravy. I didn't eat any, but the others said it was good. And I will say it was easy -- much easier than creating a scratch roux and finagling the drippings out from under the cooked turkey (kind of a pain for something I don't even want to eat myself - LOL). I don't have a gravy boat, so that is something I have on my list to get before Christmas when I'm hosting my side of the family! I could also use more potholders, and those are things I can crochet. I should make complete holiday sets because I ended up having to use doubled over towels and maybe ruining/marring my table top even though we also had double table cloths on. Drat.

Shawn carved the turkey and we served it on a platter. Much easier to serve than doing it at the table, although I do say the presentation is less appealing. We did the wishbone, and we both wished for the same thing. So hope it comes true! (I won, technically.)

We barely had room for plates, let alone the centerpiece Jane made in Sunday school. But I managed to squeeze it in and light the (thankfully unscented!) candle. Jane and I blew it out together, and I wasn't even thinking that we should make a wish for our birthday month!

The table was laden, we all ate a lot. And then I went for a walk. Dale, Shawn and Jane walked with me for one block and then I kept going until I'd walked nearly an hour. I won't have time or daylight to walk after supper of leftovers, so I'd better be more discerning/eat less!

I'm planning to add up what I spent on the meal all in. I probably won't estimate some of the things I had - like flour for the rolls, mustard and mayo for the eggs, etc. I haven't done the math yet though! I'm guessing $125-150, although that's not too bad for enough food to feed 5 people for at least three meals (and some of the things I bought I still have some leftover like spices, butter, eggs, etc.).

Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and enjoy the long weekend.

Thanksgiving Cooking, Day 1

More freebie spaces for NaBloPoMo -- just write what you cooked that day. OMG I worked for hours this morning, a bit more this afternoon and plan to make the Parker House rolls this evening (bake tomorrow). And I still have to make supper! (Quick turkey chili and some corn muffins.)

I multi-tasked a lot in the kitchen, but the first completed dish was the broccoli mushroom salad. It's the thing that needed dill, tarragon and basil. I never found fresh tarragon so used 1 tsp of dry instead of 1 TB of fresh. The recipe is from Real Simple, and I have the page torn from the actual issue.

Next to be complete was the cranberry Jello salad, which is an improvised version from our church cookbook using my mom's tweaks to make it sugar free. Instead of marshmallows we use lowfat cream cheese and of course swap Splenda for sugar. It fits perfectly in the crystal bowl Shawn's grandma gave us when she moved from her house to an apartment.

I deviled (or "doubled") 12 eggs, easy peasy. About half of my eggs came right out of their shells and are beautiful. The other half are a big mangled, but they'll still taste great. I put the eggs in cold water, boil, turn off the heat and cover, set a timer for 15 minutes. Then I drain, add ice and shake the hell out of the pot before peeling. I mash the yolks with a few squirts of Dijon mustard and a couple spoonfuls of mayo plus salt and pepper. Sprinkle paprika and DELISH. They're Jane's favorites, and although a bit fatty they are high protein and low (no?) carb.

Next I made a quick pie, which I'm going to use as my birthday cake. No candles, but I'm going to let myself indulge. I did swap Splenda for the sugar, but I didn't find sugar free Coolwhip. This was supposed to make two pies, but I must have had a bigger crust than the recipe called for because I fit it all in one crust. I'll just have to make another at Christmas (was going to freeze the second) if it's as good as I remember. Although I may want a different treat in a month! Recipe by my Gran and in the church cookbook from 1990. You can click this picture to see the recipe.

The last few holiday dinners I've waited on the sweet potatoes until the last minute and then they're always undercooked or just late to the table. I went ahead and boiled and mashed them today and put them in a casserole dish so I can just heat them up tomorrow after the turkey (the plan is pull out turkey to rest and pop in the dressing; 20 minutes later add the green bean casserole; 10 minutes after that add the sweet potatoes and the rolls).

Speaking of dressing I used my Gran's recipe for cornbread dressing, although I leave out the "Accent," once I realized it's just MSG. But the dressing still tastes phenomenal and here's the secret THREE STICKS of butter. Oh-em-gee. Also carbo overload with the cornbread and most of a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing. I made two pans but froze one. I'll bake the one for tomorrow and wait until Christmas to bake the other one. My sister makes it better, and she will be here for Christmas, so if we need more she can be in charge of that (although it's a really easy recipe).

Jane and I made the pumpkin pie together, and then I made a second with Splenda (sensing a trend here?). She did a great job measuring and mixing, although we ended up with too much filling for the frozen pie crusts I bought. (I can do a lot of things, but no thanks on trying to make a scratch pie crust.) I marked the sugar free pie with pecans so they're easy to tell apart.

More tomorrow. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and lots of success in the kitchen. What's your favorite Thanksgiving recipe/food/treat?

A Meatloaf Recipe Tweak

A meatloaf mashup on crocheted potholders -
orange and black by Gran, Go Pokes!

Last night I made a meatloaf at my mother-in-law's request. It's a combo recipe from Saveur Magazine (number 165) and my Gran's recipe, which turns out was borrowed from another church friend.

When Gran sent me her recipe years ago she left out a crucial ingredient -- the binder, in her case oatmeal or crackers -- and I could never get it to turn out right. Finally my sister clued me in to my mistake. D'oh! Gran's recipe uses dry onion soup mix for flavoring, so I that taste is always top notch to me although maybe too processed for some. (My Grandma Jane would mix that soup mix with sour cream and serve with real Lay's potato chips for holiday appetizers and oh-em-gee that's some tasty stuff too. Ah, memories!)

The Saveur recipe is tasty and uses cornflakes for the binder, which makes a sweeter meatloaf -- never a bad thing to my taste buds but not the best for managing my health! It also uses a small yellow onion minced, but I found when I use that it's even better to grate it into the loaf so it melts in fully. The easier tweak is to just use the soup mix. The Saveur recipe calls for ground chuck and veal, although I honestly have never bought veal. I've had the best success with meatloaf mix.

I can't always find meatloaf/meatball mix at my grocery store (it's the worst but conveniently located and I'm addicted to the gas rewards), but when I do it makes the best tasting loaf. I think it's beef and pork, but it might have a third thing. Last night's meatloaf was straight beef and it turned out OK, although I could have boosted the binder as it still fell apart a little in the middle. Doesn't affect the taste though!

So the recipe mashup/tweak/what-have-you:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1 package of meatloaf mix or hamburger (about 1.5 lbs)
2 cups crushed cornflakes
1 egg
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 can of tomato soup

Mix all this in a big bowl. Mash into a loaf pan, but don't pack too tightly. Squirt on thin layer of ketchup topping (optional but delicious) and bake about an hour until cooked through.

Last night we served with a side of frozen mixed veggies (broccoli, carrots & cauliflower), mac & cheese and Hawaiian rolls. Nom-nom-nom. (After last night I think it will be back to oatmeal binder for a while, although I didn't even eat the macaroni!)

Saveur recommends letting the loaf cool and making sandwiches on burger buns. It really is amazing -- add cheese and regular burger-type toppings WOW.

Description of A Saturday

I am quite tired, and I'm running low on motivation and blog post topics. I thought I'd catalog my day to explain why I'm tired.

I woke up pre-7 a.m., which sucks because I could have stayed in bed for at least a little longer. On weekdays I am a total zombie and could sleep SUPER late, but I always get up for school prep. Theoretically I could go back to bed after Shawn and Jane leave, but 1) I usually have some work to do and 2) after breakfast and being awake/upright I'm not sleepy anymore.

So by about 9 a.m. today I had finished a load of laundry/started a second, eaten breakfast, gone to vote (#teamJBE despite being very opposed with some of his positions I am much more in line with him than the other choice, Darth Vitter) and a made quick trip to Trader Joe's for the Thanksgiving turkey. I also got some Harvest Blend tea that a friend recommended and some turkey gravy since the turkey I bought is brined and the drippings would be too salty for regular gravy (plus, am I capable of making real gravy?).

After flipping some laundry and clearing out the fridge a little I hit Winn Dixie for the BIG shop. I got all the side dish ingredients, dessert ingredients plus food for suppers this week and special in-law food (their type of cereal and 2% milk). It was an enormous list -- a full handwritten printer page with two columns. I found everything except tarragon and basil, which I should have picked up at Trader Joe's. In the grand scheme that's minor, and I will have more chances to check other stores. I think Whole Foods usually has all the fresh herbs you'd ever want. (Those and dill are for a broccoli-mushroom salad that I like and is carb-friendly...I'll write about the Thanksgiving menu/dinner outcome later this week.)

That shopping trip took about an hour and was stressful, mainly because of the checkout process. Every week I stress about packing groceries, because I'd prefer to do it myself. I was thinking how nice it would be to have a shopping buddy to load the groceries onto the belt for me so I could bag my own groceries. The Winn Dixie cashiers/baggers are so bad at that part of the job. I have a set of reusable bags that are LABELED with that goes in where, and I still get boxes of cereal in my frozen food bags and the cold stuff in the bag marked for jars and cans. Blurgh. I didn't have enough room for all the groceries in my bags so I still got a good dozen plastic bags, and our stash is overflowing.

I swung home, unloaded groceries, flipped laundry and then we headed to Red Robin for my birthday burger. It was tasty, and they actually took off Shawn's burger from our ticket, which was the  more expensive one. SO there's a pro tip -- you can get any burger for free with your birthday reward, not just the basic one, which is what I ordered and expected would be the only free option. (It was super delicious those and I love that relish, so I regret nothing.) Jane had a reward too for her birthday this month, BUT it expired on November 15 and you had to print an email to use it. The email said "you can only look at this offer twice so have your printer ready" so I didn't read it carefully until I was ready to print (to PDF since I still don't have a computer connected to a printer thanks to the fine folks at Dell Hell ... advanced resolution/expedited team myself my ASS). So that was a bust.

After a delicious lunch we went to the movie theater for The Peanuts Movie with Jane. She has seen a few movies in the theater, and this one came out so close to her birthday we knew we wanted to go see it as a treat and keep the celebration rolling. She liked it, although some of the Snoopy flying parts were scary to her! I didn't like that the "little red haired girl" didn't have a name, and the idea of romance among little kids is weird for a movie theme I think. The theater was crowded though, but we were there early enough that we had good, middle-of-the-theater seats.

Now we're home, and I'm finishing the laundry. It's been a nice cool, rainy day. I hope that doesn't keep people from the polls and voting -- you don't miss work for rain so why would you miss this?

A Little Trisha's Table

I'm a big Trisha Yearwood fan. I have all her albums as CDs and ripped to my iPod (except the compilations they've made over the years mixing up the songs in different ways). I also own all three of her cookbooks. The latest, Trisha's Table: My Feel-Good Favorites for a Balanced Life, came out this month, and I've tried three recipes so far. One winner, one huge loser and one maybe-try-again.

The best one we've tried was the "Neat Sloppy Joes" -- made with ground turkey, beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, onions and peppers. The sauce uses tomato paste, vinegar and a touch of brown sugar that made it super tasty -- and it was a big recipe so we ate on it for a supper and two lunches!

The major flop was "Broccoli Slaw Chicken," which is a recipe without a picture in the book. That's probably a clue that it's not a true winner/maybe is just filler in the book. (Also the recipe is not on Food Network's website, another indicator it's a dud all around.) In any case the picante sauce mixed with broccoli slaw (broccoli, carrots and cabbage, which I bought pre-shredded) and cooked made for a disgusting bite. We barely ate the chicken the first night, and the leftovers sat in the fridge until I finally gave myself the grace to toss them out.

The maybe-try-again is "Raspberry Chicken." We didn't like it very much, although the sauce was OK. I would want to try again because I didn't have the mushrooms the recipe calls for. I bought them, but when I started making the chicken the mushrooms had gone bad in the fridge (my Winn Dixie's produce department is terrible and I should really get my act together and shop at the weekly farmer's market ... but that's another issue). It was edible, and I think we ate the leftovers too. Definitely not a favorite, make-every-week kind of recipe.

Related: I'm way late to the party, but I've just found Cook's Country and America's Test Kitchen on Amazon Prime/PBS and have gone down a wormhole watching those (with a notebook in hand to write down recipes and techniques as they show them). I'm going to be trying a few new things I think. Meal planning and cooking has become SUCH a chore for me. I hope this will infuse some new spark and make it more fun again...

Do you have any new recipes you can recommend?

Amazon affiliate links to cookbooks used. (Recipe links go to Food Network's website.) 

Feelings About Others Feeding My Toddler

So I'm not really a mommy blogger, despite motherhood being the thing that defines this season of my life best. I start and stop writing about my daughter, even though there's so much to say I try to think about her privacy vs. sharing my parenting experiences.

(Total random aside: I read a lot of mommy blogs, and one version I can't stand -- but still hate read -- are the non-stop complainers. Yeah, I get it. Motherhood/parenthood is hard. But get over yourself/mix in a little bit of the wonder and joy now and again! /rant)

Anyway, this is something that's been bugging me and I want to write about it as a way to organize my thoughts and consider my next steps.

What Jane eats is important to me. I'm not a perfect hippie, but I aspire to some aspects of the lifestyle -- in particular whole foods free of chemicals, dyes and extra sugar.

So far I've been able to do an OK job for Jane. Being in charge of her meals means she is at least offered a variety of choices, all of which are good for her. She does not eat super sweet things -- including ice cream, candy, cookies, Kool-aid or even juice -- no matter how much I know she would love them.

That's not to say things don't slip in -- she eats her share of processed crackers, cheddar bunnies or rockets (Trader Joe's brand goldfish), pretzels, dip, pizza and salad dressing. She's tried cake (and talks about is a lot!) and gets whipped cream on her berries occasionally plus sneaks a few chips every now and again too. She can eat a grilled cheese the size of her head and loves quesadillas.

Let's just say that her diet isn't perfect but it could easily be derailed. Especially as she grows and is going into more situations where I'm not in charge of what she eats. A particular sore point for me is our church Sunday school. Jane was invited to join the preschool class this fall. I've decided to wait on letting her start -- partly because I want her to be fully potty trained -- but mostly because I don't want her being fed junk food every week.

I want our church to do better by our kids -- ALL our kids. I know I can't wipe out the mentality that "treats" for kids are a way to show love, which I think is a big part of the food selection at church. Truthfully I find myself wanting to do that often -- whether with food or toys -- so I fully realize this is a "pot-kettle-black" situation too. (In more ways than one, since my own diet leaves a lot to be desired ... Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper addiction are clear examples of that!) There's also the ease factor of most unhealthy foods -- packaged, keep forever and kids will actually eat them.

But I don't know if I've got the fight in me to even make the change for the littlest kids, and so I've put it off. I said I'll reevaluate sending her to the class when she's 3 in a couple months.

But every Sunday I feel a tug -- of what she's missing in the class in terms of spiritual education. The nursery where she is (and where I complained about the snacks there until they agreed to cheerios, pretzels and water) doesn't include any type of Bible story or praying, both of which Jane is ready for.

I shouldn't have to choose between her spiritual health and her physical health, and I know in both instances Shawn and I are the primary factor for now. I don't see a solution yet, except for getting into it/really pressing for better food choices at the preschool class level.

Or should I change? Am I being overly controlling about what goes into Jane's body? Is it inevitable that she consume junk, and therefore just go with the flow? It seems like the other parents at church take that approach. (And I'm not questioning anyone's dedication for their kids or their kids' health.) Can I hold it off a little longer?

How will I know?

Qdoba vs. Chipotle

My favorite foods are terrible. I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE cheeseburgers. I dig Tex-Mex, even quick service variety. Tacos are my jam (oh, Taco Mayo!), but I also like burrito places. While we were in Chicago Jane and I ate at a lot of quick service places out of sheer convenience and exhaustion, including Qdoba and Chipotle. It made me want to write a little comparison.

My history with Chipotle dates to the University of Maryland, when there was one walking distance from my grad school apartment. I'd never heard of it before and my roommate and I pronounced the word wrong for a while. AH. So it has good memories, but it loses out in the head-to-head comparison now.

Although this has nothing to do with why I like it less, at the Chicago Chipotle a random guy engaged me in conversation about my burrito. I was sitting there, with my toddler, wolfing this thing down and the guy, possibly homeless because he came in to just use the bathroom, talked to me about it twice -- on the way in and out. It was so weird.

From robertrazrblog on Flickr

I first went to Qdoba in Manhattan, and my favorite part was -- and still is -- the queso, which Chipotle doesn't offer. Also a plus for me now is that Qdoba has a kids' menu, which Chipotle does not. That means Jane can get a cheese quesadilla, beans or apple sauce, and a milk jug. Her options at Chipotle are severely limited. I guess I could try to feed her a taco? (In Chicago I just went next door and bought her a cheese sandwich -- wow nutrition on vacation).

My second favorite part of Qdoba is the beverage station, which is a new thing. They're also available at Noodles & Co. and Burger King -- the machines that give you lots of options for each drink. My pick is cherry vanilla diet Dr. Pepper.

Looking at their websites I see Chipotle offers alcohol, although I've never actually had a margarita there. (And that might be enough to sway my vote the other way, if I were dining without Jane that is. Mama loves her margaritas even more than queso!)

Back in BR I have access to both restaurants. Neither is particularly convenient, although the Qdoba is near Whole Foods and Chipotle is on the north side of campus where I never go. There used to be a second, ultra-convenient Qdoba near our old apartment, but it's closed and turned into some kind of bistro. Gag.

Taste of Chicago: Cheezeborger, Cheezeborger

 The Taste of Chicago was going on while we were in town, and it was only a few blocks away from our hotel. So Jane and I walked over one evening for supper. It was exiting -- and exhausting -- because of the huge crowds. There was an enormous line to get in, so I kept walking down Grant Park to another, significantly less crowded entrance.

Jane had fallen asleep in the stroller on the walk over, and she slept the entire time we were there. Oh well.

I bought some tickets and bought myself a Cheezeborger, Cheezeborger. I had never seen the SNL bit that refers to, but I did look it up when we got home. Way old and semi-funny. The burger itself was OK. It had been sitting in a cooler or something to keep it warm.

I bought Jane a piece of cheese pizza that she ate when she woke up on the walk back. There was fun-looking kids area, but I weighed the cost of waking her up, standing in line for the bouncy slide and then wrestling with her to go back in the stroller for the walk to the hotel. (She stayed in the stroller!)

I loved this city view behind Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. Apparently there are light shows after dark and every 20 minutes there is a water show when the fountains do different things. I didn't notice and only learned that a few days later on our skyline boat tour on Lake Michigan. Something for our next trip to Chicago!

In Chicago: Giordano's Pizza

This was the good stuff. Nom, nom, nom.