Hanna Jean

My Brother and Sister in Law welcomed a daughter into the world today ....
Hanna Jean was born at 4:32 est, she weighs 7 lbs 5 oz and she is 18.5 inches long
Welcome to the world baby girl , you are so loved!

Doh!

I was not able to participate in TWD this week , I wanted to so badly. Heather of Sherry Trifle chose Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread which is featured on page 212 of Baking From My Home to Yours By Dorie Greenspan.... Please check out how the other bloggers did! Hmm so what did I do instead.....OH! host my sister in law's baby shower ( she's being induced tomorrow eeeek!) and if I had remembered to bring my camera home with me you'd see pictures... here , and here. Haha. I will be participating probably in all 4 recipes for February. Check them out here


I will also be back later with my week two results of my little food budget adventure!

Week One

So , Its week one of my little experiment, and so far so good. I went shopping on Sunday instead of Saturday , and bought only what was on my list ( go me) .TM and I went kind of low key this week. I didn't come up with anything crazy this week , I went for warm , and easily reheat-able. TM suggested lasagna , sounded perfect. I also made "my" wings , cause they are SO easy.

The lasagna I made was my mom's recipe .. sorta and for the first time I used the noodles you didn't have to boil ( I had them in the pantry)

Mama Good Foods Lasagna

1lb ground beef
1lb sweet Italian sausage
2 boiling onions ( it was all I had)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
24 oz ricotta
2 eggs
1lb mozzarella
1 package no boil noodles
2 cans of pastene tomato sauce ( its the only sauce I use)
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoon italian seasoning



I browned the ground beef, sausage, and onion together. Mix ricotta with 2 eggs , season with salt and pepper.
Add sugar, italian seasoning , and garlic to canned tomatoes.

In a 9x13 baking dish layer ingredients , this is really preference.

1st layer sauce , then pasta noodle
2nd layer meat
3rd layer pasta , then ricotta mixture
4th layer sauce and mozzarella
5th layer pasta, and meat , and more ricotta
top layer sauce , and remaining mozzarella cheese

bake at 375 for 30 minutes .

Food Budget, Eating Out, Wasting Food

I was reading Rhodey Girl Tests yesterday and she was speaking on a great topic. Food Budget vs Calorie budget . She made some really GREAT points on how to reuse food if you find you didn't like an experimental recipe. She also referred to the the "paint swatch test" you all you totally check it out!!

So this leads me to ... well me. I am the WORST at pretty much all the topics she spoke about. Because of my husband's work schedule ...the Navy.. his second job...and the EMT classes he is taking we fend for ourselves most weeknights, it totally bites. I find on the weekends we both get so motivated to go grocery shopping and buy food for the week in hopes of making food in advance. Bad news though. ....it. never. happens. Sunday gets away from us , we almost never make our prepared meals. Then we waste all this food, (or end up freezing it) , this leads to wasting money ( which I am not a fan of) In addition to wasting money we wind up ordering out , or eating out . Separately of course.

Generally speaking I have no problem eating out, I don't have a problem paying for it , doesn't bother me if it is expensive , or a bargain. What I don't like to do is buy meals that I can prepare myself. Luckily that doesn't happen too often.

HOW do I break this habit?! ARGH!

Ok so this is how I'm going to do it . I will research meal on Monday , Tuesday and Wednesday I don't have a ton of regular meals that are easy to reheat , and tasty.

Thursday will be spent planning the actual meals , figuring out what I need to purchase
Saturday I will shop.
Sunday I will cook.

I hope to post all my adventures, maybe this blog will hold me accountable.

Look for my posts this weekend!

TWD Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

Its another Tuesday, and I was excited about this weeks recipe chosen by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake. I chickened out though, I went to safe route I left out the Pepper . I just was not feeling adventurous. I halved the recipe , and made mini muffins instead. I think they came out great! I loved the texture of the cornmeal. I also really enjoy the sweetness of the corn kernels in them. This recipe can be found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours. Check out how the other bloggers faired with this weeks recipe!

It's Almost Tuesday...

When I joined Tuesday's with Dorie , I knew I would have to be disciplined. To date I have not been, however I am really excited about the next recipe. Its Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins. I've never made a savory muffin. I imagine it would be like corn bread , except in muffin shape , but I think it will be much more. From what I've read it they complement chili really well. I'm going to try and talk one of my co-workers into making chili.

Look for my write up on Tuesday!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Chicken Wings Mans Best Friend

My Husband is in the Navy, he currently works in an office with about 10 guys , about a year and a half ago they had a potluck , where I was volunteered to make chicken wings. * side note * I find it humorous that all the guys got to eat the food but none of them prepared it * end side note* I didn't want to make hot wings , I am not a big fan. I searched for something that I could make extra of and take some for myself, after all I was making them. I settled on Cola Wings , they sounded yummy, and I am 100% faithful to Coke products. These wings were SUCH a hit that I was required to make them on average every other month for the last year and a half. One of the guys TM works with was sent IA to Iraq a few weeks ago , for his going away gift I made him 10lbs of wings.

Cola Wings

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pounds chicken wings, tips discarded
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can cola-flavored carbonated beverage
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Place chicken wings in a shallow casserole dish. Season with garlic salt and onion salt. Mix cola, sugar, and soy sauce; pour mixture over chicken wings.
3. Bake, covered, at 325 degrees F for 2 hours. Turn wings over every 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake for an additional 1 hour. Turn wings every 30 minutes or so.

---------------------------

Stove top Directions

I also made them on the stove the other night , much faster , less quantity


1.5 lbs Chicken wings , tips discarded
3/4 of a can of cola ( i prefer coke)
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil


coat wings in onion salt and garlic salt . Coat wings in olive oil and brown in pan over medium high heat. Add cola, brown sugar and soy sauce to pan. Cover for 20 minutes. Uncover for the remaining 20 minutes .

Eat and Enjoy!!

Baby Shower Menu

My Sister-in-law is due early next month, she and my brother did not find out what they are having...any who. My Mom and I are throwing her a shower in a few weeks. She has celiac disease so the menu for her is always challenging ..


I have however come up with the following....

cheese and crackers
Apple butter meatballs
Spinach Dip , and tortilla chips
Mini fritatas - we are going to mix it up a bit , some veggie and meat
Chicken Salad, with pecans , apples , and maybe grapes . I got my inspiration from Arby's. but I was thinking about doing a wrap.
I wanted to do a baked potato soup , but I don't think its shower food. Even though we will be in Rhode Island , and it will be cold.


For dessert we'll do...

mini cheesecakes ( no crusts)
macarons ( green and yellow)
sugar cookie pizza ( gluten free cookie) it'll have a cream cheese sauce , and a fruit topping
and maybe a cake , depending on if I can master the gluten free cake. Or we could do a or semifreddo

I haven't figured out the centerpiece yet. I will NOT do a diaper cake . For some reason they just do not float my boat. Anyone with some ideas please share. One idea that I did see that I liked was to take some string for a clothesline and hang it accross the room , and hang baby clothes from it.

Either these or these will be the favors. I am very excited . I threw them an engagement party and that was awesome , so hopefully this will be just as great!! I can't wait till my little niece or nephew comes into the world!!!

Meringue Drops- An Addiction

Even with all the Christmas goodies still in the house I was craving something more. I hadn't made meringue drops in a while and had alot of eggs left so I decided to make some. It worked out awesome , I was able to practice my lack of piping skills .

I used this recipe ....

I did make some changes though...

I used vanilla extract instead of almond
I set my oven to 275, instead of 225 ( this was my error , not something I planned)
I dyed some of the batter red


I had every intention of sharing these with my co-workers but they never left the house. oops!

These cookies are so insanely easy to make, I still have eggs left so I'll probably make them again!

2009 Already?

Sooooo... Its 2009! and this is is not entirely food related. however. Its fun!

In 2008 I...

helped welcome to the family  a sister-in- law
& 2 baby cousins , with one more on the way!
discovered my passion for cooking/baking
celebrated my 4th anniversary in Disney World
had my second foot surgery
ate quail , and  sweetbreads for the first time
did NOT have a baby!
increased my bowling average ( I still suck though)
put my feet in the atlantic ocean
put my feet in the pacific ocean
finally figured out what I want do with my life
realized (again) that my husband is the best thing that ever happened to me
started my blog
donated to cure childhood cancer
rid myself of the toxic "friendships" I had

ok , so my list isn't as impressive as I thought it would be , but it was a pretty kickass year! Heres to hoping 2009 will be even better!