May 2014 Round Up

Addendum, Dec 31, 2014: Please forgive the lack of any other round ups in 2014. I thought I was going to at least go back and do February through April when I decided to go ahead with May, but that never happened, nor did any others for the remainder of the year.


From the 2011 Year of Memories Brag Book by Dani Mogstad

What did I read this month?
Not a ton of reading this month. Mostly stitching. I've started several books, but none are really "sticking."

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
* TV Time: All done with standard TV shows! Summer shows should start back next month, though I'm not exactly sure what starts when.
* New Films: Um, have I seen any new films? I know, summer movie season has started, and we haven't seen not one single thing! We're behind 3-4 movies already, and with as crazy as our June will probably be, I don't see us making it any time soon. Very frustrating. Oh wait, there was one movie: How to Steal a Million, with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. It was okay, but Charade is better.
* Old Favorites: We haven't even had movies on in the background much this month. Prince of Egypt, Treasure Planet, Planet of the Apes (the original), Rush Hour, Pacific Rim (not really a favorite, but we had it on for a while).

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?


It was so great to see my grandmother for Mother's Day. We hadn't seen her in over a year due to her starting cancer treatment in November and not really having the immune strength to entertain visitors (particularly the notorious disease carrying children and parents there of). We also saw my grandfather and put on a family baseball game for his entertainment over Memorial Day.



What gifts did I give and/or receive? What special or unusual purchases did I make?


I received some jewelry from my grandmother. She is apparently going through her "stash" since she's been homebound, and she gave me some lovely pieces. My favorite is this absolutely gorgeous ring! It's costume jewelry (not precious or semi-precious stones), but that doesn't matter. I absolutely love it! One of the few advantages of having very large hands for a woman: I can wear big honkin' rings.



I got new glasses, which seemed to have solved my headache problem. We also finally upgraded our phones. Hubby got a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and I got a Galaxy S5. Yes, this is an accomplishment because I *hate* learning a new phone, but mine was to the point that it wouldn't even hold a charge for 12 hours, and several of the recent app updates were extremely slow. I know it's new and fancy and all, but I'm going to miss my slide out keyboard (even if the new phone is much thinner and lighter, and still needs a case that is more "me").

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
We all managed to stay pretty healthy this month. (And yes, I waited until June to type that sentence, just in case!) Unless sitting on your feet like this counts as a health concern? (It doesn't now, but it might later in life! LOL)


What new things and Pinterest pins I try this month?
Squeezed in a few recipes this month, though I'm not sure if I'm going to make my quota of 101 by the end of June. I should have taken a picture of the Taco Stuffed Shells; they were pretty!

• Double Chocolate Brownies (pretty good)
• Homemade Enchilada Sauce (Red) - This Week for Dinner (did not care for this one)
• Homemade Enchilada Sauce - D*mn Delicious (really liked this one)
• Taco Stuffed Shells (loved this! used above enchilada sauce recipe)
• Honey Cinnamon Butter Buttons (used as toast spread)

What were my accomplishments this month?


Finishing my Midsummer Night's Fairy was by far my greatest accomplishment. I'm so thrilled she is done! Don't feel like I accomplished much else, honestly. My 101 Days (version 3) will be up in less than a month, and I won't get nearly as much done as I hope. Oh well, there's always Version 4!

What were Luke's accomplishments this month?





He passed the CRCT! He actually took the test in April, but we got his scores in May. He was comfortably in the "meets the standard" category for every section of the test, and even got "exceeds the standard" in two sections, social studies (?!!) and math (duh). He was also on the Principal's Honor Roll (all A/S) for the sixth straight semester.


Luke also received his baseball participation medal. The coach gave the stats on each boy. Luke had the highest batting average on our team (15/16) and was one of two with no strikeouts.


What were this month's disappointments or frustrations?
A bunch of little ones, both work and home, including one very spectacular child meltdown during mid-month, but nothing really worth mentioning.

Anything else noteworthy to record?
Can't think of anything.

Monthly Round Up concept courtesy of Katie the Scrapbook Lady, tweaked by me.
Currently feeling: finally rounding again in 2014

Cracker Pizza - Italian and Mexican

I saw the idea for Cracker Pizza over on Plain Chicken. I talked about it in my January Pinterest review. It really fell under "well, duh!" Make a pizza using a flour tortilla as the crust. I made it back in January with leftover Pizza Cup filling (1/2 lb ground turkey breast, 1/2 pound italian sausage, 1 jar pizza sauce; used to fill muffin tin cups lined with biscuit or pizza dough and topped with cheese). It was great! I can see it becoming a quick and easy meal in our rotation.



And then I remembered my friend Charisse talking about how she made quesadillas in the oven by smearing refried beans on them and adding toppings. ::ding:: Why not make a Mexican style cracker pizza? I had leftover taco meat, and I had both flour and corn tortillas in the refrigerator, so I tried both. We liked the flour better, but I think that's just personal preference. (I also used the smaller 6-inch tortillas, just because that's what I already had.) 1-2 Tablespoons refried beans, some taco meat, and some cheese. Bake. Done. YUM!



I think the only thing I'll do differently next time is preheat my pizza stone and bake them on that (italian or mexican version!) like Steph of PlainChicken did. I think that will help get the centers crisp in addition to the edges. Still, yummy, simple, quick, easy. My favorite!

Cracker Pizza
from PlainChicken.com

1 Large Tortilla
3 Tbsp pizza sauce
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese
toppings of your choice - pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, peppers

Preheat your oven to 425F. (I preheat my pizza stone in the oven.)

Spread pizza sauce on the tortilla - spread to the edge of the tortilla. Top with cheese and toppings. Place on cookie sheet or preheated pizza stone. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Currently feeling: ready to pizza-fy everything!

Roasted Potatoes - Fifth Time's the Charm?

What do you NOT see on these potatoes? Burned spots! I've been trying to roast potatoes for over a year now, and they're either not crispy (sometimes not even brown, though done) or they're burned. The last four times I've made them, I've burned them. Apparently, I'm just not good at it. As you can see, these are brown but not burned, and they were quite yummy. They're still not crispy, though. No idea what I'm doing wrong. I made Ranch Roasted Potatoes, for the record, baked them at 375 for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, then baked at 425 for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. That's more babysitting than I generally care to do for a weeknight side dish.

I did read something interesting, though. I did a search for "crispy roast potatoes," and I wonder if I'm using the wrong kind of potatoes? I absolutely love red potatoes, so that's what I've been using for my roasting. But most of the recipes I found recommended russet and/or yukon gold. One recipe even specified to use red potatoes if you wanted "creamy, less crisp potatoes." So maybe that's the problem? I'll try again with either russets or yukon golds next time. My brother also recommended Alexia Oven Reds, which are apparently frozen; just bake and you're done! Might look into them (or might have to wait until I can afford a larger freezer! LOL).

Currently feeling: baffled

January 2012 Pinterest Inspirations

I think all the things I did this month from Pinterest were recipes (that seems to be happening a lot!). Note: these are *not* my photos. They are the actual photos that are pinned on Pinterest, and they appear here using the "embed" button on the pin itself (thanks for the tip, Leah!).

Source: skinnytaste.com via Erin on Pinterest

Sesame Encrusted Baked Chicken Tenders - Very good and easy! Only change was I made 1 lb instead of 1.5 lbs (just two folks eating it). Will definitely add to the dinner rotation.

Source: ourbestbites.com via Erin on Pinterest

Dressed Up Sloppy Joes (Crock Pot / Slow Cooker) - This was quite good. I think it's a good recipe to use as a base and tinker. More Worcestershire, less sugar, and simmer in the crock pot (instead of on the stove top like I did).

Source: plainchicken.com via Erin on Pinterest

Cracker Pizza - Use a tortilla as a pizza crust (falls into the "duh" department). Did this with leftover pizza cup filling topped with cheese; super simple super quick dinner! Will probably do a Mexican version later (refried beans, taco meat, cheese).

Source: familyfreshmeals.blogspot.com via Erin on Pinterest

Slow Cooker Scalloped Potatoes - We didn't care for this recipe. I don't think it is the recipe's fault, just our taste buds. Did not eat leftovers, though.

Source: verybestbaking.com via Erin on Pinterest

Toll House Pie - Not bad. Dare I say, I think this might have had *too* much chocolate in it? I might knock it down to 3/4 of a cup of chocolate chips. Would also add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 to 1 tsp vanilla.

Source: americanfood.about.com via Erin on Pinterest

Chicken Parmesan Bake - This was okay. One or two bites of it did taste very much like chicken parmesan, but most of the time, it tasted like chicken with spaghetti sauce and some croutons and didn't really come together as a dish. Not bad, just not all I hoped it would be.

Source: eatingwell.com via Erin on Pinterest

Baked Taco Shells - If these had been just a little more crisp and a little less chewy, they'd have been perfect! (couldn't bake longer or they would have burned) Might need to experiment with different brands of tortillas; the ones I had were possibly too thick? Might also sprinkle a little salt on the inside before baking.

Currently feeling: ready to eat!

December 2011 Pinterest Inspirations (Recipes)

We were busy making Pinterest food over Christmas! Some Mom found, some I found; she made some, I made some. These are pictures of the actual food that we made. Here's a quick recap:



Peanut Butter Creme Cookie Cups (Pin, Direct Recipe Link) - This was Mom's find. There was no doubt that these would taste good, but I admit that when we read the recipe, both Mom and I were skeptical that it would work. There's no way dropping packaged cookie dough into a baking cup in a muffin tin was going to bake up the sides and then fall in the middle to create a well, all by itself! Well, the joke was on us; they did *exactly* that!!! It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. Instead of rolling the cookie in nuts, we just used the Pecan Ultimates which have nuts on top. We also used double the peanut butter filling, since one batch didn't seem to fill the cups enough for our liking. I think they would be absolutely perfect if we could figure out a way to do a bite-size version. Super simple, super yum. Winner!



Breadstick Trees (Pin, Direct Recipe Link) - This was another of Mom's finds, and also another case of "it can't be this easy, can it?" Yes, apparently it can! I thought they would puff up to the point that the tree would be unrecognizable, but obviously they didn't. We didn't sprinkle them with anything because we were afraid Luke wouldn't eat them if we did, but the definitely could have used a hit of something salty, either straight up Kosher salt (or other flaky salt) or maybe parmesan cheese.



Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup (Pin, Direct Recipe Link) - This recipe was my find, but Mom and Jacob did all of the cooking on it. All I did was eat it! (Wait, I think I opened the cans of tomatoes, too. We used garlic and olive oil diced tomatoes.) It was very good! We made it on the stove instead of in a crock pot, but I definitely think I will try it in a crock pot next time. I think the extra time involved would make it even better! (Sorry, it doesn't photograph well.)



Creamy Chicken Marsala Pizza (Pin, Direct Recipe Link) - Mom did all of the chopping on this one (we chopped the sliced mushrooms so they would be a bit smaller), but I did all of the cooking. Everyone seemed to like it. I thought it was quite good, but I would tweak it slightly, I think. I think I would back off the mushrooms a bit (good, but not my favorite) and use a bit more chicken. I would also ironically back down the Marsala wine some (it was sweeter than I like with that much in it) and add chicken stock to make up the difference and intensify the chicken flavor. Still very good and worth trying to tweak.



Swedish Meatballs (Pin, Direct Recipe Link) - These were *the* find of the week, possibly of the year. They are phenomenal!! It was one of the last recipes I pinned before we left for Christmas, and Mom saw it and thought it looked good. Boy, was it! Wow, were these yummy. We made them nearly exactly as the recipe called for, with just a couple of very minor changes. We used 90% lean ground beef instead of 80%. We whizzed up the onion in the food processor instead of grating it. Nutmeg and Allspice are both pretty powerful, so we knocked them down to half what the recipe called for, figuring we could add more in later if it needed it. We used Anne Burrell's trick of making a "tester" and thought the seasoning was perfect just as it was with the half level of seasoning, so we left it there. We actually only made a half batch of meatballs but a full batch of the sauce (effectively doubling the sauce recipe for the amount of meatballs we had) and served it over rice, though it would probably be good over egg noodles, too. The half batch of meatballs (with the rice and a side dish or two) was still plenty of food for 4 adults with two small lunch-size portions left over. They're not fast, and they are extremely unhealthy, but holy cow, are they fantastic! I can't wait until we can make them again. You know, next Christmas.

We tried some other recipes, too, but they weren't from Pinterest. Besides, these were really the best of the bunch. Hope you enjoy!

Currently feeling: yummy in my tummy

Pinterest Inspirations for November

Yep, still a wee bit addicted. I didn't get to as many of these as I would have liked this month. Things just got busy at work. This one was actually done in October, though after my original October Pinterest blog post, and it is worth going out of my way to mention.



"Best Ever Hot Cocoa Mix" is how this pin was described. (Recipe here.) I have to say, this was yum! I don't think it is as good as my recipe that is made on the stove (I'll try to post that to my recipe blog before Christmas), but for an instant dry mix that's ready at any moment, it is quite good. I made half a batch, and I have a small food processor, so I had to pulse it in 3 batches. As you can see from the photo, the color is a little odd with the dutch processed cocoa, more of a gray/black than the warm chocolate brown most people are accustomed to, but it tastes really good. I actually thought it needed to be just a touch sweeter, so I added some extra powdered sugar (1-2 tsp per serving; I didn't measure exactly). I'd love to figure out how to get some vanilla in there, and I think maybe swapping some of the powdered milk with nondairy creamer might be good. I'll tinker with it, if I get a chance, but even as is, it is very good.

There were also a few more recipes:



Asian Turkey Meatballs (Recipe Link) - These were just okay. I thought they were rather dry, heavy on the ginger, and not enough soy sauce. Might be worth fiddling with, but there are so many other recipes to try, I'm not sure I will.



Hot Chicken Salad (Recipe Link) - This tasted very similar to a recipe I already make routinely (Ritzy Chicken Casserole), but mine is easier, and I prefer the sour cream to the mayonnaise. I'll just stick with mine.



Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole (Recipe Link) - For comparison to the one above, I also made this one. It was quite good! I will definitely try again, maybe with some tweaks. I think I should have made it in a deeper and narrower vessel; it dried out a little at 9x13 size.

Didn't get to any crafts or anything this month like I'd hoped to, and as busy as December is looking, I don't have high hopes for that month either. Maybe I should make it a mini-goal to do a non-recipe related pin from Pinterest each month? We'll see.

Currently feeling: pinned

More Pinterest Ideas in Action

Yes, I am still addicted to Pinterest! LOL It's taking up less of my time these days, but I still check in nearly every single day. And I've put a few more ideas from there into practice. This is my current favorite:



Store hair elastics on a carabiner. (See pin.) This is so much easier and faster than the flimsy cardboard they come on! I find myself putting them back on the carabiner and back in the drawer much more than I used to. I got the carabiners from Amazon. They're not high quality (certainly not for climbing, and they say that), but I don't need them to be. For this, they are perfect.



This is more of an inspiration. The actual pin is about using chalkboard paint on baby food jar lids to store your spices. While that is a good idea, I like the tall narrow bottles that the spices I buy come in. The problem, though, is that I store them in this plastic bin and I ended up picking up half the bottles looking for the right one. But hello, why not just write the names of the spices on the lids like the pin does?! One silver Sharpie later, and I am a very happy girl.



And last but not least is a recipe, Taco Cornbread Bake from food blog Plain Chicken (see pin or direct recipe link). It was just okay. Part of the problem is that the cornbread is way too sweet, in my opinion. It would definitely be better with a savory cornbread, but I think it was also missing something I can't quite put my finger on.

So that's the latest on Pinterest. Anything you are loving from there at the moment? Do y'all like this, or would you prefer that I hush about it already? LOL Let me know.

Currently feeling: wondering what's next

Clueless In the Kitchen: New Recipe Blog

Yes, I know, another new blog. I haven't done as well on my thrifty blog as I hoped (funny how getting a job affects things), though it is still going and I am still recording my thoughts on generics and such as I try them.

But, in support of my "Try 101 new recipes" item on my new 101 Things list, I decided to start a cooking/recipe blog as "proof" of completion, instead of posting them all here. Bulletin board friends will recognize the title as my usual signature when I'm asking "dumb" cooking questions on the board: Clueless in the Kitchen.

I'll post all the new ones as I try them (with pictures!), plus some of our family favorites. I'm not sure yet if I'll have them post to my twitter feed or not (thoughts?). I'll list any new recipes in the monthly round up, though, so you'll know what I tried, and the photos will probably show up sometimes as Wordless Wednesdays and such. If I find something awesome, I'll be sure and post it here, too!

There's not a lot there right now, just a couple of recipes to whet your appetite (pun intended). I thought I would have more up there by now, but being so sick has prevented me from doing much of anything except surviving my day at work. Hope you enjoy following me along. I'm not much of a chef or any sort of food photographer, but I think it will be fun nonetheless. Bon appetit!

Currently feeling: like cooking

First Pinterest Experiments

So, for everyone who has thought "yeah, but will you ever really use any of those things you've pinned?", the answer is yes! In fact, I tried two this week. And I do have more invites now if anyone is interested/needs one. :-)

The first was this hair style (pin here). Cute, but I definitely need more practice.



The second was this recipe for what is "supposed to be the best cupcake/cake batter recipe ever." (Pin here.) They were supposed to be white (i.e. no egg yolks), but I was trying to separate the eggs directly into the bowl (stupid on my part), and I accidentally dropped one yolk in. I don't think it overly affected things, though.



These were pretty good. We certainly ate them all (and it makes a bunch; took us nearly a week). It's a doctored cake mix recipe, which I don't mind, though I think both my standard "cake mix additives" and my scratch butter cake recipes are better. I thought these were much better the second day. I don't care for the tang of the sour cream. It became less pronounced over the first 2-3 days, then started to reassert itself near the end. (I realize most folks don't have cake hanging around for a week! I wanted to test it before Luke's birthday party, so it was just us.) Not bad, but I have two recipes I prefer, so I probably won't make these again.

I tried a new icing recipe, too, though not from Pinterest. It was terrible! The texture was not good at all, which is a recipe problem, plus I misread how much salt to add, so the flavor was bad, too, which was totally my fault. Thankfully I only frosted 3 cupcakes with it for immediate eating, then I pitched the rest and made "the good stuff."

More pin reviews to come in the future, I'm sure!

Currently feeling: pinned

Bubble Pizza Recipe

A few people have asked me about the picture I posted for this past Wordless Wednesday. I'm flattered that it was a good enough photo to invite such curiosity! Funny, I didn't even want to post it, but the only other photo I took last week is the one that will have to serve as the "weekly Luke photo," so it was either this one or I'd have to duplicate. I'll post it again (just because I can, LOL). And yes, this is a real photo of what I personally cooked in my own kitchen.



This is Bubble Pizza, or Bubble Up Pizza, depending on who you read. Apparently, there are a zillion recipes out there for it, but I had somehow never heard of it. This particular recipe was found at Pass The Sushi (direct recipe link), and I did go back and add a link to the Wordless Wednesday post as well. I don't recall how I stumbled on the recipe, but I thought it was a great idea!

I like to make recipes pretty much straight up the first time. I might leave out something like red pepper flakes (you know me! LOL), but I don't go tweaking and switching things up a lot the first time around. It was quite good. Nice for something familiar yet a little different. The cheese did sort of disappear into the dish, so I sprinkled a little extra on top as soon as it came out of the oven. It was still plenty hot to melt beautifully! And I did have to cook it longer than I thought. Even with her "plus 5 minutes" suggestion, I needed another 3-5 minutes on top of that for the center biscuits to be done. But that made the edges darken up (brown food tastes good!), so I'm not complaining.

It was very tasty, but I do think it needs some minor adjustments. I couldn't find any cans of biscuits that seemed to meet her specifications, so I took a stab at it, and I don't think I had quite enough biscuits. I liked the fact that it was very "saucey", so I don't want to overdo it, but a little bit more would be better, I think. It was also a bit greasy, as in visible pools of grease in some places when I took it out of the oven. I was using turkey pepperoni, and I actually think I didn't put enough in (I started with maybe 1/4 cup; didn't want to overwhelm the dish, but it needs more), so I definitely need to find a way to cut back on the grease a bit in other areas. I used a pizza cheese blend, so I'm thinking maybe using 2% mozzarella or something instead would help. Also, I'll probably switch to reduced fat biscuits, which is honestly my usual preference, but I was worried about the amount of biscuits at the time, and "regular" were the only ones that looked right. Definitely worth keeping around and trying again! And I know one friend has already taken the idea and mentally run with it. She has promised to share if she comes up with something good.

Currently feeling: hungry