Fweuh!

I'm glad to have some of my baking done this year. Sometimes it is very therapeutic and other times just stressful! I think I felt a little of both this year. I made peanut-butter balls for Reagan and my bro-in-law John, Crispy Date Balls (see last year's post for the recipe!), I covered pretzels, and previously had made chocolate-covered cherry cookies. All of them tasted very good, but it sometimes makes me think I should think about buying things in the future! I probably never will because I think the homemade gifts are the best, but you just get bogged down sometimes and wish it was just more fun!! I think if I were with my friends or with someone I love working on these it would be more fun... shout out to Callee.... I wished you were there with me when I was baking! It would have been MUCH more fun with you! :)

Dinner in a Pumpkin

We have a special holiday we like to call "Pumpkin Day" and we are just about to leave to go pick out our pumpkin!
Several people have asked about this recipe, so I thought I'd share with anyone who has a pumpkin left after Reformation Day!

1 Medium Pumpkin2 lbs. hamburger, cooked and drained

Diced onions, and celery to taste

1/4 c. soy sauce

2 T. brown sugar

1 4oz. can sliced mushrooms (drained)

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups hot cooked rice

Preheat oven to 375. Cook rice. Cut a lid for the pumpkin. Using an icecream scoop or large spoon, remove the seeds and pulp. Dice onions and celery. Mix soy sauce, brown sugar, onions, celery, mushrooms and soup in a large bowl. When rice is finished cooking add and the beef to the mixture of soup and veggies. Spoon mixture into the pumpkin, place it in a medum pan or on a cookie sheet. Bake one hour until the pumpkin is tender. Scoop out to serve.

I hope this will be a favorite this year for RG!

1st Birthday Cake

This is a picture of the cake I will be making for Lil'Bob's first birthday!

SALSA!!!

You need:
2 cans tomatoes
lime juice or lime
1 bunch of cilantro (use disgression by your family's tastes)
1-2 onions ( sweet are best)
1tsp. southwest chipotle seasoning (McCormick is one who puts out this type of seasoning)
garlic (about one clove)
1. Cut into chuncks that your family likes or blend in the blender/chopper and mix all ingredients together well. 2. I like to serve this in individual bowls for each family member. 3. Combine with Mission or Tortilla Chips of your liking.

Lasagna

Okay, so here's what you need:

1 lb. of ground beef
1 package of OVEN READY lasagna noodles
shredded cheese
1 large container of cottage cheese

Spaghetti sauce

Brown your meat first! Do NOT cook your noodles. Start layering your pan (9X12 or so) with noodles, then cottage cheese, meat, sauce, shredded cheese... and keep layering until you run out of ingredients. (Mine usually only gets two layers.)

Serve with salad and french bread or whatever you like with your lasagna!

Crazy Salad

You need:

Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Carrots, Celery and any other veggies that you like
Blue cheese, or some other gourmet cheese
Ham or turkey
salad dressing

This makes an easy dinner sometime when you don't want to cook!!!