Crazy Balls

Tomorrow is Sam's first birthday party!  Which means today is mega prep time.  Mostly cooking.  Including these delicious little beauties.  A recipe for the most amazing meatballs ever that I snagged from my grandma who snagged it from the mother of someones boyfriend long ago.  So they are also known as Forbidden Balls.

Crazy Meatballs

2 lb ground beef

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 can cranberry sauce

1 can sauerkraut

1 bottle chili sauce

1/4 C bread crumbs

3 eggs

3/4 C brown sugar

Mix together hamburger, bread crumbs, soup mix, and eggs.  Form into meatballs the size of a cotton ball.  Arrange in a large casserole dish with lid.  Make sure there's plenty of room in the dish to allow for bubbling juices and possible overflow.

Meanwhile, in a sauce pan combine and heat till saucy the cranberry sauce, sauerkraut, chili sauce, refill the chili sauce bottle with water and add that, and brown sugar.  Pour over the meatballs making sure they are all covered.

Bake at 325 for 2 hours, uncovered for the last 30 minutes.

They are a wonderful mix of meaty, sweet, and tangy.  I love them.  And I would love to know who the mad scientist cook was who first thought "Hey, I bet if I throw cranberry sauce, sauerkraut, and chili sauce into something together it'll be awesome!".  Cause yeah, I never would have thought of it.

Freak

Cookies for Christmas

Like most people right now, I am a baking queen.  Cookies, cookies, and still more cookies.  By far the most fun cookies have been our Sugar Cookies.  Nothing special about the recipe, but I don't have Christmas themed cookies cutters.  So we have seahorses, fish, lighthouses, hedgehogs, bears, foxes, and crabs all decorated up with sugar crystals that will be brought to Great Grandma's house for everyone to share.

Then there's these.

Andes Pillows

1 Cup unsalted butter

1 Cup sugar

1 large egg

1t. Vanilla

3 Cups flour

1 t. baking powder

1/4 t.  salt

49 Andes Creme de Menthe Thins

Preheat oven to 400.  Use mixer to combine sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt.  Beat at low speed until soft dough forms.

Divide dough in half.  On well-floured surface, roll half of the dough into a 14x9 inch rectangle.  Arrange mints in a grid pattern evenly across dough.  On a sheet of waxed paper roll out the remaining dough into another rectangle.  Cover the mints, trim the extra, use pizza cutter to cut between the mints.  Gently press edges of pillows to seal.  Bake 7-10 minutes, or until edges are light brown.

FINAL VERDICT - I liked them.  They weren't nearly as hard to make as I was thinking they would be.  It was different and fun to do after 2 days of cookie, cookie, cookie baking.  Plus they're pretty darn tasty!

6 Months and Crabby

Yesterday was the annual crab feast at Ryan's house.  Always a good time.  A yummy, salty, spicy, nom nom time.  Eating crabs is always a messy endeavor.  Which is why Matt felt it necessary to make a crab poncho out of a trash bag.

Seriously messy.  Behold the carnage left by 6 adults consuming an entire bushel of crabs.

Sam, of course, is too young to be able to enjoy any of this.  But he was a good boy and spent most of the adult hog time playing with his toys and only occasionally needing a pat on the head or a flung toy retrieved.  And he was a sport and indulged his momma's need for odd pictures.

"I has crab hat?"

The evening was rounded out with a run to our favorite ice cream shop, board games, puppy love, and changing a poopy diaper on Ryan's coffee table.  I'm breaking in these menfolk properly to the world of life with a baby.  

Ah, yes.  Life with a baby!  A 6 Month Old Samuel Chase!  Has it really been half a year since I squeezed out my squishy?  That is amazing to me.  Time is flying and he's growing up way too fast.  Yet at the same time I love nothing more than when he figures out how to do something new or wakes up in the morning with feet that look bigger than they were when we went to bed.  I can't wait till our Dr appointment on Tuesday so I can find out what all his weight/height stats are now. 

My 6 Monther . . .

Can sit unassisted for long periods of time before teetering!

Has to be held back to protect him from his wild lunges at things he wants.

Adores the cats and longs to be able to chase them around the house.

Definitely knows the word "Kitty".  If I say it he looks around and searches the mythical beast out.

Enjoys his baby food!  Especially sweet potatoes, pears, carrots, and apples.

Loves his daddy, but wants his mommy for snuggles and comforts.

Babbles in what sounds like sentences.  "Dada bagoo aaaagggg haaaakeeeey!"

Mouths anything that can be drug to his pie hole.

Has become a squirmy bottle eater to the point that I sometimes dread it.

Has been known to undo his diaper if not wearing clothes.

Still can't roll from his belly to his back.

Gags himself when he get too into sucking his fingers/entire hand.

Has the cutest laugh I have ever heard and thinks just about everything is funny.

6 Month Owl y'all!

And then I went a little crazy and decided to take this photo.  I'm sure Morgan thought I had lost my mind as he watched me set up the photo and then ask him to help me with the baby.  But in the end I know he likes it.  I caught him staring at the photo on the computer and smiling.  And look!  Perfect way to celebrate his new found strength in sitting up!

Baby butt!  The cute kills me.  Love this kid!

Update 8/28/12 -  Just got back from the Dr and little mister is 18 pounds 14 ounces, 28 inches long, 18 inch head.  Cripes!  This means he is in the 75% for weight, 90-95% for height and head size.  Lord Humungus!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Look, a post without a baby in it!  What's the special occasion?  I got hungry and felt like randomly combining leftover stuffs in our fridge to see if I could make something yummy.  Mission accomplished.

Used:  1 carrot, 1/4 onion, frozen peas, 4 mushrooms, swiss cheese, butter, chicken breasts, salt, pepper, sage, and paprika.  But since this is a clean out your fridge kinda thing just sub in and out what you have.

Dice up your carrot, onion, and mushroom finely.  In a pan with a bit of butter saute for 10-15 minutes till tender and starting to brown.  Season with salt, pepper, and a few shakes of sage.  Add in a handful of frozen peas and then turn off the heat. You don't want to cook the peas, just defrost them since they are delicate and will turn to mush.

Next is the only slightly tricky part.  You have to make 2 cuts in each chicken breast  to form pockets that can be stuffed with your goodies.  To do so put the palm of your hand on the top of the breast and slice into it 1/3 down from the top.  Don't cut the whole way through the breast.  Rotate the breast and do the exact same thing 1/3 from the bottom.  Why 2 cuts?  It lets you shove more stuff in there.  Feel free to only make one cut, but you will be limited in your stuffage.

Lay a slice of swiss cheese in your cut and then make a small pile of stuffing on top of the cheese.  Fold chicken flap over and give it a gentle press to compact it all together.  Don't worry about it looking perfect and sealing.  Who cares.  Repeat with the bottom flap of each chicken breast.  Season chicken tops with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Spray a cooking dish, arrange, cover with aluminum foil, and shove it in the oven at 350.  I am lazy and have an infant prone to crying at inopportune moments.  Hence I don't preheat the oven for stuff like this.  So into a cold oven this went, cranked it up to 350, and 45 minutes later I pulled them out and they were perfect! 

Ta da!

Oh yes!  It was quite delicious!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Hmmmmm. . .mufffffinnns.  Really, next to pie, is there anything better than a muffin?  I mean, pie is the ultimate food form.  No doubt about that.  But a muffin?  Please.  Yes, please.

Make that Shit:

1 3/4 cup flour

2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 T cinnamon

1/3 cup shortening or butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups finely diced apples

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Make sure you dice those apple bits nicely to ensure even and thorough cooking.  Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, adding flour and apples LAST.  Divide evenly into muffin cups.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Makes 15 muffins.

If you have ever made a boxed apple muffin mix you know that the biggest problem are those little dehydrated apple bits that are few and far between.  Not here, my friend.  Tons of apples.  Sweet slivers of apple joy in every bite followed by that wonderful cinnamon smell and taste.  Couple this with a cup of coffee and you have a "I found my happy place" breakfast.  Also - 5 Weight Watchers points per muffin.  Word.

Meatless Mexican Stuffed Peppers

I've been trying to find healthier things to eat for dinners.  Healthy, not tasteless.  Nothing makes me run screaming back into the arms of processed yummies faster than gross healthy food.  'Nuff said.

You will need:

2 bell peppers

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup diced tomato

3/4 cup rice

3/4 cup black beans

1 cup shredded cheese

salt, pepper

red pepper flakes

cilantro

What you do:

Half peppers and remove seeds/core.  Prepare rice in small sauce pan with 1/4 t red pepper flakes to put some heat in that bland rice.  Now you are going to make layers in the peppers.  Thin layer of rice, thin layer of tomatoes, salt & pepper, layer of black beans, layer of onions, top with cilantro.  Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Top peppers with cheese and return to oven for 3 minutes to get things all melty bubbly good.  Makes 4 servings.

This recipe is fat husband approved and really good for you!  In fact a little bird told me each pepper half is only 5 points on the Weight Watchers plan.  Making this an excellent side item for you dinner.  Heck, it can even work on it's own as a great lunch!  Even with the red pepper flakes in the rice this dish is not spicy at all.  At least I don't think so.  If you, like me, like a little heat just add hot sauce as a layer or put some chili powder in with the salt & pepper mix.  Perhaps even a little squeeze of lime if you're feeling fancy.  It is Oh So Yum.

37 Weeks

1.  I am very uncomfortable.  The top of my belly aches with tightness.  I can't lift my left leg for some reason.  Sleep is a joke.  My 12 pound cat seems to think the belly shelf is his personal perch and keeps jumping on it no matter how many times I yelp in pain and push him away.  But I am thankful to be in this uncomfortable state.  I can't wait to finally be a mother.

2.  I have said F You to the weight watching.  I have managed to make it this far with only 18 pounds gained.  Which means today I bought 3 boxes of these.

Judge all you want.  Shake your finger at me for consuming empty calories.  I don't care.  I have 3 boxes of happiness.

3.  Today the Dr said I am 50% effaced and 1 centimeter dilated.  Which is great!  And it means I should make it to my baby shower on Sunday without problem.  Yay upon Yay's!  Then come Monday I'll be doing as much walking and raspberry leaf tea drinking I can force upon myself to bring on baby.  

4.  Happy Valentines Day!  Dinner at the Schmankerl Stube (my favorite German restaurant) on Sunday with the boys was our V-day celebration.  So today I'm cooking dinner and a dessert of some kind for the hubby.  Speaking of dessert - take a look at the deliciousness that is the Schmankerl Stube raspberry cake.  It's their special dessert for Valentines weekend, the only time you can get it.  And it is delicious!

Baby & Bean Stew

Part One:  Baby
This morning was our 32 week/8 month Dr appointment with growth ultrasound.  Baby, as yet unnamed,  is measuring 2 weeks ahead (5 pounds 3 ounces) and is in the 73%.  I don't quite understand the % thing, gonna have to look that one up.  They explained it as he is big, but not THAT big.  So yay?

I was surprised to find out that in the past 2 weeks I have lost 3 pounds.  Making my grand total for weight gained so far 11 pounds, 5 of which is pure baby.  Once I thought about it the weight loss kinda made sense.  I just spent a few days packing up 58 boxes of computer parts and merchandise.  That ain't the easiest thing to do when you are quite pregnant.

I wish I had ultrasound photos to share!  Baby is head down and tucked way down low, so they couldn't get any profile shots.  So they didn't print out any photos from the ultrasound for us.  Sadness.

Part Two:  White Bean Stew
Since I am going to be home and cooking dinners - I started looking up recipes I have been wanting to try.  I figure I'll slip one new recipe a week into the mix to see if I can find some new things we both like.  I'm also making it my goal that twice a week we have a meat-free dinner.  Morgan does not like the idea at all, but he certainly tore into this stew last night.  So win for team veggie!

The cutest little mini bottle of wine ever!

One thing required for this stew that I was a little iffy on is the chard.  This is our second attempt at making something with chard.  The first one failed miserably.  But this was a perfect addition to the stew.  And the white wine adds such a wonderful fragrance and flavor.  It was amazing.

Finished product was very tasty, even better when drizzled with a little red wine vinegar.  The recipe calls for sherry vinegar, but we couldn't find any and the red wine vinegar was delicious with it.  This recipe was a WIN all around.  Easy to make, fairly simple and cheap ingredients, and just plain wonderful.

Gum Drop Madness

As holiday gifts for my employees and coworkers I bake.  Cookies and banana bread is the usual holiday goodies assortment that I package up for them.  This year I remembered the Bakerella post about gum drops and decided to give it a try.  So those I work with will be getting a little extra something this year.

Too stinkin cute!  These were time consuming (take a couple of days to make properly - but I didn't let them set as long as you are supposed to) but pretty easy to make.  Although I will warn anyone thinking of making these that when boiling the mix on the stove it goes from gentle little bubbles to OH MY GOD I'M EXPLODING ALL OVER YOUR KITCHEN in about 1.8 seconds.  So be careful.  It's both burny and sticky.  Like sugar lava.

Hopefully everyone likes them!  I flavored them orange or raspberry.  I tried them and think they are too sweet, but then I've never been a gum drop fan for just that reason.  I just wanted to try making something new. 

More of the Same, Less of the New

Today I had my 24 week Dr appointment. I was shocked to discover I have not gained any weight since my last appointment. So strange considering how much bigger I am. Baby seems to be fine and I go back in a month.

The 8 quarts cooking program is going great! This week we are devouring Slippery Chicken Pot Pie. Something I now realize is not a well known dish. At least that is what the confused and repulsed expressions on others faces leaves me to believe. If you are unfamiliar, just think pot pie with dough patches instead of a pie crust. Kind of like a stew. . . Kind of. Trust me, it's good.

Hard to believe it's only Tuesday. Yesterday at work was stressful enough to make me wish it was Friday. I mean, wow. Hope the rest of the week flies by!

8 Quarts of Love

Last Sunday we made 8 quarts of veggie soup and it lasted us for 6 days. 6 days of lunches, dinners, and on a couple of occasions both for the day. It was good. Really good. And it cut down on the number of food truck lunches for the husband, and food court purchases for me. Healthy, hearty, and delicious.

We decided to repeat this idea. Hopefully we can do this through the fall and winter season. These one pot cold weather meals are ideal for my eating for baby goals. So now we have 8 quarts of stuffed cabbage rolls. Hmmmmmmmmm. Sooooo goooood.

Beef Bourguignon

We broke out the cookbook today.  To be more exact, we broke out the Julia Child Beef Bourguignon recipe.  My God.  No really.  I had no idea it was this good.  If you have a few hours to kill do yourself a favor and make this.  If you really want to impress someone have them over for dinner and serve this.  If you want to induce a food coma of ecstasy, serve this.

Let us begin.

You'll need to hit the grocery store and the liquor store if you happen to live in a state where the two can't be purchased at the same place.  Like Maryland.  And pick up some crusty bread for sopping up sauce.  You'll thank me for that one.

You are going to do a lot of cooking in stages.  This seems wasteful.  But it builds a wonderful fond on the bottom of your pan and I think the end result is totally worth the extra effort.  Brown chopped bacon.

Remove bacon, brown cubed stew beef.  See the fond?

Remove meat, brown onions and carrots in same pot/drippings/FOND.

Now you can combine everything together again and deglaze with just about an entire bottle of red wine and add to that some beef stock.  We found unsalted beef stock to control the sodium level and I would do the same next time.

This is what you are left with.  A disgusting purple soup that really doesn't smell very good.  It looks like crap.  I was worried at this point.  But it's okay.  Shove it in the oven for two and a half hours and work on your onions and mushrooms in the meantime.  Cause at the end of that long wait, after you have stirred in your sauted mushrooms and onions, you have this.

Savory from the wine, beefy, sweet from the onion, and bread sopping good.  Eat it as a stew and make sure you have a comfy napping spot ready.  You'll need it when the food coma kicks in.

My Favorite Employee Has Left

This woman I speak of is one of the best employees I have ever had, period.  Out of every place I have ever worked she is #1 of the people I have hired and trained.  I am going to miss her like crazy and shake my fists in the air with frustration every time I find myself in a scheduling jam.  But, shit happens and this woman desperately needed a full time job.  Not the crappy 16 hours a week I was able to give her.  See, my company does not allow Guest Services to have full time employees.  Full time employees are due things like insurance, vacation time, all kinds of possible benefits.  My company does not like that.  It's why I am listed as a member of the Marketing staff instead.  It was the only way to get ONE full time member of management for that department.

To let this employee know how much I care and how much I am going to miss her like crazy I did what I always do.  I baked a cake.  A colorful and interesting cake to reflect her very unique personality.  A checkerboard cake.

Start with 2 rounds of different colors.  I went with green and pink.

Then find items you can use to cut the cakes into rings with.  I used a juice glass for the smallest ring and my triffle dish just happened to be the right size for cutting the larger ring.  Try to gently brush away the crumbs still sticking to the edges of the cuts to allow for a less messy assembly in the next step.

Now comes the fun part.  But also the part where you find yourself holding your breath a lot while you carry delicate rings of cake back and forth.  To reassemble the cake use your icing as glue.  Spread the thinnest layer of icing on the cut edges and snug the contrasting color ring into it.  Repeat for the top.

As you can probably tell, my cake layers are not even.  My oven seems to cook my cakes unevenly, even if I rotate the pans while cooking.  I fixed this issue by leveling things out on the top layer.  Just use a long blade knife, like a bread knife, to shave those top layers down to a normal looking cake dome once it is all assembled.  

And you are left with a checkerboard pattern when you slice the cake.  My now ex-employee was very surprised and really liked the cake.  And of course the office was thrilled that there was cake.  Because cake is awesome.