Dollar Tree Steak Night, It's a Thing

About a week ago, Fred and I stopped off at the Dollar Tree for some assorted goodies that you can only buy at the Dollar Tree-- candy for a Sunday School class and poppers for Angela.

We were walking into the store and Fred caught sight of this sign that said Ribeye Steaks, $1.  I can't even tell you how much this tickled my funny bone.  I texted Angela and let her know that we would bring the poppers and some steak.  

We laughed and laughed over this $1 steak.  While we were at Dave and Angela's, we talked about it some more.  Fred, who knows a lot about these things, mentioned that we should look at the portion size.  Sure enough, we zoomed into my picture of the signage and found that the pre-cooked, frozen weight of each steak is 3.5 ounces.  One of the guys started laughing and said, "That's an ice cube!"  That started us laughing all over again.

Well, now, Fred sees these frozen 3.5 oz ribeye steaks as a challenge.  It's like he's Gordon Ramsey and he has to buy these steaks just to show what he can create with them.  He keeps mentioning that he wants to pick up some steaks from the Dollar Tree.  Please help me, because I see Dollar Tree steak night in my future.  Come on over, if you want to join me.

What's Cookin' - Simple Sausage Casserole

I haven't done this in awhile, but here is a crazy simple breakfast recipe that I tried out on Monday.  Fred and I weren't super crazy about it.  Fred thought it wasn't a stand alone meal.  It needed eggs or something with it.  I thought it was good, but the cream cheese made it a little too zippy.  Jonathan was over the moon for it.  He had two helpings on Monday and then he has been eating up the leftovers.  It is going to be one of his favorites that I will have to make often. 

Simple Sausage Casserole

Ingredients

1 pound pork sausage
8 ounce cream cheese, softened
2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the bottom of a 9x11 inch baking dish.
2. Cook the sausage in a skillet over medium heat until crumbly and beginning to brown; drain. Stir the cream cheese into the cooked sausage.
3. Roll the dough from one can of crescent rolls into the bottom of the prepared baking dish without separating. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Spread the sausage mixture over the baked crescent rolls; top the sausage mixture with the remaining can of rolls. Return to oven and bake until the top layer is golden brown, about 8 minutes.

Fortenberry Four Pizza Night

Somehow all those wonderful homemaking genes just skipped right over me.  I can see that my daughter is going to have some wonderful skills.  She is great with a loom and makes awesome beanies and is a great cook.  I guess her family will eat wonderful vegetarian creations and will have beautiful beanies to wear to school.  Of course, they will live in a filthy house.  Because, that girl does not clean.  Every time we gather to clean, she has some excuse like she has homework or her back hurts.  She has more excuses.  Some are original, but most are your run of the mill "I don't feel good" or "I am too busy" excuses.

I love Pinterest, because it makes me feel like I can do awesome things.  We usually try a new Pinterest recipe every weekend.  We do a slow cooker recipe on Sundays, so that we can eat right after church, because we are always starving.  Somehow, we always end up skipping lunch on Sundays, so the slow cooker is a lifesaver.  We've found some recipes that we love and some that were OK.  I don't think we found any that we just hated.

After all this "Pinteresting," I was feeling braver with my cooking skills.  I have always stayed away from bread dough.  I remember trying a few things when Fred and I first got married and it was a disaster.  So, I learned my lesson.  Homemade bread dough is not for me.  Feeling a little more confident, I am on the backside of 40 now and have considerable amounts of cooking under my belt, I decided to try homemade pizza dough.  Considerable amounts of cooking - might be an overstatement.  Spaghetti and tacos every week probably doesn't count.

Yesterday was Fortenberry Four Pizza Night.  I scoured the internet and Pinterest for the perfect pizza dough recipe.  I finally found one in my Pillsbury Cook Book.  A poll was taken and we decided we would make 2 pizzas.  Jess requested a vegetarian white pizza with spinach and Jonathan requested a BBQ chicken pizza.  Lessons were learned.  Jessica's pizza was perfect.   Hers was cooked on my Pampered Chef stone.  The BBQ pizza was on a metal pan  and was super extra crispy.  Jonathan ate it like a champ and didn't complain. I learned some lessons about my oven, and also learned that we need another stone. 

Overall, it was success and we had fun picking out our toppings.  Jonathan was more upset that I made him eat a big salad with his pizza than he was that the pizza was overdone.

The funniest (if you can call it that) moment of the night came when I was reading the directions and it called for shortening.  I was perplexed, because I didn't remember any of the recipes I read calling for shortening.  I went running out of the house.  I ran to Walgreen's first, because I could get in and out faster, but they only had vegetable oil.  So, I ran out of the store and went down to Kroger where I bought shortening and backing soda.  It also called for baking soda and I wasn't sure about the baking soda in my cabinet.  I got home and started to follow the directions and realized that I had been reading the directions for pretzels instead of pizza dough!  Fred and I got a little chuckle out of it.  Oh, how I can't believe that I was that stupid.  I just kept looking at that recipe wondering where all those ingredients came from, because I didn't remember them the first time I looked at the list.  I guess I also learned to slow down and check to make sure you are looking at the correct recipe, before you run to the grocery store for ingredients!

It was a fun night and we will repeat Fortenberry Four Pizza Night again!

The Next Paula Deen

Dear Friends,

One day my precious daughter will be the next Paula Deen or Rachel Ray, and you will see her on The Food Network.  Perhaps you will see her with her own show touting the merits of butta folks or EVOO. Or, perhaps her secret ingredient will be powdered sugar, because she seems to use it in everything.  Please just remember that her dear sweet and wonderful mother supported her cooking interests.  Don't think about how she mumbled and grumbled about the powdered sugar that was stuck to the cabinets or the dishes that could have been washed better or how expensive these endeavors were.  Just remember how she looked at her sweet daughter and said, "Great job, Sweet Pea!"   She really is talented... even if she is messy!  Do you think Paula and Rachel are messy cooks?

Puppy Chow Madness

Our resident cook, Jess, whipped up some Puppy Chow earlier this week.  It was quite the treat around here, let me tell you.  I have never offered up such a treat.  I'm not sure why.  I guess it just wasn't something  that I thought was scrumptious enough to serve and there were never any requests.  Jess was gathering recipes for her very own cookbook and came across a Puppy Chow recipe that she probably brought home from Young Women's.  It looked super easy and sounded yummy, so she decided to fix it.  The guys thought it was so delicious that they were concerned about eating too much of it (Jess made it to take to school).  They would cautiously ask if they could have some.   I probably had about 5 little pieces altogether, but the guys would have had the entire batch if left to their own devices.

If Jess keeps up with all this treat fixing, there will be a couple of people needing to watch their diet pretty soon..

Velveeta and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have shared some of the yummy dinners that we've tried lately.  So, I thought I would share a huge miss.  Saturday was a cold day filled with errands.  A day when I left my house tidy and came back after hours of errands to find it trashed.  No one wanted to cook.  We had bought a box dinner that we thought would be easy and a step up from Hamburger Helper.  We had it in our pantry just waiting for the moment when someone said, "What should we fix?"  It was Velveeta Cheesy Bake, Cornbread Chili.  The box mentioned that you could enhance the dinner by adding Rotel tomatoes and since our daughter is a huge queso fan, we have Rotel flowing like some people have wine.

Comments from the fam were, "This isn't too bad, I think I'll have some more!"  and "I REALLY like this;  how much more can I have?"

Comments from me, "Too. Spicy.  Hot. Hot."  and "I REALLY don't like this; I don't want anymore of this."

Thankfully, I had some chocolate chip cookie dough in the refrigerator.  Nothing cleanses the palate like chocolate chip cookies!  I was so desperate that I made the entire package.  I thought it would take a lot of cookies to cleanse my palate.  Turns out, by the time they were finished cooking, I decided I only needed two.  Who knew?  The boys that had seconds and thirds on the Velveeta Cheesy Bake needed to cleanse their palate too.  Not sure why if there dinner was so good. 

So, you decide... take Fred and Jonathan's advice and buy a box or take my advice and stay far, far away.  Either way, everyone needs a couple of chocolate chip cookies.  That is something we can all agree on!

New Hair and Birthday Dinner

Today is my birthday. I am 41. I keep thinking that I am really old. I look it. I feel it. And, I can't get the thought out of my head that I am on the backside of 40. It is all downhill from here. Before I know it, I will be approaching 50 and then 60 and then you get the drift.

I look in the mirror and I look so old and I have gray hair that I can't get to cover up with the hair color in the box. Not to mention it has been exactly 1 year since I had a hair cut.  I was scheduled to get a hair cut in March of 2012, but Jess came home from residential treatment.  Our lives were all turned upside down so I canceled it, and I apparently never made another one.  Who does that? 

I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment on Saturday for new hair.  I had Fred take a picture of it, but he doesn't profess to be a photographer.  You can't really see much about my new hair.  It is a little brighter and has more shape.  Other than that, it looks just like my old hair.  Oh, well!  Baby steps.

I had nothing special planned tonight.  I had pasta on the menu - both kid and adult friendly.  That is what I call a win-win.  To my surprise, Fred stopped off at the grocery store and picked up steak, lobster and corn-on-the-cob.  The kids will not partake in such a meal (crazy, I know), so Jessica cooked the pasta and garlic bread for her and Jonathan.  Fred fixed our meal, and we had coconut cake for dessert.  I am not a fan of cake, but I can be persuaded when you start adding in coconut!  I didn't have to lift a finger except to help clean the kitchen.  I could get used to this kind of treatment.

I might be on the backside of 40, but at least I have new hair and a family that is willing to fix a delicious dinner.

What's Cookin'

Let me tell you, our kitchen got a workout on Sunday!  And, that meant lots of cleaning for me.  It might have made me a little cranky, too.  One of the cooks is messy and uses more dishes than necessary.  However, I think I contained my anger and she won't know that I was frustrated unless she reads this post.  In which case, I can say that I am over it now. 

Jess tried her hand at making cake balls.  She made them by herself without any help.  I was impressed with her effort.  And, even though I was frustrated, she did do a pretty decent job of cleaning up after herself.

She wanted a fun snack for Super Bowl watching, but they were super rich.  So, we all sampled, but no snacking occurred.  She did make queso for the Super Bowl, though.  I think Jess could live on appetizers... never eating real food.

We have church from 1:00 - 4:00, so fixing dinner in the crockpot is a must.  I tried my hand at a Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup.  It was delicious and we will definitely be having it again.  Jonathan said he 'sort of' liked it.  The rest of us meat eaters (Fred and I) thoroughly enjoyed it.

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 15 oz can of sweet whole corn kernels, drained

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained

5 cups chicken stock

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green pepper, chopped

1 serrano pepper, deveined, deseeded, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

Monterey jack cheese, shredded

Tortilla strips

1. In the insert of your crockpot add all ingredients except for cheese and tortilla strips.  Stir ingredients to make sure seasonings are well mixed.

2. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.

3. Prior to serving, shred chicken.

4. Serve soup hot, topped with tortilla strips and cheese

Note:  We tried the strips all different ways.  Cut big, little, toasted, not toasted.  I think we will probably buy the tortilla chips that come in little strips and add those.  Actual tortillas didn't seem to work well in the soup.  Although, the soup was delicious.  Fred had seconds and tried it with leftover cornbread instead of the tortilla strips.  He crumbled cornbread in the bottom and poured the soup over the cornbread and said it was delicious.

Saturday Errands

Jessica and I spent Saturday morning running all manner of errands.  She wanted to get some snacks for the Super Bowl.  Originally, she had asked to go to a friend's house to watch the Super Bowl.  When we said no, she decided to throw a family party.  She made a shopping list of snacks that she needed.  I had a grocery list and we headed out Saturday morning.  We ran around picking up my Sunday School handouts, dry cleaning, prescriptions.  And then, we drove to Walmart where we both discovered that we were errand losers.  We had both left our grocery lists at home.  We had to drive back home for our list!

Fred and Jonathan got home to the smell of dinner in the slow cooker!  It was a big hit with the meat eaters (everyone except Jess).  I am not very domestic.  Cooking is not fun to me, but this meal was easy and delicious.  We will be repeating this yummy little number.

Slow Low Country Boil

4 quarts water

1/4 cup Old Bay Seasoning

1 tablespoon Kosher Salt, plus more to taste

4 Celery Stalks, cut in 1 inch pieces

1 Yellow Onion, diced

1 Head of Garlic, halved

2 1/2 Pounds Small Red Potatoes

4 Ears of Corn, Shucked and Cut into 4 pieces

2 Pounds of Smoked Sausage, Cut into 1 1/2 inch slices

2 Pounds Medium Shrimp, in the shell deveined

Directions:

In a slow cooker combine water, Old Bay seasoning, salt, celery, onion, garlic and potatoes.  Cook on low heat until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife.  4-6 hours on low.

Add the corn and sausage and simmer until the corn is tender, 1-2 more hours.  Add the shrimp and simmer until opaque, 20-30 minutes.  Taste the broth and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper, if necessary.  Serve immediately.

Note:  We cut this recipe in half, because the measurements above would have been way too much for our slow cooker.  Also, our shrimp was not in the shell.

We served with corn bread

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I was at the school watching some of our sweet youth from church in a play.  From what I understand, Fred and Jonathan LOVED it!