Another break

Hello!

Looks like I took a few months off, unintentionally, of course. Life just sometimes gets in the way. (oh, that...and pinterest).

I wanted to share that I recently have become obsessed with a few things.

Pickle Wrap Dip Ahmazing. And simple. 1 package of cream cheese, 1 package of beef lunch meat (I use Buddig) and some pickles. Chop the meat and pickles and mix. Add in a little pickle juice to make thinner if needed. Serve with crackers. I really like it with club crackers. YUMMY. The boys like it too.

Kim's Magic Pops.  They are similar to a flat rice cake, but bigger. and sold at HyVee. I've only had three flavors. My favorite is cheese. YUMMY. Emerson likes them, Spenny does NOT.

Oreos. Not just some plain ones, which are ok, but Oreos. It started around Valentine's day I think, Oreo was celebrating it's 100th birthday and they came out with these delish birthday Oreos. I thought, oh, fun, they say 100 on them, I'll bet Spenny will like that! Honestly, I don't think he got to try one. and I bought probably 5 ok, fine... 10 boxes of them total. LOVE them. They have the normal oreo cookie, but on the inside is Funfetti frosting. So good. I haven't seen any in stores lately, if you do, please let me know so I can buy them ALL.

This obsession with Oreo's led me to start trying other new and unusual Oreo products. Golden Oreos with Sherbert frosting (not such a fan, too sweet and the frosting literally looked like playdough). Regular Double Stuffed Golden Oreos (really good, a little more...lighter? than a regular Oreo), Golden Fudge Covered birthday Oreos (Seriously delish. only one cookie, frosting fudge and sprinkles!) Most recenty I just finished off the container of Breyer's Blast's Birthday Cake Oreo ice cream. Probably just as good as the birthday cake Oreos, if not better, since it also included ice cream.  I even have a Pinterest board now called All the things OREO. Can't wait to start cracking on the list.

Popcorn Shrimp. Ok this isn't mine, it's actually Spenny's. Who knew the pickiest kid alive would decide that he likes pop corn shrimp and actually asks for it 2 out of 3 nights? He doesn't get it that often, thank goodness, but loves it.

Fruit. We love fruit, especially in the summer when it's nice and fresh. We had a fruit salad last weekend that I loved, kids not so much. I read a recipe or 2 online and decided just to make my own. Sliced strawberries, bananas, apples and blueberries were the fruits involved. I made a sauce with cinnamon, honey and lemon juice then poured it one, mixed it up and enjoy. I think the kids were mostly upset that the fruit wasn't just fruit. Oh well, more for me :D

We also tried grilling pizza...not such a successful attempt, but might try again when we have more time and can plan ahead a little more.

That's about it that's happening in the food world around here.

Until next time :) (Which hopefully won't be another several months).

What, February already?!

Lots has been going on in the Duggan household, but I've been cooking quite a bit!

Couple weeks ago I put some pork loin in the crockpot on low all day, covered them in sauce and had bbq pork sandwhiches. Complete with homemade potato salad, which I had never made before.

There were a TON of recipes online and hard to choose from, but I called Grandma Jean and she walked me through it.

I used Red potatoes, quartered them (some I cut even smaller, as they were kinda big potatoes) then boiled them for a while until they were soft, but not mushy. While this was happening, I boiled some eggs. Apparently the best way to boil eggs is to put them in the pan and bring the water to a rolling boil. Then turn it off and let it sit for several minutes, then soak them in cold water. I think it was a little over 10 minutes that I let them sit and they were about perfect.

I then cut up the eggs, mixed with the drained potatoes and added in relish and some chopped celery.  Then I added in some mayo and mustard and mixed. It was pretty good! Needed something, maybe some pepper? But will def try making again!

This week I made Shredded Salsa chicken, which is a favorite of mine. I just put two thawed chicken breasts and salsa in the crockpot all day, and serve as taco meat. I also put it in rice and do all kinds of other things. So yummy, easy and healthy!

I've also baked some cookies and made homemade pancakes for the first time. It turns out baking from scratch isn't that much more work than the box, so been working on that.

I need some new tried and true crockpot meals...any ideas?

2012, Here I come!

This weekend we decided to make Hamballs. All the recipes I found, asked for milk, however, and my friend A is lactose intolerant, so I improvised based of of several recipes. Seriously...I dug out my old church cook books. 

Ham Balls

3 lbs ham loaf (available at Fareway and sometimes Hyvee)
1 sleeve of graham crackers, crushed (it was about 1 1/2 cups)
3 eggs

Mix and roll into balls. I used a 1/2 cup measuring cup to make some big balls.

Sauce:
1 large can of Tomato soup
2 cups brown sugar
2 table spoons mustard
4 tablespoons of cider vinegar

Mix and pour over the top. Bake at 350 for about an hour. Technically, you are supposed to baste the balls with the sauce while they cook, however I forgot and they still turned out fantastic! Served with some Mashed potatoes and green beans, it was a hit!

Last week I also made a lasagna using a Ricotta Alternative. I made a full batch, but in the future, will only do half batches, it was more than enough for an 8x8 pan of lasagna.

2-12 oz packages of extra firm tofu
1 tsp of Agave Nectar (Can also use honey)
2 t apple cider vinegar
2 t salt (plus more to taste)

Mix it up until you get the desired consistency and away you go! Personally, I could taste the vinegar still, even after it was cooked, but A said she didn't notice it and thought it was delish!

I'll (hopefully) be blogging more actively between this and 2 other blogs I have, which hopefully I'll eventually merge into one. But for now, I'll just link back to this one for the recipes.

Chow!

Cassie :)
(hahaha, get it!)