Chocolate- Peanut Butter- Ritz Sandwiches

The original post can be found here.

My aunt Elsa is one for always having the best snacks and homemade treats. These little sandwich cookies are one of my favorite desserts. We just call them Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Ritz Sandwiches, but they should have a better name considering how delicious they are.

We'll just pretend they are calorie free!


You can definitely involve your children in making these treats, and you can often find the ingredients on sale (usually in a buy one get one free deal). Does it get any better than that? 

Ingredients:

• Ritz crackers
• Peanut butter
• Melted dipping chocolate (packaged as almond bars)

Directions:

1. Using peanut butter and Ritz crackers, make little sandwiches.
2. Dip Ritz peanut butter sandwiches in melted chocolate.
3. Set on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and put in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
4. Sit back and enjoy.

Simplicity | Step Three

The original post can be found here.

How are you all doing with the idea of simplicity? The idea of simplicity is something so many of us want to achieve, but we must also balance that with the reality of the times we live in.

Believe it or not, I originally was going to go about the "simplicity" thing in a very complicated way (go figure!). I decided to break down what I was already doing, rethink my steps, and then add to the process over time. Things stick a lot better when they are done in steps. And everyone in the house gets to learn the steps along with you without overwhelming them. They begin to fall in with the plan without realizing it.

If you are new to the blog, then before reading today's blog, I would encourage you to check out the last two blogs here and here.

Today's Simplicity point is.....

Plan your meals at least one week ahead. 

I'm sure this is not new (or news) to many of you. You may even plan a month at a time. High five! Planning my meals by the week has always helped me considerably in planning my day, grocery list, and budget. Let's see why and what an effective way to go about this is.

1. I can see what our plans are for the week.

If I need to have a quick meal, have enough time for an elaborate meal, if we are having company, or if we will even be home for dinner on any given day, I will be prepared to feed my family each day. Why plan a meal and purchase the ingredients for a day we will not even be home for dinner? By checking the calendar and planning ahead, we will be more prepared and waste less.

2. It allows me to use what we have in our pantry.

By planning my meals, I know what recipes I will be making, and I can gear them around what is already available in my pantry. Again, we will spend less if we cook based on a plan, and base that plan around what we already have available to us.

3. I am able to grocery shop with a purpose and not without a plan.

As I plan my menu, I have my grocery list beside me. As I pick out my meals, I am able to go to the pantry, fridge, and freezer to see what I have and what I need to pick up. Write down your needs immediately and precisely according to what your recipes requires. Nothing is worse than going to the store and bringing home the wrong size can or wrong amount of items.

4. By planning ahead, I can see if I need to let my meat defrost during the night.

For example, last week we had a whole, little chicken for dinner. Because it was a slow cooker recipe, I needed my meat to be defrosted and ready to go in the morning. Because I knew what we were having the next day, I was able to have it ready for the slow cooker instead of looking at a frozen piece of meat in the morning and wondering what I was going to do with it.

5. By planning ahead, my husband knows what he can expect for dinner when he gets home.

He loves that! And hey, he works hard, so he deserves to know that I have a great meal waiting for him when he gets home.

6. By planning ahead, I am able to save money!!!!

Planning meals based on store sales, coupons, and stackable deals (store sales and coupons- my favorites!) will help you save. Buying this and that because I may want to use them at some point will make you grocery bill larger than necessary. However, don't be afraid to stray off of your planned list if you see a great sale on something you will use (dry goods, canned goods, etc.).

Last week, our local Sweetbay was having a going out of business sale (25% of their store brand products). I went ahead and purchased quite a few things that were not on my list, but they were all ingredients that I use in our favorite recipes or that would make delicious but quick dinners. I have already figured out that I will not have to purchase dinner items (including meat) for the next four weeks!

Planning ahead will take between 15-30 minutes of your time. But it will relieve you of stress throughout the week. You won't find yourself standing in front of your fridge, with the clock ticking away in the background, thinking, "What am I going to do for dinner tonight?"

And please remember, the number one rule of wives, mothers, teachers, and women in general... be flexible! If your husband wants to take you out to dinner one night, don't say, "Oh, I have such-and-such meal planned for tonight."

Go!

He is probably just trying to thank you for having had such great meals planned for him. If it is already cooked, just save it for the next night (I always keep one night as left over night since we always have left overs). If it isn't cooked yet, you can always move that meal to next week's schedule.

Family Dinner | A Challenge

Family dinner.

Nowadays, it sounds like a luxury for a family to be able to sit down at the table together in order to have family dinner.

Between soccer practice, baseball season, dance class, piano lessons, play dates, and a whole host of other activities and distractions, families are not sitting at the table together as often.

What are the benefits of family dinner?

• teen substance abuse is lower
• healthier eating habits are developed
• teen girls are less likely to contemplate suicide
• it can be a prevention measure to childhood obesity
• adolescents are emotionally healthier

These benefits alone seems well worth the effort of meal planning and designating a time for the family together around the table a few times a week.

Why do we do it?

• Because we enjoy our time together around the table.
• Because our children are learning proper table manners.
• Because our children are learning how to take the time to sit and eat with us and engage in conversation.
• Because our table has seen lots of laughter and messes.
• Because Brian and I grew up having family dinner, and we want to pass along this great tradition to our own children.

I am joining bloggers across the nation in encouraging families to sit down together to enjoy a family dinner.

It is a time together that you will not regret.

Studies for my post came from here and here.

Apple Dip

Today, I am joining Jill at Blessed Beyond A Doubt in her apple themed blog hop.

In the past, I shared about a family night that we did here, that just so happened to be apple themed. So I thought I would share a recipe that we used that night for a quick and (I guess) healthy snack that we enjoyed, and little people can definitely help to make.

We simply called it Apple Dip. I realize that it isn't a flashy, original name, but, hey, it's short, sweet and to the point. :)





Apple Dip

1 6 ounce cup of yogurt (we used vanilla, but key lime also works well)
1-2 tbsp. peanut butter
Several apples
lemon juice

Put the peanut butter and yogurt in a non breakable bowl and let your little one stir until totally combined.

Dip your apple slices in the lemon juice to keep them from browning.

Dip sliced apples in your apple dip and enjoy.

April's Meal Plan

I am loving the meal plan we have been doing for the last two months. It makes dinner time so much easier for me since I am in a sense "batch cooking" and freezing one week's worth of meals, the kitchen stays cleaner, and we are spending less on food than ever before (always a good thing!).

One thing I am finding is that Wednesdays are great for leftovers. Because I have to be out the door with one or both children in tow (depending on Brian's work load that day), cooking that evening would be impossible. We now have fewer leftovers left over, and all of our food is being used.

As mentioned in the past, I plan out two weeks worth of meals and then repeat. We eat the same meal twice in one month, but because there are two weeks between, no one gets tired of a particular meal.

April 1-5

Monday- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and a veggie side
Tuesday- Pasta e Fagioli (super easy! Sounds much harder than it is)
Thursday- Past and Sauce
Friday- Baked Ziti

April 8-12

Monday- Broccoli Supreme (Miss Nancy's recipe- my brother-in-law's sweet mother)
Tuesday- Easy Cheeseburger Pie
Thursday- Crock Pot Chicken Chili
Friday- Beef Stew w/ Barley

Repeat for the next two weeks.

Because Brian's birthday is on Thursday the 25th, his requested birthday dinner will be on that day, and we will have the Crock Pot Chicken Chili (originally planned to fall on that day) on Monday the 29th instead. Tuesday the 30th we will have Slow Cooked Mac and Cheese.

As I have said before, this menu is not set in stone, but it does keep me from looking in the pantry and wonder what is for dinner on any given night.

Next month, Lord willing, my meals will be planned strictly from what I already have in the freezer and pantry.

A Month of Meals

I decided to try a different approach to my meal planning this month. Rather than trying to come up with a different meal for each night I chose to make my meal plan for two weeks worth of meals and then repeated those two weeks to make up four weeks worth of meals.

I chose meals that I already had some of the ingredients to in my pantry and that I knew were liked by my family. I then made my list of items I still needed to purchase and looked through my couponing sites and store flyers for sales and deals.

I packed up the kids and off we went to my favorite grocery store, Publix. We walked in the door and Ian immediately began calling out "Cookie! Cookie!" and pointing to the bakery. The guy behind the counter smiled as he heard us coming his way. Now that my kids had a cookie each, we began our shopping.

For 20 nights of dinner meals (plus a few odds and ends for breakfasts and lunches), I spent $118. That was roughly $29.50 for dinner for each week.

After arriving home, we had lunch, the kids went down for naps, and I got to work. Because some of my meals were going to be slow cooker meals, I went ahead and pre-chopped everything so none of my veggies would go bad waiting to be used for their meals. I then put together the ingredients by meal recipe into labeled Ziploc freezer bags.

Here is our list of meals for 4 weeks along with links where you can find their recipe.

1/28 Mon.- Chicken and Rice Bake (one of my favorite recipes)
1/29 Tues.- Chicken Soup (freezer)
1/30 Wed.- Mac and Cheese w/ Chicken Nuggets
1/31 Thurs.- Chicken and Stuffing Bake
2/1 Fri.- Crockpot Cheeseburgers

2/4 Mon.- Creamy Farmhouse Chicken and Garden Soup (slow cooker meal- 8th recipe down)
2/5 Tues. Meat Stew (slow cooker meal- 2nd recipe down)
2/6 Wed.- Sandwiches for us/ Brian had left over Meat stew from Tuesday
2/7 Thurs.- Pasta and Sauce (pre-cooked, just need to thaw and cook pasta)
2/8 Fri.- Baked Ziti (Made from the leftover sauce from yesterday's meal)

Repeat above for 2/11-2/22

Dinner has been a breeze these last two weeks! Tonight we will have baked ziti and then on Monday we will begin at the top of the list again.

I did check with Brian before doing this to make sure eating the same meal twice in a month was fine with him. He had no problem, especially since I threw in a few of his favorites.

I don't usually plan out our meals for Saturdays or Sundays because we may go on a date or we will just eat leftovers those nights. I like making sure we don't waste any food.

I have had to go back to the grocery store since my big trip, but that is for things like milk, bread, cold cuts and fruit- not for anything actually related to making dinner. And, of course, for our "Cookie!"

Healthier Eating

Diets are so restrictive.

You can eat this. You cannot eat that.

I lived that way for 6 and a half years before becoming a mom.

Yes, I was a size 4 at my wedding, but I could not enjoy eating in any way shape or form. I looked at food as being either an ally or enemy in my war against weight. I ate foods I couldn't stand because they would keep me skinny, and I would look longingly at foods that I loved because they would make me gain an ounce or two.

For the last five years, I have not been as careful with my food choices as I once was. I am now a size 8, and while that is not the end of the world for me, I know that the correct choices in food are not for my weight but for my health.

Both of my parents are/were diabetic (Mom passed away due to diabetes related health complications), so I need to make healthier choices in food so that I can do my part in keeping my body (which the Bible calls the temple of the Holy Spirit) as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

But the trick is getting past what is lurking in my pantry, fridge, and freezer.

As you know, I am a couponer (I am by no means the "queen of couponing", but I really like seeing the amount I saved and the amount I spent match each other or better), so many times the items I have bought are processed, packaged, frozen or canned foods. I'm pretty sure that does not equal healthful.

Brian and I have been talking a lot about getting our bodies back into "shape" as in being healthier than we are currently. I tend to suffer from occasional migraines, and Brian has been having body aches and back pain for a couple of years now.

One way that we are going to go about this is by eating one healthful dinner each week until I can empty my pantry of all of the other stuff that is in it (I can't stand the thought of throwing perfectly "good" food away). Sounds ridiculous, huh? But if you consider what we as a family tend to eat for dinner- pasta and sauce with ground beef, shepherd's pie,  casseroles with cream soups- that does not equal a healthful meal. It equals a filling meal. By healthful, I mean a veggie/ whole grain/ "real" food based meal.

However, I don't want this to be phase that we go through. I want it to be a change of lifestyle for us.

I need to change what my children see as being "real" food. A sandwich can't be the only picture they have of lunch. And I know for a fact that Ian thinks Cheerios counts as its own food group. Fruits and veggies are their friends (and mine, too).

Hopefully by changing our food intake, we can see a difference in the way we feel, our energy levels (so that we can start exercising consistently), and our enthusiasm in getting out there and living life.

And a little weight loss wouldn't hurt either.

November Meal Plan

I have always been one to make my meal plan one week at a time, but I decided to really stretch myself and plan for the entire month, remembering that my meal plan is not written in stone and is subject to change and life happening. I do not have meals planned for Saturdays and Sundays because we tend to be a bit more spontaneous on weekends, and those are really great nights for leftovers.

Thursday- Rice and beans w/ shake and bake chicken (triple the beans)
Friday- Pasta w/ sauce (double sauce)

Monday- Chili over sweet potato
Tuesday- Broccoli Supreme
Wednesday- Mac n cheese and nuggets
Thursday- Baked ziti
Friday- Chicken soup 

Monday- Rice and beans and lemon lime pork chops
Tuesday- Tuna helper
Wednesday- Undetermined plans
Thursday- Chili over rice w/ corn bread pudding
Friday- Broccoli casserole w/ mashed potatoes and chicken cutlets (double the broccoli
            casserole)

Monday- Hamburger Helper
Tuesday- Rice and beans w/ shake and bake chicken
Wednesday- Undetermined plans
Thursday- Thanksgiving Day
Friday- Chicken and stuffing bake

Monday- Cheeseburger Pie
Tuesday- Tomato juice soup
Wednesday- Mac n cheese and chicken nuggets
Thursday- Shepherd’s Pie
Friday- Chicken and rice bake

Lemon Lime Pork Chops

Before you get all grossed out, let me tell you how good these are! Really!

The lemon lime soda (yep, you read that right) adds a sweet flavor to the pork chops that is actually kind of subtle.

Lemon Lime Pork Chops

6 (1 inch thick) pork chops
1 (12 ounce) bottle lemon lime soda
1 envelope onion soup mix

Arrange the pork chops in a shallow baking dish.
Ppur the lemon lime soda over the pork chops.
Sprinkle with onion soup mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Serves 6

A Question.....

This little guy has gotten a taste of the "good stuff." Real food. And he loves it! So much so, that he is doesn't want to eat his baby food..... not that I blame him. That stuff really is gross. Who came up with the idea to puree meat? Ugh!

Yesterday, I ended up giving him some chopped bananas and cut up blueberries and Cheerios. I also picked up some cottage cheese and puff snacks.

So, I had a question for you all.

What are some food ideas for my little guy that are doable for me and safe for him? He only has two teeth right now.

I posed the question on Facebook and got some great responses, but I would also like to hear what you all have done with your own little ones.

Many thanks from us!

An Awesome Dessert

Mom L is a great cook.  She is really good at coming up with delicious casseroles, soups, and other throw together meals without a recipe (seriously, it is a gift!).  She also is known for certain desserts that are staples at specific holidays. You should see the guys swarm into the kitchen and hover around her on Thanksgiving Day when she pulls out the Blueberry Dessert!

Last Wednesday, when we returned from our doctor's appointment, she had another amazing dessert waiting for us.  I asked her for the recipe so I could post it here on the blog.  She not only sent me this recipe but another quick and easy dessert recipe. The recipe below is from the email she sent me describing what she used and how she put it together.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.  Thanks, Mom! (Addie's dessert was in the pink bowl.)

Ingredients

• Crumbled Pecan Sandies cookies (Keebler).  I crumbled 8 cookies for the four of us and was too much but still can use again another time. 
• Fresh raspberries, reserving one for the top of the whip cream. 
• Hot fudge (I heated in microwave for about 20 seconds). 
• Whip cream

Directions

• Layer a scoop of ice cream, cookie crumbles, raspberries, another scoop of ice cream, cookie crumbles, hot fudge, whip cream and then put the raspberry on top.

(I told you it was easy! Oh and so delicious!)

Here is the second recipe from Mom that I think you would also enjoy.  Happy hosting!

I thought of another dessert you could do that would be easier too.  A brownie Sundae.  You would make the brownies ahead of time.  In bowl layer the brownie, ice cream, hot fudge and whip cream and a cherry on top.  That would be good too!   Enjoy!

Food Prep and Storage

Addie is a fruit eater.  Brian and I enjoy fruits, too.  But if you are like what we were, it is not easy to always finish fruit fast enough before it goes bad. 

Enter our new system of shopping and food preparation, and we have begun implimenting it now so when Baby arrives, this system is already in place and is not another new thing for us to experience.

Typically, after church on Sunday (since football season is nowhere in sight right now), we stop at one of my favorite grocery stores. By Thursday or Friday of the previous week, I have already looked through the lists of my three favorites, chosen which store has the best deals for us that week (not the best deals in general, but the best deals for us), made up my list, matched up my coupons, and I am ready to go.  

Because we do this after church, Addie and Brian go to a little store near the grocery store and pick up her "surprise" if she has been a good girl during the church service (at the rate she is going, she is going to leave us broke), and he is able to entertain Addie while I focus only on my list and price checking. 

In the produce departments (which tend to be the most expensive purchases for us), I only by the fruits and vegetables that are on sale (why pay more for when it isn't necessary?) and use those in our meals throughout the week. I also plan my meals based on the sales and coupon deals I have.

For dinner after church, we pick up a $5 pizza from Little Caesar's so there isn't any extra work in the kitchen before I get to work- because believe me, it is a bit of a process. Before we eat, groceries are put away excpet for anything that needs to be worked on in some way.  Once we have eaten, Brian is on child duty until I am done- he is such an awesome team player and partner.

 

I gather my "tools" just before I begin. Large sized food storage containers, the strainer, knife, food processor, cutting board are brought to the sink and adjacent counter.

The fruits are rinsed, cut, and placed in their own containers. Strawberries have the little green leaves and stems cut off (after all, only dinosaurs eat leaves say my little dino expert.). Cantelopes are cut off the rind and into cubes. Grapes are rinsed and pulled off of their stems. 

Vegetables are chopped and either refrigerated or frozen. I toss most of my onions into the food processor and chop them (some recipes call for larger sized onions so don't chop them all). Lettuce is cored (by Brian), and then I cut the leaves into bit sized pieces. I do not rinse my lettuce because you would need to dry them off before refrigerating them (salad spinners would work well for this).   

We have thrown away almost nothing since beginning this method.  Honestly, the greatest deterent to eating something is not having it readily available for consumption and when you have foods that will go bad if they are not eaten, it is even more important to make them accessible.

Recipe | Meatball and Vegetable Stew

I just wanted to wish my Valentine a wonderful Valentine's Day! Thank you for asking me to marry you and for being the best man for me. I love you dearly, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you.

*********************************************

Are you ready for a delicious meal that takes all of five to ten minutes to put together, cooks all day filling your home with delicious smells, and tastes as good as it smells?

Well, this is it!

It comes from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book 12th Edition (p. 232), and it was so easy to make that I threw it all together right before walking out the door with Addie to get to library time. 

The direction are for a 3 1/2- 4 quart slow cooker.  If you have a 5-6 quart (like I do), they suggest that you double the recipe, which makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

1 16-18 oz. package frozen cooked meatballs

1/2 of a 16 oz. package (about 2 cups) loosepacked frozen broccoli, corn, and red sweet peppers, or other mixed vegetables

1 14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes with onion and garlic, or stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 12 oz. jar mushroom gravy

1/3 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed (I just used italian seasoning)

Directions

1. In a 3 1/2-4 quart crockery/ slow cooker place cooked meatballs and mixed vegetables (unthawed). In a bowl stir together tomatoes, gravy, water, and basil. pour over meatballs vegetables.
2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 4 hours.

Cream Cheese Brownies

Last week when Dad came over, he brought with him a recipe card that had come to him in the mail.  It was of these absolutely delicious looking cream cheese brownies.  Since we had a Super Bowl gathering here last night, I knew I wanted to make them.  Despite the many directions, it was actually rather easy to make.  And they were just as good as they looked!

Ingredients
Brownie Layer:
1 C chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
1/2 C unsalted butter
1 1/4 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Layer:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1/4 C chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 325*. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with foil and spray foil with non-stick spay.

Using a double boiler (basically have a pot with an inch of water and then a heat tolerant bowl resting on top of the boiling water without touching the water), melt chocolate chips and butter.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar and vanilla.

Mix in eggs one at a time; stir in flour and salt.

Set aside 1/4 C of mixture.

Pour mixture evely into pan.

Mix cream cheese in mixer until smooth, add sugar, vanilla, and egg.  Spread evenly over brownie layer. 

Add dollops of remaining brownie mixture over the cream cheese layer and swirl. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in refrigerator for 1 hour before cutting.

A Great Find!

Later today I will post the Book Club  post for today.  But for now, I had to share this wonderful find!

Imagine a website where you put in all of the ingredients you have in your fridge, freezer, and pantry (including spices) and it tells you all of the starters, entrees, and desserts you can make without having to go to the store!  I know!  Awesome, right?  Well it does exist! 

It is called Supercook.  I just opened an account and cannot wait to enter all of my items into the program.

Happy shopping in your own pantry!

Journey to the Kitchen

 The journey to the kitchen for the food we purchase is a well planned, well thought out event.  I do not always shop at one store. Many times, I will shop at three or more.  And the event begins on Sunday afternoon.

After picking up the paper (we are actually ordering a Sunday subscription to the paper this week) and putting Addie down for a nap, I click over to coupon mom punch in my stores of preference and click on the deals I want to take advantage of. 

After going through all of the stores, I print out a list from each store which includes which coupons I am going to need.  I sit with all of the coupon flyers that I have, look for what I need, cut them out, paper clip them to the list they apply to, and put them in the order that I plan on visiting each store. 

Now I am ready for shopping day.

Shopping day is not always the same.  On this particular week, it happened to be a Monday.  I love my receipts from shopping this way.  I have learned over the last few years not to purchase things just because I have a coupon or because the deal is too good to pass up. Otherwise, I spend too much on things I don't even need.

Meals are planned around my groceries and sales to stretch my saving even more.  I also try to plan my cooking, when possible, to make dinner prep easier on other days. 

For example, for dinner, yesterday, I cooked 4 cups of rice and baked an enitre package (about 4 pounds) of chicken drumstricks.  Tomorrow's meal will be an oriental stir fry dish served over rice.  The rice is already cooked and ready, it just needs to be warmed up.  Later this week, we are having a cheesy chicken casserole which uses precooked chicken.  After dinner tonight, I pulled apart the remaining chicken and put it in a plastic container for our dinner on that night. 

It didn't take me any more time to cook the extra food tonight than it would have if I had just cooked the amount we would have eaten, but it would have taken more time for me to cook the rice and chicken on the days that I needed it. 

Hooray for coupons!  Hooray for food shopping!  Hooray for cooking! Hooray for planning! I hope you have a Hooray! kind of day!

Saturday Recipe Swap: Christmas Ham

Every newlywed wife wants to host her first big holiday meal whether it is for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or Christmas Dinner.  I wanted to host our family for Christmas Eve our first Christmas as a married couple.  I decided that I would make a ham, but I had no idea what to do or where to start.  No problem!  Mom was only a phone call away.  Here was her recipe for Ham and Pineapple.  Delicious!

Ingredients

Ham
Pineapple rings and juice
Brown Sugar

Directions

Slice ham.
Put it in a pyrex dish of a suitable size.
Put rings of pineapple of the ham in a decorative way.
Spread the brown sugar over the ham and pineapple.
Pour remaining pineapple juice from can over the brown sugar.
Cover ham with aluminum foil or glass cover (depending on the type of dish you use).
Follow cooking direction on ham.
Keep an eye on it.

Saturday Recipe Swap: Scalloped Sweet Potatoes with Thyme

This is another recipe from the Real Simple April 2010 issue.  The thyme adds a very different flavor, but it is a good flavor. 

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes (1 pound), peeled
• 2 medium russet potatoes (1 pound), peeled
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• Butter, for the foil

Directions

• Heat oven to 400* F. In a food processor fitted with the thinnest (2 millimeter) slicing disk, slice the potatoes.
• In a shallow 1 1/2 quart baking dishtoss the potatoes. garlic, thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Add the cream and press gently to submerge the potatoes.
• Cover the dish with buttered foil, place on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes more.

Saturday Recipe Swap: Easy Cheesy Barbecued Sloppy Joes

One of my handy dandy little go-to cookbooks was a free little booklet that Sam's Club and Kraft colaborated on and gave away at Sam's about a year back.  Once again, Dad is responsible for getting ahold of this one for me (and to think, he used to tease me when I was a teenager because of my dislike of the kitchen).

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef
1 green pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 cup barbecue sauce
4 hamburger buns
4 slices cheese

Directions

Brown meat in large skillet; drain. Add vegetables; cook and stir until crisp-tender.
Stir in barbecue sauce; cook until heated through, stirring occassionally
Fill buns with meat mixture and cheese.

Saturday Recipe Swap: Corned Beef and White Rice

My mother was an amazing cook.  She would look in her fridge, see what she had, and make an incredible meal with no recipe.  Many of what we called her "inventions" were never written down unfortunately, so we will never have some of those meals ever again. 

One of her meals was a corned beef "sauce" that she would make to put on white rice.  It was one of Dad's favorite meals.  As I was going through my recipe box, I came across the recipe for her corned beef.  I was beside myself! 

So for dinner this week (on Dad's night), we had Mom's Corned Beef and Rice.

Ingredients

1 can of corned beef
3 potatoes or frozen French Fries
1- 6 oz can tomato sauce
2 large tablespoons of Sofrito (can be bought in the Latin/Hispanic section of the grocery store)
1 packet Sazon con achote (also in the Latin/Hispanic section- sold as a box with multiple packets)
2 tomato sauce cans of water (12 oz.)
6 or more olives

Directions (get ready, these are super simple!)

In a large saucepan, crumble corn beef.

Add all remaining ingredients.

Cook for 25 minutes (medium heat) or until done. Done means the water and sauce have dried a bit.

Serve on white rice.