RecipesUnlimited

Good morning:)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Our weekend began pretty good:)  Report cards came out on Friday. I knew what to expect for Jamie (although his wasn’t as bad as I had imagined). Sarah’s:( …… Ok, onto our happy place:) Matthew made the Honor Roll:) Yay!! He missed it by 1 grade last 8 wks and I knew he was really working hard this time so my stomach was in knots waiting to find out. As soon as he told me:) I’m so happy for him;) Paul came home early and he took us out to supper at Matthew’s favorite spot, Red Robin. Then we ran to Petco and then to Target. Matthew wanted to go to Borders but I was soooo tired by this time and Jamie said he felt like he had a stomach ache coming on. I don’t know if his stomach ache was more to the fact his little brother was getting something special (books) from Borders or if he really had one… didn’t seem that way when we got home though. So yesterday, we took Matthew to Borders to get the book(s) he wanted. The first one was Mr. Noisy one of the Mr. Men books. Yes, they are a little bit to young for him anymore, but they are one of his favorite things. 2 or 3 of them have gotten messed up over the years and so he was wanting to replace them. He also picked out the sequel to the book he’s currently reading, “The Kid Who Ran for President”  – “The Kid Who Became President” is the new one.  When we got to the check-out, Matthew realized that the Mr. Men wasn’t the same kind he has currently. The ones he has now are all from England and they make up a design if you have the whole library, so he put it back. We’ll have to order it from the UK or get Grandma to pick it up for him:)  Yesterday afternoon consisted of a big grocery shop.  We went into Aldi to get a ham and a few other things, but the line. The line was ridiculous and only ONE person checking out. This is why I have never gone there much.  Weekdays are a little better, so I’ll try again on Monday.  Then it was off to the grocery store. In the next couple of weeks I’ll be making pork roast, pork chops, chicken fried steak and gravy,  hamburgers, Shepherd’s pie, meatloaf and fried chicken strips. I grabbed the Seapak Popcorn Shrimp. Those really are pretty good as far as frozen shrimp go.  We stocked up on frozen pizzas, stuff for school lunches (ham, bologna, pudding, little pineapple packs, mandarin oranges packs, chips…etc). Breakfasty stuff for the mornings, boxes of cereal (Mini Wheats, Cocoa Combos), Apples and Cinnamon Oatmeal, Oatmeal chewy bars, pop tarts, grape juice, apple juice…. We should be pretty well set for a week at least   Keeping the kids out of it all is a challenge. I’m biting the bullet today:( Paul has not had a roast chicken since before Thanksgiving or shortly after.  My stomach just turns thinking about having to get it into the oven.  I still can’t look at broccoli or manage mashed potatoes *shudder*. Moving on…

The kitten is doing well:) No one has called to inquire about her, which I find odd. Tomorrow, I’m taking her into the vet to see if she has a chip and to make sure she is, in fact, a she:)  If we do not find her owners, Paul wants to call her “Trillian” and Sarah wants “Angel”.  Neither are my picks. I’d like to call her Tulip or Petunia.  Anything but Trillian I guess. He seems to think we have this “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” theme going. He named the kittens, Ford and Arthur, after the characters Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent. Lets hope it’s not a boy because the names get even worse,  Zaphod Beeblebrox and Slartibartfast *rolls her eyes*.

Well, I finished “New Moon” the last of the Twilight series. I’m sad. It was a great series. I was surprised by the adult tone that the last two books, especially, took.  Matthew began reading on Twilight. That was ok, I guess. I figure he wouldn’t finish it anyway. Nothing shocking in those.  The second one, I was worried about my 13 year old niece reading and I definitely don’t want her reading the last two.  I’m not sure I would want even my 15 or 16 year old reading them.  They are excellent but I think they are a little TO mature.  I would recommend parents read them before their children so they can make the decision. I told my older brother, Bill, he needs to read them before WhitWhit.  I hope he does.

Now, I’m off to grab myself a water bottle. Then I’m going to plop myself on the sofa over here to browse through my new magazines I got from Borders yesterday. I have the latest Weight Watchers (I sooo need to get back on that), the January Southern Living and the February issue of The English Home.  The recipes today are a couple of my favorites. When I WAS doing WW, this Taco Soup was one of my favorites. The Rotel Macaroni recipe was one of my staples, along with Ramen Noodles, when I was in college because it’s so cheap to make (cheap and good!). It also worked for my WW diet as well. I can’t remember right off the bat what the count was (it’s been 3 1/2 or 4 yrs now).  Yall have a lovely relaxing day:)

take care,

~kat:)

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WW Taco Soup (1pt)

Rotel Macaroni

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Happy Friday:)

Its a cold, snowy morning here *hugs her remote start*. I really needed it this morning. I didn’t have to go out and brush my windows off or anything AND the car was nice and toasty:) We had reports that we were supposed to get up to 8 inches of snow today/tonight, I think they’ve backed off on that and are saying up to 4ish inches.

We have a new addition to the family. Although it could be only temporary. We did the shelter supper last night.  And after school, Matthew, Sarah and I ran to Cracker Barrel to pick up the cornbread. When we got home, I was taking it out of the car and I felt something winding it’s way around my feet. I looked down and there was the most beautiful kitten (probably 4-5 months old) looking up at me and meowing. I picked her (I THINK, it’s a her) up and she was just shivering! The temp was barely above 0 yesterday.  I asked a few of my neighbors (one of them that makes it her business to know absolutely everything that goes on our block:)  and no one knew the kitten.  So I brought her in, bless her heart. I put her in the bathroom because I didn’t want her around the other cats just yet. Then we had to pack the car and leave.  I didn’t tell Paul about her:) I just wanted him to find her:) He’s such a push over for cats/kittens:)  He found her and melted:)  She’s got gorgeous blue eyes, and she’s got the coloring of a Siamese (that taupey color) but her features are not sharp enough for a Siamese nor a Burmese. I think I may have found what she is or partially is. It’s called a Snowshoe Cat. “In purebreds, the eyes are always blue.” “The Snowshoe is considered to be a rare breed.” I called the police department/Animal Warden and asked if anyone had reported a missing kitten. No one had. I left my name and phone number and the description of the kitten in case anyone calls.  We’ll see. SOMEONE is missing her. They have to be She smells like her person is a smoker.  And I don’t know anyone around here that smokes. Weird.  We’ve all fallen in love with her though. Cat, Ford and Arthur are not real happy but they aren’t just completely outraged I don’t think. This should work out a lot better than it did with Marvin (another cat that we had in the garage for months and brought him in). He was a needy cat, but thankfully Anthony (our custodian guy) took him and is giving him a good home—along with his ferret:)  I think since this one is a kitten, they aren’t as threatened. They’ll adjust. Ford seems to adjust before the other two do. Cat is just a cranky pot in general.

As I said, last night was the shelter supper. I was so proud of the kids;)  They were very helpful and polite. The picture at the bottom is of the kids with Brother George( or Georgie?). He’s like the director of the shelter now.  Everyone really enjoyed the food. We had more than plenty. They seemed very happy with the hams I did because I decorated with lots of cherries and pineapples:) I took the cookies I baked.  They scarfed down the white beans I made and they RAVED over Jeanette’s Chinese Coleslaw. I will get that recipe for yall as well. It had coleslaw mix, ramen noodles (uncooked and crunched up over the top), almonds, green onions, I think she may have put some pecans in it and there were sunflower seeds. Her dressing was vinegar, oil, sugar and the beef flavoring from the noodles. It was delicious!! Monica made a ham as well as her pinto bean soup (another recipe I will get for yall:) and 2 huge things of mashed potatoes and some cookies. Elizabeth made a ham (she uses 7-up over her’s) and Jesse (her husband) baked several ‘sand cakes’. They looked awesome but I didn’t get to sample any because it all went so fast!.  Before we actually began serving, an elderly couple and another gentleman came in with little tins of fudge and brownies. They gave us some really disapproving looks. We couldn’t figure out who they were. Well, we asked if we could help them and they said they were there to serve dinner for the hospital and asked what we were doing there. We told them we had brought supper to serve. They were not happy with us. The director said, well some wires must have gotten crossed. We said, well better two meals than none! The lady looked our food over (a little disapprovingly)  and said to the director, “Well, the hospital always brings really nice food!” Monica, Eliz, Jeanette and I got tickled:)  The lady was clearly not happy:) Well, they put the brownies and fudge on a plate and left, less than happy. In the end, they had their nights mixed up because the hospital never did bring the ‘really nice food’ or any food at all:)  It was fun and we will do it again. I need to set up a date for March:)

OK, I have another absolutely yummy recipe for yall today:) It’s my lovely friend, Maria’s Broccoli Rice Casserole:) Good stuff, I know yall will love it. Sarah and I do! The other is the Club Grill sandwich. Canadian Anne gave me this recipe years ago and it really is one of the best sandwiches:) It’s very rich though, not for the faint of tummy:)

Yall have a great weekend:) Stay warm if you’re up here in what feels like the arctic circle *buurrrrrrr*.

take care,

~kat:)

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Maria’s Broccoli Rice Casserole

Club Grill Sandwich

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Matthew, Jacob, Cameron and Courtney with Bro. Georgie

1 c. Butter or margarine

8 oz. Jar Cheez Whiz

10 ¾ Cream of Mushroom Soup

¼ Milk

8 oz. pkg of Frozen Broccoli, thawed

¼ c. chopped onion (optional)

1 c. uncooked Minute Rice

Heat oven to 350. In saucepan melt, butter, stir in Cheez Whiz, soup and milk.  Mix together over low heat to make sauce.  In a bowl combine broccoli, onions and uncooked rice; add sauce to broccoli mixture & mix well.  Pour in a greased 10x10x2 casserole dish and bake 35 minutes or until broccoli and rice are done.

6-8 servings

*This recipe comes from my very dear and lovely friend, Maria:) It’s sooooo good:) Sarah and I loveeeee it:)

Hello:)

It’s gorgeous outside this morning. As ready as I am for spring, we had new snow fall. Not to much, just enough to make everything white and pretty. I’m sitting here having my coffee and toast. I’ve made 2 batches of cookies and am about to start my next batch. I am hoping to have 4 doz in all. I may throw together a couple of cakes. In just a little while, I’m going to go to Aldi and pick up 3 hams and beans. I’ll throw those on this afternoon. Sarah has ballet today. It feels like forever since she’s been. I’ve been trying to get us into a better routine. I’ve been making sure the kids have supper by between 5 and 5:30. It’s before Paul comes home, but it seems to work out a little better. I then can get them all into the bath and everything before he gets home at 7. Wednesdays and Fridays though, I’m going to have to rethink.  Sarah as ballet from 5-6 each of those days. I’m going to try to have something big made for them when they get out of school or eat it around 4:00. Then they can have a bowl of cereal or something like that when we get home or right before bedtime.  Yesterday, I had them put their shoes, backpacks (WITH Homework!), and coats by the back door. We still had problems getting out. My aim was for 8a.m. but of course we still didn’t get gone until 10 after.  I tell myself, it’ll get easier… I hope.

Today is Serbian Christmas so Merry Christmas:) Maria and her family are celebrating today. M&N were none to keen on the homework that they were sent home with yesterday though:) Does seem to be a bit unfair, still, having homework on Christmas!! There should be some get out of jail free cards for that.

It’s so quiet in my house. I didn’t get a chance to really enjoy it yesterday but this morning… loveeeelllllllly:)  I gave my notice the other day that this would be my last season as our Soccer organization’s Team Parent Rep.  No one believed me but I said that I have to pull back from some things.  I really enjoy who I work with in our organization, but I have to let some things go. I still want to be Matthew’s team mom, but I don’t want to be EVERYONE’S. I need to pull back at the school as well. Next year, I DO want to be one of Jamie’s Home Room moms. He’ll be in 6th grade and they have a special luncheon and only the homeroom moms go because they organize and set it up.  I have come to the realization that I can not do everything. Man, that’s a tough one.  I want to be involved but other things are suffering from it. I have to find my happy-medium.  We’ll see how it goes.

OK! I have a TREAT for yall today:) I am leaving yall with probably the BEST cornbread recipe I’ve ever eaten in my life… I’m from the south, and let me tell you, I’ve eaten a LOT of cornbread in my life:)  This cornbread is so good it’ll make you cry:) Happy tears of course:) Mrs. Laura (from school) gave it to me yesterday. Linda (from the cafeteria) made it one day and it seriously made me emotional!:) Linda got it from her daughter’s boyfriend’s mom:)

Well yall have a wonderful day and enjoy this amazing recipe:)

take care,

~kat:)

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Linda’s Cornbread

Baked Caramel Apples

Chicago Dip

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3 eggs

2 boxes Jiffy Corn Mix

2 sticks of butter (soft)

2 cups sour cream

1 can Kernal corn (not drained)

1 can cream style corn

6 T. sugar

Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350(F) for 45 minutes to an hour (or until golden brown).

*Mrs. Laura at school gave me this recipe. They made it one day at lunch and oh my gosh, it’ll make you emotional it’s so good:)  Mrs. Laura got it from Linda who also works in the cafeteria. She got it from her daughter’s boyfriend’s mom:)