Pretty Please With Sugar On Top!

Um, excuse me. Has anyone else received the Pottery Barn Holiday catalog yet? Well, if you have already pitched it into your recycle bin, go fish it out because there are some really fun "antique silver" pieces in there.

We host a community group for our church every Monday night at our house, so I usually try to have a pot of soup on the stove since people come to our house straight from work. And they are hungry. Therefore, I need this ladle. Hello! It says "ladle" and I love it! The fork and spoon serving pieces are must as well.



I need it.


Ok, not really.



On the Christmas wish list!


Pottery Barn also has an eclectic "antique" flatware collection in this issue too. I keep putting "antique" in "quotes" because we all know these aren't real antiques. And I heart antiques. So, I'm embarking on a giant scavenger hunt and I need YOUR help! I want to start collecting fun, eclectic, REAL antique flatware. So, if you are at an estate sale or a flee market or a garage sale or an antique shop and see some fun antique silver flatware, PICK. IT. UP. (and I'll pay you back) I just need 1 place setting and I'll mix and match place settings from all over the place. Fun. And each piece will have a story and a memory. Double fun. That's why I love antiques...the journey and the inevitable story.

1 Recipe, 2 Dishes

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Everyone is always trying to trim their grocery budget, right? Second only to our mortgage, our grocery bill easily takes second place on our monthly budget. So here is an example of how to make that dollar stretch and still have yummy food. You can do this with a lot of dishes, but I'll explain that after you see my process.

Recipe #1: Suzanne's Picnic Potatoes

This is my lovely mother-in-law's dish!

Ingredients:
2 pound shredded hash browns (in your frozen food aisle)
1 onion finely chopped
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup melted butter
1 pound of shredded cheese (its cheaper and better to buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself)
Corn Flakes for crispies on top

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Mix frozen hash browns, onions, cream of chicken, sour cream and cheese together in a bowl
3. Dump into a greased 9 x 13 dish
4. Sprinkle Corn Flakes on top and drizzle with the melted butter
5. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half

We love to have people over for brunch on Saturday or Sunday and this is a mainstay. I can prepare this the night before and just pop it into the oven when my lovelies wake up at the crack of dawn, before our guests arrive. Its also great as a side dish with bbq!

Now, we always have leftovers of this casserole and you can only eat re-heated potato casserole so many times. So, here is recipe #2!

Recipe #2: Hearty Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:
1. Your leftover casserole from above, minus the Corn Flakes (just scrape them off and you don't have to be perfect...its ok if a few Corn Flakes make it into your soup, Laura Jordan!)

2. Chicken Stock (you can use chicken bouillon...its much cheaper and doens't make a difference in taste in this soup!)

Directions:
1. Dump the left over casserole into soup pot
2. Add Chicken Stock

3. Stir the pot

4. Take your immersion blender and combine the 2 ingredients (if you don't have one, dump everything into a food processor or blender!)

5. Season with salt and pepper and you are done! WHAT?!? Seriously.
6. Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, you can do this with a lot of dishes. For instance, I made chicken and rice casserole a couple of weeks ago and we had left overs. What did I do? I dumped the leftovers into a pot, added chicken stock and some vegetables and had great soup! My mom taught me this trick and you know what her trademark 1 recipe, 2 dish trick was? SPAGHETTI! Yes, spaghetti soup is delicsh! In this case, I would add some tomato juice or sauce and beef stock (rather than chicken stock since there is beef, not chicken, in the original recipe.) Experiment, have fun and don't take yourself too seriously. I have dumped lots dinners down the drain!

She's HEEEEERE!

I know many of you have been waiting on the edge of your seat to find out what kind of car would be replacing my Suby-Doo. Well, wait no longer. It has arrived. No, I did not forget to post about my new car, which means, yes, I have been 5 weeks without a car. We were well provided for by loners from generous family and friends, but it has made me doubly thankful to have my own car. What kind, you ask? Here are a few hints:

The body style of the car has this skirt's name in it. (No, that's not me posing for the picture. I know, I know...our bodies look so similar. She must be 5' 2" and has had 2 babies too. Crazy!) Need another hint?

Oh! Getting closer. The first word of this car is the same first word in my car. And here is a bonus: this car is the same color as my car. Still have you guessing?




And now for the big reveal....

Oh yeah, baby...she's here! The mini has arrived in sassy RED! AND to have it be a MINIVAN! I mean, COME ON! Happy Halloween to ME!

Shut up all you haters...deep down you are jealous that I am woman enough to drive one. I once told Matthew he better NEVER make me drive one. We now call those the Dark Ages in our home. I found myself about 2 years ago salivating over the mini. What can I say...I was a confused soul and I have now stepped into the light. The light that will save me on average $1000/year compared to an SUV with 3 rows. OHHHHH! MMM HMMM...who is hatin' now?!

They just make too much sense with babies. I can be walking out of the grocery store with my mongo diaper bag, holding Annie on my hip while, at the same time, holding David's hand and hit a single button and the mini's doors start opening automatically. Please. Do I need to say anymore? The mini has found its home sweet home. I guess we are officially a Honda family now.

Recipe of the Week: Grandma's (Sarah's) Enchiladas

Most people who know me, know my obsession with Cook's Illustrated. It is the magazine for foodies, for sure. I seriously don't throw away a single issue and archive them in my kitchen cabinets. They are treasures and a wealth of knowledge and I continue to draw upon them for years after an article is written (no lie!). Anyway, Cook's Illustrated has a cousin, Cook's Country. It is set up very similarly to Cook's Illustrated, but its more geared toward comfort food and easy prep. My mother-in-law gave it to me last year for Christmas and it has been fun for me to receive this year. I decided to try these enchiladas out of it last weekend and they were a hit. Easy prep: yes. Comfort food: yes! Quick: no! These babies cook for like 3 hours, but they make your house smell incredible. Nothing is better on cold, rainy day than a house filled with smells from a happy oven.

Ingredients for Grandma's Enchilada's:

3 pounds of beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes and sprinkled with salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons oil
2 onions minced (look a few posts back on "How to Chop an Onion")
3 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 garlic cloves
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1/4 cup red wine
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
12 corn tortillas (I found this recipe made WAY more than 12 enchiladas, so prepare to freeze a pan as well!)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a dutch oven (or a pan that can go into an oven) and add cubed beef chuck and brown (about 8 minutes)

2. Remove the meat and set aside in a bowl. Drain off all but one tablespoon of fat and add onions and a teaspoon of salt and cook until onions are softened (about 8 minutes).
3. Stir in chili powder, cumin, coriander, cayenne, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and cook until spices darken. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds).

4. Stir in tomato sauce and bring to a boil.

5. Add browned beef and accumulated juices and transfer the pot to oven.

6. Cover the pot and cook for 2 1/2 hours in a 300 degree oven (yes, 2 1/2 hours...its worth it!!)
7. After cooking in the oven, strain the sauce from the beef (you should have about 2 cups) and shred the beef when its cool enough to handle.
8. Spread 3/4 cup of the strained sauce onto a 9 x 13 baking dish.
9. Mix 1/4 cup of sauce, 1 cup cheese and toss to combine.
10. Spray corn tortillas with cooking spray on both sides and add 1/3 cup of mixture to each tortilla, roll tightly and place seam-side down onto sauced baking dish.

11. Pour remaining sauce over of the enchiladas, sprinkle cheese, cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.

YUM! I promise you will like these. They have a real authentic taste to them, but they aren't that spicy; therefore, I will dedicate this Mexican dish to my sister-in-law, Sarah, who cannot handle spice, but still loves good Mexican! In fact I think "Grandma's Enchiladas" is a bad name. Therefore, I am renaming them to "Sarah's Enchiladas".

$1 Winter Day

So, its getting cold. And that means long, holed up days with very energetic toddlers. Hmmmm, what to do? We took a trip to Target and wandered aimlessly through the $1 Spot and found absolutely nothing. I had given David $4 (in change!) and told him he got to pick out 4 things at "The Spot", but we all agreed they needed to make another buying trip to China because "The Spot" was rather...well...spotty.

Then a brilliant thought entered my mind: shaving cream. Yes! Shaving Cream! I brought the picnic table in from outside, filled it with an unusual amount of shaving cream and let the kids have at it. They had so much fun and I got dinner cooked. We were mutually pleased. Of course it got all over them, despite my bib attempts, but, hey, it smells good and eventually dissolves off their clothing.

I have had many conversations with moms around town in what they've decided to do to fill the time sans sun, pool and outside, this is what we've come up with:

* Story times at your public libraries
* Playdates, playdates, playdates. We have 1-2 regular times a week
*Sylvester Powell Community Center: they have an indoor park for kids to run around in Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 9:30 to 11:30
* Funky Mama is playing on 11-4 at 10 AM (for free!) at Matt Ross Community Center in Overland Park

...and the list will continue. I have developed eagle ears for fun outings (especially ones that are free)!

Crafternoon

Special thanks to Laura Jordan for the spectacular play on words that I plagiarized...when are we crafting next, "Laurla" ;)?

Nothing like a rainy day to get some crafts done (and it helps that the husband was home, so the kids were entertained!). Now, I usually think that burning bush is an absolutely wretched shrubbery that is an absolute eye-sore 10 months out of the year. Its scraggly and doesn't even look good pruned. However, during the months of October and into November, it TOTALLY redeems itself because it puts out these fabulous berries. That is why I haven't ripped those suckers out of my garden yet. I mean, I'm obsessed with how beautiful these things are, so this year I decided to try and make some garland out of them. All I used was paper leaves, all the berries off my 3 nasty bushes and some florist wire in green. I think it turned out pretty well and is fun on a table with other fall accouterments.

Second craft on the list today: the recipe box. Um, this has been on the to-do list for quite some time, but I just couldn't get my act together. So literally when I'm cooking, I have my stinkin' laptop on an unused burner on my stove while I read the recipe instructions. Ridiculous! Now I have all my recipes on these handy-dandy 4 x 6 cards and I simply pull out the recipe card that I'm cooking and my laptop is safely tucked away on my computer desk (imagine that).

I found this fantastic little box at Pryde's in Westport, which is this delicious little culinary store here in town. It is like Williams & Sonoma on steroids. I could get lost in there for hours. Its floor to ceiling dishes, cookware, utensils, glassware...you name it. If they don't have what you need, you have a serious problem and, chances are, you don't really need it. This place has everything and it is such bliss for me to walk through. Anyway, I found this little treasure months ago and I'm just now filling it with my recipes.

I got the fun paper at Urban Arts and Crafts, which is another must-stop in Kansas City. If you are not a creative person, you just walk into this store and you become creative. Its like osmosis. This store is fabulous. Incredible fabric. Incredible paper. Incredible ideas oozing with creativity. It gives me ideas that make me look way cooler than I actually am.

Ok, that's all I could muster today, but I just bought some really great vintage-looking fabric for an Annie dress, so stay tuned.

How to Chop an Onion

Learning to chop an onion can literally cut your cooking/prep time in half. However, a lot of cooks don't know how to do it. So bookmark this post until you've got it down! The faster you can cut an onion the less tears they will create. Here are step by step instructions to cutting an onion.

Step #1: find the root of the onion and slice it in half, down the center of the root.


Step #2: lay onion on flat edge and lop off the top of the onion (NOT the root) and that makes it easier to get the peel off. A good rule of thumb is to take off one more layer than you think on an onion. Onions are CHEAP, so don't worry about waste.


Step # 3: With onion peeled and laying on its flat edge with the root in tact, slice perpendicular cuts towards the root. Don't cut all the way to the end of the onion because you want the root side in tact to keep it all in place. If you want smaller diced onion, then put your perpendicular cuts closer together.


Step # 4: Cut the onion perpendicular to the 1st set of cuts.

Step #5: VIOLA! A diced onion in literally under a minute. Don't waste your money on chopping devices. Just have a good knife and a good cutting board as recommended in this post. Hope this helps!