Monday, January 31, 2011

The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

Yes. It is. And I know this well. 

I could eat this entire cake in one sitting. By myself. I'd actually like to make a pool sized one of these and dive into it...

*ahem* Sorry about that. It's pretty good. You should make one, but only when you have lots of friends over to help you eat it, or else you might eat the whole thing by yourself. 

I don't know anything about that...



Breakfast Casserole

My friend Tracy calls this recipe "The Mancatcher." I call it the "Rear Extender." Either way, it's a super simple breakfast casserole that we all love best at dinner time!

 (Courtesy of either my friends Sandi and/or Jennifer V. I'll blame the 40 pounds this recipe has given me on either one of them.)

Ingredients:

1. 2 rolls refrigerated crescent rolls. 

2. 1 can Rotel. (I use Mild)

3. I block cream cheese

4. 1 pound sausage (The kind that crumbles when you cook it. Not the links) 

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 350.
Brown the sausage in a skillet. When browned, add Rotel and cream cheese and mix well. Let simmer for 10 minutes or so. Unroll one crescent roll into the bottom of a Pyrex dish. Pour sausage mixture on top of crescent roll, and then unroll the other crescent roll on top of sausage mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the top crescent roll is browned.

Yep. That's it. And according to Tracy, you can catch (or keep) a man with this sucker. :)

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Black Bean Soup

I haven't ever made black bean soup. I'm not sure why, really. I usually have everything on hand to make it, but never thought about it. (I keep diced onion and diced green pepper in sandwich bags in the freezer. Makes all of this a lot easier.)

I decided to try this recipe since it looked so easy. And it was. It went into the Crock Pot before church. I was a little worried about it since I'd never made it before. Hubs went to make a bowl as I was on the way out the door for a run. When I got back, there wasn't much left in the Crock Pot, so I figured he liked it! I sat down with a bowl and ohmygoodness. This was so very good. 

The only thing I changed was that I used diced Greenwise Mild Turkey Sausage from Publix instead of the ham, for obvious reasons. Honestly, I would have liked it just fine with out the meat. I thought I would need to add that to give it some staying power, but it would have been just as good and plenty of filling without the meat. (I just used two links, so I didn't really add that much.) Oh, I did add some extra beans, and I'm glad I did.

So here it is. This recipe is a keeper. It was delicious!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gross





This is what I got after I washed my organic "triple washed, ready to eat" bagged lettuce. The water was really more brown and dirty than the green it looks here. Lesson learned. Wash your already washed lettuce. :)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Casserole Happiness

I was going to write "Casserole Nirvana" for some reason. Then I figured that would mess people up who were trying to Google the band. Nirvana. Not Casserole Nirvana, although if I was going to finally have my band, full of stay-at-home moms I might add, I'd call it "Casserole Nirvana." 

I wonder if any of my friends have any hidden musical talent?

I forgot what I came here to post.

Oh yes. This:

 
I think there is such a thing as "casserole snobbery," and I guess that's okay. I'm pretty country, so I like me a good casserole now and then. (I think casseroles are country. Maybe they aren't.) Anyway, I do like them occasionally,  and they are especially good for things like taking meals to families. I haven't looked through this yet, but I'm bookmarking it here to look through later!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

My new favorite dish (chicken)

Epicurious.com is a great place to get new recipes. I have an app on my phone where you can enter in an ingredient and a few other bits of information and it will spin this spinner thing and give you a recipe to try. (I found a black bean soup I want to try this weekend that way.) 

I wanted to try something different, and I found this recipe. It's my new favorite. (I think I've said that before. Let's be honest. Everything is my favorite.) 

Now the thing is, you really do have to have the smoked paprika. It makes all the difference. But the fun thing is that after you buy some from Publix, you can go to epicurous.com and type in "smoked paprika" and find more fun, new recipes to try. (Yes! Fun! Do I need a life? Yes!!!)

I'm about to make this for dinner. I'm very excited :) Oh and I don't add the cilantro. I wasn't a fan. And I make couscous and spoon this whole thing on top of that. Yum. I'm off to cook!



Sunday, January 16, 2011

Southwestern Chicken Soup

This is one of my new favorite soups. It's just really good! I'm dashing out the door to the grocery store and needed to look it up for the ingredients for my grocery list. I'm throwing it up here with out much comment, but do I use garbanzo beans instead of cannellini beans since I'm using them for another recipe I'll post later. Also, salsa verde is in the Mexican section of the grocery store! (Edited to add that I found a jar of salsa verde at Walmart in the salsa section!)


Saturday, January 15, 2011

Crock Pot Lasagna

The hardest part about not eating out is Sunday. We don't get out of church until late, and by the time we get out of there, we are all really hungry. No matter how strong my resolve not to eat out is, it wanes in the face of post-church low blood sugar. 

It's not entirely possible to eat out cheaply with a family of five. At best it's $35.00. (Maybe $25.00 if we run through Milo's.) That times four is about $150.00 a month. That's a lot just to eat out on Sunday. 

My solution is to have something IN the Crock Pot for lunch so that we must to go home and eat. It works well. I just need to have it planned out and in the Crock Pot before we leave Sunday morning. Yes, this requires that I get my rear out of bed a few minutes earlier on Sunday morning, but it's worth it.

This is one of my new favorite Crock Pot recipes. It's really good and pretty easy. For this one, I'll probably brown my meat on Saturday night and then just combine it all in the morning.


I omit several things. I don't put any veggies except the spinach, which cooks down so much it's barely noticeable. (The kids eat it right up.) I also don't add eggs. I just used regular mozzarella cheese too.

This is a nice lasagna that is super easy. It's especially nice to walk into a house after church that smells good and have lunch ready to go!


Chicken Cacciatore

I made this once, I think. I had to search my other blog to find the recipe. I've thought about it since then. (No, I do not have a food addition/problem. Why do you ask?) I don't know why I haven't made it again since then. It was one of those dishes where I was really sad when I got done with my dinner. Actually I'm sad every time I get through with dinner, but NO, I do not have an abnormal love of food. Goodness. 

I remember hearing about this dish for the first time when an old friend of mine was home for Christmas one year, and he was sitting in his mom's kitchen talking to her while she made Chicken Cacciatore, and he posted on Facebook about it. What did I do? Not be happy he was spending time with his mom. I Googled "Chicken Cacciatore" and found a good recipe. (And then later thought, "Man, no wonder he hung out with her for a while. This dish takes a while to make, but it's so worth it...)
(So see, Facebook can be a dangerous thing. It makes you eat:)

I'm making it tonight, though, and I'm just a tad excited.

Oh and,
I like to get boneless/skinless chicken thighs. They are cheaper than other sections of meat, good and easy to work with. They worked really well with this recipe too.


Friday, January 14, 2011

No bake chocolate cookies

My friend calls me up and tells me that she's doing a fast. A "no dairy, no wheat, no meat" fast. It was for 40 days. She went on to say in no uncertain terms that unless I wanted to end our friendship immediately, I would do the fast with her. 

I think that's what she said. I can't imagine under what other circumstances I would have agreed to do a fast of that sort for that long.

Yeah, as I think back on it, I'm pretty sure that's how it went down.

As I look back on it, seriously, I learned a lot about food- Why I eat, what I eat and when I eat. It wasn't a spiritual fast at all, but it really turned out to be one for me. I realized that for me, food wasn't just for nourishment. And that can be a bad thing.

I also learned that there are times that if I don't have something chocolate, I will sprout horns, foam at the mouth and decimate anything in my path.

That's how it feels anyway.
So in the midst of this fast, I ran to my computer to search for some sort of something I could whip up that would satisfy my sweet tooth, and I found this recipe. It was so good that I kept it and continue to make them. The kids like them, and I was surprised at how good they were, considering how healthy they are!

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies



Ingredients:

2/3 cup maple syrup 
1/4 cup oil (I use coconut)
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup peanut butter (natural with no hydrogenated oils)
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the maple syrup, oil, cocoa and cinnamon. Boil for three minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, rolled oats and vanilla until well blended. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto waxed paper and chill to set, about 30 minutes. 


It's a really good cookie that will satisfy you even if you are in the midst of a fast to save a friendship. :)

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Mimi's Blueberry muffins

My mom makes great muffins. We just call these "Mimi's Blueberry Muffins." I love them, and they got baked as we anticipated Snowmageddon '11.

In one bowl, combine:

2c flour (I use whole wheat)
2t baking powder
1t ground cinnamom
1/4t salt

In another bowl, combine:

2 eggs beaten
1c milk
3/4c sugar
1/2 oil (I use coconut)

Once these are combined in their respective bowls, add them together and then mix well. 

Add 3/4c of blue berries. I buy bulk frozen organic blueberries from Costco. I like using frozen because they don't burst and make your muffins all blue.

Spoon into muffin tins and bake at 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes.

I like to double the recipe. We like them best toasted with, of course, butter.

(I also store these in the refrigerator, even thought they don't last long.)

So easy!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Sandwich bread

I used to make my own bread. I think those were to days when I got a shower every day too. I had more time back then. 

When the Snow Blizzard '11 was on its way, I decided to bake up my own little storm. I realized I was craving home baked bread. I was tired of how expensive store bought bread was, and the one brand that didn't used to add soy anything now added soy flour. (We avoid processed soy for reasons you don't want to know about today.) 

So in the baking flurry, I decided to make a trial run with a recipe for bread that I hadn't tried in years. My super amazing, previously mentioned cooking/baking phenomenon of a friend, Jennifer L., gave me this recipe, and I made it for a long time before I got super busy (ie, had my third kid, whose mission in life most days is to destroy me.) 

Anyway. Here is the recipe. It makes two loaves. I'll rave about the bread in a bit.

4 1/2 t yeast (it's cheaper to get the yeast in a jar than in the packets)
1/2 cup warm water
dissolve

then add:

1 3/4 cup warm water
1/4 soft butter or coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
1T salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 oatmeal (old fashioned or quick)
1/3 cup cornmeal 
1T dry milk (totally optional - adds calcium)

blend well for 3 minutes with beater hook. 

Then add 2-3 1/2 cups of white flour until dough is still, elastic and smooth using dough hook.

Rise in warm oven (170 degrees then turned off) for 65-75 minutes.
Punch down and divide in half. Shape into loaves and put into well greased pans.
Rise 35 minutes again in warm oven. Take out and preheat oven.
Bake at 375 degrees 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Oh. My. This bread is so good. I made grilled cheeses to go with our Chicken Noodle Soup, and it was so so so good.

I have a love affair with carbs. Can you tell? I love bread. Too much.

Oh, and I remembered Jennifer saying that using an electric knife was the best way to slice the bread. So after locating the base of the least used wedding gift we received 15 1/2 years ago, I had to search for the blades part of it. Then I realized they were dirty. I almost did an Edward Sissorhands trying to wash the blades. Then I put them in backwards. Then I almost cut my fingers off getting them in the right way. Then I forgot how to work the lock (lock?) on the knife. Then I forgot how to turn the knife on. Then I forgot how hard it was to actually slice the bread into straight, thin slices.

Oh well. I'll practice.

The bread is so large and dense, one slice makes a kid sandwich. I'm thinking if I baked bread once a week, we'd be good. I'm going to look at Costco and see what of those ingredients I can get in bulk to cheapen this whole process even more. It's so much better than store bought bread and better for you too.

I may need to go eat piece of cinnamon toast right now.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Chicken noodle soup

My friend, Jennifer L., is a freak of nature (in a good way). I mean really. If Martha Stewart and MacGyver had a child, she'd be it.

She can make a meal with a toothpick, some flour and duck tape. And it would be fantastic.

(She's an amazing seamstress too. Luckily she has a son that is tall and thin. And she makes him pants. Lots of pants. I don't have words for what a blessing that is.)

She also will give you an recipe of anything she makes. This is our most favorite soup, and she calls it "Chick-fil-A Soup."

You start with a whole chicken, which is fabulous for several reasons. I'll number the reasons so you'll get the full effect of how great this is:
  1. Whole chickens are cheaper. I get organic ones from Costco, and I think they are $1.99 a pound. For organic. Good.
  2. They are really easy to cook. Throw a chicken in a slow cooker with a couple of cups of water and pour a bit of olive oil over him with some spices added on top and 4-6 hours later you have a meal. (If you have some, stick in some red potatoes and baby carrots, making sure they are covered with water, and then you have nearly a whole meal in your Crock Pot = perfect.)
  3. Eat a meal with your chicken, and even then you'll have enough left over for a large pot of soup.
  4. The broth that is in the bottom of your slow cooker is now going in your soup for the broth. Better for you than store bought and, of course, cheaper. 
I think you've gotten your money's worth out of this bird. You are basically just tossing the poor thing's bones away.

Jennifer starts her soup by boiling the entire bird. I just can't bring myself to do that. Go for it if you're comfortable with that. I'm sticking with my Crock Pot way:)

Once you have eaten your fabulous dinner from your Crock Pot, get the rest of the meat off and put it in a bowl. I mean all those little slivers of meat. Pick that sucker dry.

In the bottom of a stock pot, pour in a table spoon or two of olive oil. You are going to saute 1 onion, minced; 2-3 carrots, sliced; and 2 celery stalks, diced (or sliced). Saute that over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they everything is tender.

You are now going to make what some call a roux, or a slurry. This one just uses flour and water. It's going to thicken the soup just a bit.


So take 3 tablespoons of flour and 3-4 tablespoons of water. Mix this very well until you have a thick, smooth, liquidy paste sort of concoction.


Add this to your vegetable saute and let it cook for just a minute as you stir it around.


Now you are going to stir in your broth from your slow cooker to your mixture in your stock pot. (I strain my since I don't like all those chicken pieces floating in my soup.)

Stir that up well. Add salt and pepper to taste, and your chicken from your bowl too. Now you just bring all that to a boil and let it bubble for a few minutes until it has thickened up a bit.

I now add some water. How much is up to you. It depends on how much chicken you have and/or how much or how little soup you want. Lots of variables there.

Now you add your choice of noodles. I like whole wheat egg noodles, but what ever makes your skirt fly up is good with me. I add half a bag of the noodles.

Stir this up and bring it to a boil again. Reduce heat and let simmer until the noodles are tender.

Now you add 1/4-1/2 cup of milk and stir through.

You're done! I prefer to make grilled cheese sandwiches with this and serve with lots of crackers. I'm not even hungry, but I could go eat this meal all over again. Luckily it makes a pretty good amount of soup, so there is plenty in my refrigerator for lunch this week.

And there you have it.

Chick-fil-A soup!

Ingredients

1 onion, minced
2 celery stalks, diced/sliced
2-3 carrots, sliced
shredded chicken
chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
3T flour/3-4T water mixed
1-2 cups noodles
1/4-1/2 cup milk

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Pumpkin Bread

Something about impending snow made me crave pumpkin bread. I don't know why. I pretty much could eat this bread year around, and I think we actually do. This entire family could devour a loaf in seconds. I think we actually do that to!

I've used this recipe for years. I've made it countless times. It should actually be called Pumpkin Cake, but calling it Pumpkin Bread makes it sound less caloric! 
I do use whole wheat flour, and you can't tell a bit of difference. Surely that makes it healthier...


Friday, January 7, 2011

Pizza crust and sauce

I haven't made homemade pizza in awhile, and my husband requested it last week. We are starting off in January trying not to eat out. At all. That means not even $5 Little Caesar's. I'm a little sad about that.

This pizza is good, though. It's fun to roll out the dough, and it's really much easier than I thought it would be. 

Here is the recipe for the crust:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quick-and-Easy-Pizza-Crust/Detail.aspx



I do add some spices into the dough mix, which was suggested in the comments. I always read the comments on Allrecipes.com because there's such a plethora of good information, suggestions and tips there. It's one of the reasons I love that site. 

I also melt butter to brush on the crust when it's done too. I'm related to Paule Dean that way. I love butter.

Here is the recipe I use for the sauce:



I actually preferred this next recipe for pizza sauce, but my husband didn't like the sweetness of it. If you like a sweeter sauce, this one would be the one for you:


I obviously left off the anchovy paste, which may have counter acted some of the sweetness, but I didn't know were to get anchovy paste. Thinking back on it, I could have just asked the nice people at Publix to show me on what aisle the anchovy paste was. I do believe that you could ask those Publix people to get you a unicorn horn and they would. I love Publix. They are so nice that I have to not go too early in the morning or all that niceness and "Are you finding everything okay?" makes me a tad cranky. I'm not really a morning person. 

Um. Oh yeah. Sorry about that. Top your pizza crust with cheese and what ever toppings you like. I used to use the turkey pepperoni but then I realized it had BHT and BHA, along with sodium nitrite. I won't get to those today, but they are things we avoid. (I mean BHT is used in embalming fluid. Hello? Why is that okay for humans to consume? Sorry. I couldn't help myself.)

I'm off to make a homemade pizza. And follow it up with my favorite no-bake cookies. I'll post that recipe later!

White Chicken Chili

I just found some of this in the freezer, and I nearly did a happy dance. It's been that kind of day! This chili is so good, I could eat it every day. No changes, no advice. Just maybe make an extra batch to freeze for you to discover at the end of your own crazy day!

(here's the link)




Thursday, January 6, 2011

Taco Soup?

It makes me laugh at myself that I'm posting the recipe for taco soup, but I have a suggestion for it, so I'll just put the whole thing up here anyway. I love this soup, because it's one of the few that almost everyone in our family (that includes my weirdo soup-a-phobic children) will eat.

Now that we aren't eating canned beans, all you need is a bag of each of the following: black, pinto and red beans. I combine half of each of the bags of beans and cook them all to package directions. Yes, that's a lot of beans, but when they are cooked, you take half of the batch and freeze them so the next time you make taco soup, half the work is already done!

(I would also like to point out that for around $3, you've enough beans for 4 large batches of soup. Cheap!)

Next I brown a pound of ground turkey in a skillet. (Cast iron. We'll talk about that later.)

You're also going to need a bag of frozen corn. No canned. And I use organic corn, trying hard to stay away from GMO's.

I don't think you want me to get into this, but GMO's are genetically modified organisms. Basically scientists genetically modify food, for you guessed it, financial reasons mostly. I prefer to eat my food non-genetically modified. There is a lot of research that points out several dangers of eating genetically modified food, which probably isn't too hard to imagine the dangers of. A simple Google search will yield plenty of reading material, if you're so inclined. 

So we have our organic (or if you're perfectly normal and don't worry about these sort of strange things like GMO's - non-organic) bag of frozen corn.

I use about half of the bag, for our soup, that we're making, if you've forgotten that we are actually discussing a recipe here, which apparently I have.

Whew. I need a re-cap.

So far:
  • Dried black, pinto and red beans, half a bag each, prepared by package directions. (I also reserve some of the bean juice for the soup.)
  • 1 pound ground turkey (or if you're a red meat eater, ground... meat.)
  • Half a bag of frozen corn. 
Now add some fresh (or canned, if you're normal) tomatoes. How many is up to you. I like to use more of the vegetables and less meat, since meat is more expensive and less healthy than vegetables, for the most part. I throw in maybe two tomatoes. 

Taco seasoning. I had a hard time finding any that didn't have any MSG in it. I won't make you cry by talking about MSG today, but it's not really that good of a thing. It's also in nearly all processed foods, so I avoid it when I can to make up for when I can't. I stumbled upon this recipe for taco seasoning years ago, and I make it up and keep in it a sealed glass container to use for tacos, burritos, taco soup, etc. It's super easy, and, here it comes... cheap!

________________________________________________________________


You simply mix all the spices together, and there you have it. Taco seasoning. I actually quadruple the recipe so I don't have to make is as often. It stays in my cabinet. (I wanted to say cupboard since that sounds so much more romantic and antiquated, but I didn't. I have cabinets. Sadly.) It keeps nicely in the glass covered container.

How much seasoning you use in the soup is up to you. Make it as wimpy or as spicy as you like. 

So finally, here is the terrifically simple soup I've made terribly difficult with GMO's and homemade taco seasoning:

  • Dried bean concoction
  • 1 pound of ground turkey
  • 1/2 bag of corn
  • 4Tish of taco seasonings (or your choice amount)
  • 2 fresh (or canned) tomatoes
I usually simmer the soup on the stove for at least 30 minutes. The flavors need to meld. Or what ever word foodies use to say the flavors need to mix up. Cook it in a slow cooker if you're feeling so inclined. That's easy and it makes the whole house smell you, and also makes you hungry long before it's time to eat.

I top with shredded cheddar cheese (and sour cream when I have it and am feeling dangerous) and scoop with corn chips. Yum!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

My Chili

***Edited to add: Roadhouse Chili is now my favorite recipe. Hands down. It has more prep work but more flavor and kick. I think I'll change the "1/2 t cayenne pepper" to 1/4 t since I am a great big wimp. Other than that, it was perfect.


This is an old post from my regular blog. I'll post it here and then add the changes:

I have been trying several chili recipes for a while now. I have finally settled on this one, that for now, is our favorite. It's so easy, pretty cheap and makes a good bit of food. I love to have chili turkey dogs, chili fries or chili baked potatoes with left over chili too. Such a perfect time of food for this time of year! So here it is, in all it's simplistic glory:

1 pound ground turkey
3 or 4 cans of dark and light red kidney beans
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1t cumin
1/2t cayenne pepper
1/2t sea salt
1/2t fresh ground black pepper
2T chili powder


In case you are a remedial cook like I am, "t" is for teaspoon and "T" is for tablespoon. Imagine the disasters until I figured that out...

I add some water, about 3/4 cup, to make it more soupy. I love to do this in the crock pot, especially on Sunday mornings. When you walk in the house, the smell is fabulous! Allen adds hot sauce to his, while the kids and I like it wimpy. You can play with the spices, obviously, to get it to your liking.

So there it is. Simple. Wonderful!

~~~~~So here are the changes~~~~

Though it pains me terribly to do this, add one square of super dark (preferably organic) chocolate. I can't explain scientifically what it does, but it makes it better. And that makes sense. What in the world does chocolate not make better? It makes ME better all the time.

I've also gotten away from using canned products as much as possible. Here is a link with the explanation as to why:


Buying dried beans is cheaper and safer. It takes a little more planning on my part, to remember to get them ready for my dish, but that's just good organization and time management skills (both of which I'm fabulous at... anyway.) 

Using the "quick soak" method for dried beans is not hard. I usually start them when I'm cooking breakfast and follow package instructions. Really easy. And cheap. Did I mention it's cheap and safer than canned beans?  Okay...

Now canned tomatoes are WORSE than canned beans because the acidity of the tomatoes causes the BPA to leach into the tomatoes. Super bad. So I just buy regular old tomatoes and chop them up and throw them into my soups. I add water to make up for the juice from the tomatoes. If I was really on top of things, I'd cook me down a ton of tomatoes, freeze them up with some of their own juice and then add them as needed. But since I stay very under things,  I chop up a tomato or two and throw them in. The soups take on a different color and a slightly different taste with the absence of the tomato juice, but hey, I'm not killing anyone with my chili.

Whew. 

So dried beans and fresh (or frozen from your freezer because your bestest friend gave you too many tomatoes from her garden last July and you chopped them up and froze them instead of making way too many tomato/mayo sandwiches or just *gasp* throwing them away) tomatoes.

So that's it. A very simple, won't kill you chili.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A food blog? Really?

I'm not all that good of a cook. I didn't learn to cook really until I had kids. Even now I don't consider myself all that good of a cook. Matter of fact, most nights, as I serve dinner, I think, "Well, it's not gourmet, but at least you won't starve..."

Now I say that loosely, because I know all too well that something like around 30,000 kids will die today of starvation and/or preventable disease. And given my choice, I'd be there, somewhere, trying to stop that. But for now, I'm here. So I'll be irreverent and say stuff like, "You won't starve..." when that has a larger, truer meaning for so much of the world. 

Where was I?

Oh yeah. This is a food blog. I should save that stuff for the other blog. (I hate how pretentious that sounds, "My other blog." Blech.) 

Anyway. Back to my not being a good cook. I do love to look for and try new recipes. And I do. And I cook them. And I love them. And then I lose them. Or I post them on Facebook and someone says, "Where is that recipe?" and I'll think, "I don't know; it's buried under all my brilliant status updates."

It then dawned on me to put them all somewhere where I can actually categorize and organize them and find them.  And if someone wants it, they can come here and look for it. And I do have an old fashioned recipe card cookbook, but honestly I hate printing recipes out and putting them there. Waste of ink and paper if I can just stick them here. See, I can save the planet too!

But these aren't MY recipes. I don't really have any. Except for my chili. Which is just plain old chili. Nothing fancy. So I'm not going to actually invent any recipes here, thankfully. I'm just going to share the ones I like. Or didn't like. And then I can actually cook them! And save my kids from their favorite dinner, (organic) boxed macaroni and cheese. Really. It's their favorite. I try to not be offended by that. 

So there you go. A food blog. As if the world needed another. :)