{confessional}

I have a confession....well other than the fact that I haven't 'blogged, blogged' in awhile that's a different story...I have never been to Williams Sonoma. There I said it. It's true... I don't know if you frequent there a lot, a little, or a none, but I absolutely loved it! A little overwhelming since I am in no way a chef, but taken in small, quick doses, I'm sure one could certainly become a chef! The poor best walked through listening to me "oohing & awing" the whole entire time, all the while I yell out "LOOK AT THIS, OH I LIKE THAT all over the store!" Bless her heart, she thought she was just going in to grab a mother's day gift (I should take notes from her & not put things off like I do!), browse a little, & be done. Little did she know, I had never been.


So while on my mini tour de Sonoma, I stumbled across the baby cook section. When I was expecting Miss Busy A, I had HUGE aspirations of buying the baby beaba cooker & making ALL of her baby food. Well since I've never been to Williams Sonoma, you can probably also gather that, that did not happen. (although I did make sure she only ate organic baby food & read all ingredients!) It's like I was this Super Nanny/Pretend Mom/Amazing Housewife before I had my own child & then I became a mother for the first time! Easy-peasy until she hit 3months old, then I just became consumed with trying to entertain her, soothe her teething pains, & just trying to take a shower every other day! Anyways, back to admiring the baby food cooking machine & reminiscing about my dreams of making all of her food, I saw a cookbook, the baby&toddler cookbook; fresh, homemade foods for a healthy start. I flipped back to the 12+mos. section & LOVED what I saw. Then it hit me, it's not too late to make her food! The recipes were right up my ally (quick, easy, & healthy) PLUS I thought, hmm all these recipes are things that the Mr & I like too! Everything from pastas, fritters, soups, pizza, etc! So there I was waiting to checkout with my very first WS purchase.




Which brings us to the WHOLE point of this post...This little recipe was so amazing, I thought while we ate it, "this is worth blogging about", then I thought "is there enough left for a photo-opp?" So here it is:


Cheesy Pasta Wheels 
(Totally used mini bow-tie because WholeFoods unfortunately did NOT have wheels! Yes I was beyond bummed, but luckily Miss Busy A has no clue yet!)


1 cup dried pasta
1 cup chopped broccoli
3 tbsp. heavy cream
1 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
(makes about 2 cups cooked!)


step 1: Bring lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta & cook for 8mins, then add broccoli (I used frozen florets!) continue to cook 2-3mins. longer. Drain well in a colander.
step 2: Leaving pasta/broccoli in the colander, return the saucepan to the stove. Add cream & butter,simmer over medium heat until the butter is melted & the cream is bubbling. Remove from heat & stir in the cheese. Return the pasta & broccoli to the pan & stir gently to mix well.
step 3:Bon Appetit! (And mommy's please share with your child! I know you'll want to eat it all for yourself, but this is a children's recipe after all ;D)

Until next blog....

putting the apron back on...

I don't know about you, but I tend to go in waves of wanting to cook all the time to "Honey can you just grab something on your way home!" It seems I get stuck in the rut of cooking the same ole same ole...pinterest & cookbooks aside, I still always seem to cook the usual, get bored with it all, & just opt for carry-out. But carry-out really does add up and let's be honest, it has to be the worst quality of food/ingredients. So I decided to start making a menu list every Sunday, then go through what I need for it all and make my store list. Then on Monday, Miss Busy A and I are off to the races, I mean store(s). 


That's the other reason I get discouraged on cooking...I can NOT buy everything we need at one store. Sure WalMart is convenient, and yes they claim they in fact have everything from tires, to candles, to a new iPad, & did you forget you were out of milk because they have that too, all while picking up a new pair of gym pants...but they do NOT have it all people, they just DON'T! I buy some things organic, that W-Mart doesn't carry, as well as Method cleaners, nor do they have Miss Busy A's baby food pouches, so I basically have to go to a)W-Mart b) Whole Food's & c) Target...not exactly my idea of fun for a 14mo. old! Note to Big Wig developers, put all 3 in ONE shopping center! I know not only myself, but many other wives & mommy's would GREATLY appreciate it!


Whewwww...you still with me? Sorry :D Back to putting the apron back on! I decided when making this weeks meals to bust out the old trusty BHG Cookbook (Celebrating the Promise) Edition. I flipped through searching for new, semi-easy, toddler AND hubby approved meals. I came across Ranch Pork Roast....now our family doesn't eat pork or beef, so I thought this one would work well with Chicken, and inspired me to make Creamy Ranch Chicken! As you can see I tweaked it a little, as well as made a couple of discoveries, 1)this could be an amazing soup and 2)would be amazing over baked potatoes!!! Hope you enjoy because I know we did!!!!

Until next blog...

OH shoot!!!!

Sometimes you follow a recipe to a T...other times you make changes that you want...and on occasion you have no choice but to make substitutions because you can't find what you need! The latter happened to me today. Earlier this morning I was feeding my Pinterest addiction. (is there a support group for that yet?!) I was making my list for Target (just a quick run for a few things, rarely do I or you, make it out of there with a "few" things but I make a list to help...) ANYWAYS, making my list & pinning all at the same time, when I came across a Smore's cookie recipe...one click led to another click & before I knew it I stumbled upon a Oreo Pudding Cookie Recipe. Sounded pretty good & really quick, plus easy. I thought they'd make a nice addition for after dinner tonight.


So added to my list 

• Instant Oreo Pudding Mix
• Hershey's Cookies n Cream Bars
• Chocolate Chips

Easy enough, Target has a little of everything so I'll just pick those up....WRONG! No big deal, I figure I'll just swing by the Walgreen's not too far from our house, because it's never easy to just run into Walmart...ehhh, F A I L. For the record Walgreen's does NOT carry chocolate chips or the Oreo Pudding Mix, just the standard vanilla or chocolate. So I start to make substitutions...I grab Oreos, Vanilla Pudding Mix, & Hershey Drops (chocolates without a candy shell)..so the ever so friendly cashier asks what I am making, I tell her well, Oreo Pudding Cookies, but I am substituting almost everything because I can't find this or that. She says you should just get one of those Jello Instant Oreo Desserts...I like the way she thinks, I said do you have it? Of course they don't, but she said that Dollar Store right over there will! So we put everything back & off I go again. Last stop I tell myself or we aren't having dessert tonight.


So as you probably can guess they had the No Bake Oreo Dessert & the chocolate chips or I wouldn't be writing this blog right now. I must admit though I was nervous to make these substitutions since I've never made the original recipe, but I must say in the words of my sister "OH shoot these are good!"

Hope you enjoy! Until next blog...

fall.food.football

Regardless of if you are a working mom, stay at home mom, football fanatic or just in the mood for fall, I have a couple of quick recipes to share! Game day and just fall in general, always puts me in the mood to whip things up in the kitchen, but since I can't even seem to find time to take a shower anymore (thanks to a very busy 10 mo. old!), I am always trying to find short cuts or at least cut my time in the kitchen down tremendously... 


Recipe #1 Game Day Queso in a Pinch!
Faster than it takes to score a touchdown, you can have this queso ready & help keep game day munchies down at the same time! I just did the tried & true recipe from the rotel can (except I add a splash of milk to the cheese!), but I added turkey sausage crumbles this time! SO GOOD! Don't knock it until you try it ;D

Recipe #2 Piece of Pumpkin Cake!
I came across this recipe pumpkin dump cake and it inspired me to put a different twist to it, a la Piece of Pumpkin Cake (it sounds better than "dump" cake too :D bonus!)

Well, there you have it! Two completely random recipes but SO fast, easy, & delicious!!!
Until next blog...