November 26 - Mac & Cheese

My niece came over on Friday for a night of girly fun and a sleepover with Linds and me (yeah, the boys were here, too, but we didn't pay much attention to them!). It was so much fun painting nails, doing hair, picking out outfits, and watching movies with the two of them. I figured I'd make some mac & cheese for dinner since every kid in the world seems to like that, right? Wrong!

Instead of just throwing a box of Kraft on the stove, I actually grated cheese and made my own - it's way better than the box stuff in my opinion. Wouldn't you know ALL THREE KIDS turned their nose up at it?! Caroline said it was "too crunchy" and Linds followed suit. To their defense, it was oven-baked, so it wasn't super creamy which I guess kids prefer. But to make it worse, the boy ate it and said, "well, it's okay - but definitely not your best." Yeesh - thanks. I'll post the recipe still because I'm pretty sure the boy's issue was with the kinds of cheese I used (too much Swiss).

Macaroni & Cheese
Ingredients
1 box of elbow macaroni
2 eggs
6 cups mixed cheese
1 cup of milk

Directions

1. Cook pasta and drain.
2. Mix eggs, milk and cheese.
3. Add pasta to cheese mixture.
4. Bake 45 minutes at 350.

Didn't get a photo of the food, but here are Miss L and Caroline having a blast together!

September 21 - Blue Cheese Beef Roast

Tonight's dinner made me cry. Literally. Not in the good, "oh God, this is so delicious" way - but in the, "oh God, this should have been done over an hour ago, my kids are screaming from hunger and need baths and sleep, and I think I'm going to gnaw off my arm if I don't eat something" way. It was the final disaster in the series of crap that went on throughout the day and I think I just finally lost it by the time 7:00 hit and we were all still waiting for it to finish.

I grossly underestimated the time this stupid roast was going to need to cook, so when I pulled it out a little after 6 p.m. and expected it to be sliced and served and the damn thing was still raw inside, I just collapsed mentally. And let me tell you - it sucked. I figured I could give it until 6:30 and it should be ready (which isn't a big deal since that's when the boy gets home and we could eat as a family). Pulled it out and guess what? Still not cooked. We took the kids up, bathed and PJed them, came back down at 7 p.m. and the ends were finally ready enough to eat. Nevermind the green beans were done 45 minutes earlier or the potatoes were so done they became mushy...at least the meat was finally cooked! Grrrrrr.

And the worst part? It wasn't even that great. I mean, it was decent...but it wasn't enough to make up for the fact that everyone (including myself) was melting down by the time the plates were on the table. The tension was so bad, in fact, that I mixed a stiff drink (grapefruit vodka and grapefruit juice) to enjoy during the meal. Yes, it sounds like I'm overreacting to a so-so meal...but like I said, it was the final crappy straw in a frustrating day.

I'll post the recipe, but I tell you what - I refuse to cook this again. The effort and agony put into it was SO not worth it! Maybe you can make it better - and if you do, please let me know.

Blue Cheese Beef Tenderloin
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) whole beef tenderloin
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup red wine
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Place beef in a shallow dish. Combine teriyaki sauce, red wine and garlic; pour over beef. Allow beef to marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
3. Place tenderloin on broiler pan, and cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and cook for 30 to 40 more minutes (or an hour and a half?!?!?!?!?), or to desired doneness. Allow to set for 10 minutes before slicing.
4. In a saucepan over low heat, combine blue cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until smooth; serve over sliced tenderloin. 

And here's the recipe to my FAVORITE potatoes!!

Garlic Red Potatoes
Ingredients
2 pounds red potatoes, quartered
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place potatoes in an 8x8 inch baking dish.
3. In a small bowl combine melted butter, garlic, salt and lemon juice; pour over potatoes and stir to coat. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over potatoes.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes (or until golden brown).

Apr. 12 - Corn Chowder & Bread

There was a bit of a dichotomy in tonight's dinner - half was really, really successful, while the other was a food FAIL. In the end, it wasn't too big of a deal, but still, I hate when my dishes get screwed up!

The success was the corn chowder - it was creamier and tasted a lot better than how I remembered it. I didn't have green pepper, so I used red pepper, and I amped up the amount of veggies to make it heartier. The entire pot is roughly 825 calories, and the boy and I each ate about 1/3 (Linds ate half of the rest and I put the other half in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch). Even with the extra ingredients and larger serving size, it was still about 275 calories for the entire bowl.

The fail? Well, that would be my beer-cheese bread. I was pumped about that one because it was so great last time, but I knew even while it was baking that something was wrong. The top of the loaf never rose - it was kind of sunken in. When I took it out, there was about 1/2 - 1 cup of the flour loose on the bottom. For some reason it never fully mixed. I need to troubleshoot and see what went wrong because every so often that happens when I make bread. Also, the mixer knob thing was stuck in the bread (that happens every time I make bread, too). The bread was too doughy and moist and tasted way too strongly of beer (you'd think that I would have liked that, huh?!). Oh, well, saves the calories, right?

I also decided to get fancy and made dessert for Miss L and me. I found blackberry gelatin when I was grocery shopping last time, so I made some of that and topped it with light Cool Whip. Another low-cal, yet delicious, complement to the meal!

Corn Chowder
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1 small finely diced onion
1/4 cup finely diced red pepper
2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
2 medium potatoes peeled, diced, into 1/2" cubes
1 cup water 1/4 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups low-fat (1%) or skim milk

Directions

1.  Heat oil in medium saucepan. 
2. Add celery, onion, and red pepper and saute for 2 minutes. 
3. Add corn, potatoes, water, salt, pepper, and paprika. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium; and cook, covered, about 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. 
4. Place 1/2 cup milk in a jar with tight fitting lid. Add flour and shake vigorously. Add gradually to cooked vegetables and add remaining milk. 
5. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and thickens.

Beer Cheese Bread
Ingredients
1 package yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter
10 ounces beer, flat
4 ounces extra sharp cheese, shredded
4 ounces Jack cheese, cut in 1/4" cubes

Directions

1. Warm beer and American cheese over low heat on top of stove or in microwave. Cheese doesn't need to melt completely. Stir. 
2. Add all ingredients in the order listed. 
3. Use basic bread cycle for 1.5 lb. loaf.

Apr. 8 - Hot dogs & Mac-n-cheese

We wound up having visitors until late afternoon yesterday, so the hot wings I was planning to make got bumped to Friday's menu. Instead, I realized at 5:30 p.m. that I had nothing defrosted and had to figure out something quickly. I found two hot dogs in the freezer, called the boy up and asked him if he wanted me to grill those up. He said he'd rather eat them cut up in his Kraft macaroni and cheese...throwin it back to food we ate when we were kids!

By the time I started making the mac-n-cheese, it was after 7:00 and I opened up my milk. Food Fail. It was spoiled. Gah! Linds hates the stuff and Luke still nurses, so they don't drink it. The boy and I also do not have a taste for it (yuck!). I ended up having to run to three different neighbors' houses until I found someone home to give me a quarter-cup. After I came home, Luke was screaming, so the boy finished dinner, and I put Luke to sleep. After that was done, Linds needed to be put to bed, so there she went. By the time I was done, it was after 8:00, so I ate the rest of a turkey hoagie (thank you, Christy!) and leftover artichoke dip with veggies (thank you, Sarah!).

LOL - not the most glamorous of meals, but it sure tasted good!

Cooking FAIL

Soooo, I had a major cooking FAIL yesterday that I didn't have a chance to post about. It's almost too embarrassing to put out there - I haven't screwed up much food lately (used to in BIG ways, but I've gotten much better). It was when I was cooking some Pillsbury garlic crescent rolls. How in the heck can you screw those up? Well, after they were finished, I pulled them out of the oven and tossed them on top of the stove to let them cool for a few minutes.

Next thing I know I smell something burning and look back to the stove - somehow the back burner was on (either I nudged it on with the pan accidentally or I forgot to turn it off when I was cooking the meat for the ziti). The heat conducted through the metal baking sheet and it totally burnt all of my crescent rolls. I love those darn rolls and when I saw them crispy black on the bottom I thought I could salvage them and just eat the top halves...well, that was FAIL #2. I took a bite of the top half and of course the nasty char-grilled flavor had seeped its way through the entire thing. All of them ended up in the trash. ::sigh::

Like I said, I used to be an awful cook...the butt of all cooking jokes in my family.

• There was the time my sister and I made chocolate chip cookies and I forgot to add in the flour - a completely runny mess.
• There was the time I mixed up salt and sugar (1/2 a cup of salt did seem like a tad too much at the time, but what did I know?). 
• There was the vodka pasta sauce that got me tanked after the bowl of spaghetti was finished (I thought cooking with alcohol burns the booze off?). 
• There was the crockpot chicken that was supposed to be cooked in sherry (which I thought was red wine), and I didn't have any, so I cooked it in merlot. It turned purple. That was way off.  Sherry is white wine, by the way.

Oh, lord, so many more dishes I've destroyed (coq au vin, chicken marsala - this is why I hate cooking chicken, by the way)...I could go on and on and on. So, even as you read all these blog posts and think to yourself, "gee, Erica can cook a helluva meal," please remember that I can really screw up a meal, too! Make me feel better - *please* share YOUR food fails with me.

Jan. 19 Sweet & Sour Pork

I tried a new crockpot recipe today - sweet and sour pork - and served it over rice with a side of green beans and almonds. The pork was dry (despite being cooked all day in a juicy sauce), the flavor was blah (there definitely was a sweet and sour flavor there...just not very good), and I was pretty disappointed with the result. Linds refused to eat it...she took one bite and walked away from the table. Scott said it was okay, but he wouldn't miss it if it didn't make the rotation. Needless to say, I won't be putting that dish together again!

I'm not going to bother posting the recipe, but it was pretty much pineapple, diced green pepper, soy sauce, brown sugar, water, ketchup and a few other things mixed together and served over the pork. Here's how it looked in the crockpot:

Then here's the final product:

The green beans tasted delicious and I snacked on some leftover Amish bread tonight (even better the next day!). I'm dying for a glass of wine, but trying to cut back on my wine consumption during the week (between trying to shave off those last few pregnancy pounds and making sure I'm not hitting the bottle too hard on a regular basis!). Oh, well, tomorrow will be a better day! It's either chicken and dumplings or chili - need to think about what I should defrost...hmmm...