I found this pretty cheesy recipe from Pinterest and gave it a try last night. I've got no real cute anecdote to go with it so onward:

Two Timin' Pasta

Recipe can be found at the original source here or transcribed below.

Ingredients

• 1 Box Penne Pasta
• 1 15-oz jar Alfredo Sauce
• 1 24-oz jar Marinara Sauce
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella
• 1 cup Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook pasta according to directions and drain.

Mix the Alfredo and Marinara sauces together in a large bowl (ok - I did the lazy way and just mixed them in the 9x13 casserole.  Didn't think it was worth dirtying another bowl).  Add the mozzarella and stir to combine.

Add in the penne and toss to coat.

Pour into 9x13 baking dish (unless you're already there like I was) and cook for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.  Remove from oven, sprinkle with shredded parmesan, and bake for another 5.

Notes

Look at all that cheesy goodness.

So I picked this recipe because the pin on Pinterest said "just like Olive Garden 4 cheese Ziti al Forna!!!!!".  I was skeptical, particularly when I opened the link and saw that it's just mozzarella and parmesan cheeses rather than the 4 used by Olive Garden. And the original post itself doesn't mention Ziti al Forna at all so not sure where that comment came from.

Skepticism aside, I figured either way, why not - particularly when I saw I had ShopRite 3 cheese tomoto sauce and Classico 4 cheese alfredo on hand to boost up the cheesy factor.

Well definitely not like the 4 Cheese Ziti al Forna - but definitely good nonetheless.

The recipe gave Boyfriend and I enough for dinner, seconds at dinnertime for both of us, and leftovers for both to bring to work for lunch.  For those who're better at portion control than either of us are, this could go a long way.

Only criticism I have is with the parmesan on top.  A full cup was too much for my taste.  Next time I would probably just take it out and sprinkle whatever cheese we each want on top after it's been scooped to bowls.

I think I'll definitely be adding this as an alternative for when we're bored of either marinara or alfredo, both together is different and pretty tasty.

Let's Get This Show on the Road

So - I've been contemplating the merits of blogger vs wordpress.  I've been pretty happy with the ease of posting on blogger but I recently realized it's really difficult to connect with anything else.  To add things to reading list, you have to know their actual site name.  If there's a way to just wander around Blogger reading without relying on Googles blog search - which was giving me results from news sites and blogs beyond just Blogger - than I don't know it.

So I'm taking this blog on the road.

Check me out on Wordpress at MakeNomsNotBombs.wordpress.com. (Click there. No seriously do it.) Easy enough - same name as here only .wordpress.com instead of .blogspot.com.

I haven't decided yet which I'm going to use long term.  I was able to import blogger over to wordpress which was pretty awesome.  For the new stuff - I'll probably update both here and there, at least for a little while I get the feel of everything and deciding which is ultimately better for my purposes.

I hope to see you over there (if anyone's even reading this :-P)

Chicken Bruschetta Pasta

This isn't so much a recipe as a item review.

With Boyfriend's wiffleball on Mondays (fall seasons done but he's prolly starting the winter league in January), my dance Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and $1 off Thursdays at the Laundromat, our weekdays are typically pretty crazy.  I try to cook real food rather than rely on fast food or delivery so something that I can make really quickly is pretty appealing to me.  I know I've mentioned the Kraft Fresh Take bread crumbs and cheese before and I've also used Hamburger Helper occasionally.  Well I recently saw the Kraft also has Recipe Makers and the other day, we tried the Chicken Bruschetta Pasta recipe maker.

Picture from Kraft's website

The box has directions on it and they're really simple.  Boil up some pasta to al dente.  Cook chicken in half of the first of two sauces - the "Simmer Sauce".  Add the pasta to the skillet with the remainder of the Simmer Sauce.  Add the Finishing Sauce on top with some parmesan cheese, cook just a few more minutes to heat throughout.  About 20 minutes total.  Easy as pie.

The Simmer sauce was really good - it was a zesty garlic sauce that was really enjoyable on the chicken and pasta (I tried some prior to the Finishing Sauce).  The Finishing Sauce though - the Bruschetta - I didn't enjoy as much.  It was pretty acidic and gave me bad heartburn; that doesn't happen to me often or easily so it's got to be pretty bad to make me feel that way.

I'll probably try other of the Recipe Makers at some point.  As I'm sure I've said earlier, I like low key recipes like this so it's probably worth trying the other varieties. I may even get this one again and just give more of the Finishing Sauce Bruschetta to Boyfriend and keep the simmer sauce for me.

My Sister's Keeper

Jodi Picoult is pretty high up there on the list of my favorite authors.  Despite the popularity of this particular book and that there was a movie based on it, I just finished reading My Sister's Keeper for the first time. Picoult, yet again, does not disappoint.

The Jodi Picoult books I've read all deal with a court case, an ethical dilemma that stretches beyond the lawyers and jury and into the characters. In My Sister's Keeper, Kate has leukemia and her parents, like any parents in that situation, will do anything to keep their daughter alive. Including conceiving younger daughter, Anna, who at 13 is asked to donate a kidney, after already donating stem cells, blood, and bone marrow.  Anna makes a decision to petition for medical emancipation, to give herself the right to make her own decisions about her health when her parents are torn between their two daughters.  Throw in a delinquent older brother, a lawyer with a medical problem, and a guardian who used to date the lawyer for good measure and you've got quite the story.

There's a "WSP reader's club guide" at the back that I was planning on typing about.  After starting several times, I've decided against it.

The questions most ask about how I would act in the situations the family faces and if they made the right decisions.  I can't imagine how I would handle any of this if I was in this situation because it is one of those awful circumstances you just hope will never happen to those you care about.  You don't know how you're respond until you get there.

One of the common themes throughout the book is that there is no right answer.  Do you let the younger sister make a decision for herself and her body even if her answer costs her older sister her life? Do you force the younger sister to donate something for the greater good of her family even if it psychologically harms her? There's no right answer for this family, in this and numerous of the other problems they face.  They make the decisions they think is best and that's really all you can do.

The Hunger Games

I first read The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins just before the first movie came out in 2012.  I started reading The Hunger Games Saturday evening and in less than 24 hours finished the three books.  Afterwards I felt exhausted, hyper, shaky; I felt like a powerful drug was working it's way out of my system.

Last week, I reread the three before the Catching Fire movie came out, which started playing in United States theaters on Friday, November 22.

I could talk at length about these books and the movie adaptations but since it's been a few days since I read them, I don't have anything right in foreground to discuss.

But something about this reread has stuck with me.  Having gone directly from Fifty Shades of Grey to The Hunger Games, I was really struck by the differences between Ana Steele and Katniss Everdeen.  As I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before, one of the most annoying things about Ana is her complete dependence on Christian for well... everything.  Katniss though- Katniss is such a BAMF.  Yeah she's got the two guys who love her but she says *repeatedly* that she can't think about that now.  Katniss has got bigger fish to fry than daydreaming about who to marry and how to make him happy.   When Ana ends things with Christian, she gets severely depressed and stops eating.  Katniss endures through far more traumatic experiences and while she has moments of what I'd consider severe PTSD (and really, who could blame her?), she survives.

I loved Katniss as a character from my first read through but giving the timing of this, her strength was really that must clearer in comparison.

Chicken Tortilla Bake

When wondering around Pinterest and the like, I try really hard to only save things I can in some way replicate.  What good is the picture of someone's dinner if there's no instructions on how to make it myself?

This recipe came from one that fell through the cracks.  The description explains that it's a 5 item recipe using only chicken, tortilla, rotel, cream of chicken soup and cheese.  The link gives me a recipe that doesn't really match the description. Same concept of dinner but loads more ingredients and such.  So here's my attempt just using the 5 items listed and trying to make the best of it.

Chicken Tortilla Bake

Ingredients

4 Tortillas - I used Mission Carb Balance Soft Taco flour tortillas, 8 ct to a package so I used half.

1 Can Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chiles

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

2 Cups "Fiesta Blend" cheese - This is a mix of Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Queso Quesadilla, and Asadero cheeses but I'm sure any cheese will work.

1 lb of Chicken

Bonus Ingredient: Few tablespoons of Sour Cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cut the Chicken and Tortillas into bite sized pieces. Layer in a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Pour the Rotel Tomatoes and Chiles and the Soup into the dish.

Sprinkle cheese on top.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Serve with Sour Cream on top (if desired).

Pre-Oven, it didn't last long enough once cooked to have a photo shoot.

Notes

The amount of cheese is approximate.  I had about 1/2 of an open cheese blend in the refrigerator and used the rest of that.  It probably could've used just a bit more.

That's really my only comment, I'm really please with how it came out.

Boyfriend specifically requested this and was pleased with the results so hazzah!

Meatball Biscuit Sandwiches

It's essentially just grands, cheese, and meatballs.  What could possibly go wrong?

Meatball Biscuit Sandwiches

The original post that started this can be found here.  I didn't end up following most of it so not bothering to copy it here.

Ingredients

2 cans Pillsbury golden layers biscuits
10 frozen fully cooked Italian style meatballs - thawed
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese 
Italian Seasoning 
Garlic Powder
Marinara Sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.  Take 1 biscuit, add a meatball on top along with some mozzarella cheese.  Put another biscuit on top of the sandwich and seal the sides.  Repeat for remaining meatballs and biscuits.  Arrange in a round cake pan.  Sprinkle the biscuits with some Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.

Notes

So. Definitely misread the instructions and not sure how that happened so badly.  The original post talks about 1/2 a meatball to 1/2 of a biscuit (using only 1 can instead of by 2).  Whoops.

I used mozzarella cheese rather than the suggested string cheese because I just can't stand string cheese.  Well after trying to use shredded mozzarella, I can see the appeal in string cheese.  I had trouble keeping my shredded in the biscuit long enough to seal it.  Maybe I'll try getting a block of mozzarella next time so I can just cut off a bit to be more solid than the shredded.  Definitely need to try something because this time did not give as much cheese as I would like.

I don't think I enjoyed the garlic. I love garlic and garlic bread and all that but it wasn't working for me with everything else.  I liked the parm and seasoning though.

We just had the sandwiches, no pasta or such alongside.  I think I had 4 while Boyfriend had 6 and was real full.

Overall pretty good though and worth another try.

Fifty Shades of People who Murmur Too Much

I learned today that my nook can find certain words or phrases. Never had need to use that before so this was a recent discovery.  And with the recent Fifty Shades post, I just had to see:

In Fifty Shades of Grey, there are 199 times when someone murmurs.
Fifty Shades Darker has 278.
Fifty Shades Freed says it 293.

This gives us a three book total of 770 times where someone is murmuring.  Seven. hundred. and. seventy. times.

This is literally ridiculous.

E. L. James has a net worth of $60 million.  That's nearly $78,000 for every instance of murmuring.

I might be sick.

Italian Chicken Bake

The pin last nights dinner was inspired from is the reason why I copy and paste ingredients and directions to the blog whenever I make something. I don't rely on a link working.  The pin this came from was repinned over and over, enough that the link doesn't go anywhere.

Based on the description, I think I did a decent enough job of recreating it but either way... here we go.

Italian Chicken Bake

Ingredients

1.5 lbs of Chicken

1 Can of Green Beans (or other vegetable would likely be a fine substitute)

3 Eastern Potatoes (I used 3 Eastern Potatoes)

1 Stick of Butter

1 envelope of salad dressing mix (I used Kraft Thick and Creamy Italian Anything Mix)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

I had 3 larger full sized chicken breasts that I slit in half (so 6 pieces of chicken) that I lined along the bottom of my pan.

Open the green beans and line along one side of the pan.

Cut the potatoes into smaller chunks and line along the other side. (I went with 3 potatoes, 1 for each full sized chicken breast)

Melt the butter and pour into the pan.

Sprinkle the Italian mix on top of everything.  I stirred a bit to try and coat everything but I don't know how necessary/helpful that was.

Bake for an hour.

Notes:

I may have gone overboard with the potatoes.  Seemed like a lot as we were eating.  And the larger pieces weren't quite cooked all the way through so either precook them a smidge or cut to smaller pieces next time.

The prep was quick so most of the wait is just baking so it's pretty easy.

Boyfriend really enjoyed it though - downing 2 larger plates worth faster even than usual.  He said it was definitely worth repeating.

Yum.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you this post about Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta.  While I thought it was a win, Boyfriend enjoyed it but was under the impression it was more of a casserole than just pasta and sauce.  As a result, I took to twitter and found this recipe to try.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

The link Pinterest connected to can be found here.

Ingredients

1 lb. bacon, fried and crumbled (The blog I found it from used bacon bits)

2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken 

2 tablespoons of ranch seasoning

1 lb. bow tie pasta

2 jars of Alfredo sauce

1/3 cup of evaporated milk or regular milk

4 cups shredded Italian cheese blend

Directions

Cut chicken into cubes. Mix in ranch mix, evaporated milk and half a jar of alfredo sauce. 

Cook pasta al dente. Drain and return to pan. 

Pour half of a jar of Alfredo sauce into bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Spread evenly. 

Begin layering casserole starting with half of noodles, then half the chicken mix, half of the second jar of Alfredo sauce, half the bacon, and half the cheese. 

Repeat layers with remaining ingredients.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Notes

This was a fairly last minute idea.  I had most of the ingredients on hand but not quite the same amounts as what was called for.  I used a bit less than 1.5 lbs of chicken, 6 slices of bacon, 1 jar of Alfredo (I actually had 2 I could've used but didn't, mainly because it looked like 1 jar was plenty and when it was all said and done - 1 jar tasted like plenty), and 2 cups of cheese (I had 1 cup of cheddar from my previous Chicken Bacon Ranch adventure and used 1 cup of mozzarella).

Even with the lesser amount of ingredients, 30 minutes wasn't a long enough bake time.  The chicken was not cooked all the way through when I took it out.

All things considered, it tasted pretty good.  Boyfriend liked this better than the first chicken bacon ranch pasta.  I think I disagree. I'm not sure if it was the Classico Alfredo I used or what but something in the creamy sauce wasn't working for me personally. It's not that I didn't like it, I just didn't like it as much.

It worked out to feeding both of us Sunday night - two larger portions for him, 2 smaller for me.  Also gave a lunch portion for me and a slightly larger lunch portion for him.

I think next time, I'm going to try to take the previous pasta recipe and add more cheese and bake it like a casserole to kinda give the best of both.  We'll see how that works out.

Here, have a picture:

I forgot to take a picture Sunday night but it was as tasty as leftovers Monday.

Fifty Shades of Grey and then Some

(I'm not sure if I have to post this warning - but the Fifty Shades of Grey book series is not too appropriate for the workplace or young eyes.  No guarantees I won't talk about some iffy stuff in relations to that)

Book Sale

Today there was a book sale at a library a few towns over.  The sale started Wednesday and since today's the last day, there's a special.  $5 for a full paper bag full of however many books you can fit.  I am so freakin ecstatic about this that I wanted to show off all I got for just $5!!!

1) The Original Illustrated Arthur Conan Doyle - picked up because I think my dad would really like that as part of his Christmas gift.

2) Patterns in Comparative Religion by Mircea Eliade - It's recently come to my attention that I know very very little about world religions and want to be a more informed person about what beliefs are in the world.

3) The Founders and the Classics by Carl J. Richard - tagline: "Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment".  My favorite college class was Western Political Thought which talked at length about Grecian and Roman political theories and since the class took place in America - obviously made the connections between those theories and the Americans founders. Figured a book on that subject couldn't hurt.

4) Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen - I really want to read the Grimm versions of fairy tales because I hear they're far darker than the Disney-fied versions.  I didn't see any Grimm books in the sale so might as well start with Andersen to see if his are similarly vastly different than the tales I recognize from my youth.

5) My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - I LOVE Jodi Picoult's books.  I've got quite a few of them on my bookshelf/nook currently but I realized I haven't yet read this one when I saw the movie on sale at a Walmart or whatever.  Definitely been on my must read list.  It was just sitting on top of the pile too - such a win.

6) Portraits of Guilt: The Woman who Profiles the Faces of America's Deadliest Criminals by Jeanne Boylan - I really enjoy fictional mysteries and crime novels. Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction and an autobiography from a forensic artist could remind me of that.

7) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and other Terrifying Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson - I've never read Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde but have wanted to. A collection with "nine of Stevenson's best known tales of horror and dark fantasy" seems like a win to me.

8) Women as Candidates in American Politics by Susan J. Carroll - I was a political science major in college who was the secretary of the feminist club, making this a must read.

9) Freakeconomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - I've heard good things about Freakenomics and for 42 cents - why not

10) Take 5: 150 five ingredient recipes by WeightWatchers - my favorite recipes on interest are the ones with limited ingredients because they're usually cheaper.  I'm a fan of cheaper.

11) Hollywood v America by Michael Medved - caught my eye. no real reason why.

12) Deadly Little Secrets by Kathryn Casey - A ministers wife commits suicide and reveal "shocking history of lies, infidelity, cruelty, and sexual obsession that may have led to a serial predator cloaked in God's word to commit a murder".  Totally necessary to read.

Gah I'm so happy about all this :) Can't wait to start reading ^-^

Chicken Cornbread Casserole

Back in 2010, I attempted a recipe for Chicken Cornbread Casserole.  Overall, I really enjoyed the concept and the flavors but that recipe was a bit too soupy for my tastes. When I attempted it again, I couldn't find the same recipe because the bookmarked link was broken.  I found a different recipe and again ended up with a casserole that wasn't quite right.

I've told this story before, it's the reason I decided to start keeping this blog - not that I've been very good at updating it until recently (much thanks to Rachael and her 52 weeks though, seeing her posts and excitement have encouraged me to keep with this at least for now).

Well now - several years and attempts later- I think I've figured out just how I want this dish to be.

Chicken Cornbread Casserole

Ingredients

1 Package Chicken - about a lb but usually more like 1.25-1.5 lbs

2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1 Can Corn

2 Boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix

2 Eggs

2/3 Cup of Milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and layer in the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Pour the 2 cans of soup and 1 can of corn on top.

In a bowl, mix the Jiffy Cornbread mix as directed on the box - 1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk for every box used.  Pour this mixture on top of the chicken/soup/corn.

Bake together for about 25-30 minutes.  At the end the cornbread topping should look golden and solid.  I sacrificed prettiness in the cornbread to poke through and make sure the chicken was fully cooked - looked good after more like 30 minutes due to the nature of my oven.

Notes

Boyfriend loves cornbread more than he loves me.  I wish I was exaggerating.  "I want to make love to this corn muffin and have little mini corn muffin babies and then I would eat our children".  He's literally said that.

So when I found the original recipe, I knew we had to try it.

It's taken numerous attempts with different amounts of everything.  Boyfriend in particular had been disappointed with previous attempts because there wasn't enough of the cornbread so a majority of it sunk into the soup becoming too soupy and losing the crustier part on top.

This above though got his seal of approval so finally!! Hazzah.

Prep was only about 5/10 minutes, which with 25-30 minutes baking means it's pretty easy and not too long.

I'm a big fan and will definitely be doing again.

Calzone

Back in my High School Italian Class, Mr. C. told us that pizza in Italy isn't as big of a thing as it is in America. Where Americans will regularly eat pizza for dinner - the main meal of the day, Italians will eat it more like a snack. When hungry children would ask their mothers for a snack, she'd fix something quick based on whatever was lying around the kitchen. And if you've ever been to Italian restaurant, you know common items include bread, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese.  Toss on a bit of the meat from dinner leftovers and a pizza is born.

That's pretty much the way I treated last night's dinner.

Calzone

Ingredients:

I could write out some ingredients but I pretty much worked with what I got.  There is no set list of "to make this dish, you need x, y and z".  A calzone is pizza dough stuffed with meats, cheeses, or vegetables so pretty much anything can go with this.  The only ingredient that's really necessary is the dough.

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.

Unroll 1 Pillsbury Pizza crust onto a greased cookie sheet.

1/4 cup of tomato sauce is added onto the center of the dough - prolly could have used a bit more but that's what leftovers I had from meals past in my fridge.

Add toppings.

I used about 3/4 of a 4 oz (so I guess 3 oz) of Bridgford Sausage and Turkey Pepperoni Slices - I'm making Bubble Up Pizza later in the week and Bridgford slices were 2 for whatever so I grabbed 2 of each.  I didn't use a whole package of each because I just wanted a single layer along the bottom of the area I'm using.

About 1/2 of a 15 oz Ricotta cheese container leftover from ziti previously was spooned on top of the meats.

A few handfuls - maybe 1 cup tops - of mozzarella cheese was added on top.

Fold over the dough to completely surround the toppings.  I saw a suggestion on Pinterest about how to cut it and make it look all pretty but seriously - ain't nobody got time for that.  

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Notes:

After 25 minutes, my crust was finished but Boyfriend found pockets inside that were still a bit cool.  Since there was nothing in my calzone that couldn't be eaten raw, we weren't too concerned. But if in future ventures we try other things that do need to be cooked, I'd pay more attention, probably lower the heat and cook for longer.

I thought the consistency came out real well on this.  I didn't feel like there was too much or not enough of an item.  I did end up opening another tomato sauce jar and using some more sauce to dip my calzone in but Boyfriend was fine without so it's just a matter of tastes.

Like always, I meant to include pictures but once it was done I felt hungry definitely didn't want to wait.

All said and done, this took less than 30 minutes to prep and bake.  Was great for a busy day like yesterday.

Kraft Fresh Take Chicken Parm and Pasta

A while ago when wondering through the supermarket, Boyfriend and I discovered Kraft Fresh Takes along the dairy aisle.  These cheese and breadcrumb mixes seemed simple enough for a low key dinner so we picked up a bunch to give them a try.

Fresh Take Varieties (picture from thehungrydudes.com)

We definitely were not disappointed.  For the simplest of meals, we just opened up the fresh take mixing bag, used a touch of water to moisten chicken (packaging says 2 lbs- I usually just buy those slight > 1 lb packages and used that), plopped chicken in the bag, rolled around to gather the cheesy breadcrumby goodness, and baked.  Usually I'd toss on some pasta or mashed potatoes for a side.  Pretty easy and we'd enjoyed the varieties we'd tried - so far I think we've had most of the ones pictured.

Well Friday, boyfriend's little sister was down for the day and we'd planned on the Fresh Take Italian Parmesan chicken for dinner and I decided to try and take it up a notch.  Here's what I managed:

Kraft Fresh Take Chicken Parm and Pasta

Ingredients

Kraft Fresh Take Italian Parmesan
1 lb or so of Chicken Breasts

Pasta - I made about 1/2 a box of rotini for 3 people

1 cup mozzarella

1 jar marinara sauce

Directions

Open up the Fresh Take Italian Parmesan mixing bag and mix the breadcrumbs and cheese together.  Briefly run the chicken breasts under water and then coat with the breadcrumbs and cheese in the mixing bag.  Place on a cookie sheet or casserole dish (I used a 9x13).  Add about a spoonful of marinara sauce to each breast and sprinkle some mozzarella on top of - I used about 1/2 a cup of mozzarella for this.  Bake as directed on the Fresh Take packaging - I don't have it in front of me but I believe says 25 minutes at 375 degrees.  Whatever the packaging says - I let it go for a bit longer since I tested one of the larger breasts and it was still pink inside.

Boil up your pasta and drain.  In a smaller casserole dish (I think mine's 8x8 or so), pour the cooked pasta in with whatever is left from the marinara sauce used for the chicken and mix together.  I had quite a bit of the Fresh Take left so I poured that on top of the pasta with the remainder of the mozzarella.  Then toss in the oven with the chicken.  I started boiling the water after the chicken was in the oven and both the chicken and pasta were pretty much ready at the same time - the pasta's already been cooked so it's pretty much only in the oven so the cheese will melt.

Notes

The above is why I usually find other peoples recipes to try rather than attempt to write my own.  I know I use a lot of approximate language when it comes to food but I'm really not sure the amounts of what I used.  I just kinda go with what seems right.

I also just went with what I had.  Most of this was a spur of the moment idea - particularly the baked pasta which I only decided to do after seeing I still had some of the Fresh Take and cheese left. I did get the complaint that it could use more cheese, I prolly would've used an entire 2 cup package of mozzarella between the chicken and the pasta if I had it but it wasn't an option at the time.  I also was contemplating adding in some ricotta cheese to the pasta as well but it'd unfortunately expired/gotten a tad moldy.  Whoops.

Both Boyfriend and his sister said dinner was really good - which since boyfriend is hardly the most vocal of people is a real win - additional cheese comment aside.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

With Halloween almost upon us, Boyfriend and I decided to host a party on Saturday night.  As this party would be including alcohol, we figured a heavier dinner, full of yummy carbohydrates, was probably necessary.

Enter the recipe below.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

The link for this can be found here and the ingredients and directions are copied below:

Ingredients:

8 ounces penne pasta
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp dry ranch dressing seasoning mix
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup cooked, chopped bacon
2 cups cooked chopped chicken 

Directions:

In a large pot, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In same pot melt butter. Add flour and stir. Cook flour for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk. Continue cooking until sauce thickens. Stir in ranch dressing mix and cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Add chicken, bacon and pasta. Stir to coat.

Notes:

8 oz of Penne pasta was about 1/2 of a regular box.

2 tbsp of the ranch dressing seasoning mix was 1 envelope of the hidden valley ranch mix - it's no where on the box how much mix is in each envelope and I felt rather silly opening the envelope into a bowl to then measure it out so hopefully this will save someone that step.

1/3 cup bacon is 6 slices according to a Google search - timing for this dinner couldn't have worked out better for me - I'd already planned a larger breakfast for Saturday of pancakes, eggs and bacon.  I just fried up the extra slices and tossed them in the refrigerator until later.

2 cups cooked chicken is about 1 lbs again according to a Google search - the original blog talks about how she used a rotisserie chicken.  I boiled up a whole package of boneless skinless chicken (a bit more than a lb (more like 1.3) because I've never seen a package of chicken in the food store that was 1 lb even or close to it) and chopped it and the bacon up while the pasta was boiling.

This recipe came with an important reminder: read the comments before starting the recipe or tutorial.  I recently had a similar problem when I started to crochet a hat from a youtube video tutorial (more on that if I ever actually finish the stinking hat) and I thought I learned that lesson.  Clearly not though.

One of the steps above talks about cooking until the sauce thickens.  I'm not the biggest cook and most of the things I make are really simple meals.  As such, I've never had to thicken milk before.  After quite a while my milk was still real soupy.  Another Google search told me it should only take a few minutes for milk to thicken so I moved on - thinking maybe I was overestimating how thick a sauce like this should guess.

Later on, I read through the comments on the original recipe to see if anyone else had any improvements or suggestions.  Several people noted that when they used Skim milk (which I had used), the sauce wouldn't thicken and offered suggestions - one person put part skim, part half and half; another added more flour - either way, I wish I had seen this before dinner and I would've tried something like that.

Oh well.  Hopefully the reminder sticks this time.

And even with the soupier sauce - both Boyfriend and I enjoyed the pasta a whole lot.  The recipe says it serves 4 - for us it served 2 large helpings for him, 2 smaller helpings for me, and a decent enough portion to bring to work for lunch. I think this is definitely a recipe to repeat.

Let's Go to the Mall Everybody!

Now, if you're anything like me, you didn't just read the title - but sung it in a pop-y Canadian accent.

If you're not like me and don't watch way too much TV, you might not recognize it.  But that is the title of the Robin Sparkles hit single "Let's Go to the Mall" as song by Robin Scherbatsky (as played by Cobie Smulders), one of the lead characters in the CBS tv show- How I Met Your Mother.

Come on Jessica, Come on Tory! Let's go to the mall, you won't be sorry!

So why am I posting about going to the mall you may ask?

Well - Boyfriend decided he wanted to be one of the other lead characters from How I Met Your Mother for Halloween - Barney Stinson as played by Neil Patrick Harris - so obviously I figured I should be Robin. And why be present day Robin when it would be so much more fun to bedazzle a jean jacket and walk around singing 1980's music (or well 1993 in Canada)?

So I went to grab my jelly bracelets and my cool graffiti coat but well - that's where this story gets going.

I'm a big fan of pinterest and the internet as a whole so I figured - hey - no way I'm not going to find a tutorial online about how to make a Robin Sparkles look-alike jacket, right?

RIGHT?

Wrong.

Yeah - hours of searching wasn't giving much by way of inspiration.  But I bought the jacket and committed to the idea, so dammit I'm gonna be Robin Sparkles!  I'm not the craftiest of people and would've really rather had someone else's work to follow as a guideline on what products to use and the like.  But sometimes you just gotta work with what you got.

And here's what I got:

Levi's Denim Jacket - Purchased for $7 from the Goodwill

Puffy Paint in just about every color - I was in a Greek Organization in college so I know my way around some puffy paint and had all of this on hand.

Iron-on Rhinestones and Studs - $2 each from AC Moore

Spray On Fabric Glitter - $8 from AC Moore

Brush Set - $5 from AC Moore (I wasn't sure if I had any craft brushes at home and these were nothing special)

Fabric Paint - I forget but <$2/each from AC Moore

Black Marker - It's hard to see in the picture, but this little marker as saved my ass a few times in different things.  It's double sided - 1 broad, 1 fine - and is pretty much always helpful.

Now the fun part - what to do with all this stuff?

Step 1I used my magical marker to attempt to draw the Robin Sparkles logo on the jacket. Using the logo below found by a quick Google search for "Robin Sparkles logo".

Step 2

Where I drew with the marker, I went over with pink puffy paint.

If you look carefully, you can see places where my marker differs slightly from where I ended up painting.  As it was, I started running out of room at the end of the "Sparkles" and tried to combat that a bit.

I don't have the neatest handwriting on the best of days but I've gotta say - I'm pretty happy with how that part of it came out.

Step 3

Fill in the bubble letters using the blue fabric paint using one of the thinner brushes - to help stay in the lines.

Not as neat as it could be but could've been worse.

Step 4

Robin's jacket has a shadowing effect behind the lettering.  Using a wider, flatter brush- I tried to recreate this with the pink fabric paint as my shadowing color.  With the brush pretty much vertically against the jacket, I dabbed bits of paint right along where it had been previously puffy painted. Then using the flatter part of the brush, I attempted to pull the paint away from the outline.

This kind of gave the effect I was going for.

Step 5

Bedazzle the hell out of the jacket.

So as you can see above, I bought some iron on rhinestones and studs for the jacket.  Well fun story - after some research I learned if you iron puffy paint, you can set the jacket (and possibly the apartment) on fire.  That's not the result I wanted.  So I used blobs of puffy paint to press them on instead.  I went mainly with the studs instead of the rhinestones - the rhinestones were too tiny to really make an impact in all the puffy paint.  

Also I added some more than just what's shown in the above picture.  Figured I could always use more.

With some studs I also added the little swirls with silver puffy paint.  Felt it would look snazzy.  Although the bottom one definitely came out good - I was disappointed in the swirls above the "i" in Robin.  Oh well.

Step 6

Spray the jacket all over with the glitter spray.  Because why the heck not?

Step 7

Gather there rest of your Robin Sparkles look and have a fabulous time at a costume party.

 Cobie Smulders as Robin Sparkles in the Slap Bet episode of How I Met Your Mother

Me as Robin Sparkles the morning after my Halloween Party.

So I know mine is hardly a direct replica of the Robin Sparkles jacket from the Let's Go to the Mall video.  When I find my camera cord (which has decided to be MIA), I'll grab the pictures in full costume and that also wasn't exactly the same as her outfit.  Overall, rather than being a direct replica of Robin - I kinda tried to channel my inner teen idol in 1990s Canada.  I figure if Robin Sparkles was touring a country for a year - she's gonna have more than one bedazzled graffitied jacket. Close enough though, eh?

Mariner's Cove

In case you haven't gotten it yet from the recent set of reviews, I really enjoy reading. Nothing beats the feeling of a book in my hands, waiting to be read.  As such, I held off on getting an e-reader for as long as I could.  But nearly 2 years ago, I broke down and bought a Nook for one simple reason - my mom did.  Mom would buy books, read them, and then pass them along to me; unfortunately, I can't really support this habit without that right now.  So when she got a Nook for Christmas, set up her account and gave me the password to read what she downloaded - I decided my Christmas money was going to have to go to a Nook Simple Touch.  

Why am I giving you this whole bit about a Nook? Well - this book I just read is one that I wouldn't have picked out on my own.  But since it was there and I had no strong feelings on what else to read, I figured might as well give it a go. After just finishing The Forgotten Garden - which was long and intense- and then The Great Gatsby - which while short was still pretty intense, classic and all that- I figured I could go for something a bit more mindless.

And Mariner's Cove by E. Ayers was just that - mindless.

Three years after her husband dies in the line of duty as a police officer, Nikki travels to the town of Mariner's Cove for a vacation away from her children and the parents she's lived with since her husband's passing.  There she meets her landlord - Archer Brooklyn IV.  I'm sure I don't need to post SPOILER ALERT before this because I'm sure anyone would assume the result - they fall in love and live happily ever after.

Like I said - mindless.

But mindless isn't always a bad thing.  A cheap cheesy romance novel can be just what the doctor ordered sometimes.  But this was.... more creepy than cheesy.

Most cheap romances seem to have a gimmick-y kind of thing. Maybe she's a princess and he's a poor beggar.  Maybe she's a werewolf and he's a vampire.   A little some-something to make the couple a little different from the hundreds (thousands? more zeros than that?) of romance novels in the world.  Something to propel the story and give it a little bit of plot more than meet, fall in love, live happily ever after, the end.

Oh there's a gimmick here - she thinks he's gay.  She mentally refers to herself as "his beard" (a cover-up giving a homosexual person the appearance of being heterosexual).  It's not until weeks into their "relationship" (I guess you could call it?) that she says this out loud and finds out he's straight.

Maybe he didn't realize she thought he's gay? Oh no - he knows.  When the story's in his perspective, it is quite clear that he realizes she thinks he's gay but doesn't see fit to clarify this for her.  She's the one making assumptions and why should he correct her if she doesn't ask?

She makes assumptions and as such, invites him into the bathroom when she's taking a bath to discuss their business opportunity (he's a lawyer opening a new practice and she just graduated from a paralegal program - because that's the way things work in these kind of novels).  From her point of view, she thinks she would not have invited him in if he wasn't gay and from his point of view, he thinks she would not have invited him in if she didn't think he was gay.  But he's not gay - he's just a creepy creepy guy.

He later says he didn't want to hurt their friendship by admitting the truth - but watching a woman bathe because she thinks you're not attracted to women is royally screwed up and how does that not interfere a friendship?

I wasn't loving the book before the bath scene and pretty much wrote it off there.  I finished reading it because it's really hard for me to leave a book unfinished once I get far enough into it (and the bath scene in Chapter 4 was far enough I guess).  The rest of the book was pretty typical from there.  He's rich and gives her plenty of perks to be his paralegal, she meets his kid, her family moves there, he meets her kids, the children are all pretty surly but come around, she finds out he's not gay, there's a (rather awkward) sex scene, he proposes, they all live her happily ever after, the end.

I guess anyone can get their happily ever after, even creepy not-gay guys who mislead women into letting him see her naked.

The Great Gatsby

It seems to be that whichever I do first - read the book or watch the movie - is which medium I like better. If I read the book then watch the movie, I like the book better but usually can still appreciate the movie for what it is (depending on the adaptation of course). However, if I see the movie then read the book, I end up hating the book.  So if I see a commercial for a movie I want to see that I know is based off of a book, I try the book first.

So more than a year ago now, when I first saw a commercial for the Baz Luhrmann adaptation of The Great Gatsby, I knew I was going to have to find a copy of the book.  While just about everyone I know seems to have read it back in High School English classes, I went to a Catholic High School and we did not follow the standardized curriculum everyone else did. So that's how I, at 24, ended up reading The Great Gatsby for the first time. After a few false starts, I picked The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald up yesterday and finished it today.

If you have been living under a rock (or like me - in a plaid kilt and logo embroidered polo shirt), here's a brief summary: Nick Carroway moves to Long Island in the summer of 1922, living next to the lavish mansion owned by Jay Gatsby.  Gatsby holds extravagant parties at this mansion but Nick learns most of the guests had never even met the host and no one knows what he does or how he came to have such wealth.  I'm hesitant to say anything else regarding the plot. My copy is 154 pages so to reference something in the third chapter or beyond would be a third of the way through the book.

I initially started this figuring maybe I'd have something to say by the time I finished the summary and let it all absorb a bit more...but well.. I've got nothing.

I have the 75th anniversary edition and as such there are numerous prefaces and articles and such.  All discuss the masterpiece of the novel and one says that it "is a classic - a novel that is read spontaneously by pleasure-seekers and under duress by students" (Matthew J. Bruccoli - University of South Carolina, 1992).  Well - I am definitely the first category - I'm no longer a student and there isn't a teacher guiding me towards seeing the symbols and understanding them. And as someone reading for enjoyment, I was underwhelmed by the story. I feel like I must be missing something. I read through some articles to get some clarity regarding the symbols - lord knows I am far from a literary expert when it comes to these things, but even with that, I still feel like I am not seeing or comprehending something here.

Maybe it's just me.

It's probably just me.

Either way, still gonna find Baz Luhrmann's adaptation asap.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Freezer Pie 2.0

So back in February, I posted about my Not Quite Valentine's Day Dinner where I made a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Freezer Pie (this post right here).

I made it again for a friend, gosh nearly 2 weeks ago (like I said in the The Forgotten Garden post- I know, I've been failing).  Figured I'd post some additional thoughts here again.

Since the previous post includes the link to the original recipe and copied directions, I won't bore anyone with that here as well. But here have a picture:

I intended on taking a picture after it was compiled but I ate it all instead :)

As I said previously, this is just oh so good.  It's essentially just pudding by with chunks of Reese's in it - how could anyone say no to that?

Originally, I said that while quite tasty, I thought there'd be cheaper ways for the chocolatey peanut buttery goodness.  Yeah - forget that.  When a friend came over for dinner, I looked up a bunch of other recipes to consider for dinner.  This one seemed the easiest by pretty far.  So yeah, maybe I could've saved a few dollars, but is that worth the extra effort? I said no. And goodness it was worth it. Deliciousness.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

I know I have been neglecting to update this like I promised I would. Again.  I actually took detailed notes and pictures when cooking for my friend Cate when she was over last week - I've just been feeling too lazy to actually upload the pictures.  I'll get there.

But in the meantime, I just finished rereading The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.  She is phenomenal and quite possibly my favorite author - I have to add qualifiers like "quite possibly" when I say that because somewhere inside of me, the younger version of myself is appalled by the idea that I could contemplate liking any author better than J.K. Rowling but no really - I adore her writing.  I've read all four of her novels and have enjoyed them all thoroughly.

The Forgotten Garden is a story about a young girl who was abandoned on a ship from England to Australia, was taken in by strangers and raised as their own, that is until her 21st birthday when she was told the truth.  This revelation shattered "Nell"'s sense of identity and throughout the remainder of the story, it's a mystery to find out where she came from, who her parents are and why she was abandoned.

If you're unfamiliar with Kate Morton's work, the novels I've read have a similar common theme - a family secret to be discovered. The wondrous thing is that she interweaves the stories from different time periods, generations and characters together. In the case of The Forgotten Garden, we have the story line of Nell's search for her past, her parents' timeline of how the characters in that generation ended up there, and Nell's granddaughter Cassandra's picking up the pieces of the puzzle following Nell's death.   It's like we are all rushing throughout the reading to get to the finish line, all from vastly different eras.  

I decided to reread this one though because of the four, it was the one I enjoyed the least and I enjoyed it noticeably less so than others.  I thought I might have been in a strange mindset at the time because it didn't grip me the way The House at Riverton (which I read before this book) or The Distant Hours and The Secret Keeper (which I read after) did.  And I'm sticking with "strange mindset" for the first read because this time I was considerably more enthralled- staying up far part my bedtime on a work night to keep reading.

And enthralled is the word for it - Kate Morton's books capture me so completely that they stay with me for such a long time afterwards.  That is why I've decided to write this now - Morton has woven a spell on me and I'm not ready to leave it's clutches yet.

On the very last page of the book (my copy anyway) are some "Suggested Discussion Points".  I've been thinking a lot about them and will be answering them below.  While I tried to keep everything mostly spoiler free above this point - I make no promises that there won't be significant spoilers below.

You have been warned.

Campbell's Skillet Sauces - Marsala

So today's post isn't about a new recipe really, just a review of a product I tried for dinner the other day.

(Picture from Campbell's website <www.campbellsauces.com>)

Campbell's Skillet Sauces, the Marsala variety. 

In theory, the Campbell's sauces seem like a great simple meal for busier evenings - brown up meat, stir in sauce, cook for a few minutes and serve over pasta or rice. Tada.

Well, the result wasn't quite what I had hoped. I obviously didn't expect Italian restaurant quality sauce for a few bucks in the supermarket aisle but this still didn't near my expectations. The color and consistency wasn't like any other Marsala sauce I've ever had and the taste just wasn't what I was expecting. I wouldn't recommend the product to anyone else.

Ah well- it was a pretty cheap and easy meal.  But I wouldn't consider getting again. 

Crocheted Scarf

So for Rachael's Week 1 of her 52 Weeks, she decided to learn how to crochet.

My grandmother taught me to crochet back when I was maybe 10 or 11.  I didn't do much with it then.  In college, I picked up the practice again but stopped again around finals time.  Then last year for Christmas, I was really short on funds so everyone (Mom, Dad, Brother, Boyfriend, his Mom) got a homemade scarf instead.  I began to work on one for Miss Rachael, but then started a new job and things got crazy so I stopped again.

Since I know how to crochet, Rachael came over and I taught her the basics- chains, single, half double, double, and half triple stitches galore.

And for the first time in about 9 months, I picked up crocheting again.

It may be cheating to have just finished something previously started but ah well.

It's an infinity scarf done in a pattern I'd found on Google.  I have no idea what it had been called or how to find it again.  If I find it in my history, I'll definitely post it because I think its a gorgeous pattern.

Here's a brief description but is in no way a decent tutorial or such:

I used Caron Simply Soft black yard.  I got 2 rolls which were 2 skeins worth each and used most of it.  The yarn suggests a size H-8 5mm hook but I used a G size instead because it was working better for me.

To start, you chain to an amount that when you subtract 2, is divisible by 3. So I chained 26, because 24 is divisible by 3. After chaining your bottom row, you chain 4 extra to account for the height of the stitches you'll use for the next row.  You skip those 4 turning chains, and SKIP 1 ADDITIONAL STITCH.  Then do a triple crochet into the next hole (the 2nd one you'd ordinarily use).  Then do another triple into the one after that (the 3rd).  Next, do a double crochet into the first hole- that one you skipped in the beginning.  It create these looping clusters that I think are absolutely adorable.  Repeat til the end of the row and then do a regular triple crochet to king of form the ends on either side of the bracket.  Repeat for rows 2 through however long. I made 8 clusters across and I think it ended up being 80 rows long - bringing the scarf to about 5 feet.

<- Finished, folded up





Close up of Clusters->






Last night, Rachael finally received her very belated Christmas gift.  I'd feel worse about how belated it was if she ever got me anything :-P (she claims she did but I'm going to continue to poke fun at her anyway)

52 Weeks

One of my closest friends, Rachael, has decided to embark upon an adventure for the next 52 weeks.  Every week for the next year, she wants to try something new.

Her reasons for wanting to do this aside, I think this was a completely amazing idea.

I know when I first made this blog about 7 months ago, I was claiming to want to try more new recipes and wanting a place to keep them all.  Well clearly - that didn't end up panning out as well as I'd hoped.  In my defense, it's been a crazy 7 months.  Sorted out relationship issues, my supervisor quit work without notice, moved twice in 2 months, tried searching for a better job - lots on my figurative plate left not as much time to pay attention to what was actually on my literal plate.

But not this time.

I've got about 2,000 pins on Pinterest (yes, I know I'm excessive) of recipes and craft ideas and just about everything else you can imagine.  And anytime I flip through them, I feel discouraged by my own lack of trying to actually do any of them.

But not this time.

I may not end up following Rachael's one different thing a week, every week, for a whole year thing.  But she has inspired me to try to.  I just know that I always feel loads better after completing a project or trying a new recipe.  So rather than just sit around watching TV, I hope to try to actually accomplish something, if only trying a new recipe or crocheting a hat.

Grilled Cheese Rolls

So these grilled cheese rolls were all over Pinterest. When I looked in my cabinet and saw the Tomato Bisque hiding there, I knew I was gonna have to give these a try.  So here we go:

Grilled Cheese Rolls

So the link for this can be found here and there's some amazing pictures if you're curious.

Recipe/Directions:

Cut the crusts of your bread. Flatten your crustless bread squares with a rolling pin and then top with one piece of American Cheese (do not be tempted to use more cheese, in this case one is enough).  Roll your cheese squares up and cook them in a pan with melted butter over medium heat. (Seam side down first to secure them) (rolling occasionally in the buttered pan to crisp all sides) until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.  Remove from pan and your Grilled Cheese Rolls are ready to enjoy!

Notes:

Yeah, this is an example of one of those awesome pinterest things that just don't work out like that in real life.  I was a bit skeptical that the recipe would be as simple as the link suggested, plus I don't think I trust anything that says to get rid of the crust (aka the best dipping part of a grilled cheese!).

I had the pan at medium heat like noted but the second I put the roll in the pan, the outsides got crispy and burnt.  Then my seam didn't secure at all and the cheese didn't melt.

I planned on making 3 of the roll ups because I always have the dilemma of 1 sandwich isn't enough, 2 is too much.  I ended up making 1 roll up and 1 regular grilled cheese.  Maybe I'll try this again later but honestly, I probably won't decide it's worth trying again.

Not-Quite-Valentine's

So on Wednesday night, I had a "not quite Valentine's date with my not quite Valentine" (the story of that is for another blog at another time).  Boy came over and I cooked dinner and made dessert.  Food shopping beforehand for everything for both recipes came to less than $30 combined so I'm going to count this all as an epic win.

Bubble Up Pizza

To start with for dinner, we had Bubble Up Pizza, which I could best describe as a pizza in a casserole form and was absolutely delicious.  The link for this can be found here. The recipe (copied from the link is):

Ingredients:

2 cans (12oz) golden layer buttermilk biscuits (Pillsbury Grands! Jr)
1 jar (15oz) pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
your favorite pizza toppings - cooked sausage, turkey pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms
cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut biscuits into quarters and place in medium bowl.  Toss biscuits with pizza sauce.  Add pizza topping and half of the cheese.  Toss until well blended.  Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  Pour biscuit mixture into pan and top with remaining cheese.  Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, or until biscuits are done.

Notes:

For pizza toppings, I bought Bridgford presliced packages of salami and pepperoni and used the full 5 oz packages of each.   I thought that made for too much toppings.  Boy disagreed though so we'll see about that next time.

Instead of using a 15 oz jar of sauce, I used a 24 oz jar because that's what I happened to buy.  I initially only put about 2/3 of the jar in the mixture; however when I was pouring it into the pan, I was thinking about how the grands would expand while making. So I figured might as well and tossed some more sauce in there.  On Wednesday I thought it worked out pretty well but in leftovers I've been rethinking that.  Might've been a bit much.

I also think that the full 2 cups of cheese might of been a bit much.  I never thought in my life I would ever say this but it might have been cheese overkill.

I baked it for about 23 minutes rather than the full 25 and it came out really very well.  

I had a bowl full on Wednesday, Boy had 2 larger helpings, each 1 larger than what I had.  Plus I had a full tupperware container full of leftovers - which has worked out to another 3 servings for me.  If I made this for just me for any reason, I definitely would need to cut the recipe in half.  I'm all for leftovers but 6 servings would probably be overkill lol. 

I'd definitely make it again.  I really liked it and so did Boy.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Freezer Pie

To follow, for dessert we had a chocolate and peanut butter pie.  Boy's favorite is peanut butter and mine's is chocolate so I figured it'd be a hit.   The link can be found here and the recipe is:

Ingredients:

1 Keebler chocolate cookie pie crust

1 Large box of instant chocolate pudding

1 1/2 cups of milk

1 (8 oz) tub of Cool Whip

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the pudding with the milk. Whisk in the Cool Whip. Unwrap the Peanut Butter Cups (approx. 15 of the large ones or 25 minis) and chop them roughly. Fold the chopped candy into the pudding mix.  Pour all into the chocolate pie crust.  Top with a few more chopped peanut butter cups.  Store in the freezer until about 15 minutes before serving.

Notes:

Oh my goodness this pie was absolutely delicious.  The only comment I'd have is that it takes a full bag of Reese's cups to make - which can add up $$ wise.   I'm sure there's ways to get the same pb + chocolate taste without spending the bigger bucks for the brand name Reese's.  I'm also sure I'll be on the hunt for them and posting more about it at some point hah.

Introduction

Months ago (was it even years ago?) I found this recipe online for a chicken cornbread casserole that was absolutely delicious- although a bit too soupy. Some time later, I decided that I wanted to try and make it again.  I couldn't find the recipe again and because this similar recipe I found had different amounts of everything, even though I used less soup than was suggested- I again ended up with a too soupy mixture.

Well not again.


Like just about every other girl in the world with a computer and/or smartphone, I've become incredibly obsessed with Pinterest.  It took me longer to get obsessed than most others but now that I'm here and addicted, I want to have somewhere to post notes about the things I've tried, what I liked and didn't like and all that.