Monday, November 26, 2012

Recipe: Apple Sour Cream Pie

As I said a few weeks ago for Aloha Friday, it was my job to provide desserts for Thanksgiving dinner.  Someone suggested apple sour cream pie.  I don't like sour cream but I decided to try it because I wanted something new.  I was not disappointed!  I took the recipe from about.com.

Main Ingredients:
2 cups finely chopped tart apples (We used 2 Granny Smith apples)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 pie shell unbaked (We used a Pillsbury premade crust)

Topping Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

1. Mix 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tbsp flour together.
2. Add in sour cream, vanilla, egg and salt.
3. Add in chopped apples.
4. Pour mixture into an unbaked pie crust.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.



6. Change oven temp to 325 degrees.
7. Combine 1/3 cup sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/3 cup flour.
8. Cut in butter.



9. Sprinkle topping over pie and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.




10. Eat up!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Menu Plan Monday #11


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Laura at Org Junkie runs Menu Plan Monday each week. 6 weeks in a row!

Monday - Spaghetti
Tuesday - Breakfast for Dinner
Wednesday - Dinner out to use Axxess Card
Thursday - Meatball Sandwiches or Meatballs over rice/pasta (using previously frozen meatballs from a few weeks ago)
Friday - Breaded Turkey Cutlets
Saturday - Make Your Own Pizza
Sunday - Fish Sandwiches or Almond Fish

I still want to make twice baked potatoes for a side dish :)

I will report back next Monday on if I stuck to my plan or not

Below is last week's report


Monday - Quesadillas with pesto and chicken - I made quesadillas with cheese and shredded chicken, and dipped the whole thing in dairy-free Uncle Dan's dip.
Tuesday - Stir Fry - I ended up going to yoga during dinner time so I had fried rice with the leftover shredded chicken added in.
Wednesday - Fish Sandwiches - We were really busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and ended up getting McDonalds/Taco Bell. :/
Thursday - Thanksgiving!!!
Friday - Gonna try to talk my family into Chinese food :) - We ended up at Islands.  I got a turkey club wrap.  It was pretty good.
Saturday - Maybe Italian food? - We ended up at IHOP because my mom really wanted breakfast.  I ordered a turkey club LOL
Sunday - Paninis - We just had regular deli meat sandwiches.  I added some pesto to mine :)

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Madam Lu Chinese Restaurant - SB Axxess Blogging Year 4 #2

I just got around to using my Axxess card for the second time...oops!  We decided to try Madam Lu Chinese Restaurant, which I had only tried once before.

Crab and corn soup

Cashew chicken

Chicken egg foo young
 
My "bento" plate of food :)


The Axxess deal is buy 1 entree, get 1 entree free so we saved $11.95.  Our total was only about $24 for the two entrees and a large soup!

The food was okay.  The portion sizes were very generous.  I will probably go there again if they are in the Axxess book next year, but I will keep going to my other favorites in the meantime.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Chip and Dale - My Leopard Geckos

I love my little pets.  Below are some pictures of Chip and Dale, who I rescued from an uninformed owner about 2.5 years ago now :)

Chip hanging out on my bed.  Whoever says leopard geckos are lazy and uncurious is crazy!

Dale in my hand...browsing the internet LOL

Dale trying to run away from the laptop!

Chip in his little log.  He loves to poke out his head or tail.

Do you have a pet that is on the "rarer" side?

Monday, November 19, 2012

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

My grandparents asked for chocolate chip cookies but that gets boring so I made bars instead.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
11.5 oz milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 baking pan.
2. Combine baking soda, flour, and salt in a small bowl.
3. Beat butter, both sugars, and vanilla in a large bowl.
4. Add eggs in one at a time.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Spread into pan.  This is hard...the batter is thick!
7. Bake 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool in pan on wire rack.
9. Try not to eat them all!


I adapted the recipe a little from Very Best Baking.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Menu Plan Monday #10


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Laura at Org Junkie runs Menu Plan Monday each week. 4 weeks in a row!

Monday - Quesadillas with pesto and chicken
Tuesday - Stir Fry
Wednesday - Fish Sandwiches
Thursday - Thanksgiving!!!
Friday - Gonna try to talk my family into Chinese food :)
Saturday - Maybe Italian food?
Sunday - Paninis

I want to make twice baked potatoes for a side dish still :)

I will report back next Monday on if I stuck to my plan or not

Below is last week's report

Monday - Taco Salad - My family got mad at me for mis-naming this.  It is really salad with prepared beef in gravy in it...no taco seasoning.  But it was really yummy!



Tuesday - Grilled cheese with avocado and bacon - Successful minus burning it!

Tried cooking a sandwich like I saw them do at the hospital...

Tried my new avocado slicer (I made mush out of it LOL)

Burnt the turkey bacon in the microwave

And burnt the bread LOL  But it tasted really good!

Wednesday - Baked potato bar :) - Success!

My potato with bacon bits, fake cheese, Uncle Dan's dip and corn

My dad's potato with sour cream, Uncle Dan's dip, corn, and pulled chicken from Trader Joe's

Thursday - BBQ hot dogs
Friday - Gina Chicken - We brought in Chinese food using my Axxess card.  More on that in a later post ;)
Saturday - Parmesan tilapia - We had tilapia but we each used sauce instead of parmesan cheese.


Mom's fish.

My fish with bone sucking sauce, parmesan broccoli, potatoes :)

Sunday - Quesadillas with pesto and chicken - I babysat last minute and had the lasagna the mom made for her kids.  It was really good!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Aloha Friday #48 - Dog Sitting





Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog . Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.

What do you think is a fair rate to charge for dog (or pet) sitting?

I am actually dog sitting for two different families this weekend.  One family wants their two dogs fed and walked for 20 minutes twice a day.  I am staying overnight at the other family's house and doing 2 feedings for their 2 dogs, no walks.  They are paying me different amounts so I just wanted everyone else's opinion on what I should be making.

PS If you live in the Santa Barbara area I would love to petsit for you :)

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Hunter - My Cocker Spaniel

It's been a while since I have posted pics of Hunter so I decided to put some up ;)

Hunter staring out the front door :)

Hunter wondering why I am bothering him

Hunter hanging out in my suitcase (yes, my dog is weird)

Belly rubs please!

Post surgery nap in his HUGE cone (he could reach his stiches with the small cone)

A tongue shot in the cone


Is anyone else like me?  Do you take way too many pictures of your pet?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Recipe: Crockpot Turkey Meatballs

I have never been a meatball lover but I need to eat some new foods so I decided to have meatball sandwiches for dinner one night last week.  Below is the recipe:


Meatballs:
2 pounds ground turkey meat
1 small onion, chopped in a chopper
1 cup of crushed wheat crackers (about 3/4 sleeve)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1 egg

Sauce:
1 jar of grape jelly
1 bottle of bbq sauce
I also filled each container with water to make the sauce more liquidy

1. Mix meatball ingredients together.  Make sure the mixture is firm enough for the meatballs to form.



2. Form your meatballs and put them in the crockpot in 2 layers.



3. Pour the jelly, bbq sauce, and water on top of the meatballs.


4. Cook on high for 4 hours and on low for 2 hours.

5. Eat up!

Just pretend this is a white roll instead of a hot dog bun LOL

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Menu Plan Monday #9

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Laura at Org Junkie runs Menu Plan Monday each week. 3 weeks in a row!

Monday - Taco Salad
Tuesday - Grilled cheese with avocado and bacon
Wednesday - Baked potato bar :)
Thursday - BBQ hot dogs
Friday - Gina Chicken
Saturday - Parmesan tilapia
Sunday - Quesadillas with pesto and chicken

I want to make twice baked potatoes for a side dish one night :)

I will report back next Monday on if I stuck to my plan or not

Below is last week's report

Monday - Lemon roasted chicken - I actually made this!  It came out a bit dry so I froze the leftovers to shred and put in salad, quesadillas, or something at a later time.  The flavor was good tho! :)
Tuesday - Creamy avocado pasta - I made this one also!  The avocado sauce looked like guacamole and mostly just tasted lemony.  I wouldnt make this again. :(
Wednesday - Meatball Subs - I stressed over making meatballs from scratch and figuring out a sauce for them.  I ended up using my mom's turkey meatball recipe and just made the sauce from bbq sauce and grape jelly, cooked in the crockpot.  So delicious!
Thursday - Pizza night, hopefully we can make it at home using a free pizza crust coupon I won! - We ended up going to visit my grandpa a day early so I just had a turkey burger in the hospital cafeteria.
Friday - At the hopsital visiting grandpa - Hot dog for dinner.
Saturday - At the hospital visiting grandpa - Another turkey burger.
Sunday - Taco Salad - We were still in LA so we went out to dinner at a deli.  I had a club sandwich and fries :)

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Aloha Friday #47 - Thanksgiving Desserts






Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog . Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.

What is your favorite dessert for Thanksgiving dinner?



Pumpkin pie is my all-time favorite but I am in charge of dessert this year and want to make something in addition to pumpkin pie :)

Monday, November 5, 2012

Recipe: Noodle Kugel

I make noodle kugel all the time but I have never put it on my blog, so I am finally doing that.  This is so good that everyone should have the recipe!


Kugel:
1 pound wide egg noodles
16 ounces sour cream
16 ounces cottage cheese
1 cup milk
1/4 pound butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Topping:
1 cup corn flake crumbs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Boil noodles according to the directions on the package.  Drain noodles and pour into a bowl.



2. Melt the butter in the casserole dish, then pour the butter into the bowl.



3. Add in the cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs, and salt.




4. Stir everything until well mixed and pour into the casserole dish.





5. Mix the topping in a small bowl.

I crush the cornflakes in a baggie.




6. Sprinkle on top of the kugel.



7. Bake at 350 for one hour.



Enjoy!




Tempt My Tummy at Blessed With Grace Blog