Baby Shower (with CHOCOLATE!!!)

This has been the year of the showers! And I'm sure with my son and future daughter-in-law's date fast approaching there will be many more before this year is out! Last Saturday was a baby shower for my "twin son Matt". Now for those who don't know, my son Matt has had a best friend named Matt for ump-teen years. Second Matt is married and now expecting baby which will have both a Dad named Matt and "Uncle Matt". Confused yet? Anyway, this dear couple (who I would love to claim as my own children!) are soon to have "Baby B" now known more precisely as Kenna McKay Brogli, due late November. The baby shower was lots of fun with floating babies on ice (tiny plastic ones!), fun games and prizes, beautiful decorations, love, laughter and chocolate truffles!! Yummm!! Go HERE to get Beth Anne's recipe, along with other scrumptous ones. Glad to meet all of Lindsey's family and friends, see Matt's Mom and Sis again and enjoy a great afternoon with my youngest daughter among friends both new and old. [Thanks Beth Anne and Alisa for a wonderful shower!!] Now I just have to get back onto helping EK with her "special delivery" for Kenna so that it will be ready by her actual delivery!

Recipes

Well, I took an idea from Beth and now that 3 of my 5 are mostly away from home. They call wanting recipes for "Aunt Lurleen's Fudge" or "Nanna's Yeast Rolls" or "Grandma's Cornbread" so I set up another blog where I can post the recipes they want and we can all have access to them (I'm still playing around with the header - it's a work in progress like my cooking!!). I titled it "Mama's Little Red Recipe Book" because most of the recipes that I use frequently get copied into a little red binder that my sister gave me 29 years ago at one of my wedding showers! She had the wisdom and love to copy some of her favorites into it before she gave it to me and over the years I've added my favorites from friends and family after they stand the test of time. So if anyone other than my children are interested, feel free to grab any of the recipes from it you want. I've tried to put who the recipe came from so that in the future it will be more meaningful to the next generations. Happy Eating!

Frugal Friday - homemade "stuff"

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

1/2 cup cocoa (I use store brand)
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix cocoa, sugar and water in pot. Stir to dissolve. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 1/2-2 minutes. ( The longer you boil, the thicker the syrup will be) Turn off the heat and let cool, then add to one of your empty choc syrup bottles or to a mason jar and keep in fridge. [Inexpensive and easy with no additives! Look for great deals on cocoa between now and Christmas and stock up!]


Homemade Maple Syrup
My mom always made our pancake syrup and I never knew why. After running across her recipe recently and pricing it out, now I know! It costs a tiny fraction of store-bought pancake syrup and doesn't have all the preservative junk in it.

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 cups water
1/8 (dash) salt
3/4 tsp maple flavoring (more or less to taste)
Bring first 4 ingredients to boil, remove from het, stir in maple flavoring and let cool. Leftovers can be refrigerated. (You can experiment with the combination of sugars to equal 2 cups and the amount of flavoring, all based on your preferences). [Again, sugar goes on sale and some coupons, too, in the fall and around Christmas so stock up. I even found a great deal on maple flavoring last Christmas. ]

Asian Chicken

Now I rarely post recipes. For those who have had the courage privilege of eating at my home you know why. I would love to be a good cook but then again I don't find it as interesting or rewarding as, say, setting up new spreadsheets or blogging or finding a new solution to any problem. So there, I admit it. I dream of being a good cook (somehow I thought by becoming a stay-at-home Mom the power of being a world-renowned chef was supposed to magically descend upon me) but in reality without the interest and willingness to put in a lot of effort it just "ain't gonna happen". So imagine my surprise last night when my hubby said the meal was "absolutely one of the best" he had ever had, and it was a really easy, very quick and healthy recipe!! So for those who might be the least bit interested, this must be one of those "Recipes for Dummies" - easy enough even for me! I took a recipe I got by email from Kraft and changed it a little.

Asian Chicken
1/2 box Angel Hair Pasta (we like whole wheat or whole grain)
About 4 heads broccoli (yeah, we like broccoli so you can cut back on this if you want)
About 4 large handfuls of spinach leaves (my children thought they were broccoli leaves and since they "don't like spinach" I just didn't correct them!)
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken
1/2 cup Asian Sesame Salad Dressing (we prefer Kraft but Ken's is pretty good, too. BTW - since I had bought this dressing for salads that's what led me to try this recipe last night)
1/2 tsp. of ginger, garlic and crushed red pepper
[The recipe also calls for frozen carrots but I left those out since I don't usually keep anything but fresh raw ones. ]

Start pasta cooking. In the meantime chop chicken and broccoli into coin-sized pieces while non-stick pan is heating on Med-High with cooking spray. Add chicken into pan (and broccoli if you like it well done, I hold off a few minutes so it will have a little crisp crunch left), add dressing, spices and spinach until done. Drain noodles, mix noodles and chicken and enjoy within 15-20 minutes of start time!

Gotta run cook another quick supper tonight (too many field trips lately!!).
-F

Good recipe for those "On the Go Days"

Crockpot Lasagna

1 ½ lb ground chuck
(or Italian sausage)
6 oz can tomato paste
29 oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 cup water 1 tsp minced garlic
1 small onion, chopped 16 oz cottage cheese
32 oz mozzarella, grated
1 box lasagna noodles (the flat ones work best)
Brown meat and drain. Add onions, garlic, tomato paste & sauce, spices and water then mix well. In separate bowl mix cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Layer in the crockpot:
1) ¼ of meat sauce
2) Noodles, break up some to fit around the edges of crockpot
3) 1/3 cheese mixture
Do this 3 times. Make sure top layer is meat sauce. Cook on low setting for 4-4 ½ hrs.
It makes a full pot of a regular sized crockpot so if you need to freeze ½ it freezes well.

Thanks Megan and Rachel!!!