Great, Big, Juicy Burger, Anyone?

Monte arrived home from work today and announced that he was hungry for a "great big, juicy burger." After some debate about whether or not we should order from the only restaurant in town, or wait until tomorrow night for "Taco Tuesday," we decided I would make burgers at home.
Monte ran to the store for buns, and I fired up the grill and carefully arranged the last 9 hamburger patties from our freezer once the grill was hot. Monte returned home to drop off the buns, then left again to go do some more work to the rental house. I then checked my email, finished pinning a quilt on the longarm, dumped the last basket of laundry on the bed to be folded, and then, just as I was about to sit down and blog, something out the window caught my eye.

"Where's all that smoke coming from?" I wondered to myself.

Then, it dawned on me. An unknown amount of time ago, I had placed 9 soon to be "great big, juicy burgers" on the grill. "Uh-Oh!"

I burst through the front door and onto the porch, to find the grill sprouting flames and spewing smoke clear across the yard. After turning off the burners and dousing it with a spray bottle full of water until it was cool enough to open the lid, here is what I found:

Monte will be back any minute, only to find that his "great, big, juicy burger" has morphed into a grilled cheese sandwich and dino-nuggets. (chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs). I'm sure I'm going to hear all about it. Sigh.
Tomorrow, we are definately eating out.

A Glutton for Punishment

Well, maybe just a glutton. Last night for dinner I made enchiladas. They're Monte's favorite, and I haven't made them in forever! But then I had to go and really over-do it by making Easy Oreo Cheesecake. That darn Kraft Foods Magazine is always getting me into trouble!

Suffice it to say that I ate my fair share of the cheesecake! Also, here is how I make my enchiladas super fast and easy (I made this up a long time ago):

Brown 1-2 pounds of ground beef, add 1 small onion chopped when the beef is almost done. You can also add a can of re fried beans to add flavor, and to make the meat go farther.
Open a 16oz can of Enchilada Sauce and pour enough into a 9x13 glass pan to cover the bottom.
Chop a can of olives.
Fill tortilla shells with ground beef mixture, sprinkle lightly with cheese, and roll up. Line these up in the glass pan. My pan usually can hold about 8-10 of these.
You may have left over meat that you can use to make a smaller pan the same way and freeze it for a quick meal later.
Top with remaining enchilada sauce. Cover with shredded cheddar cheese. I like a lot of cheese, but you can use however much you like. Then sprinkle with olives. Bake on 350 until hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes.
Serve with salsa and sour cream and enjoy! (Remember to leave room for cheese cake!)

Oh So Good Dinner!

The other day, Wednesday I think, I was so focused on working out that I forgot to put the pork roast in the crock pot for dinner! I had been planning all week to make a new recipe from the Kraft Foods magazine, but I had also been stuck inside with my kids home on snow days, and I was desparate for some workout time! Around 3:30, I made a last ditch effort to save dinner and hurriedly threw the roast in, but when 6:45 rolled around and it was no-where near done, I had to go to a backup plan.
So, on the very night that I complained on my blog about the awful school menu, I'm ashamed to say that I myself ended up serving my family mac&cheese and little smokies!
Thankfully, the roast was not ruined, it just had to be held over until Thursday evening. Wow, what a treat! I must say, it was worth the wait. I used the recipe Slow Cooker Oranger BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches from the Kraft Foods site. When the roast finally finished cooking, I put it away in the fridge, and then reheated it the next evening on low in the slow cooker. It's a good thing I ate lightly all day Thursday, because I helped myself to two of these sandwiches. Even though I was fully stuffed, it was just too good to resist! The best part is there was plenty to feed my family of 5 for another meal the next day.
All together, I had about $23 into this meal, including 12 sandwich rolls and a vegetable side, but if you count that as 2+ meals for a family of 5, it's not bad at all!

Snow Day-Again!

Here in Northern Idaho we are really getting hammered by the snow! This is a picture of my front porch, usually 2 feet off the ground, it's now 2 feet lower than the snow! And, that 1 foot I thought was on our roof? Turned out, there was more like 3-4 feet in most places! Add that to the 6-10 inches we have gotten over the past 24 hours, and it's looking very white around here! Still, no book. My Duma Key novel is probably stuck in a snow bank somewhere!

Of course, this means that today is a snow day. Both at school and at the quilt shop, since officials have advised every one to stay home I am assuming that no one will have a quilting emergency strong enough to send them to the store today. This means that I get to stay home and quilt, but I also have to entertain my kids. This is no easy task, since they are getting quite stir crazy.

My goal with my bonus sewing time today is to finish my Charmed Jelly Roll Quilt. I am using the Urban Indigo fabric, and it is turning out beautifully. It is quilt as you go style, so it won't get lost in the "to be quilted" pile like most of my projects!

By the way, did you notice that another project dissappeared off of my "Current Projects" list? That's right, believe it or not, I finished my Crossroads Tabletopper. I made mine with an Autumn Journey Charm Pack, and it turned out great. I hope to quilt it this weekend, and then I will possibly post a picture!

One last thing, the Chicken Pronto the other night was very easy and very good! The only bad review came from Kylee, who won't touch anything that resembles a tomato with a ten foot pole. Her plate was divided into two piles, the noodles, chicken, and sauce, and the pile of anything that looked remotely like a chunk of tomato. Other than that, everyone enjoyed it! Tonight, it's an easy mac & cheese dish called Shipwreck Dinner.. Then, I'm going to cozy up on the couch and enjoy the season premiere of Lost. If I can't read my Stephen King novel, this is the next best thing!

It's Official, I Suck at Bowling!

I know, you're thinking it can't be THAT bad right? Actually, it can! I bowled a whopping 66! Compare that to Kylee's 99, Bailey's 98, and Will's 88, and you get the picture. To my credit, I think the last time I bowled was some time around 1996. However, this is a prime example of why I DO NOT play sports.

The kid's had a great time. We went to Zeppoz in Pullman and bowled 1 game, which only took about an hour. Will was the break-out star. About half way through the game, after watching us and the people around us, he got the hang of it and started running and throwing the ball. Even though his hand's don't fit the finger holes, he was actually doing really well. Even Kylee couldn't roll it as fast as Will, and every one around us was getting a kick out of watching him. He's not even taller than the ball return, so it was pretty comical. I'm sure we'll do it again, so maybe next time I won't forget the camera!

On the way home we stopped for groceries and spent $225.00!!! Monte complained the entire time about how I wouldn't buy any pop, chips, candy bars, etc. All Junk food. Monte can eat 8000 calories/day and not gain a pound, so this is the routine every time we grocery shop. He looked at me like I was crazy when I said that according to my list this was going to last us 2 weeks. Then he saw the bill, which shut him right up! What's sad is that I will surely be making small trips to the store in between 2 weeks, so our grocery bill is actually quite a bit higher. I am scared to know what I will be spending in 5 years, when the kids are that much bigger!

Tonight I am making Chicken Cacciatore Pronto for dinner. I got a new Kraft Foods magazine last week, so I planned a lot of meals for the next 2 weeks. I'll let you know how it is tomorrow!

Mmmmm, Mmmmmm!

The past week I tried a new recipe, and an oldie but goodie. Here they are, try them if you want. Remember, I'm cooking for a husband that eats 24/7 and 3 growing kids, so if your family is smaller you may need to 1/2 the recipe!

First, I found this recipe in another Kraft Foods magazine. It took less than 30 minutes, and was a big hit with all of the kids!

3 packages of 3-cheese tortellini
2-3 cups of frozen peas
8oz cream cheese, 2 cups milk, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, deli ham

Cook the tortellini according to directions
Drain Tortellini, in saucepan heat 8oz cream cheese, 2 cups of milk, and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Add frozen peas and sliced up deli ham (to personal preference, I used ham lunch meat). Add tortellini and heat on low until sauce thickens slightly. Eat & enjoy!

Last night I made a family favorite, Meat Balls and Dill Sauce. My Mom has been making this as long as I can remember, and I still love it! The sauce is also great on mashed potatoes or noodles.

I used 1 bag of already made frozen meatballs, cooked according to package, but if you want to make your own mix hamburger & sausage, add a splash of 1/2 & 1/2 and breadcrumbs, form into 2" balls, and bake until done. (Sorry about the vagueness, I warned you I'm not a good cook, I just fly by the seat of my pants!)
For the sauce:
1 cup margarine
1/2 cup flour
2 cups sour cream
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp. dill weed

Heat margarine, and add flour to melted margarine. Mix well with wire whisk, then add chicken broth and sour cream and heat thoroughly. Add dill weed. Add cooked meat balls, or pour over the top of meat balls and serve!

Tonight, I'm taking the dinner shift off. Watch for new recipes soon, I plan to try a few more later this week!

Return of My Alter Ego

After a brief hiatus on Thursday, during which I ate peanut butter m&ms & cookies all afternoon and avoided the treadmill, my alter ego returned yesterday. First, she only wanted a single shot latte. (A weak drink at best)AND she didn't even finish it!! Then, she decided to do 45 minutes of kickboxing cardio in the afternoon. (so much for m&m's) I need to have a talk with her, since today I am feeling muscles I didn't know I had! To top it all off, my alter ego likes to cook, and actually tries new recipes.

If you know me at all, you already know I don't cook unless it's very simple. I'm just terrible at it, and I don't normally enjoy it. However, for the past couple of days I seem to be turning. First, I baked cookies Thursday night. I bake so little, in fact, that it took me 2 pans of cookies before I realized if I used both ovens I could be done in 1/2 the time! Then yesterday, I make a fruit dip to go with dinner. It was excellent, and very easy. Here is the recipe, from a Kraft Foods magazine: 1 16oz can of whole cranberry sauce and 8oz cream cheese, softened. Beat together and add 2 cups of cool whip. Stir in cwhip gently, then refrigerate 1 hour. We had this with apples, bananas, pineapple, and kiwi and it was very good.

So, I'm almost afraid of what my alter ego has in store for today. So far, only a single shot latte. My muscles are screaming NO! NO! NO! already in fear of what's coming!