Upside-down Pizza Casserole

This recipe sounded interesting, Mathew & I decided to try it on Tuesday, it score 3 jellybeans…forgot to take a picture. I’m sure you can add different vegetables than what the recipe calls for. Here is the recipe if anyone is interested in…

 

1 lb ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 15oz can pizza sauce

1/4 cup coarsely chopped pepperoni

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1 2.5 oz jar green giant sliced mushroom, drained  ( I used the generic brand, less money)

6 0z thinly sliced mozzarella ( I used a bag of shredded mozzarella because that’s what I had)

 

 

For the topping;

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon oil

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef, onions and green pepper, drain. Stir in pizza sauce, pepperoni, Italian seasoning and mushrooms. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, simmer uncovered 10 minutes,  stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine milk, oil, and eggs; beat 1 minute at medium speed. Spoon flour into mixture and salt; beat 2 minutes at medium speed or until smooth. Put meat mixture into baking dish evenly. Place cheese slices over the hot meat mixture, pour topping evenly over cheese covering completely. Sprinkle with the Parmesan bake at 400 for 20 to 30 minutes, or until puffed and a deep brown

Cranberry Chicken

On Monday I broke out my crock pot…looked for a recipe and came across cranberry chicken. The picture looked good sounded good but it only got a score of a 1… sour cream I guess. It was kind of disappointing, but here is  the recipe if anyone would like to try it

2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken thighs &/or drumstick

1 16 ounce can of whole cranberry sauce                                              

2 tablespoon dry onion soup mix

2 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca

Place chicken in a 31/2 to 4 quart crock pot . In a small bowl stir together cranberry                                                                                                                                                                                  sauce soup mix and tapioca. Pour over chicken pieces.

Cover, cook on low heat setting for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Serve the chicken & sauce over hot rice.

word of the week…Entitlement….

In the dictionary the word entitlement means….the right to do or have something…I have met and talked to many people this last week that have the attitude  of entitlement.  OK I get it we want to get what we pay for, and we  want things a certain way, but do people have  to come across as if your shit don’t stink …some more than others are a bit over the top. Why do we…humans, people, the public… generalizing… feel entitled to everything, and when the service can’t be provided we turn evil, mean, nasty. I don’t get it, how many times…myself included ,( I’m sure I’ve turn pissy a time or 2). And seriously your child’s birthday party will ruined because there was suppose to be 3 yellow  balloons instead of 2 on the cake…that  ENTITLES you to cuss out the part time cake decorator, who is trying to make a dent in student loans, support themselves or family, or who is just an after school kid trying to save money for a car…whatever the worker’s story is, it doesn’t give anyone the ENTITLEMENT to be an ass. Why do we get the Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality when we can’t get what we want when we want in the public service field. Seriously people we all put our pants on one leg at a time so why do some people feel that we are better than the next? If all of the possessions in the world, all of our things are stripped from us we are the same. What happen to the ” Golden Rule”, Treat other’s the way you want to be treated.”

Yes we are entitled to things in the world in our lives,  but does that give us the excuses to act irrational. Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this way I don’t know, all I know is that we need to be kind to each other because one of these days you might find yourself in a sticky situation and that person you cussed out because they couldn’t give you want you want might be the only one there to help you…

So please be kind to people that you come in contact with through out your days….& remember, ” Treat others they way you want to be treated.”…

Friday 10/12/12 @ 6:45pm

Family…In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony. — Eva Burrows

On Sunday I did bake apple crisp, had to do it twice, the first one was to thin, but the second one was awesome. I also baked snicked oodles  Boston creme cake, brownies, and a pot roast. The pot roast cooked  quicker than I expected…but it was still good. My husband oldest son came to visit… it was really nice having him home. It made me to think of  the family later that night.

My thoughts that family we have a love hate relationship, but its the core of our existence I don’t want to generalize the family dynamics  but if you think about a family is where we learn right and wrong, confidence, fighting, love, hate, working together, secrets, support, trust , betrayal, and the rest of our emotions we experience through life….its like the family is our best allied but yet our worst enemy when shit hit the fan. No matter if your pissed at a member or not you will be there for them when crisis hit or even happiness.

But yet we don’t see  or speak to family as often as we should. Families that live in the same town…how often do they see each other beside the normal events like, holidays birthdays, weddings…etc.. Why is that, why are we so busy, or wrapped in our own worlds that we put off spending time with families? And why is it that we are nicer to strangers than to our families?…. I read this poem or short story once, not sure how it exactly went but something like this…..This woman/mother was at the grocery store shopping, another customer smashed into her grocery cart, the man replied oh I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention, oh no problem, she said I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention either.  Then she went home and was starting dinner, she was in the kitchen turned around and ran right into her 5 yr old son…she screamed at him to get out of the way I making dinner, your always in the way, go out side and play. His big eyes looked up at her trying to hold back the tears, he quietly said I’m sorry mommy, and left the kitchen.  Later that night she was sleeping she woke up in the middle of the night with a nagging feeling to go downstairs and look in the kitchen. So she did, and when she turned the corner she saw something lying on the floor, as she got closer her heart began to sink and her eyes started to fill with tears, because as she came closer to the area where she yelled at her son earlier there was a pile of dandelions on the floor. She sat on the floor and just cried, and felt horrible that her sweet little boy was trying to give her flowers and all she did is scream at him….

Doesn’t that just make you think about how many times a similar situation like this has happened…it does for me. I’m far from the perfect person, but think about it… in your daily lives, how many times are you more forgiving to the stupid things people do through out your day than the stupid things  your own family does…

I’m not sure either, …maybe because we have no limitations in the family circle, no politically correctness that we have to worry about like out in the world. Whatever it is we should just be kind to our family, because when there is nothing or no one around your family will be there. Spend more time hanging out with the family other than special occasions  how about bringing the old time Sunday afternoon family dinners back which have long been lost…heck just a family table dinner has been lost…it a bit sad don’t you think?

 

The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape,

nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.
– Dodie Smith

 

Spend time with your family, drink , eat, and be social…..with family

10/10/12…1pm

 

 

no title , just thoughts

It’s been awhile since I was here last, this isn’t how I envisioned my blog…not sure why I’ve been away for so long. It could be life got in the way…maybe I lost my sense of adventure…maybe I just didn’t care, well what ever it is lets try this blog thing again. I’m not sure how long this will last, but we’ll see. At first my intentions was to cook, bake, make a cookie list….yeah it hasn’t worked that way right now. I find recipes in cookbooks, go to the store and buy the ingredients and they are very expensive. Since my family is like the rest of the world in this financial blunder that was created I opt for cheap easy meals. And really who wants to read about sloppy joes, or hamburger helper recipes, not me.  So I get bummed out …oh oh maybe that’s what it is, it could be we only have this 1 little laptop to share with 4 people, and I always get it last, and by then I’m to tired.

Any ways, this summer my son and I really got into the shows Hells Kitchen, and Master Chef, ( I so want to go on that show) He started to cook dinner more and add things into the pan. He made chicken for dinner one time and added vitamin water in it, it was yummy, no left over chicken that night. So I thought lets expand on his desire to cook. Besides its nice to cook with someone else. So I went to the bookstore and bought a book called “Kitchen on fire”, its a step by step technique and class that these 2 chefs do at Le Cordon Blue in California  ( I would love to go to the one here in Boston). So we read a chapter, talk about it and then do the excersies at the end of the chapter. So far we learned knife techniques, the different kinds of knifes and pans. I bought a wok, used it it once, don’t know if we did it right, but the recipe came out good. Now were reading about searing, stocks, soups, poaching, haven’t tried the excirse yet but we will.

Today is Sunday 10/7 @ 10:14 am…I still can’t figure out how to change the time stamp on the blog, but I guess it really doesn’t matter. This morning is a little chilly here on Cape Cod, makes me get in the mood for some apple crisp, or other baking, and a nice crock pot dinner, oohh maybe a pot roast.  Well I guess I better get moving to get dressed and go to the store, hhmm I might not have time for a crock pot pot roast, but baking I will…We’ll see,…ttul…..

 

My sons Jr. Dragster

 

Baking for a good cause

My son Maty races a Jr. dragster at Epping NH, New England Drag way. This Saturday they were involved in a fund raiser for the charity Hot Rods for Heroes. So me being the baker, I made 50 cupcakes, 36 oatmeal raisin cookies, 24 chocolate chip cookie, 24 brownies, and 24 deorated  sugar cookies. They raised $1,500.00, AWESOME!

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                                                               Mission Statement

Hot Rods for Heroes (HRH) is a Maryland-based charitable foundation with a simple mission: to provide veterans and their family members with the opportunity to attend various sporting events and a variety of family activities without cost to them.

HRH provides an opportunity to escape away from the daily pressures and grind that most service men and women experience, especially our combat-wounded vets.

Our unique mission will not only allow HRH to offer vets and their families a relaxing day at a ballgame, picnic or other family-oriented event, HRH representatives will also visit Veterans Hospitals throughout our Country, to personally show our gratitude to those heroic service men and women for the sacrifices they have made on our behalf.

Finally, our mission will allow a distinctive opportunity for outreach activities related to the Veterans Administration announcements, benefits and needs of our heroes.