Fail

What did I cook this week?  Ummmm...grilled cheese, pancakes and a TGIFriday Complete Skillet Meal.  Oh, I guess I didn't cook this week!  The grilled cheese and pancakes sure were yummy though :)  The skillet meal?  It was ok, Maddie and I both ate it so it'll do.  I'm buying another one this week just because it was so easy!

Wait!  I did roast a turkey and bake 4 dozen cookies for Maddie's school's Thanksgiving Feast.  At least I did that much.  I didn't get to eat it, but at least I cooked :)

This week I WILL be cooking so I'll report back later.

I'm Back and I'm Talking about HAM!

I'm back into cooking :)  It's been 10 weeks since my beautiful second daughter (Sadie) was born and I'm finally starting to feel like I'm gaining a little control back in the house.  I'm slowly getting back to planning my meals and doing my weekly grocery shopping.  I even took a peek at a Kroger ad the other day!  WHAT?!?!  I'm glad I looked at that ad because I bought a turkey today for only 39 cents a pound :)  However, I don't plan on cooking that until later in the month...

On today's menu was split pea soup.  I know, it doesn't sound good.  To be honest with you I never had pea soup until I was 29 years old.  I took a trip to Wisconsin to visit my husband's grandmother and she had made a pot of pea soup.  It was for dinner and I was terrified of it.  However, I didn't want to come across as a picky eater so I thought I could just suffer through one meal and be a good little granddaughter-in-law.  Well, with one bite I instantly fell in love.  Who would've thought that pea soup wouldn't taste like peas???  I ate the soup that night for dinner and just about every day for lunch the rest of the week.  I couldn't get enough. 

Two weeks ago Eric ordered me a HoneyBaked Ham.  I ate ham for lunch and dinner for several days and even had some ham with breakfast once.  Then I was all hammed-out and needed to freeze the leftovers.  When I was cutting the meat from the bone I suddenly thought of the pea soup.  I HAD to save the ham bone to make the soup.  Tonight was the night for the soup...and I was not disappointed.  It's one I'll definitely make again.  Sorry guys...I'm not going to share the recipe.  I don't know if it's Grandma's "secret" recipe or something and I don't want to give away a family favorite.  Just in case.  :)

I will share a recipe that I used the ham in that was also a big hit.  I made this one night and had my aunt and uncle over for dinner.  I was surprised that my 2 year old really enjoyed this Cheesy Ham Chowder recipe!

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cheesy-Ham-Chowder

I made it EXACTLY as the recipe calls for and it was amazing.  This chowder also freezes well so if you make a big batch you can have your freezer stocked for the rest of the year.  Believe me, you're gonna want it again!

Let me know if you try it :)

Cooking Times

Why is it whenever I follow a recipe I ALWAYS have to cook something longer than the recipe calls for?  I made a turkey breast in the crock pot last week and had to cook it an additional 30 minutes.  Tonight I made a pork tenderloin and had to cook it an additional 25 minutes!  It's so frustrating when I time out dinner and then end up eating much later than I had planned...which is especially hard since Maddie gets hungry before dinner's ready and I end up feeding her something else and we don't eat dinner together.  Tonight she had cold leftover mac & cheese while I waited on my tenderloin to finish cooking...

Does anyone else have this problem? 

Curry = Heartburn

Well, the curry tasted yummy to me...I've always enjoyed Indian food when I had the chance to try it.  Unfortunately, I wasn't anticipating the heartburn it would give me when I'm pregnant!  Yes, EVERYTHING gives me heartburn when I'm pregnant, but this is the first time Tums hasn't gotten rid of it...So, enough about my heartburn :)  Maddie wasn't a fan of the curry.  I was really hoping she would just eat and not really notice, I mean I only used 1/4 tsp in an 8x8 baking dish...it wasn't that strong.  But her little sensitive toddler tongue could sense that it was "too bicey" (too spicy).  Looks like I'll be eating these leftovers tomorrow by myself...unless this heartburn never goes away tonight in which case I'll be throwing it in the trash!

The next two nights are leftovers nights for me and I think I'll give Maddie waffles one night and maybe scrambled the eggs the other...anything that doesn't require much clean up!  So I'll catch back up with you all (or my one follower...thanks Kendra!) after the weekend.

Dinners this Week

I've got to say that these recipes provided by e-mealz.com have been pretty yummy!  Maybe I was just getting bored with the same old thing?  I don't know...  Monday night I made Cheaters Chicken and Dumplings.  It had 5 ingredients and was served with a salad.  The best part (in my opinion) was that you use refrigerator biscuits as the dumplings!!  Yes, it tasted like refrigerator biscuits, but I like them so it was yummy!  Maddie enjoyed it too so that's a recipe I'll be holding onto for a while.  I used my own chicken broth that I had made with my roast chicken last week so that probably had a huge impact on the overall flavor of the meal.  I'm excited to make more chicken broth!  This canned stuff just doesn't cut it once you're used to the "real deal".

Last night I made Cheeseburger Soup.  HELLO!!  It was so good!  Just brown the ground beef right in the soup pot with your veggies, then add some chicken broth (beef broth probably would've been good, too), boil it and simmer to let the veggies soften then add a bag of frozen hash browns!  Ok, how many of you are with me...you can't go wrong when hash browns are involved :)  Throw in some velveeta cheese and you're good to go.  I had some frozen hot dog buns that I thawed out and made into garlic bread to go with the soup.  Maddie didn't like this soup as much, but we had a long afternoon at the beach so I think she was just too tired to eat...she did enjoy the garlic bread.

Tonight I made a crock pot Turkey breast with mashed sweet potatoes.  The turkey was incredible!  The only things you put in the crock pot with it are orange juice, some celery cut up, salt, pepper and dry onion soup mix.  I cooked it on low for 5 1/2 hours and it was PERFECT.  Maddie enjoyed it as much as I did.  But I was surprised she was really into the sweet potatoes...I don't make them often (last time I made sweet potatoes I made them oven fries...she liked that too) so I liked seeing her being interested in something new.  The leftover turkey was cut up into chunks and is already in a baking dish for tomorrow night's dinner...Turkey Divan!  I used Curry for the first time ever so I'm anxious to see if Maddie will like it!

Friday and Saturday I scheduled as leftover nights so I can take it easy and not have much clean up in the kitchen.  Sunday we're having a brunch casserole (probably for lunch and dinner).

Sorry I'm not giving exact recipes...I don't want to get "caught" giving away information I paid for.  I don't know, maybe it would be ok to give a recipe here or there as long as I'm not sending the pdf file of the meal plan and shopping list :)

An e-mealz.com Review

Last week I told you all about this fabulous e-mealz.com website.  I'm glad I only paid $12.50 for a three month subscription as it hasn't saved me any money.  Here's how it went down:

The shopping list for this week's menu (Walmart plan for two) was supposed to cost me $48.30.  I had several things on hand already but also had to buy some of the things they call "pantry staples" so my total for dinner items was $39.62.  Doesn't sound bad, right?  Unfortunately, that's not all the food we eat in a week.  I still had to buy items for breakfast, lunch and snacks.  Not to mention this shopping list only included 3 fruits (1 canteloupe, 1 kiwi and 1 lemon).  We eat more fruit than that and there weren't a lot of veggies either...The other foods I had to buy included things like orange juice, milk, bread, bananas, green beans, eggs, etc. and that total came to $44.77.  It makes sense that my total for 2 meals and a snack per day would add up to be more than my dinners for the week, but I was expecting to see a huge difference in my total today.

I see this site being beneficial for people who shop without a plan.  If you don't plan your meals and go to the store and just grab what looks good, then this site will help you have more of a plan (without all the work that goes with it!) and will end up saving you money.  I've been making a meal plan since Maddie was about 4 months old when Eric and I started following Weight Watchers.  I've been used to it and only buy what I need (plus a little something extra if I'm shopping hungry).  I guess that's why I didn't see a big difference in my grocery bill today. 

I already paid or the three month subscription so I'm going to continue getting the menu plans and printing them off so I have some new recipes...I'll most likely cancel at that time.  It seemed like such a good idea in the beginning.  :(  Maybe I'll start to like it better over the next three months.  I'll let you know.

e-mealz.com

On my last post I mentioned e-mealz.com.  Then I went on the site and subscribed.  I just wanted to let you know that if you're interested in signing up you can enter the coupon code "Dave" and save $2.50...that's like getting 2 weeks free! 

I'll let you know what I think of it once I start using it (next week)...