Kids say the funniest things. . .

The Dude is becoming so talkative. He really does take after his mother! So imagine just how hard I laughed at a conversation we were having about Skunks, in the middle of Longhorn Steak House!

The Dude had his kiddies menu and some crayons, and was happily coloring away and naming the animals as he turned the pages. Here's what followed:

The Dude: What this? (he's not worked out how to put the 's' at the end of What)

Mommy: That's a Skunk

Daddy: Skunks are stinky

The Dude: Skunk stinky. Bleugh, yuck, smelly (Visualize the facial expression and hand waving in front of his nose) . . . Bath?

I love it! Absolutely hysterical. He's amazing and it absolutely made my day.

What's new in baking?

What's new in baking these days? How about the fact that I think I've finally mastered it.
Yep, that's right. I learned how to bake this weekend. I made some blondies and some apricot oat bars for a bake sale, and people actually bought them; they even tasted good! I can't believe it. Usually, I produce paper weights. I'm very excited.

The proceeds of the bake sale went to 'Share our strength', a very worthy cause working to end childhood hunger in America. And given my disdain for baking, I am happy to report that I would bake my heart out for this charity any day of the week.

I feel it might be necessary to do a ceremonial 'I can bake' dance right now this very second.

Make-ahead meat sauce

As you can probably guess, I've been a little busy recently and to be honest, house work has not been at the top of my priority list. (Although to be fair, it hasn't ranked very high before now!) So yesterday, in an attempt to bring some control over my crazed schedule, I made tonight and tomorrow night's dinner, last night.

That's right folks. I made a massive batch of turkey bolognaise so tonight we'll have that with pasta and tomorrow night I'll turn it into a chili by throwing some black beans, some frozen corn and some cayenne pepper into the mix and topping it with disgusting amounts of cheese, because lets face it, life tastes better with cheese. And butter. Ooh, and milk. Mmm. And chocolate. I seem to be getting off track here. . .

So, here is the recipe for my turkey bolognaise:

3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3lbs of ground turkey
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped (can you tell I'm trying to get the dude to eat veggies?)
1 jar pasta sauce
1 red onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper
Italian Seasoning

Saute the onions until transparent. Add garlic and cook until starting to turn golden. Brown off meat, then add carrots, pepper and pasta sauce. Cook for roughly
15 minutes then add seasoning. Cook for another 8-10 minutes. Either serve over pasta or store until you're ready to eat it.

Top tip: I saw this on the Rachael Ray show - use a potato masher to break up the meat. It makes it good and fine!

The worst cookies ever

It's official, I cannot bake. I really can't. I borrowed this awesome recipe book from the library (which now I cannot wait to return) and saw a recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies. I already had all of the ingredients in the house - which is so unlike me, so I thought I'd give it a go and make them for when my hubby and little dude wanted a snack. BIG mistake.

They came out less like chewy chocolate chip cookies and more like salty cakes that weren't cooked in the middle. The question is, how on earth did I manage to screw it up so badly? It seemed like a fool-proof recipe. Obviously the writer never accounted for this idiot.

So, I think it's safe to say that I shall be sticking with my Betty Crocker packets where you just add an egg and some water for now until my baking ego has sufficiently recovered from this disaster.

Philadelphia cream cheese

I love cream cheese. It doesn't last more than 5 minutes in this house. The Dude loves it too, especially on bagels.

He doesn't eat meat though. Well actually that's not true - he mostly doesn't eat meat. Occasionally he'll eat a chicken nugget or two. So imagine my surprise when he ate the meat sauce on his pasta at dinner! The solution - I mixed in cream cheese as I was cooking the sauce.

It was a recipe I found on Rachael Ray's website. Brown off the ground beef, stir in tomato sauce such as Ragu (I made my own) and melt in half a block of cream cheese before stirring in pasta. Top with Parmesan if desired. It was yummy and the best part of it is that it took 15 minutes to make!

So there you have it folks, if in doubt add cream cheese.

BJs Wholesale Club

I really don't like grocery shopping. I love food, but buying it can be a nightmare. So when we finally ran out of food in the pantry yesterday, I had to really psyche myself up to go out to BJs and do a food shop.

However, what we bought really made my day. A 3lb pork tenderloin that will last us two dinners and my hubby's lunch on Monday only cost $14. I usually spend that on way less at my regular grocery store. The meat is in the slow cooker as we speak, marinading in root beer (I found an awesome recipe on-line yesterday for pulled pork) ready to be shredded, mixed with BBQ sauce and put in sandwiches, served with home made mashed potatoes and veggies. Mmmm. I'm so hungry!

Then we bought 2lbs of stewing steak. That went in the crock pot last night and made an awesome casserole, which is now living in the freezer ready for when the baby arrives. That little lot came to roughly $12 and again will get us through two meals. What a bargin!

Lastly, 2lbs of ground beef will make enough spaghetti bolognaise to sink a battleship.

Being frugal is definitely the way to go, especially in the current economic climate. But it doesn't mean that your family meals have to suffer. If you have enough space in your freezer, there are plenty of yummy recipes out there for make-ahead meals that you can freeze until you need them. (Which in my case is most of the time!)

If you have a wholesale club in your area such as BJs or Costco that you can join, it's definitely an investment worth making. And they sell more than just mammoth amounts of meat! We buy all of our diapers, wipes, cleaning products and toiletries in the large quantities, because in the long-run, it saves us money. (And we even get coupons in the mail!)

Nesting and pregnancy

I feel as though I have neglected this blog over the last few weeks. The truth is I haven't been able to do anything worth blogging about! Not surprisingly, I went into preterm labor and have ended up on bed rest. Which to most people would probably sound like heaven, but I have a nesting instinct so powerful that I'm going out of my mind, and worse still, I can't satisfy it. My husband has been nesting for me.

The pantry has been re-arranged, the house scrubbed from top to bottom and the closets tidied. Dinners have been cooked and laundry has been done, but I am ashamed to say not by me. And he's done a better job of it.

Still, by the end I'll have a beautiful baby girl as well as my handsome little dude and my family will be subjected to my somewhat chaotic housekeeping methods once more. I just hope it's sooner rather than later, I'm going out of my mind.

Use-it-up bread pudding

It's 9.45pm and I've just made a use-it-up bread pudding. The loaf in the bread bin was going stale and I didn't want to waste it - particularly as the holidays are approaching and things are getting tight!

So here's what I used:

Half a loaf of wholewheat bread
2/3 cup of demerera sugar
the last of the vanilla extract that was in the bottle
an excessive sprinkling of nutmeg (I LOVE nutmeg)
2 cups of semi-skimmed milk (It's all we drink and I don't have any cream)
1.5 cups of raisins
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 cup of butter
3 eggs

Here's what i did:

Pre-heated oven to 350.

Warmed up milk and added butter and cinnamon stick. Left it to simmer for 2 mins.

Mixed vanilla, eggs, nutmeg and sugar together vigorously for at least a minute. Then slowly, after removing the cinnamon stick, I added the milk.

Cut bread into triangles (Like my nan used to) and placed strategically around a grease Pyrex dish, layering in some raisins along the way.

After my last layer of raisins, I poured the milk-custard concoction over the bread. It's now in the oven for 45 mins. . .

My Nan Brown would be horrified if she were reading this right now! Still, I shall update you on how it went when it finally comes out of the oven.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

I made brownies this morning, as soon as I got up. What is happening to me?!

I also have this strange need to beach the house from top to bottom. Can anyone explain what is going on here?

Help! I'm nesting and it's driving me crazy! I actually lost sleep last night thinking about the roasted red pepper soup and grilled cheese sandwiches that I'm making for dinner tonight. Is there a cure for this?

Sunday Roast

I made my family a Sunday roast for lunch today. It's been a long time since we've had one and in the UK it's kind of a tradition. The whole house smelled yummy, but I couldn't help but feel that my family members weren't here to enjoy it with us. I forgot the gravy and I miss bread pudding terribly.

But I think over the Fall and the Winter it's going to be a weekly occurrence - we all sit down on a Sunday and eat a roast. I love family traditions. Now that I have my own children I want them to have their own traditions and memories that make them feel warm and happy. It's been a long time since my family back home and I have practiced out traditions, like leaving milk and mince pies for Santa (we also used to leave a bowl of water out for him to wash his hands with after coming down the chimney, and a bowl of dog food outside for the reindeer!) but I'll remember them always.

I hope in twenty years from now my babies remember our family time around the dinner table and our holiday traditions, and look back on them with a smile.

Pork chop recipe part two

It went very well. I'll definitely be making that again. We ate it with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. Yum!

I should probably tell you though that my Hubby doesn't eat mustard and the recipe calls for Dijon. So as with most recipes that call for mustard, I didn't tell him. Usually he eats said dinner and compliments the meal, without noticing it's there. This time however, he caught me putting it in the pot. Still, I managed to convince him to try it and he even ate what I couldn't finish. Obviously if he were allergic I wouldn't dream of being so devious! I won't be trying that trick for a little while though. . .

Pork chop recipe part 1

Here is what we're having for dinner tonight - shall let you know how it goes. . .

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/eating-well/pork-chops-with-apples-thyme-recipe

Pasta Bake

It's been a tiring day. My baby brother turned 21 today (so I guess he's not really a baby any more!)which still hit me like I'd been struck by lightening, even though I've seen it coming for the last year. I'm very sad that I couldn't be there with him to help him celebrate his special day, but he's always in my heart and he'll always be my baby no matter how old he is. Even when he drives me nuts!

So, in order to help relieve the unbearable guilt I've been carrying around today, I went shopping. That's right folks, shopping. I bought Baby Girl bedding for her crib, some winter clothes for when she finally arrives, some clothes and a bunch of craft stuff for the Little Dude, and Christmas presents. Yep, I said it - Christmas presents.

The Dude and I are making home-made gifts to send back to family in the UK this year. It's far more personal with greater meaning behind it than anything that money can buy. So, I figured I need enough time to make them as well as mail them back home. 2 months should be plenty!

This meant that the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was to cook dinner, so I made my quick-fix pasta bake. The beauty of it is that you can add any veggies you want like peppers or zucchini (courgettes), but tonight we just had basic-style. Here's the recipe:

2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 small onion, finely chopped
a palm-full of Italian seasoning
1 box dried pasta (I used rotini)
half a bag of frozen meatballs
1 ball mozzarella cheese
cooking spray
Pyrex dish or similar

Heat oven to 425.

Cook pasta according to instructions.

While pasta is on, gently cook onions and garlic until onions are transparent. Add meatballs, tomatoes and seasoning. Simmer for 7-8 mins.

Mix pasta and sauce together. Spray Pyrex dish and add pasta mixture.

Top with mozzarella cheese and bake for 15 mins until cheese has melted and is bubbling.

Serve with salad.

Japanese Stir-fry recipe

This is what Hubby and I had for dinner. The original recipe came from Rachael Ray, but I've adapted it to make sure evrybody in the family gets something they like. It really is easy and takes only minutes to prepair.

Next to some of the ingredients you'll see brackets. I've done this so my British audience can follow along at home!

You'll need:

3 crushed garlic cloves,
1 small tsp of freshly grated ginger
Japanese soba noodles
2 handfulls of mung beans (bean sprouts)
1 bunch of thinly chopped scallions(spring onions)
Half a packet of frozen, shelled edamame (soy beans)thawed
1 packet of pre-cooked chicken strips
Dried parsley flakes
Dried basil flakes
Soy sauce
Hoisin sauce
1 tbsp Sesame oil

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.

While the noodles are on, warm up the oil in a large skillet (frying pan) and add the scallions, garlic, edemame,mung beans, ginger and chicken. Cook for about 5-7 mins, until the chicken has warmed through.

Add the parsley and basil flakes, a good glug of soy sauce and hoisin sauce and let cook for another 5-7 mins.

Drain the noodles and stir into the skillet. Serve in warm bowls.

Burger King

Yesterday probably wasn't the best day to start my mission. My Little Dude has an ear infection and two molars coming in ALL ON THE SAME DAMN SIDE and I have a stinking head cold. Perfect. To top it off, the dogs had a good go at destroying the living room and barking the neighbourhood away all the live-long day. I couldn't wait to go back to bed.

I did do 3 loads of laundry though, returned my library books (and took out new ones, one of which is titled 'Bad Mother' and is supposed to make me realise that I'm not. . .) and tidied up a little. For dinner, we had Burger King. Argh.

What's on the menu for today? Who knows. Little Dude has a toddler class this morning - don't panic, I'm feeling miles better than I did yesterday, and I have to pick up the dry-cleaning. Oh, and change the bed covers and do a little grocery shopping. My god, housework is so bloody dull!