Colossal Failure?

In an attempt to make my daughters Halloween Perfect, I offered to make cookies for her school Halloween Party.  So last night I took out my mixer and began to make the cookie recipe I needed to make ghost shaped cookies for her classroom.  Unfortunately the cookie dough ended up being one sticky, gooey, yucky mess and didn't resemble any type of cookie dough I could shape into ghosts. 

The good news is the goodie bags for her school friends (below) were easily assembled.





Halloween Goodie Bags from Stampin' Up.  Some assembly required.







Halloween Goodie Bags
Each one had graham crackers, Peeps Pumpkin Marshmallows and a Mini Hershey's Bar.



These are some additional treat bags I put together.  Each one
included a mini bag of plain M&M's and a Mini Hershey's Bar.





Baking Before the Storm

Last October we had Nor'easter that caused many people in New England to be without power for over a week.  So this year with Hurricane Sandy coming, I decided to do a little baking "just in case the power went out".  Fortunately, the power did not go out during this storm. 

I made some Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, the traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe baked in a bar form.  I also made this Zucchini Bread...Yummy!  I found this recipe online at allrecipes.com, but added my own little tweaks to make it just my own.

Zucchini Bread

Yield:  Makes two loaves

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2-1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) or 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Grease and Flour two 8 x 4 inch pans.  Preheat over to 325°F.  Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together in a bowl.  Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, milk and sugar together in a large bowl.  Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture, and beat well.  Stir in zucchini and optional ingredients.  Pour batter into pans.  Bake for 40 - 60 minutes.  Cool in pan for 20 minutes, then remove and transfer bread from pan to cooling rack.

Dinner with guests

Recently I have made an effort to make more home cooked meals (or at least semi-homemade meals). Last night, I made some repeats of some recipes I found on pinterest that were a hit with my daughter and our dinner guests.  I admit I should have taken pictures, these are the two recipes I used last night.

Creamy Chicken Pockets

Yield:  8  to 16 pockets depending on the size of the chicken breasts

2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I have also used left over chicken)
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter, softened
3 ounces light cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies (add more or less as desired)
2 (8 ounce) package refrigerated reduced fat crescent rolls
1 tablespoon butter, melted


Preheat oven to 375˚F.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook the onions and garlic, once cooked add pre-cooked chicken and frozen veggies to heat.

In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese and 1 tablespoon softened butter until smooth.  Stir in the cooked chicken, onions, garlic and veggies.  Add the salt, pepper and milk.  Mix well.

Separate the crescent roll dough into the eight triangles.  Place a tablespoon of filling into the center of each triangle and fold the corners up and press to seal.    Place on ungreased baking sheet or stone and repeat.

Brush the tops with the melted butter.

Bake for 11 – 13 minutes, or until golden brown.

Creamy Orzo with Asparagus & Parmesan

Ingredients:

1 cup orzo

1 cup asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces (or use a small can of asparagus)

1 tbsp butter or margarine

1/4 to 1/2 cup light or regular cream

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Bring a large sauce pan of water (filled about halfway) to a boil over medium heat. Cook the orzo until tender, about 10 minutes.

After the orzo has been cooking for about 5 minutes, add the asparagus to the same pot (this will allow the orzo and asparagus to cook in the same pot and keep the clean-up to a minimum!).  **If you used canned asparagus only add for a 2-3 minutes***

Once the orzo and asparagus are cooked and tender, drain and return to the pot.

Quickly add the Parmesan cheese and butter. Stir thoroughly, allowing both the cheese and butter to melt. Slowly add the cream to the mixture, while stirring. Continue to stir and add cream until you reach your desired consistency.

Season with salt and pepper.

Until next time....

Jamie

The Not So Perfect Mom....But Trying My Best

Ideally, I would love the be the June Cleaver of Mom's.  I would have the cleanest, most organized house, a perfect schedule, dinner on the table every night and perfectly behaved children.  Well when the real world hits you realize that being the "perfect mom" is just a fantasy.  I work, I volunteer for a non-profit, I love crafts and I have a 22 month old.  There is no time for the perfect life.  But, I try to make it as clean, fun and organized as possible. Sometimes it works....and sometimes it doesn't.

With Halloween right around the corner I thought I would do something special for my daughter for dinner last night. So, I bought a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in Halloween shapes to have with dinner.  Making the mac & cheese was the fun part.  But, when we sat down to dinner my daughter said "don't want it"  and wouldn't eat her dinner.  Finally, after some coaxing from grandma and grandpa via skype Mackenzie ate some of her mac and cheese and all the pears I had for her.  Needless to say, the fun, exciting dinner I had planned turned out to be more of an aggravation than fun.

Until next time...
Jamie