Manic Monday

I am officially sold on the "Make Ahead Meal" meal thing. It's the working woman's dream! Today I took a meatloaf out of the freezer at lunch and it was a delicious homemade meal by 6pm. Did I mention I also worked a 12 hour day? Vern even said it "Wow,you worked a 9 hour day and still made a delicious dinner? You are amazing!" I love it when I have a happy man with a full tummy :) I have to give him credit though,he put the meatloaf in the oven and steamed broccoli,what a great man! I will be making this a regular habit. 1 day of cooking = 8 effortless,budget friendly, homemade meals,I'm hooked!

Tomorrow is the big day..Trevor is 18!! I am so excited to go to the zoo! I really,really hope that they (Trevor and his girlfriend Shelby) don't change their minds and decide not to go...I would be secretly crushed! There is also an aquarium and flower gardens at the zoo too! Oh and I want to ride a camel! My 4G memory card in my camera will come in handy tomorrow! haha Listen to me-geesh! Who's birthday is it?! LOL! Although....Vern and I have reason to celebrate too! We are officially done with all financial and legal matters with both of our ex's!!!! Yay! Ironically enough I had a friend request from my ex husband on Myspace this evening. Somewhere between realizing who had sent it and the decline button I saw he had added a little note asking about the dog...how nice. How many times must you tell someone to go away? I thought the timing was a little humorous though.

Something strange happen in my fridge.So strange I am willing to admit it on the internet. We had a few cloves and bunches of garlic in a plastic sandwich baggie in the fridge. I think they had been forgotten about 6 months ago. I noticed tonight they sprouted green starts!
In a baggie.
In the dark cold fridge.
Weird!
So I took them out and set them in a shallow dish of water in the windowsill. We'll see what happens. I didn't plan on growing garlic in August! I don't even know how! Sounds like another "Google"project.....

Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake with Apple Cider Glaze

Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake with Apple Cider Glaze
For the Cake:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
For the Glaze:1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons apple cider
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Empty the contents of the boxed cake mix and pumpkin puree into a large bowl.  Using a hand-mixer or stand mixer beat until well incorporated.  The batter will be very thick, but will come together nicely.

Pour batter into a greased  7 x 11 X 2 pan.  This is the small, rectangular-sized pan from your Pyrex set.  You know, the set you had to have when you got married and rarely ever used all the pieces.  Finally, you have a use for it.

Bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Do not overbake.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a platter.

Make the glaze while you're waiting.

Combine powdered sugar, apple cider and pumpkin pie spice.  Glaze should be thick but pourable.  Add more sugar or cider if needed.  Pour over the cake while still warm.  Reserve some to pour over each slice when served.

Serve warm or room temperature.


My Notes:
This recipe is one of my "secret weapons". Everyone likes it. Everyone. I don't even like pumpkin pie and I love this cake!
The smell is heavenly. Making,baking and eating this cake smells like....deliciosoyumyumscrumpdidillywowowness. Yes. That good.
Buy the cake mix and pumpkin in duplicates(it's a great recipe in a pinch) and splurge for pumpkin pie spice and cider.You will make this again :)

EASY Meatballs

EASY MEATBALLS

 COOKS.COM

---

1 lb. ground round
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 chopped sm. green pepper
1/2 c. uncooked rice
1 egg
1 can tomato soup or tomato sauce (10 3/4 oz.)

In a soup pan empty the can of soup or sauce and fill 3/4 way with water and let it start to cook. Mix all the remaining ingredients together and form into small balls. Drop them into the soup or sauce and cook for 1 hour. Serve over noodles, mashed potatoes, or any pasta.

 

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1626,149188-250204,00.html

My Notes:

This was the first time I made meatballs. These were suuuuuper easy to make. I especially like how simple they taste so that they are more versatile for different meals.

Make a double batch. You will eat (with help) the first half of the first batch,right out of the oven and have none to freeze for later!

I froze the meatballs as soon as they (and the pan) were cool first and then put them into a freezer bag. Otherwise you will have a glob of frozen meatloaf after you defrost.

Family Classic Meatloaf

Family Classic Meatloaf

From Kraft.com

prep time

5 min

total time

1 hr

makes

6 servings

What You Need

1-1/2 lb. extra-lean ground beef

1 pkg.  (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1 Onion, chopped

1   Egg, beaten

1 tsp. Dried thyme leaves

1 can  (10-3/4 oz.) condensed tomato soup, divided

1/4 cup Chili sauce

Make It

HEAT oven to 350°F.
MIX first 5 ingredients. Add 1/2 cup soup; mix well. Press into 8x4-inch loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray.
BAKE 55 min. or until done (160ºF). About 10 min. before the meatloaf is done, cook remaining soup and chili sauce in saucepan on medium heat until heated through, stirring occasionally.
REMOVE meatloaf from pan; top with soup mixture.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/family-classic-meatloaf-90487.aspx
My Notes:

This the BEST meatloaf EVER! If you don't like meatloaf,try this recipe and give meatloaf one more chance!!
I don't use the chili sauce. Plain ol tomato soup works for me. We usually top our meatloaf with cheese or gravy.
Substitute ground turkey for beef-sooo good.
I add shredded or small cubed cheddar cheese to the mix.This is over the TOP! Bad for the muffin top..haha
Top meatloaf with the following before baking or during last half hour depending on ingredient:
mashed potatoes
cheese
bacon
sauteed mushrooms/onions/zucchini
any combo of the above..
Remember,you might as well make a double batch and freeze one or two....
:)

Cabbage Rolls

CABBAGE ROLLS

Printed from COOKS.COM

---

2 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground pork
3 medium onions, chopped
4 cups cooked white rice
1 cup bacon bits
3 tablespoon butter
3 medium heads cabbage, frozen and thawed
salt and pepper to taste
onion, garlic, basil to taste
3 x 28 oz cans tomato sauce

This is a great recipe for those who do not want to boil the cabbage and brown the meats.Place cabbage heads in a chest freezer for 2 or 3 days prior to day of making the rolls. The night before making the rolls, remove cabbage from freezer and allow to defrost overnight. Remove core from cabbage heads and discard. Line aluminum baking pan with a thin layer of tomato sauce, topped with first few cabbage leaves.
In skillet, melt butter, add onions and bacon bits. Sauté until tender.
Meanwhile, prepare rice as per box directions.
In a very large mixing bowl, combine beef and pork, onions, bacon bits and cooked rice. Add salt and pepper and all spices. Mix together very well.
Peel cabbage from head (the cabbage leaves will virtually fall off), spoon meat mixture onto cabbage leaf. Roll leaf, folding ends in and place in baking dish seam side down. Continue until baking dish is full. DO NOT STACK ROLLS.
Add a coating of butter to the top of each roll. Pour tomato sauce over top. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 90 minutes.
Let stand for 10 minutes and serve.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1626,134182-250195,00.html

My Notes:

I don't care much for onions so I used less and added garlic.
I used 2 boxes of Rice A Roni Spanish Rice mix plus a little instant rice instead (this was a TON of filling)
I made the leftover filling into "riceballs" that I baked and froze for a later meal.
We love cabbage and although we liked the recipe I will use spaghetti sauce next time instead of tomato sauce. Also,to the filling, I will add a diced green pepper and more fresh cooked bacon bits instead of premade bacon bits in a jar.
Picked because it was a good "Make Ahead Meal' to freeze for later. The recipe makes about 2, 9x13 pans (two meals).

Recipe Time!

I wish that I were talented enough..... to photograph,share and comment about the recipes I make,all in one blog...but I'm not. I'll work on it but... don't expect miracles. Per request of my friends and blog followers I will start sharing my favorite recipes! For those of you who don't enjoy the cooking part,sorry! Bare with me as I share one of my favorite hobbies :)

"Make Ahead Meal Day"

I am exhausted.

Today I accomplished a small miracle in my kitchen.

I made:

2 meatloaves

2 chicken casseroles

meatballs(for the first time)

2 pans of cabbage rolls(new recipe)

"riceballs"(From the leftover cabbage roll filling)

Double batch of chocolate cookies-some baked and some dough in the freezer for later)

24 vanilla cupcakes

24 chocolate cupcakes frosted with too much chocolate,vanilla and german chocolate frosting.

AND...

Aside from 2 lbs. of beef , 1 lb. of sausage and some veggies from our garden etc that I already had...

I only spent $55 to make it all!

6 meals in the freezer for nights we need a no brainer dinner!

With some practice I could get good at this..

I love saving money

AND

I love no brainers 

:)

PS.

Yes I remembered to make sweet little 3 year old Madison a "Carapackage" of cookies and sparkly cupcakes

;)