Our Big Ol' Family Dinner

My house is in shambles - we need to have everything in boxes and ready to load into the truck on Wednesday morning, so I've been really busy. So this isn't going to be the big, wonderful post that I had hoped for and planned on doing. Oh well, the food was good!

Our meal was very much like a regular Thanksgiving dinner, with turkey, ham, potatoes, gravy, fruit salad, and lots of other stuff. My contributions were a roll of cranberry butter, a jar of spiced cranberry sauce, some freezer crescent rolls (they thawed and rose beautifully, you just have to remember to keep them covered while they thaw and while they rise), and a simple chocolate cream pie.

The delicious turkey (sorry for the bad picture, Dad was still carving the ham and wouldn't let me get too close, lest I try to sneak a piece).


My beautiful, gem-like cranberry sauce.


The crescent rolls.


My yummy chocolate pie.


I also have posted a recipe for wheat salad, a delicious salad made with whole wheat berries. I plan on using that idea in a number of other salads, once we've settled in. I think you could use cooked whole wheat berries in place of noodles in a pasta salad with fantastic results! I really couldn't get enough of this salad.


Our dessert was a trio of pies provided by my sisters and I. We're kinda funny, we all decided to start slicing the pies all at the same time, providing these fun pictures.



You may notice that my sister who brought the pecan pie (left) is getting nowhere with her pie - it was kind of hard and she was having a hard time getting the knife to slice through, hence the funny faces! She was finally able to slice her pie with a big pizza slicer. :-) All three pies turned out absolutely delicious.

Anyway, sorry this isn't the big, wonderful post I promised, but I have to get back to packing and cleaning. Don't expect much in the way of posts for the next while, we're packing the computer tomorrow. I'll miss blogging and I will get back to posting regularly as soon as I can! Yesterday was my birthday and I'll post about my cake when I'm able to.

Wish us luck!

Simple Chocolate Cream Pie

Since we're moving, I didn't really want to go all-out for a pie for our big family dinner. Besides, I knew my sisters were also providing pies, so I decided to go simple.

Crust:
18 graham cracker squares (9 full sheets)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp. melted margarine
Filling:
1 large box chocolate pudding mix (instant)
2 1/2 cups milk
1 8-oz. tub frozen whipped topping, thawed

To make crust, crush crackers into fine crumbs. Add sugar and butter, stir until combined. Press into 9-inch pie plate, onto bottom and sides. Bake at 375 for 6-9 minutes or till edges are brown. Cool completely before filling.

Mix pudding mix and milk according to package directions. Pour half of the pudding into the pie crust. Fold half of the cool whip into the other half of the pudding. Chill until partially set (both pie and pudding/cool whip mixture). Spoon pudding/cool whip mixture on top of pudding layer. Chill until set. Top with remaining cool whip, and chill until serving.

Wheat Salad

I didn't make this one; Mom did. You know those recipes that are made specifically to use whole wheat, and they always taste like whole wheat? They're okay and all, but they just taste wheaty. This isn't one of those recipes. It tastes delicious.

Wheat Salad
2 cups cooked whole wheat*
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1 boneless chicken breast (Mom used canned chicken)
Dressing:
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar

Mix together first four ingredients. Make dressing and pour on top of wheat mixture. Chill well and serve.


*To cook whole wheat berries: Place 1 cup whole wheat berries into crock pot with 4 cups water. Turn on low and cook for 8 hours. Drain any extra liquid.

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

I've made this sauce with and without cloves. The cloves added a really great flavor, and this tasted fantastic with turkey!

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 12-oz package fresh cranberries
Dash ground cloves (optional)

Heat water and sugar to boiling in medium saucepan. Add berries. Return to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Berries will pop and release their juices, making some fun little noises! Remove from heat and add cloves if desired. Cool completely at room temperature, and chill in refrigerator.

The berried contain natural pectins that jellify the sauce, making it almost like a jam. It's so pretty!

Bigger Post Coming Soon!

I've got a couple recipes and some pictures to share, which I will be posting sometime after tomorrow. My sister lives in this area, as well as my parents and grandparents. But big sis is going to spend Thanksgiving with her husband's parents on the other side of the state. Our family being as close as we are, we decided that we'd have a big Thanksgiving-like family dinner this Saturday, so I've been working on preparing for that today. I've got my freezer crescent rolls thawing in the fridge, and I made another batch of cranberry butter. I also made some cranberry sauce with the leftover cranberries, and a deliciously creamy, easy chocolate pie. I'll share those recipes later, as well as pictures of our delicious dinner and that wonderful turkey I keep raving about. I'm so excited! Is it weird that the prospect of a big dinner gets me excited, or is that normal?...

Oatmeal Cookie "Bars" and Another Award!

Today was kind of rough. I have a cold, with an enormously aching throat, a stuffy nose, a cough, and a migraine. Plus I spent a lot of time packing, and sorting through boxes that we hadn't even unpacked yet from when we moved to our current apartment. I've been trying to bear it all with a smile, and I am pleased with how much I got done today. But by this evening I was in need of some serious relief and comfort! So I did what any self-respecting person would do - I got high on cough drops and drunk off DayQuil (generic brand, of course), and baked up some intense cookie bars!

Well, cookie "bars" is a sort of loose term here. The pan size suggested in the recipe was, in my opinion, incorrect. The bars didn't really cook all the way through and sort of ended up being a big gooey cookie mess, as evidenced by the above picture. A delicious mess, and I keep eating it anyway. But I'll post the pan size that I think they should be cooked in, not the size that I used.

Oatmeal Cookie Bars
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups oats, regular or quick-cooking
1 cup flour
1/2 cup each butterscotch chips and chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients except oats, flour, and chips. Beat with mixer until smooth. Stir in oats, flour and chips. Spread dough into ungreased 9x13 baking pan (not 8x8 unless you actually want an uncooked gooey mess). Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until browned. Cool in pan on wire rack, and cut into bars.

See, the 8x8 was way too small. The bars are practically spilling out over the sides!

Despite being incompletely cooked, the cookie bars were definitely delicious. As a variation, you could make these into actual cookies - Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes. Remove from pan immediately to wire racks to cool.



********Update: After cooling overnight, the cookie bars have actually hardened into bars, instead of goo. I guess all that saturated fat in the butter and shortening had a chance to solidify or something. They hardened so much, actually, that I had to re-slice them. So if you're willing to wait for the bars to cool completely before cutting them, I guess that the 8x8 pan really is acceptable for this recipe. :-)






Shelby, aka HoneyB, aka Grumpy's Honeybunch, has given me an award! Hooray, two in a row! It's nice to know that people are reading and enjoying my cheapo, tightwad recipes. I sure enjoy having this blog, and I'm glad others are enjoying it as well.

As this is the Inspiration Award, I'm passing it on to blogs that inspire me. Not all will be cooking blogs, because I get inspired by lots more than just food. But food is big in my life too! :-)

Memories and Mayhem - My cousin Rachel has a cute family and always keeps a good attitude about life and the adventures it brings when there are three young children around. She helps me to remember to see the good and the humorous things in everyday life, whether it's pooping in the leaves or a child that wants to do chores!

The American Homemaker - I love seeing all the wonderful vintage delights that Angie posts about - her old memo book and address book, her pink chamber pot, and her delightful vintage cookbook, from which she made a delicious looking coffee cake. She helps me see old things in a new light.

A Year of CrockPotting - Stephanie made a New Year's resolution to use her crock pot every single day of 2008, and so far she has! She's on day 324 right now, with a delicious crock pot turkey. I have been using my crock pot more often thanks to Stephanie's inspiring blog. And check out her post on how using a crock pot can save you money.

Taco Soup, Tag, and Award

Three birds with one stone in this post. First up is the delicious soup I made tonight out of things that we usually don't have in our pantry and fridge. Tonight's dinner was all about making do with what we had on hand, and making dinner fast because it was too late and I was too tired and the kids were too impatient for me to do a big fancy meal.

We happened to have a variety of things in the fridge and pantry that just happened to go really well together. Jeff happened to boil up some chicken a couple nights ago, and we had the broth left from that (always save your chicken broth, you can use it in so many ways!). I happened to make some refried beans from bean flour the other night, and we had lots left from that. We made salsa a while back and there happened to be plenty of that in the fridge. I happened to have some TVP in the pantry (texturized vegetable protein, an inexpensive meat alternative) that I've been experimenting with in a variety of recipes.

I did some thinking and decided that taco soup would be a good way to use these miscellaneous food items. No real recipe here - my taco soup "recipe" is basically to throw together whatever foods we have that would make a good taco-like soup. Usually it includes taco meat and broth or bouillon. Tonight all I did was whisk together a couple cups of chicken broth, about 3/4 cup refried beans, 1/2 cup salsa, and a handful of TVP. I heated that over medium-high heat until it was hot and the TVP was reconstituted. Then I spooned it into bowls and topped it with shredded cheese. It was simple and quick, and surprisingly delicious! See, I told you that I might be utilizing some interesting ingredients while we're in the process of moving. :-)



Next up is a tag from Tina of The Adventures of a Working Mom and Hayley of Away With The Fairycakes. It's the Seven Random Things tag.

So here are The Rules:

• Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links.

• Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I have a sore throat right now that's really bugging me.

2. I absolutely love romantic chic flicks. But I don't like watching them with my husband. I always get the feeling that he's laughing at the characters and their problems, and at me for getting so caught up in the characters and their problems. So that's a treat I reserve for nights when the kids are in bed and Jeff is working late. And I like eating ice cream or other fattening desserts while I watch. :-)

3. Speaking of movies, we don't usually buy new movies. We wait for my younger sister to buy them, and then borrow them from her. Unfortunately, that won't work anymore after we move, because we won't live five minutes away from her anymore!

4. My 3-year-old daughter is going through a clothes-changing phase lately. She changes her clothes about six times a day, alternating between pants-and-shirt outfits and princess dresses. It's getting hard to clean up after her, so her room tends to be strewn with clothes most of the time.

5. I play the organ.

6. I wash my dishes in big red dishpans, because for the past several months our kitchen sinks do not drain, and management hasn't fixed them yet. They tried once, but it didn't work.

7. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, even more favorite than Christmas, because I'm totally addicted to all the delicious traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Especially my family's favorite Oven Smoked Turkey. That stuff is fantastic.

I'm tagging:
Megan's Munchies
Priscilla's Baking Adventures
Real Mom Kitchen
What's for Dinner
Tummy Yummies
Eat From Your Pantry
Life and Cooking With Littles Underfoot


And lastly, an award given to me by JadeMerie of Living Frugally. It's fun to receive awards, and it's fun to pass them on! :-)

Lucky everyone that I just tagged - I'm passing this award on to all of you! These are all blogs that I love to read, and I keep up with every post.