Tammy's Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake

So late last night I recieved a recipe for a carrot cake. Here's a little backstory:

My step-dad works with this guy. The guy's wife cooks for the Wrigley's. As in the owners of Wrigley Field (or the gum, if you don't care about baseball). They own a cabin up north, and this woman does their cooking while they are at their cabin. She's absolutely amazing.

Tammy's Old-fashioned Carrot Cake

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4 eggs

2 c sugar

3 c shredded carrots (I shred my own)

1 80z pkg cream cheese-softened

1 1/2 veg oil

2 c flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

10 oz crushed pineapple-drained (I use the stuff in heavy syrup for more flavor)

1 c chopped walnuts

In a large bowl beat eggs, sugar, cream cheese, oil, and carrots. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a seperate bowl. Gradually add to carrot mixture. Beat in pineapple chunks and nuts. Pour into greased 9x13 pan (I used a spring-form pan so that I could frost the sides and display it). Bake 55-60 min at 350 degrees. Let cool and spread on frosting.

Frosting

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1 80z pkg cream cheese-softened

1/4 c butter

2 tsp. vanilla

4 c powdered sugar

Mix it all up and spread it on your cake

***I also bought sliced pineapples for an embellishment on top. It's not in the recipe, but I love embellishments.***

Cornbread

I got this recipe from my Aunt Shelley, and it sounds so delicious. I haven't made it yet since I've been gone to school every night this week, but I assure you that I will be making it tomorrow night! Credit to this recipe goes to an old co-worker of my aunt's.


Miss Ella's Cornbread
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"Got this from a little old Black lady I use to work with. Your Aunt Renee LOVED it and so does everyone else I make it for. It's a good way to get the kids to eats some green veggies."

1 Package Jiffy Cornbread Muffin Mix
1 small onion chopped
1 box chopped broccoli thawed and drained (I've never seen a box of broccoli, but I'm guessing you can just use the bagged stuff)
1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese
1 stick butter
4 eggs

Place butter and cream cheese in a bowl and microwave until butter is melted and cream cheese is very soft (use 50% power)
Mix all ingredients together, spray Pam on baking dish and bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

172.0 lbs. (Busted my butt for that pound!)

Chicken Quesadillas, Coffee

I'm not much for addiction.

I used to smoke. For 7 years actually. I quit when I was pregnant with my son. Right after he was born, I started again. 2-3 years down the road, a good friend (whom was pregnant and not smoking, of course) pointed out that I only smoke when I came to her bar. She told me there was no reason to smoke if you are only smoking once a week. And she asked why I still did it.

I sat back and thought of this for a while. She WAS right......"a nervous habit" I told her. "I feel like if I'm not busy at all times, everyone is going to look at me like I'm that creepy person just sitting there staring at everyone else at the bar. I don't want to be a creepy person"

Which is mostly true. I quit fully when I got pregnant with my daughter. But I also think there's a sprinkle of the drive to be a multi-tasker somewhere in that mix. The demand on women to get so much done within the day.


Soooo.....that leads me to my realization today. My husband pointed out that I drink roughly 8 cups of coffee just in my morning. It doesn't help that I'm in love with my oversized coffee cups that actually hold 2 1/2 cups of coffee.
So there's my weakness: coffee.

A co-worker recently asked me how I do so much in a day. I told her that I hate going to bed thinking I didn't accomplish crap that day. Which is true. But in all reality, it's my coffee. The days I don't drink it are the days that I sit on the couch all day watching That 70's Show seasons. I own all the seasons that are out.

My coffee turns me into the person I strive to become. The ultimate Mom. The "Superwoman" possibly =). Or maybe...just maybe....my Ma.



On a different note, I made quesadillas last night (and nachos, but who cares?)

Chicken Quesadillas
-------------------------
I'm sure almost everyone knows how to make this, but whatever
shoft shell tortillas
chicken
cheese
peppers
onions
fajita or taco mix

1. I used my quesadilla maker. If you don't have one, go to Younkers (or Boston store, Elder Beermans, any BonTon store really) and pick one up. You NEED one of these.
2. Cut up the chicken, peppers, and onions into small chunks. Shred your cheese.
3.Fry up the chicken with a little bit of veggie oil and the mix packet. I prefer the fajita one. Cook until it's no longer pick in the middle.
4. Fry up the peppers and onions. I like to fry them up with rice vinegar. You may find this in the asian food ilse. If not, you can use sake' too! Don't worry, the alcohol cooks out. You'll love the flavor though (came across this one when I accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle. Wanted olive oil, lol)
5. Lay everything out in seperate bowls. The kids, of course, don't like the peppers or onions.
6. Put all your stuff on your tortillas, put it in the quesadilla maker, cook until spots turn brownish, take it out with a metal spatula, and cut along the indented lines!

Beer recipes, Honey Ham, and Biscuits

We like our beer up here in the north woods. So I'm making it Beer Day today. And I made some pretty good food yesterday, I'm going to bombard you with some recipes today.

Today's supper:

Wisconsin Beer and Cheese Soup
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Paprika and dried Thyme to taste
1 can of beer (I use Miller lite)
4 cups water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 large onion
4 garlic cloves
1 lb of cheese (I like mild or sharb cheddar, but colby tastes good, too)
1 cup milk
2 tbs butter

1. Get out your crock. I used my 4 qt. (Notice I like the 4 qt for soups?)
2. Throw in the paprika, thyme, beer, water, cubes, milk and butter.
3. Throw the 1/2 onion and garlic into a food processor until it's all finely minced. Toss that in the crock
4. Cut up the cheese into cubes and toss that in.
5. Cook on high for 1 hour. (Sometimes the cheese isn't melted all the way yet, so you can leave it for longer if it's not.)
****DON'T LET THIS SOUP SIT FOR TOO LONG ON HIGH, THE CHEESE WILL CLUMP AND CURDLE. IF YOU NEED TO HAVE IT SIT FOR A WHILE B/C OF A PARTY, USE VELVETTA!!!***
I like to toast up some french bread in the oven and dip that in the soup. Yummy!



Double Beer Brats
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Made just like regular beer brats, but I buy pre-packaged beer brats and start the whole process.
I used another crock just b/c I don't feel like lifting a finger tonight for supper.
Beer brats
Beer
Water
1. Dump in 2 cans of beer into the crock
2. Add 2 cups of water.
3. Add a pkg. of beer brats and let sit for a few hours.
You can serve it just like that, or pop them onto the grill afterwards. Your choice.

*NOTE* To all those parents who are scolding me for serving up beer foods, if beer is cooked, all the alcohol is cooked out. So don't worry, you're not getting your kids drunk. Anyone from "da Nort'" should know this.


Yesterday's supper:

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
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Country gravy mix
smoked sausage
bakery mix

I use bakery mix instead of doing this from scratch. I cheated. You can cheat further by just buying premade biscuit rolls.

1. Preheat the oven to 450.
2. Biscuits : 3 1/3 cups bakery mix 1 1/4 cup water or milk mix that all up
3. Grease up a pan and lay the biscuit dough all over it.
4. Bake 10 minutes
5. Gravy: I cheated with the mix packet. Make the gravy as directed on the packet. Then add finely chopped smoked sausage.
6. Take the biscuits out of the oven, slice it into squares with a pizza cutter, then dump the gravy all over it.


Honey Ham
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Ham
Honey (hehe, duh)

1. Get out a griddle or a large flat pan. Dump a crazy amount of honey in it. Heat it up
2. Thinly slice your ham. I did mine about 1/4 inch
3. Start frying it up. Make sure to get both sides

Your honey may take a weird reddish color after a while, but don't worry, it's normal. It'll still taste good.


So that's all the recipes that I have for you! I am currently working on my outdoor needlepoint project. It took me 12 hours straight yesterday, and I'm not even halfway finished! I had NO IDEA that it would be this much work! But it is very calming, so I'm not complaining. Once I get it done, hopefully by tomorrow, I will post a how-to. Stay tuned!!

Bundt Cake

Busy day yesterday.
I had to work almost all day. I haven't been able to go to church every Sunday because of it, though. So after work, my husband went golfing with a friend, and I got a little bored. So I made a bundt cake!

Yellow Frosted Bundt Cake
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I had cake mix and frosting in the pantry, and ya know how they have the directions for different sized pans on the box? This one happened to also have cooking directions for the bundt form, so it inspired me to bust out the bundt pan.

Cake mix
(ingredients that your cake mix wants)
Frosting
Sprinkles

1. Preheat the oven to whatever. Spray all around the inside of the form. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE CENTER THING!
2. Mix everything up according to the box and pour it in your form.
3. Bake it as long as directed (mine was around 40 minutes)
4. Let it cool. If you greased it properly, it should just fall out when you tip it over. Put it on a plate.
5. Heat up your frosting for 30 seconds (yes, the frosting says not to do this, but if it's more liquidy, then it will keep the form of the cake, and if I was going to make a bundt cake, I wanted it to look like a bundt cake)
6. Pour that all over the cake. You might have to keep spooning stuff off the bottom and putting it on bare spots.
7. Smother it with sprinkles. (my son's suggestion)
8. Pop it in the fridge to re-harden the frosting.
9. Display on a pretty cake plate! (I have a 3-way one from Younkers! A LivingQuarters brand. Pick one up!)

One of these days I'm going to do that from scratch, but I love to keep the boxed stuff around for those times when you just get off of a REALLY long day at work and don't feel like putting in all the extra work.

Get-rid-of-your-old-veggies-soup, instant cream of potato

ok ok, I know I've been neglected the recipes. But I have some "interesting" ones for ya tonight.

Soooo....I had to work all day, so I'm really lazy with the supper. But I still wanted to cook.
Then....I noticed that my veggies will be going bad soon. And I have NO MEAT in my house. Nothing. Nadda. So, here's the recipe that I made:

GET RID OF YOUR OLD VEGGIES SOUP
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Now, you need to use things that compliment each other. If you want to get rid of potatoes, pair it with green beans and corn.
But that wasn't the case.
Broccoli
Cauiliflower
Parsely
Celery
Carrots
chicken bouillon cubes
crap-load of water
egg noodles

Chop everthing up, dump everything in. It actually tasted really good! So now I made room in my fridge and didn't waste anything =)

Now here's a kicker:
I was making cream of potato soup. You can buy these cute little packets and just add milk and butter. I had it all set up, ready to get ride of my "almost bad" red potatos and..........crap, they're already spudding. K, we aren't eating those.
So I dumped a bunch of original potato flakes in, and BAM! turned it into yummy instant potatos! (After being around Emeril pots/pans I am now speaking like him)

Peanut Butter Cookies

Made cookies, muffins, and jerky yesterday! Home-improvements included a patio under my bench and a walkway going to the hose. All cement/bricks came from a pile in the lot next to my house.
An old lady lived in a house next door. The building should have been condemned, but the city felt too bad to kick an old lady out of her house. But once she died and the estate was settled, the next owners plowed it down. All that remains is a cute little pile of rubble that the newest neighbors graciously let me dig through (hoping that I get rid of all of it for them!)
So......I was ON A ROLL yesterday! I accomplished sooooo much! Unfortunately, all the work zapped my energy today. All I did today was start a Junior Savings account for my step-son. He's in desperate need of one. The two little ones unfortunately have WAY more money than he does, since I make weekly deposits into the accounts. So now he has one! Yay!

Anyways, enough of my babble. I want to enjoy this lovely storm coming through. Here's the Peanut Butter Cookie recipe I made last night (scratch....duh!)

Peanut Butter Cookies
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1 stick of butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Peanuts or chocolate chips (or both!)

1. preheat oven to 350
2. blend everything together. you don't really need to worry about mixing the liquids seperately from the solids, but you can if it makes you feel better.
3. Drop spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet
4. Bake 12-14 minutes. Let cool

Super-yummy! I usually make two batches of these. We love cookies in this family!

Anyways, I will maybe post pics of the patio and walkway that I made soon. We'll see. Maybe I'll do a short How-To. We'll see =)

French Onion Soup

I made two excellent crock meals last night. But the one that I will share is my second fav soup: french onion. Yummy! You can make it the lazy way with packets, but it tastes 1,000 times better when it's slow-cooked and cared for.

I used my 4-qt cooker for this. I got this recipe from a book, but I found that I absolutely hated the recipe, so I made my own changes. Much better.....

French Onion Soup
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1 large onion
3 tbs. cornstarch
8 cups water
8 beef bouillon cubes
salt to taste
1 cup milk or half and half
4 tsp. Worcesteshire sauce
Swiss cheese slices
toasted french bread
3 egg yolks

1. Slice your onion into rings and put them in the crock. Add beef cubes, water, and salt. Cover and heat on high for about 4 hours.
2. Beat egg yolks, stir in milk or half and half, and Worcestershire sauce. Add that to the crock, cover, and heat for another 2 hours.
3. Dissolve the cornstarch in a bit of water, pour that into the crock. Put it on low until you are ready to serve.
4. Put some swiss cheese on the bottom of the bowl, then toasted french bread, then some more cheese. Pour your soup on and wait a few minutes for the cheese to melt. Eat!

It's sooooooo yummy. I'm taking the leftovers to work today. It'll be awesome.

Spinach Spread, To-Do

Nothing's quite like sipping cocoa to relax you on a stressful day. Especially when it's got giant marshmallows floating around and you're sharing the moment with one of your kids. Ahhh...bliss.
Anyways, do you want to read WHY I am so stressed?
1. Got up early to go get my van fixed by my favorite mechanic (my step dad). He should open up his own shop. Pure car genius.
2. Signed up for classes for my nusing degree. Then realizing that I will be commuting an hour and back for 4 days out of the week. blah....
3. Had to wait for nearly 3 hours as the piano guy reassembled our piano. Now it sounds lovely and is perfect working order! Yay!
4. Sat down for an hour long piano lesson. I'm coming along quite well. Too bad my hands cramp so badly....
5. Sat and sifted through old taxes to figure out my financial aid form until I was nearly in tears.
6. Varnished the windchime my son painted for me. Pics soon!
7. Made a few more luminaries to stick around the porch and deck. HOW-TO to be posted!
8. Made a yummy spinach and artichoke spread, realizing I made too much, so posted a "anyone want?" ad on Facebook.

Still to do---finish the luminaries (which consists of me heading to Walmart again), hang John's windchime, make supper, make cute paper mache fridge magnets---HOW-TO to be posted soon.

Sound like fun? Anyways, here's the recipe for the spread:

Spinach & Artichoke Spread
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This is a warm spread. I also made a cold dip, but maybe I'll post that some other day. Anyways, this can be made with a crock pot or oven. Use the crock if you're doing this for a party. It won't go cold on your guests. But I will be showing you the oven version.
1 can artichoke hearts, and drain in VERY well!
1 can spinach, also drained very well. You can also used frozen bagged stuff, just thaw it out.
2 large garlic cloves (I just used a bunch of garlic powder b/c all my garlic has gone bad)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo (I use Miracle Whip b/c I want it tangy)
3/4 cup parmesan cheese

1. Preheat your oven to 375
2. Shove the artichokes, spinach, and garlic into a food processor. Thick or thin is up to you.
3. Dump the mixture into an oven safe cassarole dish. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Add a bit more parmesan cheese if you want it cheesier. I do =)
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes. If it's not thick enough, you could leave it in a bit longer, just make sure you stir it so you don't have burned spinach on your dish
5. Spread it over a specialty bread, or dip bagels/crackers in it. Yummy!
****This yields A LOT of spread, so you should can it or ask anyone if they would like any****

Cook-it-Slow Beef-Stew, Garbage Disposal Tips

Getting my hair highlighted today. As my husband quoted "because some hair is more important than others." I have a wonderful woman that does it. She will come right to your house. Excellent if you have little kids. If anyone wants in that piece of action that lives in my area, gimme a call. Help a sista out!

I also made one window's shutters yesterday. They turned out fabulous! Well, they haven't been stained yet, but they look awesome anyways. REMINDER! There will be a HOW-TO posted once I have them all done! (For problem-solving sections and what-not)

So, last night I made a simple beef stew. Used the ol' crock so that I wouldn't have to do any work during the relaxing evening hours. It was sooooo yummy. Much better than that canned crap.

SLOW-COOKED BEEF STEW
------------------------------
1. Get out your ol' crock pot. I believe I used my 4-qt one. But you should put it in a bigger one if you decide to add more stuff than I did. If you don't have a crock, head to your local Younkers (hehe) and pick up one. There's a huge selection available in assorted sizes. Some with some awesome features. Turn it on HIGH
2. You're going to need about a pound of steak. I chose leftover round steak. Cut it up and fry it first in a seperate pan. Yes, a slow-cooker will cook a steak, but I don't like the thought of it not getting to the hottest temp to kill all the bacteria. Better safe than sorry. So chop it up, cook it, and throw it in your crock.
3. I used about 5 red potatos, but you can also use 2-3 russet potatos. Eyeball it. Cut up the potatoes, leaving the skins on. Make sure you wash them first! I make pretty big chunks, b/c I wanted a chunky stew. Toss them in.
4. Throw in half a bag (however many ounces that is =P) of baby carrots. I didn't chop them. You can if you want. Again, I wanted mine chunky.
5. Chop up two stalks of celery, toss them in.
6. Add about 1/2 cup of fresh parsely. Fresh parely will taste better than the crap in your seasoning jar. You can add it to your processor if you choose. Dump it in your crock.
7. Add 4 bouillon cubes and 4 cups water. You can do more cubes and more water if you want it to be more like a soup instead of a stew.
8. Stir it all up and let that sit for about 5-6 hours. I made mine around noon and by supper time, everything was soooo tender! Serve it up with some chunks of french bread and enjoy!


****TIPS FROM BRITTANY'S KITCHEN****
Thinking of getting a garbage disposal? Sure, why not? They are kind of handy. We might be getting one, just b/c someone insists that we need on and is willing to pay for it. But.....here's the kicker. WE ALREADY HAVE ONE!
His name is Sebastian. He's an awesome hound/german shepard mix, and he LOVES table scraps. So instead of spending money on something that could potentially destroy your nice silverwear or take off someone's hand (not to mention the cost of installing the damn thing), head to your local animal shelter and adopt your own cute cuddly garbage disposal. Other great features are:
1. Cheap security alarm.
2. Cheap entertainment for kids
3. Cheap company for trips to camp.
4. Cheap workout buddy
5. Cheap bed-warmer
6. And best of all: cheap love for a lifetime.

Can your garbage disposal do all that?? Didn't think so....



My garbage disposal-----

Crab Ragoons, Palm Sunday Kids Project

Good supper last night. Chinese night. I made almost everything from a box. Pre-made eggrolls, general tso's chicken, stir fry (put it over white rice), but I DID make the crab ragoons. They taste 1,000 times better than box crap, and they are super-easy to make!

Crab Ragoons
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1. Get out your deepfryer and set that bad-boy to 400 degrees. I'm not a patient person, so the highest setting is my setting. Don't have a deepfryer?? Head to your local Younkers (hehe) and buy our new CoolTouch models. Great for around curious little ones. They also come with a lid that you can HAVE ON while the food is cooking. Good for when the oil starts bubbling.
2. Put out 12 wonton wrappers (or pot sticker wraps) which can be found in the produce aisle at your grocer.
3. Soften 4oz. (usually half a package) of cream cheese. I just zap it in the microwave for 30 sec.
4. Add in 1/4 cup of light mayo. Make sure you use mayo and not miracle whip. Miracle Whip will give it an obnoxious tangy taste.
5. Finely chop 1/4 cup of green onions. Try just to chop the green parts. Toss it in.
6. Put a can of crab meat in it.*** Try to get it to the same size as a tuna can. I once bought crab meat in a double sized can. Fishy.....blah. Anyways, mix all that crap up in your bowl.
7. Put a dab into the centers of each of the wrappers. If you have wonton wrappers, take the four SIDES and squersh them into the center. If you have pot stickers, they are circular, to just pick 4 points opposite each other and squersh to the center. Pinch the centers to seal the opening.
8. Throw some of those babies into the deepfryer facing up, and fry for about 2-3 minutes, or until crispy and browning. Drain and eat!
***not all my family likes seafood, so this recipe is just as good without the crab. I rarely add it


On a different note, it's crappy out. I went to Menards to buy some 1x4 lumber so I can start making my cottage-style shutters. Even if in 5-10 years, they could stand a new staining, I actually think it will add to the charm. Eventually, when I get my house nearly done remodeling inside and out, I want people to believe that they are actually out in the country when they visit my home. With a fence, arbors, trellises, trees, pergolas, etc. I am hoping to almost completely block out the view of my neighbors.
So here's today's To-Do
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1. Start making cottage-style shutters (how-to's will follow after I'm done)
2. Hang John's Palm Sunday picture. (Awesome project. HOW-TO BELOW)
3. Spray paint the milk canister in a hammered copper finish.
4. Talk to a student advisor at school about my RN program.
5. Go to Will's tournament at 6:30. Bring camcorder to finish my awesome wrestling video for Will.
6. Prime my new picture frames (apparently no one carries white frames anymore) so I can finally mount my modern-style paintings (done by me, of course) in the mudroom. Possibly spray paint them tonight. We'll see.



HOW-TO: Palm Sunday scrapbook picture.
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So my kids go to Sunday school every week, and this past Sunday my son brought me two cute paper palm leaves he made in class. So I decided to further the project:
1. Pick out two pieces of green construction paper. Fold each in half the long way. Draw half a palm leaf on one side. (Ya know, ovalish body, stem) Once your child has that cut out (or you can cut it!) cut slats along the edge at a diagonal. When you open up the paper, it should look like a palm leaf.
2. Buy a picture frame that will fit both. I bought a long frame. Not sure of the dimentions right now. Anyways, ya know that picture that they put in the frames? Turn it around, and use the white back side, or find a piece of paper large enough to make a backdrop.
3. Have your kid smear stick-glue all over 1 side of each leaf. Mount those bad-boys in any fashion that your kid chooses.
4. Take out your trusty bible, and find the chapters (Mathew, John, etc. have different versions) about Jesus entering Jerusalem. I picked John 12:13. Which happens to also be my son's name. Make sure you put the chapter and verse and whatnot. John wouldn't be happy if you violated the copyright laws =).
5. Go on MS Word, or an equivalent. Type it up, play with the font, colors, size, etc. and print it up.
6. I have a bucket of scrapbooking scissors. ($10 at Walmart for a starter kit of scissors) Let your kid pick out one. Cut out your verse.
7. Have your kid stick-glue it on a piece of natural-looking scrapbooking paper. Cut that out with you decorative scissors. Glue is somewhere by your leaves.
8. You can embellish it with nature stickers or such. Check Walmart. They have tons. My son chose a cool jungle butterfly with wire antennaes.
9. Put it back in the frame and hang!

Tenderloin, Country Couscous, Garlic mashes potatos, Tips from Brittany's kitchen

I make awesome meals, I know that. Even my MIL has commented about how well my culinary skills are, and that's saying a lot! So....why the mini brag-fest?? I am (if I'm not too lazy) going to be posting awesome recipes from meals that I had the day before. I believe it will give my boring complain blog a little zip!

And of course I will still have my random thoughts, to-do lists, and general crap.

Tenderloin
------------
1.Pick out good cuts of meat. Nobody likes gnawing on fat.
2. I like to tenderize the crap outta my meats, especially for the little ones. Take a fork and jab 1,000 holes into the meat. It will help the seasonings sink in later. Take out you're trusty meat tenderizer and beat the living crap out of it with the jagged side. By the time you are done (make sure you flip and do the other side!) it should almost double it's size. If you have an old wooden tenderizer, burn it up in your fire pit and go to your local Younkers (hehe) and buy a nice metal one. Mine's not dishwasher safe, but wood ones hold all the VERY harmful bacteria inside your uncooked meats. Don't be a douche by getting your loved ones sick, k?
3. Pick out a nice steak rub. Most grocers carry them now. I chose not to drown mine by marinating it b/c I wanted more of the steak's natural flavor to show through. So just sprinkle a bit of rub on it, and well..rub! Flip and repeat.
4. Slap that baby on your grill and slow-cook it until it gets to your perfect "done". Can't tell when it's done??? Head to your local Younkers (hehe) and buy one of the new digital grilling forks. Preset rare-well done, poke it in, and it will tell you where your meat is!

Country Couscous
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1. There are premade couscous, but what fun is that?? Go out and buy an "original" package of couscous.
2. Dump in a bag of vegetable medley. I thaw mine first so that when you dump it in the water, it has more time to soak up the juices of the water. I like the brocolli, cauliflowerl, and carrot medley.
3. Put in a couple chicken bouillon cubes to taste **. I stick in 4, but whatever.
4. Make sure you add more water than what the box of couscous says! Or you will be peeling burnt couscous off your pot! More bulk=more water!
5. Keep an eye on it, stirring, until the water is pretty much gone.
**Instead of adding water (like the box says) you can add chicken broth in a box/can. Does the same thing, but water and bouillon cubes are cheaper.

Garlic Mashed Potatos
---------------------
You can go the easy way and buy the pre-made box stuff, go the hard way and boil/mash potatos, or do an in-between. That's what I did. I didn't want to make a feast yesterday =).
1. Grab a box/bag of instant mashed potatos. Add the water/milk/butter in the amounts that it says
2. Dump a bunch of garlic powder (I just eyeball it) and parsely flakes in.
3. Once you got that sucker boiling, add your potato flakes, stir, and serve!
You CAN mince up some garlic. But if you don't have a processor (head to your local Younkers and buy the super-easy super-compact Cuisinart model, hehe) or don't feel like dirtying up any more dishes, garlic powder does just fine. Plus, no one likes to crunch on a not-well-processed chunk of garlic. Least of all vampires. (I'm funny and you know it....)

*****TIPS FROM BRITTANY'S KITCHEN*****
What kind of cutting board do YOU have??
Wood---toss it. It holds sooo much harmful bacteria. If you care about your family's health, toss it. "I don't cut meat on it." you say?? Veggies/fruit hold insane amounts of chemicals, and cheese also has bacteria. Just toss it already.
Tempered glass---woohoo. you care about your families health. good for you. Now do you care about your blades?? How can you make chef-quality meals with dull blades?? I've never seen a product chip so many knife blades. We have people trying to return QUALITY knives because of these stupid boards. Ummmm....ma'am, you just voided your warranty on these. Take it up with the company. Seriously, some companies will void your knife warranties. "Oh, but they are such pretty designs under them and they compliment my kitchen" Shut up and toss them.
Plastic/polyurethane---Still dulls knives faster than wood, but not a poor choice. Design wise, they are ugly. Don't toss it. Keep it up for a backup board, incase your good one's in the wash.
Flexible plastic---You're basically cutting on a placemat. Whoever invented this should be shot. After a while of use, you'll cut right through the thin plastic and scratch up your beautful coutertop. Don't toss it. Use it as a placemat.
SO WHAT DO I BUY??? Bamboo---Brittany's Top Pick. And since I deal with kitchen crap all the time at my job, take my advice. If you don't have one, buy one. 1. Bamboo grows faster than other woods, so it's very eco-friendly (a big plus in my house). 2. It's more dense than wood, so it doesn't hold in all that harmful bacteria. 3. It's just like wood where it won't dull your knives as fast. 4. It's very pleasing to the eye. 5. If you don't like the scratches that it will get (just like wood), pull out your sander and go to town.

Punch recipe, Hailey's birthday

I promised recipes, so here's a punch recipe that I made for my daugter's b-day.

*20 oz. frozen strawberry's in syrup, thawed

*3 cups apricot nectar (find in the juice aisle)

*3 cups cold water

*1 cup lemon juice

*6 oz. orange juice concentrate

*1 cup sugar

*1 320z. bottle of ginger ale

*Ice ring (recipe follows)

Prepare the ice ring the night before. Use a blender to puree the strawberries. In punch bowl, combine strawberries, apricot nectar, water, lemon juice, orange juice concentrate, and sugar. Stir it until the sugar's gone. Pour in the ginger ale. Do this slowly! It splashes like hell! Add the ice ring right before serving.

Ice Ring:

You can wing this pretty easily. Get out your bundt pan. (The star one makes a snowflake! Soooo cool!). I'm not going to put exact measures. How much you put in depends on the size of your bundt pan and punch bowl.

Pour in some ginger ale. Most of your mixture will be ginger ale, so fill it ALMOST to how big you want the ice ring. Add around 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Then start your garnishes. I add tons of fruit. Grapes, pineapple chunks, blueberries, strawberries, apricots, whatever. You can also add some mint leaves, but since I don't want mint leaves floating around my drink after the ring melts, I usually don't put it in.

So Hailey's party was pretty fun. I got quite a few compliments from my punch bowl. Plus I made my veggie bars, but no, no recipe will follow. Gravy meatballs, baked beans, spaghetti salad, taco salad, Italian salad, cheese/cracker/summer sausage tray, chips & dip, grandma brought a pistachio tart (sooooooooooo good!).

So my baby's 1. Bitter-sweet for me. Here are some pictures of her special day.