A time for baking...

Not sure why it always happens this way, but December 1st rolls around and all of a sudden, the baking bug takes affect.  Here's some of what I bought Saturday, just for baking purposes!

On the menu for baking is:

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake  (by request from my dh)

Red Hot Apple Cider (love apple cider with red hots)

Homemade Marshmallows (the marshmallows in the picture are for the fudge!)

Spiced Mocha Fudge (another request from my dh)

Batter Brown Bread (a new recipe from my sister)

M&M Cookies (by request from my baby girl)

Let the baking begin!

November Memories - come and gone....

November was quite an eventful month.  First of all, my dh and I celebrated sixteen years of holy matrimony.  We had been looking for the perfect location to celebrate and found it back in August - a little cabin near Acton, TX.  We had a very enjoyable and relaxing weekend.  The place we chose was a nice little surprise.  The cabin is a charming mix of antique and modern.  If you're looking for a quiet weekend get-away, you need to check out this place. 

www.granburycabins.com

The next event (if you want to call it that) was the removal of my gallbladder.  The surgery went well even though my body hated the medicines that were given.  My dh cooked almost the entire Thanksgiving dinner.  Yes, he is a great cook and enjoyed taking on that responsibility. 

November, along with it's memories has come and gone.....

Hello December - new memories to make!

Sneaky and Delicious

 

Tonight just felt like a lasagna sort of night.  So, out came all of the ingredients I had.  Ooops!  I didn't have enough ricotta cheese!  Not to worry - I just substituted cauliflower and zucchini.  And thanks to those sneaky little cookbooks I wrote about a few weeks ago, I now have a new and very delicious recipe that is a little more nutritious.  It also cut out some of the fat too. By the way, the family loved it and asked for seconds.
My Sneaky Lasagna

1 box oven ready lasagna noodles
1 26 oz jar spaghetti sauce (or make your own)
1 pound lean hamburger meat
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 15 oz part skim ricotta cheese
2 cups cauliflower and zucchini puree

• Preheat oven to 425.
• Cook hamburger meat until done and drain.  Add water and spaghetti sauce and mix well.
• In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup mozzarella,  parmesan, eggs, ricotta, and puree.
• Place 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce mix in bottom of 9x13 pan. 
• Place one layer of lasagna noodles on top of sauce mix.
• Spoon 1/2 of the ricotta cheese mixture over noodles and spread out evenly.
• Pour one cup of the spaghetti sauce mix over the cheese mixture
• Place another layer of lasagna noodles on top of sauce.
• Spoon remaining ricotta cheese mixture over noodles
• Pour another cup of spaghetti sauce mix over the cheese mixture
• Place last layer of lasagna noodles on top of sauce
• Pour remaining spaghetti sauce mixture over noodles
• Sprinkle remaining mozzarella over top
• Cover with double foil and bake 60 to 75 minutes or until noodles are tender. 

Results of my last post...

Okay - I just know you're anxious to hear how supper went last night!  Everyone loved the homemade macaroni and cheese except my youngest who normally doesn't like anything anyway, so I wasn't surprised.  My oldest boy had two helpings and was asking for more later. 

If they only knew they were eating cauliflower, zucchini, and flaxseed - wouldn't they be surprised!  So, since that went well, my experiement with sneaking veggies in will continue.





Shhhhhhh!

I have a secret and I do not want my three youngest children to know about it.  So, please don't tell them!  Oh, you want to know what that secret is?  Well, it wouldn't be a secret if it told you!   You promise not to tell them?  Okay....here's the secret.  My children will be eating baby food this evening!  How and why, you ask?  I'll tell you.

It all comes from finding a couple of very interesting cookbooks - Deceptively Delicious and The Sneaky Chef.  My children love fruit, but trying to get vegetables down them is sometimes tough.  The cookbooks give recipes for sneaking vegetables into average every day meals.  Tonight will be my first go at it.  While I don't think I want to put spinach in brownies, I do like the idea of adding carrots, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, zucchini, bell pepper, peas, and spinach to casseroles, burritos and soups. 

I just made up some cauliflower/zucchini puree and sweet potato/carrot puree.  It looks just like baby food.  Tonight, I will try homemade macaroni and cheese with the cauliflower/zucchini puree. 

Shhhhhhh....you promised - don't tell them.  I'll let you know how it went!