Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Last Saturday, I needed to get out of the house. Like, really. My husband rarely understands this need since he's hardly ever home during the week. But since I hardly ever leave the house, except for trips to and from the school, on weekends I gotta get out. I talk and beg and sometimes I can get him to come out with me. This weekend was a total fail on that front. 

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Mmm, the Holidays! It's the one time of year we happily loosen our belts and indulge ourselves in the yummy food we've been withholding ourselves from all year! Or maybe it's the one time a year we happily admit we eat stuff like homemade mashed potatoes? 

Bread and Celery Stuffing

I realized the other day that my blog had reached its one year blogiversary! I had great plans to post some great recipes for some great food but... life got in the way. 

Pumpkin Muffins

You know how I blogged over at The Lunch Diva? 

Well, I got this recipe from her site. It's so easy. So ridiculously easy.

And let's call a spade a spade here:

these are really cupcakes.

But feel free to call them muffins if it makes you feel good. Serve them with cream cheese frosting and feel really good until you step on the scale.

Advice: don't step on the scale.

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Question:
What do you do when you accidentally buy the jumbo chocolate chips at the grocery store?

Answer:

Make jumbo chocolate chip cookies, of course!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have so many delicious pumpkin recipes ready to share with you in the coming weeks! I know I should have posted these earlier in October but to me, pumpkin is just as much a November treat as anything. I mean, Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie? Unforgivable.

Easy Flower Clip

Pardon this venture from recipes. I actually have several recipes ready to post about but by the time I upload pictures (even if my memory card wasn't acting up), make a recipe card, and actually post... it adds up to quite a chunk of time! So I wanted to post something quick and easy, and hopefully something you mama's of girls will benefit from.

A long time ago, I made hair bows. I made several bows with ribbon, but they never looked "quite right." Sure, I used them on my girls' heads, but I'm not picky. I also made a bunch of flower clips with flowers I bought at the store. Adorable, but the bows were really expensive. I couldn't afford to keep it up.

Enter this bow: 

Cute, right? But here's the secret:

It's really easy.

Trust me, you uncrafty moms! You can make this!

All you need to do is make a bunch of graduated circles out of polyester (or a poly cotton blend fabric). By that I mean circles that start out big (mine was about 3 inch in diameter) and gradually get smaller (my smallest was about an inch, maybe less, in diameter). This was probably the hardest part, making decent circles. I struggle.

Now if you want to make a carnation-y flower, like I did here, take your scissors and snip around the circle, about every half inch or so You're just going to make a simple cut, about a half inch deep. Don't make this complicated, you hear me? If you want your flower to look more rose-y, then forgetting the snipping.

Next you're going to operate a flame starter. A fire stick? You know, one of those candle lighters. I made a circle or two to experiment with first. But basically all you're going to do is slowly run the flame starter (with the flame going, obviously) around the edges of each circle. The edges will curl up. If you bought truly cheap fabric (like moi) your fabric may, on occasion, catch on fire. No biggie, just blow it out.

Now you should have circles with curled edges. Stack your flower. Take a cute brad and poke it through the layers and push out the prongs. That's it! Glue it to an alligator clip, a headband, or if you're truly pressed for time, your daughters hair. Whatever. :)

Stroganoff Skillet

The first time I discovered this little gem of a recipe, it was Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. It dawned on me:

There's nothing in the house for dinner.

So I scoured through cookbooks trying to find a recipe that would feed us all, and I had all ingredients on hand. I found this recipe in my Gooseberry Patch cookbook. There are two things I love about it. Okay, three. No, wait, four. (I should really think before I type, huh?)

Lion House Rolls

Lion House Rolls. I have such a love-hate relationship with those suckers. As a former employee of Lion House Bakery, I used to spend my Thursday nights flipping thousands of rolls... on my feet, for hours. Okay, it was like 4 hours a night, but spending four hours a night doing the same thing over and over again is miserable.

Bow Tie Chicken Salad

Ages ago, my sister was thrown a baby shower. Our family friend Sallie Petersen (and wife of my dad's business partner and former neighbor), offered to host it at her home. She also offered to throw together this simple salad. Since then, this is our family's favorite salad. It's the perfect salad to toss together for company.

The Lunch Diva!

I posted my first guest blog post today over at The Lunch Diva. She has the cutest blog and she's so sweet. I posted a recipe for my Quick 'n' Easy Chicken Noodle Soup with a recipe card. Scoot on over to her site and check out the post!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream

I'm a little sad as I type this blog post. I'm about to show you a recipe that is so delicious, so ridiculously bad, and so easy that I will understand if we can't be friends anymore. Really. Because I'm the woman responsible for giving you the recipe that will destroy any shred of self control.

Sorry.

Easy Lunchboxes

The Lunch Diva is having a giveaway! Have you seen these Easy Lunchboxes?

How cute are these? Totally practical, and maybe I can actually get my husband to eat a healthy lunch for once. Yes, it's my husband with the lunch issues, not my picky toddler. Go figure! To be fair, he's busy and his wife is a little, um, forgetful about packing lunches. So he ends up grabbing fast food if he eats anything at all.

Enter the giveaway at thelunchdiva.com to win a set! But hurry, the giveaway ends soon!

Nice Cream Pie

I made this ice cream pie for my husband's family a couple of weeks ago. Despite its simplicity, they raved about it, so I decided to make it again when my stepkids were around so they could enjoy it too. I don't remember why, but on that day we were all just snippy with one another. No major fighting or anything, but the kids kept getting annoyed with each other, Gary and I kept getting annoyed with each other, and we kept getting annoyed with the kids. All around, everyone was annoyed.

I had whipped this simple dessert up the day before and was prepared to serve it that night. Before I served it though, I told everyone who wanted a piece that they must say something nice about everyone at the table. Josh went first, and, thinking hard, came up with something nice to say about everyone. Then around the table we went, including little Sophia. So this dessert was dubbed Nice Cream Pie by our family, and I think it's a tradition we'll stick with. When I make this pie, you better have nice things to say if you want a piece! (Oh, and it was amazing what a transformation our family went through... the snippiness ended and everyone was happy and laughing by the end of dessert. And I'm sure the sugar rush had nothing to do with that!)

French Dip

When I was a kid, my sister, Anna, decided to make our family a meal she had first had in the school lunch room: french dip. At first, I told her I didn't want to try it. I don't like roast beef sandwiches, and to this day I'm not a fan. But she looked at me and told me I had to try it. From that day forward, a beautiful relationship was born. I loved french dip and it's accompanying cup of au jus. If I go to a restaurant and french dip is on the menu, chances are, I'm going to order french dip.

Pizza On the Grill

Ugh. I'm so mad. I posted this big long lovely post about my Summer on the Grill 2010 adventure, and I clicked something and poof. It was gone. I was almost done! If you have a little baby, you know how hard it is to get even a few minutes to do something the first time. Time to repeat it? Very unrealistic.

Blog Neglect.

Oh my gosh, it has been a long time since I've posted! May I tell you why? I have two reasons.

Burritos

My favorite thing about this recipe-my favorite thing-is that it freezes so well. My mom and I (with help from my husband, bro-in-law, and sister) recently made 18 freezer meals and split those up between her family, mine, and my sisters. I'm in love with freezer cooking I think. Anyway, this is one of the dishes we made and I didn't get to taste it until a week later. So good and ridiculously simple. If I make these again, I'll probably make some for dinner that night and an extra batch (or two!) for the freezer. Beats store-bought frozen burritos any day.

Beef Pot Pie

This is one of the few recipes I've come up with on my own. I absolutely love chicken pot pie, and I'll post my super simple recipe for chicken pot pie soon. About a year ago though, I was watching a lot of Food Network, particularly "30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray." I started experimenting with foods more, in particular, beef. Steak isn't my favorite food, and I never eat it plain. But I got creative one day and came up with this lovely little dish.

Recipe Cards!

It's one of those weeks where I'm not cooking as much as just using up frozen meals and the like in the freezer. Yum. Anyway, so I don't necessarily have a new post as much as I have a bunch of recipe cards. I made these awhile back but I haven't made them recently. Hopefully I'll make them soon with a detailed post for each. Till then, you can delight yourself with these totally yummy, cheap, and simple meals! To print, click on each image to enlarge. On a PC, right click and click "Save Image As." They're now ready to print out as a 4x6 recipe card.

Please let me know if you make any of these recipes!

Mom's No Bake Cookies

As a newborn photographer, I work on commission. And as such, I occasionally get paychecks that aren't quite what I'd like them to be. We always get by okay, but as my checks pay primarily for groceries, there are times when I need to get a little creative in meal planning to stretch the budget. I also tend to procrastinate going to the grocery store as long as possible, waiting until most of our basics (milk, eggs, bread, etc.) are gone. The one problem with this is that, considering I'm 8 months pregnant, the cravings for sugar and chocolate just do not go away. So last week I was looking for a recipe that would satisfy this baby's sweet tooth and not require eggs. Yes, I know I can substitute applesauce for eggs in many recipes but it always tastes "diet" to me, and these cravings aren't going to be touched by anything diet-y.

Almost Oreo Cookies

For Christmas, I asked for Lion House's new cookbook, Lion House Bakery.

Simple Chili

Chili is one of those recipes that can get pretty darn fancy, considering it came about as hearty cowboy fare. I've seen recipes that look truly delicious but who has the time or energy to prep such an elaborate bowl of chili? Well, some people do, but I certainly don't. I like to keep it simple, and keep it cheap. So here's my version of an uber quick, but totally yummy, bowl of chili.