This pizza bake caught my attention because I thought it would be easy and I already had all the ingredients.  It was on my monthly menu for tonight’s dinner but I did not leave work until 5:45.  I already had the meat ready from my once a month cooking marathon so I was a little ahead as I had, surprisingly, remembered to take the package of cooked Italian style ground beef out of the freezer before I left for work.  I started the pizza dough at 6:15 and we were eating at 7:10.  Not bad and soooo good.  My family actually said they can’t wait for leftovers.

First: Pizza Dough

• 3 Cups all purpose flour
• 1 pkg instant yeast, or 1 tbls yeast
• 1 cup very warm water
• 2 tbls oil
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Add yeast and sugar to the water.  Let sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast grows.  Add salt and oil.  If using a bread machine to knead (which I recommend) pour all liquid into bread machine pan and add flour, stirring after each cup added.  Knead until smooth about 5 in the bread machine, about 10 minutes if by hand.  Place dough ball in a greased bowl lightly covered and let rise for 10-15 minutes.  While bread is rising-

Second:  Pizza Stuffing

• 1 lb. cooked and drained ground beef cooked with 1 small diced onion
• 1 tbls Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp ground oregano
• 1/2 tsp of thyme
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp minced or powdered garlic
• 1 tsp sweet basil
• 1 tbls garlic salt
• 1-2 tsp pepper
• 16 oz tomato sauce
• 3 tbls flour
• 1 cup or more of mozzarella cheese
• pepperonis
• small amount of milk to brush on top and sesame seed to sprinkle over the top

Cook the beef and all the above ingredients EXCEPT the cheese and pepperonis.  Let cool.  Can do this fast by putting in a large baking dish and putting in the freezer.  Not that I did this, not me, I have all the time in the world.

Third:  Roll out the pizza dough into a 14x11 inch rectangle.  Lay dough on a greased cookie sheet.  Place meat mixture down the center third of the dough, leaving 2 inches on each end and cover with the cheese and pepperonis. 

Cut the sides of the pizza dough diagonally 2 inches apart.  I used my kitchen shears which I really hope were clean.

Fold the ends up and then fold the sides over.

Brush with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place in a preheated 425 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Yum!!  Just like the picture except that I used homemade pizza dough instead of pre-packaged pizza dough and so mine was HUGE.  I though that it might spread out over the pan while it was cooking. 

Good thing everyone wants leftovers because this could feed an army.

I think this might be good with some sort of chicken bake.  I have all sorts of ideas.  My husband loved how light the crust was and not heavy at all. 

The snow was suppose to fall during the wee hours of the morning, like 2am, but it actually didn't start until 9am. It hasn't stopped and it is amazing. The kids want to play in it but because it is 38 degrees outside it is more like white flaky rain than true snow. So we are all inside for the day until the 50 degree weather returns tomorrow.

I have been reading the Tightwad Gazette book and made her version of homemade yogurt last weekend. It turned out perfect, much better than my previous attempt. It wasn't tart, it wasn't runny, and it needed nothing to make it sweet. It turned out perfect and creamy. Since I have plenty of time today I am going to make another batch and will show you step by step how easy it is.

• 4 cups of milk and I used 2%
• 1/3 cup of dry milk, I spent way too much for this NON-instant, $6.46, and next time I am going to just use regular instant dry milk.
• 2 tablespoons of starter. Last week I used plain Greek yogurt but this week I am using some of my own yogurt.

Oh my gosh! This was so good and so easy. I think the hardest part was looking for the Golden Mushroom Soup. Seriously. I found this recipe and it had almost 5 stars out of over 1250 reviews. How could that many people love beef stroganoff was my first thought and then I saw the small list of ingredients and was very surprised. How strange something that this many people thought was good was made without a large mixture of spice and flavors. I made it, but as is my compulsion I added to it.

Oh, and I doubled it the second time I made it. It is so good as leftovers and you might think this is sick, but I put some of the gravy/sauce on mashed potatoes, oh wow!

2 pounds cubed stew meat
2 cans Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
1 largish onion diced
2-3-4 tabls of Worcestershire (this stuff is so awesome I always add more)
1/2 water
8 oz of cream cheese (the first time I made this with just 1lb of meat I still added 8 oz's, sshh don't tell my lactose intolerant hubbie)
couple of dashes of Garlic Salt (1 tsp?)
couple dashes of Hot Paprika (see I just can't believe this would be good without some sort of kick)

In the slow cooker stir in all the ingredients, except the meat AND the Cream Cheese, together. Once combined add the meat and mix together.

Cook on Low for 8 hours. Cut up the cream cheese into cubes just before serving and turn crockpot on high. Stir the cream cheese in until all combined. You might have to put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles. Or mashed potatoes, I won't tell anyone but I would really like to not be alone in this.

The Ingredients for Cinnamon Rolls, Butter Cake, Italian Cookie Cake, Apple Cake, and Christmas Cookie Balls.

When I read Stephanie's post on making yogurt in her crockpot I wanted to try it right away. But I was at work and my cubicle was not where I wanted to spend the 13 and a 1/2 hours needed to make this. So I put it off, talking about the idea of it repeatedly to my husband, who told me he made yogurt in a Lab at OSU. He hated it, he said it was way too sour and gross, but I was not to going to be swayed. I wanted to try it and the only thing standing in my way was procrastination.

The other weekend I finally did it. Oh man is this awesome! My batch made 12 little jars of yogurt.

I asked the kids what flavors they liked best and ended up buying frozen bags of cherries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and peaches. This is what I learned:

1. Do not buy FIVE different fruits. In fact, do not let anyone know they actually have a choice in flavors.
2. Use jelly, preserves, or jam instead.
3. When putting the yogurt in the fridge to cool add the flavoring then and leave overnight. Just adding the fruit to the plain and then eating does not please the picky palates in my household, mine included.
4. Even a packet of gelatin added when I added the Greek yogurt does not make the yogurt thick. Still more of a milkshake.
5. Do not have expectations of praise for making homemade yogurt from 10, 9, and 5 year olds.

Overall, I really liked the yogurt and the flavor is even better on the second day. I am going to try adding powdered milk next time to see if I can get it a little thicker. Plus the cost savings are huge!

Using the frozen berries was a pain. I put a portion of berries from each bag into separate containers and sprinkled sugar over them. (I never said I was making this for healthy organic reasons but more for cost and curiosity) After they had thawed, I took my stick blender and pureed each berry container, rinsing the blender between each batch. Grrrrr. Then I added about 2 tablespoons to each jar and labeled. I did make some yogurt jars with combo flavors that I thought were very good.

I will definitely try this again. I could this weekend since I will be in my kitchen making Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls, Joyful Abode's Snickerdoodles, and Cheaper Than Therapy's Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls for teacher gifts, daycare gifts, neighbor gifts, and work gifts. Maybe Tony will join me in the kitchen making his own homemade specialty, beer.

Too bad he procrastinated and we won't have his brew ready for New Years, but maybe by Martin Luther King's Birthday.

This was an old recipe from Tony's mother's collection, and even though I am not a huge fan of hamburger meat dishes, I thought this seemed very good. Because it was so good and became an instant hit in my house, preserving its spot in our dinner rotation, I thought I would share. It only takes 10 minutes of prep and 20 minutes to bake. Perfect timing for a non-crockpot recipe and a home by 5:30pm mom. Plus I love crescent rolls, yum.

1 lb hamburger meat
1 small diced onion
1 can of crescent rolls (8 count)
1 8oz can of tomato paste
1 packet of taco seasoning
2 cups of shredded mozzerella
1/2 cup of shredded parmesean

Preheat oven to 400.
In a skillet, brown hamburger meat with the diced onion.
Pull apart the crescent rolls and place in a 9" pie pan. Flatten the triangles so that they join together to form a crust and leave about a half an inch hanging over the pie pan.
Once meat is thoroughly browned and the onions are stir in tomato paste and taco seasoning.
Sprinkle the crescent roll crust with parmesean cheese
Place half of the meat mixture in the pie pan and cover with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and then repeat one more time.
Take the excess crescent rolls and fold over the meat mixture to make a crust similar to a crostata.
Bake for 20 minutes.

I put some salsa and sour cream on mine but no one else did and they loved it. Anna wanted some for lunch until I asked if she was sure. She decided that leftover taco soup was a safer choice.

What do you make for dinner when your A/C goes out and the repair man is still in your house at 7:00 at night? Asian cold noodles. There are many recipes out there but I improvised and used only what I had on hand and I think the sauce turned out great. It takes just the time to cook the noodles to prepare and the noodles were light and packed with different flavors, sweet, sour, and spice all to our particular taste. A perfect meal for my husband and me Friday night and if our air conditioning is still not fixed tonight, Monday, then we will be having this again. Due to the simplicity this dish will be a staple in my fridge for the rest of the summer.


I had some diced chicken already cooked that I added to this. Personally, I liked it better without the meat but I think next time I will stop on the way home and pick up a rotisserie chicken instead. Here are the ingredients I used and in parentheses are what traditional sesame noodle dishes call for.

Ingredients:
Soba noodles or spaghetti noodles
1/4 cup of Light Soy Sauce
2 tbls of Natural Smuckers creamy peanut butter, heated in microwave to soften and make stirring easier. (Tahini paste)
1/4 cup of Seasoned Rice vinegar. I only had about 1.5 tbls left so I used Apple Cider Vinegar too
(1/4 cup of Mirin is also used but I didn't have any and I didn't miss it)
1/8 cup of sugar
3 tbls of sesame oil
1 tsp of Thai garlic chili paste (crushed red pepper, hot sauce)
1 tsp of garlic powder (4 cloves crushed garlic)
1 tsp of ginger (an inch of fresh ginger peeled and grated)

When served:
2-3 tbls of toasted sesame seeds
3-4 green onions, sliced thin with about 3 inches of the dark green
optional: chicken, shrimp, tofu, thinly sliced steak

Cook the noodles al dente in salted water. Be sure not to cook all the way because they will soak up more if the liquid in the fridge. Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

Add all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl that you can whisk them vigorously in. You could use a food processor or blender but I chose to exercise my biceps. Blend until smooth and taste frequently to adjust flavoring to your taste.

In a toaster oven cook sesame seeds for about 4 minutes on 300, or until slightly browned.

Pour sauce over noodles and either garnish and eat right away or put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and let the flavors combine and saturate the noodles. Your choice. I will make this every week and just keep some in the fridge for a quick meal either as a main dish or a side. A lighter alternative to pasta salad.

It has been a long time, much longer than I intended to go before writing another post. It started out trying to just write while I am at home and not at work. As you can tell that was not successful. Staring at a computer for 9 hours a day and then sitting down at another one once the kids are in bed is not my idea of relaxation. And it is all about me don't ya know. Due to my complete lack of ambition to keep my butt off the couch after 9 and ending a decade long battle with insomnia; it looks like I will be toning up my toggling skills and perfecting my hearing to be almost bat like (wait are they deaf or blind?) to covertly post during the work day.

But I have been busy. I made two of the most wonderful cakes EVER. A three layer pistachio chocolate ganache cake for my mother's birthday and a three layer lemon-raspberry chocolate ganache for my husband's 4oth birthday. They turned out fabulous!!

Each layer had a layer of marzipan and in the case of the pistachio, apricot preserves and the lemon, raspberry preserves. I even made the decorations out of marzipan. I'm crafty. They were not hard to make just a little time consuming. I will be posting the recipe and the how to for the Lemon Raspberry cake because I totally had to figure out the recipe on my very own. And it turned out phenomenal! I got the idea here at Smitten Kitchen.

I also made a great chipolte potato salad that was the hit of our cookout last weekend. No eggs and hardly any mayonnaise made it perfect for vegetarians, kids, and my husband who gags at anything white. We HE also smoked a brisket in the new smoker the kids gave him for Father's Day. Super good. I used a marinade I saw on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and it was so moist but with a little kick. On Father's day we had beef tenderloin that I marinated in Jack Daniels and Soy Sauce. TD put a rub on the beef and cooked it on the grill. So good.

Looks like with just the above recipe sharing I have a plethora of posts. Plus with all the monotony excitement in my life I will be returning with a vengeance. Did you know that when you reach your 100th post you are suppose to do a "100 Things About Me" post? I am almost there. If I was to psycho-analyze me I would bet that is why I haven't been posting, the pressure to reveal myself is looming.

Tri-Tip was originally used only for ground beef and was shipped primarily to California to be used as a cheap cut of beef. Here go read about it. When we would visit my ex-husbands uncle in Santa Barbara his uncle would always make it and act like it was meat of the gods. He would load up a spray bottle and spray it with a soy sauce, oil and water mixture about every hour. All the while telling me that I was going to have the best piece of meat served in Santa Barbara. He also told me some cockamamie story that the name Tri-Tip came from where Santa Barbara was located in California. (Google fails to mention that) I later found out it was a super cheap cut of meat and the reason he had to cook it all day and keep it marinated was to make it edible.

Fast forward to now. Now, I try to cook at home almost every night and since I work full time I need to use my crock pot as much as possible otherwise it would be chicken nuggets and fries in the toaster every night. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, uh huh, no way, just raising my own bar)

When we made our monthly trip to Sam's Club I spotted huge packages of Tri-Tip, cheap. We bought a couple packages and I split it up into family meal portions and froze it. I made some of it the other night and Oh my! It was delicious and flavorful. It is very versatile after it has been cooked. We have had it plain with just the seasoning it was cooked with and it has been made into BBQ sandwiches. Just think, if I wasn't such a twit I would have been making this all along just by asking the butcher. I do live in the state of Beef Producers after all they could have given me some before they shipped it off to Cali.

If you want to try a great beef dinner that does not take any browning and is not quite a roast, not quite a flank steak, not quite a brisket then drop the pride and ask your butcher for Tri-Tip if it is not in your meat counter.

• 2-3 lbs of Tri-Tip. (mine looked like 4 big boneless ribs not sure if that is normal or not. ASK YOUR BUTCHER)
• 1/2 cup of Beef Broth or 1/2 cup of water with dry beef broth mixed in
• 2 tbls of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 packet of Dry Italian Dressing mix (Sam's needs to make this in a big bottle like the Ranch)
• Generous sprinkling of Garlic Salt
• 1 tbls of Ground Mustard
• 2-4 dashes of Hot Sauce
• drizzle of Olive Oil

Before adding the Tri-Tip mix the broth/water and Worcestershire together then put the meat in the Crock pot. Generously sprinkle the meat with Garlic Salt and Ground Mustard then sprinkle half the packet of Dry Italian Dressing Mix all over. Add a few dashes of your favorite Hot Sauce and drizzle lightly with Olive Oil. Cook on low for 8 hours. Serve it how you want as a sandwich, as a BBQ meat, as a meat side with it's own au jus, or just plain with a baked potato. It's all good!
(Link to recipe print out)

I am not a huge bread eater. You know, the type of person that must have cannot survive without a bread product at the dinner table. I thank my mother for that because if I was I swear I would be enormous. I once dated a guy that had to have a loaf of bread on the table for every meal, Wonder or Roman Meal, it didn't matter just some sort of bread-dammit, Now go fix me a Turkey Pot Pie.

At our house we tend to limit the bread with a meal in order to get everyone to eat the actual meal and not just the dinner roll. But I never did get on that bandwagon of a burger with no bun or a wrap with a huge piece of lettuce instead of a tortilla. (Unless it is Lettuce wraps from PF Changs then I am all over the no carb craze)

But times....they are a'changin:

Homemade Whole Wheat sandwich bread. Delicious! I made this on Saturday and my house still smells like a bakery.

(Did you know that I almost rented an apartment right above a Great Harvest Bread Company when I moved to Chicago? My roommate and I both were estactic over the aroma wafting up through the hardwood floor but we were not thrilled with the tub rigged with a shower smack dab in the middle of the kitchen......uh no.)

I used this recipe and it was super simple but makes a TON. I am all thinking "my Kitchen Aid mixer is bigger than yours" (sing-song voice) to the comments but no, the dough rose over and beyond the dough hook attachment. That was probably the only difficult part, that and the waiting and wanting. It made 3 large loafs and 1 smaller one that in a normal size bread pan would have been fine. I decided to try cinnamon swirl bread with the puny loaf.

I added flax seed meal to boost the nutrients and I used 1/3 honey and 1/3 brown sugar instead of just brown. (those that know me know I mock the organic but my next post will explain why I might have to hand it to the tree huggers)

I also experimented with slashing down the middle trying to be the Split Top Mama. That failed. I have no idea when in the process you are suppose to make the split? Before the second rise, after the rise and before the oven? Who knows.

Being the Hannah Homemaker that I am *cough*cough* I cut all of these loafs for sandwich style bread. I then bagged 2 loaves and froze them. Seriously, I am getting scared of my future. I am thinking it will either involve buying a Jim Giles Safe Room and installing it under the cover of night and filling it full of food for when the market collapses OR I will be entertaining folks in a pioneer outfit and apron at Silver Dollar City.

Look what I got this weekend, machinery. I am taking my bread making to the next level. Homemade Pasta Noodles. Obviously, it was just the next step in my evolution of Hannah Homemaker. My husband is Italian and if this wasn't the internet I could tell you our last name and you would immediately know we are from the Boot country. Modena to be exact, where Balsamic Vinegar is made.

Because I wanted to put off cleaning our shower in the master bedroom I decided attempt homemade pasta noodles Saturday afternoon. Two weekends ago I had purchased a new Crockpot. It allowed you to brown your meat on the stove in the same bowl that you used for the Crockpot. If you needed to brown the top of something you could also put the pot in the oven. The pot was pretty enough to take straight to the table. How awesome I thought, and it was on sale at Tar Jay. But two weeks later it was still just sitting there waiting to be used. The Crockpot I use now is just fine. In fact, I really like it. It has temperature settings and a range of times to cook and a warm setting. Oh sure there is Crockpot envy, I have broken the handle on the lid and had to replace it with one of the knobs we took off our kitchen cabinets during the makeover. But it still worked just fine even though it will circular brand on your palm if you do not use a oven mitt to lift the lid.

But I wanted to be Italian. It was no longer good enough for me to just be married to one. I needed to become one. Enter, Allrecipes.com and boredom at work. I found this recipe that had great comments and looked simple. I doubled it and added 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

After I made the dough I was ready for my new machinery. But TD had to help me because I could not hold the contraption and insert the dough at the same time. While he was trying to convince me that it had to be clamped down and that he could not hold it in place and help me pull the dough he told me stories of his mother making her own pasta noodles and how she used to do it. I have no idea how someone can operate this simple machine by themselves but somehow she did. I wish she was still alive because I would really like to hear her advice and how she did things. We ended up clamping it down to our kitchen table. I didn't want to (because of the flour mess on the floor that I had just mopped) but TD insisted. He was right, hear that? R-I-G-H-T.


I put a pastry cloth down and lightly floured it. It was so cool to watch this pasta form and get all skinny. (Wish I could run my thigh through one of these) We decide to be all Alton Brown so once we had it as thin as we wanted, we rolled the pasta from the longest end up and then cut through about 1/4-1/2 inch apart. Can I just tell you? this was amazing. I just kept thinking, how in the world did I get here? When did I become this person? No way would I have ever in a million years thought I would have ever made my own pasta. I was going to party like it was 1999 until 2020.

How would I have ever thought that the drying rack from my college dorm room was going to dry pasta noodles one day? Kids, ya gotta love 'em.

The noodles were the last stop on the Crazy Train of homemade. The sauce was store bought Garlic and Olive Oil. We grilled some balsamic marinated chicken breasts to top it off. So incredibly good. The noodles cooked so fast and tasted completely different than store bought ones (even the Amish I sometimes buy).

Mama Mia! Store bought pasta noodles? Forgettaboutit.

Lentils. I have never cooked with Lentils before. I see many blog posts about Lentil soup. Jeana had a post about making Lentil Soup and even though it did not turn out how she wanted it her post compelled me to go out and buy me some vittles lentils.

They then proceeded to lie in my cupboard mocking me and my anti-vegan consumerism lifestyle ever since.

Then gas hit $4 a gallon with the promise of eventually hitting $7 in another year. Vegan and cheap sustenance is sounding fan-freakin-tastic. So I hit the internet and started looking at recipes for cooking this cheap little legume in order to stockpile against the coming Armageddon. (I should never have read this article in the Sunday Tulsa World)

Because I am combining, switching, and de-veganing this crockpot version of Lentil Soup I feel free to name it. It will now be called, In Case We Really Do Go Broke Soup, nicknamed Armageddon Soup-to scar scare the kids. (Wouldn't my stepkids mom just love to know I am feeding her kids End of the World soup?)

Time to empty out the pantry and stock up on Gas is $4 and Climbing Lentil Soup. Link to print is at the bottom of the post.

The Ingredients:

• 3 cups of Lentils, picked through for small pieces of trash and rinsed
• 1/2 pkg of Bacon cut into 2 inch pieces (this can be omitted but thought my chances of getting everyone to eat this went up tremendously with b-a-c-o-n)
• 3-4 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 20 baby carrots, chopped up (sliced)
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbls of minced garlic
• 1.5 tsp of ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp of garam masala (my homage to the vegans who consist on lentils)
• 1 tbls of garlic salt
• 2 tbls of olive oil
• 2 spoonfulls of Frank's Hot Sauce
• 2 cans Chicken Broth
• 3 cups of water
• 1 can Rotel
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/3 cup of Cooking Sherry before serving (this is optional)

Whew!! That was a huge long list of ingredients.

In a saute pan brown the bacon pieces and then add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and red pepper. Cook until slightly soft but not browned.

While sauteing the bacon and veggies dump all the other ingredients minus the Cooking Sherry into the Crock Pot. Once veggies and bacon are finished add to the mix (I used all the bacon grease, why not? My weight will not be an issue if I am walking to work everyday)

Set the Crockpot to cook for 6-8 hours. Stir in Cooking Sherry the last half hour and serve with pita bread. I found some onion pita at Reasors, yum! Store the leftovers for later use when you are chopping down your kitchen cabinets for firewood. The soup will bring back fond memories when gas was only $4.

Here is the a printable copy for CrockStar Armageddon Lentil Soup.

Some recipes say to take half of the soup and puree it and then add back in. If it was winter time I might have done this just to make it psychologically more hearty. I was not really wanting that at this time of the year.

** Updated to add**

THIS IS AWESOME!!!! We loved this. I might back off of the Garam Masala since that was just a tad too overpowering but even with it I think it was soooo good. Honestly? I thought Man, I should open my own restaurant and just serve versions of this it is so good. This made enough for 3 servings the first night, 3 servings on Friday night and 3 ziploc bags of 2.5 servings to freeze. LOVED IT!!

Going 370 miles for Haircut and Highlights so worth it! I really like my hair. It looks naturally highlighted, almost like I have been in the sun lounging on a beach chair having a Mai-Tai delivered to me and charged to my hotel room. The haircut is up to my shoulders and all layerery (my word) which I love. Plus I have more bangs. I will take a picture to show how worth it it was to fly somewhere for less than 24 hours to get a $45 haircut and color. (I am sure this fits into our debt reduction plan....somehow)

The hairstylist was so fast. I think she foiled me up, stuck me under the dryer, washed the color out, cut and blow dried in under TWO HOURS! Amazing. That is what I hate the most about having my color done at a salon, the time. I don't think I ever get out of a salon in less than four hours and I think that is crap. Stomp. Stomp.

It was very nice to spend time with my sister too. I think it was the first time in almost 15 years since it has been just the two of us. At first I was a little nervous about what we were going to talk about but after a bit we did just fine. It is always good if you can start the conversation out with "You will not believe what Mom said the other day."

When I flew back on Sunday I helped my weary and battle scarred husband get ready for our cookout by pouring myself a drink. :) He kept all three kids by himself and actually took them up to his office to destroy all the white boards while he worked 3 hours on Saturday. This is the first time he has had my daughter overnight without me there. It was just fine, a little crazy with all the squabbling but still good.

Our friends Donny and Cheryl came over with their two little boys. Our 4 year old was in heaven! Boys. His age. Waa-Hoo!

I noticed that Cheryl had gotten her hair cut and had a new color. When I told her how much I liked it her husband was quick to point out that SHE had HERS done in TULSA. Thanks Donny! I have your back too.

I watched the race for a little bit. The last thing I saw was that girl driver, Danica Patrick, stomping toward the other drivers pit to prove she is just a tough as a guy kick some butt. Sonja, Dave, and his daughter Emily came over and we all just hung out and enjoyed the great weather. (I am trying to convince everyone to move either across from us or next door but the freaks across the street are killing it for me. Police car in front of your house does not help me people!! Your kid's friends are the ones that keep breaking into your car, face the reality.)

So what can we take away from this post about Waco being the best place for hair and the fact that I can't rely on Cheryl's husband to back me up? CAKE.

My sister made this cake and it was AWESOME! So good. Of course I jazzed it up a bit with the chocolate chips but man this is good.

Glorified Blondie Cake

• 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 block of cream cheese, cut into chunks
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 box of powdered sugar
• Chocolate Chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease (not lightly) a 9x13 pan.

Melt one stick of butter. In a bowl dump the cake mix, crack open 2 of the eggs and place in the mix, and pour the melted butter on top. Stir together until a thick batter. Pour into greased pan and evenly distribute.

Melt another stick of butter. In a bowl dump powdered sugar, add the cream cheese, melted butter, and two eggs. Mix together with a hand mixer (easiest) until smooth. Pour over the cake batter.

Optional: Toss chocolate chips over the top

Bake for 40-45 minutes. (If the middle is still like a jello jiggler then it is not done.)

Let rest for 10-15 minutes. Serve and enjoy the praise. SOOOOO GOOOD! Thanks Kelly!

A little boy in Anna's first grade class threw up today. In empathy Anna threw up too, twice. I was called to come get her at school just before noon. She is lying on the couch watching Dr. Doolittle IIXVII and I am in the kitchen. With Dina.

Teacher Appreciation Week is going on at Anna's school. On Monday I made the Pillsbury million dollar prize winning recipe, Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookie, and Anna brought a dozen to her teacher with a note that said her teacher was worth $1,000,000 but since we don't have it maybe a $1,000,000 cookie would do. Such cleverness.....

Thursday is a teacher breakfast. I volunteered to make The Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls. This will be about the tenth time I have made these and each time is better than the first. Well definitely the first because I was in complete denial that anything outside of a Paula Deen recipe would take that much butter. I was wrong, and thank you Tresh for setting me straight and making me follow a recipe. But I have ended up deleting the Maple extract from the icing and now even I think these are the best cinnamon rolls ever. The first 36 teachers through the teacher's lounge door are going to love these cinnamon rolls.

I have the dough for the cinnamon rolls rising right next to the dough for Suzanne's Grandmother Bread. This smells so good and it hasn't even baked yet. My neighbor across the street has been sick and I think she might really enjoy a loaf. If not I know I will. The whole loaf. To myself. With butter. In the guest bedroom where no one will see me.

I am also making breakfast biscuits to freeze. These are the perfect running out the door we are going to be late breakfast. They are easy to make too, refrigerator flaky layer biscuits, sausage, velveeta cheese, and egg mixture. I will post the recipe when I finish making them.

Oh! For dinner we are having the Mac and Cheese from Ree's site. I think I am craving carbs.

I figure if I do all the things that I would love to do everyday as a Stay at Home Mom I will just automagically become one someday.

These pork chops were so good! Super simple and quick this smelled so good while it was baking. I served it with a side of spaghetti noodles. This would make an excellent meal to serve for a family get together.

All three of the kids loved it. They didn't even notice there were chunks of tomatoes sabotaging the kid friendly dish. My step kids are not the most adventurous eaters but they are getting better and this was a winner!

I need a name for it though, something that conveys the Italian breadcrumbs, the Parmesan cheese, the tomato pasta sauce, how moist and tender this was and easy! Too many adjectives and not enough time or creativity.

The ingredients:

• Bone in pork chops 1 1/2 inches thick, do not trim
• Italian dressing
• Italian style bread crumbs
• Dry Ranch dressing
• 1/2 a jar of Pasta sauce (I love Paul Newman's Stockarooni)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
  
• grated Parmesan cheese
• Cooked Spaghetti noodles
  

Heat the Italian dressing in a skillet and brown the chops. This took no time at all and I salt and peppered as I was browning.

With a fork mix breadcrumbs and dry Ranch dressing mix in a pie pan. When each chop is finished browning coat each side in the bread crumbs.


Pour the 1/2 jar of pasta sauce and the entire can of diced tomatoes, undrained. If you do not want to risk the tomato hatred reaction then skip this and add more pasta sauce and 1/4 cup of water.

Cover with tin foil and place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes turn the oven up to 400, take the tin foil off and generously sprinkle Parmesan cheese over all. Cook uncovered for 15 more minutes.

Make the spaghetti noodles during this time. Spoon some of the sauce over all when plating. Yum!

Bread and salad would make this dish perfect. So simple and so delicious. What shall we name it?

I had planned on making Beef Stroganoff but I didn't want to stand over a stove tonight so I put the Round Steak into my Crock Pot and made up this recipe. It was so good and the meat was so tender and full of flavor.

• 2-4 lbs of Eye of Round Steak
• 1 Onion Sliced
• 2 tbls of Beef Base
• 1.5 cups of water
• Garlic Powder
  
• Lawry's Season Salt
• Cracked Black Pepper
• Montreal Steak Seasoning
• Worcestershire Sauce

Place thick sliced onion on the bottom of the Crock Pot. In the water mix the beef base (can use beef broth) and pour into the Crock Pot. Season one side of meat with Garlic Powder, use a lot, Lawry's Salt, Pepper, and Steak Seasoning and then place the meat season side down. Season the other side while in the Crock Pot. Sprinkle the Worcestershire Sauce over all and cook for 6 hours.

I used small Russet Potatoes washed and coated with Kosher Salt that I cooked for 1 hour at 425.
This was a delicious meal and Anna just loved it and wanted more. The meat really shrinks so if you have a big family please adjust. We have enough for one leftover meal.

I love Muesli. I am particularly fond of Bircher Muesli because it is so creamy and delicious with a touch of apple. My first experience with this wonderful breakfast was on the breakfast buffet at the Maritim Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany. I didn’t try it that time because I was so intrigued with having baked beans and a green salad for breakfast instead.

Monday night I went to Wild Oats to kill time waiting for Anna's dance class to be over. I bought breakfast muesli and live bacteria filled yogurt made from milk from a cow fed from the family dinner table on a farm in Vermont of all places. I added Mott’s Lite Apple Juice filled with juice from apples that were probably grown in a factory with artificial light and caged trees. Sprinkled some ground flax seed into the muesli to ensure I get that perfect ‘S’ Dr. Oz loves to talk about and put it in the fridge overnight. Delicious! This particular type of Muesli already has dried apple bits, golden raisins, and dates so I didn’t need to add anything but sliced bananas. So good! Hopefully I can also make Dr. Oz proud with my ‘S’ shape this afternoon.

I wonder why my mom didn't make us this when we were little. It is so much better than regular oatmeal. The more I traveled the more I saw this creamy white yogurt dish with chunks of granola and various fruit offered at the hotels for breakfast. It seemed to be the breakfast of champions by people brave enough to wear orange pants with a lime green shirt and an equally colorful pashima shawl knotted around their neck. I had to try it and I just prayed it was not cold porridge because I had unfortunately tried that traditional dish. Remember art class in elementary school where you cut up scrap pieces of paper and swished it around in nasty water to make handmade paper pulp? It was like that. Muesli shares the same aesthetic as paper pulp but tastes so much better.

I have tried different types of Muesli but my favorite is the Bircher because of the apple bits and the light sweetness. My husband has oatmeal everyday for breakfast. He boils it for 10 minutes (I think), drains it, and puts honey on it. It is good and ever since we watched Dr. Oz on Oprah say that you should eat the same thing everyday for breakfast and that rolled oatmeal is one of the best ways to start your day TD has been making me a bowl when he makes his. But it is spring now and I am craving change. Who knew that switching up your breakfast dish can actually shake up your routine and usher in spring.

This is a delicious creamy tart, very quiche like and would be wonderful if bacon was added, either crumbled on top or inside. Would the addition of bacon make it a quiche then? I have no idea but I do know this is delicious and was a favorite when I made it for a girl's weekend one afternoon without kids.

The smell of the onions and butter cooking is awesome! And the great thing is the filling can be made the night before and poured into a pie-crust right before cooking.

Don't the onions look beautiful? Man, I am hungry. I knew I should have snuck a leftover piece of this tart after I had my required bowl of oatmeal. I say "snuck" because this is definitely not Weight Watchers approved, no way, well maybe half a bite.

Without further adieu, the ingredients:

• 1 Vidalia onion, sliced into thin strips (Sweet onions were not available so I add more sugar)
• 2 Shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 Leek, thinly sliced (I wash really good by soaking and then I just slice across and separate the rings)
• 1/4 cup Butter
• 2/3 cup Whipping Cream
• 3 large Eggs
• 4 oz softened Cream Cheese, cut into cubes
• 3/4 cup grated Swiss Cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Cheddar Jack cheese with Jalapeno peppers
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp ground Nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp Salt
• 1 Pie-Crust for a 9" glass pie pan (if it is glass is it really still a pan?) Bring to room temperature while preparing filling.

Preheat oven to 375. In a 12" saute pan, melt the butter and add all the onions, nutmeg, sugar, and salt. Cook until slightly translucent but not browned/burned. Turn the heat down and slowly add the cheese, starting with the cream cheese. Stir until all the cheeses and the onions are combined.

In a large bowl gently beat eggs and then add the whipping cream. Stir until combined. Slowly add in the cheese and onion mixture a little bit at a time, stirring to incorporate and make smooth.

Prepare pie-crust according to instructions. Using a fork, poke some holes along the sides and the bottom. Pour in filling. Cook at 375 for 40 minutes or until top and crust is golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack. Serve warm.