Saturday, January 31, 2009

baked potato and cauliflower soup for one

Made this for lunch the other day. Good stuff! It would be good with cheese added, too - I was going to and forgot.

1/2 c. chopped cauliflower
water
1 medium baked potato, diced
1/2 T. butter
1 cup milk (I used half milk and half fat free half and half for a richer taste)
salt and pepper to taste
pinch celery seed
1 tsp. dried minced onion
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

In a medium saucepan, steam the cauliflower in a bit of water until tender. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine, and cook until heated through. Eat as is or process in a blender (or with a stick blender) to make it thicker.

three cheese scalloped potatoes and ham

I finally made scalloped potatoes and ham that wasn't runny! Yay! This made enough for hubby and me, with a tiny bit leftover.

1/4 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk
1 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. dry mustard
1 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, sliced
1 oz. swiss cheese, sliced
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 cups chopped ham
2 medium potatoes (peeled if desired), thinly sliced

In a medium skillet, melt the butter. Add the onions and garlic and saute until onions are translucent. Stir in the milk. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until thickened. Stir in salt, pepper, and dry mustard, then add the cheese and stir until melted.

Put a little bit of the sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish, and then add a layer of sliced potatoes. Sprinkle a layer of ham on top of the potatoes, then add another layer of sauce. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, ending with sauce on top.

Cover and bake at 350 for one hour. Remove cover and bake for an additional 20 - 30 minutes, until potatoes are cooked through.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

getting back into the swing of things...

Ok, ok, so I fell off the face of the earth for a while. I think it's to be expected. But, I'm slowly getting my bearings and getting back into the swing of things (now, if I could just get my kid to sleep on a normal schedule, we'd be good).

Over the past couple of weeks, I've started to settle into my new role as housewife (yes, I'm still going back to work in, gulp, six short weeks, but only half time so I'll be doing more, er, something around the house). Well, if you know me, you know that food is about the closest thing I have to a passion in life (well, besides Caitlyn), so I decided to get back into my routine by tackling some menu planning. Most days, I now have time to cook a real meal for dinner, which is great. There's nothing I detest more than coming home from work and being too tired to cook.

But now, I can make dinner an all-day affair - chop stuff after one feeding, saute stuff after another, and on it goes. Ok, it's not really THAT bad, but I do have more time to spend on these things!

Last week, we had:

manicotti (two meals - if I'm going to all the trouble to make it, I make a ton!)
salsa verde casserole
stuffed peppers

and, we ate out a few times (have to get it out of our system before I take an income cut, LOL!).

Here's what's on tap for this week (not necessarily in this order):

hamburgers and oven fries
scalloped potatoes and ham
chili and cornbread
creamed tuna on biscuits
teriyaki chicken
baked ziti
tamale pie

Of course, chances are we'll eat out at least once, so we won't eat ALL of these things this week, but we have it if we want it.

So now, I have the meal planning back on track, and I've managed to conquer the laundry (including the cloth diapers, which are, in fact, as easy as disposables - no pins!), and now I just have to work some housework into the mix. Ugh... :-)

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Best blog ever, and Happy New Year!

Everyone HAS to visit cakewrecks. Have I mentioned this before? I have yet to read a post on this blog without laughing out loud, and yes, on occasion, tears have come into my eyes.

Oh, and happy new year! I hope everyone had a safe a fun New Year's Eve. We skipped our annual trek to my sister-in-law's because hubby is sick. He went to bed at 10:30, and Caitlyn and I rang in the new year over a bottle of milk. Actually, I didn't even pick up on the fact that it was midnight until I heard the fireworks going off in the street. Yeah, I'm observant like that, LOL!