Muffin Pot Pies

 This isn't really exactly a recipe... more of an idea for lunches or freezer cooking :). I just used my normal biscuit recipe along with a spur of the moment made-up chicken pot pie filling. But I smooshed out the biscuit dough into a big circle and put it down inside the muffin tins, then filled it with the chicken filling, wrapped the edges of the biscuit up over the filling and pinched it shut. Baked till the tops were golden brown, and we had cute little mini chicken pot pies! They were really yummy too... too bad I didn't use a recipe for the filling :P.

Because there were (horrors!!) vegetables inside, the boys didn't eat these so well :(. Alex and I enjoyed them for the next few lunches though! :)

For an actual recipe, and the source of my idea, click here!

Soul Food

Ok, I don't know if this actually counts as soul food. In my experience, soul food = weird southern cuisine, but I guess that's not all true. There is some weird stuff in that category though! So anyways, you all know I'm not going to go feeding my family any sea critters or chitlins, so what is it??

Biscuits &Tomato Gravy!!!

Yep! I'd never heard of it either! Um.... you guys hadn't heard of such a thing before, had you? Anyway, my piano student mentioned it to me, was horrified that I never heard of it, told me the basic recipe, helped me find a recipe online, and had her mom call me on their way home to tell me her recipe. Whew!! After all that, you can see that I HAD to make it!! And y'know what? It is really good! I must confess to making a couple Burrell-style modifications though. Here is the link to the basic recipe I used.

Tomato Gravy
10-15 tomatoes (blanched & peeled)
1/2 stick butter
3 Tbs. flour
2 cups milk
salt, to taste
fresh basil, to taste
mozzarella, to taste :)
Biscuits (I made these, but I know Mom's recipe is great too!)

Melt butter in medium pan, add sliced (& peeled!!) tomatoes. Cook & stir a few minutes till the tomatoes are good and mushy. Add flour and stir till thick. Slowly add milk and cook till it thickens again. Now that's all the recipe says, so I threw in a good bit of salt, and ran out front and picked some basil leaves and roughly chopped them before adding them in. MMmmmmm!! I hate it when recipes go on and on about the marvels of fresh basil. Do you have any idea how much that stuff costs?!? Eek!! So I'll say it quietly: The fresh basil flavor was aMAzing!!! I'm sure dried would be delish also, and feel free to just skip it if you want! The recipe doesn't call for it in the first place! (Say, do any of you have a basil plant and know when to harvest it? Ours has flowers on it, but it tastes fine! Did I just poison us or anything?) And we served it with grated mozzarella on top of it all.

Best if served over heart-shaped biscuits and poked by hungry little fingers!

Mmmmm, also marvelous if served with pepper poppers!!

So there you go!! Not to brag or anything, but I grew all the tomatoes and peppers in my very own garden :D. Ok, I guess I did mean to brag just a teensy bit. And don't forget the basil was from my front garden bed... ;) OK, I'll quit now!! So go make some tomato gravy now!! It's good stuff!!! Tastes like tomato soup, if you're wondering.

Discaimer: I have no idea what's up with our camera taking bad fuzzy pictures, but I'd bet money that it has a LOT to do with it's operator! Sorry :P. Someday we'll get a new camera that will take incredible pictures without any assistance from me...

Popeye Pizza

Another pizza variation that we tried recently (and it's a little more normal than the last one I posted!) was based on this recipe. Only instead of following her recipe, I just used Becky's Best Bread recipe and substituted some thawed frozen spinach blended up with a bit of water for the liquid. How precise is that? So if you like winging it like me, go ahead and follow my example! If you like precision and perfection, go follow the recipe that I linked to :). OK? OK! YUM!!! It's a pretty painless way to eat spinach, if you are like me and don't like it :P. Even the boys liked it this way! I did kind of make cheese-filled garlic bread as extra incentive though.

 Mmmm! I put peppers (from the garden), olives, and diced ham on this pizza :).

Broccoli Cheese... Pizza????

Please note that I also made a normal pizza as backup

 So recently I was trying to decide what to do with a big bag of broccoli that I had bought at Sams. And it happened to be Friday! So naturally I wondered if I could somehow incorporate broccoli into our pizza night and still have an enjoyable and delicious outcome. I thought a broccoli cheese soup theme pizza sounded good, but after hearing the dubious opinions of both Alex and Becky, my faith in the idea was greatly shaken. Not to be deterred in this mad quest though, I pressed onward and upward. And guess what... I loved it!!! Alex liked it, but I think somehow calling it pizza didn't set right with him. I'll have to rename it next time :). So... the Big Question: Is anyone else out there crazy enough to follow my example?? Just in case, here's the recipe.

Broccoli Cheese Non-Soup Pizza

(that needs a different name)

1/2 batch of Becky's Best Bread recipe (just make the whole batch though. You know you'll want some breadsticks or more pizza or... something with it!!)

2 Tbs butter

2 Tbs flour

Cheddar cheese (grated)

Milk

1 cup broccoli

Melt the butter, add in the flour and cook & stir a minute or two. Sploosh in enough milk to make a pretty thick sauce (I didn't measure!!) and cook till thick. Then throw in cheese till it tastes right. Very precise, right? While all that is going on, you can boil or steam your broccoli till it is tender. Smoosh out the pizza crust and spread on your cooled cheese sauce. Oh yeah, let your cheese sauce cool down a bit in there too, ok? OK! So spread it on there, leaving a wide crust, if desired. Sprinkle broccoli over it. Bake for your normal pizza baking time at your normal pizza baking temperature. Immediately upon removing it from the oven brush melted butter onto the crust and sprinkle garlic powder onto the butter. Slice and ENJOY!

What do y'all think? Is it really too weird?

Bacon and Egg Muffins

Well.  If we're gonna have a muffin focus here, far be it from us Ruses to not be involved.

Actually, Josh saw a picture of some bacon and egg muffins in my BH&G magazine, and felt a desperate need to try them.  We tore the page out, and he waved it in my face for about 2 weeks before I made the time one morning to try them...  Only the original recipe is a cornmeal based muffin.  That doesn't fly with half of us, so I used a different recipe, and sort of made up something similar.  

I chose to use my "Melt in Your Mouth Muffin Mix" minus the spices and with less sugar, if you want the gory details.

We loved these!  Mmmm, breakfast in a muffin shape.  It's pretty much your scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancake all in one.  And for those of us to whom eggs give shivers, I'm on your team, and these were not too eggy or gross.  Some kids complained that they didn't notice the eggs.  That's my kind of scrambled egg - the one you don't notice!  So before we forget  how we made these...

4 eggs, divided

2 T water

4 slices of bacon cut in thirds, plus extra crumbled, if you want it.  We wanted it. :  )

1 3/4 c flour

1/2 c shredded cheese

1/4 c sugar

2 t baking powder

1/2 a t salt

1 c milk

1/3-1/2 c oil

butter

syrup

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Cook bacon.  Beat eggs with water, cook until just set, in a frying pan with bacon grease or butter. In mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Toss with cheese and bacon crumbles (if you're adding those).  Mix milk, last egg, and oil (this is top secret, but we used bacon grease). Gently stir wet into dry ingredients, adding scrambled eggs about half way into the mixing.  Grease muffin pan, BGH used bacon grease, so we did too - it worked great.  Divide batter between cups, lay a strip of bacon on top of each.  Bake at 350 12-18 minutes, or until tops spring back when touched.  Serve with butter and syrup.

Makes a mere 12. : )

Irresistible Carrot Muffin

These muffins are absolutely the most amazing carrot cake/bread/muffins I have ever had! I made the half batch today, but there's not much point in making so few of these! Unless you wish to place a limit on how many of these things are consumed =). They are very healthy for you though! See?! They even have whole wheat flour and honey! (We just won't mention how much oil and brown sugar they have!) Honestly, these are so amazing you would never think that it has anything so healthy as W.W. flour in it anyway! Oh, when I made the half batch today I only put in 1 cup of oil (1/4 c. less), and they still came out great, just a little less greasy. Possibly you could go down to 3/4 c. for the half batch. The weird part is that with all that oil, these things still want to stick to the muffin tins! (As much as I wanted to, I promise that they were sticking in the tins and that I did not really take a bite out of every other muffin!)


Ingredients
· 8 eggs
· 2 1/2 cups oil (or less)
· 1 cup honey
· 2/3 cup brown sugar
· 5 teaspoons vanilla extract
· 3 cups whole wheat flour
· 1 cups all-purpose flour
· 4 teaspoons baking powder
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
· 3 cups grated carrots

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease muffin tray.

2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Use a 1/4 cup measure and scoop into muffin tins.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

4. Makes 4 dozen muffins.


½ Batch (Makes 2 dozen muffins)

· 4 eggs
· 1 cup vegetable oil
· ½ cup honey
· 2/3 cup brown sugar
· 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
· 1½ cups whole wheat flour
· ½ cups all-purpose flour
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· ½ teaspoon salt
· 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
· 1½ cups grated carrots

May and June 2012 Menu Ala Ruse

May:

Tues, 1- Raspberry chicken, baked potatoes

Wed, 2- Egg rolls, soup, rice, green beans

Thurs, 3- Out/Pretzel dogs

Fri, 4- Pizza- grilled?

Sat, 5- Bean tacos

Sun, 6- Creamy crockpot nachos

Mon, 7- Ravioli

Tues, 8- Bruschetta chicken, bread, cottage cheese, salad

Wed, 9- Mini meatball sandwiches

Thurs, 10- Out/Chips and cheese

Fri, 11- Pizza

Sat, 12- Reubens

Sun, 13- BBQ sundaes

Mon, 14-Crockpot Meatloaf, buttery potatoes

Tues, 15- Cream cheesy quesadillas

Wed,  16- Grilled cheese sloppy joes

Thurs, 17- Out/Tacos

Fri, 18- Pizza

Sat, 19- Snausages, crackers, cheese

Sun, 20- Special grilled cheese

Mon, 21- Roast and veggies

Tues, 22- OBB burgers

Wed,  23- Chicken BBQs, coleslaw

Thurs, 24- Out/Waffles

Fri, 25- Pizza

Sat, 26- Pizza rolls

Sun, 27- Grilled something, potatoes, salad

Mon, 28- Memorial Day!- ?

Tues, 29- Dorito taco bake, rice/beans

Wed,  30- Micah's Birthday!- ?

Thurs, 31- Out/Dogs and beans

June

Fri, 1- Pizza

Sat, 2- Special grilled cheese

Sun, 3-Mexican layered ranch dip

Mon, 4- Ungrilled chicken, potatoes

Tues, 5- Quick tamale pie

Wed,  6- French dip

Thurs, 7- Out/Chicken nuggets

Fri, 8- Pizza

Sat, 9- Taco ring

Sun, 10- Sour cream noodle bake, garlic bread, salad

Mon, 11- Uncle Stew's chicken potato piles

Tues, 12- Chicken pita pockets

Wed,  13- Texas Burgers

Thurs, 14- Out/Giant pretzels, dips

Fri, 15- Pizza

Sat, 16- Quesadillas

Sun, 17- Grilled something, twice baked potatoes

Mon, 18- Crescent taco bake

Tues, 19- Mini puffy pancakes, hash browns, fruit, French eggs, sausage

Wed,  20- Ranch style chicken sandwiches

Thurs, 21- Out/Pig in a blanket bubble bread

Fri, 22- Pizza

Sat, 23- Torquitos

Sun, 24- Grilled  something, crockpot potatoes

Mon, 25- Sour cream enchiladas

Tues, 26- Chef's salad

Wed,  27- Chicken patties

Thurs, 28- Out/Quesadillas

Fri, 29- Pizza

Sat, 30- Burgers

Mexican Wedding Cake

Yum!  This has to be one of the easiest from-scratch cake recipes out there.  Make it a couple times in a row and you can memorize the ingredients too!  It's a good one for kids to make.  Jer and Kristina made one a few weeks ago that we fed to friends.  We forgot to take any pictures of it, so we had to make it again.  Rats.  : )  We also have to get a copy of the recipe to the friends because it was a big hit.

(See my alterations below.)

2 eggs

2 c sugar

2 c flour

2 t baking soda

20 oz can crushed pineapple

1 c nuts, optional

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 c butter

2 c powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

Combine cake ingredients.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40ish minutes.  (It will look fairly dark, but it's not burnt!)  Beat together frosting ingredients and spread on cooled cake.

OK.  So with our first cake I felt like it was almost eye wateringly sweet, and the frosting is pretty thick.  So the second time around I cut the sugar down a half cup and did more of a whipped cream cream cheese frosting, and reduced all the ingredients and added some whipping cream.  It was good still.  If you like really thick frosting don't mess with that part of the recipe, although I might try just reducing the sugar there next time.  It's a pretty flexible recipe.

Spring Fruit Tapioca

Mom has fed us this for many a year!  No rhubarb season is complete without it.  Unless you are scared of tapioca.  Good grief.  Anyway, this is intended to be eaten plain, from a bowl.  Right?   Remember that time when the church was at our house and Mom served an ice cream sundae bar, and Spring Fruit Tapioca?  And James put the SFT ON his ice cream???  We were shocked.  WHAT was he thinking???  Well, it turns out that this makes a really good ice cream topping too!  And, in spite of being a rhubarb dish it is pretty sweet, so you can mess around with the sugar amounts.  Or you can do what we did.  Micah made this particular batch.  I read him the recipe from the other room while he cooked.  I doubled the rhubarb because 2.5 cups?  Not very much.  Besides doubling it meant that it would use a whole can of pineapple.  I forgot I was doubling it, and all that got doubled was the rhubarb and the pineapple.  It was still quite sweet, so go ahead and double the rhubarb if you want!

1/4 c minute tapioca

1 1/2 c sugar

1/2 t salt

2 1/2 c chopped rhubarb

2 1/2 c water

1 c crushed pineapple

Cook everything but the pineapple over medium heat until mixture boils, stirring more or less constantly.  Cool, add pineapple.  Chill.  Or eat it warm like we did. : )

Kindergarten Crust

This is my favorite pie crust.  It's shortbread, folks, what's not to like!  Mom often had the little kid of the family mix this up.  It doesn't get any easier.  Or tastier!

1 c flour

1/2 c butter

1/4 c sugar

Dump everything into your pan.  Smoosh it all together with your hands, press to cover the bottom of a 9x13, or bottom and sides of a pie pan.  I don't remember Mom using this for anything but 9x13 pumpkin pies, but it could probably handle most anything.  

As a side note, it seems that spell checker can not handle everyday words like "smoosh".  It recommends "smooch" or "smooth".  What is this world coming to?

Raisin Bars

These were a family staple for years.  Mom still makes them a lot.  Maybe because they are so quick?  I don't know of too many other bars that bake for 15 minutes.  OK, I don't know of any.  Now note that my bars look kind of thin and scraggly.  Nice, huh?  That's what happens when you bake them in a slightly too big pan and then cut them while hot.  You may not want to imitate me.  On the other hand they tasted good!  These always seem a tad bit on the rubbery side to me.  So I experimented by leaving out 1/2 cup of flour.  They were fine, maybe a little teensy bit less rubbery?  Maybe that's why they were thinner?  : )

Sooo, you need:

1/2 c butter, melted

1 c sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 1/2 c flour

1 t cinnamon

1 t nutmeg

1 t cloves

1 t salt

1 c raisins

1 1/2 c water

1 t baking soda

1 c nuts, optional

Boil raisins in water in a small pan until reduced to 1 cup water, drain, save water.  Beat butter, sugar and egg together.  Combine dry ingredients and nuts, add to wet.  Add raisins.  Add soda to saved hot water, add to batter, stir well.  Pour into a greased 10x15 pan.  Bake at 375 degrees until firm, 15ish minutes.  Remove, drizzle with glaze.

Glaze:

1 c powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

enough hot water to make a thin icing.

Oatmeal Muffins

Made by Jer.

Another old family recipe. We ate these a lot! I know I made many dozen, but I was on muffin duty a lot, I assume others of us made them too?

Make time for the long soaking step in these- they are good even if you mix them up right away, but they improve with each minute they soak... more or less. : )

1 c rolled oats
1 c buttermilk
1 large egg
1/2 c brown sugar
1/3 c butter/shortening
1 c flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t baking soda

Soak oats in milk for 1 hour. Beat in egg, sugar. Mix dry ingredients, add to wet. Melt butter, stir in. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 12 muffins.

Orange Salad

This one comes from Mrs. Mast. : ) Last time they had all of us over I asked for one of her recipes. She handed me a binder and some recipe cards, and flipped to this one and said "This one is good, you write it down too." When a cook like Mrs. Mast tells you you need a recipe, you don't argue. I loved the Masts a ton and it makes me happy to be able to use several of her recipes. Now you can be happy eating orange salad too! You might want to play a round of Catch Phrase afterward.

3 c water
1 pkg cook and serve vanilla pudding
1 pkg cook and serve vanilla OR orange tapioca pudding
1 pkg orange jello
1 can mandarin oranges
8 oz whipped topping

Combine water and 3 mixes, bring to a boil, cook until thick, cool. Add oranges and whipped topping.

If you are one of the strange people in this family who labor under the delusion that you despise tapioca : ) , here are some thoughts. First, although the tapioca is visible when the cooking step is done, I don't recall any texture issues when it was completely done. I also can't see why you couldn't substitute plain vanilla pudding. Also, I usually use whipped cream in recipes calling for whipped topping, and it worked beautifully in this. However, I noticed that if you did use the whipped topping, you would have a pretty much dairyless recipe, which might be your thing if dairy is not your thing! : )

Calico Beans

On with the Harry family originals! Here's the next in my stack I'm working my way through. Remember eating these? We were always delighted with the outrageous HUGENESS of butter beans!

First a word or 20 on my (Becky again) personal opinions on baked beans. : ) You may have the same opinions as I do, and therefore my ... deep wisdom will speed you on the road to happier living. Haha.

OK, so I dislike really sweet beans. I like desert that IS dessert, not dessert that is beans. (That was pretty much stolen from a book wherein a guy says that he "likes cats is cats, not cats is women." So when I made these did I put in 1 1/4 cups of sugar (don't forget all the additional sugar in the ketchup and the pork and beans!)??? Nope. I dumped in less than a 1/4 cup. And I was happy. But if you like your beans sweet, you go ahead (my little squirts would say "go INhead", drives me NUTS!), and throw it all in there! Do what you want! I mean really, what am I going to do with half a leftover can of lima beans?!? I used them all. And when Tina (who loooooves beans), claimed to not like these, and while yet announcing her dislike stabbed a lima bean on her fork, James said "No Tina! Don't eat the green ones, they're the yucky ones...", and was interrupted by her going on to say that "these green ones are the good ones though.", she kind of lost credibility. And James's childhood torture-by-lima bean came out again. : )

1 lb hamburger
1 lb bacon
1 c chopped onions
1/2 c ketchup
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 t salt
2 T cider vinegar
1/2 c white sugar
2 T dry mustard
1/2 can green lima beans
1 12 oz can pork and beans
1 can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can butter beans

Cook bacon, add hamburger and onions, cook and drain off the fat. Add everything else and mix well. Bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes, or throw it all in a crockpot, or I'll do it in a pot on the stove when I'm in a hurry.

This is great for potlucks, and can be a satisfying main dish too!

Hot Dog Casserole

I (Becky) was flipping through my recipe box and decided to pull out all the old Harry family recipes I have and get them on here. We made this one a while back. My kids liked it as much as we used to. Josh is looking at the pictures now saying "We need to make that again!" He's always trying to squeeze his favorites in between hospital stays. : )

Here it is: classy eating at its best!

Mashed potatoes for 8-12
3/4 c sweet pickle relish drained (I used dill)
6 T salad dressing/mayo
3 T onion flakes
2 T mustard
2 lbs hot dogs

Stir everything but the dogs into the mashed potatoes. Spoon into a casserole dish (I used a 9x13). Cut dogs in half lengthwise, and then again width-wise. Stand upright around the edge of the dish, in the potatoes. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes (my shallow dish baked faster). Serve with dog toppings. Yum! : )

Ruse Menus March/April 2012

Can a 6 year old make pizza alone? Dough and all?? Yes she can!!!

OK, so March is half done. This is really only half of March and April menus. Anyway, here's what's in our plans!

March:
Mon, 19- Cream cheese spaghetti
Tues, 20- Sweet and spicy chicken, salad
Wed, 21- Balkan meatballs, Portuguese sweet bread
Thurs, 22- Night out/ corn dogs
Fri, 23- Pizza- pesto, etc.
Sat, 24- Gym night potluck- Cow pies, finger jello, cookie dough cupcakes
Sun, 25- Callie's taco salad
Mon, 26- Breakfast supper: Idaho sunrise potatoes, mini puffy pancakes
Tues, 27- (Josh & James gone through Thurs+/-) Tatter tot casserole
Wed, 28- French dip crescents
Thurs, 29- Linguini stuff
Fri, 30- Grilled pizza
Sat, 31- Rubens

April:
Sun, 1- Meatloaf cake, berry drinks
Mon, 2- Chicken and dumpling casserole
Tues,3- Cobb salad
Wed, 4- Mexican stroganoff
Thurs, 5- Out/Chicken nuggets
Fri, 6- Pizza
Sat, 7- Taquitos
Sun, 8- chicken Caesar salad
Mon, 9- potatoes au gratin, cheesesteak sandwiches
Tues, 10- Burgers
Wed, 11- Mac and cheese
Thurs, 12- Out/Upside down pizza
Fri, 13- Pizza
Sat, 14- cheeseball
Sun, 15- Mexican layered ranch dip
Mon, 16-roast beef, potatoes
Tues, 17- Navajo tacos
Wed, 18- Chicken fried rice
Thurs, 19- Out/breadsticks and dip
Fri, 20- Pizza
Sat, 21- Hoagie bake
Sun, 22- BBQ sundaes
Mon, 23- Beef, Crash potatoes
Tues, 24-White chicken enchiladas
Wed, 25- Chicken salad pockets
Thurs, 26- Out/hot dogs
Fri, 27- Pizza
Sat, 28- Tacos
Sun, 29- Potluck-
Mon, 30- Mexican cornbread


Desserts:
Anna's Pretzel dessert
Cookie dough cupcakes
Lime cake bites

Think outside the... cheese?

We have been attempting to eat more veggies lately, and it has even affected our grilled cheese sandwiches! These are so fun, I throw whatever we have on hand in there and Alex and I haven't had any that we didn't like yet. The boys pretty much do plain bread/cheese/meat ones still :).
.

Some of our new favorite grilled cheese ingredients are:

Green onions

Avocado

Cilantro

Spinach

Avocado

CHEESE

Avocado

and green onions.

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See a theme here? If you're a pepper and onions kind of family, by all means throw some in!! I'm not crazy about that idea, crunchy or cooked into slimeyness. So we haven't gone that route yet, but I bet Alex would like it :). Anyways, for tonight I happened to have some more exotic ingredients on hand, so here's how it went...

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First I smeared some garlic mayo (plain ol' mayo with some minced fresh garlic mixed in) on the first slice of bread, sprinkled on chopped green onions, layered on some fresh spinach, sprinkled some feta cheese, added sliced avocados, ham, smoked gouda cheese, and topped with a second slice of bread.

.

Now seriously, I don't usually have feta or gouda on hand, and cheddar and/or mozzarella are usually our cheese options. The spinach is also unusual. Anyways, some tips to remember when making gourmet grilled cheese:

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1. When working with small pieces of non-sticky food (i.e. green onions, grated cheese, etc.) I like to put those directly on the piece of bread that will go on the griddle. That way they have time to melt/wilt into the bread before you need to flip it.

2. Cheese against the bread (on both sides, if possible!) will help glue the whole thing together better.

3. Avocado is really good on grilled cheese. You can smoosh it, slice it, whatever. It makes the whole thing more creamy feeling and doesn't taste too green :). If the smooshiness of it bothers you, sprinkling a little salt on it can help it to blend in a little better. I thought the idea of it was weird at first too. You should all try it!

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**NOTE** I did not really burn the sandwich in the picture. It is on (store-bought) whole wheat bread in bad night-time kitchen lighting and I'm not that handy with a camera to begin with!! Haha.

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***ANOTHER NOTE*** Don't you love extra notations? Anyways, a fun thing that we learned recently (thanks to pinterest!) is that if you get a package of green onions and save the root ends, stick those in a jar with some water on your kitchen windowsill and they'll keep growing and you can just clip off however much you need whenever you want. It's been a few weeks and ours are growing like weeds still!

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****ME AGAIN**** Just kidding.

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P.S. I know grilled cheese is a super boring thing to post about, and this one is a weird one to boot. So maybe someone else should get on the ball and post something better soon, ok? Like maybe chocolate? Seriously, I need chocolate. I may need to test Becky's 14-layer crepe thing one of these days... Or maybe Sara's Death by Chocolate trifle. YUM!!! Gotta do something to counteract the healthy ingredients in these sandwiches. Haha!! HEY! Someone did just post something here recently. I'd better go check it out instead of dragging this out even longer.

Cornbread

We needed a more perfect cornbread recipe around here. I had one that used some mixes and "cheating" type ingredients that the family liked, but cheating??? We can't do that! So we ate cornbread while I worked out our favorite recipe. And this is it:

2 c flour
1 c cornmeal
1/2- 1 c sugar (yes this is terrible)
1/2 c oil
4-5 eggs
1 1/3 c milk
1 t salt
4 t baking powder

Throw everything into a mixing bowl and whisk/stir together until smooth. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until it springs up and bites your finger when touched...or just springs back, which is what it does for me. I usually bite the cornbread rather than the reverse.

There you have it! Michigan cornbread. I hear tell they don't use no sugar in their cornbread in the south. It would be healthier...but who cares! We don't eat cornbread more than a few times a year anyway! Should I say that Jer calls this "corncake"? Maybe I won't tell you that part.