Cooking + Kids = Hard

Gabe's been in and out of his separation anxiety phase. But the only time it kicks in full blown is when he knows I'm making or have food.

Boys. Growing boys. Ugh.

Ontop of that, money's been pretty tight. Christmas put anyone and everyone in a bind when added in with the economy.

(Times is hard...Times is HAAAAAAAAAARD. - Channeling Sweeney Todd)

Needless to say, I've had to try and figure out how to make a good dinner for little monies.

Alas. Soup.

No, I didn't just throw soup in a pot and call it mine.

It's simple. It's pretty cheap. It's chicken.

My favorite things all in one.

Together in perfect harmony.

Me and chocolate have a love/hate relationship.

It's mainly "OMFGILOVEYOUSOEFFINGMUCH!"

And then I step on a scale.

*sigh*

I don't quite care for dark chocolate. I prefer milk chocolate. And white chocolate. And very rarely do I use semi-sweet chocolate chips in cookies.

This is no exception.

These will be gone in a matter of days.

This girl? She sucks.

I have one posted recipe for December.

One.

ONE.

I'm saying it right now. I suck at life.

Don't get me wrong. I cook. But lately, I've been doing a ton of repeats. That, or I get to the point where we're supposed to eat and I'm OMGSOSTARVING that I forget to take pictures. And I can't very well make a post about a recipe without an end result, right?

It doesn't help my case that Kyle's been working a lot of nights lately and when he does that, I usually just throw together something quick for the kids. I don't see a point in cooking a fully awesome dinner for my fat ass, Selena, and the Gabemonster that insists all of his food ends up in the animals' mouth one way or another. Groceries are expensive, yo!

BUT.

This is a big but. Sir-Mix-A-Lot would approve, even.

I'm getting ready to make some Christmas treats. *squeal*

I'm making some chocolate covered caramels, peanut butter kiss cookies (which are exactly like my peanut butter cookies found here, but you don't do this crisscross with a fork and after they're done baking you just push a Hershey's kiss in the middle), chocolate covered pretzels, and cheesecakes this year. I'll definitely have a walkthrough on here for the pretzels and caramels. Hell, I might throw some snickerdoodles in there, too. You know, if the festive bug bites me right.

Long story short.

I haven't forgotten this corner in the shadows. I just really suck.

And I kinda want to ask Ninja Santa for some ninja weapons. I think I need some.

"It's a fruit. That means it's healthy!"

I have a feeling I say this to myself WAY too much in life.

That can't be good.

So many things these days give us cancer, cause obesity, etc. Where's the enjoyment in food anymore?! 

THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND!

Yeah, okay, maybe not that extreme...but why not enjoy food while you can? I can promise you, you won't be able to taste it when you're dead and gone.

So, while these may not be the healthiest side dish in the world, they're amazingly delicious.

And, come on. Everyone loves apples.

Unless you're weird.

I'm poor and can't afford a Daddy.

My Daddy's Cheesecake is delicious. That's a given.

BUT managing money + My Daddy's Cheesecake? Yeah. You know what that equals to without me even saying it.

Anywho.

We're going to Kyle's aunt's house tomorrow for their Thanksgiving get together. And let me tell you, this side of the fambam is amazeballs. I get along with..most of them, if not all of them. And the first time I was at this particular aunt's house, her husband, Kyle's uncle ofcourse, had me cornered on their porch and forced me into talking. I was still on the fence about in-laws after my past experiences. But the conversation started out with...

"Okay. I gotta ask....Rocketship?" 

^.^ Oh, Moonshoes. The amount of confusion that comes from our names is totally awesome.

Again, anywho.

I was asked to bring a pumpkin pie or something of the sort, but once I told Kyle, he went on about how EVERYONE brings a pumpkin pie. Yeah, that didn't flow too well with me. Not because I have to stand out (atleast, when I'm sober...), but because I didn't want there to just be pumpkin pie. Don't get me wrong, I can eat the crap outta pumpkin pie (I think it's mainly for the whipped cream, don't hate on my inner fat kid) but after a while it just gets monotonous.

So, I made cheesecake. :)

Cherry and blueberry. I can't wait.

Dear Bestie, Thanks For Letting My People Take Your Food.

It's no secret. My sister (*coughbestfriendimetonline4+yearsagocough* is Cherokee. So much, infact, that her ringtone on my phone for the longest time was the most amazing thing ever. The fact that we called eachother a lot made it even better. 

"CHEROKEE PEOPLE! CHEROKEE PRIDE!"

^.^ 

Well, I'm part Native American, too. No idea how much, but I know it's in there. Which is why I'm one of the few Asian-American's that can tan like it's nobody's business..and why people constantly mistake me for being Mexican.

Anyway.

My first time ever making a Thanksgiving dinner by myself, she was visiting. It was after Dot was born, and I kidnapped her and Logan for a month. The best month ever, might I add. She helped me figure out what to make, I converted her to a from-scratch cooker.

Yeah, that's not completely true. Let's say she cooks MORE things from scratch now.

This? This was one of our favorites. And the kids' favorite. They were like vultures. No joke.

Suh-weeeeeeeeeeeet potatoes. Yum.

GOO(lash)! I'm channeling Billy Madison.

This is honestly the easiest, simplest, and probably cheapest meal I ever make. Everyone digs on it, thank God. It's my fall back, to be honest. 

I'm talkin' goulash.

There's plenty of ways to make it. This is just a VERY basic recipe. You can add/remove whatever you want to make it your own. Corn is a vegetable a lot of people like to add to it. Me? I just keep it basic.

And cheap. SO beyond cheap.

But I always pair it with mashed potatoes. Sometimes cornbread, too..you know, when I'm feeling fancy.

I'm pork's and poultry's worst enemy.

It's no big secret. I love chicken. It's a family thing, I think. Me and my dad could eat chicken most, if not all, of the time. Don't even get me started on some turkey. Birds must hate us.

I definitely dig on some pig, too. Bacon is good times, but sliced ham? I love it. Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches? Yum. Yum all day long.

So, you know, you just HAVE to combine the two. And throw some cheese in there.

HOW MOUTH WATERING DOES THAT LOOK?!

Fail Turned Fantastic

I'm a lover of bread. All kinds, really. I attack the bread rolls at Texas Roadho, Logan's Steakhouse, everywhere. And yes, Texas Roadho. Drove past it once and the lights were out, so the -use was not lit up. The name sort of stuck.

So, while I'm a huge lover of bread, I completely suck at yeast using. Seriously, either I heat the liquid up too high, it's too cold, or the yeast is inactive EVERYTIME I use yeast. Eh. I take that back. It always seems to work right when I make pizza crust.

Anyway.

I'm trying to expand my horizons, so-to-speak, and I want to make bread. I want to make a lot of bread. I want to have a bread factory, with a bunch of loaves in the freezer for when I'm just in the mood for some.

I want assortments, too.

I have an awesome recipe for zucchini bread when I get a chance to make it. Same with banana bread. I want more. Tons and tons more. So, I attempted to make cinnamon swirl raisin bread. 

And the fail begins.

Rainy Day Baking

It's a pretty gloomy day in my parts. Raining on and off, dark..okay..light grey..clouds all over the sky, and a nice, cool breeze. Which, I love cool breezes. I love having the windows open and the smell of the rain just filling the house.

*sigh*

I'm on a pretty tight pantry right now, so I was pretty limited on making something, but it's a given. When it's a day like today, baking needs to occur. 

Unwritten rule? Yes. Very yes.

I wanted whoopie pies, so desperately bad (hollaaaa to the north!) but I had nothing close to what I needed to make them. But what I did find was the exact things I needed to make the easiest thing ever.

And these things are always in my kitchen. Helloooo baking safety net.

Yeah. Totally talking about some amazing, versatile peanut butter cookies.

Oh, and it helps that they only take 3 ingredients.

Are you ready for some FOOTBALLLLLLLLL?!

Sports in general, actually. And I'm talking REAL sports. CONTACT sports.

Specifically in this household, football and hockey.

Now, during the hockey season, Kyle and I can get along for the most part. I'm a Flyers fan. He's a Blues fan. However, football season is a different story. He's a Rams and Steelers fan. I'm a Patriots fan (BUT I can't freaking stand Tom Brady). The only thing we can really agree on is the food.

And a staple in that food is effing potato skins. 

I think it's an unwritten rule. You eat potato skins when you watch sports. That's just how it is. Which is why sports bars seem to have THE best potato skins around. But I had to try atleast. And I was pretty successful.

/drools. I love Football season.

I may not be a southerner, but I'm cooking like one.

Biscuits and gravy?! I never knew that was a breakfast until about 7th grade after going to Hardee's with a friend. I guess sometimes being from the north faults me, or maybe it's having an asian mom? I don't know. But I'm getting better at this south thing. I'm making tea (seriously, I never drank tea until coming to Missouri), I'm frying a lot more stuff, it's just a culture shock all over again.

But biscuits and gravy. That's something I love now.

And see this? That's bacon grease. I'm actually keeping extra bacon grease in a jar. Did you know people do that?! I didn't. Not until coming to the south.

Where's the beef?

Growing up, I ate a lot of roast beef sandwiches. They were usually what was for lunch.

Now that I'm older, I'm pretty much inlove with Arbys.

I love their beef and cheddar sandwiches, I loved the Big Montanas when they were around, I even worked there for a time. The discount was BOMB.

Luckily, I married a guy that shares the love of roast beef sandwiches. How did I get so blessed? 

I've been on the lookout for an easy way to make some french dip sandwiches, and I finally found one we all love, even Selena and Gabe. 

Potatoes Are The #1 Side

Atleast in my life, potatoes are the #1 spot for a sidedish. I could live on potatoes, I think. They're completely versatile, delicious, and just amazing. Especially when they're potato skins and it's the superbowl. Yum. Calories FTW!

So, since I end up making potatoes a lot, I try to find ways to change them up. Can't have them be monotonous all the time. Right?

Nom. Delicious. Especially paired with some bar-b-q chicken.

Food Fail #2

Breakfast for dinner.

HOW DO YOU SCREW THAT UP?!

Serious. Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner? That's what I made the other night. Some righteous breakfast. No lie, it was uh-may-zing.

I was originally going to make pancakes, but decided that biscuits and gravy (*ahem* BACON gravy) just sounded so much better. And me, being the pain in the ass that I am, I had to make the biscuits from scratch. 

Everything looks good here, right? I WISH that was the case. And I wish the flash was the only problem.

The muffin man? THE MUFFIN MAN!

I think the ease is one of the things that makes me love muffins so much. Lovelovelove. Like, more than a cupcake love.

And that's a lot of love, dude. A lot.

Today, Kyle and I were both craving some chocolate chip muffins, so ofcourse I HAD to make some. 

And the best part? You throw them in the microwave for 5 seconds in the morning and they taste like they're fresh outta the oven. Hellooooo easy breakfast.

Haha and the plate dish serving thing they're on WAS part of a centerpiece we had on the dining room table. Got REALLY sick of it, but the plate is glass and pretty. Came in pretty handy. ;)

Food Fail # 1

Not everything goes well when you cook. 

Actually, there's been a lot of times where I have fails back to back to back and it never seems to end. Those times? They usually end with my kitchen covered in food from me being frustrated. >.<

According to Kyle, my "fuck ups" are the best. Don't ask me why. This dude is SUPER weird sometimes. But because of this, he LOVES it when I try new stuff.

When I came across pictures of these lasagna cupcakes online, I knew that if they were executed right, they'd be a huge hit for dinner. "We're having cupcakes for dinner! w00t!" Right? 

HOMG SO WRONG.

Leftovers = Brownies

This isn't very typical, huh? When leftovers become brownies?

Well, I had some leftover unsweetened Baker's chocolate from when making my BIL's birthday cake. They screamed at me and I caved. Eh. My inner fat kid, who is named Philipé, caved. 

And, come on. Who DOESN'T love brownies?!

Recipe Free

This is the first time I've ever made, and used, fondant. Everything on the cake is 100% edible. w00t!

Happy 21st Birthday, Jonathan!

King me!

When I asked my brother-in-law what kind of cake he wanted, he was very blah about it. 

"CAKE! I don't care. I just love CAKE!"

>.<

I've personally been itching to try making another checkerboard cake. I've tried making them in the past without having to buy the special pan inserts, but they haven't come out looking the prettiest. So, I decided this would be the perfect time to try again.

The idea of the checkerboard cake is that when you cut a piece out of it, it will have a 3x3 checkerboard pattern on it. I'm doing it in chocolate and vanilla, and you can use food coloring to change the color scheme.

This will be a 3 layer cake, so using 3 cake pans of the same size would be easiest. Seeing as I only have one cake pan, I'll be washing the pan between bakes. That kinda sucks, but it's crazy what I'll do for family.

And so it begins again.

Fondant Hell

My brother-in-law is coming to Missouri from California for a visit, and his birthday falls on his vacation here. So what did I do?

Well I HAD to bake him a cake, ofcourse!

For this cake, though, I decided I wanted to go all out. I don't even do this for my kids. I love them to pieces, but I'm not sure this would ever be something I'd do again. Ever. 

I tried making fondant for the first time. Marshmallow fondant. It tastes delicious. But it's a HUGE pain in the ass. There was a lot of foul words thrown around in the kitchen that night. Kyle was getting a kick out of it all. You know, as he sat back playing his XBox 360. *eye roll*

Melty marshmallow goodness.

This is where the Hell begins.

"McDonalds or homemade?"

I've never made a pie.

Ever.

Ironic, huh? I cook and bake almost everything under the sun that I can, but I've never tried a pie.

SO, in order to pop my pie cherry (insert Warrant song joke here), I decided I had to go all out.

I had to make it completely from scratch. Pie crust and all.

And it had to be apple.

>.<

So, I sent Kyle out to get me the apples and I searched for a recipe. I like AllRecipes because of the variety of recipes, plus the 5 star rating system. It really helps me filter out what I want. But I'm going to repost the ingredients and such here, so you don't have to go all over the interwebz.

*I baked this in a casserole dish..because I don't have a pie dish. I don't suggest doing that.*

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

This recipe is a winner for three reasons.

1. It's chicken.

2. It's EASY.

3. It's CHEAP.

Cheyah, dude. Any recipe that meets those three requirements? Automatic win.

Chicken

Cream of mushroom soup. Easy? Uh, YEAH.

An asian..cooking...mexican?

For some reason, whenever we have someone over I'm obligated to make these. Not anything else, just my burritos. They're simple and quick, so I don't complain, but it kinda confuses me, to say the least.

Large tortillas FTW. Also make great baked nachos.

Mixmixmix.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit....

Everything tastes better with cheese.

Oh, those Southerners.

I've never heard of country fried steak until I moved to Missouri.

Serious.

I've never attempted to make it until I married Kyle. I found out it was one of his favorites, so ofcourse I had to attempt it.

I've tried making it a few times before this, but this is definitely the best of those times it came out.

I also used a different method of peeling/cooking the potatoes for the mashed potatoes.

You can find the method here. I found that boiling my potatoes for 30 minutes made them cooked perfect for mashing. :)

Waiting to be boiled.

Preparation at its finest, yo.

I'm still not good with frying. Like, at all. But I'm trying.

The aftermath of the potatoes.

It's like a pot pie..but not..

I don't know how else to describe it, really. But this is a definite GO! in this house. Kids love it, I love it, Kyle loves it, that's good enough for me.

Biscuits. How do you go wrong with biscuits?

I know. This looks like a hot mess. But it's soooo good.

Peanut Butter Cookie Time!

There's nothing like a grilled PB&J in your mouth. /drools. But when you don't have bread, like I am, you gotta make do with what you have. And what I have is an abundance of peanut butter, thanks to Kyle reading "jiffy mix" on my grocery list and taking it as JIF. >.<

He gets an A for effort, though.

Finished cookies!

You know, if my mixer was a man, I'd probably marry it.

Dry ingredients.

This batter? Delicious.

Side scraping.

Our KFC is gone. :(

Okay, to be honest, I'm not really upset that our KFC got taken away. I prefer Popeye's, and we have one of those in the next town over. I'm not broken up about losing one restaurant in our area, especially considering it was absolutely horrible and ridiculously expensive for very little food.

So I may not miss it, but Kyle loves (er..loved) their snack bowls. He just hated how small they were. So we took it upon myself (yes WE turned into ME) to make our own rendition of it. It's definitely a family favorite. The kids are always asking for seconds or thirds.

Homemade mashed potatoes FTW!

Popcorn chicken ready!

Everything's better with gravy, yo.

My favorite. Always. <3