Complaining for a minute

So, I just saw a tutorial on Pinterest that was the same exact tutorial I've seen on Pinterest by another person.  Funny thing is,  both people claim to have come up with it themselves.   Amazing!  Same exact pictures, but different colors!  It's crazy that two people could come up with the same exact thing AND instructions! 

Whatever.  One of them is totally copying the other, I'm pretty sure which one... 

This is one of my pet peeves.  If I'm copying an idea, I like to give credit where credit is due. 

When I search for copy cat recipes you would not believe how often I come across the EXACT SAME recipe, and each person claimed to have come up with it on their own.  Once again, whatever.  People are so lame. 

Lack of integrity really bugs me. 

That's it. 

30th Birthday Party

I wanted to do something big for my friend's thirtieth birthday party.  But, we were also traveling quite a few hours away to surprise her with it.  So, I coordinated with some of her friends to have 30 flavors of cupcakes for her thirtieth party! 

Unfortunatley, the battery on my camera died after the third picture... I was so sad, I didn't get any close up pictures, or pictures of people!!!! 

I found some super cute vintage-y looking paper and made her banner.

The thirty flavors of cupcakes.  I used the same paper to make the numbers of the flavors, and cute label cards. 

I shrunk down one of the digital papers and copied it - It says Make a Wish - How awesome is that?  So people could leave wishes for her. 

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

This recipe is neither a Pinterest Fail or a Pinterest Love.  It was good, but I'll most likely never make it again, because I like my own white chicken lasagna recipe better.  I cut out the carrots and the celery because that just sounded weird. 

I doubled the recipe to have enough for my whole family plus leftovers.  I also cut back on the hot sauce just a tad so my kids would eat it, but then John said he thought it needed more hot sauce. 

You can find the recipe HERE.

Fear Factor Halloween Party Games

I can post a Halloween party in May, right?   :)

I did a fear factor game for a Halloween party. 

This was the Dart Board of Death:  The person had to throw the dart, and whatever number they landed on, that is how many gross items they had to try.  (Any double digit number, they had to do the higher number.)

The items they had to choose from:

The next game -

The Penny Panic:  I had a bunch of pennies in the bottom of this jar.  On top of the pennies I had earth worms.  The person drew a number and that was the number of pennies they had to retrieve. 

The Jar of Fear:  The names of all the items to try were in this jar, they had to draw one and whatever they drew they had to try. 

Name that thing:  I didn't have time to decorate my boxes...  But there were items in the boxes, they stuck their hand through a hole on the side, and felt it's contents, and then had to choose what it was;
Goblin Guts (cooked spaghetti noodles), Dracula's eyes (peeled grapes), Tin Man's Heart (peeled tomato), Witch's finger nail clippings (toasted coconut)

Raised Garden Bed DIY

Last year, I had had enough of our horrible soil and decided to make some raised garden beds. I'm not really sure why I decided not to do wood, but I went with these edgers instead. 

My husband has worked for landscapers twice in his life, but this was all my project (actually, like most outdoor projects...)

I started building it, and then John came out and said I was doing it wrong, and took over. (No problem here, then I could take pictures...)

We dug a rectangle just a little bit in the ground and laid out our first layer of edgers.

John hammered on top of a piece of wood to make sure the edgers were in good, and to help make them level. 

After adding each new edger, we used a level to make sure it was even with the one before

We made sure it was straight all the way down.

We then used liquid nails to add the next layer of edgers to make it two tall.

Three mistakes I made:

1.  I wasn't patient, and didn't wait for the liquid nails to dry before filling it with soil, so it put pressure on some of the seams causing them to dry a little crooked...

2.  We didn't mulch around it that day like we should have, so we got rain and the clay stained our edgers.  The mulch could have prevented that.

3.  I glued one edger upside down, and the bottom doesn't have a nice finish like the top, oh well...

This was the beginiing of the garden last year.  Cilantro that I transplanted from the old garden, and you can see my green onions that did great from me planting a rotten onion out of my pantry. 

Last year, was the first year that our garden was awesome!  It's all about the soil, and ours stunk before the raised beds!! 

If we can do it, you can too...  So fun!!

Orange Chicken

This was a good recipe!  It is a little more time consuming, but the flavors and textures were great!  The chicken without the sauce makes good nuggets for the kids... I decided that I don't necessarily love orange chicken, but I'm going to try this recipe using lemons instead of oranges.  John really liked this though!

Orange Chicken Recipe 
from HERE

Chicken

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-1/2” cubes
• 1 ½ cups corn starch
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs (I had to use a lot more than this)
• 2 eggs, beaten (I ended up using more eggs than this too...)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• Oil (for frying) (I used Peanut)

Orange Sauce

• 1 ½ cups water
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon orange zest, grated
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ginger root, minced
• ½ teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons green onion, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water

1.  Prepare a bowl with beaten eggs, another with panko bread crumbs and another with corn starch, salt and pepper combined.

2.  In a large saucepan combine 1 ½ cups water, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil.

Combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens.  Reduce heat to low. 

3.  Put desired amount of rice in rice cooker. 

4.  Cut up chicken.  Dip chicken in egg mixture, dredge in cornstarch, then again in the eggs and finally in the panko bread crumbs, set aside. Heat pan with vegetable oil to 375 degrees, fry chicken in batches until completely cooked.

5.  Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and if desired garnish with green onions.  Serve over rice.

6.  Enjoy!

Raw, coated chicken

After it was cooked.  It took a bit to figure out the oil temp, I did burn the first few... 

Strawberry Jam

It's that time of year again!!! Yay for strawberries!

Our freezer jam supply didn't quite make us through the whole year last year, so this time I made more, and I think we'll be okay... 

I picked about 12 pounds of strawberries (the farm I pick at, the people are so nice, they always round down), and made freezer jam out of all of it (minus what the kids and I snacked on...)

The first batch where I was lazy and just smashed the berries with a potato masher

John helped do the second batch where he put the berries in the Magic Bullet, we like smooth jam the best.

Freezer jam is so easy.  If you've never made it, don't be afraid.  It's this simple:

Buy instant pectin and follow the directions on the box, packet, or bottle!  If you want a lower sugar jam, make sure you buy the lower sugar pectin.  If you just add less sugar to the regular recipe, it won't turn out.  My mom tried to do that ages ago and learned her lesson.  That applies to all jam recipes. 

Honestly, I really don't eat it very much, but my kids LOVE it! 

Pinterest Tuesday

I think I've decided to dedicate Tuesdays to Pinterest fails. I love pinterest, but this month it seems I've made a lot of  just 'so so' recipes...

Baked Spaghetti:  This was an okay recipe, but I'll never make it again.  People we had for dinner liked it and had seconds, and the french fried onions on top were an interesting addition, but I would rather use my regular recipe which I just throw together...

Paradise Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies:  So... I've tried a few chocolate chip cookies on Pinterest because they look so awesome, but have yet to find a good recipe there.  After the first batch of these baked, I thought maybe there could be an altitude difference in the recipe, so I reduced the temperature to 350, and that helped, but they still looked like this:

Parmesan Pull Aparts:  These actually tasted good, but I think I used the Grand's biscuits, which were too big, I should have used the smaller ones because the tops were almost burnt, and when I flipped them out the bottom wasn't done cooking, so we had to throw it in the microwave for a few minutes... but I'll try these again, and maybe try them with my roll recipe.

Chicken Pasta Salad

When we lived in Maryland, one of my friends made this for a girls night out, and  I've been making it ever since.  You can add or subtract what you like!  It's a great summer meal!

Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe

Cooked Chicken breast diced

Mini Bow tie pasta (I only had the big kind to use when I made the above)

Grapes cut in half

Celery diced

Onion minced

Pineapple (you can totally leave this out, sometimes I use it sometimes I don't)

Cole Slaw Dressing to your liking

Mix it all together and enjoy!!

This was my first introduction into cole slaw dressing!  Marzetti makes the best kind!  (bottom left in picture)

The above dressings you find in the cold produce section.  They have a non refrigerated kind as well, but the one above is better, and it's all natural - can't beat that!

I'm going to give away one of my secret ingredients right now...  I used to make my own sauce for cole slaw, potato salad, and chicken salad (I still do occasionally), but this cole slaw dressing makes it fabulous as well!!  Use it for any of the recipes above!!  Everyone has loved it when I use it!!!  So easy, and so yummy!!  It's the perfect summer sauce!

Pinterest Fail

So, one night, I made THIS for dinner. I found it on Pinterest.

I knew it was going to take some time to make....  You stand these up in a springform pan:

And, I was so excited when I took the edge off my pan, and it looked like this:

However, when I cut into this pasta pie, everything came crashing down...  This is what it looked like after I scraped it all into the first pan I could find. 

I realized I skipped a step of sprinkling the noodles with parmesan cheese -  maybe they helped glue the noodles together?  I also didn't take the time to stuff each noodle with the meat sauce... as adorable as this looks, who has that kind of time in their life?  Also, the recipe for the sauce was tomatoes and meat, so I had to doctor the sauce up a bit too.  It actually tasted really yummy with my doctored sauce. 

But, other than the doctored taste, this recipe was a fail.

Peanut Butter - Nutella chocolate chip cookies

Delish!!!!

These are great!  I found the recipe on Pinterest, you can see it HERE. 

I had scooped them on a cookie sheet and then decided to put some semi-sweet chocolate chips on them.  So, I had some with and without the chips, and we liked the ones with chips better!!

These are supposed to be swirled, but I mixed it too much, so it doesn't look very swirly...

Peanut Butter - Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Approx. 1/4 cup Nutella

Semi sweet chocolate chips to your liking

1.  Combine butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix until well blended.

2.  Add flour, baking soda and salt. Drizzle Nutella on top of the dough then swirl it through the dough with a butter knife.

3.  The original recipe says to chill dough - I didn't and just used a cookie scooper to scoop them out. 

4.  Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes until lightly browned.  I noticed that these can easily be over baked... so be aware. 

5.  Allow to rest 2 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.



Pinterest Dinners

So, if you use Pinterest, I'm sure you've had the same experience as me, some recipes are hits, some are fails, and some are just okay.  Here are a few of my okays.  The vegetarian chili is the best of these recipes.  You might love them, it seemed like other people did, hence why I tried them.

Chicken Enchilada Soup:

I'm not a huge fan of red enchilada sauce, but I thought I would try this soup anyway.  It was good.  John liked it, but I don't think I'll make it again just because there are a thousand other recipes out there I like better.  You can find the recipe HERE. 

Monterey Chicken:

 

This was also good, but not fantastic... I changed it to be cooked in the crockpot, because I was short on time.  I put frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot (meaning I did not flatten them) and cooked them with garlic powder, minced onion, and BBQ sauce.  Once cooked, I added the cheese, Ro-tel, and bacon pieces.  Once again, probably will never make again, but HERE is the recipe if you'd like to try it. 

 

Vegetarian Quinoa Chili:

This was also good, and a great meatless version of chili.  For real, my husband didn't know there wasn't meat in it until I told him...  It is very hearty.  My uncle, who was visiting, said it should have another can of kidney beans too.  I found this recipe HERE, and was surprised when I clicked on the link and it took me to a blog of someone I knew ten years ago!!  My first job out of college was with the American Cancer Society, and Maria was one of our (best) interns.  I loved working with her, and she is seriously the sweetest person ever.  I don't know if this is going to go in my regular dinner rotation, who am I kidding, I don't have a regular dinner rotation -   I just like my chili recipes enough to not sub in a meatless version.  But, it is really good if you are looking for vegetarian dishes!!  

Three Packet Pot Roast

I found this recipe on Pinterest.  The link to it is HERE. 

It smelled really great while cooking.  The flavor of the sauce was super yummy.  I overcooked my pot roast a little though, because I forgot to check on it...  I later saw my uncle go dip his rolls in the leftover juices that the roast cooked in, so he must have thought it was pretty yummy too.  Super simple!

Three Packet Pot Roast Recipe

Brown Gravy Packet (I always buy the lower sodium ones)

Zesty Italian Dressing Packet

Ranch Dressing Packet

1-2 lb beef roast

1/2 c. water

Mix packets together rub over and pour over roast.  Add water.  Cook in crock pot.  About 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low - depending on your crock pot. 

Enjoy!



Yummy Baked Potatoes

These were simply delightful.  I didn't take a picture of the prettiest ones though...  They are so pretty!  Great side to have instead of a regular baked potato!

Baked Potato Fans

Recipe from HERE

6 Medium Size Potatoes
2 - 3 Cloves Garlic, thinly sliced 
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Butter

Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper


Preheat the oven to 425˚ Put the potato on a chopping board, flat side down. (A tip from the blogger who posted this recipe:  Put the potato on the spoon part of a wooden spoon to cut your potato to help you not cut through the potato.)  Start from one end of the potato, cut almost all the way through, at about 3 to 4 mm intervals.

Arrange the potatoes in a baking tray and insert the garlic in between the slits. (I used garlic powder, I had planned on mincing my garlic and mixing it with the butter, but got lazy.  That's what I'll do next time.)  Use a pastry brush and brush some butter on top of each potato. Then drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Bake the potatoes for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes turn crispy and the flesh is soft



March Menu

My last post on menu planning I didn't tell you how I plan my side dishes.  I plan my meals a month at a time, but I don't plan my sides.  Basically, I plan my sides as to what is on sale that week at the grocery stores.  If broccoli is on sale, that is going to be our side, etc. etc. Same with fruit. I try to make my sides be fresh foods, and buy accordingly as to what is on sale.  I indicate new recipes below with an asterick. 

My March Dinner Menu

Spaghetti and *Meatballs
Brown beans/Cornbread
*Grilled Chicken with white BBQ sauce (gross)
*Veggie Macaroni and Cheese (just alright...)
*Black Bean Soup
Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
Smoked Sausage Hoagies
*Stuffed Chicken Marsala
*Spicy Sausage Pepper Rotini
Shepard's Pie
*Mini Corn Dogs (gross)
Chili
Fish Sticks
BBQ Chicken Salad
Chicken Lasagna
*Polynesian Pork

Nutella No Bake Cookies

Dear Friends, I am about to change your life... 

Okay, maybe just change your No Bake Cookie recipe, but that's close, right?

I tried to make some Nutella No Bake Cookies one night when someone suggested it, and I used the same recipe as my no bake cookie recipe, but swapped Nutella for peanut butter.  Oh my goodness, they were too sweet and too Nutella - y.  (yes, there is such a thing) 

I came up with my own recipe experimenting from the other one...  Oh. My. Word.  They are sooooo good!!!  Creamy and oh so yummy!  I may never make the normal kind again...  Just trust me on this one.  

Nutella No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. milk

1 stick of unsalted butter

2 T. cocoa

1/2 tsp. salt.

Mix together above ingredients in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook boiling for 2 minutes ( If you over cook it, your cookie will be dry, if you undercook it, your cookie will not harden).  Remove from heat and add:

2 1/2 cups of Quick Oatmeal (I start with 2 1/2, I rarely add 3, somewhere in the middle.  Once I accidentally used not instant and it was fine too, just crunchier, but I definitely didn't use as much!)

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1/2 cup Nutella

1 tsp of vanilla

Mix well and drop by spoonful on wax paper, let cool.  (Though, not really necessary because of the butter in them they lift right off a cookie sheet.)

If you live in a dry climate, you need to store these in an airtight container as soon as they cool to make them stay moist longer. 

Remember - for this cookie it is all about the boiling time, it will make or break your cookie.  Quite literally...

I dare you to eat just one...

Enjoy! 

Chicken and White Bean Stuffed Peppers

These were super tasty, and pretty healthy!  My two year old even loved the filling for these peppers!  They smelled fabulous when I took them out of the oven.  I changed only a few slight things to the recipe.  I've always done stuffed peppers where they stand up and you fill them that way, I kinda like these filled this way instead better...  They are delish!!! 

I think you could do these vegetarian if you subbed quinoa for the chicken, and water or vegetable broth for the chicken broth.  You could also use tofu instead of chicken, but ick...  :)

Chicken and White Bean Stuffed Peppers Recipe
adapted from HERE

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion minced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 half red bell pepper (I used roasted from a jar)
• 1/4 cup parsley
• 5 bell peppers (red or green) (I only used 4 peppers and still had one half left over)
• 14 oz shredded cooked chicken breast (I used about one large chicken breast)
• cumin to taste (I think I used 1/2 - 1 tsp.)
• salt to taste
• 15.5 oz can white beans
• 1 1/3 c. chicken broth (DIVIDED)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar

I used a whole chicken that I cooked in the crock pot.  I also used the broth from that in this recipe as well.  Shred or dice the amount of chicken you want to use. 

In a medium pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add onions, garlic, parsley and red pepper. Saute until soft, about a minute. Add chicken and season with cumin and salt. Add beans and 1 cup of chicken broth and simmer for about 5-10 minutes, until it thickens and the liquid reduces. Adjust spices to taste.

Cut peppers in half from top to bottom, removing seeds and stem (I left stem just because it looked pretty). 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Pour about 1/3 cup of chicken broth into the bottom of your oven-proof baking dish.  Fill each pepper with chicken and bean mixture. Place peppers in dish. Cover tight with foil. Bake 30 minutes at 350°. Remove foil, top with cheese and bake uncovered another 5 minutes. (I actually cooked them with cheese on them, and took the foil off the last 5 minutes)

Enjoy!

Before the cheese is added

Refashion Friday - Seer Sucker Bow Ties

I usually buy my kids new Easter outfits every year - it's a tradition!

But, this year, I wanted to save some money, so I thought I would just make Trevan and Jonah matching bow ties.

I used an old maternity seer sucker dress of mine that has been in my refashion pile for a while...


BEFORE:

AFTER:

We were at my brothers for Easter, so I made one for my nephew too! 

 

I have bow ties in my store for sale (link on the side), or if you are interested in a seer sucker one, just let me know. 

Polynesian Pork Tenderloin with Orange Curry Sauce and Coconut Rice

How's that for a recipe title????

This is absolutely de.light.ful!!  A nice treat for your tastebuds!!!  Seriously.  I'll definitely be making this again!

I cut this out ages and ages ago, but I didn't cut out the complete recipe for some reason...  So, I had to do some researching, but never found the full recipe, and even the half recipe I found was a bit confusing.  So, here is my non confusing version. 

Polynesian Pork Tenderloin with Orange-Curry Sauce and Coconut Rice Recipe:


2 - 3/4 lb pork tenderloins, trimmed

Marinade
1 c. pineapple juice
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1 T. fresh ginger finely grated
1 T. red curry paste

Sauce
3 Oranges
1 T. minced fresh garlic
1 bunch green onions (only the whites and pale green parts at the bottom) minced
1 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. bottled roasted red bell peppers, chopped
1 T. fresh ginger finely grated
1 T. red curry paste
1/4 c. chive and onion cream cheese

Coconut Rice
2 c. uncooked basmati rice
1 can of cocnut milk + 1/2 c. water
1 tsp. orange zest


1.  Mix marinade and put into a ziplock bag, add pork tenderloins marinate at least 3 hours.

2.  Remove pork from marinade and place in baking pan.  Pour just a bit of the marinade over the pork, and then discard remaining marinade.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until done.

3.  Grate oranges to equal 2 tsp. grated rind.  Set aside.  Squeeze juice from oranges to equal 1 cup.

4.  In a small saucepan add a drop of olive oil or butter, add the garlic and onions and saute for 2 minutes.

5.  Add the ginger, peppers, broth, ginger, curry paste, and orange juice, 1 tsp. zest.

6.  Bring to a boil and cook for about 12 minutes or until mixture is reduced by half.  Cool.

7.  Process sauce in food processor or blender.  Return sauce to pan over low heat whisk in cream cheese until melted. 

8.  Add coconut rice ingredients to rice cooker and cook until done.

9.  Slice the pork, serve over rice, top with curry sauce.  Garnish with cilantro if desired.

10. Enjoy!!

Post Script - Copy Cat Chicken Gnocchi Soup

So, I had some chicken gnocchi soup from Olive Garden today, and I had to go make some changes to the recipe that I posted HERE.  Mostly, it doesn't have thyme in it, which is what I didn't like about the copy cat recipe anyway.  The copy cat recipe is actually better...  :)  after you take out the thyme.

My First CCC Post

I had no idea when I blogged the following on my other blog that I would start another blog with those three words...  Too funny.

From October 2, 2009:

Creating, Cooking, and Consuming FOOD!

 

So,last Friday I cleaned my kitchen (trust me it's a big deal, and of course you couldn't tell by the next day), and then I went to the grocery store and all of a sudden I had the urge to make a yummy meal. (My sister and her husband, and my dad were coming, but I was just going to do something simple because I was tired) While I was in the grocery store though, I decided I needed to cook, and I love cooking when my kitchen is clean, and that really does energize me. So, I tried these out for the first time... My yummy salad served in a pear.

I also made my own recipe for chicken cor don bleu, but forgot to take a picture until I almost finished mine. I pride myself on rolling it tight enough not to have to use toothpicks.

I also tried a new baked apple with candy bar dessert, which was all right, but I'll probably never make it again. It wasn't knock your socks off good enough, you know? I was also craving sweet potatoes and made some of those too, before I realized we didn't need to starches with dinner (rice and potatoes), oh well, I enjoyed it, starch and all.

So, on Wednesday of this week, I had no appointments, meetings, orders to fill, or anything. I even moved the couch to block off the kitchen from Mallary to help reduce Mallary induced stress. I was so excited!!! I decided I was going to do some cooking!!!!
I asked John a while ago to tell me what his favorite meals that I cook are. He gave me a few, and then said, "It's hard, because you make something good, and then don't make it again for two years." It's true. I like trying new recipes. For example this casserole, I haven't made since I lived in Utah, but I passed by the pumpkins in the grocery store and couldn't resist. So, I made this on Wednesday. A casserole baked in a pumpkin. Mallary ate most of it, she loves any casserole. You would think it would be weird to scrape the edge of the pumpkin to eat with beef and rice, but it's so good.

I've been wanting to make rolls for a while, and then found this recipe I had never tried in my collection. It turned out so yummy. That's all Trevan has wanted to eat since Wednesday for every meal. Home made bread is bad for me. I've already had four pieces of toast toasted in the oven with butter (the best way to make toast, and the only way I like toast, actually) today (and it's 11 am).


It was a white and wheat molasses swirl bread. (with my grandparents home made molasses)


Mmmm....

Okay, so yesterday I made chicken salad for dinner. For any dish I make where the chicken will be cut up or shred, I make my chicken in the crock pot. If you are still boiling your chicken, stop it! This is so much yummier, and you don't get the dry, chewy pieces of chicken. Yuck. You just put the chicken in the crock pot (cut the skin off with kitchen shears or not - the skin basically comes off anyway, depends on healthy you want to cook it) I don't even put any liquid in the crock pot, it just steams itself and creates all that yummy broth.

So easy. 4 hours in the crock pot, you know it's done when the little hole comes in the top (the breast bone breaking through, I guess), and when the legs fall away from the body and can be removed by barely touching them. Seriously, so moist and tender. I could eat the whole thing myself. Seriously.

So we had a summery dinner last night (the best chicken salad I've made in a while, I personally think) followed by a fall dessert.

I told you I was on a pumpkin kick. This was a baked custard. I had some leftovers that wouldn't fit in the pumpkin and I put them in ramekins and they made some very yummy souffles, but the custard inside the pumpkin turned out very differently.

Once you got past the top layer that was touching the top of the pumpkin it was a very smooth, creamy, flavorful flan-like dessert.

It doesn't look very yummy, but it was. You were supposed to serve it with pieces of pumpkin with it. Look how perfect the consistency was in the lower right hand corner? So good. I ate two souffles, I offered to eat Johns (he declined), and then I had two servings from the pumpkin. It was actually the first time I remember John ever commenting on me eating a lot. I think it was because he was being nice and being the one to get up and get me my second and third servings...

I love cooking, it is such a stress reliever for me (it also helps that John does the dishes), and I love seeing what I can create with my two little hands. Yay for food!!! Hope you eat some yummy food this weekend!

I'm going to go have some more custard...