 As I sit here feeling "stuffed" like the very turkey I just ate, I'm not going to put much emphasis on a structured meal plan this week. Honestly, I am having a hard time coming up with a week of meals that I remotely feel like. Due in most part to the fact that I'm still reeling from my four day sugar high after embarrassingly eating my body weight in caramel popcorn (curse whoever gave me that nasty recipe). Our fridge is full of various leftovers, pies, desserts, cream this, cream that....
So to get back on track and clean out the ol' arteries, I thought I would throw together the following....subject to change based on momma's desires or lack thereof. Monday - Turkey soup from homemade stock Tuesday - leftover turkey casserole - I layered what was left and froze it. I think there is stuffing, gravy, a simple white sauce, carrots and potatoes. Wednesday - Grilled cheese and tomato soup - somewhat healthy? not really, but a start. Thursday - spaghetti and pumpkin rolls. Saying this recipe makes a large batch is an understatemen ...
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I have been frantically getting ready for tomorrow morning's gathering at our Mom's group. We are thanking our loyal nursery workers who selflessly give up their time to look after our children so we can take a break and socialize. We have a large potluck planned and my buffet pants are pressed and ready to wear. I have a particular dish that I bring for occasions like this. It's simple, easy, fast, frugal and best of all awesome (if I do say so myself) There is no actual recipe per say, it's a matter of personal preference in regards to thickness and how spicy or cheesy you like it. 
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 As a Canadian it's been well over a month since we celebrated Thanksgiving. With all of the sites talking turkey, I though I would share an older post from last year's feast. Seemed appropriate with all the leftovers that must be kicking around South of me. This is how I dealt with some leftovers: On Monday we sat down to our Griswald like turkey. Even though it was a little overcooked, we still managed to render ourselves immobile after consumption. I was curious to see how creative I could be with the remaining food and aimed for meals spanning the rest of the week. This is what was left: Turkey, plenty of mashed potatoes, turnip, 4 cups of cut up carrots, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Let the leftover games begin. Tuesday I started with some cut up turkey combined with gravy, carrots, a cup of milk, water, flour and spices to create a homemade cream sauce. I used this over some whole grain rice along with a loaf of homemade whole grain bread. So far so good. Wednesday I made use of the mountains of mashed potatoes by placing them in a casserole dish along with the rem ...
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I spent the weekend preparing and storing my meals for December after my monthly shopping spree. I now officially hate my kitchen. Hopefully all this hard work will pay off and I won't have to spend a great deal of time in it for the next 30 days. This is what I am planning to thaw, heat and serve this week. Monday - Seasoned chicken breasts and yellow rice. I managed to freeze three large portions for upcoming meals. Tuesday - leftovers or fend for yourself . My weekly horseback riding lesson and coffee with the girls has me out of the house until 10:00, so the boys eat whatever they can scrounge up or worst case scenario peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Mean mommy, aren't I? Wednesday - Corn chowder and rolls Thursday - Taco pie. I am not even sure this was an actual recipe. Basically, I use this when I have some extra ground beef and veggies. It's a shepherds pie of sorts with a homemade bisquick topping instead of mashed potatoes
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 I have been bookmarking some new and interesting recipes in anticipation of starting my holiday baking. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled on this site to find daily posts on various goodies to make this Holiday season. Today, My Organized Chaos hosted a cookie swap where others share their prize winning goodies for the rest of us to drool over and add to our ever growing list.
I knew immediately which recipe I had to share. After getting this one from my best friend three years ago, it is now one of the most requested treats this time of year. Stef told me about these peppermint patties and judging by my ever expanding posterior, I wish she hadn't. They are a little time consuming to coat in chocolate but the mint itself is easy. Here's the recipe: 1 package icing sugar (the original recipe never specified the exact size but I am assuming the smaller one. To be honest I never measure, I just go by consistency)
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 I remember back to when I was 9 and I received the opportunity to attend summer camp held at a historic site called King's Landing . This was a living museum of sorts where tourists walked through a 19th century village complete with families portrayed by yours truly.and from around the world. This was a summer camp that gave participants a chance to live the authentic lifestyle complete with parents and siblings with days filled with chores (shovelling poo and milking cows), class in a one room schoolhouse and activities that were conducted by people of that era. One thing I remember in particular was the chore of making butter. Every couple of days we were responsible for beating on this wooden stick in a barrel until one of two things happened:
A. Our arm fell off or.... B: the cream turned into butter. Since we were told to switch arms should the former happen the only alternative was for B to hopefully take place before you had to resort to your feet (option C by the way). I swore from that day on there was no way I was ever going to do that much work for such little reward. Fast f ...
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 Ok, it has taken a full week to get back into the swing of things. Being away at conference and having all of my meals, not only prepared but served, makes it a tab bit difficult to resume my duties in the kitchen. Last week my poor family had a couple of home cooked meals but for the most part took care of themselves.
So I am officially back to reality and since it is kind of crucial the kids get fed, I decided to get back to my old cooking routine. To my poor deprived family (can you hear my sympathy oozing out of this sentence?) no more boxed mac and cheese or spaghetti reruns for you! Monday - Beef stew in crockpot served with quick breadsticks Tuesday - Tuna buns with tomato pasta. I love this meal because I simply add my canned crushed tomatoes to organic whole grain pasta and sprinkle a little parmesan cheese. Easy, healthy and cheap. Wedn ...
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 Although they look cool and would be great at a Halloween party, they were hard to eat. Not because they were gross. On the contrary, they were quite tasty. With pure butter and sugar, how could they not be? The dough cracked perfectly mimicking the wrinkles of real fingers and aside from being the fattest fingers on earth, they were very real looking. Next year I am going to make them smaller so that when they bake and puff up they don't balloon to unrealistic proportions.
This was an easy and foolproof recipe. I also froze half and later rolled it out with the same consistent results. No fail sugar cookies For the red nail base, I used red gel scribblers and placed a slivered almond on top. Had they been normal sized digits the almond would have been the perfect, could even have gotten fancy and placed some decals on them for some stylin fingers. These are my new stand by for a frugal Halloween party favour or to whip up a batch to bring to your child's school costume party Read More »
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I am very excited to be attending the Professional Organizers of Canada conference being held in Toronto, Ontario. This is my first year and I cannot wait to participate in the many classes that are offered daily. More importantly, I am excited to not only meet Laura from I'm an Organizing Junkie but to attend her breakout session on blogging. For the week prior to leaving, I will be serving the following: Monday - homemade mac and cheese with skillet corn Tuesday - taco soup. This is one of our new favourite easy, quick meals. Wednesday - one of the two frozen lasagnas I have stashed away Thursday
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 I don't think it's possible to make this dish healthy, but I am giving it my college try
I initially tried this addicting dish around Christmas several years back and besides the memory of the worlds worst belly ache and sugar high, I vividly recall not being able to stop stuffing my pie hole. Logic tells you to stop but for some reason you find your hand reaching up to your face filled to the brim with the stuff. Logic doesn't apply when it comes to certain junk food. What was this evil, yet addicting, stuff? Puppy chow. So simple. Melt chocolate chips, don't bother with the measuring cup, simply use what is left in the package after ingesting some upon opening package. Add this to some peanut butter and coat dry cereal such as Chex or Crispix. Once cooled in the fridge, generously cover with thin layer of icing sugar. My blood sugars are out of whack typing this. No doubt tasty and addicting not something you would want lying around your house calling out to you while sitting on the couch while trying to figure out Hero's. Read More »
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