A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

All-American Sloppy Joe Pockets

All-American Sloppy Joes, what a lot of us here in the states grew up on as a regular meal, basically also called a "loose meat sandwich" which sounds terrifying. It's not, really,To the uninitiated it's a dryer version of beef spaghetti sauce made to fit on a bun:  ground beef, Italian seasonings, and tomato paste. Taking it one step further, it feels like a treat to kids and Hubbies (who are really just big kids) as a fancified hand-held pocket sandiwch.

Great for a normal weekend dinner, a children's sleepover, children's parties or anytime you just want to do something a little extra special without making yourself crazy!

From scratch is always best but I will tell you that the Sandra Lee version is even easier if you're short on time and patience:  thawed bread dough from the supermarket, ground beef, cheese, and jarred Sloppy Joe or Manwich sauce.  Nobody will know the difference and you look like a hero!  But. Sometime do do the from scratch verion, you'll be glad you did and surprised at how easy it is. I promise.

This is my entry for World Bread Baking Day #57. Check the roundup to see all the great loaves of bread being baking in ovens both near and far from you.

 

Copycat: Better than Fig Newtons Fig Cookie Bars

 

We were craving something sweet this weekend, so rummaging through the pantry I found a jar of no-sugar-added fig jam from The Amish Country Store in Branson and said to myself "Self?  If I baked this wonderful jam over a shortbread crust, wouldn't that make for great home-made Fig Newtons?" 

It did!

The shortbread crust is a mix of cream cheese and butter, along with a mix of all-purpose flour and long cooking oatmeal.  The cream cheese and oatmeal make for a chewier crust, while the crumbled topping give a little extra crunch. Once the cream cheese and butter have softened, it's also a quick prep using only two bowls, one spatula, a mixer and a baking dish.

We tried to wait until they'd completely cooled but it was a lost cause. I can officially attest that they're yummy both still warm and cool and will store up to several days in covered container...if they last that long! 

Home-Made Buttermilk Herb (Ranch) Dressing

 I know that in some circles "ranch" dressing or dip is considered passe' but, to me, it ranks up there will all my favorite comfort foods like mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, chicken pot pie, and all the rest of the delicious, non-pretensious things that are so lovely and comforting to eat.  I do admit, though, that ranch dressing out a bottle from a grocer's shelf doesn't thrill me but making it home-made with fresh herbs is definitely the ticket! 

It's also much better for you.  Think about it.  Sure, it's a little more work to put the ingredients together but when you make it from scratch, including the mayo, you're talking about eating eggs, cold-pressed oil, buttermilk, dill, parsley, garlic, etc., all whole foods  not tons of chemicals and preservatives. That, and the fresh creamy herby taste make it worth every one of those 15 minute spent preparing it.

New Product Spotlight: Chicken of the Sea No Drain Tuna

Chicken of the Sea tuna, the standard my whole life for tuna sandwiches and tuna casseroles, has a new product: no drain.  I grew up on the oil-packed tuna, switched to the water-packed version as an adult to save calories, but am now an ardent fan of the no drain version.

I'll let you in on a little pet peeve of mine. You know how after chicken or tuna salad sits for a little while there's that sort of watery stuff in the bottom of the container that you have to mix back in.  As much as my intellectual mind knows it's just the extra liquid from the tuna and what-not forming that, nothing bad at all, but my emotional brain always thinks "Ewwww."  I know. It's a teeny tiny thing but it bugs me. 

The No Drain tuna takes care of that problem. Even after sitting in the fridge for two days, the tuna salad I made with it was still nicely homogenous in texture, hearty to the bite, and with no weeping. I also liked that the flavors (mayo, mustard, pickle relish)  I mixed in with it stayed very crisp and true, without getting watered down or needing extra spices to correct for the added mositure I don't always get completely drained out of the water or oil-packed tunas.

Chicken of the Sea No Drain Tuna--Definitely a thumbs up at our house!  Can't wait to use it in the tuna casserole and other recipes.

Recipe after the click.

Lucy Approved Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili Sour Cream Sauce

My cousin, Colleen. posted this collage to Facebook with the caption "Lucy approved!" so I had to blog them. The enchiladas look divine and Lucy's adorable enthusiasm about them say this recipe is definitely a winner!  I'm adding rotisserie chicken and tortillas to my grocery list for this week.

Simple preparation with complex flavor, this a great work night family recipe and could even be prepared the night before for more dinner hour ease the next night or even frozen for a later date.

Thanks for sharing with us, Colleen and Lucy!.

Jordan and Kisha's Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

 Sometimes Niece Jordan and Kisha like to play around in the kitchen, and when they do, they do what we all do. They cruise the internet for recipes until they find one that sounds good and they go for it.  This turned out to be a huge winner--FLOURLESS peanut butterr cookies with only four ingredients total. Doesn't get much more simple than that but bakes up to be a strong, complex peanut butter cookie that will stay in our recipe boxes forever.  Thanks for sharing this recipe, Jordan and Kisha!

Pepperoni & Provolone Crescent Rolls

Another kid-friendly recipe that my sister, Suzanne, served for lunch to the kids (toddler through seven) she babysits this summer.  They were easy to make, the kids helped, and they loved them.  I think one of the great things about simple recipes like this is that it gets kids in the kitchen, on their level, doing something they can gain confidence with and then when they love the taste, it gets them even more excited about cooking and trying more complicated things.  It's about building a foundation of skill and confidence.

For parents, it's quick, easy, and tasty, so that's ALWAYS a winning combination!

Kids Decorate Their Own Cake: Sydney's Butterfly Cake

One of my nieces' and nephew's favorite birthday cakes wasn't one that I decorated elaborately, but that I baked and put borders on, then let them decorate with candy pieces.  Sydney has always had a love affair with butterflies so for her 10th birthday I baked a simple butterfly-shaped cake (Wilton pan), piped purple borders and simple wing marking patterns, bought skittles, M & M's, gumballs, and sweet/sour candies and assigned each of them one quarter of the cake space. 

Look at those serious faces! They enjoyed it, as you can see in later pics, but they took the decorating seriously, carefully choosing their colors and gently placing the candies on the cake. 

Look at those adorable faces!

 I'm pretty sure Sydney LOVED her cake, aren't you? 

 

 

Sydney & Kaylee Birthday Party 2012: Pink Rice Krispy Cake with Buttercream Borders

In my family, as much as we love decorated cakes, we're not very big cake eaters.  At least, not me and my siblings. We grew up the children of a cake decorator so while all of our friends were jealous of the presence of cake and buttercream in our house all the time, we got sick of it!  We often laugh about what rotten kids we were to our Mom who would volunteer to make us any kind of outlandish birthday cakes we wanted but because we had so much cake around us every day we all requested things like my banana bread favorite, our brother Kenneth's angel food cake with no frosting, our dad and brother Carl's pie requests, and my sister Suzanne's Rice Krispy treat wish.  What whiners we were! "Pleeeeeease, Mom. Do not make us eat cake!" What kind of sick children were we?

While we were planning Sydney and Kaylee's birthday party last week Suzanne and I were talking about cake, or the lack of it being okay, and told stories to the nieces and nephew about our childhood brattiness and the fact that Suzanne's wedding cake just out of high school (1988) was made of Rice Krispy treats because she emphatically did not want cake at her wedding.  I see Rice Krispy cakes on Pinterest now all the time and people kind of verbally smack themselves in the head and comment "That's so cool! Why didn't I think of that?"  I'm proud that our Mom was 25 years ahead of her time, making my sister's whole wedding cake from Rice Krispy treats and everyone at the wedding loved it.  After that wedding Mom got tons of orders for rice krispy treat wedding cakes, birthday cakes, and anniversary cakes--she was a wedding cake pioneer in our little town in the Ozarks.

Smiling about all the stories we told, and already having planned to make Rice Krispy treats for the party, I decided to revive Mom's idea and go all the way with the girls' birthday and make it an unforgettable cake.

I'm pretty confidant the girls were pleased! 

Kaylee was really nuts about it!

Fun Kids' Food: Apple, Peanut Butter, & Marshmallow Smiles

I'm a little late to the Pinterest game, but once I checked it out I was immediately hooked. So many fantastic ideas!!!! 

I've, of course, been pinning ideas for myself but I've also been funneling crazy cute kid food ideas to my sister, Suzanne, on Facebook for her daycare kids. Her kids loved our first effort of hot dog spaghetti so much that we've got the family all looking for fun ideas for her to play with this summer with the kids and I'll be blogging the results.

This Smile idea is very simple but ingenious idea of "glueing" marshmallows between apple slices with peanut butter. The kids loved them and Suzanne loves that they're simple, fun, and healthy for the little guys and gals (and adults too). Auntie Miranda is thinking they'd be great for Halloween made with Granny Smith apples--GREEN lips--LOVE that idea too!  We'll be making up a platter of that version in a few months so stayed tuned.

Just a little "by the way": the apples Suzanne used are all deep red delicious, but the back few simply photographed darker. Wish there were black apples for Halloween, that would be fun too.