New Years Resolution

I'm a little late on this but who cares really? I am READY for 2011. It's going to be a big year for my little family. I am one excited lady.

And when it comes to resolutions in general I'm a fan.

If you think about resolutions more as goals and actually take then seriously they can be broken down into smaller steps.

So, when I was joking around I thought "I am going to have a baby and survive the first year." But really this is a good, realistic goal for me.

Broken down this encompasses ALOT and so this is my plan.

1. Mr. C and I have to change our spending to be able for me to stay home for 3 months without pay with our new friend and then afford daycare and all the other joys having a new person. Actually, we have been working on this for a while. (actually Mr. C has more than myself). We've found ways to cut back on bills, refinance our house, retweek our budget. But we're not there yet for me to accomplish this I need to do better with my spending. Mr. C says groupon is going to be the death of him so I need to cut back on my groupon purchases. Continue to coupon at the grocery store AND make sure to use the foods that I get instead of them just hanging out in our cabinets forever. And finally this was a resolution last year. I did better with it but still struggled. I need to turn my library books in on time so I don't have to pay fines!

2. Neither of us are OCD about house cleaning. I wish we were but we are messy. That's going to need to change for a new person to come. Clean out the baby's room. Declutter our house in general. If we would organize some more it would probably help with the "surviving the first year" part.

3. We've already started this Thursday but it's still a resolution. Educate ourselves about having a baby. I have accumulated quite a few books/magazines about becoming a parent I'ld like to try to read. Also, We started classes through the hospital on labor and parenting a newborn. We need to continue with those.

4. Finally, I would like to start running again as soon as my friend is here. I had some trouble and quit at the beginning of my pregnancy. Consequentially I've gain WAY too much weight during my pregnancy and some day I yearn to run (but I doubt I could now). The Nashville Women's Half Marathon is Sept. 24 and I am loosely shooting for it to be my return to running. I'm not honestly sure how obtainable this is but I'm going to try.

I say this to you all to keep me accountable. I think it's easy to make a resolution but harder to follow through on it. Thanks for reading. Do you have any resolutions you really want do accomplish?

Pancakes and Syrup

Hi, I have discovered this and decided it's worth sharing.

This morning I really wanted pancakes but we had no pancake mix or syrup in the house.

Well, I know you can make pancakes from muffin mix. So, I made blueberry pancakes.

You may be saying "Yes, Bridget everybody knows that."

(In case you do not know this. I used this recipe but added lots more water. I couldn't tell you how much. Add is small amounts until it's thin but not thin as water.)

Ok, ok but did you know that you can make pancake syrup from jelly?

Yup, if you are like us we seem to have lots of jelly even though I don't buy it and we don't eat it.

So, I found this recipe where Sandra Lee made grape pancake syrup from jelly. Now, I don't really want to eat grape pancake syrup on blueberry pancakes but I do like the idea of strawberry syrup on blueberry pancakes.

I made strawberry syrup. I followed Sandra's recipe but added a lot more water.

I have to warn you that my syrup was VERY thick. Very tasty and in my opinion worth it but very thick. It wasn't jelly consistency but it was thick like real maple syrup is thick. I have two thoughts on this. 1. I only left it on the stove for 5 min because I was hungry and the pancakes were already done. So, extending the time on the stove may help. I honestly don't know. 2. I used earth fare jelly. Earth fare jelly is very thick because it has no high fructose corn syrup. So, you used smuckers or something more traditional I suspect it'll work better.

Crockpot Veggie Stew

So, I said we'ld be talking about holiday food but you can't only eat cookies. We'ld all like to but I don't think it would fly. So, here is a healthy, easy recipe that can accompany your fudge that you'll still feel good about yourself the next day.  With the crockpot during the holiday season it'll free you up to do all of your baking and still eat semi healthy.

1 TBSP minced garlic
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 onion
1 can of diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted but I bet you can use any kind).
2 cans of water
2 chik'n bullion cubes
1 can beans drained (I used pinto but bet any kind would work).
1/2 cup dried brown lentils
3 new potatoes
2-3 carrots
1 bell peppers
2 stalks of celery
1 can of peas
2 cups of rice

Chop all veggies in bite size pieces

Put all ingredients EXCEPT rice in crockpot.

Stir together.

Set on low for 6 1/2 hours.

When timer is done add 30 more minutes and add rice. If you add the rice too early it'll dissolve and be disgusting to eat.

When it's done enjoy!

*This recipe is 100% Mr. C approved who remember is not a veghead. So, it's approved by herbivores and omnivores alike!

Classic Cheeseball

This is my cheeseball. I made it on Thanskgiving and didn't get a chance to take a picture before some people got a hold of it. It's not usually in our Thanksgiving celebrations but my uncle used to make one for Christmas every year and I was really missing it. Sadly this is not his recipe but mine but it's still good.

1 1/2 packages of 8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
1 package of lipton onion soup mix
2-3 TBSP of Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP of minced garlic
2 green onions chopped
1 bag of finely shredded Mexican cheese blend
2 tsp  of paprika
salt to taste

chopped nuts (I used flavor groove cashews but i think pecans are more common)

In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, 1/2 of Mexican cheese blend, green onions, Worcestershire sauce, Lipton onion soup mix, paprika, onion, and garlic.

*I did this with my immersion blender and it worked wonderfully. I think an electric mixer would work too but it would just take more time and effort.

If its too thick try adding small amounts of milk to make it easier to work with. I added milk but I'm not sure how much. It did work well.

If it's too bland add salt or more paprika but beware the soup mix will add lots of flavor while it's setting up.

Once it's at the right consistency mix the rest of the cheese in. I added it separately because my immersion blender dissipated the first half of the cheese. If you are using a hand mixer this step may be unneccesary and you can add all the cheese in the beginning.

Next chop your nuts. If you have a food processor or a mini chopper put them in for a couple of seconds.

Put nuts on a baking pan and roll your cheese ball in them until fully coated.

Wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and let set overnight.

Serve with crackers and veggies! Enjoy.

Happy December!

It's not christmas yet so I'm going to tell you Merry Christmas as it's not quite Christmas yet. Although, I have been already listening to my new christmas glee CD.Which my husband hates because it's not Christmas yet.




Now, I don't know about you but I have a bunch of random things I need to go this holiday season. And, I always struggle with what to bring. Yes, I like to cook but you know I work full time and am preggers so anything easy is a-ok with me. So, over the next couple days/weeks I am going to provide you with the easiest recipes I know that are crowd pleasers.

Thanksgiving traditions and pimento cheese

I LOVE pimento cheese. LOVE it. I have always loved it. Of course Mr. C can't stand it.

One of my family's traditions is eating pimento cheese on celery with Thanksgiving dinner.

Does anyone elses family do this?

I doubt it seriously. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't think it's strange.

Well, this is the what we eat with the "relish tray."

The relish tray is basically the celery/cheese, black olives, green onions, and gerkins combo. (Now real Henderson style is also pickled okra, green olives, banana peppers, and dill pickles. All of which I have eliminated because I don't think anyone in my immediate family eats.)

This is something that my mom insist us having and Little J and I both try to manipulate my mom into assigning the other person it because it has no real cooking to it. 

It's sort of funny we try to assign the person the who is the worst cook it. When we were younger and tried to help mom and aunt cook we would always be assigned the relish tray and doing the dishes. I think eventually I wised up that if Little J did the relish tray and dishes I could do real cooking. I think this worked for approximately one year and she wised up too. My mom however if you still go into her kitchen to try to cook she'll have you doing the dishes.

Anyway this year I decided to go ahead and volunteer for it because I wanted to make homemade pimento cheese. We usually always buy the pimento cheese. I didn't even know it could be made until fairly recently. Well, when I did finally have the real stuff no store bought would be ok again.

So, I made it. And it's yummy. I kinda made up the recipe which I do alot and this time it worked out. It's not rocket science.

Bridget's Pimento Cheese:

1 package of cheddar cheese. Mine was 8 ounces and kraft.
1/2 c Mayo
1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice (it sounds weird but don't leave it out. I think it's key ingredient for making the whole thing come together.)
2 ounce jar of pimentos drained
Pepper to taste

Mix all together. Chill well for flavors to meld together. Enjoy, maybe even on some celery.

*I'll add a picture on Thursday so you can see a real and proper relish tray

By the way up next tomorrow is my Aunt Margie's Broccoli Cheese Casserole.

Happy Thanksgiving Week

Hello, neglected blog friends! I have missed you. Honestly the pregnancy has been a bit of a bugger recently. I have done no running and no cooking that anyone would blog about (boxed mac'n cheese, salad, frozen pizza, you get the picture). But of course this week is Thanksgiving! One of my favorite holidays because it can't be too commercialized (until black friday of course) and Mr. C's least favorite. Of course I love thanksgiving because it's all about the cooking. YUM. So, this year I am bringing to the perspective families:

Turkey cake x 2

relish tray (This is one of those my mom insist on but I could do without. I don't really feel it's a holiday food but if she wants it she gets it.  There's no cooking excepting I'm going to make homemade pimento cheese, double yum, and maybe deviled eggs)

broccoli and cheese casserole

maybe a cheese ball with veggies and crackers.

homemade rolls =( yup my breadmaker died yesterday and i know bread can be made outside of it but i'm just not that skilled. i guess it's store bought for us this year.

Obviously these are not outlandish holiday foods but they are my family's favorites. I'll post pictures and recipes as I go throughout the week.

What are you cooking this year?