Tuesday Tip

I've decided that I'm going to try to give you a little tip every Tuesday morning.  This will all depend on what kind of mood the twins are in.

Today's tip is parchment paper.  I use this stuff all the time.  I line my baking sheets with it just about every time I make biscuits or cookies.  It keeps them from sticking and it makes clean up super easy.  Just about every time I've used it, there has been zero clean up on the pans.  I just have to throw out the parchment paper.  The pan stays clean.  Several weeks ago I used it to make sausage balls hoping it would at the least keep clean up a little easier.  I fully expected to have to wash the pans due to the grease from the sausage.  I was pleasantly surprised to not have any clean up and the bottoms of the sausage balls browned nicely.  If you've never used it in your baking, I highly recommend that you try it.  Especially if you're a busy mom like me or if your dishwasher stays full all the time like ours does, you definitely need to try this "trick".

I thought of this tip last night while making dinner.  I made taco stuffed biscuits.  (Not sure if that's the "real" name for them, but that's what I'm calling them.)  It seems that every time I make biscuits they stick something awful. I don't know when it was, but Aaron and I decided to start putting parchment paper down when we made biscuits to help with clean up.  As I did that last night, I wondered how many other people did that.

This week Aaron issued me a challenge to cook things that were half-way healthy and something we thought Michael might think about trying.  Michael is a VERY picky eater.  Most nights he eats either chicken nuggets, mac n cheese or a fried weenie.  (I know.  Go ahead and nominate me for mother of the year.)  I can usually get him to eat taco meat, spaghetti and rarely can get him to try whatever Aaron and I are eating.  I do have to say, though, that he will eat his weight in fruits and vegetables.  As I was going through recipes this weekend, I came across this recipe and decided it might be something he might actually try.  Not only did he try it, but he loved it.  He's even told me several times this morning how good dinner was last night.  That's high praise from a three year old.  The other great thing about this meal is it is a great one handed meal.  That means you can very easily eat it with one hand.  In our house, that's incredibly important as it always seems one of the girls needs to be held or fed about the time we have dinner.

This recipe was super easy to throw together and I was able to just about get both girls fed while it cooked. It's super important for me to be able to multi-task these days.  Want to see the original recipe?  Find it here.
The only change I made from the original recipe was that I didn't add any salsa to the meat.  Michael doesn't like salsa and if he had seen it in the mixture, he would not have eaten it.

Taco Stuffed Biscuits:

1 can Grand biscuits (Do NOT get the layered biscuits.)
1 lb ground beef (I always use the 97% fat free ground beef.)
1 packet taco seasoning (I like the McCormick low sodium.)
shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350*.  Brown ground beef and mix with seasoning according to the packet's directions. Roll out biscuits to about 1/4 inch think.  Place 1-2 tablespoons of meat on half of biscuit.  Top with cheese.  Fold other half of biscuit over the meat and press to seal.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the biscuits are brown.  Serve with your favorite taco toppings.

Friday Night Dinner

Yes I know it's Monday.  We had a crazy weekend so I'm just getting around to what we had for dinner Friday night.  Usually I don't cook on Friday nights.  We either go out, Aaron picks something up or we eat left overs.  However, I thought we were going to have company Friday night so I cooked.  I wanted something that would feed several of us, leave left overs (hopefully) and would be super easy since I would be busy with the twins and getting my house ready for company.  I decided on Mexican Shredded Pot Roast.  You couldn't get any easier than this.  The only issue I had with it is that it has to cook for 12 hours.  If you eat at 6 like we do, that means you have to have it in the slow cooker by 6 that morning.  I thought the roast was super yummy.  Aaron wasn't a fan.  I thought I'd share the recipe anyway.  You can find the original recipe here.

Mexican Post Roast:

1 3-4 pound roast  (I used rump.  The original recipe used chuck. Your choice.)
2 cans Rotel
1 can each style pinto beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
chili powder

Completely coat the roast in chili powder.  Dump all other ingredients except the beans into your slow cooker and add the roast.  Cook on low for 11 hours.  At the 11 hour mark, add in the beans and cook an additional hour.  After 12 hours, remove the roast and shred using two forks or however you choose to shred the meat.  Add the meat back into the slow cooker.  Serve over rice, noodles or in tortillas.  Top with cheese, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and/or any of your other favorite taco toppings.

Ummmm....Yeah....

I know I haven't posted any recipes since I posted the rock candy recipe Sunday.  I cooked Monday night, but it was one of my misadventures.  I apparently need to remember what my second grade teacher, Mrs. Foshee, taught us.  Read the directions carefully before you start.  However, no one ever taught us to read directions while you have two screaming babies.  I missed one step in the recipe...reducing the sauce to a glaze before basting the pork loin.  It still tasted really good, but it could've been better.  I promise I will make it again soon and post the recipe along with pictures.

We've been eating a lot of leftovers this week so I won't be posting a lot of recipes this week.

I do want to share my one of my secrets to being able to get dinner on the table some nights.  That secret is my Crock Pot.  If you don't have a Crock Pot or slow cooker of any kind, I highly recommend getting one.  It is so nice to throw something in there that morning and not thinking about it the rest of the day.  Plus your house smells yummy all day because of what you're cooking.  Most of my slow cooker recipes I can literally throw together in the time it takes me to warm a bottle.  That's a good thing since some days that's the only time I get.

You maybe thinking, but April, I love my slow cooker, but it's a pain in the butt to clean.  I heard these same words from my husband a few weeks ago.  Reynold's makes these wonderful slow cooker bags.  They are just like their oven bags that I love to cook briskets in and other dishes in except they're made for your slow cooker.  There was literally no clean up Monday night after cooking my pork loin.  The bag was taken out and thrown away.  There was nothing left in the cooker.  The only thing that needed to be washed was the lid which we just stuck in the dishwasher.  Several weeks ago I made a taco soup in my Crock Pot with one of those bags and had excellent results with no clean up.  That was wonderful because when I've made it in the past the cheese always burned a little around the edges.  This way whatever burned around the edges was thrown away instead of being soaked overnight to get it off.

I hope these two little hints help out some of you busy moms out there.  Happy cooking!!

Rock Candy

Thursday last week Aaron had to work late.  It is much easier for me to keep Michael home than to try and haul both girls into his daycare to get him.  The hard part of keeping him home is managing his mischief while I deal with the girls.  You can't imagine how much a three year old can get into while you're feeding twins.  So he and I made a deal, you behave while I'm feeding/changing/dressing the girls and you and I will make candy before we eat lunch.  If you know my child, you know he's pretty motivated by candy I hate to say.

I know this can be used as a good science experiment where you can discuss the formation of crystals.  That's a little over Michael's head.  Instead it turned into a lesson in patience since he had to wait until today to remove it from the liquid.  He's also having to wait for it to dry.  (That was my decision and not part of the process.)  I did this before I really thought through the blog idea.  There are no pictures of us doing this.  The next time we do it I'll be sure to snap some photos.

I initially found this idea on Pinterest.  You can find the original recipe here.

Rock Candy:


1 cup of water
2-3 cups sugar
food coloring (optional)
clothes pin
wooden skewer
tall, skinny glass

First you need to insert your skewer in the cup and mark with the clothes pin where it will be approximately 1 inch from the bottom of the glass and not touching the sides of the glass.  Remove the skewer.  Bring the cup of water to a boil.  Add the sugar in 1/4 cup intervals, storing until the sugar completely dissolves.  (I made Michael help me count.)  Continue adding the sugar until no more can be dissolved.  Pull your pan off the heat and let cool for 20 minutes.  If you desire to color your sugar, now is the time to do it.  Be sure you make it pretty dark in color.  After it has cooled, pour the sugar mixture in the glass.  Place the skewer, now held by the clothespin, into the sugar mixture.  Now you wait.  It takes 3-7 days for the crystals to form.  You can accelerate the process by dipping your skewer into the liquid when it's hot and then roll it into plain sugar.  Be sure the skewer is completely cooled before you put it into the glass if you do this.

We had crystals forming the next day.  The longer you wait, the bigger your crystals will be.  There was no way we could make him wait any longer to get bigger crystals than we did.  The next time I do this I want to play around with adding flavoring into it so you don't taste just plain sugar.  If anyone has any advice on how to do that, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Enjoy!!

Here Goes Nothing

Well I've decided to start a new blog.  This blog will be about my cooking adventures and misadventures.  I will do my best to post as often as I can all the yummy stuff I'm cooking along with recipes and pictures.  I also hope to break down the cost per serving of each meal.  I don't cook much on the weekends so don't be surprised if there are no posts on those days.  I am chasing three children, two of whom are four months old.  I tell you that so that you understand some days may be harder to post than others.  You never know what kind of mood they'll be in or the three year old will be in.  I love to cook with Michael.  Hopefully I can get some pictures of him "helping" me and one day soon of the girls "helping" me.  If you have any recipes you'd like me to try or any advice for this blog, I'll gladly take it.  Please pass this site on to everyone you know!!