Eggo Recipe Contest Failures

Since I'm pretty much broke all the time from trying to buy a house I've been entering contests and giveaways multiple times a day.  I'm a bit addicted because so far I have won an XBOX 360 and some diet supplement (which I really need b/c being fat is depressing).

I also figured that I'm already cooking and baking all the time because we're broke and can't eat out and of course to have something to blog about that I should make it worth my while.  I made up the following two two recipes for the Eggo Waffle Off contest.  They didn't win and they were not even finalists but that doesn't mean that they should be shunned.  I thought they were very yummy and so did my Husband and roommate who devoured them. 

My first creation was a Monte Cristo sandwich made with Eggo Waffles (of course!).   I made the whole box of waffles into sandwiches so when I wrote the recipe that's how many servings I made.  Should have probably made it a one sandwich serving.  Probably should have spelled Cristo right too.  My facebook friends kept going eww!  crisco?!   Yep.  Not good.

So here is that recipe if you wanna give it a try.  My husband still asks me to make these for him so it's a good recipe.  Not interested?  Skip on to the next loser....

Eggo Waffle Monte Cristo Sandwiches

10 Eggo Homestyle Waffles, defrosted

30 slices deli sliced ham

30 slices deli sliced turkey

5 slices Swiss cheese

5 TBS Dijon mustard

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 TBS all-purpose flour

5 TBS unsalted butter

1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

5 TBS raspberry preserves (optional)

1.Defrost 10 Eggo Homestyle waffles by placing in microwave for 15 seconds.
2.Prepare batter by whisking together eggs, milk and flour. Pour batter into a shallow pan such as a pie pan.
3.For each sandwich spread 1 TBS Dijon mustard on one side of Eggo waffle, top with alternating slices of 3 slices turkey and 3 slices ham and then top with 1 slice Swiss cheese and another Eggo waffle to complete sandwich. Repeat with remaining ingredients to make a total of 5 sandwiches.
4.Dip each side of 1 sandwich into egg batter, saturating the waffles with the egg batter.
5.Melt 1 TBS of butter in non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When butter begins to bubble place

sandwich into pan. 6.Cook each sandwich 2 minutes (or until golden brown), flip and cook 2 more minutes (or until golden brown).
7.Repeat steps 5-6 with each sandwich.
8.Sprinkle each sandwich with powder sugar and serve with dollop of raspberry preserves.
 

This one is actually my favorite of the two.  The picture just came out so pretty and the flavors are just so much more adult and sophisticated.  I found the goat cheese at Aldi of all places.  They have had a really good selection of cheeses lately.  This sandwich would also be divine prepared with brie instead of the goat cheese.  This one probably lost because it's just too fancy.  Well, that's what I tell myself anyways.

Eggo Apple & Cheese Panini

2 Eggo Homestyle Waffles, thawed
1 TBS Olive Oil
1 tsp dried crushed rosemary
1/2 apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 oz honey goat cheese, crumbled

1. Defrost Eggo waffles in microwave set to 50% power for 30 seconds.
2. Combine olive oil and rosemary in small bowl.
3. Heat non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
4. Brush one side of waffle with olive oil mixture and place oiled side down in hot pan. Arrange apple slices and then cheese on waffle. Top with remaining waffle. Brush top of sandwich with olive oil mixture.
5. Press sandwich with spatula as it cooks. Flip when bottom is golden brown (about 1-2 minutes). Flip sandwich and repeat.
6. Sandwich can be cooked in panini press if you have one.

 Makes 1 sandwich (1 serving).

Pulled Pork Pies

Yesterday was a crazy day.  My husband and I have decided to try and buy a house because we're tired of our rent in our rinky dink apartment going up every year.  So yesterday, right after work, we went to check out a prospective house.  We really wanted it to be the 'one' due to the fact that it's on a street called Heatherstone.  My name is Heather and Peter's name means rock so what a coincidence!

Unfortunately, it just isn't meant to be so I bought these flowers instead.  I was a bit bummed out and they cheered me up immensely.  They don't have frames glued to walls, water damage and locks in odd places.  The house had potential but I don't have the time of money to make it happen.  I'm hoping another home will come up for sale in the same neighborhood.  The one we we're really interested in on the same street had a ginormous lien on it.  Good luck selling that one is all I have got say about that!

We'll that's what I have been up to lately.  I never imagined that buying a home could be so time consuming.  Thank goodness I have Peter, his parents and mine to pick for advice!  It's definitely not like cooking and baking which come naturally to me.

I had to come up with this recipe because I made too much pulled pork.  My husband assured me that their could never be too much meat, especially pulled pork and assured me that it would get eaten.  Thank goodness I doubted him and cut that flippin' roast in half or we'd still be eating it!

Part of me wanted to make the pie crust from scratch but since most of me is lazy I nixed that idea.  Besides, crescent roll doll is infinitely more superior (unless it involves strawberries and rhubarb).

The only sad thing about this recipe is that I am now out of pulled pork and will have to wait until I make too much again to eat these.  Sadness. Good thing there is another pork roast in the freezer.  Yay!

Pulled Pork Pies
by Heather Hutchinson @ Dietetic Sinners

For Pulled Pork:
1 lb pork roast
1 can rootbeer
1 12 oz bottle of BBQ sauce ( I prefer Sweet Baby Ray's but you could even make your own)
1 sweet onion, sliced

Combine all ingredients in your slow cooker.  Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 5-6 hours or until pork is tender and shreds easily.

For Pies:
2 cups pulled pork from above recipe
2 cooked & diced Yukon Gold potatoes (pierce with fork all over and then microwave 4-5minutes or until slightly soft)
1/4 cup diced sweet onion
1 clove garlic, smashed and finely chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough
1 tbs butter, melted
1tsp SazónGoya Con Azafran seasoning

Saute pulled pork, potatoes, onion, and garlic in medium non stick pan.  Cook until onion is tender and the pork and potatoes have browned.

Assemble pies by first unwrapping crescent rolls.  Do not separate into triangles but into squares by pressing dotted lines together.  You should now have 4 crescent squares.  Assemble squares unto sheet pan spared with cooking spray.

Place 1/3 to 3/4 cup pork mixture onto one side of each square.  Top pork with a couple tablespoons of the shredded cheese.  Fold dough over pork mixture and use a fork to press/crimp edges together.  Using a small paring knife to cut holes to vent.

Melt butter in small bowl and stirin Sazón seasoning.  Brush mixture onto pies.

Bake pies in preheated 350°F degree oven for 12-15 minutes.

Honey Nut Chicken

This post started out as a Bzzagent review for Crunchy Nut cereal because usually when they send me free product and coupons to spread around they request a blog post.  Not this time for some weird reason.  Which sucks because I had already taken the photos and planned out this post.  Oh well, why waste a good post right?  And I did like the cereal and I did fins a way to legitimately eat this cereal for dinner (not that cereal is ever wrong for dinner!).

I took this picture to primarily show off the roses my hubby got me for Valentine's Day.  Aren't they gorgeous?  If I genuinely tried to eat breakfast on my porch I'd get eaten by lizards and then the ants would finish me off and quite possibly my plants would then take over and destroy the planet.  Did I mention that those roses are just gorgeous!

Anyways, I came up with this recipe by going to get a bowl of cereal and getting teed off that someone had just left me crumbs (or practically).  It's like leaving the milk jug in the fridge with just a sip remaining.  Just not right!  There was just enough cereal left to feel guilty about throwing it away but not guilty enough to attempt to eat the sugary mess.  So I got out my rolling pin and pounded it down to make it even more crumby.  I felt less teed off after that. Of course I then realized I didn't quite have enough crumbs to make my chicken so I sent my husband and roommate to the store for some more so that the vicious cycle can repeat itself.

I'm pretty sure most people have scene a variation of this recipe but using corn flakes instead of Crunchy Nut cereal.  I have also made a version using Captain Crunch (with out the berries!).  It's all good.

It's really simple too and involves no frying!   I love friend chicken but hate the frying step.  House smells like grease for days.  All this requires is a little dippage into some flour, then into some egg and finally into the crumbs.  Put into a really hot oven and make sure to spray the pan AND the chicken with some cooking spray before baking.  Sometimes this makes my kitchen a bit smokey and my smoke alarm goes off but my smoke alarm is retarded and goes off even when I make toast in my toaster and when we're asleep at night.   Did I mention I hate our smoke alarm?  Don't worry we have the apartment complex people coming to take a look see since they are the ones who recently re-installed the suckers.

If you like this recipe I really recommend trying it out with some Captain Crunch cereal too.  So good dipped in some honey mustard!

Honey Nut Chicken 

1lb chicken strips or chicken breast cut into small pieces
2 cups crushed Kelloggs Crunchy Nut Golden Honey Nut Crunch Cereal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
1 TBS water
1/2 tsp salt 
1/8 tsp pepper
non stick cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place the crushed cereal in a shallow dish. In a bowl, combine the all purpose flour and the salt and pepper. In a another bowl, whisk egg with 1 tablespoon water

Working with one piece at a time, dip chicken into flour mixture and then into egg mixture. Coat pieces with with crushed cereal, pressing crumbs to help them adhere. Repeat with the remaining chicken.Transfer coated pieces to a rimmed baking sheet coated in nonstick spray.  Arrange them so they don't touch each other if possible. Spray chicken pieces with nonstick spray.

Bake at 425° for 10 minutes.  Flip chicken pieces over and continue baking for 8 minutes.

Porkchops & Resolutions

I can't believe that 2012 has come and gone!  I feel like I just got used to writing out the date and now I have to remember that it's 2013.  I've already had to redo so many documents this year because I just can't believe that it's 2013 already and my hand and brain refuse to cooperate to write the correct year.

This year I've committed to actually writing my 2013 goals down.  In the past I've mentally kept a list but by month 2 I've usually forgotten what I want to achieve!  I'm not sure why I have never written them down in the past.  Maybe because if it isn't on paper (or blog) I feel that I don't have to hold myself accountable?  Probably!  So this year...

1.  I will work out for at least 30 minutes 6 days a week.  I bought a gym membership 2 years ago for a reason.  Use it! {Last week I made it to the gym 6xs, taking Sunday off, hope  I can keep this streak up!}

2. Get organized!  I used to be very Twilight Sparkle and keep very organized and together.  I loved to make lists and everything had it's place.  Now that I am taking anti anxiety meds I just don't keep up with my organization habits anymore.  Not a "side affect" I like.  I live in a little apartment and things get messy quickly if not put up right away!

3.  Curb the retail therapy habit.  I love to shop.  For anything.  I will happily shop for cleaning supplies!  It makes me happy for some weird reason.  What doesn't make me happy...my dwindling bank account.  I have plenty of hobbies that do not require spending money and buying things only makes me happy for a brief period of time.  

4.  Speaking of hobbies...get these projects done:  the wedding card scrapbook, chapstick holder sewing project, the pajama pant sewing project, the tissue holder sewing project, and the barely started painting.  I'm the Queen of Unfinished Projects!

5.  Stop eating when I'm not hungry.  Go get a drink of water, go play some Nintendo, read a book, go for a walk, finish one of the projects listed above.  Do anything!  Just put down the loaf of bread, bag of chips {insert carb of choice} and walk away.  Alos, your not a dog.  Don't reward yourself like one!

6.  Kiss the hubby more often.  (Hey I had to have at least one easily achievable goal!)

7.  Journal more often.  I love keeping a journal/diary but haven't written in mine for the past year.  It really helps me get to sleep faster and allows me to reflect on my day.  It's also handy for remembering dates of when jobs begin/end or other important life events=)

8.  Network more.  I read a lot of blogs but I don't comment often or engage in conversation.  There are so many wonderful bloggers out there and it isn't hard to leave a comment telling them so.  

9.  Learn how to take better food photography.  I think it's getting better but still needs work.  I'll have to see if I can find some library books on the subject.

10.  Learn to love myself and accept compliments with grace.  I really can't even look at my reflection in the mirror sometimes despite my husband saying I'm gorgeous.  In other words, who cares what other people think.  Do what makes you happy!

Phew!  Glad that's done!  I'm really motivated to keep these promises to myself.  

With that in mind I wanted to share my favorite recipe for pork chops from Cooking Light. It is a lighter version of the traditional fried and breaded pork chop with country gravy.  

These pork chops are pan fried sans the carb-a-licious breading and the gravy is made with 1% milk and in the past I have substituted skim if I have it on hand.  The gravy isn't as thick and rich when using skim milk but my waist line thanks me!  

There isn't much seasoning to this dish so I usually like to throw in a little sage and use seasoning salt in lieu of the poultry seasoning.  I think the sage smells so wonderful as it is cooking and just tastes wonderful.

I always serve my chops with rice and plenty of healthy veggies.  Mashed potatoes would be yummy too!

Pork Chops with Country Gravy

slightly adapted from Cooking Light

3/4 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt, divided

4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1 inch thick)

1 teaspoon butter

1 1/3 cups 1% low-fat milk 

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon black pepper 

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt evenly over both sides of pork. Add 1 teaspoon butter to pan, stirring until butter is melted. Add the pork to pan, and cook pork for 3 minutes on each side. Remove pork from pan, and keep warm.

Combine low-fat milk and flour, stirring with a whisk. Add the milk mixture to pan, stirring with a whisk. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, sage, and black pepper. Return pork to pan. Cover; reduce heat, and simmer for 7 minutes or until gravy is thick and pork is done.

My Thanksgiving 2012

This Thanksgiving I decided that I didn't want to make a ton of food even though I really wanted all the traditional trimmings.  I also didn't want a ton of leftovers!  I can only eat so much day old turkey.

Peter and me love the Thanksgiving sandwich that they have at the Earl of Sandwich only around holidays.  It's got all the flavors of Thanksgiving in a convenient sandwich package.

Cabbage Rolls

I've never attempted to make cabbage rolls because the whole process always seemed intimidating.  A lot of steps to be completed before eating.  Guess I like instant gratification?

Beef on Sticks (okay and veggies too!)

One of the best things about getting married is getting to eat new foods and then getting to steal you new husband's family recipes without fear of reprisals.  The first meal I ever ate with Peter and his family was at Peter's going away party before we were really a couple (it's complicated).  It was a wonderfully tasty grilled beef shish kabob.  The meat was tender and delicious!  I'm pretty sure there was also veggies but I don't remember them, just the meaty goodness!

This is recipe was the first one ever given to me by Peter's mom.  She got it from a family friend.  Where it came from before that is anybody's guess but if you happen to know where it originated from let me know.  Most likely a magazine or similar.

I'm Too Tired to Cook Cheeseburgers

When ever I come home too tired to cook and too tempted to eat out I make these burgers.  I especially like making these burgers when K-Mart is running a deal where you but 1lb ground beef and get the buns and cheese for free.  Dinner for $2.99?  Heck yeah!  Add chips or fries and lots of pickles and it's a whole meal for less then eating at McDonalds.

These burgers taste similar to McDonalds or maybe Whitecastle.  In fact you could cut them smaller and use slider buns if you wanted.

Sweet! Corn. {Sweet Corn Hash}

After strawberry and asparagus season my favorite time of the year is sweet corn season.  Up in the Midwest where I am from originally that meant waiting till about mid summer.  You can find corn but believe me it wasn't good corn.  As we say, "That's fit to feed a hog!".  Just sayin'!

Living down here in central Florida has got me spoiled.  I splurged and bought some corn at the local produce market and was sure I was in for some disappointment.  Holy cow!  That corn was delicious!  So apparently I can get awesome sweet corn a lot earlier down here and for cheap?!

General Tso's Chicken or Why I Hate Cornstarch

I have avoided making my own Chinese takeout style food for many reasons: too much prep, steps and frying. But mostly the frying part. Than, I saw this recipe on the Brown Eyed Baker.  My mouth began salivating just looking at the pictures.  So I decided to get over my aversion to frying and make it.  Yeah, I was right.  A lot of work but it made a lot of food and it was delicious.  I'll try to kick up the spice next time I make it.  On a spiciness scale from one to ten I give it a 1.  I have a feeling that my red pepper is old so my fault.  I'll buy some dried red chilies from the Asian market before making it again.  I may regret that decision!  Spicy doesn't agree with me.  But it burns so good!

Gleaning {Cabbage Sloppy Joes}

When I joined Americorp I was so excited. I just knew I'd get to learn, meet new people and do exciting (i.e. interesting things). I was able to meet so many new people and experience different cultures, food and points of view. I just know that if I had stayed in the Midwest I'd be a much boring person (and still single!).

I served in Apopka, Florida (Foliage Capital of the World!) at a place called the Hope Community Center. They work a lot with migrant workers and immigrants. I didn't get to spend much time at the HCC because I was placed at a domestic violence shelter some distance away. While I love working at the DV Shelter getting to spend time at the HCC was a great experience too. Every other Friday was Americorp meeting time. Good times! Most times it was an oppurtunity to kind of relax and enjoy each others company. A nice change of pace from our placements for some of us. Sometimes we did service learning projects as a group. Those were fun too.

Couldn't find any of us gleaning, found this one though ala 2009

 The one I remember most is gleaning cabbage. Gleaning is collecting leftovers from a farmer's fields after the harvest. You would be amazed at how much food is leftover to just rot in the fields of be turned over to become fertilizer for next crop. I think we collected over 2 tons of cabbage for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Picking cabbage is back breaking work. It's done by hand with a little knife and gloves. Gloves that soon become useless because the cabbage is moist from the overnight dew or rain. I had blisters on my hands and such an achy back! Picking veggies and fruits is not good times. I once picked peaches for a month one summer up north for pay. Not fun. Besides the aches and pains and low pay there is also the ick factor. As in the crop has been sprayed with pesticides at some point.

I learned a lot about where are food comes from, who picks it and the environmental and health impacts of producing food. look up info about Lake Apopka sometime. Scary!

Moving on...we got to take some of our cabbage home! So I have a few pounds of cabbage and no idea what to make with it. Cole slaw. Sure, but not my favorite thing. So nothing to do but Google cabbage recipes. This recipe came up. I can't remember where it I found it. Probably recipes.com. So I apologize for lack of credit. Thanks. It's yummy.

For this recipe you'll need half a head of shredded cabbage. I recommend using your knife and cutting board. My food processor shreds it too fine. Also needed: green pepper, onion, ground beef, ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice, white vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, and slat and pepper. It's a lot of ingredients but this Sloppy Joe isn't from a can.

In a large saucepan cook the beef,onion and green pepper over medium heat. Drain off excess fat. Icky!

Add cabbage. Cook till just crisp tender.

In a small bowl (or container or something else container-ish!), combine ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice, white vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard. Stir well.

Add to meat and cabbage and than cover pan and let simmer about 10 minutes or until cabbage is tender.

I like to serve on hamburger buns with a side of mac & cheese. Try this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. It's so good!

Cabbage Sloppy Joe's
from recipe.com?

1lb ground beef
1 1/2 cup finely shredded cabbage
1 medium onion chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, diced
1 cup ketchup
3 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS white vinegar
1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
1 TBS yellow mustard
1 tsp salt
1 dash pepper

In large saucepan, cook the beef, cabbage, onion, and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are crisp tender; drain.  Stir in ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes or until cabbage is tender. 

2009-2010

 

TV Dinners {Salisbury Steak}

 

When I saw this recipe on the The Pioneer Woman I knew I'd have to make it!  Growing up my most favoritest TV Dinner was always the Banquet Salisbury Steak.  My Great Grandma always seemed to have a couple in her freezer (that and Tyson Chicken Nuggets) and I loved staying over just so I could have that for dinner (and Tyson Chicken Nuggets, lol!).  Usually Mom would let us pick out a frozen dinner for the occasional movie night at home.  It was always a special treat.  I distinctly remember eating Salisbury steak frozen dinner and watching Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure( I also had the cereal and the rad cassette tape holder shaped like the phone booth that came with the cereal).  Occasionally I'd deviate and beg for a kid cuisine lured by the chocolate brownie and sprinkles.  Always regretted it!  That skateboarding penguin was devious liar.  I'm a sucker for penguins (and sprinkles).

My only problems with Ree's recipe is that it is missing two key ingredients needed to make this dish perfect:

Mushrooms, because I love them and they make everything yummy and...

Corn because every single Banquet Salisbury steak meal is served with it.  It was the best corn ever.  Although I do question whether or not as an adult I'd still love that meal.  I know the Lean Cuisine Salisbury steak with it's lame mac & cheese is awful. Hmmm, when I'm feeling bored and daring I'll have to give it a whirl again and let you all know.

Beef Stroganoff

I find this dish impossible to make with singing a certain line from the movie Anastasia (not! a Disney movie btw).  The part where Dimitri, Anastasia and that fat guy are on their way to Paris to meet the Dowager and trying to teach Ana all the family stories by singing You Can Learn to Do It:

[FAT GUY]
Now, elbows in and sit up straight

[DIMITRI]
And never slurp the stroganoff.

[ANASTASIA]
I never cared for stroganoff!

[FAT GUY]
She said that like a Romanov!

Yeah it's in my head and my husband helps it stay there by repeating the above verses anytime I mention making stroganoff.

Das V-8 Stew (a post written by my Husband)

I'm feeling severely lazy tonight so my husband helped me out by writing the following.  I think he did a great job.  All pictures and pictured food are me, all opinions his=)  -H

"V-8 Stew"

a guest post by Mr. Penguin

aka The Husband

My wife, in case you readers don't know this already, is a wonderful cook.  She's brought dozens of her own recipes into out marriage, as well as taking on many of my family's classic dishes.  This one, however, is one of hers; V-8 Stew.  It's so-called, appropriately enough, because the key ingredient is V-8 vegetable juice.

St. Patrick's Day 2012

This year, like every year before, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day by staying in.  No green beer at the pub for us!  This year I decided to make the best corned beef and cabbage ever.  In years past I would  just stick the hunk of meat in the crock-pot with some potatoes and carrots.  But you know what?  That is not good eats!  It's a side of greasy beef and limp veggies THAT'S what that is!

I looked around the 'net and came to the conclusion that crock-pot cooking is not the way to go but low and slow in the oven might do the tasty trick.

So gather up some sliced yellow onion, your favorite beer (or your significant other's favorite beer if your like me and have no clue about what a good beer is because you think beer is icky), a corned beef with seasoning packet and some water (not pictured).

The Corndog Muffin

I keep seeing these corn dog muffin things on Pintrest.  I pinned the recipe and then forgot about them.  Then lo and behold my Aunt posts on her facebook that she is making them and even posts pictures.  Her verdict: yummy! I like corn dogs but my husband really really likes corn dogs!  They're a freezer staple around here so this recipe is pretty much guaranteed to be loved by him.  Me, I'm not the keen on the idea.  There just isn't something right about them.  I like my corn dogs on a stick and preferable deep fried or at least extra crispy.  Unlike my husband who will microwave them.  Ew!

Despite my misgiving I decided to give them a chance and bake up a batch myself.  I figure at the very least they will be excellent in my lunch the next day and Peter will love me long time for making him his favorite food.  Also my if my Aunt says they are yummy then they must be.  I just trust her that much.

Well I make them.  And they are okay.  Peter and our roommate ate them up.  Me, I just couldn't.  Do they taste bad?  Absolutely not!  They taste great.  Is it the same as eating a corn dog from the fair, definitely not.  To me they were just too weird.  Is it a muffin?  a corn dog?  a mutant with super powers?  My mind just can't figure it out and thus I am inexplicable unable to eat these things.  They are just too weird for my taste buds.  I actually think it's a texture problem.  I'm not a savory muffin fan.  All muffins are sweet and/or fruity.

Better than Beef Burgers

For a quick meal I like to buy those veggie burgers from the freezer section at the grocery store.  They actually don't taste all that great and are a bit pricey.  I finally decided to stop torturing myself and try to find a more palatable and less expensive option.  After looking at many recipes I finall settled on one from the Whole Foods website.  There stores are pretty awesome so I figured their recipes would be too.  With a little tweeking this recipe is now my favorite make ahead burger.

Shepherd's Pie

I've been trying to cut back on the taters but they are evil.  They call to me in the night begging me to eat them up.  French fries, tater tots, baked potatoes (boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew) and of course mashed potatoes full of cream and butter.  Yum!  

Beans, Beans the Musical Fruit...

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a awhile.  Mr. Penguin and I will be moving in about two weeks so we have been very busy packing and cleaning up our old place.  We're excited to be moving into our own place with no roommates but also saddened as well.  Mr.  Foo-foo Cuddley Poops was a wonderful roommate but we are soon to be a married couple and I can see how that could be annoyingly bothersome.

A Canful of Salmon (Salmon Croquettes)

Right now my pantry is overrunning with canned salmon.  I think they are mating.  Well, maybe not, but due to a recently discovered food allergy Mr. Penguin's sister gifted us with a sackful.    I was more than happy to take the little fishies.  I love canned salmon!