My Kitchen Sponge

I cut a chunk out of my kitchen sponge so it can sit up off the counter and actually dry after each use. I don't remember where I saw this idea, but I liked it, and it works really well!!! Just cut a bigger chunk out of your sponge and you can stick it around the neck of your faucet. :)

Stuffed Shells

I haven't blogged in forever it seems. *sigh* I am going to TRY to get back into the swing of blogging regularly again.

I made these shells a couple weeks ago and I only took a photo of the finished product, so I'm posting this recipe/method by memory. It's not like I measure anything anyway, so measurements wouldn't matter much.

2 lbs ground turkey
1 lb ground beef
5 oz, divided in half, shredded Parmesan cheese (I PREFER grated...just don't buy that shelf stable crap. It's not cheese. Get it in the deli or grate it yourself)
seasoned bread crumbs (make them yourself, buy them, whatever)
3 cloves garlic, minced...or 1 tbsp garlic paste
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup of chopped mushrooms, minced
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 lb jumbo shells (1 box)
2 qts of your favorite pasta sauce (canned works great for this....home made is fine if you have the energy to make it or have some frozen)

Start off by filling a large pot of water to boil. Salt it, and add the jumbo shells when it comes to a boil. Boil for 1-2 mins shy of 'done' because you are going to bake these as well. Drain when cooked.

Add a tablespoon or two of oil to the bottom of a heavy skillet and add the garlic, mushrooms and onion, and cook over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Then add the ground turkey and ground beef, mixing them together thoroughly as they brown. When the meat mixture is cooked through, add the egg, half the parmesan cheese, and 2 cups of the pasta sauce. Add the bread crumbs a handful at a time until the mixture comes together to a consistency similar to a meatloaf mixture. I also typically pick through all of the cooked shells and chop up any torn ones and add them to the filling.

Pour 1-2 cups of the pasta sauce into the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish. Take a teaspoon and gently fill each shell and set it into the baking dish as close as you can get them. Repeat until the pan is full. Spoon the remaining sauce over the shells in the pan and sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan cheese and a light dusting of the bread crumbs. Bake at 400ish degrees for about half an hour, or until the cheese is melted and the filling is heated through.

Note: If the pan fills up before you use all of your shells and filling, fill the shells anyway and flash freeze them and store in a Ziploc bag in the freezer till next time.

Ya know how to make a great breakfast sandwich awesome? Smear the bread with maple butter (mix maple syrup with your butter or margarine), and toast it like a grilled cheese sandwich. I guarantee....awesome, no matter what kind of bread you use, whether it's sourdough or whole wheat, a nice artisan bread or a plain white bread. Awesome. ;)

Windows vs. Ford

So, I get loads of forwarded crap in my inbox every day, and most of it I don't even bother to read before trashing it...but this one caught my eye and I laughed out loud at how true it really is. Enjoy! :) For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.  At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, 'If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'  In response to Bill's comments, Ford issued a press release stating:  If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):  1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash..........Twice a day.  2.. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.  3... Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.  4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.  5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.  6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.  I love the next one!!!  7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.  8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.  9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.  10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.  PS - I 'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!

Chicken Broccoli Cheese Soup

Wanna get this on the blog before I forget how I did it, because it's just THAT good.

Tonight I threw together dinner real quick--I've been sick all week, and now that I'm starting to feel better, my husband is sick as all get out. :( So, soup was definitely on the menu!

I'd been craving broccoli cheese soup all week, but was too sick to go out to dinner, and the deli at the market didn't have any...and yeah, canned stuff is not good to eat by itself. LMBO! Not sure why I didn't think to just make it for myself sooner....I mean, I had all the ingredients and everything on hand....likely because I was sick, though.

I just threw this together with no real plan other than to reach broccoli cheese soup status by suppertime, so there are no photos...sorry!

Here are the ingredients I used, though:

1 small onion, chopped fine

4 cloves fresh garlic, minced

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or thighs, or leftover rotisserie chicken or or or or....I won't judge ya)

1 1/2 pounds of frozen broccoli florets (You can use pieces if you'd like, or even a mix of broccoli and cauliflower would work)

1 lb cheddar cheese, shredded

1/3 lb provolone (I ordered some from the deli the other night for sandwiches, and it was cut WAY too thick for sandwiches....so I wanted to use it up...you don't really HAVE to use provolone if you don't have it on hand)

4 cups of milk

4 cups of hot water (you could absolutely use stock if you've got it on hand....I haven't been shopping all week cuz I've been sick, so water it was tonight!)

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp oil

Tabasco sauce to taste (I think I used like 10-12 dashes for a 5 qt. pot of soup? I didn't count....)

1 packet of instant mashed potatoes--The packet I had made 2 cups of prepared mashed potatoes. I know this sounds REALLY weird, but it'll help thicken it up. You don't have to use the whole packet if you don't want to...stir it in a bit at a time, wait a few mins and see how it thickens up before adding more, etc.

Old bay, fresh cracked black pepper, etc. to taste (I used about 2 tbsp of Old Bay and about 30 cranks of really coarsely ground black pepper.)

That's really it. :)



Start by putting the oil into a pan to heat up over medium heat. Chop up the onion and garlic, throw it in the oil. Cut up the chicken into bite size pieces (I did mine in about 1/2" x 1/2" cubes this time) and toss it in. Dump in the broccoli, cover and let cook for about 10 mins, stirring occasionally.

Pour in the milk and water/stock, season to your liking with Old Bay, Tabasco and black pepper. Bring it to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer and cover. Cook till the broccoli is tender to your liking.

Meanwhile, shred up the cheddar cheese. Mix the flour with the cheddar so it doesn't get clumpy when you add it to your soup. Break the provolone into bits.

Once the broccoli is tender to your liking, add the provolone, mixing after each slice. Once the provolone is all incorporated, add the cheddar a handful at a time, stirring to melt and combine after each addition, until the cheddar is all in the pot.

Bring it back to a simmer, and add the instant potatoes to desired thickness.

Voila! Big pot o' Chicken-Broccoli-Cheese Soup!

Dear Nyquil

How do I love thee? Oh, let me count the ways.....

I started this week with the worst cough I have experienced in recent memory and oh, my goodness how I have been married to this bottle for the last few days. But, today I am finding myself straying....see, as the cough has dwindled, a new set of symptoms has moved into town, and I'm finding myself in falling deeper and deeper for this pretty girl's equally pretty cousin....

So, I'm so in love with these girls that I may be considering becoming a lesbian and leaving my husband and children and moving to some polygamous colony in Utah with them...

...I *REALLY* hope I feel better soon, because I'm awfully fond of my husband and children, but right now these two girls are making me happier than my husband and children ever could have, especially since they've really been making my constant migraine from all the coughing worse....

Tiny Backyards in the Springtime

I think it's safe to say that it's officially Springtime in my neck of the woods. The weather has been in the 60s-low 70s for the last couple weeks straight, and it is just gorgeous outside!

This year brings a new opportunity for our family. For the first time since having children, we live in a house with a small enough backyard where we can view every square inch of it from just about every part of the first floor and half of the second floor of our house. On top of that, our exceedingly tiny yard is 100% privacy fenced with a gate that is locked from the inside as well as from the outside, so it's safe--no one is coming in, and no children are escaping. What does that mean? That means that for the first time in my children's lives, they have ultimate freedom in our back yard. They can come and go as they please, as if it's simply another room in our home.

And my children LOVE their backyard! They have a swingset, lots of outside toys, and more patio space than they know what to do with. They can run and jump and swing and climb and slide and bounce balls and jump rope and draw with chalk and dig in the dirt and blow bubbles and and and and and and...till their hearts' content. And they do. All day long. Every single day.

They come in at the end of the day exhausted. They get a bath and go to bed without so much as an ounce of fussiness almost every night. Ahhhhh, I love Spring!!!

When I looked at this house, I have to admit that I was skeptical about the size of the backyard, but it's proving to be the BEST part of this house!!