Friday, February 29, 2008

One of a Kind


HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?


I like to call it unique, not unpopular, as the reason that there is nobody with my name in the U.S. Statistically, according to the website, Maren in the 3176th most popular name in the U.S. I guess I'm one of a kind? (Now is that a good thing or a bad thing....hmmmm.....)

Thanks to my friend Shelby for giving me this idea. It was fun.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Dinner #4 (Or "The Yummy One!")

You guys, tonights dinner was YUMMY! My whole family loves it, and so do the neighbors! (They are the ones who gave me the recipe.) On the menu: Pizza rolls and salad. For the pizza rolls, you will need pizza dough. I have made these with homemade pizza dough, Jiffy brand (that's what tonight's was), and the kind that comes in a tube in the refrigerated section. It all just depends on how many additives you want in your pizza. Spread out the dough on a cutting board as if you were making a huge pizza. For three boxes of Jiffy, I rolled out 2 huge pizzas. For tonight's pizza, I used some leftover hamburger and mozzerella cheese. In the past I have used pepperoni, sausage, vegetables...really anything you like on your pizza. Put a little bit of red sauce (I use bottled spaghetti sauce) on the crust, then top with your favorite pizza ingredients.
Then roll it up jelly-roll style, as if you were making cinnamon rolls. Slice into 1 or 1 1/2 inch slices. Put on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven and cook until done, about 25 minutes. Serve with more red sauce and alfredo sauce on top or to dip in. YUMMY! I just served a simple salad on the side. My kids hate salad, so they had theirs with canned pears on the side.



The picture really doesn't do it justice. You have to taste it to believe it!
Well, this concludes this blog series for the week. I have enjoyed sharing my dinners with you and wish you all happy eating!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Dinner #3 (Or, "You Win Some and You Loose Some")

Oh yah...a real meal. Home-cooked goodness at its best! Kidding, more like "home-cooked goodness at its mediocreness." (Yes, mediocreness is a word, I'm sure of it.)


On the menu tonight:
Ham
Vegetable Shepherd's Pie
Corn

The ingredients for the shepherd's pie:
3 carrots
1 parsnip
1 onion
1 green pepper
3 stalks celery
some banana squash

Chop all of them up and cook in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Then add 1/2 a can of chicken stalk and a splash of apple juice. Add salt, pepper, a sprinkle of rosemary, and a tablespoon or so of brown sugar. Simmer 25 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Meanwhile, open 2 cans of sweet potatoes, drain almost all of the juice off, and whip up with some butter and a small squeeze of maple syrup.

Put cooked vegetables in a casserole dish and top with the mashed sweet potatoes. Either bake in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes, or put in microwave and heat until cooked through.


I served this with sliced deli ham, warmed in the microwave, and frozen corn, also warmed in the microwave.


This was an experimental dish, meaning I have never made this before. I saw a version of it in a cookbook I read for enjoyment once. But I didn't have all of the ingredients (meaning turnips. Who actually buys turnips? Yuck!) If you are not a sweet potatoe lover, this dish is definately not for you. It's not the best version of shepherd's pie. Two of my kids gave it a thumbs down, my husband and I thought it was just okay. If you choose to make this and you have a small family, half it! This made a HUGE casserole dish filled to the top! And I think we ate roughly an 1/8 of it! Lunches for the week!

After you chop everything, it really wasn't hard to make. But honestly, it wasn't super fantastic. Maybe tomorrow after it has a chance to sit overnight in the refrigerator it'll taste better.

Until tomorrow...