Something New!

I found out last night that Blogger now has the option to make pages! (This might not be so new, but I'm kinda slow...) I have added a page each for recipes and for finished knitting projects. You can find each linked in the navigation bar located right under the blog's title image.

I have imported my finished projects from my old knitting blog, so you can see the stuff from 2009 if you go to the project page. Now I can easily look back to see what I have done over the past years and say things like,  "Aw, I really loved that project." and "HOLY SHEEP. What was I thinking?!?"

Also, I am thinking of making printable/down-loadable PDF versions of the recipes that were a big success. Would that be something y'all are interested in?

What's Cookin': Shredded Meat & Biscuit Casserole

No pic, because I'm a horrible blogger. Use your imagination. It's good for you! ;)

I need to go grocery shopping, but that's not til Thursday so these next few days are my "what can I make with what I have" days. Tonight was one such meal. I had leftover pork roast and about a cup of spaghetti sauce. I have been wanting bread things lately (thus my baking itch) so decided to do something with my usual biscuit recipe, added some stuff to it and made up the rest.

We sat down to eat and once Ben tried it he asked "Is this a Whatcha Got Casserole?" A question like that usually ends with him scrunching his face and saying something like "ah... yeah I could tell." However, tonight I told him yes, it was and he said that it was really good for a Whatcha Got. So here is what I came up with.

Shredded Meat & Biscuit Casserole - makes about 6 servings
4-5 C shredded meat (I had pork, could use chicken or beef as well)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 C spaghetti or tomato sauce
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 C shredded cheddar

Biscuit Topping:
2 C flour
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbs shortening (or butter, or half of each)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 C shredded cheddar
1 C milk (or sour milk, or buttermilk)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and grease a 9 x 9 casserole dish. In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbs oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft. Add pork and sauce. Stir until thoroughly mixed. (You may need to add a bit of water, I used about 1/2 cup). Turn to low and simmer while you make the topping.

In a large bowl combine first 4 biscuit ingredients. Cut in the shortening until mix resembles corn meal. Stir in the garlic and cheese, then add the milk. Stir until just combined. Spread the meat mixture in the bottom of the casserole dish, sprinkle with shredded cheese and spoon the biscuit topping over it, spreading to evenly cover top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and dough is no longer gooey*.

Notes & Variations: This was so simplistically delicious that I wouldn't change much. You could add extra veggies if you wanted, but I liked it the way it was. However, you could change up the spices and come up with an Asian version (with soy, ginger, hoisen), or a Southwestern version (with BBQ sauce, or chili powder, or taco season), etc.

*I popped it in for my usual 15 minute biscuits time and the center was still a little doughy underneath. I put it back in for another 5ish minutes and it was fine after that.

Ben Rating: 3.5-4. Not bad for a Whatcha Got, and we all had seconds.

Happy June!

 Welcome to June everyone! Doesn't feel like it, does it? At least not in my little part of the world. The weather around here has been WEIRD for so long. Cold during the week, warm/hot on the weekends. Although we are supposed to hit triple digits next week. Not looking forward to that.

We had a WONDERFUL long weekend these last couple days. Ben and I left Friday night for the beach and spent our time there filled with fish & chips, sun, water, relaxing, sleeping, and Food Network (the only thing I miss about cable). It was so nice and so needed. We got back into town Sunday, then had to attend a wedding, which was sweet but way too hot and right in direct sunlight. Ugh. I'm so glad we don't keep a lot of friends, and the ones we do have are now all married. No more weddings for awhile please.

And yesterday we had a nice relaxing day where Ben fiddled around the house, then we BBQ'd for just us. It was so nice. The weather was beautiful and it was so good to be home. It was nice to be by ourselves, but we both missed our babies.

I didn't get much knitting done over the last few days, which was totally OK. I showed Ben the finished sweater and he agreed with me that it was a little too short. So I ripped back the cast off edge and have added a few more inches of ribbing. I did most of it in the car on the way home. 2x2 rib makes for excellent car knitting since I don't have to look at it. I will cast off today and then it should be completely done.

Mimi gave me a ton of peaches that she wants me to make into jam. Hopefully I will get that done sometime this week. If I don't get that far then they will become cobbler. Although I think the point was to give her back some jam. I still have the baking itch also, just not today. Too many things to do.

Now, back to the grind. What did you all do for your Memorial day weekend?

What's Cookin': Oat & Streusel Muffins

I have the baking itch. Bad. I want to bake everything. Unfortunately, the little voice in the back of my head keeps saying "But you won't be around to eat it. It will go bad... Just wait til next week..." So I have been waiting. For the most part. However, I woke up this morning wanting muffins something awful. A desperate, aching longing for muffins. I could not go on if I didn't have muffins. So I pulled out the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook I got from my grandmother's house and took the basic muffin recipe. Then messed with it, because you know I can't leave anything alone.

Did you know I used to think that I could only make muffins from a box. Seriously. Ok, you can stop laughing now. It never occurred to me, until I became a stay at home mama and started cooking everything from scratch that there was another way to make muffins. It dawned on me that I could make them myself, without a box! So now that's all I do (except blueberry. I really love the little tin of tiny blueberries from the box.) No really, stop laughing. And go make these.

Oat & Streusel Muffins - makes 24 muffins
2 2/3 C flour
1 1/2 C oats
2/3 C sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 C milk
1/2 C oil
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steusel Topping:
6 Tbs flour
6 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbs butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients (including cinnamon) in a large bowl*. In a separate container, mix the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid. Stir until just moistened. Don't beat it senseless. As little stirring as possible makes for fluffy muffins. Dish into muffin tins about 2/3 full (1/2 cup measure worked perfectly for me).

To make topping, mix together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter (I use my fingers) until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle on top of muffins and press in a little bit. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test. Cool for 5 - 10 minutes before devouring.

*Muffins are one of the few things I will mix by hand, rather than in my Kitchenaid. I like the control I have and the ability to make sure they don't get over mixed. Muffins are picky that way.

Notes & Variations: I added oatmeal to mine because I wanted something I could feel happy giving my munchkins for snack aside from just sugar. This way they get a little healthy stuff in there. Also, it makes them more filling so you don't need to eat half the batch at once... Unless you're into that.

Ben Rating: 4. He promptly ate two as soon as he saw them. :)

FK: H's Baby Blanket - The Super Secret Project Reveal

Almost two weeks late, but it's finally done. This is the secret project I've been working on. It is a baby blanket for my niece, intended for her one year birthday. I was just a little off. I had cast on the Sunday before her birthday, and knew I would be seeing her on Wednesday. So I knit like the wind to try to finish. I got half way through, but did not make it. (Half way of a good size blanket in 3 days is pretty awesome though.) Then I got sick. I finally finished and gave it her mama yesterday.

Pattern: Mitered Corner Blanket adapted by me from Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: TLC Amore in "Rose" - 3.5ish balls

Needles: US 7/4.5mm Brittany wood straights

I cast on 72 stitches and it made a very generously sized blanket. It should last her a good long while. It is made by using short rows to make 4 corners, then you are supposed to sew the beginning and end together. I changed that to using a temporary cast on with waste yarn, and grafted the beginning and end together using the live stitches. Very fun! The short rows added enough interest to the garter stitch to not make it boring, and it was a good TV knit.

YTD Mileage: I forgot to weigh it before passing it on, but since I used 3.5 balls, I'm going to estimate it to be about 903 yards. Which brings my new total to 2.19 miles!