Pizza Pan Menu Board

For Lent this year I have given up fast food and drive-thrus. I don't think that I have ever gone 40 days with out fast food. I don't think I have ever gone a week without stopping through a drive-thru. I know... it's sick, but fast foods and drive-thrus are so easy at the end of the day. I hate getting out of work and then having to think of something to make for supper. So then Andy and I usually have the conversation that goes something like this...

"what do you want for supper?"
"I don't care, whatever you want"
"Well think of something and I'll make it"
"Well, you are the one cooking, so pick out whatever"

and then we can't think of anything that we want to make, so off to McDonald's we go.

In the past I have done meal planning but somewhere along the line I got away from it. I am blaming the yuckyness (which apparently is not a word according to spell-check!) of the dry erase board I used to use.It just wasn't fun to use anymore.

I know everyone has seen a million variations of menu boards all over pinterest, but this one is unique because all I used were pizza pans from the dollar store, 12x12 scrapbooking paper (which I happened to have on hand), and Mod Podge. This project costs about $5 and is so easy to do! Plus its magnetic... and I have had a bit of an obsession with magnets lately.  I didn't take any pictures along the way, but basically you cut your paper into 11 1/2 inch circles and use Mod Podge to glue it to the pizza pans and then brush the Mod Podge over the top of the paper to seal it.

Here are some pictures a bit more close up. Notice the magnets used here are the Bottle-Cap Fridge Flair and a tutorial for these can be found in this post.

What a great place to keep your grocery list!

Chicken Noodle Soup

This weekend has been a long one... and not in a good way. Andy is sick. Very sick. I won't go into details because it wouldn't be pretty. Just know it is bad. Really bad. In hopes of making him feel better and warding of this flu myself, I made chicken noodle soup.

 I found this recipe on allrecipes.com It is called Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup and that is exactly what it is! The great thing about this recipe is that it's fast but still has the freshness that the canned stuff can't hold a torch to!

I mean... the chicken. You control the quality. I used the run-of-the-mill boneless skinless chicken breasts...

The veggies, also fresh and they smell so darn good as they are cooking.

The big cheater moment is the canned chicken broth... I wish I has the time to make it from scratch... actually, I take that back. Even if I did have the time, I wouldn't. The canned stuff is so easy.And the even easier part of this soup is the finale. Throw everything in the pot an let it cook.

It takes a real culinary genius to make this soup ;) Someone wise once told me, don't reinvent the wheel. I didn't. So far, no flu for me and Andy is on the mend.

Peanut Butter Granola

Ok, first of all, I want to start out this post by giving myself some props. As you know, I am doing Weight Watchers and I had a pretty big week this week! I was done another 4.2 pounds! YAY! I am almost to my 5% (3 more pounds to go) I am hoping that I can hit that milestone with the next two weeks. With all of this losing and exercising I have also been trying some new recipes that I am pretty excited about sharing with you. This one is only 4pts+ for 1/4C. Woo-hoo!

Here is a yummy, yummy recipe that I found somewhere (I'm sorry, I can't remember where) and I have tweaked to yummy granola perfection. This granola is amazing mixed with yogurt, with milk poured over or on top of a bowl of ice cream. Yup. I am pretty sure that's not good for the weight-loss ;) Anyway, let's begin!

The stars of this recipe include: old fashioned oats (4 C),sunflower seeds(3/4 C), honey(1/2C), vanilla extract (1/2 tsp), cinnamon (1/2 tsp) and peanut butter (1/2 C)

In a microwave safe bowl combine the peanut butter and the honey and put this in the microwave for one minute.

Add the cinnamon and the vanilla extract to the peanut butter and honey mixture and stir this all together very well.

Now take a big whiff. Seriously, is this not the best smell that has ever happened past your nostrils? Ok. I am done foodgasming.

Slowly add the oats and sunflower seeds until all of the oats and sunlower seeds are covered... this takes awhile. This also works out the muscles in your forearm (double bonus!)

Spread out this granola mixture evenly on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet. Put this in an oven that has been preheated to 325. Bake this for about 10 minutes, stirring about halfway through.

Notice the amazing golden color? This is the color you want. Brown is not the color you want. Brown means it is burnt, and I will tell you that I have made burnt granola and it is bitter and disgusting, and it isn't even good on ice cream!

Enjoy!






 

Caramel Popcorn

So I just finished one of the most amazing books called the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I must say that it was one of the most fantastic love stories that I have read in a long time. It was also one of those books that has descriptions that are so beautiful and so realistic, you can close your eyes and picture the scenery. It also describes a place that I would pay any amount of money to visit. I mean seriously... the first words are
"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not." 
Magical... simply magical. At one point in the book it describes how the circus smells of caramel corn and apple cider. Ever since i read that delicious description I have been craving caramel corn. I am a sucker.So I made some!

Here is what you need to make it:

• 1 C Brown Sugar
• 1/2 C Corn Syrup
• 1/2 C (1 stick) of butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• popcorn

So make your popcorn.... mmmm. I love the smell of popcorn, don't you?!

Next... add the brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt to a pan.

Stir this constantly until melted.

Bring the mixture to a boil. Do not stir and let it boil for approximately 5 minutes.

 

While this is boiling away, spread your popcorn out evenly on a cookie sheet.

So now that you have patiently waited 5 minutes... add the baking soda to the caramel  and stir. Pour the caramel over the popcorn on the cookie sheet.

Next, quickly stir the caramel and the popcorn together. It will not evenly coat the popcorn... its ok. I promise. It is still amazing. It should look a little something like this...

 Break it apart. Take a small portion. Put the rest away in an airtight container.

OK... who was I kidding? Get back up and get more. Repeat this process many times. At least you are doing some exercise while you are eating all that delicious caramel goodness. And seriously, read that book.

Happy Deviled Egg Day

It is national deviled egg day! SOOO in honor of this amazing holiday, I made my first ever batch of deviled eggs and brought them to work!

Not gunna lie... they are craptastic. But my co-workers are eating them (I think they don't want to hurt my feelings!) The next time I make deviled eggs I will allow the eggs to cool completely, using measuring utensils, and be a little more careful with the paprika.

Holy Zucchini Batman!

Check out that zucchini! It is huge... and it's mine. all mine! One of my customers at the bank brought in a bunch of veggies from his garden and this beauty was in the bag. I literally pushed one of my co-workers out of the way to grab this. It was worth it. I made the most delicious *healthy* zucchini bread/muffins!

Yummy! I did a few substitutions and additions to this recipe but the guts and glory was found on all recipes.

Here is what you will need for the bread:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 C. vegetable oil
• 1/2 C. applesauce
• 2 C sugar
• 2 C. grated zucchini
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 C. flour (I used whole wheat flour)
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt

I started by preparing my zucchini and because I am far too lazy to grate a human-baby sized zucchini, I cheated. I peeled my zucchini and then cut it into chunks and threw it in my food processor.

Ok. So now you can begin to mix together your eggs, oil, applesauce and sugar. Mix well!

Add your zucchini and vanilla! Then add all of your dry ingrediants.

Your batter will look like this! You can then pour the batter in to a greased loaf pan or into lined muffin tins.

Now this is the secret weapon, a crumbled topping! To make this delicious crumble you will mix 1 C of brown sugar, 1 C flour, and 2 Tbsp melted butter. Sprinkle this over the tops of your muffins/loaves of bread. Now pop them all in the oven at 325. The muffins took about 20 minutes and the loaf of bread took about 45 minutes.

This recipe made 1 loaf of bread and 10 muffins. I like to make both because the bread is yummy but the muffins are a good option for someone who is perpetually late a girl on the go!

"Fun"nel cakes!!!

I am a fan of fair food. I'm not gunna lie. Deep fried anything is good. Actually, it's better than good... it is phenomenal. But, unfortunately, that yummy food is expensive!!! Since my hubby and I are on a budget I decided that I would pass up the $6.00 funnel cakes and make my own with ingredients I already had around the house! So not only was this free ( kind of!) but it was also a lot of fun to do!


The first step is heating up your oil. I used vegetable oil heated up in a frying pan...and I didn't measure it but it was probably about a 1/2 inch of oil in the pan.

While your oil is heating up, mix up your batter... I just used a basic batter recipe. Just mix together in the order you see here

1 1/2 Cups Milk
2 Eggs
2 Cups flour
1 tsp  Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

You'll also need powdered sugar to sprinkle on top... but we are not there yet!





Once your batter is made and your oil is hot, load up your batter... now, I know that these delectable treats are called funnel cakes because the batter is put into the oil through a funnel... and I tried! ATTENTION: the funnel method failed! I ended up using my cupcake icing device.... I also believe a pastry bag would work well or a plastic storage bag with the corner cut out of it.... but, whatever tool you decide to use, now comes the fun part!!!

Drizzle, Pour, go CrAzY! Put that batter in the pan!

Now, the hard part.... let it cook! After the bottom side is cooked to your liking, go ahead and flip it over!

Let the other side cook!

Now, you can take your funnel cake out of the oil (careful! It is really REALLY hot!) and put it on top a plate covered with paper towels (to sop of the excess oil). Then remove the paper towel,  and sprinkle on your powdered sugar!

Ok... Now you can eat it! 

How about that for some yummy fun?!

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