Once a month cooking?

MoneySavingMom & FishMama are hosting a live once a month baking/cooking event that starts today. Once a month cooking... an interesting concept, but I am not quite sure I'm ready to jump in with both feet. There are only two people in my house (myself & the roomie) and our schedules vary, so we don't always eat at the same time, we eat out sometimes, and sometimes we just snack. However, I can say that the concept of having some meals on hand so that my kitchen can stay cleaner...well I can buy into that... so I'm dabbling with this notion of cooking/baking ahead... though I must say I cheated a tad, I roasted a turkey breast yesterday and have the deconstructed results already packaged and in my fridge, but I was really wanting some turkey and knew that would occupy my oven for much of the time, so I decided to get a jumpstart on it. So what else am I up to... well it's midday here and so far in addition to the turkey I roasted yesterday I have already made:

Baked Pasta - No recipe here, I just pick a pasta, this time I chose a whole wheate penne, cook as directed, drain, stir in grated parm cheese, saute up any veggies you have on hand, add in pasta sauce ( I had some jarred variety) and mix it up. I go ahead and portion it out in 2 serving portions and freeze. Then, just pop out of the freezer and into the oven... I usually top it off with cheese when baking (you can also stir in some cheese when you're making it up) and it's pasta for dinner without having to wait for water to boil, etc...

Stuffed Mushrooms - Again, no recipe, I'm really more of a method cooker. Start with stuffer mushrooms, remove stems and reserve... gently clean your mushrooms with a lightly dampened paper towel. Finely chop your mushrooms. In a skillet melt about a tablespoon of butter (or you can use an oil, I happened to have small piece of butter left over from some other recipes), as it melts, sprinkle in a tiny pince of red pepper flakes, lightly sautee a minced clove of garlic and a few tablespoons of chopped onions (I made veggie dogs last night, so I had some leftover onion... chop it once, store it in the fridge and add to dishes during the week!), stir in your mushrooms, and add some crumbled precooked meat (I actually used some Boca soy crumbles, work just as well, taste the same and you don't have to precook!). Season with whatever you have on hand, I used a bit of poultry seasoning, which is a fun little mix to cook with. Cook until onions are soft and then stir in some grated parm cheese. I then let the mixture cool... then just stuff about a tsp of the mixture into your reserved mushroom caps. Place on a lined baking sheet and freeze until firm, then transfer into another freezer safe storage option. You'll probably have some left over stuffing, just pop it into a freezer bag and toss in the freezer too, it's a great addition to pasta sauces! When ready to use, just pop them out and lightly spray or brush the caps with a little olive oil and bake at about 350 for about 15 minutes or until heated through. Oh, and sprinkle on some cheese!!

Next up - I have some yummy homemade bread that is rising and will be going into the oven shortly.

And I just pulled some yummy French Puff Muffins out of the oven and am getting ready to top them now.

I am also planning on whipping up some peanut butter fudge and then I'm probably going to call it a day for today... but that will definitely stock me up on some quick dinner options, breakfast options and a sweet treat... Also have to get some homework done and then I might regroup and see what I want to work with tomorrow!

Any takers?

I'm looking for a couple of guinea pigs :) You may or may not know that I sell Avon. I don't do much promoting of it on this website (don't want to run off any readers with pushy sales tactics). I am going to be testing out some new skin care products that will be out in about another month, I want to get user opinions... in order to share with future customers. While I simply love trying out new stuff, I can't effectively try all the products at the same time. So here's what I'm looking for. First, I should point out, that I'm a small, home based business and can't afford to giveaway the products for this test. These aren't samples, they are full sized products. What I will be offering is this, if you are willing to give the products a shot and give me your opinion about them, I will sell them to you at my cost. Because of the nature of this, this one is only for Lexington metro area residents... but if this goes well, I might have other opportunities open up for any readers outside of that area at a later date.

So what would you be testing? One of two skin care bundles. These are MARK products. I personally use some Mark products myself and LOVE them. They are pretty neat skin care products.

One person will be trying:

Calm Yourself Bundle. The cost of the bundle is $13.30 (plus tax) - when it hits the books, it will be $22, so that's a pretty decent savings. You will get:

*Calming Effect Comfort Milk Cleanser - This soap-free cleanser that treats delicate skin with skin-nourishing milk complex also relies on banana and oat milk protein to help calm and comfort.

*Calm Yourself Hydrating Mask - This gel mask immediately increases skin's moisture by 168%, plus packs the power of five super soothers - sea moss, wheat germ, cucumber extracts, aloe vera and green tea. Antioxidant-rich lemon and orange extracts also help improve skin tone

*Go With the Grain Light Exfoliating Beads - Vitamin-rich adzuki beans and rice bran - two traditional Japanese exfoliators - blend with corn cob to lightly polish skin

The other bundle I need a tester for is the "That's Deep" bundle"

*That's Deep Purifying Gel Cleanser - A super-fresh, soap-free cleanser with sugar maple and black willow bark that goes right to work against dirt, oil and other skin cloggers

*Shine Fighter Oil Control Mask - An intense purifying mask featuring kaolin, a natural, oil-absorbing clay. Exfoliating sugarcane and antioxidant-rich pomegranate extract also work to rid skin of dirt and oil, and promote a clear and radiant complexion

*Berry Grand Super Exfoliating Beads -Antioxidant-rich cranberry and pomegranate seeds combine with apricot seed powder to polish away skin impurities

If you're interested in trying either of these bundles, let me know. I'll have a special gift for each user as a way of saying Thank You. Also, if you notice, there isn't a moisturizer in this bundle, if you want to add on one of Mark's moisturizers while you're trying, I will order you one (again at my cost for this testing) - You can ask me for details :)

Let's Try home made pizza

Ok, so for this "try it Tuesday" I am going to share with you my latest culinary adventure, a pizza made with home made pizza dough. My original plan was to do the sauce from scratch too, but there were forces conspiring against me, so I decided to just stick with the dough for this attempt. I've been wanting to try this dough for awhile now. It's a recipe I've read that several other bloggers tried and loved. I also had finally acquired my bread machine... and decided to give it a whirl (no pun intended!).

But first I had to run to the store, 2 stores in fact. I had to run to CVS because I had some ECB's that were expiring AND they had Coke products on sale. My original plan would have netted me 4 - 12 packs of Coke for about $5, but as I tried to print out some Coke Reward coupons, my ink cartridge completely gave out on me. I searched in vain for the refill I bought a few weeks ago, and COULD NOT FIND IT. Finally, frustrated, I just headed to CVS and bought the soda anyways, better luck next time I guess. Then on to Kroger to pick up flour. Flour would be a crucial ingredient in making pizza. I suppose you think it's odd that I don't already have flour in my house, considering if you know me, or have been reading my blog, you know I have stockpiles of practically everything. Everything except flour. I knew that I did have some flour, but I knew at least part of it was self rising (bad for bread machine) and the other, well I honestly couldn't remember when I bought it (I never really use it much) so I decided it would be best to start from scratch.

Now, next time I decide to be adventurous in the kitchen, I will probably exercise a little pre-cooking planning, but I was hell-bent on making this pizza. And while I do know how to cook, have a pretty decent stocked kitchen in terms of equipment, etc... lately cooking has been more of a quick process. Quite frankly, I'm a bit out of practice to actually preparing a real meal, from raw ingredients. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's more of a sign of the times...

The following are actual phrases heard from my mouth last night, that could probably give you an indication that I probably should have just had a bowl of cereal and tried again another night:

"Kev, I can't get the bread machine out of the box!"

"Kev, do we have any measuring cups that we're not using for dog food?"

"Kev, can you Google how many teaspoons make up a tablespoon?"

"Kev, can you do something with this dough ball?"

Don't you feel bad for poor Kev, who I had convinced to postpone having dinner, because I was going to make us a pizza? See, the bread machine had just been bought this weekend, and it didn't want to come out of the box. I don't do alot of baking from scratch, so when I cook, I'm good at eyeballing, I rarely need to measure a dry ingredient, other than Zali's puppy food, so it seems that the measuring cups have disappeared except for hers. And I believe that the tablespoon measuring spoon has wandered upstairs with the humidifier for cold season.

I do recommend pre-assembling all of your ingredients. I did this, it helps... I also recommend reading through your recipe before you start, I did this, it helps... I also recommend not being scatterbrained while you're doing it, I didn't do this, but I think it would help. The first mistake I made was as I started dumping my flour into the mixing chamber... BEFORE any of the the liquids (in case you don't use a bread machine, this is a No-No) so I had to dump that out, wipe the residue out and start over. Now the unfortunate thing, I didn't really take timing into consideration. So when I finally started the dough in the bread machine and did the math, imagine my mood when I realized the dough was going to take an hour and a half... and it was almost quarter after 8!!! (Que poor Kevin as I explain "well it will only have to bake for about 15 minutes once it's done!"

An hour and a half later, my machine beeped, and I headed back in to check out my doughy goodness. After removing said dough, I realized that this dough made a bit more than I would want to use, so this is where "can you do something with this dough ball" came in, as I divided the dough in half (the other half is now resting in the freezer). As I formed my pizza, I got ready to start preparing it. I ALMOST forgot that you're supposed to sprinkle the dough with salt before putting on the sauce... and when I say almost, I mean, I had placed a blob of sauce in the middle of the pizza when it occurred to me. Though I didn't notice a big difference in tast between that spot and the rest of the pizza when all was said and done.

Finally, at 10:15, we were chowing down on the home made pizza. It was good. I will definitely use this recipe again. I've normally used one of those mixes in a pouch, but not always been satisfied with the results. Maybe next time though, I'll actually have my act together!

And if you're wanting to see a picture of my creation... well... if you hadn't been able to gather by reading this, that was another FORGOTTEN step... maybe next time!

It's Tuesday... let's try Haagen Dazs

Well, my posts have been few lately, I apologize, but life has been hectic and Zali has been keeping my hands full. Then I unfortunately caught the plague... ok... not the plague... but I'm not 100% yet either... But still I trudge on!

This week, let's talk ICE CREAM, which in case you didn't know, is in my opinion, it's own food group. I make no bones about it, I believe in daily frozen confection consumption. Which is why I'm sharing with you my most recent flavor adventure... Fleur de Sel Caramel Haagen-Dazs. It sounds fancy, huh? It shoud... The pint I picked up, at Wal-Mart none the less, set me back $4.04!!! Normally, I can manage to get a couple half gallons for that. I have, however been eyeballing this flavor for MONTHS... It's one of their "Reserve" flavors, which means, the ingredients are harder to come by and the production is limited... and as a result... the price goes up, more than your regular Haagen-Dazs. Ever since I first spotted that little pint a few months ago, I have been scanning the frozen food cases, watching for a sale, a price drop, a coupon... ANYTHING... but alas, no such luck. Finally, I bit the bullet. I have been doing a great job with budgeting lately, and have cut my household budget, easily 50% or more each month... so by George, I was having the Haagen-Dazs.

Now some background info, Fleur de Sel or "Flower of the Salt" is supposed to be one of the rarest and most delicate salts in the world. It is harvested by hand on the French Coast of Brittany. The ice cream contains Fleur de Sel caramels, covered in chocolate, and then mixed into a caramel ice cream with swirls of caramel and French sea salt accents. I almost felt that I should put on my black dress to enjoy this... instead I opted for my comfy pj's.

Now, I should say, I'm not a huge "salt" person. I really don't use alot of extra salt, etc... but this flavor intrigued me. And, after sampling it, I can say that for me, it was worth the $4 price tag. It had the most interesting flavor, slightly sweet, slightly salty, pefectly creamy. This is what ice cream is supposed to taste like. Now granted, I won't be dishing this up at my next party, and this isn't the ice cream you make a milk shake with.... no this ice cream is best enjoyed by itself, it doesn't need anything extra to make it special.

There are some other "Reserve" flavors, I'm going on a search for 'em.

Try it Tuesday strikes again

It's another Tuesday, so I'm back to share more. So many new things recently, I just got a new furbaby, I just started a new medicine, but, as promised from last week's installment, I have decided to share from my finds at Lush. First, a little back story...

I discovered Lush a few years ago. I was in Orlando on a business trip in July, and well, unless you're originally from Mercury or something, you won't find Orlando that pleasant in July... It's HOT! My trip had me staying at the Marriott located at the Orlando International Airport, and we didn't venture out much, since our conference was there as well. Lucky for me, they have a great little mall, so with my free time, I was able to persuse and check out some new stores. That was when I first discovered Lush... If you've never been to a Lush store, think of a Bath & Bodyworks, only more hands on. All through the store, there are giant slabs of pretty soaps, and bath bombs, and lotions, and potions... Being the product junkie that I am, I was in heaven. I snapped up a few different things to try, and loved everything. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to travel near one again... so imagine my excitement when our Macy's opened a counter just a couple weeks ago!

Now, I know I could shop online, but if you want to touch, feel, smell... you don't get the same effect... and depending on how many things you want to try, buying online can get pretty pricey, because they sell in specific sizes... in the stores, you can have them slice off as little or as much as you want! So... I headed to the little shop in my Macy's.... which isn't as grand as the real stores, but works quite nice. I picked up a few treats, and today I'm sharing one of my favorites.

The Aqua Marina Cleanser: Now I warn you, this doesn't look like your typical cleanser... in fact, you kinda think sushi when you see it. Heck, it's even wrapped in seaweed! Now some of you know, that I am an Avon rep, which means I have at my disposal a wide variety of products. This should say something that I'm out touting a product that isn't one I sell :) Why did I pick this? Well I actually got a choice of a free cleanser with my purchases, and this was the one I decided to try. I couldn't be happier. I have skin that is a bit sensitive. I also have rosacea and a couple other skin calamities. This was why I liked this one... It contains aloe vera, chamomille, patchouli... these are very soothing ingredients. And I have found that this stuff feels ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL on my skin. Now the first thing to consider, if you decide to go out and buy this... it's sold in bulk, you can get as little or as much as you want. I would recommend starting out on the small side, because of the ingredients and the fact that it has no preservatives... the shelf life is only 3 months. At first glance, you may look at this and wonder exactly how do you use it... it's not a soap that you lather up. It's not a liquid that you can keep in a pump. It's actually a semisolid blob (ok, I know... not the prettiest word, work with me). When you want to use it, you just pinch off some (say oh somewhere between pea & marble size) and put it in the palm of your hand. With your other hand, wet your fingertips and add some water. This melts it into a really loose paste, fairly liquid. Then just use this liquid on your face. Smooth over skin, adding more water as needed to cleanse. Then just rinse like normal. I immediately noticed how calm my skin felt. I've been using for about a week and my skin has stayed clear, smooth and calm. This is definitely a product I will buy again.

That's all for this week!

Try it Tuesday

Ok, so I've decided to introduce a new segment into my blog. "Try it Tuesday" Each Tuesday, I will be sharing my results of trying something new, it could be a new food, a new recipe, heck if I have a slow week, maybe a new way home from work!

And my first "Try" is Snyder's Multigrain Aged Cheddar Cheese Puffs. Or Cheezy Poofs as I shall now refer to them. So, how did I select this product? Well, after careful market research and hundreds of hours in the lab... OK... back to reality... Sunday, I was grocery shopping, looking for a "Chip Product" to go in my lunches... and these caught my eye. Why did they catch my eye?
#1 Cheezy Poofs are GOOD!
#2 They were on S-A-L-E
#3 MULTIGRAIN in big ol' letters across the top required closer inspection
#4 There was a blurb about FIBER on the front too

So, I paused, and after taking a glance at the bag, decided that these would be a better option for me than the Wavy Lays Ranch chips I had just placed in my cart.

Now, they have 2 grams of Fiber in a serving, which isn't the greatest number, but does rank higher than my potato chips, and I'm a FIBER junkie, so I thought that combined with Whole Grain sounded like a better option.

I broght these for lunch today. And I must report they are YUMMY. To be completely honest, no, they aren't exactly like eating my usual fav, Cheetos Cheese Puffs. However, they have a great Cheddar Flavor and the whole grain adds an interesting crunch. And I don't feel quite so guilty eating them. I checked out their website, Snyder's has an entire line of Whole Grain snacks, including White Cheddar Cheezy Poofs... which are sounding very yummy!!!!

That's it for this installment, check back with me next week, for my next venture... I'll be giving the scoop on one of the goods from my shopping trip to LUSH today.