Since Zucchini is in Season...

Here a couple of things you can try...

Zucchini and Eggs

My mom has been cooking this since I was very little, so I didn't have a chance to think that zucchinis were gross. My aunts love growing things in their garden (unfortunately, I didn't inherit a green thumb, but anyway...). We always had plenty of zucchini in the summer. I was used to this recipe as well as plenty of Zucchini Bread.

Anyway, for zucchini and eggs you'll need:

1 small zucchini or 1/2 large one (cut in half and thinly sliced)
1 small onion (cut in half and thinly sliced)
6 eggs
1 TBSP. milk
salt and pepper
butter

In a small skillet over low heat add approx. 1 TBSP. of butter. When butter is melted add the zucchini and onions. Let them saute until zucchini is very soft and onions are transparent. This usually takes about 10 minutes or less.

In the meanwhile, crack your eggs into a large bowl. Add milk and salt and pepper to your liking. Beat until lightly frothy on top.

When zucchini and onions are done, remove from pan and set aside. Add your eggs to the pan and scramble as normal. Everyone scrambles their eggs differently so if you like it a certain way, by all means use your way. Just add the zucchini and onions and mix through right before your eggs are ready to come out. In other words while the eggs are formed but still wet.

I like to pour my eggs into the pan and let them set a bit and then as they sit pull them in from the sides and bottom making sure they're not sticking. I'm sort of folding the eggs over onto themselves. I'm not a constant scrambler. I like to cook them nice and slow to get a very soft, but cooked result.

Enjoy!

For dinner if you still have plenty of zucchini, try this recipe: Lasagna Soup

It's delicious!!!

Making Baby Products Less Convenient?

Ok, so I've been using Pampers Sensitive Skin baby wipes for 4 years now. I started using them because when Asha was in the hospital the nurses used them w/her and all the preemies, so I figured they must be quite gentle! Anyway, when the 2 year old came along, he came with all sorts of sensitivities...severe diaper rash, eczema, peanut allergies, etc. So these wipes have been perfect.

So whats the problem you say? Well to save money, we just buy the refill packs instead of the tubs. The cool thing about this was that the refill packs were resealable, so it wasn't necessary to have the bulky plastic tub and you could throw them in the diaper bag and go. Plus, I think they're better for the environment? Anyway, I'm not the type of mom that packs everything but the kitchen sink on outings so this was great.

Well, on Wednesday I went to Target and purchased my usual big box of diapers and big pack of Pampers Sensitive wipes. Mind you, I've been using these for four years. I pull out a new pack for a diaper change and I'm looking all over the package for the resealable tab. It's not there! It normally just peels back enough for you to get the amount of wipes you need out and seals right back up. This package I had to open like a bag of potato chips! Pampers decided not to make their refill packs resealable anymore! How inconvenient! Now I have to put them in a zipper bag to keep them from drying out which makes my already crazy travels, but a bit more stressful.

I called Pampers and they were very apologetic and are sending me some coupons, but what baby company would make their product more inconvenient? Don't us Moms need all the help we can get? I'll continue to use the wipes because I love them, but I wish they would bring the old packaging back.

Maybe I'm making something out of nothing, but...

What are your thoughts? and how do other moms make traveling with kids more convenient?

On "just looking"....

Ok, so I'm not one of those high pressure sales people. However, I love people and I really like lending my expertise (or giving my opinion, whatever you want to call it). Granted, I just work in a retail store, but I really do like my job. I like checking out the new inventory when it comes in, I like the training the higher-ups give us about the products and vendors, and I work for a company I believe in.

Yes, I do have a goal (aka quota) to meet in order to keep my job. I'm ok, with that...usually I do just fine. As a matter of fact, I think all people in service jobs should work on commission. Can you imagine the difference if the people at fast food restaurants or Wal-Mart worked on commission? How they would go out of their way to make sure you were taken care of? It would be a whole different ball game right?

Here's my issue.. a customer walks through the door and I smile and say, "Hello! Welcome to ________. What can I help you find today?" The answer is, "I'm just looking!!" Sometimes when the weather's bad or the Cardinals just won I might say, "Hi, how about this weather?" or "How about those Cards?" Those customers still just say, "I'm just looking!" What? C'mon! You totally have a phobia of salespeople if you are so strong that you have to say "I'm just looking!" to whatever question the salesperson asks.

Now I know we have a bad reputation for being pushy and I hate that myself, but we're not all like that. Give us a chance!! Some of us are really nice people, have a lot of knowledge, will give you great customer service, and aren't pushy at all!

I don't mind if a customer says, "Hey, I'm just going to look around and I'll come get you if I need some help." Completely respectable! I'll stay available for you. I certainly appreciate honesty and that you don't want some salesperson following you around the store. Just stop saying, "just looking" if you're seriously considering a purchase.

I'm not asking that people automatically trust salespeople....just give us a chance! We're trying to make a living like the next American!

Feel free to leave me any comments about your experiences with salespeople whether good or bad.

Thanks for listening...

--Jen

Aida is the Bomb!

Okay, so I've been watching the Food Network for many years and I really like this new school set of chefs they have: Aida Mollenkamp, Sunny Anderson, and I loooove the Neelys.

Recently I tried a roast chicken recipe from Aida (Ask Aida is her show). I've been trying to get Roast Chicken right for years now. The best recipe I've had has been from Real Simple magazine, which gave me the coveted crunchy skin on the outside, but the inside never cooked completely. I tried Aida's Slow Roasted Garlic Chicken recipe from the Comfort Food episode.

This chicken was to die for! I couldn't even carve it without eating the crispy/flavorful/still had the kosher salt on it skin! It was soooo good! Even better, the inside was done! No blood any where in site. I know that's gross, but that's literally how my roasted chicken used to turn out.

The only con I discovered was that the breast was slightly dry, but just a dip in the liquid at the bottom of the pan and this was totally a non-issue! If you've been searching for a really good roast chicken recipe, you should try it!

I'm curious...who's your fav. new school Food Network chef?

Frugal Southern Salmon Cakes

Here's the recipe for Salmon Cakes to feed a family of 5-6

2 - 14oz. Cans of salmon
1 onion - chopped
1/2 tsp. dill
2 eggs
2 handfuls of bread crumbs (sorry this is how I measure, I have small hands if that helps!)
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. paprika
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Empty the salmon into the bowl. Carefully pick out bones, don't worry about getting all the bones out they are pretty soft and edible. I mostly just get the round spine bones out and whatever other ones I can get. Lightly flake the salmon with a fork. Add the onion, eggs, bread crumbs and dill. Mix together until well blended, but don't over mix. In a separate plate mix the cornmeal and paprika. In a skillet heat the oil over medium high heat.
Shape the mixture into patties about 3 inches in diameter and coat with the cornmeal mixture. Fry the patties on each side until golden brown and drain on paper
towels.

These are a tasty frugal dinner that the kids love. I usually try to make this homemade tartar sauce http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tartar-Sauce-I/Detail.aspx from allrecipes.com

Serve with pasta and salad for a complete meal! Enjoy!

Family Loving-Waistline Hating Mac & Cheese

Disclaimer: This recipe is in no way friendly when it comes to the waistline. If you are currently on a diet, try at your own risk. Everything in moderation.

I make this on occasion when I really need a good comfort food and it gets the job done everytime. I'm not a chef, I just know what me and my family likes; this recipe was inspired by several TV chefs until I found a version that tastes the best to us. So here goes:

1 lb. elbow macaroni
3 cups whole milk (although 2% can be substituted for a little break in fat)
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups + enough for sprinkling sharp cheddar cheese
Thin potato chips (I use Lays)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground mustard
Salt
Pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 13x9 baking dish or nice sized casserole dish. Boil macaroni according to package directions. (Make sure to salt the water to flavor the pasta) When the macaroni is done, pour into a strainer. In the pot, melt the butter and whisk flour into the melted butter. Cook for 3-4 minutes being careful not to let the flour brown. Slowly whisk in the milk in a slow stream. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, ground mustard, salt, pepper and the cheese. Pour into casserole dish. Top with additional cheese. Crumble chips and sprinkle on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

Additional note: Asha loves this meal and it's doctor approved because she's underweight. If you have a child that needs to gain some weight, he or she will love this.

A Roast Named Chuck

Tonight's Dinner Was:
Braised Pot Roast and Garden Salad

So I actually took the chuck roast I got on sale a couple of weeks ago out of the freezer on Monday so it could thaw. Although I planned to cook this in the slow cooker I didn't get started until noon. Slow cooker pot roasts take about 8-9 hours; 8pm might be a little late for dinner, plus DH and kids probably would be starving by then. Anyway, I found this Tyler Florence recipe stashed in my makeshift cookbook. It's actually a photo album that I've cut out recipes in and instead of pictures--voila!--cookbook! I've had this cookbook for about 10 years now and I consider it to be so valuable, I'll probably leave it to my oldest daughter in my will.

Anyway, here's what I did:

• Seasoned 1 side of the roast w/kosher salt, grill seasoning, and a little pepper.
• In a dutch oven, add about 2 tbsp. olive oil over med/high heat.
• When oil is hot dropped roast in seasoned side down (very carefully...the oil pops!)
• Seasoned the other side of the roast.
• When the first side had a nice crust on it, I flipped it over and got the "crust" on the other side.
• Added to the pot: 1 can of crushed tomatoes. (I think a 14oz. can works best, I used 28oz. and there was a little too much liquid.), 1 cup of water (I'll decrease the water too next time, or use beef broth), 1 cup of sliced carrots (I like them a little bit on the rustic side--kind of thick), sliced mushrooms, 1 clove chopped garlic, and 2 stalks of celery sliced (rustic-style here too).
  
• Seasoned all w/salt, pepper and 1 tsp. of dried thyme.
• Bring to boil, then turn down to a simmer for 3 hours.
• Take the roast out and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

To serve, I just take a few slices to each plate and then scoop some of the veggies from the pot, with the tomato gravy and pour over the meat...

Served w/salad mix from the bag with grape tomatoes and some of the leftover sliced mushrooms.

This meal went over pretty well. The kids said they liked it (of course they say the same about almost everything). It was a nice warm, comforting meal on a windy, rainy day like today.

Then it was time to head out for a meeting at the school. A mother's work...

Love This Recipe!

I would like to share some recipes with mothers (or fathers, I want to give a shout out to fathers who are holding it down in the kitchen too) of meals to cook for their family. So tonight I made the kids favorite recipe for tilapia.

Parmesan Breaded Tilapia

6 tilapia filets
3/4 cup of Italian-style bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl or shallow dish, beat together the eggs and water. In a separate bowl mix together bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, paprika, cayenne pepper and melted butter. Rinse and dry tilapia. Dip filets one by one into egg mixture and then coat both sides with bread crumb mixture and place into a slightly greased pan. I use an 11"x13". Bake for about 12-15 minutes until fish flakes easily. Turn on broiler briefly until breading is crunchy and crispy on top.

I serve this with those restaurant style garlic biscuits. Here's the recipe:

Restaurant Style Garlic Biscuits

2 cups of baking mix
2/3 cup of milk
1/2 shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of melted butter
3/4 tsp. garlic powder (not salt)
1/2 tsp. dried parsley

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix baking mix, cheese and milk with wooden spoon until soft dough forms. Drop by spoonfulls onto very lightly greased baking sheet (or ungreased if it's non-stick). They should be kind of mounded on their and about 2 inches in size. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Mix melted butter and garlic salt together until mostly dissolved. Stir in parsley. Brush butter mixture over the biscuits when they're out of the oven.

For the veggie I serve green beans. I just use the frozen bagged ones. I pour them in a glass bowl, add a little water, a couple of pats of butter and seasonings. Usually salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.

The family devours this meal and the best thing about it is, you can tweak it to your liking.

A Father's Promise

I just finished watching this documentary on MSNBC and was deeply touched. As a prior single mom I understand the problems and issues that the mothers go through with not having a father for their children. However, I felt the most compassion for these children with their varying degrees of unhappiness with their father's participation in their lives. One young man made excuses for his dad, stating that "He was a poet and sometimes would be working on poem a poem for days at a time." I was thinking to myself "Wow, what kind of man is this letting his son make excuses for him." Another young man described his dad as being evil and the young lady stated that she never wanted to get married or have children. It was deeply troubling and I had a hard time understanding the mentality of the men here, but like the father of my two oldest, I've just stopped trying to understand it. My only focus is the health and welfare of my kids. They are beautiful, better off and blessed. My husband has been great and is the best father they'll ever know. I pray for all kids who don't have their biological fathers in their lives and for the fathers who are so blind that they can't recognize the beauty of God in their children.