Breakfast with Friends

This past weekend, we had some friends over. Because both Mr Oh and I had to work, Sunday morning was the only time we could all catch up.

I set the table before going to bed Saturday night.
I love my Ikea glasses.
Love the star napkin rings from a junk store.
Love the big rodeo coasters from somewhere in Texas.



Also before going to bed, I made the casserole. It's way easy.

• Line a pan with frozen hashbrowns (or sandwich bread even). I used ones that are shaped kinda like McDonald's, but shredded ones would work.
  
• Add a layer of sausage. (I browned one pound.)
• In a bowl, mix six eggs, a cup of milk, and as much shredded cheese as you'd like. (When I called my brother for a refresher on the recipe, he reminded me that no one ever says "there was too much cheese".)
• Add that stuff on top, and put it in the fridge over night.
• In the morning, cook it at 350 for 45-60 minutes

One of our friends is a former vegetarian, and she doesn't eat all that much meat now. She also happens to be the one that gave me two oh-so-cute Le Creuset personal casserole dishes. I left the sausage out of these, and put bell peppers in the dish shaped like a bell pepper, and tomatoes in the one shaped like a tomato!

We also had coffee, juice, biscuits, and a fruit dish. We used to have this on major holidays when I was growing up, but it's been dropped from the menu in recent years. It's just strawberries, bananas, and a couple spoonfuls of concentrated orange juice straight from the can. That helps keep the bananas from browning, plus adds a bit of a citrus flavor.

Just Call me Becky Home Ec-ky

In order to sweeten Mr Oh up to the idea of a pantry challenge, I baked cupcakes on Friday night. (A box of Betty Crocker mix was on sale for 0.84 over Easter weekend.) It was all well and good until I realized I didn't have any frosting or icing.

No fear, I'll google a recipe and make it!

Quick and Easy Powdered Sugar Icing

2 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla and milk. Then add more milk a bit at a time until it is thin enough to drizzle over a cake. Once you've iced your cake, it's best to let it stand for one or two hours.

But, wait! I didn't have powdered sugar on hand. So what is a girl to do in the midst of a pantry challenge?

Turn to her handy dandy Magic Bullet,
and watch ordinary sugar
turn into powdered sugar.
I made seven cupcakes and used the rest of the batter for a small cake that I put in the freezer. The sugar didn't quite powderize (I'm sure that's a real term...) fully, so the icing was a little gritty, but I'm still pleased with how cute the cupcakes looked on my stand:

Italian Goodness

Even though we have LOTS* of leftovers from Mexican Monday, I'm making what is known as "Italian Goodness". It was named this after I got tired of saying "Italian Sausage with Bell Peppers, Onions, and Potatoes" every other week.

Ingredients (amount I used tonight):
Sweet Italian Sausage (1 pkg; 1.25 lbs)
Green Bell Peppers (1 1/2)
Onion (almost 1)
Red Potatoes (2 decent sized ones)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (several drizzles)
Italian Seasoning (several shakes)

Directions: Cut the first four ingredients into bite-sized chunks. Place in baking dish. Drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil and Italian seasoning. Mix it all up.

Bake at 425 until fully cooked. (The smaller you cut up your potatoes and sausage, the quicker it will be finished.) Check it every 15-20 minutes or so. Stir and add more extra virgin olive oil if necessary.

Enjoy the goodness!

Tonight I used a smaller baking dish (not the one above), and couldn't fit in as many veggies as normal. I didn't want to have to eat the leftovers for days, plus I used some onion and bell pepper in my green salad. The only reason I actually made this tonight is because our sausage needed to be used, as did the potatoes.





*We had 10 people over for Mexican Monday, but Mr Oh probably made enough food for 20! There was enough chicken and rice left for me to eat for lunch today through Friday, plenty of refried beans, 4 tamales, 6 taco shells (gave 4 to a sister), a good amount of taco meat, and a crazy heap of fresh fruit salad. Yummy.

taco soup

Taco soup is currently simmering in my crockpot. These pictures are actually from several weeks ago, but I never got around to posting them. It's kinda funny, because as I look at the photo, I'm embarrased that I have Hunt's diced tomatoes, actual Rotel (which is just a few cents higher) and the brand for Ranch Style beans. Also, I'm laughing because I realized I forgot to add the generic Rotel that I bought today. Oh well. I need it for Velveeta queso for tomorrow's Mexican Monday.

You can see most of the ingredients in the picture, but I'll list it out...

• pound of browned ground beef
• 2 cans of stewed tomatoes
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of Rotel
• 1 can of hominy, drained
• 1 can of corn, drained (I just used some frozen corn today)
• 1 can of almost every bean you can name: kidney, black*, pinto, ranch-style
• packet of taco seasoning
• packet of ranch seasoning
• cheese**
• onion***
  

*I lost the recipe for this (it's written on the ticket stub in the photo), and apparently couldn't recall it very well today. Not only did I forgot the Rotel, but black beans aren't an ingredient, and I put them in. Oh well.

**My mom's used Velveeta before and says it makes it extra creamy and yummy. I've used gobs of shredded cheddar/Mexican blend. Today I didn't add any, just to make it healthier. When I make a bowl later, I'll add a bit of shredded cheese on top, as well as sour cream (speaking of healthy...hehe), and some tortilla chips.


***As I posted this last picture, I realized I didn't put onions in either! ttfn...

chicken divan

DH had the day off on Tuesday (thank you, veterans!) and like any good husband, he had flowers waiting for me when I got home. (It was our one monthiversary.) Also, like any good husband, he agreed that we should make dinner to take to my sister ME. Her DH is gone for the month (dang you, med school), so we thought she and their baby SBJ would like some company.

DH did all the prep work at our place. Then once we arrived at my sister's house, I threw the dish in the oven.

Hubby's sitting next to me now and is going to tell me how to make this lovely dish.

Chicken Divan

• boil some chicken
• steam some brocolli
• combine in a bowl: two cans of cream of chicken soup; some milk; some cheese; no more than a tablespoon of mayo; and a wee bit of curry spice (optional)
  
• shred the chicken and place in baking dish
  
• add the brocolli
• evenly pour the mixture on top
• melt 1/2 - 1 stick of butter, combine with Stove Top (or bread crumbs, or corn flakes)
• add that combo to the top of your dish
• bake at 375 degrees for approx. 20 minutes (the sauce will bubble)
• enjoy!

If you noticed the "somes" and "wee bits", don't be alarmed. Mexicans don't use measurements when cooking.

Also, while we're talking about divans...DH and I bought our first couch this week!