Puff pastry invasion

Cumin, brown sugar, oregano, paprika and beef broth takes things further, the mushrooms and rosemary can take the break they always needed, I won't be offended.  Sealing the deal with the mashed potatoes and Swiss however, fully-functioning game planning in the process of being executed, three cloves of garlic, a pound each of beef and pork, and an onion even.

It's warding off all the raspberry dark chocolate cheesy filling that's going to force powdered sugar as a topping into bakery heaven.  Been there, seen the damage, played the cards.

Needing sanding sugar became a crutch everyone relied on, I know how it is.

A dazzling trio

Super Bowl snacks galore are what this recipe blog needed, so glad cheesy pepperoni bread glazed in melted garlic butter is just around the corner, headed my way.  I can't deny I've been feeling ambivalent in the kitchen, watching winter knock everyone's guts out kinda takes a butternut squash-owning, pastry puff thawing, cream of chicken soup, frozen ground beef and pork dilemma and proves it further.

Squash can sit around being pretty all it needs, guzzling compliments for its steadfast wit, let alone bounty.  Makes me not nervous, only looking forth at the chicken I'll probably always pair it with, oh and spinach.  Takes fresh sage to a whole new level, at least in my vocabulary.  Wherein your worth is defined by whether or not it's possible to stuff pork and ground beef with an onion and garlic into an empanadas made for bad boys.

Being out of rosemary, while sure of Worcestershire, does that leave marjoram?  Will I sacrifice an entire dish on an inkling and a curse, well if adding sliced green olives to this tuna pasta salad is any witness, then I am.  Cubing sharp cheddar cheese sprung forth with abandon, it was the two cans of tuna that were out of my sphere of reckoning.  Never is.

Wherefore art my apron

The question was unasked up until that point, could some pulverized bran flakes ever be a stand-in for graham crackers?  Sure you'd take the same liberties and add four cups bran flakes to one half cup sugar and a stick of melted butter, press firmly into glass pan, I'd aim for 9 x 13.  Should only 1-1/2 blocks cream cheese be available, three eggs, 3/4 cup of sugar, 3/4 tsp vanilla is my firm answer. No, I've made up my mind.  Use the smaller pan, thicker crust never hurt no non-believer.

Three hundred twenty-five degrees for twenty minutes is a wonderful suggestion, don't get me wrong.  But my grandmother always blasted the goddanged hell out of her creations at 350 degrees, pretty standard.  This summer her marshmallowy fluff fruit salads will enter the picture, some tried and true side salads in general will take to the fore.

So all in all, and because cherry pie filling is politely insisting its way past the bread pudding that's so dangblasted easy.  Blame it on the bran flakes, out to spite muffins in general, and sans bananas.  The pan keeps calling my name and catching my attention, food processor blasting dishes out of my sink into the dishwasher, counters sprayed and cleared, every crumb swept off the floor.

Monday meal plan

Salisbury steaks in a crockpot sounds edgy enough to cause little regret, plus there's mashed potatoes. Only needing dry onion soup mix and dry au jus mix to make it possible, 2 cans of cream of mushroom thrown in to make light of it.  Wouldn't either.

I'm just not sure, maybe baked teriyaki chicken breasts with Asian-inspired white rice, because being out of quinoa after all that fanfare, embarrassing to say the least, otherwise it's revolutionary. Because now my peppers can be stuffed another way, not confusing, but motivating.

Get with it, a marinade of a tablespoon each of cornstarch and water, a half cup sugar and soy sauce a fourth cup cider vinegar, a minced clove of garlic, half tsp ginger, quarter tsp pepper.  Paint a family pack of chicken, both sides at 425 for an hour.  Don't apologize, we're in this together.

Fully fluent in backstabbing behavior, the links to possible dinner ideas ceaseless and endearing. Wouldn't anyone?

Pepper therapy

Imprisoned in snow is a dementia I live in, battling North Dakota winter a long held dream I've achieved.  Facing stuffed pepper recipes like a champion mosquito slapper on the other hand, as desperate for quinoa as that sounds, makes sure I don't spend the entire day obsessing about frittatas because oh, have I told you?  Eggs have invaded, and I'm talking more than two dozen.

'Course I hate frittatas and everything they stand for, too much egg, not enough cheese, and adding veggies that may or may not agree, and have you heard I'm out of peppers?  The Sisters Cafe has an Asian-inspired quinoa with carrots, peas, and green onion that I'd like to devour, 2 T soy sauce, two cloves minced garlic, and a teaspoon of sesame oil take it over the top, stuffed in peppers.

Not sure covering them in foil and baking at 350 for 18 minutes, then another five minutes under blazing hot fire means everything to me.  It will, I'd gander.  Making sure I'm out of peppers so I can't add them to the frittata is genius AND insane, because I'm stuffing them with Asian-inspired quinoa, I thought I told you.  So making a frittata with spinach perhaps, or broccoli if you insist, my peppers are gone.

I'd once thought stuffed peppers required a tomato sauce, but go ahead and invent a Mexican-inspired quinoa invasion, seen it done AND copied it exactly.  Both go hand in hand when frittatas don't come into being due to being the stubborn oldest child in a ham, green onion, broccoli and Swiss delight! Ask the grapevine.

Plus, there's chickpea croutons, no seriously

The whole entire reason we were put on this earth is to take lentils and boil them straight-up with brown rice, no hesitation.  Makes sense of the bigger picture when you assume washing them well and doing an overnight soak are your only options, it happens.  I'm sorry but boiling for 30-45 minutes needs to be said, I didn't invent the formula, I just invest in it, wholeheartedly.

I mean who wakes up in the morning with a head of broccoli and a sweet potato dicing on her agenda, steels forth with shredding 2 cups of cabbage and dressing it lightly with lemon or lime juice, a drizzle of olive oil later.  Not many people, that's who.  You can do the garlic-ginger pumpkin seed sauce if you're a total convert, roasted or raw, it's up to you really.

As for me, peppers stuffed with quinoa versus the tacos I'll make, and whatever else my kitchen will confess, a purge is in store.

Sounds hellish

Mostly Not Potato Salad is an execution I'd admire should whole food cooking suddenly sneak up on me, scream loudly, and bash my face right in.  Medleys like that are known for their misbehavior, trust me.  Slamming mere 2-in diced potatoes against the wall, because about ten minutes submerged in hideously hot water will get them tender like you like 'em.  Believe me!

Throwing 4 ounces of green beans into the water is second nature...at just the right time, unless steaming them in the microwave preoccupies your imagination leaving no choice in the matter, only surrender.  Leek and fresh dill are the next victims I'd assume, sautéed readily and willingly for 4-5 minutes until golden and crispy.  Six stalks of diced celery into the defiant matter an entire cucumber, 6 ounces of tofu, a tablespoon of chives, oh, and there's dressing!

I'd never make this, just giving an example.  It is not against my religion to whisk 2 T whole grain mustard with 2 T red wine vinegar and 2 t olive oil, never has been.  It's spanking the heck out of a half teaspoon sugar, getting the belt out for all I know, adding fine grain sea salt.  No problemo.

So when I think of all the world's problems and acknowledge the depth of depravity in all the psychopaths out there, me being one of them, make peace with Jesus while you can.  Thank Him regularly for all of your blessings, with every breath I'd hope.  And look forward, because serving chilled Mostly Not Potato Salad with everything BUT the kitchen sink, though mostly just celery, cucumber, tofu I'll have to admit but take back later, and there's potatoes, and green beans, yes leeks, dill, chives, salt...wait.

Where's the pepper.

Crockpot lore

Spirit leads the way and so when you're working out for 40 minutes every morning with good ol' Jillian, switching it up with TIU workouts with Karena and Katrina, cooking with black beans, butternut squash and spinach retreats to the back burner for awhile.  Sure, you've diced enough celery, carrots, onion, and garlic to make any crockpot split pea soup with ham jealous of its melding potential.  Been to the bread bowl sanctuary and retreated with your anti-sugar stance.

C'mon, being out of sugar is a flaw we can all recognize, but is having a seventh child really apropos for a forty year old?  Steamed broccoli and baked sweet potatoes aside, is being in great shape while cooking up a firestorm enough satisfaction for a thriving woman my age, or is rejecting a blessing from God the way I'll go.  Never been one to limit my quiver, nor refuse to bear witness to my little arrows' roles.

Ex-unschoolers like me go through this all the time, uncertainty in the long run but surefootedness halfway there, until the meantime.  Painting it with flashy colors for all to see, those uninvited, sisters and mothers with prying eyes, fully obsessed with my soul.

When you've bought the hash browns, have celery, carrots, onion and garlic on hand

Running out of sugar was the catastrophe of the century, still being out meant I'd been bamboozled by the weather, it happens.  Never being planned on is the first thing I'd recommend getting over, should running out of sugar continue to be a trend, because when it comes straight down to it, you and sugar are friends.  We both have always known that.

Ordinarily, I'd be so pleased that Christmas came off without a hitch, overly abundant if you ask me, which you didn't and don't plan to.  Because when birthdays rolled around and I turned 40, so dang blasted happy I am who I am today, just saying.  Cooking the birthday cake up was my plan and I executed it, unbelievable chocolate cake paired with can't believe 3 sticks of butter can be whipped into infinite bliss like that, I mean licking the cake platter clean is a compliment?! Whatever.

Being out of sugar is no big deal after that cake really.  Nothing matters except that gourmet salads can become the norm in everyone's kitchens, I mean how easy.  I still have half a butternut squash on my mind however, ready to be diced practically pea-sized, gotta disguise them with the black beans somehow.  I mean it's 3 cloves of garlic, an onion, ol' jalapeño, and a teaspoon each of cumin and chili powder.

Red enchilada sauce everywhere, eight corn tortillas, a cup of Monterey Jack with jalapeños, I'll make it tomorrow.  Probably gonna do some prep work tonight, a little dicing, some examining my conscience for ingredients that inspire.  Can't take a green and red pepper for granted, it'd be a shame to forget diced ham fully expecting split pea everything.  You've seen the movie, been to grocery stores, you smile.  See, we're alike in every which way, some are just hoarding the arrogant pile.

Tread bold

My heart's beating all on its own in the kitchen lately, well two times to say exactly when my cook's heart took hold and just knew where to lead me.  For instance, this morning knew I'd put butter cookie dough in the refrigerator, to take out at my leisure and douse with gifted raspberry jam.

It's easy when you get all crazy and cream three room temperature sticks of your butter with an entire cup of free-willed and fancy-free sugar, what you don't believe me?  Try taking a teaspoon of vanilla and throwin' it in like some master, a three-and-a-half cups of flour plus quarter teaspoon salt endeavor.

Yeah, totally dusted them with powdered sugar after their reckoning.  And tonight was going to be some butternut squash and black bean with red enchilada sauce and corn tortillas concoction I dare not mention.  For fear tonight's actual dinner is composed of homemade spaghetti sauce, entirely experimental, off the cuff even.

When you start messing around with teaspoons of oregano and basil with some extra garlic powder thrown in.  Just sure of your way when you're salting and peppering.  Even gay when you take red pepper out on a limb and denigrate it to your heart's content.  After all, speech is free in America, and the internet's uncertain territory.

At least it was back in the day, in '92 I graduated.  Yes back when chicken pillows first enticed your family into cohesiveness.  The side of peas present at near every meal, what vitamin c's not a reason? Whole wheat, oatmeal, and beans not your priority!

The Pioneer Woman can take her ranch and homeschool her children while I recover from past wrongs done unto me by those undeserved.  What' I'm not gonna say it?  This New Year won't be
blessed beyond all humans can imagine?  Time will tell that cooking's where it's at, beside raising
healthy happy children.  I've got six of my own, plus one blessed soul in His heaven.

But tonight's about the upcoming 365 days of a new year, take none of it for granted.