"Snow" Day

Today was a snow day for me. Yeah. No snow here in "the 'couve" though. I was able to hit the grocery store and Michael's. Yeah. I finished off three scarves I'd made and did some baking. Did I get my school work stuff done? Not so much. Maybe later. I just got a text message that tomorrow is a two-hour late start day and the weather guys are saying that we'll get more snow Wednesday. What an interesting week.

Here are the chocolate dipped macaroons I made. Delicious, but really sweet!

And here are the caramels I made. Yummy, yummy, yummy! I only cooked them for 11 minutes though. Had I cooked them any longer they would have been toffee I think. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my Pampered Chef stoneware?
All wrapped and ready to go!

Oh and did I mention that my computer is shocking me? Yeah. I'm worried. The one year warranty is over and last time it was shocking me like this it died. Yeah. Fried mother board. Not good. All memory was lost. It really sucked and Best Buy really pissed me off. You can read all about it here or here or here or here.

Ok, it's really shocking me now...I've said way more f-bombs than you can imagine and I'm now getting afraid to touch this stupid machine. Dammit!

Yummy Dinner

So I made a yummy dinner last night...at least my family and I think so. I was thinking I should make something with pasta due to the fact that we have so much of it around. It must have been on a good sale or something. I can't resist a great price.

So. Dinner. I found this recipe, Baked Ziti with Turkey Meatballs over at Epicurious. I thought it sounded yummy, but didn't want to make my own meatballs, and happened to have a bag of turkey meatballs from Trader Joe's. I think in the future I'll make the meatballs over there because they sound delicious. So here is the modified recipe:

Baked Ziti with Turkey Meatballs

you need:
1 pound ziti penne pasta
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces)
1 cup freshly grated Romano cheese (about 3 ounces)
about 6 cups pasta sauce (two jars)
a 15-ounce container ricotta cheese (I used low fat)

In a kettle of salted boiling water cook pasta until just al dente, about 8 minutes, and drain well. I used the whole grain penne pasta.

In a small bowl toss together 6 oz. shredded mozzarella and 3 oz. shredded Romano cheeses (I used a blend of romano and parmesan because that was what I had on hand.

Spoon about 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce and half of meatballs into prepared dish (I used my 9x13 stoneware baking dish from Pampered Chef) and spoon half of pasta on top. Spread half remaining sauce and half cheese mixture over pasta. Top with remaining meatballs and drop dollops of ricotta over meatballs. Spread remaining pasta over ricotta and top with remaining sauce and remaining cheese mixture.

Bake in middle of oven 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden, and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

This stuff was a hit with the family. I wanted to serve it with broccoli and garlic toast, but had neither so I made green beans to go with it. Lots of yummy leftovers too!

Happy Monday to you and have a nice week!

Delicious Dinner

So this weekend I finally made this pumpkin casserole. I've had the recipe saved in my google reader for some time. I found it over at Closet Cooking. I like this guy's blog. Go check it out.
Pumpkin Casserole

Pumpkin Casserole
Ingredients:
4 cups pumpkin puree
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pecans (chopped)
1/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons butter (softened)

Directions:
1. Mix the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, milk, egg, vanilla and salt and mash.
2. Mix the brown sugar, pecans, flour and butter.
3. Pour the pumpkin mixture into a baking dish (or dishes) and top with the pecan mixture.
4. Bake in a preheated 350F until golden brown on top, about 30 minutes.

I also made a chicken in my crockpot to go with it. I found this recipe over at A Year of CrockPotting.

--1 whole chicken, skinned (mine was around 4 pounds)
--3 tsp kosher salt
--1 tsp paprika
--1 tsp Italian seasoning
--1 tsp seasoning salt
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--4 whole garlic cloves peeled
--1/2 yellow onion, cut into thirds

The Directions.

I used my white (I think it's 5 or 6 quarts) crockpot (smartpot).

I skinned the chicken because the crockpot lady did (and I thought we didn't really need the added fat). Get rid of the neck and other stuff from the cavity and rinse. I used my Pampered Chef kitchen shears and it made the job go fairly quickly. I gave up on skinning the wings though....completely lost cause!

In a bowl, combine all of dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Put the bird breast-side down into the crockpot (sadly enough I had to call my mother in law to make sure I had the right side pegged as the breast...just in case you don't know, it's wings up, rounded side down).

I shoved the peeled garlic cloves onion inside the bird.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 8. I opted for the high setting. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

Ok, both of these dishes were EXCELLENT!!! A complete hit with the whole family. Score!!! We'll definitely make this dish again. Now I'm off to use the chicken carcass to make broth.