Spiral Pasta & Ham Casserole

I have had a few requests for this colorful casserole recipe and since I made this for lunch today, I finally remembered to share it.

Spiral Pasta & Ham Casserole

1 pkg (16oz) tricolor rotini
1 1/2 c. cubed ham
1 can (15.74oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, divided
1 can (2.8 oz) french-fried onions, divided
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1 can (10.75 oz) cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. celery salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Cook pasta according to package direction and drain. In greased 9x13 baking dish combine pasta, ham, corn, 1 c. cheese, and 3/4 c. onions. In a bowl combine broth, soup, milk and seasonings. Pour over pasta and mix well.  Back uncovered at 350 for 30 min. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and onions. Bake 5 min. longer or until heated through.

My tips: I buy a Jennie-O turkey ham and cube the entire thing, then freeze it in containers to use in casseroles, omelets, etc. I also make my own chicken broth using granulated bouillon. I was out of corn so I threw in some mixed vegetables instead--you barely notice the extra veges and it adds some nutrition and more color! I also put it in two smaller pans and freeze one as it's hard for us to eat an entire 9x13 without getting sick of leftovers.

The day my grandma passed away this fall, I had made this casserole in two pans for lunch. Instead of freezing one, I brought both pans to my parents and baked them while we waited for the family to gather. This recipe, along with a few side dishes, ended up feeding 12 people and they all enjoyed some home-cooked comfort food after a week of eating out while visiting at the hospital.

Ice Cream is a Staple Food

Long day = short rambling post

I got home from work at 8 tonight and skipped the grocery trip I had planned for the way home in order to see my child before he went to sleep. Now I'll have to do the dreaded Friday after work grocery shopping, but it can't be helped. I hate shopping at that time because by the end of the week, I just want to GO HOME, it is semi-busy as people stock up for the weekend, and most of the ad specials are out of stock. My money is on the fact that there won't be any more pails of Vanilla Blue Bunny Ice Cream for $4.99. Maybe New York Vanilla, French Vanilla, or a Chocolate/Vanilla mix, all of which are silver medalists but still on the podium when it comes to the Ice Cream Olympics.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about different kinds of ice cream. One of my favorite places to babysit was my aunt & uncle's house because they always bought the Well's Blue Bunny flavor of the month and the kids (who are now in grad school and a Senior in HS--yes, I'm old) got to eat ice cream as a special treat when they had a babysitter.  So, I'm not against trying new things, but Vanilla ice cream is a staple in our household. Adam eats it with Double Stuff Oreos and there is nothing like warmed up brownies with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. Also, I use it to make caramel roll topping. So you see, it is a breakfast food.

Ice Cream is a complete necessity, Dave Ramsey, and I will make an ice cream envelope if I have to.

Friday Night, in pictures

Merry Christmas to me!

Good Things Come in Small Packages

For the first (and he claims last) time in his life, Adam braved the Black Friday crowds, leaving at 4:30am to join the crazies in Sioux Falls. To my delight, his mom volunteered to accompany him so I got stay home snug in my bed until a much more decent hour. Adam scored his intended purchase and got a few more things crossed off our Christmas shopping list. When he returned home around 10am, he brought me this beautiful package:

In it was a little slice of heaven. If you have never experienced the delight of a Cinnamon Crunch bagel with Hazelnut cream cheese from Panera Bread, then you are missing out on one of life's greatest pleasures. Truly, good things come in small packages.

Apparently, they also come in large packages.

It probably goes without saying, but this picture shows Adam taking down the old TV, not putting up the new one.  Here's a little more perspective on the kind of switch we are talking about here:

I am happy to say we can now successfully read both the TV Guide channel and the sports scores (impossible from 15' away on our old 27" TV). We are enjoying the new HD channels and larger format, although I can almost say I enjoyed the bagel just as much. After all, the TV doesn't provide half your daily allotment of calories in one small circle of cinnamon and carbs.

Welcome Back to My Life, Fareway!

On Friday, we took advantage of Aunt Kim's offer to babysit and spent the evening in Wo-town. Ryan did great for Kim and we are so thankful for her! We met some friends for supper at Ground Round and had a really nice time. Then, we visited the brand new Fareway store that opened this week across from Walmart. *Aaaaaaa!* (How do you type the sound that a choir of angels makes as it shines light down on earth?)  The store is excellent, as are the prices. It is a lot bigger than Sheldon and has a much better freezer section. However, we discovered it does not use the same flyer as the Sheldon store so a few things I thought were going to be on sale weren't. But generally, it was amazing being able to buy produce and other items at completely reasonable prices. I'll still end up frequenting the Sheldon location more often since it is on my way home from work, but it is super-convenient to have one available in Worthington also where we do our weekend and Walmart shopping. Dear, dear Fareway...my wallet bids you warm welcome and many carts to come.

Minnesota Relatives comes to visit...and bring some MN weather with them

Saturday evening some of Adam's family came to visit. They were coming to NW Iowa from Minnesota to celebrate Grandpa Verlyn's 25 years of serving the RCA ministry. It was a surprise to him and Sue that they were coming, so they came to our house on Saturday to visit.

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Mol

Great Great Aunt Sharon & Uncle Jim Lee

Great Great Aunt Marilyn Lee (John was there too)

We enjoyed visiting and showing them our house. Uncle John joked that we had better be sure to tell the local newspaper that "Cliff Mol served" since Grandpa was the one dishing up the hot lasagna for everyone. We enjoyed supper together topped off with this carrot cake.

Sorting the Hord, or why I have 6 jars of Peanut Butter

I have admitted before that I am a food horder. If you need a reminder, see my freezer inventory from last fall which is back up to teeter-tottering proportions. Whether it is some genetic disorder brought on by the "gray shelves" we had in the basement growing up (always stocked with a minimum of 3 bottles of ketchup, 3 cans of every cream soup, and 7+ cakes mixes among every other ingredient known to man), or if it's my miserly affinity for "stocking up" when I see a sale, I know that I have WAY too much food on hand for just 2 people. I love being able to pick any recipe and know that I most likely have every ingredient in the house to make a batch or three. But, I also know that it has gotten out of hand in several areas.

I have been trying hard lately to cut down on the grocery bill and have succeeded in depleting some of my pantry (less than 3 boxes of spaghetti) and my canned goods (less than 3 cans of Rotel). Tonight, however, after one-too-many metal coffee mugs came flying out of the cupboard while I was searching for peanut butter, I decided the next area to tackle was making itself painfully (literally) obvious.

Here is the cupboard above the coffee pot before my self-imposed intervention:

I took everything out and sorted it into categories. Why did my brain think these things all belonged in the same cupboard? I think it has something to do with the shapes of the containers, but I also use the excuse that I grew up in a house where the Oreos were kept in the onion cupboard, the measuring cups were in the Jello drawer, and the chips went with the 9x13 pans over the fridge, but the crackers belonged with the glass bowls below the phone. Just because.

Here's the (embarrassing) tally:

Peanut Butter (with 6 jars, this is it's OWN category)

• Skippy Creamy 28 oz
• Skippy Roasted Honey Nut 16.3oz--on sale $0.99 last week!
• Skippy Creamy 16.3oz (2)--on sale $0.99 last week!
• Skippy Super Chunk 16.3oz
• Jiff Extra Crunchy 18oz
• (You know you need several varieties for monster cookies, O'Henry bars, and PB&J sandwiches!)

Coffee/tea

• Folgers Classic Roast
• Folgers Classic Decaf (2)
• Folgers Classic Roast Instant
• CoffeeMate Vanilla Caramel
• English Breakfast Tea
• Cinnamon Apple Tea
• Coffee Filters
• Travel Mugs (4)
• (Also interesting that I have not had coffee or tea in about 8 months and DH has had very little since I can't stand the smell during pregnancy)

Drink Mixes

• Swiss Miss No Sugar Added
• Swiss Miss No Sugar Added-indiv. packets
• Great Value Hot Cocoa Mix
• Country Time Raspberry Lemonade
• Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade
• Crystal Light Natural Lemonade
• Hy-Vee Thirst Splash Raspberry Tea
• Hy-Vee Thirst Splah To-Go Raspberry
• Drinking Straws
• (I am pretty sure I could fix drinks for over 100 people-summer or winter)

Ethnic Food

• Tostitos Chunky Salsa
• Prego Chunky Garden Spaghetti Sauce
• Ty Ling Egg Drop Soup mix
• Old El Paso Taco Shells (2 boxes)
• Hy Vee Taco Shells
• (We better get eating or we'll never finish the 48 tacos we have coming!)

After consolidating a few things and throwing out the empty, the gross, and the humidity-hardened, everything fit quite nicely back in the cupboard.

I am hoping this little exercise helps shame me into buying and hording less.

Now, if only I could tackle my cereal habit.

As Seen on TV

First, a confession.

I have coveted a GT Xpress 101 for the better part of a year now. I have pridefully applauded myself for doing some research first and not acting on this urge, but I have secretly wondered if my overall lifestyle and general happiness wouldn't be greatly improved my this magic cooking device. What with its deep non-stick wells and hinged lid that cooks omelets to perfection but then turns around and delivers a stunning Pan-Blackened Swordfish with Sun-Dried Tomato Mayonnaise, topped off with an "Almost Instant" Coconut Custard Pie, I can just imagine the bliss of a full week's worth of half-moon-shaped delicacies.

Imagine my delight when a co-worker casually mentioned a crazy cooking device her Grandma had purchased off TV and that she was the recipient of the BONUS 2nd GRILL. (Warning: You cannot actually order just one of these things, you have to get two and pay $14.95 shipping on the second one). She had no plans to ever use this gift, mostly because she hates eggs, doesn't have the ingredients in the house to make much else, and unlike me, does not care to store every cooking gadget known to man in her kitchen...and pantry...and basement. She offered to me, free of charge, none other than the GT Xpress 101 with 3 recipe books (I already had the easy-shaker), on the condition that if said Grandma ever came to visit her, I may have to loan it back to her for a day or two so as not to hurt her feelings.

I couldn't pass it up. Now I feel an obligation to give this magical meal-making device a whole-hearted try. So, after sleeping in an embarrassingly long time this morning, I decided to try the Western Vegetable Omelet. Ten minutes of chopping, mixing, measuring, and shaking later, I poured the mixture into the 2 wells, watched the lid rise after 10 minutes of cooking, and proudly delivered the results to DH.

The verdict? The omelet was good and it motivated me to use all the leftover peppers and onions from last week's fajitas, but I'm thinking it will be reserved for weekend breakfasts as I'm never on the ball enough to have breakfast cooking a full 10 minutes before heading out the door. On second thought, the results of most of the breakfast recipes do look drive-worthy (or more so than oatmeal or Golden Grahams), so I might try some more out.

I'm committed to trying out a few more things, so I'll let you know what other adventures in convenience cooking I take on.

Florentine Chicken Pinwheels, here I come

Never Underestimate the Power of a Pregnant Woman with a Craving

I've had trouble lately coming up with things that sound good to eat. I tend to crave spicy things, so Friday night I had the Chicken Poblano soup and Enchilada pasta at Ground Round. Last night I made my old standby, Chicken Taco Stew, which is black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, corn, Rotel, tomato sauce, taco seasoning, and shredded chicken. No wonder my doctor doesn't give a lot of sympathy for my heartburn troubles! Tonight, though, I came home facing another meal alone (DH is at the Twins game) and the ONLY thing I felt like eating was a hot dog. Now, I do not normally eat hot dogs--it was not a staple growing up, and I will not eat them microwaved or boiled. I tried starting the grill, but for some reason I just couldn't get it to light.  

Desperate, but determined, I spotted our fire ring in the backyard and decided I would build a fire and roast my hot dog!  I did just that--even climbing up to the storage loft in the garage to retrieve the roasting sticks. I sat outside by myself, roasting the hot dogs to blackened perfection, then put out the fire and added chips and watermelon for a perfect indoor picnic-for-one!

Now we'll see what I'm going to do about that peanut butter cup blizzard craving!

Five Food Facts

1. I love broccoli. My husband cannot stand the smell of steaming broccoli. Sometimes I bake a whole pan of brownies to mask the smell. Kind of defeats the purpose of eating the broccoli when it's followed by a brownie batter chaser.
2. I love watching The Biggest Loser on TV. Sometimes I watch it from the treadmill at the gym and sometimes I watch it from my couch while eating chocolate ice cream with Oreos.
   
3. I have finished drinking a glass of milk sitting on my end table that I suspect my beagle may have taken a slurp out of while I was out of the room. I figure if I don't catch her in the act, what can it hurt?
4. I like my grilled meat burned to black. I blame this on the fact that my farmer father was rarely home for meals on time, causing much of what we ate to be slightly to severely overdone. My mother is a wonderful cook, but it's impossible to have dinner ready for consumption anywhere from 12:00-1:30, dependent on machinery breakdowns, dairy cow birth schedules, or the arrival of bull buyers.
5. I ate a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich at least once a day the summer after my freshman year of college. I worked at Valleyfair, a family amusement park, and you had to keep your lunch in your locker or buy from the cafeteria. I think I bought some fries 3x over the course of the summer, but otherwise I was too cheap and lived on the PB&J (and Pasta-roni and potatoes at my apartment).

What are some fun food facts about you?