Chloe Poppins

And, she has a very chubby tummy. Which the doctor assures me is a good sign and says is more an indication of th QUALITY of foods I’m eating and not so much the QUANTITY I’m eating. Yeah! So…. 20 weeks and counting.

Per Mark, the pie was GREAT! Better than Banana Pudding even…. must be the crust!

This week’s creation comes from the current issue of Southern Living Magazine. Currently on the shelves, you can probably find it at the local grocery. I don’t know how I’ll get through all the books on my shelves if I keep reading the magazines!!

Anyway, this is BANANA PUDDING PIE. It is featured on the cover and on page 118 inside the magazine. Although the recipe has a couple of distinct steps (crust preparation, pudding preparation, and pie assembly), I didn’t find it too terribly difficult to navigate. In fact, you could easily make the pie crust a day or two a head of time. A word to the wise, if you are planning to eat the pie the same day, you’ll need to be working on it mid to late-morning. After the pie is assembled, it cooks for abou 12 minutes, then cools for an hour, then chills for at least four hours. I found this information at the end and so Mark was VERY disappointed that he didn’t get to eat it last night.

It’s quite tasty. So, if you like banana pudding, this is right up your alley.

This week’s recipe didn’t actually come from one of my books on hand - shocking! I had a chance to sit down on Monday evening and caught a little bit of Emeril Live. Emeril had a few really good looking items on the table that night, including a delicious looking 48 oz. Bone-In Ribeye. So, for Valentine’s Day, I decided to try the Cremed Spinach recipe.

I started with a large bag of fresh spinach. This really cooks down, so it’s hard to get too much. Instead of boiling or steaming the spinach, I sauted it in a couple tablespoons of Olive Oil and a dash of salt. It only took a couple of minutes. While the spinach is cooking, take 2 Tbsp of corn starch and dissolve it in about a cup of half-n-half. Then place cream mixture in a pan over low heat. As the mixture heats, it will thicken rapidly. When thickened, quickly add 1/4 cup shredded cheddar and a 1/2 cup parmesean cheese. Toss cooked spinach in the cheese sauce and place in a casserole dish. Top with a little extra shredded cheese and place in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or so. Yum!!

Note, if the cheese sauce is too thick for you, add a little extra milk while over a low heat and thin the sauce to your desired thickness. Then proceed to add the spinach and go from there. Good Luck!!

Finally, after a couple of extra days, the painters have finished…. well, almost finished. But they assure me that the small amount of touch up work tomorrow will take less than an hour. The new color looks much better, and the walls are so clean!! So, as soon as the smell evacuates, we should be back to normal. Hurray!

Southern Living
1995 Annual Recipes
Granola Muffins
Page 78

This week’s Recipe Challenge choice comes from an old standby. I used my aunt’s homemade Golden Raisin Granola in the recipe and tried the new silicon muffin cups from my sister-in-law. These muffins were incredibly tasty and the muffin cups worked great, as long as we let them cool enough first. The only change I made in the recipe had to do with the baking mix they recommended. The recipe calls for “reduced fat” baking mix, and I just had regular. So, regular fat-filled granola muffins is what we ate!

1 1/2 C reduced fat biscuit and baking mix
1 C firmly packed brown sugar
1 t ground cinnamon
1 C oat granola
1/2 C raisins (I used golden.)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup skim milk
1 T vegetable oil
vegetable cooking spray (or silicon baking cups)

Combine first three ingredients in bowl; stir in cereal and raisins. Set aside.

Combine egg, milk, and oil; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Makes a thin batter.

Coat muffin cups with cooking spray( do not spray silicon cups); spoon batter into cups, filling 3/4 full.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Yields about 16 muffins.

Wilson test drives the sled he got for Christmas.

Frozen Bunny

Sam’s snowman crashed in the sleet before we could photograph it. BooHoo.

January 31, 2007
Cake and presents for breakfast!! Happy Birthday, Sam.