Categories
Food

Baby Shower Punch

I mentioned in the VA Babies Shower post that I’d snagged the recipe to the delicious punch they served.

It was so good that I agreed when they offered us to take home the rest of it in a pitcher & while the rest of my family enjoyed cocktails that evening, I drank the heck out of the punch!

Ingredients
2 32 oz bottles of apple juice, chilled

2 12 oz cans from cranberry juice concentrate

2 c & 1 tbsp orange juice

3 liters ginger ale

Directions
In large punch bowl, combine apple, cranberry & orange juices. Stir until dissolved/combined then slowly pour in the ginger ale.

The original recipe Mom’s friend Jan gave me said to cut up an apple and float the slices on top. Instead, they sliced oranges and floated those on top. The oranges were really delicious later too {think eating the fruit from pj punch from college days minus the liquor}.

Jan also has a note that says if you wanted to make it alcoholic, the use champagne instead of ginger ale! That would be great for bridal shower or if you wanted to make two for a baby shower.

Categories
Family/Travel Food

Food for the Family {Sunday Brunch Edition}

Hope everyone had a very happy Valentine’s day! We kept things low key but enjoyed a great night together.

On to feeding my gathered family last Sunday morning. The shower began at 2p, so I wanted to have something fairly hardy yet easy for brunch Sunday. I think by now y’all have realized I don’t eat {& thus don’t cook} pork or beef. So that takes out a lot of breakfast casseroles.

I turned to the Pioneer Woman in hopes she could help me out. Seriously, you can never go wrong with a PW recipe ~ she has yet to fail me. My family & I LOVED her Sleepin’ in Omelette casserole. It was easy for my mom, Nana & I to assemble Saturday night & cooked up beautifully Sunday morning.

Ingredients
Onion Rolls {she says use 6 but 5 was more than enough for my 9×13 pan}
1 c grated cheddar cheese
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 & 1/2 sticks of butter
10 eggs
2 c milk
1 tsp chopped chives {Suz fail ~ I didn’t have this!}
1/2 tsp dry mustard {another Suz fail so we used spicy brown liquid mustard}
1/2 tsp salt
a dash of cayenne pepper

Directions
Nana & I crumbled the onion rolls on the bottom of a greased 9×13 pan. We topped the bread with the cheddar cheese, crumbled cream cheese on top of that & then Nana thinly cut up the butter on top that all that.

Mom mixed the remaining ingredients in a bowl & I photographed while she poured it over the top of the dish trying to spread the egg mixture throughout. We covered it with foil & placed it in the frig over night.

Sunday morning, I baked it covered on 350 {even though PW says 325} for 45 min then removed the foil & baked uncovered for another 15 minutes.

I remembered my friend Emilee Beth had brought an awesome hash brown casserole to our last girls’ night sleepover & thankfully she & the recipe orginator Alison shared it with me. & it would only be fair that I share it here right? {& so I remember it too!}

Hash Brown Casserole aka Cheesy Potatoes

Ingredients
32 oz bag frozen hash browns {diced or grated}, slightly thawed
10 oz grated cheddar cheese
1/4 c onion, diced
2 c sour cream {we used 1 c light & 1 c regular}
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 c butter, melted
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Mix all the ingredients together {except for the potatoes & a little extra cheese}. Then add the potatoes & mix thoroughly. Spray a 9×13 pan generously with Pam & pour in the potato mixture.

At this point Saturday night, we tossed the casserole into the frig wrapped well with foil. Sunday morning, I added a little extra cheese on the top of the casserole & baked it at 350 degrees for an hour. I did 45 minutes covered & uncovered for the last 15 minutes.

Nana & Jason’s mom cooked up some bacon {the first I’d ever purchased} for my meat-loving family. We served the casseroles & bacon with a pretty fruit salad {thanks Costco} to which I’d added blueberries & strawberries. I’d forgotten to buy oj but had sparkling pomegrante juice {from Trader Joe’s} along with coffee & sodas. I’m pretty sure we were all members of the clean plate club & some {me!} went back for seconds!

Categories
Family/Travel Food

Food for the Family {Chicken & Rice Casserole}

Our families are so excited about the babies upcoming arrival, that they couldn’t miss coming into town to celebrate our first shower all together. My parents came down Friday night {& slept at my aunt’s house}, my OIB grandparents came Saturday morning {& stayed with us} & my husband’s mom & sister arrived Saturday afternoon {they got a hotel room for the night}. So while everyone wasn’t sleeping under our roof, from early am to late pm, we were all together at our house.

That meant breaking out a few 9×13 pans that had been gathering dust so far in this pregnancy! Since all the recipes were LOVED by my family, I thought I’d share them with y’all too.

Mom & my aunt came over early Saturday morning & helped me put the Chicken & Rice Casserole together. This is a recipe Mom gave me based on a few different chicken & rice casserole recipes she’s tried over the  years. I wasn’t awake enough to remember to take photos in process or after it baked, but I can promise you there were just barely any leftovers!

Ingredients

3-4 c diced cooked chicken {we cut up a Costco rotisserie chicken}
1 medium onion, diced {used 1/2}, about 1/2 c chopped celery, container of sliced mushrooms
8oz can diced water chestnuts, drained
2 cans French green beans, rinsed & drained
4oz can pimentos, rinsed & drained
1 can condensed cream of celery soup
1/2 c mayo
1/2 c sour cream
box of Uncle Ben’s long-grain & wild rice, cooked according to package directions
1 c grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 t salt & 1/2 t pepper
Corn flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onion, celery & mushrooms. Mix all ingredients together {minus the corn flakes} & pour into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Top with crushed corn flakes. Bake for 25-35 minutes.

After a day of shopping with my Mom, aunt, & Nana at a few local baby stores then visiting with everyone, it was nice to just throw out a Costco veggie tray for an appetizer while this casserole was cooking.

We served the casserole with a big salad & Sister Schubert’s rolls. Nana had made & brought up a pound cake which we had topped with strawberries & blueberries for dessert.

{I’ve decided to cut this off here. I’ll talk Sunday brunch food tomorrow!}

Categories
Food Pregnancy

Eating for Triplets

I’m guessing y’all might be wondering what it’s like to be eating for four. I want to remember it myself, so I thought I’d share a quick post.

I eat every two hours or very close to that. If I don’t, I know it & if you’re around me you’d know it too~ I’m hungry, cranky, & whiny. I’m actually better at keeping up with eating during the week. I pack a huge lunch bag full of food & supplement that with my work’s cafeteria. Over the weekends my schedule varies more & I get busy or am sleeping so I don’t eat & drink as regularly. I’m trying to get better at that, but for this post, I’ll focus more on weekday food. Remember my MFM wants me to eat about 3000 calories & I try to drink close to 100 oz of liquid {tons of water all day long}.

I’ve always done cereal for breakfast & continue to do so {around 8a on weekdays}. I switch between Honey Nut Cheerios & Frosted Flakes with Special K with red berries thrown in occasionally. My MFM suggested I switch from skim to whole milk for added calories & fat. I haven’t been able to make the jump to whole, but we do use 2% now.

For probably close to six or more weeks straight, I walked downstairs to the cafeteria & got two scrambled eggs with cheese & a plain bagel for second breakfast around 10:15a. NYE weekend though, I made scrambled eggs at home & they grossed me out so much that I haven’t eaten them since. Recently, I’ve been eating fruit &/or yogurt as a mid-morning snack. I’ve switched to Greek yogurt for the added protein. I’ve found I like Trader Joe’s drinkable pomegranate ones, Trader Joe’s mango Greek yogurt, & YoCrunch just came out with Greek yogurt that’s pretty awesome too.

Lunch {1230p} varies a little more than breakfasts. If we have leftovers from dinner the night before, I’ll sometimes bring them. I eat a lot of peanut butter sandwiches ~ either PB&J or PB&B {banana}. We usually have Target goldfish, pretzel crisps, &/or pita chips at home & those are easy for lunch/snacks too. Hummus works with those if we’ve got it. I usually also get a dark greens salad topped with a ton of veggies & fatty delicious Parmesan peppercorn dressing from the salad bar at work. If I didn’t eat my yogurt for second breakfast, I’ll eat it for lunch dessert. Oh & I’m sometimes wild & crazy & have sweet tea/sprite/diet coke to drink instead of water at lunch.

Second lunch aka afternoon snack is around 245p. I’ll have a cheese stick & leftover chips/crackers. Or an apple & peanut butter. Occasionally almonds & I always have dried mangoes on hand. Ok & maybe there’s a little donut slipped in! I tend to snack for the last couple of hours at work.

I usually nap &/or chill on the couch as soon as I get home from work & then am hungry for dinner 6ish. After the food planning all day long, I’m pretty over the idea of cooking/meal planning at night. Luckily, back in November my mom & aunt came over & stocked my freezer with mini-casseroles. We just finished the last of those. My sweet friend Kelly {hi!} brought over a few more casseroles a couple of weeks ago that work great for nights when I’m tired. We also tend to have frozen pasta bags & frozen pizza that can be made quickly. Jason’s been a bigger help than pre-pregnancy with cooking. I’ll eat chicken but don’t like to mess with it, so he’ll man the oven & can make a mean Kraft mac’n’cheese. We try to do some veggies with dinner also but veggies are one food group I know I’m not making Dr Luke’s goal in. If I want an after-dinner dessert, I’ve been recently grabbing a YoCrunch pie parfait {I love the triple berry pie flavor best}.

A couple hours later, depending on when I go to bed, I’ll either have a snack {maybe dinner leftovers} or jump to my pre-bed ice cream. I read early on in this pregnancy that eating dairy before bed will stay with you longer & let you not wake up hungry. This is so true for me! I occasionally have cereal but typically have strawberry or Oreo ice cream. Top them off with water, prenatal vitamin & iron supplement & I’m off to sleep!

While YoCrunch has provided me in the past with coupons & recently sent me samples of their Greek yogurt & brand new pie parfaits, I was buying & enjoying them before & the opinions written above are all my own.

Categories
Everything Else Food

Dessert with Friends

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There’s no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.

Is there anything better than dessert? Only one thing I can think of…sharing it with friends. December is the perfect month for me to do just that thanks to my birthday on the 11th & two short weeks later, Christmas & then New Years.

Luckily for me, my friends seem to like dessert as much as I do. As has been the case for the last couple of years, between now & Christmas I have a few Christmas cookie exchanges on the calendar as well as other lunches & dinners with friends.

Starting Saturday, I’ve got a busy week ahead of me. Christmas decorating & a little birthday celebrating with my aunt & grandfather. Hello Sunday buffett dessert table! Sunday night, a group of my college friends & I are going to dinner then coming back to my house for birthday cake & ice cream. Monday night, my husband & I along with another couple are going to dinner to celebrate my big day.

Wednesday day, I’m meeting a friend for lunch. And since our lunch meeting spot just came out with a new holiday flavored milkshake, you can bet the babies & I will be enjoying that for dessert while chatting with Marie.

Wednesday night is my first cookie exchange of the year. According to the evite, about 20 of my Chi O alum sisters are gathering to share three dozen cookies. While searching my blog for cookie ideas, I discovered I’d posted about this exchange two years ago & I’m planning to make the same white chocolate cranberry cookies. Hope everyone else is too busy catching up & having fun to remember I made these already! 

Saturday night, I’m dressing to the nines in my tacky Chistmas sweater best. Oh & I’ve got a few to choose from thanks to my overabundance of holiday spirit during day-after-Christmas shopping a couple years in a row. Fingers crossed that one of these jewels fits over the babies belly! I’m planning to double or triple the cookie reciple above Tuesday night & freeze half so Saturday I can easily make two more dozen cookies to share with some of my local online favorites. Clearly we had a great time with this party in 2008 & 2009! Yay for another yearly GTG! 

2008 Tacky Sweater Party! {photo from BA}

Husband & coworkers, get ready for cookies next weekend & Monday!

What’s your favorite part of sharing dessert with friends? The getting together with friends? The dessert? The leftover dessert you come home with? Honestly, I love it all!

Remember to check out Duncan Hines’ website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.