Spinach Apple Salad

Ok so everything I post is yummy. I know I say it every time. This salad is so good, that I ate 5 helpings (rather large ones) of this in a days time. Yeah, its that good. Its a good thing that its salad, and not something like doughnuts. I got this recipe from my aunt. Honestly, I am shocked that I haven't posted this one yet. Then again... It never stays around long enough to take a picture.

Spinach Apple Salad

Spinach Apple Salad  

1 (10-oz) bag fresh baby spinach

1 med. Granny Smith apple, cored, and thinly sliced

1/2 lb. crumbled, fried bacon

3/4 C toasted, slivered almonds

Dressing:

1/4 C granulated sugar

1/3 C oil

1/4 tsp. salt

3T. cider vinegar

1/8 small red onion

For dressing, place ingredients in blender. Blend until onion is very fine and mixture is well blended. 

30 Minute Cheesy Ham Casserole

My dear friend over at Pickle Boat Recipes served us this for dinner once upon a time. Oh boy oh boy was it good. There is something so comforting about ham and potatoes. Even when it is a thousand degrees outside!

30 Minute Cheesy Ham Casserole

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste

2 cups (about 8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese - separated 

4 cups milk

4-5 medium peeled, cooked potatoes (steamed, boiled al dente, baked, microwaved...)
2 cups ham, cut into bite size pieces

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat.

Pour milk into pot, mixing quickly with a whisk. Return pot to stove and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat. Quickly add 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, stirring until melted. 

Grease 9x13" baking pan. Place ham, potatoes, and cheese sauce in baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. At this point you can cover and freeze, cover and refrigerate to eat later, or bake in 375 degree oven about 15 minutes - until casserole is bubbly and cheese is very lightly browned. 

*some tips - if you bake your potatoes in the oven earlier in the day, they'll be cool to the touch and easy to hand-peel the skins off by the time you're ready to cook dinner. Also, ham lunch meat makes an easy substitution if you don't have a leftover holiday ham
* Alterations- I skipped the oven step this time. I just tossed in all of the cheese at once, then stirred in the ham and potatoes and served. Both ways are yummy!

Sloppy Joes

Before you run away... Hear me out... Sloppy Joes are no longer just for the kids. They have now become a high class dish. Didn't you get the memo? Well, you are getting it now. These are absolutely fabulous. No more opening a can of sauce and tossing in the ground beef. This brings things up to a whole new level. Try it, you will love it. Oh yeah, by the way... This recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2-½ pounds Ground Beef
• ½ whole Large Onion, Diced
• 1 whole Large Green Bell Pepper, Diced
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1-½ cup Ketchup
• 1 cup Water
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Chili Powder (more To Taste)
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• ½ teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes (more To Taste)
• Worcestershire Sauce, To Taste 
• 2 TablespoonsTomato Paste 
• Tabasco Sauce (optional; To Taste)
• Salt To Taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• Kaiser Rolls
• Butter

Preparation Instructions

Add butter to a large skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook until brown. Drain most of the fat and discard.

Add onions, green pepper, and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, or until vegetables begin to get soft.

Add ketchup, brown sugar, chili pepper, dry mustard, and water. Stir to combine and simmer for 15 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. Also add tomato paste, Worcestershire, and Tabasco if desired. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Spread rolls with butter and brown on a griddle or skillet. Spoon meat mixture over the rolls. Serve immediately.  

Fluffy and Crispy Waffles

Holy waffles batman! These are so yummy.  My friend shared this recipe with me. It's a new family favorite. We froze the extras for another day, they were so good, my kids ate them the next morning! I guess i am going to have to tripple it next time. Enjoy!

Fluffy and Crispy Waffles from Grandma's Kitchen:

• 3 1/2 C. flour,

• 2 t. baking powder,

• 1/2 t. salt,

• 4 egg yolks,

• 3 1/2 C. milk,

• 1 C. oil,

• 4 egg whites.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together. In another bowl mix together egg yolks, milk, and oil. Mix dry and wet ingredients together, mixture should be slightly lumpy and runny. In another bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter carefully. Do not over-mix. There should be large chunks of egg whites in the batter still. Pour about 3/4 c. batter into a waffle iron. I like to brush both sides of the waffle iron with some cooking oil prior to each waffle made as to avoid sticking. I also like to use fresh ground wheat flour. Suggestion: Double the recipe and freeze some for later.

Fiesta Salsa

This item is on our 4th of July menu tomorrow! It is a huge hit in our family. My Mother-in-law loves to add diced avocado and imitation crab to this dish. Me, I like it just the way it is. I love how refreshing it is!

Fiesta Salsa

3 (14.5 oz.) cans petite diced tomatoes, drained well

1/2 red bell pepper chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

1/3-1/2 C. Chopped cilantro 

1/3 C. Shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 purple onion chopped

1-2 cans pinto beans, drained (I use 2)

1 C. Catalina dressing

Combine all ingredients into a medium sized bowl. Serve with corn chips. (I like the big scoops ones.)

Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Mushroom Bisque

While traveling back and forth to the hospital, my mother introduced me to and amazing place. Zuppa's. oh wow! The phrase "where have have you been all my life," comes to mind.

Last week I created my own version of of their cauliflower cheese soup. Yummy! Ill post that recipe soon. Last night I found a Recipe and tweaked it just a bit. I was absolutely delicious. Not quite perfect yet, so ill update it as I perfect it. It defiantly hits the spot. So yummy. Even my husband who despises mushrooms, loved it. Yeah baby!

Mushroom Bisque

12-18 oz or sliced or chopped mixed mushrooms*

2 T. olive oil

1 T. butter ( next time I am going to try 4 tbsp)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

5 c. Beef broth (you could use chicken too)

1/2 t. dried thyme

2 c. heavy cream (next time I am going to try 1 cup)

salt and pepper

In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in the oil and butter. Cook until soft,  (3-5 minutes). Add broth, thyme, mushrooms,  Simmer with pot half covered for 30 minutes. Pour 3/4 of the soup into a blender ( I threw it all in)  and blend until smooth. Return to the pot and stir in cream and salt and pepper to taste. 

* I used 6 oz of baby Bella's, 6 oz of sliced mushrooms (it didn't say what kind they were) and a little package of dried wild mushrooms that I found at frys and rehydrated.) my stores didn't have much variety, but just use a few different ones and it will be fabulous.

I'm back!

How have you all been? Oh how I have missed you all. I have a good excuse, I promise. I almost died. Seriously, I did. Yep. So I told you in my last post that we were having baby number 6. Shortly after that post my life began to change forever. We found out that we were having our first son! We also found out that I had placenta Previa and was put on bed rest during my second boutique of the season. (I was hosting this one too!) we made it through the holidays, a move the last day of the year etc with me on bed rest. Thanks to so many angels! The beginning of Jan, I went back in to my doctor who told me that he thought I might have something called placenta Accreta. WHAT. What in the world is Accreta? Yeah, so we went home and scoured the Internet. Things began to look very grim! Two weeks later of shear panic and anxiety for my life, we went to our appointment with the high risk doctors, a Perinatologist. I hadn't even heard of a Perinatologist before then. They confirmed that I had Accreta. They weren't able to tell if I had Increta/percreta or not. I was praying that I didn't. (I have a blog that tells the long version of the story with TONS of info on all of these terms) Basically... This condition is a life threatening condition that is literally the highest risk of high risk pregnancies. I was literally fighting for my life. Blood loss, is sometimes uncontrollable. so i would most likely need transfusions. Oh and I would have to have a hysterectomy just after delivery! Good news was, my baby boy looked great and wasn't really effected from my condition. I just prayed and prayed that I would live to see him grow up.

So, bye the way, we found that out on my hubby's birthday. We went home and spent the next two days together asking for prayers in our behalf. On the 24th, the dr called me and said that since I was spotting already, they wanted me to get to the hospital and be on bed rest there until delivery. This felt good. I had to deliver at a hospital over an hour away. My chances of bleeding out before I got to the hospital were huge! So there I lay, getting doted on for 6 weeks. I desperately missed my husband and kids, but I knew that I was in the safest place possible. To spare all details on this yummy food blog... Lets just say, I had a few scares but made it to delivery day.( they had to move the date up a few times because of the scares.)

March 1st came and I was absolutely terrified that I wouldn't wake up. But completely at peace and excited at the same time. Baby Caleb was born at 31 weeks and 2 days. He was 3 lbs 15 oz. and beautiful. I didn't get to see him until the next day though. They had to out me to sleep earlier than planned because the spinal didn't go up high enough. They had to make a huge incision. Wow, I am getting anxiety again as I relive all of this! Ahhhhh.

Anyway, after 11hours of surgery, they woke me up. Still intebated by the way. Gag! Literally! I thought I was dying. Anyway, I made it through the night and they unleashed me to let me breathe on my own. Oh, that night was so horrifying. My husband was even more horrified. I was blown up like an oompah loompa (sp) my fingers and toes were little sausages. I had tiny little slits where my eyes where my eyes were supposed to be. I was so swollen you could even tell it was me. I tried finger spelling to my husband and could barely move my fingers they were so fat! Oh whoops, I was going to spare you the gory details. After 4 horrible and yet amazing months of recovery,(two months of that was spent back and forth to the hospital to see our baby in the NICU) I finally feel like a human again. I am so excited to get blogging and even more so.... Cooking again. I can't promise fabulous pictures or even pictures at all, because of camera issues and computer issues. But, I will do my best to post something fabulous at least a couple of times a week.

Prayer and faith saved my life! I give all of the glory to my God who spared my life and let me live! I am a changed woman. My life has new meaning. And oh boy am I so in love with my little man!!

Here is the link to my blog. Check it out. Surviving Accreta