Do the mashed potato (without leftovers)

Potato pic by rick

My mom is a good cook, but there are a few dishes that only my dad can make. Waffles are one. He made them every Sunday morning for as long as I can remember.

And then there’s mashed potatoes. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard my dad whistling as he beats the potatoes, adding a couple tablespoons of butter, a splash of milk and a little bit of salt and pepper. And then, always, tapping the beaters in rhythm on the edge of the bowl: shave and a haircut…two bits!

I love potatoes of all kinds, but I don’t make mashed potatoes often. Neither one of us likes leftover mashed potatoes, and it seems like a lot of work to peel and boil and mash just enough for two of us.

But when I told Mark that I planned to make meatloaf on Sunday night, he asked if I could please make mashed potatoes. What could I say to that?

Luckily for me, he offered to peel the potatoes: my least favorite part of the process. So all I had to do was boil them to a perfect consistency (until a fork can break them apart easily) and mix them up. Here’s what I did:

Mary’s Mashed Potatoes
1-2 lbs. Russet potatoes
2 T butter (or Blue Bonnet Light margarine)
¼ c. milk (skim)
¼ c. sour cream (light)
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes. (As I said.) Drain and add butter. If you have lids for your pots, put a lid on it and let the butter melt. If you don’t (I know. Who doesn’t have lids? Oh yeah. Me.), just stir it around until it melts. Add sour cream, milk, salt and pepper. Beat on low setting with mixer. Personally, I don’t beat all the lumps out, but that’s up to you.

Mark didn’t jump up and down at the addition of sour cream. Even though, as I told him, that’s how they make them in restaurants. Then again, I didn’t exactly time dinner right, and the potatoes weren’t nearly as hot as the meatloaf. So I guess that might have had something to do with it.

Oh well. At least two of us enjoyed them. (And we only threw out a couple spoonfuls of leftovers, thanks to big bites and second helpings.)

What’s your favorite way to eat potatoes?

P.S. “Do the mashed potato” is a lyric from Do You Love Me, featured in that classic movie I may have mentioned before right before the watermelon scene I may have mentioned before.


This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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Pizza Crust from Scratch

About a week ago, I saw Jill post a question on Twitter. She was looking for a good recipe for blueberry muffins.

Because I am well-known as a cooking expert, I replied. I said, “88-cent mix from the store + water + bake for 10 min = Voila! Muffins.”

She didn’t like my answer. Apparently she was looking for something with more ingredients and less packaged mixes. I still don’t understand that.

However, even though I was joking about that being an appropriate recipe for muffins (though it is, indeed, exactly how I make mine), later that night I had to think twice when it came time to bake something else.

Smitty came over, and I offered to make us chicken pizza. Normally, I use the refrigerated pizza dough in a can, but I was out. What was I going to do?

Oh yeah. I could make like my friend Jill and actually bake from scratch!

So, while Smitty entertained Annalyn by reading her latest favorite book about a dozen times, I pulled out my recipe binder and found my mom’s formula for homemade pizza dough. Fortunately, she doesn’t do anything crazy, like make dough that has yeast or any other needs-to-rise ingredient. [Whew!]

I added Prego spaghetti sauce (sorry, I can’t do that much homemade!), grilled chicken, red onion, mozzarella and provolone. And it was delicious! Here’s my mom’s pizza crust recipe:

Pizza Crust
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup milk
¼ cup oil

Mix together, and press onto baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees (or until the cheese melts and starts to brown).

It turned out pretty well, although I definitely used too much flour to keep it from sticking to the baking sheet. Even without too much flour, I wonder if the crust would taste too plain. Next time, I might brush it with olive oil or add a little garlic powder to the dough.

What foods do you make from scratch?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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Who cares what it’s called as long as it tastes good?

Image by Joefoodie. I think his ronza stromboli has spinach in it.

In the town where I went to college, a pizza place on the downtown square served these things called ronzas. I’d never heard of a ronza before then . . . and I haven’t heard of one since then.

Apparently, in the outside world, they’re called calzones. Or stromboli. Or runzas. But a ronza? No. Nobody’s ever heard of that.

When I tried to find evidence of this long-remembered snack from my college days, I came up pretty empty. However, I did find a review of the restaurant (Pagliai’s, and that’s pronounced “polly-eyes,” just so you know.) on Yelp.com.

I had to laugh when I read it and realized it was actually written by my friend, Tim! He said, among other things: “In my opinion, [pizza’s] not the reason to go to Pagliai's – it’s the Ronza. That's right. A capital R because it deserves it.”

And that’s why even now, a few years later, Mark and I still crave the pizza snack every once in a while.

Because I’m a nerd (Go ahead. Try and debate that.), I looked up the terms with my favorite research tool. And according to Wikipedia, stromboli is a type of turnover filled with various cheeses, Italian meats or vegetables. The dough is Italian bread dough, and it originated near Philadelphia.

Calzones, on the other hand, are turnovers that originate from Italy and are basically described as a pizza turned inside out. And a runza is completely different: a yeast dough bread pocket with a filling consisting of beef, pork, cabbage or sauerkraut (yuck!) and onions, baked in various shapes.

And then there’s the Hot Pocket, of course:

Jokes.com
Jim Gaffigan - Hot Pocket!
comedians.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes Ugly Americans Funny TV Comedy Blog

Anyway. While I don’t actually mind a Hot Pocket now and then, sometimes only an actual ronza will do. But since Pagliai’s is about a three-hour drive away, we’ve had to figure out how to make them ourselves.

Last week, I mentioned to Mark that I wanted to make one and said I’d probably do it the following night. But the next night, I forgot about that and said I was going to make tacos, and he said, “But…but…I thought you were going to make a ronza!”

Once I brought it up, he couldn’t wait to have one. So…he made it! And while I would have done things a little differently, it was still really good, so I thought I’d share the recipe.

Mark’s Ronza

1 lb. hamburger, browned
1 cup barbecue sauce
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella
4 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
1 can refrigerated pizza dough

Mix the barbecue sauce with the browned (and drained) hamburger and bacon. Unroll pizza dough on baking sheet sprayed with baking spray (or, as I say, on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam). Spread meat mixture and then sprinkle cheese on top. Fold over dough and press edges closed.

Now, I would have sprayed the whole outside of the ronza (or brushed with olive oil, if I was real fayncee) and then seasoned with garlic and maybe a little basil.

But Mark just put a little extra cheese on the outside. To each his own, I suppose. (And believe me, it didn’t stop me from eating it!)

Cook according to pizza dough instructions. Slice and serve.

Mmmm....!

What do you call this type of food? And do you have any favorite foods from somewhere you lived before?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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Killing the fridge monster

Sometimes I make the mistake of skating by on a big or late lunch until it’s almost time to leave work and go home.

I can gulp some water and chew gum to make it through the last hour of the day and the drive home. But once I get home?

I turn into a fridge monster.

Standing in front of the fridge – or the pantry, though I’m not sure that has the same sort of ring to it – I grab anything that looks good. I nibble, I graze, I snarf until I snap out of my starving state. The crumbs and wrappers are more evidence than I need; all of a sudden, I realize what I’ve done.

That’s when I remember: This is why I have to make sure to keep my desk stocked with healthy, filling snacks. It’s the only thing that keeps the monster away.

So when I was contacted by One2One Network about Ritz Crackerfuls, a possible solution for this afternoon snack dilemma, I was all over it.

Ritz Crackerfuls are individually wrapped cheese and cracker sandwiches made with whole grains and real cheese. They come in four varieties: Garlic Herb, Four Cheese, Classic Cheddar and Cheddar Cheese & Bacon.

For those wondering, each Crackerful is three Weight Watchers points.

One2One Network sent me a box of the cheese and bacon and the classic cheddar Crackerfuls. I took the classic box to work to share with my co-workers, and left the bacon box at home for Mark. Because he thinks that everything is better with bacon.

This one time, I have to disagree. I tried both kinds, and I definitely liked the classic cheddar better. My co-workers liked them, too. They laughed about me using them as my own focus group, but they had some great feedback. (So how could I not share it?)

Angela said it had the perfect amount of salt, and she liked that she could taste real cheese. She’s the friend I’ve gone to Weight Watchers meetings with for the past nine months, and while I haven’t lost squat, she’s lost 50 pounds. And after eating her Crackerful, she said, “Let me put it this way: if it wasn’t portioned out like this, I’d eat the hell out of ‘em.”

Michelle said it was awesome. “I loved it. Do you have another one?” After we laughed (and I failed to mention that no, I didn’t have another because I’d eaten them all), she said she would definitely buy a box for herself.

I thought the classic cheddar Crackerful was great. It was salty (which I like), but also slightly sweet (which I also like). The bacon version was good, too, although maybe a little too salty for me.

The only real problem I had with the Crackerful was the mess. When I ate one (okay fine, two) at work, I got crumbs all over my desk. And when I gave one to Annalyn, she opened it up like an Oreo, smeared cheese all over herself and my couch, and showered the entire living (or so it seemed) with crumbs.

Then again, that might be more of a toddler problem than a snack problem.

Will I buy these for myself? Good question! Thanks for asking. I probably will. For me, the aforementioned fridge monster, I’ll probably pair it with a piece of fruit. Otherwise, I’ll find myself eating two Crackerfuls – and that’s 6 points and a whole lot of crumbs.

If you’d like to try Ritz Crackerfuls, you can get a coupon for $1 off Cheddar Cheese & Bacon Crackerfuls on the Ritz Crackers Facebook page. The coupon is good through August 31, 2010.

What do you eat for an afternoon snack? Have you ever turned into a fridge monster?

One2One Network provided me free product samples. Posting this review makes me eligible for a gift card drawing. However, this review – just like everything on this blog – reflects my honest, personal opinion.

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Wordless Wednesday: Popsicle Face

Sometimes the mess is worth it!

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

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Chocolate pudding pie: another lesson in the kitchen

When it comes to dessert, I have a few go-to dishes that I make. Most often, I make brownies (from a box, because that’s how I like them), chocolate éclair dessert or chocolate pudding pie.

Yes, I see a theme there.

A few weeks ago, we had dinner with our friends and their kids. The original plan was to meet at a park, let the kids play and let the husbands grill. But then the forecast called for rain, and then our friend had to go out of town, and I don’t even remember what else happened.

But we ended up spending our anniversary night at our friends’ house, guys and kids outside, women inside. We brought burgers and dessert, and my friend made cheesy potatoes and beans. And we spent a few hours catching up and hanging out.

When we left, Mark said to Annalyn, “I love you, Annalyn. Do you love me?”

“No,” she said. “I love Mallory [our friends’ oldest daughter].”

Apparently the night was a hit.

And so was the dessert I brought: chocolate pudding pie, with a new twist. At least, it was a new twist to me. Instead of the usual graham cracker pie crust, I went crazy and made my own Oreo crust.

I looked up a recipe online and read that I should crush enough Oreos (about 20) to make 1 ½ cups crumbs and mix the crumbs with three tablespoons of melted butter.

It turns out that works best if you don’t buy double stuffed Oreos. Guess what kind I bought.

So I pulled apart a few more cookies and crushed up the non-filling side, then added those crumbs to the mixture. It didn’t help at all.

I pressed the nastiest-looking Oreo mess I’ve ever seen into my pie pan, then went to work on the pudding part of the pudding pie.

I mixed one box of sugar-free instant chocolate pudding, 1 ½ cups milk and a couple of big scoops of fat-free whipped topping. Then I poured it onto the Oreo crust.

After it set up, I got real fancy. I chopped up four more Oreos and sprinkled them on top of the pie. As you can see, I only have a photo of the whole, uncut pie. That’s because it looked beautiful, while the cut and served pieces looked . . . less beautiful.

No matter how it looked and how the crust started out, though, that pie was tasty! I’ll definitely use normal (not doubled stuffed) Oreos next time and maybe go easier on the butter.

But really, you can’t go wrong when you add chocolate . . . to chocolate!

Do you have a go-to recipe for dessert?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday, Food on Fridays and Would You Like Chocolate with That?

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Giveaway: The Pioneer Woman Cookbook

I had grand plans to make something from the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook this weekend, take beautiful photos in the natural light and then write all about it in today’s post.

As you might have guessed from the way I said, “I had grand plans,” something went awry. Mainly the daycare germs striking again, although the rain and the clouds and the no natural light didn’t help.

I won’t whine for long (Although I could. And I want to. Believe me, I want to.), but this was the third weekend out of three that someone has been sick at our house. And it was the second weekend out of three that someone has, in fact, been ME.

Last time, my co-workers and I just suffered through my 10-day-long cough. But since this bug – whatever it is – has returned as quickly as So You Think You Can Dance after a fall season, I went to the doctor yesterday.

Well, I went to the CVS clinic. And saw the “doctor,” who gave me the weakest antibiotic on earth (Yes, amoxycilin, I’m talking to you.) and told me I should feel better in three to four days.

THREE to FOUR DAYS.

Needless to say (is it? Because I seem to be saying a lot here.), I didn’t do any much cooking this weekend.

I did, however, make it to the store to buy groceries, so I now at least have the ingredients for the PW recipe I picked out. Because, no, I don’t normally have Crisco on hand.

So, I’m sure you’re wondering – especially if you came over here from a cooking carnival – what do I have for you, anyway? Is there a giveaway or what?

Yes. Yes, my friend, there is a giveaway. But first, I thought I’d tell you – because I’m feeling really inferior when it comes to my cooking skills, now that I admitted I don’t keep shortening on hand and all – that I have tried a few of PW’s recipes.

Here are the few I’ve tried (I tweaked each one of them, but LOVED them all):

• World’s best lasagna
• Chicken spaghetti
• Cheesy garlic bread
• Southwest corn dip

Now, on to the good stuff. I’m giving away my last copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks. So if you like good food (and, really, who doesn’t?), I suggest you enter this one.

To enter, leave a comment telling me your favorite comfort food.

[I’ll go first with an embarrassing example. In college, my favorite once-a-month, if you know what I mean, comfort food was macaroni and cheese. Made from a box. With water and not milk. In the microwave. See? Even if I make my meatloaf in the microwave now, my tastes have clearly improved. Somewhat.]

For additional entries, subscribe to Giving Up on Perfect, follow me on Twitter or join my Facebook page – and then tell me in a separate comment. (That’s a separate comment for each one, if you’d like. And if you already do these things, just say so in that separate comment.)

I'll use Random.org to draw a winner after midnight on Friday. Good luck, and happy Monday!

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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A mish-mash . . . not to be confused with a mash-up.

Have “mash-ups” always been a thing? Or is that a recent development in the world of pop music, YouTube videos and Glee?

Anyway, I know there’s not much lamer (more lame?) than a post full of random bits of nothing important. Unless it’s publishing a boring post that you don’t like just to post something – and then deciding to delete the post after all.

I know, I know. Blog foul. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to prematurely post – or badly post – again. But, since I already hit that low this week, we might as well just dive headfirst into this random list of stuff. (Also known as a mish-mash.)

First, if you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post before its untimely demise, here are links to my recent guest posts:

Earning my nerd status . . . again at Mommin' It Up
Last-minute cleaning for guests at I Dream of Clean (a reprise from an earlier post)
Does anyone make a Two-Year Bible? at Life's Not Always Fireflies & Hummingbirds

The strangest thing happened last week. After throwing my salsa party and then eating the leftovers for four days straight, I actually became – get this – tired of Mexican food. Can you believe it? I never thought I’d live to see that day.

Mainly because I was sure that if the day arrived that I didn’t want to eat Mexican, I was surely dead. Probably as a result of a queso incident.

But it’s true. Mark offered to take me out for Mexican food for Mother’s Day – and I said, “No thanks.”

Weird.

Speaking of too much spicy food (Well? Weren’t we?), I have a couple of stories that I am dying to tell you about the potty training that’s been going on in our house lately. But, I’m restraining myself. Literally.

Okay, not literally. Because first, that would be weird. And second, I wouldn’t be able to type. And while I don’t think you need the details – hilarious or not – of Annalyn’s transition from diapers to underwear, I am just sure you’ve been wondering about the whole process.

No? Huh. So . . . you mean your world doesn’t revolve around who went pee when and if they got their Skittle?

Oh, all right. Fine. I’ll just tell you this: a) Potty training has not been nearly as difficult as I feared, b) After four weeks, Annalyn is doing GREAT and she hasn’t had a real accident in several days, c) Despite the lovely princess potty chart I made and shiny gold star stickers my mom gave us, Annalyn has responded much better to candy. As her bribe. Because yes, I’m a briber. And last but not least, d) It turns out sopping wet Pull-Ups smell just as bad in the trash can as dirty diapers.

I think I might write a post later about what I learned throughout this whole adventure. But not until we make it through the night-time training. And that is a monster I am not ready to tackle yet!

[Although, it IS a monster we’ll be tackling anyway. Probably in about a week. And I can’t wait. Really.]

Speaking of getting up in the night with your child (No, you cannot convince me that night-time potty training won’t involve a lot of that. You just can’t.), my friend Daphne just had a baby. A second baby. Her son is three months older than Annalyn. And she just had another baby.

I know. I know, okay? I realize that many people have their babies close together, some even on purpose – and they survive. But I just don’t know how. Honestly. I cannot imagine having another child right now.

[Friends and family who have lots of littles running around, please keep your eye rolling and comments to yourselves. Because. I know.]

But Daphne now has another child. And . . . I have to admit . . . Annalyn and I both thought he was adorable!

We visited them in the hospital on Tuesday, and the whole way there, Annalyn chattered about her balloon (which is valid, as I’d gotten her a pink balloon to make sure she didn’t hijack the blue balloons for the baby) and her baby (which is not valid, but I could not for the life of me convince her that the baby we were visiting was not, in fact, hers).

Thankfully, our visit was a short one, so I don’t think the baby-is-so-cute-must-have-one-now vibes stuck with me.

And now, I think that’s enough random for one day. Stay tuned for an update on Mark’s new work schedule, summer trips I have planned, the sadness I feel about my friend who is moving across the country, and a near bee attack.

What random thoughts are filling up your head today?

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Paradise by the Microwave Light

These are NOT pictures of MY meatloaf. I'll explain why. Keep reading . . . 

Yes, that’s right. I did it. I used a Meat Loaf song for a post title about, you guessed it, meatloaf.

I know. I am shameless.

But I can’t help it. Puns and cheesy plays on words and using song lyrics for any reason at all – these are the things I cannot resist.

As well as an excuse to eat cheesy potatoes. And because I refuse to go to the trouble of making mashed potatoes for our small family (or, really, let’s be honest here, any size family), cheesy potatoes are the perfect accompaniment to meatloaf.

Last week when my parents came over for dinner, we had a larger crowd than normal. Because Mark was there. Because he now works nights and is at home in the evenings. [More on that later.]

And so I altered my normal meatloaf recipe.

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! (What is that even from? Huh. Just looked it up, and it’s from Lost in Space. Which I have never seen. WHY is that phrase even in my brain, much less on the top of my tongue for a blog post about meatloaf?)

Normally, I use one pound of ground beef for my meatloaf. If I’m really on top of things, I’ll thaw out two pounds and make 24 mini meatloaves to freeze for Annalyn. But I only use one pound for the main meatloaf.

That’s key, if you hadn’t picked up on it yet.

 This IS a picture of MY meatloaf - chopped up for little fingers!

Last week, I made a 1 ½-pound meatloaf. Well, just shy of 1 ½ pounds, because I used maybe 1/10 of a pound for one mini loaf.

Let me just cut to the chase: the meatloaf did not get cooked right. It didn’t look pink, but my piece tasted pink. Do you know what I mean? It just didn’t taste right. Everyone else ate it. And said it was fine. But I just don’t know.

Maybe their pieces were fine. After all, the time I gave my dad a loaf of moldy bread and a tub of crumb-filled butter, he did tell me. Reluctantly. But he told me.

Still. My piece of meatloaf was so mushy, so weird, so gross that I didn’t even eat it! (And that’s saying a lot. Just so you know.)

I wish I’d taken a picture of it. Kind of. I mean, you might have been grossed out, too. So I guess what I’m saying is that I wish I had a picture of my good meatloaf.

Instead, I’m going to share my recipe with you. (“Finally! She gets to her point!” you say. “Oh, hush,” I say.)

It’s a combination of my mom’s recipe and Mark’s mom’s recipe, and normally, it turns out really well. I’m quite fond of it, and so is Mark. And it’s just about the easiest thing to make.

Unless you get greedy and use too much meat.

Mary’s Meatloaf
1 lb. ground beef
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestshire sauce
¼ cup breadcrumbs
Garlic powder

¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup brown sugar

Mix the first five ingredients together. Or, fold them together. However you do things at your house. Me? I mix them all up in the loaf pan I cook the meatloaf in, because I’m lazy low maintenance like that. Smush (ahem, press) the meat mixture into a loaf pan; cover with wax paper. Microwave on high for about 9 minutes. If it looks done, maybe just give it another minute. To be safe.

While it’s cooking (becoming paradise by the microwave light, of course), mix the ketchup and brown sugar together. This may give you WAY too much sauce, and that’s because all these amounts are guesses. (Ooooh, snuck that in there, didn’t I?) Except the one pound of hamburger, and I think we’ve been over that.

After the meatloaf is cooked through (feel free to cut it open if you are now paranoid like I am), pour the sauce on top and nuke it for another 1-2 minutes.

Enjoy with cheesy potatoes and green beans. And muffins, if you’re really on top of things. (And by “muffins,” of course I mean the “just add water to the mix” kind.)

Oh yes, one last thing: Because you don’t have the opportunity to really drain the meat used in this dish, it can be quite greasy. And that is gross. So here are two tricks, one from me and one from my mom.

First, when you check the meatloaf after the first nuking, fold up a couple paper towels, place them on top of the uncovered meatloaf, and use your biggest spatula to drain that puppy over the sink. Feel free – I always do – to do this again after the second nuking but before adding the sauce.

Second (and this one is my mom’s tip, which I forget every time, mainly because I’m lazy low maintenance and mix the ingredients in my loaf pan), you can place the bottom of your butter dish, upside down, in the bottom of your loaf pan. That lifts the meatloaf enough to let the grease fall to the bottom, where nobody has to see it. Except your dishwasher. My mom said she reminds herself to do this by actually storing the butter dish in the loaf pan. So smart.

Too bad I didn’t serve her a good meatloaf in exchange for that tip, huh?

Next time. Next time I will, I’m just sure of it.

Now, everyone makes meatloaf differently. My mother-in-law occasionally made some sort of magical mozzarella meatloaf roll, for example. I can’t imagine that’s going to happen in our house anytime soon, but you never know. (I wonder how I’d fit the butter dish in with that . . . ?)

How do you make meatloaf?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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6 friends + 6 salsas = One great [early] Cinco de Mayo!

About a year and a half ago, I had an idea. I thought it would be fun to plan and teach salsa tasting classes, demonstrating the difference between peppers and spices and tomatoes.

Or, at the least, I’d learn how to make salsa myself.

I know you’re going to find this shocking, but I have to confess: I haven’t done either. But last Saturday, I did have a small salsa tasting party at my house!

It was so fun. I got six different types of salsa – four from restaurants, two from the store (although they were restaurant brands) – and put them in matching bowls. I numbered each bowl and put the name on the bottom.

I wish I’d taken time to get the other two salsas fresh from the restaurant, but since I didn’t, I had enough time to clean the house well enough. (I’m not going to say it was sparkling or anything, but if one didn’t look closely, it looked pretty good.)

Because Saturday was not technically Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be fun (or funny) to call it an “Uno de Mayo” party. And then we could play Uno.

But we didn’t. It turns out tasting salsa and pigging out on eating tacos and talking and laughing takes up a lot of time.

We started by passing each bowl around the table and getting a “taste.” We varied in our exact method; some scooped just enough for one chip, while others scooped a whole spoonful onto the plate. But we waited to taste it at the same time. (You know, like communion at church.)

Then we had a little discussion. Mainly that consisted of guessing which restaurant it came from and Josh trying to use the word, “bouquet,” to describe each sauce.

I had two different types of chips to use, because – as was pointed out on Facebook – chips make all the difference when eating salsa. I bought a bag of big, sturdy, salty Tostitos, and one of the restaurants gave me two greasy bags of thin, crispy chips.

I know you’re just dying to know, so here are our results:

• Abuelo’s - Smoky (like BBQ, according to some), spicy and delicious.
• Margarita’s - Definitely the most recognizable. Sweet with a bit of a bite.
• On the Border - Awful! I really like On the Border’s salsa, but I bought it at the store instead of the restaurant. (I KNOW.) The jar stuff tasted like marinara sauce, and we all hated it. Except Brittany, who got to take the whole bowl of it home.
• Jose Pepper’s - Mmm, garden fresh! I’m not kidding. That’s exactly what one of my friends said after we tried it. This is my favorite, and I’m pretty sure my friends liked it as much as I did. Because it was ALL GONE before the night was over!
• Chili’s - Mild, a little tomatoe-y, but pretty good. Which is a good thing, since I got 32 ounces of the stuff, thanks to a little miscommunication (a.k.a. Server who couldn’t get my order right.).
• Chipotle (tomatillo green-chili, medium) - Salty and onion-y with a spicy aftertaste. Also, delicious. I’m glad we had some of this left, as it’s one of my favorites.

We spent a couple hours sitting around the dinner table, dipping and tasting and eating and laughing. But the best part of the evening was definitely when we moved into the living room to relax.

And I’m not just saying that because it’s when I put Annalyn to bed and we got to eat Beci’s peanut butter bars.

See, Josh and Brittany are fairly new friends, and Alan and Beci are brand-new friends. And they wanted to hear about a time in my life that I haven’t shared with many people. They let me ramble for over an hour, listening and asking questions and listening some more.

I don’t think I can call any of them “new friends” anymore. These four people (even Alan, who I swear didn’t say more than a dozen words the whole night) are friends.

So, before I start tearing up (which I may or may not have done during our heart-to-heart in the living room), let’s get back to the salsa.

Aside from the fresh salsas from Jose Pepper’s and Chipotle, my favorite salsa – and what I buy every couple of weeks – is Sam’s Choice medium salsa from Walmart.

Yeah, I’m high class like that.

Before I ask about your favorite salsa (you know I was going there, right?), I’m going to, AHEM, strongly suggest you check out my other site for a special salsa giveaway.

And now – what’s your favorite salsa?

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Homemade Gourmet Salsa Giveaway

Congratulations! Random.org picked #8, which means Katie is the winner of this giveaway! (Please e-mail your address to me at givinguponperfect [at] gmail [dot] com.)

When I posted on Facebook that I had a great time at our salsa tasting party, several people commented. One of those comments was from Tami Van Hoy, founder of Homemade Gourmet. I love the company’s mission: With God’s help, Homemade Gourmet strives to bring families back to the dinner table by providing quality, affordable, easy-to-prepare meals, education and direct sales business opportunities.

Tami said her favorite is Homemade Gourmet’s black bean and mango salsa. And then – and THEN! – she offered to give away a salsa package.

One reader will win the following mixes from Homemade Gourmet: Black Bean Salsa Mix, Maria’s Salsa Mix and Southwest Seasoning Mix. I did a quick search on HG’s recipe site for “salsa,” and with these three mixes, you will be able to choose from dozens of delicious meals and dips!

To enter, leave a comment about your favorite way to bring your family or yourself back to the dinner table. For an additional entry, subscribe to Giving Up on Perfect, and leave a separate comment to tell me about it (or leave a separate comment telling me you already subscribe). You can also follow me on Twitter and leave a comment about it or join my Facebook page and do the same.

Random.org will choose a winner after midnight (CST) on Friday, May 7.

P.S. Make sure you include your e-mail address in your comments if you’re not using a Blogger or Google account.

Don't they say burned noodles are the mother of invention?

Speaking of cooking - or not, the winner of the Chili's giveaway is here.

For the first year and a half of Annalyn’s life, my parents came over every Thursday night. And brought dinner with them.

It was a pretty sweet deal.

But last fall, I decided I should probably be able to pull together a meal at least once a week, so I told them not to bring dinner anymore.

For the most part, it’s been just fine. Sure, cooking dinner with Annalyn hanging onto my leg has taken some getting used to. And we’ve had our share of meltdowns and stress and sweat. (Meltdown = her, stress and sweat = me)

Dinner goes much more smoothly, of course, when I have a plan, when I decide what to fix before 5:30 that night.

A couple weeks ago, I planned to make baked mostaciolli. I don’t remember what else was wrong that night, but the evening was not going smoothly. And then I dumped my box of pasta into my boiling water.

It was a bad box. Half the noodles were burnt and almost immediately began falling apart. I briefly thought I could just pick out the bad noodles. But that did not work.

And of course, that was the moment my parents arrived. Annalyn was throwing a fit about something, I was picking burned noodles out of boiling water, and I needed to leave for choir practice in about 45 minutes.

So I improvised. I made do with what I had on hand. And I made a taco casserole. So, in case this ever happens to you – cranky toddler, busy night, burned noodles – here’s the recipe for the casserole:

Taco Pasta Casserole
3 cups macaroni
1 lb. ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large can tomato sauce
Cheddar, shredded

Boil the pasta, rinse and drain. Brown the hamburger, drain and add taco seasoning. Mix pasta, hamburger, corn, beans and tomato sauce. Pour into casserole dish, cover with shredded cheese. Bake until cheese is melted.

The good news is that this makes a LOT of food. So not only are you covered for dinner on the first night, but then you have leftovers for lunches or another dinner.

You could probably freeze half before baking, but in that case, I’d recommend not boiling the pasta quite as long. I’m not a fan of “al dente,” but freezing already-soft pasta has never worked out for me.

Have you ever had a box of burned noodles? Or some other last-minute cooking disaster that forced you to improvise? What did you do?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday, Food on Fridays and Presto Pasta Nights (which is here and here).

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Chili's Gift Card Winner

Congratulations to Amber Renea! Random.org picked #18, and that is your lucky number today! E-mail me your address (givinguponperfect at gmail dot com), and I'll mail it to you!

Thank you to everyone else who commented. I loved reading about what YOU do when you don't feel like cooking dinner. For the record, it's almost always ORDER PIZZA at my house!

Losing It: Ice Cream Treat Edition (Week 9)

I know, I know. Eating ice cream isn’t really going to help me meet my weight loss goals any better than not counting my points and eating McDonald’s for breakfast.

And I’m not even a big ice cream person. Mark can eat half a gallon in one sitting, but not me. Unlike most unhealthy tasty foods, like Pop Tarts or cheese dip or chocolate frosting, ice cream can be in the freezer without me feeling even the slightest bit tempted.

See, just like hot wings, ice cream takes too much effort to eat. The getting out of the freezer and the scooping and the waiting for it to thaw a little bit and the eating slowly to avoid brain freeze? Eh. I can do without it.

However . . .

Several weeks ago, I was looking for blog ideas and discovered that 2010 is the Dairy Queen Blizzard’s 25th anniversary.

And I couldn’t just ignore that little nugget, could I?

Thankfully, there’s not a Dairy Queen near my house or my office, so it was really a one-time celebration. (Because, seriously, if one was close by, you know I’d be celebrating all year!)

Sonic is another story. (Which might make you wonder why I even brought up Dairy Queen, but I’m getting there. I promise.)

After I picked up Annalyn from daycare on Wednesday, we stopped at Sonic and got a Butterfinger Blast for Mark and an Oreo Blast for us.

Just like her daddy, that little girl loves her ice cream! She ate at least ¼ of my ice cream – and then wanted to share with Mark, too!

[Side note: As we shared the treat, using the same spoon because why wouldn’t we, I thought, “Good thing she’s not sick or anything.” Yeah. Guess which TWO members of our family woke up with a cough and scratchy throat yesterday?]

I’m still trying to get back on the Weight Watchers wagon, so yesterday morning, I looked up the points in a Blast. And then I wondered: Which is worse for you, a Blast or a Blizzard?

Just in case you’ve wondered, too (and in case you have the good fortune to live near both a Dairy Queen and Sonic), here’s the lowdown:

Dairy Queen Blizzard
Size: 10 oz.
Calories: 550
Fat: 20
Fiber: 1
Points: 12

Sonic Blast
Size: 12.8 oz.
Calories: 548
Fat: 20.8
Fiber: .7
Points: 12

The verdict? Go with the Blast. It’s still 12 points, but you get more ice cream!

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This post is part of the Losing It Challenge. How did you do this week?


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Chili’s Contest and Gift Card Giveaway

I love reading cooking blogs and printing out new recipes and admiring the glossy pictures in a cookbook. I even love making a grocery list and buying groceries (sans toddler, of course).

And I do like to cook. But sometimes, I do not feel like cooking! Enter Chili's . . .

Chili’s knows all about this feeling, and that’s why they’ve started their new campaign called Shout Out to Eat Out. Every day until August 30, Chili’s will be giving away a $50 gift card to someone who, you guessed it, shouts out. All you have to do to enter is upload a 10- to 30-second video, telling Chili’s why you don’t want to cook tonight.

Easy enough, right? (Or, at least, easier than cooking dinner!)

And because I don’t want you to have to wait to win that drawing, I’m giving away a $50 gift card to Chili’s to one of you. Just leave a comment telling me what your solution is for the nights when you don’t want to cook.

I’ll let Random.org choose a winner this weekend, so comment by Friday at midnight (CST).

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Last chance for chili

The first day of spring brought sleet and snow, and I took advantage of the weird weather by making chili one last time.

I’m not opposed to chili in the summer, but Mark has this thing about hot things in hot weather. He doesn’t drink coffee in the summer either. [He’s weird.]

As I was pulling all the ingredients out of the pantry, I remembered that I’ve never posted my chili recipe. [Don’t be confused – like I was. I have written about canned chili and its use as a necessary ingredient to homemade burritos. But that’s a whole other story.]

Chili is really one of my favorite things to fix, especially now that I’ve mastered it. In addition to Mark’s seasonal chili preferences, he’s also pretty picky about the level of heat, the meat to bean ratio, and the thickness of the soup (and how it’s not a soup, because he doesn’t like soup).

So figuring out the exact chili that we both like was a bit of a challenge.

I can’t promise that our chili compromise will work for you, but it definitely works for us. And it’s super easy and healthy, too! (Yes, that’s right, folks! Chili is a miracle food!)

 
Cold-Weather Chili

1 ½ lbs. ground beef
Onion
1 large can tomato sauce
1 medium can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Ro-Tel)
1 can chili beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
½ packet hot chili seasoning
½ packet mild chili seasoning

Dump it all in the Crock Pot and cook on high for two hours (or low for four hours).

A few secrets:

Don’t substitute another can of kidney beans for the chili beans. If the store is out of chili beans, just don’t make chili. Seriously. I tried it and could not figure out why the chili was so bland. It was the lack of chili beans.

Remember my tip for chopping onions in bulk and freezing them? What about my bulk beef browning? (I know. That doesn’t sound right. But I couldn’t resist the alliteration. I’m weird.) If you do these things ahead of time, making this chili literally takes 5 minutes.

 
Unless you have a Pampered Chef can opener that is smarter than, well, you. And in that case, it might take 10 minutes.

And last, but not least, I don’t stop at draining the fat off my hamburger. I actually rinse it. Some people (ahem, husband and sister-in-law, ahem!) think this is weird. I think it’s smart and healthy. You decide.

So, there you have it. The medium heat, appropriately meaty and beany, not too thin, just right for the last big snow of the winter chili.

How do you make chili? And do you eat it in all seasons - or just the cold ones?? Or, if you don't like chili at all [weird], how did you celebrate the first weekend of spring?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

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Losing It - Week 3

Today is the end of our third week of Losing It: Not Just Our Sanity. Each week for the next 8 weeks, Jessie from Vanderbilt Wife, Ashleigh from Heart & Home and I will be sharing a peek (or in the case of this wordy ramble, an oversized bay window) into our weight loss journeys.

If you’d like to take the challenge to Lose It (#LosingIt10 on Twitter, by the way), write about your own journey, link to this site in your post, and share a link to your blog post in our weekly carnival. The bloggers who link up at least six out of the 10 weeks will be eligible for our prize package of a six-month subscription to The Six O'Clock Scramble (a meal planning service), a Weight Watchers pedometer and a gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods.

The winner will be the person who loses the largest percentage of his or her body weight during the 10 weeks.

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This week wasn’t quite as good as last week, and I had one particularly, spectacularly terrible night. Annalyn and I went to the store after I picked her up from daycare, and she was A Bear.

According to my darling child, I went to the wrong grocery store. Yes, my 2-year-old daughter knows the difference between our various grocery stores, and yes, she has her favorites.

And I had the nerve to go to the wrong one.

It was all downhill from there. Let me just say, there was screaming and crying and throwing herself over the side of the cart in loud desperation. Not throwing herself OUT of the cart. Just over it, like she was passed out. But she wasn’t. She was just protesting the injustice of my terrible parenting skills and grocery store choices.

I cracked. I bought a frozen pizza. And a box of chocolate Pop Tarts. And a bottle of Coke.

I know. I KNOW!

Then, because I have a feeling you might understand just exactly how frustrating this was, I couldn’t get the Coke open.

I tried. And tried. AND TRIED. But I could not, for the life of me, get that 20 oz. open.

Despite that sad situation, I still ate more food than any one person should in one sitting. And I felt TERRIBLE. Oh, my stomach hurt so bad! I even felt sick the next morning. As I should. I totally deserved that stomach ache!

What I’m not sure I deserve is a weight loss when I go to my Weight Watchers meeting today. I did okay, but not great. And obviously had this crazy night of gluttony that was not exactly “on plan.”

So, we’ll see. I have still been drinking my water, and I have still not been exercising. But I did talk to my friend Brittany about walking next week, so I’m hoping that helps.

Oh, also – I tried Thomas’ Bagel Thins. They are tasty and only one point. But they are THIN. Yeah, I know, that might seem obvious from the names. Bagel THINS. I’m just saying that they’re so thin I wanted to eat two. And, maybe I did.

So, that’s me – the kind of good, the bad and the Pop Tart Ugly. How was your week?

UPDATE: I gained a pound back. The moral of this story? Don't buy the Pop Tarts!! (Or don't take your 2-year-old to the grocery store . . . as if I can avoid THAT!)

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