52 Weeks of Cooking Week 7: Love Inspired Cooking

 by Bannon

Love inspired cooking.  What was I going to make for love inspired cooking?  The only thing my kids were begging for on Valentines Day was red milk.  Reddit gave a very wide category this week so I was having a hard time coming up with something I considered love inspired.  Then one night I saw in the refrigerator a can of crescent rolls and remembered a recipe I saw on Pinterest for smores crescents and I knew I had found my recipe.  To most women chocolate = love.

These were super simple to make.  Just preheat the oven to what the package directions say on the crescent rolls.  Separate the rolls and place a few chocolate chips and a few marshmallows on each roll.  Then roll them up like a standard crescent roll taking care to keep the marshmallows and chocolate inside. 

Pop them into the oven, I think they cooked for 12 minutes.  I followed the crescent roll package directions again.

When they came out I saw the one flaw I made.  I should have closed off the ends of the crescent rolls a bit better to try to keep the marshmallows in because they melted right out.

But in the end it really didn't matter because they tasted really, really good.  Simple to make too and kids would love to help make these as well.


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I have to say I ignored the 52 weeks challenge the past two weeks due to illness and work but I wanted to let you know what I did.  Two weeks ago was the alcohol challenge and I went super simple and made bratwurst in beer.  The kids and I were sick most that week so I was not into doing anything related to cooking challenges or blogs. 

Last week I did complete the Brazilian challenge but I didn't get around to posting it.  The husband thought it was a bit bland and needed more onion.  I thought it was nice and light.


Brazilian White Rice

• 2 cups long-grain white rice
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups hot water
•  
• Place the rice in a colander and rinse thoroughly with cold water; set aside.
• Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion in the oil for one minute. Stir in the garlic and cook until the garlic is golden brown. Add the rice and salt and cook and stir until the rice begins to brown. Pour hot water over rice mixture and stir. Reduce heat to low, cover the saucepan, and allow to simmer until the water has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.

Reddit food challenge week one, erm, I mean week two

So if you remember Kerry and I were nuts enough to agree amongst ourselves to follow reddit's 52 week food challenge this year to try and expand our horizons.  Well, Kerry is very excited and I am nuts to agree to do this due to a few things.  I am a very picky person food wise.  I do not venture far from my favorites.  When I go to a restaurant I usually can only find one or two entrees that sound good to me on the whole menu.  I'm the only one in the family like this, I've taken great pains to make sure the boys try all sorts of foods.

Nothing makes me happier to see that week two's challenge (our week one) is Chinese food.  That is one type of food that I really do enjoy.  I just happened to have cold rice in the fridge Tuesday night.  I threw that in a pan with a little oil, two eggs, red pepper, bacon and soy sauce and fried it all together.  It took under 15 minutes and the husband and kids thought it was a great meal.

Next week's challenge is soup, which I love, love, love to make.  Plus since it's 20 degrees out it's perfect soup weather finally!

- Bannon

A little something to tide you over...

Today will be a big day, blog-wise!  I'll be testing a homemade Oxy-Clean recipe on chocolate milk, and preparing our Chinese recipes for the 52 Week challenge.  I'll have pictures!  And nieces as assistants!

However, in the meantime, I have a small recipe for basil crostini.  I made it because I had a third of a loaf of bread leftover from dinner earlier in the week, and also because I wanted a lighter, less bready version of garlic bread to go with our spaghetti that we had yesterday.  Sorry, no pics this time-they were gone by the time it occurred to me to get them.

Bread, sliced thinly (ideal would be a baguette or smaller loaf)
4T butter
2t crushed garlic
2t fresh minced basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Up to 1/2 c mozzarella or parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line up slices on a baking sheet.  In microwave safe bowl, melt butter.  Add garlic and basil, mix thoroughly.  Brush mixture onto slices of bread.  Top with cheese-I used approximately 1T per slice, but it's a matter of personal taste.  Bake until bread is toasted and cheese is melted-I think it took 7 or 8 minutes for me.  Very flavorful!  My Dudes made them disappear, and so did I.

A Second Post on Sunday!

I had a realization Friday that my house has a lot of food in it.  I went down to the freezer to put a few things in it and saw that it was bursting at the seams.  It almost didn't shut.  This is the first time in eleven years that I have had no more room for food in there.  The fridge's freezer is the same, completely full of food.  So I've decided I'm going to have a pantry challenge.  

The rules for myself are simple.  The weekly budget for the next five weeks will be $50.  I am trying to be realistic here by giving myself that much.  The price of groceries is increasing rapidly and it's outrageous how much some things cost now.  That $50 will cover fresh fruits, vegetables and other staples like milk and bread.  My goal is that I will reinforce this by reporting here on the blog what I spend, making me accountable to all of you.  (The one thing I'm not including in the weekly total is my Costco membership which will be coming up for renewal the next time I go there.  If I post my receipts then that will show up.)

When it comes to eating out I plan on using the variety of restaurant coupons that I have from the various daily deal sites, Restaurant.com and the birthday coupons I've started getting in my email.  I hope to only eat out once a week for dinner and not spend more than $15 for what remains of the bill after the discount.

I'm also going to meal plan weekly.  One of my awesome friends has shared the meal plan sheet she made for herself with me and I'm going to try really hard to stick to planning and following through on my menus.

The goal is to see how far I can go until October 1st with this plan.  Right now it seems so easy but I know as the freezer and my stockpile start getting lower it's going to get harder to do.

Meal Plan Week of 8/28

Sunday - chicken wings, baked potato and green beans

Monday - grilled cheese with tomato soup and green beans

Tuesday - pasta and sauce with fruit and salad

Wednesday - fish sticks, with veg and fruit

Thursday - teriyaki chicken, rice and veg

Friday - leftovers

Saturday - pizza for the kids, birthday dinner out for dh and I

• B