Aggies Do It Better

Hello! Hope everyone had a good weekend. The abundance of free time I thought I'd have once both boys are in school (twice a week anyway) hasn't quite kicked in just yet...I made this last week and just now getting to post it! Ah, my nemesis, the pulled pork. I made this one other time, from a different recipe, and it didn't turn out very well. That's about all I remember. And it was a huge mess in my roasting pan. Most things I make do turn out, but I can also mess up pretty much anything! This recipe calls for a pretty involved marinade. There's onion, brown sugar, garlic, vinegar, some spices (including a buttload of cumin). Those get mixed up together in the trusty food processor. Warning: do not have your face in the food processor when you open it up after blending. The aroma WILL burn your face. In a good way. But still. So here we go. I used my brain this time and got a disposable pan. GREATNESS! Marinade all rubbed in. Messy. And gross. Raw me...

I've been having a BLAST with my new hobby.....making my own peanut butter and jelly. Let's face facts: We consume mass quantities of it in this house. It's something I've always wanted to do. Canning can be a bit intimidating, and you not only need the jars but all that other stuff. And then...my new issue of Everyday Food (Martha) came in the mail...and low and behold there was an article in there about "freezer jam". The process is almost the same, cook down the fruit (either stone fruit or berries), add some pectin (a certain kind) and sugar, then you put it in the jars let it sit for a day until it cools and the seal forms. Then it's good in the fridge for 3-4 weeks or in the freezer for 6-12 months (hearing different things). Genious!!! I am in love. I already buy "natural" jam so to speak, but we go through it alot. I figured out for the price of one of those jars I can make 4 of these. My goal is to have a year's worth of i...

Hi! This past week has been crazy....getting BOTH boys ready for school, backpacks and lunch boxes ready, spare sets of clothes, EVERYTHING labeled! And this week the boys have been going to school every other day, so keeping it straight has been a full time job! More on that later. I did have a busy cooking week last week but barely had time to post about anything! (so much so that this week is "leftover week" because our fridge/freezer space is so limited!) I only made one thing from the PW book, the Shrimp Penne. Well, 2 things. I also made the homeade ranch. Here it is on my wedge salad. It was very thick, more like a dip, and it does say you can thin it out if needed. It needed. I added a small amt of milk to some to make it more runny for dressing. I still found it too thick and frankly not enough flavor for iceberg, which is already pretty dull. However, it IS really good as a vegetable/cracker dip. My husband really liked it alot, much to my surprise! He even took s...

It's PW Breakfast Time! First up is Egg-in-a-Hole . Again, not an original concept. I've actually tried this before, about a year ago, and it didn't turn out at at all. So I gave it a go again. Simple enough, right? The picture is pretty self-explanatory. Cook a little bit on one side until partially set, then flip. This time it turned out pretty good. I'm pretty sure it's because I cooked it in actual butter and not cooking spray. That's the case alot around here lately. Next up is Huevos Hyacinth. This is deli ham, then tomatoes or salsa, then an egg, then cheese cooked in a ramekin under the broiler. It gives those 2 options, tomato slices or salsa...which one should I choose? Both of course! I made this for my self for lunch one day actually. They were both really good, I still can't make up my mind which I like better. Finally, my nemesis. Breakfast Potatoes and Burritos. These are one of those bajillion step, mass quantity recipes. I almost halved i...

This week was apps and breakfasts! Most of them were fun and easy to make, and not very time consuming....except one certain one....(breakfast burritos, I'm talkin to you). First up was Hot Artichoke Dip . (sorry for the sideways pic, it's not like that in my folder!) I halved this recipe, because I'm pretty sure it doesn't keep that long and I'm the only one eating it. It has canned artichoke hearts, mayo, cream cheese, and some spices. Pretty simple. Then you bake it in the oven. I'm definitely a fan of artichoke and spinach artichoke dips, so I knew I'd like it. I went ahead and blended it all up in my food processor instead of having half of it chunky, because I was planning on offering some to the boys and if it had chunks of artichoke in it I knew they wouldn't go for it. And....they ate it! Even my most discerning food critic, Number One. I couldn't believe it. I may or may not have let him have just that with tortilla chips for dinner. Next ...

This is actually my second go at this one. I made it the first the night of OVEN-GATE back in March. You know, the night my oven broke. So I didn't bake it in the oven. Generally, I'm not much a fan of "oven-baked" macaroni, I prefer the creamy kind. Also, none of us really loved this last time. I think I didn't put enough seasoning in it. It was much better this time, but just not that creamy from being baked in the oven. And hello, massive portions! This will make about 10 2-cup servings (which is a generous serving size). Kids will usually only eat 1 cup. I forgot to take a pic before scooping out for the boys. Note the GINORMOUS casserole dish filled to the brim. My food critic, aka Number One, ate it up right away. Surprising, really, I don't think he liked it that much last time. After I took the pic of my bowl I smothered it with some Sriracha. YUM. Heeey, lookie what I finally figured out how to do! I deserve a medal for figuring out how to do this al...

I've really been plowing through this book the last week or so. No idea why really. Here we go! Flat Apple Pie: A Disaster in Pictures. The concept is that this is pie not in a dish that can be cut with a pizza cutter and ate on the go. This started out easy enough. I'm trying to remember, I don't think I've ever actually made an apple pie before. You can pick your jaws up off the floor now. You slice up and peel up the apples, then mix it with some brown sugar, lemon juice and some other stuff. I decided it would be a good idea to mix this separately before adding to the apples, seeing as how my *large* glass bowl wasn't big enough. Big surprise. Bad decision. It took forever to mix in, and it got all clumpy, but it did eventually. This also goes with Perfect Pie Crust . I kind of already have a go-to pastry recipe, but I went ahead and used this one. I thought it was weird that it's all shortening in this, not butter. I'm sure there's a good reason for...