Crackpot Tuesday

Today has been busy. Just busy I tell ya! And so, because I was busy yesterday.....and today......I didn't do a crackpot BUT, someone else that I know made something rather delish and so I am going to send you over there. Trust me. You'll thank me after you go and see what she's got cookin'.

In the meantime, we've some grandparents we've adopted...or they've adopted us.....

Grandpa got his knee replaced on Monday so we've been back and forth to the hospital visiting and taking grandma to see grandpa cuz she doesn't drive anymore.

Ya know. If you're like us and family isn't living next door real close I would encourage you to adopt. It's a beautiful thing. We've adopted and been adopted by several sets of grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins.... It's nice to be surrounded by family.

Crackpot Tuesdays

Photo by Taste of Home

Male Native number three was the picker/chooser of yesterdays crackpot meal and he chose Hobo Meatball Stew



Now folks, I realize I'm a little slow and all.....and there's a lot of space that could be put to good use between my ears but I'm just plumb puzzled looking at the photo from Taste of Home and the photo from Taste of Rachel.....

Let's play a game. One of those games you play in kindergarten. What's different about these photos? I mean besides the obvious....different bowls, a chunk of bread thrown into ours.... What is missing?

I'll give you a hint. Look at the list of ingredients. As you look at the list of ingredients maybe you can guess why this one didn't rate so high for us either. The younger Natives loved it. Who wouldn't? Everything tastes better smothered in ketchup right? The older Natives, The SM, and I felt it was a shady three stars. Only because I doctored it up a bit. As in... a lot! And even then.....it wasn't fabulous as far as stews go.



Not to mention, if you're going to go through all of the trouble of taking raw hamburger meat, rolling it into balls,



throwing it into a pan,



and browning it on all sides it better be in something like meatballs with barbecue sauce that sits and cooks on low all day long so the meatballs are covered in candied sugar basically!

Me, I'd rather roll balls of cake and dip them in chocolate!!!

Peas. There's the answer. Not that it would have made a difference in the stew. It just had me puzzled for a moment. Thankfully, I have a short attention span so I wasn't tripped up about it for too long. For all of you OCD people out there, hope I didn't ruin your day. Let it go.............Taste of Home did!

And now, if the images of raw hamburger haven't completely grossed you out, I would like to share with you a conversation I had with Native number 4. Mr. M

Mr. M: Mom! This is SO GROSS! I was playing with (we'll call him youngest)and he was laughing so hard because I was tickling him and I was laughing so hard and youngest drooled cuz he was laughing so hard and I was laughing so hard it went in my mouth! It was SO SICK MOM!

Me: (laughing) M, that is disgusting! I'd have puked!

Mr. M: I almost did! It was just sick man.

Me: No, if you'd have puked then I'd have puked and THEN that would be sick cuz you'd have to clean it up....man!

Mr. M: That's not funny mom.

Crackpot Tuesdays

Remember how last week I botched the Crackpot Tuesday and said I'd report? I'm reporting: It stunk and wasn't worth posting. It was so salty it shriveled and shrunk our insides so we all look like this. If you should happen to see us out and about please do me a favor and soak us in some water. I was short before....now I can't reach the kitchen table. Makes life complicated.


Photo by Taste of Home

Native numbre dos chose Pork Chili. I wish I had taken my own photos of this meal because for once, Taste of Home doesn't do the chili any justice. Looking at the photo it looks like a greasy bowl of store bought canned chili that has been sitting out in the cold too long.

This chili was given four stars by all. Very good. If we were a more generous family we'd probably give it five stars but if you give something five stars.....then there's nothing above five stars......so for something to get five stars in this family it has to be out of this world, can't be topped, no room for improvement, WOW! In other words, the main ingredient needs to be chocolate.

Speaking of chocolate may I vent for a minute? I can? Oh thank you. I sure appreciate it when you let me blow some steam.

As you all know (and if you don't....you're not missing anything) I have been fighting chronic West Nile Virus for a long time. Going into my fourth year. The SM this entire time has been working tirelessly? No, he gets tired. (Think "Lorenzo's Oil" and you get the idea.) Trying to find a cure for me. Every spare minute he's got, he is researching, studying, studying, researching...you get the idea.

So, the latest is he has me on the Candida diet. When he told me what the diet consisted of I told him to go and jump in the lake that is a few miles away. Yeah! I know it's winter. I'm fully aware that it is sub zero temperatures. The diet makes that shriveled up raisin up top look plump! Being the kind of man that The SM is he said he'd do it with me for moral support. We'd do it for two months and just see how I felt.

Okay, well.......misery loves company right? WRONG! There's no company here. Oh yeah sure. He's doing the diet along with me and I'll admit here and now we're not doing it to lose weight. That isn't the purpose of this diet but that is exactly what is happening to The SM! He's losing and weight and.......oh yeah baby you guessed it! I'm GAINING!!!!!

So not only am I off sugar (translation: CHOCOLATE), I'm off yeast, and vinegar. Do you know how many foods out there have those ingredients in them? I sit and chew on cardboard all day.....and I gain weight from it.....

We've been on this diet now for about two weeks......it's been a really cranky two weeks.....

Crackpot Tuesdays

Before I begin let me once again say, I am not a food blogger nor a photographer. With that said, I've a recipe to share but it doesn't go in a crackpot. I suppose you could put it in one as you can put pretty much anything and everything in one. I hear you can wash your socks in one.......something I hope to never have to try.

The recipe my eldest chose for yesterday had a tiny catch that I didn't catch in time. It would be step number one. Marinate all night long. SO, it marinated last night and will go in the crackpot today to which we'll report how it tasted. Crackpot is not supposed to = complicated and marinating over night is one too many steps in my opinion.....

Yesterday I told you I'd give you the recipe for the egg sausage bake thing. My baby sis told me she really liked it when I added photos telling how to make the noodles last time so I took photos this time too. Not every step but several steps along the way. Like I said, I'm not a food blogger even though I love....well......food!

Now that I've explained myself to death and y'all would just appreciate it if I'd just shut up and give you the recipe I will do so......Oh! One more thing. When I was growing up my mom would make something similar to this so a few years ago I came up with my own recipe...as close to hers as I could get it. So you see, it's tradition. Just ask The SM. You don't mess with tradition. I'm done now....

Christmas Morning Strata

2 Cups bread (homemade or french bread) cut into cubes. Enough to cover bottom of a sprayed 9 x 13 pan.
2 Cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 (4oz.) can diced gr. chili's,not drained
2 1/4 C. milk
10 eggs
1 Cup salsa (again, homemade if you can, if not, no biggy)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 tsp. grd. mustard
1 lb. grd. sausage cooked and drained



Brown your sausage and drain the grease off.



While sausage is browning, generously coat a 9x13 pan with baking spray. Cut bread into cubes and spread them out evenly on bottom of pan. Cover with half of the cheese and gr. peppers. I used wheat bread.



In a mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, salsa, and spices.



By now your sausage should be done. Add the sausage and then add the rest of the cheese and gr. peppers. (Wheat bread and sausage make a weird looking picture...)



Pour your egg and milk mix over the bread and sausage.



Cover your pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.



Take out of fridge a 1/2 hour before baking. Preheat oven at 400 degrees.



Bake for 1 hr. or until set meaning no more runny jiggly stuff......wish I could put myself in an oven for an hour to firm and brown things up a bit.

And there ya go! Top with salsa and sour cream, guacamole, diced onions, olives....what ever your big heart desires! We top ours with cinnamon rolls.

So it isn't Crackpot Tuesday......not that it matters.....my pot is always cracked.

I realize that I didn't do a Crackpot Tuesday yesterday. It was one of those days and you were quite lucky to get a post on demented snowmen with all of the running around that I did what with Levi going on a field trip bowling with the other special needs kids at the school and then my baby girl wanted me to help her while she worked in a little Christmas store that her class is doing this week. And of course since I hate going grocery shopping I have once again let things get to such a state that The Natives are gnawing on cupboard doors because there is nothing in the house to eat so getting to the grocery store was a must and like this huge run on sentence that was my day yesterday. A huge run on from one thing to the next.

I didn't do a crackpot but I DID make homemade enchiladas (is there any other kind) and they were quite scrumptious. If you've never made enchilada sauce from scratch you really ought to try. Much better than that canned enchilada wanna be sauce.

Enchilada Sauce-Red
(Serves 8)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder (See note below)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
a pinch cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 cup salsa
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (can use water if you don't have broth)


Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the onion, oregano, chili powder, basil, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, cinnamon, parsley, salsa and tomato sauce.

Mix together and then stir in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
original recipe from All Recipes that I tweaked a little bit

Note: If you have a local Mexican market nearby or an aisle in your grocery store that sells Mexican ingredients get your chili powder from there. They have several different varieties and they make your enchilada sauce even better! Like Ancho chili powder for example. Mix them up if you really want to go hog wild. 1/2 of one kind and 1/2 of another. Seriously! Live a little! Step outside of that recipe box and throw in a dash of this and a pinch of that.

Serve over enchiladas, nachos, eggs, hash browns, chocolate cake.....just kiddin' on the cake part. Just wonderin' if you were paying attention.

Hello? Anybody there?.......sigh.......guess I lost ya in the aisle with the Mexican ingredients. Not a bad place to be lost in. Not that I've ever been lost..unless it's in a pile of laundry.....which reminds me, Note to self: Make like you are really busy so you can put off laundry for another day. Self to note: Better not or not only will The Natives be gnawing on cupboard doors but they'll be doing it naked.....Point taken. Top of things to do today: Laundry!

Crackpot Tuesdays and playing in the snow for the first time this season.

Photo by Taste of Home
Aaaaa! The broccoli is infested with maggots!

It's Crackpot Tuesday and my baby picked the meal this time. Hmmmm, what does a picky eater who won't eat anything but 'peanut butter jelly plate and bread' little boy choose when it is his turn to choose a dinner?

You got it! Good ol' Mac N' Cheese.

I figured if I was going to go to all of the trouble of making Mac N' Cheese in a crackpot and not out of a box it better be at least....four stars if not better. For me, Mac N' Cheese is the go to meal when The SM and I go on a date and the kids need something quick and easy to fix or when I'm really tired......cheese in a box. It truly is a staple around these here parts.

For Mac N' Cheese The Natives said they'd give it five stars and The SM said four stars. A little more involved than the box stuff but not too much so that was a plus for me.



Yesterday was also the first day this little one was able to go outside and embrace the snow we've been receiving for the last few days. It came down non-stop yesterday which is a good thing. A very good thing...



Because now my neighbors do not have to look at my ugly yard. It's all under a beautiful white blanket of snow...unless you go in the backyard....that is where the dogs carefully place bombs and dye the snow yellow.



I realize a lot of my posts are about my baby and I truly do apologize it's just with The Natives in school it is the baby, myself, and.....the dogs.......and....well.......be grateful I take photos of my baby and not more of the dogs....because dogs do not care if they have a camera pointed at them. They do stuff like this!



I suppose I could take more photos of the sheepies behind our house.



I never see them lick their bottoms.

Crackpot Tuesdays and a little bit of Rudolph

When one spoon isn't enough...

It's crackpot Tuesday! Since last week was Thanksgiving I thought I'd put up a recipe that you can use left over turkey in. It's a good one. Five stars every time. We got this recipe from The SM's sister.....one of them.....he has many.

It is called, "Country Chicken Soup". Ya, I know. It says chicken and I told you left over turkey......work with me. I'm going to give you the original recipe BUT you can use left over turkey okay? Phew! Some people get riled up over the tiniest things.

"Country Chicken Soup"

1 chopped onion
1/2 bag baby carrots
2 stalks celery
3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
3/4 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. thyme
3 TBL. parsley flakes
1 whole chicken fryer
8 cups water
1 pkg. egg noodles (uncooked)

Place everything in crackpot, except noodles. Cover and cook on low 8 hrs. (High 5 hrs.) One hour before serving, remove chicken and cool slightly. Remove meat from bones and return meat to crackpot. Add noodles. Turn to high. Cover and cook one hour.

For left over turkey or chicken, follow the above recipe except add your left over cooked meat.



You will want to add some of this since your meat won't be cooking all day making broth. This stuff is the best. This stuff makes gravy rock!

Now, the recipe called for a pkg. of egg noodles and I'm okay with that in a pinch it's just...if you can make and add homemade egg noodles to your soup.....your family will love you forever. They'll rub your feet with lotion after they've drawn you a nice hot bath where you'll soak for an uninterrupted hour. If you live alone...take some to your neighbors.....preferably your single neighbors please. Thank you. You won't be single much longer and if you want to remain single.....don't share......I'm just warnin'.

There is a grandma that lives down the street from us who has made us these noodles from time to time. She knows how to win over The Natives affections. I begged her awhile back to show me how to make these because someday when she can't make them for us anymore.....I'm gonna have an uprising on my hands and it won't be pretty!

P.S. I am neither a photographer or a food blogger.....you get what you pay for.

So, without further a-doo....I'm gonna show you how to make homemade egg noodles like grandma M taught me:



Eggs. You need lotsa eggs. I use nine because there are nine of us in this household. If it were me....I'd use close to that (about an egg per person) because if you don't have left overs the Natives get very very cranky. Make sure you have chicken poo on your egg shells too. It adds extra flavor and protein like ashes and bugs when camping.




Oil and salt. 1/3 cup oil and 1 TBL. salt. I know! It sounds like a lot of salt but don't worry. The poo on the egg shells cancels it all out.




Throw the eggs, oil, and salt into you mixer. Any mixer or by hand if you've the biceps. I don't and The SM was busy.




Give it a good whirl.




Flour. This part is a bit tricky. Most people add too much flour to their baking. You want your dough to be sticky. Don't be afraid of sticky. Sticky is your friend when making bread....rolls......noodles.....cinnamon rolls....




See? This looks sticky. It is perfect. Trust me! I know sticky.




Generously flour your counter top, your kitchen table, your kitchen floor if it is clean enough......where ever you are going to roll out your dough. Still shuddering over the sticky? Don't cuz see? More flour! It all works out.




Dump your dough onto your floured surface area and roll your dough in the flour. Don't knead it! Just cover your dough in flour. We're going to take care of that sticky.




Roll out your dough about an 1/8th inch thick and then drown your dough in flour again. Go ahead. Get crazy. Cover that sucker in flour. You need a good amount of flour for the next step. I know I told you earlier to go light on the flour. That was then. This is now. Think like a politician.




Now you are going to roll your dough like you would cinnamon rolls. We don't want the dough sticking together so make sure you have enough flour on top of the dough and under it as you roll, unlike cinnamon rolls where you'd want all of that cinnamon....br. sugar.....butter....nuts.......to stick together in a gooey....sorry...we're making noodles.....not cinnamon rolls.



Why are we not making cinnamon rolls?



Don't worry if it isn't perfect. You don't want perfect or everyone will think you bought these from the store. Crappy looking is good here.



Now, grab you a serrated knife and start cutting your noodles. Don't worry about cutting your counter tops. Just make sure The Natives that you've threated and told you'd string up if ever you caught them cutting with out a cutting board are in school or send them out back to chop some wood.



I like mine about a 1/2 inch wide.



Now for the fun part. If you have a Native begging to help let them at the noodles. Try to keep as much flour as you can on the noodle as you drop them into the soup. The flour becomes your thickener.



Doesn't this look fun? Parental note: Don't let them do this alone...don't let them burn themselves okay cuz I don't want you suing me....thank you.



Mmmm, now stand back and watch the magic happen. Watch as the noodles take on a life of their own and grow so big you run scrambling to find another pot as noodles wriggle over the sides of your stock pot. True story! It's the growth hormones. Not sure but I think it has something to do with the chicken poo on the egg shell.



Bon Apetite! Serve these up quick because if you don't........



You have one of these on your hands.....and it aint pretty...a baby Native who is starving!

And because it is December first, for your enjoyment Levi will now sing for you, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" with a little help from The SM.

Please ignore the howling and cackling in the background......The Natives had just finished eating home made egg noodles and they were full....content....happy....obnoxious......

Crackpot Tuesdays

Photo by Taste of Home


Levi was supposed to pick the crackpot meal. I say supposed because it went something like this:

(The Mum places the cookbooks before Levi)

Mum: Levi what do you want for dinner?

(Levi starts flipping through the colored photos)

Levi: I want this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one....

Mum: Levi you have to pick just one!

Levi: And this one and this one and this one and this one and this one......

Mum: Levi, you like lasagna. How about this lasagna one?

Levi: I like lasagna and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one.

Mum: Levi, how about this one with rice? You really like rice.

Levi: I like rice and this one and this one and this one....

What's a Mum to do? I chose for him. I found a recipe that I had all of the ingredients for and didn't have to haul my lazy bahootie off to the grocery store. I chose Chicken a La King. With Levi in mind of course.....because he likes rice and this one and this one and this one.......

Our verdict? I think I put too much Tabasco sauce in The Native's bottles when they were babies. We thought it was bland. Needs more spicing up so we gave it three stars. Easily could be four stars with more salt and cayenne pepper. Also, I would suggest putting the gr. peppers in with the frozen peas at the end unless you like slimy soggy peppers. If you do, then feel free to put them in in the beginning like the recipe says. It's your crackpot! Also, I didn't have just frozen peas. I had frozen peas and carrots which actually turned out nice since I didn't have any pimientos in my pantry.....who does? I didn't know that people actually bought and put those things in their food until about a year ago. I thought when green olives were born they had a red gizzard that when passed around at Thanksgiving were pulled out of the gr. olive and flicked at each other....

Crackpot Tuesdays and Reflections

Photo by Taste of Home


This week was my baby girls turn to choose the crackpot meal and she chose, "Zippy Steak Chili".

From the moment I gave birth to The Natives I was shoving Tabasco sauce down their throats. If you haven't done the same or something similar this may be a bit zippy for you, your kids, your grandma, your grandma's cat....

Easily remedied.....cut back on the spicy ingredients. As for chili starter......what in tarnation is that? I just added two cans of chili.......

The family gave this 4 stars. For chili they thought it was pretty darn good and I had to agree with them.



I don't know about you but chili goes with cornbread like pizza goes with root beer......can't have one with out the other. I mean you can.....but you're missing out on the full experience. I'm not a fan of dry crumbly cornbread so I like The SM's aunts recipe that we tweaked a bit.

Aunt Gail's Cornbread

1 C. butter (trust me, it's worth it)
1 2/3 C. sugar (trust me, this too is worth it)
4 eggs (See? It gets healthy)
2 C. buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 C. cornmeal
3 C. flour
1 tsp. salt

Melt butter, add and stir in rest of ingred. stirring well. Bake in greased 9x13 for 30-40 min. at 375 in a metal pan, 350 in a glass pan. (We add a can of creamed corn and a can of diced gr. chili's.) (I didn't add the gr. chili's yesterday cuz I didn't want to. I'm allowed to do that every once in awhile...leave out an ingredient just cuz.)



Last week it was Reflections and Mr. M and Miss K wanted to participate. Miss K entered a painting and a musical piece on the piano. She won a ribbon for her painting and a trophy for her musical piece. The theme for this year was, "Beauty is..." Miss K painted a horse because she feels that beauty is the life of a horse and being a part of that life. Watching a horse being born, watching the horse grow, training the horse, and spending your life with your horse. Her musical piece had to do with the sound of horses hooves when they are galloping. Miss K said she loves the sound of horses galloping.



Mr. M entered photography. Mr. M chose "Beauty is.......in the eye of the beholder". He went around taking photos of eyes. The smart little stinker then uploaded his photos, cut and pasted them, and then printed them. I still can't do that! Photo editing......pfffft. What's that?

We pretty much think these two rock for doing so well in Reflections.

Crackpot Tuesdays

Mr. M has been trying to decide what to pick that is a crackpot dinner for WEEKS! He is by far my pickiest eater. That boy would come to me over and over telling me he'd finally found something that looked edible to him only to have me start laughing and tell him to try again.......99.9% of his selections were desserts.

Now, you know me. I'm cool with dessert for dinner but if all I posted were crackpot desserts then you'd all be turning me into the children's protective services so I have to make it appear that I am making The Natives well rounded wholesome meals.


Photo by Taste of Home


Mr. M was beginning to think he'd never find a main dish that didn't look completely disgusting. After the desserts he wandered into the side dishes. That is when we compromised. He found Funeral Potatoes and I didn't have the heart to turn him down yet again so I told him we'd do the funeral potatoes if he'd try one more time to find a main dish. Side note, funeral potatoes. Are LDS the only ones to serve these at a funeral? If this is the case would y'all do me a huge favor? I like cheesy potatoes and all.....but when I die forgo the ham and cheesy potatoes. I want a huge dessert bar full of chocolate! Thank you. Now.......moving on....Well not moving on as in moving "on"....just moving onto the next paragraph......


Photo by Taste of Home

Mr. M looked through all of the photos and found a meat entree that looked to be about the plainest he could possibly find. No green stuff! He chose: Cranberry Pork Roast When I served it for dinner with gravy, Mr. M wanted to know where that came from because he didn't see it in the photo! He was a good sport and tried it and here is our review:

I blew it. The jury is still out and we have to try it again to give it a fair trial. At this point the highest was three stars. The gravy tasted like syrup. Syrup on meat......not our favorite.

When I was making the roast which by the way.......the meat was fabulous. Very tender, it didn't cross my mind when the recipe called for cranberry juice that cranberry juice mixed with other juices would be sickeningly sweet! Ever since my kidneys decided to throw a tantrum a few weeks ago I've been getting acquainted with cranberry juice. One problem. Cranberry juice by itself is enough to turn your mouth inside out so I get the mixed stuff. Cran-grape, cran-apple, cran-chocolate......kidding on the last.....do they make that mix? Because I'd buy it!

So, the recipe calls for cranberry juice and I pour in my sickeningly sweet cran-mix and don't think twice about it......until later when we're all having syrup on our meat.

Another side note. The recipe calls for corn starch to thicken the gravy. I'm not a corn starch fan and I remembered why last night. I prefer flour for thickening gravies. Last night I used corn starch and BLECK! I can taste it and I can feel a grainy cornstarch texture on my tongue as I'm eating.

There you have it. Our not fair trial on the poor cran. pork roast. I dare say with the reviews it got on Taste of Home all being 5 stars that we need to try it again.......this time with naked cranberry juice and flour for a thickener.....

A very positive note for this recipe. It was easy peasy and FAST. I like that. A lot!