Monday's Menu

You guys are not even ready for the recipe I am about to give you. Everyone goes nuts when I make this green bean casserole. I saw it made a few years ago on food network and it is the bomb.com. And since Thanksgiving is just days away I wanted to share it with you so you can have the dish at your Thanksgiving feast!

Green Bean Casserole

• serves 6-8
• 2 cans of green beans
• 4 tb butter
• 2 tb finely chopped onions
• 2 tb finely chopped mushrooms
• 2 tb all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups of corn flakes
  
• shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place green beans in a casserole dish and set aside.
Saute onions in 2 tb butter until translucent.
Stir in mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and saute 3-5 mins.
Add in flour and stir for another minute or so to cook out the raw flour taste.
Whisk in sour cream.
Simmer for a couple of minutes to bring tastes together.
Melt remaining 2 tb butter in a small pan.
Crush cereal in a plastic bag and pour in pan with butter, toss to coat.
Pour mushroom mixture over green beans.
Top with shredded cheese.
Sprinkle buttered cereal.
Bake for about 20 mins, or until light golden brown and bubbly

via google images

My biggest fan

My beautiful grandma, Evelyn, reads my blog every day. Every time we talk she tells me how much she loves and looks forward to reading it, and gets on to me if I don't write. She is definitely my biggest fan. She is the coolest grandma around, she travels and parties with her senior friends. She is a cross-word genius. She's a great cook. But the thing I love most about my grammie is that she tells you how it is, I know she'll always tell me the truth, even if its not what I want to hear.

That's why this e-mail she sent in response to the post about my Christmas wish list is so funny.

"HEY YOU!! READ YOUR BLOG, YOU DON'T ASK FOR MUCH!! IS THAT A BRACELET? HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST? AND WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH A SEWING MACHINE? ARE YOU PLANNING ON SEWING YOUR OWN CLOTHES LOL YOU KNOW MAYBE YOU SHOULD MARRY AN OIL BARRON, THEY GET MORE MONEY THAN A DR. YOU ARE SO SPOILED, BUT I LOVE YOU JUST THE SAME LOVE READING YOUR STORIES, I GET A FEW CHUCKLES..MAYBE YOU SHOULD WRITE ABOUT OLIVER, AND HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET HIM A DIAMOND CHOKER, HE IS SO CUTE.. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. TTYL, LOVE YOU LOTS. GRAM"

Like she didn't have anything to do with the spoiling?!

Gram lives in Connecticut, which just so happens to be my favorite place, coincidence? I think not. The last few times we've gone up there we brought some "extras" (jimmy and beth) and there was a shortage of beds so I stayed in Grammie's room. We stayed up late talking and laughing so loud at an inappropriate joke she told that we woke everyone up.

My favorite times with Gram are the hours we spend coloring. Yes, coloring, as in coloring books. You'd think this is a memory from my childhood but it's actually pretty recent. So what if we're grown ups who color in children's coloring books, we can stay in the lines like you wouldn't believe.

Also, since I didn't post it the other day and since I got it from her, here is the macaroni salad recipe. I don't have exact measurements. just go with it.

Macaroni Salad recipe

We always make a ton so there's plenty of leftovers to eat the next few days.

• 1 pound macaroni- elbows or shells, or whatever you have really
  
• mayonnaise and miracle whip
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped cucumber
  
• 1 large can of tuna fish
• salad supreme seasoning
• salt and pepper

Cook and drain macaroni, then let sit and cool. Add chopped veggies (you can add more to taste, those are just an estimate), drained tuna, equal parts mayo and miracle whip (a few scoops of each), and seasoning. Mix well. Let cool for at least an hour, it always tastes better the next day though so the longer the better.

(my camera is dead & I can't upload pictures of mine so I found this one)

so there you have it, now you all know my amazing Grammie, and have her delicious recipe.

I love you Gram!
thanks for everything you do for me.

P.S. how gorgeous is she on her wedding day?! you should see the pictures of her from back in the day on the beach.. hot mama!

Monday's Menu

I am so inspired and excited by the support of my 5 new followers (whoop!) that I have decided to do a weekly post about my adventures with cooking. Today wasn't the best example to showcase but for having absolutely no food in the house, and lacking in the time department it turned out delicious. Jimmy and I love to make pizza, and one of my cook books contained the perfect recipe for tonight..

mixed herb pizza

• serves 2-4
  
• olive oil, for brushing
• 1 quantity pizza dough
• all purpose flour, for dusting
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh marjoram
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
  
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp olive oil flavored with mixed herbs
• 1 1/3 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/200 C. Brush a cookie sheet with oil

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured counter to a 10-inch/25cm round. Place on the cookie sheet and push up the edge a little. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Combine the parsley, basil, chives, marjoram, garlic, and sour cream in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Brush the pizza base with the flavored oil, then spread the herb mixture evenly over it almost to the edge. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.

(yes, we paper platted it, but look how cute they are)

I used a pre-made dough and unfortunately didn't have time to get fresh herbs but luckily my spice rack had all of them (I halved the amount of herbs called for). Even with these short cuts it turned out great!

Try it, it was super easy and great if you're short on time. And I loved that it was different than the usual tomato sauce and pepperoni pizza we usually make. AND its perfect for our vegetarian friends, Mihir and Ankita!

Thanks everyone for the kind words of encouragement, I'm super excited about blogging again and after a test on Wednesday this blog will be getting a makeover.

Nannyhood

Being with the kids for the past two summers has really prepared me for (and deterred me from) motherhood. I'm not talking about the screaming baby, shitty diaper motherhood, no one is ever prepared for that. I'm talking about the elementary stage. I've done some pretty impressive things with the kids this summer. Some of which include, homemade board games, puppet theater, marble jar for good behavior, tons of cooking & crafts.

Some days the kids make me want to run screaming but when they tell me how much fun they're having its totally worth it! I can't believe summer is almost over.

*I would like to note that recipes pictured above are all made from scratch.