I just had my baby Samuel two weeks ago today and it has been a whirlwind for my husband and I taking care of a newborn and a 3 year old little princess.  I admit that throughout my first pregnancy I was very health conscience of what I ate and my nutritional intake. This pregnancy was the complete opposite. Whatever fast food I could get my hands on went into my mouth. Biggest addiction was Taco Bell’s chicken burritos. I could have eaten these daily if I didn’t know better. For some reason though, now that he’s here, I find myself cooking better meals and trying to get those much needed vitamins and nutrients that I miss out on during my pregnancy.  Yesterday’s breakfast was a prime example.

First I diced one slice of turkey bacon and sauteed it in a small frying pan until it was crispy. I then added one scrambled egg to the bacon and cooked it until it was no longer runny, adding salt & pepper to taste. I folded the cooked egg in 1/2 and 1/2 again and placed it on some whole wheat toast with a slice of muenster cheese to make a sandwich. The sandwich was certainly tasty but I wanted – no I needed something else to go with it other than my mango peach V-8 splash. I then thought of the perfect accompaniment. I sliced some strawberries, diced some green apples and tossed them into a bowl with some blueberries . Then I topped the fruit with 1/2 of a single serving container of  a Vanilla Creme Yopliat Whips! I needed a crunch so I sprinkled two spoonfuls of Planters NUT-rition Digestive Health Mix over the top of the fruit and yogurt. The mix has dried cranberries, whole almonds, granola clusters, whole pistachios and dried cherries. When I saw the few granola clusters I knew that was the finishing touch. I grabbed my bag of BEAR NAKED FIT® Vanilla Almond Crunch natural granola out of the pantry and sprinkled a little extra on top. And viola,  I had the tasty and nutritious compliment to my egg sandwich that I was looking for.

The taste was so delicious that I thought I could use it again that evening for dessert.  For dinner, I sliced and grilled some Hillshire Farms Beef Polska Kielbasa and cooked up some Zatarain’s red beans and rice. (I know that doesn’t sound very nutrious but I need the calories since I’m feeding a new born. Well that sounds convincing to me.)  I also baked some carrots in a sweet caramel sauce and grilled some onions to go with the sausage.  For the dessert, I made the same dish as that morning but instead of vanilla yogurt I used Chocolate Raspberry Yoplait Delights Parfait.  I added the NUT-rition Digestive Health Mix and the granola but for an added touch I used a micro-plane to grate a Hershey’s kiss over the top and added a sprig of mint for flair.  My husband and daughter dove into dessert first and you know, that’s OK because it was the most nutritious part of the meal.

Wow! Thank you to those of you who participated in the bake sale. Not only did we sell all the goodies but some of my wonderful co-workers also made monetary donations to Hope for McKenna. The first day we made $151! To make the day even better, I had requests for more cookies.  I spent Wednesday evening making 8 dozen cookies to take to the office the following day.  I made Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Reese’s Chewy Chocolate Cookies. Only downfall was that the plastic Christmas containers were smaller than the 1st round so I could  only fit 8 to 12 cookies in each depending on the size of the cookies. I did make some cute “thank you” labels for each container. We had the potential of making about $80.  I thought it would go well because while I was baking, my friend, Beth called and her husband insisted she buy the Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies right then and there.  I hoped the rest of the items would sell well but figured whatever didn’t sell could be gifted to family and friends.

Well guess what, between sales and monetary donations made by family and friends, we made a whopping $310 overall!

At the end of the day that is quite a significant amount of donations for only two days of work.  I look forward to finding other ways of raising money for Ms. McKenna. Both my sisters, McKenna’s mom, Tracy and our older sister Danielle are working hard to try to raise money over the next year.  We have hand crafted paper products, hand-made clothing accessories and raffles ongoing.  Look for future posts on these items.

***If you know of any great fundraising ideas, please send them our way.  It is so easy to just ask, ask, ask but it is more fulfilling to give something heartfelt in return for the donations.***

Thank you again to all that support Hope for McKenna.  Hopefully, in the near future, we can spread the kindness our family and friends have shown us to another family in need. 

Thanks,

Aunt Brandy

December 22nd, we held a bake sale fundraiser at my office to help raise additional funds for Hope for McKenna.

We sold three tubs of Chocolate Chunk & Pecan Cookies (18 count)  as well as three take-out boxes  of the Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies (6 count). I made them all with Nestle brand chocolate chips.  I also had a tree-shaped, glass candy canister filled with various Christmas candy such as Snickers, Whoppers, Chocolate Crisps, Hershey’s chocolates and cherry cordial Hershey’s kisses.  We also sold a coffee mug filled with Hershey’s candy and some chocolate angels.

Thank you for all your support during our efforts to raise money for McKenna.  Our goal is to help alleviate the financial burden that her 6 surgeries in the past two years have created.  Any money  that we raise above and beyond her medical expenses will be donated to a cleft palate association chosen by the Conrad family. 

Thank you again for your support.

Brandy Pate

Another wonderful, food-related page by Danielle.  She writes: Despite having just given birth two weeks earlier nothing can keep Aunt Brandy out of the kitchen. So when Maxx and Lexy came to visit, that was the perfect excuse for her to get in the kitchen and make brownies! And of course, the kids happily obliged! August 2, 2008.”

I love this scrapbooking page by Danielle.  She wrote: “Will someone please tell me what I did to piss off the cake gods? Last year, the kids’ cake was left on the radiator and melted. For Maxx’s birthday this year, they raked their fingers through the icing and for Lexy’s birthday, I put the ice cream cake in the refrigerator instead of the freezer, and it too melted into a big pile of goop.  It’s a damn good thing they still taste good.”

  16 oz packages cream cheese softened 
  8 oz stick butter softened
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  3 tablespoons brown sugar
  3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
  1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans
  1 cup miniature semisweet chips

Beat softened cream cheese and butter until well blended.  Add brown sugar and confectioners’ sugar and blend until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla extract. Fold in miniature chocolate chips and 1 cup of the chopped pecans.

Place plastic wrap into a small bowl as a liner and add the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate in bowl for at least 3 hours. Flip out the cheese ball onto a plate and press the other 1/2 cup of chopped pecans into the sides of the cheese ball. Serve with animal crackers.

Alternate preparations include pouring caramel sauce over the top or replacing 1/2 the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips . Also goes well with sliced apples, graham crackers or vanilla wafers.

This weekend we drove down to Mobile, Alabama to celebrate our niece, Katie’s, 3rd birthday as well as my mother-in-law’s birthday. The party was decorated for a princess including the cake. My sister-in-law, Stephanie,  made a chocolate and strawberry castle cake. There were three layers of chocolate and one layer of strawberry with the pink icing. 

Stephanie used cupcakes and sugar cones to create four turrets and one with a chocolate tip that all the kids fought over. Strawberry whoppers, strawberry wafers and chocolate icing were used as the door, drawbridge and overall decor. Stephanie had said that she had been watching the Food Network’s great cake challenge and thought “I can do that, no problem”. A few hours into the cake making and she couldn’t figure out how the chefs decorated cakes for hours on end. All on all, the cake was absolutely beautiful and her little girl loved it more than her little mind could articulate. When it came to carve the cake, I had a little tear in my eye knowing how much time and energy went into making this little girl’s birthday wishes come true. When the kids had devoured the cake and ice cream heading off to open gifts, I asked Stephanie where she had gotten the idea.  She said the recipe had come from a cookbook I had given her last year that she made a few adjustment to for her purposes. For some reason I had a moment of pride and gratitude feeling that I in some way had helped although I know that wasn’t the case. Needless to say, the party was extraordinary as all Stephanie and Alex Pate’s parties are. I am just glad Zoey is only one so she won’t think her mommy will be able to create a cake like her Aunt Stephanie.

This recipe is a combination of Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits and the delicious dessert baklava.  I think I used a portion of recipe from one of the books, but I’m not sure.  I pulled each of the biscuit layers apart and layered them in a muffin pan with syrup and a pistachio mixture. They were delicious.

June 8th – 14th, 2008

Well, another wonderful week has passed.  Coupons clipped, groceries shopped, food prepped, and bellies bursting.  This week’s menu had quite the variety but enjoyed by many.  Most of the recipes are from cookbooks and other resources, but I threw in my “twist” when I could. From semi-homemade pizzas to slow-cooker recipes and on to luscious desserts, I recommend these dishes to the food lover in you. 

Sunday, June 8th: After venturing through my cookbooks and then visiting the local super market to pick up the ingredients for this week’s concoctions, I returned home to endulge my kitchen obsession for, sad to say, seven hours.  Sometimes, I get so caught up playing around in the kitchen, with my little tv tuned to the food network, that I lose track of time.  Baby Zoey was in my belly just dancing away and other than a little ache in my feet, I was tickled pink to be making these creations. 

June 1st – 7th, 2008

Each Sunday, I sit down and go through my cookbooks and decide the menu for the week.  I admit I’m a coupon clipper and after the Sunday paper gets here, I clip away and then venture out to the local grocery with my menu in hand.  I do use recipe books and magazines for most of my meal choices but I take creative license at every opportunity to make the dish my own.  This particular week, I let Adam influence the menu as he tends to go for more bold and hearty cuisine than I normally would prepare. 

Sunday, June 1st: Our wonderfully, dear friends Michael and Carol had just introduced little Baby Ben into the world and Adam and I indented to visit bareing gifts from the kitchen.  I wanted to put together a few menu items that would last them a couple of days and at the same time, prepare a meal for Adam and I to enjoy.

First, I put together a typical Italian Sausage Lasagna from Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook.  I doubled the batch so that I could take one pan to our friends and have the other for dinner when we returned.  I did add a little ground beef that I had remaining from an earlier recipe to the italian sausage meat.  I ran out of Mozarella Cheese after putting together their lasagna so I used the Chive and Bacon cheese from Beechwood Cheese Factory.  It is a monterey jack base so it was creamy like the mozarella but with a little something extra. 

In addition to the lasagna, I also put together the Ground Beef & Twice-Baked Potato Pie from Pillsbury’s Simply One Dish magazine (Feb/Mar 2008).  This was quite the crowd pleaser as Michael is definately a “meat and potatoes” kind of guy.  Instead of dried sage, I used fresh sage from my garden and instead of the refrigerated potatoes, I used instant garlic mashed potatoes with a little extra garlic powder added.  I carried the tomato, green onion, and bacon garnishes on the side to their home so that they wouldn’t turn to mush before they were able to enjoy it.  Check out my great tips for precooked bacon on this site.

Monday, June 2nd: It was a busy Monday morning for both of us at the office, so I am glad I had this fast receipe set aside for the evening.  Tandoori Tikka Chicken straight from the Tandoori sauce packet.  Add a little yogurt and marinate you chicken pieces until you are ready to grill.  For sides I put together Rachel Ray’s Curry Couscous from her 30-Minute Meals 2 book which I have made twice before and keep going back to because it is so fast and refreshing.  For a vegetable I just made a quick romaine salad with fresh strawberries and oranges along with some toasted almonds since I had those out for the curry.  My co-worker, Dorothy turned me on Ken’s Steakhouse’s Raspberry Walnut Vinegrette and I am addicted to it now.  Adam came in the kitchen and helped scewer the chicken and since he was heating up the grill I tried another quick grill recipe for dessert, Grilled Banana Boats.  This recipe comes from Pillsbury’s Potlucks magazine (June 2008) but I have seen my step-dad, Gary, make it before.  Bananas stuffed with chocolate pieces, marsmallows, pecans, wrapped in foil and thrown on the grill.  I know this seams like a lot for a “long” day at the office, but the chicken and the banana only took 8-10 minutes to cook at which time I made the couscous which takes about 10 minutes and the salad put together in a few minutes while the couscous was setting.  I tell you, Rachel would have been proud of me.  Not to mention, I had the leftovers for lunch and curry always tastes better the second day.  YUM!

Tuesday, June 3rd: Adam loves the Orange Peel Beef from PF Chang’s and so I did the dumbed down version of that on Tuesday night.  Beef Strips with Orange and Ginger from my Chinese: The Essence of Asian Cooking cokbook.  I didn’t really change anything in this recipe but I was rather upset that I ran out of white rice (my favorite food, really).  I searched the far depths of my pantry and came back with this ancient box of Instant Minute Rice.  I’ll admit, I don’t think I have ever had minute rice, but it worked for the meal.  Besides, you put crunchy rice noodles on anything, and I’ll eat it.

Wednesday, June 4th: I had originally intended to have th Fajita Chicken Wings from Pillsbury’s Potlucks magazine (June 2008) on Tuesday but I didn’t realize that the chicken needed to marinate for at least 4 hours. So while making dinner on Tuesday, I put together the marinade and vacuum sealed the chicken refrigerating it for the following night.  I really think the vacuum sealing helped concentrate the flavors of lime and cilantro into the meat.  Also, my co-worker Ted, had recently made the recipe and suggested that I definately add the lime zest that the recipe note recommends. (Thanks, Ted!)  I wasn’t really sure what to have with the wings, which, by the way, I did not split from the legs, nor did I remove the tips. They were just fine.  I decided to “use up” some little bits that were in the fridge so I came up with this hodge-podge of menu items.  There were a few frozen hush puppies that I threw in the oven with the chicken and then served with the little bit of Ranch dressing I had left in the jar.  I also cut up the last of the celery and carrots and served those as a vegetable with that ranch dressing.  I used a Mahatma packet of spanish rice but I put the last bit of leftover salsa and a dab of butter into the water as it boiled.  The salsa added the litle bits of onion and peppers that the yellow rice needed and complimented the fajita chicken very well.  For dessert, I had some leftover plain yogurt from Monday night’s Tandoori so I added a dolop of whipped cream, the last few strawberries (diced), some dried cherries, and a few chopped pecans.  I then took a Hershey’s kiss from the candy jar and shaved it on top.  It wasn’t the sweetest dessert by any means, but it was a fairly healthy end to the meal.

Thursday, June 5th: We had leftovers from the night before so I planned on just eating that but we needed a little something extra to round out the meal.  I put together the Bacon-Crab Dip from Pillsbury’s Summer Appetizers magazine to eat with crackers, celery and carrots.  It was very good; however, I did add some onion powder and garlic powder along with some smoked paprika to give it a little zip.  It was a quick fix, especially because I had my bacon precooked for the week.

Friday and Saturday we attended Geoffrey and Courtney’s rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception so I didn’t need any additional meals for the week.  The food catered was so delicious I am glad that I didn’t eat too much before heading over there.  Oh, we also tried McDonald’s new chicken biscuits on Saturday morning and my friend Kendall was right, they ain’t got nothing on Chik-Fil-A.

So… that was our eccentric week of food and of course, today, being Sunday, I started the whole process over again. I look forward to putting together this week’s choices: Lamb Tangine with Potatoes, Chickpeas, Pistachio Mousse Brownie Torte, Flank Steak Pinwheels and much, much more. Look for Last Week’s Menu, next Sunday.

Bon Appetit!