TIPSY TUESDAY

MORNING EVERYONE

Yesterday got my pantry cleaned out as well as I went through my closet again and got rid of some more clothes. Getting my closet ready for when I do my wardrobe shopping in Phoneix in March....Today is a day of starting my baking and figuring out how I am going to present as gifts for our friends when we go to their open houses. We already have a couple of invites so it is making us have a busy busy month for sure...This recipe is done this time from a recipe that I found on the internet and I have not tried yet but I am going to for sure. I am going to do it in bulk so that I can put in the freezer and have for my Fast Food Fridays ....

PIZZA BRAIDED

http://camillescasa.blogspot.com/2010/06/pizza-braid.html

Now I am not sure whether Walmart up here in Canada sells that brand of Frozen breads or not but I do know for sure that Country Grocer and Super Store do sell FROZEN bread dough ..Also if you are only going to make one of these you need to make sure that you divide the ingredients by 6 but I think you should make all six . This is not something that you can do tonight when you get home cause it does take a couple of hours for the bread to thaw out this is more of something that you will do on your day off. Great if you have teenagers and they invite friends over for a night to watch movies or play video games you can take them out in the night before and then before you head to work put them in the fridge . Cheaper then ordering pizzas in and before you know it all the kids will be wanting to come to your place , which is a good thing cause then you know where YOUR kids are....All kids love home cooked food ..beats chips and dip..

Frozen Bread Dough Tipsy Tuesday
Frozen bread dough is quite a time-saver for busy cooks. If you take it out of the freezer at lunchtime, set it on the counter and cover it with plastic wrap coated with nonstick cooking spray, it will be ready to pop in the oven when you come home before dinner. You can break off small portions, roll them into balls and have fresh-baked rolls in no time. I put mine in my large muffin tin. I roll three little balls and put side by side in one muffin tin and brush with some beaten egg to give it the golden brown look

Appetizer Recipe

3 cups Bisquick mix
1 pound bulk pork sausage
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (16 ounces)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley or 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
Barbecue sauce or chili sauce, if desired

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Lightly grease bottom and sides of jelly roll pan, 15 1/2x10 1/2x2x1 inch.
Stir together all ingredients, using hands or spoon.

Shape mixture into 1-inch balls.

Place in pan.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brown. Immediately remove from pan. Serve warm with sauce for dipping

Enjoy

Cheers

Granny

MENU MONDAY

MORNING EVERYONE

Had a great day yesterday , enjoyed the sun and the crisp air. We went and got our vegetables at the market then came home and decided to clean my fridge out before I put my weeks veggies in the crispers. So today I have decided to clean out my pantry and restock if need be so that I can get some baking done this week.

Monday--Mexican Chicken Bake

Tuesday--Pizza Braid

Wednesday --Slowcooker Thai Chicken and Shrimp

Thursday--Orange Glazed Chicken

Friday--Sweet Chili Grilled Steak and Rice Bowl

MEXICAN CHICKEN BAKE

Now if you a roasted chicken yesterday you should have some chicken left over and if not go and pick up a cooked rotisserie chicken on you way home and make this great quick and easy dinner.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 red onion, sliced
1/2 yellow or red pepper, cut into strips
1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp cumin
1 14.5-ounce can recipe-ready Mexican style tomatoes (reserve 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked meat from the chicken
2 6-inch corn tortillas
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 cup reduced fat shredded Jack cheese

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet.

Sauté onion, pepper strips and jalapeno for 3-4 minutes.

Sprinkle cumin and stir well.

Add tomatoes, except 1/4 cup, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add shredded chicken and cook for 2 minutes.
Spray a 9-inch pie dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place one tortilla on the bottom. Spoon the chicken mixture on top. Cover with other tortilla. Spoon remaining tomatoes over top, followed by cilantro and cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Cut into wedges and serve with beans and rice or a green salad.
Serves 4.

Courtney you need to get your mom to post some pictures of the decorations that you are making this week for you tree.....Now I had said that I would post an appy every weekday until Christmas...so here is the first one.

Smoked Oinks

12 strips of bacon

24 meatballs

1/2 cup favorite barbacue sauce.

1. Preheat oven to 400

2.Cut bacon strips in half crosswise . Place one meatball at bottom of each bacon strip: roll into a little parcel and hold together with toothpick . Use a pastry brush to cover in barbacue sauce. Place seam side down on baking sheet

3. Bake in centre of oven for 20-25 minutes or until crisp and browned

4.Remove from oven and serve with more barbacue sauce

Enjoy

Cheers

Granny

SIT DOWN SUNDAY

AFTERNOON EVERYONE

Well yesterday was a gorgeous day ..A little cold but nice and sunny. For those of you who braved shopping downtown Victoria at least the weather was great....Grumpys company Christmas Party was a success as it is every year. It was nice to see the owners and their wives last night and Grumpy who was Santa last night did a great job with the gifts as always....Hoping that Mark, Sherry and Makal are enjoying their new Grinch Con's today.....Now I am hoping that you all made it to Thrifty's to get the chicken cause have a nice Sit Down dinner of roasted chicken with potatoes and vegetables can not be any better then that...You might have some bisquick left and you can make some biscuits and maybe grate some cheese and add some spices to the flour mix and if you make quite a few you will have some for lunch tomorrow with some left over cold chicken...

Well today is my first of the 3c's craft. You can make a nice birdhouse out of a recycled book and wooden birdhouse. The reason for doing this is that Courtenay's Great Granny loves birds and is always feeding her birds so I thought that she might like to get a birdhouse for Christmas from Courtenay...Now I am not sure how good this will do with the weather but if you do want them to go outside for sure I would make sure that you sprayed the outside of the birdhouse.

STORYBOOK

BIRDHOUSE

1You need a small birdhouse and some Mod Podge and a sponge type brush as well as a colour for the base perch and roof & make sure it goes good with the pages

2. Take the cutiest pages in the book and measure and cut them the size of the sides of the birdhouse

3.Now you are going to Mod Podge these pages on the sides with a sponge brush it will look cloudy but it disappear once it dries.

4. Remove all the page from the book and then you will use the hard cover of the book for the roof.

5.Mod Podge the birdhouse roof then attach the cover .

6. Seal the entire birdhouse with two coats of Mod Podge

Now in a couple of days when you know that everything is thourghly dry you can spray on shellac in order to protect it outside.

The ideas for these books are unlimited , just think of all book themes out there. Yes they are good for kids but just think about people that are cooks, (recipe book) gardeners, and it could go on and on.

Well off to the market for my vegetables for the week , so you have a good day and talk to you tomorrow..

Have fun...

Cheers

Granny

SHOPPING SATURDAY

MORNING EVERYONE

Well today is Grumpys staff Christmas Party.. I am looking forward to it , it the one day a year that I love to get dressed up, the fancier the better. So this morning we are wrapping Santa's(Grumpy) gifts that he does each year to each of the employees. They are gaggy gifts but always have a great story that goes with them..The shopping today is not as good as last week but there are still some good deals. There is not Safeway as I did not get their flyer in my papers yesterday so here are the rest.

Walmart

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Thighs..$10.00

5 lb box of Mandarin Oranges $2.97

1 litre of Chocolate Milk $1.00(my grandson loves chocolate milk)

Purex 30 double bathroom tissue $11.98

Cucumbers $1.27

Mushrooms $1.25 8oz pkg

Schneiders Sausage rolls $3.97

Campbells Chicken and Beef Broth cans $1.00

Quaker Chewy dipps $2.00

Thriftys

Whole Frying Chicken $1.99 per lb

Bagged Apples buy one get one free

Schneiders Chicken Cordons buy one get one free

Country Grocer(sale startsSunday)

Heinz Soup 2 for $.88

Superstore

Quaker cookie and muffing mix $2.99(good deal)

McCain superfries $2.47

PC Fresh pressed apple cider $4.00(great for hot cider for holidays)

Fruit Paste $4.00 (great on brie cheese)

As you can see not much this week but you might find there might be some instore specials as well...Michaels Craft Store has a 40% off coupon for a regular priced item...for those of you who want to do the craft for Sunday you will need to get a wooden paintable Birdhouse, some Mod Podge and a childs book like one of those Golden Books , Goldilocks, Snow White or even a Cars one would be good. Just not to big of a book that is all. Have a great day and not sure how early post will be tomorrow as I am going to enjoy myself this evening for sure...

Cheers

Granny

FAST FOOD FRIDAY

MORNING EVERYONE

Well today is the day that my cousin from Hawaii is passing through Duncan to go and visit her brother in Port Alberni for a few days before she heads home so she is going to stop by and we are going to do lunch. I am going to take her to Just Jake's Brew Pub it is a great restaurant here in town...



PUMPKIN
SHORTBREAD PARFAIT

Pudding:
2 cups cold milk(or 1 3/4 cups of milk an 1/4 cup of liquor)
1 -4 cup serving box of JELL-O­ brand Pumpkin Spice Instant Pudding

Whip Cream
2 cups very cold heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Pecan Topping
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon melted butter

Cookie Layer
3/4 of a package Walkers Pure Butter Shortbread, crushed(or homemade shortbread)

Pudding
In a medium bowl combine dry pudding mix with milk with a wire whisk for 2 minutes then place in the refrigerator to set a little more.

Nuts
In a small bowl mix pecans with melted butter and brown sugar and set aside

Whip Cream
Using a chilled bowl and whisk attachment (I put mine in the freezer for about 20 mins) whip cold whipping cream with sugar and vanilla on high until peaks form (approx 3-4 mins)

Shortbread Cookies
Using a food processor and about 3/4 of a package of Pure Butter Walkers Shortbread pulse until fine or slightly chunky. (you could also put the shortbread in a zipper bag and crush with rolling pin) I crushed them fine, but I think a little chunky would be even better!

Put it all together:

Using individual serving cups, layer;
1.pudding
2.crushed shortbread
3.whipped cream
4.pudding
5.crushed shortbread
Top with a large dollop of whipped cream then sprinkle with candied nuts that you made, drizzle with caramel syrup ( topping like what you use for ice cream )
Garnish with 1/2 shortbread cookie stuck in the mixture
Yields 3-4 servings

Now this is great for when you have company come for dinner. . You do not have to use the Pumpkin flavoured pudding you could use a Pistachio or any flavour that would go good with shortbread...If you use Chocolate Pudding maybe a Chocolate Sundae sauce would be good. When I have made this I also double it and put it in a trifle dish and put on the dinner table and serve to individual dishes from there. That way I can make a head of time , put in the fridge and then bring out when I want to serve dessert.

Here would be another great idea if you were going to go to friends and bring the dessert..especially this time of year you could use Coffee Cups and then leave the cups as a gift...Maybe even attaching a coffee gift card to the handle would be a good idea as well.

Well I have decided to do a craft once a week. Sometimes it will be for kids and sometimes it will be for adults....... I am going to call it "The 3 C's" . They stand for Courtenays Craft Challenge. She is the one that inspired me to do this cause her mom had made a comment about how Courtenay would thank me for this blog cause her mom Livi will have some ideas for their dinners. Livi loves to have time to spend with her daughter and play games ,bake and do crafts so I thought it was fitting that I call it The 3C's.

My first one will be on Sunday morning . Since Sunday is Sit Down Sunday , doing something with you kids is always a good thing whether it be a nature walk, playing board games, playing cards or just making something crafty time spent with the family is what your Sunday is all about.

Enjoy

Cheers

Granny

THRIFTY THURSDAY

MORNING EVERYONE

Today is a day of not too much. If it warms up a bit I might use the leaf blower and get all of the needles of my decks from the windstorm a week or so ago. But it has to be a bit sunny and warmer for sure. Wanted to say that my sister-in-law has started a blog. Here is the blog address http://fromkarensgarden.blogspot.com/ so you should take a peek. I am sure that you will get some great ideas and thoughts from her as well...Well it is cookie day. I love gingerbread so I had to use this recipe for sure. You can use it to make gingerbread men, houses or sleighs. Let you imaginative take it away....If you do not have Christmas cookie cutters you can go to the dollar store or as I would do go to the thrift stores bring them home put them through the dishwasher or boil a kettle of water and put it in a bowl and let them sit in there and then wash them with soap and water. Use your tin cans that you got a few weeks ago or again hit the dollar store and pick up some tins there or even some boxes , just make sure you put your cookies in a zip lock bag or wax paper not just the box.







Gingerbread Cookies

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup butter
1 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. In a large bowl, gently stir together flour, baking powder, and all spices. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or other large bowl), beat butter until smooth. Add brown sugar, molasses, eggs and vanilla.
3. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until they are fully incorporated.
4. Divide the dough into 3 pieces, and flatten into rounded disk (about 1 1/2 inches thick). Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (very important)
5. When dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350*F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to desired thickness (1/4- 1/2 inch thick). Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.

Place cookies at least 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (so they do not burn) If the dough is too sticky or soft to work with, put it in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes to firm up.
6. Bake for 9-12 minutes (depending on the thickness size of cookies). Cool slightly on cookie sheet, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
7. Frost with icing, if desired.
Royal Icing Recipe
Ingredients
4 egg whites
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar


http://www.bing.com/videos/search?
I have attached a video on how to make and pipe Royal Icing.

If you think this is to much of a challenge for you, you can buy tubes of icing in the baking section of the grocery store.

I have attached another photo of some boxes filled with goodies. How good does this look . For sure if you went to an open house with this you would be invited every year...

Here is your FRUGAL TIP for today
Place icing in a small plastic sandwich bag. Zip closed or fasten the top with a rubber band and cut a small hole into a corner on the bottom. Start real small try it then make it bigger if it is too small. It will be a challenge getting the icing out if you find that the hole is to big. By gently squeezing the bag, you can create piping, letters, numbers and designs on a cookie. For added effect, sprinkle on decorative sugar in different colors.

Cheers
Enjoy
Granny

CROCKPOT WEDNESDAY

MORNING EVERYONE



Grumpy and I had a nice dinner at my sisters last night. It was great to see my cousin Trish from Hawaii, sorry that her husband Ed could not join us but there will always be next time. I made my Asparagus Casserole and had to put it in the trash can. So much for the Chow Mein noodles they were stale and you could really taste that once they were cooked. That is always why you as a cook should sample the food before you expect someone else to eat it. So now I have to figure something else out for vegetable as time does not allow me to make another one. So I arrived at my sisters with frozen vegetables and my niece Stephanie says to me "Auntie is that from your blog"...LOL. Just put in some butter and seasonings and they were quite good. When I do use them I always use them in a casserole if there are no good fresh ones around , but for a quick vegetable they were not bad at all. So today is a bit of a pampering day and then back home to do some more sewing. Have come up with another idea for a gift....will share later

Crockpot Peanut Clusters

2 pounds white almond bark or white chocolate for dipping
4 ounces German’s sweet chocolate or milk chocolate for dipping
1 package semisweet chocolate chips (12 ounces)

12 ounces dry roasted peanuts and

12 ounces of honey roasted peanuts

Put all ingredients in crockpot; cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Do not stir.
Turn Crock Pot to low and stir every 15 minutes for 1 hour longer.f(use your timer on your oven to remind you to stir every 15 minutes)

Drop on waxed paper and let cool.

Store candy in a tightly covered container

This is a cute little way to give your treats by just putting on a home made sticker with stamps or if you go to the dollar store you can buy nice stick on Christmas Gift Tags, (they have some cute ones) and attach one to each of the bags with the to and from..Just add from your kitchen to their kitchen.. Great as stocking stuffer.

Now you can buy your ingredients already packaged or go and see if they have them in the bulk food department. Thriftys and Safeway have a nice bulk food section. Have not tried Super Stores bulk food before but it might work as well..and of course the better chocolate you use the better it will taste. No different then when you make chocolate chip cookies ....

I have heard that a lot of people watch my blog and that makes me feel warm inside. Hoping that you have tried the recipes and if you have please leave a comment and let me know. I always see you commenting on FACEBOOK , so I know you can all type.....

For Andreas girls at work that would like me to post some appetizers , now that we are officially into December and the Christmas festivities, starting next week I am going to be doing regular dinner meals but I will be attaching an appetizer to each days post up until Christmas...

Enjoy

Cheers

Granny