Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

I had some leftover ground beef from the burgers Mike made a few nights ago, so I decided to make a meat sauce to go with some spaghetti. I started with some plain canned tomato sauce and seasoned it with fresh garlic, oregano, basil, and a little rosemary. Since Mike doesn't eat pasta, when I get the hankerin' for it, I make some good bread to go with it, and Mike just skips the pasta. So I made a french bread, along with a spring mix salad. That's feta cheese on top of my salad. Gosh I love feta!

The verdict
What is it about spaghetti that's so good? It's so simple, but it sure hit the spot. The bread was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside - I read somewhere that you should stick a pan of water in the oven when you're baking the dough, and the steam helps form the crust. I give this meal 4 out of 5 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.

Playing Catch-Up


I have a backlog of food pictures to show you! Nothing incredibly exciting, for two reasons:

1. this was finals week for me
2. we're moving soon, so I'm trying to use up everything from the freezer, including the ready-made crock pots meals I make occasionally.

First up, a meal from the freezer. I made chicken tandoori awhile back and put half in the freezer for later use - like this week! I took it out two days before to defrost, figuring this would be a really busy week for me, the kind where 6:00 rolls around and you say, "What am I going to do for dinner?!?" Or am I the only one who has those days? Anyhoo, we also had brown rice and fruit salad of bananas, apples, kiwi, and strawberries.

Next up, we have last night's dinner, courtesy of Mike, who got major brownie points last night for making dinner while I was finishing two papers. He made burgers on whole-grain buns, baked potatos, corn, and green beans, all made on the grill. There wasn't an inch of space left on the grill! It was all very good, but SO much food! He says next time he thinks he'll skip the potato. It was the first time we tried the buns, and they were just "eh." Does anyone know of a good whole-grain/wheat bun?

Last up, the cake I made for my friend Hollie's baby shower last weekend. I've been trying my hand at cake decorating, but I didn't have time to go online and get some good cake-decorating instructions. Plus the darn thing cracked! It was my usual chocolate cake recipe, which is really good, but I think I'm ready to try something different next time. So if you have a favorite chocolate cake recipe, send it my way!

Be on the lookout for more food pictures as my life returns to a respectable pace...at least until the move!!

Breakfast for Dinner: Whole-Grain Pancakes


I was in the mood for breakfast tonight, so I looked up a recipe for whole-grain pancakes, because I've been trying to incorporate more whole-grains whenever possible, and I found one featuring toasted wheat germ, which I just bought for the first time as part of my incorporation effort. The recipe I decided to try had a blackberry-maple syrup along with it, which I decided to try with some fresh strawberries I had instead of blackberries. We also had a wee bit 'o bacon and some scrambled eggs, and a fruit salad of kiwis, strawberries, and apples.

The verdict
Eh. The pancake batter was thinner than what I'm used to, which made pancakes that were thinner then what we're used to. They tasted okay, but I wasn't overly impressed with the sauce. It smelled good, but it's hard to beat good ol' maple syrup, I guess! I give this meal 2 out of 5 stars for taste and 3 and a half stars for health.

The Ham Files: Hawaiian Pizza

This was a pretty simple meal, but I wanted to show you another use for the huge ham I got last week, most of which is sitting in the freezer right now. I made the best, easiest pizza crust ever, and topped it with Newman's Marinara Sauce, and mixture of shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese, and some ham and canned pineapple. On the side we had a green salad. Like I said, not that exciting to look at, but very good nonetheless. I never liked Hawaiian pizza until a few years ago, when I was working in a pet store with a manager who would order us a Hawaiian pizza because it was her favorite, and I would eat it because I was starving. I acquired a taste for it. By the way, did you know that blotting your slice of pizza with a napkin can reduce the saturated fat content by 8-15%? Just a little tidbit for ya :)

The Ham Files: Hawaiian Pizza

This was a pretty simple meal, but I wanted to show you another use for the huge ham I got last week, most of which is sitting in the freezer right now. I made the best, easiest pizza crust ever, and topped it with Newman's Marinara Sauce, and mixture of shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese, and some ham and canned pineapple. On the side we had a green salad. Like I said, not that exciting to look at, but very good nonetheless. I never liked Hawaiian pizza until a few years ago, when I was working in a pet store with a manager who would order us a Hawaiian pizza because it was her favorite, and I would eat it because I was starving. I acquired a taste for it. By the way, did you know that blotting your slice of pizza with a napkin can reduce the saturated fat content by 8-15%? Just a little tidbit :)

Ham Buns on Whole Wheat

I got a humongous ham on sale last week (yay for Easter sales!) which really excites Mike. He loooooooooooooves ham and has requested all his favorite dishes, the first being ham buns, an old standy from my mom. Mom and I have been on a mission to make this recipe more healthy since she started making it years ago, because everyone in the family really likes it. First, mom cut the amount of butter from 1/2 c to 1/4 cup with no noticeable effects, then today at the grocery store I hunted around for some whole wheat buns that looked appetizing and wound up with hoagie rolls. On the side we had a green salad with Kraft Free Caesar Italian Dressing (highly recommended), and after I took the picture I got some feta cheese for my salad, because feta really excites me. Cheese in general does that to me.

The verdict
Mike was a happy camper because he got one of his favorite meals! The wheat rolls weren't white, of course, but at least they made the meal a little less guilty, so I was willing to make the trade. And really it's the filling, not the bread, that shines on this sandwich. I give this meal 4 out of 5 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.

Barnyard Cake!

I saw the guide to this cake in Taste of Home and had to try it! We had a lifegroup meeting tonight, and we also celebrated our friend Scott's birthday, so it was the perfect excuse to make it.

The chicks are devil's food cake, white icing tinted yellow with a petal-tip, a candy corn beak and chocolate chip eyes. They were my personal favorite :)


These little piggies were devil's food cake with white icing tinted pink, Good N' Plenty ears, and Smarites for the nose. The nose dots were supposed to be made with black decorating gel, and I *thought* I had some, but apparently I don't, but I had some black icing. Not quite as pretty, but it worked.


Now for the adorable little sun! The rays are candy corn, and the eyes and smile are decorating gel (I had those colors!)


The barn was yellow cake, with white icing tinted red (turned out more pinkish) and blue. The barn was outlined with chocolate chips, and there's supposed to be a spider in the loft, but again, no black decorating gel. I decided not to stress about it. The barn is okay, but I think the animals are SO cute! They took a while, but I needed the release. And I'm quite proud of my first attempt at cake decorating tips!

Sophie's Birthday Cake!

Today we celebrated Sophie's birthday - she's three years old! We think. To celebrate, I made her this super-easy birthday cake. I think she knew it was for her, because she wouldn't get out of the kitchen. Her cake was made with flour (I used whole wheat), peanut butter, and shredded carrots, and for the cake I used neufchatel cheese, some milk, and a little flour. I purchased some cake decorating tips for a cake I'm planning on making later this week (stay tuned!), so I practiced making letters and some flowers with the icing.

Right out of the oven!

The finished product!

Sophie waiting not-so-patiently for us to sing to her. Maybe that was a little over the top...