Chatbug Karen

When the kids are visiting, any healthy eating goes out the window. I refuse to listen to hemo rage reviews and read information about diet supplements! Life is to be enjoyed and when my family gets together, we entertain around the dinner table. Last Tuesday was my birthday and so, my daughter and I decided to make a cake. I recommended cherry chip because that is her favorite birthday cake and since we didn’t get to celebrate with her in January, we could eat her cake now. My favorite dessert is cheesecake. We put the two together and came up with this recipe. We were in the grocery store looking up recipes on her iPhone. I love being able to do that. Too bad I am too cheap to get a phone like that for myself. My son has web access on his phone too and was able to make us dinner reservations while en route to the restaurant. It was fun being seated ahead of the crowd of people lined up at the door.

Cheese cake recipe
from halfhourmeals.com
2-8oz packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
9in graham cracker crust
chop up cherries
Beat ingredients together, mix in cherries, bake at 350 for 30 min. Add desired topping, bake 10mins, til center is set.

I wish I could say I had all my Christmas shopping finished. When the kids were small, I usually had all my shopping finished before the end of October! It is funny that when you don’t have all the pressures of small children’s needs, deadlines for medical assistant school assignments, and such, you tend to put things off. I definitely work better under pressure.

As I mentioned before, I caught a pretty nasty cold right after Thanksgiving. I thought I was over it but had a relapse on Sunday. I am tired of not feeling well and am determined to get into the holiday spirit. I bought the ingredients to make Almond Roca and plan on getting some holiday baking done this evening.

How are your holiday preparations going?

I have been so hungry for chili. The cool temperatures and falling leaves are prompting fall moods. Fall brings to my mind great soups and pots full of chili. I was happy that hubby felt the need to make chili this weekend, that was until he announced he was going to try a new recipe. His recipe called for roast beef! I don’t know about you but in my mind, chili calls for hamburger and beans. His recipe had me fearing that his latest concoction would be better than the best diet pills ever invented! I was pleasantly surprised.

The chili he came up with was a smooth blend of roast beef and tomato sauce. What surprised me the most was that he used Jiffy corn bread mix, mixed with a bit of the broth and microwaved for a few minutes. He then added the broth back to the chili which thickened it. It was scrumptious.

Lynn’s Chili

2 1/2 lb chuck roast cut into bite sized pieces
2 lbs 80/20 ground beef
1 1 lb package fresh pork sausage mild (whatever hotness you like)
1 medium white onion chopped
1 package chili seasoning
4 cups water

Brown meats, onion, add water and simmer for one hour.
Then add:
Add 4 cans kidney beans (2 dark red, 2 light red)
5 stalks of celery cut into half inch pieces
One 12 oz can V8 juice
6 oz can of salsa (Chi Chi’s Salsa is what we like)
2 cups water

Simmer until chuck roast meat is fork tender.
Spoon out 2 cups of liquid and put into a bowl. Add 1/3 pkg Jiffy corn bread mix. Stir and put mixture into microwave for 45 seconds. This mixture will puff up a bit. Stir and add back into the chili.

Spoon into bowls and sprinkle grated cheese over the top.

I was looking at all the wonderful recipes Val has posted for Easter and discovered it is time for Four Foods On Friday. Yay, the weekend is almost here and I get to sew!

#1. Olive oil. What kind do you prefer to use?
I am so confused about which olive oil to buy. Hopefully, someone will tell me what kind I need to buy.

#2. Meatballs. Do you make them from scratch, buy premade cooked or buy premade frozen?
I buy them premade from Sams Club. I only think of them for holiday pitch-ins for some reason.

#3. Do you use napkins at home? Paper or cloth?
We use paper napkins. If I have Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner at my house, I will use cloth napkins. I have some that look winter like.

#4. Share a recipe for a white sauce.

I make a white sauce to pour over salmon patties. I melt 1/4 cup of butter or margarine. Add a bit of flour and stir over medium/low heat until it begins to thicken. Slowly add 2 cups of milk. That is how I make white sauce for my pot pie too.

While visiting blogs during my Tackle It Tuesday rounds, I ran across a terrific recipe. The 160 Acre Woods shared her recipe for Zucchini Boats. I tried to make them last night but my neighbor didn’t have any zucchini left in her garden. Darn!

I didn’t even know you could make homemade marshmallows! I’ve heard the girls online raving about these. I’m going to try and make them so I’ll let you know. Homemade Marshmallows

I went to a ladies dinner on Saturday evening. We were asked to bring something that had the word Salad in it. It didn’t necessarily have to be a salad. Some brought Chicken Salad casserole, chicken salad sandwiches, other salads and desserts. I took pretzel salad. I think they liked it because there wasn’t any left!
Pretzel Salad

2 cups pretzels (crushed)
3/4 cup melted butter
3 Tbsp. sugar

Mix together and pack in bottom of a 9″ X 13″ baking dish. Bake in a preheated 400° F oven for 10 minutes. Refrigerate.

8 oz cream cheese (softened)
9 oz. Cool Whip
1 cup sugar

Mix together and spread over pretzel layer.

1 large strawberry jello
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen strawberries (thawed)

Mix and pour over the cream cheese layer. Chill. Yield: 12-15 servings.