The Sewing Mom

Amazing! For 52 weeks, that’s a full year, Fun, Crafts and Recipes has been hosting my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday. I love this meme for several reasons, but, besides the fact that it’s all about food, when it’s time for this meme, I know it’s time for the weekend to begin!

This has indeed been a stressful week, 3 softball games, a band competition, a visit to the vet for our puppy, and a parent meeting on sexual abstinence which led to a one on one conversation with my 12 year old daughter this morning on that very subject. That last event makes me want something strong in my coffee, but, no worries, I’ll just take cream this morning!

Anyway, back on topic, here are this weeks questions and my answers:

#1. Name something you use cream cheese in/on. Well, I do put it on bagels, but I can’t remember the last time I had a bagel. I also use it in tuna casserole, it gives it a nice tang and takes away the fishy taste.

#2. Do you use yogurt in any recipes? I can’t think of anything I use yogurt in except parfaits and smoothies. Seems like there should be a cake or something that uses yogurt. Maybe another participant will have that!

#3. Macaroni salad. What do you like/put in yours? My macaroni salad is similar to my potato salad. I use elbow noodles (of course), mayonnaise, mustard, celery salt and pepper. I like a little pickle relish in the mix too.

#4. Share a recipe that you use sour cream in. Now, I know I’ve got a cake recipe that uses sour cream and it’s delicious! Darned if I can find it though. If I do, I’ll be sure to post it.

I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am that tomorrow is Friday. Strange as it seems though, I do wish I had one more day. My Destination Imagination team is not ready for their tournament on Saturday and one more day is all they would need. But, the show must go on, ready or not!

In celebration of the weekend being upon us, here is my Four Foods on Friday meme, my favorite meme.

This week’s four questions:

#1. What type of m&m is your favorite? This is a tough question for me. I like both, but truthfully, I like to mix plain and peanut together.

#2. Peanut butter. Smooth, chunky, creamy. How do you like it? I like crunchy, don’t really know why they make smooth!

#3. Do you usually drink out of glass, acrylic, Tupperware type or paper cups? Let’s see. I currently drink water from plastic bottles, but anything else I drink out of glass. If I ever get my ice maker hooked up, I’ll quit buying plastic water bottles. I have to have ice cold water or I can’t drink it.

#4. Share a chicken recipe.   This recipe is for lemon chicken.

1 whole chicken

olive oil

salt & pepper

2 lemons

Pierce one lemon with a fork.  Place pierced whole lemon inside of body cavity.

Rub olive oil all over chicken.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Squeeze lemon juice from second lemon all over chicken.

Place chicken on rack in a shallow roasting pan.  Roast in 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

I am certainly not a very good meal planner. Some days are better than others, but there are many days when I’m scrambling in the afternoon to try to decide what I feel like cooking AND what I have the ingredients to make. This planning problem spills over into my grocery shopping. I have a tendency to purchase the same ingredients over and over and that pretty much limits what I can create for meals.

Elizabeth at Mom Cooks has introduced me to emealsforyou.com and I am determined to get better at meal planning with the help of this great website. “emealsforyou.com is an on-line service for customized web-based meal planning, recipes, shopping lists, wine pairings, techniques and ideas. We’ll provide you with meal plans and recipes you will love and more importantly, your kids will eat.

Simply make your choices from hundreds of recipes and meal plans or create your own from our recipes, complete with photos. Point and click and you have the recipes and shopping lists ready to print on your printer.” So, not only can I plan meals in advance, but by using their site, I’ll be able to plan and then print off my grocery list. I look at this as a way to make the entire process more enjoyable and allow me to add more variety into our daily meals.

If you head on over to Elizabeth’s site you can enter her contest to win a free 10 year membership to emealsforyou.com valued at $310! The contest ends at 9:00 A.M. February 27, so don’t waste any time, get over there and enter! This is a fabulous prize!

I’ve made this a number of times, my daughter likes it because all of the noodles stick together in clumps, for some reason, she enjoys that!

6 oz. spaghetti noodles cooked

2 T butter

1/3 c. parmesan cheese

2 eggs well beaten

Add butter to drained noodles until it melts.  Stir in parmesan and eggs.  Pour mixture into a 9″ pie plate forming a “crust”.   Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

1 lb. ground turkey (or ground beef or ground sausage)

1/2 c. onion

1 can diced tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 c. cottage cheese

1/2 c. mozzarella cheese

Brown ground meat and onion.  Drain.  Add tomatoes, paste and seasonings.  Cook until bubbly.  Layer cottage cheese on top of noodle “crust” followed by the meat mixture.  Cook covered in microwave, 6-7 minutes.  Top with mozzarella cheese.  Cook in microwave until cheese melts.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

It’s 4:20 a.m. and I can’t sleep. I’ve been awake for a couple of hours so decided to get out of bed and do something. What better thing to do than Four Foods on Friday, my favorite meme?! I enjoy this meme, because it’s simple, fun and I happen to like Valmg, the author.

So, here we go, this weeks questions.

#1. What is your favorite kind of juice to drink? I really don’t drink too much juice, but I do like Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry. I like both the regular and light versions. Whenever I’m sick, that is what I drink to stay hydrated.

#2. Pizza. What’s your favorite? We recently discovered a little Italian restaurant that makes excellent pizza. We usually get at least one pineapple and Canadian bacon and the other varies, but I really like pepperoni, sausage and mushroom. Sort of just depends on what we’re in the mood for. We also found a little pizza joint that does specialty crusts. I like their buttered garlic cheese crust. It tastes a lot like eating a pretzel.

#3. Mustard. Yellow, brown, depends. Neither, I don’t care for mustard. I always have yellow in the fridge though for my husband. There are a few recipes I use it in also.

#4. Share a side dish recipe that uses rice or pasta. A side dish huh? Could be the time of morning, but I can’t think of anything except pasta salad. Most dishes I make with rice or pasta are main dishes, not sides. Although, I love regular white rice served with beef stew. That’s my comfort food.

If you’re interested in joining this weekly meme, create your own post and then head on over and leave Valmg a comment. She gives deep links to those who participate and even puts you on her blogroll once you’ve joined in a minimum of six times!

Yay! It’s Friday and time for my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday by Valmg. If you’d like to participate, create a post answering these four questions and then head on over to Val’s blog and leave her a comment letting her know you’re taking part. She’d appreciate it!

This weeks questions and my answers are:

#1. What is your favorite kind of cheese for snacking? I really enjoy snacking on mild or medium cheddar. I can eat it by itself or on crackers.

#2. What is your favorite kind of jelly? Yumm, I love strawberry jam and jelly. My absolute favorite was the jam my grandmother would make. Sometimes she also had raspberry which was just as delicious.

#3. Yogurt. Regular or custard style? I don’t eat too much yogurt, but when I do, I prefer regular. Once in awhile I like a Yoplait whipped yogurt. I probably should eat more for the calcium.

#4. Share a recipe for a stew or soup. One of my favorites is a tortellini soup that my sister Karen actually gave me the recipe for a few years ago.

1 large container chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. basil
1 c. chopped cabbage

Heat above ingredients to boiling and simmer for 15 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer an additional 10 minutes until tortellini is cooked.

1 large zucchini, sliced
1 package sausage links, cooked and sliced
1 package frozen tortellini

Serve in bowls and top with Parmesan cheese.