Pumpkin Run-Through

At Thanksgiving time, I make pumpkin bread. And then use the leftover batter for muffins, more muffins, and (this year) squares (in the brownie tray). Basically, anything I can pour the batter into.

Crispy Wings

Either we ate the veggies before the wings were done or... I don't know. Why are these wings all alone?

Maybe I'm just not done plating. (Anyone here notice that I've separated each food item into its own post? I'm beefing up my blog numbers to keep well ahead of LV's blog.

Hurray for Hot Meals

The baby is starting to let me eat dinner with everyone else. But not really. Eating doesn't really describe the way LV and I shovel food into our mouths in the hopes that one of us will finish before there's a meltdown.

Chicken and Pasta

These were some meaty tenders--totally different than the usual thin slice I normally get. This might have been after I started shopping at a new grocery store... Again, total lack of interest in the blog as displayed in the camera shake.

Maple Walnut Chicken

I didn't have real maple syrup for this recipe. It looks really good, but I think it would have tasted much better with a real glaze rather than pancake syrup on top.

Fish Sticks & Lentils

All these weeks later, we still have plenty of fish sticks and chicken nuggets left in the refrigerator. We also have a bag of lentils that I haven't opened in almost a year. I decided to crack that open and cook it up with some rice. LV requested we never eat lentils again. (He hates beans...) I ate them for lunch. I even tried to make lentil burgers at one point (I was thinking of black bean burgers) with the rest of the bag.

Slow Cooked

Can you tell that at this point--after months of not updating the blog--I don't even see the point of making sure my hand is steady when I take the photo? Though, I don't share the same disinterest in what I'm cooking.

Wings...

It's Football Sunday.

More Pork

Bone-in pork chops were back in the meat department, so they were back in our oven...

Pork and Lima Beans

LV picked up the latest bag of frozen vegetables. He didn't notice that the blend he picked included lima beans. I thought this was great. I could finally get rid of all the other lima beans I've had in the freezer. (I went a bit nuts investing in beans at the beginning of the pregnancy...) He did not think this was so great, but he also didn't know just how many more lima beans I was throwing into the mix.

Wings!

Mmm... More gigantic wings.

Meatloaf & Salad

This is a picture of meatloaf on salad. I didn't have any potatoes or whatnot to serve with this besides salad. I didn't put LV's meatloaf on his salad. He wouldn't have liked that. While we were eating, we had the same thought: Good thing Scrappy's not here for this. We thought the extra seasoning was great, but she probably wouldn't have liked any of it. Especially considering I used 12 grain wheat bread for the loaf. That created an interesting texture.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

We waited until Halloween to carve a jack-o'-lantern. The last time I roasted the seeds, I didn't bother to look for a recipe. This year I did some research for what the temperature and time should be. They turned out much better. (That's cinnamon and salt on top.)

Oh, That's Right

I'm publishing all these posts months after the photos were taken. I forgot that Scrappy and LV didn't have the chicken until the day after I made it. They had McDonald's instead (and didn't bring me any (brats)). So, this ended up being the pre-trick-or-treating dinner.

Baked Friday

Trying to get away from cookies, I made muffins today. Oatmeal, raisins, walnuts and some other stuff that sounded like it would make for a good breakfast treat...

Oven Fried Chicken

I keep seeing big packs of fryer-ready chicken, so I decided to go ahead and get a pack. We don't have a fryer. Instead I used the last of the Ritz crackers to prepare all these pieces the way I usually prepare chicken strips. LV thought it was the tastiest thing ever.

Pork...

This is how I eat everything now. (And I wonder if this isn't how I should photograph everything, too, considering the great light I get from the microwave.) As soon as I finish making and plating dinner, the baby freaks and it's time to get him to bed. He falls asleep while I wonder how soon I'll be able to leave to go eat my dinner... and if that makes me a bad mom.

Cheesecake!

I didn't make this cheesecake. My friend and I bought it because, you know, cookies and candy aren't enough snacks... The cake was huge. Rather than simply send the leftovers to LV's office, I thought I would use some of the extra pounds of Wilton candy melts to coat squares of the cheesecake. But I set about doing so all wrong. I ended up spreading melted candy with a butter knife. No one cared. They were tasty. (I pulled them out of the refrigerator for this picture--that's why they look sweaty.)

Buffalo Wings

Football Sunday... More wings!

More Steak and Yellow Rice

Big Sunday dinners sound like such a nice idea to me. At the moment though, the only thing I can rely on to cook all day is cheap cuts of beef. At least they turn out well...

Baked Friday

In honor of our next out-of-town visitor (and because I ate all the chocolate chip cookies), I made Oatmeal Scotchies. Sooo good. And can I just say I have the best baby ever? He doesn't sleep, but he lets me bake cookies while he chills in his bouncer seat.

Chicken and Red Peppers

I thought the red peppers had a fun shape to them, so I didn't chop them up very much. I can't remember if these were battered chicken cutlets or if they are simply grilled. Either way, it tasted better than the stuff we were still pulling out of the freezer at this point.

Chili Rubbed Pork

The return of slow-baked bone-in pork chops. Tastiness...

Wings

While it's fun to have the return of our football routine from 2007, I still can't get my drink on for Football Sunday like I used to. Those glasses are from my parents' visit last night. Cleaning... Not such a priority compared to feeding and changing the newborn.

Chicken Parm

I wanted to try something that required a bit more skill than the pasta dishes I've been making lately (which haven been chicken nuggets and spaghetti I froze two months ago). The bowties might have been frozen two months ago...

Baked Friday

I've been eating Halloween candy non-stop for three weeks. It was time for something new. So I made chocolate chip cookies.

Grilled Pork

More spinach! It was a really big bag... And a baked potato. How different.

Steak Sandwiches

LV was hoping for French Dip sandwiches, but I didn't have any beef broth. Instead I had lots of spinach. I decided this would be better. With leftover macaroni and potato salads from when the family came to visit.

Buffalo Wings

The baby was born in time to see the first football games of the season, but it took until this week to make the first batch of wings. Mmm... Wings.

A Real Hot Meal

As the cabinets grow more and more bare, I have to get more creative with what I can combine. This isn't really creative at all. But it's good. The jar of pasta sauce and pound of ground beef.

Burgers!

Something fresh and tasty... with some tator-tots from the freezer...

Enough of the Freezer

I was tired of defrosting and reheating things. It was time to make a real dinner. But a dinner that required very little prep work and activity from me.

Heat and Serve

In August we stocked up the freezer. There just isn't enough variety in delivery, I wasn't sure anyone would feel like cooking, and I hate the, "Do they take credit cards?" question (because it's always no and then the next question is, "Do you want to go get cash?"

Hospital Food

I didn't make dinner on the 10th. Or the 11th. Or the 12th. I went into labor on the 10th and delivered our baby boy six minutes past midnight. Yay for a long weekend in the hospital with other people bringing food to me.

Fajitas

Again, another meal I didn't document earlier in the summer, but did here. Probably just trying to assert that I was still in the kitchen every day, making dinner, even though I'm heading into the last days of my pregnancy and should be doing nothing but eating ice cream.

Grilled Pork

This is one of those meals I didn't bother to document earlier in the summer, but it just looks so darn colorful and cute here, right?

Steak and Yellow Rice

Mmm... This is one of those sat-in-the-oven-for-a-really-long-time-at-a-really-low-temperature steaks. Tasty.

Sausage and Peppers

It had been a month? (I can't believe this is becoming a staple.)

Fried Chicken

This is frozen fried chicken paired with homemade coleslaw and Grands biscuits. "Homemade" amounts to adding my own vinegar and mayonnaise, etc. to the pre-shredded bag of cabbage. And somehow it all tastes fresher than fast food...

More Salad

This is what happens when I go shopping at places where I like the produce--we end up with salad as a dinner twice a week. Poor LV...

Grilled Chicken Salad

Red onions? I don't remember buying red onions...

Steak

While I spend a lot of time in the kitchen as a pregnant woman, I find myself fixing fewer and fewer dinners that I care to share with the world. Easy does it these non-airconditioned days...

No, I didn't make this

Yay for baby showers! Lots of leftover cake and lasagna and other goodies to keep my growing belly happy. No cooking for me!

Sausage and Peppers

I think I grilled this batch of sausage on the Forman with less cursing, fewer pieces getting stuck to the grill and then popping off onto the floor. Or just plain burning myself when trying to sweep all the pieces into a bowl or plate.

Grilled Chicken and Walnut Salad

Ooh, this looks good. So fancy with the baby arugula and all.

French Dip Sandwiches

If it didn't use so many dishes, I would probably make this all the time.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was our week to bring snacks for our birthing class. I thought I could make chocolate chip cookies and they would be as big a hit as the time I whipped up a batch for a Fourth of July party. That didn't happen at all. I didn't set out the butter early enough to let it soften. Then I melted it in the microwave. Then I substituted spreadable fake butter. The cookies looked like puddles when they came out of the oven. Gross. I freaked and asked LV to pick up a tray of vegetables instead. He bought some cookies, too.

Fajitas

That cheap little packet of fajita seasoning mix was calling to me. Mmm...

Grilled Pork

This has to be my plate. LV is no fan of peas.