**Crazy Cooking Challenge!!** Overstuffed

Hi my name is the Undomestic Goddess and I am a Crazy Cooking Challenge flunky. I totally spaced that I've missed the past two (possible three) challenges and when I realized I was about to miss another, it was two days beforehand. A Pinterest rampage ensued, trying to find a recipe I could make with ingrediants on hand. I found this little gem at Stephanie Cooks (and have her site bookmarked so I can go back and alleviate some of my guilt of just using her recipe).

 

 

There's actually quite a few items missing from this ingrediant round up, including the headliner. In my defense, it was in the oven, toasting up (remember I did this recipe in like a day, so I didn't have time to let my bread fully dry out).

 

 

Like any good fake and baker, drying out and toasting away.

 

 

You'd think this was a Paula Deen recipe with the amount of butter it called for.

 

 

Even in the prep work, this really was a pretty dish.

 

 

Ta da! Not bad for last minute. And oh so very very tasty. I had a few omissions (celery and sage) and definitely could've used more liquid, but this was comfort food at its best. Although, probably won't beat out Maternal Unit's stuffing for the holidays.

 

So, next time I promise to be more prepared. Okay, well maybe not promise, but I'll really really try. Hard. Well at least harder than this time. (PS I'm #15. Be sure to click on my picture!)

 

 

I Am Undomestic, Hear Me Roar!

I feel the need to make some clarifications about what being "undomestic" means. In all actuality, I have a love-hate relationship with the word. On the one hand, I think it clears up any misconceptions that I'm the manicured, dust free, clothes ironed, always have something to whip together at a moment's notice June Cleaver type but on the other hand, it's a rather glaring reminder that I am not the manicured, dust free, clothes ironed, always have something to whip together at a moment's notice June Cleaver type. Sometimes I feel I've single handedly set women back fifty years because of my inability to keep dishes out of my sink and work a forty plus hour work week (Husband also has his complaints about this but seeing as he has the inability to keep his dirty underwear off the bathroom floor, his gripes are summarily ignored).

 

I'm beginning to feel like the pre-fix in my moniker might be synonymous with lazy, except when I realize that both Husband and I have developed the rather impressive talent of dozing off if we so happen to sit still for longer than five minutes. Maybe "lazy" isn't the word I'm looking for; "exhausted" kind of sums things up.

 

There's no pretense of being able to eat off my floors, although, occasionally Mandie will when guinea pig poo is involved. I can't tell you the last time I folded AND put laundry away. Sometimes dinner comes from Subway, or worse yet, a box with an expiration date further out than my golden anniversary. The girls' dog toys sometimes get stumbled over and cursed at and may be put away but most likely not since it will be a matter of moments before Melodie has the box emptied out in her endless search for squeakers.

 

It has been chronicled here that I do have my moments of brilliance. While my participation in the monthly Crazy Cooking Challenge is spotty at best, I try to be a team player. There are several ingredients between my pantry and my refrigerator that could be put together in an attempt to put together a home cooked meal. My washing machine undergoes a thorough scrubbing and running of it's clean cycle bi-weekly, if not weekly, and I've discovered that vinegar is an excellent fabric softener for those of us with epidermis of the sensitive variety.

 

All of these things, the mishaps and triumphs, the mountains of housework and the joys of eating ice cream out of the tub, just happen to be me. I know that Husband didn't marry me because I look perfectly coiffed every time I leave the house; I wasn't that way ten years ago and believe me, there will be no changes in that area anytime soon (except that I have a new found love of mascara-another post entirely). He did marry me, though, because when push comes to shove, I never give up, even if that means getting a few dishes dirty...and then leaving them for him to clean up. 

**Food Friday!!** Here I Go Again

Since the Crazy Cooking Challenge posts tomorrow, I thought today I'd rely on some Food Friday gold. This one makes me proud. And sad. And hungry. Everything a good post should do.

**Crazy Cooking Challenge!!** I'm so bluuuuuuuuuuuuuue...

Time for another Crazy Cooking Challenge post! This month the task handed down by Tina at Mom's Crazy Cooking was blueberry muffins. *drool* My mom used to make us blueberry muffins on Saturdays from the box with the blueberries in a can and while they are still my ultimate favorite, I really enjoyed trying my hand at making them from scratch. Of course, Pinterest made it possible and I came up with quite a few recipes (check out my blueberry muffin board). The recipe I chose is Janet's at From Cupcakes to Caviar. The photo at the top of her blog is enough to make me want to lick the screen and then finding her blueberry cheesecake muffin recipe? Score.

When working in a galley kitchen one must utilize all space available...

...and I do mean all.

Did I mention that I just recently mastered making muffins at The Hotel? Filling these puppies was a piece of muffin for me (get it? Piece of muffin? Ha I crack myself up).

Not sure why I didn't move my bagel biter out of the way. Oh wait, that's right, because I have nowhere else to put it.

Didn't they turn out great?

I have never been so proud of myself as when I made these muffins. However, even though I halved Janet's original recipe, it still made quite a few and these are definitely not weight loss friendly, so they made their way into other people's hearts and stomachs.

Except for this one, which was delicious.

So that's this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge. Make sure you click on the picture below (#30!) to log your view and don't forget to let me know how you think I did this month (anything other than stellar remarks will be pretty much ignored).

I'll Gladly Pay You Tomorrow for a Hamburger Today

It's almost eleven at night and while my little family is all snuggled up, visions of Harleys and Milk Bones dancing in their heads, I'm trying to get in at least ten minutes of exercise. Why didn't I get it in earlier in the day you ask? That is a very good question. Let's examine my day, shall we?

I try to sleep in on Mondays, since Tuesday at midnight starts my work week. Then there was a mandatory meeting at The Hotel, followed by grocery shopping for and making my recipe for the upcoming Crazy Cooking Challenge (PS I think I have this one nailed). Then there was the pulling out of hair and gnashing of teeth as I tried to decide what to make for dinner because apparently meal planning has taken a back seat to...everything. Once I finally decided what to make for dinner, I remembered there was laundry to fold and well, you can see where this is going.

Basically, I have an excuse for everything; which, ironically enough, is part of this season's theme for The Biggest Loser-No Excuses. As you can see, I am the queen of excuses. And procrastination. It's my only flaw (yes you read that correctly, I only have one. Don't think you can count my annoying habit of always being right). Husband has been asking me for over a week when I'm going to make my eye appointment, when I'm going to make Melodie's yearly checkup (it's almost three months late. Yikes!). When did I become this person? Let's face it, I can't blame it on working two jobs anymore or having a crazy schedule. I know what my schedule is going to be week in and week out. This is just plain Jane childish behavior. Might as well stomp my foot and cross my arms and shout, "You can't make me!".

So as we finish up the first quarter of the year, I've decided to make a new resolution (my previous one, in case you hadn't heard, is to run a 5k by the end of the year. I see a pattern of self-hatred). Resolution #2: No more excuses. No more putting things off for no apparent reason or even if the reason is apparent. No more being a slug. If I can drink 8 glasses of water a day, I can do anything!

What seems to be your hang up? Not cleaning up after you cut your toe nails? Or how 'bout always being late?

**Crazy Cooking Challenge!!* Spaghetti-oooooooooooooo!

I realize that I missed last month's Crazy Cooking Challenge. And I realize that it's been two months since my last post. I also realize that in those two months, I haven't posted because the only things to come to mind were overwhelming negative, pessimistic and/or boring. So I stayed away. While I still have a good reserve of the overwhelmingly negative, pessimistic and boring, I am also in a much better place and which means I will try and keep that other stuff to a minimum. Now for the challenge.

This month was spaghetti. Regular ol' spaghetti with red sauce. In other words, this month's challenge was ridiculously hard because a) there are only so many ways you can make red sauce and b) none of them are original. Well I mean they are but I like to look at this little competition as a way to grow my cooking laurels (if they can be grown at all). I found lots of butter sauce recipes that I'm now dying to try and a couple that called for pasta other than spaghetti. Finally, I came across Natalie at Oven Love and her recipe for Homemade Spaghetti-O's. Perfect. Husband and I recently ventured to the grocery store (together! I know, shocking) and picked up some of his favorite childhood food.

Now I would like it be known that I HATE Spaghetti-O's. Hate them. They are disgustingly overcooked pasta o's in sickingly gross tomato sauce. The thought of them makes me gag. And everywhere I went as a kid, there they were. I had friends who liked them with hot dogs added in. There were the (rare) babysitting clients who insisted upon them and nothing else (I mean I offered up grilled cheese and mac and cheese and still that canned pasta won). When Husband's feeling especially hungry, I will look up from my book to find him eating them. Straight. Out. Of. The. Can. Talk about birth control.

You can imagine my delight when I came across Natalie's recipe, which would hopefully put an end to my days of tin can torment. This recipe came out pretty well. Unfortunately, I didn't have any tomato sauce on hand so I used spaghetti sauce, which next time I will run through the food processor because the first words out of Husband's mouth were, "I don't like tomato chunks." No $%#^%. I didn't realize it had chunks until after I dumped it in the pot. Now get out my kitchen before you end up wearing it. I also used spaghetti noodles broken in half, so it wasn't quite as soupy as one would expect. The flavor was really good, though, and I will try this again with all the right ingredients. Hopefully.

Boil bubble toil and trouble. Literally trouble. Red sauce all over my clean stove top.

The cheese and milk lighten up the color.

This is my bowl...after I had eaten half. My bad!

So there you have it. Remember, if you've come to this post via the Facebook page or you subscribe to it, make sure you click on the picture of this recipe below (#60), so that your click counts. Happy reading!

**Crazy Cooking Challenge!!** Some things go together like chicken and noodles...

My very first attempt at homemade chicken noodle soup

 I did it! I finished way before the deadline! The task handed down to us this month by Tina at Mom's Crazy Cooking was find and make a chicken noodle soup recipe. I totally owned this one. After consulting my Chicken Noodle Soup board on Pinterest (feel free to check it out here), I chose to make the recipe that Laura from Real Mom Kitchen posted. Now Husband is always raving about the chicken noodle soup his granny makes and let's face it, I've barely scratched the surface of what I can cook. I will say that this was edible and passed the seconds test (as in Mr. Ridiculously Picky had seconds).

I just love how pretty all the veggies look and how not pretty my pot looks (it's clean I promise, just well loved).

 

Now this particular recipe calls for the inclusion of chicken gravy, which I have never used before, but thickens the soup up just enough to make it hearty.

So there it is. This recipe was exactly as the name suggested, easy, especially when using rotisserie chicken. And with the cute bow tie pasta, I made it my own. Make sure to take a moment at check out Real Mom Kitchen and the other fantastic recipes listed there. Oh and don't forget to vote!

PS Voting this month is a little different. Voting will be done simply by clicking on the recipe below in the linky party; so if you found this post via Facebook or a reader and would like for your visit to count, please take a moment and click on my link. Thank you!

**Crazy Cooking Challenge!!** The other "F" word

I would like to start off this post by saying that I started out ahead of the game for this Crazy Cooking Challenge. I found my fudge recipe before my mashed potato recipe was even in the pot. However, after an epic fail to end all other epic fails, I had to abandon my original choice, which I'm okay with because I think what I did end up making is pretty fantastic.

This challenge was definitely stretching for me. Once I found a new recipe after the first fudge failure, I was thrilled! I came across this recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge from Bridget at Bake at 350 on Pinterest. Now I usually detest chocolate chips unless they're completely melted into my cookie (I have a tendency to eat around them when chowing down on raw cookie dough); I must say, though, that in this recipe, the chips help keep the fudge from being overly sweet. However, once I printed out the instructions and started to get everything around, I noticed that in my haste to rescue this post, I had ignored to key elements of this recipe. 1) A candy thermometer was called for and 2) so was a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Other "f" word!

After two phone calls to the Maternal Unit, a trip to the kitchen store (which is luckily right across the sidewalk from job #2) and some tequila (okay no tequila as I had to go to work but on my next day off I'm making up for it with a pitcher of pomegranate margaritas), I was able to get to work.

Behold! My candy thermometer. Oh and everything stirred together, nice and smooth.

Just keep stirring. Just keep stirring. Holy crap is it supposed to look like that?!

Cooling down (note: there is no olive oil in this recipe, I just needed something for the thermometer to lean against).

So this is the point where it calls for a paddle attachment. Well I've got your paddle attachments right here. *holds up both hands*

Above all else, IT TURNED OUT! Perfect.

My kitchen, on the other hand, is a whole other story.

 So that's it, my first time making fudge without Maternal Unit and marshmallow creme. I can safely say it will be at least another year before I feel the need to recreate the process. Next month for the Crazy Cooking Challenge is Chicken Noodle Soup so stay tuned for whatever I come up with and don't forget to vote for me #35! Or don't. I won't know if you don't. But there's someone who will. *reverently looks up*

**Meatless Monday AND Crazy Cooking Challenge!

I'm not usually a joiner, other than the workforce and the Save a Cow, Eat a Vegetarian Foundation (that's right I just endorse cannibalism on my blog in a post about food, you may judge me). However, I came across the Crazy Cooking Challenge while stalking scouring blogs for food fodder. I'd been feeling like spreading my wings a bit and the way that Tina over at Moms Crazy Cooking laid it out, well she made it sound like not joining was the harder thing to do. Besides, the upcoming challenge was "The Ultimate Mashed Potatoes," and I mean, please, this is The UDG we're talking about here. Starchy skinned substances are my thing.

So, I set off into Blogland. Besides making delicious food, the Crazy Cooking Challenge is a way to feature recipes from bloggers who don't have their own show on Food Network or make the big bucks telling you six ways to cut an onion. The recipe I chose, Slow Cooked Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes, is by Rachel at Coconut and Lime.

As you all know, I love my crock pot and I love it now more than ever, working two jobs. It's wonderful to be able to throw something in it and be able to walk away and Pinterest get my housework done. Other recipes I found called for cooking the potatoes, mashing them AND then putting them in the crock pot. Tres stupido. The thing I like most about this recipe is that, in true crock pot fashion, it's all done in one place.

I must tell you that when I made this recipe, Husband was still out of town, so I got to have these all to myself. Which is good, because the scent alone of the potatoes cooking was enough to make me find any excuse to go into the kitchen and sniff the air around the crock pot.

Here's the story of how 3 lbs of unsuspecting red potatoes became a glorious rendition of mashed potatoes.

You began your journey as nothing more than spuds, needing to be cleansed of your impurities and imperfections.

With (not so) loving care, you were whittled down and married to chicken broth, garlic and rosemary.

After you had reached your peak tenderness, you were introduced to the Dairy Fairies: Milk, Butter and Sour Cream.

Put together in the most tastiest of situations, it was a mash made in heaven.

The end.

Wash them down with some ice tea and you've got a meal. Or I suppose normal people would eat them as a side dish. So overrated.

Be sure to check out another recipe or two or all of them if you don't have a life have the time. If by chance you're feeling so inclined, go ahead and vote for me #76. If you're not, well do it any way, no one wants a guilty conscience.