Ginormous Pastrami Burger

Alex and his friend, The Phantom, came home one night completely famished!  They decided to make one pound pastrami hamburgers. 

They smoked up the kitchen and made me sick when I saw the gross amounts of meat that were on their hamburgers!  But when I saw the looks on their faces, I had to smile. 

Pure teenage heaven!

Jean's Wild Rice and Chicken Supreme

When you find a recipe that the whole family will eat, it's worth its weight in gold . . . and you make it a lot.

This recipe is from my really good friend, Jean. She has an amazing recipe blog; Fitzgerald Family Recipes . It's chock full of unhealthy, southern cooking, but oh, it's joyful tasting comfort food!

1 6-oz package Uncle Ben’s Original Long Grain Wild Rice
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
dash black pepper
1 cup half and half
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups cubed chicken (or turkey)
1/4 cup chopped slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 425.

Prepare rice according to package directions.

Saute onion in butter until soft, and add flour, salt, and pepper.

Gradually whisk in half and half and chicken broth.

Simmer on medium heat until thickened, whisking constantly.

Add chicken, almonds, and rice.

Put in a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish and bake at 425 degrees for 30 min.

Add a salad and whole wheat rolls or buttered wheat bread and you have a delicious meal, perfect for a cold, wintry day!

One Sneaky Mama

Sometimes I am a genius.

I hid the chocolate chips in an Instant Potatoes can.  I knew no one but me would ever find them!

I was forced to this extreme level of deceit because the previous entire 72 ounce--Sam's Club--sized bag of morsels disappeared in about as many hours.

Not cool when Mom needs a chocolate fix . . . er . . .uh . . . I mean when a recipe calls for them, and they are GONE! 

I knew I'd been bamboozled when I peeked at the bag that was discreetly hidden in the tott can and found that 1/4 of the bag was GONE!

The culprit?  None other than DAD!  He told Hannah to search for them until she found them so that he could have some on his ice cream sundae!

They were hidden for a total of 15 minutes.

I also hid the raisins in the chocolate chip container.  How long do you think it will take them to consume these?

JELL-O from HELL-O!

So, I got a phone call the other day . . .

It was about a funeral . . . and Jello salad.

Would I be willing to take a jello salad to the funeral luncheon on Thursday?

I briefly thought about my days leading up to Thursday and shuddered. Work, work, work, and prepare for out of town company (more work). Full schedule. But I always love to help, and I don't know how to say no. I hinted, though, "I have to work on Thursday and won't be able to attend the funeral."

The reply wasn't what I expected, "That's okay, you could have, so-and-so, or so-and-so, or so-and-so bring it for you." Simple as pie--or--Jello. They must really be desperate for food. Or, maybe they have heard about my Jello salads (scoff)!

I got really excited when I started thumbing through my Jello cook book (yes, they actually have one). I even texted my mom for suggestions.

She said, "lime Jello with pears."

"Simple!" I texted back.

Why, oh why, don't we ever listen to Mom?

Strawberry Romanoff is what I chose. Beautiful? Yes. Simple? Not on your life!

I think I know how it got its name!

I read the directions then sent the Jimmy (the poor Jimmy) out for some exercise through the snow and cold on a walk to the grocery store (even though he is a urticariac).

I texted him the ingredients. Then I texted back and told him to double it. I said 2 c cool whip. He brought home four XL "C"ontainers of cool whip. Time to make room in the freezer!

When he got home, I choked when I saw the receipt! $18 for ingredients for Jello salad! Too bad I don't even know the dearly departed's family.

I started boiling and mixing and stirring. Then I got a brilliant idea! I would make strawberry Romanoff for MY FAMILY TOO! So I boiled and mixed and stirred again.

THEN

*OOPS* I realized that I doubled the first batch but only singled the reserved part, so I poured from the second batch to make up for the first batch, then the second batch was off!

I was in a pickle (pickle flavored Jello).

Hannah was feeling very hyper and was animatedly talking to me about boys, and school, and life, and I was trying very hard to follow her conversation. That's what got me into trouble in the first place. So, I enlisted her help to solve my delimma.

Math problems started flying around the kitchen as we halved and doubled and added and subtracted fractions. I could not figure out how to make the two recipes right. It was a JELL-O of a mess!

Finally it came together in my head and I exclaimed that I had figured out the problem. I needed to pour a certain amount from the mixed reserved portion back into the second single batch (don't worry, I'm still confused myself).

Hannah's head whipped around and she stared at me with a look of exasperation.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you this whole time!" she said.

Why are kids always so much smarter than their parents?

Well, I stayed up way past my bedtime to whisk and whip at precisely the right time for the Jello to be slightly set, but not too firm for the cool whip to be gently folded in.

Then I gently spooned the reserved liquid Jell-o over the fluffy Jello--and . . .

It was a disaster! The runny warmer jello seeped and oozed down into the fluffy layer creating a perfectly perfect delictable treat for a pack of VAMPIRES!

Unfortunately, it appeared to be a more appropriate dessert for the undead than the dead.

Strawberry Romanoff Dessert

2 pkg (4 serving size) Strawberry Jello
2 C boiling water
3 Tbsp orange liqueur or orange juice
1/2 C cold water
2 C thawed Cool Whip
10 oz frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed (do not drain)

Dissolve jello in boiling water. measure 1 1/4 c jello; add undrained strawberries. Into remaining jello add liqueur or oj and cold water. Chill until slightly set about 1 1/4 hours.

Fold topping into chilled jello. Pour into a 6 cup glass serving bowl. Carefully spoon reserved jello mixture over layer in bowl. Chill until firm about 4 hours or overnight.

Makes 8 servings

Good Luck!