Idea Queen Tips & News

Even after cooking a roast all day last weekend, I was still in the mood to cook and really (REALLY), hungry for chocolate pie. And doesn’t it always seem like you can have all but ONE ingredient for whatever you’re craving? Seems to be the norm around here, and I’ve gone to the store a half a dozen times this week just to get ONE item. *SIGH*. But at least I got my pie.

The recipe I used was the Chocolate Cream Pie from our recipe site. Even though I had chocolate pudding mix, I had no whipped cream or pie crust, so I was going to have to go up to the store regardless. This recipe didn’t use pudding mix, but rather chocolate chips (which I had as well) and whipping cream. I almost didn’t use it because it looked like a little too much work and I was being very lazy after making that big meal, but I gave it a shot anyway.

I was surprised it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be, and it took me probably the same amount of time it would have to make a pie from a pudding mix. And this pie - HOLY COW - it was DELICIOUS! It really lived up to it’s name because it was so creamy, and had that “made from scratch” taste to it.

This is for sure a recipe we’ll be making again since I’ve just absolutely fallen in love with it!

We’ve gotten into a new habit around here, and that’s reading off the school lunch menu at the beginning of every month. The kids decide what they will and will not eat, and I make a note of when each kid is taking lunch (and more often it’s been both of them on the same days…hmmmm….).

I started sending just basic turkey sandwiches with a small bag of chips (you know the kind - the ones that come in those big packs of 8-20), plus a juice box and some dessert like item (Oreo dippers, for example). But now that there are several days in a row each kid is taking lunch, I had to come up with some variety.

Here’s what’s on the menu for our cold school lunches this week:

- Summer sausage
I spotted this at the store and thought my eldest son would love the idea. He loves basic items like meat and bread when they are alone. It’s sometimes bazaar watching him eat - he’ll take a sandwich apart, eat first the meat, then the bread.

Sliced up this usually makes for a good snack with cheese and crackers, but as part of his meal it works nicely too. I imagine the girl will want to take it too one day once she sees big brother doing it.

- Homemade Bread
I love my bread maker more than any other kitchen appliance. Don’t have one? GASP! Well then I HIGHLY recommend this Sunbeam Bread Machine available at Amazon. Mine is slightly smaller, but it works just fine. I’ve owned it for at least 5 years if not more, using it ALL THE TIME (every single week, in fact, for something). You can’t go wrong with the Sunbeam brand, since they are the cheapest and are good quality.

That said, we’ve got some homemade breads in the works for lunches this month. My kids love homemade bread, so I can’t go wrong with adding it to their lunches. In fact, it works quite nicely when added with the summer sausage. There’s several of our favorite bread recipes on the Bread Machine Recipe page on Idea Queen.

- Beef Sticks and String Cheese
At the store the other day I happened to see a nice package (packaged fresh by the store, that is…no Walmart junk here!) of beef sticks and string cheese. Now my oldest doesn’t like cheese at all and will refuse it if he can, but he will eat string cheese (yeah, figure that one out!). My daughter, who will eat almost anything except tomato based pasta dishes, will end up with a few of these in her lunch as well. Again, the bread works well when added to this.

- Sandwich and Chips
Since we still have turkey and lots of chips, they’ll get a few “traditional lunches” this month in addition to the “cool stuff” mentioned above. Oh and you can’t forget the juice - that will be in every lunch regardless. I figure they get too much dairy as it is (I don’t think I know how to cook without butter or cheese, and even manage to slip that cheese in some dishes when the boy isn’t looking), and the juice adds fruit to the meal.

There’s several more recipes on the School Lunch Ideas page at Idea Queen you can check out as well. This list is only the ideas we have for the next few weeks…be watching for more soon!

On Saturday I got ambitious. I decided it was a great day for a roast since we weren’t doing anything special, but I took it a step further. I wanted hot beef sandwiches complete with homemade bread, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

So I stuck the roast and potatoes in the oven and went off to find my best white bread recipe.  Just before the bread and roast were finished, I made my gravy, which I used sausage and cream of mushroom soup for.

Now here’s the two major mistakes I made…

1. The potatoes I had thrown in with the roast because that’s what I normally do when we just have roast.  What I didn’t take into account was it has a different flavor that’s just not right for mashed potatoes. They came out alright, but they had a beef and spice flavor to them.

2. I used sausage gravy instead of just going to the store and buying a jar of it. I really wished I would have, since sausage gravy just doesn’t mess well with hot beef. You really need the other kind of gravy, if that makes sense. Or know how to make gravy that’s not from sausage. Sadly I can’t make it from scratch either way.

The bread and everything else was fine, but those two minor mistakes had the kids picking at the food and only eating mostly bread. I also assembled the sandwiches wrong, piling on the beef, potatoes, and gravy onto a slice of bread instead of making a real sandwich and THEN putting the potatoes and gravy off to the side. They didn’t much care of that.

I liked it alright, but it would have been so much better had I done it the right way.

For supper last night I decided to try something a little different. I’ve got I don’t know how many cans of untouched corn in the pantry, but I seem to just keep buying it without using it that often. While adding more recipes to RecipesForMom, I came across a yummy looking corn recipe that I thought I’d give a try. It was a big hit!

We used the Scalloped Corn recipe, but changed it slightly.  Instead of frozen corn I used canned, and it worked just fine. I also sprinkled a little cheese on the top just for the heck of it, which added a bit of extra flavor.

It happened to be the best part of yesterday’s meal, since I also tried making corn dogs from a mix I had bought at the store. It was NOT so great, and the corn dogs ended up tasting like grease-soaked hot dogs. The breading just didn’t stay on. I don’t know if I used the wrong type of hot dogs or what, but this isn’t something I’ll be trying again. Next time I’ll grab a real recipe that has me mixing the batter from scratch.

For the past several years, we’ve been taking care of a site called Recipes For Mom. I hate to say, but it’s been neglected for quite some time. All that changed a few weeks ago when we started working on redesigning it and making it a little easier to navigate.

Unlike the general recipe ideas you’ll find on Idea Queen, Recipes For Mom focuses on “real” recipes with ingredients and instructions.

One of the biggest changes to the site you’ll now see is an easy to navigate category including recipes by main dish (such as pork, chicken, vegetables, etc), recipes by type (like breakfast dishes, restaurant copycat recipes, smoothies, etc), and hoards of dessert recipes in their own section.

Another feature you’ll now see is the ability to rate and review each individual recipe. Comments are always appreciated by viewers for particular recipes, so be sure to add a few on the recipes you’ve tried!

The last feature, which we think is really just for fun, is the “random recipe” feature you’ll now see on each category. When you click on the category title of your choice, a list of recipes come up. Nothing new, right? But the fun part is it will always be different! Even if you refresh the page you’ll find the recipe list in a different order. This can be fun for those who want to randomly try something new.

Any comments on the new site would be appreciated - we’re still working to get all the recipes moved over, and adding a whole lot more!

What started as something ‘cute’ to bring to a family reunion (the “Crabb” family), turned into a tradition. I am no longer allowed to bring any other food aside from these crab cakes that I’ve been making for at least 7 years in a row. This recipe is doubled to make enough, but really I think it’s easier to make as is.

I’ve had this crab cake recipe so long I’m not even sure where it came from. Regardless, it makes the BEST crab cakes I’ve ever had. So good that I’m not even waiting for the reunion this year - we’re having it for supper tonight!

Crab Cakes Italiano

Sauce
1/2 cup mayo
2 Tablespoons pesto

Crab Cakes
1 lb crab meat (I use imitation)
1/2 cup Italian style bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons pesto (check around the pasta section at the store)
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons olive oil

1. Mix sauce, refrigerate

2. Combine crab cake ingredients, except oil. Using 1/2 measuring cup, shape into eight 3-inch patties.

3. Heat oil over med heat. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown and thoroughly cooked.

Easy right? I layer them in a baking dish when I take them to the reunion and they travel well. Although I always seem to bring home some of the sauce since not everyone likes it. Pesto use to be a hard ingredient to find and several years ago I’d have to make a trip to the city to the specialty Italian shop, but lately I’ve been finding it in the regular grocery store. I’ve even seen it in dry mix packets where all you do is add oil (which is what my dad returned from the store with one year when I had sent him to fetch it while making them at his house…he had never heard of pesto before!). This is a great option if you only need pesto just for this recipe.

I’m getting hungry just thinking of them, and can’t wait to have them for supper!

I’ve discovered the world of mini-pizzas, and I am in love. The other day I picked up mini-pizza crust (yes I know, I totally cheated, but I did use my pizza crust recipe too for a big pizza!). I let the kids make their own, even letting one of them skip the cheese (don’t ask because I can’t figure it out - he just doesn’t like shredded cheese for some reason, but loves it melted. Go figure!).

Basically I did everything I usually do when I cook pizza - brown hamburger and Italian sausage, lay out pepperoni and cheese, and open a jar of mushrooms. Since I had two small pizzas and a large one, I mixed a can of Italian diced tomatoes and tomato sauce in a bowl and used it on all the pizzas. It turned out to be REALLY good and somewhat chunky (I admit I’ve gotten a little lazy with my sauce - I use to actually COOK the diced tomatoes, but I don’t even bother anymore).

After it was all set out, I just let them have at it. Not only did we have a blast making them, but the kids ate every single bite of their own personal pizzas. I made a big one for me, and had tons of left overs, which was eaten last night because after 24 heart shaped brownies, I wasn’t cooking.

Anyway, if you are looking for something fun to do for supper, try mini-pizzas!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to make heart shaped brownies for my daughter’s kindergarten Valentine’s Day party. Well I’m proud to say I succeeded without any mishaps. This may be a first!

What I did was take a box of brownie mix and make it according to directions (it says to make them cake like to add another egg, which I did). I cooked them at the same temp and time, with one minor change. Instead of the recommended 9×13, I used a 11×14 glass pan. I was a little worried they would get over cooked, especially using the cake-like directions, but as it turned out they were just fine at the top temp.

Once out of the oven, I immediately used a heart-shaped cookie cutter and got 12 average size brownies out of it (with some scraps, of course, which we’ll be munching on for the next few days). Now this is important - I did NOT attempt to take the hot brownies out of the pan after I cut them. All I did was cut and let cool for 20-25 minutes, THEN took them out of the pan.

I’ve left them to cool off for a few hours before I try to frost them, which I’ll be using pink frosting that’s been heated up a bit (I’ve found out the hard way with cake disasters that warming up the frosting is a must!).

I’m so excited these came out just like I pictured them, and may do them again for Valentine’s day next year. =)

In an attempt to break away from the same old supper while watching way too much of the Food Network, we found a new favorite recipe for hamburgers.

First off, I had found an interesting type of cheese as the store. It was Havarti, which I had never heard of before. This particular block was dill flavored, and you just can’t go wrong with anything dill in this house. It was tasty, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Since I had hamburger meat, I decided to use it on that.

To go along with this strange new cheese, I made a mock version of our Big Mac sauce (see the recipe under “Hamburgers” on the Hamburger Ideas page on Idea Queen.) I left out both types of relish, the salad dressing, and only used regular mayo. Wasn’t exactly Big Mac sauce, but it was still an interesting flavor to go along with the hamburgers.

These were good, but I quickly realized the flavor of the cheese wasn’t coming through as much as I would have liked it to. Next time we’ll be using either more cheese or making them in “inside out” fashion.

These hamburgers also made me think that there really are no rules when it comes to hamburgers. I usually don’t make this particular item very often, but I might just start now that I know I can add anything I want to them. Who knows? Maybe we’ll come up with something really fantastic the next time!

Since I love to come up with creative ideas in the kitchen, I knew I was going to have to come up with something spectacular for Valentine’s day. I’m in charge of the snacks for my daughter’s kindergarten class this year, so this gives me a chance to finally use some of those cool cookie cutters I’ve had forever. We always use decorated sugar cookies in Halloween style for her birthday in October, so the cookies are out.

While shopping yesterday with a cake mix coupon, the idea hit me.  Heart shaped brownies with pink icing. It might not be the most creative, but I’m thinking it will get us some “brownie points”. Ha!

The mix I got looks like a moist cake, so I’ve got my fingers crossed this isn’t going to turn into a big mess. It also says to bake it in a 13×9, but I’m thinking if we use a bigger pan they’ll be a little less moist and easier to work with. Should they come out a little too thin, we may just make brownie sandwiches with the frosting in the middle.

This is probably one of those ideas we’ll try out directly after school the day before the party, just in case we need to run to the store for plan B.

Wish me luck!