Screen time

Tell me how to win your heart. 'Cause I haven't got a clue.

SPOILERS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Lionel Richie‘s “Hello” runs through my head all the time. Rockford can attest to this. (And he will not attest to it happily, because I sing it whenever it’s in my noggin’.) Tonight, David Cook absolutely rocked it. I might download his version. Seriously. If I actually voted, he’d get my vote this week.

I think the guys are much better than the girls on this year’s “American Idol.” Jason Castro was excellent tonight, doing “Hallelujah,” and Chikezie did a fine job on “All the Woman I Need.” Michael Johns did one of my favorite songs, “Don’t You Forget About Me,” and he did it well.

Who’s going home? Luke Menard and Danny Noriega. I’ll be sad to see Luke go, because he’s easy on the eyes. I will be beyond pleased if Danny really is voted off.


Eating

A tiny helping of nutrition

A tablespoon of squash might not be a big deal to you, but around here it’s practically Mount Everest.

Although I didn’t make much headway with the “Deceptively Delicious” recipes, I used the book’s principles to score a victory today in our ongoing struggle to get Poppy to eat vegetables. I mixed a tablespoon of butternut squash puree in with about a tablespoon and a half of peanut butter and a little honey. I used part of it to make Poppy’s sandwich, and I put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow. After she finished her sandwich, though, she asked for more! So I pulled the rest of the peanutbutternut out and gave it to her as a “dip” for her pretzels.

She ate it all. And she asked for more again.

menu plan Monday

The tale of a heavy, heavy meal

Menu Plan Monday logoIt’s a short menu this week because we’ll be descending into madness going to Chloe’s on Thursday. It’s also another easy-on-me week, because I two of my three meals waiting for me in the freezer!

Monday: Chicken tortilla soup

Tuesday: Honey-pecan chicken

Wednesday: Tacos

We’ve started having a big Sunday night dinner, with Rockford’s parents and our friends Don and Carrie joining us. I don’t have a lot of recipes that feed bunches of people, so Sundays have sort of become our experimental day. This week, we tried Boilermaker Tailgate Chili, which I found on AllRecipes.com, with Paula Deen’s Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding for dessert.

I used two gigantic cans of beans “with chili fixin’s” in place of the 4 smaller cans of beans. I neglected to adjust the rest of the spices to account for the “fixin’s,” and the result was some blazing hot chili. I did have to alter the original recipe a bit, because I didn’t have some of the ingredients on hand.

Boilermaker Tailgate Chili
2 pounds ground beef chuck
1 pound Italian sausage
3 (15 ounce) cans chili beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can chili beans in spicy sauce
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 green chile peppers, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon bacon bits
4 cubes beef bouillon
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (10.5 ounce) bag corn chips such as Fritos®
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.

Pour in the chili beans, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green and red bell peppers, chile peppers, bacon bits, bouillon, and beer. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, hot pepper sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.

To serve, ladle into bowls, and top with corn chips and shredded Cheddar cheese.

I’ve been wanting to try the Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding for quite awhile, but I didn’t have an occasion that would warrant such a decadent treat. But there was a buy-a-dozen, get-a-dozen-free coupon from Krispy Kreme in a recent newspaper. I took that as a sign.

The first bite of this dessert is delicious. The second bite is good. By the third bite, I was getting a little woozy. I powered through and finished my serving, though. And then I felt like I’d eaten a brick of sugar. Which I pretty much had.

The donuts do make a fine bread pudding, but I’ll use half donuts and half bread if I go this route again. The full-on donut assault was too much.

Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding
2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
2 (4.5-ounce) cans fruit cocktail (undrained)
2 eggs, beaten
1 (9-ounce) box raisins
1 pinch salt
1 or 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Butter Rum Sauce, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cube donuts into a large bowl. Pour other ingredients on top of donuts and let soak for a few minutes. Mix all ingredients together until donuts have soaked up the liquid as much as possible.

Pour into a greased 13×9-inch baking dish and push down with a spoon to remove air bubbles. Bake for about 1 hour until center is firm. Top with Butter Rum Sauce.

Butter Rum Sauce:
1 stick butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup or so milk
2 tablespoons rum

Melt butter and slowly stir in confectioners’ sugar. Add rum and heat until bubbly. Add milk until sauce is a consistency that you like. Pour over each serving of Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.