Kitchen successes & mishaps

Grocery shopping has been sporadic lately, to say the least.  I've been bad about using coupons, I've had to make multiple trips to the store each week, I haven't really been making "recipes" per se, but pretty much phoning dinner in. And I, unfortunately, don't mean take-out.  They would have eaten better if that's what I meant.

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I finally did a big shopping last week.  I hit 3 different stores, used a ton of coupons, and actually planned dinners.  The new selling season at The Pampered Chef is starting in September, and I needed to try some of the new recipes anyway.

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Unfortunately, I didn't clean out the fridge before I did all of that shopping.  It was looking pretty empty, and I had wiped off a shelf, but there was a funky smell that quite frankly, I was avoiding. :)  I know none of you have ever done that.

Well, all of the food was bought, and crammed into the fridge, and even Maddie was mentioning the funny smell.  I knew it had to be dealt with, and soon, but I put it off yet another night.

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Saturday night, I had to make cookies (for, like, the hundredth time last week), and I needed to make a tossed salad and a macaroni salad--we were going to our friends, John & Kim's, for lunch on Sunday. (In other news, both my girls and Kim's girls went to a birthday party on Saturday, and Kim and I got to go out to lunch and had a FABULOUS time--love that girl!)  I made the cookies--big, gooey, chocolate chip cookies that were so yummy, but chickened out on the salads.  Plus, I had no idea how I was going to fit the bowls into the fridge once the salads were made, so I had to wait until the next morning, right?

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Well, Sunday morning came.  I was up early.  I boiled macaroni for that salad, and started chopping up vegetables.  And that's when I found it.

A liquified cucumber, UNDER all of the fresh veggies (THANK GOD THEY WERE STILL IN THEIR PACKAGES!) that I had just bought.

UGH!  UGH!  UGH!

Maddie just took the whole drawer and dumped it into the compost pile.  And then I got to scrub, scrub, scrub it out!  I cleaned under the drawer, the drawer itself, and the shelf above the drawer.  The whole fridge isn't clean yet, but baby steps, right?

(Warning: do not look under all of the various bottles that reside in the door of the fridge!  I'll get to it, I promise.  Sigh)

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In happier news, I've tried 2 new Pampered Chef recipes this week, and they've both been hits!

The first was Saturday night--I made Loaded Baked Potato Chowder (or "chowdah" as we say here in RI).  Done entirely in the microwave in our fantastic Deep Covered Baker, it was easy and delicious.  Steve LOVED it, and even took the leftovers to work that night.

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Tonight I made a Deep Dish Cheeseburger Pizza.  You make it in our 12" Executive (non-stick) skillet.

Bake the crust first until slightly browned.

Top with ground beef, cooked with onion, drained and mixed with ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.  Arrange sliced tomatoes over the beef.

Top with cheese!

And bake again!

This was a piece of cake to make, and EVERY ONE loved it!  Steve raved, the kids wanted seconds, and one pizza was barely enough.  I think Eli still had to have PB&J, and they all had ice cream for dessert.  I'll be sure to make 2 next time! (Also worthy of note: This is the first time Eli has eaten pizza and not taken the cheese and toppings off!)

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Tomorrow Julie is coming over for Taco Tuesday, and I'm going to do a Molten Chocolate cake in the Deep Covered Baker in the microwave, and later this week, I'll do another microwave recipe in the DCB--Mexican Chicken Lasagna!  Ole!