I just wanted to let you all know about a new feature over at Making Money, Keeping Money. It is called Contesting Mondays. I list some great blog giveaways and then bloggers can come list their own! At this point we have over 20 giveaways listed! This will be a weekly feature so go check it out!
Just want to let you guys know about a couple of things out there in the blogosphere. First is the Carnival of Recipes. There are a lot of great recipes all dealing with the yummy summer produce. The second thing is a new feature of at Making Money Keeping Money call Contesting Mondays. It is a great list of blog giveaways with easy entries and great prizes! Tight now there are 20 different giveaways!
We are huge TobyMac fans in the Nerd Family so I was stoked when I found out that he had a new project, Alive and Transported
So, let me start off by saying that I love the fact I can watch this with all my kids (versus the other food reality shows I watch).
I am not going to be doing a deep review but just sharing my observations. Like who would have ever thought that Lisa would be ready to leave before Nipa. Lisa did earn some props from me for that.
In our 3 teams going out for ingredients, if just shows that degrees doesn’t always mean the most wisdom. The Grey team made up of Adam, Jennifer, and Aaron seemed to kick the other teams butts. Now when the Grey team went to the cooking, I think they fell apart. No one seemed to agree to what they were making or how. Individually, I think that Adam made almost raw eggs. I think the idea of a gooey egg was good but not done well.
I think that Nipa was careless on planning for her lamb to be so spicy that the diners had to be warned. I think that Lisa did a good job with redirecting her culinary perspective. Unfortunately Shane flopped a bit with his presentation.
Duck salad? Kelsey could really be getting herself into trouble. Kevin screwed up his team members by not only not bringing the oil but taking out the oil Kelsey put in the box. I think this could spell the end for him. I also don’t see how the crostini is romantic. That team came up with really uneven plates and I think that will bite them in the tush.
The judges really are going to hold Kevin’s feet to the fire on the romance aspect and how it doesn’t fit. Lisa made it clear that the lack of cohesion was due to Nipa’s refusal to do any kind of fusion. When Nipa was asked if she was enthusiastic about this competition by Bobby Flay and she said she wasn’t sure. She started to tear up and walked off. She said she left so she wouldn’t be crying and because she had to think and make a decision. She came back and said that she wanted to be there to bring her heritage.
In the end Lisa and Aaron won the spread in USA Weekend and Kevin was out. On one hand I think that Nipa should have been bounced but she seems to have a little potential but they have seen Kevin’s potential and it just isn’t that impressive. Now I don’t think that Nipa is going to make it to the end but we will see.
Here is this week’s lineup!
Monday: Bacon, Eggs, Cinnamon-Raisin Bread, Green Salad
Tuesday: Chicken Kiev, Mashed Potatoes, Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Broccoli
Wednesday: Pasta Carbonara Florentine, Salad
Thursday: Cube Steak, Broccoli, Bread
Friday: Pork Loin Chops, Broccoli, Beer Bread
This is a great convergence of You Tube celebrity!
So the Secretary of Defense is “accepting” the resignations of the Air Force Secretary and Chief of Staff due to some slip ups in Nuclear security. That seems like a good reason. I do love the wording of accepting resignations instead of firing their butts!
(HT: Two Babes and a Brain)
So with the start of a new season of The Next Food Network Star I started wondering what happened to old contestants. Well if you go to the Food Network site, they have a follow up page that lists the old contestants and says what they are doing.
Heart of the Matter has asked how we schedule. I have a confession, I don’t do any firm scheduling but I have zones of schooling. But that is the beauty of homeschooling, you can form it to whatever works for you. So what do I actually do? Every season is different but lets work through this last academic year. We can’t just look at school schedules without looking at life a little broader.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday: We do book work from about 11-12. Then we read together from 12:30-1, finish book work or do projects from 4:30-5:30.
Tuesday: NerdBug has choir in the morning and we are all at church until lunch. Book work about 4:30-5:30.
Thursday: NerdBug goes to the homeschooling room and does some book work and plays games from 9-11am. Then he finishes us book work from 4:30-5:30.
Friday: Sometimes we skip all real school to go play at the park or go do something fun.
So that is all I do! I keep it really laid back and try to just bring learning into life! What do you do?
Welcome to Freezer Friday. We are back! The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!
We all know that baby food really starts to add up. But do you realize just how easy it is? The easiest of all baby food might indeed be acorn squash. The first thing you need to do is cook the squash itself.
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees while you prep the squash.
2. Cut the squash in half from top to bottom.
3. Scoop out the seeds and goop.
4. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper, add a little oil (can omit if you choose)
5. Cook for 1 hour or until you can gently insert a knife and it penetrates.
6. Let cool until you can handle it.
7. Peel the squash or scoop out the center meat.
8. Put all the squash in a bowl and mash with a potato masher (leave a little lumpier than you will use if you are going to freeze it.
9. Use a cookie scoop and dish out onto a cookie sheet.
10. Allow to cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and place cookie sheet in the freezer.
11. Once frozen just place in zip top bags.
To use, just take out as many pieces as you need and either microwave or thaw in the frig or on the counter. You can always add a little liquid if you need to then it out.