Our family's official 'good luck' food!

I'm not usually superstitious, and neither is Rich, but he had spaghetti the night before he took his initial surveying exam after college. He passed that exam and has had to work under a professional surveyor for the last 4 years before taking the professional surveying exam today. So last night, Rich wanted spaghetti for good luck for today's exam. Since he had spaghetti the night before his first exam and passed, he thought it would be good luck to have it again. I wasn't going to write about it unless it worked... I'm writing so Rich passed and spaghetti is now the official 'good luck' food! :-)

Congratulations, Rich, on becoming a professional surveyor! :-)

A little Italian, a little Mexican, and a whole lot of Yummy!

We tried yet another recipe from the Taste of Home's 2004 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes cookbook again tonight. Rich wanted spaghetti tonight for good luck (which I'll tell you more about if it ends up working) and I wanted to try out this recipe. It was just too intriguing not to! :-)

Southwestern Spaghetti

• 12 ounces uncooked spaghetti
• 1-1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce
• 1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 can (2-1/4 ounces) slices olives, drained
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• Shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream and salsa

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the taco seasoning, spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and olives. Drain spaghetti; stir into the beef mixture.
Transfer to a greased shallow 3-qt. baking dish; sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa. Yield: 8 servings.

I made a few changes, again, according to the ingredients I had. I only used 1 pound of ground beef and then a 3.8 ounce can of olives and a 8 ounce can of mushrooms. I also didn't have a 3-qt baking dish, only a 2.5-qt, so I cut back on the cheese on top, because it was starting to spill over. I probably only ended up using 1 cup of cheese instead of 2. With all the changes, it ended up being 480 calories per serving and that's without the toppings. We only had salsa and sour cream in the house at the time, so those are the only toppings we used.

I wasn't sure how Mexican and Italian would mix, but Rich and I loved it! Blake ate it quite well, while I think Morgan had a hard time with the spaghetti noodles. (She doesn't like to get messy while she eats, so she won't eat it-even after cutting it up so it was more manageable.) It is definitely worth making again!

Cheddar Taters

I'm at it again! I tried a new recipe from my new cookbook again. Here it is:


Cheddar Taters

• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 package (32 oz.) frozen Tater Tots
• 1-1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup crushed potato chips

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Gently stir in the Tater Tots. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and potato chips. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly. Yield:8-10 servings.


I made a couple small changes to the recipe when I made it. I used garlic salt and onion salt instead of garlic powder and onion powder. (I didn't have any.) I also only used 1 serving of potato chips and only 1 cup of cheddar cheese to cut back on calories a bit. I divided it into about 10 servings and it still ended up being nearly 400 calories a serving, but it is worth it! Rich and I both agreed that it was delicious and the kids both ate it and like it! :-) It tastes a lot like cheesy potatoes, but even more flavorful! The only thing I didn't like was I didn't plan anything else to go with it and it isn't much of a meal. It would be a great dish to take to a potluck, though!

I haven't been giving credit to my great new cookbook like I should be. The Onion Cheese Biscuits, the Pepperoni Pizza Muffins and this recipe all came from Taste of Home's 2004 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes cookbook. Thank you Taste of Home for the great recipes!

Wordless Wednesday: Tea Party

I had to get a picture of this when I noticed that Morgan had sorted each place setting of her tea set by color. When I commented on it, she told me that the settings were for her, her grandma and her cousins, Emerald and Maggie. She was very proud of her little tea party! :-)

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go! and Healthy Moms.

Hey, It's Free!

If you have never heard of the site "Hey, It's Free!", then you should definitely check it out! I've been checking their site for freebies for a couple months now and it has really been worth it! I have gotten samples of yummy treats, dog food, laundry detergent and the list goes on! Plus, a lot of the time, the samples come with coupons and they have started telling you how to get some great coupons! On top of all that they make sure it is all legit for you! Isn't that great?! So stop by "Hey, It's Free" and starting signing up for some freebies-it's worth it!

By the way, they have a giveaway going on right now for a $50 Wal-Mart gift card. Who couldn't use that!