Cheesy Goulash Casserole

I realize these pictures are terrible, but I took them with my cell phone, which is not a smart phone, so it's the best I could do! 

I made dinner last night with what I had on hand. It's sort of like goulash, and sort of like a Cheeseburger Mac. I just threw a bunch of things together, tasting as I went, and it was a huge hit with my guys. It's very easy to make, so I thought I'd share! It makes for a great, filling, quick-and-easy weeknight meal when you only have a short time at home all together before everyone rushes off again for sports practice, Christmas parties, or to see The Hobbit, which is what we did last night! (And loved it, by the way!)

I used three different kinds of cheese and layered them. I think the cheese really made this dish. Again, I used what I had on hand. I had a package of Creamy Havarti slices, a package of swiss slices, and a 1-pound lump of fresh mozzarella, which I grated and piled on top.

I think I'll call it Cheesy Goulash Casserole. 

Cheesy Goulash Casserole

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 to 1 1/2 cups macaroni noodles (I didn't really measure, just scooped some out of my jar.)

1 14.5-oz can stewed tomatoes, undrained (You can use diced tomatoes, or any other style. Stewed was what I had. )

1 12-oz can tomato sauce

About a heaping teaspoon Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

About a pinch of sugar

Cheese! Any kind will do, but I think the mozzarella to top it off is important.

Boil the macaroni noodles until al dente. I think I boiled mine about 7-8 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Brown ground beef in skillet. When just about done, drain off grease and add onions to the pan. When onions are translucent, add garlic and cook and stir about a minute or two. Add the italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. Stir about a minute.

Add undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, ground beef and onions, and a pinch of sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes. Add the macaroni noodles. (If it appears too dry, you can play with it. Add a bit of water, or more tomato sauce or canned tomatoes. You will have to adjust the seasonings though. Somehow my ratios were just right. Happy accident!)

I originally poured it all in a 13x9, but it spread too thinly. I wanted to layer this with cheese, so I went with a smaller baking dish. Mine is about 9x7, and about 3 inches deep. (It's one of those oven/dishwasher safe Pyrex storage containers with lids, which is convenient for leftovers.) 

Spoon half the mixture into the baking dish. Lay cheese slices on top. (I used Havarti, but would have loved to use sharp cheddar if I'd had it. The Havarti was creamy and delicious, though!) Spoon the rest of the mixture on top of the cheese. I topped this with slices of swiss cheese. Then I covered the dish with foil and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. Then I removed the foil and covered the top with freshly grated mozzarella. (A bunch! Definitely more than a cup!) Then I put it under the broiler until it was nicely melted and browned and blistered just right. 

It was so delicious! We all enjoyed this very much. I served it with steamed broccoli and a salad. I can't wait for the leftovers for lunch today!

Let me know if you make this, and if you try different cheeses or other variations.

Caramel Brownies

I can't even remember where I first saw this recipe, but it has made the Pinterest rounds for sure. It's not so much a recipe as a technique. It is very easy and so sinfully good!

I personally find them almost way too sweet for me, so when I make them I can only eat a tiny piece. The last time I made them, for Bible study, I didn't even have any. But I'm more of a salty/crunchy snacker anyway. I prefer things like popcorn, potato chips, salted nuts, Chex Mix, Goldfish crackers, and tortilla chips & salsa. (Seriously, I think I snack on chips and salsa nearly every day. Or guacamole. Mmmm.)

Caramel Brownies

1 box brownie mix (plus ingredients called for on box)
1 bag caramels
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
sea salt (optional)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix up a box of brownies as per usual. Spread half the batter in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes. While cooling, unwrap and melt the caramels in a saucepan with 1/3 c cream. If you like sea salt caramels like I do, add a pinch of sea salt. Once brownies have cooled 20 minutes, pour melted caramel over the top. Spread remaining brownie batter on top of the caramel. (Just do your best. I sort of drop it all over and gently spread the best I can. The warm caramel helps the thick batter spread. It will expand and fill in the gaps.) Sprinkle 1/2 c chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool and cut into (small!) bars.

Just a tip, I've mentioned it here before. If you want clean cut brownies with no mess, cut them with a plastic knife. The brownies don't stick to the knife, allowing nice crisp lines.

Irony and Sarcasm

http://wedgewords.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/making-sense-of-sufjan/

Thought for the day: 

I can really identify with this quote. Irony and sarcasm can be exhausting. Sarcasm, especially, can be a mask to hide behind. It can be a form of self-protection that covers you in barbs, making it impossible for others to get too close. I think the ability to let down your guard and "be real" with someone gets more impaired the more you employ irony and sarcasm. Sadly, I know this from experience. Humor will always have its place, and we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously, but the need to always be witty can become a liability in relationships. 

Edie's Mocha Cake

I shared this cake with my friends on Facebook, but since I've made it twice in the past few weeks I thought it was time to share here.

I first came across this cake recipe a few years ago on one of my favorite blogs of all time, Lifeingrace. I've written about Edie before here. I just love her and always look forward to her new posts.

You can find the recipe here, and it's accompanied by her fabulous beef stew recipe. I make the stew sometimes too and I can attest- it is the bomb diggity.

This is a from-scratch cake, and it is so moist, dense, rich, and delicious. The cake is very rich and sweet, so you will only be able to eat a little slice. But oh what a blissful treat!

Here is the recipe as it appears on her blog:

Mocha Cake - by Edie Wadsworth

Cake

2c all purpose flour                      Butter Cream Frosting

1 1/2 c sugar                                   2 stick butter, softened

3/4 c cocoa powder                       1T vanilla extract

1 t baking soda                               1/8 t salt

1/2 t baking powder                      2 pounds powdered sugar

1/4 t salt                                           1/2 c strong brewed coffee

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened       1/2 c cocoa powder

3 large eggs                                      Garnish with cocoa powder and powdered sugar

1 c water

1 1/2 t. vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 8 inch round cake pans.

2. For the cake: Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. When smooth add dry ingredients and water. Beat for 3 minutes and divide batter evenly between the pans.

3. Bake 25-30 minutes and then cool cakes completely before frosting.

4. For the frosting: Mix butter, vanilla, and salt and then slowly begin adding sugar and coffee, alternating. Beat until smooth. Remove about 2 cups of the frosting into a cake decorating bag or into a ziplock bag. (freezer ziplocks work better for this because they’re more sturdy). Then add 1/2 c cocoa to the remaining frosting. Use this chocolate mocha frosting to ice the cakes. If it’s not spreading well you can add a little more coffee and maybe a t. or so of milk to thin it out. Reserve a small amount of the chocolate frosting to make a few chocolate ‘points’ on the cake. Using the buttercream mocha frosting that you reserved earlier, pipe ‘points’ onto the cake. Use up all the frosting with as many ‘points’ as you can fit. Then add a few chocolate ‘points’ for good measure.

The Filter Is Gone! Well, Most Of It...

At Stanford in CA waiting for surgery

In my last update on Taylor, I believe I wrote about a facility at Vanderbilt where the doctors specialized in removing stuck IVC filters. Well, Taylor's vascular surgeon called the lead doctor there to fill him in on the situation, and then the Vanderbilt doctor called me to say that after speaking with him, he doesn't see that they would do anything different to what he had done. We were welcome to try, but he couldn't guarantee anything. So that option was no longer valid for us.

By this point, I had been researching an Interventional Radiologist at Stanford named Dr. William Kuo who has done cutting-edge research in filter removal. I had stumbled across this video while searching the net for answers and decided that *this* is the doctor Taylor needed to see. It shows a woman whose filter had perforated through her IVC vein and into her intestines, yet Dr. Kuo was able to safely remove it.



Both Taylor's doctor and the Vanderbilt doctor said they'd never heard of him, but that didn't bother me. So I called Stanford and talked with the office manager about Taylor being a candidate for surgery. She immediately sent paperwork to fill out and requests for medical records. After a few weeks, she called to say that Dr. Kuo saw Taylor as a viable candidate for surgery, and we set up the appointments for August 2012.

We were able to stay with fellow homeschool friends who live close to both Stanford and San Francisco. This family was so much fun and we were so thankful to them for letting us stay for a whole week. Taylor and I were able to visit Palo Alto and San Francisco while there and had a lot of fun.

Riding a trolley car in downtown San Francisco

Geeking out at the Apple HQ in Palo Alto

We met with Dr. Kuo for a consultation on Monday, and then Taylor had the surgery Tuesday morning. Everyone at the facility was so helpful and friendly. It's a wonderful hospital. Everyone kept telling me how much they loved my son.

In the waiting room, nervous but hopeful

Finally being taken to surgery!

A little wave and he's on his way

It took about three hours. Dr. Kuo said he was able to remove the filter, but three of the prongs had broken off. Two of them had already perforated entirely through the IVC vein and were embedded in scar tissue on the outside of the vein. He said they don't like to go after those. That freaked me out a bit, but he said it was nothing to worry about. They won't budge, and it's no different than someone living with shrapnel for years and years. The other broken off prong had just started to perforate through the vein, but he was able to remove it. There was some scarring inside the IVC below the filter, probably from insertion over a year ago.

A tearful Taylor with Dr. Kuo after a successful surgery

He did a venogram and looked at his femoral vein in his thigh, the site of the original clot and surgery. He said the flow through the vein was fine and there was no need to worry. I was so relieved to hear those words!

Taylor had to remain on Coumadin for 1 month after surgery, just to ensure that everything was flowing well. He's now been off the Coumadin and Prilosec for a little over two months now and is doing fine. He has mostly got his appetite back and appears to be gaining some weight. There will be no further need of check ups regarding this event unless he has problems in the future. We hope this is all behind him now! We're so thankful to have found Dr. Kuo! Not only is he a skilled surgeon and innovator, but he is one of the kindest, most humble and soft-spoken men I've ever met. He spent plenty of time with us, explaining things and making sure we felt comfortable with the procedure. If you're ever in need of an Interventional Radiologist, it's worth it to fly across the country as we did to see him.

If you have any questions for us or just need someone to talk to about DVT or IVC Filter problems, feel free to email me or comment here.

Where Was I?

Has it really been nearly 8 months since I last updated this blog? I can't believe how quickly that time has passed. Every so often I feel a squinge of regret that I haven't kept up posting here, but then my attention gets diverted elsewhere and that's that. And as every blogger knows, once you get a case of writer's block, it's very difficult to get going again. I am subscribed to MANY blogs which have been abandoned the same way. I'm hoping this post will prime the pump and help me get back to it.

I get a surprising amount of emails from folks around the world who find my blog via Google searches. The main topics people are searching for when they stumble upon my blog are:

- OCD
- DVT
- Coal Miner's Daughter (It's true!)
- C.S. Lewis
- Chickens
- China Cabinet
- Carolina Tiger Beetle (?)
- land (?)
- Carl Spitzweg
- Homemade body butter
- Various recipe searches

Occasionally I still get comments on my blog, even though I seem to have abandoned it. But by far, I get more emails. The three main subjects I get emails about are:

-OCD
-DVT
-Chickens

I have "met" some wonderful people via emails through this blog. I call them my e-maginary friends. They will write looking for further information, updates on our boys, or just to have someone to talk to who knows what they're going through. Recently there was one young lady, a few years older than Taylor, who wrote me about DVT and IVC filter problems. Her doctors were also having a hard time removing her filter. She and Taylor were able to keep up correspondence through emails commiserating over their experiences. I think it cheered them both. Thankfully, she finally had a successful removal procedure and appears to be doing well.

I've been thinking about these emaginary friends a lot lately. I feel terrible that I haven't kept up this blog and shared the rest of our journey through OCD, and what's happened with Taylor and the stuck IVC filter. So this post is a reminder that I'm still here, and that I haven't forgotten. I'm in the process of writing an update on Taylor now. My Facebook and "in real life" friends already know the story. But for those of you who have found my blog searching for DVT and filter info, stay tuned!

The Chicks' New Digs

Ameraucana

Barred Rock

Ameraucana (Bandit the (we think) Rooster!)

Buff Orpington (This one's bigger comb makes us think he's also a rooster.)

The chicks are all at that gawky teenager stage now. They're getting tall and leggy. Their feathers are coming in and they're losing their fuzz. But we think they're still so adorable!

They were getting too big, messy, and active to keep in the house anymore, so we were keeping them outside in a makeshift pen made of wire fencing by day, and in a large rubbermaid box with a heat lamp by night. But they quickly outgrew the box so we needed a solution. They won't be big enough to defend themselves against the big chickens until they're at least four months old, so we couldn't put them in the coop. 

Once again, McGyver came through for us. He made some adjustments to the greenhouse, so they live there now for the time being. We moved it into the shade and replaced a few panels with hardwire cloth so they won't get overheated. 

We put their food and water up on this plank so they won't keep scratching dirt and leaves into it. The milk jug is a waterer Wesley made. He drilled a hole in the bottom and placed a little gizmo called a chicken nipple in the hole. The chicks peck at it and it releases water. They love it. And the water stays clean and fresh!

Chicken Nipple in action - from the Avian Aqua Miser website

They love their new home. Chuck also placed a roost in there for them, and they love to sit there and clean their feathers. But they don't sleep on it like the big chickens. They sleep huddled together in a box filled with pine shavings. 

They also like to take naps huddled together.

This little sweetie is a Barred Rock. We think she's a hen, but won't know for sure for a while. She is the first to come running up to us when we enter the brooder. She likes to sit on your shoulder or head.

See how watchful Bandit is below? He's always got his eye on you, especially when you're holding one of the flock. If he's a rooster, he'll be a good protector.

We still haven't named any of the others. But I don't know if that will make a difference in how we'll feel if we lose any. When you care for animals, you tend to get attached. Thank goodness we keep our chickens for eggs and not meat!

Garden Update- April 2012

We have been very busy working outside lately, enjoying this gorgeous weather. Between the garden, the yard, and the chickens, I can always find an excuse to be outside. 

I thought it was about time to post a garden update. I can't believe it's been a month since my last garden post! The garden is very downscale this year. I think it may take a few years' experience before I get more involved and plant more difficult things. 

We've almost used up all our finished compost. (Thankfully there's more "brewing".)

Over the weekend we used a few wheelbarrows full to plant some blueberry bushes. The dirt in our yard is clay and sand. It needs a lot of amending before anything other than weeds will grow.

We planted two blueberry bushes right here, between the compost bins and the greenhouse-turned-chick brooder. (I'll post an update about the chicks next.)

Here's the strawberry bed, looking much the same as when we planted them. They keep putting out flowers and tiny berries, and I keep plucking them so they will devote all their energy this year to developing good roots and runners.

Below you can see onions at the back, and the Blue Lake Bush green beans in front. They're getting big. It's hard to see the beans when they're ready to pick. In fact, I didn't even know that some were ready to harvest until my friend pointed it out over the weekend. I was surprised and picked a few handfuls of beans.

Here you can see some tiny new beans growing.

Poor yellow squash. Our chickens kept getting into the garden and digging up the cucumber, squash, and zucchini plants, even after we fenced it in. I've replanted these squash and one of the zukes at least three times. We finally had to put the chickens back in jail their pen. They are not happy about this.

They are not looking their best, but they are producing their lovely yellow flowers, so I have hope.

The cucumbers are also flowering. I had four of them in this bed, but one of them did not recover after being dug up the second time by our chickens.

I love how the tiny tendrils on cucumber plants grasp onto anything within reach so they can climb up to reach the sun.

This is the herb bed with tomatoes in the back and an orange pepper plant down front. It's looking quite odd because I've had to move a few things around. 

The tomatoes are getting taller, despite all the cool weather we've been having. On the left is the heirloom German Queen variety, and the remaining three are Better Boys.

They're already putting out flowers!

Here's a tiny yellow pepper growing.

The red pepper plant is flowering, so we'll see some peppers soon.

And all the marigolds are looking lovely as usual. If you are afraid to garden, I recommend planting marigolds. They're hard to kill and always look pretty and bright. They helped me overcome my fear of green things.

What's in your garden?

Pea Pickin' Cake

Pea Pickin' Cake

Like most Southerners, I grew up with this cool, creamy, delightful cake. It seems to be most often served at Easter, though it also tends to make an appearance at the Family Reunion, Fish Fry, Barbecue, and Pot Luck.

It's the perfect summer dessert in warm climates because it's served cold and includes tropical flavors like orange and pineapple.

 Pea Pickin' Cake has many other names such as Pig Pickin' Cake, Sunshine Cake, and Mandarin Orange Cake. I've heard varying explanations for the interesting names, implying that this cake was often present at gatherings of folks who were either roasting a whole pig or picking and shelling peas.

Those explanations all sound plausible, but I like to think its name has more humble beginnings. Maybe, in the heat of summer, some Southern housewife wanted to serve her hardworking husband a cool, refreshing dessert and hit upon this concoction. Upon tasting it, her loving, appreciative husband looked upon his wife with adoration and exclaimed, "Why this is the best pea-pickin' cake I've ever tasted in my whole cotton-pickin' life!"

It really doesn't matter what you choose to call it, what matters it that you make it and see for yourself why it's such a popular dessert here in the South, where we KNOW how to enjoy dessert.

You can make this cake in any shape or form; 2, 3, or 4-layered, 13x9, sheet cake, or even cupcakes - though I've most often seen it layered as I've made it here. 

Using undrained mandarin oranges in the batter makes it extremely moist and flavorful. I like to use Duncan Hines' brand Butter Recipe Yellow Cake, with REAL butter. But you could use any yellow cake mix, and oil, if you prefer.

The cake really needs to stay in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight, so make sure you plan ahead, especially if you're taking it somewhere.

The recipe I'm sharing here is the one I'm most familiar with- the one my mom always used when we were growing up. There are other variations, though. Some folks like to add coconut, chopped nuts, and even cherries for garnish. I prefer the simple, basic version.

Pea Pickin' Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

3 eggs

1 - 11oz can mandarin oranges, undrained (Save some for garnish!)

Frosting:

1 package instant vanilla pudding (5 oz)

1 can crushed pineapple, undrained (20 oz)

1 large container Cool Whip (the tall one- can't remember how many ounces and I already threw the container away!)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour three 8 or 9 inch cake pans. Mix cake mix, softened butter, eggs, and mandarin oranges (with juice) on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Distribute batter evenly between the 3 cake pans. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. (Mine were done at 20.) Do not overbake! Let cakes cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

While cake is cooling, combine pudding mix with crushed pineapple (with juice). Fold in Cool Whip. When cake is COMPLETELY cool, frost. Garnish with reserved mandarin oranges. Cover and place in refrigerator for several hours to overnight.

 If you take pictures of it later, try not to eat it as you go. I tried. I failed.

I couldn't help it. Want a bite?