MomCooks is One Year Old!
By Elizabeth | May 8, 2008
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Biiirthday dear MomCooks,
Happy Birthday to you!
You’ve stopped by on a very special day, it’s MomCooks’ First Birthday! Guess I should bake the blog a birthday cake now, huh? I can’t believe it’s been a year already, and what a year! I figured I would make this blog as a place to store my recipes, so I never expected all the wonderful things that have come my way as a result of this. I’m so grateful to everyone who has read, commented, advertised, and/or linked to MomCooks. I know that the coming up year will be even more amazing!
So now that you are here, please help yourself to a slice of cake, and look around a bit. There are links in the sidebars to my Archives, Categories, and a Tag Cloud, so please enjoy yourself! Don’t worry, I’ll do all the cleaning up 
Topics: Blogging, Personal | 14 Comments »
Cinna-spin Cookies
By Elizabeth | May 7, 2008
The winners have been announced in the Betty Crocker 2008 Bake Life Sweeter™ recipe contest. Entrants were asked to use one of the nine flavors of Betty Crocker Cookie mix, and add their own special touches. The Grand Prize winner was Lynette Spence of St. Paul, MN who won $5,000 for her “Cinna-spin” Cookies. She used a pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix to create a cinnamon roll-like cookie. If you’d like to make them yourself, you can find the recipe here on the Betty Crocker website.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Get Dine Without Whine and get dinner back!
By Elizabeth | May 6, 2008
It used to be that every week I had the same problem-needing to shop for a week’s worth of meals and having absolutely no idea what to make. Isn’t it funny how, even with shelves full of cookbooks, cooking magazines, recipe cards, plus an entire Internet with MILLIONS of recipes available, it’s still hard to figure out what the heck to make for dinner every week? Seriously!
I’m going to be completely upfront with you, I have become an affiliate for a fantastic website called Dine Without Whine. Their slogan is Dine Without Whine - Helping Families Re-Discover the Pleasure of the Dinner Hour. Doesn’t that sound nice? It’s a lot nicer to gather the family together at the dinner table and be able to relax and enjoy the meal when you haven’t been stressed out by trying to figure out what to make. Dine Without Whine delivers a weekly Menu Plan AND a CATEGORIZED Grocery List right to your email inbox! You can choose from Family Friendly, Healthy or Vegetarian meals.
But wait, there’s more! Right now, you can get a week of Dine Without Whine AND a Grocery Savings Guide from Tawra of Living on a Dime, and a guide to “Entertaining Made Easy”, for ONE PENNY!!! Gas prices are outrageous, it’s shocking how high grocery prices are going, so why not get as much as you can for as little money as possible? One PENNY! So, to check out Dine Without Whine - A Family Friendly Weekly Menu Planner plus get some great bonus guides all for a penny, please click any of the links in this post. Get your family dining, without hearing any whining!
Topics: Dine Without Whine | No Comments »
Four Foods on Friday
By Elizabeth | May 2, 2008
This week’s questions are about frozen food. I buy a lot of frozen vegetables because here in Michigan, they are fresher than fresh vegetables. Frozen vegetables are frozen and bagged within a few hours of picking, whereas the “fresh” vegetables here have been picked, gassed, boxed, and trucked here. It’s a crime what passes for a “fresh” tomato in Michigan right now.
So anyway, on to the questions:
#1. What brand of frozen dinners do you think are the best and why?
#2. What is your favorite frozen waffle or breakfast food?
#3. Frozen appetizers. Which one is your favorite?
#4. Share a recipe or meal made from at least one frozen food.
#1- The only brand of frozen dinners I buy is Stouffers. I love the Macaroni and Cheese, my husband loves the Swedish meatballs, and there is also a Family-size Creamy Chicken Enchiladas entree that is quite good.
#2- I always have frozen waffles in the freezer for the boys to have for breakfast. They like Eggo Chocolate Chip. I also buy Aunt Jemima frozen French Toast because it’s quicker and less messy than fresh. Very, very occasionally, I buy Pillsbury Toaster Strudel as a treat
#3- Well, we aren’t fancy enough around here to eat “appetizers”, but I do buy Pizza Rolls once in a while for the boys, and my husband likes the frozen spicy buffalo wings. If I do need some kind of a finger food for a family gathering, I just go to Sam’s Club and look for something that looks good!
#4- Really Easy Shepherd’s Pie uses frozen peas and corn:
Ingredients
One pound ground beef-not too lean, I used 80/20
Salt, Garlic powder, onion powder
One envelope brown gravy mix
Water for making gravy
Frozen green peas (about a cup)
Frozen corn kernels (about a cup)
Instant roasted garlic mashed potatoes (or plain, or homemade)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Directions
Brown the ground beef in a skillet, dump it into a colander to drain, then put back in skillet.
While the ground beef is browning, microwave the peas and the corn until defrosted.
Sprinkle the ground beef with salt, garlic powder and onion powder to taste.
Make the gravy according to the directions and stir it into the ground beef, set aside.
Add the peas and corn to the beef, stir to combine, and pour it into an oven-proof casserole.
If you are using instant mashed potatoes, make them according to package directions.
Top the ground beef and veggies with the mashed potatoes, spreading gently over the top. Sprinkle the surface of the potatoes with the shredded cheddar.
Put it in the oven at 375 (your temperature may vary depending on your oven) until the cheese melts and the middle is warm.
Everyone in my family loves this recipe! For more great Four Foods on Friday posts, see the links at Fun, Crafts and Recipes.
Topics: Four Foods on Friday | 11 Comments »
MomCooks is temporarily down
By Elizabeth | April 30, 2008
For anyone to whom I owe a post, a review, the start of a giveaway, or any other blog business-my laptop is unavailable, which means I don’t have access to Microsoft Outlook where all of my email folders, contact addresses, and Calendar reside. If it is critical that you get in touch with me today, please email me at table4five at gmail dot com. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes anyone.
Topics: Personal | No Comments »
