Bubba-Que

When I won a prize participating in the Ultimate Blog Party 2013,  I knew that I had to use part of the prize money to get Bubba something.  After all if it weren't for Bubba, I wouldn't have this blog. Since he has been such a climbing monkey lately my first thought was a Little Tykes outdoor climbing thing, but my mom has one in her attic that she used when she have a home daycare, so it seemed silly to have two. I searched around for a bit and then I found it.

A Little Tykes Grill set. Since we will be getting my awesome smoker/gas grill soon and Bubba loves to copy me while I cook, it seemed like a great fit. The other day when we were playing outside, Bubba discovered a large box on the front porch. It came! 

We took it in and I let him help open it. ('cause that is half the fun!)

Once we got it out of the box, I turned on one of Bubba's favorite shows, Little Einsteins, and took the grill to the kitchen to assemble it. "I could finish in one episode", I thought to myself.

Wrong. Try 3 episodes. Have I mentioned I hate Little Tykes?! 

Why the heck don't they put those stupid stickers on at the factory? 

They are so freaking hard to line up properly!

Regardless it was worth it. Bubba loves his grill. The second day that he had it, just after finishing his breakfast, he ran to the grill and cooked my husband a hot dog before he left for work. 

So cute! 

Turkey Melt Muffins

I have a confession to make. 

Bubba isn't always the happy smiley little guy you see in my pictures. Sometimes he is crabby! And on those days when Bubba is needing a little more attention, it can be hard for me to eat lunch while he's awake. Unless I want to wait til nap time to make myself something, I need a quick easy meal. I have bought Hot Pockets in the past and while they have added some new better pockets, lets be honest those things are only good when you are starving. I do like the meal in a pocket idea though, quick and easy. So I decided to make my own version of Hot Pockets.

Batter:

1 cup Bisquick

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

Filling:

2 mushrooms

1 slice onion

1 tablespoon butter

6 slices smoked turkey cold cuts

1 sprinkle parsley

1 sprinkle black pepper

6 slices american cheese

Mix the egg, milk and bisquick.

Add enough batter to fill  the bottom of your muffin tin. I am using my silicone banking pan. (Yay!  No scrubing muffin tins!)

Lightly saute the onions and mushrooms in the butter.

Take off the heat and mix in the turkey,

And the pepper and parsley.

Mix well and transfer to a bowl.

Add about a tablespoon or so of the mixture to the muffin tins.

Now the cheese. I used 1/2 slice of american cheese in each tin.

Cover with the remaining batter.

I'm still baking in the toaster oven. I did them at 325-ish for 25 minutes.

Until the tops get to be a nice golden brown.

Ta-da!

Delicious! 

Bubba will not taste them as of yet. He is funny with biscuit like stuff sometimes. 

I really make them for me anyway. They freeze and re heat extremely well. It only takes 50 seconds in the microwave to heat them up, and I can eat them with one hand. And so much tastier than Hot Pockets!

French Onion Soup Inspired Meatloaf- with a crispy twist

In the crock pot of course.

Once we first moved here, and discovered the oven wasn't working well I figured out how to make most of our normal dinners, and a couple of new ones between the stove top, toaster oven and a crock pot. Now that it has sort of fallen into a pattern I have been trying to switch things up a bit with a few kitchen experiments. Lately I have come up with several alternative meatloafs, inspired by other meals. French onion soup, a soup my husband really enjoys, inspired this meatloaf.

1 lb ground meat (I used ground turkey)

3/4 cup crushed saltine crackers

1/2 cup french's fried onions 

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 beef bullion cube dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water

2 1/2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

1 egg

2 inch x 2 inch piece of cheese 

(I used mozzarella, but gruyere would make it more like french onion soup)

Topping:

1/4 cup of shredded cheese (again I used mozzarella but gruyere would be better)

1/4 cup french's fried onions (lightly toasted)

First mix together the dry ingredients.

Mix the wet ingredients with the meat.

Then add the dry ingredients, and mix well.

Make a bowl shape the the meat, put the block of cheese in the middle and form the loaf around it.

Place in a greased crock pot. Cook for 6-8 hours, with the crock pot on the high setting for the first hour, switching to low for the remaining cook time.

During the last hour put the shredded cheese and french's onion mixture on the top of the loaf.

Delicious!
Bubba refuse to try it, as usual.
Oh well more for us :)

Ultimate Blog Party 2013!

I am a follower of multiple mom blogs, and dad blogs, and cooking blogs of course. When Bubba was little and we didn't get out that much it was great to see that other moms had similar things going on. It was nice to be able to laugh about the sleepless nights and loads of dirty diapers. When I started this blog it made me feel like a was able to chat with someone, during the times I couldn't get out of the house. One of my favorite blogs is Parenting Illustrated with Crappy Pictures. It was one of the first blogs I discovered and is absolutely hysterical. Today I noticed a post that there was going to be an Ultimate Blog Party, a way to find more blogs to read, and get my blog read so I decided to join in. Stop over and check it out, and if you write a blog as well, join in.



I figure I should introduce myself for the new visitors to my blog. I am Kristin and this is Bubba. (No that is not his real name, just a nickname that stuck.)

I started this blog almost a year and a half ago now. At first I started it for myself, to feel more connected to the outside world while safe at home with a newborn. Now the blog has become more of a digital scrap book with documenting events in our lives. Lately I have been doing a lot more recipes since cooking is one of my favorite hobbies, and Bubba is able to play by himself a little bit more. Sometimes I narrate a recipe post out loud for Bubba at snack time, like my own cooking show, explaining how and why and am preparing something a certain way. It seems to entertain him and I think the love of cooking may be rubbing off on him because every now and then he will grab and imaginary pinch of something add it to a toy cup, test taste it, proclaiming "Yum!" and handing it to me for a taste. Who knows maybe in the coming years I will have cooking posts where Bubba is my sous chef, or I am his!

An update:
I had so much fun checking out the other blogs out there, a couple more to add to my rss feed.
And I won a prize for participating!