Confessions of a Non-Chef: Karen's adventure in freezer meals

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Macaroni and Tomato

I am not a chef. I don't really enjoy cooking. Baking is okay, but often I end up with burnt cookies and hideous cakes.
Though we did realize recently that the top heating element in our oven isn't working. So maybe all those burnt cookies weren't my fault.

Baby Maegen eating macaroni and tomato circa 1991

This is a Rydalch family recipe. In fact, my aunt Katie made macaroni and tomato the same night I did!
Macaroni with tomato soup, it's yummy, and easy, and babies love it. Husbands don't necessarily love it-- mine doesn't-- but it's a great to make for lunch when he can't come home, or dinner when he's out fishing late.

Here's the recipe, and it's insanely easy.

Ingredients:
elbow macaroni
tomato soup
milk

Directions:

1) Cook your macaroni according to instructions and drain. I'm not going to specify an amount. I usually eyeball about 2 cups for a pretty even ratio, but some people will like more soup and some will like more noodle.
2) Add one can of tomato soup, and one can of milk. (I never use water to make tomato soup, but if you prefer it that way, you could probably substitute water)
3) Stir and serve.

3 ingredients, 3 steps.

Super delicious in the 90's,

Still delicious 22 years later!

As you may have noticed, I strip Mack down to feed him.

And he's eating out of tupperware because these are actually the leftovers, and he's having them for lunch. Why dirty an extra dish?

Chances are, you'll have to bathe your child after this scrumptious meal.

Scrumptious Tuna Casserole

You may have been shocked to read that I made tuna casserole for my birthday dinner. I have to admit, there are some years I almost change my mind and do something else, but it's gotten to be a tradition. So much so that my mom still makes it on February 28th whether I'm there or not. I love making that kind of 

 impact. So I made it again this year, and Nathan only made a few faces while he ate. Mack loved it! SUCCESS!
I decided it would be prudent to share my recipe so that if you dared, you could try it out and maybe love it along with me and decide to make it every year on your birthday.
Or not.
But I still think I'll share.
Here's a snapshot of everything you'll need to make Tuna Casserole.


Now I have to warn you, I am no great chef. My talents in the kitchen only go so far as the ability to not poison my family. I'm also not super great about recipes. I see them more as guidelines rather than rules, which may be part of my problem.
So this recipe is very flexible, because almost all the measurements I'm giving you are just made up.

Scrumptious Tuna Casserole!
You will need:
About three cups of uncooked elbow macaroni (other noodles can easily be substituted)
Around 1 cup of frozen peas (never canned!) Fresh would be fine, but tedious, so for me frozen is the way to go. I like lots of peas, so I'm pretty sure I used more than a cup.
1 can of cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom, but I prefer the chicken).
1 can of tuna (it's better with the more expensive stuff, but isn't everything that way?)
Grated cheese. Amount is up to you. I like lots, and have successfully used cheddar or colby jack.
Sour cream and onion chips (or sour cream and cheddar). Completely optional. Your tuna casserole will turn out just fine without them, and if you're planning to be eating these as leftovers I would leave off the chips, as they are very soggy and gross when reheated.

Preheat your oven to 350°F  I usually forget to do this and end up having to wait for the oven to warm up later.

Cook your macaroni for around 5 or 6 minutes. It should be under-cooked  because the noodles will finish cooking in the oven later.

Here you can see that I've put my noodles in a casserole dish with the soup, tuna, peas and a dash of cheese.

Mix that deliciousness together!

Crumble your sour cream and onion chips on top, and follow with cheese.
As much cheese and chips may be used as desired by the chef. I use quite a bit of cheese.

Stick your casserole in the oven. It will take 20-30 minutes to cook.

Enjoy! 

Something Sweet for Your Husband

My sister-in-law Angie and I saw this pin and decided we wanted to do something like that for our husbands. We came up with these as a sort of 12 days of Christmas. It was a ton of fun! The only downside was that Nathan didn't like quite a few of the types of candy, so if I do this for him again I'll try to find more that he does like. 

I'm posting this now because it would really be a great idea to do this for your husband for Valentine's Day.

You're a joy to have around: Almond Joy

To me you're worth three hundred grand: 3 snack size 100 Grand

Life would be unbearable without you: Gummy Bears

I'm stuck on you: Gum

Life's a circus, I'm sure glad we're in it together: Animal Crackers

You're one hot tamale: Hot Tamales

Let's make out: Hershey Kisses

I'm glad I skored you as a husband: Skor

I soda like you: Soda (we used Henry Weinhard's because it's the best)

I love you to pieces: Reese's Pieces

You make me snicker: Snickers

You ofishally have my heart: Swedish Fish

(this one was our favorite because of the great picture we found! It still cracks me up)

Have you seen this on pinterest? Bake cupcakes for five minutes and then drop a Hershey Kiss in the center. It's supposed to sink to the middle and melt.

So we tried it.
I did 12 cupcakes, six with kisses and six that had Reese's mini cups.
I used a milk chocolate cake mix (Betty Crocker)

It worked just like it was supposed to!

The kisses were much better than the Reese's. I have to say that I'm glad this worked, but I probably won't ever do it again. It was good, but not fantastic. But it was sure fun to try it out. 

Cheese

Mackay is starting to get a bit of a vocabulary. I love when he can ask me for what he wants.

Blueberry Cinnamon Blob

Pinterest is the best, but not everything you find ends up working out. We found a recipe that looked like it could be amazing:  Dutch oven blueberry cinnamon rolls. We had to change a few things in the recipe, and made the poor decision to not split the rolls and put them in two dutch ovens.

The dough rose to fill the entire dutch oven overnight and just minutes after we added the coals the lid popped up.

They weren't very good. Doughy in the middle, and because we used frozen blueberries they were tart. We decided that we don't want to try making them again because we didn't like the flavor of the blueberries and the cinnamon.