Lest you forget, SC doesn’t just stand for Southern Charmer, it also stands for Significant Chef and what a chef he can be.

The way to this woman’s heart is definitely through food and he manages to deliver in this regard on most nights. He is definitely the better cook and I have learned quite a bit from him in regards to being inventive in the kitchen. (just try not to watch him cook or you’ll cringe when you see some of the things he throws in the pot…I used to protest but have learned to trust him because it always turns out delicious in the end.)

The only bad thing is that he NEVER follows a recipe and thus I can’t share any details with you. However without further ado I present to you:

Exhibit A:

Steak topped with caramelized onions and orange peppers, grilled cauliflower, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and a side salad featuring homemade ranch dressing. And let’s not forget to mention the darling mozzarella ball garnish!

Exhibit B:

Angel hair pasta with tomato beef sauce and a stuffed zucchini (stuffed with some concoction of bread crumbs, vegetables and Parmesan cheese)

Swoon. I sure am lucky!

When I was in college my dear mother sent me a care package at Valentine’s Day. Imagine my disgust when I saw a box of “FAT FREE” brownies in there. My roommates and I all laughed and thought they must be disgusting, threw them away and proceeded to make our beloved FULL FAT Martha White brownies instead.

Fast forward three years later.

I go over to my friends house and she has made the same fat free brownies my mom had sent me years before. And they were AMAZINGLY delicious! I immediately begin regretting my decision to throw away that box (especially with the price tag of $3.75/box). And ever since I have been hooked on No Pudge brownies.

My favorite way to make them is the single serving which I actually think tastes much better than when you make the whole batch. I introduced these to my friend Olivia a few months ago and she didn’t believe they were fat free. I had to bring the box over to show her the amazing nutritional facts. Now I have converted another No Pudge lover and we often text back and forth about the amazingness everytime we make some. Olivia prefers to eat hers raw which I find appalling but to each their own

All you need is a box of No Pudge mix and nonfat vanilla yogurt (or nonfat plain and some vanilla extract when your local store is all out of the generic vanilla…grrr)

Here you see raspberry featured, they also have a mint variation but I have yet to see these flavors. The stores around here only carry plain old chocolate.

Mix 2 tablespoons of mix with one tablespoon of yogurt. After a few seconds it will magically mix together and create the batter.

Microwave for 1 min 30 secs and enjoy!

The pictures don’t do justice…if you are a brownie fiend like me, do yourself a favor and buy these today!

Long time no post. Sheesh my 22 Kindergartners are wearing me out and time for blogging/creative culinary adventures has been non-existent. I’m hoping to be better so bear with me!

Last weekend I had a successful grocery trip to both Aldi and Kroger where I used my bargain shopping skills and coupons to spend only $100 on a massive amount of groceries. The SC and I ate pretty well this week (tacos, crab-shrimp-seafood creations, corn on the cob, BLTs, to name a few things) but only tomato pie got documented with the ole camera.

This is a recipe my mom makes and it likely came off of a Bisquick box back in the day.

You start by mixing heart smart Bisquick and water together until it forms a sticky ball. (If you’ve read this blog before you know I never measure anything unless I am following a strict recipe…sorry!) Spread this onto a greased pie pan. Here I made a fatal mistake and used too much and my crust was too thick. So learn from me and use a thin layer.

Next slice up some gargantuan tomatoes and layer on top.

Sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top of that

Then spread some light mayo and Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Fresh out of the oven and smelling delish!

Slice it up and enjoy! A few days later I took some for lunch and threw in some leftover taco meat. This was a lovely addition and I’m thinking you could adapt this into a taco pie.

Hello blurry picture. Among the things on my to do list are to figure out my new fancy camera. If you have any good web resources please send them my way!

My blog is usually dedicated to food and food alone however I wanted to participate in kindergarten….kindergarten’s classroom picture party. Without further ado here is my kindergarten classroom. I usually don’t go overboard in terms of decorating the walls because we create so many things throughout the year that get put up. Rather than starting off with everything up I add it as it is needed. The empty black bulletin board now has my behavior system on it. Enjoy and please say hello if you are a new visitor

Blue line is to help students line up. Black box is time out. They have to stand in it. Sounds silly but works really well! If you click on the picture to make it bigger you can see that I also used red tape to show students where they need to stop if they come to talk to me when I’m at my desk. Although I’m RARELY at my desk it bugs me to no end when students lean on my desk or touch my things. I will probably keep the red tape there for about a month until they learn the boundaries.

Clothespins are my friend! I find that this system works great for displaying student work. I love putting the black construction paper behind their work so it makes it pop against the white background. BTW this is actually a dry erase board, but obviously it’s not all that accessible since it is on top of the lockers so I turned it into a bulletin board of sorts.

Gotta put that single student desk against mine just in case I have some little stinkers this year who need to be “exiled” from the group.

The “Reach for the Stars” display on the bathroom door features the first 20 sight words. I will add the other 20 about mid year.

Calendar area. I use wipe on/off sentence strips to write the month and date each day.
Also you may notice the basketball hoop hanging next to my (open) closet door. Every few days I ask the students to generate a behavioral goal (i.e. “sit criss-cross”) that we focus on for the next few days. Randomly throughout the day I pick a student who is exhibiting that goal and let them have three chances to shoot the mini basketball into the hoop. The cubbies behind the closet door now have beautiful sentence strips with students names on them.

If you click to enlarge this photo you will notice that there are letter decals on the windows. This is my word wall. I will write the words on with expo marker. I wish I could take credit for it but the teacher who had my room prior to me did this as well.

I got this carpet off craigslist for $40 a few years ago!! What a steal! and my fantastic boyfriend made that “fake” window for me a few years ago when I taught in a classroom with no windows. So sweet That tall bookshelf was actually used for storing records. I inherited it from a retired teacher and love it.

Sorry I’m not sure why that last part is hyperlinking but I can’t seem to fix it!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Kindergarten….Kindergarten’s site for more classroom tours

My sister gifted me with a subscription to Cook’s Illustrated for my birthday. I had never heard of this magazine before and am pleased with it’s unique content and design.

Open the magazine up and you are quick to discover why it is called Cook’s Illustrated.

Sort of looks like the Wall Street Journal of cooking

The magazine features a few recipes and many technical tips such as how to roast chilies, how to stuff a chicken, etc. This is great for someone like me who likes to be inventive in the kitchen but isn’t sure how to do all the fancy stuff.

One of my favorite features is the back of the magazine (oh and the fact that there are no ads!)

Each edition features one of these great colorful illustrations. How perfect would these be for framing and hanging in the kitchen?

Love it.

Thanks, Sissy!!