mr surprised me.

for the complete run-down on Yummy Mondays, read this.

Blah.  mr’s gone AGAIN.  Across the seas, in a land far, far away.  Thankfully not for long this time.  I don’t know why, but Yummy Monday isn’t quite as much fun without him.  Because I make him pick the food usually?  Because I like trying to impress him?  Because his compliments mean more than my parents’ - who have to love everything I do?  (kidding, kidding...) (Kind of...)

Well, anyway, K’s at home with her Daddy this week, which gives me a little break - but I have to admit that shopping with only two kids is kind of boring.  

Wait, wait.  I take it back.  Please don’t quote me on that and lets all hope that the fates just ignore that little temptation I wrote up there.

mom told me she had a dessert she wanted to try, and therefore let me off the hook tonight.  But I did make two things from The Cookbook.  (I decided to capitalize it so you know I’m talking about THE Cookbook, and not some other one.)  The main course was Mexicali Corn (from Diane) and the side was the Yummiest Corn Bread in the World (by My Mom - but it totally is NOT cheating this time, because the recipe is in the book.)  I also threw together a salad.

The Mexicali Corn was soooo easy to make, budget friendly and tasty.  All of these are reasons to put it on the menu again.  However, I believe I’ve mentioned (a couple hundred times?) that my oven is not calibrated right and therefore cooking times are always guesstimates.  The first time I took it out of the oven and served it up, the dough was raw.  The second time, it was cooked slightly more.  The third time, I just stuck the whole thing in the microwave and nuked it.  Dumb oven.

Here’s the recipe:

Mexicali Corn

1 lb ground beef

1 green pepper, chopped

1 package taco seasoning

1 can creamed corn

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can flaky biscuits

shredded cheese

Brown the beef, drain and add the green pepper and taco seasoning (along with the how much water the package calls for) and simmer.  In a casserole dish, add the corn, kidney beans and meat mixture.  Mix well and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Take out of the oven.  Cut each biscuit in half and arrange on top.  Sprinkle cheese on and bake for 20 more minutes.

And if you are weary about creamed corn, please bear in mind that I am too.  And I still liked this recipe.  Also, just so you know, you probably won’t have to cut your biscuits... there I was with a serrated knife, squishing the darn biscuits beyond recognition, until I realized that they were precut and I could just peel the two halves apart.

Now, this next recipe?  You should be super grateful you’re getting it.  In the early days of my blog I asked my mom if I could post it and she hesitated just enough for me to know it’s a secret family recipe.  Not even secret FAMILY recipe, really, more like a secret MOM recipe.  But I got permission, and therefore, you are now privy to the

Here you go:

Yummy Corn Bread

2 C yellow corn meal

2 C flour

8 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 C sugar

4 eggs

2 C milk

1 C melted butter

Mix the flour, corn meal, salt and baking powder with a wire whisk.  Add the milk, beaten eggs, melted butter, and sugar.  Combine this with a mixer on low speed.  Pour it into a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 425 for about 26 minutes, or until golden brown.

You’re welcome.

The salad I threw together went something like this:

a little romaine

some roma tomatoes chopped

sprinkle some coconut

a small can of pineapple chunks, drained

some avocado

And mix it all together.

And that, my friends, was dinner.  The dressing you see in this picture?  Well, that’s only our FAVORITE DRESSING EVER.  That’s all.

For dessert, my mom made this Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Cake Roll Thingy, which I of course, do not have the recipe for.  It was goooooood.  Sorry to rub it in, but it was moist and soft and yummy and low cal.  Should I rub it in some more?  I think it would make perfect cookout dessert - nice and chilly for those hot days.

And we’re done.  Bon apatite!

What???  You’re shouting at me, aren’t you.  I can hear you, you know.  You want a dessert recipe and you want it now?  Oh, well.  I suppose I could throw something up here...

Good thing my hubby made a super yummy dessert yesterday for the whole fam, huh?  You didn’t really think I’d leave you without dessert, did you??

You’ve seen those pretzel/jello dessert bar things, right?  Wellll, we didn’t have any frozen raspberries to put in ours, and mr likes to experiment in the kitchen with more than acids and bases.  Sometimes his experiments are a success.  And sometimes they are scary.  And ALWAYS I am skeptical.  

But this time?  I had to eat my words of warning.  Good thing I could wash it down with extra pieces of this stuff, because I ate the last bit before bed.  Mmmmm.

mr’s Pistachio-Pretzel Dessert

2 C crushed pretzels

1/2 C crushed pistachios

3 T sugar

1/2 C butter

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1 C sugar

8 oz. cool whip

6 oz. raspberry jello

1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple

2 C boiling water

Melt the butter and mix it with the sugar, pretzels and pistachios.  Press this into a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Cool.  Cream the cream cheese and sugar.  Stir in the cool whip.  When this is well-blended, spread it over the cooled crust.  Place in the fridge until firm.  Dissolve the jello in the boiling water and add the pineapple chunks.  Chill, but not completely.  When the jello begins to thicken, pour it over the cream cheese mixture.  Chill this overnight - OR for a QUICK chill, place it in the freezer for ONLY 15 minutes then in the fridge for about an hour.

And I apologize for not having a better picture than this.  People were scarfing that stuff down in a near feeding FRENZY.  And then I had to snap this quick before I gave in to the temptation and finished it off.

See.  I would never leave you hanging like that.

*Be sure to check just below for all the fun parties I link to!