Saving Some Banana Pudding

So I have this little habit. As I cook or bake, I try my food to make sure it's on track. Well, if it is on track, sometimes I try it, and try it, and try it some more! I told my husband I was going to make banana pudding today. One of Anthony's friends is coming over for dinner so I'm making the pudding for dessert. Anthony is aware of my antics, and he knows how much I love banana pudding. He told me to make sure to save some for tonight!

I also saved some bananas for later because they were overripe. I'll probably make banana bread or banana muffins with them. Maybe I'll freeze the baked goods for after I have my baby.

Anthony just texted to see if there is any banana pudding left!

Campfire Ham & Cheese Sandwiches w/ Celery Sticks

Just butter your bread, slightly blacken your ham and bread on both sides, put the ham on the bread, then the cheese. It'll taste like you're at a campfire. Yum.

Fusion Cooking: Cajun Curried Noodles Eggstraordinaire!

Food Fusion Lunch

1/2 Bag Frozen Veggies

Ramen Noodles (without seasoning packet)

1/2 Vidalia Onion

1 1/3 Cups Water

Curry Powder

Cajun Seasonings

Romaine Lettuce

2 Eggs

American Chinese

This afternoon I made American fried rice. I say American because of two special ingredients, barbecue sauce and bologna. Very good, but very sweet. One of the things Anthony and I noticed when we were in China this summer was that American Chinese food is usually a lot sweeter than authentic Chinese.

Banana Nut Oatmeal

Instant Oats

Banana

Cocktail Peanuts

Nutmeg

Maple Syrup

Water

Breakfast This Morning

This morning I made harvest oatmeal for breakfast. I call it harvest oatmeal because of the ingredients I used. One of the ingredients I was not too sure about however, prunes. I probably won't put them in my oatmeal again anytime soon. I'm sure a taste can be acquired though. For instance, I used to not eat raisins in my oatmeal because I thought they had the appearance and consistency possibly of flies. My imagination got the better of me again this morning as I had not chopped my prunes but had left them whole in the oatmeal, perhaps the size of a roach. The oatmeal was pretty tasty overall and I ate it like a champ.

Harvest Oatmeal

Instant Oats

Red Delious Apple

Prunes

Maple Syrup

Cinnamon

Water

Putting Together The Pack n' Play

Tonight, for a break from his grad homework, Anthony put together our soon-to-be-born baby's Pack n' Play. I mostly watched but did a few things. It's so exciting to have things ready for the baby now. She's due in three weeks. I also packed a bag for the hospital today. A couple nights ago Anthony put together her stroller and car seat. I thought you all might want to see pictures of these items and "the nursery." The stroller is tucked behind the Pack n' Play.

Autumn Chicken Chili

We sat down to a pretty little lunch and Anthony tried his soup. "What is it?" he asked. "Mmm, tastes like chili," he said. I replied,"It can be anything you want it to be!" We laughed. It did taste like autumn chicken chili.

Autumn Chicken Chili:

Leftover Vegetable Rice Pilaf (Brown Rice, Carrots, Potato)

Leftover Brown Gravy (Chicken Gravy + Sliced Onion)

Leftover Four Cheese Hunt's Tomato Sauce w/ Red Pepper Flakes & Oregano

Tasty Garnish:

Nonfat Plain Yogurt

Stale Tortilla Chips

Late Night Fall Snack

I crumbled up a couple pretzel sticks on top of a slice of pumpkin pie for some extra crunch and pizzazz. Anthony and I enjoyed it. We have fun.

Doing It All At Once!

Tonight I made a dessert, made dinner, started the dishes, made a soup for later, and had fun! It was a lot at once. It's probably more relaxing to make dinner, then make dessert later, a little less hectic.

I wanted to try a new pie crust recipe because mine just doesn't seem to quite be cutting it for me any more. No point in settling. So I googled "best pie crust recipe ever," and the first one that popped up was Arron Sanchez's pie crust recipe. And that is what I used for tonight's pie crust inspiration. Of course I didn't follow the recipe to a T. I didn't do any of the refrigerating or freezing. Ain't nobody got time for that lol. I also just used the flour I had on hand, self-rising, instead of regular like his recipe called for.

 
 

Selfie, taken with my Asus transformer tablet. My Mom was asking who usually takes the pics so I thought I'd show off a little, lol.

Mixing up the pie filling, table set, Anthony grading papers in the background.

I subbed regular milk for evaporated milk and used the pumpkin can for a measuring cup. I threw an extra egg into my pumpkin pie filling to make sure it thickened up enough since I didn't use evaporated milk.

I added red pepper flakes and oregano to my favorite brand of tomato sauce, Hunt's. Tonight I used their Four Cheese sauce variety.

 I love the way the table looks kind of artsy and fresh! Never seen salad served on a cutting board before, love it. Typically served in a bowl.

The romaine lettuce and caesar salad dressing complemented the shells and pasta sauce so nicely.

Clean plates! 

 I rinsed all my dinner and dessert dishes so I can load the dishwasher after I empty it later on.

 I combined tonight's leftover sauce with last night's brown gravy and rice pilaf to make a resourceful soup for later. I try not to waste.

The finished pie.

 Doesn't the pie and potholders combination look like a sunflower? 

The pumpkin pie filling turned out great! The crust was fluffy as I had imagined since I used self-rising flour. We had a good laugh over dessert over the fact that I had finished off the salt in the pie crust and threw away the container! Very savory pie.

Anthony's quote of the night: "My python producing (programming), pumpkin pie making, pasta producing wife."