Shredded Italian Beef

Ok everyone! Who is ready for the Super Bowl?! Pretty much all of the US is getting ready for big parties to watch the most watched programing of the year! Whether you watch the game, the commercials, or the half time show, everyone enjoys the food at the parties. Make your party a hit or be the hit at someone else's party by making this delicious meat to make sandwiches! It's called Italian beef around our house so that's what I'll still call it!

Start with about 8 lbs. of chuck roast and trim all the fat around the outsides like so: 

Then place the meat in the crock pot and cover with water. 

Then add the spices and turn on high for a couple hours, then low until meat falls apart. 

When the meat is done you will take the pieces out and use 2 forks to shred like this and remove the fat: 

The beef Should then look like this: 

Put it into a container that will also hold some of the juices left in the crock pot. They are so flavorful and when soaked up in the bread it is just delicious. 

Then enjoy! Put it on a small roll and enjoy! It's also a great dish for pot lucks or just when it's cold out side. If there are left overs, just pop them in the freezer until you want them again. 

As with most things, I like to enjoy my sandwich with a nice glass of red wine! As for the game... Go Ravens! A former room mate of mine and close friend was a huge fan. We lost her last year to the fight of colon caner at only 23 years old. Miss you Erinn!

History of Ginger- (3)

A lot of craziness has been going on in this funny little life of mine. I don't quite want to go out of order and explain what's going on right now without you knowing why it's happening.

So, I left off with 12 more rounds of chemo to happen.

I began 2 new types of chemo: Methotrexate and Cyclophosphamide.
I geared up and dove head first back into the world of chome and hospitals and sickness. As I said before, the first 4 rounds really weren't too bad. I could handle it. It had a system and a schedule and I was well half the time. I really felt like I couldn't complain too much.

Well, when I started the new drugs, I could start complaining. Things went from "you have cancer" to "you don't have cancer anymore but we are making sure there isn't anything left" but chemo doesn't just effect the cancer. It is poison to the whole body. During all this time I'm sick as a dog, have terrible mouth sores, no more white blood cells so I wasn't allowed to go to school or in public very much, on crutches or in therapy, and have the stamina of a narcoleptic.

My kidneys started failing. They were pretty beat up by the first drugs but the second set really threw them over the edge. My nephrologist (kidney doctor) changed up the Cyclophosphamide to Iphosfamide to help save them. I currently live in a state of stage 4 kidney disease and this past August I had a spout of acute kidney failure. (That means they fail but come back. Just an episode... don't worry, no dialysis or anything came from that)

I was not allowed to walk on my new knee for 3 months to allow the bone to grow around the metal to keep it stable. I was supposed to be doing physical therapy every day to help build the muscle but when you are that sick, getting out of bed to work out just doesn't seem like a good idea! I could kick myself now for not doing it because maybe things would be different now and maybe my knee would have worked for the last ten years. Fact of the matter is though, that I didn't do any of that.  And as any good teenage girl is, I was stubborn. If you told me to do something that made me not want to do it. I think it was more of a control thing. I had no control over any part of my life at that point but boy could I say no to doing therapy! young girls, if you read this.... it doesn't help anyone. And you get mad at yourself years later that you were so dumb. Get over it and do whatever you are supposed to be doing.

Woops! Stepping off the soap box. Got a little carried away there. Where was I? Oh yes, how horrible my life was! By June I was starting to have to push back chemo dates because my blood counts would not get high enough in time. You see, before you can have poison injected into you, you must have enough blood to stay alive. I had transfusions pretty much every other week. Basically, you go sit in a room in the clinic and watch a movie with 19873502 blankets on while you get the ice cold blood transfused. I will say, you feel great after having one! But man is it cold! And the cold is in your blood stream so its a cold you can't escape from. Weird feeling. I'm full of other people's blood! One time, there wasn't enough blood in the bank to give me so I had to be admitted to the hospital to make sure I didn't get sick or anything and they would try to get more blood for me. Little tip- if you have you family and friends go donate blood, you don't get that blood. Really, it doesn't matter if they do or don't because it doesn't move you higher on the list either! You still get no blood! And I am a universal donor type of blood, not universal receiver so they are always short on my type of blood. Whew, I sound like a Cullen with all this blood talk.

Anyway, if you don't have good blood counts they can't give you the chemo. It was taking me longer and longer to get to those levels. First, it was just a couple of days, then it started to become weeks. With the first types of chemo I had 2 weeks of being healthy every time before I had to go back and get poisoned. The big thing to remember is, when you aren't getting you levels up, as soon as you do and are able to get more chemo, you go. You don't get any healthy buffer time. That's when you start wearing down mentally.

As you can imagine I was just drained. Mind, body, and now spirit. I started to feel like I was loosing the will to fight. It was so hard to make myself eat or go to therapy or just try to get well. I started thinking, "I can't do this anymore." Once you start thinking that, you can't stop. It just gets harder. I never said it out loud with any authority. I would jokingly say things like "I'm so over this" or "I cannn't dooooo thiiiiis" but no one took me seriously. In my house, what the doctor says is golden. My dad is a doctor and my mom a nurse and we trusted our doctors with my life (literally HAHAHA) so if he said 12 rounds and I was on 7, I had 5 more to go and that was that.

We got to Houston for my 8th round, 2 weeks later than was planned because I had been sick. As my nurse started to access my port (basically it is an IV that it permanent around the area of your collar bone and they can access it with a long needle so you don't have to have IV's in your arm all the time) I started making my half joking-half serious comments about not wanting to do this anymore expecting one of the many responses I got at home: a roll of the eyes, an overly excited "only 4 more after this!",  a large sigh and a stern "Devon", a "I know, but you have to,"or my favorite: and angry "Do you want to die?"

 To my surprise, my nurse actually took me seriously!

Magic Mountain

Magic mountain? Yes you heard right. This is the name of a weird but tasty funky dish. Be warned, it is carb-tastic. This is a dish that my parents used to make when they were first married because it was easy, cheap, and filling. They had it at a restaurant that may or may not exist still in Iowa, I have no idea. (personally I think it was a munchie attack snack for those who were toking up! I mean come one... look at the name! AND the ingredients! Regardless... still a fun and tasty dish)

You only need a few ingredients: 

1 bag of french fries (whatever kind you like)
1 box of Texas toast
1 lb of ground beef
1 block of Velveeta
Milk
Worcestershire sauce
Onion salt

Bake the toast and the french fries according to the packages. 
Brown the beef and season with the sauce and salt to the taste you like. It should be pretty flavorful. 
Melt the cheese in a saucepan with milk to make it more of a sauce to drizzle over the top. 

Finally, just assemble!
Toast, then meat, then french fries, then cheese.... EAT! 
Quite a tasty and quick dinner but you WILL need a side of vegetables! Peas, salad, Brussels sprouts, whatever floats your boat! 

In other news, posts will be slowing down and possibly stopping for a while as I will be undergoing 2 major surgeries over the next 6 months. I will try to at least make a post once a week and keep everyone updated on everything via the Facebook page.

Reuben The Delicious

The Reuben sandwich is one of my personal favorites. I think it stems from my love of Sauerkraut and all things vinegary or pickley. Don't fret if you have never had Sauerkraut or if you are nervous about trying it. I'll explain it more later in the post. If you are unfamiliar with the sandwich, it is pastrami or corned beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and dressing grilled on rye bread. 

As with many great foods, sandwiches seems even more so, the origin is a little iffy. About 3-4 different places claim that they invented the Reuben sandwich so we really don't know exactly where it came from. We do know it was created sometime in the 1920's though. 

About any deli can make this for you and probably keeps it on the menu just like they would a club sandwich. You can change it up too. Some people make fish (grouper in particular), roast turkey, or pastrami instead of the roast beef. Bread can be changed, cheese, dressing. I have even heard of people nixing the Sauerkraut! Ridiculous as it sounds, I know, they put Cole slaw instead! I have yet to try that variation.

I use Pastrami because I like the strong flavor and lean cut. Swiss cheese because it's one of my favorites. Well that's not really fair to say because all cheese is my favorite cheese. Hahaha. 

So fist butter one side of a slice of Rye bread and put it in a skillet on medium high heat. (if you have a George Foreman or pastrami maker you can just make the sandwich and grill it that way but I don't have one so I'm going to do it in the skillet) Basically think of it like making a grilled cheese with extra stuff on it. Add a slice of cheese to let it melt while the bread is also toasting in the pan. 

I like to have a separate pan going as well and heat up the Sauerkraut in it so it's nice and warm. I think it helps bring out the flavor as well.

Curious about Sauerkraut? Well it literally translates to mean "sour cabbage" and is a type of canned cabbage. It does have a distinct and sour flavor so if you like pickles and other veggies that have been pickled, you will most undoubtedly like this too. It actually has a good amount of vitamin C in it. If you do not eat acidic food often though, do not over do it because it could upset your stomach with the high acidity and low pH. It has also been suggested to have cancer fighting compounds but who really knows what fights cancer. Before we had frozen foods Sauerkraut was widely used in Russia and other countries as a winter food that had good vitamin and mineral content. I know, most people associate it with Germany but it was first made 2,000 years ago in China(well, something very close to what we eat now, not exactly the same) and is most widely used now in Russia, France, and the United States.

Add as much pastrami, corned beef, turkey, or whatever meat you are using that you want to eat now and top with warm Sauerkraut.I don't pile mine high with meat but a lot of restaurants do!

Spread some Thousand Island dressing on one side of the other piece of bread and the other with butter and place it dressing side down onto the sandwich. Flip the sandwich and let the other piece of bread brown and crisp up. Take off the heat, slice, and serve! It was very tasty and as could be expected of me, I had a side of more Sauerkraut Hahaha!

Stuffed Pork Chops

I am never one of those people that orders pork out in a restaurant very often. Why? Because of this recipe. No restaurant I have been to makes a pork chop so juicy, flavorful, and tender as my dad's recipe can. It literally is falling off the bone when it's done. 

Now I don't actually stuff the pork chops in this recipe so it is a little deceiving but there is stuffing between two layers of pork chops so that still counts right? 

The slow cooker is your best friend in this recipe. In the morning, dip the pork chop in milk, then coat in flour (flour that has garlic salt added to it) and pan fry it until it is brown on both sides. 

Meanwhile, spray your crock pot with cooking spray. Also, cook a box of StoveTop stuffing. I use pork flavor because it is for pork but really use whatever you have or prefer. Put a layer of browned pork chops on the bottom off the crock pot. Then put the stuffing in to make a layer of that. 

Then put the rest of the pork chops on top. A nice big pork chop stuffing sandwich. 

Then add one or two cans of cream of mushroom soup over the top for flavor, creaminess, and moisture. 

Let that baby cook on high for 2 -3 hours, then turn down to low for 4 more hours. I added some of the french crunchy onion things you put on top of green bean casserole on top for the last 3 hours and they were sooo tasty!

It was a delicious meal! One of Dill's favorites. Well, really the whole family's favorites. Since Dill is out in LA trying to catch a break, I recon we are going to have to have this again quite soon. And you know what? That is OK with me!!!

Shrimp Etouffee

It has been a while since we had shrimp so mom requested that we had shrimp etouffe. It is one of her favorite dishes to order when we go out to dinner. Personally, I like shrimp bisque better but it really isn't on the same playing field haha. I will say that I prefer shrimp etouffe to gumbo. I think its the okra in gumbo. okra just kinda freaks me out. I know it's irrational but I just don't know of any way to eat it that I like it. I will say in okra's defense, I have not tried it very many different ways. 

I digress, back to shrimp etouffe. I used this recipe on Allrecipes.com: Shrimp Etouffee. By the way, I have made a profile on allrecipes so that if you want to see the recipes I use from there, they are listed. Just click on the allrecipies on the top menu and it will take you to my profile.  I love using allrecipes because they have tons of reviews that are very helpful and they have recipes for just about everything. Hard to argue with that! 

So start with the Roux. It will literally turn the color of peanut butter, but not the consistency. Then add the celery and onions. I omitted the green pepper just because I wasn't in the mood for them. 

Then when the veggies get soft add the tomatoes and fish stock to reduce. You could use chicken stock or broth too if that's what you have, just don't use plain water. The stock or broth will have flavor and depth to bring to the dish. You will most certainly be able to tell the difference between water but not so much between chicken or seafood stock.

Let it cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the spices and stir fairly frequently until it gets nice and brown sauced like this. I use old bay seafood seasoning. It smells heavenly.

Looking yummy! Add the peeled shrimp and cook about 10 more minutes until the shrimp is done. I did 2 lbs of shrimp and it was exactly 10 minutes. Any longer and it would have overcooked the shrimp which makes them grainy rather than nice and juicy.

Finished!!! Put it over rice and enjoy! Now, I personally think that the old bay seasoning is spicy enough but feel free to add Louisiana hot sauce and/or cayenne pepper for some extra heat. The family enjoyed it and there were leftovers for today... although they are probably gone now haha.

History of Ginger- Not the Food (2)

After I found out that I had cancer (which I still did not know what kind it was) I was rushed off for appointments at MD Anderson the very next week. I had never even heard of the place called MD Anderson. nor did I know that I would get to know it so well. 

I had many tests done and met many doctors and nurses and specialists. I was finally told that I had Osteosarcom; a bone tumor in my right distal femur. 

My pediatric oncologist's name was Dr. Norman Jaffee. I later came to know that he was one of the pioneers in treating the type of cancer I had just been diagnosed with and made the discovery that just amputating the limb infected did not rid the body of cancer. In most cases the cancer metastasized (moved) to the lungs within 6 months of the amputation. 

I began chemotherapy 2 weeks later. I had cisplatin and adriamycin at lethal doses. To give you an idea, one of my friends and his father came to visit me in the hospital one time and his father asked my parents what type of chemo I was getting. They told him and he just shook his head and repeated "cisplatin?" Yes, that was the one. He told them that when he was a student at MIT they had developed cisplatin and basically they mixed the most toxic things they could think of into one concoction and that was this chemotherapy drug that I was on. The doctor confirmed that yes, it was quite lethal and that basically they were going to bring me to the edge of death with this drug and then at the last moment, give me the antidote.

Cisplatin was administered inter-arterially, which means that instead of the medicine going through my veins, they went in (during a surgery) to the artery in the groin that goes down you leg and feeds blood to you bone and knee. The thought was that doing the medicine like that would be denying the tumor blood and directly feeding it chemo, thus hopefully killing it more directly. I had to lye on my back the entire time it was being transfused (6 hours) and then another 6 hours while I laid with bricks on my groin/pelvis to stop the bleeding when they took the tube out. By the last 2 hours I was agitated, my back was hurting, and I'm sure I was a complete joy to be around.... not! Haha. 

Adriamycin was not nearly as intense. It was lovingly referred to as the Koolaid chemo because of it's bright red color. The first time I had it no one warned me it made you go to the bathroom the same color and I might have freaked out a bit. It didn't hurt or do anything, an occasional puke but other than that not too bad.

For the next four months this was basically how it went: I would go to Houston and get pretesting done on Wednesday, be admitted on Thursday, get all the chemo and other drugs to help with which made me sleep and woke up Sunday ready to go home. I've been told it is normal for teenagers to hole up like that and just sleep and I have also been told that they give you medicine to help children forget what is happening. It's probably a combination of the both.

Now, I have been told that I would wake up between Thursday and Sunday and have conversations and such but I never remembered them. It got me into trouble a few times haha. I eventually had to tell my parents not to let me talk to any of my friends until after Sunday because I couldn't remember what  had said to them! We would then leave the hospital and drive the 4 hours home and I would be weak and sick for about 2 weeks and then I was usually well enough to go to school for 2 weeks and then the process started all over again. 

At first it really didn't seem that hard. It sucked, that is for sure, but wasn't something I couldn't handle. Even with all the side effects, and boy oh boy did I have side effects. Even to this day, if there is a side effect to be had, I have it full force. So I had them all, nausea, vomiting (for which I was allergic to the anti nausea and vomiting drugs! I could only use benadryl for that) mouth sores, weakness, hair loss... you name it, I had it. The nausea was a funny thing. It wasn't like when you are sick and just feel sick all of the time. I felt pretty good, other than being so tired I could hardly stand, but really, not sick. Then all of a sudden I would sit up, grab the bucket, puke, and it would be gone again. I am still very thankful that it didn't feel like I had the flue all the time. Random throwing up I can handle.

The doctor told me it usually took about 10 days for your hair to start falling out. On exactly the 10th day, my hair started showing up on my pillows. What was weird was that it kind of hurt. It felt like when you have you hair going one way and then make it go the other way and you get that prickly feeling. But that prickly feeling was it falling out hahaha. It came out in chunks and I would wear a hat to cover the bald spots. By my second round of chemo I was over the whole hair thing. I was staying at my aunt's house the night before I was going to be admitted, my mom and aunt were talking in the living room and I excused myself to the bathroom. I remember looking into the mirror without a hat on and being able to see the huge bald spots I had and decided, it's all or nothing and since I can't go back to all hair, I'm going all in for no hair. I began to pull it out, right there in the bathroom! It ended up being a lot more than it looked like and it didn't hurt anymore. I pulled the sides out first, leaving myself with a Mohawk. I mean, I was never going to give myself a Mohawk for real so might as well try it when it's all coming out right?! HAHA. I kept pulling until there was none left and really sank in that this was real.  I wonder still what my aunt or uncle thought when they emptied that little bathroom trashcan that was FULL of my hair. From then on I always had on a wig or a hat. I was not brave enough to go bald. Not even my parents saw me bald but maybe a handful of times. 

Wigs were fun though! I got one that was really long and a strawberry blond color. It was made of real hair so I could curl it and everything. I remember the first time I wore it to school and a guy said to me, "hey, did you cut your hair?" HAHAHA!! Shows you how observant men can be! I also had a short strawberry blonde, a pixie red, and a shoulder bleach blonde.

Anyway, back to the meat of the story, after the first chemo the x-rays showed that the tumor was reducing and because it was in my bone I needed to use crutches so that the now hollowing bone didn't break. Whew, 3 months on crutches was intense, I think I became more efficient on those than my own two feet! As the time went on, my friends dwindled down to a handful. Everyone was very nice and friendly at school but there were only a few that would talk to me or come see me when I wasn't in school. Surprisingly enough, they were all my guy friends. I had no girl friends during that time in my life. For whatever reason, it was too hard for them, they didn't know what to say, or whatever, the guys were there for me.

December 2003 over Christmas break I had my knee replacement. The tumor was too close to my knee to only take bone so the whole knee had to be replaced. I was a candidate for a new knee, one that is fused into the bone so that it never has to be replaced! Which is great for someone only 16 years old. Brilliant! They told me that for 3 months after the surgery I would need to be on crutches still so that the bone could grow in around the prosthesis. "No problem," I thought, "I've already been doing that!"  They would also analyze the tumor that they take out to see home much has been killed by the chemo. The x-rays and other scans showed that the chemo was very effective and looked like there was little tumor even left. 

The doctors told me that after analyzing it they would decide how much, by percentage had been killed and that would determine what I had to do next. If the chemo killed 95% or more, then I would have 1 more round of the chemo I was already having. The thought being that it had killed nearly all of it with just this chemo and one more round would make sure none was floating around in my body. If it was 94% or less, We would try 2-3 new kinds of chemo and do 12 more rounds. 

After my surgery my doctor seemed so happy and cheerful that they got it all and it looked great. A few days later they told me the pathology report came back. My tumor was made up of 3 types of osteosarcoma cells and 2 of them had been completely eradicated. The third type had not been killed at all but only represented 6% of the tumor. That meant that the percent necrosis (killed) was 94% and I would need to do the 12 more rounds of new chemo. 

Garlic Chicken Stir Fry and Rice

I really love stir fried foods. I tried a new vegetable sauce recipe for this one. I' still looking for that delicious sauce that I can't get enough of. This wasn't it but it wasn't bad either. Sweeter than I wanted is what I didn't care for the most. 

I had all of these veggies left over from a veggie tray so it was quite perfect for preparing. This is the recipe i used: Garlic Chicken Stir Fry. 

I cooked the chicken in the wok first with flavored wok oil, garlic, green onions, and ginger. 

I wasn't sure if everything would fit together in the wok so I took out the chicken and dumped in the veggies next. 

Go ahead an let those get soft for a little bit and then add the sauce. Put the lid on the help steam the veggies and let the sauce get good and thick. The chicken did fit so I put it back in when I added the sauce so it could get that nice flavor. 

Now, I don't know how many of you shop at Sam's but it is like a candy store for me! So much food and fun things to try. They have this stir fried rice in a box that you just put in the skillet still frozen and it takes about 7-11 minutes to cook. (This is the rice on the Sam's website.) It is sooo tasty!  It has bacon in it (which as we know, makes almost anything better) with soy beans, egg, carrots, and a sticky sauce. My family loves it! Makes stir fried rice the cheater way but man... for being a pre-made food it really is yummy. 

The instructions say to stir it constantly while cooking but if you cook it more like shoe string hash browns and let it get crispy on the bottom and then do a little "flip", I think it tastes much more like the real thing and gives it a better texture. 

It was a pretty tasty meal but I really want a Chinese sauce for my stir fry that is like one of those rich brown salty sauces that tastes like it has been being prepared all day. With a full range of depth and flavors. I'll find one some day!!

Hungarian Chicken Paprikash

Last night came really down to the wire. All day I could not decide what to make for dinner because the pantry is looking a little bare and I really still can't go to the store after my surgery. I was searching all over the web for chicken recipes that I hadn't used that I had the ingredients for and that wouldn't be too hard to make. Finally, I searched "chicken and dumplings" and Paprikash came up. As it happens, when we were in Ohio a year ago we stopped in at Tony Packo's  for their hot dogs. (The chili is one of my family's favorites! We come home with a few extra jars of it every time we go home to visit the family.) Anyway, that day mom and Steph decided that they didn't want hot dogs and got Paprikash (also spelled Paprikas). It was delicious so I decided that making it again would be a good idea. 

This is the recipe I used, courtesy of Allrecipes.com: Paprikash

I doubled the recipe for the large family we have. So started with a stick of butter melted and cooked the chicken breasts. When they get nice and brown, add the onion and let that simmer for about 5-8 minutes. Finally, add chicken stock instead of water (more flavor), salt, pepper, and a LOT of paprika. I just used the McCormick paprika but the reviews said that the Hungarian paprika makes a difference. I wouldn't know but I wouldn't write it off either. Simmer that mixture for about 10 more minutes.  Then take the chicken out and add the sour cream and flour slowly and whisking so it mixes well. Let that mixer reduce by half while simmering and stir often. (Letting a sauce reduce means that you are going to let it cook out the water content, get concentrated, thicken up, and you will have about half the amount of liquid you started with.)

On this recipe they have you make home made dumplings which is all fine and dandy if you want to do that. I had Bisquick on hand so I made dumplings with that. Boil for 10 minutes and they are ready to go.

Be warned, if you have never made dumplings before, they expand at first and you think there is going to be way too much but then they shrink up. So make a lot!

Also, Paprikash is traditionally served over dumplings and or noodles so I did both. We used Kluski noodles which are a think noodle that work well in dishes like Chicken Noodle Soup.

Add the dumplings to the sauces and mix well, scoop over noodles and add a breast of chicken. YUM!

It was soooo good! We had extra sauce and we really didn't want to throw it out because it was so tasty! I probably could eat it as a soup! Just thinking about it now makes my mouth water, my stomach grumble, and me wish that I had some left overs haha.
I suggest trying this body warming winter recipe because it's delicious! Until next time!

Depression Casserole

I know what you are thinking... Depression Casserole? Does it make you depressed or do you eat it because you are depressed? The answer is neither.This dish was created during the depression and thus named depression casserole. My Grandmother grew up during the depression with 13 other brothers and sisters up in Ohio. Her mom knew how to make food last and sustain you. Then she became a wife of a blue collar construction worker with 7 kids and continued the tradition. So she really knows what it means to be creative with food. This is one of her recipes. 

Good, hearty, warm, and will fill you up.... and keep you there!

You start with a deep casserole dish and spray it with baking spray. Set the oven to 350 and brown the ground beef. We use 2 pounds in my family because there are 6 of us. There is usually left overs so I'd say this recipe feeds about 8. 

While that is cooking pour one bag of still frozen hashbrowns into the bottom of the casserole dish. DON'T COOK THEM! You could use tater tots too if you so choose Then pour between 1 and 2 cups of milk in to help those potatoes cook. 

Dust them with a visible amount of season salt. Gives it a lot of great flavor. 

When the meat is browned, spread it evenly across the hashbrowns in the dish as the next layer. 

Next, my family always uses green beans because we like them so much but really it works with mixed frozen or canned veggies, corn, peas, whatever you want. Remember, this was made in the depression so they used what they had. Be creative! 

I used 2 cans of french cut green beans. layer them on top of the beef.

Next, take 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (I like Campbell's best) and spread that across the veggies. A spatula will probably work best for you, it does for me. Don't worry if the veggies come up in it, we aren't looking for perfection here. If you so chose you could use any cream soup for the flavor you like best (cream of chicken, celery, asparagus, etc)

Take the spatula and just poke all the way to the bottom a couple of times is random parts of the casserole just to make pathways for everything to mix together. 

Finally, sprinkle the cheese. We use a LOT of cheese on our but you could completely omit the cheese if you didn't want it. I use cheddar or colby jack or something of that sort. 

Stick that sucker in the over for an hour covered with foil. About the last 5-10 minutes I take the foil off to get the cheese a little bubblier. After baking let it sit for about 10 minutes to rest and let everything set, otherwise it will pretty much fall apart as soon as you take some out. That's it! Enjoy!

It's a real favorite around this house. comfort food at it's finest. I suppose if I were depressed, this would be the kind of food I'd want to see for dinner! Haha. Until next time!

The History of Ginger- Not the Food (1)

As I sit here, even now, I hesitate to share the ins and outs, smooth sailing and challenges, all that I have faced in my short 25 years of life. I keep coming to the conclusion that even though I started this blog for fun, my love of food and cooking it, and something to do, it seems to me, God might have different ideas for it. Who knew?! While I wanted to remain mostly anonymous I quickly realized how impossible that was to actually do. What I cook, how I do it, and why all stem from other parts of my life. To  make this a blog worth reading, you need to understand me and my life. Who is the ginger?!

Alright, I guess it's about that time to actually get to the story telling... But where to begin?! How to start? I have no idea, so just bear with me please? This will be the first installment in how many ever it takes to tell the story of ginger.

Since this is part one I will begin with the first thing that changed my life forever: I was born. 

HAHA no no no, only joking. What really happened was I turned 16. I know, sounds weird right? Such a right of passage that everyone does and that usually ends in a girl sitting on a table with her crush blowing out 16 candles... wait, that was a movie wasn't it? Mine didn't go that way. 

Ever since I was a little girl I had been a ballet dancer. I had quit all other sports to pursue it and did it as much as my mom would let me. Every summer, when I was out of school, I would go to a dance intensive where we danced 5 days a week for 6-8 hours a day. It's called an intensive for a reason. Well, in 2003 my knee started really hurting me. But not while I was dancing, it was fine all day and then I would get home and it would turn red and hurt very badly. My father tried different techniques to get it to stop which would have worked if the problem had been in the muscle. Since they weren't working though my family and I decided to get an MRI to see what the deal was. I wanted to get it done with before my 16th birthday the next week. We really thought it was an ACL problem that would be semi-easy to fix. I wanted to get everything fixed so that I would be A-OK to dance n the fall productions; especially the Nutcracker. I was finally at the stage I could get a solo or a part not in the core! We could never have prepared for the results we got. 

I went and had the MRI and some x-rays done at one of my dad's friend's places and awaited the verdict. He put the x-rays up on the lighted board and then stepped out to make a phone call. While sitting in the room waiting I noticed my dad looking at the x-rays with concern. 

"What do you see?" I asked him. 
"Well, that spot that is all fuzzy in the bone above your knee is not supposed to be there"

"Not supposed to be there?!," I thought. "What does that mean?! How does something get into your bone that doesn't belong there? I don't understand." I really just didn't understand.

The doctor returned and began speaking with my dad like I wasn't even there. I couldn't really follow because they were talking in doctor's jargon. While trying to listen to them talk and still trying to understand the x-ray I caught the words "tumor" and "cancerous" and began to think, "they must be talking about someone they both know now, not me. No one has said anything to me about my leg so it's not about me."

My subconscious must have known something was wrong because I excused myself to the bathroom and as soon as the door clicked shut the tears just started falling uncontrollably. I felt ridiculous thinking, "I'm in a doctor's bathroom crying and I don't even know what's going on! Dev, you are being absolutely silly!"

I came out of the bathroom and my dad and I left. In the car I was still trying to hold tears back but really still wasn't sure why I was being so emotional. My dad took my hand and looked at me. He said "we will do whatever we need to beat this. It's going to be ok." 

That was the moment my fears were confirmed. I had cancer. It was in my bone. And everything changed.

Mushroom Sauce Meatballs

After all the holiday foods it was about time for some comfort food. Meatballs and gravy is a great idea for that!

I personally like to use turkey for meatballs because it is a little bit healthier. These are literally just meat though, no bread crumbs or eggs like in other meatballs. Just 2.5 pounds of ground turkey mixed with 2 packets of french onion soup mix. We molded them into balls and backed in a dish for about 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven. They turned out with some delicious flavor! 

The gravy was white gravy like you would have with chicken fried steak but then we added 1 can of mushroom soup. The soup really added some good flavor and a creaminess. I think when I make it again though I will saute some mushrooms and add those in there too for some added flavor and texture. 

Pour the sauce over some meatballs on minute rice and presto! An easy meal!